Berk is a small island in the middle of nowhere. So when we get a taste of something new, we tend to go a little overboard. Unfortunately, new isn't always better.

A smile made its way onto my face as I set my hands on the back of Hiccup's chair, gazing down at his sketch of Toothless he was doing with ink and a quill. Despite having limited resources, the drawing was pretty spectacular, and shockingly detailed. Hiccup looked up at me and smiled before reaching over to dip his quill into the ink well. However, when he brought the feather back out, all that was on the tip was the crusty remains of the previous dip into the well.

"Huh..." He picked it up and shook it, only to find nothing came out. His Night Fury looked at us with curious, playful eyes, purring as though to ask why Hiccup had stopped.

"Well..." I gently grabbed the drawing from him. "It's pretty phenomenal so far, Hiccup."

"It's too bad I'll have to wait to finish it," he sighed, leaning his chin against one of his hands.

"That's why I use charcoal." I handed the drawing back to him before crossing the room and setting myself next to Toothless. He purred and nuzzled into my hand, causing me to chuckle as I scratched under his chin. "There's a pretty large supply of it here on Berk."

"Details are hard with charcoal, though." Hiccup set his supplies down and sat next to me on the floor.

"Not if you whittle it down to the right size. That's why you do the big picture first, and then work your way down." I looked at the wall above Hiccup's desk to see the drawing I had done of him and I pinned to the wall, right in the center of everything. "That's how I did that picture." I looked back at Hiccup to see him both smiling and staring at me in awe.

"That's still my favorite picture." I blushed and tucked some of my red hair behind my ear.

"I thought it was pretty important to capture the moment I met Toothless." I scratched the Night Fury again and giggled as he nearly collapsed in happiness. "And the first time I discovered I wanted to be a Dragon Rider, rather than pretend to be a hunter." Without even thinking about it, I gently set my hand on Hiccup's. "All thanks to you." As I stared at the flecks in his eyes, I could feel our faces leaning closer together.

"Hiccup! Reign! Trader Johann is here!" Quickly. the two of us pulled away and stood up.

"That, uh-"

"Maybe you can get more ink," I suggested quickly, desperate to break up the awkward tension in the air. The smile on his face shifted.

"Oh, right! Yeah, let's go look."

He grabbed one of his cloth bags and sung it over his shoulder, then I followed him down the stairs and through the crowd of people, down to the docks where a new boat had anchored itself. A wooden plank was set down so that everyone could get on the boat and find what they wanted.

"Ah, Berk! My favorite of all the islands I travel to!" the trader declared in a loud, extravagant voice.

"Where have you been to this time, Trader Johann?" Bucket asked eagerly, sounding like a child on Snoggletog.

"Ah, Bucket. The things I've seen, the people I've met. I'd need a week to regale you, but alas, we have limited time to conduct our business together." He climbed up onto a crate so that he could address everyone. "Whatever it is you're looking for, I can assure you, you'll find it here!"

That was the people's cue to make their way onto Johann's boat and start trading for what they desired. I usually only traded with Johann whenever I needed something- seeing as how he typically wanted something seemingly impossible in return- but the others on Berk seemed to go absolutely nuts for Johann's goods.

"It's all mine. I call dibs on everything," Snotlout declared.

"I've got food of all sorts, spices, exotic animals-"

"Ooh, something's moving." Tuffnut moved a little closer to a squirming bag, when it suddenly shot out spines, causing him to jump back to avoid impalement.

"-works of art, jewelry, not to mention knowledge."

"Trader Johann, is this your only book on Botany?"

"Yes, Mister Fishlegs. Why, it was given to me by the author himself." Fishlegs removed a necklace from his pouch.

"Would you accept this necklace? It's made from baby dragons' teeth."

"Fair enough, Mister Fishlegs."

"Ooh, I'm even better looking than I thought," Snotlout preened to his reflection.

"You okay there Gobber?" Astrid asked the Viking as he rubbed some sort of cloth against his face.

"I'm better than okay," he declared. "I'm in heaven!" I turned as Hiccup stood, a jar of ink in his hands.

"Oh, that's pure squid ink, Hiccup. Wrestled from the colossal squid of the Northern waters." Hiccup opened his bag and retrieved one of the items he had to trade.

"Well, how about this spyglass? You know, I made it myself." Johann took it and glanced through the clear glass.

"I know. You've given me five just like it. Unfortunately, I've only got the two eyes. What else have you got?" He handed the spyglass back, and Hiccup removed the next item.

"What do you think of this winch? Eh? It'll help you pull up your gangplank." Johann spun the little wheel in his fingers.

"A welcome tool for a working man's ailing shoulder. Consider it done." Trader Johann moving away revealed Chief Stoick, who was wildly swinging a sword around.

"Wow. Another sword. Just what we need." Hiccup's tone suggested otherwise.

"If you must know, it's not for me. I'm off to my yearly meeting with the Chief of the Shivering Shores. The last man who showed up without a gift left without a head." He said that in a disturbingly chipper tone. "Johann, what will you take in trade?"

"Stoick! It is but your grace I desire when my humble ship passes by Berk." Chief Stoick laughed.

"You'll always be welcome on our shores."

Having concluded his business with Johann, Chief Stoick got off the ship and mounted his Thunderdrum.

"I'll be back in five days," he announced to the crowd. "Oh, what am I saying? I'll be back in two, thanks to Thornado." As if on command, 'Thornado' roared and shot out a sonic boom, causing Hiccup and I to cover our ears. His Thunderdrum was so much rowdier than mine.

"So, you finally named him. Thornado, huh?" I couldn't tell whether Hiccup thought the name was stupid, or that it suited the dragon.

"That's right! Because he has the power of Thor, and the strength of a tornado! Besides, it's the only thing he'll answer to. Turns out, he can be quite stubborn!"

"Can't imagine where he gets that from," Hiccup muttered.

"Look who's talking!" I sassed, grin ever-present on my face.

"Up, Thornado." With that, the Chief took off, heading to this meeting.

"Ah, men riding dragons. What a magnificent sight," Trader Johann marveled, watching as Chief Stoick and Thornado disappeared over the horizon.

"Johann!"

I grimaced. I knew that voice anywhere, but it wasn't one I ever found myself wanting to hear.

"Mildew!" Trader Johann, on the other hand, sounded completely thrilled. Though I suppose any opportunity for business would excite him.

"Did you bring what I want?"

"Always straight to the point. I like that." Johann barely opened one of the many woven baskets stacked against the ship, only revealing the contents to Mildew. This, of course, only caused me to become more suspicious. I already didn't trust them as individuals, but together? They seemed incredibly dangerous.

"Ah!"

"I assume you brought my cabbage?" Mildew tapped a basket at his feet with his cane, drawing Trader Johann's attention to the leafy greens inside. He picked it up and gave the contents a good sniff, crinkling his nose to confirm to anyone around him that they had that signature cabbage smell.

"Take these to my house," Mildew ordered one of the villagers. As soon as he had turned away, a little Terrible Terror climbed up onto the pile of baskets, curious as to what was inside.

"Do you want anything, Reign?" My attention was diverted from the suspicious contents of baskets to Hiccup and his smile, eager to be a typical man and provide if necessary.

"No, thanks," I shrugged, not trying to fire a shot to his ego.

"Now, now, now, little fella. That's not for you." I turned back to the baskets and Terrible Terror to see Trader Johann attempting to shoo the poor dragon away.

Instead of listening, the Terror snapped at Johann's fingers, grazing their skin and barely cutting them.

"Ow! Feisty one, isn't he?" In response to this, Johan grabbed onto the little dragon and threw him off the secret merchandise.

One second, Toothless was crouched and glaring at Johann, a deep growl in his throat, and the next, he shot forward in a blur, pinning the trader closer to the side of the ship. Johann cowered in fear, still having trouble grasping the idea that dragons were friends.

"Stay," Trader Johann quivered. "Distance, please."

"Toothless! No." Hiccup stepped in front of his dragon and pushed him back slightly. "Sorry, Johann. He's just being protective." The man let out a sigh of relief.

That's when Hiccup noticed that, in his hurry, Toothless had broken the jar of ink. Disappointment crossed his face as he picked up one of the shattered pieces and turned it in his fingers.

"Oh, it's gone..."

Johann pushed himself to his feet just before noticing the broken jar in Hiccup's hand, a small frown crossing his face at the sight of the shattered merchandise.

"Oh, sorry, lad. That was my last one." That certainly wasn't what Hiccup needed to hear. "But rest assured, I'll find that colossal squid and wrestle you another bottle."

"Oh, Toothless." Hiccup shook his head as Toothless purred, wondering what was wrong.

"Hey, he was just protecting that Terror. It's okay." I scratched the top of the Night Fury's head. "Come on, let's head back. I think I have some extra charcoal you can use." I took his hand and led him and Toothless away from Trader Johann's boat, more intending to go to the academy and check on Shriek than get Hiccup a new drawing utensil.

That could wait.

"So, how come you never get anything from Trader Johann whenever he shows up?" Hiccup inquired. I knew Johann was some sort of big deal around here, but it was hard for me to trust him.

"I don't completely believe the stories he tells about where his products came from, so I can only assume they're not as authentic as he claims," I answered plainly, unashamed of my reasoning.

"Well, the stories do seem pretty out there, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're slightly falsified. But someone who travels as much as he does is bound to have some great stories to tell." I only shrugged.

"I suppose."

The others had already brought what they had traded for back to the academy, but the thing that drew you eye were the giant statues Ruffnut and Tuffnut had gotten. After struggling to get one of them to the center of the former arena, they allowed everyone to be awed by it.

"Oh, wow. How does that look?"

"Beautiful."

Or, just the twins, Hiccup, and myself could take interest. I made my way over to where Shriek was being kept while she was in her training phases and let her out, showering her with affection to apologize for having to keep her in a cage.

"You guys got these for the academy?"

"Yeah. We got them from Trader Johann. We had to give him our great-grandfather's skull. We got to keep his clavicle." I made a face in disgust. Why would they keep those sort of things just lying around?

"Wow! You know, it's about time you guys started taking some pride in this place."

"That was awesome! I wanna take a shot!"

Snotlout climbed onto Hookfang and ordered him to take a shot at the statue. Next, Stormfly whipped around and ejected some of her tail spikes, which ended up sticking out of the statue's side. Meatlug took her own shot, followed by Shriek, who sent out a little boom that pinned the statue against the wall. Toothless was eager to take his turn, but as soon as he readied a blast, he sneezed, and the purple shot ended up flying against the wall, followed by another that nearly hit Snotlout.

"Well, that's strange..." I slowly pulled away from Shriek and approached Toothless, who was furiously pawing at his nostrils as though something was wrong.

"Hey! Could you have your dragon cover his mouth when he sneezes?" Snotlout demanded.

"I ju- I'm sorry. But that's never happened before." He sneezed again and looked at Hiccup and I with sad eyes.

"We should get him back," I sternly suggested. "Do you think he feels well enough to fly? I know we could walk, but it'll be faster."

"We'll see what happens." I climbed onto Shriek's back as Hiccup got on his Night Fury, and the two of us started toward his home. As we got closer, I noticed blue speckles on bushes I hadn't seen before. Nonetheless, the color was stunning.

"Look at those flowers! They're beautiful!" Suddenly, Toothless sneezed again, and began to veer all over the place out of nowhere. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"It's not me!" The Night Fury began to buck and sneeze wildly. "Whoa!" My heart jumped as Hiccup was thrown to the ground, his dragon collapsed in a heap beside him. Urgently, I landed Shriek and raced over to Hiccup, bending down to make sure he wasn't hurt. At least, not too severely.

The boy managed to get up on his own, but Toothless remained in place, laying there and occasionally emitting what seemed like a distressed roar.

"Toothless. You okay, bud?" Hiccup asked, as though he could respond. "Toothless?" He found himself having to lift the dragon's head off the ground. "Maybe he's got a cold... or something." Hiccup looked up at me. "Do dragons get colds?"

My attention was turned away by the weak purr of a Terrible Terror. One struggled to fly for a moment, then collapsed down, unable to fly anymore.

"Whoa, look at that," I pointed out, not really answering his question. Feeling sympathy for the poor thing, I reached down and cradled it like a baby. "Well, whatever it is, he's got it, too." Hiccup removed himself from Toothless' side to investigate the Terror, looking closely at its eyes. There was something peculiar about this, but what could be the cause?

I plugged my nose at the stench of the putrid liquid being boiled. If you weren't already sick, whatever Gobber was making would do the trick. He had claimed it was some sort of remedy, but upon further inspection, I was skeptical.

"This'll fix him right up," Gobber declared, removing the cauldron from the fire.

"What is that?"

"It's best not to ask."

"Oh, good," I muttered before leaning my head again a post supporting the staircase in Hiccup's house.

"Whatever you do, don't touch it." At that moment, Toothless let out another sneeze, splattering some of the suspicious liquid onto Gobber's shirt.

"Ah! Well, that's ruined. I'll never get that yak-dung vomit again." I didn't have time to sit there and think about what Gobber had just said, because the door flew open, and there stood Astrid, out of breath with panicked eyes.

"Hiccup, Reign, you have to see this." Hiccup and I looked at each other for a second before shooting up and following her out the door.

The sight was both mesmerizing for its chaos, and severely alarming. What had once been an epidemic only befalling Toothless and a Terrible Terror had now spread to seemingly every dragon on Berk. The dragons dipped, dove, spun, and swerved before falling onto the ground.

"Help her, Hiccup!" a distressed Fishlegs called from the back of Meatlug as she spun out of control. "She's sick!"

"It's spreading to all the dragons. Uh..." Hiccup turned around to consult Gobber. "How do we stop this?" The stocky Viking only thought for a moment.

"Gothi! She'll know what to do!"

"We should bring Toothless, so she'll have a cooperative dragon to examine." Hiccup nodded, rushing back into his house to help his dragon out to the best of his ability. Toothless moved lethargically, as though every step took all his strength, but with Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, and my help we managed to get him to Gothi's, where she began examining him. Afraid of the result, Hiccup reached out for my hand, and I gently squeezed it, hoping to comfort him.

After a few agonizingly slow minutes, Gothi pulled away from Toothless and picked up a stack of bones, shaking them in her hands before tossing them onto the stone.

"I've heard Gothi can tell you when you're gonna die, just by looking at your fingernails," Astrid declared aloud.

Ever the paranoid person, Fishlegs took a glance at his own.

"That's just an old wives' tale," Gobber scoffed. "She looks at your tongue."

The old woman began to scrawl symbols in the dirt, seeing as that was the only way she could communicate. Gobber leaned over to translate as she went along, since he was the only one of us who could interpret Gothi's drawings.

"She says they're reacting to something. Like they're allergic."

"Allergic? To what?" Gothi began to draw again.

"... to a moose wearing boots." I shook my head. "Shouldn't be too hard to find." Gothi violently whapped him with her stick. "I didn't think that was right." He studied the drawings again. "Ah! They're allergic to something new that's just come to the island. Though, that still looks like a moose." She hit him again.

"Okay, 'new' and 'moose,' I get. But 'island' and 'boots?'" My confusion really wasn't the most important thing at that moment.

"There are a lot of new things on the island," Astrid reminded us. "Trader Johann was just here."

"She says to get rid of everything immediately. Otherwise, it's just going to get worse. The dragons are going to get sicker."

The people were, obviously, not pleased that they had to get rid of all of their brand new things from Trader Johann, but it was what had to be done to protect the dragons. One by one, people tossed their brand new purchases over the edge, grumbling in protest as they did.

"I know this is hard, guys, but I promise you you're doing a good thing. You're helping the dragons."

"It's the least we can do for them." Snotlout passed by us with a defeated and mournful gaze, staring at himself in the mirror he had bought.

"Goodbye, beautiful." He tossed it over, drawing my attention to Fishlegs, who was furiously scanning the book he had bought.

"What are you doing?" Ruffnut asked, sounding slightly annoyed. "Throw it in!"

"I'm sorry, but this botany book is a real page-turner! I've got to know how it ends." Before he could finish it, Ruff snatched it from his hands and tossed it. I'd been so focused on the scene there, that I hadn't really noticed that Hiccup had wandered over to Gobber.

"I don't see you throwing anything in the pile, and I thought I saw you buy something from Trader Johann."

"He did," I pointed out, remembering what I had seen. "He bought silk."

"Hand it over, Gobber."

"Can't do that, Hiccup. It's, uh, currently in use." He leaned closer to whisper. "It's my skivvies. They're glorious!" Hiccup and I both made slightly disgusted faces, then his changed to a hardened stare to make the Viking crack. "Fine." He hobbled his way behind a rock, and a few seconds later, purple silk was tossed into the air and gracefully fluttered into the pit.

"I could've gone my whole life without seeing that."

"Me, too." I sighed, watching the people throw their things in.

"Hey, so, uh... I know you have Shriek now, and all, but if Toothless is feeling better tomorrow, do you want to, uh-" I chuckled. Hiccup always got so nervous. "Go on a flight, on him? Like we used to?" I smirked.

"Why, Hiccup Haddock, do you miss me riding with you and Toothless?"

"Uh, well, you know, Toothless misses you too." I snickered as Astrid approached me.

"Sure, Hiccup. And I'd love to." I turned away to walk with Astrid, feeling slightly guilty that I'd neglected her for so long, because of all the time I'd been spending with Hiccup.

"Well, I'd offer we race, but Stormfly is down for the count, so there goes that idea."

"Last I checked on her, Shriek was fine. Maybe the two of us can just fly on her?"

"Or we could just train? I know we don't fight dragons anymore, but there are still bad people out there, and we need to defend ourselves." As much as I hated to admit it, Astrid had a point. Berk was even more of a target now than it had been before we tamed dragons. They were prizes to other people, and we had a high stock.

"Let me check on Shriek first, okay?" She nodded as we reached our home, going around the back to check on my lone survivor.

Or at least, that's what she was.

Her eyes were drooping as she struggled to keep them open, and she was unable to stand. Her usually loud, destructive cries were muted to pathetic, needy mewls.

"No..." I kneeled down and stroked her side. She was a kindhearted dragon, and she didn't deserve this. I looked up at Astrid with a new determination on my face. "Getting rid of those goods better have worked." I gently leaned my head against her large side, hoping to provide some comfort. "I-I should probably stay with her. I'm sorry." I expected Astrid to walk away and find the rest of the group, but instead, she sat down next to me and hugged my shoulders.

"Then I'll stay with her, too."

The next morning, Astrid went inside to check on Stormfly, while I loyally remained by Shriek's side. She was a poor, sick dragon, but she was my dragon, and I wasn't about to abandon her.

"Reign." I looked up at Hiccup approaching me. "Toothless isn't any better."

"Neither is Shriek," I sighed, "and I'm willing to bet none of the others' dragons are healed, either."

"This doesn't make any sense. None of it does." He slumped himself down next to me, and I carefully placed a hand on his head.

"Let's go meet with the others and figure this out together. We work best when we use all seven of our minds." He didn't say a word, rather just stood and followed me to gather up the group so that we could talk everything through.

"We got rid of everything from Trader Johann," Fishlegs whined, "but our dragons still aren't getting better. They're getting worse."

"L-Let's make a list." I could tell Hiccup was trying as hard as he could to be rational right now, but when Toothless was in danger, he didn't always think things through completely. "Maybe there's somebody who bought something from Trader Johann, but hasn't thrown it into the pit."

"Yeah. There must've been somebody who didn't wanna give up what they bought." Astrid almost sounded like she had someone in mind.

"If I find out who is holding back, I'm gonna be so mad. Hookfang was so sick, I was up all night scraping dragon barf off our walls."

"Yeah? Well, ours is dead!" I shook my head. Tuffnut was so dramatic, but he clearly tricked the others, because they gasped. "Just kidding, but he's really not that fun anymore."

"He just sits there. He won't blow anything up." Our attentions were diverted by a loud, familiar roar. Chief Stoick climbed off Thornado and made his way over to our little congregation of problem solvers.

"Hiccup! Put this in the Book of Dragons: never fly on a stomach of under cooked mutton. The Shivering Shores will never be the same." Reality started to kick back in for the Chief, and he looked around at all of our grim expressions, and the couple of collapsed dragons. "What is it, Hiccup? What's wrong?"

"It's the dragons, Dad," he spat out urgently. "They're, uh-"

"They're sick," I finished, "and getting worse."

"Every dragon?" I nodded.

"Toothless was the first one, then it was a Terrible Terror. Now it's all of them." I looked down at my feet before turning Hiccup slightly to face me. "I'm going to go back to Shriek. She needs me to be there for her."

"I should probably get back to Toothless, anyways."

"You know where to find me if anything new happens." I reached down and squeezed his hands before making my way back to my purple Thunderdrum. "Hey, girl." I sat down beside her again, resuming my gentle stroking, "Can I tell you something?" She looked at me with half-lidded eyes. "I'm scared I'm going to lose you," I admitted. "I had a dragon before you, named Amethyst. She was this wonderfully sweet Hobblegrunt, and the one who brought me here, and... I lost her, to the Red Death. I'm sure you know who that is." I leaned down and rested my head against her side. "I don't want to lose another dragon."

Night had fallen when Hiccup rushed to find me.

"Reign, Thornado got sick, too." I shot up. He hadn't been here that long, yet he was already sick?

"Let's go." I got up and followed Hiccup to where his dad and Fishlegs were waiting for us.

"Well, this is where I landed," Chief Stoick explained, gesturing to the general area.

"Okay, look around for anything unusual." We started to split off in four different directions, hoping desperately to find the source.

"Does that count?" Fishlegs pointed to Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who were charging at each other to crash their heads together.

"Hm. Nothing unusual here." I looked over at Hiccup to see his expression changed to one of confusion. "What is it?" He said nothing, so I followed his gaze to see another Terrible Terror rubbing its nose against the bushes of blue flowers that had started popping up not that long ago. Hiccup made his way over and picked one.

"Uh, does anybody remember seeing these before?"

"They were here when I got back." Fishlegs snatched it from his hands.

"It looks an awful lot like the Blue Oleander. I recognize it from my botany book, chapter eight." At least that book had come in handy before Fishlegs had to get rid of it.

"Is there anything specific you can remember?"

"They're very beautiful, very soft, perennial..." his expression shifted, "and poisonous to reptiles." My eyes went wide.

"Which means poisonous to dragons!" Fishlegs quickly tossed the flower from his hands. "This is serious. Uh, did your book say anything about a cure?"

"I don't know, because somebody made me throw it in a pit."

"Well then go back and dig it up!" He rushed off.

"I don't understand. Where did they even come from?" I was as confused as Astrid was.

"Mildew." We looked over at Tuffnut. "I saw him plant them the other night!"

"And you didn't think that was strange?" Astrid growled.

"No. Well, maybe. I don't know, quit pressuring me!" Thornado sneezed, sending out a boom that caused us to duck.

"Let's go pay the old man a visit." Hiccup and I followed Chief Stoick up to Mildew's hut, where he opened the door with disturbing grace. "Mildew, did you plant flowers in the village?" He looked at the three of us for a moment, clearly deciding to comply.

"Yes."

"And were you aware that they're poisonous to dragons?" He stuttered for a moment.

"So what if I planted some flowers? The town square's never looked better," the old man protested. "I was merely trying to spread some beauty and happiness."

Interesting how he avoided answering the question...

"Since when have you cared about 'beauty' or 'happiness?'" I challenged.

"You did this." Hiccup pointed an accusing finger at him, causing Mildew to stutter.

"Well, I had no inkling, Stoick, that these flowers had special properties. Which, true, I'm no friend of the dragon, but, in this case, on my life, I was not trying to harm them." The chief shook his head before ushering Hiccup and I out the door.

"Let's go." We decided to meet back at Gobber's smithy. Everyone sat around, hoping Fishlegs would come back soon.

"Hey." I looked up to see Hiccup attempting to smile at me.

"Hi..." With a few moments of hesitation, Hiccup sat down beside me and placed his hand on mine.

"I'm scared, too."

"I know." I looked at him. "But I also know that we'll get through this together, because that's what we do." That made him smile, just as Fishlegs came back with the answers.

"Fishlegs, you found your botany book!"

"What does it say?" That's when we all noticed the tear tracks running down his face. He opened the book, but no words came out.

"Calm down, breathe." It still took him a bit, but Fishlegs finally managed to collect himself.

"My botany book says that Blue Oleander is poisonous to reptiles, and dragons are reptiles!"

"We know that. Was there anything else?" He put away the small book and pulled out a larger one.

"Not in here, but I remembered the Book of Dragons talked about a dragon that feeds on the Blue Oleander." He opened it to the corresponding page. "It's called the Scauldron. In a perfect world, if it eats the flowers, maybe its venom can be used as an antidote, like snakes and spiders. But alas, we do not live in a perfect world. Look, the Scauldron has no venom."

"No, but it looks cool." Tuff had the worst timing in the world

"Don't you understand? The book says no venom!"

"Okay, got it. No venom. Gah-ly, write it on your forehead."

"That book is wrong." We all turned to Gobber emerging from his hut. "I've dealt with a Scauldron before. They're sixty feet long, razor sharp teeth. It'll shoot boiling water that melts the flesh off your bones. The Scauldron has no fear, no conscious, but what Scauldron does have is venom, and lots of it."

"I'm out," Tuffnut declared.

"I'm with him." His sister followed him away.

"All right. You guys stay here and take care of the dragons." My heart rate went up. He couldn't be serious...

"What are you going to do?" Fishlegs asked quietly.

"Dad, Gobber, let's go find ourselves a Scauldron."

"I thought you'd never ask." Hiccup and Chief Stoick went to say goodbye to their dragons before heading off to gather this supposed venom, but all the while, my hands shook and I paced. As soon as Hiccup emerged from his home, I stood in front of him.

"There's no talking you out of this, is there?" I whispered.

"Reign, this is the only way to save our dragons. I have to take this chance."

"I don't like the idea of you going out on a boat to subdue an aggressive, sixty-foot dragon, Hiccup."

"Reign, think of Shriek... and Toothless." I sighed.

"Let me come with you," I demanded.

"Oh, no, no, no. I can take the risk with myself, but not with you."

"Well, the same goes here." I looked down at my hands, before into his eyes again. "I said we work best when we're a team."

"And this is how we're working as a team. I need you to take care of the dragons. You're the only one I would trust with a responsibility like this." I took his hands, realizing there was no way out of this.

"You better come back unscathed." I moved past him to reach the dragons and help attend to them as best as possible. Hookfang was still throwing up, Stormfly shot spines nonstop, Barf and Belch didn't move, and Meatlug had horrible gas. But, I tended to all of them, because that was my job.

By this point, it had been a few hours since Hiccup, Gobber, Chief Stoick, and Mildew had left. Just as I was moving between Snotlout's hut and Hiccup's, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Reign!"

Chief Stoick was carrying Mildew over his shoulder, who seemed completely subdued. Gobber was hobbling, but otherwise seemed completely fine. And thankfully, so was Hiccup.

"Hiccup..." I sighed, rushing to him and hugging him. "So, did you do it? Did you get the venom?" He scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, kind of?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?

Hiccup had an arm on my waist as we listened to Mildew scream in agony, gathered around Gobber's smithy. I didn't want to know what had happened on that boat, but if Mildew was the key to getting the venom that would cure our dragons, then so be it.

"Can you believe we're all just standing around, waiting for something to come out of Mildew's butt?" Of course, all of this fascinated the twins, but why wouldn't it?

"This is one of those things you can spare me the details on." Mildew let out an agonized scream.

"That's the sound of our dragons getting better," Astrid joked. The mood certainly had lightened, now that we had hope of a cure, but everyone was still wary.

"I've seen a Nadder's spine slice through a man's eyeball like a grape," Gobber mused as he exited his smithy. "I watched my own arm get devoured by a Monstrous Nightmare. But never, never, have I seen anything as disturbing as that old man's bare behind." He held out a cup to Hiccup. "Here, take this to your dragon. I'm going into the forest to scream."

"Way to take one for the team, Gobber." I followed Hiccup around as we administered the cure to the dragons, then helped Shriek to his home and laid down beside Hiccup against Toothless. We just sat there in silence, comforting the dragon. At one point, the chief came upstairs, clearly waiting for some sort of positive response. "Relax, Dad. It's gonna be fine."

He turned and went back out the door to be with Thornado. I sighed and shifted my head from Toothless' side to Hiccup's chest and sighed, waiting for something, anything, to happen. This had to work, otherwise there was no other option. No other hope left...

And that's when Toothless began to stir. Hiccup and I gently moved off of the gentle dragon to allow him room. The Night Fury shook his head, then looked at Hiccup and I with curious eyes.

"Toothless?" He bounded over to Hiccup and began licking his face, covering him in spittle. Nonetheless, the two of us smiled wide. My grin got even wider as Shriek nuzzled my back, returning to her affectionate self.

"Shriek..." Hiccup and I got up from the floor and led our dragons outside.

"Dad, they're coming around!" Thornado opened his eyes and looked up at the chief with pure affection.

"Thornado!" the chief chuckled.

"How ya feelin', bud?" Hiccup stroked between Toothless' nostrils, before he shot out a plasma blast into the air. Shriek roared, then her and Toothless began to play with each other.

"Good to have you back, bud." My eyes wandered to Hiccup, and I wrapped my arms around him.

"You did it." He shook his head.

"We did it, Reign." I punched his shoulder.

"You're so cheesy."

A deadly flower, a venomous sea dragon, and Mildew's butt: three things I never thought any of us would ever have to deal with in the same day. But that just shows that Hiccup will do anything for the dragons.