//this stuff is edited as of November 30, 2017 so some of the comments probably won't make sense since I changed a few things.

Five years later...

Astrid walked down the path from her house to the arena. She carried her axe on her shoulder, walking slowly, dragging her feet. It seemed sad, but it was really normal for her nowadays. Honestly, she was just trying to get to the arena as slow as possible since the Chief had ordered Gobber to make classes harder.

Not necessarily harder... Gobber just made things so instead of focusing on the brawn, they focused more on the brain too. Stealth classes and knowledge sessions, and the like. They were simply harder because she enjoyed punching things rather than learning about them; but she did know that in order to win a fight, you had to know your enemy.

In all honesty things had been a bit down since Hiccup, well, since he just left. Astrid believed that. He couldn't have been eaten, she doubted a dragon would want to eat him. He was too scrawny to be barely even a snack for a beast. Stoick had made everyone believe the story of Hiccup's tragic departure into Valhalla with added details. A few blasts of fire here, a scrape or two there. The chief clearly wasn't letting the story of his son be a regular death. It just had to be extravagant. Berk would take no less.

She reluctantly walked into the kill ring, where she saw she was a bit early despite her efforts. She wasn't the first one there, though- she waved to Fishlegs when she walked in.

Gobber walked over to her, his peg leg making hollow thump noises on the faded and scratched stone floor. "Astrid, put the axe away. Today's knowledge day, lass," She could feel the sarcastic enthusiasm radiating off of the old man. He clearly had been against the idea of extra classes the day Chief had brought them up.

She sighed heavily before haphazardly throwing her axe so it sliced into a discarded wooden post lying on the ground. Bulls-eye, how it always had been.

"Ooh! I love this class!" She turned to see Fishlegs excitedly pulling out his dragon cards. He flipped through them lightning fast. "What dragon class are we focusing on today?!"

Gobber sighed, "All of them, apparently. I was actually hoping we could switch things up. Not telling Stoick, but not going behind his back, aye?" Astrid perked up that this. Usually they would all sit in a circle like they were 9-year-olds and Gobber was going to tell them a heroic story of Stoick the Vast or Bork the Bold.

"We're going on a trip to--" The old man was interrupted by Fishlegs' shriek.

"TO SEE NEW DRAGONS?!"

Gobber sighed, wiping his face with his one hand, "Possibly, if you'll let me finish." At the muttered 'sorry' from the beefy young Viking, he continued, "We're going camping. More like explorin', since we don't know where we're goin'. It'll be like... think of it as an expedition. Traveling to new lands, new dragon species."

An unruly squeal from Fishlegs made Gobber sigh again. Astrid couldn't blame her friend; she was excited as well, though on a much smaller degree than Fishlegs. Finally, the others walked in. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout were laughing as they made their way where Astrid, Fishlegs, and Gobber were.

"Oh, now I have to explain again." After a while of explaining (and re-explaining. Poor Tuffnut was overwhelmed), Gobber finally sent the group to pack up for the journey. The trip would be ten days long, with about two days on the sea there and back, leaving six days for exploring on whatever island they docked on. That is, if everyone pulled their we

Just before they all walked out to their respective homes, Gobber yelled, "Pack fast! We're leaving in a few hours!"

They all groaned in sync.

After an hour, everyone was ready. They all gathered at the docks, and Astrid was hit with memories she had forgotten about. Running to Stoick, telling him about the supposed 'Night Fury' and somehow linking it up with Hiccup's "death." It wasn't so vivid before, Astrid thought, I don't see why I would have to flash back right now...

Gobber grinned at them all standing. "Don't be so down!" he chided, "You guys all dreamed about going on a trip like this as youngsters."

Everyone, minus Fishlegs, rolled their eyes, despite the truthfulness in the words the old man spoke. Fishlegs however nodded eagerly. "I can't wait! So many new breeds could be out there, maybe even hybrids!" He bore a sheepish grin when everyone glared at him. "Sorry," he said, though he wasn't actually sincere.

Astrid shook her head before stepping forward with her bag, "When are we leaving?"

Gobber smiled.

"Right now."

Astrid felt annoyance bubbling inside her later that night.

"Ugh, get your hand out of my face!"

"Get your face out of my hand! Wait, that doesn't sound right--"

As the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, continued bickering below her, Astrid buried her face in the firm pillow. They were all in the barracks, resting up their energy for the long day of rowing the boat. They anchored for the night a few hours ago, and right when they all laid down the twins were throwing insults and fighting.

She took her pillow and flung it below her, and a small smirk found its way to her features as she heard the satisfying shout of "ouch!"

"Haha! It left a mark!" Ruffnut laughed at her brother, who, even in the dark, had a visible red spot on the side of his face. She might've thrown it a bit harder than necessary. (Maybe more than a bit, but who cares?)

They were quieter after, so Astrid (and the rest) finally got to a good sleep.

At the break of dawn they were already rowing like their lives depended on it. As their boat became enclosed in fog, they started getting tired. The fog didn't really help with the Sun shining down; if anything it trapped the heat.

"This shouldn't be scientifically possible," Fishlegs panted, "The fog should actually be cooling us down, since it's more of a sea mist than anything."

Astrid felt sweat forming on her forehead. She stopped rowing to wipe it off, but the movement made the heat become even worse.

"Could we take a break soon? It's starting to really get to me," Snotlout complained loudly from the back. For once Astrid agreed with something the black-haired Viking said.

There were murmurs of agreement from everyone, even Gobber. "Fine," he began, "We'll dock at the next island we come to and take a 'break.'" There were sighs of relief from everyone.

It wasn't until about nightfall when the next island came into view. The twins and Snotlout cheered, while Fishlegs and Astrid were calm but relieved. Once they had gently had the boat glide onto shore they got off, tying the rope that was knotted onto the stem of the boat to a pointed rock close by.

Then they got the materials and their things and began building the camp.

Meanwhile, Hiccup carried the wood he'd gathered to the main cave he and his mother stayed in. That's right- he found his mom. Turns out she wasn't dead, just relocated.

He dumped and arranged the wood, and saw Toothless snoozing in the corner. Deciding to be a little shit the young ex-Viking dove and pounced on the dragon, startling him awake. Toothless turned and pawed at Hiccup's head, and they continued to play fight until a large roar was heard outside the cave.

Hiccup's mother, Valka, and her dragon, a Stormcutter named Cloudjumper, flew and landed in the middle of the cave. Cloudjumper drew in a breath to light the wood, but Toothless beat him to it. The look on the Night Fury's face was smug as he and Hiccup went to greet them. Cloudjumper blew a puff of smoke in Toothless' face, and growled playfully as the Night Fury  wiped off the ash with a paw.

"Aye, son, how are you?" Valka brought Hiccup into a hug, and Hiccup shortly hugged back before picking up a discarded stick and poking around the fire.

"Good. How was the trip?" He continued poking the fire until it starting climbing the stick towards his hand, and he threw the stick in with the rest.

"Successful. Another fort freed of trapped dragons," Valka smiled. It was a good victory, since they didn't usually get all the dragons before the people at the fort retaliated. A sad but true fact.

Hiccup grinned back, as Toothless did a gummy smile. He chuckled and rubbed the dragon's head.

Just then, a Monstrous Nightmare burst in. It slithered quickly over to Valka, and the dragon rider quickly calmed it down with a shake of her staff and a few gentle rubs to its snout. The dragon roared quietly, as if talking to her. She pretended to understand, and after a moment she actually did.

As the Nightmare flew off she turned to Hiccup. "Apparently there are tourists on our shores. Shall we go greet them?" Valka smiled and reached for her helmet. Hiccup did the same.

"I wonder what people would be doing coming ashore on this island. It is the dragon's nest, so of course the island would naturally be hidden from the rest of the world. Right?" Hiccup said as he mounted Toothless. Valka climbed on top of Cloudjumper. "They might attack us."

"Yes, you're right for the most part. But it doesn't mean they couldn't have gotten lost er something," Valka said with a fair point. The people/person that the dragons detected could be a trader of some sort.

"...True."

Valka urged her dragon to fly through the cave system, Hiccup and Toothless following. They dove through an opening and flew straight down, the dragons spreading their wings to land softly in a clearing. They'd landed in a part of the forest, near the beach where they got a clear view of the ship.

"I told you, Mom, they look like they're... they're camping," Hiccup muttered to Valka. She nodded. "Nothing... they aren't doing anything."

"Innocent enough. Probably l--" she stopped. Taking a closer look, the crest on the ships sails resembled something familiar.

Something she, in all honesty, wished she could forget. It was the Berk crest. She grabbed Hiccup's shoulder and took him over to duck behind a bush, Toothless and Cloudjumper slithering up a large tree and hiding among the shadows and leaves.

"It's them," Valka whispered to herself. Hiccup soon became confused.

"Who's them? Mom?" He whispered. She put a hand over his mouth as the oldest of the group glanced in their direction, obviously just looking, and not searching. But Valka wasn't taking chances.

"No one, son. Let's go back to the nest, why don't we?" She didn't recognize the younger ones, but one resembled Ingrid and the other looked a lot like Spitelout, so they must be the Vikings' children. One person out of the group she recognized in a heartbeat; her husband's best friend, Berk's best (and only) blacksmith, Gobber.

She whistled very softly for Cloudjumper and Toothless to come down and each rider mounted their respective dragons. They took off quietly, but not quietly enough. The young man that resembled Spitelout pointed in their direction and everyone was looking at them as they flew off. Valka cursed.

"Son of-- I was hoping we could get by without being detected," She muttered loud enough for Hiccup to hear. He turned Toothless to hover in the air, the dragon very reluctant to stop when they were near a possible danger. The Night Fury growled at the group on the sand. He glanced at Valka, who shook her staff that signaled for her Stormcutter to land. She slid off the dragon and put her hands up, hoping to show them they meant no harm.

The Vikings didn't notice as they rallied around her. Cloudjumper roared and was about to blast up a flame when a bucket of water was flung over his head. He couldn't ignite, and a net was tossed over the rider and dragon.

A high-pitched whistle sounded as Gobber yelled, "Night Fury?! Night Fury... Night Fury! Get Down!" Toothless flew overhead as he charged a plasma blast.

"Fire, Bud! Try not to hurt anyone," Hiccup commanded as the dragon let the purple fireball loose, setting the net aflame as the Vikings backed up. That gave Cloudjumper a chance to snap the net as the ropes got singed. Valka climbed on the Stormcutter and the pair flew up to meet Hiccup and Toothless in the clouds above.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Toothless came out from the misty clouds in front of where she was guiding her loyal Cloudjumper. She nodded, removing her helmet for a breath of fresh air. They could just see the Berkians as they doused the flames of the net. "What's got their undergarments in a knot?"

She let out a shaky laugh, "Those are Berkians, for you." Hiccup flipped his helmet off of his face, the surprise visible as his eyes widened.

"Those guys are from Berk?" He thought he recognized them from somewhere. "We've got to go show them--" Valka stopped him with a raise of her hand. She eased her helmet back on, and Hiccup slowly put his helmet visor back to cover his face.

"Another day. It doesn't seem to me like they'll be off anywhere anytime soon. Let's just go back to let the dragons rest for now." Cloudjumper began flying through the clouds back to the nest. Hiccup sighed, sending a long look at the young adults with the older man before Toothless slowly gliding behind.

The Night Fury purred at his rider, as if asking a question. "We are sneaking back to talk with them, Bud." Hiccup made sure to say that quiet enough that Valka didn't hear from where she was as he continued, "We're going back tonight. You didn't think I was going to actually let it go, did you?"

word count: 2200+