Kosmozis' flying structure was slowly going down to the fleet. Still threatening Lumiverse's life, the general was making Toothless do everything he wanted, relaying the orders to the other dragons. So they split up on several ships, handing themselves to the trappers. The Defensors of the Wings, the Bearclaw and the different dragonless riders scattered in the water or captured by their enemies watch the sad view with broken hearts.
Lumiverse was growling on her mate and king, trying to convince him not to hand over the others in order to save her, especially since she suspected the general to not keep his word. Luckily the Night Lights were not among them, but she was starting to wonder if the Night Lights would have convinced their father to stop this all. All of this because of this stupid Kosmozis !
She already hated him with all her heart for he had almost killed her rider, and she hated even more seeing her best friend hanging in the net next to hers, tangled in it, still unconscious. She was whining in worry everytimes she landed her gaze on him. They had been caught by surprise while walking in the woods, heading to the Crescent cove.
The Deathgrippers had came out of nowhere, using their venom to drug vikings and dragons and leave with their current prisonners. Lumiverse wasn't really worried about her hatchlings, she had seen them hiding before getting drugged. She tried to convince herself the fiveth of them had manage to reach the cove and were still there.
What was really worrying her, for the moment, was what the Deathgripper's venom could have done to her wingless friend. The venom was strong, no doubt it was stronger for him as he was smaller than her, but she mostly worried about the effects it could have on the baby her best friend was bearing.
Exchanges between the two Furies were ununderstandable for humans, Kosmozis even took it for complains.
''Shut up, Alpha, it's no use to resist. Now you're all captured.''
Toothless glared at the man, he wanted so much to chop his head clean off his shoulders, this man was daring to threat his family, his friends and his people.
In the mean time, from the top of New Berk's cliff, the dragon riders had gathered. All dressed in their dragon scales armor, Hiccup had added and readied fast-crafted leather wings for them all. He had explained the plan to everyone brave enough to follow him, and had been quite surprise to see how many of them they were. The dragon riders were followed by all of the Berserkers stuck in the island, ten men and women, and almost as much Meatheads.
''So... Jump off the cliff in... this. That's the best you've got ?!'' Ruffnut asked, disconcerted.
''No. You guys are the best I've got.'' Hiccup rejoined.
Ruffnut instantly fluttered her eyelashes while stroking her braids, as if it was the cutest thing anyone had ever told her. She was taking it as much a compliment as when people told her she was annoying. While Tuffnut thought it was the best time to show his chief some support, his twin sister was faster than him and stole his words.
''I'm with him, who else ?!''
''Ruffnut, that was my line !''
Hiccup chuckled and pulled his helmet over his face before rushing to the cliff.
''Let's go !''
''Try to keep up !'' Astrid teased before following him, jumping from the cliff.
They were the first to take off, quickly followed by the twins and the rest of the group, then their backups.
On the ships, the three war lords were watching the flying structure above them, slowly lowering to land on the bridge. The two prisoners were still hanging there, tangled in the chain nets. Lumiverse was snarling and struggling like imbodied madness, while Joke finally woke up. The young man's first reflex was to pull out the dart in his chest, then he panicked noticing where he was.
Lumiverse cooed to him, trying to reassure him. Toothless was still flying as close as he could, but with a safety gap imposed by Kosmozis. A new threat on his mate forced the Night Fury to land on the bridge.
He gave a last look to Lumiverse before doing so, then found himself surounded by armed men.
''And there is the Alpha, my dear war-lords.'' Kosmozis claimed with a chuckle. ''With him, all the dragons will follow us. And now, if you may excuse me, it's time for me to finish what I started.''
He laughed loudly and whistle to his dragons, giving them signal to leave, but Toothless didn't see it this way : he still had Lumiverse ! There was no way he was destoying ships – even if it was trappers – while this man had his mate and friend ! He got angry and loaded a shot he aimed to the flying structure, yet he was stopped as he heard a muffled voice in the air, far but hearable, a familiar voice.
''Hold on, Joke, Toothless, Lumiverse !''
Kosmozis turned around, like most of men and dragons, then spotted the gliding silhouettes descending from the island. A whole groupe that, from afar, almost looked like a shoal of bads.
''AAAAH ! Could have used some practice !'' Snotlout yelled while shaking his arms.
''Should have skipped breakfast !'' Fishlegs retorted with as much panick as nausea.
Hiccup went for the flying structure and aimed at Kosmozis, which he bumped into and managed to un balance before resuming his flight. He landed by the sail of one of the ships, two vessels farther, and instantly gave a signal to his best friend.
''Toothless, now !''
The Night Fury knew it was their chance, mostly with Kosmozis away from his arbalet. The general was hanging at the edge of one of his structure's 'wings'. The Alpha roared and prompted his people to fight back. Most of the dragons managed to push the door of their cages which had not been closed yet, other had not even enter it, and a whole sea of fire struck the trappers. They started to flee as the dragons were back to the sky, reviving the attack from above.
Those who had been separated with their riders searched for them, the others getting back to get them from the island. The Berserkers and Wingmaiden were the first to strike. The dragon riders and their allies on the ground struck on the boat bridges, each of them fighting on the one they had landed onto. There was many trappers, but there was even more dragons, and their help from above was a real asset in this battle.
Toothless made use of the sudden chaos to get rid of the trappers around him, knocking them out with wings and tail, then he shot a powerful plasma blast directly at Kosmozis' platform. With only one shot, he destroyed the murderous arbalet. The explosion was so strong the chain linking the Deathgripper to the platform's wing snapped. The whole structure lost balance and started to keel over.
Kosmozis tried to call one of his dragons to help him, but another plasma blast hit a second wing, freeing a second Deathgripper. The two remaining were not strong enough to carry the flying base which was now vertical and slowly falling away from the battlefield. Seeing this, Hiccup knew he had to pursue them. He made use of a Deadly Nadder passing by and dropped to his back, the dragon flew him towards the fleeing base. They caught up with it, way faster than the two struggling Deathgrippers.
However, those who escorted the platform and those who had been freed attacked. The Deadly Nadder got smashed by on of them and brought farther for single fight, while Hiccup got ejected by managed to get a hold of the base. Toothless spotted him and got his back by shooting at the Deathgripper that tried to attack him.
''Thanks, bud !'' Hiccup yelled, earning a distant roar in reply.
He hold onto the wood and metal and looked down towards Lumiverse's complains and Joke's panicked voice. Both were still hanging in their traps.
''I'm coming, Joke !'' Hiccup said.
''Are you crazy ?! You're gonna get yourself killed !''
''No way I'm letting you down !''
Calmly, he started to climb down, making his way towards his family. He was still pretty far from them, but he kept on talking.
''Remember when I said I'd do everything to protect you two ?''
Joke looked up at him, astounded and touched, but he didn't have the time to reply as a snicker cut them out. Kosmozis was next to him, with Lumiverse. He had two vials filled with Deathgripper venom and didn't wait to put them into the Light Fury's muzzle. Both vikings could see her struggle for a few seconds before her eyes opened again, pupils as fine line that made her look like a zombie.
''Princess !'' Joke panicked while stretching his arm out of the nest in try to reach her.
Kosmozis laughed and grabbed the arm without a warning, then he opened the two nests. Hiccup's eyes widdened as he saw the general fly away with the two prisoners.
''TOOTHLESS !'' He screamed between panick and despair.
Such a scream alerted the black dragon, who spotted the retreating frame of his mate. He forgot about his own fight and pursued them, not before he got back his rider.
Hiccup let go of the structure and dropped in the air to gain some time, Toothless caught him without a problem and left at top speed. They went away from the flying structure, now crashing into the ocean with the two Deathgrippers still tied to it. Toothless couldn't care less for them and shot to the sky, following Lumiverse that was led back to the island.
On Lumiverse' back, Joke was sitting just in front of Kosmozis, struggling like crazy and trying to reach for the muzzle. If he could just pull it off of her, she would get back to her senses, wouldn't she ? But Kosmozis had wrapped an arm around him, enabling him to move his own.
''Stop fighting, my prince.''
''Why don't you just kill me now ?!'' Joke spatted in his face, reaching the limits of his patience.
''Don't be so hurried, I just want to make sure you're really dead, this time. I'm not taking any risk, so we'll do it in a little privacy, should we ?''
He snickered while Joke deathglared at him. He was panting and his forehead was covered in sweat as he was struggling too much for the few energy he had left. That sweat didn't go unoticed by the general, neither the way the young man was trying to get his arm away from his belly. And when Kosmozis saw the plump, he frowned even more.
''What kind of abomination are you ?''
A faint whimper came out of Joke's mouth, caused by the mixture of fear, stress and tiredness. He was feeling his strength diminishing and that made him fear that, soon, he wouldn't be able to defend himself anymore.
Meanwhile, on the ship bridges, the rest of the dragon riders proved themselves quite efficiently when they were actually working as a team. Snotlout and Tuffnut were constantly throwing to the other Snot's mace since Tuffnut had been separated from his sword. The both of them were making severe damages from both sides of the ship they were on.
''Number two, coming through !'' Snotlout laughed.
Three ships away from them, Astrid and Ruffnut were busy opening the cages that had been already closed. Soldiers were gathering behind them, but Fishlegs saw them. He took a hold of a rope and swung on it, smashing all the trappers as if they were bowling. He dropped to the floor next to them, beaming.
''Hey ! It's almost like we're a team !''
''Nice one, Fishlegs !'' Astrid complimented.
He laughed as they left to free other dragons, yet he got hit by something in the back, making him fall forward. Fishmeat, hiding in his belly pocket all along, was thrown out of it and landed in front of his guardian.
Another trapper walked to them and laughed at the tiny creature.
''Ho ho, you brought a baby to a battle.'' He said while threatening Fishmeat with his sword. Yet the baby was not afraid and growled in reply. He may was tiny and young, he still was a dragon.
''Heh, I wouldn't do that if I were you.'' Fishlegs said, smiling, before looking up.
The trapper did the same, and panicked as he saw a huge dragon coming through, roaring in anger. While the trapper flee for his life, the Crismon Goregutter didn't stop. He just changed his target and bumped into the two masts of the ship, breaking them withotu any effort. Fishmeat foudn back his place in his pocket while Fishlegs daydreamed looking at the giant moose-like dragon.
''Thor, I love that dragon...''
And the Goregutter pursued his way and destroyed all the masts he could encounter.
From the bridge of the flagship, the three war-lord lamented seeing how the battle was turning. Three Razorwhip squads were cutting all the masts, the Goregutter was making even more damages, not to mention the cannonbal blasts from the Shellfire.
And it got even worst when the remaining riders game down from the island. Three of them landed on the flagship. A Hotburple, a Gardian and a Rumplehorn. Gobber, Elska and Eret faced the warlords, ready to fight.
''Sorry, we're late for the party !'' Gobber joked, brandishing the axe that served as his hand.
The war-lords unsheathed their weapons, smirking.
''You're right on time.'' Khan said.
And the party began.
Kosmozis was still making Lumiverse soar deeper and deeper in the clouds, using them as camouflage since their color was close to Lumiverse's scales. She was not even fighting him because of the drug, yet she was slower than usual due to this trance, unlike Toothless who was flying at top speed.
Hiccup was impressed by this speed, rage seemed to make Toothless faster, but it was not surprising : the dragon had always been very protective of his friends, so his family and mate... There was no way he was going to give up. They kept on flying and chasing each other, and getting closer to the island.
When Toothless aimed a plasma blast to the general, he made Lumiverse turn so she was the one to get the hit. It made her whine despite the drug. To Hiccup's surprise, her scales reacted to the heat, reflecting the clouds around her, before getting back to normal. It was her camouflage. He remembered she could hide, but not Toothless.
They did had try to make him learn this trick, but it was something only the Light Fury could do. Hiccup gringed thinking this camouflage could have been useful at this moment. Plus, he was worried about Lumiverse and Joke. Shooting at Kosmozis was helpless since he would definitively use them as shields.
''How are we gonna get him of her back without hurting her ?''
Hiccup had no idea, and it was getting difficult to think straight as he was distracted everytime he could get a glimpse of his husband. They were far, but he could still see him trash weakly, his face squinted in a painful grimace. He didn't know if Kosmozis was hurting him, but riding a dragon in his condition was clearly not a good idea.
Tuffnut was unleashing his craziness in the battle, fighting everyone he could encounter while the bridge was on fire. He was dealing with his enemies pretty well, to the extend he started to show-off.
''Behold the facial hair !'' He laughed.
Yet, his proud was cut out quickly as a well-placed slash of sword cut his 'beard' in two half, revealing his real tiny duvet. The trapper in front of him even got surprised at it, then he almost wet his pants as the young viking screamed in pure anger before chasing after him.
Meanwhile, on the flagship, Gobber was struggling against Ragnar, still he was laughing about it.
''Oh, I have missed that !''
''Me too !'' The war-lord admitted.
As the black-smith was suddenly pushed against the rail, he noticed a Hopgobbler quietly sat there. That made him smile.
''Oh, see that thing, here ?''
''Oh, cute.'' The warrior scoffed.
''That's a bad omen, you're cursed.'' Gobber smiled.
And that's when a whole bunch of these tiny froggy dragons came up from behind the rail. The black-smith didn't even tried to count them. The one on the rail squeaked and all the others threw themselves on the bridge, attacking the wood with their bare teeth, eating it all up. Seeing this, Ragnar quickly absonded in fear to get the same treatment.
Gobber laughed and cheered them up.
''Yes ! Oh, good on you !''
Then he heard a chewing sound and looked down to see the Hopgobbler 'boss' biting on his wooden peg leg.
''I guess you're not so bad, after all.''
Astrid knocked out the trapper who stood at the helm and turned it so the ship was now heading straight to his neighbor. It was the fifth one she had derouted like this, using the weapons she could find on the bridge to block the helm. The missing masts were not helping getting back to the right direction, by the way.
After jumping on the next ship, she looked at the whole battlefield, proud of their team work. There was not a single trapper ship left unharmed, all of them were prey of flames, fight or panick. Their teams could be pretty efficiency when they wanted to, and their many allies seemed to work as a single person.
Kosmozis was still leading Toothless and Hiccup where he wanted to, the pursue was going on above the highest part of the fortress-island, in snowy and misty mountains. Things were starting to get harder as the Deathgrippers finally caught up with them, and attacked.
''We've got problems !'' Hiccup yelled to his best friend.
Toothless managed to dodge the first Deathgripper, but a second one was still following them closely. So he shot at a mountain pike which exploded in rocks that crashed onto the black and red dragon. Two had fallen, but Hiccup knew how to count. Two Deathgrippers had drowned with the flying base, two had been temporarily neutralized, there were still two left.
This attack retarded them, but Toothless sped up. Hiccup was trying his best to follow Toothless' movements and not bothering him, and also tried to warn him each time he saw an upcoming attack. Yet, as they passed between two stone pillars neither viking nor dragon saw this new Deathgripper. It barely missed bumping into them and ended up right on their heels, before the fourth dragon joined them.
The pursue seemed endless. Toothless was faster, but Kosmozis knew it and used his own dragons to slow him down, making them fly above every corner of the island. None of them knew this island, the vikings onyl knew the isle where they settled and its surroundings.
Hiccup got an idea and told Toothless, then they managed to slowly push Kosmozis where they wanted, towards the village, so they could get back the advantage by knowing the place. Plasma blasts shot on obstacles near them did the job and deviated them. It was slowly working. Too slow for Hiccup's liking.
By the time they finally reached the area, the two Deathgrippers Toothless had had neutralized found them back. Looking up in the sky, the vikings that had stayed in New Berk spotted the pursue and recognized the Night Fury with his rider.
''Take him down, Hiccup !'' A viking yelled.
Cheerings came up from the town. If the wind couldn't manage to take the voices to the ears of the young chief and the Fury, they still heard a faint echo that warmed their heart.
When Toothless aimed a new shot, he got distracted and couldn't see a Deathgripper charging at him. The beast grabbed him by the back and barely missed to smash into Hiccup, who fought back and punched the beast's paws in hopes of making it let go. It wasn't working, and Toothless was slown down as he was now trying to dodge the dragon's sting.
''We need a better plan ! And quick !''
Another Deathgripper grabbed the Fury, this time by his leg, another one grabbed one his wings and the last one, his tail. Toothless could barely move anymore, almost unbalanced, and it infuriated him, even more hearing the panicked voice of his passenger.
The dragons were squeezing too hard, crushing the young viking. He tried to push with all his strength to straighten back, but the dragons were stronger than him. His body was starting to ache, making him groan in pain. He felt like he could be mash at anytime. Realizing this, Toothless frowned deeply and breathed in.
Hiccup hesitated seeing this, he didn't know what to think about it. Then a bright blue light emitted all along Toothless' back, reminding Hiccup of the one he had when he had challenged the Sentinel for the Alpha title.
The dragon started to whistle while blue lightning was starting to form around him. Hiccup couldn't believe it. It was the first he was seeing his friend doing this, and it was not finished yet. Indeed, the whistling turned into a loud road, and suddenly thunder echoed in the sky.
Hiccup tightened his hold on his friend's saddle, preparing himself to be shaken all around, then the lightning struck them. He gritted his eyes shut and got deaf by the explosion, barely hearing the Deathgrippers' cries.
The explosion had been so violent, wrapping them in a cloud of smoke, while the four Deathgrippers had been struck and ejected, leaving Toothless free to fly again at top speed. Actually, even faster, as if catapulated by the impact.
When Hiccup opened up his eyes, he had troubles clearing his thoughts. The lightning had been clearly made by Toothless – but how was the question, it looked like what a Skrill could do – but what really astounded him was the way his scales had reacted to it.
When he looked at his friend, he couldn't see him, and he couldn't see himself. The scales of the dragon, as long as the ones on the armor assorted to them, had turned invisible, like a mirror, just like the way Lumiverse's scales used to do. Hiccup couldn't help but beam : Toothless had camouflage skills, too ! Now they were really getting lucky !
Kosmozis turned back in a jolt when he heard the lighting strike, but he couldn't see anything. Joke stopped to struggle and looked back too, worried he couldn't see Hiccup and Toothless anymore. Like Kosmozis, he looked down and spotted the four Deathgrippers falling lifelessly, black smoke emitting from them. If this vision reassured the young man because Toothless was not falling with them, it made the general panic.
Yet Hicup panicked even more. If Joke was used to Lumiverse' camouflage, he wasn't. Never before did he had been that shaken up on a dragon's back, he thought he would have been ejected too, he had nearly let go of his grip and had found himself flying on an invisible dragon, only seeing a blurred shape that looked like his best friend.
Despite this strange mixture of shock and marvel, he cleared his mind and focus back on the chase. Just like Lumiverse's camouflage, Toothless' was limited and would fade in a couple seconds, they had to make use of this time. Hiccup's armor had turned invisible too, even the black paint made with Toothless' scales had reacted to the lightning, they really had everything they needed to hide.
''Now, let's get him, bud.''