I think its quite ironic, posing the end of act II on the same day I got the injury that led to me writing this story.

When I agreed to let Stormfly out for a flight, I did not mean fly into a storm!

It doesn't help that I'm followed by my classmates. "We are not prepared for this!" Fishlegs shouts from Meatlug's back.

'Confusion, why I come out here?!' I'd chuckle at Stormfly's quip if not for the current situation.

How'd I get into this mess? Well…

As I was sneaking back to the arena in order to keep my promise to Stormfly, I encountered the other members of the fire brigade.

"What are you all doing out here?" I whisper-shouted.

"Same thing as you, going to see the dragons again." Ruffnut told me. She narrowed her eyes as I tried not to fidget. "Unless you plan to do something more?"

The boys stared at us. Both twins always act like suck dorks that I sometimes forget that Ruffnut is pretty observant. "I was going to let Stormfly out to stretch her wings... and possibly ride on her back."

It looked like Fishlegs would nerd out, but Tuffnut covered his mouth. "Sounds fun. We'll join you."

I opened my mouth to order them to stay home, but then I glanced around. The twins looked defiant and Snotlout just smirked at me. Fishlegs looked confused. I sighed, not interested in arguing anymore. "All right, what's the worst that could happen?"

Apparently, the worst that can happen is a storm appears out of nowhere and tosses the lot of us this way and that. Barf and Belch, the Zippleback, freaks out when an arc of lightning flashes nearby. The rain hitting us is so strong that even when Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, tries to light itself, the rain keeps dousing the flames.

But those embers are enough to burn the rope Snotlout uses to hold onto Hookfang. Now he's stuck holding onto the spines along the dragon's back.

"Anybody got any spare rope?!" He shouts, but I can barely hear him. I look at Fishlegs, who used insane amounts of rope to tie himself to Meatlug. The downside is that due to the storm he's now stuck to his companion.

With the twins bickering, the Zippleback panicking, Fishlegs and Meatlug bound like a bale of hay, and Snotlout holding on to Hookfang for dear life, it seems that the only ones with a chance of getting themselves and everyone else out of this mess is me and Stormfly.

How are we gonna get out of this one?

I fuse back into Tannski and follow Spitelout outside. I keep my wings tucked in so I don't get blown away by the incredibly strong winds lashing our island.

"What have we got?" My dad asks Spitelout. For a minute, I envy him. I can't figure out whether to be angry or to freak out. Dad is perfectly calm, asking questions and figuring out the best response.

Spitelout has the keenest eyesight of anyone in the village. Even being fused into Tannski I can't make out much beyond some people riding a bunch of dragons. He studies the riders bouncing through the storm-tossed skies for several minutes before making his report

"Well, Fishlegs is tied up to that Gronckle. Ruffnut and Tuffnut are a bigger threat to the Hideous Zippleback they're riding than the storm if they keep bickering. My son keeps getting set on fire and soaked to the bone over and over. Astrid appears to be panicking but the Deadly Nadder she's riding seems to be the only mind up there with a level head right now."

"Thank you, Spitelout," I say before half-Dad has the chance to speak up. "Let me try and talk to them."

Spitelout tries to keep me down. "We can't let you fly up there! You'll be caught in the storm, too!"

I give him a deadpan stare and point to the gem on my forehead. "Telepathy, remember?" Spitelout quickly recovers from his fluster as I turn away from him and sit down; I focus my attention on Stormfly. "Stormfly, it's Tannski."

The distressed dragon notices my call. 'Tannski? Query, what should we do?'

I don't take the time to appreciate that she's no longer scared of me. "Astrid knows some wind manipulation, but she's not strong enough to help everyone land safely." I quickly realize this is a golden opportunity. "Stormfly, you may not like it, but you have to fuse with Astrid."

Her mind goes through a roller coaster of emotions that basically summarize as: 'What?! I can't, improper.'

I groan out loud. Doesn't she understand the situation she's in? "You can feel guilty later. Right now it's fuse or die."

I feel a third mind touch ours and am relieved to feel Astrid pushing her panic down. "He's right. We need to fuse if we want to get out of here!" Astrid's mind is still all over the place and I pick up on all her emotions. Luckily she has enough faculties under control to allow for fusion.

Stormfly squawks one last time, almost resigned to her fate. 'Very well. Two-legs short-fuse, fuse with me.'

There's a bright flash of light, and it's not a bolt of lightning that makes it.

When the light clears away, it takes a moment for me to get my bearings straight. But once they do, I'm faced with a clarity I never felt when I was part of Hiccstrid. I take a look at the situation again. Fishlegs is tied to his dragon, Snotlout is wrestling for control and getting nowhere, and the twins are too busy arguing to try and get down.

Speaking of down, while the soft areas on the ground are few and far between, there are enough to get everyone down. I reach into my memory stone for the soul fire and draw upon my reserves. Still hovering there, I hold my right hand out. Spinning on the orange gem is a circular gust of wind. I glance at the village and notice a covered cart that is probably full of straw or hay. It's as good a landing as I can find right now.

Since Fishlegs and Meatlug are the only two small enough to land safely in it, I shout out to them. "Fishlegs, try and lower yourselves to the ground! The wind should soften your landing!" I basically repeat the instructions to Meatlug. I focus on creating an upwards gust in hopes of creating a softer landing. As the dragon and rider duo glide down, I'm surprised by a sudden gust that hits me hard enough for me to lose my focus. This causes the wind tunnel I'd made to destabilize and the wind to go back to normal. I panic as Fishlegs and Meatlug tumble into the village.

Luckily once they land on the intended cart, Fishlegs calls up to me. "I'm okay!" I let some of the tension drain from my shoulders, but it returns when the cart tips over and Meatlug rolls on top of Fishlegs. "Less okay," he calls up.

"Good enough," I say aloud and focus my attention on Snotlout and Hookfang. Considering the dragon keeps setting himself on fire and simultaneously getting doused, (plus I'm still frustrated at Snotlout,) I decide to have them land in a muddy field. "Snot! I'm going to alter the wind so you can land!"

"What?!" he calls out. Hookfang snorts and tries to light himself on fire again. I catch flashes of his thoughts and decide to ignore the volatile dragon's grumbling about the two-leg he's stuck with. Still, he was listening to my instructions and acknowledges the plan. Snotlout yelps as Hookfang abruptly changes direction, letting the wind ease his path to the ground.

I focus on creating a current of wind like I did with Fishlegs and Meatlug. Snotlout and Hookfang have a smoother landing than my first attempt, and I guffaw when Snotlout falls off Hookfang right into the mud. Even more when his attempts to get up have him slip and just get even more mud on him.

I calm myself down. There are still four to go. As I focus my attention on the Zippleback and the pests on its' back. Perhaps the best thing to do here will be to fly over to them and help as best I can. The group looks at me when I fly close. "Is that you, Astrid?!" Ruffnut shouts through the gale. "Or are we dead and you're a valkyrie here to take me to Valhalla and leave my brother to the sea?"

The only reason I know it's a joke is because I know my best friend so well. "It's me!" I shout out to them. "I'm going to create a windfall to direct you down!" But before I can create the path down, there's a flash of lightning behind me. It startles the Zippleback so much that Ruffnut and Tuffnut fall off the dragons' back! Thinking quickly I try to dive down but am not fast enough! Left with nothing else I pray to Freya that my aim is as good as it is in human form and shoot out several spines at the falling teenagers.

I sigh with relief when they both get pinned. Ruffnut gets pinned to a tree while Tuffnut gets pinned upside down to someone's hut. Now that that crisis has been solved, I look back up to the Zippleback. 'Shame, dropped two-leg children.' I think they let out a mournful trill, but the wind is still strong. I sigh and create one last gust to make landing easier on the both of us.

When I watch as, one after another, everyone gets unstuck and leads the dragons back to the arena. I hear heavy footsteps behind me. I turn and come face to face with Tannski. I note with a small corner of my mind that he's not towering over me anymore.

"I don't know what you were thinking when you flew into that storm!" I actually feel a shiver of fear when he speaks aloud and projects his frustration straight to my mind. He quickly softens and his frustration is slowly replaced with relief, and is that pride? "You manipulated the wind like a natural, and the way you brought everyone to safety? I was unsure how to get everyone out of that mess, but you did it like a natural." He put his paw on my shoulder in a gesture of comradery. "So, do you have a name for yourself? As a fusion I mean?"

I think about it. "Could you show me what I look like?" Tannski nods and projects an image of myself to me. I finally take the time to look at myself. My gem is a bright orange and I've got blue scales running across my arms and legs, anywhere hair would grow actually. On my head is a crown of horns that I can flex like quills. I have some trouble folding my wings in until I lift my arms and they fold neatly to my sides. With my wings out of the way, I turn around to look at my spine(-)covered tail. It remains mostly the same, just a bit longer considering the combined body weight. "This is incredible," I say to Tannski, who is beaming with pride. "Thank you for this." I walk forward and give him a hug.

He tenses and the emotions of fear, frustration, and pride he is emitting shatter, morphing into different thoughts and feelings. I detect embarassment and something else. His arms twitch like he isn't quite sure what to do with them. After a moment, I take pity on him and let go. "Well, (ahem) I'm glad you were able to get everyone down… um, what's your name?"

I look up to the sky as I think about it. "I think I'll call myself Stormborn. Fitting, don't you think?"

The ridges above Tannski's four eyes go up. "That's actually quite fitting."

Our conversation is interrupted when Stoick walks forward. "Astrid, er, I mean Stormborn, thank you for your help. We are one step closer to ending this war once and for all." The Vikings cheer after Stoick's proclamation. "Let's return to the arena and get out of this rain." I nod as he leads us back to the arena. As we return, however, everyone notices a member of the party is missing.

"Where is the Terrible Terror?" a muddy Snotlout asks.

And thats the end of Act II. unfortunately I'm gonna have to go on a temporary hiatus while I figure out act III.

Pokedogpaw48:I'm glad you enjoy this story. do you have any suggestions?

Guest: Your'e definitely onto something.

Guest: glad you think so.

acplay: Glad you enjoy it. hopefully I'll figure out act III soon.

BlieDraken: You're welcome.

Please review. any kind of suggestions will help me update faster. Anything helps.