"It's game over, man. It's game over!
Grimmel beat us. Stormheart left us for dead. Cloudjumper, the third strongest dragon after Toothless and Hookfang, didn't make it. I never thought that we'd lose this badly." I nod, all of us were at New Berk, recovering from the battle from Glacier island with the Warlords.
"How do we move on from this? We're going to get wrecked! Valka! She's smart. She'll know how to act from here!" I ran up to meet Valka near the Great hall, standing alone without Cloudjumper. "Poor Cloudjumper. To be struck low like this at the hands of a maniatic like Grimmel. We must save him. We must!" She cried out, holding onto my shoulders. I only nodded and she saw what she was doing.
"I'm sorry, but I need a moment to gather myself. Cloudjumper has been my constant companion and friend for many years. The sight of him losing his head and struggling against Grimmel's Deathgripper poison... That image will stay with me for years." She told me.
"Can you talk to Hiccup and see if we can figure out a way to clear Cloudjumper's head?" She asks me, I nodded and went to find Hiccup and told him what we should do. "Stormheart uses Grimora poison, a debilitating substance that makes dragons attack all humans. Grimmel supposedly uses Deathgripper poison, which makes its victims listen to the words of the person who administrates it. "
"But... Cloudjumper didn't attack me right away, and Grimmel didn't give him any orders. So, it couldn't have been either of those poisons. Right?" I countered back. "What if...? No, no. I don't want to make any crazy guesses. Can you ask Heather for her advice? If you tell her the symptoms that you saw in Cloudjumper, she might be able to deduce a way to neutralize the poison." He asked me, making my way over to Heather I explained to her what happened.
"It sounds like Cloudjumper was exhibiting some of the symptoms of Grimora poison and some of the symptoms of Deathgripper venom. Maybe he used a new concoction that mimics the effects from the two original formulae? We're going to need something new to help our dragon.
We need have to experiment to figure out a way to neutralize this new threat. The worst part is... we don't have any of it! We're going to be flying blind. We'll just have to solve it together."
Time skip to the School of Dragons....
"I'm going to gather some tools from my Lab before we head out. The cave below the School might have the answers we need. Hiccup and Astrid said that when they went to the Hidden World with Stormfly, it looked remarkably like our cave. Since that's where dragons live, I bet we can find something in the environment that will help Cloudjumper. Can you tell our Headmaster what we're about to do?" As she scrambled to mount off Windshear and run to her the things needed.
I talked to the Headmaster when he walked out of the building. "Goodness! We haven't been able to explore much or secure the area. It could be very dangerous down there. Still, I am confident that you and Heather will be able to watch each other's backs. I will make sure to protect the entrance to the entrance to the Hidden World from here, as unwieldy that name sounds!" He exclaimed excitedly, he slouched an arm around my shoulders as he continued speaking.
"Perhaps, since it is a cave that could lead us into the Hidden World, we can call it the Hidden World Annex! Ha ha.
Thorspeed!" I laughed nervously as well, as I pulled away to meet up with Heather. We got on our dragons and flew in the misted entrance of the Annex. "Stay close, Windshear. We'll need to move and explore together if we want to find the antidote. Y/N, come over here to talk to me when you're ready to go on." Elizabeth and Ashley insisted on coming as well, so I allowed too.
"When we try to improve on an object or tool, we need to figure out the exact parameters of the problems at hand. Only once we know that, we'll be able to make a proper solution. This might require us to define what we know about what our tool can do so that we know where to upgrade it." Heather explained.
"Okay, so we know that Grimora venom is primarily cured with large amounts of saline. Originally, just a little bit was enough to get the Grimora off the victim, but we required more once the venom was separated from the parasites and made into a concentrated form. We need to be looking for something that will counteract the Deathgripper venom's effects." Ashley added on, wow; I guess she's the smart one.
"Well, we have to start somewhere! Why don't we start with the shiniest thing? That pillar over there seems to really catch the eye. See you there!" Elizabeth yelled, taking off before we could get a word. We laughed and followed her down where a large formation of blue and green crystals were seen. "It's so interesting to me that such a variety of life and organisms can thrive. It's almost like a whole different world, full of animals and vegetation that use different forms of energy to survive." Heather said, looking around the large cavern around her. "Life finds a way to thrive, even in the most extreme conditions. This cave doesn't reach direct sunlight, so you would think that it's hard for life to grow. Only the organisms that adapted to the severe conditions have lived and reproduced here."
"I don't think we can use these crystals to help Cloudjumper. (Though, I'm certain Snotlout would want to take some to make a killing on the market.) Look; there are some mushrooms there that could be what we need. Let's take a closer look, shall we?" Heather said as she flew to a little area surrounded by water. There, we saw a formation of green mushrooms.
"Mushrooms are well adapted to thrive in a dark area with no direct sunlight. They can grow and flourish without any sunlight! They often can grow while receiving filtered light. Since they have no skin, they can't retain moisture as well as plants. They need to live in humid areas; this cave seems perfect for it!"
"Oh! That's the Light Fury, isn't it? I wonder what she's doing here. I heard that Toothless was spending a lot of time with her. Do you think he's somehow convinced her that we're trying to help dragons?" Heather asked me, I looked to the Light Fury staring at me.
"You've had more experience with her, so I'll let you handle the interaction. Can you get closer to her and see exactly what she wants?" I approached the Light Fury, only for her to fly off to a group of mushrooms, and flying somewhere else. "Ah... what a shame that she doesn't want to help.
Or wait! What is that, right where she was standing?" Nodding, I looked over at the new mushrooms, they were a different color and were blowing with bioluminescence.
"Wow! I've never seen mushrooms like these outside this cave. The previous mushrooms we saw could have possibly been found in other areas, but this species is completely new. It has bioluminescence." Heather said, eyeing the mushrooms with interest.
"Well, we won't know unless we try, right? And I have a good feeling about this one, so I'd love for you to form a hypothesis around this specimen. Let's take some home. I can chop the mushroom down and gather a few pieces for us?" I pulled out my spare axe I had and chopped the mushrooms that we needed for the antidote for Cloudjumper.
"Great! Give them to me, please, and then we can get out of here." I handed the mushrooms to Heather as she held it in her palm. "Perfect. These mushrooms are even better than I first thought. I'm going to love examining them in the Lab." We suddenly felt a presence watching us. 'The Light Fury is still standing nearby. Could Heather be right? Could the Light Fury have intended for us to find this mushroom?' I said in my head.
'Maybe I should walk forward and try to show my appreciation. Perhaps she'd allow me to pet on her head?' I walked across the water and to the Light Fury. She wasn't bolting or growling, I pat her head gently and she was purring! "You never fail to impress me, Y/N. The Light Fury doesn't look like she wants to blast you to pieces, so that's definitely an improvement. I'll go to the Lab and whip up something; when I'm finished, I'll meet you at New Berk. Have a safe flight!"
Time skip to New Berk...
"Y/N! Welcome back! It's tough just waiting for people to go out and accomplish things for you. I'm so used to being hands on, but without Toothless by my side I have to stay here and just... wait. You must be tired, but there's really no time to waste. I think I saw Windshear and Heather fly into the town. I'm surprised you two didn't come together, since you were both working on the cure! Can you talk to her and see what's going on?" He asked me.
"I have... something. It's similar to the cure we made for the Grimora venom, with a few special tweaks. Unfortunately, we don't know if it's working until we try it out on the battlefield. I think we could find a few volunteers to go with us, and I bet a certain lady is very anxious to get her dragon friend back. Can you see if she's ready?" Heather said while checking Windshear's saddle.
"I appreciate your speed on this, Y/N. Every second that Cloudjumper stays under that evil man's thrall is a moment too long. We must go at once." Valka commanded with worry.