Chapter 20: Triple Threat

Hope you're all ready for this.


Floored, Hiccup stared up at the Dynamaxed form of Gyarados, a Pokémon that was already well-feared and regularly avoided when it was normal-sized. How in the wide world could they win a battle against one that was more than four times its normal size?!

"G-Guys!" Hiccup gasped, finding it hard for his tongue to work properly in his shocked state. "I'm taking suggestions here!"

All at once, the clouds around them darkened, but not in the usual stormy gray. Bolts of red lightning flashed every which way, their color bleeding into the fluffy masses of condensed water vapor. But not even the Dynamax storm could do anything to hide the intense glow of the Gyarados's eyes and enormous blue silhouette as she raced forward.

"LOOK OUT!" screamed Astrid.

"Toothless, evasive maneuvers!" Hiccup howled.

The two dragons peeled off in opposite directions, both of them barely making it clear before Gyarados came charging past. They could feel the wind coming off of the Atrocious Pokémon's body as she passed, which felt like a cold chill running through their bones.

Hiccup turned Toothless around to retaliate, only to pause when he saw the Gyarados's silhouette disappearing below the ocean surface. It was almost impossible to see anything beneath the thrashing waves.

Another roar rose above the sound of thunder, and red eyes shone through the ocean waves. Gyarados was coming back for another go.

Somehow, Hiccup heard a voice, despite his ears being filled with the sound of thunder rumbling above him.

"Everyone, attack!" decreed Snivels. "This one's gonna take everything we got!"

There came a mighty roar, louder than the rumble of thunder. Dragons of all shapes and sizes came surging down to strike the blue shape of Gyarados, who erupted out of the water. She roared, and a massive stream of water launched out of her mouth, more powerful than any Water-type attack Hiccup had ever seen.

What kind of move is that?! he thought, surprised beyond belief.

In spite of all the noise, he could hear his wife's shout as she swooped past him on Stormfly in the direction of the Gyarados. "Get away from Hiccup! You mess with him, you mess with us!"

Although he could barely see the Nadder, the team leader still heard her screeching roar and saw the flurry of spines fired at the Atrocious Pokémon's scales. He smiled at the sight, only for his eyes to be drawn to two bursts of orange that came from somewhere else in the Dynamax storm.

Windshear and Buck kept blasting fire, assaulting the wild Gyarados despite the copious amount of red lightning coming down from the clouds above to strengthen the Dynamaxed Pokémon. Combined with the elements from the Pokémon, they caused enough discomfort to drive the Gyarados away. Hiccup saw the blue scales vanish under the ocean waves, and only seconds later, the Dynamax storm began to die down until there was nothing but regular gray clouds. The flashes of red lightning lessened until the team leader was able to catch sight of his friends flying all around him.

Too late, he realized that he should have done something to help. He pounded a fist on Toothless' saddle, feeling stupid for not taking action. Maybe it had been the storm making it difficult to see that had caused him to hesitate.

"Whew, glad that's over," Heather sighed.

"That was intense!" exclaimed Adhesive. "That Gyarados could have easily squashed us all like Bug-types!"

"I guess we have Snivels to thank for leading us into action," Astrid remarked.

The Servine that she'd mentioned nodded in acknowledgement of her words.

"The Gyarados probably won't be gone for very long," Hiccup told them, grimly. He turned Toothless around and pointed in the direction they'd been flying in before the Atrocious Pokémon had made herself known. "Follow me, everyone! I might not know what to do about the Gyarados, but I've got a plan for our newest acquaintance."

He didn't need to spell out its name for the Go-Getters to understand. They were continuing with their original mission and taming the Skrill before Dagur could find and somehow control him, as Stoick feared. Wordlessly, Hiccup urged his Night Fury forward, and the rest of Team Go-Getters followed.

They flew on for a while until they started to pick up on the sounds of distant, animalistic screams. It definitely wasn't a Pokémon up ahead, that was for sure, so the group doubled their pace and sped onwards. Soon, their haste was rewarded - Hiccup and his friends at the forefront of the group were able to make out the faint image of dragon wings flapping through the clouds just ahead of them. Upon recognizing the Skrill, a wave of anxiety and tension spread through the ranks of the Go-Getters, all of them suddenly sitting ramrod-straight in their saddles with their senses on hyper-alert.

"I'm going to try and approach him again," Hiccup began to explain his plan, "you guys stay close, in case something goes wrong. Whatever happens, don't shoot at him. We don't want him to feel any more threatened than he might be already."

"Got it," replied Snivels. Two seconds later, he added, "Word of advice, Skrills prefer to avoid water. They can't redirect their lightning if they get wet. Still, they do love a good fishy breakfast."

Grateful, Hiccup called back to him, "Good tip, Snivs."

Sounding slightly apprehensive, Astrid flew closer to Hiccup and asked him, "How exactly are you going to find the Skrill in that cloud?"

"We don't need to see to find something," Hiccup assured her. "Remember, Toothless can do it!"

The Night Fury roared softly, sounding confident.

"Does echolocation work in clouds?" Blaze asked doubtfully.

"Only one way to find out!" the lead Go-Getter cried, and with a yank on the saddle, he and his dragon disappeared.

Everything seemed to go quiet the moment Hiccup's vision went gray. Cut off from the rest of the group and now flying blindly through the thickening clouds, he knew he just had to depend on his friends to trust his judgement and follow the plan. Without waiting for his rider's prompt, Toothless released a screeching roar as he flew, using the sound to sense his surroundings.

Suddenly, Hiccup felt Toothless' entire body stiffen as he detected sound waves bouncing back off of something below them. In a flash of intuition, Hiccup somehow knew that Toothless had found the Skrill.

"Nice and slow, Toothless," he whispered.

With a warble, the Night Fury's wingbeats slowed, allowing the duo to lower themselves steadily down to the Skrill's level. Hiccup's vision was still impaired by the gray masses that surrounded him, but he could just make out the silhouette of the dragon below. The more their altitude decreased, the thinner the clouds got and the more Hiccup could see in front of him.

Soon, Toothless halted his descent. Hiccup never had to question why this was, because as soon as his vision cleared enough, he could see the dark shape of the Skrill circling them, matching their altitude perfectly. For a while, they hovered together in dead silence, eyeing each other suspiciously as they continued to circle each other.

"It's okay," said Hiccup, more to himself than anyone else. "No one's going to get hurt. Everything is fine."

Ever so steadily, the Skrill flew in closer, his expression just the tiniest bit more placid than before. It was clear he still didn't trust them, but he hadn't attacked them yet, which was a good sign.

Hoping to make the most of the situation, Hiccup offered his hand to the wild dragon. "We're friends," he said in his calmest voice. "We want to help you."

Abruptly, the Skrill folded his wings and dove, putting on a burst of speed as it plunged toward the ocean. Hiccup and Toothless chased him down, keeping right on his heels even as he pulled up and flew off at top speed over the water's surface. Hiccup kept his eyes narrowed and focused on the Skrill's retreating tail, not wanting to lose it for even a moment.

"We can't let him get away!" he shouted out, never looking away from his quarry.

Immediately, the sound of multiple pairs of wings was all around him as the Go-Getters emerged from the cloud cover above and joined the chase. They flew in a reverse V-formation with Hiccup at the very back, forming a flying wedge that would close in on either side of the Skrill and force it downwards. But first, they had to catch up to him - the agitated dragon had seen them appear and increased his speed.

As they chased the Skrill across the ocean, the Go-Getters slowly but surely started to close the distance between them and their target. Working like a single, cohesive unit, the Go-Getters widened their V-formation like a Vikavolt's mandibles, ready to clamp down on the Skrill and trap it on either side.

Both tips of the V had now reached the Skrill. They only needed a little further to go before they could tighten the proverbial noose.

"Wait!" Snivels proclaimed. "Let me talk to him!"

He and Verne were now neck-and-neck with the Skrill. Slowly, the team's V-formation slowed their pursuit, to give them and the dragon more room.

"I know you're scared!" Snivels yelled in Dragonese. "But you don't have to be! We're trying to save you!"

"I don't need saving!" roared the Skrill. "Especially not by you!" He lifted his head with a tremendous shriek that crashed in the ears of all who heard it, and he used the moment of confusion to bolt for the sky. By the time his pursuers had recovered from his auditory assault, the lightning dragon had disappeared back into the clouds.

Hiccup's plan had failed, and he sighed with disappointment. All the Skrill had to do was call for help loud enough to momentarily distract them, and just like that, he was gone. What would it take for them to train him? A lot, apparently.

This Skrill seemed to be living up to his species' reputation as a frightfully powerful and intelligent foe, far too much for an ordinary dragon...

"Come on, gang, we're not giving up now!" Hiccup called, determination in his voice. "If that dragon falls into the hands of the Berserkers, it's a danger to the archipelago! If we can catch and train it...!"

There was going to be more to his speech, the others knew it. But he never got to finish, because directly below them, the ocean was starting to bubble. Instinctively, Hiccup knew that those violent waves weren't caused by some harmless ocean current.

Adhesive voiced his private concerns. "Everyone, up into the air!" he shrieked in a very un-masculine voice.

The Go-Getters abandoned their formation, rising higher into the sky in all directions. Right at that moment, the sea exploded in an enormous burst of briny spray.

A head and horn exploded upwards from the depths with a roar that sounded as deep and terrible as the ocean itself. "DREDNAW!"

"What is that thing?!" yelped Ninjark, eyes going wide at the sight of the enormous bipedal turtle.

"Head for safety in the clouds!" Hiccup ordered.

The Drednaw's neck extended after them so far up it looked as though his head might pop off. His red eyes gleamed with a Dynamax-ish power as he snapped his mouth shut on thin air, clearly hoping to catch a dragon's tail before gravity dragged his head back onto his shoulders.

The sound of the colossal splash reached Hiccup's ears even high up in the clouds. As scary as it was to see such an enormous Pokémon, they were safe from the Drednaw as long as they stayed up in the clouds. They needed to get that Skrill, he stressed to himself - if they dilly-dallied much longer, they'd run the risk of the dragon escaping, never to be found again. And if not that, then certainly -

"GYARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

The blue serpentine shape surged through the waves so suddenly that at least half of Team Go-Getters screamed with shock. Her teeth just grazed Ra, almost coming close enough to knock the Solgaleo out of the sky, before circling around for another pass.

Arceus, why do you hate me so? Hiccup grumbled inwardly.

"The Gyarados is back!" shouted Brandyn.

Suddenly, Camazotz's words came to them like a savior from the heavens. "The clouds aren't as thick up ahead!" she cried. "This way! We'll have an advantage out in the open!"

Dragons shot out into the relatively clear sky beyond the growing storm. The sky was still overcast here, but they had an unobstructed view of the ocean that spread out below them like a choppy blue blanket.

Unfortunately, they didn't see what was in the water until it was almost too late.

Boulders started raining down on them, sowing panic amongst the Go-Getters as they swooped and dove to avoid being crushed. Astrid brought Stormfly into an elegant flip, curving around the edge of one of the rocks, and she flew slightly ahead to quickly scout out their attackers.

"Oh no, don't tell me..." the blonde murmured. The light of hope faded from her blue eyes, replaced by despair.

It was a fleet of seven ships, all of them flying the Skrill-emblazoned flags of the Berserker tribe. Half of them were launching boulders at the Skrill, which was flying in erratic, agitated circles around the warships. The while other half were reloading their catapults, their Mightyena were letting fly a volley of purple and black rings of energy from their mouths straight at Team Go-Getters.

"We're under attack!" Blaze bellowed, as Wavern unleashed a concussive Boomburst and smashed a boulder to fragments. "The Berserkers are here!"

Horrified, Hiccup brought Toothless low to dodge another boulder, and they ended up close enough to the lead Berserker vessel to see who was standing at the bow. The familiar horned helmet and lanky frame of Dagur the Deranged was leading the attack, his face hidden by a metal mask, but Hiccup knew that if they could see his face, there would undoubtedly be a smug grin on it.

"Surprise, surprise, Hiccup!" he shouted triumphantly, cackling madly. "Now get your dainty hands off of my Skrill!"

As if saying his name summoned him, the shape of the Strike Class dragon whooshed overhead, his attention now back on the Go-Getters that had followed him here. He was joined by the Gyarados, who exploded out of the water to scatter the Go-Getters even further. Blasts of water gushed from her maw, while the Skrill exhaled lightning bolts that worked together with the Gyarados's blasts to send the young heroes scrambling out of the way.

There was no way they could focus on the Berserkers with danger raining down from above. Nor could they claim the Skrill with Dagur's fleet trying to knock them out of the air. And Hiccup knew the situation could easily get worse - as Toothless' wing brushed the surface of the water in an attempt to get them both away from the Skrill's lightning, Hiccup stared at the ocean distrustfully, half-expecting the Drednaw, or some other Dynamaxed water Pokémon, to breach the surface and join the battle at any minute.

An eager-to-impress Adhesive dove down toward the Berserkers, coming at them from a blind spot they had foolishly left unguarded in their attempts to take the Skrill down. He readied the nozzle that sat on top of his head, grinning as he anticipated the corrosive poison that would melt a hole in the boat's hull - but then he stopped, realizing right at that moment there was something coming at him from behind. The Poipole turned around, and his heart almost stopped when he saw the Skrill spreading its wings, his mouth open and his spikes sizzling with lightning.

There wasn't even enough time to let out a strangled "oh no". Acting on reflex, Sticky dove in to pull her boyfriend out of his attack run before he could get smited. The Skrill exhaled, but fortunately for Ad, his girlfriend had acted in time to save his skin. The lightning bolt lanced over his head, and the Skrill was forced to discharge the lightning at an unlucky Berserker ship, setting it up in flames. Adhesive yelped and shoved his girlfriend away from the deadly bolts, only to swerve in the opposite direction when they almost flew right into a hail of catapult fire.

Hiccup glanced down at the ships and swallowed thickly. Time seemed to slow down as he gazed out at the chaotic battle that raged all around him, and with a sinking feeling, he realized how futile it was. His friends were all over the place, trying to do some damage to the Berserkers, but there was just too much going on. As soon as they had an attack lined up, they'd have to abandon it and flee before they were hit by enemy fire or one of the Skrill's wild bolts. Between Dagur's armada, the Skrill, and Gyarados and the Drednaw, Team Go-Getters stood no chance of victory.

His mind now made up, Hiccup produced his Night Fury dragon whistle and blew into it, using the dragon call to rally his friends. One by one, the Go-Getters weaved around the boulders, lightning bolts, and water blasts to join him up in the sky where the Berserkers couldn't reach them.

"Let's get out of range before they reload," Hiccup told them. His serious tone left no room for argument, letting them know that they had no choice but to retreat.

"But Hiccup!" Amber protested. "It's either we fight Dagur down there, or crazed Dynamaxed Pokémon up here!"

As if to emphasize her point, the pants-wetting roar of Gyarados and the ear-piercing shriek of the Skrill filled their ears. Every last one of them, even Astrid Hofferson-Haddock, felt chills go down their spines.

Snivels was the first to agree with Hiccup. "If we stick around, something is bound to get us sooner or later! Let's move!"

If the rest of the Go-Getters had any reservations about fleeing, those reservations were abandoned with all haste when they saw that the Gyarados was coming after them. They took one look at it and decided they would rather flee than be fried, urging their dragons back into the safety of the thick cloud cover. A stray blast of lightning from the Skrill shot past them, which nicked Adhesive's nozzle but didn't hit anyone hard enough to do permanent damage.

Slowly, the sounds of the Berserker warriors, the wild dragon, and the giant Pokémon faded behind them. Hiccup frowned to himself as nothing but an oppressive silence was left behind.


Back on the lead Berserker vessel, Captain Vorg put the spyglass to his eye and watched as the last dragon tail disappeared from sight.

"Aha, they're running!" he proclaimed victoriously.

Unfortunately, Dagur did not share his sentiment, and turned on him with all the scowling, red-eyed fury he could muster.

"They're regrouping, you idiot!" the teenager yelled. "That's it, you're relieved of duty."

With nothing more than a dismissive shove, Vorg was sent sailing out of the safety of the boat and into the unforgiving sea, yelling all the way down.

Now that that was done and over with, Dagur lifted his eyes toward the gray sky to admire the imposing beast that circled above his armada, an excited grin now present on his face. It was his first time seeing the Skrill in person, and it was something to behold.

"My Skrill is so glorious! The legends don't do it justice!" he exclaimed. He clenched his fists, the manic light of greed now flickering in his eyes as he took in the sight of the lightning-powered dragon. "Finally, a dragon that can singlehandedly go head-to-head with Hiccup and his followers! And both it and that Night Fury will be mine!"

Overhead, the Skrill let out another shriek as he fled into the clouds. Though he would never admit it, his insides were slowly turning in on themselves as he remembered how harshly he had rebuffed the Servine's offer earlier. Only now did he realize what exactly he needed to be saved from.

Dagur shouted to his crew to take the boats and follow it, and reload the catapults while they gave chase. While pathetic Hiccup and his little posse flew away to lick their wounds, he would bring down the Skrill and control it no matter how many of his men died in the process.

Getting his hands on a weapon like this - oh, it would be worth losing even his entire armada to obtain. Very soon, all of Dagur's unpleasant memories of Hiccup and Berk would be ancient history after he wiped them off the face of the earth.

Hidden scars suddenly flaring up, Dagur hissed with pain and squeezed his eyes shut. He seethed, "Soon, that scrawny little Hiccup is going to pay for all that pain I had to endure after the incident on Dragon Island! I swear I will not rest until I've gotten my revenge!"

His Bisharp stood at the very back of the boat, watching in silence as his master continued to rant about his personal vendetta.


The Go-Getters rested their dragons on a group of sea stacks out in the middle of nowhere. They were far from the Berserkers, and even though the clouds still hung like an ugly gray curtain over their heads, there was no thunder - meaning no Skrill. It would have been a very small silver lining, but knowing that the poor dragon was probably even more frightened and overwhelmed now that he'd had a close encounter with the Berserkers, they had to find him and bring him to Berk more than ever.

Hiccup looked around at Astrid and the others. All of them seemed exhausted, including Ra and Camazotz, and some were still drenched from the Gyarados's attack earlier, but they looked fine otherwise. Hiccup caught his wife's eye and they exchanged a quick smile, before she broke eye contact to tend to Stormfly.

Despite the group's collective lack of injury, the Haddock boy noticed that Adhesive was behaving strangely. Sparks of electricity were randomly jumping around his nozzle, and he twitched constantly.

"Hey, uh, Ad," Hiccup said, worried. "Are you okay?"

"I hope so," worried Sticky. She was too afraid to touch him, as she didn't want to get shocked herself.

Ad sent his girlfriend a reassuring smile, but when he opened his mouth to talk, all that came out was unintelligible gibberish. Several Go-Getters exchanged confused or worried glances with each other, unsure how to react to the fact that he was apparently unable to speak.

However, there was one person who found the situation hilarious. Surprisingly, it was Astrid. "He's better than okay!"

Evidently irritated, Adhesive flashed her a sour look and babbled something.

"And making more sense than usual," she added with a mocking laugh.

"Okay, he's out of it," Hiccup said dismissively, impatient to start planning for their next attempt at capturing the Skrill. "So, the rest of us will -"

"Shmaggie!"

The lead Go-Getter turned around to fix their increasingly frustrated Poipole friend with a completely exasperated look, and stated, "Ad, we have no idea what you're saying!"

Adhesive hovered there, seething for a good long moment, before his eyes suddenly lit up and he pulled out his phone with lightning-fast speed. He typed something onto the screen and a minute later, the device spat out words in a not-very-authentic-sounding voice.

"I said 'I'm perfectly fine.'"

Everyone present, the Haddock couple most of all, stared at him in pure confusion.

"It's an app," Sticky explained. "Text to Speech."

"Text to- what?!" Blaze burst out, incredulous.

"I always knew this app would be good for something," was Adhesive's next message. "Now, let's go get them!"

"Well, you heard the guy," Hiccup said, somewhat sarcastically, then launched into his newest plan. "Astrid, take Blaze, Heather, Ninjark, and Brandyn down to the Berserker ships and keep them occupied. I'll take Snivels and the Poipole to go after the Skrill. If Dagur gets his hands on it first, none of us will stand a chance. The rest of you, the Gyarados and the Drednaw are all yours."

"We barely stood a chance the first time!" protested Amber.

"That's why were splitting up this time," he added, with a nod to the Charizard. "We'll separate the Berserkers from the Skrill so that we can deal with them separately."

"Consider it done, Hiccup!" Adhesive's phone announced.

Hiccup vaulted back onto Toothless, and the Night Fury tensed and spread his wings, ready to fly. He was about to give the call to action when he noticed Astrid staring at him with a solemnly serious expression.

"Be careful," she warned. "Metal conducts electricity, and you're wearing more of it than the rest of us. If the Skrill tries something again..."

Her voice trembled the tiniest bit, betraying her innermost fear. Hiccup almost smiled, touched by how concerned she was for him, but he realized that even an encouraging smile would be inappropriate for the seriousness of the situation. Instead, he kept his face neutral and gave his wife a quick nod.

"Astrid, I'll be fine," he assured her.

Without saying anything else, he and Toothless leapt into the air and took off from the sea stack, soon vanishing like a ghost into the moody gray clouds above.

The blonde watched him go, frowning. "I hope so..."


The larger of the two groups of Go-Getters, instead of following Hiccup into the sky to search for the Skrill anew, doubled back and found themselves flying toward Dagur and the Berserkers. When they saw the ships cruising through the water, everyone clenched their saddles and mentally steeled themselves for the ambush.

"Stormfly, let's rock some boats!" Astrid spoke into the Deadly Nadder's ear, who squawked excitedly and went into a dive.

Fireballs and poisonous spines struck the ship at the rear of the formation, catching the Berserkers totally by surprise. At the front of the fleet, Dagur whipped around in surprise, and his eyes widened when he saw smoke billowing into the air and dragons running rampant!

Ra the Solgaleo descended from the sky with a mighty roar. He fired beam after beam of white and light blue steel energy onto the Berserker boats, rocking them with each Flash Cannon that struck.

"Coming in hot!" Blaze shouted as Wavern unleashed a Boomburst toward one of the ships. The Noivern ended up blasting it so hard that she punched a hole into the hull, allowing seawater to start flooding in.

Dagur grabbed his axe and jumped to the stern of his vessel, looking out at the destruction that the Go-Getters were already spreading. He snarled with frustration when he saw the Blaziken and her mount send one of his ships beneath the waves.

"Stay on target!" he shouted to his troops, who were trying to aim at the flying dragons with their crossbows. "He's tricky, that Hiccup. He's gotta be somewhere around here!"

Deadly Nadder spines whistled through the air toward him, which the deranged Berserker chief deflected as he brandished his axe, yelling maniacally. Seething with anger, Dagur threw down the axe and stomped his feet like a child, screaming to his crew, "SHOOT THEM DOWN!"

Multiple howls echoed across the battlefield as the Berserkers' Mightyena took a swing at the Go-Getters with Snarl, and the young heroes were forced to play defensively.

Hiccup turned around briefly, making sure that Snivels and the Poipole were still holding formation behind him. The Skrill was somewhere in the clouds ahead of them, judging by the distant animalistic screams and flashes of lightning coming from that direction.

"Okay," the leader began to speak. "I think I have a way to get the Skrill on our side, but it's super-risky."

That didn't exactly discourage his friends. "Sarf bringle skarfleblorg!" replied Adhesive, still affected by the lightning. Then, through his phone, he translated, "I said 'I'm right behind you, Hiccup!'"

Snivels spoke up next. "The Skrill spoke back to me when I tried to negotiate with him. Let me try this one."

Nodding in agreement, Hiccup quickly ran through the plan. "Okay, Snivels is going to fly through the clouds and have Verne use his sound waves to find the Skrill. If anything goes wrong, blast a Dragon Pulse and we'll be there. Sticky, I want you and Adhesive to be ready for it, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear!" Sticky cheered.

The team leader gave them a thumbs-up, then turned to the snakiest of the foursome. "Snivels," he said, "if the Skrill gets too aggressive, get out of there. I'd rather an escaped dragon than an injured friend."

"I know," the Servine said. He tightened his hold on Verne's fur with anticipation, while the Noivern crooned lowly, announcing that he was ready.

The Servine-and-Noivern duo separated from Hiccup and the Poipole, increasing their speed and height until they were certain they were at the same level as the Skrill. He was leisurely flapping his wings as he continued on his way, unaware that he now had company in the form of two Pokémon.

"Mr. Skrill," Snivels called into the clouds. "Or whatever your name is. We're just here to talk!"

Faint wingbeats began to ascend toward them, getting louder with every beat. The spiky shape of the Skrill slowly emerged from the clouds. His eyes were the first thing that appeared, followed by the head, then the wings, and then the rest of him, down to the tip of his tail.

Perhaps out of habit, Snivels sat up straight, trying to look noble in the eyes of this formidable dragon. Fortunately, the Servine noticed, the Skrill was more relaxed that he and Verne thought he'd be.

"I was wrong," the dragon growled. He kept a careful eye on the two, still distrustful. "I admit it. I do need help. But I'm not about to surrender my freedom after spending I don't know how many years in ice."

"We're not here to take away your freedom," said Snivels. "We need to get you out of here before that psycho chief manages to net you."

The Skrill's head perked up a little when he heard that. "Fine. Lead the way. But if this is a trick, you're all lightning rods, you hear?"

"Understood," Snivels said with a nod. He nudged Verne's side, and the Noivern descended rapidly toward the Berserker ships below.

A minute later, the clouds exploded.

The lightning practically lit up the entire sky, and the thunder was so loud that it drowned out even the Skrill's screeching roar. As the light died down, the Skrill could be seen diving down from the sky, his wings sparking with leftover electricity.

The Go-Getters watched in awestruck silence, before a small handful of them started cheering at the top of their lungs.

The Skrill had his wings folded in order to increase his velocity, rapidly descending on the Berserker ships. Down below, the unforgiving ocean became visible from out of the fog, rapidly rushing up to meet him.

Somehow, though, the Skrill managed to maintain control of himself. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, almost like the sky was welcoming him back.

The Skrill was done running. He leveled out to face the Vikings that were pursuing him and called upon a crackling electric energy around his body. The lightning blast struck the hull of the nearest ship and exploded with such force that the shockwave almost overturned the rest of the fleet.

"Alright, that's pretty cool," commented Hiccup. "Why don't we see how Dagur handles this."

This time, Toothless and the Skrill fired at the same time. The Skrill stretched out its wings, and lightning sizzled down from the clouds around it to envelop its body. It met the plasma blast, and the two molded together into a single shot, which decimated an entire Berserker boat.

"So cool!" Sticky cheered.

And that was when the gigantic form of Gyarados appeared from the gloom, water already swirling in her enormous jaws.

"Not cool!" the Shiny Poipole corrected herself.

The Max Geyser tore through the air, forcing Toothless and the Skrill to momentarily separate. The dragons peeled off from one another and tried to regroup, only for Gyarados and the Drednaw to press their advantage and pursue. Another storm started up, blurring the Go-Getters' vision and soaking their skin with bone-chilling raindrops. Lightning started to flash almost constantly now, illuminating the sky as the Dynamax Pokémon chased their victims, driven to pure instinct by the overload of Eternatus's power.

Hiccup let out a yell when a stray bolt of lightning came too close for comfort. The last thing he wanted was to become a human lightning rod again.

"There's too much electricity up in the storm clouds!" Astrid shrieked over the deafening sounds of the storm.

Together, the Haddock couple steered their dragons toward the relative safety of the ocean, hoping to lose their powerful foes amidst the chaos that was taking place in the battle against Dagur.

But it was not to be. Even as they left the clouds behind them, Gyarados and the Drednaw followed them easily, seeming almost at home in the downpour. Behind them, the Skrill was practically surging with electricity as his power over the lightning went haywire.

The rain was doing nothing to hinder the progress of the other Go-Getters. In fact, the awful change in weather was actually working in their favor, as the Berserkers were now far less accurate with their shots. They used the opportunity to switch from defense to offense, continued their assault from where they'd left off.

Dagur's ship was the last in line to be blasted, and the furious Berserker Chief was forced to grab what was left of the mast to prevent himself from falling over. He was about to order his men to strike back when Captain Vorg came to him with an urgent cry.

"Sir, look!" the burly soldier said, pointing at something above them.

Squinting through the stinging raindrops as best he could, Dagur suddenly felt his bad mood lift when he saw what was going on. The magnificent form of his Skrill seemed to be chasing after a familiar, hated dark shape, both of them going in desperate circles as they danced through the sky above the battle. Blind to the reality of the situation, Dagur quickly assumed who had provoked the Skrill's supposed ire, and he chuckled even though dragons were tearing through his fleet all around him.

"Well, well, well!" he laughed in satisfaction. "It doesn't look like Hiccup will catch my Skrill either!"

The Night Fury shot overhead, followed by the Skrill, his body positively ablaze with lightning that lashed out in all directions around him. The strikes set several of Dagur's ships on fire, but the young Chief didn't really care - not if it meant seeing his prized weapon in action.

"Perhaps we should retreat, then," advised Captain Vorg. "Our fleet is being torn apart. If Hiccup and his oddball group can't capture it, we can come back for the Skrill another day."

Dagur turned back toward the captain, although not angry. Instead, he seemed rather bemused about something.

"Um...didn't I throw you overboard?" he asked.

Proudly, Vorg replied, "Well, I am an excellent swimmer."

It turned out to be the wrong thing to say, as he promptly found himself on a one-way trip back into the freezing-cold sea, hollering all the way.

Casually, Dagur turned to address the rest of his crew, who were watching the incident rather dumbly. He stuck a finger in the air and ordered, "Press on!"

Without missing a beat, the Berserker soldiers went back to aiming their crossbows at the dragons that were cutting their fleet to pieces. This satisfied Dagur, who went back to scanning the skies for the Skrill so he could watch it defeat his archnemesis. However, before he could, the boat suddenly jerked to the side, the sudden movement threatening to knock the teenager onto his bottom.

Feeling a little freaked out, Dagur asked, "Wait, who's rocking the -"

"Giant turtle to starboard!" yelled the lookout.

Heading straight for them, eyes glowing red with excess energy, was the blue head and protruding yellow horn of the giant Drednaw.

Dagur's eyes widened, fearing that the Drednaw would crash right through his ship...only for the aquatic Pokémon to dive under the surface, and erupt out of the water with a bellowing roar. His bipedal body and hard shell on full display, the Drednaw's eyes glowed bright red with rage as it unleashed a torrent of water from its jaws that sliced Dagur's ship right in half.

"We're going under!" the deranged boy heard the lookout scream, and then his ears were filled with water.

Hiccup glanced down at the stormy sea in horror, having heard the Drednaw's loud cry in time to see its water beam demolish the entire middle part of the warship. The other two-thirds quickly capsized, taking Dagur the Deranged and Deathblade the Bisharp with it.

But he couldn't focus on that for very long - indeed, the Skrill was so close to him that it took all of his concentration to keep Toothless flying and avoiding any stray lightning bolts. The Skrill hovered in front of them for a good, long moment, before he shut his eyes and bowed his head a little. Then he turned and flew away, with one last shriek echoing in the skies around them.

Smiling, Hiccup watched the dragon go. Maybe they couldn't tame him, but so long as he was free, and did not consider them a threat, then that was fine with him.

"Everyone!" he shouted as loudly as he could. "Let's go home!"

Toothless roared as well, getting the attention of the other dragons.

Somehow, it worked. They were all battered and dazed from the battle, but the Go-Getters managed to gather back into formation and leave the Berserker ships behind. There would be plenty of battles with them in the future, no doubt.

As the riders left, a head and shoulders popped up above the water with a huge gasp. It was Dagur, barely able to believe that he'd survived. He grabbed a piece of driftwood and began to paddle toward the nearest boat, already planning to order the fleet to the nearest island possible. He didn't want to go after the Skrill until there was some nice, solid ground beneath his feet.


The Go-Getters cruised toward Berk in silence. The sky was still choked with moody clouds, but there was no more rain or thunder. Somehow, Hiccup got the feeling that the Dynamaxed Pokémon were gone as well...for now.

"What about the Skrill?" Brandyn asked.

"We'll see him again one day," said Snivels. "Hopefully under better circumstances."

"I'm all for that," replied Astrid.

"Me too," said Heather.

"And us," Ra piped up.

"Norfblarg," said Adhesive, and for once the meaning was clear. He translated anyway, "Same goes for me."

Nodding to himself at this, Hiccup decided that the wild dragon would have to be taken care of at a later date. On the other hand, there was something else they needed to address.

"I wonder how Fishlegs is doing," he mused.


Elsewhere, a pudgy teenaged Viking was pacing in circles around the arena in a panic.

"Why, Snotlout?" groaned Fishlegs, rubbing his eyes and forehead in despair. "Why did you have to say the d-word?!"

"Why did you have to babysit that thing?!" the Jorgenson shot back.

The twins climbed down from their barrel chairs and stumbled to their feet, their bellies aching from the nonstop laughter they'd been having earlier. They trudged to the arena exit, one of them uttering, "Call us when something cool happens."

"Oh, this is bad!" cried Fishlegs, nibbling at his nails. "If Hiccup finds out, he's never gonna trust me with babysitting again!"

"Would have been easier if you were sitting on the baby," snarked Snotlout.

The pudgy boy gasped. "I would never!"

Behind them, Sonata continued to chant, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"


Fjord and Serac were on a sea stack again. The two Kyurem had had no luck finding the Expansion, which was bad, because judging by the amount of chaos that had been caused by Tempest and Snapper, the first stage of the Darkest Day was already taking effect.

"We may not have much time," said the elder of the two. "Those kids don't know what they're up against."

"Should we warn them?" asked his son.

"Best be you," Fjord said. "It's your prophecy. In the meantime, I'll get everyone on the Resistance on the lookout for the Expansion. If we can just find Masquerade, or Kiwi, or Phala, they can take our message to the leader."

They walked to the edge of the sea stack and blinked blearily at the ocean in front of them - and then gasped. Right there in the water before them was a single boat, its crew pulling up a huge net with a familiar dragon tangled up inside.

"Great," whispered Serac, frustratedly. "The Trainers of Destiny go through all that work, and the Berserkers get the Skrill anyway."

"That's not the Berserkers, son," Fjord sighed.

Indeed, the closer Serac looked, the more unusual it seemed. Berserker ships had a crest shaped like a Skrill dragon, which this ship didn't have. And Berserker ships also had regular wooden figureheads carved into them, whereas this one had a dragon skull mounted on the front. And finally, Berserker ships most certainly did not have big, hairy barbarians captaining them. The man in charge of this vessel was the biggest, hairiest, and most barbaric of them all.

"Mother of Arceus!" Serac realized, gasping quietly. "It's Alvin and the Outcasts! But, why would Alvin want that dragon?"

"Better question is, why wouldn't he?" Fjord answered matter-of-factly. "He could take out Berk with it."

Straining his brain, Serac muttered, "So...we should do something, right?"

"Don't worry," his father replied. "The kids have dealt with much worse. Regina would still be around wreaking havoc today if it wasn't for them."

A moment of silence passed as the two of them watched the Outcasts load the unconscious dragon onto their ship.

"If you say so," decided Serac. "But, Father, what if we can't reach the Expansion? What'll we do then?"

"It'll work out," said Fjord. "It always does. That's how it usually works in many universes."

Serac didn't look convinced. "But how can you know for sure that everything will work out here?"

"Sometimes," said the elder Kyurem, "you just have to have faith."

The duo backed away from the sea stack's edge and prepared to return to the Ice Caves. Below them, Alvin was yelling for his underlings to head back to Outcast Island.

It had been quite an unusual day for everyone who wasn't a Viking, and it had become clear to some creatures that the fate of the entire archipelago would soon be in the hands of Team Go-Getters once again. But Serac trusted his father's decision, and he knew that the Trainers of Destiny would be able to take charge - otherwise, with no-one else knowing of this new, scary prophecy, the islands, and the creatures who lived on them, would be in grave danger.

By the light of the setting sun, Alvin's fleet headed toward Outcast Island, where they would start the next phase of their ultimate plan.


I hope I did a good job writing the battle scenes. I'll admit that it's not easy keeping track of many characters trying to deal with several things at one time.

Anyway, I hope you all had a spook-tacular Halloween, and that none of you ran into any werewolves!