Do you know what it feels like to be made of electricity? I'm sure no one does. But I was about as close as you could get for a moment, riding inside a lightning bolt on the back of a lightning breathing dragon. It was surreal, I felt more alive than I ever had. Every part of my body was tingling. I could feel ever single muscle contract a little in response to the charge. My vision, which couldn't pick up much around us due to being in such a blinding space, felt different, and a glance at Tesla's head from over my glasses confirmed that my vision was slightly distorted.
I wanted to stay there longer, but I was starting to feel the effects of a full on lightning bolt. It wasn't a sharp pain like I would have thought but being around this amount of electricity, was started to drain my body of energy. I felt dehydrated and was starting to get light headed. I reached forward and touched Tesla on the head. He looked back and his eyes widened. I must have looked worse than I thought, because next thing I know, we're flying above the ocean again, a lightning storm behind us.
Tesla quickly dove down to a nearby island and landed. He crouched down and helped me off his neck with a clawed wing. I was surprisingly, and not so surprisingly, shaky after the jump, and I just about fell onto on the sand. After sitting down, I held my head in my hands and just breathed for a moment. Tesla gently nudged me, rumbling an apology. I looked up and scratched him on the chin.
"It's okay Tesla, I'm fine. I just gotta rest. That took a lot more out of me than I could've guessed." He just rolled his eyes and looked out over the ocean. He nudged me after a good two or three minutes, and when I looked up, I saw Hiccup and Toothless flying at top speed. Obviously, they didn't see us. I nudged Tesla back with my elbow.
"You got a shot left?" He rolled his eyes and shot a beam into the air. Hiccup and Toothless pulled up and looked for where the blast came from. They spotted us on the beach and came in for a landing. Hiccup saw my weakened condition and hurried over.
"Rai?! Are you okay? What happened? One minute we were racing you, the next a storm came out of nowhere, and a lightning bolt flashed past us. When I looked back to check on you, you were gone!"
"It's fine Hiccup. Just give me a minute." He crouched next to me as Toothless and Tesla started grumbling and growling at each other, no longer needing, or wanting, to fight each other. After a minute or two, my breathing steadied, and my head stopped hurting. I looked up and saw the two dragons shooting blasts of plasma and lightning at the sand, trying to see who could make the weirdest glass designs. Hiccup had walked over to watch and started laughing when Toothless playfully tackled Tesla in disagreement over who's was better. I slowly stood up and walked over.
"Hey, I'm feeling better now." Hiccup turned and looked at me, gauging my demeanor with a calculating eye.
"That's good to hear. You want to tell my what that was earlier?" I simply gestured to the purple and black dragon.
"He can ride lightning. He calls down a lightning bolt, and when it goes back up into the clouds, he's inside of it. It's amazing, but as you can tell, it doesn't take much to drain someone."
"Wait wait wait, you were riding a lightning bolt?! How is that possible?!"
"I was surprised myself. Tesla wasn't too afraid that it would hurt me, so he must conduct the electricity around him in order to give him a boost of speed."
"Thor must like you to allow you to take his power for a joyride." Hiccup folded his arms with a small smirk. The two dragons had come over at that point, each checking their respective rider. Hiccup was looking at Tesla with new respect.
"I don't know about Thor, but I know this big guy here can do it. That's how he saved me from falling in the ocean earlier. Normally when he dives, he's slower than Toothless. He makes up for that by jumping into a bolt and riding it to his destination. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be dead on the ocean floor." Tesla just nudged my leg, going red under the scales. He shuffled his wings a bit in embarrassment. Toothless noticed, and gave a rumbling laugh, which in turn got him a harmless glare.
"How'd you figure that out? We were only in the fight for a few minutes."
"When Toothless dove," I gestured to Tesla, "He wouldn't follow every time, knowing he couldn't keep up. Instead, he tried to blast us. When he dove after me, he was above you, and no one can keep up with a Night Fury. Especially when diving." Tesla nudged my arm, offering an apology. I dropped to a knee and rubbed his head, feeling the static through his scales.
"It's alright bud, I know you're sorry about it now." Tesla then reached behind me and nudged my sword's scabbard, sniffing it a bit. I stood up.
"I bet you're curious how a mere human deflected your attack, aren't you?" He nodded and I pulled it out with the strange tone it gave off. I held it with both hands, left on the handle, right on the flat of the blade. I pulled it back a small bit when Tesla reached to smell it.
"Careful, I sharpened this before I woke up here. It might even cut through your stronger scales." Tesla looked at it in shock and interest. Such a flimsy looking thing couldn't possibly be responsible for deflecting a shot from him. I saw him looking doubtful, dragons were surprisingly easy to read, so I spun the sword in my hands before digging it into the sand a little ways.
"You doubt me? Go ahead, do it again. But try not to encase my sword in glass please…?" He charged up a small amount of lightning and shot it at the sword. It flashed and lightning sparked through the sand. The others looked on in shock as I pulled it from the sand, checking for damage. Finding none, I spun it overhand once and sheathed it.
"How is that possible? you'd think the sword would just explode with as big of a charge he used earlier." Hiccup noted.
"That's what I thought when I first saw him." I pointed to Tesla. "I thought, 'I just made Hiccup bring me into this completely defenseless.' Then I remembered that I had my sword made of an ancient metal alloy. Back when I was trying to choose a materiel for my sword, none fit my style of fighting. Some were too heavy, some too flexible for my liking. Then I found an old book at my Martial Arts school. It was full of different alloys not common on the modern day market. I found this one, and I remembered it stated something like, 'This specific blend is found to have a unique timbre to it, unlike any other. Also unlike many others, it is an extraordinarily good conductor of electricity…'" I recited, smiling at the memories.
"I liked the idea, as useless as the conductivity was, so I wrote down the recipe and had a smith make it for me. Once the smith handed it over to me, I knew it was meant for me." I shrugged.
"So that sword is rare?" Hiccup looked up to see the sun was starting to drift closer to the horizon. "Oh wow, it's gotten late. We should get back to the Edge. The others are definitely worried by now!" We mounted up and took off. Unbeknownst to the others, a pair of red, slitted eyes had been watching from the forest that bordered the beach.
When I had noticed them earlier, they had narrowed and vanished into the brush, hardly disturbing the leaves. Once we were off the ground, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I'd been holding it back the entire time we were down there, not knowing what was watching us. Just that someone, or thing, was. Tesla looked back at me, feeling the movement.
"I'm fine bud, must still be weak from that ride in the lightning. I'll be better once I get a good night's rest." He nodded and turned to follow Toothless. We caught up and the four of us just enjoyed the smooth flight. I looked up at the sky as the stars started to appear. It was so much clearer here, you could see every star without city lights blocking the view. Tesla noticed the stars as well, and we watched them together. Off into the rising moon, we flew back to the Edge. To our new home.
««{{¤}}»»
The Edge was finally close enough to get a clear view. I nudged Tesla on the head, and he looked back at me. I looked over to Hiccup.
"Hold up a second, I have an idea."
««{{¤}}»»
Hiccup and Toothless landed on the platform attached to the hall, and walked in. They were both were acting like it was a regular day. Everyone else was there waiting, and once they saw the pair, they all started asking questions at the same time. Astrid whistled and everyone quieted down. She looked behind the duo, and when she didn't find what she was looking for, she looked directly at Hiccup.
"Hiccup…where's Rai…?" Everyone else took a second to register the question, then all of their moods were kicked below the belt. Hiccup looked at her, confusion written all over his face.
"Who's Rai…?" Everyone gasped in shock.
"What do you mean who's Rai?! He's been here for two weeks! He went with you to fight the Skrill! Now where is he?!" Hiccup took a step back, raising his hands and looking very lost.
"I-I have no idea who you're talking about. We went to take care of the Skrill, but it never showed back up after you all left. When we couldn't find it, I went back to Berk to let my dad know, then came here after resting Toothless." Toothless looked just as confused with his big eyes. Then he nudged Hiccup with his nose, and Hiccup half turned, saying to the others,
"Well, good night!" He walked out of the hall, Toothless following. They both kept up the act until they got into their house, when they ran to the top floor and spied on the others through the window. They were all staring at each other in shock.
The whole group looked up when they heard unfamiliar wings flapping. They heard a few thuds on the landing outside. Serving as another shock to all of them, I walked into the hall. I walked over to the table in the corner, filled a cup with water, and turned around. Everyone. Was. Staring. It was glorious! I leaned against the table casually, pretending to look confused.
"Do I have something in my hair? I knew I should've washed it before we left…" I looked down and swirled the water in my cup. I pretended to think for a second, then I quickly looked back up. "…Guys…could you quit staring…?" The bluntness shocked everyone into looking away. 'cept Astrid, who marched right up to me. I took a small step back. I didn't think she'd react with threats…okay, I didn't think she'd threaten me though.
'This was not well thought out…' The sudden revelation of her fury was not lost to me.
"What happened out there?! Hiccup doesn't seem to remember you!" Fishlegs joined in.
"Yeah, and-and Toothless is the same way! Toothless is not one to forget someone so easily! They both just walked out when we asked about you!" I couldn't hold it back any more and cracked up laughing.
"Oh man! He actually went with it! HAHAHA!" That got me a punch in the arm from Astrid. "OW! Hey, that hurt!"
"Yeah?! Tell me what's going on and you might only get one more…" My eyes widened and I backed up quickly. She started stalking after me, and I turned and ran for the door. She followed, yelling at me the whole time. Once I got to the door, I gave a shrieking whistle and ran to the edge of the platform. Everyone was following me at that point. I turned around to face them, heels hanging off the edge as I saluted. Then I spread my arms out to the side, leaned back, and fell off the edge, disappearing from sight.
Everyone gasped and ran to the edge to look down, when a black and purple blur shot upwards. The twins, Snotlout and Fishlegs all yelling in shock and fear as they realized that blur had been the Skrill. I kept myself tucked low so they couldn't see me in the cover of the dusk light. The Skrill leveled out and gave a giant roar. Everyone scrambled for the nearest weapons when the Skrill swooped down and landed on the platform. I hopped off and leaned against his neck as the spectacle unfolded.
Snotlout and Tuffnut were fighting over a hammer. Ruffnut had a dinner plate, wielding it like a shield. Fishlegs had gone for cover, hiding inside. Astrid had a chair, charging the Skrill with a battle cry, ready to beat it to death until she held nothing but splinters, when she saw me.
She slowed to a stop as the gears in her head were turning. I gently pushed off of Tesla's neck, so I was standing next to him, a giant grin on my face. Next thing I know I'm ducking to avoid the chair, then rolling to avoid Astrid as she threw herself at me. She ran at me again, and I just parried and ducked her punches. Eventually she stopped swinging…physically. She still had a pair of lungs though.
"You good for nothing piece of spoiled mutton! (ouch, my pride...) I'm gonna drop you so far off the coast you'll drown! Then I'll pick up your body and feed it to the dragons!" She was huffing, losing her fight, and trying to regain her breath. I took a step forward and put my hands on her shoulders.
"You done throwing a hissy fit?" *SLAP* "Yeah, okay. I deserved that." I said lamely, rubbing the now sore cheek.
"Way more…Mutton head…" We both turned when we heard laughing, seeing Hiccup and Toothless walking up. I walked over and we clapped hands.
"That, my good sir, was an amazing display of playing dumb."
"And you as well, my good friend." Hiccup and I shared a laugh as the others peaked out of the hall.
"Someone wanna tell me why the Skrill is HERE?!" Snotlout shrieked, making the dragons and myself flinch. I rolled my eyes.
"Quit screaming, Drama Queen. He's not gonna attack anyone. He's my friend after all." I walked over and patted Tesla on his head, scratching behind his head spikes. He gave a low growl of satisfaction.
"…You both have five seconds…" Astrid said. Hiccup and I looked at each other and then turned towards her in a panic, shouting at the same time.
"I(HE)ACCIDENTALLYTRAINEDTHESKRILLANDWE(HE)DECIEDTOPRANKYOUGUYSFORFUN!" I looked over at Hiccup, hurt.
"DUDE! You don't just sell me out like that!" He shrugged uselessly as Astrid walked right up to Tesla. He bent down to her eye level as she stood about two feet in front of him. They made eye contact and silently challenged each other. Eventually, she looked at me, looked at Hiccup, then turned, walking away while saying.
"I am in desperate need for sleep…"