Disclaimer: I do not own anything from How to train your dragon
Chapter 2: Dragon Eye of the Beholder II
Previously: After three years, the Dragon Riders found Trader Johann adrift. They have discovered that Dagur the Deranged and the Berserkers escaped from the Outcast prison. Information from Trader Johann lead the riders to a ship yard. Unfortunately, they have been separated from their dragons, except for Toothless, after an encounter with giant eels. Hiccup, Hicca and Toothless then decide to explore the Reaper and there they find a mysterious cylindrical object. But trouble arises when they find Dagur the Deranged and the Berserkers having captured the other teens. Reluctantly, Hiccup gave up their new discovery and left Hicca to free the others as he and Toothless go after Dagur. But the Berserker chief has one more trick up his sleeve as he launched a boulder right at the where the others were!
Completely torn, Hiccup looked between the retreating Berserker ship, which has a potentially dangerous object in the hands of a deranged maniac, and the sinking ship, which has his sister and friends with no way to escape.
"Get us out of here!" Fishlegs pleaded over the gangs screaming.
"Hiccup!" Snotlout yelled.
"Get us out of here!" Ruffnut hollered.
Dagur gave a maniacal laugh, clearly enjoying himself more than he has in three years. "Isn't this exciting? What will he choose, ladies and gentlemen? Saving his twin and friends or capturing his mortal enemy, his brother?"
Having made his decision, Hiccup steered Toothless towards the Reaper.
"Hmm. Disappointing, but all-so-typically Hiccup." Dagur commented, feeling triumph.
As Hiccup and Toothless reach the ship, the teens trapped inside the cage shouts at him to help them, while Hicca tries to hang on from outside the cage.
"Sis, give me your hand!" Hiccup called to her, extending his own arm. Hicca reached out to grab it, when suddenly a giant eel surged out of the water and grab Hicca but her foot, pulling her into the water.
"HICCA!" Hiccup, Raeda and Astrid yelled.
"What is wrong with these eels?!" Snotlout yelled.
Toothless dived in after them but was stop when two more eels came after him. As much as the Night Fury wanted to save his human's sister, he knew he would be of no help if he ate another eel. Hicca was pulled underwater, much to her brothers' horror. Suddenly, a plasma blast erupted underwater and Hicca re-emerged in Midnights' paws.
"Oh thank goodness!" Hiccup said, sighing in relief, feeling some of the weight lifted from his shoulders.
"Woah, that was way too close." Fishlegs said, sighing in relief.
"We are never gonna be close to eel food again!" Raeda declared.
"Midnight, have I ever told you, you have the most amazing timing ever?" Hicca said to her dragon. The female Night Fury warbled and tossed her human back into her saddle.
"Hey, Hiccup? Now that your sister is alive and well, could you, oh I don't know, save us from the sinking ship?!" Snotlout demanded, which was backed up by pleas from the others.
Hiccup snapped back to action. "Okay, move back from the door!" The teens did as they were told. "Toothless, plasma blast." A second later the cage was blasted, but oddly enough, there wasn't even a scratch on the cage.
"Dragon-proof bars?" Fishlegs noted. "Oh, fascinating."
"Whoever built this ship really knew what they were doing." Hiccup commented.
The ship continues to rock, causing the trapped teens to get tossed around. "Oh, you know what would be more fascinating?" Snotlout asked rhetorically. "Getting us out of here!"
Hicca and Midnight flew to their boys. "Bro, let's do a combined blast. Maybe we can create a weak spot." Hicca suggested.
"Worth a shot." Hiccup agreed.
"Toothless/Midnight, now!" The two Night Furies fired two plasma blasts each at the same spot but to no avail.
"We need more firepower." Hiccup said.
"Guys, dragon calls!" Hicca ordered the other teens.
The teens immediately began to call out to their dragons as water started to fill the cage. That's when the eels decided to make another appearance.
"Oh, come on! Why'd it have to be EELS?!" Snotlout complained. Toothless and Midnight blasted at the eels to keep them away.
While their dragons were keeping the eels at bay, the Haddock twins struggled to open the cage. "Come on!" Hiccup grunted. Suddenly an eel grabbed Hiccup by the leg and tried to pull him into the ocean. Luckily, Toothless was able to blast the eel away. "Thanks, bud." Hiccup then takes out his prosthetic leg and attempts to pry open the cage along with his twin.
The trapped teens continued to call out for their dragons.
"Hookfang! Help us! I'm important!"
"Stormfly!"
"Sparkfire, please!"
"Barf, Belch, get your butts over here!"
The ship then started to tilt upwards. "Uhh! Toothless/Midnight!" The auburn twins called.
Both Night Furies prepared to fire at the cage, only to realise that they both reached their shot limit. They then resorted to calling out to the other dragons and soon enough Sparkfire, Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, Barf and Belch came to their riders rescue.
Astrid, Raeda and Ruffnut, who were hanging on to the bars from above, lost their grip and fell into Fishlegs, Snotlout and Tuffnut. The cage door finally opened and Snotlout and Fishlegs were fast enough to grab onto the bars. Ruffnut managed to grab Snotlout's feet, followed by Raeda grabbing her feet. Astrid and Tuffnut formed a chain with Fishlegs, with the Thorston boy somehow acquiring Hiccup's prosthetic in the midst of the chaos.
"That was great." Tuffnut said, hugging the prosthetic. The eels started going after him (maybe they wanted the prosthetic?", before Barf and Belch blasted them away. "Oh, so now you decide to show up." He and the other teens got on their respective dragons and flew high above the ocean, away from the eels.
"That was way too close." Fishlegs said sighing a breath of relief.
"Just like old times." Raeda commented.
"Hiccup, Hicca, what are we doing?" Astrid questioned
"You guys go back to Berk." Hiccup stated.
"We're going after Dagur." Hicca finished. "If there's one thing we know about the cylinder object, it's that it shouldn't be in Dagur's hands."
The Haddock twins flew off before anyone could object.
(Linebreak)
On the Berserker ship, Dagur was admiring his new-found possession. "Amazing. I've never seen anything quite like this."
"Me, neither. What do you suppose it is?" Savage wondered, trying to get a closer look at the object.
Dagur just shoved him away. "Don't ask ridiculous questions, Savage! Just know this... it's mine now, all mine!" The Berserker chief chuckled at that. "Now, what exactly is it that you do? Tell Dagur, now. That's it. Don't be afraid. Tell Daddy Dagur."
But the young chief stopped when he spotted Hicca and Midnight flying right at him at high speed. Quickly, he dodged as she fails to grab the object from his hands, Midnight hovers above the ship as she and her rider face Dagur
"Well, I see Mrs. Night Fury finally decided to show up. Too bad Hicca, these three years of waiting just helped me develop my skills." Dagur boasted.
But Hicca merely smirked as she crossed her arms. "Oh Dagur, you should know by now I never go anywhere near you without a plan."
Savage looked behind his chief and saw Hiccup and Toothless flying at them. "Uh, Dagur?"
"Uhh! What now?! Another stupid question?!" Dagur asked in annoyance, still facing Hicca.
"More of an observation." Savage answered.
But before he could say anything else, Hiccup swooped in and grabbed the object right from the older teens hands. "Thank you kindly."
With that Midnight provided cover fire allowing the four of them to make a quick escape.
Dagur scowled as he watched the group disappear from view. "See what you did?" He demanded, stomping at Savage. . "You distracted me. And now my pretty, cylindrical, mysterious object is gone." He turned back to the direction, the dragon riders went. "Good for you, Hiccup and Hicca! Good for you! But I got all the gold! You hear me? All the gold! All! The! Gold! He gave a laugh and then shoved his right-hand man to the ground. "You know, you can never have nice things around those two." He walked away, stepping on Savage, who groaned in pain.
(Linebreak)
The teens returned to Berk safely and enlisted Gobber's help in figuring out the mysterious object.
The blacksmith/dragon dentist tried to open the object.
"Have you ever seen anything like this Dragon Eye before?" Hiccup asked his mentor.
"Dragon Eye? How do you know it's called a Dragon Eye?" Tuffnut questioned.
"Because Hicca and I named it." Hiccup answered.
"It's better than calling it 'cylinder object'." Hicca explained.
"Whoa, whoa. Aren't we supposed on stuff like that?" Snotlout objected.
"Fine. All in favor, say 'Dragon Eye'." Hiccup said to the group.
"Dragon Eye!" All teens, except Snotlout immediately said.
"Happy?" Hicca asked.
"Just wanted to make sure we voted." Snotlout huffed, folding his arms.
"Can you open it, Gobber?" Astrid asked as she watched the older man struggling.
Gobber chuckled while still trying to open the Dragon Eye. "Can I open it?" He mocked. "I once opened a 500-year-old giant clam at the bottom of the ocean with my bare hook. Can I open it? Ha! I think it's going to be... Huh. Aha." He gave the Dragon Eye a twist, which caused it to shoot a small dart right at Tuffnut.
Tuffnut looked at the dart sticking out of his arm in confusion. "Ugh. What is that? That looks like a-" He passed out before he could say anything else. Ruffnut laughed at that.
"Even the Dragon Eye has been rigged with a trap." Hicca said.
"Well, that was... something, maybe." Gobber said, going back to opening the strange object.
"Gobber, maybe you shouldn't-" Hiccup tried to advised, but it fell on deaf ears.
"Trust me. I'm... It's alright," Suddenly a green gas sprays out of the Dragon Eye. Everyone quickly moves away, holding their breaths, except for Tuffnut who just came back to consciousness.
"I'm okay. I got hit with something, but now-" He gets a sniff of the green gas. "No, scratch that." He falls back down into a spasm.
"Yeah, I'm thinking we should probably go get Gothi because I'm not well versed in poisonous gases yet." Hicca said.
(Linebreak)
The group goes to Gothis' hut and explained the situation to her. The elder then brought medicine for the Thorston boy to ingest.
Tuffnut started coughing and rubbing his teeth after consuming the medicine. "My teeth are itching. My teeth are itchy."
Gothi started to write something in the sand, which Gobber interprated. "She says that's a good sign. Means it's working."
"Thank you, Gothi. We really appreciate this." Hiccup said to the healer.
Gothi nodded to him before noticing Gobber still trying to open the Dragon Eye. Her eyes widened in shock at the Dragon Eye as she pointed to it's key-hole.
"Gothi, are you okay? What is it?" Hicca asked in concerned.
Gothi simply pointed to the scar on her arm and walked, not wanting to share more.
Hiccup's eyes widened in realisation. "Gothi... Her... Her scar... it matches the keyhole."
"Yeah, and it looked like a dragon bite to me." Fishlegs observed.
"Oh, it is. But she doesn't like to talk about it." Gobber said.
"She doesn't like to talk about anything." Fishlegs pointed out.
"Oh, that's why she writes in the dirt with her stick." Tuffnut said. "I thought that was just, like, her thing."
"Yeah, like Snotlout being a woman repellent." Ruffnut snorted, ignoring said boy's scowl as she hi-fived Raeda.
"Maybe we could use the stick to itch the teeth." Tuffnut said, rubbing his teeth.
"Tuff, leave your teeth alone. It'll just make it worse." Hicca advised.
"Easy for you to say." Tuffnut said, still rubbing his teeth.
The Haddock twins shared a look and nodded. They started walking to the direction where Gothi left. "Where are you two going?"
"After her." Hicca answered.
"We have to find out what kind of dragon made that scar. It could be the key to opening the Dragon Eye." Hiccup explained.
"But it doesn't look like she'd be eager to share that story." Raeda pointed out.
"Hold on. I have ways of making her talk." Gobber chimed in, before chuckling. "Well... scribble, anyway."
(Linebreak)
That night, Gobber comes back to Gothi's house with a cauldron full of warm soup.
"It's the old bat's weakness." Gobber said smugly to the teens. "Isn't it? Come on. You know you can't resist Gobber's home-made yak noodle soup."
True to Gobbers' prediction, Gothi started downing the soup.
"Ho ho! She downed that like a yak in a heat wave." Fishlegs commented, before turning to Hiccup and Raeda. "That makes sense, right?" The two just shrugged.
Hicca then stepped forward to Gothi. "Now, tell me about this bite mark."
Sighing, her mentor picked up her staff and started scribbling in the dirt.
Gobber went to translate. "When I was a turkey neck-"
WHACK!
"Ow! Teenager. Sorry. I had a longing to climb Glacier Island to find pure glacial water known for its healing , I went with two vegetables."
WHACK!
"Ow! Vikings. Sorry." Gobber chuckled, rubbing his head. "I'm a bit rusty."
"Maybe I should translate instead?" Hicca offered.
"Nonsense, Hicca, I can-" Gothi gave him another whack, telling him to let the girl translate. "Okay, you do it." He stepped aside to let Hicca read the scribbles.
A flashback shows a teenage Gothi walking along Glacier Island with the two other vikings during a snowstorm.
We had only been at the summit for a few hours, when we were hit by a terrible snowstorm. That's when it attacked.
A mysterious dragon appeared and chased after the three vikings.
It was vicious. Relentless. And impossible to see in the white-out.
Gothi runs from the dragon and gets cornered. Her fellow vikings weren't that lucky enough to escape this new foe.
The Snow Wraith.
The Snow Wraith bites Gothi's hand and she retaliates by hitting it with her staff. The dragon then hurls her into a mound of snow before walking past]
End Flashback
Hicca continued to translate. "I'll never know why it didn't finish me off that day. I left knowing only one thing."
"That I never wanted to smooch that dragon again." Gobber finished before turning confused. "Smooch?"
WHACK!
"Ow! See! Never wanted to see it again." Gobber corrected, rubbing his head again. "You know, your drawing ain't what it used to be, old woman." Gothi raised her staff, getting ready to hit him again. "But your swing, strong as ever!"
"Gothi, a tooth from the Snow Wraith is the key to unlocking the Dragon Eye. You have to help us find it." Hiccup pleaded.
Gothi frowned and scribbled into the dirt again.
"Let me do the last one!" Gobber said, elbowing Hicca before she could read the scribble, much to her annoyance.
Gobber read the scribbles to himself, before raising his eyebrows. "I can't say that to them. They're the Chief's kids! Gothi erased the scribble and tried again. "She says, no way she's ever going back. And besides, Berk needs her. It's true. She's the best healer we've got."
"I can take over while you're gone. You have been teaching me." Hicca offered.
"Hicca, let me do this. The others will need you more with them out there than here." Gobber said.
"Are you sure you can cover for Gothi?" Hicca questioned feeling a little skeptic, because it is Gobber they were talking about.
"Of course I am. I've watched Gothi work so many times, just like you, I know this place like the back of my hand." He reassured, lifting up his hand only to realise that he brought up his prosthetic hand, he then gave a nervous chuckle.
Hiccup ignored the last part. "See, Gobber can cover for you. So can you help us?"
Gothi still wasn't ready to give in.
Hicca noticed this. "Gothi, you have been like a grandmother to all these years and I understand how scary it was to encounter such a vicious dragon who took out your entire search party, but when you were our age, you always wanted to have adventure and get answers to questions to things you've always wanted to know.
Hiccup held the Dragon Eye to her. "This object can help us do the same thing. But only if you help us unlock it"
Gothi looked at the Haddock twins, before smiling; she was ready to help them.
(Linebreak)
The teens set out on their dragons, with Gothi in tow, to Glacier Island.
"Look at the size of that island." Hiccup said, when their destination came into view.
Fishlegs was reading through the Book of Dragons. "Oh! The Book of Dragons mentions the Snow Wraith, but doesn't have any information on it. Can you believe this? A brand-new dragon. It's been so long, I've forgotten what this feeling is." Fishlegs said excitedly. He looked to see the twins giving him blank stares. "Sorry. Excited about the new dragon."
"You mean the dragon that single-handedly wiped out Gothi's entire search party." Astrid asked, wryly.
"That would be correct. So worth the long flight." Fishlegs said.
"Speak for yourself! Your neck hair's not covered in old lady drool!" Snotlout complained. He wasn't happy because he ended up having to take Gothi with him and Hookfang. That didn't sound so bad, but the elder fell asleep and was leaning on Snotlout. The Jorgenson boy wasn't happy because as he mentioned, Gothi started drooling.
"Okay, here we are." Astrid announced.
"Oh, thank Thor." Hiccup sighed.
As soon as the dragons landed, the teens got off and started inspecting the island. Snotlout extended a hand to help Gothi, only to quickly retract it when the elderly reached, causing her to fall into the snow. The perfect revenge for drooling on his back the entire way there. "Oh! Yak hands. Oh, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" The Jorgenson boy mocked, before laughing. He started walking away, before Gothi used her staff to trip him up. "Uhh! Fair enough."
Astrid smirked as she watched this scene. "You know, we should bring her along more often."
"I definitely wouldn't mind that." Raeda said, also smirking.
Gothi started looking around the Island, before shrugging at the others.
"Great, just great! She's got nothin'. Someone else is wearing that bag of bones home. She's all knees and elbows." Snotlout complained.
"Quit being rude, Snotlout." Hicca reprimanded, defending her mentor.
The cold wind continues to blast at the gang, as they tried to shield themselves from it.
"I can't believe not one of us thought of bringing warmer clothes. Considering we all knew we were going to Glacier Island." Raeda grumbled, rubbing her arms.
"Well hopefully we'll find that dragon soon." Hicca suggested, trying to stay optimistic. Secretly though, she was somewhat worry for Gothi. She was a bit worried for her mentor as she watched the women look around for any signs of the dragon. Something tells the Haddock girl that her mentor might do something crazy when they find the dragons, either try to protect them or to get revenge on the dragon, or maybe both.
"Can we please do something? My mouth is starting to freeze shut." Snotlout shivered.
"Don't get our hopes up." Astrid muttered, also shivering.
"Well, then we should work fast to find this Snow Wraith. Because we're not leaving until we do." Hiccup stated.
"Let's split up so we can cover more ground." Astrid suggested.
"Good idea. Dragon call if you come across anything." Hiccup instructed the others.
The group started to disperse. Snotlout looked around for any signs of Gothi. "Quick, Hookfang, before she sees us!" He whispered, only to turn and see Gothi sitting on his saddle. "Ah! Hi. I was just talking about you." 'Why couldn't she just go with Hicca, instead?'
"Hey, Hicca!" Raeda said to the auburn girl as they made their way to their dragons. "How about we team up to look for the Snow Wraith? I don't think I can concentrate enough in this cold to search on my own, even with Sparkfire."
"Sure." Hicca agreed.
As soon the riders got on, the dragons took to the sky and flew off in different directions. But what no one notice was the Snow Wraith in the distance, watching it's new guest very closely.
(Linebreak)
Back on Berk, Gobber was preparing for his first day as the temporary healer. "Hmm. Hmm. Okay, you got this, Gobber." The blonde man said to himself as he looked through the medicine cabinet. "Just follow the steps. Listen, diagnose, heal. Just like riding your first wild yak." He takes out a jar of medicine and sniffs it, before recoiling. "Ohh, you never forget that first kick." He trips and accidentally throws the jar out the window of Gothi's hut. There was shattering sound heard, followed by a man screaming a second later. "Ahh. I'll have to heal that later." He shrugged. "Ahem. Okay, first sick, nasty Viking, Doctor Gobber is in the house." A man hobbles in, struggling as one of his leg was caught in a dragon trap. (How was there still dragon traps at this time?) "Magnus, what seems to be the problem?"
"The problem?!" Magnus asked incredulously. Was Gobber seriously asking that. "My leg is caught in an old dragon trap, Gobber."
"Oh-oh, yes, of course it is." Gobber said, getting up. "Ah, I remember my first leg break." He pries open the trap, none too gently, much to Magnus' distress as the sound of a bone cracking was heard. "Let me clean up that wound for you." He takes out a jar of liquid medicine, not even bothering to figure out if it's the right one and pours it on the patients' leg.
"Aah! Aah, it burns! It burns!" Magnus cries out.
"Ah, that just means it's working." Gobber said calmly.
Magnus starts screaming more when his leg somehow catches on fire.
Gobber immediately ran to get a bucket of water to dose the fire. Unfortunately, he didn't get a good grip on the bucket as it fell out of his hands and hit Magnus in the head, knocking him out cold. "Cured." Gobber declared, dragging Magnus' unconscious body away. "Next."
(Linebreak)
Back on Glacier Island, the dragon riders regroup.
"Anybody find anything?" Hiccup asked.
"All we found was some scattered yak bones." Ruffnut reported.
"I-I didn't see anything, but I had this weird feeling that something was watching me." Fishlegs said.
"Oh, I had a weird feeling, too. Like this old lady was stuck on my back." Snotlout said, glaring at Gothi, who rested on his back.
"Aah! Two heads!" Tuffnut yelped, before he noticed Barf and Belch snarling at him, taking offense. "Oh, sorry, guys. I mean, on you two, it works. I've seen it before. I'm used to it."
"Hiccup, maybe we should get out of here. That looks like a huge storm." Astrid asked, as the storm continues to get more intense.
Hiccup looked at the group and noticed something. "Wait, where are Hicca and Raeda?"
That's when the rest of the group noticed that indeed the two girls, along with their dragons, were missing. Toothless gave a worried warble at the absence of his mate.
"We definitely can't leave without them." Hiccup stated. He wouldn't forgive himself if anything happened to either of the girls and their dragons, especially his twin. "We should dig in here and wait and see if they come here. If not, we'll go look for them. We also need to keep an eye out for the Snow Wraith. Remember, it likes to attack when you can't see it."
"Great. Just great." Fishlegs muttered, not liking their predicament one bit.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile on Berk, Gobber continued on his new job with another patient. He was currently inspecting said patients' foot. "Mm-hmm. My official diagnosis is... a thorn."
"Yes, I told you that already!" The patient complained.
"Not to worry, I can remove it right quick." Gobber reassured, getting up.
"The thorn?" The patient asked with a hopeful expression.
"The foot." Gobber replied, looking through the tools. "Hmm, no. Uh, no. No. Aha!" He wields out an axe. "This was what my mother used to do for me." He turns around to see that the viking suddenly disappeared. "Some people just don't appreciate the practice of medicine."
(Linebreak)
On Glacier Island, Hicca, Raeda and their dragons land near a lake, with is frozen solid.
"You think we should head back to the others?" Hicca questioned.
"No idea. Lost track of time a while back." Raeda said, still rubbing her arms to get some warmth.
Sparkfire then blasted the ground creating a fire for her human to warm.
"Thanks girl." Raeda said in appreciation as she moved her hands over the fire. "Well here we are. Back on another adventure. Just like the good ol' days. I don't know about you, but I'm actually glad to come out of retirement as a Dragon Rider."
"Same here." Hicca agreed. "As much as I love studying to become a healer, it doesn't really bring that familiar rush you get when you're facing death-defying situations." The girls chuckled at that. "You know what would make this more complete. A reunion with the baby Night Furies." Midnight warbled in agreement, remembering her and Toothless' kids.
Before either girls can say anything else, they suddenly heard a loud dragon roar that didn't belong to their dragon or any dragon they knew. They looked up and saw the Snow Wraith glaring right at them!
"Looks like we found the dragon." Raeda said to Hicca, breaking eye-contact with the dragon.
"Yay, us." Hicca muttered, doing the same.
The rogue dragon blasted at them, but luckily Sparkfire and Midnight quickly swooped in and saved their riders just in time.
"Okay, we found this guy, now what?!" Raeda exclaimed.
"Give me a second for my mind to catch up!" Hicca said, as their dragons dodged some more blasts. "Dragon Roar! We need to call the others!" The two dragons wasted no time calling out back-up as they continued to dodge from the dragon. "We also need to get a tooth from the Snow Wraith for the Dragon Eye!"
"How do we do that?" Raeda asked.
"I have no idea." Hicca admitted. She was then taken by surprise as Midnight got thrown off by one of the blast and bumped into Sparkfire causing the four of them to hit the ground. The Snow Wraith was about to fire at them again, when it got hit by a plasma blast.
"Hold your ground and fire back!" Hiccup ordered the other teens as they flew into the rescue.
"Fire back where? We can't see it." Astrid pointed out.
Hiccup realised that the blonde shield maiden did have a point. "Actually, you know what? Take cover!" The dragons split up to avoid getting hit by the Snow Wraiths' blast. Hookfang, however, wasn't as lucky as his dragon companions as one of the blasts hit him, sending him and Snotlout to the ground, knocking Snotlout out of his saddle and into the snow.
The rogue dragon pursued its downed opponent, only to have difficulty in finding him because its' thermal vision shows Snotlouts' image blended into the background. The rogue dragon then used its' sense of smell to try to find the human.
"Toothless, warning shot." Toothless fired at the Snow Wraith, gaining its' attention. The other dragons then followed suit.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Hicca commanded. The dragons stopped firing and continued to avoid the blasts from the wild dragon. One of the blasts knocks Astrid off Stormfly and down a cliff. "Stormfly!" She called out. Immediately the blue Nadder swooped in and rescued her rider.
That was the last straw for Hiccup. "Alright, I've had just about enough of this dragon, bud. Do your thing." Using echolocation to navigate through the snow, Toothless flew up towards the Snow Wraith. "Toothless, now! Multiple blasts!" Toothless did just that, causing the Snow Wraith to fly away. "I think it's gone." Hiccup said, before they decided to land. "Everybody okay? Everybody here?"
"What do you mean by 'here'?" Ruffnut questioned.
"I have a question, Hiccup. What exactly is your plan to get a Snow Wraith tooth?" Snotlout demanded. "Take it out of one of our dead bodies?"
"If all goes well, it'll be Ruffnut's dead body." Tuffnut chimed in, sounding a little too hopeful. "And the Wraith tooth."
Hicca noticed her mentor scribbing something in the snow. "Hold on, quiet. Gothi wants to tell us something." After the elder was finished the auburn girl moved to translate. "She says we should've left when we had the chance."
A familiar roar was then heard in the distant.
(Linebreak)
Meanwhile, back on Berk, Gobbers' next patient, Agnar, was having stomach problems. Gobber was busy making the cure, while Agnar threw up in his helmet.
"Don't you worry, Agnar. I've seen her whip this stomach cure up a thousand times." Gobber reassured. Sure, Hicca banned him from making medicine, but this wasn't one of his own, this was one of Gothis' and he was merely recreating it. She didn't ban him from that. "One dab, eye of yak. Would that be one eye or a dab of an eye?" He contemplated and in doing so, he accidently knocks over a bottle of green liquid into cauldron. "Ah! Whoa." The new mixture gives out a new scent that causes Gobber to sneeze, right into the cauldron. He looked back to see if Agnar saw anything, but to his relief, Agnar didn't. He then whipped out a cup of his concoction and gave it to Agnar. "Drink this three times a day and come back and see me if it doesn't kill you." Agnar gasped at that. "I'm just kidding." He reassured before speaking in a low voice. "Hopefully."
(Linebreak)
Back on Glacier Island, the dragon riders plus Gothi and dragons, regrouped and recovered from the Snow Wraith attack in a nearby cave.
"Okay, that thing was gnarly." Snotlout commented.
"Astrid, are you okay?" Hiccup asked.
"Yep, barely." The Hofferson girl answered.
"Hicca? Raeda? What about you two?"
"Fine as well." Hicca answered.
"Great to be back." Raeda replied.
"Hiccup, you know I want a shot at this as badly as you and Hicca, but maybe we should get out of here." Fishlegs advised. "We're just sitting ducks in this storm."
Hiccup was about to argue, when something occurred to him. "W-Wait a minute. What did you just say?"
"He said we're sitting ducks. And for once, I agree with him." Snotlout said.
"Sitting ducks." Hiccup thought about it for a moment, before his eyes widened. "Yes, yes! Yes, that's exactly what we need to be."
"Excuse me?" Astrid questioned. What could be going through their co-leaders' mind now?
"What if we could make the Snow Wraith think it sees us when we're not here?" Hiccup riddled.
"You can make yourself invisible?" Tuffnut asked now intrigued. "Why does he get to do all the cool stuff? I just have to sit here with you as a sister." He gestured to his twin.
"Will you two be quiet for ten seconds?" The Jorgenson boy snapped.
"Tuff's not that far off." Hiccup stated. "Look, the Snow Wraith didn't have any trouble seeing us until Snotlout got buried in the snow. And Gothi said it couldn't find her when she fell into a snowbank."
Hicca realised what her brother was thinking. "It only found me, Raeda, Midnight and Sparkfire when we started a fire. It can see body heat the same way Midnight and Toothless can find things with sound."
"So what you guys are saying is that, what's saving us from this dragon is our low body heats?" Raeda questioned, not liking that theory.
"It's a mixed blessing, if you think of it." Ruffnut piped in.
"And we can use this to our advantage to confuse it. Then, while it's distracted, we'll net it and get that tooth." Hiccup inferred.
"And you're sure it will work?" Astrid questioned, feeling doubtful.
"Uhh..." Hiccup trailed off, looking at his twin for back-up.
The female Haddock simply shrugged. "I got nothing."
"Of course not." Astrid sighed rolling her eyes. Looks like some things never change.
"I hate both you. You know that?" Snotlout grumbled, glaring at the Haddock twins.
"Yes, we are aware of that. Alright, gang, let's get to work." Hiccup directed.
Soon, using the supplies they brought, the eight teens and one elderly were able to construct eight dummy versions of themselves.
"Pretty good." Hiccup commented, looking at the dummies. "Now, if Hicca and I are right, when we light these on fire, the Snow Wraith will think they're us and attack. Then we'll have the drop on it."
"Wait, wait, wait! Look at how realistically gorgeous my statue is. I can't in good conscience send that into flames." Snotlout protested. Suddenly the stitchings on the dummies neck fell apart, making Dummy-lout (Tee-hee) beheaded.
"I'll work through the pain and do it for you." Astrid said sarcastically.
Snotlout didn't get the sarcasm. "Wow, you'd do that for me, Astrid?
The teens, dragons and Gothi went to hide in the cave, before Hicca gave Midnight the command. "Alright girl, light 'em up." The female Night Fury did just that.
Snotlout took off his helmet and held it to his chest at the sight of Dummy-lout burning. "Somewhere in the world, a silent tear was just cried."
Some time passed and the Snow Wraith has yet to make an appearance.
"Hey, if the Snow Wraith doesn't come in the next ten minutes, can we warm up near the fires?" Raeda asked, staring longingly at the fires. "They look so tempting right now."
"Hiccup, I don't know if this-" Fishlegs started to say, before the Snow Wraith swoops in.
"Wait, look!" Hiccup interrupted, pointing at the Snow Wraith as it circles around the burning dummies. "Okay, next time it comes in, we go."
The Snow Wraith gave out a loud roar and starts to destroy Dummy-lout.
The human Jorgenson boy was not happy about this. "Oh, no, you did not!" Hookfang immediately lights himself up on in anger, which unfortunately started causing the cave to melt. Midnight and Toothless, having noticed the ice starting to fall from the ceiling of the cave, both rushed forward to protect their respective riders, getting themselves and their humans out of the cave just before the ice fell and trapped everyone else in the cave.
Inside the cave, the others tried to find a way out of the cave.
"Great job, Jorgenson. You did it this time." Raeda said drily.
Snotlout ignored her and continued to try to find a way out "Hookfang! Get over here now!"
Outside the cave, Toothless and Midnight unfolded their wings where it was revealed they kept their humans safe in their paws. "Thanks, guys." Hiccup said.
"Midnight, Toothless,, look out!" Hicca suddenly shouted, alerting the other three of the Snow Wraith swooping down on them. The two Night Furies shielded their riders as the wild dragon swooped pass them and disappeared into the snowstorm.
"If it can see our body heat, then we are way too easy a target out here." Hiccup said to the others, getting up. He walked over to the middle of the burning statues "This should even the odds a little."
Hicca and the two dragons joined him. "It won't be able to make us out within the heat of these fires." Hicca inferred.
"Exactly." Hiccup said, before turning to Toothless. "Do your thing, bud."
"Midnight, you know what to do, girl." Hicca said.
Both Night Furies started using echolocation to try to find the Snow Wraith, but strangely couldn't find it. But what no one in the group noticed was that the Snow Wraith could in fact see them, being careful to avoid getting sensed by the echolocation, and was flying right at them! The two Night Furies continued to search for the dragon with no luck until said dragon landed right behind them. That's when Hicca turned and noticed the Snow Wraith, right before Gothi, having also escaped the cave, sprung up and attack the rogue dragon.
"Gothi, no!" Hicca yelled, but it fell on deaf ears as the elder was determined to get revenge on the Snow Wraith for the past encounter as she continued to hit it with her staff. But the Snow Wraith was deterred as it grabbed her by the staff and lifted her up.
"Toothless, plasma blast! And careful not to hit the crazy little woman with the staff." Hiccup ordered.
"Hiccup!" His twin reprimanded.
Toothless fired several plasma blast at the Snow Wraith, causing it to drop Gothi. It then moved to attack Toothless, when it got deterred by a fireball and it hit the ground.
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Snotlout got us out of the snow." Snotlout hollered in triumph as he and the others joined the group, having managed to escape the cave.
"Yeah, and you're also the one that got us buried in it to begin with." Astrid reminded him, unimpressed.
"Ah, details." Snotlout countered, waving it off.
"Okay, we have him surrounded. Let's get that tooth." Hiccup said. Unfortunately, the Snow Wraith recovered and flew off and disappeared into the storm, before anyone could think of catching up to him. "No! We can't lose him."
"Actually, he lost us." Tuffnut commented.
"Hiccup, we should get out of here while we can." Astrid advised.
"Maybe we can try again later." Hicca suggested.
"Yes, please." Raeda agreed.
"Not yet. This isn't over." Hiccup said, still determined to get the tooth. Gothi tapped his shoulder, trying to get his attention. "Not now, Gothi. Gang, we came here for a Snow Wraith tooth and-" Gothi continued to tap his shoulder. "I-I said in a minute, Gothi."
Fortunately, Hicca caught on to what her mentor was trying to say. "We can definitely go home, now." She said interrupting her brother.
"And why is that, sis? Didn't you just hear me?" Hiccup questioned.
Hicca simply pointed to Gothis' staff which has a Snow Wraith tooth embedded in it.
"Oh."
(Linebreak)
When they finally reached Berk, Gothi and Hicca were met with a lot of Gobber's patients'. There they learned just how the temporary healer did his job. It took a long time, but both mentor and apprentice were able to fix Gobbers' mistakes and properly cure the patients. Hicca slumped down with the group, clearly exhausted.
"You okay, Hicca?" Raeda asked.
"I'm fine actually." Hicca said, smiling even though she had a really long day. "You would think that this was nothing but exhausting work for me, but actually it was great practice into a normal busy day as a healer."
"I'm glad you took something positive out of that, sis." Hiccup said. "But tonight you should definitely sleep early, right after dinner."
"Well, I'm really glad to be a help in your healer training, Hicca." Gobber piped in.
Hicca then remembered something. "Hey, Gobber, remember the time I banned you from making your own medicine?"
"Yes."
"I'm changing that. From now on, not only are you not allowed to make medicine, but you are also not allowed to be a healer, at least not without me or Gothi to supervise. Sorry Gobber, but we have to think of the good of the patients."
Gobber's shoulders slumped at that. Hicca and Goth were over-reacting, he wasn't that bad. 'Speaking of bans' Gobber thought to himself. 'Note to self: don't tell Hicca about that potion you made for Agnar'
"So, Gobber, other than that, how was it being Gothi?" Hiccup asked.
"Well, I didn't get to wallop anybody with my staff, but-"
"Gobber! Gobber!" Agnar called out running into the hut. "I must have more of that potion you made me earlier."
"What potion?" Hicca asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Heh, heh." Gobber gave a nervous laugh, before turning to Agnar. "So, it cured your stomach ailments, did it?"
Agnar responded by throwing up on the ground, much to the others disgust. "Far from it! But it cured something else. It's made my hair grow back!" He took off his helmet to show a single strand growing on his bald head.
"Congrats, Agnar. You look so..." Snotlout tried to compliment before Agnar threw up again. "...good."
"Well, at least you got only one of the side effects." Agnar breaks wind, making the others cringed in disgust of the smell.
"Ugh..." Hiccup coughed. "Well, Gobber, just whip up some more of that potion for him."
There was one problem with that though, Gobber forgot what was in the potion. "Uh, well, it was very complicated, and I'm retired. Gothi, why don't you take this one?" The Elder responded by whacking the blonde man with the staff, before leading Agnar to a different room.
"You really have no idea what was in that potion, do you?" Hiccup questioned.
"No, not a drop." Gobber answered, before handing over the tooth he removed from the staff. "But here's your key."
Hiccup takes the tooth and fits it in the key-hole. Strangely, nothing happens.
"We almost died... for that?!" Snotlout questioned, not happy at the fact.
"No, there's gotta be more to it than this." Hiccup said, inspecting the Dragon Eye. "It just doesn't make any sense."
"Welcome to my world, sister." Tuffnut said, still rubbing his teeth for some reason. "Nothing makes sense and you got itchy teeth."
(Linebreak)
The rest of the day went by and there was still no luck in deciphering the Dragon Eye. Night time came and Hiccup and Toothless were the only ones who were still up in Hiccups' room trying to make sense of the new object. Hicca would've stayed up with if it wasn't for the long day she had in getting the Snow Wraiths' tooth and re-treating the Gobbers' patients with Gothi.
Hiccup yawned for the twenty-fifth time before he decided to call it quits. "Alright. That's it, I'm calling it a night. Maybe tomorrow. Fresh eyes."
Toothless happily complied, already dozing off. The Night Fury wasted no time going to his stone slab and blasting it to keep it warm. Hiccup was about to lie down on his bed, when he suddenly notice something strange. "Toothless, come here. Do that again, bud. Give me a low flame." As instructed, Toothless walks close towards the Dragon Eye and breathes in a low flame right in front of one end of the Dragon Eye. To Hiccups' amazement, the flame caused the Dragon Eye to give a projection of a map on the wall.
"Whoa. This changes... everything."