A/N: Hey guys! Finally back with another chapter! Hope you like it!

Chapter 5: Disaster Comes to Meade Hall

Back on Berk, Astrid was having her own fair share of problems. As both human and dragon- can attest to, being cooped up inside with a raging tempest pouring overhead can become fatiguing after a while. Adding in being cooped up in a place that was not your own home with people who are not your ideal crowd, and you have another set of problems.

The Great Hall was a wondrous place. Astrid always found it majestic and breathtaking ever since she was a child. To the present day, she could not help feeling a sense of awe whenever she climbed the great, steep steps, whenever she walked through the massive space hollowed out in the mountain, glancing up at the dark, stone ceiling that extended ever upward. Often as a girl, she took time to run her fingers along the splintering, musty wooden shields on the wall that held portraits of their ancestors. She gazed intently on the vibrant colours of threads of ancient tapestries, woven intricately together to depict a blood-raging battle or a glorious quest made by heroes long, long ago. It was the kind of place that made her eyes beam and her chest swell up, proud to be a daughter of Berk.

Now, though, she could not help but feel uneasy being inside this massive hall. Dust sprinkled down from the stone roof and fell upon the wooden tables with every grumble of thunder and shrill of howl of the hungry winds that gnawed, scratched, clawed at the mountain, like a ravenous animal trying to get to its prey. It kept battering against the mountain almost inexhaustibly, and Astrid suspected she would not be returning home for dinner.

And as if the torrent noise from outside was not enough, Snotlout and the twins were rivalling it with their incessant arguing. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had gotten bored over the hours that had been trapped inside the hall and opted for a game of eye-spy, but Snotlout declared that game was stupid and for little kids.

"I spy," Tuffnut was saying with repressed hostility, "with my little good eye, a wet-blanket, an idiot, and a stick in the mud wrapped in one sitting on a bench."

"O-ho! That is hilarious! Ha-ha! Real original!" Snotlout retorted sarcastically.

"Despite your sincere insincerity, I choose to take that sincerely," Tuffnut smirked and crossed his arms defiantly over his chest.

"You can't do that."

"Can't he, though?" Ruffnut rested her chin in her arms, watching the interaction with amusement. "You take away your tone of voice, the words are true. So why shouldn't he accept it as a compliment?"

"I- you- shut up, Ruffnut!" Snotlout snapped.

"Oop, gotcha!" With a leap to her feet, Ruffnut pointed her finger triumphantly at Snotlout. "Shut up is what you say when you're caught in a corner! Tell me, Snotlout, what's that like, being smushed with your abnormally large nose in a corner?"

Snotlout glared at Ruffnut lividly. "Come over here, I'll show you."

Stormfly let out a squawk of annoyance and narrowed her eyes. Astrid stroked her Nadder's horn sympathetically.

"I know, girl. As soon as this rain lets up, you and I are going as far from them as possible." Her eyes darted to the doors of the great hall when thunder sounded again and the cool-white light erupted through their crack. "Whenever that is."

"Well, I hope 'whenever' is sometime soon," Fishlegs cut in, his chubby hands pressed against Meatlug's nose to try to placate the jittery Gronckle that twisted left and right in a frantic and almost crazed way. "We've been stuck in here for hours and hours now, and Meatlug's starting to get the heebie-jeebies."

"Can't say I blame her," Tuffnut smirked and crossed his arms over his chests. "After all, this is super exciting! I mean, being smack-dab in the middle of Thor's wrath? Totally glorious!"

Tuffnut's fists pumped in the air, and he looked around for approval from his fellow riders, but he was met with nothing other than disdainful glares, particularly from Astrid.

"You think it's cool that Hiccup's trapped out there-" Astrid's finger cut through the air like a knife and pointed at the rattling doors. "While a super dangerous storm is happening? You're not the least bit concerned that something might happen to him?"

Tuffnut blinked twice. "What could happen to him? He's survived a freaking explosion of dragon fire. It'd be kind of anti-climatic if he went out 'cause of a little water."

"And what about falling from the sky and crashing into the sea?" Fishlegs retorted. "You don't think that might happen to him?"

"Well- I mean, like- It's possible, I guess, but-" Tuffnut stuttered. "Look, like you said, he's a lucky guy. I mean, if luck were a talent, he'd have that talent in spades. I mean, it's kind of amazing when ya think about it."

Ruffnut scoffed. "Ya kidding? I think about it all the time. I get downright jealous just thinking about it. I wish I had his luck. It'd come in handy once in a while."

"True that, sister," Tuffnut nodded. "True that."

Astrid supposed that they were to some extent right. Hiccup was pretty darn resilient, but she still could help her worry. After all, when your best friend is out there, pretty much all alone, what else can you do? She chastised herself, remembering that Toothless would never let anything happen to his rider. He would protect that boy with his life. She just hoped that Toothless was actually around to do that. After all, if they got separated mid-flight. . .

Astrid was pulled from her thoughts by a loud, agitated growl of a Gronckle.

"Geez, Fishlegs, would ya tell your useless dragon to shut her mouth?" Snotlout snapped. "I'm starting to lose my hearing here."

"Don't see why that really matters," Ruffnut smirked, rolling her eyes. "Not like ya listen anyways."

"Shut up, Ruffnut!"

Fishlegs gripped onto Meatlug's horns, attempting to stop her thrashing. "I'm trying, but she's really riled up. Interesting. Who knew that dragons were afraid of thunderstorms?"

Meatlug lunged forward, nearly knocking Fishlegs from his feet.

"Steady, girl," Fishlegs grunted. "Daddy's here, you're okay."

"Pfft, what a baby," Snotlout mocked. "Scared of a wittle bit of wightning. Stupid. Well, don't feel too bad about, Fishlegs." Snotlout glanced at his nails in a bored manner. "After all, some of us just have the superior species who don't get shaken by anything. So, let's face it, that was never in the cards for Meatlug. Hookfang, on the other hand, is a fearless, fire-breathing war machine."

Fishlegs flashed a death glare at Snotlout. "Really? Doesn't look like he's doing so great, either."

Snotlout turned his head to find his blood-red Monstrous Nightmare, his so-called fearless war-machine, slunk down in a defensive crouch, twitching this way and that as the thunder crackled outside. Flames shot up from Hookfang's skin like a infernal lion's mane, and his talons scratched against the ground menacingly.

"Whoa! Hookfang, cool it!" Snotlout yelled, the panic bleeding through the strong persona he put on.

Suddenly, Barf and Belch began following suit and hissed and twisted their heads this way and that. The skittish behavior spread like a contagion in the air and soon, Stormfly and Thornado began jerking wildly.

Astrid rushed forward and grasped hold of the sides of Stormfly's writhing head, but the Nadder only continued panicking and squawking derangedly.

Stoick grunted in effort as he pulled on Thornado's reins. "Steady, old boy, it's alright. It's only a storm."

"Ah, I'd say 'only a storm's' a bit of ah understatement," Gobber inserted.

Stoick's eyes sent daggers at his friend in frustration. "Not helpful, Gobber."

"We need to calm them down," Astrid yelled over the cacophony of dragon roar. "It's not gonna do us any good with a bunch of terrified dragons running rampant in here."

"That's not the worst thing that can happen," Fishlegs replied, his voice barely audibly through the din.

"Oh, yeah, what's the worst?" Snotlout snapped, before Hookfang flung him off and sent him cartwheeling up into the air with a feminine scream. Luckily for him, he landed in nearby water trough half-full -or half-empty, as some say- with murky, bile-infested water.

Hookfang lunged forward and began snapping his jaws at Barf and Belch. The Zippleback threw off their masters and hissed back in fury. Soon the two dragons were at each other's throats, staring back at each other with livid, glowing eyes.

"Hookfang! Hey!" Snotlout pushed back his helmet which had fallen into his eyes. He strained while he tried to push himself out of the trough, but his bottom was stuck and his legs dangled over the brim in an undignified and laughable way. "Hey, a little help here?"

"Why?" Ruffnut demanded, setting her hands on her hips to mirror her brother. "So, you can egg Hookfang on? You already set him on our beloved dragon!"

"That wasn't me, you Twidiot! And I'm trying to stop him! Hookfang! Listen to me, I'm important!"

Tuffnut and Ruffnut stepped in between the fight, hands outstretched to try and calm the fight. Alas, the Zippleback only shoved them aside and continued their spat with the Monstrous Nightmare.

"Barf!" Ruffnut cried, picking herself up out of the dirt.

"Belch!" Tuffnut shouted, but he was met with the same luck as his sister. "Why aren't they listening to us?"

"And why are they trying to kill each other?!" Astrid grunted, barely holding back Stormfly who now was lunging to jump into the fray.

"It must be the storm," Fishlegs panicked. "When dragons get skittish, they can become extremely aggressive!"

"We need to calm them down," Stoick yelled, desperately gripping onto Thornado. "Before they do something we can't-"

Too late. Thornado let out a long, explosive, ear-splitting roar. All in the vicinity clapped their hands over their ears as it reverberated deafeningly through the hall. Soundwaves shot up towards the ceiling, raining down dust and pebbles. The golden statue of the Grapple Grounder suspended above the firepit began to quake and rattle. Astrid's heart leapt into her throat when the statue split from its pole.

"Oh…"

"GET DOWN!" Stoick bellowed.

Everyone nearby darted from the firepit as quickly as humanly possible. Stoick and Gobber ducked under a table. The twins dove behind the water trough where Snotlout was rushed behind it. Stormfly's head snapped to attention and shielded her rider. CRAAAAASH! The golden statue collided like a meteor into the firepit, spraying orange sparks and flaming rubble in every direction. Astrid stared up at her dragon who gave a happy squawk.

"There's my girl," Astrid smiled affectionately.

Her attention was promptly diverted by a scream from Fishlegs. Astrid looked around her Nadder's wing just in time to see Meatlug had clamped her pudgy legs around Fishlegs and was now flying off towards the hall's doors which now had burst open, taking her rider with her.

"No, Meatlug, wait!" Fishlegs called urgently, but his call fell on naught but deaf ears.

The Gronckle was too caught up in her own agitation to listen or hear. Her tiny wings beat hard. She flew out into the dark veil of rain and thunder, Fishlegs grasped tightly in her beefy legs.

"Ugh, really?" Snotlout groaned with a facepalm. "You gotta be kidding me. Well, guess Meatlug and Fishlegs are goners."

Tuffnut took off his helmet solemnly. "I will always remember them fondly, Meatlug with her pudgy, voluptuous tail, and Fishlegs, with his books and chubby, ever-bulging cheeks."

"Don't be ridiculous," Stoick snapped, mounting his glorious beast. "We're goin' after that dragon. She won't survive out there long."

"Fishlegs won't either." Astrid hurriedly slipped into Stormfly's saddle. "Come on, people! Let's go!"

Snotlout groaned, hanging his head. "Do we have to?"

"NOW!"

"Argh, fine! Hookfang!"

As soon as his Nightmare pulled him out of the trough, the riders took off into the storm to find Meatlug.

Yep, if I had one writing law, it's take a disaster, ask, "What's the worst that could happen?" And then, I make that happen.

Stayed tuned for more!