17 HOW TO START A DRAGON ACADEMY
Hela and Troels fly high above the village of Berk enjoying their morning flight. Troels folds his wings and starts descending through wispy clouds and skimming quickly around the mountains behind the village.
"This is Berk. For years it was Viking against dragon. The battles were ferocious...then one day, everything changed." Hela narrates as they ascend back up into the clouds.
"She met me and together with her brother and Toothless we've shown people here that instead of fighting my kind they can live with us, train us, and if they are lucky ride us," Troels added as Hiccup and Toothless joined them in the sky.
Hiccup adjusts Toothless's prosthetic tail fin as they fly, and the four soar effortlessly through the clouds, completely in sync.
They land softly on a nearby sea pillar where Snotlout, Astrid, Dawn, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and all their dragons have also landed.
"Why are we up here again?" Troels asked.
"Okay guys, best trick competition" Hiccup declares unknowingly answering Troels's question.
"Uh....." Fishlegs starts but is cut off by Snotlout.
"Me!"
"Actually I think it's....."
"Me!" Snotlout cuts him off again.
"Oh, sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, go!" Astrid tells him annoyed.
"Oh don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky with-" Hookfang jumps off the cliff with Snotlout in tow before he even finishes his gloating, "-FIRE! Oh no!!!!"
Hookfang soars low to the water, diving through the openings of the pillars and cliffs of the North Sea and taking enjoyment in Snotlout's frightened screams.
The dragon flies through the narrow opening between two pillars and Snotlout's helmet scrapes the side of one of the pillars, his rider completely terrified at that point. Still, Hookfang finishes by diving underwater before flying back up to where the other riders are, thoroughly proud of himself for scaring Snotlout.
"I'm alive...? I'm alive!" Snotlout exclaims in relief before seeing everyone giving him a deadpan look. He immediately tries to cover his frightened expression but no one's buying it. He still tries anyways, " Of course I am"
"It's my turn!" Fishlegs says as he readies himself on Meatlug, "Ready Meatlug? Here we go!"
Seemingly getting ready to do something amazing, everyone is surprised to see that Meatlug and Fishlegs simply ride in a small circle around the pillar before landing again with a sheepish pride in their performance.
"Yes! New personal best!" Fishlegs says as he gives Meatlug an affectionate hug and Meatlug returns it by licking the side of his face.
"That kid has some major confidence issues," Troels says and Hela nods in agreement.
"My turn!" Ruffnut says excitedly throwing her hands up.
"No, it's my turn," Tuffnut says forgetting they were on the same dragon. Hiccup intervenes before it can escalate to an argument.
"Guys, same dragon," He tells them with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh, right," Tuffnut says.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut head bump before flying off on their Zippleback--Barf and Belch--but right from the start the two can't agree on which way to fly.
"Go left!" Tuffnut says pulling Belch to the left.
"No right!" Ruffnut says pulling Barf in the opposite direction.
"N-no right!" Tuffnut.
"No left!" Ruffnut.
Their inability to agree on a way to go causes the heads of their Zippleback to entangled and annoy the dragon so they decide to throw them off.
"Oh no! Whoa! This is awesome and scary! Ahhh!" Tuffnut screams in mid-air free falling.
Luckily Barf and Belch come to the twin's rescue and catch both Ruffnut and Tuffnut before they hit the water and land shakily.
"We almost died," Ruffnut says out of breath.
"I know....go again!?" Tuffnut says excitedly.
"Hey! it's my turn," Dawn says before Turning to Hiccup smugly, "You might wanna take notes. Let's go!"
Dawn flies off on Shadow and the two being their practiced routine.
"Okay, Shadow, prepare to flip! Now twirl! Quick, upward spiral!"
Shadow and Dawn fly perfectly in sync with Dawn's commands, ending their routine high up in the clouds.
While everyone else is impressed as Dawn lands, Snotlout simply scoffs.
"Yeah, but can you do that without the dragon?" He says and Astrid punches him in the shoulder for her sister, "Ow"
"Well, girl it looks like it's our turn, just like we practiced," Astrid tells Stormfly before they take off. They skim over the water with Stomfly leaning from side to side her wings slicing the water before ascending into the clouds when they are at a certain height Astrid lets go of the saddle and free falls, surprising the others while Hela smiles at her proudly, Stormfly makes a circle around catching her rider before continuing the momentum with a roll before opening her wings and coming to a full stop above the water.
"Alright, Stormfly" Astrid cheers as they head back to land with everyone staring at them in awe.
"That was awesome" Dawn exclaims making Astrid smile before looking at Hela.
"That was amazing, sigh, looks like we have our work cut out for us Troels," Hela says with a smile.
"Well, it looks like we're up bud," Hiccup tells Toothless before they dive off the pillar heading nose-into the water before pulling up and soaring blindingly quick over the top of the water. They glide past and through pillars and cliffs before meeting an arched one, showing no fear to the stumbling block in their flight pattern.
Hiccup leaps off of the Toothless and runs across the top of the pillar while Toothless flies under the arch of it before they come together again as Hiccup jumps back onto Toothless in a perfectly timed maneuver.
Everyone is visibly impressed--even Snotlout--and Hiccup and Toothless finish off their performance with a series of small fire shots that explode beautifully in front of everyone.
"Let's see what you got sis," Hiccup tells Hela once they land.
Hela smirks as she gets ready, "You guys might want to cover your ears" she tells them as they dive off the pillar heading head first to the water before pulling up and soaring over the ocean at blinding speed, Hela lies on top of Troels completely flat to reduce air resistance.
Troels starts to twirl his wing picking up water and creating mesmerizing swirls as his head and back all the way to the tip of his tail and some parts of his wings and tail fins start to glow red before they ascend with a large flap of his wings leaving behind a sonic boom and a circular wave heading in every direction.
When they were high enough Troels dive bombs before firing a blast which explodes, they go through the flames and come out covered in flames. Troels opens his flaming wings to slow their descent.
Hiccup and the others look awestruck and Hela finishes off their performance by standing up on top of Troels and giving them a bow.
"They're still the best," Astrid says with a smile.
—————————————————
THE PLAZA
Hela, Troels, Hiccup, and Toothless land in the plaza.
"Yep...dragons. Most people on Berk would say life here is better since we made peace with them. Unfortunately, Dragons are still, well, dragons." Hiccup (V.O)
They dismount and walk into the plaza, being passed by a fair amount of chaos making Hela sigh.
A woman is having a piece of meat stolen by a Terrible Terror as she tried to tug it away from the little dragon.
"Let go of my food! Drop it pesky dragon!" she yells but the dragon makes off with her food anyways. "Dragons!"
"Get off my roof, you pest!" A man yells at a dragon perched atop his house.
"But it's comfortable up here" Hela hears the dragon say as he stares at the man.
A man is having a tug-of-war with a dragon for a bag of apples. But to no avail.
"Let go of that! These are my apples!"
Another dragon runs through a woman's hanging laundry, snatching it off in the process.
"Give me back my dainties, dragon!" She yells before chasing after it. Hela jumps in front of the dragon make come to a stop and the woman catches up.
"Thank you Hela," She says as she takes back her clothes and glares at the Nadder.
More villagers all scatter around, looking up at the sky, horrified and annoyed. It's three o'clock and that means it's time for the dragons to leave their droppings.
"Incoming!"
"Look out!"
"Dragon poo!"
They all run for cover as if their life depends on it. Hela sigh before taking control of 15 dragons at the front of the flock and making them go in different directions some dragons follow them but others keep going forward, seeing no other choice she walks over to Bucket and Mulch who are using shields perched on sticks--over them for cover.
"Ew, gross, gross, gross. Oh, poop. Oh, that's disgusting." Hiccup says as he backs away for cover right to Bucket, Mulch, and Hela who is deep in thought.
"Hey Mulch. Hey Bucket" He greets them before pointing up, "Sorry about the.... uh...."
"Every day at three. They're regular at least. A tip of the cap." Bucket says.
"Better than the days when it was 'kill or be killed'." Mulch says before turning to Hela and Hiccup, "Hey, we've got some fish for that father of yours. Bucket, give the kids the cod."
Bucket holds up a small sack but it has a gaping hole at the bottom. Obviously, the fish isn't in there.
"I ate it already...? Did I enjoy it?" Bucket asks.
"No, but someone else is about to" Hela says pointing to the Terrible Terror dragging away the fish. It looks up feeling eyes on it.
"Mine" It hisses before dragging it around a corner quickly only for more Terror's to show up.
"Most of us here on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad. But there are those who will never accept the dragons and will do anything to drive them away." Hela (V.O)
—————————————————
NIGHT
Behind the mountain holding the Great Hall. Atop a large cliff resides a small house nestled within the cliff, a vast field of cabbage in front of it.
This is Mildew's house, where he sleeps quietly before a disturbing banging atop his roof wakes him. The shaking causes the axes he has hanging from the ceiling to drop and almost cut his sheep--Fungus--in half. The sheep 'screams' and scurries into the snuffed-out fire pit.
Mildew, thoroughly annoyed, wakes up and stomps outside, mumbling to himself.
He stops to see there is, in fact, a dragon on his roof, snoring blissfully.
"Dragons, I should've known."
He picks up a picked-over piece of cabbage and scowls.
"Helps himself to my roof and my cabbage."
He looks over at the field to see four more dragons eating up all of his cabbage.
"My whole field! Gone! (Growling) That tears it Fungus."
Mildew grabs his walking staff, his helmet, and Fungus and proceeds to walk out of his house...again.
—————————————————
STORAGE HOUSE - DAY
The next day where Stoick and Gobber are overseeing the storage of food for the winter.
"Store the rest of it in the back, the fishing boats just came in with a big catch." Stoick orders.
"Stoick!" Mildew yells as he walks over.
"Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day," Gobber says.
"You picked a bad time, Mildew, I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming." Stoick tells him.
Mildew ignores Stoick's brush off, "It's those dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live among civilized men."
"Neither are you, Mildew. Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?" Gobber tells him.
"Ah, very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile, these dragons are in our village's cod! Turn people's houses into piles of rubble!" Mildew says loudly which grabs some of the villager's attention and support, for they begin gathering around the storage house.
"Mildew's right," Someone says making Hela who just arrived frown.
"They even disturb an old man's rest. Can't you see these bags under me eyes?" Mildew adds as he points to his eyes.
"Go on Mildew" Someone encourages.
"He's right, he's hideous," Gobber says referring to Mildew's previous comment making Hela chuckle.
"These are wild and unpredictable beasts!" Mildew says.
"Right you are!" Someone yells from the crowd.
"They even cracked this man's skull. Like an egg." Mildew says referring to Bucket.
"Egg, I like eggs! Scrabbled! Over easy! Poached!" Bucket says excitedly not registering Mildew's comment.
Mildew turns to Stoick, "You need to put those dragons in cages."
"I agree!"
"If you don't they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village!" Mildew says.
The surrounding villages all shout their agreements with Mildew before Hela steps in, fed up with listening to the conversation on the sidelines.
"Okay that's enough," Hela says quieting down the crowd, "Let me ask you this how many people died as a result of dragons since we made peace with them?"
"None," Someone answers her.
"Okay, How many houses did we have to rebuild from scratch other than fix one or two holes in one or two houses?" she asks again.
"none,"
"How many of you have been disturbed from your sleep or had a dragon forcefully break into your houses other than it being an accident?" She asked.
"No one,"
"Then what are you complaining about? These dragons haven't lived with us for long they are still learning to coexist with us this is as new to us as it is to them so give them a chance to learn instead of yelling for them to be caged which will start the war all over again" Hela tells them. Stoick looks at his daughter with a proud smile.
"She's right," Someone says in the crowd.
"What are we complaining about this is much better than the old days" A woman adds.
"We're Vikings we've survived much worse than this," Someone says as the crowd starts to disperse and Mildew leaves bitterly.
—————————————————
HADDOCK HOUSE - NIGHT
"You handled yourself pretty well today, you handle it like a true leader and I'm proud of you Hela, you'd make a great queen," Stoick tells her.
"Thanks, dad," Hela says.
"Now, onto the matter at hand, you may have stopped Mildew from stirring up the village today but he's gonna try again plus the dragons are still a problem," Stoick tells her.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that as well and I think I have a solution," Hela says.
"Let's hear it then," Stoick says.
"At the moment there are too many dragons at Berk lets not forget the juveniles from Snogletog which are mostly the ones causing mischief the most" Stoick nods, "So I plan to take some of the dragons to Dragon island so there isn't as much chaos on Berk"
"That's a good plan but what do we do about the ones that remain while you're at Dragon island?" Stoick asks.
Hiccup walks over announcing his idea, "Dad, what if I deal with the remaining dragons"
Stoick gives him an unsure look, "You?"
"Who else? If anyone can control them, second to Hela, I can. I'm the best man for the job," Hiccup says confidently.
"You're not a man yet Hiccup," Stoick tells him.
"Not if you don't give me the chance to be!" Hiccup responds.
Stoick, Hela, and Gobber regard each other with contemplative looks before Stoick finally gives in.
"Fair enough, you'll have your chance...starting tomorrow," Stoick tells him.
—————————————————
The next day Hela is getting ready to start the journey to Dragon island. She starts the saddle on Troels making sure it's too loose or right before getting on.
"Well, looks like we're all set up to go," Troels says and Hela nods.
"How about you help me out a little," She tells him before putting her hand on his head channeling her power through him before they both let out a massive roar, Most of the Dragons willing to go back to Dragon island responded to the call and start flying over the village waiting for Hela to lead. Hela smiles as Troels lifts off the others following.
THE PLAZA
Hiccup walks up with confidence in his stride, smiling broadly.
"Okay gang, there's gonna be some changes around here."
In the distance, a Viking woman is being harassed by a Nadder trying to steal her bread.
"Get out! Shoo! For the last time, get your nose out of my bread!" She runs into her house and the Nadder still sniffs after the bread.
Hiccup runs up to help, "Hold on, I'll help you! Just..."
The Nadder turns towards Hiccup and he reaches out his hand to the dragon's nose.
"No," He tells it sternly.
The Nadder immediately calms down and Hiccup smiles at his success.
"Alright," He says happily but his victory is short-lived when a Gronckle crashes his way through the plaza, making all the surrounding dragons go haywire.
"Okay...." Hiccup says before looking
up on a nearby ramp to see a Nadder and Nightmare beginning a fight. And coming down the ramp are screaming sheep, one of them is even on fire!
Hiccup, already overwhelmed, runs towards the sheep.
"Toothless, stop that fight! I'll put out the sheep."
Toothless obeys without hesitation and hops up to the two fighting dragons.
Hiccup runs into the center of the plaza, trying to find a bucket of water for the flaming sheep, but ends up getting caught in the cross-way of dragons and people fighting and flying everywhere!
"Okay, okay...whoa!" He pauses for a moment, completely lost in what to do.
A man pushes him out of the way, chasing down a Nadder who's stealing his food cart.
"Get out! Get back here with my cart!"
"Enough of these dragons!"
Meanwhile, on one of the old watch towers, the other Viking teens are watching the chaos unfold overhead and Hiccup failing to manage it.
"What's he doing?" Snotlout asks.
"Uh, I think he's helping the dragons break stuff...?" Tuffnut answers.
"Cool," Ruffnut says.
Back on the ground, Hiccup has finally gotten a bucket of water and runs up to the terrified, burning sheep, but it ends up knocking him down instead and Hiccup slides down the hill, watching the scene before him in even more dismay.
Astrid and Dawn watch overhead, worried.
"Wow, he could really use our help," Astrid says with Dawn nodding in agreement.
"we'll get to it," Tuffnut says enjoying the chaos.
"In a minute," Ruffnut adds.
On the ground, the burning sheep still runs around scared out of its fur before Hiccup finally succeeds in putting it out.
The sheep collapses in relief.
"Sorry about that," Hiccup tells it but right on time, the dragons flying overhead begin to drop their 'droppings' over the plaza.
"And...it's three o'clock," Dawn says.
The droppings continue to fall over the plaza, one of them coming right toward an exhausted Hiccup's face. Sadly, though he's too tired to move and just accepts the fate coming to him.
"Oh... no,"
—————————————————
HICCUP'S ROOM - NIGHT
Hiccup sits on his bed with Toothless next to him, stretching his arm.
"Oh, everything hurts..." He takes off his prosthetic leg, "...Even this,"
"Hiccup!?"
Hiccup perks up when he hears Dawn's voice and puts his leg back on, standing quickly and dusting himself off.
"Dawn? Perfect," He turns to Toothless, "I don't look too beat up do I?"
Toothless simply gives Hiccup a good once-over glance and growls, trying to be supportive, but Hiccup sees straight through the
Night Fury's good intentions.
"Oh great, dragon pity,"
Dawn makes her way up the steps and into Hiccup's room, wearing a worried expression.
"Hey, Dawn, what a nice surprise!" Hiccup says.
Dawn rubs her arm awkwardly, "So, how was your day?"
"Uh, uneventful. Hung around the plaza...you know..." Hiccup says.
"Yeah I do know....we saw you out there," She picks a piece of rubble off of Hiccup's vest, scrutinizing it before flicking it away.
"It's hard to believe you're still standing," She tells him.
Hiccup lets out an exhausted sigh before falling back on his bed, finished, "I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month,"
"Hiccup!"
Hiccup immediately stands when he heard his father's tone of voice as Stoick comes up the stairs and enters his room.
"Hiccup, what's going on out there? The plaza looks like a war zone," Stoick says.
"I know it looks bad-"
Dawn whispers, "really bad,"
"Yeah but this is only "phase one" of my master plan," Hiccup says.
Stoick looks relieved, "Oh, so you do have a plan?"
Hiccup puts up a front, "I do...of course I do. It's very complex. Lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it's, uh, pretty wild,"
"Uh-huh. Well, this better be real because Mildew's stirred up the whole island. And your sister's not here to settle them down so if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads," Stoick tells him before walking away.
Hiccup walks over to a worried Toothless, scratching behind his ear to reassure him.
"Don't worry, bud, your head's not going anywhere," Hiccup tells him softly.
"You do realize there are, like, a bazillion dragons out there and only one of you. I hope you really do have a plan," Dawn tells him.
—————————————————
THE ARENA - DAY
"That's your plan? Train dragons?" Ruffnut asks.
The teens stand in the arena, their dragons at their sides.
"Here? Where we used to kill them?" Tuffnut adds.
Hiccup carries a basket of baguettes to Toothless.
"Right... because we don't do that anymore," Hiccup answers him.
He sets the basket down, which Toothless begins to sniff.
Hiccup turns to address the teens. "That's why it's available,"
"Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous," Astrid says as she strokes Stormfly's beak reassuringly Dawn does the same with shadow.
"That's because they're very sensitive," Fishlegs says as he rests his cheek against Meatlug and strokes her face.
"Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here," He leans towards Astrid conspiratorially.
"We try not to talk about it," He whispers.
Dawn steps away from Shadow and approaches Hiccup.
"It's amazing your dad just gave us the arena," She tells him.
"Well, it would be, if he did, yeah, but, he didn't, so that's another thing we should try not to talk about," Hiccup says.
"Wait, so we're going behind your father's back?" Astrid asks Suspiciously.
"There you go! Talking about it! Uh..." Hiccup says as he walks away from the sisters that are glaring daggers at him.
He rubs his head in a nervous gesture and turns to address the other teens, pacing back and forth.
"Alright. Everybody, here's the thing. The dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village... we've gotta do something about that before Hela comes back,"
"Got it! Help dragons blow things up. We can totally do that," Tuffnut says, Ruffnut nods beside him, looking smug.
"No. I believe I said--"
"Here's how we're gonna do it:" Ruffnut starts, cutting him off. She knocks Tuffnut on the shoulder, who looks as excited as she does. "First, we make them really, really angry..."
"No problem. We anger everybody," Tuffnut says.
"No, you guys, this is serious. Hela trusted this responsibility to me while she's away and Mildew wants all of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you but that's not okay with me," Hiccup says frustrated.
"Your right," Tuffnut says before pointing at Ruffnut, "She's sorry,"
Ruffnut glares at her brother.
"Okay then. Next problem..." Hiccup says as he walks to the basket and pulls out a baguette. Toothless immediately licks his chops as soon as the bread is in sight.
"The dragons are eating everything in sight. Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have..." He walks to Toothless and holds out the baguette. Toothless chomps down on the bread. "You can get him to drop it by giving him a little scratch just below the chin."
Hiccup reaches under Toothless' jaw and begins to scratch. Toothless' eyes roll in pleasure and his mouth slackens. Hiccup gently takes the bread out of Toothless' mouth, his demonstration a success.
Snotlout saunters up to Hiccup and snatches the rescued baguette from Hiccup's hand.
"Maybe that works for you and Toothless... But Hookfang and me? We do things a little different,"
Snotlout throws the baguette and Hookfang catches it in his jaws, leaving the bread protruding half out of his mouth. Snotlout walks up to his dragon, confident.
"When I want this big boy to do something I just get right in his face and-- DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HEAR ME?"
Hookfang lowers his head for a moment, appearing chastised, before throwing the bread aside with a jerk of his head. Then he chomps down on Snotlout's head and torso, releasing a snarl with the action.
He gives Snotlout a light shake. Snotlout's arms and legs jiggle uselessly, but otherwise, the boy remains motionless inside his dragon's mouth.
"See? He dropped it..." Snotlout says his voice muffled. The teens watch, unimpressed but amused.
"Heh heh. Should we help him?" Tuffnut says.
"Yeah. In a minute," Astrid says amused making Dawn chuckle.
Hiccup calls for attention, "Alright. We've got a lot of training to do, but together--" Hiccup reaches into the basket and pulls out two more baguettes. "--we can keep these dragons under control,"
Astrid and Dawn start forward to begin Stormfly's and Shadow's training. The twins share a look and follow suit. Hookfang maintains his hold on Snotlout, who is left hanging several meters above the ground in the jaws of a Monstrous Nightmare.
"Uh... can somebody do that chin scratchy thing? Hello?" Snotlout asks his voice still muffled. Hookfang shakes Snotlout again.
"You guys still there?" Snotlout whimpers.
—————————————————
"Well, that went pretty well, I was expecting a new Dragon to take the Red Death's place," Hela says a little disappointed as she and Troels headed back to Berk.
"what Dragon would be brave enough to challenge you after witnessing what you did to the Red Death," Troels shivers, "That's a painful way to go"
"Really? I thought it went off too easy" Hela says surprised.
"Sigh, sometimes I question sanity," Troels says.
"I do too buddy," Hela says as she looks ahead seeing the island of Berk approaching.
"Well, I hope Hiccup had an easy job controlling the dragon," The moment she said that they see an explosion going off from the direction of the storage house, "Sigh, I just had to say it out loud didn't I,"
—————————————————
STORAGE HOUSE
With a bird's eye view of the village, a cloud of dark smoke mushroom from the northern side. A Zippleback flies away as the smoke below disperses. In the distance, other dragons circulate the area.
Angry Vikings and commotion are heard from below.
"Ow! Stop it! Give me that--that's mine!" Someone yells.
Hiccup and the others run onto the scene. They look concerned as shock and disappointment spread across their faces.
"Stormfly?" Astrid calls out uncertain.
"Shadow?" Dawn says the disbelief visible on her face.
Stormfly, Shadow, and Hookfang are bent over several overturned fish barrels and eating the fish. Stormfly and Shadow looks up as her name is called, confirming Dawn and Astrid's suspicions.
"Hookfang!" Hookfang looks up as well.
Hiccup runs up the steps of the food storage unit. The doors are thrown open and unhinged. The wreckage of crates and barrels litter the area.
Stoick is inside attempting to clear the mess. He lifts a broken support beam on his shoulders and throws it off to the side with an infuriated roar. Noticing Hiccup, Stoick marches outside.
"They've eaten everything! We've got nothing left for the freeze!" Stick tell him.
Mildew sidles up to Stoick as soon as he steps outside. Hela and Troels land next to Hiccup, she dismounts and starts inspecting the Storage house, she frowns 'A normal dragon fire would have burnt the Storage house not explode it, it's like it was hit by one of Troels fully charged blast and I know Toothless wouldn't have done this' she thinks ignoring the commotion going behind her.
"I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?" Hela hears her father say snapping her out of her thought. She sighs she doesn't blame him he just doing what's good for his people but so will she.
She knows she won't be able to change his mind she'll just have to do something that even he won't be able to deny. She walks up to Hiccup and whispers to him, "Meet me at the arena tonight and tell the others,"
"Bah! You can't just cage these dragons! You need to send them away now!" Mildew says making Hela turn to him with a glare.
Angry Vikings gather in the background. They show their agreement with Mildew with a cacophony of angry shouts.
Stoick holds up his hands, placating.
"You're right, Mildew. We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning-" He turns to Hela and Hiccup with an apologetic look, "-Hela will send them off the island,"
Hiccup looks at his father, heartbroken while Hela has an unreadable expression on her face. Toothless pads up behind Hiccup and nuzzles his nose head under Hiccup's arm in a comforting gesture. Hiccup stares down at his dragon, looking lost.
"I'm sorry kids," Stoick tells them.
—————————————————
ARENA - NIGHT
The teens fly down towards the darkened arena, their silhouettes highlighted in the night by the torches they carry.
They land before the arena's gates where Hela is sitting next to Troels.
"So what did you want to tell us," Astrid asks as she walks up to Hela.
"I don't think the Dragons destroyed the Storage house," Hela says surprising the riders and their dragons, the dragons because they didn't know they were being blamed for that.
"How do you know that?" Hiccup asks.
"I had my suspicions but their surprise just confirmed it," Hela tells him as she gestures to the dragons, "A normal dragon fire would have burnt the storage house not explode it like that and I don't think Toothless would fire a full blast plasma shot at our food supply,"
"No I wouldn't I'm not that desperate for food," Toothless says.
"Weren't you the one chomping down on a full basket of fish when we arrived at the crime scene?" Troels asks and Toothless looks away.
"Who would do such a thing?" Snotlout asks.
"I'm sure we're thinking of the same person," Hela says and everyone nods.
"Wait who are we thinking about? " Tuffnut asks confused.
"No idea," Ruffnut says.
"If we tell dad about-" Hela put up her hand to stop him.
"I don't think we can change his mind you know how stubborn he is plus he's the chief he can't ignore the complaints of his people for something we have no proof of," Hela tells him, "That's something you'll have to learn for when you take over as chief in the future,"
"So what are we going to do?" Dawn asks and Hela smile.
—————————————————
NORTH SEA - DAY
Bucket and Mulch lean over the siding of a ship, hauling an empty net out of the sea.
"Ah, the nets are empty again," Mulch says disappointed.
Bucket strokes his beard in contemplation, "Did I eat them already? Did I enjoy it? Oop--am I being too negative?
Hiccup and Snotlout hover above the ship on their dragons.
"Snotlout! Scare us up some dinner!"
Hiccup trust that Snotlout will follow his order and flies off. Hookfang and Snotlout perform a straight dive into the sea.
Bucket screams upon seeing Hookfang, "Dragon attack!"
Hookfang crashes into the sea just next to the ship. He circles the boat underwater with Snotlout holding onto his horns. Together they scare the fish into Mulch and Bucket's net.
When the net is full, they burst from the sea and back into the sky.
"Woohoo!" Snotlout exclaims in excitement.
"Hey, thanks dragon," Mulch says.
"That's right! That just happened!" Snotlout shouted as they fly away.
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MILDEW'S HOUSE
Hela, Astrid, Dawn, and Fishlegs fly towards Mildew's home.
Mildew is busy tilling his garden soil. He looks up, dumbfounded, at the approaching dragons.
"Huh?"
"Afternoon, Mildew!" Astrid greets.
Stormfly and Shadow glide over Mildew's fields, dragging their tail through the dirt and overturning the soil leaving a groove in their wake.
Hela follows on Troels with an overturned bag of seed to fill in the groove.
Mildew inhales the unsettled dusts and coughs. He's completely wrong-footed by this unexpected turn of events.
"I hope you choke on those seeds" Hela whispers making Troels laugh.
"Three o'clock! Time for the fertilizer!" Dawn says.
"Eh?" Mildew turns to his left to see a horde of dragons approaching. In the middle is Fishlegs atop Meatlug.
"Okay, Meatlug. Let 'er rip!" Fishlegs tells her and Meatlug makes a face of exertion.
Mildew jumps as dragon droppings hail down on his garden. Hela observes her handiwork from a safe distance above, pleased.
"Smile, Mildew! We just saved you three months of work! Even though you don't deserve it," Hela tells him.
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RAVEN POINT FOREST
Trees crash down on one another as something hidden within their branches knocks them over. A loud, but brief, explosion startles a yak. A herd of wild boars comes screeching from the tree line just as Ruffnut and Tuffnut on their Zippleback breakthrough after them.
Hela and Troels fly in and fire a plasma bolt to scare the boars into veering right. They continue to run away from the pursuing dragons straight into a village barn, which Gobber waits beside. Gobber closes the barn doors as soon as the boars are inside.
One by one, the teens and their dragons land, excited after the successful execution of Hela's plan.
"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Fishlegs exclaims.
Astrid looks to Hela amazes, "How did you know that was gonna work?"
"Like I said before this is as new to them as it is to us we just had to adjust with them and everyone was busy trying to suppress their nature when all we had to do is work with them not against them," Hela tells them.
"There they are, Stoick!"
Hela's face falls into annoyance. She turns to see Mildew and her father approaching.
"One of these days I'm gonna kill this old bag of bones," Hela says to herself.
"Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me," Mildew says.
"No," Stoick says to Mildew before turning to Hela and Hiccup, "This is not what I asked for,"
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ARENA
Gobber and Stoick approach the arena. Villagers gather at the spectator stands.
Everyone is interested in the teens' fate.
The gate lifts and Gobber and Stoick descend into the arena. We see the teens standing in a line on the other side, their dragons caged behind them.
"Oh no! What's Stoick gonna do to us?" Fishlegs asks fearfully.
"I'm too pretty for jail!" Ruffnut says.
"Hah, where'd you hear that?" Tuffnut asks.
Stoick looms toward them. Gobber limbs at his side, looking menacing.
"you all disobeyed my orders... and there will be consequences," Stoick tells them.
Hiccup steps forward but Hela grabs his arm shaking her head because she knew that her father may look mad but there was no heat behind his words.
Mildew watches the event from outside the arena with the other villagers. He is smug.
"Oh, this is going to be great, Fungus. It's about to get ugly," Mildew says.
Below, Stoick paces in front of the teens. He paints an imposing figure.
"You took over this place without asking. You released the dragons against my wishes. Things are going to change around here. That's why I--"
Gobber jumps in front of the teens interrupting Stoick's speech, "You're getting a dragon-training academy!"
Mildew leans back, shocked. "Wha--?"
"Gobber! I wanted to tell them!" Stoick says.
The tension in the teen's shoulders drops. Hiccup and Dawn look at each other, relieved.
"I'm sorry. You're right," He bows his head and gestures to the teens. "Go ahead,"
"Well, you told most of it!" Stoick tells him still upset.
"You can tell them the part about how proud you are of them!" Rubber says referring to Hiccup and Hela.
"Gobber!" Stoick shouts, he sighs and realizes there is no point in continuing to bicker. He clasps his hands and turns to his kids.
"Hiccup, Hela--well--what he said. You've all made me proud. This dragon-training academy is for you all," He walks to the gate lever and pulls it down. The doors swing open to reveal the dragons, waiting patiently.
Snotlout rushes forward first, "Hookfang! My buddy!"
Hookfang catches Snotlout by the back of his vest and carries him off.
Astrid meets Stormfly and throws her arms around her head.
"Hey, Stormfly! I missed you so much!"
Dawn hugs Shadow's neck happily.
Meatlug barrels into Fishlegs and pushes him to the ground.
"Meatlug! Oh, who's daddy's little baby? Oh, who's daddy's little fluffy..."
Toothless and Troels pad up to Hiccup and Hela more calmly than the other dragons.
"Hey, bud!" Hiccup hugs Toothless, cradling his head. Toothless closes his eyes, content.
"So how was your first time in jail?" Hela asks playfully.
"Not good Meatlug's tail kept hitting me in the face and the food's terrible," He plays along with them both chuckling at the end.
Outside the arena, Mildew knocks his fist against the arena's barrier and scowls down at the happy reunion.
"Oh... I'll get those dragons yet," He grumbled and stalks off.
Fungus watches him leave but doesn't immediately follow. He shifts over to the spot Mildew previously occupied and resumes watching.
Back in the arena, Stoick walks up behind Hiccup and Hela.
"Now all you have to do is train 'em," Stoick tells them.
"Not a problem dad. After all, I've got him," Hiccup says as he rubs Toothless' snout with affection.
"WE got each other," Hela corrects him as she gestures to the others standing by their dragons. The twins each sit atop their preferred Zippleback head and Hookfang still holds Snotlout in the air by his vest.
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HICCUP'S ROOM - NIGHT
Hiccup puts the finishing touches on a picture of the dragon trainers and their dragons.
Satisfied, he looks up to Hela who was standing behind him she smiles at the picture. Fenrir walks into the room and sits next to Hela who pats his head.
"Dragons can't change who they are," Hiccup (V.O)
Toothless leaps from the rafters down onto a slab of rock in Hiccup's room. He circles the rock, bedding it with fire as he does so. He settles down in the warmth.
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FISHLEG'S ROOM
Fishlegs sleeps soundly. A low-burning candle and a cup of water sit at his bedside.
"But who would want them to?" Hela (V.O)
Meatlug licks Fishlegs' exposed feet.
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DAWN'S ROOM - DAY
Dawn's room is dark. There's an axe under her pillow. She stirs slightly in her bed just before light floods in along with a brisk squawk.
Dawn sits up to see Shadow staring in at her from her window. She smiles and throws off her covers.
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FOREST
Astrid is in the woods practicing her axe throw on the trees. She hears a squawk from the bushes to her right and smiles.
Stormfly jumps out of cover and swings her tail releasing 5 of her tail spikes which embed themselves in a tree next to the one with Astrid's axe.
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THE PLAZA - DAY
Astrid and Dawn fly with a netful of fish clutched in Shadow and Stormfly's talons. Fishlegs and Meatlug join them carrying the same.
Hiccup and Hela fly in as well, overseeing their progress. From the ground, Stoick and Gobber watch them. Pride is clear on Stoick's face.
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ARENA
Snotlout and Fishlegs, along with their dragons, lift the new academy sign over the entrance. Hela and Astrid observe from a distance.
"Berk Dragon Academy. I like the sound of that," Astrid says as she punches Hela's shoulder and smiles. Hela playfully rubs the area even though she didn't feel it and smiles back.
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CENTRAL BERK - DAY
We follow Hiccup, Toothless, Hela, and Troels as they fly through the village.
"And as long as it takes us we are going to learn everything there is to know about them. Wouldn't you?" Hela and Hiccup (V.O)
(AN: Y'all can blame my laziness and my stupid brain that thought I already posted this chapter, for it being this late. Peace✌️)
