Hiccup and the others and soon landed on the ground and were beginning to set up camp.
"What are these things on the ground?" Snotlout asked noticing certain objects beneath their feet.
"Those would be dragon scales," said Hiccup.
"I forgot to time of year when I dragon shed their scales," said Astrid.
"It's just the way of spring," Ragnar smiled.
"Easy for you to say your dragon doesn't have scales," Snotlout pointed out.
"Doesn't stop me from enjoying spring," said Ragnar coldly.
"I'm just thankful that we're stopping," said Fishlegs.
"Let's just set up camp before we can relax," Heather advised.
They soon began setting up camp, but as per usual Snotlout just lazed around and allowed everyone else to do the heavy lifting.
Astrid narrowed her eyes and approached him. "Are you ever going to help us with setting camp?"
"There's already enough of us doing what needs to be done," Snotlout huffed.
Astrid was doing her best to keep her anger in check. "But a little extra help would go a long way."
"Oh I'm helping all right, I'm making sure that no one sleeps up on us were setting up camp," said Snotlout.
"And a good job you did when the Rough Rumblehorns attacked," Astrid noted.
"You know the longer you're arguing with me the less help the others are getting," Snotlout pointed out.
Astrid clenched her fist. "We'll talk about this in the morning."
Soon it was night and everyone was asleep, but Snotlout immediately woke up. He then placed his hand into the ground and send something approaching them from a distance.
"There's something coming towards us!" he yelled.
That awoke everyone.
"What is it?" Hiccup asked.
Snotlout placed his hand on the ground. "It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche."
"Could you perhaps be a bit more specific?" Ragnar asked.
Heather looked at him. "Should we leave?"
"Better safe than sorry," Hiccup concluded.
They immediately mounted their dragons and took off and they could definitely see something heading towards them in the distance.
"What is that thing?" Heather asked.
They kept on flying four hours and all of them were starting to get sleepy. Eventually they stopped and landed on a small hill.
"We've been riding for hours," said Snotlout rubbing his rear.
"Just give us a hand with the supplies," said Astrid.
"You really want me to help with the twins smelly sleeping bags?" Snotlout asked.
The twins looked at one another and sniffed their sleeping bags and immediately fainted.
"Well, yes," said Astrid through gritted teeth. "That and everything else, you are part of this team and…"
"Look it's late, can't we discuss this when we are yard refreshed or something?" Snotlout interrupted.
"That's it I've had enough!" Astrid roared and marched up to him. "Ever since you joined us, you haven't been carrying your own weight."
Snotlout immediately turned on her. "In case you forgot, my home is currently in Empire occupation! And in case you forgot I helped out in a few scrapes before that even happened!"
"They're at it again," Heather sighed.
"Don't you guys think we should do something? Fishlegs asked.
"I'm too tired," Tuffnut yawned.
"And I can't be bothered," said Ruffnut.
Ragnar then immediately placed himself between the two of them. "Let's all calm down before we do something we regret."
"In case you forgot is the problem here and I'm always calm!" Astrid snapped.
Ragnar slowly backed away from her. "So I see."
Hiccup then step forward and placed a gentle hand on Astrid shoulder. "May I suggest that we all get some sleep before we tear each other's faces off?"
Snotlout then immediately looked up. "You might wanna hold that… that thing is back."
"How far way is it?" Fishlegs asked.
"I say it's pretty close," said Heather pointing.
They turned and saw that over the treetops they could see dust.
Once again they mounted their dragons and flew away from the dust cloud.
Astrid looked back rubbing her eyes. "Seriously what is that thing?"
"And how does it keep finding us?" Snotlout asked.
"I don't know," Hiccup frowned. "But this time to make sure we can lose it."
Immediately they began making fancy manoeuvres, going over rough terrain anything they could think of to lose the trail.
They flew for hours and hours and soon everyone was blown dead tired, dragons included. They immediately stopped over a few mountains and the moment the dragons touched the dirt they fell asleep.
"Let's forget about making camp," Ragnar yawned. "Let's just get some sleep."
"That's good, because Snotlout wasn't going to help anyway," said Astrid furiously.
"Oh, I didn't realise that you are chipping a few fingernails," Snotlout snapped.
"Will you please stop arguing," Hiccup pleaded. "There something after is and we don't know what or who it is."
"It could be Eret," Heather offered. "We haven't seen him since the North Pole."
"Doubtful," Astrid yawned. "I got word from the resistance that the Empire now consider him and his uncle a traitor. He doesn't have the resources to track us anymore."
"Well, no matter who is chasing us they could not have followed us here so let's get some sleep," said Ragnar.
However, before any of them could even close their eyes Snotlout looked up.
Fishlegs groaned. "Don't tell me."
"That's impossible," said Hiccup shaking his head in disbelief. "There's no way they could attract us."
"Well, somehow they managed it," said Snotlout, who had a hand on the ground.
The immediately rushed towards the edge and store the dust cloud approaching them. This time they got a good enough look and discover that it was a tank of some sorts.
"We should get out of here," said Heather.
"Perhaps we should face them and find out who they are," Ragnar suggested.
Immediately the tank came to a stop and exiting out of it were Princess Devi and her friends. The three of them were riding on top of Singetails and were making their way towards them and a fast pace.
"It's Devi," Hiccup stared.
"And her two friends," Astrid added.
"We can take them, it's eight against three," said Snotlout.
Snotlout then thrusted his hands forward and columns of began to erupt down the path. However Devi and her friends skilfully dodged them on board their Singetails.
"Well, we found out who they are so let's get out of here," said Fishlegs.
Immediately they rushed towards their dragons, but Snotlout remained behind to create a column above to block their path. Devi however then began to charge lightning through her fingertips and fired at the rock wall demolishing it into pieces. May then fired several arrows from her wrist crossbow at Snotlout, who quickly blocked them by raising a boulder into the air.
The moment he landed on Hookfang they took off just as Devi fired several fire blasts at them.
They were soon flying away as quickly as they could away from Devi, but the dragons were beginning to get tired.
"I can't believe they followed us all the way from Omnitakla," said Heather in disbelief.
"I still think we could have taken them," Snotlout huffed.
"Are you kidding me?" said Heather in disbelief. "The crazy Princess firing blue flames and the flying daggers are bad enough. But last time we faced them one of those girls did something that took my pending away, that's scary."
That's when they saw the sun rising from the mountain tops.
"And it's the sun is rising," said Ragnar. "We've been up all night with no sleep."
"We'll be fine," Hiccup assured.
"You sure? Because every time we land those girls are there," Astrid pointed out.
"We'll just have to keep flying," said Heather.
"We can't keep flying forever," Hiccup pointed out.
On the ground, Devi's tank was following them and not too far behind it was Eret on his horse.
Further away, Hiccup's hypothesis was soon proven true. Every one of them were feeling the sleep getting to them.
"What's the plan now?" Ragnar asked.
Hiccup yawned. "I don't know, I'm too tired to think."
"I'm sure we'll come up with something after a short nap," said Astrid confidently.
Immediately they all fell asleep, but it wasn't just them, their dragons had also fallen asleep as well. The sudden change in altitude immediately woken up and began to panic.
"What's going on?" Fishlegs panicked.
"Our dragons are fallen asleep!" Hiccup yelled.
Immediately they all screamed they held onto the saddle their dragons. Fortunately their dragons awoke just the nick of time and they immediately straightened out. However they were still falling to fast and they slammed into several pine trees before they finally crash landed.
"Our dragons are completely exhausted," said Hiccup noting at they're dragons were now fast asleep.
"With must've put a lot of distance between us and them," said Ragnar as they grab their sleeping bags. "The plan right now is to fall asleep."
"Of course we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Snotlout actually helped for once!" Astrid snapped.
Snotlout immediately narrowed his eyes and Astrid. "What?!"
"Enough!" Hiccup yelled. "Everyone is completely exhausted, let's just get some rest."
"No!" said Snotlout turning on Astrid. "I want to hear what Astrid has to say! You think I don't help?"
"I'm just saying, maybe you actually helped out we could have set up camp faster and gotten some sleep," she snapped at him. "And then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"You're blaming me for this!" he roared slamming his foot into the ground and causing a small earthquake.
"If the boot fits," Astrid glared.
Hiccup immediately placed himself between her and Snotlout. "We've been chased all night and went dead tired, let's not make the situation any worse than it already is."
"I don't see how you can get much better!" Astrid yelled.
Snotlout then marched up to her, despite Hiccup's best attempts to hold them back.
"Hey, I asked to join this group! I'm only here because my Dad told me I should be here!" Snotlout reminded. "Besides, if there's any blame to go around it should go to our dragons!"
"How did you come up with that idea?" Hiccup asked.
"Simple because of their damn scales," said Snotlout holding out a couple out. "They're leaving a trail everywhere they go!"
"And in case you forgot they saved our high three times already!" Hiccup pointed out, now starting to lose his temper.
"This is all getting out of hand!" Ragnar yelled slamming his staff into the ground.
Heather nodded in agreement. "We can't keep fighting like this."
Snotlout narrowed his eyes and walked off grabbing his rucksack. "I'm out of here!"
None of them said a word as Snotlout mounted Hookfang and took off.
Unfortunately, Snotlout was right that the dragons were leaving a trail for Devi. The tank was prowling on following the trail of scales on the ground and wasn't slowing down in the slightest.
Back at the stream, Hiccup facepalmed himself.
"I can't believe I just did that," he groaned. "I just allowed my Earthbending teacher to take off and I even stop him."
Astrid sighed. "I know. Now that he's gonna regret anything I said."
"Yeah, two were pretty much jerks," said Ruffnut.
"Normally it's us the mess up," said Tuffnut.
"In fairness were all blown dead tired and that hasn't exactly helped our tempers," Ragnar pointed out.
"We need to find Snotlout so that you guys can apologise to him," said Fishlegs.
"I agree, but we can't do anything as long as Princess Devi keeps on following us," Heather pointed out.
Hiccup then looked down at the scales and got an idea. "I have a plan."
Immediately they got the dragons into the stream and began to wash them down removing the scales from their bodies.
"Snotlout was right, are dragon scales were leaving a trail right to us," said Hiccup looking at all them. "Now that we've given them a good washing down, they should no longer leave a trail."
"Are we sure the okay to fly?" Heather asked looking a bit concerned.
"So long as we leave their saddles and are stuck behind," said Fishlegs.
Hiccup then collected the scales into a satchel and made his way over to Toothless. "Me and Toothless will make a big trail and lead the tank of course."
Immediately the others mounted their dragons and took off, but Skull was still very tired and knocked off the top of the pine trees as they left.
Hiccup then looked at Toothless. "Let's go, Bud."
They then took off and left behind the trail of scales as they did.
Meanwhile Snotlout and Hookfang had landed so that we can get some rest. Snotlout then immediately sensed something close by and then fired a massive burst of earth to his right and he hit something.
He immediately looked over the boulder and saw that he had struck Bjorn, who immediately rubbed his behind.
"That really hurt my tailbone," he said.
Devi and her friends had managed to reach the stream and that's when they founds scales being washed down the stream.
"There seems to be two trails now," May said gesturing to the trail of red scales. "Looks as if one member of their party has left."
"But the different coloured scales go that way," Talia pointed.
Devi then noticed the broken tree tops. "The Avatar is trying to give us the slip, you to head in that direction and keep your eye out for the dragons." She then turned to the scales. "I'll follow this trail."
"What about the other trail?" May asked.
"Ignore it," Devi ordered. "The Avatar is our true prize."
Immediately they mounted their Singetails and took off.
Hiccup and Toothless continue to fly, but Hiccup could tell that Toothless was starting to get sleepy. He then saw a rundown village in the distance and immediately flew down towards it.
"You get some rest, bud," said Hiccup as he dismounted.
Toothless roared appreciating and made his way to an abandoned corner, let the ground with flames and fell asleep.
Hiccup then continue to walk down the have scattering scales as he went, until his satchel was empty. Knowing that he could not leave on to Toothless was with refreshed, he sat down cross-legged and waited for the Princess arrive.
Astrid and the others were flying in the opposite direction, but the dragons were beginning to get tired and they were losing altitude.
"Do you think Hiccup is all right?" Fishlegs asked.
"Better than us," said Tuffnut.
"Why's that?" Ragnar asked.
"Because of them," said Ruffnut pointed behind them.
They immediately turned and saw flying towards them were May and Talia on their Singetails.
"How did they find us?" Heather stared.
"They must follow the direction from the destroyed treetops," Astrid assumed.
Ragnar then noticed that they were going down. "Our dragons can't go any faster, their too tired," he said looking at the others.
"Looks like we're fighting," said Astrid.
Fishlegs quivered. "Wonderful."
They were low enough in the air for May to fire several bolts at them, but they bounced off Skull's armour.
However there was the only piece of good news as they soon crashed to the ground and the dragons immediately fell asleep.
"Everyone all right?" Astrid asked.
"We're good," said the twins.
"Good, because here they come," said Ragnar with Stefan hand.
May and Talia then immediately landed opposite them and Talia immediately jumped into the air. She then began to jump from tree to tree and got in close towards Heather, who tried to strike her with a water whip only for her to duck in time. Heather quickly moved her body to avoid the jabs and Ragnar quickly fired a gust of wind forcing her to jump backwards to avoid it.
May then immediately fired several more bolts towards them, but Astrid deflected them with her axe. The twins then charge at her with their spears, but she jumped off her Singetail in time to avoid them and then fired more bolts this time from her legs. The twins immediately spun their spears around to deflect the bolts.
May then immediately began to engage Ragnar and Heather while Talia took Astrid and the twins. She immediately somersaulted behind Tuffnut and dealt a few quick jabs making his right arm and movable. Ruffnut then swung her spear towards her to avenge her brother only for her to be jabbed in the right arm forcing her to drop a spear.
Talia blinked quickly moved to deal with Astrid, but she quickly raised her axe and Talia accidentally jabbed the flat blade. She immediately pulled back clutching her hand in pain.
"Your technique is not so good when it comes to metal, is it?" Astrid smirked.
Ragnar and Heather quickly backed away towards the lake to give them a bit more of an advantage over May. However, before Heather could bend the water May immediately tossed several daggers trapping the helm of Heather's sleeve to a tree preventing her from bending.
Ragnar then immediately fired a powerful air current towards her, but she jumped into the air and fired several bolts from her leg braces. The immediately caught his trousers trapping them in place on the ground. Ragnar then immediately thrusted his palm forward, but before he could create so much as a gust she immediately landed in front of him and gave him a powerful jab in the gut and he fell to his knees.
Soon landed next to them were the twins, who found they were unable to move a single part of their bodies now. Astrid was also pushed back by Talia and only had one good arm, but she continued to raise her axe regardless.
"Are you guys bearing any better?" she asked.
"Not really," Ragnar winced clutching his stomach.
"I thought when Talia and I finally caught you guys, it would be more exciting," said May dryly. "Oh well, victory is boring."
However the two of them has completely forgotten about Fishlegs who immediately grabbed the helm of their shirts and use all his strength to toss them into the river. Immediately they were caught in the current and soon disappeared and distance.
Astrid looked at Fishlegs. "That's the first time I've seen you being proactive in a fight."
Fishlegs wiggled his fingers. "What can I say? Seeing you guys in danger stirred something inside of me."
May and Talia finally managed to exit the river, completely soaked and exhausted.
"That big husky kid is strong," said Talia as she rinsed her.
May nodded. "I think he could fight."
Meanwhile Hiccup was still waiting for Devi to arrive and eventually he saw a Singetail coming towards him in the distance. She immediately landed on the village and dismounted her dragon before approaching him.
"You were always too stubborn for your own good," Hiccup sighed.
"Start backing as if I'm five years old," said Devi narrowing her eyes at him. "I can now outclass you in firebending, my father taught me everything I know."
Hiccup smirked. "He only towards you a crude method of channelling your powers, using anger. I however use a different catalyst and it's far superior to yours."
"And what catalyst with that the?"
"That's something you have to figure out for yourself," said Hiccup as he rose to his feet.
"I think I'll pass," said Devi waving her hand dismissively. "Today I'm finally going to catch the greatest enemy of the Empire. It should be easy as your tired and you have no place to go, you can run but I'll catch you."
Hiccup shook his head. "You were only able to track me because our dragons were shedding their scales. You will be able to use the same trip twice now. Besides, I'm not running."
A small smile appeared on Devi's face.
Meanwhile Snotlout was with Bjorn, who was serving him a cup of tea.
"Here is your tea," he said presenting it. Bjorn then looked at him curiously. "Where are your friends?"
"I don't have any friends," he said as he took the tea. "And why is it that you're not attacking me right now?"
"We may come from different nations but that does not mean we have to be enemies," he said cheerfully.
"Even when it's your nation that is attacking mine?" Snotlout asked narrowing his eyes.
Bjorn shrugged. "Truth be told the war has no meaning for me ever since I lost my son."
Snotlout looked up. "You had a son?"
Bjorn looked to the ground sadly. "Yes, I lost him at the Battle of Meridian. Ever since then I've lost my fighting spirit and try to look at life and new perspective."
Snotlout huffed. "So where's your grumpy nephew?"
"He's out there right now walking alone," Bjorn sighed looking at the landscape. "I've been tracking."
"Is he lost?"
"Yes, a little bit. His life has recently changed and he is going through a very difficult time, he's trying to figure out who he is and he went away."
Snotlout looked at him. "And you're following him?"
"I know he doesn't want me around right now, but if he needs me I'll be there."
"For a guy that's hunting me all winter, he's pretty lucky even if he doesn't know it," said Snotlout as drank his tea. He then sat up and looked at Bjorn. "Thank you."
"My pleasure," he said smiling. "Sharing tea with an enemy is one of life's true delights."
"Actually I meant about the advice," said Snotlout. "I guess I have been a bit of a jerk to everyone, especially to Hiccup and Astrid. Hiccup lost his family and the nation he wants knew. Astrid is finding every single day of her life for her nation, even if they consider her traitor. I think it's time that I pulled my own weight."
"I'm glad that I hope you," Bjorn smiled.
Snotlout grabbed his rucksack and mounted Hookfang. "Oh, and yet angry nephew. Maybe you should tell him that you need him too."
Bjorn just sat there as he drank his tea and watched as Snotlout took off.
Meanwhile Hiccup and Devi was still facing one another in the abandoned village.
"Do you really want to fight me?" Devi asked.
Then immediately horse came out of nowhere and jumping from it was Eret.
"Yes, I really do," said Eret.
"Great, more trouble," Hiccup groaned.
"I was wondering when you would show up, Eret," said Devi looking directly at him.
Eret then took a fighting stance. "Back off, Devi. He's mine."
Devi then took on a fighting stance. "I'm not going anywhere."
Soon the three of them found themselves in a freeway duel and each of them were waiting for one of them to make the first move.
Devi then made the first move firing a fire blast directly at Eret, but he quickly created a fire shield. However, the impact of the attack sent him flying into a nearby building. She then turned her sights onto Hiccup and slammed her hand down creating a burst of flames.
Hiccup then quickly spun around countering it with a tornado of flames. Devi then moved in close to him and formed a leg sweep unleashing flames from the bottom of her feet. Hiccup immediately dodged it just in time to receive several quick fire jabs from Eret, which he also avoided.
Soon the three of them were avoiding one another while firing by a blasts at the same time. It was at one point that Hiccup and Eret placed themselves between Devi and continue to fire by a blasts at her. However she was very skilled blocking each one of the flames while producing her own at the same time.
Eret then immediately jumped into the air and slammed his foot into the ground unleashing flames right in front of Devi. However she quickly counted with flames of our own and tried to strike him with a fire blast, but he quickly rolled over to avoid it then fired his own fire blast. Hiccup then came in with Inferno and immediately flames began to cover it and Devi ducked in time to avoid the sword.
Hiccup then disengaged and landed on one of the rundown buildings and entered inside of it. Devi quickly followed him and nearly lost her footing, because the floor was completely gone. Hiccup was suspended in the air with an air scooter, but Devi managed to regain her balance by stretching her legs towards what was left of the floorboards.
Eret then came running in, but he wasn't as lucky as Devi and fell straight to the bottom of the building. Devi then immediately fired a fire blast directly at Hiccup, but he quickly dispelled and landed on the edge of what was left the floorboards and tackled her to the ground.
Hiccup left the building in time to see Eret being blasted out by a fire blast and saw Devi emerging from the house as well. She then immediately engaged Hiccup, but he quickly proved that he was a very skilled combatant as he blocked each one of her attacks.
However she then used a sneaky move, catching his leg with her own and then slamming both her fist into his chest unleashing flames. Hiccup was immediately sent flying into a building so hard that the roof caved in and the rubble trapped him in place.
Devi made her way inside and taught the sides of the building before advancing towards Hiccup, who was doing his best to free himself. She raised her hand preparing to deal the final blow, but from out of nowhere Heather appeared and wrapped her wrist with her water and then use the water whip to free Hiccup.
"Thanks," Hiccup smiled.
Devi immediately turned towards and fired a burst of flames at Heather, but she quickly avoided them and ran for it. Devi then immediately began to chase after her, but she nearly lost her head when Astrid came out of nowhere and swung her axe. She then backed away only to be blasted by air current by Ragnar. Then the twins and Fishlegs appeared and began to surround her and she slowly began backing away.
Bjorn then arrived and made his way over to the unconscious Eret, who had just regained consciousness.
"Uncle?" he blinked.
"Get up," he said extending his hand.
Eret accepted it and Bjorn lifted him up.
They turned and found Hiccup and the others were engaging Devi in combat. Devi was mainly focusing on Hiccup, but Astrid and the others were proving they weren't light weights. Heather fired a water whip at her, but she countered with a fire shield. She then fired at Astrid, who immediately rolled out of the way and then quickly turned on Ragnar before he had a chance to attack.
Slowly all them were making her back away into an alleyway, but this was all a ploy in order to catch them offguard. Devi was about to strike when suddenly something struck her leg causing her to lose her balance. Everyone looked up and saw directly behind her was Snotlout.
"Thought you guys could use a hand," he said.
"Thanks," Astrid smiled.
Devi quickly got to her feet and began retaliating, but she knew that she was outnumbered. She immediately ran down the alleyway and turned round the corner only to slam into Bjorn's stomach. She then bound her back pressed against the wall as Hiccup and the others joined Bjorn and Eret and began to surround her.
"Well, look at this," she said looking at each one of them. "Enemies and traitors all working together. I'm done, I know when unbeaten. You got me, a princess surrendered with honour."
She then raised her hands into the air.
Bjorn's eyes then immediately fell upon Snotlout and he was pleased to see that he had rejoined his friends. However, Devi took notice of his lack of concentration and immediately act upon it. She spun around and fired a fire blast directly at its chest and he roared in pain as he collapsed to the ground.
Eret's eyes widened in horror and immediately they all struck at Devi in unison. However, she quickly created a very powerful fire shield blocking their attacks which resulted in a massive explosion. When the smoke finally cleared they found that Devi was nowhere to be seen, she used to be smokescreen in order to get away from them.
Hiccup and the others immediately turned towards Eret, who was kneeling beside the injured Bjorn and looked immensely frustrated.
He immediately turned on them. "Get away from us!" he roared.
Snotlout just stared at Bjorn in shock.
Heather immediately approached Eret. "Eret I can help."
"Leave!" Eret ordered spinning around unleashing flames at them.
Hiccup and the others got the hint and immediately ran off leaving Eret to tend to Bjorn by himself.