The next few days pass in a blur of planning, learning, and practice. Mei creates about a fucking prototype saddle just a single day after she meets Striker, riding gear included. His dragon, of course, is contrary as fuck, making him chase her around with the damn saddle for a fucking hour (much to his mom's fucking amusement) before he can wrestle it onto her. Their second flight goes no better than the first; when he pulls to control the tail, Striker flies one way and he goes tumbling into the fucking water, unable to move with her.
Mei and the old hag get a fucking kick outta that as well.
The next thing they try is attaching him to the saddle and his foot to the tail with a cord. If anything, it goes to fucking shit even faster, but they do get out of the fucking cove now.
Katsuki screams curses into the air as they plummet into a field of tall, tall grasses (with a fucking weird-ass smell), the cord snapping as he flies off of Striker's back and tumbles into the grass. He manages to set off a blast just in fucking time to keep from crashing too badly, landing on his feet. "Striker!" he shouts into the forest of grass, blundering through that shit and setting off several explosions to clear the way. "Where are you, you crazy lizard---oh." He halts in front of a flattened patch of grass, in which Striker is rolling around and purring like a fucking cat.
He picks up a handful of the stuff, curious---and sure enough, the Stormcutter they face in training later that day fucking loves the stuff, sniffing it up eagerly and panting like a dog. He rubs its nose fiercely before he releases the grass and it collapses, tongue flickering out of its mouth with a contented rumble.
The others are, as always, fucking dumbstruck. Deku chases after him on the bridge back from fucking training, as do a handle of others from their arena. Even fucking Half n' Half is eager to learn what he did---no, all of the bastards are, except Ochako. She watches him suspiciously (reaffirming his suspicions that she's the fucking smartest of the bunch), making a point to lean out of his way when he snaps some shit about an axe in the ring and leaves.
He's gonna have to watch out for her.
--
Katsuki's scratching Striker, having visited her alone that day since Mei is working on the new fucking design. Her scales are smooth and dry under his palms, warm emanating from underneath them, and she's fucking loving the attention. She leans into him with a rumble as he scratches behind her ruff of ear-flaps, but when he scratches under her chin, her eyes widen and she fucking melts to the ground.
He blinks at her, before grinning. "Unholy offspring of lightning and death, ladies and gentlemen," Katsuki announces to no one in particular, pulling out his notebook and making a note about her sweet spot. "The motherfucking dragon from hell who has a secret identity as a giant cat."
In dragon training, he waits patiently as the Razorwhip blasts Ochako and Kirishima aside, dropping his mace as soon as it nears him. Sure enough, the metal-plated dragon halts, sniffing curiously at him. He reaches out to brush its muzzle with his fingers, only to hear a battle cry and see Ochako hurtling at the dragon with a broadsword in hand, made weightless by her Quirk. Katsuki quickly reaches out and scratches the back and sides of its neck before reaching its sweet spot.
One more deadly-as-fuck dragon turns into a purring puddle. He grins victoriously at Round-Face, who lowers her sword with a look of utter shock on her face. Serves you right, running at him with a motherfucking axe, he thinks.
---
Striker is more like a cat than he fucking thought. Katsuki watches, reflecting light off of one of Mei's hammers, as his dragon chases after the spot of light like a fucking kitten with a sunbeam. She slams her paw over the spot, and he holds it there until she lifts her fucking paw. She lets out a shriek of excitement as she bounds after her prey, and he rests his head on the rock and fucking laughs until his sides ache. When the light-spot vanishes, she lets out a whine of disappointment and drums her paws on the ground until he continues the game, sending her chasing after the uncatchable foe.
Gods, she's so fucking adorable.
In training, he manages to pull the fucking Grapple Grounder off of Todoroki. The Half n' Half fucker's Quirk use hadn't been fast enough to stop the thing, and he was pinned under its claws---until it found new prey in the form of a bit of light reflected off of his shield. The massive dragon winds its way back into the pen, chasing the light eagerly, and he shuts the doors easily.
Todoroki eyes him warily, but he fucking thanks him. Katsuki wants to fucking snap that any of them could do the same shit if they looked at dragons any fucking differently, but he keeps his mouth shut, shrugs it the fuck off, and lopes out of the ring.
Unfortunately, on his way to see Striker with the new saddle, he finds Round-Face practicing with her fucking axe, hurling it at trees as if they've personally fucking wronged her. He manages to escape her notice, thank the fucking gods, but he knows full fucking well that he won't be so lucky again.
Mei is with him, luckily, when his harness gets fucked up after the wind snaps the rope tying them to their practice. "At least you don't have to go back into Berk to get this untangled," she comments, and he notes that she's adapted to calling their shitty island Berk as well. "Especially with All Might, Endeavor and the others coming back from hunting for the Nest."
The Nest. His ancestor wrote about the Nest, prayed that the egg he'd seen of the Queen that ruled there would never hatch. He never marked coordinates, never said a word as to where it had been, but he wished fervently that Hiccup had.
Maybe then they could kill it, and stop those fucking raids once and for all.
YOU ARE READING
The Brave Men Rode Them
Fanfiction"In front of him lies the Night Fury, the most dangerous dragon in the known world, one that he's felled, the one that could prove that he does have what it takes to kill dragons. But its eyes are open, shining and white-gold, and he sees himself re...
