I grunted as my fingers wrapped around the large, metal object, lifting it and moving it right into place.

"There. That should do it." I peered around the other side of my latest invention, looking over at my sleeping Night Fury. "So, what do you think, bud?" He perked his head up from his nap, tilting his head to indicate he didn't quite understand. "Ah, reserving your opinion until you see it work," I teased. "I'm good with that."

"Hiccup! Are you up there?" I heard the roar of a Thunderdrum before my dad emerged from below the cliffside. He hopped off his dragon, landing with a sort of dramatic flair. "Thornado and I were busy surveying the village, and—" His eyes rested on my invention, causing him to stop short. "What in the name of Thor is that contraption?"

"I call it the Thunder Ear! It can track dragon sounds from miles away, and that, hopefully, includes our friend, the Screaming Death." He peered down the smaller end of the horn. "You're just in time to see me demonstrate."

"All right. Demonstrate away."

"Okay, now put your ear up to his." I gestured to the smaller end my dad had been peering through. "Toothless, plasma blast." He shot out a purple blast of energy, signaling to Fishlegs and Meatlug out at sea to make noise. My dad's expression remained stagnant for a moment, then suddenly, his face flashed with surprise before his brow furrowed.

"All right, Fishlegs. You and Meatlug come out from wherever you're hiding. Very funny, son. Joke's on the chief." I reached into Toothless' saddle bag, pulling out my spyglass and then handing it to him.

"Dad, it's not a joke. Look." He peered out over the horizon, right in the direction I'd sent Fishlegs and Meatlug earlier. He made a face, as though he didn't want to believe it at first, but quickly turned to acceptance.

"I think we could use this to hear enemy ships approaching as well. That Thunder Ear gets the chief's seal of appro—" My dad pressed his ear against the Thunder Ear again, appearing confused. "Hold on a second." He grabbed the Thunder Ear and whipped it around, facing it toward the village. "Right hook man, eh?" I raised an eyebrow, confused and unaware as to what my dad was referencing. He turned my invention around again, this time in the complete opposite direction. "You can signal Fishlegs and Meatlug to stop. I don't know who's a worse singer, the boy or the dragon."

I could vaguely hear something that sounded like screaming coming from the other end of the Thunder Ear. For a moment, my heart jumped, thinking it could be the Screaming Death.

"Uh... that's not Fishlegs." I leaned down and listened closely to the roaring and screaming. Thankfully, the sounds didn't match that of the Screaming Death. "No, definitely not Fishlegs."

"If it's not Fishlegs, then who, or what, is it?"

"Only one way to find out." I made my way over to Toothless and hopped on.

"My thoughts exactly." My dad whistled to call Thornado, who emerged from the cliff side. "Ah, would you look at that. I never get tired of seeing that magnificent beast make his entrance." My dad followed me toward where I thought the source of the noise was.

"I thought it was coming from out here." A few seconds later, Thornado suddenly took a nose dive down

"Whoa! Thornado, I'll do the steering, if you don't mind."

"No, Dad, let him go. I-I think he hears something." Sure enough, we rounded around the side of some sea stacks under the guidance of Thornado's judgement, and spotted three small dragons bouncing around.

"Are those...? Baby Thunderdrums!" They chittered and jumped up and down upon spotting my dad and I. "Odin's ghost! No wonder Thornado knew where to take us." Something about this situation still confused me, however.

"But what are they doing all the way out here by themselves?"

We sped past them in an attempt to land, but before we could, the baby Thunderdrums took to the air and started to circle Thornado quite aggressively.

"Hey! Watch yourselves!" my dad scolded, trying to shoo them away as they blocked his view. "I'm a chief, you know."

"Dad, they're just kids," I reminded him. "They're playing." The blue baby Thunderdrum flew up toward my face and let out a single, blunt screech before flying back toward the others. They hovered in front of my dad and Thornado, snaking back and forth between each other.

"Someone needs to tell them that playtime is over." Thornado glowered at them, and let out a sonic boom, causing the little dragons to scatter.

"It looks like someone just did," I chuckled.

"I taught him that," my dad bragged, patting Thornado gently.

"I thought I recognized that roar." The baby Thunderdrums returned to their spot, sunning themselves on the sea stack. "Y-You do have to admit that they're kind of, well..."

"Cute? Cuddly?"

"I was going to say cool." Quickly, I switched the subject to the question at hand. "Hey, so, uh... Dad—"

"Eh-eh," he interjected. "Hiccup, I know what you're going to ask, and you might as well forget it." The baby Thunderdrums let out some sort of animalistic cry, as though signaling something to Thornado. "There's enough racket on Berk with the twins."

"No, no, I guess... I guess you're right. I just hope they'll be okay."

"Of course they'll be okay," my dad attempted to assure me. "They're Thunderdrums, after all. Toughest dragon in the archipelago." Toothless turned his head and glared at my father. "That's right. I said it." He turned Thornado around and headed back in the direction of Berk.

"I've created a monster," I mumbled, moving to follow in suit. By the time we got back to the island, the moon hung over our heads. Reign and Gobber came out from the smithy, the former moving to my side and helping me down from my dragon. I offered her a smile, gently placing a hand on her shoulder as an apology for leaving her all day.

"Out for a little father-son flight, were we?" My dad eyed Gobber with a slightly hostile look.

"Actually, we were just testing the Thunder Ear." I felt Reign chuckle. I'd ranted and raved to her about the frustration of building the thing, it would be hard for her to focus on the good of the situation after the stress it caused me.

"The Thunder Ear? Is that what you're calling it? Catchy."

"Oh, I'm glad you like it, Gobber, because you and the Thunder Ear are on night watch together." Gobber's cheerful expression turned to one of shock and disdain. "All night, as a matter-of-fact." Gobber hesitated for a moment, as though unable to find the right words.

"You know, I'd love to, Stoick. Really, I would. But I'm performing my one Viking spectacular at the Great Hall tonight, closing with a rousing rendition of the Reindeer Romp with the pan pipes." He held the instrument in the air triumphantly, as though that excuse could save him from his duties assigned by the chief himself. "It's sublime."

"I'm afraid the village will have to do without your pan pipes tonight, Gobber, because my right hook man is going to be doing his duty for his chief. The one who'd be nothing without him."

"Thunder Ear," I shrugged.

"I've got a different name for it."

Reign glanced at me quizzically, but all I could do was shrug. Pieces sort of started to fit together from earlier, but I still didn't understand the full puzzle. Shaking her head, Reign moved herself around to face me and smiled.

"So, what did you and your dad see out on the Thunder Ear tests?" She paused for a moment. "Well, first of all, did it work?"

"Perfectly. We could hear things from the farthest reaches of the archipelago, including..." I build up the tension for a moment. "Baby Thunderdrums!" Reign gasped, bouncing on her toes a little.

"Baby Thunderdrums? Aw." The joy suddenly wiped from her face. "Wait, were they with their mother? Are they going to be okay out there on their own?"

"I hope so. They probably just strayed out too far from home. They'll know their way back." Easing back down slightly, she nodded and turned to look at her own Thunderdrum, Shriek. "They seemed pretty compelled toward Thornado, probably because he's another Thunderdrum." She wouldn't tear her green eyes from the purple dragon. "Reign? Is everything okay?" Reign shook her head and looked toward me with a smile, but I could see the force behind it.

"Oh, yeah. We're all good here." She reached out and squeezed my arm. "I think it's time for bed. I'll see you tomorrow, Hiccup." I sighed and watched her return home, making sure she'd get there safe before going to my place and heading up to my room. Exhausted, I flopped down onto my bed and closed my eyes.

The ground shook, and I was thrown off my bed by the violent tremors first thing in the morning. My eyes shot open in alarm, slightly confused and disoriented.

"Oh! What-What? What's happening? What?" I quickly shot up and raced down the stairs, finding my dad already awake. "What's going on?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." The two of us rushed out the front door, eyes quickly darting around to try and find the source of the tremors. Reign and Shriek rushed over to us, eyes wide.

"Hiccup?"

"I have no idea. But something tells me we're about to find out."

Suddenly, a blur of green, purple, and blue shot past us, chasing some sheep. My eyes focused on the figures, and then went wide. The baby Thunderdrums were somehow here on Berk! The purple one continued to chase the sheep, while the green one knocked over a cart of produce and the blue one dashed into the Great Hall. A second later, two Vikings rushed out carrying frying pans, looking around for the Thunderdrum.

"Still think they're cool?" My dad looked down at me, his expression stern enough to tame even the largest dragon.

"Oh... I'm on the fence."

"Well, get off it and do something before we have to rebuild the entire village!" Reign and I jumped on our dragons and headed off to try and wrangle them. Fishlegs and Meatlug approached the purple and green ones, smiling down before they blasted him out of the way. The blue one found the Thunder Ear, sniffing and inspecting it before roaring once, causing the thing to completely collapse.

"Okay, guys!" I glanced over at Reign, who'd suddenly tensed up upon shouting. "Fun time's over." She began to chase after them, corralling them throughout the village. I stared for a moment, then decided to follow. I didn't think she'd need the help, but any number of things could happen. "Duck, silent Sven!" The Viking hit the dirt, just narrowly avoiding getting hit. "Sorry about that, Sven!"

We watched the Thunderdrum's flight path, and both let out a horrified and frustrated gasp as we watched them fly right toward Gobber's smithy.

"Oh, come on. Not the—"

The baby Thunderdrums rushed into the stall, throwing around all the hand crafted weapons and other metal accessories.

"My shop!" Gobber cried, staring in disbelief.

"Sorry, Gobber!" Reign cried. "We're trying our best!"

As we took to the air again, Astrid rushed over on Stormfly, shooting us the usual look when Reign and I screwed something up.

"Should I even bother asking what's going on?"

"Out-of-control, baby Thunderdrums," I sighed. "That's what's going on." Suddenly, the blue one flew up beside me and roared in my ear. I quickly clapped my hands over them to attempt and minimize the amount of sound getting in, but I could still hear a faint ringing.

"And I'm guessing you'd like them under control."

"That'd be preferred, yes," Reign shouted. "Can you help us wrangle them into the Academy?"

"Thought you'd never ask!"

The moment we dove toward the three little dragons, they twirled in a circle and sped off, completely eluding our grasp. I heard Reign let out a frustrated sigh, and she pushed ahead of Astrid and I. Shriek kept roaring at them, but it seemed to do nothing except get them to turn around for a split second, before flying off again.

"Wow... they're slippery little guys!" Astrid exclaimed.

"Yeah, no kidding." The trio flew over the twins' heads, forcing them to duck at the last second before those mischievous smiles crept onto their faces.

"Whoa!" Ruff cried, staring at the dragons fading into the distance. "What are those things?"

"They are loud and destructive dragons," I informed them. "We have to stop them!" I should have known this was a mistake, telling the twins something capable of destruction was on the loose.

"Oh contraire. We must own them!" Tuffnut declared.

"Immediately." They took to the air and attempted to chase after two of the dragons, but they pulled Barf and Belch's heads in different directions, causing the dragon to roar in pain before plummeting toward the ground. Snotlout tried to get Hookfang to speak up, chasing one of the Thunderdrums that had broken formation.

"You're all mine!" I heard him shout. Reign and Shriek pushed ahead of me and tried to catch up to the blue Thunderdrum. Shriek roared over and over again, trying to get them to halt as they tore a path through the village.

"You'd think they'd listen to her!" Reign cried, slightly exasperated. She looked almost ready to give up on them, when my dad and Thornado slammed down on the dock in front of us. Thornado only had to roar once, and all three of the Thunderdrums stopped in their tracks and stared up at him.

"Well done, Dad."

"Look at that," Reign marveled. "They're putty in Thornado's hand... paw... claw? Whatever."

"Okay, we want that one!" Tuffnut declared, pointing at none of them in particular.

"No, that one!" his sister shot back.

"It's such a hard decision. We'll take the set." My dad and Thornado took to the air again, hovering just above us.

"Quiet!" he shouted, clearly at the end of his rope. "Hiccup, I want you to get those troublemakers off this island now."

"Okay, we'll go." Reign and I looked over at Tuff with expressions flashing between unamused and confused. "But know this: our mother will miss us."

"Not you," I sighed, "the dragons." Relieved, Tuffnut chuckled and pointed toward my dad.

"You had me there for a minute, Chief. Because we're... also... troublemakers." I shook my head and attempted to steer the conversation back in the right direction.

"Dad, don't you think we'd be better off training them? Think about it: they're fast, powerful—"

"Destructive, loud, and out of control," my dad interjected.

"Uh, Chief? You're kinda making Hiccup's argument for him."

"The lad's got a point, Stoick." Reign and I turned our heads to see Gobber approaching, seemingly out of nowhere. "A squadron of Thunderdrums would be tough for Dagur and the Berserkers to defend against." My dad sighed, contemplating it for a moment before looking down at us.

"You really think you can get them under control, son?"

"I know we can. I mean, look at how great Thornado and Shriek turned out to be."

"Well, he is quite spectacular," my dad chuckled. Reign looked over at me and smiled, then pat her purple Thunderdrum on the top of her head.

"We can do it, Chief. Please let us try," Fishlegs pleaded. My dad sighed, but ended up caving.

"All right, fine. But the first sign of trouble, they go." He glanced down at his dragon. "Thornado isn't their mother or a babysitter, he's got chiefing to do, just like I do."

"What sort of chiefing is a dragon supposed to do?" I heard Reign mutter.

"Dad, you won't be sorry. I promise. I already have a whole plain laid out on how to train them," I lied, hopefully with enough conviction to convince my dad. Satisfied, my dad and Thornado took off back toward home to attend to their business, leaving the rest of us to deal with the baby Thunderdrums.

"You promise, eh?" Reign teased, crossing her arms as she glanced in my direction.

"We've tamed tougher dragons before, right?" She rolled her eyes at me. "How hard can it be to get these guys to cooperate?"

"Famous last words, Haddock." I shook my head at her, then somehow, we managed to wrangle the baby Thunderdrums back to the Academy. For a moment, they were quiet, walking around on the stone floor with content looks. But as soon as they grew board, they started to scream and fly around in circles. Grimacing, we all clapped our hands over our ears in an attempt to block out some of the sound.

"Okay!" I heard Reign shout over the cacophony. "Now would be a great time to roll out that big plan of yours!"

"Uh... right, right! Big plan!" I trailed off awkwardly, and Reign immediately caught on.

"Let me guess: you have no plan?"

"You-You're right. That would be correct."

"Well, don't you think you better get one before our ears explode?" I glared at Snotlout, trying to signal that he was not helping.

"Wait, our ears can actually explode?"

"Let's see!" Ruffnut grabbed hold of her brother and yanked him out toward one of the Thunderdrums that had landed. It sent a sonic boom right into his face, but rather than flinching, he just stood there and took the impact.

"Explode! Explode!"

"Come on! Don't encourage them," I scolded.

"The twins, or the Thunderdrums?"

"Neither." I tried my best to pull us back together and come up with a plan to try and train these guys.

"Uh, all right. Um... I guess the first thing we should do is... name them!"

"No," Snotlout deflected. "The first thing we need to do is get them to shut up!"

"Over here!" Fishlegs sprinted over to one of the Thunderdrums and set something down in front of it, managing to knock Tuffnut out of the way in the process. Within seconds, the other two scurried over, and they all went completely silent. "Dragon Nip: old school, but effective." Their eyelids began to droop as they fell into a dazed state, finally giving us some peace and quiet.

"Great, but we can't have them laying around in a haze doing nothing all day."

"Yeah, that's what the twins are for."

"Whoa, whoa, don't judge. We already did something today." Tuff sounded all proud, but something told me whatever it was wouldn't actually be much of an accomplishment.

"Yeah."

"What?" Snotlout asked, sounding as though he were talking to children. "What did you do?"

"What did we do? What did we do?" Ruff paused and turned toward her brother. "What did we do?"

"We named them."

"Oh." Reign crossed her arms, appearing mildly amused. "This should be good."

"Oh, it is." The pair stood behind the three Thunderdrums, and as they listed off the names, pointed at each one.

"Ready? Wait for it..." They started with the green dragon, then went down the line. "Bing..."

"...Bam..."

"...and... Lloyd." Reign furrowed her brows and glanced at me, shaking her head. They'd actually gotten off to a pretty impressive start, and then just completely tanked. "You can thank us later." Everyone remained silent for a moment, before Fishlegs snapped out of the state of disbelief.

"Call me crazy, but I'm thinking there might be a more logical choice than 'Lloyd'."

"Like what?" Ruffnut scoffed.

"Uh, 'Boom'?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess that could work. No way. How about Darren?" We all looked around at each other, completely baffled. You couldn't make this up if you tried.

"Sorry, Lloyd."

"All right, now that that's all taken care of, let's try some actual training," I suggested.

"Uh, voting is still open on the 'Lloyd' thing, though. Right?" I rolled my eyes. "Right?"

"Oh, gods..."

"Okay, just checking. Darren's still on the table though, right? No?"

I focused back on the baby Thunderdrums, who were up and at 'em again. Clearly, the effects of the Dragon Nip had worn off, which would hopefully work in our favor when it came to training them. Closing my eyes, I reached out one of my palms in their direction and waited for something to happen. Surprisingly, Bam immediately nuzzled into it, letting out cute, little purrs.

"Wow. That could've gone far worse."

I spoke too soon. The moment those words left my mouth, Bing and Boom let out a loud roar, throwing me back against Fishlegs and Toothless with a shocking amount of force. I cried out as I felt a sharp pain rip through my lower back, but attempted to limp right back toward the dragons.

"You mean like that?" Fishlegs called out, still on the ground.

"Uh, exactly like that."

I tried to move back into the fray, but Reign stuck her arm out and prevented me from taking another step closer.

"Oh, no you don't," she scolded. "You've already injured yourself, and we've been at this for only thirty seconds. Someone else is going to try." She nodded over to Astrid, who motioned for Stormfly to move in the middle of the circle of Thunderdrums. They started to fly around her, but had yet to misbehave.

"Stay," Astrid ordered, her arms extended out. "Stay." Despite her best efforts, they continued to circle her dragon. "Clearly 'stay' isn't in their vocabulary." Stormfly snapped and bit at the dragons as they attempted to cling to her back, causing them to scatter and chitter in annoyance. "Well, that should teach them."

Bing, Bam, and Boom suddenly came rocketing back toward us, causing the three of us to quickly duck in order to avoid being struck or roared at. They attempted to attach themselves to Stormfly again, causing the poor Nadder to stumble before crashing into some barrels.

"Snotlout, you're up!" Reign shouted, looking over toward the Viking. He grabbed a few barrels he'd been leaning on and set them up, revealing red and white targets painted on the bottoms.

"This is what you guys need—something you're supposed to destroy." I glanced at Reign warily, but she just shrugged, clearly intrigued. "Hookfang, show 'em how it's done." Hookfang readied a long blast of fire, and managed to knock down one of the barrels without burning it. Snotlout wore a proud smirk as he picked the target back up and readied it for Bing, Bam, and Boom. They simply stared up at him with blank expressions. "Here." Snotlout pointed at the targets. "Right here, Thunder-dumbs. Do I really need to spell it out for you? Destro—"

Suddenly, the three dragons let out a sonic boom, firing Snotlout right into his own targets. They managed to knock all of them down with his body, but that wasn't exactly the goal.

"Bull's-eye," he announced weakly.

Reign didn't even have to say a word this time, Fishlegs was already rearing to go. He held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, and I could feel Reign's grimace as we watched the scene unfold.

"Okay, I'm gonna show you how to disarm an attacker."

"This can only end poorly," Reign whispered, resting a hand on my shoulder as she leaned closer. Bing suddenly shot forward and snatched up the weapon in his mouth, slightly scratching Fishlegs in the process. He began to fly around the arena, forcing Fishlegs to throw down his shield before chasing after him.

"Ow! My sword! What? Give me that!" Bam and Boom joined their sibling, forcing Fishlegs into the middle of a circle. The moment he got close enough to one of them, they'd just toss the sword to the next, taunting him with their game of monkey-in-the-middle. "You guys, this isn't the exercise." After a few more attempts, Fishlegs slumped his shoulders and wandered toward Meatlug. At that moment, Boom threw the sword toward her, and she perfectly caught it in her mouth. "What? You too, Meatlug?" Bing jumped forward and jumped onto Fishlegs' back, knocking him onto his stomach. "Oh dear..."

Reign let out a quick puff of air, staring intently at the twins before darting her eyes back to the Thunderdrums. This went on for several moments as she internally debated whether it was a good idea to rely on two people just as chaotic as the dragons they were attempting to train to actually get something done. She seemed hesitant, but caved anyways, acknowledging that we were running out of options.

"Ruff, Tuff, I can't believe I'm saying this, but... you give it a shot." Excited looks immediately crossed the twins' faces. "I've made a horrible mistake..."

"You're doing your best." Without even thinking about it, I reached back and patted her hand.

The twins stood before the three Thunderdrums, who looked up at them with what almost appeared to be curiosity. The pair didn't do anything for a while, and I felt Reign intake some air to start yelling, until Tuffnut finally opened his mouth.

"Okay, here we go. Repeat after me." He let out a violent, shattering belch. Surprisingly, the Thunderdrums managed to replicate the sound without causing any destruction. Unfortunately, this wasn't what we were going for, exactly. This somehow launched all of them into just a cannon of burping, and I decided to step in before Reign lost her mind.

"Hey, uh, guys?" I interrupted, forcing them to stop for a moment. "Not to be a wet blanket, but, uh... how is this helping anything?"

"How is this hurting?" Ruff jumped out in front of the Thunderdrums, getting just a little too close and causing them to fire out a sonic boom. The twins were blown back into Snotlout, who had just finished setting up his target practice again, dismantling all his hard work.

Out of options, I glanced at Reign and raised an eyebrow. She remained oblivious to my stare for a moment, before looking down at me and shaking her head.

"Oh, no. I've made a fool of myself on many occasions, but this is not going to be one of them. Besides," she shrugged, "we've already seen there's nothing Shriek can do to get them to calm down. It'd be a wasted effort."

We all shoved our hands back over our ears as Bing, Bam, and Boom began to circle and make loud, obnoxious noises once again. They'd grown restless, and were clearly fed up with our attempts at training them, but we couldn't give up just yet.

"Oh, not so fast, fellas. We still have a few more exercises to work on." I spoke as though attempting to reason with them would somehow work. Thunderdrums were hard of hearing anyways, so it's not like they could really understand what I was saying.

Toothless growled at the trio as they passed by again.

"I know, pal. The word 'excruciating' comes to mind." Despite everything, the twins still chased after the dragons and attempted to pin them down, missing and falling right onto the hard stone every time.

They each did another lap, then miraculously, landed in a perfect line and fell mostly silent, only letting out a few purrs and chitters. Reign and I stared at them in awe, not daring to step too close and mess things up.

"Huh. Would you look at that! We're finally getting through to them." The reason they stopped became clear as a certain blue Thunderdrum took purposeful steps into the Academy. "Well, someone is." I approached him and smiled, glad we finally had a way to train them. "Okay, Thornado. How about a little follow the leader?"

I motioned my finger in a circle toward the sky, indicating for him to take off and fly tight circles. Sure enough, Bing, Bam, and Boom followed closely behind, not daring to fall out of formation and face the consequences.

"That was promising, eh, bud?" Toothless purred, agreeing with me.

"Ah, I hardly recognize them," Astrid marveled, staring down at our little trio. Tuffnut let out a gasp as the twins watched them behave perfectly.

"What did you do?" he demanded. "You've ruined them. Oh, Lloyd! I'm so sorry, Darren."

"Thornado? Thornado!" We all turned our heads as my dad made his way into the Academy, searching for his dragon. Clearly, Thornado had snuck away when my dad wasn't looking to come tend to the Thunderdrums. "Come, now. We have chiefing to do."

Thornado looked down at Bing, Bam, and Boom again before reluctantly making his way over to his rider. The three little ones followed him with their gazes, tails wagging excitedly as though they were all about to embark together.

"Hmm. That's an improvement. Well done, Hiccup." My dad turned to walk away, taking our best resource with him.

"Well, uh, no Dad, it's-it's actually—" I turned back to the Thunderdrums and looked at them, dread settling into the pit of my stomach. "Oh, for the love of Thor." The dragons jumped up and started to follow after Thornado. "Tuff lock the gate!"

"Got it!"

His arm hovered in midair, waiting until Bing, Bam, and Boom had fully passed through. Frustrated, I growled and stared him down.

"What? Okay, a little clarity next time would help." I shook my head and jumped up on Toothless, speeding after our runaway Thunderdrums. They let out their triumphant boom, then dove straight for the village.

"Oh, come on..."

"Hiccup!" I turned my head to see my dad on Thornado, hovering nearby. His face was bright red as he stared me down. "I thought you had them under control."

"Well, I did, sort of, but... not at all," I admitted. "Okay, I really didn't." One of the Thunderdrums roared in my dad's face.

"Will these dragons ever quiet down?"

"Sure!" Fishlegs shouted, approaching on Meatlug with his ears covered. "Once they find their grown-up voice."

"And how long will that take?"

"Uh, shouldn't be more than a couple of... years..." My dad's scowl deepened, and I immediately got the message.

"Um, yes."

Toothless and I took off to chase down the dragons, following them through the village. The twins popped up in front of their path and attempted to get them to stop, but instead of reaching for them and trying to get them to head back to the Academy, they just hovered there. Huffing, Toothless and I flew right into the middle of them, causing them to scatter. They scattered off in all directions and started to cause mischief, until my dad and Thornado came up over the hill and let out a sonic boom, forcing the three of them onto the ground. I landed behind them, nervous as my dad's eyes moved up to stare me down.

"Remember how I said you wouldn't be sorry?"

"This is outrageous," someone shouted behind us. Slowly, I turned back to face him.

"Uh... yes."

"Well, I'm officially sorry. You need to find those dragons a new home, son. The Thunderdrums have to go."

For a second, I wanted to try and change his mind. But after one glance down at the chittering dragons, I reluctantly had to admit he was right. They were causing more problems than offering solutions, and all they'd done so far was destroy. We could find them a better home where they could be as loud as they wanted for as long as they wanted, and the other dragons could put them in their place better than we could. So, reluctantly, we managed to wrangle up Bing, Bam, and Boom and take them to Dragon Island. They seemed pretty happy at first, chittering and bouncing around as though nothing had changed.

"Okay," I sighed, feeling a sense of relief start to come over me. "Bing, Bam, and Boom, welcome to your new home: Dragon Island!" They just blinked at me. "You're gonna love it here. Plenty of room, lots of new dragons to annoy—I- I mean meet. You know, here you can be as loud as you want. It'll be great."

All of a sudden, they started to growl sadly, looking at me as though they were begging us not to do this. I really didn't want to give up on them, but... they were too much of a danger to Berk to keep them around.

"Whoa. This is kind of sad..." Ruffnut muttered.

"Yeah. Reminds me of the time our parents took Sam, our pet Yak, out to that farm to live."

"Yeah, I would've cried all night... except for those delicious Yak steaks we had for dinner!" Reign glanced at me, slightly slack-jawed. She didn't seem to believe the twins could get any more dim-witted.

"Oh, nothing better. And to eat them in those soft Yak jackets!"

"Okay, great." Snotlout and Hookfang started to back away, clearly completely uninterested. "Check you later." The rest of us followed behind him, leaving Bing, Bam, and Boom on Dragon Island.

"They'll be happy there," I tried to reassure myself. "They'll love it."

"What's not to love? It's an island full of dragons!" I smiled at Fishlegs' attempts to clear my mind.

"And, I mean, we can come visit them, right?"

"Sure, but they won't be there?" I looked up at the twins in confusion.

"Why not?"

"Because they're right behind you."

Sure enough, when I turned around, I was greeted with the sight of three colorful Thunderdrums barreling straight toward us. They must have left just a second after we did to be that close. How they managed to stay quiet was what really baffled me.

"Oh, great. What do we do now?"

"I'll tell you what we do: we ditch 'em." Snotlout pushed Hookfang ahead of the group, thinking he could maybe be fast enough for the trio of dragons not to catch up. He lost them for a split second when he ducked into a cave, but they found him the moment he emerged again, knocking him off Hookfang's back and toward the water. I expected Hookfang to dive and catch his rider, but instead, he sort of just hovered there.

"Uh, Hookfang?" He suddenly seemed to realize Snotlout was no longer on his back, and flew down to pick up Snotlout before he fell into the water.

"Wow," Reign laughed. "That was fun. Let's try Snotlout's plan again." I sighed and looked over at Bing, Bam, and Boom again, hovering in the air and looking at me with big eyes. We had to find a way to keep them on the island, they couldn't just come with us. Sighing, I glanced at Reign for ideas. She thought things over for a moment, then made Shriek dive into the water and open her mouth. Shriek caught quite a few fish, and Reign motioned her head for me to follow. Bing, Bam, and Boom came right along with me, and thankfully, took the bait of the fish Reign and Shriek had caught.

"I think this might be our chance to go," I whispered to her.

"Yeah. And, I say we take the long way home this time, so they don't follow us."

Slowly, the two of us crept back toward our dragons and climbed on, heading back to Berk with the rest of the group. The moment we landed, my dad marched over to us, arms resting firmly on his hips as he stared down at us. His eyes flickered toward Thornado, and when we followed his gaze, we saw Bing, Bam, and Boom excitedly bouncing back and forth and making little noises. I stared at them in disbelief, unable to fathom how they could've gotten back here without us leading them.

"I just—are you—how?" I threw my arms up in exasperation.

"Never mind. It looks like Thornado and I are gonna have to give you dragon training geniuses a hand."

I looked down at Toothless and shrugged, and decided to let my dad lead things. His idea seemed to involve just going on a flight and allowing Thornado to correct Bing, Bam, and Boom when necessary. I was wary at first, but agreed to allow my dad to try. For safety's sake, Reign and I came with him, never trailing too far behind.

"I hope this works," I thought aloud.

"Thornado has a way with them. It will work." At that moment, Boom tried to fly off in another direction, but Thornado roared at him and forced him to fall back in line. "Attaboy, Thornado! Sometimes you need to show teenagers a little tough love." He cast a purposeful glance back in our direction. "That's right. I said it."

"Oh, gods," I groaned, rolling my eyes. Thornado managed to wrangle them back to Dragon Island, and this time, something seemed different. They almost appeared to settle in this time. I hopped off of Toothless and stood in front of them, planting my feet firmly. "Okay, so... this is it. Listen, guys, Berk just isn't the island for you. There's too many Vikings, and not enough placed for you to play." They whimpered sadly. "No, no, no, no, stop making that whimper sound. Don't make this harder than it already is."

"Let's let Thornado have a word with them."

My dad moved Thornado into the middle of the trio. They gathered around him and leaned up, almost as though they were affectionate children with their father. Reign came over and placed a hand on mine as we watched the scene unfold. Of course, Thornado almost immediately roared to get them to stay back, and my dad turned him around to get ready and head back to Berk.

"Well, that's done. Put that in the Book of Dragons. Thornado, back to Berk." Reign and I followed after him, but I couldn't help myself. I looked down at the little dragons as the land they'd been placed on faded further and further into the distance. "Don't look back, son. Remember, tough love." I noticed Reign was looking at me with a strange sort of smile.

"What?" She shook her head.

"If you become a dad, you're never gonna be able to say no to your kids, aren't you?"

Thornado suddenly began to growl restlessly, then jerked around and started to fly back toward the island, nearly throwing my dad off in the process. I glanced back to see a group of adult dragons closing in on the baby Thunderdrums. They looked up at them with wide eyes, cornered against a rock and defenseless.

"Looks like they might not be welcome on Dragon Island, either." An idea suddenly popped into my head. "Maybe that's why we found them out on a sea stack in the first place."

"They were probably chased there," Reign finished.

"Well, I guess we're not going to let any wild dragons bully our boys, are we?" I turned to my dad with a smirk.

"Tough love, huh?" I teased.

Without saying another word, my dad steered Thornado down onto Dragon Island, standing firm in front of Bing, Bam, and Boom. Reign nodded at me, then made Shriek do the same, creating a wall to protect the little dragons. The hostile dragons looked down at them hungrily, and began to advance toward the two of them.

"Okay, bud. Light 'em up!" Toothless shot out a plasma blast to knock back one of the dragons, and Shriek roared in the face of a Deadly Nadder that loomed over us, scaring it off. She winked at me, then took off to deal with the rest of the dragons. A Zippleback glowered down at the trio, but before they could advance, Thornado blasted it back with a powerful sonic boom. Unfortunately, that only took care of them for a moment. The dragons all got back on their feet and started to close in again. I looked around, trying to find some sort of way out of this, when my dad's shout cut through the tension.

"Hiccup!" I noticed his and Reign's hands were clapped over their ears, so I did the same. A split second later, all five of the Thunderdrums let out their most powerful sonic booms and flew in circles, throwing all of the dragons against rocks and rendering them useless. Once the intense sound faded, I removed my hands from my ears and let out a sigh of relief.

"Sure taught those wild dragons a lesson."

"Yeah... this time." Reign pointed toward the cliffs, bringing that same group of dragons to our attention. They glared down, ready to strike again when Bing, Bam, and Boom were left defenseless.

"What are we gonna do with these guys? We can't take them with us, but we can't leave them here."

A sad look crossed my dad's face as he watched Bing, Bam, and Boom nuzzle Thornado. He sat in a quiet contemplation for a few moments, then hopped off the back of his Thunderdrum and leaned down. Much to my surprise, he undid Thornado's saddle and threw it down.

"Dad? Are you... okay?" This seemed so unlike him. He always acted like he couldn't do anything without Thornado, so to do this... it didn't feel right.

"Yes, son," he answered, completely calm. "I think we both know what we have to do, don't we, Thornado?"

"Dad, what are you doing?" I wasn't so sure he understood the gravity of this.

"Setting Thornado free—what any chief would do in this situation... or any father." Realization struck Reign and I, and I heard her let out a quiet, drawn out 'oh'. "These boys won't survive without you," he said to his former dragon. "Right now, they need you more than I do. Don't worry, I understand. I'd do the same thing. Doesn't mean I won't miss you." He leaned down and pressed his hand between Thornado's nostrils, wishing him goodbye. "Take care of your new family."

With that, my dad stood and climbed onto the back of Toothless, then we headed off. For a moment, the three of us sat in a sad silence, mulling over and coming to grips with what had just happened.

"Hey, Dad?" He hummed in acknowledgement. "You did the right thing." I felt my dad turn around, looking back on the family we were leaving behind.

"Goodbye, old friend."

Before we sped toward home, I heard the sound of Thornado's roar, sending us off with an emotional goodbye.