Hello, I would like to let you all know that there's a bonus to read after the end of the chapter, and it's something that I would like your feedback on if possible. It would also determine whether I do more of this stuff at the end of some chapters
Thank you for your time and patience in waiting for me to upload more chapters
Episode-title: Time to Skrill
"Speech"
'Thought'
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(Dragon's Edge)
It had been a few days since they had returned to the Edge with the Belzium crates. The others were surprised by the amount of Belzium they'd brought back, and they were especially astounded when they learned about the Rescue Riders and the new hybrid dragon. Though Snotlout refused to believe that there were two children who could understand dragons, commenting that it was "probably their imagination" when they were told about them.
Cinderwing was currently in his den, fiddling with a piece of Black Belzium that he retrieved from his lagoon. He didn't have his armor on at the moment, as it had been inspected by both Fishlegs and Hiccup in hopes of essentially copying the design, only sized for Toothless. Cinder's ears twitched as he heard Stormfly walking toward him before sinking down next to him. "What's that?" Stormfly asked, letting her question linger for a moment.
"Black Belzium. It's exactly like normal Belzium, only far more durable. I asked Leyla to check with Hannahr if she knew anything about a black, crystal-like rock that acted like Belzium, and it turns out she did." He answered, instinctively leaning into her when she placed her wing over him.
"I noticed how well you interacted with Aggro," She commented, a smile curling up her lips. "You usually take forever to get that way with other dragons, even longer with humans." She added, noting how much longer it had taken for him to get comfortable with the riders compared to the dragons. "Hmm." He grunted, but didn't deny anything she said. "I suppose that Aggro's a lot like me." Cinder began, getting a gentle chortle from the Nadder. "Hot-headed?" He huffed softly with irritation at her jab. "She's bold, energetic in some cases, as well as having a similar personality to me." He continued, getting a gentle nudge from Stormfly.
They both sat in silence, enjoying the ambient sounds of the cavern, such as the sound of dripping water that echoed from the lagoon. Stormfly suddenly began humming to a rhythm that she'd heard Cinderwing singing before. Not long later, Cinderwing began singing the lyrics aloud, matching Stormfly's harmony. "Jump up, kick back, whip around and spin. And then we jump back, do it again. Ninja, go. Ninja, come on, come on and do the weekend whip, yeah. Oh, ye-aah."
This went on for a few minutes, before they both started chuckling. "I told you it was catchy," Cinderwing stated, initiating an eye-roll from Stormfly. "Yeah, yeah. No need for 'I told you so'," Stormfly calmly retorted, nibbling his ear-nub to get some dust off.
Cinderwing glanced up at her. "I think you'd look beautiful in that armor, maybe with yellow accents instead of red like Toothless'." He said with a purposely husky tone. Stormfly blushed, but didn't back down and instead matched his tone. "Well, I think orange would suit me just as well. Maybe even black? Hmm." Quiet chuckles emanated from Stormfly's chest, with the same happening with Cinder.
With cat-like reflexes, Cinderwing suddenly jumped up, twisted in the air, and shot a plasma blast into the cavern entrance. The purple light of the plasma revealed Hiccup and Toothless who had ducked down to avoid being hit. At the same time, Stormfly had also gotten up, her tail spines flared before she too noticed Hiccup and Toothless, responding with an annoyed huff as she relaxed and her tail spines lowered. "Not cool, Tooths', not cool." Cinder huffed out. "You don't just trot into some-dragon's den like that."
Toothless snorted, getting an annoyed wing-tap from Cinder. "I'll make sure to knock whenever you add a door," he quipped, before his casual expression turned more serious. This instantly caused the two definitely-not-lovebirds to get more serious as well.
"Anyway, we need to leave for Outcast Island. They've been attacked by Dragon Hunters." Toothless stated, turning to leave. "The only reason we didn't say anything sooner was because Hiccup and I didn't want to interrupt your little...." Cinderwing cut him off. "That's not what we were doing. And even if we were, that's none of your business." Cinderwing growled softly, yet with a slight threatening tone.
Stormfly was blushing, before quickly gaining her composure and leaving a slight tinge of pinkish-red on her cheeks. 'Ooh, why did Hookfang have to ask him about human mating habits. And why did he know so much, he spoke so bluntly too, why is their ritual so complex?' She mentally ranted, following the others as they began to walk.
"You think we can visit Berk?"
Both Toothless and Stormfly tilted their heads in confusion, though for Stormfly it was more to glance at Cinderwing than anything. "I thought you didn't want to be seen by any more humans." Toothless asked, and Cinderwing nodded in response. "I'd rather not, but there's really no point anymore." Cinderwing glanced at his fellow Night Fury. "Toothless, we are probably the last of our kind, not to mention that we're both males. Hybrid dragons are possible, but not a guarantee. You won't need a female Night Fury to keep our species alive."
Toothless gained a slightly solemn expression as he pondered on what Cinder had said. He knew that Cinderwing was right, but that didn't mean he would give up the hope of finding another of his species, even if it was another male.
Cinderwing sighed when he saw Toothless' expression. "Look, what I'm trying to say is to keep your options open. If you end up meeting a dragon that you genuinely fall for, then go for it and don't let the fact that they might not be a Night Fury stop you." Cinderwing advised with a pat on his fellow Night Fury's shoulder and a surprising amount of wisdom for a dragon that didn't usually seem to have any.
Toothless nodded a few seconds later. "Okay... I'll try to do that." He warbled out.
Stormy chortled. "You know, you do pretty well with comforting dragons, even though you say that you're not. Not to mention how energetic you can be." She chirped, the slowly disappearing blush still lingering on her cheeks. "It's probably why you got along so well with the Rescue Riders. You're naturally good with younglings."
"I... suppose that's true." Cinderwing replied, slightly embarrassed before quickening his pace, not wanting to admit having a soft spot for younglings, being naturally more gentle with them and all. Even though it seemed pointless, he'd rather avoid the teasing.
Toothless huffed with amusement, momentarily forgetting his own nervousness. 'How they haven't even begun a relationship together is a mystery.' He shook his head, before he and Stormfly began to match Cinder's pace.
(Scene break)
(Outcast Island)
Outcast Island; the home of outcasts from multiple Viking villages across the Archipelago, including Berk. It wasn't all too strange that the island was mostly stone; Cinderwing had seen it before with multiple other islands.
Right now, he and the Dragon Riders were exploring the deserted village that had mostly been left in ruins. Smoke still exited many of the buildings, as well as some strange burn marks on some boulders. Cinderwing went deeper into the island, forcing his way into the more intact huts to see if he could find anything useful or valuable, but he found nothing of the sort.
After a while, Cinder decided to regroup with the others. As he trotted back the way he came... nothing happened. There were no Dragon Hunters spying on him, no dragons creeping behind him, not even a Dragon Eye lens that he'd missed. None of that cosmic entity nonsense either, or an evil future version of Cinderwing—that'd be stupid.
By the time Cinder had met up with the others, they had already begun conversing about what could have driven the Outcasts to evacuate their island.
"Mutton famine?" Tuffnut suggested, before his sister came up in front of him. "Bed bugs?" She added with a reminiscent, yet slightly disturbed expression. "Once those things show up, you can never get rid of 'em." Hiccup ignored their ridiculous suggestions, instead focusing on a burn mark on the wall that looked eerily familiar with how it resembled lightning. "These scorch marks.... Do these look familiar to anyone?" Hiccup glanced over his shoulder to look at the others.
Fishlegs' face twisted with worry. "Hiccup, do you think it could be... the Skrill?" he asked.
Snotlout shook his head and hands with disbelief. "Whoa-whoa-whoa. You mean a Skrill, and not the Skrill, right?" He questioned. "Totally not the Skrill that we froze in an iceberg." Even the twins started to look a little worried, but that didn't stop them from cracking a joke. "The Skrill. Bringer of thunderous destruction." Tuffnut began, waving his hands and wriggling his fingers as if he was telling a spooky story. Ruffnut chuckled, raising a hand in a clawed motion. "The one who had dared to try and strike down the fury of the night."
Cinderwing let out a small series of chuckles at the twins' shenanigans as the riders mounted their dragons' saddles. He glanced over at Toothless. "So, you actually fought a Skrill?" Toothless nodded in response. "Yeah. But we had to trap him in the iceberg," he replied as they all began to fly. "He was actually previously trapped in an iceberg, we freed him, then there was a whole fiasco with both Dagur and the Outcasts trying to capture him before we had to put him back into an iceberg." Toothless added, giving Cinder a quick rundown of what had happened before they'd even met.
Cinderwing contemplated Toothless's words, before finally glancing at him with a grin. "So what you're saying is that there's a possibility that I get to fight a Skrill?" Toothless gained a confused expression at Cinderwing's sudden declaration of his own words. "Wha-how did you get that from what I've just said? It wasn't even close." Cinderwing chuckled. "I merely made a conclusion based on both Hiccup and Fishlegs' worries, as well as what you just said." He remarked, slowing his pace to match Stormfly's. "So hurry your ass up, and start flying faster so I can fight a Skrill."
Toothless shook his head with a sigh, before picking up his pace.
(Undisclosed location: Glacier)
Cinderwing—along with the Riders—looked down at a large crack in the glacier floor. This was where the Skrill was supposed to be held, frozen in the ice, but it was clearly gone. "Yep. The Skrill is gone," Snotlout commented on the obvious. "It's a good title for a song," Tuffnut said suddenly. "I'm gonna work on that when we get home."
Cinderwing snorted at the thought of Tuffnut singing. "How did this happen?" Fishlegs questioned, taking a closer look at the cracked ice to try and theorize what freed the lightning dragon. "A dragon like a Skrill could probably break out if there was a lightning storm nearby," Cinderwing rhetorically suggested, knowing that the humans could not understand him, but decided to speak up anyway. "Shoddy workmanship, I'd say," Tuffnut commented with a mock dissatisfied expression on his face.
Ruffnut glanced at her brother. "Aren't we the ones who sealed him in that big hole?" She stated with some confusion. Tuffnut loudly cleared his throat, pointing behind him at their dragon before they both glanced at Barf & Belch. "Why are you looking at us like that?" Barf questioned, but their riders could obviously not understand them. Hiccup stood up. "It doesn't matter how it got out. We've got to get it back before it hurts anybody else," he said with clear worry. "Or before Dagur gets a hold of it." Cinderwing randomly began making a snowball. "The question is, where is it heading?" Astrid asked. Fishlegs pondered for a moment. "Well, since the Skrill gravitates towards storms to channel their lightning, I would say that storm headed due south from Outcast Island," he said, pointing at the storm that was visible from the glacier.
Snotlout squinted his eyes before raising a brow in thought. "Hey, isn't Berk...." His eyes widened with realization. "Oh, no." Everyone rushed to mount their dragons to begin flying towards Berk, but not before Cinderwing threw his snowball at Snotlout, causing him to slip and fall before he could mount Hookfang's saddle. "Oh, come on! Really?" Both Hookfang and Cinderwing snorted into laughter for a short moment. "Hey! Hurry up, you two. We can't play around like this when we have a Skrill to find." Surprisingly, it was Meatlug who had scolded them, with a motherly tone at that.
"Yes, mother." Cinderwing mocked, earning a slightly annoyed sigh from the female Gronckle.
They all flew towards Berk as fast as they could, with Cinder speeding ahead towards the storm.
(Scene break)
(Berk)
By the time the Dragon Riders closed in on Berk, its skies were already covered by the storm and the Skrill was already wreaking havoc across the village. It emerged from the storm, blasting lightning beam after lightning beam, though it had mostly aimed for a specific hut. Not a moment too soon, the auxiliary riders flew up and into the skies, rushing in to defend their home from the raging dragon. "Auxiliary riders! Circle formation!" Gustav exclaimed, leading his team into battle. The Skrill blasted lightning beams at the auxiliary riders, forcing them to dodge the attacks.
"Hey, look at that. The A-team, already on the case," Astrid pointed out, a sliver of pride bubbling in her chest.
Cinderwing ignored her observation, his now slitted eyes focused on the Skrill, watching as the A-team began circling the dragon.
"Yeah, okay, it might be a little early in their dragon riding careers too...." Hiccup was interrupted when the Skrill blasted bolts of lightning from its body in all directions, hitting most of the auxiliary riders, with the exception of Spitelout, who had just barely dipped his head down in time. "Is that all you got, you sparky lizard?!" Spitelout yelled, before patting his Deadly Nadder's neck. "No offense to you, of course." His gloating was short-lived when the Skrill caught him off guard with a bolt of lightning, causing the Viking to fall off his dragon's saddle, plummeting towards the ground.
"Dad!" Snotlout exclaimed with worry, immediately having Hookfang dive down towards his father, the fear of what could possibly happen plaguing his mind.
"Cover the downed riders!" Hiccup exclaimed with a commanding tone, having Toothless shoot purple plasma at the lightning dragon. After the second shot, Toothless took a chance to glance around, he noticed that Cinderwing had disappeared before his ponderings were forcibly dismissed when he had to dodge a beam of lightning.
Luckily for Spitelout, he had fallen into a wheelbarrow of pillows, with Snotlout and his dragon landing beside the cart not a moment later. Stormfly and Meatlug flew down toward Gothi and her Gronckle, whilst Barf & Belch had flown down toward Gustav. But before Toothless could follow, the Skrill roared with fury. "You!"
Toothless's eyes slitted slightly with a growl. "Toothless? No. What are you doing?!" Hiccup questioned worriedly, only for the Night Fury to ignore him when the Skrill charged a lightning beam in its maw that sparked with white lightning. "I dare you! Come as me!" With a snarl, Toothless began to charge his own plasma blast as he charged toward the Skrill. Both dragons shot at the same time, with plasma and lightning colliding against each other, causing a small, but powerful explosion that knocked Toothless out of the sky, but unfortunately, it had also knocked Hiccup from his dragon's saddle.
Before the Skrill could retreat into the storm, it was tackled by Cinder who held onto its chest with an iron grip, forcing both dragons to begin their unwilling—in the Skrill's case—descent towards the ocean. Cinderwing scratched and clawed at the Skrill's chest before charging a plasma blast aimed at the Skrill's head, only for the Skrill to give him a short burst of lightning that emitted from its body, twisted in the air, and kicking Cinder away before flying toward the storm to recharge its nearly depleted lightning reserves.
"I'm not done with you! We're just get'in started!" Cinderwing exclaimed with a cackle of joyousness, clearly having his own kind of fun fighting the Skrill. "Argh! You're not worth my time. Leave me to my revenge." The Skrill snarled, before shooting its final lightning beam toward Cinder, knocking him back, causing him to spiral out of control and giving the Skrill just enough time to retreat into the storm. But not before he made a snide comment. "Night Fury's [scoffs], so fast yet so quick to fall."
"Ugh." Cinderwing groaned. Luckily, he'd been able to absorb most of the lightning, though since it had come from a dragon and not from a natural storm, the absorption could not nullify the damage completely, especially when he'd taken the unwanted dip in the ocean. Instead, it had left him with burn marks across his body and minimal physical injury. For heaven's sake, even the absorbed lightning had caused minor internal damage, leaving him unable to use his own lightning reserves for an unknown amount of time.
'Note to self; don't ever do that again, or at least make sure not to fall in water. It fucking hurt.' Cinderwing noted mentally, despite the slightest pain that now screamed with nearly every movement he made as he swam towards shore. He noticed how much more coarse the sands of Berk were as he crawled onto shore. Compared to the softer sands of Dragon's Edge, it wasn't so enjoyable to walk on, especially when injured, no matter how minor. He was pretty lucky to not have an injured paw, though it still stung like crazy over most of his injuries.
"Cinderwing?! Cinder!" A shadow loomed overhead, and Cinderwing looked up to see Stormfly—without Astrid—hovering in the sky, searching for him with clear worry that could be seen in her gaze even from where he lay. A few moments later, she spotted him lying on the beach, almost immediately diving down and landing beside him, checking over his wounds. "Oh, by the ancients. [exhale] Cinder, are you okay?" She asked worriedly, tilting her head to the side to allow her yellow eye staring into Cinder's emerald ones. "Ugh. I'm fine, getting shocked by a horrible mixture of lightning and water only made it worse." He groaned out, slowly getting back up with a slight wobble.
By then, Stormfly had already moved to stand next to him, allowing him to lean on her if necessary. "Gonna be honest, probably would've drowned if my body wasn't used to absorbing and releasing lightning. You know, because I'd be unconscious." Stormfly squawked at his remark, just barely resisting the urge to smack him with her wings for such a worrisome thought, if not for the fact he was injured, no matter how minor it seemed. "Don't say things like that, idiot!" She scolded as they slowly walked toward a nearby path to the village.
Cinderwing had noticed that they were not too far from the docks, so it didn't take long before they entered the first section of the village. And the villagers were very clearly surprised when they saw him, a Night Fury just like Toothless, only bigger.
Both he and Stormfly could clearly hear their not-so-quiet murmuring. From comments on his larger size compared to Toothless, to his unique orange markings. And let's not forget his injuries, burns that covered his upper body, that was one of the many murmurs he heard—it was actually one of the main focuses. Halfway through the village, Cinderwing's legs stopped wobbling, so he stopped leaning on Stormfly, though still following beside her as they made their way through the village, with Cinder taking in the sight of dragons and humans being more or less at peace with each other.
"By Thor. It really is another Night Fury just like you said." Cinderwing glanced left to see Stoick the Vast; a quiet large and burly man, along with the Riders and their dragons walking toward them. Cinderwing began to stand on his hind legs with a slight wobble—though even when slightly injured he still held incredible balance—looking down at the Viking Chief, towering over him. Stoick merely chuckled. "Oh, you're a big one, aren't ye." Cinderwing let out a soft warble of laughter.
Hiccup walked over to him to check his wounds, though he only allowed him to do so when Stormfly had "threatened" to rub her paralyzing spines across his wounds instead because of a small hissing sound he'd made. Yea, she ended up nicking Cinder with one during a short training session, and found out that her spines could temporarily paralyze someone as long as they weren't directly hit, otherwise they would just be affected by their usual venom.
Cinderwing getting paralyzed was the result of such new knowledge, and the short training session.
"We should get Gothi to get a look at you once she's rested up from her crash, and after we get back." Hiccup said. Cinderwing huffed, moving back down on all fours as Meatlug walked next to him with a slight waddle, a questioning glint in her eyes. "Are you upset with your loss, Cinder?" She asked with a motherly tone.
Cinderwing shook his head in denial. "Not really, no. Losing the fight was a given with how I abruptly tackled the Skrill out of the sky, though I didn't expect to get knocked down in one shot like that." He huffed. "I honestly thought that its lightning blasts wouldn't affect me as much. But you live and learn, that's how life goes, not like I could have tested that on my own anyway." He watched as the others were already getting ready to leave to trap the Skrill back in the glacier, with Stormfly giving him a slight reluctance to leave his side. "I'll be fine." He crooned. "It'll heal within two days or so at the earliest, even without any treatment."
Stormfly exhaled, before her gaze shifted from worried to stern. "You better stay here until we get back. No secretly following us or anything of the sort." Cinderwing chuckled. "Of course, Madam Birdie, I'll do nothing to harm thou self." He replied dramatically. Stormfly rolled her eyes, before flying off to catch up with the others.
Cinderwing waited for a while before moving to explore the village, passing by many different huts with some having styles related to different dragons such as Deadly Nadders, Gronckles, and more. As he approached the small set of stairs that led to the Great Hall—more specifically, the one that had the wall that was marked by Speedstinger slashes—a group of children rushed over to him with childlike amazement in their eyes.
Cinderwing instinctively stiffened, but only for a moment before he moved slower as to not accidentally harm one of the children, being careful where he stepped as he laid down on the ground to be on a more manageable height for the children.
"Whoa, look at him. He's like Toothless!" One child said excitedly. "Yeah, but he's so much bigger!" Another commented, patting Cinder's snout, something of which he allowed as they were just children. He sometimes wonders whether his dragon self was a parental figure, at one point, it's not like he could remember everything, though it would make sense. He's definitely never had a mate before, that's not something so easily forgotten.
A while later, Cinderwing had allowed a few of them to swing from his tail, making small playful croons, warbles, and rumbles as the youngest ones continued to feel their hands on his scales. This went on for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half? Cinderwing wasn't really paying attention, instead using this small event to pass the time whilst he waited for the others to return. Cinderwing heard the flapping of wings before the thumping of feet touching the ground as the Dragon Riders landed behind him. Taking a glance behind him, he noticed that Hiccup and Toothless were not present.
"Where's Toothless?" He rumbled, slowly standing up as to not accidentally harm a child, especially the ones sitting close to his claws. He didn't bother asking about Hiccup as Toothless can't fly properly without him so they're usually together at all times. "They're still chasing the Skrill," Stormfly answered, getting a huff from Hookfang. "More like being chased by the Skrill."
"The Skrill didn't fall for the trap. Instead, it tried to trap Hiccup and Toothless in the glacier, before chasing them when they escaped," Meatlug added. "We're not fast enough to keep up with a Skrill, let alone Toothless." Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully, watching as Astrid got the children to disperse, with Fishlegs having to forcefully, but gently remove one from his tail. "So are we waiting for them here, or going back to the Edge?" Stormfly pondered for a moment before answering. "Hiccup made a small backup plan to return to Dragon's Edge if anything went wrong with the trap. So that the Skrill wouldn't continue attacking Berk. ...But sadly, nothing after that unfortunately."
Cinderwing rolls his wing-joints, having become a bit numb from having been used as a makeshift slide. "So that's where we go." As he prepared for flight, Stormfly stopped him. "Don't push yourself and take it easy. Please." She crooned, with an expression that said: I'm tired from having to dodge lightning beams, so don't try me. Cinderwing complied for the most part; he still flew ahead of the rest as they flew toward Dragon's Edge.
(Scene break)
They waited for Hiccup and Toothless to return at the dragon stables. Most of the dragons were inside with the exception of Cinder and Stormfly, the latter grooming the former to help with his burns. Though Cinderwing suspected that it was to make him feel embarrassed more than anything, since the grooming didn't help much, it did feel nice though, but he was not admitting that out loud. Cinderwing did end up growling at Hookfang when he'd begun to tease him, going as far as to shoot him with a miniature plasma blast—nowhere near enough to harm the Monstrous Nightmare but still more than enough to sting.
"You know, [Lick] you don't have to feel embarrassed [Lick] by this. It's a thing most packs of dragons do with each other." Cinderwing hummed, glancing at Stormfly as she groomed his wing. "I know. Which is why I'm tolerating this." He let out a low purr as she groomed a hard-to-reach area on his back, his eyes becoming half-lidded for a moment. Stormfly promptly stopped her grooming session and stared at him with amusement. "You've never been groomed like this, have you?" She chuckled, getting an irritated expression from Cinderwing in return.
However, before Cinderwing could retort, his ear nubs twitched at the sound of flapping wings. The flapping was quite fast, like they were desperate to not lose control. Not too far off from the island, he could see Toothless struggling to fly properly, something that was most likely caused by the fact that the fabric for his prosthetic tail was beige rather than the usual red. 'Probably got destroyed, so Hiccup was forced to use what he had to repair it,' he mused.
Toothless soon landed with barely any grace, with Hiccup giving a small grunt. And now that Cinder got a closer look, he could see that most of the fabric was torn, making Toothless's ability to fly off-balance, more unstable than it would have been even without his prosthetic. The gang of Dragon Riders soon rushed toward the duo with worried curiosity. Snotlout tried to play his off though, to seem like he didn't care, and the twins had gone for Toothless's tail.
"Hiccup! What happened?" Astrid questioned with obvious concern. "Where have you been?" Fishlegs asked with near equal concern. Hiccup let out a small, tired sigh. "It's a long story."
Tuffnut grabbed Toothless's tail, lifting it up. "Or is it a very short story?" Tuffnut said, before spreading out the prosthetic tail-fin to show off a portion of the Dragon Hunter insignia. "Looks to me like someone has changed their allegiance." He dropped Toothless's tail, making a gesture with his hand as if he had an idea. "I knew this day would come. Seize him!" He exclaimed whilst pointing at Hiccup, who had just gotten off Toothless, only for Ruffnut to tackle him to the ground as Hiccup rolled in his struggle to get free.
"What the— Would you..."
"Got you, traitor!"
Not a moment later, Fishlegs rushed in to help Hiccup get the female Thorston twin off him.
"Fishlegs is in on it too!" Tuffnut exclaimed, rushing to get Fishlegs, but not before the larger Viking jumped onto both Hiccup and Ruffnut, stopping them from moving to then have Tuffnut jump on top of him. "No, you don't," Tuffnut grunted.
"Okay, everybody, stop jumping on everybody," Hiccup said, getting up with a huff as everyone stood up. "How could you even think that?" Fishlegs asked Tuffnut with disbelief, before gesturing toward Hiccup. "Hiccup? A Dragon Hunter? Just the idea that he would even have anything to do with them! Huh!"
He turned away from the Thorston. "Actually, Fishlegs, let's not go quite that far," Hiccup said sheepishly. "Plan B didn't go too well." Toothless rumbled over to Cinderwing and Stormfly, the former facepalming and the latter huffing tiredly.
(Dragon Stables: Inside)
"So you mean to tell me that you lured the Skrill to the Dragon Hunters, and was just slow enough to not catch it before them after they shot it down?"
Toothless had a sheepish, yet disappointed expression as he was berated by his fellow Night Fury. He mentally kicked himself for not being fast enough to grab the downed Skrill, but Toothless also knew that it was due to the shoddy repair job that Hiccup had to do with his prosthetic. The material was simply not meant to be used that way, even if it was meant to help a ship sail. That's not even mentioning the holes that were already there, and that it quickly got worn down by the time they returned to the Edge.
"Yeah, I know it was a pretty stupid idea," Toothless grumbled, admitting the stupidity of said plan. "But, it was made in the spur of the moment." He added in an attempt to justify Hiccup's decision. Cinderwing sighed, his wings lowering themselves onto the wooden floor as he pondered. "We'll need to rescue the Skrill, that much is obvious." Toothless nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And put 'em back on ice." Cinderwing looked as though he was about to say something to object to re-trapping the Skrill, before instead deciding to keep silent for now.
He turned his attention toward the riders as they were discussing where the dragon hunters had most likely gone. "Hiccup, which way was that storm heading?" Fishlegs queried with a thoughtful expression. "East," Hiccup answered. "Then they will be going west," Fishlegs said, gesturing towards said direction. "That way, the Skrill can't harness the lightning and attack them."
"Good thinking, Fishlegs," Hiccup complemented with a nod. "There's a group of islands just west of where we were. Lots of secluded beaches and coves to hide in." He added. Spitelout babbled incoherent words, his voice having been affected by the lightning shock he'd experienced from the Skrill. "Dad says that we should've been there already," Snotlout said in his father's place, earning a glance of irritation from his father as it was not what he'd tried to say. Cinderwing glanced back at Toothless with a shrug of his wings. "I guess we're off then." Toothless nodded in agreement, walking over to his rider.
Cinderwing slightly grinned at a thought. "I wonder how much destruction a Skrill could cause with a power crystal." Toothless froze for a moment as he pondered, before shuddering slightly at the thought. "Yeah, no," Toothless quietly hissed. "Why'd you keep thinking such chaotic thoughts?" He queried. Cinder snorted. "I have a chaotic nature," he said proudly. "Really? Because Stormfly told me about how you had human children clinging to you just before our talk."
"Fuck you."
"I assume that's an insult?"
"It has multiple meanings. ...Bitch."
(Scene break)
Cinderwing and the Dragon Riders searched through the islands that Hiccup had mentioned earlier, so far having no luck finding the Dragon Hunters. The night sky was not helping them either, with the exceptions being Toothless and Cinder due to their natural night vision. Their luck soon turned around when Fishlegs and Meatlug returned from their search.
"Hiccup, I-I think I found them," Fishlegs began with a slight stutter. "There's a camp fire and a lot of singing in-in-in really deep voices around the other side of the island." He added with a continued stutter, deepening his own tone at the end. "Good find, Fishlegs," Hiccup acknowledged. "Lead the way."
As they all began to follow behind Fishlegs, Hookfang quietly snorted. Apparently not quiet enough as the Monstrous Nightmare was soon a target of one of Meatlug's rare, irritated glares, showing the opposite of her usually kind nature. "What is it, Hookfang? Another one of your snide comments?"
Hookfang immediately turned his gaze as much as he could whilst flying. "Ehem, uh, no-no, it's nothing." He faked a cough, accidentally spewing out a spark of fire, trying to distract himself from the Gronckle's ire.
Cinderwing and Barf & Belch snickered at Hookfang's situation as well as his nervous reaction to it. "Oh, choke on an eel you three."
(Location shift; Dragon Hunter camp)
The Riders spied on a group of hunters around a campfire from behind some thick brush, with the dragons standing a little ways behind so as to not be spotted and give away their position. Cinder was the only dragon that could get a good view of the hunters without the worry of being caught due to his cloaked state, something that he was very proud to have achieved so early on.
"Oh, tell the one about the Viking girl with the big hairy bunions."
Cinderwing tilted his head with a small amount of confusion. He couldn't tell who the hunters were talking about, though it seemed like it was something more of an inappropriate joke than anything, or some kind of kink or something they were sexually attracted to in a woman... or a man. Though he didn't think Vikings had those types of relationships, at least not in this era.
Hiccup turned away from his view on the hunters to face the others. "Okay, we'll quietly make our way along the tree line over to those cages." He pointed towards the cluster of cages. "That must be where they're holding the Skrill." Spitelout stood up, pointing his axe towards the visible hunters as he babbled incoherent words. "My dad says that's a terrible plan and that we should just attack. Wait, what?" Snotlout said with surprising accuracy, before getting surprised when he finished as his father began his attempt to rush out into battle only to be stopped by Cinder, who had tripped him with his tail before wrapping it around his legs and pulling the Viking back, all whilst remaining cloaked.
Hiccup looked at Spitelout with disapproval. "Really, Spitelout? We can't just rush in and hope for the best, not when we don't have an idea of how many hunters there are," Hiccup said. Spitelout grunted as Cinderwing uncloaked himself, revealing that he was now crouched low to the ground to remain out of view from the hunters as well as keeping the older Viking down with his tail. "Okay, we go with the plan. Quietly please." Cinderwing warbled in response to Hiccup's words, re-entering his cloaked state to take advantage of being able to walk out in the open without being seen, with his only worry being to not get bumped into by a random hunter.
Cinder prowled around multiple Dragon Hunters, weaving through them before jumping onto a cage as quietly as possible, freezing for a moment so as to not make a sudden movement that could bring attention from the hunter who was walking past. He decided to use his vantage point to see how well the others were faring. Once he spotted them, he noted that Spitelout was still trying to rush in to attack, though it was now Toothless who was stopping him whenever he tried. 'God, he's impulsive as fuck,' Cinderwing thought, before carefully jumping from cage to cage. All the cages were empty of dragons and he could see that the others were having similar luck in finding the Skrill, until he turned and noticed the lone cage that partially lay in the water near the lake shore. As well as the only one covered by a tarp.
'There you are.' Cinderwing mentally acknowledged. 'I almost forgot that you'd have to be touching water to not be able to use your lightning.' He crawled down the cage he was on top of, stealthily making his way towards the Skrill's cage so as to not alert the hunter that guarded it. Standing behind the female hunter, Cinder uncloaked and quickly dispatched her by chomping on her head and quickly jerking his head to the side. [Crack!] The sound that followed signified her quick death by the snapping of her neck. Cinderwing quickly disposed of the body by pushing it into the water, carefully as to not cause a splash before forcing the body further down into the water as it floated away as it sank. He focused his attention toward the cage. "Now then, let's uncover the beast." He pulled the tarp off, revealing the Skrill who was snarling at him. "I was really hoping you'd drown."
Cinderwing huffed at his words. "Yeah well, I'm sadly here to rescue you." He retorted, standing on his hind legs as he gripped the rectangular bars of the cage, aiming to pull it out of the water. "I suggest you work with me here and start pushing your cage whilst I pull, we can fight later." Cinderwing began to jerk back as he pulled against the cage; it barely budged no matter how hard he pulled. With a sigh of clear reluctance, the Skrill began to ram into the cage with as much force as he could muster with the amount of space he had, allowing them to slowly, but surely gain progress in moving the cage onto the sand.
However, before any further progress could be made, "Uh-uh-uhh. I wouldn't do that if I were you, uhm, what was his name? Oh, Cinder! Yes, Cinder." Cinderwing glanced behind him to see Dagur, Ryker, lower-ranking Dragon Hunters, and the captured Dragon Riders. Not to mention that they were aiming dragon-root arrows at him. Ryker chuckled darkly, his scarred face only making him seem more menacing. "It seems that you were right, Dagur. This one likes to wander off from the rest. A lone wolf." Cinderwing growled viciously, not bothering to speak when the hunter leader couldn't understand him.
"And he's in the water, so he can't use that lightning thing he does either," Dagur stated with manic-like excitement. Cinder glanced down at his feet/paws, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Think you can risk shooting them?" He quietly asked the Skrill, who shook his head in denial. "No. I'm not far enough out of the water to risk such an endeavor. Not without getting electrocuted, something that would be amplified by this shiny box. Or cage as you called it." Cinderwing hissed in irritation at the answer. "See, old man." Dagur gestured towards the unmoving Night Fury. Ryker growled at the nickname. "I told you he's a smart one. He knows he can't move without getting pelted by our arrows." Ryker placed a hand on his chin as he pondered on whether or not to have the dragon shot down while he had the opportunity, or to go with something more... personal.
Cinderwing glanced around before narrowing his eyes into slits. "I have a plan. Not a good one, but it'll have to do." His grip on the bars tightened as he very slowly lowered himself, before suddenly jumping, using the cage to essentially vault over to the other side and just barely avoiding all but one arrow that he quickly ripped out. Cinderwing's vision slowly blurred as he began to feel a slight daze creeping into his mind. Before it could take hold, he began to push against the cage, nearly pushing it over on the first try, before finally getting out the water and onto the sand on the second attempt when the Skrill gave one final push from within the cage.
As he exited the water, lightning began to strike onto the cage with such intensity that the metal became brittle enough to break through. [Clang!] Now free from his imprisonment, the Skrill began to refuel his lightning reserves, the excess lightning unintentionally flowing into Cinder, clearing him of most of his dazed state. With a roar of defiance, the Skrill shot short bursts of lightning at the Dragon Hunters, forcing the less brave to flee before he launched into the air and began to chase off the remaining men and women.
Cinderwing walked over to the riders with a slight wobble, freeing Hiccup from his bindings so that he could in turn free the other riders along with the dragons whilst Cinder took the time to lay down for a bit of rest to help stave off the dragon-root.
Taking multiple deep breaths, Cinderwing didn't bother to deny the gentle touch of Fishlegs's hands as he checked his arrow wound. "It's not too deep, it's already stopped bleeding," he muttered. Fishlegs walked over to Meatlug to search for any bandages he might have in his pouch. As he searched for the bandages, Stormfly walked over to Cinder and began to lick his wound, cleaning it of blood as well as starting the clotting process due to her saliva. Once he found the bandages, Fishlegs immediately walked back to Cinderwing and began wrapping them around the dragon's back as best he could. "There, that should do it until we get back to the Edge." Cinderwing shook his head at Fishlegs's words, only now realizing that the Viking had placed bandages on him. He decided to leave it be for now and instead focused his attention to the Skrill who had just landed not far in front of him, wings splayed out and ready for flight if any of the riders—mainly Spitelout—tried anything.
Lighting crackled around the Skrill's body, becoming more violent for but a second when Hiccup took a step forward. "Okay then." Hiccup raised his hands in surrender, taking a step back to show that he wouldn't progress any further. Surprisingly, the lightning that surrounded the Skrill ceased as he took a few steps forward before slightly bowing his head in respect toward Cinderwing, with the riders and their dragons—especially Toothless—watching the action with confusion.
"I suppose I can put my grudge aside for now, due to your group rescuing me." The Skrill began, earning a raised brow from Cinder. "Even when those two were the reason you were captured in the first place?" Cinder queried. The Skrill huffed with slight annoyance. "Yes. Though I do expect to have a battle with you once you are fully recovered." Cinderwing nodded. "Of course." He bowed his head with similar respect.
The smallest of smirks curled up the Skrill's lips as he prepared for flight. "Then I hope that the next time I see you, it'll be in battle." A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky and onto the Skrill, the smoke clearing to reveal that he was gone. One of the Skrill's lesser known abilities; the ability to traverse through lightning itself, though not used for combat as its true purpose was for high-speed travel, and when used in a storm, almost no dragon could escape from its might.
The Dragon Riders relaxed as the tension in the air blew away, eventually ending with the riders and their dragons staring at Cinderwing with disbelief. "What?" Cinder wondered, before the realization of their stares came to mind. "I don't always end things with a fight, you know. Did we not talk about this before?" Stormfly shook her head. "Sorry, it's probably just the shock with how... calmly the Skrill left." The other dragons nodded in agreement.
(Scene break)
After returning Spitelout to Berk—with Cinder giving him a light electrical shock that gave him his voice back—and after he had a good talk with his son about the assumptions he made, the Dragon Riders returned to Dragon's Edge. Their return took longer than anticipated as they had to fly at a slower speed for most of the journey due to the dragon-root still affecting Cinder to a small degree, even after waiting it out for an hour.
By now, Cinderwing would have returned to his den, if not for Stormfly's insistence that he stay with the other dragons in the stables. That way, if something happened—such as an infection—the riders would be close by to help. Though he didn't stop insisting that he could just sleep in his lagoon and that its heat would keep the wound from becoming infected, nonetheless he ended up sharing a stall with Stormfly, with said dragoness using his body as a pillow, with the rest of her body being curled around him.
"Do you really have to use me as a pillow?" Cinderwing asked with a sigh. Stormfly only nuzzled deeper into his side with a hum of satisfaction. "Yes. You're surprisingly warm, it's very comfortable," she answered softly, her voice slightly muffled.
With one final sigh of defeat, Cinder rested his head on the wooden floor and slowly fell asleep.
(End)
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[dimensional breach detected]
[loading possible concept]
In a large valley that consisted of mostly dirt, stone and a few trees, the sound of revving engines could be heard as three metallic creatures sped across the ground, weaving between boulders and even using the more angular ones as ramps. Their appearance resembled that of Velociraptors or Utahraptors in terms of shape, yet also resembled machines with their rusted silver metal plating, clamp-like head and jaws, as well as tracked wheels for feet that they used to roll across the ground at high speeds while still retaining their agility. They also had a sickle claw at the end that was used for stabbing and restraining their prey.
Currently, these robotic creatures were being chased by a larger, more robust robotic creature, one that whilst slower, had a much more powerful engine than the smaller creatures, allowing for it to chase them for longer than they could sustain without rest. The larger creatures tinted blue optic conveying frustration as it released a loud mechanical roar that echoed across the valley and ended up startling one of the smaller creatures that was clutching a black, drill-like object to trip and fall onto the ground, dropping the object.
Heavy duty, tank-like treads rolled across the ground toward the small robotic creature, the large creature stared down at the smaller creature with annoyance as the smaller one began to shake with fear. Blue optics rolled as the large creature bent down seemingly to grab the smaller creature, who shut their own cyan optics and buried its head into its chest, not knowing that the larger creature had opted to grab the drill-like object. The large creature sighed softly with annoyance, clutching the object in its claws that looked strikingly similar to the smaller creature's own, only with four digits instead of three, as well as looking a little more blocky but still just as sharp.
The smaller creature looked up to see that it wasn't harmed, yet fear still lingered in its optics. It laid there, seemingly frozen in place before the larger creature spoke. "I'm not gonna hurt ya, little guy. Just taking back what you stole." A surprisingly soft, feminine voice exited the large creature's voice-box, her right claws digits shifting places, splaying out to form a more typical hand. She used her right hand to shoo the creature away. "Go, little Scraptor. Before your pack-mates are too far away for you to follow." The smaller creature, now known as a Scraptor, warily got up before quickly speeding away towards the direction its fellow Scraptors had gone.
Her grip tightened slightly around the object she retrieved, before turning around and rolling back the way she came. As mentioned before, she had large, heavy-duty tank-like treads, but she also had a blocky shaped frame with scratched white metallic plating, with red markings that covered most of her body. Her tail was a light grey, and resembled a long, highly articulated excavator crane arm, though instead of a circular wrecking ball attached to the winch, she had oval shaped one, that could split open to become a giant claw and had three drills at each claws tips, though it seemed as though one was missing.
"I'll ask Twist-it to attach it when I get back." She muttered. "Should definitely grab a piece of scrap on the way back for her to snack on." She revved her powerful engine, increasing her speed as well as passing by a group of dump-truck-like robotic creatures that immediately raced away when they noticed her. "It's a T-Trux! Drive for your lives!" The "T-Trux" exhaled a sigh. "I'm not a T-trux. Part T-trux, yes but not a full T-trux." She muttered to herself. She was also correct as her head was slightly narrower and longer than a normal T-trux, but not by so much that she couldn't deal an equal amount of damage of a normal T-trux. In fact, she had sharp "teeth" similar to the Scraptors mixed with the crushing metal teeth of the T-trux.
The drive to her den didn't take long with her speed. As she rolled over to the entrance, she had to bend down a little to fit through the door, but after she was inside there was more than enough room for her to stand at her full height with space to spare. "Oh, you're back already?" A small robotic lizard said in a feminine voice. "Must have really chased 'em Scraptors for the last part for your wrecking ball-claw-drill thingamajig, or whatever you want to call it." She added, using the small magnets on her feet to climb up to the "T-trux's" head with ease.
"Yea. It was annoying, but I got it." The "T-trux" lifted her arm that held the drill, which when you take a closer look you could see that it had some articulated joints. "Will you be able to attach it soon, Twist-it?" Twist-it huffed. "Of course I can, we have all the parts. Just don't let your excitement get your screws in a twist, Scarlet, it'll still take some time to get attached." Twist-it climbed down to Scarlet's left arm, grabbing the drill in her mouth with surprising ease for something her size—as if its weight didn't bother her—and climbing down the rest of Scarlet's frame, trotting over to an organized pile of scrap, screws, drill-bits, gears and other parts.
Scarlet's tail wagged slightly with barely contained excitement. "I know it's just, I'll finally be able to use my new tail's claw and drill functions once it's attached." She said with a healthy amount of enthusiasm. Twist-it collected all the required parts to attach the new drill-piece to Scarlet's tail, turning to the larger trux as an appendage on her head flipped open, before a short yet focused flame blew out for but a second. "Lower your tail's chain and I can get started."
[concept end]