The Phantom Hunt (Ryker x Reader)

Astrid Hofferson

After you spent a day with Hiccup, you came back to the clubhouse after a good night of sleep. The gang was already up and sitting around the table eating their breakfast. You walked in yawning deep and greeted them a little sleepy.

"Well, you certainly took your time to get up today. It's already halfway through the morning!" Hiccup handed you a plate of bread and a cup of yak milk. "Well, I have to admit that being here and not having to worry about anything after all these years makes the exhaustion creep up on me." You sat down and started to eat from the plate you were given.

"So what are your plans today?" Snotlout asked you with a little flirt in his voice. "Well, I was supposed to spend a day with all of you to get to know you better, right?" You pointed out and Snotlout wanted to invite you for today, but someone else was one step ahead of him.

"Why don't you come with me today? I'm sure Stormfly and I can teach you some combat skills, no matter in the air or on the ground." Astrid suggested to you. "Sounds good! But I already know a thing or two about combat, although combat training for in the air would not be a bad idea." You thought out loud as you enjoyed your breakfast.

"Alright, that is settled then!" Astrid stood up and left the room. "Wait! Where are you going?" You asked after her. "Well, you wanted to train so I better set up a training course. Meet me at the dome when you're ready." She left the room to get ready for your day together.

You ate your breakfast on your own pace and left to meet Astrid soon. "Eh, what way is the dome she talked about?" You asked Fishlegs who walked out with you. "Oh, the dome is over there. You better prepare yourself. Knowing Astrid, she won't make it easy for you." He said as he walked on with his Gronckle by his side.

You whistled to Jaynu and he quickly came to pick you up. He soared underneath you with high speed and you perfectly timed your jump as you landed right on his shoulders. "Ready to do some training, buddy?" You got him excited for the day ahead of you as he hopped in the air again. He almost threw you off, but this time, you held on to the new saddle you were given.

You quickly arrived together at the dome where Astrid had already set up a few targets, a few barrels, a few dummies and took out all of the weapon supplies they probably had. You were quite amazed by how many weapons these Riders possess, even though they are a small group of teenagers.

Jaynu landed down next to Stormfly, the blue Deadly Nadder. "So, are you ready for your first training exercise?" Astrid came walking up to you with her double bladed axe resting on her shoulder. "You bet I am!" You were pumped to get started, but there was a little problem. "Uh, Astrid? I only have this knife, I don't have another weapon." 

"Very good! Here, you can borrow one of my weapons." Astrid tossed you a sword. Luckily, you caught it without hurting yourself. "The first exercise I set out is a little bit of aerial skills and tactics. What you have to do is fly up, dive down and zigzag around the line of trees over there, fly back up, do a barrel roll and fire towards the target." She instructed you.

"I'm not sure if Jaynu will be able to zigzag around the tree line. I mean, he is a fast flyer and although he can make quite some turns, but I'm not sure about this. These trees look to be pretty close to each other and Jaynu is larger than your Nadder." You were a little worried about Jaynu being able to do this.

"I'm sure your dragon can handle this. Trust him and you will see what he is capable of." Astrid tried to lighten up the atmosphere with you and it left you thinking. You were trusting Jaynu to the fullest, right?

"Stormfly and I will demonstrate how it's done. Watch closely." She said as she hopped onto her dragon and Stormfly took off.

You held your hand above your head to block the light of the sun beaming into your eyes as you saw a shadow dive down from at least thirty meters high, zigzag around the tree line with great speed where they narrowly missed any braches, flew back up like Astrid told you, perform a barrel roll and fire at the target barrels.