A/N: This is my first Fanfiction, so any constructive criticisms are welcome! HUGE shoutout to my beta readers on Reddit: u/CrazyGamer313 and u/jaybattalion! Jay is also responsible for the cover art on this story, so double thanks to you! Without further ado, here's the story!
The first lookout to spot it almost didn't believe his eyes. A monstrous dragon, bigger than anyone's wildest dreams. And it was headed straight for Berk.
Hiccup awoke with a start to a cry from a Berkian announcing a rogue dragon attacking. He quickly put on clothes, and latched his prosthetic leg into place. He ran outside, looking around to assess the situation. He was immediately hit by simply how large the dragon was. Even more monstrous than the Red Death, it was large enough that the Berkian dragons that were firing shots at it seemed insignificant alongside it, and their shots were doing nothing to harm it, or even slow it down. Hiccup noticed Astrid running up to him, and turned to greet her
.
"Do we have any details on what it is or what its weaknesses are?" Hiccup asked, watching as it burned down a house.
"We have no idea what species it is," came the reply, "it seems to be immune to dragon fire of all kinds, except for large explosions which deal some damage, but not much. It isn't giving us a chance to light its insides on fire, like we did with the Red Death."
As he stared at it, Hiccup was struck with an idea. Astrid recognized the look on his face as his "planning" look, but was unsure as to what he could do to take down the dragon on his own, and she said so. Turning to her, he said, "I do have an idea, but I can't do it alone. Do you remember those barrels of powder we got from Johann that he called gunpowder?" Astrid nodded, still unsure as to how he could utilize the explosive powder. "Well," Hiccup said, "What if we launched it towards the dragon as it's breathing the flame?"
"That could work," Astrid said, "but it would be hard to pull it off, and it wouldn't do enough to seriously harm the dragon."
"That is true," Hiccup conceded, "but that is why I can't do it alone. If two people were to ride their dragons and drop the barrels in from above, then it could be enough to drive the beast off and ensure that it won't come back for a while. With some skill and a little bit of luck, we should be able to deal with this… monstrosity."
Once again, Astrid was reminded of why she loved Hiccup. It was at times like these, when, even under pressure, his mind was still sharp as a knife and he demonstrated a courage and bravery that few others possessed, that she truly loved him. "I'll be the other dropper, if you would like," she offered.
Looking over at her, Hiccup was also filled with love for her, for her willingness to help in any way possible, and to do what was necessary. "I'll get Toothless, and you get Stormfly, and meet me by the forge. We need to act quickly, before this thing can do more damage to our village."
Just as Hiccup was about to leave, Stoick came running up. "How does it look, Dad?" Hiccup asked.
"Not too good, I'm afraid. Nothing we do seems to damage it! We've tried everything, but it just keeps going!" Stoick replied.
"Not everything, Dad" Hiccup said, "I have an idea, but I'm not sure if you would like it. Astrid and I are going to drop those barrels of gunpowder that we got from Johann right by its mouth. If we time it right, we'll be able to drive it off and not get injured ourselves"
"You're right, Hiccup, as usual, and I don't like the fact that you would be at risk, but I don't see any other way."
"Alright, Dad, I need to get going, so we can drive this thing off! See you after the battle!" With that, Hiccup ran off. Stoick watched him go, a mix of fear and pride welling up in his chest.
Fortunately, the large dragon seemed to be ignoring the smaller ones gathering around it and firing at it, instead going for homes and warehouses, which were nearly empty anyways after one of the long Berkian winters so feared by all who weren't from the region. Hiccup glanced up and noticed Toothless and Stormfly leading the attack, as he thought they would be. He raised his hand to his lips and gave a piercing call, and heard Astrid do the same. Toothless and Stormfly broke off, with the Night Fury diving towards Hiccup and the Nadder going to meet Astrid. Hiccup watched with pride as his invention, an automatic tail for emergencies just like these ones, worked flawlessly. Toothless came to a graceful stop, and gave Hiccup a questioning look, almost as if to ask why he was there and not fighting the monster along with the other Berkian dragons. "I know, bud, you want to be fighting, but I have a very good reason for you to be here." After a confused (and slightly frustrated) gurgle from Toothless, Hiccup explained what his plan was as they flew to the forge.
When they arrived, Hiccup was surprised to see Astrid already there with the two barrels of gunpowder, ready for action. Apparently both she and Stormfly could move very quickly when they needed to. "I already briefed Stormfly on the plan," Astrid told Hiccup as he landed.
"I told Toothless on the way over," Hiccup responded, "So we should be good to go without wasting any more time." Astrid nodded, and they took off, with the dragons carrying the gunpowder and their riders guiding them on where to go and when. As they approached the giant beast wreaking havoc on yet another house, they yelled for all of the other dragons to get clear. Whether the dragons didn't hear them over the sounds of battle or they could hear and didn't care, they didn't stop engaging the larger dragon. Fed up, Toothless released a primal screech that caused all other dragons to immediately back off, somewhat disgruntled at having to leave a fight. The monster, completely oblivious, continued torching the house. Looking at each other and nodding, Hiccup and Astrid rose behind the dragon at the same time,
Flying over the back of it, both teens were amazed at how much dragon there was. Finally, just as it was seeming like it would never end, both dragons and riders reached the head, but the beast had finished off the house and was moving on to a different target, and had stopped flaming as a result. While it moved on to its next target, Hiccup thought some more about just how, where, and when they should position themselves so that they could be accurate while still being able to get away. After choosing a height and yelling it to Astrid, they felt a low rumble beneath them as the dragon started flaming again.
"You ready to do this, bud?" Hiccup leaned down and whispered into Toothless' ear. Giving a determined nod, Hiccup signalled Astrid that it was finally time to drop the powder. Toothless and Stormfly began ascending, and waiting for the right moment. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Hiccup yelled, "Now!" and both dragons dropped their charges so that they would drop right by the dragon's mouth, and then flying away like there was no tomorrow, which there wouldn't be if they didn't clear the explosion. After hearing a large boom, Hiccup turned to see the dragon visibly recoiling from the shock, clearly wounded and starting to turn and fly away, grinning at Astrid the whole way.
In hindsight, they should have seen it coming. Hiccup and Astrid were too busy focusing on each other and celebrating, and Stormfly and Toothless were watching the dragon, but not the right parts of it. It's massive, club-like tail smashed into both riders, miraculously missing the dragons. Both teens were knocked off of their dragons, and started falling, bleeding profusely as they went. The villagers, who had also started celebrating, gave a collective gasp at the sudden tragedy. Toothless and Stormfly, momentarily stunned, raced down into two of the fastest dives ever witnessed, trying desperately to catch up with their riders. They both caught their riders, and lowered them to the ground, but they were bleeding out even as the dragons landed. Stoick was immediately there, face tight with worry.
"Hiccup?" he choked, face covered with tears, "Hiccup! Come on!" No response except for a weak smile from Hiccup. "Go get Gothi!" Stoick yelled, desperate to save his son. The nearest villager ran to get her just as Gunnar Hofferson, Astrid's father, arrived.
"Astrid, baby, don't leave me!" She just smiled at him, and said three words before passing out: "I love you." With that, Gunnar broke. He sat down, face covered in tears, and rocked back and forth. Toothless watched all of this with increasing sadness and worry, increasing even more as Gothi arrived and could do nothing except ease their pain a little bit. Toothless walked over to Hiccup, and placed his nose into the youth's palm. "Hey, bud." Hiccup said, and then passed out himself. Toothless felt a strong urge to help his rider, but he knew that there wasn't much a dragon could do.
However, as he watched, Toothless felt an unfamiliar feeling in his gut. It felt similar to when fire was building, but it didn't feel like it was in a rush to get out, like fire was. It built more and more, until Toothless felt like he couldn't hold it in any more. All of the villagers noticed Toothless start to glow green from inside, and started backing away. Finally, just when he thought he would explode, the mysterious feeling came bursting out. Expecting to see fire, the villagers thought that Toothless had gone crazy when he aimed at Hiccup and Astrid. Fire wasn't what came out of Toothless' mouth, though. What did come out looked like something from a dream. It was a green cloud that moved to cover the bodies of both Hiccup and Astrid. Nobody, not even Toothless, was quite sure as to what he had done, and they couldn't see the teens to find out, either.
All of a sudden, they heard great wrenching and snapping sounds from inside the cloud, causing Gunnar, Stoick, and the other youths to cry out, but there wasn't anything they could do to help Hiccup or Astrid. The crunching sounds continued for hours, lasting into the middle of the night. All of the villagers, Stoick and Gunnar included, had to go to bed in order to be ready for whatever happened the next day. As a result, only Toothless was present when the cloud finally cleared, revealing two perfectly formed Night Furies.
Toothless ran over, but noticed that the dragons were unconscious. It was then that Toothless realized what he had done. He had heard legends of Night Furies transforming others, but he had never thought them to be true. Until now. He screeched in order to wake the whole village, and Stoick was there in under a minute. It was only when he came to a complete stop that he noticed the two dragons passed out on the ground. Shocked and confused as to where his son and Astrid might be, and why, for that matter, there were two Night Furies in their place, Stoick turned to ask Toothless if he knew. With a sad look in his eyes, Toothless just padded over by one of the dragons, and wrote the only viking rune he knew: Hiccup. That was when the full force of the situation hit the chief of Berk: that his only child was now a dragon, and might never be human again. Stoick sat down, starting to weep again, and the villagers in the front started passing back the news. Then, just as all of the villagers heard about the change, the new dragons began to stir.
A/N: First chapter, what do you guys think? Please rate and review! Sorry about this, but the update schedule will be sporadic at best. Life keeps getting in the way! Anyways, my ideas aren't set in stone, so if you want to see something, let me know, and I may be able to make it happen!