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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ʀᴇᴀᴘ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏᴡ꒱


❝ THIS DOES NOT WORK
WELL WITH MY MANLINESS ❞

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The blare of a horn jolted Daenerys up from peaceful slumber. She knew the sound— it was to call the dragon riders together for another Screaming Death training drill. Hiccup had made sure that the blast of noise would be loud enough for even her to hear, as far away from Berk as she was. She jumped out of bed and rushed out the door, intent on getting into position first.

Most nights she slept with her braids in now to make getting ready in the morning easier. She didn't even have to bother with shoes, so she was out the door in thirty seconds flat. Except— her mother's voice called after her, forcing her to return.

"Dany! Dany, come back." As she hastened inside, she looked at Ingrid expectantly, bouncing on her toes in her rush to leave. The older woman used her head to gesture as her hands were currently covered in flour as she was making bread for the next day. "You've forgotten your weapon— and you can't leave without getting something to eat."

She smiled sheepishly and went to retrieve her bow and arrows, slinging them over her back. "Thanks, mom. But if this were a real Screaming Death warning I wouldn't have time for breakfast."

"But it's not a real Screaming Death warning," Ingrid reminded her daughter. She lifted a flour-covered finger and pointed sternly at the loaf of bread that sat cooling on the table. "Eat something before you leave. You'll thank me later."

As much as she wanted to get into position, Dany knew that trying to argue with her mother would only delay her departure. So, with a sigh, she went over and herself two slices of bread. She tucked one of them away in her pocket and took a big bite out of the other. Her words came out muffled as she huffed around the food in her mouth: "there. Happy now?"

Ingrid shook her head in exasperation and went back to kneading her dough. "Good luck with your drill, darling. Stay safe!"

"I will. Bye, mom!" Finally free, Dany raced back out the door. She stowed her second piece of bread in her mouth so she had two hands to climb onto Drogon's back. Once she was seated and they'd taken off she finished eating her breakfast.

Drogon was flying towards the edge of Berk where the archipelago met the sea. Their position was on the outermost edge of the island as the first line of defense. If they saw any sign of the Screaming Death, Drogon's roar was loud enough to be heard by the other dragons, no matter where they were located. Plus, he was big enough to delay the white dragon long enough for the rest of the riders to join the fight. When Hiccup had asked if could fulfill the role, Dany had been flattered by the responsibility he'd trusted her with. She was determined to live up to the statue she'd been given, no matter if it was real or practice.

They hadn't been keeping watch for long when shouts drew Daenerys' attention to the sky. She glanced up to see Stormfly and Hookfang pass overhead. Snotlout and Astrid were going at it as usual, probably arguing about their placement for the drill. She really couldn't judge Astrid's fury when it came to the Jorgenson; he seemed to make it a point to be as obnoxious as possible and her best friend had a notoriously short temper. She was glad, at any rate, that being on Berk's outskirts meant she'd have most of the morning to herself before they reported to the academy, where Hiccup would critique their responses.

🏹🏹🏹

Unfortunately, she did not get most of the morning to herself. The chief's son had made an early appearance, looking annoyed (though not at her), and explained what happened at the Great Hall. His father had called the teens back and was not pleased with how the drill had gone. With a sigh, Dany left her post to follow the pair back, where she stood in line with the rest of her friends. Stoick paced angrily in front of them, his eyes narrowed in disapproval.

"When you told me you'd be running a Screaming Death attack drill, I assumed you wouldn't actually try to destroy the entire village!"

"Technically, Chief," Fishlegs began, holding up a finger to correct him. "It was just the Great Hall." He froze as Stoick pinned his glare directly on him and the boy shrank away from his gaze. "And I'll let you take it from here."

"Dad, this was supposed to be a practice run," Hiccup explained, looking pointedly at the culprits. "It just got out of hand. I'm sorry."

"Uh, sorry doesn't un-burn Silent Sven's chest hair," Gobber chimed in, nodding to the man in question. They turned to see the man's chest still smoking from one of the dragon's blasts.

"No, it certainly does not," the chief agreed. "Which brings me to your punishment."

🏹🏹🏹

"Ugh," Astrid complained when they'd arrived at the dilapidated field. "Mildew's cabbage field."

Fishlegs picked up a rotten head of cabbage and sniffed it, grimacing as he threw it away. "Oh, wow. This is revolting!"

The twins, of course, found no issues with aging vegetables. They had dug in and were chewing away at the green leaves. (Dany had never been more grateful for the slice of bread in her pocket.) Ruffnut shrugged as she continued to eat. "Actually, it's not that bad."

"Yeah! Don't judge 'till you tried it," Tuffnut said, though it looked like the cabbage tried to come back up after he spoke. He quickly put a hand over his mouth and swallowed it down again.

"Okay gang." Hiccup called everyone's attention to the task at hand. "My dad wants this field cleared and ready for planting by the end of the week. Astrid, Snotlout, you two break down and clear out the big boulders on the far edge, while—"

"Actually," Snotlout cut in, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest to show off his 'strength.' "That sounds more like a man's job."

Astrid sneered at him. "Hmm. You're right. Better give me Fishlegs instead."

Snotlout stared at her, stunned. "Huh? Astrid, what do you see when you look over here?" He flexed his muscles, striking a pose that he thought looked impressive.

"Is that a serious question?" the Hofferson asked, arching a brow.

He gestured between himself and Hookfang. "You see five thousand pounds of boulder-crushing splendor."

Unaffected by his display, Astrid went over and knocked him on his helmet. "Just make sure you don't slow me down, boulder boy."

As they got to work, Hiccup turned to the rest of the group to divide up the remaining jobs. Dany met his gaze pleadingly; if she had to be around Astrid and Snotlout for the whole day, she'd go crazy (anyone would, really— as much as she loved her best friend— but it was too much for her. She didn't have Hiccup's patience.) He seemed to know what she was asking and when he assigned her task, it was located in the farthest quadrant from the rest of the group. (She would've hugged him if their friends hadn't been watching.)

The Targaryen happily got to work, not minding the field or its rotten produce at all. She liked to work in the small garden at home; the feeling of soil between her toes and caring for the plants was actually a nice, methodical task that she could stay focused on. Drogon did most of the heavy lifting, flying boulders to and from the field. The larger ones would be used for catapults while Meatlug ate the smaller ones or they were blasted apart.

Dany walked through the field, occasionally bending over to pull the weeds. The sight of dandelions inspired her to weave some into her braids; she hadn't had time that morning to find any. That distracted her for awhile and she wandered away from her section of the field without noticing. 

Drogon kept a careful eye on his mother as he did her job— not that it bothered him. He was bigger, faster and stronger than her so it made sense for him to do the hard work. Whenever he saw Daenerys getting too far away for his liking, he would stop what he was doing and fly over to her, landing in her path so that she was forced to look up. Then he would gently shepherd her back in the right direction so she'd stay close to the field.

Sometimes the Targaryen's attention would switch from flowers to the rocks by her feet. She'd push the circlet that she was in the process of making onto her arm and stoop to pick up a particularly interesting looking stone. While she preferred rocks that were smoothed and colored by the sea, there were interesting ones to be found in the soil, too. Although they were mostly a monochrome gray, they could have little pockmarks or jagged edges from their journey to get to where they currently lay. She'd eaten her other slice of bread by this point so her pocket was now free to contain the treasures she found. Dany passed a very pleasant afternoon that way, at least until Hiccup came over to check in on her progress. 

🏹🏹🏹

Things in the field were going surprisingly well, but Hiccup had put too much faith in his friends. It didn't take long for Astrid and Snotlout to start going at it again. Surprisingly, Stormfly and Hookfang joined in this time. Usually their dragons stayed out of their riders' aggressions, but it looked like they were taking sides now. When it got to the point of blasting flames in each other's faces, Hiccup decided to step in. He had Toothless shoot a plasma blast between them to break it up.

His interference didn't last long and the dragons returned to their fighting. Too caught up in his friends' issues, Hiccup didn't notice Toothless sniff the ground— or when his eyes became slits from the scent he'd picked up. Snotlout tried to desperately control his dragon (a feat on a normal day), but to no avail. The only ones enjoying the sudden chaos were the twins, who cheered as the dragons roared at each other.

When it became clear that they weren't going to settle down on their own, Hiccup ordered them, "okay, everyone to the rock pile."

Thankfully, they were able to do that, but it didn't stop Snotlout and Astrid's argument. He watched them yell at each other back and forth with growing exasperation. After trying to get them to stop by using his voice, he turned to Toothless for help once more. They fell silent at the Night Fury's roar, and he sighed with relief. "Thank you. Now, somebody mind telling me what exactly was going on out there?"

"Simple," Snotlout snapped. "Hookfang and me were just trying to do our job when Stormfly went crazy and started screaming at us!"

Astrid's eyes widened in outrage. "You have got to be kidding! Hiccup, Stormfly and I were doing our job when this lunatic and his overgrown fire pit torched us."

"Oh, come on!" Snotlout exclaimed. "When have we ever started a fight just for the sake of starting a fight?" He received unimpressed stares for his words, so he admitted, "let me rephrase that."

"Never mind," Hiccup cut him off. "Do you two think you can work together: yes, or no?" 

They glared at each other before storming off to mount their dragons. Feeling more than a little aggravated from dealing with his friends' incessant disagreements (though he did his best not to show it), Hiccup decided to cool down by going to check on Dany. He'd barely seen her all day and being in her presence always made him happy. Toothless trailed after him, now perfectly calm as ever.

Except, when he got to the part of the field where she was supposed to be, she wasn't there. He didn't even see Drogon anywhere and it was impossible to miss a dragon of his size. The brunet looked up, wondering if Dany's dragon had taken to the sky, but there was no large shadow that flew over him, either.

He was a little disappointed— and not just because she was nowhere to be found. Their team was pretty evenly split in half; Snotlout and the twins were the miscreants while he, Astrid, Fishlegs and Dany were the responsible ones. He knew he could trust Daenerys with the important jobs because she would follow through— she always had. But now, for the first time ever, she had abandoned her post without contributing to the team. He didn't want to have the talk with her that he usually had with the terror trio, but it looked like today would be a first.

It wasn't long before he spotted her some distance away— thanks to Toothless sniffing out her scent— and he made his way over to her. She must've heard him coming since she stood from where she'd been picking another flower to give him a bright smile. "Hiccup! Are we done for the day?"

His heart sank a little at the thought of being the reason why the cheerful expression slipped off her face, but there were very few people on the team he could consistently count on. He'd be damned if he let Dany go over to the 'dark side.' "Uh, yeah, about that—"

But she wasn't listening to him. Instead, she let out a small hum and danced over to him. He felt a light weight land on his head, falling to just above his ears. His words died in his throat as she stayed close, adjusting whatever it was that she'd given him. Her violet eyes were focused on her work, lifted to stay trained on his hair rather than meeting his own. She was so close that, if he moved in the wrong (or right) way, their noses would bump together. Hiccup stayed perfectly still, holding his breath until he felt Toothless nudge his hand with his snout as a reminder to breathe.

He slowly exhaled as she (regrettably) pulled away with a satisfied smile. Then she turned to the Night Fury and draped a slightly larger circlet of flowers around his ears, announcing: "don't worry, I remembered to make one for you too, this time!"

The brunet cleared his throat as he tried to gather his wits about him. "Uh, Dany—"

"Hm?" she asked, turning to him.

Being the sole object of her attention under stunning violet eyes scrambled his brain a bit. It didn't help that she looked especially pretty with the wildflowers woven into her hair— the pinks, purples and yellows standing out like jewels against her silvery-blonde strands. How could he have ever thought she'd be lumped in with the likes of Snotlout? It was probably just a one-time thing; they'd all been working hard lately— it was understandable. He decided against the stern lecture, instead softening his voice to prompt her gently: "we're supposed to be clearing out Mildew's field, remember?"

Daenerys blinked at him, trying to figure out the meaning behind his question. "Yeah? Is something wrong?"

"It's just— uh. . ." He sighed, not wanting to scold her for getting distracted— he knew she couldn't always help it— but it was important for her to contribute her part. "You're not working," he finished, trying to say the words as kindly as possible.

Understanding dawned on her face. "Oh! Yeah. I've been done— well, really it was mostly Drogon— for hours."

Now it was his turn to stare at her uncomprehendingly. "Hours?"

She grinned at him. "It's surprising how much you can get done when you're not babysitting."

He felt relief wash over him, paired with guilt for underestimating her. Of course she would never hang him out to dry. "O-oh. Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "I— uh— should've known that. I guess I got so caught up in whatever's going on with Astrid and Snotlout that I started assuming the worst for everyone."

"Had a bad day?" Dany asked sympathetically. "Want to go for a ride?"

Hiccup brightened at her suggestion. "That sounds. . . amazing." He looked around again, as if he could miss Drogon's presence. "Where's Drogon?"

"I let him go off on his own; he doesn't like Mildew's field much— not that I blame him. Plus he worked hard today. But. . ." She withdrew the dragon whistle from her pocket and blew on it so they could wait for his return.

🏹🏹🏹

That night Hiccup returned home exhausted but definitely more relaxed after spending the rest of the day with Dany. His father was sitting on a chair by the fire, sharpening his axe. The older man looked up at his entrance.

"Ah. Hello, son." As the brunet stepped into the light, Stoick's gaze caught on the item that encircled his head. The chief pointed to his own head. "Uh, son, you know you've got something. . ."

The teen reached up and touched the flowers gingerly. They were wilting now— not quite dead yet, though. Toothless ambled up next to him, wearing his own flower crown. Hiccup had taken it off during their flight so it wouldn't get damaged but had put it back on once they'd landed. He dropped his hand back to his side. He replied a little defensively, "Dany made them."

Stoick's stern expression softened slightly, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He set his axe aside and leaned back in his chair, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Is that so?"

Hiccup felt his face warm at the teasing note in his father's voice— as if Stoick knew about his feelings for his best friend. He avoided his father's gaze, suddenly finding the floor very interesting. "Yeah, she did."

Stoick returned his attention to his axe, settling it comfortably in his lap. The action was almost nonchalant— as if he didn't care about Hiccup's reactions to his next words (even though he did.) "I'm sorry I wrote her off so quickly because of her family name; I was too harsh on her when we first met. But I'm glad that has not stopped the two of you from getting close— she seems to have quite an influence on you."

"We're just friends, dad," he insisted, feeling his face burn hotter at the implication. But the protest sounded weak even to his own ears— particularly when he knew the truth.

Although he didn't quite believe his son's excuse, Stoick let the matter rest so he could change the subject. "There's nothing wrong with that, son. Friends are important. Speaking of, how are things going in the field?"

--

It was hard convincing his father that everything was fine when Astrid came banging on his door. He quickly pushed her outside so Stoick wouldn't hear her complaints. "Astrid! What a beautiful night, let's talk outside." He slammed the door shut behind him. "Uh, didn't we talk this out?"

"You talked, we listened, as usual. But I'm not going to put Stormfly in danger by working with that mutton head who can't even control his own dragon."

"Ugh! Fine, fine." Hiccup said quickly, not wanting his father to pick up on his difficulties. "I will deal with it tomorrow, I promise."

"Thank you." Now that the cause of her anger had been resolved, she noticed the same detail Stoick had. "Nice flowers. Dany made that, didn't she?"

The brunet froze with his hand on the doorknob, relieved that it was too dark for her to see the heat that rushed back to his face. Of all the people to be concerned about, Astrid would definitely be the first one to pick up on his more-than-friendly feelings towards Dany (he couldn't help but wonder if she suspected already.) "Uh. . . yeah. Yeah, she did."

"And you're still wearing it," she continued smugly— a tone that he didn't like very much. "Even though you're not going to see her again until tomorrow."

"They're nice flowers, okay?" he huffed. "Goodnight, Astrid."

As he closed the door, he could still hear her soft chuckle.

--

His next visitor was less than welcome and he had no problem with pushing Snotlout out the door. Fed up with the pair, he exclaimed, "you. are. killing. me."

Snotlout's mouth opened in outrage. "Me? Astrid has totally lost control of her dragon! She's probably distracted by my manly presence."

"Are you insane?"

"Hookfang sees it! Don't tell me you don't." The Jorgenson's gaze was drawn to the wilting circlet of flowers, and he sneered. "Oh wait— Princess Hiccup wouldn't know anything about manliness, would you?"

Hiccup took a deep breath, willing himself not to sink to the other boy's level. Despite his best efforts (okay, subpar efforts— but it was late!), he couldn't keep himself from replying haughtily, "Dany made them— but you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He moved on before the shorter Viking could respond. "Let me guess, you don't want to work with Astrid tomorrow?"

"Exactly! Was that easy, Hiccup? Come on Hookfang, let's go think with our muscles."

🏹🏹🏹

The fighting continued the next day. So, as a final attempt to resolve things, Hiccup had Snotlout and Astrid go to the academy to announce his next idea. (The twins came along just in case things got physical— you know, to make things worse.) He stood in front of the riders as he spoke. "Astrid, Snotlout, your dragons are out of control, but I think I know why. This is the day I've always feared would come. Your dragons have picked up on your animosity to each other and now they are behaving the same way."

Snotlout stood in front of the Monstrous Nightmare with his arms crossed. "Is it my fault that me and Hookfang are so in sync?"

He was immediately proven wrong when Hookfang blew a snort of steam at his back, forcing him to duck to avoid it. Hiccup ignored his protest and took the boy by the arm to lead him over to Stormfly. "But you have just given me an idea. You both need to walk a mile in each other's shoes— or in this case, saddles." He gave the same treatment to Astrid, placing her next to Hookfang. "Perfect."

"What? What's perfect?" the Hofferson demanding, crossing her arms against her chest.

"You two are gonna swap dragons for the day."

"What?" both riders exclaimed, horrified.

"That's right."

Snotlout gestured to the Deadly Nadder furiously. "It's a girl dragon!" Stormfly snarled at his words, causing him to flinch away.

"If you can learn to understand each other's dragons then maybe you can learn to understand each other," Hiccup told them sternly.

"This does not work well with my manliness," the Jorgenson grumbled.

But Hiccup would not be swayed. "You can take the day off and just get to know your new best friend."

"Hey," Tuffnut spoke up from where he was standing under Barf and Belch's shadow with his sister. "Does that mean that if we start fighting, then we get the day off, too? 'Cuz we will. Watch!"

Ruffnut eagerly responded by punching her brother. He retaliated, grabbing her shoulders to put her in a headlock. They started to wrestle, moving around the perimeter of the academy. Their dragons mirrored them by bumping their heads viciously together. Hiccup sighed. "Nope! The three of us and Fishlegs are gonna head out to the field and keep working— Dany was the only one to actually finish her section, so she only has to come if she wants to. My dad wants it done in time for planting."

🏹🏹🏹

While Hiccup corralled the twins to get them to the field, Fishlegs and Dany went on ahead. Drogon flew slower than usual to accommodate the smaller dragon; Meatlug buzzed alongside him, flying just above his wings.

"So, as my fellow dragonologist," the Ingerman began conversationally, "what is your esteemed opinion of why Stormfly and Hookfang won't stop fighting?"

Dany smiled, amused by the boy's formal tone— one that he adopted whenever he consulted either her or Hiccup about dragon things. "Well, it is strange that they're just now picking up on their riders' animosity. Snotlout and Astrid have been fighting for years and their dragons have never intervened until now."

"It must have something to do with our recent activities," Fishlegs said thoughtfully. "We should take a look at Mildew's field to see if there's anything suspicious— I wouldn't put it past that old man to leave something nasty behind."

The blonde nodded in agreement; she would be the first to jump on the 'I-hate-Mildew' rant. "That could be it, but Drogon wasn't affected while he was working, neither was Meatlug— or, at least, you haven't said anything. What about Barf and Belch?"

Since she'd been so caught up in making her flower crowns and finding nice rocks, she hadn't even known how bad Stormfly and Hookfang's fighting had gotten. She'd only been filled in when she'd taken her flight with Hiccup yesterday. Fishlegs shook his head in response to her question. "They were normal— or, at least, fighting normally. Even Toothless—" He paused, his eyes widening a bit as he recalled the Night Fury's actions. "Even Toothless got out of control when he tried to break them up."

Dany looked at him sharply, surprised; Toothless was one of the best-behaved dragons she'd ever met— he always followed what Hiccup said (or, at least, ninety percent of the time he did.) "When did he start getting agitated?"

"Well, I just said—"

"Sorry," she cut him off. "I meant where. Did he go near Stormfly and Hookfang when he intervened?"

Fishlegs met her gaze, stunned. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"It's worth a shot," the Targaryen replied. "There's lots of dirt— the perfect place for roots to grow."

They landed shortly after that. The larger boy tossed Meatlug a small rock. "Okay, that should hold you over for a bit but I need you to focus now. We're looking for clues."

The teens studied the ground to identify the dragons' prints from yesterday. Daenerys spotted perfectly normal Zippelback tracks. Fishlegs found the Nadder prints, which appeared to be fine at the edge of the field. Then Dany located the Monstrous Nightmare ones. She decided to follow them until they became messy from the dragons' confrontation. She and Fishlegs ended up inches away from each other on the spot with the most disturbed dirt.

"Here's where the trouble started." He looked down at the soil.

Meatlug's nose started to twitch and she put her snout to the ground. Drogon kept to away from the overturned earth. Dany observed her dragon's wariness— he hadn't been too keen on going anywhere near the rest of the group yesterday, and now he refused to set foot in the field. She turned towards her friend. "Fishlegs, have Meatlug—"

But the Gronckle was already on it, charging forward in her eagerness. Her claws easily penetrated the earth as she dug into the ground, sending particles of dirt flying behind her. Once it was deep enough, the dragon pulled back to let the teens peer into the hole she'd made. They exchanged excited looks as Dany exclaimed, "we were right!"

🏹🏹🏹

They flew back to the academy as fast as they could. Both dragons were missing from their pens, the cage doors broken open. Everyone else was already there and were trying to figure out what to do.

"Actually, Hiccup, we might know where they are," Fishlegs announced. Dany had told him she would wait outside so they could leave faster— squeezing Drogon through the entrance took some time.

When they returned to Mildew's field, Stormfly and Hookfang were already there— and fighting. Hiccup and Fishlegs dropped their riders in to deal with the problem. Along with Dany, they stayed above the field, circling it so they wouldn't add to the commotion.

"Guys, how did you know they were gonna be here?" Hiccup asked.

"Dany was the one to suggest what made this situation different than any other," Fishlegs explained.

"Yeah, but you were the one to realize it was the field!" she countered.

The brunet glanced between them, still a little confused. "We've been in a lot of fields."

"Hiccup," Daenerys said plainly, "this is Mildew's field— he hates dragons." She pointed to the hole Meatlug had made.

"Dragon root!" he exclaimed, finally recognizing it.

Tuffnut gasped. "No! Not Dragon Root! That's terrible!"

Hiccup sighed. "Y-You don't actually know what Dragon Root is, do you?"

"Not even slightly. Not even the faintest. I mean, I think I know what dragon means."

"Dragon Root is like Dragon Nip," Fishlegs began, "only more powerful. Dragons crave it but instead of making them happy and calm, it makes them—"

"Want to rip each other apart, wing from wing?" Tuffnut suggested.

"Exactly."

The twins were all for that, of course. Hiccup, however, said otherwise. "Well, we can't leave Astrid and Snotlout down there. We have to help."

Astrid and Snotlout ended up working together to calm their dragons down. They got in between them and forced them apart. That still left the Dragon Root problem.

"We have to get down there!" the brunet insisted. "But none of us can get close to that Root without our dragons going nuts!"

"That's not exactly true, Hiccup. Meatlug didn't go crazy," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Yeah," Dany added, "Drogon has enough self-awareness to not even get close to that thing. That doesn't really help us, though— sorry."

Hiccup looked between them thoughtfully. "Maybe Meatlug's rock diet makes her immune to the Dragon Root's effect. Dany, do you think Drogon's big enough to withstand the effects long enough to pull the root out?"

She hesitated, glancing down at her dragon as he kept them hovering in the air. "I don't know, Hiccup. With as big and strong as he is, I wouldn't want to risk him losing control. If you think Stormfly and Hookfang are bad, can you imagine what he might do?"

Unfortunately, they didn't get much further in their planning as the twins' dragon got too close to the Dragon Root. The Zippleback's pupils became slit and they let out agitated growls. There was burst of green gas which was followed by a spark. The fireball lit up between the trio, forcing them a bit apart to avoid it.

"What are you doing?" Fishlegs demanded.

"They're out of control!" the siblings shouted in sync.

"You guys are too close to the Dragon Root. Pull up!"

They laughed at Hiccup's warning. "Pull up? Are you crazy?"

As Barf and Belch let out more fireballs, Fishlegs dove down to pull the Root up. Drogon and Toothless intercepted the blasts from the twins' dragon as best they could. But, try as she might, Meatlug wasn't strong enough to take the Root out by herself.

Above them, Tuffnut shouted gleefully: "this is scary but in a good way!"

Meatlug's progress was further slowed when she had to jump out of the way of another fireball from the Zippleback. Dany let Hiccup take care of that since Drogon's fire would only hurt the twins; Toothless' plasma blast could be more of a detonation depending on the angle. The brunet winced as the twins were blown backwards by the force. "Sorry!"

"We're not!"

"This is the best day ever!"

Fishlegs watched helplessly as his Gronckle released her hold on the Root, finally giving up. He shouted up to Hiccup and Dany: "she can't do it by herself!"

He had to duck before they replied as Zippleback gas spewed around him. A dragon— Stormfly— swooped by to disperse it before it could explode. Except— it wasn't Astrid who was on her back, but Snotlout.

"We switched dragons again," Astrid explained from Hookfang's back. "It's the only way we can keep them from fighting each other."

Snotlout nodded, pound his chest proudly. "He can sniff Dragon Root all day long, but Hookfang would never attack Snotlout. He respects him too much."

Ignoring his use of third person, Astrid prepared herself for the twins' return. As they soared past her, spewing gas, she had Hookfang rear back with his wings spread. "Do it, Hookfang! Wing blast!"

Always willing to show off, the Monstrous Nightmare clapped his wings together. The gust of wind dissipated the gas and sent the twins tumbling to the ground. They cheered once before they flopped onto their dragons' heads. Snotlout stared at her. "What was that?"

"You mean this?" Hookfang did another one, blowing away the gas surrounding Fishlegs and Meatlug.

The Dragon Root was still stuck, even with the powerful blast of wind. Snotlout placed his hand on the back of Stormfly's neck. "I'm on it. Stormfly, single spine shot!"

He freed the Root with one strike. Since his dragon hadn't been affected by it, Fishlegs was responsible for dropping it in the sea where it wouldn't bother anyone. While no one expected Astrid and Snotlout to get along all the time, the whole team hoped (well, except for the twins, who loved chaos) that for the sake of their sanities, explosive arguments like these would happen less often.