55. This can't be the end, can it?
"Whatever comes, keep hitting the mountain! We need to draw the Alpha out," Drago yelled as he watched his men unload the trapped dragons, only dragons had come out of the nest, but Drago knew it was just a matter of time before the people did.
"Ready the traps!" he bellowed again and went to exit the ship, he wanted to be near the action.
Before he could turn around, he saw Zippleback gas spew from one of the large traps. That was not part of his plan! What were those idiots doing down there? He didn't have to wonder for long as a second later the gas exploded and a dragon emerged from the destroyed trap.
"Surprise! Yeah!" Tuffnut shouted as he and his sister flew away from the trap.
"WHAT?!" Drago screamed, his eyes wide in shock. He had those people killed!
"Dragon Riders coming through!" Ruffnut yelled as she made Barf spit his gas, clouding the area in it, a second later she heard Fishlegs shout.
"Fire!" he shouted as Meatlug spewed a magma on the trappers below.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"Woah-ho-ho! Yeah!"
Came the laughs from the others, the fight was intense, but it was their first, so the adrenalin rush made them giddy. Ruffnut once again ordered Barf to release gas which Belch lit, making an explosion go off, freeing some of Drago's trapped dragons.
"CUT THEM DOWN!"
As if waiting for Drago's command the soldiers on the ground fired. One of them managed to hit Ruffnut off of her saddle. She couldn't hold in a scream as she fell.
"Gotcha!" She heard Snotlout say as he managed to stop her from falling to her death, she looked at him with wide eyes. He gave her a smile and let her jump back onto Barf's head.
"Pathetic," Tuffnut mumbled as he saw the besotted look on Ruffnut's face, "He should have let you fall."
"Shut up you troll!" Ruffnut grumbled as they speed off into the action again.
Astrid could agree now that the pair's training paid off. Making the first flight with Hiccup behind her made it easy to fly with Eret now. They had been wildly firing on the trappers below, concentrating on not getting hit.
"Watch out!" she heard Eret shout from behind her as she noticed the large icicle falling towards them
She didn't have time to react when the icicle was destroyed by a plasma blast, Toothless flying by.
"Yeah baby!" Hiccup cheered as he blasted at the machinery on the ground.
The trappers below were shouting orders at each other. It was chaos down there, but that didn't mean Storm couldn't have any fun.
"Heads up!" she yelled as she ordered Shadow to let a lightning strike go, she saw the lightning dance across the heads of the trappers, knocking them out from the force of it. She laughed as she noticed Toothless flying by. Sha wasn't the only one.
"Dragon Master," Drago said to himself as he watched the Night Fury. The madman had come down to the action and he didn't like what he saw, the Alpha had yet to emerge and his people did not have the upper hand.
"Good to see you!" Hiccup greeted Astrid and Eret as he flew next to them and pulled up his helmet.
"Where have you been?" Astrid asked him with a smile, happy to see him alive and okay.
"Oh, y'know," he shrugged and pointed to the side of the nest, "Catching up with Mom."
Astrid watched as Valka, donned in her full armor, summoned the Bewilderbeast from the nest. The Alpha broke his way out of the ice of the nest and roared.
"Whoa…" Eret gasped.
"That's your mother!?" Astrid yelled in amazement.
"Well, now you know where I get my dramatic flair," he smirked and flicked his helmet down, breaking off to the right leaving the two to the fight.
"The Alpha! Now we have a fight!" Drago laughed as the Bewilderbeast shot ice at the traps and soldiers.
The Alpha kept freezing the traps as the gang helped. Hiccup urged Toothless to shot at a bola trap to free a Zippleback that had been caught. He kept flying next to the ground, dodging the soldiers and traps, telling Toothless to set off a blast once in a while. He didn't notice as hid mother and Cloudjumper were shot down with a net.
Valka didn't sit on the ground as she fell off, she stood as soon as she could and used her staff to help Cloudjumper get out from underneath the net, she didn't manage to free him completely as Drag came up behind her, his bullhook raised in an attack.
"I've waited a long time for this!" Drago laughed as he brought down his weapon with force. Valka blocked the attack with her staff and then tried to strike at Drago.
"You cannot take our dragons! They are controlled by the Alpha!" she shouted at him as he managed to push her down on the ground.
"Then it's a good thing I brought a challenger," Drago smiled as he started screaming loudly, waving his bullhook above him wildly. The waters next to the shore started bubbling as another Bewilderbeast rose from the depths.
"Another one?" Hiccup asked himself as he watched the bigger Bewilderbeast move towards the nets' Alpha.
"No," Valka gasped as she looked on at the two dragons.
"Come on! Take down the Alpha!" Drago ordered his Bewilderbeast.
"NO!" Valka yelled and charged at Drago, he tripped her and stood over her, ready to deal a killing blow, but he didn't get that chance as Stoick tackled him.
"Thank you," Valka thanked Stoick as he helped her stand up.
"For you, my dear... anything," he promised and took a fighting stance against Drago. The two Bewilderbeast's started fighting, their clashing tusks gained attention from the people on the ground, "Val, you think you can stop them?"
"I'll do my best! Come on, Cloudjumper!" She finished freeing her companion from the net and took off to the two fighting dragons.
"You... I watched you burn!" Drago growled as they circled each other.
"It takes more than a little fire to kill me!" Stoick jeered as he charged at the man.
They fought, the two Bewilderbeast's did too. They exchanged blow after blow, neither giving up. Drago managed to hit Stoick to the ground just as Valka manages to stop her Bewilderbeast, but Drago's didn't stop and pushed the white Alpha to the ground.
"Stoick!" Storm shouted as she flew by, she managed to knock out a soldier with her shield and took his discarded axe from the ground, when Stoick turned to her she threw him the weapon and Stoick managed to deflect a blow from Drago just in time.
Despite being pushed down Valka's Bewilderbeast did not give up, the two Alpha dragons rammed heads and Drago's dragon managed to push the white Alpha on his side. The grey Alpha wasted no time and drove his tusks into the soft underbelly of Valka's dragon. The dragon riders looked on in horror as blood spilled from the wounds.
"No," Valka whimpered as she saw the light leave the Alpha's eyes.
The grey Alpha stood proudly atop the fallen Bewilderbeast and let out a roar that shook the ground. A new Alpha had the control of all of the dragons.
"We've won. Now finish her!" Drago ordered his Bewilderbeast while pointing at Valka.
"No!" Stoick shouted, he couldn't phantom losing his wife so soon after he got her back.
The Bewilderbeast started shooting ice at Valka, she managed to dodge the shots, but she couldn't dodge the dragon that knocked her from Cloudjumper's head. She barely managed to hold on onto the dragon's wing.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" Stoick shouted, he didn't know how he would manage to save Valka, but he would keep his family safe if it's the last thing he would do.
Stoick watched in horror as Valka fell, he was nowhere near her, he couldn't stop watching as his world seemed to fall with her. He let out a breath as he watched Shadow swoop in at the last moment, saving his wife from death. Storm let Valka go in front of Stoick, the girl didn't stop and flew right back to the battle, but Stoick couldn't help but feel an immense amount of gratitude for her, he hugged Valka to himself and took in her shaken form. She was alive, that was all that he could think about.
"STOP! Stop!" Hiccup yelled as he landed near Drago, he hoped off of Toothless and stood before the madman without an ounce of fear.
"This... is the great Dragon Master? The son of Stoick the Vast? What shame he must feel," Drago said as he watched him with disgust, Hiccup didn't fall for the bait, he knew he needed to at least try to talk some sense into Drago.
"All of this loss, and for what? To become unstoppable? To rule the world? Dragons are kind, amazing creatures that can bring people together," Hiccup spoke from his heart, trying to get the point across to Drago.
"Or tear them apart," Drago smirked as he unhooked his prosthetic arm much to Hiccup's horror, "You see, I know what it is to live in fear. To see my village burned, my family taken. But even as a boy, left with nothing, I vowed to rise above the fear of dragons and liberate the people of this world."
"Then why a dragon army?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, you need dragons to conquer other dragons."
"Or maybe," Hiccup scoffed, "You need dragons to conquer people. To control those who follow you... and to get rid of those who won't."
"Clever boy," Drago laughed.
"The world wants peace, and dragons are not the problem. They are peaceful creatures that don't do intentional harm. If you can just stop this madness I can show you." Hiccup said in a pleading tone, Drago sneered.
"NO!" he shouted, "Let me show you," Drago started to scream and wave his bullhook once again, bringing the Alpha's attention back to him.
"What…? Hiccup!" Stoick shouted as he noticed the Alpha lose interest in him and Valka.
"No dragon can resist the Alpha's command. So he who controls the Alpha, controls them all," Drago told Hiccup as he pointed at Toothless who had been watching the two talk. The Alpha took control of the Night Fury, who started screeching and trashing from pain.
"Toothless? You okay, bud? What's going on?" Hiccup asked in panic as he took steps towards his friend.
"Witness true strength. The strength of will over others. In the face of it, you are nothing!"
Toothless turned to Hiccup, his frighteningly narrow slits gazing into the boy's soul.
"Uh, what did he just tell you? Toothless, what's the matter with you? What're you doing? Knock it off! Stop! Snap out of it!" Hiccup asked as he took steps back, slowly caging himself to an ice wall.
Drago was watching the scene in sick glee, the madman wasn't the only one as Stoick had noticed the situation and was running to his son as fast as he could. Storm looked around in panic as she watched it from above, she knew what she had to do, she patted Shadow's neck with her free hand, making him charge up his lightning blast.
"Toothless! No! Toothless! Don't!" Hiccup pleaded his companion, but the mind-controlled dragon did not have a choice as he charged up his plasma blast that would kill Hiccup.
"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted as he raced to his son. Storm watched as Stoick ran, she stood up from her saddle, but stayed on Shadow for now.
"STOP!" Hiccup yelled, to his father or to Toothless, he did not know.
"SON!"
"DAD! NO!" This was Storm's que, she jumped from the saddle.
Hiccup yelled as Stoick pushed him out of the way and Toothless shot, placing himself in front of the ice wall in Hiccup's place. Just a second too late Shadow let out his lightning directly to the Alpha, managing to break the control he had on Toothless, but the power of letting out the blast and Storm's jump from him, made Shadow crash to the ground, making the snow around him rise.
Drago just smirked, even though Hiccup was alive, the madman saw Stoick jump in to save his son. Drago felt no need to stay, he still had Berk to take care of, so he walked away from the heart-broken man.
The combined light from both blasts blinded Hiccup for a moment, when he opened his eyes, his vision was white, the snow from Shadow's crash fogging his vision. Behind him, Toothless whimpered, his better eyesight letting him see through the settling snow. The other dragon rider landed near, observing everything with horror.
The snow was almost settled and Hiccup saw his father's large body move, pushing off a sheet of ice from himself, Hiccup laughed in relief, but it was short-lived. As the snow settled completely it showed another body laying next to Stoick, and the body wasn't moving.
"STORM!" The scream rang out, Hiccup couldn't tell if the scream came from his mouth.
