AN: I don't know if these are still a thing, but I'm going to try to do a 100 themes challenge. I've just been needing a little motivation lately, and hopefully this will do the trick. Enjoy!

Introduction

Hiccup gripped the railing tighter as the ship gave another lurch, trying with all his might to keep his lunch from making a sudden reappearance. If he threw up now, his father might re-evaluate taking him on this trip in the first place. He had been looking forward to this for weeks, and he wouldn't let his stomach betray him when he was so close to his goal.

"Looking a little green around the gills, aren't ya Hiccup?" Gobber joked good-naturedly.

"Huh? I don't have gills?" he said quizzically.

"He means you're looking a little seasick," Stoick said, turning to examine Hiccup. "Are you all right? Maybe you should just wait on the boat and rest once we get there. This whole thing may have been a bad idea."

Hiccup gulped down some more bile threatening to spill out. "No! I'm not 'green around the gills.' Vikings don't get seasick, so neither do I. I'm going to come to shore," he said with more conviction than he actually felt.

As another wave of nausea ran through him he added, "Besides, even if I was seasick, which I'm not, wouldn't it be better for me to get off the boat? You know, away from the sea?"

Stoick merely sighed and returned to looking at the quickly approaching land that was Bog-Burglar Island.

After an endless amount of persuading and begging, Hiccup had finally managed to convince his father to let him come on one of the visits to a fellow Archipelago tribe. It wasn't going to be any sort of big gathering, just trip to renegotiate a treaty, but to the six-year-old Hiccup, it was the adventure of a lifetime because for the first time in his life, he would be leaving Berk.

The opportunity to go somewhere, anywhere else and see more of the world than his small island was one that Hiccup simply could not pass up. Stoick, on the other hand, had a few reservations about the whole ordeal. He just wasn't sure how well his rather unviking-like son would be able to handle interacting with the rather brash and bold Bog Burglars.

In the end though, his son's pleading eyes made him decided to give it a shot. Besides, if his son was to be chief one day, he would have to learn how to interact with other tribes eventually. Better he started with the Bogs than the Hysterics or the Murderous tribes.

As the shore grew nearer and nearer, Hiccup's stomach gave another lurch, this time completely unrelated to the movement of the ship. He was finally somewhere different. It may just be another tribe's island, it may be only a short sail from his home, but it didn't matter. He was in a new land.

"-and on my last birthday my mother finally gave me a sword, not dagger but a real sword, and she's started teaching me how to use it, and she says I'm going to be the best swordfighter the Archipelago has ever seen. Do you have a sword, have you started to learn how to use it? I mean you won't be as good as me, you are a boy after all and a Hooligan at that, but you should try it, it's a lot of fun. Oh! And did I tell you about the raid I went on last week. Well, I didn't so much go on it as sneak on the boat and hide in the box of burglary supplies the whole time, but I was there and I heard everyone-" the small blonde girl continued to babble on, barely seeming to pause for breath.

Hiccup had a hard time keeping up with all of her stories but was intrigued none the less. As soon as he and his father had stepped off the boat they had been approached by the chief of the Bog Burglars, the aptly named Big-Boobied Bertha. Alongside of her, bouncing on her toes and chattering a mile a minute, was her daughter Camicazi.

After Bertha and Stoick began to talk, they told Camicazi and Hiccup to go entertain each other while they discussed adult matters. The two children quickly ran down to the beach and started telling each other all about themselves, although Hiccup sometimes had a hard time getting a word in edgewise with the girl.

Camicazi was about his age, with wild blonde hair and an overly large sword strapped to her side. She was the heir to her tribe, like him, but unlike him, she had apparently been off the island several times despite her being only six-years-old. True, usually this was done without permission, but Hiccup still found himself rather jealous of the girl. She had already been all over the Archipelago while he was only just now leaving Berk.

Hiccup wished that he could have adventures like Camicazi. He could do without some of the danger (being in the middle of an Uglithug raid didn't sound particularly appealing) but the fact remained that Camicazi had seen parts of the world that he could only dream about.

"-and anyways you can't even get in because the vines and roots have grown over the door so much that you can't even hack your way through with a sword and I know because I've tried and I-"

"Wait, what?" Hiccup asked as came out of his musings and slowly that he hadn't heard a word Camicazi had said for the last few minutes.

Camicazi, apparently unfazed by Hiccup's lack of attention, simply started again. "Like I said, the other day I found some strange old stone door on the island just over there, carved into the hill and hidden by some trees" she repeated, pointing to a small island a little ways away from where they were standing. "I haven't told anyone else about it yet because if I told anyone else they would tell the adults and then my mother would investigate it and I wouldn't get the glory of finding whatever treasure is in there. Oh, by the way, did I mention that you can't tell anyone else about this? But anyways, I haven't been able to get through the door because my sword can't cut through the roots and vines growing all over it and it's so frustrating because I just know there is something spectacular behind that door but I just can't reach it!"

Hiccup looked closer at the island. It wasn't that far, less than an hour by boat, with trees growing densely on and around the large hill at the center. He briefly wondered how Camicazi had even gotten over there before remembering the story she had just told about her experience in the Uglithug raid. Somehow, he's pretty sure she could have found a way there.

He quickly turned his mind back to Camicazi's problem. "If the door is stone and it's only covered in roots and stuff, couldn't you just set the door on fire? That would get rid of the plants on the door without actually harming it."

Camicazi was quiet for a moment as her eyes widened and a great grin broke over her face. "By gods, that is brilliant! I'd be able to get through the door for sure then!" She began to jump up and down in excitement, celebrating her imagined victory over the door. "That is an absolutely genius idea!...for a boy of course."

She then grabbed Hiccup's arm and pulled him back towards the now empty docks. "Come on! Let's go see if it works!"

"Wait, you mean right now? But our parents told us not to wander too far. I'm pretty sure that going to another island counts as 'too far,'" Hiccup said. He had only just managed to get his father to agree to let him come, and he didn't want his first trip off the island to also be his last.

"Oh please, we can be there and back before they even notice we're gone," Camicazi stated brusquely. They arrived at a small rowboat at the docks and Camicazi quickly ambled in. She turned back towards Hiccup, arms crossed. "Well, are you coming?"

Hiccup hesitated. On the one hand, he didn't want to make his father angry. He had worked hard to convince Stoick that he was ready for the responsibility of behaving during a tribal visit, and he didn't want his father to second-guess his trust in his son. On the other hand, Hiccup had just been lamenting the fact that he hadn't been on nearly as many adventures as Camicazi, and here was an opportunity basically being shoved in his face.

He looked at the small girl in the boat, and found a matching smile spreading on his face. "Okay, let's do this."

Camicazi whooped. "Yes! Let the 'Quest for the Weird Door' begin! We'll think of a better name later."

Hiccup jumped into the boat and Camicazi pushed off, heading towards the small island, both of them overcome with the excitement of the unknown and reveling in company of kindred spirit.