A/N: Let us begin the Quest to the Volcano! Oh, and let me just say that I'm STOKED to be writing the sequel to Dead by Dawn. But y'know, you don't have to read Dead by Dawn before reading this. I think this is kinda like a little side story. I think this story would be classified as the "calm before the storm" type, or the happy before the extremely dark. Interpret that however you see fit.

Volcano Quest

"This had better be important, Toothless," grumbled Hiccup, wiping dragon slobber off of his face as he sat up in bed.

"Trust me, I think it's pretty important!" exclaimed Toothless, looking extremely nervous.

"What is it?" asked Hiccup sleepily, fumbling to attach his prosthesis to the lower half of his left leg.

"C'mon, I'll show you!" Instead of waiting for Hiccup to stand up and walk on his own, Toothless picked up the youth by the back of his shirt and carried him out the door.

"Toothless!" exclaimed Hiccup, squirming around and kicking the air. "Put me down you giant reptile!"

Toothless ignored Hiccup and padded out the door. Once he stepped outside, he dropped Hiccup.

Hiccup stood up and brushed himself off, trying to look as dignified as possible after being manhandled by a reptile. "What do you wanna show me?"

"Look around," said Toothless.

Hiccup turned... and his jaw dropped. The entire village of Berk had been turned gray, covered in ash and soot. There were still particles of soot floating down from the black clouds above, making it difficult to breathe. Almost every single inhabitant of Berk were slowly trudging towards the Great Hall, having difficulty walking in the almost knee-deep pyroclastic material.

"What the..." muttered Hiccup, looking around.

"Hiccup!" someone called. Hiccup looked around and found Camicazi at the bottom of the hill, standing next to Stormfly.

Hiccup stumbled down the hill, with Toothless in hot pursuit.

"Camicazi, what's going on?" asked Hiccup.

"I thought you would know," said Camicazi. "You're the son of the chief after all..."

"I was unconscious," muttered Hiccup, glaring at Toothless, who smiled his innocent gummy smile.

"Well, your dad called a town meeting in the Great Hall," explained Camicazi. "I think the volcano's acting up."

"Dracona Fuego?" clarified Hiccup. Camicazi nodded. "But that thing hasn't erupted in like... ever!"

A small group of coughing dragons stumbled by, on their way to the Great Hall, looking for refuge. One of them looked over and spotted the group.

"Gummy!" he shouted. Hiccup, Camicazi, Toothless, and Stormfly all turned to where the voice had come from.

"Snakebane? Is that you?" asked Hiccup. It would have been impossible to recognize Snakebane, because his purple scales were now gray with ash.

"Don't fall asleep outside when Dracona Fuego is angry," said a smaller female dragon, who was only lightly coated with what seemed to be glowing ash. The glowing was, in reality, caused by her glowing Moondew scales underneath.

"Luna, your ash is glowing," smirked Toothless.

"Shut up..." she mumbled.

The only dragon that wasn't a completely different color was the emerald green Drifter Dragon, who was called Flameheart by his human, but was called Drift by his friends.

"How come Drift isn't gray?" asked Camicazi, who had been following the conversation using her Night Fury/Mood Dragon scale necklace that let her understand Dragonese. It had been an early birthday present from Hiccup. He had given it to her around the end of June about a week and a half before her 15th birthday; it was now nearing the end of August.

"That's because," coughed Snakebane, "he's a wuss and he slept inside..." Snakebane went into another coughing fit, partly because of his asthma acting up in the poor quality air, and partly because the ash was aggravating his wounded lung.

"We should probably get inside," said Hiccup, walking towards the general direction of the Great Hall. The ash in the air also made it difficult to see.

As the group trudged on towards the Great Hall, Stormfly noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Quiver?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Snakebane.

"Bottom of the ocean," he gasped out.

"What were you fighting about this time?" asked Toothless.

"We weren't fighting!" exclaimed Snakebane. "We were having a loud conversation about different types of poisons. She didn't believe me when I said I was poisonous."

"Snakebane, Monstrous Nightmares are only slightly poisonous. And only their bite. It's still not enough to kill anything except kinda small animals," explained Hiccup. "You usually only use your venom as a defense... Geez, I'm starting to sound like Fishlegs..."

"I could go for a fish right now," muttered Toothless.

"Me too, I'm starving!" exclaimed Stormfly.

"Well maybe they'll have food in the- WHOA!" Hiccup hadn't been looking where he was going and he ran right into Snotlout.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" exclaimed Snotlout, standing up and putting his helmet back on his head.

"If you haven't noticed," coughed Hiccup, standing up and brushing himself off, "it's impossible to see three feet in front of your face!"

Snotlout looked like he was about to either start arguing or start a fight, but that was when he saw five dangerous dragons and a dangerous-looking Camicazi all staring him down. He would be outnumbered.

"We'll settle this later," growled Snotlout before stalking off.

"I can't believe we're related..." muttered Hiccup. He coughed a bit as the ash started to get thicker. "C'mon guys, let's get outta here..."

By the time they reached the Great Hall, the dragons were dizzy, Hiccup and Camicazi had their shirt collars pulled over their mouth and noses, and Snakebane and Hiccup were on the verge of an asthma attack. They all slipped inside the door and quickly slammed it closed, trying not to let in any ash.

Being one of the last ones to make it, the group was squished at the back. Snakebane, Luna, and Drift all flew up to the rafters with the other dragons.

"Do you see my dad anywhere?" Hiccup asked Camicazi, trying to locate his father, which was difficult due to the fact that everyone else was seven feet tall, and Hiccup was barely five foot eight.

Suddenly, Hiccup felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw an old man with a cane and a four foot long beard.

"Grandpa!" exclaimed Hiccup, giving the man a hug.

"Nice to see ya again, Hiccup," said Old Wrinkly. He poked Hiccup in the ribs. "Still too thin, but good to see that you're all better."

"Thanks," muttered Hiccup. "Have you seen my dad?"

"He was actually looking for you. C'mon." Old Wrinkly grabbed Hiccup's arm and started to drag him through the crowd. Toothless, Camicazi, and Stormfly followed.

They found Stoick near the front of the crowd.

"Ah, Hiccup, there ya are," said Stoick.

"Dad, why didn't you wake me up this morning?" asked Hiccup.

"Well I tried," said Stoick, "but sometimes ya sleep like a Gronkle."

"Oh, thank you," said Hiccup sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Chief Stoick, do you know what's going on?" asked Camicazi.

"That's actually why I called this town meeting," said Stoick, gesturing to everyone around them. "We've got a bit of a problem with the volcano of Dragon Island."

"Dracona Fuego?" clarified Hiccup.

"Yeah, that one. Old Wrinkly here told me it was gonna erupt if we didn't do something about it."

"How do you stop a volcano from erupting?" asked Hiccup. "Other than a Firestone..."

"Well son, we don't have any Firestones on hand, but we think we found another way."

"Like...?"

"Let me start the meeting. You'll find out then." Stoick then turned and faced the crowd. After a few minutes of shouting, he got everyone to be quiet.

"Everybody listen!" he shouted, even though no one was talking. "We've got a problem! The volcano on Dragon Island seems to be acting up! And we need to do something about it!"

Murmurs rippled through the crowd; questions aroused, like "What are we gonna do?" and "So what? It's too far away."

"Listen!" shouted Stoick. Everyone quieted down. "There is a way we can stop this volcano from erupting!" Stoick shot a quick glance at Old Wrinkly before continuing. "Legend has it that there is a stone that forms in volcanoes that causes them to erupt! They're called Fire Diamonds. I have decided to turn this into a Quest to see who can find the Fire Diamond first and remove it from the volcano!"

Suddenly, shouting started up about who would go. A few Vikings in the back actually started a fist fight. Stoick continued shouting, desperately trying to get the villagers back under control. However, it wasn't Stoick who silenced everyone. It was Snakebane, who fell off of the rafters above, covered in swarms of Terrible Terrors. He landed back-first in the fire pit. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at the Monstrous Nightmare.

"Uh... Snakebane?" asked Hiccup. Snakebane lifted his head and looked up at Hiccup. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I was flirting with Fireworm, but she slapped me and ordered her army of Terrors to attack me!" He then sat up and flew back up to the rafters. One of the Terrors following him shouted: "Wait up, Purple One!"

Stoick glanced at Hiccup. Hiccup just shook his head.

"Okay everybody!" announced Stoick, getting everyone's attention. "There be no need to fight about who will go on this Quest! Because I've already chosen!"

"What?" asked Hiccup, turning on his dad. Stoick waved Hiccup aside.

"I have decided that we'll send the youths on this Quest!" shouted Stoick.

"Oh man," muttered Hiccup, face-palming himself.

"Youths! Front and center!"

It didn't take long at all for Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut to reach the front of the crowd and stand beside Hiccup and Camicazi.

"I've decided to do this a little differently," said Stoick to the six teenagers. "You'll be paired up in groups of two, and whatever group gets the Fire Diamond first will win the title of savior of the village... again! Now team up."

Snotlout and Tuffnut high-fived, already assuming that they were gonna win. Ruffnut made a lunge for Camicazi.

"Please be my partner!" she exclaimed. "Don't let me get stuck with another boy!"

"O-okay," said Camicazi, prying Ruffnut off of her arm.

"I guess it's just you and me, 'Legs," said Hiccup, giving Fishlegs a friendly punch in the shoulder.

"Y-yeah..." muttered the larger boy.

"Alright then!" exclaimed Stoick. "It's settled! You'll have all day to prepare, and you'll leave tomorrow morning!"

A large cheer resounded around the hall.

"Meeting dismissed!" shouted Stoick. "Time for breakfast!"

That just resulted in an even louder cheer.

While everyone ran to get a portion of food, Old Wrinkly pulled Hiccup aside.

"What is it?" asked Hiccup, trying to ignore his growling stomach and his hungry dragon. "Toothless, go ahead and get some food." Toothless practically flew over the heads of everyone else, even though he wasn't wearing his independent tail fin.

"Hiccup, you need to make sure that someone gets to that Fire Diamond before the volcano erupts," said Old Wrinkly in a hushed voice.

"Why?" asked Hiccup.

"Because if you don't then the volcano will destroy the village!"

"What do you mean?"

"If that volcano blows, it's gonna send out a shock wave," whispered Old Wrinkly. "You're a smart kid, and you know what shock waves do to water! We're on an island for crying out loud! If you fail and you don't get fried by all that lava, then there won't be anywhere for you to come home to. It'll be under water!"

Hiccup had gone pale as he realized the severity of the Quest. They had to get the Fire Diamond.

"Make sure someone gets it," whispered Old Wrinkly. "Even Snotlout."

Hiccup groaned at the thought of his cousin getting to the Fire Diamond first. He would rub that in Hiccup's face for as long as they lived!

"Okay," said Hiccup.

Old Wrinkly slapped Hiccup on the back. "Good boy." He then whacked Hiccup's right leg with his cane. "Still too scrawny... But size isn't important!"

"Except for that time that I had to fight a giant Sea Dragon," deadpanned Hiccup.

"The Green Death is one exception," said Old Wrinkly. "Get started on preparing for that Quest..." With that, he was gone.

Hiccup stood there for a moment before slowly making his way towards the tables, looking for Camicazi. On his way, he saw Stormfly totally pigging out on a huge basket of fish, enough to feed three hungry Monstrous Nightmares. Toothless was chewing absently on a large cod.

"Hiccup, over here!" called Camicazi, waving her arms to get Hiccup's attention. Hiccup went and sat down beside her.

"Hiccup, are you okay?" asked Camicazi. "You look paler than usual."

"I'm fine," muttered Hiccup, not making eye contact with her.

"You're a bad liar, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," said Camicazi with a sly smile on her face.

"I've just got a lot on my mind, that's all," mumbled Hiccup, hoping Camicazi would be able to tell that that wasn't a lie.

"Whatever," said Camicazi. She scooted a plate of food towards Hiccup. "Eat up."

Hiccup put his head down on the table. "I'm not hungry..."

A/N: Yay! The first chapter is up! Okay, so remember this: NO ONE else knows what went down between Snakebane and Quiver (except Pike), and ever since then, Snakebane and Quiver have been acting like they always did the way before. Okay, next chapter is preparation for the Quest to Dracona Fuego! Trust me, that chapter really twists up the whole story! And for anyone who hasn't read the FIRST book, Old Wrinkly is Hiccup's grandfather on his mother's side. Hiccup's mother, Valhallarama (let's just call her Val), died in a Quest when Hiccup was five. I think that's about it, other than the fact that I might not be able to update for a while because there's a hurricane bearing down on the entire east coast as we speak, so... yeah... You better review! Or the Fyremytes will FIND YOU! Oh wait... you don't know what Fyremytes are yet... never mind! REVIEW! And if you wanna know more about my OC dragon breeds, click on my name and under the list of stories, there will be a story labeled "Qille's OC Dragon Manual." It's a manual of all my OC dragons. So read that too. Peace out!