When you're a dragon, you must be careful about who you can and cannot trust.
There are good and bad people, but there are also good and bad dragons.
The dragon riders are doing a Viking–dragon trust test. The rider must jump off their dragon's back, and the dragon must catch them again.
It helps build trust between them.
"I wish I had a Viking of my own," Lua muttered as she watched Hiccup being caught by Toothless.
"One day one will show up for you," said Hookfang. "Just hope he isn't as annoying as mine," he snorted, glancing at his rider.
Toothless joined the others.
"It's your turn," Hiccup said to Fishlegs, who became visibly nervous. "Jump."
"I don't want to jump!" he replied, agitated.
"You have to believe she'll catch you. It's a trust exercise," Hiccup said, trying to convince him.
"Look, I prefer trusting solid ground, thank you very much!" Fishlegs turned away, clearly determined not to jump.
"This is how it's done, Chicken-Legs!" Snotlout mocked, sliding off his saddle with his arms raised.
However, Hookfang didn't even react to Snotlout slipping from the saddle. He was calm and relaxed, even looking lighter.
"Ahhh Hookfang," Lua flew closer.
"Yes?" He didn't even look at her.
"He jumped," Lua said, looking toward Snotlout, who was just beginning to scream.
"Jumped...?" Hookfang blinked, confused.
"Snotlout," Toothless growled at him.
Hookfang blinked again and then noticed. He quickly looked down and saw his rider falling from the sky toward the ground.
"I'm NOT feeling trust!" Snotlout yelled, spinning in the air.
"SNOTLOUT!" Hookfang roared desperately and dove to catch him.
"You think—" Belch began.
"...Right?" completed Barf.
"We pray so," Lua and the others watched Hookfang and Snotlout.
It ended in a tragic outcome: Hookfang and Snotlout hit and broke the roof of Bucket's house... again that week. They were certainly even more traumatized by the freak show inside that house, since they burst out through the roof screaming in terror.
"This won't end well," Lua swallowed hard.
"Don't remind me," Toothless snorted.
"Something tells me someone's getting an earful," Hiccup sighed.
o0o0o
And he was right. Stoick slammed a piece of the house's roofing onto the table. Hiccup swallowed hard.
"Roof tiles again? Didn't we eat a piece of tile at dinner last night?" Hiccup joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Hahaha... It was an accident, Dad. Of course Mildew's exaggerating more than he should."
"A huge dragon and a reckless boy crashed through his roof. Twice!" Stoick held up two fingers.
"Well, yeah. If you look at it that way... it does sound complicated," Hiccup looked away.
"With so many houses on this island, the dragon had to land on Mildew's? You know he hates dragons more than anyone!"
(Ha! I could list a few others. But the person I hate most is that... suspicious guy with a sheep!) Lua didn't want to think any worse of him than she already did.
Don't judge her—those portraits of wives followed by one of his pet sheep were strange and suspicious. But children normally wouldn't suspect anything.
"I know, but you should talk to him about that behavior," Hiccup said, eyeing the tile on the table.
"Listen, Hiccup, I gave you the responsibility of training these dragons—everyone knows it! Everyone is watching you. What these beasts do reflects on you," he said, pointing at Toothless and Lua. "And what you do reflects directly on me."
"Sorry, Dad..." Hiccup shrank a bit.
"You and your friends are going back there right now to fix that roof. Without the dragons, you hear me?!" Stoick pointed at Toothless and Lua.
"Looks like I'm leaving you hanging," Toothless growled low as he approached.
"More luck for us," Lua snorted.
"Lucky you two," Hiccup sighed.
"Not so fast. Aren't you forgetting something?" Stoick removed his boots and gave them a sniff. "They need some air."
Stoick stretched the boots toward Hiccup, who recoiled from the strong smell, holding them by the tips of his fingers. Lua and Toothless smelled it too and hated it, turning their heads away.
"I think they need more than air," Hiccup muttered as he went outside to air them out.
o0o0o
Lua woke up the next morning and stretched. Normally, since winter began, she had been waking up later.
"Have they gone for lunch already?" Lua left the house to look for them. "Is everyone without shoes?"
She sniffed around and followed their scent.
"Hm? What's that?" She noticed something shiny catching her attention.
Lua dove toward the glow, almost hypnotized. Near one of the feeders (a structure the Vikings built to easily feed dragons—basically a huge pile of fish), she saw what looked like a chain made of metal.
Suddenly she heard a snap—and then a small explosion. Lua jumped back as the structure collapsed, causing some destruction but nothing too serious (unlike destroying a house).
The Vikings approached, confused.
"I didn't do anything!" Lua said desperately when everyone stared at her.
Hiccup, Toothless, and Stoick rushed over.
"Look at that! That screeching menace destroyed one of the feeders!" Mildew accused angrily.
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Lua growled anxiously. "I just got close, then there was a snap and boom! Something blew up!"
"Hiccup," Stoick said, glancing at his son. Hiccup looked away. "At least the dragon didn't destroy a house and no one got hurt. Feeders can be rebuilt easily." Stoick moved to calm the people. "Better get a handle on these dragons."
"Yes, Dad," Hiccup said, watching his father leave.
Lua approached Hiccup with her head low and nudged him.
"What did you do, girl?" Hiccup whispered.
There were burn marks on the wood—strange ones, which made Hiccup thoughtful. They looked different than usual.
o0o0o
Lua accompanied Hiccup and Toothless as they patrolled at night. Hiccup led them with a lantern.
"What? Barf and Belch ate everyone's boots?" Lua raised an eyebrow. "Like they'd wake up in the middle of the night just to do that. Those two are way too lazy."
"I know. I also find it strange," Toothless nodded.
(I have to keep Toothless away from the weapons hall at all costs. It was about time some things changed.) Lua was already aware what episode they were entering.
It took several days for any episode of the series to actually happen—many days were calm, with training or daily life.
Others involved small adventures that never showed up in the show: like an incident with rats in the village or the twins' pranks. Lua couldn't predict when an episode would occur or whether changing events would trigger a butterfly effect.
"Come on, Toothless, let's get a better view." Hiccup mounted and soared into the sky. "Watch things down here, Lua!"
Lua growled in agreement. The Skrill walked through the town until she found Hookfang.
"Hookfang?" Lua called.
The Monstrous Nightmare turned and smiled.
"Lua! Great to see you! Man, my rider is interrogating some suspect." Hookfang snorted. "I got so bored I decided to walk around."
"But Hookfang, someone is setting us up! If any of us disappears and something gets destroyed, they'll blame us," Lua said seriously.
"I... didn't think of that," Hookfang lowered his gaze. "I'll go back to Snotlout. Just pick him up."
"Thanks, Hookfang," Lua smiled.
He snorted and left. Lua kept watch. Most dragons were diurnal—waking up in the middle of the night to cause trouble? Impossible.
o0o0o
The riders were summoned to the Great Hall. Dragons weren't allowed inside (unless it was an extreme situation, like that harsh blizzard). They waited outside.
Toothless stood near the door to listen.
"They're saying a Monstrous Nightmare entered the Great Hall and wrecked everything," Toothless said, turning to Hookfang.
All the others stared at Hookfang, who tensed.
"You're not thinking I did that, right?! I stayed with Snotlout all night!" Hookfang protested, offended.
"Well, I kinda suspect it. You were the only Nightmare awake," Stormfly said, frowning.
"Mortal Nadders, always blaming Nightmares. Typical," Hookfang snorted.
"I believe you," Lua said, standing by him.
"At least I have one great friend," Hookfang growled warmly to her.
"Wait... Snotlout says he stayed with you all night. So it's impossible this was done by a dragon," Toothless said, jumping back as the doors opened.
It was Mildew, looking very unhappy.
"Uh drahgns! Shoo! Geh out!" He waved his staff and left grumbling. "How can this not work?!"
The six dragons (Barf and Belch counted as two) grew suspicious of what Mildew said. Dragons weren't stupid or naïve.
"Was it just us," Belch began,
"...or was that super suspicious?" Barf finished.
"Coming from the guy who hates us most, I don't think we're wrong," Lua said, watching Bucket.
"Why would he want to frame us?!" Meatlug whimpered, ears drooping.
"Because he's miserable, that's why," Stormfly huffed.
"All right," Toothless stepped forward. "From now on, we stay close to our riders. If we never leave them, they can't blame us! All in favor?"
The dragons roared in agreement. Lua smiled, knowing Mildew couldn't frame them if everyone stuck with their Vikings.
o0o0o
Even though it hadn't been Hookfang's fault, the dragons still had to sleep in the arena until further notice.
Fishlegs tried singing to help Meatlug sleep, but it didn't work. The arena was chaos.
(Why didn't this change if everyone realized it couldn't have been Hookfang? Well, at least no one blames him or Snotlout.) Lua sighed internally.
Over some silly argument, Hookfang and Stormfly growled at one another. Nadders and Nightmares were natural rivals, even though these two usually got along. Hookfang ignited himself and roared.
"Snotlout, calm him down, please. We're trying to think," Hiccup asked, seeing Hookfang angry.
"Yeah, I give up thinking. I've never been happy anyway," said Ruffnut.
"Snotlout!" Hiccup repeated.
"Hey, I don't control him! He does that when he's mad," Snotlout said.
Hiccup looked at the ground and noticed a burn mark near Hookfang's claws. Hookfang had accidentally gotten too close to Lua while burning, and the Skrill reacted by shooting a lightning bolt (not aimed at him—just a warning) at the ground.
Her lightning left branch-like burn marks in the dirt.
Hiccup studied both types of scorch marks. Now he had evidence to prove Hookfang and Lua were innocent.
"I know how to explain the Great Hall. Toothless, Lua."
The two dragons approached.
Hiccup mounted Toothless, and Lua followed them to the Great Hall.
o0o0o
Hiccup spoke with Stoick, who was helping repair the Great Hall with other Vikings. Toothless and Lua waited outside.
Toothless decided to nap, but Lua was anxious, glancing around as if waiting for an attack. But the attack never came—at least not physically.
Her eyes locked onto something shining in the moonlight. Only for a moment—but enough to draw her in.
Hypnotized again, Lua followed the glimmer silently. She wasn't thinking clearly as she wandered away from Toothless, who continued sleeping.
"Hm?" Lua blinked when she lost sight of the glimmer. "When did I come here?"
She looked around and saw many weapons stored in a wooden building. It took her only a minute to realize where she was.
"Isn't this the—?"
Too late.
Lua sniffed the air and noticed a barrel full of gunpowder with a burning trail leading into it. It exploded. Lua's eyes widened, and she sprinted out of the armory.
"No, no, no..." she whispered, almost crying.
She had changed something: it wasn't Toothless who was framed for burning the armory—it was her.
She had just caused all dragons to be forced off Berk, leaving the island unprotected.
"Lua!" Toothless called, roaring.
"Toothless..." Lua ran to him and hid behind him.
"What happened?! Why did you leave?!" Toothless growled.
"I-I didn't want to," Lua stammered. "It w-was a..."
She didn't even know what to say.
The damage was done. Lua felt the Vikings' eyes on her—judgmental, harsh... like before.
She remembered being a human girl, and the countless judging stares.
"Lua...?" Hiccup whispered, disbelieving, as a Viking pointed at her, accusing her.
o0o0o
The riders and dragons flew to Dragon Island (the former Dragon Nest). The riders removed their dragons' saddles to say goodbye. Hiccup took off Toothless's saddle, and even though the dragon tried to follow him, he couldn't.
"No! You can't come," Toothless lowered his ears.
Hiccup approached Lua, who was curled up. He removed her saddle.
"It wasn't your fault, girl," Hiccup assured her, petting her before leaving with the others.
Lua watched them sail farther and farther away.
"Toothless..." she called.
The Night Fury stared at Hiccup sadly, but when Lua spoke, his look turned angry.
"This is all your fault," Toothless growled before walking away.
Lua's eyes widened. She went to Stormfly.
"I don't want to talk right now..." the Nadder looked away.
Lua went to Meatlug.
"Now's not a good time..." Meatlug sniffled.
She approached Barf and Belch, but the Zippleback ignored her.
Lua took a deep breath and flew to a more distant part of the island. She didn't go to Hookfang—she assumed he felt the same as the others.
Lua lay in the sand and didn't hold back anymore: small whimpers escaped her, then tears rolled down.
"...Lua?" The voice made her look up.
"Are you crying?"
It was Hookfang.
"Go away," Lua covered her face with her wing.
"I don't blame you," Hookfang said firmly. "You stood with me when they blamed me, so I'll stand with you."
The Nightmare nudged her gently.
"Ignore them. They're just stressed..." He didn't sound fully convinced.
Lua sniffed and lowered her wing.
"How about a flight? I think I found a wicked spot to sunbathe," Hookfang smiled, trying to cheer her up.
"Okay..." Lua smiled weakly.
The two dragons spread their wings and flew, with Lua following Hookfang.