Age of the Dragons (HTTYD Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Z soared near the front of the group, enjoying the cool air on her scales. Leaving the Hidden World with Sarah for the first time had been amazing, and now Z waited for the open space, and the sun, and the clear sky.

Looking around, she spied a pair of dragons squabbling. With a quick blast of fire, it was solved. Such was the job Z had taken on, of making sure all the dragons stayed out of trouble. Z had to do something, to take her mind off of the time she couldn't spend training with Sarah.

Z had never quite found someone like her. She had always been a warrior, but when she searched for other warriors, she found that no one was ever willing to take her in, despite her skill.

Sarah had been Z's saving grace. Someone who understood her. Who had the same drive to work, probably for the same reasons. Her family had been well off enough, but her father and mother were gone most of the time, researching the equivalent of Political Science for dragons. By the time Z was at the very impressionable age of seven, she saw her parents once a week for a couple minutes, if she was lucky.

So Z had no role model, no one to figure out how to act, and it confused her.

She had spent her days wandering around the Hidden World, searching for people to show her what she was supposed to do, but everything she saw frightened her, and she became more and more wary of her quest.

But she had, eventually pulled through.

Z flapped feebly across small gaps in the cliffs of the Hidden World. She had never been taught how to fly, and her wingbeats were nervous and uneven. She scrabbled over rocks and across streams, hunting through the places of the Hidden World she had never been, and searching for someone she knew in her heart she probably wouldn't find.

Then, there was a roar overhead, and Z looked up, staring at a team of warriors training far in the skies of the caverns. Z was entranced, watching their fluid movements, their fire, their synchrony. And suddenly, she felt that she needed to be one of them.

Day after day, Z returned to the same area, watching as the adult dragons trained in the skies, on the ground, and learned from a master, teaching them many things every day.

Z had tried desperately to mimic their movements, but her coordination was sloppy, and she was inexperienced in any type of fighting. But still, she persevered, gaining many cuts and scrapes along the way, garnering looks of disdain from other dragons, and nearly killing herself accidentally on a multitude of occasions.

But after a year of crushing failures, Z began to master the most basic of fighting skills. And from there, she learned how to use her fire, and her wings. Then her tail. And soon, once she had the basic skills, she toiled quickly through lessons the other dragons had already learned, climbing up levels of skill until one day, in elation, Z realized that she now knew everything those dragons knew.

And now, watching from afar, she began to learn new methods that these fighters learned at the same time, mastering them quickly. And for years, she continued to learn, until one day, she couldn't anymore.

'Gather round pupils!' the master barked at the end of the day. Z finished practicing the form she had been practicing, and leaned in, curious. 'Today comes a momentous day in your education. Today, I have taught you all that I know!' there were gasps from the people being trained. Z barely managed to stifled hers.

'You have trained hard, working diligently for fifteen years.' the master said. Z nearly passed out, she had started learning 5 years previously! Yet she had learned everything the real pupils had learned... 'Now,' the master said, 'I will proclaim you all warriors.'

And the master began calling out names. And when each dragon had come to him, he marked their brow with a single slash, officially making each one a warrior. Z squirmed, trapped by indecision. She had depended on these people as role models, and now they would be gone! What could she do next? And as she squirmed, a flash of light bounced off her scales.

The master's head snapped up, looking straight at Z. And before she could do anything, he had shot forward, grabbing her by the scruff and dropped her down in front of his students. 'Who are you.' he growled, pupils slitted. 'Z, sir.' Z said, barely keeping a tremor out of your voice. 'What were you doing spying on us!' the master roared. But in the face of anger, everything that Z had learned, the confidence that she might be able to belong, strengthened her.

'No offense, sir,' she said, 'but I was learning.' 'Learning?' the master snarled. 'I have learned everything you have taught these dragons in the last fifteen years.' Z said confidently. There was silence, then the master burst out laughing.

'That can't be possible!' he said, 'you are merely twelve! You could not have been learning for fifteen years!' 'Yes, I agree.' Z responded mildly, 'I learned it all in the last five.' Now everyone was laughing. 'Not possible!' the master choked out.

'Very well.' Z said, and flicked her tail towards the master, striking him in a very painful place on the shoulder, immobilizing his left wing. 'The master suddenly stopped laughing. He had taught that move six years ago.

But Z wasn't finished, she launched into a backflip, blasting her flames and launching her spines to create a volley of twisting, flaming spikes that knocked out three of the ten pupils. The other dragons launched into an attack, but Z was quicker, skidding in between the first two, and lashing their tails together, sending them slamming into the ground.

She didn't have time to react before a blast of fire hit her head on, but she didn't need to, skillfully angling her body to direct it back at the attacker, opening a clear path to the sky. And she soared up, using her tail to smash the seventh student into a cliff, and turning around, dove in a complicated spin.

Flinging her wings out, she slashed the eighth and ninth pupils on the underbelly, and slammed like strike of lightning into the tenth, immediately knocking him out. Two quick carefully aimed blasts of fire finished students eight and nine, and Z descended to the ground, landing gracefully in front of the ten pupils, heaped into a tangled pile.

The master stared at her in complete shock. 'How did you...' 'Like I said,' Z smirked, 'I know everything you taught.'

That evening, Z had gone home with the mark of a warrior on her brow, and a confidence that her life might turn out alright.

But of course, it couldn't be that simple. All ten pupils had harbored bitter resentment towards Z, and although she had wished to join their team, they rejected her. And though she searched the Hidden World far and wide, she could find no warrior team to take her in. Because word had already spread about the young warrior, and no one wanted a showoff on their team.

Z had never meant to show off, she just wanted to belong. But it seemed that wasn't an option. So she had retreated to a far corner of the Hidden World, training alone. But she had buried any sadness in her fighting, furthering her education by inventing many powerful forms.

But she had always wished for someone to train with, to be alone with her thoughts for years on end.

And Sarah was that someone. Z and Sarah had hit off almost immediately, after they tried to kill each other. They seemed both to be in the same place, sharing the same problems, and sharing techniques with each other. The two had become an inseparable pair, a battle team of their own. And Z couldn't have been happier.

Which was why she couldn't wait to get to New Berk.

Lost in her thoughts, Z hardly noticed when they approached New Berk, until there was a roar, and she spotted it coming up from the horizon. Wings speeding up, Z pushed forward, now hearing the cheers of the Berkians.

And then, diving down, she swooped into the town square and landed.

She was back at New Berk.

A chapter just about the dragons this time! Don't worry, I promise we are almost to the end of the setup!