One Year Later

"What could possibly drive the Outcasts off their own island?"

We were on Outcast Island, after getting a terror from them saying they had been attacked. I walked over to one of the cliff sides on the island. There was a scorch mark that looked a lot like a bolt of lightning. I'd seen them after practicing my own aim with my lightning.

"Hey, guys." I called to the rest of the gang. "Does-does this look familiar to any of you?"

"Hiccup- you don't think…?" Fishlegs started.

"I do. This is from a Skrill," I responded, Astrid's eyes met mine.

We took off and headed towards the island where the twins had "buried" the Skrill three years ago. They hadn't really, I'd bonded with the dragon. About a year ago, he'd disappeared and I've been keeping an eye out for him ever since.

"Yep, the skrill is gone." Snotlout pointed out as we landed.

"Honestly, it doesn't even look like it was here, or like it broke out of here." Fishlegs pointed to the ice. "It's still smooth like it would have been after you trapped the Skrill."

I started to panic. I was the one that was supposed to lead the Skrill down there. The twins sealed the chasm after I was out. "Thank you, Fishlegs, for that nice observation." I don't think I've ever been more sarcastic.

"Why the sarcasm, Hiccup?" Ruffnut asked suspiciously.

"Unless you're hiding something?" Tuffnut added.

"Hiccup, what's going on?" Fishlegs asked.

I sighed, "Fine, but you guys can't tell anybody. And, I mean anybody." They all nodded, so I continued. "Toothless isn't my only dragon. Just like my dragon side isn't just Night Fury."

"Cool!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "What's the other kind of dragon?" He was getting really excited about this.

"Skrill."

"WHAT!?"

"J-just hear me out. The dragon's name is Lightning and, before you ask: yes, he is the Skrill that we met three years ago that Dagur was after. About a year ago, he vanished during the only time he ever left his tattoo."

"So you're telling us that you have a dragon friend, a Skrill no less, that has been living with us for three years? Now he's on the loose and driving people from their homes!" Snotlout yelled.

"Uh, yeah, apparently. Listen, we need to find out where he's going."

"The Skrill usually follows lightning storms-" Fishlegs started.

"So he's probably following that storm heading due south from Outcast island," Astrid said.

"Hey, isn't Berk…? Oh, no." Snotlout's jaw dropped in realization.

Daystrid

"Auxiliary Riders, circle formation." Gustav commanded.

"Gustav, I'm not so sure that we should be taking on this dragon. It's a Skrill; the Riders could barely handle one three years ago." I pointed out, breaking formation and flying up next to him.

"It's our job to protect Berk. If we don't try, we won't be doing our job."

"Okay, fine, whatever."

"If you're too scared to go up against this dragon, land and the rest of us'll take care of it."

"I'm not scared, I've been up against far worse than this. Let's just get this thing away from Berk."

We heard a yell, and turned to see Spitelout charging the Skrill on his dragon. "Is that all you got, you sparky lizard? No offense to you, of course." He gave a war cry and was almost immediately hit by the Skrill's lightning.

"Dad!"

I turned to see the Riders flying towards us. I would have joined them, if the Skrill speaking hadn't caught my attention.

"Uila! Where are you?! I know you live on this island."

Uila? That sounds like Hiccup's dragon name. So this dragon is looking for Hiccup? Why? Next thing I knew, the Skrill shot at me. Firewing was thrown off balance and we crashed into the town square.

"Lightning! Hey, buddy." That's Hiccup, did he just call the Skrill 'buddy'? The Skrill turned from Berk, towards Hiccup.

"Cover the downed riders, you guys!" he called to the rest of the Riders. "Hey, buddy. It's me, see? I'm right here."

"Uila!" The dragon flew straight towards him.

"Hiccup!" I looked towards the new voice. It was Stoick, on his dragon, and heading straight for Hiccup.

"Lightning, stop." The dragon obeyed, stopping roughly ten feet away from Hiccup. "My dad doesn't know you, remember? You have to pretend to fight me."

At those words, the Skrill shot lightning towards Hiccup and Toothless. "Toothless, dive." Instead of obeying, Toothless shot a plasma blast towards the lightning. This caused a huge explosion throwing both the Skrill and Toothless back. Hiccup fell off of Toothless and, after Toothless hit the ground, changed form and flew up to the back of his dad's dragon.

Hiccup

As much as I hated having to tell Lightning to fight me, it had to be done. If he suddenly changed demeanor once he saw me, then there'd be suspicions.

"Got room for one more?" I asked, as I landed behind Dad on Skullcrusher. Lightning had flown off, which was good. The Riders and I needed to have time to regroup without him being here.

"Wha-? Oh, Hiccup."

"Hey, Dad."

"Interesting strategy, going nose to nose with the Skrill." Dad commented, as we landed.

"It, uh, wasn't my strategy." I changed back to my human form and walked over to Toothless. "Hey, bud. You okay?"

"Perfectly fine. Why didn't you want me to do that? You knew what would happen and you knew it would have Lightning go somewhere else. He's still in the clouds, we just need to be somewhere else to get him back with us. Just away from people."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. That's exactly what we'll do now. I don't know what I was thinking."

Snotlout came over, helping his dad walk.

"Snotlout, is he okay?" Astrid asked, upon seeing them.

"It's my dad, he bludgeons his own head for sport. Of course he's fine."

"At least all the houses seem to be okay." Fishlegs pointed out, walking over.

"All except one." Astrid pointed up at my dad's house. It was completely charred. That's where Lightning must have first landed.

"Somebody's gonna get yelled at later, isn't he?" Toothless asked.

"Shut up, Toothless."

"My house!"

"Hmmm…strange that Stoick's house is the only one that's damaged." Astrid commented.

"That could explain why the Skrill went to Outcast Island first. It's looking for you." Fishlegs said. "That was the last place it saw Hiccup before you lead into the crevasse and sealed it inside."

"Well…" Tuffnut started. Ruffnut slapped a hand over his mouth, whispering, "Hiccup asked us not to say anything, remember?"

I facepalmed. "Alright, so it's me and Toothless it wants, it's me and Toothless it's gonna get."

"What are you planning?" Fishlegs asked.

"You guys go to Glacier Island and get ready. I'll lead him there."

"Okay, you guys heard him. Let's saddle up." Astrid commanded, and the Riders took off. For some reason Spitelout was with them, which was going to make my plan a little harder.

I was about to get on Toothless, when someone grabbed my arm and pulled me between the houses. "Wha-?" I spun around, "Oh, Daystrid. Uh...hi."

"You were talking to that dragon. Like you were best friends with it. What's going on?"

"Daystrid… Just hear me out, okay? And please don't tell anyone."

"I didn't tell anyone you were Night Rider, I'm not gonna tell anyone about this."

"Toothless isn't my only dragon. That Skrill is as well; his name is Lightning. That's why I'm able to use lightning as well. My dragon side is a combination of multiple species of dragons."

"Oh, that actually makes a little more sense. So you're bonded with him?"

"Yes. Now, I've got to find him before he actually hurts anybody."

"Uh… Spitelout?"

"He's Snotlout's dad; he bludgeons his own head for sport. He'll be fine." I laughed. "Now, I really gotta go."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not. Lightning doesn't know you and isn't going to come out if I'm not alone. He's not gonna trust you."

"Then I'll go to Glacier Island, and wait there with the others."

"Fine. But your sister isn't going to be happy."

"I don't care. I can't keep letting her control my life; I'm sixteen." With that, she got on Firewing and took off.

"Alright bud, let's go find our brother."

We took off from the town square towards the clouds. He came out shortly after we entered the clouds.

"Hey, buddy. Can you follow us? We need some place to land, okay?"

"Okay."

I had Toothless fly towards Glacier Island, where hopefully the gang would have a tunnel ready, and he could enter his tattoo there, and then we could fake seal the tunnel… like I had three years ago.

Daystrid

"Days?! What are you doing here?" Astrid called when she saw me.

"Hiccup said I could come."

"He what?!"

"Here he comes!" Fishlegs shouted.

We all went up to a cliff to wait for them. Toothless flew into the tunnel the Riders had carved. I'm pretty sure the Lightning was supposed to follow, except he didn't, as though didn't trust Hiccup.

"Hiccup? You're not going to trap me are you?"

Hiccup came flying out of the tunnel, not having heard what Lightning had said. "Why didn't he follow me?"

"I don't think he trusts that you're not trying to trap him," I pointed out.

"What do you mean?"

"After you went in, he wanted to know if you were gonna trap him."

"Oh." Hiccup seemed confused.

"Okay, my dad is confused," Snotlout said.

"Nobody cares, Snotlout." Astrid replied.

"Okay, I'm gonna lead him away. You guys go back to the Edge to regroup." With that, Hiccup took off, Lighting following him.

Hiccup

When Lightning didn't follow me into the tunnel, I panicked. I'd told him that we just needed some place to land. Now he was following me, and he didn't look happy.

"Lightning? Hey buddy, what's wrong?" I tried.

"You were gonna try and trap me again! You didn't last time, but you were this time!"

"No, I wasn't. The tunnel was so that Spitelout wouldn't find out about you, he'd probably try to kill you. The plan was for you to follow me into the tunnel, the Riders would seal one end, we'd stop in the middle, and then all three of us would leave together. Like we did three years ago. I wasn't trying to trap you. I'd never do that."

"Okay… Sorry I didn't realize what you were doing."

"It's okay."

"That's my Skrill! Shoot it down!"

Dagur. I turned around on Toothless, to see a Hunter ship, with none other than Dagur and Ryker on board.

"A Skrill? You've seen this one before, Dagur?" Ryker sounded skeptical.

"Seen it? I've owned it!"

"Oh no. This is bad. This is very bad." I was just gonna head back to the Edge with Lightning, and these hunters were in our way. And they'd seen Lightning.

"Hiccup!"

I spun around to see Lightning falling into the ocean. The hunters had shot him down without me knowing.

"NOOOO!" Toothless and I yelled at the same time. We shot after him, a sword in my hand, hoping to cut the ropes on the net Lightning was caught in.

"Come on, Toothless, come on." One of the archers saw me coming and shot an arrow towards me. It knocked the sword out of my hand and Toothless and I were left with nothing to do, but leave Lightning with the Hunters.

"Thanks for the gift, Hiccup. It'll make a great weapon," Dagur shouted at my back. I looked back at Lightning as we flew away, "I'm sorry, buddy. I'll come back for you, I promise."

A Couple Hours Later- Dragon's Edge

"Hiccup! What happened?" Astrid asked as I landed. I'd been longer than I should've been, and everyone was probably worried.

"It's a long story."

Daystrid came up to me, "Please say you got him."

"Ehhhh…"

"What happened?"

"Hunters."

"What about the Hunters?" Fishlegs asked.

"I knew it! Hiccup's actually working for the Hunters and, uh…" Tuffnut shouted.

"What are you talking about, bro? Daystrid probably just asked him something and that was his answer." Ruffnut said.

"Hiccup, what happened with the Hunters?" Astrid asked.

Spitelout babbled something no one could understand, and Snotlout tried to translate for him, but it didn't work very well. Spitelout just seemed to give up and started to walk away.

"I'll, uh, say in a little bit." I shot a bolt of lightning at the back of Spitelout's head. It hit him, electrocuted him for the second time today, and he was able to speak again.

"The Skrill is back!" he shouted as soon as he realized what had happened.

"No, it's not. It's just the coming storm," I explained, covering up my own deed. "It's not gonna come back, at least not right now."

"Oh, so ya dealt with the Skrill. Nice job, boyo."

"Heh, yeah.

"Anyway, Spitelout. Would you be able to go back to Berk? We work better together without an extra person."

"Aye, I understand. An' I would, if I had a dragon to take back."

"Snotlout! Why don't you give your dad a ride back to Berk? We'll, uh, catch you up on what happened when you get back."

"Uh, yeah, okay." Snotlout mounted Hookfang, Spitelout climbing up behind him. They took off, leaving us to our own selves.

"Wait, Hiccup." Astrid stopped me, as I was going to share what had happened.

"What?"

"Does my sister know about Lightning?"

"Yes, that's part of the reason she's here. Well, she also insisted on coming along, as well."

"Oh, okay. So, what happened with the Hunters?"

"They got Lightning."

"How did they get him, weren't you trying to get him to come back with you?"

"He-he was. But the Hunters got in our way, and they saw him before I could even warn him. I tried to free him, but they managed to stop me from doing that too."

"So where is Lightning now?" Daystrid asked.

"…with the Hunters…" I responded, looking down at my feet.

"Hate to be that guy," Fishlegs started, "but, you just told us that the Hunters now have a Skrill. And Dagur is with the Hunters, meaning the maniac who tried to kill us with the Skrill three years ago has the Skrill again."

"Yeah, he does. I made a mistake-"

I was interrupted by Tuffnut gasping.

"Whoa," Ruffnut said.

"Oh what now?" I dared to ask.

"We've just never heard you say that before. You always know how to fix it," Tuffnut explained.

"Yeah well, guess what? I'm not perfect."

"What?! No! Now who's painting am I going to have above my bed?" Tuffnut gasped.

"Ew." Daystrid and the dragons all cringed.

"Now, we need to figure out how we're going to fix this, and get Hiccup his friend back," Astrid said, trying to get us back on track.

"Astrid's right. We need to figure out where the Hunters are going, so we can get Lightning away from them." I agreed.

"How can we even be sure that the Skrill isn't gonna try and kill us all? From what I've seen, that dragon has only tried to attack and kill us. I don't trust it," Snotlout said, returning from Berk.

"Y'know, he did that because I told him to. And he never attacked you guys, just me. Have you never noticed that?"

"Ugh, fine. I'll help save him from the hunters, but I say we put him in the glacier and seal him in."

"Not happening, Snotlout.

"Anyway, the Hunters would probably be heading away from the storm so-"

"-the Skrill can't channel the lightning," Fishlegs finished for me. "The storm was heading east, so they'll be heading west."

"Good thinking, Fishlegs. There's a small group of islands just west of here. Lots of secluded beaches and coves to hide in. Let's go."

A Few Hours Later- Daystrid

"Okay, guys," Hiccup started, "here's the plan: Snotlout, twins, diversion. Keep 'em distracted. The rest of us'll sneak in and find Lightning. Understand?"

We all nodded, and the twins and Snotlout took off. The rest of us watched from the bushes, as they started causing havoc among the men. They drove the guards in the opposite direction as the cages, giving us our in.

We jumped out of the bushes and ran into the camp.

"Find Lightning, that is our only goal," Hiccup reminded us as we ran.

I followed him, and was about in the middle of the camp, when I noticed a cage, covered with a tarp, sitting in the water. "Hey Hiccup."

"What?" he responded.

"Skrills can't channel their lightning if they're wet, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

I pointed towards the cage.

"That's gotta be him," Hiccup breathed, "It's the only one submerged in water." He ran over to the cage and pulled the tarp off. "Hey buddy. It's okay, we'll get you out of here."

As Hiccup started fiddling with the lock, I felt someone grab me from behind. I went to warn Hiccup, but whoever it was covered my mouth with his hand. I looked around, seeing the other riders and their dragons captured by the Hunters, which that whoever was holding me was a Hunter as well.

Lightning made a sound, probably trying to warn Hiccup, but not actually saying anything. "Hey, let's keep it down, or they'll hear us, okay?" Hiccup was still oblivious to everything that was going on.

"Oh, it's too late for that," Ryker said with a smirk. Hiccup spun around to face him.

"Told you he'd come for my Skrill," Dagur told Ryker, walking up next to him. "How could you, Hiccup? We've barely had time to get reacquainted." Dagur walked over to the Lightning's cage that Hiccup had been pulled away from moments before. "It's alright, baby. This is all still so new," he told Lightning, who responded with:

"Ugh, get away from me. I hate you. I'm not your pet. I will never be your pet. Or weapon. Or anything else you think I am."

Ryker, who hadn't understood what Lightning had said, told Dagur, "Never mind that, Dagur. Just look at all the new dragons your friend has brought us. Cage 'em up. And muzzle the Night Fury."

Hiccup and I were forced next the other Riders, while the Hunters muzzled Toothless.

Hiccup looked like he was thinking, "Hmmm…"

"What are you thinking?" Astrid and I asked at the same time.

"That the enemy of my enemy-"

"-might kill us all?" Astrid finished.

"Possibly. But he also might help us." Hiccup pulled his hands out of the hold of the Hunter and ran towards the cage. The rest of us revolted against the Hunters and a battle ensued.

"Toothless. The cage!" Hiccup yelled, after being stopped by Hunters. Toothless ran into the water and pushed the cage onto its side, getting Lightning out of the water. A bolt of lightning struck the Skrill and he used it to get out of the cage. He ended up sitting on top of the cage which he tried to take off from. The only problem was: his tail was stuck in the cage; he couldn't go anywhere.

Ryker grabbed a bow from one of the Hunters and aimed an arrow at Lightning.

Hiccup saw this and ran in front of the arrow. "No!" Toothless, who couldn't stand his best friend being in danger, jumped in front of Hiccup as Ryker let go of the arrow. The arrow hit the leather muzzle that was still around his mouth.

Lightning started pulling more lightning from the clouds, confusing Dagur. "Uh, what's it doing?"

"You tell me. It's your dragon," Ryker replied.

"Oh no," Dagur said, as he realized what 'his' dragon was doing. Lightning shot at the Hunters, effectively wiping out their camp.

A Couple Hours Later- Dragons' Edge

"Hey." I walked up to Hiccup, who was sitting on the edge of the deck outside his hut.

"Hey. What's up?" he replied, not taking his eyes off the ocean.

"Not much. Where is everyone?" I asked, sitting down next to him.

"Glacier Island. I wasn't able to convince them that Lightning really would hurt them."

"And you're just gonna sit here and let them trap your friend in a glacier? We both know that you'd rather go after them."

"Yeah, but what would they do if I did go after them? And even so, I wouldn't catch them. They're too far out, if they're not already there."

I stood up. "Maybe you wouldn't be able to catch them on Toothless, but I think you could on your own."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" He stood up and looked at me.

"Go after them. I'll be right behind you."

We changed form, and he took off, with me not far behind.

Glacier Island- Astrid

"Okay, Fishlegs, a little to the left. Now, a little to the right. All right, that's it. Lower him in." I was directing Fishlegs, who was lowering the Skrill into the crevasse.

Hiccup had tried to convince us that this dragon wouldn't have harmed any of us, but, as much as I hated to say it, Snotlout had been right. All this dragon had seemingly ever done was try to harm us. It hunted Hiccup and Toothless down. It tried to kill all of us. It had attacked Berk.

Suddenly, I heard the screech of a Night Fury. It was quiet, but still there. I looked up, as did the rest of the Riders, but none of us saw anything. If Toothless had been there, we would have seen him.

"Wait! I can't let you do this to him!" Hiccup yelled, landing in front of me. He was in his Halfling form, one we rarely saw him in, the screech before must have been him.

"Why not?" Snotlout asked. "We put him in, and, boom, seal it closed."

"If I let you guys do this, it would make none of us better than the Hunters," Hiccup explained. "We'd just be using a different cage."

"Hiccup, this dragon hunted you and Toothless down, it-" I started, but Hiccup cut me off.

"Yes, he hunted us down, but he was scared. He came looking for us because he was scared."

"It wanted you and Toothless dead," Fishlegs pointed out.

"No, he didn't," my sister said, causing all of us to realize she was standing behind Hiccup in her Halfling form as well. When she had gotten here, I didn't know. But why is she backing Hiccup up. She always takes my side, even if she doesn't believe in it. "This dragon saved you guys. He didn't hurt anyone on purpose."

"My dad?" Snotlout asked, reminding us all of what had happened to Spitelout yesterday.

"Lightning didn't do it on purpose, he was just protecting himself," Hiccup tried again. At Snotlout's skeptical look, he added, "Snotlout, your dad charged him with an axe in his hand. Lightning didn't attack him just because he wanted to, he did it out of self defense."

"So you're saying if we let him go, he's not gonna attack us?" the twins asked.

'That is exactly what I'm saying.'

Fishlegs had Meatlug moved the Skrill over the ice next to Hiccup. Meatlug let go of the net that was the Skrill, and he was let free. Almost immediately, he ran over to Hiccup, who said something in dragonese before giving the dragon a hug. It was nice to see Hiccup reunited with a dragon he'd thought he'd lost.

Hiccup pulled away from the dragon and touched his hand to the dragon's nose. The Skrill became covered in lightning that traveled up into Hiccup's hand, the dragon disappearing with it.

Alright, so that is officially the end of Hiccup's Story, I will not be adding anymore to this one. From here on out, his story intertwines with Daystrid's enough that it will be covered in the main story. If you haven't already gone and read Hofferson Sisters, I highly reccommend it, as it may make some things in this one make some more sense.

As for the sequel to Hofferson Sisters for those of you waiting on it... it is in the works. I will be finishing it before I post any of it though. Unfortunately, as I am in college I don't have a lot of time to just sit and write like I'd like to. My hope is to finish that one by the end of my spring semester this year... we'll see how it goes.

That's all for now...

Daystrid out!
*closes laptop so roommate can sleep*