The next chapter in my story begins three years later. Peace is here. All the AI we have encountered are friendly. Our village is a wonderful place, humans and AI working together in harmony. All of them have CAEs, but only Toothless has been truly able to feel love, as far as I can tell. He's also the only one who can feel pain. I still can't find the reason he's so different.

But am I complaining? No.

So, we started a plan to inhabit the surface again a year ago. With help from AI, we repopulated the plants on the surface, and slowly, they began to help the air. Six months later, we started building a surface village. Now, we are successfully living on the surface, seeing the sun each day. It's far from perfect, but it's wonderful. I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Other underground colonies have done the same, colonizing the surface. Berserk, Embersight, and Outcast are our closest neighbors.

The Berserkers are nice enough, I suppose, but they sure live up to their name.

Outcasts are a band of banished people from other villages. They are to be avoided, mostly. They are all either machine creators and reprogrammers with bad intentions, or have some other reason to be banished. They are all quite bitter at their former villages. One such is Alvin the Treacherous. And he earned his name. He was from our village, I remember his banishment. I had been six at the time, and hadn't known that I would come so close to having the same fate. Alvin was my father's friend from a long time ago. They are both quote bitter at each other.

As for Embersight? They keep to themselves. They are mostly a tribe of peace. I don't know how they survived the long years of war. Perhaps they sealed the caves to their village? But how they learned of the war's end I'll never know.

So Berk has moved to the surface. We live among some mountains and hills. Our problems are far from over, but conditions have improved. Morale is up. People are happy. Families are staying together and not dying nearly as much. A couple of them are even expecting additions. I'm happy with Toothless, Richard, and my flute. Not to mention my new circle of friends, Fish, Ruff, Tuff, Astrid, Richard, and me. And our AI partners.

And my leg is much better now. I can walk, run, and even do flips without much pain at all. Perhaps a sting here and there, and on colder nights, it really aches. But not as often as it used to. I've forgotten most of the pain. I'm living a normal one legged life. Heck, I even crack jokes about it sometimes now, when in the past I would have winced if someone looked at it.

After a while, me and Toothless started to map the area. We extended further and further out, exploring every nook and cranny, repairing AI's that we find. It's like our quest now. And for another year after, that's the way it was.

Until something new arose.

Berserkers and Outcasts, we can handle. The Outcasts ignored us for a month or two after recolonization. They were interested in the CAEs and kidnapped me a couple of times. The Berserker leader, Deranged himself, tried to get Toothless as his mount. He soon regretted trying.

The new threat was whispers of war. An army.

A man named Viggo Grimborn. Allied with a man named Drago Bludvist.

I can tell you, they sounded like a couple of complete dears by their names. I was no longer upset with being called "Hiccup". I bet these two wanted to slap their mothers.

The whispers began to grow louder as months went by. From whispers to murmurs.

Until, my father heard of these men.

I remember his face.

I stared up at him, horror and anguish on his face. He knew who these men were. And he wouldn't tell me from where. I watched his haunted face as he turned to go elsewhere.

I was confused and scared. I did not want everything I had worked for to be destroyed. I had no real idea of what to do, but I wouldn't let anything happen to Toothless.

So I left to go find these men.

Richard followed me, riding Inferno, and we left.

We found a destroyed base. I nodded to Richard and we landed to look around. Toothless looked around and froze.

"I don't like this place. Let's get out of here."

Before we could move, nets flew at us, catching me, Richard, Toothless and Inferno in a few moments. Inferno struggled, looking around for our attackers. Toothless was growling dangerously.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" An obnoxious voice caught my attention.

I was forced to my feet by a couple of rough hands. I glanced around and saw Richard, being held by some men as I was. We were being forced to stare at a tall, muscly man with tattoos on his chin and wearing furs. Toothless and Inferno struggled behind us.

"A couple of riffraff AI thieves? Well, finally we've caught you. Or are there more of you?"

I shook my head. "I'm not a thief. And neither is he. And who are you?"

The man bowed. "Oh, where are my manners? Eret, son of Eret. Finest AI killer alive. I can hunt them, too. And I do so with accuracy. Until do gooder AI thieves come in and take everything I work for. Especially him. The King of AI. The vigilante. The tamer. The rider. I've been hunting him for years. He's Drago's worst enemy."

I blinked. "What do-gooder..." I started. "There are other AI reprogrammers?"

"Other than your thieving friend from last night, you tell me?" Eret said, being cryptic.

I rolled my eyes. "So, you know Drago?"

Eret and the men around him laughed. "Know him? I work for him! And now I have a huge mess to explain to him." He motioned to the blasted fort around him.

I shrugged. "That's not my problem. It's yours. Now. Let us go, and this fort won't suffer any more damage than it already has."

Eret bristled. "Is that a threat?"

I shook my head. "My friend doesn't like it when I get tied up and thrown around. He tends to get a little testy."

He might have thought I was talking about Richard. But I was referring to the restless and very irritated Toothless behind me. Although, when tested, Richard was found to be very... testy about me coming to harm as well.

Eret snorted. "I think I can handle two small thieves and their pathetic AI."

I smirked. "Light em up, Inferno! Toothless, get us out!"

Inferno lit himself on fire with a roar, the same time Toothless threw all the men and the net off of him. Richard twisted from the grip put on him with ease, his strength let him do it easily, people who didn't know him could easily underestimate him due to his thinness. He then punched someone in the face and pulled out a knife. Inferno leaped next to him, Toothless got to me, and in seconds, we were side by side and ready to go for it.

Eret looked impressed. He was eyeing Toothless with a hungry look.

I got onto my friend's back. I raised an eyebrow at Eret. "How's that? Surely we're not still pathetic."

He looked quite a bit frustrated now.

The four of us took off and continued our new quest to stop Drago Bludvist and his army. And of course, Viggo Grimborn, who was probably the brains of the operation.

I was more determined than ever.