It feels a little weird to be posting chapters as soon as they are finished but there are only a few to go. Hope you like, Marty.

Chapter 67

"I don't believe you people!" Doctor Vieira declared as he tied off the last stitch in Blue's leg.

"You fly around on what most sane folk would call monsters..." he snipped the loose ends of the suture.

"...creatures that could easily bite your head off..." he placed the instruments he'd used inside the autoclave.

"...or burn you to a crisp if they so much as sneeze..." he threw out the blood soaked gauze and picked up a fresh roll.

"...and the only injuries I see are caused by human cruelty, recklessness and stupidity" he started to wrap the wound.

"What can I say?" Blue shrugged "It's often been said that animals are better than people, because they are not openly deceptive; what you see is what you get."

"Don't get all philosophical with me lad, just tell me what you were doing out there."

"Sparring Doc; our trainers may have been experts but we only had half a day of instruction" Blue explained.

"Sparring eh? Well it seems to me you should be training with sticks till you improve your control."

Blue looked away guiltily; he hated to lie but he didn't want to get Calla into trouble.

"Okay I'm going to let your family in to see you now, while I go and tell Calla you're alright" Doctor Vieira continued "She hasn't spoken much since your little... incident and I fear she may be suffering from mild shock."

"Maybe I should..."

"Maybe you should stay here until I get back" the doctor cut Blue off before he could suggest going too.

Saffron was the first to run into the room after Doctor Vieira left, followed by Abigail at a more leisurely pace, and April carrying little Rose.

"Can I see your stitches?" Saffron asked excitedly.

"Sorry but they're covered up by the bandages" Blue replied, tussling his sisters hair.

The stern look on April's face made Blue more than a little nervous.

"I can't believe how reckless you've been" April shook her head.

"Doctor Vieira said the same thing" Blue admitted.

"If you two are going to practice fencing with each other, I hope you'll be more careful in the future" April insisted "You're lucky it happened here and not in the middle of nowhere."

"I promise we'll be more careful in the future" Blue smiled weakly.

"Training? Hmph!" Abigail sneered derisively "I saw what you were doing; you were fighting and you were going at it hard."

"Yeah well after what we'd both experienced during the raid on the complex, we knew we had to train harder... we just... went a little too far" Blue shrugged.

"I'm just glad you're okay" April nodded.

The family chatted for a while until Doctor Vieira returned to ask Blue a question.

"Feel like another visitor? There's someone here who would like to see you."

He pushed the door open a little and a small frightened face looked around from outside.

"Can... can I come in?" Calla's voice sounded like she was about to throw up.

"Mom, can you and the girls give us some time please?" Blue asked.

"Certainly" April replied with a wink "Just be sure she hasn't got a bowie knife stuffed up her sleeve."

"Ha ha; very funny" Blue rolled his eyes.

"I... I'm so sorry" Calla said to April as she walked by.

"Don't worry too much my dear, I'm sure there's plenty of blame we could dump on my son as well."

Alone in the room at last, Calla just stood by the door, clasping her hands and looking down at her feet.

"Doctor Vieira told my parents you said it was an accident" she said.

"I thought it was best" Blue nodded.

"Y-you don't have to protect me, I know what I did was... well... this time I feel like I should be punished... but I can't bring myself to tell everyone I tried to kill you."

"You may have wanted to teach me a lesson but I don't believe you really meant to hurt me, let alone kill me" Blue insisted.

"I may not have wanted to kill you, but..."

"Listen Calla, I had some time to think while Doctor Vieira was berating me, and I think you were right" Blue admitted.

"What, to put you in the hospital?" Calla gasped.

"No, I mean I did expect you to consult me before making important decisions, while I never considered doing the same for you. In the end though, I still believe fighting it out with swords rather than just talking about it may have been a bit of a bad move."

"No arguments here... I'm so sorry Blue" she sniffed.

"I asked Doctor Vieira if I would have a big, cool looking scar when I healed but he said no because he was a brilliant doctor, and any scar would be tiny and look pathetic."

"Like me" Calla sighed.

"I don't want to hear that from you" Blue insisted "So we had a fight; couples do that all the time."

"Are we still a couple?" Calla asked.

"We are as far as I'm concerned, so if you've changed your mind...

"NO! I um... haven't changed my mind" Calla looked down again.

"You know, Abby told me lots of stories about Mom and Dad arguing over all kinds of things" Blue shrugged.

"Yeah? How many flesh wounds did your Mom inflict on him?" Calla asked sceptically.

"I don't know, half a dozen perhaps?" Blue smiled.

"Liar" Calla smiled back "You know, after the wounds inflicted to you, me and Haley, I get the feeling people are going to start taking bets on which one of the Dragon Riders will suffer the next major injury" Calla gave a little smile.

"My money's on Shifty" Blue smirked.

With the ice finally broken, Calla walked over to Blue's bed and took his hand.

"At last, they're finally kissing!"

"Get away from that door Saffy" April ordered.

"So have you thought what are we going to do about Haley and Gage?" Calla wondered.

"What do you think?" Blue asked back.

"Well... if I think about it... Haley's situation does sound more serious" Calla answered "But you still should have told me rather than just blow up like you did."

"Agreed on both counts, but at least I didn't start a fight over it."

"Don't rub it in" Calla glared.

"Sorry; but there is another alternative, although I don't like it and I doubt you will either."

"If you're talking about going to California via Lyon, I doubt Haley is going to be thrilled by the idea."

"No Calla, I'm thinking we go to both places simultaneously."

"You mean... split up?"

"Remember it was just the two of us who set out to find the Deadly Nadder on the Faroe Islands, and now we've got several well trained dragons on our team. As I said, I've been thinking and one of the things I was thinking about was how much more Earth we could cover with more than one team."

Calla could see the sense in what Blue was saying, but she still did not like the idea of taking a group by herself.

"This won't work" she insisted "I may have a lot of experience with Windstorm and the Terrors, but I don't have your dragon knowledge."

"It will work; Haley and I will go to California, while you take Gage and Abigail northwest on the Striker. Before you do though, I want to talk to Mom; if she is willing to let Saffy go too, you'll have your own little dragon scholar on board and if not, there's always DeGroot when you get back to Berk."

Calla rested her face in her hands and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know... I'll have to think about it... sleep on it... assuming I can sleep after what happened today."

"Yeah I'm sorry to hit you with this now; Doctor Vieira says you may have a mild case of shock."

"There was nothing mild about it" Calla admitted "but I feel much better now we've talked... I was so scared you wouldn't want to see me or talk to me."

"Not a chance" Blue smiled warmly as they embraced.

A small tear rolled down Calla's cheek as she held him. She had long thought that her temper was now under control, but it was clearly difficult to break some old habits and she was glad to know her friends still supported her.

'

'

A few days later, Boris continued to heal well, Haley was given a clean bill of health by the medical staff, and Blue was not using his support crutch much anymore. The Dragon Riders departure drew ever closer but before they did go, some important communication equipment was set up inside the main vehicle garage at the bottom of the main entry tunnel. When everything was ready, all the dragons and their riders were gathered and seated together in front of several cameras.

"Alright, we've made contact with Deimos" Willow Pascal told the group.

Less than a second after the words left her mouth, the face of Luis Dias appeared on the large screen in front of them.

"Hello everyone; it is so good to see you all again."

"Hi Dad" three of the four Dias children waved back while the youngest one just looked at her strange surroundings in wonder.

"Hello Darling" April smiled as her heart picked up the pace a little.

"I hope you don't mind, but I was asked to put this call on live feed throughout the station" Luis admitted "The pictures you sent us have sent the entire place dragon crazy, and everyone could hardly wait to see more of them."

"Well they're all here, so I may as well get started with the introductions" Blue stood up and placed his hand on the dragon beside him "This is Speedy, and he is a breed of dragon known as a Night Fury."

The big black dragon was a little confused by the head and shoulders of Luis Dias in front of him; the man seemed to be oversized and yet very flat.

"Whoa boy" Blue had to wrap his arms around the dragons neck and pull back to prevent Speedy from knocking the monitor over.

"What can you tell us about him?" Luis asked.

"Well as his name suggests, he is very fast and also very friendly. Unfortunately he has the personality of an overly excited puppy, but I'm sure he'll settle down eventually" Blue said as he strained to keep the dragon under control.

When he finally managed to get Speedy to sit and be good, he called his other dragon to join him.

"This is Firefly the Terrible Terror" Blue introduced "If you think the names of the dragon breed are a bit aggressive, you have to remember they were all named by Vikings who were at war with these creatures at the time. Another example of this is Calla's dragon Windstorm.

Calla rose up upon hearing her name and stepped forward, holding the reins of her dragon.

"Windstorm is what the Vikings called a Deadly Nadder" Blue continued "She's very smart and very attractive... and so is the dragon."

Everybody laughed at Blue's joke except for Calla, who blushed and gave Blue a 'you're dead' kind of look.

"Moving on we have Haley with her Monstrous Nightmare Boris. He's a very aloof kind of dragon with the incredible ability to set himself on fire; I'd demonstrate but it would set off the sprinklers."

"He looks mean" Luis commented.

"So do you Dad, but we still love you anyway" Saffron called out to more laughter.

"Touché" Luis shrugged.

"This is our Gronkle and his rider" Blue wave the two forward "One I named Spud and the other one is Shifty; I'll leave it up to you to work out which is which because I think the names are interchangeable."

"Very Funny; I'm Alvin, but everyone calls me Shifty" the young man corrected the confusion.

"And you admit it?" Luis gasped causing another round of laughter.

"Gronckles are an incredible dragon" Blue informed his audience "As well as normal food, a Gronckle can also digest rocks and can regurgitate lava and molten metals; these can also be fired as projectiles."

Up in orbit Luis was discovering that doing a live feed all throughout Deimos may not have been a good idea after all. Not only had he started to receive internal messages on his computer, but people actually started turning up in the comms room. He wished he had bothered to lock the door because some of Blue's old friends poked their heads around the door after lightly tapping on it.

"Can we come in Luis?" Amos Hooke asked hopefully.

"Alright but be quiet" Luis said sharply.

Amos was often in the company of his fellow technical engineers from the railgun, Jeana Davy and Sid Cartwright, but to Luis's surprise, it seemed like half the bases small population was now with them outside his door.

"Good grief what are you all doing here? You can see what I see on your own monitors!" Luis barked.

"But we've got questions to ask Blue" Sid pleaded.

"NO! This is my last chance to spend a short amount of time with my family before they leave the Railgun Complex. We don't have time to turn this into a lecture" Luis was adamant.

A few who could not see properly left disappointed, but the rest just jockeyed for the best position around the screen as Blue finished up his talk.

"Okay if you're ready Dad, the last dragon is ridden by Abby and our new friend from France, Gage... hey I don't even know your last name" Blue admitted.

"Fabron" Gage informed him.

"Gage Fabron" Blue repeated "Now you may be wondering why the last dragon had two riders, and this is the answer."

Luis shook his head and sighed as all the people around him made the noises of surprise when vision of the latest dragon came on the monitor.

"It's got two heads!" Amos gasped.

"I can see that" Luis replied angrily "I have two eyes."

"This is... or should I say these are Lucy and Ricky, our Hideous Zippleback; she is the largest of the dragons on our team and their attack ability is quite unique, as you will soon see."

Blue picked up a hand pump and nodded to Abigail who whispered to Lucy.

"Gas him girl... just a little... that's enough!"

Blue put the pump nozzle into the green gas and withdrew the plunger, drawing most of the gas inside the clear cylinder. He then waved his hand through the remaining cloud to dissipate it. He then gave Gage a nod and pumped out a tiny amount close to Ricky's snout.

"Light it up boy" Gage told his half of the dragon.

The sparks from Ricky's flint like fangs was just the first surprise, and when the small cloud of green gas erupted n a ball of yellow flame, there were many oo's and ah's both in orbit, and echoing around the complex garage.

"And that concludes the dragon introduction so I'll hand over to Mom" Blue smiled and withdrew.

"Can you believe these giant winged lizards took precedent over your new daughter?" April said as one of the camera operators zoomed in closer.

"I just hope my friends here are just as impressed with little Rose as they were with the dragons" Luis said looking over his shoulder at the people fleeing the room.

"Oh yes!"

"Of course."

"Beautiful baby."

"Congratulations."

A flurry of voices came from the group as they filed back in.

"Just go" Major Dias shrugged.

"Thanks Luis... sorry Luis" Sid said, his head nodding up and down.

"Now that the gang's not here, let me say I love you both and little Rose looks perfect."

"Of course she does; I know how to cook a kid" April replied proudly.

Luis spent the rest of his time chatting with the family and was most impressed when he was told of how Saffron had used Blue's noted to teach herself ancient Berkian and was well on her way to becoming the Earth's third dragon expert.

"I want to go on the Striker, but Mom says I'm too young" the girl said with disappointment in her voice.

"I'm afraid I have to agree" Luis nodded.

"I've asked Blue to bring me a Terrible Terror but by the time I get it, I probably will be old enough to go."

"By that time, you, Rose and your mother may all be up here with me" Luis pointed out.

"I never thought of that" Saffron pondered "I know I didn't want to come to Earth, but I quite like it here. Please Mom, please Dad, I'll be okay on the Striker; Abby will be there, the dragons will protect us and I get to see more of this planet than just this tiny area. I've spent most of my life inside Mars base One and the rest here. I want to see more; I want to do more."

April and Luis stared at each other silently across the long distance between them. Their second youngest daughter had made a good case and although they still thought she was too young, they did not want to force her to miss out on a rare opportunity to learn and grow.

The signal started to deteriorate as Deimos started to pass around to the other side of the planet. Knowing his time was short, Luis quickly said he would go along with April's final decision, whatever it turned out to be. The signal cut halfway through his last words of goodbye for now, love you all.

"I think Dad was trying to say it's okay with him without over riding your decision " Blue said to his mother.

"Yes he was" April agreed "I'd feel better if it were both you and Abigail looking out for her but... okay, Saffy can go.

Saffron Hikaru Dias leapt into the air, shouting a cheer of joy and triumph.

"I promise I'll study hard Blue" she smiled broadly "Calla's team of riders will have all the answers they need when it come to dragons; if Gothi knew it, I'll know it."

"Don't forget to make your own observations too" Blue added "Gothi knew a lot about dragons but even she was aware she did not know everything. I'll give you a letter you can pass on to DeGroot when you get to Berk, asking him to give you the rest of the Berk Writings in his possession, as one of the heirs of Hiccup and Astrid."

"I won't let you down brother" Saffron grinned proudly.

'

'

Okay... so if all goes well, the next chapter should be the last one. Good timing too because I hear news that Adelaide should be winding back isolation restrictions soon so I may get back to work soon (not holding my breath though).

Thanks again for reading and I'll be back soon :D