Chapter 13: The Past Strikes Back

With Dagur and Heather now joining Hiccup and the Drago Rangers, and with the knowledge that there's a great leader amongst the Scale Shedders, the Rangers knew they needed to work hard to train up even further to hopefully take him down.

Alicia on the other hand had her mind set on other things, she currently stood at the edge of the Dragerium's massive stone stairs as the violet Stryke Zord and silver Razor Zord, who now take residence at the Dragerium, fly overhead for her to see.

She watches as the two Drago Zords soar through the skies with as much grace and elegance as they can muster before heading back to the main area of the Dragerium where Snotlout, Fishlegs and Dagur stood, the later of which were reading up on the Dragerium's rule book. Alicia approaches Dagur and states, "I have to say, the Razor Zord and Stryke Zord are magnificent, truly."

Dagur replies, "Yeah, they definitely served Heather and I well."

Alicia then asks, "If I may, I would like to observe your Zords to note their personality."

Dagur shrugs, "Knock yourself out, Alicia. I'm just glad you took them in so readily."

Snotlout then looks up and points out, "Hey, uh, I don't think we all agree on that whole magnificent thing."

The others look up and over to see the Razor and Stryke Zords standing on one end and letting out growls to the red Nightmare Zord, blue Nadder Zord and yellow Gronk Zord. The Black Night Fury Zord stood near the temple where Alicia calls out, "Will you all stop it? You're behaving like hatchlings." She looks to the Night Fury Zord and asks, "You mind?" The Night Fury Zord grunts in response and flies over to break up the growling match between the other Zords. Alicia sighs while shaking her head, "Those five have been fighting since the Berserk Zords got here."

Fishlegs then points out, "Can you really blame them? I mean, it wasn't too long ago that those two wanted to destroy us."

Dagur then states, "Look, if it's too much of a burden then I can send them off somewhere else."

Alicia states, "They will learn to get along, trust me. Sometimes dragons can be stubborn as a mule, but once you gain their trust, there's nothing they won't do for you. Oh, speaking of stubborn, has anyone seen Hiccup?"

Snotlout replies, "I believe he and the girls are at the training area, something about a sparking against each other or something."

Fishlegs then asks, "You mean sparring?"

Snotlout shrugs. "Yeah, I guess they're doing that too."

To Snotlout's word, Hiccup stood at the bottom of the stone stairs leading to the Dragerium's training grounds where Astrid and Heather were going at it with each other, slowly throwing punches, kicks and chops to be blocked by the other. Astrid wore her normal light blue Dragerium robe while Heather donned her new silver robe, the face of her Razor Zord embedded into it.

The two girls had been going at this for about 10 minutes now with no real end in sight, that is until Heather extends her arm to punch Astrid who grabs the arm and pulls on it, making it pull backwards and making Heather yelp in pain. Heather flips herself out of Astrid's hold and states, "I thought we were just sparring!"

Astrid didn't respond, she just let up a swift kick that Heather grabs and does a drop kick to send Astrid onto the ground. "Ok, girls, I think we're getting off track here." Hiccup states.

The two didn't listen as they were now fighting harder, throwing punches towards the other's face, stomach and chest. "That's enough!" Hiccup states, but they didn't stop as the anger of the battles that took place the past few weeks flooded each other's mind as they get caught up in their own emotions.

Astrid and Heather end up facing each other before charging towards the other, raising their voice in a yell in the process, before Hiccup decides it was time to intervene. "FURY SPEED!" He calls as he goes into a blinding speed and knocks over both girls to the ground.

Regaining her composure, Astrid asks, "Hey! What was that about? I was going to win that!"

Hiccup states, "Oh, so it's just about winning a match, then? Or did you actually forget one of my most important lessons?"

Realizing what she had done, Astrid stands and replies, "Right…competition is fine as long as you keep honor and friendship in mind." She faces Heather and helps her get on her feet before saying, "I'm sorry, Heather. I don't know what came over me."

Heather was peeved at Astrid's actions, but replies with, "I should've stopped as soon as things were getting too heated as well, I'm sorry."

Just then, Alicia walks down with Snotlout, Fishlegs and Dagur as Hiccup states, "Guys, I know having the Berserks here is an adjustment, for all of us, but that doesn't mean we can just recklessly hurt each other. If we want any shot at taking out this Grisly guy, then we need to figure out how to work together as a team, got it?"

The other five Rangers simply reply, "Got it."

Hiccup nods. "Alright. Now, why don't we take a little break?"

However, a sharp ringing sound pops up in Dagur's head, making him shut his eyes and put his hand to his forehead. "There it is again! That feeling that I was told something while I was under Vidger's control that I can't remember." That feeling has been popping up in Dagur's head in the days that followed after he joined the Drago Rangers, and each time it seems to get stronger and stronger.

Alicia pats Dagur on the back saying, "It sounds like whatever it was is very important." The red-haired woman in a white robe thinks for a second and replies, "I think I know what might help."

The Rangers meet Alicia back at the Dragerium's main area where they sat on their knees, Dagur sitting in front of the others, as Alicia brings out a small bowl with a reddish liquid. "This is a serum that can help jog your memory."

She hands the bowl to Dagur who gives it a sniff, smelling the combination of mouthwash, seaweed and old socks that made him nearly throw up on the spot. "Oh, that's foul! That smells worse than that time I tripped and landed face first in Snotlout's dirty sock pile!"

Alicia nods. "Yes, I understand, the smell is less-than pleasant, I don't think you want to know what's in it, but trust me when I say that it tastes better than it smells."

Dagur gulps. "Well, if it's to help with my memory…" He tips the whole bowl into his mouth and pours the reddish liquid down his gullet, finding the sweet and sour taste to be somewhat pleasant. "Well, you were right about the taste."

Alicia takes the bowl back and sets it aside as she tells Dagur, "Now concentrate, think about Vidger talking to you, and tell me what you see."

Dagur nods and closes his eyes and lets the memories come back to him. "Ok…Ok, I am getting something. Something about…par…parrots? No, wait, parents! Something about parents! Ok…ill…skilled, no killed! My…parents were killed?"

This gets surprised looks from everyone, especially Heather as she was also told that her and Dagur's parents died in a car crash. Alicia then asks, "Someone killed your parents? Who? Who did it?"

Dagur replies, "I'm getting to that…tea…cup? No, cup is right, but there's more it's…" And suddenly, his eyes burst open as the realization dawns him. "Hiccup!"

All eyes then turn to Hiccup as he was just as confused as the rest. "Uh…what?"

Dagur then stands up and, with a full look of rage, jabs his finger towards Hiccup and states, "You! It was YOU! YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!" Everyone now has a look of complete shock and surprise.

At a loss for words, Heather states, "Wait, what?"

Fishlegs adds, "No, there's no way!"

Astrid adds, "That's…impossible! Isn't it?"

Hiccup gets up and holds up his hands "Hold on, Dagur, think about what you're saying."

Dagur replies, "I will hold on once you pay for destroying my family!" He charges towards Hiccup while calling, "BERSERK FURY, FIRE UP!" making his violet Power Ranger suit with three tails form around him as he attempts to tackle Hiccup down.

Hiccup flips back to dodge the attack and make Dagur meet the ground as he says, "Cut it out! Look, I'll admit that before I met you guys I did do some questionable things, but that doesn't mean I'd kill innocent lives!"

Dagur stands back up and states, "Yeah, that's what they all say." He glances over to Heather and asks, "You joining me?" In that moment, Heather didn't quite know who to believe, which led to her standing there speechless. Seeing this, Dagur adds, "Fine, I'll squash this bug. Stryke Claws!" His hands extend and form large scorpion claws as he attempts to grab Hiccup.

Hiccup dodges every move that Dagur attempts to make before leaping up to the roof of the Dragerium's main building and turning around. "Listen! You have the wrong guy, I'm telling you!"

Dagur points his claw up, which collapses back into his normal hands, and states, "Do not think for a SECOND that I'm gonna let you get away with this!" He pulls out his violet, triple tailed blaster and calls, "Tri-Stryke Blaster, Fire!" He fires a line of flames that Hiccup leaps back to dodge.

Seeing as how there was no way Dagur was going to listen to reason, Hiccup presses a button on his black Morpher and teleports away, not telling anyone where he's going. Dagur leaps up to the roof just as Hiccup warps away and states, "You can run, but you can't hide, Haddock! I will find you and get my revenge!"

(An hour later)

In a cave located several miles West of the Dragerium, Hiccup sits alone staring at the campfire he made and trying to figure out just how he should approach this clearly delicate situation. That's when he heard the snap of someone stepping on a branch nearby and gets up, thinking it might be Dagur, and gets ready to fight. However, he let his guard down as soon as he saw Astrid coming in with a brown paper bag. "Hey, thought you might be hungry."

Hiccup sits back down as he opens up the bag to see the food inside and replies, "Thanks Astrid. You make sure you weren't followed?"

Astrid nods and adds, "And, to Fishlegs's instructions, turned off the tracking software on my Morpher so Dagur couldn't find me as well."

Hiccup nods with a grin. "Smart girl." Before picking up the sandwich in the bag and taking a large bite as he hadn't eaten much before that moment.

While Hiccup was eating, Astrid just couldn't help but bring up, "So, did you really do it?" Hiccup pauses to give Astrid an 'are you kidding me?' look before she holds up her hands. "Hey, it's a hot topic."

Hiccup sighs and puts his lunch down before replying, "I barely even know what Dagur is talking about. I mean, if I knew who his parents were, I might have a better understanding, but right now I just don't know."

Meanwhile, back at the Dragerium, Dagur, now out of his Ranger suit, was pacing around the main area, continuously pressing a tracking button on his Morpher saying, "Come on, COME ON! That weasel has to be somewhere!"

Heather then comments, "I just don't get it! I mean, Hiccup? I just don't see him as a killer."

Snotlout, with his arms crossed, replies, "Guess we all have our dark, dirty secrets, like how I once used Hiccup's sword to scratch my butt…don't let him know that."

Fishlegs replies, "Fist off, ew, second this has to be a misunderstanding. I mean, this is Hiccup we're talking about, he wouldn't hurt a fly!"

Back at the cave he was hiding in, a fly flies over Hiccup's shoulder which he uses the toothpick holding his sandwich together to stab it right where it sat. "Not today, little fly, not today."

At the Dragerium, Alicia suggests to Dagur, "Perhaps if we heard the why you believe Hiccup is responsible for your parent's death, it would get us to understand what's going on."

Dagur gives Alicia and the others a side glance before sighing and replying, "My memory is still a bit fuzzy from when I was under Vidger's control, but what I remember is Vidger telling me is that, not long after Hiccup lost his former partner, Luna, his emotions ended up taking over and he went on some kind of rampage inside his Night Fury Zord, and someone that he ended up blasting was my parents. That's all I can remember."

Hearing this after Fishlegs secretly called Astrid on a one-way communication line, Astrid shuts off the line and asks Hiccup, "That sound familiar?"

Hiccup rubs his head. "I…don't know, actually. Those months after I lost Luna were all a blur to me, I can recall losing control on a few occasions, one of which did get the Night Fury Zord involved, but I'm pretty sure all I was doing was looking for Vidger. Killing the innocent was the last thing on my mind."

Astrid sighs. "I want to believe you, Hiccup, I really do, I just…don't know."

Hiccup looks down into the fire that he created and stares into the bright orange flames for a moment before sighing. "Well then, there's only one thing I can do."

Back at the Dragerium, after hearing Dagur's story, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Alicia and Heather were all left to wonder if all that were true. Fishlegs looks over to Alicia and asks, "Is that true? Did Hiccup really go on a rampage?"

Alicia responds while shaking her head, "I could barely keep up with what Hiccup was doing during that time, I was so busy focusing on the increase of Scale Shedder attacks around Berk, plus trying to see if the Drago Scales could find owners to hopefully make things right again." She looks over to Heather, who had a wide-eyed look of confusion and shock. "Is this what Vidger told you as well?"

Heather meekly replies, "Vidger didn't focus on me as much, I guess he felt more power in Dagur and wanted to harness that. All he told me was who I needed to fight."

They all take a few moments of silence as they think about the best move when a beeping pops up on Dagur's Morpher. He looks into it and states, "YES! Got him! You're mine now, Haddock!"

Fishlegs then states, "Hold on, Dagur, I think-" But it was too late, Dagur had already held up his left arm and pushed the transport button on his Morpher to teleport him away to Hiccup's location.

In the middle of a wide field of grass, Hiccup stood tall with Astrid standing to his left as Dagur warps to his spot. Once he spots the skinny man, Dagur states, "You were hard to find, I'll give you that, but now you're mine."

Hiccup takes one step forward and states, "I can tell how much you want this battle, so I'm giving it to you."

Dagur then glances over to Astrid and asks, "You with this bug?"

Astrid replies, "I will offer no assistance to anyone in this fight, may the best Ranger wins." She then steps to the side to give the guys some space.

Dagur glances back to Hiccup and states, "Then it's just you and me."

Hiccup and Dagur stare each other down for a good moment, both of them strategizing about how to approach this battle. Once that moment was over, Dagur holds up his violet Drago Morpher, which Hiccup raises a brow to. "Going straight to that, huh?"

Dagur replies while clenching his fist, "I'm gonna need all the power I can get to crush a weasel like you."

Hiccup shrugs. "So be it." He then throws up his arms and calls, "DRAGO FURY, FIRE UP!" before bringing his left hand over to his chest and bringing his right over to slap his black Morpher. From Hiccup's Morpher, a flurry of black scales flow out and form the shape of his body in front of him, Hiccup holds his arms out and lets the suit come to him as the head of his Night Fury Zord pops up and swallows his own head to complete his Power Ranger suit.

Dagur then calls, "BERSERK FURY, FIRE UP!" as he throws his left arm behind him in an L shape before holding out his right hand and bringing it back to slap his Morpher. From Dagur's Morpher, a flurry of violet and yellow scales pool out as he leaps into the air, letting the scales surround his body before he backflips and lands on all fours before the head of his Stryke Zord pops up and consumes his head.

Now suited up, Hiccup and Dagur stare each other down for a bit longer before Dagur charges towards Hiccup and throws punches from both sides, to which Hiccup backflips out of the way to dodge. This only gets Dagur more aggravated as he throws even more punches for Hiccup to dodge.

From the sidelines, Heather, Snotlout and Fishlegs run up next to Astrid to see the fight happening. "Oh no!" Heather states. "We're too late! They're already fighting!"

Astrid then comments, "Well, Dagur seems to be fighting, but I'm not actually sure what Hiccup is doing."

Snotlout then comments with a smirk, "Hiccup probably just doesn't want to be crushed like a soda can."

The duo soon find themselves in a deeper part of the forest, Hiccup successfully dodging every move that Dagur makes, making him grow angrier and angrier. "Come ON! Throw a fist or something!"

Hiccup leaps onto a tree branch about his height off the ground and states, "Hey, you're the one who wanted this fight, now let's see that berserk stamina."

Dagur grumbles some more as he calls, "Stryke Claws!" His hands extend into crab claws as he leaps up and snaps off the branch that Hiccup was standing on with one squeeze, but Hiccup leaps back just as the branch falls off the tree and onto the ground.

Dagur then pulls out his violet blaster and calls, "Tri-Stryke Blaster!" he sets the dial on the barrel end of the blaster to a purple setting before calling, "Tri-Attack! Fire, ice, lightning!" The blaster forms a triangle that was red, blue and yellow at the tips that is fired towards Hiccup.

Hiccup leaps to the side to dodge the triangle and comments, "Ok, I'll admit that I didn't expect that, but it's still not enough!" He then dashes through the woods to which Dagur follows and sends even more triangles, sending bursts of fire, ice and lightning with each blast until they come across a clearing, making Hiccup stop.

Dagur walks out of the forest and comments, "You're slick as a fox, I'll give you that, but you're mine now!"

Hiccup then asks, "Hey, Dagur, recognize where we are?"

Dagur takes a moment to look around before his eyes widen in his violet helmet. "Wait…this is…" He walks off to the side and takes a few steps until he finds a tombstone that reads, 'Oswald & Helga Berserk, X year-X year' Dagur lifts the face covering on his ranger helmet and comments, "M…my parents…"

Hiccup lifts his black helmet's face shield and comments, "I thought you'd recognize it."

A tear forms in Dagur's eyes as he comments, "They…would take Heather and I to this part of the woods all the time when we were kids…it was out special place where we could forget about our troubles and just have some fun…why did you bring me here?"

Hiccup replies, "Because I was hoping it would get you to realize what this fighting is about. Look, say I was somehow involved in your parents' death, what's fighting me going to change? I know that losing someone close to you is one of the hardest feelings you could ever come across, believe me, but-"

Suddenly, a male voice could be heard, "You didn't do anything, Hiccup." The two of them look to see a transparent man wearing a brown hood.

Dagur's eyes widen as he sees the man. "F…Father? A-am I hallucinating?"

Hiccup replies, "No, I see him too. You must be Oswald"

Oswald nods. "Indeed. Dagur, I am here to let you know that you are fighting an innocent man. While your mother and I were killed, Hiccup is not at fault here."

Dagur's eyes widen even more upon hearing that. He gives Hiccup a side glance before looking back to Oswald and asking, "Well then…if it wasn't Hiccup then who was it?"

Oswald's face drops upon hearing the question. "The one that you call…Grisly."

Dagur's heart skips a beat as he hears that name. "Wh-what?"

Oswald nods. "It's true. I don't have much time here, so I'll keep it brief. Grisly's men apparently saw the power that you and Heather possessed, so he sent an order to have myself and your mother killed, presumably to get your emotions stirring and get you to join his side, and as you can tell he was successful at doing so."

Now hearing the explanation, Dagur drops to his knees and lowers his head as he states, "Oh my god…I'm such an idiot! I should've known that Vidger telling me it was Hiccup was just some kind of trick."

Oswald kneels in front of Dagur and places a hand on his shoulder, Dagur couldn't actually feel that but the sentiment was there. "Dagur, you are an amazing Ranger, you just let your emotions get the better of you. Just don't forget that your mother and I love you dearly and will always be there for you, even if we can't physically be there."

Tears were now rolling down Dagur's face as he cups the spirit's hand, but by the time he did so, Oswald's spirit fades away, leaving Dagur to think hard about what he just did, or attempted to do.

Having seen all of that, Heather, Astrid, Fishlegs and Snotlout run up as Heather asks, "What was that?"

Dagur replies, "Me being made to look like a punk…" he gets up and faces Hiccup saying, "Hiccup…I'm sorry, truly. It was wrong of me to accuse you of something without any real evidence…I hope you can forgive me."

Hiccup looks Dagur up and down and sees the sincerity in Dagur's eyes and voice and replies, "As I said before, I've had countless people wanting to kill me, you're just the first to apologize for doing so."

Dagur smiles and hugs Hiccup tight. "Thank you, Hiccup. Truly."

Fishlegs comments with a slight clap, "Oh, I love this! I'm so happy you guys made up."

Astrid then steps up and states, "Well, I've got a little something to celebrate us coming together." She reaches into the blue backpack she was wearing and pulls out a large zip top bag filled with cookies. "I made these earlier as a 'welcome to the team' gift, didn't really have a chance to give them earlier." She then opens up the bag.

Dagur raises a brow. "You made those? Oh, well, that's pretty sweet."

Heather adds. "Yeah, you didn't have to do that."

The Berserks each pick up a cookie as Astrid asks to the others, "You guys want one?"

Knowing Astird's level of cooking, the other guys looked pretty anxious as Snotlout states, "Uh…I'm good."

Fishlegs adds, "Yeah, I kind of had a big second lunch earlier, but thanks."

Dagur and Heather then take a bite out of each cookie and immediately spit it out as the taste of baking soda, burnt flour and scrambled eggs hits them. "Ugh, that's awful!" Dagur states as he reaches into Astrid's bag and pulls out a water bottle that he takes a bit gulp out of.

Heather adds, "You really didn't have to do that." As she wipes her tongue.

Astrid shakes her head. "You guys are so dramatic, there's no way they're that bad!" She takes a bite of one of the cookies and immediately regrets it. "Ok, yeah, they are that bad!" as she spits it out as well while Hiccup, Snotlout and Fishlegs laugh.

Meanwhile, at the Scale Shedder lair, Vidger was as mad as ever as he watched the exchange through his giant screened TV. He was tempted to throw the TV out the window when he hears an all too familiar voice. "Well, looks like a lovely story."

Vidger turns and sees Grisly standing there. "L-lord Grisly, I can explain-"

"You allowed my Berserk Rangers to join up with the Drago Rangers, didn't you?" Grisly states with an expectant raised brow.

Seeing as there was no way to hide it, Vidger lowers his head and kneels, "My sincerest apologies, my lord. I don't know how I can fix this, but-"

Grisly cuts him off. "Oh, those two weren't strong enough to last with us anyway, I now have something even better, something that will surely give those Rangers a run for their money." He leads Vidger down the hall where he spots a group of five figures standing side by side, which Vidger quickly recognized. "Well…what do you think?" Grisly asks.

Vidger blinks to the sight of the figures and asks, "W-who was it that you were meeting with?"

Girsly replies, "It doesn't matter, what matters is that we now have the upper hand." He puts a hand to his chin and comments, "Course, I suppose these are a bit…out of date. We'll have to get them some…changes before they're ready to fight the rangers." He lets out an evil laugh loud enough for the whole lair to hear.