Ghost's Reign Chapter 49: Wing and Knife Edges, a How to Train Your Dragon + Big Hero 6 Crossover fanfic

Chapter 49, everybody! Yes, still slow, but we've been having a lot of progress with the remainder of part 1 so good things. Now if only more of that progress was on the next few chapters...

Obake and Calhoun are referencing both Kung-Fu Panda with the lesson zero and Mulan with the "day one" quote; Calhoun is also paraphrasing my Mom when she and Dad taught Little League—and I quote, "You'll have to work really hard to get into last place." In other news, something people don't seem to realize anymore is that being able to produce things yourself, or at least in your area, is preferable to importing it from elsewhere—something I think the Ever Given and coronavirus shenanigans might have reminded people of.

Now for the scene with the dragons...How to Train Your Dragon II but back when Valka was having to actually practice that. Moving on to Helga's bits, the hand over the eye thing came from a recent episode of Yellowstone—not sure I'm going to keep up with that show now that Kevin Costner's out of it. And Helga backstory time! I have been waiting to write and post this, not gonna lie. Also jetsam is the term for stuff that has been jettisoned from a ship, while flotsam is the stuff that gets washed off—so the difference is did we mean to throw this off or was it an accident.

Obake woke up the next day with a vague sense of dread, had to take a few minutes to place why.

"Remind me again why I agreed to this," he said to Tadashi, who huffed at him. Fair enough. Well, probably time to resign himself to the nonsense.

He still had nice, fresh, not-watered-down coffee to work with, possibly as a bribe from Helga, spent the time it took to percolate contemplating this new wrinkle. It was possible she suspected his suspicions, had done this as a bribe to get into his good graces, if such a thing existed. Or, more likely, she and Calhoun had been plotting this for a while and the coffee was intended to butter him up and get him to agree to this. Either way, the coffee was appreciated, and he was fairly certain it would be the highlight of his day, considering the coming idiocy.

Felt more revived after adding a breakfast of the leftover cheese and crackers (the meat had disappeared and he suspected small Night Furies trying for innocent) and a brief flight around the island on Tadashi's back, to the point that he was actually contemplating the results of this succeeding—divvying up people based on talents, who would go on logging crews and fishing crews and foraging crews and hunting crews—forget trading, if they could procure everything themselves then they wouldn't have to worry about all that—

This foreign positivity lasted for as long as it took for Tadashi to circle around to Calhoun's training field and touch down on the roof, looking everything over before slipping down to the ground.

"Glad you could join us," Calhoun said drily.

"Hush," Obake said, sliding off of Tadashi. "I had something resembling a good mood this morning, don't spoil it." Look everyone over as he walked to her. "Do I dare ask?"

"You'll have to work really hard to get them off the ground."

Oi. "If you have neither a dragon nor a saddle, then you don't belong here, stop wasting my time," he snapped; a few people drifted off to spots where they could watch unobtrusively. "That applies to the dragons as well." Several dragons slinked off as well.

"And then there's you," he said, zeroing in on Juniper. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a dragon," she offered, indicating a young Nadder bobbing next to her.

"You don't have a saddle."

"The dragon happened while you were on walkabout."

"I see. And your mother's opinion on this?"

She wasn't quick enough to hide her grimace. "You," Obake said, pointing at her before pointing off the field. "Elsewhere. If I am to die an ignominious death I do not want it to be by Barb's hand." Because would she make his death extremely messy? Most likely.

He was nursing the start of a headache when he circled back to Calhoun, Juniper and her dragon sulking near the edges of the field.

"Please," he said when he was even with her. "Tell me you've been working with them so I don't have to deal with a lesson zero."

"Did you even plan for one?" she asked him.

"The general idea is to throw them off the cliff do-or-die style."

"We'll call that one Plan H," she conceded. "All right!" she barked at the rest of them, making his ear on that side ring. "Saddle up!"

The handful of people who had gone on that rescue mission managed fine; the ones whose saddles he had finished since returning...not so much.

"Day one," he sighed, resigning himself to having to actually formulate a lesson zero.

Now, just because he was alpha now did not mean that Tadashi was above play—far from it. He and his friends still made it a point to get out and go flying together, engaging in various aerial trickery as they challenged and pushed each other to greater heights.

It was just the question of dealing with Obake, who also insisted on flights and had apparently been curious about what he got up to in his spare time. Especially after the various frustrations that had been teaching the other Yokai about flying with dragons.

It also didn't help that his friends were equally curious about Obake, Honey Lemon drifting closer and cooing at him in greeting.

"We're going to have to postpone the flight today," Tadashi sighed. "Obake's wanting some flight time."

"No we don't," Honey Lemon said, drifting under him. "We can just bring him along, fly gentle—like we did when we were first bringing Hiro along."

"So you admit you were holding back," Hiro said.

"No comment," Tadashi said, ignoring Hiro biting at his ear flaps.

"I just want to go on record as questioning this, I need you guys to realize this," Wasabi said. "Because I'm still not sure about this."

"Hey, you like Carl," Fred accused.

"Yes—that is not Carl."

Obake, meanwhile, seemed to sense that they weren't going to be engaging in any aerial trickery, was starting to get antsy from the feel of it—watched with interest as Hiro hopped off, gliding over to Honey Lemon's back instead.

"I've decided I'm going to hang out with you instead," Hiro announced.

"Little-Brother, Honeysuckle was in on it too."

"Seriously!? Fine." Fly over to Gogo. "Ha."

Tadashi snorted—stiffened when he felt Obake get to his hind paws, currently crouching with front paws clinging. "Hey, what are you doing back there?"

"Ooh ooh wait I have an idea," Fred said, making sure to match his flight to Tadashi's, keeping his position off to the right and beneath him. Obake was definitely eyeing him, sidling off to the side, testing how much weight he could put on Tadashi's wing—

Suddenly dropped down, Tadashi having to adjust to losing that weight—looked to see Obake on Fred's back, laughing at his own success and daring.

"Ha HA!" Fred cheered. "YES! Oh we got to try this with Dibs sometime—hey Wasabi! Your turn!"

"No no no no keep him away from me what if I drop him?" Wasabi squawked, angling away even as Fred angled after him, Obake leaning with intent as Fred arched above a still-protesting Wasabi. Tested putting more of his weight on Fred's wing, shuffled out a bit more—

"AAAAHAHA WHYYYY!?" Wasabi wailed, eyes screwed tightly shut and wings flailing as he tensed all over.

"Wasabi, good news or bad news, but he's on your back," Fred informed him. "You can open your eyes now."

"I don't think I like this game," Wasabi said, hind paws clenched tight as he coasted, Obake sitting on his back like he was testing the feel of it. Tadashi made a face at that, not sure how he felt about the idea of Obake picking someone else. Not that he cared...okay fine he did care he had been put through too much nonsense to let him go and start flying with another dragon all exclusive like. Snort at his own idiocy, start to fly over—angle to watch when Gogo swooped under and barked for Obake to jump to her next.

"Really?" Tadashi asked, flying even with her.

"This seems like the sort of thing I want to try with Momakase," Gogo told him. Tadashi rolled his eyes, noted Obake eyeing him—

"Okay okay, ready?" Tadashi asked, carefully sliding his wingtip to hers—she focused on keeping her flight steady as he slipped his wing over hers, him having to make minute adjustments to keep from spinning away as well. "Let's see if he goes for it."

"See? See? You're getting into it too!" Fred jeered.

Okay yes fine he was getting into it; it was interesting to see a Yokai, a decidedly ground-bound creature, not only decide that it liked flying, but also that it liked engaging in aerial trickery despite lacking the means to catch itself should it fall, to the point that it was making its own games up when Tadashi wouldn't engage.

Boy he hoped this was just an Obake thing and not the whole flight, otherwise they were in for some headaches should the rest of them succeed in getting airborne.

Obake, meanwhile, had indeed gone for it, carefully balancing on Gogo's wingbones, occasionally putting a foot on the bones splayed out and supporting the wing but careful to not put his weight on the skin between—crawled the rest of the way, Gogo having to adjust to weight moving out across her wing like that—

And then it was Tadashi having to adjust his weight, moving to better keep Obake on his trajectory of rolling down his wing to Tadashi's spine, busy laughing breathlessly at his own daring to pay too much attention to any of the rest of him, including the dragon directly beneath him and Fred, flying above and whooping deliriously.

"That was TOTALLY WICKED!" Fred cheered. "Wasabi—Wasabi we got to try this come on."

"NO—nooo thank you once was enough do not let him give this idea to Carl," Wasabi said, shaking his broad horned head frantically.

"My dude I'm not sure how we're supposed to do that."

"The Yokai know a scribble-language," Gogo told them. "You can tell them, you just have to learn it first."

"Ooh yes, the next crucial step in this, our glorious union of flights!"

Tadashi did his best to avoid rolling his eyes, didn't quite succeed—glanced when Honey Lemon skimmed under. "Me next! Me next!"

Obake had already spotted her sliding into position, was on his paws and angling to aim for her—Tadashi adjusted his position as the weight shifted, as Obake committed to hopping to her—

Hit her slick scales and kept going.

Both of them shrieked in alarm at Obake tumbling away, Tadashi already folding his wings to dive after him—

Swooped up as Baymax angled up, Obake gripped in his front paws.

"I have concerns about the safety of this game," the Wooly Howl announced.

"Sorry—sorry I'm so sorry!" Honey Lemon squawked, front paws to her mouth. "Is he okay?"

"I think that's enough fun for one day," Obake sighed.

So while that was fun and he was definitely going to figure out a way to incorporate that into flight training (weed out the weak, as Calhoun would term it), he was definitely itching to know why Honey Lemon's scales were so slick compared to the others, had that as his number-one priority when they landed.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Honey Lemon was willing to oblige after nearly dropping him to his doom; possibly, someone would see fit to inform Obake that you weren't supposed to use people (or dragons, he supposed) when they were in an emotionally vulnerable state like this, but he really hadn't made it this far by listening to that little voice that often sounded like his old chief.

Trending more towards unfortunately was the fact that the means to compare and contrast the different scales were limited to simple touch and observation—he recalled that there had been a means to magnify smaller items, but that had disappeared with their old chief. Probably it had gone with her like he should have—

Shuffle the scales on the table around, debating. Theoretically he could make a handheld version, one that looked like the bottom of a glass...but that would likely involve melting down some of that trash since glass itself was at a premium. Maybe he could ask Helga to keep an eye out for something that would serve the purpose while she was out.

Speaking of.

He and Helga had agreed to one last meeting discussing her next scouting mission, and he figured he might as well get that out of the way sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, she had decided that her version of helping with flight training was to drop in on people randomly and make them saddle up, timing them on how quickly they could mobilize and critiquing them on their equipment and setup, which meant she wasn't the easiest to find. Eventually he was reduced to saddling Tadashi up and flying overhead, scanning for her.

Even at that, he didn't find her so much as she flew up to him. "We need to review your saddle work."

"Har har," he shot at her before indicating they land—circled down to one of the higher ledges so they didn't have to deal with people sticking their noses into things. "Do I dare ask how it's going?"

"Fairly well," she reported, slipping off of Kogeki. "I asked Calhoun what she needed help drilling with and she said saddling up in a timely manner. Also you're going to want to keep an eye on Juniper while I'm gone."

"Drat that girl," Obake groaned, looking skywards for strength. "I want my death to be something a bit more impressive than Barb killing me."

"It's not like Barb would do it by half."

Fair enough—turn the conversation to the task at hand, reviewing everything, Helga nodding at his request to keep an eye out for a magnifying glass or something similar enough to be effective.

"I'll get some supplies together and leave tonight, fewer eyes on me," she said, glancing at her Nadder. "Give Kogeki a chance to rest up."

"Good—hopefully we can get to the bottom of this annoyance."

"One can only hope."

Helga made good on her statement, only informing Calhoun of her activity before setting off.

"I got a question for you," Calhoun said as she left. "The coup was your idea, general assessment was that it was still on the table even with Obake in charge. What changed?"

Helga paused, considering. "We haven't died messily and Obake has no interest in marauding."

"Had no interest in marauding—or chiefing, or anything else before he came back from his walkabout. Ever since he came back he's suddenly serious about the job, and I don't doubt that marauding is back on the table." Frown. "He probably wants a flying force to better attack islands."

"Then why are you helping him do it?" Helga asked.

"Why are you?" Calhoun countered. "We could argue that we're getting into his good graces, but I'm not entirely sure he has those."

Good question. "Let's call it biding our time," she said. "It's not like we're not getting something out of the deal right now—information, and maybe a faster way out of here if need be."

"Like the dragons are loyal to us over Obake," Calhoun huffed.

Helga glanced at Kasso, who looked like he was following along on the conversation; bid her farewell and left, debating on that last statement. Yes, it was likely that the dragons favored Obake over the rest of them, they came at his order and drove Callaghan out, were here because of him. Possibly, when push came to shove, they'd pick him over any of the rest of them.

And yet she was starting to suspect that that wasn't entirely the case, she reflected as she came up to Kogeki and held up a hand to his snout, something she wouldn't have dared do a few months ago; Kogeki bumped his nose against her palm, leaned in for some scratches before straightening up and stretching, settling back down to be saddled. She was used to the pain that was broken loyalty, but the dragons felt different. Rest a hand on Kogeki's nearest eye, something she had seen horse trainers do on larger islands—Kogeki warbled, curious, before tipping his head to look at her better, confused at this new thing.

Rub a hand across his snout before finishing her loading, reflected on the other wrinkle—yes, she had kept the coup plan in place in case things went sour, but she wasn't as inclined to be disdainful of Obake as the others had reason to be. She hadn't been pressganged into the Yokai like so many others had been; she had her reasons for joining.

The ships were in hot pursuit, taking every sailing trick they had to stay ahead, eventually graduating to jettisoning cargo to become shallower on the draft, give them a chance to squeak past some shoals and buy some lead—

"That's it," she announced, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Unless someone wants to jump."

"Ladies first."

The startled shriek slipped out of her before she could control it—managed to catch the rail and swing back around, kicking out at him—

"You said we were equal partners!" she railed, lashing out again. "You said I could have a percentage!"

He caught her next kick. "Next time get it in writing."

Brutal kick to her ribs broke one, sliced her arm open when she tried to counter, twisted her ankle as he flung her into the water—

"Nothing personal!" he called as the ship sped into the night, leaving her to struggle for the nearest piece of jetsam, to cling to it and hope that sharks and aquatic dragons didn't find her even as the chill waters sapped her strength...

She was tenaciously clinging to both life and the jetsam when one of the pursuant ships, one that had trailed behind in favor of fatter targets, found her—the crew had been poking at the jetsam, spotted her, hauled her in...by that point the Yokai's reputation preceded them, leaving her to appreciate the trouble she was in and do her best to ingratiate herself to the captain of the ship, the chief of the Yokai. At the very least, she bought herself an hour as he considered, as he focused on chasing down one of the last ships that had tried escaping the black ships' nets. Spent a chunk of that time trying to warm back up as the doctor bandaged her up—noticed the boy watching her with a predator's intensity, ice chips for eyes, couldn't have been older than teen but seeming older due to those factors. Wanted to ask about him but knew seeming too nosy right off the bat would make her more of a liability, stayed quiet and watched. Whoever the boy was, he was definitely favored by the chief but not by the crew, and that disdain went both ways. To have an attitude like that, he had to be fairly important.

And it wasn't lost on her that he was watching her back, intense, sometimes tipping his head like a bird of prey or dragon would, like the different angle would grant some insight. At one point she entertained herself by matching the head tilt to see how he would react, got an arched eyebrow for her trouble.

But eventually, the black ship ran down the last of the fleeing skiffs—one she was familiar with.

She had gotten up and moved to where she could watch without being seen, feeling her blood start to boil as she listened to him wheedle and schmooze, obviously buttering the Yokai chief up—something he could have done before chucking her overboard like she meant nothing. Deep breath that aggravated her ribs, pull herself together—she'd have to bide her time, wait for a proper opportunity...she couldn't be in this group with him, eventually he'd turn them against her and she'd be well and truly screwed—

Startled at a tap to her elbow, looked—

The boy standing there, holding up a knife in its sheath, those intense eyes trained on her. "He values loyalty."

Had she learned his name beforehand, she might not have taken it, might have thought a little more about accepting a favor from an obake. Or perhaps not—that need for revenge made it so that she happily took the knife, unsheathing it in one smooth motion and leaving him with the scabbard as she strode forward—

But it wasn't so overwhelming that she didn't realize the way to turn this to her favor.

They had shaken hands, the two men smiling calculating smiles at each other—and then him yanking his arm back as her first slice came down, the next cutting across his shoulder before the next hit his neck. Down low to the thigh to send him to his knees—

"Nothing personal," she spat at him, right before delivering the killing blow.

She could practically feel the fury simmering behind her and building. "I knew this man," she announced, turning to face the chief. "We were partners for five years and he threw me overboard to save his own skin. He would turn on you for less." Hand him the knife. "You want someone with your interests in mind."

Could see the calculations as he eyed her, taking the knife, thoughtful as he wiped it down. "We'll see," he said finally, turning and stalking away, the crew dispersing warily.

It wasn't lost on her the way he had glanced behind her; turned to see the boy toeing at the corpse, watching as some of the crew hauled it to the railing. "Why?"

The boy looked at her with that head tilt that she had seen on dragons when considering challenging prey. "I didn't like him," he rasped—voice rough from disuse or injury, she wasn't sure. "You, at least, seem to have more...potential."

"I'm flattered," she said flatly, baffled that that was the sole reason the boy was presenting—had things clarified for her a bit more when she learned his name; anyone who went by that moniker likely enjoyed causing chaos for chaos' sake.

And yet in the years since, Obake had shown that he preferred tight control, everything planned down to the least minutiae, something she could appreciate. And in doing so, she could appreciate why he had made that decision—Roarke would have been more Callaghan's speed, would have slowly muscled Obake out of his position and ended with him dead; he had perceived a threat to him, identified the fastest way to get rid of it, and executed it in such a way that she was ingratiated to him while also establishing her strengths.

All of that within five minutes, before he was twenty. And he had only gotten sharper since then.

Kogeki nudged her, warbling with concern—purred when she rubbed his snout again.

"Does he truly have an obake's control over you?" she wondered. "This...all of this just keeps turning in his favor..." Trailed off as she considered the Nadder. "And you lot...you wouldn't leave your flight for long, not to drop us off somewhere."

Kogeki chittered, possibly wondering why they hadn't left yet—sigh, deep breath, leap into the saddle and buckle in, had practiced enough that he was already charging into flight before she finished, assured that she wouldn't fall off. Glance back at Yokai, saw the few lights that made people certain this was a ghost village—

Maybe they were right, but their ghost had tamed the dragons. No matter her personal feelings, she had to admit that the coup was dead in the water; they had missed their window, and now it was a matter of staying in Obake's good graces.

Deep breath of the cool night air, glancing at the stars before tapping and tugging to orient Kogeki in the direction she wanted. Yes, this was still a situation fraught with peril, but she was more confident in navigating this. Callaghan was like Roarke, and she had known how to handle him.

Obake was wired more like herself, and if she couldn't handle that, then she had no business here.

Now here was hoping she didn't get herself killed in the process.