I've had this sitting on my computer gathering digital dust for a while now and now that I've finished my Blackburn Jaegers twoshot about Krane, I figured why not give this story some attention as we prepare arc 2 of City Shadows? This story is a sequel to Stormchasers and focuses on Sigrid and her dragons as she flees Baldr, who relentless pursues her. This first chapter focuses on how she meets Velius Flynn and his dragons, but later chapters will feature Hiccup and the Berk Vikings, as many have asked about.

I do not own How to Train Your Dragon. Any OCs belong to Zephyros-Phoenix and Dingo-Sniper.

Sigrid pierced her sword into the stream, once again missing one of the fish that swam through it. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, stomping the ground, which only ended up splashing more water onto her boots and pants. She sharply turned her head to Voltage, her Skrill, as he casually sat on the damp grass along the stream. She narrowed her eyes at him when she heard his throaty chuckle. "Hey! Give me a break! I can track a rabbit or deer and take them down with my bow, no problem! But fishing?" When Voltage gave out a tired and uninterested yawn, Sigrid angrily stomped over to him. "Hey, I'm trying my best here! And don't give me that look! If we don't catch any fish, none of us get to eat tonight," she said. Smog, her young Smothering Smokebreath gave a sad whimper as he looked at Sigrid with big, gold eyes. "Aw, I know you're hungry Smog," she said, lightly patting him. "Well I'd like to see you try, Voltage."

Voltage gave an annoyed huff as he stood up and stretched his limbs. He marched over to the stream, giving a confident smirk to Sigrid as he passed her. He stepped into the stream before unleashing the electricity stored in his body. Sigrid held up her arms to shield her eyes from the bright light it created. When the light dimmed, Voltage stepped out of the stream and returned to his resting space. Sigrid looked over to see several dead fish piling up in the stream.

"Show off," she muttered. Sigrid picked up a few fish and returned to their roaring fire. By the time her fish was nice and roasted, Voltage and Smog had already downed their share. She was about to take a bite when she noticed something move beside her. She looked down from the corner of her eye to see Smog, sitting obediently as his tail wagged fiercely and he looked at her with big, round eyes. Sigrid sighed before handing Smog her fish, which he happily munched. "I never liked fish anyway," she said, as Smog gave a content little burp.

"Well I guess since you two are taking your post-food nap, I'll go see if I can find something for me to eat," she said, picking up her weapons. She made her way carefully through the wilderness, careful to make as little sound as possible. She found a good hiding spot behind some bushes and waited until something came into sight. She readied her bow and pulled back but stopped when she saw that what entered her sight was human.

The first thing that came to her mind was her greatest fear. Baldr and his friends couldn't possibly have found her this quickly! That lightning bolt they rode when they first escaped had to put them days of flying ahead of Baldr's group. And they only ever stopped for food and rest. They couldn't have caught up to them this quickly! She sheathed her bow and slowly reached for her sword. The boy bent down to examine something, so she took this chance to sneak along the trees to him.

"Oh perfect! These are Shimmer's favorite flowers!" the boy exclaimed, picking the flowers and pocketing them into a small pouch. As he stood, Sigrid took the chance to rush up to him. She swiftly brought her sword to his throat and cupped her hand over his mouth to silence his startled cry.

"Don't move a muscle," she warned. She felt him tense before pushing him against a tree, putting her sword at his throat again.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, I surrender!" he pleaded.

"Where did you come from? How did you find me?"

"What? I was just out collecting flowers. I don't even know who you are!" he cried.

Sigrid certainly didn't recognize the boy, which meant that he wasn't a Stormchaser. "Collecting flowers? Please, is that the best excuse you can come up with?"

"It's the truth! My, uh, friend, she likes flowers!" he insisted.

"What this friend's deal? She you girlfriend?" Sigrid asked.

"You can ask her… right now," the boy smiled as Sigrid looked at him in confusion. All of a sudden, she felt something wrap tightly around her foot and lift her upside-down. She dropped her sword and cried out in surprise, struggling to free herself. "Thanks, Shimmer," he sighed, as a Changewing suddenly appeared over him, clinging to the tree.

"A Changewing!" Sigrid cried out in surprise. She looked up to see one of the Changewing's tendrils wrapped securely around her ankle. "You're a dragon rider?"

"Yup. And I wasn't lying; Shimmer really does love flowers," he said, taking the flowers out from his pouch and tossing them into the Changewing's large mouth.

Sigrid was about to say something in response, but was cut out by a thundering roar that echoed through the forest. "Wh-what was that?" the boy asked. Streams of white fire shot into the sky, prompting Sigrid to smirk. Smog suddenly burst out of the bushes and dug his fangs into Shimmer's tendril. She cried out in pain and released Sigrid but just before she hit the ground, Voltage angrily burst through the trees and grabbed her by her hood before lowering her safely to the ground.

"Whoa! A Skrill!" the boy cried, "and a Smothering Smokebreath! I've never seen those dragons before!"

"This is the part where you tell me who you are and I decide whether or not my dragon goes lightning spitter on you!" Sigrid threatened, drawing her bow. Her actions prompted Shimmer to extend her wings and snarl as Voltage and Smog responded in a similar manner. A tiny dragon of green with red stripes appeared by the boy as well, snarling and readying its stinger tail.

"Speed Stinger…" Sigrid gasped.

"Whoa, everyone calm down!" the boy said, moving to stand between both groups as he held out his arms to calm the snarling dragons. "Ok, the name's Velius Flynn, but everyone just calls me Flynn. These are my dragons Shimmer and Milo. I'm from the Tinkerers tribe. And you are?"

"Tinkerkers? I never heard of that tribe!" she said, cautiously keeping her bow drawn.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. The Berserkers did a real number on my tribe years back. I met Shimmer a few months ago, but I knew my tribe wasn't ready for dragons. So, I decided to travel around and hopefully find a way to help my tribe get back on it's feet!" he said proudly. "How about you?"

"Sigrid," she answered. "So, then you're not helping the Stormchasers?"

"Stormchasers? Who're they?" Flynn asked.

"My tribe, though we're not exactly on good terms anymore," Sigrid answered, lowering her bow as their dragons relaxed.

"Really? What happened?"

"Well, in my tribe, women aren't allowed to learn to fight or train dragons. Voltage, here, was supposed to be trained by the Chief's son, but let's just say he took a liking to me instead," she explained, lowering her bow as Voltage affectionately nuzzled her cheek with his head. "We ran as soon as we were discovered and they've been chasing us since." As she spoke, Voltage and Shimmer walked up to each other, carefully inspecting and sniffing one another while Smog and Milo did the same with each other.

"Ah, so you thought I was working with them right?"

"Yeah… sorry about that," she said. "I should've known anyway, Stormchaser men don't collect flowers. As they would say, 'that's a woman's job'."

"Hey, it's cool! It was just a misunderstanding!" he smiled. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, as Voltage suddenly came straight up to him.

"Voltage! Sorry, he's just… checking you out, that's all," Sigrid assured him. Voltage sniffed Flynn before backing off, his eyes locked in a narrow gaze at the boy.

"I-it's ok," he laughed nervously. "He's just being protective; I know someone like that," he said, looking over to Shimmer. "So, would you like to come back to our campsite? You must be starving!"

"Actually, I am. I gave my last fish to my little glutton, Smog, here," she said, as Smog affectionately rubbed himself against her leg.

"Great! I'm no hunter, but I'm great at setting traps and caught a few rabbits. Plus Shimmer prefers to eat these flowers and honeycombs, so there's more meat to go around!"

As they sat and talked that night, there wasn't a doubt in Sigrid's mind that this boy couldn't possibly be working for Baldr. For one thing, Flynn didn't know how to fight, and to Vikings like Baldr, that was the most important and only thing he looked for in other male Vikings. She and Smog went to sleep easily that night at Flynn's camp, though Voltage chose to remain awake just in case.

Since I'm planning on this being a short story, it might move at a faster pace than some of my other ones. But I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless.

Next chapter: Cover of Nightfall - Sigrid sneaks into Berk to steal supplies, but is unaware that Berk has now begun training dragons.