Chapter Six

A/N: Ooooh my... Heh...I may have gone a little over-board with my impression of the twins... Sorry about that. XD

In response to...

The Wolf Raven: That's very strange. (I don't know what time zone you're in or anything or if that even really applies here) but I updated my story literally 10 HOURS before you found it... Soo...yeah. Don't know what that's about. XD But YAY, REUNIONS! :D And YAY, PHONES! Lol, thanks for the review :D

When the prison door slowly begins to creak open, spilling a bit of grayish light into the dark chamber on the other side, Toothless's eyes snap open. He growls, ears folding back against his head. There's usually a big commotion before the Outcasts enter this room but there had only been the normal, mindless chatter of the guards until a moment ago... But something doesn't seem quite right here. The door opens very cautiously, as if the person about to enter is afraid of what they'll find.

But Toothless couldn't care less if his enemies are afraid. They should be! With that thought, a high-pitched screech begins to build in his throat, a violet light flaming in his mouth as he prepares to fire...

"Toothless...?" The voice is so tiny that the dragon barely notices it at first. "Bud, are you in here?"

The Night Fury's mouth falls open, plasma blast fading away. He stares at the exit with huge eyes, gleaming in disbelief. Toothless had been so prepared to make his escape and go to rescue his little human that he never even imagined Hiccup would come to rescue him!

With a delighted shriek, the dragon bounces over to his cell door, staring at his Rider, who he'd been so sure was on the verge of death...

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup gasps, a huge smile breaking over his lips. The boy sprints across the cement floor, hands fumbling for a key to try in the lock. He giggles when Toothless licks his hand through the bars, obviously relieved to see him. "Just hold on a second, buddy. I'll have you out of there as soon as I find the key." He tries another one, then another. Hiccup gets about three-quarters of the way through the ring before finding the one that fits.

As soon as the door swings open, Toothless leaps out. He tackles Hiccup, purring like mad and nuzzling his cheek.

Hiccup laughs, not minding that his face is soaked with dragon slobber from the Night Fury's affection... "Hey, bud..." He whispers, reaching up to hug his friend. "I'm so glad you're okay..."

And Toothless coos, finally sitting back and allowing his Rider to get up from the floor. He sniffs Hiccup, just to be sure he isn't hurt. But he smells okay, so for now, Toothless is satisfied that maybe this isn't the disaster he'd feared it was.

"Come on, bud." Hiccup climbs back to his feet, wiping the drool from his cheek. "Let's..." He hesitates, eyes flickering through the prison. At least thirty pairs of eyes watch him, longingly. The other dragons look so sickly and frail... He can't leave them behind!

Toothless whimpers at him, realizing this may not be a good plan... They are wild dragons, after all. Who knows what they might do?

"Well I can't just leave them here to die, Toothless!" Hiccup protests as he jogs to cage across from Toothless's. Inside, a rather ill-looking Nadder is staring at him with innocent, orange eyes. "Don't worry." Hiccup whispers. "I'm going to set you guys free. No one deserves to be trapped like this."

"So, what exactly is the plan?" Snotlout asks, sounding bored and uninterested. The Dragon Riders have been flying for about an hour now, but are still quite a distance from their destination. "Just storm the island and demand they set Hiccup free or...?"

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing..." Fishlegs admits, a bit sheepishly. "Do we even stand a chance against the entire Outcast army...? I mean, we only have five dragons to work with..."

"Pff, if that's what you're worried about, just relax!" Snotlout jeers. "Hookfang and I could take down an entire fleet of Outcasts just the two of us, isn't that right, Hookfang?!"

His Monstrous Nightmare snorts in annoyance are only continues to stare straight ahead, flapping his wings lazily.

"Wait!" Tuffnut spins around to look at them. "We get to fight the entire Outcast army?!" He grins in excitement. "SWEET!"

Ruffnut cracks her knuckles and smirks darkly. "Ooooh, I hope I get some super-serious injuries! Like, lose a couple of fingers or something! Or break some ribs!"

"Yeah! That'd be awesome!" Her brother agrees, nodding his head enthusiastically. "Hey, if you do lose a finger, can I keep it?!"

"No way! I want it!" She refuses with a twisted smile. "I'll make it into a necklace or something!"

"GUYS!" Astrid barks, turning in her saddle to glare at them. "Have you forgotten why we're going to Outcast Island in the first place?! Hiccup has been kidnapped! He could be hurt, you know! This isn't a game!"

"Ehh, he's probably fine." Tuff shrugs. "And if he's not...then I call dibs on Toothless!"

"Awww! I was gonna say that!" Ruffnut moans and punches him square in the shoulder.

Such idiots... Astrid grumbles to herself before ushering Stormfly to move faster. Unlike the twins, she's actually worried about their missing friend. Hiccup could be badly hurt...or worse. With a distraught sigh, she glances sideways at Stoick, who has been uncharacteristically quiet throughout their flight. There's distant look in his eyes, a deep frown on his face.

He must be worried sick...

"Sir?" She asks, gently. "Snotlout did bring up a valid point though...we can't fight off an entire army with just us six and the dragons..."

"We don't have to." Stoick replies, coldly. This strange response earns him confused looks from the teens. "Alvin sent me that message knowing I show up to get Hiccup."

"He's expecting us..." Astrid realizes with a chill. "Then it's probably a trap!"

"Yes, it most likely is." Stoick says. "But he's expecting me, not you."

"Sir...?" Astrid mumbles, not quite getting it.

"I'm going to act as a distraction." Stoick explains. "It will be up to you five to get my son out of there safely. Can you handle it?"

The teens exchange surprised looks. Stoick is trusting them to save his only son from the hands of their worst enemy... It's a huge responsibility. But one that they're positive they can achieve. All five of them nod, smiling confidently.

"Yes sir!" They shout in unison.

Hiccup breathes a sigh of relief as the final cell door opens and the last of the dragons go skittering out into freedom. He smiles and stuffs the keys into his vest, content in the knowledge that they'll be safe from the Outcasts' cruelty for now. Hopefully, they won't be caught again...

He smiles down at Toothless, who hasn't left his side since they were reunited. "Ready to go, bud?" He asks. "Let's get off this island before anyone catches us."

And Toothless is about to agree when... His ears flick when he remembers that one, important detail... With a weary moan, he lifts his tail for his Rider to see. It's torn by Alvin's hand and totally unusable. It would need a serious patch job before it's able to fly...

Hiccup notices the fin and groans, raking a hand through his hair. "Great." He mumbles, turning it over for a closer inspection. "We've got to get this patched before we can leave...but it would to dangerous to go to the blacksmith's shop right now, in broad daylight."

Toothless whines, sadly and gazes at Hiccup in almost an apologetic way.

Hiccup offers him a worried little grin. "It's alright. We'll figure it out eventually. But right now..." He turns and looks out the open door, noticing how bright it is. It would be to easy for us to be spotted right now. We need to find a place to lay low and wait for night time... "Let's just get out of here before we're found out. We can think of a plan later."

With that, he and Toothless carefully slip outside into the sunlight, making sure there are no soldiers around before hurrying off down the hill. What they need is a safe place. But is anywhere safe on Outcast Island? At this point, it doesn't seem like it...

A/N: So I've started plotting ideas for my next fanfic and I think I've got a good one... I won't go announcing it just yet because I'm not sure if I'll actually use it right now. But I will say this: it was inspired by the description of the Defenders of Berk season finale.