Hiccup looked upward to see he was in the clutches of Hookfang and scoffed. "Put me down! Snotlout! What are you doing?"
Snotlout ignored or couldn't hear him as he looked toward Ruffnut. "See how well I protect and provide?"
Ruffnut grumbles at the incessant courting. As they were flying around, they were attacked by a flying net that whizzed past their head. They began to try and maneuver as multiple nets were fired at them.
"Aggh! What is with all the nets?!" Tuffnut asked as he maneuvered around them
"Hey watch it! That was close..." Ruffnut spots Eret, firing nets from the deck of the ship. It was as if time slowed down as Ruffnut saw Eret's glistening biceps, shuddering as he blasted the net cannon, aimed directly at her. "Oh, my." The net unravels in slow motion. Ruffnut is in awe as she continues to stare at Eret. "Me likey." Then the net began to envelop Ruffnut as she yielded to it, blissfully. "Take me."
As Hiccup flips upside-down in the Hookfang's talons and kicks off, pulling his wing-suit flaps. Eret takes aim, but Elsa shoves him, throwing off the shot.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Elsa demanded, slamming her foot on the deck, spreading her ice, and freezing their weapons as the twins crashed onto the snow she shot to cushion their fall.
Hiccup glides unsteadily towards the ship and collides with its sail. He slides down the canvas and drops to the deck. Toothless lands behind him.
"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!" Hiccup asked as everyone came in for a landing.
Dagur and Shattermaster land on the deck, scattering Eret's crew as they try to stand back up. "We're here to rescue you!"
"I tried to stop them," Heather stated, dropping off of Windshear.
"I don't need to be rescued!" Hiccup scoffed. "Who said I needed-?"
"Hiccup!" Gobber landed, explaining who said that he needed rescuing. He approached them, dismounting Grump as he walked over. They have never seen Gobber this serious before.
Eret blocks Gobber, cocky and confident. "Well, didn't you just pick the wrong ship, eh? I am Eret, son of-"
Gobber shoves his face aside, sending Eret slamming into Grump. Before he can react, Dak clumps Eret on the head, sending him collapsing to the deck. Grump then sits on him, smothering him into submission.
"Get... This... Thing... Off... Me!" Eret demanded.
Leyla turned to the other crewmen, with a smile. "Anyone else?" Eret's men eye the Vikings, armed and flanked by their dragons. They set down their weapons. "That's what we thought."
"You two. Saddle up. We're going home." Gobber demanded, lightly moving Hiccup towards Toothless.
"No." Hiccup stated.
Gobber sighed. "Of all the irresponsible-"
"I'm trying to protect our dragons and stop a war! How is that irresponsible?" Hiccup questioned.
"Because war is what he wants!" Gobber answered, getting them all to wait for him to explain that one further. Gobber sighs, realizing that he has to explain if he wants them to listen to him. "Years ago, there was a great gathering of chieftains to discuss the dragon scourge we all faced. Stoick told me of how out of the shadows came a stranger from a strange land, covered in scars and draped in a cloak of dragon skin. He carried no weapon and spoke softly, saying that he, Drago Bludvist, was a man of the people, devoted to freeing mankind from the tyranny of dragons. He claimed that he alone could control the dragons and that he alone could keep us safe if the council chose to bow down and follow him."
Some of the riders and their dragons, including Summer, Dagur, Cutter, Anna, Dak, and Leyla, laughed at the notion that dragons could be controlled. To them, the concept was ludicrous, as they were well aware that no known method existed to truly control these creatures. But Burple seemed more afraid of what was being told, getting him to shake at the idea of what he was being told.
"Stupid." Ruffnut scoffed.
"That is a stupid idea." Dak agreed.
"Controlling dragons." Cutter laughed.
"One man controlling all dragons?" Anna laughed. "Love to see how that worked out."
"Good one," Tuffnut commented.
"Yeah, they laughed, too," Gobber said with a sigh. "Until he wrapped himself in his cloak and cried out, "Then see how well you do without me!" Then the rooftop burst into flames, and from it, armored dragons descended, burning the hall to the ground... Your father was the only one to escape alive."
The Twins, Astrid, Dagur, Snotlout, Heather, and Fishlegs exchange spooked glances. Hiccup was shocked that Stoick had never informed him of this. That could be why Stoick always hated dragons, adding on top of what happened to his mother. Elsa was just as surprised to hear all of this as it explains so much.
"Men who kill without reason cannot be reasoned with," Gobber tells Hiccup.
Hiccup sighed as he walked over to Toothless. "Maybe." He turns and stomps toward Toothless, determined. Eret watches intently. "I'm still going to try." He then looked over to the others. "This is what I'm good at. And if I could change all of your minds... I can change his mind, too."
Hiccup flew up into the air with Elsa right behind him. Then Heather ran over to her dragon and prepared to take off. "Let's go."
"Wait!" Gobber quickly stopped her. "Astrid, get the others back to Berk. Heather and I will track them using Windshear."
"You sure about that?" Anna asks.
"No, but we don't have much of a choice." Gobber sighed.
Elsa and Hiccup flew through the sky over a bed of clouds. They were silent. Completely silent. The story Gobber told them explained so much about Stoick, but the idea that he never told them about Drago both made sense and was horrible.
The only sounds to be heard were the beating of Luna and Toothless' wings.
Drago Blodvist sounded like the kind of man so dangerous he had to be stopped. He just had to be stopped, before he grew more powerful to the point where he was unstoppable. Everyone they knew, everyone they loved was going to be in danger if he was still out there.
Across from her, Hiccup balled his fists, took in a deep breath, and screamed in fury, punching the air as if it had wronged him. His anger-driven shouting continued for a good five seconds before finally, he stopped screeching, flopping against Toothless' back breathlessly.
Toothless cooed in concern. "Hiccup?"
Hiccup saw he was concerned and ran his hand over his dragon's scales. "Don't worry, bud," he said. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. I promise."
"So, do we have a plan?" Elsa wonders, looking over towards her brother. "I mean, we can't just keep flying."
"I don't know anymore." Hiccup sighed. "Eret was our only lead. Now we have to just keep flying and hope we find Drago before he finds us."
Toothless' ear plates perk up. He glances over his shoulder to see a disturbance in the blanket of clouds. A strange and arresting masked warrior rises from the clouds, standing upon something unseen. Its armor and cape flap in the buffeting turbulence. The warrior eyes the two dragon riders, pulling up alongside them. Elsa felt something and looked back and saw the figure merging from the clouds.
"Hiccup?" Elsa got his attention.
Hiccup senses the approaching figure in his periphery and sits up, flustered. "Aw, come on, really, Gobber?"
Hiccup whirls around expectantly then freezes, mouth agape. The warrior stares blankly, tilting its head in curiosity while cutting a menacing silhouette. Then, just as gradually as the warrior rose, the warrior dips back beneath the clouds, disappearing.
"What the heck was that?" Elsa asked.
"I don't know. Hiccup said as they stopped. "No sudden moves."
Suddenly, the warrior explodes out of the clouds before them, revealing to be atop a large dragon. They circle the two of them, forcing them to tread air. The warrior points a staff toward the two of them, unnervingly, as he returns to face them. Toothless and Luna growl a warning. Suddenly, they're ambushed from behind. Hiccup is plucked off of Toothless by another dragon and carried off.
"Toothless!" Hiccup cried.
"Hiccup!" Elsa cried, flying Luna over, shooting ice to create a puff of smoke as Luna shot it.
But then Elsa heard a screech and turned to face Toothless with the tail unmanned, Toothless plummets helplessly. He flaps wildly then begins to fall. She looked over to Hiccup being carried away and towards Toothless. She groaned and knew that she needed to divide and conquer for this.
"Luna, stay with them!" Elsa cried as she leaped off of her dragon and dived right towards Toothless.
In a flurry of panic and loud cries, Toothless fought to stay above water while Elsa plunged towards him. Successfully grabbing hold, she hoisted herself onto his saddle, urging Toothless to ascend sharply. As she observed Toothless spread his wings wide, Elsa fumbled with the tail's mechanics before finally grasping it.
With control regained, she soared upwards, accelerating to catch up with Hiccup and Luna. Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup's helmet had slipped from his head, plunging into the depths below, leaving only ripples on the surface as a silent testament to the fall.
Hiccup shivers in the claws of the dragon, surrounded by the strange flock full of breeds he's never seen. He looks back for Toothless, now long gone as he didn't even see Elsa or Luna anymore.
"Hey! You left my dragon back there! He can't fly on his own! He'll drown!" hiccup tried to get them to turn back, wondering what happened to Elsa and his dragon.
The warrior strides forward, unfazed by the biting cold, guiding the majestic dragon flock through the unforgiving terrain of the polar night. Emerging from the swirling mist, a colossal ice formation commands attention with its jagged, spiked contours, resembling the icy remnants of Eret's fort, but dwarfing it in scale and grandeur.
The dragon escort dives into its jagged folds. The wild ride suddenly gives way to a multilevel, cavernous chamber made of ice and columns of basalt rock. It's heavily populated with dragons of all kinds, looming in the shadows. Then Hiccup is dropped in the center. He scrambles to his feet, calling out into the darkness.
"We have to head back for my dragon!"
A HISSING dragon CLOSES IN, sniffing, leering, and aggressive. Hiccup extends and lights his telescoping dragon blade, waving a swirl of fire around himself. The dragon pauses, intrigued, and then watches hypnotically as Hiccup pacifies him with calculated sweeps of the fiery blade. The warrior watches keenly from the shadows.
Several aggressive dragons close in behind Hiccup. Hearing their hisses, he quickly stows the blade, replaces a cartridge in its hilt, then flips it around and sprays a perimeter of Zippleback gas around himself. He clicks the lighter, igniting a flash ring. The testy dragons recoil.
He then reaches through the smoke, offering his open hand. The dragons re-approach, sniffing him with calmed curiosity. Tilting his masked head, curious. He dismounts his dragon and approaches Hiccup.
"Who are you? The Dragon Thief? Drago Bludvist?" Hiccup wonders, trying to figure out who this was.
The warrior circles Hiccup in silence, taking in his gear, his dragon blade, and his face.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying?" Hiccup wonders.
The warrior whirls and prepares to use his staff but that was when Hiccup heard a screech and looked upward and saw Luna flying in and landing in the center. She was trying to protect her rider's brother and shielded him from them.
"Luna?" Hiccup asked. "Where is Elsa?"
Elsa then came flying in on the back of Toothless as they came in for a landing. Elsa leaped off of Toothless and raised her hands, preparing to shoot ice toward the dragons.
"Toothless!" Hiccup was relieved to see him. Hiccup rushes to him, petting him reassuringly. Toothless coos in relief.
"Are you okay?" Toothless wonders.
"It's okay. I'm glad to see you, too, bud. You really had me worried there." Hiccup said in relief.
"Yeah, you're welcome," Elsa stated, eyeing the masked warrior. "Hiccup... Who is this?"
"I don't know." Hiccup admitted.
That was when the warrior gasped and stepped backward. "Hiccup?"
The voice that reached their ears was unmistakably female, catching both of them off guard and dispelling any lingering thoughts that this could be Drago Bludvist. As they observed, the warrior lifted her helmet off, revealing herself to be a woman of age with Gobber and Berk's other seasoned adults. Her auburn hair was styled into three knotted braids trailing down her back, and her skin was fair.
"C-Could it be?" the woman asked in shock. "After all these years...how is this possible?"
Hiccup looked tongue-tied as he eyed Elsa, who shrugged as she wasn't sure where to go from here.
"Ah...should I…" he began. "Should I know you?"
The woman's shoulders slumped. "No," she said quietly, shaking her head. "You were only a baby."
Hiccup and Elsa squinted at her, their minds racing. This woman knew Hiccup as a baby, which means that she couldn't know Elsa since she was adopted by Stoick a few years later when she was about five. The woman looked back up at them and sighed.
"But a mother never forgets," she whispered.
The revelation struck Hiccup profoundly, and even Elsa felt a chill at the assertion that the woman who had assaulted them, now encircled by dragons, was supposedly Hiccup's deceased mother.
Hiccup inhaled sharply, retreating a step in disbelief. The woman, professing to be his mother, extended her hand to them, her smile a silent invitation. "Come," she beckoned.
With that, she pivoted and darted down an adjoining passageway. Hiccup and Elsa shared a look of mutual determination and hurried in pursuit.
Gobber and Heather braved a hail storm, with the dragon's wings beating powerfully through the chilly gusts. Gobber surveyed the area, attempting to discern their location.
"Boar-headed!" Gobber shouted to Heather. "Just like his father! Those two are more alike than they realize."
"Yeah, I know." Heather had to agree Hiccup was arrogant and hot-headed at times.
"Ah, they're just twenty!" Gobber said in anger. "And they're Vikings, too! I mean, could there be a worse combination? I mean, when I think of how stubborn and senseless Stoick was back in the day…" He paused, his lips curving into a frown. "Well, not much is different, actually."
Heather sighed. "You know what he's like. He wants to protect us and is willing to put himself on the line to do so."
"Bah!" Gobber said with a sigh. "We don't have much time. They don't know what they are going up against."
"Nothing can hurt them as long as they've got their dragons with them, Gobber," Heather tried to assure him.
Gobber's sharp eyes spotted an object floating in a large piece of cracked ice, prompting Grump to dive down for a closer look. It turned out to be Hiccup's helmet, and as Gobber held the brown object in his hands, a sense of foreboding washed over him. The discovery suggested that Hiccup and Toothless had possibly crashed, but the whereabouts of Elsa and Luna remained a mystery. Gobber tossed the helmet over to Heather, who then placed it in front of Windshear's nose to have her pick up the scent.
"Find them, Windshear!" Heather pleaded. "Find them."
Windshear roared and surged onwards. Heather could only hope that if they found Hiccup, they would find Elsa as well and hope that they haven't found Drago yet.