Chapter 2.

Toothless roared and then dove as only a Night Fury can dive, with their trademarked whistle and unparalleled speed. Tucking his wings in for maximum velocity, Toothless sped downward, screeching as Hiccup fell. With only one working tailfin, all the big dragon could do was dive and try to get beneath Hiccup. Then, with a swoosh of air, Hiccup was back in the saddle, fitting his left foot into the mechanism and straightening them out.

"That was…some fall…eh, bud?" Hiccup managed these few words, then blacked out. Toothless roared as loud as he could, partly from panic, and partly trying to awaken his rider; his efforts were in vain. Then, as a second thought, he shot a small plasma blast in front of himself and, roaring, flew right into it, just like he had done on their first flight. The residual plasma warmed Toothless's scaled hide, an ever-pleasant feeling, but failed to wake his rider. In fact, it seemed to have an even less desired effect: it appeared to relax him so he slouched still more into the saddle. Odd, Toothless thought, but then decided that the only option left was to land and signal for help. They had lost quite a bit of altitude, so Toothless would have to find an island or a sea stack at his level – and nearby, too. Without Hiccup, Toothless had very little steering-wise. But, there! With a small roar, Toothless turned as much to his right as much as he could. He flapped his wings, hard, trying to keep his tailfin straight. If it collapsed, there was next to nothing that the dragon could do to correct it.

Northeast of Toothless and his downed rider, Astrid had taken to ignoring the twins. They were always annoying, and today was no exception. But now they were being plain ridiculous. They couldn't even control their own dragon. Both heads kept pulling back the direction they'd come from. Astrid wouldn't admit it, especially not to the twins, but Stormfly had also started to gently tug the same way, only a little bit ago.

"Come on, girl," she whispered down to her dragon. "You'll get fish at home. I'll even throw in some chicken, Stormfly. Just,... Come on!"

Then, even Astrid heard it. A faint explosion, almost like a…"Plasma blast?" Suddenly worried, Astrid sat up straight and strained her ears. What if Hiccup was in trouble? She was supposed to patrol for trouble with the twins. But if Hiccup had already found it…

"Ugh. Come on, guys, let's go. We have to go make sure Hiccup and Toothless are okay."

The twins had only enough time to shout a surprised "Whoa!" before their dragon, impatient to check on its friend, shot off in the direction the blast had come from.

"You're not going to let a Zippleback beat you in a race, are you girl?" Astrid asked her dragon in a mock-surprised tone. Stormfly answered with a Rawk! and took off.

After flying for what seemed like ages, worried and slightly distressed (although she certainly did not show it), Astrid started to think that they wouldn't be able to find them. Restlessly, she murmured, "Come on, Hiccup, where are you?" Stormfly squawked at these words and unexpectedly shot a magnesium blast straight up.

"What in Thor's name was…there they are! Down, girl! Go!" Astrid urged her down. As they descended, she kept her gaze trained on Toothless, the black dragon standing in stark contrast with the lush greenness of the forest surrounding him. The Night Fury was moving, restless in comparison with the prone figure lying beside him.
"Oh Hiccup," Astrid breathed softly. "Come on, Stormfly!"

As soon as the Nadder had landed, Astrid leapt off her dragon's back and ran to the fallen Rider. Kneeling beside him, Astrid searched for signs of life, shaking him gently and talking urgently to him, not at all sure whether he would respond, and only vaguely aware that the twins had landed right behind her. "Hiccup. Come on, Hiccup. Say something. Oh Thor, anything."

A gasp escaped her lips as she heard a moan escape his. "That was…pretty stupid…falling asleep in the saddle…huh." He opened his eyes and half-smiled in that way that always made Astrid want to punch and kiss him simultaneously.

"Oh, Hiccup." Sighing softly, the blonde Viking straightened, issuing orders to the twins and questioning Hiccup in the same breath. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, go and find Fishlegs and the rest of the gang. Hiccup, what in Thor's name happened out there?" Hiccup sat up, coughing at intervals throughout his explanation.

"I'm not cough entirely sure." He paused to catch a breath and sat up. "We were scouting the usual route, and about halfway to the Island of Tomorrow Toothless seemed to see something approaching us in the distance, and growled slightly. Then, without warning, cough whatever he was growling at flew up and knocked me clear out of the saddle. As I fell, with Toothless diving after me, I got a slightly better look at the thing that had hit me. It was some sort of black, misty object that cough, cough wasn't quite solid, and stayed with me as I fell, leaching into me. Either the projectile or the blow of the thing must have weakened me, because as soon as Toothless caught me, I had only enough strength to click my metal foot in before I passed out." He finished his explanation with another small bout of coughing.

"Strange," Astrid commented. "Do you feel okay, Hiccup? You keep coughing. We should definitely have Fishlegs take a look at you."

"I feel fine; but also weird," Hiccup replied. "I have that sensation where it feels like I'm going to sneeze, but it just doesn't happen. I don't know what's going on."

Astrid frowned as she stood, and reached for his hand to help him up. "Maybe Gothi should be the one to take a look at you, you could be—"

Interrupting her with a jerk and a sneeze not to be outdone by even the largest of Vikings, Hiccup changed. Sudden as it was, it shocked Astrid enough for her to have fainted – if she had been the fainting type. But the change was what shocked her the most. In an instant, so sudden one might have dreamed it, Hiccup turned from a skinny (by Viking standards), lanky young man into a sleek, black, scaly reptile.

"—sick. Hiccup?"