Half dragon Hiccup

A/N,

only a few new faces in the reviews and PM.

Is this chapter too fast?

Nightfuryfanfic! I managed to solve the problem of oxygen supply!

I keep on forgetting to use bold for dragon speech, so it shall be left as normal until maybe I can fix it later.

thank you all for reading this far.

Chapter 8: rider Island.

After a long time, night, and day. cruising over the water, Hiccup was starting to get tired,

"Can I give Astrid to one of you? I'm slightly exhausted"

To his surprise He got a reply from Stormfly, one of the first to reject the thought of being ridden by Astrid.

"I can carry her if you're tired, she doesn't seem to want to hurt you, so I think she's alright for me to carry."

Hiccup thanked Stormfly gently and then prepared to switch his rider over to her. He got into a position behind Stormfly and glided towards her until it was close enough for Astrid to switch. Hiccup encouraged her.

"Come on Astrid, I can't carry you any further and Stormfly agreed to carry you."

Thankfully understanding what to do Astrid lowered herself carefully onto Stormfly' s neck. Stormfly was prepared for struggling but was happily surprised when she felt Astrid scratching her neck. Stormfly turned to Hiccup.

"She is nice for a Viking, isn't she?"

Hiccup was glad that Astrid adjusted so well.

"I think it's because she already accepted what's happening, good on her."

Hiccup felt a bit weird being appreciative of the girl, but it was very brave of her to be so accepting of riding on her people's worst enemy"

Astrid was most definitely panicking on the inside, she was thousands of feet in the air, riding a dragon that she had fought before in the ring and probably still held a grudge against her. The only reason she was acting so calm was because she was afraid that she'd lose her balance and fall to her death. She nervously scratched the side of the dragon's neck 'good dragon, don't drop me dragon…' while she concentrated on staying on.

After a minute of Astrid being tense on Stormfly she began to relax again. In all her panic she had forgot to acknowledge the beauty of being thousands of feet in the air, clear blue skies, cool wind against her face and most importantly freedom from the ground. As she revelled in this welcome feeling she decided to take it slightly further.

"come on you beautiful (Astrid was trying to flatter it) dragon, can you do some tricks?"

Stormfly excitedly called for Hiccup

"hey Hiccup! The girl asked me for some tricks!"

Hiccup just smirked

"show her what you've got, girl!"

After a little twinge of mock disappointment of the flirting, Stormfly proceeded into her tricks. She could feel the girl's excitement as she performed her aerobatics, every change in direction caused her to yelp in surprise. After a rewarding showcase Stormfly settled back into normal flight.

Astrid was in awe at the agility of the dragon she was riding. She was having the time of her life discovering just how majestic the beasts of her nightmares really were. She showed this to Stormfly with energetic affection. Stormfly happily accepted the extra attention with a smile and a croon.

As the dragon's continued their cruising, an Island appeared on their right, it had steep cliffs and wide grasslands on top, with a little forest at the highest points. The dragons dropped out of their cruise and circled the Island, looking for other inhabitants. Finding nothing else living on the island they came in for a soft landing.

As the others recovered from their long flight Astrid decided to explore the island more. She eventually discovered a few small caves after a long time searching. Confusingly she found that the island did not have enough wood to make a good shelter. She voiced her discovery to Hiccup.

Hiccup considered this once he had shifted to human form. He eventually came up with a solution and proceeded with her to the nearest cave, he gestured the small interior of the cave

"this will be our shelter."

Astrid snorted at how dumb his explanation sounded

"and how will you fit all the dragons in here? There's barely enough room for one."

Hiccup looked back at her smugly.

"it just needs some interior redesigning."

Astrid looked at Hiccup in confusion until she saw the light blue glow emanating from his mouth. He kept his gaze aimed at the back of the cave until his shot blew that section apart. He looked at his handiwork with satisfaction.

"a few more shots like that, a bit of smoothing and it's perfect for us."

Astrid just sat down out of the blast zone as she waited for the work to be completed on her new home.

After a whole afternoon of work, blasting more space in the cave, Hiccup sending the other dragons off for supplies Hiccup and Astrid were left with nothing to do until the other dragons came back.

Astrid nervously asked what was going to happen to prepare for the oncoming night. Hiccup smiled at this and got to work constructing some beds. They only had wood from the scarce forests and seaweed from the shore, but Hiccup put together two ramshackle beds for the night. They smelt strongly of the sea but in a while they would lose that odour. Astrid asked how they would stay warm at night, but Hiccup quickly answered that one with a stream of fire at the mouth of the cave to keep the inside warm, he also used the rubble to construct temporary windbreaks.

After a day of preparation, they began to sleep.

After getting up in the morning after they first caught their meal of fish (caught by hiccup with his hands while hovering above the water). They then planned their entertainment until the dragons returned with more supplies. Eventually they ended up near the cliffside of the island answering more of Astrid's questions.

"do they have names? I heard you talk to them, but you never really mention what their names are."

Hiccup explained "well… the Nadder is Stormfly, the Gronkle is called Meatlug, the Zippleback's heads are called Barf and Belch and the terrible terror (who had ridden on Meatlug) is called Speedburn."

Processing their names Astrid filed them away and prepared for her next question.

"have you forgiven me for what I did?"

Hiccup laughed a great deal. Astrid was confused but Hiccup explained.

"I forgave you the moment you decided to go with us on our escape."

Astrid was both shocked and happy to know how quickly she had been forgiven for the many years of bullying she had committed against this cheerful teen. One last question entered her mind.

"what do you plan to do to change the rest of the Viking's"

Hiccup replied, "I think I'll just try to stop the dragon raids and try to talk to Stoick after each one."

Astrid replied with confusion

"How are you going to prevent the raid"

Hiccup gave a cheeky smile

"with firepower I guess, I think I can get the dragons scared."

Astrid sighed, it was a plan, but it would take a lot of effort to convince the rest of the Viking's to cease their war. They waited in the overcast weather for the dragons to come back.

When the dragons came back they carried with them a lot of supplies. Astrid and Hiccup met the tired dragons and helped them to carry the supplies back to their base, once back they made adjustments. The floor was covered in furs to help keep the dragons warm, the entrance was covered with a curtain and the human's beds were remade with leather stretched over the wooden frame to remove the unpleasant seaweed. After the base was ready the dragons started to settle down for a rest. All except for Stormfly

Astrid heard the conversation between Hiccup and Stormfly. Although she could not hear exactly what was being said she could see a small amount of surprise registering on Hiccup's face. He faced her to deliver the message.

"for some reason Stormfly trusts you enough to give you the same kind of gift as Toothless gave me. You should be thankful, it is an advanced form of dragon magic and they only give it to those they trust. I'm also surprised, I thought she was still suspicious"

After a bit of annoyance that Hiccup couldn't see her as trustworthy she suddenly noticed the dramatic consequences of what he just said, although she was a bit wary of this change Hiccup reassured her.

"don't worry, it only allows you to change into a dragon and does nothing else negative to your body. It's practically perfect, for magic."

Having accepted the offer by Stormfly after Hiccup's calming words she prepared herself. She could see Stormfly concentrate on an internal feeling for a while.

After a minute Stormfly stopped her concentration and blew a cloud of dark orange onto her skin. Like on Hiccup her skin steadily absorbed the gas and she felt a small surge of energy.

After the change was done she was left confused as she had expected a more dramatic (and probably painful) change. However, Hiccup's smile told her the process was complete.

Hiccup surveyed the dragon and human as the magical process occurred. It was weird for him to see the process that had happened to him in third person and done by a different species of dragons. After a short period of hyperactivity, she looked in Hiccup's eyes for assurance, Hiccup noticed this and gave her a warm smile. She had done it.

Hiccup was curious at what had happened to her.

"think of growing a tail."

Astrid was slightly confused at this bizarre statement but having taken into account her change she did it anyway. She was surprised to feel A tail snaking out from between her shirt and her skirt. She looked back and saw the spiny tail of a Nadder behind her. She looked at the Nadder and saw she was curiously watching her reaction.

After a moment studying her new limb she put it away and she gave Hiccup a wide grin for helping her accept this amazing change. She knew it was strange but being able to stay completely human helped ease her in to her new abilities.

Astrid turned to Stormfly and Hiccup.

"I love it!"

They smiled back at her.

She experimented with different limbs while Hiccup talked to her. She was amazed at the new abilities she had, especially with the ability to shoot spines. It had taken a while until she was comfortable with what each part did, and Hiccup had made sure she remembered that she could change back whenever she wished. She was appreciative of the fact that Hiccup continually tried to calm her down as she went through this strange process. It helped her appreciate the side she never knew about the boy and made her comfortable in this strange place

After an eventful time for Astrid she went to bed along with Hiccup and Stormfly. All of them were prepared for an interesting day tomorrow but none more so than Astrid.

In the morning Hiccup and Astrid woke before the other dragons. Determined to see what she could do she followed Hiccup out of the cove and into the warm dawn light. Hiccup looked up at the orange skies and smiled. Astrid was confused.

"why are you smiling Hiccup?"

Hiccup answered Astrid

"because this colour makes me think of the first lesson I should do with you"

Again, Astrid was confused but Hiccup continued.

"this orange reminds me of dragon fire."

Astrid gasped, the thought of learning such a destructive art scared her a little even when she was a shield maiden. The thought of harnessing a dragon's destructive potential was an alien concept to her mind where stopping the destructive potential of a dragon was key. She gulped down her fear to prepare for the lesson.

Hiccup then gave a short jab to Astrid's lower chest, she was both surprised and angry at this sudden show of aggression. Hiccup gave her a reassuring look.

"don't worry, that's part of the process. Now can you feel a strange feeling in your chest?"

Astrid was questioning but concentrated on her chest. Suddenly she realised that she felt liquid pool in an organ which wasn't her lungs. Hiccup answered her non-verbal confusion.

"what you feel is your dragon fire chamber. This is where the fire is made. During your transformation your dragon fire chamber replaced part of your lungs. But don't worry, your remaining lungs are more efficient, so you should notice no difference. Now concentrate on this organ and draw out the gas inside of it then breath on it when it's in your mouth."

She somehow managed to follow his long set of instructions and started breathing her superheated flame. Like on Hiccup her flame did not travel far however her flame was a stream of fire instead of a pulse, also Hiccup could see small gills opening on the side of her neck. This, he theorised, was what provided the oxygen to provide the reaction for a long stream. He wasn't sure what the chemical used in her fire was, but it burned fiercely and released a lot of heat. After a time had passed Astrid stopped her stream, not because the flame was out of oxygen (because of the gills), but because Astrid had run out of breath in her normal lungs. So, she instinctively closed her gills and stopped the flow of fuel.

Hiccup was amazed at this show of flame by another type of shifter and was glad to now know why he could sustain a long stream, however she looked surprised but slightly disappointed with her fire, it didn't travel very far. Hiccup noticed this and proceeded to the next part of his tutelage.

"As you've seen you can make a fire stream. Currently it is powerful but doesn't travel very far. To make it travel further press here," hiccup pressed his own chest "on yourself and your next fire will travel further"

Astrid did as he asked and gave a short jab to the part of the chest he had showed. Now she felt liquid build up again in her chamber again. Hiccup noticed she had finished doing what he showed.

"now try again."

Astrid performed her fire stream again, this time it went far but did not burn as fiercely. Hiccup took his cue and continued.

"now you have seen what these parts of your firing chamber do. Now concentrate on them until you feel that they are active,"

Astrid, not wanting to break the cycle of her learning this amazing skill, did as he asked until she felt an odd feeling which she somehow knew meant that these parts were active.

She tried again without waiting for him to say so and was amazed at the perfection her fire now had. It still felt weird to be able to do what your worst enemy does but as she reminded herself she wasn't going to be forced to use this skill. With that in mind she prepared to have as much fun learning it as she could.

As the two conversed in the aftermath of the lesson (with Hiccup showing off his plasma blasts to Astrid), Stormfly had started listening in on their conversation from over a bump on the island. After a bit of conversation had gone by Stormfly decided to surprise the two.

"You two are such love boats."

Astrid chocked at this unwelcome implication that the two loved each other.

"now where are you, you creep?

Stormfly just giggled.

"that's no way to address the person who gave you your gift!"

Astrid suddenly realised who was talking and was shocked.

"Stormfly! You can talk!?"

Stormfly huffed in annoyance.

"I could speak all the time however Hiccup was the only one who could understand me. Now you can too!"

Astrid suddenly had a realisation of the implications of what Stormfly. She turned to Hiccup.

"is this why she didn't attack you?"

Hiccup nodded. Astrid continued

"did you help her attack me?"

Hiccup froze at the unwelcome realisation Astrid now had

"erm, kind of?"

Astrid got an annoyed look in her eyes and chased after Hiccup

"you will pay for that"

Hiccup took off immediately away from the approaching Astrid, DFP was trailing brightly as he tried to escape from the angry girl. Astrid meanwhile shot spines at Hiccup after shifting a tail. After a while Astrid was tired at the amount of effort it took to aim at Hiccup while he was running. Hiccup came over to the tired Astrid.

"am I forgiven now? After the amount of time you took to use me as target practise?"
Astrid gave a small smile before launching a spine that cut his shirt open at the shoulder. Hiccup was in complete shock

"why would you do that?! That scared the life out of me!"

Astrid gave another small smile

"now you're forgiven"

Hiccup gave a small sigh as she started to nap from her exhaustion. He wanted to get her back then and there, but he had other things to do. He gave Astrid a wave goodbye, told off Stormfly for giving him away before he set off to repair his shirt.

Astrid was awoken later. By a bucket of water. She looked up at the source and saw hiccup walking away from her with a bucket.

"what was that for?"

Hiccup gave her a disbelief.

"firstly, the fact that you tore my shirt, it's going to take a while to find the materials to repair it. Also, it's time to go so we can all make it to Berk before the raid tomorrow night. We'll go in front to prepare a shelter. After the anti-raid group had been assembled, which consisted of Astrid, Stormfly, Hiccup and Toothless (the other dragons were too tired to help this time).

As Astrid and Stormfly groggily prepared to fly, Toothless and Hiccup in his night fury form both Jumped off the side and sped along the water back to Berk. As she Jealously watched the night furies put their superior speed to good use, being momentarily distracted by twin sonic booms from the distance. Disappointed that the others were already well on their way she mounted Stormfly and took off after them.