Chapter 122: Astrid's Epic Fail/ Not Lout Leaving

Astrid was fiddling with a map when E.v.e., Nightstriker, and the Titanwing Monstrous Nightmare arrived. She spread it out on the ground, eyed it critically, then turned it around the other way. Whipping out a charcoal pencil, Astrid made a few small annotations in different blank spots on the map. She now picked it up and held it up to the light, still scrutinizing the carefully penciled in lines as if she were looking at evidence from a crime scene. E.v.e. awkwardly paused dead in her tracks and began to wait, her dragons standing awkwardly behind her. Other dragon riders began to trickle in, fanning out in an awkward line in front of Astrid. When someone cleared their throat and squished themselves between two other dragon riders, Astrid finally noticed the waiting platoon in front of her and pinned the map to a board behind her.

Hiccup peeled himself away from the line of waiting dragon riders and stood on the opposite side of the map from Astrid. He briefly announced, "Today's- or should I say Tomorrow's- Training mission was Astrid's idea." The berkian members of the audience gasped in horror- Ruffnut and Tuffnut exchanged horrified glances, Snotlout backed up a few steps and threw his hands up, shaking his head, and Fishlegs awkwardly reached backwards, letting Meatlug lick a bandaged hand. Even the older vikings present- Phlegma the Fierce, Spitelout Jorgensen, and Gobber The Belch- seemed alarmed at the idea of undergoing one of Astrid's training exercises. Hiccup added, "Settle down, everybody. At least let Astrid explain the exercise before you add your two cents..." He rejoined the group and handed the floor to Astrid, who cleared her throat and pointed at the map.

Astrid explained, "This training exercise is simple. All you have to do is head from this beach-" she pointed to a beach on the right side of the map, "on the east coast of Dragon Island to this cave-" her hand moved, pointing out a dark splotch on the left side of the map, "on the West side of the island..." The assembled vikings breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone else continued to eyeball the map and listen to Astrid with baited breath. Astrid gave the assembled Berkians a moment to enjoy their hope spot- and shattered it. She continued, "At Night. With No Dragons, and No Camping Gear." The rest of the vikings collectively groaned. The assembled synths and Axiom people listened in stunned silence as Astrid let the effect sink in. She finally ended her explanation, "You are allowed to bring lanterns and weapons."

Immediately after she finished, Snotlout loudly whined, "ASTRID'S TRAINING MISSIONS ARE THE WORST!" Hiccup facepalmed and scolded, "SNOTLOUT!" Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, began to grin, amused. Ignoring him, Snotlout asked, "ASTRID, WHY ARE YOUR TRAINING MISSIONS SO HARD?!?" Hiccup retorted, "SNOTLOUT, PLEASE-!" Hookfang's grin seemed even wider, and he looked as if he were about to burst out laughing. Astrid, seeming confused at Snotlouts yelling, responded, "What? They're not so hard..." Fishlegs held up his bandaged hand for all to see, and complained, "You try hand to claw combat!" Snotlout added, "What about spine dodging?!?", dramatically collapsing to his knees. Hookfang chortled a little, his tongue briefly darting out of his mouth. From one end of the line, Tuffnut piped up, "Hot Lava Swimming anybody?" Astrid shot Tuffnut a grumpy look and shut him down, "We're not doing that." Tuffnut protested, "Oh, come on! It's so much better than Hand to Claw Combat!"

Snotlout, now fully channeling his inner drama queen, moaned, "THIS MISSION IS CRAZY! WHAT'S THE POINT?!?" Behind him, Hookfang collapsed into a laughing fit, attracting the attention of the other dragons. Next to Snotlout, Springtrap quietly piped up, "Yes... how come we're allowed to bring weapons and lanterns if we're not allowed to bring camping gear or let our dragons come along with us?" Astrid looked between the confused synth and the dramatist viking, answering both questions at once, "The point is to work on our stealth skills and our wild dragon defense. Think about it this way, it's good practice in case somebody ends up stranded behind Berserker lines without their dragon or survival gear." Hiccup rejoined Astrid, remarking, "Astrid's right- everyone knows how strong we are with our dragons- but we also need to be able to survive and defend ourselves if we ever get separated from them..." Astrid tried to lighten the souring mood, "Trust me- it'll be fun!" Everybody else seemed somewhere between resignation towards having to spend a night fending for themselves on Dragon Island... and outright hysteria. They trickled out of the arena as awkwardly as they had arrived. As she left, Phlegma threw out an excuse, "I uh... need to sugar my cacti." Astrid was left shaking her head and pulling the map down from its makeshift corkboard.

That evening, a small flock of dragons glided towards the serene, seemingly uninhabited dragon island. Astrid took a deep breath of the late evening air and let go of Stormfly's saddle, interlocking her fingers and stretching her arms out in front of her. Grabbing the saddle again, she turned to survey the rest of the flock. Hiccup and Toothless flew in silence, enjoying the picturesque view of Dragon Island at night. Fishlegs seemed to be deep in thought, and Meatlug looked almost half asleep. Snotlout slouched in the saddle, seeming particularly glum while Hookfang looked positively over the moon. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were in the middle of a staring contest, letting Barf and Belch do the flying for them. Wall.e was almost standing in the saddle, surveying dragon island as it grew from an indistinct dark smudge into a large island dotted with a variety of micro-habitats to explore, and Hal seemed equally interested in the island- particularly the large dormant volcano towering over the rest of the island. E.v.e. sprang her plasma cannon out of her harm, and ran one final diagnostic on it as Nightstriker spotted something in the darkness and rumbled uneasily. Skitterbolt, Dreadheart, an enormous black scaled Monstrous Nightmare, and a gray Fury of some sort followed closely behind it, a miscellaneous set of hatchlings perched on their backs, and taking brief flights around them. Springtrap sat uncomfortably just behind his own dragons head, trying to stop his tail from getting cut by the dragons hard edged back spines. The dragon itself bore an uncanny resemblance to the Monstrous Nightmare- Windgnasher hybrid mummy that had been found on Icestorm Island months before the drill. Phlegma uneasily whistled a tune from the back of her Snaptrapper, Snappy. Gobber noticed Grump falling asleep mid flight and woke him up with a sharp clang of his hammer against an old shield boss. Spitelout carefully sharpened his axe, holding it up to the moonlight for inspection as Kingstail sped up slightly, and sidled into a glide alongside Stormfly. The last participant in the mission, Captain McCrea, awkwardly held a borrowed lantern in one hand and a borrowed falchion in the other, his Honeywing, Bosun, shepherding Snotlout and Hookfang back into the center of the flock as Snotlout tried to turn Hookfang around and fly all the way back to berk for the umpteenth time. Astrid grinned as the flock slowed into a glide, and began to descent towards the eastern beach.