They flew for several days, spending the nights at various islands, until a large island appeared on the horizon.
"Is that it?" Anna asked, pointing around Elsa, who sat behind Hiccup.
"Yep," Indi said from behind Astrid. "That is Outpost Island."
They soared overhead. Beneath them were the dark green patches of the trees, the grass a stark contrast. There were several large snow-capped mountains on the island, several rivers flowing from them. The wing of dragons landed down on the platform in front of the stables.
Everyone dismounted from the dragons. Elsa looked around, examining the base. Mostly constructed of wood, the structures were not as refined as they would be if they were in Arendelle, but still serviceable nonetheless. She turned as Indi took his younglings out of the bag. Both Copal and Emerald shrieked and darted around, flapping their wings.
"Welcome to Dragon's Edge," Hiccup said.
"This is so amazing," Anna said. "Did you all build these by yourselves?"
"We worked together on the community structures," Astrid said. "We built our own huts by ourselves." Stormfly squawked indignantly. "With our dragons," Astrid added. "Sorry, girl."
Looking to the west, Indi saw that the sun had already dipped below the horizon. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed."
"I agree," Hiccup said, looking at Toothless, who yawned.
"Brynn," Astrid said, slapping a hand on the female's shoulder. "You can spend the night with me."
Indi turned to Anna and Elsa. "And you two can sleep in my hut."
"Thank you, Indi," Elsa said. The riders dispersed and Indi led the pair of royals and the babies off to his hut. Elsa and Anna carried their bags with them.
"Elsa," Indi said as they strolled along. "What do you think of the outpost?"
"It seems very well made," Elsa said.
It was not exactly the answer Indi was looking for. "Well, it's been battle tested," he replied. "I was there for that."
"There was a battle here?" Anna asked.
"So far, there's been two, according to Hiccup. I was there for the second one. Blasted dragon hunters were trying to take us down."
"I hope you took taught them a lesson," Anna said.
He led then to a hut that was close to ground level, a wide sheet of Gronkle iron leading up to it. Their feet made metallic clicking sounds as the trio made their way up the ramp. Opening the wide doors, he led them inside.
"Welcome to my humble abode," Indi said. "Make yourself at home. What's mine is yours."
Elsa looked around. The interior of the hut was made in the style of a log cabin, similar to the other huts she had glimpsed inside of. A bed sat up in the loft, which had a ladder heading up to it. A large flat black stone sat on the floor in front of a fireplace, where several chairs sat, surrounding the hearth. The younglings scuttled over and settled down, curling up like little scaly kittens.
"You two can have my bed up there," Indi said, pointing up to the loft. "I can sleep down here with these two."
"Thanks, Indi," Anna said as she climbed the ladder. "Good night."
"Night, Anna," Indi said, sitting down in a chair. He looked up at Elsa, and gestured to the chair next to him. The queen sat down and Indi rose, taking the flint and steel from a small box on a shelf, and lit the fire. After a few minutes, there was a was merry blaze.
Settling back down, he turned to face Elsa.
"Finally, some peace and quiet," Indi sighed. Elsa chuckled. "So, how were things back in Arendelle before I showed up?"
"Good," Elsa said. "You saw what we've been working on."
"And I'm very proud of that. It seems to be a parallel to what's here on the Edge and on Berk, except for dinosaurs instead of dragons."
"You were at Berk?" Elsa said. "Did you talk to the chief?"
"Ah..." Indi said nervously. "We were sort of busy chasing down a dragon that could bring lightning down from the sky, so no, I didn't get the chance to. Luckily, Chief Stoick is Hiccup's father, so I'm sure we could arrange a time for you to speak with him."
"I can agree to that," Elsa said.
Indi looked down at the trio of dragon hunter ships. It had been three days since the group had arrived at Dragon's Edge. The twins had just reported back with the news of this small convoy, which was about two hours north of the base.
He sat behind Astrid, with Brynn behind him. Elsa and Anna sat behind Hiccup. The hunters loosed a volley of arrows at the two fastest dragons. Stormfly and Toothless both banked out of the way.
"Astrid, drop them off!" Hiccup shouted as Toothless passed overhead. Indi and Brynn both smirked maniacally. Stormfly dove down to one of the ships, and Indi and Brynn jumped off, landing in the center of the deck. Standing back to back, they watched as they were surrounded by dragon hunters, who all aimed a selection of pointy weapons that them.
With the speed of a mad raptor, Indi darted forward and punched the first man he saw in the face, sending the man to his back. He grabbed another hunter's arm and threw him overboard. Rolling out of the way of a flying arrow, he watched as Brynn slammed the heads of two dragon hunter mooks together and punched another in the gut. A blue plasma blast struck the deck, scattering the small group of men.
"Brynn, let's go!" Indi yelled as he ran, leading his friend to the door that led down to the dragon hold. As they entered the doorway, Stormfly flew overhead, lighting the area in front of the door on fire. A guard standing in front on the door drew a sword made of green metal. Indi drew the hunter's attention, attracting the strike. As the sword sank into the floorboards, missing Indi by the width of his thumb, Brynn punched the man in the templed sending slumping to the floor. Tearing door off its hinges, Indi led Brynn into the hall. In the cages lining them were fairly common types of dragons: mostly Deadly Nadders, a few Monstrous Nightmares and Zipplebacks, and a couple Gronckles.
"Oh my god..." Brynn began, her voice trailed off.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it?"
Brynn nodded, her brows knitting themselves into a scowl. Indi turned and stole the keys from the unconscious dragon hunter's belt. Inserting the key into one of the locks, he twisted, opening the cage of a Nadder. The purple dragon looked at the pair, confusedly cocking its head. Indi was certain that their scent was different from other humans that the dragon had encountered. Cautiously creeping out its cell, the dragon sniffed the two humans before running down the hall and darting up the stairs. The pair went ahead, releasing the dragons. As the last dragon, a blue and green Nightmare, was released, Indi and Brynn walked through the halls, looking for any other dragons. Finding none, they ran out of the hold, jumping through the flames. As they strode out onto the deck, Indi saw a hunter charge at them, his axe raised. Suddenly, from a passing Night Fury, a bolt of ice shot at the hunter, encasing his legs and feet in ice, freezing him to the wooden deck.
"Thanks, Elsa!" Brynn shouted as the queen waved at them.
"We had it covered, ya know," Indi yelled. Elsa gave a light laugh, shaking her head.
From behind the two warriors, Stormfly landed.
"Let's go, you two," Astrid said. Indi and Brynn walked up to the blue dragon and climbed on. The dragons flew off, back to the Edge.
"Well, that was fun," Indi said, climbing down from Stormfly's back onto the wooden floor of the stables. He heard high-pitched squawking from behind him, and saw Emerald and Copal scurrying up to him. "Hi guys!" He knelt, petting the babies. "Did you two behave?" Copal burbled, turning her head to see a rat. She and her sister shrieked loudly, darting off to play "Catch the Food that Moves."
Indi smiled, watching them chase their prey.
Several months later, Indi woke to a lovely sunrise that streamed through the window that was formed from a sheet of Elsa's ice. He exited his hut, accompanied by the babies, who were making excited burbling growls. Having grown from the height of a Terrible Terror to as high as his waist, Indi had to feed them a considerable amount. They were also much more dangerous, as a lone wolf had quickly figured out.
He led them to the stables, where there was plenty of fish stored for dragon consumption. As he neared the stables, he heard Toothless rumbling through the metal doors. A screech and a clattering of metal objects sounded from inside.
"Come on, bud, work with me here. Please?" Hiccup's voice said quietly.
Astrid soon arrived at the stables, where she looked at Indi, cocking her head. Indi motioned at the stables, where the quiet noises were coming from. Astrid frowned put her hands on her hips and Indi leaned up against the wall.
The large metal doors of the stables slid open and Hiccup exited, carrying plates of metal that had red designed painted on them. "We're almost out of here, so..." Toothless pushed the doors open wider and walked out. Both dragon and rider stopped when they saw that they had been caught.
"D-ya, Astrid," Hiccup began. "H-hey, hey. S-so, what brings you so early, here, in the morning?" Toothless looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "Are you just going for a test flight with Stormfly? Yeah, well, same here, with Toothless of course, because, with Stormfly, that would be, you know..."
"I don't believe this," Astrid said. "You're going on a recon flight alone, with no support, no cover. We talked about this."
"I know," Hiccup said. "I just didn't want to wake anybody."
"That's a childish reason," Indi said offhandedly. "I've been getting up early every day thanks to these two." Copal and Emerald looked at each other, before staring up at Indi innocently. "Yes, I will feed you guys in a minute."
"How long have you been standing there?" Hiccup asked.
"Long enough."
Hiccup turned back to Astrid. "It's no big deal. Really."
"Yes, it is," Astrid said. "It's way too risky." Hiccup looked away, his lips forming into a pout. "Hiccup, he's not out there. It's been months since the Viggo-"
"Fiasco?" Hiccup offered walking past Astrid.
"I was going to say episode," Astrid said as Hiccup set down the metal plates that were Toothless' dragon armor. "You have to stop this. You're gonna wear yourself into the ground looking for this guy who doesn't want to be found."
"I'm fine, Astrid," Hiccup said. "Besides, maybe Viggo isn't out there, but his hunters are. If I can find one to question..."
"They won't tell you a thing," Astrid said.
"You don't know that."
"And you don't know if they will, Hiccup," Indi said.
Astrid stood in silence for a moment. "Look, if you're going, at least let Stormfly and me go with you."
"Fine," Hiccup sighed out. Astrid ran into the stables to fetch her dragon.
Indi looked at the one-legged male for a moment. "You might want to get going."
"You're not going to try to stop me?"
"If I were going to try to stop you, would you listen?"
Hiccup smiled, picking up Toothless' armor. "Okay, bud, it's now or never." Toothless promptly grabbed the armor and threw it over the edge of the stable's landing platform. "Ah!" Toothless gave a rumbling growl in defiance at Hiccup, turning away.
"I would suggest letting him get away with this one," Indi muttered. "I'd wager that you only have a few more moments." Hiccup shrugged and mounted Toothless and the pair shot off. A minute later, Astrid walked out, accompanied by a saddled Stormfly. She took one look at where Hiccup was previously and the scattered dragon armor.
"I swear on Thor's hammer..."
Indi went over to the barrels of fish, selected a few and tossed them down. The younglings ravenously tore into their food. "Are you going to go find him?"
"I'll try," Astrid said. "Though Night Furies are one of the fastest dragons that we know of."
"Should I come with you?" Indi offered.
"No," Astrid said, shaking head, her bangs swishing over her brow. "Stay here and hold down the base. Make sure the twins don't blow up my hut."
"You do realize that Elsa could just freeze their limbs to the ground, right?" Indi said. Astrid snorted in amusement, before climbing onto Stormfly. "Good luck, Astrid."
The blonde shieldmaiden nodded, before nudging Stormfly with her heels, sending the blue dragon into the sky. Indi watched as the pair shot off in search of Hiccup and Toothless.
He watched for a moment, before turning away, going down the steps, leaving the stables behind. Copal and Emerald followed, each carrying a fish in their mouth. As the three mutants walked along the wooden pathways, they all felt the warm morning sun on their skin. Winter had been ravaging the island for some time now, and the onset of warmer weather was a true blessing to behold. Climbing up the ramp, he saw that the door was still shut. Swinging it open, he winced as the door squealed quietly.
Walking into his home, he watched as the younglings darted inside, flapping their wings. They immediately ran up the wall and glided to the loft. A moment later, feminine shouts of disgust sounded throughout the hut.
"Indi!" Elsa yelled.
Snickering, the male climbed the ladder and looked at the bed, where Elsa and Anna were currently sitting up, half-chewed raw fish and young dragons perching on their laps. Indi covered his mouth with a hand, barely managing to control his laughter at the sight.
Elsa glared at him while Anna looked sick to her stomach as she stared at the fish. "Get them out of here."
"Alright, alright," Indi said as he chuckled. "Come on, you two. Let them wake up before you try to share your food with them." The Indominus Furies screeched, before grabbing their fish and leaping off the edge, gliding down the the floor as Indi climbed down the ladder.
After a few moments, Elsa and Anna came down in their casual wear that they usually wore around the base.
"Good morning," Indi said, smiling pleasantly.
Elsa shot him a silent glare and flicked her hand out, spraying a flurry of snow in his face, making the male sputter. "You know I don't like being woken up that way."
"Hey, I'm not the boss of them," Indi said in his defense. "You heard what Hiccup said. Baby dragon's don't really listen until their older."
"Yes," Elsa said. "That's what he said a few days after we arrived her and they were all over the dinner table. They're not hatchlings anymore, Indi. Their getting too big for that type of tomfoolery."
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"What do you think?" Anna said, chiming in. "Train them."
"Train them?" Indi asked incredulously.
"Indi, they are part Indominus, a very intelligent type of dinosaur," Elsa said.
"Mutant dinosaur," Indi said, correcting her.
"Regardless, Indominus rex are intelligent. They also are part Night Fury, if our thinking is correct, and Night Furies are intelligent as well. I've seen Toothless."
"Alright, I get it," Indi said, raising a hand in defeat. "I'll talk to Astrid or Hiccup when they get back."
"They're gone?" Elsa said. "Where did they go this early in the morning?" Anna started making kissing sounds.
Ignoring her, Indi continued. "Hiccup went off in search of dragon hunters or Viggo Grimborn; whichever he finds first. Astrid went after him, since he went without backup."
"When will they be back?"
"I don't know. Hopefully soon. In the meantime, I'll talk to Fishlegs and see if I can borrow the Book of Dragons for some tips on training these two." Emerald raced by, chasing her sister. "Come on, you two." He walked out the door, and left the royal sisters in his hut.
Fishlegs was all but too enthusiastic to try his hand at training Emerald and Copal, as Hiccup usually did this sort of thing. But about thirty minutes of trying to get them to listen, Fishlegs gave up when Copal stole his notebook and threw it into the bushes next to the domed arena. Snotlout happened to be walking by at that moment and laughed.
"Why don't you try then, Snotlout?" Fishlegs said. Snotlout was happy to oblige and entered the arena. He waited until both babies were standing in front of him, before trying to train them by being his loud and assertive self, and promptly became the target of Attack the Food that Moves.
After twenty minutes of prying the babies off of the muscular youth, which the twins fully enjoyed watching, Elsa and Anna walked by and watched silently.
"Maybe you could try-" Anna began, before being cut off by a small crash as the babies broke a barrel, sending a wave of green Monstrous Nightmare gel spilling all over the area.
Indi groaned, dragging his hand over his face. Glancing skyward, he saw a blue Deadly Nadder swooping downward for a landing. As Stormfly landed, Astrid took one look at the arena.
"What did you do?"