A/N: This is chapter one of Camping Trip. Let me know what you think! :)

Hiccup grabbed his bag on his way out the door, and sighed.

He was fiercely loyal to Gobber, yes, and had been quashing the rumors of the blacksmith's possible insanity with increasing impatience all week.

But he had to admit...a camping trip? Toothless stood by the door, waiting for Hiccup to come out with him.

Boy and dragon walked out of the house together and to the take-off point.

Astrid was waiting for them there, and greeted Hiccup with obvious disgust for the whole expedition.

She mumbled in a blatantly grumpy undertone, "This is even stupider than that time when Gobber went out to slay the Boneknapper. This is even stupider than that story of the hammerhead yak bursting out of a fiery volcano he told us about. This is even worse than both of those combined."

"Shut up," Hiccup said from the corner of his mouth. "He means well, you know that."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut wandered over, followed by Barf and Belch, their quarrelsome Zippleback dragon.

"This is crazy," Tuffnut said bitterly.

"Crazier than the Boneknapper stunt he pulled six months ago," Ruffnut replied.

Stoick, already settled on another dragon, gave the signal for everyone to mount and take off.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut leapt onto Barf and Belch and Astrid departed to go get on Stormfly, leaving Hiccup to climb on top of Toothless.

The dragons rose slowly into the air, as one, and began flying toward the island they'd planned to spend the week on ahead of time.

It took short time for them to reach it.

When they landed, the people began dismounting and putting away the riding gear Hiccup had made (after Gobber's disastrous attempt).

Speaking of Gobber, he seemed to be the only one who was showing any true enthusiasm for the trip.

Even Stoick appeared to be having second thoughts, while most others (Hiccup included) had no need to be. They had bypassed the phrase 'second thoughts' and moved onto 'escape plan' right about the time Gobber had revealed the idea.

"Okay!" Stoick hollered. "Each tent has enough room for at least two Vikings! Pitch your tents, then remember to check in with Gobber for your tent mates. Remember, your tent mate will be your partner in any activities performed here, at this camp."

Hiccup was a bit worried that if any of the other Vikings got anywhere near Gobber, they'd start using weapons.

And Gobber only had an arm and a leg left to lose.

They all began pitching the tents. Within seconds, the tents were up.

Well, everyone's except for Hiccup's, who had an unpleasant surprise in store for him: He was terrible at pitching tents.

After a few minutes of watching Hiccup struggle, Astrid took pity and helped him, and they went back to Gobber for their tent mates.

There were still quite a few people there, but it wasn't long before Gobber reached the two. "Okay...Astrid, you'll be with Ruffnut Thorston..."

"And, Hiccup, you're with Snotface Snotlout."

Hiccup sighed at the idea of having to spend the next two weeks practically attached to the hip with Snotlout. The idea was not a particularly pleasant one.

This was going to be the longest two weeks of his life.