Author's Note: In this alternate universe, Hiccup and Toothless will clash with friends and foes, the known and unknown. OC's, frontiers, battles, alliances and adventure, this fic has. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I have enough to get by, and what I own does not include HTTYD and all its facets.

This is Berk. It's got all the ordinary stuff a Viking village has; long houses, a great hall, big beefy people tending to fishing, livestock, agriculture, trade, and more recently, a training academy. That's something where the village of Berk has an edge on the extraordinary. Other villages train people to kill dragons, but here, we educate people to train with dragons. See, we've made peace with the dragons and have had a series of topsy turvy adventures because of it. I've been through the ordinary dragon taming, animal workshop, competing at the Thawfest games, and even your typical kidnapping, courtesy of my favorite Outcast, of course. One time a refugee-spy washed up on our shores, but she ended up siding with us. Then there was that one time when 'they' showed up in our patch of the sky.

…

Entry 51

This is bad. This is very bad.

Elene and I got separated when we flew with our dragons into a storm. Scatty managed to crash land into a mountain cave, where we're going to sit out the storm. We've already set up camp for the night, and Scatty's inhaling the fish that I had in my pack. Sounds like fun, except that I don't know where we are, and I'd lost track of Elene and Khor. Anyway, I hope the storm ends soon. When it does, I'm going to look for my twin, and go back home. Mum and dad must be worried. I wonder how they're doing now.

…

The sun hadn't even risen properly when Hiccup awoke to a series of impatient thundering noises coming from the roof.

A year ago, he would have liked to sleep in, and wake up with the other Hooligans to start their share of village work. His father would greet him with a scowl over breakfast in the great hall, and the other vikings would have ignored him altogether, if they didn't have another topic to gossip about. Today, his father would have a cheery 'mornin' son!' and walk with him to the great hall for breakfast. The other residents also would send a merry 'hello' his way, and that was a good enough start to get him going throughout the day at the academy or whatever misadventure he found himself into.

But before all those lovely Viking village activities, there was someone who demanded his full attention. And that someone was a large, streamlined scaly reptile who made friends with Hiccup when the others saw him as the worst Viking Berk has ever seen.

Hiccup pulled the blanket over his head and closed his eyes. Maybe he could still get a few minutes…

It was always time to stop trying to sleep when the roars began.

"All right, I'm coming!" A yawning Hiccup swung his legs, flesh, wood, metal and all, off the bed then darted out of the house where Toothless was waiting for him.

…

Today however, Toothless was not the first living creature Hiccup saw. He found his father upon Thornado when he stepped outside, and was greeted with a glum "mornin' son," especially when it was compared to eager nose butt that came from Toothless.

"Going somewhere, dad?"

Stoick had his pack on his shoulders, and Hiccup guessed the pack contained provisions that would last for several days.

"Negotiations again," the chief answered shortly. The grim expression he wore especially for negotiations looked even, well, grimmer. Berk had made peace with the dragons, but the price of that was the suspicions of the neighboring villages that Berk gained a serious advantage when it comes to war. That made treaties harder to negotiate, and not all chieftains were easy to persuade. Hiccup had to tend to his dad for a day when he returned from the previous negotiation, where Stoick and Thornado narrowly escaped being captured.

"Don't worry, dad, it'll be fine," Hiccup tried to reassure his father, "Just stay calm, and tell them that our dragons are not weapons for war."

"I know. Stay safe and put while I'm away. I'll see you in about a week."

Stoick met his son's eyes for a moment before he and Thornado took off.

Hiccup stood for some time in front of the house, staring at the spot in the horizon where he watched his father disappear. One day he'll be the one flying away from Berk to deal with those inter-village chiefly concerns that kept his dad busy all year. Stoick barely had time for his own son, but that did not stop Hiccup from loving his father.

That also did not stop a Night Fury from nosing his rider impatiently.

…

Scatty poked her boy awake before the sun even started to peek behind the dissipating clouds… and promptly made him mount her back to go flying.

"About time! I thought the storm would never end!" The boy said, stepping outside the cave and grinning at the relatively cloudy sky.

"This island looks weird," the boy remarked, as Scatty took off into the chilly wintry air. The land was refreshingly new to him. A foggy mossy island where the sun shines rarely and Night Furies dominated the land; that was his home. Scatty flew around tall rocky spires surrounded by an equally rock-dotted sea, save for a hidden beach near a harbor. Several ships were docked at the harbor, and a series of wooden structures led the way up the rock face and into a whole bunch of wooden houses. The island was inhabited by people!

Her rider had gasped, and urged Scatty to return to the cover of the dense thriving forest. They landed in a comfortably cool cove that would keep them hidden, and which had a small lake swarming with fish. Scatty had no problem with it, if only her rider would catch her some of those yummy aquatic vertebrates.

The Night Fury crooned at the lake. The rider knew what his dragon was getting at. "Breakfast. Right away, your highness."

With a knife that Scatty allowed her rider to carry, the boy whittled a spear out of a branch which proved to be effective in fishing. Soon, Scatty was happily devouring her breakfast. While her rider waited for his fish to cook over a fire, he scaled the rock face leading to the rest of the forest to check if the coast was clear.

The boy reached upward and his hand touched something hard and smooth. Like dry metallic leather, if that even made sense. He hooked an arm on an exposed tree root and lifted his body to see better. And the shiny thing startled him. It made him jump; not a good idea when you're twenty feet above the ground.

The boy gasped; the dragon roared.

…

Hiccup and Toothless were supposed to work out their latest trick. Yesterday, Hiccup nearly drowned. But that didn't stop the duo from ironing out the kinks of their stunt. So today they were zooming over the rock formations by the sea to get ready when Hiccup felt his Night Fury suddenly tense. All sets of Toothless' ear flaps twitched.

"What is it, bud?"

Toothless roared and with his rider, they set off in the direction of the forest.

…

He hung on for dear life by a root. Scatty had darted to her rider, quickly grabbed his arm and deposited him safely on the ground. The night fury glared at him reproachfully.

"Thank you, Scatty."

The dragon continued to glare at him.

"Okay, I'm never going to scale a rock face if I'm not ready."

The dragon didn't budge. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine. Rephrase. I'm not going to scale a rock face without you coming along for the fun."

Satisfied, Scatty snorted, and proceeded to eat the rest of her fish. He followed her and held up something triumphantly: the object he had managed to grab before he lost his footing. He grinned at his dragon. "Good news. Khor's here! He and Elene should be around here somewhere."

Scatty swallowed the last of her fish and visibly perked when her yellow-green eyes zeroed in on the Night Fury scale. Her ear flaps twitched up, and she warbled her excitement. But when Scatty sniffed the scale, she hissed and growled angrily.

His grin fell. "What's the matter? Isn't this Khor's scale?"

Scatty swiped the scale from the boy's hand and continued to growl. Not Khor's, then.

"Oh gods," he murmured softly. He recalled the whole village he'd seen earlier. If the scale didn't come from Khor, it had to come from another night fury, meaning one or more of Scatty's kin lived on this human-inhabited island. This would not be a problem had it not been for the Code of Nott, which held the boy and his fellow Nottlanders by the oath of secrecy.

Wild dragons were by nature secretive and very protective, especially when it comes to their nests and young. The most intelligent species were much more so. That was why, long ago, as a pact of peace with the Night Furies which also inhabited their island, Nottlanders swore to keep their location and existence a secret forevermore. The Nottlanders only kept in touch with other villages via selected legionnaires called Frumentarii, who make sure the non-Nottlanders weren't a threat.

The boy felt his stomach tighten. He and his twin were patrollers, and they were on their first day of duty yesterday. That he and his twin hadn't returned to his village already put him at a stretch. He didn't want to think about the punishment he'd have to endure once he returned… if they were allowed to return. Lingering on an inhabited island put him at risk of discovery, and breaking the oath was definitely grounds for exile to 'that' place. Dragon included. He did not want Scatty to be separated from her kin, and as much as he found his twin sister Elene to be annoying and self-centered, he didn't want to be separated from her either. Nor his demanding parents, for that matter.

The mere thought gave him a wave of nausea, and he swayed slightly. Scatty caught him before he fell. The night fury seemed to feel his own apprehension, because she nuzzled him continuously and didn't stop until the boy smiled.

"Thanks, girl. We'll be back. We won't be exiled," he vowed, as he righted himself. "And…"

He sniffed. "Something's burning."

The boy and his dragon turned to the fish cooking over the fire. Smoke curled upwards into the sky.

…

Toothless couldn't believe it. The sound had come from the forest, he knew. That roar wasn't from any other dragon he'd met, and he's known plenty. He'd heard it before, long ago. It was before the Red Death, before Hiccup and his band of merry ex-dragon slayers. The moment his ears picked it up, Toothless felt the adrenaline rush. He had never been more eager to fly, and if his boy knew what Toothless was thinking, he'd probably be more excited than he is.

Hiccup and Toothless tore through the sky. His boy loved flying as much as the Night Fury did, and both the dragon and his rider savored one short moment of fresh wintry air before the dragon swooped low, flying just at the treetops of the forest.

Toothless scanned the grounds below them. Hiccup observed this, and he concluded his dragon had heard something from the forest. These instances made the scrawny teen jumpy, since there was a time when his dragon had heard something from the forest, and the village of Berk was nearly burnt to a crisp by an overprotective mother Typhoomerang. Another time, Toothless had been to out to settle his long-standing vendetta, and Hiccup stepped off a cliff. That was something you don't forget easily, even if you were kidnapped by a bunch of thieving Outcasts.

"What are we looking for, bud?" Hiccup asked, glancing from the ground to the forest ahead. What he saw made him pat Toothless' head to get his dragon's attention. "There! The pillar of smoke!"

…

The boy grabbed the fish by the impaling stick and Scatty swamped the ember with her tail.

"Stupid me," the boy grumbled to himself, packing his fish for later. He mounted Scatty and nudged her. The night fury ascended rapidly with a powerful beat of jet black wings.

"We need to get out of here, Scatty, or we'll be seen!" the rider told his night fury, when—

"WAIT!"

The boy's spirit plummeted even as he heard dragon roar behind him. "Or not."

He urged Scatty to go faster and pulled up into the skies for cover. The Nottlander considered his position. He supposed the other peoples outside Nott had already learned to work with and ride dragons. The bad thing was that he had been seen.

His night fury clapped him with an ear flap on the shoulder in concern.

"Yeah, I know, girl," he whispered. The Code of Nott had more than just the oath of secrecy and banishment. If, in the chance that a night fury and its rider were seen, the witnesses must be neutralized to prevent loose ends. "We'll have to do it."

Scatty moaned. She didn't like the idea of killing as much as her rider is allergic to dragon nip.

"HEY! WAIT UP! We just want to talk to you!" A boy's shout echoed from behind, followed by another dragon roar. Found them already?! And more importantly, was that a night fury roar?

The Nottlander didn't look back. Instead, he double-checked his security harness and lowered his body so it was parallel to Scatty's. "Okay, Scatty, evasive maneuvers. Let's go!"

His Night Fury responded brilliantly. They flew into a thick cloud and shot upward. The other rider and his dragon followed them into the thick cloud and lost long range vision. Scatty, instead of diving forward, allowed themselves to arc back and let gravity take hold of them.

He loved the sensation brought by the steep dive, and was almost sad when Scatty pulled out of it. But then they saw the figure of the other dragon and rider below. He steeled himself, and he felt Scatty do the same. "There!"

'This is wrong,' their instincts screamed at them. But the dragon and her rider were trained to follow the code.

"Now, Scatty!"

Scatty and her rider, both with grim expressions, dived, with Scatty charging her flame before she let it loose.

A.N.: Like it? Hate it? Tell me why in a review! ConCrit is always welcome.

In the next chapter, we'll find out whether a Night Fury can really shoot another Night Fury.