(A/N: I hope everyone liked the last chapter and I'm here to give y'all another one. I was able to give you some great interaction between Shockstrike and the other dragons and in this one I hope to show a little more of the bond and friendship he has with Ladok. It's hard to tell how it'll turn out, but I hope that you will be able to see the connection between the new rider and dragon duo.
Okay, it's probably time to stop rambling and get to the reason you're here, to read this chapter. With that in mind, I'm hoping you'll enjoy this regardless of how it might turn out.)
V-I-U~o-*0*-o~U-I-V
A couple of weeks passed since Shockstrike became Ladok's dragon, becoming the newest member of the family. He spent a lot of time with his rider, while adjusting to his new life and adapting to the island.
Ladok took him on a tour of the island, showing him the areas where he could have time to himself. The mountain that towered over the rest of the isle had a similar type of environment that Skrills typically preferred and the cliffs that were seemingly carved into the land would be an excellent place to practice firing lightning. The one area he would likely avoid for the most part was the cove, he had seen Scauldrons there and while the coast was the best place to absorb lightning, it was also where he had the least amount of visibility when a storm came.
After he learned his way around the island, Ladok decided to practice dragon calls and teach him to respond whenever he heard it. There were many vocalizations he came up with, and there was one he was showing progress with quite well. It wasn't perfect, but he would keep trying, and Shockstrike would do his best to work on his reaction and response time.
He liked to spend time with the other dragons, all of whom tried to make him feel at home on Dragon's Edge. As much as they were trying to help him feel comfortable, he didn't like to sleep in the stables. The confined space gave him anxiety, Skrills needed freedom to have a feeling of security, for others if anything else. He couldn't live with himself if he accidentally electrocuted one of his new friends, so he slept in Ladok's hut since he was the only one who could relax him if he suddenly became startled or agitated.
Ladok was fully aware that his dragon had fears and anxiety, he did too when he first became a Dragon Rider and started living on the base. He didn't trust anyone, except for his brother, father, Helene, and Gobber, it took him a while to become open to everyone else, so he sympathized with him.
He let him sleep on his floor, it was as much his hut as it was his. Since it was built higher than those that belonged to the other riders, it gave Shockstrike the comfort and seclusion he needed to feel safe. Ladok had a feeling the closeness Helene's hut was might have something to do with it as well. Other than him, he was at ease the most in her presence.
Whenever he had time, Shockstrike liked to be around the other dragons and play games with them. Most of the time, they played with the leather ball, and other times they wrestled, raced, or practiced with their attacks.
He was yet to work with them in a situation as a team, although a simulation of an emergency was practiced a couple of days after he was brought to Dragon's Edge. Still, he and his rider worried about what would happen in a real emergency. That concern would be put to the test much sooner than later.
One morning, subsequently getting ready after waking up, Ladok went to the Clubhouse to have breakfast. He told Shockstrike to go down to the stables to have his own morning meal when he woke up.
Everyone was already there, except for Helene, which was slightly unusual but he didn't think anything about it. Fishlegs was making the food for them, it smelled like strawberries and elderberries, he was also kneading dough in his hands.
"What's on the menu this morning, Fishlegs?" he asked.
"Sweet bread filled with jam," he answered.
"I would've liked an omelet with onions and yak," Snotlout grumbled.
"Then no one would be able to be in the same room with you," he remarked, sitting down.
"So, please, eat as many onions as you can," Astrid jibed.
"How's your dragon doing, Ladok?" Hiccup questioned.
"Fine, he's sleeping through the night pretty well," he responded. "Though he got a little excited when he heard thunder in the middle of the night."
"There was a little rain last night," he mentioned. "Think we might get any more?"
"Only Thor knows, Hiccup," Fishlegs chimed in, using a spoon to dollop a little jam into the center of the dough in his hand.
"Oh! I hope we do," Tuffnut commented to his twin sister.
"Yeah! So Snotlout gets struck by lightning," she grinned.
Astrid rolled her eyes at the twins, "Say, Ladok, did you see Helene on your way down here?"
He shook his head, "No, I didn't see her. She's probably still inside of her hut."
She was a little worried when she heard that, she was usually the first one in the Clubhouse in the morning, but not that day. It may not have been anything serious, but it still wasn't like her.
She stood up from her chair, "I'm going to go check up on her."
She didn't get far, she never even made it outside when Helene suddenly came in. The one thing that struck her and everyone else was the angered look on her face, a rare and unusual expression for her.
"What did you do with them?" she demanded, directed towards Snotlout and the twins.
"What in the name of Thor are you talking about?" Snotlout asked. "I didn't do anything… to whatever you're talking about."
"Okay, I admit, we did steal and… maybe lose your blade sharpener… but we didn't do anything," Tuffnut claimed.
"Just ask Barf and Belch, they were playing cards with us and Chicken until we passed out," Ruffnut told her. Chicken clucked in the background.
"Okay, Helene, why don't you start off by telling us what happened?" Hiccup calmly suggested, hoping her temper would relax slightly.
"My Grapple Grounder eggs are missing," she announced.
Ladok spit out the water he was drinking, "What?! When?!"
"I just noticed this morning when I was about to incubate them in warm water," she informed them. "I've been looking high and low for almost an hour."
"Well, maybe you need to retrace your steps? Where were they yesterday?" Hiccup asked, relieved that she was calmer.
"In my hut," she answered simply. "They've been there since I've had them."
"And you're sure you've never taken them out?" Astrid inquired for corroboration.
"Yes, I'm sure," she insisted. "They hardly leave my sight, unless something comes up."
Hiccup had a theory about where the eggs went, "Fishlegs, how long does it take for Grapple Grounders to hatch?"
"Uh… I'm going to need the Dragon Eye!" He ran outside after he finished making the loaves.
"Do you really think they hatched?" she asked him. "Without me hearing or seeing it?"
"It's a theory," he proclaimed. "Work with me."
"It's a hypothesis," his brother corrected, matter-of-factly. "A theory is when you have evidence. A hypothesis is just a guess."
"When did you become a smartass?" Snotlout remarked.
He gave him a blank expression and set his elbow on the table, extending his hand, "Hello, my name is Ladok. My brother is Hiccup Haddock."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Hiccup protested.
He looked at him pointedly, "Really? Have you met yourself?"
Fishlegs returned to the Clubhouse with Meatlug and the Dragon Eye. Since Grapple Grounders were Boulder Class dragons, Meatlug's lava would help them learn more about them. He directed her to an area away from the table, where it was slightly darker, so they could see the images.
"Lava blast, if you please, my sweet Meatlug," he told her. She spit a small puddle of lava onto the floor. "Thank you very much."
The light from her lava activated the Dragon Eye, immediately revealing an image of a Gronckle. Fishlegs had already studied everything he could about Gronckles, so he switched the projection to the next dragon. It showed a Hotburple, a relatively lazy, docile species that could devour anything.
"I must have been asleep when I looked at this the first time," he commented, smiling. Hiccup gave him a look and gestured his eyes and thumb in the direction of Helene, "Right, Grapple Grounders."
The Dragon Eye then showed what looked like a Catastrophic Quaken, although it was documented with a different name. The next one was an Eruptodon, an extremely rare, reclusive dragon that lived in heavily volcanic areas.
After a couple more images, it finally showed them the Grapple Grounder. Many of the symbols were things they already knew, they were an aggressive species that liked to wrestle other dragons and strangle their prey and enemies with their tails. They were very fast and nimble for a Boulder Class dragon due to their slender bodies and larger wingspan. There were, however, a few things they didn't know, including the one they were most interested in.
"It looks like their eggs don't hatch as violently as other Boulder Class dragons because it fires pulses similar to a Night Fury's plasma blast instead of fire or lava," he interpreted.
"In other words, they're going to hatch much quieter than a Gronckle," Hiccup surmised.
"Which could be easily masked by a louder sound," Astrid added.
"Like a thunderstorm!" Ladok concluded. "Just like the one we had last night."
"If they hatched, why didn't I find any eggshells?" Helene asked, perplexed.
Fishlegs quickly looked for an answer to give her, "They have immense jaw strength, which they use to subdue struggling prey. Maybe in order to develop it as hatchlings they have to chew on the shells of their own eggs?"
While she was glad to have solved the disappearance of the eggs, there was a bigger problem she had. If they hatched, there were three baby Grapple Grounders aimlessly roaming the island, with a foul temper and a tendency to fight every living thing they see.
"Guys, we have an emergency," she proclaimed. "There are three highly aggressive hatchlings somewhere on this island."
"Search the entire base, top to bottom," Hiccup ordered.
Everyone rushed to check their home for the newly hatched dragons. Helene was especially worried, she was supposed to look after them and she let escape her sight.
Before she could leave to start searching, Hiccup grabbed her arm, "We'll find them, Hele. I promise."
She smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Hiccup."
The riders and their dragons searched the base for the missing hatchlings, leaving no stone unturned. It was fruitless, there were no traces of them anywhere; it seemed infant dragons were far more elusive than their adult counterparts. After a couple of hours, they rendezvoused back to the Clubhouse to exchange information.
"So, what do you guys have?" Hiccup asked.
"Nothing near my hut," Helene answered.
"Or mine," Ladok added.
"Or mine," Fishlegs chimed in.
"No luck with mine either," Snotlout claimed.
'How can you tell in that boar sty?' he mentally retorted.
"They're not in the training arena or the stables," Astrid reported.
"I found dragon poop," Tuffnut held up a handful of small brown pellets.
Ruffnut put her arm around Hiccup as she whispered in his ear, "I might have told him Chicken's crap was baby dragon poop!"
He rolled his eyes and groaned in disgust, "Okay! So there's no sign of them on Dragon's Edge, which means they have to be somewhere else on the island."
"We'll split up then, cover more ground," Astrid put forward.
"Right," he nodded. "Ruff, Tuff, you two will search the north side. Snotlout, Fishlegs, you'll be in the south. Astrid, you'll look in the west and I'll be in the east. Helene, you'll search the beaches and coves."
"What about me?" Ladok spoke up, his arms crossed.
"You will be flying around the coast, see if they might have tried to take to the air," he responded. "Alright, let's get- what are you doing?"
"Fishlegs' bread is done," Tuffnut replied as he, Ruffnut, and Snotlout ate their finished breakfast.
"So soft and sweet with a hint of tang!" she commented, pinching her fingers, barely touching them together.
"I must agree with you, Sister-Nut," he remarked.
"And I agree with your agreement, Brother-nut," she took another bite out of the loaf in her hand.
Snotlout elbowed Fishlegs, "Hey, you've got to make this again."
'So much for wanting an omelet,' he thought.
"You've got to try it, guys!" Tuffnut, along with his sister, grabbed the uneaten bread in their arms and threw it at the other riders.
"Later, we have to find those babies now! Before something happens to them!" Helene declared.
"She's right. Mount up, everyone!" Hiccup ordered.
After Snotlout and the twins begrudgingly left the Clubhouse and stopped eating the bread, the riders mounted their dragons, who were waiting outside for them. They separated in the directions they were given to search as soon as they took to the air.
Helene flew down to the nearest beach, which was directly below the cliff from Fishlegs' house. She thought that if any of the Grapple Grounders were already flying, they would be going to the closest source of food that could be easily attained.
She knew better than anyone that it was a place with a lot of food. The sand alone had clams, crabs, insects, and even the occasional fish out of water.
As soon as Ripwave's feet touched the sand, her rider dismounted, "Alright, we have a baby to find, are you ready to look?" She gave her a short howl.
Ripwave looked near the water and rocks while Helene was on her hands and knees as she looked through the sand. She wondered if Grapple Grounders liked to burrow themselves while they waited for prey or hid from predators.
While moving a small boulder to look under it, Ripwave suddenly detected a foreign scent, causing her ear-like lobes to perk. It wasn't any of the dragons she knew were on the beach or in the water, in fact, it smelled like a hatchling.
She quickly started to track the scent, sniffing the earthy, salty, slightly rain-soaked sand. When it got stronger, she knew she had to be right on top of the source. She looked around, seeing nothing but a flat beach, until she saw a small pile of kelp with tiny footprints leading towards it.
She used her teeth to remove a handful of it, revealing a slender, little green dragon with brown and darker green spots. It screeched at her and fired a smaller, light blue version of Toothless' plasma blast in her direction.
It hit her in her face, but the effect was so small that she quickly shook it off. It tried to escape, but she grabbed it with her mouth, gently holding it in between her upper and lower jaw.
She immediately ran to her rider, who was still searching in the sand. She looked up and sat on her knees when she saw her dragon holding something in her mouth. She was both shocked and relieved to see that she had found one of the missing Grapple Grounder hatchlings.
She gasped and covered her mouth, "Oh, my Thor! Great job, girl! Now, gently put it on the ground so I can look at it."
Ripwave released the hatchling, setting it down in the sand. It trembled in fear, using its wings to cover itself with its tail wrapped around its thin body for comfort.
She shifted to sit on the ground with her legs crossed, hoping that a more relaxed sitting position would help her gain its trust. It lifted its wings slightly to look at her, chittering softly. It covered itself again when she reached her hand out.
She retreated her hand and tried to think of a way to make it trust her. It had just hatched a few hours earlier and she didn't know how it was on the beach before Ripwave found it. She figured that it must have been hungry, baby dragons needed to eat frequently in order to grow quickly.
She remembered she had one of the loaves the twins threw, she kept it in case they ended up searching the entire day. She tore off a small piece and held it out to the hatchling. It covered itself again at first, but then started sniffing it, determining if it wanted to eat it and if it was safe.
Finally, it built up the courage to unravel itself and open its mouth to eat the sweet bread. She tore off another piece, it flinched in reaction but then realized she was giving more of the bread to it.
It ate the new piece and another one she gave too, eventually becoming comfortable enough to eat out of her hand. When she stopped giving it bits of the bread, it crawled onto her lap and started tearing into it on its own, licking the jam that spilled out.
Now that she had its confidence, she felt comfortable slipping her hand underneath it and standing up while using her other hand to hold the bread. When it didn't protest, she carefully mounted Ripwave, who slowly began to rise up to the base. She had to be very cautious and steady since she knew her rider could not hold on to her saddle at the moment.
She landed near the stables, where they would have to wait for a while until the other riders returned. She hoped that they were able to find the two remaining missing hatchlings.
She looked down at the one she found, watching as it lapped up the fruity jam filling. She smiled with an amused look on her face, thinking, 'I better make sure to thank Fishlegs when I see him.'
A little more than an hour passed by the time the riders rendezvoused at the base, arriving only moments apart from each other. Helene could tell their searches did not yield any results, which was disconcerting.
"How did it go?" Ladok asked, noticing the same expressions on their faces that she did.
"Nothing."
"No hatchlings on our end."
"Same here."
"Nada."
"Zilch."
"Not a baby in sight."
"What about you, Helene?" he questioned after noting that she was the only one who didn't respond.
"I had better luck with the beach," she reported.
"Oh, really?" Snotlout retorted. "What did you find? One of your missing babies?"
"Actually, yes," she answered. She held up the baby Grapple Grounder she and Ripwave found, who was covered in jam that had spurted out of the bread.
Fishlegs practically fell off his dragon as he gleefully ran up to her, "I've never seen a Grapple Grounder hatchling in person before! I don't think I've ever seen this color on one of them either."
"Careful, he can be a little snappy," she warned him. Her warning was validated when he tried to bite his hand.
"I see what you mean," he commented.
"Well, that's one baby down," Astrid uttered.
"And two more still out there," Hiccup added.
"But we've already searched the whole island," Fishlegs mentioned.
"If they're not here…" Ladok began.
"They have to be somewhere else," Helene finished.
"Which means we have to expand our search to the nearby islands," Hiccup concluded.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Snotlout interjected. "How do we know they're even flying yet? For all we know, this one could have fallen off the cliff to the beach." He felt a sudden weight on his head, "He's on my head, isn't he?"
With her unoccupied arms, Helene shrugged, "You tell me."
He waved his hands to get him off his helmet, he retaliated by biting his thumb before flying back to Helene, "Ow!"
That was all the proof Hiccup needed to announce to the riders, "Drain your bladders and get ready, we're heading out to the nearest islands."
"I better run to the outhouse," Tuffnut remarked.
"Me too, make room for me," Ruffnut replied.
Ladok grimaced, 'I'll never get that image out of my head.'
They left Dragon's Edge for another island the two infant dragons might have gone too. The only one that was found went with them, Helene didn't want to leave him alone and risk losing him again.
The first couple of islands they came across were little more than sandbars, small and barren except for rocks, with no sign of a baby dragon. Finally, they found one that was lush, a good candidate for a place newly hatched Grapple Grounders might go to for food.
They split up again to have eyes on the ground in different areas. Helene was anxious and upset when she wasn't able to find them, the green hatchling was the same as she was, he wanted to be reunited with his siblings.
Suddenly, she saw something in the ocean below, ships docked in a cove. The ships were not ordinary trading or tribal vessels, they belonged to the Dragon Hunters!
She quickly got out her spyglass and looked down at them. Her heart dropped when she saw a small cage with two little dragons crammed inside of it, they were her missing hatchlings!
As much as she wanted to go down there and rescue them, she was outnumbered. If she wanted any hope of getting them back safely, she needed the other riders. Despite the protests of her conscience and his fears, she directed Ripwave to a different area so that she could send a signal.
When they over the center of the island, she had Ripwave fire her electricity into the air. The green infant dragon saw this and released one of his small pulses. They combined, causing a toned down version of the Electric Plasma Blast, a much smaller explosion than what was usually caused by Toothless' plasma blast.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed, not expecting to see such a thing. 'Who knew a Grapple Grounder could produce the same result of the Electric Plasma Blast a Night Fury would?'
In the various places the rest of the Dragon Riders were on the island, they all saw the signal and the small explosion in the sky. They flew to the epicenter, above the middle of the island where Helene was waiting.
"Did that little guy cause that?" Hiccup asked, impressed.
"You bet he did," she replied.
"What's up with the distress signal?" Ladok questioned.
"Dragon Hunters, here!" She pointed in the direction where she saw them. "They have the other two hatchlings."
"Are you sure?" Astrid queried.
"Yes! I'm sure. I saw them," she stated. The hatchling chirped at them, validating her claims.
"What should we do, Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked.
"How many ships did you see?" he asked Helene.
"Three," she answered, holding up three fingers.
"Alright, Fishlegs, you, Snotlout, and the twins will distract those hunters while Astrid, Ladok, and I cover Helene," he announced his plan. He then addressed her, "Do you think you can do this? I know you've never been in this position before."
She nodded, "Yes, I have to. I'll have Ripwave tear apart all of those ships if it comes to that, we have to save them."
"Gang, we have baby dragons to save and we're going to get them back," he declared.
All of the dragons roared, their parental instinct to save the young Grapple Grounders quickly taking control. Even the green hatchling let out his own squeaky, high-pitched roar.
They went to the cove and Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut began attacking the ships, throwing the hunters into a fog of shock and confusion. Helene soared down with Hiccup, Astrid, and Ladok backing her; she was nervous, but she was willing to do anything.
As soon as they were close enough, she leapt off Ripwave and landed on the deck, the young Grapple Grounder on her shoulder, firing occasional shots along with her dragon. With five dragons with a limited amount of firepower as her backup, she rushed to find the cage with the two hatchlings.
She remembered the cage, it was a small one, and she didn't see it anywhere. It had to be below deck, that was the only place it could be.
"Ripwave, follow me! Below deck!" she ordered.
"We'll keep cover up here!" Ladok called out to her.
Even with a Skrill in their arsenal, the hunters still refused to give up. Ladok mused that they must have been scared to death, but couldn't afford to be fearful because they had a job to do.
He smirked to himself, 'Sometimes it's the cowards that fight the hardest.'
Shockstrike kept one eye on the hunters and the other on the stairs that led to the lower deck, waiting for Helene to return, hopefully with three Grapple Grounder hatchlings instead of one or none. While distracted for a brief moment, one of the hunters shot an arrow at him.
Ladok reacted quickly, not wanting his dragon to become a victim of the dragon root. He leaned far to the side, causing Shockstrike to do the same, get his attention in time. He flew slightly downward, just as the arrow soared upward, firing at the archer as he started flying back up.
There was an irritated and slightly heated feeling that Ladok felt on his shoulder. He looked at it and his eyes became wide when he saw that the cloth was torn and blood was dripping out of a narrow cut. Instead of hitting his dragon, the arrow got him, though all it did was graze him.
He touched the fresh injury and flinched, he also saw the blood on his fingers, 'Shit!'
He didn't know what kind of effect dragon root had on anything that wasn't a dragon, whether in small or high doses. He wasn't experiencing any ill symptoms, he felt fine, and he hoped it would remain that way.
The ships began to tilt, they wouldn't be floating on the water for much longer, including the one Helene was searching. She hadn't returned yet, she was still somewhere below deck.
Hiccup knew there was only a minute or two before it collapsed and he didn't know if she would make it out in time. He, along with the other riders and even the dragons, held his breath, praying she would get out of there in one piece.
Just as it began to fall, a familiar purple and turquoise dragon emerged from the companionway with their friend and three baby dragons on her shoulders and in her arms. Helene managed to find the other two, who were the standard orange and red for a Grapple Grounder, much to the joy of their green sibling.
"Alright!" Astrid cheered.
"Great job, Hele," Hiccup grinned.
"There is nothing better than a family reunited," Fishlegs locked his hands together as he gushed.
"You're right about that, Fishlegs," she smiled at the infant dragons around her, laughing at some of their antics.
They started to head back to Dragon's Edge, many of the riders were grateful that it was a short flight. It would take no longer than half an hour, which meant they were not more than thirty minutes away from relaxing after a long day and the hatchlings could get their own rest as well.
Ladok suddenly sneezed, which his brother took notice of, "Are you alright?"
He wiped his nostrils and sniffled, "Yeah, I'm fine. Probably just inhaled some smoke." While he was saying that, he thought, 'I hope it's only smoke.'
V-I-U~o-*0*-o~U-I-V
(A/N: I know there are some parts of this that are better than others, but I liked writing this (despite the writer's block) because it shows a softer and somewhat kookier side of the Dragon Riders, and their dragons too. I will be naming the three Grapple Grounder hatchlings and they will have a role much later on, but I am still kind of debating what I want them to be named.
There will be one more chapter before I get back to the episodes, and it will be focusing primarily on Ladok, but also a little bit on Hiccup, Helene, and Shockstrike. Without spoilers, all I'm saying is that Shockstrike will be encountering an old enemy.)