Part One - #10 Inchoation


"Come on you two, hurry up already! Otherwise the sun will set before we even get there!" a young voice enthused.

"Praze, it's not even noon yet," a deeper voice responded flatly.

"Toothless you can't talk...you're moving the slowest. Praze and I are eager to get there yet you're just slowly trailing along," another voice retorted.

The large black dragon's emerald eyes twitched in response and a smug grin spread across his face as he looked up to the sky, admiring how the wind casually blew the trees and their leaves around. The swift rustling sound soothed him as he continued to view their surroundings.

They were going over a hill, with the only wind being around them because of the height they were at, where they could smell the fresh salty air and view the mirror-like reflectiveness of the calm ocean before them as the sun pierced the crystalline water to reveal a cerulean-tinged bed of sand. There was not a cloud in sight and the vibrant blue sky was all that could be seen.

After having their breakfast, the trio left the meadow atop the mountain to head towards the cave by the beach. After bringing it up during their meal, Praze had decided it was a fun thing to do for the day and Toothless and Ace agreed, though the latter slightly more profusely, being excited to explore the island more vividly with her wings restored. However, as they continued to make their way down to the beach, Toothless could not help but feel something growing within him. Perhaps it was instinctual, but he felt that whatever it was, it did not bode well; that it was something of malevolent omen. But, so as not to ruin their day, he dismissed it and decided to get a conversation going.

"So Ace, what are your thoughts of the island so far?" he called out to her, who was only a few metres ahead of him. "It's Praze's island by the way, he found it," he added, and the young dragon seemed to beam with pride as Ace considered it thoughtfully.

"Well, I think it's an amazing island," she replied, taking a second to view what stood before her as she inhaled the fresh air. "The scenery is absolutely spectacular, the water crystalline and calm, an abundance of fish and two great friends to top it all off," she finished with a grin, making Toothless and Praze smile widely.

"Well I'm glad you like it here, it's a pleasure to have your company," Praze replied as he eyed a tree before, without warning, pouncing onto one of the branches. "There are plenty of trees to jump around on too," he grinned.

"Yeah I can see that," Ace replied with a laugh. "We're in a Rain Principle, right?" she then asked, and the two nodded their heads. "Well, I never really understood what the Principles were, seeing as I've spent my whole life without outside influence. You'd expect me to be a little more wild, don't you think?" she added with a laugh.

"Well, to put it simply, just imagine a Principle as a season. Be it Winter, Spring, Autumn or Summer," Toothless said as Ace nodded her head, getting what he meant. "Basically, a Principle is the name for the area in which these types of weather reside. Forest Principles usually have Spring weather, Sun's have Summer, Snow's have deep Winter and Rain's have normal Winter. Each of the Principle's aren't restricted to their own weather, though. Back on Berk, where it's a Sun Principle, it snows a lot. It's just generally cold there, which is really unusual..." Toothless trailed off as Ace took in all the information.

"Well, that's what I had thought but at least you made it a little clearer for me," Ace said as she gave off another smile. "So, what type of Night Fury are you, anyway?" she then asked Toothless, who became puzzled.

"Type?" he questioned, and she nodded her head.

"Yeah, what is your natural Principle?" she affirmed, and he was generally confused.

"I don't get what you mean. Night Furies have natural Principles?" he asked, and she nodded her head as Praze joined in.

"Night Furies can only hatch in one type of Principle. Let's say you were hatched in say...a Rain Principle, Toothless. This means your parents would have had to bring your egg to a Rain Principle in order for you to hatch. It's generally a random choice as to which Principle you get, but the frequency usually goes from Sun, Rain, Forest, Snow in order of how often a Night Fury receives that type," Praze stated, and Toothless began to shake his head at all the information going into it.

"This is confusing..." was all he muttered as Praze and Ace chuckled at his confusion.

"I hatched in a Snow Principle," Ace stated, and Toothless and Praze gasped.

"A Snow Principle!?" they exclaimed congruently and she nodded with a chuckle. "No way!" Toothless commented. "I've never seen one before..."

"That's because the ratio of Snow Principles to the others is roughly a thousand to one, but it's not impossible," Ace replied. "The island I was raised on was in Snow Principle, and it only ever rained one time..." she trailed off despondently, and Toothless realised that Ace was talking about the night her sister left and...the unspeakable things that happened. He watched her looked at the ground with a glint of sadness in her eyes...and he smirked in defiance of it. He was going to crush that sadness.

"You mustn't dwell on the past!" he yelled as he pounced on her, casting asunder the thoughts of sadness and detriment from Ace's mind as well as sending the two of them rolling down the hill, toothlessly nipping and biting at each other as they furiously wrestled for dominance. After several seconds of rolling they finally reached the bottom and came to a stop, only one Night Fury atop of the other; the victor.

"Who would've thought you'd get beaten by me, eh Toothless?" Ace grinned condescendingly as she pinned Toothless to the ground. He tried to wiggle free but her vice-like grip was unrelenting.

"You got lucky with the landing, next time I'll beat you," Toothless stated flatly but Ace was unconvinced.

"You're just a sore loser," she jested with a grin, infuriating the black mass beneath her. Without taking her eyes off him, she called out behind her, "don't you think so, Praze?"

In a few seconds Praze appeared in the trees above. "Oh yes definitely. Toothless wouldn't even be able to harm a fly," he replied as he turned away from them on the branch, receiving a glare from Toothless.

"Try saying that when I'm free, and I doubt you'll say it again," he threatened and a grin spread across Ace's face, unbeknownst to Praze. Toothless' and Ace's eyes locked for a second as the latter motioned to Praze with her eyes and head and the former grinned as he felt her weight lift off him.

"You're all talk Toothless, I can't believe you defeated an Alpha Bewilderbeast-" he began to tease but stopped as he felt a presence next to him on the branch. He slowly turned and much to his horror, the black dragon was sitting there with a smirk on his face.

"That's it, you're done," Toothless grinned and Praze tried to take off as quickly as he could, but to no avail. Toothless had caught on to the younger Fury's tail and had pulled him down to the ground, where the larger dragon pinned him with his stomach to the ground. "Now, what should I do to you?" he casually asked aloud as a cold sweat came over Praze. The younger dragon flailed frantically as he looked for a way to escape just as he saw Ace walking over to them.

"Ace! H-Help me!" he called out to her, but she just sat there and grinned with deviance.

"Nah, maybe next time you won't exaggerate my healing time," she replied and his eyes widened in horror when he felt a pressure in his sides.

"I wonder if you're ticklish, hm?" Praze heard Toothless' menacing voice behind him, and he began to wriggle furiously as he tried to get out of the larger dragon's grip.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!-" he yelled before he was cut off by his own laughter, Toothless' paws digging deep into his sides. "Nohoho, ah-STOP-hahah!" he yelled out, frantically writhing underneath Toothless. After a few more seconds, Toothless relented and let go of him, and the younger Fury immediately jumped out from under him and to the safety of a tree branch. Not that it did him any good earlier.

"Next time you should watch what you say," was all Toothless said with a smirk on his face as Praze clutched his sides, shuddering from the vulnerability of being made to laugh that hard. Toothless then turned to Ace, who had been laughing the whole time the spectacle occurred. "Well, we now know that Praze is ticklish if he ever annoys us again."

"Hey! Says the one who's partial to their tail!" Praze retorted, earning another glare from Toothless.

"As if you aren't," he commented, causing Praze to smirk condescendingly.

"I'm not," the younger dragon replied with a smile as Toothless smirked in return.

"Prove it."

In response, Praze climbed down from the tree and held his tail out in front of Toothless, who was now skeptical of Praze's actions. So, he grabbed Praze's tail and inspected him and his movements closely. He couldn't note any form of nervousness whatsoever, but he remembered that he had let Praze inspect his own tail when the younger dragon inquired about his prosthetic and without any qualms, either. Then an idea formed in his head and he let go of Praze's tail.

"Alright, now let Ace grab your tail and I'll be satisfied," Toothless stated and Praze shrugged his shoulders before moving over to her.

"Here," he said simply as he held out his tail to her before she took it. Toothless inspected the young Fury once more and found no notable differences in his manner. "See? I don't mind," he added as Ace let go. "It's just you, Toothless."

Toothless was still skeptical.

"I think it's to do with age; give it a few years and I bet you'll be just as partial as I am," he commented and Praze snickered at him.

"I doubt it."

Toothless just rolled his eyes as both he and Praze began to continue to the beachfront when Ace spoke up. "Hold on Toothless, how old are you?" she asked, receiving a puzzled look from him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, I'm just surprised it hasn't come up at all. You're in your late twenties or early thirties aren't you?" she asked and Toothless nearly burst out laughing.

"What!? What possessed you to think that? I'm twenty-two!" Toothless exclaimed and Ace's eyes widened.

"But I'm twenty-one! How are you so much larger than me?" she asked, shocked. Toothless and Praze could only narrow their eyes and tilt their heads in confusion.

"You know that we're both the same size...right?" Toothless asked, and Ace's eyes widened even further.

"How am I as big as you!? Maybe I'm just a little out of it because I haven't seen too many other dragons in my life before..."

"Yeah, maybe you're right on that one," Toothless chuckled and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Let's just get to the beach," she muttered as they continued on their way. "Now because of all that stuffing around it's noon already," she added, noting the position of the sun as it's heated gaze burned into them from directly above.

"What!? Really!? Let's get a move on then!" Praze exclaimed as he ran through the forest towards the beach. Toothless and Ace could only roll their eyes and the younger Fury as they were left alone in the forest.

"So what type of Night Fury are you?" Ace asked, reminding Toothless of their earlier conversation.

"Dunno," he replied flatly as he shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really remember where I was born so I really have no way of finding out."

"Really? That's unfortunate," Ace commented before something popped into her head. "However, I can turn my scales to white when I'm in a Snow Principle. I believe it's a camouflage function, so we could try out several Principles and see if your scales change to a different colour, though I'm not completely sure it's the same but it might be."

"That's incredible!" Toothless exclaimed, marvelling at all the hidden secrets Night Furies held. "How do you do it? I want to test it out right now. I might be a Rain-type."

"I just call Rain-types Pluvia. Out of the Ancient Dragonese translation. But anyway, to do it, I normally just think in my head "I am snow" and that does the trick," she replied.

"Ancient Dragonese?" Toothless questioned.

"Yeah, my mother taught me a few names like the names of the Principles. Rain is Pluvia, Sun is Sol, Snow is Nix and I'm trying to remember what Forest is...but I don't seem to-"

"-Silva," Toothless automatically replied. Ace looked at him with a curious smile and head tilted.

"Yeah, that's right. How did you know?" she asked, however he was just as baffled as she was.

"I have no idea..." he trailed off. "It stirs something in my memory though," he added thoughtfully as Ace shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh well. Anyway, are you going to try it or what?" she asked.

"Alright then, I'll try it..." he trailed off as he closed his eyes in concentration. After a few seconds, eyes still closed, he whispered, "any changes?"

"Nope."

"Dangit," he muttered as he opened his eyes and grinned. "At least I know I'm not "Pluvia". When I get back to Berq I'll be sure to test it out there as well." Ace stopped for a moment when he said that.

"Say, Toothless..." she began, gaining his attention. "I don't suppose...I could come with you to Berq?" she asked tentatively as a smile spread over his face.

"Of course you can! It'd be great for you to visit and meet Hiccup and some friends of mine," he replied as she shook her head, puzzling him.

"No...I want to stay there. I want to live on Berq..." she trailed off and Toothless finally began to realise the kind of life she had lead. Yes, of course Toothless had hardly interacted with his own kind before but Ace was on an entirely different level; she hadn't interacted with anyone. She was a dragon that had spent a life alone, without anyone there for her.

"Really?" Toothless asked and she nodded her head. He smiled. "Then of course you can."

On the inside, Ace was so overjoyed she almost began to cry. After living such a solitary life...the fact that she could live amongst others was nearly too much for her to handle and all she wanted to do was stay with Toothless. He made her feel safe; a feeling she had hardly felt throughout her life and especially not in the recent events that occurred before she found him. "T-Toothless-"

"Hurry it up you two! Or it really will be sunset before we get there!" Praze's voice interrupted her before she could finish what she was saying.

"Thank you," she finished with a smile that Toothless could only reciprocate.


A/N

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! Sorry this update took so long, it's just that I've been pretty darn busy. Please be sure to give me some feedback so I know how I'm doing ;) and the next chapter should be out much sooner seeing as I cut this chapter off. Oh well, see ya in the next and have a good one ;)