Hi everyone! It's bananablight! This is my first fanfic, (EVER!) so, I hope you enjoy! :)
The riders landed on Changewing Island, first Hiccup, followed by Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Fishlegs.
"So, everyone," Hiccup started. "Time to get down to business. We're going to—"
"See if Changewing acid can melt Gronckle iron, blah blah blah. Yeah, we know. You only went over the plan a bazillion times, Hiccup," Snotlout interrupted. "Let's just get on with it."
"Fine. Remember everyone, don't put yourself in too much danger! We're just going to stay on the beach and wait for the Changewings to come to us! And don't forget to—"
"We know, Hiccup! Don't forget to warn the others if the Changewings seem mad," Snotlout interjected, again. "You don't need to tell us everything a thousand times. It's not like we're going to go forget it all." Snotlout rolled his eyes, then gaped as he watched the twins. They had already found a Changewing and were being… Well, the twins.
"Who cares about Gronckle Iron? I want to see if the Changewing acid will melt Ruffnut's face off," said Tuffnut, shoving Ruffnut closer to the red dragon. The dragon spit at Tuffnut instead, narrowly missing the viking's helmet.
"Woah! Did you guys see that? Please tell me you saw that," Tuffnut shouted. The Changewing shot acid at him again, hitting his helmet and knocking him over. Ruffnut laughed at him as he fell on the ground.
Astrid walked over and punched Snotlout in the arm. "Now that's why Hiccup tells us 'a bazillion times,' Snotlout."
"Um, guys?" Fishlegs stammered. "That Changewing looks pretty mad."
He pointed to the growling dragon that had appeared by a tree. Hiccup called out to the others. "Okay guys, I'm going to go test my shield against it. Well, here goes nothing."
Before he could step forward, however, Snotlout jumped in front of him and took his shield. "No, I'll do it and show you how it's done, Hiccup."
Hiccup gestured in front of him. "By all means, go ahead."
As Snotlout marched forward, Hiccup backed up and leaned against Toothless. Astrid stood next to him.
"He's going to make a fool out of himself," she remarked as the bumbling idiot strode ahead..
"What else is new?" replied Hiccup. "He does it every day."
Snotlout finally reached the dragon. He held Hiccup's shield up.
"Go on, dragon! I dare you to shoot me!" he proclaimed arrogantly. Rather than spit at Snotlout with acid, the Changewing whacked the boy away. As Snotlout flew past Astrid, Hiccup, and Fishlegs, he shouted unintelligible curses at the dragon before landing in the water.
"Well, now that that's over with," Hiccup said, taking another shield from Astrid, "let's get this done."
He slowly approached the Changewing, holding the shield in front of him. The Changewing spat at Hiccup and the scrawny boy lifted the shield to block the shot. The acid stuck to the iron, but the pure force of the Changewing's spit knocked the shield from Hiccup's hand.
Another Changewing appeared behind Hiccup, who was now defenseless. Astrid shouted, "Hiccup, duck!" as the dragon shot at him.
"Oh, I knew this was a bad idea!" Fishlegs shouted as he watched.
The twins were fighting, unaware that their Changewing had snuck away behind Hiccup. Astrid payed them no heed, watching in horror as the Changewings surrounded her friend.
Hiccup signaled for Toothless to stay back. The Night Fury had tried to run forward to save his human, but Hiccup was concerned it would only anger the Changewings. Toothless growled, unhappy and anxious, but he trusted his human.
Hiccup slowly, ever so slowly walked up to a Changewing. He held his hand out. The dragon growled.
"Hiccup," Astrid warned. "Be careful. Please."
The scrawny viking turned his head away from the red dragon, reaching out his hand further.
All the teens held their breath. Even the twins stopped fighting. Snotlout had gone to stand next to Fishlegs, bragging about how awesome he was, but he ceased his self-praise when he saw his cousin's predicament.
The Changewing growled at Hiccup's hand. Then, it relaxed. Astrid let out a pent-up breath.
But suddenly, the dragon whipped Hiccup away with its tail. It roared, and then it flew away with the rest of its pack.
"HICCUP!" shouted Astrid. She rushed forward.
Hiccup flew backwards into a tree with a sickening thud. He fell to the ground, unconscious. Astrid grabbed his shoulders while the other teens ran up beside her.
"Hiccup!" she shouted, shaking him. "Hiccup!"
"Cool!" said Ruffnut. "That thing totally sent Hiccup flying!"
She stopped talking with a glare from Astrid.
Hiccup slowly opened his eyes and groaned. "Ow," he said, raising a hand to his head. "That went much better in my head."
"Hiccup! Thank Thor. We need to get you to Berk, get Gothi to make sure you don't have a concussion or anything."
"Just wait, Astrid. Look on the bright side." Hiccup pointed over to his left. "The acid didn't melt the shield."
"Hiccup! Come on!" Astrid dragged him over to Toothless, who had been standing by, concerned. He purred when he saw his rider was okay.
"Fine. Okay, Astrid, I'm coming!" was Hiccup's reply to the distraught girl's orders. "Just give me a second!"
Later on that day, when the dragon riders were on Berk, Hiccup stood next to Astrid.
"So I don't have a concussion or anything, but Gothi said to take it easy. Or drew in the dirt to take it easy. Oh, whatever. You know what I mean," he said.
"Hiccup, you could have died. That was scary," Astrid replied. "When you weren't responding to me I thought you might be…"
"But I wasn't, Astrid. That's what's important. I'm here. You won't get rid of me that easily."
"I'm surprised you weren't seriously hurt. That dragon hit you hard."
"Hey, I'm all good. A little pain never hurt anyone, did it?" Hiccup asked back.
Before Astrid could reply, Gobber strode up to the two teens.
"So how'd it go?" he asked. "Did the Gronckle Iron melt?"
"No, uh, it didn't, actually," Hiccup answered. He held up the shield. "It worked really well!"
"Well, that's good," was Gobber's reply. "Well, I'll leave you lads to it. I've got to go make some Gronckle Iron swords for the villagers. You know them, always wanting a new weapon."
The older viking walked off, happily whistling a tune.
There was an awkward pause where neither Astrid or Hiccup knew what to say. Hiccup broke the silence.
"Thanks, Astrid. For making sure I was okay."
"Of course, Hiccup. You're my friend. Why wouldn't I?"
Hiccup had no reply.
Then Astrid punched him in the shoulder. Hard. "That's for scaring me." Then she grabbed him and kissed his cheek. "And that's for everything else."
She flew away on Stormfly, leaving best friend blushing.