A/N: Okay! Here's the prologue's rewrite! A bit of the beginning may be the same, but I hope the rest is changed up enough to be a better read. Enjoy!

Ren- Rider of Ruby the Night Fury

Eric- Rider of Laurel the Monstrous Nightmare

Jazz- Rider of Nilima the Razorwhip

AJ- Rider of Shiloh the Boneknapper

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's nor How to Train Your Dragon. Both go to their respective owners. I only own my OCs.

"Words." = human speech

"Words." = dragon speech (only in Ren's, Eric's, Jazz's, AJ's, Ruby's, Laurel's, Nilima's, or Shiloh's POV's/general at times)

Prologue- A Change of Pace and Fate:

"Aaaaahhhhh!" a young man yelled as he sat up quickly in his bed. He panted, looking around the room before sighing in relief. "Just...Just a dream..." He placed his hands on his legs...or rather leg. Another sigh. Well...at least, partly. He pushed the blanket off. His left leg was missing from below the knee. I'm left with half a leg as a reminder. Along with various other scars here and there.

He reached to where a crutch was propped against the wall at the head of his bed and got out of bed. He walked to a table that had on top what seemed to be a mix of a prosthetic leg and peg leg with a flat bottom where the 'foot' would be. Should be okay to use today, right? I mean...AJ did say to wait at least a day to let the metal cool off...screw it, I'm putting it on whether it's ready or not! Sitting down in a chair he pulled up, he pulled up the left pant leg, grabbed the prosthetic, and started to secure it on.

"I should talk with AJ about not having so many damned straps. How many does it need, anyhow? All they do is scrape up the skin at this point," he muttered, getting the prosthetic secured onto his leg. "That should do it. Now for the-" He was cut off as a thud came from above along with a roar. Any other person would have been scared stiff, but fortunately he knew what was the source of the roar...or rather, who. "Always impatient." He finished making sure the straps were secure, standing up. "Whew, it works. If I broke it after she just got done fixing it...spirits help me."

As soon as he got dressed and stepped out of his house, a black creature jumped from the roof with a slight roar. The creature had two large bat-like wings with slightly smaller wing-like appendages behind them, a large and slightly flat head with a short neck, big blood-red eyes, strange flame markings under the eyes, two ear-like appendages on top of its head, a long tail with fins at the end, and dull-looking spines running from the top of its head down its back and tail. It walked on four legs. "About time you got up!"

"Well, excuse me, but I tend to like sleeping in," the young man retorted.

"Yeah, but you take forever to wake up."

"You know, you could have done the morning flight without me. It's not like you need me to be able to fly."

"Sure, I could, but it isn't nearly as enjoyable."

"Without me screaming for my life every time you speed up when I least expect it?"

"Yep!"

He sighed, shaking his head. "You are going to be the death of me, you know that, Ruby."

"Doubt that, Ren."

The young man—Ren—walked toward a shed attached to part of the house. He walked in, Ruby staying outside. "You're just lucky I was awake this early for us to catch the morning rise."

"Lemme guess, you didn't get a full night of sleep?"

"Hey, I've got insomnia."

Ruby rolled his eyes. "Ren, I'm many things, but ignorant is not one of them."

Ren paused in getting his flight suit on, sighing. "Drop it, Ruby. It's not that important. It's just the past."

Yet it controls you to this day, the dragon wanted to say, but he held his tongue. It was no secret that his rider hated talking about what happened to him. Though, practically everyone had heard it whether from the news or being the ones to see him during recovery. Even after almost a year and a half since the incident, they still wanted Ren to give the full details as to what happened. Especially to make sure that the leader of that group of hunters stays behind bars for life. But no matter who asks—whether it's me, his sisters, or his best friends—Ren won't answer the questions.

A few minutes later, Ren walked out in his riding suit and carrying Ruby's saddle. The riding suit was a deep red in the middle with the outer parts a dark blue. White splotches decorated the dark blue part like embers from a flame. The shoulder guards were the same shade of blue as the suit and featured a white flame on the sides. "Still debating whether to wear the gloves or not." He held said gloves in his hand.

"I probably would considering you like setting that sword of yours on fire."

"Come on, you have to admit it's cool."

"I'm a fire-breathing dragon. Are you really going to stereotype me?"

"Well, according to Hiccup's notes-"

"Forget it."

Ren laughed, slipping the gloves on while juggling the saddle. He walked up to Ruby. Both he and the dragon worked to get the saddle on before Ren went back into the shed, coming back out with a sheathed sword and a few bags. "Never know how long we'll be out. Plus, we might need the sword just in case we get a call."

"Who's gonna call us on our day off?"

"You never know." Ren made sure the bags and sword were secure, climbing onto the saddle right after. "Okay, captain. Prepare for takeoff!"

"Here we go!"

Ruby spread his wings, giving a strong flap to get them airborne. They started heading in a random direction. No patrols were scheduled for the two today, leaving them to their own devices. Ruby let out a happy roar and sped up, causing Ren to yelp and grip the saddle harder. "Geez! Word of warning, will ya?!"

"Sorry, can't hear you!"

Can't hear me, he says. This dragon is going to be the death of me one day, I swear. "Fine then, wise guy. Give me your best!"

"You asked for it!"

(Scene Shift- POV shift to Ren's)

After about an hour of zipping around the sky at his fastest speed, Ruby slowed down and landed us on a small rock outcropping in the ocean. I climbed off the saddle, pulling the bags off as well before Ruby went about rolling in the dirt. "Whoo! What a rush!"

"What, flying as fast as you can, or giving me a heart attack mid-flight?" I questioned, placing the bags down.

"A bit of both, to be honest."

"At least I don't have to worry about you in the upcoming dragon races."

"Pff, with me on the team, the other dragons will be eating our dust!"

"I hope you realize that'd be hard to do in a flying contest."

"Smart ass."

"Speed-crazed dragon."

"You don't complain 'bout it as much as you used to."

"It's called 'exposure therapy to your biggest fear' which is heights in my case."

"Among many other things."

"Yeah yeah." I dropped the bags into the grass before sitting down in it myself, leaning back. Everything seemed to be slowing down as far as excitement goes. Other than a few hiccups, it's been relatively peaceful. But...there's a bit of a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, like something's building. Whatever it is...someone else can take care of it. I've already had enough shit on my plate with the events of those hunters. The only thing I want to be focusing on is the races coming up. That's it. Even then...I don't know if I'm going in with a full team or not, considering the debacle with Eric.

I laid down and let my thoughts drift off. I was enjoying the quiet (minus the sounds of nature and the light snoring of the Night Fury near me) until my cell started going off. I groaned, sitting up. "Damn it all...I thought I made it clear I'm on a day off!"

"More like a week off," Ruby muttered.

"Shut up." I flipped open the small bag on my waist, pulling the phone out. The caller ID said it was Jazz. "Okay, maybe it's not about my duties." I answered and put the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Ren! We've got a problem!"

"Ow! Jeez, any louder and my eardrums will burst, Jazz."

"This isn't a joking matter. Something's come up!"

"Whatever it is, I think AJ is more than capable of-"

"Eric and Laurel are missing!"

I froze, letting those words sink in. "Hold up. What are you talking about? Eric and Laurel going missing is like winning the lottery. It hardly ever happens."

"That's just it. Eric and Laurel had gone out on a private mission to investigate the area where those undocumented dragons were seen. He said he'd meet up with me later for a sparring match."

"Okay, how does this fit in with them going miss-"

"That was three days ago, that's what!"

"Three days?! You didn't think to call, I dunno, Ace or someone more qualified?!"

"Well..." I heard some background noise from the other end. I couldn't hear what was said, but the phone must have been exchanged.

"Ren?" AJ—my twin sister and second in command of our team—said.

"Okay, what's the deal? Why call me to go look for him instead of a dragon rider of higher qualifications?"

"It was my idea to call you because it will give you two time to make up for whatever that fight was about. It'll prove to him that you still care about him as a friend, Ren. We want you both to make up for what you two said to each other. It's driving us crazy we can't have you both in the same room without you both giving each other death glares."

"..."

"Are you listening to me, Lorenzo?"

I hate it when she uses my full name... "*sigh* Yes, I'm listening."

"Then what's your answer?"

"I'll go, but I doubt anything's going to be fixed automatically, AJ."

"Fine. Just work out the best you can. And I mean it, or I'll be testing some new fighting techniques on the two of you myself."

"Yes, ma'am." We hung up. "Damn, I swear AJ is the most intimidating person in existence."

"Only to you. And are we going where I think we are?"

"Sounds like we'll have to. Unless we want me to end up with more bruises than a boxing champion."

"Yeah, considering how much you whine after a bout with your sister."

"Hey! Like you aren't scared of her, either!"

"True, but I have Shiloh to help protect me."

"Ugh. You dragons..."

I secured all the bags back onto Ruby, the two of us taking off and heading toward the place. It was a bit of a long flight as we were in the complete opposite direction to that whole area. Why? Because it's more creepy than any place that houses Smothering Smokebreaths. The whole perimeter is covered in fog, few trees, and like no wildlife within miles of the place. Kind of like the animals are even too scared of it. Hell, dragons are scared to fly over it and end up flying as far away from it as possible. Why the unknown dragons like it there, I can never guess. The only thing I can think of is that they like the privacy.

We landed right in the middle of the area, a cloud of loose dirt flying into the air when we landed. I coughed, waving my hand to clear it away. God, I kind of wonder if there's ever been any life here. It looks more like some dragons just torched it and skedaddled, I thought as I scanned the area. "Ruby, use your echolocation to see if there's some caves around."

"All right then." He let out a roar around our location, switching different sides whenever he shook his head in dismissal. "I can't seem to find anything here."

"Okay. Let's travel a little further and search from the skies."

"I'd like to just leave this place. It gives me goosebumps."

"We can't go yet. We've got to find Eric and Laurel before-" I was cut off as an unearthly roar shook the air. "You...heard that, right?"

"Hard not to in this place." Ruby has his head low, teeth fully unsheathed. A bit of light from his jaws indicated he was preparing to fire a plasma blast if need be.

"I've never heard a dragon sounding like that. Think it's a Red Death or Bewilderbeast?"

"No, something else...and something not too friendly, I'm assuming. Let's get out of here!"

"I told you, we can't leave until—"

"You want to find the source of the roar, or live to find our teammates?!" He hit me with his tail, throwing me off balance and landing on the saddle.

"Oof! Ruby, what the hell?!"

"We can do this easy and simple, or I can take that fake leg of yours off and fly you out of here kicking 'n' screaming!"

"Fine! Just let me get in the damned saddle." I pushed myself up, climbing onto the saddle. The second I got myself strapped in, the biggest dragon we've ever seen came out of the fog bank. Its body was long and slender like a snake's but with limbs with claws at the end. The wings had no membrane, much like a dragon's skeletal structure. The scales seemed to be a glowing deep red color with gold marks on the face, some in the shape of eyes. "Holy shit..."

"Time to go!" Ruby spread his wings, doing the signature takeoff of Night Furies. I yelped, feeling myself being slightly thrown front and back from it.

"Ruby! A little warning?!"

"I ain't taking the risk that it wants to eat us! Which, it looks like it kinda does!"

I looked behind me, my eyes bugging out when I saw it on our tails. "Okay, Plan P time. Plan Panic!"

Ruby split the spines running down his back to give us an edge in flight. However, even despite that and me situating myself to help increase our speed, we couldn't shake this dragon from our flight path. For a dragon with no wing membranes, it sure could fly fast! "Can you go any faster?!"

"Shut up and let me fly!"

"Well you're not—look out!"

My warning came warning came too late as a red sphere collided right into us. Ruby was stunned for a minute before I felt us both falling. The world around seemed to fade out as my vision faded.

(Scene Shift- ?)

"-en...Ren...Ren! Come on, man, wake up!" Ruby's voice roared. I felt claws digging into my flight suit as I was shaken.

"Ruby, be a bit more gentle. I'm not as sturdy as I look!" I said, grabbing his claws to pull them off.

"Oh, thank the gods, you're alive. I didn't want to have to try and perform CPR on ya!"

"I'd...rather you not." I stood up, dusting myself off as I glimpsed around. "Where are we?"

"Wherever we are, it's not anywhere we've been. I've tried scoping the area the best I could. It looks like a city that got hit by the mother of all natural disasters and gone with no repair."

"There's got to be people still here, though. Look." I pointed in the distance further in, seeing smoke. "Maybe we can reach it and ask the someone where we are."

"I dunno how much I feel like flying. I think I sprained my wing."

He lifted up the wing that must be hurting. I went over, feeling the wing. "Nothing broken, but I'm hazarding a guess from that wince it doesn't feel 100%."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Okay, we'll go on foot. Just be careful where you put your paws down, dude. It looks like there's shrapnel practically everywhere."

"Got it."

I checked to make sure all the bags were still intact. Afterwards, we started walking forward, our destination clear. While I still held onto the theory that there had to be people here, the streets were certainly deserted. I felt like I was in a horror movie. And knowing my luck, I'd be the first one to get chomped on or sliced up. I was getting a bit nervous, reaching to the saddle and unhooking my sword to attach to my belt. You know, just in case. I wasn't nervous in the least bit. Nope, not me!

"Okay, this is unnerving," I mumbled.

"Yeah, no kidding. What was that about people living here?"

"Hush up, you. Let's just keep walking."

(Ruby's POV)

I rolled my red eyes. Why oh why did my rider have to be the most stubborn guy in the known universe? I'll eat an eel if I ever meet someone just as stubborn. Wait, shit, no, maybe just a bad piece of fish? I thought, shaking my head. At least Ren could only understand what I said, not what I thought. If he did...gods help me.

My ears shot up at voices. Ren hadn't heard them ('cause, you know, human hearing just plain sucks compared to dragons), nor did he see me slinking off to check it out.

(Ren's POV)

I stopped, squinting at something ahead. "Hey, Ruby! I think we're in luck! I see some light!" I turned to said Night Fury only to find nothing beside me. "Uh...Ruby? Ruby? Where are you, boy?!"

Okay okay, no need to panic. He probably just got curious at something and went to investigate. He got a bit too curi- My thoughts were cut off as I heard his roar. Uh-oh. "Ruby! Damn it all."

I raced for the source, praying to any celestial being that would hear me to let him be okay and not in danger. I can't lose him. I can't! He's one of the only things keeping me from going crazy from the nightmares. "Ruby!"

The sounds of something running caught my attention. I skidded to a halt, grabbing the hilt of my sword just in case. A small group of guys ran past me, yelling, "It's real! A real dragon!" The hell? What was that about? Wait, forget them. I've got to find Ruby!

(Yusei's POV)

"Rally, what is that?"

"I don't know, but it chased off those goons."

"Rrrowl?"

Now this was confusing. If it chased off the thugs, why is it acting so docile now? And another thing, what's with the saddle and bags? This must be someone's...uh, dragon, I guess. So where's the owner? "Ruby! Ruby, where are you?!" a voice called. That answers one question.

"Ru-ack!" A guy around my age fell out from an alleyway, landing on his face. Hard. The dragon lost interest in us and went to him, sniffing at his head. "Oww...wait...Ruby!"

"Rowl!"

"Oh, thank God! You're okay!" He sat up, hugging the dragon's neck. Then his expression went from happy to angry in a second. He grabbed the dragon by its nostrils, shaking its head. "How many times do I have to tell you not to run off like that?! You know you almost gave me the biggest heart attack of the century!"

The dragon managed to shake his hold off, rubbing its nose with a paw. It let out a roar in his face. "Don't you raise your voice at me, young Night Fury! I thought you would have been raised better the last seven or eight years?!" The dragon let out a louder roar. "What are you-" It placed a paw on his head, forcing him to turn to see us. He blinked. "They were there the whole time, weren't they?"

"Rawl."

"And they have no idea what's going on, right?"

"Rrr."

"And you made me look like a crazy guy since they can't understand what you're saying."

"Rr...rawl."

"...I hate you so much right now..."

(Scene Shift- Normal POV- With AJ and Jazz)

"I don't think it's going to work, AJ," Jazz said, looking at the ash-brown haired girl.

"Well, at the moment, it's the best thing we've got. I mean, even if he's mad at him, Ren's not going to live with himself if something bad happened to Eric and Laurel," AJ replied.

"Yeah, but maybe we should call Ace and tell him what happened, too. Just in case any of the strange dragons turn hostile."

"Ren's still got him on speed dial, so if anything does come up he'll be calling him fairly quick."

"Mm..."

"Okay, what's wrong? I know you're not usually this worried over nothing."

"Well, I dunno. There's been something in the air, I think. Like some big event is about to hit. Even Nilima senses it."

"A big event, huh? Like what?"

"It's a bit hard to explain. I guess since things have been kind of screwy lately that I've been on edge, but I can tell that this isn't just nerves."

"Has there been anything to confirm that something's not right?"

"Not exactly."

"It's probably just nerves, then. We've had a rough few years, but things are turning up. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

A/N: And on that note, I'll be ending the prologue here. What, thought I'd leave it on a slightly uplifting note like last time? Sorry.

Anyway, the rewrite has a lot of changes, especially with Ren's past as you've noticed (in the previous prologue, it mentions he fought a Red Death, but I took that out as it's too much like the movie storyline for How to Train Your Dragon and I thought of something a bit more fitting). I'll also warn that things will be slightly turning AU around the time of the Dark Signers (not by much, for the most part) and possibly other arcs in the future. I think once I get done with the rewrite and post the second chapter, I might open up for some suggestions. I know I'll be opening up suggestions for designs on the weapons Ren and his friends use because I have yet to draw swords with on dA, so...chances are they're not going to look too pleasant. ^^'

Well, anyway, hope you guys enjoyed and be ready for the rewritten chapter one!