Dragon Friend (sequel to the dragon boy) Chapter 9 - Dragon Games
frostcup fanfic

Authors note: here's the next one^^ a bit of fun for you- hope you like it! :-D please review and I'll see you tommorow with chapter 10!

It was amazing- and that was even after seeing the sanctuary. He'd seen Jack make many icy wonderlands like this before now, but this one was something else.

The snow on the floor rose and fell across the rolling, uneven floor, like a great ocean around them. But what really made the scene was the ice.

The great green ice of the Alpha covered the walls of the huge, open area, just like in the main part of the sanctuary, but this ice had been stunningly decorated.

Thousands of thousands of tiny frost crystals glittered across the frozen surface. As Hiccup turned his head to admire them, a kaleidoscope of colours flitted across each individual crystal, and if he let his gaze relax a little, they all merged together, into several arcing rainbows.

Hiccup noticed his mother was also admiring the incredible feat, and Toothless was completely taken in by it. His big green eyes wide and round, as he stared at the sparkling wall with the wonder look of "Shiny..." written across his slack jawed face. This was taking the shiny shield to a whole new level- Hiccup didn't know how he was going to tear his friend away from it.

He turned to the creator of the scene, he was wearing a look of smug satisfaction on his face, and smiling with amusement at Toothless' gormless wonder.
"Surprise." He grinned.

Valka finally came back to the here and now, and turned to him, wondrously.
"How...?" She marvelled, Jack smirked.
"The Alpha isn't the only the only dragon who knows how to make a bit of ice, you know." He commented. Valka just assumed he was talking about some dragon accomplice, but Hiccup saw the words for what they were- complete and utter showing off, with a hint of failed modesty thrown in there too.

Cloudjumper had followed them in by now, and was gazing far more regally at the ice than Toothless- who wasn't even bothering to close his dropping jaw.

"Alright, so what are we, really, here for?" Hiccup asked- judging from the sudden contained buzz, and devilish grin from his Sky Dragon, he'd read him right. Jack was practically bouncing off the balls of his feet in excitement.

"Inspiration from a bunch of little kids I met earlier. We need some playtime." He grinned, hopping up onto Toothless.
'Aww... flying on the Night Fury. Doesn't this take you back.' He teased. Normally, he'd just take flight himself, but with Valka around- and him not wanting to give her a heart attack- he'd realised he'd have to go the old way.

Hiccup grinned, and clambered up behind him. Valka followed suite, mounting Cloudjumper.
'No getting Toothless to do anything this time.' Hiccup warned.
'No.' Jack said, in a way which told Hiccup he'd found a loophole. 'Anything Mr Stormseeker wants to do himself, will be entirely up to him.' To Toothless, that was unspoken challenge. He launched himself fiercely up into the air, climbing- near vertically- to a decent flying height. Hiccup had come to expect and enjoy such tricks- especially with Jack around- so this time, he was whooping with him, and not yelping with shock, as they sped through the air.

Cloudjumper was looking rather self contradicted- he would never allow himself to take part in something named so childishly named as "playtime", but, on the other hand, he didn't want to disobey his rider. So, reluctantly, he flapped his dual set of wings, and took to the air.

Quite unexpectedly, a large number of, seemingly spectating, dragons, took flight with them.

Hiccup shot his passenger a look.
"I may have invited a few friends." He admitted, grinning. Hiccup shook his head- he knew Jack was well connected, with the many generations of dragons he'd looked after, and played with, on the breeding island, over the years.

The dragons kept coming. Just how many dragons did he know?

He looked again at his friend, who also looked surprised by the turn out. "Who, probably, also invited their friends." He added, looking a the many winged reptiles, filling the air around them. It was a good job it was such a big airspace.
'Excuse me...' He heard Jack mutter in his head, and he saw a blur out of the corner of his eye. He'd jumped off. Of course he had. Same old show off, he thought. Luckily, the multitude of dragons in the air screened Jack from the view of Valka, enough to let him change.

Pretty soon, a long winged, white dragon added to their numbers.
"Alright, everyone- Chase Pass!" Jack shouted out to the assembled crowd of dragons. It was so weird, Hiccup thought. He knew what he was saying- he could hear the words in his mind- but what came in through his ears, was a bunch roars, and dragon noises. Chase Pass? Hiccup thought. What, in Odin's name, was Chase Pass? He'd never played it before? What were you supposed to do? He waited for an explanation of the aims and rules.
"Ok, I'm the chaser- GO!" He yelled.

Wait, what?! Hiccup thought- what was he supposed to do? He tried to reach to ask Jack, but the air turned into winged madness, making impossible for him to concentrate.

Toothless apparently had no idea either, because as the dragons flung themselves into aerial disarray, he'd hovered there- confused. But, eventually, he decided to follow suite, and start flying like a lunatic, hoping he was doing it right.

Suddenly, a bunch of dragons cried out in alarm, and started flying away from something. They were heading in the exact opposite direction to Hiccup and Toothless, straight towards them. They realised, too late, they were getting chased by something. A dragon suddenly loomed, out of the chaos, at them.

Hiccup yelped in alarm, as Toothless dived- narrowly avoiding the oncoming dragon. What was going on? Was that dragon rogue? Was the game to tear each other to shreds? He thought, completely lost. Then, he looked down, to watch some of the players, and realised something.

The dragons were all looping and diving, to avoid one particular dragon. As he watched, the chaser managed to hit one of the fleeing dragons- that dragon then turned on its brethren, and the dragons started avoided that one instead. The original chaser was now flying alongside the others, as if nothing had ever happened. What...? Hiccup thought- and then it clicked.

Tag. The dragons were playing tag. Hiccup almost laughed with this startling realisation, except for the fact the escaping bunch was coming their way again. This time he knew what was coming.
"Look out!" He yelled, as he leaned into a roll. They dodged the chaser, who managed to pass their role onto another dragon. Chase Pass- of course! This time Hiccup did laugh- aerial tag! This was going to be awesome. He put a greater distance between him and the chaser, but things were a little easy. There were that many dragons, they hardly ever saw any action.

He'd forgot Jack could read his mind- and should have learned by now, to be careful what he wished for.

He heard a familiar roar sounding across the air.
"All Flameskins are now chasers!" He informed.

Flameskins... flaming skin... Montrous Nightmares?! Hiccup thought- was he mad?! There were at least twenty to thirty Nightmares, in their group of around one hundred!

The airspace became turmoil. Hiccup could no longer tell who was fleeing, and who was chasing anymore. It was madness! He just started avoiding every dragon they came across.

At one point they ended up on a collision course with a Changewing- they both yelled in alarm, as they spotted each other, and zipped away immediately. Hiccup laughed, as he realised- they'd both thought they were chasers, but neither of them were.

They enjoyed being on the defensive, but, inevitably, Toothless got tagged, and Hiccup got the feeling his dragon enjoyed it a little too much. Diving down at hiding dragons, who thought they were safe beneath a layer of cloud. Zooming after the dragons that fled, panicked, from his presence- and chuckling, almost evilly, as he did so.

Eventually, the energy in the air died down. Dragons got tired, and couldn't keep up the energy to play anymore. He heard Jack's roar again. The Sky Dragon was a master at the game, not once, in all the game, had he been touched, flitting in and out of Hiccup's sight at random intervals- then again, Hiccup thought, he had been playing this for centuries.
"Alright, lets finish Chase Pass!" He announced. "That's enough for today!"

Ha, Hiccup thought, yeah right. He knew Jack- no way would he ever stop playing a game. He was the first to start, and the last to stop. He was just saying that to get rid of the ones who'd had enough.

Hiccup was right- many of the dragons flew down to rest, but a few stayed behind, demanding more.
"Alright, you want a challenge!" He asked, the remaining dragons met this with great excitement, Hiccup and Toothless included. Jack grinned his dragony grin.
"Ok then- first to tag me gets official Stormseeker status." He challenged. Wait, did that mean Jack himself was a Stormseeker? It wouldn't surprise him- he could so imagine Jack throwing himself into a hurricane, just for the thrill of it.

All the dragons that were left- a good thirty, or forty, of them- leapt after the Sky Dragon, but he wasn't named that for nothing.

He cut through the air with astonishing ease. Weaving though the persuing dragons like they were no more than inanimate rocks in his path. Hiccup watched the others failed attempts, judging his moment, before he flew Toothless in for an attempt of their own. They used the old swoop up from underneath them trick, but Jack saw it coming a mile off. He easily avoided the attack, and snapped Toothless' tail shut as he did so- what was it about doing that, that was so appealing?

Hiccup realised why they'd failed- Jack could sense Hiccup's presence, in the same way Hiccup could his. So, as long as Hiccup was there, neither he nor Toothless stood a chance of getting anywhere near him- and he was the only one smart enough to pose any considerable threat to Jack's challenge. But, he was also smart enough to overcome that problem.

"Alright, Toothless, you remember what we've been practicing?" The Night Fury's eyes widened, as Hiccup led him into a wide turn, above and behind Jack, pulling a lever on his saddle. He slowly slid his foot out of the tail mechanism... and prepared to jump.

Jack was having the time of his life. Not one of the dragons got anywhere near him... well, not unless he let them. It was fun watching their disappointed expression, as they thought they'd finally got him, only to miss at the last minute. It wasn't mean, most of them were just happy they got so close. Hiccup's attempt was almost laughable. The boy's mind shone was like a beacon- he had no element of surprise, no way of getting near enough.

He dodged an approaching Nadder, and let himself wonder where Hiccup was. He felt him hovering a good distance away from him- probably trying to fool him into thinking they'd given up, or else building up some speed for a long distance pass. Ha, he could see straight through- WHOA!

A dragon came out of nowhere, straight from above him. He tried to dodge, but too dragon slapped him with a big, black wing.

No way...

He looked up, and saw the gurgling, happy face of Toothless staring back.

But... Hiccup was... He looked, and saw him riding on the back of a Timberjack.

How had he got there? No idea, but that tricksy, little Viking!

He grinned. You could say what you like about him. He might be skinny, weak, have stupid braids in his hair, stutter and say "er" a lot, have one leg... (he noticed Hiccup's mild annoyance in the back of his mind, and deliberately continued)... put a stupid mask helmet on sometimes, wear enough leather to give a yak a heart attack, have way too many pockets half of which don't do anything, and talk with his hands a lot... but he was a smart one. He finished.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, and slapped a hand to his head, as he slid back onto Toothless, but Jack could tell he was smiling underneath his hand.

He thanked his temporary transport on the way.
'So you finally got that fancy tail working.' Jack noticed.
"Yeah, quite a while back." Hiccup replied. "Now get back on here, before my mum notices you're gone." He told him. Jack chuckled a little, and slipped into the smaller form of the white haired boy Hiccup was more familiar with.

He landed, nimbly, on his feet, before settling into a seated position behind Hiccup, who turned to him in annoyance.
"And what do you mean, talk with my hands a lot?" He demanded. Jack grinned.
"I mean this: talking with your hands a lot." He repeated, exactly mimicking Hiccup's various hand movements, as he spoke.

Hiccup turned his head, mildly embarrassed.
"Shut up." He muttered, unable to hide a grin.
"Not a chance." Jack muttered, also grinning, as they flew down to land by Cloudjumper.