Chapter 3

When I wake, the sun has yet to rise. Calls of birds echo in the sky, waiting for the day to begin. Rubbing my eyes and yawning, I stretch and climb out of my bed. Once I stand, I hear a knock on the door. It's Hiccup. He tells me they're ready to go.

"Okay, I'm coming!" I say. I grab my supplies and my bag, which has all my essential dragon information. I open my door to Hiccup, Astrid, Toothless, and Stormfly.

Astrid smiles at me and says, "You can ride with me."

I walk over to Stormfly and put my hand on her, looking her directly in the eye. I thank her for letting me ride her. Astrid climbs onto her back and I follow.

"Umm, I usually don't ride dragons. It's been a while," I nervously state.

"Don't worry," Astrid comforted. "We'll take it easy, won't we girl?"

Hiccup takes off, and so do we. The jolt of speeding off into the sky right off the ground immediately wakes me up. Thor, the wind in my hair feels amazing! I throw my hands up and shout excitedly, loving every moment of this. Astrid laughs and shouts too. Hiccup turns around and looks at us, with an expression on his face that says 'You haven't seen anything yet.'

We soar high into the clouds, dragons roaring. We level and now we are flying quite smoothly.

"So," I say. "Where are we going?" Hiccup and Astrid look at one another.

"We're going to check up on an island," Hiccup states. "Dramamillion Island to be exact."

"Dramamillion? I've not heard of that one before," I wonder. "Is that a new dragon species?"

"Yes," he states. "They're pretty cool really. They can mimic fire from other dragons. They're quite colorful, and they hunt in packs. If one pack member runs out of firepower, they can transfer their own fire to him!"

I shuffle through my bag, and yank out my dragon journal. I ask Hiccup for more information, like what their colors look like and what unique features they have. I come up with a pretty good sketch of what I think, and show it to Astrid.

"Wow," she exclaims. "You've never even seen that dragon and you drew it incredibly accurate!"

"Oh stop," I joke. "You're making me blush."

"Akita, I'm serious. You really have some talent with dragons!"

I shrug. "Not talented enough. I still haven't found one to call my own."

She puts her hand on top of mine. "Hey, don't worry. It'll happen. I got lucky with Stormfly. Hiccup, not so much. Right Toothless?"

Toothless makes a guttural sound in his throat, and laughs with Astrid and I.

A loud boom of thunder grabs our attention. As we emerge from the clouds, an island is up ahead. It must be Dramamillion Island. But coming right towards it, there's a huge storm.

"Looks like we might have to find some shelter," Hiccups says.

We fly down to the island, landing on the ground. We observe the sky, lightning flashing through the clouds. Off in the distance, we hear a shrill shriek. Then another flash of lightning.

"Uh oh..." Astrid stammered. "You don't think...?"

Another loud scream emits from the clouds.

"A Skrill."

I gasp. Skrills are incredibly aggressive, elusive, and can be very dangerous. But, they are also highly intelligent.

"It's said a Skrill's intelligence rivals that of a Night Fury," I exclaimed.

Toothless looks at me with an annoyed look and hits me with his tail. "Sorry Toothless!"

A powerful lightning bolt strikes down, putting us all on high alert. With that lightning bolt comes the powerful dragon known as the Skrill. It stands high up, stretching out its large wings and shrieks. Lightning surrounds its body, making it look even deadlier.

"Oh Gods," Hiccup sighs. "Just our luck."

Toothless jumps out in front of us all, his ferocious growl echoing. The Skrill looks agitated with this. I see Toothless is getting ready to fire a plasma blast. His mouth lights up purple. I run in front of him, between he and the Skrill.

"Toothless, no!" I stammer. "I know you're trying to protect us."

I turn around facing the other dragon, my hair standing up from feeling his electricity. He roars, looking me dead in the eye. I slowly walk towards him, putting my hand out.

"Akita!" Hiccup and Astrid both scream. "Stop!"

I look at this dragon, amazed at him. Yes, he is dangerous, but he is also incredible.

"Hey," I tell him. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." I slowly move closer. He shrieks again, throwing his head back. He lowers his head, getting closer to me. Electricity still surrounds his body. He shows me his teeth, trying to frighten me. But I'm not afraid. I look at him, seeing some anger and a lot of curiousity in his eyes.

It begins to rain really hard. Immediately the lightning surrounding him fades, probably because he's all wet. His greenish blue scales shine in the rain.

I reach my hand out, trying to touch his face. He hisses, backing away a few feet.

"Hiccup," I say. "Throw me some fish, or mutton if you have any."

I see him look through a bag for a moment, then throw me a chunk of mutton. Perfect. Astrid looks at me like I'm crazy, as does Toothless.

I show the Skrill the food. "Are you hungry?" I ask him. "I have some mutton here for you." I reach my hand out to him again, this time with the food. He cautiously looks at the scrap of sheep, then to me. He steps forwards, slowly, and moves his mouth towards my hand.

"There you go," I say softly.

He gently takes my offering. My whole body buzzes with excitement. I just fed a Skrill! I felt his large, sharp teeth, and his breath on me.

Looking at him again, his eyes have turned gentle. I notice he has a large gash by his neck, and more scars on other parts of him.

"You poor thing," I tell him. "What happened to you? Guys, he's got a huge wound near his neck. And a bunch of more scars." I turn and look to them, my face heavy with sadness.

The Skrill bows his head to me, and then looks up at me. His eyes tell me a story. They are filled with pain and hurt. Who knows what happened to him. Whatever it was, it was terrible.

Again, I reach my hand towards him. This time, he pushes his head into my hand, closing the gap between us. I'm in awe. I gently rub his head, stroking it and telling him that he'll be safe.

I hear footsteps behind me, and a hand on my shoulder. Immediately, the Skrills demeanor changes and he roars. He uses his head to push me to his side, ready to attack.

I gently put my hands on him, while Toothless runs to Hiccup's side. "No! It's okay! He's a friend. Don't hurt him!"

He swivels his head around, looking at me, with anger in his eyes. Toothless growls, showing his large set of teeth. His mouth lights up purple, ready to protect Hiccup at a moment's notice.

I run between them, pushing my body up against the head of the Skrill. "No," I say softly. "It's okay."

He immediately stops showing anger, and nudges his head against me. I tell him that the humans and dragons with me are my friends.

Astrid slowly walks up to us. "I can see why he is so aggressive," she points out. "Skrills naturally don't trust humans and other dragons. It's even harder for him, telling by his wound and scars."

Hiccup rubs Toothless' head and looks to me in shock. "But... he took food from you and right after let you touch him." Hiccup looks at the dragon again with a smile on his face. "Akita, you have a way with dragons. You just trained an injured Skrill."

I put my head to his. A soft purr comes from the back of his throat and he closes his eyes. I caress his chin and cheek, making sure he knows I won't hurt him.

"Yeah," I say, moving my head away and looking into his eyes. "I guess I did."

Thunder still booms above us, rain still coming.

"Let's find some shelter," Hiccup says.

We all agree and begin walking away from the shore of the island. Hesitantly, the Skrill slowly walks.

"Come on," I tell him. "You'll be safe with us. Not that you have to worry about that. Everyone was pretty scared."

I laugh and motion with my hand for him to follow. He walks to me, and I put my hand on him.

"I'm not going anywhere." He and I begin walking together, my hand still on him. Toothless looks back at us, still skeptical. I give him a thumbs up.

I look to the Skrill while he looks at the rest of the group straight ahead. "What should I call you?" I ask him. He looks at me.

His body is absolutely stunning. I've never seen a Skrill like him before. Usually, Skrills are dark gray with purple markings and a lighter underbelly. But he is greenish-blue, with orange markings and a pale belly. Maybe he is a new subspecies of Skrill?

"Hiccup," I question.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever seen his coloration on a Skrill before? I mean, it's beautiful, but I've never seen anything like it."

"No, I haven't. Maybe he's a rarity of his kind."

I pat his side. "Did you hear that? You're a rarity!" He makes a sound, acknowledging this. "So back to your name... What about Cloudshocker?"

He tilts his head, like he's thinking about it. "Cloudshocker is a pretty badass name," I tell him. "What do you think?"

He smiles at me and nudges himself into me. "Good, I like it too."

After years of growing up in a terrifying place where my people enslaved dragons, I finally have met a people who care for them. And me, of all people, trained a Skrill.

"Cloudshocker, we have so much to learn about each other."

Hiccup shouts, "Hey, I found a cave!"

The group goes in first, and as I begin walking in, Cloudshocker uses his wing to push me back. "It's okay," I tell him. "We need somewhere to get out of the rain. And to build a fire."

He looks up at the large mouth of the cave, then back at me. He nods, and we walk in together.

We set up camp, sitting near the comfort of our dragons. I notice that Cloudshocker's wound is now bleeding.

"Hiccup, how do we treat this wound?" He stands up, goes to his bag, and pulls out some medical supplies.

"I'll show you," he says, walking over to us. Cloudshocker pulls me into his belly and wraps his tail near me, protecting me. He growls at Hiccup.

"Hey, Cloudshocker, it's okay," he says gently. "I'm a friend. I won't hurt you or Akita." Toothless is at the ready.

I step over his tail and walk to the other side of his neck, where blood is spilling out. "It's okay, we're going to help heal you."

I gently place my hand on him and look into his eyes. I see fear.

Hiccup slowly approaches me, as the Skrill still growls, but less aggressive this time. In his hands are a bottle containing some type of dragon salve, some cloth, and some type of sticky gel. He sets down his supplies, except a cloth and the salve. He quietly says "Oh" as if he remembered something. He turns to Astrid.

"Astrid, do you mind getting me some rain water?" He hands her a large bowl to fill up.

She comes back quickly, because it's still pouring so it didn't take long for her to fill up the bowl.

"Thank you," he says. "Okay Cloudshocker. I'm going to help you." He dips the cloth into the bowl of water and rings it out. "First, I have to clean it."

He slowly moves his hands to the wound. He gently presses the wet cloth to the large cut. I pat Cloudshocker, as I'm sure it really hurts him.

"You're doing great," I reassured, smiling.

Next, Hiccup opens the bottle. The cave fills up with an herbal scent. "Now I'm going to put this salve on your wound. It might feel a little funny. It's supposed to help soothe it with a cooling feeling. Plus it has healing properties." He pours some onto his hand and gently rubs it onto the deep gash. This time, the dragon howls in pain.

"I'm so sorry," Hiccup tells him. "I want to find out who did this to you. No dragon deserves to be treated like this. Who knows how many are being abused like this as we speak."

For once, Cloudshocker doesn't growl at Hiccup. He looks to him, sadness showing on his face. I'm sure he's grateful Hiccup is helping him feel better.

"Okay bud, we're almost done. Now for the bandaging." He takes the last, and largest piece of cloth. He rubs some of the gel onto it, and sticks it onto the wound.

"There, all better."

Cloudshocker moves his head side to side, as if testing the bandage. He makes sounds of glee, and turns to Hiccup. At first, I think he was going to bite him. But then he sticks out his large tongue and licks him! We all laugh as Hiccup shakes off the sticky dragon saliva.

"Well, now I can say I've gotten kissed by a Skrill." Toothless moans and rolls his eyes, quickly moving to Hiccup. He pounces on him and licks him too.

"Agh, Toothless!" Hiccup exclaims. "You know that doesn't come out!"

Toothless makes his guttural laugh. I look to Cloudshocker, as he was observing what was happening. I think he sees the bonds between the other dragons and their riders. I sit down, leaning against his belly.

"See?" I say, starting rub his belly. "Those of us who have dragons have a great bond. I thought I would never be able to have such a deep connection with a dragon, but I found you."

He lays his head near me on the ground, sleepiness taking over him. I pat his head. He looks to me one last time, before closing his eyes. He tells me, 'Thank you.'

***Author's Note***

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I hope you enjoy my writing and what I've created so far! I love this franchise and wanted to create my own story within. If you have any suggestions or anything else, let me know!