Chapter 1; Flight of the Dragons

The Village of Berk...

Morning...

Outside Hiccup's House

It was another sunny day on the Isle of Berk. Astrid Hofferson, the toughest Viking girl of the teens on Berk, sat atop her dragon, Stormfly. Stormfly was a gorgeous, light blue Deadly Nadder that looked more bird-like than lizard-looking like the rest on the dragons. Stormfly's tail was covered with very sharp spines that she could shoot with pin-point accuracy. When she had woken up that morning, she had decided to pay her boyfriend a visit. Hopefully he was already awake so that she wasn't disturbing him. Then again, Hiccup never seemed to mind when she woke him up.

Climbing down from Stormfly's back, Astrid walked over to the front door belonging to the house of Stoick the Vast; Chief of Berk and Astrid's soon-to-be father-in-law. She knocked ever so lightly as to not wake the Chief. "Hello?" she called.

The door creaked open and Stoick the Vast himself filled the doorway. And boy, he looked like he'd been awake for hours now.

"Oh, hello there, Astrid," Stoick greeted her kindly, giving her a respectful nod. Stoick was a tough-looking warrior, muscular and intelligent, though perhaps not as smart as his son was. He smiled half-awkwardly at Astrid for no particular reason.

Astrid smiled politely at the Chief.

"Um, I don't mean to bother you, Sir," she said kindly, "but is Hiccup awake?"

Stoick looked over his shoulder and up to Hiccup's room, where Hiccup's dragon, the Night Fury Toothless, poked his head over the edge, his ears perked. Stoick turned back toward his son's girlfriend and smiled heartfully.

"I believe he is," the Chief said. "He's up in his room. Why don't you go see him for yourself? Feel free to wake him up if he isn't already."

Hiccup's Room...

Toothless met Astrid at the top of the stairs and nuzzled her side with his nose affectionately, giving her his famous toothless smile. Toothless' leather tail fin was lying in the corner, and Hiccup's bed was neatly made. Sitting at the table working on sketches was her long-time boyfriend. Toothless bounded over and nudged Hiccup's leg with his head. Hiccup turned and smiled.

"Morning, Hiccup," Astrid said politely.

"Good morning, my lady," Hiccup replied. "How've you been?"

"Good," Astrid answered. She walked over and rested her hand on his shoulder, leaning over to look at his sketches as she questioned, "What're you working on?"

Hiccup showed her the sketches of a new mechanism for Toothless' saddle.

"I'm working on some new equipment to help Toothless glide alone," he explained. "It's sort of complex - just need to work out a few problems and I can get to work on it very soon." Hiccup stood up and turned fully to his girlfriend. "So what can I do you for?"

"I just came by to see if you and Toothless wanted to come for a flight with Stormfly and myself," she replied.

Toothless loved these flights, and Hiccup had made it a habit of joining Astrid and Stormfly on their flights around the island. Occasionally, the other Riders would join them, but they were off helping their parents today. And that gave Hiccup and Astrid plenty of time to spend together... one-on-one... alone... with their dragons. Toothless bounded across the room excitedly at the mere mention of "flight". Hiccup laughed and held out his hands, gently rubbing Toothless' head, calming the Night Fury down.

"Sounds fun," he said. "Let's do this."

Not too long later...

In the skies above Berk...

Hiccup attached the tail fin to Toothless' tail and soon the pair were flying through the skies above the village, following behind Stormfly and Astrid. Whenever they flew together, it tended to turn into a race. And, as expected, this flight did in fact turn into a race. Hiccup adjusted his peg leg on the pedal, and Toothless shot through the sky very quickly. They passed very low above Stormfly, forcing Astrid to duck to avoid being hit.

"HEY!" Astrid yelled after them.

"What?" Hiccup called back over his shoulder innocently. "I didn't do anything. Honest."

Astrid smiled in response to this and guided Stormfly through the air. As they neared Toothless' and Hiccup's rear, Astrid nodded at Stormfly, who blew a ball of fire ahead of the pair, knocking trees over and forcing Toothless to barrel roll and swerve to avoid crashing. When they regained control, Hiccup locked his eyes on Astrid and Stormfly, thinking to himself, Astrid, Astrid, Astrid... So predictable.

"Let's see what we can do about this, bud," Hiccup whispered, and angled Toothless down toward a canyon.

As Stormfly swooped over the forest, Astrid looked back over her shoulder with a smile, expecting to see Hiccup and Toothless behind. Surprise, surprise, they were gone. Confused, Astrid whistled Stormfly to stop and hover in the air, both looking for signs of Hiccup and the Night Fury. There was a swoosh from behind just before Astrid and Stormfly turned.

"...Looking for us?" Hiccup asked from nowhere.

Astrid looked up to see Hiccup and Toothless looking down at them. Astrid broke out into a smile and shook her head. Typical Hiccup. Always using one of his tricks. That would probably never change.

"How 'bout a rematch?" Hiccup challenged. "First one to reach the last sea stack and return to the Great Hall wins."

"Ohhh, you're so on!" Astrid said. She was very competitive, and she always loved to hear Hiccup's challenges. Thing was, sometimes Hiccup won; other times it was Astrid who beat them, depending. She nudged Stormfly, who took off in a gust of wind as Hiccup guided Toothless through the sky, swerving in and around sea stacks. Astrid, however, guided Stormfly over the sea stacks.

Back in the village, just outside the Great Hall, Stoick the Vast watched the two Riders flying their dragons in a race.

Well, that's it for Chapter 1, I guess. Sorry about the delayed process of my other stories, I just wanted to get a head-start on this one, seeing as How to Train Your Dragon 2 came out. Hiccup and Astrid are 19 about now, as this story takes place a year before the new movie. Don't mind the process of this book, the action probably won't start until around Chapters 8-15, who knows? Maybe I'll come up with a side-story of how Stoick comes to own Skullcrusher. Leave a review and tell me if you've got any good ideas for the story. I'd appreciate it!