Hiccup and Toothless flew through the clouds, trying their best to dodge and miss the blasts that Krogan's Singetail. Singetails can shoot fire from their mouths, bellies, and their tails, making them almost impossible to dodge their attacks. Luckily Hiccup had Toothless' speed only being matched by this one.

"Okay, bud, let's get out of here!" Hiccup said as he tried to get away from Krogan.

But Krogan was just as prepared for this as Hiccup was as he was able to keep up with Hiccup at every twist and turn that he made.

Krogan had his Singetail send multiple shots that the two invaded with their advanced knowledge. But it seemed Krogan was learning from his mistakes as well as he attacked and was able to predict Toothless' movements.

Hiccup was able to dodge the new attacks but noticed Toothless wasn't as lucky. His tail was scorched and was slowly starting to burn.

"Oh, no!" Hiccup said in worry, feeling they need to get away before Krogan notices their troubles. Looking ahead, he noticed approaching land and noticed formations he could lose him in. "Come on, Bud. You still have a bit left in you."

Toothless screeched as he flew around and started to fly around the areas. Maneuvering around the land was easy for Toothless due to his small mass and speed, but Krogan's Singetail had more problems due to its mass and size.

This gave Hiccup the dust cloud necessary for him and Toothless to make their escape. They flew as far away from Krogan as they could, allowing him to take a minute to catch his breath while they escaped.

Sighing in relief, Hiccup only remembered their little problem with their tail when it snapped and ripped. The broken tail and controls caused Hiccup and Toothless to fall from the sky and both cried in fear.

The two crashed but in completely different places. Due to Toothless's wings, he could glide for much longer as Hiccup managed to slip and fall into the lake.

While Hiccup was floating down the river, he was protected from the creatures that were surrounding the area. Those creatures were called the Druun. A plague that laid waste to everyone and turned anyone they touched into stone.

While Hiccup was floating, he drifted off to a shallow area that stopped him from going and ended with him lying in the water.

As he just laid there, something started to shake the ground as a giant rolled sphere approached the unconscious lad. When the rolling sphere reached the boy, something caused it to stop. On top of the creature is revealed to be a woman.

She was a Southeast Asian girl of average height with a slender, slightly muscular build, tan skin, long black hair, and dark brown eyes. She usually wears a yellow shirt, a brown vest, a brown belt, olive green jeans with light green stripes, dark brown boots with maroon cuffs, a red cape with a thin turquoise stripe, a yellow necklace around her neck, and a salakot on her head. She also wears a blue band above her elbow and a thick brown wristband on her right arm.

This woman was known simply as Raya, Princess of Heart. She has been on the hunt for the one being that could save her home from the Druun. That was where she was heading and following the river when she stumbled upon Hiccup.

When she noticed the man in the river, she became curious as this was the first non-stone human she had seen in a long time. Definitely, the first one to not try and attack her recently.

Raya dismounted her companion who peaked out to look around. "Stay here, Tuk Tuk." She told her friend and pet to walk closer to the boy. She tapped him on the cheek when she was close enough, earning a groan. "Well, he's alive." Then she looked back at Tuk Tuk. "Now what?"

Tuk Tuk shrugged, no idea what their next move should be when Hiccup jumped up. "Whoa!"

Before anyone could react, Raya acted on her instincts. Sadly, those instincts included punching the man right in the face. Hiccup was then knocked unconscious for a second time before Raya gasped.

"Okay, that was on me!" Raya confessed, raising her hands in a surrender gesture. "I'm sorry!" Hiccup didn't respond as he was right back to being unconscious and Raya sighed. "What am I gonna do now?"

She looked around and wondered how someone got out this far without a means of transportation. Yet again, he could have been riding an animal that was turned to stone or had run away. Or he could have fallen into the river a while ago.

Sighing, Raya did the only thing that she felt was right and picked up the boy. Luckily it seemed he was skinny, and the armor didn't weigh much, meaning he was easy to move and carry. When she was able to pick him up, Raya brought him to the back of Tuk Tuk and tossed him up.

Tuk Tuk chattered in curiousness, no idea what her idea was.

"We'll drop him off at the next town," Raya assured the concerned creature. "Come on, we're still on a mission."

With that, Tuk Tuk rolled back up into a ball and rolled away down the mountains of sand.

The next time Hiccup awoke, it was already dusk as he looked at the night sky and saw the stars shining down on him. He heard a fire cracking and turned to the side to see he was on a blanket of sorts with Raya sitting nearer by the fire, facing him. Tuk Tuk was off to the side, no longer in a ball and resting from traveling.

"You're finally awake." Raya was happy to see.

"Hi." Hiccup had no idea what to say next as he suddenly felt s rush of pain from his head and grabbed onto it. "Ow. What happened?"

"Yeah..." Raya blushed at the reminder. "I might've punched you in the face when you frightened me."

Hiccup rubbed the part of his face she punched and now understood the pain. "Oh."

"Sorry." Raya apologized to him. "But in my defense, you frightened me."

Hiccup nodded as he got up and walked closer to the fire. "Thanks for rescuing me. My name's Hiccup."

"Hiccup?" Raya asked with a brow raised, seeing he was serious. "Oh..."

Hiccup waited for her to introduce herself, but noticed she wasn't going to. "Do I get to know the name of my rescuer?"

Raya looked over at him and saw if he knew her name it wouldn't hurt. "Raya."

"Nice to meet you, Raya." Hiccup said as he sat down and started to get warm.

"How'd you end up out here?" Raya wonders.

"I was just...passing through with my friend when I was attacked." Hiccup decided it wasn't best for this girl he just met to know his history. "Gods, I hope he's okay."

"I didn't see anyone with you when I found you. Were you attacked upstream?" Raya wonders, thinking how far back the attack might've been.

"More or less." Hiccup guessed as he technically was upstream. Emphasis on the word up. He then took notice of the way she was clenching her sword. He looked and noticed he still had Inferno attached to his belt, meaning she didn't know about the retractable sword or didn't care enough to take it. "I have a feeling you're on edge."

"What can I say? I find you suspicious." Raya replied sarcastically.

"That's fair. You hardly know me." Hiccup said as he got warm before getting back up. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Raya, but I need to go find my friend."

"You don't wanna go out there," Raya warned him before Hiccup could leave the fire. "The Druun are more dangerous and active at night."

"The what is what?" Hiccup asked her, no idea what she was talking about.

Raya looked and noticed the genuine confusion on his face. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Am I that obvious?" Hiccup asked sarcastically.

Raya gestured for him to retake his seat and he did as he was told. "I might not know or trust you, but I don't want you going out to your doom."

"Thanks?" Hiccup had no idea how to properly respond to that.

"So here's how we move on from here," Raya said as she looked at Hiccup. "I ask you some questions, and you're gonna answer them truthfully."

"And if I don't?" Hiccup was curious to know what she planned to do.

"I feed you to Tuk Tuk." Raya said with a grin whilst the Tuk Tuk in question raised his head from his dinner and looked at her in shock.

"Okay." Hiccup suppose he might as well be truthful to her. As long as he didn't add any unimportant information.

"Where do you come from?" Raya was curious to know.

"From somewhere far, far from here." Hiccup admitted as he gestured far out into the unknown. "I left home after a...personal reason."

"How'd you end up in the river?" Raya asked.

"I told you I was attacked." Hiccup reminded her.

"By who? For what purpose? You don't look that big of a threat to throw in the river." Raya commented on his skinniness.

"That's...I'm not ready to explain that." Hiccup said, that being too far into personal territory. "Can I ask a question?"

"Depends," Raya replied.

"Where am I?" Hiccup finally asked.

Raya saw that was a legitimate question she could answer. "You're on Kumandra."

"I've never heard of it." Hiccup admitted.

"Well, we're a tribe of five separated into five parts of this place," Raya informed Hiccup. "Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tails. Where we currently are."

Hiccup then started to get a mental image of the land and looked to the river. "Does that river flow through all of them?"

"It does." Raya conformed. "The whole thing from above looked like a dragon."

That surprised Hiccup as he looked toward her. "A dragon?" He then became very interested. "You have dragons here?"

"Yeah," Raya said, picking up on his curiosity. "Do you have dragons where you're from?"

"Well, yeah!" Hiccup admitted to her. "I was flying on one when I was attacked!"

Raya was shocked once again by this and looked at him in shock. "Where is it?"

"We were separated." Hiccup informed her. "That's how I ended in the river. We were being chased by a man who captures and sells dragons."

"Who would do something like that?" Raya asked. "Dragons are beautiful, peaceful creatures that bring water, food, and so much good." Then she remembered those were just the stories her Ba would tell her. "At least, that's what I've been told."

That seemed to surprise Hiccup when she said she's only heard of dragons, especially how she's described them. "Dragons are peaceful here? You...live among them?"

"Yeah," Raya admitted. "Don't you?"

"I do, but nobody back where I came from did." Hiccup confessed to the girl. The two then got into an awkward silence until Hiccup broke it. "So where are you from?"

"Heart," Raya tells him. "I'm the Princess of it..." then she remembered what happened six years ago, "well...was."

"A Princess?" Hiccup asked in shock. "Then what are you doing out here?"

Raya remembered her jointly and suddenly became serious. "Trying to fix the world." With that, she got up and walked over to Tuk Tuk to grab some blankets. "You can stay until morning. Then you can go off and find your dragon and get out of here."

"Wait, you're going to just leave me here?" Hiccup asked as he stood up. "Out here with the...what did you call them?"

"Druun," Raya replied.

"With those out there?" Hiccup asked.

Raya stopped and knew he had a point. There was no way that he would last a minute on his own out there without the Dragon Gem. Heck, it was the only reason she lasted this long. But then again, she didn't know if she could trust this man. He was a stranger not from around here. He could be playing a long game to rob or kill her. Then again, he didn't seem to be asking for much.

"Please. Just let me stick with you until I found my dragon, and I'll get out of here and out of your hair," Hiccup bargained with the Princess.

Deciding to get a second opinion, Raya looked down at Tuk Tuk. "What do you think?"

Tuk Tuk warbled and snorted, giving his opinion, seeming to be on the side of letting him stay.

"You can't just agree with me for once?" Raya asked him before sighing. This is something she knew her father would do. Then again, look where that got him. "Fine." She then turned to look at Hiccup. "You can stay with me, and I'll help you look for your dragon."

"Thank you." Hiccup said with a sigh of relief.

"But there are rules," Raya warned him. "One, if you try to attack me, I promise it'll be the last thing you do."

"That's fair." Hiccup supposed.

"Two, don't touch my satchel, or anything that I don't hand you or ask of you." Raya continued her list of demands.

"Again, fair," Hiccup repeated.

"And don't even think of betraying me," Raya warned him with a snarling tone.

Hiccup had to guess she never has a good relationship with other people, and he was on a thread as it was. It's not exactly like he was on any good terms with anyone. He raised a hand and rubbed a few pieces of himself through his armor after some dark memories. "Okay, you have my word."

"Okay then," Raya said warmly and passed him a blanket. "Get some sleep. We'll be up bright and early." She warned as she drew a line in the sand with her sword and created a circle for the water to flow through. "The Druun are afraid of water. Stay inside if you wanna stay alive."

"Noted." Hiccup assured her and laid back down.

Raya waited until he fell asleep to think of sleeping herself. But as she saw the boy drift off, she slowly joined him. Tuk Tuk was less suspicious and happier about the idea that Raya might have another human she could trust. She hasn't made an effort to connect with anyone in the six years she has been on the hunt for Sisu.