We walked into the arena, side by side.

We could see the cages that AIs were in around the sides of the ring, huge doors keeping them inside. I moved up to a door, CAE in one hand. Richard moved up beside me. We exchanged a meaningful look.

Friends.

Richard nodded to behind him, and I followed his gaze. Fish, Astrid, Ruff, and Tuff were all standing there.

"I explained everything, and they were actually pretty eager to help." Richard said. "I guess not everyone hates us, huh?" He smiled at them.

So did I.

Astrid came forward. "So you know these things, huh? You can make them nice? This, I got to see."

Fish gave a bounce of excitement. "Reprogramming them opens up tons of possibilities! Imagine what things we could do!"

Ruff and Tuff exchanged a look. "We were promised destruction." They said in sync.

I smiled. "Thank you all, I know I'm not a great..."

Richard held up a hand. "Let's just do this. Together."

He put a hand down. The others joined, one at a time. Astrid was only a little hesitant. She obviously wanted to help. I stared at them. And put my hand in the circle. It felt cool.

One by one, we trained and reprogrammed all the AI we could use to get to the surface.

One that could climb walls and shoot spikes for Astrid.

One with two heads, only one of which could talk for the twins. It could also fly, and had quite a knack for destruction.

Another with quite a personality for Fish. It was somewhat slow, but seemed to be very willing to help.

And one that could even act as a flamethrower for Richard. I would ride with him until I could free Toothless.

A bonus was most of the AI could fly.

As a team, we moved out, Richard and me in the lead. The others followed easily. We moved up the path toward the surface. As we broke the surface, we saw the terrible sight that had been awaiting us.

The entire village. Fighting an army of AI.

And losing.

I motioned to the others. "Alright, we have to act fast. Richard will help me find Toothless, then he'll join you. What I want you to do is this. Help whoever you can on our side, get the AI's away from them. Fish, you're trained partially in medicine, right? Help whoever you can. Ruff and Tuff? Blow stuff up."

They all nodded. We moved forward as one, beginning our tasks.

Whether we won or not.

After a short flyover, I spotted Toothless, struggling wildly against his chains on the side of the battle. "There!"

Richard had his AI fly low, and I jumped off. "Go help the others!"

The thinness of the air was already getting to me. Richard nodded and went off to help the others. I began to fight against the chains Toothless was being held by, although I had no idea what I would do, exactly.

"Am I glad to see you." Toothless said. He looked relieved.

"Me too." I struggled against the chains, getting more tired every second.

"Hiccup."

I whipped around to see my dad. He was badly hurt on his side, a deep scratch on his face, he was limping. He held a light in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry. I've been a fool. I should have listened to you." He was beginning to cry, clutching his side. "Even after how I treated you, you still came... not just for your AI, I can tell. I... I'm proud to call you my son."

I ran forward and grabbed him before he could collapse. I spotted Fish, helping someone. He looked busy.

I was scared.

"Dad? I'm sorry too. I'm sorry for not telling you about Toothless earlier, I'm sorry for not being the son you wanted."

He began to lie down on the dirt surface, breathing becoming hard. "Son? You.. have nothing... to be sorry for." His eyes began to close. "Richard was... right. I... was so... wrong. You're... a genius." I hugged him.

I wondered if this was our last conversation.

I turned to Toothless. "Can you use your fire?"

His eyes widened. "Not on the chains. I'll burn myself in the process."

"I don't mean on the chains." I began to gently half carry my father to Toothless. To help him. "Stop him from bleeding. If you burn it, it won't bleed anymore."

Toothless nodded and did so with a light burn. My dad let out a pained groan. Someone came over to me. Astrid.

"Take care of him!" I grabbed his sword as Astrid nodded. I cut Toothless's chains and we took off.

Most of the village had fled back underground. I could see Fish joining Astrid next to my dad. Richard and the twins flew up to me.

"What now? It seems like it's over?" Richard glanced around.

As did I.

There was no hostile AI in sight.

A few people being carried by their comrades toward the underground, my dad being tended to, but nothing hostile.

Not even the supercomputer.

Which, I realized with a shudder, had been right here.

But wasn't anymore.

This wasn't over yet.