Several months passed with the Berk dragons in the Hidden World. Toothless flew over the habitat, looking at some of the pescatarian creatures letting yaks out of their enclosures. A Death Song eagerly accepted the meal and flew off with one. Another sound caught Toothless's attention. He saw a boar trapped in part of the pit that Barf and Belch had dug. Hearing this led to some of the other dragons putting the animal back in the center. The Night Fury was pleased with how matters regarding food were going, so that meant civil issues were next. His eyes twinkled when the Light Fury approached.

"You look happy," she remarked, flying side-by-side with him.

"It's working," he said, audibly relieved. "No one's eaten each other."

"Well, I think I noticed a Timberjack licking its snout at the sight of Stormfly."

Toothless let out a small chortle. "You're not funny."

Turning serious, the other dragon's eyes sparkled with hope. "It's really impressive what you've been able to do."

"It's not just me," Toothless stated, looking down.

He saw Meatlug preparing another one of her classes. A little further up, Hookfang was with more small dragons, training them in self-defense.

"You've all done great," the Light Fury agreed.

"But it's not enough yet. We need to work on how the dragons here get along. There's just a little left to do." Toothless glanced at his companion. "What do you think of flightless dragons? I've never asked you before."

The Light Fury paused to think. "Not much, I suppose. They're practically the same as us, just unable to fly. It is a little strange, but it's nothing I hold against them."

Turning, the king looked down again. This time, he saw some of the Speed Stingers. They were mostly staying together, but one ventured to go towards a Razorwhip. When it did, the larger dragon did not seem to react much. It nearly seemed like the Speed Stinger was being ignored.

"I wish more dragons saw it that way," Toothless admitted.

"It would be nice, but you can't control what others think."

"No, but maybe I can influence it."

"What do you mean?"

"The flightless dragons mostly stay separate from the others. Have you noticed that? The Cavern Crashers stay in their caves, the Speed Stingers are almost never seen without another one of them around, and I can't even think of when I've seen any other kind of flightless dragon. They have to be here, but it's like they go into hiding when we show up."

"Then what do you want to do? Ask them to stay out here if they see us?"

Toothless thought over his options. "I'm going to ask some of them to help with the food distribution. That way, they'll have to work with dragons who have flight and they'll be around the others when they come to get food. Maybe they can start becoming friends."

The Light Fury regarded him with amusement. "You sound a lot like that human."

"I'm glad," Toothless said, sighing. "I wonder how things are going on Berk." He became quiet for a moment. "I'm also wondering if…"

The dragon trailed off, causing his companion to look at him.

"He misses you too. I'm sure of it."

Toothless glanced her way. "Thanks." With renewed determination, he took a breath. "Okay, let's start this next phase of the plan."

The Furies flew down towards the Speed Stingers, surprising the creatures.

"Would any of you be able to help distribute some food?" Toothless inquired.

This only caused more surprise to fill the reptiles. They looked back at one another before turning to their leader. The Lead Stinger let out a soft grunt.

"I'm not sure why you're all looking at me. You heard the request our king gave."

Happily, Toothless grinned at the reptiles. "Great. Just follow me this way then."

He started to walk, but the Alpha Stinger stopped him.

"We can run a lot faster than you walk, so you might as well fly."

Obliging, Toothless flapped his wings as he led the group over to where the boars were being kept. A few Catastrophic Quakens were in charge of them. When they saw the Speed Stingers, they acted like they were indifferent.

"Are they going to start helping us?" one asked.

"Correct," Toothless answered. "This way, you all can have more breaks so that you won't have to spend as much of the day here."

"Sounds good to me."

More of the Quakens echoed this sentiment, making Toothless feel hopeful. The Night and the Light Fury kept going around the Hidden World, looking for new tasks which could cause created interactions. While they did, it became dusk and Meatlug hosted another class. She was excited to see even more new students. It seemed like every day, someone new showed up.

"Welcome!" she eagerly greeted. The dragon gestured to rocks and fish with her head. "I brought snacks. It's never good to learn on an empty stomach. That's what I found out on Berk."

The newcomers approached and took a few of the snacks to begin. Meatlug hovered in the middle of the group.

"How many of you know about Dramilions?"

None of the dragons made a comment.

"It's good to know that they're really fast learners. Before I came here, we helped them fight off Dragon Hunters. Soon, they were able to free each other after seeing us undo the chains."

"Woah, really?" a Zippleback asked.

"Really. I was impressed. I'd never seen dragons learn so fast before. Now, what about Flightmares?"

This time, a Gronckle hovered slightly. Meatlug saw and turned to him.

"You over there. Do you know?"

"I know a little about them. Had a cousin who found this Deadly Nadder a while back who wouldn't move. He thought that it was just playing a weird game, then we heard about a bad meeting with a Flightmare."

"They keep dragons from moving?" a Shiver Tooth inquired.

"They can," Meatlug answered. "Their mist isn't necessarily dangerous like most blasts, but they paralyze dragons, Vikings…probably anything else too."

"We should try it on a yak!"

Meatlug turned again to the familiar voice. She saw Barf and Belch excitedly bumping their heads together.

"We could," she admitted, "but I'm pretty sure paralysis is going to be the result."

"Here's what I don't know," the other Gronckle stated, a troubled look in his eyes. "How do you defend against them?"

"You have to get out of range of their blasts. I don't think there's another option."

"Kinda puts slower dragons like us in a bad position, then, doesn't it?"

"It does, but I think we still stand a good chance if we're with friends. Besides, who's to say a Flightmare would even attack unless we decide to start a fight with one?"

The Gronckle paused, thinking this over. "Fair point." Suddenly, he started to look excited. "You really do know a lot about dragons. Ever seen a Snow Wraith?"

"I have. My friends and I went to see one some years ago."

More questions came from this Gronckle and the other students eagerly listened to the new information they were getting. When the class ended, Meatlug felt like it had gone by too quickly. The fortunate part was that she could at least do this again the next day.

"It was another great class," the one Gronckle said, hovering over to her.

Meatlug smiled at him. "Thanks. I really like doing these. I was hoping other dragons would show up. At first, I was a little worried that no one would be interested."

"They'd be the ones missing out if they weren't here. I think more of us should attend. We get to learn a lot and it's sorta nice to do something so different from what our normal days are like. Routine can be nice, but it gets boring after a while."

"I can understand that. I used to do a lot of different things when I was…"

Meatlug hesitated. She was getting too excited about these thoughts. Mentioning the Berkians every other time she spoke to another dragon was not going to help her acclimate to this new life.

"When you were with the Vikings?" the other dragon guessed.

Meatlug looked at him, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah. I guess I talk about them a lot."

"I get why you do. They were your friends. I can't say I understand how that happened, but I'd want to think about those I cared about if I had someone like that."

"You don't have someone?" Meatlug asked sadly. "No one at all?"

"Not really. A lot of the Gronckles I grew up with didn't enjoy being around each other a lot. We'd just come back together to sleep, but we'd get our own food, fight our own battles, and stuff like that."

"I…remember times like that actually," Meatlug said, a little shocked.

It had been so long since she thought about those days.

"Well, maybe that's another reason why I enjoy listening to your classes. It's like we're all friends here or at least all willing to do something together."

This made Meatlug happy to hear and she wagged her tail, causing the other dragon to chuckle.

"You don't have to be lonely anymore," she said. "I'll be your friend…if you want to be at least."

"Yeah! I'd like that a lot."

Excited, both Gronckles continued to talk later into the night. That same evening, Toothless and the Light Fury retired to their home. They had barely entered before the female dragon noticed something was wrong with him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I can't control minds."

"Well, yes, but I assumed you knew that."

Toothless turned to her. "No, I mean that there's no way for all the dragons to have heard the call. Some are still beyond the Hidden World. They're in danger."

The Light Fury paused, not having considered that. "What do you want to do?"

"Tomorrow, we'll go with a group to see who we can find. This plan falls apart if dragons are still being killed and we just don't know."

Toothless quickly left the cave, thinking about how many he would need to bring. He knew that his friends would be included in this, but he also enjoyed the thought of bringing some of the other dragons. Flying, he spotted Hookfang and Skullcrusher sparring. They temporarily stopped when they saw him.

"Why are you flying around?" Hookfang asked. "I thought Stormfly was on recon duty."

"She is, but I remembered that not all the dragons are here."

"Of course they are. You summoned them and…" The Monstrous Nightmare's eyes widened. "You can't reach their minds."

"Exactly. I just realized that tonight. We don't know how many dragons are still out there, getting captured or slaughtered."

"Then when do we leave?" Skullcrusher asked.

"Morning. It'll give us time to find everyone. If you could tell Meatlug and Barf and Belch, I'll tell Stormfly and the rest."

Obliging with the request, the two reptiles went off to find their friends. Toothless flew beyond the habitat, speeding up to spot Stormfly. He saw her on the North side of the Hidden World.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Yes, we need to go looking for more dragons. We might be missing some and won't know until we search."

The Deadly Nadder got quiet for a moment. "If they're out there, it's possible that the Hunters or Trappers are too. We didn't get rid of them all."

"I know. It's why we have to act fast. With so many of us here during these months, they were probably working even harder to get whatever dragons they could find. If Hiccup and the others didn't think of it either, then they might not even know they need to help."

"Or maybe they're still fighting and we'll see them."

It was Toothless's turn to be quiet this time. He did not want to hold onto hopes like that. Of course it would have been amazing to see his Viking friends again, but it was unlikely. They were separated. Accepting that would make it easier to adjust.

"Maybe," he admitted. "Either way, let's focus on protecting the dragons. We'll be leaving in the morning."

Stormfly agreed and the Night Fury flew off to tell the rest of the reptiles he wanted to bring. He stopped when he spotted Cloudjumper. The dragon was eating fish and looked up at the ruler.

"We're going to need help looking for more dragons."

"I'm not sure how many there would be. The ones from Valka's nest are here too."

"I know, but I want to find out if more are out there."

The Stormcutter appeared open to this and let out a soft warble. "I'll go with you then. It defeats the purpose if some dragons aren't here."

"Great, I was hoping you'd say that."

Toothless started to fly off, but the other dragon spoke up.

"You know, if any of you have questions about being in the wild, I could help."

"I do," Toothless said. "We want to see if we can readjust on our own. Asking how to be wild seems almost like cheating."

"I can understand that. Just know I'm here if you change your mind."

Toothless sent him an appreciative look and continued going around to look for dragons. By dawn, they had a medium-sized group gathered. To the surprise of some, they saw flightless dragons included in this.

"Why are we bringing Cavern Crashers?" Scauldron asked.

"Because their mucus is flammable," Toothless responded. "All they need to do is get that on the Hunters, then we can use a small flame to take care of the rest. That'll make it so we don't have to worry about our shot limits as much since one blast will do more damage than usual."

Satisfied, the Scauldron got ready to fly. Toothless saw that this response was enough for some of the other dragons as well. Only a few of them looked hesitant. Skullcrusher's eyes twinkled when he saw the Screaming Death also in the group. Barf and Belch helped lift a Crasher while some Triple Strykes carried the rest. Stormfly and several other Nadders paid attention to any new scents, leading the way out of the Hidden World. As the dawn became noon, they noticed nothing.

"Maybe all the dragons really are here," Skullcrusher offered.

"No, that can't be it," Toothless said. "Unless someone told them, there wouldn't have been a way for dragons far from us back then to hear. We just need to keep looking."

So, the dragons continued their search for hours longer. When it was dusk, Toothless began to feel bad. He could have just dragged these dragons out of the Hidden World for no reason other than to appease his paranoia.

"Maybe I was wr–"

The ruler stopped talking when he saw Stormfly become tense.

"There's something," she said. "Dragons are up ahead…behind those mountains."

Speeding up, the group flew to find the other reptiles. When they spotted them, they realized that these dragons were in chains. One had its head pressed into the ground by a Hunter's boot. The man lifted an ax over his head. Before he could drop it on the creature, a plasma blast shot it out of his hands. His eyes widened and his face paled in fear.

"Night Fury!" he yelled.

The other Hunters prepared to attack, but they moved back when the Cavern Crashers were nearly dropped on top of them. Shaking, the reptiles flung their mucus onto the targets.

"Now!" Toothless ordered.

At his command, the group shot out a blast. All the fluids caught on fire in a large explosion which thoroughly delighted Barf and Belch. While the Vikings tried to put out these flames, the other dragons went to the trapped reptiles. They broke the cages and chains. Eagerly, they started to fly away with the strangers. As soon as they were off the ground, the Screaming Death burrowed into the land, causing the Vikings to panic more. Happy with the job done, it went to join the others. They were able to put a good distance between them and the Hunters.

"Thanks for the help," a Seashocker said. "But why did you help us?"

"We're all living in a Hidden World now," Toothless explained. "We don't want any dragons to get hurt. Our goal is to protect everyone."

The former prisoners looked shocked to hear this, but they also seemed happy. They all continued going until they landed back in the Hidden World. The next day, the group went out again to find more dragons. There were less this time, but it was the same with them being attacked. It became a trend for the entire week. The dragons of the Hidden World were determined to not leave anyone behind this time.