Ghost's Reign Chapter 41: A Fight in the Dark, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 41, everybody! Unfortunately it is cold again dangit weather it's officially Spring start acting like it.

Moving on...yes we're having big fat references to the second How to Train Your Dragon movie and Momakase is quoting The Road to El Dorado. Also kind of feel like Obake would weaponize the face thing when it suits him.

Any relief at being rescued from the Seashockers immediately died when the dragons mobbed them instead, forcing them to follow and resolutely ignoring Tadashi and Gogo growling at them.

"I guess the good news is, we'll land soon," Obake muttered, plastering himself against Tadashi's back.

"Excuse me if I don't feel all warm and fuzzy about that," Momakase said, eyeing the strange dragons with as much concern as Gogo was. "Now what do we do?"

"Try to avoid attracting their attention."

"That's it? That's the plan?" she hissed at him.

"I don't hear you offering any bright ideas!" he hissed back.

She glared at him, still obviously incensed from their argument. "When we land I'm ripping you off that dragon, throwing you at them, and running while they're distracted."

"Oh that's a plan," he spat at her—yelped when Tadashi swung his head around and slapped Obake in the face with an ear flap.

"Ha," she barked back—quieted as a dragon swooped close, plastering herself against Gogo, who flattened her spines over Momakase and snarled at the dragon in her airspace—the Nadder looked like she was spoiling for a fight despite her evident exhaustion.

And the longer this went on, the more certain Obake was that they were destined for a fight soon—scan the flight closing in on them, looking for a gap they could squeeze through—blink when he realized that they were coming up on an island. Large, rock formations jagged and swooping and providing plenty of hiding places and perches for dragons—the sort of island that the Yokai would see and peg for a dragon nest.

That was what it was, if the way the dragons forced them down into a steep drop of a tunnel was any indication—barely had time to see the outside, see that there was no safe way for a ship to approach before they were swallowed up in the blackness, him clinging tightly to Tadashi and feeling more than seeing how the tunnel turned and swept out, circling around a much larger space before they were forced to land—

Tadashi's back started crackling as soon as he touched down, seething and snarling, arching his back and mantling his wings at the dragons menacing them, Gogo putting her back to him and tail bristling as she snarled as well—the electricity sparking off his back made Obake's face flare and illuminated him—

And unfortunately, also showed that the cavern was teeming with dragons both on the ground and clinging to the walls and ceiling.

"Now what?" Momakase hissed at him, previous animosity gone in the face of the greater threat.

"Look small, hang on," Obake hissed back, tugging his mask back down to hide his glowing face. "Be ready to stab anything that tries to land on Gogo's back."

Momakase nodded, slipped on her own mask even though she didn't really need to—maybe to steady her own nerves, that was understandable. Try to stay light on Tadashi's back, ready to bolt or free a knife to swing desperately, something—

This wasn't going well—whether from the sight of the white masks or their own dragons' snarling, the cavern full of dragons had progressed to lighting their mouths, battling back Tadashi's blue crackling with aggressive red light. Hiro squeaked—Obake immediately wrapped an arm around him and hugged him close, not trusting the little Fury's sense of self-preservation—

Several dragons snarled at that, and one massive Monstrous Nightmare snaked forward, snarling and deliberate as it arched its head up high to glare down at them, looking like it planned on snatching Obake clean off Tadashi's back—could feel Tadashi tense, ready to bolt, air stir his hair as Gogo lashed her tail, chittering angrily—

Fell back off Tadashi when the Fury bellowed, loud enough to startle him and several dragons into losing their footing—shrieked, stamping his front paws and swinging his head back and forth, tail lashing—Obake backed up to avoid getting hit, still keeping a tight grip on Hiro—

Started and spun at the feeling of something touching his shoulder—

Momakase was down and hanging off of Gogo's saddle, one hand fisting his coat by his shoulder, body tone panicked and desperate.

"Get on, maybe we can bolt while they're distracted," she hissed, ignoring Gogo's growl.

"That's not going to work," Obake told her quietly, indicating Gogo with a jerk of his chin—from the general impressions he had been able to get, Gogo was fiercely loyal and would stay and fight over leaving Tadashi to face these numbers alone. The problem was, this was far too many dragons for even a pair of dragons to fight.

They needed to even the odds.

"New plan," he hissed, adjusting his hold on Hiro so the little Fury could cling to his shoulder—carefully drew his sword, using his own body and that of the dragons to hide the action. "Keep the blades hidden until the very last second, start stabbing when they get too close."

"Finally paying attention to my lessons?" she asked, slipping down, putting her back to his, and slowly drawing her own swords, keeping the actions deliberate. "There's no way we're fighting our way out of this."

This was, unfortunately, very true. "Wasn't quite how I pictured going out."

She nodded. "The little Fury is a surprise."

"Just Hiro?"

"So are our dragons, but one thing at a time."

Nod, push Hiro up a little and tell him to get ready to bolt—Hiro slipped onto his back, letting him draw his tanto—wouldn't be much help if the dragon got close enough to use it, but—

Tadashi lunged forward, claws flashing, forcing the Nightmare back—several other dragons lunged forward, were kept back from a sharp snarl—dashed his hopes of perhaps a diplomatic way out when he spotted several dragons circling around, slightly hidden behind the dragons with the lit mouths on the ground—

Saw something low and flat slinking forward, sharp curving claws flickering slightly in the firelight—Obake shifted his weight a little, lowering himself to have a better ready position—Momakase felt the shift, adjusted accordingly, glancing over her shoulder to see—

"What is that?" she hissed.

"I don't know," he admitted quietly—and he didn't, picking out detail was difficult in the shifting flickers of the many fires, but what he could see suggested large trailing wings and a full crest, multiple eyes or sensing pits beneath a horn in the front, more horns curving forward—it made some sort of sharp clattering sound—

Diplomacy officially failed—several dragons lunged forward, their dragons swinging to stop them—Tadashi swung back and forth sharply, trying to face everywhere at once—

Obake and Momakase dove away as a dragon dropped down from the ceiling, Momakase rolling to recover, Obake unable to because of Hiro and his ribs—

Realize his trajectory had brought him close to the unknown dragon when it reared up, screeching, wings more closely resembling a cobra hood flaring—short neck, would be hard to hit and go for the easy kill—

Swung his sword frantically to block the limb lashing out at him, barely managed to stop it and dance away from the extra length swinging around, sharp claws wrapping around his sword—he yanked straight up and out, slipping it before it could tighten and rip his sword away—swung, using the previous movement in a way that Momakase had been trying to drill into him—

The limb flashed up and blocked, and his sword felt very much like it had hit wood instead of flesh and blood.

Wasn't able to ponder this—the limb flashed forward and he had to leap back—a dragon tried for him, got bashed in the face by Gogo, spiked tail bristling—flash forward again, trying to drive him towards the dragons trying to get close and away from the defending dragons—wasn't much bigger than him—swung, he dodged to the side, putting his movement towards a parry, sword striking the limb again—

Wood. And this close, the shape of the body under the draping skin, the bend of the leg—

This was a human.

Instantly the spell was broken—the unknown held danger, but he knew how to fight people, how to force them on the back foot like this one had tried with him—

And that, simply, was to put the fear of the unknown in them.

Force the next jab out and wide, into a position where they couldn't swing back quickly, keep it there with his sword as he lunged forward, yanking his mask up and snarling down at this costumed miscreant, letting his face flare powerfully enough that he knew it made his eyes glow too—

It had the intended effect, making the other back up—drop his mask down, lower his body—no need to present a target—lunge forward, forcing them back another step before circling around, being painfully aware of the circle of dragons waiting for this one to force him into range and away from Tadashi and Gogo—could he force this one to put their back to Momakase, he wondered? She'd be willing to stab the unknown in the back, more so if she realized it was human.

Part of his brain insisted on addressing the part where this was a human being in a dragon nest, that had come from the dragon nest and was working with the dragons—was there room for one more, or could he kill this one and take their place? Were dragons in the habit of keeping a human around their nest—

Had to go on the defensive again as the other got over their trepidation and lunged forward, jabbing and swinging their staff—noted that it was studded with shed teeth and claws, leather strips tied to it to allow for more claws to swing around and wrap, reminiscent of a cat of nine tails—probably best that it didn't connect. Deliberate movements, trying to angle back around to the others—if they had a hostage then—

Sharp hiss behind him, angry squawk from Hiro—Obake staggered as he pushed off, spun to see what he had done—

"Hiro NO!" he barked, seeing the little Fury clawing his way up a Raincutter's neck, the dragon thrashing—move to do something—

"Look out!" Momakase barked.

He dodged to the side, trusting her judgement, narrowly missed being punched in the kidneys by that toothy staff—

Swung around, putting all his energy into slamming his elbow into the other person's head and gritting his teeth against the strain on his ribs—he did not have time for this—

Gogo slammed into the Raincutter, knocking Hiro free as she doubled back to keep another dragon off Momakase, the other Yokai backing up as her swords flashed frantically—Obake surged up to the third person, struggling upright, mask knocked off and reaching for their staff—kick it away, slam a foot into their ribs, stand over them, seething and ready to run them through—

Brain received a critical malfunction as they snarled up at him, face familiar in the flickering dragon fire, same as the last time he had seen them—

Abigail.

Abigail Callaghan.