Viggo and Thunderstorm spent the next several days flying west, searching for any signs of Berk's dragons they could find, but their search quickly began seeming impossible. The whole western direction from Berk didn't do much to narrow their search radius, and despite Thunderstorm's great sense of smell he wasn't a Tracker Class dragon, he couldn't possibly track scent trails between islands like a rumblehorn could.

So instead, they had to use their other senses as they carefully searched over each island, searching for signs of fires, either Viking or dragon-made, any sort of debris left behind, anything. But they couldn't find anything that could just have easily been left by one dragon rather than hundreds. The Berkians and their dragons were doing an excellent job at covering their tracks, Viggo couldn't help but be impressed, it was practically like trying to track a flock of invisible changewings.

But one thing they could find was the Warlords' fleet traveling steadily westward as well, but by the looks of things they weren't having any better luck hunting down their quarry than Viggo was. He and Thunderstorm always made sure to give any ships they saw a wide berth. Whether they could tell Thunderstorm had a rider, who knew, Viggo knew that these were the kind of hunters who would shoot first, ask questions later.

Viggo had also once caught a glimpse of Grimmel, flying on some sort of airship or mobile hunting platform carried by four deathgrippers with two more flying along beside it. He and Thunderstorm had immediately retreated into the clouds when he caught sight of the magnificent creation, oh how he wished he could see it up close, but just like anything else, that was a foolhardy wish if he were to ever go through with it. It was both awe-inspiring but also a bit terrifying because, unlike Hiccup's many inventions, this was something that used dragons, not to bring them closer to people, but to use dragons against other dragons.

But watching as the four deathgrippers seemed to fly endlessly without tiring even with their heavy load made Viggo question even more just how in the world had Grimmel managed to tame such beasts. Maybe it was just whatever he had done to train them, but when they had briefly fought on Berk, Viggo had felt unnerved by the dragons because like many others they were intelligent, but only focused on two goals. Killing, and serving their master.

With no clear signs of the Berkians still, Viggo decided to lay low for a few days on a nearby island that was abandoned once again after both the warlords and himself had examined it for any signs of the Berkians. He figured as long as the fleet was here, it wasn't wherever Valka was, and that was all the good news he needed for now.

But after a few days of watching the fleet at a standstill around an island a few miles away from his outpost, Viggo could see several detachments of ships beginning to sail off in multiple directions. Viggo watched them carefully, after a few hours there was still no sign of Grimmel's flying fortress in the sky, and the fleet had split into four distinct groups, one group remaining on the island they were currently docked around, one heading straight west, one headed southwest, and one northwest. But it was the northwest fleet that made him nervous. He did some calculations in his head as he tried to picture where they were. And his worst fears were right. If those ships continued on their current heading for a week, they could arrive close enough to Hailstar's island, and by now, his icy nest could be seen from miles away at sea on a clear day. And these warriors would know exactly what that meant, a King of Dragons was waiting for them.

That couldn't be allowed to happen under any circumstances. Hailstar was still Viggo's responsibility to protect even if he was his Alpha, Viggo wouldn't break his oath. Viggo had little doubt the flock could defend itself, but at what cost was the question. And this time when he thought about all the dragons…all his dragons. It was no longer a game of maces and talons. He wouldn't willingly give up a single piece. He glanced at the fleet moving due west, Hiccup and Valka were out there somewhere, but he had to trust they could take care of themselves.

Even though his dragons would be facing only a quarter of the fleet, it was still huge. He needed to be there, for his dragons. For his flock. "Thunderstorm," Viggo called out, bringing the situation to Thunderstorm's attention. "I'm fairly certain that we're about three days' flight from the compound. For those ships, it should be about a week if they don't stop. Do you agree?"

Thunderstorm glanced up at the sky for a few moments and then nodded his head.

"We need to get back and prepare for battle because look at all those cages. From what I gather, Grimmel is supposed to capture or kill Toothless for them, and then the warlords will either use Toothless or his death as an opportunity to capture Berk's entire flock. And given the number of cages on those ships alone, they are more than adequately prepared to imprison our entire flock. We need to get back and get everyone ready. Do you understand?"

Thunderstorm nodded and growled, letting a few sparks travel across his back.

"I know, I wish we could help Hiccup and Valka, but our flock needs us. I know we can find them eventually. Even if we need to find the Hidden World ourselves." Viggo promised him. And so seeing the threat they made a wide arc around the fleet heading north to avoid a confrontation right now, and then flew as quickly as they could back home.

Three days later they arrived back on the island, just like always Viggo and Thunderstorm first reported everything they had learned to Hailstar and his other lieutenants.

When their report was complete, Hailstar made a strange motion to Viggo, he roared something to all the dragons that they understood and made them look to him as well, before he carefully raised one of his legs to lightly tap Viggo against the chest.

"What? What is it?" Viggo asked, "I don't understand what you want me to do Hailstar."

Hailstar roared again and then bowed his head down in a submissive gesture to Viggo, and the group of dragons around him all bowed their heads as well.

"Wait, do you want me to lead the flock in the battle?"

Hailstar nodded, Viggo could hear the humming of his mental orders, and he swore he understood the message that he was the only one who knew how to fight humans effectively.

"Alright, I'll do it. I'll lead and protect them, and you, my Alpha, until the danger has passed and you will take command once again." Viggo agreed. When he turned around, he was surprised to see that every dragon in the nest had walked up behind him, all looking at him trustingly.

Viggo swallowed nervously, this whole time he had only ever thought of the flock as an ever-growing family, but he could see every single dragon was willing to fight to defend their flockmates, their Alpha, and their home. Now they were looking for him to leadership. This wouldn't be the first time he commanded an army, but he knew this one was unlike any other force he had led before. Because this one wasn't fueled by greed, or pay, or fear. This army, this flock, this family, was fueled by the fire in their hearts.

"Dragons!" Viggo called out, "I don't know how much the Alpha has told you, but a massive fleet could be here within days, they are part of the remains of Drago Bludvist's forces. As far as I could tell they have no dragons imprisoned or serving them anymore since Toothless freed them from Drago's Alpha's control. It is quite a formidable force that is specifically designed to trap and conquer dragons. But I am confident, that all of you here are some of the fiercest, loyal, and brave dragons I have ever known. I have done my best to get to know every one of you when you joined us. Whoever these people think they are, no matter what goals they think they can accomplish, I have complete confidence that their supposed path to victory through Grimmel the Grisly will end when they reach our shores. Who will fly with me into battle?"

All around Viggo, the nest erupted into roars echoing into the sky coming from every dragon.

"Good, let's get to work." Viggo grinned and climbed atop Thunderstorm's saddle.

The first thing he did was organize all the dragons into fire teams. Over the past year, he had kept careful track of every new addition to their flock with a census of his own. So he knew exactly how many dragons of each species they had which made this part of the job easier, but it still took most of the day and when sunset came he told Hailstar and Firestorm to lead the flock out on a fishing trip for the night while he retired to his cave to start coming up with a battle plan.

On his bookshelf, he had another important resource from his dragon hunting days. He had kept a detailed journal of every battle he or his hunters had faced off against the riders. To think he had spent months trying to work out their strategies before Hiccup could come up with new ones and ways to avoid defeat that only ever grew more common against him. His records and his experience had given him immeasurable value and assuming the fleet of ships sailing ever closer to them weren't too heavily prepared to fight dragons led by a human mind, he had several strategies he thought could work. And they should since the fleet was built when they received all their dragons from trappers like Eret, so therefore the ships should be designed for war against other humans instead of dragons. Viggo hated the fact that so much of this plan hinged on the hopeful fact that his enemy wouldn't have gronckle iron ships as he had used, but he could admit he couldn't prepare for every eventuality.

He worked long into the night constructing his battle plan, when he finally dimmed his candle to head to bed, Thunderstorm had long since curled up on his stone to sleep. Viggo just smiled and went to his bed to retire for the night, but he could still feel his mind whirring away going over possibilities even as he rested.

The next day Viggo did his best to train each fire team of dragons in exactly what he needed them to do during the battle. Everything he did, Thunderstorm or one of the other leaders was with him, and he could trust that they understood him, but for many of the dragons, the saying no plan survives first contact kept replaying in his mind.

Despite the apparent success many of the teams had in their practice drills and attack runs, Viggo's greatest fear was that something would go wrong in the battle and all would be lost. He could of course stay near Hailstar the entire time and use him to direct the battle, but that wasn't going to work for his plans, both Thunderstorm and Hailstar had very important parts to play, so that wouldn't be able to happen. All he could do was hope that his predictions reigned true and hopefully he could avoid as few casualties as possible. That was also a new experience for him, leading a large-scale battle where he was unwilling to accept any losses. The main part of his strategy was designed so that no single dragon or team would be without support, and he wanted to overwhelm the enemy as quickly as possible until they surrendered or sunk into the sea.

Viggo also felt a small shred of remorse. This enemy couldn't be allowed to survive, least of all once they did find Hailstar. They had to die, or else next time an even larger force was guaranteed to attack them. If they failed to capture or kill Toothless, Hailstar would instantly become their next target. Viggo and the flock couldn't allow that to happen.

A few days later the hour was upon them. It was still early morning just before dawn when the sun was the barest sliver on the horizon. A fogbank had also rolled in overnight. Viggo wasn't certain how much of an advantage or disadvantage it would give his dragons over the enemy. The entire flock was ready. Viggo had drilled them in his plan as much as possible in the last two days and now it was time to meet them. His changewing scouts had just reported back that the fleet was about two miles away. They probably couldn't see the island yet, and Viggo wouldn't let them. Every ship had to be sunk without exception, that was the only way for the nest to stay safe.

"Remember everyone. I am counting on each one of you to do your part, but if you are injured, retreat to the nest. I hope that we will succeed with as few casualties as possible, just stick to the plan, and hopefully, luck will shine down on us. I know I have never in my life led such a fierce, more loyal force into battle. These humans wish to conquer you and then use you as tools and weapons to conquer others. We won't let that happen, none of us. Not the Alpha, not Thunderstorm, not me, and not any of you. I believe in you, I believe in us because every one of us trusts each other like family. And in the face of that, no ships of wood nor weapons of steel will be able to take us down. Good luck to all of you, now it's time for us to fly!"

All the dragons roared loyally and then each fell deathly silent as they took off into the air or dove into the sea. The key to this battle was going to be stealth and overwhelming the Warlord's ships before they ever knew what they were dealing with.

Thunderstorm took off as well, high above the rest of the dragons. To begin with, he and Viggo were going to start above the battle so that hopefully they would be able to watch what was happening and be the first line of backup should it be required.

Despite the hundreds of wings beating the air, the fog was doing a great job at muffling them into silence, as they approached the ships, there were no signs of alarm, no shouts, no extra torches being lit, no frantic preparations. Hopefully, most of the soldiers were still sleeping… and hopefully, they wouldn't have time to wake up.

In total the fleet of ships numbered at least fifty, and they were all bunched together in an awkward pod rather than in any recognizable formation, although the largest ship was leading from the front, and was likely the flagship of the fleet. Their lack of order was going to be one of the keys to their defeat.

In the air, every fire team of dragons began circling around the outer edge of the enemy's formation, but they didn't make any aggressive move yet, they kept circling the edge and then, led by the teams led by Scarlet and Firestorm respectively, several groups began tightening their circle. While others stayed outside. Again and again, this pattern continued, every lap completed meant a new layer of the trap around the ships, which meant it was time for more and more to move in, until eventually, the sky was full of flapping dragons. If any soldier managed to glance up through the fog surrounding their decks, even the worst archer in the world would be able just to let an arrow fly and be guaranteed a hit, that was how thick the air was with dragons, but the fog and early morning held off the secret for now.

At the same time, led by Hailstar, the tidal class dragons were all positioning themselves underneath the hull of each ship. When Viggo gave the signal each of them would do their best to open up as many breaches in the hull as possible whether it was through their teeth, claws, acid, or otherwise to speed up the sinking process.

And what was the signal? Simple, Thunderstorm was in the very center of the circling dragons, for a very important reason. The one wise thing it appeared the fleet did was placing their supply ships in the center, theoretically out of danger, but through his changewing spies and lots of translation attempts by Firestorm and Thunderstorm, he knew that this ship, in particular, held a substantial stash of nightmare gel in its hold.

"Thunderstorm." Viggo ignited his blade and pointed it at the ship's mast straight below them. "It's time to strike!"

Thunderstorm strongly beat his wings and let electricity flow across his scales and gathered it in his throat for a moment before roaring like his namesake and letting loose a powerful bolt of lightning straight into the mast Viggo watched as the energy traveled through the mast and into the deck, and moments later the ship below them burst into a fireball of flaming debris.

And that was the signal, before any watchman down below could even shout the sky lit up with fireballs, acid, venom, spines, ice, smoke, and even more weapons as the entire flock began firing at once.

There was so much fire that even through the lenses on his helmet, Viggo was seeing dark spots in his vision from all the flashes, and the plan seemed to be working, from what he could see no one on the ships could be organized, and despite being armed to the teeth with ballistae, crossbows, nets, catapults and more, none of them were being manned, the enemy below was practically defenseless.

But Viggo knew they couldn't let up. These people had made their choice long ago, and then even after Drago's defeat chose to continue their horrid mission. The world wouldn't be safe for dragons as long as they were around. Nor other people for that matter. This was the only way.

One by one each ship sank below the waves, succumbing to the waters rushing in from below, and the fire burning everything from above. Many men chose to jump into the sea instead to try to escape.

Eventually after nearly a half hour of battle, Viggo ordered all the dragons to stop through Thunderstorm striking the mast of the flagship. During that time, each team of dragons had rotated their firing so that the inferno never truly let up.

Down below the incessant beating of wings, nearly every man was in the water clinging to driftwood, or those that remained on the flagship all glanced up in fear and shock. All except for one.

"Who are you? Are you one of Berk's Riders?" A tall, burly man shouted without any fear in his voice, only rage from the deck of the flagship. Viggo recognized him from when he spied on Grimmel. It was one of the warlords, apparently not the sharpest axe in the armory considering his entire fleet had just been destroyed and he was still acting like he had another army behind him.

"No. I am not one of the Dragon Riders, but I am one, as you can see." Viggo called out. "Trust me, you and your allies have more enemies than you think."

"Oh is that so? All I see are a bunch of lizards who will soon belong to us, once we have the Alpha." The Warlord threatened.

"The Alpha you say? I highly doubt you could ever control an Alpha. After all, you are neither Hiccup Haddock nor Drago Bludvist. From the looks of things you have neither the heart nor the brutality for that. Do you know why I attacked your ships immediately without any fear? Its because my spies have already explored every inch of your ships they could reach and they couldn't find any signs of dragons trapped within your ships. Except for one."

"What are you talking about? What spies? Who's the traitor I need to kill?" The Warlord asked, sounding even more enraged.

"Oh don't worry. There was no traitor in this game. None of your men noticed any of the changewings or smokebreaths that snuck aboard? No reports of missing axes or swords? I must say, I was worried about your fleet when I saw you on the horizon, but it seems I severely overestimated your capabilities. Perhaps I could have been a bit more merciful."

"Merciful? You're a demon. Whoever you are, just like all those cursed dragon riders."

"Oh no, I'm no demon." Viggo chuckled, "I'm just a competent leader who trusts my troops because they are my flock. But back to the point. The only reason the deck beneath your feet isn't sinking to the bottom of the sea is because I don't want to risk hurting your prisoner. So I'll make you a deal. Release him, and I promise you that none of these dragons flying here will harm you, your ship, or any of your men on your ship under my orders." Viggo motioned to all the dragons still circling in the air around the shipwrecks.

"And why should I trust anything you say?"

"Because you have no choice. The only reason you're still alive is because of your prisoner. I don't want to risk hurting him, but if his scales get slightly scorched while your ship burns to a crisp, I'm sure he'll still forgive me. But so be it. Thunderstorm."

Thunderstorm opened his mouth and let energy begin gathering staring down at the warlord, who finally seemed to realize he was defeated.

"OK ok, stop! We surrender! You'll let us go?"

"My terms are simple, first free your prisoner," Viggo ordered.

"Do as he says. Let the beast loose!" The Warlord turned around and ordered his men.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait," Viggo replied. The warlord's soldiers scurried about behind him until the main hatch in the deck opened up and a large, titanwing-sized purple rumblehorn angrily stepped onto the deck and spread his wings.

"There you go. Now what?"

"Unmuzzle him," Viggo ordered.

"Unmuzzle him? But he'll be able to fire."

"That will be his choice if he chooses. Do it. Or else."

"Fine, you there go unmuzzle the beast." The warlord ordered one of his men, who approached slowly while holding a look of fear on their face.

"Let me guess you imagined that once you managed to trap the Alpha, then he would have been your ride into glory?" Viggo asked sarcastically.

"Of course, only Grimmel had any chance of controlling that thing with his venom vials. Nothing else can stop it in a charge. It would have been a beast worthy of me."

"I think we have to disagree," Viggo replied dryly as finally, the rumblehorn was completely free, he then promptly ran across the deck, ramming straight into all the unfortunate men who couldn't get out of his way fast enough.

"Aren't you going to control it?" The warlord demanded angrily after he narrowly sidestepped the charging dragon.

"Of course not. I don't control. I lead." Viggo raised his sword in the air and lit it to grab the rumblehorn's attention, which if did, quickly ending his charge to join Viggo and the rest of the dragons up in the air. "That's what you will never understand."

"So are we free to go now?"

"Not quite. There's one more lesson you must know, and luckily for you it is quite simple, even you should be able to understand it."

"And what lesson do you have to teach us." The warlord growled, contempt lacing his every word.

"It's simple really, you will never control an Alpha, any Alpha. Hailstar!"

The sea in front of the flagship began bubbling and moments later Hailstar burst out of the waves for all the remaining enemies to see. The flagship was big enough that it could probably hold him, but just barely.

"What, what? That can't be!" The warlord shouted in fear and awe.

"Oh, it is. This is a true Alpha, a true leader, and while I admire Toothless, he is not my Alpha. Hailstar is. Like me, and unlike you, he understands the importance of leadership, not just command. I couldn't have done all of this without him, nor could he have done this without me. We are a team, but he is above all else my king. Now I promised you that all the dragons in the sky would not harm you under my orders, but Hailstar, I'll leave this choice up to you. What do you think we should do?"

Hailstar roared, the sound echoing around the sunken shipyard.

He swam closer to the ship and then raised himself out of the water enough to grip the bow with his claws. He roared loudly again, this time letting a chill spread across the deck, cold enough to extinguish all the torches and leave the soaked deck slippery, but not doing much to the men except frosting their armor.

"Wait, we had a deal!"

"That we did, but you see, I know you. I've heard of your old master, and I've heard of the hunter you've hired to help you out. I know what you intend to do, but if Drago couldn't conquer Hiccup and Toothless with an Alpha on his side. You never had any real chances against a true Alpha, and none of your own."

"Hailstar, do as you wish, my king," Viggo told Hailstar, bowing lightly in his saddle.

Hailstar inhaled deeply and then breathed out a tidal wave of ice breath that coated the entire deck of the ship in spikes of ice from bow to stern. The men onboard, who didn't have time to jump overboard screamed and then they were abruptly cut off. Frozen in their final moments of fear.

The men in the water all looked on silently. As Hailstar then let go of the ship and sank back into the waves with only his head poking out again.

"As for the rest of you, just like your leader, you've had over a year to face the truth, and even now you still pose a threat to us, and so you leave us no choice. Hiccup Haddock may do things differently, but I long ago realized that there are times when the best solution is the most efficient one."

As he spoke, Seashockers and Shockjaws began herding the survivors together in the water, until they were clumped together just like a school of fish, and Viggo had been on enough fishing trips with Thunderstorm to know what was going to happen next.

"Thunderstorm, do it."

Thunderstorm opened his mouth and released a bolt of lightning into the water, just as quickly as Hailstar's final attack, the screams lasted only a moment and then it was over.

Viggo looked out in the water for any signs of movement, but all he could see were dragons swimming and flying in place, looking to him for orders.

"We're done here. Let's go home." Viggo decided and the entire flock began heading back. Victorious, but not jubilant, this was a duty all of them had to each other, and none of them not even Viggo took pleasure in their actions, only that they were safe once more, and maybe just maybe they had done something to help Valka and Hiccup, wherever they were.