PROLOGUE

The wind whipped through Hiccup's hair as Toothless continued to climb higher into the sky. It had been three days since Hiccup had woken up, and he and Toothless had become the saviors of Berk by defeating the Red Death. Now, the village had integrated the dragons into their lives extremely well… with the exception of a cantankerous old man named Mildew. Thankfully his home was located far enough away from the village that he didn't give them much trouble. Hiccup's gut summersaulted as he moved Toothless into a downward spiral. At first, that feeling had scared the living daylights out of him, but now he was thrilled by it. Although, there were still a few things that Hiccup hadn't gotten used to. His new leg for instance. Hiccup was a few seconds slow on maneuvering the tailfin into position due to this fact, almost causing them to crash into a sea stack. Thankfully, Toothless held out his wings, allowing them to glide over it.

"Nice going there, bud." Hiccup said as he patted Toothless on the head. "It might take a while for me to get used to this dumb thing. Why don't we land and take a rest?"

Seeming to like the idea, Toothless pointed them in the direction of a cliff. A few moments later, they had landed and Hiccup was encountering yet another problem with his prosthetic. It was stuck in the foot-grip. Awkwardly, Hiccup attempted to get it un-stuck, but to no avail.

"Thanks a lot Gobber." Hiccup said sarcastically as he sat down on Toothless. The foot Gobber had made for Hiccup seemed to work fine, but the new tail he had made wasn't working as well as Hiccup would have liked. Hiccup discovered this the hard way two days earlier during a test run minutes after coming out of a coma. He was still coughing up dirt. Thankfully though, his new friends had been there to help him up.

"Need some help?" a female voice came from above Hiccup. Looking up, he saw Astrid and her Deadly Nadder coming in for a landing.

"Yes, actually, that would be appreciated." Hiccup said as the Nadder landed and Astrid jumped off.

"Another flaw in Gobber's design?" Astrid asked as she studied the problem before her.

"Yep. I've got more modifications to make than I originally thought. By what I can tell, the foot's stuck in the mechanism."

"Looks like it. Well, here we go." Astrid said as she grabbed ahold of the foot and started pulling.

"Yeah, uh, I've already tried that, so-" and before Hiccup could continue, the foot came free, and send Hiccup falling off of Toothless. Astrid covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh. "I'm ok. So, figure out a name for your Nadder yet?" Hiccup asked, as he stood up.

"Oh, yeah! Hiccup, Toothless; meet Stormfly. Stormfly; Hiccup and Toothless." Astrid said as said dragon came over to inspect her new friends.

"Stormfly. I like it." Hiccup said as he scratched her underneath the chin. "What about the others? Have they come up with names yet?"

"Why don't you ask them?" Astrid said as Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the Twins came flying in on their dragons.

"Presenting, the monstrous of all the Nightmare's; Hookfang!" Snotlout bellowed as he jumped off of his dragon.

"Hookfang? That's the best you came up with?" Tuffnut asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Well, it's probably better than yours!"

"Heh, no way. Our dragon's name is way better than 'hookfang'."

"Well, what is it?" Snotlout asked, crossing his arms.

"Well… uh, it's, um." Tuffnut mumbled.

"We don't actually have a name yet." Ruffnut finally said. Hearing this, Snotlout went into hysterics.

"Could you not think of one?" Hiccup asked.

"Well we were kinda busy." Tuffnut said.

"Yeah, our mom ate some bad cabbage soup so she's been barfing all the time." Ruffnut continued.

"And then, for some odd reason she belches after word. It's actually kinda cool." Tuffnut finished.

"Wait a minute… are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I doubt it! I try not to think!"

"That explains so much…" Astrid murmured.

"We could name our dragon Barf and Belch!"

"Barf… and Belch. I LOVE IT!" Tuffnut said as he thrust his hands in the air.

"Well, what have you got for us Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked after a brief moment of awkward silence.

"Well, I doubt mine's going to be any better, but here it goes: Meatlug."

"Meatlug? That's dumber than Barf and Belch." Snotlout said.

"Is not!" Ruffnut cried.

"Well at least it's more creative than 'Red Death'." Astrid said.

"Red Death? What's that?" Snotlout asked.

"Y'know, that giant queen dragon Hiccup fought?"

"That's what we're calling it? It wasn't even that red! And I should know, I was on its face!"

"Well, it was Gobber's idea and it kinda stuck." Hiccup said.

"Which reminds me, what was it like engaging that thing in one-on-one combat?" Fishlegs asked giddily. Flashing back to the fight in his head, Hiccup's face slightly drained of color.

"I, uh… y'know I don't really want to talk about it." Hiccup said quietly.

"Oh, c'mon Hiccup!" Fishlegs pleaded. "We have to almost completely overhaul the Book of Dragons anyway! The Red Death would make a great chapter-"

"He said he doesn't want to talk about it Fishlegs!" Astrid finally said, cutting him off.

"Oh. Hiccup, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's ok Fishlegs. I'm not exactly ready to talk about it just yet, but I might be someday. I will say though, that I'm glad I'll never have to do it again."