(A/N: I am psyched for this chapter! Why? Because it's my favorite episode of RTTE, "A Time to Skrill". It also features my personal favorite dragon. I normally write two, three or so paragraphs in my author's notes at the start of my chapters, but not this time because there's nothing else to say. Other than this: enjoy the new chapter!)

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In the middle of the northern ocean, there was an iceberg as large as a small island. It was isolated with no sign of life, other than the occasional Terrible Terror that rested on the icy surface.

It was always quiet and uneventful, until one day. The entire iceberg shook violently and suddenly, as though a demon was awakening from the deepest depths of the ocean underneath. A trio of Terrible Terrors fled, frightened; afraid of what could emerge.

Cold… darkness… hatred… that was what it remembered, thoughts that always repeated in its mind like a swirling whirlpool. There were faces he was constantly seeing in its memories, many it hated, but one it didn't.

The face it did not despise was that of a kind person, a young woman, someone who did not see it as an untamed monster. She was the only one it didn't want to harm; if anything, it wanted to make sure she would be safe, especially when they were both captured by the same people. The deranged young male and an older bearded man, whose faces it also remembered vividly.

Although it was trapped in ice, there were periods of consciousness where it would think, and spells of unconsciousness where it would dream. Every time during its dreams, when it thought it could reach her, the other people's faces would stop it.

Sometimes, whenever it wasn't thinking or dreaming, it would hope for a miracle to break out of the iceberg. From its perspective, it was not simply an iceberg, it was a prison, one that could not be escaped.

It remembered the day it was trapped, both times it occurred. It recalled visiting a large, icy island in order to hunt, the food in its own home was somewhat scarce.

It was not on the island for a long time before it was attacked by an enemy it could not see clearly due to a snow storm. It was not a fool to try to fight an unseen opponent, instead opting to leave if the icy land was hostile, especially since it had not the energy to battle.

When it flew away, however, whatever was attacking followed, and with the storm still brewing, it struggled to fight back. For hours, it flew in circles around the island, hoping the invisible opponent would eventually tire, but it never did.

Whatever it was, it had stamina that was on par with its own, if not superior. It could also see very well in the snow storm, whereas it could not.

Eventually, the blizzard stopped and it finally saw its new enemy, an all white dragon with piercing blue eyes. With the snow lightened, the dragon seemed to slightly struggle seeing it, faltering a little while flying and missing its body whenever it shot its fusillade, which it had not done before.

With these flaws, it decided to take the opportunity to flee, believing the white dragon could not follow. However, it quickly discovered it was not an opponent to underestimate.

It was suddenly able to compose itself and became capable of flying properly once again, its aim was restored as well. Somehow, it was focusing on something about it, allowing it to continue the pursuit.

As it tried its hardest to stay ahead, but with little energy to sustain its stamina the new enemy was closing in. Fortunately, the gods seemed to notice its struggles and blessed it with exactly what it needed, a thunderstorm.

It was a Skrill, a dragon that channeled lightning from the clouds and turned it into its own electricity. In addition, lightning could be stored within its body to be used later, or turned into the type of energy ordinarily sustained through food. All it needed to do was absorb one bolt of this natural electricity and it would be rid of the hostile white dragon.

It started to fly higher, towards the storm, there was not a moment to spare, its wings were sore. Its wings were the least of its problems, it was tiring quickly and this godsend seemed to be getting further away.

Finally, it was able to reach the gray clouds and a lightning bolt struck its body, coursing through its veins as its energy was restored. It released a powerful stream of lightning from its mouth at the dragon.

This provoked it as it soared upward with a wide open mouth, preparing to fire. The Skrill prepared another burst of electricity as it built up inside of it, ready to finally be rid of this dragon.

It was about to release its electrifying firepower, however, the white dragon was one step ahead, firing its icy fusillade directly into its mouth. The Skrill was stunned - literally and figuratively - and plummeted downward like a fallen bird. It tried to fight it, but it was futile, it was completely paralyzed.

It landed roughly inside of the crevasse of an iceberg, still unable to move. The last thing it saw was the white body of the enemy dragon as it fired down at the ice, trapping it. A Skrill, one of the most fearsome dragons in the world, was defeated and frozen alive by an unknown rival.

The memories of that day repeated in its mind like a never ending cycle and each time its blood would boil. That day and those faces were the only things that motivated the Skrill to keep its heart beating, to not give up hope and succumb to the ice.

It was freed only for a brief time and hoped for another chance. That was finally given when it felt the iceberg shake, as though caught in a violent earthquake.

When the shaking stopped, a crack formed and it heard the most wonderful sound to its ears, thunder. A lightning bolt struck the icy mass, charging the Skrill with the energy it needed to break free from its prison with a shrill roar at the top of its lungs. A roar that surely brought a chill to the heavens.

It broke off the bits of ice that remained on its body, it was an unneeded nuisance. After breaking a piece off with its jaws, it noticed a fish still partially frozen in the wall of the crevasse. The fins and scales were shriveled, but it was otherwise completely intact.

The fish had never been there, the Skrill was certain of it, but it was unsure how it could have gotten inside of the ice. It sniffed the shriveled remains and became flabbergasted when it detected a familiar scent. It was very faint, but more than enough for it to recognize the scent of the kind young woman, the only one who never saw it as a monster.

She left the fish for it, undoubtedly uncertain of the Skrill's fate. She knew it must have been starving for a long time, never filling its stomach even slightly before being frozen again, giving it to him as something to eat if he ever escaped. She also likely suspected the second time it was trapped in the ice could be the last time, throwing it into the crevasse as an offering when its time on earth was over and journeyed to Valhalla.

Either way, the Skrill was thankful, it had never known such compassion in its entire life. Although it was hungry, it would not be eating the fish, there was something else it had in mind for it.

It grabbed the fish in its talons and took to the air, never more relieved to be flying out of the crevasse than at any other time in its life. It sniffed the air, following the scent that lingered on the remains by a thread, determined to find her. If all it had was only a small chance to locate her, the Skrill would take it.

It could not think about the idea of her still being imprisoned, or worse. But if she was alive and well, the least it wanted to do was thank her.

The riders were on their way to Outcast Island after Helene received an urgent Terror Mail from her father. The details were vague, all the message said was that there was an emergency situation they couldn't handle on their own.

"If this turns out to be nothing," Snotlout seethed, "I swear I'm gonna-"

"Snotlout, will you be quiet already?" Astrid interjected. "Your mouth has been running all morning."

"No, please, keep talking," Fishlegs urged begrudgingly. "Maybe your mouth will fall off."

Hiccup groaned and rolled his eyes, he was just as tired as everyone else. He knew Ladok was too, his eyes were wide open, but he was barely able to stop himself from dozing off. In all honesty, if he was flying Toothless instead, he would be asleep too.

"We're almost there, guys. Hele, what does the letter say again?" he asked.

She looked at the paper, which she was holding since they left Dragon's Edge, "It says, 'We need immediate assistance on Outcast Island! We're being attacked and we don't know how long we can defend ourselves!' Signed, Alvin the Treacherous."

"He could've at least told us what's happening. Stupid Alvin," Snotlout grumbled. He started to convulse when Ripwave electrocuted him.

When it eventually stopped, he looked up at Helene. "One more time?" Ripwave's tendrils sparked threateningly, her pupils dangerously dilated into slits.

Ladok had never met Alvin or knew what he was like, he had to assume he was a good father, but he was also the enemy of his father for a long time. "What's Alvin like, anyway?"

"Oh, you'll find out," his brother answered.

Fishlegs could see their destination on the horizon, "We're closing in on Outcast Island."

Helene smirked to herself, "Ladok, you're about to meet my father."

"I- I can't wait," he smiled nervously.

He hoped Alvin didn't react negatively to seeing him, he knew that not everyone would be open-minded like his friends and family. But he prayed that his alliance with the Dragon Riders, being Hiccup's brother, and friends with his daughter was enough not to get him killed.

"Hiccup, if Alvin goes ballistic, will you protect me?" he asked him meekly, holding him tighter.

He was tempted to tell him that he was old enough to take care of himself, but he knew he would lose that argument with their age difference being only four months. He also knew better than almost anyone else how intimidating Alvin could be at first glance.

He patted his arm, similarly to the way Helene did, "Don't worry. He won't do anything to you if I have something to say about it."

He loosened his grip slightly, "Thanks, Hiccup."

They arrived on the island and landed in the village, only to discover that it was abandoned. Things were turned over and much of it was scorched and smoking, as though lit on fire and left to extinguish on its own.

"Whoa, I don't like it," Ruffnut uttered, wary.

Ladok's impression of the island was that it was as gray as Dragon Island and felt nearly as desolate. Most of the trees were dead, and there were some that appeared to be dead, but he recognized them from a drawing of a Loki Tree. He could tell many people occupied the village, but with its abandonment, it was almost haunted.

Helene was dumbfounded, her father and all of the villagers were gone, "Wh- What? We just got the message a couple of hours ago. Where is everyone?"

"They must have evacuated," Astrid deduced.

"What could possibly scare the Outcasts off their own island?" Fishlegs questioned.

Hiccup agreed with Fishlegs, there were no obvious signs of why they would leave, "No arrows or spears, no boulders from catapults. This definitely wasn't a Dragon Hunter attack."

"If it's not the hunters, then what?" Ladok asked.

"Mutton famine?" Tuffnut suggested.

"Bed bugs? Once those things show up, you can never get rid of them," Ruffnut shivered slightly.

Astrid rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Where do you think they could've gone, Hele?"

She was about to answer when a familiar voice interjected, "Somewhere far away, where it's safe."

They all turned around and saw Alvin holding his side and using the rocks as balance. Helene immediately ran to her father to help him.

"Dad!" she cried, concerned.

He chuckled, "I'm alright, sweetie. Just a bit sore."

She gave him a brief hug before helping him over to the other riders and their dragons. Seeing them together, Ladok could see that he dwarfed all of them, he was possibly even bigger than Stoick.

Hiccup gave Alvin a fallen tree branch he found to use as a cane, "What happened here, Alvin?"

"Well, see for yourself," he gestured his hand towards the outer wall of the arena, which was slightly ahead of them.

They walked up to the arena and saw a chilling sight. Seemingly engraved in the stone was a large scorch mark in the eerie shape of a lightning bolt.

"Uh, does this scorch mark look familiar to anyone?" Hiccup inquired, uneasy.

"Hiccup, you don't think it could be…?" Fishlegs trailed off.

"Dad, what exactly happened here?" Helene questioned. "Who attacked the island?"

"An old friend we thought was gone forever. The Skrill," he declared.

"The Skrill?!" nearly all of the riders exclaimed, Helene and Ladok were the only exceptions.

Ladok's mouth was hung open from the shock, "A Skrill? You've seen a Skrill?"

"Dad, are you sure?" she asked him again. She was shocked, but also slightly relieved.

He nodded, "Positive. It came in at the first flash of lightning and tore apart the village. I ordered everyone to evacuate and stayed behind to defend my island!" He waved the tree branch like a sword, causing his daughter to step out of the way. "Eh, but it got away. By the way, if you think what it did up here is bad, you should see the prison cells. Those bars are mangled worse than a Terrible Terror after going toe to toe with a Grapple Grounder."

"It went to the prison?" she queried. "Why would it do that? There are only two ways out and neither of them are easy to find once you're down there."

He shrugged, "Beats me. I just know I'm gonna need to ask Stoick for scrap metal so I can rebuild the two cells that are without doors."

"Two cells?" Hiccup repeated, bewildered yet slightly intrigued. "Why would it just attack those two specifically? Was there anyone inside?"

He shook his head, "Nope, both empty. One of them was the cell Dagur was in before he escaped, it's the one the Skrill was once held in. The other was the one Helene was held in when Dagur kidnapped her."

Helene was utterly shocked, but not because the Skrill was seemingly randomly attacking, because she thought she knew its motive, "Hiccup, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Gang, I don't think the Skrill attacked Outcast Island randomly," he announced. "I think it's tracking."

"Tracking?" Astrid questioned. "Tracking who?"

He and Helene exchanged glances before he answered, "Everyone it holds a grudge against. Me, Toothless, Alvin, Dagur…"

"And me," she finished.

"But why you, Hele?" she asked, dumbfounded. "You didn't provoke it. And why would it go after Hiccup and Toothless? They tried to protect it."

"Why don't you try to explain being frozen alive as 'protection'?" Ruffnut remarked.

"How is it not?" Tuffnut asked with a shrug. "No place safer than an iceberg."

"You froze it alive?!" Ladok exclaimed angrily. He pushed Hiccup's shoulder roughly, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you know nothing about Skrills?!"

"Hey!" Helene protested. "I tried to stop him from doing it! I even threw in a fish as the water was freezing."

"Wait, that fish you threw in? It's possible it's using it as some sort of tracker," Fishlegs put forward. "If your scent is still on it, even if it's barely lingering, it could track it to wherever you've been like a Rumblehorn."

"Wherever I've been? Dad, which direction do you see the Skrill go?" she asked.

"Due south of here," he responded.

"Hey, isn't Berk…" Snotlout gasped, "Oh, no!"

"Mount up, gang!" Hiccup commanded. "We have another island to save!"

"Sorry, Dad, but… you know, duty calls," she told him, apologetic and slightly awkward.

He chuckled reassuringly, "It's alright, my dear. I have a lot of work to do here anyway."

"Hele, is it okay if I fly with you?" Ladok asked. "I really don't want to be around Hiccup right now."

She smiled, her voice full of laughs, "Of course."

"Hey, you're Stoick's second boy, right?" Alvin suddenly asked him.

Ladok instantly became nervous, he honestly hoped the damage the Skrill caused was enough to not become his focus. Helene, however, was calm, she didn't think her father would do anything to him while she and the other riders were there.

"Uh, y-yes, Alvin- I mean, sir," he nervously answered.

"Well, I must say, you look a little… different than I was expecting," he commented.

'Great…' he thought, petulant.

"But you look pretty strong and wayward… I like that," he added good-naturedly.

"Um, thank you, sir," he smiled, timorous, climbing onto Ripwave.

"Call me Alvin," he told him.

As they started to fly to Berk, Ladok had a question to ask Helene, "I don't have a lot of experience with this, but it's a good thing when you're on a first name basis with someone's father, right?"

She smiled reassuringly, "Yes, it is."

He blew out a sigh of relief, "Okay, good."

She shook her head with a smile, 'You're adorable, Ladok.'

The riders flew to Berk as quickly as their dragons could carry them, the time it took on a normal day was not very long, but this day, time seemed to fly faster than a golden eagle. They saw the first signs of the Skrill while they were still flying, a wild storm was surging over the island.

Even though they had not landed yet, they could clearly see a lightning bolt strike the village and where it hit, the house right next to the Great Hall, the Haddock house. A shrill roar told them that their suspicion was correct, the Skrill was there.

The Skrill's search of the first island the scent took it to - a gray and almost dead mass of land where the only signs of life were within the perimeter of a village - was fruitless, and the next one was nothing better. It was worse if anything else, the scent seemed like it was waning.

In the cover of the dark storm clouds, it circled above the village, determining what its next action would be. Then, it detected another scent, one it hated, stronger than the one it was following yet still faint.

It dove downward, towards the village as it pinpointed the scent it despised. It landed on the roof of a house next to a much larger building and channeled the lightning in the clouds, roaring as it did so. The outside of the house was charred from the strike and it could have utterly destroyed it, but it decided its vengeance was sated for the moment.

It started to leave the island and became aware that it was being followed by humans on dragons. They were not the same humans it encountered before, but it held no qualms about annihilating them.

"Auxiliary Riders, circle formation!" Gustav ordered his team.

Astrid felt proud to see her trained riders in action, "Hey, look at that. The A-Team is already on the case."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Okay, it might be a little in their dragon riding careers to-"

The Skrill attacked them with its lightning blasts, electrocuting most of the Auxiliary Riders. Spitelout and Kingstail were the only ones on the team left in the air.

"Is that all you got, you sparky lizard?!" he gibed. His dragon squawked in protest, insulted. He apologized to him, "No offense to you, of course."

The Skrill used this momentary distraction to its advantage and shot at him. The electrical blast hit him on the helmet and startled his dragon as he started convulsing. He fell off Kingstail and broke his fall on a pile of sacks.

"Dad!" Snotlout cried.

"Cover the downed riders!" Hiccup ordered.

The riders immediately began to circle the Skrill, firing at it as it shot at them. It felt an unusual attack hit it from behind, unusual in the sense that felt slightly familiar. The only way it could compare it was as if it was attacked by something similar to its own electricity.

It turned to face this attacker with its mouth open, another lightning blast charging inside. Instead of releasing its firepower, it stopped its development when it saw who shot it. It was the young woman it was imprisoned with!

It couldn't attack her, it couldn't! Not after what they had both gone through during that time.

Toothless noticed the Skrill's hesitation and took this as an opportunity to attack. He soared upward, towards it, much to Hiccup's panic.

"Toothless? No! What are you doing?" He tried to maneuver his dragon away from the Skrill, but he was too stubborn to follow his lead. "Toothless! No! Toothless!"

The Skrill noticed Toothless' approach and fired the lightning that had been pleading to be released since the charge was ceased, at the same moment a plasma blast was shot. The attacks combined, creating a field of electricity and plasma. Toothless was caught in it, but the Skrill remembered it from their encounter years earlier and fled the second it happened.

Toothless became paralyzed and plummeted to the ground, the impact caused Hiccup to fall off his saddle. Without his rider, he was unable to fly when the paralysis wore off, and without his dragon, he wouldn't survive the fall.

Hiccup immediately tried to open the wings of the Dragon Fly he brought with him, "Oh, come on!"

He was finally able to open them and directed himself towards the nearest dragon. There was only one dragon near him and that was Skullcrusher, his father's dragon.

Stoick was startled when something landed behind him and when he saw that it was Hiccup, and even more so to see that he had a wing-like apparatus on his back. "Where in the name of Thor did those wings come from?"

"Wings? Oh, yes, uh, I'll tell you later, but right now, I have to find my dragon," he told him.

The Skrill left the island, deciding not to continue the fight with its main foe incapacitated. The fight was not over, not at all, it would simply continue later on.

Stoick landed on the ground, near the place where Toothless had fallen onto. Hiccup jumped down from Skullcrusher and went up to his dragon, "Toothless. Oh. Oh, I am sorry about that, bud."

"Interesting strategy, going nose to nose with a Skrill," Stoick remarked.

"Yeah, that wasn't my strategy," he replied.

The other riders landed, just as Snotlout was helping his father. "Snotlout, is he okay?" Astrid asked.

He laughed, "It's my Dad. He bludgeons his own head for sport. Of course he's okay." Spitelout started babbling incoherently and shaking his fists. "Like I said, he's fine." He whispered to them so that his father wouldn't hear him, "Except for the blast of lightning he took to the head." Spitelout babbled something to Snotlout, which he took advantage of to praise himself, "Aw, thanks, Dad! I'm proud of you, too!"

"Well, all the huts seem to be in fairly good condition," Fishlegs observed.

"All except for one," Astrid mentioned.

Stoick smelled smoke and burnt wood and found where it came from, his own home. "My house!"

"Hey, chief, is the charred look in this year?" Ruffnut asked, trying to break the tension.

Sensing his growing anger, Tuffnut tried to do the same thing, "I actually happened to think it's trés chic, chief. I'm thinking of doing it to our hut back on the Edge."

"Weird that Stoick's house is the only one the Skrill attacked," Astrid commented.

"If the Skrill is only trying to track me, why would it attack Stoick's house?" Helene questioned, agreeing with her.

Hiccup remembered what Ladok had said when became upset with him. He wondered if he knew something about the Skrill that could help them.

"Ladok, what do you know about Skrills that we don't?" Hiccup asked him.

While he was still upset with him over the past he and the dragon shared, he had a duty as a Dragon Rider and as a brother to tell him, "They have a high internal body heat due to the electricity their bodies channel. This allows them to survive in their preferred environment, the mountains, even in the harshest freezes of winter."

"We know that, but what if a Skrill was frozen alive? How would the ice affect it?" he inquired.

"I don't think it would," he replied. "During hibernation, an animal's metabolism slows down, keeping them alive for months. Being frozen alive would essentially do the same thing to a Skrill because of their body heat, especially if they absorbed lightning shortly before it happened. As long as their blood is warm, their hearts are still beating and their brains are still functioning, they're technically still alive. Meaning, it's likely that its memories are still intact."

"Which explains why it remembered Helene," Astrid concluded.

"And why it came to Berk and attacked Stoick's house," Fishlegs added.

Hiccup was forced to believe something he didn't want to, "It's trying to provoke me and Toothless. It wants us to follow it."

"That's a great idea, Dad. We'll make the Skrill angry as hell, lead it back to the crevasse and freeze it again!" Snotlout cracked his knuckles.

"We're not freezing the Skrill!" Ladok yelled. He turned his attention to his brother, "We're not freezing the Skrill, Hiccup!"

He held his hands up defensively, "Okay, okay. You have my word, the Skrill won't be frozen again."

Spitelout blathered something to Snotlout, "My Dad thinks that's a bad idea and we should just put it back on ice."

Helene rolled her eyes, it was funny when Tuffnut was putting words in Snotlout's mouth when he was struck by the Skrill's lightning years ago, but not anymore with him outright lying about what his father was saying. She patted Ripwave to get her attention, she looked up at her rider and saw her point at Spitelout, making the gesture for 'shock' by spreading her fingers.

She got the message and fired her electricity at him, hitting him in the helmet like the Skrill did. He started to convulse again, just like earlier, it wore off in a couple of moments and he sighed in relief.

"It's obvious my Dad and I are in sync on this one. I mean, I am his favorite son!" Snotlout laughed.

"I never said that," his father growled with his arms crossed, having his ability to speak again.

He smiled nervously, "Dad! You can… talk again. That's… great."

"Is it?" he smiled. He then grabbed his shoulder harshly with a scowl, causing his son to flinch, "We have a lot to talk about, boy-o!"

"I hate to break up the family feud, but we're leaving now!" Astrid interjected as she climbed onto Stormfly. The other riders had already mounted their dragons.

Spitelout let Snotlout go and he quickly got onto Hookfang to avoid his father. As he ascended, he declared to him, "Fear not, dear father. We Jorgensens will have our pound of Skrill flesh, I will make sure of it!" He had spines shot at him by Kingstail, startling him, "Ah! Okay, okay, I'm going! I'm going!"

Kingstail fired more of his spines at him, alarming Spitelout. He never told his dragon to shoot at him either of the times, even if he was thinking about it. He did notice that he was different from how he normally behaved.

He was very erratic, running around in circles, breathing fire and shooting spines on many things; he was almost deranged. He almost thought he might have been hit by the Skrill's lightning too.

He tried to calm him down before he destroyed anything by scratching his chin and holding onto one of his horns, "Hey, what's wrong with you, big boy?"

Kingstail became calmer in his touch, yet it was obvious to Spitelout that he wanted out of his hold. His pupils were thin slits that showed an eagerness to destroy, which was something his dragon rarely did.

"Oh, dear Odin," he rolled his eyes. "We have to get you shocked by that Skrill." He climbed onto his hyperactive dragon, holding on to the saddle tightly as he started to fly. "I'd hate to lose a good dragon like you."

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(A/N: I know we're a little less than halfway through the episode, but bear with me, I've been working on this for weeks. I don't want this to be ten thousand words and I don't think you want to wait another month, so I'm going to make this a two-part thing.

If you want to know why the Skrill seems obsessed with Helene, I would look at chapters 13 and 14 of "Secrets and Silence". Those chapters pretty much explain everything you need to know.

The part at the end with Spitelout and Kingstail is inspired by this year's Summarhildr storyline in the game "School of Dragons". Summarhildr is a recent event that started last year in 2021, but so far it hasn't disappointed, it's really fun. Without any spoilers if you haven't played yet, in one of the story quests, something happens to Stormfly and you have to help Astrid calm her down. Anyway, that's just where it comes from and I do have a reason for it, in the next chapter.

To keep you in tuned to see the next chapter, (*spoiler alert*) Ladok is getting a dragon! I won't say what it is (although it's probably pretty obvious), but if you want to see it, then please stick around for the next chapter.)