A/N: A guick reply:

Guest reader: This story has already been written out quite a ways ahead, the first draft already a third of the way into Book 6. Granted, I'm not that far ahead on typing anymore, a couple chapters and I'll be same pace, but the storyline is already there and worked out. Once I catch up with the typing new chapters will come out as I can get to them, until then I stick to my one-a-week schedule. Both this and my Book of Dragons are written more for my own personal enjoyment as well, so both will be continued as such. As the Book of Dragons entries are far shorter, it's a lot easier to enter in one chapter of that a week as well, and at least give my followers something to keep pace with once updates on this and the upcoming books become slower. So, while this tale is my main focus already and will stay that way, the Book of Dragons will also continue as is.

Chapter 16

Turnaround

Alvin grinned wickedly, seeing the mouth of the cave yawning open before him. For those who weren't familiar with the location, it would have been easy to walk by; ferns and low growing plants covered in the season's remaining snow cascaded off the side of the cliff and obscured the cavern from view, and the entrance ducked into the side of the mountain from the trail. Alvin had been here before of course, and knew where to look.

He motioned for the soldiers behind him to follow, staying low, before the outcast walked in, brushing away snow as it fell on his helmet and shoulders. Revenge was going to be sweet, swift, and easy, he thought as he hefted his axe into his hands. The rest of his entourage followed suit, pulling out sharpened swords.

Rounding a corner within the passage, Alvin quickly came upon the temporary inhabitants. Grouped together against the wall were children of all ages, and elders and the infirm around them. Most notably, Gothi sat at the head of the group, holding her staff as if in warning to the intruders. Slowly, she stood up, brandishing the staff as she walked out into the open, facing Alvin and his goons and pointing the stick in his direction.

"A terrible mistake you made coming here, Alvin," the old woman croaked in a hoarse, gravelly voice. "No harm will come to these people, not so long as I stand here, not until you can pass me."

Alvin chuckled at this display. "Well, well, what a surprise, the little biddy lady is not as mute as they say," he taunted. Then, he shrugged, and lifted his axe, the gasps of the youths behind Gothi making him sneer. "Ah, doesn't matter anyway," he mused, "ye won't be that hard te remove." With a savage growl, he swung the axe downward, the children screaming in fear and Gothi's aged staff holding no chance of deflecting the blow.

A screeching hiss echoed through the cave, and from the walls a blast of glowing acid streamed out, smacking into and eating right through the axe head and handle. The remains clattered uselessly to the ground, as Alvin spun around, trying to find the attacker. Having had no direct experience with Changewings, he soon found out that it's nearly as hard to find the chameleon-like dragon as it is a Stealth dragon. Spitfire skirted unseen upward to the cave's ceiling. ::You won't be leaving here after something like that,:: the dragon growled, and fired again.

The acid rained down from above and splattered across the soldier's helmets, steam rising from both the heat of the liquid and its corrosive reaction. Alvin raised his shield to avoid the deadly precipitation, but could not evade the whiplike tail that swung inward, taking out his legs and those of the soldiers behind him who were still standing. The Outcast quickly stood up again and grabbed a fallen sword, determined to at least kill something while he was here, and a couple of the unfazed soldiers followed his example.

Unseen claws swiped through the air and pierced their armor, throwing the men back and turning them into makeshift bowling balls, knocking down the soldier "pins" near the cave's entrance. As they untangled themselves and tried to get back up, Spitfire revealed himself for just long enough to make a statement and roar furiously at them before vanishing again, another jet of acid spraying out.

Alvin, having no cares for anyone but himself, grabbed a dazed infantryman and used him as a living shield, ignoring the screams as the acid hit home. He tossed the man aside, readying to fight, before the Changewing's tail whipped upward again and slammed against his face, the hard scales leaving a wide gash and rising welt to match the scars the man already bore, before the appendage moved on and wrapped around a hapless soldier, and threw him out the front of the cave, the man screaming as he collided with the cliff and then tumbled down over the side.

The other soldiers, or at least those who were still alive and able to move after the acid attacks, decided that they wanted to live and bolted for the cave entrance. Not all were fast enough, as another stream of corrosive liquid sprayed out and brought down a couple more men.

"Where are ye going?!" Alvin roared, furious. "One little dragon ain't enough te deter me, and we haven't even begun te accomplish what we came here fo…" He trailed off as Spitfire revealed himself once more, standing above the children protectively and flaring his wings full span, teeth bared menacingly. Alvin's eyes widened, and now he took a step back.

Changewings are normally considered to be small dragons as it is. While Spitfire had admittedly been less than full grown when he had first arrived on Berk (after being found at the hunting base on the mainland) however, he had grown a great deal since then. The Changewing was now far larger than a normal example of his species, big enough to deter even the pugnacious Outcast standing before him. With a wingspan alone of nearly 50 feet across, Spitfire could have easily taken even a Monstrous Nightmare head-on, let alone Alvin.

"Mark my words, beast, I will be back then," Alvin hissed, seeing even the children emboldened by their reptilian guard and ready to fight, and deciding even he wanted to live another day. Quickly he ducked back around the corner of the cave and exited, paying no attention to the bodies strewn across the entrance. He knew well Jezebel would not be pleased, her ally not even close to accomplishing his task; heck he was more than ticked off at having been cheated from his revenge, but Alvin was called treacherous for a reason: there was always next time.

Assuming that pain-in-the-rear shapeshifter Stoick made friends with doesn't wipe out my whole crew first, Alvin thought bitterly as he caught sight of the dying remnants of the explosion in the harbor.

Spitfire, meanwhile, settled down somewhat and skirted to the cave's entrance, checking to make sure no second wave of assault was on its way. He also removed the dead soldiers from the cave, tossing them down into the steep valley so the children wouldn't have to look at the acid-scorched corpses any longer, before turning to glance at Gothi, nodding in reassurance. Everyone was safe here for now, and Spitfire settled right across the mouth of the cave, ready to make sure they stayed that way.

As the effects of the nuclear blast died down and the debris quit raining out of the sky, Stoick signaled to Gobber to get the other villagers moving again. After scavenging on the pieces of fallen metal (thanks in part to the riders who had started clearing out paths to get to the remains) they no longer had to hide so much behind or in houses and other shelters, and so the three tribes rallied together, charging out and into the lines of soldiers forming on the ground. Stoick spotted one man who looked slightly different from the rest, and who was directing the troops, and chose him as his next target. The chief powered forward, plowing through a weak assembly of infantrymen and rammed the general head-on, taking him down hard, while Gobber came in behind him, axe attachment in one hand and his newly christened sharp-edged "shield" flashing away as he barreled through the men around him. Soon enough a good dozen troops were matching the smith in number of extant limbs.

"Keep them disorganized and we can keep them down," Stoick ordered. "Pass that on to Bertha and Mogadon." Gobber nodded, grinning. "Gotcha!" he yelled, before plowing through another line and heading for the two allied chiefs. Stoick couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's blunt approach to things, before he turned and punched an opponent straight to the face, leaving the man with ten teeth less and an unconscious state of being.

Astrid stood closer to the harbor, just as fired up for action, and she rolled past Thorn and spun with her axe like a tornado, slicing away at anyone stupid enough to get near her. Thorn, meanwhile, released a stream of fire, opening a path for her rider to follow, and then lashed out with her tail, spikes flying out and impaling troops left and right.

"Fishlegs, to your left!" Astrid yelled. The burly teen turned and, literally taking matters into his own hands, let his real Viking side out as he yelled, grabbing the soldier in front of him by his chest armor and hauling him into the oncoming trio of soldiers, before running forward and grabbing the least dazed man off the ground and using him as a battering ram to flatten the battalion that was trying to surround Astrid, Meatlug following from above and dropping down on the men that avoided her rider.

A sudden cloud of fire raced past both of them, followed by the yells of the twins. "Hey, Astrid, got a group of enemy dragons coming in, might want to saddle up!" Ruffnut yelled down, before Barfbelch turned and flew over the two teens on the ground, his riders pulling out metal shards and throwing them as hard as they could toward the oncoming swarm. One dragon pulled to the side, avoiding the cloud of dangerous particles, and threw flames toward Ruffnut, who ducked to avoid them and slipped off the saddle.

"AAAAHHHH!" she screamed, closing her eyes tightly as she waited for the painful landing. Instead, she found herself slowing to a halt, cradled by someone, and opened her eyes to find Fishlegs having caught her, riding on Meatlug and heading up toward Barfbelch. "Might want to think about safety straps on your saddle," Fishlegs said. Ruffnut smiled in relief, before smirking. "Aww, but that takes all the fun out of it!"

They came up alongside Barf, and Ruff untangled herself from Fishlegs before leaping back into her saddle. "Hey Fish: thanks!" she called out, before turning to find the dragon that had driven her off coming back around. "Want a piece of this?!" she screamed, raising her makeshift shield at the ready.

Hiccup and Ember grinned as they looked around, finally seeing their side gain ground, until Ember noticed one crucial detail.

"Uh, do we have any idea where Jezebel went?" she asked, glancing around anxiously. Hiccup started at the realization, before glancing around the village below as well. "No, I don't see her anywhere," he noted. "Toothless, circle the village." The dragon complied, banking and making a wide pass around the settlement, but there was nothing, at all.

"Jeez, I don't even see that overgrown worm of hers either," Hiccup remarked. "This isn't good." "We need to find Hawken and deal with her though," Ember urged. Hiccup nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The others seem to be handling the situation at the moment at least"- he glanced down and spotted the teens proving his point, ganging up again and flattening a loose arrangement of troops, "-but for some reason I really have a bad feeling."

Hiccup glanced up, and fired at a dive-bombing metal monstrosity, the electric bolt shattering it, as Ember turned and drew her bow toward another aerial soldier, but he wisely backed off. "Where are we going to find Hawken?" she asked. "Is he still over by the armada? Or at least what's left of it?"

A massive electrical lightshow erupted out over the bay. Hiccup grinned and directed Toothless toward the display. "The best rule of thumb for finding Hawken in battle?" Hiccup asked rhetorically. "Always look for the most unusual display of destruction."

There were still a few ships floating, those that had been at the edge of the armada and had escaped the direct hit from the bomb, and from those ships a few lucky soldiers and mechanic abominations continued to deploy.

"You're not getting to the village, not on my watch," I hissed, rising upward again and connecting to that unseen source of energy I had access to. Once more I morphed Lightning Blazer, and as I did so, sparks and streamers began racing across my scales, building up until I was glowing from pure blinding power. The remaining infantries were reaching my elevation, and started to group together and head for Berk, when I released the charge.

Like a shockwave, the electricity exploded outward, the spears of deadly light crackling in every direction as the glowing front fried everything it hit. Some of the soldiers ascended higher or dived to avoid it, but even then tendrils of energy hit some of the escapees.

I kept the flow going for about 30 seconds before, already starting to feel really taxed, I let the lightning fade. As I caught my breath, I surveyed the damage I'd done: ships below were burning, and wreckage was still smoldering from the nuclear attack, and meanwhile nothing within a thousand feet around me was still flying, or at least no longer intact.

"Hawken!"

I spun, and spotted Hiccup, Toothless and Ember flying my way. "What are you three doing out here?!" I yelled back. "I thought you were doing aerial cover for the village!" "The rest of the village is already dealing with that," Hiccup yelled back. "Ruff and Tuff got ahold of that metal, as did the other teens, and the rest is history. We are starting to win this war."

"But no one has any idea where Jezebel is," Ember chimed in, "and I know for a fact she never just idly stands by in a war." I grimaced, and turned to fly down alongside the trio.

::Did you happen to see which way she went before this started?:: I asked Toothless. He shook his head. ::No one did. She and the serpent were heading toward the north end of the village, but they're gone now.::

The frown on my face deepened, and a shiver ran through me. "Let's go. We don't have much time."

The four of us coursed back across the bay, and as we passed the vortices that were still roiling with flame, I sucked the sustained energy out of them and watched as the fire died back to steam across the water, no longer needed. Then, we sailed high over the village, watching the minor battles occurring in isolated areas throughout the settlement below. Everything was appearing under control, though it would be a while before the Vikings got all the eastern soldiers hemmed in.

Then, I spotted something very suspicious: an odd object lying hidden underneath a collapsed shed at the edge of the village. "Hold up you three!" I called, folding my wings ad spilling down toward the ground, landing quickly and running up to the boards covering the object.

It was roughly cylindrical in shape, with semi-tapered ends, and approximately five feet long. The outer shell was made of a hodgepodge mix of heavy plastics and tampered metals, and as I moved the pieces of shed out of the way and tried to pick it up, even with enhanced strength the thing was incredibly heavy. I heard the others glide down and land behind me, but they fell out of my focus as I rolled the cylinder over and found a panel, with a complex of wires and circuits crisscrossing it, and on one end a digital signal and display system. A deathly chill swept through me.

::What on earth is that thing?:: Toothless queried. I barely heard him, too caught up in the growing panic that was rising up in me. Only when Hiccup repeated the exact same question did I turn to glance at them.

"Hiccup, do you remember when I first showed up in Berk?" I asked. "That last night, when I was talking to you guys about the weapons of my world?" He nodded, but nothing came to light in his expression. "Yeah, but…what does that have to do with that…that…whatever that thing is?"

I shook my head, panic taking my attention again. "This is not good, this shouldn't even be possible," I muttered. "Technology is way behind here, this shouldn't even come around for another"-

"Hawken!" Hiccup snapped. I looked up at him again from the object in my hands. "Just tell us what it is and we'll go from there," he toned. I sighed, trying to clear my head.

"Hiccup, this is a nuclear bomb," I finally said. "It's a weapon more destructive than any other; this thing could wipe out the village in two seconds flat!" Finally, Hiccup's eyes went wide in realization and recollection, his face paling to match mine. I nodded. "You saw what I did to the ships out there? This is twice what that did, possibly more." "What is it doing here?!"

I shrugged, and glanced at Ember, who shook her head. "Look, I know Jezebel was way ahead of us in terms of inventions," she excused, "thanks to the people and influence she has under her power, but this is completely unfamiliar to me." I grimaced, before sprouting out a pair of wings again.

"The only answer I have is she has access either to my world somehow, or a link to the future," I said. "But right now, we need to get rid of this." I prepared to take off again, but before I could I head Astrid yell out for me. I glanced up to see her and Thorn glide down and land nearby, and then I paled even further when I saw what Thorn had in her talons.

"We saw this when we were fighting," Astrid explained. "It was hiding behind a storehouse, and no one recognizes it." "Oh God, this is really, really bad," I whispered, before locking eyes on Thorn.
::Get all the dragons you can find to spare from the fight and find any of these you can, and dump them out as far as possible into the ocean!:: I growled urgently. Thorn nodded, and I relayed the same message to Astrid, before I took off and headed out to sea, throwing the bomb I had in my paws as far as I could away from the island. As long as they went off out below the waves, the village would be semi-safe, but if even one was left on the island….

I landed again and looked over at Toothless and his current pair of riders. "We need to find Jezebel. Now."

Twenty miles southeast of Berk, a cloaked figure rocketed through the air toward the island. The explosion that went off earlier could be seen for miles, and the electrical displays that had lit up the cloudy sky were like a beacon, one that the figure knew could only be the result of either of two people. He knew what Jezebel was capable of, and what the boy was capable of too, at least partly. If that explosion had been from the latter, there was only a short amount of time left before everything went wrong again, but if it was the first…well, the guardian that frequented that island was powerful, but Jezebel was ancient, and had more than just mere tricks up her sleeve to wield. The invisible figure continued to race toward Berk, praying he reached it before everything was lost.

I streaked toward the forest that spread out from just above the village, as Jezebel clearly wasn't anywhere nearby, and started to work my way toward the edge of the mountains. Toothless took Hiccup and Ember toward Raven's Point, south of my trajectory, to see if they could find anything there. Since we knew at this point that there were multiple explosives littered around the island, or at least the southern portion of it, and it appeared Jezebel had had plenty of time to place them already, they could blow at any time if we didn't find the witch before she detonated them.

It seemed like an hour before Toothless appeared again, racing up alongside me. "She's set up in the meadow just beyond Raven's Point," Hiccup said breathlessly. "The sea serpent is with her as well, and it definitely looks like she's been setting up something major." I nodded. "Let's go. Lead the way."

We raced over the treetops, scanning for the treacherous duo, and as we flew I happened to glance over at Ember, who appeared very focused on Hiccup's bow. "Something wrong?" I called to her. She jerked slightly, startled by my question, and looked up. "No, nothing," she said, "I just feel like I'm missing something really important right now, and it has to do with Hiccup's weapon." "You mean like the night you first saw it?" he asked. She nodded. "Yes, but I can't remember what it's supposed to be for."

"Well, we know it shoots lightning," I noted. "That's not what I mean," Ember deadpanned. "There was something, part of a legend, like it was some sort of key to"-

"There she is!" Hiccup announce suddenly, cutting Ember off. My head snapped forward again, and sure enough Jezebel stood in the clearing, apparently typing away at what appeared to be a computerized transmitter system, which was shocking enough in and of itself. Worse though, the clearing was completely encircled by the sea serpent, who ended up being the first of the two to spot us. He lunged upward as we sailed past, narrowly missing me, but was distracted by a plasma bolt searing across the back of his neck as Toothless swung around and took a shot. The serpent turned to face Toothless and his current riders.

"Hawken, you take care of Jezebel!" Hiccup yelled. "Toothless and I will deal with the serpent!" "What about"- I started, before Ember leapt off, landing and rolling from practice and drawing her bow as she came to her feet again. Then she looked up at me, waiting. I sighed and dove down as Toothless and Hiccup drew the sea monster off into the forest, landing next to the fiery-haired girl.

"Alright," I growled, sliding out a pair of swords, "let's go deal with this witch."

A/N-Alright, let me know what you think! Lots of stuff for you to ponder in this chapter, and sorry if you hate all the cliffhangers, but...I enjoy keeping my readers on edge :)

Leave a review, and let me know your thoughts/predictions!