Chapter 4: Glaring Daggers

Before this chapter begins, I would just like to thank Carayen, MORTAL18, Musiclover435, TiranoThunder, coolboiy, dragonslayerajahn, zherzfeld1219, and Obsidian Fury51 for the support they've shown for this story up until this point, you guys are awesome and I really do appreciate it.

That's all, enjoy!

It's been a few weeks since Astrid, Snotlout and Fishlegs joined up as new Drago Power Rangers under Hiccup's guidance, and while the three have been keeping up with training on top of their schoolwork, there is one thing the three of them haven't gotten from their mentor.

It was morning when Astrid goes up to Hiccup, who was just sitting in his bedroom as normal, and tells him, "Hey, Hiccup. Snotlout, Fishlegs and I were going to check out this new restaurant that opened up near our school, want to come with us?"

Hiccup simply glances over to Astrid, looks down and sighs. "I'm fine."

Astrid asks, "You sure? Cause we really do think it would be a good time and we could finally get to know you a bit better."

Hiccup lets out an even deeper sigh. "I'm…gonna be busy."

Astrid crosses her arms and replies, "You know, it's interesting how you're always conveniently busy whenever we want to do something with you." This was very true. While Astrid and the boys have seen him up for training sessions, they've yet to have a chance to sit with him and chill.

Hiccup simply glanced over to Astrid again before looking back down to the floor before Astrid shrugs. "Well…alright, then. Some other time, I guess." And she just walks away.

From around the corner, Alicia, who was listening in to the whole thing, decides to remind Hiccup, "All they want is for you to open up a little."

Hiccup just scoffs to that. "I once opened up to someone, that person is now gone from my life."

Alicia shakes her head. "The more you let yourself wallow in the loss of Luna, the harder it will be to think about anything else. I mean, really, when was the last time you left the Dragerium?"

Hiccup replies, "I've so left-"

"And not for a battle. Heck, when was the last time you even smiled?" Alicia adds, making Hiccup look back down to the floor. Alicia just sighs, "I can't force you to do anything, but I do hope you consider this." And she just walks off. Just then, the Night Fury Zord pokes its man-sized head up, making Alicia comment, "I can't help someone who doesn't want help. I can mend physical wounds, but emotional wounds are another story entirely." She gives the black Zord a rub on the head as it purrs.

Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout walk into a place called 'Gustav's Place' which had a bunch of tables, a bar, some kind of stage, and even some computers. Astrid asks, "What is this place?"

Just then, a young, brunette woman walks up to the three of them and says, "Hi, just the three of you today?"

Astrid replies for them. "Yes."

The woman nods. "Awesome, have a seat wherever you like, my name is Angie if you have any questions."

Before Angie left, Astrid asks, "Actually, yeah, what is this place?"

Angie nods. "Well, it's basically a place to come and hangout. We've got live music every night, a computer lab, a few games set up, and a great selection of food. And if you're a student at Berk, then you get a discount. Sorry to run, but I do have other tables, just holler if you need anything."

The trio look around as they all take a seat and order some drinks. They then have a small discussion about the various decorations and features of the place when Snotlout looks behind him and spots a black haired girl wearing a silver colored shirt sitting behind him seeming to be talking to two other girls. "Hey, check her out."

Fishlegs raises a brow. "And exactly what sort of chance do you think you have with her?"

Snotlout takes another sip of his soda and replies, "Fishface, you just need to watch the old Snotlout method." He gets up and walks over to the table and addresses the black-haired girl. "Sup, ladies. The name's Snotlout. What sort of name belongs to your lovely face?" He asks the black-haired girl.

A bit taken aback, the girl moves back a little and replies, "Uh…Heather."

Snotlout lets out a whistle. "Heather, my that's a lovely name. So, you go to school around here?"

Heather replies, "Uh, yeah, my family and I just moved here, actually, I'm gonna be starting at Berk High School pretty soon."

Snotlout's eyes widen. "What a coincidence, I go to Berk! We just have so much in common, don't we? So, new girl, what do you say we ditch this place and go somewhere more…comfortable?"

From behind, Astrid whispers to Fishlegs, "If anyone asks, we don't know him." Fishlegs couldn't agree more.

Heather was clearly uncomfortable, but that's when someone walks up behind Snotlout and asks, "Is this guy giving you trouble, Heather?"

Figuring it was someone who also wanted Heather, Snotlout replies, "Buddy, the only trouble I see is the one you're about to be iiiiiiiinnnnnnn." He turns around and on that last word he notices just who he's talking to.

Looming over Snotlout was a red-haired boy who was at least 6 inches taller than him, had a scar running across his left eye and was built with tons of packed muscle, muscle that the green tank top he was wearing was barely hiding. Snotlout stood before this man in total awe as Heather leans in and says, "Snotlout, I'd like you to meet my brother, Dagur."

Dagur picks up Snotlout by the red shirt he was wearing and asks in an angry voice, "So, Snothat, you think it's fun to hit on my sister?"

Snotlout was trying to think of anything to save his butt, so he looks to Astrid and Fishlegs for support, but saw that the two had left and replies, "Oh…no, not at all, I was just…uh…"

Dagur pulls Snotlout closer. "You were what?"

Snotlout then shuts his eyes and says in a high-pitched voice, "I'll give you my watch if you don't hurt me!"

Dagur raises a brow to that and glances down to Snotlout's right arm to see the 'watch' and replies, "You have a deal." He drops Snotlout and takes the watch off of Snotlout's wrist in one move as he pushes Snotlout behind him.

Snotlout felt all over in realization that he was alive, so he rushes outside to Astrid and Fishlegs. He says in a sarcastic voice. "ThANks for the hELp."

Astrid comments, "Oh, you needed help? Because it seemed like you had it there." A beep the comes off of Astrid's blue Morpher and she says, "Come on, guys, we're gonna be late for our next training session." With that, the three of them head off to the Dragerium.

At the Dragerium, Hiccup stood before the other three with his hands behind his back in a military major fashion. He explains to them, "Alright, guys, in the past I've been testing your ability to work as a team, now it's time to assess your individual skills. So, going one at a time, the three of you will face a gauntlet of simulated Scale Shedders. They will come at you in 5 waves, with each wave getting more difficult than the last. I will judge you on your skill level as well as how many of these Shedders you can take out. Now, who's first?"

Snotlout pushes the other two aside and says with a smirk. "Step aside."

Fishlegs asks, "You sure you're not just trying to prove yourself after what happened earlier?"

Snotlout gives Fishlegs a glare before replying, "Shut it, Fishface." He then steps into the field before reciting the call, "Drago Fury, Fire up!" And making the usual pose, but finds that when he went to smack his Morpher, he ended up slapping his wrist instead. Confused, Snotlout comments, "Uh…just a sec." And he begins digging into his pockets.

Hiccup rolls his eyes and asks, "Snotlout, where's your Morpher?"

Astrid comments with a smirk, "Did you leave it in the Nightmare Zord again?" She asks as this is something Snotlout has done in the past, like after the first time they had to use their Zords for battle.

Snotlout ponders this before stating, "No, because it would've coughed it up by now." He keeps searching as he claims, "I swear I had it earlier."

Fishlegs then asks, "Well, think back, where do you last remember having it?"

Snotlout thinks about it and replies, "Let's see…I had it yesterday during training…I had it this morning because I made a prank call to Fishface asking him if his refrigerator was running…"

Fishlegs comments, "I can vouch for that."

Snotlout thinks a bit more and states, "Oh yeah, and I had it at Gustav's earlier right when that guy, Dagur, came up to me and I…oh no."

He then remembers that when Dagur picked him up, Snotlout told him that he'd give him his watch if Dagur didn't hurt him without even realizing that the 'watch' he gave away was actually his Drago Morpher, Red Drago Scale and all.

Having heard that, the others stare at Snotlout in total disbelief as they all say simultaneously, "You gave away your MORPHER?!"

Snotlout gets a sheepish look as he looks to the others and replies, "…Maybe."

Hiccup reminds him, "Snotlout, you're a Power Ranger now, you need to have your Morpher with you at all times. Trouble could pop up at any moment and you need to be ready for it!"

Snotlout could see that all eyes were now on him as he puts his hands up and down in a 'calm down' fashion and tells them, "Ok, ok, I get it, there's no need to panic. I'll just go get my Morhper back and all will be well. I mean, it's not like the emergency alarm is going to go off right this minute, right?" The second after he says this, the alarm goes off, telling those on the Dragerium that there's trouble. Snotlout puts his face into his hand, "Of all the crappy timing…"

They all get to the viewing pond where Alicia states, "Looks like some more Scale Shedders are running amok in the outskirts of the city, And I'll bet my robe that there's a Scale Crusher somewhere nearby as well."

Hiccup nods to that. "Then let's go." They start to run to the place where they teleport to and from the Dragerium when Hiccup stops Snotlout, "Except for you. You're not throwing a single punch until you get that Morpher back."

Snotlout replies in a tone that a child would make after being told he can't have ice cream, "Oh come oooooonnnnnnn!"

Hiccup puts his foot down and replies, "I mean it. No Morpher, no battle."

Snotlout grunts to that. "Ok, if I can get my Morpher back before the battle is over, then can I join?"

Hiccup nods, "You can, but no sooner." And with that, he, Astrid and Fishlegs teleport away to the scene of the battle.

Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs show up to the scene of the battle in their respective black, blue and yellow Power Ranger suits and see the Scale Shedders digging through dumpsters and putting it into a pile. "There's Shedders alright." Astrid comments. "But is it just them?"

Fishlegs then wafts his nose. "Ugh, that trash pile reeks! It's like that time I found that green sock under Snotlout's bed. He doesn't own any green socks."

Hiccup surveys the area and comments, "Hang on…something's up here."

Just then, the pile of trash shifts and appears to begin moving as one of the larger trash bags from within stands up and lets out an evil laugh. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Garbage Heap, and I'm here to take you rangers out!"

Fishlegs asks in disbelief, "We're fighting a pile of trash? Well, this day couldn't get any weirder."

The Garbage Heap then looks to Fishlegs and scoffs, "Never thought I'd see a fa-"

Fishlegs holds his hands to the sides. "Ok, is EVERY Scale Crusher we meet going to comment on my weight?"

Astrid then comments as she gags a bit from the stench, "Looks like we're gonna need one long shower after this. Just hope Snotlout gets here soon so he can help us clean up this mess." The three then unsheathe their battle swords and get to work with fighting the Shedders.

Meanwhile, back at the Dragerium, Snotlout paces around as Alicia looks through the sacred pond to figure out where Dagur, the guy who Snotlout gave his Morpher to, lives. "How long is this going to take?" Snotlout asks.

"Just one moment…there!" Alicia finds the location of Dagur's house with an eagle eye view of the street and shows it to Snotlout. Snotlout squints his eyes as the street they were looking at and comments, "Hey, wait, that looks like…my street!"

Alicia raises a brow to that, "So, these people live near you but you don't know them?"

Snotlout then taps his chin as he replies, "Well…my dad did mention that there was a family moving into a house near mine, but I only pay attention to half of what he tells me anyway."

Alicia nods. "Well, at least we won't have to look too far. Alright, head to the teleport platform and I'll get you going."

Snotlout nods and makes his way down the stairs to the platform where Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs left earlier where Alicia calls, "Transport!" and in a flash, Snotlout goes from the Dragerium and in front of the single-story house shown earlier.

Snotlout takes a few short breaths before walking up to the blue front door of the house and giving the door a few knocks. After waiting a moment, the door opens up and Dagur pops his head out. "Hey, you're that punk that tried to hit on my sister earlier. Here for some more?"

Snotlout lets out an awkward chuckle and replies, "No, nothing like that, it's just that, well…remember that watch I gave you earlier? Yeah, I'm gonna need it back, it's actually, uh, kind of special to me."

Dagur raises a brow to that. "Oh, you mean this thing?" He holds up the silver bracelet with the red scale lodged into the side. "You can have it back, doesn't really seem to do anything." He proceeds to bring the Morpher over to Snotlout.

Snotlout lets out a sigh of relief before saying, "Oh, thank you so much!"

Dagur pulls the Morpher back, however, and says, "IF you promise to never even speak to Heather ever again!" Snotlout simply gives a nervous nod before Dagur tosses the device into Snotlout's hands and shuts the door.

Now relieved, Snotlout uses the Morpher to teleport himself to where the other Rangers were and saw that they all seemed to be lying down under some kind of large trash bag. Snotlout asks, "Uh, what happened to you guys? And what is that stench? It's worse than that time I dropped a sandwich under my bed and forgot about it for a few months."

Astrid comments, "Is there anything that ISN'T festering under your bed?"

That's when the heaping pile of trash, the Garbage Heap, walks up and lets out an evil laugh. "These three were no match for me!"

Hiccup grunts, "The Scale Shedders were no problem, but this guy was more powerful than I anticipated!"

Snotlout then pops his neck. "Well then, it's a good thing the old Snot showed up." He holds up his Morpeher and it pops up with the red, long horned dragon which Snotlout flips its mouth opens and calls, "Drago Fury, Fire Up!" While making the usual pose. The Morpher sends a flurry of red scales that surround Snotlout's body from his feet to his neck then the head of his dragon swallows Snotlout's head to make his helmet.

Once morphed, Snotlout picks up his red blaster and says, "Time to take out the trash, Nightmare Blaster!" He uses the blaster to blast away the trash bags that were on top of Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs so they could get up.

Astrid comments, "Came just in time, Snotlout! I thought my life was going to end by trash!"

The Garbage Heap comments, "Oh, now you've done it!" It flings and scatters a bunch of trash towards them.

Snotlout steps in and calls, "I got it, HEAT WAVE!" He spreads a wave of fire-hot air that burns up the trash before it could even touch the rangers.

Astrid comments to that, "Well, looks like someone HAS been training."

Hiccup comments, "That was good, but we need to find a way to take this guy back to the dumps where he belongs!"

Fishlegs then points out, "Well, that heat wave seemed to do something, maybe we can use something like that but bigger and hotter."

Hiccup nods. "I like the way you think, Fishlegs. Alright guys, we can call upon the flames of our dragons from the tips of our swords then combine them for a very powerful attack."

Astrid comments, "Like we do to form the Drago Blaster, I think it will work."

Hiccup nods. "Then let's do it. Drago Saber energy, Night Fury!" Hiccup raises his black hilted sword and a purple ball of flame forms at the tip.

Snotlout adds, "Drago Saber energy, Nightmare!" He does the same with his red hilted sword to make an orange ball of flame.

Astrid adds, "Drago Saber energy, Nadder!" and the tip of her blue hilted sword forms a yellow ball of flame.

Then Fishlegs adds, "Drago Saber energy, Gronk!" and the tip of his yellow hilted sword forms a red ball of flame.

The Garbage Heap comments, "Oh, this might leave a burn!"

The four Rangers stand side by side and put the tips of their swords together as they command, "Energy combine!" before Hiccup yells, "DRAGO HEAT BLAST, FIRE!" and a car thick beam of heat is fired and directed at the Garbage Heap, burning him up where it stood. The rangers cheer to each other in victory over destroying it.

Meanwhile, back at the lair of the Scale Shedders, Vidger, the leader of the Shedders, asks the man in the white hair, "Lord Grisly, should I deploy Mega-Beast Mode?" The mode being what brings Scale Crushers to monstrous heights.

The man squints. "…No. It's not worth wasting the energy. Let's just get going on creating the next Crusher." Vidger nods to that and steps away.

Once the Rangers had gotten out of their suits, and had gotten an extra long, extra soapy shower, Hiccup stands before the others at the training grounds before saying, "Ok, guys, it's clear that I need to go over this again. This is all very important, so pay attention." He holds up his Morpher with his black Drago Scale wedged inside and has the others do the same.

"This is your Drago Morpher, as a Power Ranger it is your most prized possession. Without your Morpher, you have no power, without you, your Morpher has no one to give power to, it's simple as that. You will guard it with your life because it is there to protect lives, both of your own, each other's and the innocent. Understood?"

The other three salute Hiccup and reply, "Yes, sir!"

Hiccup nods. "Good, good. Dismissed."

Later on, after Hiccup had already retreated into his room, Astrid goes up to him and says, "Hey, the boys and I were…" She could see the same look in Hiccup's eyes that she saw earlier that day when asked to join them for an outing, so Astrid just sighs. "You know what? Forget it." With that, she turns around and goes to join Snotlout and Fishlegs.

Once Astrid was gone, Hiccup got to thinking about what happened today and how he really did enjoy how the four of them teamed up to take down the Garbage Heap, and, well, he enjoyed being their company as well.

He looks to a cabinet in his room and opens it up, revealing a green shirt, black vest and black pants that had accumulated dust from how long they haven't been worn. He takes a few more moments to think about it before reaching into the cabinet and grabbing the clothes.

Over at Gustav's Place, Astrid, Snotlout and Fishlegs were sat at a table with sodas in their hands and were chatting amongst each other when Hiccup walks over and says, "Hey guys." The other three stop talking and look to Hiccup. "Is…is this seat taken?" He gestures to an empty chair in front of the table.

The three younger people exchange a look of surprise followed by amusement as Astrid replies with, "Why…yes, yes it is." as she looks back to Hiccup.

Hiccup nods and takes that seat as Astrid explains, "Fishlegs was just telling us this hilarious story, go ahead, Fishlegs."

Fishlegs nods and continues to tell the story, "So, my foot is totally stuck in there, right? And the dog is having a seizure and I got half a pie left…"

Hiccup wasn't really listening as his mind couldn't let go of how awkward it feels being near them. Then he looks to the other three who were laughing, smiling, and not thinking about battles or anything of that nature, and the sight of which filled his mind with thoughts, kind thoughts, thoughts he hadn't thought of in months.

And, for the first time in months, he smiles. A genuine smile that only good friends can bring out. Astrid spotted that smile, but didn't want to make a show of it to the others, so she simply pats Hiccup's knee from under the table and smiles right back.

For the first time in many months, Hiccup truly felt like he wasn't alone in the world.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed reading it as I did coming up with it.

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Take care and I'll see you next time!