"I am honestly rather confused as to this turn of events," the rider was saying. "It's not every day you find other people riding dragons."
Hiccup got up, groaning. He was soon followed in his example by Valka and Fishlegs.
"Okay," Hiccup said when the dizziness had subsided a little bit. "Who are you?"
"Who am I?" the rider said, an amused smile on his face. "I think the better question is who are you?"
While the rider was distracted, the Hunter attempted to slip away, but the rider noticed, and he caught hold of the Hunter and hauled him back.
"No, I'm not quite done with you yet," the rider said. He hit the Hunter on the temple with the pommel of the sword, and the Hunter dropped to the ground like a sack of dragon hunting potatoes.
"I'll deal with you later," the rider said to the unconscious Hunter, who did not respond.
His head snapped up to look at them. "Now, to business. How can I help you?"
"Well, you can start by telling us who you are," Hiccup prompted. The rider appeared to consider it for a moment.
"No, I don't think I will," he smiled at Hiccup. "Mind answering that question yourself?"
"I'm Hiccup Haddock. Chief of Berk. Could you maybe return the favour?"
"Ah, Berk!" the rider said, snapping his fingers. "I haven't heard of that place in years! Oh wait," he said, his expression darkening. "Don't you kill dragons?"
"No! No, not anymore!" Hiccup said, waving his hands frantically. "We used to, but we stopped! We've made peace with the dragons, and more importantly, we've made new kinds of friends."
"Well, I have no reason not to believe you, I suppose," the rider said, but he didn't put his sword away.
"So, uh, can you come with us?" Hiccup asked.
"Where to?" the rider asked suspiciously. "Berk?"
"Yeah, it would be great if you would," Hiccup said. "You know, we can show you around a little bit, introduce you to some of us, get to know each other a little bit-"
"No."
"I-I'm sorry, what?" Hiccup asked in surprise.
"I won't be going with you. I have something to do, and I will be doing it."
"We can help you," Hiccup offered.
"No," the rider replied, frowning. "Why are you suddenly so inquisitive?"
Hiccup held his hands up in apology. "Sorry if I come off that way, but I just want to get to know a little more about what's going on here."
"Well, there are some limits to things, Mr. Chief of Berk," the rider said sarcastically, then frowned. "Wait. If you're the Chief of Berk, then… what happened to Stoick the Vast?"
"Stoick the Vast was my dad," Hiccup said sadly. "He died some time ago."
"Ah," the rider said quietly.
"Yeah. I don't know if you know him, but he was killed by someone called Drago Bludvist."
"I am sorry for your loss," the rider said softly, almost gently. "And what happened to Drago?"
"So you do know him. Well, I'm not surprised. I think he drowned when we beat his Bewilderbeast."
"You did what?" the rider asked incredulously. "You beat his Bewilderbeast? Was it an Alpha?"
"It was an Alpha," Hiccup confirmed.
"I see," the rider mused. "And which dragon became the Alpha after that?"
"Toothless here became the Alpha. He was the one that started the rebellion against the Bewilderbeast."
"Toothless?" the rider asked. "Which one of those dragons of yours is Toothless?"
"It's this one," Hiccup said, patting Toothless. Toothless warbled.
"An Alpha that is a Night Fury," the rider breathed. "This is a momentous occasion in itself!"
"Yeah," Hiccup said, unsure of what else to say.
"I don't think you quite understand," the rider said. "Before now, no dragon has been the Alpha apart from the acknowledged contenders of each class."
Valka looked surprised. "Other dragons can compete for the position of Alpha?"
"Of course," the rider said, grinning. "Every dragon class that you know of, as well as the ones you don't, has its own unique Alpha contender, dragons that are most liable to have the position of Alpha. For Tidal Class, Bewilderbeasts. For Stoker Class, Eternal Flames. For Boulder Class, Devastares. For Mystery Class, Foreverwings. For Sharp Class, Impalers. And for Strike Class, Skywardens."
"I-I never knew," Hiccup stammered. He turned to Valka. "Did you know about any of this?"
"This is the first I'm hearing about it."
"There are impossible things in this world," the rider smirked at them. "And you do not know them all."
"Look, it's pretty obvious that you know a lot about dragons that we don't know, so could you just come with us to Berk?"
"Stop pushing so hard," the rider growled, his face immediately souring. "If I don't want to come, I won't come. Leave me be."
"It's just a short trip," Hiccup tried. "We'll give you something in compensation."
"I'm not. Coming," he replied angrily.
"Come on, it'll be a good opportunity to make allies too," Hiccup said, trying to appeal to this man's apparent military sense.
"I said no!" he roared. Wreckage, sensing his rider's discomfort, opened his mouth again.
"Brace yourselves!" Hiccup yelled, covering his head with his arms and crouching down on the forest floor, like that would do any good against a shockwave.
"Wreckage, no!" the rider said, just a second too late, as the massive dragon let loose.
But instead of the huge blast from before, Wreckage breathed deep blue fire, twisting and turning his head as he let it all out, letting the flames land on the ground in a wave-like pattern, surrounding the riders and their dragons. The heat was even more immense than you would expect.
The dragons, being flame-proof, went straight through the fire and got their riders onto their backs and into the air.
"Thanks, bud," Hiccup murmured. Toothless growled, and looked down at Wreckage. They landed on the ground, and Toothless immediately hurled Hiccup off of him, like a wild, untamed bull. Hiccup landed on the ground with a thud.
"W-what are you doing?" Hiccup asked, more confused than anything else. Toothless looked back at him, and nodded his head at a spot behind Hiccup.
Stay back.
Hiccup complied, unsure of what was to transpire now. Toothless looked back at Wreckage, and growled. Then he began to glow.
Bright blue emerged from his nostrils, from the ridges on his spine, from the scales between his eyes.
Toothless was displaying his position as Alpha.
He let out a ferocious roar at Wreckage, the meaning of which was clear. Back down.
But Wreckage did not respond as he should have. Instead he roared right back, the sound of which was like a world crumbling away to nothingness, being crushed to dust between a giant's hands.
Whatever Hiccup had expected, this was not it. "What's happening?" he asked. "Why isn't Wreckage bowing down right now?"
The rider seemed just as surprised. "I have no idea," he said quietly.
Wreckage and Toothless had begun to circle each other. They were both snarling at each other, flickering flames in their mouths, deep purple and purple-white lights facing each other. Anyone who got in the way would be burnt to a cinder immediately.
And then, just like Toothless, Wreckage too began to glow. A deep purple began to travel down his body from the head. Veins of purple twisted through his scales, a ragged outline of violet reaching his wings and spreading through it like a river through land.
"They're fighting for the position of Alpha!" the rider yelled in a strange sort of excitement.
Hiccup breathed out. "Of course! He was protecting you, and he's even going to stand up to the Alpha to do it!" He looked at the rider in amazement. He really did have a strong bond with his dragon.
Wreckage released a burning stream of blue fire at Toothless, who jumped out of the way and fired a single blast back. It hit Wreckage in the face with immense explosive power, knocking him to the ground. Toothless leaped on top of him, and roared in his face.
Wreckage slapped Toothless away with his wing, and got up. He fired again and did not let up this time, the blue flames unrelenting, chasing the Alpha wherever he went. Toothless lifted his head up into the air, and roared.
Cloudjumper and Meatlug deposited their riders and came flying to help their Alpha. Wreckage looked at them, and directed the twisting stream of flames at them. Toothless took advantage of the stony black dragon's distraction to charge up a plasma blast, then let go.
Wreckage was blown several feet away, landing on the ground with a thud. Meatlug and Cloudjumper landed by Toothless, and they began to advance towards the downed dragon.
Wreckage got up slowly, regarding them warily. The three dragons began to circle him. His attention flicked from one dragon to the other, trying to keep them all in sight. Then something else happened.
There was a strange keening whistle, which cut off immediately afterwards. Wreckage instantly rose into the air, and made to fire at the ground.
The shockwave bounced off the packed soil and blew all three of the circling dragons away in a violent blast of wind.
Toothless, upon crashing into the ground, got up straight away and began to fire explosive blasts at Wreckage. Blast after blast after blast hit Wreckage in the face, and even though the dragon was tough, he wasn't invincible. The other two joined in, spewing fire and molten rock at the unfortunate contender.
Wreckage hit the ground for the second time in as many minutes. The black dragon had lost strength, but he wasn't out yet. He still moved, albeit very feebly. Toothless warbled at Meatlug, and she flew at Wreckage, spinning around at the last moment, so that her bludgeon-like tail hit him full in the face. His head, which had until now been held up high, dropped. Wreckage did not move again.
The rider stared. "Wreckage?" he said. "Wreckage? Wreckage?"
His face turned to fury. "You!" he yelled, and leapt at Hiccup with his sword out. Hiccup pulled out Inferno, and blocked the flashing blade.
The rider cocked his head. "Fire sword, huh? That won't be good enough if you don't know how to use it!" He quickly retrieved his sword and swung at Hiccup's throat, too fast for him to react.
There was a clang, and the rider pulled his sword away from Valka's staff, immediately turning and parrying Inferno. He pulled away and twisted, and Inferno flew out of Hiccup's hand sideways.
Valka's staff came in, and then a plasma blast came in as well, and the rider was blasted away, flying through the air and ploughing through the dirt when he landed. Like Wreckage, he did not get up again.
"Thanks, bud," Hiccup said, smiling at Toothless. He warbled. Hiccup turned his attention to the rider, walking over to him.
"Well, we have an opportunity now," Hiccup said, staring down at the unconscious rider. "Shall we?"
"We shall."