This would be sometime during the Defenders of Berk series. This is the only story I have ever written and it will probably be the last. Try not to judge too harshly, I'm only a kid, not Thoreau. Sorry it's so long...and that the formatting looks weird.

I swept my sopping hair back out of my eyes as I ran, pain shooting through my injured arm. My breath came in shocking stabs, and my rough panting could even be heard over the din of the storm and the shaking trees. Thunder boomed, and the sky lit up like a torch, illuminating the body of the relentless flying creature that pursued me. My legs weakened at the sight. My stomach turned inside of me at my sudden increase in speed. I ran on.

I threw myself to the ground as it dove towards me, it's jaws snapping shut where my legs had been a moment before. I scrambled to the side under the cover of rotting tree roots and shuddered at the metallic taste of blood leaking from inside my cheek; I must've bit it as I fell. Claws touched down outside of my hiding spot and a low and frustrated growl sounded as well. " Easy Bud…" it's rider chided.

I rubbed grime from my forehead and sucked in an unsteady breath as I drew my dagger out of it's filthy, mud-caked sheath, steeling myself for whatever attack the pair was readying. I unwound my bolas from about my waist, as I'd been using it as a belt, and swung it around in a whirring blur. I took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in my stomach. It would be better to strike before they did. The muted sounds of the sea battle reached my ears, and I closed my eyes, shakily whispering, "Sorry Dad…"

Hiccup's POV

"C'mon Bud, one's getting up in the woods!" Toothless snorted good-naturedly. Like you knew before me, he seemed to say. We surveyed the burning wreck of a ship before us, confident the runner was the only soldier not yet retreating with the rest of the Berserker Fleet.

I shouted to the gang at their respective positions, "We've got this one, we'll be back in a minute". We took off, Astrid shouting at me to hurry up so we could help Fishlegs with his boat. Toothless rose above the trees, slowing his pace to match that of the man's darkened form. Lightning crashed, and I saw that he was a fairly small fellow.

Toothless can overpower him easily, I thought. I shifted my foot back and Toothless responded, diving swiftly towards the soldier, snapping his jaws where he should've been, but was no more. Yak dung! I mentally cursed. Toothless alit on the wet soil, snarling in frustration as he impatiently dug his talons into the mud. "Easy Bud…" I said, patting his neck. Toothless swiveled his head around, shifting into a tense, battle-ready position. I bent low over his neck, my shield's weight pressing familiarly down on my shoulders. Where could he have gone? I wondered.

I heard a faint whirring sound to my right and something hard struck me in the side of my head. I cried out. Spots danced before my eyes and someone tackled me off of Toothless, pushing me into the soft clay-like ground. I shoved the butt of my hand up into their filthy shoulder, trying to break their grip on me. Toothless whipped his head around and flared his wings, giving a mighty rage-filled screech that would've scared the life out of me had I been on the receiving end. The soldier's eyes widened as he tried to scramble away, but he was a bit slow.

Toothless, in turn, tackled the soldier to the ground, then grabbed him by his shoulder and flung him sideways into the air. The soldier's shriek was cut off abruptly as he crashed into one of the towering trees nearby, body crumpling awkwardly to the ground below.

Toothless eyes' widened as he came back to me, nuzzling my chest and sniffing around me for any serious injuries, crooning in that peculiar way of his. I slipped out of my shield and yanked it from the mud, staggering back as it popped out with a drippy-sounding squelch. Toothless caught me as I staggered back and propped me carefully upright, worred. I probed the the side of my head and winced as my fingers traveled to the bloody lump there, a souvenir of the recent scuffle which had previously occurred. I rubbed rain from my eyes and scratched his head. "I'm okay Bud." I reassured him, albeit unconvincingly. He crooned at me again in reply, licking my face as he did.

A stifled, hiccuping moan came from behind us. We turned around, searching the underbrush for the soldier. A lighting flash revealed a lump of mud that looked particularly human-like, so I we crept over to investigate, alert. The soldier's eyes appeared dazed and fearful. They were the only of his features I could tell apart from bloody mud surrounding his face. He doggedly clung to a worn, short dagger, the only weapon I could see on his person. I kicked it away from him, cautious after his bold attack before.

Toothless rumbled his disapproval of the soldier in his throat, and I had to agree. He's so small! I thought. He's barely my size. What idiot would ever let him fight? The rain came down harder as I stood watching the mud wash away from the soldier's face, curious as to why he was actually here. Toothless came up to the soldier, who whimpered pitifully. He brushed his snout against the soldier's face, sniffing him interestedly, off-handedly clearing away some of the bloody mud from his brow.

He passed out, either from pain or from fright I don't know, because at that moment, I was distracted by some crucial details I had missed in the dark. The "soldier" was about my own age, If not younger by his body size, and was clearly not part of the army. I don't even think he was a Berserker.

Oh, and "he," was actually a little girl.

...

Sorry, that was probably really bad, although I tend to be harsher on myself than other people are. Anyway, the next chapter will be up sometime, but I once again warn you, THIS WILL PROBABLY NEVER GET FINISHED, so if you don't want your dreams crushed like mine were you should stop reading this a chapter ago.