Follow the Leader

Follow the Leader is the third episode of the Season 3 of Race to the Edge. It was released on Netflix on June 24, 2016.

Overview
When things get out of hand while Fishlegs is left in charge, he seizes another chance to prove he has what it takes to be a leader.

Summary
Fishlegs has a dream in which Hiccup becomes chief and honors Fishlegs by giving him power and leadership over the Dragon Riders. Fishlegs is praised by his friends and all of Berk. He then wakes up as a loud noise shakes the ground and knocks him off the tree he was napping in the middle of a snow-covered area of the Edge. Meatlug retrieves him and he notices a large explosion near the base. The two fly over as Fishlegs assumes they're under attack.

Fishlegs is angered to see that Snotlout and the twins are abusing Monstrous Nightmare gel for their own amusement, and reminds them that Hiccup put him in charge while Hiccup and Astrid are out exploring with their dragons. Snotlout and the twins make fun of Fishlegs for not having any qualities of a leader and toss around the gel away from him. Fishlegs quits and runs off while Snotlout and the Twins continue their shenanigans.

Fishlegs and Meatlug walk in the forest as Fishlegs reflects on Snotlout and the twins' insults. He hears a loud noise in a cave, and decides to test his leadership skills by going in the cave to find out more about it. In the cave, they come across a sword and a wall with ancient markings. Fishlegs gets excited and flies off with Meatlug, determined to prove the other Riders wrong.

Back at the base, Hiccup and Astrid berate Snotlout and the twins for wasting the Monstrous Nightmare gel and order them to get more. Fishlegs arrives to tell them about his discovery, but Hiccup instead expresses his disappointment over Fishlegs not having control over the other Riders' actions.

Fishlegs returns to the cavern, feeling down after Hiccup's lecture, and accidentally falls down a cliff deeper into the tunnel. Meatlug follows, and they discover a group of albino Night Terrors there. Though hostile at first, they warm up to Fishlegs after he gives them food. He names one of the dragons Darkvarg and entertains the others when he puts a bag on his head. The Night Terrors lead Fishlegs to a room where old equipment and a throne is seen. Fishlegs sees another chamber that's much roomier, but realizes the Night Terrors can't go in it because there's a large gap where the sun shines in. Fishlegs tells them to wait as he has an idea.

Elsewhere, the twins struggle to harvest the gel of a wild Monstrous Nightmare. Snotlout refuses to give them the gel of Hookfang for free.

Fishlegs gathers up supplies for the hole in the cave as Hiccup arrives to give him his axe. He doesn't tell Hiccup exactly what he's doing, just that he's on a "personal project." Hiccup tries to apologize for what he said earlier, but Fishlegs pretends to shrug it off as he flies away, with Hiccup growing suspicious of his activities.

Fishlegs creates a functional attic door for the chamber in the cavern to help the Night Terrors. The beasts pick up Fishlegs and throw him onto their stone throne. Fishlegs is impressed and tells Meatlug that's how a leader should be treated.

Back at the base, Hiccup worries about what Fishlegs is doing and fears he might've been too hard on Fishlegs as Astrid tries to calm him. Snotlout and the twins arrive, with Snotlout carrying a bunch of Monstrous Nightmare gel and the twins containing next to nothing. The twins decide to buy more gel from Snotlout off of Hookfang.

Back in the cavern, Fishlegs decides to head back to the base at night, but the Night Terrors refuse to have him leave. When Fishlegs and Meatlug try escaping, the Night Terrors snatch Fishlegs off of Meatlug and pull down the door, trapping him inside as Meatlug escapes.

Meatlug crashes into Hiccup's bedroom and wakes him up to alert him and Toothless of Fishlegs' predicament. She leads him and the other Dragon Riders into the cavern. Hiccup feels guilty for not paying attention to Fishlegs earlier.

Fishlegs tries to reason with the Night Terrors to no avail. When they hear the arrival of the Riders, they fly off, with the exception of Darkvarg, whom Fishlegs distracts to try and escape. The Riders and their dragons try to fight off the Night Terrors, but they cause rubble to fall down that trap the Riders, Meatlug, and Toothless on the inside away from the other dragons. When the Riders are surrounded and Toothless has run out of firepower, Fishlegs arrive banging his axes together-noting earlier that the Night Terrors are highly sensitive to sound-to drive some of them off. Fishlegs leads them into the chambers where they grab other supplies to create more loud noises to fend off the Night Terrors. When the Night Terror's start getting used to the sound, Darkvarg assists Fishlegs by driving off the other Night Terrors, and Hiccup tosses the sword to Fishlegs to cut the rope to the pulley, leaking in the sunlight to the cavern. He then reflects the light off the sword to assist Snotlout and has Meatlug assist the twins. Fishlegs thanks Darkvarg as he and the other Riders escape and close the chamber on the way out.

Back at the base, Hiccup meets up with Fishlegs, who's cleaning the sword. Fishlegs admits that what Hiccup said was right and envies his ability to lead by example rather than fear or bossing people around. Hiccup tells Fishlegs that he can hardly control Snotlout and the twins on his best days (in which he's proven right as they waste the new Monstrous Nightmare gel at that moment). He apologizes for being too hard on Fishlegs and tells him he did a great job demonstrating leadership in the caverns, and wouldn't hesitate to put Fishlegs in charge in the future. Fishlegs and Hiccup then walk off to geek out over the albino Night Terrors and the sword.

Transcript
The transcript for this episode is here.

Trivia

 * In one short scene, when Stormfly was running through the tunnel, she was missing the spikes on her head.
 * The exact same animating mistake happened in another episode, What Flies Beneath, when Toothless' Nemesis emerged from the ground.
 * For some reason in Fishlegs' dream, Hiccup speaks with a Scottish accent like his father. It is also so far the only instance in which Gothi speaks.
 * Hiccup is also depicted wearing a green shirt much like in Dawn of the Dragon Racers, as opposed to his red shirt.
 * Fishlegs's middle name is revealed to be Justin.
 * Fishlegs's opening has all the characters animated in 2-D with the exception of Fishlegs himself. This is the third time the franchise uses 2-D animation.
 * The first was Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon, the second was Book of Dragons.
 * If you look closely at the scene where Hiccup tells the group that Fishlegs is the leader while he's gone, you can clearly see that they used Fishlegs's dragon stat cards as the cards the twins and Snotlout are using. On top of their decks is a cavern crasher from the previous episode.
 * The bag Fishlegs had in the cave is the same as Heather's instead of the usual Berk one.