~By Heather~
Author's Note[]
I got the idea for this story when I thought "What would happen if Snotlout and Astrid got stuck on an island together?" I know this is pretty bad of me, but it makes a good story. >:) It takes place between Fright of Passage and Worst in Show.
Dedications[]
This is dedicated to everyone who worked on RoB, DoB, and is working on RttE. And also to my friends Astrid and Gemstone. :)
The Story[]
It was a normal day in the Barbaric Archipelago. The Dragon Riders were practicing Falling and Letting Their Dragons Catch Them. Snotlout yelled "Wahoo!" and flung himself off of Hookfang. Hookfang didn't notice and kept right on flying.
"Hookfang, go get him!" Hiccup said. Hookfang looked down, realized what was happening, and went down to catch his obnoxious Rider. Astrid flew up beside Hiccup. "Look Hiccup, those big storm clouds are coming closer. Don't you think we should head back to Berk? Your dad probably wouldn't want us to be caught out in a storm that big." Hiccup looked at the dark fast-moving clouds.
"You're right, Astrid. That looks like a big storm. Come on, gang! Let's head back!" He turned Toothless in the direction of home. Astrid turned Stormfly, but as she did, she dropped her axe. She chased it as it fell, but did not get to it in time.
"I'll get it for ya, babe!" Snotlout did a fancy twirl and Hookfang splashed into the ocean where Astrid's axe had gone down. Astrid rolled her eyes in disgust. Showoff.
Snotlout came flying back up out of the water, spluttering. Astrid grabbed her axe from him and whacked him on the head with the flat of it as she did so. "Will you stop showing off! Now we're both behind. Oh my gods, too late!"
The storm hit them. The wind and hail made it hard for the dragons to fly. "Agh! We need to land!" yelled Snotlout.
"That's the problem, there's no land around here!" Astrid yelled back.
After a while, when they thought they could not stay in the air any longer and they had lost all sense of direction, Astrid yelled, "Land ho! Let's land there, where ever it is!" This looks familiar, she thought as Stormfly's feet touched the ground. They found a cave and crawled into it. The dragons were too big to fit, however, so they huddled together outside the cave entrance, keeping each other warm. Astrid and Snotlout were a totally different matter.
"Will you move?! You're sitting on my foot." Astrid said, shoving Snotlout. "Oops, ok." he said, getting off her foot but moving closer to her.
"Other way, for Thor's sake. You have plenty of room." She pushed him as far as he would go into his side of the cave and scooted farther into her own corner. "I hope this storm doesn't last long." she muttered. "Hiccup will get worried."
"Are you getting cold, Astrid? I can fix that..." He was silenced by a savage kick from Astrid.
Hiccup yawned as he knocked on Astrid's door. That storm last night was crazy, he thought. I never even said goodnight to Astrid. He knocked again. The door finally opened. "Oh, hey, Mrs. Hofferson," Hiccup said. "Is Astrid here?"
"No." said Astrid's mother. "I thought she was spending the night with you or something." Hiccup was puzzled. "No, I never even said goodnight to her. Uh-oh, I'd better go look for her."
He ran to the Academy. Fishlegs and the twins were there, waiting for him. "Hey, guys, have you seen Astrid?"
"I saw her yesterday, does that count?" Tuffnut said.
"No, I meant this morning."
"Oh, well that's the last time I saw her."
"Me too." Ruffnut added.
"Snotlout hasn't showed up yet either." Fishlegs reported. "And the last time I saw him was yesterday too." he paled as it dawned upon him."Oh Thor! I hope they weren't lost out in that storm!"
Hiccup realized it too. "They probably were! We haven't seen either of them since yesterday when the storm started, so that must be it! Come on, we've gotta tell my dad and get a search party out!"
As Astrid's eyes opened, she realized she had fallen asleep in the cave. Snotlout was still snoring away. She yawned and went outside. It was morning. And... where were they? She looked around and gasped.
Outcast Island!
They had set down on the island of Berk's worst enemy... Alvin the Treacherous! And where was Stormfly?
"Stormfly! Stormflyyyy!" she called, as loudly as she dared. She definitely didn't want the Outcasts to hear her. She could not find her dragon anywhere. Hookfang was still there, though, sleeping near the entrance of the cave.
Snotlout came out, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Whaa... where are we?" he yawned. His eyes popped open. "Outcast Island?! Uh-oh, we'd better get outta here!" He jumped on Hookfang. "Let's go, Hookfang!" Astrid stopped him. "Wait a minute, Snotlout. You can't just fly off and leave me here. I can't find Stormfly."
"Oh, huh. She musta flown off 'cause she's scared." he grinned. "Wanna ride with me? There's plenty of room..."
"Uh, no." Astrid glared at him. "Stormfly probably flew home to get help. She'll be back. I just think you should stay here because if you come riding into Berk without me, Hiccup will not be very happy with you."
"Oh, you're scared of being here alone. Have no fear, Astrid, I will protect you." Snotlout struck a pose with his muscles flexed.
"No I'm not! Fine, you can just go for all I care! Stormfly will come with Hiccup and the others. I just have to wait. I don't need you, especially if you're gonna keep doing that!" Astrid stomped off, and Snotlout took off into the air. "Alright, I'll go. But don't blame me if you get scared or even captured!"
But as he flew away, something made him look back.
He saw Outcasts.
A lot of them.
Headed right in the direction of Astrid.
And he thought about what she had said about Hiccup.
Toothless flew just below the clouds so his Rider could see farther. Hiccup sighed. Fishlegs flew up beside him. "No sign of them yet, Hiccup. I hope they... huh? Hey, there's Stormfly! And Astrid isn't on her!" Stormfly flew up to them.
"Hey, girl, where's Astrid?" Hiccup petted her nose. "Can you take us to her?"
Stormfly, as if to say "Yes!" flew off in the opposite direction that the Riders were going, looking behind her and calling to them.
"Come on, everybody, follow Stormfly!" Hiccup shouted to Stoick and the twins, who were up ahead. They all turned around and followed the Nadder.
"Hey, Savage, look! Is that a Berkian sittin' over there?" The Outcast soldier pointed to a small figure down on the beach.
"Well, well, so it is." Savage said. "Looks like the girl. Let's sneak up an' get 'er. Alvin might find a use for her."
Astrid was sitting on a rock, waiting, when she heard a noise behind her. She whirled around to see about a score of Outcasts trying to sneak up on her. One had tripped over a rock and alerted her.
"Get 'er!" The Outcast soldiers tried to grab Astrid, but she was too fast for them. As she swung her axe again, fire came blasting down on the soldiers. They scattered, yelling in pain and slapping at the fire on their clothes and beards.
Thump! Hookfang landed beside Astrid. "Hop on, Astrid." Snotlout said. "This is your only chance." He blasted more fire at Alvin's men. Astrid whacked one with her axe.
"No, I will not get on your stupid flaming lizard!" A bola nearly got her as she swiped at another Outcast. "Oh, fine, whatever. But hurry up!"
She jumped on behind Snotlout, and they took off. But just as they thought they were going to make it, three bolas came flying out of seemingly nowhere, wrapping themselves around Hookfang's wings and legs. He went crashing down. The soldiers threw a metal net with weights on the edges over him. The Outcasts surrounded them.
Astrid could not see much, with Hookfang's wings covering her, but as she struggled to get free, she heard a familiar sound.
"Aaaaaaahhhh!" yelled the Outcasts, beards and clothes singed. Toothless shot again, this time blasting the net off of Hookfang. Though he was a bit stunned, the Monstrous Nightmare had no trouble getting the bolas off his wings and legs. Snotlout jumped back on his dragon, and Astrid was about to, but her own dragon landed beside her.
"There you are, Stormfly!" she hopped on her back and flew up. "I knew you went home to get help! Good girl!" and then shot a few spikes at the Outcasts.
"You guys okay?" asked Hiccup. "I was starting to get worried."
"Yeah, well, okay as you can be after spending a whole night in a small cave with Snotlout..." she answered.
"Alright, retreat!" yelled Savage. "Retreat! There's nothin' we can do now that they have all the Dragon Riders here! Retreat!"
The Outcasts retreated, though a few of them could not help it, as an explosion from Barf and Belch blasted them back.
As they flew home back to Berk, Astrid asked Snotlout, "So, what made you change your mind about helping me? I thought you didn't care and were going to leave me."
Hiccup looked disapprovingly at Snotlout, who turned a little red. "Well, I... I dunno. I guess I just thought... you needed help and... well Hiccup wouldn't like it if I left you there... and... does it matter?" He flew ahead.
Astrid glared after him. "I did not need help, but..." she muttered, then turned to Hiccup. "So where were you all that time?"
"I had no idea you didn't even make it back. I thought you had gone straight home or something. I thought it was kinda strange that you never said good night to me." Hiccup said. "Make sure you do tonight, so I know that you made it back."
Astrid smiled. "I will."
THE END