Hey everyone, I'm back with a new chapter, hurray!

I want to thank everyone who left a review regarding what I should do in future chapters. I'll do my best to try and make the best possible scenario that'll fit this AU.

Anyways, this is a continuation of the Defenders of Berk S1 Episode 6 "Fright of Passage."

I hope you enjoy it!

Brothers

Chapter 31: Wrath of the Flightmare, Part 2

Oh boy…out of all the things I thought could have happened today, I did NOT expect to end up 'drowning' in this "enchanted river."

Just to recap: we found the Flightmare and attempted to confront it…only to have our butts on the line every time we tried! We tried evading it for some time, but it got the upper hand. Now, I'm being carried by the strong currents…freaking out as you would expect while the others: well...I had no idea what happened to them.

I wouldn't find out until later, but this is what happened to them: Toothless had encountered the same problem as I had…he is falling through the sky (blind and stunned as I had been) with the humans still on his saddle. His human, Hiccup, tried all he could to save the trio. Unfortunately, the three of them slam into the ground.

Tooth shakes his head, disoriented from both the Flightmare's attack and the fall. He quickly glances over to the two Vikings that had fallen off him: they're alright, they had fallen off right as he hit the ground. The charcoal-skin dragon heaved a sigh of relief in response, but before he can try and find me the Flightmare screamed in. The beast shoots a mist toward Toothless, and the latter's trainer throws his hand out toward them, "roll, Toothless!"

The Night Fury does so, narrowly dodging the monster's attack. Toothless snarls back at the mysterious reptile above him, ignoring the Fury's warnings to back off.

Finally, having enough, he releases a plasma blast intended to hit the Flightmare but the latter dodges swiftly…not surprising by this point.

Soon, the skirmish escalates: Toothless continues barraging the opposing foe until Hiccup ran up to him.

"Toothless!"

Before the boy can say anything further, the opposing creature lands. It soon becomes a growling match between the two large dragons. Before the 'Mare' can make another move, it is hit in the head by a piece of wood, "hey!"

It angrily looks over toward Astrid, who bravely stares them down.

Naturally, the beast starts giving chase, lighting up the area surrounding it. Hofferson gasped, quickly sidestepping the fast-approaching lizard, and soon does the same evasion tactic until she is eventually cornered! Toothless and Hiccup, by this time, are almost to her, "Astrid!" The boy Viking yelled as the Flightmare released a blast toward the girl. Quickly, she hops on the Night Fury and manages to avoid the stream of mist intended for them.

Once in the air again, the trio spotted something traveling downstream: it was me…

Even though Toothless had given me a lesson or two in swimming in this body, it was hard to swim like this, especially with the strong currents. I, fortunately, managed to keep my head above the surface and tread water but soon enough I started to get exhausted. So, with not much experience in this dragon form and being thrashed wildly about in this dangerous section of the river: I naturally panicked...yelling for help.

Toothless and the others heard my screams and saw where I was at, and they waste no more time: they make their way to me.

I had the bad luck of running into a boulder in the way, causing me to roar in pain. My body couldn't take it anymore: it was encumbered. My head sinks and I start to drown…I'll die soon if I don't get out of this! I tried swimming as Toothless had shown me, but it made no difference. You'd be actually surprised to know that getting thrown back and forth by currents can take strength away from you.

Water starts to enter my lungs…is this how I'm going to die? Is this how it ends for me? Thankfully, my thoughts of death don't last long, for I feel somebody pick me up and in a fraction of a second I realize that I'm dangling in the air now. I look up to see who my savior is: do I even need to wonder? It was Toothless who saved my life. My eyes adjust and my blurred vision finally goes away. I can see the Night Fury concerned as ever for my wellbeing as he looks down, "Flint…thank goodness…are you alright?"

I cough out some water, gasping before giving one soft nod.

"We got him out on time…that was TOO close!" Hiccup stated, leaning over to see my exhausted form. His dragon grunted toward him with a nod of his own.

By now, I noticed how the bioluminescent glow on Toothless had faded but I still had mine (I guess it's because I had been in the water not too long ago?)

We take a moment to rest as Hiccup notes the last of the colorful effects on his dragon disappearing, "at least it wears off…" he sighed in relief, "come on. Are you okay to fly, little bud?"

I nodded, "yeah…" I muttered softly. By now I should be able to at least. After all: we've got a mission to do. Knowing just how dangerous this Flightmare can be now…imagine if it manages to get to Berk without us stopping it? I'm not going to sit around and let that happen if I can help do something about it!

With newfound energy, I stand up and I unfurl my wings. Toothless glances over and gives a soft smile to me, "we'll take this guy down together."

"Always" I smirked.

Our group takes to the sky once again! Astrid sighs…looking toward the Flightmare, which is heading back for the river. Again, this thing sticks out like a sore thumb, thankfully.

"Okay, how do we stop the Flightmare before it reaches the village?" She asked with some anxiousness present in her voice.

Yeah…how will we? It looks like no matter what we do, this damn dragon gets the better of us. Haddock looks back as if to respond to the female warrior, but even he is at a loss about what to do.

"I don't suppose you have an idea on how to stop it, Toothless?" I asked him but he shook his head, "maybe we should use that 'Bazooka' you were talking about"

I scoffed as we continued flying toward the Flightmare, "yeah, just give me a thousand years, no problem!"

Suddenly, Hiccup's eyes shine, and he gives a slight grin, "Fishlegs."

I raise an eyebrow, looking back to see "them" coming up behind us.

"How's he going to help!?" Astrid asked loudly, the wind screeching all around her. Her voice is heard by the chubby teen who yelled back in retaliation, "by bringing you reinforcements!"

By that time, the teens and Toothless look behind them to catch sight of Fish and Meatlug who is soon joined in by none other than Stormfly! The two Vikings riding the Night Fury smile with newfound excitement and resolve. Hofferson calls out to her dragon before jumping off Tooth: landing on her trusted Nadder, "good to see you, girl!"

Fishlegs ignores the fact I'm brightly glowing (it'll probably go away soon, heh) to deliver the news to his friend: Hiccup. The latter leans in with a confused look to begin, "The Academy's supposed to be on lockdown!"

"I know, but I was following the stream because I figured out a way to stop the Flightmare from reaching town!"

Meatlug and Storm, both flying close in formation next to Toothless and I, raise their scaly brows in confusion toward me, "Flint, wh-what's happening with you?" The female Nadder inquired quite worryingly. I look down, realizing that I'm STILL glowing before I let out a chuckle, "it's that river…our bodies have a natural reaction to it!" I blurted out.

"Never seen anything like it" the Gronckle added in before the bird-like dragon flying beside her chirped back in response.

"Either way, we found out it's temporary."

Sure enough, a moment later…the lights on my body begin to wear off and my scales return to their natural black color.

Meanwhile, Fishlegs pointed down toward the river leading to Berk, "we can cut a new channel for the river!" Hiccup thought to himself.

"And divert the flow of glowing algae out to the sea!"

Both boys looked toward each other with grins running down their faces. That's how we'll stop the Flightmare, it must work!

"Exactly…Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, WildWing…it's time to do a little emergency landscaping!" Hiccup instructed before we all follow through: knowing what must be done. I dive down for the river once again, giving myself a speed boost along the way…hopefully for the last time today. It's not long before we're in pursuit of the Flightmare once more.

By this point, it's just a quarter of the way to Berk…it's now or never!

Fish couldn't believe what he was seeing, and neither could his dragon and their companion Stormfly. Speaking of Stormfly, Astrid orders the bird-dragon to move up ahead to keep the glowing creature at bay. While that is going on, Hiccup looks down at his best friend and then toward me, "come on, guys, let's do what we came here to do!"

Toothless narrowed his sharp green eyes before I copy his look and we move closer to our objective. Gas builds in our throats and we both soon give off our banshee cries. Right before we could slam into the ground, the both of us unleash our dive bombs and create holes in the ground. We pull up right afterward to repeat. It's not long after that our attempts make the river diverge toward the holes we just made. Meatlug helps us further down the line, unleashing her lava blast to dig into the earth.

Stormfly and Astrid continue keeping the Flightmare in place. The Nadder is instructed to pull away and soon both dragons aggresively circle one another.

Toothless and I continue our efforts: we're almost done…just a few more blasts outta do it!

Unfortunately, the mysterious "blue" dragon sees Meatlug and Fishlegs working on the new river and decides to zoom past Storm to attack the Boulder-Class and its companion. Both look up in surprise too late as the monster roars angrily at them! Astrid looks upwards to Hiccup who's flying above with Toothless, "the Flightmare got to Fishlegs!"

We bank right hard and head down together to intervene. We saw the chubby Viking on the floor, paralyzed: with Meatlug begging the opposing dragon not to hurt him. Before the wild dragon can do anything to harm them, Stormfly hops in front of the creature, "take this!" She squawked loudly back. The Deadly Nadder unleashes a fire blast, which is a steady stream of dragon-fire, that keeps the creature back...just long enough that Toothless can come rescue Fishlegs. He puts the boy on its dragon's back. I decided to stay behind and aid Astrid and her friend.

"Watch out, Flint!" Storm cautioned me as I dodged a stream of mist. I'm used to their attack patterns by now…no worries Stormfly…I got this!

In response, I let out a plasma bolt that hits the side of the feral beast! When it tries to retaliate, Astrid yelled to her dragon, "Spine Shot, Stormfly!" The latter added in her barbs from the end of her tail: sending them towards the foe in a relentless fashion! Unfortunately, the Flightmare barely manages to avoid the barrage of spikes and whips its tail at Hofferson who is knocked off! I saw this happen and I extended my wings, jumping in the air. I give myself a strong thrust forward to make it to her on time.

Once she had recovered, Astrid begins running down the forest toward Hiccup and the others while the untamed dragon gives chase. I manage to get to the Viking before it can and I use my head to land the girl on my back (like how Toothless used to do with me.)

"W-Wild!?"

I look back and quickly gave a sheepish, gum, smile back in response.

"T-thanks, I guess."

I fired several blasts at the Flightmare before it flies away to safety. I use this time to make it to the others. Soon, though, I hear Astrid yelling, "look out!"

Hiccup and the others take flight on their dragons as we (Hofferson and I) join them. Sure enough, Stormfly shows up behind us.

"Okay everyone, we need to keep cutting that channel!"

As Haddock says this, the glowing reptile just had to start hovering above where the last of the holes needed to be made, "but the Flightmare's guarding it…" he grumbled. Just our luck, right…we seem to have the WORST luck today for some reason.

Astrid thinks to herself for a moment, still riding on my back, "I think I have a way to distract it!" The blonde-haired Viking jumps off me to rejoin her Nadder, "the algae! Let's give the Flightmare a taste of his own medicine!"

Hiccup thought about it and finally agreed, loving the idea she laid out, "Astrid, lead the way!"

We head down, ending right above the river before Astrid has Stormfly drink from it.

"Time for a little midnight snack!"

HiccTooth join in, "chow down, guys!"

Meatlug and I swoop in to eat the algae in the water. We all (as in the dragons of course) take a big gulp before flying away.

And so, once again…Toothless and I started glowing as a reaction to the algae, but now we're joined by the Nadder (who's yellow) and the Gronckle (who's green.) Fishlegs gave a look of astonishment to his dragon as a result, "I always knew that was her color! We're going to knit you a matching blanket when we get home, girl!"

Hofferson, meanwhile, sighed, nodding confidently, "okay, it's time to see who the REAL coward is…"

We all ended up outflanking the Flightmare, our unnatural glows outshine their bluish hue. It's not very long before they realized what happened and turned behind them to find us! Our combined glows, especially when we moved closer to it, caused a brilliant flash of lights that stuns the Flightmare!

Sure enough, we begin harassing it with our combined bioluminescence and it's not long before the monster is overwhelmed!

"Come on, Toothless, let's finish off that channel! Wild, stay with the others!" I nodded before Hiccup adjusts the stirrup that controls his Night Fury's red tail fin. The dragon does a somersault towards the ravine in response.

One more calculated blast from the Strike-Class results in the last of the new channel washing out to sea. Our group meets on a cliff to inspect our hard work: as predicted, the Flightmare followed the new river out to sea instead of following the original path to Berk! We all heaved a sigh of relief afterward, thanking the Gods that it was all over.

"We did it!" Hofferson shouted before we all cheered in delight.

"Now let's get home before anyone notices we're gone!" Hiccup suggested before we all follow behind him and his dragon. We left the wilderness for home, about time.

When we returned to Berk, we expected things to be quiet, maybe peaceful even…you can probably guess our shock to see the village had been ablaze while we were gone! Crowds clamored and farm animals panicked…the air infested with confusion and dread.

It didn't help that we are still glowing brightly, and Stoick/Gobber thought WE were the Flightmare. A boulder shot by a nervous Gobber the Belch almost had me tumbling toward the ground but thankfully I was pushed out of the way by Stormfly!

"That isn't Flightmares' Stoick!"

We landed not too far from both men who came running up to us. Our eyes widened with shock and disbelief at what was happening all around us!

"Sorry about that, kids!" Gobber apologized wholeheartedly, grabbing our attention. He leaned over to his best friend the Chief of Berk and whispered in his ear, "their dragons are glowing…am I still dreaming?"

"We don't have time for this!" Stoick retorted back, lightly pushing Gobber away. Hiccup got off Toothless and ran up to his father in haste, "wh-what happened here!?"

"The Flightmare is here, you kids should be inside!"

"W-what do you mean, dad!?" The boy stepped back in shock as Toothless and I gave a similar look toward the others. We all jumped back in surprise.

"W-what!? No, listen…we drove the Flightmare away! Fearless "Finn" Hofferson was indeed fearless…just like all the other Hofferson" Astrid couldn't help but smile at this despite the severity of the situation, but it was true…we FOUGHT it off…h-how did it manage to come here? Was Fishlegs wrong about his theory…it can't be.

Stoick the Vast scoffed at this, gesturing to all the chaos and destruction in Berk. The blue northern lights are still dancing above in the sky; however, the truth of all of this was: the Flightmare actually NEVER came to Berk!

Hiccup and the others and I were nevertheless overcome with confusion and fear: horrified by the possibility that we had failed in our mission.

"Dad…we took care of the Flightmare…we did…I SAW it leave our island! There's NO way it could have attacked…we came back in a hurry…"

"Hiccup!" The Chieftain silenced his son, "I don't have time for this! We've got enough problems as it is…get indoors, now…all of you!"

Hiccup looked toward the ground in defeat…walking back to Toothless and me. Everyone else drooped similarly but they had no choice but to comply.

For Stoick…it was the last straw. Maybe Mildew was right: maybe the Queen of Dragon Island had been sending these dragons to Berk these past few months to attack it. The Typhoomerang, the Whispering Death…and the Flightmare…all powerful dragons that could have spelled doom for the village.

That settled it: Stoick will meet with Dagur the Deranged and sign the treaty…discuss their options in taking down the Queen on her island, whatever must be done to end the new raids.

It didn't occur to him or anyone else at the time that further down the burning road: Mildew is observing them under cover. He destroyed all the evidence pointing to him setting Berk on fire. He had made explosions, fires, and even fake footprints to try and frame the Flightmare.

Mildew the hermit of Berk gave a small, victorious, grin at the scene…knowing now that Berk's Chief will act against the Queen…and possibly with other dragons…taking care of them once and for all…

Phew! I hope you enjoyed that recent chapter everyone. Things are getting heated with this AU, isn't it? I'm glad you all are enjoying it so far.

Until next time, take care!