"Hey, Hiccup?"

I turned my head and smiled at the redhead hovering to my right. The early colors of the morning sky cast a soft shine on her features that almost made it appear as though she were glowing, her jade eyes brighter than ever.

"I'm all for a morning flight, and I get this is what you and Toothless do all the time, but did it have to be this early?" He whining immediately snapped me out of my daze.

"Oh, come on, Reign," I scoffed. "You have to admit this has been fun."

"I never said that," she defended, putting her hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying it's really early, and some of us are kept up late by our housemates training in the middle of the night." I chuckled as Reign settled back down onto Shriek.

"I'd expect you'd be used to Astrid's noise by now." She laughed and shook her head at me.

"She's not the problem. It's this little one I have to worry about." She pointed her thumb at Azure, peacefully curled up on her shoulders. "He'll get up in the middle of the night and start blaring like we're being attacked. I love him, but he's driving me out of my mind." As though hearing that, Azure chittered and his eyes fluttered open slightly, before he relaxed back down and continued to nap. "Wish I could be asleep right now."

"And yet, you agreed to come out flying with Toothless and I." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, that's because I— "

Before she could finish her sentence, her eyes darted in the direction of the Academy, lids narrowing before they shot open.

"Uh, Hiccup? There's a fire in the Academy."

She pointed toward the structure, and when I followed her point, I saw thick, black plumes of smoke starting to rise through the chains overhead, as orange and yellow flames flickered vaguely over the rock.

"What the—? Oh, for Thor's sake!"

I patted Toothless to get him to go faster, swooped down to get a bucket and fill it with water, and rushed to the Academy with Reign right behind. Toothless quickly entered the area and I doused the flames before getting a good look at who caused the problem. Unsurprisingly, a small, wiry boy stood nearby, a sheepish look in his wide eyes.

"Gustav," I sighed. Evidently, the others had seen the fire, because they all landed right after Reign and I. "How many times have we told you that you can't play in here?" I demanded, sliding off of Toothless.

"I'm not playing, I'm dragon training," Gustav insisted.

"Oh, poor kid." Reign turned her head to look up at Snotlout. "Ever since I let him into my inner circle, he wants to be just like his hero: me."

"Gross and annoying?" Astrid shot back, stepping closer on Stormfly.

"No. A Dragon Rider!" Gustav rested his hands on his hips and puffed up his chest, as though that would make him seem like Dragon Rider material.

"Look around, kid. All of the Dragon Riding positions have been taken, so unless one of us kicks the bucket, you're out of luck."

"Well, that's a bit on an extreme measure," Reign interjected. "Let's just all regroup for training in a couple of hours."

Gustav bowed his head and patted his sheep, getting them both to leave. The others followed him out, likely going to get a few more hours of sleep before we had to get to work. I, on the other hand, didn't feel tired, and wanted to try and find something to fill the time with.

"Hey."

I turned my head to see Reign and Shriek standing in the entrance, smiling at us.

"You wanna go down to the cove?"

I smiled too and got back onto Toothless, following the redhead and her Thunderdrum.

"I'm gonna kick the bucket!"

Annoyed with Snotlout's dramatics, I turned my attention away from the map we'd been studying and glared at him.

"Snotlout, do you mind? We're having a Dagur meeting."

"Dagur's here?" Reign peered around me to stare down Tuffnut.

"Do you think I'd be this calm if my brother were here?" she grunted.

"In the last week, I've seen three of the Five Signposts of Valhalla."

"We know!" everyone exclaimed, staring at him angrily before attempting to get back to studying the map of Outcast Island again. Reign had marked it with suspicious points while she went out on patrol last week.

"You know? And you're just standing there, talking about stupid Dagur?" Snotlout turned away from us and began to speak with passion. "One of your bravest and most treasured warriors is about to leave this world forever!"

"Look on the bright side: at least you'll be in eternal paradise."

"So will we," Astrid quipped.

"Joke all you want about me. But what about Hookfang?" The large Monstrous Nightmare curled up to nap, bringing his tail around to cover his eyes. "The thought of him without me for the rest of his life... it's just..." Snotlout sniffled and turned away from the rest of us, walking with slouched posture.

"Are you done?" I sighed, trying to get us to focus again.

"No. Not even close. Though devastated, and still in pre-mourning, Gustav has volunteered to carry on the Snotlout legacy." From behind one of our other boards, Snotlout yanked Gustav into view.

"It's an honor."

"Please tell me he's not gonna fly around saying 'oy, oy, oy'," Reign groaned, crossing her arms.

"That's a good idea." Snotlout patted the little kid's helmet. "Gustav, make a note of that."

"Snotlout, the Five Signposts of Valhalla is nothing but an old wives' tale," I pointed out.

"Then why have I seen the Flying Fish, the Weeping Rock, and the Signing Trees?" Snotlout held up four fingers, causing Gustav to jump up and put one of them back down, correcting him.

"You probably saw a Salmon spawning, wet rocks on the beach, and a gust of wind," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Besides, the Five Signposts of Valhalla are only supposed to happen to great warriors," Reign added.

"Obviously. What's your point?"

"Even if it were true, which it is not, you can't just pick someone to replace you," I told him in a stern tone.

"Well, you guys threw out my original plan!"

"To bury Hookfang alive beside you?" Astrid scoffed.

"He would gladly sacrifice himself for his beloved master. Trust me." The moment Snotlout touched him, Hookfang shot up and ran away, knocking the Viking into the air and sending him skidding right to my feet. I shook my head and tried to think of a way to approach this that would end the conversation.

"Okay. Let's just say, for argument's sake, you have seen three of the Five Signposts. It doesn't mean anything. There are still two left."

Just as I finished speaking, something brown and copper dropped down from above us, landing right in front of Snotlout's face. He shook his head before picking himself up, and the moment he looked at the object in front of him, he fully shot up and cowered near Reign and I.

"Oh, no! No, no! The fourth Signpost! The Bird of Death!" Exasperated, I leaned down to get a better look at the bird with flies buzzing around it.

"It's not the Bird of Death! It's just a dead chicken. Not the same thing, right, guys?" I made the mistake of turning to the twins.

"Oh, sure it is," they both answered. "Definitely. Bird of Death."

"You're on the clock, little man." He tapped Gustav's helmet as I got up onto Toothless. We'd wasted enough time, and I figured we'd gotten through enough for this mission to be successful. "We're starting your training immediately."

"Ugh, fine," I sighed, giving in. "The rest of us have to keep an eye on Outcast Island. While we're gone, try not to bring anyone else with you to eternal paradise."

"I make no promises."

We all turned to head out of the Academy, going straight for Outcast Island. Reign had noticed something odd when she'd been out on patrol, hence why she'd marked suspicious points on the map. I don't think it helped her brother was now running the Outcasts, as well as her own people. I wasn't sure she'd ever be proud to be one of them, but when we dealt with the Skrill, I saw a little bit of pride poking through. But she never really talked things through with me when it came to her heritage.

The sky began to turn grey as we got closer to the jagged rock of an island. We landed close enough that we could see what was going on, but not within the view of the Berserkers and Outcasts. I removed my spyglass from my satchel when we landed and focused on the area that seemed to be teeming with life amongst a dead landscape. There was some strange structure in the trees, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Ugh. I can't get a good look."

"Well, they're building something and I'm guessing it's not good," she hissed.

"All right. I say we blow it up." Reign shook her head at the twins.

"I say that's the best idea I've heard all week." The twins slammed their helmets against each other's

"Tuff, we've been over this: we don't shoot first and ask questions later."

"Of course. We never ask questions."

"We'll keep an eye on it. If it turns out to be something we have to worry about, then--"

"--we blow it up?" Tuff asked, leaning in closer to me as I put the spyglass back up to my eye."

"Oh... kay," I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"I'm worried about getting any closer." Reign stepped Shriek a little closer to me. "But if we can't get a good idea of what that is, we could be in danger." I put the spyglass down and looked at her, jade eyes shining with concern.

"I know, but... I think we need to head back, re-group, and head back out later."

"Besides, we need to make sure Snotlout and Gustav haven't burned the whole village down," Astrid joked.

When we got back, Snotlout and Gustav were still training in the Academy, and failing miserably. Most of us gathered around to watch the chaos unfold for hours.

"Eyes front, recruit!" Snotlout barked. Gustav still sat on top of Hookfang. Somehow, he hadn't died yet. "Now pay attention to everything I say."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"This should go well," Fishlegs muttered sarcastically.

"We're not too late, are we?" Tuffnut asked as the twins swung through the chains of the roof to take a seat next to the rest of us.

"Nope. Just about to get interesting."

"Oh, thank goodness. I hate missing violence." Snotlout paced around Gustav and Hookfang with a sort of purpose.

"A Monstrous Nightmare, in the hands of a capable rider, a la me, is a weapon of unmatched firepower. It must be treated with the utmost respe--"

Before Snotlout could finish his sentence, Hookfang opened his mouth and shot out a large blast of fire, right at his rider. He then turned in our direction and tried to hit us, causing all of us to duck out of the way until we figured it safe.

"We'll work on that, recruit." He glared down at Hookfang. "Was that fun for you?" Hookfang responded by shooting more fire at Snotlout.

"Are we ready to step in if someone almost dies?" Reign asked, leaning toward me.

"To the best of our ability."

When we focused back on the training, Snotlout had gone over and grabbed a couple of fish, handing one to Gustav.

"Okay, Gustav. Feeding time is bonding time for a dragon and its rider. This is how we bond." Snotlout reeled his arm back and threw a fish at his dragon. "Hookfang, eat!" The food landed right in Hookfang's mouth, without him even having to move. He chewed up the middle, then spat it back out with the head still intact. "You're up, kid! Bring the heat!" Snotlout started to walk away, confident Gustav wouldn't mess this up, for some reason.

"Hookfang! Eat!" As Gutav threw the fish, he fell onto his face, causing it to arc too far up and land right on Snotlout's helmet. Hookfang jumped up and followed the orders, clamping down on Snotlout and lifting him off the ground.

"Aah! We'll work on that!"

I sighed and glanced at Reign, whose expression shifted around a bit before resting on unamused. Snotlout had far more faith in Gustav than last week, all because he was convinced he was dying—which wasn't actually happening. Shaking our heads, the rest of us swung ourselves back out and called for our dragons, caring for them in the Academy before calling it a night. Reign, Fishlegs, and I leaned over the map again, studying it and trying to get an idea of what we were getting ourselves into.

"I know it's going to be hard on you all when I'm no longer here— especially you, Astrid." She responded by rolling her eyes. "But I don't want any tears. I want you to remember me with joy in your hearts." His voice began to break, as though he were actually getting choked up over his own death. "So, think of the good times we all had together." Immediately after he finished speaking, his hand moved to his rear, and he began to scratch. "It is by the power vested in me, that I hereby pass the Hookfang horns to Gustav. Go with Thor, little man. For he will watch over you. With lightning bolts, and a giant hammer."

I'd had just about enough of Snotlout's dramatics. Rolling my eyes, I whipped around and stared at him.

"Okay, this has gone on long enough. First of all, you are not dying!"

"Shh, shh, shh. Hiccup, it's okay. Denial is part of the grieving process."

"Second of all, no one vested you with any power."

"No one," Tuffnut affirmed.

"And even if they did--"

"Which they didn't."

"--Gustav is in no way ready to be a member of this academy."

"No way."

"That's correct, Hiccup." I looked over at Fishlegs, thankful he seemed to want to help me with my argument. "There's way more to being a Dragon Rider than feeding it and getting on its back."

"Neither of which he can do very well anyway," Reign pointed out.

"None of us are perfect, except for me. Fishlegs is afraid of heights, the twins can't count past nine, Reign's related to a deranged maniac. Astrid has obvious anger issues, and--" He turned to look at me, and I narrowed my eyes, daring him to say it. If he did, I'm sure Reign would just sweep his feet out from underneath him, or something like that, but he never did. "Well, enough said." I sighed and shook my head as he walked away from me.

"Oh, Reign." I felt a surge of anger pass through me as he pressed a hand to her cheek. I thought he'd switched his flirtations to Astrid. Did he seriously think he could win her over? "What might've been." Reign responded by grabbing his fingers and bending them back until they cracked. "I won't feel pain in Valhalla."

"Snotlout, for the last time, you are not going to Valhalla!"

"Runaway sheep!"

I swiveled my head around to see a flock of sheep barreling our way. They made a beeline for Snotlout, completely surrounding him. They seemed to be attracted to something, but I couldn't tell what.

"The Shepherd's Curse. That's..."

"The fifth Signpost?" Astrid gasped.

"Oh, this cannot be happening," I groaned, resting my head in one of my hands and shaking it.

"Aah! Avenge me!" Snotlout cried as he sunk into the circle of woolly creatures. "Have lamb for dinner!" After a few moments, he didn't get back up.

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Reign scoffed. She made her way over to the herd and managed to shoo most of them away. A single sheep lingered and licked Snotlout's face as his eyes opened. He looked around for a moment, before getting back onto his feet as I approached.

"This is Valhalla?" he asked, his voice slightly dazed. "What a rip-off!"

"Nope, still Berk," I stated bluntly. "You fainted."

"More proof that my warrior's body is failing," he whined. "I don't have much time, Hiccup. You have to let Gustav take my place."

"Gustav is not taking your place. He's not ready."

"Well, train me anyway. Isn't that what you do here? I thought this was a dragon training academy."

"Well, Gustav, this academy was born out of timing, and necessity--"

"I thought Stoick gave it to us, and said it was just some dragon training academy." From afar, I heard Reign snicker.

"That's not helping. Gustav, we learned to be Dragon Riders the only way we knew how: by doing. It was dangerous, foolhardy--"

"--and awesome!" I shoved Ruffnut out of the way, and Reign came a little closer, kneeling down in front of the little Viking.

"Still not helping," I sighed.

"What Hiccup's trying to say, Gustav, is that you need experience," Reign attempted to explain.

"The rider needs experience, the dragon needs experience, and the rider and the dragon together need experience." Fishlegs knit his fingers together, symbolizing the bond.

"Experience, huh?" Reign cast me a cautionary look as Gustav turned away from us. Snotlout gained his balance again and strode toward his Monstrous Nightmare.

"Sorry, Hookfang. I guess this means we're back to plan one. Ruff, Tuff, start digging!" Hookfang responded by padding over to his rider and blowing a frustrated puff of air in his face.

"Don't you dare start digging in the middle of the Academy," Reign warned as the twins ran off to get shovels. She watched their figures retreat over the hill, and once they were gone, sighed and turned to look at me, her expression unamused.

"You better fix this." I gaped at her.

"What? Why is this my responsibility?"

"The Academy technically belongs to you." I opened my mouth to correct her, but she held a finger up, causing me to clamp my lips back together. "Your dad gave it to both of us, yes, but you were the first person to train a dragon, and this technically was your idea. If there's a problem in the Academy, you've got to fix it."

"But they're more scared of you," I whined.

"How, in any way, does that either solve this or even relate to the problem?"

I tried my best to stare her down and get her to cave, but Reign's look was far more intimidating, and after a few moments, I threw my hands up.

"Fine, fine! I'll try and deal with it." Having won the argument, she beamed.

"Thank you." As she passed by me, she reached out and squeezed my hand. "Seriously, he's driving me out of my mind."

I let out a long, exasperated sigh as she and Shriek went home for the night.

What would I do without her?

"Okay. We're gonna need a diversion to get a closer look at whatever Dagur's building," I began, looking at the map again.

We'd finally decided we just needed to get in there and destroy whatever Dagur was working on, regardless on its nature. Something told me that if he were building it, things couldn't be good for us.

"The flaming funeral pyre on my Flaming Funeral Pyre ship should do the trick." From over my shoulder, I felt Reign glare at Snotlout. She was already a little peeved because, despite her warnings, the twins had begun to dig a hole right in the middle of the Academy, and now Snotlout was talking about his own pyre ship.

"Whoa, hold on, hold on." Tuff stopped digging long enough to register what Snotlout had said. "I thought we were burying the two of you alive." He scoffed and set the shovel down. "Fine. I guess I'll start gathering wood."

"Yeah, and I'll start gathering pyres."

Suddenly, the roar of a Monstrous Nightmare cut through the sky. Everyone looked at each other, wildly confused as a shadow passed overhead. Hookfang slept peacefully in the corner, protesting the fate he thought was coming, so... was there a runaway wild dragon?

Almost as soon as the question had been posed, a large, purple and green dragon came tumbling through the gates to the Academy, skidding on his own feet before stopping just short of crashing into all of us. A small figure went flying from its back, landing face first on the rock in front of our feet. Reign scoffed as Gustav shook his head and managed to somehow get up, his bones appearing completely intact.

"I, uh-- I meant to do that," he stuttered awkwardly, covered in dust. The Monstrous Nightmare he'd somehow flown in on paced in circles behind him, as though trying to get a bearing on his surroundings. I glanced to my left to see Reign staring daggers at me, and for once, I felt that was justified. This had officially gone too far.

"Is it me, or did a tiny little Snotlout and Hookfang just fly in?" The other Monstrous Nightmare responded by head-butting Ruff and Tuff, knocking them back into the pit they'd been digging. Toothless and Hookfang roared at the new dragon, appearing both threatened and confused at its appearance.

"Gustav, what are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Well, you said you didn't have time to train me, so I found my own dragon, and trained myself." I couldn't believe it. This kid just didn't know how to take a hint.

"Gustav, I'm not so sure we have the same definition of 'trained'."

"Look how he defies authority. Hm." Snotlout seemed to be pleased with how Gustav was fairing, all of a sudden. "I've taught him well. Now I can go in peace."

"Quit getting my hopes up," Astrid snapped.

"Fellow Dragon Riders, I'd like you all to meet my dragon, Fanghook." Reign burst into a short, sarcastic sort of laughter as she looked at the two dragons standing side by side. Hookfang took one glance as his competitor and roared loudly, as though trying to assert his dominance over his clumsy counterpart.

"Wait... Fanghook? Are you serious?" Snotlout's voice jumped into another octave. "Don't you have any respect for authority?"

"Gustav, we told you: there's more to being a Dragon Rider than just riding a dragon." Maybe saying it to him one more time would finally get things through to him. "You have to... form a bond-- a friendship."

"We have it!" I glanced warily at Fanghook. "Test us, I'll prove it!" He raced over to his dragon eagerly.

"Test him! Test him!" the twins chanted ad nauseam.

"You know, it might not be the worst idea," Fishlegs whispered to me.

"No, I'm pretty sure it is the worst idea."

"Think about it-- look at Snotlout. Maybe he needs to see how easily he can be replaced."

"Enough said," Reign chimed in. "I'm in." I rolled my eyes at her, but I knew if I didn't go through with it, we'd never deal with the problem, and she'd keep pushing me to do it. Besides, it was starting to sound less and less crazy as I took steps toward the pair.

"You know what, Gustav? You're absolutely right." He and Snotlout both looked at me like I was crazy.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He is?"

"Yes, he is." Toothless approached and fired a plasma blast at the ground, causing ash to cover the rock. With my foot, I carefully drew an 'x' to mark the spot where he should land. "Let's see you do a lap around the arena, and land on this mark.

"All right, Fanghook. Fire it up!" With Gustav still dangling from his dragon's neck, the pair trotted over to the entrance of the arena.

"Hmm. Quite the stirring battle cry." As I re-joined the others, I caught a glimpse at Reign biting her cheek to keep from laughing.

"Eh, it's all right."

Gustav and Fanghook took off, crashing into the wall before the dragon shook it off, turned back around, and completely missed the mark. I felt an arm grab onto my waist and pull me down as everyone scattered, and Fanghook barreled straight into our board with the map on it. The dust cleared, and I opened my eyes to see Reign with an arm around me, her body partially shielding me from anything that could've come my way. We looked at each other for a moment, before awkwardly pushing apart and standing up.

"Dragon Rider!" Gustav cried as he emerged from the wreckage, once again unharmed.

"Wow." I tried my best to keep my tone sincere, but a little bit of sarcasm managed to slip through. "That was pretty good."

"Pretty good? Are you kidding me?" Snotlout shouted, his arms wildly gesticulating in a way that indicated he was nearly boiling with rage.

"Is anyone else tired of listening to Snotlout's ghost?"

"Hey! I'm not dead yet."

"You're dead to us." Reign scoffed at the twins before walking into one of the dragon cages we now used for storage. She emerged with a few targets shaped like Outcasts we used for training, and I helped her set them up.

"Okay, bud. Show them how it's done." Toothless fired two quick blasts at the targets, knocking them both down without a problem. I gestured my hand down to the fallen wood, and Gustav rushed over to one of them, pushing it up for his dragon.

"Fire it up!" Instead of hitting the target, Fanghook's blast just barely missed Ruffnut and Astrid before slamming against the wall, just to the left of what he was supposed to hit. I reached down and helped Gustav up, making sure nothing had happened to him.

"Weak sauce," Snotlout insulted. "You didn't even hit anything."

"Well, that's not quite true." A distressed sheep ran by, a patch of its wool flaming from Fanghook's inability to aim.

"Bravo," Snotlout deadpanned. "You're all set for the next sheep rebellion."

"This time, we'll win." Reign gawked at all of them.

"What do you mean 'this time'? There was a first time?" Astrid rested a hand on her arm.

"You missed a lot before you were here."

"Okay. If you guys are really serious about him replacing me, the--"

"We're just following the last wishes of a legendary warrior." Astrid could not sound more insincere if she tried.

"Besides, no need to replace you." Tuffnut smacked his hand against Snotlout's face. "You're already gone." He began to chuckle, when Snotlout reeled back and punched him square in the gut, knocking the boy back into his sister.

"Oh... I really thought that was gonna go right through him, you know? And I'd be able to tickle his back."

"Let's just see how he does on one of our obstacle courses," Snotlout suggested, leaning down to sneer Gustav.

"If we're gonna do that, we should get going now." Reign hopped up onto Shriek, and the rest of us quickly followed. I led all of us out to the forest, where our easiest obstacle course was. Maybe Gustav could actually complete this one...

"Okay! On this course, you start at those big pines, and then you--"

"You blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," Snotlout interjected, mocking me. "If you think you're good, kid, you'll keep up with me. Fire it up!" Snotlout and Hookfang dove sharply into the trees, leaving Gustav and Fanghook in their dust.

"Hey! You stole my battle cry!" The uncoordinated pair followed, and tried their best to keep up. We all watched from above as Snotlout took the most convoluted path, clearing trying to get Gustav to fail. He actually managed to get through, with a little uneasiness, a decent part of the course, before Snotlout took a sharp turn, and Gustav slammed right into a branch.

"Oh, my gods," Reign groaned. "These two..."

Fanghook brought an unconscious Gustav back to the Academy, and as we set him down, Reign reached for a bucket of cold water and threw it over him. Gustav's eyes flew open and he shot up, sputtering and coughing.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't throw water on him!" Ruff chastised. "Tiny Snotlout will just shrink more. Duh."

"How'd I do?" Gustav sputtered.

"Well, you lasted about two seconds." Snotlout began to aggressively scratch his butt, and I tried my best to hide how uncomfortable it was making me.

"But, hey, those two seconds? Awesome."

"I've gotta admit-- you're gonna make a great replacement for Snotlout, Gustav."

"Says who?" Snotlout paused, the reasoning behind our words finally starting to sink in for him. Once he fully processed it all, a hurt look crossed his face. "Hey, wait a second. You're trying to convince me I'm not dying! What kind of friends are you?"

"Look, Snotlout, maybe you have seen the Five Signposts of Valhalla, and maybe you are going to die someday, and-- maybe you could stop scratching your butt while I'm talking to you?"

"Sorry. It's just all this Broadgrass in my shorts." I raised an eyebrow.

"And your shorts are full of Broadgrass, why?"

"More importantly, why aren't yours? The twins told me it prevents saddle chafing." He stepped aside to reveal the blonde siblings, who glanced at each other before looking away suspiciously, as though attempting to appear innocent. Things suddenly began to make a whole lot of sense.

"Oh, they did, did they? They also let the sheep in, and sheep love Broadgrass." They backed up with slightly fearful looks on their faces as I took purposeful, imposing steps forward. "And-And I'm guessing you're also the ones who dropped the bird of death."

"We have no idea what you're talking about," Ruffnut said sheepishly.

Just then, a chicken dropped into Tuff's hands from above, then another into his sisters. All of us looked up to see Barf and Belch hovering in the air, almost appearing to smile as though they should be rewarded for a job well done before dropping two more birds.

"Oh, I get it! So this means..." He trailed off before hesitating. "I give up. What does this mean?"

"It means the twins were messing with you." Reign exaggerated each of her words.

"Right, right. And...?"

"You're not dying!" I shouted, my frustration reaching the breaking point. Relief started to trickle onto Snotlout's expression, followed by a smile.

"I'm alive? I'm alive! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Thor!" he cried, proceeding to kiss his own hands and arms. "Snotlout's too beautiful to die anyway."

"Ugh," Astrid scoffed. "And my lunch is in my throat."

"W-Wait. So this means I can't be in the Academy?" Gustav asked, his tone dejected. We turned and looked down at him, wide-eyed and slightly alarmed. "I just wanted to be a Dragon Rider so bad!" Snotlout leaned down, right in Gustav's face.

"Oh the one hand, I sympathize to your ruthless devotion to your goal."

"And on the other hand...?"

Snotlout didn't respond, instead choosing to grab Gustav by the back of his shirt and literally throw him out of the Academy. Fanghook scurried after his rider as one of the twins threw a chicken at Snotlout's face before the two of them raced off, causing him to chase after them.

"Hey! Get your butt over here!" As they ran through the gates, my father approached, his facial expression weighed down with a sort of seriousness.

"Son, we need to talk. Trader Johann just got back from Outcast Island." Reign scoffed at the mention of his name. It wasn't a little known fact that Reign didn't trust Johann. "He overheard Dagur saying he's getting ready to test fire some sort of new weapon."

"That must be what we saw him building," Astrid piped up, connecting the dots.

"I'll take a couple riders and we'll get a closer look tonight," I promised.

"All right. But don't engage the enemy. This is a scouting mission, not a battle mission."

"Understood, chief." I turned to Reign as my dad began to walk away.

"Let Snotlout know we're leaving at sundown, and get everything you need. I know we're not planning on a fight, but--"

"With Dagur, you never know," she finished, reading my mind.

I looked straight at Outcast Island through my spyglass, spotting an alarming amount of torches illuminating an even larger count of bodies. They were definitely up to something no good with that weapon, something that could endanger Berk and the dragons if we weren't careful.

"There are a lot of Berserkers down there," I told the other two. "What's our diversion?"

"Allow me." Before I could protest, Reign and Shriek took off, heading straight for one of the guards. She hovered in the air for a bit, attempting to get his attention, before the two of them dashed off with the armored men following them on foot. I watched her fly further away with uneasiness, hoping they wouldn't hurt her as she taunted them.

"Reign's drawn them far enough away," I announced to Snotlout. "Let's get down there and see what Dagur's up to."

The two of us left the rock and flew toward the island, carefully gliding through the trees once we were close enough. Neither of us spotted anything at first around the area the Berserkers had been spread throughout, so I pushed Toothless to keep going.

Then, from the silence of night, a loud horn broke through, and as shouts followed, dozens of arrows arced up into the air.

"No!" I cried, beginning to panic. "It's a trap!"

Snotlout and I did our best to dodge as they fired their first rounds, when the roar of another Monstrous Nightmare drew everyone's attentions upward. It took me a second to try and figure out what was going on, but the moment I recognized the dragon, I was filled with a mixture of anger and dread.

"Gustav?" Snotlout sounded confused.

"Oh, great..." The pair somehow managed to avoid getting hit by the next wave of arrows before a large net was launched in their direction, knocking the pair down and sending them right to where the Berserkers were waiting.

"Okay. That solves the Gustav problem. Interested in a lamb dinner on the way home?"

"Are you kidd- Snotlout! We have to save him!" It took Snotlout and Hookfang a moment to decide to follow Toothless and I.

"Fine!" Another net launched into the air, nearly catching the other pair. Luckily, Toothless spotted it just in time and fired a plasma blast to disintegrate it. Two of them shot out a stream of fire that sent the Berserker soldiers running.

"Fire it up!" I commanded.

"For the last time, that's my battle cry!" Gustav protested.

"I know!" I found myself chuckling a little. "Now use it!" He caught on quickly.

"Fanghook, fire it up!" The Monstrous Nightmare ignited itself, completely burning away the ropes that confined them in a blaze of bright orange. "Let's get out of here!"

Gustav and Fanghook took off after Toothless and I, somehow managing to get ahead. We had just started to leave the boundaries of the island, when another net wrapped itself around Toothless and I, sending us plummeting to the ground before either of us could react.

"I'm coming, Hiccup!" I heard Snotlout shout from the air.

I tried my best to at least sit up and try to get Toothless to fire, but we were encircled by Berserkers with weapons before I could do anything. Dagur's footsteps approached as he cackled menacingly, raising his sword in the air. The satisfied smirk of a victory consumed his face, sickening me at the thought of what he considered a win.

"Fire it up!"

Multiple blasts of fire from Hookfang and Fanghook distracted Dagur and sent the Berserkers fleeing, allowing me to jump up onto Toothless and get him to shake off the net. We took off after the other two Dragon Riders, making a slight detour toward the net launcher.

"Toothless, fire."

All three dragons shot at the weapon, causing it to go up in bright, brilliant flames. Reign sped toward us and eyed me with her worried jade bowls. I flashed her a smile to assure her everything had gone just fine, and the four of us headed back towards home.

"Thanks, guys. Nice shooting."

"By me!" Snotlout interjected. "His eyes were closed." He gestured his thumb toward Gustav.

"Hey, it was scary!"

The three of us laughed at the young Viking's comment as we rushed off into the darkened cloud cover, right on the path to Berk.

"So there was no secret weapon being test fired?" my father inquired the next morning.

"No. It was all a trap. Dagur must have intentionally leaked the information to Trader Johann."

"Ah, he's as crafty as he is crazy." My dad shook his head, then chose to move on. "Well, I'm glad you're all safe." With that, he turned to leave. I focused my attention on Gustav, who stood off to the side with a sullen expression.

"So, I guess I'm not in the Dragon Academy, huh?" He rested a hand against one of the twins' carts of weapons. I glanced at Reign and Snotlout, and the three of us seemed to have the same idea, based on the former's nod.

"I tell you what, Gustav: how about we make you our very first Junior Apprentice Auxiliary Reserve Backup Replacement Rider?"

"In training," Reign added.

"Fourth class." Leave it to Snotlout to further demote him. It took Gustav a moment, but he began to smile.

"Yes!" he cheered, pumping his fists in the air.

"You realize, however, that means you have to study?"

"Got it."

"Clean out the dragon stalls," Fishlegs called from over in the corner as he did the job himself.

"Check!"

"And no more unauthorized dragon flying." I glanced up at Fanghook. "Neither of you are ready." The Monstrous Nightmare lowered his face down to Gustav, seeming to know what was coming.

"I understand."

Without saying much else, we all got onto our dragons, and Gustav led us back to the place where he'd found Fanghook in the first place. He dismounted and faced the large dragon, his shoulders hunched down in sadness.

"Go on, Fanghook! Be free!" Despite his gesticulations, the dragon refused to move, instead nuzzling the Viking affectionately. "Oh, go on! I said go already!" Gustav's tone was harsher this time, finally pushing Fanghook to go back into the woods. I approached Gustav and rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to make him feel a little better about all of this.

"I know that was hard, but it was the right thing to do."

"I know." The three of us got back onto our dragons, ready to head to the Academy and start training for the day.

"Hah. And you thought he could replace me?" I rolled my eyes at Snotlout, regretting what I was about to say.

"Uh... no one can replace you."

"And don't you forget it." I turned my attention back to the boy who still faced away from us.

"You coming, Gustav?"

"No. I just want to be alone for a minute."

We all nodded to each other and took off. The silence only lingered for a moment, before Reign spoke up.

"What are the chances he'll actually stick to his word?" she joked. I looked at her with a smirk.

"As long as we're here, on Berk, we can keep an eye on him."

That seemed to be enough, and she flashed me a comfortable grin as we landed back at the Dragon Academy and prepared for today's lesson.