(A/N: Hey, so I'm gonna be taking a short break from the episode chapters and writing a couple of my own original ones. Don't worry, the episodes will be back in no more than two to three chapters. I'm doing this because I want to show how Ladok and his Skrill work and interact together. I did touch on it a little bit in the last chapter and most of it had to do with the circumstances around them, so for these next few, I want to show how they are together when not in a situation that involves Dragon Hunters trying to kill them.
Like I said in the last chapter, this one takes place immediately afterwards, almost like food that's not fully cooked, they're not out of the frying pan yet. (Sorry, I've been watching a lot of "Scooby-Doo" lately.) Anyway, I hope you guys have a great time reading this.)
U-I-V-*0-o-0*-V-I-U
After the conflict with the Dragon Hunters was over and the Skrill decided to come with them to Dragon's Edge with Ladok, the riders said goodbye to Spitelout and Kingstail and departed. Snotlout, the twins, and even Fishlegs fell asleep almost as soon as they took to the air; after a long day, all of them were tired.
While they were not as tired as they were, Helene and Astrid both felt exhausted. Eventually, after flying for an hour, they fell asleep as well, comfortable that their dragons knew where to go without their guidance.
Ladok, while he was also tired, was the one who was the most alert. He had to be, the other dragons knew how to find Dragon's Edge instinctively, but his Skrill didn't, he didn't know their island from any other in the ocean.
He hoped that he would be comfortable there and eventually adapt to the island. Most of all, he was crossing his fingers and praying that he would get along with the dragons, both the ones that belong to the riders and the native species. Skrills were solitary dragons, known to be aggressive and territorial, occasionally using lightning to strike whatever they perceive as a threat.
Hiccup covered his mouth as he yawned, "Hey, Ladok, are you excited that you can finally fly with us without sitting behind me?"
"To be honest, it does feel a little bit weird, but yeah, I am," he replied.
He smiled sleepily, "Great, I'm glad."
"I miss flying with you already," he joked.
He chuckled lightly, "And I miss you telling me what to do."
He shook his head with a smile, "And I miss you not listening to me."
"Don't worry," he yawned again. "I promise to take you much more seriously now."
"Why don't you go to sleep, Hiccup?" he smiled softly. "I'm sure the dragons can take over from here."
"Really?" he asked, his eyelids drooping slightly.
"Yes, I promise," he assured. "Right, Toothless?" The said dragon warbled in agreement. "See? Everything's fine."
He yawned once again with a smile, "Okay." He leaned forward with arms under his head to use as a pillow, "Let me know when we get to the Edge."
Toothless looked at him and warbled, the Skrill growled and his pupils gazed up at his new rider. He knew what they were telling him, they wanted him to get a little rest too.
He complied with their wishes "Oh, alright." He leaned forward on his dragon, similarly to Hiccup, careful to avoid his spikes. "Wake me up at sunrise."
With all of their riders asleep, the dragons decided to give their new Skrill friend a cordial welcome. Toothless howled as his speed increases, the others following his lead, all careful not to awaken or endanger their riders. The Skrill decided to play along and let out his own shrill, excited howl.
Light from the rising sun began to peak from the lowest point of the horizon, a fading canopy of stars was directly above. It was dawn, the time of the morning Ladok told his Skrill to wake him at.
Since he didn't want to electrocute his new rider, he chose a slightly less painful option, he bit his hand. He jumped awake, almost falling off his dragon, "Ow!"
He rubbed and blew on his hand to take away the pain, it was stinging, but not overwhelmingly painful. He supposed there were worse ways to be woken up.
He patted his dragon with a smile, "Thanks for waking up." He rubbed his hand again, seeing the welts his teeth caused, albeit accidentally, "Did you have to bite me that hard?" He growled amusedly.
After a little while of flying, he could see that they were approaching an island. He couldn't tell if it was Dragon's Edge, it was too far away.
"Toothless, could you give me a spyglass?" he asked.
He warbled and used his hind leg to dig through his saddle bag. He used his claws to toss it up to his mouth before throwing it to him.
He caught it, "Thanks, Toothless." He held it up to his eye and focused in the direction of the island, immediately seeing the familiar geographic features, "There it is, Dragon's Edge." He looked down at his Skrill, "We're almost home."
Hiccup told him to wake him up when they were approaching the base. Instead of having Toothless awaken him like his dragon did, he threw the spyglass at him, hitting him in the head.
Hiccup woke up with a grunt, rubbing his eyes as he tried to fully awaken. The spyglass rolled off the saddle, fortunately, Toothless kicked it up to his rider before it was lost.
He caught it by chance as he yawned, "Are we there yet?"
"In ten minutes, we'll be right above the island," he responded.
He yawned again and smiled, "In that case, should we give them a good wakeup call?"
He looked at the other riders' dragons, "What do you guys say?" They all growled, warbled, and squawked in agreement.
He chuckled, "Okay, let them have it."
Hookfang ignited his body, causing Snotlout to jump awake with a scream as he tried to put out the fire on his pants. "Hookfang!" The dragon simply chuckled in amusement.
Barf blew out a small cloud of gas above Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Belch then ignited it, causing a small explosion over their heads, waking them up.
"Nice mini-explosion, guys!" he praised.
"Best wakeup call ever!" she beamed.
Stormfly flew upwards out of formation with a twirl before flying back down to the other dragons, Astrid now wide awake on her back. "Stormfly?!"
Meatlug decided to take a less dramatic approach by passing gas. The foul smell carried through the air to Fishlegs, he woke up, covering his mouth as he gagged.
He waved the smell away from his face, "Oh! What is Daddy feeding you?"
Ripwave lightly brushed her barely charged tendril against Helene's foot, causing a small jolt to travel through her body and awaking her. "Good morning, girl."
"Well, now that you're all awake, we'll be at the Edge in a few minutes," Hiccup announced.
The twins looked at each other and nodded with mischievous smirks. They gripped the horns of the heads they respectively rode and started to fly ahead.
"Last one to the Edge…" Tuffnut began.
"Is a rotten dragon egg!" Ruffnut finished.
"Hold on, you are not doing this without me!" Snotlout declared, flying ahead after them.
"Oh, no you don't," Astrid smiled with determination and competitiveness as she caught up with them.
"Don't forget about us!" Fishlegs maneuvered Meatlug over Toothless to catch up to them.
Helene looked at Hiccup and Ladok as they stared at her with shock. She shrugged and flew ahead to catch up with them.
After she left, Hiccup shrugged himself, "Might as well join them." He and Toothless started flying ahead to join the other riders in their race, leaving Ladok and his Skrill behind.
He looked down at his dragon as thought about what to do. The Skrill made eye contact with his rider, then gazed ahead at the others and shook his head, frisky.
He smiled, "Let's show them what we can do."
As the riders raced to Dragon's Edge, they heard the shrill roar of the Skrill. They watched as he was suddenly flying overhead, his stomach to the sky and back to the ground, with Ladok tightly holding onto him. Before they knew it, they were flying ahead of them, leading the race.
"How's this for a race?" he asked playfully. His dragon chuckled, similarly to the way Toothless did, although it was rather raspy with a rumble in the back of his throat.
Hiccup smiled and shook his head, "You two are more alike than I thought."
"You think so?" he asked.
He nodded, "Of course, you're both brave and-"
He watched as the Skrill suddenly threw his brother into the air before catching him on his back. Ladok laughed, full of excitement and adrenaline after such a thrill.
"And… and bold," he finished, his mouth hanging open.
Helene grinned, admiring how uncanny the similarities in their personalities were to each other, "You've just met and you're already in sync."
He looked at his Skrill with a smile, feeling proud, "We sure are." The dragon happily growled, glad to have a new friend.
"Well, isn't this a match made in Valhalla?" Snotlout jeered. "You two have so much in common. You're both inferior to me and my dragon and you both have a crush on-" He was cut off by a seizure caused by the Skrill electrocuting him, whether it was at his rider's order or not was debatable.
Hiccup crossed his arms, smirking, "You know, I think that just rests my case."
"You might be right, Hiccup," Ladok commented, smiling. "You might be right."
"We're closing in on the Edge," Fishlegs announced.
They began to dive down towards the island, to be the first to land and win the race. Not surprisingly, Hiccup and Ladok were in the lead, neck and neck.
The brothers landed on the island first, less than a second apart from each other. Who the first one to land was, however, nobody could tell. It didn't matter to them, the competition was fun, but enjoying it together was the real reward.
The Skrill observed the island that was now his new home. While in the air, he was surprised by the size of it, it was one of biggest isles he had ever seen, and on the ground, he saw the base that was seemingly built into the topography, matching it almost perfectly.
Inside of colossal lookout towers were small, dark dragons that he could barely see from the ground. As long as they didn't bother him, their presence was not an issue of his. He had already begun to develop a degree of trust with the other dragons.
If the island was suitable for a variety of other dragon species, it should be sustainable for him to live on too. Briefly, he wondered if there were frequent storms that showered down to the island's surface.
Ladok gave his dragon a scratch under his jaw after dismounting him, "How do you like it here so far?" His response was a jaunty, bellowing chirr. "In that case, welcome home."
"Yep, welcome to Dragon's Edge, where we take in strays of all kinds," Snotlout remarked mockingly.
The Skrill growled and prepared to electrocute him again, but Ladok stopped him, "No, no, it's okay, it's okay. Don't listen to him, he's just an asshole. Besides, he already has a dragon that gives him hell."
Hiccup rolled his eyes at Snotlout's comment and asked his brother, "So, what are you thinking about naming him?"
Ladok had almost completely forgotten that he hadn't named his dragon yet. Not only that, but he wasn't sure what name would be best suited for him.
Snotlout quickly chimed in with his choice for a name, "Hunterbolt!"
Tuffnut yelled a name as well, "Zapper!"
Ruffnut did the same, "Stormie!"
The Skrill struck all three of them with his lightning, causing them to convulse. Smoke was fuming out of the corners of his mouth and his body sparked momentarily.
"Whoa! Those were precise, accurate strikes, I'm shocked," Fishlegs commented. "It can be really hard to do that for some dragons, even at close range."
Something he said caused an idea to begin developing in Ladok's mind, like a fire being started. He held out a finger, shaking it slightly, "You've just given me an idea for a name, Fishlegs."
He raised his eyebrow, "Really? I'm flattered."
He nodded, "Yes." He knelt down on one knee and addressed his dragon, "How does the name Shockstrike sound to you?" His Skrill perked, becoming excited, so much so that he accidentally caused him to fall onto his back in the grass.
Hiccup laughed, "I think he likes it."
He sat up and scratched his dragon, "You think? I'm glad you like it." He warbled.
Meatlug stood next to her rider and nudged him, her stomach growling, "Hey, guys? Why don't we let the dragons get a bite to eat? I think they deserve it."
"Good idea," Hiccup replied.
"And while they eat, we can too," Astrid suggested.
"I'm down for that," he smiled, putting a hand over his stomach.
They decided to go up to the Clubhouse on foot instead of flying in order to give their dragons a rest. Meanwhile, the dragons led Shockstrike to the stables, where he would be sleeping and eating with them.
"Hey, be good to him, okay?" Ladok called out to the other riders' dragons. Toothless warbled to him and Stormfly squawked. He laughed and followed everyone else.
When Shockstrike saw the stables, the first thing that came to his mind was the size of it, the building had to be at least two stories tall. He also noticed the insignias painted on the metal door and the elongated deck they were standing on, it was a place to land.
The door was already opened, but only slightly, Toothless had to use his front leg to open it more. When they went inside, he saw more of the small dragons he noticed earlier, they were asleep on the floor. One of them, a slightly larger white dragon raised his head when the door opened, he laid back down when he saw it was only them.
The walls were lined with what looked like cells made of wooden bars, buckets filled with water were inside of them. There was also a number of crates and other items throughout, including things that he assumed were for them, the dragons.
While he was looking at the inside of the building, Toothless warbled to get his attention and showed him an empty, unused cell. It was for him, but he was hesitant to step into it, he had just gotten out of a cage, he didn't want to go inside of one. Since the other dragons were not showing signs of distress, he was under the impression that the wooden cells were meant to sleep in.
Ripwave got a few nets down from where they hung on a nail pinned to the wall, which he took notice of. She gave two to Barf and Belch and Hookfang, keeping the last for herself. They left with the nets shortly afterwards, making him wonder what they intended to do with them.
While waiting for them to return, Meatlug used her teeth to pick up a small leather ball. She threw it up into the air and used her tail to throw it to Stormfly, who caught it in her mouth.
They, along with Toothless, went back outside with the ball. Shockstrike didn't know what they were planning, but decided to see what was happening. When he stepped outside, he saw them playing with it on the deck, catching it with their teeth and throwing it with their tails.
He warbled curiously, leaning his head to the side slightly. Stormfly hit the ball with her tail, throwing it to him, he tried to catch it in his mouth, but it landed on the ground instead. He grabbed it and threw it back to them with the whip of his tail.
He joined them in their game, and the ball repeatedly missed his mouth whenever tossed to him. Toothless decided to help him by throwing it up and catching it in his own mouth several times before giving it to him, where he did the same thing, then the two of them threw it to each other until he was able to capture it without dropping it. With the trick mastered, they resumed playing their game.
While playing, Shockstrike accidentally threw it to Meatlug a little too hard, causing it to roll off the deck. He was about to fly down and retrieve it, but then it was suddenly tossed upwards. A moment later, Ripwave, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch arrived from below with the nets they took with them, filled with fish and a few rocks for Meatlug.
They dropped the nets, which opened as soon they hit the wood, and landed. They stopped playing and started eating, filling their empty stomachs. Shockstrike didn't join them immediately, despite the painful emptiness in his stomach, instead watching as they ate.
Suddenly, a cod was thrown to him, he saw Toothless and the others looking at him expectedly, inviting him to share in the feast. He picked up the fish with his teeth and tossed it into the air, it twirled and landed in his mouth. He growled happily and gladly joined them.
He was about to eat a fish and grabbed it at the same time Ripwave did. Neither knew what to do next, but they didn't want to let go of it. Instead of one of them giving it to the other, they decided to share it by biting into their respective sides.
Both of them grabbed their own fish and exchanged them with each other. They touched snouts for a brief moment before eating them.
While the food was being made in the Clubhouse, Ladok decided to check on his dragon, to see how he was doing with the others. He was almost to the ground and halfway down a ladder when he saw them on the landing strip, eating together.
He watched them long enough to see them playing with a ball, before their food was finished. Watching Shockstrike and the other dragons play with the leather toy was a heart-warming moment for him to see.
Seeing him getting along with all of them was only the first of many more joyful memories that would happen for years to come. Instead of continuing to watch them, Ladok climbed back up the ladder and made his way back to the Clubhouse.
U-I-V-*0-o-0*-V-I-U
(A/N: I know this is a bit shorter than normal, but this might be one of my favorite chapters so far (I had a lot of fun with it). I really liked showing a little more from the dragons' perspective instead of the riders' because I just feel like it's a bit better for a dragon to be reassured by another dragon when they're feeling uneasy.
Anyway, that's all I have for you until I can get to the next chapter. Like I said, it's going to be another one of my original chapters instead, so it may be bad or it may be good, you'll just have to wait.)