Chapter 25: Free Scauldy
Things are going to be a little different (like you didn't already know).
Perhaps Hiccup was being a little paranoid, but after having a nightmare about walking out of the team's house and seeing a storm of red clouds eclipsing the sun as it bore down upon them, he decided that the Go-Getters needed to be out on patrol, double-time.
The Dynamax storms were becoming more frequent already, having come close to destroying the Viking village of Berk, and, to an extent, the team's living quarters. That was why Hiccup and the other Go-Getters needed to find out the meaning behind Serac's prophecy and stop the islands from falling on the Darkest Day. They couldn't afford to forget all about it, thusly being completely unprepared when it came bearing down on them.
This was what their bigwings said when everyone gathered for their daily meeting at the Dragon Academy. They equipped their weapons, split into small teams, and commenced scouring the archipelago for any unusual happenings. That had been at dawn, and now it was mid-afternoon as Hiccup, Snivels, Astrid, Blaze, Amber, and Junior Go-Getter in training Frida continued checking islands off of their list.
So far, there was no sign of Millennium, which was great news in Hiccup's book. If they couldn't find him, then that meant they didn't have to worry about Berk being attacked any time soon. In the meantime, Hiccup planned on going on weekly patrols with the Go-Getters in sort of a routine "Dynamax watch".
His thoughts were interrupted by loud screaming from somewhere close by. With a huff of annoyance, the team bigwings looked over at where Frida was currently doing spontaneous stunts atop Pincher the Deadly Nadder.
When the preteen girl momentarily settled down, Hiccup took the opportunity to call to her, "Can you please settle down? Keeping an eye out for Dynamax Pokémon, low profile...didn't you pay attention at the meeting?"
Shrugging guiltily, Frida replied, "Yeah, sorry, but this is my first time going on a real mission on dragonback! Oughta make the most of it, right?"
Pincher let out a roar and swooped up into a series of aerial loop-de-loops, much to Frida's ecstatic delight.
Astrid flew up beside Hiccup on Stormfly and asked, "Why did we have to take her with us?"
"Well, it was either her or Sonata," Hiccup reasoned, although with a fair bit of reluctance. A squealing fangirl over a noisy Siren dragonet wasn't as much of an improvement as they'd hoped.
"Good point," Astrid relented. "But we should've at least thought about getting her a babysitter."
"Frida or Sonata?" Snivels asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"Speaking of," Amber rumbled from behind them, "I hope Brandyn's coping fine. I mean, I'm no expert, but I've heard that it's not easy for a guy to marry a girl who already has a child."
"Brandyn and Heather love Sonata," said Blaze, "You've seen them, haven't you?
Amber sighed blissfully. "Of course I have. They love her so much; she may as well be their own daughter. Even if she is a Siren."
At this, Hiccup went quiet and stared silently ahead at the sea in front of him. He had to admit that the thought of him becoming a father someday had crossed his mind, especially now that he was a married man. But Astrid had been training to become a shieldmaiden ever since she was old enough to wield an axe, and shieldmaidens did not have children. At least, they weren't supposed to. If Hiccup wanted kids and Astrid didn't, then who was he to enforce such a responsibility onto her?
The second group, consisting of Heather, Ninjark, Brandyn, Ra, Camazotz, Adhesive, and Kickin' Hawk, soared in a triangular formation over Dragon Island, their eyes open for any kind of unusual activity. Fortunately, after spending a few minutes to inspect the island's surface from above, they couldn't find any sign of a Dynamax storm having been there recently. The forests were undisturbed, the volcano was stable, and dragons and flying Pokémon could be seen cruising around above the many trees and cliffs.
Kickin' Hawk nodded with satisfaction, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "Alright, it's business as usual on Dragon Island." After a moment, he absently called out, "You kids see anything?"
When he got no response, the Hawlucha lifted his gaze away from the island below and turned toward the two humans in the group. He did a double-take when he saw that they were only looking at each other, and his usual vigilance quickly turned to irritation when he noticed their lovestruck expressions. No more than ten feet away, Ra and Camazotz were doing the exact same thing.
Oh, great, Kickin' Hawk realized, rolling his eyes. He knew exactly where this was going.
"Hey, lovebirds," he snapped out loud. "The island's down there."
His voice startled Brandyn, who snapped right back to his normal self, looking dazed, as though he'd been in a trance. "Sorry," he replied guiltily.
Kickin' Hawk sighed. "Look," he said, "I get it - you're young, you're in love, you're engaged - but there isn't going to be a wedding if the archipelago is destroyed by the Darkest Day."
"They could get married before then," Ninjark said.
"Yes," Kickin' Hawk agreed, a bit begrudgingly. "But that's not the point!"
"We're not too keen on the whole end-of-the-world schtick, either," said Brandyn, "And, not that it's important at this current time, but, we're still working out the details."
There was a squeal from an excited Camazotz. "Maybe we could do a joint wedding!"
"And I can officiate!" Adhesive offered. "I became an ordained minister on the Internet. I'll recite the ceremony and all you guys have to do is say 'I do'."
If Hiccup were here, then he surely would have chided the Poipole for encouraging an off-topic conversation.
Then again, if Hiccup was here, Kickin' Hawk's rational side spoke up in the back of his head, Then I probably wouldn't be putting up with this wedding talk.
"We can discuss this later," he enunciated.
Mildly offended, Ra retorted sarcastically, "And when was the last time you ever had some quality time with Blaze, Lucha?"
After getting over the annoyance and embarrassment he felt over being referred to by his real name, Kickin' Hawk realized that the Solgaleo had a point. Being a father kept him busy enough, but topped off with battle-crazy Vikings on the loose and this new prophecy they had to deal with, the Hawlucha couldn't even remember when he and Blaze had last had a moment to themselves. (And, now that he thought about it, when did he last spend quality time with their kids?)
"Alright, you got me," Kickin' Hawk conceded. "The point is, we should be focusing on the patrol right now. If all goes well today, then we'll have plenty of time to spend with our significant others once we get back to Berk."
It was that moment that Sonata decided to wake up from her nap, then poke her little head out of Heather's jacket. The Siren dragonet reared back, then opened her mouth and let it rip.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"
Startled, Heather reeled backward onto Windshear's back and almost fell right off. Once she had gathered her bearings, she scolded, "Sonata, don't you ever do that again! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Sonata whimpered, whether out of fear at being yelled at or the mental image of her mommy having a really bad boo-boo, they'd never know for sure.
"Be patient, little song," Brandyn said, "You can eat when we get home, okay?"
"Akey, Papa," Sonata squeaked.
Now that they were done checking out Dragon Island, it was time for them to move on. Judging by the position of the sun, it was getting close to the appointed time when they'd all agreed to meet up and then head back to Berk for dinner. Kickin' Hawk was feeling particularly good about today's progress - they'd covered all the islands on their portion of the list, and not a single sign of any Dynamax storms.
The Hawlucha led the way toward the rendezvous point, the others flying close behind.
Hiccup shook his head to try and dispel the pestering thoughts swirling in his head. If he ever gathered the courage, he'd have a talk with Astrid and they'd decide what to do about having children. Right now, they were almost finished with their patrol, so it was time to buckle down and focus before heading to meet with their other friends.
It wasn't long before the lead Go-Getter's spyglass-aided eyes caught sight of a familiar island up ahead. He put the tool away and mentally prepared himself for what undoubtedly awaited them on the deceptively innocent-looking piece of land.
"Oh, great," Snivels commented, also picking up on how familiar the place looked. "Looks like our final stop is Camouflage Island."
As they proceeded to alter their course directly toward the island, Hiccup twisted his head around to look back at the others as best he could. "Quick refresher, gang - island full of ill-tempered, highly territorial, and virtually invisible dragons."
"So we should keep our distance!" said Astrid.
"Got it!" Frida announced, saluting.
An unexpected sound came from the island rapidly getting closer. The riders, human and Pokémon alike, all sat up, stiff with alarm, when they heard a unmistakably draconic roar emanating from somewhere along the nearest coast.
"I don't like the sound of that," Snivels sighed. He clenched his hands in Verne's white mane, ready to turn the Noivern towards wherever the sound was coming from the moment Hiccup gave the word.
And he didn't have to wait long for it.
"Neither do I," Hiccup muttered, curious. "It wasn't a Changewing, which means it's worth checking out."
Patting Toothless on the neck, he rode the Night Fury down toward the strip of sand at the island's edge that indicated a beach. The other dragons flew after him swiftly enough to kick up a tremendous gust of wind.
"So much for the 'keep our distance' policy," Blaze huffed to herself, then urged Wavern to pick up her pace.
The group circled the island in a clockwise direction, their eyes scanning the beaches below to see if they could find the creature that had made the noise. It didn't take long for Amber to shout and point to something her keen eyes had spotted. As they continued flying over the coastline, the trees and cliffs gave way to reveal a creature that none of them had ever encountered before.
Laying on the sand near a large cliff, it was covered in greenish-blue scales, with powerful wings and a webbed tail adapted for life in the water. It threw its slender head back and let out another pained roar.
"Whoa, that's a Scauldron!" Hiccup exclaimed.
"What's it doing on land?" Snivels asked immediately, recognizing this as highly unusual.
"Catching some rays?" guessed Amber. "Taking in the sights?"
When Hiccup twisted his upper body around to look back at the Scauldron - because they'd already almost completely passed it by now - he noticed something new. The aquatic dragon was lying on its belly with one of its wings stretched all the way out, and there appeared to be a small pile of rocks trapping it on the ground. The lead Go-Getter's eyes widened at the sight.
"Actually, it looks to me that he may be hurt!" he said.
"She," Snivels corrected. He then instructed his mount, "Verne, take us down!"
The Servine and Noivern led the way down onto the beach, although they and the others kept at a safe distance while Toothless took Hiccup a little bit closer to the trapped Scauldron. It raised its head slightly in response to the newcomers, its eyes seemingly boring into them.
"Wow, it's pretty big," Frida noticed, once she'd gotten off of Pincher.
Snivels followed her onto the sand, remarking, "She's not full-grown yet. She looks like she's about Geyser's age."
"You mean you guys have a Scauldron?!" Frida said, eyes wide and mouth gaped.
"We don't own him," said Blaze, "He's been living in the cove's lake with his Seadra friend, Tatsu. And they've just about outgrown it."
Hiccup, meanwhile, was busy studying the rocks piled on the wild Scauldron's wing. In his observation, he quickly noticed something about the surrounding terrain, and gasped in realization.
"Guys, look!" he cried, pointing to a partially destroyed cliff face only a short distance away from the Scauldron. "There must've been an earthquake, and before she could get back to the water, her wing got pinned."
"Earthquake?" noted Snivels. "Not Dynamax-related, right?"
"Possibly," Hiccup considered, and then shook his head. "But regardless of that, a Tidal Class dragon can't stay out of the water for long. If her scales dry all the way out, she's finished. We have to help her."
"And we'd better hurry," Snivels added, warily scanning their surroundings. "Just a reminder - Camouflage Island is home to a particularly territorial pack of Changewings, which, I might add, we've already had to deal with thanks to an orphaned egg and one Mr. Snotface Jorgenstink trying to make a fortune by passing off their unhatched offspring as good-luck charms."
Hiccup turned to the rest of the gang. "You guys keep an eye out for Changewings. Toothless and I will see if we can help the Scauldron."
"Hey, now, don't leave me out of this," Snivels said, half-jokingly and half-serious. He strut up to stand next to his trainer.
Rolling his eyes, Hiccup made sure that his draconium shield was still secure in its position on his back, then walked up to Toothless and knelt beside the Night Fury's muzzle.
"Okay, Toothless, here's what you're going to do..." he whispered, and then proceeded to briefly explain his plan via a combination of whispered words and hand signals.
With a snort, Toothless stood up a little taller, showing that he was ready. Smiling, Hiccup gave him a hand signal, and he bounded off down the beach, away from the Scauldron.
Now that that was done, Hiccup was ready to execute the next part of his plan. Placing his shield down on the ground so that he wouldn't appear to be a threat, he tentatively approached the trapped Scauldron. Her eyes, which had been fastened on his glittering silver accessory, immediately snapped upwards to fix him in their strangely empty glare.
Attempting to hide whatever apprehension he was feeling, Hiccup spread out his arms in a friendly fashion and greeted it, "Hey, Ms. Scauldron, how'd you get yourself into this mess?"
He took another step closer, and the Scauldron raised her head to roar threateningly at him. He paused, knowing that the dragon was clearly agitated, and under no circumstances should he make the situation worse. He furtively stole a glance in Toothless' direction - with the Scauldron's attention on Hiccup, Toothless was stealthily stalking around the Scauldron's other side.
"Look, that's not important," Snivels amended quickly, facing the Scauldron himself. "But what is important is getting you out, and my friends and I can help. What do you say?"
The Scauldron wasn't making any more hostile moves, content for now with sizing the human-and-Servine duo up. She definitely wasn't ready to trust them, but she wasn't attacking either. Feeling the tension creeping up to almost unbearable levels, Hiccup frantically checked on Toothless' progress again without letting the Scauldron know.
The Night Fury was in position, directly behind the Scauldron. He spread his wings, ready for the next step of the plan. In the back of his head, Hiccup gave a silent prayer to Arceus for this to work out, and he gave a second hand signal.
Plasma blast.
The blue projectile soared out of Toothless' jaws and struck the pile of boulders, shattering a few of them into nothing more than rock dust. Startled and angry, the Scauldron immediately turned her head and blasted a stream of boiling water at the Night Fury, who tucked and rolled out of the way just in the nick of time.
Fear rapidly building inside of him, Hiccup scrambled back, away from the angry water dragon, as fast as his prosthetic and one good leg could carry him. "Toothless!" he called out.
Knowing that the Scauldron was undoubtedly going to attack again, Snivels bolted toward where the Night Fury was standing. When everyone saw the Scauldron rear her head back, they immediately prepared to engage her in combat if necessary - Astrid's hand reaching for the handle of her axe, the dragons spreading their wings, a crackling fire burning in the back of Amber and Blaze's throats.
Suddenly, the great aquatic creature lurched her head forward, startling everyone - mainly Snivels and Toothless - into scattering for shelter. Hiccup, still running as fast as his legs could carry him, threw a cautious glance over his shoulder, and his eyes widened when he saw the Scauldron's gullet expanding.
But instead of attacking her victims straight away, the Scauldron did something odd. She quickly swallowed the water she had prepared to spew, lowering her head to further examine the shaken black dragon and green snake Pokemon.
Moving slowly, Hiccup looked around the not-quite-fully-grown water dragon's bulk to see what had caused her to halt her attack so suddenly. The first thing he noticed was the Scauldron licking her chops with a hungry look in her eyes. He panicked internally for about two full seconds before realizing that Snivels was holding a proportionately-sized salmon as far up as he could reach.
Now, the Scauldron didn't really eat the fish so much as she utterly devoured it. Her head darted forward, teeth closing around the slippery scales, then reared back and swallowed the morsel in one big gulp.
Toothless whacked Snivels with his tail.
"I'll get you another fish," the Servine promised.
A Night Fury's dinner was a small price to pay, so long as the Scauldron was calm and cooperative.
The Scauldron spread out her free wing and thrashed her tail while stretching out her neck, letting out a roar of anguish as she tried in vain to escape her rocky predicament.
"Okay, yeah, that wasn't exactly the answer we were looking for," Hiccup summarized. "Gang, any ideas?"
Frida raised her hand in volunteer. "Here's one - wouldn't it be easier to just swoop in there and lift the boulders off her wing?"
"She's only calm now because Snivels offered her food," Amber said, "Think of what would happen if we all went in there at once!"
To the ten-year-old's credit, Hiccup had to admit that she might have been on to something with that idea.
"Well, we know we can't blast them off," he said, "Besides startling her, the explosion could seriously hurt the Scauldron. We need to let her know we're friends."
From behind the water dragon, Snivels called out, "She might calm down more if we get her wet."
Delighted, Hiccup nodded to his friend for coming up with such a simple yet genius idea. "That's worth a try! Everyone, empty the buckets of food in your saddlebags and fill them with water!"
A few minutes later, the five Go-Getters and one Junior Go-Getter in training now flew on their dragons back to the beach. Each of them carried a bucket of not fishy leftovers, but seawater, and they were about to commence the "bombing run" in which they would dive down upon the Scauldron and shower her with water.
Frida, in particular, seemed quite excited by this latest plan, and she led the charge with her water bucket held at the ready under one arm. On Hiccup's signal, she and Pincher both dove down, the former whooping at the top of her lungs.
"This. Is. AWESOME!" hollered Frida, holding her bucket high above her head.
With the adolescent Nadder on the move toward the Scauldron, Hiccup signaled for Snivels, Astrid, Blaze and Amber to follow them. Once they fell into line behind Frida and Pincher, it was his turn.
"Toothless, GO!" he ordered.
Letting out a growl, the Night Fury folded his wings and dove after the other four dragons and one Charizard, gaining speed as they descended at a steep angle. Hiccup narrowed his eyes and held on tightly with his knees, freeing his hands as he got ready to toss his own bucket upon the Scauldron.
However, as Hiccup would later reflect, it might have not been such a good idea to approach the Scauldron from the front.
Her head shot upwards instantly when she spotted them coming in for their "bombing run", eyes narrowing. She fins spread her free wing in a threat display, and only a few seconds later, her gullet began to expand. What happened next was too quick to even see coming, let alone successfully dodge.
A bellowing roar echoed across the beach as the Scauldron disgorged a stream of boiling-hot water that she swept through the sky, striking all of the dragons on its way. The scalding liquid wasn't enough to seriously injure them, but the sheer force of impact was enough to knock them all off balance and send them plummeting to the ground, water buckets flying everywhere and spilling their contents uselessly. Between the water beam, seawater flying through the air, and painful meetings with the ground, the whole group ended up bruised and soaking wet.
A pained groan emitted from Hiccup's mouth as he emerged from underneath Toothless's wing, coughing and flapping his arms in a vain attempt to rid his soggy tunic of water. Toothless growled an apology and gave his human rider a lick to the face, which, while Hiccup did appreciate the gesture, only made him that much wetter.
The Scauldron lowered her head again and roared at all of them, as if daring them to try that again. In various states of soreness, the Go-Getters and their dragons backed off to another spot on the beach so she wouldn't blast them a second time.
"Wasn't the idea to get the Scauldron wet?" Hiccup snarked at them, feeling irritated.
"On the upside, being wet has made me feel calmer," Snivels shrugged.
"Speak for yourself," Amber commented, thrashing her flaming tail.
Impulsively, Hiccup glanced back at the Scauldron. She didn't seem to be struggling to escape as much now - her movements were more sluggish, and she waved her head slowly from side to side, hissing to herself.
"We need more ideas," he asserted. "What can we do to help this Scauldron?"
Tentatively, Frida raised her hand. "Well, if she won't let us help, what can we do?"
Hiccup didn't want to consider that possibility. There had never been a hurt or dying creature they hadn't been able to save, and certainly never one that they'd willingly abandoned. The Red Death on Dragon Island had been a special case, the one exception to their save-all-creatures rule.
"There has to be something," Snivels shook his head at the Junior Go-Getter. His eye caught the small pile of leftover sea food they'd emptied from their buckets.
Amber was looking fidgety, constantly shooting wary looks at both Hiccup and the Scauldron in turn. It seemed very much like she wanted to fly away before she could get soaked a second time, and Hiccup didn't blame her for that.
Finally, Snivels announced, "I think I have an idea. It's a bit risky, but it might work. Pincher, take Frida home. This could get dangerous. Astrid, go find the others. We may need their help."
Possibly for the first time ever, Hiccup didn't have a clue what the Servine was planning. But he didn't have the heart to cast his doubts onto his friend at such a crucial time.
Unlike last time, Frida didn't voice any complaints as she pulled herself up onto the yellow Nadder's back.
Stormfly waited patiently for Astrid to mount up as well...but the blonde wasn't going to leave without saying something first.
Without much emotion in her voice, Hiccup's wife explained, "Guys, if the Scauldron won't let us near her, then there's nothing we can do to save her without endangering ourselves or our friends."
"I know," her husband said, "But we have to try. It'll make me feel better knowing that we tried every option."
Astrid gave him a curt nod, and a peck on the cheek, before she turned away and headed toward Stormfly, not wanting to drag the tense moment on for any longer than she had to.
Eventually, the two girls were all saddled up.
"I wish there was something I could do," whispered Frida. "This isn't at all like I thought it would be."
"What?" Astrid deadpanned. "You thought we'd be sliding down rainbows and dancing with unicorns? This isn't a fairy tale, Frida. This is real life."
(Imagine that they give the audience an Aside Glance.)
The two Nadders began to fly off, but once the dragons had cleared a certain distance from the beach, something seemed to pass under them.
A purplish-blue seahorse Pokémon was heading for the beach at breakneck speed.
Astrid twisted around in the saddle and shouted back toward the beach, "Hiccup, you've got incoming!"
Hiccup whirled around so fast he almost fell over. He didn't spot the creature at first, and when he did, he squinted a little. "Is that a Seadra?"
It was. A Shiny one, to be exact.
And it was headed straight for them.
Toothless jumped in front of his rider, wings spread wide and blue fire burning in the back of his throat. He didn't want to hurt the Seadra, but he would if his friends' lives were in jeopardy. The Seadra flared out its venomous fins as it charged, but before it could reach them...
...it stopped.
Hiccup could see why - the water Pokémon had run out of ocean to swim through. But maybe that wasn't the only reason?
Seeing that his human friend was no longer in immediate danger, Toothless swallowed his plasma blast, but still kept a wary eye on the Seadra.
Snivels pushed past the defensive Night Fury. "Let me get a word in," he said. Then, in Pokéspeak, he asked the Seadra, "What are you doing out here?"
"Seadra!" The Dragon Pokémon cast her eyes towards the beached Scauldron as she conversed.
Hiccup guessed that the Shiny Seadra was telling them that she was the dragon's colleague, a theory that was confirmed by Snivels's translation a minute later.
"We're okay!" Hiccup called up to the girls still flying on their Nadders.
Nodding, Astrid and Frida both urged their dragons onward, but not without the older rider casting a concerned glance back at her husband. This wasn't the first time they had to deal with a hostile Pokémon, and she didn't want to think about what would happen if the Scauldron didn't make it.
"We're trying to help your friend," Snivels explained to the Seadra. "She's got her wing stuck under some boulders. Can you tell us what happened, miss...?"
"Queendra," the Dragon Pokémon finished. "We were resting here at the beach last night. There was an earthquake, and those rocks fell over and trapped her wing. My aim is good, but I didn't want to risk shooting her by accident."
"Don't worry, Queendra," the Servine assured her. "I think I have an idea. If all goes well, we'll have your friend back in the ocean in no time."
With his head held high, the Grass-type Pokémon prince strut over to the pile of seafood that had been emptied from their buckets earlier. Steeling himself, the Servine dove headfirst into the fishy pile with a wet *splat*!
Everyone watching cringed at the sight and the sound.
It took Snivels a minute to get past the overpowering smell that was wafting around his nostrils. Once he did, he completely immersed himself into the pile, wriggling and squirming and rolling around in it until he was certain that every square inch of his body was covered in Eau de Fish.
Extracting himself from the pile, the Servine wiped off some of the excess slime and asked, "Who wants to go next?"
"No thanks," Amber said immediately.
"Not me," said Blaze.
Retching in disgust, Hiccup stepped back. "I think you're on your own for this one, Snivs."
The Servine rolled his eyes. With friends like these...
Slowly, Snivels approached the still-trapped Scauldron, not stopping until he was close enough to feel her breath.
"Why don't we try this again?" he growled in Dragonese.
The Scauldron examined him with renewed interest, her nostrils catching the scent of the fish he'd rolled around in. She leaned her head down until her snout was practically touching the Servine, her nostrils opened and closed repeatedly the closer she got to the object of her fascination. She was as calm as could be, lightly bumping Snivels with her snout a little as she tried to get closer.
"Maybe she'll finally let us help?" Amber suggested.
But when she and Hiccup walked up the beach to get closer, the Scauldron suddenly turned away from Snivels and noticed that there were others approaching. Her mouth dropped open, showing her peg-like teeth, and she let out a roar.
"Nope, scratch that," Hiccup corrected, backing up several steps. "She only seems to be comfortable letting Snivels near, for now."
With the Go-Getters no longer a concern, the Scauldron went back to examining Snivels, this time roughly butting him as she forced her head up against him.
"Looks like you've gotten yourself into quite a pickle," Snivels said. "May we help?"
The Scauldron drew back a little to look at him properly. "Alright," she warbled. "If you can."
Astrid was never that great with children. They just weren't her thing. Weapons were her thing. Her whole life she'd been training to be a shieldmaiden, and kids would have been a liability on the battlefield.
But so much had changed since then - talking Pokémon, training dragons, mysterious prophecies, getting married to Hiccup...the list went on.
As if that last one had summoned her, Frida flew up next to the older girl, on Pincher, and asked curiously, "When did you and Hiccup get married?"
"Bork Week," Astrid answered without hesitation. "You know that place the Vikings call 'Freezing to Death'? The Pokémon call it the Ice Caves. We had the wedding there. We wanted to do something different, without all of the meaningless Viking traditions. Fjord, the Kyurem who lives there, is something of a friend of ours. He did the officiating."
"THE Kyurem?" Frida asked, wide-eyed. "You're friends with a Legendary Pokémon?! That is so cool! Could I meet him?"
Astrid shrugged. "Sure. Someday."
Grinning from ear to ear, Frida trembled with excitement. "I'm gonna meet a Legendary Pokémon! So AWESOME!"
"Speaking of Pokémon," Astrid said calmly, "Have you thought about getting yourself a partner?"
The young girl nodded. "Yeah, but I haven't decided what kind. There's so many choices, and I wanna make sure I pick the right one."
"Having a Pokémon partner isn't about picking the right one," said Astrid, "It's about creating a bond of trust and loyalty."
"Oh," Frida said, her eyes lighting up. "Like training a dragon!"
Astrid was quite pleasantly surprised that the ten-year-old was able to make that connection so quickly. "Exactly," she said, patting Stormfly's flank. This earned her an affectionate croon from the Nadder.
"I should be heading to Berk," the young girl realized. "It was nice talking to you, Mrs. Haddock."
By the time Astrid had regained enough of herself to say "Don't call me that," Frida and Pincher were well out of sight.
Well...maybe children aren't so bad after all.
That thought was completely shot when she found the other group, and Sonata started squealing, "Asty!"
She didn't particularly like that nickname.
"Icca?" Sonata inquired, tilting her head a little. "Iccasty?"
"Hiccup's at Camouflage Island," Astrid addressed the group. "There's a beached Scauldron there. I'll explain on the way."
"We're right behind you," said Brandyn.
And so began their flight towards an island full of Changewings.
On the way there, a smiling Heather held the Siren dragonet she called her daughter up to her eye level and said playfully, "Say 'Hiccstrid'."
"Iccasty!" Sonata declared.
Astrid whirled around in the saddle. "It was you?!"
Standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, Glory the Changewing dragonet had an expression on her snout that suggested that she wasn't very appreciative of the view. Whereas most creatures would regard the vast expanse of sparkling water in front of them with awe, or happiness, or perhaps even peace, Glory just looked straight-up annoyed.
"They always do everything without me," she snarled, with enough venom in her tone to put her own acid spray to shame. "Why can't I be a Go-Getter for once?"
"Because it's too dangerous?" Bigwings offered. "Because you're just a dragonet? Because one stray blob of acid could turn one of your friends into mush?"
Glory shot the Screaming Death dragonet an acidic glare.
"I'm just as disappointed as you that we have to stay here," he said, "But you don't hear me whining about it."
"Whining?!" Glory shrieked. "Say that again, I dare you!"
Despite an angry Changewing being enough to make even the biggest and dumbest Viking think twice, Mortem placed himself between the two quarreling dragonets. Seconds later, though, he backed up a little so they wouldn't thrash or blast him by accident if the situation turned hostile.
"Cheer up, Glory," the Red Death dragonet recommended. He sat down and speculated, "They probably set these rules because they want to keep us safe. We'll get out there someday."
His innocent tone was lost on Glory, who turned around to stare back out at the ocean. "Or," she growled, "They think that because they're all grown up, they get to do whatever they want, and they don't want us to ruin their fun for them."
Although not appearing frightened, Mortem still wisely backed off. "They don't really seem to be having a lot of fun," he mused.
Finally, Glory dropped the glare and let out a frustrated sigh. She huffed, "Yeah, but that doesn't make me feel any -"
Suddenly, a wild Frida appeared.
"Hey, guys!" she called out while sliding off of Pincher's back. "I'm back!"
Glory rolled her eyes. Really? We had NO IDEA.
"Why does she get to go?" Bigwings asked, sincerely confused. "I don't think she qualifies as a grown-up."
Glory didn't even dignify the Frida-related question with a response, instead letting out an amused snort and turning away.
"I think they said she's in training," Mortem said by way of answer.
If there was just one slightly good thing she could say about Mortem, Glory admitted, it was that he was as innocent as the next dragonet.
Stepping up to the house, Frida leaned onto the wall and sighed, "I wish I could have done more to help. Of all the islands the poor Scauldron had to get beached on, why did it have to be Camouflage Island?"
Before anyone could blink, Glory was up in the air. What she did next was hardly any less surprising - she turned in the direction Frida and Pincher had just come from.
"Where are you going?" Mortem called after her, worriedly.
"To Camouflage Island," Glory called back, sounding as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If that little girl can be a Go-Getter, then so can I!"
Frida's eyes followed the sound of the Changewing's roars, and she saw the dragonet flying away. "That can't be good," she uttered to herself. Then she asked Pincher, "What do we do now?"
The juvenile Nadder squawked uncertainly.
Back on Camouflage Island, all of the commotion on the beach hadn't gone unnoticed by the island's native residents.
A lone Changewing deep in the forest raised her head, hearing yet another roar emanating from somewhere out beyond her territory. Phantom had been traveling on her own ever since a particularly nasty storm had separated her from her mate and their egg. She'd been hearing strange noises for a while now - noises that were definitely made by other creatures - and it had put her territorial instincts on edge. If it had just been one or two odd noises, she could've ignored it, but the sounds weren't stopping. Other dragons had landed on the shore and it didn't sound like they'd be leaving any time soon.
Phantom turned her head in the direction of the sound and let out a growl. If the invaders weren't going to leave of their own accord, then it was up to her to drive them away by force.
I must confess I haven't yet figured out a plan for Heather and Brandyn's wedding.
Scauldy isn't the first dragon is this series to have their gender swapped. Thornado's companion, Whirlwing, was confirmed male in canon, but is female in this universe (and will be the mother to his dragonets. Three guesses. Hint: they all begin with B).
Phantom the Changewing appears in the Riders of Berk comics, which I'm guessing most of you haven't read. It's okay, I haven't either. I learned about her through the Rise of Berk app, and it was pretty much dumb luck that I found out about Hroar (I can't make any promises, but he might appear in the How to Become a Trainer universe).
I'm just gonna say it - Glory is Phantom's daughter, but neither of them knows that the other is alive. The father, Chameleon, was found dead on the scene, and the other Changewings mentioned that Phantom was missing, so Snivels had good reason to believe that Glory was an orphan. And now mother and daughter are about to meet each other for the first time...
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