With the first light of the dawn, the gang flew aimlessly in search for the missing Hiccup. Their destination was south of Edge. They flew non-stop for hours, passing many islands and villages, by midday they were only half the way to the edge.
"Astrid, I'm sure Hiccup is O.K., but let's just suppose that something happened to him," Ruffnut said. Astrid turned to her. "Let's suppose for one second he was caught. Don't you think he could be anywhere in Archipelago by now. It's been a week. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack!" Ruffnut complained, and Tuffnut nodded in agreement.
"We still have to search; we can't give up before we even start!" Astrid replied, frustrated.
"Right," Fishlegs agreed with Astrid. "But what happened to Toothless? He's one of the fastest and strongest dragons in the Archipelago."
"Guys, don't exaggerate things. Hiccup is now a hero and a legend, but he's still the same old Hiccup , the Hiccup who's always late and in the back," Snotlout interfered from behind the group.
The gang continued flying in silence until they reached the Edge and then turned south, to where Hiccup had planned to go.
"This is a waste of time," Snotlout complained after a while of fruitless work. They had stopped to rest on a small isle. "If Hiccup was caught, I doubt he would have been taken on a small island. It was probably a big island, full of enemies and battleships. That's the last you would expect for a Viking his ranking and place in the Archipelago to be in," Snotlout said matter-of-factly.
"Snotlout is right, catching Hiccup and Toothless would need a huge Armada and a jail to keep them in, too…get back in the air." Astrid ordered. The riders mounted their dragons and flew on.
"We'll keep going south. Look for anything suspicious that moves on islands, like ships. We'll have too split up into two groups to cover all the ocean, so we will meet back in the Edge two hours from now. Understood?" There was a chorus of agreement. Snotlout went with the twins, and Astrid joined Fishlegs. The two teams went their separate ways.
Snotlout and the twins flew and, as always, argued all the way. They stopped two times on deserted islands for Snotlout and Tuffnut to settle their arguments physically, and that, of course, made them forget all about their mission.
"Didn't Astrid tell us to meet them back at the Edge by now?" Ruffnut, who was enjoying watching the two boys fight, pointed out. The two teens stopped immediately.
"Has it been two hours already?!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"It felt like five minutes!" Tuffnut followed as the three of them mounted back on their dragons and headed for the Edge, their quarrel forgotten
"We'll continue this later Tuff! I'm not done with you yet!" Snotlout warned the blonde boy who just stared back bluntly.
They continued flying until Ruffnut spotted something odd on the waters.
"Ah…guys?! Does that ship look familiar?" she said pointing toward the object in question.
"Dragon hunters!" Tuffnut was delighted.
"But what they are doing on these waters? I thought they retreated east..." Snotlout wondered.
"I don't know, but we could ask them," Ruffnut suggested and a huge smirk formed on the twins faces. By asking, she meant after destroying their ship and burning it until it sunk to the bottom of the ocean, of course.
"You hit the left and I'll bomb the right," Snotlout ordered as they hovered above the ship. Then they attacked the ship. The dragons were shot at with arrows and nets, but they managed to dodge them, spewing forth fire. Finally, they succeeded in taking over the ship. There were only a hunters on board, and Snotlout was confused by this.
…
Back at the Edge, Astrid and Fishlegs waited for a whole hour for the other three riders to appear. When they didn't, Fishlegs started worrying that something bad happened, but Astrid was absolutely positive nothing happened.
"I made a mistake, sending those three together. They're probably all resting resting a sunny island, working on their tans," she stated, matter-of-factly. Fishlegs saw her point.
"We should go get them. Only Thor knows how long they'll stay," Fishlegs suggested. They remounted their dragons.
"You're right," Astrid agreed. "We need to regroup to make a new plan as soon as possible." They flew in the direction the twins and Snotlout were assigned to.
After nearly half an hour flying, a ship appeared on the horizon, and on top of it was what looked like a red Monstrous Nightmare and a green hideous Zippleback.
Astrid and Fishlegs hovered above the ship and made sure the two dragons belonged to their friends. As soon as it was confirmed, Astrid jumped off Stormfly in mid-air landed on the deck.
"Snotlout!" Astrid called out.
"Oh, Astrid! Just in the right time. Come on in." Snotlout appeared from under the deck and invited her bellow. Astrid and Fishlegs followed, leaving their dragons outside to stand guard.
"Guess who we did found." Snotlout challenged, excited.
"Snotlout, this is a hunters' ship."
"Exactly! We found some hunters who weren't supposed to be around her." Snotlout was practically skipping along the dark rooms under the deck "I thought they must know something so I -brilliantly, I might add- caught them!" Snotlout said as he entered the last room, and inside were few tied hunters with bruises all over their bodies.
"Thor! Snotlout, what did you do to them?" Astrid exclaimed.
"I asked them politely if they knew anything about Hiccup, but they insisted on staying silent, so I politely asked the twins to ask them impolitely, but yet they didn't talk. Since you're here, they'll talk eventually."
Astrid glared at him then approached one of the hunters "Do you know what happened to Hiccup of Berk?" Astrid asked. The hunter didn't say anything or show any sign of being cognative.
"Snotlout! Would you mind waiting on the deck for a moment? Things are going to get real ugly around here," she sweetly asked Snotlout. He turned to leave with a smirk.
"A little advice: talk soon before you lose anything," Snotlout told the hunters before leaving.
Snotlout went back to the deck and found twins, as always, bothering Fishlegs.
"Where's Astrid?" Fishlegs asked Snotlout.
"She's...ah…extracting information! Ready yourselves, 'cause it won't take long," Snotlout said as he mounted Hookfang. He was right; it didn't take long, andAstrid soon returned and mounted Stormfly.
"I have Hiccup and Toothless' location. Unfortunately, they were separated, so we need to split up." The other riders nodded.
"Fishlegs! You go with the twins." Fishlegs wasn't happy with this arrangement, and wanted to change teams, but the look on Astrid's face told him the answer was going to be a no. She continued pointing to various locations on her map. "We are here. Toothless is being transferred to their base on this island."
"But that island is out the Archipelago!" Fishlegs protested.
"I know, so you have to stop it before they reach the smog barrier," she said and Fishlegs nodded.
"Snotlout, you come with me!" she directed before the fiver riders ascended to the sky, each going their own way.