(A/N: I want to be done with the first season, I really want to, but we're not, not yet. Only three more chapters (actually two after this one), then we're done.
I know I didn't mention which episode this one would be in the last chapter and that's because I was tired and rushed. This chapter is the episode "The Next Big Sting", it's an okay episode, but it had enough impact on me to write a story with a Speed Stinger in it. I haven't been able to update that story in a long time because I've been so busy, but I'm gonna have some free time pretty soon, so I'll consider doing a quick chapter for it.
I can't wait to get writing and I bet you want to get reading, so that's what I'm gonna do. ;) Please enjoy this, no matter how or what it turns out to be.)
*I-v-o-v-X~x~X-v-o-v-I*
It was a couple of weeks after peace was made on Dark Deep with both the new and the old inhabitants, and Dragon's Edge could finally get the attention it needed from all of the neglect and abuse it had taken from both those who lived on the island and those who visited. The damage that had been done was fixed, the Night Terrors were now back on their natural sleep routine, the twins were able to build a watchtower - after a change in location was suggested - and it turned out better than expected.
With all of the major problems and projects finished, the riders had time to themselves to do whatever they wanted. Most of them used that time for relaxation and training, but Hiccup had different plans, working on a personal project in his hut.
When he was finished with it, his eagerness to show everyone exactly what it could do drove him to wake up everyone early one morning and tell them to go up to a cliff. The cliff he wanted them to go to had a reoccurring draft, which would make flying on their dragons difficult, so they had to hike up to the top, much to their misery.
Panting, Tuffnut straightened out his back, "Oh, my back."
"Okay, Hiccup, you dragged us all the way up here," Astrid told him.
"Now, what is it you have to show us?" Helene asked.
"It better involve food or destruction," Tuffnut chimed in. "Or a combination of the two."
"I bet you're wondering why I brought you here today." Everyone stared at Hiccup blankly. "And the answer is, to show you my latest invention. Presenting the Dragonfly One!" He held up a contraption of red cloth sewn together with straps for his hands and feet. "Huh? Huh?"
'Are you kidding me, Hiccup?' Ladok mentally scoffed. 'This is what you dragged us out of bed for?'
Tuffnut's pet chicken, Chicken, clucked softly. "The chicken is not amused," he deadpanned. She clucked again.
"What is it?" Snotlout asked.
'As if it's not astonishingly obvious,' Ladok thought sarcastically. 'Stupid shit-head.'
"It's a flight suit," Hiccup answered Snotlout. "Don't all applaud at once."
"Hiccup, I don't need to remind you that we already have flying dragons," Fishlegs pointed out.
"I don't," Ladok interjected.
"Well, you know what I mean," he replied.
'Do I really?' he thought with a smile.
"Why would we ever need a flight suit?" he asked.
"Well, what if we were to get separated from our dragons mid-flight?" he proposed. "We might need to solo-fly until we catch up with them again."
Snotlout stared at him blankly, "If this fails, and I know it will, can I have Toothless?" He fell to the ground when both Ladok and Toothless hit him with their tails.
He rolled his eyes, "Oh, for Thor's sake."
"What are you planning on doing here?" Astrid asked.
"Jumping," he answered simply. "Unless someone has a better idea?"
She sighed in frustration, "Boys!"
"Guys, relax!" He held his hand out to feel the wind. "Feel that updraft? That's why I chose this place. It'll pick up my wings and I'll be floating on a bed of air."
He opened the Dragonfly One and noticed that one wing wasn't opening completely. He grunted as he tried to open it and chuckled awkwardly.
"Or crashing on a bed of rock," Snotlout remarked.
He finally fixed his flight suit and put it on, strapping it to his wrists and ankles. "Okay, everyone. Dragonfly One, maiden flight."
Seeing that his brother was serious about this, Ladok calmly mounted Toothless, putting his foot on the pedal. "Toothless and I will be on standby."
He laughed silently, "Noted."
He jumped off the cliff and, true to his word, the flight suit did work, but only briefly. Very quickly, the suit gave out and he began to plummet, screaming as he fell towards the ground.
"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted.
Ladok rolled his eyes, 'Of course.' He extended Toothless' tail fin and gripped his saddle, "Let's go, Toothless. Let's save the dumbass."
As they watched as Ladok and Toothless flew down to save Hiccup, Tuffnut commented, "I don't know about you guys, but I was under the impression that a flight suit was supposed to fly."
"Yeah, that looks more like a plummet suit," she chuckled. Ladok and Toothless returned back up to the cliff with Hiccup in Toothless' claws. Toothless dropped his rider in front of the other riders and landed. "Do it again."
Toothless spread his wings slightly and purposefully hit his rider in the side of his head. "Dumbass," Ladok uttered, still on the Night Fury's back.
Hiccup rubbed his head and noticed how everyone was looking at him, "What?" He took off the flight suit and held it up, "It just needs adjustments."
Everyone groaned in annoyance and began to leave. Hiccup's inventions often irritated them because they hardly ever worked, and if they did it was rarely correct. Watching him fail often took a toll on them, and this time was no exception.
He was disappointed by their lack of faith in him, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. Nothing was going to stop him until he wanted to.
He was about to call over Toothless so that he could start working on his flight suit as soon as he could, but Ladok was still sitting in his dragon's saddle. "Well, um, are you gonna get down?" he asked his brother.
He seemed to think about it for a moment, but shook his head, "No. You want to plummet, you get to be the passenger instead of the flyer."
It was his turn to groan as he begrudgingly sat behind his brother on his own dragon, "Fine. Let's go."
Ladok looked down at the Night Fury, "Well, Toothless, let's go."
A couple of hours later, everyone was back on the cliff to watch Hiccup and his flight suit again. This time, he was already wearing his invention as he finished the last of the alterations he made. Once again, Ladok was on standby with Toothless to save him if he started falling again.
"Okay, so I made a few tweeks. Now, behold some serious flying." Everyone, including the dragons, rolled their eyes as he stood at the edge of the cliff, preparing to jump again.
He jumped off, spreading his arms out as he extended his wings. Miraculously, the wings caught a draft and he was safely gliding through the air… for the moment. Just as before, as soon as the draft dissipated, he was falling towards the ground.
Ladok waited a moment longer than earlier before he and Toothless flew down to grab him. They caught him just as his feet hit the surface of the stream below and brought him back up to the top of the cliff.
"It just needs a few more adjustments," he smiled with a shrug.
Everyone groaned and left the cliff again to go back to Dragon's Edge. Ladok shook his head and leaned forward on Toothless, burying his face in his arms in frustration, while Toothless himself huffed.
Hiccup felt a tail suddenly hit him in the back, but it wasn't Toothless' tail, as he usually suspected, it was Ladok's. He grabbed onto his brother's arm and pulled him onto Toothless, "Come on. Let's go back."
A couple more hours later, after more adjustments and calculations, the riders were back on the cliff. None of them were happy to be back there, they were tired of his experiments, especially Ladok and Toothless who were the ones who had to save him from falling to his death each time.
"This time, I absolutely know where I went wrong," Hiccup claimed. "You see, it's all in the timing. I just judged the updrafts wrong. I assure you, I definitely have it now."
Tired and frustrated, Toothless huffed, looking away from his rider as he closed his eyes. Ladok was leaning against him, he was as disinterested in what Hiccup was saying as he was.
"Toothless and I will give you a two second head start," he mentioned.
"After I jump?" Hiccup questioned.
"After you plummet," he answered.
"Don't worry, I've got this under control. See?" he held out his hand, feeling an incoming draft. "There it is."
He put the flight suit on and stood at the edge of the cliff. He felt the breeze coming, it was time for him to take a leap of faith.
"Okay, now!" For the third time that day, he jumped off the cliff. He tried to open his wings, but one of them was stuck, he couldn't open it. "Come on!" When he couldn't get it open, he started screaming at the top of his lungs.
Upon hearing his screams, Astrid ran up to the edge and looked down, watching him fall. "Ladok!"
He rolled his eyes and tapped on Toothless, waking him up, "Come on, Toothless. Wake up, pal."
Helene walked up to Astrid, looking down at Hiccup, and was surprised by what she was seeing, "Guys, look!"
The other riders came up to them and looked down, seeing that Hiccup was now successfully flying! The wing that wasn't opening had caught air and now he was gliding safely against the wind.
"I'm flying! Woo-hoo!" Hiccup cheered, laughing. "Excellent!"
"I can't believe that hunk of junk actually worked," Snotlout commented.
"Yeah!" Fishlegs nodded excitedly. "Go Hiccup!"
Helene looked at Ladok and noticed that he wasn't as interested in Hiccup's success in flying as the rest of them were, even Toothless was excited that his rider was flying. Instead, he was more focused on something he was holding in his palm.
"What are you doing, Ladok?" she asked.
He looked up from his hand and showed her what he was holding, a miniature sundial, as small as a handheld compass. "I said that I would give him a two second head start, I want to see how long he can stay in the air before he plummets again."
"Well, I think it's time for you to get going down there again," Tuffnut mentioned.
Ruffnut snickered, "Yeah, look at him fall."
Ladok heard Hiccup's screams and knew that they were telling him the truth about him falling again. He looked down at his sundial, 'Hm, a whole minute. New record.' He put it away and reached down to Toothless, "Hey, you still awake?" Toothless yawned, but he was awake. "I know, but it's time to go again. Time to save my idiot brother and your dumbass rider."
Toothless groaned but lifted himself off the ground when his temporary rider extended his tail. They soared down to catch Hiccup and he fell into the water before they could, they had to dive into it to pull him out, dragging him to dry land on the riverbank.
Hiccup coughed out the water he had unintentionally swallowed, "Thanks for the save, guys. And by the way, your timing could've used a little bit of work."
Both of them exchanged glances and responded by spitting out the water they had also swallowed in his face. He spluttered in shock to the water being sprayed on his face from both of their mouths.
He wiped the water from his face and casually replied to this unusual gesture, "Yeah, I deserved that."
"You think?" Ladok remarked. Toothless laughed.
He removed the flight suit from his wrists and ankles, "Well, it looks like our flight tests are probably over for the day."
The other riders and their dragons were coming down from the cliff. They landed near them, Astrid got down from Stormfly and took away the flight suit from Hiccup.
"Okay, that's it. You're done with this," she stated.
"Right," he nodded. "For now." She rolled her eyes.
All of a sudden, they all heard a screech coming from the distance. It was loud, but it didn't seem like it was particularly close, although not too far into the forest either.
"What was that?" Helene asked.
"It sounded like a dragon in distress," Fishlegs inferred.
"Uh, guys? Something about that call seems strangely familiar. Not good familiar, bad familiar." Snotlout suddenly hears the flapping of dragon wings and notices that the others had left without him. "Huh? Uh, guys?"
"Snotlout, come on!" Hiccup called back to him.
"You've got to be kidding me," he grumbled. Begrudgingly, he mounted Hookfang and flew after them.
They heard more screeching and they knew that they were getting closer. "The calls are coming from up ahead," Hiccup uttered.
They heard the screeches again and they saw the dragon that was making them, a familiar green one with muscular legs, no wings, sail-like fin on top of the head, and a stinger. Unfortunately, it was a very dangerous species that could threaten all of them.
Hiccup gasped, "A Speed Stinger."
"Speed Stinger!" Snotlout scoffed. "Why did it have to be a Speed Stinger?"
"It looks like a young one," Hiccup observed, ignoring Snotlout. He also noticed that one of the legs appeared to be twitching, seemingly kicking the air.
"Why would it be out during the day?" Helene asked. "They're nocturnal dragons."
Snotlout pursed his lips as he spoke like a parent to a baby, "Ah, poor little guy. Let's get out of here! It's starting to get dark-"
Ladok cut him off, rolling his eyes, "Snotlout, will you stop already? You're being even more annoying than Hiccup today."
'Gee, thanks, Ladok,' Hiccup thought sarcastically.
"Besides, it's nowhere near evening anyway," he told him.
"And how do you know that?" he retorted.
He held up his sundial, "This. And by the sun's azimuth."
"Azi- what?" he asked, confused. "You're just making this up now!"
"No, I'm not," he responded.
He was about to explain it to him, but Ruffnut suddenly began to, "The azimuth is the direction of a celestial object based on the perspective of the observer. In this case, how the sun appears to us."
"Based on where the sun is positioned is how you can tell what the time of day is," Tuffnut added. "And since the sun isn't at its highest point yet, it's probably not even two o'clock yet."
"The sun won't be setting for another four or five hours at least," she claimed. "It's the opposite of dark any time soon."
He wore a blank yet perplexed expression for a moment after hearing all of this information. "Yeah, okay. The point is, where there's one Speed Stinger, there's usually a whole pack of them!"
They watched as the young Speed Stinger stood up and tried to put weight onto the leg Hiccup had noticed it was having problems with. When it tried to take a step, however, it fell back onto the ground and screeched in pain.
"Hiccup, it's leg is badly injured and Speed Stingers can't fly," Fishlegs uttered.
"That's why we can't leave it to predators. Right, Hiccup?" Ladok asked his brother.
"Right," he agreed. "Come on, Toothless." Toothless took the two brothers on his back down to where the Speed Stinger was.
Snotlout scoffed, "Are they seriously going back?"
"Snotlout, meet the Haddock family. Of course they're going back!" Astrid retorted.
"Oh, come on!" he shouted in frustration.
Toothless landed on the ground, close to the Speed Stinger, and Hiccup and Ladok got down from the saddle. The Speed Stinger quickly noticed them and screeched, holding up its stinger.
Hiccup cautiously approached it, his brother, dragon, and the other riders and their dragons stayed behind, although they were ready to pull him out if he got stung. The Speed Stinger growled at him and swung its tail at him, trying to sting and paralyze him.
He held up his hands defensively, trying to calm it down, "Hey, whoa, no, no. Easy there. Easy little fella."
"Hiccup, it looks like it can defend itself just fine. Let's get out of here," Snotlout persisted.
Astrid hushed him, "Ssh! Quiet down, Snotlout."
"You quiet down," he retorted.
As much as Hiccup wanted to say that the Speed Stinger would be fine until its pack could find it, he wasn't optimistic. In fact, he was very concerned about it and its safety.
"Unfortunately, this little guy won't be a match for wild boars or dragons," he concluded. "A Speed Stinger without its pack is extremely vulnerable."
"He must've gotten separated from the others, and they had to go to shelter before the sun came out," Fishlegs deduced.
"Sounds right. Let's go," he pointed his thumb back. "'Cause you know just as much as I do what they can-" He was cut off when Ladok suddenly shoved a pinecone into his mouth.
"Have a pinecone. Now shut up already," he uttered.
"Snotlout, we can't leave him like this. We'll bring it back to Dragon's Edge, nurse it back to health, then bring it back here," Hiccup declared. Snotlout groaned, though the pinecone in his mouth muffled it.
"So, what's the plan now, Hiccup?" Helene asked.
As usual, he couldn't give an answer immediately, "Uh… I'll think about that for a minute."
Ladok rolled his eyes, between Hiccup's inventions and Snotlout's constant complaining, this was turning into a very annoying day. He knew that whatever complex plan Hiccup came up with likely wouldn't work out well for anyone, but he had a simpler idea that he knew would work, because he had done it himself already.
He got a fish out of Toothless' saddle bag and as much dragon nip as he could grab in one fist. He broke apart and bunched up the dragon nip in his hands, forming them into small balls. He dropped the balls into the mouth of the fish, shaking it and using his finger or a stick to get the dragon nip into the stomach. He didn't stop until all of the dragon nip was gone and he could see some of it in the back of the dead fish's throat.
While Hiccup was still trying to think of a plan, Ladok carefully approached the Speed Stinger. It growled at him and it was about to lash its stinger at him, then it noticed the fish he was holding and licked its lips. He gave the young dragon the fish and watched it eat it. It was devoured quickly, he figured it likely hadn't eaten the whole day.
He waited for a couple of moments, waiting for the dragon nip to take effect. When he saw the Speed Stinger yawn and lay its head down, struggling to keep its eyes open, he knew that his method worked.
Finally, Hiccup thought he had an idea, "Okay, here's the plan I have in mind…"
"Uh, Hiccup?" Astrid spoke up.
"In a second, Astrid," he responded. "Ruff, Tuff, you two will-"
"Hiccup?" Fishlegs uttered, his voice displaying nervousness.
"Not now, Fishlegs," he replied. "Anyway, you two will secure the tail and-"
"Hiccup, you might wanna take a look at this," Helene insisted, looking behind him.
"Can't it wait?" he asked, slightly frustrated. "I'll set a splint with the broken pieces of Dragonfly One. We know what these things can do, so-"
"Hiccup!" Everyone, with the exception of Ladok, shouted at him.
"What?!" he groaned. They pointed behind him and he finally decided to look.
He couldn't believe his eyes, the sight could have made him faint. Ladok was holding the Speed Stinger! The Speed Stinger was asleep in his arms!
He smiled at his shocked brother, "Are we ready to go now?"
"What-? How-? You-" Hiccup could barely get the words out.
He smirked, "Dragon nip. Works every time."
"And you didn't even have to do the hand thing," Fishlegs commented. "Impressive."
"Aww!" Ruffnut gushed at the sleeping Speed Stinger. "He's cute when he's sleeping."
She came up to Ladok and the sleeping dragon in his arms and reached her hand to pet it. Ladok was about to object to this, then the tail suddenly extended and the stinger was caught in her arm. Strangely, her upper body froze instantly, but her legs were not paralyzed, she was able to walk normally, albeit with some difficulty.
"He's dreaming already," Ladok remarked.
"Interesting, only part of her is paralyzed," Fishlegs observed Ruffnut's condition. "Since it's an adolescent, its sting potency must not be at full effect."
"And how do we get it to sting her lower half?" Tuffnut asked. Knelt down next to Ladok and poked the young dragon's head, trying to wake it up, "Wakey, wakey, it's time for bacon and eggy."
Ladok moved the Speed Stinger away from Tuffnut, slapping his hand away, "Stop it, Tuff. I won't be able to put him back to sleep if you wake him up."
"We better load him up and get him back to Dragon's Edge," Hiccup declared, recovering from the shock of what he saw his younger brother accomplish.
"You know the pack is going to do everything in its power to find him once they notice he's gone, right?" Helene questioned prudently.
"Yep," he answered, "and that's why we have to get him back on his feet and back here as quickly as we can."
For the next few days, they worked hard to get the young Speed Stinger, whom they nicknamed Speedy, back on his feet. Fishlegs even set up an obstacle course for his rehabilitation.
Snotlout still objected to Speedy's presence on their base, he was paranoid about him paralyzing all of them and leaving them for dead when his pack found him. The quicker they could get the splint off of his leg, the quicker Snotlout would stop complaining.
Even though Speedy caused many problems for them, Fishlegs and Meatlug seemed to be bonding with him the most. Fishlegs let him run around outside around his hut, so that he could get a little fresh air.
When he saw him run to his hot tub, he panicked because he knew Speed Stingers couldn't swim, but he was astonished to discover that he was able to run on the surface of the water. Speedy had webbed feet, which allowed him to run on water; it meant that his entire pack had the same webbing and could run on water as well.
Hiccup was ecstatic to learn about the discovery, because it was proof of something he and Fishlegs had been discussing for a while: dragon evolution. They came up with the idea that dragons have to change their shape over time in order to survive, and achieve this by adapting to their environment.
This was a theory they came up with when they noticed the differences in rabbits, the rabbits on Berk were brown, but the rabbits in the north were white, they had adapted to camouflage in different environments. If it could happen with rabbits and other animals, why not with dragons? What Fishlegs discovered with Speedy was the evidence they needed.
Ladok was happy for his brother and Fishlegs, it was certainly an interesting discovery. He wondered if it was something others would believe, or if they would have to keep it to themselves until others could understand.
Finally, it was time for the splint to be removed from Speedy's leg, and almost time for him to be taken back into the wild. When Fishlegs entered the training arena, however, the cage was open and Speedy was missing! At first, he thought he had somehow gotten out, however, a suspicious absence of Snotlout and Ruffnut changed that thought.
They immediately went out to find them, before anything happened to them. If Speedy stung them and his pack found them first, they wouldn't survive. There were few things worse than an entire pack of angry Speed Stingers.
They eventually found them, with both Ruffnut and Hookfang partially paralyzed by Speedy's underdeveloped venom. As soon as they landed, Ladok immediately went to grab Speedy, who didn't object to being held.
"Hey, Hiccup, I got stung again. Just the right side this time. I tried to walk it off, but I just keep going in circles," Ruffnut slurred due to her slack and paralyzed jaw, using her left leg to demonstrate how she was currently walking.
"Dragon-napping, Snotlout?" he snapped at him. "I mean, this is a new low, even for you."
"I was trying to save us!" he argued back.
Speedy growled at him, then there was the sound of screeching in the distance. It couldn't have been anything other than Speed Stingers, Speedy's pack.
"Uh, you guys heard that, right?" Astrid precariously asked.
"It was an echo." Fishlegs gulped, "Please tell that was an echo."
His wishes came untrue when more screeching was heard. It was getting louder, they were getting closer.
"Oh, no. His pack's come looking for him," Helene uttered.
"If we keep quiet, we might not give away our location," Hiccup told everyone.
Then, Speedy started screeching and making calls from Ladok's arms. The response he got was identical vocalizations, which were now closer than ever. The Speed Stingers were right on top of them.
"I'm guessing that very soon I'm gonna wish I could run in a straight line," Ruffnut remarked.
"You! I know you'd rat us out!" Snotlout pointed at Ladok.
"Me? What did I ever do?" he asked.
"Not you. Him," he pointed at Speedy, who growled at him again.
Loud screeching was heard and soon enough they were surrounded by Speed Stingers, and more only appeared to be emerging from the forest. The dragons were running in circles around them, trapping them; there was nowhere to go, they couldn't escape.
"Guys! Stand your ground!" Hiccup commanded.
Their dragons whimpered, terrified of getting stung. Speedy squirmed in Ladok's arms, but he was too scared of getting stung by the larger dragons to let go of him at the moment. He wasn't worried about getting paralyzed by Speedy, the young dragon developed a liking to him, but he was definitely worried about the adult Speed Stingers, especially since any one of them could be his parents.
"There's… there's too many of them! Our only hope is to draw them away," Hiccup concluded.
He climbed back onto Toothless, but they both had to duck to avoid the Speed Stingers jumping over him. It wouldn't be long before they grew tired of intimidating them and decided that paralysis would be next.
Suddenly, Snotlout grabbed Speedy out of Ladok's arms. He held him under one arm, with his face looking behind him and his stinger being held in the other hand.
"I'm not leaving anyone behind!" he declared.
"Really? Since when?" Ladok retorted, dodging a Speed Stinger's tail.
"Since right now! Don't ask me why, but I'm suddenly feeling selfless and heroic. Back!" he pointed Speedy's stinger at them. "Get back!"
"Uh-oh. Gotta get away. Come on, leg!" Ruffnut struggled to walk, walking once again in circles.
"Don't worry guys, I'll be back." He ran off with Speedy, shouting, "Come and get me, needle butts!"
"Go get them, Snotlout," Ruffnut sipped her saliva back into her mouth.
"Snotlout, Snotlout, oi, oi, oi!" he cheered in order to increase his own bravery. "Keep chasing." He came to a stop, panting, and realizing that the Speed Stingers weren't following him. "Gone?" He then heard rustling in the bushes and the flightless dragons appeared in front of him. "And that's because they're all here for the big ambush. This was a bad idea."
Speedy managed to remove himself from Snotlout's grasp and did the most unexpected thing, he ran as quickly as could and stung his own pack mates! His venom only partially paralyzed them as well, leaving some of them unable to attack them.
"What the… Wait… I'm never gonna get you, dragon," he remarked.
The Lead Speed Stinger appeared before them, in all of his red-striped, lethal glory. He screeched angrily at Speedy, who trilled back a response. They paced back and forth across from each other in a hostile standoff, each contemplating their next move.
Snotlout was perplexed by what was happening, "What?"
"He's torn between his pack and the one that saved his life, ours," Hiccup revealed.
"But he hates me!" Snotlout shouted.
"Doesn't matter, you're one of us. It's his instinct to protect you," Ladok told him.
Hiccup was flying above everyone on Toothless, "We better get these guys out of here before he realizes that he has to choose a side." He craned his neck and saw that they were close to the ocean. "Okay, bud, let's get these guys to the water."
Toothless shot a plasma blast as they flew over Ladok, scaring away the Speed Stingers surrounding him. Hiccup reached his hand down and pulled him up onto the saddle. They flew over Snotlout and Ladok reached down to pick up Speedy, ensuring that the Speed Stingers would follow them.
Tuffnut was riding Barf and Belch on his own, usually impossible with one rider, but Barf was paralyzed by Speedy earlier that day, making it possible for him to fly them. Barf had his mouth hung open, inadvertently spewing gas due to his paralysis.
"Woo-hoo!" Tuffnut laughed. "Yeah! Nice, Barf. I mean, freaky, but nice just the same." He then sees the Lead Speed Stinger coming for him, "Oh, no." The red-striped dragon jumps and stings Belch, paralyzing the entire Hideous Zippleback and causing them to crash to the ground.
Ladok watched this happen and alerted Hiccup, "Barf and Belch are down."
"We need to get rid of that Stinger chief," Hiccup affirmed.
The larger Speed Stinger screeched as it ran ahead of them. It made it to a rock face and swiftly jumped from rock to rock, preparing for a large leap.
Hiccup noticed this and knew what they were headed into, "Ladok, get ready to take over."
He carefully stood up on the saddle, releasing Speedy from his hold, who wrapped his tail around the base of Toothless' for safety, "Okay, what are you planning?"
"When I say "now", put your foot on the pedal and fly up as quickly as you can," he instructed him as he put on his refurbished flight suit.
Ladok held his breath, not sure what to expect when it came time. The Lead Speed Stinger bent down, putting as much power into its legs as possible before finally jumping.
"Now! Toothless, separate!" Hiccup jumped down and spread his wings, "Dragonfly Two, go!"
Ladok sat in his brother's place and put his foot on the pedal, flying upwards. By doing this, they avoided the wrath of the Lead Speed Stinger by the tips of their claws.
"Woo-hoo! We did it, Toothless!" he cheered. Toothless warbled happily.
Hiccup laughed victoriously at how well the new flight suit worked, "Excellent!"
The Lead Speed Stinger fell into a heap of sand. It stood up and shook its head, removing the sand from its eyes. It saw that it was outnumbered without the numbers of its pack, it knew it was time to retreat.
It roared for its pack and began to run across the water. The pack heard their leader's call and emerged from the forest, running around the Dragon Riders to join him.
"Yeah! Swim away, Stingers!" Snotlout jeered.
Ladok landed Toothless and Speedy jumped off of his back. He growled sadly, looking up at Ladok and Hiccup.
Hiccup sighed softly and sadly, "No, I'm sorry, but, little guy, you need to go back with your own."
"What are you doing? We can't let him go back with them!" Snotlout protested.
"Snotlout, it's where he belongs," he replied firmly. "That's his real pack."
"And just when we were starting to get along. Why does this always happen to me?!" he cried.
Before taking his leave, Speedy looked up at Ladok, who was still sitting on Toothless, and chirped. He smiled at the young dragon and dug his hand into Toothless' saddle bag, taking out another fish for him. He threw him the fish, which he caught and ate, screeching once he was done with it.
He went to the ocean, standing at the edge of the beach as he spared one more glance at all of them. He called out to his pack before running across the water after them.
"Can you believe what that dragon did for us?" Astrid asked. "He helped us, over his own Alpha."
"For that little time, he was part of our pack," Hiccup uttered.
"And we were a part of his," Helene added, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Even Snotlout, somehow," Ladok remarked, jokingly.
They watched as Speedy ran on the water, racing for his pack. The sun was rising over the horizon and they were losing sight of him. What they discovered and accomplished because of him will always be with them, and maybe one day in the future, someone will learn something as well.
*I-v-o-v-X~x~X-v-o-v-I*
(A/N: Whew! I know this took me a while to finally get finished, bare with me, I've been busy with my college stuff.
I might consider having Speedy return in a future chapter, but let's not think too far ahead yet. The last two chapters will be the two-part episodes "Have Dragon, Will Travel". I bet you can guess who'll be returning, but I bet you can't guess what I have in store. :P Don't expect me to say more than that.
After these two chapters, season one will be coming to an end. To clarify ahead of time, just because the season is ending, does not mean the story is ending, season two and everything else onwards will still be published on this story. I never specified this and now I did, so I hope this doesn't cause any confusion.
I can't wait for the last two chapters and I'm sure it will be fun. Part one is next, so you don't want to miss out, stay tuned until then!)