I neither own nor claim any rights to "How to Train Your Dragon"

Jarin and the Riders of Berk:

Chapter 1 - Shore of Destiny

It was never just a routine patrol when Astrid and Hiccup flew together. It was always a combination of a race and obstacle course competition as well as an excuse to experiment with new maneuvers. Both of them were considered by the rest of their team to be fantastic Dragon Riders, Hiccup on his Night Fury named Toothless and Astrid on Stormfly, her Deadly Nadder. They wanted to keep it that way.

Presently, they were in a nosedive, side by side. The sapphire blue ocean rising up at incredible speed to meet them. The sheer speed of it caused Toothless' black wings to scream through the wind, a sound that not so long ago brought terror to he hearts of the citizens of Berk, and now caused their hearts to race with excitement, because it meant that some amazing stunt was about to be pulled off. Stormfly's wings whistled through the air, as well. But the sound was not nearly as intimidating. There were other ways a Nadder could intimidate someone. The piercing stare and extended spines that if launched could probably nail Thor to a wall on his best day. Of course, Thor could take it and bounce right back. But many a strong Viking warrior fell to those spines before the days of peace began.

Astrid looked over at Hiccup with a challenging grin. Hiccup grinned right back... The waves were getting closer... Closer... CLOSER...

WHOOSH!

At the last second before impact, They pulled up and leveled out, going in opposite directions and then started ascending again, coming closer and closer to each other until the tops of their heads were almost touching, spiraling round and round as they did so... Again, a break-neck twist and they were leveled off again and flying away from each other. They itched to the side and began flying in a circle that was getting smaller and smaller... This time, it was their Dragons' feet that were at the closest point to each other.

At this angle there was no way that Hiccup and Astrid could see each other. If they made a mistake on the next move, it could be a disaster.

"Ready Astrid?" Hiccup called at the top of his lungs.

"Ready!" he heard her call back to him.

Hiccup gritted his teeth... "Alright... THREE... TWO... ONE... NOW!"

A precise movement on his and Astrid's part, and the dragons made a seemingly impossible shift in position, and now they were flying side-by-side again, straight and true. It was Toothless whose movement was the most amazing. All Astrid had to do was pivot back to an upright position, but Hiccup had to make use of the Night Fury's ability to turn on a dime in mid flight to do a tight turn right next to Stormfly, so close that the risk of the Dragons' wings striking each other.

With the maneuver done, they settled into a more calm flight path. A small island was ahead. Hiccup sometimes came here to think, and let Toothless fish in the shallow water. He gave a whistle and got Astrid's attention and pointed to the island. She nodded, and they both descended.

"You were great!" Hiccup said as he unlatched his prosthetic foot from the tail fin control pedal on Toothless' harness.

"So were you!" Astrid responded with a grin. "But I am concerned. Do you really think we can actually have the entire team involved in the maneuver? I mean, a nightmare can fly pretty fast. So can a Zippleback. But a Gronkle?"

Hiccup grinned. "Relax. They will be doing different things at different points to make the whole thing look amazing. Each of their maneuvers will demonstrate the best they can do. But the crowd will see it as one big dragon dance."

Astrid nodded. "Dragon Dance. Why don't we call it that instead of Aerial Maneuvers?"

Hiccup tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips. "Why not?"

Astrid gave Hiccup a jab in the shoulder and a lop-sided grin. "Glad you like it."

"Ow..." Hiccup rubbed his shoulder. Astrid always was like that. Beautiful and graceful one moment and beautiful and dangerous the next. Always switching back and forth. A lot of the guys didn't particularly enjoy that about her. But Hiccup found it kind of thrilling... But then he was the first to risk riding a dragon. Thrilling was sort of his cup of tea. These days, anyway...

Astrid sighed... "Sorry... I forgot how fragile you were, my brave viking." She reached over, grabbed his tunic and yanked him forward, planting a quick kiss squarely on his mouth."

Hiccup stood there with what was surely a stupid grin on his face... Just what he loved about Astrid... Dangerous one moment and graceful the next. Beautiful always. Then something occurred to him. They were alone. No prying eyes. The dragons were off near the water, splashing around playfully with each other. Just him and Astrid, who had turned to walk over to some rocks to take her boots off. He took a deep breath and walked up behind her, willing to risk that her graceful moment was not over yet. He reached out and gently placed his hand on her shoulder from behind. "Astrid?"

She tensed at his touch, fighting an urge to grab his hand and twist it. She was not used to being touched from behind. It made her feel vulnerable. But this was Hiccup. He had saved her life as many times as she had saved his. He would never hurt her. The tension was gone almost as quickly as it came. She slowly turned and saw that his eyes held a confidence that was not usually there. She placed her hand gently on his "Yes Hiccup?"

He took a deep breath. "I want you to know something. Something I've wanted to say for a while now. I've been afraid to say it. Not anymore."

She tilted her head to the side and put an expression on her face that she knew would scream "Be very careful with which words you use."

"Astrid?" He said again.

"YES, Hiccup?" she replied with an intentionally irritated tone.

He sighed... Words were so over-rated. Before he could change his mind, he decided to risk his life. He stepped forward, cupped her chin in his hands and kissed her gently on the lips. Not a quick kiss like she always gave him that always seemed to tantalize and torture him at the same time. A long, tender kiss.

Oh Thor in a thunderstorm, she thought. She reached her arms around his neck and began kissing him back. There was nothing forceful about it. This was tenderness and love. He began caressing her cheek and she did the same to him. Her heart was pounding. She wanted to scream, to laugh. to Cry.

Oh Thor in a thunderstorm, Hiccup thought as she began to return his kiss and to embrace him. Her lips were soft on his, his heart was pounding. He wanted to roar. To laugh. to cry. This was a dream he had had for a long time. And now it was coming true.

They were not sure how long they held each other after that wonderful kiss of innocent young love. They stood there with heads bent forward, their foreheads touching. Time didn't matter. Nothing mattered. They looked into each other's eyes and KNEW that this was meant to be.

Astrid squirmed and Hiccup released her from his embrace. She reached up and put her hands on his shoulders. "Thanks for telling me."

Hiccup shrugged. "Ah well, you know... I just figured that-"

"What is THAT!" Astrid exclaimed, looking past Hiccup.

He turned. There was something big floating in the water. It had been there all along, but it had drifted much closer. He had thought that it was drift-wood or something, but it looked fleshy, now that it had floated closer. "Let's go check it out," He said.

They both jogged to the shoreline, and Toothless and Stormfly joined them, the former growling a warning and the latter extending her spines. The thing in the water floated up on the shore, and now that Hiccup could see it close-up, he understood the Dragons' reaction. This was no drift-wood. It was a Monstrous Nightmare. Blistered and with torn wings, it was clearly dying.

"Astrid, I need you to go back to Berk and get help," he said.

"Hiccup, I'll go back to Berk and get help," she said at the same time.

"Okay" they both said at the same time, and couldn't help but smile even in the face of what was happening.

Astrid flew Stormfly into the main gate of the Dragon Academy and hopped off as soon as she landed. "Snot Lout, I need you!" she called out.

Snot Lout was polishing the metal parts of Hookfang's saddle, but when he heard Astrid speak those words, he dropped his polishing rag, turned toward her with a wide grin, and said "Baby, I'm all yours!"

Jarin, the new guy who seemed to have an affinity for Monstrous Nightmares, rolled his eyes. "I don't think she meant it the way you think she meant it."

Snot snorted. "I know she didn't, NEW GUY. I just like to mess with her mind." Still the look on his face was hopeful.

"I need both of you, actually," Astrid said as she reached them. She explained what was going on about the Monstrous Nightmare that had washed ashore.

"Jarin," Snot Lout said to the new trainer. "Go find Gobber. Tell him we need forty feet of his strongest rope, cut in half. Then get back here and saddle Brokenclaw. By the time we are done, the rope will be ready. We'll swing by and pick it up and follow Astrid out to the island."

"I'm on it, Chief!" Jarin said, as he took off toward the center of town.

A few minutes later, Jarin found Gobber working the forge and asked for the rope.

"I got just what ye need, lad. I'll 'ave it ready for ye by the time ye and Snot Lout get back 'ere." the old craftsman said.

Jarin was turning to leave and nearly walked right into Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk. "What's going on, young man?" Stoick asked.

"Nightmare. Washed ashore on one of the out-islands, Chief" Jarin answered. "We're going to try to save it."

Stoick nodded. "Off with you, then. If you see Hiccup, tell him to find me when the beastie is settled."

"On it, Chief!" Jarin says, and heads back to the academy to saddle Brokenclaw.

Going to stop there for now. Jarin (the J is pronounced as a Y) is clearly a character of my creation, and I'll be centering the point of view on him most in the future. I am not sure where I will end up going with this. Just figure I'll play it by ear and wing it. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Be blessed...