"And we're still going to talk to Drago?" Hero questions, watching Hiccup adjust his sleeves.
"We have to. We can't just wait for him to attack the nest or attack Berk." Hiccup states. "But you don't have to if you don't want to. I don't want to force you into this."
"Eh, I'll be fine." Hero shrugs with a slight smirk and turns to watch a bunch of baby dragons gang up on Toothless and annoy him to death.
Koi perks up at her friend getting (playfully) attacked and stands up to help with them but is shocked by Toothless' sudden roar, making the baby dragons fly away and Koi's eyes widen.
Brightlight, who was just laying there, rumbles a laugh.
"Well, let's go then." Hiccup says.
Suddenly a hand covers Hiccup's mouth and pulls him backwards. Hero's about to move towards him but the same thing is done to them.
All three dragons turn towards the culprits and are met with Stoick and Saga gently shushing them. Brightlight was about to attack but Toothless quickly pushes the dragon's head down to the ground with his paw. Hiccup pushes his father's hand away and Saga gently lets go of Hero.
"Are you kidding me!?" Hiccup shouts, "How did you even get in here!?"
"Same way we're getting you out." Stoick states, pushing Hiccup's helmet into the owner's arms.
"What!?"
"All clear." Gobber calls through the entrance of the tunnel. Stoick then grabs Hiccup's arm and starts dragging him through the tunnel. Hero and the dragons follow from behind as Saga moves to walk next to Gobber.
"Okay, wait, we kinda have to explain something." Hero says.
"Explain it on the way." Stoick interrupts.
"No, seriously! We need to explain it now!"
"I'm done listening to the two of you."
"Please, dad! Unlike the other stuff we spring on you, this is a lot more serious." Hiccup begs.
"Then put it with everything else."
"But this is also one you would actually like! You just need to handle it...delicately! Very delicately!"
"Yep! So no weapons and stuff like that!" Hero adds. "So..." They trail off when they see Saga and Gobber standing in front of the entrance of a mother part of the fort.
Saga quietly turned around and walked away, shaking her head.
"Mom." Hero mutters, following her.
"You might want to take this one, Stoick." Gobber says, patting his friend as he walks past him.
"Oh boy." Stoick sighs, taking his sword out and walking towards the entrance.
"Uhhh, dad, can you put the sword away, please?" Hiccup asks, following behind him.
As Stoick walks through the entrance, he pauses, and stops breathing for a second because right in front of him was his presumed dead wife, Valka.
Hiccup and Gobber come out from opposite sides of the chief, awkwardly standing beside him. After a bit Hero and Saga come out as well.
"I know what you're gonna say, Stoick." Valka starts. "How could I have done this? Stayed away all these years, why didn't I come back to you? To our son? Well, what sign did I have that you could change, Stoick? That anyone on Berk could?"
Stoick starts to slowly walk towards Valka as she continues on with her rant. As that happened, some dragons, close to Valka, started surrounding the area, examining the situation.
"I pleaded so many times to stop the fighting, to find another answer, but did any of you listen!?"
"This is why I never married." Gobber comments. "This and one other reason..."
Hiccup and Hero turned to him in confusion while Saga just patted his back.
"I know that I left you to raise Hiccup alone." Valka continues, backing away from Stoick. "But I thought he'd be better off without me and I was wrong, I see that now, but..." Her back hits the wall of ice behind her and Stoick gets close enough that he can reach her. "Oh, stop being so stoic, Stoick! Go on! Shout, scream, say something!"
Stoick cups her cheek and whispers, "You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."
Valka's eyes widen in shock before she closes them and hangs her head down. Stoick gently raises her chin up and gives her a soft, gentle kiss.
The dragons surrounding them back away and Hero and Hiccup let out a small sigh of relief.
"Romance is way too complicated..." Saga grumbles.
-----
Drago's army starts to make its way to the dragons' nest as the other dragon trappers lead their prisoners to the other side of the boat, planning to dump them into the water.
"Could this day get any worse!?" Snotlout complains.
"Uh, let me see." Tuffnut starts. "We're gonna jump into freezing cold water, then die from drowning."
"Or hypothermia." Astrid adds with an annoyed huff.
"What's that?"
"Looks refreshing." Eret comments, staring down at the water and then turning to Freya. "Ladies first."
"But isn't it usually the man that's supposed to go first? Especially in dangerous situations like these?" Freya teases, looking disappointed. "You know, to protect the woman? Wow, you can't even do that correctly-"
She then suddenly ducks as Eret kicks the guards behind her, spending one of their spears flying towards Eret who swiftly catches it and uses the spear to cut himself free.
Freya catches the other spear and does the same thing, smiling at Eret who holds two weapons in both hands with a smirk.
"Warn the others!" One of the trappers orders as he and another trapper rushes towards Eret who swiftly knocks them out with the spears.
A blow dart flies in the air and Freya catches it, immediately shooting at both trappers who were running to get back up and knocking them out, ending the fight.
"Okay, I love you again." Ruffnut says to Eret, running towards them and making Freya chuckle.
"Ah, pathetic." Tuffnut comments, seeing Snotlout's distraught face. "You know, you could still jump."
"So, are we going to save your dragons and get out of here, or not?" Eret asks Freya who rolls their eyes with a smile and cuts Astrid free of her ropes.
"Where do we start?" Astrid asks.
"Look inside these traps." Eret informs, cutting the rest of the riders free. "They're here somewhere."
"Then that means we're splitting up."
-----
"Anyone coming?" Eret asks as he cranks one of the traps open.
"I don't know, you just keep doing what you're doing." Ruffnut admits, staring at his muscles in awe. "Keep cranking."
Once the trap is cracked open enough, Eret climbs into it, noticing that this is the trap Sapphire is in.
Sapphire perks up at him with a squawk and tilts her head as Eret moves closer, hand out.
"Thank you for saving my life." Eret says as Sapphire leans into his hand, her skin turning yellow. "Now allow me to return the favor."
-----
"Mom, you'd never even recognize it." Hiccup says, carrying an empty basket across Valka's handmade kitchen. "Where we used to make weapons, we now build saddles, wingslings, we even fix dragon teeth!" He opens a basket of fish and puts a couple inside, he then closes it, not realizing he accidentally hit Toothless on the head.
"We also make paint." Saga adds, gently taking the cut up fish away from Valka and towards the fireplace. "The village is a lot more colorful now."
"And mom's the main one in charge of it!" Hero comments. "You'd never believe someone this aggressive and paranoid would even think about painting a house "cyan"!"
"I have less to be worried about now." Saga shrugs, sitting next to Gobber and holding one of the fish sticks over a fire.
"Our children have changed Berk for the better." Stoick agrees, putting his hands on Valka's shoulders. "I think we've done good with Hiccup."
"Thanks, dad!" Hiccup says.
"Valka!" Saga calls, raising up a cooked kebab of fish. "You get the first one!"
"Oh? W-Why?" Valka questions, taking the cooked fish out of her hands and taking a small bite of it. Her face immediately lifts up from the taste.
"So maybe you'll learn how to properly cook." Saga answers with a chuckle. "But for real, all this time and you still didn't think of cooking your food?"
"I'm a bit out of practice..."
"Well, I didn't marry you for your cooking." Stoick says to Valka while cutting up more fish.
"I hope not. Her meatballs could kill more beasts than a battle ax!" Gobber laughs. "I've still got a few knocking around in there!"
"Hiccup, Hero, here." Saga once again calls, raising two cooked fish kebabs to the two youngest there.
Hiccup grabs both and hands one to Hero who immediately takes a bite out of it and sits next to their mother.
"Once you move back in with all your dragons, oh, Drago won't stand a chance!" Hiccup excitedly announces. "Everything will be a-okay!"
"Hiccup." Saga interrupts as Valka awkwardly walks over to a small flow of clean water with a jug in hand. "Calm down."
"Oh, right."
"Come sit with me." Hero suggests, holding their hand out for Hiccup to take. He does and Hero pulls him down to the right of them.
While that's happening, Stoick starts whistling a familiar tune, making Valka pause.
"Oh, I love this one." Gobber remarks as Saga hands him a kebab and Koi moves to sit next to Brightlight who was laying down next to Cloudjumper.
Stoick walks over to Valka while continuing to whistle and takes the jug out of her hands, placing it on the table near them.
"Remember our song, Val?" Stoick asks. "I'll swim and sail on savage seas..." He starts to sing. "With ne'er the fear of drowning...and gladly the ride of the waves of life...if you'll marry me...no scorching sun nor freezing cold wil-"
"Will stop me on my-" Gobber interrupts, bursting into song and dance before realizing he's ruining the mood and sits back down, earning a few glares from the people around him. "jour...ney...sorry."
Stoick huffs and turns back to Valka, continuing to sing, "if you will promise me your...heart." He gently grabs Valka's hand and places it over his heart. "And love..." He tries to get Valka to continue but realizes it's not working and sighs, letting go of her hand.
"...And love me for eternity..." Valka softly sings, glancing at Stoick and walks to the middle of the room. "My dearest one, my darling dear, your mighty words astound me..."
Hiccup watches his parents in awe and surprise as he unconsciously grabs Hero's hand and squeezes it tightly. Hero turns to him in confusion before gently smiling at his expression.
"But I've no need of mighty deeds-" Valka lifts her arm up, allowing Stoick to hook his arm with her's. "-when I feel your arms around me!"
Stoick lets out a hearty laugh as they begin to dance together.
"But I would bring you rings of gold and even sing you poetry!" Stoick sings.
"Oh, would you?" Valka teases with a laugh.
"And I would keep you from all harm! If you would stay beside me!"
They continued to dance, brightening the room and making everybody relax as the tension withered away.
"I have no use for rings of gold, I care not for your poetry, I only want your hand to hold!" Valka continues to sing.
"I only want you near me!"
"To love and kiss, to sweetly hold-" They both sing and Gobber stands up, beginning to dance once again with a loud cheer. "For the dancing and the dreaming!"
Gobber then suddenly grabs Saga's arm, spinning her around with him as she yelps. Hero laughs at her mother's situation while Hiccup continues to watch his parents with joy.
Through all my sorrows and delights, I'll keep your laugh beside me! I'll swim and sail through savage seas with ne'er the fear of drowning!"
Saga pushes herself away from Gobber and sluggishly sits back down, tired from all the spinning. Gobber could care less though as he kept on dancing, and even singing the last part of the song.
"And gladly ride the waves of life if you will marry me!"
Stoick picks Valka up by her sides and lifts her into the air for the final before placing her back down and laughing together.
Gobber...was still singing the last note. "I'm still gggooooiinnngggg!"
Saga, extremely annoyed, takes the kebab for Stoick and stuffs it in Gobber's mouth, successfully shutting him up.
"I thought I'd have to die before we'd have that dance again." Stoick says.
"No need for drastic measures." Valka chuckles.
"For you, my dear...anything." Stoick gets on one knee and holds Valka's hand. "Will you come home, Val? Will you be my wife once again?"
Toothless comes from behind Valka and pushes her into Stoick, making them laugh. Hero then softly pushes Hiccup off the seat and towards his family.
Hiccup rubs Toothless' head as he looks up at both of his parents with happiness.
"We'll be a family!" Stoick continues, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. "What do you say?"
Valka chuckles. "Yes!"
"Great!" Gobber interrupts, "Saga's doing the cooking!"
"I'm not doing shit!" Saga shouts as everybody laughs. "I have my own family to...feed..." She trails off and Hero frantically looks around the room.
"Hero? What's wrong?" Hiccup asks before noticing the dragon's perk up and their eyes turning into slits.
Hero warns, "There's something going on outside!" and looks to the side to see almost all of the dragons in the nest rush out of it.
Valka springs into action and runs outside of the nest and onto an icicle, examining what's below.
"Drago..." Saga mutters, after she follows after Valka.
Below them was a whole army of both dragon trappers and kidnapped dragons. Cannons were shooting at the nest, breaking it apart, little by little, and some trappers were running towards the nest, attacking any dragons that flew out.
Valka lets out a staggered breath and glares at the chaos below.
Hiccup and Stoick run to the woman's sides, their eyes widening or hardening at the sight.
"Shit." Hero mutters as they and Gobber run out as well.
Valka looks up in determination and swiftly turns back towards the nest, walking away from the others.
"Val!" Stoick calls, follow her. "Val!" He grabs her hand, slowing her down. "It's alright. We're a team now. Now, what do you want to do?"
"We have to save the dragons." Valka states.
"Right. Come on, everybody!"
-----
"Come on, everybody! Let's go! Drago's army is attacking the nest!" Astrid shouts, jumping onto her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly.
"Where's Eret?" Freya asked, sitting behind Astrid.
"He'll follow at some point! Come on, guys. Let's go!" Astrid demands as Stormfly takes off into the sky.
Everybody else follows behind with their dragons.
"Ready the traps!" They hear Drago demand and three large traps with captured dragons inside them are cranked open.
Some dragons fly inside them, trying to help the captured dragons but getting captured themselves when the trap snaps closed.
"Ruff, Tuff!" Astrid calls. "Take down one of those traps!"
"On it!" Ruffnut shouts.
"No, I'm on it!" Tuffnut argues.
"No, I am!"
"No, me!"
"You're on the same dragon! Go!" Freya shouts.
"Oh, right." Ruff laughs.
The twins turn their dragons to the first trap they see and use their dragon's ability to explode it.
"Surprise!!!!" Tuffnut shouts as all the dragons fly above the trappers. "Yeah!!!!"
"What!?" Drago exclaims when he sees the dragon riders.
Eret yelps as he struggles to hold onto Sapphire. Eventually he gets a proper grasp on the dragon and flies next to Stormfly.
"You found her!?" Freya exclaims, smiling brightly and immediately jumping onto Sapphire's back. "Let's go! I'll give you a lesson on how to properly ride a dragon!"
"Dragon riders coming through!" Tuffnut exclaims as they all twirl around, back towards the traps and weapons.
"Fire!" Fishlegs shouts, making Meatlug blast a ball of fire at one of the cannons, destroying it immediately.
"Hahaha!" Snotlout laughs as Hookfang instantly burns a catapult.
Pull the leash to have her slow down at bit...." Freya orders, aiming her bow at one of the trappers as Eret pulls on the leash, making Sapphire slow down. She then releases her arrow, making it hit one of the trapper's arms right before they can slam one of their traps shut.
Barf and Belch spray gas along all the traps and Stormfly spews fire at it, lighting the gas on impact and freeing all the trapped dragons.
"Cut them down!" Drago orders, making his minions start launching nets at them.
As the dragon riders were dodging the traps, suddenly Ruffnut fell off her saddle. "Eret, Son of Eret!" She cried before yelping when something caught her. She looks up at her savior...or saviors who were Fishlegs and Snotlout. She smiles in content as they fly her back to her dragon.
"Up, girl! Lean left, Eret! You're doing great!" Freya compliments, as Astrid flies next to them. Freya's head then snaps upwards when she hears the icicle above them start to crack and takes out her bow. "Look out!" She warns before taking out a special arrow from her quiver and quickly shooting it towards the icicle, exploding it on impact.
"Woah!" Eret gasps, staring at Freya in shock.
"Eyes forward!" Astrid shouts. Suddenly something swooped below them, creating a strong gust of wind and making the three hold onto their dragons. Astrid looks down to see what caused that and gasps. "Is that a StormStriker!?"
"What!?" Freya screams, following her gaze. Below them was a green StormStriker, using its tail to whack the trappers running towards them. "Oh my gods!"
"Astrid, Freya!" Hero shouts from above them and leans Koi downwards to fly next to them.
"Hero!"
"There's two of them now!?" Astrid exclaims, looking between Koi and Brightlight with a smile.
"I guess so! And they're...very attached to each other." Hero laughs.
Hiccup suddenly dives down next to them and lifts up his helmet, smirking at Eret. "Welcome aboard, dragon rider!"
"Thanks!" Eret responds. "I guess."
"Where have you two been!?" Astrid questions.
"Oh, you know, catching up with my mom." Hiccup answers, looking upwards. Freya, Astrid and Eret follow his gaze and gasp as they see Valka, standing on top of Cloudjumper with her spear raised. Behind them, the alpha of all dragons appears and lets out a massive roar.
"That's Valka!?" Freya exclaims. "She's gotten flasher over the years..."
"Well, now you know where I get my dramatic flair." Hiccup says, his smirk turning into a smile as he puts his helmet back on and flies away.
"Speaking of mothers, where's ours?" Freya asks Hero, who quickly looks around.
"Above us." They answer, pointing upwards at their mother.
Saga dives down towards the trappers below and her Triple Stryke, Heartburn, spews fire at them, making the trappers jump out of the way. The fire also destroys some of the cannons and traps they created.
"She's so violent..." Freya mutters.
"Yeah, so is that thing!" Astrid shouts, looking up at the Bewilderbeast as it destroys the nest. "Back away!"
They all quickly fly away from the massive dragon as it spews ice at the boats and trappers below.
"Oooh, Brightlight, Koi!" Hero calls. "Let's go take down the rest of those boats!"
"Brightlight?" Freya repeats.
"Asks Valka."
They then fly towards the boats and towards the water.
A couple of feet away, Hiccup and Toothless were currently soaring through the sky, looking over the battlefield.
Below them a Zippleback is pushed to the ground by a trap.
"Come on, Toothless." Hiccup calls, turning him towards the trap. "Show them what you got, bud." They dive towards the trap and Toothless fires a ball of purple fire at it, destroying it instantly and freeing the Zippleback. "Woo! Atta-boy!"
Valka and Cloudjumper, who were on another part of the battleground, snatch a kidnapped dragon off of one of their companions before throwing it onto the ground. But suddenly, before they could react, a net is thrown at them and they slam into the ground. Valka quickly uses her weapon to cut herself out of it and gasps when she sees Drago right in front of her.
"I've waited a long time for this." He says.
"You cannot take our dragons!" Valka shouts as she charges at Drago and attacks him with her spear. "They are controlled by the alpha!"
"Then it's a good thing I brought a challenger."
-----
Hero, Koi and Brightlight were gliding through the water, burning the trapper's boats from the bottom with their bubbles.
Hero turned to Brightlight who was signaling that she would go to the right side of the island. Hero responded with a nod, giving her permission. But they froze when they felt something move below them. Koi noticed it too and tried to roar out for Brightlight who couldn't hear them and kept moving.
Suddenly something massive emerged from the bottom of the ocean and started to rise out of the water, hitting Brightlight along the way.
Hero's eyes widened and they pulled Koi backwards, watching the object arise.