The Flight Stuff Part 3

Hoping that she and her dragon made it to Outcast Island in time to save their friends, Thora clutched tightly at Strike's saddle so hard her knuckles turned white. The Skrill flapped his mighty wings and cut through the air like a torpedo.

In a matter of minutes, the horrible shadowy image of Outcast Island began to loom over the horizon before them. As the two of them got even closer, they began to hear the sounds of men shouting and fire being blasted. There was also the sound of something large and heavy being moved. It was mingled with the noise metal gears clanking together. They were immediately followed by clamors of stone balls attached to a net flying through the air.

At the same time, Thora saw a something approaching her from the island. Strike came to a halt and braced himself for whatever it was. His body sparked with small statics of lighting. This was an indication to Thora that he was getting ready to attack.

"Easy, Strike." Thora said as soothingly as she could under the circumstances. "Just wait a minute."

Strike looked over his shoulder to his rider and flared down just a bit.

It was actually a good thing that Thora told Strike to back down. Otherwise he would've attacked the approaching Dragon Rider that was heading straight for them. As the approaching dragon got closer, Thora could see that it was Stormfly, the Deadly Nadder. And Stormfly belonged to…

"Astrid!" Thora called out.

Upon hearing her name, Astrid turned her head around. A surprised expression came over her face when she saw Thora and Strike just a few yards away from her.

"Thora?!" the blonde Berkian shield-maiden exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"

"Saving you guys!" Thora said, her voice sounding urgent. "Where're Hiccup and Snotlout?!"

"They're trying to get a look at what Dagur's building!" Astrid replied. "And do you mean by "saving us"?!"

"It's trap!" Thora shouted. "Dagur made up that story and purposely leaked the information to Johann to get you guys over here! He wants Hiccup and Toothless!"

"What?!" Astrid's eyes went wide with horror.

"Astrid, you fly back to Berk and tell Stoick what's happened!" Thora commanded. "I'll go and help the others!"

"But…!"

"Just go!" Thora shouted. "I promise I'll bring them back safe and sound!"

Astrid hesitated for a moment, looking back at Outcast Island with a look of worry on her face. Finally, she turned back to Thora and gave a sharp nod.

"C'mon, Stormfly!" Astrid commanded her dragon.

With that, Astrid and Stormfly flew off in the direction of Berk while Thora and Strike headed in the direction of Outcast Island.

"Oh, please, Thor!" Thora whispered. "PLEASE let me get there in time!"

Finally, Thora got to the center of the island, and what she saw sent a horrible, shrieking chill down her spine.

A large, wooden trebuchet that was manned by Dagur and several Outcasts unleashed a large net. Before Thora could call out a warning, the net sailed through the air and hit its target.

That target was none other than Hiccup and Toothless!

The rider and dragon became entangled in the launched net and fell to the ground! They landed on the hard earth with a painful "BOOM"!

"NO!" Thora screamed.

"Gotcha!" Dagur shouted in triumph.

The moment Hiccup and Toothless were tangled up in the trap on the ground; a group of Outcasts and Berserkers began to advance on them. Each solider were carrying double-headed spears. Dagur began to slowly walk up behind them, savoring his victory over the helpless Berkian and Night Fury, and anticipating the moment his sword would cut them both down.

But Thora wasn't going to let that happen.

"Strike, get us down there!" she commanded.

The Skrill gave an approving and fierce roar. He was waiting for his rider to say that.

In less than a second, he dove straight toward the ground. The moment Strike landed in front of the trapped rider and dragon, Thora leapt off of his back and drew her sword. She turned to face the oncoming force of Outcasts and Berserkers with a fierce expression.

The instant the Outcasts and Berserkers saw a ferocious Strike fly in from what seemed to be out of nowhere, they all stopped dead in their tracks. They all stepped backward cautiously as the Skrill snarled at them and Thora took a step forward.

"You all better back off if you know what's good for you!" Thora yelled.

"Thora?!" Hiccup shouted in surprise.

"Hiccup, are you and Toothless okay?!" Thora asked, still keeping an eye on the danger in front of her.

"We're fine!" Hiccup replied. "But what are you doing here?!"

"Saving your butts, what does it look like I'm doing?!"

It was then that Dagur pushed his way through the crowd of Berserkers and Outcasts. Thora took a step back and swallowed hard when she saw her brother. She could tell that he wasn't happy to see her either.

However, he was very pleased to see the dragon she had brought with her.

"Well, well, well," Dagur said savagely, "look who decided to show up. Thora the Rogue. And she's brought back my Skrill."

Strike growled threateningly and bared all his teeth, as if showing that he understood what Dagur had said. He didn't belong to this wicked man who had tortured and imprisoned him.

"Strike is not yours!" Thora shot back defensively, trying to conceal her nervousness. "He's my dragon, and I won't let you take him! And I won't let you hurt Hiccup or Toothless! If you want any of them, you have to go through me!"

"Is that so? Well, this should be easy then." Dagur sneered before turning back to his warriors. "Take them!"

The Outcasts and Berserkers hesitated for a second. However, they ultimately obeyed their chief and began to move in for an attack.

Strike gave a warning snarl at the approaching attackers. The dragon then attempted to flare up with lightning, but all that came from this effort was a light spark of static electricity. This was a sure sign that he was running low on electrical energy, which put him at a huge disadvantage. Without his lightning, he didn't have many other solid defenses.

Seeing that made Dagur grin wickedly. He knew that he had the upper hand this time.

Thora moved in closer to her dragon when she realized that they were horribly outnumbered and outmatched. She tried her hardest to be brave and stand her ground, but all of the confidence she had before vanished in a heartbeat.

What could she do? Strike was almost out of lightning, Hiccup and Toothless were down for the count, and Astrid was half way back to Berk by now.

They were on their own. And their time was running out.

However, just as the Dagur and his men were about to charge forward to attack, two voices shouted from above:

"FIRE IT UP!"

Everyone on the ground turned to look up and see two Monstrous Nightmare dragons flying their way. The largest one was Hookfang, and the smaller one was a Monstrous Nightmare that Thora didn't recognize. But at the moment, she didn't care. All she cared about was the fact that Snotlout was riding on Hookfang, and a smoke-stained Gustav was on the other dragon.

Both Monstrous Nightmares dove down and shot their liquid fire out of their mouths in the direction of Dagur and his men. This cut off their advance and forced them to retreat.

Seeing the chance arise, Thora sheathed her sword and leapt back onto Strike. The Skrill flapped his wings and lifted himself into the air. He then flew over Hiccup and Toothless, grabbing the net with his talons in the process, and pulling it off. Now that they were free, Hiccup and Toothless shot up into the sky. They then swooped back around to join Snotlout, Gustav, and Thora.

Flying in a straight line, the group of riders and dragons all took aim at the trebuchet. With Hiccup giving the command, the Monstrous Nightmares, Night Fury, and Skrill all fired at the same time. The streams of fire, plasma blasts, and lightning all merged together into one powerful attack that sent Dagur's weapon up in a blaze of flames like a enormous bomb.

With the weapon destroyed, the dragon riders turned around and flew away from Outcast Island as quickly as their dragons could carry them. They only looked back once when they heard the sound of someone screaming. None of them knew what caused that noise, and they were pretty sure then didn't want to know.

"Thanks, guys." Hiccup said with a sigh of relief. "Great timing, Thora."

"I'm just glad I made it in time." Thora grinned before turning to Snotlout and Gustav. "Nice shooting, you guys."

"By me." Snotlout said smugly. "His eyes were closed."

He pointed with his thumb at Gustav and his dragon.

"Hey, it was scary!" Gustav protested.

Hiccup, Snotlout, and Thora chuckled.

With that, the dragon riders all flew back to Berk. They were all tired, but also extremely grateful to be alive.

The next day, Thora was sitting on her favorite place overlooking the sea with Strike resting beside her. The other dragon riders were busy dealing with Gustav and his new dragon, Fanghook, back at the Academy. Thora decided that it wasn't any of her business, so she and Strike flew out to their favorite spot on Berk so they could have a few precious moments alone.

However, Thora couldn't stop thinking about what happened yesterday. Her friends could've gotten into big trouble, and she felt somewhat responsible for it. If she hadn't been so wrapped up in her own problems, she would've been with the other dragon riders when Stoick told them about the information from Trader Johann. She could've prevented them from going to Outcast Island in the first place. But instead, she was more focused on running away from her crazy brother because she was too afraid to face him again.

"No more," she suddenly said aloud with conviction. "I'm going to be there when they face Dagur again. I'll never hide again, no matter how scared I get."

Strike opened his eyes and looked at his rider, as if he knew all along what she was thinking.

"You were right, Strike." Thora turned to her dragon. "We can't run away forever. I may not have any intention of facing Dagur right now, but when he attacks again, I won't back down. You and I will stand by our new friends. They need us, and we aren't going to let them down a second time, right?"

Strike seemed to grin in agreement. He liked where his rider was going with this.

The Skrill lifted his head and nuzzled Thora with encouragement. The redheaded Berserker laughed and stroked the dragon's snout in return.

"C'mon," she said, "let's get back to the Academy."

Strike responded by getting to his feet and lowing his back just enough for Thora to climb onto him. The Berserker rogue jumped onto the Skrill's back, and the two friends flew off into the sky, back towards the little village of Berk.