Heart and Soul of a Dragon Chapter 4: Taking Flight, a how to train your dragon fanfic

Alright, third times the charm. Things screwed up and I've had to rewrite this authors note twice. Anywho how's everyone? I've been super busy, back to school, college prep, life stuff. However, I've also been busy with this story. I have a bunch written and a lot of what I'm doing is editing, rewriting, adding, and changing bits. I want to thank you all for sticking with this story, and if your new then welcome! The likes, favorites, and reviews that I get make my day and I appreciate those of you who take the time to give feedback. Reviews are really the best ever! so please do leave your ideas, thoughts, or concerns after you read.

Alrighty, enough rambling and on with the chapter!

THREE YEARS LATER

(Hiccup is around 8 and the dragons around 5-6)

Today was the day, Toothless, Shimmer, Squeak, Bree and Bash, Boulderdash, and Firefang were all going to test their wings for the first time, Hiccup of course was accompanying. As their group finally reached the top of the cliffs they all looked out across the nest, even after all these years it was still a sight to behold, the huge mountain cliffs overlooking the valleys and forest, the lush colors of springtime, the cool breeze that swept up and over the cliffside and the scents it brought with it. The smell of blooming flowers, water spray, and pine, and above all the constant swirl of color that was the nest, dragons of every shape and size, creating a myriad of colors as they flew from place to place. It was this last one that had all of the young ones excited today, flight! Pausing at the edge they all looked over into the stream far below.

"Not it" joked Bash. "It will be easy" said Shimmer, "yeah, piece of Leppa fruit" Bree said. "I'll go first!" announced Hiccup to nervous laughter from his friends. "Alright, here goes" with that Toothless took a step back and then leapt off the edge. Everyone ran to the edge and then gasped as a few meters down Toothless spread his wings and, flew! (Well more of hovered on the strong air currents), but that was all it took, first went Shimmer followed by Boulderdash and Firefang, then went Bree and Bash, and finally Squeak. Soon they were all soaring through the skies, Hiccup had fun at first, watching his friends get the hang of maneuvering through the air. He soon grew tired of it though and began to feel left out. Sadly he made his way down the cliff back home.

Valka looked up to find Hiccup being hoisted over the edge into their cave with a sad look on his face. "Whats the matter Hiccup? I thought you were with Toothless and your friends." "I was" said Hiccup "but they are all off flying."

Valka had worried about this, she knew it would happen but still attempted to console her son. Setting him down on her lap she gave him a kiss and said, "You can find other ways to play with them right? What if they flew through the trees, you could stay up in the trees." "They are your friends, I'm sure they miss you while they are flying just as much as you miss them." Hiccup smiled up at her, "Yeah, I guess so," he sighed, "Thanks mom." She smiled sadly as her son was let to the ground by a resting Timberjack, and watched as he ran off to go and re-join his friends.

Hiccup found his friends resting on the cliffs where they had first taken off from. "There you are!" exclaimed Toothless, "where did you go? I did a loop! It was awesome!" "Yeah, and we even flew" said Bree "upside down" finished Bash. "No you didn't!" exclaimed Fang. "Sure we did," said Bash "it's just that none of you were paying attention when we did it!" Hiccup sighed, but smiled as he interrupted. "I was wondering if you all wanted to play forest tag?" "Sure" they all said. "Race you!" cried Squeak, "your on" replied Boulderdash, he, Squeak, Fang, and Bree and Bash launched clumsily off the cliff heading rather haphazardly in the general direction of their forest.

Shimmer and Toothless however hesitated, "you ok?" Toothless asked, looking at his brother. Hiccup huffed, "I'm fine," he told them, "I'll see you down there." After exchanging a quick look with each other they nodded, "Ok," said Shimmer, and the two dragons launched off the cliff. Hiccup sighed and began to shimmy his way down the cliff face. After a few minutes he joined his friends at the edge of the woods, "ok, all ready" said Shimmer. With that Boulderdash began counting and Hiccup and the others all dispersed into the woods, unlike hide and seek, in tag Hiccup liked to be in the trees he found it easier for him to evade his slightly larger friends and over the past few months had become better and better at getting from tree to tree. Their new flight would be an interesting twist though, "oh well," he thought "i'll just have to figure out a new way to beat them!"

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TIMELAPSE *A FEW MONTHS* (Hiccup almost nine)

Hiccup knew his friends would rather be playing air tag but it was no fun for him to just sit and watch them. So here he was crouched on the branch of a sprawling oak tree. His head snapped up and his ears perked, over the past few months Hiccup had really worked hard at honing his climbing and stealth he had gotten to the point where when he was being chased he could actually escape, although Toothless and Shimmer usually caught him. He was faster than Boulderdash, less clumsy than Bree and Bash, and stronger than Squeak. His advanced dragon hearing, sight, and scent had also begun to develop more in the past year.

Hiccup prepared to jump to the next tree as he heard a twig snap to his left. Just then Squeak came barreling out of brush with Shimmer close behind, Hiccup quickly started to move, he leaped from his perch to the next tree and began weaving in and out of branches as he heard Shimmer change targets and begin pursuing him. He ducked weaved and leaped from tree to tree, Shimmer may have been faster out in the open but in the small spaces created by the thick trees and hanging vines Hiccups small and agile form had the advantage. He was pumping with adrenaline and could just start to feel himself pulling away when he crashed smack into an oncoming Gronkle. "Boulderdash!" Hiccup cried as they fell into a pile on the forest floor, a second later Hiccup felt a light tap on his shoulder followed by a triumphant "You're it!" "Hey!" cried Hiccup, "thats not fair! I ran into Boulder!" "Whatever" said Shimmer, I'm getting bored of tree tag anyway. "Yeah me too," said Bree emerging from the brush. "Mind if we go play air tag?" Bash asked looking at Hiccup. "Sure whatever," he replied sullenly.

A few minutes later Hiccup was sitting up on the cliffs edge watching as his friends zipped through the air. There MUST be a way for me to join them, thought hiccup. Thats when it hit him, How had he not thought of this before? He watched as a grey streaked Tree Shear (Timberjack) named Ashscale flew closer to the cliffs edge. When he was about three meters below him, Hiccup gathered his courage, timed his landing and then jumped. He landed on the great dragons wing with little more than an indent, his quick reflexes and honed balancing skills allowed him to stay perched on the dragons wing. Ashscale feeling Hiccup land looked over a bit startled, "why hello young one, finally found a way to join your friends in the air?" he asked. "I almost offered you a ride a few times, yet you seemed content with being on the ground." "I figured you would find your own way when you were ready." "Thanks!" Hiccup tittered back excitedly, "sorry for not asking first, would you mind flying close to my brother for me?" "Of course, and it is no trouble, I'm sure any in the nest would be glad to see you taking to the air."

As Hiccup and Ashscale neared the unsuspecting Nightstreak Hiccup took a running leap off his friends wing and soared through the air managing to tap a startled Toothless on the back before dropping down and landing on the back of a passing Glow Wisp (Flightmare).

Toothless looked around wildly before noticing the grinning Hiccup a few meters below. "Why you..." he started, before diving down to tag back his previously grounded brother.

In this way Hiccup was able to join in his friends games of air tag, and he had to admit; tag was a lot more fun soaring through the air than it was swinging through the trees.

Over the next few months Hiccup continued to play tag by jumping from passing dragon to passing dragon, and he became quite accomplished at not only tagging his friends but also at evading being tagged himself. He would use his passing nest mates as well as the cliff sides and the huge cliff trees. The only problem with his strategy was that when he jumped he fell quite a ways and rarely had the time to take one dragon all the way up. What he really needed was a way to stay in the air longer and in a controlled way, but so far he hadn't grown wings so he made do with simply becoming better and better at timing his jumps and angling his body in the air.

Sure he had his fair share of scrapes and bruises, as well as several broken bones. But by the time Hiccup reached nine years of age he was completely comfortable with their fast paced method of aerial gameplay.

Aaannd done! This was one of my favorite chapters so far, I liked writing Hiccup's insecurities and determination. What did you guys think? I'm sorry that it was a shorter one, would you prefer longer chapters? How did you like the dragon names? should I leave the translations in ( _ ) form, or make a list in the beginning perhaps?

Please do leave your thoughts, I respond to all questions and appreciate any and all comments. Seeing that a new person reviewed really does make my day! Oh and spoiler alert, Hiccup first person POV coming soon.

Thats it for now, thanks again and I'll see you all next time!

Alrighty, enough rambling and on with the chapter!