(A/N: Again, I'm sorry this turned out to be a two-part thing for a singular episode. But, hey, I'm gonna make it up to you by finishing what I started. I left you off with something that probably doesn't make sense to you, but it will with this.

All good? Okay. Now let's not delay this any longer than it has to be! Please enjoy!)

V~X-o-X-o-X~V

The riders followed the storm, searching for the Skrill. The dark clouds could conceal anything, and anyone or anything could watch them before they even knew it was there.

Hiccup was in a turmoil, he made a promise to Ladok and he wanted to keep it, but the Skrill's rampage had to be put to an end. How was he going to keep his promise without endangering anyone?

If the Skrill wasn't stopped, he could lose his life and Toothless could too, not to mention the other riders. The only way he knew how to stop it was to freeze it again and it put him at the risk of losing his younger brother forever. If he didn't die at the strike of the Skrill, it might be Ladok who sent him to Valhalla.

"What's the plan, Hiccup?" Astrid questioned.

"I… don't know… yet," he answered, unsure.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, she should have known that he wouldn't have a plan yet. She saw Helene and Ladok flying slightly below her and directed Stormfly downward slightly to fly closer to her best friend.

"Hey, Hele," she smiled.

She wore a blank face, "Hi, Astrid."

"Hey, uh, it's a bit like déjà vu, isn't it?" she commented, jokingly.

She smiled slightly to suppress a laugh, "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Can you imagine? It was three years ago when we were looking for the Skrill in a thunderstorm. And now we're looking for it again, in another thunderstorm!" she laughed.

She covered her mouth to stop her laughter from escaping too much. She knew what she was doing and appreciated it, she missed the days where they would just spend time together.

She nodded slightly with a smile, "Yep, it's déjà vu."

She felt a claw poking her shoulder and turned her head to look at Ladok. "What happened when you first encountered the Skrill?" he asked.

"Well, Bucket and Mulch went missing while fishing in the north one day, so Stoick sent Hiccup, Snotlout, Astrid, and I to find them," she explained. "When we found them, they were being attacked by Berserkers and we chased them away. That's when we discovered the Skrill inside of an iceberg. We took it back to Berk, still inside of a block of ice. I was put in charge of watching over it while Hiccup and Fishlegs informed Stoick about it. While I was distracted by something the twins did, they and Snotlout blew up the ice block and freed it. It went on a rampage and… I think you know what happens next."

"Yeah, I do," he replied softly. "Dagur captured you and you were taken to Outcast Island so that he could trade you to Alvin for the Skrill." He was silent for a moment before asking her, "Did you know he was your father?"

"No, I didn't," she responded. "But he did. He figured out that I was his daughter, that's why he wanted me. In retrospect, I probably should have figured it out sooner. It took something else that involved Dagur for me to put the pieces together."

Lightning flashed in the clouds, some distance away from them but they could still see it very clearly. Although the light was seen, there was no bolt as far as any of them could tell, which meant they were much closer to the Skrill than they may have expected.

Hiccup held his arm out, "Stand back, everyone! This is a job for me and Toothless."

"Are you sure, Hiccup?" Astrid inquired, troubled.

"Yes, I am," he stated. "If the Skrill wants me and Toothless, it's me and Toothless it's going to get!"

Although Ladok was still upset with his brother, he was still worried about the safety and well-being of him and Toothless. He held Helene's waist slightly tighter, which she didn't mind as long as she didn't start to feel pain.

'Be careful, Hiccup,' he thought.

Hiccup and Toothless flew up into the clouds to confront the Skrill. As soon as they were surrounded by the gray billows, visibility went from clear as crystal to the bruises on Ladok's body when he and the others found him. This was the type of sky Skrills preferred to fly in, they were completely equipped for the harshness of the weather.

"Alright, bud, do your thing," he told his dragon.

Toothless howled into the storm, hoping for an echo to tell them the Skrill's location. It never came, it wasn't there; he tried again in different directions, but he kept getting the same result.

"Nothing," Hiccup muttered disappointedly. "Where is it?"

Suddenly, as though they were heard by Loki himself, a lightning bolt almost hit them. This wasn't natural, it was an intelligently targeted strike; the reason why they couldn't find the Skrill was because it was above them! It may have been watching them and their tedious attempts to locate it the entire time.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as they did a barrel roll to avoid the Skrill's lightning. "Okay, new plan." Toothless growled. "I don't have one yet." He grumbled, upset with his rider. "Uh, for now, we just need to get to safe cover."

More lightning came for them as the Skrill soared down while absorbing additional electricity from the clouds. It was clear to them that it did not want simple revenge, it wanted much more than that.

The other riders waited for Hiccup's return from the clouds, watching as flashes of light pierced through the gray sky, like the rising sun the morning after a storm. The lightning flashes moved in various areas of the storm, indicating to them that it was an intense battle happening out of their sight.

Astrid couldn't withstand waiting in anticipation for one of them to emerge as the victor or the subjugate. "That's it! I'm going after them."

"Hiccup said he wants us to stay here and wait," Fishlegs reminded her.

"But we can't just sit around and do nothing," she protested.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but have you learned nothing these past couple of hours?" Helene retorted. "I'm the only one the Skrill would hesitate to kill, there's a chance he would kill everyone else."

She sighed, vanquished, "When you're right, you're right, Hele. What should we do, then?"

Ladok looked up at the storm and the lightning, watching which direction it was going, "They're on the move. It looks like they're going north. We should probably just retreat and wait for Hiccup and Toothless."

"Alright, let's go back to Dragon's Edge," she uttered.

The riders waited in the stables at Dragon's Edge for Hiccup and Toothless to arrive. They had come up with a standard to retreat to their base if they were separated or in the event of an emergency. If something happened to them, they would be going to the place with the most resources.

After waiting for a couple of hours, Astrid paced the landing strip impatiently, "Where are they? They can't be gone this long. Maybe we need to go look for them?"

"Astrid, it's Hiccup," Ladok told her pointedly. "If it was Snotlout or the twins, then we should panic. This is Hiccup we're talking about, he knows how to take care of himself. As far as I'm concerned, he's probably on his way right now after getting his ass kicked."

"How can you not be worried about him?" she questioned, bewildered. "He's your brother-"

"I know he's my brother," he interjected, "I only get reminded of that every time I see his face or hear his name. He's smart, obviously smarter than me, I'm sure if he's been captured, he's already gotten away."

She could tell there was some degree of animosity in the way he talks about him and she was not the only one who noticed. Helene, who was standing nearby with Ripwave, heard everything they were saying, including the things he said about Hiccup. There was a bit of tension between them ever since they visited Outcast Island, to the point where he even refused to fly with him.

Fishlegs shaded his eyes from the sunlight with his hand as he looked out towards the horizon. Approaching the island, he could see Hiccup and Toothless, the latter of whom was visibility tired, even from his vantage point.

"Incoming!" he informed everyone.

While Astrid watched as they flew towards the landing strip, she heard Ladok mutter, "Told you so."

Toothless landed sloppily, laying on his stomach with his mouth wide open as he tried to catch his breath. He could hardly remember the last time his wings had been used so extensively.

Hiccup practically slid off the saddle, exhausted, as Astrid approached him, "Hiccup, what happened?"

"Where have you been?" Fishlegs added.

"It's a long story," he answered, tired and hoping to evade what he had done.

"Or is it a very short story?" Tuffnut queried. He opened Toothless' tailfin, revealing that it had been replaced with an old, torn sail with the Dragon Hunter insignia. "Looks to me like someone has changed his allegiance. I always knew this day would come. Seize him!"

Before he had time to react, Ruffnut tackled him and pinned him down with her body. "Got you, traitor!"

Fishlegs acted quickly to get her off of him, which did not go unnoticed by Tuffnut. "Fishlegs is in on it too!" He tackled him, causing him to fall onto Ruffnut, and he was on top of his back. "No, you don't!"

Hiccup grunted at all of the weight on his body, "Okay, everybody, stop jumping on everybody."

They got off of each other, allowing him to stand up. While the twins felt indifferent about it, Fishlegs could hardly believe the reason why they would jump on him.

"How could you even think that?!" he scolded, flabbergasted. "Hiccup? A Dragon Hunter?! Just the idea that he would even have anything to do with them! Huh!"

"Actually, Fishlegs, let's not go that far," he mentioned.

While everyone was shocked by what he said, Ladok rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "What did you do?"

"Uh, let- let's go inside," he nervously suggested.

They walked into the stables, Hiccup took the smallest, slowest steps he had ever taken. He dreaded telling them about the mistake he made, he especially worried about how Ladok would react, given the contempt he felt towards him.

A hand smacked him in the back of his head and he knew it had to be his brother, especially when he bitterly asked, "What the hell did you screw up this time?"

He tugged and fiddled with the collar of his tunic with nervous hands. He didn't know what he was doing or why, he did suddenly have the sense to protect his neck if Ladok lost his temper. He didn't think he would do anything to him on purpose, but he also never saw him when his blood was boiling.

He didn't realize how long he was anxiously silent until he heard Astrid say, "Well? We're waiting, Hiccup."

"I…" He gulped, swallowing his nerves, "The Dragon Hunters captured the Skrill… and it's my fault."

Astrid could hardly wrap her mind around what he was telling them, "You let the Dragon Hunters capture the Skrill?"

"That wasn't the plan. They were supposed to take it down and then we would swoop in and grab it away," he responded. "But-"

"They got to it first," Fishlegs finished sternly.

"So, Dagur has the Skrill again? Great!" Snotlout exclaimed sarcastically. "Now he's just gonna chain that thing up like a puppet and take it on a greatest hits attack run of the archipelago!"

"They had some sort of net-shooting catapult," he reported.

"Net-shooting catapult?" Ruffnut repeated. "You know, nobody ever plans for the intangibles."

"But, Hiccup, it's just…" Fishlegs trailed off.

"Confusing," Tuffnut interjected. "I know I, for one, am very confused."

"Yet, intrigued," his twin added.

"Ah, yes, moral ambiguity," he agreed. "Something else you can never see coming. Yep, catapult nets and moral ambiguity."

"Look, there really is no moral ambiguity here. I messed up, I really messed up," Hiccup admitted. "And I'm not sure how to fix it."

Tuffnut's jaw dropped, dumbfounded, "Huh?"

Ruffnut gasped, "Whoa."

"Oh, what now?" he groaned.

"We've just never heard you say that before," he uttered. "You always know how to fix it."

"Yeah, well, guess what? I'm not perfect," he muttered.

"What? No! What?!" Tuffnut fell to his knees, "Whose painting am I going to have above my bed?!"

"First of all, ew. Second, everything you did, you did to protect that dragon and to protect all of us," Astrid reassured. "Now, the question isn't how you fix it, it's how we all fix it, as a team."

He smiled at her words to him, it was exactly what he needed to hear at that moment. Sometimes, he didn't know where he would be without Astrid around.

"I think we're letting you off the hook too easy, but I'm still in," Snotlout told him.

"Now, we just need to figure out a way to find the Hunters," he affirmed.

"Hiccup, which direction was the storm heading?" Helene asked him.

He put his finger on his chin as he dug into his memories for a moment, "East."

"Then they'll be going west. That way, the Skrill can't harness the lightning and attack them," Fishlegs assessed.

"Good thinking, Fishlegs. There's a group of islands just west of where we were. Lots of secluded beaches and coves to hide in," he stated.

"What are we waiting for?" Astrid rhetorically asked. "Let's go."

As they walked out of the stables, Hiccup realized that his brother had been quiet for a long time. He half-expected him to strangle him after he admitted what happened to the Skrill. It honestly made him worried, he was beginning to think that he may be so upset with him that he would never speak to him again.

He stayed in the stables until everyone else walked out and grabbed Ladok by the bicep. "Hey, can I talk to you in private for a second?"

He honestly did want to talk to his older brother. Although he had been angry lately, Ladok still cared about him. He didn't think there was a way he would be permanently mad at him.

"Alright," he replied. "What is it?"

"Okay, uh, d- do you hate me?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

He blinked, he was dumbfounded that he would ask that, "What? No. I don't. Yeah, I'm a little upset that you were stupid enough to think that freezing a Skrill will solve everything. I can't ever hate you, Hiccup, you're my brother, I care about you. I didn't say anything when you went after the Skrill earlier, but I was praying to the gods in my mind that you and Toothless would get out of that situation in one piece."

"Well, if I'm being honest, if I was in your shoes, I would probably react the same way," he admitted with a smile.

He smiled back at him and gestured the claw on his thumb at the landing strip, "Now let's go find that Skrill."

The sun had set and the sky was dark, providing the riders with the cover they needed as they searched the western islands. This time, Ladok was sitting behind Hiccup on Toothless' back, which made his brother happy.

Fishlegs came up to them to inform them of his findings, "Guys, I- I think found them. There's a campfire and a lot of singing in really deep voices," he deepened his voice slightly, "around the other side of the island."

Hiccup nodded, "Good work, Fishlegs."

They landed near the campsite Fishlegs had spotted in a discreet cove of the island he investigated. Immediately, they saw the campfire, a series of cages, and heard the voices of the Dragon Hunters as they laughed and sang loudly.

From the bushes where they hid, Hiccup used his spyglass to scour the area, hoping to find where they were holding the Skrill. Unfortunately, the cages that held captured dragons were covered, there was no way to see what was inside.

He told everyone what his plan was, "Okay, we'll quietly make our way along the treeline over to those cages."

"That must be where they're holding the Skrill," Ladok stated.

They crouched down as they moved behind the bushes to avoid detection. The dragons had to move closer to the ground than they normally would to hide their large bodies.

They were less than halfway to the cages when they heard someone shout, "Incoming!"

Snotlout thought he recognized the voice, "Huh, that sounds like…"

He was silenced and grunted when someone fell on top of him from above. It was his father, Spitelout!

"Sorry for the rough landing, boy-o," he chuckled, sitting on his son's back.

He gave him a thumbs-up and replied with a muffled voice, "No problem."

"Spitelout! What are you doing here?" Hiccup questioned.

He looked down at the ground, still on top of his son, "Well…"

Suddenly, they heard shouts from the Dragon Hunters as the roar of a Deadly Nadder rang throughout the cove. It was Spitelout's dragon, Kingstail, who was strangely and wildly unleashing his spines and fire onto the campsite.

"I think the Skrill got him too," he told them, finally getting off Snotlout's back and crouching next to them. "He's been like this for hours."

"If he was hit by the Skrill, I can have Ripwave electrocute him in the same way she did with you earlier," Helene informed him. "But we don't have a clear shot from here. In order for her to get him, we have to be right next to him."

With another dragon they had to potentially save, Hiccup altered his original plan, "Okay, change of plans, we'll use Kingstail as a distraction. Snotlout, you and Spitelout try to keep him from attacking us. Astrid, I'm gonna need you to back up Helene. Fishlegs, you and the twins keep the hunters busy. Ladok, you're with me, we're gonna find that Skrill."

Fishlegs nodded, "Right."

Tuffnut gave him a thumbs-up, "Got it."

They separated to fulfill their assignments and Hiccup and Ladok continued to make their way to the cages. When they finally got to them, they realized how many there were, they only had a limited amount of time before the hunters managed to gather themselves and take advantage of the situation.

"We'll cover more ground if we separate," Hiccup decided.

Ladok took a deep breath and nodded, "Okay."

They split up to search separately for the Skrill in the maze of the cages. He lifted a couple of the coverings to look inside of them, but it was fruitless. He was beginning to wonder if they had even brought it to the island, or if it was transferred to a different ship and taken somewhere else.

Then, he noticed something about one particular cage. There was a gangplank that led to it and it was situated in the water, all of the others were on land.

'That's got to be it! It's the only one in water,' he thought.

He walked up to the cage with caution and grabbed onto the cover. He swallowed his nerves and removed it with one pull.

There it was, one of the most powerful dragons in the world, the Skrill. He was staring at it with awe and it was staring at him with hostility.

It remembered him, he was with the girl who gave it the fish. If he had been alone, it most likely would have attacked him, not for his oddly dragon-like appearance, but because he smelled like the Night Fury and his rider. Their scent radiated off his body, as though he was with them very often.

Ladok could not believe he was face-to-face with a Skrill, he had only been able to observe them in the past because of how dangerous they were. Now that he stood this close to it, he could have looked at it forever, even though he was fully aware that it could kill him the moment it was given the opportunity.

The longer he stared at it, the more he was reminded of where they were and what was happening. Seeing it in the cage gave him terrible memories of the dragons that were too late to be saved. He developed a fear as a child that he would be inside of one of them one day, he never got over it, not after everything he had seen.

He gripped one of the bars and it growled at him. It was a sobering reminder that it was not only growling because it was hostile, but it was scared too. It was terrified, it was fearful of dying and becoming enslaved by the man who tried to make it his puppet.

He reached his hand out towards the dangerous dragon in the cage. He knew that he could end up losing a limb or worse, but no one deserves to be locked up like a felon.

He tried to soothe the Skrill by talking to it, "Please, just trust me, we're trying to save you." The dragon growled.

He held his breath as he reached further through the bars, ready for anything to happen. As it continued to growl, he realized that it wasn't directed at him, but behind him.

He turned his head and he thought his heart stopped, his pupils were narrow slits as his eyes glowed with anger and fear. The Dragon Riders, in addition to Spitelout, were on their knees with their hands on their heads. The dragons were restrained by ropes and chains, muzzles had been placed on Toothless and Kingstail.

"How nice of you to keep my Skrill company," Dagur jeered. He caressed Helene's cheek, "And for bringing my cousin to me for a family reunion." The Skrill growled at him, slamming its own head against the bars of its cage.

Ryker chuckled and pointed his sword at him, "Well, isn't this fitting? You spent your whole life releasing dragons from cages, now you're going to be in one."

He gritted his teeth, baring them like a wild dragon, and gripped the bars of the Skrill's cage as he clenched his fists. He was tired of the hunters haunting his nightmares, it was his turn to be the shadow they were afraid of.

"Toothless!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The Night Fury raised his head, his ear-like lobes perking. He shook the hunters away from him and ran towards the cage, swatting away those who stood in his path like flies. He leapt over the cage and into the water, using his head and snout to push it while Ladok pulled from the beach. It may have been only the two of them, but nothing was impossible when they worked together.

The Skrill realized what they were doing and put all of its body weight against the bars. With all three of them working together, the cage tilted out of the water.

Toothless jumped on top of the cage and got Ladok out of the way when he set foot on the ground. A moment later, a lightning bolt struck, causing everyone to cover their eyes. When they opened them, the Skrill was on top of it, more angered than ever.

It fired its lightning at the hunters, but did not touch the riders at all, even though they were sitting ducks. It tried to fly up to unleash its full power upon them, but the spikes on its tail became caught in the ceiling of the cage.

Ladok rushed to help it by climbing onto the cage with it; he was aware that if the Skrill absorbed lightning one time, he was fried. He tried to remove the tail by moving the spike from the bars, but it was difficult because the dragon could not risk ceasing the little movement it was capable of.

The Dragon Hunters took the opportunity to aim their dragon root arrows at the Skrill. Hiccup reacted quickly, he could not live with himself if an arrow hit his brother.

"No!" He stood in front of the cage with arms spread wide to protect them, "No!"

The arrow was released and he closed his eyes, waiting for it to hit him in the heart. Ladok jumped down from the cage and pushed him to the ground. At the same moment, Toothless rushed in between the arrow and his rider and headbutted it away.

Hiccup ran to his dragon, the arrowhead had grazed him, making him lethargic, "Toothless."

The Skrill freed itself with sheer willpower and roared as it took to the air, the electricity of the lightning it absorbed covered its entire body. The hunters took a step backwards, fearful of its wraith.

"Uh, what's it doing?" Dagur asked, slightly afraid.

"You tell me," Ryker retorted. "It's your dragon."

The words that came out of the bald hunter's mouth angered the Skrill more than anything else. It belonged to no one, especially not a psychotic, immature man with a child's behavior.

Hiccup held onto Toothless and closed his eyes as it flew downwards, believing it was ready to enact its revenge. Ladok, however, bravely stood up and reached his hand out.

When the Skrill suddenly flew upwards, he looked up and became startled when he saw his brother on its back! It had chosen to forget about its grudge against them and instead decided to unleash its power and anger on more deserving enemies. There was only one way to fulfill this new revenge, by sharing it with a former enemy.

"Ladok!" Hiccup cried. "Be careful up there!"

"Don't worry, Hiccup, we've got this!" he responded. "Just keep an eye on Toothless."

The other riders removed the ropes and chains from their dragons, while Spitelout worked on tearing off the muzzle on Kingstail with his bare hands, he thought his dragon was calmer than he had been the entire day. They looked up at the sky and watched as Ladok and the Skrill worked together to bring down the campsite. He looked like a young dragon that was finally able to spread his wings.

Hiccup could not keep his eyes off of his younger brother, he was so proud of him. Even though their age difference was minimal, he was still the protective older brother because that was just who he was by nature. At that moment, he saw him as an independent Dragon Rider, but still his younger brother.

Before long, the camp was destroyed and the hunters fled on their ships, leaving the dragons they captured behind. They freed the dragons from the cages, and both Ladok and the Skrill were thrilled to see them flying through the air.

"How's Kingstail, Spitelout?" Helene asked him.

"A lot calmer," he replied. "Thanks for zapping him."

"But I didn't," she told him. "We were shot down before we had the chance."

She was beginning to think that it was possible the Skrill had never hit Kingstail, but that he was acting the way he was because he was worried about his rider. Sometimes, dragons acted differently when those they cared about were injured or sick.

The Skrill landed near Hiccup and Ladok dismounted, "Well, I think we're done here."

Snotlout came up to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "Hey! It's my favorite Dragon Rider with the last name Haddock."

"Why are you kissing my ass? What do you want?" he asked bluntly.

"How did it feel?" he asked him eagerly, gripping his shoulders. "What's it like riding a Skrill? Tell me! Tell me!"

"Why don't you ask him?" he retorted, pointing at the said dragon.

The Skrill growled at him, blue lightning illuminated his mouth from the back of his throat. He walked away on the tips of his toes, walking into his own dragon, who huffed smoke in his face.

"You know, you two make a pretty good team," Hiccup commented.

"Yeah, I guess we do," he smiled, admiring the Skrill and his power and majesty.

The dragon rubbed his head against him, his horns grazing him. For most of his life, he thought anything that was not a dragon was a threat, but now he could see that he was wrong. That was only proven twice in his life, once three years ago and at that moment.

"I'd say you made a new friend," his brother smiled. "Maybe he would like to come back to the Edge with us?"

Astrid pulled Hiccup aside, "Are you crazy, Hiccup?! The Skrill hunted you and Toothless, it wanted to kill you! We should take him to the crevasse."

"But he didn't, he risked his own life to save us," he declared. "If we do that, we're no better than the Dragon Hunters, we're just using a different cage… and he doesn't deserve that."

She groaned, "Why do you have to tug on my heartstrings? Fine, he can come with us, but he's Ladok's responsibility."

'Oh, I don't think there'll be many problems,' he thought. "Okay, I'll let him know." He went over to his brother, who was petting and playing with the Skrill, "Hey, Ladok?"

He looked at him, not removing his hands from the dragon, "Yeah?"

"So, if your new friend is up for it, why don't you invite him to the base?" he suggested.

"Uh, if he wants to," he responded. He looked at the Skrill, "What do you say? Would you like to-"

He never finished his question because he suddenly grabbed him with his teeth and onto his back. He had made his decision when he chose to attack the hunters instead of the riders.

Ladok was shocked, but shrugged with a smile, "Well, I think we have our answer." He rubbed him on the neck, "Welcome to the family."

V~X-o-X-o-X~V

(A/N: We're finally at the end of the episode! Phew! Sorry I made you wait again, but it turned out that what I thought was allergies was actually tonsillitis. No, this isn't a joke, that's what happened, but I'm getting better.

The Skrill hasn't been named yet because the next chapter takes place immediately after this one, literally hours after the riders leave the island (*spoiler for the next chapter*). Yes, I do have a name in mind and that'll be in the next chapter too. Enough with the spoilers, I'm not going to tell you what his name is.

If you want to see what's next for Ladok and the Skrill, you'll probably want to see what happens next. I know, I'm evil that way!)