Oddly enough, this is the kind of story I usually don't read, where (SPOILER ALERT!) Hiccup discovers another Viking tribe that has dragons. I was thinking about some cool aerobatic maneuvers I wanted to write about, and this came to fruition. The first chapter turned out longer than in any of my other stories, so maybe I'm doing something right. Or maybe it's just that this is my first non-crossover.

Disclaimer: I do not own DreamWorks' How to Train your Dragon. Obviously, my name is not DreamWorks.

How to Train a Dragon Rider

(Great Title, I know)

Chapter 1

Boys and their Dragons

Hiccup and Toothless were caught in the joy of flying.

This was one of the few days they had the sky all to themselves. All the other dragons had been out earlier, and had grown tired of lugging their riders around. Most of the villagers were still learning how to fly their dragons, and they tired quickly.

But Toothless was a Night Fury, and his stamina was nearly unlimited, barley hampered by the accustomed weight of the young viking on his back.

Hiccup felt the thrill of going into a high, steep dive, and he whooped in exhilaration.

He felt his insides lift as they went into free-fall, then felt them being pulled down again as they pulled out just over the water's surface. They finally climbed and turned toward the village, beginning a leisurely glide.

Hiccup had gotten used to using his false leg in flight, and could control Toothless' red tailfin just as well, if not better, than he could before.

Hiccup looked over at the setting sun. It was low over the horizon, and just beginning to turn red.

Hiccup thought he saw something silhouetted against the colorful sky – he squinted, and thought he could just glimpse a dragon and a rider, heading away from Berk. But that was ridiculous – even if there were dragons about, they would be headed back towards Berk, not away from it.

Hiccup started seeing spots from staring at the sun, and disregarded the sight.

The next day, Hiccup was at the town hall for a meeting. "Learning a leader's place in politics," his father said. To hiccup, viking politics seemed to consist of making important decisions while the rest of the vikings drank beer.

One of the vikings had recently been sent to gather news on the other, southern, viking clans. He had almost completed his report.

"The fire destroyed most of their food crops, and winter is just approaching. Won't be long before they attack someone for the food they need."

A viking shouted from the crowd, "What does this have to do with us? If they think we're still fighting dragons, they won't bother us. We wouldn't have much food anyway."

From another part of the room, Hiccup heard a viking yell, "Even if they come, they won't stand a chance. We have the dragons on our side now; they can't beat us and them."

That got Hiccup's attention – while he had been dozing for most of the meeting, his thoughts now went to the thing he saw yesterday. He was sure it had been another rider, but that night, he had seen no one else land.

"Wait!" He said, before another viking could take his turn.

Everyone in the room turned toward him.

"I. . . I saw someone riding a dragon yesterday, but they never came back to Berk. Maybe the other clans do have dragons, we just don't know about them."

There was a pause in the meeting room.

And the other vikings burst out laughing.

"Ha! First he trains a dragon, and then he claims someone else has first!" One person said.

From another: "Lad, you obviously didn't realize how surprised we were when you brought that Night Fury home!"

The meeting continued on.

Afterwards, Hiccup, his father, and Toothless were walking through the central street of the village, going home from the town hall.

"Hiccup, you can't just speak out like that." Stoick was scolding his son. "They'll think you're crazy if you interrupt for something like that again. There are no other tribes with dragons. Everyone else is to far south, and besides, we've been fighting them for generations. There's no way they could have figured out how to ride them so fast." He finished.

Hiccup replied, "I know, dad, but I really thought I saw something." He paused. "I couldn't just keep quiet about something like that."

Toothless growled in agreement.

Just then, they passed another viking boy, about Hiccup's age. His gaze followed Toothless as he passed. That wasn't unusual, Hiccup and his dragon were famous, and many people gazed at both Hiccup's bad leg and Toothless' red tailfin.

Hiccup realized that he didn't recognize the boy, which was odd. Being the age that he was, he should have been involved in dragon training.

"Hiccup, if you want to be chief one day, there's one thing you'll have to learn." Stoick continued. "You have to learn how –"

"Dad, who was that?" Hiccup interrupted.

"Who?" Stoick asked.

Hiccup turned around and pointed at the retreating figure. "Him."

Stoick said, "I don't know." Then he yelled, "Hey! You!"

He kept walking.

Stoick said again, "Excuse me!"

The figure turned around, and Hiccup definitely didn't recognize him. Even if the boy hadn't been in his dragon training class, he should have seen him around the village sometime.

Hiccup felt Toothless flinch, and he heard him sniff the air towards the boy. The night fury took a step towards him, and –

He immediately took off running. Stoick yelled, quite ineffectively, "Stop!"

Toothless jerked, and began bounding after him. Hiccup, who had been leaning on his dragon for support (he still wasn't completely used to his new leg on the ground), was pulled along with him.

The boy was fast, and he skillfully ducked under and around the vikings that took up the street. Some of them had heard Stoick's shouts, and tried to grab for him, but he easily dodged out of their way as well. Then they had to dive out of the way of the night fury chasing after him.

"Stop, Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup screamed as he was pulled along.

When he finally got the night fury to slow down, he climbed onto his back. He didn't have his harness, but Toothless was saddled up, and they wouldn't have to fly far to catch the boy.

They took off, and spotted the boy still on the main street. Hiccup saw Astrid up ahead, near the outside of town.

"Astrid!" He shouted.

At the sound of her name, she turned he head towards Hiccup, now riding just above the nearby rooftops.

Hiccup yelled, "Stop him!" And pointed to the running boy, just leaving the street they had found him on.

Astrid heard Hiccup, looked over at the commotion. She moved to cut the boy off. Hiccup and Toothless were catching up quickly.

The boy met Astrid head on, and nimbly dodged to the right. She kicked out a leg, and tripped him.

The boy went down, but rolled with it, and was quickly back on his feet. He kept running, heading for the cliffs on the south side of Berk.

As she ran after him, Astrid grabbed an axe from the hands of a passing viking. Hiccup hoped it didn't have to come to that.

The boy was almost to the cliffs, and from there he would have nowhere to go. Hiccup kept waiting for him to turn left or right, but he never did. Maybe he was going to try and run right alongside the cliff.

Astrid was screaming at him, "Stop! Come back here!"

The boy didn't stop, he kept running. Right over the cliff.

There was a sound – It was familiar to Hiccup, but he couldn't remember from where.

Toothless' head shot up, and Hiccup saw a dark shape swoop down. The boy fell right on top of it, and began riding it – Hiccup could see now that it was a dragon.

Astrid was screaming – she had followed him off the cliff, and was holding the axe above her head, like she intended to slice them in half.

Before he was even completely in the saddle, it seemed, the boy reached out and grabbed the handle of the axe, just below the blade. Astrid fell below the dragon, held high above the water by only the axe handle she was holding on to.

The dragoon swooped low and commenced a hard turn, throwing Astrid into the sea. The dragon kept going, and the boy swung the axe as he was moving, impaling it horizontally in a wooden dock post a few dozen feet away from Astrid.

Hiccup and Toothless flew down to get her, but Astrid yelled, "What are you doing? Go get them!"

She was right, Hiccup realized. Astrid could take care of herself. Toothless turned around in pursuit of the strange rider.

Though he was already a distance away, the night fury closed the distance quickly. Hiccup saw the rider look over his shoulder, and his dragon picked up speed. They headed for a thick group of the stone pillars that surrounded Berk

They began a complicated series of turns and loops, trying to lose Hiccup and Toothless in the rocks, but their dragons were equally matched. Hiccup wasn't wearing his harness or his safety line, but neither was the other boy, and he seemed to be doing just fine.

Suddenly, they pulled up and began to climb steeply. Toothless followed, and they continued for several seconds before the lead dragon began to slow down. Toothless seized the advantage, flapping even harder for altitude.

The dragon spread its wings and rapidly decelerated. Toothless did the same, but slightly too late, and overshot.

When they passed, Hiccup and the other rider's eyes locked to each other. His head swiveled to follow Hiccup. Hiccup got a good look at the boy, but also at his dragon.

It was a night fury.

This all happened in a fraction of a second, and the other dragon swiftly closed its wings and began hurling for the surface, Toothless in hot pursuit.

Hiccup tried to process it in his head – the island had never seen another Night Fury, though there were many different dragons of all the other races.

It wasn't quite the same as Toothless – It had the same proportions, but Hiccup could see now that it was a dark blue, instead of Toothless' jet black. Maybe he had seen wrong, and it really was another species of dragon. But it sure looked like a night fury.

The other dragon spread its wings again to slow down, and Toothless responded quicker this time, slowing with it.

The rider turned to Hiccup and winked. Suddenly, the dragon pulled its wings against its body again. They broke through the water's surface, disappearing under it.

Hiccup adjusted the position of his prosthetic and Toothless pulled up, and the two began to look around, searching the water for any sign of their runaway prey.

Toothless saw a splash as they broke the surface, several hundred feet away. He immediately dove after them, hurling a fireball that exploded on the water's surface. A warning shot.

Toothless pulled up alongside them, and Hiccup looked over, opening his mouth to speak; But before he could, the other boy jumped off his dragon – and, to Hiccup's surprise, landed on Toothless' tail. Toothless was not expecting this, and jerked at the sudden addition of weight.

Hiccup looked back at the boy in surprise, and everything seemed to slow down.

The boy was hanging from his dragon's tail, jamming the cables of his red tailfin to their last position. He saw the boy give a two-fingered salute to him, then release his Toothless' tail, straightening his body out before he hit the surface.

As soon as he hit the water, Hiccup was snapped out of his trance. His dragon hesitated for a second, unable to decide who to go for, then deciding on the fleeing dragon. The boy wouldn't be going anywhere fast.

When they turned toward his dragon, the boy, unseen, began to swim toward one of the nearest stone pillars.

While they had been equal in flight before, without the added weight of a rider, the other strange night fury slowly pulled ahead. Hiccup finally gave up, and watched the shape fly away towards the path of the sun, beginning to fall in the sky.

When they returned to the scene of the pursuit, they could find no trace of the boy. They continued to circle through the maze until the sun was low, when they decided that they wouldn't be able to find him even if they continued searching.

When they landed back at the village, they were greeted by Stoick and the other viking children. Hiccup told them what had happened.

While he was gone, Astrid had swum over to the axe and stood on the handle until a viking ship had come to rescue her. Stoick had asked around the village, and there were no other children missing.

They concluded that the boy must have been from another village, and that he had been sent to scout them out. That also meant that at least one other tribe had discovered how to train and ride dragons.

They all agreed that this was not good.