Stoick lands Thornado just outside a clearing in the woods. The Whispering Death explodes into the air in a shower of cobblestone, dirt, and fire. He breathes his deadly rings and immediately plunges into the ground again. He seems relentless, crazy. The clearing's been reduced to ash from the dragon's fire. Nothing remains but a pile of scorched debris and a large soot circle.
Stoick and Gobber run in, sword and axe ready and the dragon comes up again, and it roars, opening its wide mouth of rotating teeth. It burrows its head into the ground, and comes up with a large boulder and chucks it toward the two men. They leap in opposite direction and Stoick comes up on one knee.
"I assume we'll skip the gentle approach?" Gobber calls as the dragon's tail lashes out and whips at Gobber. Gobber jumps out of the way and slashes with his axe.
The dragon screeches and hisses. "I'm sorry son." Stoick whispers as he charges.
The dragon lashes out his tail, and in an instant, Stoick latches onto it and as it swings him up high, he lets go. Falling at a gracious speed, Stoick slams his foot into the dragon's nose. Pushing off, he flips and lands on a nearby rock. The dragon slides back, and after shaking its head, it roars with hatred and charges for Stoick. Standing there with a smug on his face, Stoick waits until the last minute, then jumps out of the way and Gobber comes hurdling and punches the dragon again and sends it skipping back across the ash, sending up thick clouds. It crashes into multiple trees, all of which comes crashing down.
The dragon bursts from the trees and screeches in fury. It breathes its rings of fire and as Gobber dodges, it suddenly wraps its tail around him. Gobber struggles to free himself as the dragon brings him close its face, and it snarls.
Gobber sneers. "Sorry to burst your boulder bubble big boy, but I'm much stronger than I Iook."
Gobber then head-buts the Whispering Death and once its grip loosens, he slams his fist into the dragons nose. Stoick meanwhile grabs one of the burning trees that fell to the ground form the dragon's force, and chucks in the dragon's direction. It slaps it in the face, and the dragon screeches in pain. It tries to focus but, its vision is blurry. It can just make out Stoick's silhouette, and it takes the hit of his fist into the side of its head. Even after it crashes and slides across the dirt, it immediately rises, roars and burrows underground.
"This thing's quite persistent." Gobber says as he readies his axe. "But there's nothing to destroy here. No buildings, homes, nothing. Why would Hadrian send him here?"
Stoick didn't have time to answer as the dragon bursts from the ground and whacks its tail like a whip at Gobber and Stoick. Both dodge and Gobber slices at its body, just behind its wings, and rolls to Stoick's side, coming up on one knee.
Meanwhile, over on a mountain ridge, Fishlegs and Snotlout land their dragons and try to look for the Changewing. Fishlegs noticed that Snotlout was strangely quiet. For once he has nothing to say, about anything. He's not making fun of Fishlegs, he hasn't tried to be the hero lately. Maybe Hiccup's death really did take a toll on him. Maybe in his own way he really cared for him. And now, even with him grieving, Fishlegs hopes that Snotlout feels bad about everything he did to him, and vows to never do it again. It may be bad, but really, it's the least he could do. They don't say much since none of them really know what to say to each other. Maybe it's because Hiccup's gone and Fishlegs was his best friend? Whatever the case, it had better be the last thing on his mind, for now.
They walk onto the open ridge and look around, and nothing's in site. Then again, a Changewing can blend into anything.
"Be careful Snotlout." Fishlegs says, and Snotlout just nods.
They walk around the ridge, rotating so they can see what's coming. And suddenly, Fishlegs hears a hiss. He spins around just in time to see the head of the Changewing materialize and splurt out some acid. Both boys tumble and roll out of the way just as Fishlegs had time to yell, "Watch out!"
The boys come up and the dragon slowly crawls out of the rock, its mouth dripping with acid. It hisses and both boys snarl. Fishlegs lets out a battle cry and charges the dragon. It spews out it acid and Snotlout dodges and goes for the dragon on the opposite side. He reaches out and manages to slice at the dragon on the side of his stomach, distracting it and giving Fishlegs the chance to whack it in the head with his hammer. The dragon roars and shakes its head as Fishlegs and Snotlout back up and asses what to do next.
"Yeah that's right! That just happened!" Snotlout shouts and laughs.
"We need to get this over with and get back to Stoick and the others. No doubt Hadrian's got some reason for dividing us." Fishlegs says and Snotlout nods as the dragon's aim restores and spits at the boys.
Snotlout whips out his own bludgeon and chucks it to the dragon, but it manages to catch it and burn it in its mouth with its acid breath. Then it swallows it and aims for Snotlout; he manages to roll out of the way but a few drops catches on his ankle. He rolls around d yelping and calling.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!" he stammers, finally settling in a small puddle.
Steam rises up off the water and just as the dragon was about to finish him, Fishlegs comes up from behind the dragon and with his hammer in hand, he was about to whack it, but an arrow knocks it out of his hand. Fishlegs lands on the dragon's back and it stretches its head back and chomps on Fishlegs' upper half, sending back and flying into Snotlout. Fishlegs rises, covered in dragon saliva. He shudders and wipes it off, then both boys look up and see a shadow move through the trees.
"Did you see that?" Fishlegs asks as Snotlout shoves him off.
The boys look around and focus back on the dragon, but it has stopped and now just glares at them.
"Well, this is quite the team they've gathered." Hadrian's voice echoes through the trees. "You two were the last I'd expect to be working together." He says as he comes out from the shadows.
"You'd be surprised the sacrifices we make to avenge our fallen." Snotlout says as he takes a fighting stance.
"Hey!" Fishlegs snaps, but strangely, he wasn't as upset as he expected. Maybe because it's a flash of Snotlout's old personality; it's irritating yet rejuvenating at the same time.
"Avenge? You never liked Hiccup. You always assumed him as your rival." Hadrian says as he walks over to the Changewing.
"We're still family, and that means I have to avenge him!" Snotlout snaps.
"Family? Interesting," Hadrian says stroking his chin. "I've never seen family mock one another, torture one another. And even try to embarrass them-"
"Shut up!" Snotlout snaps as he chucks a knife; but Hadrian easily catches it in between his pointer and middle finger.
He brings the knife closer, spinning it between his fingers until his fingers coil around the hilt. "Not bad, but I've seen better. Besides, what are you so upset about? I figured you'd be happy your rival's gone. Isn't it what you wanted?"
"I said shut up!" Snotlout snaps as he charges for Hadrian.
"Snotlout no!" Fishlegs cries, but it was too late.
Riding the wave of his fury, Snotlout swings his fist at Hadrian and easily misses, and Hadrian knees him in his diaphragm and kicks him with his heel in Snotlout's jaw. Snotlout jerks back and bounces in the dirt. He pushes himself to prop on one elbow and adjusts his jaw, not broken, but awfully close. Fishlegs keeps flicking his eyes back and forth between Hadrian and the dragon, unsure of who to strike. If he attacks one, the other might intervene. So Fishlegs helps Snotlout up and Snotlout dusts himself off.
"You had a reason for bringing us out here. What is it?" Fishlegs suddenly asks.
Hadrian chuckles and crosses his arms. "You're smarter than the others, I'll give you that, Fishlegs. But I assumed you would have it figured out by now."
Hadrian places his hands behind his back and casually strolls back and forth.
"The reason why I want revenge is because I want what was taken from me. My life." He begins.
"It was never yours to begin with." Snotlout interjects.
Hadrian simply snickers while the Changewing hisses to silence him. "Even so, I wanted that life. The freedom, the power I wielded. The fear I put in anyone who dared to oppose me. Being the heir to Alvin was a fraud, and he deserved as much as you and your 'Dragon Conqueror'. That boy is a waste of space, and he was such a coward. If he wasn't going to make use of it, I was."
"That still doesn't explain why you want Berk."Fishlegs says. "Hiccup may have trapped you, but why aim for the village?"
"I plan to overrule every aspect that relates to Hiccup, even the tiniest fraction. I want to dominate everything that was his, and rebuild it into my own image. For some time, he ruled over me, and now I will rule over him. Torturing him in his sleep was just the beginning."
Hadrian walks back and forth, hands behind his back.
"As we speak, my troops are storming through Berk, ravaging, destroying and burning anything in their sights. And once you're all out of the way, I'll move on to the next village, and the net, and the next until every last thing standing in my way is gone."
In an instant, Hadrian snaps his fingers. On cue, the Changewing belches up more acid and aiming for the boys. Both dodge, but before Snotlout could even roll up to one knee, he's slammed in the face by Hadrian's foot. He then picks him up and hurdles him towards Fishlegs, and the two collide and hit the hard packed earth.
The boys immediately rise and hop on their dragons and fly high. The Changewing spits its acid left and right trying to hit them, but the boys dodge and hit the dragon with a collided combination of fire and bolder. Fishlegs looks down and sees Hadrian leaning against a tree.
Even up in the air, Fishlegs somehow hears him when he whispers, "Have fun boys." Then he take two steps back into the shadow of the trees.
Back by Gobber and Stoick, the Whispering Death was weakening; multiple slashes, cuts and gashes have led it to be weak and unable to burrow underground. Thornado howls at the dragon and it screeches a high-pitched scream as it tosses and turns, trying to escape the funnel of noise. Thornado swoops in and wraps his tail around the dragon's neck and does a full circle, whipping it up and into the dirt. Gobber then rushes in and pounds his now switched axe hand, into a hammer, and continually pounds at the dragon until he feels its body deflate from under him. He stands and looks around to see the dragon's body limp.
Stoick lands Thornado and hops off as Gobber jumps off the dragon's unconscious body. "Finally! We won!" he shouts, raising his hammer in the air.
"Now we can focus on stopping Hadrian. I hope the kids are okay." Stoick says.
But while the men had their back turned, the Whispering Death slowly and silently raises its head and narrows its eyes at Stoick and Gobber. But instead of attacking, the dragon slowly turns to Thornado, who's facing his master, and it shoots at least ten of its spines at the dragon. Just as the dragon roars I pain, the Whispering Death drops its head to avoid suspicions.
"Thornado?" Stoick says as he looks to his dragon. Both men go to the dragon and see the spines.
"That thing sure likes to have the last word." Gobber says.
"We need to get back to the village and get Goathi to-"
As Stoick explains, the Whispering Death silently raises its tail and clenches it tight. Gobber looks behind him just in time to push Stoick out of the way and take the heavy and unexpected blow of the dragon's tail. Stoick bounces once before he pushes himself up on his hands and knees; but as he did, he watches Gobber topple over the edge of the cliff, just past the clearing; eyes closed and unconscious. Stoick goes limp, but finds himself at the edge of the cliff, unable to account what just happened. Reaching down, he watches Gobber fall until he loses sight of him in the waves that crash into the rocky shore.
"Gobber!"
Behind him he hears a maniacal laughter. He whirls around and sees Hadrian, and the Whispering Death gone. Hadrian's laughing, but Stoick was too in shock to move. He can only glare with anger, hated and grief as he watches Hadrian sink into the earth, and is gone.
Snotlout and Fishlegs watch as the Changewing doubles over, breathing heavily as small drops of acid drip from its mouth. It had used up its shot limit, and now was the time to strike. It was too weak to even change color, giving the boys a chance to finish it. They swoop down and hop off their dragons. They slowly approach the dragon, weapons ready; but as they were about to deliver the final blow, the dragon's head suddenly snaps up it disappears.
"What?" Fishlegs stammers.
Suddenly, Hookfang and Meatlug are both slammed with boiling water and sent crashing into the dirt, leaving five foot deep ruts in their wake.
"Hookfang!" Snotlout cries.
But before he could even take a step toward him, the ground underneath them trembles and vibrates. A large crack twists and turns until it reaches under both boys' feet and opens wide, like a gaping monster. Both boys fall through, but Fishlegs grabs a rock nearest to the top, and Snotlout embeds his knife into the side next to Fishlegs. But suddenly, another crack snakes across and breaks apart the rock his knife is in and it crumbles and Snotlout falls into the abyss. Fishlegs squeezes his eyes shut and grits his teeth as he hears Snotlout's scream weakens more and more. He looks up and sees Hadrian, with the Scauldron, the Whispering Death and the Changewing surrounding him.
Hadrian smiles, "Be sure to give my regards to Hiccup and Astrid."
"Astrid? What did you do to her?!" Fishlegs demands.
Hadrian just keeps smiling. "This."
He then snaps his fingers and the Scauldron opens its mouth and blasts Fishlegs with its boiling water.
Hadrian flies back to the village on the Changewing only to see the place looking like a warzone. Buildings belch up black charcoal smoke and what seemed to be the Plaza had multiple spilt wheelbarrows and barrels of food, along with sacks of flour. Hadrian looks down to see the men gathered in the arena and the village Square. He lands the dragon outside the arena and walks in through the gates. Alvin and Savage were conversing with Mildew and two other soldiers. Savage is the first to notice Hadrian and taps Alvin on the shoulder. Alvin turns and smiles. They step apart and let Hadrian see the caged dragons. Hookfang, Meatlug, Stormfly and Barf and Belch.
"Where are the twins?" Hadrian asks.
"They've been placed in the dungeon sir. They await your orders of what to do with them." Savage reports.
"And what about the Night Fury?" he asks as he approaches the cages with his hands behind his back.
"It was at the house when we attacked, but then it flew off into the woods." Savage says.
"And you didn't pursue." Hadrian adds, not even looking over his shoulder to Savage.
"No sir, we assumed out position was needed here in overthrowing the village." Savage says, but beads of sweat materialize on his forehead.
"Very well. Once the village in under control, we will advance into the woods and search for the Night Fury." He says as he turns and passes Savage. Savage lets out a breath of relief. "Excellent work men. I'm impressed. I couldn't have done it without you. But, our conquest is not yet complete. The kids are down, but Stoick is still out there. Keep an eye out for him in the village. I'll go and see if he's up for a little, reunion."
With that, Hadrian snatches his bow and whip and walks off through the village and into the woods, where Stoick is most likely waiting for him. Hadrian walks the natural trail for an hour, and nothing happens. He begins to assume that Stoick had fled; even if it was off to another village, he'll be found. Hadrian even begins to play around with his bow as he approaches familiar ground. The Cove was only a few meters away.
Then suddenly, there was a rustle of leaves, and just as Hadrian looks up, Stoick springs from the trees and tackles Hadrian with a battle cry. Hadrian slides forward and front flips, out of the way, drawing his knife; blade out.
Stoick lands and rolls, coming up on his feet, fists clenched tight. "You had better have back up. You're going to need it." He snarls through grit teeth.
"Aw, what's a matter Stoick? Feeling lonely now that I've exterminated your son and friends?" Hadrian mocks.
Stoick feels his stomach tighten and churn. Astrid. Fishlegs. Gobber. Stoick's fist tightens. Hadrian takes a moment to look at Stoick. He defiantly seemed different. A look in his eyes intimidated Hadrian, and cautions him to watch it. He seems rather, unstable. Probably processing all that he's lost. But he was going down no matter what.
"You really should've known better than to have two dope-headed twins guard your village." Hadrian says. "And just wait until you see what I'll do with the dragons, 'cause I certainly don't need them."
Suddenly, Stoick tackles Hadrian and bends his arm behind his back, but Hadrian doesn't scream. It hurts, but Hadrian would never give Stoick the satisfaction of knowing he has him under control.
"It's one thing to have a grudge with my son, and you can even involve me. But what did the villagers ever do to make you want to attack them?" Stoick hisses.
"They know you." Hadrian growls, and suddenly, the Whispering Death bursts from the ground, separating them.
Hadrian flips midair and lands on his feet sliding to a stop. He looks over the dragon and sees Stoick get up. "I'll give you one last chance to surrender." He says in a deep raspy voice.
"Don't make me laugh." Hadrian smiles while the dragon steps back off to the side.
Stoick charges and throws multiple punches towards Hadrian's face. Hadrian crosses his wrists, making an X to block the attacks. Then Hadrian goes for his own punch, and an uppercut, Stoick dodging both. Then when he goes for a punch, Stoick steps to the side, letting Hadrian's momentum carry him over, and Stoick grabs around his waist and chucks him forward. Hadrian turns and lands on his feet, in a clean cut landing.
Hadrian then runs up and fakes left whirling around and slamming his foot flat on Stoick's chest. Stoick slides back and wobbles, but pushes himself up to regain his balance. Then Hadrian comes in for the attack, and Stoick simply mimics his block of the face. After Stoick dodges, he sees a chance and grabs Hadrian's wrist. Hadrian's eyes widen for a moment before spinning him in a circle and pinning him to the trunk of an oak.
"You will pay for taking my son, and you will pay for the destruction you have caused!" he yells.
"And just how do you propose to do that?! I got what I wanted, and you and your 'Vikings' fell for my trap too easily!" Hadrian counters.
"What do you mean? You merely wanted to separate us!" Stoick growls.
"So you think." Hadrian corrects with a twisted smile. He hisses through the pain. "True, I did want to separate you to divide and conquer, but you left you village without your protection. You left them in the hands of the twins."
Suddenly, Hadrian twists his wrist and spins and pins Stoick in the same position. "They may be warriors, but you'd be surprised at how lost they can be without a leader!"
Stoick screams and goes for a head-but back, but Hadrian swerves and loosens his grip on Stoick's wrists. Stoick fake punches him and jumps back, and in an instant, the Whispering Death comes out of the ground with Hadrian standing on its head. They rise up high, towering over Stoick. Stoick turns and runs, but Hadrian and the dragon pursue forward, the dragon shooting its spines from its body.
Stoick jumps back and forth and quickly jumps, turns and tosses an explosive at the dragon. It bursts with a bright light and stuns the dragon, making fall to the ground, and Hadrian tumbling. The dragon's head falls to his side. Hadrian grits his teeth and forces himself up, rubbing his arm which took the first hit of the fall.
"You're a part of my son, which means you don't belong with the Outcasts. You can do better." Stoick says.
"Ha! You don't know anything about me." Hadrian snaps. And the Whispering Death shoots more of its spines.
Stoick brings out his sword and runs toward Hadrian, slicing and knocking any spines that hurdle toward him. Then after leaping over the Whispering Death – knocking the hilt of his sword at its head in the process - he tosses his sword to his left hand and sucker punches Hadrian with his right. Hadrian skips backwards on his back, and landing on his side. He hugs his ribs and turns on his back to see the point of Stoick's sword inches from his heart.
"You could be one of us, Hadrian. You were a part of Hiccup, you should have some sympathy inside your twisted, butter soul." Stoick preaches.
"Ha, very funny. I'm made up of every negative emotion and feeling Hiccup ever had, while it wasn't much, it was enough." Hadrian says.
"You cared once." Stoick points out.
"That was when I was still in development." Hadrian counters. "And now that I'm entirely my own being, I have no sympathy for you, or any of your soldiers. Face it Stoick, there's nothing you can say to get me to change. I'm a sociopath."
Then Hadrian knocks away Stoick's sword with his knife and a sudden hot blast of water slams into Stoick's chest, sending him flying back. He first lands on his hands, then pushes off and lands on his feet. The earth starts to rumble beneath him. He looks up and sees Hadrian on his feet, the Scauldron behind him and the Whispering Death's rut in sight.
"If you think you had the slightest chance of 'rescuing' me you you're dead wrong." Hadrian says, biting off every syllable.
Sharp rock pillars erupt from the ground, and Stoick hops back left and right on each foot. The Scauldron sprays a heavy, and powerful mist, blowing back Stoick's fur cape.
"I wanted to be this way. I wanted to go to the Outcasts." He says, his voice rising. "And I wanted to annihilate you and your pathetic village!"
Hadrian leaps forward, and with the blade of his knife out, he slices back and forth at Stoick's arms, beck and face. Stoick goes for a punch, but Hadrian hop and slams his feet into Stoick's chest, and pushing off, flips back. A heavy sized boulder, shot from the Whispering Death flies toward Stoick, slamming into him and crashing into the woods, knocking over three trees. As Hadrian walks closer, the Whispering Death and the Scauldron switch between rock and water attacks; Stoick doesn't even have the timing to get to his hands and knees. With one final rock thrown from the Whispering Death, Stoick's hit back and slamming his spine into the ground, leaving with little breath. He stretches his eyes open and sees Hadrian walk up and stand over him.
"And now, I'll never have to see your face, ever again." Hadrian gives Stoick one final, evil smile before snapping his fingers, and the Whispering Death dives down onto Stoick.
Stoick's chief helmet slides across the floor of the arena, and stops just at Alvin's foot. Alvin looks to it in shock and slowly picks it up, staring at it.
"I, I can't believe it." He stammers.
"Hm, well believe it boys, because it's happening."
Hadrian's voice carries as he walks up to the stage outside the arena, where the chief's chair awaits. Two men stand guard and the Outcast men gather around it, and in the arena.
"You see gentlemen, now that you belong to me," He turns and sits in the chief's chair, crosses his legs and intertwines his fingers.
"Berk belongs to us."