WARNING: RACE TO THE EDGE SPOILERS!
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Hey guys! :D So, I'm not entire sure how this story's going to go...I mean, I know what I want to write in it, I'm just not sure how it's gonna go down...so let's try it, shall we? :D I hope you all liked the last episode, and enjoy this episode just as much as you have the previous ones! Anyways, I'm over and out for now! Happy Easter! :D Enjoy chapter 1!
"FIRE!" the Berserkers shouted from their ship below, pointing a finger up at the sky. "SHOOT DOWN THE DRAGONS! The rest will be easy!"
Stormfly and Astrid dive-bombed out of the way just in time; arrows raced through the space of air they had been previously occupying. "Nice going, Stormfly!" praised Astrid, rubbing her dragon's head. "Now let's see if we can't take out some of those catapults!"
Stormfly nodded in agreement and swooped, towards the ground.
"A-TEAM, SOARING INTO ACTION!" cheered Gustav Larson, and he led the auxiliary team of dragon riders towards the Berserker ships, tailing Astrid.
"I don't understand!" shouted Fishlegs from where he was mounted on Meatlug, dodging catapult boulders and crossbow arrows. "Why would the Berserkers attack Berk!?"
"Maybe because they realized we were ON IT," snapped Snotlout, flanking Fishlegs on Hookfang, "and decided that now was as good a time as any for stone-cold revenge!" He pounded his fist into his palm. "But now," said Snotlout, grinning, "since they attacked us first, anything we do is self-defense and cannot be held against us!"
"Wait!" Fishlegs shouted desperately. "Snotlout, what does that mean!?"
"See ya, Fishface!" said Snotlout, and with a mock salute, he dove towards the Berserker ships. "SNOTLOUT, SNOTLOUT, OY, OY, OY!"
"If you chant that one more time," said Ruffnut angrily, "I'll turn that victory cry of yours into 'Snotlout, Snotlout, ow, ow, ow!'"
"Brilliant idea, dear sister!" said Tuffnut, punching the air in triumph. "Yes! We shall do that-" An arrow flew up at them, and if it hadn't been for their dragon's quick reflexes, they would have been hit.
"Um...we shall do that after we kick Berserker behind!" said Tuffnut.
"Yeah!" said Ruffnut, and Barf and Belch soared downwards, straight towards the Berserker ships, following after Snotlout, Hookfang, Astrid, Stormfly, and the A-Team.
"Take down the Nadder!" Dagur shouted from his ships, pointing a finger up at Astrid, and his men loaded their catapults and aimed them in Astrid's direction. The boulder was launched, and Astrid didn't have time to move out of the way-
A purple blast exploded in front of her, blowing the boulder to smithereens. Astrid raised her arm to shield herself, and once the smoke from the explosion died, she lowered it.
"Thanks, Hiccup!" she called.
Hiccup flashed her a thumbs-up, and Toothless circled back around, flying alongside Astrid and Stormfly.
"I'll go in low," Hiccup said, "and you distract them as long as you can! Let's see if we can't take out any of their ships from below!"
"Got it!" said Astrid, and Hiccup directed Toothless downwards, straight towards Dagur's ships at top speed. "A-TEAM!" Astrid shouted. "Offensive formations!"
Gustav nodded and repeated her order unnecessarily; the riders of the A-Team instantly fanned out to do as Astrid had commanded.
"Um, Astrid?" Fishlegs said. "Why is Hiccup going straight for Dagur?"
"Strategy!" said Astrid. "Distract the archers! Stormfly and I will take out the catapults!"
"You got it!" said Snotlout.
"WAIT!" screamed Fishlegs. "WAIT, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DISTRACT THE ARCHERS!? Ahhhhh!" He screamed even louder when arrows rained down around them. Meatlug barely managed to dodge out of the way.
"Like that!" said Snotlout smugly. "Hahahahaha, Snotlout!"
Astrid swooped down on Stormfly, towards the catapults. While the archers were focused on Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the A-Team, Stormfly flicked her tail, and the dragon's spines embedded themselves in the catapult's mechanism. A fireball from Stormfly was all it took after that before the catapult was rendered completely useless.
"Nice shooting, Stormfly!" Astrid said, rubbing Stormfly's head. "Now let's take out another one!"
Meanwhile, Toothless swooped low over the ocean, nearly grazing it, just out of sight of the soldiers on the ship. Hiccup pressed himself low against his dragon's back, waiting for just the right moment.
"Alright, bud," said Hiccup, "we have one shot at this. As soon as we fire, we need to get up in the air until we're out of arrow range."
Toothless growled his acknowledgement, paused just a second, took aim, and fired. The plasma blast blew a gigantic hole in Dagur's largest ship which quickly began filling the ship with water and dragging it down.
"NO!" Dagur shouted. "I liked that ship!"
Toothless skyrocketed.
Dagur saw them.
"FOCUS ALL YOUR FIRE ON THE NIGHT FURY!" he shouted. "TAKE THEM DOWN!"
"Toothless, barrel roll!" Hiccup instructed. "Multiple blast!"
Toothless spun, turned, and fired three plasma blasts in a speedy session; the arrows, which had been flying straight up at them, were blown away.
"Nice shot!" Hiccup said. "Now let's get out of range!"
Toothless nodded, turned, and shot back towards Berk. Toothless landed in the village plaza, and Hiccup quickly dismounted, racing towards the armory. The Berkians who could fight were running to the docks, and those incapable of combat were taking shelter.
"Gobber!" Hiccup called, racing towards his former mentor as Gobber handed an axe to a passing Berkian. "I'm looking for a Gronckle Iron sword!"
"Gronckle Iron sword?" repeated Gobber. "What would you want with that, lad?"
"I'm just wondering if you have one!" said Hiccup. "We're cutting it close up there with those arrows! Close combat could be our only option!"
Gobber studied him for a moment, and then, he stepped into his armory and returned almost instantly with a forearm-length Gronckle Iron sword strapped in a sheath. He handed it to Hiccup, who took it.
"First Gronckle Iron weapon I made since figuring out the Gronckle Iron formula," said Gobber. "Just been sharpened, stronger than ever...yet lightweight. You shouldn't have a problem wielding it."
"Thanks, Gobber," said Hiccup, and he strapped the sheath to his belt and made to mount Toothless.
"Oh, and Hiccup?" Gobber called at the last second, and when Hiccup turned to look at him, he continued. "Remember, close combat only as a last resort. You and the other riders are certainly safer on your dragons than you are on the ground."
"I'll remember that, Gobber," said Hiccup, and with an unconvincing smile, he leapt onto Toothless' back, and Toothless shot into the sky once again. The instant he left, Skullcrusher and Stoick landed in front of Gobber and the armory. The Chief dismounted and stepped towards the blacksmith.
"Have you seen Hiccup?" Stoick asked instantly.
"You just missed him, Stoick," said Gobber. "He came by to get a sword, and raced back off."
"Well, I need the best weapon you have," said Stoick. "I'm going up there with the other dragon riders. They need all the help they can get."
"Right," said Gobber, nodding, heading into the armory. "Those arrows are coming down on them like hail in Devastating Winter...here." He handed Stoick a finely polished, sharpened axe, and Stoick mounted Skullcrusher once again and took to the sky.
"The catapults are down, Hiccup!" Astrid reported once he had taken air. "The only things left that can bother us are the archers!"
Hiccup stared down at the decks of Dagur's ships; the archers fired crossbow arrows straight up at Fishlegs and Snotlout, who were still distracting them. "Huh," said Hiccup. "Well, that shouldn't be a problem. A-Team, follow me!"
He directed Toothless downwards, and the dragon soared.
"Come on, A-Team!" snapped Gustav. "You heard the man! Go, go, go!" Gustav and the rest of Berk's auxiliary team shot after Hiccup.
"The archers!" said Hiccup, pointing to the nearest Berserkers with crossbows. "You can use the ships as cover to shield yourselves until you have a clear shot! Once we take out the crossbows, taking out the rest of the ships won't be a problem!"
Gustav nodded and led the A-Team towards the ships; Snotlout and Fishlegs were still above, distracting the archers.
"I don't want to do this!" Snotlout yelled at Hiccup. "I'm to young and beautiful to die!"
"Then...trade off with the twins, or something!" Hiccup shouted back. "Whatever you do, don't stop distracting those archers! I'm going in low!"
"And if you don't come back," said Snotlout, "I'll tell everyone you died heroically!"
"Snotlout!" shrieked Fishlegs.
"What? Isn't that nice?" said Snotlout.
Hiccup followed the A-Team towards the surface of the water. One plasma blast from Toothless was all it took for three archers to be blown back off their feet, and another blast from Gustav and Fanghook knocked another two archers into the ocean.
In the sky above them, the twins looked on in fascination. "This destruction," said Tuffnut, "I think I like it."
"Would you two yahoos please get to work!?" snapped Snotlout. "Take over for me and Hookfang! Dagur wants to turn us all into pincushions!"
"Pincushions," said Tuffnut dreamily. "I like it! We'll take over from here!"
Meanwhile Dagur, seeing that his archers were being taken out left and right, raced towards the nearest archer, wrestled his crossbow from his grip, and knocked him overboard. Dagur took aim with the crossbow at the nearest dragon-
"FANGHOOK, DIVE!" shouted Gustav, and Dagur's arrow sailed over their heads, barely missing them. "Phew! Felt the air on that one! Wow!"
Dagur took up his crossbow and aimed carefully. Then, when Hiccup and Toothless swooped and took out three more archers, he fired.
His aim was off. Toothless spun to avoid getting hit, but in spinning, he knocked himself off-balance. He misjudged the distance between himself and the ship.
Hiccup and Toothless hit the deck of Dagur's ship in a horrible crash-land, rolling and tumbling to a stop. They hit the mast of the ship, and the wood cracked upon impact.
"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, and she turned Stormfly without a second thought and zoomed down.
"Astrid, no!" shouted Fishlegs. "The archers!"
At the last second, Astrid pulled up; arrows rained around her, barely missing Stormfly's wings.
"We'll cover you, Princess!" shouted Snotlout, cupping his hand around his mouth. "You go help Hiccup!"
"Yeah!" said Tuffnut. "We'll use Ruffnut as a human shield!"
"I nominate Tuffnut human shield!" said Ruffnut, raising her hand. Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins got into defensive formation, and Astrid turned and shot towards the deck of the ship.
Hiccup stood, feeling disorientated, and beside him, Toothless also got to his feet. When Hiccup's vision finally cleared, he saw that the Berserkers on the ship were slowly approaching from all directions, closing in.
"Oh, awesome," said Hiccup, drawing his sword. "Sorry, is this your ship? My bad. My bad!"
A Berserker raised his axe and prepared to advance, but Dagur suddenly stepped from the crowd of Berserkers, axe drawn.
"Get the backup crossbows and keep firing at the dragon riders!" barked Dagur, clutching his weapon tighter. "Leave my brother to me."
Hiccup sighed and put a hand on his hip. "You know, hate to break it to you, brother," said Hiccup, "but every time you tell your men to leave me to you, I escape. Sooo, yeah, probably not the best idea to leave me to you. You should probably just get a crossbow and finish me off."
Dagur blinked at him. "Are you trying to be smart, brother?"
"I don't have to try, Dagur," said Hiccup.
Dagur narrowed his eyes. "I know what you're doing!" he said. "You're trying to confuse me! You have a plan, I know you do, Hiccup! You want be to try and finish you off with a crossbow so you can launch some psycho plan! Well, I'm not falling for it!"
"Or maybe I don't want you to use a crossbow which is why I told you to use a crossbow which would make you think that I wanted you to use a crossbow when I really didn't so you wouldn't use a crossbow and I would escape anyway," said Hiccup.
Dagur blinked. "What?"
"What?"
"ARRRGH!" Dagur shouted. "ENOUGH! I'm not going to let you talk your way out of this one, brother!"
"Good for you!" said Hiccup. "Ready, Toothless?" Toothless growled, teeth unsheathed at Dagur. "Alrightee then," said Hiccup. "Let's do this." And he raised his sword and sprang.