Life on the Edge

3.03 Follow the Leader

Ragnar can't say he's particularly surprised by the destruction they find when they get back to Dagon's Edge. He'd warned Hiccup and Astrid before they left that they were playing with danger by leaving the twins and Snotlout mostly unsupervised.

Naturally, he's proven right when they touch down among a few small fires and a complete lack of stored Nightmare gel.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Tuffnut says with a shrug. He gestures at a smoking Bjorn the yak. "It's our stuffed yak."

"It's not the yak, Tuffnut," Hiccup tells him. He waves the empty jug in his hand then tosses it down. "It's the Monstrous Nightmare gel you used to set the yak on fire."

"We've been harvesting it to defend the Edge from Viggo and his army," Astrid reminds them.

Ragnar leans back against Nightshade's side and crosses his arms. "Not to mention, the numerous times we've told you three to stay away from it." He gives Ruffnut a pointed look. "Remember what happened last time you played with it?"

Ruffnut reaches up to rub at her brow with a frown. "My eyebrows only just grew back," she mutters.

"Alright, so, we might have gotten a little carried away," Snotlout admits. He leans against Hookfang and pats his jaw. "What's the big deal? It's not like we don't know where we can get more."

"What if our dragons aren't around?" Hiccup asks. "What if Dragon Hunters attack again and we don't have the Nightmare gel?"

Astrid holds up another empty jug for emphasis. "Hookfang can't replace all of that."

"And it's not fair to ask him to," Ragnar tells him with a frown. "He has to keep his own supply of gel to stay healthy and flare up when he needs to. Harvesting too much from him at once could make him sick."

Snotlout gives his dragon a worried look before he turns back to the others. "I didn't say he was going to," he says defensively.

"Would you just get more gel?" Hiccup asks, clearly done with this conversation. "I don't care how you do it, just do it."

All three of them try to protest.

"But we don't-"

"Why do we-"

"We can just-"

"Go," Ragnar says firmly.

Snotlout rolls his eyes and gestures for the twins to follow him as they go off to find more Monstrous Nightmares for their gel.

Astrid tosses the empty jug in her hand down with the others. "I thought we left Fishlegs in charge?"

"We did," Ragnar confirms. He sighs and runs a hand over one of his shaved sides. "Which, in retrospect, probably wasn't the best idea."

A familiar voice catches their attention before they can start to wonder where Fishlegs is, and they look up to see the Viking in question flying toward them in clear excitement.

"You are not gonna believe this!" he exclaims as Meatlug lands.

"Yeah. No kidding," Hiccup agrees. He gestures vaguely at the mess around them. "I can't believe any of this."

Ragnar, when he hears the frustration rising in his tone and sees the way Fishlegs' smile falls, walks over to join them. "Fishlegs, where were you?" he asks calmly.

"Well, I was-"

"Did you know this was going on?" Hiccup asks, gesturing again at the mess.

"Well, yes. I guess," Fishlegs admits. "Sort of. I told them to stop."