Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragon other than my OCs.
Far away from Berk, the dragon riders were on a search and rescue mission for Bucket and Mulch. They splitted up in two teams, with Raeda, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut flying South and Hiccup, Hicca, Astrid and Snotlout flying North. "We're getting pretty far North." Astrid noted.
"Bucket and Mulch are two days overdue. We need to keep searching." Hiccup said
"You don't really think they're up here, do you?" Astrid said shivering.
"It doesn't hurt to check. We need to be one hundred percent sure." Hicca said.
"You can't take the cold, huh, Astrid?" Snotlout taunted.
"No, I just don't have a heated seat like you do." Astrid retorted.
"That's right. You don't." Snotlout said as he enjoyed the warmth, due to Hookfangs' flame-jacket ability. "Ah, toasty."
They continued to search around until Hicca spotted something. "Found them!" She yelled to the others, pointing in the direction in front of her. The others looked at that direction and saw Mulch and Bucket's boat being ambushed by Berserkers.
"Looks like they're in trouble." Hiccup said. "Come on, bud!"
"Let's go, girl!" Hicca said as she and her brother led the others to attack.
The Berserkers boarded the boat and surrounded the two Berkian fisherman. "Berserkers, commandeer this vessel for Dagur the Deranged!" One of the Berserker soldier said.
But the two fishermen weren't about to give up yet.
"Slimy, stinking eel, meet slimy, stinky marauder" Mulch said as he slapped the Berserker with the eel, making him fall into the sea.
Two other Berserkers moved to attack Bucket, but the large blonde man flipped them over his shoulder and into the sea with ease. Another Berserker struck his mace onto Bucket's bucket, but with no luck. The only thing it did was bring Buckets' attention as the Berkian turned to glare at the Berserker. The soldier then decided to take his chances in the sea and jumped overboard.
The two Berkian men, although outnumbered, were holding off well against the Berserkers. Mulch then jumped up and down another Berserker's chest while the latter was down and Bucket ran up and sat down on the Berserker's face, unfortunately for the Berserker.
However, the tables were turned as some of the other Berserkers aimed their crossbows at Bucket and Mulch, freezing the two men. One of the soldiers smirked in triumph. "Surrender or—" He didn't get to finish the threat because of an unexpected arrival of two plasma blasts and Nadder spikes.
Everyone on the ship looked up and saw the Hiccup, Hicca, Astrid and Snotlout flying above them.
"Nice shooting Astrid." Hiccup praised before looking at Snotlout. "Snotlout, light them up." Snotlout flew down towards the Berserker ship and signalled Hookfang to fire at it, moving it away from Mulch and Buckets' boat.
"Midnight, Toothless, fire!" Hicca commanded. The two Night Furies continued to fire at the Berserker soldiers, making sure not to hit the two Berkians.
Seeing no other choice, the Berserker captain gave out an order to his men. "Retreat. Retreat."
The Berserkers jumped off their boat and swam towards their ship. Once they got on, then sailed away.
The four teens and dragons then got on the boat.
"What happened here?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, we thought the Berserker hit an iceberg and so we came into help." Mulch explained. "They attacked us."
"But why? I know they're Berserkers but this seems too random even for them." Hicca wondered.
"They attacked us because we saw it." Mulch answered.
"It?" Astrid repeated in confusion.
Mulch brought the boat to land and lead them to a nearby iceberg. "It." He said, pointing to the iceberg.
The four Dragon Riders and Dragons looked around the iceberg and saw that there were some tools in the snow around, most probably used by the Berserkers. But what got their attention was what was inside the iceberg.
Hiccup and Hicca walked towards the iceberg. "That looks like a..." Hiccup trailed.
"Dragon." Hicca finished.
"Why would the Berserkers be trying to dig it out?" Astrid asked.
"No idea." Hiccup said as he picked up a hammer from the ground. "But we're going to find out."
"Oh, great. Now we have to dig it out?" Snotlout complained, not liking the idea of the hard work.
"Yep, and we'll get it done in just a few minutes." Hicca said. She and her brother turned to look at their dragons, who were playing in the snow.
Soon Toothless, Midnight, Stormfly and Hookfang were flying their riders back to Berk. Each of them having a rope tied around them which allowed them to carry the large block of ice with the dragon inside it. Mulch and Bucket followed the dragons on their boat.
The teens brought the iceberg to the Academy where they met up with Raeda, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut and their dragons. As soon as the other four teens were informed of what happened, the dragon riders started discussing what to do with the iceberg.
"I say we smash it." Snotlout said slamming his fist into his palm.
"I say we blast it." Tuffnut suggested as he and his twin climbed on top the iceberg.
"I say we blast it, then smash it." Ruffnut said as they sat down onto the frozen dragon.
"Then blast it again." The blonde twins said in unison, to Tuffnuts' annoyance.
"Stop saying what I'm saying now!"
"Yeah, that's certainly one approach." Hiccup deadpanned as he walked towards the iceberg.
"Good sir, I believe it is actually three approaches, my fine fellow." Tuffnut corrected as he and Ruffnut jumped down.
"I think the first thing we need to do is figure what kind of dragon this is." Hicca said.
"Sis is right. We need a better look at this thing." Hiccup agreed. He turned to Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, give us a slow burn."
"With pleasure. Meatlug." Fishlegs said, getting his dragons' attention. " Lava blast."
Meatlug then walked up to the iceberg and fired a lava blast at it, melting a good portion of it and causing steam to come out.
"Nice, Fishlegs." Hiccup commended.
Once the steam cleared Hiccup, Hicca and Fishlegs walked up to the iceberg and inspected the dragon inside it. The three teens looked at the dragon closely before it dawned on them what dragon they were looking at..
"No way." Hicca breathed out in awe, her eyes widening.
"Is that what I think it is?" Hiccup asked, just as shocked as his sister..
"I think so, but I've only seen pictures." Fishlegs answered in equal shock.
"Do you two realise how huge this could be?" Hiccup said looking at Hicca and Fishlegs.
"The word 'epic' comes to mind." Fishlegs said.
"The word 'trouble' also comes in mind with this dragon." Hicca said.
While the three of them discussed the new dragons, the others look at them with no clue of what the three teens were talking about.
"I hate it when they get like this." Astrid huffed, crossing her arms. She wanted to know what type of dragon it is and her three friends weren't making it easy for her.
"Don't you just?" Snotlout said, coming up to the blonde girl with a flirty smile..
"Be patient, they'll let us know eventually." Raeda advised.
"I should check the Book of Dragons to be sure about this." Fishlegs said as he and the Haddock twins walked out of the arena.
"We should check Borks' notes as well." Hicca said to her twin.
"Good idea, sis." Hiccup said. "Like you said, this could be trouble."
That's when Astrid reached her limit "If someone doesn't start filling me in, I'm getting my axe." She threatened the three departing teens as she ran after them.
"Should have known the word 'patience' is not in your vocabulary." Raeda sighed as she ran after Astrid.
Too bad the five of them didn't put much thought into who they were leaving the new dragon with. Snotlout turned to the Thorston twins and smirked. Tuffnut punched his fist into his palm. They were definitely going to have fun with the iceberg.
Suddenly Hiccup came back to the entrance. "No one touches that ice while we're gone." He yelled, warning them.
Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut held out their hands in surrender, silently proclaiming their innocence. Hiccup gave one last look at them before leaving the Academy.
Meanwhile when Bucket and Mulch reached Berk, they went to the Great Hall to inform the chief of their attack. News of the attacked reached other vikings, who have all gathered in the Great Hall to have a shouting match over the possible threat from the Berserkers.
Stoick was trying to call for order. "All right. Calm down."
"This is an act of war." Mulch exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.
"Don't jump to conclusions about what this attack means." Stoick reasoned.
That's when Gobber decided to give his input. Too bad he wasn't on the chiefs' side. "I don't know, Stoick. Seems pretty cut and dry to me. "I mean, if you really think about it, an attack is an attack. Am I right, people?" And that caused the vikings to start another shouting match, to Stoicks' dismay.
"And thank you, Gobber." The chief sighed.
"Always here to help." Gobber said smiling, raising his mug.
That's when Astrid, Hiccup, Hicca and Raeda entered the Great Hall.
"I think we know why Dagur's men attacked Bucket and Mulch." Hiccup said as the teens walked up to the chief in the center of the crowd.
"Go on, son." Stoick encouraged. Everyone stayed quiet as they waited for the explanation.
"We got a better look at the dragon Bucket and Mulch found in the ice." Hiccup explained..
"We found a dragon?" Bucket said getting excited. "Oh, can we keep it? I've always wanted my own dragon, Mulch."
"Probably not a good idea." Hicca said.
"Yeah, uh, it's a Skrill." Hiccup said nervously.
At the revelation, everyone suddenly panicked. "Oh. I don't want one of those." Bucket said, nervously.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Stoick asked hoping that they were wrong.
"Oh, we are sure." Fishlegs called out running up to the group, carrying a book..
He bounded up to the group excitedly, cheering loudly, causing the others to look at him strangely.
Fishlegs stopped cheering when he saw the looks he was getting. "Sorry, chief, that happens sometimes when we discover a new dragon. I get a little—"
Hiccup decided to bring their focus back to the task at hand "Look, it's right here." He snatched the Book of Dragons from Fishlegs and opened the chapter on Skrills. He then showed the drawing of said dragon to everyone else. "That is definitely a Skrill."
"And the Skrill is the symbol of the Berserker tribe." Astrid said.
"A dragon like the Skrill in the hands of the Berserkers is definitely bad news." Raeda commented.
Out on the ocean on a ship, Dagur was addressing the his armada with one of the Berserker soldier by his side. "My brothers, this is a historic day for the Berserker Tribe. After many years, and many searches, Captain Vorg has found a Skrill!" He announced raising said captains' arm up. The rest of the Berserker soldiers cheered at the news.
But Dagur wasn't finished and suddenly his smile turned into a scowl. "It is such a great occasion..." He continued as he suddenly twisted Vorgs' hand painfully. "...I am willing to forgive his failure to bring it to me." He then shoved the poor captain down and kicked him in anger. "Get up," Dagur hissed at Captain Vorg when he was finished. As the captain was getting up, the deranged teen turned to the rest of his soldiers. "For centuries, the Skrill has represented our strength, our power, our ferocity. As long as Hiccup, Hicca and they're little dragon club have our dragon, we will not rest! We will take the Skrill out of their frail little hands and destroy those two Night Furies together!" At the last part of the speech, he thrust his arms out in the air, unknowingly (or maybe knowingly) knocking Captain Vorg back to the the ground.
Back on Berk Stoick, Gobber and the four teens were making their way to the Academy to see the Skrill. "Legend has it the lightning comes from the Skrill's mouth and thunder from its—well, you know." Gobber stated.
"Remind me never to get behind one." Astrid said dryly.
"That's actually inaccurate." Fishlegs corrected. "According to the Book of Dragons, the Skrill drew lighting from the clouds and redirected it."
"It could use that lightning to hit several targets at once, which is why it was a feared dragon." Hiccup said.
"It could also store the lightening in its body and use it later." Fishlegs added.
"I've heard enough." Stoick declared. "We need to get rid of that Skrill. It's just the excuse Dagur needs to go to war."
"You all know I love a good fight as much as the next person, but why not just give it to them?" Gobber chimed in. "It's just a frozen dragon carcass after all."
That's when Fishlegs give them another fact on Skrills. "Uh, actually because of their internal body temperature, Skrills can stay safely frozen for decades."
As soon as Fishlegs stated that fact, the two adults and five teens ran towards the Academy.
"So let me be clear. This dragon may still be alive and you left Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout to guard it?" Stoick demanded, wondering what was possibly going through the teens minds on that.
"Yeah, really not one of our best moments." Hicca admitted
"Okay, that sounds much worse when you say it." Hiccup admitted to his dad. "But it's frozen solid in a block of ice. How much dragon could it possibly do?"
As, if on cue, an explosion was heard from the Academy.
"One dragon with one Monstrous Nightmare, one Zippleback and three muttonheads." Raeda corrected.
"One of these days I've got to stop saying things like that." Hiccup sighed, as the group picked up their speed.
The Arena was filled with smoke with Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut on their dragons.
"It's not that bad." Ruffnut said, surveying the damage.
"Yeah, maybe Hiccup and Hicca won't notice." Tuffnut said with hope.
"No they're definitely going to notice." Snotlout said knowingly.
The three teens along with the dragons watched as the smoke cleared, unveiling the Skrill, who is now free from its' icy prison. The dragon was now glaring at the three teens.
"Yeah, for sure. They're going to notice." Tuffnut agreed.
The other dragons circled the Skrill, preparing for a possible attack from the Skrill. The Strike Class dragon tried to escaped the Academy from above. When that failed, the dragon then pushed through Stormfly and flew out through the entrance.
"I got a plan." Tuffnut said.
"Great." Ruffnut said. "What is it?"
"Blame Snotlout." Tuffnut answered.
At that moment the rest of the dragon riders ran into the arena with Stoick and Gobber. Hiccup and Hicca glared at the three guilty teens waiting for an explanation.
"Their fault." Snotlout said pointing to the Thorston twins.
"Hey. He stole our plan." Ruffnut complained.
"I told you guys to leave it alone." Hiccup said.
"What do you have to say for yourselves." Hicca demanded
"It jumped us." Tuffnut explained as he and his sister jumped of Barf and Belch. "Sneaky dragon."
"From inside a block of ice?" Hiccup asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh... very sneaky dragon." Tuffnut tried.
"For you guys, it would be." Raeda deadpanned.
Hiccup rolled his eyes at the blonde twins and then noticed his dad examining the block of ice with a very worried expression. That bothered the boy, because his dad does not usually get worried so easily. "What is it, dad?" He asked.
"When I was lad, my grandfather used to sit me on his knee and tell me stories." Stoick answered, getting everyones' attention "I thought they were just tales."
"Tales about what?" Hiccup asked.
"Berserker fleets attacked behind harnessed dragons that brought down lightning from the sky and destroyed everything in their path." Stoick explained.
"That explains why the Berserkers have the Skrill as their crest." Raeda said.
"And why they tried to free the Skrill from the ice." Hicca said.
"You think the Berserkers could actually control a Skrill?" Hiccup asked skeptically.
"Yeah, Berserkers are not really known for being gentle." Hicca said.
"I didn't think anyone could ride a Night Fury." Stoick countered. "We just can't take the chance. If the Berserkers find that Skrill and know some way to control it—"
"We'll find it dad. I promise." Hiccup reassured.
"Yeah we won't let the Berserkers hurt anyone with that Skrill." Hicca promised.
The next morning the dragon riders were high in the air looking for the Skrill. Today the skies were cloudy with signs of a thunderstorm coming.
"Any idea what we do after we find it?" Astrid asked.
"We catch it, we tame it, we train it, keep it away from Dagur so he doesn't use it against us." Hiccup answered simply.
"And avoid getting hit by lightning." Hicca added
"Oh, yeah. That sounds easy enough." Astrid said sarcastically.
"Isn't this similar to the plan you guys had when we were facing the Whispering Death." Raeda asked.
"Actually, the Skrill does have some weaknesses." Fishlegs chimed in. "According to the Book of Dragons, it can't redirect any lightning if it's in the water."
"Yeah, see it's not completely hopeless." Hicca said, glad Fishlegs shared this fact.
"Hicca's right. That's a start." Hiccup agreed.
"No, a start would be having any clue where this stupid thing is. We've been circling the island for hours and I'm starving." Snotlout complained.
Hiccup was about to retort to that when he suddenly got an idea. "Snotlout, you just said something unintentionally brilliant." He said.
"He did?" Raeda said skeptically
"Of course I did." Snotlout said proudly. He then got confused. "What was it again?"
"When you wake up in the morning, what's the very first thing you want to do?" Hiccup asked him.
Snotlout looked at him and said. "Well, usually I have to—"
Hiccup knew what he was about to say and cut him off. "No, after that."
"Oh." Snotlout said, putting a hand to his head. "Eat."
Hicca then got the idea. "We find what the Skrill eats and where, we can find the Skrill." She said.
"Exactly." Hiccup said before turning to Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, what is the Skrill's food of choice?"
Fishlegs thought for a moment and knew exactly where to go.
The dragon riders and dragons landed on Silent Svens' farm and knew that the Skrill has definitely been here. The land was scorched and the sheep were smoked. The teens went to Silent Sven and questioned him on what happened (well, except for Ruffnut and Tuffnut who were off poking one of the sheeps for fun)
As his name suggests, Silent Sven in mute. So he uses gestures to explain his stories and the five teens did their best to try to interpret it.
Silent Sven was finishing his story by tapping a spear to his head and then pointing to the sky.
"And then you fought off the Skrill with your head?" Astrid translated with uncertainty. Silent Sven nodded.
"This guy Silent Sven? Remind me not to rustle anymore sheep from his farm." Snotlout said to Fishlegs in a low voice.
Unfortunately it wasn't low enough as Silent Sven heard the commented and pointed his spear at the two boys in a threatening manner.
Snotlout chuckled nervously as he and Fishlegs raised their arms up in surrender.
"Uh, he's silent, not deaf." Fishlegs said, gently pushing the spear down with his finger. Luckily for him, Silent Sven complied.
Astrid then shoved Snotlout out of the way. "Any idea which way the Skrill went?"
Silent Sven shook his head.
They then heard a crash of thunder. They looked at the source and saw lightning coming from the dark clouds.
"I bet I know where it is." Raeda said.
The dragons riders immediately got back on their dragons and flew towards the dark clouds where the lightning was coming from.
"Shh, it's okay baby." Fishlegs said to Meatlug reassuringly. "Nothing's out here. Nothing's going to scare you."
Hiccup spotted something ahead of them. "Hold up, everybody."
They stopped and saw a shadowy figure of the Skrill ahead of them.
"Okay, now what?" Astrid asked.
"Everybody stay back." Hiccup ordered. "If the Skrill sees just one dragon, maybe it won't attack."
"I'm coming with you!" Hicca said with determination. "Maybe two dragons won't be a threat to it."
Seeing as his sister made no room for arguments, Hiccup sighed and complied. "Stay close, sis."
The Haddock twins flew towards the Skrill. But the Skrill was in no mood to talk as it flew passed the two dragons and the other dragons. Hiccup and Hicca had Toothless and Midnight fly after the dragon. They managed to catch up to it and were flying by the dragons' side.
"There, there, fella. You've been asleep a long time, huh?" Hiccup said in an attempt to calm the wild dragon. The Skrill responded by shooting a bolt of lightning at them, which Midnight and Toothless were able to dodge. "I'm guessing you're pretty cranky and hungry too."
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the iceberg." Hicca commented
The Skrill then stopped flying and turned to face them. The dragon started drawing lightning into its body.
"Uh-oh." Hicca said.
"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled as she and the other dragon riders flew down towards them.
Toothless and Midnight flew their riders away from the Skrill before it could fire at them again. The electric dragon then set its' sights on the other dragon riders flying towards it and fired lightning bolts at them.
The dragons scattered to keep themselves and their humans from getting hit by the lightning bolts. Fishlegs saw a lightning bolt coming at them and signal Meatlug to drop from the clouds, avoiding the hit
"And stop." Fishlegs said, once they were safe. Meatlug flapped her wings to hover near Snotlout and Hookfang. Fishlegs then took a deep breath, glad to have avoided the hit. "Wow, that was impressive."
"Sure, if by impressive you mean terrifying." Snotlout exclaimed.
"Follow me. I've got an idea." Hiccup yelled to the rest of the team. The other dragon riders followed him and Toothless out of the clouds and above the sea. "Hicca and I are going to dive through the clouds from above and drive that Skrill down to you guys so we can all drive it into the water."
"Got it." Tuffnut said. He then got confused and shook his head. "No I don't sorry. Could we go back to the first part about how you and Hicca in the cloud, or the cloud in both of you? It's all—it's sort of nebulous for me. Like a cloud in fact."
Hiccup sighed in exasperation. "Just do what everyone else does." He said.
"And how exactly are we going to find the Skrill in that cloud?" Astrid asked.
"Yeah, it will be difficult for you two to navigate in there." Raeda agreed.
"Toothless and Midnight don't need to see to find something, remember?" Hiccup reminded them of the Night Furies echolocation.
"Does that work in clouds?" Astrid asked.
"Well we've actually never tried that before." Hicca admitted.
"There's only one way to find out." Hiccup said.
Then four of them then flew into the clouds.
"Toothless/ Midnight, now!" Hiccup and Hicca ordered.
The two Night Furies fired plasma blasts into the clouds, hoping to get the Skrill out of there. They found the Skrill and chased it out of the clouds. Astrid and Raeda spotted the Skrill and flew after it. As soon as they caught up with the lightning dragon, Stormfly and Sparkfire fired at it. Trying to avoid the flames from the two Deadly Nadders, the Skrill flew lower closer to the ocean.
"It's working!" Astrid exclaimed in triumph.
"Yeah keep it up!" Raeda encouraged to the two Nadders.
That's when the Thorston twins flew close to the Skrill.
"Time to give this dragon a bath." Tuffnut said to his twin.
"I'll bet he hates it as much as we do." Ruffnut said with a smirk.
Barf let out some gas to the ocean. Belch was just about to spark it when suddenly a flaming arrow was shot and ignited the gas! Taken by surprise, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf and Belch were sent flying, while the Skrill flew off unharmed.
"Where in the world did that come from?" Raeda asked Astrid. Before Astrid could reply, Sparkfire and Stormfly suddenly flew off to avoid getting hit by boulders that were suddenly flying in their direction.
"We're under attack!" Astrid yelled as the two Nadders continued to dodge the boulders.
The rest of the dragon riders and dragons were also dodging the sudden ambush. Meatlug tossed Fishlegs in the air so that they could avoid getting hit by the arrows. She caught him, much to the Ingerman boys' shaky relief.
Snotlout and Hookfang were actually at a safe range away from the ambush. Unfortunately the duo were not any luckier than the others as the Skrill decided to sneak up on them from behind. A crackle of lightning was Snotlouts' only warning of the Skrill presence.
"Oh, no." Was all Snotlout could murmur before the Skrill struck both boy and dragon with lightning. Snotlout got most of the hit thanks to his helmet. Hookfang managed to fly them both away from the Skrill while his rider started babbling in gibberish.
Hicca managed to get a look at the ships that have been attacking them. "Guys, look!" She said pointing at the ships
Hiccup and Raeda managed to get a look at the ships.
"Uh, is that...?" Hiccup asked.
"You have got to be kidding me." Raeda growled.
Of course who else would decide attack them than the Berserkers. Clearly the news spread of the sights of a Skrill. And of course standing in the leading Berserker ship was the chief of the Berserkers, Dagur the Deranged.
"Surprise, surprise, Hiccup and Hicca!" Dagur yelled at them. He then began to laugh like a maniac. "Now get your dainty little hands off my Skrill."
The Berserker soldiers continued to fire boulders and arrows at any dragon rider and dragon in sight. Despite all the dragons best efforts in dodging and deflecting every boulder and arrow flying at them, Hiccup and Hicca could see that they needed to get out of there.
When the Berserkers ran out of ammo, Hicca saw this as their opportunity.
"Hiccup, we need to regroup!" She said to her brother.
"You're right, sis." Hiccup agreed before turning to the others. "Let's get out of range before they reload." He ordered.
Fishlegs and Meatlug already started flying away. "Already ahead of you." He said.
"We were so close to getting that Skrill." Raeda said as she glared at the Berserker ships.
"I know, Rae, but we'll get that Skrill and we'll stop the Berserkers." Hiccup assured his best human friend.
"Trust us, Rae. Dagur is not going to leave with the Skrill." Hicca added.
Giving one last glare to the ships, Raeda and Sparkfire turned and joined Hicca and Hiccup and the Night Furies and they flew to catch up with the others
They then all flew away from both the Skrill and the Berserker ships. The Berserkers watched as the Berk Dragon Riders flew away.
"Hahaha! They're running!" Captain Vorg exclaimed in triumph, thinking they won. Dagur glared at the Captain. Even the deranged teen knew that the dragon riders wouldn't give up that easily.
"They're regrouping, you idiot! That's it. You're relieved of duty," With that, Dagur shoved the Captain overboard, into the ocean. He didn't know what the Haddock twins were planning, but one thing was clear; there is no way he'll let them have the Skrill
The eight dragon riders and dragons landed on a sea stack safe from the Berserker ship. Hiccup looked at Snotlout who was still smoked from the electric shock he got from the Skrill.
"Hey, Snotlout, are you okay?" Hiccup asked.
It was Tuffnut who answered. "Ha, he's better than okay. Did you see that lightning bolt to the head?"
Snotlout started talking in gibberish.
"Look like he's got some brain damage from the lightning bolt." Hicca observed.
"Tuffnut's right. He's better than okay." Astrid said cheerfully. Snotlout spoke in gibberish again. "And making more sense than usual."
"This is a definite improvement." Raeda said.
"Nonetheless, I would recommend Snotlout to stay here." Hicca said.
"Okay, so then the rest of us will—" Hiccup said before Snotlout interrupted him by speaking, again in gibberish. "Snotlout, we have no idea what you're saying."
"Sure we do. He said, 'I'm perfectly fine.'" Tuffnut said explained, to everyones' surprise. Snotlout blathered again. "Said it again. I told them." The blonde boy then notice everyone staring at him. "What? I speak post-lightning Snotlout."
"How many times has this kid been hit by lightning?" Hiccup asked in disbelief. Seriously how many times does a person need to be hit by lightning for their gibberish to turn into a language the someone else understands?
"Often enough." Tuffnut said. Snotlout spoke up again. "Oh, really? 12 times?"
"I'm not sure what's more surprising; that Snotlout's blathering actually makes sense to someone or that Tuffnut understands the gibberish." Raeda said.
"Really? The fact that Snotlout got struck by lightning 12 times doesn't bother you?" Hicca asked her best human friend with her eyebrows raised.
Raeda shrugged. "With all we've had to face these past few months, Snotlout getting struck by lightning twelve times doesn't seem to bother me."
Snotlout then started blathering again, raising a fist. The other teens turn to Tuffnut, the interpreter. "He said, 'enough talk. Dagur's all mine." He then paused before speaking. "And Tuffnut is the toughest of us all.'" Snotlout spoke up again in gibberish, sounding like he's objecting. "He implied the last part."
Hiccup facepalmed himself, before speaking up. "Well, you heard the man, Astrid. Take Snotlout and Fishlegs and try to keep the Berserker ships occupied. Hicca, Raeda, the Thorston twins and I will go after the Skrill." He commanded. "If Dagur gets his hands on it first, we won't stand a chance."
"Be careful. The lightning is attracted to metal and you two are wearing a lot more of it than the rest of us." Astrid advised Hiccup and Toothless. Hiccup looked down at his metal prosthetic leg and stirrup.
"Don't worry." Raeda reassured. "Hicca and I will be by his side to make sure nothing happens to him." Hicca nodded at that.
Wasting no time, the two groups flew there separate ways.
Astrid lead Snotlout and Fishlegs towards the Berserker ships.
"Stormfly, let's rock some boats." Astrid said to the blue Nadder.
Stormfly dived towards the ships and immediately fired at them. The Berserker soldiers scrambled to safety, having been caught off guard. This signalled the other two boys to fire as well.
Hookfang flew over the Berserker ships, firing as he flew past.
Meatlug hovered near one of the Berserker ships, causing one of the soldiers on board to look up and see Fishlegs "Oh, hello." Was all he said before Meatlug fired at him.
Despite the ongoing chaos on his ships, Dagur knew better than to let that deter him. "Stay on target!" He ordered his soldiers. "They're tricky that Hiccup and Hicca." He immediately moved out of the way to avoid getting impaled by Nadder spikes, courtesy of Stormfly
While Astrid and her group kept the Berserkers busy, Hiccup led his group towards the Skrill.
"Okay, I think I have a way to get the Skrill into the water, but it's super risky." Hiccup said to the others.
"When is it not." Raeda asked.
"Good question." Hicca said to the Henderson girl.
"You, my friend, are speaking our language." Tuffnut said to Hiccup, clearly excited about the risky plan.
"Ruff, Tuff, you two will be flying blind through the cloud and have Barf let out as much gas as possible." Hiccup instructed. "Don't let Belch ignite it until you get to the other side."
"Feel my heart, because it comes forth and is bursting through my chest." Tuffnut said tearing up as he put his hand on his chest.
"Hopefully the blast will drive the Skrill out of the cloud towards Toothless, Midnight, Hicca Sparkfire, Raeda and I, where we can knock it down."
"That's a lot of gas." Tuffnut noted. "You have any idea how big a blast that will be?"
"No." Hiccup and Hicca answered.
"Me neither!" Tuffnut said excitedly. "How awesome is this?" His twin nodded in agreement.
"Just don't get to carried away." Hicca said, hoping they would listen to her, because if they didn't then the results would not be too good.
The Thorston twins flew into the cloud while Hiccup, Hicca and Raeda waited below
In the clouds, Ruffnut gave Barf the command. "That's it. Let it loose." She said. Barf then began letting out gas into the cloud.
Belch looked at the gas coming from the other head. On instinct he was going to spark it but Tuffnut stopped him. "Not you Belch. Not yet." He said. They flew a good distance through the clouds, with Barf spreading a lot of gas on the way. "Wait for it. Wait for it." Once they reached the other side of the cloud, Ruffnut signalled Barf to stop. "Go!" Belch sparked the gas and as predicted it caused a massive explosion in the clouds.
Below the clouds, the Haddock twins and Raeda spotted the Skrill flying downwards to escape the sudden explosion. The three of them dived down after it as the Skrill began to fly back up into the cloud.
"It's flying back up!" Hiccup yelled.
"We got to stop it!" Hicca yelled.
"Sparkfire!" Raeda commanded. The purple Nadder shot some spikes at the Skrill, getting its' attention.
"Okay, bud, not too much. Just enough to bring him down." Hiccup instructed Toothless.
"Keep it on a low setting, girl." Hicca said to Midnight.
Toothless and Midnight each fired a plasma blast straight at the Skrill, at the same time the wild dragon fired a lightning blast. The lightning bolt hit the two plasma blasts causing an explosion.
"Okay, that's a new one." Hiccup said.
"Did not see that one coming." Raeda agreed.
"We need a new plan." Hicca said.
"Well, let's see how it handles this." Hiccup said.
Hiccup and Toothless caught up to the Skrill, with Toothless firing multiple plasma blasts at the wild dragon, but the Skrill retaliated by firing several lightning bolts at each plasma blasts cancelling them out. Hicca and Midnight flew to other side of the Skrill with the female Night Fury doing the same as the her mate, but the Skrill was able to deflect her blasts as well.
Sparkfire fired at the Skrill, hoping to catch it off guard, but it was no use as the Skrill dodged the fire and flew back into the clouds to recharge.
"Oh, no!" Hicca exclaimed.
"This is bad." Hiccup said. The Skrill flew out of the clouds, fully charged with lightning coursing through its body. It was ready to fire at the three teens and dragon with everything it got. The Skrill started firing several lightning bolts at the three dragons, while the dragons did their best to protect their riders and themselves. It then spotted Hiccup and Toothless and started chasing after them with Raeda, Hicca, Sparkfire and Midnight flying after them. "This is worse."
"What now?" Raeda asked Hicca.
"Uh... come up with a new plan while keeping the Skrill from electrocuting my brother and Toothless." Hicca said meekly. She couldn't come up with a better idea at the moment.
"I'll take it." Raeda said as the two girls urged their dragons to fly faster to catch up with the Skrill.
The chase ended up taking the three Berkian teens, three protective dragons and one wild dragons into the clouds.
Far below the clouds, Astrid's group continued their attacks on the Berserker ships.
Hookfang continued to blasts the ships with Snotlout chanting in gibberish (No need for Tuffnut to know that Snotlout is saying "Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi, oi, oi!")
Vorg, the Berserker captain who was pushed overboard by Dagur, managed to climb back into the ship. As he was catching his breath, the captain looked up and saw the boy and Night Fury getting chased by the Skrill with the two girls and their dragons trying to stop the Skrill from behind.
"Sir, look." Vorg said pointing to the chase, getting Dagurs' attention.
Dagur looked up at the direction Vorg was pointing at and smirked. "Well, well, it doesn't look like Hiccup and Hicca will be catching my Skrill either." He said.
"Then perhaps we should withdraw, come back for the Skrill another day." Vorg suggested.
This suggestion caused Dagur to glared at Captain Vorg. "Um, didn't I throw you overboard?" He asked.
"Well, I am an excellent swimmer." Vorg answered, hoping that would impress his chief. It didn't as the poor captain ended up getting thrown overboard again.
"Press on." He ordered the other troops on board. The Berserker soldiers wasted no time following their chiefs' command.
Having overheard the conversation, Astrid flew towards Fishlegs. "Dagur knows what we're up to." She informed him.
"What do we do?" Fishlegs asked worriedly.
"We keep attacking and make sure Dagur is focused on us." Astrid instructed.
"I hope the others are having an easier time than us." Fishlegs said as Meatlug fired another lava blast at one of the Berserker ships.
Unfortunately for Fishlegs, it didn't seem like the others were having a better luck as Hiccup and Toothless were continuing to dodge lightning bolts from the Skrill. The girls were trying to the Skrill with streams of fire and plasma blasts, but it no difference
"Oh, that one made my hair stand up." Hiccup said to Toothless after they barely dodged another lightning bolt. "We need a plan and fast."
The Skrill was getting ready to shoot another lightning bolt at them, but it suddenly got hit by a gas and spark blast from above. As Raeda and Hicca flew towards Hiccup, the Haddock boy looked up and saw the Thorston twins flying towards them.
"Yoo-hoo! Remember us?" Tuffnut taunted to the Skrill. He then turned to Ruffnut "Gas me, Ruff."
"With pleasure." Ruffnut said. Barf tried to let some gas, but found that he has run out of gas. Ruffnut huffed in annoyance
Angered at getting blasted unexpectedly, the Skrill set its' sights on the blonde twins. It flew towards them and fired a lightning bolt at them. Luckily, the Zippleback dodged the attack and flew their riders away from the wild dragon.
"Maybe we should take off our metal helmets?" Tuffnut suggested to his twin, remembering that lightning and metals do not go together.
Ruffnut then got an idea. "Or maybe we should grab all the metal we can!"
Tuffnut then got excited at the plan and agreed to it, forgetting the fact about metals and lightning. The blonde twins pulled out their swords and lifted them high in the air as they cheered.
"Those muttonheads!" Raeda muttered as she and the auburn twins saw what was going on.
"Come on! We have to help them!" Hicca said.
The three of them raced to catch up to their friends before the Skrill could fire at them. Being able to fly at a fast speed, Toothless and Midnight pushed far ahead of Sparkfire. But with the Skrill preparing strike the Thorston twins and their Zippleback, there was no time to wait for Raeda and Sparkfire to catch, not that the duo asked for it.
The Night Furies zoomed ahead caught up right between the Zippleback and the Skrill, just as the Skrill fired another lightning bolt. Toothless and Midnight fired a plasma blast at the bolt just before it could hit Barf and Belch and the blonde twins, causing a big explosion. Hicca, Raeda, Midnight, Sparkfire and the Skrill flew into the water while Hiccup and Toothless crashed on a Berserker ship, the one that Dagur the Deranged happens to be on.
The young Berserker chief was thrown back by the unexpected crash-landing along with the rest of his crew. Dagur looked up and saw Toothless growling at him, warning him not to attack.
"Hiccup." Dagur growled, glaring up at the Berkian teen as he got up.
"Sorry about your deck." Hiccup said as Toothless immediately flew off before Dagur or any of the other Berserkers could attack.
Having missed his chance, Dagur gave out a frustrated growl. He spotted Captain Vorg trying to climb back in the ship and immediately shoved him back into the water. (Maybe Captain Vorg should try getting on another Berserker ship that didn't have Dagur on board.)
Hiccup found Hicca and Raeda, who were soaking wet along with their dragons and they regrouped with Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and their dragons away from the Berserker ships.
"Did anybody see where the Skrill went?" Hiccup asked the others.
Astrid, Raeda, Hicca and Fishlegs all answered "no" while Snotlout gave an answer in gibberish that Hiccup could only assume was a "no" without Tuffnut here to translate.
Fishlegs then noticed two missing members and their dragon. "Anyone see where the Thorston twins ended up?" Fishlegs asked. Everyone eyes widened when they realised the blonde twins and the Zippleback were nowhere to be seen.
Far out in the ocean, away from the rest of the dragon riders, the Thorston twins and Barf and Belch ended up crash-landing on a sea stack, with Barf and Belch having their long necks tangle into each other. The Zippleback got up and untangle their necks while their riders recovered from the crash-landing. The twins then looked out at the sea and saw a ship pulling the weakened Skrill from the water, on board.
"Oh, great. We do all the work and the Berserkers get the Skrill anyway." Tuffnut complained.
"And that is why we don't work." Ruffnut said. "It accomplishes nothing."
"Yeah." Tuffnut agreed. They continued to look at the ship. On further inspection, they realised that it actually wasn't a Berserker ship! "Wait a minute. That's not the Berserkers. That's Alvin the Treacherous." Tuffnut exclaimed in surprise.
"Why would Alvin what a Skrill?" Ruffnut wondered.
"Why wouldn't he? Did you see that thing?" Tuffnut pointed out. "He could take out Berk with it."
"Oh, yeah." Ruffnut said. She then turned to her brother. "So we should do something, right?"
Tuffnut thought for a second before saying. "Yes, yes, we should." He then took another second to think of a plan. "Okay, I say we follow him."
"Okay. And then want?" Ruffnut asked.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay?" Tuffnut answered.
"Yeah. Good point." Ruffnut agreed.
They then flew after the Outcast ship, being careful not to be spotted by the Outcasts.
To be continued.