How to Train Your Dragon Rider

(3.1) A New Beginning

"Alright bud, nice and easy." Toothless glides across the top of the cages, he pauses briefly, giving me the chance to slide off of his side and land on the deck of the ship.

It was foggy, which made this whole encounter easier in my opinion. For the past two years, or so, I've sent the teens off on dozens of rescue mission, all very successful. But this, this, was my first mission since Drago. It had taken a long time to heal and to learn the way of things again, but now that I had, I was so excited about it.

Not only, was this my first mission, but also it was the first time for me to try out my new armor. It was lightweight, easier for me to move around in. The sleeves were tighter, not to tight, but tight enough to prevent my arms from aching in an old-wound-not-fully-healed kind of way. The pain was never to terrible, but sometimes it could be to much.

I bring a small flame to the tips of my right hand, as I step through the fog towards the guard on deck. He spins around quickly, pointing his sword in my direction, and calls out with a terrified voice, "What are you?"

I walk closer to him, just as Toothless climbs down the side of the cage next to him. Toothless' dramatic flare led him to light his spines with a bright blue. The trapper panics and swings his sword at me, I dodge it easily, taking a few steps back. He lunges again knocking over a lamp in the process. A section of the floor lights on fire, I walk through it thanks to the fireproof dragon scales that make up my armor.

The man yells, backing up a few feet, "You're a demon!"

"Shh! Shhh! Shh! No no no, not a demon! I am not a demon!" I wave him off, making him panic even more (my finger tips were still lit), and remove my mask. "See? Just a guy! I am just a normal guy, here to rescue these dra-"

"But you walked through fire!" The trapper was still terrified."

"Dragon scales! Dragons shed a lot." I try to reason with the guy giving the other teens the chance too get a few dragons out.

"Na-a-ah! I know a demon when I see one! No human legs are that skinny!"

Ouch.

I start to say something else, but then my dim-witted cousin decides to come in on his lit Monstrous Nightmare. Of course, the idiot forgot to fireproof his butt, which leads him to panic and rush around trying to put it out.

"A-ha! I knew it! More demons!" The man finally takes the chance to run off, but bumps directly into the twins and their dragon Barf and Belch.

"Gas now!" Barf and Belch cause a small explosion, knocking the dragon trapper onto his butt.

"Too soon you guys!" I amble over to them, leaning heavily on my staff. "Always too soon!"

A large bang sounds from behind me, I spin around in a rush nearly loosing my balance, and find Fishlegs on his back on the ground.

"Sorry! Still getting the hang of my wings." He gets to his feet quickly, and I am startled by the fact that he has a baby dragon with him. I start to say something about it, but Astrid decides to pop in. She knocks the dragon trapper against the side of the cage, effectively knocking him unconscious.

"I had him right where I wanted him Astrid."

"And now he's right where I wanted him." Astrid smiles as she says it, waltzing up to me. Her one hand lands where mine grips my staff, and the other lands on the back of my neck. She confidently gives me a peck on the lips before backing away. I couldn't help but smile at her.

"Alright let's go, get the dragons out as fast as possible, with minimum attention okay?" The team scatters in all directions unlocking cages as they go.

I lumber over to the nearest cage and unlock it, releasing a Scuttleclaw. She was absolutely terrified and wouldn't leave the cage.

"Hey hey hey, it's okay. Come on out, I'm here to help." I stuck my hand into the cage, slowly coaxing her out of it. She flies off the instant she is out of the cage, and I move onto the next. I let out a slather of different dragons, a Hobgoblin, a couple of Zipplebacks. I moved onto the last cage of this block, when a swarm of dragon trappers come running at all of us.

"Attack!" One of them calls.

"Alright that's all we can get! Get the rescues out of here!" I shout to all of the other teens, I turn around, making first contact with the dragon trappers. The first three I knock over with a sweep of my staff to their feet, the other two I blast with a wave of fire.

"Get the Night Fury!" Well, that's overstepping everything. One of the dragon trappers knocks me in the back, but Toothless was there before I could fall. Toothless kept the trappers away as I continue unlocking cages.

"I thought this was suppose to be a stealth mission." Astrid's voice sounds from above me as she swoops by on Stormfly.

I snort, opening the last cage. I scan the boat quickly checking the cages nearest to me for any sign of dragons.

"Move out! We got them all!" I walk across the deck, attempting to be as quiet as I can, but it's a lot harder with a peg leg and a staff. Nonetheless, I make it to Toothless and climb on top. He takes off and catches up with the teens quickly.

My mother and Cloudjumper slow down so that they're in line with me, and she checks me over. She smiles at me, and congratulates me on the success of the mission. The flight back to Berk was dragon-filled and peaceful. It was wonderful, the sun had barely risen, and put a beautiful glow on everything around us.

This is home.