How to Train Your
Dragon
2
Chapter 1
Way up near the Arctic Circle a little island called Berk used to exist under the constant threat of dragons. For three hundred years the Vikings fought them and killed them. Until five years ago when a small boy named Hiccup shot down a young, wild Night Fury, a dragon no one had ever seen before. But Hiccup caught it, but when he found it in the woods he noticed that the dragon had lost his left tailfin. Feeling sorry for the creature Hiccup decided that instead of killing it he would help the dragon fly again, so he trained it. And from that moment on Hiccup's life, and the lives of Vikings and dragons alike were never the same again.
And now five years later the dragons were living happily and in their new home among the humans. They had been through many hardships together, they battled Outcasts, Berserkers, and wild dragons. But now with no threat heading their way the Vikings and dragon could take part in a new hobby of theirs; Dragon Racing. This was the new big thing on Berk. Dragon riders would fly all around the village, picking up painted sheep, and throwing them into baskets. The dragons enjoyed the sport as much as the Vikings did, because they loved chasing sheep.
During the finals five of Berk's finest Dragon Riders flew through the racing obstacles, looking for the sheep. Fishlegs and his Gronkle Meatlug flew down and picked up a sheep that had a bull's eye painted on it. Meatlug clutched the sheep in her talons, giggling when the sheep tried to protest. She flew as fast as she could but, was suddenly robbed of the sheep by Snotlout and his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang. Astrid watched all this from her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly. She rolled her eyes when Snotlout tossed the sheep to Ruffnut, who shaped a Zippleback, named Barf and Belch, with her twin brother Tuffnut. Astrid steered Stormfly after the Zippleback, to try and steel the sheep. The dragons raced through the village, which had adapted to a life with dragons. The racers flew though a huge hanger under the village where the dragons slept every night, except for a select few who were small and well behaved enough to sleep in their owner's houses. Next they flew behind the village where there stood an enormous Golden Apple Tree that the dragons grazed from. The tree had been given to them by a Dragon Healer, named Serenity, who was currently living with her dragon family in the dragon's homeland Draconia. Berk had a good alliance with the Draconian King: Re, and his Queen Aurora.
Finally the racers reached the plaza where the stands and finish line waited. The crowd cheered as the racers raced towards the line of baskets, which already had sheep in them. Ruffnut threw her sheep into the basket, which had an isinignia of a Zippleback on it. The racers went in for the final lap. Chief Stoic the Vast, now in his fifties, watched the races from his special platform with the village elder, Gothi, and Gobber his best friend and village blacksmith. As the riders went in for the last lap Gobber went down the steps of the platform and over to a device that launched sheep into play. At the moment the valuable black sheep was in the sheep launcher. The black sheep was the sheep that ended the game and who ever got it into their basket first got double points.
"Have a nice flight," Gobber sneered at the sheep, the animal looked nervous. But Gobber ignored it and launched the sheep into play. It was quickly snatched up my Meatlug. The Gronkle flew off with the sheep in Fishlegs's arms. Then Fishlegs tossed it to Ruffnut. Astrid rolled her eyes again. Fishlegs and Snotlout had been trying as hard as they could to attract Ruffnut, and both failed every time. Astrid steered Stormfly after the Barf and Belch. The Nadder closed in very easily. Then the Twins started fighting over the black sheep, giving Astrid the chance she needed. She leaped onto the Zippleback and ran up to the split in the dragon's neck, she jumped, grabbed the sheep, and landed back in her saddle. The crowd cheered as the dragons flew through the dragon hanger. Astrid urged Stormfly onward. They flew behind the village, over the Golden Apple Tree, and back into the plaza. Stormfly put on one last burst of speed and headed for the baskets. When they got close enough Astrid threw the sheep into her basket, to an uproar of cheers.
"Good girl Stormfly," Astrid praised. Stormfly squawked happily as they went in for their victory lap.
However while the other dragons were racing each other Hiccup and Toothless were miles away racing the wind. They sped over the ocean, not a spec of land insight. They flew so close to the water and so fast that Toothless made a wake on the surface. Suddenly a family of Thunderdrums leaped out of the water all around the Night Fury. Toothless dodged them easily. Hiccup watched the wild dragons, and could of sworn he recognized one of them as his dad's old riding dragon Thornado. When the Thunderdrums went back under Hiccup steered Toothless high into the clouds. Toothless spun rapidly; then he stalled and fell, back first, towards the water again. Hiccup steered his dragon back up into normal flying. Toothless was now gliding over the clouds and was joined by a few Timberjacks. When the wild dragons spotted the Night Fury they flew off and Hiccup and Toothless had the sky to themselves again. Hiccup sat up and put the handle bars away. There was a new trick he wanted try.
"So what to you say bud," he said, patting Toothless on the head. "Want to give this another shot?" His voice was slightly muffled by his spiked mask. Toothless grunted and his eyes went wide, and if to say 'oh you've got to be kidding me'.
"Come on Toothless," Hiccup said. "It'll be fine." He locked the red tail fin into an open position so the dragon could still fly, unhooked his left leg from the stirrup, and slid swidways off the saddle. He fell through the clouds with his dragon diving after him. Toothless spun slowly. When he was parallel with his rider he flashed him a gummy smile. Then Hiccup slipped his hands into two leather loops near his ankles and pulled out a set of leather wings. The wind carried him back up into the clouds. Toothless snapped open his own wings and glided behind Hiccup. As they glided through the sky Hiccup released a leather fin on his back to help keep him stabilized. Toothless watched him and couldn't help but be amazed, he never thought in a million years that a human being would make his own wings and fly without the help of a dragon. They flew smoothly until a huge sea stack came out of no where, and Hiccup was heading right for it.
"Toothless help!" he cried. The Night Fury pumped his wings as hard as he could. He was slowly closing in. He had two problems; one he only had half a tail, and that meant he couldn't fly as fast as he liked, and two he was flying into a strong head wind. But he didn't give up. He pumped his wings harder, praying to Lord Draco he would make it. Then he shot a plasma blast at the rock, but then he finally caught up with Hiccup. He grabbed his rider in his paws and they headed for the ground. Just before they hit the top of a cliff Toothless wrapped his wings around Hiccup and they crashed through a few trees, landing all tangled up on a tall hill. Toothless got to his feet and shook the dirt off him. Hiccup disentangled himself from the dragon's wing and sat up. He clicked a few gears in his metal leg and it switched from flying mode to walking mode. He stood up, a bit shaky.
"Not our best landing huh bud," he said as he put the leather wings away. Toothless gurgled harshly. When the leather wings were all rolled up and the back fin reeled back in Hiccup took off his masked helmet and ruffled out his shaggy brown hair.
Hiccup had grown a great deal since his battle with the Red Death. Though he was still a toothpick he was now taller than his fellow riders. His outfit had changed from a green tunic, pants and a brown belt; to a suit of armor that was mostly made of hard leather, that had slots and pockets all over it. On his right shoulder plate was a the same dragon skill insignia as on Toothless's tailfin. On his left hip was his new sword, Inferno, which had a retractible blade coated in Monstrous Nightmare saliva and could be set on fire. Pretty much everything he wore was no doubt inspired by Toothless.
"We've really got to work on your solo gliding there but," Hiccup droned. Toothless scowled, he wanted an apology from Hiccup for scaring him. He huffed and used his tail to through a pebble into the back of Hiccup's head. Hiccup turned around to see the dragon giving him a frowny face.
"Oh what you want an apology?" Hiccup said amused. "You, pouting big baby." Toothless just rolled his green eyes and flapped his jaw.
"Okay than try this on," Hiccup shouted and attacked the dragon's neck in an attempt to push him over. But unfortunately Toothless had grown a great deal as well. His spines were bigger and sharper and he was now more muscular. So Hiccup found that trying to tackle him was like trying to push over an oak tree.
"You feeling it yet?" Hiccup cried playfully. "All of my heartfelt remorse?" He kept trying get Toothless to move. But the dragon simply stood up on his hind legs and walked, human style, to the edge of the cliff.
"You wouldn't hurt a one-legged..." Hiccup started, but was cut off when he suddenly found himself dangling over the ocean. He instantly panicked and clung to Toothless's strong neck.
"Okay, okay you win," Hiccup said, a bit nervous. Satisfied Toothless fell over backwards and Hiccup now found himself pinned to the ground under the Night Fury's power paws. Hiccup shoved the front paws off.
"Oh it's ugly," Hiccup said, still playfully. "Vikings and dragons, enemies again." Toothless began pawing at him, being careful not to scratch him with is talons. Hiccup shoved the paws out of the way. When that didn't work Toothless slammed his big head onto Hiccup's chest, just to keep him from escaping. Then Toothless began attacking his rider with dragon kisses. Hiccup protested and tried to get away, but Toothless was very strong and he just kept licking him.
"Come on Toothless, cut it out," Hiccup said. Toothless stopped and let him get to his feet. Hiccup began the disgusting process of ridding himself of the sticky saliva.
"You know that doesn't wash out," he said, annoyed. Toothless just laughed at him. Hiccup got him to shut up by flinging the saliva onto the dragon's nose. Toothless snorted and began grooming himself like a kitten. Hiccup then turned his attention to the large valley that spread below them, the trees were red with autumn leaves.
"Looks like we found another one bud," he said, amazed. He reached into a hidden pocket in his chest plate and pulled out a notebook, which had a huge map folded inside it. He opened the map and spread it out on the grass. He reached into more pockets and pulled out a charcoal pen, and a dagger. He used the dagger to sharpen the charcoal pen then put it way. He opened a small compartment in his arm plate where he kept his spare sheets of paper. He pulled out a single sheet. He held it in front of Toothless's face, and the dragon licked one side of it. Hiccup then attached it to the rest of the map. In addition to its healing properties, Hiccup found that Night Fury saliva made a great glue. Once the paper was in place Hiccup put the pen in between his teeth and looked at a small compass on his wrist. Then he began to document the island.
"What should we name it?" he asked Toothless. The dragon used his teeth to scratch an itch under his left front leg, and Hiccup took that as his answer.
"Itchy Armpit it is," he said writing it down. "So you think we might find a few Timberjacks in those woods, or maybe a Whispering Death. Who knows, maybe we'll finally track down another Night Fury." He sat back on his heels, a far away look on his face.
"Wouldn't that be something," he said dreamily. He looked at Toothless, who had the same far way expression. Finding another Night Fury was something both of them had been dreaming about for years. Neither of them knew were they nested, just where they didn't. Hiccup was starting to wonder if Toothless was the last one, and he certainly hoped not. As Hiccup went back to documenting the island he heard the sound of flapping wings and the squawk of a Nadder. Hiccup looked over his shoulder as Astrid and Stormfly landed right behind Toothless.
"Good afternoon milady," Hiccup said politely as Astrid dismounted. Toothless began prancing around happily.
"Will you calm down Toothless?" Stormfly laughed.
"Why should I?" Toothless said. "It's a great day."
"So what's been going on with you two?" Stormfly asked. "You weren't at the races."
"Oh codheads," Toothless said, a little disappointed. "And I really wanted to race, oh well. Who won?"
"I did of course," said Stormfly cooly. "It was nice to be a winner and not second for once. But enough about me, what's going on with you?"
"Well," Toothless began. "This morning I follow Hiccup down the stairs where we find Stoic waiting. He looks his son in the eye, and after a long speech about Hiccup being the pride of Berk, he tells him that he's ready to make him chief. But instead of responding Hiccup rushes me outside, gets on my back, and we take off as fast as my wings can carry us."
"Wow, chief," Stormfly praised. "That must a big deal for Hiccup."
"Yeah but I don't think he's too enthusiastic about it," Toothless said. "He must be very nervous about being chief."
"It is a big job," Stormfly agreed. They both looked over at the two humans, who were having a similar conversation.
"I think he worries about being a good leader," Toothless said. "And I be honest I'm a bit nervous myself. He's going to be so busy with chiefing that we won't be able to fly free." He looked sadly at his red tailfin.
"Well perhaps you could help him out," Stormfly said. "He might find time, and if his other friends helped him out as well."
"You're right," Toothless said. "And he'll still have the alliance with the Draconian King and Queen, in case something bad comes his way."
"If we ever see them again," said Stormfly. "It's been three years since we saw them last."
"There's probably a lot happening in the fatherland," Toothless said. "So much that Re and Aurora can't get a vacation." Suddenly they heard their riders calling them.
"Stormfly!" called Astrid.
"Toothless!" called Hiccup. The two dragons ran back to their riders, who looked uneasy. Toothless nudged Hiccup, and gave him a concerned croon.
"I'm fine buddy, but we need to check out that," Hiccup said. He pointed to the horizon where Toothless could faintly see a black column of smoke, outlined in the sea fog. The two riders got on their dragons and flew towards it.
The dragons flew over the cliffs and suddenly found a huge patch of the forest that had been burned, and rather recently from the smell. Both the dragons and the riders got a strong sense of foreboding. Hiccup looked behind him as Astrid, she looked a bit scared.
"Stay close," he warned. They picked up speed and cleared the island. What they saw on the horizon, was incredible. A bunch of enormous spikes of ice that did not look like they were put there by Mother Nature. The spikes formed an iceberg, almost as big as Berk's whole village. Some sort of wooden structure was caught in the ice, looking like it had been caught by a giant, white, frozen squid. Hiccup and Astrid steered their dragons around the ice spears, everything was dead quiet. Toothless became restless, he did not like this place at all. He squirmed and gurgled.
"It's okay bud," Hiccup assured his dragon, but Toothless didn't believe him.
"What could've done this?" Astrid said, with a sense of dread. Suddenly there came a shout from the destroyed structure.
"FIRE!" Then there came a loud click and several bolas came flying at them.
"Look out!" Hiccup shouted. He managed to get Toothless out of the way, but the bolas got Stormfly. It pinned her wings to her side and tangled up her feet. The Nadder fell, squirming madly and knocking Astrid off her back. Hiccup steered his dragon after her. Toothless dived as fast as he could, and as a Night Fury that was pretty fast. He caught up to Astrid and she landed on his back behind Hiccup. Then the dragon and his passengers began to look around for Stormfly. They found her in a net and being pined down by half a dozen vikings. Toothless flew down and landed in front of the trappers.
"Stormfly!" Astrid called. She and Hiccup got off Toothless and went into a defensive mode. Hiccup whipped out Inferno and waved the burning blade at the trappers, keeping them from getting Toothless as well. The trappers halted and turned to their leader, perched on Stormfly's head. The leader was a viking about a year older than the riders.
"Well buckle me bridges," he sneered with a thick english accent. "That is a Night Fury, thought they were all gone for good." Toothless flinched a little at this, but then went back to snarling.
"We don't want any trouble," said Hiccup, still swinging Inferno at the advancing vikings.
"You should have thought about before steeling all of our dragons," sneered the leader. "And blowing our fort to bits." He pointed to what looked like a tower with a large ice spear shot through it.
"What are you talking about?" asked Astrid.
"You think we did this?" said Hiccup, a little shocked.
"Dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is," said the leader. "Without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them."
"There are other riders?" asked Hiccup.
"Apart from your thieving friend from last night? you tell me," said the leader. "You may have an ice spitting dragon on our side, but we've still have a quota to fill. Drago Bludvist is expecting a new batch of dragons for his dragon army."
"Dragon army?" said Hiccup, confused. "Ice spitting dragon? does anything you say make sense? Hostile viking that we don't even know."
"Oh where are my manners?" the leader said, still sneering. "I'm Eret, son of Eret. Finest dragon trapper in the whole archipelago. After all it's not just anyone who can capture a Night Fury." He pointed his sword at Toothless, who flashed his teeth and growled.
"And this is Toothless," said Hiccup. "And he says we're leaving." Eret chuckled.
"They all say that," he said. He was about to shout 'fire' at his trappers when suddenly there came a huge jet of blew fire that hit the trappers and stopped them from firing. Then a large green dragon wearing gold armor dropped out of the sky and cracked his long tail like a whip at Eret. Then he shot salmon pink fire at the other trappers. Seeing an opportunity Hiccup ran over to Stormfly and cut her ropes with Inferno. The dragon got to her feet and ran to Astrid. Hiccup got on Toothless and Astrid got on Stromfly, they took off before the trappers got to there feet. Eret watched them fly away, outraged.
"You will never hold on to those dragons!" he roared. "Drago is coming for them all!" The riders ignored and flew away. They were joined by the green dragon who Hiccup recognized at once.
"Re," he said. "What are you doing out here?"
"Getting some fresh air," Re said. "The three of us have been cooped up in our castle for too long."
"Where are the other two?" asked Astrid.
"Up ahead," Re said. They looked in front of them, where two dragons were flying next to each other; one was sapphire blue with a deep turquoise underside and silver armor. The other one was jet black with black armor.
The three of these dragons looked a bit different from the dragons around Berk. They had long, thick necks, long tails, large wings, one pair of horns on the back of their heads, narrow heads, Re and the blue dragon, Aurora, had the bodies and legs on huge wolves; Tenor, the black dragon, had the body and legs of a large panther. Re and Aurora were the size of Clydesdale horse while Tenor was the size of an arabian. They were each wearing armor in the color and design of their choice, with their own personal crest on their head plates: Re's was a green dragon with his wings open and held a golden apple in one talon and a golden music note in the other, it was surrounded by a blue circle; this crest was the crest of the country he ruled over. Aurora's crest was a huge snowflake made out of sapphires and turquoise stones that matched her scales. Tenor's crest was silver crescent moon surrounded by silver stars.
Re and Aurora were Whippertails, with the last third of their tails had no bones just solid muscle. They could use their tails to grab things and were so thin they could be used as whips. Tenor was the most unusual dragon; apart of him was a Blackfang, where his teeth were pitch black and so venomous they could kill anything in less than an instant; in addition to that he had the skin, eyes, wings, tail, sonar flaps (instead of horns), and spines of a Night Fury. Tenor had been abandoned as an egg and grew up with Re and Aurora, who were quite positive that he was the only Night Fury hybrid in existence.
Aurora and Tenor spotted Re and the two riders approaching them and slowed down the let them catch up. Tenor and Aurora flew on either side of Re.
"What have you guys been doing?" Hiccup asked. "We haven't see you in three years."
"Wow three years," Re said. "Time has flown. Well a lot of things have happened at home; from earthquakes and volcanoes, to a big wall I built on my shores to keep out assassins."
"Earthquakes and volcanoes?" said Astrid.
"Tidal waves too," said Re. "About three of my mountains blew their heads off, and flattened a good chunk of my forests, and burned two of my towns. So now I have five active volcanoes, counting the two I have already."
"That is a lot," said Hiccup. Re shrugged.
"Well that what we've been up to," he said. "What's been happening on Berk?"
"We've come up with a new sport," said Hiccup, excited. "We call it Dragon Racing."
"Dragon Racing!?" said all three dragons at once.
"What a swell idea," said Tenor.
"And that's not even the biggest news," Astrid exclaimed. "Stoic has decided to make Hiccup chief!"
"Oh wow," said Re, impressed. "You excited or nervous?"
"Nervous," said Hiccup. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for this big responsibility."
"A very rational reason to be nervous," Re said. "You want to be as good as your dad but you're afraid of failing at it, because you've never been a chief before. And you're worried about not having enough time for flying and traveling, because you'll be really busy." Hiccup was impressed, Re had hit the bulls eye.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"Because I went through the same thing just before I was crowned King," Re said. "My parents made it look so easy, running a nation as big as Draconia, and I thought there was no way I could be as good as them."
"You do make it look easy, what's your secret?" Hiccup asked, hungry for tips.
"These two," Re said jabbing a thumb as Tenor and Aurora. "I find being a leader is so much easier when I have help, 'cause then I don't have to make all the decisions or come up with all the solutions."
At that moment Berk's tallest mountain appeared on the horizon. The dragons picked up the speed.
"Thanks for your help back there by the way," said Astrid.
"You're welcome," said Re. With that they headed for the plaza.
