Snotlout pointed at the immense dragon before him and his friends and shouted, “What is that thing? That is not a dragon!”
Ruff and Tuff were so surprised that they fell over and fainted.
Naga flapped his enormous, crystalline wings and roared his familiar, metal-screeching roar.
Astrid, Hiccup, Snotlout, and Fishlegs slapped their hands to their ears, and Hiccup screamed in pain. “Ahhh!”
With one eye open, Astrid yelled, “Hiccup! Fight it! Don’t let him torture you!” Removing one hand from her ears, she picked up her axe and banged it against the light wall, but to no avail.
Toothless hopped before Hiccup and shot a Plasma Blast at Naga.
He saw it out the corner of his eye and held his wing up to the attack. Instead of damaging him, the wing sucked in the Plasma Blast, and his body flickered fire orange as he swallowed the attack whole.
Hand still on arm, Hiccup jumped to his feet and leaped on Toothless’s back. “We have to find another way to attack him, bud!” He stuck his feet in his stirrups and kicked his dragon.
The Night Fury shot into the sky and launched another Plasma Blast, except he aimed it at Naga’s head.
For that attempt, the dragon’s eye sucked in the attack, and his body once again flickered.
From Toothless’s back, Hiccup shouted, “This thing is unbeatable!” but then something popped into his head. “Wait a minute. I have an idea. Go, Toothless!” He gave Toothless another kick and steered him toward the Chamber’s entrance.
Naga followed. He bounced off the bubble containing the remaining Riders, and it rolled in the other direction.
Hookfang, Meatlug, Stormfly, Barf and Belch hurried after it.
In the meantime, Naga chased after Hiccup and Toothless.
Hiccup peered back at him and yelled, “Faster, Toothless! We’re going to make it!”
Unfortunately, he spoke too soon. Naga brought back the claws of one of his wings and sliced at the two. The claws ripped Toothless’s prosthetic tailfin.
“No!” Hiccup shouted when he saw it. “Not good! Not good at all!” He tightened his grip on Toothless’s saddle collar but yelled when another wave of excruciating pain overtook the arm Naga burned. With it in that condition, he had trouble preparing for an emergency landing.
Toothless roared with panic. He flapped his wings as hard as he could but could not stay aloft without his tailfin and Hiccup’s arm support.
The dragon and his Rider crashed to the ground. Dust spewed up from where they landed.
Naga roared, and a light appeared in his mouth. He used the light energy in his body to build up the attack.
Hiccup, cringing with pain on the ground, struggled to his feet and limped over to Toothless. He patted his head and asked, “You all there, bud?”
Toothless shook out his head but nodded to say that he was. Growling nervously, he sniffed his Rider’s left arm and gently nudged it.
“I’m okay, bud,” Hiccup told him, but he clutched his arm. “It’s just a scratch.”
In the light bubble, Astrid slapped her palms against it and yelled, “Hiccup! Toothless! Look out! Behind you!”
Too late. Naga let his attack go. He launched this Strike attack in the Chamber of Mystery during Hiccup’s mirage. It was known as the Devastating Blast and wasn’t even his most powerful attack. Naga’s most potent attack was 10,000 Suns.
While the Devastating Blast crashed a few feet away from Hiccup and Toothless, it was still powerful enough to throw them back.
A small portion of the attack collided with Hiccup’s already injured arm, and he yelled as the burn sucked it in, much like how Naga sucked in Toothless’s Plasma Blasts. He and Toothless catapulted out of the Crystal Chamber and ended up back in the main section of the Chamber of Mystery, where Gobber and Stoick told the teens the story of the Light Dragon.
Toothless wrapped his wings around Hiccup’s body to protect him, and together, the two friends splashed into the pool, where they found the single crystal from before.
***
Naga hurried after his victims in the Crystal Chamber but finally let the other Riders go. The bubble popped, and they fell on top of one another. Unfortunately, they were in a pretzel and struggled to untangle one another. The dragons had to jump in and help.
***
Naga hid in the wall as a 2D figure in the Chamber of Mystery's central section. As quiet as a little mouse scurrying across a castle floor, he watched his targets.
Hiccup lugged himself out of the pool, breathless and using only his right hand. Toothless followed close on his heel. The young man coughed water out of his lungs but only managed to crawl a few feet away from the pool before collapsing onto his front.
Toothless, after shaking like a dog, whined and approached him. He nudged his friend’s head and urged him to his feet.
Hiccup, though, did not get up. He was too exhausted. The first battle between the “Erlkönig” and the Riders ended in disaster. They had to change their tactics if they had any hope to win against him.
Hiccup slowly lifted his right hand and scratched Toothless under the chin.
The dragon purred and plopped down beside his Rider. He wrapped his wing around him like a blanket and pulled him close to his warm body.
Eventually, the other Riders and their dragons found Hiccup and Toothless, and they wasted no time to ask them if they were in one piece.
Hiccup hid his excruciating pain behind a feeble smile and said, “We’re okay, but woo-wee, that Light Dragon. He’s a tougher cookie than we thought.”
Astrid didn’t fall for his pretty boy act. “Hiccup, I told you not to follow that voice, and look what you did! You followed it!”
“She said she would help us, though!” Hiccup argued. “How was I supposed to know she was the Light Dragon in disguise?”
“You led us right into a trap!” Astrid shouted back. “You could have gotten us all killed!”
“Oh wow!” Snotlout cracked a smile. “Yes! I’m not the only one who thought this was a bad idea! For the first time, Astrid is on my side!”
Tuffnut clenched his fist and held it up to his heart. “As a ruler of Thorstonton II, I hereby banish Hiccup to the dungeon!”
“Dungeon? What dungeon?” Hiccup sarcastically laughed. “I hope you’re joking, Tuff.”
“That was only an inkling of the Light Dragon’s Power,” Fishlegs thought aloud.
“An inkling?” asked Ruffnut. “Ho! Ho! Sick! There’s more?”
“Um, and why are you excited?” Snotlout wanted to know.
“Because that thing is crazy! I love crazy!” Ruffnut clenched her fists and jumped up and down with excitement.
“Guys!” Astrid shouted. “I thought we were supposed to be yelling at Hiccup!”
“Look, I’m sorry.” Hiccup rose to his feet and slapped his right hand to his side. He faced his angry friends and admitted, “I don’t know what came over me. You’re right, Astrid. I should have listened to you. This is my fault, and I’m sorry.”
As he made his confession, Naga watched him from within the wall. It looked like he was thinking. He recognized the look in Stoick the Vast son’s eyes. Guilt. The guilt was killing him. He feared for the relationship between him and his friends and the future of his village.
Inhaling slowly, the dragon made up his mind. He swam over to the wall behind the pillar where Hiccup saw the glow from before, and his 2D form leaped onto it. Once on the pillar, Naga crawled like a spider over to the platform the young man failed to climb earlier.
Just looking at him, Astrid felt Hiccup's guilt and approached him. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she smiled feebly and said, “Hiccup, listen to me. The Dragon Riders don’t run on perfection. We run on friendship and teamwork. If something is bothering you, don’t hesitate to tell us.”
“Except if it involves a thirty-foot tall, bipedal Light Dragon!” Snotlout yelped. He hid behind his hands and shook his head. “Oh, Hiccup. Why?”
Astrid rolled her eyes, but then she saw a few tears in Hiccup’s eyes.
Reaching for them, he tried not to sob, but the guilt he felt was insane. His arm also hurt like crazy, but he refused to tell his friends about it. He had already put them in enough danger.
Astrid edged closer to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “We’re here for you, Hiccup. Don’t ever forget that.” With that, she gave his cheek a small kiss.
Off to the side, Fishlegs said, “Um, guys. What’s that?” He pointed at the chamber ceiling, where a small light gently floated down from the atmosphere above.
His friends looked with him, as well as the dragons, and their eyes widened.
As the light descended, it spun in a gentle circle and headed toward Hiccup. 31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKByB7rBBr
The young man painfully lifted both hands and reached for the light. When it touched his fingertips, it exploded in his face, and the friends had to close their eyes against it.
Finally, when the light faded, another crystal shone in Hiccup’s palms.
He gasped at the sight of it, as did his friends. The young man smiled weakly and softly said, “A crystal. It’s the crystal that we came here to look for in the first place.”
“Who gave it to you, though?” Astrid wanted to know as Toothless curiously sniffed the beautiful gemstone.
“I don’t know,” Hiccup admitted. And he didn’t.
***
From where he rested on the pillar, Naga admired the friends as they each passed the crystal back and forth. He nodded and hopped back to the chamber’s main wall. The dragon headed toward the ceiling and left the Riders and dragons alone, unaware that he, the “Erlkönig”, had mortally wounded one of them.
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