Spiked
A young viking decides its time to set sail and go on a journey to find a dragon of their very own, they wanted a special dragon. She was silent but resorceful and was often the one the 'real riders' sent to do their chores because she didn't have a dragon of her own. But this would change all that, she would leave Berk with a boat but would fly back with her very own dragon. She sets sail for Dragon's Edge a land of exotic dragons never seen on Berk, little did any one know that her years of learning from the best of Berk would be the key to victory and a life long friendship.
A calming flight with Toothless had left Hiccup in a good mood however the mood was ruined when a pitch black figure appeared in the distance. Hiccup knew dragons and recognized a Nadder when he saw one but this was unlike any Nadder he had ever seen. Larger head spikes and even spines on the back of the legs. The beast was a good way off and seemed to be ignoring Hiccup. Wanting to get a closer look he urged his Night Fury to get closer but Toothless simply growled and went the other way, as they flew clear of the clouds Hiccup could see a small fleet of dragon trapper ships. Hiccup pulled up to keep out of range of any of the trappers weapons and saw as the Nadder released a shower of fire and tail spines that made the trappers turn ship and sail away. The Nadder seemed to relent but only enough for a single ship to escape which it then followed.
Wanting to tell the others what he had seen Hiccup made a fast u-turn and headed back to Dragon's Edge where his friends and back up would be waiting for him. It was still early when he and Toothless landed, what he saw was amazing, all his friends getting along for a breif moment as they bonded with their dragons, cleaning their scales of salt from the ocean and dirt from hard work.
They all looked up at Toothless as he landed, Hiccup getting off quickly to show them a sketch he had made of the titan wing dragon he had made on the flight. Fishlegs was the most excited as he had been itching for a chance to see another titan wing since their close encounter with the titan Monstrous Nightmare. All of them gathered to look at it, Astrid looked carefully as it was a titan Nadder, the same dragon as Stormfly. They all began talking about why a single dragon would be interested in dragon hunter ships and why it would willingly let one go.
It was hours later when they came to the agreement to follow the titan dragon and see what it was after. it was Fishlegs that proposed that the titan Nadder had let the ship go simply to let it lead the dragon to the others and show it where they had come from. They agreed to leave at first light so they would all be able to see each other and make it harder for them to be broken apart by darkness in th event they were attacked.
A small boat loaded with only enough supplies for one sails slowly under the darkening sky. She looks to the sky and wonders what her flying partner will be like. Swift and beautiful as a Deadly Nadder or maybe caring and tough like a Gronckle or maybe even complex and mysterious as a Hideous Zippleback. She wondered what dragons waited for her at the Edge. She fell asleep as she drifted on the current that would take her to Dragon's Edge, one step closer to making a choice that would change her life for the better.
At first light the riders were awake and packing essentials on a trip to a new island to look for the titan Nadder. It was agreed they needed to travel light in the event they needed to escape the trappers or evade the Nadder if it got aggressive. They all took off as quickly as possible so as to make the most of their day. They kept in a spread out formation to make it harder to target all of them at once. It didn't take long for the riders to reach the spot where Hiccup had seen the dragon. The group flew in the direction the titan Nadder had gone and in a short time were flying over what appeared to be an abandoned camp left on the island. Hiccup saw only the mast of the ship that had escaped as it bobbed on the surface of the ocean. The group landed, the camp was abanoned, the fire long gone cold with no one left to tend it. There were tracks, boot prints of the hunters that had made it to the island, and Deadly Nadder spikes burrowed into the ground. The group stayed close in case any of the trappers were hiding out on the island.
The island had a dense forest with thick foliage and high trees, an ideal climate for a dragon that prefered the cover of tall trees. There were sounds as other animals moved around as the group followed the signs of the struggle in the hopes they would lead to the titan wing. The struggle led to a large clearing where green light filtered down from the trees. Something big on the ground shifted before going still. Hiccup approached it carefully trying to see if it was the dragon. He touched the mass and it shifted, far too rough to be dragon scales he gripped and pulled, the shape was nothing but the sail of the dragon hunter ship and the mass was a group of writhing hunters. The bodies were stuck together with the Nadder's tail spines, the movement seemed involentary as none of the hunters were conscious enough to even speak let alone move coherently.
Hiccup quickly backed away but the hunters simply went still again, all the riders approached slowly and seemed shocked that a dragon would be able to do that to anyone. A loud snap pulled the riders back to attention as spines rained down from seeminly nowhere. Narrowly dodging the first round of spikes the dragons ran into the shower to protect their riders. Toothless fired a plasma blast in any direction the spines were coming from but nothing seemed to connect. All the dragons grouped together and prepared for when the titan would show itself but nothing happened, the shower had ceased and there was no sound that the dragon was nearby.
The group got on their dragons and flew above the trees so the titan Nadder wouldn't be able to sneak up on them again. Fishlegs was certain the Nadder had left the hunters there as a diversion hoping it would lure other trappers into the open. The group stayed close but were forced to break formation as a large stream of fire shot past. They all turned in time to see the large figure of the titan Nadder gaining on them. They all shot back but the Nadder dodged, coiling in its legs and kicking Meatlug hard, the Gronckle grunted and slowly drifted back to the ground. As it passed the Nadder tail whipped Hookfang who recoiled and thew Snotlout off. The Angry Nightmare let out his own stream of fire before diving to fetch his rider.
The titan Nadder pulled up quickly as Astrid and Hiccup stayed together firing at the beast, it disappeared into the clouds before dive bombing its claws wrapping around Stormfly's head as it forcefully kicked the smaller Nadder to the ground. Astrid fell off Stormfly's back but landed safely in a tree and quickly started climbing down to check on her dragon. The twins let out a massive explosion that repelled the titan. It circled round before doing a barrel roll and slapping Barf and Belch in the stomach with its tail. The Zippleback hissed and dove into the trees for cover before it could strike again.
Toothless fired at the titan but the Nadder remained indifferent, it leered at Toothless as if studying him before making a single quick shot, Hiccup attempted to get out of the way but failed to realize he wasn't the target until it was too late. The hot magnesium fire easily burned through Toothless' tail fin sending them both down. After a rough landing Toothless began to buck hard flailing his tail until he could break off the red hot metal that was burning his tail. Once the piece was removed he calmed down again.
The riders all regrouped for the protection of numbers and to make sure none of them were too badly hurt. Meatlug was still reeling after the kick but she was recovering quickly, Snotlout was yelling at Hookfang about paying attention to his rider, Astrid was kneeling next to her wounded dragon, Stormfly hasn't recovered from the hit yet. The twins were stoked about how a single dragon could take all of them on.
A loud screech alerted the group that the titan Nadder was still in the area and was close, Toothless attempted to fire at the sounds but there was no indication that he made contact with anything. The dragons remained in a defensive position trying to protect their vulnerable riders from the angry titan. Before long the titan Nadder charged the group first, far faster on the ground than expected.
It charged and rammed into Hookfang who let out a screech before hitting the ground. The Nadder stood on top of the fallen Nightmare and fired spines at the others who were forced to dodge. The Nadder let out a loud roar before whipping its tail hitting Barf and Belch hard, the Zippleback backed away but refused to leave their riders defenseless. Hookfang lit himself on fire and the Nadder got off, it remained on the ground and charged again.
Hookfang was back on his feet and ready to fight another titan if he had to. He used his fire to repell the Nadder when it got too close to Stormfly and Astrid. The dragons surrounded the Nadder but it didn't seem afraid in the slightest and simply waited for one of them to make a move.
The young viking makes landing on a densely forested island. There are sounds of a battle in the distance. She makes sure her armor is fastened tightly before grabbing her shield and making her way into the forest. She followed the sounds of the battle, when she got close she climbed a tree and her eyes fell on the most beautifu dragon she had ever seen, a titan wing Deadly Nadder. She was mostly black with large dark red spots with white horns and spines. The young viking fastened her shield to her back and approached from the tree tops as the dragon riders carefully surrounded the beautiful beast.
There was a loud crash as a distant tree fell and dragon root arrows rained from the sky. The titan Nadder flapped her wings hard and the arrows lost their strength and fell to the ground, the beast roared proudly as if challenging the hunters.
There was a return shreik that was unmistakably another dragon. The young viking approached carefully not wanting to be hit by a hunter's arrow by accident. The titan Nadder extended her tail spines as a large shape emerged from the trees. It was as dark a color as the Nadder but it had white spots, like the stars of the night sky. When the viking focused she could see its shape, it was a Monstrous Nightmare, but there was a rider on its back. They weren't dressed like any Hooligan tribe member she had ever seen.
The Nightmare charged at the Nadder but she stood on one leg and spun catching the Nightmare hard in the shoulder with the spines on the back of her foot throwing it to the ground. The Nightmare let out a growl but before it could get up the Nadder jumped and landed one foot on its chin forcing its head into the ground and the other on its neck as she attempted to bite the rider. The rider used a hammer but it didn't seem to bother the Nadder as she snapped the handle and flung the hammer at the oncoming trappers who had to back up somewhat or be taken out by the broken chunk of metal.
The Nightmare flared up and the Nadder took off, her wings fanning the flames forcing the rider to roll off the dragon or be burned. The Nadder folded her wings and grabbed the flaming Nightmare there was a loud crunch as the tore off the make shift saddle the hunter was using and threw it back at the rider. The now free Nightmare let out a shreik as it flew away no longer wanting to be part of the battle.
Before the rider could even recover the Nadder grabbed him with her powerful claws and stared him down before hurling him high into the trees. before the Nadder could take off again the viking pounced and landed hard on the Nadder's back. A few spines cut through her armor and left a mark on her chest and side but with a grunt the viking pulled herself into a seated position and leaned hard throwing the Nadder off balance and causing a catapult shot to miss her completely.
There was a shocked shout from Hiccup as he screaming for the viking to get off the dragon before she got hurt but she refused to budge and helped the Nadder dodge a razor net. The Nadder growled took off pulling up fast trying to throw the foreign weight from her back but nothing seemed to work. Up, dive, barrel roll, spiral but the strange off balace weight remained. As she flew the hunters were escaping but the Nadder descided to ignore the weight and stop the ships. She flew fast and fired aiming for the sails to cripple the ships. While the Nadder fired at the ships the viking used the Nadder's back spines to stand and her shield to repel arrows and anything else that was thrown at them.
The titan Nadder made short work of the boats and in no time they were sinking to the bottom of the ocean. The Nadder snorted and made her way back to the island where the weight was discovered to be a small human in leather armor.
The viking remained in plain sight of the Nadder while it smelled her, wanting to make sure the wild Nadder could always see her. She extended an arm and threw her shield so the Nadder knew she wouldn't attempt to use it as a weapon. The Nadder smelled suspiciously but the human didn't seem to have any other weapons.
The Viking slowly inched towards the Nadder's tail, Hiccup was about to rush and stop her but the Nadder willingly let the human smooth the spines flat against the tail. The viking extended a hand and the Nadder rested her snout in the small palm of the human's hand and made a small sound. The viking gently rubbed the Nadder's snout and she didn't move away.
Hiccup approached but the Nadder made no move to attack him either. The other dragon riders came to the beach where the burned remains of dragon hunter ships washed up to the shore to congratulate the viking on her team work with a wild dragon.
The riders got on their dragons to make the flight back to the Edge. Hiccup and Fishlegs managed to salvage enough cloth and metal from the hunter ships to make an emergency repair to Toothless' tail. The viking rode her new companion back to the Edge, she was a little wobbly but nothing a little practice won't fix.
On the flight back to the Edge Hiccup criticized the young vikings unorthodox methods but in the end thanked her as he wasn't sure they would have made it back to the Edge at all with a dragon riding trapper and an angry titan to contend with. Toothless wasn't happy with the patchwork tail is it made handling near impossible, the sail material was too flimsy for extended use but thankfully it made it long enough to reach the Edge and Hiccup immediatly removed and replaced it with one of his many spares.
The riders made it back to the Edge exhausted, the titan Nadder had done a number on all of them, Stormfly was still woozy and would need several days rest before being back in peak condition. The other dragons recovered quickly and would only need some time off and a good meal.
After some much needed rest for dragon and rider back at the Edge the viking and her companion flew away to Berk with an amazing story and a new friend. About how she jumped on the back of a wild titan Nadder and sank some dragon hunter ships.