Credit to bkwrm19 for beta reading again!

Chapter 3 -Mysterious Attack

"Alright, c'mon, bud!" Hiccup urged Toothless as they flew in front of the others, towards the direction of the fish's migratory route towards Berk. In the correct direction.

"Hiccup! How much farther?" Astrid shouted after a couple of hours of non-stop air time.

"Not too far. Only a few miles left." Hiccup called back.

The assurance was barely given, however, before Toothless' head began to whip this way and that in a confused sort of manner, almost as if he didn't know where he was going.

"Toothless, what's the matter?" Hiccup asked, but the dragon ignored him, frantically looking around at the sky, the clouds, the sea, even some seaweed, muscles tight with tension and ears alert.

Hiccup was just about to ask again, when…

"Arrrrwww..." A noise boomed off in the distance.

"Uh…Hiccup?...what was that?" Snotlout asked nervously.

"I'd know that sound anywhere..." Hiccup muttered thoughtfully, more to himself than to answer Snotlout's question, "but it certainly didn't come from Toothless..." Hiccup trailed off, thinking hard. If he didn't know better, he would say…but no, it couldn't be…but where had it come from?

A flicker of movement on his right side told him the answer,

"INCOMING!" He cried, and not a second too soon.

"-CHA-POO!" Everyone dove out of the way of a purple fire ball, whirling around just in time to see where it was headed: straight for Hiccup.

"WHOA!" Hiccup cried.

"Raahh!" Toothless shouted.

"Toothless, quick! Do a barrel roll!" Fishlegs shouted from somewhere on their left. Toothless did as ordered without question, miraculously sparing Hiccup's head from the violet flames.

"Holy Odin, what in the name of Odin's axe was that?" Tuffnut shouted.

"Bet it was something you don't know." Ruffnut shouted back, laughing.

"Oh please, you don't know it either!"

"Says you! You don't know it either!"

"You don't know it either!"

"You too!"

"Yo-"

"CA'H YU STAWP ZAAAAAT?" Gobber screamed, his Monstrous Nightmare giving a roar of agreement.

"Fine." The twins grumbled, looking determinedly away from each other.

"Kinda remind's us of us, don't you think?" Asked Tuffnut's dragon head to Ruffnut's in the grunts and growls the Vikings didn't understand.

"Yep!" Ruffnut's dragon's head agreed, leaving no hint for doubt.

A dark mass that could only be a dragon heading for them broke the chatter as it, once again, headed straight for Hiccup, who watched it approaching, squinting in concentration to identify it. As it got closer, the skinny hero's eyes widened in dawning realization.

"Is that...a..." Hiccup trailed off, hardly daring to believe it.

Toothless had seen it too, and was equally stunned, if for different reasons, "No...it can't be...is that...my..." Toothless trailed off as well, green eyes straining for a better look, not realizing his wings had stopped moving, slowly sinking towards the untamed ocean below.

"SON! YOU'RE SINKING!" Stoick shouted to Hiccup, voice slightly panicked.

Hiccup blinked back to reality, "Hu-TOOTHLESS!" he shouted frantically, desperate to get his friend's attention, lest they drown.

Snapping back to the present, Toothless shook his head, forcing his wings back in motion and re-ascending to everyone else's height once more.

"Crud! Nightmare, use a fireball!" The otherwise very tough Viking cried to his Nightmare, who responded with a retaliating orange and yellow fireball of his own. It countered the attacker's fireball, making a small, but burning hot explosion.

Trusting Toothless to keep an eye out for any more fireballs, Hiccup began searching the ocean below. He knew that as long as they were in the air, that dragon had the advantage. On solid ground, they might have a chance.

Within seconds, he found some. "Quick! Let's get to that nearby island!" Hiccup called back to the rest.

No one needed telling twice. Following their leader, they descended into the largest clearing on the island they could find, expecting immediate retaliation from their attacker. Upon landing, however, the mysterious dragon was nowhere to be found.

"That was too close..." Hiccup groaned, as he slid off Toothless.

"Yeah, no kidding..." Toothless replied, resting his head on his crossed arms.

"Hu-What the-" Hiccup stumbled and literally fell, before picking himself up, eyes never leaving Toothless' face.

"What?" Toothless asked curiously, picking his head up from his arms.

Hiccup tried to answer, but the words stuck in his throat, producing nothing more than a choked "Yo - ho - The-Y-"

"Is there something on my face?" Toothless asked, pawing his nose in concern.

"Y-" Even all the other vikings that landed with Hiccup couldn't say anything. No one answered him, preferring to gape at him instead.

"No, there's nothing on your face..." Astrid's Nadder assured him, but the answer caused the Vikings to gape at HIM as well. The vikings just gaped at Nadder, and back at Toothless, cycling on and on.

Watching the group of Vikings continue to shift their gaze to one after another, though, was starting to get on Toothless' nerves. "Stop staring at us!" He roared, lowering himself as he would to attack prey, eyes slits as he glared at the offenders to emphasize his annoyance.

"Hey, just because you're staring at them doesn't mean you can force them to do something!" Snotlout's Nightmare called, joining in the conversation from the other side of the field.

The eye-shifting and gaping added a third member to their list.

"Ugh, STOP STARING AT THEM!" It was Fishlegs' Gronckle who was roaring now, and Fishlegs' Gronckle rarely raised its voice.

But the Vikings didn't noticed; they were about to fall over in shock, still stunned into silence.

"Ok, THAT'S IT!" Toothless did a barrel roll and slapped Hiccup in the face.

"DAH! Ow. Toothless!" Hiccup cried, falling over from both the force of the slap and surprise. He got back up quickly though, hands up and palms out as if in surrender, "Toothless! Toothless, wait!" he cried; The dragon was about to make another charge, "We're sorry for staring, but it's not every day dragons just randomly start talking in a language we can understand. It's a bit of a new experience for us. I hope you understand." Hiccup couldn't help but add the sarcasm, despite the revelation.

Now it was the dragons' turn to stare.

"I'm...we're...talking in human language?" Toothless stuttered after a moment, unsure of whether or not to believe his friend.

"Yep. We understand every word." Came the confident reply.

He had answered. Hiccup had answered his question! He really could understand.

Toothless looked up to find the others of his kind with equal nonplussed expressions, all six pairs of eyes on him as it slowly began to sink in:

They could talk to Vikings.

Yeah, lots of things to wonder about here! In the next few chapters, it'll probably get serious!