Chapter Five:

Dagur stood on the bow of the ship, holding on with his left arm as he leaned over to glance at the island as it came into view. He laughed maniacally and called over his shoulder to his sea-sick partner. "Look at it, Ludlow! Isn't it beautiful? And just think about all of the dragons just waiting for me to shoot them down…"

"…with tranquilizers," Ludlow managed before throwing up again over the side of the ship.

Dagur hopped from his perch on the bow of the ship and slapped his hand on Ludlow's shoulder, which caused Ludlow to wretch again. Dagur didn't even notice Ludlow's plight. "We talked about this, my memory-challenged friend. The only dragon I get to shoot to kill is the Night Fury."

He walked past several traps and smiled. "These bad boys are going to do all the hard work anyway. Pity, too…I haven't had a chance to shoot anything in such a long time. It almost itches now. I can feel it."

Wearily, Ludlow peered up at Dagur. Everything he had heard about the poacher had been correct so far. He just hoped that Dagur would keep his word and only shoot the Night Fury. The dragons would be no good to BioSyn if they were dead. That would throw the whole plan out of whack.

As the ship approached the shoreline, the captain slowed the engines. Dagur pushed several mugs off the table on deck and told his men to gather around it. He lay a map of the island—one that Ludlow had stolen from the InGen's database—onto the tabletop. "Okay you half-wits. Listen up. I want traps here, here, and here. The bigger traps go closer to middle of the island—that's where the bigger dragons will be."

"Actually, sir," one of the dragontologists from Berkeley University piped up. Dagur, not liking to be interrupted, screamed, grabbed one of the discarded mugs from the ground and hurled it at the poor graduate student. "Um, the bigger dragons are more likely to be closer to the shore or the safari plains."

Dagur narrowed his eyes and consented to the change of plan. "Fine, set the bigger traps there." He stepped towards the dragontologist. He grabbed the dragontologist's shirt collar and hoisted him off of the ground. "If you interrupt me, you had better be right. No one interrupts Dagur." The dragontologist gulped and nodded in understanding. He then turned to the group and shouted, "Well? Why are you all standing here? Get moving! These traps don't set themselves up."

As the men scurried about, Dagur forcefully grabbed two of them by the collars of their shirts. He pushed them towards the stern of the ship. He pointed, "You see that gents? It's a High-Hide," as he explained, he presented the map of the island once more. "I want it to go right here. And it's your lucky job to make sure it's in place." The men nodded. "Good then meet us back at the campsite."

Once Dagur was out of ear-shot the one man said to the other, "What's a High-Hide?"

The second man pointed and sighed, "A High-Hide. You know? You go up high and then you hide? A High-Hide."

The first man raised an eyebrow, "Seems like that would put you in perfect position for the dragons to eat you…"

"Dragons don't' eat humans. They just burn them to a crisp," Dagur stated as he approached the pair again. "Now, remind me, gents…did I ask for you to debate what a High-Hide was or did I ask you to set it up?" Dagur all-but screamed the last bit and then men hurried off with the High-Hide.

Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs flew their dragons with ease, while Snotlout trailed behind them on his Monstrous Nightmare. The dragon was extremely stubborn, and unfortunately, hadn't gotten the proper time to bond with Snotlout just yet. "You bore-headed dragon, can't you fly any faster?" Snotlout complained.

Toothless' ears perked up and his eyes dilated briefly into slits. Hiccup, sensing the change in behavior of his dragon, patted Toothless on the head, "What's going on, bud?" Toothless shook his head and squinted his eyes shut. Upon opening them his pupils returned to their normal round shape. Hiccup furrowed his brow, "Okay, that was weird."

Fishlegs hadn't noticed the behavior. He pointed excitedly towards the island. "Look. There's Site B! I wonder if there are different dragon species on this island than on ours…."

"Why would there be different dragons on this island? It's all Hammond's stuff!" Snotlout pointed out, and Fishlegs' heart sank a little. He as hoping to study more species of dragons that he had read about or seen fossils of at the University of Berkeley.

"We should circle the island, see if we can find where your uncle set up camp with the twins," Astrid suggested. "This way we won't land in Speed Stinger or Changewing territory."

"Oh I hope that the twins don't find anymore Changewing eggs and mistake them for 'stones of good fortune.' I wouldn't wish that misadventure on Gobber Van Owen," Fishlegs muttered, mostly to himself.

Hiccup agreed with Astrid's plan and the group flew the dragons around the island before finding the campsite. Hiccup and Astrid landed with their dragons with ease and grace. Fishlegs maneuvered his Gronckle to hover a few inches above the ground before landing as well. Hiccup dismounted and then chivalrously helped Astrid to dismount from her dragon. Snotlout crash landed onto the ground with his Monstrous Nightmare. "Is this your first time flying? I don't think so, Hookfang! You should have taken the reigns on this one and landed yourself. I can't be responsible for everything, despite what Hammond thinks."

Snotlout's shouts drew the attention of Valka and Gobber, who both hurried out of the camper to greet the group. Several hugs, introductions and brief explanations later, Valka was oogling over the dragons in front of her. "How did you manage?"

"When we were on the first island the Red Death went rouge and rolled one of the Jeeps onto my leg. Toothless took an interest in my poor forsaken soul and kinda rescued me."

"Toothless?" Valka asked.

"Show her, bud."

Toothless sniffed the air in Valka's direction and finding no ill-willed odor, he retracted his teeth. Valka gasped, excitedly. "Retractable teeth! Hiccup, this is incredible!" Valka stretched out her hand, palm open and let Toothless come to her. He nuzzled his nose against her open palm and she smiled. "What have you learned so far? Are you going to publish your works? What about the dig site?"

"Oh, yes all the pleasantries. That's how all this starts, but later there's running and screaming and dying and fire," Snotlout complains at the reunion.

"Snotlout you really are an alarmist," Astrid says. "Everything is going to be fine. Hiccup and I have been working with the dragons for several years now. And Dr. Haddock has been working with dangerous wildlife her entire career…"

"Dr. Haddock? Will you ever call her Valka?" Hiccup joked.

"When we're married, maybe. Until then, formalities, Hiccup," Astrid replied.

As much as Valka wanted Astrid to be her new daughter-in-law, she knew that now was not the time to pressure Hiccup into proposing. The dragons were in danger. "I didn't know Hammond bred Night Furies. It wasn't one of the dragons that Hammond had in the briefing pamphlet she sent us with."

"Mo'e like an encyclopedia tha' a pamphlet if ya ask me," Gobber complained. "It wasn't a' concise a' the Dragon Manual I gave Hiccup a few Snoggletogs ago."

"Wait, Hammond sent you with a pamphlet of info on the dragons?"

"Well ya. How else wouldja expect us to know how to approach th' dragons t' save 'em from BioSyn's traps?" Gobber replied.

"Why is BioSyn trying to trap the dragons anyway?" Astrid wondered aloud. "Most of the species are territorial and don't migrate so it's not like they're a threat to modern society."

"BioSyn contacted me about adding dragons to the Zoo to help bring in more revenue," Valka said.

"What? I thought BioSyn was just going to take DNA samples from the dragons and try to create their own 'Isle of Berk' attraction! Which is a bad idea in itself," Snotlout said. "Taking dragons off this island to be caged in a zoo is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas!"

"Yes. So Gobber and I are here to stop them. We are going to disarm the traps but Hammond's grandkids snuck aboard so now we have that to deal with."

"Where are they now?" Fishlegs asked.

"In the camper, asleep."

"Did you put tranqulizers in them?" Valka shook her head. Fishlegs and Snotlout exchanged worried glances. "If it's one thing I've learned from working for Hammond for so long it's that her grandkids don't sleep unless they're 150% exhausted. Sneaking aboard a ship hardly qualifies." Snotlout rushed to the camper, threw open the door to reveal…nothing. No twins.

Hiccup jumped onto Toothless and held his hand out for Valka. She took it and climbed aboard the Night Fury. Astrid followed suit, offering her hand for Gobber, who politely declined. "I think I'll drive the camper. Best t' 'ave at least one person on the ground searchin' too."

Hiccup nodded. "Okay, Astrid you take the northern section. Fishlegs take the West. My mom and I will take the East and Snotlout you go South. If you see any BioSyn people, use your dragons to try to scare them off. Meet back here in one hour."

"And now the running and screaming and dying and fire…" Snotlout muttered.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup said. "Can we just get the twins back before the 'dying and fire' part?"

"On it. C'mon, Hookfang."

[a/n]I am sorry for the delay. Chapters will be coming along slowly but surely. My real life has been getting in the way recently, but I have not forgotten about this! I hope you enjoyed it!