A/N ~ Hi there! I'm very excited to be posting this. This is my first multi-chapter fanfic, in my favorite fandom! :) I'd like to dedicate the dawn of this story to my awesome beta dragonlover17, who's helped me a great deal through beginning stages of this story. You rock girl! :) Please note that this story takes place a year or so before the sequel, so everyone looks like they do in the sequel. Also, pretend that Riders of Berk season 2 never happened because I haven't seen it and I don't know what happens. Reviews will be squealed over. Enjoy!

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The sun was just beginning to dust the edge of the horizon, casting its soft rays out and into the surrounding clouds turning them a rosy hue, when a large marshmallow cloud was blown apart in the wake of a black streak zipping through the air at top speed.

An exuberant roar filled the air as the nightfury plummeted toward the ocean in a corkscrew, nearly hitting the waves before twisting upright and expanding its wings once more, letting the wind catch them and send them gliding just over the thrashing sea. A rider could be seen upon the back of the dragon, leaning over in the saddle and adjusting the clasp of the petal connecting his metal foot to the red tailfin.

"Okay bud," he said, taking a glance at his dragon's face before finishing the adjustments on the clasp. "You ready for the next one?"

Toothless rumbled happily in affirmation, and Hiccup grinned in excitement. This move was a personal favorite. He hunched over in the saddle, tightening his grip, and Toothless' wings beat the air with quick, powerful strokes as they head straight for one of the rock pillars that rose from the ocean.

Toothless veered to the side just as they were about to hit it, facing the other way, and began ascending along it in an upward spiral, with barely a yard of space between the rock and Hiccup's back. When they reached the top, Toothless took the last turn and pulled away from the rock in a horizontal corkscrew and leveled out upside down. Hiccup even dared to loosen his grip on the saddle and pump the air with his fists, letting out an invigorated "Yeah!"

Toothless happily spat out a plasma blast, then had to veer downwards to avoid it, nearly making Hiccup lose his flimsy knee grip. A surprised yelp escaped him and he quickly reestablished his grip on the saddle, hanging on for dear life as Toothless spun in the air till they were upright again, and then settled into a glide.

Hiccup slowly straightened, breathing heavily. He took a moment to catch his breath and lower his heart rate before he let out the laughter that he couldn't hold in any longer.

"That was awesome, Toothless!" He exclaimed happily. "We did it! I knew that move was possible without injury!"

Toothless rolled his eyes, remembering the first two times they had attempted the move. Stoick had nearly pulled the plug then and there at the sight of all the bruises that came with falling off and being roughly caught by huge, hard paws.

Hiccup noticed the expression on his dragon's face and leaned forward closer to Toothless' head. "Oh come on," he said. "You can't possibly tell me you didn't enjoy that!"

Toothless grumbled quietly in his throat, making Hiccup laugh. Although still a little annoyed at his rider's consistent recklessness, he was also quite pleased with himself for getting a wonderful sound like that from the boy. There were too few of them these days for the nightfury's taste.

Over the last year, Hiccup's father had gotten into the habit—a habit which Toothless' opinion was quite nasty—of assigning Hiccup more and more "responsibility". Those responsibilities around the village had recently gotten to the point where they intruded on he and Toothless' together time. And said dragon was not happy about it.

It wasn't just that he no longer got as much time with Hiccup as he would have liked—although they were always able to find some time to go flying or exploring—it was more that Hiccup hadn't been himself. He'd been more subdued and quiet, and he didn't smile or laugh as often as he used to. Toothless had a feeling that these so called "responsibilities", whatever they were, had something to do with it.

That was the main reason besides his own enjoyment that he indulged Hiccup with all these insane acrobatics, and why he now twisted his neck to face him with a gummy smile. Hiccup laughed again, music to the dragon's ears, and leaned forward to rest his torso on Toothless' back, closing his eyes and breathing in the cool air.

Toothless glided up above the clouds, content to let his human rest and enjoy the ride. Just as they were approaching the Berk general area, Hiccup's eyes fluttered back open and his gaze drifted around lazily for a few moments. He sat up slowly once he realized where they were and sighed, glancing at the darkening horizon.

"We should probably be getting back now, bud." He whispered.

Toothless crooned forlornly, and Hiccup gently ran his fingers over the scales of the dragon's spine. "It's okay Toothless," He said. "We'll get back out soon, I promise." Toothless made a saddened noise in his throat, but did as his human wanted.

At first he gently sloped down so they could slowly glide downward toward the island, but upon glancing over his shoulder and seeing his human's face, he decided to go another way.

Hiccup yelled in surprise when Toothless suddenly took the plunge, going straight down and folding his wings. He pushed to go as fast as he could, while Hiccup struggled to get a good grip on the saddle and hold on for dear life. Within ten seconds they were nearing the surface of the ocean and Hiccup was shouting warnings to Toothless, who ignored him. With just barely a yard before impact, Toothless pulled up, smacking the water with his wings and splashing water all over Hiccup. Toothless sped upwards to the island, and a few seconds later they were landing smoothly at the forest tree line, a short ways from the village.

Hiccup sat still in the saddle for a moment, breathing heavily, before jumping off and leaning against Toothless' shoulder. "Wow, we've gotta add that one to the list!"

He smiled at Toothless, and then he was laughing, hard and uncontrollably. Toothless, exceedingly proud of himself, swiped Hiccup right off his feet with a paw and pulled him into a tangle of limbs, both dragon and human. They scuffled playfully for a while before Toothless pinned his opponent and started licking him. Hiccup managed to continue laughing hysterically while scolding the dragon about his slobber, and was able to escape Toothless' clutches after a moment.

Hiccup staggered to his feet and leaned on his smug looking dragon to catch his breath. He smiled at Toothless, not pretending to not know what was going on. He draped his arm over Toothless' neck and gave him a quick side hug. "Thanks bud." Toothless crooned happily and nudged his human back.

Hiccup pulled his arm back and knelt down, flipping the base of his prosthetic so he could walk. As he was standing back up, Toothless playfully nudged him off balance, almost knocking him over. Once he regained his balance, Hiccup grinned at the dragon.

"So that's how we're gonna play this, huh?"

Toothless' ears danced as he jumped into a playful crouch, and then bolted. Determined for payback, Hiccup chased his dragon, nearly obtaining said payback multiple times before they reached the outskirts of the village. When Toothless stopped to look around and see how far they'd gone, Hiccup tackled him from behind and scratched him right below the chin in his happy spot. Toothless immediately collapsed, grinning deliriously and rumbling happily.

Hiccup clambered off and grinned at the prone dragon, dusting himself off with his hands. "Gotcha."

After a moment Toothless woke up, and decided on a look that conveyed annoyance, although he was secretly overjoyed. They entered the village, Hiccup politely greeting any Vikings they passed by, and headed to the forge.

Hiccup went in through the front door, while Toothless went around to the back of the building to go in through the large window Hiccup had installed in the outside wall of his backroom workshop. Hiccup was already at his worktable when Toothless jumped in, hunched over all the sheets of paper that went with designing some new contraption.

Toothless wandered into his corner and curled up on the floor, content to half watch his human and half doze for the rest of the evening. Hiccup had been perfecting the plans for that silly gliding contraption for a month now, determined to get them absolutely right. Toothless didn't understand it. If Hiccup wanted to glide he could just go flying like usual. Why did he need his own wings? And technically they weren't even wings because he was planning on folding them when not in use.

Shaking his head, Toothless decided to just stop fussing over it. It wasn't good for sleeping.

After a short while, Toothless' ears perked at the distinct sound of approaching foot and metal. His head popped up to look, and Hiccup was so engrossed he didn't even notice when Gobber hobbled in.

The large blacksmith cleared his throat. "Hiccup?" He waited, but after a moment of no response he tried again. "Hiccup!"

That got the younger man's attention, causing him to jump slightly and look up for the source of the sudden noise. "Oh, hey Gobber." He greeted. "What's up? I'm a little busy right now, but if you really need me I can be out in a few."

Gobber gestured dismissively with his prosthetic hand, currently a hammer, and replied "No, no, nothing like that. Stoick wanted me to tell you to meet him back at the house. Said he wants to talk to you."

Hiccup nodded. "Alright then, I'll head up there in a bit once I'm finished here."

But Gobber shook his head. "No lad, he said as soon as possible. For you that means right now."

Hiccup looked ready to argue, but the look Gobber was giving him was making him rethink that plan. He sighed and put down his charcoal pencil. "Alright, I'm going." He stood and went out through the window, followed by Toothless. They came around to the front of the building, and passing the window, Hiccup flinched when he saw Gobber basically leering at him. Hiccup paused and peered through the window back at him.

"Be a bit more creepy, why don't ya!" He invited sarcastically.

Gobber ignored him and promptly resumed his work. Hiccup rolled his eyes and walked away, wondering what could be so important.

~%~

Hiccup made sure to close the door softly after following Toothless into the big house. He looked around for his dad, but, seeing no one, he passed through the large room over to the stairs that led up to his room. About halfway up though, a deep voice boomed behind him.

"Hiccup."

Toothless jumped in surprise, and Hiccup whipped around to face the source, who was standing in the middle of the room by the fire pit with his hands on his hips looking menacing. Hiccup slowly moved to join Stoick, and eyed him suspiciously.

"Uh, how did you do that? You weren't even in here when I came in."

Stoick ignored the comment. "We need to talk, son." He said.

Brow creased in confusion, Hiccup sat down on the floor by the fire next to Toothless, with his elbow resting on his knee, and was followed by Stoick who took a seat in his enormous chair.

"So what's going on Dad? Why are you being all mysterious?"

Stoick stared at the fire for a moment before answering. "I received word recently of a…gathering, taking place at the Bog-Burglar Islands."

Hiccup frowned. "A gathering?"

Stoick nodded. "Many of the different tribes are attending." He explained. "And in the notice I received, they requested specifically that you attend as well."

Well this is confusing. Thought Hiccup as he leaned back against Toothless. "Why do they want me there?" He asked. "Why not you? You're the Chief."

Stoick looked uncharacteristically worried now as he replied "They said they need your dragon expertise. It sounds simple enough, but I'm reluctant to respond. You know how I hate going in with such a low level of information, especially where your safety is concerned."

Hiccup almost laughed as he got to his feet. "My safety? Dad, I have Toothless. And in case you hadn't noticed over the past five years, I'm pretty capable of taking care of myself now."

Stoick rose as well, towering over her son still. "I know that Hiccup, but this whole business has me uneasy. I'd rather you not go at all."

The younger man flashed his signature grin. "Well, you've got me curious, so now I have to go." When Stoick didn't look like he felt any better about it, Hiccup added "Okay then, how about I take Astrid with me? She's got a good level head, and she's naturally suspicious. She'll know if anything's off, and she'll help Toothless keep me out of trouble." Said dragon grunted in irritation as if offended that Hiccup would even consider the thought that he needed help doing his job.

Stoick heaved a huge sigh and massaged his head. "Alright Hiccup. Although I suppose there's no stopping you anyway once you've got your mind set?"

Hiccup randomly fiddled with the straps of his bracers and smiled at his father, suddenly perky with excitement. "Yep."

Stoick waved his hand dismissively, shaking his head. "Alright, you leave in the morning. But I want you home in no more than two weeks."

Hiccup saluted. "Will do, Dad. Come on Toothless." Hiccup strode out the door with Toothless hot on his heels, and together they took off into the night sky. "Let's go find Astrid."

~%~

To Be Continued...

A/N ~ SO! To clear a few things up... I used the Bog-Burglar Islands because I know they exist, I don't know anything about them and I haven't read the books, so please don't go harping on me if I do something inaccurate.

Second of all...oh geez, I don't have a second of all. XD Please review! :)