Welp! I'm back with another fic. In case you're a reader of Calling Shadows or my poor collection of one-shots, don't worry! I'm working on both of them and have actually been making progress. I promise on my honor as a writer! :)

Though I guess writers don't really have an agree upon amount of honor sooo... ;)

Anyway, I've been wanting to do this for a while. This particular crossover, along with several others, but I might also be writing multiple versions. At least, of this one. ('cause I'm in love with HTTYD and Ninjago so...yeah.)

Oh, btw...when does it take place? In between season one and two of Dragons Rising and somewhere in RTTE. Probably after season 4, ig.

Anyway, on to the fic!

Cole POV

I'm helping Geo lug broken scraps of metal to the Rookery when it happens. Geo hears it before I do. The screech, loud and inhuman, that pierces everything and causes me to yelp in pain and clamp my hands to my head. The scrap of metal I was dragging, twice the size of Geo's, drops to the ground with a thud that I don't hear, but feel. I look up, finding that the Finders, who had been milling around the Rookery, have dashed inside, Geo on their tails.

That's how we work. He stays behind as a last line of defense and I work on the front lines simply because I have more combat experience. This doesn't mean that Geo isn't a good fighter, by any means; he's excellent when it comes to helping at a distance.

But, if he's initiating our old defenses, that means he thinks whatever made that screech is dangerous. I trust his instincts, and once again, he may have just saved the Finders.

Which brings me to what I need to do: find the source of that noise and determine whether it's dangerous or not.

The screech sounds again. This time, I am focusing on where it's coming from and I find that it's coming from the south, more east than west, and that it's moving. I need to be quick. If this thing is dangerous, I need to keep it away from the Finders. They're just kids. They shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this. It's bad enough that they're stuck here in the Land of Lost Things, unable to leave because everyone had forgotten them.

I sprint as a third screech, followed by high-pitched whistling, fills the normally mostly quiet Land of Lost Things. A blur of black shoots across the sky lit only by dying sunlight, before it blends in with the darker blue higher above the canvas of sunset.

Great, I internally groan. It can fly. This is going to be a lot harder.

I use my powers to tug on the ground around me, finding loose pieces of rocks ranging from pebbles to boulders, and pulling them to me, forming a giant armor/mech thing. I had thought I could only form this with Geo's help, but a while ago, he had told me he didn't actually do anything to help me with this new form. I disagree. Maybe he doesn't have to use his Elemental Powers to help me with my Elemental Golem, but he certainly did help me find it.

Once the Golem is fully formed, I sprint in the direction of the screech, though it's been several minutes since it happened. I run until the Rookery is out of sight, up something too big to be a hill and too small to be a mountain that overlooks the valley the Rookery is in, and until I am surrounded by dark, navy blue sky. I spot a slightly darker shape against the blue and whip around to follow it.

Another screech fills the air, jolting me enough to lose control over the Golem. I can feel it crumbling, and for a brief moment, wind on my newly exposed arm. The Golem's arm reforms just as the black shape swoops at me. I leap as far away as I can without falling off the edge of the elevated land.

No, not at me, I realize as its swoop missed where the Golem had been several second ago by at least three yards. Better safe than sorry, I guess. And it's definitely true when the mysterious black shape turns out to be an even more mysterious dragon. I only spot a very faint idea of it as it flashes past me, but I see enough to tell that it's a dragon.

Dragons tend to fly in packs or flocks. There's rarely just one. And if it's dangerous? I might need more than Geo's help to protect the Finders.

I need the Ninja.

The next morning…

"It's good that you called us," Nya says as I lead her and the others to the Rookery.

"It's nice to see you," Lloyd adds, "Even if it could be under better circumstances."

"Well, at least we're getting more Ninja experience," Arin offers, raising his hands by his cheeks in a it's-good-shrug. He's generally good-natured. Definitely a good kid. He kinda seems like the guy who won't be tainted by the world, or maybe that's just a hope that everyone around him feels.

"Yeah. Searching for possibly deadly dragons is definitely a good thing," Sora retorts. Her pink hair is a lot brighter than I remembered it and her blue eyes shine, curious despite her attitude.

"At least it's fun," Wyldfyre says, hopping down from her perch on her family, a dragon called Heatwave. Her pink-ish cherry red hair is as messy as ever, forever the wild spirit, I suppose.

"Well, anyway, we should probably get started," I say, trying to bring it back on topic.

"Right. We should probably split up to search better," Lloyd continues.

Nya and Sora immediately respond with "I'm with Sora" and "I'm with Nya." The two are already standing by each other, waiting for the other group assignments.

"I'll be with you Lloyd," came Arin's enthusiastic shout right before Lloyd's open mouth could get out a word.

"Right," Lloyd says, beaming. He looks at me, Kai, and Wyldfyre, saying, "Guess you're a group."

"No, I'm with Heatwave. The ancients can be with each other," Wyldfyre replies, the unfortunate word choice making Kai draw himself up.

I simply shrug. Maybe I'm not a kid anymore, but all that kid is trying to do is get a rise out of us.

"Yes, they are," Lloyd agrees, cutting in before Kai could open his mouth. Kai looks even more offended but is interrupted by Lloyd again before he can get a word out, "But, don't you think the 'ancients' might need help. I need someone to keep an eye on them so they don't blow out their backs."

Kai glares at Lloyd and his student, biting his lip. I roll my eyes. What is with Kai and having to take every little thing personally?

"Yeah, I suppose so. Gotta watch out for the old timers," Wyldfyre mumbles, grinning at Kai.

Before Kai can shoot back some witty retort and get himself in trouble, I place a hand on his shoulder and suggest, "Why don't we get started?"

Hiccup's POV

Far from the meeting of ninjas, I silently watch from the back of Toothless. I try not to think about all those times, way back before the Red Death, back when everyone ignored me, how I always stood, always the watcher, always the observer. I'm a quiet guy, but even quiet people like to be heard from time to time. This time, however, I think it's safer to keep my distance.

Sure, the ninja with a black gi, who I've taken to calling *Steinete (perks of keeping to the sidelines, no one can tell you what to call them), is probably trustworthy. I've seen him protect those kids. He hasn't turned on them or the other adult, with troll-ish features, that lives with him. I know him a lot better than the group of people who showed up here a half hour ago.

From here, I can see that there's a woman with dark hair wearing blues and grays. I can see a girl with pink hair and another with a pink-ish red. For a moment, I wonder why anyone would waste valuable dye to stain their hair an exotic color before remembering that with different people comes with different cultures. Another boy clothed in bright orange bounces around, while a man with white-blond hair and a green gi talks to Steinete. Another man with brown hair and a red gi reprimands the girl with pink-ish red hair.

If they're new additions to this realm, which I've heard is called "the Land of Lost Things," then I'm going to have to come up with some more nicknames. I can't just call them "the woman" or "the girl with pink hair" and so on, after all.

Underneath me, Toothless shifts, bringing back to the matter at hand. It often feels like our minds are connected, though no words pass between us in those times. Right now, for example, I know Toothless is trying to tell me something. Once he senses that he has my attention, he uses his head to point at the dragon that accompanied them.

Its scales are orange-red, with gold around its brown horns, and golden eyes to match. The decorative frills around its sorta owl-ish, sorta wolf-ish face flap occasionally, small movements barely noticeable to someone who isn't paying attention; the distance makes me have to strain my eyes to confirm that it isn't just some trick they're playing on me. I think it's an adult male, although my estimations may be wrong. I'm not close enough to tell for sure, and anyway, I've never seen this particular species before.

My mind whirs with everything I need to learn about it, something Toothless senses. He shifts again, and tilts his head at the pink-ish-red-haired girl who just climbed on the new dragon.

He's totally calm. Totally comfortable with this human getting on him. And, as a matter of fact, he's comfortable around the rest of the group. He hasn't been bullied into submissions; those dragons would most likely be jittery and anxious around their masters, never as comfortable as this dragon is acting right now.

Dragons rarely lie, unlike people.

Maybe I need to re-think my keeping-a-distance policy. Maybe they could help me. Maybe we could be mutually beneficial allies.

I'm getting ahead of myself. One thing does not prove anything. I need to learn more.

"What do you say to taking a closer look, bud?" I ask.

Toothless warbles before silently taking off just as the group below us start to split up. He automatically drifts toward the group with Steinete and the other dragon, a decision I don't quite mind. Might as well start with people you know, albeit people you know only from occasional observations and the occasional assist from far away.

Toothless and I fly high above the group, high enough that if one of them looks up, they may mistake us for a bird. The wind whistles by, cold and stinging on my neck, the only skin that shows through. For what must have been a millionth time, I am glad that I finally made a mask to shield my face and eyes from the wind, even if I'll get helmet hair.

The group is heading away, to the south, from the large, strange building in the center of the valley. I think I may have heard one of the children, albeit a snake-person kid, call it "the Rookery." Either way, it's a strange castle-like building with horns built into the wall.

I suppose whenever someone says they've seen it all, they're lying. Because there is no way anyone's ever seen "it all" when snake-people and castles-with-horns-built-into-their-walls are involved. Whatever that storm was, it resulted in a lot of weird being dumped into the world.

Argument drifts up the clouds and to us, snapping my attention back to the group below. Toothless lands on a ledge of the mountains that raise above a good portion of the Land of Lost Things, allowing me to listen.

I'm not an eavesdropper. Not normally. But when you're the only Viking left and have no idea who to trust, you kinda have to look into strangers.

Especially strangers who're looking into you.

Steinete saw me last night. Well, he only caught a glimpse of Toothless and me, and from what I've heard, he didn't see a Rider on a strange dragon. Just a strange dragon.

I'm not sure if I can trust them. What if they're in league with those Dragon Hunters that I ran into just after the storm? Toothless is practically my brother; I'm not going to let him get captured and be used to power a few lights.

But that girl is sitting on a dragon who is perfectly fine with being around them. All the dragons I've ever seen are nervous around Dragon Hunters and their allies, even Windshear, an extremely well-trained and intelligent Razorwhip that was well aware that her Rider was merely pretending to help the Hunters.

So, what am I supposed to do?

"Any thoughts, Toothless?" I whisper. I'm close enough that anything above a whisper would be heard, if the group below are dead silent. But they're not. They're still fighting.

Toothless hums, a reaction that's hard for me to read. This can mean several things, each meaning having been used multiple times. He's saying that he doesn't have an opinion, doesn't know, needs to think, or wants to get closer to investigate.

"Should we go so hi?" I suggest, the corner of my mouth struggling to remain flat. Before I can stop it, I tease, "Maybe make a new friend?"

Toothless grumbles and I can feel the epic dragon-eye-roll he just gave me.

"Well…?" I prompt, reminding him he still hasn't answered my question.

He responds by flaring his wings open and taking off. I grip the handles tighter as he makes a point to fly in an arch, then pull into a spiral above the group.

Below, I hear faint cries of surprise and the spark of another argument that quickly dies down when Steinete admonishes them, his voice the only familar sound.

I really hope this isn't going to be the start of a problem. I'm already alone in a strange land with no one that I can trust besides Toothless, with no knowledge of my friends or my father's whereabouts.

However, my hopes are quickly bashed as we land and a burst of fire falls just a few feet short of Toothless.

Toothless growls, but waits for me to determine whether we need to fall back or fight. He knows that I normally prefer to fall back. I know he would prefer to defend himself. Typically, we compromise and make sure to leave a lesson to whichever adversary that tried to challenge us. This time, however, I discreetly motion for Toothless to get ready to fight.

I don't know Steinete very well, but I do know he has some sort of power, and that he is an excellent fighter. If the people he surrounds himself with are similar in this way, then it will be a lot harder to just fly away.

My theory is proven when the other man lifts a hand, a ball of fire flickering menacingly.

Toothless catches it before I do, twirling around and flicking the fireball away with his tail.

"Hit the red part!" the man yells, drowning out the words of Steinete.

Why did I let us be seen?

*Steinete = Norwegian for rocky (it might be wrong because I used Google translate. Sorry if you know Norwegian, but it'd be nice if you could let me know with the correct word...)

Anyway, hope you liked it! I'm super excited to be writing this crossover so...yeah. But thanks for reading and have a great day!