(A/N: Hello, everyone, welcome back, and welcome to season two. :) We are starting this out with part one of "Night of the Hunters". I hope that all of you are ready for this and enjoy what I have for you.

I promise you, I won't make this as long as the last season. Everything you saw in the teaser is the amount of chapters that I plan to do. Of course, there might be a special thrown in, but I can't say for sure right now. Other than that, this season will definitely be shorter. (I can't say the same for the chapters, though.)

With that out of the way, enjoy this new season, everybody. :) It's going to have just as much fun as there will be twists and turns.)

V~*o-I-o-I-o*~V

It was nearly a month since the riders last saw Heather and Windshear, and since they learned that she was Dagur's sister and they were cousins with Helene. They were worried about her, especially Astrid and Helene, but they had to move on with their lives; chaos did not stop for a person's turmoil.

Helene was able to occupy her mind with other things, such as concerns with the dragons and Outcast Island council. She was very much worried about her cousin, but if she let her emotions and fears completely take over herself, she would be the same girl she was three years ago.

Astrid, however, struggled to get her mind off of her worries about Heather, for many reasons. The only thing that seemed to help her was spending time with Stormfly, they especially enjoyed their early morning flights together, flying over many islands.

It wasn't unusual for her to leave while everyone else was sleeping, she always came back when they were all awake. Therefore, it wasn't questioned when everyone woke up one morning and she wasn't there.

When she didn't make it back before it was time for the dragons' breakfast, however, that was when questions were raised. There was a time where she was gone until the afternoon, but Hiccup had a bad feeling about it.

By the time of their breakfast, when she still didn't return, that was when he became very worried, "Guys, I think something really bad happened to Astrid. She hasn't come back yet."

Everyone else was sitting around the unlit fireplace as they waited to fill their bowls. They all knew how paranoid Hiccup could be when things did not go exactly according to plan, and they also knew Astrid when she got carried away.

"You're overreacting, Hiccup, I'm sure she just got carried away again," Fishlegs calmly told him.

"Remember the time when she got so wrapped up in her flying exercises that she was halfway to Berk before noon?" Tuffnut laughed as he filled his bowl with porridge.

"Or that time she went to find more peppermint for Gothic and ended up going too far from the islands they grow on?" Ruffnut mentioned as she grabbed a handful of strawberries for her porridge. "Didn't she wind up bringing back spearmint instead?"

He puffed his cheeks as he held in more laughter, "That sure pissed Gothic off, didn't it?"

'Can't spearmint be used in healing practices too?' Ladok thought as he filled his own bowl.

Hiccup got a bowl and filled it, he sat down in his usual seat. There was an empty seat next to him, it was where Astrid usually sat, she always sat next to him.

He couldn't eat his breakfast when he had the thought of her in trouble in the back of his mind. He set his bowl down and slammed his spoon on the table as he stood up.

Everyone looked at him perplexedly as he left for the stables, "I'm going to find her."

'Too hungry, Hiccup,' his brother thought as he stuffed his face with the porridge.

Snotlout snorted, "What a worry wart."

"I don't know, guys. What if he's right? What if something happened to Astrid?" Helene inquired.

"Hele, please, not now," Ladok groaned. "I can't even remember the last time we had a meal without leaving before finishing it."

"You've only been with us a few months. Just wait until you get a dragon, you're never going to have time to eat," Snotlout laughed.

Ladok scowled and dug his spoon as deep into the porridge as he could. He pounded his fist onto the end of the handle, causing some of the food to catapult out of the bowl and splatter onto Snotlout's face.

"Ack!" he screamed, shocked.

'Keep your big mouth to yourself,' he thought as he continued to eat.

It was hours before Hiccup came back to the base and there was still no sign of Astrid and Stormfly. By that time, everyone was beginning to grow worried about them.

"Still no sign of them?" Fishlegs asked when he landed at the stables. He shook his head and Toothless growled. "They're probably out exploring and lost track of time."

"She's never been gone all day like this," he contended. "Not without telling someone."

He tried to be optimistic about her disappearance, "You remember when she didn't show up for her own party 'cause she was setting up a defensive perimeter around Berk."

He did remember that day, "Yeah."

Fishlegs continued, "Or the time she decided to practice her late night axe-throwing and surprised Silent Sven in the woods."

He also remembered that time as well, "Yes, Fishlegs."

"You know, I don't think he ever recovered from that," he pointed out. "And there was that time-"

"Thank you, Fishlegs," he interjected, "for trying to make me feel better. But this is different, there is something wrong, I can feel it."

"You know, if anyone is more equipped to survive out there, it is Astrid," he mentioned.

"No, you're right, Fishlegs, but we're going to find her anyway," he insisted.

Helene was sitting on the deck of her hut, her legs swinging over the edge, she watched as Hiccup and Fishlegs talked on the landing strip. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but seeing that Astrid was still absent, it wasn't hard to figure out.

She heard someone walking down the steps connected to her hut, there was only one person it could be, Ladok. The stairs connected his hut to hers and went nowhere else other than another staircase that led downward.

He walked up to her and looked down at the stables, "Still no Astrid, huh?"

She frowned, "No. No sign of her or Stormfly."

He sat down next to her, "I guess this is the one time Hiccup's paranoia really turned out to be something." She looked at him. Embarrassed, he held his hands up, "Sorry, sorry! Bad time for jokes, I know. I shouldn't have done it."

Instead of becoming upset with him, she smiled, "You always know how to make me smile."

Ladok was dumbfounded, he had no idea how to react, "I… I guess I just have that effect on you." He then corrected himself after he realized what he had said, "Sorry, on everyone, I have that effect on everyone."

She shook her head, while still smiling, "You're adorable."

If he had skin, it would be as red as an apple, "I- I am?! I-I-I m-mean, wh- what do you mean?"

"I mean, you're always making me smile," she replied. "Even when you don't even know it."

He didn't know how to respond to her, so he tried to think of a way to change the topic. Then, he saw something in the corner of his eye, there was something dark above the horizon.

"Are those storm clouds?" he asked, his hand on his brow line to provide shade to his eyes.

Helene looked straight ahead and stood up to go inside of her hut. She returned to him with a spyglass, holding it up to her eye, "Oh no. There's a storm coming this way." She grabbed onto his arm, pulling him up, "Come on, let's go tell Hiccup."

After telling him about the incoming storm, Hiccup grabbed the other riders. They gathered their dragons and headed out for the dark clouds. The search for Astrid and Stormfly was becoming a rescue mission.

"We'll all go in different directions," Hiccup informed everyone. "Ladok and I will head south."

"No, I should head south," Snotlout claimed.

He rolled his eyes, he wasn't in the mood for Snotlout and his protests, "And why is that?"

He tried to think of an excuse, "Because… Astrid likes to fly south and… she'll be expecting me to find her."

"Like I said, we're going south," he stated.

"You're going south," Ladok suddenly interpolated.

Before Hiccup could say anything, he stood up and jumped onto Ripwave, wrapping his arms around Helene. She was startled by his actions and was about to say something, but decided to let the brothers sort it out. Besides, she didn't mind his company, he was a good friend and her closest neighbor on Dragon's Edge.

"Ladok, what are you doing?" Hiccup questioned. "And how many times have I asked you not to do that?"

"First off, when did you ever tell me not to?" he retorted. "Second, I already know how this works. You have us split up and you end up finding Astrid anyway. Under the assumption that she's probably not with Stormfly since she's been gone so long, I'm thinking ahead of time and giving her room."

"You know, for not being with us for too long, you sure know everything about Hiccup," Helene commented.

He smiled, "He's my brother. I kind of have to."

"Okay, so I'm going south, you two will go east, Snotlout, you and Fishlegs will go north, Ruff, Tuff, you two will head west," he proclaimed.

"Rain, wind, all of us splitting up?" Tuffnut asked ominously. "Sounds like the perfect opportunity… for a rogue sea beast to leap from the depths of the ocean and pick us off one… by… one."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Okay, if someone else went with you, would that make you feel better?"

"Yes, yes, it would," he responded.

"Alright, Fishlegs, you go west with the twins," he told him.

He gave him a thumbs up, "Got it, Hiccup."

"Alright, gang, let's go find her," he declared.

"She's gonna be so sad if you rescue her instead of me," Snotlout remarked.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll tell her it was all you," he replied sarcastically.

"You'd do that for me?" he asked cordially.

"No, of course I wouldn't," he answered.

He flew south with Toothless and the others went in their search areas as well. Hopefully, one of them would be able to find her and Stormfly.

The storm was becoming stronger with each passing minute, causing Hiccup to look as much to the sky as the choppy waters below as he searched for Astrid. If she was in the water, she wouldn't be able to survive, regardless of how strong she was.

Toothless howled into the wild wind and rain, but couldn't find anything, "Still nothing. She's got to be somewhere."

Meanwhile, in the wild sea below, Astrid was completely depleted of her strength, after spending hours in the water. She was using what little she had left in her to hold onto the driftwood she found.

Unfortunately, her numb fingers lost their grip and she sank into the water. She had no strength left within her, she couldn't prevent herself from drowning, she couldn't save her own life.

The one thing on her mind was, 'I'm sorry, Stormfly. I'm sorry.'

As she felt the air escaping her lungs, she heard something - or someone - dive into the water. She felt hands wrap around her and the water and bubbles surrounding her shift as she was lifted up.

The sea changed into cold air and rain drops, she was out of the water. She took in a breath and coughed, saltwater poured out of her mouth like a river.

Someone shook her and screamed her name, "Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!"

She instantly knew who the voice belonged to and opened her eyes with a weak smile. "What," she coughed up more sea water, "took you so long?"

He sighed in relief with a smile, "Oh, thank Thor."

He hugged her and they both shivered when a gust blew against their wet clothes. When he pulled away from her, she was passed out. He needed to get her back to the base so that she could rest.

He gave Toothless a pat, "Let's find the others and get back to Dragon's Edge."

Astrid was unsure how long she was unconscious, all she did know was that she had woken up in a bed. It took her less than a second to remember everything that had happened to her, to Stormfly.

She sat up in the bed in shock, "Stormfly!"

She was inside of Hiccup's hut, in his bed, with the other riders in there with her. They surrounded Hiccup's bed in a circle, so that they could all watch her as she slept and awaited her awakening.

Hiccup grabbed her shoulders to help her relax, "Hey, it's okay, it's okay, just try to relax, Astrid. You had a rough night."

She gripped his arms tightly, almost like a vice, "No, no, no, no. You don't understand. They were all in cages… and they have Stormfly!"

'Cages?' Ladok mentally repeated. Nervously, he gulped, swallowing his saliva.

He didn't understand what she was talking about, she wasn't making sense and she was speaking so fast, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, slow down… cages? What are you talking about? What happened out there?"

She looked at him with wide, shocked eyes, "Dragon Hunters."

All of the other Dragon Riders were shocked after hearing her words; especially Ladok and Helene, for their own reasons. She shifted her feet uncomfortably and he unconsciously gripped his own bicep, both had racing heart beats.

"Dragon Hunters?" Hiccup repeated. He could hardly believe what they all heard from her and what came out of his own mouth.

She nodded, "A whole fleet of them."

He was still processing everything she was saying, "And they have Stormfly?"

"Yeah, this big, ugly one… oh, when I get my hands on him!" she growled.

'Big…?' Ladok thought, his eyes wandering nervously. His hold on his arm tightened, his other hand now on his elbow.

'Ugly…?' Helene thought as well, her feet shifting more, now feeling cold and sweaty. Her hands were also cold, like winter air.

"And… welcome back," Fishlegs commented, smiling slightly.

Astrid pushed everyone aside as she ran out of Hiccup's hut, "C'mon, let's mount up-" She stopped at the doorway when she remembered that she didn't have Stormfly, and therefore no dragon to mount. "Hele, can I ride with you?" She nodded.

"Actually, I already called dibs," Ladok chimed in.

"Really? When?" his brother asked, perplexed. He discreetly hit him in the back with his tail, the shock caused him to stumble towards her. "I mean, you can ride with me."

She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Thanks, Hiccup. I appreciate it."

They walked out of the hut, followed by the other riders. The last ones to walk out were Ladok and Helene.

She smiled at him with a laugh, "I saw that. I saw what you did."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied innocently, giving her a wink.

Again, she laughed, "I'm sure you don't. Come on, let's go, the others are waiting."

Astrid took them to the island she was on when Stormfly was taken away. On the beach, there were definitely signs of a struggle of some kind. There were impressions of large cages and dragon scales partially buried in the sand, but none was the color of Stormfly's.

"There has to be some clues here or something, somewhere," Astrid uttered.

"How many cages were there?" Hiccup asked.

"Remember all the cages we saw on the Reaper?" she questioned.

He nodded, "Yeah?"

"Double it," she replied.

'Double it?' he mentally repeated, now becoming scared.

He remembered when he and Helene were on the Reaper together and saw all of the cages on the upper deck. He didn't remember the exact number, but there could have been as many as five. The possibility of a group of Dragon Hunters having ten cages was truly terrifying to him.

"We got nothing," Tuffnut reported.

"Just a bunch of trash," Ruffnut added, "looks like those Dragon Hunters were also litterbugs."

"Yeah, there should be some kind of penalty or fine for littering. I mean, am I wrong? What if everyone were this careless and inconsiderate? What then, huh? What would we be then? Oh, no!" he cried.

Snotlout snorted, "I knew coming here was a bad idea. What do you want to find here?" He accidentally steps on something in the sand and shouts in pain, "Ow! Something bit me! I'm allergic to sand crabs, they make my toes fan out. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Astrid went over to look at his foot, "Oh, look at you? Rushed right over to help me, didn't you? You know, what that means, Astrid-"

He screamed at the top of his lungs when she pulled out the thing he stepped on. It was a red arrow with a neon green tip on the arrowhead.

"This is a Dragon Hunter arrow," she stated.

"Or… that," he muttered.

'Never gonna happen, Snotlout,' Ladok thought.

"Stormfly was hit by one of these before she was caught," she informed them. "I've never seen her act so out of control."

Fishlegs took the arrow from her and examined it, trying to find an explanation for Stormfly's behavior and figuring out what it could be. It wasn't anything he had ever seen before, but it was the coloration of the arrowhead that particularly intrigued him.

"Interesting…" he sniffed it, "...unexpected…" he licked the arrowhead, "...tangy."

"Ming cluing us in on what "tangy" and "unexpected" mean?" Hiccup questioned.

"I'm guessing it's refined dragon root. I've heard that in high concentrations, it can overwhelm a dragon's senses completely, making it impossible for them to fly," he explained.

"That's exactly what happened to Stormfly," Astrid affirmed.

"Think of it, just one quiver of these arrows could decimate an entire flock of dragons," he expounded.

"It would essentially cause all of them to overdose," Ladok chimed in.

Everyone, especially Astrid, was now more afraid than ever about Stormfly and her safety. If simple arrows had the ability to inherently take away a dragon's flight, what else could these Dragon Hunters have in their arsenal?

"How are we gonna find her?" Astrid asked as nervousness, which was rare for her, began to rise in her voice. "We have no idea where they're going."

"They could be on the other side of the archipelago by now," Ladok uttered.

Hiccup's mind was both thinking and panicking, he wished none of this was happening and that Stormfly was with them and safe. He was broken out of his mind's swirling turmoil when Helene nudged him.

"Hiccup, if they had cages that were like the ones on the Reaper, maybe the Reaper will help us find them," she claimed.

His eyes lit up as he thought about it, "You might be onto something, Hele. If the Reaper had the Dragon Eye on it, I bet it'll give us some clues."

It was a long flight to the graveyard of shipwrecks, but there was no time to rest when Stormfly's life may be at stake. Ladok was shocked and uneasy by how gray and desolate it was, it really was a graveyard.

"Alright, look for anything that might help us track down the Dragon Hunters," Fishlegs informed everyone. "Maps, coordinates, hidden compartments…"

"There's nothing here," Tuffnut claimed after looking at the barren deck. "Someone totally looted this boat!"

He wasn't wrong, the last time they were on the Reaper, there were cages on the deck, but they were gone. All that was there were the bones that were once inside of one of them.

Ruffnut shivered in disgust, "This ship gives me the creeps."

"Definitely," Ladok agreed.

"Sunken ship, Dragon Hunters, the creeps… I bet this thing is crawling with ghosts and other such spirits planning on dragging us down to the dark Viking underworld where they will torture us by tickling us for eternity!" Tuffnut dramatically declared.

His sister gasped, "Niflheim?"

"Gesundheit," he replied blankly and obliviously.

'Don't you mean Helheim, Ruff?' Helene thought, rolling her eyes.

"Niflheim?!" Snotlout exclaimed. "I knew coming here was a bad idea! What do we hope to find anyway?"

There was a creaking sound coming from underneath his feet. The boards then broke and he fell through the deck.

He coughed the dust out of his mouth, "Ow! Get me out of here!"

"What if that's just what the ghosts want us to do?" Tuffnut asked cautiously.

"Tuffnut!" he snapped.

"Stay right there, Snotlout. We'll be down there in a second," Hiccup told him.

Using the ship's brig, they went down to the lower deck to search down there. The traps from when Hiccup and Helene first investigated it were still there, with more than still likely there, waiting to be triggered.

Ladok's heart dropped when he saw the skeletons inside of the cells. He couldn't imagine how Toothless must have felt when he saw this, or what the dragons had gone through before their deaths.

Again, they searched for any clues that could help them find the Dragon Hunters. Just like before on the upper deck, nothing useful was found.

Astrid pounded her fist on the wall in anger, "There's nothing here!"

"Just keep looking, we'll find something," Hiccup claimed.

"What if we don't? What if we can't track them down?" The tears were threatening to leak out of her eyes, tears of fear. "Hiccup, I'm-"

He placed his hand on her shoulder to reassure her, "I know, I know. But we have to stay positive."

"I'm trying, but you didn't see this guy. He actually enjoys hunting and caging dragons." She clenched her fists, "And he has mine!"

She grunted as she grabbed an axe and threw it. Ladok moved out of the weapon's trajectory and it hit a shield mounted on the wall next to the cages.

While Hiccup was calming Astrid, he was more interested in the shield the axe hit. It was a mess of red lines behind straight, uniform gray bands. There was one part of it that looked like it represented an eye, but it wasn't made of wood. He tapped on it with his claw and heard a distinctive sound, it was glass.

Carefully, he pulled out the axe and took the shield off the wall. He took out the glass object and discovered it was a lens, a Dragon Eye lens!

"Hiccup," he uttered, flicking it towards him.

He caught it and held it up, "A lens! Where did you find this?"

He showed him the shield, "Someone put it in this. Hiding a clue in plain sight."

Hiccup was eager to look at the lens to see what it could tell them. When he had Toothless light it, however, it showed nothing. He tried with the other dragons, but he kept getting the same result.

He sighed in frustration, "Well, none of our dragons work with this new lens."

'Unless the dragon we need is a part of the Sharp Class,' Ladok thought.

Astrid was starting to worry, "If we can't figure out what kind of dragon we need…"

Hiccup was beginning to feel pressured, "I know. I'm thinking."

Tuffnut took a close look at the shield, particularly the design, "It's either the inside of a yak… or a Changewing in a cage."

Hiccup looked at it closer and saw that it really was a Changewing, "Tuff! You're a genius!"

"Actually, I'm a geologenius," he replied. "That's a geologist who's also a genius."

'Aren't geologists supposed to be smart? They are scientists,' Ladok thought.

"We need to find ourselves a Changewing. And I know where to find one," Hiccup mentioned.

They made their way out of the Reaper and prepared for the flight to Changewing Island. Ladok was frankly relieved that they were leaving the shipwreck graveyard, it gave him chills.

"We're seriously going to Changewing Island?" Snotlout complained, not at all thrilled with the thought of coming across the acid-spraying, camouflaging dragons. "I can already tell you how that's going to play out."

"Are you kidding me?!" Astrid snapped. "My dragon could-"

Before she could tear him to pieces, Helene spoke up, "Actually, I have a better idea."

"You do?" Ladok asked as climbed into Ripwave's saddle.

She nodded as he wrapped his arms around her, "Dragon Island."

"We haven't been there in a long time," Fishlegs uttered.

"Why do you want to go there?" Hiccup inquired.

She smiled, "Let's just say I have a friend who can help us out."

"Does that mean we're not going to Changewing Island?" Tuffnut asked as he and his sister mounted their respective saddles on their dragon.

"Bummer," Ruffnut frowned, sulking.

After yet another long flight, they finally arrived at Dragon Island. It was just as they remembered and as Ladok had been told, it was gray and desolate yet had forests full of life. On the beach, there was a gigantic skeleton of a dragon, the Red Death.

"Are you sure we're in the right place, Hele?" Ladok asked as they dismounted Ripwave.

He honestly didn't know how to react to the island, he heard stories about it from his mother, but never imagined that it would look like a dragon graveyard. The presence of the skeletal remains of the Red Dragon gave him a feeling of heartlessness that both lingered and loomed.

"Yes, I'm sure," she responded.

"Okay, well, why have us come here?" Fishlegs asked next. "What's here?"

She only smiled and cupped her mouth, howling into the wind with a Changewing dragon call. The roar of a dragon was heard a moment later, but afterwards, nothing and there was no sign of it.

"Well, this was a waste of time," Snotlout remarked with a scoff.

Still, she smiled, looking at the rock formation behind him, "Is it?"

"Huh?" Smoke came from behind him and he looked up, watching as a Changewing became tangible. It roared loudly at him, causing him to wince like a child.

Snotlout hastily moved away, but Helene calmly walked up to it and reached her hand out. It growled at first, but then it sniffed her and instantly became friendlier, it recognized her. It got down from the rocks it clung on to like a lizard and stood next to her, nudging her.

Ripwave growled in jealousy, she didn't like it when her rider paid more attention to another dragon. Ladok noticed the change in her behavior and scratched the side of her head to calm her down.

Astrid heard about the Changewing that Helene befriended, but had never seen it for herself. Frankly, she originally thought it was an unbelievable story, but she could now see for herself that it was anything but a tall tale.

"I have to admit, you never cease to amaze me, Hele," she commented.

She laughed, "I know."

Hiccup got the Dragon Eye out of his saddle bag, "Alright, on to work."

Helene led her Changewing into a cave, so that they could see the projections from the lens better. After the Dragon Eye was set up, she was able to get it to produce just enough acid to light it.

Unfortunately, the images were nothing new, they had seen them before with other lenses. It was all the same, not even the seemingly miscellaneous symbols were different.

Fishlegs sighed in frustration, "This doesn't help, we've seen all of this before."

"It must be a Hunter port," Hiccup deduced. "And it's the closest to the beach where Stormfly was captured. Odds are, that's where they're headed."

"After that, who knows," Ladok shrugged slightly.

"Then we have to hurry!" Astrid affirmed.

"Yes, please, let's hurry!" Snotlout squeaked meekly, very much uneasy by the presence of Helene's Changewing friend.

They left the cave and prepared to leave for the island the Dragon Eye showed them. Helene gave her friend some fish she kept in her saddle bag, but didn't touch the clams she had, those were for Ripwave only.

"Thanks for your help," she smiled as she gave the Changewing one last fish. The friendly red dragon nuzzled against her neck and flew away.

She heard her dragon whine sadly behind her, it sounded like a baritone infant Thunderdrum. She smiled reassuringly and held up a cod and a handful of clam innards.

"You didn't think I actually forgot about you, did you?" she playfully asked her dragon. Ripwave excitedly ate the fish and clams, rubbing her head against her like a cat.

As they mounted their dragons, Fishlegs asked, "Uh, Hiccup, how are we going to avoid getting shot with those dragon root arrows?"

"Funny you should ask, Fishlegs. For my plan to work, someone's gonna have to get shot," he smirked.

He whimpered, 'Oh, Thor, I don't like the sound of that.'

"Yeah! Looks like we're up!" Tuffnut cheered.

"Cool!" Ruffnut chuckled.

The rider flew to the islands the Dragon Eye directed them to. There, just as was suspected, they discovered the Dragon Hunters, loading dragons and equipment onto their ship.

As soon as the hunters were in their sights, they started firing at them. Toothless soared down close to the ship and shot a plasma blast at the deck before flying up.

"I'm here for my dragon!" Astrid declared.

On the deck was a man who stood out among the others, he was bald, wore a singlet of dragon scales, and carried a large sword that was similar in color to dragon-proof metal. He was the same man that kidnapped Stormfly.

When Ladok saw the man, his heart sank into his stomach, it was beating so fast and strongly that he could feel his pulse in his throat. He thought his hold on Helene had loosened slightly from the shock, in reality, it was tighter.

The man's eyes widened when he saw Toothless, "A Night Fury!" He chuckled, "Fire!"

Toothless soared across the sky, directly above the ship. The hunters prepared their dragon root arrows, but the fast dragon had already disappeared.

Then, just as soon as he had vanished, they had him back in their sights. Night Furies were as fast lightning and as swift as a ghost.

"There he is!" a Dragon Hunter said.

Arrows were shot up at them, Hiccup managed to move himself, Toothless, and Astrid out of the way. Even with two people on his back, there was no dragon quicker than him.

Hiccup was more than satisfied seeing his plan falling into place. Astrid, however, wasn't as optimistic, "You sure your plan's gonna work? That was pretty close."

"Yes, I'm sure," he replied reassuringly. "Fishlegs, you're up!"

He took in a deep breath and gripped Meatlug's ears, "Okay, girl, let's give it all we got."

He flew down close to the ship, ensuring that they would get hit; and that's what happened. A dragon root arrow was shot at her, impaling into her side. Her hide was thick and tough, the injury was likely nothing serious.

"Oh, Thor! We're hit! We're hit!" he cried dramatically. In order to be more convincing, Meatlug landed on the deck lethargically, to seem sick.

"They got Fishlegs and Meatlug!" Astrid shouted.

He got off his dragon and pretended to try pushing her to stand up, "Get up, girl! Oh, please! You'll be okay!" The man approached them with a smirk on his mustached face. Fishlegs glared at him, "You monster!"

"Take 'em below and toss 'em in a cell!" he ordered the other hunters.

"Meatlug! Can you hear me? Oh, stay with me, girl!" The hunters grabbed him and pulled him away from her. "Get off me! Get off me!"

Meatlug was muzzled and Fishlegs was cuffed with thick chains. As they were taken to a cell on the lower deck, the other riders left.

The man grinned twistedly as he listened to Toothless roar as they flew away, "What I could get for that Night Fury?"

As Fishlegs and Meatlug were put into a cell, the ship began to sail away. The Dragon Hunters couldn't get a couple of hundred feet away from the island port before they were once again being fired on by the riders circling their ship with their dragons.

"Fire!" a Dragon Hunter commanded.

More arrows were shot at them, along with boulders from the catapults. They were able to avoid them for the most part, but many came very close to hitting them.

"Look out!" Hiccup shouted as he saw an arrow flying upwards towards them. It startled Toothless, causing him to fly erratically in a panic, "Hang on, Astrid!"

Astrid couldn't hold onto Toothless, he was moving too much for her to get a grip on him. She fell off the saddle, onto the deck of the Dragon Hunters' ship.

"Hiccup!" she cried.

"Astrid!" Helene yelled.

She leaned forward, reaching her hand down, her stomach was against her dragon's saddle. In her shock and fear, she didn't take notice when a boulder was hurled towards her and Ladok.

"Helene, look out!" Ladok shouted. "Ripwave, lean!"

She leaned to the side to avoid the boulder, just as it was about to hit them. Helene was still in shock and her hold on her dragon wasn't strong enough, and she ended up falling onto the ship with Astrid. Dragon Hunters grabbed the girls before they could be rescued.

"Astrid/Helene!" Hiccup and Ladok cried in unison.

The girls struggled against the hunters' grip on them, trying to get away. Hiccup and Ladok tried to fly closer to the ship, but the endless arrows and boulders were stopping them.

"Hey! Let go of us!" Astrid grunted.

"Assholes! You'll regret this!" Helene hissed.

The man chuckled, "Feisty, aren't you? I like your spirits. Throw 'em in a cell."

"You're going to be sorry!" Helene seethed.

"You're messing with the wrong Vikings!" Astrid growled.

He casually dismissed their threats, "Well, so are you."

She scowled at him, wanting nothing more than to use his own sword against him. Then, a familiar squawk hit her ears, she knew who that was.

She smirked, thinking, 'We'll see about that.' She howled like a wolf as she called for Stormfly.

Her dragon heard her, she arrived out of the lower deck with Fishlegs and Meatlug. Astrid was relieved to see that she still had her beautiful sky blue scales.

She grinned, "Stormfly!"

"Now!" Hiccup commanded.

All at once, the other dragons fired down at the ship in a barrage. The girls used this opportunity to stomp on the hunters' feet, freeing themselves.

Stormfly pushed her captor to the deck and Astrid climbed onto her. Both were happy to finally be reunited with each other.

She unleashed her spines on the hunters as Astrid helped Helene onto her back. She and Meatlug flew up from the ship to reunite with the other dragons and riders.

Unfortunately, their freedom and victory would be short-lived. Their new enemy was a force to be reckoned with.

Calmly, he commanded his soldiers, "Fire."

The Dragon Hunters fired their arrows at Stormfly, causing her to fly erratically again, a net pulled her and her two riders back onto the ship. For Meatlug, they threw bolas at her, flattening her small wings and preventing her from flying. They were captured again and this time, Astrid, Helene, and Fishlegs would be too.

"It didn't work. Evasive action! Now!" Hiccup shouted.

The twins flew above the ship, flying along the side while releasing Barf's gas. Before Belch could ignite it, an arrow was fired at them, the dragon root once again causing erratic flying.

"Not good!" Tuffnut yelled.

A bola was flung at Barf and Belch's necks, tying them up like the twists of a rope. They were now unable to produce an explosion.

"Getting worse!" Ruffnut cried.

As Barf and Belch began to fall out of the sky, they exclaimed in unison, "We're going down!"

They fell into the ocean and the hunters began to pull them out and onto their ship. More of them were firing arrows at the remaining three riders, Hiccup, Ladok, and Snotlout.

Hiccup closed his eyes as he watched as an arrow was flying up to him and Toothless. They couldn't stop it at that moment because Toothless had reached his shot-limit.

Then, he heard a small explosion after the distinctive sound of electricity. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that it was no longer there.

He smiled up at his brother, "Thanks, I owe you one."

He smiled back and gave him a thumbs-up, "No problem."

While that arrow may not have hit him, another did get Hookfang. Snotlout couldn't control his dragon as the dragon root quickly took effect on him.

"We're hit! Whoa! Hookfang! Help!" he screamed as he and his dragon began to plummet.

Toothless soared down and managed to catch Hookfang by the tail, stopping their fall. He started to fly higher to get out of the range of the arrows. Ripwave followed, continuing to fire at the Dragon Hunters' projectiles.

The bald man grunted in anger and frustration, "You're pathetic tricks won't work on me. I'm a Dragon Hunter! I know that Gronckles are immune to dragon root."

Astrid glared at him as she was cuffed and he held her head up in his hand, "Ugh!"

"I used your worthless escape plan to lure your friends in closer," he taunted her.

Ladok looked down at the ship as their friends and their dragons were taken below deck, "Hiccup, we have to get out of here."

"Yeah, we need to leave!" Snotlout agreed as held onto Hookfang's saddle, still hanging by Toothless' hold.

He didn't hear a word they were saying, as he was watching as he lost sight of their friends. His heart was breaking like glass, he had failed them and the dragons.

"Hiccup!" they shouted at him in unison.

As much as he didn't want to leave his friends and riders, he knew they couldn't stay there, "Get us out of here, bud."

V~*o-I-o-I-o*~V

(A/N: Whew! This only took forever! Oh, well, I'm proud of it and this is where hard work will take you.

I've actually been thinking about having Helene's Changewing make an appearance for a little while now. I was thinking about giving it a name, but I didn't know what a good one would be. I didn't want it to be cliche to Changewings (you know like something to do with acid). Mentally, I was kind of referring to it as "Friend", since it's friendly and, well, her friend.

The reason why I didn't identify Ryker in this chapter is because his name isn't mentioned by anyone other than Astrid before the other riders actually see him. That kind of bothered me because, as far as I know, his name was never said or anything when she first saw him. So, I decided that that'll be in the next chapter.

Anyway, I don't want to keep you here any longer than you wanna be, so it's time to say bye for now. I hope I'll be seeing you all in the next chapter.)