8 years later

Hiccup walked along the beach, looking around for different shells that may have washed up. After spending some time with his new little sister Jinora, who was about a year old, he was exhausted from the seemingly hyper baby, who could already blow tiny gusts of wind in his face. Go figure.

He wasn't a bender himself, and while slightly jealous of his dad and sister's bending, he didn't mind it too much. After all it was always fun to challenge his father in something with one of his genius inventive ideas. Granted, they rarely worked and it was hard to make them without proper parts from the city, which Tenzin didn't get often, but it was still fun.

Hiccup also enjoyed to follow along with Tenzin's airbending teachings to the acolytes, finding the culture cool to learn about. He didn't practice the teachings constantly, since he ate meat on a rare occasion and didn't wear Air Nomad clothing. Instead, he wore a simple green colored shirt with dark brown pants and leather shoes for his usual outfit. However he did have another outfit for more formal occasions in the future, which was a deep red colored robe shirt with black pants.

Leaning on he ground, he searched through the sand excitedly, eager for another shell to add to his collection, that he could maybe draw at some point as well. While he was doing that however, the sound of some creature giving off a pained whine got his attention.

He looked up in surprise, forgetting his shell searching for a moment before scampering over in the direction of the noise curiously. Coming to a large bush, he could hear small whines coming from the other side.

"Hello?" he called out timidly.

The noise suddenly stopped, so he brushed the bush aside to see what was behind it and stared in awe. Sitting on the ground in front of him was a midnight-black colored reptile with wings... a dragon! His father had only spoken of dragons in stories, even telling Hiccup that his grandfather and Firelord Zuko had once met two large dragons. This one was small, probably only twice his size at he most, which wasn't much bigger than him.

The dragon looked up with green eyes and black pupils, which then narrowed into slits as it growled warningly. One of it's wings seemed damaged, and Hiccup held up his arms peacefully.

"It's ok, nice dragon! I'm a friend!" he said quietly, trying to get on it's good side but also bursting with excitement at the thought of touching a dragon.

He dragon stopped growling as dangerously as before, but still watched him with suspicious eyes as Hiccup slowly moved forwards.

"You're hurt," he said sadly, noticing the damaged wing. "I can help you! Dad says that all life is sacred, and I think so too!" he says, hoping the dragon would understand as he moves closer, arms held up placatingly.

The dragon continued to eye him distrustfully, although it seemed to understand him a little bit as it cocked its head to the side curiously, wondering what this little human was playing at.

Hiccup reached his hand out to touch the dragon's snout, and it immediately growled threateningly again, causing him to flinch and pull his hand away. The dragon immediately stopped growling again, dying him suspiciously.

Hiccup sighed when realizing the dragon still didn't trust him. And why should it? He was approaching a wounded animal, and there is a saying that the most dangerous animal in the world was a cornered one. He would have to prove to it that he meant no harm, and that it could trust him.

Turning his head away, Hiccup hesitantly stretched one of his arms to the dragon, who looked at him in surprise. Didn't the human realize he could bite his arm off? He was either really brace or really foolish! However, since the human was in such a vulnerable position, he decided this one wasn't so bad and grew curious, sniffing his hand before pressing his snout against the little human's hand.

Hiccup flinched before looking back at the dragon in shock, surprised at the trust the dragon returned to him. His shock quickly fades away as the dragon looks up at him with wide pupils, a happy look on its face.

He giggles and starts to scratch the dragon's head, and it purrs excitedly, an adorable expression on its face. Hiccup then looks back at the dragon's wing and frowns sadly, moving to examine it and see if he can offer any help.

"Hiccup? Hiccup!" Tenzin calls out in concern. He had been gone for longer than usual, and both he and Pema were getting worried.

Tenzin huffed and crossed his arms. "Where could that boy be?" he questions aloud. The Air Acolytes had already reported back to him that Hiccup was nowhere inside the house, which ruled that out as a possibility.

"Are you sure he isn't out by the meditation area? He's always enjoyed watching the horizon from that point." Pema suggests, walking up to him with Jinora held in her arms.

Tenzin sighs. "No, he isn't there, or at the docks, or in the small workshop we have. I'm not sure where to look next," he admits in irritation.

"Maybe he went to collect more shells? He does have a small collection he likes to keep," she replies, and Tenzin nods in agreement.

"Perhaps," he responds, and the two start to head over towards the beach area on the other side of the island. They don't get too far when they see Hiccup walking up the stairs, an excited look on his face.

"Hiccup! Thank the spirits. Where have you... been..." Tenzin trails off as his and Pema's eyes widen in surprise at what's behind him.

A midnight-black colored dragon slinks up the steps behind Hiccup, looking around curiously and eying the airbending family with suspicious eyes. Jinora looks over with a curious expression, bubbling a few noises from her mouth in wonder.

"Hiccup, where did you find that?" Pema asks in shock.

Hiccup pats the dragon on the head happily. "I found him on the beach mom! His wing seemed hurt, so I helped him! Can we keep him?" he asks excitedly.

Pema and Tenzin look at each other, sharing a look of surprise before returning their gaze to the unlikely pair in front of them.

"How did... where did a dragon come from of all things? And his type! I've never heard of a dragon like that before," he says in surprise.

"I don't know, but I like him! He really likes to eat fish too apparently!" Hiccup responds, the dragon sniffing his clothes, still picking up the smell of a fish hat Hiccup caught from the ocean after helping fix his wing.

"Toothess, no," he says, and 'Toothless' whines, but relents.

"You named it Toothless?" Tenzin asks in bewilderment.

Hiccup nods quickly. "Yup! He can pull back his teeth if he smiles! It's so funny!"

Despite the absurd situation, Pema can't help but shake her head with a smile. "That's adorable."

"So can I keep him? I'll be really good! And since we have air bison I thought having a dragon would be cool!" Hiccup pleads.

Tenzin waves his arms, attempting to come up with an argument for why they couldn't, but under Pena's stern glare, Hiccup's reasoning, even Toothless's apparently hopeful face, he lets out a sigh and nods his head reluctantly.

Hiccup's face bursts into a wide smile and he throws his hand into the air, cheering before hugging Toothless's head.

"Yes! Thank you dad!" he exclaims happily.

"On the condition," Tenzin adds in firmly. "That he will be your responsibility. You make sure he doesn't burn anything down, or cause trouble, and if you and him go flying at some point, you stay within the sights of the island, and don't fly over Republic City," he says sternly at Hiccup. He agrees quickly to the terms, glad he gets to keep his new friend.