Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; if you're on this site, you know the drill. Also, thanks are owed to athingofvikings, who gave me a much-appreciated sounding-board for a few aspects of my planned world-building for this particular crossover; hope you like it.
Feedback: Appreciated as always.
The Dragon of Wanheda
The more Hiccup worked at the plans for his flaming sword prototype, even staying up late and waking up early to get the maximum amount of work out of his efforts, the more amazed he was that he hadn't tried to create something like this before. It was true that it was going to need a fair amount of Gronckle Iron to create something like this, and he'd have to be quick about actually forging the weapon once he had the material together, but it wasn't without its merits.
Keep a few Nightmare gel capsules available if I need to refill it… a few other capsules of Zippleback gas as a potential distraction or extra long-range weapon… a switch or two on the ends to ignite it…
He'd want to test it out before he actually took it into a fight, but from what he'd put together on paper so far, Hiccup couldn't think why it wouldn't work. The gel would burn itself out after a few minutes of flame, which should at least be enough to make an impression on any immediate attackers, and in his experience if a fight lasted longer than that it was going to take more than sword skills to beat an opponent anyway.
With the plans completed, Hiccup glanced out of his hut at the Gronckles that were still running around the island, smiling at the sight of the twins trying to corral a pair of blue and orange Gronckles that seemed to have formed a bond. He could also see Clarke talking gently with the purple Gronckle that she'd apparently named 'Charlotte', but he quickly shook aside the idea of approaching any of them about this. They'd long established that even among distinct dragon species, some dragons were just better skilled at some things than others of their own kind, and so far Meatlug was the best known source of Gronckle Iron on the Edge. If he was going to make this sword, he was going to do it properly, which meant going for the most high-quality source available rather than 'settling' for an unknown Gronckle just because it was easier.
"All good out here, bud?" he smiled at Toothless as he found the dragon pacing around the twins' old boar-pit, occasionally growling at the Gronckles currently gathered there as though ordering them to stay put. When the dragon looked up at Hiccup and seemed to shrug his shoulders, Hiccup just smiled and leapt on his back. "C'mon, let's find Fishlegs; I've got a plan drawn up for the weapon, but I need Meatlug to put it together."
Once Toothless had crouched down to let Hiccup get on his back, the dragon leapt up into the sky and flew towards Fishlegs' hut, but it was easy enough to confirm that Fishlegs wasn't in his hut at the moment. He doubted that Fishlegs had just left the island, and it wasn't like it would be hard to conduct an aerial search on Toothless, so he'd take in the area and confirm if his friend was still here before he tried to go further.
Looking down on the Edge as he flew over the main compound, Hiccup allowed himself a slight smile as he saw Astrid doing target practice with Stormfly while Clarke played with Griffin and Charlotte, but the smile fell when he saw the twins still chasing another group of Gronckles around the outpost, and became even grimmer when he realised that Snotlout and Hookfang were nowhere to be seen either.
"What are the odds that Snotlout and Fishlegs are doing two different things somewhere away from everyone else?" Hiccup asked, not surprised when Toothless let out what Hiccup had come to recognise as a sceptical rumble. "Yeah, I thought so too…"
After flying around the island for a few minutes, Hiccup soon spotted the missing two humans and their dragon partners in a small clearing a short distance away from the main camp. The four just seemed to be talking at the moment, but the shattered rocks lying around the clearing, coupled with a still-smouldering tree, made it clear that some kind of training had been taking place here recently. Bringing Toothless down a short distance away from the clearing, Hiccup carefully made his way towards the area, ears alert for any sign of what they were doing here.
"…you're actually ready," Snotlout said, his voice sounding unusually stuffy, which Hiccup soon observed was because his cousin had put something white up each nostril.
"Do you really think so?" Fishlegs replied anxiously.
"I knew you were up to something," Hiccup cut in, as he and Toothless stepped out from behind a tree to properly enter the clearing. "Fishlegs, have you been training to take on the Quaken?"
"You don't have to answer that," Snotlout said as he moved to stand in front of Fishlegs, his voice suddenly clearer as he'd snorted the white things out of his nose.
"Oh yes he does," Hiccup countered, looking firmly at his friend. "Fishlegs?"
"Fine; yes, we have," Fishlegs sighed. "We can't just sit by and let the Quaken take over Dark all know the Gronckles can't stay isn't their home, want to talk about nature, what's right and who belongs where?The Dragon Eye, it says the Gronckles were supposed to live on Dark Deep and we're gonna make sure they 're ready for it this time, . Meatlug, battle ready!"
"'Battle ready'?" Hiccup repeated, latching on to the part of that particular rant that it was easier to react to right now as Toothless ended Meatlug's attempt at a ferocious snarl with a quick plasma-blast of his own. "Fishlegs, this isn't you; it's him!"
"I know," Snotlout grinned from where he stood in front of Hookfang. "Great, right?"
"Not great," Hiccup corrected. "You can't listen to Snotlout! That has 'disaster' written all over it!"
"Hey, I resent that!" Snotlout protested. "When has anything I've ever done ended in disaster? Right, Hookfang?"
The fact that even Snotlout's dragon decided to fly off at that point made it even clearer that nobody who really knew Snotlout could ever imagine that this approach would be a good idea. Frankly, Hiccup was fairly sure even Clarke knew enough about Snotlout to recognise that following his example in this situation wouldn't help, particularly when he'd only beaten that Titan Nightmare with a less direct attack.
"You're all brain and heart, Fishlegs," he said, trying to focus on a less emotional response to win his friend over. "Not brawn and… bragging."
"But Hiccup-!"
"You're right," Fishlegs," Hiccup decided to at least give his friend this. "The Gronckles should be back on their own island, and you have to believe me that we will find a way to make that happen, but fighting the Quaken like this isn't it."
Fishlegs looked at Hiccup with a grim expression that made it clear he wasn't entirely comfortable with this situation, which prompted a sigh from Hiccup even as Snotlout hurried off after his dragon.
"Look," he said, hoping his friend wasn't so 'lost' in his vendetta that he wouldn't listen to reason, "we can work something out later, but charging in to attack the Quaken isn't going to help anything. Maybe if we've had a bit of time to think things over, we can work out a way to actually deal with that problem, but right now… well, we'd just run the risk of getting all emotional and doing something we'll regret later."
When Fishlegs just stared back at him in silence, Hiccup decided not to press the issue as he got back onto Toothless and flew off. Whatever the larger Viking decided to do next, it was clear that he wasn't going to be in the mood to provide Hiccup with any new Gronckle Iron any time soon, which should at least give Hiccup time to work out some of the other details for his new weapon.
"I can't believe I thought leaving him was a good idea," Hiccup cursed as he and Astrid flew towards Dark Deep.
"You couldn't have known that Fishlegs was going to go this far," Astrid looked reassuringly at him. "I mean, it's Fishlegs; when has he ever been ready to go for the violent solution?"
"I know, but this is important to him," Hiccup said. "I just let myself think he'd be willing to wait for it like… OK, I know that this is going to sound-"
"Like he's been willing to wait for everything else?" Astrid finished for him with a reassuring smile. "I get it, Hiccup; Fishlegs has always been the type of guy who's fine just collecting the facts but never really had a clear plan for using them afterwards."
"Exactly!" Hiccup smiled at her in relief. "I mean, Clarke's learning more about things so that she can help us and be a better trainer for Griffin, but Fishlegs always seemed fine just getting the facts together so that he knows them and then letting the rest of us make plans that just might sometimes need his knowledge. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's stupid or passive-"
"He just doesn't want to do more than expand his knowledge of dragons unless we ask him to share the facts," Astrid finished for him, still looking at him in understanding. "That's why we all follow you in the end, Hiccup; we know that you'll always have a plan for the unexpected situations, and you also know how to get the most out of the rest of us."
"Even when you all insist on those old competitions when I'm just trying to get us to work as a team?"
"Well… can you honestly say it wasn't fun seeing that Terror bite Snotlout all the time?"
"…I'll give you that," Hiccup allowed himself a wistful smile before he shook his head again. "Do you think I'm being unfair on the twins to leave Clarke in charge?"
"She's shown that she has a clear head and enough personality to keep them under control," Astrid nodded reassuringly at him. "Besides, the twins like her."
"We all do," Hiccup replied with a thoughtful grin as he considered their new ally. "She's… been an interesting addition to the team, hasn't she?"
"She's good at what she sets her mind to," Astrid confirmed. "I mean, with her mother a healer and her father an amateur dragon scholar, she'd have filled in a few gaps in our team dynamic even if she didn't have her interesting tactical expertise."
"True," Hiccup mused, before he smiled and indicated the island that was coming into view ahead of them. "Anyway, we're nearly at Dark Deep; we should focus on finding these muttonheads before they get themselves killed."
"Look there!" Astrid called out, pointing at a familiar Nightmare flying desperately away from Dark Deep. "Muttonhead incoming!"
"Snotlout!" Hiccup called out as his cousin drew closer to Toothless and Stormfly. "Where's Fishlegs?"
"You know, that Quaken thing was a lot bigger than he said it was-" Snotlout said in a tone that failed to downplay his fear.
"So you just left him?" Hiccup cut him off. "Oh my Gods…"
Mind made up, he directed Toothless back towards Dark Deep, Stormfly's wings just audible behind him. By the time he reached the island, Fishlegs was already fleeing the Quaken, forcing Hiccup to give a quick signal to Astrid before the two of them blasted the Quaken from each side. Toothless and Stormfly's blasts were able to stop the Quaken for a moment so that Meatlug could put more distance between them, but that just led to the Quaken turning to face the new arrivals rather than continue its pursuit of Meatlug.
For a moment Hiccup was prepared for a charge, but then the large dragon rolled itself into a ball and slammed into the ground, triggering a massive shockwave that knocked the opposing dragons off-balance. Hiccup was able to help Toothless regain his balance before they hit the ground, but after a quick glance confirmed that the Quaken was now focusing its attention on a crack in the ground, he turned his attention to finding Astrid and Snotlout. Stormfly had managed to follow Toothless's example and regain her balance before she hit the ground, but Hiccup and Astrid couldn't quite stop themselves chuckling when they realised that Hookhang had hit the ground so hard that Snotlout had been thrown off.
"Good trip?" Astrid called teasingly over to the burly Viking as he stomped back to his dragon.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh at the cool guy…" Snotlout shook his head in exasperation as he climbed back onto Hookfang. "Don't we have an idiot to help?"
Rolling his eyes at Astrid as Hookfang took to the air again, both agreed that they were already dealing with the only idiot rider, Hiccup turned Toothless around and made for the area where they'd last seen the Quaken. He let himself relax when he saw that it was no longer roaring into the crack, but that moment of hope faded when they reached the coastline and saw the Quaken rolling along a beach towards Fishlegs as he and Meatlug stood at the entrance to a cave.
"What is he doing?" Astrid looked at the sight below them in shock.
"It looks like he's getting himself killed!" Snotlout put in, as the three dragons curved around to better take in the sight below.
"Fishlegs, get out of there!" Hiccup called down urgently.
"No," Fishlegs called up resolutely. "We aren't going anywhere, right girl?"
Only Hiccup's faith that Fishlegs wouldn't try anything stupidly suicidal stopped him diving down to get Fishlegs out of the way even as the large Viking stood in front of the Quaken, arms outstretched and seemingly muttering to himself…
Hiccup was spared from wondering if he'd made a mistake when the Quaken landed in front of Fishlegs and just exchanged roars with Meatlug before it seemed to calm down. By the time Toothless had flown around into a better position, Hiccup could see Meatlug hover up so that she could bump her nose against the Quaken's before she returned to the ground, and the two dragons walked off down the beach.
"Fishlegs," Hiccup said, leaping off Toothless as he brought the Night Fury in to land, "that was just about the craziest and bravest, but mostly craziest, thing I have ever seen anyone do."
"You were right, Hiccup," Fishlegs acknowledged, as the Quaken smashed a rock so that Meatlug could eat the pebbles. "Fighting dirty isn't me; that was me."
"It sure was," Hiccup affirmed.
"The Quaken was just being defensive. It was scared and all by itself. It wasn't angry at all."
"So you think that if we introduce it to the Gronckles peacefully…?" Astrid looked curiously at Fishlegs as she landed as well.
"It's got to be worth a shot, right?"
"I can get behind that," Hiccup nodded, smiling contemplatively at the now-peaceful boulder-class giant.
"Fishlegs, that was awesome!" Snotlout said, walking up to the group with his usual over-the-top enthusiasm. "Just like I taught you! No need to thank me; success is its own reward!"
"Oh, really, Snotlout?" Fishlegs looked at him. "Tell me more!... Oh yeah, that's right; I just remember I don't care."
"Some things never change, huh?" Hiccup looked over at Astrid with a satisfied smile as Fishlegs walked off with a disdainful glare at Snotlout.
"Still," Astrid observed with a shrug, "at least we have a chance of getting the Edge back to normal now."
"Once I can talk to Fishlegs to sort out the details of my latest project, anyway…"