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Okay, maybe in hindsight, taunting the massive fuck-off dragon hadn't been Tommy's best idea.
In his defence, Hookfang was the only reason he even got that close! She was way older and theoretically wiser than him, so at least ninety percent of the blame should be on her. He was just along for the ride!
Hookfang threw him a look over her shoulder as he muttered furiously, one that said 'we can fight about this when we're not about to be dragon food'. Tommy stuck his tongue out, but tucked himself closer on his saddle perch while she sparked alight in an attempt to scare their pursuer off.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem so much as phased by it's target now being violently alight, and Tommy made a note to tell Tubbo later. He didn't recognise this dragon, but then again he mostly focused on the ones that tried to eat them most frequently. Just because Tubbo was a nerd and best friends with every dragon ever, so they barely tried to eat him didn't mean they were all capable of not being crispy mutton legs.
Most species got at least spooked when a Monstrous Nightmare displayed clear warning signs like that, but maybe the combination of their swift exit and desperate flight had marked them too firmly as prey for him (or her! said the voice that sounded too much like Niki, from the back of his mind) to drop the chase now.
Tommy risked a glance behind them, startled to see that the dragon was so much closer than he'd expected from the near silent beat of it's wings. What even was this thing?? No doubt Tubbo and Boo would coo over it like most people did kittens, but right now Tommy would be happy to never see it again.
"Can you go a little faster?" he hollered over the crackle of the flames.
Hookfang threw him a look that somehow managed to be even less impressed than before. Tommy took that as a no. Well fuck.
If they couldn't outrun this guy, they'd need to shake him off somehow. Their best bet, since he was so big, was finding somewhere he couldn't follow.
Pushing up so he was almost standing, Tommy scanned the horizon for anything they might use.
There! Rising up in the distance, a huge island protruded from the sea. It was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't remember much about it other than 'big'. Then again he also didn't spend much time poring over maps like the others did. He had a dragon, he didn't need maps. Hookfang's sense of direction worked well enough for the both of them.
As they approached, hurtling forward dangerously fast, Tommy's gaze fixed on what looked like some deep crevice in the cliff face, wide and jagged, cutting right down to the sea. It looked promising, but if he was wrong, and Hookfang couldn't fit, or the dragon could, they'd be screwed.
His other option was to head up to the dense forest that covered the ground, and try to lose it in the trees. Hookfang had gotten a lot of practise moving through undergrowth in the last few years, and since they'd moved to Dragon's Edge they'd gotten even more.
The cliff was hurtling ever closer, and Tommy bit his lip. If he didn't choose now, it would be too late and-
[Pull up and try to lose the dragon in the forest]
[Go forward and try to lose the dragon in the caves]
"Up, Hookfang!" Tommy bellowed, "Go up! Lose him in the forest!"
Hookfang roared once in understanding, and then reared up so steeply Tommy almost fell off, clinging with all his might to the saddle.
This, the dragon seemed to have some trouble with, it's mighty body struggling to execute the turn. Hookfang's wings beat hard enough that he worried a moment that they might tear from the strain.
They didn't of course, since his dragon was way too awesome to be taken down by something as stupid as a sharp ascent, and together they hurtled into the dense thicket, weaving expertly between trunks.
Behind them, the dragon seemed uncaring of the destruction it wreaked, barging straight through the forest, blind to whatever bloodlust seemed to hold it.
Just when Tommy was starting to worry he'd made the wrong decision, and they'd just destroyed some poor island somewhere for no reason (fire was cool but setting fire to entire ecosystems wasn't), it seemed to suddenly decide that the chase wasn't worth it anymore.
One moment it was barrelling after them with the fury of the gods imbued in it's veins, and the next it had reared as sharply upward as something of it's size could manage, and seemed to… run away?
"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Tommy hollered, shaking a fist at the retreating beast, "Vikings strike heart into the fear of even the most…"
He trailed off, as a flicker of motion caught his eye. When his gaze fixed on the spot, nothing was to be there, but in the corner of his eye another flicker caught.
Hookfang gave a worried croon as they turned a slow circle in the clearing they'd ground to a halt in.
A memory wormed to the surface of Tommy's mind, a reminder of exactly why they didn't know much about this island.
His stomach plummeted.
"Hookfang, we need to get out of here now!" he hissed, "There's-"
Tommy's scream as a horde of Changewings burst from the trees and descended on them was loud enough to be heard clean across the island.
Maybe he should start paying more attention to Ranboo's lectures. He hated Changewings.
"Forward, Hookfang!" Tommy bellowed, "Lose him in the cave!"
Hookfang screeched in acknowledgement as she spread her wings, dousing the flames coating her body while slowing down enough to safely enter the crevice.
The great snick of teeth sounded behind them, terrifyingly close, but Hookfang gave no indication of pain as they hurtled into the darkness, so Tommy assumed the dragon had missed.
Behind them, there was a mighty crash as the dragon's head fit into the tunnel, and it's body didn't. It struggled harder, trying desperately to snap at their retreating tail, to forcefully widen the cave wall with its own body, but the rock held firm, and Tommy breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good job girl," he muttered, reaching forward to pet the space between Hookfang's horns, "We lost him. Or her! Don't tell Niki on me, she's gonna yank my ear again. My ears are too precious for that. Reckon there's another way out? This place is huge, there must be another exit."
Hookfang made a snuffling noise that clearly conveyed 'how should I know that?' and Tommy huffed back.
"Don't take that attitude with me, none of this is my fault."
The next huff was very distinctly 'how is this not your fault?'.
"You were the one who actually nipped him! Okay look, what if we agree to share the blame… but also never tell the others about this. Screw the book of dragons, the book of Tommy is more important, and this chapter doesn't need to go in it."
The further they went into the cave system, the wider it got, to the point where Tommy was no longer worried about Hookfang's wings scraping the wall. He still kept his head tucked low, though - she might have the better night vision out of the two of them, but he'd knocked his head one too many times on low ceilings to risk it. He couldn't prove she did it intentionally, but she did, and he liked not having a headache for a week.
After a moment, a scrap of light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Tommy's initial hopes that it was an escape were scuppered, however, when instead of freedom, they pulled up to a crossroad. Above their heads, a crack in the ceiling was highlighted with the faintest rays of sunlight. It was too deep to actually see the sky, but it illuminated their options well enough.
"One of these has to lead to an exit, right?" Tommy said, and Hookfang made a noise of agreement. She didn't move to choose one though, which meant Tommy would have to make the decision.
The tunnel on the left seemed darker than the other two, and angled down where the others angled up. The one straight ahead seemed to go slightly upwards, but he couldn't see far in the darkness. The one to their right went straight, and he could swear the faintest glimmer of sunlight was visible round a corner.
"Which one, ey girl? You gonna leave the choice all to me? Alright, whatever floats your greatship. Let's go-"
"I like the look of that light. Let's go that way."
Hookfang seemed to as well, since she curved so steeply towards the passage that Tommy almost toppled off, yelping as he was turned entirely horizontal.
"Really? What if I'd fallen off?" he huffed, and Hookfang chortled to herself as they continued down the passage.
Beneath them, the gentle slope of the water gradually became choppier, churning and hurling itself against the rock walls, a good sign they were approaching the sea again.
To Tommy's relief, it barely took a minute of flight for light to flood the tunnel, then for a wide cave mouth to open up before then.
Hookfang soared into the open sky, while he flicked a glance around to make sure the dragon from earlier wasn't lurking somewhere, waiting for them to come out so it could resume the chase.
When nothing showed itself, he breathed a sigh of relief and pat Hookfang's head again.
"That's enough for today, I think." he begrudgingly admitted, "Let's get back to the Edge. I could maul a mutton leg right now."
Hookfang gave a bellow of agreement, swinging them round in the air and orientating herself towards Dragon's Edge. Tommy sighed again, settling in for the more sedate flight back.
That could've gone way worse.
"-left. I bet that's one of the double… double crossing thingys Tubbo always goes on about. A trick!"
Hookfang seemed less enthused about this, giving the right hand tunnel a longing look before she swept left.
The downward slope of the tunnel roof was gradual enough that she could glide down without much stress, but Tommy started to get a little nervous as the water beneath them rose closer and closer, with no sign of an exit approaching. It wouldn't be impossible to turn in this space, but without a solid patch of land for Hookfang to manoeuvre on, it would be hard.
Just when he was about to tell her to turn, before the space narrowed any further, the water gave way to a stretch of dirt. It was so dark by now that Tommy could barely make it out.
"Hookfang, some light?" he hissed as she came to land, claws thumping against the ground.
Hookfang shuddered a moment, and then suddenly she was ablaze and the entire cavern was illuminated.
Dragged halfway up the shore stood a boat, small, with oars still locked in place. Designed for four people, perhaps, even though there were only two skeletons on the ground.
Tommy shivered, "Eugh, I hate dead people. I mean, better skeletons than actual dead people, but still."
Hookfang gave him a look that said 'no shit'. Tommy stuck his tongue out as he dismounted, sliding down to the dirt below. Something had caught his eye, up ahead - a glimmer of something decidedly not dirt.
He passed the skeletons, and after a moment stuck his tongue out at them too. Served them right for being creepy.
The bag splayed out on the ground a few feet away was clearly what they'd been fighting over - a shame they'd stabbed each other instead of doing the smart thing and splitting it. They clearly weren't Vikings, if they were that selfish. Raiders shared everything they took, it was what built a community.
"Oh awesome!" Tommy crowed as he hoisted the bag upwards, peering inside to see a stack of golden coins, "I'm rich, baby!"
Hookfang unhinged her jaw and lunged for him, and Tommy shrieked.
"We're rich! I meant we're rich! By the Gods-"
Hookfang snapped her teeth once more, decidedly satisfied, then gave him a look to say 'are we getting out of here or what?'.
Once Tommy had gathered up the last of the coins, and fastened the pouch tightly to his saddle, he nudged her side gently with his foot.
"Let's get out of here," he said, and Hookfang launched herself back into the air.
Soon enough, they reached the crossroads again, looking just as they had before.
They'd come from the right passage, so now it was a choice between the upwards left tunnel, and the forwards passage with the glimmer of light.
Hookfang paused once more, looking to him for direction.
[Go left (the passage originally head of you, that slopes upwards)]
[Go forward (the passage originally to your right, with the hint of light)]
"Up seems like a good bet, right? Cmon Hookfang."
Hookfang didn't need any more convincing then that, heading down (or rather up) into the tunnel before Tommy had finished speaking.
The passage continued to curve upwards, the water beneath them disappearing and being replaced by the slope of rock. Just when Tommy was getting worried they'd chosen wrong, no sign of an exit in sight, light filtered through from ahead.
It was times like this he was glad that he wasn't the one flying, since he wouldn't have thought twice before hurtling into the wide cavernous space that opened in front of them, hoping for an exit. As it was, Tommy frowned when Hookfang drew to an abrupt stop, hovering at the cavern entrance nervously.
"What are you doing?" he hissed, "There's got to be an exit here - go on!"
Hookfang growled. This alone was enough to alert Tommy that something was very wrong - she might have an eternal attitude, but she rarely properly growled at him. He nudged her flank with his heel, encouraging her to perch behind one of the boulders that littered the edges of the room. Hookfang did without question, allowing Tommy to dismount and poke his head through one of the gaps that gave him the best vantage point.
It took a moment to realise exactly why Hookfang was so worried.
Odin's beard, he hated Changewings!
Barely visible, flickers of motion in his peripheral as they flickered in and out of existence.
And there, in the centre of the room, the largest dragon nest Tommy had ever seen. There must've been close to a hundred eggs, huddled together on straw nests, being attended to by the Changewings. He could count at least four adults, but they moved fast and were obviously invisible, so he was probably looking at more like eight of them.
"Okay yeah, not this way," Tommy said, suddenly very glad his dragon was so much smarter than him, "Lets go…" he trailed off, as his gaze caught on one specific egg in the centre of the room.
They'd never seen Changewing eggs before - Tubbo was going to lose his mind when Tommy told him he'd actually found a nesting site - but this egg clearly didn't fit. Where the others were small and dark, it stuck out like a sore thumb, huge, smooth and more pasty white than Ranboo. Hah.
He could've sworn he recognised it from somewhere… oh. He couldn't remember the name of the dragon it belonged to, but he remembered one of Tubbo's rants on it - it was the dragon equivalent of a cuckoo, hiding their eggs among other nests and allowing another species to raise their young. Since it hatched so fast, it would stomp on as many of the other eggs in the nest as possible, and if any survived, steal all the food the parents brought back for it.
Usually nests only held a clutch of eggs, from a single pair of dragons, but this must've been a dozen nests. Hundreds of eggs, hundreds of dragons would die because of this one interloper.
Tommy really, really didn't want to do anything about it.
He hated Changewings anyway, why did he have to save them?? It would be so easy to turn back now and never mention this to anyone. The world would be rid a few Changewings, and he wouldn't run for his life twice in one day.
Tommy sighed hard. Tubbo would be devastated if he ever found out and… just because Changewings sucked, didn't mean they deserved to die. He had to do something. The real question was whether to try and fix it himself, or whether he should waste more time and go back to Dragon's Edge to get help.
[Go back to Dragon's Edge for help]
[Try to solve it yourself]
"I mean what's the worst that could happen?"
Hookfang gave him a look so filthy that Tommy had to look away.
"Don't be like that! We're the best, Hookfang - best rider, best dragon, best team! You distract them, and I'll run down and grab the egg! Look - I could totally fit out of that hole there, you just go out and around and pick me up! We'll relocate the egg so Tubbo doesn't get mad, and boom, back to the Edge in time for dinner."
Hookfang continued to stare at him like he was insane. Tommy folded his arms.
"If you have a better plan you're welcome to share with the class. You're a dragon, you're basically invincible - I'm the squishy human, remember?"
Finally, she gave a huff of ascent, and looked towards the cave entrance. Tommy watched with sickening anticipation as she readied to leave, and fought the urge to yell at her to come back. A dragon without a rider was still a dragon, but a dragon rider without a dragon was… a rider. That sounded better in his head.
He crouched by the edge of one of the boulders, and watched as Hookfang set herself alight and postured at the cave entrance, beating her wings to catch as much attention as possible. Screeches filled the cavernous space immediately, the Changewings furious that someone dare invade their most precious space.
He winced as Hookfang took furious flight, the whip of wings following seconds later, and prayed he hadn't just made a horrible mistake. It felt like he was moving in slow motion as he clambered down the rocks towards the central platform of eggs. At any moment he expected for a dragon to burst from the gaping tunnel mouth behind him, having realised they'd been tricked.
He picked carefully through the real eggs, taking each step more carefully than the last. The idea of falling down and being covered in dragon egg yolk was disgusting. He prefered his eggs cooked, thank you.
Eventually, he reached the centre and scooped the imposter carefully into his arms. It all seemed too… easy. He'd gotten so far without so much as a peep, and that alone was enough to raise his hackles.
He was just as careful leaving as he'd been entering - it had taken many many failed missions to learn that celebrating too early was a bad thing, but he'd gotten there eventually - only hurrying when he was free of the maze of eggs.
The hole he'd pointed out was a little higher up than he'd intended, and Tommy ended up having to toss the egg up first and pray that it wouldn't roll down a hill or something. Once his hands were free, he could leap upwards and catch the rim, dragging himself up with his huge and manly muscles.
Tommy grunted as he kicked and squirmed, desperately trying to hook his foot over the rim.
When he finally did, rolling to a stop on the grass next to the imposter egg, he let out a sigh of relief. Now just time to find Hookfang and-
The sky above his head shifted. Pale blue turned to dark scales, sharp claws and beady eyes.
The Changewing stared down at Tommy. Looked at the egg by his side. Back at him.
Oh were you fucking kidding him-
"Yeah, yeah," Tommy grumbled, "I know it would be a bad idea to try it alone. Alright, we'll head back to the Edge. You remember where this place is, right?"
Hookfang rolled her eyes, and stared fixedly at the saddle on her back. Tommy rolled his eyes too and clambered up onto her back, settling down as they flew back down the passageway.
They didn't stop at the crossroad this time, heading straight through back the way they came. Thank Thor, there was no sign of the dragon from earlier, apparently haven given up when they showed no sign of returning.
The flight back to the Edge was longer - they really had gone out of their patrol path, huh - and Hookfang was noticeably slower than she'd been on the way there. No wonder, she must be exhausted from all the chasing.
When the Edge finally came into view, and they sailed into the stables, she flopped to the floorboards before Tommy even had a chance to dismount.
He pat her side, "You did good, girl. I'll grab you some food, then you rest up while I grab… someone."
He had no clue who was actually around the base, he was pretty sure Ranboo had said something about a project at breakfast, but that could be working on his hut or halfway across the archipelago. After tossing an entire barrel of fish to Hookfang (and grabbing a cold mutton leg to gnaw on himself), Tommy set off through the camp, traversing the various bridges they'd built to connect the floating platforms.
Their home was pretty awesome, when he took a second to think about it. Tubbo really was a genius, not even Berk had perfected building like this. Just another reason they needed to take down the Dragon Hunters - they'd worked so hard on this, it would suck to have it all burn down.
But that was a problem for another day. Right now he needed to find someone - anyone - to give him a hand.
As he swung down the zipline Niki had set up, landing on the communal room, Tommy noted that smoke was coming from Tubbo's workshop, a sure sign he was around, and also that Niki was down at the training ring, swooping circles with Stormfly.
No one else seemed to be around, but he didn't really want to bother them… Tubbo wouldn't say anything about it, but whatever he was working on was probably time sensitive and Tommy might interrupt something he'd been working on for months. Meanwhile, Niki wouldn't hesitate to tell him exactly how annoying he was (she took training seriously), even though she could throw spikes at barrels any day.
The real question was how willing he was to be yelled at.
On second thoughts, Hookfang had already yelled at him enough for today, surely Tubbo would understand that his dignity needed to remain intact.
Tommy gnawed down the rest of the mutton leg as fast as he could, almost choking on the delicious meat in his haste to get something in his growling stomach, then set off towards the workshop. Turned back at the last second to find a rag to clean the grease off his fingers, since while Tubbo might be nicer than Niki, he would string Tommy up on the wall if he got grease on any of his projects.
The smoke was starting to thin out now, which hopefully meant Tubbo was finishing up whatever project he was working on as Tommy zip-lined down towards him.
"Heyy big man!" he called out in greeting, "Tubbo my wonderful and competent leader, how are you doing?"
Tubbo looked up from his place at the forge, looking decidedly unimpressed.
"What do you want, Tommy? I'm a little busy right now."
"How do you know I want something?" Tommy protested, "Maybe I'm coming to visit you!"
"You never come to my workshop unless you need something. Have the twins set the island on fire again? Have you set the island on fire?"
"Uh no to the second one, and I haven't seen them so hopefully not. Okay so you see-"
"I knew you needed something!" Tubbo groaned, tugging the blade in his hands from the fire and setting it carefully to the side, "Can it wait until later?"
"Sort of? Okay so me and Hookfang were on patrol, and-" Tommy stumbled over his words, "Okay the middle bit isn't important, but we found a Changewing nest."
Tubbo almost dropped his tongs, "You what? Tommy that's incredible - are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure! Just because I'm not obsessed with dragons doesn't mean I can't recognise a Changewing! But that's not the point - you remember those… cuckoo dragon thingies? The ones that lay eggs in other nests?"
"You mean a-" Tubbo cut himself off, "You know what, close enough. You're saying there's one in the nest? Why didn't you just grab it? We could relocate it-"
"Oh my bad," Tommy glared, "There were hundreds of eggs, Tubbo, and a lot of parent Changewings. I'm not that stupid."
He declined to mention the fact he'd seriously been considering the idea. That wasn't context that Tubbo needed.
"Debatable but sure. So you want my help in getting it out?" he sighed heavily, "Alright. Give me ten minutes to finish up here and then I'll grab Toothless."
"Alright," Tommy nodded, before spinning on his heel, "Hold on, what do you mean debateable-"
"Ten minutes!" Tubbo declared, shoving him bodily out of the workshop and slamming the door.
Tommy stared at the wood before him. And this guy was supposed to be Chief one day.
-0-0-0-
It took them less time than Tommy expected to get back to the nest. Hookfang thankfully did remember where they were going, and soon enough he and Tubbo were both perched behind the boulders, staring at the nest.
"This is incredible-" Tubbo muttered, "Ranboo's gonna lose his mind when he finds out we went without him. All this time and we've never seen a Changewing nest - who knew they-"
"Yeah, yeah, you're a nerd," Tommy brushed off, "Can we focus on, oh I don't know, not getting eaten? You're the plan man, what are we gonna do?"
Tubbo glared at him, but answered the question. "One of us should make a distraction, get the Changewings to follow us through the tunnels. Make it out the other end and lose them in the open air, while the other grabs the egg."
"Which one of us is doing the distraction then?"
Tubbo shrugged, "This is your cave, Tommy. Your choice."
[Do the distraction and let Tubbo grab the egg]
[Let Tubbo do the distraction and grab the egg]
"Hey, what better a distraction than a flaming hunk of muscle and scales? Right Hooky?"
Hookfang gave a low croon of agreement as Tommy clambered up onto her back.
"Be fast, alright We'll meet you outside, hopefully with the egg."
"I'm always fast. Come on girl, lets give them a show!"
Tommy's heart thudded in his chest as Hookfang leapt back out from behind the rocks, posturing in the mouth of the cavern and giving an almighty screech as she set herself aflame. He bellowed in turn, a Viking battle cry that echoed off the furthest wall.
They probably didn't need to be quite so loud - the Changewings noticed them the second the fire appeared - but hey, it looked cool alright? Once the first of the dragons turned towards them, Hookfang spun on her heel, launching them down the tunnel.
He couldn't quite believe they were flying for their lives again, but he supposed it was worth it or whatever. The Changewings could be a little more grateful for saving an entire generation of dragons, but he supposed not all dragons could be as smart and awesome as Hookfang. Best dragon on the Edge, possibly the world - Nightfury who?
"Cmon girl," he urged, clinging tight to her horns, "We're almost at the crossroads, we-"
As the light dusted air of the crossroad opened up before them, Tommy had scant seconds to scream Hookfang's name before she reared back, away from the Changewing approaching them head on. He'd assumed they came and left through the holes in the walls, being just small enough for them to slip through, but on second thought of course they used the tunnels too.
They spun dizzyingly a moment, as Hookfang dodged the snap of surprised teeth, righting herself midair.
Time seemed to slow, as Tommy realised the situation they were in. The Changewing ahead was blocking their only known exit, more were right on their tail - there were too many to fight off, so.. they had to go down one of the passages and hope it led to a second exit.
[Go down the right hand passage, the dark one that goes further down]
[Go down the left hand passage, with a glimmer of light in the distance]
Tommy barely had time to nudge Hookfang right before the Changewings behind them caught up. The tunnel angled downwards, and was darker than he expected, but from the sounds of snapping teeth and growling came from behind him, the Changewings had apparently decided to fight one another for a moment in the chaos.
Too soon, though, their pursuers started up once more, and Tommy swallowed hard as they dipped further and further into the earth. Maybe this had been a bad idea. Maybe-
Hookfang yelped, as they crashed down onto solid ground as the last of the passage drew to a halt. Tommy barely had a chance to note the boat, half drawn up onto the shore, and the two skeletons laid haphazardly nearby before they were crushed beneath her bulk, sending Tommy flying.
He hit the ground with a groan, smacking his head hard. Ow, why was it always his head that got hit?
"Hookfang!" he yelled, glad to see his dragon rearing up again, a little dazed but mostly unharmed.
Well, for the moment at least.
As the swarm of Changewings approached, a hurricane of invisible teeth and claws, Tommy had a feeling that wouldn't last much longer.
Thor, he hated Changewings.
-0-0-0-
Several hours later
"What happened to you?" Techno asked, staring at Tommy as he hobbled into the community house. "You look like you got used as a dragon's chew toy."
"I don't want to talk about it."
Tommy barely had time to nudge Hookfang left before the Changewings behind them caught up. They flew desperately towards the light, soaring down the length of the tunnel, but from the sounds of snapping teeth and growling came from behind him, the Changewings had apparently decided to fight one another for a moment in the chaos.
They got their senses back soon enough, however, and soon they found themselves pursued once more by the pack.
Tommy had never been so relieved to see daylight, as the open mouth of a cave widened before them, Hookfang shooting out of the opening and into the air. Behind them, one of the Changewings spat their acid, but it splattered harmlessly off the rocks as they shot off into the distance.
Once they were a safe distance up, with no sign of pursuit, Hookfang wheeled round in the air to peer back towards the cave. The Changewings, flickering in and out of visibility, paced round the entrance to the cave, but showed no signs of actual pursuit.
They probably didn't want to leave their eggs alone, Tommy reasoned, breathing a sigh of relief. Hopefully the imposter egg was retrieved now, and they could go and relocate it without any more trouble. Or chasing. He was done with chasing for the day.
"You're the one with the Night fury," Tommy pointed out, "Why don't you take a turn running for your life today?"
Tubbo squinted at him, "Tommy, what did happen between you going out on patrol and finding this place?"
"What happened to 'oh Tommy, we have to go save the baby dragons right away!'" Tommy mocked, using his very best 'whiny skinny nerd' voice, "That doesn't matter!"
Toothless chuckled, which he took as a win. A dragon of great taste, that was.
Tubbo rolled his eyes, and elbowed his own dragon, "Don't you both start," he muttered, "Cmon bud, let's go. Tommy's right, we're way faster anyway. Good luck!"
Before Tommy could protest that he and Hookfang were plenty fast, Tubbo was swinging his leg over Toothless's back, and they were firing off plasma blasts around the edge of the cavern. The Changewings turned as one, an unholy screeching filling the cave as the pack rose into the air and started off down the passage after them. Toothless seemed to be going slow, shooting plasma blasts every so often to keep them interested, and Tommy was grateful for it. The last thing he needed was one of them deciding to turn back and catch him in the act.
Now the cavern was empty, it was easy to hop down onto the rocks and make his way carefully between the eggs. He went slow, unwilling to slip and find himself covered in shattered dragon yolks - he liked his eggs cooked, thank you - but eventually made his way to the centre, scooping up the imposter egg and setting it carefully against his hip. It was heavy, and smoother than he'd expected. It would be really easy to drop it and tell Tubbo it had been an accident…
It wasn't like the world needed more of these things…
[Save the egg and relocate it with Tubbo]
[Drop the egg and make excuses]
Tommy sighed, and tightened his grip on the egg. He could lie, and Tubbo might even believe him, but he wouldn't be able to shake the guilt. Cuckoo or not, this dragon deserved to live. He just hoped the Changewings didn't expect him to do this again if they managed to not notice that one of their children looked a little funny.
"Come on Hooky," he said, tucking the egg down the front of his shirt while he clambered back onto the saddle, "Let's go make sure Tubbo isn't get chewed on by a Changewing."
"There you go, little guy," Tubbo murmured, setting the imposter egg down in the nest. It had taken a while to find somewhere they could put it - since the parent dragons didn't stick around to watch their kids grow, there wasn't exactly a convenient nest of other cuckoos to put it with - but they'd eventually found a Terrible Terror nest that had lost it's eggs, having rolled away and splattered off the edge of their cliff top home. It felt a little wrong to be replacing their dead babies with someone elses, but Tommy supposed they wouldn't know better. They just wanted to raise something, and this sure was a baby!
"Are we done?" he groaned, "We've gone around like every island in the archipelago!"
"We went to four," Tubbo corrected, "And yeah, we can head back now. You did the right thing, by the way, coming to get me. That could've gone badly wrong if you tried to do it by yourself."
"Yeah well I'm not the idiot here," Tommy said, swinging back onto Hookfang's back, "You're the one who charges into danger all the time, mister 'single handedly killing the Red Death'."
Tubbo rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'm still glad. Now come on, I think I saw a goat in the kitchen earlier and you know how they get about goats. If we want dinner we'll need to fly fast."
"Oh so now you care about speed?" Tommy cried as they leapt into the air, wings catching the breeze, "I knew I should've gone to Niki!"
"Last one back home is a rotten eel!" Tubbo bellowed against the buffer of the wind, ignoring him as Toothless kicked into gear, shooting out of sight in seconds.
Tommy shrieked and urged Hookfang forward. He hated Night Furies!
Tubbo better be really grateful that Tommy was risking his life like this for him!
He approached the training ring slowly, keeping far back from the targets so Niki couldn't claim that she was 'aiming for them and missed'. Everyone knew her aim was far too good for that to be true, and Tommy had already lost several shirts because she'd pinned him to things. He might be the best seamstress on the Edge but even he couldn't salvage those.
"Niki!" he greeted cheerily as Stormfly swooped down, chittering as she landed, "Are you busy?"
One of Niki's eyebrows flicked up, "Does it look like I'm busy?"
"Well yes but-"
"Then I'm busy." Despite the dismissive tone of her words, Niki continued to dismount, striding across the dust towards him, "What do you want?"
"So I maybe have a slight problem?"
"Did you set the island on fire? Did the twins set the island on fire?"
"No and how should I know that?? I'm not their babysitter!"
"No but you're their enabler. What's the problem?"
"So I was out on patrol, and- the bit in the middle doesn't matter, but I found a Changewing nest."
"And you didn't get dissolved into itty bitty Tommy pieces by their acid? Hey, maybe you're not hopeless!"
Tommy glared. Niki grinned.
"As I was saying - I found a Changewing nest, except there's this… do you remember the other day, when Tubbo was ranting about that weird imposter egg thing?"
"Tubbo rants about a lot of stuff, I don't usually pay attention. What about it?"
"Well it's in the Changewing nest. Apparently the parent dragon drops their eggs off into other nests so the parents will raise it, and the baby tries to trample and kill as many of the real babies as possible."
"So? One Changewing nest less won't exactly hurt their population. They're a pain to deal with."
"Yeah but it's not just one - I think Changewings parent com- commu- together? There's hundreds of eggs and a bunch of parents, and this thing is gonna kill them all. I was gonna ask Tubbo but he's in his workshop and-"
"And I'm the next most competent," Niki nodded, "Fine, I'll bite. Show me to this nest then."
-0-0-0-0-
It took less time than Tommy expected for them to return - thankfully Hookfang did remember the way, and soon enough they were gliding through the tunnels, heading straight through to the central cavern.
Niki whistled lowly as they peered out from behind the boulders, Stormfly's tail clicking nervously. "That's a lot of eggs. The big one in the middle is the fake?"
"Yep. The Changewings are-"
"All around us. I might not be Tubbo or Ranboo but I'm not stupid, Tommy."
"Alright! God, women are so-"
The tip of an axe nudged against Tommy's throat. He swallowed.
"You want to finish that sentence?"
"Wo- women are so… good at this thing! At uh, missions. And rescue. And doing cool stuff?"
"Hmm. I'll take it. So - how do you want to do this? We'll need a distraction, while the other person goes to grab the egg. Then what, we dump it in the woods somewhere?"
Tommy frowned, "I feel like Tubbo would object to that. We can bring it back to him and then it's his problem what to do with it."
"I like that plan - so, who wants to do the distraction?"
[You offer to do the distraction]
[Niki does the distraction]
"Hey, what better a distraction than a flaming hunk of muscle and scales? Right Hooky?"
Hookfang gave a low croon of agreement as Tommy clambered up onto her back.
"Be fast, alright We'll meet you outside, hopefully with the egg."
"I'm always fast. Come on girl, lets give them a show!"
Tommy's heart thudded in his chest as Hookfang leapt back out from behind the rocks, posturing in the mouth of the cavern and giving an almighty screech as she set herself aflame. He bellowed in turn, a Viking battle cry that echoed off the furthest wall.
They probably didn't need to be quite so loud - the Changewings noticed them the second the fire appeared - but hey, it looked cool alright? Once the first of the dragons turned towards them, Hookfang spun on her heel, launching them down the tunnel.
He couldn't quite believe they were flying for their lives again, but he supposed it was worth it or whatever. The Changewings could be a little more grateful for saving an entire generation of dragons, but he supposed not all dragons could be as smart and awesome as Hookfang. Best dragon on the Edge, possibly the world - Nightfury who?
"Cmon girl," he urged, clinging tight to her horns, "We're almost at the crossroads, we-"
As the light dusted air of the crossroad opened up before them, Tommy had scant seconds to scream Hookfang's name before she reared back, away from the Changewing approaching them head on. He'd assumed they came and left through the holes in the walls, being just small enough for them to slip through, but on second thought of course they used the tunnels too.
They spun dizzyingly a moment, as Hookfang dodged the snap of surprised teeth, righting herself midair.
Time seemed to slow, as Tommy realised the situation they were in. The Changewing ahead was blocking their only known exit, more were right on their tail - there were too many to fight off, so.. they had to go down one of the passages and hope it led to a second exit.
[Go down the right hand passage, the dark one that goes further down]
[Go down the left hand passage, with a glimmer of light in the distance]
Tommy barely had time to nudge Hookfang left before the Changewings behind them caught up. They flew desperately towards the light, soaring down the length of the tunnel, but from the sounds of snapping teeth and growling came from behind him, the Changewings had apparently decided to fight one another for a moment in the chaos.
They got their senses back soon enough, however, and soon they found themselves pursued once more by the pack.
Tommy had never been so relieved to see daylight, as the open mouth of a cave widened before them, Hookfang shooting out of the opening and into the air. Behind them, one of the Changewings spat their acid, but it splattered harmlessly off the rocks as they shot off into the distance.
Once they were a safe distance up, with no sign of pursuit, Hookfang wheeled round in the air to peer back towards the cave. The Changewings, flickering in and out of visibility, paced round the entrance to the cave, but showed no signs of actual pursuit.
They probably didn't want to leave their eggs alone, Tommy reasoned, breathing a sigh of relief. Hopefully the imposter egg was retrieved now, and they could go and relocate it without any more trouble. Or chasing. He was done with chasing for the day.
"You do it," Tommy decided, "You guys are smaller than us, you'll fit better. And I mean Stormfly! Don't get the axe out again!"
"I wasn't planning on it," Niki said, in a voice that said she'd been about to get the axe out again. That was sort of fair, Tommy would also be mad if someone called him small - those muscles were home grown baby! Niki was somehow twice his size, which was scary enough in itself without her having in an axe to his throat, "We'll see you out there."
Tommy's heart thudded as she mounted Stormfly, and started to bash the side of her axe to her shield. Stormfly did her best too, sending spikes shuddering into the nearby rocks and crying out. Their efforts were fierce, but unnecessary, since no sooner had Niki opened her mouth were the Changewings shrieking, turning as one and launching themselves forward.
In seconds, both Niki and the pack were gone, disappearing down the passage.
Tommy noted with a hint of unease that maybe Stormfly was a little too fast, but he tried to shake the fear off. Niki knew what she was doing, she'd surely slow in a moment.
Now the cavern was empty, it was easy to clamber down the rocks and begin picking his way through the scattered eggs, careful not to treat on any. He liked eggs as much as the next Viking, but he did prefer them cooked. The imposter egg was smooth and heavy in his grip, and Tommy was careful as he started stepping back out of the ring.
Though… would it be such a shame if he dropped it? It wasn't like the world needed more-
Tommy had barely a few seconds notice as Hookfang screeched out a warning, time seeming to slow around him as one of the Changewings, apparently too slow to keep up with Stormfly's escape, flitted back into the cavern. His gaze flicked between his dragon, the one charging towards him, and the egg in his hands.
If he dropped it, it would be easier to clamber up onto Hookfang once she reached him, and he'd have only seconds to do it anyway before the Changewing did too. But it would surely shatter, and Tommy knew that the guilt would sit heavy in his stomach, intentional or not. Niki wouldn't blame him, and neither would Tubbo, but he'd be upset. Keeping it risked getting them both hurt, but alleviated that guilt.
Tommy winced as the crack of the shell on stone echoed around the room, but no sooner had the egg slipped from his fingers was he scrabbling at Hookfang's scales and hoisting himself back up into the saddle.
The Changewing collided headfirst with the Monstrous Nightmare's bulk, stunning it just long enough for Tommy to settle himself in his seat and scream at Hookfang to move!
If this one was coming back, Odin knew how many were the on the way, or how many were still on Niki's tail.
"Up!" Tommy screamed, looking to the ceiling, where several holes dotted the cavern with light, "Break through!"
Hookfang bellowed, a war cry of her own as dirt cascaded onto the nest below, chunks of earth crushing dozens of more eggs as the Changewing recovered its senses and looked towards them. Tommy stared back, as Hookfang levelled out her flight and made a break for the North end of the island, where Niki would have emerged.
The Changewing hadn't come after them, even though it's camouflage was off and it was uninjured. Instead, it gave a mournful cry and curled round the surviving eggs, nosing at the shattered remains.
Tommy's stomach twisted, heart plummeting to the ground far below.
He had the most horrible feeling that in trying to help, he'd just made everything far worse.
Hopefully Niki would agree to never speak of this to the others, it would wreck Tubbo to know so many dragons had died because of his stupidity.
He didn't think he'd be eating eggs for a while either.
Tommy, in a fit of inspiration, shoved the egg down the front of his shirt just as Hookfang reached him, nails scraping against the stone as she skidded to a halt. Climbing up to the saddle was difficult while accounting for a very fragile package in the front, but way easier than doing it with his hands occupied, and besides - the Changewing rammed head first into the Monstrous Nightmare's body, stunning itself for a moment.
"Up!" Tommy screamed, looking to the ceiling, where several holes dotted the cavern with light, "Break through!"
Hookfang bellowed, a war cry of her own as dirt cascaded onto the nest below, chunks of earth crushing dozens of more eggs as the Changewing recovered its senses and lunged upwards, eyes fixed on Tommy's chest. Tommy screamed at the top of his lungs as Hookfang levelled out her flight and made a break for the North end of the island, where Niki would have emerged, begging her to go faster.
He did not want to be dissolved by an angry Changewing parent right now! Or ever! Why couldn't he be Tubbo and just politely explain he was doing then a favour??
Even as he watched, more rose up into the sky after it, all clearly having turned back from the tunnel. Screw 'Niki knew what she was doing' - Niki was gonna get him killed!
"NIKIIIIIII!" Tommy screamed, reaching levels never before heard from human lungs as the tiny dot on the horizon became rapidly larger.
Hookfang bellowed too, and he could've sworn she was saying the same.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Niki yelled as soon as she was close enough, Stormfly doing a sharp U-turn in the air so they were flying the same direction.
"HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE MY FAULT?"
"THE TWINS AREN'T HERE AND YOU'RE USUALLY THE NEXT ON THE CULPRIT LIST!"
"WHY ARE WE SCREAMING YOU'RE RIGHT BESIDE ME?"
"YOU STARTED SCREAMING FIRST!"
Okay that was sort of true. "Yes!" Tommy said, loud but this time not screaming, "Because there's like a billion Changewings trying to eat my face! I have such a handsome face, it can't end like this!"
"Oh whoops! My bad!" Niki had the audacity to laugh! "I got a few of them to follow me all the way but some must've doubled back. That's way more than were in the cavern though - they've got reinforcements I think. Did you get the egg?"
"Yeah! It's in my shirt!" Tommy pat his stomach, where the egg pressed warm to his skin.
"Oh I just thought you smuggled another mutton leg. Good work, we'll take it back to the Edge and then it's Tubbo's problem. Mission accomplished!"
"Mission accomplished?" Tommy said disbelievingly, "I almost got eaten by a Changewing!"
"But you didn't! Come on, I'll race you back to the Edge. These guys have to give up at some point, right?"
Tommy risked another glance behind them, where the Changewings were still hot on their tail.
Gods he hated Changewings.