The Monstrous Nightmare's eyes turned to slits again, and he snapped his jaw at Hiccup, then arched his scaly back to blow a jet stream of fire. Hiccup dived frantically out of the way, hearing Astrid yell his name.

    She threw a hammer at the dragon's head, stalling him for a solid second, before he started to chase Astrid. Stoick was down on the ground, throwing the iron bars open, beckoning the two teens to run towards him. Astrid slid out of the dragon's talons, but Hiccup was trapped in a cage of greasy black talons, with the dragon's breath and scales only promising a painful demise.

    Then a high pitched siren sounded, and the arena was covered in smoke. Emerging from the thick gray smoke, Toothless viciously rivaled against the Monstrous Nightmare. When he had thrown the Monstrous Nightmare off of him, he backed off, protectively circling Hiccup, warning the others to stay away from Hiccup.

    Hiccup jumped up and climbed onto Toothless' saddle. He quickly strapped himself together, using the stunned vikings' hesitation before throwing Astrid a look and having Toothless jump into the air, out of harm's way.

    One Month Later

    The wind pushed Astrid's bangs out of her face, and her legs were sore from riding her Deadly Nadder for such a long time. The sun was just beginning to crack over the surface of the water as she and Stormfly turned around and landed nearby in the forest.

    "Good girl." she praised, pulling out a leg of chicken from her bag, and tossing it up for Stormfly to eat.

    Stormfly's cage was nothing short of unpleasant. Walking in it made Astrid feel goosebumps form over her arms. Stormfly gave an unpleasant roar, telling Astrid she didn't want to go in here.

    "I know girl, I know you don't want to go back in here." Astrid rubbed the scales just behind Stormfly's neck. "It will just be a little longer. Hiccup should be back any day now."

    Stormfly settled down on the ground, and Astrid regretfully locked the door to her cage. Astrid walked back to her house, passing only Sven who was herding his sheep. She quickly climbed up the stairs, careful to be as silent as possible, and collapsed onto her bed.

    It seemed like only a second after Astrid fell asleep, that the alarm for a Dragon Raid was sounding. Astrid jumped out of bed, and strapped her axe to her back, then ran down the stairs to find her mother and father collecting their weapons to head out as well.

    Ingrid's mother, standing tall over everyone in the village, including Stoick, had a skinny figure and Astrid's magnificent blonde hair. On her cheeks, red diamonds decorated her face, a mark of royalty from her old tribe. She would have been even more breathtaking, if she wasn't wearing a permanent scowl on her face.

    Henrik on the other hand, was Astrid's father. A plump man with a dark beard, he was always smiling and his rich voice always made the children laugh. His stunning sapphire eyes always sparkled when he played his lyre, and his jolly smile welcomed everyone to sing along and dance to his music.

    "Astrid, let's go." Ingrid told her daughter, running out of the house into the chaos outside.

    Astrid let her father exit before her, but right as she exited her house, she almost tripped on a Terrible Terror, which was sitting in front of the door. "Hey there little guy." she said, kneeling down to let the small dragon crawl into her hands. She pulled the small piece of parchment off of his leg, and read it in Hiccup's scrawled handwriting.

    Get Stormfly. You're leaving.

    Astrid didn't even need a second glance at the note to know exactly what was happening, and what she needed to do. "Thanks little guy." she said, then raised her arms up to let the Terrible Terror fly off. As soon as it did, Astrid took off for the cages. She dodged axe swings, vikings running, dragon blasts as she ran into the cages.

    "Stormfly!" she yelled, throwing the cage door open, and grabbing her sack which she had prepared a month in advance for this exact purpose. Stormfly jumped to her feet and ran out of her cage, excited to be free from its iron grip. Astrid took advantage of being the only viking in the cell, and quickly ran around, opening up the cages and ushering the dragons out to freedom.

    She had just jumped onto Stormfly's back, when Snotlout and the Twins ran into the cell. They stopped short however when they saw Astrid on top of Stormfly's back. "Wow, babe what are you doing?" Snotlout asked, putting his sly grin on.

    "Urm-"

    "Who's Stormfly?" Tuffnut asked. "Maybe I should call myself Stormfly!"

    Ruffnut snickered and shoved her brother. "I'd call you'd Belch."

    Tuffnut glared at his sister. "Then you'd be Barf!"

    "Guys, I've got this under control!" Astrid assured them. "Go find another dragon to deal with."

    "Don't worry babe, I've got this." Snotlout cracked his fingers and swung his hammer as he approached Astrid and Stormfly. Stormfly spread out her wings, hissing at Snotlout.

    "Snotlout come any closer and I'll knock the living daylights out of you!" she threatened, standing on Stormfly's back, and pulling her axe out from the harness on her back.

    Suddenly a flash of light cracked, as a blast from another Deadly Nadder exploded in the cell. Everyone ducked, and the explosion knocked Astrid off of Stormfly.

    In an instant she jumped back to her feet, right as another fireball was hurling towards her. The energy swept through Astrid, and by instinct, without any thought of what she was doing, she raised her hand and the fireball suddenly curved, missing Stormfly and her by millimeters.

    As the fireballs kept pouring towards them, her energy increased. She held out both of her hands, finding the fire collecting in the palms of her hands. Her eyes started to flair with gold, like the flames in her hands were burning in the iris of her eyes. As Astrid moved her hands, the fireballs avoided them, and fired upon the other cages, and towards Snotlout and the Twins.

    They stared at Astrid in fright, backing away as she formed a circle of pure fire around them, making her way through the vikings that were starting to crowd around her. They all jumped back, staring at the figure Astrid had become. When she stepped out of the cell, she had collected all of the dragons' firepower into one ball above her head. Collecting her hands together above her head, she grasped her fingers together for a few seconds before sending them crashing down, releasing the deadly ball of flames across the village.

    The energy released Astrid, but as she climbed back onto Stormfly's back, she felt the energy still vibrating in her arms. As she flew up into the sky, meeting up with Hiccup, she caught a whisp of her braid, seeing a scarlet fade at the tips.

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