Things are about to get ugly…
Note: I do NOT own ROTG or HTTYD
Chapter 25
Toothless and Stormfly immediately froze while Blitz and Tridacna growled. Jack and Sapphire stared wide eyed at the two villains.
"You wouldn't…" Sapphire muttered in horror. "Oh we would and we will." Pitch smiled cruelly.
The nightmare sand suddenly swirled closer around Hiccup and Astrid, the two teens immediately screaming as the sand made contact with their bodies.
"Let them go!" Jack said, flinching slightly at the sound of their cries.
Thanks to the thick black cover, Jack and Sapphire could hardly see the two Viking teens but they knew that the nightmare sand was hurting them.
"Not listening!" Alvin taunted them as Pitch made more sand cover the two Viking teens.
"Ahhh! Heelllppp!" Astrid shrieked.
"It burns! Get it off! It burns! Agghh!" Hiccup yelled in pain.
Toothless and Stormfly were roaring in panic and it took all of Blitz and Tridacna's strength to prevent them from attacking otherwise their enemies would just double their friends' pain.
"Pitch, stop! You're hurting them!" Sapphire yelled, cringing at the sound of her friend Astrid's cries. "That's the idea!" the Boogeyman laughed and summoned up more nightmare sand.
Hiccup and Astrid were completely covered with the suffocating black sand now. And they were writhing and screaming in pain. It was really hurting them and watching them get tortured was hurting Jack and Sapphire too.
"Enough! Sapphire and I know you're only after us, Pitch! Don't drag our friends into this!" Jack shouted in an almost pleading tone.
More screams, louder and more painful this time came from Hiccup and Astrid's sand covered forms.
"He's doing me a favor, you two! I've been wanting to get even with the Dragon Conqueror and his gang. Watching him and his little girlfriend suffer is exactly what I want!" Alvin was thoroughly enjoying the show while Pitch was waiting for the moment.
The moment where he would get what he want.
"Stop it!" "Let them go!" Sapphire and Jack were begging them now as little by little, their two Viking friends were transformed into slaves of fear.
Finally they couldn't take it anymore.
Sapphire was the first to break down.
"Okay we give in!" she screamed.
Blitz, Trdacna, Toothless and Stormfly stared at her in shock along with Alvin and Pitch.
"What was that, lass?" Alvin narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the two Guardians. "We'll give you what you guys want. Just please let our friends go…" Jack mumbled and slowly took the dragon fang half out of his pocket.
Pitch's dark gold eyes flashed and with a flick of his wrist, he let the sand shake off of Hiccup and Astrid. The two Viking teens were shaking and coughing out the black dust as they noticed Jack and Sapphire making their way towards them and their enemies.
"Excellent!" Alvin chuckled darkly.
"Let them go first." Sapphire said coldly.
"It's either that or we won't give this to you." Jack held up the fang, making Astrid and Hiccup panic.
"Jack, Sapphire, NO!" Hiccup yelped. "They'll revive the dragon and use it to destroy everything!" Astrid shouted frantically.
"Oh shut your traps!" Pitch spat and flung them towards their dragons.
Toothless and Stormfly squawked in panic and thankfully caught them.
They could have tried to stop them…
But it was too late.
Jack and Sapphire had already handed the fang over…
What could have been running through the two Guardians' heads as that fateful moment occurred?
Only one thought: 'Sorry guys…'
Reluctantly the two teens clasped the fang tightly in their interlocked hands and handed the dragon fang over to Alvin and Pitch.
"No…" Hiccup murmured in horror.
"Jack, Saph…" Astrid mumbled as the two Guardians dropped their heads to the ground in shame.
Alvin the Treacherous and Pitch Black laughed.
"Finally the fang is complete!" Alvin laughed and then Pitch took their own fang half out. "Now feel our wrath!" Pitch sneered as he touched the two halves of the legendary relic together.
Suddenly red and green sparks shot out, the red dominating the green. Jack and Sapphire barely had time to react before red colored lightning shot out of the fusing Dragon Fang and struck them head on!
"NO!" Astrid screamed but her voice was drowned out by the Guardians of Fun and Equality's cries of pain.
"What're you doing to them?!" Hiccup yelled at the two villains.
"Don't you two Vikings know your own history? If ever the two halves of the Dragon Fang are owned by two different people, the one who assembles the fang lives. The other one…well that's what happens." Pitch smirked, pointing at the two teenage Guardians being electrocouted.
Blitz and Tridacna suddenly snapped.
Seeing their Riders get hurt once was already bad enough but this is the straw that breaks the dragon's back.
Roaring fiercely, they lunged at Alvin and Pitch, Tridacna's fin-like tail swatting the fang out of Pitch's hand and cutting of the electricity. Sapphire and Jack were teetering on the brink of unconsciousness and would've passed out if their two Viking friends hadn't kept them steady.
"Sorry…Hiccup…" Jack groaned, his face pale.
"We…tried…Astrid…" Sapphire moaned, her eyelids drooping.
But Alvin had managed to retrieve the fang and with Pitch, rode a Nightmare dragon to the top of the island's volcano.
"They're gonna revive the dragon…" Astrid said in a low tone.
Hiccup's emerald green eyes widened.
Toothless and Stormfly tensed up, forming a protective shield beind their human friends, with Blitz and Tridacna behind them who were supporting their weakened Riders.
Above the volcano, Alvin grinned at Pitch, his yellowed teeth showing and said, "Shall we, Black?"
Then to his confusion, Pitch laughed evilly and then to his horror, snared him in black sand!
"Oh did you really think I'd let you and me both get what we want, Al?" Pitch chuckled darkly.
Watching them, Hiccup and Astrid saw Pitch suddenly and horrifyingly fling Alvin off the Nightmare dragon…and into the volcano.
The two Viking teens gasped as Alvin's screaming form disappeared into the volcano's crater. Laughing, Pitch casually tossed the dragon fang in after that human sacrifice.
"We need to get out of here!" Hiccup yelled, as he and Astrid helped Jack and Sapphire get on their dragons before getting on.
"But Pitch has…the…fang…" Jack mumbled.
"We have…to stop…him…" Sapphire groaned.
Then their eyes rolled back into their heads and they slumped unconscious on Toothless and Stormfly. Blitz and Tridacna were going ballistic with worry but they managed to listen to Hiccup and Astrid's orders and flew up into the air to escape.
Pitch smiled in triumph. "With the ancient dragon by my side, nothing will stop fear from ruining this world!" he cackled.
But the Boogeyman's smile was smugly erased when all of a sudden, a lava covered dragon head came up from the volcano's crater.
"Wh-What?! No…NOOO!" Pitch bellowed before the dragon swallowed him in one gulp before retreating back into the volcano…
Angrid, her parents, the Guardians, Marina, Stoick and Gobber were just about done with the swarm of Nightmares when an earth shattering explosion rang in their ears. Sven and Masona turned around on Magnus and were the first ones to see it.
"Odin Almighty…" Masona whispered.
"Thor's Beard…" Sven gasped.
Everyone turned around. The volcano on Dragon Island had exploded into smithereens and was now covered with ominous reddish-black smoke!
"Well that can't be good." Gobber quipped.
That's when Hiccup and Astrid zoomed by, bearing two unconscious Guardians on their dragons with Blitz and Tridacna right behind their tails.
"Oh my Manny! What happened?!" Tooth shrieked upon seeing Jack and Sapphire unconscious. "Less talking, more flying!" Hiccup yelled. "We just gotta get out of here now!" Astrid shouted.
Not wanting to argue, the team decided to just go. But when they managed to get some distance from Dragon Island, things quickly took a turn for the worst.
All of a sudden a bone chilling roar sounded from the island and then loud wingbeats were heard.
The rescue party turned to look behind…and man, they wished they hadn't.
For behind them was the most fearsome dragon they've ever seen. The beast was as big as a mountain, had black scaly hide dotted with flecks of violet and had the scariest pair of red eyes.
"Shostakovich…" North's jaw dropped open.
"What…is…th-that?" Bunny stuttered out.
Angrid turned her head to her sister, a fearful look on her face. "They didn't…" she whispered to her younger sister in horror, looking at Jack and Sapphire.
"It's our fault…" Astrid said guiltily.
Suddenly the dragon laughed, the laugh sounding a lot like…
"PITCH!" the Guardians of Fun and Equality suddenly woke up and glanced behind them. They gasped when they saw the dragon.
"Oh my gods…" Sapphire breathed in shock.
"What have we done…?" Jack whispered, the guilt clearly written on his face.
"Let's just get the hell out of here!" Stoick yelled as he urged Thornado to go faster.
Suddenly Jack and Sapphire jumped onto their dragons and to everyone's shock, turned around!
"Jack, Saph what're you doing?!" Marina squawked.
The two Guardians were desperate to do something to right the horrible wrong they had made.
Jack guided Blitz into a corkscrew and began to divebomb the dragon's wings with ice blasts while Sapphire tried to find a weak spot upfront.
"This thing's like the Red Death! I can't find anything that can screw it!" Sapphire yelled before Tridacna fired a water blast at the dragon's mouth.
The dragon roared in outrage as one of its front fangs broke off. Sapphire quickly flew to catch it.
"Saph I think we need to fall back! It's getting ready to fire!" Jack yelled at her when Blitz's ear plates stiffened up when he heard the hissing sound of gas coming from the black dragon's mouth.
Quickly the 2 Guardians' Himalayan Fury and Scauldron pulled up, just in time. They narrowly managed to avoid the dragon's violet-black flames.
"I WILL GET YOU!" the dragon suddenly roared at the retreating Guardians.
Jack and Sapphire tensed up when they heard the beast's voice, which strangely sounded a lot like Pitch and confirmed their suspicions that their archenemy had indeed fused with the ancient dragon.
"What were you thinking?!" Bunny exclaimed when the two teens rejoined them.
"Is that…?" Astrid suddenly pointed at the fang Sapphire still had in her hand. The Guardian of Equality nodded meekly.
Angrid looked at it for a few seconds and then said, "There's still a chance for us. But we need a lot more help." Jack nodded gravely.
"We can get more back-up at the Shivering Shores. But we need to hold that beast off!" Gobber shouted, noticing that the dragon was still chasing them.
That's when Sapphire got an idea.
"Jack, when I give the signal you unleash the strongest blast of frost you've ever shot." She instructed. Jack looked skeptical at first but he caught on his girlfriend's plan.
He and Blitz slowed down along with Sapphire and Tridacna. Concentrating hard, Sapphire slowly summoned a gigantic wave and with all the power she had, commanded it to swamp the black dragon chasing them. The dragon let out a furious screech as water enveloped it in a swirling blue ball.
"Go, Jack!" Sapphire yelled.
Summoning all the power inside him, Jack made Blitz turn round and shot out the strongest blast of frost he had ever shot out. The ice hit its mark and the ball of water froze and dropped into the ocean below.
"It might not hold...If that dragon's really as ferocious when it's evil, it can break outta there." Sapphire told her friends as Dragon Island got further away from view. "And if Pitch did fuse himself with that beast…Knowing him, he'll find a way to bust out of there." Jack added.
Then the two lapsed into silence. No matter how many times the others tried to get them to talk, all throughout the entire flight to the Shivering Shores neither Guardian said a word.
Hiccup and Astrid worriedly glanced at each other. They knew why the two had clammed up but, like them, they didn't say a word.
Meanwhile at the Shivering Shores, the other end of the operation was successful. All it took was some careful planning, good strategy tactics and some crazy attack maneuvers (courtesy of the Twins and their Hideous Zippleback), the island and its villagers were freed.
Anglo was beside himself with relief upon seeing that all of his people were alive. And upon meeting Mother Nature, Father Time and their Whiskered Screech and Baby Tooth, he and the villagers were rather awestruck.
"And here I thought those stories of you myths were only tales." He remarked.
Right now, the rest of the teens were at the beach helping with cleaning up the island and putting things back in order along with the kids and their dragons.
Suddenly loud roars filled the sky!
"Oh no is it another attack?!" Layla squeaked nervously.
"I sure hope not…" Jamie muttered as the two of them, perched on their Snaptrapper, looked out to the horizon.
Small specks were seen coming in.
"Uh-oh…" Donnie mumbled.
"Here we go again." Sophie tightly hugged Terri, who growled protectively.
Sniper assumed an attack stance, ready to defend his little human.
"Assume attack position!" Fishlegs commanded as he and Meatlug got ready to launch a lava ball at the slowly nearing specks. "Since when are you in charge now?" Snotlout huffed but got on Hookfang anyway.
The Twins were looking out to the horizon too.
Then Tuffnut saw what those specks really were.
"Uh you guys might wanna hold your fire." He cautioned. "Why?" his sister raised an eyebrow. The male Thornston pointed at the specks.
Everyone looked closer and saw that their supposed enemies were actually the other team.
"Get everyone! We've got a situation!" Angrid yelled at them.
Surprised but relieved when they saw that Hiccup and Astrid were safe and sound, the Shivering Shores liberating party scrambled to get Anglo the Mighty and Mother Nature, Father Time and Millennium along with the entire village.
When all the people had been gathered round at the beach, Stoick marched over to Anglo and the two Chiefs shook hands and clapped shoulders.
"Good to see you and your people are safe, old friend." Stoick laughed heartily. "I must thank you for sending that small armada a few days ago, Stoick. If you hadn't sent them out, we wouldn't have stood a chance." He said gratefully.
Then he noticed Angrid. "Ah, Angrid Hofferson. Already back after just a few weeks from your home?" he said jokingly. The strawberry blonde Viking girl blushed. "Well this place is kind of like my home already, sir." She said humbly.
"And I take that these are the rest of the Guardians?" Anglo gestured to North, Tooth, Bunny, Jack Frost, Sandy and Sapphire Aquamarie.
The four original Guardians nodded while Jack and Sapphire stayed silent.
"Well what's the situation then?" the Chief of the Shivering Shores inquired.
As soon as he said those words, Jack and Sapphire suddenly yelped. A sudden vision of the enormous black dragon breaking out of its icy prison underwater flashed before their eyes and then to everyone's shock, their eyes began glowing green!
"Are you two alright?" North asked in concern.
The two teens seemed completely out of it and they didn't respond, worrying everyone.
"Jack? Sapphire?" Tooth said worriedly.
No response.
Sandy waved a hand in front of the two spirits' faces only to get the same thing.
"Are they okay?" Hiccup whispered to Astrid who gulped nervously. "Part of our family's legend says that the dragon fang allows the person to see what the dragon sees…I think that's what's happening..." She said worriedly.
Finally Bunny whacked the two Guardians upside on the head with his boomerangs.
"Yowch! For Odin's sake, Bunny! What was that for?!" Sapphire exclaimed, clutching her head.
"For the love of Thor, Kangaroo! Why did you do that?!" Jack rubbed his sore head while glaring at the Guardian of Hope.
"Oh finally you two decide to snap out of it." Bunny just smiled.
Much to his relief, the two Guardians' eyes were back to their regular icy and sea blue hues.
"You two suddenly just zoned out and your eyes started glowing. What happened?" Marina asked them, cocking her head.
That's when everything came back to Jack and Sapphire.
"The dragon's busted out." Sapphire replied, her face set in a grim expression. "And it knows we're here and it's coming after us." Jack stated.
While Anglo and his people looked at them confused, the dragons, Guardians and Vikings looked worried. Angrid managed to explain the whole story in five minutes and pretty soon, Anglo was barking out orders to his warriors. The party from Berk was also getting ready too, feeding the dragons to keep their energy up and sharpening whatever weapons they had with them. They had also formulated a plan to take down the behemoth.
"Thanks to Sapphire and Jack, we have a way to kill the ancient dragon." Astrid and everyone else were now inside Frostbite Hall and were gathered around the central fire.
"How?" Mother Nature asked as bugs scuttled around her forever alive hair.
"With this." Angrid then got the fang Tridacna had managed to shoot out of the dragon's mouth. "Of course! If we destroy this fang with the beast's fire, the beast itself will be destroyed as well." Father Time snapped his fingers in realization.
"That sounds like a good plan but how are we going to get the dragon to destroy it? Obviously we can't just ask it nicely." Millennium pointed out.
Hiccup stepped forward with Toothless. "We pull off the same tactic used in the Battle of the Red Death. As the dragon prepares to fire, we shoot the fang into its mouth followed by a quick blast from our dragons to make the gas inside backfire." He said calmly.
"But son, do you remember what happened when you and Toothless did that? I am not willing to let you risk your life again." Stoick said worriedly. "Your dad's right, Hiccup you could probably lose more than just another limb if you and Toothless try that stunt again." Gobber stated.
"Who says he has to do it? Sapphire and I are willing to do it." Jack piped up. "With my bow, I can shoot the fang straight into the dragon's mouth." Sapphire chirped as she held up her bow for emphasis.
"No." North said flatly.
"Why?!" the two teenage Guardians exclaimed in shock.
"This is our mistake! It's only fair that we make up for it." Sapphire reasoned.
"No one is blaming you two for anything." Bunny told them.
"Then why won't you let us join the fight?!" Jack asked angrily.
Sandy formed an image of all six Guardians together, encircled by a heart.
"Because we don't want you two to get hurt anymore…We care about you two too much." Tooth said softly.
Jack and Sapphire looked at their Viking friends hopefully.
"Maybe they're right…You two should take it easy." Fishlegs told them.
"We heard that you two took a couple of red lightning bolts head on!" Ruffnut said in awe. "It's a miracle Thor didn't kill you guys!" Tuffnut joined in.
"Wow…You two are tough as rocks…" Snotlout said in admiration.
But their friends were also agreeing with the Guardians and that didn't really bode well with Jack and Sapphire.
Frustrated, the Guardians of Fun and Equality stormed out off the hall, their dragons worriedly following them.
"Perhaps we should let them join the battle." Sven said quietly. "But dear, we should understand the Guardians' decision. Jack and Sapphire are their youngest members." Masona said reasoningly.
As a mother, she knew how concerned the Guardians were over the two eternal teenagers. A few minutes after the water spirit and winter spirit had walked out, the Shivering Shores messenger and Osgood burst in, frantic.
"Osgood and I saw a large black shape out in the horizon! It was shooting violet black fire and had blood red eyes!" the messenger reported as Osgood cooed fearfully.
Everyone jumped up in alarm.
"Ready the ships!" Anglo bellowed to his men.
"Everyone get your dragons!" Stoick ordered his small army.
Quickly the Guardians and Riders got out of the whole along with the all the people of the Shivering Shores. Jamie and Layla were about to mount their Snaptrapper when Marina stopped them.
"You kids stay at Frostbite Hall with the other children." The white swan told them firmly.
"But…!" Jamie spluttered.
"We wanna fight too!" Layla protested.
"No 'buts'. You and your little brother and sister stay put." Marina said with authority.
Shoulders slumping in defeat, the two pre-teens plodded back to the great hall with Donnie and Sophie. Suddenly Terri and Sniper chirped, looking up. The kids looked up in the two Terrible Terrors' direction and saw that high up on an icy outcropping right above Frostbite Hall, were Jack, Blitz, Sapphire and Tridacna looking out into the ocean.
"Should we talk to them?" Donnie inquired.
"They look sad…" Sophie said seeing how gloomy the two Guardians were.
Jamie and Layla looked at each other and after a few seconds, nodded.
At their vantage point, Jack and Sapphire could clearly see the warships being prepared to set sail into battle and their friends on their dragons gathering at the docks.
Angrid then got off Magnus and ran back to the village, headed for the armory. Probably to get more weapons for the team, that Sapphire and Jack so badly wanted to join.
But no, they're stuck here since everyone's just so worried about them!
"This is absolutely bogus!" Sapphire huffed. "You can say that again…I hate staying put!" Jack agreed with her.
Then Jamie, Layla, Donnie and Sophie came up with their dragons.
"You two doing okay?" Donnie asked gently.
Sapphire couldn't help but roll her eyes. "We've been laid off on battle duty, Don. What part of that is 'okay'?" she asked coldly.
"If it's any consolation, sis, we've been laid off too." Layla offered hopefully. "Yeah but that's as expected since you guys are still too young. Sapphire and I are already more than capable of fighting off an army on our own." Jack stated, glancing at Jamie.
His surrogate little brother shuffled to his feet. "Well…Maybe that's also another reason why you two have been laid off. The two of you are forgetting that this is our fight, not just yours." The young Bennett pointed out.
"We're all in this together no matter what!" Sophie said emphatically.
The two teenage Guardians remained silent, as if they hadn't heard a word.
Understanding how stressed out the two were, the kids promptly left them be.
"Jaaaccckkk? Jaaaaacccckkk?" Blitz warbled, looking at his Rider with concerned blue orbs.
Tridacna crooned and nuzzled Sapphire.
The two Guardians looked at their dragons and back out into the horizon then at each other.
"Didn't Angrid take the fang with her?" Jack asked Sapphire. "Yeah…She's at the armory." She nodded.
They looked at each other again…and an idea of their own popped into their heads.
Quickly mounting their dragons, they flew down and after asking for directions, headed for the armory.
Angrid was inside, getting a few battle axes off the mounts on the walls and placing them on a table where she had set the fang down. Stealthily, the two Guardians stole their way into the armory. But Magnus saw them and growled to his Rider. The eldest Hofferson had had her back turned but turned around in time to see Sapphire's hands close over the fang.
Before she could get a word in edgewise, Jack pointed his staff at her.
"Sorry, Angrid…" Jack mumbled guiltily before he froze her to the wall, making her hit her head on an anvil and pass out. Magnus roared in an outrage but was silenced by Blitz and Tridacna's own roars. Grabbing a pair of helmets and shields, the two teenage spirits went out of the armory.
"Ready to risk your life, Saph?" Jack asked the water spirit who gave him a slight coy smile. "You bet Odin's eye I am, Jack." She said smiling slyly.
Oh dear…and things just get uglier…