CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO DRAGON'S EDGE

DAY: AUGUST 21
TIME: 4:32 PM
YEAR: 2014

Hiccup Haddock looked down at a piece of newspaper clipping he had snipped from yesterday's paper. He glanced down, and then back up at the shack-like music shop in front of him.

"Um...okay," he said, looking back down at the newspaper clipping, "it says on the corner of Berk street. This must be it."

The black border collie sitting obediently beside Hiccup woofed in agreement. Hiccup still didn't understand, though. He looked back up from the add in the newspaper to the music shop. He wore a black fedora over his uneven auburn hair, and his eyes were such a deep green it was almost unnatural.

"I know, Toothless," Hiccup said to the dog, "but I'm still not so sure this is the right place…"

He saw a sign pinned to the window, and he stepped forward to investigate. In black blocky letters that looked like they had been drawn with a sharpie, a message was written:

Dragon's Edge Headquarters.

Drummer wanted.

See newspaper add.

IGNORE THIS SIGN.

WAIT TOO LATE.

NEVERMIND.

GO AWAY.

Hiccup frowned. "Um…" He looked down at the newspaper add once again, checking to make sure he had the right address. "I think this is it," he said. He stepped towards the door, paused, and then pushed it open, Toothless walking beside him.

A ringing bell alerted his presence, and he stepped inside, glancing around. It was well-furnished with tan couches and bookshelves stocked with old CDs and books. An overflowing box of guitar chords was shoved hastily into a corner, and a large amplifier stood beside it.

"Hello," said a low voice, and Hiccup turned his head. Sitting behind a wooden, scratched desk was a boy and a girl, both with long, blond hair, leaning back in rolling chairs, their feet propped up on the desk. The boy had brown eyes, and the girl had blue eyes; the boy's hair was dreadlocked, and the girl's was triple braided (two down her shoulders, one down her back); other than that, they looked exactly the same.

The boy pushed his ballcap further up his forehead and stared at Hiccup. "Who let you in?" he said.

"Um...I saw your add in the paper," said Hiccup, laying the piece of newspaper clipping on the desk. The boy pulled his feet off the desk and leaned forward, snatching up the newspaper and reading it thoroughly.

"Interesting," he said, scratching his chin. "Very interesting...how do I know you're not some sort of imposter?"

"Imposter?" Hiccup said, regretting his decision to come here at all. "Um...I was just…"

"IMPOSTER," said the girl, leaping to her feet, leaning over the desk, and pointing accusingly. "WHY DON'T YOU-" She froze suddenly, eyes falling on the border collie sitting obediently at Hiccup's side. The girl's eyes went wide.

"PUPPY!" she shrieked, and she leapt over the desk - literally leapt over it - and hugged Toothless tightly. Toothless licked her face and looked up at Hiccup, clearly confused.

"Uh...okay…?" Hiccup said.

"He has a puppy, Tuffnut!" said the girl excitedly. "WE HAVE TO KEEP HIM!"

The boy, Tuffnut, looked at them skeptically. "Well, I guess…" He glanced at Hiccup as if seeing him for the first time and gasped. "Nice shirt," he said.

Hiccup glanced down; he was wearing his favorite Imagine Dragons shirt, which was black with blocky white letters. "Um, thanks," he said. "Yeah, they're my favorite band-"

"ME TOO!" shouted Tuffnut, leaning over and shaking Hiccup's hand vigorously. "My name's Tuffnut! What about you?"

Hiccup didn't even have the chance to answer before the door to the back room opened, and a chubby boy with short blond hair wearing a blue and grey t-shirt and jeans raced into the room.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, don't scare him away!" the boy chastised, and Tuffnut leapt backwards, crossing his arms and putting his feet up on the desk again. The girl, Ruffnut, finally released her hold on Toothless and got to her feet, brushing fur off her white shirt and black skirt.

The chubby boy cleared his throat and held out his hand. "My name is Finley," he said, and Hiccup shook his hand.

"I'm Hickory," said Hiccup.

"Stupid name!" shouted Tuffnut, now flipping through a music magazine. "Change it!"

"Tuffnut!" groaned Finley, rolling his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Hickory. We all have code-names around here. See, Rachel's code-name is Ruffnut, and Timothy's code-name is Tuffnut."

"That's me!" said Tuffnut, throwing his magazine in the air and grinning; he shouted, "OW!" when the thick magazine fell back on his head.

"And my code-name is Fishlegs," said Finley, rolling his eyes. "Even though I still don't know why."

"It was originally Guppylegs," said Tuffnut, "because he was so scared of everything."

"I was not!" objected Fishlegs, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, but that changed to Fishlegs," said Ruffnut. "It rolls trippingly off the tongue."

"Right...okay," said Hiccup, still unsure about the entire situation. "So, I saw your add in the newspaper, thought maybe I'd try out, see if you could use me."

"That's great!" said Fishlegs, face brightening up. "We've only had one other person come over...the twins," Fishlegs jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Ruffnut and Tuffnut, "scared them off."

"Well, we have standards we want our drummer to be able to follow!" said Tuffnut defensively. "First of all, he has to be able to tolerate us, if he can get past our really misleading sign on the window."

Fishlegs gasped. "I told you to take that down weeks ago!" he scolded, but Tuffnut wasn't listening.
"Once the drummer can do that," said Tuffnut, "he's already halfway there."

"There's also the little part about having more than five years of experience," said Ruffnut. "We only accept the best of the best, you know."

"Yes, I do know," said Hiccup. "And I have eight years of experience. I've been playing since I was nine."

"Awesome!" said Tuffnut. "So, you can tolerate us, and play drums! Perfect! Now, we just need to see if the rest of the group likes you…"

Tuffnut turned and raced towards the back door, flinging it open and racing inside. Ruffnut followed him, and soon after, so did Fishlegs and Hiccup, Toothless trotting behind his master.

The back room wasn't much different than the front room, only this time, there were instruments in the place of bookshelves; a drum set, keyboard, and electric guitar, along with bags of cords and sheet music.

Laying back on one of the couches was a boy with spiky black hair, toned muscles, and a scowl that said he would have rather been anywhere by there. He glanced carelessly up at Fishlegs, the twins, and Hiccup as they entered.

"Snotlout, this is Hickory," said Fishlegs.

"Snotlout?" said Hiccup incredigiously.

"That name was earned," said Ruffnut, nodding. "It was originally Snot-Loud, 'cause that's what he is, but yeah, changed it. It's catchier now. Snotlout."

Snotlout groaned and rolled his eyes. "I thought I heard the bell ring," he said, extending his hand to Hiccup. "Welcome aboard, newby."

"Er, thanks…?" He shook his head. These people were weird, but he felt, oddly enough, at home: after all, he could be weird and talkative if he wanted to, too. "So, what part do you play in the band?"

"Eh, I'm a backup guitarist," said Snotlout, making a seesaw with his hand. "And I'm also the lead singer. Believe it or not, I have a great singing voice!"

"Well, I wouldn't say great-"

"No one asked you, Fishlegs!"

"And what about you, Fishlegs?" said Hiccup.

"Oh...I alternate between bass and keyboards," said Fishlegs, shrugging. "We don't use a whole lot of bass in our music, though, so I'm primarily keyboard."

"Nice," said Hiccup. "What about Ruffnut and Tuffnut?"

"Sound management!" said Tuffnut. "Bit of a warning, though...we love to play tricks! One time, we made feedback so loudly it shattered the windows!"

"And another time," said Ruffnut, "we had the police called on us, because someone thought the feedback was a gunfire. That was so funny…"

"Veerrrry awkward, though," said Tuffnut, nodding seriously. "Very awkward."

"Oh, and we take care of graphic designs, you know, for t-shirts and stuff," said Ruffnut as an afterthought. "We made our logo! Or, we're sort of in the making of making our logo. It's going great so far! We're just trying to figure out where we can get a cool picture of a dragon…"

"Why can't there be dragons around here to take cool pictures of?" said Tuffnut. "WHY!?"

"Aannnnd welcome to a normal day at Dragon's Edge headquarters," moaned Snotlout, swinging his steel-toed boots off the couch and getting to his feet. "Anyways, you want a coke or something, newby?"

"Erm, sure," said Hiccup. "Thanks."

"Nice dog, by the way," Snotlout said, making his way towards a small fridge set beside another amplifier. "What's his name?"

"Toothless," said Hiccup, reaching down to scratch his dog, who was sitting obediently beside him, behind the ears.

Snotlout chortled, kicking the fridge shut with his boot and handing Hiccup a can of coke. "Toothless?" he said. "Where'd you pull that out of the hat? Sounds like one of the stupid code-names we would come up with."

"Well, when we picked him out from the shelter," said Hiccup, "he was missing half of his teeth."

"Huh," said Tuffnut. "Interesting...I know! He can be our mascot!"

"Mascot?" said Ruffnut.

"Yes!" said Tuffnut. "Toothless, mascot of the Dragon's Edge! I like the way that sounds!"

"You like the way everything sounds as long as it has the word 'dragon' in it," said Snotlout, crossing his arms.

"That," said Tuffnut, "is not true! Oh, wait…" He paused to reconsider. "Not entirely true!"

"What are you guys talking about?" came a shout from across the room, and a girl stepped up behind the couch. She had blonde hair braided over one shoulder and a leather jacket with silver spikes on the shoulders. Her headband was like a spiked dog collar, and she looked at Hiccup curiously, blue eyes blinking at him.

"Huh," she said, "drummer?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Hopefully."

She extended a hand to him and shook his - her grip was firm. "I'm Astrid," she said. "You?"

"Hickory," said Hiccup.

"We're still trying to give him a code-name," said Tuffnut as if in defense.

"And is Astrid your code-name?" Hiccup asked, withdrawing his hand.

Astrid shook her head. "Nope," she said, "definitely not."

"She wouldn't let us give her a code-name," said Ruffnut dejectedly, crossing her arms. "Pouty, spoiled sport…"

"I heard that," growled Astrid, and Ruffnut backed off, putting up her hands in surrender. "Anyways...welcome to Dragon's Edge, Hickory."

"That's the name of our band," said Tuffnut, nodding excitedly. "Although you probably knew that, seeing the add in the paper and all…"

"Yeah, I did," said Hiccup. "I like the name. It's cool. So, Astrid, what do you do in the band?"

"Lead guitarist," said Astrid, shrugging. "It's pretty fun. Have you ever been in a band before?"

"Never," said Hiccup. "This is the first."

"Well, before we do anything else," said Tuffnut, clapping his hands together, "we need to give you a code-name! It has to be something awesome...something epic...if you're really going to stick with us and be our drummer, you've gotta have a code-name first!"

"Um...shouldn't you decide whether you actually want me as a drummer before you go giving me a code-name?" Hiccup deadpanned.

"NO!" said Ruffnut, throwing her arm around Hiccup's shoulders, making him flinch. "PRIORITIES! Code-name comes first!"

"And anyways," said Snotlout, popping open his can of soda, "if you're a good drummer, and you made it past Tuffnut and Ruffnut at the door, I think you're good. Welcome to the team."

"Alright!" said Tuffnut, rubbing his hands together. "It has to be something that sounds somewhat like your own name…but it also has to be awesome..." He gasped excitedly. "I know!" he said. "Hiccup! That can be your code-name!"

Snotlout choked on his coke and coughed into his fist for a few minutes. "Hiccup!?" he said. "Okay, look, we've come up with some stupid code-names in the past, but there is no way we are calling our drummer Hiccup."

"We're not trying to scare him off, Tuffnut," said Fishlegs, crossing his arms.

"I know we're not!" said Tuffnut defensively. "I was just helping out!"

"Funny you would mention it," said Hiccup, shrugging. "My Dad used to call me that when I was little."

"So you're okay with the name?" said Tuffnut.

"Erm…"

"GREAT!" said Tuffnut, grinning. "Welcome aboard, Hiccup!"

…

DAY: JUNE 13
TIME: 12:47 PM
YEAR: 2016

"COME ON, HICCUP! ASTRID! HURRY UP!" Snotlout shouted, pressing down repeatedly on the horn of their van. "YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE US LATE!"

Hiccup raced back and forth across the room, grabbing his drumsticks, which he had left out after yesterday's practice, and a duffel bag full of Snotlout's guitar chords. It had been two years since that one fateful day when Hiccup answered the request to become a drummer, and he felt more at home with the members of Dragon's Edge than he had with anyone else.

Astrid, too, hurried across the room. She clipped a spiked bracelet to her wrist and another spiked headband around her head, so her bangs flopped over it. "Come on, Hiccup," she said, "we gotta go."

"I know that, milady," Hiccup said, grabbing his fedora and pulling it over his head. "Our first gig, and looks like we're going to be late."

"Oh, shut up, you," Astrid smirked at him. "It'll be fine. Ready?"

"Ready," Hiccup agreed, and they grabbed each other's hand and raced out, locking the door behind them, making sure Toothless was still inside beforehand.

"COME ON!" Snotlout moaned, honking the horn again. Hiccup and Astrid leapt into the backseat of their traveling van, and as soon as the doors were shut, Snotlout sped off down the empty street.

"WHOOHOO!" cheered Tuffnut, throwing his hands into the air - he was riding shotgun beside Snotlout. "Come on, everyone!" He pulled out his phone and held it out at arm's length. "Selfie!"

The rest of the band posed, and Tuffnut snapped the shot.

"Awesome! Thanks!" said Tuffnut, grinning as he looked at the picture. "That's definitely one for the album!"

Author's Notes:

So I got this idea that I couldn't get out of my head and decided to write it down for your guys' enjoyments. :) I hope you enjoyed it! :D I might consider writing an entire one-shot series in this universe, like, Dragon's Edge's first practice together as a band, getting their first gig…

And of course, I could write about Hiccup losing his leg...AND THE DRAMA UNFOLDS. :D

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! :D

Cheers!

-BeyondTheClouds777