How to Train the Very Best (Like No Dragon Ever Was)
Prologue
Salutations, greetings, and many great hellos!
I got the idea for this story fairly recently and pretty much out of the blue, but I liked the premise so much that I immediately got to scriptwriting. It's been a very long time since I wrote a Pokemon journey fic, and this hopefully puts a fun spin on the concept by making it a crossover.
This is basically a filler story I'm writing as I continue to plan for my next serious project, so I haven't spent as much time on the script for this one as I normally would have. However, I've still got a lot of good stuff planned with the characters, so if you've ever wanted to see how the HTTYD cast would fit in to the world of Pokemon, I promise you a great time!
A special thank-you to ReptileGirl497 for helping me brainstorm and giving me some great ideas during this story's early development!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon, How to Train Your Dragon, or any of either franchise's associated properties.
It was raining that night in the deep forest. The torrential deluge was deafening as it pattered down against layers and layers of leaves and branches, a constant wall of noise that pounded on the ears. Even down on the forest floor, almost entirely covered up by the canopy overhead, it was soaking wet as fat drops rolled off the saturated leaves to splatter on the damp soil below. To make matters worse, the darkness was impenetrable; the rainclouds that choked the sky swallowed the moon and stars so that there was no light to see by. For the small Pokemon that lived in the forest, the only comfort to be found that night was restricted to their hidden burrows and snug tree hollows, where they could curl up and wait out the storm.
Some Pokemon, though, had nowhere to go.
The Bagon, little more than a hatchling, sneezed as cold raindrops rolled into his nostrils for the millionth time that night. He wiggled his dangling limbs pathetically, no longer interested in struggling against the vines-that-weren't-vines that suspended him above the ground. He knew there was no escape. He was going to hang there until he either starved or shivered to death. He sniffled miserably, and trembled so hard he made his harness bounce – he already suspected which fate would come sooner.
The cold was worse than anything he had ever known. Worse than the pain from his open wounds, which by now had numbed to nothing more than an ache. Worse than the taste of iron on his tongue, as blood still oozed from his torn gums. Worse, even, than the human that had come to the woods and hurt him so, before taking away his family. Yes, the cold was the deadliest threat of all, the natural enemy of every dragon, which all instinctively feared. He had experienced cold before, on his first trip to the edge of the Big Water, where he'd fallen in while trying to drink. He'd learned that water was cold; learned how it stung your scales and sapped your strength if you spent too long in it.
Now, stuck in the human's vine-trap, abandoned and exposed to the never-ending rain, the dragonling was very cold indeed.
The Bagon closed his eyes and shuddered again. He could barely feel himself anymore. The rain was going to seep into his very bones and kill him from the inside before long. He was going to take his last breaths in this tree. That was okay – he was growing tired, and he wanted to sleep. Maybe that was when it would happen. He wouldn't mind a peaceful end. Better than getting eaten by a predator… better than that human coming back…
SNAP!
Fear jerked the Bagon awake, his body giving a violent twitch and his eyes flying wide. Frantically, he searched the nearby bushes for whatever had made that sound, turning his head with difficulty due to the awful chill making his muscles stiff. He was about to die, yet his instincts were still yelling at him, demanding that he fight for his survival. Whimpering, the Bagon wriggled and thrashed as hard as he could against the not-vines, but all that accomplished was making his harness sway uncomfortably.
Then, lights appeared from the forest depths. The Bagon squinted, his eyes long ago having adjusted to the dark. The lights were coming closer rapidly, highlighting the damp tree trunks and sopping wet bushes, and the sheets of hammering rain became an almost solid wall of white. Half-blind, the Bagon stopped struggling and waited, his little heart hammering with terror, for whatever it was to come out and finish him off.
Two figures rose tall from behind the bushes, and the Bagon could have died right then and there. Humans!
The bushes shuffled and snapped as the taller human forced its way closer, carrying its light in its hand and muttering in low tones. It was so tall, it took up the entire space between the Bagon and the forest floor, and the little dragon came alive with panic. He shrieked, swiping with his claws and baring his bloodied fangs.
The human backed off, which was good, because the Bagon couldn't keep up the fight. The cold had taken too much of his strength already, and soon he hung limp, gasping for breath. The human came closer again, and the Bagon growled, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't even lift a claw.
He could see the human's green eyes looking up at him. He stared back, too exhausted to do anything else. But the longer he stared into those green eyes, the more he relaxed. There was… comfort there. Kindness. Sympathy. Was that a trick humans did to catch helpless Pokemon? The Bagon couldn't bring himself to care anymore. He was so, so tired.
The human said something in its humanspeak tongue and slowly, ominously, raised its lanky arms. The light had been replaced by a sharp blade, gleaming cruelly as though thirsting for the blood of its prey. Closer it crept… closer…
The Bagon let his eyes slip closed. The last of his defiance drained from his half-frozen body. This was it, then… at least now he could rest forever…
When the Bagon came to, it was no longer raining. He cracked his eyelids open, feeling listless and confused. Maybe it was just the grogginess, but he could feel the sensation of moving very fast even though he was still curled in half-sleep.
That was odd… hadn't he been dangling from a tree with not-vines biting into his skin? Why was he lying down? What was this soft thing underneath his head? Where were the humans, and why hadn't they eaten him yet?
With all its strength, the Bagon lifted his head just enough to look up. The pleasant eyes of a long-necked bird Pokemon greeted him. He blinked at the creature, and it smiled with its beak. It cooed softly, telling him to lie back down and sleep. He had had a terribly bad day, it insisted – he needed rest.
The Bagon didn't feel like arguing. He let his head fall back against the bird's pillowy feathers, and for no real reason, let his closing eyes wander elsewhere. He saw a small room, lit by dim yellow light. Sitting next to him was a human – the second one, he faintly realized. This human was smaller than the other, and its wide eyes had a certain familiar youth about them. Did humans have hatchlings, too?
The Bagon spent a little longer looking at the human's eyes. They seemed worried, but underneath the fear, they held the same warmth and kindness as the first's had. Somehow, the Bagon didn't think this human was a threat, and it fell back into slumber.
The last thing it heard was the human hatchling's voice.
"It's okay, bud. We'll take care of you from now on."
AN:
End scene! Originally, I was planning on starting with Chapter 1 proper and getting into the story right away, but decided to add this quick prologue. HTTYD has always been a series built around Hiccup and Toothless, so I felt it important to show how their relationship started so that I could build on that foundation going forward.
I'm going to do my best to publish chapters weekly, but because life is messy, don't be surprised if updates take a few days more than that to be posted.
As this is my first story of this style in a good while, I encourage you to leave reviews and give me some honest feedback about how it goes. Knowing you enjoy my work is everything to me, readers, so I want to deliver the best possible content to you!
Chapter 1 will be up soon, so in the meantime, please review, and thank you for reading!
Next time: This is Kalos
