It was Friday afternoon. School just ended at the academy. Gao waited outside for his friends. They had an exam soon and decided to study.

"Gao," he heard someone calling him.

He looked at the entrance and saw Tasuku walking at his direction.

"Hi Tasuku," Gao said. He thought about how he should bring up the fact that he knew about Jackknife. How can I say it to him? I don't know. He was at a lost and said instead, "How was school?"

"It was...fine," Tasuku nervously said.

Gao noticed that his friend was nervous. He was looking toward the ground, evading his eyes. His arms were slightly trembling.

"Are you alright?" Gao asked, worried for his friend.

Tasuku grabbed his arm and said, "Gao. We need to talk. There something I need to say to you and I want you to listen to me. So...We should go to the park together."

"To the park?" Kuguru asked as she joined them with Baku.

"Can we go with you? We are friends after all," Baku suggested.

Tasuku looked at them nervously and replied, "But...It's something I need to say to Gao alone."

Gao took the hint and knew why he hesitated, "Tasuku. They know."

The boy with blue hair looked at his friend surprised and looked down. He sighed and felt a little better. He replied with more confidence in himself, "Then you can come too."

They four walked at the direction of the park.

They were unaware, but they were watched by three others who were following them.

Shido looked at Gallows and asked, "You really want to try again?"

Gallows turned toward Shido and put his claw on the boy's shoulder, "I will get the head of that dragon. I need him dead. Sha. Sha. Sha."

Sophia looked at Gallows and noticed, "You never told us why you even want the reward. Are you simply greedy?"

Gallows glared at her and replied, "Do you want to die tool? You are still replaceable. Sha!"

Sophia didn't react at his threat and replied, "Anyway, they are soon out of our sight."

Gallows looked at them and said, "Let's follow them. Once we see Jackknife, I'll kill him at the first occasion. Sha. Sha," He then said in his mind. I'm afraid I'm reaching my deadline soon. If it continued, head shall roll...One way or another.

Chapter 24: Roar Of The Dragons Part 1

They walked in park with Tasuku. The boy looked around before guiding them outside of the road, deep in the woods of the park. The only sounds around them were their footsteps and the birds singing.

Tasuku eventually stopped and his friends looked around. They noticed that this part of the woods was more opened.

"Look," Kuguru said, pointing at the ground.

They looked down and saw an old dragon footprint on it and mark of claws on a tree.

"What is that?" Baku asked.

Tasuku looked at them and replied, "This is where I met my best friend, two months after our first meeting."

"What are you talking about Tasuku?" Gao asked.

Tasuku turned toward them, "I know everything. I know that you figure out that my friend is Jackknife Gao. Just like I saw you with that dragon named Drum."

The three weren't surprised when he told them about it.

"This is where you encounter him the second time?" Kuguru asked.

Tasuku nodded and said, "The first time I met him. He saved me from the cold after...my parents die. It was just after he escaped from the Dragon world. The second time was here, I found him living here by himself, hiding from the sight of anyone. It was a coincidence when I saw him flying here. We talked once again. Eventually, I asked if he wanted to live with me and he said yes. Three years. We lived three years in peace before the dragons from the Dragon world came."

"The dragons came here to arrest Findar because he's a traitor," Gao replied.

Tasuku looked at Gao and said, "His name is Jackknife. He's not a traitor."

"The dragons explained to us what Jackknife did," Baku said.

"He betrayed and murdered his own kind Tasuku. He betrayed his own world," Gao replied.

Tasuku shook his head and replied, "You don't know what you are talking about Gao. You only heard what the dragons said. You don't know Jack like I do."

"But Jackknife is using you," Baku replied.

Tasuku frowned and replied, insulted, "Use me? What do you mean use me? Jack is my friend and my only family. We are together during three years! I'm not an idiot who will let someone use me. I know him! He did so much for me that it will take too long to tell them all!"

"Whatever he said to you must be lies Tasuku. I know you are someone good and you wouldn't do anything wrong. You are my friends and I trust you. But I'm sure Jackknife is just using this opportunity to escape his crime," Gao explained calmly.

Tasuku looked in the eyes of Gao and grunted. He doesn't know everything Tasuku. Keep it together. "Gao. You have to listen to me. The dragons didn't tell you everything. There's-"

"It's useless to try and convince him Gao." The voice of Drum said, "His mind is set," Drum appeared besides Gao in his chibi form and pointed his claw at the blue-haired boy, "We'll have to find Findar now and arrest him for his crime."

"You said crime, but his crime is doing the right thing!" Tasuku yelled. He drew a card and they recognised it.

"How did you obtain the Invoking Spellcard?" Kuguru asked off-guard.

"Axia just invented it a few days ago!" Baku replied.

Tasuku lightly smiled and replied, "I have my ways. Gao. We won't run away anymore. We always hide, hoping to live together, but it's not possible anymore, not when he's a bounty and they know where we live. If we cannot hide, we will fight until the end. Jackknife! I invoke you!"

A symbol appeared beside Tasuku. After a few seconds, Jackknife was by the side of the boy and watched around him.

"Teleportation feels weird," Jackknife commented. He looked at the humans in front of him and saw Drum turning into his real form.

"We meet again Findar, but this time, I'm ready," Drum said pointing his drill toward the green dragon.

Jackknife nodded, "Looks like we'll have to fight once again," he said, just before the blade of his helmet pointed toward the orange dragon.

"Wait!" Gao yelled, "We don't have to fight. You have to listen to us."

"No. You have to listen to me Gao, but it won't be possible with that dragon," Tasuku replied taking out a spellcard as he glared at Drum.

Gao bit his lips and after a few seconds, he drew a spellcard and replied, "We have no choice."

Drum and Jackknife charged at each other's and the battle begun.

Baku and Kuguru took a step backward, outside of the battlefield. A sound resonated behind them and they turned around. Kuguru saw for the blink of a second, a dark monster with bones hiding behind a tree.

"Looks like that Gallows is here," Kuguru said.

"He's surely waiting to enter in the fight and kill both Drum and Jackknife," Baku commented.

Kuguru took her spellcard and said, "He's going to stay out of this battle. I don't want him to kill any of my friends. Ironchain! I invoke you!"

Ironchain appeared by her side and said, "Why are you sorry for... Halberd?" he looked around and saw he was in the woods. He turned toward Kuguru and said, "What is it? Halberd was saying something-" he saw Drum and Jackknife fighting, "You found him. You want me to enter in the fight?"

"No. We have to stop Gallows from entering in the fight!" Kuguru loudly said looking at the tree he was hidden.

"You found me. Sha. Sha," Gallows said, annoyed by that fact. He showed himself with Sophia and Shido, "You think you can stop me? Sha. Sha. Sha. I never saw you before female. I don't think-"

"Dragon Breath!" Kuguru said.

A fire dragon head appeared and breathed fire right at Gallows. When the fire died out, Gallows was completely black. He coughed dark smoke out of his mouth. He shook himself and turned into his real form, glaring at the girl, obviously pissed off, "You want to fight right now! Alright! Sha! Sha! Sha!"

Ironchain summoned his chains and spun them, "I'm bringing you down for hurting my friend and Hanako!"

He threw his chains and grabbed the left horn of Gallows. He tried to pull him, but Gallows was too strong and pulled the blue dragon instead. Gallows clenched his claw and punched the chest of the blue dragon. Ironchain crashed on the ground and used his shoulder to jump back on his feet.

Kuguru looked at Ironchain and said, "Ironchain. Brute force won't work. I'll think of something. Halberd must have told you how he fights."

Ironchain nodded and dodged the claws.

Drum and Jackknife flew in the sky at a safe distance between each other's looked in the eyes.

"Why are you using this boy?" Drum asked.

Jackknife frowned and replied, "Why are you saying this? I am not using this boy! He needed help and I helped him. Don't insult me and the boy when you know so few about me and Tasuku!"

He charged toward Drum, but the orange dragon used his drill to rapidly move to the left. Drum opened his mouth and breathed fire. He hit the green dragon between his wings and saw him losing altitude. He flew toward him and prepared his drill to pierce the back of Jackknife.

A blue shield appeared and stopped Drum from finishing Jackknife. The green dragon turned around and charged with his blade toward Drum. Drum grabbed the blade with one hand and was pushed in the air and couldn't counter the strength of the green dragon.

"You are still inexperienced Fang Slade," Jackknife replied.

"Maybe. But I'm not going to lose this time!" Drum replied. He activated the thrusters of his drill and flew away from Jackknife. He then turned around and charged toward the green dragon. He suddenly spun and flew to the left.

Jackknife turned to the left, but didn't see Drum. Drum appeared under Jackknife and kicked the jaw of the green dragon. Jackknife felt confused and crashed on the ground for a few seconds, before standing up again.

"Jack!" Tasuku asked.

"I'm- I'm alright," Jackknife replied shaking his head. He stood up and looked at Drum coming at him, "It's going to take more than that to defeat me."

Tasuku drew a card and saw the sword he usually used against another human. He looked at Gao and put it back in the deck. He couldn't fight Gao.

Gao also refused to use the spell card to enter directly in the battle. He took another card and raised it when Drum was near Jackknife.

Jackknife grabbed Drum's tail and threw him on the ground. He then charged at Drum and landed violently on his chest. The impact raised the ground around them and the land cracked by the power of Jackknife. The drill flew in the air and landed near Tasuku.

Drum yelled painfully as blood came out of his mouth.

"Drum!" Gao yelled raising his spellcard. "Dragoenergy!"

Drum felt a boost of energy and grabbed the two feet of Jackknife. He pulled them and the green dragon lost his balance. Drum freed himself and lifted Jackknife as if he was nothing. He spun around himself before doing an arc to throw Jackknife on the ground.

Jackknife grunted painfully before opening his wings and flying in the air. He turned toward Drum and grabbed his arm. He raised his claw and slashed the chest plate of Drum and reached the scales under it. Drum countered with a head-butt right on Jackknife snout. They both grunted painfully and took a safe distance between them. Drum put his hand on his helmet and felt a crack on it while Jackknife had trouble breathing with blood coming out of his nose. They remained that way a few seconds before charging again.

Ironchain chained the arms of Gallows together. Gallows pulled the dragon toward him and waited to kill him. Ironchain smirked when a green dragon shield appeared and blocked his claw. The blue dragon stopped his approach on the shield and jumped over it. He used the momentum to roll on himself and kicked on the left eye of the dark monster. He then used his chains and aimed the throat, but a dark shield blocked the attack.

Kuguru and Baku looked at Shido with his card raised.

"I thought you wanted to get rid of him?" Kuguru asked.

Shido looked at her nervously and replied, "It's too dangerous to do nothing."

"I raised my tool very well after all," Gallows commented as he called dark ball of energy in his claw.

Baku looked at him before turning to Kuguru and said, "He's obviously scared of him. If he could have the guts to let him down, you will beat him."

Gallows threw a dark ball at Ironchain, but he used his chains to create a shield and protected himself from the blast. Vine with spikes came out of Gallows's back and aimed the dragon and hit the dragon chest.

Ironchain landed on the ground and jumped back on his feet and summoned more chains.

"I remember that Gao and Halbert said that they didn't beat him by themselves," Kuguru said. She took out another spell card and said, "Draconic Shoot!"

A blast of energy hit Gallows at his chest and made him grunt painfully. He looked at the girl with his purple eyes and charged at her, "I'll show you!"

Ironchain grabbed the horns and pulled himself on his back and rid the dark monster, "I don't want you to show it!" he yelled as he pulled the horns.

Gallows head was pulled backward and he grunted painfully. He lost his flight balance and flew over the two humans and face planted against a tree. Ironchain jumped from Gallows's back and swung his chains toward him. Gallows turned around and grabbed the chain and pulled the dragon before violently punching the face.

Ironchain was about to land on his feet when Shido raised a card and said, "Dark Energy!"

A wave of Dark Energy hit Ironchain. Ironchain lost his balance and felt on the ground.

"Didn't see that coming," Ironchain grunted painfully as he tried to stand up.

Gallows flew toward the dragon when a wave of fire came. It was countered with a dark shield that allowed the dark dragon to continue his advance.

"Now die! Ironchain!" Gallows yelled.

Ironchain tried to raise his chains to protect himself, but the Dark Energy spell weakened him too much.

Halberd flew as fast as he could toward the woods of the park when he felt the energy or dragon fighting and also their screaming. He knew that Jackknife was fighting another dragon.

"Hang in there Jackknife. I'm coming," he said as he flew at the limits his wings allowed him.

AC: This is the end of chapter 25.

Chapter 25: Roar Of The Dragons Part 2.

Chapter 26: Heart Of The Dragons.

2 big fights are occurring right now.