Author's Note: This tale was for the adoption of a monster fury known as the slime fury. While mimicking horror genre, it stops just short of entering it. No special ratings on this one. Sliplock the slime fury was adopted from NightmareRebuff, and he can be seen in my (Frostfire Markson) signature on the School of Dragons forum.

Storms were rolling across the Isle of Berk, drenching everything indiscriminately. While Berk is known for it's share of horrid weather, storms of this caliber were still rather rare. But, every once in a while you would get one of these summer storms that would knock over a few more of the trees on Raven's point, blow off half the thatch on Bucket's roof, and tear the rigging on a few of the ships. (Or maybe that was just the twins). Lightning was flashing every few seconds, and the thunder sounded like Odin's largest and wildest party was in full swing up there in Valhalla.

But tucked away in their compound under the hills, the residents of the Northern Valley Dragon Sanctuary were cozy and dry, sitting in the lamplight as they played a game of liar's dice. Few could judge exactly what this place contained, or would guess that the stables built underneath the hills were as extensive as nearly all of Berk, but yet they were. If you were to fly overhead, the only landmark that would give away the sanctuary's location would be a humble wooden home in roughly the center of the valley, surrounded with grassy hills on all sides before flattening out into lakes, fields, forest, and eventually the ring of mountains that enclosed this land. While so simple to see, each hill was itself a stable, hollowed out and supported inside. And underneath all of them was a complex system of tunnels that connected all. While most of these tunnels were only big enough for humans, there is one tunnel that leads from underneath the main stable to a natural cave at the edge of the mountains. And it was in this tunnel, and in this cave, and in this stable that the dragons took shelter during such storms. Dry and warm they slept on, waiting out the horrible winds and sounds that terrorized the land above.

"Ha! You're a liar!" Braggart shouted out, thrusting an accusing finger at me.

"No." I smiled smugly. I slowly lifted the cup that concealed my 5 dice. His face exploded in disbelief.

"No! You cheated! No one gets all 6's! Ever!" In his huff, he knocked over his own cup, scattering his two remaining dice. I just shrugged, scooping my dice back into my cup.

"Do you want to keep playing or what?"

"No." He was half-turned away from me. "If you're just going to keep using this lucky streak I think it's better if I play with Midas."

I giggled, imagining him attempting to play Liar's Dice with his gronckle. It was actually rather amusing, picturing the large golden-brown dragon tossing the dice about as it flung the cup in the air. It was so funny that I started laughing out loud, and he came over to start punching me in the arm. Eventually, we both ended up coated in dust and hay, sprawled on the floor and heaving in great gulps of air as we laughed uncontrollably. The dragons that happened to be sitting in this part of the tunnel grinned, as if saying 'Humans are such amusing creatures.'

Suddenly, everyone was alert. A single, piercing scream lit down the tunnel- a human scream. Instantly we were on our feet, jumping tails and dodging wings as we scrambled towards the cave end of the tunnel. Smaller dragons scattered before us and large ones were vaulted over like hurdles, grumbling that we had disturbed their sleep. But we didnt' care. We knew that scream. Finally, barely a hundred feet from the end of the tunnel, we found the source: the youngest of my three brothers, six-year-old Loki. He was sprawled on his back, wailing and holding his hands over his head, through which was seeping a disturbing shade of red...

I instantly pulled them down, and breathed a sigh of relief that it was only a mild scrape. I cradled him in my arms, calming him down. "Shhh. What happened buddy?"

Snot was dripping down his nose, and his eyes were bloodshot from crying. "I- I- was playing with the draaa-aa-aagonssss" He gave a cough, choking on the force of his own crying. "An-nnnn-nnd I saw the biiiii-iig one come in. And I wanted to pla-aaaay wi-iiff himmmmm." He hiccuped again, and Braggart handed me a scrap of cloth that he always kept in his back pocket for such situations. After blowing his nose very loudly, Loki was starting calm down a little. "Aaa-nnd I wanted to pet him and plaa-aaay chase, and he huuuu-uurrrt meeeee!" Now he took up full-strength wailing again. "Aaaaaa-aand my head went BOOM!" I turned to look at Braggart. We knew all the dragons in the sanctuary, and while a few would play rough, they would NEVER hurt any children. Especially Loki, who they all knew.

"Frost, look at the floor." Braggart lifted the lantern from the wall up, causing the floor to glimmer. My eyes widened. This wasn't water. It was some sort of... slime. I riffled through the list of dragons we cared for, but none matched the description of dripping ooze. I clutched Loki tighter as he hiccuped. A large, unknown dragon who wasn't concerned about attacking children. It was about this point that Flora, a very kind and motherly Snaptrapper that adopted my mother came in.

"It's alright, Loki. We'll find it. We'll make it apologize." He just nodded as he snuggled his face into the front of my vest. I cringed slightly at the snot, but I let it go. I then handed him off to Flora, who waddled away down the tunnel, probably taking him to her nest of cloth scraps until Mom came to get him.

We each pulled out our whistles, giving a quick and silent call to our respective dragons. When their familiar forms came into sight, we looked at each other. "If you find it, give a whistle and we'll come help you take it down."

Braggart nodded. "Alright. Same for you. Any idea what this thing is?" I shook my head. I had never heard of a large, slime-oozing dragon. "Well, stay safe." I nodded.

"You too." We parted ways, heading down separate offshoots of the main tunnel. These natural shoots in the rock were mostly dead-ends, but a few curved around and eventually disappeared into smaller tunnels and caves before looping back into the main branch again. It could take forever if we didn't know which way it headed. But, there were only two real possibilities- the trail of slime I was on, or the trail of slime that Braggart was following. Light from the lantern I held made a dim pool around Oakheart and I, only just illuminating the tunnel in front. I was lucky Oakheart was with me at all- his vision was much sharper and without him I most likely would walk right past it in the dark tunnels. As the path widened into a natural cave dripping with water and stalactites, a low moan filled the air. The back of my neck prickled, and even Oakheart froze. As we listened, the sound magnified and changed, bouncing around off the uneven walls, mixing with the sound of dripping water. It almost sounded... like some kind of music?

I dismounted Oakheart and slowly walked forward, peering around a boulder. In the dim light off the water, I spied a small figure, crouched over something, chewing and rolling around. "Legato? What are you doing?" The figure startled, dropping the item with a sad *clack!*. It rolled across the uneven floor, tapping against my boots. I picked it up, then glared good naturedly at the musical night fury. "So, this is where you were hiding my flute, eh?" The fury looked abashed, and mewed slightly as it came over to perch on my shoulder, snuggling against my neck. With my free hand I scratched his chin, relieved that it wasn't the monster dragon we were looking for, but disappointed that it was still out there. After several more hours of searching, I circled back to the main tunnel, meeting up with Braggart and calling it quits for the night.

"Did you find it?"

"No, just Legato's hiding place for the flute that I meant to give you for your birthday." I held it out, but it was coated in chew marks now, and wasn't worth working on anymore. "You?"

"I think I might have glimpsed it at some point. I saw some sort of figure staggering around. It was pretty big and formless, though, so I couldn't tell what species it might have been. It was pretty uncoordinated and out of sorts, but I lost it when we reached the triple fork because my lantern went out. That's when we decided to come back up."

"Well, the storm is almost over. Maybe it will leave when it doesn't have to take shelter anymore."

The next day was gorgeous, as it almost assuredly is after such torrential rains. Everything was washed clean and the plants were vibrant. We were all splashing around near Wellspring's waterfall, and the dragon seemed happy for the attention. "Hey boy, how was the storm?" I scratched under his chin, just where the Scauldron liked it. He closed his eyes in happiness. "You like some good rain, don't you?" He purred, then turned to spray some water as Bjorn pulled on his tail. The pair trampled off into the shallower water, making it go everywhere. I looked at Braggart, thinking about the night before. "Just where do you think that thing went?"

"I don't know." He seemed lost in thought, which was unusual for the comedic Braggart. "I just hope it lef-"

"Draaaaagggggoooooonn!" Loki's cry sent us careening up the hill, and even was enough to bring the carefree Wellspring out of his pond, galloping up the slope. Loki was running towards us, a small lime green thing on his heels, which was then followed by Legato, Glowworm, Oakheart, Midas, and a possee of other resident dragons. We started running towards them, and I tried to get to Loki, who tripped just seconds before the green thing caught up. It made a leap- but was stopped by Wellspring, who snapped his jaws shut on it. I slid into the ground, grabbing up my little brother.

"Loki! Loki look at me! Are you alright?!" He was slightly teary-eyed from the fall, but otherwise looked fine.

"I was playing with the dragon again. He doesn't like the bigger dragons." His small face pouted, looking up at Wellspring, who was turning slightly greener than usual. Now safe, I put Loki down, concerned for the Scauldron.

"Wellspring?..." I reached up, but the dragon started to thrash around, his eyes rolling. "Wellspring!" I tried to grab his head, but then gave up, instead trying to shove him back down the hill towards his pond. Finally, I shifted his balance, and he rolled away, causing a tidal wave as he landed. I raced after him, and arrived just as he weakly sprayed a small amount of water and green slime out onto the shore. I stroked his head, but he seemed better now, panting and soaking in the water.

I looked over at the green thing on the shore, which was jiggling slightly. Loki went over to it, poking it. "Dragon? Draaaaagon? Where did you goooo?" He sat, looking at it like he had broken his favorite toy. I ignored it. It had twice tried to hurt him. And yet... I looked back over as Loki started to giggle. The gelatinous mass was reforming into a small night-fury-esque shape. When it was mostly whole, it shook itself, and then quickly threw itself into Loki's arms, trying to disappear from the stares surrounding it.

Braggart tried to take it, but Loki wailed, and a small, watery wail came from his arms as well. "NNNOOOOO! You can't take my dragon! He's mine!" I sighed, walking over.

Braggart growled out, "We can't let him keep that thing. It tried to hurt him."

"Not really. It tried to run away. Loki tried to chase it the first time, and then us, and then all the other dragons after that. It just wanted to get away." He huffed, unsatisfied but trusting my judgement. "And, the water…" I watched it finish reforming as it huddled and shivered against his chest. "It absorbs it, like flour. It keeps it whole and formed. But too much makes it.. disoriented. And then still more makes it dissolve completely."

"So, what exactly to do we call this thing?"

"Sliplock!" An ecstatic Loki called out, snuggling into the goo. I winced at the stains on his clothes, and then again as it licked at the snot on his face, but I let it pass.

"Good enough."