To say that Astrid was against the idea would be an understatement.
The three approached Astrid and explains that they aren't going to be able to help Berk forever. They needed a new way to defend themselves without them or Stoick.
"Let me get this straight," Astrid started as she stared at the three of them. "You were banished from Berk for friending a dragon, now you want me to befriend a dragon?"
"We were also called out by the guy who sold you and all of Berk out to Alvin." Hiccup replied as he crossed his arms.
"He's got you there." Heather agreed with him.
"I'm sorry, who even are you?" Astrid asks Heather, wondering where she came from.
"Heather. From Wingmaiden Island." Heather quickly recalled where she came from. "I'm Hiccup's..."
"Girlfriend." Elsa quickly answers.
"She is?" Hiccup asks.
"I am?" Heather wonders.
"Can we get to the issue at hand?" Elsa put their focus back on Astrid. "If you wanna protect Berk, then you'll need something to protect the entire island."
"She's right." Hiccup agreed with his sister. "To keep Berk safe, and to help us save the others, you're gonna need to trust us."
"Trust the outsiders?" Astrid asked with a scoff. "I'm loyal to Berk."
"Berk, the same people who outcasted innocent people, kill innocent creatures?" Heather questioned and walked closer to her and grew angry. "I think you should realize that it's time for a change. Or... we're more than happy to throw you back into that shipwreck we found you in."
Hiccup and Elsa looked at one another in shock, neither of them saw this side of Heather. Yet again, there hasn't been much to threaten her friends and family.
"Never get on her bad side," Olaf commented.
"I agree with him," Elsa confirmed and eyed her brother. "Don't do anything stupid."
"Noted." Hiccup agreed.
"So what do you say?" Heather asks Astrid and backs away, keeping her stern face. "You going to listen to us or are you going to live with the fact it was your fault Berk is under the control of the Outcasts?"
Astrid was trying to come up with some witty remark but couldn't think of anything. Then she thought about it and eyed the dragons that were eyeing Astrid. Toothless and Luna snarled at Astrid, remembering her all too well. Windshear didn't know her and definitely didn't trust Astrid.
"Fine." Astrid sighed and decided to just hear them out. "Where do we start?"
The group led Astrid to the clubhouse where they rounded up a handful of their dragons. Heather and Elsa kept them calm as a handful of them actually started from Berk.
"Okay. So, a few of you might remember Astrid." Hiccup told the dragons, just as the Nadder snarled at Astrid. "Yep, looks like dragons do hold grudges."
"Don't blame her," Elsa commented as she was defending the dragon. "Last time that they met, Astrid flung an axe in her face."
"Okay, now we just need you to now pick a dragon." Hiccup gestured to the roster.
But just as soon as he said that the Zippleback screeched and quickly flew away. Right behind them was the Gronckle who immediately flew away as fast as it could. The Monstrous Nightmare quickly flew off before anyone could even stop it. The Deadly Nadder tried to scurry away when Toothless and Luna quickly stopped her from escaping. Toothless roared at her as she was backing away, causing her to jump and scurry back. Luna even came in and stopped her from flying away by growling at her.
"Or...the dragons will pick one for you." Hiccup saw they literally only had one option. "Seems most of them don't like you."
"The feeling's mutual," Astrid stated sarcastically as she crossed her arms.
"You're not making this easy on me." Hiccup informed her as he rubbed his head.
"Well, what do we do now?" Astrid asks, seeing that the Nadder doesn't like her.
Hiccup saw that there was only one choice and sighed. "Well, looks like you're riding the Nadder."
Astrid scoffed at that. "What? No fun nickname for her?"
"Do you know how many dragons we have come across over the years?" Hiccup asked her sarcastically. "We've fought, trained, and escaped dozens of different types of dragons. We haven't named all of them."
"And that's important?" Astrid asks him.
"If you want to bond with a dragon, yes, it's important. It creates a bond between you two." Hiccup explains to her. But it seems that Astrid didn't seem interested in creating a bond with her most hated creature. Outside Snotlout."Remember, the longer we take to train you, the longer the others are stuck on Outcast Island."
Astrid looked over to the Nadder as the Furies were keeping the Nadder back on the ground. Thinking about the people of Berk and the others imprisoned on Outcast Island, she knew she needed to hurry. And to do this right, then she was going to need to listen.
"Fine." Astrid finally caved in. "What do I need to do?"
"For starters...she needs to trust you." Hiccup said, happy to see he was finally getting through to her.
"And what do I have to do to show that?" Astrid asks as she kept her guard up.
"Here, let me take your hand." Hiccup said as he reached for her hand.
"What?" Astrid asks as she quickly pulled her hand away.
"Do you trust me or not?" Hiccup asks her, knowing she needs to trust him before she can trust a dragon.
Despite her better judgment, Astrid decided to just let him lead and gave him her hand. Hiccup saw it was taking a few baby steps, but they were steps nonetheless toward trust. Then he walked Astrid closer to the Nadder, who immediately growled and snarled at the two. The reaction from the dragon caused Astrid to act on instinct and pull her hand back, going for her axe.
Hiccup knew exactly what she was planning and jumped in between them as the two warriors charged at each other. "Wait!" He then saw that when Astrid reached for her axe, the Nadder readied its tail of spikes to shoot at her. "Easy, girl!" He then looked back over to Astrid and should have known it wasn't going to be that easy. "You have to put the axe down."
"What?!" Astrid asked, not willing to part with her only means of protection.
"She thinks you're just going to harm her." Hiccup explains what the dragon was currently thinking. He held both his hands out to try and ease the conversation and looked towards the girls. "Am I gonna get any help here?!"
"Nope," Elsa said, dangling her leg off the edge of the Training Arena and enjoying the show.
"You're doing great!" Heather offered her support sarcastically.
"Just...come on, do what I say. I've been through this before." Hiccup says as he looked back to Astrid. "Let me show you."
Astrid then watches as Hiccup held his hand out to the Nadder, trying to show Astrid all she needs to do. The Nadder, more trusting of him than Astrid, immediately calmed down when she saw he meant her no harm. She was shocked to see how calm the fearful beast was and even more amazed when Hiccup managed to reach out and touch its snout.
"And that is why he's the dragon trainer." Elsa proclaimed with a smile.
Hiccup then looked to Astrid, keeping his hand on the dragon's snout to keep her calm. As long as he was nearby, the Nadder knew no harm would come to it. All Hiccup needed to do was to transfer that over to Astrid and assure the dragon she wouldn't harm her. Astrid was conflicted about what her next move was gonna be as she clutched her weapon with all her might. But then she thought of how easily Hiccup was able to tame what she thought was a mindless beast and saw it better than questioning someone more experienced.
"Alright, I get it." Astrid started to understand what he was saying and tossed her weapon. "I'll follow your lead."
Hiccup smiled as he was happy to see he is finally starting to get through to a more sensible side of Astrid. He looked over to Heather and Elsa, who both had different kinds of reactions. Heather, not having the same history, was just surprised to see how fast Hiccup got through to her.
Elsa on the other hand has known Astrid for years and was amazed at how serious she got. She was either desperate to save Berk or she really was starting to see things their way.
Astrid then started to slowly approach the Nadder, following Hiccup's advice to not spook it again. When she got close enough, Hiccup took her hand slowly and started to replace his hand with hers. Astrid took a few minutes to help calm herself down and not spook the dragon, and slowly placed her hand on the snout.
Astrid was amazed at how soft, however still scaley, the dragon's skin was. She started to rub her hand across the snout, seemingly pleasing the dragon as she squealed and flapped her wings a little.
"As I live and breathe... Astrid, daughter of the great Hofferson's, is getting along with a dragon." Elsa couldn't believe her brother actually accomplished the impossible. "Training a dragon has nothing on this."
"Not gonna lie, I didn't think she'd do it." Heather had to admit.
"If you ask me, it was the tensest of the situation and the corner she was backed into that helped her overcome years of prejudice." Olaf offered his two cents to the group before walking off.
And just before the sun began to set, Astrid was already becoming attached to her dragon. She even finally gave the Nadder a name to strengthen their bond as Hiccup suggested. She decided to name the dragon Stormfly. When they asked why she went with that, she says that it just felt right.
They named their dragons weirder, so they decided to just leave it at that.
Hiccup got her through the basics of flying and was even just about wrapping that up when the sun began setting. Astrid allowed Stormfly to fly them in for a landing, as per Hiccup's suggestion, and she had to admit she might have been wrong about these creatures.
"You know...I never understood how you and your sister could have chosen those dragons over your clan." Astrid confessed to Hiccup as he dismounted Toothless, listening to all she was saying. "But...now I get it. They're amazing." She confesses as she reached down and scratched Stormfly's neck. "I was wrong."
Hiccup gave her a friendly smile and knew that if Astrid could see it, then there was still a chance that Berk can, too. "That must have been hard for you to admit."
"It was," Astrid said as she crossed her arms. "So... what now?"
"Now..." Heather and Elsa came out, both of them holding maps in hand. "We take Berk back."
Heather and Elsa dropped the maps on the table of the Clubhouse where they set the fire on. They had maps to both Berk and Outcast Island that Stoick had packed for them when they left, just in case they ever needed to use them.
Stoick was already helping out his kids, even when he was nowhere to be seen.
"Berk's defenses against dragons might be an issue for us to get past," Heather admitted as she gestured to the catapults Hiccup and Elsa barely escaped the first time. "But luckily, they'll be more interested in looking for rather than our dragons."
"That doesn't necessarily mean they won't spot us," Elsa added to Heather's statement. "The right thing to do is to sneak in during the cover of night. Let Luna and Toothless work their powers to our advantage here."
"That could work, but Stormfly and Windshear will be visible to them," Hiccup added on, seeing a few flaws.
"Don't worry, we counted on that," Heather assured him. "We're gonna be the bait. For both missions."
Hiccup felt like he missed something all of a sudden. "Both missions?"
"Yes, we split up," Elsa explains as she pointed to Outcast Island on the map. "You and Astrid go to Outcast Island as she knows where the others are."
"While you do that, we will go to Berk, I will distract the defenses, and allow Elsa to slip in so she can fight off the Outcasts there," Heather added on her part in this plan.
"And I pray to Thor that Mildew is still there." Elsa snarled as she instantly started to freeze the table she was currently gripping in anger. "Whoops." She immediately started to calm down when she saw the damage she was doing. "Sorry."
"Alright." Hiccup saw they had a plan, looking out to the setting sun and that it was time they moved out. "Remember your training. Be careful. And let's show these Outcasts you don't mess with us."
Time to take back their home.