A/N: Hello friends! This silly little story has been getting a surprising amount of traction, and I have enthusiastic reviewers, so I'm gonna do my best to continue. I still don't really have a clear plot in mind, but winging it seems to be working so far! Here's a new chapter for you!
The next day was a Sunday, but that didn't stop Fred and Honey Lemon from both being awake and in the lab early that morning. Fred was beyond excited. He had his sister back, and he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. His memory of his previous life was getting stronger. He could recall random details and conversations the two of them had had together back when they were Ruff-and-Tuff. And memories of flying their dragon filled his thoughts constantly, giving him a newfound purpose and hope. Barf-and-Belch were out there somewhere, he was sure of it.
Honey Lemon had convinced Fred that running around San Fransokyo blasting Zippleback gas everywhere was not the best plan. They would never find a dragon here in a giant city! Instead, they decided that there best chance was to find remote places in this world that would be suitable to a dragon — similar to the topography and climate of Berk. But in order to try signaling their dragon in all those places, they were going to need a lot of chem-balls.
After clearing out all the raw fish they could find in the school kitchen the day before, Fred spent the morning helping Honey create her Zippleback gas by dropping bits of fish into her carefully-measured formula. They passed the time by exchanging memories about their Viking days. Soon, they had a full tank of thick, swirling green air sitting in the middle of the science lab. It was not limitless, but it was as much as they could make with the ingredients they had.
The room reeked like someone had vomited up calamari. The gas smelled far worse. But to Fred, the familiar aromas and nutty plans felt like he had finally, finally come home.
Now, Honey was busily converting all of the gas into chem-balls. She rushed around the lab muttering to herself, mixing chemicals together like the crazy mad scientist that she was. Loud music blasted through her earphones. Fred sat at an empty table, swinging his feet back and forth cheerfully. There was a pad of sketch paper in front of him, and crayon drawings pinned up around the wall behind him like a five-year-old's playroom. He scribbled away, trying his hardest to remember everything he could about his past life.
"There!" He exclaimed when he'd finished his last drawing. Their beloved Barf-and-Belch stared up at him, each head cackling with a mischievous glint in their eyes. "Honey Lemon, come take a look!" He shouted over her music.
Honey looked up from her work, and when she saw all the drawings she quickly yanked out the earphones.
"Oh wow!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Freddie that's amazing!"
Fred grinned. Each page had a drawing of a different dragon — all the ones from their old dragon team back on Berk. A black, cat-like Night Fury poking his innocent green eye from underneath his wing; a blue, parrot-like Deadly Nadder frolicking happily in a stream; an orange, chubby Gronkle slurping up a pile of rocks hungrily; and a ferocious, red Monstrous Nightmare lighting up with flames.
"I was thinking," Fred told her, "since we remembered ourselves as Ruff and Tuff when we remembered our dragon, all I have to do is sneak each of these pictures into our friends' lockers and they'll all wake up too!"
Honey came over and put her hands on her hips, looking at each image thoughtfully. She frowned when her eyes fell on the last one.
"What?" Fred asked anxiously. "What is it? Is it bad? Is he missing a fang?"
She shook her head. "He looks great," she assured him. "But Fred," she said slowly. "Aren't we forgetting something?"
Fred frowned at her blankly, waiting for an explanation of what she was remembering. She sighed.
"Every Viking had a dragon, Fred, and every dragon had a Viking," she reminded him. "If we were all reincarnated into this world," she said, pointing at the Monstrous Nightmare. "Where's Snotlout?"
The realization rendered Fred speechless. How could he have overlooked such a conundrum? He had identified the Viking souls of all his current friends, and remembered all their dragons, but he hadn't realized that one of his friends was missing!
Before Fred could visibly freak out, a hesitant knock on the door caused the former twins to look up simultaneously.
"Honey?"
Their friend Gogo stood in the doorway, her eyes scanning the messy science lab in shock. She seemed unsure whether to be concerned or afraid. "What in the world...?" she began as she carefully took a step into the room.
"Ah-ah-ah!" Fred leaped up quickly, and grabbed the hand-written warning he had pasted onto a sandwich sign. He slammed it down in front of Gogo. "'Highly flammable objects must stay outside of the lab!'" He read the warning aloud, rushing up to the small, dark-haired girl. "If you have anything on you that sparks, get rid of it now!"
Gogo gave a small chuckle and made a show of checking her pockets. "I think I'm clean," she assured him. "Thanks for the warning, though." She looked around again in confusion, and wrinkled her nose at the foul aroma. "What have you two been doing in here?"
"Science!" Honey Lemon told her, holding out one of her green chem-balls proudly.
"We — have made a breakthrough!" Fred declared. "Zippleback gas!"
"Zippa-what?" Gogo made a face.
"Zippleback gas!" Fred said again, pointing to the tank of swirling green gas behind him. "That's what Honey has been working so hard on these past two days," he explained. "It is the most explosive gas in this world, and, it is going to save all of us!"
"Save us?" Gogo balled her fists anxiously. "How — "
"Do not fret, my speedy friend," he interrupted, snagging up his drawing of the Deadly Nadder excitedly. "It will all make sense to you, once you've seen… THIS!" He thrust out his pad of sketch paper towards her.
Gogo stared at the image blankly and raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Tuff (sorry, Fred — boy this identity crisis was confusing!) glanced at the drawing he was holding in concern. Had he forgotten a horn or a spike? Then he noticed the problem. "Wait — no — hold on — " He turned the pad around so that the drawing was right side up. "THIS!" He announced dramatically again.
Fred had expected her to have a sudden epiphany in that moment and jump for joy as her memory retuned. Unfortunately, it didn't work out so easily. Instead, Gogo crossed her arms in annoyance. "A mythical creature?" She said skeptically. "Fred —"
"No!" Fred insisted. "That's your dragon. See?" he pointed at the spiky tail. "She can throw killer spineshots and melt rocks and —"
"I thought you were over this dragon thing!" Gogo threw her hands up and huffed. "Fred —"
"But look, she's eating chicken," Fred tried, holding the picture closer, "'cause that always made her fly fast. Like you!" He looked at the picture himself. "At least I think this is right. I can't remember exactly. I've been working on this all day. In fact, I'm thinking of turning it into a comic book — I'll call it — "
"FRED!" Gogo shouted to get him to stop talking. "What does any of this have to do with the mess you two are making in here?"
Honey jumped into action then, and quickly whizzed over to Fred's side. "Hi, Gogo!" she greeted her sweetly before Fred could make another attempt. The chem-wiz pushed Fred aside forcefully and grinned in apology. "Please excuse him," she shot Fred a warning look. "I've been humoring his little dragon theory because it was the only way I could get him to help me with my project. Don't worry, it's harmless," she assured her innocently.
Fred glared at Honey. "Wow, way to have my back, sis," he grumbled. Honey Lemon gave a nervous laugh. She squeezed his arm, so tightly that he could feel her long nails drawing blood through his skin. Since when did she have such a rough grip? Oh wait — of course she has a Ruff grip —
"Okay..." Gogo's eyes flickered suspiciously between the two of them, but decided to let the explanation slide. She sighed. "Look, I was only stopping by because I thought you might be interested in this," she handed a flyer to Honey. "My physics professor sent an email to my class about this research facility in Montreoslo," Gogo explained. "The lead scientist, Dr. Bravado, is offering internships to students. The rest of the hero team and I are thinking about applying."
Fred snorted and eyed the flyer over his sister's shoulder. "Dr. Bravado?" he snickered. "What kind of scientist would call himself —"
He cut himself off suddenly as the idea hit him. Their twintuition must have just activated, because Honey whipped her head up at the same time and met his gaze with wide eyes.
"In Montreoslo?" Honey breathed. "That's really far up north, right?"
"Yeah, he does environmental research," Gogo replied. "Anything from climate and weather research to ecosystems and mineral studies. He's inviting a small group of young innovative minds to his lab for three months this summer."
Honey beamed at Fred. "This is perfect! Thank you, Gogo!" She squealed, throwing her arms around the dark-haired girl enthusiastically. Gogo stumbled backward in surprise.
"Yes!" Fred exclaimed as well, grabbing one of Honey's chem-balls from the counter. He held it up triumphantly. "Our Zippleback gas is exactly what we need to get his attention! And, I'll send in my dragon comic book with it!"
Gogo and Honey Lemon both looked at him for a moment. His sister was biting her lip to hold in a grin, while Gogo shot him a dirty look and popped a gum bubble.
"What?" Fred asked.
"You do know they only accept students, right?" Gogo reminded him.
"I am not going to abandon my team during the most important adventure of our lives! I am SFIT's mascot. We're gonna need some school pride at this research place!"
"We want you to come, Freddie," Honey said. "But how would you even get there?"
Fred shrugged. "When you all get accepted, I'll just get my private jet to take me."
A/N: Montreoslo — see what I did there? This universe is a world of combining cities together! So I took a couple cold places and turned them into one! (I know its cheesy, but screw it, this whole story is cheesy!) Please remember to review with your thoughts!
