"Should I even ask who Krogan is?" Rue enquired patiently.

"He's a bad guy," Felix replied, "that should be enough."

"Why would you want to go find him?" Sam enquired, "and how are you planning to do that?"

"I have a few ideas," Felix replied dismissively.

"Can I stay with Fishlegs?" Rue begged, "I won't tell him we're leaving, there's just a few things I'd like to ask. Like about the Death Song, I haven't had the chance to do that yet."

"I guess, if we're going to find Krogan first," Sam gave in reluctantly, "then Rue could stay here. Although I'd rather follow the Twins around than go find Krogan, it seems like more fun."

"Go ahead," Felix spoke with a wave of his hand, "but I'm taking the Quinjet, so you'll have to ride with Snotlout or the Twins to Dark Deep."

"But why do you want to find Krogan?" Sam enquired curiously, and Felix met her eyes with a stern glare.

"That, my curious Mind Shtick friend, is none of your business. And if I catch you reading my mind, I will personally..."

Felix didn't get the chance to finish his threat, as he was interrupted by a slow rumble as a tremor spread through the island.

"We need to move quickly," Felix announced, "Rue can stay here, if she wants. Tell them I had something else important to do. Sam?"

"I-I-I..." she stammered, and Felix waited patiently for her to finish her sentence.

"I'm going with the Twins," she made up her mind, and Felix nodded.

"Then I'll be going alone. Come up with some convincing reason for me not being here, okay?"

"You mean like that you're talking to your dad?" Sam joked, "or that you're in deep counsel with Odin using holograms?"

Felix gave her a withering stare.

"I was thinking more along the lines of that I'm moving the Space Quinjet to a safer location, but whatever floats your boat."

"Let's go, Sam," Rue encouraged.

"Sure Rue," Sam smirked at Felix, who rolled his eyes.

"Bye Rue," he greeted, and Sam pretended to pout.

"Don't I get a goodbye?"

"No," Felix replied, climbing into the jet and slamming the door behind him.

-

Sam and Rue took the long way around back to the Edge, passing by several dragons that Rue attempted to approach. But the few dragons that remained on the island were slightly spooked by the volcanic activity, and didn't allow Rue and Sam to come close.

They made it back to the Edge just in time to witness the division of tasks.

"There is no way I'm going to Melody Island," Snotlout protested, "the word 'death' is in the Death Song's name for a very good reason."

"Astrid and I will get the amber," Hiccup announced as Sam and Rue walked up to the group.

"Good," Snotlout agreed, "I like that plan."

"Fishlegs," Hiccup instructed, "you stay behind and gather ingredients for Gronckle Iron, and find a place to store the liquid metal."

"Oh, keep talking," Snotlout mused, "this is the best plan ever."

"Can I stay here with Fishlegs?" Rue asked, addressing Hiccup.

"If you want to," Hiccup shrugged, "Fishlegs?"

"It's okay with me," Fishlegs nodded, "Meatlug and I could use some company, right girl?"

Meatlug growled in agreement as Fishlegs rubbed her head.

"What about us?" Tuffnut demanded on behalf of him and his twin, "What are we doing?"

"Rounding up a group of Gronckles..." Hiccup instructed, and the Twins nodded, "... from Dark Deep."

"I'll go with them," Sam volunteered.

"Whoa!" Snotlout exclaimed, "You idiots! Why did you open your big,—"

"And Snotlout, you're going with them. Congratulations."

"This is the worst plan I've ever heard."

-

A little while later...

"Symbiosis," Sam muttered to herself as she flew back to the Edge with the Twins on Barf and Belch, "how did you define that again?"

She threw a rock to one of the three Gronckles following them, and it dived to catch it.

"Symbiosis is the interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association to the advantage of both," Tuffnut answered, and Sam peered over her shoulder to see if Snotlout was following them.

"He won't be in sight yet," Ruffnut spoke without looking backwards, "it's going to take a while to shake off those Quakens."

The Twins, Snotlout and Sam had had the task to fetch Gronckles from the rocky island of Dark Deep, which would've been easy if not for the large, intimidating Catastrophic Quakens that protected the small Gronckles. So as a result, the Twins had told Snotlout to distract the Quakens so the trio could lure away the Gronckles and bring them to the Edge.

"Not very symbiotic," Sam muttered, still scanning the horizon for the reddish dragon and its annoying rider.

"Definitely not," Tuffnut agreed, "it's parasitic in every way. And you know what that means..."

"Parasitism," Sam droned, "It's a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species where one of them, the parasite benefits at the expense of the host."

"Cor-rect," Tuffnut grinned.

"We've taught her well," Ruffnut added solemnly.

"Is that the Edge?" Sam asked, pointing to a vague blotch in the open seas ahead of them. Ruffnut squinted at it, before shaking her head.

"Nope."

"I could've told you that," Tuffnut pointed out.

"How?" Sam enquired.

"Easy," Tuffnut answered, "Volcanoes tend to smoke when they're active."

"Of course," Ruffnut facepalmed, "how did I overlook that?"

Sam grinned.

"Maybe your mind was too full of parasites."

"Actually,—" Tuffnut began, but he was interrupted by a burst of hot water shooting in their direction from the sea down below.

Barf and Belch reared out of the way of the boiling water, almost throwing off the Twins, while Sam, who sat at the back, managed to hold on with less effort. She glanced over the edge of the two-headed dragon, and spotted a large sea-dragon below them.

"Scauldron!" she breathed.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut steered their dragon higher into the air to avoid the attacks of the angry Scauldron, and Sam subtly blocked a few spurts of water that came too close to them or the Gronckles for her liking with wisps of red forcefield.

"The water over there is so hot that it's red!" Tuffnut shouted, pointing out a spot where moments before Sam had altered the direction of a specific spurt of water.

Ruffnut glanced into the direction that Tuff was indicating and frowned.

"You're hallucinating bro, that's just normal water."

Behind them, Sam grinned.

Let her think that, she thought to herself, it's too complicated to explain anyway.

"Hey, is that smoke?" Tuffnut asked.

"Now I know you're hallucinating," Ruffnut continued, "maybe we should get you to a doctor."

"No, he's right!" Sam squeezed her eyes until they were almost completely closed, and could just make out a thin strand of smoke.

"The Edge," Tuffnut stated, turning to the Gronckles that were still trailing after them, "come on guys, we're almost there!"