Stopping Spitelout's Operations:
For many hours they flew across the sea searching for islands for dragons to find and rescue. There was no luck so far.
Seeing how angered the others were getting, Hiccup decided that they should stop shipments of stone bricks to Berk when suddenly Toothless started growling.
"What is it, bud?"
Soon the other dragons started growling too, much to the confusion of their riders. "What's wrong, girl?" Astrid asked Stormfly.
"Is something wrong, Windshear?" Heather asked.
As he tried to calm his dragon, down, Hiccup suddenly spotted a small armada of 15 Hunter ships near a small group of islands. "Look over there," he pointed.
The riders saw the armada and realised that the dragons were growling just at that moment because they sensed the Hunters.
They all flew downwards to a small group of sea stacks and landed on the tallest and widest one of the lot, the dragons bended down on their knees while their riders crawled forward on their legs to the edge of the sea stack to spy on the Hunters.
Hiccup took out a spy glass and peered through it.
He saw loads of cages being loaded onto the ships. More Hunters heading into the forests of the islands they were on with blood-stained weapons and huge chains designed to keep dragons trapped with no hope of escaping.
"Those selfish Hunters deserve to die," Astrid snarled with a clenched fist.
"Astrid, we will ensure that they die for their crimes," Hiccup assured her placing a comforting hand on her arm. "But we're goanna a good plan,"
All the Riders turned to Hiccup much to his confusion and anger, clearly they were expecting him to think of a plan.
"Seriously? Are you all expecting me to think of a plan?"
"You're our leader, Hiccup," Heather explained. "You lead us, you think of all the plans,"
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," Hiccup retorted getting onto his feet and stomping away from the others. "I can't do this, I can't lead an attack on a group of Hunters and I can't think a good plan just like any other chief would do,"
"Hiccup, you're intelligent and smart, surely you can think of a perfect plan," Astrid attempted walking to him.
"But I'm serious, Astrid, I can't do it," Hiccup turned to her in sad, anger. He leaned in closer to her and whispered something. "I can't be a leader, I'd be terrible at it,"
"Yes, you can, you thought of perfect ideas to stop Spitelout's operations,"
"But that was because you and the others gave me ideas on how we could stop, all these plans I thought of stemmed from what you and everyone else suggested…look I'm serious, I'm not some perfect leader,"
"What are you talking about? You're the son of a great chief who gave his life to save you and the whole Archipelago from Spitelout. If your father can be a great chief so can you,"
Hiccup didn't answer; he still looked doubtful.
Gobber stood up and walked towards him, "Hiccup, there's nothing easy about being a leader, if anything it's difficult, I never found leading the Resistance easy at all but do you want to know how I was brave enough to do it?"
Hiccup looked up desperate for an answer.
"I chose to believe that everyone I trusted would always support and help me even if I made mistakes,"
"Hiccup, if Gobber can do it, if your dad could do it, so can you," Astrid said giving Hiccup a pat on the shoulder.
Hiccup turned away and thought of everything Astrid and Gobber had told him. He had to try, not just for the sake of stopping Spitelout and protecting the Archipelago but to continue his father's legacy.
He turned round to see everyone had stood beside Gobber and Astrid. He could see it in their eyes that they needed him; they were counting on him.
"Alright, I'll try," he answered. "But everyone, I can't promise that it will be a success and I can't reach every expectation you're all expecting,"
He started walking round in circles with his arms crossed thinking of a plan. He did that for an hour, everyone sat down getting a bit impatient while the dragons laid down taking a nap. Except Toothless who had his front paws on the sides of his face.
Just when everyone was getting sleepy, Hiccup suddenly busted out in excitement. "I have a plan!"
Instead of saying something 'great' or 'what is it?'
Everyone just slowly stood on their feet with grumpy tones.
"What's with the grumpy tones?" he asked completely confused.
"When a leader thinks of a plan, he has to think of one faster than for an hour," Gobber answered.
"Well, sorry," Hiccup answered plainly. "Like I said earlier, I can't reach all the expectations that you all are expecting,"
"Well, now that you've thought of one, let's get to it, it won't be long before the Hunters leave," Heather said.
"Well, everyone gather round and I'll tell you," Hiccup gestured everyone to come together in a circle. And he told them what he had thought of.
The Hunters loaded the last of the cages onto the ships and they were ready to leave. "Right, let's get going," a Hunter said.
The Hunters prepared to cast off when suddenly they heard a huge roar of a dragon they had never seen before.
"What in Thor was that?" one of the Hunters asked.
"Must have been an uncaptured dragon," the leader of the Hunter Group said. "Let's go capture that dragon and next time, check more carefully for uncaptured dragons,"
The leader of the group and a few men went into the forests of the island while some stayed behind the guard the ship.
Deep in the forest, Toothless was giving out huge roars. "Okay, that should be enough to lure the Hunters out," Hiccup said. He turned to Heather, Fishlegs, the twins and some Drago Riders, "Okay, you all, while the rest of us deal with the Hunters who are being lured in, you get to the ships and free as many dragons as you can,"
"We got it, Hiccup," Heather answered. Obviously she was the one that Hiccup had chosen to lead for the attack on the Hunters. "But if we need assistance, I will blow my horn and you will know,"
"Okay, Heather but all of you be careful,"
The two groups split up whilst, Hiccup, Astrid, Gobber, some Dragon Riders and the Defenders hid behind rocks and trees, Heather and her group quickly sped off into another direction.
The Hunters were stalking through the forest but there was no sign of any living life. "…there's no dragon," the leader of the group ranted and groaned.
"Oh, it was not your imagination," a voice spooked them. They all turned to see Hiccup leaning against the tree. "It was just me making dragon noises to call for help but it seems there was no luck,"
"Oh, well, well," the leader of the Hunter group smirked. "If it isn't Hiccup Haddock all alone with no help, what happened to the ones who rescued you?"
"Oh, they just abandoned me because they saw nothing but a weak, useless runt,"
"Well, Spitelout will be happy to see you, take him!"
The Hunters surrounded Hiccup pointing their crossbows at him. Two of them gave to him with handcuffs, they cuffed his hands and shoved him forward to their leader.
"Spitelout will take great pleasure in killing you," the leader smirked.
Suddenly the Hunters holding Hiccup and the others holding crossbows behind them started going "B.B.B.B…be. Hind you," or "Dra…dra…dragon,"
Hiccup meanwhile smirked while the leader was getting angry.
"Alright boys I don't know what you're playing at but I don't like it," he crossed his arms with aggravated eyes. He suddenly felt being breathed on his head and his eyebrows hovered up in fright.
"See, your men did see something behind you and word of advice, never trap the owner of a Night Fury," Hiccup said gesturing to what was above the Hunter.
The Hunter looked up and saw an aggravated Toothless growling at him, he awkwardly said, "Hi," but Toothless grabbed him and threw him across the forest. He then attacked some of the Hunters that were surrounding Hiccup. The Hunters suddenly heard more dragon growls.
Within the blink of their eyes, the other dragon riders came out and they attacked the Hunters throwing them against the trees, slamming them on the ground and tossing them into the sky. During the others' skirmish with the other Hunters, Toothless blasted Hiccup's handcuffs and Hiccup hugged Toothless assuring him that he was alright.
Meanwhile near the ships, Heather and her group descended on the Hunters that were left behind to guard the ships. While Fishlegs, the twins and the others easily took them out, Heather charged inside the ships and Windshear busted all the dragons free using her prehensile tail to snap the chains apart. All the dragons flew out their floating prisons in delight. The riders all cheered with delight. However their moment success was cut short when a huge bunch of metal nets came out of nowhere and trapped them causing them to crash onto the ground. The Hunters that had shoot the nets on them came round and surrounded them with spears and ropes.
Fishlegs was freaking out, the twins were holding their hands up in surrender and Heather was panting with shock. Meatlug, (Fishlegs's Gronkle) gave out a huge roar that echoed across the forests on the island.
Hiccup, Astrid, Gobber and the others had taken out the other hunters in the forest. They were cheering with victory when they heard Meatlug's roar; it was no good sign because it sounded like a distress call.
"It's the others, they're in trouble!" Hiccup gasped. They all quickly hopped onto their dragons and took off to help the others.
They flew over the forests until they stopped in shock at seeing their friends and their dragons being tied up by the Hunters.
"Oh, great!" Hiccup shouted in anger at realising his plan wasn't working.
"They're getting away!" the Hunters shouted as he saw all the dragons attempting to fly away though some of them noticed the saddle dragons who were trapped and they refused to leave them behind to suffer. The Hunters started firing at them causing some of the dragons to scream in pain as they felt arrows piercing their bodies including their wings.
"You stay away those dragons!" Hiccup shouted as he and Toothless charged the Hunters blasting them to smithereens. "Anyone, I repeat anyone who harms any dragons shall pay with their lives!"
The Hunters shrieked in fear, they never knew that Spitelout's nephew could be so scary in anger. They all run away in fear and cowardice but there was no escape as the blasts were everywhere in their path creating huge bangs of smoke.
The smoke cleared and all there was on the ground was dead bodies of Hunters. Toothless's plasma blasts had killed them all.
Hiccup and Toothless landed on the sand and came to the others.
They all suddenly heard roars of freedom and delight coming from all the dragons who instead of flying to freedom away from the island all landed down on the beach.
All the now-freed dragons circled around Hiccup, they started nuzzled him and licking him with delight much to the jealously of Toothless.
Hiccup started laughing with delight even the Riders started laughing.
Toothless (seeing how Hiccup was getting a bit overcrowded by the dragons and also jealous of how Hiccup was enjoying their company). He roared at the dragons to back away from Hiccup and give him some space.
The dragons snarled back at him with hate, angry at Toothless for roaring at them like that when all they wanted to do was thank Hiccup for risking his life to save them.
"Enough!" Hiccup shouted placing himself between Toothless and the growling dragons. "This is ridiculous, no fighting,"
The dragons calmed down and so did Hiccup.
He looked to all the freed dragons; they strangely bowed to him, turn the faces downwards and closing their eyes.
"What are they doing?" Hiccup asked.
"They're pleading their legence to you," Heather explained.
"What? Why?"
"Because they saw how you risked your life to save them, they know it in their hearts that you're the only one who can save them so now they wish to risk their lives to protect you,"
Hiccup turned to the dragons who rose their faces up and stared at him with love in their eyes and smiled at them. "Dragons, you are all welcome to join us in stopping Spitelout and the Hunters once and for all,"
The dragons roared with determination and Hiccup hopped upon Toothless assuring him he was still his best friend and Toothless let go of his jealousy.
The dragon riders along with a huge army of dragons took off into the sky heading towards their next targets.
Over the next hours, they encountered large ships carrying massive bricks that Spitelout needed to complete his tower.
Hiccup easily thought of a new plan without any self-doubt. Thanks to Toothless's extreme stealth skills, they took the Hunters by surprise and while distracting them. Their huge army of freed dragons and dragon riders appeared out of nowhere and attacked all the ships.
Within a matter of minutes, the ships were burnt and they sank into the ocean.
Hiccup and all the others cheered with delight; this was going easier than expected.
After that, they found the small islands that Tuffnut had mentioned about which had Hunters building weapons for Spitelout's army and to use for capturing dragons.
Using the 'Element of Surprise' which was their way of attacking enemies, they easily and successfully like before defeated the Hunters and stopped the operations. Everything was going to plan.
After a long week of slowing down Spitelout's operations, they all came back to their hideout to plan their next plan.
Meanwhile Hiccup had been trying to see if he could control Inferno but it was no use.
He touched a tenth time but he still continued to hear his father's voice echoing in his head and the gladiator Viking appearing in his visions.
He took Inferno by one hand and stomped to a small fresh-water pool just outside the caves. He shoved Inferno inside the sand underneath the pool's surface and started scooping up water with his hands and scrubbing it over his face and neck as he felt the hot sun burning on his skin.
Heather saw him having trouble with the sword and decided to step in and help.
Hiccup noticed her presence. "I still can't control it," he lamented with anger. "No matter how many times I try, I just can't control it, I wouldn't even be to do a single attack with it,"
"Pick it up with both hands," Heather instructed.
Hiccup just sighed with doubt, he was scared of Inferno's power, not to mention all the horrible visions it had kept giving him over his life.
"Did you see everything you needed to see in the Dark Lands?" Heather asked. "Did you look away? Were you scared?"
Hiccup still didn't answer.
Astrid appeared near them and decided that maybe her words could help Hiccup feel more confident in himself. "It's okay to be scared and look away, I'm scared, I look away, Heather looks away, everyone gets scared and looks away but that is the difference between a man and chief,"
Hiccup smiled at her and her back at him.
Heather meanwhile held a smile for both of them; she couldn't help but feel there was strong connection growing between that Chosen One and her best friend.
Gobber came outside and saw the three Vikings, "Come inside, everyone, let's have some food,"
Hiccup picked up the sword with one hand and he and the girls strolled inside.