"This... is Berk. The best-kept secret this side of, well, anywhere. Granted, it may not look like much, but this wet heap of rock packs more than a few surprises." Hiccup was beginning his monologue.
On a cluster of sheep, hiding nervously between buildings as shadows of passing dragons race by. The group moves as one, receding into a shadowy alley, pushing one sheep out into the light. It's suddenly snatched and carried into the air!
"Life here is amazing, just not for the faint of heart. See, where most folks enjoy hobbies like whittling or needlepoint, we Berkians prefer a little something we like to call..." Elsa took over.
A wash of vibrant colors blurs by. Dragons Barrel passed at a dizzying speed. Their riders swipe, kick, and roll into one another while they weave neck-in-neck between the houses, docks, and revamped structures of Berk.
"DRAGON RACING!" Elsa and Hiccup call out in unison.
"WHOOOOOOO!" Fishlegs called out.
Fishlegs, who is now 20 and even larger, rides Meatlug who carries the sheep in her claws, until Snotlout, also 20, but every bit as juvenile, and Hookfang, side-check them to steal their sheep.
You see, it has been a year since they defeated Viggo and Ryker, saving the egg of the King of Dragons. And things have been going pretty well. Hiccup has indeed stepped up in his role as Chief of Berk, and that made it less time for him to do much exploring, but he would still get out there when he could.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Fishlegs! Did you want that?" Snotlout asked as he mocked Fishlegs.
Fishlegs glares at Snotlout. "No, Snotlout! That was mine!"
Snotlout falls back toward Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who lag on Barf and Belch. "Here ya go, babe." With a chivalrous grin, Snotlout tosses the sheep to Ruffnut. She snatches it with a sneer and a grumble. "Did I tell you that you look amazing today? 'Cause you do."
Ruffnut scoffed and was embarrassed by his attempt at flirting. "Ugh. Come on, Barf. It's starting to stink around here."
Barf starts to peel off, spewing gas along his way and Ruffnut holding the sheep. Tuffnut mocks Snotlout with a mugging grin, and a whole lot of face paint that the entire thing was covered.
"Nope. Still hates you." Tuffnut mocks him. "Let's blow this place, Belch! Alright!"
Belch ignites the gas, sparking a flashy explosion, and leaving Snotlout behind in the smoke. As they rush past the main bleachers, Ruffnut drops her sheep into one of five baskets suspended over a chasm at the lap crossing. Each backboard bears an image of its corresponding dragon. The Barf/Belch basket was filled with sheep.
Hiccup was watching from his seat aside with Elsa as they were watching this time around. "That's four for the twins, Astrid lags with three, and Fishlegs and Snotlout trail with NONE!" He then noticed another dragon flying in and dropping off a sheep while being chased by Windshear and Heather, revealing it was Leyla flying on Summer as they flew off. "Heather with two."
"And Leyla is starting to take the lead with five," Elsa said with pride.
Hiccup then chuckled when he saw that there was one of them however missing. "And Dak is nowhere to be seen."
"You think he's off exploring again?" Elsa asked.
"That or sneaking off with some of my experimental gear." Hiccup guessed.
Snotlout, still smoldering from the blast, gets clipped from behind. Astrid, rolls in, astride Stormfly, spirited and competitive as ever, and beautiful despite herself.
"What are you doing, Snotlout?! They're going to win now!" Astrid stated.
"She's my princess! Whatever she wants, she gets!" Snotlout defends.
Yeah, during the recent days after defeating Viggo, Fishlegs and Snotlout had become obsessed with trying to impress Ruffnut. More or less because she is mainly the only other person in their age group. Yeah, between the constant dragon attacks and the way these people used to live, let's say not many teenagers survived. And Anna has made it perfectly clear she isn't interested in them, it only took Snotlout getting punched in the face for him to get the message.
"Ruffnut?!" Anna asked as she flew over.
"Didn't she try to bury you alive?!" Astrid asked, surprised he hadn't gotten over this by now.
"Only for a few hours!" Snotlout defended her.
"Dragons used to be a bit of a problem here. But that was five years ago. Now, they've all moved in. And, really, why wouldn't they?" Elsa asks.
The racers chase each other through a sprawling hangar and into a vast cave, teeming with colorfully painted dragon stables. They exit through the far side and circle back through the village, blasting past many of its dragon-friendly additions.
"We have custom stables... all-you-can-eat feeding stations... a full-service dragon wash... Even top-of-the-line fire prevention, if I do say so myself." Hiccup was proud of the improvements they all made.
In the village, a baby Gronckle sneezes, accidentally setting one of the Viking houses aflame. Leyla gasped when she saw what was happening and peeled away from the other dragon racers.
As she closed in, she yanks open a spout on the overhead network of aqueducts, dousing the flames with a surge of water. Back to Hiccup, he was amused as he watched the racers around the island, searching for sheep. He turns to Elsa and sees her nod.
"It's time, Gobber," Elsa called out.
"Righty-ho!" Gobber confirmed and turned to the group. "Last lap!"
A horn sounds. The racers all turn to each other, excited. Leyla gasped when she heard it go off. "The black sheep!"
"Come on, Stormfly, we can still win this!" Astrid called as she flew off.
"Let's beat them, Winshear!" Heather called out next.
"Come on, Barf!" Ruff said to her dragon head.
"Go, Meatlug!" Fishlegs said to his dragon as they prepared for the last chance to win.
Gobber loads the Black Sheep onto a catapult. "This is your big moment." He told the unsuspecting animal. "Have a nice flight!"
He pulled the trigger and launched the black sheep into the air! Astrid and Heather both spot it and steer their dragons into a steep climb toward it.
"Up, up, up!" Astrid encouraged Stormfly.
"Come on, girl! You can do it!" Heather called out.
But as they were about to grab it, Fishlegs and Meatlug zoomed in and grabbed the sheep. "No!" Astrid cried out.
"Fishlegs!" Heather called out next.
"Good job, Meatlug!" Fishlegs cheered to his precious dragon as he tossed his captured prize to Ruffnut. "Here you go, darling. Mine's worth ten!" He said, showing he also developed a crush on Ruffnut over the years.
"Yeah! The Black Sheep!" Ruffnut cheered happily at her prize as Fishlegs came in and sighed in frustration as Astrid came in as well.
"Are you giving it to Ruffnut, Fishlegs?!" Anna asked him in a annoyed way but her words were unheard by the group.
"I'm totally winning!" Ruffnut cheered.
Fishlegs hovered up next to Ruffnut with a starry-eyed smile. "We're winning together!" he said with hope before Ruffnut rams Barf into Meatlug, sending Fishlegs into an uncontrolled spin.
"Nothing can stop me now!" Ruffnut declared as her brother turned to her.
"Except for me. We're attached, genius!" Tuffnut reminded her as he grabbed at the sheep. Ruffnut fights back, inciting a tug-of-war. "Quit trying to steal all my glory!"
They both didn't know that Leyla was steering Summer toward them as they were closing in on them. She stood up and showed determination in her eyes, recalling Heather once pulled off this move to save her and her dragon from dragon hunters not too long ago.
Heather saw this and gave some luck to her kid. "Go get 'em, Leyla!" She cheered for her with a smile. She may not win, but she would be just as happy to see her adopted daughter win.
Tuffnut/Ruffnut were so busy fighting over the poor sheep that they forgot a key rule in the race, never take your eyes off your opponents, "It's MY glory!"
"No sheep, no glory!"
"You're always ruining EVERYTHING!" They both yelled as Leyla leaped off of Summer, ran along Belch's spindly neck, and plucked the black sheep from Thorsten's Twins' hands.
"Gotcha!" Leyla called out as she leaped through the air onto Summer, sticking a perfect landing with the black sheep in hand.
"Whoa!" Tuffnut said in surprise.
"Leyla!" Ruffnut cried out for the loss of her points.
Hiccup and along with the rest of the crowd gone wild. "Go, Leyla! Hahaha!" He laughs as he turns to Elsa beside him. "That's my daughter!"
"Yep, indeed." Elsa agreed with a smile. "She's been getting better at that."
"Heather's been teaching her." Hiccup explained.
Leyla is eyeing the fast-approaching finish line, unaware that Fishlegs suddenly rams Meatlug into Summer, sending Leyla off-course. She recovers and sees Snotlout flying headlong toward her, war hammer cocked, aiming at Astrid.
"Uh, excuse me," Snotlout said to Leyla as he was heading towards her.
But before he could strike, Echo screeched, causing Snotlout to lose his balance, and allow Leyla a chance to direct Summer to go around. But it didn't end there as the hammer did stroke something, and that something happened to be Fishlegs' face. Everyone flinched when they watched what occurred, and off to the side, Olaf was there with Bruni hanging off of his head.
"Oof, that is bound to leave a mark," Olaf commented.
Leyla and Summer soared over the water, swiftly approaching the finish line. With a deft maneuver, they deposited the black sheep into their basket, clinching victory in the game!
"That's thirteen! Leyla takes the game!" Hiccup announces as the crowd goes wild for the girl as Leyla stands on Summer, basking in the victory for once, clapping the hands of the crowd as she flies by.
The other riders either take the loss with dignity or in anger in the Thorston Twins case, as Astrid did a victory twirl before turning to Henry who flew next to her.
"Yep. Berk is pretty much perfect. All of our hard work has paid off. And it's a good thing, too, because, with Vikings on the backs of dragons, the world just got a whole lot bigger."
The scene changes to a boundless sky. Vast. Clear. Crisp. And from it, a black speck rockets across the horizon. The image of unbridled freedom. Tucked into his riding position, Dak appears to be part of Winger. They dip, roll, and dive, over a sea teeming with Thunderdrums, pulling off daring maneuvers with honed refinement, making them seem effortless.
They jackknife, heading skyward, rolling and tumbling through the ethereal cloud-scapes, and joining high-flying Timberjacks as they soar in formation. Dak is bound head-to-toe in a snug, aerodynamic flight suit - an asymmetrical, functional design of leather and articulated plates that Hiccup invented. It has an air of Viking bike leather.
"What do you think, man? Wanna give this suit another shot?" Dak asks.
Winger grumbles in protest. "You really wanna do that again?"
"It'll be fine," Dak promised. "I trust Hiccup." He then prepared to slip off of Winger. "Ready?"
Before Winger could respond, suddenly, Dak suddenly slides off of Winger, peeling away from him like a skydiver from a plane, yelling as he plummets. Winger dives after him to keep him safe. They spiral through the air, face-to-face. Winger was having fun, despite protesting this whole ordeal.
When he sees the ocean, Dak slips his forearms through a pair of tucked leather flaps, and yanks, unfurling sheets of leather as he extends his arms. They catch the wind, snapping like wings, and sending him gliding! Winger unfolds his wings, too, catching up with Hiccup. The freedom is palpable. The two of them are, for the moment, the same. Feeling the same rush of adrenaline. Independently together. They plunge past cloud formations, splitting apart and then crossing paths again.
"This is amazing!" Dak cheered. Suddenly a cloud layer washes past, exposing a towering rock formation, dead ahead. "No longer amazing! Help!"
Dak tries to steer himself away, to no avail. Winger pours on the speed, trying to catch Dak as he hurtles toward collision. At the last second, Winger shoots the jagged rocks just ahead of Dak, then wraps him in his wings as they fly through it. The obliterated peak rains down around them.
Winger emerges through the cloud of debris and hurtles into the trees of a neighboring peak. They tumble down the uneven terrain, coming to rest on a small plateau. Dak emerges from the cocoon of Winger's wings. He switches his prosthetic riding foot to his walking foot and stows his leather wings.
"That really came out of nowhere," Dak commented as he stood up, fixing the wings.
The sea stack cracks and falls into the ocean below them. "That's an understatement." Winger scoffed.
"We should tell Hiccup about the steering when we get back." Dak said as he walks to the edge of the cliff, taking in the New land they found. "Oh. Looks like we found another one."
An annoyed Winger throws a small pebble at Dak's head, using his tail to fling it at him. Ever since they have begun to live on Berk, he has grown to be living even more dangerous considering everything.
"Oh, what? Do you want an apology? Is that why you're pouting?" Dak asked as he approached Winger.
"It wouldn't kill you." Winger scoffed.
"Well... try this on!" Dak came at Winger, trying to tackle him, but he could barely even cause Winger to flinch. "Ya feeling it yet? Huh? Picking up on all of my heartfelt remorse?"
Winger playfully dangles him off the edge of a cliff.
"Oh, come on. You wouldn't hurt..." Dak then looked down and saw he was being dangled off the cliff. "Ahh! Okay, okay, you win!"
"Say it!" Winger demanded.
"You're right! I'm sorry!" Dak finally said.
Dak chuckled as he lay backward, and then allowed Dak to stop being dangled. Winger then began to lick Dak, just to mess with him.
"Gaaaaagh! You KNOW that doesn't wash out." Dak cried as he got out of Winger's grasp.
"That will teach you!" Winger laughs and the boy retaliates as he splashes some spit on Winger's face.
Dak looks around at the new island he discovered and pulls out Hiccup's map he has been helping him with. Since Hiccup became the new chief, things have been getting harder for him to manage to get away.
"So what should we name it?" Dak asked. When Winger didn't respond, he looked around and found Winger eating his armpit. ""Itchy Armpit" it is." He joked.
A dragon screech catches their attention, and they turn to see Summer flying in with Leyla on her back. "Afternoon, sis. Where have you been?"
Leyla leaped off Summer, landing on the stall and petting Winger. "Hey, Winger."
"Hey, Leyla." Winger greeted. "What have you been up to?"
"I've been winning races. What else?" Leyla was proud of how she held the record of the many Races. "The real question is... where have YOU been?"
"Just exploring." Dak shrugged, nodding back to Berk. "Hiccup wanted me to help him with his map since he is so busy with Berk's duties, and he knew I would find a way to sneak off eventually."
"Kinda funny how well he has gotten to know you." Leyla chuckled as she looked over the map. "Looks like it is really starting to come together."
"Yeah, we found a few Timberjacks, and a few Light Furies as well, it was pretty cool," Dak said as he finished sketching the area on the map. "You ever miss when it was just us and Anna? Back before we met the Riders?"
"Maybe the freedom, but..." Leyla shrugged as she played with her hair. "I like how things turned out. Hiccup and Heather: they are our family now. Whatever is out there, it isn't for us anymore."
Dak then spotted something in the distance. "Yeah, but there is...something out there."
Leyla sighed. "Dak..."
Dak tapped her shoulder, getting Leyla to look where he saw. In the distance, there was a giant cloud of smoke coming out of the horizon. Leyla was shocked and a little worried, wondering about where the cloud of smoke was coming from.
They fly towards it to investigate it. They fly through the burnt forest until they reach the ocean and see a large and piercing structure of ice, with large protruding spiky icicles.
Dak looked at Leyla and was worried. "Stay close."
They fly around the ice, looking at all the ruined things caught in it, including ships, boats, and the remains of a wooden fort.
"What happened here?" Leyla wonders.
Winger finds a pair of enormous footprints in the mud. "You see this?"
Dak nodded. "Yeah, we see it."
"Dak!" Leyla spotted something moving.
"Fire!" They heard someone on the wreckage cry out.
"Leyla!" A net is thrown at Winger but catches Summer instead.
Leyla tried to free them from the net as they fell. "Dak!"
She slips from Summer and falls towards the ground where Winger catches her. Dragon Hunters try to trap Summer. She escapes the net and spews water at them, using her tail as a whip to attack those who come close.
"Watch the tail!" Someone called, noticing someone new leap from behind the pillars. "Tie those legs up!" Winger flies past, and the hunter looks at him in wonder. "What is that?"
Dak called out to them to "STOP!"
"Get out of the way!" A Hunter called out.
Leyla screamed in concern for her dragon. "Summer!" Winger, Dak, and Leyla land on the base, trying to stop the Hunters from hurting the dragons. "What are you doing?"
"Back again?" The man holding Summer's head down asked the kids. "Soil my britches... that is a Swiftwing. Thought they were all gone into hiding. Looks like our luck's had a turn for the better, lads! Don't think Drago has one of those in his dragon army."
Leyla heard that and looked towards Dak in confusion. "Dragon army?"
"Look, we aren't looking for any trouble," Dak tells them.
"Ha!" The main hunter scoffed. "You should've thought of that before you stole all of our dragons and blasted our fort to bits!" He pointed to the destruction.
"What are you talking about?" Leyla asked.
Dak scoffed. "You think we did this?"
"Dragon trapping is hard enough work as it is, without do-gooder dragon riders sneaking in to rescue them." The main hunter stated in annoyance, stepping on Summer's head.
Dak looked to Leyla in confusion. "What do-gooder..." Then a thought appeared in his mind, and it seems that Leyla came to the same conclusion. "...you mean there are other dragon riders?"
"You mean, other than your thieving friend from last night? You tell me." He tells the kids. "You may have an ice-spitting dragon on your side, but we still have a quota to fill. How do you suppose we explain this mess to Drago Bludvist?"
Dak chuckled when he heard that name. "Drago who-fist? Does anything you say make sense?"
"He's expecting a new shipment of dragons for his army by tomorrow." One of the Hunters stated.
"And Drago doesn't take well to excuses."
The main hunter showed off a scar he has on his chest, shaped like a...possible Nightmare head. "This is what he gave me last time I showed up empty-handed." That seemed to spook Dak and Leyla, seeing that this guy was worse than Viggo. "He promised to be far less understanding in the future."
"Look, we don't know anything about a dragon thief, or an ice-spitting dragon," Dak stated, trying to get him and his sister out of the situation. The main hunter nods to his men hidden behind Dak and Leyla. "Or your crazy coo-coo boss and his dragon army, alright? Just give my sister back her dragon and we'll go, Strange-Crazy-Person-Who-We've-Never-Met."
"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Eret." He introduced himself, bowing and reaching for his blade from his back. "Son of Eret. Finest dragon trapper alive. After all, it's not just anyone who can capture a Swiftwing."
"And you still won't." Winger roars.
Dak gestured to his dragon. "This is Winger. He says we're going. Now."
Eret laughed when he heard that. "Heh. They all say that. RUSH 'EM, LADS!"
The hidden dragon trappers attack. Winger fires at a large icicle that falls on the dragon trappers and keeps them back. They shout and jump away. Leyla ran her way over, dodging a few swings of the Hunters while grabbing one of their blades to cut the net off her friend.
"Summer! C'mon, go! Go!" Leyla said as they ran towards the edge, taking a jump and flying away.
Dak ran to follow, Winger coming from behind him to then yank Dak on his back as they begin to fly off. "Come on, Winger!"
Eret watched them beginning to get away and yelled out to them. "YOU WILL NEVER HOLD ON TO THOSE DRAGONS, YOU HEAR ME?! DRAGO IS COMING FOR THEM ALL!"
Dak stopped for a second to hear his screams, causing him to become worried about who this Drago Bludvist is. They thought they stopped the Dragon Hunters, but it seems they only defeated a fragment of their operations when they stopped Viggo.
They had to warn Hiccup.