Ghost's Reign Chapter 48: Flight Plans, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 48, everybody! Yes, we're back—still gonna be slow for a bit, but I've got an idea of where we're going for the remainder of Part I now.

I'm always going to read a single done like how Art says it in Monsters University, just to be clear. Also recently watched the Shadiversity episode "What would a Medieval adventurer eat?", which slightly affected Helga's bribe here. Also, Helga's sarcasm in response to Callaghan shooting albatrosses down? That's in reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, where all the misfortune that happens in that story can be traced to the narrator shooting an albatross down and bringing bad luck with it.

They arrived back in Yokai late, Momakase and Gogo angling one way as Tadashi winged up to Obake's house with him in tow—crawl into bed, collapse in exhaustion, shivering until Hiro joined him and gave the bed some heat.

Wasn't sure about a second dragon joining them, still appreciated the extra heat that Tadashi gave off—definitely didn't know what to make of waking up the next morning to Honey Lemon stretched across the bottom of the bed.

Realized what had woken him up when he saw Cass sitting there, eyeing him.

"Hello," he managed.

She huffed, sniffed at him…tugged Hiro out of bed and started grooming the protesting little Fury. Well since he was up….

Morning was sort of a general assessment—make what passed for coffee, turn his attention to this new idiocy he had adopted. They wanted him to be chief, did they?

Had general ideas and lists ironed out by the time the sun started to come up, was out and seeking out one person in particular when he finished.

Felix gasped in alarm when he answered the door. "You! You're back—I-I mean—it was kind of…."

"Are you done?" Obake asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I…yes sir," Felix managed finally.

"Good." Hand him the list. "I need you to address this."

"I…sure, but ah…where are we getting the wood?"

Oh good grief—turn, look back at him. "There's plenty of houses left fallow—start knocking them down, that'll give you something to work with while you wait for any trees you cut down to cure."

Felix looked like he was debating hard on this…nodded finally. "Ah, yes sir. I'll just—go wake Ralph."

Good. That was one job down.

Far too many more to go.

Carl found him in the forge about an hour later, busy ignoring the lingering twinges in his chest as he worked.

"I saw Tadashi on the roof," he said. "I was hoping he had brought you back with him."

"Unfortunately," Obake said, striking the metal one last time before looking at Carl.

"Fine," he said, startling the larger man. "I will give this idiocy the fair shake you've been wanting. But if I do, then we do it my way. No nonsense, no little coups, no bothering me with the minutiae. That is your job, understood?"

"Done," Carl said, nodding.

Obake eyed him. "Momakase already talked to you, didn't she."

"I woke up with her sitting crosslegged on my chest," Carl confirmed. "I was not expecting that."

Of course she wouldn't want to be wasting time. She had been oddly invested in this concept, although he honestly couldn't fathom why. Look away, back at Carl. "I imagine Helga and Calhoun should be the ones we go to insofar as helping wrangle the rest of them into shape."

"Calhoun wants to revisit flight training," Carl told him. "She and Helga have been going over flight formations and trying to match this up with her military training."

"No strict military formations, people know how to counter those." From personal experience, the dragons' chaotic flight was the main reason they were so hard to down.

"I suggest you go tell her." At Obake's glare: "That's the chief's job, organizing his village's defense. It's not day-to-day minutiae like you assigned to me."

Deep sigh—dangit Carl was right but he just knew he'd be paying for the last time he got dragged to flight training. "If she kills me it's your fault."

"She won't kill you," Carl said reasonably.

"Glad one of us thinks so."

Tadashi was helpful in finding Calhoun at least, slipped them in through the upper windows of the half-destroyed barn that was slanting near a field that had been left fallow for far too long. And had been burned clean recently, he noticed—possibly the work of the Nightmare lounging below, coiled about the space of the barn but also poised to launch into action if need be.

Also looking up at them and huffing.

"Understand that I don't appreciate being snuck up on," Calhoun said, not looking up from her table full of notations.

"Good, that makes two of us," Obake said, prompting her to look up. "Carl informs me you're resuming flight training."

"The alternative is letting those idiots bumble into each other in midair," she countered, smothering any further reactions. "Are you here to contribute anything useful, or are you going to break someone's bones again?"

"There was a point to prove," he said, slipping off of Tadashi's back once the black dragon was close enough to the ground that the act wouldn't hurt.

"And what point are you proving here?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as she went back to her notations. He looked the table over, saw rough estimates of how fast different dragons could fly and the strengths and weaknesses of each—his old notes on how to best kill them, he realized, layered over her own notations and sketches of fleet formations.

"Fleet formations can be observed, memorized, and broken," he told her—her head twitched up slightly, like she was surprised he was contributing anything. "And dragons flying in a military formation would attract too much attention."

"And yet we need a defense force anyway, unless you're daft enough to think that Callaghan wouldn't make good on his threat and come back," she said—noted the little twitch he wasn't quick enough to smother. "What happened."

"I won't deny the need for a defensive force," he said, ignoring her query. "It's the chance that the fools would try to turn it into an offensive force that's the problem."

"That occurred to me too," she said, glowering at him much like she always did, although tinged with something else now. "Trying to make benign Yokai, are we?"

"There's no point in that," he said, waving her off. "Our reputation was soiled even before factoring in what Callaghan's still doing."

"Is that why you left?"

Good grief. "Do you want my input or not?"

"I didn't ask for it," she said, arching an eyebrow.

"You never do," he pointed out. "But this time around I'd like to get ahead of being dragged out of my forge by the scruff of my neck."

"I can't be waiting around for you to make up your mind, that takes too long," she said, waving him off. Sigh, look over her notations again. "Helga's out scouting, but she'll be wanting to talk to you when she gets back. I'll tell her you're available again."

"Scouting?" Obake echoed, looking from the notations to her.

"I told you, we've been discussing security—we agreed that dragons could cover a wider range than we could with ships, especially a Nadder." Glance at him, evaluating. "Don't worry, we also covered making sure we're not seen or followed."

This would be interesting to discuss. "When do you anticipate her back?"

"Late."

"Then tell her to see me at the forge in the morning. In the meantime." Tap one of her papers. "This won't work."

"And now's where we deal with experience butting up against book learning."

Hashing out potential flight plans with Calhoun took the rest of the day; it was late afternoon when he was finally able to excuse himself, Tadashi and Hiro having abandoned them in favor of examining the rest of the flight about an hour in. Heard a few dragon chuffs overhead, had Hiro cantering along next to him a few minutes later.

"Is there some sort of dragon hotline I should know about?" he asked Hiro, amused; Hiro chuffed, which could be either yes or no, looked up to see Tadashi soaring along to land on a roof, kept scanning…spotted Momakase sitting on the roof with Gogo, watching the sunset. Looked over at Tadashi, waved and pointed at the roof; Tadashi looked, looked at him—

Was up on the roof moments later, Obake slipping off him to sit next to her.

"Am I allowed to tell you why they turn those colors?" he asked.

"Not yet," she said, lounging against Gogo's side. "Is that why you came up here?"

"I needed something else to think about."

She made a short noise at that. "I guess asking you not to think is a losing battle."

"I have an unquiet mind."

"Bet it makes sleeping difficult."

"I have to work until I drop, yes."

"No wonder you look so rough all the time."

Huff, look back at the sunset…look back at her, made a snap decision. "Come on."

"Do what?" she asked, blinking as he got back on Tadashi. "Where are you going?"

"You'll just have to follow and find out, won't you?" he asked, Tadashi spreading his wings and lofting into the air. Momakase considered him…was on Gogo's back and following moments later, as Tadashi angled up for the fantastic shapes of the clouds. Cut through one—

He glanced back in time to see Momakase's expression as Gogo burst through, taking in how the clouds shifted in color as they passed them, the sun making sharp beams of light as it sank behind further cloudbanks—she spread her arms, much like she had that first flight, laid back along Gogo's spine as the dragons soared along. Obake glanced down as Tadashi angled over, returned the little wave she gave him.

They flew until the sun was gone and it was dark enough for Tadashi to start disappearing, angled back for the village, spotty lights here and there—looked over as Tadashi and Gogo went separate ways, returned that little wave before they were lost to the night.

"Wrr," Tadashi noised, something in the angle of his ears slightly mocking.

"You hush, I needed to clear my head," he huffed—which earned him a few corkscrews for good measure.

Obake was woken up the next morning by Cass tugging Hiro out of bed, Hiro sleepily protesting this handling; sat up blearily, trying to fight off the last dredges of sleep...took a few bleary moments to realize that Cass was looking at him pointedly, saw her make several obvious glances at the railing before collecting Hiro and bounding off.

Her actions raised his suspicions enough that he had his boots and coat on quickly, making sure he was put together enough that he could fight off a theoretical ambush. Pause at the top of the stair, using the support beam to hide him as he scanned the bottom floor...eyes lingered on where Callaghan had sat, waiting for him to return.

"I have better things to do besides deal with some ill-advised scheme," he announced to the room at large.

"Is that what we're calling it now?" Helga asked, stepping out from behind his fireplace to look up at him. "Calhoun told me you wanted to see me."

"Yes, in my forge—this is not that," Obake said, glowering as he took the stairs in slow, measured strides; part dripping arrogance, making her wait for him, part leery caution, eyeing for some trap.

"I'm aware," she said—flicked a finger against a pot of what smelled strongly and suspiciously of coffee. "But I didn't want to risk brewing this in the middle of the village."

So this could very likely be a means to poison him. "Where did you get that?"

"While you were gone I was interested in seeing how far Kogeki could go in a single flight," she said. "It was far enough that I decided to try a little further and liberate something worthwhile. We weren't seen," she added, noting his thunderous expression. "And I figured if you came back, I wanted you in a good mood." Indicated his table, where two mugs and a covered dish were waiting. "Sit. I'll bring the coffee over."

Glanced up at his balcony, saw Cass perched in a way where she wasn't immediately evident, felt slightly better about this; still was very pointed in checking the near mug for poisonous residue.

"I have better things to do than poison you," Helga said, coming over with the coffee.

"I'm sure," he said, checking the second mug. She had better things to do than plan a coup, too, and yet she did that; at this point, it was a question of whether or not she thought it was worth it to transfer her plans from Callaghan to him.

Not through poisoned mugs, at least—she poured as he flicked the cloth-covered dish, found sausage, herbed cheese, and hard flatbread, the sort of things that could be quickly snatched and have their absence potentially attributed to vermin. "You went due east, I see."

"It was a nice challenge," she said, sipping her coffee; perhaps it was the food that was poisoned. "People certain of attacks from both Yokai and dragons meant we had to be clever about it. Although Kogeki was leery about a direction due south of us once we got to a certain point; couldn't get him to fly that way to find out why."

"We did theorize that was the general direction the nest lay," he supposed, watching her with narrow eyes and a hand resting against his upper lip. Glance at the plate, debating...

"Calhoun intimated you ran into something out there," Helga said after the moment of silence, pointedly taking a sampling of each before eating it. Okay fine, unless she had poisoned it with that one fungus or already ingested an antidote she wasn't killing him today.

"As it turns out there's a reason dragons never land on Muirahara Island," he offered, sampling the plate himself—oh that was good. "Calhoun intimated that your thing was more pressing."

She arched an eyebrow at that, probably wanting details but understanding that he put that particular misadventure as less interesting in comparison. "As per the reason I've been scouting," she told him, folding her hands and leaning forward a bit on her elbows. "When we raided Numachi Island hunting for information about where you had been taken, one of the men we questioned knew about the Yokai taming dragons—his exact words were it's true then, the Yokai are training dragons. I've been hunting for the start of this rumor ever since." Paused, watching him digest this. "The other bit of information we got that night was that someone wanted you delivered to them, alive. I don't suppose the Moss-Huts were nice enough to tell you who."

"If they did they knocked the recollection out of me," he said, turning this information over and trying to see how it slotted into what he already knew. "Their buyer was coming the next morning, unfortunately I wasn't able to see how much I was worth."

"Funny," she noised. "I suppose it bears asking who's close enough to them to have gotten the information and made the trip in that time period...but it also bears asking how they got the information to begin with."

"I'd say there's about two-dozen leaks wandering around out there," Obake said flatly. "The contingent that left with Callaghan saw the whole thing, I'm sure they'd be willing to spread that information around."

"Would Callaghan let them admit to it, though?"

"Let me think, selling that their pet ghost tamed dragons and now has the means to raze any village in the archipelago, thus painting here as the bigger threat to be destroyed? It wouldn't surprise me." Could tell from her expression what the unasked question was. "I have better things to do."

"Sometimes I wonder," she said. "So he's...what, leaked this information? Where?"

"Probably one of the southern islands, he was haunting those trading routes when we had the misfortune to come across him."

Helga twitched at this news, the only indication that it had startled her. "I think you'd better actually commit to this story."

Consider her a few beats, weighing his options...decided to go ahead and tell her the mostly-full stories, including running into Abigail but glossing over all the personal issues that had accompanied that encounter. She was quiet as she digested this, leaving him to sample a few more pieces from the plate and debate on whether or not she had used a poison that required it building up in his system.

"So let me get this straight," she said finally. "The daughter—the dead daughter, the reason Callaghan formed the Yokai—she's alive and living with dragons?"

"That was the part that Momakase ended up hung up on as well," he said, sipping his coffee.

She drummed her fingers on the table, glaring at a knot in the wood as she did her own rearranging of information. "The timeline might fit," she said finally. "And having a different enemy soften up your target before sweeping in yourself is a solid enough strategy...bet seeing you alive and well was a surprise."

"I don't think he appreciated it."

She nodded, absently spread a bit of the herbed cheese on a piece of flatbread...finally looked at him. "When I was trying to track down who, exactly, wanted you, I ran into another bit of odd information. Someone wanting an obake, not specifically you."

He arched an eyebrow at that. "To what purpose?"

"I don't know—I tried digging a little deeper, but the general consensus was that whoever wanted one was a fool at best and a traitor at worst." Put a slice of sausage on her cheese and bread. "That might be why they kidnapped you; they figured you were good enough and not as fraught with peril."

"I'm sure that estimation backfired."

"That was my feeling as well." Looked up at him. "Do you want me to see about tailing Callaghan, see if he's the source of the leak?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. And no," he said, making her blink. "He'd be looking for that, would know to look for that now—he saw us fly off on dragonback. Once you got close enough to properly eavesdrop you'd end up shot out of the sky."

"You think I'm that sloppy?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm taking Calhoun's approach of not endangering an important asset," he said, leaning back a little. "Nor am I being fool enough to underestimate Callaghan's abilities. If he wasn't a paranoid mess before, this would be enough to have him shooting albatrosses down."

"That'd end well for him," she muttered into her coffee.

"Indeed," he said, pondering this. In the meantime, though. "For the next couple of days I want you resting up and helping Calhoun with this foolhardy flight brigade—I'll let you know before midnight on the second day what I want you focusing on after that."

Any surprise she might have had was tempered with amusement. "Change our minds about that, did we?"

"Apparently there's no keeping these idiots out of the sky, I might as well make them useful idiots," he groused, rolling his eyes. "I don't suppose there was any luck in procuring more supplies."

"Thin luck—which then bears asking why dragon scales no longer go as far as they used to."

Fair question. "It's before midnight on that second day—see if you can't track down the reason behind that, considering it's the most immediate of our current concerns."

"Shall I set out now, then?"

"At the end of the two days," he maintained. "Dragons don't appreciate being run ragged and I am not dealing with these miscreants on my own."

"Fair enough." Held up her mug. "To your sanity."

"I miss it already," he said, returning her toast.