Starting an Academy (Without Permission)

Out by the coast of Berk were five dragons perched on one of the many sea stacks. Seated on top of those dragons were seven young Vikings. They were all impatient to start their flying competition.

"Alright, who's first?" asked Hiccup looking over at the others.

"Oh, I-"began Fishlegs.

"I'll go first," interrupted Snotlout.

Fishlegs frowned at the dark-haired boy, "Actually, I-"

"I'll go first," protested Snotlout more loudly.

"For the love of Thor, will you just go already," said Astrid, deeply annoyed.

"Oh, I'll go and when I do you'll know 'cause Hookfang and I are going to –"

Before Snotlout could finish his boasting Hookfang took to the skies. Snotlout quickly hung onto the Nightmare's horns or risk falling. Everyone watched in amusement as Hookfang flew dangerously close to the sea stacks, causing his rider's helmet to scrape against them. Ignoring his owner's pained shouts the Nightmare then dove into the sea. After a few seconds he burst through the water landing right where they began.

"Yes, I'm alive," exclaimed Snotlout patting his body in relief. "I mean, of course I'm alive."

"I'm next," called Fishlegs before anyone else could do so.

Slowly Fishlegs and Meatlug rose off the sea stack. They made a small circle around the stone mass before landing back down.

"Woohoo, new record," cheered the blonde boy, giving the Gronkle a loving hug. "Good job girl."

"I'm next," called Tuffnut.

"No, I'm next," protested Ruffnut giving him a push.

"No, I'm next! No, I'm next! No, I'm next!"

"Guys," called Hiccup, slightly annoyed by their bickering. "Same dragon, remember?"

The twins paused from their fighting to look down at the Zippleback.

"Oh, yeah," murmured Tuffnut. "We forgot."

Ignoring the eye-roll form the rest of group the twins took off. They didn't get too far, however. Just as they were about to start the twins continually gave different commands causing Barf and Belch to crash into a sea stack.

Annoyed by their rider's lack of cooperation both heads tossed each team into the sky. Ruffnut and Tuffnut screamed in horror and amazement as they fell at rapid speed towards the sea.

"Should we help them?" whispered Hiccup, worried about the twin's safety.

Snow shook her head, "Nah, they'll be fine."

Just as she predicted the twins were caught mid-fall by their dragon. Smugly Barf and Belch flew back to the sea stack.

"We almost died," said Ruffnut when they landed.

"I know," agreed her brother. "Want to do it again?"

The group just shook their heads at the twins' reckless nature.

"It looks like I'm up," said Astrid smiling at Hiccup and Snowstorm. "You two might want to take notes."

Before the other two could reply Astrid was off. Everyone watched in awe as she and Bluebird performed a series of well-timed flips, twirls, and spirals with perfect accuracy. All too soon Bluebird landed back on the sea stack. Astrid smiled proudly at the others as she did so.

"Yeah, well, can you do it without the dragon?" asked Snotlout, slightly jealous at the girl's ability to command her dragon. Astrid answered him with a punch on the shoulder.

"It looks like we've got our work cut out for us, guys," said Hiccup causing his sister and dragon to grin widely. Getting of the stone, Toothless dived for the water at top speed only to lift up seconds before they reached it.

With great skill the three wove through the sea stacks at top speed. They executed spins and sharp turns as they did so. Soon they headed toward a stone arch. Smiling Snow stood up on top of Toothless, walking backwards until she reached the middle of his tail. Just as they got close to it Toothless gave his tail a hard flick, sending the red-head high into the air. A second later Hiccup jumped off Toothless, racing across the arch as the Night Fury flew underneath it.

When they reached the end of the arch Hiccup jumped back on Toothless. Half a second later Snowstorm landed right behind her brother, still standing with her hands in the air.

The three finished off with Toothless shooting a series of plasma blasts, giving the sky a beautiful purple glow.

"Yup, they're still the best," commented Astrid as she watched the trio fly back home.


"Whoa, what a mess," said Snowstorm when they landed in the plaza. Hiccup nodded in agreement.

Everywhere dragons were running amuck. They sat on people's roofs. They eat their foods. One Gronkle even ran off with a woman's laundry.

"It's three o'clock," shouted a man pointing to the sky.

At that moment dozens of dragons flew overhead, defecating as they did so. Hastily everyone ducked for cover, not wanting to get hit.

"Ew, ew, ew," chanted the Haddocks as they ran for shelter. Thankfully they were near Mulch and Bucket, who had makeshift umbrellas at hand.

"Every day at three, they're regular at least," said Bucket. "I've got to tip my hat at that."

"Better than the days were it was kill or be killed," said Mulch. "That reminds me, we've got something for that father of yours. Bucket, give the kids the cod."

Bucket held up a large, empty sack with a large hole at the bottom. The large man looked at the bag quizzically. "Did I eat them already? Did I enjoy it?"

"Actually, no, Bucket. It was them," said Hiccup, pointing to a group of Terrible Terrors running off with the cod. "Sorry about that."

Snow just shrugged, "You've got to take the good with the bad, Hiccup."


Deep in the edge of town a grouchy old man woke up in the middle of the night. His name was Mildew. He lived alone with his pet sheep, Fungus. This was mostly for the benefit of the villagers seeing that very few could tolerate the aged Viking's constant string of complaints.

Grumbling the grump got out of bed and out of his house to see who or what was disturbing his slumber. To his displeasure it was a large Gronkle napping on his roof. After shooing away the dragon Mildew began to pick up the remains of an eaten cabbage.

"Bah, pesky dragons," grumbled the man. "Disturbing an old man's sleep and helping themselves to my cabbages."

Mildew then gasped as he looked at the rest of his field. It was completely empty. All the near full grown cabbages were gone. The only things that were left were a few stray leaves that the dragons didn't eat.

Growling in anger Mildew stomped back into his home to get ready for his trip to the village. This whole ordeal with the dragons had been going on long enough. Just because the war was over didn't mean that the beasts had to live in Berk. Dragons were a menace to the village and Stoick was going to see it his way sooner or later.


Meanwhile in the plaza Stoick was overseeing the storage of their winter supply. "Put most of it in the back," he ordered. "The fishing boats are coming in with a new batch."

"Stoick!" called Mildew, walking up to the chief.

"Oh, here come's Mildew with the complaint of the day," said Gobber at the sight of the old man.

"Not now Mildew, I'm in the middle of food storage," said Stoick. "The freeze is nearly here."

Mildew ignored the chief's words. "It's those dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live among civilized men."

"Neither are you, Mildew," commented Gobber. "Why do you think we built your house so far from the village?"

"Bah, make your jokes," grumbled Mildew turning around to address the people below. "Meanwhile these dragons are eating all our food and turning our homes into rubble!"

Several nearby villagers gave loud shouts of agreement.

"They've even disturbed an old man's rest," he said, showing Stoick and Gobber the dark bags underneath his eyes. "Just look at these bags."

"He's right, he's hideous," agreed Gobber.

"These are wild and unpredictable beasts," continued Mildew, gathering support as he went on. He pointed to Bucket. "They even cracked this man's skull like an egg."

"I like eggs," said Bucket excitedly.

"You need to put those dragons in cages," demanded Mildew.

Snowstorm and Hiccup shared a worried look. They had just returned from a morning flight and were shocked to see the mob that Mildew had stirred up.

"If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the whole village!"

Loud cries of agreement were heard from the crowd.

"They don't mean any harm," protested Snow, running up to stand in front of the crowd.

"They're just being dragons," added Hiccup, standing next to his sister.

Stoick placed a hand on their shoulders, pulling them back. "If there's a problem, I'll deal with it."

"Oh, there is a problem," said Mildew, turning to leave. "And I believe that I speak for everyone when I say that you had better do something about it."

The villagers began to shout their complaints at Stoick as Mildew left. Frustrated with the threat and constant yelling Snowstorm stomped forward to stand in front of her father. She took a deep breath.

"Enough!" she shouted.

Everyone stopped to look at her with shocked expressions.

"I know that you've all got complaints," she said quickly before anyone could interrupt her. "But this is neither the time nor the place to do so. The freeze is nearly here, and none of us can afford for the food storage to be interrupted."

Several villagers nodded in agreement.

"If you have a complaint please save it for the tribal address next week, where the chief can put his attention into helping you solve your issues," she continued. "Now if that is all please go on with your day."

Much to Stoick's and Gobber's surprise the crowd began to walk away. Nodding in approval Snowstorm turned to face the men, raising an eyebrow at their expressions.

"What?" she said. "Mildew isn't the only one who can handle a crowd."

Hiccup chuckled, momentarily forgetting his worry about the dragons. "C'mon Miss Chieftain, let's get some food."

"Let's," nodded Snow, grabbing hold of her brother's hand.


Later that day Stoick paced in front of his fireplace, wondering how to solve the dragon problem. Both his children and their dragon looked on from the stairs while Gobber sat in a chair carving a duck.

"We can't just let the dragons run wild like they own the place, Snowstorm does that already," said Stoick, the girl in question just shrugged. "I know we can put up signs."

"Signs? For dragons?" questioned Gobber.

"No, for the people," clarified Stoick.

"Signs, for Vikings? We're not big readers, you know."

Stoick shook his head, "Then we'll just put a large net around the plaza."

"Will it be made of metal?" asked Snow. "Otherwise the dragons will just burn it."

Stoick let out a frustrated groan, accidentally knocking a chair over with his arm. "Maybe Mildew was right."

"Dad, wait," said Hiccup, straightening the chair. "What if I deal with the dragons?"

"You?" questioned Stoick.

"Yes, him," answered Snow, standing next to her brother with her hands on her undeveloped hips. "Hiccup is the best man for the job. No one else can control dragons the way he can."

"He's not a man yet," argued Stoick.

"Not if you don't give me the chance," countered Hiccup.

Stoick and Gobber shared a look, knowing that the teen was right.

"Alright," agreed Stoick. "You'll have your chance starting tomorrow."

"I guess we'd better get to bed then," said Snow, climbing up the stairs. "We wouldn't want to oversleep."

Hiccup smiled, following after his sister.


The next morning the Haddock siblings were up early, ready to train some dragons.

"Alright, guys, there's going to be some changes around here," said looking around the plaza.

At that moment they heard a startled shout. Turning towards the sound they saw a woman trying to keep her bread out of the jaws of a hungry dragon.

"Stay away from my bread, dragon," she said running into her home. The Nadder tried to follow after her but he was stopped by Hiccup.

"No, bad dragon," he said, placing a gentle hand on the dragon's snout. "We don't take other people's bread."

The Nadder calmed under Hiccup's touch.

"Good," whispered Hiccup, smiling brightly.

It didn't last long though. A chicken chasing Gronkle had burst into the plaza, startling the dragon. Hiccup sighed when both dragons began to chase after the chickens.

"Hiccup!" called Snow, pointing to a hill where a Nadder and Nightmare were fighting.

"Toothless, stop that fight!" ordered Hiccup, racing towards an unfortunate sheep that got caught in the cross fire, quite literally. "We'll put out the sheep."

"Stop running," said Snow, trying to grab the sheep but failing. "It's stop, drop, and roll, you stupid sheep!"

All around them the dragons ran even wilder. They were stealing people's carts, flying overhead, taking away food. In short they were causing chaos.

Up above in the watch tower the rest of the teen looked on as their friends scurried underneath.

"What are they doing?" questioned Snotlout.

"I think they're helping the dragons break things," said Tuffnut.

"They could really use our help," commented Astrid, watching the Haddock kids attempt to corner a sheep long enough to put out it's fire.

"In a minute," said Ruffnut leisurely.

Finally Hiccup was able to corner the sheep long enough to douse it with water.

"Sorry about that," he said, sighing tiredly.

"Oh no," breathed Snow, looking up at the sky.

"What's wrong?"

Sighing Snowstorm put the now empty bucket on top of her head like a helmet. "It's three o'clock."

"Just great," groaned Hiccup closing his eyes for the incoming impact.


That night after one extremely long bath both Vikings laid down on their beds, groaning in pain and exhaustion.

"Everything hurts, even this," complained Hiccup to Toothless, pointing to his prosthetic.

"Join the club," said Snow, curling into a ball.

"Hiccup?" called a familiar voice from down stairs.

"Astrid?" said Hiccup, quickly rising to his feet to make himself look decent. "I don't look too beat up, do I?"

Both Snow and Toothless gave the boy sad looks.

"Great, sibling pity," he said, turning around in time to see Astrid climbing up the stairs. "Hey, Astrid. What a surprise."

"So, how was your day?" she asked crossing her arms across her chest.

"Uneventful, just hung around the plaza," lied Hiccup, trying to keep his composure.

"Yeah, we saw you," said Astrid, picking a small piece of dirt off his vest. "It's hard to believe you're still standing."

Relieved that he didn't have to continue lying Hiccup fell down on his bed with a groan.

"I'm going to be seeing flaming sheep in my sleep for weeks."

"Hiccup, Snowstorm!" called Stoick climbing up to their room.

With a sigh both kids rose to their feet to greet their father.

"What happened out there? The plaza looks like a war zone," demanded Stoick.

"I know that it looks bad," began Hiccup.

"Really bad," whispered Astrid.

"Not helping," hissed Snow.

Hiccup ignored them. "But this is just phase one of my master plan."

"Oh," said Stoick in surprise. "So you do have a plan."

"Of course he does," defended Snow. "It's just very complicated. Lots of moving parts, all those kind of things."

"Uh-huh," nodded Stoick skeptically. "Well, I hope that it's real because Mildew's stirred up the whole village and if you don't get those dragon's under control they'll be asking for their heads."

Frightened Snow wrapped her arms protectively around Toothless' neck, missing the apologetic look her father sent her before he walked down stairs.

"Don't worry, bud, your head's not going anywhere," said Hiccup petting the dragon's head.

"You do realize that there are like a hundred dragons and only two to you," said Astrid. "I hope you guys do have a plan."

Snow rolled her eyes, annoyed with the blonde's less-than-helpful attitude. "Thank you, Astrid, for pointing out the obvious."

Astrid glared at the little red-head. That snarky attitude might be endearing on Hiccup but it was annoying on Snowstorm, in her eyes at least.

Snow met her gaze with a deadpanned stare. "What? Are you going to help us or not?"

Astrid nodded, turning to leave. "Just name the place and we'll meet you there."

Hiccup smiled, "Thanks, Astrid, I'll tell you in the morning."

The blonde girl gave him a small smile in return before heading down the stairs.

"So, where are we going to meet?" asked Snow climbing under the covers of her bed.

"I'm not sure, what's a good vacant spot where we can train our dragons?"

They mulled over that question for a while even when Hiccup had put out the candles. Suddenly Snow sat up in her bed. "The dragon arena."

Hiccup thought it over for a second before nodding in agreement. "You're right. It's large, secluded enough so we won't be bothering anyone, and it's completely vacant. But do you think Dad's going to let us use it?"

Snow shrugged, "Does it even matter?"


The next morning all the teens were at the arena along with their dragons.

"You want us to train our dragons here? Where we used to kill them?" asked Astrid a bit incredulous.

"That's right," answered Hiccup placing a basket down in front of them. "Because we don't do that anymore."

"Actually, the dragons seem a little on edge," said Astrid, trying to sooth Bluebird.

"That's because they're extra sensitive, especially Meatlug," explained Fishlegs hugging the Gronkle. "She lost a cousin here we try not to talk about it."

"It's amazing that your father just gave us the arena," said Astrid looking around in awe.

Hiccup gave her a sheepish look. "It would be if he actually did."

"You mean that we're going behind his back?" frowned Astrid.

Snow tilted her head in confusion. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Here's the deal, guys, the dragons are out of control," said Hiccup getting everyone to focus. "We want them to live in our world without destroying them but they can't do that without our help. The dragons are breaking things and we need to do something about it."

Tuffnut nodded excitedly. "Got it, help dragons break stuff."

"No, actually, I-" protested Hiccup.

"First we get them really mad," interrupted Ruffnut.

"Guys!" called Hiccup, breaking the twins' train of thought. "Mildew wants our dragons caged and I don't know about you but that's not ok with me."

"Alright, she's sorry," apologized Tuffnut pointing to his sister.

"The first order of business is getting the dragons to stop eating all the food," said Hiccup taking out a piece of bread from the basket which Toothless quickly grabbed.

"Now if you see a dragon with something it shouldn't have, just give him a little scratch underneath the chin and he'll drop it," explained Snow, demonstrating with Toothless until the dragon let the pastry fall into her hand.

"Nah, nah, nah," said Snotlout taking the bread from his cousin's hand and throwing it to Hookfang. "Hookfang and I work a little differently. When I want this bad boy to do something I just get right in his face and say,"

"Drop that right now!" shouted Snotlout at the dragon. Hookfang dropped the bread only to replace it with the head of his rider.

"Heh, should we help him?" asked Tuffnut.

"Give him a minute," answered Astrid.

Ignoring his cousin's dilemma Hiccup took out several more loaves from the basket. "Ok, who wants to go next?"

"Uh, can someone do that chin scratchy thing, please?" called Snotlout from his dragon's mouth.

Sighing Snowstorm walked over until she stood in front of the Nightmare. Looking at the dragon dead in the eye she pointed to the floor. "Drop him."

To everyone's amusement the Nightmare did just that.

"How come he listens to you?" asked Snotlout wiping dragon drool off his clothes.

"Because he respects me," answered Snow giving Hookfang a scratch underneath the chin as a reward.

Snotlout just gave her glare in return.


That afternoon the teens were walking through the plaza, ready to train some dragons. Oddly, though, there weren't any dragons in sight.

"Well, that was easy," commented Tuffnut.

"Lunch?" offered Snotlout.

"That's odd, where could the dragons have gone?" wondered Hiccup looking around.

Suddenly a loud explosion rang throughout the village.

"Something tells me we should follow the explosion," said Snow racing towards the sound.

Once they reached the source of the sound all the teens stared in shock. The dragons had broken into the food storage. The building was in ruins, empty and burned.

"Bluebird," called Astrid, shocked to see her own Nadder participating in the mayhem along with Hookfang.

"Hookfang," chastised Snotlout. "Bad dragon."

The Haddock children raced inside the building, desperate to see if there was anything left. They only thing they saw was their father tossing a fallen pillar to the side, barely able to control his frustration.

"They've eaten everything," he said. "We've got nothing left for the freeze."

"Dad, I'm so sorry," apologized Hiccup.

"I warned you, Stoick, but did you listen to me," interrupted Mildew getting in the chief's face. "No, you left a bunch of teenagers in charge. Now look at the mess those dragons made!"

"Dad, I swear I can fix this."

Stoick shook his head. "I'm sorry, Hiccup, but how can I trust you to control all the dragons when you can't even control your own."

Both children looked back to see Toothless happily gobbling up fish from an overturned basket.

"Father, please," insisted Snow. "It's just a fluke, please give us another chance."

Stoick ignore her, gathering as many baskets as he could. "Mulch, Bucket, ready the boats. We need to gather as much food as we can."

"There's no time," protested Mulch, catching the basket Stoick had tossed him. "It took us six months to gather that much fish."

"Don't tell me there's no time," said Stoick sternly. "We've got to try."

"Of course we do," agreed Mulch nervously before glaring at Bucket. "Shame on you Bucket, don't tell the Chief there's no time."

"I don't know what wrong with me," said the dim-witted blonde.

Ignoring the two Stoick marched out of the building. His children trailed after him.

"Dad, you've got to listen to me," insisted Hiccup. "No one else knows dragons like I do."

Stoick shook his head, loading baskets into a wagon. "I'm sorry, Hiccup, but I have an entire village to feed. I want those dragons locked up by tonight, understand?"

"Caging is too good for those beasts," protested Mildew. "You need to send them away now."

Much to Hiccup's and Snow's displeasure several villagers shouted in agreement, fed up with the dragon's constant destruction. Sensing their distress Toothless walked up to the children wanting to comfort them.

"Mildew's right," agreed Stoick. "Hiccup will cage them tonight, and in the morning he'll send them off the island."
"All of them?" asked Snow, hugging Toothless.

Stoick nodded, hating the betrayed look his daughter gave him.


That evening the teens stared helplessly at their food, hating that they were unable to help the dragons stay on Berk.

"I can't believe that we have to send them away," complained Snotlout.

"I know," murmured Astrid. "I've gotten used to Bluebird's face being the first thing I see in the morning."

"Every night Meatlug would lick my feet before I went to sleep," said Fishlegs pitifully. "Who's going to do that know?"

"I volunteer Tuffnut," said Ruffnut trying to lighten the mood.
The male twin just shrugged too depressed to protest. "Whatever, what time should I be there?"

Sighing Astrid stood up. "Let's get this over with, guys."

"We're never going to see our dragons again," wailed Fishlegs following after her. "This is the worst day ever!"

"I can't let that happen," said Hiccup, walking over to where Toothless and Snow laid curled up together, looking heartbroken. "Toothless is the best thing to happen to Snow and me."

"How sad, two children saying good-bye to their dragon," gloated Mildew standing front of them.

"What do you want?" growled Snow.

"You know what your problem was?" said Mildew. "You thought dragons could be trained. A dragons gonna do what a dragons gonna do. It's their nature and nature always wins."

Both children and Night Fury glared at the old man as he walked away. Hating the smug smile he had the whole time.

Suddenly a large gust of wind rushed through the Great Hall when someone had opened the doors. The wind was so strong that it put out the fire in one of the pits. Without any command Toothless quickly relight the fire.

"Oh, thank you Toothless," said a woman, warming her hands by the fire.

Smiling wide Hiccup turned to his sister. "Mildew just gave me an idea."

"Will it save the dragons?" whispered Snow hopefully.

"I think it will," nodded Hiccup.

Not needing anymore assurance Snowstorm ran out of the Great Hall. "C'mon, we've got to tell the others!"


Way on the other side of the village the rest of the teens had landed at the dragon arena. With a heavy heart they said their good-byes before ordering their dragons into the cage.

"Ugh, why does it feel like something is biting at my chest?" said Snotlout in frustration.

"That's what it feels like when your heart is breaking," answered Astrid sadly.

"I don't have a heart, I'm not a girl," protested the brunette.

Once all the dragons were in the cage did they pull the lever to close the gates, hating the sad looks their dragons gave them as the iron bars came down slowly.

"Don't close it," called Hiccup landing behind the teens. Wasting no time Snow jumped off Toothless, pushing the leaver to raise the gate.

"We're not locking them up," said Hiccup.

"What happened? Did you change your fathers mind?" asked Astrid excitedly before narrowing her eyes at him. "Or are we going behind his back again?"

"You have three guesses," said Snow with a grin. "And the first two don't count."

"Look, the dragons are going to do what they're going to do, it's their nature," explained Hiccup. "We just have to learn how to use it."

Astrid looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure it's going to work? We'll be in a lot of trouble if it doesn't."

The rest of the teens nodded in agreement.

"It will," assured Hiccup. "Trust me."

After a long pause they all nodded. "So, what's the plan?" asked Fishlegs.


The next morning the dragon rider's took off to the sky, eager to get their plan in motion. Snotlout and his cousins flew where Mulch and Bucket were unsuccessfully trying to fish.

"Scare us up some dinner, Snotlout," called Snow.

Grinning wildly Snotlout steered Hookfang to dive into the water. In the process they scared large amount of fish into the fishermen's nets.

"Thank you, dragon," waved the two Vikings as the Nightmare flew off.

"That's right, that just happened," whooped Snotlout.

After that the Haddocks lead Astrid and Fishlegs to Mildew's place. The old man looked up from his cabbage field to see three dragons fly towards him.

"Afternoon, Mildew," called Astrid, using Bluebird's tail spikes to dig grooves into the field.

"Here come the seeds," sang Snow, as she and Hiccup overturned bags of cabbage seeds into the grooves.

Following after them was Fishlegs, leading a large group of Gronkles behind him. It was three o'clock.

"Let it rip, Meatlug," said Fishlegs as they flew directly over the field. Mildew looked on in disgust as dragon dropping landed right on his land.

"Don't look so sour, Mildew," called Hiccup. "We just saved you three months' worth of work."

Later by the fields the twins used Barf and Belch's explosions to scare boars towards the village. Hiccup and Snow joined them, using Toothless' plasma blast to lead the livestock right into an open barn. Gobber smiled proudly at the kids as he closed doors.

The teens landed in front of the barn, amazed that the plan had worked.

"That was awesome," exclaimed Fishlegs.

"How did you know that was going to work?" asked Astrid.

"Because they're dragons, it's in their nature," explained Hiccup. "We just needed to work with them instead of against them."

Snow nodded enthusiastically. "You know who we really should be thanking-"

"There they are, Stoick," called an angry Mildew. "Those dragons don't look like they're being sent off to me."

"No, they don't," said Stoick giving his children a stern look.

"Look, Dad, I know that-" began Hiccup.

Stoick held up a hand. "I want you to get these dragons back in their cages. Then I want all of you to wait for me in the arena, do you understand?"

All seven kids nodded solemnly, dreading whatever kind of punishment the chieftain had in store for them.


While the children waited for Stoick to reach the arena several villagers gathered around the stands, curious to see what would happen. No one was more excited, however, than Mildew. The man was practically giddy with glee.

Even though the rest of the teens squirmed nervously at the thought of what Stoick might do to them Snow remained unrepentant.

"I don't see why we should get punished," she pouted, crossing her arms. "We fixed all the problems. Don't the ends justify the means?"

Just then Stoick walked into the arena being trailed by Gobber. "You all disobeyed my orders, and there will be consequences."

"I told you we would get in trouble," grumbled Astrid, regretting her decision to disobey. "You never listen to me."

Snow glared at the older girl. "You knew what you were getting into, so quit complaining."

Hiccup shook his head at the girls, ending whatever argument they were about to have. Turning back to face his father, the auburn haired boy stepped forward. "Dad, it was all my idea. If anyone should be punished it should be me."

"No, you all took part in this and you all will be held accountable," said Stoick.

Mildew scooted forward in his seat, eager to see what Stoick would dish out.

"You took over the arena without my permission," continued Stoick, passing in front of them. "You let the dragons out of their cages against my orders,"

He stopped to look at all of them. "Things are going to change around here. That's why-"

"You're all getting a dragon training academy," interrupted Gobber unable to contain himself much longer.

Hiccup gave the men a bewildered look. Snowstorm let out a squeal of delight. Astrid smile brightly. Fishlegs and Snotlout fist bumped. And the twins high-fived each other.

"Gobber," said Stoick indignantly. "I wanted to them that."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself," said the blonde man. "You can tell them the rest."

"Well, you said most of it," protested Stoick.

"You can tell them how proud you are of them," offered Gobber.

Stoick let out an exasperated groan before turning towards the kids.

"Well, what he said. You've all made me very proud today," he said, walking over to open the cage that held their dragons. "That's why you're getting this dragon training academy."

The second the doors opened both dragons and trainers raced towards one another, happy that they were able to stay together.

"Thank you, Father," called Snow, hugging Toothless tightly alongside her brother.

Up in the stands Mildew stormed off in anger. He'll get those dragons yet.

Stoick smiled warmly at the joyous expressions in his kids' faces. "Now all you need to do is train them."

"Not a problem, as long as I have these two," said Hiccup, motioning towards his sister and dragon. Behind them Astrid gave a pointed cough making Hiccup grin. "And them too, of course."

"Of course," agreed Snow, snuggling happily underneath Toothless' chin.