WARNING: RACE TO THE EDGE SPOILERS!

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*repeatedly bangs head against wall* WHY...CAN'T...I...FOLLOW...THE...RELEASE...DATE!?

Okay, guys! So as you can see, you're getting this early...I don't think anyone's complaining, either, so, yeah, this is happening, you're getting it early, and I hope you're all happy because of that. :)

So let me know what you think of chapter 1, and onwards and upwards, fellow Dragonites, as we dive into the story! :D Enjoy! :D


"LET THE TAG-TEAM DRAGON RACE BEGIN!"

The horn was blown, and the first two competing dragons and riders of the two tag teams shot into the sky, one after the other, racing for the lead.

The day was warm and sunny on Berk that bright afternoon, and the sky was clear, in complete contrast to the previous weather conditions of wind and heavy snow. It was the perfect day for a good old-fashioned dragon race.

More or less old-fashioned.

Stormfly shot through the clear sky, circling around the designated flying air with Snotlout, mounted on Hookfang, hot on her tail. She swerved at the last minute, narrowly avoiding crashing into the side of a building. Snotlout, however, wasn't so lucky, and with an "OOOH!" from the audience and an "Ouch, that's gotta hurt!" from Mulch, Astrid took the lead for the first lap in the tag-team race.

"Yeaha!" she laughed, throwing her hands in the air. She totally had this in the bag, and they hadn't even started yet. The onlooking Berkians cheered; she waved and cheered back.

"Come on, Stormfly!" she said. "Let's make this count!"

Stormfly chirped her agreement and sped on. It wasn't long before Snotlout caught up, just as Astrid was circling the giant torches jutting out from the ocean.

"Took you long enough!" said Astrid, smirking. She had a simple pattern painted on her face in blue face paint; it was nothing flashy, just a small curvy splotch on her forehead with another identical splotch beneath it, but it was better than Snotlout's face paint, which was red and trailed down his face like blood.

"Oh, yeah?" said Snotlout. "Come on, let's show her, Hookfang!"

Hookfang snorted and sped on. Stormfly's wings pounded, and after a few moments, she was, once again, in the lead.

"And the two racers come to the rings!" Mulch reported excitedly. "Let's see which of them gets through the most!"

The rings had been built for such races as these and stuck out of the ground like gigantic bubble wands. Astrid and Stormfly made it to the first, and Stormfly tucked her wings close to her side, spun, and made it through the ring.

"Astrid and Stormfly score one point for their team!"

On a wooden board, Gustav, who was keeping score, marked down one tally mark on the top half.

"And here comes Snotlout. He's charging at the ring...oh, and he crashed! If he had a point, he would have lost it! Astrid and Stormfly near the second ring...and they score! Two points for Astrid's team! Here comes Snotlout...and he scores! One point! Astrid missed ring three, but she makes up for it on ring four! Another point to Astrid's team!"

Three tally marks for Astrid's team; one tally mark for Snotlout's, and there were more rings to come. Once Astrid and Stormfly had cleared them all, Stormfly turned and sped off, Snotlout coming in behind her on Hookfang.

"And the racers make their way around the final turn," announced Mulch, "with Astrid and Stormfly in the lead! Snotlout and Hookfang have fallen behind - again!"

Astrid rounded the bend and looked down; Fishlegs and Meatlug, the next two members of her tag team, were waiting for her. Fishlegs was waving his hands over his head excitedly; his face paint, like Astrid's, was fairly simple and green, like the color of a forest.

Astrid held out her hand as Stormfly neared; Fishlegs held his own hand up, and Astrid slapped it.

"TEAM FICCSTRID CLAIMS THE LEADING LAP!" cheered Mulch. "Fishlegs and Meatlug begin lap two!" Meatlug took to the air with Fishlegs on her back, rounding the first bends.

"Oooh, Snotlout!" said Ruffnut and Tuffnut, the other two members of Snotlout's team, who were mounted atop their Zippleback. "You came in second!"

"Shame!" said Ruffnut.

Snotlout slapped Tuffnut's upheld hand, and the twins on their two-headed dragon took off.

"TEAM SNOTNUTS BEGINS LAP TWO!" said Mulch. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Barf and Belch take begin the second lap!"

Meatlug may have had the lead, but Barf and Belch were the faster dragon, and within moments, they had caught up to Fishlegs and Meatlug, and within a few more moments, passed them right up.

"Team Snotnuts claims the lead!" said Mulch.

"Haha!" Ruffnut taunted over her shoulder at Fishlegs. "We're winners! Yes!"

"Come on, Meatlug, you can do it!" Fishlegs encouraged, but Meatlug was already flying as fast as she could, and it wasn't fast enough. "It's okay, Meatlug," said Fishlegs. "We'll make up for it on the rings."

They rounded the bend, and the gigantic rings came into view. "And the racers come up against the rings!" said Mulch. "Let's see how they do...team Snotnuts leads with one point through the first ring! Team Ficcstrid follows through!"

"YES!" cheered Tuffnut. "Who's the man? Me! I'm the man!"

As they came up to the next ring, though, Tuffnut's pride wavered; Barf's head went outside the ring, and Belch's head went inside it, yanking the Zippleback to an abrupt halt.

"Ooh!" said Mulch. "And that counts as...half a point…? No, wait, they didn't actually go through the ring...no, wait a moment..."

Gustav banged his head against the board. "Why me?" he moaned.

Meatlug, meanwhile, as Ruffnut and Tuffnut were still trying to untangle their dragon's necks, sped through the ring as fast as she could go. Mulch announced their point; Gustav added another tally to the board.

"And Meatlug and Fishlegs are the first to clear the rings!" said Mulch. "But team Snotnuts still maintains a lead by three points!"

"What?" said Astrid angrily from where she was watching the competition. "How did they get three more points than us?"

It was said to no one in particular; Fishlegs rounded the bend and shot back towards the platform frantically. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were right on his tail.

At the last second, they passed him up, shooting back towards Snotlout, who was to run the lap a second time, as the twins shared a dragon. Ruffnut slapped Snotlout's hand, and Snotlout and Hookfang took to the sky.

"TEAM SNOTNUTS CLAIMS THE LEADING LAP!" cheered Mulch. "Snotlout and Hookfang begin the final lap!"

"I'm sorry!" Fishlegs cried, soaring down towards the final members of their tag-team: Hiccup and Toothless. "I wasn't fast enough!"

Hiccup held up his hand. "Don't worry!" he called. "We've got it!"

Fishlegs slapped his hand, Mulch shouted, "TEAM FICCSTRID BEGINS THE FINAL LAP!" and Toothless shot into the sky. Hiccup was wearing the smallest amount of face paint he could; two straight lines beneath each of his eyes, an inch apart, in red paint so that it matched Toothless' prosthetic tailfin.

"Alright, Toothless," Hiccup said, narrowing his eyes at the speck of Snotlout and Hookfang in front of them. "What do you say we catch up?"

Toothless growled in agreement. Hiccup switched gears on the dragon's tailfin, and, just like that, Toothless shot forward, faster than ever.

"Hookfang and Snotlout hold their lead," said Mulch, "but Hiccup and Toothless are catching up fast!"

"WHAT!?" blurted Snotlout, looking over his shoulder. "But you were behind us literally ten seconds ago!"

"And then," said Hiccup when Toothless was flanking them, "those ten seconds ended." He saluted, and Toothless shot ahead.

"COME ON!" Snotlout moaned, and Hookfang chased after them as fast as he could, loads faster than he had pursued Stormfly and Astrid, because now he knew that this was it. If they didn't win now, they would lose altogether.

"And the competitors come up on the rings!" announced Mulch. "Hiccup and Toothless in the lead with Snotlout right behind them! Snotlout's catching up...here comes the first ring…"

They were both heading straight towards it.

And neither of them were pulling back.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup shouted, and at the last second, he pulled up; Toothless shot upwards, narrowly avoiding a full-on collision with Snotlout and Hookfang.

"HA!" Snotlout laughed. "Chew on that, Dragon Boy!"

He and Hookfang shot through the ring. "One point for team Snotnuts!" said Mulch. Hiccup growled under his breath, and Toothless shot through the tree, tucking his wings in and barrel rolling through. "And Hiccup and Toothless make it through the ring! Another point for team Ficcstrid!"

It took Toothless roughly two seconds before he caught up with Hookfang again, and by this time, Hookfang and Snotlout were nearing the second ring.

"You gonna pull back again, Hiccup?" Snotlout taunted.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. Snotlout was going to get it

They both sped towards the ring, equally paced, equally lined in the sky. If they continued like it for much longer, they would collide.

One second.

Hiccup didn't move.

They got closer and closer.

Snotlout's confidence that Hiccup would pull away wavered.

Nearly colliding-

"Plasma blast," Hiccup whispered to Toothless.

Instantly, Toothless fired one; the plasma exploded in the air directly in front of Snotlout like a gigantic purple firework. Snotlout, with a shriek that hardly sounded human, yanked on Hookfang's horns and pulled him out of harm's way.

Toothless, meanwhile, barrel rolled through the ring.

"Score! One point to team Ficcstrid!"

"HEY!" Snotlout yelled in protest. "NOT FAIR!" But when no one backed him up, he stopped complaining and raced to catch up with Hiccup and Toothless, who were far ahead by now.

"And the racers round the bend," said Mulch, "and come in for the home stretch of the race!"

"Come on, Hiccup, come on, Hiccup!" Fishlegs cheered.

"Die, Hiccup, die, Hiccup!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut chanted.

"Okay, Toothless," Hiccup said quietly, "let's try the new gear, shall we?"

Toothless growled with determination, and Hiccup changed gears on the dragon's prosthetic.

Toothless slowed for a moment, steadied himself, and then, faster than he had ever flown before, rocketed forward. There was a boom! like a cannon's fire; they had broke the sound barrier.

Toothless barrel rolled for dramatics over their designated finish line.

"TEAM FICCSTRID IS THE WINNER!" announced Mulch.

"Whoo!" Hiccup cheered, throwing his hands in the air above his head; Toothless released a celebratory plasma blast, which exploded, once again, like a purple firework. "Nice job, bud!"

Toothless growled his thanks.

"I still don't know how you and Toothless managed to go that fast!" said Snotlout angrily as he, Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, the twins, and their dragons walked across Thor's Beach. Though the competition was over, they had yet to remove their face paint, and the dragons were still hyped and raring to fly.

"Well, Toothless is a Night Fury, Snotlout," said Fishlegs. "The fastest dragon we've ever come across."

"But I've never seen him go that fast!" Snotlout protested. "I don't know how you guys beat me! We're invincible!"

"Clearly you are not," said Fishlegs, "as we just managed to beat you."

"You cheated!" Snotlout accused. "I'm sure you all cheated!"

"And we would know all about cheating!" said Tuffnut, nodding. "All about it-ouch!" Ruffnut had elbowed him, not harshly, but enough to get his attention. "What'd I do!?" Tuffnut snapped. "What'd I do!?"

"Hey," said Astrid suddenly, raising her hand, straightening her finger in a point. "Is it just me, or is there something on the beach over there?"

The bickering stopped immediately, and the riders each turned their heads to look to where Astrid was pointing.

There was a small clump of black lying on the beach.

"That's weird," said Snotlout.

"Yes it is," said Hiccup, nodding. "Let's go check it out."

He stepped forward, followed closely by Fishlegs, the twins, and Astrid. Snotlout didn't move, dumbfounded, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"Wait!" he said. "You don't go towards the mysterious black thing lying on the beach! That's what idiots do!"

"Come on, Snotlout!" Hiccup called.

Snotlout groaned. "I knew I shouldn't have gotten out of bed today," he grumbled, but he hurried forward anyways.