A New Beginning

RIPTIDE

Right. How should I confront this Viking? He's been lurking around my home for a few days now, ever since his gang crash-landed on my doorstep and built a lookout post. I had concealed my house-cave by rolling a boulder in front of it, lest he find it.

He was scrawny, with brown hair, green eyes and a smattering of freckles. His dragon was a jet-black Night Fury with lime-green eyes.

His friends consisted of a pretty blonde girl who rode a blue-and-yellow Nadder, a solidly-built boy with dark hair who was paired with a cantankerous red Nightmare, an even fatter boy with blonde hair who rode a Gronckle, and a pair of mischievous twins, both blonde, who shared a green Zippleback.

Oh. Something else you should know. I'm part Razorwhip. I can shift back and forth between my human form and my dragon form quite easily. The annoying thing is, when I'm a human, I retain some of my dragon features, like all Shifters.

I have small wings, which, unfortunately, I cannot fly with. Large, metallic plates cover my back, and I have smaller scales on my shoulders, thighs, and the backs of my hands. I wear long, elbow-length fingerless gloves to hide my hands. Also, my teeth sharpen into fangs when I'm angry. Which happens a lot.

I had been watching the boy and his dragon whenever he came near my cave. He called the dragon Toothless. What kind of a name is that?

The advantages of being part Razorwhip is that I can also speak with dragons, mostly by telepathy. I had gleaned from Toothless (his real name is Shadow) that the boy's name was Hiccup.

So, let's get pack to the story, shall we? I was out in the forest, throwing my daggers at a tree. "Nghh...ha!" I grunted, as I yanked one out of the wood. Wait. I sensed something behind me. It's rustling. Oh well. Probably another stray Night Terror.

HICCUP

I cleared my throat to get her attention. The girl spun around... and was up the tree in a flash. She crouched on a branch, staring at me.

She looked, in fact, not that different from me. She was very slender, and taller than most Vikings her age. Her skin was tanned. She had green eyes, which, at the moment, were narrowed, and staring angrily at me.

The only difference, aside from her being a female, was her long, snow-white hair. It was a tangled mess, for it looked like she hadn't brushed it in a long time.

She wore a thick, dark cloak with a hood, and fairly loose clothes consisting of a black shirt and blue leggings underneath. She had various other accessories, including black boots not unlike my own, a belt studded with shed scales, and a large number of daggers strapped to said belt. If her tangled hair was shorter and she bound her chest, she could easily pass for a boy.

She had a feral look to her, as if she had been living in the wild for a long time. I hadn't seen her around before.

Oh. Wait. How did I miss a detail as important as this, an island being inhabited, when I was looking for somewhere to build Dragon's Edge? Stupid!

"Uh... hello? Do you... do you live around here?" I said.

She stared at me, silent.

"Do you live here?" I asked again.

"Why?" she answered. Her voice was low and rough, like she hadn't used it in a while. She probably hadn't, based on her looks.

"Why you... want to know?" she said.

"I just... I haven't seen you before. I wanted to know if you lived on this island," I exclaimed. "Do you?" I noticed that she seemed to have a bit of trouble speaking, as if she had forgotten the words.

"Yeah... you live on Berk?"

How did she know? "Have you been spying on us?" I asked.

RIPTIDE

I decided I could trust this boy. He seemed harmless enough. I climbed down from the tree. "Where's dragon? Night Fury?" I inquired.

"You have been spying!" he said.

"No!" I exclaimed indignantly. "Just... watching."

"Well, he's back at Dragon's Edge, sleeping. Our home, at the moment," he answered. "Where's your home? It's not very warm or safe around here. You can stay in Dragon's Edge if you want, until we can find you a better place to live."

My cave was a bit damp, and it smelled musty when it rained. "Hmm. I... give it a go. Name's Riptide... Rip."

"Great! You can go grab your stuff, and Toothless and I will meet you back here in a half-hour," he exclaimed.

I was still wary of him. "No. I know where to go. I be there soon." I didn't completely trust him and his dragon to get me safely to their base and not drop me in the ocean or off a cliff or something.

"Well. All right," he agreed reluctantly.

When he left, I waited a few minutes, to make sure he was really gone. I ran back to my cave. I left my most valuable possessions there, but I took all my remaining knives, and bundled them and some food up in a blanket.

I exited the cave and placed the bundle on the ground. Shift, I thought. After a slight delay, I felt a burning pain, and the scales began to spread over my entire body. My spine extended into a long, spiked tail, and my stubby wings grew to form large, powerful wings with razor-sharp leading edges.

I was used to the pain by now, having Shifted countless times, but I still gritted my teeth to stop from screeching. My neck lengthened, and my face pushed out into a dragon's snout. Soon, a large female Razorwhip crouched where I once stood.

I picked up the bundle in my talons and took off, flying towards their base. The day was overcast, good for flying undetected. The absence of sunlight meant that there was nothing to reflect off of my scales and so give me away to would-be enemies.

Just before I got there, I landed in the forest and dropped the bundle. Shift. The pain returned. Scales disappeared, wings and tail shrank back, neck shortened. I was a Viking again. I couldn't let them know my secret. I tied the bundle to my belt and walked the rest of the way through the woods.

HICCUP

I arrived to find Astrid being held hostage in the opened Dome and the others nowhere to be found. Dear Odin! How could she, of all people, have beaten Astrid?! "Rip, let her go! She's a friend," I shouted.

"She try kill me!" she replied, in her peculiar, rasping voice.

I answered, "She didn't know who you were!"

Astrid piped in with, "Yeah, I only attacked you because I thought you were an enemy, moron!"

"Oh, gods. Rip, please release her. Astrid, leave Rip alone. Where are the others?"

"I sent them out... on patrol," coughed Astrid.

Rip reluctantly removed her dagger from near Astrid's throat and placed it back somewhere on her belt. Toothless and Stormfly emerged from behind the main structure, awakened by the commotion, but still groggy. They trotted over and began sniffing Rip, occasionally nudging her with their noses.

"Hey!" she giggled.

"What's up, bud? Is something wrong?" I said to Toothless.

"What? No, nothing's wrong! Don't know why they do that!" she said.

"Hmm. Well, I'm sorry. They aren't usually like this," I told her.

"That is okay. No problem," she answered.

Stormfly soon wandered off, but Toothless carried on inspecting her. "Okay, Toothless. She's a friend," I exclaimed. Toothless ignored me, and continued. He circled her a few times.

When he sniffed at her back, instead of nudging her, he stepped back, narrowed his eyes, and growled. And she spun around and growled back! Wait. Were her teeth pointy just then? I could have sworn that... never mind.

Toothless backed away, but kept his eyes on her.

What's going on? "Okay. That was weird. Why did you growl like that?" I asked her.

"What? Oh, uh, how you say... reflexes. I live alone for long time and it is how I respond to dragons," she replied hurriedly.

Hmm.

RIPTIDE

Uh, oh. Stupid dragon. He's been domesticated too much. I can't get through to him! That growl was supposed to tell him to back off and get lost, but he didn't listen! Great. I'll try to talk to him again later. At least my communication with the Vikings is improving.

Thank goodness he doesn't suspect anything. I must say, I was pretty proud of the tale I invented about the growling. In truth, I sort of lost control of my dragon side a bit. I must try not to do that again.

"Anyway, how about bunking with Astrid?" Hiccup suddenly exclaimed. "She's the only other girl here, aside from Ruffnut, but Ruff is pretty crazy. Besides, she shares a room with Tuffnut, her twin. He's even more bonkers than she is. So, looks like you get to share with Astrid."

"Sure. That's fine. If is okay with you, Astrid," I replied. In truth, I couldn't think of anything worse than sharing a room with the girl who tried to kill me just a few minutes ago. But I didn't let them know that.

Astrid grimaced, but agreed to allow me to sleep in her room for a few nights. She led me over to it and I untied the bundle from my belt and placed my belongings in the corner furthest away from her bedding.

She had a very impressive collection of weapons leaning against the walls, and I was careful not to knock any of them over.

Dusk soon fell, and with the fading light came the other Riders, back from patrol. The blonde boy was even plumper up close.

After Hiccup introduced me to them (with a lot of shouting and another hostage situation when the dark-haired boy attacked me), I learnt their names.

The blonde boy's name was Fishlegs, and his Gronckle was called Meatlug. Snotlout, that stupid dark-haired boy, rode a Monstrous Nightmare called Hookfang. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, arrived on Barf and Belch, their Zippleback. And, of course, Astrid rode Stormfly, her Deadly Nadder.

After I (forcefully) taught Snotlout not to get too close to me, they all left me alone and retired to their respective quarters, leading their dragons to their pens beforehand. I followed Astrid to her room.

When we were inside, she whirled around and spat, "Just so you know, Rip, I'm not happy at all with this arrangement!"

"Nor am I!" I shot back, with venom dripping from my voice.

"Good!" she replied.

"Fine!" I answered.

We skulked off to our beds and lay down. Astrid fell asleep instantly, but I had a bit more trouble. I finally dropped off into a troubled, restless sleep, dreaming about what they might do if they knew my secret.

----------

HICCUP

The next morning, I was awakened by someone pounding on the door. I got up, slipped on my prosthetic, and went to answer it. I was greeted by a confused Astrid holding up what looked like a small chunk of metal in the shape of a scale.

"What is this? Where'd you get it?" I asked her.

"I found it," she replied.

"Where?"

"In Rip's bed," she answered sheepishly.

"You were snooping through her stuff? Astrid!" I was shocked that she would do something like that. Plus, why was she even up this early? It's barely even dawn.

"Why're you awake at this time? The sun hasn't even come up yet. And where's Rip?"

"She woke me up when she was taking all her precious daggers to go and get some target practice at oh-dark-thirty. I still don't trust her, so I looked through her stuff. Only food and a blanket. I thought that was awfully strange. I was going to keep it a secret until I found this," she said, holding up the metal.

"Hmm." I took it from her and examined it. "Hey! This looks like a Razorwhip scale! Remember when Heather and Windshear stayed with us? It looks like the scales Heather had on her skirt. The ones that Windshear had shed."

"Yeah, but what's it doing in Rip's bed?" she replied.

"I don't know. We might want to keep an eye on her."

RIPTIDE

Thunk! A knife embedded itself in the wood of the target, which was rolling lethargically along the ground. Bullseye. Thunk! Another one, right next to the first. I noticed that Astrid had been watching me from the edge of the training field.

"Astrid! You wanna come practice with me?" I shouted to her, without taking my eyes off the target, which now had three knives buried in it.

"Might as well," she replied, and wandered over to stand next to me. "How did you get so good at throwing those things?" she asked.

"Just practice. I go out in the forest every day and throw at trees. It's fun," I answered. Actually, it's my Razorwhip senses that allow me to accurately predict where a moving target will be by the time the knife hits it, but there's no way I was going to tell her that.

She hurled her axe through the air and it struck another target, right in the centre.

Just then, a small pine sapling growing near the edge of the training grounds caught my eye, and I had an idea. "Astrid, do you have spare rope?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" she replied.

"I have a plan. Will you get the rope for me?"

"All right," she said, and walked off to the main buildings. She returned soon after with a coil of rope slung over her shoulder. She dropped it in front of me. "What's your plan?" she asked.

"You'll see," I answered.

I picked up the coil of rope and walked over to the sapling. The rope was tied to the tip of it and threaded around the trunk of another tree behind it. I walked back to the arena, trailing the rope. I pulled it taut, rolled a rock on top of it, and went over to the row of targets.

I selected a small target, wrenched it out of the ground, and placed it on the bent-over tip of the sapling.

"Nice idea," exclaimed Astrid.

Dagger ready in my hand, I kicked the rock off the rope. The sapling sprang upright, catapulting the target into the air. I hurled a dagger, purposely aiming off so Astrid wouldn't suspect anything. It struck the target just next to the bullseye.

"Impressive. You're really good with those daggers!" she exclaimed.

"You want to try with your axe?" I asked.

"Sure." She walked over to the row of targets and wrenched her axe out of the wood. I reloaded the catapult with another target and fired it. She threw her axe, which... missed. She had forgotten to factor in the forwards movement of the target.

"Aargh! No!" she screeched. "Again. Do it again."

I reloaded the catapult again and let the target fly. She missed again. I fired. She missed. She was closer this time, but still miles off.

We continued in this fashion until Hiccup arrived and said that we were going out on a short flight to check the Gronckle population on a nearby island. I could come along, he said. Not wanting to raise an alarm, I agreed to ride with him on Toothless (instead of flying there myself).

The takeoff caused my wings to twitch involuntarily, but my cloak would keep the movement hidden. When we were airborne, I marvelled at the sensation of flying without having to use any of my own strength.

I telepathically said to Toothless that I was enjoying this, but I noticed that the combination of two riders and some unusual air turbulence was causing him to become slightly unbalanced sometimes. He replied that he would try and correct that, but it was difficult.

He wanted to know how I could talk to him, and I told him that it was simply practice. He still thought there was something strange about me, but he couldn't work out what. I was not going to tell him. Of course, Hiccup had no idea of this silent exchange.

HICCUP

The flight to the Catastrophic Quaken's island was uneventful. Rip was silent for most of the trip. When we got there, I sent the gang off to check the other side of the island for signs of the Quaken. I took the opportunity to ask Rip about why she had been living alone.

She took a while to reply, and when she did, she was blunt and held back on all but the most important details.

After half an hour of questioning, I finally managed to wrangle from her that Rip (named Aspen at the time) had been living happily with her parents until she was about three years old, when some men that matched the descriptions of Alvin and some of the Outcasts attacked her family. Her father was killed and her mother was taken hostage. Their home was raided and burnt to the ground.

She had escaped and hidden in the roots of a tree nearby but was forced to watch her father being murdered not twelve feet away. She had screamed so much that she had permanently damaged her vocal chords.

She had run away to a cave and barricaded herself there. She renamed herself, not wanting to remember the terrible sadness of her father screeching her name as he died, and had been living alone ever since.

I offered my condolences and left her alone for a while but I continued pressing her for details when we got back to Dragon's Edge. She told me nothing more.

We sent the dragons out to hunt for fish, and when they returned, we prepared dinner over a fire. We all attended to our dragons, then went to bed.

----------

The next morning brought a biting wind and clouds promising rain later in the day. Astrid and Rip were practising with their homemade catapult. Rip hit the target every time, but Astrid had not managed to get a single hit. The gang gathered around the edge of the arena, watching the girls practice. It was good to see that they were all tolerating the new arrival.

It began raining around lunchtime. Rip dashed inside before the rain had a chance to get her clothes wet, as if the water would burn right through her. The gang and I remained outside for a while, securing any loose strips of fabric in case the wind and rain evolved into a full-blown storm.

We spent the day inside, grumbling about the weather. I caught the twins discussing something secret a number of times. I hoped it wasn't a plan to prank Rip. Although, knowing them, it probably was.

They left the hall at one stage, after Rip had left to go and relieve herself. They returned with a large bucket of water, which they balanced on top of the door. When Rip nudged open the door, it would fall down and soak her. I decided not to interfere but to hang back and see how this one would pan out.

If she really was afraid of water, then the worst that would happen is that she'd get angry at us. If she was hiding something under her cloak, which I had never seen her without, it would be revealed because the wet cloak would cling to the shape of her body and reveal if there was anything suspicious beneath it.

Which is exactly what happened. Rip returned, pushed open the door, and was doused by freezing water. Her cloak wrapped around her. She froze in place, shocked. She then backed out of the hall, turned around and ran. I caught a glimpse of the shape of something bulky and possibly sharp through her cloak. I ran after her. "Rip! Wait!"

I followed her all the way through the forest to where I had encountered her a few days ago. She squeezed through a gap behind a boulder and disappeared.

I followed her into a large cave just in time to see her vanish down a tunnel at the back of said cave. I clambered down it, much more cautiously than her, as it was slippery and I didn't want my prosthetic to give way.

After a while, the tunnel emerged onto a small, enclosed beach. I never noticed how close to the sea her cave was!

I looked around for her but saw only a glint of silver behind a pile of rocks. I rounded the pile... to be greeted by an angry female Razorwhip, who glared at me and promptly took off out over the sea.

Whoa! Looks like Rip had a dragon, and she never told me. I didn't see anyone riding it, though. Maybe she had been in too much of a hurry, and the dragon had simply picked her up and left.

Or maybe that wasn't her dragon at all and she was still on the beach somewhere. "Rip! Rip, where are you?" I shouted. No answer.

RIPTIDE

I flew blindly, not caring where I ended up. Why would they do that to me? I thought we were friends! I knew Hiccup had followed me, but I didn't care because I knew also that he had not seen me Shift, and he couldn't follow me because Toothless was still back at Dragon's Edge.

I will not return until sunrise tomorrow, I thought. That will give them time to think about their actions and apologise. I knew I was being selfish and immature, but I didn't care. I COULD NOT let them see the shape of my wings or scales through the soaking wet cloak. If they saw, then my secret would be out and I would be either killed or forced to flee from the island.

That story I told Hiccup about my parents was mostly true. They were Shifters, like me. Mom was a Changewing and Dad was a Rumblehorn. They were in their dragon forms, just returning from a hunt, when they were ambushed. Dad was killed trying to protect us, and Mom was captured to be beaten and trained. I was a human at the time, small enough that I could crawl down a fox hole and hide.

When they left, I ran through the forest until I came across a beach. I scrambled into a sea cave and found that it led to a cavern. I hid there.

As far as I know, I'm the last Shifter. There could be others, but if there are, I don't know about them.

I eventually came across a tiny island, just big enough to rest on. I landed, and curled up in a ball to conserve warmth. The rain pelted my scales, but I was beyond caring.

Night fell rapidly, and with it came a biting cold, penetrating my thick scales and seeping into my bones. I blasted a ring of fire around me, but the rain quickly fizzled it out. The ground was warmer, though. I soon fell into a deep and restless sleep.

----------

I awoke at dawn to a faint chorus of "Rip! Rip, come on out! Riptide?" carrying on the breeze. I spotted a cluster of four dark shapes on the horizon. The gang! I had all but forgotten my promise of making them pay for their prank, and I was just happy that they had come to look for me. I noticed that the Zippleback wasn't among them.

I ducked behind a boulder and Shifted, then started waving to get their attention. It was a futile effort, as they were still too far away, but one of the dots turned towards me. Toothless!

Soon, they had arrived at the island and I climbed on to Toothless' back, with Hiccup. I sat behind him, just in case. He wordlessly handed me a blanket, and I wrapped it around myself, grateful for the extra layers and the borrowed warmth.

"Where's your dragon? The Razorwhip?" he asked me. Oh, no!

"Uh, she's... gone. Flew away," I lied.

"Oh. I'm sorry she left you here. Well, you're lucky we found you. You could have been stranded out there for days!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah." I agreed.

Toothless led the way back to Dragon's Edge, with the others following. I was careful not to pull the blanket too tight, lest they see the shape of my wings underneath. I was already worried that they had seen them when they doused me in water. I didn't want to have to add to that stress.

HICCUP

When we got back to Dragon's Edge, Rip was given a hot drink and a change of clothes. She locked herself in Astrid's room to get dressed.

The storm had knocked one of the supports loose, so we spent most of the day fixing that and making sure there were no leaks in any of the buildings. Mercifully, the rain had stopped sometime in the night. The ground was still soggy but everything else was dry.

After we had finished the repairs, Rip took to practising with the catapult again. She was wonky with her throwing, and she missed a fair amount of the targets. I pinned that down to the cold, and the stress of being abandoned on an island overnight with nothing but a cloak to keep her warm.

I was still puzzled as to where her dragon had gone, and why I didn't see her riding it as they flew away. Oh well.

She was angry with us, which was understandable. I had scolded the twins, and they were stuck with mucking out the dragon pens for the next week as a punishment.

She continued practising until nightfall, whereupon she returned to her bed.

----------

In the morning, she was practising again, but this time Astrid had joined her. They had modified the catapult by adding a basket to the end of the pine sapling. This was to place the targets in, so they didn't roll off or go flying in the wrong direction.

Astrid was improving with her aim, and she managed to hit a few of the targets, but she needed to work more on anticipating their momentum and where they'd be.

The twins returned from the woods just before dinner-time with a large boar, which we roasted and ate. It was delicious! They had rounded up more of the wild pigs for their boar pit underneath Dragon's Edge, but I managed to get one off of them and smoke it over a fire. That'll give us a tasty treat of dried meat later on in the season!

Every day, Rip would practice with Astrid. They were at the stage where they could both hit a bullseye easily. Astrid began showing her how to fight with an axe, and she quickly got the hang of it.

RIPTIDE

Astrid was much friendlier than she had been when I first met her, and we had bonded over our love of weapons.

She taught me how to wield an axe, and I taught her how to make daggers out of a strip of cloth and a large, sharpened dragon scale. She liked using the spines from Stormfly's tail, which didn't need sharpening at all.

She also showed me a spare axe that Heather had given her, whose blade was made of large Razorwhip scales, and could unfold into a deadly double-ended weapon.

After a number of days, Astrid asked if I wanted a duel. We were both proficient at wielding our weapons, and she wanted to test herself against me.

The dragons and their riders were clustered around the arena. Fishlegs was standing with an assortment of supplies in case one of us got injured. Ruff and Tuff were taking bets on who would win, and had a whole basket of fish riding on it. They had both bet on me. Snotlout was preening, ready to approach the winner and flirt. Show-off. Hiccup was the referee, watching in case one of us cheated. "Ready, GO!" he shouted.

We had chose axes with purposely dulled blades, to prevent injury. They clashed together, making the metal sing. Astrid fought viciously, but I knocked her back a few feet with a well-timed strike.

The fighting went on for what felt like hours. Steel clashing, sparks flying. I had let go of my axe with my left hand to get better balance, when Astrid swung hers at my chest. I dodged back. Raised my left arm to avoid the blade. It hooked on my glove. Tore it off. Oh, Thor, no!

HICCUP

I had been watching the fighting. Astrid was powerful, but it looked like Rip would win this. Then Astrid's axe caught on the edge of Rip's glove and pulled it off.

Rip gasped, nghhhh!, then clutched her hand to her chest and hunched over it. I caught a glimpse of something shining on the back of her hand. Blood? Was she injured? Did Astrid accidentally cut her?

Fishlegs and I jumped in to the arena and rushed over to Rip. "Rip! Are you all right?" I shouted. "Let me see your hand."

"No. It's fine," she grunted, still concealing her hand underneath her cloak.

Fishlegs said, "Did you get cut? You could get infected or, or worse! We need to clean out the wound!"

"No!" she exclaimed.

"Come on. Let me see," I told her.

"Ngh. Fine. But it has to be inside. No-one else can see."

I told the others to go for a short flight, and to leave us alone. If Rip has something important to show me, I want it to be a secret. And I don't want the twins snooping.

She let me lead her inside my room. I locked the door, then cleared some technical sketches from my bed and allowed her to sit down.

"Why don't you want anyone else to see?" I asked her. "It's just a cut."

"No, it's not. You won't believe me if I told you. Promise not to freak out?" she whispered.

"Yeah, okay. I won't," I replied.

"Say it! Say you promise!" she hissed.

"All right. I promise I won't freak out," I sighed.

She hesitated, then removed her hand from the folds of her cloak and slowly held it out to me. At first glance it looked like she was wearing an armoured glove made of the same stuff that Astrid had found in her bedding. Then I realised it wasn't armour.

She had scales, real scales!, covering the back of her hand and up to the first joint on her fingers. They were neatly bisected vertically down the middle of her hand by a shallow cut, which was bleeding profusely.

The scales were small, metallic, but not overlapping like most dragon's scales. They formed a simple geometric pattern on her skin. They looked like... Razorwhip scales!

"How... What... Can - can I touch them?" I whispered.

"Go ahead," she replied.

RIPTIDE

He brushed his fingers across the back of my hand. "The dragons acting weird around you. The scale Astrid found. That thing I saw under your cloak. The Razorwhip on the beach. It all makes sense now! You're a dragon!" he muttered under his breath. He suddenly jerked back, wincing. "Ow! I just cut myself on one of your scales."

"Oh, are you all right?" I asked.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," he replied. "So, you're really a dragon?"

"Well, yes," I muttered.

"Huh? But how come you look like a human?" he asked.

"I'm not completely dragon. I'm part human. A Shifter. I can... transform."

He was stunned. "Is this the only way to tell if you're a dragon? These scales?"

"No. I, uh... let me show you," I said to him. I turned around, facing away from him, and unfastened my cloak. It fell to the floor, revealing the shape of my wings hidden underneath my shirt.

I lifted my shirt just enough to let him see the wings and the plates of armour-like material on my back. I heard him gasp. I stretched out my wings, flapped them, and folded them up again.

"So, you really can transform into a dragon?!" he asked.

"Yes."

"Can you - can you show me? I don't want to be rude, you don't have to, but... I would love to see," he whispered.

I said nothing. Shift. Let him see. I felt the scales creeping along my skin, up over my face, down my arms and legs, and covering my stomach. My wings began to stretch and grow. I felt pressure at the base of my spine, which soon formed into a long, elegant tail. The Shift, while still painful, progressed smoothly. Only thirty seconds. I was now a Razorwhip.

I remained in this state for a few seconds, then Shifted back. "Well, now you know. But you can't tell anyone else!" I hissed at him.

"All right. It's just our secret. I promise," he said. And I could sense he truly meant it.

HICCUP

I was stunned. Rip was half Razorwhip? How is this possible? She shrugged her cloak back on.

I was suddenly itchy all over, like I had stood in a fire ant's nest. I scratched my shoulder, and felt something come away in my hand. I looked at the object. It looked like one of Toothless' scales. How did that get inside my shirt?

"Hiccup, are you all right?" she asked me. "You're going a bit grey."

Grey? I looked at my hands. They did seem slightly grey. As I watched, they darkened. I began to see small lumps forming, like blisters. They slowly hardened, to form jet-black, scale-like things, with a hint of brown. What's happening? I looked to Rip for an explanation.

"Wait. I've seen this before. But only on young Shifters. This can't be possible," she muttered. "You can't be a Shifter, you would have known about it since you were born. But... no. It can't be."

She turned to me suddenly. "Did you get any of my blood on your finger when you cut yourself?"

"I - I don't know. Maybe?" I murmured.

"Odin help us. If this is what I think it is..."

"What? What is it? You have to tell me!" I yelled. The itching was now an incredible, burning pain. I almost couldn't take it.

"Oh, gods! I've turned you into a Shifter."

"WHAT?!" I shouted. "You have to be kidding me!"

"Unfortunately not," she admitted. "The first transformation is the most painful, and it takes the longest. And you can't control it."

"Seriously? Oh, Thor help me. NO!" That wasn't one of Toothless' scales in my shirt, that was one of MY scales! "That's not a Razorwhip scale. But you're a Razorwhip! Wouldn't I turn into one of them too?" I asked.

"Everyone is different. My parents were a Changewing and a Rumblehorn. You'll Shift into the dragon that matches your personality. We'll just have to wait and see."

RIPTIDE

"I don't really feel like waiting, Rip," Hiccup groaned. "It hurts!"

"I know. You just have to bear with it," I whispered to him. "I'm sorry. There's no going back."

I watched silently as more scales appeared on his skin. He was soon completely covered in a coat of shining, jet-black scales. Now come the real changes.

He hunched over suddenly, cradling his stomach. He tipped his head back, screamed and fell to the floor, writhing in pain. His clothes began to look very tight on him. It seemed like his chest was expanding.

"It may help if you take off your shirt," I suggested.

"Ngghhhh!" he groaned. He managed to remove his shirt, and I could immediately see the shapes of his ribs breaking and reforming under his skin, along with the overall shape and size of his torso changing dramatically.

I could hardly remember my first change, but I can recall the pain.

The changes looked like they were slowing down, and he managed to get to his feet. He staggered unsteadily, and gripped the edge of the bed. I sat down next to him. "Would it help if I Shifted with you?"

"No, leave it. I'm ffffine," he hissed. Just then, he screamed again. He cradled his left hand as if it was broken. I retreated to the furthest corner of the room to give him space, because Shifts can be violent.

His fingernails began to extend and thicken into deadly-looking claws, which crept along his fingers and covered them. His pinky finger disappeared entirely. The remaining digits shortened a bit, shrinking back into his hand, which began to swell, along with his lower arm.

Sharp spikes burst out of the outer edge of his new limb, breaking through the skin as if it was paper, which brought a new round of screams.

HICCUP

My hand was in agony as it swelled until it no longer resembled a hand at all, but a paw. I gently flexed the new claws, marvelling at how sharp they were, but dreading what I was becoming.

The pain lessened, but returned in full force in my other hand. I couldn't bear to watch as it underwent the same changes. I looked at the two appendages, hardly daring to believe that they were mine.

I stood up again, but promptly fell over as my legs gave way underneath me. The pain was back, this time with reinforcements. My pants ripped from my feet all the way up to my knees as my lower legs swelled and morphed.

My left leg, the one with the fake metal leg, was in more pain than the other. The straps securing my prosthetic snapped, and it popped off, revealing the pink, fleshy wound underneath. I hoped that Rip wouldn't be too grossed out.

I hadn't seen the wound in a long time. The last time I saw it was when Toothless had accidentally pulled off my prosthetic when he was dragging me along to show me something. But I couldn't concentrate on the memory. I was in too much pain.

I giggled suddenly, struck with a funny thought. A dragon with only three legs. Hehehe. I'm going to have to modify my prosthetic so it will stay on when I Shift.

Suddenly, all humour was gone as I was gripped with an intense bout of pain, concentrated mostly up and down my spine. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure at the base of my spine, where I felt something pressing against the inside of my pants.

It felt like someone had grabbed my spine at both ends and was beating it with a hammer while wrenching it out of my body with all the force they could muster. My neck began to lengthen, pushing my head out and away from my shoulders.

The pressure at the other end of my spine increased, until I heard a loud rrrip as it was suddenly released and I felt something extending out of the hole in the back of my pants.

Riptide was silent the whole time. I had a feeling that even if she tried to say something, it would be drowned out by my screams and shrieks.

I managed to turn my head amidst the agony and look behind me, to where I saw a small tail swishing back and forth. It continued to grow and thicken.

There was an insatiable itching at the tip of the (my?) tail, and suddenly, slivers of bone shot out on either side of it, accompanied by shrieks of agony. The skin slowly crept up the spikes, coating them and extending between them to form two large fins, resembling those on Toothless' tail, but both of mine were intact.

It suddenly hit me. "I'm turrrning innnto a Nnnnight Fffury?" I whispered incredulously.

I felt the burning itch again on my hips, along with an incredible amount of pressure. I realised that I needed to remove my pants for the next step in the transformations.

It was becoming more and more difficult to speak, but I managed to convey to Rip that she needed to look away. Once she had, I hooked my claws in the tears that were already there, thanks to my legs transforming, and tore them the rest of the way, freeing my body to transform further.

Thankfully, there was nothing to see in the way of downstairs plumbing, as dragons don't have any that's visible.

I was greeted by more pain and shards of bone poking out of my hips. They formed into a pair of even larger fins, to help me balance. I briefly wondered how I knew that. They were also accompanied by screams and whimpers.

RIPTIDE

I noticed that his screams and shrieks were becoming more like roars and hisses. He was too ensconced in the transformations of his tail to notice that his neck had thickened considerably.

He stood up again. Fell over. His legs cracked and the bones grinded together as they rearranged to give him a quadruped stance. He tried to get up again, but could not manage a two-legged stance, falling back down to all fours.

I was deeply impressed at his level of pain tolerance. Most people would have passed out by now.

He was now almost completely Shifted. Only the head left to change.

Right on schedule, he roared and curled into a ball, cradling his head with his front paws. His dark hair began disintegrating, falling out.

His ears stretched, and he grimaced as they pulled into large, roughly triangular fleshy growths and migrated almost to the top of his head. More of these lumps began forming, but these ones were smaller. Two between what used to be his ears and three more on each side of his head.

His nose and mouth suddenly began stretching, pulling out into a shape that was looking more and more like Toothless' face. He roared and screeched as his whole head began to flatten and get wider and longer, eventually forming a shape like a shovel blade when viewed from above.

His mouth hung open as his teeth began to fall out, being replaced with many more sharp fangs, which suddenly disappeared, and reappeared again. Retractable! Cool.

He was still roaring as his tongue lengthened, and the tip split down the middle.

He squeezed his eyes shut and began clawing at them, and he would have ripped them out if his paws would cooperate. Thankfully he wasn't used to them yet. Eventually, his eyes shot open, and he stared right at me. They were now much larger, the same moss-green colour, but with slit pupils.

He shakily got to his feet and looked around, blinking. Dragon senses can be overwhelming the first time around.

HICCUP

Everything looked much brighter now, thanks to my enhanced senses. The Shift felt like it had stopped, but it seemed like something was missing.

I noticed that a line of small, triangular spikes had popped up along my spine and halfway down my tail. Similar spikes had formed on either side of my tail, all the way between the two sets of fins. Whew. It's over.

Nope. Still going. The most intense pain I've ever felt manifested in my back, right between my shoulders. I then realised what was missing. Wings.

I roared my heart out and writhed in agony. My talons gouged deep gashes in the wooden floor as a pair of limbs slowly pushed their way out of my back. They extended and each split into six bony fingers at the ends, which continued to grow.

The same material as what formed the fins on my tail began to spread between the fingers, forming a thick, veined membrane. They finally stopped growing and I stopped roaring. The absence of pain was an absolute blessing. I simply stood there, panting heavily.

Now it's done. I hope. I waited for the pain to return. It didn't. Thank the gods!

"It's not over yet," exclaimed Rip.

What does she mean, it's not over? Of course it is! I'm a dragon now! Isn't that what Shifting does?

"You'll Shift back. It won't be as painful this time," she muttered.

Oh. Right.

The changes began to repeat themselves, but in reverse. She was right, it doesn't hurt so much! But it was still incredibly painful.

A half-hour and a great deal of roaring and screaming later, I was back in my human form. Rip had the decency to look away as I dressed myself.

All Shifters have remnants of their dragon side when they are human. I was left with patches of scales on my back, and stubby wings. The row of spikes on my back and neck remained, but they were so small they were hardly visible.

I also had slightly pointed ears, but my hair (which had thankfully grown back) hid them well.

"So I'm a Shifter now. Great. I can't even imagine how the gang will react."

"They don't have to know," Rip exclaimed. "I managed to keep it a secret - until today. You can, too. It's not that hard."

"What about Toothless? He'll know right away."

"Let him know. He's your dragon," she assured me. "He'll accept you."

"I guess."

RIPTIDE

Astrid, Stormfly and Toothless burst in just after Hiccup had finished Shifting. Toothless ran over and began nuzzling him, making sure he was okay.

"What did you do to him?!" Astrid screeched.

"Nothing! What's got you so worked up?" I countered.

"I've been waiting outside this whole time. He was screaming a lot. I don't trust you. I decided to wait and see what would happen."

"Astrid, calm down. I'm fine," Hiccup exclaimed.

"Wait. You were here all along?! I saw you fly away with the others!" I shouted.

"I flew back! They're still out there somewhere, rounding up Ruff and Tuff's boars."

"Girls, calm down!" said Hiccup.

"I'm not calming down until you tell me exactly what happened!" screeched Astrid.

"I guess we've got no choice, huh?" I said to Hiccup.

"Yup. But only you go. I can't bear to go through that pain again right now," he answered.

"What pain?!" yelled Astrid. "Tell me!!!"

"I can't," I said, "I have to show you." Shift. Astrid watched, stunned, throughout the whole ordeal.

"Great! That's just great! I've been sharing a room with a freaking DRAGON for four days?!" she screeched. "And what about you, Hiccup?! What's going on with you?!"

He was silent, but looked down at the ground like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Astrid just stared at him. Then it dawned on her. "Oh, no. Not you, too. NO!"

"Unfortunately, yes. But, wait, I can explain!" he replied.

I Shifted back. Astrid still couldn't believe her eyes. She suddenly whirled around and took off towards the training ground. Hiccup and I ran after her.

HICCUP

Astrid threw her axe with such gusto I feared she would break either it or the target. Thankfully it was the latter. The wood splintered, shards flying in all directions. She yanked it out and threw it again. Retrieve. Throw. Retrieve. Throw.

On the fifth or sixth time, she grabbed the axe by the blade, because the handle had snapped off. I don't even think she noticed that she had cut herself across the palm.

I then realised that that particular edge of the axe was the one that had cut Rip, and it still had her blood on it! Oh, gods, not her too!!!

"HICCUP, WE HAVE TO GET HER INSIDE!!!" Rip tried to scream, but her damaged voice wouldn't allow her.

"Astrid, you won't believe me, but you just got cut across your palm," I exclaimed, as Astrid looked down at her hand. "And the axe still had Rip's blood on it."

"What? No... Odin help me," she whispered.

She began to sprint, back the way we had come. She dashed inside and locked the door. No! We began pounding on the door, Let us in! We can help! but she either didn't hear us or was ignoring us.

That stubborn, loud-mouthed, ignorant mutton-head! Rip screeched, "Hiccup! Is there another way in? We can't let her go through the Shift alone!"

"I think so. There's a window at the back. Come on!"

We dashed around the back of the structure. Thankfully, the small window was low enough to climb through. I scrambled in first, and Rip followed.

Toothless tried to stick his head in but it wouldn't fit. He and Stormfly began pacing restlessly outside.

RIPTIDE

By the time we got inside, Astrid was covered in blue and grey scales, and had a great number of large spikes poking through her shirt on her back.

She was grimacing and whimpering as her legs began to expand and her feet lengthened, ripping through her boots. Her toes morphed into claws, the pinky toe disappearing, like Hiccup's had done.

She was raised up onto the balls of her feet, which had thickened. She soon had powerful legs more suited to an anthropomorphic stance.

But what about her arms? I thought. As soon as the thought entered my mind, she screamed and hunched over as her arms began to stretch. Her fingers lengthened greatly, and the skin spread and enveloped the gaps between them, forming a thick membrane.

The thumb stayed put, and began to turn into a powerful claw on the leading edge. Wyvern-type dragon, I thought. She flapped her new wings cautiously, then with more gusto.

She was still screaming, "I hate you, what have you done to me?!" But I could tell that she was beginning to come to grips with her situation.

Hiccup seemed genuinely fascinated by the process, and was inching closer to her. I pulled him back. Give her space.

Her ribs began to pop and snap, expanding, making way for her new, larger heart and lungs. She was panting heavily, and whimpering.

She began to thrash around as her spine lengthened, giving her a longer neck. Rrrip! A tail burst out of her rear, quickly extending and thickening. That brought on a new round of screams.

The same spikes as on her back began to coat the new appendage. She screeched and whipped it around, shooting some of the spikes into the walls. I ducked as one narrowly missed my head.

Speaking of heads, it's about time for hers to undergo it's changes. Her hair disintegrated, being replaced by a crown of long, sharp spikes.

Her nose and mouth stretched out, accompanied by screams and squawks, and her nose stretched up into a large horn. Her tongue was split down the middle, and her teeth were replaced by large fangs. Two teeth on either side of her lower jaw were much bigger than the others, and stuck out to the sides slightly.

She stared at me. Her eyes suddenly rolled back, and she squinted. I could just make out the eyeballs enlarging and migrating to the sides of her head. That'll give her a whopper of a blind spot!

She hadn't been screaming as much as Hiccup, for which I was thankful for.

And, of course, the Shift started again in reverse.

HICCUP

I watched, stunned, as Astrid transformed into a blue and grey Deadly Nadder, and back again. She was left with a coating of rough scales and a few small spikes on her back, and slightly sharper teeth. She also had delicate blue tracing forming a line on the underside of her arms.

She seemed to handle it remarkably well. I was proud of her.

Thank the gods Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff weren't back yet. We didn't need any more Shifters, thank you very much. At least Rip isn't alone anymore. She has us now.

Toothless and Stormfly ran up to us as soon as we stepped outside, and Toothless nearly bowled me over!

I hadn't yet reattached my prosthetic, as the straps were still broken, so I had been leaning on Rip for support the whole time. I hated this display of weakness. I'm going to have to fix that blasted thing as soon as I can, I thought.

"Well? The only way to beat the pain is to practise. Let's head over to my cave and try Shifting again," Rip suddenly exclaimed.

"No! I mean, not yet. I'm still recovering from the first time," replied Astrid.

"Well, when you're both dragons again, we can go for a quick flight. There's nothing like it!" said Rip.

"Well, I guess that would be nice. I'll put Toothless' other tail fin on so he can come with us. I hope he doesn't mind that I'm part dragon now," I said.

"Good idea, but I want your first flight to be just you, me, and Astrid," Rip exclaimed. "Let's go."

I turned to Rip and Astrid as the three of us began walking through the forest towards Riptide's cave and the hidden bay through the tunnel. "Whatever happens, whatever they say or do, we can't let the others find out. We can't tell them what happened."

"Agreed."

FIN