"Uh...Hiro?" Wasabi peered over Hiro's shoulder, "You sure this is a good idea, man?"

"Relax! I know what I'm doing."

"He has no idea what he's doing." Gogo blew a large bubble with her gum, obscuring her obviously bored face, before it popped.

The group had managed to take one of the larger rooms at San Fransokyo Tech, with Hiro explaining to their professor that they wanted to experiment on something harmless, and not because "They're working on making me into a giant, fire-breathing lizard!" as Fred tried to claim.

Whether by sheer luck, or because the professor had had enough for one day and the last thing he needed was a larger headache induced by teenagers, they were granted access.

However, their project wasn't as harmless as they'd made it out to be.

Hiro scoffed at GoGo, saying, "I do know what I'm doing…"

Wasabi sighed in relief.

"Probably."

Before his anxious friend could react, Hiro grabbed the plain sheet covering the project, and gave it a firm yank.

The sheet fell to a pile on the ground.

"I really got a bad feeling about this."

"It's going to be fine, Wasabi…" Honey tapped her friend's shoulder in reassurance. "We've got it under control now; nothing bad's going to happen."

As Honey tried to reassure Wasabi, with Fred trying (and failing) to help, Hiro and Gogo were attaching the final few cables to the perimeter of the Portal - the same Portal that Callaghan tried to use to destroy Krei's life work, the same Portal Callaghan thought he'd lost his daughter in, now rebuilt.

"What exactly are we trying to do with this thing again?" GoGo asked, knocking against the metal. "We got to make it stable; that's a no brainer."

"What couldn't we do with this?" Hiro's eyes reflected a light of ambition and excitement. "If we get it running, it could be anything we wanted it to be!"

"It would also be completely dangerous!"

GoGo shook her head. "Oh, quit complaining, Wasabi; we've got this."

Hiro rolled his eyes slightly at his friends, before turning to face the Portal once again. He hoped the effort they put into salvaging this thing would be worth it…

"Alright, that should be it…" Hiro added the last cable to the perimeter of the Portal, taking a slow step back.

He jogged to the hologram keyboard and began typing commands in; several images came up on the three different screens he had in front of him.

The others gathered around, an air of anticipation (or in Wasabi's case, anxiousness) surrounding them as the screens showed positive signs; nothing seemed out of order.

Then again, that was how it was like last time…

"Uh, is it too late to leave?"

"Wasabi, relax, man," reassured Fred. "This is just like in the comics; nothing could possibly go wrong with this."

The large student wasn't really convinced.

Hiro typed in command after command, making sure everything was as it should be. With a final breath out, and a glance back at the others, Hiro smiled.

"Well...here we go…"

With that, and a thumbs up from Fred, Hiro pressed the Y key on the hologram keyboard.

He held his breath, biting his bottom lip gently in anticipation. All of the others drew in closer to Hiro, expecting something to happen. Be it good or bad.

At first...nothing. Just the low hum as the Portal began warming up, a few sparks escaping from where the ports connected to the Portal, nothing major.

Hiro checked the readings again, feeling the others watching over his shoulders.

"Fred, do you mind?"

"Sorry bud," said Fred, picking his head off from practically resting on Hiro's shoulder.

Hiro rolled his eyes, but smirked at his friend, when something drew his attention back to the monitors.

Slowly, the portal's dark purple energy began to ripple from the edges, the odd surge of power flicking through before disappearing once again.

"It's working…" Hiro breathed. "It's working!"

Slowly, the portal drew closed towards the centre; it was almost all filled with the dark purple energy, with just a small circle at the very centre left to be completed.

The teens all leaned in closer, the anticipation was reaching fever pitch now as they waited for the portal to complete itself.

And it was taking its sweet time.

After what seemed like eternity, the portal finally completed itself, the low hum filling the large room.

A smile broke across Hiro's face, and he turned back to the others. They all looked back at him, excitement playing across each of their faces - even Wasabi seemed to be coming out of his shell, so to speak.

"So," Hiro said, leaning back in his chair. "What's the first thing on the list we're going to be experimenting on with the Portal?"

GoGo approached, shifting Hiro to one side on his swivel chair, and tapped a few keys, bringing up some files from the depths of the home screen. "We've got a whole list of things we've brainstormed to test on the portal."

"Alright; let's get to-"

Hiro was interrupted when the background program on the computer - the one with the statistics of the Portal - started to flash, drawing his and the others' attention.

They all drew in as Hiro brought up the program again.

"Alllright, alright…" Hiccup glanced down his list of things to do. "I need to open a new storehouse across the island, and then settle that dispute over the hens…"

"Hiccup! Hiccup!" He had rounded the corner, and was now in view of the saddle shop, where a crowd of people were waiting. They called out as he drew near. "I need a saddle right now, mine broke when I was flying Darkhorn yesterday!" "I've been waiting here all day, I deserve to go next!" "Out of the way, I need to pick up an order that I placed three days ago!"

"Okay, change of plans." Hiccup sighed as he came into the workshop. "Saddles, THEN storehouse, and then hens."

"Come on, we don' have all day!" Gobber yelled as he came in. "We're swamped with orders, we can 'ardly keep up with'em all, plus the dragon teeth I need to fix!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm sorry, I'm here. Let's see, where's the leather-"

"Our of the way, out of my way!" A woman wrestled her way to the front of the crowd, holding an infant in her arms. "Hiccup, you missed the naming ceremony! We've been waiting for twenty minutes."

"What, that wasn't on my - oh gods, fine. Here, let me see." He cradled the baby in his arms, and recited the proper speech as quickly as possible: "As chief, I welcome this child into the Hooligan tribe, and pronounce his name to be…" The mother whispered in his ear. "Her name, to be Helga. There we go." He handed the child back. "Now, who's first for the-"

"Me!" "No, I've been here all day!" "But I have get back home soon, me first!"

"Hold up, hold up, we have more important business than saddles, here!" Mulch barged forward, carrying two chickens under his arms, with Bucket following behind in the same situation. "Hiccup, we need you to arbitrate now! Bucket keeps insisting the hens are his-"

"That's because they ARE mine!"

"No, they're mine!"

"Guys, guys, guys!" Hiccup tried to break them up. "I-I, just...hold on, let me think for a moment. Bucket, why don't you tell me your side of the story first?"

"But what about the saddles?!" An impatient roar erupted from behind the two.

"Hiccup! Where's-" Snotlout came running up. "What are you doing? Everyone's at the warehouse, waiting for you!"

"Ugh, just give me a moment-"

"Hey, stop trying to grab Henrietta!" Mulch suddenly snapped at Bucket, who may or may not have been actually trying to take the chicken - Hiccup couldn't tell.

"Please, just calm down, I'll take care of-"

"I'm Order Forty-One!" An indignant voice shouted. "The last order called was Forty! I deserve to go next!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get-" Hiccup kept turning around, facing all the different demands, hardly able to get a word in.

"What are you waiting for, come on!"

"Bucket, put her down!"

"I want a fancy seat, and-"

"I - yes just - please, hold on -" He was starting to get more and more frustrated

"Hiccup!"

"Hiccup!"

"Hiccup!"

"Hiccup!"

"WHAT!?" He finally snapped as the fourth voice demanded his attention. Everyone went quiet, and Hiccup realized this voice had been Astrid's.

"I was just coming to see if I could help." She seemed somewhat offended at his outburst.

"Wait, yes, yes, I just…I'm sorry." He rested his head on his hand. "I didn't realize…"

He groaned, and Astrid looked around. The crowd remained silent.

"Come on." She put her arm around him and led him away. They rounded a corner, and then she rounded on him. "Hiccup," she whispered, "you have to stop putting so much on yourself."

"I can't help it! I...I don't know how my dad did it. He never got tired, he never got backed up, and he did twice as much as I accomplished today! I...I don't know, I'm not up for it."

Even as he spoke, though, he felt his guts squirming as the prospect of the next day loomed ahead of him. On top of his usual workload, he had to add on today's missed tasks. The very thought made his head spin.

"You need to let us help more. Me, and your mom."

"You're already helping me, taking care of the dragons and doing inspections on the fire safety systems."

"But we could do more-"

"No, I need to...I'm the chief, these are my responsibilities. I already feel bad enough giving you my own work to do, what about what you want to do?"

"I want to help you! Look, when was the last time you got some sleep?" Hiccup honestly couldn't answer, but he suddenly became aware that he was intensely tired. "Valka and I will get the rest of your stuff dealt with, you get some rest."

Hiccup suddenly felt a sharp shove, coupled with a loud groan. He hadn't even heard Toothless come up behind him.

"Oh, I haven't flown with him for a while…" He explained to Astrid. "Here, I'll take him up for a while, and then...are you sure?"

"Go!"

"I really don't want to bother-"

"If you don't have some peace and quiet, I'll sock you in the shoulder."

Hiccup leapt on Toothless.

"That's better." Astrid smiled and stepped back. "And when I get back, I'm going to be expecting to see you in bed, sound asleep! You got that?"

"Yes, mother." Hiccup rolled his eyes, and he shifted Toothless' fin. "Let's go."