Spoiler warning: this chapter contains spoilers from A new Boy in Berk: Defenders of Berk chapters 10 and 11
A/n: Hi, I just wanted to say that my next update will be for this story, since I have published two chapters in a row for Defenders of Berk, I want to do the same here
Anyway, let's get started
New friends and an old enemy
If I had to swap riders with someone for a day, I definitely wouldn't choose Hookfang because Snotlout made him train nonstop to the point where he couldn't light himself in fire anymore and if a dragon like a Monstrous Nightmare loses their fire… they could die
We were all worried for Hookfang, even Snotlout dropped some tears but he blamed the dust. Luckily, with the help of some Fireworms, tiny dragons whose scales can be hotter than the sun itself, Hookfang was able to light himself in fire a bit but it wasn't enough
When all hope seemed lost, Hiccup had the idea to use some of Berk's fireworms to guide us to their island
When we arrived, Hiccup, Snotlout and Blake went to look for the Fireworms' nest which was more like a hive with a queen who wasn't happy with the presence of intruders in her hive, but after a long chase, the Fireworm queen saw Hookfang and she saved him with her venom
So, if I had to swap riders with someone for a day, Toothless would be a better option. I don't know if it was good or bad luck but thanks to a training exercise that Hiccup came up with, that happened
For a day Hiccup became my rider and Blake became Toothless' rider. At first it was fun, I messed around with Hiccup when we went for a flight but then things didn't go so well
Hiccup gave me to much mutton to eat, so I got a stomach ache… well, it's also probably my fault for eating too fast, so I couldn't really move for a couple of minutes until I recovered
That night I was supposed to sleep on the rock that Toothless uses as a bed but it's really uncomfortable, how can Toothless sleep on it?
Oh, speaking of nights. Every ten years during and aurora known as Aurvandil's Fire, a dragon known as the Flightmare appears
It's said the Flightmare can freeze any man in fright at that's what happened to "The Fearless Finn Hofferson" who was Astrid's uncle
Unfortunately, he was killed by the Flightmare when he last appeared, so Astrid was more than decided to restore the honor of her clan by killing the Flightmare
When she knew which way does the Flightmare take every time, she wanted to go and hunt it, so Hiccup, Toothless, Blake and I went with her just in case she tried something that could put her in danger
For not making the story too long, Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug and I ate some kind of algae that made us glow, Toothless glowed in purple, Meatlug glowed in green, I glowed in a more intense purple than Toothless' but Stormfly glowed in yellow
Gods, I would be lying if I say she didn't look pretty, I even forgot about my own name for a second
A-anyway, we were able to create a new path for the glowing algae, so the Flightmare followed it and left Berk alone
Today, we had to practice our rescuing skills, so we went to a sea stack near of a boat
The first ones were Snotlout and Hookfang, so they flew towards the boat with a dummy and grabbed it. Then, they started to do a loop as Snotlout cheered
"You know, I hate to admit it, but Snotlout actually looks like he worked on his rescue training" Hiccup said
"I didn't think Hookfang would even be part of it" Toothless said as impressed as his rider
"I don't know, knowing him, things are going to get out of hand in the next 10 seconds" Blake said just before Hookfang dived into the sea
"Uh… Hookfang knows how to swim?" Meatlug asked
"I think so" Belch said
"What's the worse think that could happen if he doesn't know how to swim?" Barf said
Suddenly, Snotlout and Hookfang came out of the water and landed in front of us
"Another victim saved" Snotlout said but the dummy's head fell, so he dropped it in shock
"Uh… I can explain" Hookfang said even though no one was blaming him
"I told you" Blake muttered to Hiccup
"Yeah, you got the victim apart right" Fishlegs said
"Shut up, Fishlegs. Big deal, so his head fell off, it's not like he's on fire or anything" Snotlout said before Hookfang set the dummy on fire
"I can fix this, don't worry!" Hookfang said as he stood on the dummy trying to extinguish the fire
When he stopped, Snotlout looked nervously at the other teens. Fishlegs looked like he was about to say something but Snotlout stopped him
"Shut up, Fishlegs" Snotlout said
The next ones were Astrid and Stormfly, Astrid was climbing the sea stack while Stormfly shot spikes in order to help her, when she reached the top, we all looked impressed
"Wow, Stormfly. How can you be so precise with your spikes?" Toothless asked
"It's a talent" Stormfly said
"Great work, Astrid" Hiccup said
"Great work? Try lame work" Snotlout said "Hello? Flying dragon? Might be a little quicker to get to the top of the sea stack?"
"What if your victim is trapped on the side of the cliff and your dragon can't get you close enough? You ever think of that?" Astrid asked
"Yes… no… shut up, Astrid" Snotlout said angrily
Astrid has a point, we can't always get close to the target
"Okay, so… uh… Fishlegs, looks like you're up" Hiccup said
Fishlegs nodded and made Meatlug fly straight up for a moment "I call this the stop… drop" Fishlegs said before Meatlug began to fell but Snotlout and Hookfang were below her
"Hookfang, look out!" Meatlug yelled, so Hookfang flew off but Snotlout fell from his back
"Oh no" Snotlout said as he prepared himself for the impact but it never came, turns out that Meatlug stopped a few inches above him
"And hover" Fishlegs finished
"I like it, Fishlegs" Hiccup said
"Oh, come on. That's not rescuing, that's falling" Snotlout protested
"Actually, this is falling" Fishlegs said before Meatlug fall on Snotlout
"Hookfang, rescue" Snotlout said
"Another rescue? Okay" Hookfang said before flying off
"Thank you" Snotlout said
"Hey, Thunder, why have you been really quiet?" Toothless asked looking at me
"Well… it's just that I don't really like my rescuing skills" I said
"Okay, guys. You want to show us your rescue skills?" Hiccup asked looking at the twins without giving Toothless the chance to answer
"Sure" Tuffnut said, but he and Ruffnut only sat on Barf and Belch
"So… let's see it" Hiccup said
"Uh… you're seeing it" Tuffnut said
"Pretty cool, huh?" Ruffnut asked
"Our rescue skill is not falling from the sea stack, that way no actual rescue is necessary" Tuffnut said
"It's something that never fails" Belch said
"Well said, brother" Barf said
"Ta-da!" Ruffnut cheered but she accidentally hit Tuffnut making him fall into the sea "We're still working out the kinks"
"I guess it's my turn to rescue Tuffnut" Blake sighed
"Here I go" I said without enthusiasm, I flew down the sea stack and dived into the water, seconds later Blake and I returned to the top with Tuffnut
"My rescuing skills may look simple, but since Thunder doesn't like to get wet, it's hard for him to do it" Blake said gesturing at me
"Get this nasty water off me!" I complained before looking at Toothless "That's why I don't like my rescuing skills"
The next ones were Hiccup and Toothless, so they flew towards some targets and destroyed each one of them. When they finished, they returned to the sea stack
All of the riders looked impressed except for Snotlout
"Stop ooh-ing, that's not even a recue skill" he complained
"Of course it is, you always need cover fire during a recue, everyone knows that" Fishlegs said "Very impressive, Hiccup"
"Hey, Fishlegs" Snotlout called "You need some help nose out of Hiccup's-"
"Snotlout!" Hiccup warned
"It's okay, Hiccup. He's just mad because he was dead last in the rescue competition. But what else is new?" Fishlegs said, wait… a competition?
"Wait, since when this is a competition?" Blake asked
"Since always" Tuffnut said
"They say competition is the very essence of life itself" Ruffnut said, creating an awkward
"I don't think anyone has ever say that" Toothless said
"It's true, weird she said it like that, but it's true" Astrid said "It's always a competition"
"Seriously? because I never took it as a competition" Blake said
"I never took it as a competition either" I said
"Well, what else can we expect from a half-blind rider" Snotlout muttered with a laugh
"I heard that! I'm half-blind not half-deaf" Blake said annoyed
"Listen, we're a team. Everyone has a role, no one is better or more important than other" Hiccup said making all the riders but Blake laugh
"You don't really buy that, do you?" Snotlout asked
"I do, actually" Hiccup said
"Please don't tell me you all think the same" Blake said but no one said anything
"Do you all seriously feel the same way Snotlout does?" Hiccup asked
"Um… Hiccup, Blake. You two ride Toothless and Thunder, a Night Fury and a Skrill" Fishlegs said "Actually, Blake. I'm surprised you're not jealous of Hiccup"
"Uh… why should I be jealous?" Blake asked
"The Night Fury is at the top of the charts for intelligence, speed, accuracy and well, everything, and the Skrill is the second in all of that" Fishlegs explained before Meatlug began to roar at him "No offence, girl"
"Thunder, are you jealous of me?" Toothless asked
"Not really, you've got your strengths and I have mine" I said
"Actually, Thunder is very intelligent, he's almost as fast as Toothless now, and he has a very good accuracy, so it doesn't bother me and it doesn't seem to bother Thunder either" Blake said
"Thanks, Blake" I said happily
"You want to know what I think?" Snotlout asked
"No!" we all yelled
"I think we'll never know who the best dragon trainer is because we don't have a level playing field" Snotlout said
"Hang on a second, what if we did have a level playing field? What if we could prove once and for all who's got the skills and who doesn't?" Fishlegs asked
"Trust me, Fishlegs. You don't want that" Snotlout said
"Oh, I think I do" Fishlegs said, this can't end good
Then, all of the riders went to the academy, but I chose to wait for mine at the forge while I took a nap until I heard my rider returning, so I got up
"Thunder, I want you to meet someone" Blake said
"Uh… there's no one here" I said confused until I saw a green Terrible Terror poked over Blake's shoulder
"Thunder, meet Crawler" Blake said as Crawler got to the ground and walked towards me
"Wow, I never thought I'd see a Skrill from this close. Is it true that the lightning just comes out of your mouth?" Crawler asked as he stood on the small horn of my nose
"Uh… kinda… could you please get of my nose, please? it's really hard to see you" I said
"Oh, sorry. It's just that I'm excited for getting to know a Skrill" as he walked to my back
"Hey… that tickles" I chuckled
"Huh, it looks like you two are really getting along" Blake said scratching Crawler's chin
"Hey, I want a scratch too" I grunted
"Don't worry, big guy, I'll give it to you" Crawler said before using his claws to scratch me behind my crown of spines which actually felt good, not as good as it feels when Blake does it, but it still felt good
"A little higher, please… yeah, that's the spot" I purred
"Better?" Crawler asked as he stopped scratching me
"Sweet relief. Thanks, Crawler, that's a spot I can hardly reach, that's why I can't scratch it myself when it's itchy" I said as I felt how Crawler got on my head
I wouldn't mind if Crawler stays for a while, it'll be nice to have another dragon to talk with
While Blake left for a moment in order to look for fish to feed us, Crawler and I waiter for him
"So, why did Blake name you as 'Crawler'?" I asked
"Well, on our way here I saw a cart full of apples, so I crawled towards it and took an apple. Blake saw everything and that's why he named me as 'Crawler'" Crawler explained "Why did Blake named you 'Thunder'?"
"Well, when I arrived at Berk, I was injured, Blake heard my roars of pain and since I'm a Skrill, he named me as 'Thunder'" I said
Everything was fine for the rest of the day, but I had to admit that was something that made me a bit jealous
It's embarrassing to admit it, but since Crawler is a small dragon, he was able to sleep with Blake in his bed
Luckily for me, the next morning Blake noticed how I was feeling, so we went for a flight and when we returned, he gave me a belly rub until I fell asleep
When I woke up, I saw how Blake was training Crawler, so I gave him a hand… or a wing? Or is it a paw?
Anyway, now Crawler is able to use his claws to cut stuff in a very precise way
Another bad thing was that Snotlout went with Gobber trying to get a Terrible Terror to stop biting him and it was really annoying
Later that day, we went to the academy and for my surprise, each of them had a Terrible Terror
"Toothless, why does every one of our riders has a Terrible Terror?" I asked
"Apparently, Fishlegs got the idea to make everyone pick a Terrible Terror and have a day to train them, that way they could see who is the best dragon trainer" Toothless explained
"Well, at least I hope you've got along with the Terrible Terror chose" I said
"Actually, we did get along. Sharpshot is pretty nice" Toothless said "How about you?"
"I wasn't sure I was going to get along with Crawler but it ended better than I expected" I said
"Okay, time to show off what we've trained our Terrible Terrors to do" Fishlegs said before looking at Snotlout "Why don't you go first, Snotlout?"
"Why don't you go first?" Snotlout asked
"Fine, I'll go first" Fishlegs said
"Oh no, you don't. I'll go first" Snotlout said
"First, second, third doesn't matter 'cause in the end you're going to come in last" Fishlegs said
"Whoa, what's got into Fishlegs?" Astrid asked
"Does anyone know if he hit his head on his way here?" Blake asked
"Looks like he finally grew some-" Tuffnut began
"Whoa, how about I go first?" Hiccup suggested placing himself between Snotlout and Fishlegs "Specially since I don't care whether I win or not because this isn't about winning or losing"
"Yeah, you keep selling that" Snotlout said
Hiccup walked to the center of the academy with Sharpshot on his arm
"Ready, Toothless?" Hiccup asked
"Always" Toothless said with three wooden ducks on each of his wings
"Now!" Hiccup said making Toothless toss the ducks into the air "Sharpshot, fire" Hiccup said looking at Sharpshot who flew up into the air and fired three shot each of them destroying one wooden duck, then he returned to Hiccup's arm
"Now I see why did you two get along, Toothless" I said
"Not bad, you're starting off the competition with a bang, Hiccup" Astrid said
"It's not a competition!" Hiccup said
The next one was Astrid, so she walked to the center of the academy and stretched her arms
"Well, what do you think?" Astrid asked but her Terror was nowhere in sight confusing everyone
"What do we think about what?" Snotlout asked
"My dragon's stealth skills" Astrid said
"Right, his skill's so stupid, he didn't even show up" Snotlout said
"Or did he?" Astrid asked
Suddenly, Snotlout heard growling above him, so he looked up and realized that Astrid's Terrible Terror was on his helmet
Then, Tuffnut turned away and looked up to his sister's helmet
"Oh, he's good" Tuffnut said
"Yeah… who's good?" Ruffnut asked before realizing that Astrid's Terror was on her helmet
"Sneaky" Tuffnut said
"Maybe too much" Blake said noticing that Astrid's Terror was on his left shoulder, even Crawler got scared
Then, Blake realized that the other teens were looking at him "So, I guess it's my turn" he said pulling out an apple and tossing it up
"Crawler, go" Blake ordered to Crawler
"On it" he said as he flew up and cut the apple it eight pieces with his claws, then Crawler flew back to Blake's shoulder as he caught the apple's pieces
"Does anyone want some apple?" Blake asked
"I do" Crawler said as he ate a piece before giving me one
"Cool, but it's nothing compared to what Butt and Head can do" Tuffnut said as his and Ruffnut's Terrors walked to opposite sides of the academy
"Let me guess, they're going to walk into each other" Astrid said
"Ehh, wrong" Tuffnut said
Instead of running into each other, Butt and Head flew into each other
"They flew into each other" Ruffnut said
"Totally different" Tuffnut said
"Are they okay?" I asked looking at Barf and Belch
"Don't worry, they've been trough worse" Belch said
"How do you know that" Toothless asked
"They told us" Barf said
The next one was Fishlegs, so he placed some crates with some items on them. Also, he got his Terrible Terror sit on a barrel in the middle of the academy
"Prepare to be amazed at the smartest little dragon in the archipelago" Fishlegs said before showing us some papers with some drawings
Then, he pulled one with a drawing of an apple and showed it to his Terrible Terror
"Iggy, bring me this" Fishlegs said
"Alright" Iggy said as he flew off and took the apple from the crate before dropping it on Fishlegs' hand and sitting back on the barrel
"Good boy, Iggy. Aw, who's a good little guy?" Fishlegs said but Meatlug heard that, she looked upset
"Meatlug, are you feeling okay?" Stormfly asked
"Yeah, it's nothing" Meatlug said but she doesn't look okay
"Whatever, luck guess" Snotlout said
"Okay, you chose one" Fishlegs said
Snotlout took the drawings and pulled out the one with a drawing of a bucket and showed it to Iggy, he flew off, took the bucket and dropped it on Snotlout's head
"Whoa, I couldn't do that" Tuffnut said
"Bid deal, so he plays fetch" Snotlout said as he pulled the bucket off his head
"Well, what does your Terrible Terror do?" Fishlegs asked
"This" Snotlout said opening a crate, the moment the crate was open, Snotlout's Terror bit him on the leg
"So let me get this straight, you trained him to bit you?" Fishlegs laughed
"Try and pry him loose, I dare you. It took Gobber all day yesterday to get him off this leg" Snotlout said showing his left leg which was bandaged
"No joke, Thunder, Crawler and I heard them" Blake groaned
"It was really annoying" I said
"I couldn't agree more, big guy" Crawler said as he stood on my head
No joke, Thunder, Crawler and I heard them" Blake groaned
"You're ridiculous. Just tell them I won, Hiccup" Fishlegs said
"You won? Ha, get real" Snotlout said
"It wasn't even close" Fishlegs said
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. My Terrible Terror stealthiness is pretty awesome too" Astrid said
"Astrid, please. There are no brains involved in teaching a Terror to hide" Fishlegs said
"Hey! Our trainees ram their heads together at high speed, that takes brains" Ruffnut said
"Yeah, hard rock, rock-like brains" Tuffnut said banging his helmet
Then, they all started to argue except for Hiccup and Blake who were trying to calm things down
"We should do something" I said
"Nah, I'm just enjoying the show" Hookfang said
"I'm sure we should something" Toothless said just before a roar was heard but it was Meatlug's roar
"Meatlug? Meatlug?!" Fishlegs yelled
As fast as they could, the riders ran to where they heard the roar with us following them not to far away, we arrived at an area near the Academy only to find that Alvin and Savage had muzzled Meatlug and were dragging her to a hole that the Whispering Deaths made when they attacked
"Stop right there" Toothless said as he shot them a plasma blast but this forced Alvin and Savage to get into the hole with Meatlug but one of Toothless' plasma blasts sealed the hole
"Oh no" Toothless said
"Hiccup, they took my Meatlug!" Fishlegs said
We all quickly began to attack the rocks with the hope of destroying them in order to look for Meatlug
"We're only making it worse!" Fishlegs said
"He's right, hold your fire" Hiccup ordered
"Oh, what are we going to do, Hiccup? Those tunnels go all over the island, he could be anywhere" Fishlegs said nervously
"They don't really go all over the island" Tuffnut said "Like six farm yaks"
"A couple of sheep pens" Ruffnut said
"Mildew's cabbage field" Tuffnut said
"Gobber's outhouse" the twins said. Okay, I didn't need to know that
"Ugh, at this point I don't know why are we surprised" Blake muttered to himself
"What? We spent a lot of time in those tunnels, it's a tunnel of fun" Tuffnut said
"Okay, we'll have to split up, cover all those places" Hiccup said walking towards Toothless
"Great, dibs on the beach" Tuffnut said making Hiccup stop and look at him
"Uh… what beach?" he asked
"The tunnels that goes to the secluded beach on the far side of the island. I can't believe you haven't been there, its white sand, so soft on your little toes" Tuffnut said
"Knowing Alvin, he probably went there to avoid being seen" Blake said
Minutes later we were all flying to the beach, even all of the Terrible Terrors came with us
"If anything happens to my Meatlug, I'll never forgive myself" Fishlegs said
"It's not your fault, Fishlegs" Astrid said
"Sure it is" Tuffnut said
"It's definitely his fault" Belch said
"Belch!" Stormfly scolded him
"Tuffnut!" Astrid warned
"What? Is not my fault" Tuffnut said before looking at Ruff "Is it your fault?"
"Nope, not my fault" Ruffnut said
"Yeah, definitely Fishlegs' fault" Tuffnut said
"Guys, not helping" Hiccup said
"No, no, they're right, Hiccup" Fishlegs said "I ignored the most important thing in my life because I got so caught up in beating Snotlout"
"That must be the reason of my Meatlug looked upset back at the academy" I said
"How didn't we notice?" Stormfly asked
"See? Bad things happen when you try to beat the Snotman" Snotlout said, making everyone glare at him "What? Sometimes the truth is hard to swallow"
"You tried to tell me, Hiccup, but I didn't listen" Fishlegs said sadly
"Fishlegs, we will get her back, I promise" Hiccup said
"Uh… guys, sorry interrupting but there's an Outcast ship right there" Blake said pointing down where an Outcast ship was
We started to fly towards it and we were close enough, Barf and Belch created a small explosion by releasing some gas and sparking it
"Ha! Like shooting yaks in a barrel!" Tuffnut cheered
"That was fun!" Ruffnut said
"It's really fun!" Barf cheered
Then, Stormfly shot some spikes forcing the Outcasts to take cover, so Toothless and I got ready to shot a plasma and lightning blast
"Back off!" Alvin yelled placing his sword near Meatlug's neck "Or I'll run the Gronckle through!"
"Guys, don't fire!" Fishlegs said, so Toothless and I had to held out attacks
"Riders, hold your fire! Fall back!" Hiccup ordered
We started to fly back, but Fishlegs looked behind him "No! We can't just leave her there!" Fishlegs said
"Don't worry, Fishlegs. We're not going to" Hiccup said
"If Alvin sees us coming, he will kill Meatlug without thinking it twice" Blake said
"So, we need a way to get closer without him seeing us" Hiccup said before looking at Sharpshot
"What? Do I have something on my face?" he asked
"I've got an idea; we'll use our Terrible Terrors. Alvin won't see them coming" Hiccup said
Astrid was the first one to send her Terrible Terror, he messed around with Savage and Alvin for a moment before returning
Then, Fishlegs showed to Iggy a drawing of a sword, so he flew down and took Alvin's sword
"I wish I was smart as that dragon" Tuffnut said as Iggy gave the sword to Fishlegs
"I wish you were smart as that dragon too" Ruffnut said
"Now is up to Sharpshot" Hiccup said before giving some hand gestures to Sharpshot
He flew towards the Outcasts ship and shot some fireballs releasing Meatlug and allowing her to fly, but one rope was still tied to her paw
The twins sent Butt and Head to attack the Outcasts in order to help Meatlug, so they slammed their heads into an Outcast leaving him unconscious, that outcast looks a bit familiar though
Meatlug was able to free herself from the rope, but when she was about to fly away, Alvin threw another rope to her tail
"She's not going to make it!" Fishlegs said
"Yes, she is!" Snotlout took his Terror who was biting him on the neck, stood up and threw him to the rope
When Snotlout's Terror cut the rope, Savage fell on his back and Alvin fell on his butt on top of Savage
"Bam! Who's the best dragon trainer now?!" Snotlout asked proudly before his Terrible Terror bit him on the neck again
"Crawler, get him" Blake ordered pointing at Alvin who was starting to get up
"Don't contain yourself!" I said as Crawler flew towards Alvin before I realized that the others were looking at me "What? You know I don't like Alvin"
From the distance I was able to see how Crawler left some scratches on Alvin before returning
"Good boy, Crawler" Blake said scratching Crawler's chin
"Hey, I thought I was a good boy" I growled
"Don't worry, Thunder. You're also a good boy" Blake said
"That's better" I said
Then, Meatlug flew towards Fishlegs and licked him "Oh, I missed you too" he said happily before jumping on Meatlug's back
"Just one more loose end to tire up" Hiccup said before Toothless flew towards the ship and destroyed it with some plasma blasts
"Oh, baby. We got you back. Oh, Meatlug" Fishlegs said hugging Meatlug as Hiccup and Toothless returned
"We all did it together" Hiccup said
"Guess that competition was worth something" Tuffnut said
"Ugh! If I hear someone say that it's a competition, I'll let Thunder hit you with a lightning blast!" Blake snapped annoyed
I hope that works for stopping their so-called competitions
Time passed since that "competition" from the riders and since then things have been calmed, Crawler has been doing his own thing most of the time but we have hanged out a bit and he also keeps standing on my nose even though I've asked him to stop doing it
Also, since there are a lot of islands near Berk, Fishlegs got the idea to tag the dragons that live in them with a different color, so Barf, Belch and I with our riders were sent to Crescent Island
Blake and I were flying through the island tagging every dragon that we saw if they weren't tagged
And right on cue, we saw a Monstrous Nightmare that wasn't tagged, so I flew towards her and Blake marked her with purple pain
"Hey!" the Monstrous Nightmare said
"Sorry!" I said as we flew away
"Well, one more dragon tagged, we should probably check on the twins" Blake said
I nodded and landed on the island, we started to walk looking for the twins and we found them just in time to see how they tried to tag a Groncke but he flew off, so Tuffnut's bag of paint hit Ruffnut in the face
"Ha, cool. I've always wondered what you'll look like purple" Tuffnut said
"Seriously, again?" Blake asked walking towards the twins
He sounded annoyed, he already had to stop a fight between them after all
"He could at least say sorry" Ruffnut said
"Alright, I'm sorry… that your head got in the way" Tuffnut muttered
"Heard that" Ruffnut said before tossing a bag of paint to her brother but he ducked in time, so the bag hit me in the face instead
It didn't take long for the twins to start tossing bags of paint to each other until Hiccup arrived
"Guys!" he said but that almost make him get hit by a bag of paint "You're supposed to be tagging the dragons, not each other" Hiccup said
"Actually, they did tag one dragon" Blake said gesturing at me while I tried to remove the paint from my face but it wasn't working
"He kinda looks cool in purple" Tuffnut said
"I don't know, that type of purple doesn't look appropriate for you, Thunder" Toothless said
"Thanks, Toothless" I said a bit annoyed
"Well, I think looks nice" Stormfly said
"I still don't like this kind of purple for me" I said "I would rather to tagged with light blue just like some of my sister's scales used to be"
"You do realize that most of Thunder's scales are already purple, do you?" Blake asked crossing his arms
"Yeah? Well… this is pretty much Hiccup's fault" Tuffnut said
"How do you figure that?" Hiccup asked
"Uh, hello? You armed us with paint. How did you think this was going to go?" Ruffnut asked "And we're the stupid ones"
"How many do we have to do anyway?" Tuffnut asked
"As many as we can" Hiccup said "The more dragons we tag on each island the better we can keep track of where they belong and where they migrate to"
I don't know how useful can that be but I'm not going to question it
"Whoa, that was… uh…" Ruffnut struggled trying to find the right word
"Fascinating" Hiccup said
"What's the opposite of fascinating?" Tuffnut asked
"Hiccup, isn't there supposed to be one color per island?" Astrid asked
"Yeah, why?" Hiccup asked
"I see two colors there" Astrid said pointing at two Gronckles, one had purple paint like she was supposed to, but the second had green paint on her "Have we been using the wrong one?"
"I don't think so" Hiccup said
"Don't look at us, if we had green paint, you know where it would be" Tuffnut said
"Don't look at me either, I check that I was using the right color before marking the dragons" Blake said
"Better ask Fishlegs, this was his idea" Hiccup said
"You're going to fly all the way back to Berk?" Astrid asked
"No, I don't have to" Hiccup said pulling out a piece of paper
"What's he talking about?" Ruffnut asked
"He must have some of that magic paper we've been looking for" Tuffnut said
"It's not magic paper" Hiccup said as he wrote something on the paper "Fishlegs and I have been working on something new, we call it: Airmail", then Hiccup pulled out Sharpshot
"Stupid name" Tuffnut said
"Right" Ruffnut said
"Do you really think the Terrible Terror is going to fly straight to Berk?" Astrid asked
"Yep, right to the academy" Hiccup said as he finished tying the message to Sharpshot's leg "Terrors are especially territorial, so it's their natural instinct for them to return to their home wherever they get released"
Then, Sharpshot flew away not without messing with the twins a bit
"How do we know if he made it?" Astrid asked
"When Fishlegs and Snotlout meet us at Dragon Island" Hiccup said getting on Toothless' back
"Well, I guess we better go to Dragon Island" Blake said getting on my back
"Blake, do you seriously believe that it's going to work?" Astrid asked
"I was skeptical as you are right now, but it really works" Blake said "Fishlegs and Snotlout are going to be at Dragon Island when we arrive"
"Ha, if that happens, I'll kiss Snotlout on the lips" Astrid said
"Does it really work?" I asked
"It totally works, trust me" Toothless said as we flew off
We quickly arrived to Dragon Island where Fishlegs, Snotlout, Meatlug and Hookfang were waiting for us
"Well look who it is Fishlegs and Snotlout, both right here on Dragon Island" Hiccup said before Snotlout woke up "Astrid was talking about you"
"Of course she was" Snotlout said
It was so funny that Blake and I hold our laugher
"Say it and those will be the last words you'll ever speak" Astrid said cracking her neck
"Yeah, sure" Blake said cracking his knuckles
Then, our riders went to talk with Fishlegs leaving Toothless, Stormfly and I
"Thunder, I'm kind of curious. In what island do you used to live before knowing me?" Toothless asked
"Well, I used to live in a rocky island with my parents and my siblings, it wasn't a really interesting island but my parents thought it was a good island to live considering we were a bigger Skrill family than others" I said
"Uh… how big is an average Skrill family?" Toothless asked
"That I know, female Skrills don't lay more than one egg, in some weird cases they can lay two but my mother laid my egg along with my siblings' eggs making them three in total" I explained
"Okay… how about you, Stormfly?" Toothless asked
"I hatched at an island with a pretty big forest with other Nadders. I lived in there for most of my life until I chose it was time to leave, sometimes I go there and visit my parents" Stormfly said
After a while, our riders returned and we all flew towards "Tall Tree Island" where the green tagged dragons are supposed to be
"See you back on Berk, suckers!" Snotlout yelled before flying back to Berk
"Tell me what you find out!" Hookfang said
No one said anything, we just ignored them and continued to fly
We flew for a long time but there was no island in sight, does that island even exists?
"I don't understand, we should be there by now" Fishlegs said
"Maybe we're off course" Astrid said
"I don't think the island's called 'Tall Tree Island' for having small trees, so we should see it from here" Blake said
"You're right. Besides, an island can't just disappear" Astrid said
"Earthquake maybe" Fishlegs suggested
"Volcano" Hiccup suggested
"Wrath of Thor? Wrath of Odin?" Fishlegs said making the riders look at him
"Uh… Fishlegs, I don't think Thor or Odin would make disappear an island just because they want" Blake said
"I'm just throwing possible explanations" Fishlegs said
"Not really credible explanations" I muttered making Meatlug growl at me
"None of that explains that" Astrid said pointing at some incoming Monstrous Nightmares which were marked with orange
"Orange?" Blake asked
"Burn apricot actually" Fishlegs corrected
"What island are they from?" Astrid asked, so Hiccup pulled out the map
"According to this they're from Sunstone Island" Hiccup said
"Ah, Sunstone Island. Pristine beaches, a variable smorgasbord of fine mineral deposits for Meatlug" Fishlegs said
"Sunstone Island it is" Hiccup said
We quickly arrived at Sunstone Island but… uh… let's just say it was pretty different than Fishlegs described it
With just standing, Meatlug occupied most of the island, so Toothless and Stormfly had to cling to the edge. There wasn't any space left for me, so I had to stand on some rocks with one paw
"Thunder, are you sure you don't want us to make you a space here?" Toothless asked
"You look like you could fall in any moment" Meatlug said
"It's okay, I think I can keep my balance" I said
"If you say so" Stormfly said
"Huh, I thought it was bigger" Fishlegs said
"You think?" Astrid asked
"I have to say, the beaches are kind of a disappointment" Hiccup said before I lost my balance and fell but I quickly came out
"Aw, great. Now I'm all wet… at least it got rid of the paint" I said before noticing that the others looked like they wanted to laugh "Not a word to anyone"
"Don't worry… we won't tell anyone" Toothless chuckled
That's a relief, I hope Blake doesn't get mad at me
"One island is missing and the other has been shrunk" Fishlegs said
"More like sunk actually" Blake said
"What?" Hiccup asked
"Even though Thunder and I were only a few seconds underwater, I'm pretty sure that I saw an island" Blake said
"How could that happen?" Fishlegs asked
"I don't know, but… where could the dragons go if the islands are gone?" Blake asked
"Good question, dragons live in specific places for specific reasons" Hiccup said
"The food they eat, where they nest" Fishlegs said
"If they lose their homes, it could endanger their whole species" Astrid said
"We need to figure out what's going on, let's head back to dragon island" Hiccup said
"If it's still there" Astrid said before we flew away
I don't know if it's good or bad luck but Dragon Island was still there when we arrived. However, there were even more dragons than the last time
"Look at them all" Hiccup said
"Check their colors" Astrid said
"I see pistachio, burn apricot" Fishlegs said
"Look a new color: red" Astrid said
"Technically that's vermilion" Fishlegs said
"Could we save the art lessons for later?" Blake asked with a groan
"Dragons of three different islands came here" Hiccup said pulling out the map and a pencil "Look, this forms a line which means there are more islands in danger"
Then, Hiccup drew a line through three islands and ended it by placing it over two islands
"So, the next islands are Boar Head Island and Thor Rock Island" Blake said
"Toothless, were going back out" Hiccup said walking towards his dragon
"I'm coming with you" Astrid said
"I'll go too" Blake said as they all got on our backs
"This could get dangerous" Astrid said
"What makes you think that?" Hiccup asked
"Oh, I don't know. Islands disappearing mysteriously, dragons fleeing terror, call it a hunch" Astrid said
"Fine" Hiccup said before looking at Fishlegs "Fishlegs, you stay here in case anymore dragons show up"
"Got it. New dragons, Meatlug and I are on the case" Fishlegs said
We went to investigate Boar Head Island but just like Tall Tree Island it was nowhere in sight, so we went to the next island which was Thor Rock Island but some of its parts were still above the sea
"Whoa. Look at what's left of Thor Rock" Astrid said "You know, maybe Fishlegs' wrath of Gods theory isn't so crazy"
"Even I'm starting to think that" I said
"Let's get a closer look, bud" Hiccup said
We flew down to the island and landed to what it seemed to the remains of a hole
"Those marks look familiar" Hiccup said before looking at Blake "Do they look familiar for you too?"
"They do… but… they're different" Blake said
"Different how?" Astrid asked
"They're bigger than I remembered them" Blake said
"This also look familiar for me" Toothless said "Where have I seen them before?"
Suddenly, a loud scream was heard and some rock pillars collapsed as the ground shake
"That sounds like-" Astrid began but she got interrupted when a familiar dragon came out of the hole, it was the Screaming Death
"Is it just me or does he look bigger than last time?" Stormfly asked
"It's not you, this guy must have double or maybe even tripled his size" Toothless said
"The Screaming Death!" Hiccup yelled just before the Screaming Death finished getting out of the hole "Someone's been eating their vegetables"
"Maybe too much vegetables" Blake said
"And everything else in sight" Astrid said
Then, the Screaming Death screamed, it sounds so awful! Neither Toothless, Stormfly or me could do something
Luckly, he dug underground giving us a break from his awful scream
"So, the Screaming Death must be the one destroying the islands" Blake said
"It must be tunneling underneath and causing them to collapse in on themselves" Hiccup said
"But why would it do that?" Astrid asked
"I don't know, let's take a closer look" Hiccup said, so Astrid looked at him "You wanted dangerous"
We flew over a cliff but the Screaming Death flew through it and began to chase Hiccup and Toothless
Toothless started to fly away as fast as he could but the Screaming Death shot several fire balls, so he flew behind a sea stack but a fire ball destroyed it
"GUYS! LITTLE HELP HERE?!" Toothless yelled as he flew through a sea stack maze
Stormfly and I flew as fast as we could and when we caught up with the Screaming Death, our riders threw bags of paint at his eyes
"Hope you like pistachio!" Astrid yelled
Wait, is that even a color?
"Or do you prefer the purple?!" Blake yelled
The Screaming Death was even angrier than before, so he screamed once again
"It's okay, Thunder, just try to keep flying" Blake said, I don't know how I was able to hear him
"I… can't… it's… even… hard… to see" I said
Then, Toothless shot a plasma blast forcing the Screaming Death to stop allowing Stormfly and me to shot him a stream of fire and a lightning blast
We returned to Dragon Island where we found even more dragons
"Periwinkle Blue, there are now Periwinkle Blue marked dragons here" Fishlegs said running towards them
"I know, from Boar Head Island" Hiccup said as he and the others hopped of their dragons
"And look, there's eggshell white" Fishlegs said pointing at some dragons
"From Thor Rock Island" Astrid said
"What happened to them?" Fishelgs asked
"The Screaming Death happened" Blake said
"Huh? The Screaming Death is back?" Fishlegs asked nervously
"I don't think it ever really left" Hiccup said
"Yeah, it got bigger and nastier" Astrid said
"Uh? How much bigger?" Fishlegs asked
"Chump, chump there goes your big island" Astrid said as she dropped some sand between her fingers
"Just at I thought" Hiccup said looking at the map "The Screaming Death is following an imaginary line destroying everything in its path"
Hiccup draw a line through the destroyed islands until it arrived to Dragon Island
"It's coming this way!" Fishlegs said
"And that's not the worst part" Hiccup said as he drew a line that started at Dragon Island and ended at Berk
"It's heading straight to Berk!" Astrid asked
"We have to go back and warn everybody!" Blake said
"No, we make our stand here" Hiccup said "There's no other land between here and Berk"
"But what are we supposed to do? That thing is bigger than before" Blake said
"We're sending for reinforcements" Hiccup said
"Huh, Snotlout and the twins. Oh, I feel so much better" Astrid said as Hiccup wrote a letter and gave it to Sharpshot
"Hey, we're going to need all the help we can get" Hiccup said before Sharpshot flew away
The only thing that's left is wait but even after waiting for a long time the was no sign of the twins or Snotlout and to make things worse, yellow tagged dragons showed up
Hiccup, the yellow marked dragons from Sorrow Island just started showing up!" Fishlegs said as he, Astrid and Blake walked towards Hiccup
"Which means the Screaming Death is only one island away" Astrid said
"Did you see any sign of the reinforcements?" Blake asked
"No, it looks like help is not coming" Hiccup said "Alright, we have to set up a defense here on Dragon Island with what we have"
"Maybe we should fall back and head for home" Astrid suggested
"We can't, if the Screaming Death destroys Dragon Island all of these dragons will overwhelm Berk" Hiccup said
"And the Screaming Death won't be far behind" Fishlegs said
"But how are we supposed to set a good defense before the Screaming Death arrives? What if its already on its way here?" Blake asked just before a scream was heard, meaning that the Screaming Death was close
Hiccup quicky grabbed his shield, ran towards Toothless and get on his back "Toothless and I will and buy us some time, you guys join me when Snotlout and the twins get here" he said
"I'm going with you" Astrid said grabbing her axe
"No, I need you here as a safety net in case it gets pass me" Hiccup said
"So, you're leaving me by myself?" Astrid asked
"Hey!" I said
"Ouch, I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that" Blake said
"Hello? Men on dragons here, right behind you" Fishlegs said
"You two know what I meant" Astrid said
"We do" Fishlegs said crossing his arms "And I like to go on record and say: we don't appreciate it, do we, girl?"
"Just go" Astrid said annoyed as she looked at Hiccup
From the distance we could only the fight of the Screaming Dead with Hiccup and Toothless, and still there weren't any signs from the twins or Snotlout
"Actually, we can. Like all dragons, Terrible Terrors are-" Fishlegs began
"Territorial, I know" Astrid said but this seemed to give Fishlegs an idea
"Wait… that's it" Fishlegs said before grabbing Astrid by the shoulders "Astrid, you're a genius. I could kiss you on the lips right now!"
Astrid quickly pushed Fishlegs away "No one is kissing me on the lips ever!" she said
"Yeah… sure" Blake said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes
"Why don't you and Blake help Hiccup, I've got an idea but I'll need some time" Fishlegs said as he ran off
"At least could you tell us what's your idea?!" Blake asked
"Just trust me" Fishlegs said
We started to fly towards the Screaming Death but when Fishlegs and Meatlug returned, they brough a whole heard of Gronckles with them, they all started to attack the Screaming Death
"Uh… what's going on?" Blake asked
"Gronckles are territorial too, they defend their homes at any cost" Hiccup explained "Great idea, Fishlegs!"
"I know, right? Who's the safety net now?" Fishlegs asked
Meatlug and the other Gronckles continued to slam themselves into the Screaming Death, so he dug underground
You see that? It ran away" Fishlegs said
"Not quite" Hiccup said before the ground started to shake "Astrid, Fishlegs, Blake, get as many wild dragons together as you can, I'll try to force it back up to the surface"
Blake and I flew around Dragon Island and started to recruit Zipplebacks, most of them looked hesitant but I managed to convince them to help but there weren't much of them
When we returned, Astrid and Fishlegs were already attacking the Screaming Death
"I hope this works" Blake muttered "Thunder, lightning blast!
I flew near the Screaming Death and shot some lightning blasts at the Screaming Death followed by the Zipplebacks who let escape some gas all around it before sparking it
Soon enough, all of the dragons started to overwhelm the Screaming Death
"It's working! All the wild dragons are defending their home" Hiccup said
Seeing himself completely outnumbered the Screaming Death didn't have a choice but to fly away
"I don't think the Screaming Death is going to mess with Dragon Island anymore" Astrid said but then the ground started to shake as the island began to sink
"The island's still sinking!" Blake said
"Lava blast!" Fishlegs suddenly yelled
We all looked confused but Fishlegs leaded the Gronckles, they quickly began to threw up some lava into the holes, so the island stopped shaking and sinking
"What just happened?" Blake asked
"The lava is establishing the island" Hiccup explained as Fishlegs and Meatlug returned "Fishlegs, Meatlug, you two are the heroes today"
"Oh, come on, you're making us blush" Fishlegs said hugging Meatlug who happily licked him
The island is safe for now, but the Screaming Death… that guy is going to be a problem in the future