While it was perfectly feasible to catch fish after it had reached one of the hidden world's many rivers, there was food to be found in the roaring waterfalls themselves. With an elegant dive, Toothless swooped a salmon out of the falling water with his claws, a surprisingly easy task. In the air, he was in his element, while his prey was not.
Hookfang and Light were flying, and Toothless joined their formation. The monstrous nightmare seemed moody, while the light fury was snickering beside him. The night fury gave a rumble in enquiry as he began eating the previous catch.
Hookfang spat out. "As it turns out, females are evil and sadistic, as if they weren't a pain enough already." The night fury, a salmon's tail hanging from his jaws, tilted his head in confusion before giving a dumbfounded look to his mate. That didn't sound like Hookfang.
"An absolutely indecent female decided not to spread her legs after he gave her a suggestive smile," answered the light fury with a mocking tone. The mystery solved, Toothless nodded, swallowing the fish. That sounded like him. And of Snotlout, back on Berk.
The three landed, and the monstrous nightmare paced angrily. "It's unfair! I am the alpha's advisor, but apparently even that isn't enough to gain some respect!" he growled, both at the sky and at the other dragons present.
The night fury rolled his eyes. "Respect is not equal to 'wants to mate with you,'" he explained calmly before going to his mate and draping a wing over her. "Isn't it right honey?"
"Mmm," purred Light gently as she nuzzled him back, her tail slowly reaching towards his underside. "I don't remember feeling respect for you."
"Stop! Ugh. You two are disgusting," barked Hookfang before the two started behaving in a way that was not acceptable when they were to make decisions necessary to maintain the hidden world.
Toothless chuckled lightly, before leaving the tangle of wings and giving a significant look to the red dragon. "Thank you for showing our children how to fight monstrous nightmares. It is very appreciated."
"Just stop being like that," spat out Hookfang.
This time, Ruffrunner was more focused. His tail was curled and heavy, acting as a counterweight to balance his movements. His claws pushed for grip in the hard ground, and his body was launched from side to side as the nightlight avoided the attacks of his father and attempted to deal out his own.
There. After bolting out of the way from an attack, the nightlight found himself face to face with his father's side. He bolted forwards, aiming for the neck… only for Toothless to back away from his strike. Free of obstacles, the nightlight's momentum carried him forwards, whereupon he felt his father strike against him from behind, throwing him on his side.
Reluctantly, Ruffrunner rose to his paws and examined the myriads of new bruises on his hide. "I hate this," he growled. He had tried, but that hadn't helped. He took a moment to look at his siblings, who seemed to just have finished a duel, and were licking their scratches. Unsurprisingly, one of them seemed much more pleased than the other.
"Feels good," purred Dart, somehow, while Pouncer mumbled something about how he preferred other kinds of 'female's touch.' Ruffrunner blinked. Really, nothing unexpected there. And he had other matters to attend to.
"Do you want to go against Hookfang?" asked Toothless.
His breath felt heavier at the suggestion, but this was what he was here for. "Yes," he said finally, and positioned himself in front of the monstrous nightmare, memories of the captor freshly emerging in his mind, much to his joy.
Hookfang leapt towards him with a bark. The nightlight hopped backwards to evade the attack, before attempting to deal his own flurry of strikes. With a quick sprint, the nightlight was on Hookfangs right side near the joint of his neck, striking at the hide with (retracted) claws and teeth, constantly inflicting pain in the other dragon to stop him from fighting back-
He froze as he could feel the large dragon's jaws and sharp teeth on both sides of his neck, the humid breath wetting his hide. The nightlight found himself in shock as Hookfang removed his jaws from the potentially lethal strike and gave him a light nudge.
Ruffrunner's heart was still pounding as his father explained his mistake. "Monstrous nightmares are large, they can take most of our attacks and keep fighting back," explained Toothless. "Meanwhile, you can't afford to get hit. However, you are much more mobile. Use that."
The monstrous nightmare gave him an appreciative smile, and they were fighting again, Ruffrunnner doing his best to stay out of the red dragon's aim. He skidded on the rock, planted his claws and kept balance with his tail during the tight turns.
Ruffrunner leapt above Hookfang, gaining speed with a strong flap, struck the dragon's top, and landed on his other side. This wouldn't have done much damage in a real fight, but it was a strike he could do that didn't result in his death. Hit, run, repeat. Simple, yet effective. "Excellent," commented Toothless. "Hookfang, how about you don't hold back?"
Ruffrunner inwardly groaned, generally displeased with the world.
The next moment his full focus was back on the monstrous nightmare's attacks, now somehow even faster. There was no time to think. He jumped, flapped, braked onto the rock, managing to evade all attacks yet not much more. However, he was not defeated. Not yet.
The wall of the tunnel they were fighting in stood suddenly before him, forcing Ruffrunner to leap to the other side, a less direct, more dangerous escape route. He kept evading though, little thought to anything but the giant dragon chasing him.
No. One second too late, Ruffrunner realised that he had leapt into the narrow dead end of a small crevasse. Fear filled him as he was forced to retreat further into the tunnel, buying him seconds at the cost of certain failure. He would not make it further back. There was only one thing left to do.
Suddenly, he planted his claws deep into the ground and rock and bolted towards the red dragon. More specifically, towards his lower side, where Hookfang had left an opening that maybe was just big enough for him to fit through in haste.
Hookfang's hind paw was on his back and crushed him towards the ground. The nightlight groaned in pain as his breath left him.
"Well shown Hookfang," stated Toothless, who seemed quite pleased with both of their performances. His father gave him a serious look. "Dragons will try to trap you. Don't let them."
Ruffrunner took a deep breath, his father's advice anything but reassuring. "I managed to escape like this once. What can you do to escape?" he asked, fearful of the anwer.
Toothless hummed sadly. "Fire, surprise, help from others and luck." Ruffrunner's eyes widened. He had been so close.
His father walked the remaining short distance and they butted heads wordlessly, their eyes closed. In the end, Toothless purred comfortingly. "Don't get trapped," he said silently.
They reached outside, and it was there Ruffrunner noticed a number of newcomers. The alpha's remaining advisors had reached here, seeming tense. "Alpha. It wasn't only Hookfang who tried to charm me today. I think you should learn about the other dragon," stated Pinch urgently.
The alpha raised an eyebrow and looked at Hookfang, feeling perplexed. "So the absolutely indecent female was-"
"What about this dragon?" interrupted Hookfang.
Pinch nodded, facing the alpha. "He matched exactly the description of the captor. He claimed that it was a mere coincidence, and that you had already met him, and released him after finding his innocence. Is that true?"
There was a moment of silence before Toothless growled in denial. Ruffrunner blinked. They had believed that the captor was hiding, safely away from other dragons… and they had been wrong.
"Apparently, the captor freely walks around this cavern," barked Toothless urgently. The nightlight noted how his fathers claw had extended, as if he was ready for a fight. "Hookfang, you are like him. You even have the same taste in females. Lead us where you think he is most likely to be."
The monstrous nightmare did not seem pleased by the comparison. "Bastard," he said at Toothless. He took off, the alpha and group of dragons following tightly. Before two minutes, they were gone, the fighting lesson swiftly forgotten.
And during all of this, Ruffrunner could do nothing but look. He was only brought back to reality by Pouncer nudging his shoulder. "By the way, have I told you about me and Laura yesterday?"
"Young males like females," explained Hookfang. "And don't look at me like that."
"Thanks," answered Toothless with a grin before taking off for a search. His body was rumbling for action and his eyes thin as they scanned the space, but he couldn't help but feel amused. Hookfang hadn't even hesitated before leading them to a cavern rich with young females of his species.
The alpha flying off for himself left his advisors quite calm, if ready to intervene. "Why are they here?" asked Light. "And why are they only females?" For 'that pack,' she had an easy answer. That cavern offered great fishing, and the dragons were too unbearable for others to go there. But these dragons seemed nice, and the cavern was only average for fish. The monstrous nightmares were laughing, talking and generally enjoying themselves, to the point of seeming pleasant to be with. She sighed. The same could not be said for those light furies.
"It is nice to be around only females sometimes, so this is where we go to relax," explained Pinch calmly. At least, to Light, it sounded like Pinch. The light fury took a moment to appreciate just how similar the two sisters were. Small, broad shoulders, all the way down to the spikes on the tail that were large even for monstrous nightmares… one of them was often unsure and nervous, while the other was overly confident, but without this, she would have serious problems distinguishing them. Pinch then noted the judging stare of her sister and laughed lightly. "Where I go to relax," she corrected herself.
Light pointed at the dragons in front of her with curiosity. "But why would a male like the captor come here if these females are not looking for mates?"
"Really good looking males are still allowed, because they make you feel the…" Pinch gave a knowing nod to the group and received a row of shaking heads. The monstrous nightmare huffed. "And not so good looking males are also allowed, since it is entertaining to claw them out of the cavern."
"Therefore, males sometimes take their chances and enter this place," finished Hookfang.
Light looked at the monstrous nightmare in curiosity before turning back to her mate, who was returning, seemingly displeased. "Two males, neither of them was orange," he stated shortly, and the rest of them took flight to join him. "By the way, do you know why they seemed to be violently chased away by the females?"
Light gave a suggestive smile. "It was because they didn't make the females feel the…" she said, mimicking Pinch, resulting in Toothless being very confused. Light huffed. "Don't worry about it."
"Young males like violence. You forbid it." said Hookfang. "This is the place people go when they want to do things without you having a say over it."
The night fury nodded in thanks but inwardly growled. A bunch of dragons doing whatever they wanted, possibly harmful. He was mad at them for causing trouble, and mad at himself for not making them change.
Nevertheless, the sight in front of him was impressive. A huge ravine which was so filled with dragons that it was hard to see the floor, the ceiling almost too far away to be seen, all bathed in green and blue crystals. The night fury rarely went this far down, leaving these dragons mostly for themselves, but perhaps it was a mistake. A sizable portion of the entire cavern had to be here. The night fury turned towards his mate. "Isn't this where Laura lives?"
"The poor victim of our troublemaker? Yes, I think so," she answered before giving him a piercing look. "And I still think that we need to teach those three that. You know how it is at their age," she complained.
Toothless huffed. "That's all you think about?"
Light grinned. "With your looks, of course it's on my mind."
The two were interrupted by Stormfly, who had only ever been in this cavern to carry food, and as such, had never truly seen it before. The deadly nadder seemed shocked. "This ravine is huge and wonderful and full of life and huge," she marvelled. "Even if he is here, how are we supposed to find him?" And it was a valid question. They were a mere six, and even if they were to spread out, that would still take time. Luckily, the night fury had a trick up his sleeve-uh, hide.
"I know someone," hummed Toothless. He leapt into the air and angled towards the ravine, quickly making his way towards one of its many caverns, spotting the unmistakable green shape with ease. The rest of the group followed closely on his tail.
"Toothless!" barked the hideous zippleback as he greeted him fondly, finding and stroking the night fury's scales before he had even landed. The black dragon purred back and returned the favour.
"Barf and Belch? So this is where you have been!" barked Storfmly happily as she went to embrace the old friend. "What have you been doing here?"
At this point, a myriad of dragons exited the cavern and stared curiously at the group, all hideous zipplebacks, huddled closely together as people who had known each other for many, many years. It wasn't hard to understand what was going on.
"Stormfly, I want you to meet my family," said Barf and Belch solemnly. "This is Bonnie and Clyde, my wonderful mate and a master of stealth, and our lovely offspring Eggs and Bacon, who is a pleasure to be around in the morning, Tom and Jerry, who's two heads are very much in conflict with each other, Pratt and Whitney, who's very strong and good at flying and lastly Gin and Cognac, who is a bit… strange in the head but nevertheless very kind and sweet.
"Next time, I will introduce us," mumbled Bonnie and Clyde.
The male hideous zippleback turned towards Toothless. "And be sure, I have raised them with stories of all your incredible feats back at Berk. They love you," the night fury smiled awkwardly, finally understanding the awestruck glances he had been receiving. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"
Within minutes, a total of twenty-four more eyes were added to the search, making a task that would previously have taken the entire day suddenly a lot more manageable. "Don't worry. You can trust them," reassured Barf and Belch. "We will keep an eye-eyes out for him, and not tell anyone that he is loose," he stated confidently. The night fury nodded. These were dragons he could trust. Old friends for whom he had risked his life, and who had risked their life for him, who he knew well. Well, Barf and Belch's family not as much, but the hideous zippleback trusted them, and he trusted the hideous zippleback. He turned to look at the green dragon.
"You seem happy. What's on your mind?" asked the night fury curiously.
A happy sigh was heard. "Aren't families wonderful?" asked the hideous zippleback rhetorically. "Can you imagine how it will be when each of my hatchlings finds a mate and has four little hatchlings of their own?"
Toothless really tried to imagine it. Four more mates, with four hatchlings each, each carrying four eyes… He gulped in worry, his head feeling dizzy. "I don't think I can."
The alpha wasn't sure if the captor truly was in this cavern. But now, he was confident. As long as their target kept himself in the open, they would find him. And if not here, in another place. His claws were rumbling. There was nothing to do but to keep searching.
Some days started off good. In those days, a beautiful dawn would often go unnoticed, as for the young dragon, sleeping in was a good way to start the day.
Then there was today. They had started with fighting, and when that lesson had been finished, Ruffrunner had calmly returned to his sleeping slab. However, he was painfully awake. The reason for this was a certain white nighlight, who had had such a 'cute and wonderful experience' with a female but lacked the common sense to not brag about it to each and every member of the known world. Ruffrunner, laying on his belly onto the cave's floor, happened to be his brother's target. It was late morning, and the dragon was in pain.
"It's just… I look at her, I see the faint lines outlining the muscles of the wings, hind legs and tail, all covered by a tantalising clear white hide, not unlike my own, a myriad of reflective scales wrapping around all of that wonderful body… What was my point again?" Ruffrunner gave an exasperated groan. The only positive point was that his brother was not drooling.
Pouncer lit up as he remembered the answer to his own question. "Oh, right! My point is, the most important of all is personality." The black nightlight raised an eyebrow. Admittedly, he had not expected that.
But in the meantime, Pouncer's patience started to run out due to Ruffrunner's inactivity. "Fine. I get it," he said suddenly. "You think that hearing about everything that happens in my life is boring." Ruffrunner lit up. Yes! Pouncer had understood! Would he finally be left alone?
An evil grin rose onto Pouncer's face. "So how about we stop talking about me and I tell you ways that you can use to get females instead?"
In an attempt to not throw up, Ruffrunner managed to cut out the noise until Pouncer's ramblings were little more than a disturbance. He took a moment to examine his options. The ideal outcome would of course be to simply fall asleep again. However, with his brother's annoying presence, it was sadly impossible. He considered throwing himself off the cliff. Not bad, but it wouldn't guarantee Pouncer not following. Physically removing his brother, either from this cavern or from the universe altogether sounded better, but also tiring. And it was a method that fitted Dart more than himself. However, speaking about Dart…
"Pouncer?" he asked candidly. He even resisted the temptation to show teeth. The white nightlight looked at him in curiosity. "Are you better at fishing than Dart?"
"Of course he is not," answered Dart after having materialised between Ruffrunner and his brother.
Pouncer snorted. "Keep believing that." This earned the nightlight a murderous stare by his sister, and the stage was set for Ruffurnner's grand reveal.
"How about you settle this with a race? The first to bring me a tuna fish is the winner?" he said teasingly. The nightlight smirked. Tunas were big and therefore rare. This meant that, if he only managed to convince them… a delightfully long moment to rest with not one but two fish to greet him once he woke up.
"I will not waste my time just to bring you a stupid fish," barked Dart angrily. But that wasn't a problem. He was prepared for that.
"You have to fish for me for having helped you yesterday," clarified Ruffrunner. "So you might as well make it a race and prove that you are better than Pouncer."
An angry growl made its way from Dart before she sighed in resignation. "I will bring you the fish. And nothing more."
Pouncer seemed surprised. "Do you really intend to serve him?!"
The blue eyed dragon rolled her eyes. "Yes, I have to bring fish to my lazy and worthless" -she cast a venomous stare at Ruffrunner- "little brother." The nightlight rolled his eyes. With all the fish and without all the running around, he was by far the biggest of the three. But in the end, Dart sighed and resigned, making her way towards the cavern's exit. "But I will not race you. That would be useless."
Ruffruner looked on as his sister prepared to take off, worried that his plan might fail. But there was one last trick he could try. "You know, I am sure that you would be faster than Pouncer if it came to it," he called out in reassurance. And he did so loudly enough for his brother to hear.
"No she is not!" roared Pouncer as he took to the air to prove otherwise.
As Dart looked out onto the cavern, she pondered on what to do. And after some thinking, the answer was obvious. The nightlight was not going to let this already unpleasant task become a race. Sure, she was competitive, but made herself no illusions. In a flight like this against Pouncer, the only real winner would be Ruffrunner. She had nothing to gain by doing it.
Pouncer flew past her.
Dart roared angrily as she leapt after him, the instinct to chase overwhelming everything else.
What was the best way to win? Tuna fish were rare, and to maximise her chances, she would need to go somewhere that offered good fishing water. The best place that she knew of was the cavern where 'that pack' lived. Her tailfins caught the air to create downforce, pitching her body upwards. She spotted Pouncer not far above her and flapped harder, ascending at a brutal pace. Her muscles were burning, her breaths were heavy, but among all of this, she smirked. Climbing was simple. One pushed oneself upwards with as much force as possible. And though her brother had considerable strength, his mind was weak. He couldn't even handle a bit of pain. And so, with her wings burning about as hot as her fire, she passed in front of him, pushing him downwards with the wake of the air beneath her wings. She would win this.
Ruffrunner looked on as the two dragons departed, and for a moment felt a sting of regret for not going out there to catch his own fish.
He snorted. As if. It wasn't that he didn't like fishing. But right now, he had achieved greatness. He approached his stone slab and gave it a proper treatment, using up a considerable amount of his fire, before stepping onto it. The warmth. The calm. The silence, over them being gone.
He closed his eyes in pleasure. This stone slab really was comfortable. And the prospect of not one, but two tunas to greet him once his resting was done was very enticing. The dragon found himself practically drooling over it. After all, he was a young male. And it is a well known fact that young males like food.
The captor was doing something stupid. Though in his defence, he was aware of it being stupid. He was simply deciding to proceed with it anyway.
The monstrous nightmare took a defiant step towards the stream, focused his eyes on a silver-grey trout and with a swift movement snapped it out of the water and swallowed it.
Lemon stared back during all of this, blue eyes facing the orange dragon with nothing but rage and a shock that stopped her from doing anything. For a light fury, Lemon was big and strong. Against him, she seemed tiny, frail, and most importantly, weak. And so, the captor could at any moment leap against her, but if it came to it, she was completely hopeless against him.
"You monster!" she roared. "Go back to the hole in the ground that you deserve!"
The captor gave a sneer smile. His opponent had made a lethal mistake, and he would make sure to fully exploit it. Stalking nearer, he walked on the side of the white dragon and tauntingly eyed the undefended side before dealing the determining blow. "I am already in a hole in the ground," he barked with a devilish smile. Upon this incredible defeat, the light fury looked mortified.
"But if you have complaints, you are welcome to take it to the alpha," he continued innocently. "Let's see what he will say about me doing something so horrible such as eating a fish."
Lemon was still fuming (literally, some white smoke leaking from her nostrils). However, she turned part of that anger away from him, towards a dragon that was not present at the moment. "That rotten beast..." she murmured quietly. "That he released you."
Convincing the light fury that he was not the alpha's target had been surprisingly easy. It all hung on how she despised both the alpha and himself. After all, if an enemy's enemy was one's friend, it implied that if one had two enemies they had to be friends. To Lemon, he and the alpha were both a torment. This meant that she had not for a moment doubted the story of Toothless releasing him to let him 'steal' the prey from 'her' cavern. Stupid, but very lucky, for him at least.
Speaking of which, a healthy, fresh saumon swam in the river besides the two dragons. Through a more thorough inspection, the captor determined that it was also particularly tasty.
Lemon's expression was fitting to her name. "This is our cavern, the one we fought to obtain! Who do you think you have the right to walk in-"
The captor interrupted the light fury with an angry growl and stepped forwards, closer, towering over her. "You fought to obtain this cavern. Now we will fight to get it back," he hummed venomously.
"But you are alone. Noone else wants this to change," growled Lemon, though her voice came out a lot more quietly. "Do you see anyone else here trying to get fish from us?"
A faint sound of wingbeats became ever louder as two black and white dragons approached, followed by the sounds of heavy breathing and occasional profanities. Within moments, the two dragons, now near enough to be recognizable as similar to, but not light furies, had started aggressively diving into the stream in some kind of extreme fishing. An angry bark rose from Lemon. "Oh, come on!"