A bright flash of light, and the mad scientist disappeared the platform before them.

"Well I'll be," Monger rubbed a thick finger across the stubble on his chin. "Maybe the crooked bug finally got one straight."

"Hold on," Link said, turning to face the tech that was manning the controls. "We still haven't confirmed the location." There came a soft blip, and the tech laid her finger on the screen.

"Confirmed coordinates; 57.3229 degrees North by 4.4244 degrees West. Dr. Cockroach made it to Loch Ness." The tech chimed in, sounding triumphant. She leaned back in her chair. Monger's phone, which he had been holding ready in his hand, came alive with lights and sounds as the doctor rang. Monger accepted the call and held the phone out at arm's length, as the rest of the monsters gathered close to view the screen.

"I made it! Everyone check out the view," The english accent spoke through the phone, and the screen rotated off of his reddish exoskeleton to show a vast and calm lake, with a sign just before it that read 'Loch Ness: Welcome to Fort Augustus'.

"Wow!" Susan gasped, crawling closer to the little phone. Monger brought it closer to her face.

"You'll never have jetlag again, my dear." The screen once again showed his oversized cockroach head. "And the best part," He added, the tech took her que and began tapping furiously at the keyboard. The call dropped, and a second flash brought everyone's attention back to the platform. "Safe and immediate return!" The good doctor's voice came again, this time immediately before them.

"Congrats, Doc" Link said, crossing his arms. "Honestly, I doubted you."

"After fifty years together, I should think one would have learned not to." Doc adjusted his lapel smugly, antennae soaring.

"That's exactly why I doubt you." The ape smirked. Dr. Cockroach shot him an offended glance.

"No matter, the point is Team Monster can now travel anywhere in the world, instantaneously." he smoothed his antennae back with a hand. A devilish grin was pinned to his face.

"Great! Next stop, Modesto!" Bob yelled excitedly, slithering over to stand on the platform.

"Oh, no, Bob, we still have to go to Scotland." The doctor corrected.

"Strange alien stuff going on by our pal Nessie, remember?" Susan reminded, drawing herself up to her full height.

"Nessie, right." Bob gave a solemn nod.

"Also, this equipment is still highly experimental, and comes with a certain degree of risk, so it's best not to use it for short distances." Cockroach pulled his trusty scanner out of a coat pocket and began analyzing the screen. "Also, well done Private Arons." The two scientists exchanged a thumbs up.

"Experimental?" Susan and Link both said simultaneously, sharing a nervous expression.

"Well, go on, get going!" The general shouted, giving Link a stern shove towards the platform. Reluctantly, he and Susan stood with the others.

"Here, we'll need these," Doc handed a small, circular adhesive pin to each monster. "They're locators that allow the control to seize our location and snap us back. Unfortunately, the active radius is too small for Insectosaurus as of now," He turned to face the largest of the monsters and raised his voice. "So, if you wouldn't mind, you may fly out and meet us there." The hulking orange butterfly roared in positive response from the opposite end of the yard. "Excellent. All ready?" He didn't wait for a response from the monsters, only the signal from Private Arons, who immediately gave another thumbs up. When Dr. Cockroach got going, it seemed impossible to get a word in edgewise. "Beam us up!" was the last thing they heard, and then the flash.

When the light faded, no monsters remained, just the smooth steel platform. Monger shook his head, still in disbelief.

"Sometimes you nerds amaze me."

"Why thank you, General."

The blinding light ceased, and four monsters found themselves surrounded by old-growth pine forest. Link dropped his arms and inhaled fully and sharply.

"Ah! The air is so fresh out here! I can't smell any smog! It's almost like before I was frozen." He reminisced. "It may be cold out here, but dang, I should've been living in Scotland all along."

"It's gorgeous out here," Susan agreed, her head was just about level with the trees in this part of the forest. "And I've never seen trees this tall! Makes me feel short." She chuckled, running her fingers through the fine upper branches.

"Well," Dr. Cockroach's tone was uncertain. "Be that as it may, this is not the intended drop site." He narrowed his bug eyes and fiddled with his scanner, his antennae feeling all around it in focus. The other five eyes snapped immediately back to him. Even Bob knew this wasn't good news. "The signal is hazy, but we appear to be on an archipelago somewhere in the general vicinity of the Scottish isles."

"Why don't we just radio Insecto, she can pick us up on her way?" Link knuckled closer to the doctor, peering over his shoulder at the device.

"Excellent suggestion, only there appears to be no radio signal. Not even static." He depressed a button at the side which would have activated the radio function. The other three listened, but there was, in fact, no static. Only the faint buzz of the activated speaker. "This is a super radio, it should work anywhere!" Doc exclaimed, frustrated. He toggled several settings angrily to no avail. "We can't be so far from modern civilization, can we?" He aimed is eyes up at Susan. She stood up on the tips of her toes (for the first time in recent memory) and bent back the tops of the trees, using her other hand as a visor as she scanned the horizon.

"I don't know, Doc, it's looking pretty natural from up here."

"Then what could have-" The doctor cut himself off with a quick palm to the face. Bob Immediately mirrored him, the wet smack resounding through the quiet forest. "Of course! I'm a fool," He returned his scanner to the inner pocket of his lab coat and turned to face his fellow monsters. "My apologies, but it seems I didn't think to account for Susan's quantonium radiation in the calibration. You must have overpowered it."

"Oh gosh," Ginormica blushed. "Sorry guys. Quantonium seems to complicate everything."

"That it does." Link turned to the doctor.

"Good thing we have so much of it!" Bob gave an assured point at Susan.

"It's no fault of your own, Susan, I should have expected this and accounted for it."

"So, what, are we stuck here? And that doesn't explain why our radio doesn't work." The ape pointed out.

"You didn't let me finish," The cockroach said solemnly. "The quantonium overdrive not only sent us travelling through space, but time."

"Time?" Susan questioned.

"Yes, Susan. I believe as well as being several miles off course, we are several centuries in the past."

"I knew it!" Link cried out, pounding the mossy ground with his palms. "The air here is too clean to be the present."

"You built a clock? Congratulations!" Bob joined in Link's celebration.

"I had noted time travel as a distinct possibility, but the tests all went so smoothly, I had ruled it out. Luckily, I built our locators to be traceable even in the past, so the capable hands at Area 52 should still be able to bring us back."

"Capable? You mean the quacks in research?" Link questioned.

"Oh, heavens no. I mean my interns." Ever since the Area 52 had been largely declassified, Monger had taken on several Monster Research Interns to help around the base. Dr. Cockroach had taken a few of the more eccentric ones under his gossamer wing and taught them all he was willing to share about his equipment. They were still interns, but they were several times more competent than the government lab was. Link was visibly calmed.

"Private Arons should notice we haven't hit our drop mark and begin retracing protocol. As soon as she has a solid lock on our positions, we simply press the buttons on our locators to confirm, and we will be teleported back to the base."

"Seems simple enough. What's the catch?" Ginormica crouched low to her friends, waving the pine branches from her face.

"Well, as we are in a different time stream, and because it will take some time to trace us, we could be here for a while."

"And just how long is 'a while'?" The Missing Link probed.

"It could be anywhere from a few hours to several years." The doctor delivered this news with a straight face.

"Years?" The other three hollered.

"You mean, we're gonna have birthdays and holidays and breakfast here? I can't wait!" Bob began spinning in circles, throwing fallen pine needles like confetti. Dr. Cockroach backpedaled, receiving vicious looks from the fish-ape and the giantess.

"It probably won't be years, I have much faith in my interns, but there is a possibility! Excuse me for being truthful." He ducked under a swipe from Link's large, scaly hand. Susan sighed, trying to come up with a bright side.

"Well, we may be stranded, but at least we're stranded somewhere beautiful. We can hike to pass the time." Susan stood again, snapping several branches as she did so. Mildly annoyed, she brushed them off her back. Link and Dr. C. took cover as the boughs tumbled to the ground. One stuck itself firmly into Bob, who sucked it up and absorbed it. "Maybe somewhere with less trees to break." She added. The smaller monsters agreed, and headed off in no particular direction.

It was a rather calm afternoon on Berk, the haze of summer had set in, and even though on the grand scale it was still not all that warm, vikings and dragons alike were basking in the heat of the late sun. While Grump was taking yet another nap, for once the forge was quiet and Gobber had found a rare moment to himself. He slipped away to the old lookout tower with a hearty helping of smoked cod and a tankard of mead. Since dragons had moved in, there was little need for the lookout tower, and The Belch oft enjoyed viewing the bustling island and surrounding archipelago from the abandoned roost. With the aid of a small telescope he kept in the tower, he could see far into the old forest as well as out to sea. If he was patient, sometimes he would catch glimpse of a whispering death in the cliffs, or of thunderdrums leaping out of the ocean foam. He settled into the old lookout bench, took a deep swig of mead, and peered out into the expansive woods.

The tops of the trees were shaking, moving out towards the edge of the old woods and into the younger half, where the trees were shorter. It was past mating season, so likely it was a few odd dragons sparring over territory in the treetops. A flock of terrible terrors fled the thin branches as the rustling continued. As the commotion moved outward, Gobber watched intently, expecting perhaps a monstrous nightmare or even a timberjack. But, what emerged from the woods was not a dragon, but a woman, who towered over the growth of the young forest. With hair white as winter, it seemed there was only one possibility. Gobber's jaw dropped, and he hastily pulled the telescope from his face. Could it be? Had the gates of Jotunheim opened onto Berk? Was Skadi, the shining bride of the gods, here before him?

Gobber fled from the tower, spilling his mead and whispering prayers and curses under his breath. He ambled as fast as he could through town, searching for the chief and his son. Especially in the heat, he found it hard to keep his breath. Vikings, strong as they were, weren't really built for speed. He found Astrid and Hiccup bickering playfully in the town square, their respective dragons taking turns chasing each other.

"Hiccup!" Gobber halted and fought to catch his breath. "Where's your father?" He let the tankard tied to what was left of his arm touch the ground, and he leaned into it.

"Oh, uh, I don't know, Gobber. Probably in the great hall. Are you ok?"

"We have a big problem. Well, perhaps not a problem, an issue. A situation." The blacksmith continued to pant.

"That helps." Hiccup gave Astrid a confused and sarcastic look.

"You're going to have to be more specific." She offered. Like clockwork, Stoick the Vast threw open the doors of the great hall.

"Ah! Gobber. I was just looking for you." He boomed, descending the steps with his head held high, as any proper viking chief would. Gobber extended a finger, but Hiccup filled him in.

"Gobber's been looking for you too. He's got something along the lines of, a situation, I believe?" Hiccup pulled Astrid in by the waist as he spoke. Stormfly and Toothless paused their game to investigate the commotion.

"I was looking out over the woods, and-" Stoick interrupted him.

"Oh, Gobber, not another one of your trolls, is it?"

"No, Stoick, there's a giant. A Jotunn, maybe. I think it's Skadi."

Stoick, Astrid, and Hiccup all looked taken aback.

"Skadi?" Astrid breathed. Gobber nodded, his breath returning.

"How could you tell?" Stoick put a hand on his shoulder.

"She came out of the old forest, she was taller than the trees. Her hair was cut short, but it was pure white, the fairest I've ever seen." The lot threw disbelieving glances around their circle. Father and son both shot each other expressions, as if to ask, 'what do we do?' When no one answered, Astrid spoke up.

"Well, we should welcome her, right? We should fly out and meet her?"

"Dragons on Berk… A goddess on Berk…" Stoick mumbled to himself.

"I guess there's a chance it might not be Skadi, she could just be a plain-old giant." Gobber continued, lifting his cup from the ground at last.

"Either way, we can't just wait for her to stumble onto Berk, right?" She looked right at Hiccup.

"She's got a point. We can take the others and fly out to her, and uh, do whatever it is we do from there." Hiccup looked back at Toothless, who had been listening intently. Stoick eyed his son, but had no better plan to offer.

"Be careful, son. We will stay on Berk and make preparations."

"You're not going out here with him?" Gobber asked.

"I think not, you're a bit more diplomatic than I am, Hiccup. And, we either have a battle or a feast to prepare for." Stoick turned back towards the hall, rubbing his temples.