Note: Calder is MILDEW's son, not Alvin's :3
Outcast Island; Ahch-To
Hiccup POV...
My wrists were bound together as I was led by Alvin, Calder and Savage, through the caverns on Outcast Island containing cages filled with furious dragons.
"Where's my dragon, Alvin?" I demand coldly. "Where's Toothless?"
"You'll see him soon enough. Don't you worry," he replies in mock sympathy, a grin on his face.
"You know, I have to admit... luring me and Toothless to the Isle of Night, building a fake Night Fury... not bad," I remark casually.
"Ha ha! 'Not bad...'" he scoffs in contempt. "Says the one-legged boy in manacles."
"Of course it was a good plan. After all it fooled you didn't it?" Calder adds with a devilish smirk, sending a shiver up my spine.
I glare angrily back at them. "But turning Mildew into an Outcast? Using him against us? Come on, Alvin. That's low-hanging fruit... even for you."
Savage lets out a chuckle of amusement, to which Alvin responds by angrily smashing him in the face with his fist, shutting him up.
"No one thinks you're funny, boy. Now, keep movin'!" he says, shoving me forwards with his bone.
"A-and Calder, Mildew is your father right? So that means you were born on Berk. Why do you hate us so much?" I ask, but he glares furiously at me.
"The only thing I have to thank Mildew for is giving me life!" he snarls. "He's a wretched excuse for a living person. He scorned me for my magic, called my mother a witch! He cast us off of Berk, and the rest of your people did nothing to stop him!"
I widen my eyes in astonishment and some mixture of sorrow at his fate.
"Don't expect any sympathy from me Haddock," he says, spitting on the ground.
"But-" I start to say, before Alvin shoves me harshly.
"Shut up! We're here," he announces.
We arrive in a large cave, which must be the main area with cages where they kept the most dangerous of dragons. They walked me up to a cage containing a Whispering Death, and we all turned our heads to look at it. The Whispering Death growls and roars in anger, before tunneling into the ground. However, a chain attached to it prevents it from going far, and it resurfaces once again, shrieking in fury, frightening the 'caretakers' in the cage.
"You know it's gonna keep doing that, right?" I tell Alvin. "It is a Whispering Death."
Savage shoves me forwards to the next cage, and I look inside to see a Scauldron drinking from a trough of water. It looks up, swishing the water in its mouth, and I only have a moment to widen my eyes in alarm before ducking as it shot a stream of water at me, completely blasting the Outcast right behind me. I glance at the Outcast that was hit, grimacing at the sight of his body, knowing that there was no way anyone could've survived a direct blast of that boiling water. However, it was quite evident that Alvin and Calder didn't care, although Savage looked a little uncomfortable.
"A Scauldron... impressive," I manage to say, hiding how I felt about the dead Outcast. "You might wanna cut back its water."
"Oy, write that down," I hear Alvin mutter.
Moving on to the next cage, I looked inside to see nothing there, and the Outcast 'caretakers' rushed forwards in alarm, glancing around the cage. However I can see the slight glimmering shine that comes along with a Changewing that is camouflaged.
"It's escaped again!" one of them exclaims.
"No it hasn't you fools!" Calder says irritably. He could probably sense it with the Force.
"Yeah he's right, it hasn't escaped. "It's right behind you, actually. Changewing," I confirm
The Changewing suddenly appears from its camouflage and spits a glob of steaming, green acid at us. We all duck down for cover when it hits the iron bars, except for Calder. The lucky punk probably sensed it wasn't going to hit us.
"Whoo! Wow, you guys really don't have a handle on these dragons, do you?" I comment with some amusement.
"Well, that's why you're here," Alvin says, shoving me along with a hand on my shoulder. "Welcome to your new job, Hiccup."
"A job? Me? As inviting as that sounds, I'm gonna have to pass," I reply casually.
"Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup... Why do you have to make things so difficult?" he asks me in mock exasperation.
"Really not the first time I've been asked that question," I deadpan.
Alvin has me stop by the next cage, which I notice to be a lot more reinforced than the others, making me wonder what could possibly be trapped inside. Once I get a good look however, the sight of the dragon inside there makes me stop in absolute shock, disbelief, and fear. They captured the Hssiss Alpha dragon! The same one from the Red Death's brood!
"In the name of Thor..." I whisper.
The Hssiss dragon opens its eyes from where it was lying on the ground, and at the sight of us, it snarls in wild rage, getting to its feet. Facing us, it unleashes a horrifying shriek, causing us all to wince in pain and hold our heads as the invasive presence threatens to tear us apart. Luckily for us however, Calder retaliates with a yell of his own, raising an arm and using the Force to send the dragon slamming against the wall.
"You have a Hssiss dragon?!" I shout in disbelief.
"Ah, so you recognize this kind of dragon?" Alvin asks me.
"Recognize him? I've personally encountered it before!" I respond in a panic. "How'd you even manage to get that thing?!"
"It wasn't easy. Cost us a lot of men," Calder says casually. "It was only thanks to me that we reigned in this beast."
The Alpha snarls furiously at us, glaring with its beady, evil eyes. "If you're expecting me to train that thing, then I'm sorry, but there is no way that is possible!"
"Oh really? So you must be a dragon training fraud then huh?" Savage accuses with a glare.
"No!" I retort, giving the Hssiss Alpha a wary glance. "But these dragons, are untrainable. Their very nature consists only of chaos and savagery, due to their connection to the dark side!"
"The dark side?" Calder questions with a frown.
"The dark side of the Force!" I confirm. "The Force is the power that let's you do the things that you do, and is what let's Mara do her own thing as well..." I explain before trailing off, not willing to give any more information about.
Calder is looking very thoughtful, as well as Alvin, who looks between us with a slowly building smirk.
"Well, I think we'll have much to talk about later, Mr. Haddock," Calder promises.
"Oh what I have done...?" I whisper quietly to myself.
They had me continue our 'tour' of the cavern but I couldn't keep from giving the Hssiss Alpha a wary and nervous look, to which it responded with its own narrowed gaze. I could spot a glimmer of recognition in those slitted pupils, making me swallow nervously. Upon reaching the next cage, I widened my eyes in horror at the sight of Toothless chained up inside and seemingly unconscious, restrained from head to tail with a muzzle on his snout.
"Toothless!" I exclaim.
Thankfully, he seemed perfectly fine as he could open his eyes, but once he caught sight of me he started thrashing and snarling in an outraged fury, attempting to escape. He eventually calms down, but then fixes a piercing glare at the Outcasts. They all wince once again, leaving me to realize that he was using some sort of mental Force attack in his rage. However it was quickly stopped when Calder retaliated with a wave of his hand, smacking a piece of rock into Toothless, who yelped in pain.
"Don't hurt him!" I say angrily to Calder.
He only shrugs uncaringly at me in response. "He hurt us first Haddock."
I glare at him angrily again before shifting a concerned gaze on Toothless. "Hang in there, bud. I'll get you out."
"He's not going anywhere," Alvin announces. "Neither are you. You will help me train these dragons."
"And if I don't?" I reply challengingly.
"Well... then they're no good to me. None of 'em! Especially yours!" he retorts with a fierce glare, pointing a finger at me.
I glanced back at Toothless in concern. I didn't care for the Hssiss dragon, they could kill it for all I cared, but the rest of the dragons are innocent, simply caught up in the wrong place. And if I were to lose Toothless too...
I can't let that happen.
*:*:*
Stuck in this cage, I was picking at the bars to try and loosen them for an escape, so that I could free Toothless and the rest of the dragons. I quickly stopped my attempts upon hearing voices approaching, quickly recognizing them as Mildew and Alvin.
"Alvin, I gave you what you wanted. We had a deal!" Mildew protests.
"I didn't like that deal. So I changed it!" Alvin retorts.
Looking out of the cage, I noticed Alvin marching down the cell area, with Mildew being dragged along by Calder. He shoves Mildew into an open cage, glaring down at him.
"Well doesn't this look appropriate for someone like you, huh?" Calder says sarcastically, shoving him to the ground.
"You can't do this to me! I'm your father!" Mildew yells at him.
"You don't have the right to call yourself my father after all the scorn you showed me for my gifts!" Calder seethes hatefully. "Because of you, me and my mother were cast to sea, left to rot! And now she's dead, because of your selfishness!"
I watch the scene with wide eyes, taking this all in.
"Well, your days are now numbered, father," he spits, saying the word with absolute venom. "Just like hers were!"
Alvin chuckles and then stalks towards Mildew intimidatingly. He then grabs his sheep Fungus and starts to walk away with Calder, who slams the cage closed.
"No! What are you doing with me Fungus?!" Mildew asks in alarm.
"Preparing your final meal! It's lamb!" Alvin responds with a chuckle.
Mildew gasps in horror. "Fungus! No!"
"Berkians. Still as dumb as the day I left!" Alvin remarks to Calder, who laughs in dark amusement.
"What have I done?" Mildew moans, almost sobbing.
Despite all of the things Mildew is done, and how much I dislike him, I can't help but feel sorry seeing him like this. Of course, the issue with his son is absolutely inexcusable, but if he could makes things up with him, perhaps his life might be better.
Isle of Night; Ahch-To
Mara POV...
"Whatever happened to Hiccup and Mildew is connected, the timing is too close for it to be otherwise."
"If you're going to the Isle of Night, then travel quickly. It's very likely that Hiccup and Toothless are in real danger."
"Not just from possible Night Furies. I have a bad feeling that there actually aren't more Night Furies."
Mom and Dad's words to our group echoed in my mind, which they told us just before we departed from Berk to search for Hiccup. They were very hesitant on letting me go with the search party, because we were still on standby for the message of when the rebels found a suitable planet for a base. Thankfully though, I managed to convince them to let me travel with the gang to search for Hiccup, and promised that I would be back no matter what if the call came through. So, after the speech my parents gave to everyone about 'making haste,' we took off for the Isle of Night.
Following the directions of the map Fishlegs carried, we flew as swiftly as possible, not arriving until it was night time. I was riding with Astrid on Stormfly, while Zenna flew alongside us. Along with the rest of the gang, Stoick and Gobber also flew aboard Thornado to help in the search for Hiccup.
"The Isle of Night! Finally, the chance to see Night Furies in their natural habitat!" Fishlegs squeals in excitement. "I'm bursting at the seams!"
"Don't wet yourself. I'm right behind you!" Snotlout exclaims in annoyance.
"Gobber and I will check the North side. You kids head south," Stoick orders. "If we find anything, you'll hear it from Thornado."
"All right, this place is gonna be crawling with Night Furies, so let's fly low till we get a sense of where Hiccup might be and how many Night Furies there are," Astrid tells the rest of us.
"Remember what my parents said though, that there might not actually be any Night Furies," I remind the gang.
"That doesn't make any sense though. Why would there not be any Night Furies?" Fishlegs asks in confusion.
"Yeah, that part had me confused too Mara," Astrid admits. "Why would they say that?"
I shrug my shoulders, an uneasy expression on my face. "I'm not entirely sure, but its something we could all sense. And I'm worried about what may have actually happened to Hiccup."
"Well, doesn't that sound nice," Ruffnut says sarcastically.
"Nicer than you!" Tuffnut teases, causing her to growl at him.
"Guys focus!" Astrid exclaims in annoyance, turning to look at me. "Well, they could be wrong, we don't know yet. Nevertheless, make sure to keep low and keep an eye out for Hiccup, Toothless, or Night Furies!"
Everyone readily complied, and we all set out in different directions, flying around the island for any sign of our quarry. Most of the terrain consisted of rocky ground and too many dead trees in my opinion, and as far as I'm concerned I'm not sensing any life anywhere.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I say quietly to myself, frowning at the landscape.
"Hey, a Night Fury!" Astrid says excitedly, pointing out the shape of one in the distance. "Let's check it out!"
Me and Astrid come in for a landing astride Stormfly, closely followed by Zenna, and Fishlegs and Meatlug. Upon landing however, I instantly noticed something very wrong about it, especially considering there were no life signs through the Force coming from this Night Fury look-alike. It seems like Astrid noticed something as well.
"Uh... guys, this isn't a..." she starts to say.
"NIGHT FURY!" Tuffnut screams.
The Night Fury replica suddenly explodes in a fiery burst of gassy fire, courtesy of the twins. We cover our faces in reaction, and Zenna gives a startled yelp, fluttering her wings. Looking up, we could see the replica blown to bits as the twins landed on the ground.
"But it's very realistic," Fishlegs manages to comment.
"Yeah. Good thing we came along when we did," Tuffnut says proudly. However I was pretty upset, and so was Astrid for that matter.
"Are you two kriff-heads insane?!" I exclaim angrily in disbelief.
"What were you thinking? If that was Toothless, you could have killed him!" Astrid adds furiously.
"Yeah, well, if my chicken had horns, he'd be my yak," he replies dismissively.
"And if I were weak and girly, I'd be my brother," Ruffnut adds.
"Yeah!" Tuffnut cheers, before frowning at her. "Wait. What?"
I dismount Stormfly and walk over to the remains of the Night Fury replica to analyze them, when the load roar of Thornado gets out attention. Stoick and Gobber both swoop in, and immediately dismount from the dragon.
"We saw the Zippleback fire from the sky. Did you find something?" Stoick asks urgently.
"We did. A fake Night Fury," Astrid informs him.
"Where is it?" he demands.
"Uh... gone? Blown to pieces, actually."
Everybody immediately looks over at the twins, harsh glares on Stoick and Gobber's faces. They were still mounted on Barf and Belch, and Tuffnut was rubbing one of Belch's horns, while Ruffnut picked at her nails. Both completely ignored the glares, completely uncaring of the situation.
"Eh. Well, what do we have here?" Gobber says in recognition.
He takes the piece of the ruined Night Fury from Fishlegs and gives it an investigative sniff, nodding his head in recognition, before holding it out to Fishlegs.
"Smell this," he tells him. Fishlegs does so, before immediately gagging in pure, absolute disgust. "Nasty, isn't it?"
"Oh, I wanna smell. Put it near my face!" Tuffnut asks eagerly.
Everybody ignores him, thankfully. "This false head was made of dragon skin then covered with ash from a charred Loki tree," Gobber explains.
"Loki tree? Never heard of it," Snotlout says in dismissal.
"That's because it only grows in one place," Stoick says grimly.
"Outcast island," Gobber confirms.
"Oh, no. Hiccup is on Outcast island!" Fishlegs says in horror.
I look at the remains of the fake Night Fury, tapping into the Force for a moment, and then walk over to Gobber with an expectant hand.
"Can I borrow that really quick?" I ask him.
"Ok," he shrugs, although a little confused. "What for?"
I take the piece of debris and hold it in front of me, laying my other hand on top of it. "My mom's been teaching me a little trick called retrocognition. Should help us to figure out what happened."
"Retro- what now?" Snotlout asks in bewilderment.
"Retrocognition," I correct him with an eye roll. "Basically, it's a skill where Force users can use an object to perceive the memories of people who have come into contact with said object."
Those who understood what I said, which is everyone but Snotlout and the twins, widened their eyes in surprise.
"Woah, I never knew you could do that!" Astrid says in awe.
"Well, technically, I've never tried it before," I admit sheepishly. "A Jedi named Quinlan Vos was renowned for it, making him the Order's best tracker. Dad actually worked with him once to chase down an intergalactic criminal."
"So it's possible you can see what happened here?" Stoick asks me.
"I'll try my best, but my mom is only semi-familiar with the skill. Not many people could perfect it," I tell them.
"Well, give it a go then," Gobber tells me.
Nodding my head, I look at the piece of rubble in my hands and take a calming breathe, focusing on the Force. Stretching out my senses towards the broken piece, I try to sense for the people its come into contact with the past, and after a few moments, get a brief flash of images, which I just manage to make out. In them I could see Hiccup and Toothless, surrounded by Outcasts with a fake Night Fury rolled in front of them. I could also see Alvin and Calder in that image. Pulling out of the visions, I reopen my eyes and drop the piece of debris on the ground, partially excited at doing that successfully for the first time, and also worried for Hiccup's wellbeing.
"Well? What did you see?" Stoick asks.
"Just a brief flash, but it was enough," I reply worriedly. "Alvin and Calder both used the fake Night Fury to lure them in. They've been capture all right."
"That's not good," Gobber says in concern.
"Yeah, we already knew that, so what was the point of your weird Force thingy?" Tuffnut demands.
"To confirm what really happened Tuffnut!" Astrid exclaims in annoyance.
I roll my eyes at them. "Whatever. There is something else though."
"What is it?" Stoick asks.
"Mildew was here as well. I can only assume that he's the one who wrote those Bork notes about Night Furies, which is now proven fake," I tell them grimly.
Everyone widens their eyes before narrowing them angrily, furious about what Mildew did.
"That no good sack of old bones!" Gobber exclaims angrily.
Isle of Berk; Ahch-To
Jarik POV...
"I hope Mara's mission goes without any serious trouble," Ahsoka says with a sigh.
"I'm sure they'll be just fine. Mara's tough," I say to reassure her.
"I don't doubt they'll succeed, but I can't help but... worry for her. Despite being adopted she might as well be our daughter," she replies, looking up at the night sky. I come up beside her and swing my right arm around her shoulders, looking up at the sky with her. "This life is... hard."
"It always will be unfortunately," I reply sadly. "Especially with what'll come next."
"Malachor," she says in grim understanding.
"I just hope that Master Yoda's making the right decision in having us go there," I add with uncertainty.
"Sometimes we can never know what choice is right or wrong, only what we must do," she says. "Have you received any visions about Malachor lately?"
I shook my head. "No, it's been quiet ever since Lothal. All I'm certain of is what we already know."
She hums in understanding, and we focus our gaze on the starry fields of the night, taking this moment to marvel at the beauty of the stars and galaxies. Without any light pollution caused from artificial city lights, the skies are crystal clear at night, making everything visible. Adding to the sights are the natural surroundings of Berk, full of wildlife and greenery, unlike many places in the galaxy. Ahsoka then turns to me, with a nervous, and uncertain look on her face.
"Whatever happens on Malachor, we'll always be there for each other right?" she asks softly.
I stroke the back of her head tenderly, running my hand down her lekku.
"Always," I promised her.
We embraced each other in a tight hug, letting our love for each other flow across the bond we share. Along with the hug we then also allowed ourselves a passionate kiss to share our love and happiness each other, her arms draped around my neck while I cupped her cheek and held a hand around her head. In this moment we allow ourselves to free our thoughts of everything except each other, to rid ourselves of our worries that plague us every day during this Force-forsaken war against the Sith.
*:*:*
In our bed we were wearing our nightclothes, me wearing a simple dark shirt and pants while she had on burgundy colored leggings and a tank top. We laid softly and quietly in the bed, snuggling close with each other for comfort and happiness. She was cuddling against my side in content and burying her face in my chest while I had my arms around her to hold her close. I softly caressed her thigh, while would intertwine her legs with mine in absentminded playfulness.
"Who's 'little' now?" I ask softly across the bond, referring to her nickname for me.
"Oh stop it," she grumbles in reply, although with fondness. "Size matters not, remember?"
"Maser Yoda's not here to correct us right now Sweetie Horns."
"That's why you have me to do that for him Little Jari."
I rolled my eyes a little big and pulled her a little closer, and she let out a sigh, pressing her face into the crook of my neck.
"I'll always love you Ahsoka."
"And so will I to you Jarik."
We fall asleep together this one last night, embracing each other to be assured of our love and happiness. I held her in my arms, a hand resting on her hip while she lay snuggled comfortably against my side, head resting underneath my chin so her montrals could point up perfectly on either side, her lekku splayed out in front of her.
Mara POV...
"What's the plan?!" Astrid yells to Stoick, the wind blowing hard against us.
"Alvin knows we'll be coming in from the sky. We have to find another way onto Outcast island," Stoick tells us.
"I'll handle Calder if we ever run into him," I add, and he nods back at me in understanding.
Gobber then looks down at the ocean, spotting something and pointing it out. "Stoick!"
"Is that-?" Stoick asks, following his gaze.
"I think it is," Gobber says in confirmation.
We all follow their gaze to see what got their attention, and as we started following Stoick by flying in its direction, I also managed to recognize it, widening my eyes.
"Are you serious?" I ask, half laughing.
*:*:*
Hiding within the hull of Trader Johann's ship is probably one of the strangest, yet coolest things I've done with the Vikings yet on Ahch-To, honestly. Trader Johann is quite the interesting character, full of a generally jolly attitude with the most bizarre stories one could come up with. Although there is something about him that nags in the back of my mind, I don't pay it any mind, considering he is, like I said, quite the character.
"Trader Johann!"
"Trader Johann!"
"Ah, Outcast! My favorite of all the islands I travel to!" Johann exclaim gleefully, as I hear the ramp being lowered.
"I bet he says that to all of the islands he travels to," I mutter quietly, causing a few of the teens to snicker in amusement.
"He definitely does," Gobber replies quickly, a smirk on his face.
"That's right. Look around. I have weapons of every imaginable description. And a little something special for my friend Alvin!"
Seeing as that's our cue, we all rush up ready for battle the moment Johann yanks open the hatch to let us out. Stoick immediately starts to wreak havoc, throwing Outcasts to the side with one punch each. I follow after him, jumping through the air with a twirl and kicking another Outcast in the face, knocking him out cold. I leap for another before he could react, sweeping his feet out from under him before using the Force to blast him off the ship. Astrid makes short work of her opponent, smacking him with an oar before kicking his feet and sending him rolling away in pain.
Snotlout and the twins manage to knock out several Outcasts quite confidently, and even Fishlegs was joining in on the action, smashing a wooden chest over another Outcast with a scream, before tossing him over the side. Astrid, Ruffnut and I look at him with some surprise as he talks happily in exhilaration.
"That felt really good! Is that wrong?" he asks timidly, to which I just smile at him.
With everyone taken care of, Stoick was left with one more Outcast to interrogate, holding him in the air with just one arm.
"Now, where's my boy and his dragon?!" he demands fiercely, glaring at him.
Outcast Island; Ahch-To
Hiccup POV...
I spotted the arena from the height of the Nadder's back, and pointed it out. "That's where they have Toothless!"
I direct the Nadder to zoom in that direction, causing Mildew to grunt in a small amount of fear. Flying through the tunnels, we quickly come back to the dragon cages that Alvin and Calder showed me around earlier. Dismounting upon landing, I rush over to the cage that contains Toothless, only to widen my eyes in dismay upon seeing he wasn't there.
"Toothless is gone," I say in worry.
"Ah! Alvin must have moved him," Mildew comments beside me.
Without warning, all of the dragon cages suddenly opened up, releasing the Scauldron, the Changewing, and the Whispering Death, who all snarled at us, We back up in alarm, returning to our Nadder who growls fiercely at the dragons in return, in a defensive battle stance. Up on a ledge above us, I then see Alvin and Calder appear, grinning maliciously down at us.
"Let's see what you can do with some real wild dragons, Hiccup. Especially this one!" Alvin exclaims gleefully, pulling a lever.
The heavily reinforced cage suddenly opens up, and I widen my eyes in horror and dread upon seeing the dragon that slinked out of it.
"A word of caution, this particular dragon has a huge grudge for you Haddock," Calder calls down, chuckling. "I won't be bothered if it kills you either Mildew!"
Beside me, Mildew gulps in fear as we both eye the Hssiss dragon slinking out of its cage, only to rise to its full height, and immediately lock eyes with me, its pupils narrowed into thin, hateful slits. It lets out a furious, challenging shriek, that makes even the other three wild dragons cringe away from it. Alvin and Calder smirk down at me, and I only glare back at them before analyzing the scene.
"Mildew, whatever happens in the next minute, do exactly what I tell you," I tell him firmly.
"Why?" he manages to demand angrily.
I don't have time to snap at him in aggravation, because the Hssiss dragon suddenly lets out its horrible shriek, attacking our minds with its dark Force energy. The Nadder, Mildew and I all cry out in pain and clutch at our heads, while the Nadder whimpers in pain. Gritting my teeth, I manage to recall the lessons about blocking mental attacks through the Force, and use that knowledge as best as I could to protect myself. Thankfully, I could feel the effect lessen almost instantly once my shields were up, giving me some relief. The Hssiss Alpha soon stopped its shriek after that.
"Oh, thank Thor I learned from Jedi," I say with a relieved sigh.
Apparently the Alpha wasn't differentiating in its targets, because the three other wild dragons had also been affected. Shaking Mildew, I pull him and our Nadder back to the present, and they stop whimpering or growling in pain.
"What was that?!" Mildew demands.
"Hssiss dragon. It can use the Force, but in a dark and evil way," I tell him simply, dragging him along to climb back onto the Nadder.
"Ok, I'm all ears," he whimpers in reply.
The Alpha lets out a primal roar and opens its mouth, shooting a blast of red lightning at us. Thankfully, the Nadder reacts in time and dodges to the side, letting the electricity pass harmlessly on the other side. Our Nadder then jumps again when a glob of acid is shot at us from the Changewing, and roars back in challenge. The Alpha roars to the other dragons, immediately taking forceful charge of the group, and begins stalking towards us dangerously.
Up from where they were safe watching, Alvin chuckles in amusement, a savage grin on his face while Calder easily watched. The Whispering Death then lets out a harsh screech, before plunging into the rock and out of sight.
"At least that one's gone!" Mildew exclaims hopefully.
"Well, uh, not for long, actually," I reply warily, as the Whispering Death starts tunneling for us. "Changewings shoot acid. Scauldrons fire boiling water. Hssiss dragons use the dark side of the Force, and Whispering Deaths hunt from underground!"
Mildew screams nervously as the Nadder takes off running, the rest of the dragons giving chase. The Alpha shoots another burst of red lightning at us, narrowly skimming over our heads, while the other dragons try to flank us. Then, just as the Whispering Death was about to resurface right beneath us, I direct the Nadder to take flight into the air. Doing so causes the Whispering Death to snap out of the ground and try to bite us, narrowly missing. Doing so however, causes the rest of the dragons to all crash into each other in a tangled heap.
As we fly through the exit tunnel provided to us by the Whispering Death, I can just make out Alvin and Calder's yells of outrage, followed by the Hssiss Alpha roaring in fury. We quickly came out of the ground and into daylight, soaring high above the island before coming in for a landing away from the Outcasts.
"You know your dragons. I'll give you that," Mildew says, breathing heavily.
"Hiccup!" I hear someone yell.
Looking over, I widen my eyes in surprise and relief upon seeing my dad come in for a landing, along with Mara, Gobber and the rest of the gang. Zenna lets out a happy screech, squawking excitedly upon seeing me, and I dismount, approaching them.
"Oh, thank Thor you're all right," dad says in relief.
"I am, but Toothless is in trouble," I tell them urgently.
"And Mildew is on the back of your dragon," Tuffnut whispers.
"I know," I reply in exasperation.
"Weird," he says.
"Definitely weird," Mara comments in agreement, smiling at me and scratching Zenna's chin.
Out of nowhere, Gobber suddenly yanks Mildew off of the Nadder, and he yells in fright as Gobber wrestles him harshly to the ground with one arm, holding his stone hammer threateningly over his head.
"I should run you through right now!" he yells angrily.
"No, no, no, Gobber! Gobber, no!" I exclaim, stopping him. "He helped me escape."
Gobber gives Mildew a surprised, confused, and wary look, and I turn back towards the others, my dad in particular.
"Dad, I owe Mildew my life," I tell him.
Everybody, even Mara, stares at me with wide eyes in bewilderment.
"Getting weirder," Tuffnut adds incredulously.
"I'll explain later. Right now, I have to get to Toothless," I say urgently.
"Uhh... I think we may have a bigger problem," Mara suddenly says, sounding shocked and horrified.
*:*:*
Mara POV...
"Uhh, I think we may have a bigger problem," I interrupt in shock, pointing out the approaching danger with wide eyes.
Everyone follows my gaze, to where we could all see, and unless my eyes are deceiving me, the HSSISS ALPHA from the Red Death's nest! It was scurrying across the rocky terrain at really fast speeds right for us, shrieking in murderous bloodlust.
"Odin's beard!" Stoick shouts in surprise. "Is that a Hssiss dragon?!"
"Actually, it's the, Hississ dragon," Hiccup says nervously. "That's the Alpha from Dragon Island."
"What?!" Fishlehs yelps in fear. "How did it get here?!"
"Calder and a lot of Outcasts helped to capture it," Hiccup says uneasily.
Behind us, the dragons all chittered and shuffled around nervously, most of them recognizing the Alpha from the battle against the Red Death. I narrowed my eyes at it and glanced at the rest of the assembled group, coming to a decision. Zenna also gives her own nervous squawks of recognition, although how I'm not entirely sure.
"Alright then. While the rest of you look for Toothless, I'll deal with the Alpha," I tell them.
"What? No! I'm not letting you take on that thing by yourself!" Hiccup immediately protests. "Besides, it's after me!"
"It may hate you, but as soon as it sees me, it'll be sent into a bloodlust. I actually fought them with my parents, remember?" I remind them.
"But-" Hiccup continues.
"Very well. Good luck with that dragon Mara," Stoick interrupts, sending me a trusting gaze.
"Thanks," I reply gratefully, before running away from the group and in the Alpha's direction.
I sense Zenna quickly follow after me, feeling a instinctive need to protect me. I'm almost considering sending her back, but eventually just let her come with, finding myself touched actually. The more the merrier anyways right? I activate my purple lightsaber and move towards the side to get its attention so that the rest of the gang can continue searching for Toothless without much trouble.
"Hey! Over here!" I yell towards the dragon, and Zenna roars herself in challenge.
The Alpha slows down and turns its head to look at us. Almost instantly, its beady, evil eyes zoom in on me in furious recognition, and it shrieks in a murderous fury, dashing straight for us.
"You ready girl?" I ask Zenna, who squawks in confirmation.
Facing the Hssiss dragon, I slowly twirl my lightsaber in preparation as it fast approaches like the demon it is. With a terrible howl, it leaps through the air towards us, claws outstretched and teeth gleaming. I quickly react and jump into the air, flipping over it while Zenna dodges to the side as it smacks into where we just were moments ago. The Alpha whips around to snarl, and shoots a burst of red lightning in my direction. I roll to the side and pop back up, raising an arm to blast it with the Force, and Zenna helps by shooting a burst of purple flame. Our combined attacks send the Alpha slamming into the rocks with a pained growl.
It quickly gets to its feet and roars in rage, dashing for us again and swiping at me with its claws. I quickly backpedal in alarm to avoid it, and lash out with my lightsaber, but its claws actually deflect my blade, and it slaps it away.
"Oh kriff," I mutter nervously.
The Alpha shrieks and lunges forwards at me, but Zenna body slams it away, sending it rolling across the ground with a protective growl, wings flaring outwards. She roars at the Alpha angrily, and it snarls with outraged fury, scurrying back towards us. The two dragons rush at each other and meet in a ferocious fight, clawing and scratching at each other with angry roars. I quickly call my lightsaber back to me, and whip around to face the fight, only to see the Alpha roll on top of Zenna, who yelps in pain, a heavy claw scratch on her jaw.
"Zenna!" I call out fearfully.
Activating my lightsaber, I leap forwards with an angry yell and slash at the Alpha with my lightsaber, causing it to scurry back off of Zenna with a pained shriek, a long scratch having been cut through its face. With it distracted for a moment, I turn my attention to Zenna, Taking her head in my hands.
"Are you okay girl?" I ask her in concern, petting her head as she slowly gets up.
Zenna chirps happily at me before squawking in alarm again. I only have time to look up before the Alpha shoots a powerful blast of lightning at us, hitting the ground and causing an explosion the sends us tumbling towards the edge of a nearby cliff, just barely reaching the edge. The Alpha wastes no time in dashing for us with a loud shriek, slashing with its claws and throwing Zenna off the side. I cry out in fear for her, but luckily I see her manage to regain flight about halfway down.
However the Alpha turns its attention back to me, and leaps through the air in my direction, claws outstretched to kill. Time seems to move slowly in those few milliseconds, and in an act of pure instinctive terror, I bring up my lightsaber and jab it straight through the center of its skull, killing it before it could even roar in pain. To my alarm though, one of its claws snagged onto my shirt, and since its momentum had it jumping off the cliff, I was harshly pulled off as well, and began falling through the air with it.
I let out a fearful cry, calling the Force in my direction to hopefully lessen the impact so that I would survive, and below me the Hssiss Alpha's corpse hits the ground with a cracking splat. Just when I felt I was about to reach ground level as well, Zenna suddenly soared out of nowhere and caught me on her back, flapping her wings to get higher into the air.
"Zenna!" I gasp in shock and relief, eyes wide in happiness. "Oh my gosh you are amazing!"
I quickly hug her neck in gratitude, and she squawks over her back at me happily, flying over the island, to where I could see the rest of the gang in the air. Zenna was finally big enough for me to ride her!
"Mara!" Astrid yells, and I look up to see her staring at me in surprise. "You're riding Zenna?!"
"Just figured it out!" I tell her happily.
"Awesome! Nice job!" Hiccup adds with a smile, and I'm glad to see that he's reunited with Toothless again.
Stormfly squawks at Zenna with what I sense to be pride, and Zenna chirps back, almost shyly. I rub her neck with a grin, which I sense makes her excited and happy as well.
"What about the Hssiss dragon?" Stoick asks me.
"We don't have to worry about them anymore," I tell them with a smile.
Isle of Berk; Ahch-To
Later that Evening - Jarik POV...
Ahsoka, Mara and I all stood at the entry ramp to the Knight Hawk, with Stoick, Gobber, Gothi, and the Dragon Academy gang standing before us, along with their dragons. The call had just come in from Phoenix Squadron that they had found a suitable planet named Atollon for the rebel base. Which meant it was time for us to depart to pick up Kanan and Ezra, and after that...
Malachor.
"So, this is it then?" Stoick asks us.
"For the moment," Ahsoka replies. "Now that the rebels have found a base, we have to go to Malachor to find a way to defeat the Sith."
"Very well. I bid you all good luck on your mission then," he tells us sternly with a nod, although we can all sense and see the concern in his eyes.
"When will you be back?" Hiccup asks us, and then hesitantly afterwards: "Will, all of you make it back?"
Mara looks nervously at him and then us, and I let out a regretful sigh. "In war, nothing is ever certain I'm afraid, especially against the Sith," I tell them, before becoming firm with my words. "But don't think for a second we won't try our hardest."
"Oh I hope so," Astrid adds. "Kick some Inquisitor butt for me will ya Mara?"
"No problem Astrid," she replies, managing a small smile.
Zenna walks forwards with a concern squawk, nudging her head against Mara, who pats her soothingly in return, whispering promises that she'll come back for her. Sensing something, I glance up to see Morai's convor circling around us overhead, letting off a few keening wails, and I just know that Ahsoka and even Toothless had taken notice of it as well. After Mara reassures Zenna that she'll be okay, we all bid our farewells and enter the Knight Hawk, giving the gang one last look before it closed.
*:*:*
3rd person POV...
As the Knight Hawk's engines started up, slowly lifting the ship into the sky, the Vikings and dragons all watched them go, the latter giving off several roars after them. While this was going on, nobody bothers to notice the green and white convor perched on a nearby tree and watching the ship take off into the sky.
Ohhhh man... only one more chapter to go before Twilight of the Apprentice! This is absolutely insane, and I almost can't believe that we're at this point already! I'm so excited, and nervous!
(Imagine a foreboding Imperial march theme playing in the last scene of this chapter, like in the Mystery of Chopper Base)
