This is starting to get annoying, to any and all bots stop messaging me about making my story into a comic, and if you aren't a bot, please don't ask as the first thing you review for the story because that only makes me and everyone else think you're bots when you're messages are so similar
There is a hint at the end of the chapter, all I will say is that it confirms that I will make an eventual sequel for the Nine Realms, so long as it's still available.
Episode 13
"Speech"
'Thought'
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(3rd POV)
Arrows were being fired at the Dragon Riders as they attacked a fleet of dragon hunter ships, particularly the ones mainly commanded by Ryker. Toothless dodged a volley of arrows that targeted him, with Hiccup spotting the hunters preparing a flaming boulder. "Fishlegs, flaming boulder!" He called out. The flaming boulder was catapulted at Fishlegs, only to be caught in Meatlug's mouth, to which she ate the boulder. "See, girl? I told you we'd have time to eat," Fishlegs said, scratching the dragon's head affectionately.
Stormfly flew in behind the catapult, setting it ablaze as she flew past. "More arrows coming next, guys!" Astrid called out from Stormfly's saddle as the dragon flew higher and out of range of the arrows. The arrows that were aimed at the twins and their Zippleback were blocked by Toothless, Hookfang, and Cinderwing, who were all wearing their armor, with the former two only having armor on their chests and stomachs as opposed to Cinder's near full-body armor. "Ha-ha-ha. Hell yeah! I told you you had nothing to worry about!" Cinderwing called out to the other two armored dragons, who rolled their eyes in response. The three dragons and two riders regrouped higher up in the air with Stormfly and Astrid, as well as Fishlegs and Meatlug who had joined after lava-blasting the two hunters that had shot at the armored dragons.
"Hey, bud, Cinder. Let's set these guys free," Hiccup said, patting Toothless's neck as both he and Cinderwing warbled in agreement. Toothless then shot a plasma blast at the trap door that led to the lower deck, shattering it to splinters before they dove into the ship. Hiccup pulled down the chains while Toothless hopped up so he could grab them, and Cinderwing coaxed the once-imprisoned dragons to follow them if they wanted to escape—which they did.
Soon after, they all fled out the trap door, flying high into the sky and out of reach of the hunters' arrows and catapults before flying away from the ship.
Ryker clenched his fists in anger as he watched their escape with his lone left eye, the other having been blinded by Cinderwing. "I keep saying, 'Don't underestimate them.' And what do you do?" Dagur began with surprising calmness. "You underestimate them!" He screamed, before quickly jumping back to dodge Stormfly's volley of spines, one of which Ryker had blocked with his arm-guard. "Someone is giving them information," Ryker growled. "Someone who knows our every move." As he finished, his lone eye tracked Heather and Windshear flying around the ship.
Heather spotted Snotlout and Hookfang about to fly around a sea-stack. "Sorry about this, Snotlout," she murmured, before having Windshear blast the sea-stack, causing Hookfang to yank his body back in surprise as well as accidentally throwing his rider off. "Hookfang!" Hookfang looked down to see Snotlout's unwilling descent while he screamed like a girl until he was caught by the twins. "Well, that had to be embarrassing," Tuffnut commented with a snort. "Who knew you had such a feminine scream?" Ruffnut rhetorically questioned, just as Barf threw Snotlout up and onto his neck behind the female Thorston with another scream.
Windshear chased the Zippleback around, blasting short beams of white-hot fire, though during one of Barf & Belch's dodges, Ruffnut ended up falling off though luckily was caught by Hookfang. "Really? Her, he saves?" Snotlout complained that his own dragon had saved a different rider instead of him. "Thanks a lot, Hookfang." He called out as the dragon flew by higher into the air. Ruffnut gripped her hands around Hookfang's horns. "I know I'm not as stocky or annoying as Snotlout, but let's try and work together, okay?" She asked with a surprising amount of sensibility as she roughly steered Hookfang toward the hunter ship, dodging two of their nets before being caught and falling into the ocean.
"Ugh." Heather cringed, upset that she couldn't help Ruffnut without giving herself up as a spy. "They're down! Pull them aboard!" Dagur urged for the two hunters beside him to hurry and pull the captured dragon and rider from the water, before green gas began to rise onto the ship. "Okay, Snotlout, you gas, I spark," Tuffnut said, out of view. "O-ok. I got it, I got it! Okay!" The gas continued to spill over the deck, until finally being ignited and exploding. "Yes! How awesome are we?" Tuffnut exclaimed with excitement. "Uhm, let me think. Totally awesome! That's who we are," Snotlout answered with equal enthusiasm. "Alright!" Tuffnut high-fived Snotlout as Hookfang raised his head above the railing of the ship. "Hey. When you're done handing out the Viking of the Year awards, you mind getting us outta here?" She asked. The two male Vikings turned to each other. "Shall we?" Snotlout asked with a smirk. "We shall," Tuffnut replied with a similar smirk.
They quickly sped away from the ship, both Tuffnut and Snotlout yelling with excitement. "That was... indescribable!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "You! Get off my dragon," Ruffnut said with a commanding tone. "Actually, my boy, Snot, and I are gonna hang for a bit," Tuffnut replied, denying his sister's "proposal" to swap back to her dragon with Snotlout. "You know, relive the glory of battle." Tuffnut added. "You don't mind riding Hookfang do you, sis?" He asked with a suave smirk.
Ruffnut scoffed. "Ugh! Come on Hookfang." She responded. "Grr. Fuck you Snotlout. Cinder taught me what that means!" Hookfang growled, before flying ahead to catch up with the others.
Stormfly and Astrid burst out of the water near the ship, flying high above the sea until they were essentially face to face with Windshear and Heather. "Single spine shot, girl," Astrid said, patting Stormfly's cheek. "Got it." Her tail spines flared as she prepared to launch a single shot at the Razorwhip.
Over with Heather, she patted Windshear's neck affectionately. "Sorry, Windshear, but this has to look real." She whispered. Her dragon nodded. "I understand." Stormfly quickly swung her tail, launching a singular spine at Windshear who had turned just ever so slightly to allow it to nick her tail, causing her to fall onto the ship. While normally, the spine nicking her tail would have slightly paralyzed her, Windshear's natural metal-scales prevented it from piercing into her skin.
Stormfly flew over to regroup with the others, bumping wings with Cinder as she slowed beside him. He chuckled. "You know, it's almost like you and Windshear are playing a game of who can act better. A dangerous game, but still." Stormfly chortled softly, yet a healthy amount of worry seeped into her throat. "But if we lose the game, there's a chance we might lose Heather and Windshear," she said, her voice wavering with worry.
(Scene break)
A short burst of blue magnesium streaked across the ground, aimed towards a dodging Cinderwing before returning to its original color as it dissipated. "Whoa, haha! You're getting better at that, it's starting to turn blue for a bit. It got hotter too." Stormfly's expression brightened at Cinder's words, before she shot a small volley of her tail spines at him. "Thanks. Having any luck with that orange plasma blast you've been working on?" Cinderwing rolled to his right to dodge the spines, shooting a plasma blast at her before he shook his head. "No luck so far. Keeps exploding in my face, even when I try to make a small blast."
He jumped into the air, shooting three plasma blasts at three painted barrels behind Stormfly, with only two hitting their mark as one was intercepted by Stormfly's magnesium blast. "Nice try." Stormfly commented with a playful smirk, before suddenly firing a magnesium blast at the barrels on Cinderwing's side of the training grounds—that he had blocked with his wings—as well as a few spine shots behind it that ended up hitting two barrels. Cinderwing took a quick glance behind him to see the two destroyed barrels, before quickly noticing that Stormfly had only one left. "I'd say we're both pretty close to winning. Only one barrel left," he noted, as they both began to charge their respective blasts.
Cinderwing noted how Stormfly's magnesium blast turned blue just before they fired at the same time. Heat radiated from the blast point when Stormfly's blue magnesium blast met with Cinder's electrified plasma blast, causing a small explosion that burned away the grass and charred the dirt. Both dragons lowered their wings that had gone up to cover their eyes from the surprisingly bright light of the explosion. They were more surprised to see that it hadn't done much damage to the surrounding area, just a dark circle where the blast point was. "Well... that was not the expected result," Cinderwing stated with a hint of confusion. Stormfly huffed, her tail spines flaring ever so slightly. "And what was your expected result?"
Cinderwing was far too deep in his thoughts to notice what Stormfly was planning. "A much—and I mean—much larger explosion, with a lot more damage to the surrounding flora too—." He was interrupted when two of Stormfly's spines whizzed past his head, hitting his final barrel with such force that it was reduced to splinters.
Cinderwing stared at her with a deadpan expression, shaking a piece of wood off his tail. "Really. Did you really just do that?." Stormfly chortled, covering her mouth with a wing. "Yes, I did. It's something you taught me after all: always take your enemies by surprise whenever you have the opportunity," she answered with a mischievous tone.
A chuffed expression formed on Cinderwing's face. "Using my own words against me. ...Heh, nice," he chuckled. "Just keep doing that and you'll be fine taking on some stronger dragons." He added encouragingly, clearly liking her mischievous side.
Stormfly giggled, her body instinctively, yet subtly shifting in a suggestive manner before she caught herself. A small blush grew on Stormfly's cheeks at the realization of what she'd done, before she discreetly coughed to distract herself. Luckily for her, Cinderwing hadn't noticed any of her suggestive body language. No matter how instinctual it may have seemed, it would have been embarrassing, especially since she hadn't felt opposed to the idea.
"Anyway, wanna go for round 7? We still got a few more barrels," Cinderwing asked, hopping on his feet with excitement. Stormfly's semi-embarrassed expression slowly shifted to worry, before becoming more concerned as her wings slightly drooped. Cinder noticed her sudden musings, so he walked up to her and pressed himself against her side to comfort her before sitting next to her. "You're still worried about those two?"
Stormfly nodded in response, lowering herself down to a sitting position. "Don't worry, they'll be fine. And if anything happens we'll get them out." Stormfly exhaled, bringing him into a side hug with her wing. "I know," she muttered, pressing herself a little closer into his side. "I know that I shouldn't be worrying so much. Both Heather and Windshear are smart, they can take care of themselves." She snorted, before amusement filled her tone. "She's smart like Hiccup, only for fighting instead of... uhm...." Cinderwing flicked her chin with an ear-nub. "Inventions, they're called inventions." Stormfly nodded. "Yeah, that." They took a moment of silence to watch the afternoon sun, the sound of the waves that collided with the cliff where the training ground was located, and the wind blowing against the trees.
"This is nice. ...The quiet, I mean."
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"This is what you had since before we came here. It's... peaceful, almost makes you forget about the Dragon Hunters."
"Hmm. I guess it does." Cinderwing muttered, taking a moment to burn this moment in his memory. "Well, we should get going, Snotlout and Tuffnut have no doubt made a mess that we'd have to help clean up." Stormfly snorted into a laugh. "Y-yea, Ruffnut has been very upset about Snotlout and Tuffnut's recent... best-friendship." Cinderwing nudged her with a wing. "You're getting better at using words like a human. Even mushing them together," he laughed. Cinderwing got up and walked toward the edge of the cliff before glancing back at Stormfly. "I think we could do a little flight training on the way back, no?"
Cinderwing leaned forward, clutching the edge and using it to pull himself off the cliff to get a small boost as he entered a nosedive before pulling up just before he reached the rocky ground. Stormfly sighed at his theatrics, before doing something similar, slowly flying up next to him. "What kind of mess do you think they made? The usual explosions, or maybe something new since Snotlout is replacing Ruffnut in this situation?" Cinderwing hummed thoughtfully at the question, flipping around to glide upside down to look at Stormfly who was slightly behind him. "To be honest, they're probably dealing with a pissed off Ruffnut and Hookfang, or... they stole the Dragon Eye and are playing with it as if it was a toy," he answered. "It might be both, actually," he added.
Stormfly snorted, before taking a confused glance that quickly turned into slight bewilderment at his lower chest and stomach, noticing the purple gleam of his armor. More specifically, the thin, yet durable Belzium under-plating. "You're still wearing some armor?"
Cinderwing looked down at his chest, before he shrugged. "Yeah. Never know when you'll get taken by surprise and shot in the stomach, sadly a pretty vulnerable spot for any dragon," he said as he flipped back over. "And you feel comfortable with it on? No constant desire to itch?" She wondered.
"Nope." Cinderwing shook his head in denial. "...I will admit it did itch a little at first, but it doesn't anymore. It doesn't take long to get used to it, maybe I just need to stick it to ya for a while." Stormfly sighed. "You can be so insufferable sometimes, you know." She said with a tone of indifference. "I'll be taking that as a compliment." He rebutted, earning an eye roll from the Deadly Nadder.
(Scene break)
Turns out, Snotlout and Tuffnut were dealing with both Hookfang's flaming irritation, and Ruffnut's wrath as they both continued to chase the two self-proclaimed best friends all over the island for the rest of the afternoon. By the time things had mellowed out, the moon was already high in the sky and the riders, their dragons and Cinderwing—with the exception of Snotlout, Tuffnut, Barf & Belch—were inside the clubhouse, just hanging out while they ate dinner. "You know, Ruffnut, you just have to wait until those two get bored of each other's company, right?" Astrid asked, taking a bite of her lamb chop. "Uh, yeah, of course I know that." Ruffnut replied, crossing her arms as she pouted slightly with a sigh. "I just.... I just don't feel like waiting, you know. We were supposed to prank Fishlegs today, but that's obviously a bust," she admitted, getting a stare from Fishlegs. "Oh! Don't tell Tuff I said that." Fishlegs rolled his eyes in annoyance as he continued eating.
Whilst the riders continued to converse, Stormfly, Toothless, and Hookfang watched Cinder as he did his best to read a short note that Hiccup had written on a paper for him, and do his best to copy it on another paper. He hissed in irritation; Hiccup had told him the first portion of the note, but he still didn't understand the rest. Luckily, with some struggling, he was able to jot down the first portion: his notes on the blue power crystal. "The blue crystal can empower a dragon's blast by an unknown margin, s-size may deter-determine how much it gets boosted." Cinder read aloud, tracing the words with a claw as he did. He knew how to read, obviously, but this was an entirely new language so the fact that he could understand this much in a short time was incredible, no matter how frustrated he currently was.
Hookfang moved the claw on his wing forward, only to get slapped away by Cinder. "Don't." Hookfang scoffed with annoyance. "I get why you want to write in their language, but why're you trying so hard to get them to understand you?" he asked, only it was Toothless who answered. "Because then we can have conversations with our riders, he'll have to translete—." He mispronounced when he was interrupted. "Translate." Cinderwing corrected. "He'll have to translate, but we'd be able to do so much more too," Toothless continued. "Like having an easier time helping dragons or dealing with the Dragon Hunters because we'd be able to plan better without the language barrier." He added with enthusiasm, clearly excited about the prospect of talking to Hiccup some more.
Whilst they could just visit Huttsgalor and get Dak and Leyla to translate, they couldn't just barge in and ask whenever—it'd be rude to go there just for that, and they had Dragon Hunters to deal with so they didn't always have the time. "We should visit when we get the chance, maybe bring the twins this time?" Stormfly suggested, inviting the twins with some reluctance due to their destructive behavior. "Maybe Snotlout too? Hmm, no, Astrid dealing with the twins would be enough for a day." Toothless added.
[Snap!]
"Fuck!" Cinderwing cursed. Both humans and dragons turned to him to see that the pencil that Hiccup had given him had snapped in his grip. Lightning coursed across his dorsal spines in response to his irritation. This was the fifth time the pencil broke and his paw was sore due to having had to hold said pencil in an uncomfortable position to even write properly. Cinderwing slammed his clenched right paw into the wooden floor, getting up in a bipedal stance and walking out the door, his tail knocking over a box of weapons as he said nothing.
"Wonder what got his scales in a twist?" Ruffnut questioned rhetorically, before a loud, frustrated roar broke the silence. "Fucking bitch!" Hiccup got up, walked over to pick up the pencil and papers before placing them on the table to look them over. Astrid peeked over his shoulder to get a look at the page. "Huh. He actually did pretty good with copying it down, a little sloppy but still good for a dragon," she said with a hint of surprise.
"How did you figure out that he wanted to learn how to write, anyway?" Fishlegs asked with his usual curiosity. Hiccup glanced at him before exhaling a sigh. "A very painfully frustrating game of charades that took about an hour—." Hiccup was interrupted by the small screech of a Terrible Terror, one that had a small scroll attached to its leg.
(Location: undisclosed sea-stack)
"So, how much longer do you think we'll have to wait?" Toothless questioned, laying on his back on the hard stone, a bored gaze in his green eyes. Cinderwing—who was also laying on his back—shrugged, gazing up at the very visible stars, something that he rarely experienced as a human, at least from what he could remember. Everything was slowly fading away. Though he still kept his intelligence and most of his knowledge, things about his past life such as family and friends were becoming increasingly blurry, and he only had fragments of his dragon memories from before he awoke.
"A few more minutes, maybe." He replied, staring at a particularly bright star. "To be fair, we got here pretty fast, and she probably wanted us to get here before her." He added, before they heard the metallic flapping of Windshear's wings. "Speak of the Purple Death, and she shall appear." Cinderwing said as both he and Toothless flipped over to get up. "You sure you weren't followed?" Astrid asked as Windshear landed, both her and Hiccup walking towards her. "Positive." Heather replied as Windshear trotted towards the other dragons. "Hey, guys!" Windshear greeted, accepting a greeting nuzzle from both Toothless and Stormfly. "Yo." Cinderwing greeted with a wave.
Windshear, Stormfly and Toothless began to play together for a few moments, chasing each other around the sea-stack whilst Cinder focused on the riders' conversation. "...Viggo suspects Ryker and Dagur. He asked me to go with him to capture the Flightmare," Heather informed, hands moving to her hips. "Just me, Windshear, and him." She added, though suspicion crept up Hiccup's spine. "Flightmare? Why would Viggo want the Flightmare?" He wondered, choosing not to voice his suspicions about Heather going alone with the Hunter leader. Cinderwing quietly growled, the memory of the trap. "Hiccup you're missing the point." Heather said. "He does that from time to time." Astrid said, a small smile on her lips. "No, no I don't." Hiccup rebutted.
"Look, it's me, Viggo and Windshear. The perfect time for an ambush." As Heather said this, Cinderwing walked over to the other three dragons, who were lying down next to each other. "Hey, Cinder, how've you been?" He shrugged his wings in response. "Good, a little irritated, but good." He replied. "I actually need to talk to you about this whole thing going on with you and Heather going in alone with Viggo." Windshear tilted her head, but gestured with her tail for him to continue. "I don't think he suspects Ryker or Dagur. I think he suspects Heather."
"And why do you think that?" She asked with a hint of concern. "Why would he suspect his own brother when they've been hunting dragons for years without much problem." He began, tapping his claw on the stone. "Viggo's smart so if I were him, I wouldn't suspect Dagur for long, especially with his tendency to blurt stuff out his own mouth from what I'm told." Toothless and Stormfly nodded; Dagur did say many of his thoughts out loud. "Heather is the only one out of the three suspects who rides a dragon. So you both could, and have, flown off to give us information." Windshear's metallic lips became a thin line as she put more thought into his words. "It... makes sense, with how smart all the hunters say he is. Dagur even mentioned that Ryker was afraid of him."
Toothless looked surprised at that. "Oh, shit, really?" Windshear stared at him, before nodding slowly. "Don't mind his words, Cinderwing's rubbing off on him." Stormfly said. Toothless huffed, as Windshear chuckled. "I'll be careful to not let my guard down. Since we're going after the Flightmare, he'll probably use it against us the first chance he gets." Cinderwing nodded, glancing at the riders to see that they were finishing up their conversation. "That's all I ask."
(Scene break)
In the dead of night, the Dragon Riders were flying towards the island that Heather had marked on the map for the Flightmare's current location. Cinderwing dawned his full armor, and though its weight made him a bit slower, the protection it gave outweighed that con. Sadly, a more major con was that he couldn't use his lightning abilities to their full effect, which meant no lightning pulses or full-powered plasma beams.
"You know, I don't completely understand why you wouldn't wear your armor during this. We're going against the Dragon Hunters leader, so having the armor is a huge advantage," Cinderwing said to Hookfang, whilst he flew beside Toothless. "Well, other than the obvious itchiness, it slows us down and unlike yours ours makes noise when we walk or run," Toothless partly replied. "Yeah, not all of us have the full benefits of Belzium like you and Toothless," Hookfang remarked, a hint of jealousy in his tone.
Cinderwing rolled his eyes, glancing back at the fire dragon with a smirk. "We can easily go to Huttsgalor and buy or trade for Belzium, Hookfang." His smirk grew as he saw the irritation on Hookfang's face. "Or are you just nitpicking just to nitpick? Because you have the least armor out of the three of us because you can't handle having it on your back." Before Hookfang could retort or make a comeback with a snide remark, Fishlegs suddenly spoke up, forcing him to pay attention lest he miss something genuinely important. "Whoa! Heather's tracking and mapping skills are quite extraordinary. Is there no end to that girl's talents?" Hookfang rolled his eyes at the unimportant information. "Uhm, can we just talk about the elephant in the sky for a second?" Tuffnut asked.
"No," Hiccup flatly denied.
"Cool." Tuffnut replied, deciding to continue anyway. "Why do we think Viggo wants the Flightmare so badly?" He asked a genuinely good question. "Maybe Viggo likes the way that algae stuff makes you glow when you rub it all over yourself," Ruffnut added, earning a short chuckle from her brother. "You know what? You may not actually be that far off. He's gotta be using its algae or its paralyzing spray for somethin'," Hiccup wondered. "We could ask him ourselves, if we were waiting for him when he gets there," Astrid said with a healthy amount of sarcasm.
They closed in on the island, flying until they reached a cliff that had a view of the river of glowing blue algae in the ocean. Cinderwing whistled in amazement—or at least the draconic equivalent to a whistle—he had never seen this dragon before, though he remembered fragments from the show, seeing it in person was so much better. It was surprisingly beautiful, yet looked like something out of a nightmare with its white-dotted eyes. It had also distracted him from most of what Hiccup had just said. "...Viggo doesn't get anywhere near that dragon." That much was obvious to Cinderwing, though he did wonder what patterns he'd get if he ate some of that glowing algae.
"How will we know when Viggo's here?" Fishlegs asked, just before Toothless wordlessly growled toward the ocean. "He already is," Hiccup stated, turning to walk toward the twins. "Okay, Ruff, Tuff, make sure you get enough algae—." Ruffnut cut him off as he moved to give them a small bundle bag. "...To lure the Flightmare away. We know," she finished for Hiccup sarcastically as she not-so-gently grabbed the bundle. "Heh, this guy never stops. 'Lure the Flightmare. Don't eat the algae.' Humph," Tuffnut mockingly complained. "Ridiculous. I mean, why would we eat the algae?" Cinderwing stared at them, not surprised when a mischievous realization crossed their face. "Why wouldn't we eat the algae?" They said in unison, getting on Barf & Belch.
(Windshear)
Windshear roared with fury as she fought her way through the hoard of hunters that were trying to lock her in a cage. Windshear immediately knew this meant that Viggo had found out that Heather was the spy, so she did her best to get through the hunters without killing them... until she couldn't. White-hot, bluish fire raged through the corridor of the lower deck, burning the flesh of all who stood in its path, allowing her to move forward more quickly to make her escape. The wooden floor had also quickly become black, with some patches of silver revealing the dragon-proof metal beneath. Not that she cared at the moment, as she was busy slicing a Dragon Hunter in half with her tail before shooting her barbed tail spines into a few more.
"Argh!" She growled as she rammed into the door, forcing it open. Windshear should've known they'd been found out when Viggo had given them the room so close to the cages. She really berated herself for letting her guard down enough to not notice it sooner, but that didn't matter anymore; she had to get to Heather now! Any hunter with a bow—and enough space—fired dragon-root arrows at her. In quick response, she had lowered her wings enough to protect most of her underside, whilst lowering her head enough to let the arrows bounce off her upper armor as she charged forward, having ended up ramming a hunter into the wall and piercing him with her horn.
"Take that thing down!"
"It's hard without the catapults! The dragon's armor is too strong for our arrows and weapons, and it's protecting its underbelly!"
Windshear growled hatefully before charging at the hunters, whitish-blue flames engulfing her maw.
(Scene break)
(Toothless)
Arrows bounced off his armor whilst he shot a few plasma blasts at Ryker's ship, having had to move out of the way of the Flightmare as it chased the twins who were covered in the glowing algae: its food source. Toothless rumbled with annoyance and slight fear as he had to fly a little higher to get out of the glowing blue trail of paralyzing mist left behind by the bioluminescent dragon. That is something he did not want to even brush his scales against.
He glanced to his left to see Cinderwing targeting one of the minor ships with violent ferocity, easily tearing down its wooden frame with his own plasma blasts, revealing the Gronckle iron hull beneath. Not that it stopped him from crashing into the ship's top deck and dealing with the remaining hunters with physical force. Toothless knew that he would be hearing bones cracking if he was down there with Cinder, especially with how hard he was hitting them with his tail, something that only hit even harder with the small spikes that went along his tail due to the armor. Luckily for Cinder, Hiccup was far too focused on Heather fighting hunters on Viggo's ship to notice the blood. Soon after, Toothless and Stormfly swooped down between two ships, blasting at one each, when he saw Heather and Windshear flying away from Viggo's ship.
"Hiccup, there's too many of them," Astrid called out as Stormfly dodged another volley of arrows, as well as Barf & Belch as they continued to fly around the sky in circles as the Flightmare chased them. "And the Flightmare really isn't helping," Fishlegs added. "No shit, w-hey! Don't fly towards me idiots!" Cinderwing barrel-rolled out of the Flightmare's way. "I'm not afraid to blast either you two, or the Flightmare out of the sky!" He threatened, before taking a shot at a Dragon Hunter. "We'll be fine as long as we stay away from its mist," Hiccup replied to Fishlegs. The Flightmare still followed the twins, leaving a trail of mist from its jaws. "Hiccup, can't you just let it know we're the good guys?" Tuffnut asked. "Or maybe even have Cinder do it since he's so smart." He mockingly added. "Yeah. Tell it to come in for the big win." Ruffnut added.
Toothless glanced up at Hiccup, noticing that he was actually pondering on the twins' words, looking down at the glowing river of algae. "You guys are brilliant!" Toothless stuttered in flight at the praise, something the twins rarely got from his rider. "I don't know about brilliant. But we do have a certain glow about us." Tuffnut joked, before laughing at it. "Get it? 'Cause of our faces." He pointed at his algae-covered face. Toothless rolled his eyes, and so did Hiccup. "And the brilliance is short-lived." Toothless deadpanned at the truth of the statement. "Follow me!" Hiccup had him lead the twins—and in turn the Flightmare—towards the hunter ships, with Hiccup throwing everyone a bundle of the glowing algae.
Cinderwing opened it whilst Hiccup wasn't looking, dipping a claw into the algae and tasting it before closing the bundle. "Hmm. It's actually pretty good, I can definitely see why it protects it so much. Well, other than this being its only food source." Toothless chuckled. "Just make sure you throw that at the hunters before you eat it all." He said with a smile. "Heh. I don't know, I might just eat it all." Cinderwing joked, before throwing it at Ryker specifically, with the other riders and dragons doing the same with the other hunters. Ryker looked down at the algae, before he began bursting into laughter, with the other hunters following suit soon after. "Oh, no! You got us." Ryker mocked sardonically. "We surrender." He gave a false surrendering gesture.
Dagur laughed in his usual maniacal manner. "Good one, Rykie." He said, giving Ryker another nickname. "Bring it on, Hiccup!" He pumped his fist in the air, before suddenly changing moods, looking down at the algae with curiosity. "Hey, this stuff's cool. Shiny." Dagur's admiration of the glowing algae was short-lived when the Flightmare landed on the ship, knocking a random hunter aside as it moved for the largest puddle of algae, spraying its paralyzing mist at any it deemed a threat. Which was basically everything on that ship. Toothless glanced at Astrid, noticing her instinctively wince when she saw the mist. Probably not the most pleasant memory, no matter if she overcame that challenge a long time ago.
"Ryker, Dagur, I'd like you to meet my friend, the Flightmare."
Toothless hovered in the air, watching as the Flightmare fought its way through the top deck before he heard the sound of metallic wings flapping. He could see the sorrow on both Windshear's and Heather's faces at the current situation. "I'm so sorry, Hiccup." Heather apologized, Windshear slightly whining at her friend's small, barely heard cry. "Viggo. He made me...." Hiccup interrupted before she could continue. "I know. It's okay, he tricked us all." He said comfortingly. "Not me! It was pretty obvious as I tried to tell you!" Cinderwing called out. "Where is he now?" Hiccup asked. "Still on his ship, I think." Heather answered, pointing toward his ship.
The four nearby dragons—Windshear, Toothless, Stormfly, and Meatlug—growled when they saw the Dragon Hunters throw a net onto the bioluminescent dragon, before forcing a muzzle on it that prevented it from using its paralyzing mist. "Sorry. Not gonna happen." Heather had Windshear swoop down towards Ryker's ship.
(Cinderwing)
"Heather, no!"
Cinderwing glanced up when he heard Hiccup calling out for Heather, seeing that Windshear was going straight for the hunter ship with the Flightmare, whitish-blue fire engulfing her maw, not noticing the net launchers being aimed at her. "Windshear! Watch out for the nets!" He called out the warning, sadly to no avail as both she and Heather were hit by a net and crashing on the deck. Cinderwing flew towards the ship, gliding just above the water, forming a small contrail at the tip of his wings. He dove into the water before he could be spotted, using his wings as flippers to more easily swim toward the bottom of the ship, digging his claws into the hull as he climbed up until he could position his head over the railing.
He slightly winced as lightning crackled around his body in an irregular manner. His armor was messing with the way it coursed through his body by continually attracting it in a different direction than what he wanted. It was a minor setback, so it didn't stop him from sweeping the deck with an unstable electrified beam of plasma that appeared closer to fire than his usual beam. He was careful not to hit Heather and Windshear, though some hunters took advantage of it by hiding behind or standing in front of them, shooting arrows that bounced off his armor.
"Hmm, yes. How interesting indeed." Viggo muttered, hiding in the shadows of his brother's ship and observing how Cinder dispatched his hunters with flaming plasma. "To think that the unholy offspring of lightning and death could be so versatile with its firepower." He chuckled. "Yes, you will show me more in due time, Night Fury." The hunters had hit Cinder with a rock using a catapult, giving them enough time to grab Heather and put a threatening sword to her throat, forcing Cinder to back off and meet up with the retreating Dragon Riders, though not without a furious roar.
(Scene break)
Cinderwing landed on Viggo's abandoned ship, the other dragons and riders having gotten there before him. "We couldn't get Heather. There were just too many of them," Astrid gestured to Cinderwing, who snarled with annoyance. "Even Cinder couldn't get to her." A worried expression crossed Hiccup's face. "What about the Flightmare?" He asked with a sliver of hope. "Gone," Astrid replied with some sorrow in her tone at not having saved their friend. "Viggo too," Hiccup added. "Astrid, this guy isn't messing around." He said. "No kidding," she replied. "Our dragons may not be enough." An offended expression crossed Cinder's face as if to say: Excuse me? "We're gonna have to out-think this guy, outsmart him somehow. Or... Heather and Windshear have no chance of—." Astrid immediately cut him off, with Cinderwing slamming his tail against the mast, knocking it down. "Don't say it. Please just don't say it."
[Splash!]
Cinderwing pushed the fallen mast into the ocean, before going around the top deck to destroy more. Stormfly sighed, but chose not to follow after him as he went below deck. Toothless sat next to her. "I get we're all upset, but why's he so angry? He's angrier than Hookfang right now." It took a few moments before Stormfly answered. "He would come with me and Astrid when we would meet up with Heather and Windshear for information. They were surprisingly quick to become best friends." Toothless was surprised by this—Cinderwing, the dragon who took forever to get comfortable around them—somewhat excluding Stormfly to a degree—getting all buddy-buddy with Windshear.
"Really? Him?"
Stormfly giggled with a nod. "Yes. He even admitted why he likes to keep our tail spines, as well as the ones from the hybrid Nadder." Toothless's eyes shone with anticipation. "Really? What is it? Come on, tell me!" Stormfly shook her head in denial. "Nope." Toothless gawked, with the humans chuckling at the interaction. "What?! Why? I promise I won't tell anyone if it's embarrassing, or embarrass him about it." Stormfly began to walk away as she tried to stifle her giggles. "Stormfly! Come on—hey! Don't fly away, that's just not fair!"
(Scene break)
Armor laid scattered across the floor, with the chest-plate hitting the ground with a loud thunk as Cinderwing removed it. With an angered sigh he pushed it towards the rest of his armor, before turning to go deeper into his den, mainly heading for his lagoon. He was upset, very f*cking upset, and while he knew that there was no such thing as true perfection—he was not stupid—that still doesn't change the fact that he was angry at himself for not being able to save Heather, save Windshear, save HIS FRIEND.
Cinderwing took many deep breaths to calm himself down, mentally declaring that he would stay in here until the Dragon Riders called for him to attack Viggo's island to save Windshear and Heather. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind because he could tell that he was having some mood swings right now, so he hurried his pace to the lagoon. If this was him before meeting the Dragon Riders in person, then he wouldn't have cared much for Windshear or Heather other than out of them being beings of fictional connection, but he did care, but he hated how his autism amplified the anger he felt when those he cared about got hurt, especially when he could've easily saved them if he chose not to dawn his armor for once since he'd gotten it.
A sigh of relief escaped his mouth when he finally dipped into the hot water of the lagoon, the near-boiling heat of the water helping him clear his mind of most worries. He swam toward the middle of the lagoon, rising out of the water to climb onto a rock to then lay down on so he could focus on thinking. 'If I hadn't worn my armor—or at least not all of it—I could've used my plasma beam more often, making it easier to take care of the other ships, go for Ryker's ship, and save her-them. Save them.' He mentally thought over what he could have done if he'd made a different choice. The more he pondered, the more his mind spun trying to come to terms with what happened. Cinderwing laid there for an hour, no doubt missing out on the dragon riders returning to Viggo's abandoned ship where they would find the board game of Maces & Talons, if it could even be called a game with how the Vikings played it.
After another ten minutes, his mind finally slowed down enough for him to come up with an idea, a reckless one, but one that had a very high chance of success. Cinderwing got up and flew over to shore, before quickly trotting toward his den exit. "Time to pay them a short visit." He muttered to himself, launching into the sky to fly toward Huttsgalor.
(Huttsgalor)
The flight to Huttsgalor had been swift with no one to hold him back—with no offense to Stormfly, of course—Cinder had made it here with more than enough daylight to spare, so he could take a short amount of time to hang around. Gliding down to land in the middle of the village, the villagers quickly noticed him and began to gossip about why he was here for a short period of time before going back to what they were doing.
While he could've gone straight for the Roost, he decided to take a small detour as he wanted to personally see Magnus' house-shop thing he lives in. Cinderwing followed a trail that led out of the village until the path split into two sections, he decided to go left. Yes, he could just fly, but he felt like walking as it usually gave him a sense of calm that flying could not, not to say that flying wasn't calming but for him it was more about the freedom than the calmness, though there were some very calming moments.
As the trees lessened, Magnus' house came into view and to Cinderwing, it looked more like a mechanic shop than a house. He could hear Magnus' laughter as he worked on his machine. "Ho-ha-ha. Oh, yes. My Mechano-dragon is finally repaired, and updated with some black-Belzium plating to protect the more vulnerable areas." The inventor was far too focused on his machine to notice Cinder walking toward him, before the dragon sat down a short distance away, looking surprisingly similar to Toothless when he watched Hiccup make something new.
Cinderwing noticed a small screw on the table near Magnus, his eyes shining with mischief as he lightly used his electrical ability around his right paw that was aimed at the screw, his chest rising up and down as he silently chuckled once the screw floated over to him before he grasped it in his claws. This was an ability he found out about recently, though it had no real use because the item he attracted had to be both small enough and magnetic enough, which was a bar the screw definitely fit for being made out of Belzium.
Magnus turned to the table only to find out that the screw was missing. A frustrated expression grew on his face. "Axel! Where did you put the last screw? I told you to leave it on the table." He questioned, gesturing at the empty table.
"I don't know, uncle. Maybe you... misplaced... it." Axel began, having poked his head out from behind the Mechano-dragon, slowing his words when he noticed the Night Fury. "Oh, what is it now?" Magnus asked, hands moving to his hips. "Can you not speak anymore, boy?" Axel raised his hand to point behind his uncle. "Maybe he took the screw." Axel suggested with a bit of fear, not having seen a dragon Cinder's size be so quiet.
Magnus raised an eyebrow before turning to see what his nephew was pointing at, eyes widening as he saw Cinder's form. Cinderwing finally let out a chuckle, purposely playing with the screw to mess with Magnus, who only got more irritated the longer he played. "Argh!" Magnus tried to snatch the screw from Cinder only to fail when the dragon closed his paw around it. "You insolent beast! That is not your plaything! It is a piece of my magnificent Mechano-dragon! Give it here!" Magnus made another attempt to grab the screw, but this time earned himself a light shock from Cinder's lightning encased paw.
"Agh!" Magnus waved his hand erratically to stave off the slight pain of the shock. Cinderwing continued to tease the inventor by electrifying both his paws, causing the screw to be trapped in the air between his paws due to being attracted from both sides. The screw began to violently shake in place, before Cinderwing's lightning suddenly ceased to exist, causing the screw to fall and Cinder to look up. His eyes narrowed when he saw the red power crystal shard being held in front of him, small enough to be concealed, and small enough that it would have to be in his face to suppress his abilities.
Magnus laughed arrogantly. "Ha-ha! Yes, I too have one of these crystals. Even if it's only a small shard." He muttered the latter sentence. "You can't do anything to me now." Raising his brow, Cinderwing responded to the human's arrogance by standing up on his hind legs, taking a slow step toward Magnus. Magnus, freighted by Cinderwing's size and threatening posture, instinctively dropped the crystal shard and quickly hid behind his Mechano-dragon, only to run for his house when the Night Fury slammed his forepaws onto the machine, his teeth unsheathed.
"Cinderwing?" Said dragon glanced behind him to see all of the Rescue Riders landing in front of Magnus' house, along with Axel. "Why are you terrorizing Magnus?" Leyla asked after dismounting Summer. "Because it's funny." Cinder replied, getting short chuckles from both Cutter and Aggro. "It is a little funny." The Razorwing commented, with the Fire Fury nodding in agreement, though not without Leyla's disappointed expression. "Also so I can stave off some stress." Her disappointment shifted to worry at Cinderwing's words. "Why are you stressed?" She asked, coming up to him and scratching just under his ear-nubs. Cinderwing went silent for a moment, instead watching Magnus and his nephew quietly argue about how Axel brought the Rescue Riders to his home. "I.... Someone I care about was captured, so I decided that I needed a power crystal to increase her chances of survival by a healthy margin. And her rider too I guess." He answered, looking slightly downtrodden at the self-reminder.
Dak, seeing his expression, tried to say something to change the subject. "So... is this friend of yours possibly your mate? H-oof! Ow." Leyla elbowed her brother in his gut. Cinderwing waved it off. "It's fine, Leyla." He said. "And to answer your question: I don't really know. Windshear is one of my best friends." He answered, before shifting his wings. "Though I will admit, I do hold feelings for both her and another, I just don't know who I will choose or what to even say." Another moment of silence passed before Cinder fake-coughed. "Ahem. So about the power crystal, more specifically: the blue crystal." Aggro hopped onto his back, tilting her head.
"Didn't you say that you didn't want to risk a crystal being seen or taken by the hunters?" Cinderwing glanced at her. "The hunters seeing it doesn't matter, not if it means saving those I care about." Dak, Leyla and the other dragons nodded in agreement, as it was a very good point. "Alright then, let's go get a crystal from the roost." Leyla said, beginning to mount Summer's saddle, only for her to pause when Cinderwing spoke. "I was actually thinking that you could bring me to the Crystal Cavern. So that I could carve one out at a larger size."
"Oh. Well, okay. Then let's go." She replied. "Yep, we'll show you where it is." Dak added. "Might have to take a little detour, though. Just in case." Summer said, gesturing toward both Magnus and Axel with her wing, as they were both listening in. And though they didn't get the full conversation due to not understanding the draconic language, they were more than likely to follow them anyway.
(Scene break)
A fairly large, but somewhat flat half blue half yellow power crystal was strapped to Cinderwing's chest with a custom made strap made by Hannahr. The crystal had been carved out in the shape of a curved, four-point diamond, and whilst somewhat flat as mentioned earlier, it was only flat on the side that pressed against Cinder's chest whilst the other side jutted out with a slightly rounded surface. He looked down at his chest with a tilted head. 'Hmm. This kind of reminds me of something. But what?' He contemplated, the memory blurred. "There we go. Now, as we tested before, the strap won't be incinerated when ye use your lightning, because I used the little bit of black Belzium I had for this." Cinderwing glanced up at Hannahr's words, muttering a quick "thank you" of which Leyla translated.
Cinderwing took a deep breath, trotting to a safe distance before very gently nudging the lightning stored within his body, causing it to nearly explode outward with mild intensity if not for him reigning it in. He took another breath, bringing his lightning down to a level where it visibly crackled around his body. "Whooa, cool." Dak and unsurprisingly, Aggro said in unison. "I wish I could have done that with my blue fire." She added, reminding everyone what happened when she used a blue and yellow crystal at the same time.
"You'll get there eventually so long as you put in the effort, Little Flame." Cinderwing encouraged, accepting a quick hug from the younger dragon. "I would ask if you could stay a little longer, but you should go back as soon as possible to save your friends." Leyla said, with Cinderwing nodding in agreement. "I'll try to make my next visit more... well, less rushed." Cinderwing turned to Hannahr, before turning to Leyla. "Can you ask her if she has a cloth or scarf that can cover this temporarily." He asked, tapping the crystal with a claw.
(Dragon's Edge: before departure)
Barely contained lightning crackled around his body as he neared the Edge. The reason? He had passed by an ongoing thunderstorm on the way, refilling his reserves, but due to the crystal, a small amount of lightning visibly crackled around Cinder's body similarly to the Skrill as mentioned earlier. The crystal had been covered by a large scarf-like cloth around his chest so that he wouldn't be easily spotted due to the crystal's slight glow. Cinderwing flew around the island—mainly where the Dragon Riders had built their homes, and other buildings like the clubhouse—searching for the dragon riders, finally seeing them at the dragon stables.
He quietly landed behind the stables before climbing up and onto the roof, crawling across it like a predator hunting prey, only this predator was mischievous. "...found out where Viggo's island could be?" Fishlegs asked, though Cinder had only caught the end of the last sentence. "Yes, but he basically gave it to us. He's challenging us to go there, he's challenging us to save Heather and Windshear in time. Before he...." Hiccup stared down at his fist, clenching the broken traitor piece, unable to even finish his sentence.
Cinderwing growled, and a short burst of electricity followed it, making a sharp crackle that freighted both humans and dragons, as well as revealing his presence as they turned their eyes to the roof. "Cinderwing? When did you get here?" Toothless asked. "More like how long have you been there?" Stormfly asked, knowing that he could have been there since the beginning of the conversation. "Just got here." Cinderwing answered. "What were you doing anyway? We were about to leave without you." Meatlug queried. "Well I was doing a lot of things. Going to my den, ripping off my armor, contemplating what happened, going to Huttsgalor."
"What were you doing at Huttsgalor?" Hookfang questioned. "You'll see. Either way, hurry up! Chop, chop! We got to go!" Cinderwing replied, before rushing the others.
(Scene break)
They all flew just above the clouds so as to not be seen by any hunter ships, scouts or spotters when they neared Viggo's island. They've been flying for long enough that it had nearly become midnight, and they were unaware just how close they were to their destination.
"All right, remember guys, Viggo is a master of deception." Hiccup reminded everyone for the utmost time. "We have to be one step ahead of him at all times or it's game over." Cinderwing growled, hating the amount of times the disabled Viking has been reminding them of one of the worst outcomes. "Sounds a little to me like it's already game over." Tuffnut said, earning an eye roll from Toothless. "Yep, that was my interpretation." Ruffnut added before an arrow flew past her head, followed by more arrows. They all weaved in different directions to avoid the arrows, looking down to see that the clouds were still there. "Where are those coming from?" Fishlegs asked, confused as more arrows passed by. Astrid placed a hand over her eyes to block the moonlight. "Beneath the cloud cover. They must have ships down there." Stormfly yanked her body to the left to avoid more arrows.
"How did they know we were up here?" Fishlegs queried. Cinderwing glanced back at Hookfang, who was ignited. "I told you to cut it off." He growled. "Well sorry, but it's freezing up here." Hookfang retorted. By then the riders had already begun staring at Snotlout with disbelief as he rubbed his hands together, ignoring the arrows as if they hadn't existed. He sighed in relief, before eventually noticing the stares. "What? I was chilly. Now, I'm warm and toasty." He said, making an excuse, one that irritated everyone for the stupidity. Cinderwing flew a little higher, twisting left and right, dodging arrows with an annoyed snarl escaping his mouth.
"We must be close to the island." Hiccup said. "Uh, Hiccup...." As Astrid was about to speak, they had finally reached the end of their cloud cover, revealing that they were already above the island. "Viggo's base." Hiccup stated, eyes narrowed. "Are you sure that's it?" Fishlegs asked, not seeing any buildings or anything similar that would show that the island was inhabited by humans. "It looks kinda deserted." He added, before widening his eyes in surprise as a twisting stream of fire came from below, just missing him. "And I stand corrected."
Atop a rocky cliff, a dragon of blue and orange coloring raised its head with a chain around its neck, it roared with what could be mistaken for anger, but held a concealed amount of pain. The Dragon Hunter who stood next to it poked the dragon with a spear, causing it to blast tornado-like flames at the dragon riders, with two more of the imprisoned dragons doing the same. Hookfang dodged a twisting stream of fire, it had stayed there for moments before the captured dragon paused to catch its breath. "He's using flipping Typhoomerangs as blow torches?!" Snotlout exclaimed. Astrid huffed, glancing back at Snotlout. "I thought you liked it toasty." She said mockingly. "I like toast-y. Not toast-ed." He retorted with a scowl. The hunters continued to poke the Typhoonerangs with their spears, forcing them to continue shooting fire at the riders. Barf & Belch reeled their necks back to avoid one of the streams of fire, with Tuffnut turning to look at Hiccup. "I have to say, you totally undersold this guy, Hiccup. He's way more devious than—."
"Look out!" Hiccup exclaimed a warning, interrupting Tuffnut as Toothless and Meatlug dodged more streams of fire. Stormfly flew beside Toothless after dodging another stream of fire. "Maybe turn back? Find a place to regroup?" Astrid suggested. "There's no way we're getting through that." Cinderwing let a stream of fire hit him, allowing it to wash over him as unlike the others, he didn't have a human rider. Not that he didn't feel the small burns forming on his body. Oh, it also had the effect of burning away the scarf that covered the power crystal, though the crystal itself remained undamaged, as well as the strap that held it in place.
Stormfly was the first to notice the small glow of the crystal. "That's what you went to Huttsgalor for?! I thought we agreed that we wouldn't take any outside of Huttsgalor."
Cinderwing nodded. "We did. But it is a risk I'm willing to take." He replied with a confident glint in his eyes. "No." Hiccup muttered to himself in denial. "All this is just a distraction." He gestured to the fire surrounding them. "It's fire, Hiccup. Actual fire." Snotlout stated the obvious. "I'm gonna have to concur on that one." Tuffnut said, glancing up at the fire on his helmet.
Another stream of fire rushed toward Cinderwing, he flew toward Stormfly as he dodged it. "I would take the same, maybe an even greater risk for you. ...And maybe the others." Stormfly would've blushed at his words if not for their current situation. "Are you two really flirting right now?" Toothless called out as he weaved between two streams of fire. "What I mean is, Viggo doesn't want us to retreat." Hiccup continued his earlier statement. "It just seems that way. He wants us to get past the fire and the arrows. He wants me to find Heather." He concluded. "And then his game really begins."
"Well if he wants us to get through, he's got a funny way of showing it." Snotlout said sarcastically. Cinderwing rolled his eyes, barely listening to Hiccup's explanation of how Viggo wanted them to go around back. "All of you, follow my lead, and stay behind me if you don't wanna get burned." He called out. "The thing Viggo would least expect is for a dragon to take the lead."
The others moved behind him in a tight, cone formation.
"Hey, Toothless what are you doing? I haven't explained the plan yet."
"Whoa! Stormfly! Wha—?"
"Hiccup! What are they doing?" Snotlout asked with a very confused tone. "Well, dear Snotty, based on their movements, it seems as though Cinder has come up with a plan that they all agreed to." Ruffnut smartly explained, causing the other riders—with the exception of her brother—to stare at her with disbelief. "What? We can be smart, as we've shown before that none of you believed." Tuffnut said. "Uh, Hiccup, Cinder has some sort of strap around his chest, it's too dark to get a good look at it without the fire." Fishlegs noticed.
Cinderwing glanced back at the others, lightning beginning to crackle around his body more violently. "Keep up." He dove down towards the island just as the three captured dragons blasted fire at him and the others, only to be essentially "burned" away or deflected by a familiar "shield of lightning" that emitted from Cinder's body as he twisted in the air continuously, keeping his wings as spread out as possible to prevent the three streams of fire from harming the others behind him—mainly the humans. "Whoa! Since when could he do that?!" Tuffnut exclaimed excitedly, clearly amazed by the display of fire washing over Cinder.
Fishlegs gasped as he noticed the power crystal on the Night Fury's chest. "Hiccup!" He called out, pointing at Cinderwing. "He has a power crystal attached to the strap on his chest." He added. "That must be why he got our dragons to follow him. He's probably had a plan this entire time, or at least part of one." Hiccup stated with amazement, still surprised by the intelligence Cinder showed even after they visited Huttsgalor. As he neared the ground and the fire stopped, Cinder immediately stopped spinning and quickly began to right himself, with others taking advantage of the hunters who were caught off guard, taking them out with quick, but non-lethal efficiency.
"You guys free the Typhoomerangs. I'm going to find Heather." Hiccup called out, before Toothless flew deeper into the island.
After shaking away most of his daze, Cinderwing landed on the ground with a slight wobble. "Are you alright, Cinder?" Stormfly asked as Astrid hopped off to unchain a Typhoomerang. "I'm... fine, just dizzy from all the spinning." He replied, slowly regaining his bearings. "You know, normally I wouldn't get dizzy from that. But with how fast I had to spin, whoo! Probably won't be doing that again for a while." He added, walking toward the forest before glancing back.
"I'm gonna go search for Heather and Windshear in a different direction than Hiccup's going. So don't worry too much about the screams, well unless I'm the one screaming but you don't have to worry about that." Cinderwing trotted into a sprint, speeding past trees and brush, only flying once he had enough space. As he flew above the island, a memory slowly began to unblur when he saw a large crater in the ground with dragon cages littering the ground. "But is she still there? Or have they already begun to move her?" He muttered. "Dagur saves her, right?"
Before Cinderwing could even land, he noticed Dagur and two hunters escorting Heather away. Eyes narrowing into slits, Cinder quietly landed on the cliff above, crouching as low to the ground as he could to keep the crystal's glow from being seen. "Dagur, please. You don't have to do this." Heather pleaded with her brother, only for one of the hunters to push her forward. "Be quiet, girl." Dagur stayed silent, watching this happen, but doing nothing... yet. Cinderwing continued to follow silently until they entered a cave, forcing him to enter as well if he wanted to follow. He jumped down and entered the cave before climbing onto the ceiling, scurrying his way toward them like a lizard, which he is... just bigger.
After reaching a point where the cave split directions, Dagur—who was in front—pointed for the hunters to go left, allowing them to go in front of him as they pushed Heather along. Not a moment sooner, one hunter became suspicious. "Wait. This doesn't seem right." He pointed out. "Aye, Viggo specifically said—." The other hunter was cut off when Dagur smashed their heads together, knocking them unconscious. "News flash! I no longer care what Viggo has to say." Dagur stated, before turning to his sister with an angered expression. A fearful expression grew on Heather's face. "Dagur, please. Don't...." She instinctively clenched her eyes closed when he raised his axe, before cutting off her restraints. Cinder had almost jumped down on top of him, if not for him barely catching Windshear's scent. Heather let out a small gasp at what Dagur had done, staring at him, confused before he whistled. "Coming!" Heather turned around to see Windshear coming out from around the corner with a happy roar. "Windshear! You're okay." Heather said with a happy tone.
Unseen and unheard, Cinderwing crawled down from the ceiling, sitting on his haunches behind Dagur. Windshear glanced back up, eyes widening when she saw Cinderwing behind Dagur. "Cindy?" Heather turned around at Windshear's small chirp, audibly gasping at seeing the Night Fury, something which Dagur clearly noticed, before slowly turning around. "Can you not right now? I'm sorta having an extra-extra-a whatever crisis right now!" Dagur said in a surprisingly calm tone. Cinderwing simply patted his head with a paw. "You did good." He said. "You won't understand what I'm saying, but you did good." Dagur—who was very confused—began walking away.
The three remaining inhabitants of the cave stared at each other. "So... wanna hang out later with me and Stormfly?" Windshear slowly nodded. "Yeah... I'd like that." Cinderwing smiled, tail wagging for a short moment. "You should come with us to Huttsgalor when we get the chance, I think you'd like it, and Astrid hasn't been there yet either." The silver dragon walked up to him, nuzzling his cheek. "I'd like that as well." She whispered, a nearly unnoticeable blush on her own cheeks.
Windshear then lowered herself slightly, allowing Heather to mount her saddle. "Okay you two. Let's get outta here." They sprinted off towards the cave exit, launching into the air the moment they could and began flying toward the Flightmare.
As the bioluminescent dragon turned toward Toothless and Stormfly with a feral growl, both Windshear and Cinderwing put themselves between their friends and the Flightmare. "Heather!" Astrid exclaimed with happy surprise. Heather softly rubbed Windshear's neck. "Don't hurt it, girl. We just need to scare it off." Cinder huffed at the notion, before shooting an enhanced plasma blast aimed a good distance away from the Flightmare's side, only for it to violently explode, the force nearly knocking it out of the sky.
Both Heather and Windshear's eyes widened with shock, the former glancing back at Hiccup. "Since when was his plasma blast that powerful?" She asked, with Fishlegs pointing at Cinder, who was already flying circles around the Flightmare. "See that crystal strapped to his chest? That's what's making his blast more powerful." Shaking her head, Windshear immediately flew in to help Cinder, shooting a small volley of spines at the bioluminescent dragon that she purposely missed, before shooting her own fire near the dragon, with both Stormfly and Toothless pitching in as the Flightmare was finally scared off.
Whilst no one was looking—especially Hiccup and Toothless who were staring into the distance—Heather patted Windshear's neck, urging her to fly away before the others noticed, something that she did with some reluctance. However, Cinderwing noticed her sudden departure, before flying higher up and flipping upside down to keep the crystal from being seen, occasionally flipping back to flap his wings before flipping back over. This went on for about an hour before Windshear finally landed on a random island, with Cinderwing temporarily entering his cloaked state, uncloaking when he landed. He climbed up a nearby tree as Heather hopped off Windshear, who let out a small whine. Heather sighed softly. "I know, girl, but I really need some time alone to process some things." She muttered, with Windshear nuzzling her rider a moment later. "I understand." She whispered in turn.
"Hello there." Both Heather and Windshear jumped in surprise at the sudden scare. "Cindy! What are-you followed us?" He nodded in response. "Yep. Can't leave you two alone after all that just happened." A faint blush grew on Windshear's metallic cheeks, her thin tail spines unintentionally flaring in and out. Heather wiped her hands over her face. "If you can understand me, Cinder, can you please just not bring any of the others here? Please?" Cinderwing nodded, sitting on his haunches to give her a thumbs up, and though Heather understood what it meant, it still confused her that he knew what it meant. She let out another sigh before walking over to sit on a rock.
"What does that mean?" Windshear queried with a tilted head. "It can mean multiple things, such as: okay, got it, I understand, good job, and a bit more." He answered, before gesturing to her to sit on her haunches. "Here, I'll show you." Cinderwing moved to sit in front of her when Windshear sat down, using his paws to hold her right paw, motioning her to clench it before moving her "thumb" claw up as far as it could get, leaving it slightly angled. "There you go. Now you can just do this whenever Heather comes up with a plan, but you have to be silent. Or you can just nod, but you get it." Windshear giggled, unclenching her paw before repeating the thumbs-up gesture a few times. She glanced into his dark green eyes with her own yellowish-green eyes.
"How long are you staying?" She murmured, tone soft.
Cinderwing softly smiled, tail wagging slightly. "I'll be staying with you two for a while, a few days or so." A happy smile grew on Windshear's lips. "That's nice." Cinderwing nodded in agreement, before his eyes shone with an idea. "Hey, since Heather wants to stay away from the riders for a while, how about you two come with me to Huttsgalor, I have to return this crystal soon anyway." She nodded in agreement. "Sure. If you can convince her to follow you." Cinder glanced over at Heather. "Ehh, let's give her some time." He suddenly remembered something. "Actually, I was able to figure something out from the Dragon Eye based on the images." Windshear tilted her head with curiosity. "Really?" He nodded affirmatively. "What is it?" She asked.
"Well... it has to do with putting a very specific amount of pressure under one of your large armored scales. I don't know exactly what it does, but I do know that it's supposed to 'unlock' something that you've always had the capability to do, but haven't been able to." He answered. "I'll only do it if you let me, of course." Windshear shifted slightly, pondering whether or not to let him try. She moved to lay down, pondering for a few more minutes before answering. "I trust you, so I'll let you try." Cinderwing moved to her side, sitting down next to her and gently pushing his claws under her large metal-plate-like scales on her back, finding it surprisingly easy to lift it up, though it was only because she both consciously and unconsciously trusted him.
After a few moments, he finally felt a small crack, like pushing something into place. He removed his paw, glancing at Windshear before noticing that she froze. "Windshear are you alright?" Cinderwing asked, worry creeping into his tone. It was only then he realized his paw was slightly bleeding from a small prick. "What the fu—holy shit!" He jumped back in surprise when multiple, quill-like spines audibly unsheathed from Windshear's back, also surprising Heather. "Wha-? Windshear, are you okay, girl?"
Windshear's new spines came out from under her large, armored back scales, from the beginning of her saddle—as well as accidentally piercing through it—to the beginning of her tail, with two coming from each one. These spines were much larger than her thin tail spines, as if someone like Heather were to hold one, it would look like a short sword in her hands.
After regaining her composure, Windshear glanced over her shoulder, mouth open in awe. Closing her mouth, she began to move her new quills with instinctive control, shifting them slightly to the left, then right, before sheathing them. She glanced at Cinder before suddenly pulling him into a hug, something that he'd shown her before. "Thank you, Cindy, this is amazing."
(Scene break)
"Well, at least it's decorative," Ryker commented on the Dragon Eye on Viggo's desk, hands on his hips. "Useless without the key, but decorative, nonetheless." He added, beginning to walk away.
Viggo suddenly slammed his fist onto the table, scaring a caged Terrible Terror to shoot out a small burst of fire, activating the artifact. Ryker turned when he heard the sound of the glowing Dragon Eye, eyes narrowing in surprise as Viggo stared at the projected image.
"Wait, how did you...." Ryker muttered only for Viggo to interrupt as he walked next to him. "When the Dragon Eye was constructed the locking mechanism was given an emergency release." He began. "A filament, that could only be burned away by the glow of a Flightmare." Viggo walked towards the projection, placing his hand on the wall. "Hiccup will come to know that his carelessness will cause every dragon on earth to be slaughtered and sold," He glanced back at his older brother. "Including his Night Fury, especially the bigger one."
Viggo walked away from the image, revealing that in the middle of the projection, there was what appeared to be two Night Fury's, one surrounded by multiple shapes that looked to be dragon eye lenses, and the other encased in crystal.
(End)
I am confirming that I already have begun working on the Dinotrux story, it will not be published until I have at least 3-5 chapters ready, and I want to have those chapters at least 6-12k words