How to Start a Dragon Academy

Hiccup (v.o.): This is Berk. For generations, it was Viking against dragon. The battles were ferocious... then one day, everything changed.

[Hiccup flies in on his Night Fury and best friend, Toothless.]

Hiccup (v.o.): I met Toothless, and together we've shown people here that instead of fighting dragons, we can ride them... live with them, even train them.

[They land on a sea stack where Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and their dragons are waiting for them.]

Hiccup: Okay, guys. Best Trick Competition. Who's up first?

Fishlegs: Uh...

Snotlout: Me!

Fishlegs: Actually, I think it's--

Snotlout: Me!

Astrid: Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm, GO!

Snotlout: Oh, don't worry, we'll go. And when we go, Hookfang and I are gonna light the sky on--

[Snotlout's Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, plummets off the sea stack, scaring an unprepared Snotlout.]

Snotlout: -FIRE!!!!! Oh, no!

''[Hookfang pulls off many stunts, scaring his already terrified Rider into almost wetting himself. Hookfang circles back around and lands back on the sea stack with a thud.]''

Snotlout: I'm alive...? I'm alive!

[The other Riders stare at him, blankly.]

Snotlout: Of course I am.

Fishlegs: It's my turn! Ready, Meatlug? Here we go!

[Fishlegs' Gronckle, Meatlug, takes off, flies around in a simple circle, then lands.]

Fishlegs: Yes! New personal best!

Ruffnut: My turn!

Tuffnut: No, my turn!

Hiccup: Guys, same dragon.

Tuffnut: Oh, right.

[Ruffnut and Tuffnut's Hideous Zippleback, Barf and Belch, take off, but then the Twins begin to argue on which way they should go.]

Tuffnut: Go left!

Ruffnut: No, right!

Tuffnut: N-no, right!

Ruffnut: No, left!

''[They narrowly miss colliding into another sea stack. Barf and Belch suddenly fling the Twins off their necks and high into the air.]''

Tuffnut: OH, NO! WHOA! THIS IS AWESOME AND SCARY! AAAH!

''[Barf and Belch then catch the Twins before they can go splat, then fling them up, and back onto their necks. They then land on the sea stack.]''

Ruffnut: We almost died!

Tuffnut Yeah, I know... go again?!

Astrid Hey! It's my turn! You might wanna take notes. Let's go! Yah!

[Astrid and her Deadly Nadder, Stormfly, shoot off the sea stack, and fly down towards the ocean.]

Astrid Okay, Stormfly, tail flip!

[Stormfly flips her tail into the water.]

Astrid Now twirl!

[The Nadder then barrel rolls, shooting forward.]

Astrid Quick, upwards spiral!

[They finish their routine with a final spin, high into the air.]

Astrid Alright, Stormfly!

[As she lands back on the sea stack, the other Riders congratulate her performance.]

Snotlout Yeah, but can you do it without the dragon?

[She responds to him with a good, hard punch to his shoulder.]

Snotlout Ow!

[Astrid then turns and gestures to Hiccup, meaning it's now his turn.]

Hiccup Looks like we've got our work cut out for us there, bud.

''[Toothless makes a vertical takeoff, then dives down the sea stack, right to the ocean. Hiccup pulls up at the last second, and shoots forward at breakneck speed. The two boys skillfully swerve in and out through the maze of sea stacks before coming across two conjoined rocks. As soon as they get close enough, Hiccup unhooks his metal leg, and jumps onto the bridge between the two rocks, while Toothless glides under. Hiccup runs across the rocky bridge, then jumps onto Toothless on the other side. The boy and the Dragon rocket towards the sky, leaving the other Riders amazed and awestruck. Toothless then shoots out multiple plasma blasts, which explode like fireworks. It's obvious who won the competition.]''

Astrid They're still the best.

Hiccup Another win. Good job, bud.

[Hiccup and Toothless fly back to the village.]

Hiccup (v.o.) Yep, dragons. Most people on Berk would say life here is better since we made peace with them. Unfortunately, dragons are still, well, dragons.

''[When the two friends land in the village, they see chaos. This includes a yak being chased by a Gronckle, a couple of Terrible Terrors stealing chicken from a woman, a Deadly Nadder who refuses to leave a man's roof, a Monstrous Nightmare stealing a sack of apples from another man, and another Deadly Nadder chasing a group of chickens, running under a clothesline, and stealing a woman's underwear in the process.]''

Viking Woman #1 Bad dragon! Let go of my food! Drop it, pesky dragon! Dragons!

Viking Man #1 Get off my roof, you pest!

Viking Man #2 Let go of that! These are my apples!

Viking Woman #2 Give me back my dainties, dragon!

[Suddenly, the villagers start scattering and running for cover.]

Viking Man #3 Incoming!

Viking Man #4 Look out!

Viking Man #3 Dragon poo!

[Hundreds of dragons are now flying over the village, relieving themselves, creating a "poop shower".]

Hiccup Ew, gross, gross, gross, gross! Oh, poop! Oh, that's disgusting!

[Hiccup backs up, avoiding the poop until he walks in-between two men, Mulch and Bucket, who are using their shields as makeshift umbrellas.]

Hiccup Hey, Mulch. Hey, Bucket. Sorry about the, uh--

Bucket Every day at three. They're regular at least. A tip of the cap.

Mulch Better than the days when it was "kill or be killed". Hey, we've got some fish for that father of yours. Bucket, give the boy the cod.

[Bucket hold up an empty sack with a torn out bottom.]

Bucket I ate it already? Did I enjoy it?

Hiccup Um, no, uh, actually, Bucket, I-I'm afraid the, uh--

[A Terrible Terror walks away with the cod.]

Hiccup (v.o) 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.

''[It's now nighttime. On the outskirts of the village, there's a small house. Inside, is the sleeping figure of a grumpy old man, Mildew. Suddenly, the roof of his house shakes, waking him up. He then walks outside to find a Gronckle sleeping and snoring on his roof.]''

Mildew Dragons. I should've known.

[He holds up a half-eaten cabbage from his field.]

Mildew Helps himself to my roof and my cabbage.

''[He turns around and stares in horror. A bunch of Gronckles have devoured all the cabbages in his field.]''

Mildew My whole field! Gone! That tears it, Fungus.

[Mildew grabs his helmet, staff, and sheep, then walks towards the village with a scowl on his face.]

[The next day, Stoick is giving orders to the other Vikings.]

Stoick Stand the elk up in the back. The fishing boats just came in with a big catch.

Mildew Stoick!

[Mildew walks over to Stoick.]

Gobber Ah, here's Mildew with the complaint of the day.

Stoick You picked a bad time, Mildew. I'm in the middle of storing food. The freeze is coming.

Mildew It's the dragons again. Those demons are not fit to live among civilized men.

Gobber Neither are you, Mildew. Why do you think we built your house so far outside of town?

Mildew Ah, very well, make your jokes. Meanwhile these dragons upend our village carts! Turn people's houses into piles of rubble!

Viking Man #4 Mildew's right!

Mildew They even disturb an old man's rest! Can't you see these bags under me eyes?

Viking Man #5 Go on, Mildew!

Gobber He's right, he's hideous.

Mildew These are wild and unpredictable beasts!

Viking Man #6 Right you are!

Mildew They even cracked this man's skull! Like an egg.

Bucket Eggs? I like eggs! Scrambled! Over easy! Poached!

Mildew You need to put those dragons in cages!

Viking Man #7 I agree!

Mildew If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village!

[As the angry crowd continues to yell, Hiccup tries to intervene and calm everyone down.]

Hiccup They don't mean any harm. They're just dragons being dragons.

Stoick Look, Mildew, if there's a problem I'll deal with it.

Mildew Oh, there is a problem, Stoick. And I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it.

[Later, in Hiccup's house, Stoick is discussing the dragon problem with Gobber.]

Stoick We can't just let dragons run wild like they own the place. Hey, we could put up signs!

Gobber Signs? For dragons?

Stoick No! For the people.

Gobber Signs? For Vikings? We're not big readers, Stoick.

Stoick Then we'll build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza.

Gobber Nets? You do know they breathe fire?

Stoick I know very well they breath fire, Gobber. Maybe Mildew was right. We have to figure something--

Hiccup No, no, wait, Dad. What if I deal with the dragons?

Stoick You?

Hiccup Who else? If anyone can control them, I can. I'm the best man for the job.

Stoick You're not a man yet, Hiccup.

Hiccup Not if you don't give me the chance to be!

Stoick Fair enough, you'll have your chance... starting tomorrow.

[The next day, Hiccup is walking through the village, ready to begin dragon-wrangling.]

Hiccup Okay, gang, there's gonna be some changes around here.

[He spots a woman fending off a Deadly Nadder that's trying to take the basket of bread she's holding.]

Viking Woman #3 Get out! Shoo! For the last time, get your nose out of my bread!

[Hiccup runs over to the woman and dragon.]

Hiccup Hold on, I'll help you! Just... no!

[He places his hand on the Nadder's nose, and the dragon instantly calms down.]

Hiccup Alright.

''[Suddenly, a crash is heard which startles the Nadder. He turns around to see a Gronckle chasing a group of chickens, knocking over carts in the process. As it runs by, the Deadly Nadder chases after it.]''

Hiccup Okay...

''[He then sees another Deadly Nadder and a Monstrous Nightmare fighting near a sheep farm, setting some of the sheep on fire and causing them to scatter. Hiccup begins to panic.]''

Hiccup Toothless, stop that fight! I'll put out the sheep!

Hiccup Okay, okay... whoa!

[Hiccup runs into the plaza, right into the middle of even more chaos than yesterday.]

Viking Man #8 Get out! Get back here with my cart!

Viking Man #9 Enough of these dragons!

[The other Riders are watching the whole thing on an abandoned catapult.]

Snotlout What's he doing?

Tuffnut Uh, I think he's helping the dragons break stuff.

Ruffnut Cool!

[Hiccup tries to put out a flaming sheep, but the sheep just hops right over him, knocking him over.]

Astrid Wow, he could really use our help.

Tuffnut We'll get to it.

Ruffnut In a minute.

[He finally manages to put out one of the sheep.]

Hiccup Sorry about that.

''[Suddenly, hundreds of dragons begin flying over the village. You know what that means...]''

Astrid And... it's three o'clock.

[Hiccup doesn't have time to run for cover as dragon poop comes falling down towards him.]

Hiccup Oh, no...

[It's now nighttime, and Hiccup is on his bed, trying to relax his sore body.]

Hiccup Oh, everything hurts...

[He lifts his prosthetic leg.]

Hiccup even this.

Astrid (o.s.) Hiccup?

Hiccup Astrid? Perfect. I don't look too beat-up, do I?

[Toothless gives him a pity smile.]

Hiccup Oh, great. Dragon pity.

[Astrid walks into his room.]

Hiccup Hey, Astrid. What a nice surprise!

Astrid So, how was your day?

Hiccup Uh, uneventful. Hung around the plaza. You know...

Astrid Yeah, I do know. We saw you out there. It's hard to believe you're still standing.

[Hiccup gives up the act and flops down onto his bed.]

Hiccup Ugh...! I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my dreams for the next month.

Stoick (o.s.) Hiccup!

Stoick Hiccup, what's going on out there? The plaza looks like a war zone.

Hiccup I know it looks bad...

Astrid [Whispering] Really bad.

Hiccup Yeah, but this is only Phase One of my master plan.

Stoick Oh, so you do have a plan?

Hiccup I do... of course I do! It's very complex. Lots of drawings, several moving parts. Yeah, it's, uh, pretty wild.

Stoick Uh-huh. Well, this better be real. Because Mildew's stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads.

[Toothless starts to worry at that comment.]

Hiccup Don't worry, bud. Your head's not going anywhere.

Astrid You do realize there are, like, a bazillion dragons out there and only one of you? I hope you really do have a plan.

[The next morning, Hiccup and the other Dragon Riders are gathered with their dragons in the old arena.]

Ruffnut That's your plan? Train dragons?

Tuffnut Here? Where we used to kill them?

Hiccup Right... because we don't do that anymore. That's why it's available.

Astrid Actually, the dragons do seem a little nervous.

Fishlegs That's because they're very sensitive. Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it.

Astrid It's amazing your dad just gave us the arena.

Hiccup Well, it would be, if he did, yeah, but, he didn't, so that's another thing we should try not to talk about.

Astrid Wait, so we're going behind your father's back?

Hiccup There you go, talking about it! Uh... 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.

Tuffnut Got it! Help dragons blow things up! We can totally do that.

Hiccup No. I believe I said--

Ruffnut Here's how we're gonna do it: First, we make them really, really angry.

Tuffnut No problem. We anger everybody.

Hiccup No, you guys, this is serious! Mildew wants all of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that's not okay with me.

Tuffnut You're right. She's sorry.

[Ruffnut glares at her brother.]

Hiccup Okay, then. Next problem: The dragons are eating everything in sight. Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have, you can get him to drop it by giving him a little scratch just below the chin.

''[As he explains this, he holds up a loaf of bread, which Toothless takes from him. He then gets Toothless to drop the bread by scratching his chin, which the dragon enjoys.]''

Snotlout Ehneneneneuh! Maybe that works for you and Toothless, but Hookfang and me? We do things a little different.

[Snotlout takes the bread from Hiccup, then tosses it to Hookfang, who catches it in his mouth.]

Snotlout When I want this big boy to do something I just get right in his face and-- DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HEAR ME?

[Annoyed, Hookfang drops the bread, then grabs Snotlout in his mouth, leaving just his legs visible.]

Snotlout See? He dropped it.

Tuffnut Heh heh. Should we help him?

Astrid Yeah, in a minute.

Hiccup Alright. We've got a lot of training to do, but together, we can keep these dragons under control.

Snotlout Uh... can somebody do that chin-scratchy thing? Hello? You guys still there?

[The Teens walk through a surprisingly dragon-less part of town.]

Fishlegs Huh. No dragons.

Ruffnut That was easy.

Snotlout Lunch?

Hiccup That's weird. If the dragons aren't here, where are they?

''[A distant explosion is heard, along with scattered screams. Suddenly, a mushroom cloud appears near the food storage house.]''

Astrid Something tells me that way.

Viking Man #9 Ow! Stop it! Give me that-- that's mine!

''[The Dragon Riders finally arrive at the scene, where what was once the food storage house is now a pile of smoking splinters. They also see the Riders' dragons eating all the fish from storage.]''

Astrid Stormfly?

Snotlout Hookfang?

Stoick They've eaten everything! We've got nothing left for the freeze!

Mildew I warned you Stoick. But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of teenagers in charge! Now look what the dragons have done! Caging is too good for those beasts.

Hiccup Dad, I swear I can fix this. We-- we were just starting to--

Stoick Enough, Hiccup! How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?

[He gestures to Toothless, who was digging into a basket of fish.]

Hiccup: Oh, Toothless...

Stoick: Butcket! Mulch! Man the boats! We need another catch!

Mulch: It's too late, Stoick. It took us six months to catch all that fish.

Stoick: Don't tell me it's too late! We've got to try!

Mulch: Of course we do! Uh, don't tell the Chief it's too late. You're always so negative!

Bucket I don't know what it is with me.

Hiccup Dad, please! You gotta listen to me. I know dragons better than--

Stoick Not now, Hiccup. I have a village to feed. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?

Mildew Bah! You can't just cage these dragons! You need to send them away now!

Viking Man #10 Stoick, Mildew's right!

Viking Man #11 Get 'em out of here!

Stoick You're right, Mildew. We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning, Hiccup will send them off the island. I'm sorry, son.

[The Teens are gathered in the Great Hall with sad looks on their faces.]

Snotlout I can't believe we have to send them away!

Astrid It's gonna be weird. I got used to seeing Stormfly's face being the first thing I see every morning.

Fishlegs Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet. Who's gonna do that now?!

[Ruffnut tries to lighten the mood.]

Ruffnut I volunteer Tuffnut!

[Tuffnut's too sad to care.]

Tuffnut Whatever. What time should I be there?

Astrid Come on, guys. Let's get this over with.

Fishlegs This is the worst day of my life! We're never gonna see our dragons again!

[The Riders get up from their seats, then head to the arena to lock up their dragons.]

Hiccup We can't let that happen! Toothless is the best friend I've ever had.

Mildew (o.s) [Mock regret] Oh, Toothless, I'm gonna miss you so much...

Mildew You know what your mistake was? Thinking dragons could be trained. But a dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gonna do. It's their nature. And nature always wins.

''[Before Toothless could attack him out of anger, the Great Hall doors open, letting in a cold chill that makes the fireplace go out. Toothless decides to help by relighting the fire with a plasma blast.]''

Viking Woman #2 Oh! Thank you, Toothless.

[This gives Hiccup an idea.]

Hiccup You know what? Mildew is absolutely right! Come on, bud!

[The rest of the Riders fly towards the arena and say goodbye to their beloved friends.]

Snotlout Goodbye, Hookfang.

Astrid I'm sorry, Stormfly. Now go.

[She points her torch to the arena gates, to which Stormfly and the other dragons sadly walk through.]

Snotlout Ugh. Feels like big, sharp teeth are tearing at this thing in my chest.

Astrid That's what it feels like when your heart is breaking.

Snotlout I don't have a heart! I'm not a girl!

''[The gates begin to close, saddening both the dragons and the Riders. Suddenly, Hiccup's voice is heard.]''

Hiccup (o.s.) Don't close it!

[He lands Toothless near the gates, then grabs the lever to open them back up.]

Hiccup We are not locking them up.

Astrid What happened? Did you change your father's mind? Or are we going behind his back again...?

Hiccup Uh... one of those. Look. The dragons are gonna do what they're gonna do. It's their nature. We just need to learn how to use it!

[The next day, Mulch and Bucket are trying to catch fish.]

Mulch Ah, the nets are empty again.

Bucket Did I eat them already? Did I enjoy it? Oop-- am I being too negative?

[Snotlout and Hiccup fly over to the boat.]

Hiccup Snotlout, scare us up some dinner!

Bucket Dragon attack!

[Hookfang dives into the ocean, scaring the fish and herding them into the fishing nets.]

Snotlout WHOO-HOO!

Mulch Hey! Thanks, dragon!

Snotlout THAT'S RIGHT! THAT JUST HAPPENED!

[Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs fly toward Mildew's field, where the old man is trying to plant more cabbage.]

Hiccup Come on! Follow me!

Mildew Huh?

Astrid Afternoon, Mildew!

[Astrid uses Stormfly's tail to dig into the soil, while Hiccup flies down to pour cabbage seeds into the ground-up dirt.]

Hiccup Three o'clock! Time for the fertilizer!

Mildew Fertili--?

[Hundreds of dragons begin flying over Mildew's field, Fishlegs and Meatlug joining them.]

Fishlegs Okay, Meatlug, let 'er rip!

[Meatlug and the rest of the dragons begin pooping onto the field, providing a good fertilizer to help grow Mildew's cabbage.]

Hiccup Smile, Mildew! We just saved you three months of work!

''[In the forest, the Twins are using Barf and Belch's explosions to scare a sounder of wild boars. Once they run out of the forest, Hiccup herds them all into the village's slaughterhouse.]''

Hiccup That's the way to do it!

Fishlegs Whoo-hoo! That was awesome!

Astrid How did you know that was gonna work?

Hiccup Because they're dragons, and they're gonna do what dragons do. We just have to work with them and not against them. You know who we should actually be thanking--?

Mildew There they are, Stoick! Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me.

Stoick No. This is not what I asked for.

''[The Teens are now all gathered in the arena, when Stoick and Gobber approach them. This doesn't bode well.]''

Fishlegs Oh, no! What's Stoick gonna do to us?

Ruffnut I'm too pretty for jail!

Tuffnut Ha, where'd you hear that?

Stoick You all disobeyed my orders... and there will be consequences.

Astrid I told you we were gonna get in trouble. Ugh, you never listen to me!

[Hiccup steps up, ready to take full responsibility.]

Hiccup Dad, if anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me.

Stoick Nope. You all had a hand in this.

Mildew Oh this is going to be great, Fungus. It's about to get ugly.

Stoick 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 You're getting a Dragon Training Academy!

Mildew Wha--?

Stoick Gobber! I wanted to tell them!

[The Teens' confusion and shock is replaced by relief and happiness.]

Gobber I'm sorry. You're right. Go ahead.

Stoick Well, you told most of it!

Gobber You can tell him the part about how proud you are of them!

Stoick GOBBER!

Stoick Hiccup-- well, what he said. You've all made me proud. This Dragon Training Academy is for you.

[He opens the cages inside the new Academy, releasing all the Teens dragons.]

Snotlout Hookfang! My buddy!

Astrid Hey, Stormfly! I missed you so much!

Fishlegs Meatlug! Oh, who's Daddy's little baby? Oh, who's Daddy's little...

Hiccup Hey, bud!

Mildew Oh, I'll get those dragons yet.

Stoick Now all you have to do is train 'em.

Hiccup Not a problem, Dad. After all, I've got him.

Astrid (o.s.) Ah-hem?

Hiccup (o.s.) And... them, too.

[During the closing narration, Hiccup is drawing his friends with their dragons, Meatlug is licking a sleeping Fishlegs' feet, and a sleeping Astrid's window flies open, revealing Stormfly, ready to start the day.]

Hiccup (v.o.) Dragons can't change who they are. But who would want them to? Dragons are powerful, amazing creatures.

[Hookfang and Meatlug are hanging the new sign on the new Academy: The Berk Dragon Training Academy.]

Astrid Berk Dragon Academy. I like the sound of that.

Hiccup (v.o.) And as long as it takes me, I am going to learn everything there is to know about them. Wouldn't you?