When Hati raised her head, on high alert, Mani looked up from skinning the squirrel that would be part of their dinner that night.
"What's the matter, girl?" the archer asked. "What d'ya hear?"
Ears straining, Mani listened for any oncoming threat. Soon, the sounds of branches cracking and wings flapping reached them, and Mani dropped the squirrel and picked up the bow lying nearby.
Soon, a Gronckle came crashing through the trees near them, covered in weapons and running on all fours.
"What in Valhalla?" Mani cried. The teen jumped onto Hati's saddle, and the two chased the unfortunate dragon.
"Mani!" a voice called out.
The archer turned a bit, and saw Hiccup and Toothless catching up to them. "Hiccup!" Mani greeted, kneeling on the saddle. "What's goin' on?"
"I'm not sure," Hiccup admitted. "But Meatlug's scared, and we gotta calm her down."
"What spooked her?"
"I don't know. Hopefully, Fishlegs can catch up soon to say."
The blonde smiled. "Well let's go save a dragon, eh?" Mani lay back down on Hati's saddle, and urged the Timberjack faster. The large dragon looked over at Toothless, and gave him a look that could only be described as a challenge. The Night Fury snorted, and the two of them sped off towards the Grockle.
Fortunately, Meatlug soon ran out of ground, coming to a stop at the edge of a cliff. Her two pursuers landed a bit away from her, slipping out of the saddles and slowly walking to her.
"Hey girl, it's me," Hiccup softly crooned. "Remember me? Your old pal Hiccup. Nothing to be afraid of." Mani stayed behind, letting the older teen take the reins. "We're gonna figure this out, but you have to stay still." Hiccup took a step closer to Meatlug, but the Gronckle began to back away towards the edge.
"No no no no!" Hiccup quickly said, still speaking softly, and still creeping closer.
Suddenly Fishlegs came running to them yelling worriedly. "Hiccup!"
"Not now, Fishlegs," Hiccup called back, trying to keep his voice calm for the spooked dragon.
"No, no, you don't understand!" Fishlegs protested.
"What's wrong?" Mani frowned.
"Not. Now. Fishlegs." Hiccup groaned, seeing that his friend's anxiety was only distressing his dragon more. He stepped even closer to Meatlug, hoping to calm her down.
"Your leg! It's metal!" Fishlegs blurted out, as Hiccup took one last step, before his prosthetic slipped out from under him and latched onto the belly of the Gronckle.
"Oh. I see." Hiccup belatedly realized the problem.
But the quick action, or maybe the fact something else had attached itself to her, scared Meatlug into flight. She pushed off the ground, and flew out to the sea.
"Where are you going?" Fishlegs called out.
"Absolutely no idea!" came the reply, fading fast.
Toothless gave a small roar at the sight of his Rider disappearing.
"Well don't just stand there!" Mani cried. "Hop on, and let's get him!"
"Hop on?" Fishlegs timidly echoed. "On Toothless?"
"He can't fly on his own, right?" Mani asked, crawling onto Hati's saddle. "And I personally would rather ride my own dragon if I can. So, yes, on Toothless."
The Night Fury seemed to agree with the archer, and he wrapped a tail around the large boy, inviting him on the saddle. Fishlegs awkwardly clambered on the saddle, saying, "Let's not break any speed records, okay? Just give me the 'night' without the 'fury.'"
Mani scoffed at the timidity in his voice. "Man up, Viking! Let's ride!" And the Timberjack took off.
Fishlegs fiddled with the stirrups a bit, and the moment he released Toothless' tail fin, the Night Fury followed Hati, Fishlegs screaming all the while.
"Too much 'fury!' Too much 'fury!'"
"Fishlegs!" Mani called out. "I don't know how your dragon thinks! Ya need to lead me here!"
"Okay, okay," Fishlegs gasped. He straightened up a bit, and held onto Toothless' head. "Stay in her blind spot," he ordered. Remembering that Mani knew nothing of dragons besides Hati, he added, "That's mostly behind her, and beneath her. She can't turn her head around that much, so just stay on her tail. I gotta get under her to get her to barf."
"That's nasty," Mani commented.
"It's gotta be done. Go left!"
Meatlug veered suddenly to the left, and her pursuers followed suit. The same thing happened when the Gronckle flew right.
After leveling off, Mani said, "Ya know, when this is all done, maybe ye can come find me in the woods and teach me more about your dragons. That way ya don't have to interrupt your strategizing to explain stuff ta me."
"Yeah, sure, sounds good," Fishlegs called out distractedly, flying close underneath his dragon. He and Hiccup looked at each other with feigned indifference.
"Hey," Hiccup greeted.
"Hey," Fishlegs echoed.
"What's up?" Mani cheerfully asked from below them both.
"Well, not me," Hiccup answered. "How's it going?"
"Better than expected, actually," Fishlegs told him. He glanced up, and, seeing his dragon much more calm, reached a hand up to Meatlug's belly.
"Yeah, so this might be a bad time," Hiccup began, "but I just wanted to say sorry for leaving you behind the other day."
Fishlegs sighed. "Hiccup-"
"I know, I know," Hiccup interrupted, "you volunteered, but I still should have-"
"Hold up," Mani intervened. "Ya left a member of your team behind?"
"Mani…"
"No, no, Fishlegs, let me get this straight. He left a member of his team behind?!"
"I know, I should've insisted that we all stay together-"
"That's right, you should've!" Mani nearly yelled. Standing up on the saddle, narrowed grassy eyes met slightly widened emerald ones. "What kind of leader leaves behind his soldier?!"
"Guys! Really!" Fishlegs interrupted. "I'm trying to concentrate here!"
Mani turned to look at the larger boy before poking Hiccup in the forehead. "You and I will have words later," the angry archer promised before sitting back down.
"Wait!" Hiccup cried.
Fishlegs groaned irritably. "Seriously, can we talk about our feelings later?"
"No, look!" He pointed behind them, and they all saw an Outcast ship.
"Well, that's a bit problematic," Mani commented. "Shall Hati and I distract them while ya free Hiccup?"
"No, wait," Hiccup said, curling up and hugging Meatlug's leg. "I've got an idea. Tell her to fly down!"
"Uh, okay," Fishlegs stammered. "Girl, dive!"
Meatlug followed her Rider's order, and flew towards the water. Under Hiccup's guiding hands, she charged at the enemy ship. The other two dragons flew close behind, Fishlegs clutching Toothless' head and Mani wrapping legs around the protrusion on Hati's saddle. As they leveled off, they all noticed the archers and catapult launchers on the boat preparing to fire.
"Oh no, ya don't," Mani muttered, standing up and arming the ever-present bow. The youth sent multiple arrows flying towards the hands of the enemies, causing them to drop their weapons.
Hiccup guided Meatlug to the side of the boat, as just as he predicted, all the metal on the vessel flew towards the Gronckle. Crossbows flew out of hands, catapults flipped over and launched stones prematurely, and arrows soared out of barrels.
Hiccup laughed as his plan went off without a hitch. "Excellent!" he whooped. But as Meatlug flew higher, and Hiccup noticed that he had a lot of weapons soaring towards him, he backpedaled. "Oh, not so excellent…!"
"I got this!" Fishlegs cried, guiding Toothless underneath Meatlug once again.
"And I've got these!" Mani called, reaching for the arrows. The teen held on to them tightly as they struggled to follow the Gronckle.
Luckily, Fishlegs tickled his dragon's belly, and she upchucked the solid mass of magnetic rock, forcing all the other weapons to follow. Mani let out a chuckle as everything went crashing down the Outcast ship, causing it to sink. Hiccup fell onto Toothless, and Fishlegs jumped onto Meatlug, exclaiming joyously how happy he was to be with her again.
"So, what in Helheim happened?" Mani called out. "How come all the metal seemed to like Meatlug all of a sudden?"
"Uh, well," Fishlegs began, "I gave her some rocks to eat, so she'd make more Gronckle iron, but the combination of rocks she ate seemed to attract all the metal. I don't know why, but I guess that means we gotta be careful what we eat, huh, girl?"
"She eats rocks?" Mani asked. "Is that normal?"
"For a Boulder class dragon, yeah," Fishlegs explained. "Hey, now that I think of it, why didn't your arrows fly to her? Not the ones you just got, the ones you had before."
"That's easy," Mani smiled, reaching for one of the said projectile. "I made these out of stone. They're a pain to make, and they lose their sharpness rather quickly, so these," the archer held up the handful of newly acquired arrows, "will be very useful to me." The younger blonde now turned to Hiccup, smile vanished. "Now for you, Hiccup."
Hiccup sighed. "Look, I know what I did was wrong, and Fishlegs, I am sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have left you behind, I should've insisted you stay. Because really, we're a team. Meatlug is slow, yes, but you help us keep track of our positioning, and there was a sea stack where your hovering would've been perfect. We do need you, Fishlegs, even if it's not all the time."
Fishlegs smiled. "I know that, Hiccup. You're a great leader, and I'll always follow. We know our role, right Meatlug?"
"Well, now that you've all established the teamwork," Mani called out, "I've got a few squirrels left to skin, so I'll be seein' ya! Fishlegs, remember, just come by anytime, and we can have those lessons! I get the feelin' that you're a great teacher." With a smirk, Mani and Hati raced ahead, leaving the two vikings behind.
"You know, Hiccup, maybe we should consider asking Mani to join the academy," Fishlegs offered.
"I've been thinking the same thing," Hiccup admitted. "But I don't know if he'd say yes. Or how Astrid would react…"
"Oh, yeah. She might kill him."
"Exactly. Well, let's go find the others and patrol some more."
"You got it!"
A/N: I have to admit, this one almost didn't get written. I was watching the episode, and I couldn't think of a reason for Mani or Hati to be around. They aren't exactly on the best terms with some of the members *cough cough* Astrid *cough* so, really, they wouldn't exactly hang around the village that much. But when Meatlug ran right into the forest, I thought, "Welp! That did it! Now she has to almost run into them! XD" Plus, Mani is definitely not happy with Hiccup's leadership skills at the moment. That one has got some high leadership standards.