Chapter 78: Family Matters
The Dragon Riders were busy engaging with several Hunters and Flyers close towards a neighborly island. Astrid herself was nearly shot down by a couple of Flyers behind her.
"Stormfly, go!" Astrid ordered.
Stormfly then quickly headed straight towards a thick cloud and they went around and laughed. The Flyer was about to fire, but Astrid quickly pulled away and heading straight towards him was Toothless, who immediately fired a plasma blast. The Flyer immediately raised his shield and somehow the plasma blast bounced off of it and struck the Flyers next to him so the two of them were now falling towards the ocean.
Astrid laughed as she flew next to Hiccup. "That sight never gets old."
Hiccup nodded. "Two less Flyers, two more freed Singetails."
(Linebreak)
Unbeknownst by the two of them a Flyer had kept on behind them on the island and was preparing to fire. He then slapped his whip on the back of the Singetail and prepared to fire a fireball directly at them.
Unfortunately for him, Fishlegs noticed the entire thing as he hovered behind him. "No!" he gasped.
They immediately flew down into the woods and slammed into a tree causing it to fall on top of another one which then toppled over and soon the cycle continued. Until the Flyer noticed the tree falling towards him immediately jumped clear, but the Singetail wasn't as lucky and got flattened by it.
"Oh, my Thor!" Fishlegs cried.
(Linebreak)
The other Riders had already destroyed the ships and they took down the rest of the Flyers.
"Sinking Johann's ships—it's not just a job, it's a calling." Ruffnut smiled.
"Yeah, so what are we calling him this time?" Tuffnut asked.
"Sissy!" Ruffnut called out.
"Meathead! Slapbutt! Ugly legs! Weird ears!" Tuffnut added.
"Am I the only one who noticed that no matter how many Singetails we free, Johann always seems to find more?" Snotlout asked.
"Wow. Thanks for killing the mood," Tuffnut grumbled.
Astrid shook her head. "You know, Snotlout, you are the only one who noticed. You could fill a book with all the things that you and your genius brain noticed."
"A book, you say? Hmm," Snotlout said, not realizing that Astrid was joking. "The World According to Snotlout or The Wit and Wisdom of Snotlout."
"A short story." Astrid said.
"A work of fiction." Hiccup added.
"A pointless tale," Hicca added with a smirk.
"Very funny," Snotlout muttered as he immediately pulled out a book from nowhere and a quill. "Chapter one—'The Many Ways I Am Unappreciated.'"
Astrid blinked. "Where did you get a book?" She asked.
"And when could you read and write?" Hicca asked in surprise as well.
Raeda then flew towards them. "Huh, Snotlout can read and write? That's something you don't see everyday." She said, while playing along since she knew that Snotlout could read and write as she gave a secret wink to him as Snotlout wink back.
"Hiccup! Hicca! Help!" Fishlegs cried.
The Haddock twins immediately looked down and saw Fishlegs and Meatlug removing the tree from the wounded Singetail.
"Look!" Hiccup pointed frantically.
"A dragon down!" Hicca called out as she looked at their dragons. "Midnight, Toothless, go!"
The Riders immediately flew down as quickly, all apart from Snotlout, who was completely oblivious to everything, continuing to write in his fictional book.
"Like many other visionaries my insight into this world, ah—" Snotlout then noticed that he and Raeda, who decided to wait for him, were completely alone. "Just us and our dragons again, Rae." He then continued to write. "The plight of the Snot is a lonely one."
"Well, not completely." Raeda smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Snotlout smiled back and went back to his book, "Chapter 2: The Wonderful gifts of The Hendersons." He wrote.
Raeda widened her eyes as she smiled with a blush. "Uhm can you make sure not to mention me so the others won't know? But you can also put my family in there to make sure to avoid assumptions." She suggested.
"Don't worry, Raeda. I'm not that stupid." Snotlout answered with a smile as he and Raeda flew down to catch up to the others.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile on the ground, Fishlegs was deeply concerned about the Singetail and feared the worst.
"I didn't mean to do it." Fishlegs said with a guilty expression.
"Ah, she probably didn't feel a thing," Ruffnut assured.
Tuffnut nodded. "Yeah. Looks like she went peacefully." He commented.
"She's not dead, you two!" Fishlegs yelled at the two of them.
"Oh, we just assumed," Tuffnut said, chuckling nervously. "Apologies."
Hicca immediately examined the Singetail and then gave Fishlegs an reassuring look. "You can relax, Fishlegs, she's only knocked out and she'll come out of it sooner or later." She said as Fishlegs sighs in relief.
Toothless and Midnight then began to sniff the Singetails curiously and then growled with the same curious expression.
Hiccup noticed that something was off. "Toothless, what is it?"
"What'cha find girl?" Hicca asked her dragon.
Toothless lifted the Singetail's right wing and the Haddock twins noticed that amber was stuck to her side.
"Is that Deathsong amber?" Hiccup frowned as he examined the fragments.
"Again?" Hicca asked as well while looking at the fragments.
"Wait, what do you mean again, Hicca?" Henry asked in confusion.
"I've seen a Singetail drop a piece of Death Song amber back on Defenders of the Wing Island." Hicca explained, "I figured it was just a coincidence, but now I'm not so sure."
Fishlegs then went over to check. "Yeah. How did that get there?" He wondered. He asked as well.
"What if Krogan found out where we hit Garff?" Astrid asked frantically.
"Whoa, easy Astrid." Hicca said.
"Let's not jump to conclusions." Hiccup added.
"We got to go check on him, now!" Astrid said stubbornly as she then immediately rushed towards Stormfly without a second thought.
"Astrid, wait!" Hiccup cried.
Hicca facepalmed herself. "Oh Thor. This is another reason why I didn't tell any of you guys earlier. Astrid is as stubborn as you are, bro." She said in an annoying expression.
"Hey!" Hiccup said after hearing that.
"To be honest, it's true, Hiccup." Henry said in agreement with Hicca.
"Yeah, the others told me the times you get stubborn." Valerie said in agreement. "So with Astrid, it's pretty surprising." She added.
"Oh gods." Hiccup groaned.
Fishlegs placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "You guys go. This is my responsibility. I-I'll take her back to the Edge."
Hicca looked up. "I should probably stay with Fishlegs and start treatment right away. Besides, Midnight will help Meatlug carry her easily." She said.
Hiccup nodded at the two of them.
Hiccup then saw Astrid mounting Stormfly and took off without waiting for anyone. Hiccup and the twins immediately took off after her and Hicca and Fishlegs began carrying the Singetail back to the Edge. While this was happening, Snotlout was still writing in his book unaware that he was left alone once again with Raeda still with him.
"Chapter three—'Never Be the Guy Who Stays Behind By Himself.'" Snotlout then looked up and saw that he had been left behind once again with Raeda. "Hey!"
"Yeah, the others couldn't wait." Raeda said in a bored expression.
"They really gotta give me the heads up." Snotlout said in annoyance.
"Let's just go with it and catch up with the others." Raeda said.
They then mounted their dragons and immediately went after Hiccup and the others, with Snotlout feeling quite annoyed.
(Linebreak)
Snotlout and Raeda soon joined up with Hiccup and the others as they arrived at Garff's island. They then started looking around the island for the young Deathsong.
"Garff? Garff?" Astrid called. She then looked up at Hiccup frantically. "I don't see him."
"Don't panic. Maybe he's just playing Hide and Seek?" Raeda told her before she heard screeching. "See? There he is." She said while pointing down.
Garff then emerged from the trees and began screeching which drew the attention of everyone. Astrid sighed with relief and she immediately flew down towards him.
"Garff? Hi!" Astrid smiled as Garff began to play with her and Stormfly.
Hiccup looked at Snotlout, Raeda, Henry, Valerie and the Thorston twins. "Well, it doesn't look like the Flyers have been here." Hiccup said in relief.
"It doesn't look like anybody's being here," Ruffnut noted. "Look at Garff."
Astrid was currently scratching the bottom of Garff's chin and he appeared to be enjoying himself. Astrid then immediately hugged him, overjoyed to see that he was safe.
"He does look overjoyed to see us again. And I think Hicca would have the same reaction to Garff if she was here." Henry noted with a smile.
"That's Garff, the Death Song dragon?" Valerie asked in surprise at Garff as the others nodded. "Gotta say, he looks awesome." She said with a smile.
"He sure does." Raeda said as she turned to Valerie. "Did you put ear plugs on Camo?" She asked suddenly.
"Uh, yeah. Why?" Valerie asked in confusion.
"Uh let's just say Garff's voice really pulls your dragon in." Hiccup explained.
"You mean his song? But isn't he a friend of yours? I mean, look how overjoyed he is to see Stormfly and Astrid." Valerie pointed out as Garff, Stormfly and Astrid are still happy to see each other.
"Just as precautions." Henry finished as Valerie nodded.
"So, if the amber on that Singetail didn't come from Garff, it had to come from his father," Hiccup concluded.
"Which means the Flyers must have him," said Astrid as she looked up.
'You hear that Garff?' Stormfly squawked, 'Your father is alive!'
Garff immediately roared happily.
"That would explain how they could round up and subdue dragons as powerful as Singetails. Krogan must be using the Deathsong to draw them in and capture them with its amber. If we could free that Deathsong—"
"We could cut off the Flyers' supply of new dragons." Snotlout concluded with a smile.
"Limiting they're army and chances of capturing the King of Dragons." Henry added.
"And reunited with Garff," Astrid finished with a smile.
Snotlout turned on her. "Sure, but mostly we cut up the supply to new dragons." He repeated.
Astrid then immediately narrowed her eyes at him.
"We can do both." Hiccup said as he mounted Toothless. "But first, we have to figure out where the Deathsong is. Let's get back to the Edge to tell Hicca and Fishlegs about this."
"Aw. Look at Garff," Astrid sighed as she looked at Garff. "Can we bring him?"
Hiccup groaned. "Astrid, you're killing me. No. Not a chance. He's safer here."
Astrid looked at him pleadingly as she began to stroke Garff. "But he's so lonely."
"Astrid, did you forget that a lot of the dragons on the Edge won't be happy to see Garff again?" Henry asked as Garff made quite a few enemies during his recovery stay on Dragon's Edge.
"Which means this is the only place where he's safe. He stays. End of story," Hiccup said firmly.
Astrid then narrowed her eyes at him and Hiccup narrowed back, but then he caved in.
Henry saw this as he sighs and places a hand over his face. "She's stubborn alright." He muttered quietly.
(Linebreak)
They soon returned back to Dragon's Edge and Astrid was looking at Hiccup smugly as she had used all her feminine charm to convince Hiccup to bring Garff with them, and when Midnight and Hicca saw him, they were overjoyed to see Garff again while also questioning why Astrid would bring him away from his safe island.
"End of story, eh? Way to go, Hiccup," Hiccup moaned.
Tuffnut looked at his sister. "Have you ever won an argument with her?"
Ruffnut shrugged. "Eh, it always seemed like kind of a pointless exercise. But what do I know?"
"And apparently someone forgot that Garff isn't exactly welcome on the Edge by everyone." Henry stated before they heard a roar and turned to see Hunterbolt growling at a nervous Garff as he walked in, "See?" He pointed out.
Hiccup then turned their attention to the Dragon Fury Eye,which was showing them a map of the Archipelago. "O-okay. Look. See all these areas where Ice Tail Pike are found?"
"Good hunting ground for Singetails." Astrid nodded. "Krogan would be located near them for sure."
"And a perfect place where Singetails are most commonly fly by in flocks for proper nesting and rest after long flights." Henry added.
"According to this, Singetails prefer non-volcanic islands, so that would rule these three out," said Hiccup gesturing to several islands on the map.
"Could I interrupt and address the Singetail in the room?" Snotlout asked as he gestured to the wounded Singetail that Hicca and Fishlegs were tending to.
"We couldn't just leave her, Snotlout." Hicca told her cousin.
"So I guess everybody just gets to bring whatever dragons they want to the Edge now?" Snotlout asked, noting how there seemed to be a repeating pattern of bringing new dragons to Edge.
"From what I can tell, yes." Henry sighs.
Snotlout then immediately reopened his book, grabbed a quill and placed a glass lens on his left eye. "Chapter four—'Don't Bring Untrainable Dragons Home.' Duh. Subtitle—'Bad Things Always Happen.'" He wrote before Astrid then immediately took his quail. "What?"
Astrid then immediately began to draw on the wall which was displaying the map. "Given food supply, nonvolcanic islands, and migration patterns, I'd say this is the area where I would set up to catch Singetails."
Fishlegs looked at the map. "Well, they wouldn't be on that one on the left. That's where we fought the Cavern Crasher." he remembered when they helped the Fireworm queen drive off the Scavenger dragon.
Snotlout snorted as he grabbed his book. "We fought it?" He then opened it up and pulled out a new quill from beneath his helmet. "Chapter five—'People Always Steal My And Raeda's Credit.'" He wrote frustratedly.
"Yeah, Snotlout and I had to do most of it while you guys were caught up in the tunnels." Raeda pointed out with a look, since it was true that the others were stuck in the cave in the tunnels while she and Snotlout dealt with the Cavern Crasher until they arrived.
Hiccup nodded at Fishlegs. "Moving on, you're right, Fishlegs. Not a good place for the base with that guy burrowing everywhere." He then pointed to the island opposite it. "So our best shot is right here."
Hicca looked at Hiccup. "I should come with you, the Deathsong is no doubt badly injured and will need medical attention. Knowing the Hunters."
"What about the Singetail?" Hiccup asked.
"I'm sure that Fishlegs is more than capable of looking after her and by all records the Deathsong will leave my intention more than her." Hicca assured.
"Wait? Me?" Fishlegs squeaked.
"Fishlegs, you know more about dragons than we do. I'm sure you know how to take care of a Singetail while we're gone." Hicca said with a small smile.
Fishlegs looked at the Singetail before giving a nervous look. "I hate that about me." He muttered quietly to himself.
"With so many Singetails, maybe we should bring in their predator to help?" Henry suggested jerking a thumb at Hunterbolt.
Hicca turned to Hunterbolt, "You up for it big guy?" She asked as the Skrill roared. "Alright then."
"What are we waiting for? Let's go rescue that Deathsong," Astrid declared.
Hiccup immediately got to his feet, already knowing what she was thinking. "Uh, okay. But this time, Astrid, obviously, Garff has to stay behind. We can't risk giving Krogan another Deathsong, right?" he said with a nervous smile.
Astrid looked at him, narrowing her eyes.
"No, oh no," Henry shook his head and looked at her in disbelief, "You cannot seriously be thinking about bringing Garff along are you?" He demanded.
"And why is that?" Astrid asked firmly while looking at Henry.
"If you bring him along, he will just get in the way and blow our cover." Henry pointed out. "And you can tell that Hunterbolt isn't onboard with that idea either." He added while pointing at Hunterbolt, who was growling in protest at Garff coming with them.
"He's right, Astrid." Raeda chimed in, "Bringing him back to the Edge is one thing but bringing him into the middle of Hunter activity is out of the question!"
Hiccup smiled at her awkwardly. "Astrid, they're right, and he's not trained like Hunterbolt is." He told her.
Astrid continued to narrow her eyes.
"And he won't be lonely. Fishlegs and Meatlug will be here taking care of the Singetail, so…" Hiccup then smiled at her awkwardly, hoping that he had presented his case well.
Hicca saw this as she turned to Henry. "Astrid is too stubborn to listen to reason after seeing Garff again?" She guessed.
"You have no idea." Henry sighs as he shakes his head.
Hicca gave a slight chuckle. "When you try to argue with Astrid, it won't go well." She said.
(Linebreak)
Moments later they were making their way to the island on the map and Hiccup was fuming because he had lost the argument and Astrid had brought Garff with them while Raeda, Henry and Hicca just gave bored looks as Hiccup couldn't stop her while Hunterbolt is flying next to Garff in annoyance.
Snotlout laughed. "Chapter six—'Hiccup Haddock, Missing a Leg and a Backbone.'" He taunted.
"This is the Son of Stoick the Vast everyone," Henry commented, "Brave enough to look a Screaming Death in the eye but breaks his back over his own girlfriend."
"Hey, that's a good one. Thanks Henry." Snotlout said with an amusing smile.
Hiccup groaned, but thankfully Astrid turned their attention on more pressing matters.
"Hiccup, Hicca, look," Astrid pointed.
The Haddock twins looked down and Fireworm Island. "If that's where we fought the Cavern Crasher, then the Deathsong should be there." He then looked towards the island opposite and looked to the others. "Let's go." He ordered
"Let's ride, Riders." Hicca added.
They all then immediately flew down towards the island as carefully as possible, because the place could be swarming with Hunters and Flyers.
"Everyone in formation." Hiccup instructed. "Stay above the cloud cover."
As they flew around the island within the clouds, Henry then flew next to Hiccup and he sighed knowing what he was gonna say, "Look, Henry I know this is a bad idea, but you try arguing with Astrid." He told him.
"Hiccup, how are you gonna be Chief if you always change our plans because Astrid told you to?" Henry asked, "You've gotta learn to stand your ground."
"Okay, okay. I'll work on it!" Hiccup told him, "For now, let's focus on getting Garff's father and shutting down this Singetail harvesting operation."
Henry gave a sigh. "Dad did tell me that there would be an operation where they get Singetails before…. Before." He said while looking down at the memory of his father's fate. "But he would want us to move forward and stop Johann and Krogan's plans. So let's go!" He determinedly said as they flew to the island.
Once they were on the island, they noticed a Hunter encampment in the center of the island which had several trebuchets and several Flyers patrolling the perimeter.
"Okay. These guys obviously do not want company." Tuffnut said.
Then they saw the center of the encampment was the adult Deathsong, chained to two stone columns and looked badly scarred.
"There's Garff's father." Hicca pointed.
Upon closer inspection on the encampment they saw that the Hunters were dragging encased Singetails trapped in amber.
Astrid looked at Hiccup. "We can take these guys, easy. We have the element of surprise and Hunterbolt with us." She said confidently.
"Ah, but they have the element of 'there are way more people.'" Snotlout pointed out.
"And we have the disadvantage of an untrained wild young dragon with us." Valerie added while glancing at Garff who saw his father.
Hiccup nodded in agreement. "Astrid, it's too risky. We need to work out a plan. Maybe bring some backup from Berk." He said.
Unfortunately, Garff didn't care much for that plan and immediately roared to his father. 'Dad!'
The older Deathsong looked around when he heard it, 'Garff?' He growled.
This caught the attention of every single hunter in the encampment and they began looking around for the disturbance.
"Wow, Garff blew our cover, didn't see that coming." Henry said sarcastically.
"Well, so much for the element of surprise." Tuffnut said.
Garff then immediately dived down towards the encampment.
"Stormfly!" Astrid panicked and immediately dived down towards him.
Astrid attempted to block his path, but Garff flew past her and continued to make his way down to the encampment.
"No!" Astrid cried.
Flyers immediately saw Graff and went to intercept him, they began by firing fireballs directly at him but he was able to avoid them. He was also able to avoid getting struck by the trebuchets and once he was close to the Hunters immediately fired Dragon Root arrows in his direction, which he also avoided.
Garff then immediately fired amber down onto the archers encasing them in amber, but then he was struck by one of the Flyers and crashed to the ground.
"Garff! No!" Astrid cried.
The Hunters then began to shackle him and dragged him into a cave. The adult Deathsong was furious and attempted to toss the Hunter off his head. 'No! Leave him alone!' He roared.
Snotlout then pulled out his book and quill. "Chapter seven—'Wild Dragons on Missions—Now, That's a Bad Idea.'" He wrote.
Astrid groaned in frustration and looked at Hiccup and Hicca. "We have to help him, guys!" She urged.
Henry then flew up to her, "I think we all had enough of your bad ideas." He commented.
"What?!" Astrid asked in furious.
"We tried to warn you that bringing Garff along was a bad idea, but would you listen? No!" Henry yelled out. "You just had to force Hiccup into bringing an untrained juvenile dragon with us, when he could've been safe on his home island or on the Edge!" He pointed out.
"I just wanted Garff to reunite with his family!" Astrid yelled back.
"Well, you should've thought of him ruining the element of surprise!" Henry countered.
"Astrid, you know we can't." Hiccup pointed out, breaking the argument. "We would just get caught, too. We need a fall back and figure out a plan."
Hicca nodded. "We're fortunate that they have and realize that we're here ourselves, but we can't stay here unless we want to get captured ourselves."
With that they began to fly towards the edge of the encampment in order to regroup.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile Fishlegs was still tending to the injured Singetail.
"What do you say we at least get these reigns off so it wakes up a free dragon?" said Fishlegs as he removed the reins from the Singetail.
The Singetail then immediately shot up all suddenly, knocking Fishlegs to the ground. She appeared to be a bit disoriented as she began walking around in a daze, her gaze and immediately fell upon Fishlegs.
Almost immediately, Fishlegs dropped the reins. "We were taking it off, not putting it back on."
Meatlug growled at him.
"Yes, I know she can't understand me, okay? I am nervous!" Fishelgs said to her defensively. He then immediately reached in and grabbed a piece of sage fruit. "Would you like a little sage fruit? It'll keep you calm… which will keep me calm."
He extended the fruit towards the Singetail and she immediately sniffed it and then she ate it. Fishlegs sighed with relief, but then she spattered back out and covered him in the juice. Fishlegs panicked as she immediately rose on her hind legs.
"Okay, all right, not a fan of the fruit, huh?" Fishlegs said. "You're more of a, um, meat eater."
The Singetail then pulled away from him and immediately began running around the entire dome trying to get outside. She kept on firing fireballs and jumping into the air almost constantly.
Fishlegs looked at Meatlug. "Perhaps it's the head injury." The Singetail then immediately fired a fireball and Fishlegs took the hint. "Okay, out you go."
He then quickly ran towards the lever avoiding fireballs and quickly pulled in it. The dome began to open and thankfully the Singetail stopped firing fireballs every which way. Once they were wide enough she immediately flew out, but she had not yet recovered from injury and was flying wobbly.
Fishlegs sighed with relief. "All right. That was close. She'll probably be fine, right?" Meatlug looked at him. "Good idea. We will follow her for a while, just to be safe."
He then mounted Meatlug and the two of them took off after the Singetail.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile it was sunset and the adult Deathsong was still pretty angry and was firing amber in all different directions, encasing the Hunters every now and then with it. Hiccup and the others were watching everything from a vantage point that overlooks the encampment.
Astrid looked utterly furious. "What Krogan is making that Deathsong do—using one Dragon to trap another, it's—"
"Brilliant," Tuffnut announced.
Astrid turned on him. "Evil," She corrected.
Tuffnut blinked at her. "You did let me finish. It's brilliant-ly evil." Astrid still didn't look convinced and narrowed her eyes at him as she folded her arms menacingly. "But mostly evil. Obviously, like, 70% evil and then, you know, 25% brilliant or fift—" Astrid continued to narrow her eyes and he smiled nervously at her. "Eighty, ten."
"You know, they say that truly evil people are also geniuses," Ruffnut added.
"So what does that make us?" Tuffnut asked.
"No, it's just makes them evil and now they're capturing twice as many Singetails, if Somebody hadn't been so stubborn about her bad idea!" Henry growled at Astrid as she growled back.
"Uh, okay, okay,"Hiccup said while he and Hicca are trying to bring everyone back on track. He then looked down at the sketch he made of the ground of the encampment. "We need a plan of attack. We could get past the ground defenses by coming in low and fast from these three directions at once, but how do we do that and handle the Flyers?"
Hicca nodded in agreement. "Even if we were to fly in by night, there is still a strong chance they will spot us. Once they do, they'll alert the entire camp of our presence, even with Hunterbolt's help, there are way too many Flyers to handle for him." She added while pointing at Hunterbolt, who is standing by for any signs of him to act. "We also need to remember that they will be on alert for a while, we need to find a way to even the odds in our favor." She reminded them.
"No thanks to Astrid." Raeda added, giving the shield maiden a look.
"Which is why it's obvious we can't trust her to make a plan that's not in her interests or stubborn ego." Henry before turning to the others and raising his hand, "All in favor?"
The other riders raised their hands while Hiccup hesitated at first once he saw Astrid's glare.
"Hiccup," Hicca started, narrowing her eyes at her brother.
"Don't you dare." Raeda warned.
Hiccup gave a nervous chuckle as he finally and slowly raised his hand as Astrid gaped in shock.
"Majority rules, Astrid." Hicca called out. "You're outvoted. You're not making our new plan." She added.
"Oh come on!" Astrid complained, "How can you say this is my fault?! How has me being stubborn gotten us in trouble?" She asked.
"You mean like that time when you doubted and showed no respect to Raeda and the Thorston twins' efforts for defenses when the Hunters first attacked the Edge while the rest of us rescued Johann? Who at the time was still tricking us?" Hicca recalled with a dull look.
Astrid blinked before recomposing herself, "That was one time-"
"That time you went back on our plan to capture the Flightmare and nearly ended up like your uncle?" Raeda chimed in with a raised brow.
"Okay, there was that, but-" Astrid tried to defend.
"That time you egged me on into replacing the Regatta with Dragon Racing while directly disobeying our father's orders?" Hiccup said, knowing that Astrid needs to hear this.
Astrid looked at her friends with wide eyes as she stood in silence as Valerie broke it.
"Wow, Astrid. For a warrior and Dragon Rider, you really are stubborn at times." Valerie said in surprise with her arms crossed.
Astrid looks around before she sighs in defeat. "Okay. So my stubbornness got us into issues before but you think just because I wanted Garff to be happy I'm the Muttonhead of this mission?" She asked.
"Yes!" They answered firmly and immediately.
Astrid reels back in surprise and turns to Stormfly who was also giving her a look, "Oh, not you too Stormfly." She said to her dragon.
"Sorry, Astrid. But it had to be said. Even our dragons agreed. And Camo is a rookie like Valerie." Hiccup honestly said while the other dragons nodded in agreement.
Snotlout then took his book and wrote, "'Chapter eight: Astrid Hofferson is truly a Muttonhead.'" He said as Astrid growled at him but chose not to do anything that would worsen her situation.
Ruffnut then laughed as she looked into the encampment. "Look at that guy. They're trying to pull him out by his head." She laughed.
In the encampment the Thorston twins Valerie were watching as the Hunters were trying to free the Hunter that had been encased in amber, with very little success.
"Oooh. That had to hurt." Valerie cringes with a chuckle in amusement.
"A technique that has the benefit of being both painful and ineffective." Tuffnut said.
"Oh, they could totally use some of Hooky's Monstrous Nightmare gel." Snotlout commented. "Too bad they don't have any."
The Haddock twins immediately got an idea. "That's it!" Hicca first called out.
"But we have plenty of Monstrous Nightmare gel, right?" Hiccup asked.
"Always. But why would we want to use it to free the Hunters?" Snotlout frowned.
"Not the Hunters." Hicca said, "The Singetails." She explained.
"Exactly." Hiccup said.
Henry nodded in agreement. "It would both free the Singetails and give us a distraction we need to free the Deathsong, good plan." He then gave Astrid a dull look, "Any last minute changes you like to suggest, Hofferson?" He questioned.
Astrid glared at him for a moment before she sighs. "No. Not this time." She conceded.
"Good, but just to be safe, Hiccup, Snotlout, Raeda and I will lay out the Gel." Hicca said, "We don't want you pulling a Flightmare on us and trying to rescue Garff on your own."
"Understood." Astrid said while looking down, knowing that she got Garff into this mess, so she doesn't want to ruin it again.
Snotlout then placed the glass lens on his left eye, pulled out his book and quill and began to write once again. "Chapter nine—'Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare Gel Saves the Day Again.'"
He then lowered his book and saw Hookfang snarling at him and he inserted a second lens on his right eye. "Fine Snotfang's Monstrous Nightmare—" Hookfang snarled once again. "Okay! Hookfang's Nightmare—You know what? This is my book, not yours. And don't push me, or I'll redact your dragon butt."
Hookfang then approached him face-to-face with flames sparking out of his mouth causing Snotlout to jump up in surprise and losing his two glass lenses. He then chuckled nervously, giving into his dragon's demands.
(Linebreak)
A few moments later the Riders were now all in position as they began the plan to free the Singetails.
"Okay, when you see us lay out the gel, start your attack runs." Hiccup ordered.
"And lit up the candle." Hicca added.
Astrid began to insert the earplugs on Stormfly. "Earplugs in, everybody?"
"Yep!" Hiccup nodded.
"You bet," Hicca said in agreement.
"Already on Sparkfire." Raeda said.
Snotlout gave her the thumbs up and Toothless and Midnight began scratching their ears as the earplugs were a bit uncomfortable.
For some reason, no one could fathom, Tuffnut had inserted his earplugs in his own ears. "What do they say?" He asked.
Raeda facepalmed herself. "Thor, help us."
"Seriously you two?" Hicca asked in annoyance.
Hiccup shook his head in disbelief. "They're for the dragons, Tuffnut." He attempted to mime everything he said. "Just in case they tried to un-muzzle the Deathsong, we don't need it controlling our dragons."
Tuffnut blinked at him as he couldn't understand anything that he was saying or doing. Ruffnut then tapped him on the shoulder and he looked at his sister, who then gestured to remove the earplugs and insert them on Belch.
Tuffnut then laughed as he placed the earplugs in Belch's ears. "Bing!"
"'Bing' indeed," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes. "Good luck, everybody."
"You too," Astrid said, looking concerned.
"Alright, guys, get into position." Hicca said to them.
The Haddock twins, Raeda, and Snotlout then immediately took off and flew towards the encampment.
(Linebreak)
It was now night and the Flyers were still patrolling the encampment, but the Haddock twins and the others had managed to infiltrate it without being detected. They were now pouring Monstrous Nightmare gel around the Singetails encased in amber.
Soon the three of them met up, still pouring out the Monstrous Nightmare gel.
"I don't like this. Not even a smidgen." Snotlout said, expressing his doubt.
"What? We release these Singetails all at once. The Flyers go after them. We use the distraction to take out the ground defenses and free the Deathsong," Hiccup said, going over the plan.
"And if the Singetails try to attack us in the crossfire, Hunterbolt will provide cover for us if things get intense." Hicca added. "Pretty simple."
Snotlout shook his head. "No, no, no, no. I don't like that I'm the only one doing the dangerous sneaking around part." He said.
Raeda looked at him. "But you are not the only one, me, Hicca and Hiccup are standing with you right now." She reminded him. "Remember we got each other's backs."
"Yeah, but you like the dangerous and sneaking around part." Snotlout pointed out. "Me, I do not like it one bit."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh, it only seemed right. I mean, after all, we are taking a chapter from your book."
They then heard the sound of the twigs snapping and they quickly hid behind the Singetails. Then they witnessed a Hunter on night patrol, fortunately was so dark that he failed to notice the Monstrous Nightmare gel and mistook it for water.
"I'd just prefer it not to be the final chapter," Snotlout hissed.
"Just stick close, Snolotu, we've been in dangerous situations before." Hicca pointed out.
"Yes, and I never liked them one bit either." Snotlout pointed out.
"Yeah, neither of us do sometimes." Raeda said in agreement. "But we have to go with it." She added.
The Haddock twins then ignited Infernos and then waved it at Toothless and Midnight, who were hiding behind a bush. Toothless and Midnight then responded by setting the Monstrous Nightmare gel alight and the flames immediately began to circle around all of the amber covered Singetails in the encampment.
(Linebreak)
Astrid, Valerie, Henry and the Thorston twins were watching from the cliff and they witnessed the circle of fire appearing around the outskirts of the encampment.
"Here we go," Astrid said.
Immediately they took off into the air and dived down into the encampment. At the same time the amber on the Singetails began to crack and suddenly they managed to free themselves which caught the attention of the Flyers.
"That's not good," One of them said.
The Singetails immediately took to the sky and Hiccup and Hicca smiled at the site. The Thorston twins then immediately dived into the encampment and the Hunters immediately fired at them with the Dragon Root arrows.
"Fire in the hole!" Tuffnut yelled as they immediately unleashed a gas on one of the trebuchet.
They then immediately set it alight and there was a massive explosion that took out the trebuchet.
Astrid and Valerie then immediately moved in towards the Deathsong and the Hunter on its head immediately fired a blast of amber directly at, but she was able to avoid it.
Valerie then closed in on the Deathsong, "Camo, Whiptail!" She ordered and Camo launched his tail at the Hunter, who quickly raised his shield to block, but was grabbed and thrown off the Death Song.
"Now let's free that Deathsong!" Valerie said as they then moved into the destroyed manacles, but then a fireball appeared from out of nowhere, counseling the attack.
"What?" Astrid stared in shock after seeing it.
Astrid and Valerie turned and saw that a Singetail was making its way into the encampment for some reason and soon the other Singetails followed suit. He then began firing fireballs at Riders and Hunters alike and the girls found herself on the receiving end.
The Haddock twins quickly flew down and fired a plasma blast at one of the Singetails that was standing on a ledge. The plasma blast struck the ground next to it and it immediately took off in order to avoid a conflict with the Night Furies.
"Yes! That's it, bud!" Hiccup cheered.
"Thatta girl!" Hicca cheered.
They then flew up to Astrid and Valerie, who were looking pretty confused. "What went wrong?" Astrid asked.
"The Singetails didn't leave." Hiccup answered.
"Even after being free from captivity." Hicca added in surprise.
"Oh, they left all right," Snotlout said as he appeared on the other side of Astrid and Valerie. "They jumped into the pit."
Astrid looked down and saw that he was right, all the freed Singetails were making their way into the pit. "This makes no sense."
"Yeah, with a Deathsong and Hunters down there the Singetails know that staying here is a bad idea." Henry added.
The Singetails continue to fire fireball that anything that moved in to make matters worse the Hunters were concentrating their fire on the Riders as well. Soon there was a three-way conflict between the Hunters, the Riders and the Singetails.
"Okay, this plan has officially gone talon up." Raeda said, dodging a fireball.
"We need a fall back." Hiccup ordered.
Astrid turned on him. "No, we can't. We're too close." She said stubbornly.
"Are really that stubborn that you can't see we're in the middle of literally a fire fight?!" Henry yelled out. "We need to regroup and figure out what went wrong!" He yelled out.
A Flyer then appeared right on top of them and he began to fire fireballs directly above them as they flew around the pit. Hiccup quickly pulled up and found himself face-to-face with the trebuchet.
"Oh, for the love of—"
The trebuchet then fired a net and Hiccup quickly dived and the net and snared the Flyer behind him. The Flyer then fell from the sky and slammed right into Snotlout and Hookfang.
"Snotlout!" Raeda yelled.
They struck the ground and Snotlout was tossed off of Hookfang and came face-to-face with the Deathsong.
"Oh, my Thor!" Snotlout said as he looked up at the Deathsong.
The Deathsong then roared loudly in his face and he screamed. Snotlout didn't waste any time and immediately ran to Hookfang, who had recovered from their little crash landing. However, before he could mount Hookfang several Dragon Root arrows shot past him blocking his path.
"Oh, no," Snotlout said as he looked at the ledge of the pit.
Hunters position themselves at the ledge of the pit, all of them armed to the teeth with Dragon Root arrows. Thankfully before they could fire any more shots the Thorston twins arrived.
"Coming in hot… and blowing out snot!" Tuffnut as they use their gas and spark technique to take out the Hunters.
The Thorston twins cheered as they immediately pulled up, but the cheer suddenly turned to screams when they saw Flyers flying straight down towards them. They had no time to make any evasive maneuvers and were struck and soon crashed towards the ground.
Hiccup, Astrid and Ragnar then landed on the ground and provided covering fire chasing the Flyers away but more were still around them firing back.
"Okay this is officially a losing battle," Hicca stated and turned to her brother, "Hiccup, we need to fall back!"
Hiccup nodded and immediately noticed the cave on the side of the cliff. "Everybody, head for that cave, now!"
"We could be trapped if we go in there. Terrible idea." Snotlout pointed out.
Hiccup landed at the cave entrance as fireballs kept on pelting at them. "And we'll be dead if we stay out here."
"And being trapped will give us time to get out of this jam!" Hicca added.
"Well, we need more cover to get there! Call in Hunterbolt!" Raeda called out.
"One it!" Valerie said as she then did a dragon call.
The Haddock twins, Astrid and Henry then immediately positioned themselves in providing covering fire, and then Hunterbolt came flying by and shot lightning at the Flyers and knocked most of the Hunters back as the others entered the cave. Snotlout and the Thorston twins entered, avoiding the fireballs and Dragon Root arrows that shot past them. The Haddock twins and the others stayed out as long as they could, but the fireballs concentrated more of their area and soon they were to center the cave themselves as Hunterbolt entered once he saw the Riders go in.
Soon the Flyers and Hunters positioned themselves out of the cave and Hunter looked at the Flyer commander.
"Do we go in and finish them, sir?" He asked.
The commander shook his head. "Why? This is the only way in or out of this cave. Send for Krogan. In the meantime, I want all the trebuchets, ballistas and arches we have left aimed right here." He ordered as they had the Riders boxed in.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile Fishlegs was still following the injured Singetail and saw her flying towards an island. He had a strong feeling he knew which island they were heading to and if his hunch proved correctly then it would be extremely dangerous.
"I have a bad feeling about where we're going," Fishlegs said to Meatlug.
Reluctantly he continued to follow the Singetail and soon found himself entering a Hunter encampment.
"Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh," Fishlegs said, panicking.
He saw that most of the Hunters were guarding a cave entrance and he was pleased that the Singetail was making her way towards the cave entrance opposite.
"Here we go girl," Fishlegs said as he took several deep breaths. "Keep quiet, all right?"
They then turned round the corner and found a couple of hunters guarding the passageway, but the first thing they saw was the Singetail. They readied their spears, but she didn't waste any time and fired a fireball at them knocking them to the ground and flew right past. Then Fishlegs arrived and slammed into one of the Hunters, he then backed into the second one before he had a chance to do anything.
"Good job, girl." Fishlegs said as they continued to follow the Singetail.
They followed the Singetail to a cavern and then saw the place was completely filled with dragon eggs which no doubt belonged to the Singetails.
"Oh, amazing," Fishlegs said as he dismounted Meatlug. He then watched as the Singetail began to cuddle one of the eggs, no doubt belonging to her. "No wonder she was so frantic to get back here. You know what this is, girl? A hatchery. They're breeding Singetails."
He then heard several explosions coming from outside.
"Meatlug!" Fishlegs yelled as they immediately rushed outside.
When they got outside they found that the Hunters were firing everything they had at the cave entrance. The Flyer commander then raised his hand to stop them and approached the cave entrance.
"You have no other way out," Fishlegs said, looking down at the cave. "You can save your friends and your dragons a lot of hurt if you give up before Krogan gets here."
(Linebreak)
Inside the cave the Riders were huddled up behind a makeshift barrier and it didn't take them long to realize that the cave they were in was actually where they locked up their prisoners.
"Chapter ten—'The Haddock twins' Plans Stink'!" Snotlout yelled.
The tThorston twins were busy tending to Barf and Belch, who had taken a hard hit.
"Okay, do you know where we are?" Tuffnut asked Belch.
"In deep trouble," Ruffnut answered.
Tuffnut turned on her. "Not helping." He then looked back at Belch and held out a single finger. "Within five, how many fingers am I holding up?"
Belch looked at it curiously and Tuffnut looked at his sister. "Belch will be fine."
Hiccup then appeared after checking one of the side tunnels. "So there's no back way out, but look who I found."
Then emerging from the cave was Garff and he happily rushed over towards Astrid, Hicca, Midnight and Stormfly. The three dragons then appeared to be having some sort of conversation and looked pretty cheerful about it.
"Ah, it looks like we're trapped here for a while," said Hiccup.
"At least we know Garff is okay." Hicca added.
"Well, if that's true we need to redecorate." Ruffnut said as she looked around at the cavern.
Tuffnut nodded. "Oh, I hear you, sis. Now, let's move out this clutter and go for more of an open-cave concept, you know? Let the feng shui flow."
"Exactly."
"So this is how it is, huh?" said Snotlout looking at the others. "This is how Snotlout goes out?"
"Hiccup will think of something," said Astrid confidently.
"Hope it's better than his last plan." Snotlout grumbled.
Astrid narrowed her eyes. "It was a good plan." She defended.
"Hey, it was better than your plan of bringing Garff along." Henry said.
Astrid glared, "Are you ever gonna let that go?" She asked.
"Honestly, just to make sure you get the point." Henry pointed out. "I mean, we would've gotten this right the first time if you hadn't ruined our element of surprise when you brought Garff with us." He added with a glare.
"I wanted Garff to not be lonely and for him to reunite with his father!" Astrid said in defense with her arms up.
"Well, it didn't work out well but at least Hiccup and Hicca are actually trying something that worked!" Henry retorted.
"No, it didn't," Hiccup sighed. "It didn't work. The Singetails didn't make a run for it. Why?"
Hicca looked at him. "Hiccup, you can't expect to know everything and you came up with a plan with the information you had. Obviously we missed one vital piece of information, right now we need to focus on how to get out of here." She assured her brother while having a thoughtful look as well. "But what did we miss?"
Then suddenly the entire cavern shocked as the Flyers kept on pelting the rock face with fireballs.
(Linebreak)
Fishlegs was watching everything from the other cave and felt completely useless. Meatlug landed next to him feeling the same way and looked as if she wanted nothing more than to pelt the Hunters with lava blasts.
"Argh. We got to think." Fishlegs said. "How are we gonna get them out of here? It's just you, me, a lovesick mama dragon and a wall full of…" He then stopped as an idea popped up in his head. "...eggs." He then immediately looked at Meatlug. "Come on, girl, we got another flight ahead of us."
Fishlegs then mounted Meatlug and carefully the two of them flew away without being noticed.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile in the cave, the Haddock twins were still trying to come up with ideas on how to escape what appeared to be a hopeless situation. Tuffnut, for reasons unknown, began drawing lines in the dirt and Ruffnut watched cross-legged.
"What's this, again?" Ruffnut asked.
"A formal dining room," Tuffnut answered.
Ruffnut groaned. "I thought it was the informal commode." Tuffnut just looked at her. "No?"
"Don't get the idea of living here just yet." Valerie said, leaning against Camo.
Toothless and Midnight heated the ground and laid down for a nap.
Astrid was currently sitting on the ground next to Hiccup, as the blame from the others was finally getting to her.
"This is my fault, Hiccup," Astrid said. "Henry and the others were right, If I hadn't forced you to bring Garff along none of this would've happened."
Hiccup stopped her. "You didn't force me. It was my decision." He told her.
"A faithful decision I'm detailing in chapter 11—'Congratulations, Cous, You Finally Got Me Killed.'" Snotlout said.
"Oh, we're not done yet, Snotlout," Hiccup assured. "And you can quote me."
"What we need to find out is why the Singetails haven't flown away when they were free." Hicca called out.
"Yeah. You think after being captured they would go free the second the amber was off." Raeda added in curiosity.
"So the question is, what is keeping them here?" Valerie asked.
Then suddenly they heard a familiar roar nearby and they immediately all got to their feet.
"I know that sound from somewhere," Astrid said.
"And it's not exactly a favorite memory," Raedaeda added with a grimace. with wide eyes
Hiccup then looked towards the wall. "And it's getting closer."
"Brace yourselves!" Hicca called out.
Then suddenly there was a huge explosion as the wall caved in.
"Help!" Snotlout cried as he dived beneath the table.
When the dust finally settled they saw directly in front of them was none other than the Cavern Crasher.
"What?" Hiccup starred while Hicca looked on with wide eyes.
A brief second later, Fishlegs appeared out of the hole on top of Meatlug holding an egg in his hand and covered in mucus.
"Oh, hey, everybody!" Fishlegs said casually.
Snotlout emerged from behind the table and stared at him as if he was crazy. "A Cavern Crasher. Great."
"Of all the dragons you could've brought, this the one you brought, Fishlegs!?" Raeda called out in shock as well.
The Cavern Crasher looked at the egg that Fishlegs was holding and licked its lips. It then immediately tried to take a bite out of it, but thankfully Fishlegs was too quick for it, but that didn't stop it from chasing him down.
"Stormfly, spines!" Astrid ordered.
Stormfly immediately fired several spines directly in the path of the Cavern Crasher, stopping it in its tracks.
Fishlegs then landed next to the Haddock twins and they recognised the designs on the egg he was holding. "Is that a Singetail egg?" Hiccup asked
"There's a room full of 'em in the other cave." Fishlegs explained. "Krogan's breeding them."
"Which explains why the Singetails wouldn't take off." Hiccup said.
"It also explains how we are able to capture so many so easily," Hicca added. "It's much easier catching them on their own island than anywhere else."
Fishlegs looked at the Haddock twins. "Hiccup, Hicca, we can't leave them behind."
"Or the Deathsong," Astrid added.
"We're not going to," Hiccup assured them.
"We're gonna rescue all of them." Hicca added determinedly.
As they were talking the Cavern Crasher was crawling up the wall towards Fishlegs and was about to take a bite out of the egg when Hookfang fired a fire blast at it.
Snotlout and Raedathen immediately turned on Fishlegs. "I cannot believe you brought that thing here. Chapter twelve—'Don't Bring an Egg-eating Dragon to an Island Full of Eggs.' I mean what was your endgame here?" He asked as he and Raeda walked up to her
"Endgame?" Fishlegs blinked.
"Uh, how were you planning on getting rid of the Cavern Crasher once you brought it here, Fishlegs?" Raeda questioned
Fishlegs scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah, I really didn't think that far ahead."
The Cavern Crasher was attempting to snatch the egg again, but Sparkfire fired spine shots to stop it in its tracks.
Snotlout then immediately took the egg from Fishlegs. "Fine, Hooky, Sparkfire, Raeda and I have this guy's number, so we'll handle him." He then mounted Hookfang.
"So, you guys free these dragons while we lure the Cavern Crasher away from here and the other eggs." Raeda added as she mounted Sparkfire.
"Chapter thirteen—'It's Up to the Snot and Rae, Again.'" Snotlout then turned towards the Cavern Crasher. "Come on, slime ball. Let's dance."
Everyone then stared in bewilderment as Snotlout and Raeda immediately took off down the tunnel that Fishlegs entered from and the Cavern Crasher followed them.
Hicca blinked. "Now that was unexpected for them to take on the Cavern Crasher again."
"Well, they know how to handle a dragon like that, so we gotta trust them." Henry pointed out, while feeling surprised by that as well.
Hiccup looked at the others. "You heard them. Let's go free some dragons."
(Linebreak)
It was morning and soon they were putting a new plan in place, one that would hopefully work this time. Hiccup and Hicca were making his way to the cave entrance where the Hunters were still standing guard and thankfully Krogan had yet to arrive.
"Hi, uh, out—outside people?" Hiccup said awkwardly. "We'd like to discuss terms of surrender."
The commander laughed. "How about surrender or die?"
The Haddock twins then emerged from the cave with Toothless and Midnight. "Oh, interesting. All right, let us just, uh, consult with our colleague, the Cavern Crasher." Hicca mocked with a smirk.
"Oh, oh, wait. It seems he's tunneled to a new exit. Here's our counteroffer." Hiccup finished with a smirk.
Then suddenly Astrid appeared out of nowhere and fired a magnesium blast at one of the trebuchets and then she blasted a second one. Henry then got Wildstar to blast another one, completely destroying it. Valerie appeared out of nowhere as Camo wacked some Hunters away. Hunterbolt appeared as he blasted some Flyers from the sky with his lightnings. The Thorston twins then immediately unleashed gas upon a fourth one.
"Fire! Fire! Blast! Blast!" Tuffnut cheered before he ignited the gas destroying the trebuchet.
The commander then noticed that they were now completely surrounded, but he wasn't about to give up just yet and immediately looked at his men.
"Unleashed the Deathsong!" He commanded.
He then mounted his Singetail and took off into the air to engage the enemy. A Hunter then immediately stabbed the adult Deathsong with his spear, but he then heard Garff above him and refused to obey their orders. Instead he turned his attention onto a Hunter and immediately covered him in amber and then did the same to the other Hunters around him.
"Oh, no, you don't!" The commander said as he drew his ax.
He then immediately charged down, but Astrid appeared out of nowhere and knocked the Flyer behind him off his dragon. The commander was performing a war cry as he raised his ax in the air, but before he could swing it Hiccup appeared and knocked him off his dragon. He then found himself landing directly behind the Deathsong, who then immediately fired amber in casing him inside of it.
The rest of the Flyers had another to retreat from the island as quickly as they could.
(Linebreak)
Once they managed to secure the island, Stormfly and Camo melted the manacles on the Deathong's legs, freeing him. He then happily flew up towards Garff and the two of them embraced with one another. The adult Deathsong then flew away, but Garff looked down at Astrid and Stormfly and then flew on after him.
Hiccup sighed. "It was—It was worth all the risk in the world just to see that."
"A family finally reunited after being separated for so long." Hicca added with tearful eyes as Midnight watches Garff flew off with a smile.
Astrid then quickly embraced Hiccup before she looked at the others smugly, "And you thought this was a bad Idea."
Henry gave a sigh. "Okay. So maybe bringing Garff along with us was good." He said.
"Don't you forget it." Astrid said as Henry growled irritability.
"One day she'll learn that her stubbornness does a lot more harm than good." Raeda told him.
Valerie and Fishlegs then emerge from the hatchery as they had overseen the Singetails carrying their eggs away.
"And that's the last of the eggs," Fishlegs said.
"And every Singetail is off the island and flying away with their eggs." Valerie added.
"So much for Krogan's breeding program." Hiccup smiled.
"What about the egg that Snotlout and Raeda have?" Astrid asked as she pulled away from him.
"And not to mention the Cavern Crasher they are dealing with." Hicca added.
"Yeah, Snotlout's probably writing about it in his book as we speak," said Tuffnut. "Unless they're dead, then, you know… probably not."
(Linebreak)
They then returned back to the Edge and found that Snotlout and Raeda were alive and well and Snotlout had indeed written everything in his book.
Astrid had just finished reading his final chapter and smiled at him impressively. "I have to admit, chapter fourteen' The Egg and Us,' was pretty amazing."
"Ah. Oh, my Thor. Thank you." Snotlout said gratefully.
"Gotta admit, Snotlout, this book is really well written." Henry added.
"Very impressive." Valerie commented while still reading the book.
"Quite the satisfying wrap-up," Ruffnut agreed.
"I never would have thought to do that thing that you did to get the Crasher to do the other thing," Tuffnut said impressively as he put the book down.
"Me neither. All the things were great." Ruffnut added.
"We don't think even Toothless and Midnight could pull off that move," Hiccup admitted.
"Heck, I don't think anyone could have pulled it off," Hicca added with an impressive smile.
Toothless and Midnight look at their riders as they give cooed, telling them that they could try if they want to.
"You really made a good book here, Snotlout." Raeda said with a smile.
"Yeah, I think your book could be a big hit." Astrid added in agreement.
Ruffnut then looked at her brother. "Bro, I just had a gross thought."
"Ooh, me too." Tuffnut said. He then sniffed his arm. "Is it about why we smell so bad? Like, what is causing that smell, you know?"
"No. What if Snotlout pushes our travel book off the best-seller list?" Ruffnut pointed out.
"Ugh! Yeah, that's disgusting." Tuffnut said as he pushed the book as far away from them as possible.
Ruffnut nodded. "So gross." She agreed.
Snotlout laughed. "Oh, that's funny!" He then pulled out his book and quill. "Consider yourself redacted from the acknowledgements."
The Thorston twins just stared at him and then Tuffnut burst into tears.
"What's wrong with you?" Ruffnut yelled. "Why do you have to be so mean?"
Everyone then laughed at the Thorston twins and Snotlout kept on writing in his book.