I kept a careful eye on Reign as we got closer to a large glacier. She didn't fare well in the cold, and thus, I'd pretty much forced her to fly on Toothless with me so I could make sure she didn't get too cold and pass out. She sat in front of me, trying her best not to fall off Toothless as she shuddered. I pulled myself closer to her in a desperate attempt to keep her warm as we searched for the fishing ship.

"We're getting pretty far north," she called back to me as her teeth chattered together.

"Bucket and Mulch are two days overdue. We need to keep searching."

"You don't really think they're up here, do you?" Astrid asked as she rubbed one of her arms, seemingly also beginning to bend to the cold.

"Can't take the cold, huh, Astrid?" Snotlout taunted.

"No. I just don't have a heated seat like you do," she snapped.

"That's right. You don't."

He offered a snide thumbs-up as Hookfang ignited the bottom part of his body. Reign shuddered again, and I took note of the slight blue tint starting to creep its way up onto her. We had to work fast, otherwise she wouldn't make it back. Thankfully, I heard shouts from below, and when I looked past Reign's shaking figure, I saw a few ships at a standstill near another ice formation.

"It looks like they're in trouble. Come on, bud!"

The three dragons dove down quickly, heading straight for the ships facing each other. To absolutely no one's surprise, a group of Berserkers looked as though they were attempting to take Bucket and Mulch's ship. Impressively enough, they'd managed to either subdue or throw most of the crew overboard, but a line of defense now aimed crossbows straight at them. Astrid picked up the pace, and Stormfly whipped her tail around, shooting spines into the sides of the enemy ship that caused the lackeys to scatter and hit the deck.

"Nice shooting, Astrid!" I complimented. "Snotlout, light 'em up!"

Snotlout and Hookfang drove straight toward the gangplank, and the rider whooped as his dragon fired a shot that caused the connecting piece of wood to break apart and burn.

"Okay, bud. It's our turn."

Toothless dove down, and when we were just close enough, fired a plasma blast that caused the water to splash up and rock the Berserker boat enough to push it away from Bucket and Mulch.

"Retreat! Retreat!" The Berserkers quickly got in control of their boat and steered it in the opposite direction, allowing Bucket and Mulch to dock. The four of us landed, and I made sure to keep myself close to Reign. I winced from how cold her skin was the moment I wrapped my arms around her, and hoped we'd be done with this soon so that I could get her home.

"What happened here?" I asked the pair of Vikings.

"Well, we thought the Berserkers had hit an iceberg," Mulch explained, "and so we came in to help. But, they attacked us because we saw... it." Astrid and I glanced at each other, confused.

"It?" she, Reign, and I asked at the same time.

"This way."

We followed Mulch around the other side of the iceberg. He stopped right in front of a large, mostly clear patch of ice surrounded by discarded weapons. I was curious, but I didn't want to bring Reign any closer to something that would only make her colder, so I motioned for Astrid to assume the position I was leaving before I stepped forward to get a closer look. I pressed my hands against the ice and looked closer, noticing a very distinct head and long body, with wings extending from it.

"That looks like a..." I rubbed my sleeve against the surface to clear some of the fog, revealing a yellow eye and a set of small but spiky teeth. "...dragon."

"Why would Berserkers be trying to dig it out?" Reign asked as I stepped back to re-join the group.

"No idea." I reached for a small hammer and turned it in my hands, inspecting it as though it could give me an answer. "But I'm going to find out."

"Oh, great," Snotlout scoffed. "Now we have to dig it out?" My eyes caught Toothless rolling around in the snow, and I knew how we were going to get this thing back to Berk.

"Actually, I have a much better idea. Get Hookfang and Stormfly. We're going to use their fire to melt the ice just enough to take this thing back to Berk."

They nodded and turned on their heels, but not before Astrid tentatively let go of Reign. I immediately raced back to her side and looked at her skin, making sure nothing was turning black or purple. The blue tint spreading was bad enough, but those colors meant frostbite, which meant we'd have to amputate something. And if that happened on my watch, I'd never be able to forgive myself.

"We're almost done here, Reign," I said to her in a calm tone, more for my benefit than hers. "We'll get you back to Berk as soon as we can." She trembled again and rubbed her icicle fingers against her pallid arms, which were mostly covered by her tunic.

"Sorry you guys have to rush because of me." I raised an eyebrow as I reached out to place a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't apologize for something you can't control, Reign."

I moved around the side of her and pulled her into a hug as Astrid and Snotlout came back with their dragons. The three of them blasted fire in a square around the trapped creature, and once the melting stretched deep enough in, I had Mulch and Bucket go get some ropes from their ship so that we could tie this thing up and take it back. We jumped up onto our dragons once the ropes were secured, and with a bit of resistance, we managed to pull it out and get ourselves into the air, finally heading back toward home.

We took the block of ice back to the Academy, and as soon as it was down, I rushed Reign back to her home, grabbing her a large blanket to wrap around herself. I tried to convince her to lay down for the rest of the day, but being Reign, she refused to listen. Before we left her hut, Azure jumped up onto her shoulders, then growled at me. He occasionally would let out a little blast of fire, as though trying to keep his trainer warm to the best of his ability. I had to admit, I was impressed with how quickly the two of them had bonded, and how strong that bond continued to be.

The others had now gathered at the Academy, contemplating how to get the dragon out of there. We all stared at it in silence for a while as we tried to come up with solutions, while Toothless sniffed the block and circled it.

"I say we smash it," Snotlout finally suggested. It was a horrible idea, but at least someone had said something.

"I say we blast it," Tuffnut offered as he and his twin jumped up on top of the ice.

"I say we blast it and then smash it... and then blast it again!"

"...blast it again! Stop saying what I'm saying now!"

"Yeah, that's certainly one approach." I uncrossed my arms and stepped closer to the ice as Tuffnut cleared his throat.

Good sir, I believe it is actually three approaches, my fine fellow." Thankfully, they got down just before I stopped to look at the dragon trapped inside a little closer.

"Let's just get a better look at this thing. Fishlegs, give me a slow burn."

"With pleasure. Meatlug?" He whistled to get her attention. "Lava blast." She waddles her way over to the ice block and shot out a small amount of lava, before turning around and going back to her nap. Once the steam cleared, Fishlegs and I pressed ourselves against the ice.

"Oh, man." As I got a closer look, I started to notice some distinct markings on the dragon that alarmed me.

Is that... what I think it is?"

"I think so, but I've only seen pictures." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Reign get closer to the frigid casing and curiously cock her head at the dragon trapped inside.

"Do you realize how huge this could be, Fishlegs?"

"The word 'epic' comes to mind."

"I've seen this kind of dragon before..." Reign muttered. "What is it?"

"I hate it when they get like this," Astrid grunted.

"Don't you just?" Fishlegs turned away from the ice and started to walk out, causing Reign and I to follow.

"I should check the Book of Dragons to be sure about this."

"Good idea. If we're right, this could be big trouble."

"If someone doesn't start filling me in, I'm getting my axe!" Astrid threatened as she chased the three of us.

I quickly turned back after realizing we'd left the twins and Snotlout with the block of ice.

"No one touches that block of ice while we're gone!"

There wasn't quite enough room for all of us to fit in Fishlegs' room, so the rest of us waited downstairs while he got the Book of Dragons. By the looks of it, he'd already checked it when he came back down. And reading the look on his face, I could tell our suspicions were true. Without a word, he extended the book to me, open to the entry he'd been reading. Sure enough, a drawing of the dragon we'd found sat beneath a simple name: The Skrill.

"We have to warn my dad. Now."

Reign and I made our way toward the Great Hall, where we found a council meeting already in session. She and I shrugged at each other and shrunk back a bit, listening and waiting for the right moment.

The council of men argued as Reign and I waited for a turn to talk. I wasn't entirely convinced she understood the magnitude of her people looking for a Skrill, but if she didn't ask, I wouldn't explain. Talking about the Berserkers or her brother only seemed to distress her more, and I didn't want to be the one to cause that.

"All right," my dad interjected, causing their arguing to fizzle out. "Calm down."

"This is an act of war!" Mulch cried, seething.

"Let's not jump to conclusions about what this attack means."

"I don't know, Stoick," Gobber whispered. "Seems pretty cut and dry to me. And if you think about it, an attack in an attack, am I right, people?" The members of the council cheered at Gobber's words.

"And thank you, Gobber..."

"Always here to help." I decided to take my chance to speak up.

"I think I know why Dagur and his men attacked Bucket and Mulch." Everyone turned their attention toward Reign, Toothless, Shriek, and I.

"Go on, son."

"We got a better look at the dragon that Bucket and Mulch found in the ice--"

"We found a dragon?" Bucket asked, genuine shock written all over his face. "Oh, can we keep it? I've always wanted my own dragon, Mulch."

"Uh... it's a Skrill."

The council went silent, save for a couple of sparse gasps, as everyone stared in our direction-- more specifically at Reign. She appeared to grow uncomfortable with the amount of eyes on her, as she shrunk back and pulled the blanket a little tighter around her.

"Oh... I don't want one of those." Mulch elbowed Bucket, hinting at him to be quiet."

"Are you sure about this, son?"

"Oh, we are sure!" Fishlegs cried, running up behind us and causing Reign to jump as he slung his arms around our shoulders. "Whoo! Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Fishlegs!" Everyone stared at him, waiting for him to calm down. "Heh, heh. Sorry, Chief. That happens sometimes when we discover a new dragon; I-I get a little--"

"Look," I interjected, keeping Fishlegs from digging himself into a deeper hole, "it's right here." I flipped through to the right page and looked down at the drawing. "That is definitely a Skrill."

"Okay, wait, I still don't get what's so significant about the Skrill and Berserkers." Reign stuck her hand up slightly, as though she were asking a question in one of Gobber's old dragon killing classes. My dad, Gobber, and I shared a glace, and they urged me to bring her up to speed with a nod.

"Um..." I couldn't find the right words to say it, so I just awkwardly gestured to her belt buckle. She'd put the one we'd found on her when she first got here back on, despite claiming to be ashamed to be a Berserker. Her eyes flashed down to the silver disk, and she looked over it and the symbol on it before rolling her eyes.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Reign turned to make her way out of the Great Hall, and my father, Gobber, Fishlegs, and myself followed her out as Gobber continued to marvel at the Skrill's abilities.

"Legend has it the lightning comes from the Skrill's mouth!" He shouted, raising his fist in the air. "And Thunder from its... well, you know."

"Remind me never to get behind one," Reign groaned.

"That's actually inaccurate. According to the Book of Dragons, the Skrill drew lightning from the clouds and re-directed it."

"And could use that lightning to hit several targets at once, which is why it was such a feared dragon."

"It could also store the lightning in its body and use it later."

"I've heard enough." Reign stepped out in front of all of us and protruded her hand out, keeping either of us from continuing. "We need to get rid of that Skrill. It's just the excuse my brother needs to go to war. Not to mention the fact this dragon is our clan's symbol really cements the fact my people are insane."

"You all know I love a good fight as much as the next person, but why not just give it to them?" Reign scoffed and turned to stare up at Gobber. "It's just a frozen dragon carcass, after all."

"Actually, because of their internal body temperature, Skrill's can stay safely frozen for decades." Reign chuckled bitterly as the rest of us took on expressions of shock.

"Looks like that Skrill and I have something in common," she joked. Everyone turned to her and shot her silencing glares, and she awkwardly cleared her throat before shuffling her feet. "Let's, um... let's get to that ice and hope those three hooligans didn't do anything." She quickly pushed her way in front of everyone else, leading us back toward the Academy.

"Hooligans?" I turned to my dad with a slightly red face.

"Snotlout, Ruff, and Tuff." My dad went silent for a second, as though trying to process what I'd just told him as we followed Reign.

"So, let me be clear: this dragon may still be alive, and you left Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout to guard it."

"Well, that... sounds much worse when you say it," I sighed, looking down at the ground in embarrassment. "But it's-it's frozen solid in a block of ice. How much damage could it possibly do?"

A large explosion suddenly went up from the Academy, one definitely strong enough to melt all of the ice around the Skrill. There was no rationalizing our decision at this point...

Toothless made a huge leap and sprinted toward the Academy, while the rest of us all looked at each other before taking off behind him. Bright flashes of lightning made the sky blue, electrifying the air as a petrifying roar pierced through the thunder.

"Great. So now the Skrill is out..." We watched its figure ascend above the cloud cover, fingers of lightning slithering their way through them as we reached the Academy.

"It was their fault!" Snotlout immediately accused, pointing right at the twins.

"Hey! He stole our plan!"

"I told you guys to leave it alone," I sighed.

"It... jumped us." Tuff crossed his arms as he jumped off his dragon. "Sneaky dragon."

"From inside a block of ice?" I questioned.

"Eh... very sneaky dragon."

"Oh... gods." I glanced over to see my father holding a chunk of ice that had scattered when the Skrill escaped. "What is it, Dad?"

"When I was a lad, my father's father would sit me on his knee and tell me stories." He threw the ice away and stood. "I thought they were just tales."

"Tales about... what?"

"Berserker fleets attacking behind harnessed dragons that brought down lightning from the sky and destroyed everything in their path." I watched as the color drained from Reign's face.

"You don't think the Berserkers could actually control a Skrill?" I asked warily.

"I didn't think anyone could ride a Night Fury. We just can't take the chance. If the Berserkers find that Skrill, and know some way to control it..."

"We'll find it, Dad. I promise." I turned to the rest of the group. "All right, gang. We have to leave first thing in the morning and go find that Skrill." I turned to Reign and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Reign, I think you should stay here. I don't want to risk something happening to you when we go back out into the cold." She shook her head and looked up at me, pulling the blanket closed around her.

"I'll just bring this thing with me."

"No, Reign, I really don't think that's a good idea. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hiccup, I should come with you." I tried to keep my frustration down. I knew she was stubborn, but she could be in real danger this time. "No, listen to me. If I'm a Berserker, maybe it's, like, in my blood to be able to control this thing." I hated to admit she had a point. "Look, the moment I feel like I can't keep going, I'll turn around."

"Oh, no, no. You're gonna be with Toothless and I the whole time. No arguments." She opened her mouth to try and rebuttal, but clamped it shut just as quickly and smiled at me. "What?"

"You're wonderful," she sighed, then leaned forward and kissed me. "I'll see you in the morning."

Toothless nudged me with something resembling a smirk on her face.

"She's really something, huh, bud?"

The next morning, we all met at the Academy and got ready to go. Reign and I made sure the blanket was tight around her, and that she had enough food to keep Azure fueled enough to make sure he could keep Reign warm. Shriek would be flying with us, just for Reign's sake, but I didn't want her to ride on her dragon. With everyone geared up, we got onto our dragons and took off. We managed to go a while without anyone saying anything, but eventually, people started to get impatient.

"Any idea what we do after we find it?" Astrid asked.

"We catch it, we tame it, we train it," I answered simply. "Keep it away from Dagur so he doesn't use it against us."

"Oh, yeah, that sounds easy enough," Reign deadpanned.

"Actually, the Skrill does have some weaknesses," Fishlegs piped up. "According to the Book of Dragons, it can't redirect any lightning if it's in the water."

"That's a start."

"No! A start would be having any clue where this stupid thing is. We've been circling the island for hours, and I'm starving." Snotlout's eyes flickered to the bag of little fish Reign had been progressively feeding Azure. She continued to look forward, until she felt a pair of eyes watching her, and she glared at Snotlout.

"Don't even think about it."

"Snotlout, you just said something unintentionally brilliant."

"Of course I did!" His expression faltered as he attempted to follow my logic. "What was it again?"

"When you wake up in the morning, what's the very first thing you want to do?"

"Oh, no, don't ask him that." Reign's face scrunched up in disgust.

"Well, usually I have to--"

"No, after that." I slapped one of his hands against his forehead.

"Oh! Eat."

"Exactly. Fishlegs?" He and Meatlug lowered down closer to us. "What is the Skrill's food of choice?" Fishlegs smiled, and we all followed him down to Silent Sven's pen of sheep. He went to go get the Viking, while the rest of us played with the animals. Sven came out and began waving his staff around in an attempt to communicate. I had no idea what he was trying to say, but Reign-- for whatever reason-- knew exactly what he was telling us.

"And then you fought off the Skrill?" she asked, her tone indicating she didn't believe him. "With your head?" He nodded.

"Hey. This guy, Silent Sven? Remind me not to wrestle any more sheep from his farm." Sven charged forward and held his spear right in Snotlout's face, threatening him. "Heh, heh heh."

"Uh... he's silent. Not deaf." Snotlout pushed the spear away, and Astrid shoved him.

"Any idea which way the Skrill went?"

Just as Sven shook his head, a clap of thunder directed our attentions upward. Trails of lightning shot through the clouds and down into the water, moving further and further from Berk.

"That way?" We all jumped back on our dragons and followed the storm headed away from us.

"Shh... it's okay, baby," Fishlegs whispered to Meatlug as the whimpered. "Nothing's gonna hurt you. Nothing can get you up here."

"Hold up, everybody!" I called back as the lightning got closer. The outline of the Skrill came into view through the cloud cover, and became less blurred as it flew its way closer to us.

"Okay... now what?"

"Everybody stay back. If the Skrill sees just one dragon, maybe it won't attack." Toothless flew closer to the clouds, but we were forced to stop when lightning flashed right before we were about to go in.

"This is insane!" Reign shouted over the noise. I could see the Skrill just below us, and we dove down toward it. Hopefully, we could shoot past it, and it would turn around and follow us into the water. But instead, it went underneath Toothless and I and swooped, just barely hitting the others. We continued to chase it, coming up right beside it. The Skrill lowered its gaze at us and snarled.

"Hey, there, fella. You've been asleep a long time, huh?" I tried to reach my hand out, but the Skrill electrified itself, growling again.

"Let me try, Hiccup."

Reign leaned out to the side more, extending her hand to the dragon. Its angered gaze seemed to relax as it sniffed her hand, and I was almost amazed, until it growled again and summoned lightning.

"So, I'm guessing you're pretty cranky... and hungry, too?"

"Not helping, Hiccup!" Reign managed to touch him, but she immediately pulled her hand back and hissed as it shocked her before flying away. "Ow..."

"Are you okay?"

She didn't have a chance to answer before the Skrill shot up in front of us and hovered. Despite the bolts of lightning coming threateningly close to her face, Reign stood up on the back of Toothless and stretched her arm out. I wanted to yank her back down, but there wasn't a way to do that without putting her in danger. And I had to admit, there was something cool about her standing on the back of a dragon-- a Night Fury, no less-- with what looked like a cloak hanging from her and another little dragon on her shoulders, reaching out in an attempt to calm one of the most dangerous dragons in the archipelago.

But, above everything else, it was too dangerous.

"Reign! Come on, please sit down!"

"Quiet, Hiccup!" She shouted down at me. "I'm trying to deal with this."

"Well we need to move out of the way!" She crouched down onto Toothless as though she were in pursuit of something on the ground, just barely gripping onto Toothless with one of her hands. "This is such a bad idea!"

"Do you have a better one?"

A bolt of lightning struck just in front of her face, causing her to teeter before falling back down into a sitting position.

"You okay?"

"Sure. Just get me back in close." I shook my head.

"No. If we get closer to it, you're staying like this." I turned back to the others. "Follow me! I've got an idea!" Toothless and I shot below the cloud cover, with the others in tow. "We're gonna dive through the clouds from above, and drive that Skrill down to you guys so we can all drive it into the water."

"Got it." Tuffnut kept a blank expression in his face as he processed. "No... I don't. Sorry. Could we go back to the first part, about how you're in the cloud? Or is the cloud in you? It's-It's all... it's sort of nebulous for me. Like a cloud!"

"Just... do what everyone else does," I sighed, exasperated.

"And how exactly are we gonna find the Skrill in that cloud?" Astrid shouted.

"Toothless doesn't need to see to find something, remember?"

"Does that work in clouds?" Reign asked, whipping around to look at me with a panicked expression.

"There's only one way to find out." She shook her head and turned back around.

"I hate that you choose when I'm on him to experiment," she grumbled.

We shot high enough into the clouds that we'd nearly left the layer, and almost immediately dove back down, the fog keeping us from seeing the ever-nearing water.

"Toothless! Now!" He fired a blast straight down, and after a few seconds, the roar of the Skrill pierced through the sharp whistling of the wind. Its jagged figure came into view, and it screamed as Toothless continued to fire blasts in its direction. We managed to get it just above the water, and the others sped up in order to catch up with us. Stormfly fired a long magnesium blast in its direction, discouraging it from going back up into the clouds.

"It's working!" Ruff and Tuff came up beside the Skrill.

"Time to give this dragon a bath."

"I bet he hates it as much as we do!" The green gas spilled from Barf's mouth, and Belch ignited it, causing an explosion that covered up whatever hit them to send them flying back. A boulder flew out at Astrid, nearly missing her. Reign let out a Thunderdrum call to bring Shriek to her before jumping onto her dragon's back.

"We're under attack!" A group of arrows shot up at Toothless and I, and another one caused Fishlegs to nearly jump off of Meatlug. For a moment, we lost the Skrill, but it came back to us and hovered just behind Snotlout and Hookfang, staring them down as it summoned bolts of lightning.

"Oh, no." It fired several shots at them, but thankfully, they managed to dodge them all. Well, all except for the very last one, which struck Snotlout's helmet, causing him to twitch before passing out. As Toothless and I flew forward, the clouds began to clear, and I noticed three ships below, one with a distinct dragon painted onto the sail. Reign caught up to me and looked down at the trio, before she leaned back slightly and her eyes went wide.

"Uh... is that...?" The soldiers on the boat below fired arrows right at us, causing us to pull back slightly. Three boulders shot up toward us, and while Toothless managed to shatter two by blasting them, the third went straight for Fishlegs and Meatlug. Thankfully, Meatlug caught it in her mouth and ate it, keeping them from harm.

"Let's get out of range before they reload." Fishlegs and Meatlug whizzed past the two of us.

"Already ahead of you!"

"Let's go, bud." Most of us started to fly toward a nearby sea stack, but I noticed Reign suddenly pull on Shriek and turn her around. Sighing, I pulled Toothless around and flew to her. "Reign, we have to go."

"We can't let Dagur get the Skrill!"

"And he won't. But if we stay here, we're easy targets, and then we won't be able to keep the Skrill away from them." She shook her head, but gave in and followed Toothless and I to meet the others. I looked over and noticed Snotlout's helmet still smoking. "Uh, Snotlout? Are you okay?" Tuffnut laughed.

"He's better than okay. Did you see that lightning bolt to the head?" Snotlout attempted to speak, but all that came out was gibberish.

"Tuffnut's right. He's better than okay." The smile on Astrid's face wasn't something unexpected. "And making more sense than usual."

"Okay, he's out of it, so the rest of us will--" Snotlout interjected with more gibberish, and I blinked at him for a moment.

"Snotlout, we have no idea what we're saying."

"Sure we do. He said, 'I'm perfectly fine'." Snotlout spouted nonsense again. "Said it again! I told him." He turned back around to look at the rest of us. "What? I speak post-lightning Snotlout."

"How many times has this kid been hit by lightning?" There was a part of me that didn't want to know the answer.

"Often enough." Snotlout babbled. "Oh? Twelve? Twelve times." He spouted absolutely nothing with a determined look on his face. "He said, 'enough talk. Dagur's all mine'. And, Tuffnut is the toughest of us all." I assumed Snotlout protested. "He implied the last part." I groaned, growing frustrated with the group, and placed my head in my hands.

"Well, you heard the man, Astrid. Take Snotlout and Fishlegs and try to keep the Berserker ships occupied. The twins, Reign, and I will go after the Skrill."

"If Dagur gets his hands on it first, we won't stand a chance." I saw the anger overtaking Reign's face at the thought of her brother taking the Skrill from us. "But we have to be careful. The lightning is attracted to metal, and you two are wearing a lot more of it than the rest of us."

We broke off into two groups, and we headed off toward where we'd last seen the Skrill. I knew Reign was eyeing me with caution, but I'd make sure to stay further back from the Skrill. As much as I hated the idea of sending her into danger, she was our best bet to tame this thing. For a split second, it stopped and looked at her without hostility, and we needed that.

"Okay. I think I have a way to get the Skrill into the water, but it's super risky."

"You, my friend, are speaking our language." Tuffnut cackled as he glanced at his sister.

"Basically, you're gonna fly blind through the cloud and have Barf let out as much gas as possible. Don't let Belch ignite it until you get to the other side."

"Feel my heart." Tuffnut placed a hand over his chest. "Because it comes forth, and is bursting through my chest."

"Hopefully, the blast will drive the Skrill out of the clouds toward Toothless and I, where we can knock it down with a plasma blast."

"That's a lot of gas. Do you have any idea how big a blast that will be?"

"No," I answered honestly.

"Me, either! How awesome is this?"

The twins flew into the thick of the clouds, and Reign and I pulled back to wait for them to finish the job. It took a few seconds, but a huge explosion nearly cleared the clouds, and the Skrill emerged from inside its hiding place. Toothless and I rolled out of the way at the last second, and before it came back for us, Reign turned to me.

"I'm gonna go back for the twins! You hold your own until then."

She and Shriek turned back around and headed toward where the twins had last been seen, while I went to chase after the Skrill.

"It's going back up!" Toothless and I chased it as bolts of lightning shot down on either side of us, threatening to strike if we veered too much. "Okay, bud. Not too much. Just enough to bring him down." Toothless fired a plasma blast at the Skrill, but it turned around and fired a bolt of lightning that caused a bright explosion, which allowed it to get away. "Okay, that's a new one." An idea popped into my head. "Well, let's see how he handles this." Toothless dove, and me flew next to the Skrill, firing a few plasma blasts at it, but it countered each one with its own lightning. I had to cover my eyes to keep from going blind, and the Skrill took that split second to get away and draw more lightning before coming toward us again. "This is bad..." Toothless and I turned around, and now the Skrill was chasing us. "This is worse." It tried to hit us with lightning, and thankfully, none of the bolts got close enough to hit us. Right when I looked back, it fired a bolt just above my head, forcing me to duck. "Ohh, that one made my hair stand on end. We need a plan, and fast."

The Skrill nearly clamped its jaws down on Toothless and I, when a fireball suddenly knocking into it from above and caused it to fall.

"Yoo-hoo! Remember us?" I looked back to see the twins barreling toward us. "Gas me, Ruff."

"With pleasure." Barf opened his mouth, but all that came out were a few wisps. "Ugh." The Skrill shot a large lightning blast at them and began chasing them back, forcing Toothless and I to follow. We managed to get in front of it, and as it fired another blast of lightning, Toothless shot out a large plasma blast, causing a huge, blinding explosion that sent us all flying in different directions. I felt Toothless and I land on something solid, and when I opened my eyes, I saw, just to my luck, we'd landed on one of the Berserker ships.

"Hiccup..." Dagur got up from the deck as Toothless growled.

"Sorry about your deck." We took off again and flew back into the clouds. I met up with Fishlegs, Astrid and Snotlout, and I tried to see if I could find the Skrill, but I couldn't even see an outline. "Did anybody see where the Skrill went?"

"No."

"Nope." Snotlout answered with meaningless letters strung together.

"Anyone see where the twins ended up?"

"No." My breath hitched in my throat. "I didn't even see Reign come out after she went back to get them. She... might've gotten lost."

I wanted to head back out there, but Astrid stopped me.

"Hiccup, we should collect ourselves before we go."

I looked back into the clouds again, then sighed and followed her, my mind racing with the Skrill, the twins, and Reign.