What If | How to Train Your Dragon

Chapter 1

It had been a few days since Stoick had been back from his trip. They (Stoick and the rest of his group) hadn't had any luck in finding the dragon's nest, which Stoick still wasn't happy about, but he wasn't necessarily angry. In fact, he was somewhat proud. Not about his trip of course, but about his son.

Hiccup Haddock had been excelling in dragon training, passing with flying colors. Stoick couldn't be more proud.

It was a bit of a shock really. Hiccup Haddock, Hiccup Haddock, of all people was killing his first dragon tomorrow.

Stoick was walking through the forest while he was thinking about all of this, basking in the new-found pride his son was giving him, when he abruptly came to a stop. Right in front of him was a tree with the trunk spilt right down the middle, as if something came crashing down into it. When he looked to the side, he noticed a path in the dirt. Stoick, thinking it might have been a dragon, did what any Viking would do.

Charged headfirst without thinking of the consequences.

He followed the trail until he found a bundle of ropes, torn apart. The dragon had gotten away. But Stoick wasn't one to give up easily. When he had first found the ropes, he spotted a dip in the earth, as if someone had dug a giant hole. Deciding that the dragon might be hiding in there, he went towards it, being as stealthy as a hulking Viking could be. He ended up finding a small clearing hidden higher up in the "wall", if that's what you could call it. The sight he saw made his jaw drop.

Hiccup Haddock, the boy who was killing a dragon tomorrow was feeding a dragon. And not just any dragon, a night fury.

He's probably just luring him in, thought Stoick, then he'll go for the kill.

But he didn't. In fact, it looked as if he was about to - ride the dragon? What is he thinking? Thought Stoick. He's going to get himself killed!

Stoick started to panic. He had already lost Valka to a dragon; he was not about to lose Hiccup to one either. Stoick jumped out of his hiding spot and charged towards the dragon. As he got closer the dragon reared up and started getting ready to hit him with a plasma blast. Let him, thought Stoick, he won't be able to hit me. But before the two could do anything to each other, Hiccup jumped in between them and grabbed Stoick's axe, throwing it out of his reach. With practiced ease, Hiccup quickly turned around and started trying to calm the dragon.

"Easy bud, easy. It's alright. No one's going to hurt you."

Stoick stood there watching in shock as Hiccup started calming the dragon down. What shocked him even more was that the dragon was actually listening. The more Hiccup reassured the beast the calmer he got. After a while of this Hiccup turned towards Stoick.

"You scared him." He said with a slight glare.

Stoick couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I scared him? Have you seen the size of that thing? Nothing scaring that."

Hiccup continued to glare. "Him."

"What?"

"Toothless is a living thing, not an it."

"You've named that beast!?"

Hiccup glared harder. "He's not a beast either."

"Well, if he's not an it and he's not a beast, then what is he?"

"My friend."

Stoick stared at him in disbelief. His son, who was obsessed with killing a dragon not too long ago, was now buddy-buddy with the dang beast. Not only that, but he had named it.

"So, everything in that arena, a lie, a trick!?"

"Dad, you don't understand." Hiccup's glare softened. "They're not the monsters we think they are." As he said this, he looked down at Toothless, scratching under his chin.

"I don't trust it." Stoick replied curtly, "For all you know the minute you turn your back, it's gonna betray you."

"I'm not asking you to trust him, I'm asking you to trust me."

Stoick stared at Toothless and Hiccup, not saying a word. He had to admit, Hiccup had seemed to grow a backbone since meeting Toothless. And if Hiccup was talking back to Stoick of all people, well then...

"Alright, I'll make a deal with you." Hiccup's face instantly lit up. "If you can tame the Monstrous Nightmare tomorrow in the arena and show me and the people of Berk that dragons aren't monsters, I might consider changing my outlook on them."

Hiccup didn't even hesitate. "Deal."

"Alright then. Now let's head back, it's getting dark."

The duo made their way back to their hut, not knowing how things were going to go a lot worse than they imagined.