Hiccup and Elsa were the ones who brought Gobber back to Berk after he helped them out with their base, even giving a few tips on how to improve their base setup. It was a bizarre phenomenon that occurred once every year. Strangely enough, it took place in the middle of the night, yet the sun continued to shine. The Vikings couldn't explain it, but somehow the sun shone during the night for approximately two weeks. Naturally, this meant that the Vikings could get very little sleep, but it also allowed them to accomplish a great deal of work simultaneously.
"Hard to believe it's the middle of the night." Hiccup said, looking up at the sun.
"Yeah, it does start to hurt your eyes after a while," Elsa commented as she rubbed her eyes.
Spitelout smiled as he walked past the two. "I love the Midnight Sun. Constant sunlight for two weeks. Our most productive time of the year."
"Get out of my way," an angry villager with a beard said.
"No, you're in my way," another angry villager with a mustache said.
They turned and saw two villages arguing holding bags under each arm.
"Aye, for the first week," Gobber said as Spitelout made his way over to sort it out. "But we're on day eight now, when things can start to get a wee bit crazy."
The two villages were now practically touching as they glared at each other in the eye.
"Are you calling me a liar?" the bearded villager asked.
"Yeah, I'm calling you a liar," the mustache villager answered.
The bearded villager said, "I've had enough of this," before the mustache villager pushed him back with his stomach.
The mustache villager glared at him and kicked him in the stomach before drawing his sword. Fortunately, Stoick chose that moment to arrive and grab the blade.
"Hey, all right, you two," Spitelout said as the two villagers snapped out of it and grabbed the bags. "Back to work. We've got a lot of catching up to do now that the trade lanes are open again." He then placed the Mustache Village's sword on the weapons rack in Gobber's shop.
"Lack of sleep. It gets to everyone eventually." Gobber said to the siblings as he pointed in a direction. "Poor Gothi, she's been babbling for days now."
Hiccup turned and saw that Gothi's eyes were wide open and she had written what looked like an entire book on the Plaza.
"Yes, I think we understand what you're saying," Hiccup replied, nodding his head in agreement.
And Sven's one-upped him by getting half of his flock on the dance floor," Gobber added as he pointed in another direction.
Then Hiccup turned and saw that Sven was actually dancing with his sheep, and he was doing a rather nice tango.
"Yeah, but that's pretty normal for him, isn't it?" Elsa pointed out.
Sven always did something strange with his sheep flock; he would lean them back, and they would bleat in response. Hiccup shrugged; she had a point there.
"Yeah, you're right," Gobber nodded in agreement. "Bad example. Nice move. But lack of sleep gets to us all eventually. Even you young'uns."
"That's why I had Heather and the others stay on the Edge to do the simplest job possible—washing their dragons. There's no way they could screw that up," Hiccup said confidently. "They can accomplish that task in their sleep."
Unfortunately, he was quite wrong in that regard. Back on the Edge, the Riders were already suffering from a lack of sleep. This was proven when Heather ran towards Windshear and toppled over, dropping the bucket of water she carried.
Heather yelled "No!" as she fell and Windshear managed to catch her. But ended up completely soaked and the bucket struck her head.
"Oh, you were so close that time," Dak commented, leaning against Winger.
The Thorston twins watched the spectacle with great interest and curiosity.
"Uh, I've been trying to wash that dragon all day," Tuffnut said. "Poor thing," he added in a sympathetic tone.
"So tired, she can't see straight," Ruffnut nodded as she scribbled something in her notebook.
Astrid came zooming around, shouting excitedly. She was moving so fast that she almost hit the twins and then landed at the dome, still screaming excitedly.
"Ah, hello everyone," Astrid greeted joyfully as she jumped off of Stormfly and began dancing around. "What a glorious day to groom our amazing dragons!"
"Technically, I think it's night," Dak said as he gave Winger a manicure to scrape the dirt off his feet.
"Well, then what a glorious night," Astrid said, stretching her arms with a large smile on her face.
Snotlout gave her a creeped-out look as he approached the shield maiden. "What's going on with her? She's never this nice, ever," he noted as Astrid danced around.
Tuffnut answered, "Uncontrollable euphoria. It's a sleep deprivation symptom."
Anna asks, "How do you know what Astrid is suffering from?"
"Suffering?!" Astrid exclaimed as she popped up next to Anna, causing her to scream, "What are you talking about, Anna?! I feel amazing!" She cheered excitedly while giving a wide smile.
Anna was seriously getting creeped out by Astrid as she backed away from her a bit. "Uh, okay, Astrid. If you say so." She said in a slightly creeped-out tone before turning to the Thorston twins. "But seriously, how did you two know about this?"
Tuffnut simply said, "Uncle Gorstagg. He had insomnia for 27 years."
"Yeah, we're experts in this field," Ruffnut said.
Fishlegs then looked at Astrid, "Astrid, have you slept recently?" he asked.
"No way! Not even a little bit," Astrid exclaimed happily. "But I feel incredible. It's like I have wings." She then began flapping her arms as if they were wings. "I feel so great. I feel so great!" She cheered.
She then began jumping around the dome, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were trying to take off.
"Yep," Anna declared. "She's lost it."
Fishlegs looked at the Thorston twins. "We're not all going to end up like this, are we?" he asked.
"Hello, oh you're so cute," Astrid said and started to make kissing sounds as she fell face-first into the ground. She then rolled onto her back and began making snow angels, except without the snow. "Oh, I love dirt. I love dirt," she said as she chuckled.
Stormfly growls in concern for her rider. "Astrid?"
Tuffnut explained, "Sleep deprivation is a multifaceted disorder."
"Multifaceted, lots of facets, with an array of symptoms," said Ruffnut.
"Yeah, take Heather," Tuffnut said, gesturing to Heather, who was having trouble walking. "For her, it's a lack of coordination."
Heather gave a confident look as she stretched out her leg, but then she quickly toppled over face-first.
"Yup, there she goes. The verdict could range anywhere from mood swings to complete catatonia, you know, cold ankles, and a rash around your neck that extends down your back to your buttocks," Ruffnut decreed.
Snotlout was busy brushing down Hookfang, but then suddenly he tossed the brush away and began to hug him. "I love you, Hooky. You're my everything. You're the reason my heart beats." He then shot up. "Do you hear that? That's all you." He then began to laugh uncontrollably and then started crying uncontrollably. "I want my mummy." He whimpered as Hookfang just gave him a deadpan expression.
"As I said, mood swings," Tuffnut said. "For example, you, our dear Anna, are experiencing memory loss."
Anna didn't believe them and chuckled. But then she started to second-guess herself. "I don't...I don't have memory loss, do I?"
"The fact that you've asked yourself this question about three times in the last three hours tells me you do," Ruffnut proclaimed.
Anna shook her head. "No. No, no," she said as she walked away. "You're just messing with me. It's not going to work!"
"Poor thing," Tuffnut said sympathetically. "She doesn't realize she has already told us this three times by now."
Fishlegs admits that he is impressed. "Wow."
"Now, Dak and Leyla," Ruffnut said, looking up at Leyla, who was cheering and flying around on Summer.
Then Summer flew and came in for a landing with Leyla standing on her back. When they came close enough, Leyla came and did a front flip to land on the Edge.
"Whoo!" Leyla cried in amazement.
"Leyla seems to have taken her brother's place as the daredevil risk-taker," Tuffnut explains about what's going on with her.
Dak scolded his sister, "Leyla, that was incredibly unsafe."
"Oh, come on, bro, you are just jealous that you couldn't do it!" Leyla stated as she didn't seem to care and walked off.
"And Dak seems to have adapted his sister's safety side." Ruffnut noticed how Dak has become his sister. "Uncle Gorstaag. He got totally paranoid."
"Really? Paranoid?" Fishlegs asked suspiciously. The Thorston twins gave him a confused look. "Why are you all looking at me like that? Don't look at me." He then began to walk away nervously. "There's nothing to see here. Walk away. Walk away. Just walk away." He told himself.
Ruffnut wrote that in her notebook. "Hmm, could've predicted that one." She said with a small smile.
"Yeah, still gonna be fun to watch though," Tuffnut said, folding his arms.
"Luckily, our Thorston constitution makes us immune," Ruffnut smirked.
Tuffnut laughed smugly. "Suckers," he said to the others.
Later that day, Hiccup and Elsa rode on Luna and Toothless, making their way back to the Edge. Hiccup tried to focus on keeping his eyes on the tailfin, as he started to feel the effects of the Midnight Sun.
Elsa noticed how groggy Hiccup was becoming and realized that he wouldn't be able to think clearly in this state. And since he was helping a dragon with a prosthetic tail, that was a big problem. It seemed that the Midnight Sun wasn't affecting her exactly the same way, but as the Thorston twins had said, it affected everyone differently.
"Hiccup, do you want to maybe swap dragons for a moment?" Elsa asked gently. She wanted to try to ease her brother's pain. He needed to take a break and she couldn't risk having him fall into the ocean. "I could fly Toothless, and you can relax on Luna."
"No, I'm good, I'm fine," Hiccup said, trying to keep his focus on flying. "I'm good."
Elsa sighed when she saw he couldn't keep going. "Hiccup, I can-"
But she was interrupted by a dragon distress call. She stopped flying and looked around, unsure whether or not they could trust what they heard. They had heard of instances where the Midnight Sun had caused people to hear things.
"Did you hear that, Hiccup?" Elsa asks.
"Hear what?" Hiccup questioned, seemingly not having heard it.
Then Elsa heard the screech again and pointed to where it came from. "There! That's what I heard."
"Sounds like a dragon in trouble," Hiccup said, shaking his head. "I must be tired. I almost missed that."
They then dove down toward the island below them and saw a wrecked Hunter's longboat. There was also wreckage on the beach as if there had been a massive battle, but no sign of the Hunters.
"Dragon hunters," Hiccup said as they landed. "High alert, bud."
"They might still be around somewhere," Elsa added. "Maybe they can tell us where Viggo took the Dragon Eye."
"Or what he wanted from you," Hiccup added.
Then they saw the wounded dragon just off the shore. Where they were it looked as if it had broken away, but he didn't recognise the species.
"All right, watch our backs," Hiccup said to Toothless as he dismounted his dragon.
"Hey there, little guy. It's okay," Hiccup assured her calmly as Elsa slid off Luna and joined him. Whatever happened, it's over now. We're here to help you."
"Is there something wrong with your wing?" Elsa asked calmly. "I'm sure we can fix it."
Suddenly, three more dragons of the same kind jumped out of the bushes and growled at them.
"Uh…" Hiccup said as he and Elsa slowly backed away.
"Hi," Elsa waved nervously, getting ready to shoot ice if needed. "Sorry about this!"
However, when Elsa shot out a blast of ice, Hiccup was shocked when he watched her completely miss the dragons. In fact, her blast missed the dragons altogether and hit a boulder on the shore instead.
"You missed?" Hiccup had never known an instance where Elsa had ever missed the target, at least when the target was standing right in front of her. "You never miss," he said with awe.
Elsa chuckled sheepishly as she realized that the Midnight Sun had taken away her aim. It seemed she couldn't concentrate her skills or powers for long enough to shoot.
They watched in horror as the dragon prepared to pounce on them both.
The siblings then saw that Toothless was about to fire a plasma blast. "Whoa!" they exclaimed as they ducked out of the way.
The blast slammed into one of the dragons, sending it flying towards the other two. The impact knocked them down. Hiccup and Elsa noticed that the wounded dragon was slowly getting back on its feet.
"Hiccup exclaimed, 'You're not hurt!'"
"You were just playing possum!" Elsa exclaimed in shock.
Then they jumped away just as it tried to take a bite out of them. Toothless and Luna then jumped straight towards it to protect their riders.
"Whoa, Toothless." Hiccup eased.
"Easy, girl," Elsa said.
The two Furies placed themselves between the siblings and the dragon, growling angrily with their mouths glowing. The dragon quickly backed away and joined its brethren.
"No, guys!" Hiccup yelled as he and Elsa ran in front of them. Toothless and Luna automatically stopped what they were doing. "They might just be scared, or defending their friend."
"Remember, we're the ones who pose a threat to them," Elsa reminded them. From the dragon's perspective, they were the intruders.
The dragons then retreated back into the bushes, clearly not wanting to tangle with Toothless. Toothless then looked at Hiccup and roared at him, clearly annoyed.
"Thanks for having our backs," Hiccup said, rubbing the back of his head. "Clearly, our reaction time isn't what it should be."
"My aim isn't as sharp as it used to be," Elsa said, glancing down at her palms. "I should have been able to defend us easily."
Hiccup then saw something and tapped Elsa's shoulder to get her attention. "Hey," he said, "Look." Elsa turned to where Hiccup was pointing.
The two of them then looked to where they were treating and saw the large mountain in the distance. Toothless and Luna growled at them, neither them on board with the idea of going after those dragons.
"Oh, come on. You both know we're going after those dragons," Hiccup said. "I mean, we have to help them."
"If there are Hunters here, they're in danger," Elsa told them, taking the first step as Hiccup followed. "So work with us here and keep both your eyes open."
Luna warbled with an annoyance as she reluctantly followed her rider and the other horses into the forest and toward the mountain. Toothless wasn't entirely on board, but knew he needed to protect Hiccup and his mate.
Meanwhile, things were still hectic at the Edge. Fishlegs was scrubbing Meatlug, but he spent most of the time looking over his shoulder and giving suspicious looks to everyone.
"Oh, this is nice," Meatlug growled at him affectionately, but Fishlegs took the meaning rather differently.
"You hear that?" Fishlegs said accusingly. "They're out there and they want to know about my dragon knowledge. They're going to peel my skull open like an onion and extract all the valuable information!"
"Here I come!" Astrid shouted, causing him to jump. "Whoa!"
Astrid swung on a rope, circling the dome like a mad woman. She flew over Summer's head as she ducked to avoid getting hit. Astrid somersaulted and landed on top of several stacked barrels. She then pulled out two more maces from seemingly nowhere and aimed them at everyone.
"All right, people," Astrid said, looking at them all seriously. "It's time to put those whiny attitudes aside. We're about to turn those frowns upside down."
Astrid then began to juggle the maces, and everyone stared at her without saying a word. Until Dak spoke up, getting a little concerned for one of the more responsible people in the bunch.
Dak asked, "Astrid, how is juggling maces supposed to help clean Stormfly?" He realized he wasn't accomplishing the task either.
"It's not! It's just for fun!" Astrid cheered, keeping on juggling as Snotlout approached her and smiled at her affectionately.
"Wow. This is really happening," Winger thought to himself, unsure how to process the scene before him. Watching all these confident people basically become bizarre versions of themselves.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how much more of this Midnight Sun we or they can take," Aggro agreed with him.
"Astrid, you're a miracle, a goddess sent from Valhalla," Snotlout said as his expression then suddenly changed and he looked depressed. "Us mere mortals are not worthy to be in your presence." He then fell to his knees. "Not worthy at all."
The Thorton twins just watched with fascination as the drama unfolded.
"You can't put a price on entertainment like this," Tuffnut said.
"I mean, you could, but who would want to?" Ruffnut asked.
Snotlout then looked at Astrid seriously, as if he were her father. "Stop right now, young lady! You'll pull an eye out," he scolded.
"See? Mood swings," Tuffnut said.
"Okay, this is getting a lot weirder," Anna said with concern. "We really need to get this done."
"You already did," Echo informed her rider. It turned out that Anna had washed her dragon dozens of times already. And every time she finished the job, she forgot about it. "I'm pretty sure if you keep this up, I'll literally become invisible."
"I did?" Anna asked and looked down at the sponge in her hand. "Oh." She started to walk away, but like a fish in a bowl, she turned right back around. "Oh, Echo, there you are, time for your bath."
"Nope!" Echo cried as she camouflaged herself and disappeared.
Snotlout then gave a mischievous look and began shaking the barrels, laughing. Naturally, this caused Astrid to slip off the barrels, and the maces flew up into the air. She then landed right on top of Snotlout, but before the maces could land on top of her, Stormfly fired several spine shots, deflecting two of them. The last one landed right on top of Snotlout's helmet.
"Ow!" Snotlout groaned.
Leyla laughed when she saw that and reacted quickly. "Okay, that looks like fun. I'll take the next turn."
Summer was still in shock as she watched this scene unfold. "Yeah, I'm not liking this new Leyla."
"I think it's the same Leyla, just tired," Burple commented.
Dak came over to Snotlout and Astrid, concerned. "Are you two all right?"
Then Astrid began to laugh hysterically, and soon Snotlout joined in and even hit himself with a mace.
"Thank goodness," Snotlout smiled. "Let's all hope we never have to go through that ag—"
He was immediately stopped when the two of them got completely soaked by water from a few buckets. Dak looked to where the water came from and saw it was Heather. She had tripped and spilled all the water over Snotlout and Astrid. She was still trying to function without full control of her body.
"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile.
"Why? Why would you do that?" Snotlout whined.
The dragons turned toward each other in concern for the safety of their riders. They were growing increasingly concerned about their riders' strange behavior. With Hiccup and Elsa still missing, they feared that something might happen to them while they slept in their deprived state.
"Okay, it was funny at first, but now I'm getting worried," said Hookfang.
"I agree, Hookfang," Windshear said. "We have to do something."
"Well, looks like they've all gone Gorstaag," Ruffnut said, making more notes in her notebook.
"Not all," Tuffnut said as he and his sister stood up.
The two of them then looked at each other with giant smiles. Then, they smacked their helmets against one another in a competitive stance.
"Not all, indeed." Ruffnut agreed.
"Are you feeling tired, sis? Are your eyelids getting heavy?" Tuffnut asked, folding his arms.
They then slammed their helmets against one another and looked each other directly in the eyes.
"I could stay up for weeks," Ruffnut challenged.
"Me too. Months, in fact." Tuffnut boasted.
"Oh, yeah? Looks like it's on," Ruffnut challenged.
"Indeed," Tuffnut agreed.
Barf and Belch shook their heads. "They're gonna crack soon," Barf said.
"Yup, real soon." Belch agreed as they watched Heather trip again and spilled even more water from her buckets.
Meanwhile, the two missing and the Furies continued to explore the island, searching for the dragons who had ambushed them, despite Toothless and Luna's protests. Hiccup then noticed some broken twigs on the ground and went down to investigate.
Then they heard the sound of a dragon nearby, and Hiccup pulled out his spyglass. He saw the unknown dragons gathering nearby, and judging from the way they were moving, it seemed like they wanted them to follow them.
Hiccup held up a hand signal to inform his sister and their dragons to move out slowly and quietly. Elsa got ready to shoot again, her palms fuming with ice and mist. Soon, they reached the clearing where Hiccup had spotted the dragons, but there were no signs of them. He then noticed their footprints leading towards a canyon. Toothless and Luna snarled as they realized something was wrong.
"Yeah, I know, it's pretty tight," Hiccup said, reading Toothless' mind as he thought about what their dragons were thinking. "We better go around it."
"And hope we don't get caught," Elsa added.
They were about to go around the canyon, but the Furies sensed something. Seconds later, three of the dragons appeared out of the bushes, blocking their escape.
"Oh, what the…" Hiccup groaned. He then realized that they had fallen straight into a trap and that was what Toothless and Luna were concerned about. "Okay, so this is what you were worried about. Look, guys. They haven't really done anything yet."
"I agree," said Elsa. "Maybe we can resolve this peacefully." She prepared to shoot if necessary.
A few seconds later, the dragons fired several fireballs into the sky, causing them to explode and send hot molten lava toward them. Elsa shot the ground, making an ice wall to protect the four of them and their dragons counter-attacked with plasma blasts.
The Haddock siblings observed that the ice wall before them was being melted away by the fireballs they were firing. Clearly, it possessed some sort of lava-blasting capability similar to Meatlug's, but far more refined.
"Now they've done something," Hiccup said.
"We should have kept our big mouths shut," Elsa added as the two of them looked at their dragons.
Seconds later, the dragons reappeared and fired at them once again. They jumped back just in time before the fireballs could land on top of them. Two more jumped out of the bushes, joining the three that were already attacking.
"How many of these creatures are there?" Hiccup groaned.
"They just keep showing up out of nowhere," Elsa added in annoyance.
They were slowly being backed towards the canyon. Elsa tried her best to shoot them with her ice to at least stun them. But every time she shot, she ended up completely missing them.
"Looks like it's the canyon," Hiccup said.
"I don't care what it is, it's got to be better than this," Elsa said as they entered the canyon.
They ran as fast as they could and soon hid behind a rock. The two of them looked up into the gorge above them but saw that the trees were too close together for them to fly out. There was no way for them to fly out and escape.
"The canopy is too thick for us to fly out of here." Hiccup said.
"In other words, we're trapped," Elsa added before looking down at her palms. "And I'm no help without my powers."
"Hey, don't say that. Your powers are only a part of who you are." Hiccup encouraged his sister. "We just need to survive this. We can do it together."
They then turned their heads around the corner and saw that the dragons were also entering the canyon. Toothless and Luna were about to jump out to engage them. Elsa and Hiccup decided to let them defend their riders since there wasn't much else they could do.
The dragons swooped down on the Haddock siblings. The Furies slammed into Hiccup and Elsa, knocking them to the ground and shielding them from the fireballs the dragons fired. The dragons then fired a plasma blast straight at them, scattering them apart.
Fortunately, the plasma blast struck the canyon walls, causing a cave-in that blocked their path outside. On the bright side, the riders and their dragons were safe.
For now.
Meanwhile, on the Edge, all of the Riders were now suffering greatly from insomnia. This was proven when Heather was shown busily scrubbing a rock, thinking it was Windshear.
"Quickly move, girl," Heather said in frustration as she scrubbed the rock. "You're making this impossible. Stay. Stay." She ordered.
The real Windshear was actually right behind her. "Heather?" she growled in concern.
"Yep, it's official, she's lost it," Dak said to Winger, crossing his arms. "Heather." He called out to his mother figure. "Windshear is over there."
Heather looked over at the real Windshear and then over at the rock, which she suddenly realized was just a rock. "Oh," she said in embarrassment.
Heather wasn't the only one who was suffering from sleep paralysis; Fishlegs' paranoia was growing even worse as he was now hiding behind several crates and glaring at practically everybody.
Heather then turned to Fishlegs, letting out a sigh as she knew she could use the help. "Fishlegs, can you give me a hand with my dragon?" she asked.
"Hand? What do you mean by that?" Fishlegs asked suspiciously.
Heather frowned, puzzled by his strange question. "What do you think I mean?" she asked.
"What do you think you mean?" Fishlegs asked, narrowing his eyes.
Heather was a little spooked and slowly decided that she was better off on her own. She started to back away and then just walked off, surprisingly well considering her previous attempts at walking.
"Ha!" Fishlegs yelled. "Exactly. Why don't you think about that for a while?"
He then screamed when he heard Snotlout laughing; then suddenly, he began crying.
"Aw, come on, Snotlout," Astrid said, giving him a hug, which was completely out of character. "Dry those tears. You're too handsome to be crying all the time."
"I am?" Snotlout asked, looking at her in confusion.
Stormfly and Hookfang looked at the two of them with confusion and then looked at one another.
"Did she just?" Hookfang growled.
Stormfly squawked in surprise. "I think she did," she said.
"Wow, she's gotta be really out of it," Cutter said with a laugh, the Night Light currently sleeping on his back. He then got a little annoyed, seeing how the Night Lights had proclaimed him as their favorite with their parents gone. "Anyone else wants to take over here? My back could use a break."
"Of course," Astrid said. She then placed a hand on his cheek. "Now, let's see that Jorgenson smile." She then placed her fingers on his lips and smiled herself. "Come on now. There we go. That's a little grinny-grin. There it is."
"These guys are ridiculous," Tuffnut said amusedly, shaking his head. "Now, wait. What was I doing? Oh, yes. Oh." He then began laughing and appeared to be chasing something completely invisible. "No. Stop it."
It was becoming clear that Tuffnut was now suffering from insomnia as he was seeing things. "That tickles. No. no. Not there. Never there." Tuffnut said as he ran around the dome and then looked at the dragons. "Hey, don't you just love fruit bats? They're so cuddly. And they're playful and loyal, like flying yak rats. Remember those old things? Adorable. I used to have a flying yak rat when I was a kid. But you have to put in a catapult before a blue one and it doesn't have wings." He laughed.
The dragons looked at one another and were now starting to get very concerned with the Riders.
Anna said, sitting down next to Echo, "Looks like they're finally losing it. Good thing it hasn't happened to me yet."
"Yeah... right." Echo didn't have the patience anymore to correct her Rider.
Ruffnut then walked by, carrying a boar. She had spent the past few hours stacking boars on top of Barf and Belch's heads. It was clear that she too was suffering from insomnia, having lost sight of why she started in the first place.
"Now remember, whoever moves first loses and has to fly a lap around the island, backward, blindfolded. We've already discussed this." Ruffnut told them.
"Umm," Barf and Belch said, looking at each other in confusion.
"A fruit bat!" Tuffnut yelled as he ran past.
This startled both Barf and Belch, as well as Anna. Instantly, they dropped the boars and they ran away.
Ruffnut then glared at her brother. "Thanks a lot! You just ruined our game of Yak Stack. You're clearly losing your mind from all this lack of sleep."
"Oh, yeah? You've already lost it," said Tuffnut, turning towards his sister.
"Oh, really? How so?" Ruffnut challenged.
"You're playing Stack the Yak, which you play with sheep, not boars," Tuffnut scoffed and turned his back on her. "So obvious. I'm embarrassed for you, Ruffnut."
"What about me, Tuffnut?" Ruffnut asked. "Everyone knows that fruit bats don't come out of hibernation until the third day of spring." She then held out her fingers. "It's the first day of spring today! Ergo, you are clearly herding dwarfed split-nosed bats. No wonder they're not listening!" she yelled.
Barf and Belch looked at the riders and then at each other. "Well," Belch said, "the Thorstons are officially lost to us."
Meanwhile, the riders and their dragons continued to search for a way out of the canyon and away from the dragons that had been attacking them. As they continued to search, they began to grow tired and needed to take a moment to rest.
"All right, let's hold up here," Hiccup said, panting. "We gotta rest."
"Yeah, I need a minute, too," Elsa agreed as she took a moment to rest. Then that was when they heard a screech down the tunnel they were going down. She jumped and was worried about another dragon. "Okay, I'm well-rested now."
Hiccup was confused as to what that was and stood up. "That didn't sound like any of our attackers." He then got up and approached the twist in the canyon, hiding whatever it was that screeched. He was ready for whatever was hiding in those caverns. "Okay..."
Hiccup jumped out from behind the corner to get a better look at the dragon, thinking it was screeching to attack. But to his surprise, the screeching actually sounded more like whining. When Elsa came around, they found a four-legged dragon with a rounded head and short neck. The dragons had small spine-like bumps on their backs and tails. Their wings were smaller than their bodies, so they flapped constantly to stay aloft.
Hiccup and Elsa looked at each other, then at the small dragon that seemed even smaller than Dak and Leyla's dragons. They had to admit, they were a little embarrassed because it was basically a hatchling that got them so jumpy. If they had to guess, it was just a few years younger than the Night Lights since they're not even a year old.
"Uh... there's another species here? Or is this another trap?" Elsa asked as she looked around the canyon.
"No, I think this one is alone." Hiccup commented and got an idea. "Hang on, I'm gonna see if I can talk to it."
Elsa watched as Hiccup walked towards the dragon, curious to see how this would work out. "This should be interesting," she thought.
Hiccup approached the small dragon and recalled all the things he had learned from Anna about Dragon Tongue (name in progress). He approached the dragon slowly, making sure it knew he was coming. The dragon seemed frightened of him, but Hiccup tried to calm it as much as possible.
"Hey, are you all right?" Hiccup asked the dragon.
The dragon seemed confused when she saw that the human was talking to her. "Uh...is that human talking to me?" She looked over towards the other dragons. "I really must have hit my head."
"You got anything?" Elsa asked, hearing nothing but screeching.
"Uh... about every other word," Hiccup admitted. Dragon-Tongue was hard to understand, but there were key differences to keep an eye on. "I think she's just confused by a human talking to her." He then faced the dragon to explain. "It's a bit of a long story, but basically my adopted sister over there has a sister who was raised by dragons. She's been teaching me how to understand dragons. How'd you end up here?"
"I wanted to take a rest before flying back to my island," she explained and jumped around a little playfully. "Those scary dragons spotted and chased me in here. And I've been hiding in here ever since."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Hiccup said, seeing that the dragon was just as trapped as they were. "All I got out of it was rest, scary dragons, and hiding. Sorry, I'm still new at this."
"Did I miss something?" Elsa asks, feeling she should listen in on a lesson or two now. "What's going on?"
He turned to look at his sister. "The dragons scared..." Hiccup then turned back to the dragon. "Sorry, do you have a name?"
"Zeppla," the dragon introduced herself. "But all my friends call me... well, Zeppla."
"Well, I guess you could consider us friends," Hiccup tells the dragon.
"Yay! I love making new friends," Zeppla exclaimed and hissed to the sky. "Especially when they're saving me from scary dragons."
Hiccup explained to Elsa. "Those dragons chased Zeppla here into the canyon and she can't escape."
"Oh, looks like we're all trying to do the same thing," Elsa said as she approached the two. "Should we take her with us?"
"Was there ever any doubt we would?" Hiccup knew they weren't going to leave the dragon to defend herself.
They then heard the sound of screeching above them and looked up to see the dragons flying overhead. The five of them started to worry and wondered about their next move.
"Man, these guys don't give up." Hiccup moaned.
"Don't they ever get tired?" Elsa asked exasperated.
The dragons then dropped a fireball that bounced down into the canyon, finally reaching the floor. They quickly ran as fast as they could, and seconds later, there was an explosion.
They kept on moving through the canyon, hoping to find a way out, but so far they had been having very little luck. Until they reached an opening, but found that it led to a ravine with no way out.
"A dead end? Great," Hiccup moaned. He then picked up the ruined helmets and weapons on the ground. "You know, I'm starting to think the Dragon Hunters were the ones being hunted."
"Dragon Hunters?" Zeppla was confused when she heard that. "You mean those guys with the arrows?"
"You know them?" Hiccup was shocked when he heard this dragon met and survived encounters with Dragon Hunters. "How'd you managed to escape them?"
"Oh, I'm a Puffalump," Zeppla explained to them. "That means that I puff up when I get scared to look bigger to attackers."
"That's interesting," Hiccup said when he noticed there was a breach in the canopy, meaning they could fly out. "Aha! There's our way out, guys. Let's fly."
Elsa got on top of Luna whilst Zeppla readied her wings for flight...
They then took to the sky, Toothless and Luna fired plasma blasts for them to enter the canopy, but they were finally out of the forest.
"We're gonna make it!" Hiccup yelled. Then he noticed the dragons were flying right in front of them. "Maybe not."
"What do you mean…?" Elsa trailed off as she looked ahead. "Oh." She said with wide eyes.
The dragons then fired at them, and Zeppla let out a shriek of terror. Immediately, she began to inflate from fear. To make matters worse, Zeppla ignited the gas inside her with her own fire, sending Hiccup and Elsa flying to avoid being hit. After flying around for a moment, Zeppla eventually hit the rock wall, falling as Elsa quickly caught her.
"That was impressive," Elsa complimented.
They quickly made a few evasive maneuvers to avoid the fireballs, which in itself was a tricky thing to do. Then the dragons dived right back into the forest, much to the confusion of the riders.
"Wait, they're leaving?" Hiccup asked, getting confused.
"After all the chasing and attacks they did to us?" Elsa was just as confused.
Then they heard a noise behind them, and Toothless and Luna quickly dove down just in time to avoid getting bitten by a large dragon. The dragon was a large green one with wide jaws, and its body was muscular. Its wingspan was massive, and its legs were sturdy with spaced-out triangular spines running along its back. Its head also slightly resembled a whale's.
It then turned around to face them and sent a powerful sonic blast straight at them. It was almost as powerful as a Thunderdrum, but it was enough to give them a massive earache.
Then the dragons that attacked them earlier flew out of the forest and then did something completely bizarre. They attached themselves to the large dragon wings until there were five on each wing and judging from the way the mouth was going about to fire at them.
"They were herding us towards the big guy the whole time," said Hiccup as they turned around to fly away.
"Gotta give it to those dragons, they're really good," Elsa commented.
"Let's congratulate them after we survive them," Hiccup said to her.
The large dragon began to follow them while the smaller ones began to fire everything they had at the two of them and the Furies. Of course, with the overwhelming firepower they were firing that was quite tricky to do.
Toothless and Luna had been having a difficult time evading the blasts, and no matter what maneuvers they tried, they kept ending up blasted. It was only a matter of time before each of them actually knocked Hiccup and Elsa off their dragon's backs.
Toothless and Luna roared and flew down towards the riders, but then were blasted by each of the dragons, rendering them unconscious. Now the four of them were falling down towards their deaths.
"Toothless, come on, it's me!" Hiccup pleaded.
"Wake up, Luna! I need you!" Elsa cried to her dragon, grabbing onto Zephyr to protect her.
The two Furies suddenly regain consciousness in time to catch Hiccup and Elsa before they land right into the trees. The five of them then landed on the ground hard as Toothless and Luna rolled themselves into a ball to protect their riders.
Then they saw three of the smaller dragons heading down towards them, and Toothless fired a plasma blast at them. He hit one and then the second, but the third managed to avoid being hit and slammed right into Hiccup. The impact caused the dragons to bounce off each other, and the two Furies used their tails to swat them away into a tree.
"Nice shot, bud." Hiccup smiled.
"Great job, girl," said Elsa.
Then they noticed the large dragon flying overhead and they quickly ran in the opposite direction. As they ran, the riders noticed they never saw the cavern and realized that it had a camouflage tarp. Deciding it was probably the safest place on the island, they turned towards it.
"Well, talk about a lucky break," Elsa said.
"Come on," Hiccup said as they ran inside the cave.
They made their way inside the cave, and Toothless lit a torch, illuminating the cavern. That's when they saw crates, work desks, and weapons lying around. Hiccup then saw a map on the wall and noticed that it had several red Xs on it.
"This was an observation post," Hiccup noted. "They were spying on Berk from here until they ran into those dragons."
"Must have been when Zeppla arrived," Elsa said as she placed the dragon down. She gave the small dragon a look over and saw she was okay. "She should wake up soon." Then looking around, she saw there was still food left and even a few dragon-hunting supplies. "Seems like they left in a hurry."
"If they left at all," Hiccup said ominously.
Suddenly, the cave shook, and the two of them didn't take long to realize that the dragons were trying to find a way inside or else trying to drop the entire ceiling on top of their heads.
"We gotta hurry unless we want to share the same fate," Elsa commented
"Okay, okay, what do we know about these dragons?" Hiccup questioned as he grabbed an arrowhead. "Big dragon," he then shook his head. "Wait, we gotta call these things something. All right, all right, so what do they do?" He then pointed the owl's head toward the map to get some inspiration. "They follow, they herd, they shadow," he listed off of what they had learned from them.
"How about Shadow Wings?" Elsa knew he wasn't going to let this go.
"Shadow Wings?" Hiccup thought of it for a moment. "I like it." Then he raised his hand. "All in favor?"
Elsa raised his Nan's as their dragons stared at their riders without even moving. Zeppla moved a little as she yawned and winced when she felt her head was hit.
"Good. It's unanimous," Elsa shrugged. "Now, let's think about this." She then bent down towards the ground, next to her brother. "So what's your plan, Hiccup?"
Hiccup looked at her in surprise. "What? Me?" He asked his sister.
"You're the only one who can get us out of here. You just need to think before you react. I know this hasn't been the easiest thing lately, but you can do it." Elsa tells him.
"Good point." Hiccup said as he thought really hard to try and come up with a plan. "Okay, the big one isn't as fast as we are all as maneuverable. So we have an advantage there." He then placed the owl's head on the ground next to a few others as he made his battle plan. "But even if we have a chance, to get past it, we have to get past ten of the smaller Small Shadows. And they are quicker than we are, plus, they're smarter. And they work as a team." Hiccup facepalmed himself and whimpered slightly. "So how do we beat them?"
Toothless then nudged him and gave him a comforting growl and Hiccup rubbed him beneath the chin.
"You're right. What we need…" Hiccup then looked around at the cavern looking for anything useful. "It's a plan." He then grabbed the map on the wall and then started to get to work.
It was beginning to get dark now, or as dark as it could be during the Midnight Sun, and the Riders were starting to get out of control while Dak was trying to keep as much order as possible.
"Okay, guys, so, how about we try to ease the tension here?" Dak didn't exactly come off as the responsible one.
"Feeling. I think we should talk about our feelings." Astrid said, approaching them. "Our deepest, innermost thoughts. Oh, Ruffnut, you go first." She said to the Thorston Girl.
"Yeah, Ruffnut, you go first," Ruffnut said, looking at no one in particular. "Ruffnut? Ruffnut? Go first!"
"I'll go," Snotlout said, clearing his throat. "When I was a young..." His mood suddenly changed, and he couldn't bear to look at anyone. "Oh, gosh, I can't do this! I'm getting too embarrassed, but I think you get the idea. Right?" He then started to make his way over to Hookfang, hoping to hide behind him.
Hookfang blew fire at him. "Leave me out of this!" he growled before flying off.
"No, no! My friend!" Snotlout cried.
Fishlegs meanwhile was hiding behind several crates, looking at everyone with suspicion. "No, Meatlug," he said, looking at his dragon. "If I say something, they'll use it against me. And they'd like that, wouldn't they?" He screamed.
Metalug flinched from her rider's outburst, not liking how Fishlegs was acting and being concerned for him.
Leyla sat atop Summer's head, letting out a giant belly laugh as she watched this. "Wow, I can't believe it. They're so ridiculous."
Summer sighed, knowing this wasn't her friend's fault. "I miss the old Leyla."
Tuffnut then laughed hysterically as he pointed at Ruffnut.
"What's your problem?" Ruffnut asked.
"No, nothing, nothing," Tuffnut said, clutching his chest, because to his eyes Ruffnut looked like a large chicken with blonde hair wearing a Viking helmet. "All good here. I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers." He laughed again, unable to control himself. "I mean, look at us. We're all cooped up. I don't know about you but I'm eggasperated! Egg… exasperated!"
Ruffnut then tackled him to the ground and started to punch him.
"Oh! Oh, no. No, stop, stop. It's too much," Tuffnut laughed as he watched chicken Ruffnut swatting her wings at him. "I can't! I simply can't take it."
"Tuffle feathers! Tuffle feathers!" Ruffnut repeated, as she punched him repeatedly.
"Feelings. I wanna hear about feelings." Astrid said cheerfully.
Snotlout was walking around looking quite upset and then he heard a wooden beam. "Will you be my friend?" He asked.
"It's a trap, Meatlug," Fishlegs panicked. "Don't listen to them. This is exactly what they want." He then pointed out the other Riders threateningly. "I'm on to you. I am on to all of you!"
The dragons looked at each other, clearly having had enough of this foolishness. Windshear used her tail to lift the wooden boards off the small shed that was within the dome. They understood what she was silently saying, even though half of them can't understand them.
Astrid approached the crack. "I love the darkness," she said, hugging herself. "It's like a big, fluffy blanket of darkness."
Winger then snuck up behind her, "Well if you like it so much, then say hello to a lot more of it!" He declared before giving her a push and causing her to fall inside. "Boy, did that feel good to get her to stop acting like that?" He said to himself before looking at the dragons. "Get the others in there too, quickly."
Meatlug began to drag Fishlegs towards it as he frantically tried to grab hold of something. "It's a coup!" Fishlegs panicked.
Barf and Belch grab the Thorston twins and are making their own way toward the crack. "Don't you mean a coop?" Tuffnut jokes. "Chicken coop."
Barf and Belch then dropped them into the crack. Windshear then brought over Heather, who was still holding a bucket. She screamed when she was dropped into the hole. Dak and Leyla were brought over by Winger and Summer, who promptly tossed them into the hole.
Echo managed to get Anna over and drop her safely inside. She then sighed in relief. Hookfang had grabbed hold of the wooden beam, which Snotlout was still clinging to. The dragon finally let go, dropping him into the safety of the hole as well. With all of them now being dropped into the hole, they closed the chamber and had Burple sit on top of it.
"You hear that?" Aggro asks.
Burple took a moment and couldn't hear anything. "I don't hear anything."
"Exactly," Aggro stated with a smile. "Total silence."
Meanwhile, Hiccup was drawing up a plan of attack so that they could escape the island without being killed by either the Shadow Wing or Small Shadows. Elsa, Zeppla, and the Furies listened intently as he planned.
"All right," Hiccup said, turning towards the others. "I have no ideas."
"Oh, Hiccup," Elsa sighed tiredly.
"I'm still a little tired to even think about our next move, give me a break," Hiccup said in his own defense.
Suddenly the cavern shook once again and Toothless sneezed due to the dust while Luna shook some off her. This caused the arrowheads to move in all different directions and that gave Hiccup an idea.
"That's it! Yes!" Hiccup yelled, looking at Toothless. "Toothless, Luna, you are geniuses!"
Toothless and Luna looked slightly confused.
Elsa looked at her brother in confusion. "What do you mean by that, brother?" she asked.
"Here's what we're going to do, sis," Hiccup said as he explained the plan simply so that Elsa could understand.
Moments later, the two of them were making their way out of the cavern and began running. They headed toward the lake to get some water, but this was just a ruse to lure the small Shadow Wings into the open.
"Come on, we know you guys are out there," Hiccup said.
Hiccup then took a sip of water and then tossed the jar into a bush, but still, there was no sign of the Small Shadow Wing. Sadly, they had snuck up behind him without his notice and pounced.
However, this was all part of Hiccup's plan, because the next second they found themselves extended in the air by another trap that Hiccup had made.
"Yes! Ha-ha!" laughed Hiccup triumphantly.
Then a few of them let out a screech, calling for help. When they chased the siblings, they ran inside the cave they were hiding in. That's at least what the Shadow Wings thought when they attacked the mannequins. The riders and their Furies were outside, waiting for them to take the bait and Toothless and Luna fired plasma blasts, causing the entrance to cave in.
"Six down, four to go." Hiccup said as he mounted Toothless.
"So, let's finish this," Elsa added as she mounted Luna.
They then took to the air and saw the Shadow Wing flying around with the small wings attached to its wings, two on each side. The Shadow Wing must have sensed their presence, for it turned around and headed straight toward them.
The Small Wings then fire fireballs directly at them, but this time there were a few of them which meant that Toothless and Luna could easily outmaneuver them.
"We have to time this just right," said Hiccup as they got closer to them. The Small Shadow Wings had tried a few more blasts, which they managed to avoid, and were now preparing to fire another round of attacks.
"Now!" they both shouted.
Toothless and Luna fired plasma blasts at the same time as the Small Wings on the Shadow Wing's left-wing fired. This caused the fireballs to explode on impact, knocking them right off its wing and leaving only two of them left.
They flew over the Shadow Wing, but it struck them with its tail causing them to fly out of control and toward a cliff. Hiccup looked around and saw that the tailfin had been knocked out of alignment and he quickly pressed down on the stirrup. This caused them to fly along the cliff edge at the last second.
The riders saw that the Shadow Wing had turned around and was making its way toward them on their left. The last two Small Shadows detached themselves from its wing and flew towards them. Hiccup and Elsa saw this and pulled Toothless and Luna upward so they were climbing vertically and the three dragons behind them followed.
Then the Small Wings grabbed hold of Toothless' wings and no matter how hard he flat he couldn't shake them. This added weight to load Toothless down giving the Shadow Wing a chance to catch up.
"Hiccup! Toothless!" Elsa yelled out as she and Luna tried to push the Shadow Wing off of Toothless, but they realized that this dragon was too strong. "We can't blast it without hurting you two," she added.
"And not to mention we'll never outrun him like this," Hiccup said. The Shadow Wing opened its mouth, nearly biting off Toothless' tail. "Whoa! Give me a second, I'll think of something."
"If you don't, Toothless might lose another tail!" Elsa cried out in panic.
Luna looked to Toothless and muttered in concern. Toothless warbled back, the two dragons communicating quickly. However, Hiccup didn't wait for their response and had an idea. He suddenly made a nosedive towards the ground, and the Shadow Wing followed him, looking at his mate. Luna nodded her head, understanding what Toothless was saying. The Night Fury and the Shadow Wing were making a nosedive towards the lake and showed no intention of pulling up.
Hiccup looked down at Toothless. "Toothless, what are you…?"
"Luna, what is this?" Elsa asked, unsure of what she was doing.
Toothless and Luna then began to spin ferociously knocking the Small Wings off and then fired several plasma blasts straight at the lake while Luna followed. This caused the water to shoot upwards and created a nice bit of cover, but the Shadow Wing was still on his tail and was opening its mouth wide.
"Any time now," Hiccup urged.
Toothless then roared so that they could see what was ahead with his echolocation and pulled up just before he hit the water's surface. The Shadow Wing wasn't so lucky and went headfirst into the lake.
"I wasn't worried." Hiccup said as he began to fly away from the island. "I knew you had it the whole way."
"Yeah. We weren't scared or worried at all." Elsa said in agreement.
The two Furies looked up at them in annoyance.
Okay, a little." Hiccup admitted.
"Let's get Zeppla and get out of here," Elsa said as she flew to the cave to rescue the young dragon.
When they got Zeppla, they offered her to return to the Edge to rest before going home. When they arrived at the Edge they found the dragons were just laying around in the dome, and the other Riders were nowhere to be seen. The two of them also noticed that the place was a mess and the dragons weren't even washed.
"Whoa, what happened here?" Elsa asked as she dismounted Luna. "Where did everyone go?"
"And why aren't these dragons cleaned?" Hiccup asks as he noticed none of them were washed, aside from Summer.
The Night Lights all bounced off of Cutter and ran toward their parents. Burple then got off of the latch, which was what kept everyone inside. When Hiccup and Elsa looked down, they saw the other riders inside fast asleep.
"Oh, I see, everyone gets to sleep but us." Hiccup scoffed and looked at Elsa. "You believe this?"
"Typical." Elsa scoffed playfully.
Zephyr said, "I can fix that," and puffed herself up, throwing the two siblings into the hole.
The two freaked out at first, but once they fell into the darkness, they couldn't care less. Toothless quickly shut the lid so that they could get some rest and sighed.
"So, this is Dragon's Edge?" Zeppla asked, noticing all the tired dragons. "Wow, a lot happens around here."
Toothless said, revealing he could actually talk, "You have no idea."
Luna sighed as she walked over to a spot next to Toothless, with their hatchlings bundled up around them. "How long do you think you can go without speaking around Hiccup?"
"Probably as long as you can go without speaking around Elsa's sister," Toothless said as he purred against her head. "I'm at least waiting until he can understand what I say, rather than half of what I say."
Then they lay down and took a moment to get into a relaxing position. Once done, the two Furies lay against each other and took in the peacefulness of the Midnight Sun shining brightly overhead.
