Chapter 5: "Running With The Dragons"

(Oh? Another starting note before we begin the chapter proper? Yes! For this chapter, we have another featured music track! As much as I would love to have a song for this-And I DID have some ideas in mind-The best track for this chapter is none other than "Third Date" from the official "How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" soundtrack. Though, if I had MY way-Which I clearly DON'T-I would call this track "Third Date (Scalewalkers Version)". Trust me, you'll know when to start playing it. Let's GO!)


After Megan had quite the rude awakening from that dream, she got dressed up in a simple black dress and a white apron. She tied her brown hair back and tucked it beneath a white bonnet. She had a slightly harder time waking up Brittany. Her friend was a bit of a heavy sleeper. Still, Brittany had to wake up eventually.

When the girls were dressed and ready, they left the house with Nicholas. Tilolo had to stay behind at home, though. After all, he had been taken by dragons the day before. There was a chance that his sudden reappearance would be seen as suspicious. Even if that wasn't the case, someone had to hold down the fort.

Nicholas took the two girls straight over to the village's Great Hall.

The ladies down in the scullery were already hard at work. Preparing food, churning butter, washing dishes, doing laundry and plenty of cleaning to be done.

"Ah good to see some new girls joinin' us!" The head maid said.

"Keep a good eye on them, please." Nicholas said. "They're to work the full day. Work is prayer, girls. Remember that."

"Oh, it's alright, girls." The head maid said, as she led Megan and Brittany away. "Believe it or not, I were only half yer age when I first started workin' here. Just do as yer told and you two'll be grand!"

Megan looked back at her uncle.

"It's for your own good, girls." Nicholas said softly, as he left for another day of hunting dragons.

Throughout the day, Megan and Brittany were put to work, just like all of the other maids.

Megan churned butter, helped with cooking meals, and washed dishes.

Brittany washed dishes, did laundry, swept floors, wiped off dirty windows and lent a hand with baking bread. She didn't like it, and neither did Megan, but she was assigned more tasks. Luckily, Megan helped her pick up the slack. Plus, it seemed like the other maids didn't really care that the two young girls were helping each other out.

At one point, the girls were mopping the entrance hall. Sure enough, once the hall was sparkling clean, a group of soldiers walked on through with their boots caked in dirt. Naturally, the girls were quite annoyed by this.

As the day dragged on, it soon began to rain heavily. The inclement weather had now made an already dismal day even more so.

Out in the woods, at the tree with the curved root, Hiccup and Astrid had grown quite tired of waiting for Megan.

Astrid growled to herself.

"..." Hiccup wanted to remain optimistic. "...S-Something must've happened to Megan. I guess she and her friends couldn't find a way to sneak out."

"I guess." Astrid scoffed.

"C'mon. Let's go back to the den."

"Yeah. Sure."

The two dragon kids shook themselves off and ran back to the dry safety of their den.

Meanwhile, Nicholas was checking his dragon traps. All of them had been sprung and had foliage stuck in them. "How on earth?"

It was utterly perplexing.

The only thing he could do was to set up new traps and move on.


Back at the Great Hall, Megan and Brittany were assigned to clean up a hallway.

"Work is prayer, girls, and it's better if ye don't stop." The head maid said. She left them to it.

The girls looked at each other and sighed.

As they mopped up the hallway, Megan accidentally knocked over her bucket, causing the water to spill onto the floor. The water spilled over into a red carpet under a nearby door. "Oh, great..."

"Ah geez...I don't think it's gonna stain, but I think we should dry it off." Brittany said.

"Good idea." Megan said. She stepped into the room with the red carpet. "Whoa..."

"What is this room?"

The room was large and rather spacious. There was a red carpet over top of grey stone flooring, tapestries on the walls, and even a few shields. Nothing too flashy about it, but anyone could tell this was a room that someone important used. The girls could see the whole village outside the windows. There was also something large at the far end of the room, but it was covered by a red cloth. The girls could make out bars of what seemed to be a cage.

"We should probably make this quick." Megan said, kneeling on the floor. She used a spare cloth to soak up the water.

"Yeah. I've got a weird feeling about this place." Brittany said, doing the same.

As they cleaned up the carpet, Megan noticed that her right arm was beginning to glow. 'Huh? What?' She thought.

"Hmm?" Brittany turned and saw what Megan was looking at. "Umm, Meg?" she said. "Why is your arm glowing?"

"Th-This is...That's where Hiccup bit me yesterday as a Night Fury." Megan said. "B-But he healed it. Then it was glowing this morning when I woke up from that dream."

"R-Really? But why would it do that if he healed you?"

"I...I don't know."

Just then, Megan heard something. It was faint, but it was a voice. She looked over to the cage on the other side of the room.

"Th...Th-There's...s-s-s-something...in there!" Brittany stuttered, keeping her voice low.

"...Girl..." The voice said.

Megan slowly stood up.

"We should g-get out of here!" Brittany said, hiding behind her.

Instead, Megan walked towards the cage.

"Are you nuts? We don't know what's in there!"

"It...It's calling to me." Megan said.

"...Girl." The voice said again.

Megan could hear it, but for some reason, Brittany couldn't. Still, she started to step closer and closer to the cage with her friend by her side.

"...Girl." The voice in the cage said.

As they got closer, Megan reached out to the cloth covering the cage.

"Girl."

"Girls! What're ye doin' in here?!" The head maid exclaimed, suddenly appearing in the room.

"Ack!" Brittany jumped. That had nearly given her a heart attack.

"Ah!" Megan gasped. Her right arm had stopped glowing.

"Get yerselves out of this room right now!" The head maid said, pulling the girls away from the cage. "Goodness me, I coulda sworn this door was locked..."

Megan briefly looked back at the cage as she and her friend were led away.

"Lord Grisely has forbidden anyone from entering this room."

Brittany felt a brief chill go down her spine. 'No wonder I got that feeling...That creepy Lord Grisely's been in that room...'

"You girls are lucky it was me that found you, and not His Lordship."

Both girls nervously swallowed at that comment. They really were lucky that Grimmel just happened to be away on business. If he were still in the village and had caught the girls, there was no telling what would happen to them, or to their little family.

"Ye'd end up in the stocks if that happened, or even worse..." The head maid said, locking the door as they stepped into the hallway. "Lord Grisely expects his rules to be followed by everyone. Remember that now, girls."

"We're sorry." The girls said, hanging their heads.

"It's all right. Just be more careful in the future. Now, you two, best head on home."


The rain continued to pour down over the village as the girls headed home.

They were downright tired and tried to hide it underneath the hoods on their cloaks.

Upon stepping into the square, they decided to say 'Hello' to Gobber and Fuufuun in the stocks.

"Hi there." Megan said softly.

"Hello, you two." Brittany greeted, tired but trying to be cheerful. She gave a bit of bread to the two of them.

"There ye are, lassies!" Gobber said.

"Oh, did girls get to see new friends again?" Fuufuun asked.

"We're working in the Great Hall now. We couldn't even sneak out if we tried..." Megan said. "A-Also, I think—"

"Girls, come inside!" They heard Nicholas calling from their house. "You'll catch your death of cold out there!"

"S-Sorry. We'll see you two tomorrow...Probably." Brittany said.

"And we'll be 'ere...Maybe." Gobber said, giving the girls a wink.

As the girls walked over to their little house, the gang of kids and their leader from yesterday spotted them from nearby.

"Heh heh." The leader girl smirked. "Oi! Are you two dragon hunters or housemaids?" She and the kids snickered.

Megan only shot them a brief glare while Brittany held her arm in a self-conscious manner.

The girls stepped into the house, shutting the door.

"Work is prayer, girls." Nicholas said, as he served them bowls of freshly made, warm soup.

"Then between the two of us," Megan said as she and Brittany hung their cloaks up by the fireplace, "we prayed the whole Bible twice over."

"Good for you two." Her uncle had failed to detect his niece's sarcasm.

The little family of four sat down at the table to eat dinner. Brittany and Tilolo ate their soup, while Megan had her mind on other things. Mainly Hiccup and Astrid, and that cage inside the Great Hall.

"I know this is all new to the both of you," Nicholas said, "but this is a righteous life for two young ladies."

"Hmph. It no life for Meg-Meg, Bri-Bri or Tilolo." Tilolo said.

"Shh!" Brittany covered his mouth.

"He's right." Megan said. "Uncle, please. I can get the Scalewalkers to leave. If you would just listen to me—"

At this, Nicholas shook his head. "Megan Aileen McMartin, enough of your stories."

"I can go look for Hic—"

"You and your friends must do as you are told, young lady."

"But Uncle—"

"No 'Buts'!" Nicholas said, sternly. "Scalewalkers are not real!"

Rather than argue, Megan pushed away her supper, and retreated to her loft room. Her friends soon followed.

Megan stared out the window, holding her right arm.

Brittany sat down next to her while Tilolo drew back the curtain, giving the three of them some privacy.

"Meg-Meg..." Tilolo gave Megan a small hug.

"They are real..." Megan said, softly. "I know they are."


During the night, the rain had stopped.

While the other people within the village slumbered, one was rather restless.

The dream came to Megan much quicker this time. The brunette tossed and turned in her bed, and her right arm glowed.


The same dream from last night.

Megan could see a trail of light leading into the forest.

The white Night Fury stepped into view, walking closer and closer to her.

"L-Luna?" Megan said. "Luna, is that you?"

She blinked and just like her first encounter with Hiccup, Megan was no longer staring at the dragon, but rather...herself.

"No. It's...me?"

Then the dream stopped.


Megan woke up, but something was clearly different. For one, she could never see this well without her glasses. Two, she felt...well, stronger and bigger. Three, she could feel three new limbs-one at the base of her spine and two on her back. Finally, her sense of smell seemed to be turned up...way up. "H-Huh? Wh-What?" She slowly got up.

"...M-Meh? M-Meh...Meh meh?" Tilolo had woken up. "Meh meh meh?"

"T-Tilolo, can you...can you smell that?" Megan said.

"Meh meh meh meh meh~!" Tilolo started to jump around, clearly worked up about something.

Brittany was still asleep. A hurricane could rip right through the village, and she would stay asleep well after it passed.

Megan looked at her Nopon friend. She could see what looked like some kind of blue light or aura wisping off of him. "Tilolo, what's going on?" She said, "I can...I can see your scent!"

"Mehmehmehmehmehmehmehmehmehmeh!" Tilolo continued to jump and bounce around. What was his problem?

Megan looked down. Wait. Why was she staring at herself? "E-Eh?!" She also saw...dragon paws!

"Ohh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Megan exclaimed. She turned to the window and saw her reflection.

"Wh-What the?!" Megan was now a dragon! She was a white Night Fury!

Nicholas awoke to the sounds of a ruckus. He went to check on the kids...and found a white dragon standing over his niece's sleeping body. "Wh-What?!"

"Uncle! Uncle it's me!" Megan said, but to her uncle, her cries came out as roars and growls.

"A-Ahh!" In shock, Nicholas fell off the ladder and onto the floor. He swiftly grabbed his crossbow and loaded it.

"No! No Uncle! It's me!" Megan yelled.

Nicholas fired an arrow at her, but Megan dodged it.

Before her uncle could try and get in another shot, Megan quickly slipped out the window. She could hear her uncle yelling "Megan! Megan, wake up!"

Megan jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Her wings were flapping, but they weren't really getting her into the air.

'How the hell did a dragon manage to get in here?' Nicholas thought. How did a dragon manage to get into their home? How did it even get into the village, for that matter? For a dragon, that was a rather bold and perhaps a rather stupid move. He knew he would have to go after it, but he would worry about that later. Right now, he needed to check on his kids.

By now, Tilolo had calmed down and was staring out the window in surprise.

"Tilolo, are you all right?" Nicholas asked.

"U-Unclepon! Y-Yes, I'm okay..."

"Good, good." Nicholas then turned his attention to the girls. Megan and Brittany were sound asleep. He sighed, "Thank Gods...For once, I'm glad Brittany's a heavy sleeper."

"Who said that?! Who's there?!" Brittany's eyes shot open, and she scrambled into a sitting position.

"Brittany!"

"It's the cat burglar! And he's trying to steal my secret sweet stash!" Brittany gasped, clutching her pillow. "All right, hand over the goods, secret sweets bandit! And prepare yourself for the most unpleasant pillow fight for your life!"

"Brittany, enough of your foolishness!" Nicholas said. "There was a dragon right here in your room! You're lucky it didn't attack you three!"

"Wh-What?" Brittany said. She looked at Megan, who was still sleeping.

"I have to find that dragon. You kids stay here...and try to get back to sleep." Nicholas said. He readied himself as fast as he could. He grabbed his gear and set out on an impromptu hunt.

"...Did I miss something?"

Tilolo continued to stare out the window. 'C-Couldn't be...Could it?'


Megan had managed to get out of the village without attracting the attention of the guards. She ran as fast as she could straight into the forest. She got the hang of running on four legs pretty fast but considering that her uncle is a hunter and nearly shot her, one tends to learn these things on the fly.

In her mad dash, Megan soon tripped on a tree's roots.

"A-Ah!"

She had tumbled into a very familiar clearing. This was where she first met Hiccup in his Fury form.

Megan picked herself up. That's when her new dragon nose picked up on a scent. It smelled like Hiccup! She looked across the clearing. The scent seemed to form a silhouette, looking just like Hiccup's dragon form.

"H-Hiccup! Astrid!" Megan called out. Whatever this was, she decided to follow it. If anyone had the answers for what had just happened to her, it would be those two.

Megan followed the scent through the forest. "Hiccup! Astrid!"

She did stumble a few more times and had to avoid running into the other animals of the forest.

The path the scent was leading her down started to look familiar as well. It was leading her to their den!

"Hiccup! Astrid!" Megan called as she rushed through the wall of ivy.

She followed the scent as she ran up the path to the den entrance.

A dragon was standing there. A Night Fury!

But was it Hiccup or Toothless?

Well, Megan had no time to figure out who was who.

She crashed into the dragon, sending both of them tumbling into the den.

The next thing she knew, Megan was pinned to the ground beneath a familiar smelling Night Fury. "H-Hiccup?"

The Night Fury's eyes widened in surprise. "...Megan?"

"Something weird happened to me." Megan said, standing up.

"Yeah, no kidding. We can see that." Astrid said. She was also in her dragon form- A Deadly Nadder, like Stormfly.

"Ohhhh, this is not good. This is not good." Hiccup said, padding around nervously. "I fixed the bite! I thought you'd be all right if I healed you!"

"Valka is gonna kill you when she finds out!"

"It was an accident!"

"Well, my uncle will kill me!" Megan said.

The dragons in the den began to sniff at Megan. They were getting to know their new den mate. One even tried to sniff her rear end.

Toothless wanted to play with her. His forepaws were spread out in front of him, and his tail was up in the air, wagging like crazy.

Luna nudged and rubbed her head against Megan's, and even started to groom her, just like what a mama dragon would do for her hatchlings.

"Hey, hey! All of you, calm down and give her some room!" Hiccup said. The dragons backed off.

"Y'know..." Astrid said, examining Megan. "Now that I'm seeing you like this...this is great! I thought the three of us were the only ones left!"

Megan shook her head in disbelief. "Great? Great?! What's great about this?!" She yelled. "I'm a Scalewalker!"

"Yeah...Mom had said something about this awhile back. She always warned us to never bite anyone." Hiccup said, his Fury ears slicking back.

"What?! You knew about this, and you still bit me?!"

"For the last time, it was an accident!" Hiccup raised his voice at Megan. "Mom told us this a long time ago, so it's been there in the back of my mind! In all honesty, I had forgotten about it until I had bitten you yesterday."

At this, Megan began to calm down. "...That's why you looked that way when you got me out of the trap."

"Yes. It's also why I lead you to the den. I thought that if I healed the bite, you would be okay and this," Hiccup gestured to all of Megan with his paw, "wouldn't happen to you."

"That's what you meant when you said, 'before it's too late'."

"Yup. Like Hiccup said, Valka always warned us to never bite anyone and now, I can see why." Astrid said. "But...Sometimes I can't help it! Though, I've never bitten anyone, not on purpose or on accident."

"W-Well, this is still kinda bad." Megan said. "What about my body?"

"It's asleep! Nice, warm and cozy in your bed." Astrid gestured with a wing to her own slumbering human form.

"You're a dragon when you sleep, and you're a girl when you're awake." Hiccup said.

"No big deal!" Astrid nudged at Megan.

To Megan, though, it was still a pretty big deal. "B-But...But what about the soldiers? And my uncle?"

"Don't worry about that right now." Hiccup said. "Learn how to be a dragon first."

"Come on!" Astrid said. She and Hiccup moved to leave the den.

"..." Megan was still hesitant about this, but she followed her new friends with the flock right behind her.

"Why do you want to be a human anyway?" Astrid asked. "Being a dragon is so much better!"

"And to think," Hiccup said, "you would become a Light Fury."

"So, I'm not a white Night Fury?" Megan questioned.

"No. Light Fury. Think of them as a relative to Night Furies."

"I...I didn't know. I guess you were right. What do I know about dragons?"

"Let me show you."

The three of them walked out of the den and over to the other side of the pond.

"Now then...can you smell us?" Hiccup asked.

Megan chuckled, "Umm...Everyone can, Hiccup."

The black dragon standing before her also let out a small chuckle. "Close your eyes."

Megan gave him a questioning look, but nevertheless, she did what he said.

"You don't need your eyes to see."

Even though Megan's eyes were closed, Hiccup's scent formed a clear picture of him in her head. Just like earlier, she could see his scent.

"You can hear every little thing that moves." Hiccup said.

Megan could feel her Fury ears twitch as a mouse scampered through the underbrush.

"And your paws can hear through the earth."

Megan could feel the vibrations through the ground as a rabbit jumped about.

"Plus, unlike me and Hiccup, you've got all four legs." Astrid said.

Megan opened her eyes. She had wondered about that. Well, with Astrid, it was understandable. She was a Nadder. But why was Hiccup missing a part of his left leg? Maybe that was a question best saved for another day.

"You can run real fast and even jump high!"

Hiccup demonstrated this by jumping right over Megan's head. Then he and Astrid took off running down the forest path.

"Hey wait for me!" Megan called out, happily running after the two.

"Keep your nose down!" Astrid yelled.

"Be a dragon!" Hiccup called out.

Megan smirked at this as she began to pick up speed. She jumped up on top of some rocks and leaped right off of a ledge, catching up to Hiccup and Astrid.

The three of them laughed.

They ran through the wall of ivy with the flock following.

"You actually let them out?" Megan asked.

"The forest is our world at night." Hiccup said.

"Wait until you see it!" Astrid grinned.

The two led the flock into a run through the forest.

Megan followed, getting caught up in the flock as she ran.

At one point, however, Megan skidded to a stop as the whole flock leaped right over a huge ravine.

Hiccup and Astrid stood on the other side, waiting for Megan to follow.

Megan looked at the gap with great hesitation. Even though she was a dragon now, could she really make such a jump? She turned away and ran back the way she came.

"Wait, is she chickening out?" Astrid said, snorting a little.

Hiccup let out a warble. Maybe this was too much for Megan?

But then it seemed that the new Scalewalker surprised them and herself. Megan gave herself a running start and took a leap of faith! As she reached the other side of the gap, her wings suddenly snapped open. She went right over Hiccup and Astrid's heads! "Wh-What! Huh?!"

"All right, Megan!" Hiccup cheered, as he and Astrid ran alongside her.

"I...I'm flying?!"

"Technically, you're gliding!" Astrid said.

"You've gotta flap your wings if you wanna fly!" Hiccup said.

'F-Flap my...my wings?' Megan thought. Well, it couldn't hurt to at least try, right? She closed her eyes in concentration and willed her wings to flap.

She didn't expect it to actually work.

But it did!

"I'm...I'm flying..." Megan said, completely giddy. "I'M FLYING!"

She was flying through the forest with her friends and the flock.

During their flight, Luna showed Megan the best trick in a Light Fury's arsenal. She fired off a plasma blast and flew straight through it, seeming to turn invisible.

"Wow!" Megan gasped in amazement.

Luna soon reappeared and let out a croon, encouraging Megan to try doing it too.

Flying and breathing fire were two very different things, but Megan wanted to try. An ability like this could definitely come in handy.

It took at least eight attempts, but in the end, Megan managed to get a handle on her own fire. She did exactly what Luna showed her and could hear her friends cheering as she became visible again.

After flying, the three of them ran through the woods, jumping around and off of trees. They soon ran upon a creek and played in the water.

Megan jumped into the shallow water and splashed Hiccup. She and Astrid laughed.

Hiccup grinned mischievously and splashed Megan right back. They all laughed happily as they splashed each other.

It started to rain at one point. Megan really enjoyed the feeling of the raindrops on her new scales. Hiccup watched her with a smile on his face. Astrid and some of the other dragons jumped around, trying to catch raindrops in their mouths.

Finally, they ended their romp through the forest on a hilltop, with the moonlight shining. They and the flock let out a round of mighty roars.


Hey, I did warn you in the last chapter, didn't I? BTW, I'm sorry/not sorry for that SpongeBob reference in this chapter. I had planned it. Oh, also, about the main character here? Megan, the OC based on me, and becomes a Light Fury as her Scalewalker form? Yeah, I'm sorry/not sorry for that too. I mean, you know, if you don't like it, well I don't know what to tell you.

In the next chapter, well, let's just say that the danger is growing!

I was supposed to release this chapter as a Christmas present for you guys, but I decided to release it today to celebrate the new 'Dragons' series, "Nine Realms"! Here's hoping it's at least okay. (*Gulps nervously*)

I'll go stand in the corner for a bit, but I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!