Chapter 11: Dealing with the Deranged, Pt. 1

It was another bright and sunny day at the Dragerium and the Rangers and Alicia were just minding their own business as there wasn't any danger happening in that moment. Looking very proud of himself, Fishlegs approaches Astrid and Snotlout with his arms out asking, "Well? What do you think?"

Snoltout shrugs and replies while gesturing to Fishlegs's yellow Dragerium jacket, "I've always thought the yellow was a little tacky for you, you should consider a fiery orange."

Fishlegs shakes his head. "No, that's not what I meant. I finally went down a pants size! I went from a size 48 to a comfortable 47! I knew that if I stopped eating whole pizzas then I would see the results!"

Snotlout and Astrid exchange a glance as Fishlegs really didn't look that different, but Astrid decided that he seemed proud of himself so he says, "Oh, OH! Yeah, you know, now that I'm looking at it you do look good, Fishlegs!"

Fishlegs puts his hands to his hips and gives a huge grin. "Thank you, Astrid."

Hoping to avoid the awkward situation, Astrid gets up and walks over to Hiccup and Alicia, who were both sitting near Hiccup's quarters with stacks of books near him. Astrid comments, "Well, this looks like you've slept."

Hiccup rubs his eyes and replies. "Unless you have an extra strong cup of coffee to give me, then I suggest you hold the remark."

Astrid shakes her head and replies, "So, what even is all of this?"

Alicia replies with, "Hiccup wants to learn more about the dragons for the Zords that we've seen Dagur and Heather use."

Astrid raises her brow to that. "The Razor Zord and Stryke Zord? Why do you want to learn more about those?"

Hiccup replies, "Well, my theory is that if I can find out more info, then it can help us take down those two once and for all. I feel like I'm close, I just…can't seem to find anything." He flips through the book that was sitting on his lap.

Out of curiosity, Astrid kneels down and peeks at the title of the green covered book. "Well, here's something that might help, this is a book on what forest plants are and aren't edible." Hiccup closes the book and glances the title, 'Forest Foraging dos and don'ts'. He puts his head into his hands in shame as Astrid asks, "Is this one of those Hiccup moments where we should just leave you alone for an hour or two?"

Hiccup lets out a deep sigh and replies in his hands, "Please?"

Astrid nods. "Of course. Call us if you find something or if anything else comes up."

Alicia replies while patting Hiccup's back, "Will do, Astrid, thank you." With that, she gathers Snotlout and Fishlegs and the three of them head out.

Since it was a weekend and Hiccup was clearly busy, the trio, who were out of their Dragerium jackets and into more casual clothes of their respective Ranger colors, had not much going on for a bit, a rare occasion as of late, so they decided to walk around a park that sits on the other side of Berk from the forest that the Dragerium sits in.

As the three of them were walking along, Snotlout points out, "Man, if Hiccup could put as much effort into reading books as he would for picking up girls, he'd be golden."

Not wanting to point out something that was still very much a secret to the other Rangers, Astrid replies, "Look, I'm sure he'll find something sooner or-" Just then, Astrid pauses as she spots two things zoom past her into the forest that the park sits in front of. Astrid asks, "You guys saw that, right?"

Fishlegs and Snotlout reply, "Yep." So the three of them run into the set of trees in the direction that the blurred objects, or people, went. They dodged trees, leaped over rocks and fallen logs in hopes of finding what they were chasing.

Pretty soon, the trio come across an area where the trees were more spread out and at first see nothing but said trees as Astrid states, "I swear I saw them come over here."

Then, an all-too familiar female voice pops up. "Good eyes, Astrid." The trio look to see that, sure enough, Dagur and Heather were standing there, arms crossed and back leaning against a thick tree.

Snotlout asks the Berserk Rangers, "Can't you guys ever take a vacation or something? Personally, I'd like to go back to us fighting Scale Shedders once a week."

Astrid then states, "If you want our Drago Scales, then you're gonna have to take them from us!"

Dagur then states, "This isn't even about the scales anymore. We're through messing around with you three, it's time we settle this once and for all!"

Fishlegs, being the peace lover that he is, states, "Why do we even have to fight at all? You guys are pretty strong, I think that if we were to team up then we'd all make a very powerful team."

Heather replies with, "You're right, we could make a strong team. Why don't you come on down to the Scale Shedder lair so we can get you recruited?"

Fishlegs states, "You know that's not what I meant."

Astrid then whispers to Fishlegs, "Call in Hiccup, we need-"

"NO!" Dagur interrupts. "That precious mentor of yours no longer concerns us, this is between you three and us two, and if that fishbone of a Power Ranger even thinks about coming near us…" He picks up a thick tree branch and crushes it to bits with his bare hand. "…there will be consequences, GOT IT?!"

Seeing as how calling Hiccup would just cause even more problems, Astrid stands her ground and replies, "…So be it."

The five of them stare each other down for a solid minute, both sides thinking about the previous battles and what they have learned through training up until this point, both sides knowing that they really wouldn't be leaving until at least one pair of Rangers is taken out.

A moment later, the Drago Rangers rip off and throw away their street clothes, revealing their Dragerium training jacket and uniform, as they get into a battle pose, Dagur and Heather push themselves off the tree and pose up as well.

The Rangers then charge at each other and begin throwing series of punches and kicks towards the other. Astrid and Heather end up splitting off from the guys as they battle it out. Astrid throws a punch towards Heather's neck, but that was blocked as Heather raises her right arm and uses her left to try to karate chop Astrid's side, which was blocked by Astrid's knee before she leaps up and kicks Heather in the chest, sending her flying back.

Heather quickly regains her composure before leaping onto a tree and using that to eject herself towards Astrid with her fists out, Astrid ducks but this was met by Heather throwing her fists down and striking her on the back, making Astrid fall to the ground.

Heather lands right behind Astrid, but that was a flaw as Astrid spin kicks Heather, tripping her as Astrid flips back onto her feet. Heather gets herself right back up and continues.

While the girls were going at it, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Dagur were having their own bit of fun with each other. Dagur throws a series of powerful punches towards Fishlegs that were all blocked before Fishlegs leaps forward, grabs Dagur and attempts to tackle Dagur down, but this was met by Dagur leaping out of Fishlegs's arms and landing behind him before side kicking him to the ground.

Snotlout gets on Fishlegs's back and leaps off of him before extending his leg in attempt to kick Dagur wherever he could land, but Dagur grabs Snotlout's leg and spins him around a bit. Fishlegs turns himself around and karate chops Dagur's shin, making him drop Snotlout who quickly flipped himself back onto his feet.

Dagur comments, "You numbskulls have improved since we first fought, I'll give you that, but this is far from over!"

Snotlout replies, "Took the words right out of my mouth!"

The girls then join in as the five of them leap into each other, in attempt to push the other party over, but in their haste Heather ends up grabbing Astrid's Morpher and hitting the transport button, causing all five of them to transport away to a beach on an island in they-don't-even-know.

This didn't even phase them as they were so caught up with the thrill of the fight, they weren't even phased when the ground below them shook a bit soon after arriving. The five of them leap back and put up their fighting poses as they stare each other down once again. Astrid then asks, "Are we having fun yet?"

Dagur shakes his head and replies, "Nope!" He and Heather then stand up straight and he adds, "Course there's always this…"

They then call, "Berserk Fury, fire up!" while lifting their left arm up, Astrid briefly notices a red dot on both of their Morphers but figured those were just buttons as Dagur and Heather then holds their Morpher out to the side, this was followed by them holding out their right arm and reaching over to slap their Drago Morpher, causing violet/silver scales to pool out and form their Power Ranger suits, one with three yellow tails extending from the back and the other with a plated armor design before yelling, "BERSERK RANGER POWER!" and putting their fists back up.

Snotlout then comments, "Can't say we didn't see that coming."

Astrid nods. "Right." The three of them then stand up straight as Astrid asks, "Ready, guys?"

Snotlout and Fishlegs reply, "Ready!"

They then call, "Drago Fury, fire up!" while holding out their arms, bringing their left arm over in a V shape and using their other arm to slap their Drago Morhper, causing a pool of red/blue/yellow scales to pool out and form their Ranger suits, one with long horns on the helmet, one with yellow spikes, and one with several bumps before calling, "DRAGO RANGER POWER!" and standing with their arms held out and their legs spread.

Within her silver suit, Heather then states, "Oh, it is so on now!"

Fishlegs then states from his yellow suit, "Guys, I'm about ready to drop the whole trying to reason with them thing."

Snotlout, wearing his red suit, comments, "Glad you decided that, Fishface, because I never picked up on trying to reason with them."

Astrid, wearing her blue suit, adds, "Same here, if it's us or them then I'm going to choose us every single time!" The five rangers then unsheathe their swords and leap at each other to continue the battle.

Meanwhile, back at the Dragerium, Hiccup was reading up on the Book of Dragons and comments, "Huh, this is interesting."

Alicia asks, "What is it, Hiccup?"

Hiccup flips the book around to show Alicia an image of two dragons, one violet and yellow with three tails and the other with a silver plated armor covering its body. "Check it out, it seems that Heather's Razor Zord is based off of this dragon, the Razorwhip, who could shoot iron laden spines and has a nearly impenetrable armored body."

Alicia nods. "Ok…"

Hiccup then adds while pointing to the violet dragon, "And Dagur's Stryke Zord is based on this guy, the Triple Stryke, and each of its three tails contains a type of poison with different effects."

The orange haired women looks up at Hiccup and asks, "So, what's the point?"

Hiccup replies, "None of this states either dragon being used for evil deeds, so why would the two we're dealing with do so?"

Alicia thinks for a moment then points out, "Well, it could be that those dragons simply aren't evil, maybe something is controlling Dagur and Heather and causing them to behave this way."

Hiccup nods to that. "Maybe…I'll call the Rangers and see if they can come up with any ideas." He picks up his black scaled Morpher and presses the call button.

From the other side, Astrid's Morpher begins to beep as if it's receiving a call. Hearing this, she whispers to Snotlout, "Hey, I think Hiccup is trying to contact me! I need you to create a diversion!"

Snotlout nods. "One diversion coming right up! Fire Wall!" he throws his hand to the ground and creates a wall of fire, which Astrid uses to flee and hide behind a nearby boulder.

Astrid presses the call button on her blue Morpher and asks, "Go for Astrid, and this better be important!"

From the other side, Hiccup replies, "Astrid, I need you and the guys to come back to the Dragerium."

Astrid replies as an explosion is caused from the other side of the boulder she was hiding behind. "We're kind of busy at the moment, Hiccup!"

Hiccup then asks, "Wait, what's that noise? Are you guys in a battle?"

Looking over, she sees Fishlegs puffing out his body to block Heather's view before stating, "It's the Berserks, they ambushed us and didn't give us much other option."

Hiccup asks, "What? Ok, stay calm, I'll be right there. Drago Fur-"

"No! Wait! Their terms were that you cannot be here." Astrid states. "I guess they want to deal with you once they deal with us."

Hiccup groans. "I should've known, alright, just keep it up, I'll figure out a way to help you without them knowing I'm helping you."

However, Dagur then grabs Astrid by her Morhper and speaks into it saying, "Hey! I specifically said no calls for help!" He then crushes the com line of Astrid's Morpher and throws her to the ground. This was followed by Snotlout hitting Dagur with a blast from his red Nightmare Blaster.

Snotlout and Fishlegs run up next to Astrid as Fishlegs asks, "You ok?"

Astrid nods. "I'm fine, but my com is busted! We can't talk to Hiccup or Alicia now."

Heather then lands on top of the boulder Astrid was hiding behind with her hands on her feet saying, "You can run, but you can't hide, Astrid! We suggest you surrender now!"

Astrid steps back and replies, "Like hell we are! Nadder spines!" She then shoots a series of yellow spines towards Heather, who dodges them with various flips and spins, that is until Heather overestimated one single spin, making her get to a perfect angle for Astrid to strike her Morpher on the red dot that sits about halfway down the Morpher, making a faint chirp as a circular, wired object falls to the ground.

Once she lands, Heather then looks around at the others and notices how Dagur was still fighting the other Rangers, yet suddenly she felt a sense that something was off here, like she shouldn't even be doing this. "Wait…what's going on?"

Dagur looks back while holding his sword up in a defensive position and says, "Any time you'd like to chime in, Heather!"

It couldn't be seen from within her helmet, but Heather blinks a few times as she realizes something, "But…wait…aren't those my…" Her mind then pulls up some memories, one of her and Astrid sitting together in a class that they share together and make jokes about the boys they spend time with, another of how Snotlout defended her from the bully, Alvin, and then a time when Fishlegs let her borrow his textbook on a day that she forgot to bring hers. In those memories, they weren't enemies at all, in fact they were, "…friends."

Dagur then manages to drop kick all three Rangers to the ground before turning around and stomping over to Heather before asking, "The hell is wrong with you? Why did you stop fighting?"

Heather replies with, "I…I don't know, but somehow I just feel like we shouldn't be fighting those guys at all!"

Dagur then scoffs. "Vidger was right about you, you're too weak to be a Berserk Ranger. The Silver Scale had no real reason to pick you as its master."

Heather holds out her arms and asks, "H-how can you say that? You're my brother!"

Dagur then looks Heather up and down before deciding, "…We may be siblings, but we are not teammates! If you change your mind, I'll be waiting." With that, he dashes off towards a hill towards the center of the island they stood on.

At a loss for words, Heather just stood there with her own thoughts until she hears the sound of a blaster charging up and looks behind her to see Snotlout holding his Nightmare Blaster up. "Alright, if you just hold still, we'll get this over with."

Heather turns around and holds up her arms saying, "Wait, Snotlout," Her silver Ranger suit then fades away to reveal her normal self, "I…I don't want to fight."

Snotlout lets out a short laugh. "Like you think I'm going to fall for that! Dagur said it himself, it's time we settle this once and for all!"

Heather states, "NO, I'm serious, I really don't want to fight! I…I don't know what came over me, but somehow I just feel this urge to not fight you guys at all!"

Astrid was still very skeptical about this, but then she noticed the red, circular, wired object that fell onto the ground after she hit Heather's Morpher. She picks it up and comments, "Hey, this was on your Morpher, right? Dagur's too?"

Heather nods. "Yeah, though I assumed it was just part of the Morpher."

Fishlegs picks up the object and lifts the eye covering on his yellow Ranger helmet and reads some text on the underside of the device. "Grimora Mind Inhibitor Device. So…it's a mind control device? But why would this be on a Drago Morpher?"

Astrid's eyes widen as the face cover on her blue Ranger helmet lifts and she comments, "Oh my god, Vidger probably put those devices on Dagur and Heather's Morphers to brainwash them into thinking that we're the enemy!" She looks over Heather and states, "That explains it all! You and Dagur weren't attacking us because you were mad at us or anything, you did it because you were being forced to!"

Heather's eyes widen even further. "Oh no…Dagur! His device is still on his Morpher! W-we have to go find him!" With that, she takes off in the direction that Dagur ran off in. Not seeing any other choice, Astrid, Snotlout and Fishlegs follow her in hopes that they can find Dagur and get rid of his inhibitor device before he causes too much damage.

To be continued…