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A BOAT IN THE silent ocean with course to the mysterious Drogo. The captain, Eret, son of Eret, stands on the bowsprit, eyeing the calm blue beneath like a hawk. He then turns to his men, calling out an order, "Keep your eyes peeled, lads! With this wind, we'll reach Drago by daybreak, so best we fill this ship up with dragons and quick! It's no time to be picky. Not if we want to keep our --" one of his men comes over to him interrupting him "Uh... Eret?" he points to something. The dragon trapper turns towards where his man tells and sees three dragons flapping toward the boat. "HEADS! OFF THE PORT QUARTER!" the crewmen swing the net cannons toward the back-lit, silhouetted dragons, drawing ever closer. "Net them, lads! Take them down!" Eret calls and loads a gun and takes aim. First, he spots Hiccup and Astridriding the dragons. Then he spots the drake from before, and his eyes narrow, determined. "You're not getting away this time," he says. 

Nets fly through the air. Hiccup, Astrid, and Shadowtounge outmaneuver them and dive toward the ship, landing on the deck with a clatter. "And here I was worried we might turn up empty-handed." eret snickers as Astrid brandishes her ax in invitation. Hiccup indicates for her to lower it, then holds up his hands in surrender. "Nope. It's your lucky day. We give up." Eret's crew exchange confused stares, as does Astrid. "That's one Night Fury, one DeadlyNadder, a Shadow drake,  and..." He dismounts Toothless and tosses a net over Astrid. ". two of the finest dragon riders west of Luk Tuk. That oughtta make the boss happy, right?" Astrid grumbles. He takes her ax, hands it to Eret, and escorts Astrid past the men to the open live well. 

"Excuse us." He leads Astrid down the ladder. She glares at him, plainly hating the plan. "What are you doing?" Toothless tries to follow them, but Hiccup holds him back. "Toothless, stay." Hiccup flips the latch, lowering the grate as Eret watches, confounded. "The dragons don't care for cramped spaces, so they'll hang out with you. They won't have any trouble." Eret's men nervously direct their swords and spears towardToothless, but Shadow snarls at them, lowering her head in front of toothless, "Unless you do that. Wooden boat, big ocean. How's your swimming?" Hiccup asks, and a man answers timidly, "Not good." A burst of flame erupts from the live well, causing the crew members to jump back. Hiccup thrusts his Dragon Blade through the grate. "Oops. Almost forgot. Can't have armed prisoners!" Hiccup says, and Astrid hisses a whisper from below the deck, "How is this a plan?" 

Hiccup doesn't answer her and retracts the blade and offers it up. A crewman cautiously takes it, looking it over. The pommel of the hilt is expelling green gas. "Just what every dragon trapper needs. One end coats the blade with monstrous Nightmare saliva. The other sprays Hideous Zipplebackgas. All it takes is a spark and..." A curious crewman clicks the lighter, igniting the gas. Hiccup ducks as the explosion sweep over the deck. "Oh, yeah, there you go!" Toothless paws at the embers with Shadow tilting her head at him and moving out of the way. "Once they see you as one of their own, even the testiest dragons can be trained, right, bud, Shadow?" Toothless gurgles and falls over, and Shadow comes to a purr, but it's still hostile. "Give me that!" eret calls, snatches the dragon blade, and hurls it overboard. Stormfly bolts after it... "What game are you playing" the dragon trapper hisses to the younger boy, but Hiccup shrugs his shoulders. 

"No game. We want to meet Drago." Stormfly returns in a flash, dropping it at Eret's feet like a fetching dog, tongue wagging. Eret throws it again, frustrated. Stormfly returns with it just as quickly. "Why?" Eret asks, "Because I'm going to change his mind about dragons." Eret and his crew laugh. Astrid pokes out of the well. "He can be persuasive," she says as Hiccup Toothless and Shadow, who have come over to the well. "Once you've earned his loyalty, there is nothing a dragon won't do for you." Hiccup continues. "Puh! You won't be changing any minds around here." eret scoffs. "I can change yours. Right here.Right now." Hiccup sets Toothless' tail in the locked, splayed position—eret sneers, suspicious. "May I?" he asks but is suddenly snatched into the air! Dragons blur past.

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"Put me down! Snotlout! What are youdoing?" Hiccup yells at his friend, who looks back to see if Ruffnut witnessed the save. "See how well I protect and provide?" he asks, and the twin grumbles at the incessant courting. suddenly a net whizzes past her head. "Aggh! What is with all the nets?!" her brother shouts, and his sister chimes in, "Hey, watch it! That was close..." Ruffnut spots Eret, firing nets from the deck of the ship. She falls in love. she smiles and mutters, "Oh, my." The net unravels "Me likey."  enveloping Ruffnut as she yields to it blissfully. in the air, Hiccup flips side-down in the Hookfang's talons and kicks off, pulling his wing-suit flaps. Eret aims, but Astrid shoves the more muscular man throwing off the shot. "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Shadow roars as she takes off, catching Hiccup in her talons, then swoops around to the boat, landing on it with Hiccup in her claws. she lets him go, and he calls out to his friends, "what are you guys doing here?!" Gobber and Grump land on the deck, scattering Eret's crew. "We're here to rescue you!" he says.

Toothless walks over to Shadow as she shakes her head, ruffling her sails. "I don't need to be rescued!" Hiccup answers his friend but suddenly, a deep and commanding voice price the air. "Enough!" The bow dips heavily as Stoick touches down on Skullcrucher. He dismounts, fuming. Shadow grumbles a warning as she lowers her head just above Hiccup, stopping Stoick. But even with the dragon there, the chief scolds his son. "You. Saddle up. We're going home." he says, but Hiccup shakes his head. "No." his father scowled at Hiccup and rumbled out, "Of all the irresponsible --" "-- I'm trying to protect ourdragons and stop a war! How is thatirresponsible?" Stoick glares at Hiccup and exclaims, "BECAUSE WAR IS WHAT HE WANTS, SON!" The young boy flashes back just as frustrated as his father. the chief sighs, understanding that he must explain, "Years ago, there was a greatgathering of chieftains to discussthe dragon scourge we all faced." Shadow rumbles a confused sigh, but an interested one moves her head beside Hiccup and lets Toothless sit up against her. 

"Into our midst came a stranger froma strange land, covered in scarsand draped in a cloak of dragonskin. He carried no weapon andspoke softly, saying that DragoBludvist was a man of the people,devoted to freeing humanity from thetyranny of dragons." Hiccup's father continues, "He claimed that he alone couldcontrol the dragons and that healone could keep us safe if wechose to bow down and follow him." Shadow raises a brow and snorts, "control us all? He never can control me," she says, and Stoick nods. "Aye. We laughed, too..." He paused, shaking his head as if he thought of the evil past with this man. 

"Until he wrapped himself in hiscloak and cried out, "Then see howwell you do without me!" " the chief ends is the tale in a sad sigh "The rooftop suddenly burst intoflames, and from it, armoreddragons descended, burning the hallto the ground. I... was to only one to escape." a sigh in stinging regret ripples through him and Shadowtounge coos sympatric. "Men who kill without reason cannotbe reasoned with," Stoick says and looks hard at his son, who has his hand on the shadow drake's chin. "Maybe." the brown-haired boy turns toward the big dragon, who looks down at him in understanding and lifts her head, revealing toothless, who looks at his rider in understanding. "Hiccup... " Stoick begins, but his son shakes his head. "I'm still going to try." he then mounts his dragon, locking eyes with his father. "This is what I'm good at. And if Icould change your mind... I canchange him, too." he says and breaks the contract patting Toothless "Come on." they take to the air, the great Shadow of the drake following them. 

They leave the others in awkward silence. Astrid mounts Stormfly, about to go after Hiccup. "Let's go," she says, but Stoick stops her. "NO! Lead the others back to Berk. I've had enough mutiny for one day." she stirs, conflicted, as Stoick stomps towardSkullcrusher, fuming. He passes Ruffnut, who's busilyfondling Eret's biceps as he lays crushed under Grump. "Ooh, I like that." she flirts, and eret cringe at her. "Ruffnut!" Stoick calls out, getting her way from teh dragon trapper. "Ugh! Okay!" she calls back petulant. ¨

and so will teh next phase in their journey start. What will happen with Hiccup, Toothless, and Shadow when they meet someone they did not expect? 

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