Edge of Disaster, Part 2

Edge of Disaster, Part 2 is the ninth episode of Season 2 of Dragons: Race to the Edge. It was released on Netflix on January 8, 2016.

Overview
Unaware of the war on Dragon's Edge, Hiccup, Snotlout, and Johann discover an island full of dragons that have been wounded by the Dragon Hunters.

Plot
In an imminent Dragon Hunter attack, Astrid hides the Dragon Eye behind a rock and covers it with stones. Astrid gives word to Tuffnut to launch their defense and he successfully brings down two Dragon Hunter ships. Meanwhile, Hiccup and Snotlout attempt to free Fishlegs from the wild dragons while Johann is left to keep Meatlug out of sight of his Rider. Fishlegs himself, on the other hand, is shakes with fear as wild dragons begin to converge on him, but he notices that these dragons is covered with wounds and scars to which he suspect came from man-made weapons. Fishlegs then helps a young Gronckle choking, the wild dragons suspects that he's harming it but Fishlegs is actually forcing the young Gronckle to spit out a rock that was causing the Gronckle to choke.

Hiccup silently calls Fishlegs to escape while the other dragons tender with the Gronckles, but Fishlegs informs Hiccup that the wild dragons' wounds and scars all came from humans, the Dragon Hunters, which explains why the dragons are very aggressive towards humans. Hiccup realizes that they fell into a trap by the Dragon Hunters, as they actually intended to lure Johann into an island full of dragons that were previously harmed by them, so that Hiccup and some of the Riders would help Johann and be driven out of their base. When Hiccup informs Fishlegs that Johann is riding Meatlug, Fishlegs shouts in surprise that Johann is riding his dragon, Fishlegs' voice is picked up by Meatlug and she hurriedly rushes to find her Rider. Consequently, the plan to rescue Fishlegs is jeopardized as the wild dragons spots Hiccup, Snotlout and Johann. Fishlegs tells them not to harm the dragons as they've gone through enough with the Dragon Hunters, so Fishlegs decides to remain with them, much to Meatlug's dismay.

Meanwhile, Ryker is in great frustration as both of his sent warships have been sunk easily. Ruffnut irritates Ryker even more, Heather tries to tell her to stop as she will be executed, but Ruffnut refuses so Heather decides to take her far away and tie her up on a tree. But Heather does not tie Ruffnut's ropes tightly which she gestures to Ruffnut so she could escape later on, but Ruffnut does not get what she's trying to point out. Suddenly, Ryker orders his second wave of men to attack, including Heather and Windshear to provide aerial cover. Moments later, Heather and Windshear pretend she has spotted an ambush, so she deals with the fake ambush by herself and convincing many of the advancing Dragon Hunters to return to the beachhead, buying Astrid and Tuffnut crucial time.

Hours later, the siege of the base lasts at night time, Savage reports many casualties of the attack. Ryker then orders to whatever plan Dagur has to attack the base as long as the Dragon Eye remains unharmed, Dagur is irritated by him, and even more by Ruffnut, Dagur orders Heather to silence her. Windshear shoots a spine near inches above her head. Heather then gestures to Ruffnut that it's time for her to escape, but Ruffnut does not get her. So Heather approaches her to whisper to Ruffnut, to take the spine above her head to cut herself free and take Windshear to provide Astrid help. Ruffnut does so, pounces Heather and takes her dragon but goes the wrong way.

At the clubhouse, Astrid shares her frustration with Tuffnut saying that her defense plan failed due to too many Dragon Hunters. Tuffnut then gives Astrid the Dragon Eye to her as he claims someone buried it, but Astrid explains she did it to keep it away from the Dragon Hunters. Tuffnut then suggests that he executes his plan of defense against the Hunters, Astrid reluctantly accepts. Meanwhile, Hiccup comes up with a plan to rescue Fishlegs, he and Toothless volunteers to lure as many of the wild dragons they can, starting with their leader, out, while Snotlout and Johann sneak in and grab Fishlegs. The plan goes accordingly well for Snotlout and Johann as they easily get Fishlegs out, while Hiccup and Toothless struggle to cope with the increasing wild dragons they're trying to lure, Wild Nadders knock Hiccup out of Toothless. Toothless is unable to reach his Rider, Hiccup decides to use his wingsuit, he manages to evade the wild dragons. He and Toothless regroup on a sea stack, they find themselves surrounded by the Wild Dragons. Hiccup tells Toothless to not fire, as he shows his wingsuit to the dragons which surprises them, Hiccup explains to them that they are not so different, and that he would never harm dragons, this act gains Hiccup the trust of the wild dragons' leader.

On Dragon's Edge, Tuffnut unveils his defense plan all comprised of he and his sister's tricks, pranks, and goofs that manages to drive and scare off the Hunters, Astrid is enjoying Tuffnut's plan after all. At the island's forest, Dagur leads a squad of Dragon Hunters and he briefly encounters Astrid as he mocks her as she can't shoot spines accurately at them due to the canopy of trees, they then encounter to which he claims, are the 'Riders' hiding among the bushes. Dagur orders the squad's archers to fire at them, but due to the cover of the night, they actually fired dummies, now releasing Zippleback gas. Dagur identifies the gas and realizes it's a trap, but the Hunters don't and he fails to prevent the archers from lighting up their arrows, igniting the gas creating an explosion. Dagur and his squad regroups with Ryker, and Dagur begins to take note upon Hiccup and some of the Riders' absence in the assault.

Tuffnut has exhausted his defense plan, but still, more Dragon Hunter divisions continue to advance towards their base, Tuffnut proposes to Astrid that they need to come up with a more crazier plan in order to hold off the Hunters. Meanwhile, Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Johann prepare to head back, but Snotlout and Fishlegs are curious as to why many wild dragons are following him, Hiccup explains that after he showed his wing suit to them, the dragons' realize he pose no threat. Suddenly, Ruffnut and Windshear appear informing them that they need to hurry back as their base is threatened with annihilation by the Hunters.

At the shorelines of the Edge, Ryker orders the first wave of his men to climb the cliffs of the beach with direct orders to spare no one. But at the very top, Tuffnut is expecting them, he gives the signal to the Night Terrors as they fly overhead in their fierce formation. Though some of the men run in fear, Ryker stands firm and he brings down the Night Terrors' leader in one shot, leaving the rest of the Night Terrors in disarray. However, Astrid and Stormfly signals the Night Terrors from Stormfly's blast, causing the Night Terrors to go into a frenzy, attacking many of the Hunters. Dagur pounces on Astrid as soon as they land, and they go into combat, but Astrid easily gets the upper hand on him. Meanwhile, despite the Night Terrors' success, some Dragon Hunters continue to climb atop including Ryker. Tuffnut drop his pet chicken taking one of the climbing Hunters down, Tuffnut demands Ryker to release his sister, Ryker will let her go if he faces him. Tuffnut jumps off and fights Ryker, but Ryker's strength overpowers him. As Ryker begins to kill him, he gets blasted by a plasma blast.

In the nick of time, Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Johann and the wild dragons arrive to finish the job. With the combine strength of the wild dragons, the Hunters are overwhelmed. Heather blows her horn signalling Windshear to return, when Heather mounts up she punches Ruffnut out of her dragon as payback for 'improvising'. Luckily, Tuffnut rescues her with Barf and Belch and she shares her frustration of not understanding Heather. The Dragon Hunters head back to their ships and retreat, Heather rescues Dagur from Astrid. Ryker regains consciousness as Hiccup faces him, but Windshear grabs him and they head back but not before Ryker tells Hiccup they will encounter each other again soon.

The next day, Hiccup asks how Astrid and Tuffnut managed to hold off the invading Hunters for so long, Astrid says it was all thanks to teamwork with Tuffnut. Ruffnut asks if Astrid is feeling guilty and sorry for what she did to her, Astrid says she is and Ruffnut accepts. Fishlegs then informs Hiccup that they need to return the wild dragons back to their island as they cannot afford room for them, Hiccup gathers the Riders for a journey to the island as they escort the Wild Dragons to the safety of their home. However, Trader Johann is unaware of this and is left all alone with the Night Terrors.

Transcript
The transcript for this episode is here.

Trivia
The Wilhelm Scream was heard in one scene after Astrid and Stormfly sent some logs rolling on the Dragon Hunters, making it the third time in the series where the Wilhelm Scream was heard, the first episode was We Are Family, Part 2 and the second was Cast Out, Part 1
 * Heather is aware that the other Dragon Riders know she's spying on the hunters.
 * The ropes being soaked in Monstrous Nightmare gel and being light on fire while the Dragon Hunters are climbing them, is a possible wink to the film Home Alone 2, where the main protagonist did something similar with a kerosene-soaked rope the villains were using.
 * Tuffnut saying the line "We've been expecting you." is a famous line from the James Bond movies, with him petting his chicken, similar to the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
 * In one scene, the lower half of Hookfang's armor is mis-colored.
 * This is the second time the Night Terrors take the form of a Night Fury.
 * When Hiccup shows up with the wild dragons, Dagur points out he always makes a production out of everything. Snotlout said the same thing in Imperfect Harmony.