“Thundervoice, stay,” Chen tried for the hundredth time, slowly backing away from the Skrill, and failed again when he refused to listen and took a step towards Chen. “No, no, no. ‘Stay’ means don’t move,” he said, frustrated. “Ugh, why are you so stupid?” he smacked his forehead in exasperation.

Thundervoice hissed and tried to shoot at Chen, but it seemed that he reached his shot limit. “The Skrill is not stupid, but highly intelligent,” a familiar voice said behind them.

Chen turned around. “Oh, hey, Tao!” he greeted cheerfully, then sighed. “But he doesn’t understand anything I say.”

"You only assume that he doesn’t understand because he’s not listening,” Tao said in a calm voice. “In truth, he is merely stubborn and defiant, just like you.”

“I can see why he's ‘nearly untrainable’ then,” he muttered. “So, what brings you here?”

“Oh, just to see how it’s going with your dragon training,” Tao casually lied, but Chen was oblivious to it.

“Not so great, I guess,” Chen mumbled.

“Training a dragon is not the amount of force you put into it, but the heart and effort when you convince it to trust you,” Tao said.

"Thanks, Tao. I’ll remember that,” he said before Tao flew off with Fleet right beside him.

When he turned back to Thundervoice, his dragon looked like he was trying to shoot again, but failing. Worry filling his heart, Chen asked Thundervoice, “What is it, boy? Are you okay?”

Thundervoice didn’t reply and only opened his mouth, as if expecting lightning to come out of it. The harder Chen looked at him, the more it seemed to Chen that he was uncomfortable about something. “I think I better bring you to Lay,” he said and quickly pulled Thundervoice towards the infirmary.

“Lay, I need your help!” Chen shouted once he burst through the doors of the infirmary. The infirmary was meant for both Vikings and dragons, situated in different wings, but it was very rare for dragons to get wounded.

Chen found Lay tending to one of the Vikings that got hurt from the battle of the Skrill and pulled Thundervoice in before Lay ran over to him saying, “You can’t bring him in. This is the Vikings’ wing. We’ll go to the dragons’ wing.” He walked off with Chen and Thundervoice behind him.

When they reached the dragons’ wing, Chen was surprised at the difference compared to the Vikings’ wing. He had never gone into the dragons’ wing before as he didn’t have a dragon. Chen pulled Thundervoice to one of the rock slabs and turned to Lay. “He’s been trying to shoot at everything but nothing came out. At first I thought he reached his shot limit and needed to recharge, but I realised he hadn’t fired anything since yesterday,” Chen blurted out in a rush.

Lay didn’t respond and walked over to Thundervoice, not even bothering to cautiously approach him. Lay was born with this calm and soothing aura around him that anything or anyone that approached him would make the person relax immediately. He made a gesture asking Thundervoice to lie down on its back, stomach facing up and, much to Chen’s surprise, the Skrill obeyed immediately.

“How did you do that?” Chen asked in amazement.

“My aura,” Lay answered distractedly and Chen understood immediately. Because Lay could make people and dragons calm down around him, he also caused them to trust him at first sight. He laid his hands on top of Thundervoice’s underbelly and closed his eyes. Shimmering light started to illuminate his hands and Chen noticed Lay’s unicorn tattoo in his inner wrist glowing under his long sleeves.

A moment later, the glowing stopped and Lay opened his eyes. “I think I know what’s wrong with him,” he said.

“Well?” Chen asked impatiently.

“Relax, Chen,” Lay said nicely and Chen felt and odd urge to listen to him. “There aren’t any lightning for your dragon to absorb, so he can’t recharge. That’s why the Skrill only appears during thunderstorms. He gets his power from absorbing lightning. So now he’s uncomfortable because he can’t fire at anything.”

“So what can I do to help him?” Chen asked.

“You can produce lightning. Direct it at him to absorb and let him fire a few times. He should be fine by then,” Lay said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to tend to other people that your dragon wounded before,” he said with a smirk before walking away, merely nodding when Chen thanked him.

“Come on, let’s get you to a place where you can’t destroy anything,” Chen said while pulling Thundervoice.

They ended up at the dock, facing the sea. Chen made Thundervoice look at him and ordered, “You shoot that way. Not anywhere else. Do you understand me? This is serious. Only at the sea, got it?” Thundervoice only grunted in response. “I guess that’s as close to ‘yes’ I could get out of you,” he muttered.

He stood beside Thundervoice, exhaling a deep breath. He felt his tattoo grow warm and as a zap of electricity ran through his veins, he focused his lightning and aimed it with his index and middle finger pressed together before shooting it at Thundervoice. To other dragons, it might kill them, but Thundervoice looked so refreshed as if he just drank his first gulp of water in weeks.

Lightning surrounding the Skrill, he shot at the sea, the streak of lightning forming a perfect line that seemed to stretch on over the horizon. After the first bolt, Thundervoice jumped around in excitement, and then looked expectantly at Chen, waiting for more. Chen laughed before repeating the routine, shooting another bolt of lightning at Thundervoice to fuel his shots.

Both of them went on for so many times until Chen became exhausted and couldn’t use any more of his own energy. As he leaned against Thundervoice panting, a whimper-like gurgle sounded from the back of the Skrill’s throat and he nudged Chen with his nose, silently asking him if he was okay. “I’m fine, boy,” Chen said breathlessly. “Just a little tired, that’s all.”

It seemed that Thundervoice still had a few shots left before he reached his shot limit, and he shot at Chen to transfer some of his energy to him. The electricity flowed from Chen’s fingers and diffused into his veins, fuelling him with renewed energy. “Thanks, buddy,” he said while patting his dragon’s head. “Want to go for a spin?” he asked Thundervoice. The dragon bowed his head to let Chen get on his back in response, and that was the sign of complete trust.

Chen saddled up and Thundervoice took off, taking a leisurely lap around the island. Thundervoice soared right below the clouds, being extra cautious not to fly too high because of the tight grip his rider had on his neck. He turned carefully and tried not to jerk too much.

Chen looked at his surroundings, caught off guard by how beautiful Berk looked from the sky. He could see fires starting to light up in the houses and everybody returning home for dinner. This was the true meaning of peace.

Both of them returned during nightfall, and Thundervoice retreated to the rock slab Chen prepared for him just yesterday. “Goodnight, buddy,” Chen said and his dragon purred in response.

***

“Hey, Chen,” Luhan called from above, riding his Deadly Nadder. He had yanked Dreamfyre into a hover when he found Chen guiding Thundervoice around the island aimlessly in a leisurely walk.

“Hi,” Chen replied. “Where are you heading?” Thundervoice stopped walking and waited patiently for Chen; he had gotten more obedient after the lightning incident.

“The Academy,” he answered. “Want to come with?”

"Are you sure I'm allowed in there?" Chen asked with uncertainty.

“Of course, every dragon trainer is allowed in there. And now that you've trained a Skrill, you're officially a dragon trainer."

“Okay, sure,” Chen agreed excitedly.

Both of them entered the arena with their dragons trailing behind them. Luhan found Kris sitting with his elbow propped up on his knee reading a language book, probably another souvenir given by Tao from one of his occasional trips into the future.

D.O was leaning against his Gronkle, also reading a book. Stoneheart never liked to do anything; he would rather sleep the whole day.

Sehun’s Typhoomerang took up the most space as he had the largest wingspan compared to the rest of the dragons in the arena. Sehun was trying to walk on Havoc's spread wings and failing miserably. Havoc had to hook his claws into his tunic to catch him in midair. Sehun had this thinking that if a dragon and its rider are truly one, the rider can fight from anywhere, even the tail.

Suho was condensing the air into water and shooting it at his Scauldron. Riptide swallowed the water and shot it out of his mouth almost immediately. Unfortunately, it barely missed Chanyeol's Monstrous Nightmare which was right next to Riptide. Phoenix recoiled with a yelp and almost threw Chanyeol off his back. "Whoa, boy!" Chanyeol yelled as Phoenix lit his whole body on fire and roared in Riptide's face, the flames not affecting his rider at all. Riptide spread his wings and pushed Suho behind him, protecting him from whatever Phoenix was going to do, but Kris was suddenly at the scene, shifting into the Snaptrapper.

Kris's heads appeared between Riptide and Phoenix, two heads facing each of them. A low growl sounded from Kris, but the dragons refused to back down. Just as Phoenix was about to fire at Riptide, Kris roared loudly, its volume four times louder than a normal dragon with his multiple heads. The dragons quieted down immediately though grudgingly, bowing their heads to Kris. He might not be the alpha of the dragons, but they respected him as their leader. The two dragons continued snarling at each other, but none of them dared to attack again in the presence of Kris.

Satisfied, Kris left the scene with a huff, shrinking back into his human form before burying his nose into his book again.

"You okay, Chanyeol?" Luhan heard Suho's distant voice.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Chanyeol replied before guiding Phoenix away from Riptide.

"Well, that was something," Luhan told Chen a little too enthusiastically. "I'm going to go train. Will you be okay on your own?"

"Yeah," Chen answered, patting his dragon on the head. "I have Thundervoice to keep me company."

"Okay, then," Luhan said before walking over to an empty space in the arena. He started levitating a few target boards, then sent it flying with an invisible force. The spikes on his Deadly Nadder stood up, and with a mere flick of her tail, the spikes shot out and hit all the bulls-eyes with utmost accuracy. "Good job, Dreamfyre," he praised, patting her between her nose, also known as every Deadly Nadder's blind spot.

As he looked over to Chen again, he spotted him standing at the exact same spot where he left him, only this time he was leaning against Thundervoice comfortably. Baekhyun soon entered the arena with Polarbeam right on his tail. It seemed as though Thundervoice could sense the presence of the Screaming Death, because one second he was calmly supporting Chen's weight, and the next he tensed up and spun around so fast his rider fell onto the ground with a thump.

Thundervoice hissed at Polarbeam. The Screaming Death gave a sonic shriek that vibrated all around the arena and disoriented all the dragons. All the dragons in the Academy looked as if they were having a headache or they were drunk, and that included the Skrill. 

Luhan didn't care much about what happened next; Dreamfyre was more important to him than anything else. "Are you okay, girl?" he asked, gently patting her on the head. Without warning, Dreamfyre's spikes shot out at him and fortunately for his telekinesis, he was able to stop the poisonous spikes from stabbing him in every part of his body.

As long as the shrieking stopped, Dreamfyre snapped out of it and shook her head vigorously, as if to clear out the fuzziness in her head. Luhan vaguely noticed Kris clutching his head, roaring in pain, his form flickering from dragon to human and back to dragon again. "Baekhyun!" he yelled. "Get control of your dragon!"

"I'm trying," he said desperately, attempting to turn Polarbeam's attention away from Thundervoice. Chen was trying to do the same, pushing on the Skrill's face. 

"Everyone get your dragons out of here!" Suho yelled while saddling up. Even the wisest of the riders knew not to interfere with a fight between two dragons, especially two very powerful ones. "And someone get Kris to Lay!"

"I got him!" Luhan responded before mounting onto Dreamfyre. "Fetch, girl," he ordered, pointing at Kris's crumpling form. Dreamfyre zoomed towards him and picked him up with her talons, then shot through the entrance, heading towards the infirmary immediately. As Luhan looked back, he saw Riptide diving into the sea immediately with Suho on his back, and everyone but Chen and Baekhyun left the arena. D.O was the last to make it out, with Stoneheart's wingspan being the shortest.

Dreamfyre burst through the doors of the Vikings' wing, still clutching Kris's limp body between her talons. The room was empty now; everyone had already healed from the battle with the Skrill. Luhan laid Kris on one of the beds and ordered Dreamfyre to find Lay. As intelligent as she was, she turned around immediately and flew off to track down the extraordinary healer.

Kris was still unconscious and his sweat-soaked hair was plastered to his face. Luhan sat on the bed beside him and gently pushed his hair away from his face. His heart was pounding with worry, as opposed to Kris's steady rhythm.

A moment later, Lay burst through the doors and stormed right in. Luhan stood up and stepped back to give him some space. Lay started feeling Kris's pulse, touching his forehead and forcing open his eyelids to peer into his pupils. He then ripped Kris's shirt open and placed his palms on his bare chest. Lay closed his eyes and his face scrunched up in concentration. His hands started glowing and Luhan noticed some of the shimmer diffuse into Kris, and soon colour was returning to his cheeks.

Lay straightened up and turned to Luhan. "What happened?" As his healing abilities applied to any sort of injury, Lay never bothered asking about the situation until after he was certain that the patient was stable and recovered. The health of his patients was his number one priority.

Luhan told him the whole story, reliving the fear for his dragon. When he was finished, Lay seemed to be in deep thought. "I heard when Chen found his dragon in a cave the same thing almost happened, but Baekhyun quickly sent his dragon away," Luhan added. He looked at Lay, waiting for a response. "Well?"

"The dragons have a past," a voice said behind them, and they turned to find Tao standing in the doorway holding his staff, Fleet wrapped around his neck. 

"What do you mean?" Lay asked.

"This has only happened another time in history. It was more than a hundred years ago. The dragons intended to fight to the death," Tao said in a grim voice.

"Wait, does that mean one of the dragons have to die?" Luhan asked incredulously.

"A rider prevented it once. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," he answered. "He stopped a battle between his dragon and a Whispering Death. The two dragons held a terrible grudge against each other. Perhaps history is repeating itself," Tao paused as he looked at Kris. "How is he?"

"He's much better now," Lay answered. "Polarbeam's—"

"Sonic shriek," Tao finished and was awarded with two questioning stares. "Fleet was affected by it too," he explained. "Thankfully we were far away, so it wasn't too serious."

A moment later, they heard Kris stirring and all heads turned to him. Kris's eyes fluttered open. "How are you feeling?" Lay asked gently, carefully helping him into a sitting position.

"Like my brain is exploding and I can't see anything clearly," Kris groaned.

"That is a side effect of the Screaming Death's sonic shriek. Unfortunately you have a human brain, so it cannot withstand its intensity unlike dragons," he explained, going into healer mode. "But you'll be fine. Just don't move around too much for the time being. Your brain has never experienced such trauma before."

"Thanks, Lay," Kris mumbled appreciatively. 

"No problem. I've got some business to take care off, so I have to go. Rest well," he answered before leaving.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Luhan asked doubtfully. "Because you looked like you were really in pain in the arena."

"I'm fine, Luhan," Kris replied, exasperated. "Trust me," he said before swinging his legs off the bed to stand up.

Luhan held up his hands to stop him. "I don't think you should walk around so soon. You heard Lay. He said not to move around too much."

"I'm okay," Kris said in his best reassuring tone. "I just want to check on Chen. He just got his dragon and he's facing troubles involving his dragon so soon. He must be panicking."

"I'll go," Luhan said. "You stay here and rest."

"But—" Kris started to protest.

"No buts," Luhan cut him off. "I'll go check on Chen and come back. You are not going anywhere," he said sternly before walking out of the infirmary. He mounted onto Dreamfyre and and she took off after Luhan's instructions to head for the Academy. When they flew through the gate, it was found empty and both the dragons and their riders were nowhere to be found. "Dreamfyre, find Chen," he commanded. The Deadly Nadder obeyed immediately and shot back out of the Academy and headed straight to the forest.

Luhan wasn't even leading Dreamfyre; he was letting her fly on her own. He trusted her completely, and he trusted her enough to be able to find Chen on her own. Luhan clung onto her as she wove through trees and ducked under branches. Soon enough, they reached a cliff edge and found Chen and Baekhyun facing the sea, using their powers to their maximum. Chen was shooting lightning at the Skrill, but that only seemed to fuel Thundervoice more and Chen was losing a lot of his energy. Baekhyun was shining light at Polarbeam, hoping to get his attention, but it seemed that the Screaming Death was doing a very good job at ignoring his rider.

They both turned around when they heard Dreamfyre landing softly. "Luhan!" Chen yelled. "What are you doing here?"

"Kris wanted to make sure you were all right, but that's not going well for you, is it?" he replied.

"They're going to kill each other!" Baekhyun exclaimed, gesturing into the sky.

"I'm probably supposed to say something to reassure you guys, but yeah, they're going to kill each other," Luhan said matter-of-factly.

Chen and Baekhyun both shot death glares at him despite the fear in their hearts.

"Sorry, sorry," Luhan mumbled quickly. "Tao said this happened before," he said, trying to distract them. "To Chief Hiccup's dragon and a Whispering Death."

"The Night Fury?" Chen asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "But they didn't fight to the death. Hiccup prevented it by testing his dragon's trust."

"How?" Baekhyun asked.

"I don't know," Luhan said. "I've  never experienced this before. You have to find out on your own." Polarbeam let out another sonic shriek that mentally knocked the Skrill out of the sky. He would have plummeted to his death if there wasn't a stack for him to land on. All thoughts left Luhan as Dreamfyre started staggering sideways and knocking into nearby trees. "Dreamfyre!" he yelled as he ran after her, trying desperately to comfort her.

Dreamfyre shook her head as the shrieking stopped and leaned into her rider's caress. "It's all right, girl. You're okay," Luhan murmured, a little more to himself than his dragon. He turned his head back to the scene and caught a glimpse of Baekhyun and Chen falling off the edge of the cliff. Luhan let out a cry, running to the edge immediately.

He had never seen such an amazing sight after that.

Hearing their rider's cries, both the dragons snapped to attention and swooped down to catch them, only to realise that they couldn't reach their own riders due to the cramped space between the cliff and the stamp. Understanding that they had to save a life nonetheless, Polarbeam curled his tail around Chen and tossed him up onto his back while Thundervoice gripped Baekhyun tightly with his talons. Both the dragons shot back upwards and released the riders when they reached the cliff, a safe distance away from the edge.

"Odin's beard, that was terrifying," Baekhyun breathed while running over to hug Chen tightly, who was hyperventilating beside Polarbeam. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Chen panted. "Remind me never to do that again."

After they recovered, they each walked back to their own dragons and hugged them. Luhan noticed as the two dragons eyed each other and let out a grunt, feeling mutual gratitude and relief that their partners weren't dead. 

This is going to be the start of a new friendship, Luhan thought with a smile before flying off with Dreamfyre, giving the newly bonded pairs some privacy.