Author's Note: I'd apologize and give you all a lengthy explanation about where I've been and why I haven't updated this story in so long, but I know you probably don't care and just want to get to the new chapter, so here ya go!

First Battle

Nervous dragon squawks and the sound of wind being batted back and forth between five sets of powerful wings filled the early morning air. Between the noise though, a tense silence hovered just as steadily as the dragons and their riders. Hiccup and Toothless stood at the front of the group on the closest sea stack. The horizon was dotted with dozens more, growing closer and closer together as they stretched out beyond sight. It was in that direction that all eyes and ears were turned. Hiccup screwed one eye shut and looked through his spy glass for the fourth time.

"Any sign of 'em?" Gobber piped up from behind him. Gobber and his dragon shared the small stretch of land with Hiccup and Toothless since Grump was without a doubt the worst hoverer on Berk.

"No, not yet," Hiccup answered, peering through the spyglass. He was so intent on catching a glimpse of Astrid that he didn't even register the sound of Hookfang's wings until the dragon was right on top of him. Literally. Snotlout and Hookfang came crashing down on them, filling up whatever space was left on the tiny sea stack and draping the rest of themselves on top of the previous occupants.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup shouted indignantly, trying to stand up underneath one of Hookfang's wings.

"What!?" Snotlout protested. "We've been hovering here forever and Hookfang was getting tired." Hiccup growled in annoyance. "We can't be tired if we're about to go fight a battle! Why are we even waiting anyway? We could have beaten the whole armada by now if we'd just flown straight out there!"

"Because," Hiccup explained, finally managing to regain his footing and gazing out at the horizon once more. "We have got to time this perfectly. We need the cover of the sea stacks to be able to take on a fleet this big and if we don't engage them at just the right time, we'll miss our window."

"Window? What window? We're in the middle of the ocean!" Tuffnut chimed in, while looking around confusedly.

"He means window of opportunity, Tuffnut," Fishlegs supplied.

"Well that's a stupid expression. What kind of an opportunity is a window? You can't do anything with it. It just sits there, stuck in the wall, letting air in and out. Although I guess it could be an opportunity for a dragon to fly in and steal a priceless family heirloom."

"Or for a burglar to break in and get a snack," Ruffnut continued.

"OR! For a prankster to set up a trap! I take it back. Window of opportunity is a fantastic expression! I can't believe I didn't think of it. The opportunities of windows are endless…" He trailed off with a mischievous glint in his eye that was matched by his sister. Valka was the only one to react to the banter, her light giggles danced through the air and made Hiccup look away from the horizon for a moment.

"Well you two haven't changed one bit," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "You've been causing trouble since before you could crawl."

"You have no idea," Hiccup drawled, smiling up at her before returning to his vigil. The twins opened their mouths to protest but before they could even make a sound Hiccup called out, "There!" He pointed to a small dot that was just beginning to take the shape of Astrid and Stormfly in the distance. Snotlout and Hookfang shot back into the air without having to be told and Hiccup mounted Toothless to make whatever room he could for Astrid. A few seconds later Stormfly alighted on the rock with a squawk of greeting.

"The very first ships are just starting to enter the outermost sea stacks now," Astrid reported. "And it looks like we have a bit of luck on our side. Our last battle must have knocked out quite a few of their ships because there's significantly less of them this time. I had to stay above the clouds to make sure they didn't spot us so I couldn't see much, but we already know they're heavily armed. We're not gonna be able to win this one with just a little luck Hiccup."

"I know. That's why we have to stick to the plan. Is everyone ready?"

A chorus of "Bring it on!" "Ready and waiting!" "Yeah baby!" "Aye, aye chief!" and several other affirmative noises, both dragon and human alike greeted him in response. Hiccup smiled.

"All right then, let's do this," he said, patting his dragon on the head. Toothless eye's narrowed on the horizon and he snorted emphatically. "Fishlegs!"

"On it!" Fishlegs replied, turning in a semi-circle and releasing the small Terrible Terror that he had been holding. It took off like a shot back towards Berk just as Toothless launched forwards in the opposite direction. The rest of the dragon riders dove and then flew up behind him, picking up speed with each giant swat of their wings. They weaved in and around the pillars of rock seamlessly, flying in tight formation behind Hiccup and Toothless. For the first time in his life Hiccup found himself wishing for worse weather. If there had been even a slight fog it might have been able to give them some more cover. But the sun was shining brightly in the sky, and the only clouds in sight were far above them. They'd have to get creative if they wanted to come upon the armada of ships unnoticed.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called out, and just as abruptly as they had started, all seven riders jolted to a stop and took cover behind the closest sea stack. In the distance, the very first ships were coming into view.

"Okay everyone, time to disappear," he instructed. "Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff, you know what to do."

"Oh, we know…" Snotlout grumbled, "but I still don't see why I have to be the one to-"

"Just stick to the plan!" Hiccup cut off his complaining.

Without another word Toothless, Stormfly, Cloudjumper and Grump all launched upwards and headed for the cloud cover. Hookfang and Meatlug started to weave forwards slowly, Snotlout's grumbling fading into concentration as they dodged from behind one pile of rocks to another. When Hiccup glanced down, he caught just a glimpse of Barf and Belch's tail as they disappeared between the thickening mass of sea stacks. "Here we go…" he whispered to himself and his friend.

They climbed until they were engulfed in the clouds and then darted forwards with their eyes peeled to catch any glimpse they could of the water beneath them. Valka pulled up first, the massive wings of her dragon creating a swirling puff of clouds that surround the rest of them as they all stopped and started hovering again. While they waited, Hiccup studied the ranks or ships below them. Astrid was right, it was hard to see exactly was what happening below. Cloud cover meant that their enemies would have a harder time spotting them, but it also meant that they would have a hard time scoping out their enemies. But he could see enough to have an idea of what they were up against.

Hundreds of ships were slowly weaving their way through the maze of rock in front of them. They had spread out into a long line several dozen ships deep. The smaller ships were leading the pack, finding the best routes through the maze, while the bigger one chugged along at the back of the pack, carefully following the course laid out for them. There was no clear flagship, but Hiccup spotted the man who seemed to be leading the fleet. He was big, not as big as Drago or Stoic, but at least twice Hiccup's size, and he had the same dark skin and hair that Drago had. Before Hiccup could make out much more, a swat of Toothless' wings brought in a cloud that obscured his vision. Thankfully, their signal didn't depend on the sense of sight. Snotlout's scream was an unmistakable cacophony that could have been heard from miles around, and it was soon joined by Fishleg's only slightly less piercing squealing.

"Now!" Hiccup shouted, and the four riders shot down one by one in a free fall towards the mass of ships that were now directly beneath them. More sounds of fighting and shouting started rising up to meet him, growing louder and louder with each second. The wind also screamed past his face as their speed continued to increase and he had just enough time to wish he hadn't left his helmet on his mother's island before he flicked his foot and they pulled up just before hitting the water. A wave sprung up in their wake as they screamed across the surface of the water, dodging only two or three sea stacks before they started dodging ships. "Toothless! Plasma blast!" Hiccup shouted above the sound of the wind and the shouting now ringing out above them on the decks of the ships.

An explosion burst out as Toothless shot right through the bottom of one of the ships and the next instant the air filled with sounds of chaos and confusion. The men and women aboard the ships starting shouting orders and profanities. Explosions and blasts of dragon fire punctuated each passing second, and shrapnel joined the hail of arrows and nets flying through the air. His team spun and twisted and shot their way through expertly, each of them cutting a line straight through the wall of ships.

Astrid pulled the same trick as Hiccup did and pulled up at the very last second from her free fall, using her momentum to carry her right through the space between ships, shooting spine and flames as she went. Valka and Cloudjumper landed heavily on one of the bigger ships. Valka dismounted, took out the captain and several crew members, snipped the main sail and landed back on Cloudjumper's back in what seemed like one fluid motion. Cloudjumper then took back to the sky, ripping a giant harpoon off the deck of the ship and depositing it in the ocean as he went. Grump and Gobber had a slightly different approach. They came screaming down from above and barely even slowed down enough for Gobber to launch himself off Grump's back and onto a ship while Grump simply crashed straight down and through another one. By the time he reemerged through the massive hole in the now-sinking ship, Gobber had snatched a few extra weapons and jumped back on after which they advanced, chopping and smashing their way straight through the masts of the ships. By now, Snotlout and Fishlegs had served their purpose as a distraction and were joining in the carnage in their own lanes. Sails in flames and streams of lava dotted the ships in their wake. Unsurprisingly, the most destruction came from the twins' lane, though it was the last to explode. One long line of Zippleback gas stretched out sneakily from the front of the line of ships and was making its way to the very back completely unnoticed. Hiccup and Toothless shot out from between the last ships and flew quickly out of range of the volley of arrows that were following them. They turned around just in time to see a massive explosion tear its way right down the middle of the armada, lighting up like a gunpowder trail on steroids. Two maniacally laughing twins followed shortly thereafter and before the smoke had even begun to clear Hiccup signaled his dragon and Toothless shot a single plasma blast up into midair. It exploded outwards in a brilliant purple ring as the rest of his riders joined him on the opposite side of the fleet of ships.

"Do you think we got their attention?" he asked mockingly.

"Uhm, Hiccup!?" Fishlegs' high pitched voice made him turn his head just in time to see a heavily armored ship launch a giant harpoon their way. They did a barrel roll just in time to avoid being skewered.

"Yup! Definitely got their attention!" Snotlout shouted, dodging a massive boulder.

"Is that the best you can do!?" a dark and snarling man bellowed at them, and Hiccup looked back to see a mass of laughing, taunting faces. His gaze swept upwards to survey the damage. There were a few fires and signs of destruction dotted across the fleet, but their best full-frontal attack had barely made a dent in the massive army. The man he had spotted earlier pushed his way forwards and addressed the dragon riders with a sneer,

"Did you really think you could take on an entire army with just seven dragons?" a chorus of laughter filled their ears. Hiccup's eyes frantically swept across the ships and out towards the sea stacks behind them. His heart started to beat painfully fast in his chest, panic rising.

Then, he spotted what he was looking for. The answer to the signal blast Toothless had shot into the air a few moments ago. He smirked.

"Not really!" he called back and with perfect dramatic timing, a shout of "Dragon riders incoming!" rang out from the other end of the fleet followed not a beat later by three successive explosions. A war cry washed over their ears as the rest of Berk's dragon riders, led by the A team, started bombing from behind and above the ships.

"Snotlout! Snotlout! Oi! Oi! Oi!" followed by more battle cries joined the chorus of angry Viking voices as Hiccup and his gang attacked once more from their end.

"Take out their weapons!" Hiccup shouted as loud as he could, but he didn't need to. The riders from Berk were already shattering crossbows, harpoons, balistas, canons and anything else within sight. It was chaos again, but Hiccup and Toothless cut through it smoothly, using the sea stacks and other ships as cover from the constant barrage of arrows, boulders and dragon traps. It wasn't easy though. In fact, it was some of the most difficult maneuvering Hiccup had ever faced, and his heart sank as he caught sight of several riders going down under the heavy fire.

"Hiccup!" he heard Astrid call, and saw Stormfly burn though a net just barely in time to avoid being snatched up by it. "Hiccup, this isn't working! These weapons are reinforced with steel and dragon proof armor and Stormfly is getting close to her shot limit! We need more firepower!"

"Just hold on a little bit longer!" he called back as Toothless shot a blast into the deck beside a net shooter. The reinforced weapon wasn't even singed, but floor dropped out from under it and it sent one final net shooting out across the ship to envelope most of the crew before sinking uselessly below deck. They were forced apart the next moment by a volley of flaming arrows which came at them from out of nowhere.

"Toothless! Get us out of range!" he called out and the dragon shot upwards and away from the battle below. Once they were safely out of range, Hiccup took a moment to survey the scene beneath him. There was a bigger dent in the fleet than there had been before, but they were still not even close to victory. In fact, as he watched, two more riders were shot down and several others were being forced to retreat out of range. Most of his team were already out of shots and doing their best to improvise without the firepower of their dragons. "All right Toothless, ready or not, we're out of time. Let's call in our backup." His dragon glanced up at him briefly before opening his mouth wide. Hiccup covered his ears just before Toothless' roar burst out across the water. Every eye turned up towards them in shock for a brief moment, but before his roar had even subsided, the battle was back on at full rage. Hiccup and Toothless waited tensely, hovering above the chaos below and watching the horizon for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. Astrid joined them a few seconds later, her face smeared with smoke and her axe covered in splinters.

"This better work…" she stated with a worried frown. Toothless snorted indignantly and then roared again, catching them all by surprise. Hiccup had shut his eyes in shock but before he could even recover and open them again, he felt his dragon bark with joy beneath him. He opened his eyes.

"Atta boy Toothless!" he laughed and Astrid's whoop of joy was joined by dozens more from below them as the riders caught sight of the massive flock of dragons that were swallowing up the horizon from the direction of Berk. To his delight, Hiccup heard startled and panicked cries of "Retreat!" bellowed form the decks of several ships. He tilted Toothless' tail and dove back down towards the battle.

"All dragon riders! Fall back! Do not let them escape! Fall back to their rear!" And within just a few minutes, Drago's fleet found itself stuck in between a line of Berk's best dragon riders on one side and an incoming swarm of wild dragons on the other. Panic swept through the army, along with confusion and disbelief. Hiccup flew Toothless to the front of the line of dragon riders and he caught a glimpse of his mother sweeping around the edge of the fleet to meet the wild dragons which were about to descend into the sea stacks on the other side. Something caught his eye on Toothless' back and he grinned at the bright blue glow that was shining through his dragon's scales.

"THIS!" he called out, catching the attention of the giant brute from before who seemed to be acting as the fleet's leader. "This is the best we can do!" he smirked. The man said nothing, he just glared at the smug faces which now surrounded him. The army of wild dragons on the opposite side of the fleet had stopped just outside of range from the front line of ships, with Valka and Cloudjumper holding them back. "You're surrounded," Hiccup began, "outnumbered, Drago is dead!" a murmur went through the army and Hiccup let that sink in for a moment before continuing. "You've got no giant Bewilderbeast to protect you anymore and there's a new alpha in charge," he gestured towards Toothless' snarling face and the dragon let out another impressive roar. He was answered by every single dragon surrounding them and even the towering leader of Drago's army, turned in an unsteady circle at the explosion of sound that vibrated across the water and the fleet.

Once the deafening chorus of snarls and roars had subsided, Hiccup went on. "Go home! Go back North to wherever it is you came from! Whatever dreams of conquering this archipelago that you and Drago had are dead! We're the ones with the dragon army now! And we're not going anywhere!" This time, it was a chorus of Viking shouts that punctuated his words.

"Very impressive Hiccup Haddock," the man snarled up at him. "Krogan was right about you." Hiccup nearly jumped in surprise.

"Krogan…" he glanced back at Astrid and saw the rest of the Dragon Riders perk up in surprise.

"Yeees... Good old Krogan. You know, he tried to talk his way out of his execution by claiming that we'd need his help, his expertise to defeat you. 'Don't underestimate that skinny twig of a dragon rider,' he said." The man chuckled. "I guess he was right." Hiccup glared angrily down at him.

"You should have taken his advice."

"Hiccup," Astrid hissed from behind him, "I don't like the sound of this. We need to end this. Now."

"D'you know what else he was right about?" Toothless growled beneath him and Hiccup felt his skin begin to crawl. Astrid was right. Something didn't feel right. "He said you were extremely clever and very hard to fool. But you are much too easy to stall, especially if I could get you talking…"

Hiccup felt his blood run cold, and then several things happened all at once. His mother shouted something at them, but he couldn't hear her over unmistakable whistle of an arrow racing towards him from behind. Instinct born of years of battle took over and he and Toothless spun violently to the left. He heard Astrid call out his name. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a whole line of brand new ships coming towards them from behind. And then a violent spasm of pain smashed into his shoulder and nearly knocked him out of his saddle. They had dodged the arrow and spun right into the path of a pumpkin sized boulder. He cried out and grabbed desperately for a handhold as him and Toothless began to plummet towards the sea. Through a haze, he managed to right himself and readjust Toothless tail fin just enough to avoid hitting the water, but the sudden jolt knocked the air out of him and made his head start spinning. He had just enough time and sense left to lock Toothless' tail into the open position before they crash landed right on the deck of the ship from which the leader of Drago's army had been taunting them. Hiccup was thrown from his dragon's back and he flew head-first into a wooden mast. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the swirling face of the ship's commander smiling down at him…

Author's Note 2.0: Thank you all so much for your follows and favorites and for the wonderful few who took the time to write me a brief review. Ultimately, you were responsible for me finally coming back to this story. Well, that and the new season of Race to the Edge : D! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's the first time I have ever written a battle scene or tried to come up with air/sea battle strategies, so I hope I did ok. Let me know what you think! And I will do my best to not leave you hanging on this cliff for too long…