Chapter 1: Live and Let Fly

And we're back to the one person intro and outro because I keep running out of dialogue for the characters. What say we get into season 2?

The bond between trainer and Pokémon is strong. It remains even when the two are separated for a long period of time. Because they know they can still count on one another.

But not every trainer in the world believes that strength comes from bonds.

The trio of Noibat that had hatched out of Verne and Wavern's eggs were crawling all over their father's head, their wings hanging down in front of his eyes, preventing him from seeing clearly. This was the first time Verne had been given a chance to interact with his children directly, since the last time he saw them they had been in their eggs.

Ruido was the oldest and best flier out of the three, and, according to Snivels, his name was Spanish for "noise."

Onpa was the middle child, and behaved more like a sweetheart, with a love of accessorizing her ears with pretty bows. Ninjark identified the name as being "sound wave" in Japanese, which he knew how to speak quite fluently.

Then there was Laetio, the youngest. He was named after Verne's grandfather, who had also been a Shiny Noibat. His name was based on "læti," which meant "noise" in the Viking language, which had been foreign to the Pokémon until some couple hundred years ago.

But the Noibat trio weren't the only flying babies in the Ice Caves.

There was also Ra and Camazotz.

The Sun and Moon in Kyurem's Prophecy, respectively.

They were still Cosmog, only being able to Teleport to different locations, but were apparently capable of evolving into powerful Legendary Pokémon. Which was odd, since there were no records stating the existence of Legendary Pokémon that were part of an evolutionary chain. This provided the much-needed proof that there were still many secrets and mysteries regarding dragons and Pokémon.

Verne shook his head lightly to draw his children away from his eyes and ears. The trio of Noibat climbed down from his head and onto his back, with Laetio settling into his father's white fur and playing with the Green Scarf around Verne's neck that was used to distinguish between him and Wavern.

The Noivern knew it wasn't just the bond with his children that he needed to rekindle. He was Hiccup's Pokémon, and he'd just gone off and left his trainer on the promise to return with a female Night Fury. But only Toothless had known of that promise, so he was the only one who had been aware of what Verne had gone off to do.

Luckily for Verne, Hiccup was using the free time he had to find a way to bond further with his Noivern.

But he wasn't having the kind of luck he'd been hoping for.

The idea was to try and enter Verne into a friendly competition meant for Pokémon, but there was a slight problem Hiccup didn't even stop to consider.

"Only purebred Pokémon are allowed?!" he almost shouted.

"I'm afraid so," Fjord replied, his expression rather grim. "And unfortunately, Verne isn't a purebred. His mother was a Noivern, but his father was a Skarmory."

That was the most absurd thing that Hiccup had ever heard. And he wasn't alone in that department.

"Oh, come on!" Snivels protested. "Sure, there are some people who like to make a living showing off their Pokémon's skills, but half-blood Pokémon are just as good as purebreds!" While it was true Snivels was a purebred himself, it was really no surprise for him to stand up for a friend who couldn't stand up for themselves. He'd done that with Hiccup several times before.

Fjord was also quite irked with the fact of purebred favoritism, but even a Legendary Pokémon like himself couldn't do all that much about it. "Whether we may like it or not, that's the rule for Pokémon competitions."

"That's ridiculous!" Hiccup snapped. After a moment, he deflated. "Guess we'll just have to try and find something else."

Their conversation wasn't too far away from where Verne had been playing with his children, so the Noivern had heard everything. He wasn't new to the idea of Pokémon contests, but he hadn't realized until now that such a rule existed. Why did purebred Pokémon have to be favored over half-bloods?

"We'll see what we can find here," Fjord stated. His grim expression became more relaxed and a bit cheerful. "In the meantime, there's someone I believe you should meet - properly, this time."

Snivels and Hiccup exchanged looks. They had a feeling they knew who Fjord was talking about.

Sure enough, in just a few minutes, the entire team had been gathered in front of an eager-looking blonde teenaged boy and a pair of Cosmog.

Fjord laid one of his tendrils on the teen's shoulder. "This is Brandyn Aetherson, the fourth Trainer of Destiny. The Cosmog are his partners, Ra and Camazotz. I trust you'll all get along well." He locked eyes with Brandyn, who gave a curt nod. "I'll leave you all to get acquainted with each other."

With that, Fjord left the room.

Hiccup was the first to greet Brandyn. "It's nice to meet you," he said as he held out his hand for a handshake.

Brandyn stood stunned for a moment before he grasped Hiccup's hand and shook it vigorously. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III! It's an honor to finally meet you, I've heard so much about you." Behind his excitement, Brandyn's eyes suddenly glinted with realization. "I'm...shaking your hand too long." He let go of Hiccup's hand, laughing with giddiness like a child looking into a candy store. "This is awesome!"

He noticed Astrid standing a few feet away, and pointed at her. "I know you, too. You're amazing!"

Any other girl would have blushed at that, but Astrid didn't. For one, her heart was already set on Hiccup. And for another, Brandyn meant that as more of a friendly compliment than an attempt to flirt.

Brandyn took in a breath to calm himself. "Okay, I haven't been that giddy since I was six." He was beginning to sound a little more like Batwings. "It's really a pleasure to meet all of you." He turned to Ra and Camazotz. "Say hi, guys."

Nodding obediently, the two star babies waved at the group, simultaneously crying out a friendly, "Hi!"

The rest of Team Go-Getters exchanged glances and muttered amongst themselves. Except for Buddy, who trotted over and nudged Brandyn gently with his helmet. The teen responded by patting the Type: Null's shoulder.

An intrigued Snivels watched the friendly exchanged. "I take it you guys know each other."

"Yeah, we've met," Brandyn replied bluntly. He then added, "We were both cadets for the Resistance, after all."

"So, what does that make us?" Astrid asked.

Brandyn shrugged. "I heard some of the Legendaries talking about making all the members of Team Go-Getters VIPs."

The last word was barely out of his mouth when Blaze and Kickin' Hawk's children started jumping up and down in excitement. Then one of them accidentally stepped on one of Crackers's feet. The startled Sobble darted to and fro, whimpering in pain and fear. He bumped into Mawnan, causing the nearsighted Rowlet to lose his glasses. Amber quickly found the glasses, but was too late to grab them before Palus stepped on them by accident while trying to avoid the scurrying Crackers. Things quickly escalated after that, from Astrid's Litten, Cross, and Heather's Scorbunny, Flare, arguing over who was the better Fire-Type, to the Electric-Types Tito, Raika and Amp electrocuting all the other Pokémon (except for the Ground-Types, who were immune).

Hiccup winced at the small amount of chaos that was taking place. "They might want to hold off on those passes for a while."

Ra laughed. "Fun game!"

"Can we play, too?" Camazotz asked, eagerly.

"Trust me," Brandyn said as he watched the chaos happening before them. "You don't want to play a game like that."

Things slowly started to calm down after the combined attacks of Tito, Raika and Amp. Brandyn's eyes found Heather among the Pokémon, smoothing down her raven-black hair, which was frizzed from the electric shocks. He'd only seen her a split second before, but he still recognized her. With Ra and Camazotz following not far behind, he approached Heather just as she finished smoothing out her hair. "Hi. We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves before." He brushed some of his dirty blonde hair out of his eyes. "Brandyn's the name."

"Um," Heather hesitated, flattered and somewhat embarrassed. "H-Heather."

"Nice name," Brandyn complimented. His blue eyes fixated on her features. "I can tell you come from the Peaceables. Pale complexion, quiet voice, and all that. Very nice, and rather refreshing when all of the people you've encountered outside the Ice Caves happen to be loud, brash Vikings."

Heather wasn't sure how to take that. "Thank you?"

Brandyn chuckled at her uncertainty and shyness. His smile ended up making Heather smile as well, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks. Brandyn turned to face Hiccup. "I heard you were looking to enter your half-blood Noivern into a Pokémon competition. There's one I know of that doesn't have the purebred-only rule, and it travels around a lot, but there have been reports of Pokémon theft in every location it's been to. I'm thinking, if you and Verne go undercover by taking part in the contest, we might be able to figure out what's going on."

"I appreciate you trying to help," Hiccup said. "But Verne is my Pokémon, I need to figure this out myself. Besides, I'm not putting any of my friends in danger."

"You know we can handle ourselves, right?" replied Astrid, somewhat offended by her husband's statement.

Unfortunately, Hiccup didn't have a comeback for that one.

As it turned out, Fjord knew all too well about the traveling Pokémon competition, and had been planning on having Team Go-Getters investigate the organization anyway.

But there was a team member who hadn't been present for Brandyn's introduction, and had missed the mission briefing. And he was lying comfortably in his room.

"Finally, the weekend is here," Adhesive said with a sigh of relaxation. "And not just any weekend." He pulled out his tablet and plugged in a pair of headphones. "This is the weekend I finally get to watch season three of Skylanders Academy!" He turned on his tablet and opened the Netflix app while putting on his headphones. "I've waited a long time for this. A soft bed." He fluffed the pillows cushioning his large head. "A full assortment of snacks." He turned to look at the array of junk food he'd set aside with the intention of snacking on. "And two whole days of harmony-y!"

That last word came out in the form of a song. Specifically, the Skylanders Academy opening theme song.

But before Adhesive could play the first new episode, a loud banging sound from the door to his room made him jump about a foot into the air. "What the heck?!"

Not bothering to wait for Adhesive to answer her knocking, Blaze practically threw the door open in annoyance. "Would it kill you to get off of those gadgets and attend meetings with the rest of the team?"

"They're not just gadgets," Adhesive said, throwing off his headphones and hugging his tablet protectively. "These things are my babies, and I never go anywhere without them. Or my portable Wi-Fi router, for that matter."

Blaze rolled her eyes before storming out of the room. "Just come on!"

Adhesive begrudgingly set his tablet down and followed the Blaziken out of the room and down the hallway. His Netflix binge-watching would have to wait until later.

The flight to the island where the traveling Pokémon competition had been stationed was mostly in silence, apart from the occasional "Are we there yet?" from one of the younger members. And it took them longer to get there than they thought it would, since it was Brandyn's first time flying on the back of a dragon - specifically one of the Grapple Grounders.

"What did you say his name was again?" he asked the Servine prince.

"Basilisk," Snivels replied from his position on Verne's back. "But he prefers the nickname Buck, if you will. Not sure why, though, but I think it's because he thinks his real name sounds too scary."

Brandyn shrugged. "I think it sounds cool."

The entire team had to walk the rest of the way once they found the island. They weren't sure if the people attending, and running, the show were familiar with dragons, so the trainer decided to leave them on the edge of the island. Hiccup fully expected that he'd have to bribe Toothless with a basket of fish to get him to stay put, but the Night Fury surprised him by obediently sitting down out on a bluff with Ebony beside him. Stormfly, Windshear, Buck and the rest of the dragons soon joined them.

The same rule applied to all of the Dragon-type Pokémon except for Verne, since he was the one Hiccup was going to enter into the competition. With the Noivern following right behind his trainer, Hiccup led the group to where the competition was set up. Astrid kept pace with him, instead of walking behind him with the rest of the team. Maybe she was still a little bitter about Hiccup's previous statement, but he hoped he could change that.

"I'm sorry if you took what I said earlier the wrong way," Hiccup said, averting his wife's eyes in case she was still mad. "I just don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."

Astrid walked a little closer to him, taking his hand in her own. "I appreciate you worrying about our wellbeing, but you know me. I can handle myself just fine."

Hiccup couldn't think of a good reply, so silence settled over them. He turned his gaze behind him to the Pokémon – Amber with her arm draped over Snivels's shoulders, Kicking' Hawk and Blaze trying to keep their children in line, Tito and Amp the Flaaffy being flirted with by Raika the Manectric, the glasses-lacking Mawnan perched on top of Buddy's helmet with Crackers cowering beneath the Type: Null while nibbling on his favorite snack, Xylia gazing up at the recently-evolved Ninjark with infatuation in her eyes, Palus conversing with Gameroid the Grookey, Cross and Flare fighting over Dazzle the Salandit, Phoxie practicing her spells while Captain watched, Hokkaido the Rockruff looking to play a friendly game of tag, Sirena the Popplio practicing her singing, and Adhesive flying this way and that trying to keep up with the overeager Ra and Camazotz.

Adding in the Dragon-types, it was a lot of Pokémon to keep track of. But they were all family to Hiccup. A great deal more family than Stoick had ever been (even though the thought still made Hiccup feel a bit uneasy, it was his father after all).

Verne could sense that his trainer was feeling a bit uneasy, and since Toothless wasn't there he decided to take the job of comforting Hiccup the way a dragon can himself. He gently nudged Hiccup's back with his nose, and commenced flying ahead of Hiccup and Astrid. As he landed a few feet in front of the couple, he swished his tail like a dog would do. He was too big to play the way he did as a Noibat, but he would never outgrow a scratch behind the ears, or a belly rub.

"What's with him?" inquired Astrid, quirking an eyebrow.

Hiccup was a bit confused himself, but he had a good idea. "It's been a while since Verne and I have interacted with each other. If I had to guess, I'd say he just wants some attention."

Verne's wings slumped a little. He hadn't really been thinking about it like that, but, now that he was, some manner of attention from his trainer would be very nice.

The moment was interrupted by Adhesive, who addressed Hiccup after nearly flying by after Ra and Camazotz. "So, what's the plan, Onomato?"

Hiccup was about to answer before his face scrunched up in confusion. "Wait, wh-what did you just call me?"

"Onomato," Adhesive repeated. "It's short for 'onomatopoeia.' You know, the formation of a word from a sound associated with what it's named? That happens to include the word 'hiccup,' so I thought, you know..."

Astrid shot him a glare that could have burned a hole straight through the entire earth.

Adhesive got the hint and started to back away. "O-Okay, I'll just, uh, leave you two alone to, um, discuss things thoroughly, maybe enjoy a romantic moment. Yeah, th-that's what I'll do."

He didn't know that Hiccup and Astrid spent the next few minutes doing exactly that.

The Pokémon competition was organized in a way that reminded the trainers of the auctions people held for trading items and rare goods. There were several tents selling vitamins made especially for Pokémon, a set of stat-enhancing items that somehow resembled feathers, several colored scarves like the ones Verne and Wavern wore, Incenses, and some Type-enhancing items like Miracle Seeds and Charcoal.

In short, it was basically a fair of some kind.

The largest tent was where the Pokémon contest was being held. There was already a long line of trainers and their Pokémon waiting to get inside and register for the contest.

Verne was the only Dragon-type in the entire fair. Thankfully, since Noivern was a relatively rare Pokémon, and Vikings weren't big on reading, most of the people attending the fair didn't know that.

Hiccup and Verne quickly took their place at the back of the line, right behind an older trainer and his Crobat. The Bat Pokémon locked eyes with the Sound Wave Pokémon, and the two glared at one another, a spark of rivalry forming between them. It was common for Pokémon to compete with one another to see who's the best, but the competitiveness the Noibat and Zubat evolutionary families had for each other dated all the way back to the old days.

It didn't help that Verne's mother had lost a race with a Crobat sometime before Verne met Hiccup as a Noibat. The Crobat he was currently rivaling against wasn't the same one, but it provided Verne with the chance to prove he was stronger than he had been before.

Snivels caught the look in Verne's eye and pulled out a Poffin, which happened to be both his and Verne's favorite snack. The Noivern gobbled up the delicious treat, momentarily forgetting all about the Crobat.

Thoughtfully, Astrid eyed the tent where the contest was being held. "So, you're just going to waltz in there, all by yourself, and go looking for any suspicious behavior?"

Hiccup shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. "That's...not my whole plan…" He sighed, and went on, "As much as I don't want to get anyone else in trouble, I need you and the other members to search the grounds. See if there's anything that might give a lead on the thefts."

"I'm going in there with you," Snivels said, determinedly.

"Sorry, Snivs," Hiccup sighed again. "Only one Pokémon per trainer is allowed in there. Besides, I need you to help Astrid lead the others in the investigating. See if you can sniff anything out. And maybe try not to talk too much around other people."

The Servine nodded before leaving to join Amber, who was waiting with Hiccup's other Pokémon.

Not so easily swayed, Astrid pointed out, "If you're going to keep putting yourself in potential danger, then the rest of Team Go-Getters is going to as well. Haven't you learned, after all this time, that we make a really good team?"

"Yes, I have to admit," Hiccup confessed. "I mean, even Blaze and Kickin' Hawk's kids have their uses."

He could have sworn he saw Astrid blush slightly. "I was...kinda talking about you and me..." she muttered.

Realizing what she meant, Hiccup sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and tried not to look at her. Even married, he couldn't help but feel shy and insecure around Astrid.

Then, perhaps because she felt the situation was getting too awkward, she gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder.

It didn't take long for the team to split up across the fairgrounds. Snivels took to leading the rest of Hiccup's Pokémon (minus the Dragon-types), while Astrid and Blaze took their team members (along with Champion, Blister, Batalla, Asta, Roughneck and Basan; who all wanted to stay with their mother).

Of course, Heather and Brandyn just had to have ended up together. Not that either one of them was complaining, but it was quite awkward for Heather to be conversing with someone who reminded her of Batwings.

And what surprised her was that Brandyn somehow knew about that.

"I take it I remind you of my Siren counterpart?"

"How did you know that?" demanded Heather, albeit with some stammering.

Brandyn informed her, "I'm familiar with the Multiverse and how it works. After learning about Batwings, I became quite interested in the idea of meeting you. You know, in a platonic sense. We can start out as friends, and if we like how things are going, we'll work our way up. What do you think?"

Heather's face was probably a bright scarlet at that point. "I..." She nervously brushed a few stray hairs out of her eyes before finishing her answer. "I'd like that."

That earned her a smile from Brandyn. "In that case, maybe we could meet up later? I could get you a tea, or some of that Miltank milk."

She nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds great!"

Brandyn's eyes lit up at her enthusiasm. Then, like it was the most natural thing in the world, he leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. The sound of giggling brought his attention to Ra and Camazotz, who had witnessed the whole thing. The two star babies broke into song.

"Brandyn's got a girlfriend, Brandyn's got a girlfriend!"

Shaking his head, Brandyn gently shoed the two Cosmog away, leaving a blushing Heather to her own devices.

Adhesive and Heather's Pokémon had also witnessed the exchange. "Did I mention I also ship Heatherwings?" the Poipole asked. "I wonder what the ship would be called in this universe...Branther? No, that doesn't sound right..."

Ninjark sighed sadly. "Why can't Xylia and I be like that?"

"Probably because you're one up on her when it comes to your evolutionary chains," Captain replied.

Ninjark knew the Quilladin was right. He was a fully-evolved Greninja, while Xylia was still a Grovyle.

Phoxie didn't approve of Captain's answer, though, so she hit him in the head with her stick wand.

It didn't take long for Hiccup and Verne to reach the front of the line. During the time they were waiting, Hiccup watched as a man at the entrance to the tent, possibly the man in charge of the contest, examined each Pokémon before allowing them in. If Hiccup had to guess, the man in charge was making sure the Pokémon were eligible to enter.

He stood and watched nervously as the man took much more time examining Verne than he did the other entries. After a moment, the man asked, "Is this your Pokémon?"

Hiccup nodded wordlessly.

The man smiled and patted Verne's nose. "Quite a rare find around these parts." He turned and faced Hiccup. "The name's Harold Forkbeard, and I'm in charge of the contest. Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. If you let me buy your Pokémon, I'll train it to become a professional performer. You'll be able to win any contest you can imagine."

Hiccup looked from Harold to Verne, and then back again. "I'm sorry, but Verne's not for sale."

Harold looked disappointed for a brief moment before recovering. "Very well, then. You may enter."

The inside of the tent was filled with trainers and their Pokémon, most of them Flying-types. Right away, Verne found the Crobat among the crowd, exchanging yet another glare with his rival. Their stare contest was interrupted by Harold as he stepped into the middle of the arena.

"Everyone, welcome to the Traveling Pokémon Contest. Just for today, you all have the opportunity to show off your Pokémon in a competition to see who's the best. In the first round, each trainer will display their Pokémon's best moves to impress our judges, but only half of you will make it through to the second round, which is the battle portion. Trainers and their Pokémon will face off against one another in battle until there's only one winner left standing. Good luck to you all. Now, let's see our first contestant!"

Given that he and Verne were very nearly the last ones to enter, Hiccup had plenty of time to figure out a routine for Verne to perform. He gestured to the Noivern to lower his head so he could whisper something in his ear. "Let's try to hold off on using Dragon Pulse for now."

Verne nodded in agreement. They didn't want to risk anyone finding out Noivern was part Dragon-type.

Most of the attending Pokémon were common finds such as Pidgeot, Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant and Talonflame; but there were also a few odd ones out, like Verne's Crobat rival, Ninjask, Yanmega, Gliscor, Emolga, Mantine, and even the exotic Toucannon.

When it was finally time for Verne to perform, everyone went quiet with anticipation. At Hiccup's signal, Verne flew up into the air, flapping his wings and creating a powerful cyclone of wind. The Hurricane gradually got larger and larger until Verne flew up over it so he was looking straight down into the eye of the cyclone. Then he unleashed a powerful Boomburst from the inside of his ears. The sound waves caused the Hurricane to swell until it finally burst outward and dispersed, leaving only a few wisps of wind. Satisfied, Verne landed in the middle of the area as everyone who had been watching cheered.

After the last contestant was finished with their performance, Harold left the judges to their decision. He left through a hidden back entrance to the tent and found a pair of Lycanroc, one Midday and one Midnight, waiting for him. "Be ready to snatch them."

Both Lycanroc sneered in anticipation.

Astrid did her best to ignore all the salespeople calling out for her to buy their products. She was never one to buy anything she knew she'd never use.

Blaze had her own problem. "Was it really a good idea to bring the kids with us?"

The young Pokémon, minus Champion the Shiny Hawlucha, were running every which way and checking out all the stores. Besides Blaze, Xylia and Raika were the only ones fast enough to keep track of them all.

"Well, on the bright side, at least they have a chance of finding a lead," Palus muttered.

Blaze nearly smacked the back of the Marshtomp's head, but she knew he had a good point.

Astrid paid no attention to them, instead fingering the pendant that was still hanging around her neck.

"I hope Hiccup knows what he's doing..."

Snivels, Amber, Kickin' Hawk and the Galar starters were having considerably more luck than the others. Kickin' Hawk had noticed a second, smaller tent set up right behind the tent where the contest was being held.

"Now, why would anyone set up a second tent right behind the main attraction?"

Snivels looked at the veteran Hawlucha. "I thought Fjord told you."

Kickin' Hawk shook his head. "Fjord doesn't tell me everything he sees in his visions," he said.

One by one, each Pokémon entered the tent cautiously. The first thing they noticed was a great number of wooden boxes stacked onto one another, some big enough to hold a Snorlax. Snivels couldn't help but sniff some of the boxes, hoping to find out what was inside. His eyes went wide as he caught the scent of living creatures emanating from the wooden crates.

"Snivels, what is it?" Amber asked, laying a clawed hand on his shoulder.

"There are Pokémon in these crates," the Servine replied, his voice full of horror.

Crackers, Flare and Gameroid all shook with dreadful recognition. "I remember this," the Sobble whimpered.

Snivels looked at the three. "Remember what?" he asked.

"We were in crates," said Gameroid. The Grookey was holding his stick tightly in both hands and cuddling it close to his chest like a security blanket. "Just like these."

Flare finished, "We managed to get away, but then we got caught by that Dagur guy. The rest is history." The Scorbunny's ears drooped slightly as he spoke.

Snivels slumped his shoulders. "You must really miss your families."

Crackers looked up at his older brother figure with cloudy eyes, like he was about to start crying. "We're the only ones like us we've ever seen. I don't think there's any others of our kinds anywhere in these islands."

Snivels opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of a voice prompted them all to quickly and quietly hide behind the crates.

"You two go corner us some Pokémon," Harold ordered. "I'll make sure those beasts are all still asleep. Those sedatives I slipped into their food are quite strong, so they should be good until after we ship off."

The sound of the man's voice sent chills down Crackers's spine, but no one seemed to notice.

Sparing a moment to look around the corner of the crate he was hiding behind, Snivels saw a pair of Lycanroc stalking in their direction. "We need to get out of here," he whispered. "Now!"

Crackers didn't move at first, due to being paralyzed with fear. But he saw the other Pokémon retreating out of the corner of his eye and went to follow them.

Unfortunately for the Sobble, Harold's Midnight Form Lycanroc saw him. Sneering, the Wolf Pokémon hid himself behind one of the crates, reached into a nearby bag of snacks, and threw out a cracker.

Crackers heard the sound of something hitting the floor and glanced over his shoulder. He stopped when he saw a lone cracker just sitting there, waiting to be devoured. Unable to resist the temptation, Crackers ran back, leaned down, picked up the cracker in his mouth and swallowed it. The moment the cracker disappeared down the Sobble's throat, Midnight Lycanroc leapt out of his hiding place, growling in satisfaction.

The sound alerted Harold and Midday Lycanroc. The other Wolf Pokémon got there first, positioning himself so he was behind the frightened Sobble. The two Lycanroc circled Crackers as the Sobble shook with fear. Any attempt to escape would have one, or both, of the Lycanroc blocking his path.

Before Crackers could come up with a proper plan, he felt something slip over his head and tighten around his neck. He looked down to find a noose around his neck. He tried to run, but the rope held tight. Fear evident in his eyes, Crackers looked up to find Harold holding the other end of the rope. The man who haunted the Sobble's nightmares glared down at the helpless Water Lizard Pokémon.

"Found you."

We've got the contest plot and the Crackers subplot going, along with a few touches of Hiccstrid and whatever you call the ship between Brandyn and Heather.

Harold Forkbeard isn't an original character, he appears in the online game "School of Dragons." Those of you who don't play it, you should try it, it's really cool!

As Cottonmouth25 once said, live, love, and review, readers!