STOP! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ 'RISE OF THE DRAGON RIDERS', READ NO FURTHER! This is a sequal AU story for that so you will only understand half of what's going on if you read this first!=^-^=

OMG! My first Sequel! Yeah... it did take way longer than planned to hash out but I hope ya'll like it anyway. I also won't be posting every few days like I had with the first one. I just have too much on my plate for that. I would've had held this off far longer if I hadn't already promised ya'll one to begin with. So anyway, this takes place 3 years after the first one and so both Hiccup and Astrid are 21 and Mathias is 22. Since I'm going to weaving in the events of the second movie in the sequel I figured the ages should be similar. Please enjoy.=^-^=

Ch. 1 - Berk's Peace

The stars in the sky twinkled high above the armed structure as a large shadow loomed ever closer. The orage glow danced through the small windows around the building and lite laughter could be heard within. As a crowd of shadows held pause on its perimeter a smaller one broke rank and moved closer. The quiet flap of wings was all that came from the mysterious shadow as it found perch on one of the structures many mounted weapons and something seemed to slink off its back. It crept through one of the glowing windows quietly and carefully.

The still shadows around waited patiently for the cries of men and dragons alike. They broke the silence of the night as fire took hold onto a portion of the building. Men were shouting and the stomp of boots soon rang through. Roars followed suit as a column of fire burst forth from the building's roof and with it came several dragons. It was strange to the men at first glance. They were readying their weapons mostly out of instinct and reflex though what had actually happened seemed lost to them. They took aim at the fleeing beasts but soon found far more than they bargained for.

Out of the shadows burst forth dozens of dragons, too many to even count. One dragon in particular caught they eyes of several men. It was unusual to say the least. Chances are this dragon was a rare sight but what was even stranger was it seemed to be carrying someone upon its back. A man riding on the back of a dragon? What the devil is this? That's just some crazy tale, it couldn't real… but then it had to be didn't it? After all, what else could they be?

The men fired several bow lows through the air in attempts to tie up the flying beasts but the air was chaos. Just when they believed they were doomed, however, something far worst came to the surface. As soon as it began to emerge many of the men were smart enough to flee, while there were a few too terrified for words. Little detail about the creature could be seen for its sheer size and the darkness of the nearly new moon to cover it but they knew they were no match.

A loud bellow was all that was heard before its frozen reach blew through their stronghold. Destruction in its wake, the beast let out a loud roar and the dragon's followed as it turned away. The mystery rider took one last look at the beast's handy work, the twisted spikes, the frozen destruction of pieces mid-fall, and even the terrified survivors just trying to keep moving. The dragon hovered until the rider gave a light tap with their staff and it too turned to follow the call of the mighty beast of destruction.

As the men watched the shadows of their quarry leave on the low-lit horizon one man stepped forward and let out a barrage of curses to the sky intended for the attackers. "Damn dragon rider!" He let out as he calmed himself. He looked to his men who were trying to get themselves together. "We need to get as much together as we can. It's double time!"

The village bustled with Vikings and reverberated with cheers. Berk, what seemed to be a most unusual Viking settlement, sat upon the island of Berk. It used to have quite a pest problem but has since come to an agreement with the local pests. Yes Dragons were now rather common place on the island and the Viking inhabitants wouldn't have it any other way.

Peace, strange but true, had come at last and now the people were enjoying one of their newest pastimes. The bleating of sheep could be heard just as the cheers calmed down as one of the many dragon riders scooped it up. "It's mine!" Shouted the round Viking as his Grunkle held tight to the fuzzy mammal in its claws.

"That's what you think!" Shouted another Viking from the back of his painted Nightmare. He swung down with his hammer but hissed as the Grunkle dodged with relative ease. The rider pulled his dragon up and they quickly leveled off not too far from a Zippleback. The painted dragon, with its equally painted riders, quickly made haste towards the boulder class dragon.

"Hey princess!" Fishleg's shouted as he held up the sheep. "Got another one for you!" He tossed it over and Roughnutt happily held it in her arms. Her twin shouted in triumph as he enjoyed taking the win, even if it didn't involve any effort on his part and the two of them set the Zippleback towards the goal.

"I can't believe you two!" Shouted a woman from behind. A blue painted Nadder quickly zoomed in beside the grunckle. "Both you and Snotlout are after Rough?"

Fish simply responded with a dream like expression. "But she's my goddess."

Astrid rolled her eyes as she pulled ahead. "But they're going to win at this rate!"

"Yeah!" Shouted Snotlout as he cut off Astrid's attempt to overtake the twins.

Her Nadder's superior speed easily moved them around the Nightmare and the Shield Maiden quickly positioned her dragon just above the two headed one. "Alright girl, keep steady." She then jumped off and landed on the Zippleback taking both twins by surprise as she grabbed the frantic sheep from their grasp's. "Oh yeah!" She shouted as she jumped again and her trusty dragon caught her seconds later. She made a beeline for the goal and threw the sheep into the blue painted goal and a horn sounded.

"Point!" A man shouted as he made a mark on the score board. Stoic, the village head, looked on from his honorary seat and motioned to the man keeping score. He nodded to the chief and waved over to Gobber who was standing ready at the catapult. "Alrighty, looks like the final lap!" He gripped the lever which held the black wool sheep in place. "Have a nice flight." He said with a grin which caused the sheep to freeze mid-chew and it was soon catapulted into the air.

It bleated in terror as it's fall began but was caught only seconds later by the Nightmare. "Alright! Got me the ten pointer baby!" Rough gagged a bit as she saw him look to her.

Tough simply laughed. "Sorry, still hates you!"

Astrid made a quick go at the sheep but Hookfang was quick to push her back with one mighty beat of his wings. "Alright Hookfang!" He then flew down and over towards Barf and Belch hoping to present the prize to the girl he'd hope to woe. Just as he was about to throw it a shill sound was heard and in a matter of seconds the sheep was gone from his grasp. A roar of the crowd was hear as the black dragon tore through the skies. "Hiccup!?"

It was safe to say no one saw it coming as the young rider made a beeline for the goals. Toothless, his dragon, seemed to be in competitive mode which could easily be seen on his face. After dropping the sheep into the black goal the crowd roared again and the horn sounded. A faint chant of Hiccup could be heard just before Stoic took to his feet. "Yeah! That's 0 for Snotlout and Fishlegs, 6 for Astrid, 8 for Rough and Tough, and 10 for Hiccup! Hiccup takes the games!" The crowd roared louder as the rider came around for a victory lap through the stands.

"No fair Hiccup!" The rider chuckled at Fish's complaint.

"Hey, I was just a bit late." Hiccup had Toothless hover in a sort of powwow with the other riders. "I just had a little something to finish up."

"Leave it to Hiccup to win in one shot." Remarked Astrid who was equal parts happy and equal parts annoyed.

"Way to kill a winning streak man." Tough complained under his skull patterned paint. "We were so supposed to win that!"

Hiccup gave a light chuckle as he pointed to the score board. "The points say otherwise."

"Hiccup!" The rider turned to see the village chief attempting to get his attention much to his own frustration.

He flew by quickly with only a few words to exchange. "Uh sorry dad, orders pilling up at the shop!" The large man let out a sigh as he watched him go.

Gobber placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just give him a bit more time. I'm sure he'll come around eh?" He then hobbled off to speak with Hiccup as Stoic pinched as his temple a bit.

Astrid crossed her arms in a huff as she leaned against a support beam of Gobber's stall. It was bigger than before and with quite a few new additions to the order listing. Hiccup was tracing out a new saddle on some leather at the work bench as he turned to Astrid with a grin. "So now you're mad that I took the win? I give you points, you get mad, and now if I take points, you're mad. This game has no real win does it?" He asked with a laugh.

Astrid couldn't help but mimic the smirk he had on his face as she nodded. "Nope. I'll win on my own thank you." She then turned towards the line and then back at Hiccup. "Well your line isn't that long, so what was that with your dad?"

Hiccup instantly froze at the question and refused to turn and make eye contact. "Well….. I just wanted to get these done."

Astrid rolled her eyes as she walked over to the Viking. "Come on Hiccup. I know when you're lying to me. What's up? You and him have another of your famous disagreements?" She placed a hand on his shoulder causing him to tense for a moment before allowing his shoulders slump.

"….. Kind of….."

"What do you mean by kind of?" She prodded while Hiccup grew more nervous.

He reached for a few tools on a higher shelf as he responded just short of a stutter. "We didn't really argue…. He sprung something on me and I didn't stick around to argue with him."

Astrid rolled her eyes again. She knew Hiccup wasn't a fan of conflict. Of course he could easily deal with it when it came up, sometimes though, his hesitant nature would get the better of him. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the back room. She closed the door behind them before prompting him to continue. "So?"

Hiccup, now solidly backed into a corner by his girlfriend, gave a sigh in defeat. "Well, I woke up, greeted by the sound of Terrible Terrors singing. I sauntered down to breakfast thinking all was right with the world only to be greeted by my dad in one of his serious moods." He cleared his throat and held his chest out. "Son we need to talk." His sudden deeper tone mad Astrid giggle a bit at his antics. "You're the pride of Berk and I couldn't be any prouder. That is why I have decided to step down an-"

She cut him off out of excitement. "To make you chief! Oh my gods!"

Hiccup was a bit bewildered by her reaction. "Well, glad you're excited."

She turned to him in confusion. "Hiccup….. this is such an honor. Being chief….."

Hiccup stopped her before she could continue. "It's not my thing Astrid….. Chief is my Dad's thing. I'm just…"

She stepped towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just what? The best Dragon rider out there? The hero of Berk? Hiccup….. this is your thing."

He turned away from her. "No its not. I mean, you? You know exactly who you are, and always have. My dad is the chief, and I never met my Mom…. So what exactly does that make me?" He took a seat at the work bench and leaned on his arm. "I'm just…. Still looking I guess."

Astrid gave him a smile as she took a seat next to him. "I think it's right here." She stated as she placed a hand over his chest. "You're just looking in the wrong direction. It's not out there, you just don't see it yet." She then placed a kiss on his cheek as she pat his shoulder.

Hiccup let out a sigh as he turned to her. "You think so?"

The next thing they knew the door flew open to see Gobber. "Oi….. sorry. Didn't know you two were having a moment."

The two of them quickly stood up. "It's alright Gobber… we were just talking."

The smithy gave him a nod. "Alright, and speakin of talks."

Hiccup quickly passed him by. "I know what you're trying to say Gobber." The young man let out a sigh as he moved back over to work on the saddle.

"He's stubborn, you know that." Astrid pointed out as she followed him. "So are you going to give him an answer or you just going to continue to avoid him?" Hiccup stopped and was about to address the question when a familiar growl was heard in the distance. The dragon rider turned his head towards the sounds direction and his hunch was confirmed when Toothless cried out in excitement. He walked over to the window where his dragon was jumping around, causing the small line to lose any shape it had. "Is it scorch?" Astrid asked as she followed his gaze to the sky.

"Yeah, gotta be." Only seconds later did the small dragon come into view. "Hey little buddy!" The small dragon quickened his pace and soon wrapped his claws around his favorite human in delight while rubbing his rounded horn in the young man's stubble. "I guess you missed me as much as usual." Hiccup stated with a laugh. He then did his best to peel the dragon off of him so that he could get at the message tied to his back. The little Bane Hunter squirmed with every attempt until Hiccup finally succeeded and it climbed onto his shoulder once Hiccup had the note. "Alright, let's see here."

Dear Hiccup, I hope this message finds you well. I was just writing to let you know Mathias was finally coming for a visit. He was down south for quite a while with Nightshade and was only back for a little over a week before he just up and decided to pay you a visit. He wanted it to be a surprise but I had a feeling you'd want to know. Please still act surprised alright? Don't keep him too long now. We are overdue for some quality time.

- Frida

"Nice of her to warn us ahead of time right?" Hiccup joked.

"Yes…. though now that I think about it, has he actually ever been here?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No, even though I told him to come by several times. I usually end up going to visit him. Anyway, it seems he finally went to visit Nightshade's homeland… at least that's how it sounded."

Astrid gave a nod as she pat the little dragon's head. "Yeah, it'll be nice hearing it from a human perspective. I don't always understand it when Nightshade tries to tell me about it though I do know it's an odd place."

Hiccup gave a laugh at that. "You're telling me? Those weird games were where I drew the line."

"Better let Stoic know Hiccup. He's gonna need to get things ready if a royal is showing up." Gobber said it in a joking tone, but Hiccup knew he just wanted him to talk with his father.

"I let him know, but Mathias isn't going to expect some crazy reception. Frida wants it to be a surprise."

Gobber rolled his eyes as he turned to start on the forge which he noticed was out. "Come on Grump! You let the forge die again!" The large grunkle gave a lazy grunt as it shot out a lava blast that nearly destroyed the whole forge to the frustration of the poor smithy. He shook his head in disapproval. "That's it…. You're going up for adoption."

The couple merely looked on with entertained expressions as Gobber hobbled away to his work bench. "So I guess we should be ready to give him the grand tour?"

"Be sure to cover the highlights Hiccup like the stables, the race track,…." She stated as she listed them off on her fingers.

"Then you can help too." Hiccup responded to the teasing of his lady. "Berk's dragon human dynamic is a lot different to the one they have in Langholt so I'm sure Nightshade will love it too."

Astrid nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they barely have any dragon interaction there right?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. The king has the dragon forces, which I hear Mathias is in, but no other towns I know of have adopted the idea. I was hoping for more of a change."

Astrid shook her head and gestured out the window at Berk. "Well you did all this to a village with 7 generations worth of dragon slaying history. I'm sure you and Mathias can get something done with enough time." She placed a hand on his shoulder and proceeded to lean on it. "Besides, when you two get together I doubt anyone can say no to the crazy ideas you come up with."

Hiccup raised a brow at the obvious tease. "I'm almost insulted." He quipped before turning back towards the half made saddle across the room. "Anyway, I should finish these last few orders if I'm going to spend tomorrow taking a royal around the village."

Astrid just leaned back against the window frame with a smirk. "I'm sure he'll just eat up the royal treatment." Then the both of them laughed at the joke knowing their mutual friend all too well.

Ch 1 is done! Ch 2 is on its way and who knows how long itll take. (Your responses should help it along though *hint* *hint*) Anyway so be sure to direct me any questions or you can go back and re-read the first one if you've just forgotten something. Whatever works. Thanks for reading and I hope you will give me a review.=^-^=