Hiccup
It was just about as beautiful a day you could get on the island of Berk, so I was taking a long flight with my dragon Toothless. For the most part, it proved to be a pretty uneventful journey. We were flying over one of the big forests, so we saw a couple of Timberjacks and I think I spotted a Scauldron out to sea, but other than that, it was simply a relaxing time-killer.
At least, that's what I thought until a fireball almost scorched my face.
"Whoa!" Toothless made an alarmed noise and swerved violently to the right. It hadn't been a fireball exactly, I realized as another one shot up from the trees in the same spot. It was more of a long tongue of flame, almost like a fountain of fiery doom spraying up from the pines.
Studying the erratic fireblasts, I was confused at the concept of them, or rather, what had made them. Dragons almost always breathed fire in explosive spurts, and even when they did occasionally use a sustained flame like the ones I was seeing, they were only able to sustain them inside their mouths, never at such a long range as this.
Of course, realizing this, I immediately became excited as I wondered if it could be some new species of dragon. The logical side of my brain doubted this, for in the last year-and-a-half since Berk had become dragon-friendly, we'd searched the entire island, and defenitely this forest. I decided to investigate anyway. If it was a new dragon, great! I could study and train it, just as I had done with the rest of the species. And even if it wasn't, I was sure there was a good explanation for these firebursts, and it wouldn't disrupt my daily life.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Zuko
"Arrgh!"
I punched the air again in frustration, sending a bolt of flame from my fist. I had no idea what was going on or why I was here. I took my fury out on the sky again.
What will the Fire Nation do when they find out their Fire Lord has just vanished? I wondered. What should I do now that my world has vanished and I've...appeared in another one?
I was tempted to punch the sky again, but I realized that if anyone saw that from afar, it would look quite suspicious. I had no idea if there were benders here, after all. Stupid self.
Needing another outlet, I decided to pace. Pacing seemed like a good idea, though it was hard not to run into any trees.
Swerving between two trunks, I thought aloud. "Okay," I muttered, "so I'm stranded in a strange forest in a strange world with no way as of yet to get home. What should I do?" I considered my options. "A: I could try to survive out in the wilderness until I can get home. B: I could climb a tree to see where I am and if I can spot anything familiar. C:..." I frowned. "I could see if I can find any people and get some help."
That was a tricky one. One the one hand, if there were any people here, they would surely have food and shelter and maybe know how I could get home. On the other, though, if they were hostile, they could capture me or even kill me. Sure, I had my bending, but that wouldn't be enough to defend against a whole army.
I sighed to myself and decided to risk it. I headed towards the nearest tree—seeing my location sounded like a good idea anyway. I put my hands and sized up the jump to the nearest branch. I squinted at it.
"Hmm. Maybe if I—aah!"
For a few seconds, I was aware only of a huge black mass bowling me over and a stab of pain as my head collided with the cold, hard ground. Lights danced in front of my vision, but when I cleared it, I saw the gaze of a predator.
Huge tea green eyes bored into mine, their pupils thin slits. I couldn't help shaking as the creature bared its teeth and snarled at me, its four limbs pinning my own. I wasn't sure what the beast was, but I guessed that it was some sort of giant reptile because of the dark scales covering its body. I assumed the animal would eat me right there, but instead it pulled its head back a little.
And then I locked eyes with the human on its back.
