Ghost's Reign Chapter 30: With Nowhere to Go, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 30, everybody! The boys are still in trouble, but they're working on it.

So there is actually a thing where you can get blood in a yolk (got one this morning, actually)—it only happens like 1% of the time and apparently usually happens when the hen pops a blood vessel laying the egg. Hiro's concern, meanwhile, is the more likely chance of getting a half-developed egg. The Moss-Hut's joints, in other news, have what are called sod roofs—they're traditionally Scandinavian and are roofs with dirt and grass on the top. They're also apparently good insulation and a natural fire retardant.

Hiro decided that this was the worst ever.

Okay, no, it could be worse, he could be a downed dragon, at least he still had his wings.

But Obake was captured, and a bound Yokai was as dead as a bound dragon.

But he couldn't rush this—had to wait until the opportune moment, till nighttime when he could maneuver without being seen.

In the meantime—branch from tree to tree, until he found a small pond, scan the area for danger until his claws itched, slip down, every sense strained, slake his thirst. Risk hunting, still with all his senses on edge—flash back up a tree when he heard a dog snuffling around. Branch away…found a bird nest with eggs.

There was debate—he knew he wouldn't want eggs stolen from his nest—but at the same time he knew he needed something in his stomach to keep his strength up. Hissed a muted apology, slurped the eggs out of the nest…well, at least when he crunched down it was only yolk and no blood, the eggs hadn't developed yet, he had only inconvenienced the bird.

Still felt lousy about it though.

Returned to his dark shaded perch, watched the not-dragon nest for a long while…the wind wasn't with him, so he couldn't scent Obake. The good news was, the wind wasn't with them either, so he was safe for now. Scan every single not-dragon he could see, try to memorize patterns and appearance and whether or not they carried the metal-claws….

Started getting insufferably bored.

No, no—stay focused. His friend's life hung in the balance. Think—look the nest over again, figure out which one was the alpha-nest, which one was the forge, where they kept the food…think critically, view this nest as one you were going to raid—he had his fire back, he could fire one good shot, and this time he was going to make it count.

Okay, let's think. Food stores would be an inconvenience and would probably be something they'd rush to save. The forge was probably out—it was crucial, but if it was anything like Obake's Hiro's blast wouldn't make a dent in it. These nests weren't crowded together, a fire started on one wouldn't spread….

Unless….

Hmm, he wondered if he could get a branch, start fires on each nest once he figured out where Obake was, rescue him in the confusion. Eye the roofs critically…not the thin stone that Obake identified as slate, nor the fired mud that dried hard as stone. Wasn't straw either, which would make this incredibly easy. No, with the exception of what he figured was the Important Nests, a lot of the roofs looked weirdly like…dirt. Wood with dirt on the outside.

He considered this, figured that from the air it would look like hills, a passing dragon would pay it little mind unless it needed to land. That was…kind of clever.

It also meant it wouldn't burn.

Huff at that, discarded that plan and started hunting for the next one. Obake was probably tied up like Hiro had been, and unlike Hiro he wouldn't have his claws and teeth and fire to fall back on—Yokai depended on metal claws that never grew, that when they broke were fired back together in a forge. It would seem counterintuitive, if it weren't for the fact that these claws regularly downed other living things. So he'd probably need to get Obake a claw, since Hiro was certain he wouldn't have been allowed to keep any—yet another problem with those metal claws, once they were taken away a not-dragon was defenseless.

Hmmm….

Look the nest over again, searching for something that looked like a place they stored their claws. He wasn't sure what he'd do with this information once he obtained it, but it was something to keep in mind—maybe he could sabotage it somehow, or sneak in and steal a metal claw for Obake.

Glance up at the sun, not even to the middle of its flight yet—might as well explore every option, no matter how ridiculous; he'd be here a while.

So. Say he could sabotage the weapons store. That would leave these not-dragons relatively defenseless. Relatively—he knew the Yokai had claws tucked away everywhere, it stood to reason these not-dragons would have backup claws. Hmm, so maybe that was a bad idea—he'd sabotage some weapons to alert the nest that someone was here and they'd use their other weapons. Hmm, that was actually a very clever distraction on the not-dragons' part.

So. The weapons store and the forge were both out. He could try the other nests, try to set them on fire, but they seemed designed to withstand fire and had pathways between them that were wide enough that the fire wouldn't spread.

That left two places that would be feasible for one little dragon to attack and have it be an actual distraction while at the same time doing some damage. The food stores would have to be defended and salvaged, full stop. Not-dragons were like squirrels, they stored up food for the winter instead of migrating away. The weather here was mild, but not-dragons much preferred at least a month's worth of food stocked up, especially with a whole flight. It was a clever way to guard against lean hunting, he had to admit, and meant that just about every not-dragon would drop everything to save the food.

The other place was the alpha-nest, which he figured they'd defend because the alternative was the loss of their alpha…maybe not. The alpha could just roost somewhere else, it wouldn't really be a loss, the food stores would be the best bet. Come to think of it, considering the body language of the not-dragons going in and out of the alpha-nest, the loss of it would probably be welcome.

So. He had his target—the food stores. All that remained now was waiting until night fell, get a metal-claw, free Obake, and get to the water-travelers. Whether or not they pulled that last one off depended mightily on where in the nest he was being held…well, the food stores and forge would be out, he thought—storing him with the food that was very important made no sense, and no one in their right mind would let Obake near the forge if they were holding him prisoner. Hiro had seen him craft plenty of clever little things out of almost nothing—letting him near the forge, where he had the potential to make something dangerous? Yeah, no.

That also ruled out the weapons store too—again, sharp objects. Hmm, he didn't see anything that looked like the kill ring back at the Yokai-nest, so that was out…which was a pity, because it would have been a really obvious place to hold prisoners…but then again, if they had one of those, Hiro would have been in there.

Tap a claw against the bark—think. He, Hiro, had been held in one of those barn-nests. He hadn't scented Obake in that one, so that ruled that nest out. But that didn't mean he couldn't be in a different barn-nest. Scan the nest…there was a second one, maybe, near the food stores…hmm, but that one was wide-open, and that was kind of odd if you were holding a Yokai prisoner in there.

Okay, think—he was missing something. Run his tongue along his teeth, probing his molars as he considered…think of everything that happened since they were snatched, turn it over…there was a clue in there somewhere….

Flip his ears up at the sound of whistling.

No, that most definitely wasn't Obake whistling, although it would be nice if it was—that was one of those meaty bearded not-dragons, pacing along the edge of the nest nearest to the forest and holding a strip of what looked like red meat, another not-dragon keeping the dogs away. Well of course the dogs wanted over there, they were using the summon-dog whistle, the one Obake had shot down because that was for dogs, don't everyone use that for dragons you'll end up with a lot of confused dragons whenever one of you idiots decide to try to summon one.

Hiro wrinkled his nose at the not-dragon—trying to summon him like he was some pet. Obake knew better—and sure some of the dragons stayed in barns at night, but others stayed in the houses—they weren't just simple animals—

Wait.

Think—Hiro had been put in the barn because of what that not-dragon was doing right now—these not-dragons thought he wasn't an intelligent thinking dragon. They viewed him as a sort of lesser animal.

But…these not-dragons…might view the Yokai as being equal, despite being different breeds—like how Gronkles and Nadders viewed each other as equal dragons despite being different breeds—

Look over the nests again—so they would stash Obake away in one of the nests of equal status!

Think—no—not in any of the lesser nests, that would have nesting females and younglings, Yokai were dangerous, they wouldn't risk that—but they wouldn't put him in a barn, and they didn't have a kill ring, so that would leave….

An equal status nest—the alpha-nest.

Obake was in there—he'd bet his tail fins on that.

And even better—where the alpha-nest was—it was right on the edge of the nest, so when they escaped they could cut through the forest instead of the nest, straight shot to the water-travelers and freedom. With any luck, they'd be well on their way by the time it occurred to anyone that they went missing, and should any of them follow, Hiro was reasonably assured that it wouldn't be before his one shot charged back up.

So this was perfect—blow up the food stores, get a metal-claw, rescue Obake, and flee on a water-traveler. Nothing could be simpler. Look up—

Had to grind his teeth so hard they hurt at the realization he had several more hours until nightfall. GAAAH he hated waiting.

He wondered how the others were doing.

To answer that: not well.

There had been panic and chaos that sent Wasabi and Tadashi flailing into the air, arcing up high, Tadashi saying he'd distract while Wasabi grabbed the Yokai and Hiro (mostly Hiro)—

Wasabi had problems with the fact that there was only Carl to snatch.

"Where's Hiro? And Obake?" Wasabi added, feeling that was probably important as he lifted Carl to grab onto a horn and the saddle. Ow ow ow—

"They got Obake!" Carl reported, hauling himself into the saddle. "I'm not sure who—"

Part of the nest exploded—Tadashi's distraction. Wasabi looked, flapping in a circle and pivoting around—water-travelers were scattering across the ocean, some of them making use of the wind, others having to row, all of them with screaming not-dragons—

He didn't quite need Carl's suggestion to dive low and scan the nest quickly and closely—didn't see any little Furies, didn't see any Yokai with weird glowing faces. Angle back up—yelped when he and Tadashi nearly ran into each other.

"I don't see them!" Tadashi yelped, spinning around in the air. "Hiro! HIRO, SAY SOMETHING!"

They dodged the arrows shot blindly at them, Wasabi knowing that if his stomach was full of eels Tadashi's was—this was that night, this was that night all over again—

They had to find them.

Some awareness got through the fear-haze, realized Carl was tugging on his frills.

"I have an idea, but we need to get back to Yokai," he was saying.

Wasabi exchanged a desperate look with Tadashi, who looked fit to destroy this whole fleet, no problem—

"If you just start firing willy-nilly, you might hit Little-Brother," Wasabi said, swallowing hard—this decision he was about to sell Tadashi on was killing him. "And we can't tell which water-traveler they're in. We need a plan. We—Carl has a plan."

Tadashi was giving him an even look. "And you trust him?"

That had been the question he had been dreading. Steel himself—

"I don't think we have a choice."