A/N: At this rate I might finish before Half-Life 3 releases. Maybe.

Rain slammed against the window of Mack's room in sheets as waves battered the Skrill from stem to stern. The ship rocked heavily, its motion wearing on my concentration with every shift in angle. Even Toothless, who had no problem at all with the devil-may-care way I sometimes directed him while flying, was growing impatient with the ocean waves. Mack, on the other hand, looked absolutely unbothered.

"Try not to let the ocean currents get to you, boyo," Mack spoke over the rain, "that's why you lost the last two so badly."

Our path to Rose Town had been severed by what turned out to be a massive storm, forcing Mack to veer off-course. We ended up dropping anchor near a tall but otherwise diminutive islet topped with a small forest of trees. The sea floor around it was close enough to the surface for us to moor, but not enough that the ship was in danger of running aground due to the ocean's constant battering.

Though mostly dismissive of the delay, Mack was currently in a cautious mood. Staring down at the board between us, his fingers laced together in front of his face, he eventually made a move.

"Queen to B6," he said, as he moved the piece from its resting place. The white queen in his hand snapped in place as he let go, its magnet drawn to the one embedded within the board. "Check."

"Not a terrible move," I said as I stroked my chin, debating what few options I could retaliate with. "King to E7," I replied as I moved my piece. Mack's eyes opened wide again, and in silence he scanned the board.

"This is incredibly boring," Toothless grumbled from below. "And I finished eating that bone you gave me. Do you have any more?" he asked as he sat his head up, both yellow eyes locking on Mack.

"Last one, sorry," Mack replied after a few seconds of silence. "But Hiccup can run you a bath once he loses, if you want," he added.

"After I win, you mean." I replied.

"Not likely," Mack followed up with as his hand reached out for his rook. "Rook to A7. Check," he said again. My king was now apparently cornered, Only able to move to a single point left open from the offenses of a bishop, a knight, and the aforementioned queen and rook.

"King to E8," I said as I took my only path.

"And now you lose," Mack replied with a grin. "Queen to B8. Checkmate," he stated with a victory stretch.

"Not quite," I replied as I grabbed the queen he'd forgotten about. "You're not the only one that can say that. Queen to B8," I said as I knocked his queen from the space and placed my own. "Checkmate."

"Wha-" Mack blurted out as he whipped his eyes around the board. Sure enough, he slowly realized his king had been pinned down by my rook, my newly placed queen, and to add insult to injury, the placement of his own second rook. He'd inadvertently trapped himself without noticing. "Fuck!" He said with a laugh as he slapped a hand to his face.

"It took me almost a dozen games, but I finally beat you!" I said triumphantly.

"It took nine, to be exact. And a few of them were draws, so by Rose Town tournament rules you technically won two games, since draws are worth half a point," he added before swiveling away from the table and standing up. The ship swayed as he did, but his footing was unperturbed. "I'll blame that one on how tired I am right now, coupled with the fact that I'm pretty average at Chess," Mack reasoned as he stretched up toward the ceiling with a sigh. "Guess I should clean up this board and look for something else to do. Not like we have all that many options with the weather the way it is."

"You could call home and ask for updates on the storm," I suggested while helping him put the chess pieces away.

"Eh. If Guilder had anything to tell me, I'd have heard it by now," he retorted.

"Funny you should mention that," came a voice from the radio near Mack's bed. "Weather reports indicate you should have a clear path opening up in about an hour," Guilder stated over the storm.

"And common sense indicates I should check these radios to see if they're on when I enter a room," Mack shot back. "How long have you been eavesdropping on us?"

"Long enough to hear you lose. Kid's got a good eye for strategy if he beat you in nine games."

"Like I said, I'm pretty average. That was a fairly obvious mistake to make," Mack replied as he approached the radio. "Irregardless, how's work going?"

"Things are proceeding much more fluidly than before. Kraken's back on schedule even with all this rain," Guilder replied. "And if the storm breaks up like we think it will, you can give us a hand tomorrow!" he added. "Bet you can't wait!"

"Yeah, I'm just itching to hear auntie Edie yelling for seven hours a day when I have so many other things to do," Mack said as he crossed his arms. "...She heard that, didn't she?" he added with a sigh.

"No, but she will when I get down to the Bay! The radio tower technicians should be relieving me of my post any minute now, so I'll hear from you when you get back," Guilder added. "And Hiccup?"

"Yeah?" I replied to the ornate box in the corner.

"Oh good, you're still there. Feel free to get an aerial look of the island. It's fairly large, and not to mention breathtaking from above. Most of the island knows you're coming now, so you don't have to worry about scaring anyone."

"I'll consider it, assuming my flying gear still works," I replied. The saltwater had done a number on my shifter, but between the storm and the boat's rocking I couldn't wait much longer to get back in the sky. We'd been stuck inside the Skrill for the last two days, and the lack of fresh air was starting to get to all of us, even Mack. Albeit to a much lesser extent.

"If not, I'm sure someone on the island can help fix it. See you when you get here!" Guilder hummed. "You too, Mack," he added.

"See you when I get home. And be careful at the Bay!"

"Will do," Guilder replied. The radio went silent, and after a moment of waiting Mack turned it off.

"So... What is Kraken's Bay, anyway? And what are they doing there?" I asked.

"It's all fairly complicated, but Kraken's Bay is a large body of ocean water that sits on the edge of our island," he said as he gestured Toothless and I toward the door. "There's a bunch of factories, chemical plants and the like right around it that use the water for a multitude of different purposes. The entire area's known as an industrial park, and a lot of heavy manufacturing goes on there," Mack stated while leading us back toward the living quarters of the ship. "I've got some books that go into specifics about the area, but right now they're essentially building a giant floating barge that'll be used to tote product across the Bay, rather than around it."

"Sounds difficult," I replied as I wandered across from the kitchen to the lounge, taking a seat on the couch. Toothless yawned and curled up on the carpet by my feet, his eyes staring at the cloudy sky beyond the window in front of us. "And I still don't really get it, but I'm glad you could at least tell me."

"There's still a lot I can't, but I imagine you probably know that already," he replied from behind me over the sound of grinding coffee beans.

"Yep," I said simply as I put my feet up on the couch and laid down. I had no idea how exhausting having nothing to do could be, and I didn't want to feel sluggish once the rain stopped. The second we'd have the chance, I planned on getting back into the air.

One forty-five minute nap and three cups of coffee later, I was refreshed and standing on the deck of the Skrill. There were dozens of assorted broken branches and leaves from the island everywhere, and Mack wasted no time cleaning them off as I equipped Toothless. Once finished, I hopped into the saddle and we sauntered over to Mack, who was throwing the last of the large branches into the water below.

"Damn weather always making a mess of my ship," he said as he heaved what looked like a small tree off of the deck. "But hey, it looks a hell of a lot nicer up there already," he added with a glance upward. The sky was still cloudy and dark, with the irregular rumble of far-off thunder, but hazy patches of blue and white were becoming more readily visible. "How's the gear holding up?" he added.

"It feels even grittier than before," I said in earnest. Shifting was outright difficult at this point, and it almost made flying seem like a bad idea. Almost.

"If the ship wasn't such a mess right now I'd probably have something to help with that," Mack said as he crossed his arms. "The best I could do is some gear oil, but that stuff is meant to be used in a closed system. It'd eventually come off of your shifter," He said, while staring absentmindedly toward the deck's rose emblem. "...I might have some grease down there too, but it might be too thick..."

"Well if it helps this," I said, shifting the mechanism with a plainly audible metal-grinding sound, "I'll take my chances." Mack looked at me for a moment before shrugging and disappearing into the ship. He returned a moment later with a steel cylinder, holding it by a handle attached to one end.

"Grease gun," he said as he briefly held the object up. "Would you kindly move your foot for a second?" Mack asked politely. I did, and with a squeeze of the handle's lever some thick, grey slime oozed from a spout attached to the top and coated the mechanism. "Try that." I shifted the tailfin a few times, and the grit slowly softened. He did the same once more down by the fin, causing it to lessen even further.

"It definitely feels better," I said with a smile as I rocked my ankle some more. The shifter still felt stiff, but I was far more confident it'd stay together for at least another flight.

"Good, but I'd still be careful up there. If your control's actually damaged, a little bit of grease isn't going to keep it from breaking if it's almost there."

"I'm aware. We won't be long, anyway; Toothless and I just need to spread our wings a little," I said as I patted the dragon on his head.

"Well in any case, be careful. We'll leave when you get back," Mack said as he stepped away. We were about to take off when an idea hit me.

"Well, actually..." I said as I turned my head to him. "Wanna come with?"

"I had a feeling this was coming," Toothless growled beneath me. "I wonder how he'll handle it?"

"I'm... Not sure that's a great idea," Mack replied with a note of concern in his voice. "Even if your control mechanism did just need some lubing, I think I'll stick to the water. I don't even like getting too close to cliffs," he said with a glance up the tall island we were in the shade of.

"Oh, just try it," I replied to him. "It's not like I'm going to make you jump off... Yet," I added with a toothy grin.

"Now see, that also concerns me. After listening to just a handful of your stories it's apparent you lose all of your inhibitions when you're on that dragon," Mack replied. "I wouldn't put it past you to try, even if you say you won't."

"Should we tell Mr. Guilder you were too scared to fly on a dragon that a kid rides on the regular?" Toothless interjected mockingly.

"I'm sure he'd never hear the end of it," I said in response.

"Yeah, I wouldn't. And I'm glad there's no radio out here for him to be eavesdropping on us," Mack stated with a roll of his eyes. The three of us stared each other down before Mack finally slumped over a sighed heavily. "Alright, fine. Just give me a moment to collect myself. And my flask," he said as he returned to the cabin, grabbing a small bottle from somewhere near the captain's seat.

"What's with that smell?" Toothless asked a moment after Mack returned. With a flick of his thumb he popped the lid off of his flask and upended some of the contents into his mouth.

"Whiskey," he replied with a cough. "Hard liquor. Gotta put my courage on somehow." Replacing the lid and putting the flask in his coat pocket, Mack made to hop on the saddle. With a bit of help he got in place, firmly gripping the passenger handholds I'd added to the new tack.

"Ready?" I asked as I shifted into takeoff gear.

"I'm holding on, but even so, not exac-" Mack began, his words being interrupted by our liftoff. I could barely hear him over the wind, but what sounded vaguely like an unbroken string of expletives had replaced his response. I let out a giddy chuckle as I dropped the gear down with my ankle, turning our steep climb into an outright vertical ascent.

"How ya feelin' back there?!" I shouted over the wind. With a flick of my heel I changed our direction again as Mack sputtered out a reply I still couldn't hear.

"I think he just called you a bastard," Toothless rumbled beneath us. "Oh, and he's about to vomit," the dragon added. Mildly concerned, I slowed our speed, leveled us out a bit and banked to the right. Just as the shifter responded, I noticed a retching come from behind.

"Sorry!" I shouted over my shoulder. "I guess I overdid it-"

"YOU- hrk - YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT YOU OVERDID IT!" Mack shouted back to me. For a moment I thought he was mad, but then he started laughing... In between bouts of coughing and sputtering.

"Feel better?" Toothless asked as I slowed us to a glide.

"Much, much better now. As long as I don't look down," He added. "As an aside, whiskey might burn going down, but it burns twice as much coming back up," he added before taking another swig. "...Ech. That's not much better, but it'll do."

"So, ever been in the air before?" I shouted over the breeze.

"He did say they don't have many dragons where he lives," Toothless growled below us. "This is probably his first time."

"We have a few, but I've never ridden one," Mack hollered, "but I have been in several hot air balloons. They're far more tolerable than this, but I still can't look-" Mack's voice was interrupted once again by the sound of him trying to stifle the evacuation of his stomach. "Oh goddammit. I looked down."

"Ha!" I said as I swapped gears again, bringing us into a descent. "I almost feel bad for you! This is child's play for me-"

*CHNK*

The sound of cracking metal came simultaneously from my foot shifter and Toothless's tail. Suddenly, our height went from being a non-problem to a source of immediate concern.

"...That sounded an awful lot like failing steel," Mack said from behind us. Toothless swiveled a concerned eye back toward me as the sound of Mack's flask opening came from behind.

"Don't worry!" I shouted, as I rocked my foot forward. "I still have some control over-"

*CRCK*

The shifter made another sound, and immediately I lost all feeling in the pedal. Whatever happened, I was no longer connected to the tailfin.

"Hiccup, we're starting to tilt," Toothless growled. Sure enough, Mack's ship was still far below, but it was becoming worryingly far to our left as we began a slow but inevitable spin.

"Slow down as much as you can!" I urged Toothless as I unhooked the sole strap still remaining on my vest. I lifted one leg over the dragon beneath me and flipped around so I was now reseated, looking at Mack. The knuckles or his right hand were white from his death-grip on the passenger handholds and he looked very concerned, but apparently not concerned enough to put his flask away.

"Not sure what you're doing, kid," he said before taking another quick swig, "but now's not the time for any intimate talk."

"For a guy so obviously afraid of heights, you sure are good at being a smartass up here," I said as I clasped one of his shoulders and stood on Toothless. carefully, I walked around Mack and sat down with my back to him.

"I do what I can. I mean... Anything I can do?" Mack shouted as Toothless nearly smacked the both of us with his wing. He was struggling hard to keep us from rolling, and it was clear he was going to lose that fight eventually.

"Hold on to my leg if you can reach it!" I shouted over the slowing wind. I slapped my face with both hands, swallowed hard and grabbed Toothless's tail. Slowly, I started shimmying out toward the prosthetic fin, which was whipping around helplessly as the wind buffeted it.

"PLEASE be careful, Hiccup!" Toothless vibrated worriedly. After what felt like an eternity I reached the tailfin, and with my left arm wrapped tightly around Toothless's tail I reached out with my right to grab it. The fin opened with ease, and even though it immediately re-stabilized us I could feel how flimsy its connection was versus just a few minutes ago. If it were only connected to Toothless via the shifter it was mounted to, it probably would've fallen off entirely.

"Good job, boyo!" Mack shouted to me. He'd leaned as far back ad he could while still holding on for his life, and with my senses finally thawing out I could feel how tightly he was holding on to my ankle. The feeling was relieving, because I was noticeably beginning to slide in the direction of the tailfin I was holding, toward the underside of Toothless's tail.

"To the right!" I heard Toothless bellow. As best I could, I re-oriented the fin as he requested. I could feel us banking as I slipped a little more.

"HO! The ship, Toothless! Land on the damn ship!" I heard Mack shout. From my position all I could see was the sky, so I had to rely on them for any kind of navigation.

"I'M TRYING!" Toothless grumbled loudly, which only turned me even more. Mack's grip tightened even further, and it felt like my foot might come off from how hard he was holding my ankle. "HICCUP! AS FAR RIGHT AS YOU CAN!" He growled heavily again, causing me to slide some more. I did as he asked as best I could despite having to completely reposition my right arm just to hold the fin open.

"Oi, dragon! Stop shouting! You're making him lose his grip!" Mack warned Toothless. "Hard right, boyo! Hard right!" I pulled the fin even harder, my shoulder now spasming painfully from the awkward position I had it in.

"Almost-" Toothless began.

"No good!" Mack interrupted.

"TOOTHLESS! How close are we-" my question was interrupted by steel as Toothless's tail slammed me fairly hard against the side of Mack's ship. I was dazed from the impact and my forearm had pain quickly bolting through it, but I had little time to dwell on the sensation before slamming into the freezing cold ocean, Toothless in tow.

"...ARE YOU?!" I heard Toothless bellowing when I crowned out of the calm waves near the island.

"Right here! I'm right here," I said as I made my way toward him. "I'm mostly fine, but... Where's Mack?" I said, suddenly worried. He wasn't coming up, and I had no idea how long he could hold his breath... Or if he was even still conscious after the impact.

"I'm fine!" came a voice from above. "The deck broke my fall. And I think it also spilled my flask." Looking up, I saw Mack leaning over the railing of the ship. "Either that or I finished it all at some point. Anyway, are you two okay down there? Anything broken?"

"My arm hurts, but I don't think it's broken," I said in truth. "But that's definitely gonna leave a bruise," I added.

"I'm also fine. but I have no idea how I'm going to get back up there," Toothless vibrated, the water around him waving about in response. "Hiccup can climb a rope, but me, well... No hands."

"They are really convenient, aren't they?" Mack replied while wiggling his fingers. "But don't worry about that. There's a lifeboat stored in a compartment on the other side of the ship," Mack replied, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. "If you can swim around over there I'll lower it, and you two can ride it back up."

We were back in the Skrill a few minutes later. I had dried myself off and changed back into the loose clothes Mack had lent me, and after helping Toothless dry himself I began inspecting the broken shifter.

"You really did a number on that thing," came Mack's voice from behind. We were in the captain's room, with the shifter and tack laid out on the workbench at the rear of the cabin. He placed two cups on the bench(and a bowl on the ground for Toothless) before turning on a light mounted to the wall, which illuminated the entire bench.

"You're not wrong. Hel, look at this," I said as I picked up the piece that connected directly to the fin. It was nearly in two pieces, the strain I'd put it under having sheared it almost in half. "That's what was making that scraping noise earlier. This damaged piece was rubbing against this other one here," I pointed to the bracket it mounted to. "Look inside this." Mack took the piece and placed a small looking glass up to his eye, holding it in place with his cheek. With his free hand he grabbed the light and swiveled it toward the piece he was holding.

"...It wasn't just rubbing, it was carving a little valley right into the metal. Looks like it damn near made it halfway through the mount," he added before handing it back to me.

"So what does this all mean?" Toothless asked from my left, clearly at a loss as to what we were saying.

"It means we're grounded until I can do some extensive repairs," I replied before taking a sip from my cup. Rather than coffee, it was tea and honey with something that had a bite to it. "Did you put alcohol in this?" I asked Mack.

"That I did! I refilled my flask, so I figured I'd top off our drinks with some liquid courage. Not a bad idea after that ordeal," Mack said as he took a big swig. "Ah! And by the by, that assembly looks a bit too far gone for a simple fix-it job. You're probably going to have to rebuild the whole damn thing, you realize that, right?"

"Unfortunately I already figured that out," I said as I ran my free hand through my hair. "And I have no idea how long that'll take."

"Not long," Mack said after another big swig. "Rose Town awaits, remember? I'll introduce you to some of the engineers that work for Guilder's company," he said as he sauntered over to the captain's seat. "Two of those guys owe me a favor, anyway. And even if they didn't, I doubt old Isaac or Vance and would pass up a chance to work on a project involving a Noctus," Mack reasoned as he turned the ship's power key.

"...Hey, Mack?" I asked our temporary captain while he lifted anchor and started moving us back into open ocean. "Look, thanks a lot for everything you've done so far. And sorry for nearly getting you killed earlier."

"Eh, don't worry about it," he replied as he flipped on the ship's headlights. "You definitely keep things interesting around here. And on the bright side, after losing my lunch I'm ready for a bowl of that stew I've had cooking all day! Mind bringing me some up from the kitchen?" Mack asked, finally breaking away from looking out the window and turning his eyes to me.

"Uh, well... Yeah. Sure, I can do that," I said as I turned heel to head downstairs. I figured Toothless would make to follow me, but instead he simply lied down by the workbench.

"I'll just wait here. Seems I'll be doing a lot of that for the foreseeable future," he grumbled with a defeated tone.

"Toothless... Come on, it's not gonna take that long. Right, Mack?" I said to him.

"Absolutely not. You'll be back in the sky in a week, tops. Honestly, once those two start working on it you'll probably be ready to fly in a couple of hours. They're like miracle workers when they put their minds to a project," Mack said as he nodded to himself.

"You say that, but I doubt it," Toothless replied with a huff. "Hiccup's the only one who can work like that, and he doesn't even have his forge anymore."

"Toothless," I began, walking over to him and crouching down by his head, "Whatever Rose Town has for me to work with, I guarantee you it'll be leagues better than anything, and I mean anything Berk could offer me. Or have you forgotten we're essentially sailing the ocean, without a sail, in a steel palace?" With that I put a hand on his head and scratched, managing to pull a slight smile from his mouth.

"He's right you know," Mack interjected. "Besides, you won't get anything done by moping. So how about drinking your tea and forgetting your troubles?" Mack replied. By now we were entirely in open ocean, the island we had moored at disappearing in the distance with the setting sun.

"I guess I could take you up on that offer," The dragon eventually replied. It would be a long night for all of us, but with any luck dawn would bring an island of new possibility.