Hiccup cuts and stitches leather, draws, and shapes steel. He works by candlelight. An overhead shot reveals what he's building: a harness, complete with handles and foot pedals.
"You made that for Toothless in under one night." Mindin said
"Yeah that was my first prototype saddle I made for Toothless." Hiccup said
Hiccup appears before Toothless, holding the new prosthetic. Toothless runs off as Hiccup chases him down.
Hiccup: Hey!
"It took me nearly the whole day to get it on him." Hiccup said
Toothless and Hiccup are zooming over the ocean. The tail breaks free sending Hiccup flying.
Hiccup: Yeah! Whoa!
Hiccup adjusts the harness and uses a metal clamp to affix himself to Toothless' saddle.
"With every fail I would go back to the forge where I would upgrade it so I can control Toothless tail fin better." Hiccup said
Hiccup and Toothless zip through the air - his rudimentary harness and tail controls are working, barely. They crashland in an open field. Hiccup recovers to find Toothless still rolling around in the tall grass. Hiccup discovers that it's a patch of 'dragonnip.' Toothless writhes on his back, tongue wagging, in complete bliss.
"I found the Dragon Nip on accident since I didn't know it was on the island or what it was." Hiccup said
Hiccup grabs the head as instructed, then discreetly pulls a fistful of 'dragon-nip' and presses it up to the Gronkle's nose. It immediately stops struggling and goes weak in the knees. Hiccup drops the handful of dragon-nip to the ground. The Gronkle goes down with it, whimpering and blissful. From Gobber and the recruits' point of view, Hiccup is controlling the Gronkle with no more than a limp arm.
"No wonder people called you the Dragon Conqueror, Dragon Master, or Dragon Trainer." Gary said
The recruits walk home together, surrounding Hiccup and bombarding him with questions.
Fishlegs: Hey Hiccup, I've never seen a Gronkle to that before.
"No wonder you haven't seen it before because you always kill them." Mala said
Tuffnut How'd you do that?
You'll learn it in the future." Hiccup said
Ruffnut: It was really cool.
"Thank you." Hiccup said
He squirms and invents an excuse.
You really didn't like the attention." Heather said
Hiccup: I left my axe back in the ring.
"But you didn't have an axe back then, man where we stupid." Fishlegs said
He turns and hurries back.
Hiccup: You guys go on ahead and I'll catch up with you.
Astrid watches, suspicious.
"How come Astrid was the only one getting suspicious and no one else?" Atali asked
Hiccup rubs Toothless behind the ear, causing him to relax and fall over.
An angry Deadly Nadder approaches Hiccup. Just as Astrid moves in to strike, Hiccup performs his special rubbing technique, which sends the Nadder down. Astrid and the other kids look on from the sideline in amazement.
"Seriously how did none of you get suspicious that the Hiccup was raising up the ranks very fast and the only one who was, was Astrid." Atali said
"They Vikings, they stupid." Mindin said
"Oh yeah, your right." Atali said
Hiccup sits down at a table to eat. The other recruits notice him and move over to his table to talk to him - leaving Astrid alone.
Fishlegs: Hey Hiccup!
Snotlout: What was that? Some kind of trick? What did you do?
"It wasn't a trick, I was training as Gobber told us to." Hiccup said
Tuffnut: Hiccup, you're totally going to come in first, there's no question.
Hiccup is using a mirror-like object to create a patch of light on the ground. Toothless claws and chases the light patch like a cat chasing a laser pointer.
"Toothless is just like a cat." Hiccup said.
"Aren't all dragons just like that?" Gary asked
"Nope Stormfly is just like a bird and the others I have no idea." Hiccup said
A beam lifts from the door of another dragon pen.
Gobber: Meet the Terrible Terror.
A tiny, pint-sized dragon steps out and moves toward the recruits.
Tuffnut: Ha. It's like the size of my-
"I guess even the Dragon doesn't like what you were going to say." Heather said
Tuffnut is taken down in a blur.
Tuffnut: Get it off! Get it off! Oh! I'm hurt, I am very much hurt!
"There's the famous catchphrase again." Gary said with a smile
Hiccup stops the Terrible Terror with the same light-patch trick he used earlier with Toothless. The tiny dragon retreats back to it's cage. The teens approach him yet again as Astrid looks on with suspicion.
"Maybe they have cat DNA in them." Fishlegs said
"I'm not going to say anything about this." Atali said
Tuffnut (to Astrid): Wow, he's better than you ever were.
"That's a stupid thing to say, she could have punched you onto your butt." Heather said
Astrid furiously hurls her axe at a nearby tree. She notices Hiccup walking by in the distance, carrying one of his trademark harnesses. She quickly tries to follow, but he loses her in the woods. She huffs, frustrated.
"I was hiding behind the rock just out of your sight." Hiccup said
Hiccup straps a newly designed harness onto Toothless. With Toothless tied to a nearby post with a rope. Hiccup rides him in the air - while stationary. Toothless looks like a giant kite tied to a tree stump. This harness seems to work.
"Are doing a cheatsheet on different tail positions?" Mindin asked
"Yeah, I needed to know how they work before I went flying high in the sky." Hiccup said
The rope breaks and the pair crash into a tree. Hiccup's face is red.
Hiccup: Oh, great.
"How are you going to get out of this one Hiccup?" Mala asked
"You'll see." Hiccup said
The streets are empty save for a lone Viking who crosses Hiccup's path.
"You brought Toothless into Berk where they killed dragons, are you nuts." Mala said
"It was easy hiding Toothless since it was dark and he blended in perfectly." Hiccup said
Viking: Hiccup.
Hiccup nods, trying to look casual. Once the coast is clear, he covertly steers Toothless into the Blacksmith's stall.
"What if the guard turned around and saw you walking with Toothless?" Atali asked
"That wouldn't happen since I have been watching their guard patrols since I was young and it hasn't charged ever." Hiccup said
Toothless presses himself inside, rooting through stuff and making a racket. Astrid, walking nearby, is alerted.
"Could this be where Astrid finds out Hiccup's secret." Atali said
Astrid: Hiccup?
Hiccup freezes. Then frantically tries to pry the ring off the saddle hook. It won't budge.
Astrid: Are you in there?
On Astrid walking along the outside of the Blacksmith's. Hiccup jumps out the window and closes the shutters behind him. Hiccup's harness line is stretched through the window, still attached to Toothless' saddle.
"This is going to be good." Mindin said as Atali nodded her head
Hiccup: Astrid. Hey! Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid.
"Not suspicious at all." Atali said
Astrid: I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well, weirder.
Toothless spots a nearby sheep and makes a move toward it. As a result, Hiccup is suddenly pulled tight against the window shutters. He strikes a pose to compensate... then gets pulled through the shutters. They snap back in Astrid's face. Astrid reopens them and finds nothing but an empty stall. In the distance, Toothless and Hiccup slip off unseen.
"That made me even more suspicious on what secret you were hiding." Astrid said
A lone, battered ship is pulled into a slip, overloaded with equally battered-looking men. They disembark to a crowd of onlookers, looking like a team of hometown heroes who just had their butts kicked.
"They use to have three ships to find the nest, now they got one returning back to berk." Gary said
Gobber hobbles through the mumbling crowd to find Stoick - last to disembark and glowering with battered pride.
Viking: Where are the other ships?
Spitelout: You don't want to know.
Stoick lumbers past Gobber, leaving him staring at the trashed ship.
Gobber: Well, I trust you found the nest at least?
Stoick: Not even close.
Gobber: Ah. Excellent.
Gobber follows Stoick up the ramp and snags his duffle bag with his hook appendage, sharing the burden.
Stoick: I hope you had a little more success than me.
Gobber: Well, if by success, you mean that your parenting troubles are over with, then... yes.
"Gobber that sounds like I died with the way you said it." Hiccup said
Stoick stops. What does that mean? A group of merry villagers rush past.
Viking #1: Congratulations Stoick! Everyone is so relieved.
Viking #2: Out with the old and in with the new, right?!
Viking #3: No one will miss that old nuisance!
Viking #4: The village is throwing a party to celebrate!
"Are they celebrating that Hiccup died or his raised in Dragon Training?" Atali asked
"I'm guessing they celebrating that the old Hiccup has died and celebrating the new Hiccup victory in Dragon Training." Mindin said
Stoick is stunned, overwhelmed by the insensitivity. He turns to Gobber.
Stoick: He's... gone?
"The way dad said that, he popularly thought I was actually dead." Hiccup said
Gobber: Yeah...most afternoons. But who can blame him? I mean the life of a celebrity is very rough. He can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by his new fans.
Stoick is doubly confused.
Stoick: Hiccup?
"No your other son that you are proud of." Hiccup sarcastically said
Gobber (beaming): Who would've thought, eh? He has this...way with the beasts.
"Not a way with them I was learning from them knowing what they like or not like." Hiccup said