A/N: Hey look! I found a piece of free time! Those things are so hard to come by lately. Oh yeah, and in the last chapter that I posted, Hiccup mentioned how a Vorpent hid in his coat. Yes, it did sting him, but the reason he didn't die was because he had already been stung by a Vorpent once, and if you survive one poisoning, then you're immune to being poisoned by the same thing again. Fun fact I thought you might like to know. =)

Volcano Quest

"THAT CHEAT!" shouted Hiccup. He was standing in the middle of the Forge. Half of the tools he had made last night for the Quest were gone! The silver stick was gone too, and Hiccup assumed Snotlout just took that one because it was shiny.

"What are ya gonna do now?" asked Camicazi.

Hiccup growled, sounding a lot like Toothless. He put on his gloves, adjusted his sword and dagger, and said, "I'm going after him, and I'm gonna win."

Hiccup stormed out of the Forge and Camicazi followed him. Hiccup was in such a rage that he didn't look where he was going and he ran right smack into Fishlegs.

After Fishlegs helped Hiccup stand back up, he said, "What happened?"

"Snotlout robbed the Forge and left in the middle of the night for the volcano!" exclaimed Hiccup. "We need to chase him down."

"Um..." muttered Fishlegs, looking down guiltily.

"What?" asked Hiccup. "Don't tell me you can't go too!"

"Well, I can go, but I'd never be able to keep up with you and Toothless. Horrorcow is just too slow!"

"Hm... Y'know, I think I can help you with this."

"Please, it'll be just for the Quest," begged Hiccup.

"I don't know..." said Sig, rubbing Drift's head protectively.

"If anything happens to him, I'll personally kill him," said Camicazi.

"Please, he's our last chance!" exclaimed Hiccup, dropping to his knees and begging. "Quiver's at the bottom of the ocean, Luna's human is sick, and Snakebane is..." Hiccup looked over to where Snakebane stood, yelling at a large rock. "Snakebane is just unstable. Plus, he was born at that volcano! He could take a bath in the lava and come out unharmed!"

Sig looked at Drift. Drift nodded.

"Okay, be good Flamey," said Sig, giving her dragon a hug. Drift licked her and ran out the door where he met up with Toothless. Sig slowly closed her door.

Hiccup and Camicazi ran over to Drift and Toothless.

"Okay Fishlegs, you can come out now," said Hiccup. Fishlegs emerged from behind the boulder Snakebane was yelling at. When Snakebane saw that there was a human behind the rock, he quickly jumped backwards and fell over on his back. Of course, he landed too close to the docks, and he fell into the water, where he had a spaz attack before flying off towards the forest in his embarassment.

Fishlegs quickly walked over to Drift, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Can I help you?" asked Drift.

"He's never seen a Drifter Dragon before," said Hiccup.

"Oh my Gods..." muttered Fishlegs. He looked between Drift and Toothless. "Are Drifter Dragons really cousins to the Night Fury?"

Drift nodded.

Hiccup and Camicazi laughed a bit as Fishlegs drilled Drift with questions, and every time Drift answered he looked a little bit more creeped out.

"Okay, we better go," said Hiccup. He didn't want to let Snotlout get too far ahead of them.

"Right," said Fishlegs. "Wait, where's his saddle?"

"You're going to be riding bareback," said Hiccup, walking towards his house to let his dad know they were leaving. The sun was now starting to peek over the horizon.

"WHAT?" shouted Fishlegs, running after Hiccup. Drift, Toothless, and Camicazi followed. "Why do I have to ride bareback?"

"Because I can't find a lava-proof saddle," said Hiccup. He made it up to his house and ran inside, coming back out a minute later with a strange metal contraption and what looked like a blanket made of Night Fury scales. Stoick followed him out.

"You boys ready?" he asked.

"Um..." muttered Fishlegs.

Hiccup nodded and grabbed Toothless's tail, putting the metal contraption on his prosthetic tail fin. It was the device that would let Toothless fly on his own if the worst happened. He then took the scale blanket and slipped it over the prosthetic. It was a perfect fit.

"Fireproof tail, complete," whispered Hiccup to himself. He stood up and faced his father, while Toothless experimented with the new tail.

"So that's where all my sheded scales went..." muttered Toothless.

"There's been a change of plans, boys," said Stoick. "You two aren't gonna be working together."

"What!" they both gasped.

"If you two worked together, then it would be two against one."

"Yeah, but Snotlout got a head start," reasoned Hiccup.

"Yeah, but I'm the chief. You have to do what I say."

There was no way Hiccup was gonna argue with that logic.

"Now make sure you've got everything ready and head to the docks. Everyone will be waiting."

Without a word, Hiccup and Fishlegs turned and headed for the docks.

"You ready for this 'Legs?" asked Hiccup.

"Yeah, I guess..." muttered Fishlegs, looking pale. "I've got a hammer and a book."

"That volcano book?"

"Yeah. You want it?"

"No," said Hiccup. He looked over his shoulder and saw only the dragons. Camicazi had mysteriously disappeared and no one else was within earshot. "We should still work together," he whispered hurriedly.

"What!" exclaimed Fishlegs. "You heard what your dad said!"

"I know, but what he doesn't know... will probably kill me when he finds out."

Toothless and Drift looked at each other with a sly smile. They had totally seen that coming.

They arrived at the docks, where basically the whole village was waiting. They all received an applause as they walked down the path and stood at the cliff, overlooking the orange ocean that came with the rising sun. Snotlout and Fireworm were already flying over that ocean, towards the volcano.

Hiccup mounted Toothless, and Fishlegs stood nervously next to Drift. Drift rolled his eyes and lowered his head, allowing Fishlegs to hop on. He did, and Drift didn't even flinch at the added weight.

Fishlegs looked extremely nervous at the prospect of riding without a saddle. He didn't even get a rope this time!

"Are you sure?" he mouthed to Hiccup.

"Trust me," Hiccup mouthed back. He wouldn't need a saddle when flying with Drift.

"Hiccup!" exclaimed Camicazi, shoving her way through the crowd. In her hands she held a small leather pouch. She jumped up and handed it to him.

"What's in here?" asked Hiccup.

"Water, food, bandages, and a couple of empty flasks in case you find anything worth keeping. There's also a small metal box in there for holding the Fire Diamond," she explained.

"Thanks Camicazi," he said, attaching the bag to Toothless's saddle. She smiled, but Hiccup could tell that she was really nervous. Her Mood Scale gave it away as it turned light blue.

Without warning, Camicazi reached up, grabbed Hiccup's tunic, pulled him down, and kissed him right in front of everyone. The crowd surrounding them cheered. Camicazi pulled back and said, "Promise me you'll come back in one piece." Then, blushing, she disappeared into the crowd before Hiccup could give her an answer.

Hiccup didn't have any time to register that before Brightclaw and Muskett appeared in front of him.

"Hiccup, boy, I have to tell you something of incredible importance!" exclaimed Muskett. Brightclaw nodded vigorously. "The Fire Diamond is nowhere near the rim. It's as deep down as it can possibly be!"

"Wait, then why did you lie last night?" asked Hiccup.

"Because I knew someone was spying on us!" exclaimed Muskett. "I heard him breathing behind the boulder we I was sitting on."

"Snotlout..." growled Hiccup.

"Then how come I didn't hear him?" asked Toothless.

"Because he was being quiet and you weren't sitting on the boulder he was hiding behind."

"Well, why didn't you tell us he was there?" asked Hiccup.

"Because I'm small, and he was armed," deadpanned Muskett.

"Did that dragon just say that the Fire Diamond was at the bottom of the volcano?" asked Fishlegs, overhearing the conversation. Hiccup had forgotten that Muskett spoke Norse.

"It's deeper than the Queen's Chamber," said Muskett, turning to Fishlegs.

"Seriously!" exclaimed Hiccup. "I thought that was as deep as that volcano got!"

"Oh, heck no," said Muskett, turning back to Hiccup.

"Yeah, me and Muskett went exploring there a while ago and we found a tunnel that went down deeper!" exclaimed Brightclaw.

"Where is it?" asked Hiccup, Toothless, Fishlegs, and Drift at the same time.

Before Brightclaw or Muskett could say, Stoick emerged from the crowd. The two Terrors screamed at the top of their lungs and took of flying in opposite directions, taking their answer with them.

"LET THE QUEST BEGIN!" shouted Stoick. The crowd roared and Hiccup looked to Fishlegs. He gave Hiccup a nod of good luck, as if they were competing. Hiccup nodded back.

Both dragons took off out over the open water. As they flew higher, Hiccup looked over at Fishlegs, who had his arms wrapped around Drift's neck. Drift had only flapped his wings once or twice upon takeoff, and he was now drifting up higher, so steady it was as if they were still on the ground. He and Toothless were level with each other as they flew higher.

Hiccup looked over his shoulder at the crowd behind him. He could easily pick out Camicazi and her wild blonde hair, and he saw his father standing in the front, waving. He was about to wave back when something caught his eye. Up near the tree line beyond the village, there stood a dark cloaked figure, half hidden by the trees. Hiccup stared at that figure before it suddenly disappeared into the trees.

Hiccup shuddered as chills ran down his spine. He quickly turned around and looked over at Fishlegs again. Fishlegs had let go of Drift's neck and was just sitting there, facing the other way too. Hiccup couldn't tell if he was looking back at Berk or if he was watching Drift's wings, tail, and secondaries. All of Drift's sides below his neck were used for flight, and Fishlegs was watching how they caught the air and allowed for effortless flight. He remembered reading about them in the Dragon Manual.

Hiccup smiled at the look on Fishlegs' face. He forgot about the dark shadowy figure as he faced forward again, squinting at the rising sun. Leaning to the side, he looked at Toothless. The thing about dragons is that their membranous third eyelid can darken at the dragon's will, like built-in sunglasses. Toothless was currently using his sunglasses, and, looking over, so was Drift.

Closing his eyes, Hiccup gently rubbed Toothless's neck. Toothless smiled a bit. Behind them, Berk disappeared in the clouds as they flew higher into the lightening sky.

Hiccup had no idea what kind of hell he would go through that day, but he did know this:

The Quest had begun.

And Snotlout was going down.

A/N: A speedy update! And it's only 4:30 in the afternoon! I want some spaghetti.

SO who do ya think the mysterious dark cloaked figure was? I'll give you a hint: this dark figure has been creeping around throughout all of my stories. ;)

In case you were wondering, YES, Monstrous Nightmares DO come in purple. To quote from book 1 of the HTTYD series, "Monstrous Nightmares come in emerald green brilliant scarlet, and the deepest purple." So yes, they can be purple! So take that.

So review, and I'll try and update sooner! =D Oh yeah, and who should get glomped at the end: Hiccup or Toothless?