Here is Chapter 2, this took many days to do due to IRL stuff. But here it is! Enjoy!


*Is it Loki and Rune?* Shadow asked as he hovered in place, nervous with anticipation over who it might be. Ash's quills raised and the little dragon glanced into the woods, glaring and giving the forest a wary look as he spoke, *If it's not, am I allowed to commit murder?*

Shadow glanced down at Ash below before telling him in a voice that left no room for argument, *Depends on who or what it is.* Ash just huffed and turned away, whilst Arourallis squinted and looked deeper into the treeline, *I think it's... It's someone that belongs here I think, can't quite tell who; They're wearing Berk-y stuff, I mean,* The Stormcutter said to the other two.

Arourallis swooped down a little bit, going as close as they dared to the unrecognized figures. After a few moments, Arourallis got a good enough look, *Is that Fishlegs? Wait, there's Meatlug too! Could be worse, at least it's not Spitelout.*

Shadow grumbled, *And at least it's not Mildew, oh gods that'd suck,* After a moment, the Ender Dragon looked between the other two dragons and asked, *So, what do we do? Do we avoid them or interact with them?*

*Hmmmm, can I just sting them or something? It would be funny,* Ash pointed out, raising his stinger, to which Shadow responded with an unamused glare and tone of voice, *They might be an ally and we don't need our first interaction with Berk to be hostile.*

*Yeah but, he's pretty bulky, so it would probably only paralyze half of him,* Ash pointed out. *That's not an excuse,* Shadow responded curtly and Ash rolled his eyes before responding sarcastically, *Of course it's not, mom. *

*Now I think I know how Carpy felt,* Shadow grumbled to himself, reflecting on all the times Carpy, via Discord, had told him off from doing something stupid. Arourallis snapped to attention, staring at Ash, *You want to sting Meatlug? Absolutely not , we all know what she went through! Plus, Fishleg'll be over the moon about new dragons, just be nice.*

Something began to nag at Arourallis however, and they spoke up, *We still know everything; If this is early enough in the timeline, what could we change?* To which Shadow seemed to hum thoughtful, speaking up, *What could we change? Should we even try to change anything just yet? We have no idea when in the timeline we are.*

Suddenly, Ash tilted his head consideringly, *Well, should I like, go up to him and give him puppy-dog eyes? Maybe we can get some food out of it.* Shadow glanced at him slightly confused, *Didn't we eat not that long ago? I mean, I didn't eat much but still.* Hearing this, Ash shrugged and responded, *Hm, true, but I already feel hungry, maybe since I'm made to run, my metabolism is higher or something?*

*What about Valka? She's still out there, and we kinda know where the nest is; Drago? Well, he's anybody's guess, even the writers couldn't decide where he was from,* Arourallis spoke up and then grumbled to himself, *Greece was right there , idiots.*

*I like Greece,* Ash said.

*We need to figure out when we are before we try and change anything,* Shadow spoke up, *And we have to regroup with Lok and Rune.* Internally, Shadow was surprised that all those hours he'd thought wasted on reading up on time travel and alternate realities would be useful now.

Ash glared up at Shadow and told him, *Us just being here could affect stuff, butterfly effect right bitch?* Shadow glanced down at him, answering, *Yes, our presence might have already caused untold ripple effects; I've studied stuff like time travel and the like before, but we don't need to cause any more ripples intentionally without knowledge of when we are and the effects of our actions.*

*Fair enough,* Arourallis conceded before pointing out something, *And Fishlegs would want to run to Hiccup first, wouldn't he? That could help find them.* Ash glanced up at Arourallis and grinned evilly before speaking up and saying something which made Arourallis nearly gag, *Ah yes, time for me to platonically seduce the walking lump with my doggo eyes.*

*Please, never say that again,* Arourallis said seriously whilst attempting not to gag, before looking down and focusing, *Alright, let's get down then. gently now...* Meanwhile Ash crept through the trees towards Fishlegs, chirping quietly, and nearby Shadow gentled landed in a crouch behind some trees, moving slowly and carefully.

Ash glanced at Shadow going slowly, paused, and then shrugged before leaping over to Fishlegs, attempting to give him the puppy-dog eye routine, *Please have dragon nip, please have dragon nip, I really want to get hiiiiigh.*

Shadow resisted the overwhelming urge to facepalm, mainly to avoid stabbing himself in the face with his claws. Meanwhile, Arourallis had taken a lot of time to land due to wanting to land mostly unnoticed, and it being hard to land quietly with a one-hundred-foot wingspan and colored bright cream, gold, and pink. After a moment, Arourallis landed and made their best show of acting shy, peeking around the trees in an attempt to be friendly... and saw Ash. * What was Ash doing,* Arourallis thought.

Ash widened his eyes even further and cooed at Fishlegs in an attempt at being adorable, before turning around and giving a 'suck it' look to Arourallis. Fishlegs had gasped seeing the new little dragon, nearly dropping his book whilst Meatlug rushed to try and put herself between her Rider and the new dragon... or dragons. *You stop, you stop right THERE!* Meatlug shouted loudly, trailing off into a growl at the end.

*Oh,* Arourallis said dumbly, their wings dropping limply in shock as they realized that All the dragons could talk. * This was going to get... interesting, * Arourallis thought to themself.

Shadow, seeing this, moved a little farther away and deeper into the darkness, hoping the Gronckle wouldn't see him. He decided to just let Ash and Arourallis make first contact, as he didn't want Fishlegs to run or Meatlug to attack him due to his size and potential threat, he had no idea how to convey that he meant no harm with just dragon body language and best not to incite a conflict.

Ash turned to Meatlug and smirked, *Oh hello there, how are y-* Ash couldn't maintain it and devolved into a mutter, *Oh I am so tempted to sting her...*

*You will not,* Arourallis told the little dragon before turning to Meatlug, *You'll, ah, have to excuse him; Like a big eager baby, he is.* Arourallis slunk out of the trees further, nice and slow as to appear as non-threatening as possible to the Gronckle.

*Who are you?* Meatlug asked as she dug her claws into the snow-covered ground and Arourallis quickly responded, *Rory, and Ash, and one other; We are... very lost.*

*I am not a child, and you might have just denied me my only chance of getting high!* Ash hissed lightly whilst turning to Arourallis, who rolled their eyes and responded, *It's winter, how much of that stuff do you think they have lying around? It's probably just like catnip anyway.* Ash paused and thought about it before answering, *Well, catnip is basically drugs for cats, so maybe dragon nip is like drugs as well!* Ash nodded, assured of his own logic.

Meatlug squinted in disbelief, looking at them both before speaking, *Eh, that sounds... like a bad idea.* Arourallis nodded and replied, *A very bad idea; It's for the best, have you seen anyone strange? We are missing our, uh, Riders?* Hearing this, Ash snorted at the thought of anyone trying to 'ride' him.

Meanwhile, Shadow sighed as he realized Arourallis had pointed out the existence of a third dragon, and thus, he needed to show himself. Slowly, the large Ender Dragon slinked out of the shadows, lowering himself and trying to look as non-threatening as possible as he came out from the darkness. *Don't be alarmed, M-Gronckle,* The Ender Dragon said, just barely catching his near slipup in saying Meatlug's name when he, technically, hasn't been told it yet.

Ash gestured to Shadow with one wing, *Ah yes, that is mother, do not fear them.* With that said, Ash hopped about Meatlug, looking over her and her wings, *How do you even fly? Are you like a bee?*

Shadow stepped fully into sight of Meatlug and Fishlegs, standing up at his full height and easily towering over them. Meanwhile, Arourallis had heard Ash and couldn't help it, they snorted and quickly muffled a laugh before speaking, *Leave her bee , alright?* Then, to Meatlug, *But, your rider seems a bit... giddy?*

Fishlegs was indeed giddy, practically shaking as he looked between the three new dragons as quickly as he could, trying to draw them all at once in his book. *He won't faint, will he?* Arourallis asked and Meatlug huffed, *No! He's excitable is all, now leave us be so we can get out and back before dark!*

*What could be so important, this late in the day?* Arourallis questioned, tilting their head, *Many heads make little work, yes?* Beside Arourallis, Shadow glanced up at the already dark night sky and told Meatlug, *It's practically already dark out, Gronckle.*

*GrrrrrfffINE,* Meatlug grumbled before scouting around to nudge Fishlegs along, and Fishlegs did not like this, "Meatlug, wait! We can get those roots later, what about them?!" The large Dragon Rider pointed to the three new dragons.

*Roots?* Arourallis asked as the group trailed behind, *What kind of roots? That's rabbit food.* Meatlug huffed and answered, *Roots for bad bellies, too many babies are crying.* Arourallis nodded, replying, *Ah... if you can describe them, we will help.*

Ash snorted and glanced at Meatlug, *If the babies are crying, I can just sting them for you.* Shadow turned to stare at Ash with a less than impressed look, telling the little dragon, *Ash, no.* Ash just stared back and said, *Ash, yes.* Arourallis cut in, snapping at Ash, *Enough, about the stinging! This is how you get skinned alive.*

*If I get skinned alive, how long would it take for me to die?* Ash asked as he narrowed his eyes, and Shadow looked up as if thinking about it when really he was just pulling a random number out of thin air, *About 1 hour, maybe.* Hearing this, Ash grinned and remarked, *Enough time for me to shank some asses.*

*Maybe, but let's not find out; I know this is all very exciting, but that's not an excuse to go feral,* Arourallis warned Ash, *Save it for the people actually causing problems.* They all looked forward, to see Meatlug staring back at them in disbelief, eyeing them all slowly.


Just a little while earlier, quite a distance away, Carpy was panicking a bit and using her paper fan to cover her face. After a moment, she finally answered Hiccup, "They're um... A mystery! Yeah, that's it." Leor turned towards Carpy, whispering to the human, *Carpy I love you, but why.* The Night Fury Deathgripper hybrid hoped that Toothless didn't hear him.

"Yeah, we are so dead," Rune whispered to himself whilst Lok thought to himself, " Really should have confirmed their species before starting a conversation with a dragon geek... "

Trook remained quiet as the group began to move out of the village, the little creature looking around as their auricles twitched at all the sounds, some of which they had never heard before. It put Trook on edge, nearly overwhelming them and Rune noticed as he turned to the little dragon to ask, "You alright mate?"

Trook just shrugged them off, growing tense and overwhelmed by all of the new sounds, their breathing growing uneven as they grit their isodontic teeth. Meanwhile, upon hearing Carpy's answer, Hiccup raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as he looked over the group. Toothless sniffed, confused, in Leor's direction.

"Sure... Oh, we never introduced ourselves, did we? My name is Hiccup, and this is Toothless," Hiccup said and gestured to himself and Toothless as he spoke.

"I'm Rune," Rune introduced himself and then Lok followed up, "Lok." Carpy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly before answering, "Ah, you're right! My name is Carpy; The dragon I'm riding is named Leor, and our little cutie over there is Kay."

Hiccup waved hello to the two walking humans before speaking, "Interesting... Can I ask where you all came from?" Instantly, Lok had to smother his internal panic so Hiccup didn't see and Rune quickly answered the one-legged teenager, "We come from the mainland." Carpy nodded along, trying to look inconspicuous.

Hiccup didn't seem pleased with the lack of information but shrugged and accepted it before asking them, "The mainland, huh... You must have plenty of different dragons there."

"Yeeaahhh but most aren't seen in a pleasant light; A lot are hunted so we aren't really popular back there," Rune answered as he nervously traced circles on his palms and Lok continued for him, "Yeah, most of the place isn't exactly what you'd call 'at peace' with dragons."

That seemed to be an answer Hiccup was expecting, "I completely understand; Berk only recently came to peace with dragons," Hiccup told them and Carpy smiled awkwardly before speaking, "Precisely, we must be very lucky to have found this place!"

Rune nodded along with Carpy, only to shiver as a gust of wind hit him, "Um, hey Hiccup, not to be rude or anything but do you think that you guys might have a place for us to stay for the night, we don't really anywhere to stay." Rune felt awkward asking such a request, he didn't want to sound like he was asking too much.

"And, possibly some warmer clothing too... It's a LOT colder up here than the mainland," Lok spoke up as he shivered once from the cold, and Rune looked at him, "At least you got some pants, my clothes are useless against this cold."

Hiccup shook his head and answered, "I'm afraid there's nowhere for you to stay, Berk isn't used to visitors; As for clothes, the best I can do for you is cloth and some leather." Lok shrugged and remarked, "Better than thin cotton."

Trook pawed at their auricles, groaning from the stress. After a moment they barked out, distressed and overwhelmed by all the new sounds entering their new ears. Leor cooed to Trook, concerned over seeing them this distressed.

To keep Hiccup's attention on her, Carpy shut her fan a bit too loudly and spoke, "Perfectly fine by me! I can sew! Do you know where I could get some thread and needles?" Hiccup chuckled sheepishly and answered, "I'll see what I can do."

"Hey, do you think Trook will be alright?" He asked as he watched Trook, whispering so Hiccup did not hear. Carpy, hearing this, intentionally continued to try and make conversation with Hiccup in order to buy the others time to help Trook. Lok walked over to Trook, leaning down and whispering, "Hey, you ok?"

Rune walked over and nodded along with Lok, "Ya, you alright Trook? You seem stressed out." Trook snapped at them reflexively, shaking their head and shuffling around. Lok turned to Rune and spoke, "Okayyyy, something is definitely up with the small-fry."

"I think we should carry him back, but I don't know if he will let us get close to him to do that," Rune suggested and Lok suggested another idea, "I can see if he has the same under the chin scratch pressure point as normal dragons."

Carpy continued to talk to Hiccup as the group slowly began to exit the village and make their way into the forest, "So... We were attacked by um, hunter pirates? Right? And we're trying to figure out what species our dragons are so THAT'S why it's a mystery, ahahahaha..." She leaned towards the two other Humans and whispered, "If you're gonna do something about Trook, do it quick!"

"Ok, guess I'm gonna risk my fingers... And probably hand," Lok spoke as he raised his hand, whilst Rune turned to Carpy and gave a look telling her to shut up they're working on it. Carpy just responded by pointing to the forest and them, and Rune spoke to Lok, "Do it, as we don't have a lot of options right now."

Lok attempted to lean down next to Trook and scratch them on the chin, whispering to Leor as they did so, "If this doesn't work, I may need some venom to sedate him; Because Trook going nuts doesn't sound like a good thing right now." Trook hissed vehemently at Lok, pupils thinning to slits overhearing that idea. Trook swiped their foreclaws at Lok, missing, and edging back to attempt and gain their barrings.

"Ok, plan B, Leor, I need some venom," Lok whispered to Leor whilst Rune reached his hands out to Trook, speaking, "Easy buddy we're just trying to help."

Hiccup tried to peer around Carpy and Leor to see what was happening with the others, but the two moved into his view intentionally, obscuring his view. "Is everything okay back there?" Hiccup asked and Carpy nervously answered, "Ahaha... You know how the little ones get without their beauty sleep!"

Lok ripped off a piece of his clothing in order to collect some of Leor's venom, only to pause as a new less-sedation involving idea came to mind, "Wait, I may have a better idea." Hearing this, Rune whispered to him, "Then let's hear it."

"It may be sensory overload; Human brains aren't used to the enhanced senses of dragons, maybe muffling his senses could work, you know, like earplugs or something?" Lok suggested and Trook flared their wings and snapped at them, *Just do it!* Lok took the ripped-off piece of his shirt and used it to make a pair of earplugs and stuck them where he thought earholes might be, "That any better?"

*I don't have ear holes…* Trook commented irritated, shaking their auricles and causing them to flap around, *Try tying it around my head where my auricles meet my casque…* As Trook spoke, they angled themselves and gestured with one claw to where they were talking about.

Lok tore off a longer strip of his shirt and tried that, doing exactly as Trook had instructed. After it was in place, Trook twitched their two primary auricles and squinted as they thought it over. It definitely wasn't a cure but it was a lot better, so they sighed in relief and began to take deep breaths to calm down.

"You need a lift, or are you good?" Lok asked and Trook growled with a scowl, *I'm fine.* Hearing this, Rune told the smaller creature, "If you're sure, but don't hesitate to let us know if you need help."

Rune got up from his crouch and walked back over to where Carpy, Leor, Hiccup, and Toothless were, the two Humans and Trook having fallen behind. " This is already starting to become too much, " Rune thought to himself as he rubbed his tired face, meanwhile Lok was also thinking to himself much less tired thoughts, " Note to self, find dragon nip for later... I wonder if I could smoke it? "

Meanwhile, Carpy had had much better luck in distracting Hiccup, coming to an agreement with Hiccup for the one-legged teenager to get them some cloth, leather, a sewing kit, some rations for the humans of the group, and access to Berk's fish troughs for the dragons of the group. Rune walked up to them, asking, "Hey guys what did I miss?"

After Carpy caught him up on it, she readjusted her dress to cover a bit more of her upper body, a little spooked by the unknown forest at night. She coughed into her fist and gestured to Lok and Rune, "Gentlemen, do you mind leading the way?" After that, she whispered the next part so Hiccup didn't hear, "I haven't been out of the village, and Leor and Trook don't know the way either."

"Follow me," Lok said and gestured to the path they'd used to get from the Cove to the village, and the group quickly made their way down it. Toothless began to pick up his pace as the trail became familiar, something of which Hiccup also noticed and commented on, "So it really is the same place... Don't worry, we'll have your dragons out quickly."

"Thanks, I don't think that we would have been able to get them out ourselves," Rune spoke up and Lok laughed slightly before also speaking, "Yeah, pretty deep hole."

"So Hiccup, what were you doing at a forge this late at night?" Rune asked, wanting to try and make some small-talk with the young Dragon Rider. Hiccup smiled sheepishly and tapped his fingers against the leather saddle on Toothless, answering, "Late-night modifications; Toothless lost his tail fin so I've... Helped him out a little."

Trook lowered their head and decided to practice their more advanced senses, closing their eyes in order to use their electroreception to detect electric fields and currents from even other individuals. Meanwhile, Lok asked Hiccup, "Yeah, I noticed the prosthetic; Mind if I take a look at it? Looks like an interesting piece of engineering."

Hiccup was surprised by the question but nodded, gesturing to Toothless's tail, "Sure, I suppose? I don't see what the harm could be..." Rune, meanwhile, looked at the tail-fin before complimenting Hiccup, "I'm impressed that you made such an impressive prosthetic especially for a dragon; You don't see many on animals, especially as ones so complex as this one."

Hiccup smiled a bit sheepishly, "Thank you, I'm always upgrading it. Toothless deserves that much." Meanwhile, Lok came up beside the tail-fin prosthetic and began to inspect it, "Hm, long, semi-rigid connecting rod, allowing it to work as a tendon for both contraction and expansion without having to rely on elastics..."

Trook's head aimlessly moved towards Hiccup and Toothless, the little dragon astonished as they could feel the electrical pulses coming off of them. They were so astonished that they accidentally walked right into Toothless's leg, opening their eyes and staring, their heart racing as they smelt his scent and saw the beautiful scales and muted markings, *... Sorry.*

Lok tried their hardest to ignore Trook being seemingly turned on by Toothless's leg, "Damn, ingenious design on this thing." Lok gestured to the tail-fin. Toothless had been startled by his leg getting bumped and accidentally jostled Hiccup, who looked down and noticed Trook backing up.

"Oh, hello little buddy..." Hiccup whispered as he reached his hand down, expecting Trook to sniff it as a dragon would. Rune stared at Trook a little weirded out by how they reacted to being so close to Toothless's leg, whilst Trook blinked at Hiccup and quirked a brow, snorting hot breath into his palm and then backing up with a flex of their hindwings.

Hiccup laughed softly at the interaction, but Toothless grew a bit skeptical of the little dragon. Trook noticed Toothless's look but inwardly shrugged it off, returning back over to Carpy and Leor.

Carpy, back sore from having to twist to face forward as they had been sitting sideways instead of forward, tugged on her gloves and spoke up, "How much further? It's getting really late..." Rune gestured to some bushes just up ahead before answering, "Shouldn't be much farther just past these few bushes."


"Ok, what the fuck is happening?" Lok shouted as they heard the tail-end of Ash speaking about shanking asses, and Rune mumbled as he picked up the pace, "I hope that it's not someone eating Ash."

The group of five, lead by Hiccup and Toothless, exited out through the bushes and were seen by Shadow and the others. "We're here!" Hiccup announced and gestured to the Cove, before spotting Shadow, Arourallis, Ash, Fishlegs, and Meatlug.

Shadow, upon seeing Hiccup and Toothless with the others, did actually slam his paw against his face this time whilst being careful not to stab himself. * So much about not causing ripples ,* He thought to himself before speaking, *Oh, hello Lok and Rune.*

"We're back, and we got help..." Lok pointed out, even though Shadow and Ash were no longer in the Cove. Ash, seeing the two humans who'd yeeted him, grumbled under his breath, *Great, the horny ones are here.*

Rune tried to act like he didn't understand Shadow's words and waved as he called out, "Hey big guy, you missed us?" Shadow looked over at Hiccup and Toothless, before speaking as he gestured to his wings and the Cove, *Yeah I see you got help, late enough that I got myself out.*

Hiccup's mouth was agape as he looked between the array of new never-before-seen dragons and Trook before, "Woah..." Shadow glanced at Leor, Carpy, and Trook before asking, *Who are they from the Discord?* Rune just nodded but kept quiet, as they'd have to discuss that later.

Meanwhile, Ash trotted up to Hiccup and studied him for a good long moment before speaking, *Ugh, the ass is not shankable, it's too skinny.* Shadow struggled to suppress a snort as he spoke to the little dragon, *Ash, no.* Rune also tried to stifle a snort. Trook's auricles flickered as they smelled the new dragons, wondering just who they were.

"The human anus can stretch up to seven inches if you try hard enough," Lok whispered seriously and Shadow stared at Lok in bewilderment, *I wanna ask how you know that... but I don't as well.* Meanwhile, Rune was struggling to not burst into laughter as he spoke, "Shut up." Beside them, Ash glanced at Lok in amazement, *Wow, big fucking asshole.*

Meanwhile, Carpy was staring at Shadow and her eyebrow twitched, recognizing that species and the specific design of it as belonging to the Minecraft Skin of a specific individual... "Fanboy!" She called out suddenly and then cupped her hand to her mouth at the expression she got from Fishlegs and Hiccup. After a moment, she continued, "Erm... I'm glad you're okay."

*Rory here, don't really look it though. And- Ash, you stop that,* Arourallis, or Rory, spoke up with a glare at Ash.

Shadow glanced at Carpy confused for one moment, before his eyes widened as he placed the owner of the voice, *WAIT, CARPY?!* And then he saw Toothless and Meatlug giving him a look and internally swore. Shadow took a deep breath and calmly walked over to Carpy, nudging her gently, *Good to see you again.* He then thought to himself, * Smooth cover for your outburst of surprise. *

Carpy slid off of Leor's back, almost stumbling on the uneven rocky surface of the top of the walls of the Cove. "You're here too?!" She whispered and reached out. Shadow glanced at Toothless and Meatlug, who seemed distracted, and whispered an answer, *Yeah, and I'm an Ender Dragon now so my life is amazing, and that's not sarcasm.*

"So who's the big guy with the Gronckle?" Rune ask as he tried to play it cool at seeing Fishlegs and Meatlug. Meanwhile, Ash glanced at Trook, happy that there was someone else around his size, whilst Trook just stayed silent and watched as everyone mingled. Trook was eyeing Fishlegs and Meatlug specifically, a bit excited seeing them in person for real rather than on a screen.

" Well, our merry band is ever-growing; Hopefully, this is the last of us, I don't know how many more of us we can explain away ," Lok thought to himself, and then his eyes widened and he began to sweat as he desperately hoped that Hiccup wouldn't remember that they only mentioned two dragons before.

Hiccup cleared his throat, a tiny bit caught off guard by the reactions of the new dragons, "Oh, yes; This is my friend Fishlegs, and his dragon Meatlug. It seems they found your dragons first," He said, and then Shadow snorted, *More like we found them.*

Rune chuckled and spoke, "I can tell, it's good to have other dragon enthusiasts around." Meanwhile, Ash had climbed up on top of Shadow's head in order to watch everyone, to which Rune noticed and asked the small dragon, "Oi, Ash, you didn't cause any trouble now did you?" Ash didn't respond, only narrowing his eyes and thinking of shanking everyone with his tail. "I'll take that as a yes."

Trook glanced up at Ash, recognizing the Speed Stinger and Scuttleclaw traits, however, they still looked strange to Trook.

* Ooooh this was too good a chance to waste ,* Rory thought to themself and then arched their neck, spreading their wings to look as big and regal as possible since this was technically the first time any of them had knowingly seen a Stormcutter. * Ha ,* Rory thought upon seeing the wide eyes of some of them, but he looked up and saw that it was quickly growing dark so they asked, *We should find your plants, yes? While we have enough light; Unless... it can wait till tomorrow? We are very tired, we've come a long way.*

Shadow lowered his head within reaching distance of Carpy, speaking, *I'm a Dragon now, I get pets and scratches; It'll also look better for a cover of knowing each other.* The bit about it looking better for their cover was a total lie, he just wanted scratches. Carpy just smirked a little... a booped the Ender Dragon right on the nose, whispering to him, "Smooth, kid."

*That wasn't scratches; I wanted scratches,* Shadow practically whined with a frustrated look sent in Carpy's direction and Lok heard this, moving over to them and speaking, "Scratches you say? Happy to oblige." And with that, Lok provided said scratches to which Shadow was thankful, *Thank you.*

Ash tried to swing his tail at Carpy but missed, either due to distance or just being a poor shot. Rune, seeing this, stretched his throwing arm as he spoke, "Alright that enough, Ash, you better stop before I throw you again."

*Wait… Fan?* Trook asked as they stepped towards the Ender Dragon, meanwhile, Lok was thinking to himself, " Hm, are dragons like dogs? The big ones are calm and the tiny ones act like little violent demons ."

*If you yeet him again, I yeet you,* Shadow told Rune before turning to Trook with a tired sigh, *Yeah, it's me.* Meanwhile, Rune smirked at Shadow and thought to himself, " Sounds like fun ."

Ash turned to Rune with a snarl, *You even think about yeeting me again and I'll dump your paralyzed ass into the ocean!* Lok raised an eyebrow and questioned, "Can you even pick up a person?" Rune chuckled at Ash and walked over to the others, and Ash growled, *I will fucking find a way.*

*Well, you don't sound too excited,* Trook snarked at Shadow, who glanced confused, a little worried by how snappish they seemed, and spoke, *Um, you ok? I'm pretty happy with my new body.*

"He's still getting used to his new body; He had a problem with a sensory overload earlier which nearly caused him to go feral," Rune whispered to Shadow, whose eyes widened a tiny bit as they nodded, *Oh, ok.* Lok whispered to them, "We may need to come up with a plan for if that happens again..."

*If that happens I can sit on Trookay or something,* Shadow suggested to Lok in a hushed whisper, and Rune pointed out a flaw in that plan, "You might crush him if you do that." Lok pipped up as well with another issue, "May work. But we may want something more... Subtle." Shadow shrugged, *Eh, then I'll just use one paw to pin them.*

*No, I meant about seeing me,* Trook clarified and unfurled their wings, and now Shadow felt like an idiot, internally cursing his terribleness in reading a conversation, he quickly replied, *Oh no, I'm happy to see you! I'm happy to see all of you!*

Carpy picked her skirts up and cautiously walked over to Hiccup and Fishlegs, trying not to slip and snap her ankle in half due to wearing improper footwear for this environment. Reaching them, she spoke, "So, yeah... These are them, alright; It seems Fan got everyone out on his own... Sorry to make you come all this way."

Hiccup had been geeking out with Fishlegs over all the new dragons, totally unaware of the conversation held by the others and barely listening to Carpy. Hiccup turned and spoke, "...Huh? Oh! Yeah, sure, not a problem at all, really! If you're going to stay here... Would it be alright if we studied your dragons a bit more, once I drop off your supplies?"

Ash glared at Hiccup, *I'll show him studying me, I'll fucking paralyze his skinny ass.* Meanwhile, Shadow glared at Hiccup and grumbled, *If he touches my nose, I cannot swear I won't nibble the fingers.* Rune moved over to Ash, smacking him on the back of the head before speaking, "If you don't want a one-way trip to Valhalla then you better behave."

The three Humans nodded and Hiccup grinned, nodding to Fishlegs before speaking, "It's a deal then; We'll see you tomorrow!" And with that, Hiccup and Fishlegs got on their dragons and flew off, leaving the eight people from the Discord server alone together for the first time since they'd all been on the island at the same time.

*Well, they're gone now,* Shadow spoke up with a relieved tone, he was excited to see the How To Train Your Dragon characters but he's been up for like twenty hours now counting how long he'd been awake before coming to Berk, *We can actually speak freely.*

"I really need some dragon nip," Lok muttered under his breath and then spoke up louder, asking, "Hey, anyone know where I can find some dragon nip?" Ash, hearing this, grinned in a dragon-like way, *Same, I can't wait to get high.*

*Can it even affect you? You're a human,* Shadow pointed out and Lok quickly replied, "My uses are multi-faceted... And who knows, maybe if I smoke it..." Rory rolled his eyes at Lok and spoke, *Again, with the dragon-nip? Hard pass.*

"Probably near the cliff over there," Rune spoke up, pointing over to the other side of the Cove's walls and, beyond them, large tall green 'grass' or rather dragon nip. Lok nodded to Rune, "Thank you," And with that, he was gone to get some dragon nip.

Carpy meanwhile, was holding her temple as she grew tired over the shenanigans of the people around her. "HEY! Can we be serious for a moment? Some of us would like to know what's going on!" Carpy shouted, gesturing around them to the island of Berk, the very source of their situation.

Shadow glanced at Carpy, *Thank you, we do need to discuss all of this.* Ash, just hearing this, snorted and told Carpy and Shadow, *Nope.*

Lok was just coming back with some dragon nip as Rory spoke, *Where are we supposed to be staying the night? If Hiccup and Fishlegs are still this young, the hangar hasn't been built yet; Are we supposed to just camp in the woods?*

Shadow got an idea, a horrible idea but one that he thought brilliant just long enough to decide on impulse to execute, he raised his head a bit and shouted, *SALTY DRAGONS ASSEMBLE!* And then proceeded to instantly cringe as he realized just what he had done, thinking to himself, * Oh gods why did I do that?! *

Lok cringed as well, whilst Rune glared at Shadow with an expression questioning if he really just did that. Ash shrieked in rage and smacked the Ender Dragon in the face with one wing.

"Don't make me dragon nip you," Lok threatened Ash, who just cried out in joy, *YES PLEASE!* Meanwhile, Shadow accidentally thought Lok's words were directed at him and answered in a deadpan tone, *Try to Dragon Nip me, I don't think it'll work; Ender Dragon, not 'How To Train Your Dragon' Dragon, remember?* Lok waved a hand, "We can test that later, anyway."

"We are getting off track!" Rune said loudly and Carpy rolled her eyes at the dragon nip conversation before speaking, "We couldn't get shelter, there weren't any unoccupied houses I guess; And even if we could, it's not like we'd be able to fit all of us in there," She pointed to Shadow, "Mostly him; We're stuck camping."

"In the cold, yeah," Rune replied sarcastically and Shadow spoke up, *Well, at least you humans now got a bunch of living space heaters.* Ash spoke up as well, pointing to Shadow, *Just sleep under Shadow's wing, it's fuckin' toasty down there.*

Lok approached Shadow and asked, "Mind if I use you as a heater for the night?" Shadow shrugged and answered quickly, *Sure, I was gonna suggest you all sleep against me anyway.*

*I'm going learn to hunt,* Trook announced suddenly, leaving the group and heading into the forest as Shadow shouted to them, *Be careful!*

*But, what about the Great Hall? Those doors were like a hundred feet high, and it's not like anyone else sleeps in there,* Rory pointed out and scratched his chin with his claw, *And clearly, we know everything that happens; We really have to be careful about what we say, and who we say it too.*

Carpy shook her head, "Hiccup didn't seem too thrilled with keeping us, actually... we might have made a bad first impression." Rune turned to her and sarcastically said, "You think, I thought that it went pretty well." Rory, however, was not surprised at Carpy's words as they spoke, *It's for the best then, there must be a spot that's a little more sheltered...* They looked around, *Maybe we can try again tomorrow.*

Shadow looked at the group as a whole, speaking, *I think it'd be safest anyway if you all sleep against me, Ash couldn't pierce my scales with his stinger and I got that super dragon strength.* It was slightly exaggerated, Shadow was pretty sure he didn't have 'super' strength, but more 'enhanced' strength. Lok turned to him and asked, "Oh, he couldn't? Any chance you shed?"

Ash just huffed and jumped off Shadow's head, climbing up a tree as he spoke, *Y'know what? I'm just going to sleep up here.* With that, the little dragon curled into a ball in the tree, quickly falling asleep.

Shadow shrugged and answered Lok's question, *I don't know if I shed, guess we'll eventually find out.* After that, Shadow looked down at his paws and muttered to himself, *I wonder what that feels like... shedding scales...*

Lok began to investigate Shadow's scales, tapping one, "What do you think they're made of? Thick layers of keratin? Some form of bone? Graphene?" Lok smirked, "Oooh, if it's graphene that's gonna make my decade!" Rune turned to Lok surprised and just had to ask, "How would you know this kind of stuff?"

"I'm a biotech student; I know a bunch about biology and engineering, as well as a bunch of other science stuff," Lok spoke up and Rune nodded before speaking, "Neat, I'm nothing special, just a pilot."

"Oh, shit, cool! Shame you're not a dragon," Lok spoke up with a laugh, "You'd probably be great at flying." Rune groaned and spoke, "I know, thanks for reminding me."

"Maybe we can start building something tomorrow? A log cabin?" Carpy suggested as she walked over to Shadow, her high heels almost catching on a tree root, "Until then... I really hope it doesn't rain." Lok looked around and spoke up, "I'm more worried about snow." Rune nodded, adding on as well, "Agreed, snow is worse."

*That's tomorrow's issue, today's is getting into the Cove and actually sleeping,* Shadow spoke up in reference to what Carpy brought up, and then Shadow thumped his tail against the ground to get their attention, *So, getting into the Cove, you humans wanna go in the boring way or the fun way?* A grin was working its way onto Shadow's snout.

"The 'Carpy doesn't break every bone in her body because she went hiking in heels and a ball gown' way!" Carpy spoke up and Rune both interested and nervously asked the Ender Dragon, "…What's the fun way?" Lok just smirked as he said, "Fun."

"You can't break your heel walking if you don't walk,* Shadow told Carpy and then gestured to his back, and everyone instantly realized what he meant. Carpy grimaced and climbed up Shadow, sitting on his back and holding onto one of his silver spines for dear life as she told the Ender Dragon, "You... are very tall."

*I've realized,* Shadow said simply and then turned to Lok and Rune, *You two wanna go the fun way as well?*

"Oh, most definitely," Lok replied and Shadow gestured to his back again, *Well climb on, there's plenty of room on my back.* Lok climbed up similar to Carpy, taking a seat and speaking, "Well, time to cross dragon-riding off my bucket list, at least partially." Rune followed Lok up as well, all three holding on tightly.

*Secure your non-existent seatbelts, hold on for your lives, pray to whatever gods or deity you may believe in, for your flying on Shadow airlines and I hope you enjoy your flight,* Shadow said in a mock announcer voice as he shifted and moved over to the edge of the Cove, opening his large wings to prepare for flight. Meanwhile, Lok had realized something totally unrelated, "Wait one second... We're in the middle ages! I can recreate so many of history's most game-changing inventions centuries ahead of schedule!"

Shadow jumped into the air, settling into a glide and circling around the Cove as he glanced back, *You guys good?* Carpy winced and barely squeaked out an okay, her eyes closed. Unlike her, Rune said, "More than good, this is amazing!" Following him, Lok shouted next, "THIS IS EPIC!"

"Wo ho!" Rune cheered as he looked around the night sky, and suddenly Lok spoke up with a shout, "...Do a flip!" Carpy almost punched Lok but refrained from doing so as it would mean letting go, instead going and telling the Ender Dragon, "DON'T YOU DARE!"

"Centripetal force, we'll be fine! As long as it's fast enough," Lok said and Rune spoke up, "Do it!" Lok then remarked that, "Ironically, the faster the safer in a flip," To which Rune replied with, "Physics 101."

"Do I not matter here?!" Carpy shouted and held onto Shadow's spine tighter, and Lok only replied with, "You're outvoted." Finally, Shadow spoke up, *No, no, not with passengers holding on by just my spines, I don't need one of you getting hurt or killed; Carpy would fucking kill me or haunt me for the rest of time if that happened.* And with that, the Ender Dragon began to lightly glide down into the Cove.

All of the noise was beginning to give Rory a headache, but they spread their wings to follow Shadow only to pause, *Leor? Are you- oh.* They remembered that earlier, Leor had told them he was scared of heights, *Oh, the heights thing. Uh. Did you want to walk, or..?*

"Awww; Come on, it's perfectly safe, we won't even need to hold on!" Lok said and Rune spoke up to Shadow, "Well you're technically the PIC or pilot in command here so it's your call, Shadow." Meanwhile, Carpy spoke up again, stating, "Fanboy can crash the whole lot of you into a cliff for all I care, just not with ME here!"

Shadow finally reached the ground and came to a gentle stop, having much more grace in his landing than before, *This has been your flight on Shadow Airlines, I hope you enjoyed it.* Lok turned with a smirk to Carpy, asking, 'Not much of a thrillseeker, princess?"

"Wait we forgot about Leor, Rory, and Kay!" Rune spoke up suddenly, remembering that those three were still up-top and might want to come down. Shadow's eyes widened as he heard this and he looked up to the top of the Cove, yelling, *You ok up there?* No response.

Carpy shoved away from the humans, and got off of Shadow, nearly stumbling as her feet hit the ground, "I... Hate... All of you." Shadow gave a fake sad look, asking in amusement, *Even me?*

"Good, someone finally hates me; Felt way too chummy around here," Lok remarked and Rune spoke up, "Hey I said that it's his choice, he's a dragon, there's not much we can do to stop him." Carpy just ignored them and pointed at Shadow, "You're on thin damn ice, buster." With that said, Carpy pouted and walked off to find a dry spot to sit.

*Hey, I gave you all a free flight, I've decided, just now, that the average cost is 1 ton of fish per passenger; You guys got that one free,* Shadow spoke up somewhat sarcastically and somewhat seriously, and Lok shouted in surprise, "Ton!?" Rune, meanwhile, shook his head, "Oh hell no I'm not paying that, that's way too much fish for one flight."

*Yes, a ton, look at me!* Shadow said and then did a circle, pointing at himself, *I am fucking massive and probably have a massive calorie intake.*

"Hm, I guess if I wanna fly, I need to find a dragon who's willing to give rides for less than the caloric intake of a small village," Lok murmured and Rune nodded, "Agreed." Lok then nodded to himself as he thought of something and remarked to himself, "Hm... Amazing yet horribly risky plan developed."

"I'll help make sure you're well-fed Shadow, cause we are friends, but I'm not going to do that deal," Rune told the Ender Dragon, meanwhile Carpy had wandered across to the other side of the Cove where there was more of an overhang. Finding a dry fallen rock, she sighed and sat on it, incredibly exhausted.

*Speaking of food, are you guys hungry, or did you bring food?* Shadow asked with a glance towards the pond before remembering Rory and Leor's silence, and decided to yell up to them again, *You two ok?!* Rune spoke up and answered Shadow's question, "I'm good and no I didn't bring food as I didn't expect to be sucked into a portal."

*Hmm?* Rory hummed, leaning over the edge of the cove to look at Shadow, *Oh yes, just getting a little peace and quiet. And... it's strange, to actually see the stars; There's no light pollution at all here...*

"Holy shit! I didn't even realize! You can see everything," Lok remarked and looked up, to which Shadow did the same with wide amazed eyes, *Yeah it is beautiful...* Rune looked at them and asked, "What are you so surprised by, it's kind of obvious."

"I just haven't looked up yet... I love the stars, but where I lived I couldn't see them before, except for a few times; I wonder if it's the right time of year to see my favorites... Probably not though, since it's winter," Lok spoke up, not looking away from the sky. Rune nodded and looked around before speaking, "Well anyway we should head over to get some sleep as we have a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right, we have a lot to do; Both to simply survive and to actually make our time here enjoyable," Lok replied whilst Shadow glanced over at Carpy and walked over, asking, *Hey, you hungry?* Carpy glanced at him and then crossed her arms over her stomach, slumping and answering, "I'm fine..."

Shadow glanced at Carpy in concern, *You sure?* After a moment, Carpy curled up further into herself and answered the Ender Dragon, "Hiccup's bringing us supplies tomorrow morning; I can wait until then." Now Shadow was really concerned, *Carpy, I broke the pond open a while ago, I can get you a fish if you need to eat.* Carpy just grimaced before answering, "That's what I was afraid of."

*Do you not like fish?* Shadow asked confused and Lok spoke up as he walked over, "If she doesn't, I'll take her share." Carpy replied quickly, "I'm just not fond of it unprepared and raw, thank you!"

*We could cook it?* Shadow suggested and Lok answered, "I can prepare it; I've filleted fish's quite a few times." Just as he finished saying this, coming into the Cove through the ground-level entrance with a squirrel in their jaws was Trook. They reached the group and dropped the squirrel before lapping at the blood in their mouth, *I brought… one squirrel.*

*Hey, welcome back!* Shadow happily welcomed back Trook and then spotted the squirrel, *Oh, and you caught a squirrel, good job.* Lok turned to look at Trook, asking concerned, "Are you injured?" Trook shook their head and replied, *No, but that squirrel is... Was... It's dead,* Lok nodded, "Thank God, cause I do not have the tools to play paramedic right now; I'll get those eventually."

"Our firebreathers are up there," Carpy said as an answer to Shadow's answer of cooking it, pointing up at the top of the cove, "And I'd really rather not consume End Magic." Shadow turned to look at the top of the Cove, shouting, *Leor, Arourallis, I need one of you two down here to start a fire!*

"Hm, magic; I wonder what eating that would do..." Lok questioned and Carpy just said to him, "YOU get to try that one." Lok then turned to the top of the cove as well, shouting, "Or just shoot a fireball!" Shadow nodded and added on, *That works too, just don't hit one of us!*

"Bet; The moment I get a bowl to contain it in, I'll try," Lok pointed out and Carpy held her head in her hands whilst saying to them, "I'm surrounded by idiots." Lok snapped and made some finger-guns whilst telling her, "High intelligence, low wisdom." Meanwhile, Rune just said, "Oi, I'm not dumb, I just don't care."

*Anyone wanna share a squirrel? That thing is almost as big as my head,* Trook brought up as Shadow glanced at Lok, humming and telling him, *Well, let's see what happens if I fireball a fish.* With that said, Shadow moved over to the pond and stabbed one of the fish with his claws, tossing it on the ground a good distance away from them.

One acid fireball from Shadow hit it, and within a few moments, the acidic purple mist melted away all the flesh on the fish, leaving just its bones laying on the ground. Shadow just hummed, *Yeah, my blast is more for melting things than cooking them.*

"We better keep that a secret from the twins, cause you know what they will do if they found out destructive you are," Rune said to Shadow, who nodded in agreement, already visualizing the travesties that could unfold. Meanwhile, Carpy poked Lok, telling him, "You wanted to drink that." Rune, however, was not discouraged, "Like I said, low wisdom. It's for science and if we have access to literal magic, I think it's a pretty good idea to figure out what we can do with it!"

Shadow glanced to Trook, *Hey, can you shoot fire by any chance? Since it seems our two fire-breathing dragon friends didn't hear me or Rune; We need fire if the humans are going to eat.* Trook winced and answered him, *I originally designed trodrakes not to; I don't know if that freaky portal allowed it.*

As that was being said, Carpy told Lok in response to his original question, "Absolutely, definitely, positively, nothing good." Lok, again, was not discouraged, "You say that until it ends up being the cure to cancer or something like that; You'd be surprised at how a seemingly random and unrelated discovery can affect the wider scientific world." After a pause, Lok added, "The first widely used antibiotic was literally made of mold."

*Well, there goes that potential,* Shadow said to Trook and then glanced back up at the top of the Cove, and shouted even louder, *Can you two shoot some fire down here? The Humans need to eat and they can't exactly eat raw stuff.*

"I mean, we can actually eat raw fish; You know, sushi," Lok pointed out and Rune said in disgust, "Ugh sushi, I hate that stuff." Meanwhile, Shadow just gave Lok a skeptical look, *Do you even KNOW how to prepare sushi? Let alone have the stuff to do so?* Lok actually nodded, telling the Ender Dragon, "Actually, yes. And because of how cold it is, it's pretty much prepared; It just needs to be frozen to kill any parasites in it."

"Sushi is cured first! That is SO not the same!" Carpy pointed out whilst Trook spoke to someone in the group about the fire situation, *Dude, have you never roughed it before?* With that said, Trook glanced around and grabbed some sticks and stones, constructing a basic firepit and beginning to ferociously rub two sticks together on a piece of bark they had ripped off a nearby redwood tree. Rune spoke up, "Let me help you I'm getting tired of listening to Lok's dumb ideas."

"You're all gonna get food poisoning and die and leave me stuck here in fucking BERK of all places," Carpy said as she ran her hands through her hair, and Lok just said, "Also, this wouldn't be my first time eating a raw fish straight from a pond..."

*Well, you'd still have the non-humans of the group,* Shadow said to Carpy before his eyes widened and he swung to look at Lok in disgust, *I'm sorry what.* Lok just replied with, "Bet with my cousin; He caught the fish, and I bit straight in."

"I don't plan on dying so relax," Rune told Carpy before going over to help Trook, who just waved them off and said, *I'm good; Watch,* Smoke was beginning to rise from the two sticks.

Meanwhile, up above, Rory snapped back wide awake with a snort as Shadow's words finally registered with their tired brain, Leor having fallen asleep but not waking back up to any of the noise. Rory glanced down at Shadow, *What? Wha- fire. Yes, fire, I can do fire things; Right?* With that said, Rory flexed his jaw and stretched his neck, trying to feel whatever helped them create and shoot fire.

After a few moments, they felt something and took a deep breath, arched their neck straight out, and opened their jaws as a funnel of fire shot out, but it didn't reach the bottom of the Cove. *Hot!* Rory yelped out of instinct instead of pain, *I- It should be hot, but- it's not, I'm fine, I'm okay!" They trailed off into a reedy laugh.

Shadow saw Trook's attempt was beginning to go well, so gestured to Rory they no longer needed to shoot any fire. Rory just nodded and laid down, going to sleep. Meanwhile, Lok said to Carpy's previous words, "Don't worry, you can't get rid of me that easily; I wouldn't leave you all stranded here to die like that."

Rune was watching as Trook worked at the fire, whilst Carpy twirled her finger in the air unenthused whilst speaking, "Whoop-dee-doo." Rune turned around to her, commenting, "Woah you really don't like us, do you."

"I don't like being stuck in the middle of ass-fuck nordic NOWHERE when nobody is taking the situation seriously!" Carpy began to shout, growing angry and standing up, "Don't you guys get it?! We could get killed out here!" And Lok just stared as he said, "You think we don't get it?"

"And we are on Berk the place where some of us dreamed of going to, and some of us are happy being here cause now we get a second chance to live the life's that we wanted to; This isn't all about you and your problems but everyone is dealing with this differently, yes we are cold and hungry, but we are alive so be at least happy about that," Rune said and Carpy slumped over, hugging herself and saying, "I'm cold, I'm tired, I'm NOT prepared at all for this, and I... I wanna go home, okay."

Trook's fire-creating efforts had paid off as a small flame flickered into existence, to which Trook rub the sticks together harder before grabbing some more twigs and bundles of grass, tossing them into the firepit. In little time, they had a small but burning flame going. *Get me some kindling! Anything dry will do!* Trook told them as they fanned the flame with their wing.

Shadow meanwhile, had no idea how to comfort Carpy as much as he wanted to. Emotional situations were not his strong suit, much less something this serious. Hearing Trook's request, Shadow turned to the trodrake and nodded with a whisper, *Ok Trookay, I'll get you some kindling.* With that, Shadow went off to get some dry wood.

"Okay, I'm in," Rune said to Trook and joined Shadow in collecting dry wood, whilst Lok began to speak to Carpy, growing serious, "We're stuck in the fucking middle ages, and not only the normal middle ages but a middle ages with fucking dragons; There are more things that can kill us than we can count. But if you let all of that get to you, all it will do is paralyze you with fear, locking you in indecision until something finally finished you off; And unlike a lucky few, we don't get the luxury of a new body that can survive the elements."

"At this point, doing anything is better than nothing," Lok continued, "And it's important to keep morale up, otherwise we just become our own worst enemy." Carpy just got up and turned away from the group, walking away and saying back to them, "I'm gonna do something alright. I'm gonna get some sleep."

Shadow and Rune came back over to Trook, dropping a load of dry wood they'd managed to scavenge, the Ender Dragon asking the trodrake, *This enough?* Trook just nodded.

"You may not wanna sleep away from the group, hypothermia a bitch; I know first hand," Lok spoke up and Rune chimed in, "Leave her, if she wants to act like that then let her, sometimes people got to learn the hard way." Carpy had found a relatively dry dirt-free rocky shelf and curled up on it, tucking as much of her body into her skirts as she could.

"But if you wanna sulk, go do it; If you're not gonna help us survive, then you're dead weight anyway," Lok said, still high off the tension.

*Carpy, wait! I just got a fire going!* Trook yelled and rushed over to their disgruntled friend, trusting the others to keep the fire going, *Come on… I know you're terrified; I am too, but I won't let it get the better of me… We may be dysfunctional, but we're all we got; Safety in numbers, especially with familiars. If not for them, do it for me? Come and warm yourself, we have warmth and food; We'll be okay... Baby steps.*

"I'll come back when some people learn some manners," Carpy said and tucked her hair under her head to keep herself warmer and Lok spoke up, "Chivalry is very much alive, but most of it is battle etiquette." Carpy turned around briefly to yell back, "Chivalry can suck ass!"

Trook sighed and glanced at the others, before firmly staring at Carpy and declaring, *Well, I'm not leaving your side; You've put up with my shit, so I'll help you through yours.* Trook planted themself beside Carpy, nestling into the billows of her dress, *I'm not leaving you.* Carpy sighed and patted Trook on the wing, "Thank you."

"I know manners but I know when to stand my ground and not take it from someone who follows their emotions blindly; We got to think of the bigger picture," Rune said and Lok added on, "Exactly, sulking does nothing; We gotta adapt." Rune then glanced at Lok, "But fighting each other doesn't either, so we're going to need to make up with her eventually."

Shadow had his eyes closed and had been taking deep breaths through this, thousands of arguments replaying themselves in his mind's eye. One more deep breath and his thoughts turned vicious, * Ok, that's it .* Shadow opened his mouth and began to yell, finally snapping, *Ok, Rune, Lok, be quiet FOR ONE MOMENT! Carpy, you are sleeping with the group; I'm not letting you three make stupid choices that will get you hurt, or killed or any number of things.*

A deep breath and Shadow continued with no lost steam, *Look, we only have each other in this situation; And I don't care what you three want if what you want is to make some stupid choice that'll hurt you, I will physically hold you three in place if I have too,* Another deep breath and Shadow finished, *So we're going to sleep in a nice warm group, not get hypothermia, and handle this TOMORROW!*

Shadow panted and looked shocked, obviously caught off guard by the fact he'd raised his voice for the first time in years. Rune spoke up slowly, "I know Shadow, but you can't expect me to not defend myself from an outburst like that; I'm not the best when it comes to dealing with morals like this." Meanwhile, Carpy covered Trook's ear-holes and yelled over to them, *Bring the group to my end of the cove then, 'cause I ain't budging!*

Shadow shrugged, *Ok.* And Carpy's eyes widened, "Wait no I was being snarky!-" Shadow picked up Rune and Lok by the back of their shirts, them dangling from his jaw as he walked over to Carpy. He dropped the two in his jaws and then pinned all three humans with one of his paws, wrapping himself around them with stubborn determination.

"Fun," Lok commented and Carpy spoke up, "Typical." Shadow glared, feeling his anger beginning to break through again and his control over it lessening, *You three are sleeping, NOW! End of discussion, apologies come in the morning.*

"Fucking love dragons," Lok commented and Rune suddenly asked, "What are you, our dad now?" Oh, Rune had no idea what landmine he'd step on as Shadow barked out, *IF I HAVE TO BE I WILL BE! Now, sleep.* Rune just laughed, "Alright," and then snickered as he followed it up with, "Daddy."

"I was trying to sleep anyway," Carpy said and managed to scoot closer to Trook whilst still pinned by Shadow's paw, and Lok spoke up, "Hopefully I won't get into a fistfight with this one; Because that will probably end worse than last time." Shadow just glanced at them unamused and told calmly too, *Sleep.*

Shadow was wondering if Carpy might make a comment on the fact that it's ironic that the one who has the most fucked up sleep schedule is telling them to sleep, but she didn't. Rune rolled his eyes and laid down, quickly falling asleep whilst Lok told Shadow, "Fair warning, I'll probably end up waking at the crack of dawn."

*And you're not getting up till I let you up; Sleep,* Shadow commanded and Lok went to sleep as well, all three humans now asleep. Trook suddenly spoke up, *Guys, we should seriously eat first and stay by the fire; That took a lot of effort!*

*We would have if these three hadn't had an argument...* Shadow said somewhat annoyed and then nodded to Trook, *Ok, the fire might help as well.* With that, Shadow got up and picked up all three humans, trotting over to the fire and laying down next to it with the humans resting against his wing and covered by the other one, also pinned again by his paw. He looked over at Trook, *Come over here Trookay, we need to sleep.*

Shadow raised his wing and Trook said, *Thank god…* The trodrake trotted over and settled down next to the thankfully still asleep Carpy. Shadow recovered them with his wing and laid his head down, taking a few breaths to calm down and slowly fall asleep...


So... I'm just going to give you all a heads up that Carpy, Trookay, and Leor have left the RP for different reasons. The RP's continuing, Session 3 has already been held and we wrote them out, how we wrote them out you'll have to wait and see. Some behind the seasons changes have happened between Session 2 (this chapter) and the next, such as us now finally having a DM, so the plot should grow a bit more focused from now on. These first two chapters had very little planning and thus, it's only next-chapter that a plot can actually begin to form for this story/RP.

Anyways, to inspire some reader discussion, I wanna know who your favorite character is at this point and why. Chapter 3 coming... whenever I get it done. These things take a while between actually doing RP sessions and IRL stuff.

This is JustANormalHTTYDFan, over and out.