Frozen
It was colder then cold could be. No-one in Berk or ever in history could remember it ever being this cold. It's had forced everyone to stay inside and burn anything they could to stay warm.
This freezing spell had last one week, one incredibly long week and now it was showing everyone was slowly losing their sanity to freezing cold and the cabin fever it had brought along with it.
Shut inside one of the Academy's dragon pens attempting to talk about wing control was Hiccup but the lesson was a loss cause between the fireballs and lunacy going on around him.
Frankly it wasn't even the Riders who'd succumb to lunacy it was also their little brothers and sisters and that was the most troubling thing to Hiccup, Boden and Una as they watched the strange, idiotic and loony antics of everyone.
Snotlout along with his brother and sister were all bugging Astrid and her siblings with Snotlout going back to flirting with Astrid and 20 questions. But then it got worse when they took up dueling each other with hot spines and it was an all-out brawl.
Fishlegs was talking to Meatlug's toes and now it looked like Alle and Lanon were starting to talk nonsense too.
Then looking at the Twins their dragon was chasing their tails and the girls were laughing at Tuffnut being foolish enough to believe he had a tail. But then Creel and Gala started trying to swing from the seemingly magically regrown hair of Ruffnut.
She'd woken up two days after they'd saved Scauldy and her hair was back to normal. The consensus was the Gods gave her back her hair for saving his life as there was no other explanation for how else it grew back to its full length so quickly.
"Brother please protect our sanity!" pleaded Boden.
"I don't want to become a nutcase," Una agreed.
"I'm doing my best, guys but unless we can escape I don't see how this ain't gonna spread to us."
Just then the door opened and they rush over to see their father coming inside and he was going on about how it was so cold his beard was frozen solid.
"Dad what brings you here?" Hiccup asked confused.
"Trader Johann hasn't report to port and if he's lost or stuck out in this he…"
"Let us go and get him! Our dragons are more than suited for the tasks! And our gifts can help find him too!" they all said in a rush and he looked at them worriedly.
"I don't know with the storm and how your mother would…"
"Dad if you love any of us like a father love his children and you care about our sanity you'll let us leave!" pleaded Hiccup gesturing to the room at large showing the loony bin they're stuck in.
Looking down at his children and seeing the looniest they're locked up in he nodded and they cheered but he held up his hand. "Make sure you're wearing the winter clothes your mother made for you last Snoggletog and you come back without getting frozen or I'll never hear the end of it."
"Okay! Thank you Dad/Daddy! We'll leave in twenty minutes after we get our winter gear! Thank you! We are saved! Yes!"
The winter gear was fur mufflers, extra-long knitted scarves and leather gloves lined with rabbit fur. They're quite toasty and warm as they flew off to find Trader Johann.
"Mommy knows how to sew very well and make well clothes. Only Dotta makes better clothes," Una commented as they lost sight of Berk.
"Yes, but Mom never wants any of us to die of hypothermia, which is why she worked so hard last year to make us new pillows and blankets so we be all snug and warm," Boden pointed out sensibly their mom's reasons.
"Yeah, Mom's always looking out for us, hey look below it's so cold the ocean frozen solid. Never seen that before. Think we should add that to the "Book of Natural Wonders?"
"Like trying to figure out how hot something has to be to melt certain things or how cold to freeze others, BBBFF? Hmm. Well it be nice to see if we could experiment that for our next lesson in that during our classroom time, I'll admit to that." Una said in approving manner.
"Well, I don't think I want to study whatever that is crossing the frozen ocean right now! Look!" pointed Boden as they all heard and saw something they couldn't identify below them hurrying away.
"Okay don't want to know what the heck that was. Let's be glad we are up here and it was down here. Now Toothless try and guide us in the right direction and then I'll do the rest. Hopefully I mean."
Toothless's echolocation did give them a starting point and Hiccup's power to hear a heart in distress did the rest. They found Johann no problem and he looked like he was very happy to see them. He said as much.
"Master Hiccup! Master Boden! Mistress Una! You're all a sight for sore eyes! I thought I've to abandon ship and walk all the way to Berk!"
"Well, you don't have to worry about that, Johann. Just sit back and enjoy the ride." Hiccup told him once he was seated on Toothless.
"It shall be a grand ride! I'll help pass the time by telling you all the great stories of my many adventures that are sure to warm your hearts and stoke the fires of your imagination!" and with that began the next 12 hours of listening to the most incredibly boring and annoying ramblings they'd ever heard in their lives.
All night Boden debated of shooting Johan with a mild lightning blast to knock him out but couldn't risk it without hitting his brother nor could Una use the Dragon lullaby without risking putting them all to sleep.
So even though they basically as they expression would come to be "wanted to shoot themselves in the foot" because of how annoyed and sick to death they're of Johann rambling they manage to make it back to Berk.
When they spotted Berk they simply whispered "Thank Odin!"
However, they changed their tuned and walked into town and it was a ghost town. No-one was home, neither human nor dragon, just empty and abandoned. What was going on?
"What happened? Where is everyone? Mom! Dad! Hello!" Hiccup called out as they slowly took a step forward, but when Una took an actual step within the boundaries of the village she fell down and held her head as if she was getting a headache.
Or at least Johann thought she had a headache he was surprised and not understanding why Hiccup asked her a question. "Una, are you seeing what happened?"
"Something happened last night while we're out getting Johann. The storm was really bad. Something very fast was racing through the village, it was freezing both people and dragons left and right. One was different from the rest and Daddy was shouting something. It was chaos all lost in the cold and snow. I can't make more sense of it."
"Hmm," then Hiccup turned right to his brother and again Johann didn't have a clue what was going on or why Hiccup now asked his little brother, "Boden are you feeling anything? Something out of the ordinary?"
"There some intruders on the island, brother. I know all the dragon presence that belong on the island. On the other hand? Right now there one that doesn't belong here. We've been invaded by something."
We need to find the rest of the village and who invaded while we're out. Look around for more clues," turning around to look at the bewildered trader, "Johann look for clues of something that shouldn't be here. We've been invaded!"
And with that the three kids took off leaving a confused Johann scratching his head completely clueless and obviously not been informed of the children's gifts. Still he went looking about for something not supposed to be there.
The kids didn't turn up anything till it landed on them when they caught movement inside one house. Fishlegs had dropped on top of them and Hiccup yelled two things.
One never scare them like that again and two never landed on them again because he could've easily crushed them to death! Then he asked him to tell them what happened.
Fishlegs explained Speed Stringers superfast flightless dragons that hunted in a large pack led by an alpha came last night and attack Berk. Which Una exclaimed explained her vision and Boden exclaimed explain the intrusive presence he felt.
Hiccup asked where the rest of the village was and their parents. Fishlegs says everyone at the cove in the woods with what remains of their food supply and he only came back to get Meatlug.
"How the heck did we miss a dragon on a rooftop?" they asked when they came outside.
"I guess because people don't look up a lot. I need help to move her. Come on."
"Boden? You and Una stay down here by the cart. Fishlegs, Johann and I'll get Meatlug down."
"Understood, brother."
"So she eats rocks you say? That's clearly apparent it!" as Johann fell off the roof from a fart from Meatlug.
"Great movement! At least the paralyzes is only temporary then!"
"Well, that is good news, but we still have the problem of getting them off the island. And before you ask we do know how they got here. The ocean was frozen solid so it was like stepping stones; an ice bridge for them to cross to get here."
"So you're saying it's not just a matter of getting rid of them?" Fishlegs said as they were still sliding her over the roof's edge.
"Yes," strained Hiccup as he tried to move the frozen dragon, "We've got to get rid of the bridge too. And heave!" and the dragon toppled into the cart.
"Um where Johann?" he asked in confusion.
"You dumped Meatlug on top of him, Bro!" called up Boden from the ground.
"But he was already out cold and she missed his manly parts, so I don't think he really felt anything and he'll still be able to kids if he doesn't talk another person' ear off!" Una shouted up as if that was the biggest concern.
Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at that as they made their way down and off to the cove.
The cove wasn't the most welcoming of sights given half the people there looked like wax figures as did the dragons from being frozen from the Speed Stingers venom.
But it was the person standing with his sword ready to fight that concerned them the most. Rushing forward they stop short and all looked with tears in their eyes and cried "Dad/Daddy. We should've been there we should've…"
"He gave as good as got, you three. It took SIX too take him down. He saved the village and the food. He bought the time we needed to get here and Thornado and Stormy been watching over him since we got here."
He made a mumbling noise. "You betcha chief!"
"What did he say?!" they asked desperately.
"Don't have a clue. I just don't want to make him feel worse than he does."
"Which I think is very kind gesture on your part, Gobber. Thank you," came a very beautiful voice and the kids looked up and cried out with delight. "Mom/Mommy!" and raced into their mother's wide open arms.
"I'm alright and Gobber's right about your father. And trust me there nothing you could've done to make a difference. There had to be close to three hundred Stingers.
Even Toothless, Stardust and Nightrainbow wouldn't have made a difference. And you all could've been paralyzed too. So be glad you're not."
"How bad is the casualty report, Mom?" asked Hiccup as she started to brush the tears away from his eyes tenderly.
"Well, at least half the village got stung along with pretty much all of the dragons without Riders save Stormy. Half our food was broken into and eaten plus there was a lot of property damage."
"What about the Riders? Their siblings? Skullette and Firefang? Your friends? How did they make out?"
"Well, all of my friends and the Anquetils sisters are alright and doing what they can to help the people in the cove. As for the Riders?" she glanced up in time to see Astrid getting ready to tackle Hiccup which she did knocking him off his feet.
"Hiccup! You had us all scared to death!"
"Astrid! Are you okay? Are the kids okay? The dragons? What's going on?"
"We got the kids safely here and the only one to get stung was Snotlout which he only got stung because he was finishing getting Velika buckled in. Though Fishlegs says the venom wears off eventually."
"Okay. That's good. So, Meatlug the only dragon to get stung and Snotlout the only Rider to get stung? Everyone else is okay?"
"Yeah everyone else is fine."
"We all glad to hear but doesn't change the fact we don't have long time to fix the problem. We need the Stingers off the island and that ice bridge gone as well before nightfall, son.
So what is your three's plan?" their mother asked them as she glanced over back at Gobber who again was trying to keep their father from being too upset.
"Well, we know three things about these dragons, right? They come out only at night, they hunt in a pack and they need a leader to tell them what to do."
"Yes, that all we saw and can conclude," Valka nodded to her son assessment.
"So obviously Mom we need to find where they are sleeping, capture their leader and get him off the island. Without a leader the pack won't know what to do. Then we can lure them away." Boden continued.
"And once we've them far enough out to see we melt the ice bridge to make it impossible for them to come back!"
"That easy to say, my children and hard to do. And we don't have a lot of time. We only have a at best 4 hours of daylight left and there a lot of places to hide. Plus we need some people here to guard the people and food."
"We can stay here with you Valka and do that. It might be highly dangerous but the Riders and their siblings will have to check the island themselves this time." Skullette spoke in grave tone as she walked up.
"Yeah we don't have time to argue. Get going now!" Firefang waved her hand.
It wasn't going to be easy with two members of the team still partly frozen as Meatlug's backend wasn't completely back and only Snotlout's head was unfrozen.
But they didn't have time to argue so they had to make do with what they'd. Covering every inch of the island and every going quickly through the UDS they came up empty handed.
"None of you found a single Stinger anywhere? That's impossible. They are here! I can feel them, I just can't pinpoint them!" Boden seemed steamed and then Una looked at Snotlout suspiciously like he wasn't willing to say something.
"Snotlout did something happen that you couldn't check your assigned caves? And don't lie! We don't have time for it!"
"He fell out of the saddle and we had to get him out the sand and it took forever!" explained Brimstone in such a rush he didn't even stutter.
"There was a cave nearby where he landed, but we didn't even check it because we more worried if he could breathe since he landed head first in the sand!" Velika admitted.
"That's were got to go then and fast! Dusk is in less than 15 minutes! Grab the cage and let's go!" Una declared.
"Okay I'm going in with Fishlegs everyone else stand by," Hiccup instructed the others as he went to get the lead stinger. He used his special shield and Toothless got him down but the sunset before they could get him out.
Soon chaos ensued as Snotlout took another sting to protect his siblings and the other dragons tried to scatter the crazy amount of stringers who were so quick it was impossible to tell where they all were coming from.
Luckily Toothless, Stardust and Nightrainbow were able to keep pace and protect Hiccup, Boden and Una who used their weapons to keep themselves safe and with a little creative planning able to get the lead stinger in the cage.
But if they expected this to make the others suddenly stop moving it only caused them to be more active and it was now an out of control storm and everyone was just preparing for the end when two sonic blasts came as well as torrent of fire.
Looking up they saw Stoick and Valka on their dragons along with Stormy had come to their rescue.
"Dad/Daddy! You're alright!" cried their three kids with delight and relief.
"Well, you three didn't expect us to let you have all the fun, did you?" asked their father as he got right up to the cage and looked the lead stinger dead in the eye.
"Remember me?" he growled as the dragon growled back. "Now get him off my island."
"You heard the chief!" the three of them cried out and Astrid smiled and said, "Gladly!"
And grabbed the cage and start off and the others were chasing the others off with shots to keep them running but they managed to sting Stormfly's tail and she went down.
Quickly the Twins and their sisters covered Astrid and her siblings in a ring of fire to keep them save and Hiccup and his siblings carried the cage further away but they too went down.
Then the worst thing to ever happen happened. All three dragons at the same time ran out of shots and their weapons also ran out of ammunition. They're trapped and not sure what to do when help came from above.
Snotlout may've been out of commission but when Brimstone and Velika ordered Hookfang to fire he did as they said. It not only saved the Haddocks it burned the ice bridge sending the Speed Stingers packing.
The next day the freeze was finally over and everyone was going about trying to rebuild as well as restock their food. Well everyone but Snotlout who still was frozen but Brimstone and Velika were taking care of him till it wore off.
Meanwhile Hiccup, Boden and Una returned Trader Johann to his ship which he again was very grateful for the rescue. To show how grateful he was he bestow them each a gift.
Hiccup got his long awaited ink he'd been wanting since Johann last visit to Berk, Boden got more polish for Stardust's scales and Una got a beautiful case to put her golden lyre in.
Though the minute they got them in their hands Johann started to say each had a wonderful story attach to them and began with the story about the ink to which they took off as quick as they could leaving the trader calling after them he hadn't even had a chance to start.
They just smiled as they head home and didn't have to listen to more boring rambling. Sunshine on Berk once more!
