This chapter is a long one, and you know what that means! Battle time! This chapter will mostly revolve around the battle that takes place, and near the end of it there will be a moment of calm in the storm. But I hope you guys like this one!

Also, a quick and good old thanks to KorrieChan for the review from last chapter!

Now then, onwards with our story!

It didn't take long until Hiccup went from walking to running. He and the rest of the group, along with the army, ran along the long-distant road that led to the East as Sigurd pointed out, but even after an hour of running - many began to have their doubts on if Stoick was even alive or not.

After all, the journey so far to the Grey Plains was long. However, Hiccup still had high hopes.

"How far are we from my dad?"

"We're almost there." Sigurd replied, still running ahead of the young Viking. "Hopefully when we get there, Stoick is not engaged in battle. If so, then we may be too late to-"

Hiccup shook his head with a grunt. "I highly doubt we're late to reach him! He's titled the Vast for a reason, and he would not easily go down without a fight."

Astrid sighed. "That may be so, but do we even know if they're still able to stand and fight? For all we know, they could be-"

"As I said, I highly doubt we're too late dammit!" Hiccup interrupted, now glaring. "The more we ramble on, the more time we're wasting! Deep down I know he is not dead!"

Magnus spoke up, closing in onto Hiccup from atop his horse. "We'll find out soon enough. For all we know, they could still be fighting. I have seen how long Hooligans stand for after all, and I doubt they'd be dead by now. Don't give into your own doubts, Hiccup. They are alive, and I am sure of it!"

With a light nudge, Magnus then made his steed move faster and gallop forward, making it increase it's pace along the path with the rest of the horse riders from behind following along as he shouted:

"Cavalry, double-speed on me! Move!"

The sound of horse-shoes hitting the ground sounded like a wave of thunder riding along the clouds as they rode past Hiccup with haste, thus causing him to get into gear and sprint faster, which in turn, also increased the army's pace.

However, it would not be long until the horses up ahead would halt to a total stop as the warriors atop them gazed off in the distance, almost as if something caught their attention.

But it was obvious that something did catch their attention.

As Hiccup slowed to a halt, he raised his hand up, causing those behind him to also stop. They looked at him, slightly questioning and wondering what exactly was going on.

"Hiccup, what's the matter?" asked Snotlout as he dismounted from Hookfang.

"I… think I see something. There in the distance!" he pointed out, squinting his eyes. "Is that… smoke rising up ahead?"

The curiosity of the young Viking caused him to run ahead without warning, sprinting with speed towards Magnus and the horsemen despite being low on breath and air.

Astrid ran along from behind. "Wait up, Hiccup!" she called out, with Toothless and the rest of the group accompanying her along with their Dragons.

Upon reaching Hiccup however, they saw that he and Magnus were just staring out in the distance with their eyes widened, and their hands fell to the hilts of their weapons upon seeing what was up ahead.

It was clear by now that they were in an opening and clearing of the woods, and that the forest seemed to lessen. Because of that, it was all too obvious on where they were, and where Sigurd had taken them.

Because before them, far off in the distance, they spotted the colors of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe with their banners raised, but not in the way Hiccup had anticipated them to be in.

He saw from afar his father and the Tribe fighting with all they had left in them against the enemy. The two sides were clashing with one another, with the Hooligans firing mostly arrows at them to hold them off. All the while, Stoick stood there with a few dozen men at his side - fighting off the enemy.

"Dad…" he said, grunting as his blade immediately lit up from unsheathing it.

Magnus looked back at him. "Hiccup, I hope you have a plan in mind, because right now we- HICCUP!"

It was too late. The young Viking stormed forward with his blade out, and they all watched as Hiccup charged out into the field alone. However, the distance between him and his father was great, and Toothless just stood there and watched Hiccup rush forward.

...But the Dragon was soon tempted to follow, so he too charged ahead with his friend and master.

Magnus grunted, raised his fist and lightly slamming it down against his hip. It seemed by then, there was no choice but to follow.

"Magnus, what do we do?" Astrid asked, looking up at him.

"We follow." he replied, unsheathing his sword.

Fishlegs widened his eyes. "What?"

At first there was no response to the Chieftain's order, but Dagur unsheathed both of his axes in agreement as he took a step forward with the Berserkers that were now at his side. "He's right." he said. "After all, what choice do we have by now? I was looking forward to a fight either way! BERSERKERS, FORM UP!"

The Berserker warriors immediately responded to the order, separating themselves from the main force as they lined up near their allies with Dagur at the front. They were pumped up, ready to do battle.

"Well then... you heard the two men!" Snotlout called out, unsheathing his sword before waving it forward. "Let's show these Scandinavians what true Vikings are made of! Now follow your leader! LET'S GO!"

Snotlout was the next to rush forward with his Dragon Hookfang following along, and soon cheers and roars filled the air around him. From the Riders, from Magnus and Eira, from Dagur, and from Sigurd along with the whole army as they ran forward. All of their weapons were unsheathed, and a massive charge had now begun.

And it would not be too long until they caught up with Hiccup who was still running the great distance to his father.

Meanwhile from Stoick's position, the mighty Chieftain stood with his axe in hand as his cloak blew in the wind. On both of his flanks a shield wall was formed whilst his archers from behind let loose arrows upon the enemy. Every strike that Stoick and his men did however was just one further step into pushing the Dark Eye and their allies back.

And the Chieftain did not take the situation as a joke.

He struck hard and swiftly at the enemy, impaling the blade of his axe into the exposed flesh of any foe that got in his way. He relied more on his versatility, along with the use of his strength in order to make his blows clean. But even with a few dozen warriors at his side, it proved to have little effect against the three hundred or so Vikings that charged them.

The Hooligan Chieftain then looked to his sides as he struck, and his voice rose up as he tried boasting his men onwards.

"FIGHT ON, LADS AND LASSES!" he bellowed loudly as his axe landed into the chest of a Dark Eye warrior. "THEY WILL NOT WIN TODAY! PUSH THEM BACK!"

The volleys of arrows from behind soon began to intensify along with the sturdiness of the shield wall that guarded him and his allies. They all took one step forward with a loud "HOO!" as they bashed the enemy back with their shields, all before they struck out in a single attack which successfully took out nearly two dozen Dark Eye Vikings.

But despite the effort, the crazed Vikings still pushed against the Hairy Hooligans, as if they had nothing else to live for aside the spoils and sport of war.

Stoick grunted with a sigh. "I have spent more than three days fighting, without a single hour of sleep… I am getting SICK OF THIS!"

Enough was enough for the mighty Chieftain. With a powerful swing of his axe, he sent the opponent in front of him flying back a couple of feet - almost as if the earth itself shook.

Then, with a thrusting leap he jumped into the enemy ranks and began fighting through them with heavy and swift attacks, like a blade cutting through butter.

Seeing this, the Hooligans were inspired to fight on despite the light snow and cold winds that blew against their faces. The shield wall immediately dispersed as the warriors and maidens pressed forth with their weapons raised, bringing it down on their opponents.

Even the archers from behind found the adrenaline and influence to fight on in the center of combat. Almost instantaneously they laid down their bows and unsheathed their weapons, charging the Dark Eye Vikings and their allies with all they had.

Their blades, spears, and axes hit them like a wave of fire- and as they joined the bloody fight, both sides soon began to spread out all over the battlefield like they did back on the beach near Skyrdok.

But this time, Stoick's allies would not lose. Not again. Not ever...

...And then, they heard it. A horn from the distance was blown and sounded, followed by an explosion of purple Dragon fire which successfully hit the back of the enemy ranks.

Stoick's eyes shifted to his right towards the woods, and from the distance he saw hope.

Hiccup sprinted with Toothless, Astrid, Magnus, Eira, and the others at his side. All of them, along with their Dragons, followed from behind in a massive charge with the Hooligans, Berserkers, and Warsung warriors at his back. Combined together with Stoick's men, they outnumbered the enemy three to one.

The young Viking's voice then spoke up as he bellowed; "TO THE CHIEF!"

In response, all eyes from the battle fell upon Hiccup, including the enemy's as their hearts began to pump faster with small feelings of panic growing in them. At that moment, they realized that perhaps defeat was a certainty.

As Hiccup continued sprinting, the Dragons were still putting pressure on the enemy with their fiery blasts, and as they got closer and closer to Stoick, the Viking waved his fiery sword around in circles before pointing towards Magnus, and then towards the rear of the foe's ranks.

"FLANK!" he shouted.

Magnus nodded as he gave his horse a heavier kick, causing it to ride faster before calling out to the horse riders behind him.

"RIDE TO THE RIGHT!" the Warsung Chieftain called out, shifting his steed to the right away from the main group with the rest of them still following behind him.

The Dark Eye, realizing that they were exposed - attempted to form up on the rear to stop the cavalry charge…

But it was too late.

Magnus and those following smashed into the rear of the enemy, and from Hiccup's position - he too was about to do the same.

The young Viking raised the Dragon's Blade up into the air, ready to bring it down as his friends and allies from behind roared with might battle-cries that was nearly as loud as thunder itself.

And then, they clashed.

Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, the Twins, Heather, Dagur, Sigurd, and Eira all leaped up into the air at the enemy with their weapons gripped, and with a heavy impact they broke through their lines as all around them, their allies followed through and pounded the Scandinavian Vikings like a tide of steel.

But for Hiccup however, his mind was more concerned on reaching his father more than anything. With Toothless at his side, the Night Fury's fiery attacks and speed aided in getting through any foe that got in his way. But for a moment, it felt like the weight from his weapon had left him, and that the speed in his movement was faster than lightning.

Everything felt easeful to him as he sliced through the enemy. He blocked, parried, and countered every attack from every Viking that got in his way. And to him, it seemed almost as if he would reach his father in no time…

That was of course until he felt something hard hit his chest, as if it was the long hilt of a greataxe striking him as fell down to the ground on his back.

As he fell however, Toothless was quick to help pull up the scrawny Viking with the front of his head, getting him to stand back up and straight onto his feet.

Just as he was about to thank the Dragon, a loud and menacing cackle interrupted him which caused both of them to tilt their heads to the source of it, and in front of them, in the clearing of the fight, stood a large Viking.

The man wore nothing but a pair of plate shoulder pads along with a helmet - with only his black beard being apparent. Along with that he wore brown leather pants and boots with fur on the trim of it, but had no chestguard or tunic, and in his hand he held a sharp greataxe - covered with a few stains of blood and dirt from battle.

To Hiccup, he could only assume that it was a commander. But not just a regular commander - rather a Scandinavian berserker.

The man give a glaring smile. "You have come too late, Haddock!" he said, spinning the hilt of his axe in-hand. "You may think that you've won this fight, but once Chieftain Frode Darkeye hears of what happened here, he will come for you!"

"Not unless I kill you first." Hiccup spat back as they both circled around each other - ready to strike out. After all, it was just the both of them along with Toothless. "After I deal with your Chieftain, I will then deal with the others, and then I will kill Ivar and end this war that you and your leaders created."

The Viking commander once again chuckled, still pacing in a circle. "If only it were that easy, runt. King Ivar is out of your reach, and when he returns, he will bring fire and ash upon your Tribes, and then he will bring it to your pitiful Archipelago!"

Hiccup arched a brow. "What do you mean? Does anything you say even make sense?"

The man scoffed. "Gah, what would I have expected from an unintellectual Viking such as yourself… if you want me to say it in easier words then I'll tell you; Ivar is not here. He has left Norway!"

Hiccup shook his head in confusion. "What? What do you mean he is not here? What purpose would he have of leaving his lands as a whole?"

"That is for me to know, and for you to never find out..."

After the moment passed with the two of them circling each other, the commander stopped in place and slowly shifted into battle position.

"...FALL TO MY STEEL!"

The berserking commander roared as he rushed Hiccup with a mighty charge, raising his axe up into the air in an attempt to swing it down onto the scrawny Viking. But Hiccup was more agile due to his size, and easily he was able dodge the man's attacks, moving to the right as Toothless moved to the left. But the flurry of slices and dices would not end there.

The commander was quick to recover as he swung his axe to the right where Hiccup moved to dodge, and his next strike nearly got Hiccup - were it not for the weight of the axe that got him off balance.

Seeing the opportunity, the young lad then struck quickly at the Viking, stabbing him in the left arm near his bicep which in turn should have inflicted the man with heavy pain…

But the man only grinned, snarling at Hiccup's attempted strike. "You call that an attack? Have you forgotten who YOU ARE UP AGAINST!? I AM A BERSERKER!"

The man roared, spinning his axe in a rather large arc which surprisingly managed to once again knock Hiccup onto his back, and in the process of doing so, slicing a rather long scratch across his chest armor.

Hiccup placed his hand onto his chest. Although he was not injured or wounded, his tunic was definitely exposed - and as he looked up he saw the towering figure of the Viking berserker slowly walking towards him, carrying his greataxe in only one hand.

He attempted to back up, but a sudden and severe infliction of pain- almost like a large bruise, began to course throughout his entire upper body, and it became hard for him to breathe as the Viking commander pressed his foot down onto Hiccup's chest.

He then attempted to lift the man's foot up off from his chest with both of his hands, but it proved to be useless. His scrawny arms barely nudged his boot up.

"Oh I'm sorry, does it hurt?" he asked, chuckling as he gripped his greataxe with both of his hands, preparing to bring it down onto Hiccup. "I am afraid your time has run out. Any last words before I finish you off, runt!?"

Before he could make a move however, a sudden roar bellowed from nearby as Toothless came sprinting towards the man with haste, and with a mighty tail swing - he knocked the commander back off of Hiccup, sending him hurling down with a hard impact.

Upon hitting the ground, the Viking quickly attempted to recover as he lifted himself up using his elbows, but he would quickly be pinned down by Toothless who was at that point in a frenzy.

"Grah! Let ME GO!" he shouted, struggling to free himself from the Dragon's grasp. But no matter what he did, he could not free himself as the Night Fury's strength simple overwhelmed him.

Hiccup however was short to get back onto his feet, wiping himself off as he noticed the scratch in his armor - though he only responded to it with a mere scoff.

He then picked up his flaming blade from off the ground, proceeding to walk towards the pinned down Viking berserker who stilled struggled to free himself from the Dragon's weight, but upon seeing Hiccup approaching he began to panic.

The scrawny Viking sighed as he towered over the commander. "It's surprising that one such as yourself would be afraid of a scrawny lad like me... But I guess it's you who will meet their end today." he said in a low baritone-like voice. "And I say; to Helheim with you!"

The commander grunted. "Wh- What do you mean-!?"

A loud piercing sound of steel was quick to cut him off of his words as he felt burning metal impale down into his chest.

Hiccup stabbed the man directly into his heart, and not even after a second passed he lifted the Dragon's Blade out of the berserker's chest and stabbed him again.

Then he stabbed him again, and again, and again until his chest was covered with half a dozen stab wounds, and the man laid there lifeless while he bled out slowly.

Hiccup sighed, standing to his feet and nodding at Toothless who warbled back at the Viking as he tilted his head towards the distant Grey Plains.

The lad arched his brow, but spun around to face the other direction, and in the distance he saw a dozen or so Dark Eye Vikings fleeing in a chain route, filled with panic as they did not take a chance to look back as they ran.

All around him, the combined forces of the Hooligan, Berserker, and Warsung Tribes cheered in victory as they witnessed the enemy flee. For a moment, it almost felt as if the storm was put to a halt.

Stoick from afar smirked in astonishment at the combined effort they put in on driving back the Dark Eye, and he gave a nod to his nearby warriors.

"Let them run away." he said, crossing his arms. "Frode Darkeye will execute them if they go back, but even they are too weak in strength to continue giving support to their Chieftain. Soon we will-"

"Dad!"

A familiar voice from the cheering ranks immediately caught Stoick's attention as his eyes tilted into the direction from where it came from, and there before him, the face of a hopeful sight came into view along with his Night Fury.

Hiccup ran to his father with excitement filled up in him, and before he knew it, he found himself once more in his father's arms…

…

Evening came upon them.

The smoke from battle cleared away from around the camp as Hiccup and the others settled around a fire, with Stoick sitting next to his son. The weary men all the meanwhile were put to rest in their tents, and the other warriors feasted together around fires, exhausted and starving after the long-going conflict and journey.

Stoick looked at Hiccup. "By Odin's beard, I never thought that you would have been the one to come to our aid at the last moment. And yet, here you are - still kicking like the true Viking you are!"

"We marched for nearly half the day to find you, Dad." he replied, whilst sipping from his mug of yak milk. The taste was to his disliking, but there was nothing else. "Were it not for Sigurd here, we would have never been able to, and the Tribe of Berk likely would have died out."

"Aye… but you are here now, and that's all that matters." the Chieftain chuckled, holding a leg of chicken meat in his hand.

"...Though I will say; despite this cold evening, this moment still reminds me of the time of when your mother and I were together as family. We sat around the fire and talked about the fairy tales of old. How Odin made the nine worlds. How the first man and woman came to be. How life was created… It was a night of storytelling, and songs."

Sigurd let out a light hearty giggle. "Reminds me of my father and my brothers. We also used to hear stories from him around the fire within our longhouse in Kattegat. Those were the golden days, but now they are gone."

"And your mother?" asked Snotlout who sat across from him.

"...She hated me." he replied, his expression turning a bit grim. "She used to care only for my younger brother, and no one else. She never took me serious, and she never looked upon me with pity if I ever got into a situation that would hurt me… Though who knows where she is now."

Magnus arched brow, tilting his head. "What do you mean?"

Sigurd sighed. "She's dead." he stated. "She died from an illness years ago after my father passed away, and since then, things have been better. Or well- they could have been better."

A moment of silence followed among the group as they stared at the fire, down at their feet, or off in the distance. It was almost as if none of them felt a single bit of remorse for Sigurd's mother who shunned him all of his life.

And it would be proven to be so as Eira spoke up.

"I hope she has gone to Helheim then." she said, tracing lines in the dirt with her dagger. "No mother who has helped raised their children to become warriors should ever treat any of them like they are not there. Not a single son or daughter. After all, even my own father and mother loved me before they died."

"Your parents are gone as well?" asked Astrid who sat near her. "Why did they die? Or more specifically, how did they die? It seems like everyone who is a part of the Warsung has no family left aside from each other."

"There were still land disputes going on between the Tribes and Clans of Scandinavia." Magnus replied, stating his answer as just. "The Vikings wanted more territorial expanse for their groups, and although not everyone was a Viking at the time - a huge majority of the population was made up of Vikings. They fought and killed each other whilst also plundering villages, raiding towns, sacking farms… killing innocents..."

His words immediately fell short on the thought, but he allowed his mind to recall the first Great Heathen Army. "That was until the first Great Army, made up of several thousand Vikings, invaded Britannia and attempted to conquer. However, that's a story we have already covered. For now, I say we focus on our current situation."

"Indeed... Allow me to brief the situation." Stoick replied as he cleared his throat.

"...So as you all know, the Dark Eye has today received a brutal blow. We've destroyed a large majority of their force, counting the days I fought them here, and now they are more than a thousand warriors short. But their Chieftain still has the rest of his allied Tribes at his side, and who knows if they'll strike out again soon? If anything, we will need to strike them first before they rally all they have onto us."

"But we will need to do it in a manner that will surprise the enemy." responded Hiccup, catching the glance of his father who arched one of his brows.

"You planned this out before you even came here?" he asked him.

Hiccup nodded. "Aye. And I assure you that this strategy will turn things heavily into our favor. We just need to fight in a manner that even the Dark Eye won't expect us to fight in."

Stoick once more gave a questioning look at his son's words. "What do you mean by that? What really is your plan?"

"Well Dad, the Dark Eye will expect us to fight in a certain style that they would usually fight in; either in a shield wall formation or in one location only across the field. But instead of doing that, I think we should fight in a manner that they will not expect us to fight in."

"And your point being?" asked Tuffnut, running his hand up and down the hilt of his sword. "I just want to fight them already!"

"Then hear me out first." the scrawny lad sighed. "My plan being is that we should expand the battlefield across the Grey Plains- for many miles. We should use the environment as our advantage- use the woods, hills, valleys, highlands; you name it. If this works then we can pick them out one by one and lower their numbers until they balance out with ours."

"...And if this works, it is a good plan. If not, it is a bad plan."

Astrid smirked, nodding her head in agreement. "Well, that's obvious. But where exactly will we fight them?"

"That I still have yet to think about. And besides, I still need to fix this scratch in my armor." he answered, taking another sip from his mug. "But tomorrow is when we will end the Dark Eye and their Chieftain. Tomorrow will be a day that Ivar will never forget..."

…

Frode slammed the base of his staff against the wooden floor of his Hall, glaring at the two captains that were kneeling before him.

"Are you telling me, that more than A THIRD OF MY ARMY HAS BEEN WIPED OUT!?" he shouted, making the two men flinch.

"We were outnumbered at the very last moment, Chieftain!" one of them said, stuttering. "We fought the Hooligan warriors and their Chieftain for days, but they refused to falter before us. We could not even get a single kill off of them! And when their reinforcements arrived, we were pushed back entirely. Our casualties were too high!"

"Not even a single kill? Pathetic!" scoffed Frode. "But more importantly however, why did you two fools convince your commander to send out our forces in WAVES!? With one massive assault you would have wiped out the Hooligans from the face of the earth!"

"We thought we could weaken them through waves, Chieftain. And it seemed to have been working!" the other captain spoke, speaking as if he was begging for mercy. "Please Chieftain, forgive us for our failure!"

There was a moment of silence as Frode glared at the two captains with intimidation, whilst also showing off a questioning look to both men. Did he really hear what he thought he just heard?

"...Forgive you?" he asked, taking a step forward. "You want mercy for your failure?"

Soon, a loud laughter filled the Great Hall, emanating from the Chieftain which at first sounded hearty. But then, it took a turn for the worst as he cackled and began giving out an evil tone.

He spat in their faces. "You will earn NONE! My commander has been slaughtered, and a third of my army is dead! The only mercy you will find is in your death!"

Both pairs of eyes widened at their Chieftain in terror as they were unable to say anything, so much as let anything out from their mouths.

Frode's eyes then fell upon his nearby elite Jomsviking guards as he nudged his head towards the two horrified men. "Take them outside for execution in front of the whole army! Take off their limbs first, and then cut off their heads. They are no longer of use to me."

The four Jomsvikings nodded as they stormed towards the two captains, grabbing ahold of them before they started dragging them out of the Hall, with their screams of terror being among the only noises to fill up the large room.

"And spread the order that tomorrow, we march against the Hooligan Tribe and their allies!" he spoke up, sitting back down in his throne. "Tomorrow, we will paint these plains red with their blood, and show them what it means to be Viking! ...BEGIN PREPARATIONS!"

I hope you guys are somewhat hyped for what is coming next, because I sure am excited to continue writing!