Chapter 14: Team Astrid
"Good job on patrol guys. The Edge is secure." Hicca complimented Hiccup, Raeda and Astrid once they reconvened after patrolling different areas around the Edge.
Hiccup noticed Astrid not paying attention. "Uh-oh I know that look."
Astrid turned to the twins. "Hiccup, Hicca, where are all the Night Terrors? Aren't they supposed to be on watch? They're our last line of defence."
It didn't take them long for them to realise where the dragons could be.
"I have three guesses on where the Night Terrors could be."
Hiccup made the first guess.
"Tuffnut!"
(Linebreak)
The four of them quickly found the Night Terrors and true to their prediction, they were taken by the Thorston twins, mainly Tuffnut.
"Yeah, that's good, right over there. Perfect. Okay. Yes." Ruffnut directed a few of the Night Terrors.
Hiccup confronted them. "Uh, what are you two doing?"
"Uh, what does it look like we're doing? Dragon training!" Ruffnut explained, as if it was that obvious.
"You would think you, of all people would recognize that." Tuffnut mocked. "Prepare to be amazed my friend! Okay ready little guy?" He asked the Night Terror he was holding.
He put the dragon down and extended his arm. "Shake!"
The Night Terror starts to shake its body.
Tuffnut started laughing. "Right, see, you thought it'd be a handshake, and he'd put out his little paw, but I taught him-"
"Oh no no, we understand, I'm just not sure how useful a skill that is." Hicca asked, unamused along with Hiccup, Astrid and Raeda
"Well that's not all he does, wanna see him get my slippers?" Tuffnut offered.
"These dragons are not our pets, Tuffnut. They're an integral part of our security system." Astrid stepped in.
"He can also solve math problems by stomping his foot, as long as the answer is always three." Tuffnut countered.
"She has a point Tuffnut, and you have a pet already." Hiccup pointed out, reminding him of Chicken, who was at the side clucking.
The male Thorston just shrugged with a 'meh'.
"Dagur could park a whole fleet right offshore, and we wouldn't even know they were there, because the Night Terrors aren't on their perches." Astrid argued.
"Lighten up Astrid." Snotlout said, as he and Fishlegs joined the scene. "Dagur doesn't even know where Dragons Edge is."
"That doesn't mean he can't find out." Raeda argued.
"Yeah and if you guys don't take this seriously, he will soon enough." Astrid added.
"I say bring it on! Let him bring that weak-sauce in here. Hookfang and I will pummel his deranged butt."
Before anyone could say anything else. A Terrible Terror suddenly flew in and hit Fishlegs right in the face. Rubbing his head, he took the note attached to the smaller dragon and read it.
"Fishlegs, what is it?" Hiccup asked.
"It's Berk." As he continued to read the contents, a worried look overtook his face. "And it's not good."
(Linebreak)
The Dragon Riders raced back to Berk as fast as they could. Once they surveyed the aftermath of an attack that took place on their home a while back. The villagers were all working on repairing the damages done and recovering anything they can from the debris The Dragon Riders found Henry who was working with his dragons to put out some of the remaining fires.
"Hey Henry! Where's the chief?" Raeda asked.
The guy pointed to direction below them before guiding Wildstar, Scout, Sandstorm and Sandtrapper to get more water.
"Kids, I'm glad you're here." Stoick greeted his kids as he watched them land..
"Who did this? Dagur?" Hiccup demanded.
"And which way did he go?" Raeda demanded.
"It was a hit-and run attack. Catapults and Volleys of fire arrows mostly. Hit a few buildings in town. Thankfully Henry and his dragons stepped in and protected us against the attack." He turned to Astrid. "Astrid, one of the buildings hit was your parents' house. You should probably head over to-"
She didn't even wait for him to finish his sentence. She and Stormflly took off to the Hofferson household.
(Linebreak)
Devastation overtook Astrid as she took in her demolished home. What's worse was that she couldn't see any signs of her parents anywhere.
"Relax lass, you're parents are fine. They were out at the yak races." Gobber explained, when he found her. "I'm sorry we couldn't save your house."
Astrid wrapped her arms around herself. "If they had been home, Gobber-"
"But they weren't." Gobber interrupted, reassuring her. "It'll be alright lass. We'll get this place rebuilt as good as new."
But Astrid was not fully consoled.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile the others got to work on the repairs.
"All right, now that the fires are out, Sven, you start the wall repairs. Bucket you're in charge of roofs." Stoick directed.
He then turned to find Hiccup leading his own group, a proud look appeared on the fathers' face.
"Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff, you ferry whatever supplies they need. Fishlegs, you and Meatlug do the heavy lifting. Hicca, help Gothi treat anyone injured. Raeda and I'll go looking for Dagur."
"It was a strange attack, son. A single ship, it fired a few salvos then just turned tail and ran." Stoick informed him.
"That's not Dagur's style, Why attack at all?" Hicca wondered.
"Good question." Stoick said to his daughter.
"I'll ask him when we find him." Hiccup said.
"Let's ask after we sink his ship." Raeda suggested as she and Hiccup got on their dragons.
"He was heading north, that's your best bet." The Berkian chief informed them.
"Let's go bud." Hiccup said to Toothless. The two took off with Raeda and Sparkfire right behind them.
(Line break)
Hicca was making her way back to Gothi's hut, with a basket filled with medical supplies and Midnight, who's carrying her own basket of supplies, by her side. Then she spotted Henry and Wildstar.
"Henry!" She called. She ran to him as fast as the heavy basket in her hands can allow her to. "Thank you." She said as soon as she caught up to him.
Noticing his confused expression, she explained. "I heard what you did, protecting Berk from the attack and what you're doing right now. Thank you. You have no idea how grateful the rest of the dragon riders and I are."
Henry just looked at her and explained. "You guys helped me in my time of need, I returned the favor simple as that."
She wasn't really the first one to thank him. A lot of villagers, including the chief, has expressed their gratitude towards him. Really the boy had a few things prepared for the day, tend to his dragons, avoid the villagers, plan the next destination to go once Lockjaw is completely healed, he never planned to become a hero to place he and his dragons were currently residing in. That changed, though, the minute the earth began to shake. He ran out of the Academy with Wildstar, Sandtrapper, and Sandstorm following behind him. Scout stayed with Lockjaw to protect the dragon, who was still feeling drowsy from his illness.
It kind of spooked him a little, how quick he was to jump into the defense for a village that wasn't actually his home, but he still did so nonetheless with his three dragons. They focused on blocking the attacks and rescuing people from burning buildings. It probably could have been easier if they sunk the ship before it could do anymore damage but they couldn't. Henry just risk word spreading about him and his dragons. He couldn't risk them finding out his whereabouts. That would just make things worse.
"Uh, well still." Hicca said, noticing him staring into space. "I heard Lockjaw is recovering nicely."
"Yep. As soon as he's fully recovered, we'll be out of here." Henry declared.
"Great." Hicca said, awkward silence took over. "Well, I've got to go. I need to get these medical supplies to Gothi."
She walked back to Midnight, still trying to get a firm grip on the heavy basket. As talented as she is in the medical field and as skilled as she is as a dragon rider, she still lacks the raw viking strength even as the years passed. And now it was showing.
Henry noticed her struggling. He gave a low whistle, which caught Wildstars' attention. He jerked his head towards Hicca. The dragon was able to understand enough.
Hicca was surprised when the weight of the basket suddenly disappeared as Wildstar snatched the basket with her mouth on the handle.
"It looks like Wildstar wants to help me carry this." Hicca said, turning to Henry.
"She can if she wants to." Henry said shrugging, not even looking at them.
(Linebreak)
Hours have passed until Hiccup, Raeda, Toothless and Sparkfire landed in the Academy, feeling dejected from their search as they were unsuccessful.
There they found the others, minus Astrid and Stormfly, have gathered there as well.
Hiccup noticed Meatlug resting with all four of her claws each in a bucket of water. "Uh, is Meatlug okay?"
"Of course, she'll be fine. All that that taking off and landing is tough on her insoles." Fishlegs answeed.
"I'm taking a guess and say that you guys didn't find Dagur." Hicca said.
"Nope. No signs of him, but he did have a full day's head start on us." Hiccup informed the others.
He turned to the Thorston twins. "How'd you two do on the repairs?"
"Awesome, we fixed so many houses." Tuffnut bragged.
"Yeah, but everybody was so grateful, they gave us all this food." Ruffnut said, gesturing to a long table covered with food.
"They also gave us this furniture, They just left it piled up in front of their houses." Tuffnut added
"Hiccup, Hicca, It's a terrible tragedy." Sven exclaimed in distraught as he ran into the Academy. "Someone's been looting all the burned houses, taking food, furniture...anything valuable they can get their hands on."
The auburn twins turned back to Ruffnut, who was sitting on a chair inspecting a gold necklace. She noticed them looking at her and hid the necklace behind her. "That's horrible, what kind of world do we live in?"
Hiccup sighed and turned back to Sven. "Don't worry Sven, I'm pretty sure it'll reappear...very quickly." He said as he guided him out.
"Or there will be consequences." Hicca added.
Astrid then entered the Academy.
"Astrid, how's your family?" Hiccup asked.
"They're okay, Their house, the house I grew up in is gone." Astrid said, feeling down.
"Hey, Astrid. Do you need a shoulder to cry on?" Snotlout offered, putting an arm around her shoulders.
Astrid grabbed that arm and flung him across.
"Thanks Snotlout, I really needed that." Astrid said.
"You're welcome, I know my role." Snotlout wheezed.
Hiccup got everyone's attention. "Listen up everyone, Dagur was last seen fleeing due north. By my calculations, he could be heading out of the archipelago. So we go back to Dragon's Edge first thing tomorrow."
"We'll use the Edge as our base to search for him. Just go back to your houses, get a good night's sleep." Hicca finished.
Hiccup turned to Astrid. "Where are you guys staying tonight."
"I figured Stormfly and I would just bed down here. Henry is fine with that." Astrid answered.
"What a coincidence. I'm sleeping here too." Hiccup said suddenly.
"Same here." Hicca agreed.
"Why? You two have warm beds and a house." Astrid asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, but the way our dad snores, sawing logs, None of us would get a wink.
"Yeah, Meatlug and I were gonna stay here too, just for old times' sake." Fishlegs said.
"Aw now I'm feeling a little left out. Sparkfire and I are joining." Raeda said.
"Uh-uh-uh nobody is having a sleepover…" Snotlout declared, before taking out his sleeping from the saddle. "...without Hookfang and me."
(Linebreak)
Night time came and the teens and their dragons laid in the center of the Academy. Henry and his dragons were at the side, the human not really in a mood to socialise with others.
"Thanks guys, this is kind of nice." He heard the blonde girl say.
At the side, Henry observed the group. From what he gathered, the blonde girl, Astrid, lost her house in the attack and was feeling depressed by it. The others, even though they didn't lose their homes, were staying in the Academy just so they could support the girl.
Henry thought back on his old tribe, thinking about how they would react in this situation. They would probably laugh at her and call her weak for getting upset at something like that. Sentimental things, like childhood houses, weren't really valued where he's from. They were just like people, expendable. One of the many lessons his father kept reminding him of.
He immediately shook his head and laid down, falling asleep.
Soon the others followed suit, except for one person. As much as Astrid tried, she just couldn't sleep. So instead, she got up and left the Academy to go for a walk.
She walked around the village, still unable to get the sight of her damaged home out of her head.
"Can't sleep, eh" Stoick asked, walking up to Astrid.
"Not a wink." Astrid admitted.
"Can't stop thinking about what you might have done to prevent the attack?" The chief asked, knowing the feeling. The blonde girl nodded. "There's nothing you could have done, you know that,"
"I know that up here." Astrid said, pointing to her head. "But in my gut-"
"You still blame yourself." Stoick filled in the blanks. "I know the feeling. We're warriors, you and I. Sworn to protect." For the chief, he always has to think of the well-fare of his people with every peace treaty he makes and battle he leads his tribe into.
"How do I make this feeling go away?" The shield-maiden asked.
"You don't. You can't. So you own it. You remember it. And you make sure you do everything you can to make sure you never feel it again." The Berkian chief advised. "Come on, I'll check the docks with you."
(Linebreak)
Astrid eventually returned to the Academy, but she didn't get any sleep. The others woke up to find her still up.
"Hey, you get any sleep last night?" Hiccup asked her.
"Spent most of the night thinking." She replied.
"So we slept on the ground, for Astrid?" Tuffnut asked Fishlegs in confusion.
"Yes, In a show of support." Fishlegs explained.
"Wow! I completely missed that."
Sleeping on the ground certainly didn't agree with Snotlout. He woke up with his back aching. "Oh, my back!"
Hookfang decided to remedy that, by using his tail to send his human flying into a wall ahead of him. He hit the wall, fell on the ground, rolled backwards and stood upright. His seems to be fixed. "Oh, thanks Hookfang."
Hiccup turned back to Astrid. "Well, we're wings up in an hour, let me help you with your gear."
"Hiccup, I've made a decision, I'm not going back to Dragon's Edge. I'm staying here, on Berk." Astrid announced.
"Woah you're staying here, when did you decide this?" Hiccup asked.
"Last night, when I was talking to your father." She answered.
Stoick, who walked into the Academy earlier, offered his input. "We're warriors Hiccup, we live by a code."
"Henry's not going to stay here for long. I'm not leaving Berk Defenseless again, I can't." Astrid said, still thinking about her parents and her home.
"Astrid, one dragon is not going to make a difference." Hicca argued.
"I know that. Hicca, I'm gonna stay and train new riders."
"What?"
"An auxiliary, a backup team, just for situations like this." She explained.
"That's uh, actually a pretty good idea." Hiccup admitted.
"Excuse me." Snotlout cut in. "But I couldn't help overhearing you conversation, probably because I was eavesdropping. If you need instructors for this new dragon training- deal, I'm your man." He said pointing to himself. "A Snotlout trained rider will be able to anticipate his dragon's every move. It's like chess. Except I don't know how to play chess." He demonstrated that by dodging Hookfangs' sudden tail whip without even looking at his dragon. "See what I mean."
SMACK
However, he wasn't prepared for the second time. "Checkmate."
"Sorry Snotlout, but I'll be doing all the training myself." Astrid said firmly. Even if she wasn't, Snotlout would the last person she would ask, right next to the Thorston twins. She turned back to Hiccup and Hicca. "This is something I need to do, guys."
Seeing Astrids' determination, the Haddock twins looked at each other and nodded.
Hiccup turned to the others. "Okay, change of plan. Raeda, Snotlout, twins, Fishlegs, you'll follow Dagur's trails north of the Archipelago."
"If you don't find him, resupply at the edge, and keep searching." Hicca added.
"Hiccup, Hicca, what part of 'I'll be doing all the training' wasn't clear to both of you?" Astrid asked, crossing her arms.
"I'm just gonna stay to patrol the area around Berk in case Dagur doubled back." Hiccup informed.
"And I'm going to be on stand-by to take care of anyone who gets injured during your training." Hicca said.
"You won't even know we're here. Right, guys?" Hiccup said, turning to Hicca, Toothless and Midnight. The human nodded while the dragons warbled.
Astrid conceded to that. "Okay then, of course this all assume anyone would even want to try out for the B-team."
(Linebreak)
Turns out a lot of people wanted to try out for the B-team as a crowd soon formed in the Academy.
The Dragon Riders were outside, observing the prospective students from the stands.
"Nice turnout!" Hiccup commented.
"A lot of people really want to know how to fly dragons." Hicca said.
"Look at them all, fresh faced and full of dreams." Tuffnut said to the auburn twins. "Dreams that are soon to be crushed. Huh, guys, were we ever that young?"
"Snotlout, isn't that your dad." Fishlegs pointed out.
The Jorgenson boy looked down and saw that his dad was indeed among the crowd in the Academy. "What? Hiccup, Hicca, you guys have to let me stay! I will get to make the rules, I will get to point out every one of HIS mistakes!" He begged.
"Sorry Snotlout." Hicca said.
"Not gonna happen." Hiccup said.
Snotlout growled in frustration. "You're gonna owe me this, the whole world owes me this. SNOTLOUT, this is SNOTLOUT!"
Hiccup ignored that. "Saddle up everybody, Astrid's got work to do and so do we."
The group took off back to the Edge, Hiccup and Toothless took off to patrol Berk, Hicca and Midnight stayed where they were as Astrid and Stormfly entered the Arena.
Hicca then noticed Henry with his dragons. "Henry! Hey!" She waved at him and called him over.
Henry flew to the stands with his dragons and joined Hicca and Midnight. "Astrid about to train the next group of dragon riders to protect Berk. Interested in watching?" She offered.
Henry looked down where all the recruits were lining up in front of Astrid and shrugged. "Sure." Secretly, he was really curious to see how they train with dragons here.
(Linebreak)
"So you all want to be dragon riders, huh?" Astrid asked, looking at each and everyone of the recruits as she walked by them. "Looks like fun. Well it isn't. It's hard, and it's dangerous."
Spitelout Jorgenson, however, wasn't bothered by that as he gave a chuckle. "Ha, ha. Dangerous, you came to the right place if you want dangerous."
Having gotten used to Snotlout by now, Astrid just smirked. "Well that's a relief." She then placed an apple she was holding in her hand on her head. "Stormfly, Spine Shot." She commended, still keeping her eyes on the recruits. The Nadder shot a single hitting the mark and her human didn't even flinch as she caught the apple.
"Your turn." She said, holding the apple to Spitelout.
The actually made the older man hesitate. "Hold on, I need to uh, stretch first." He actually started stretching his arms.
Astrid then turned to the rest of the recruits, looking for any volunteers. "Who's next. You? You?" Nervous from the demonstration, more than half the recruits ran out of the Academy, leaving Gustav, Sven, Gothi, Bucket, Mulch and Spitelout, who was still stretching.
"Okay, for those of you that are left, I suppose you'd like to meet your dragons." Astrid continued.
"Yes!" The students said excited for this part. However, they didn't think their instructor would give them broomsticks.
"Here you go." She said, giving a broom to Spitelout. She looked at another broom. "This looks like a Changewing." She said giving that one to Mulch. "You get a Gronckle." She said to Gothi, giving her a broom.
Gustav, being the only one of the recruits to actually have a dragon, starts laughing.
Astrid noticed that. "What are you laughing at, hey look, it's a Sweeping Death." She handed him his own broom. Apparently, having your own dragon and dragon-riding experience doesn't give you special treatments in Astrids' class.
Once everyone has a broom, they did a mock flight pretending that the brooms are the dragons and followed Astrid in a single line. "Flying in formation can save your life, it can hide your numbers, like the single file formation." She said, looking back at the line. "It can allow you to cover each others' flank or-"
She got interrupted when Bucket accidentally slammed into Mulch, causing him to trip over, creating a domino effect that ended up knocking everyone, except Astrid, over.
"Nice move Bucket, you just got everybody killed." The blonde shield-maiden declared, crossing her arms.
"Sorry, everybody." Bucket apologised.
"Drop and give me twenty." Astrid ordered.
Bucket rolled over and started doing push ups, which is a bit challenging with a hook as one of his hands. "One, two-"
"Well you guys certainly know how to keep people in line." Henry commented dryly.
"Okay, Astrids' training methods are different from ours. We didn't use broomsticks in our training." Hicca defended, keeping her focus on the training below.
(Linebreak)
The rest of the gang continued to search for the Berserker ship. Or at least Raeda and Fishlegs were.
"I give up, I don't see any sign of Dagur's ship. Let's just head to the Edge, I'm hungry!"
The Thorston twins were glad to hear that. "Agreed, all of this focusing wears you out." Tuffnut said.
Raeda and Fishlegs didn't want them to stop searching but even they were starting to feel tired and they could tell that Sparkfire and Meatlug were feeling weary as well.
"But we need to go back to searching as soon as possible." Raeda said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Snotlout waved off as the dragons changed directions.
What the group failed to notice below was a Berserker ship with a certain chief and his right hand man keeping track of the Dragon Riders flight.
"Well, I am waiting." Dagur said impatiently to Savage.
His right hand man was quickly marking down areas in the map he was holding. "Using their direction and other men's sightings, their base should be in this general area."
Dagur chuckled looking at the marked area. "Oh Hiccup. Oh, Hicca. So soft-hearted and soft-headed. I knew my little attack on Berk would draw them and their lizard flying friends out into the open, and you doubted me." He said to Savage.
"I don't recall that I did." The older man said, but quickly retracted when he saw his leaders glare. "But then again, maybe it was me."
Dagur shoved him aside. "Hoo-hoo-hoo, the noose tightens. Assemble the fleet, we'll scour the area until we find Dragons Edge."
(Linebreak)
Back at the Academy, the recruits were finally given their own dragons. Spitelout has an orange and blue Nadder, Sven has a green Monstrous Nightmare, Gothi has a purple Gronckle and Bucket and Mulch are sharing a green-blue Hideous Zippleback. Gustav still has his own dragon Fanghook. They were saddled up on their own dragons in a line as Astrid continued to the next step of the training.
"Okay, repeat after me, 'This is my dragon, there are many like it, but this one is mine'."
"This is my dragon, there are many like it, but this one is mine." All the students chanted, for Gothi who was scribbling symbols on the ground.
"I can't hear you!"
"This is my dragon, there are many like it, but this one is mine".
Gothi was having a tough time keeping up as Astrid didn't wait for her to finish scribbling before making them repeat the chant.
"I still can't hear you"
"THIS IS MY DRAGON,THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT BUT THIS ONE IS MINE."
The elder was furiously scribbling, trying to keep up until she decided to quit and catch her breath. Astrid was unimpressed and glared at her.
"Drop, and give me 20." The blonde commanded.
The healer reluctant got off her dragon and started doing push-ups.
"That's harsh." Henry commented from the stands.
"And not something the rest of us would do." Hicca quickly said, once again questioning Astrids' teaching methods.
(Linebreak)
Back at the Edge, Snotlout was lazing around the Academy with Hookfang and Barf and Belch. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were once again playing with the Night Terrors, while the beloved Chicken was at the side.
Fishlegs joins them. "Who's ready to get out there and search for Dagur?"
"Come here, that's it." Tuffnut cooed to the Night Terror before addressing Fishlegs. "Sorry I am very busy doing research."
"Guys, Astrid and Hiccup told you to leave the Night Terrors alone. And you have a pet already, remember?" Fishlegs reminded Tuffnut.
Said Chicken was flapping his wings, seeming to be in agreement. "I know you're nodding back there, I can hear your feathers ruffling. You stay out of it!" Tuffnut scolded the poor animal without even looking at him.
"They're supposed to be lookouts." The Ingerman boy said.
"Yeah, then how come he's so good at fetching things?" Tuffnut countered. He decided to give a demonstration. "Leg!" At that, the Night Terror quickly latched itself onto one of Meatlugs' legs.
Both boy and Gronckle were unimpressed. "Meatlug!" The Gronckle was easily able to shake him off. "Okay I guess Meatlug, Raeda, Sparkfire and I are going searching alone."
"See ya!" Tuffnut waved, putting his attention back on the Night Terrors.
Fishlegs looked at Ruffnut and Snotlout and saw that they were not moving anytime soon. Giving a frustrated sigh, he turned to leave.
That's when Raeda and Sparkfire arrived. "Are we good to go?" She asked Fishlegs.
"It's only going to be the four of us. The others aren't budging." Fishlegs answered.
The raven-haired girl looked over to the others and saw them slacking off. She gave Fishlegs a deadpanned look before moving him aside to walk towards the others.
A sharp whistle made Snotlout and the Thorston twins jolt.
"LINE UP!"
Quickly, the three of them got up and stood in a horizontal line facing Raeda.
"Now as I remember well, Hiccup and Hicca assigned us to look Dagur, right?" Raeda asked rhetorically, looking at them.
"Yeah and we were-" Snotlout started to say, before Raeda raised her hand to signal him to stop.
"And this is the same guy who attacked Berk, our home." She continued.
"Well, we didn't actually see-" Ruffnut commented, before being silenced by Raeda as well.
"So that is what we are going to do. What we aren't going to do is let him get away because some of us were lazy. Understand?"
The three of them grumbled.
"LOUDER!"
"MA'AM YES MA'AM!"
Raeda rolled her eyes at them. "Run a lap around the Academy before we leave." She commanded.
"What?" Snotlout questioned.
"You heard me. One lap to shake the laziness out." The three of them protested. "GET MOVING!" They immediately took off.
"You have to teach me this." Fishlegs said to Raeda as the watched the trio run.
(Linebreak)
Hiccup and Toothless have finished their patrol and made their way back to the stands where they found Hicca, Henry and their dragons.
"Okay, just so we're clear. We each have our own ways of doing things. Astrids' training methods doesn't represent the rest of us." Hicca explained to Henry.
"Kind of got that the fifth time." He replied to her.
"Hey, sis. Hey, Henry." Hiccup greeted joining them. Henry gave a nod to him. "How's the training going?"
"Very, very different from how we do. I can guarantee that." Hicca answered.
"I would expect that. It's Astrid we're talking about." Her brother commented.
"But this is too much even for her." Hicca said. "See for yourself."
Below the Academy, Astrid set up a target and stood next to it. "Today's exercise is to dive at the target, do a barrel roll to avoid enemy fire, and then hit the target with a blast like this." She instructed. She then got on Stormfly and they flew up to give them a demonstration.
Once they finished, Spitelout went first with his Nadder. They did the barrel roll perfectly and dove straight for the target
"Die target, Die." Spitelout shouted as the Nadder blasted at the target. Unfortunately, it missed the mark.
"Fail!" Astrid announced.
"You've got to be joking!" Spitelout grumbled.
Next was Gothi. She and her dragon performed the barrel roll perfectly. The Gronckle then flew upside down with Gothi hanging onto the saddle as they dove for the target. She used this to kick the target down instead of using the Gronckle lave blast.
"Yes! Gothi, Coming in Hot!" Hiccup cheered.
"That was very impressive." Hicca agreed, proud of her mentor.
But Astrid didn't think so. "Fail, to be a Dragon Rider, you actually have to ride the dragon."
Next were Bucket and Mulch. Their dragon did the barrel roll and managed to hit the target. But the two farmer/fisherman lost control of the flight and the four of them ended up flying upside down in a circle with Buckets' bucket creating sparks from the ground.
"Fail" Astrid announced after that little display.
"Oh!, Come on, you got to count that!" Hiccup protested.
"Especially considering the Thorston twins would've done much worse." Hicca agreed.
It was Sven's turn. Just like the others his dragon perfected the barrel roll, but when it came time to hit the target, his dragon missed so his rider ended hitting the target with an axe.
Astrid didn't accept that though. "Cheating, Fail!"
"Okay, I see your point." Hiccup said to his sister. "What is she doing?"
Last was Gustav. "Yes, Ah Gustav." Having a lot of practice, the boy and dragon performed this task flawlessly.
"Fail- Lucky shot." Astrid quickly said, when she noticed they actually passed. "Do it again."
"She was ready to fail them." Hicca noted.
Gustav didn't find a problem doing it again, wanting to show off. He did, however, found a problem when Astrid kicked the target away just as Fanghook blasted it, making him miss. "Hey! that's not fair!"
"Element of surprise, key to any battle." Astrid explained, her tone of voice taking no nonsense. "Now land and give me 20. Everyone else we need to start over, from scratch."
Seriously, what is going on with her? It's like she wants them to fail." Hiccup asked Hicca and Henry.
"Who wants to fail next!" They heard Astrid call from below.
"At this rate, she'll never be finished." Hicca noted.
"She may not see it as a bad thing." Henry chipped in, which made the twins pause.
(Linebreak)
Hiccup waited until the training was over for the day to enter the Dragon Academy. Hicca went to check on Gothi.
Inside the Academy were Astrid and Spitelout, the latter had to stay to do push ups. "One, two, three-"
"So what did he do?" Hiccup asked Astrid, watching Spitelout.
"He's Snotlout's dad." Was all Astrid said.
No one needed anymore explanation. "Enough said. ... Can we talk?"
"I would but I am busy." Astrid dismissed.
Hiccup wasn't deterred. "Astrid, I know what your doing."
The shield-maiden merely raised her eyebrows to challenge him. "Really, what am I doing?"
"You're being overly tough on these guys, Hicca, Henry and I saw what you did to Gustav." Hiccup said.
"The element of surprise? How is that being overly tough?" Astrid retorted.
"It's not that... it's you want them to fail. That way you have an excuse to stay on Berk." Hiccup inferred. "We all know what's going on here. Even Henry could see it."
Astrid got defensive. "You're wrong, Hiccup. You're wrong."
"Astrid, I get want to stay on Berk and protect your family, but you can't be there every second of every day for the rest of their lives." Hiccup said, hoping to get through to her. "Just think about it. Hicca and I are gonna head out to Dragon's Edge, check in on those guys and see if they have spotted Dagur. I'll be back in a few days. We can talk about it more then."
With that, he left the Academy, leaving Astrid and Spitelout, who was still doing push-ups.
"A hundred and eleventy twenty." The older Jorgenson groaned, before collapsing. Astrid didn't acknowledge that.
(Linebreak)
The Haddock twins spent half the journey discussing Astrids' predicament. However, when they reached the Edge, Astrid went far from their minds.
"Oh my Thor!" Hicca gasped as they watched Berserker fleets attacking their new home.
"Dagur's found the Edge. This is not good." Hiccup said.
Luckily for the group of four, they weren't spotted. They took this chance to sneak into the caverns below the ground and flew through the tunnel which lead to the inside the Academy. Once there, they found their fellow Dragon Riders and dragons having taken refuge in the closed dome.
"Hiccup! Hicca!" Fishlegs exclaimed in relief.
"Is everybody okay?" Hicca asked.
"Meatlug took one in the wing, but she'll be okay in a few days." Fishlegs answered.
"They got the drop on us guys, hit us before we knew they were there." Snotlout said to the Haddock twins. "If our only warning system hadn't been…"
"Hey! Let's not start throwing the twins under the yak cart!" Tuffnut defended as Snotlout glared at him and his sister.
"Oh, you guys are definitely not getting off the hook for this one." Raeda said firmly.
"We have to fight back." Hiccup said.
"We tried, but it didn't go so well." Ruffnut pointed out.
Snotlout agreed with the female Thorston. "Dagur has us totally pinned down."
"With a dozen ships." Fishlegs added.
"And boulders flying everywhere." Raeda added.
"And they have this catapult that can launch like 20 arrows at a time. It's actually pretty cool." Tuffnut commented. "I'm asking for it for Snoggletog. Think Dagur will give it to me?"
"Why don't you go out there and ask him?" Hicca said sarcastically.
"It doesn't matter, this is our home and we're defending it." Hiccup cut in. "Now, think... What are our advantages?"
"We know the area better than they do." Raeda answered.
"Yeah." Hicca said.
"We have the high ground." Fishlegs listed.
"That's right." Hiccup nodded
"And good cover." Snotlout added.
"Supplies?" Ruffnut added.
"And we have dragons!" Tuffnut exclaimed.
Hiccup was a little less enthusiastic about the last part.. "Okay, that's pretty much implied, but I like the spirit." He takes a parchment and charcoal out of his saddle. "We'll send a terror mail back to Berk for reinforcements. In the meantime, we hold the Edge."
(Linebreak)
There was another training session at the Berk Dragon. Henry and his dragons were out gathering supplies so that they will be ready to leave as soon as Lockjaw is fully recovered.
Inside the Academy, Astrid has painted a large target on the ground. "Not all combat is in the air." She explained to her students. "Today, we're going to practice precision landings…"
At that moment Stoick and Skullcrusher entered the Academy and landed right on the target.
"Like that." Astrid continued, though not expecting the demo.
"Astrid, we just got a Terrible Terror. Dragons Edge is under siege by Dagur's fleet." Stoick informed the younger warrior.
Astrid stiffened. "How many ships?"
"At least a dozen."
This made the blonde girl grimace. "Ugh, long odds."
Spitelout was quick to jump into the action. "Let me help even them."
"I'm coming too." Gustav volunteered, followed by the rest of the recruits.
"Absolutely not." Astrid said adamantly. "You are not ready for combat. You will all stay here, that is an order."
With that, she and Stoick took off to the Edge.
(Linebreak)
Back at the Edge, the Dragon Riders emerged from the Academy and started to fight back against the Berserkers.
"Now, Hookfang, stat." Snotlout commanded his dragon, who blasted at one of the Berserker ships. They were forced to retreat, though, when the boulders were launched at them.
Fishlegs and Meatlug were in the air firing lava blasts at the ships as well. Though it was a bit of a trial for the Gronckle trying to dodge their counter-attacks because of her injuries.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut were on ground, preventing some of the Berserker ships from getting closer. They launched their own catapults, arrows and even a rock from Tuffnut at them. And they hit their targets (even the rock got a hit on one of the Berserker soldiers face).
Tuffnut was feeling triumph until he looked towards the lower grounds and saw his beloved chicken hiding from arrows behind a barrel. Feeling a blind rage, he let out a roar as he scaled down the cliff and raced to protect his chicken. "No chicken left behind!"
The Berserkers were reloading their catapults. "Ready, aim."
"Toothless, plasma blast!" Hiccup commanded. Toothless fired at the ships as the duo flew by.
"Is that the best you can do Hiccup? Because it's not enough!" Dagur yelled, before turning to his men. "Focus all you fire on…"
"Dragons! Approaching from the south" One of the soldiers alerted.
Dagur looked and spotted Astrid and Stoick arriving on their dragons. He was unfazed by this. "Two late guests, clearly they're not aware of party etiquette. Take 'em down!"
The Berserkers turned their attention to the four new arrivals and fired arrows at them. Luckily the dragons were able to dodge them well. Stoick had Skullcrusher fire at one of the ships and succeeded in sinking it.
Suddenly they got caught in a net and pulled into one of the ships.
Stoick got free from the net and looked around as the soldiers on the ship readied their weapons. He took out his own. "Don't worry boy. This should only take a minute."
Hicca flew over the ship and spotted her father. "Dad!" She urged Midnight to fly towards the ship to help them, only to be deflected by a boulder from another ship. "Toothless look out!"
Astrid and Stormfly flew straight towards the ship Dagur was on. The blonde shieldmaiden was determined to get revenge for her destroyed home. Stormfly shot spines at the ship, which didn't hit the Berserker chief because he shielded himself in time.
Dagur then grabbed one of the chains and threw it at the blue Nadder. Stormfly tried to dodge it, but wasn't quick enough as the chain wrapped itself around her legs, beginning a tug-of-war.
Not ready to back down, Astrid grabbed her axe and slid down the chain, right onto the ship. She then engaged in a one on one combat against Dagur with his weapon. But the combat stopped when one of the Berserker soldiers grabbed Astrids axe from behind and then restrained.
All hope seemed lost for Astrid, until…
BLAST!
A sudden blast from the side of the ship caused the people on board to topple over, freeing Astrid. They looked to see who was responsible for it, and weren't expecting who they saw.
"Element of surprise! Key to any battle." Gustav said as Fanghook hovered over the ship.
"More dragon riders?" Dagur questioned, not expecting this.
"Yes!" Astrid exclaimed. Using this distraction, Stormfly was able to get free from the chains and rescue her human.
"That's cheating!" Dagur exclaimed, no longer focusing on Astrid.
On the ship Stoick was on, he was still battling against the soldiers. One of the soldiers snuck up from behind and restrained the Berkian chief with an axe to his neck. That's when Hicca and Midnight flew by and shot the ship, distracting the soldiers. Hiccup and Toothless then landed on the ship and the Night Fury snatched one of the crossbows from the soldier while the other Night Fury blasted the other soldiers from the side.
The one that was restraining Stoick, realised he was now outnumbered and lower his axe in fright. This allowed Stoick to turn around and deliver a punch right in the face.
"Nice job, kids." Stoick said
"Good to go, dad." Hiccup said as he got back on Toothless and flew off, soon joined by Stoick and Skullcrusher.
The other dragon riders flew in and joined the recruits in blowing up the ships. Mulch and Bucket made a beeline to a ship commandeered by Vorg, only to be stopped when the man pointed a crossbow at them.
"Surrender or perish." He demanded. He was then distracted by a sudden green mist. He couldn't react in time for the explosion and the ship was blown up.
The culprits, Ruffnut and Tuffnut looked at Bucket and Mulch sitting on their own Zippleback. "It's like looking into a mirror, but you're better looking." Tuffnut said.
"Yeah!" Ruffnut agreed.
"Sir, they're cutting us to pieces, we need to withdraw." Savage urged.
They were interrupted when Gothi and her Gronckle flew by firing at ships as well.
"Oh! Come on! Her? Since when did she ride a dragon?" Dagur exclaimed, frustrated at the sudden turn of events. He never imagined that part of his planned would lead to the creation of a new group of dragon riders and their dragons.
"Sir!"
"Yes, I know!" Dagur growled, signalling his men to retreat. "You're a cheater, Hiccup and Hicca! You've always been a cheater."
(Linebreak)
Once the Berserkers were far out of sight from the Edge, everyone reconvened at the Edge Dragon Academy. Stoick and Skullcrusher decided to head back to Berk. The recruits were all lined up with Astrid facing them with her arms crossed.
"You all disobeyed my direct order." She said in a serious tone. "Who's idea was this little mutiny?"
"It was mine." Gustav confessed. He didn't wait for Astrid command as he started doing push-ups.
"No, it was mine." Spitelout confessed, joining Gustav in doing push-ups.
Soon the other four followed suit, taking the blame and doing push-ups as well.
"Okay, up." Astrid said, just as Gothi was scribbling her confession. "What you did was dangerous, foolish and completely not what you were trained to do." After she said this, her expression softened. "But it was also brave, and you worked together as a team. I couldn't be more proud to call you fellow dragon riders." All the dragon riders started to cheer at that.
Astrid then walked to Gustav. "Gustav, as the most experienced rider, I'm putting you in charge of the Dragon riders' Auxiliary."
The younger boy pumped his fist in the air. "Yeah! Gustav, that's me!"
"I'll be staying here, on Dragons Edge. After all I can't protect Berk all by myself every second of every day." She looked at Hiccup as she said the last sentence. "And you guys proved you're ready for the job."
"They did handle themselves pretty well for the B-Team." Snotlout admitted.
"B-Team?" Hiccup repeated. "No, this is Astrid's Team...The A-Team!"
The members of the A-team were happy with their new name.
"But, if I hear you're slacking off one inch, I'll be on to you like a Gronkle on Granite." Astrid threatened.
Gustav saluted her. "We'll keep the brooms handy." He turned to the rest of his team-mates. "Mount up A-Team." The A-Team got on their dragons and took off to Berk.
Snotlout walked to Astrid as they watched the A-Team fly away. "They grow up so fast, don't they?" He put his arm around her shoulders. Astrid grabbed his arm and flipped him over.
"Your welcome." He wheezed.