Convincing everyone to follow his plan wasn't easy. Darbi and Rhaegal, being personally involved, agreed in the need to kill their father; Darbi was willing to go along with the plan because he trusted Haku, and Rhaegal because he basically had no other choice. But their sisters didn't agree in the same way.
Tikka, Kialandì, Keita, Kotaru and Teramon immediately sided with Haku; after he and Darbi had helped them by keeping them from starving and teaching them to hunt, they would have never let them die. As frightened as they were at the prospect of facing an adult dragon, they weren't willing to abandon their brothers, just as their brothers hadn't abandoned them. Serengal and Maleficial also let themselves be convinced, albeit not with much certainty. However, the seven remaining sisters weren't willing to help them: they considered the plan too risky. After all, they weren't their father's targets, so why risk their lives for nothing? Even if they were fond to their siblings, their survival instinct outweighed family affection. They fear their father's anger and they didn't want to challenge him.
Haku had to use all his rhetoric to convince them. Relying on the little empathy that the dragons possessed he reminded them of the absolute terror that everyone of them had felt after their father's first attack and so how he, Darbi, and Rhaegal must feel now knowing that sooner or later they would be attacked again. After a long time Sisna, Maldor, Finiar and Glausar were persuaded, and even though they weren't very sure Malchia, Corgorin and Jatara joined the group so as not to be considered cowards.
The next day Neytiri took them back to the lake; despite the danger, in fact, the young dragons still had to practice if they wanted to survive in the future. As she had done the day before, she left them on the shore and then flew off to hunt. She limited herself to saying: "Be careful", and then she left. Hers wasn't a motherly concern, just a warning to paying attention to any possible danger so she wouldn't have had to bother rushing to their rescue.
However, unbeknownst to her, the little dragons were far from scared. After a whole night of talking and arguing, everyone knew the plan perfectly. They waited for their mother to leave, after which all the girls scattered, pretending to fish and hunt, but in reality they had arranged themselves in such a way as to constantly keep an eye on the sky from several directions. In that way, if their father would have tried to attack, at least one of them would have spotted him well in advance. Basically, it would have been impossible for him to surprise them. The three boys instead gathered under a tree and Haku tore three tufts of grass from the ground; after which he arranged them in his paw so that they all seemed to be of the same length, and he handed them to his two brothers. "It's time to choose who will be the bait. We will toss up; whichever of us gets the longest tuft of grass will be the predestined" he said.
Rhaegal was already shivering, probably begging every entity in heaven and earth to take the shortest tuft, but Darbi shook his head instead. "No need for this. I'll go" he stated confidently pushing away Haku's paw.
Haku's eyes widened, not expecting that anyone would have actually volunteered for such a thing. He himself wouldn't have wanted to be bait for any reason in the world, and only necessity had led him to conceive that plan. He had choosen of tossing up exactly for that. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Rhaegal is too scared and would probably die of a broken heart before our father reaches him. And you are too important: if the plan doesn't work, you'll have to be alive to devise another one" Darbi replied. "I have faith in you, brother. I'm not afraid to be our bait"
Haku was silent for a moment, then he nodded. Rhaegal breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Darbi with a grateful gaze. "Good luck, brother" Haku said.
Darbi shook his head. "I won't need it. I told you, I trust you. That's enough for me"
Darbi went towards the lake, while his two brothers hid in the branches. Now he just had to wait. He spent his time pretending to fish, like his sisters were doing. He was very tense and his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst in his chest, but he forced himself not to show it.
As Neytiri had predicted, Kalos hadn't gave up so easily. And indeed he was perched again in the same spot as the day before, keeping an eye on the little dragons down at the lake. He had already spotted Darbi and was just waiting for Neytiri to get distracted. And just like the day before, as soon as the dragoness let her guard down for an instant he swooped down towards the lakeshore.
Neytiri obviously noticed him almost immediately, but just like the first time, she was too far away to stop him. However, unbeknownst to Kalos, the dragoness wasn't the only one who had noticed him. At the lake, Keita clearly saw a blur appear in the corner of the sky she had to watch, and she let out a hiss. The other little dragons heard her and understood that this would have been the direction from which their father would come. Darbi didn't move, but he could hear Haku and Rhaegal moving through the bushes instead.
As soon as their father was close enough, the little dragons pretended to notice him and quickly dispersed, as they had done the day before. Darbi ran off pretending to be terrified. However, if Kalos hadn't had his eyes on him, he would have realized that something was wrong: in fact, the other little dragons weren't moving away, but they were gathering behind him...
Just like the previous day, as soon as he was one step away from catching him, another dragon leapt out of the bushes and pushed Darbi away. It was Rhaegal, probably summoning up all his courage at the moment.
However, Kalos had foreseen this. "Ah! This time I won't fall for it!" he exclaimed, turning ninety degrees to strike them, but at that point Haku in turn came out of the bush and pushed Darbi and Rhaegal away again, away from the deadly paws of the dragon.
Kalos found himself tumbled to the ground a second time. This time he was truly speechless. He didn't know what to think: two dragons helping each other was weird enough, but three? It was complete nonsense! After what had happened the day before, Kalos had imagined that there was a strong bond between the two brothers; though it was rare, it wasn't impossible among dragons, at least among babies. But he never expected that a strong bond could exist for three of them!
But soon he would have been even more amazed. "GET HIM!"
Darbi, Rhaegal, and Haku leapt onto Kalos' neck, while their sisters leapt over his wings. Kalos found himself completely disoriented. He didn't understand what was happening. What was happening was against nature! Since when did dragons cooperate?
He tried in vain to shake off the babies, but it wasn't an easy feat. The little dragons clung tightly to him using their teeth and claws. As much as Kalos fidgeted, he couldn't shake them off. To boot they were also tearing apart the delicate wing membrane! He wanted to use his teeth to tear them apart, but unfortunately he couldn't reach his sons on his neck and he didn't want to hurt his daughters who were the ones on his wings.
Kalos fussed in vain for a few seconds, then he decided he'd had enough. He prepared to use a magic to make his body very hot; that wouldn't have killed the little dragons, thus avoiding the risk of eliminate his daughters, but it would have forced them to leave him. Unfortunately for him, however, he had already wasted too much time. "GO!" Haku yelled, and all the babies bolted and as soon as they were back on the ground they ran in every possible direction.
"Uh? What...?" Kalos barely had time to comprehend what had happened before something hit him straight in the sternum, cutting off his breath cleanly and making him roll away like a ball. He scrambled to his paws and he discovered that the source of that crushing blow was Neytiri, who had landed in front of him and was now roaring furiously. Thanks to the babies that had distracted the male dragon, she'd had plenty of time to catch up with him.
"Shit!" Kalos roared trying to fly away and get away, but by now it was too late: a jet of boiling water emerged from Neytiri's mouth and pierced Kalos' right wing reducing it to a pile of shreds. The male dragon could no longer escape. Kalos tried to back away and thought of using his fire to buy some time, but before he could act Neytiri leapt at him and grabbed him by the neck, slamming him across the lake and shattering rocks and logs with his head. The entire valley shook like a bell as the two dragons battled hard, smashing everything they touched to smithereens.
Meanwhile the little dragons had already moved to a safe distance. They were panting with fatigue and their muscles ached, but all of them had beaming smiles on their faces. "Good work, brother" Haku said placing a paw on Darbi's shoulder, who was shaking slightly from both effort and fear.
His brother let out a laugh. "See? I told you that I didn't need any luck. Your plan worked, just as I believed"
Haku let out an amused snort, and then he went back to watching the clash of the two adult dragons in front of them. Even though they were far away now, the shaking of the earth was still so violent that he struggled to stay upright, and he had to constantly check the sky to make sure that the debris thrown up by the two dragons didn't hit him. "It's done now. We won"
Yes, they had won. All the young dragons knew it and despite the effort they were full of pride. Together, a group of tiny and insignificant baby dragons had just defeated their own father, a fully grown adult dragon, using just cunning. Now they just had to wait for their mother to finish him.
The duel didn't last long: Kalos could no longer escape and had no chance against Neytiri, and she wasn't willing to let him go again. With her jaws and claws alone, the dragoness tore an infinite number of scales from his body and opened deep lacerations. Kalos tried in vain to defend himself using every fire spell in his possession, engulfing his body in flames so hot that the water in the lake next to them began to evaporate at an unnatural rate and whole hectares of forest were reduced to ashes, but Neytiri had both fire and water on her side, as well as size. In terms of fighting power, the dragoness had an absolute advantage.
In the end, Neytiri grabbed an exhausted Kalos by the neck and using her jaws and forelegs she twisted it ninety degrees. There was a 'CRACK' and then the male dragon's body fell to the ground with his neck broken. The ground shook for the last time and a gaint wave was created in the lake. The male dragon gave a few more spasms, and then he didn't move again.
And that was how Kalos met his death.
The little dragons gave a cheer of joy as they saw their victorious mother roar over their father's dead body. None of them cared that this was technically a family member: all that mattered was that the threat was finally eradicated! Rhaegal and Darbi were over the moon and seemed about to embrace each other, and probably only dignity prevented them from doing so.
Seeing his own father die, Haku didn't feel any feeling of sadness: he hadn't known him except for his worst side. He had no reason to feel sorry for him. He didn't have any kind of attachment like he had with his brothers and sisters. On the contrary, his father had tried to kill him. He had only reciprocated the gesture. Now that it was over, he would probably simply have forgot his father, who would have became nothing but a shadow in his memories or a passing nightmare in his dreams. Now that he was thinking about it, Haku realized that he didn't even know what his father's name was...
He shook his head. Rather than sadden, he should celebrate: he had not only eliminated a powerful enemy, but he had also proved his hypothesis. Now he had irrefutable proof that creating a herd of dragons was the right choice, because many dragons together could succeed where only one failed, and could therefore carry out feats that could be only defined as impossible.
It was just like he had imagined it. A single dragon, however powerful they might be, remained weak; but many dragons together, on the contrary, were strong!