Ghost's Reign Chapter 9: Is This Entertaining?, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 9, everybody! Yes we are quoting Imagine Dragons' "Bones" with the chapter title.

In other news, Hiro does not listen to reason be it from Yokai or dragon. This unfortunately gives the other Furies gray scales.

I don't remember the movie's name, but I do remember a movie where a nurse got kidnapped and in trying to escape, used her knowledge of anatomy to gain the upper hand over a bruiser that massively outweighed and outclassed her. That scene stuck with me, and Obake imitates it here. And yes, he quotes Scar from The Lion King.

You look guilty is something I say to my dogs sometimes—and then immediately go looking for whatever it is they did. Here's your hat, what's your hurry is an older saying I've heard referenced in electro swing. Dagur, meanwhile, is quoting Beni from the first Mummy movie.

So this was interesting.

Okay yeah sure Hiro had been specifically told to stay on the water-traveler, Obake had locked him into its stomach which was RUDE, by the way, Hiro had definitely been told to stay out of this.

Hiro was also a very precocious little Night Fury who knew how to open doors, so it didn't take long for him to sneak out and fly up so he could track Obake and find out just what this was that had the Yokai in a tizzy.

So far he wasn't too sure—this smelled like a den of dragon-killers, except Obake and the Yokai weren't killing dragons anymore. Couldn't make heads or tails of anything going on with any of the others…decided to focus on Obake. He knew Obake, knew his tells, felt he could figure things out from there.

Okay, so what have we figured out so far? That Obake was not having a good time, he had his back as squashed up against Carl as he could get without actually touching the other Yokai and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. Tone sounded like his usual dry acerbicness, though—maybe he was trying to convince these dragon-killers to stop being dragon-killers.

And then the one with the blue stripes on its face had come in and started picking off other dragon-killers and fighting with the one big one, which made Hiro think that things had taken a nosedive pretty quickly. Think—the one was the antagonist, maybe if he knocked it out then—

Something yanked on his tail, stepped on his mouth when he tried to squawk in alarm—

"You are in SO much trouble I hope you know this."

Squeak—squawk when the paw lifted, shifting to his tail when he tried to spin around—"Give me a heart attack why don't you!"

"Oh I'M the one dealing out heart events Little-Brother," Older-Brother groused, looking supremely irritated. "YOU take off without telling anyone at all it took AGES to find you we're going back to 'you are in SO much trouble for this.'"

"Am not."

"Are too," Older-Light-Fury said, fading into existence as Honeysuckle gingerly leaped over. "There was a LOT of stress-eating while we tried to find you you'd better have a good explanation for this."

Ulk. "Uhhhh researching my Yokai! Yeah—see this is uh…I think posturing for territory? I don't know I was trying to figure it out when SOMEBODY scared me half to death!"

None of the other Furies looked impressed. "You're still in big trouble," Older-Light-Fury said.

"Yeah I got that part—" Subsided at her glare. "Okay fine."

"You'll get 'okay fine' this island is CRAWLING with dragon-killers."

"Yeah I know—"

"So why is Obake even here to begin with?" Honeysuckle asked.

"I don't KNOW—SOMEONE interrupted my eavesdropping!" Hiro hissed at Older-Brother, working his tail free. "Let me finish listening in and I'll TELL YOU what he's up to."

"You don't actually understand him, do you?" Older-Brother asked, dubious.

"Yeees," Hiro hedged. "Well kind of—more than you guys do, how's that?"

Older-Brother made a face at that, looked back through the slot Hiro had been spying through—

"Ah, Little-Brother?" he asked. "Your Yokai is gone."

"WHAT?" Scramble to look through the slot, saw that yes, Obake was gone.

So were all the other not-dragons too.

"Where did they all go?" Honeysuckle asked, looking around.

"I don't know—SOMEONE distracted me!" Hiro shot at Older-Brother before cantering down the length of the building to look around. Gone.

Gone where?

Obake really wasn't surprised that there was some sort of fighting pit on the island. It was, after all, a bunch of malcontents who valued death and destruction over anything constructive, and if it weren't for the fact that he was currently one of the unfortunates in the pit he would have rolled his eyes at this and gone back to the ship.

The fact remained, however, that he was one of the unfortunates in this pit, ostensibly proving that the Yokai were still a viable threat. He wasn't really sure if it was worth it.

Especially when his opponent jumped down into the pit with him and stood—good grief he was bigger than Carl.

"So!" Dagur crowed. "I'm really interested in seeing you put your money where your mouth is!"

Oh good grief. "So much for liking me enough to spare me."

"Oh that? That was me saying I personally wouldn't kill you tonight. And hey, if you die here, that saves me the investment down the road. Wow this actually makes things much easier! We should do this back home!"

"In th' interest o' moving this along," Alvin announced. "An' in determinin' whether or not the Yokai are naught but lily-livered cowards what sent a skinny rail to cause trouble…start the fight, choose yer weapons!"

Of course the big bruiser would pull out some heavy club like a troll would use. Was probably banking on squashing him without presenting a target.

Which meant Obake had to fight smarter.

The goon laughed when Obake pulled his knife. "Seriously? You're going to pick a fight using that potsticker?"

"Like I really need a bigger one to deal with you," Obake taunted.

That fortunately got him what he wanted—the man bellowed in anger and charged, forgoing whatever possible finesse he could have offered for brute force. Obake dodged, ducking under the swinging arms and slicing along one exposed bicep.

The injury incensed the goon, making him spin wildly in an attempt to box Obake around the ears—Obake ducked that one and sliced the other arm, darting away to the opposite side of the ring when the man tried to grab him.

"Get back here!" the goon bellowed.

"I'd rather not," Obake said—smirked when the goon staggered. "Feeling lightheaded, are we?"

"What did you do?" the goon demanded.

Obake grinned as the man went down to his knees, allowing his face to flare at this sight. "Oh, nothing—just putting anatomy lessons to good use. Did you know that the human body only has four pints of blood? And that without that blood, the body can do nothing? Just keel over from blood loss, thanks to a couple of key arteries being sliced." Make sure his expression was savage as the man collapsed. "I guess brute strength isn't everything."

Dead silence. No one was expecting the fight to be so one-sided in Obake's favor, or for it to be over with so quickly. Look up at everyone staring at him, expressions a mix of horror, disgust, disdain, consideration…wasn't sure what to make of Dagur's expression, but he was certain it didn't bode well.

But as to the purpose of agreeing to this fight.

"We're done here," Obake announced.

"So that went well."

"I'm not sure if I agree on that assessment," Carl said.

"That's because I was being sarcastic," Obake said, cleaning his knife as they headed back to the ship. Glance at Helga as she stepped out of the shadows. "Get the others, we're leaving."

"Already?" she asked. "I thought you only killed one of them."

"Har har. They agreed to let us leave, I'm taking advantage of that before they change their minds."

Helga gave a sort of sideways nod at that, disappeared into the maze of buildings to gather the other Yokai. Hopefully they wouldn't be delayed too long.

"I don't know," Carl said once she was gone. "For a minute there you looked interested."

"There was, briefly, a chance of gaining some actual viable intel," Obake said, sheathing the knife before debating on the cloth he had used to clean it. Finally chucked it away, deciding that no amount of salvaging was going to save a rag that had long since progressed past rag status into scrap. "And then that Dagur the Deranged happened."

"He gives me bad vibes."

"Good, we're in agreement," Obake said, walking up the gangplank. "And what are you lot doing why are you sitting out in the middle of the ship?" he demanded—firstly of the very nervous crew and secondly of the little Night Fury sitting in the middle of the deck all curled up on himself and looking apologetic. "You look guilty, what happened."

"Ah," Travis noised—pointed when Obake glared at him—

Which was when he heard the deep growl, connecting it with the odd shape on top of the cabin behind the steering wheel seconds later.

"Ah," Obake sighed, sagging. "I blame you for this," he told Hiro. Hiro, at the very least, had the good decency to wince and duck his head at that.

Now for the larger, irater version.

"Oh shut up," he hissed at Tadashi's growling, smothering his twitch when the Night Fury jumped down on deck. "This—" With a pointed jab at Hiro. "Was not my idea. And unless you want an island of killers to descend on us and slaughter us all, I suggest you be quiet. Or don't," he said, maneuvering around Tadashi and heading belowdecks. "Not like there isn't at least one person on that island that expressed interest in wearing you as a hat."

Tadashi huffed at him, which was to be expected—

Honey Lemon popping up out of the brig was not, made Obake leap back and nearly strangle himself to keep from crying out in alarm.

"Any other dragons I should know about?" he demanded of the crew.

"There's a second Light Fury," Dave offered.

"She's scary," Travis added.

That would be Cass, and yes, yes she was. Glance at Honey Lemon, who warbled at him, before figuring out the pertinent location and looking straight up.

Cass was on the yardarm, she had to be, he was definitely seeing a shape with blue eyes narrowed at him, casting a shadow down—but if he backed up a little, to a point where the moonlight would illuminate her, she vanished from view. Her shadow was still there, he could still barely see her narrowed eyes tracking him, but she herself wasn't visible.

He looked back at Honey Lemon, vibrant in the moonlight until Tadashi layered a wing over her, back up at Cass. "So that's interesting."

"Light Furies can go invisible?" Carl asked.

"Apparently."

Tadashi snorted at that—growled as his attention snapped to someone boarding the ship.

"Huh," Vitani noised, sliding over the railing. "Kinda woulda thought that bringing dragons along was just borrowing trouble."

"Yes, that was my thought," Obake said, glaring pointedly at Tadashi. The dragon huffed, looked away, leaving Obake to direct his attention to Helga. "Is that everyone? Can we leave now?"

"I'd ask what's your hurry, but seeing our present company I'll just focus on here's your hat," Helga said, glancing at Tadashi, fortunately still mostly hidden in the shadows of the ship—someone from the shore who looked their way would hopefully just see dark shapes and not dragons. Hopefully.

"You seem troubled," Carl observed as Helga started barking orders.

"No, you don't say," Obake said, rubbing his head and hoping that every single syllable dripped with the proper amount of sarcasm. "This trip was a disaster from start to finish and some people didn't make it any less stressful."

"I did what I was told, so I know you're not talking to me," Vitani said.

"Not unless you've got scales and wings you failed to inform us about." Glance up as the shadow on the yardarm moved, saw that the sails unfurling had startled Cass and prompted her to circle around, not dropping down until Tadashi barked at her. "And I'd endeavor towards silence. Or taking all of you and yours off," he said, making shooing motions at the dragons as he tried for the brig again. "I've got a lot of maladies scheduled and I'd hate to miss them."

Cass's response was to circle around to the other dragons on deck, growling and giving them all a fine look at the fact that yes, she was functionally invisible; you could see her eyes, and her shadow was definitely beneath her and moving, and certain parts were shaded enough that you could see the shadow shifting, but the dragon herself wasn't there to see. Any other day, and Obake would be trying to figure out how to study this without getting eaten.

This day, however, was the end of one long sucky week and the start of another long sucky week of sailing, so he really had no patience left to spare. "Fine, I'll use the captain's quarters," he groused at the dragons, reversing course to the back of the ship. "Not like anyone's been using them anyway." As far as he had gathered, Helga had stayed out with the crew.

"So that happened," he heard Vitani say once he was inside.

"It could have been worse," Helga said, tone fakely light. "Now hop to—the sooner we're out of sight the better."

Agreed.

Their departure did not go unnoticed, however.

"Well well well, if the rumors aren't true," Dagur said, rubbing his hands together as he sidled along his hiding place. "The Yokai are dealing with ghosts now."

"That er, looked more like dragons to me, sir," one of his underlings said.

"And not just any dragons: the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself!" Dagur said.

"And some weird white dragon," one of his other underlings said. "Why would they be gleeking about with them? Did they capture them to sell?"

"Hmm, if that's the case, it was awful rude of them not to offer," Dagur said. "But I'm thinking of that other rumor, the one involving skullface down there."

"Er…y-you don't mean Obake of the Yokai, do you?" the nervous underling that Dagur was rapidly losing patience with asked. "B-because…y-you know…he's not…w-well everyone thinks he's a ghost, and you can't kill a ghost—and then what he just did—"

Yes, he had seen, he had eyes, and he had just about run out of patience for this idiot.

"Okay, you," he decided, pointing to the next underling over, busy watching the first fall to his doom. "You just got promoted. Tell me something I want to hear."

"Er," the new guy noised, cementing the fact that he'd be joining the first guy soon. "I-I heard, from the Moss-Huts—that guy, news about him has spread over the years, you know—"

"Get to the point," Dagur demanded.

"There's someone out there who'd pay good money for Obake of the Yokai," the guy said quickly.

"Hmm…sounds like a viable trade…."

"Alive."

"Boo," Dagur noised, swinging his dagger around before kicking that guy off the ledge as well.

"Sir if I may offer a suggestion," one of his few remaining advisors said.

"What?"

"Right now Obake of the Yokai thinks you view him in good graces, and we're still…sorting out our logistics," he hedged, looking over the ledge. "So why don't we…let's say, set a trap and let the Moss-Huts take him to this seller instead?"

"And rob me of my glory!?"

"Not saying we would, sir, but what if we fail?" the guy asked, backing up quickly. "This way someone else takes the fall, and removes one of our competitors at the same time?"

Dagur considered. "I dunno, that one guy said good money…."

"You're proposing we do battle with Berk," the guy continued. "If we want to do that, we need to be able to focus our whole energy on that, not split our focus on two fronts. And so long as Obake of the Yokai doesn't know you were involved, then if you need to set him after Berk, you still can."

Dagur ran that logic through a couple of times to see how it bled, decided he liked it. "What's your name?"

"Er, Harold, sir."

"Well Er, Harold, do me a favor and draft this up for me. I still have a Night Fury to hunt, and if that twig can do it then so can I."

Not that he really needed to do this, he reflected as he stomped off—but this Obake had sassed him, captured Night Furies without even announcing it, and had felled a guy three times his size without ever being hit. Yeah he'd be a good ally…but those were annoying, as he had found out with Berk. Far better to have enemies you could take out and expend your energies on properly.

And if he survived…well then, Dagur would be needing a new enemy once Berk fell.