Ghost's Fury Chapter 33: Jailbreak, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 33, everybody! In which Obake's one scheme comes to fruition, just not in the way he planned….

We discuss the Hidden World a bit in this chapter—honestly I'm part of the fandom that actually has a problem with movie 3 so it'll be interpreted differently in this fic.

It took a few more days to work the Terrors over on this plan, until he was certain they had this down.

During that time, he had once again managed to deter the bigger part of another dragon raid, making sure to move the eel banners and mirrors around so the dragons wouldn't get suspicious.

Watching the Nadders that night though, he suspected he could have just left the mirrors where they sat, considering they angled right for them.

But this was about to fail too, considering he was running out of supplies to expend on banners to deter the Nightmares. Maybe painting the pattern on the cliffside before the next dragon raid…but it would raise questions in the village proper. He was absolutely certain that the mirrors had been noticed by now.

People would be starting to talk.

"Maybe after this we remove ourselves from this situation," Obake suggested to the cavern at large. The Nadder was big enough to ride should he need to make that sort of escape…pity it was still so skittish around him.

Trying to work with the Nadder wasn't doing it either—the Nadder would pace around him, eyeing him warily and looking a shade away from flaming him, something he'd rather avoid. No…weirdly, at this point staying sequestered in the cavern and avoiding the village was going to be the best bet after this plan went through.

"So," he said, collecting the Terrors who were still sticking around for this. "Let's go over the plan, one last time…."

Gleam-Scale swooped down silently, landing as gingerly as possible on the roof of the holding-caves he remembered being in. This had been a plan—a good plan, one that would free a lot of his old flockmates.

And one he really wasn't expecting to have Terrors, let alone a Yokai, helping with.

"Okay," one red Terror said, licking an eye. "Once more over the plan."

"Seriously?" a blue one asked. "We had this drummed into us by Yokai-Tamer and his Yokai—we got this, we DEFINITELY got this."

"Then SHUSH!" a yellow one hissed—looked at Gleam-Scale. "Do it—open the cave."

Huff, took a deep breath to steady himself and ignite his inner fire—

Tonight, they said—tonight was the night after the one flight used to attack, they'd be lax this night when they realized the attack wasn't coming—but even at that, he kept his head as close to the strange surface as possible as he flamed it, keeping his wings flared to hide it as much as possible from prying eyes—

Shuffled along as it started working, searing a good hole along the material—

He had exhausted his fire by the time he got a nice curving shape going—tested it a little, saw that he had indeed succeeded in getting a curve that would bend and—

Wince as the brittle material snapped in his paw—shuffled it aside, hoping to be as quiet as possible—

"This…isn't going to be a very big hole," he observed, examining it along with the Terrors. "We won't be able to get any big dragons out."

The red one licked its eyeball again. "But we'll be able to get SOME dragons out, which is better than nothing. Come on!"

He stood there, shuffling, fretting, trying to look everywhere at once—this was nerve-wrenching, like getting shocked by a Skrill and a Seashocker at the same time—tried to keep his breathing even, even as he heard the Terrors chirping at the other dragons how they were going to get them free!, knew he was failing by the way his chest kept fluttering—

Start when the first Terror shot out of the hole, flapping for all it was worth.

"Hey!" one of the Terrors he came with hissed up. "We're freeing the Terrors first—some of them are just gonna take off but we can show the others how to unlock the cages too!"

"Just hurry up!" he hissed—flinched, flattened himself as a Yokai prowled about, scanning the nest for intruders—be cool be cool be cool—

Another Terror shot out, but there was more sound inside, that of bigger dragons—

"Wait a sec," he breathed. "Hold it wait—"

It seemed forever before the Yokai disappeared into the warren of the nest. Breath a sigh of relief, look in. "Okay, come on!"

Several Gronkles squeezed out next, as did several Terrors—a Vultureclaw slipped out next, as did a Grapple Grounder, but that was pushing it.

They needed the hole to be bigger.

"Is that all the smallest dragons?" he asked the lead Terror when it scuttled back.

"Yeah," it reported. "There's still a lot of dragons in here though."

Debate—think—what to do what to do Hiro and that Yokai of his seemed better at coming up with clever plans—if only he had more of his fire! Then he could melt a bigger hole—

Wait.

"Are there any more Nadders in there?" he asked as the blue Terror scuttled over.

"I mean yeah, definitely at least one," the blue Terror reported, licking its eye. "But that hole's too small."

"Humor me, please—let it out."

The Terrors scurried away—he listened intently, heard them shushing the Nadder as they got it out—

Blinked when she came under the hole.

"That'll be too small for me," she said.

"I know," he told her. "Do you have any fire left for today? You can burn a bigger hole in it."

She looked, considering…."Yes."

"Good—just—give me a sec—" Look around, nod when there were no Yokai to be seen. "Okay, do it—be careful."

Flinch away as the fire made the material grow hot, watch as the glow spread in a curving arc—

"I can't," she reported finally, wheezing. "I'm out."

"I think this is good, though," he said, putting his weight on it—wincing before stomping—

Had to flare out his wings to keep from falling in, scrambled to right himself and get his paws back on something solid.

"Okay, tug on that and then we should be good!" he said, looking around frantically—this was bad, this was very bad, they were so dead—

The other Nadder hopped up with him, hunkered down as she scanned the area too.

"You're rescuing everyone from the Yokai?" she asked him. "That's really crazy and brave."

"Well…it wasn't my idea," he told her, still scanning. "But thank you."

The bigger dragons could get out now, all of them being told by the Terrors where to regroup and rest—soon enough the Terrors were flying out too, reporting that that was everyone—

Gleam-Scale was more than happy to leave the Yokai-nest behind.

"My name is Preens-Much," the other Nadder told him.

"Hi," he said, warbling nervously, trying to fluff up his spines a bit but failing. "I'm Gleam-Scale."

"Well Gleam-Scale, you're a lot more interesting than any other Nadders I've met."

"Well…you know we came from the same flight, right? That queen in the volcano?"

"Hmm, yes," she said pensively. "But I never knew any Nadders there willing to risk their lives to save their fellows, did you?"

No—no, he didn't. He had always been terrified of what the queen would do to him—

But the queen was gone, a distant horror on the horizon—and the Yokai, here….

Is this what being free does? he wondered, staring at the ocean as they winged for the meeting island. Is this what being around a tame Yokai does? I let someone else do the thinking for me, talk me into a rescue, but…the idea for expanding the hole was mine. I could have opted out of this, but I didn't. There were easier trails to follow, but I ignored them.

Am I a better dragon without a queen in my head?

Boulders-on-Hill was busy dumping a big mouthful of fish that the caged dragons were eagerly snapping up, wiggled when she saw him come in for a landing.

"You were awesome!" she cheered, butting up against him in a full-body whump, that he learned was how Gronkles congratulated each other. "I'm gonna go tell Hiro the good news!"

"I wasn't, honest," he said—too late, she was gone.

Preens-Much seemed interested. "Who's Hiro?"

"Ah," Gleam-Scale coughed, turned to face her. "Hiro's this baby Night Fury who…I don't know how and this is going to sound crazy, but he tamed a Yokai."

Silence rippled through the bare island as what he said sank in for the rest of the dragons.

"Do what?" a Nightmare asked finally.

"Yes, I know, it's weird," he said, flapping a wing. "But I've seen it, and he totally trained a Yokai."

"He's the Yokai-Tamer," one of the Terrors piped up from one of the several stumps dotting the island—the whole thing looked stripped down to nothing, barely grass there. "We've seen it too, the Yokai is TOTALLY tame."

"Definitely," the blue one added. "He showed us how to unlock the cages."

"How is this possible?" a Nightmare asked.

"Why would a Yokai want us free?" a Gronkle demanded.

"Because he doesn't want to fight dragons!" Gleam-Scale said, aware he was sounding desperate in the face of the murmuring dragons. "I know, it's weird, but—listen. We attack their nest because the Queen makes us—doesn't it make sense that they want that to stop?"

"Then why kill us in that cave?" a Nadder demanded.

"I don't know," Gleam-Scale admitted. "But at least one wants it to stop. And—" Rattle his spines. "And nobody has to go back to the Queen. She gave us all up for dead, she doesn't deserve us."

This, at least, he could say with conviction—because it was true, because he believed it—

Because maybe he was finally getting some spine back.

Several Gronkles exchanged glances—cowed back as a Nightmare stalked up to Gleam-Scale, head reared up high and glaring down at him.

"And then what?" the Nightmare demanded. "You'd have us bow to your pet Yokai?"

Gleam-Scale slipped back a step, stopped himself, drew himself up. "I wouldn't have us bow to anybody—we're free dragons now, we can make our own decisions—fly far away from here and never see a Yokai or the Queen ever again."

"I would like that," a Gronkle offered.

"I would too," Preens-Much said, stepping forward. "Back off, Smokebreath."

Smokebreath hissed at her. "Excuse me? While YOU were fussing in front of the reflective-rock, I was taking care of a legitimate threat!"

"Eels?" Gleam-Scale said, letting some sparks burble up with his laugh. "Really big scary eels, right?"

Smokebreath rounded on him, eyes narrowed. "What do you know about that?"

"What I know is those 'eels' were made of nothing more than the weird wrappings not-dragons wear—that 'pet' Yokai tricked you into wasting your flame before moving on to the nest."

Smokebreath roared—

In the next heartbeat Gleam-Scale was on the ground, wondering how he got there, and Preens-Much and a couple of Gronkles were beating the Nightmare back.

"He admits the Yokai tricked us!" Smokebreath railed.

"To prove a point!" Gleam-Scale said, scrambling upright. "They've got no natural defenses—I've SEEN it! They don't have claws, they don't have a breath weapon, they don't even have venom! They can't see in the dark, or have great hearing like we do! But they're clever enough to find ways to defend themselves around that—they've killed thousands of us, they probably killed someone you knew this morning! Now I'm telling you that there's one that just wants you gone, that wants you to fly free and just not attack their nest—is that a problem? Are you so addicted to smashing nests and other's eggs that you're furious they found a way to keep you at bay?"

Smokebreath roared again. "I am NOT an egg-smasher!"

"How do you know that!?" Gleam-Scale roared back. "How do you know they don't have eggs in their little wooden nests, and that every time you smash through one looking for food for the Queen you don't destroy them?" Chest heaving—"Who died in the ring today? Does anyone know?"

Silence as everyone glanced at each other—

"Rocks-and-Gravel," one Gronkle said finally. "She was my sister."

This was hitting where it hurt and he wasn't sure about it, but it needed to be said.

"How do we know we haven't put them in the exact same position?" he asked slowly. "If you could get revenge for your sister, would you?" At the Gronkle's hesitant nod: "Then what makes us so different from them?"

Silence as everyone processed this, as ice skittered about under his scales, as he finally gave voice to the thing that had been eating him all this time…that was it. That was totally it. It didn't matter that Obake was a Yokai…he had the same basic needs that a dragon had.

It stood to reason they all did.

Smokebreath huffed, finally subsiding…looked at Gleam-Scale.

"I apologize," he said. "So what do we do now?"

Do?

"I…I don't know," Gleam-Scale admitted, looking them over before looking back at the Yokai-nest. "Boulders-on-Hill went to tell Hiro and his Yokai, and I think…no," he said, shaking his head. "No, there's too many here—we can't hide in the caves."

"What caves?" Preens-Much asked.

"There's a cave system on the Yokai-nest we've been hiding in—it looks like a Whispering Death carved it out ages ago. It's a handful of dragons and a Yokai, not dozens of big dragons that would be noticed." And with all the dragons vanished at once, the Yokai would definitely be hunting for them.

They had to leave.

Fluff his wings, lift his head as he turned to the others. "Attention everyone—attention." Flap his wings again. "You can't stay at the Yokai-nest—"

"Like anyone was going to," Smokebreath challenged.

"Hush you," Preens-Much snapped.

"And we're all in agreement that we're not going back to the Queen," Gleam-Scale said, to agreement. Point east. "I understand from Hiro the Night Fury that there's another awful alpha that way—that leaves west or south. Any ideas?"

Silence.

"There's supposed to be entrances to the Hidden World further in the Wilderwest," a Nightmare offered. "A shining place overflowing with good hunting and no bad alphas—we could try to find that."

"Rubbish and rot," Smokebreath shot, huffing out a great gust of smoke at the other Nightmare. "The Hidden World is a hatchling tale, and dragons don't belong in the ground." Look in that direction. "But further into the Wilderwest where not-dragons don't go…that sounds like a fine direction indeed."

Murmurs of agreement started building into excited declarations of intent—Gleam-Scale started forming his apology to Hiro for losing a whole flight of dragons—

"Wait," a Nadder in the back said. "We need a new flight leader if we're going to do this."

"Easy: me," Smokebreath declared.

"Not hardly," the other Nightmare barked. "You'd be a lousy leader!"

"I would not!"

"Would too!"

"You both would!" A Nadder said, muscling between them. "You're arguing like hatchlings!"

"Hey! Why not him?" a Gronkle asked, pointing at Gleam-Scale.

Gleam-Scale started. "Wait, what?"

Preens-Much looked at him, excited. "Yeah! You'd be great—you already know about a bunch of not-dragon traps!"

"I vote him!" another Gronkle put in, prompting Gleam-Scale to try seeing everyone at once as they all chorused agreement, even Smokebreath—

This was not how he was expecting this day to go.