Surprise, I'm alive! School just restarted last week and it's gonna be a crazy three months for me now that graduation's around the corner. Until summer comes, updates will be randomly posted. In the meantime, we're almost there to the ending of HTTYD2! Thanks so much for everyone who has supported this story so far!

Note: I do NOT own anything and all rights to the entire Dragons Franchise goes to DreamWorks Animation, Dean DeBlois, Cressida Cowell and all respective owners.

Chapter 17: Toothless and Stryka Found

It was close to dawn when we reached Berkian territory. But to our horror, the Viking statues that had always guarded the entrance to Berk had been destroyed! And that wasn't the worst of it…

"No…" Hiccup murmured in horror upon seeing the village completely destroyed by the Dark Bewilderbeast's ice blasts. "Oh no…" I mumbled, frantically scanning the ice-covered landscape for any signs of life. But due to the darkness, I couldn't see one Viking around.

The only thing I could clearly see? A gigantic mass of dragons flying around in a swirl, all of them possessed by the Alpha's command!

"He took all the dragons!" Fishlegs exclaimed in fear.

Then Hiccup and I saw Drago on Toothless, hovering closely to the Alpha, with Stryka at Toothless' side.

"How are we gonna get them back?" I asked Hiccup, hoping that he had an idea because my mind was blank at the moment. Luckily, Hiccup always has a plan. "Distract the Alpha! Try to keep his focus off of Toothless and Stryka!" he commanded the others. "Ah, how?" Tuffnut asked, wondering what they and their little Scuttleclaws could possibly do to distract a giant Bewilderbeast.

Eret then came up front with a confident look on his face. "Have you forgotten who you're riding with? There isn't a dragon alive that I can't wrangle!" he said proudly. I had to smile at Eret's confidence. It's actually one of the things I like about him. Then Eret's Scuttleclaw squawked and did a power dive!

"Except for this one!" Eret yelped as he struggled to regain control. "Amateur." Snotlout scoffed, which did not sit well with me. "A-hem!" I harrumphed, giving Snotlout a glare. "Wh-who just needs a little more training and he'll be a Dragon Rider extraordinaire in no time!" Snotlout stuttered nervously, fearing my wrath. I nodded at him, letting the Jorgenson off the hook.

As we flew into Berk, I was relieved to see that the villagers had managed to escape and were hiding behind some of the houses that hadn't been completely destroyed. "Hey, look! It's Hiccup and Zenna!" a Viking called out as we flew in. Everyone cheered as Hiccup and I broke off from the rest of the gang to go get Toothless and Stryka back. Along the way, I was so relieved to see Mom and Dad okay. We locked eyes at one point.

"Zenna, love, be careful!" Mom cried out. "I will Mom! Dad, get everyone to safety and quick!" I called out to them. "Be safe, Zen! And give that Drago what for!" Dad cheered me on. Then I decided to tell them. "By the way, Eret and I made up! Long story, I'll explain later!" I yelled before catching up with Hiccup. But I did look back and saw my parents' stunned and confused faces. Oh, was I going to need a really good explanation for them when this was all over.

"What?" Drago growled as Hiccup and I, on our Scuttleclaws, flew over to him and our two Night Furies. I was beginning to wonder what kind of distraction Astrid and the others had come up with when a sheep was launched up into the air! And, thank Odin, the Alpha's focus was taken off of Toothless and Stryka!

I looked down, just as another sheep was launched, and saw Snotlout, Eret and the Twins using the Sheep Launcher. They loaded sheep and launched them up to keep the Dark Bewilderbeast distracted until Hiccup and I got to Toothless and Stryka.

"Keep 'em coming!" Ruffnut hollered to the boys. "Black Sheep, baby!" Snotlout whooped. Then the Dark Bewilderbeast got mad and prepared the fire! Suddenly the Thunderdrum horn was blown. Whoever was blowing it, I was grateful. Once the Alpha was once again distracted, the Black Sheep was launched! As tense as the situation was, I couldn't help but giggle as the hapless animal landed on the Dark Bewilderbeast's head and tumbled down its spikes! "Ten points! Ha!" Snotlout laughed down below with the Twins as Eret caught the sheep as it fell. But then the situation became tense again as the Alpha reared up and prepared to fire at them! "Uh-oh…" Snotlout gulped.

Luckily the horn sounded off again. But this time, the Alpha had had enough of the distractions and destroyed the horn in one blast of ice! "I'm okay!" Fishlegs' voice echoed, making me realize that he had been the one distracting the Dark Bewilderbeast with the Thunderdrum horn the whole time.

Hiccup and I looked at each other and nodded. It was now or never. We had to get Toothless and Stryka back now. We flew to face Drago, breathing heavily due to our nerves and our faces set in hard determination. My heart clenched painfully upon seeing Stryka still under the Alpha's trance. I wanted her back more than anything. And Hiccup wanted Toothless back by his side as well.

And we were going to get Toothless and Stryka back, no matter what.

"You two are certainly hard to get rid of, I'll say that." Drago said darkly to us.

Hiccup and I ignored him and focused on our two Night Furies. "Toothless…Hey, it's me, bud. It's me, it's me, I'm right here, bud…Come back to me…" Hiccup called out softly to Toothless. "Stryka…Hey, girl…I'm here…I'm right here, Stryka…Please come back to me…" I called out to Stryka as well.

"Ha, ha, they're not yours anymore. They belong to the Alpha, but please, oh great Dragon Masters, try to take them." Drago chuckled maliciously as the Dark Bewilderbeast got under us, so if we managed to pull any tricks off…Drago would finish me and Hiccup off for real this time.

"He will not miss a second time."

Drago's warning hung over our heads like a knife, but Hiccup and I didn't care. All we cared about…was getting Toothless and Stryka, our best dragon friends in the whole world, back.

"It wasn't your and Stryka's faults, bud." "It's Drago's whole doing. You two did nothing wrong, Stryka." Hiccup and I spoke to our two Night Furies as we urged our Scuttleclaws to get in close. Toothless and Stryka were still under the Alpha's dark spell but we weren't gonna give up. As we got closer, we stretched our hands out to Toothless and Stryka and continued talking.

"They made you do it." "Stoick's death was their fault, not yours." Hiccup and I said before we began to speak together.

"You'd never hurt him, you'd never hurt us…"

As we said these words, Hiccup and I both gently placed our outstretched hands on Toothless and Stryka's snouts. And I noticed that, little by little, the Alpha's control was beginning to weaken. I saw Stryka's iris rapidly dilate and narrow as she began to fight the Alpha's control along with Toothless.

"How are you two doing that?" Drago asked, dumbstruck.

'We have something that you and your Alpha don't…' I thought as Hiccup and I continued saying comforting words to our two Night Furies.

"Please, you are our best friends…"

Toothless and Stryka began to coo for us, their eyes slowly going back to normal…

"Our best friends…"

And then…it finally worked. Toothless and Stryka shook off the Dark Bewilderbeast's control and crooned happily, glad to see us just as glad as Hiccup and I were to see them. Hiccup and I were ecstatic. Our lost best dragon friends had been found at last! It proved that once and for all that our bond with our dragons will never waver and will forever remain strong!

"That'a boy, that's it! I'm here!" Hiccup cheered to Toothless. "Zewnwa!" Stryka crooned at me happily, her one emerald green eye finally back to normal. "There's the Stryka I know! Don't worry girl, I'm here!" I called out to her.

"No!" Drago yelled and whacked Toothless with his bull hook! Stryka growled, angry at him for taking her and her beloved mate hostage, and fired a plasma blast at him! Too bad Drago ducked, though. I really wanted to see his head get blown off. Luckily Toothless grabbed Drago's bull hook and knocked him off of his back!

"Yeah-ha!" Hiccup and I whooped triumphantly. Then Toothless began to fall and Stryka quickly dived after him.

"Hang on!" "We're coming, you two!" Hiccup and I then took a literal leap of faith and jumped off of our Scuttleclaws after them. I could see Toothless struggling and Stryka trying to reach him. "Almost there, buddy. Almost there!" Hiccup called out as he managed to grab onto the saddle. "Pull up!" I yelled, reaching Stryka as well. Together we pulled up, skimming the water! At one point, Stryka and I had to flip over and fly upside-down to avoid hitting a rock arch.

Once we were out of the Bewilderbeast's way, we circled back to begin our stand. My sharp eye then caught Drago standing on one of the Dark Bewilderbeast's tusks. "Do something!" he yelled to the Alpha.

"Okay, I've had enough of those two." I said to Hiccup, miffed. "We need to get those two apart." Hiccup said seriously.

That's when I saw two lone strips of cloth, one red and one violet, hanging on a destroyed part of the grandstands for the Dragon Races. An idea immediately came to me and my face lit up with a 'Eureka!' look.

"I got an idea. Follow me, Chief!" I hollered, urging Stryka to head for the cloth strips. Hiccup and Toothless quickly caught on to my plan and followed us. We swooped by the stands, ripped the cloth strips off and narrowly avoided getting blasted by the Dark Bewilderbeast.

But then Toothless and Stryka growled in discomfort. "They're trying to control them again…" I muttered while Hiccup held up the red blindfold so Toothless could see it. "You got to block him out, Toothless. Do you trust me, bud?" Hiccup asked Toothless, who crooned a 'yes' in reply. I knew that he would always trust Hiccup no matter what happened. Now it was my turn to ask Stryka the same thing.

"I have to be your eye and ears for now, Stryka…Do you trust me?" I asked my one-eyed dragoness. Stryka smiled toothlessly at me. "I twruwst ywou, Zwen…Awlwayss." She replied.

I smiled and Hiccup and I both blindfolded our two best dragon friends. Gently placing our hands between their eyes, Hiccup and I said determinedly, "We can do this. You and me…as one."

With a click of Toothless' prosthetic left tail fin, we rounded a corner to face the Alpha! "That's it, now let's try this one more time!" Hiccup shouted. We flew over the crowds as they cheered us on.

"Take 'em down, babe!" Astrid yelled to Hiccup. I looked down to see Eret, holding a little girl in his arms. "Go for it, Zen!" he cheered me on, the little girl cheering, "Yay, Dr. Zenna! Yay!" with him. I made a mental note to find out where Eret found the little girl when this was over and then saw my parents with the crowds. "Show 'em how fierce the Fiersomes can be, love!" Dad shouted encouragingly. "You and Hiccup can do it, sweetheart!" Mom called out, one hand on her belly and the other balled up in a fist and held up high.

"Go, Hiccup and Zenna!" the crowd roared their encouragement as we headed straight for Drago and the Dark Bewilderbeast. We passed by Valka on her Scuttleclaw and she said to us, "Go get 'em."

Hiccup, Toothless, Stryka and I set a straight course, an idea already agreed on. "Take contol of them!" Drago commanded his Dark Bewilderbeast, seeing the four of us headed straight for him. The Dark Bewilderbeast growled and flickered his eyes, trying to take control of Toothless and Stryka again. Toothless and Stryka's earplates began to move, responding to his trance. Luckily Hiccup and I covered their ears before it was too late.

"Shut him out, Toothless." Hiccup soothed his Night Fury.

"Don't listen to him, Stryka." I told Stryka gently.

"Stop them!" Drago yelled. "NOW!" Hiccup and I both screamed as the Alpha prepared to fire! Hiccup quickly locked the tail fin into place and then…just as the Alpha fired its ice blast…we jumped and opened our wing suits.

We harmlessly sailed over the ice and surprised Drago just as he turned back from seeing Toothless and Stryka loop overhead, the blindfolds coming off, and surrounded him with plumes of Zippleback gas that Hiccup sparked off! "That was for Stoick, you one-armed, rat eating munge bucket son of a bitch!" I yelled to him and laughed in triumph as the explosion knocked him off the Alpha's tusk.

Pardon my language, but I'd been really wanting to call Drago Bludvist that from the moment I met him!

Then my jovial mood changed when I realized that Hiccup and I were headed straight for the Alpha's tail. "Uh, Hiccup…" I squeaked nervously, paling upon recalling the Red Death incident five years ago. "Not again." Hiccup groaned, remembering the accident that cost him his leg and cost me my eye.

Oh Thor, looks like we were gonna lose more body parts again! Talk about déjà vu!

But then we remembered something important.

"Toothless, it's now or never!" "Stryka, it's do or die time!"

At our yells, Toothless and Stryka split their back fins open. Now that they were more aerodynamic, they easily caught us on their backs and we began to fly the full length of the tail.

"Come on, bud!" "We're gonna make it, girl! You can do it!" Hiccup and I yelled as we neared the end. "Hold on!" Hiccup yelled. I held my breath as Toothless and Stryka flapped their wings…and got us out of the danger zone.

"Yes!" I cheered, happy and relieved beyond words to have finally come out from a Red Death fight-like experience again and this time unscathed. "Yeah-ha! We did it!" Hiccup whooped as we flew in for a landing.

And just in time because Drago was also on the ground and reaching for his bull hook. Quickly, Hiccup activated Inferno while I got Ember ready and we threw our weapons at the ground. Drago screamed in outrage as Inferno came between his hand and bull hook while Ember collided with the bull hook and sent it flying!

"Hold him there, Toothless. You too, Stryka." Hiccup commanded our two Night Furies as he and I folded up our wings. "Give it up, Drago." I said, glaring at the madman. "It's all over now." Hiccup informed him.

"Or is it?" Drago asked us, an evil smile on his face. That's when Hiccup and I turned around…and saw the Dark Bewilderbeast right up front! "Oh no!" Hiccup yelped. "Holy Shields!" I gasped as Hiccup and I tried to make a run for it. But there was no escaping the Alpha's ice.

Then Toothless and Stryka leaped out in front of us and Hiccup quickly shielded me with his own body just as the ice encased us…

We all know what happens next…but I've got my own little twist to it ;) What is the twist? Find out in the Chapter 18: Three New Alphas coming soon!

-GuardianDragon98