The Dragon Riders were currently in the Giant Realm. Buzzsaw had soared fit to expand his territory by planting flags in other realms so they could destroy them.
"Woo! Nice work, girl!" said D'Angelo as he snatched a flag and snapped it in half.
"That flag can use wind, Feathers," said Alex.
Feathers were just about to blast it, but Eugene flew in and fired a shot of flaming webs at them.
"Whoa! Watch it!" Alex yelled.
"Uh! These stupid flags are too small," Eugene grumbled. "Webs can't hit them."
"Yes, the flag is the problem," said Alex, rolling her eyes.
"Let's slice and dice, Blade," said James, who flew in and sliced right through one of the flags.
Tom was laughing as he watched Jun playing keep away with We and Wei with one of the flags.
"Whoa! Quit it, you two!" she yelled as she tried to grab it. "You're going to get tangled up."
"Wu and Wei are really taking this 'capture the flag' thing seriously," said Tom.
Jun smiled back at him, but the two-headed dragon lifted her off the ground. Tom then burst out laughing at the sight, and Jun couldn't help but laugh as well.
"Looks like that, all of them," said D'Angelo as they collected the last of the flags. "Man, I knew Buzzsaw was crazy territorial, but these flags are next level."
"No kidding," said James. "To say the man is deluded would be an understatement. He thinks that the entire Hidden World is his domain and that he is king of it."
"It wouldn't hurt to put some sensors of our own down here to keep track of him," said Alex as she opened her bag only to find that it was filled with cheesy loops. "Who took my staff and filled my bag with cheesy loops?!"
"Right here! Right here!" said Eugene, pointing at himself. "Come on, Gonzo. Come on."
Alex then tossed him the bag of cheesy loops, and it struck him right in the face.
"Maybe we can set some sensors next time we're down here," D'Angelo suggested. "Right now, I'd like to check out the local flora to see if there's anything I can use in the Dragon Hospital. You want to help, Tom?" He turned around and saw that Tom was missing. "Tom? Where'd he go?"
"Where do you think?" said Eugene as he ate the cheesy loops and turned his eyes to Tom and Jun.
The two of them were quite far away and appeared to be chatting.
"No, I didn't," Jun laughed. "It's not, it's not me!"
"Oh, hey, hello! Earth to Tommy and Junie!" said Eugene in a childish voice. "We're being a team over here! Making plans and staff. Maybe you two want to be a part of it?"
"Sorry, guys," said Tom as they made their way over. "We got distracted."
"Yeah. You guys are distracted a lot lately," said Alex.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tom asked.
"Nothing," said Alex quickly.
"Okay…" said Jun slowly.
"Yeah, we've just, you know, we've just known each other a long time, so we have a lot to talk about," said Tom.
"You two, just as long as you didn't seem to invite me," James noted with a smirk.
"Oh, it was a boring conversation. We didn't want to bore you," said Tom
"Oh, give us a break," said Eugene. "You guys are not fooling, Kullersen. Just admit you like my sister."
"Well, sure, Eugene," said Tom obliviously. "We all like Jun."
Eugene blew a raspberry. "No. I don't mean just like, I mean you like-like her!"
Tom scoffed. "What?! Real funny, Eugene. I've known Jun, like, forever since we were little kids! That would be so weird, right, if, if that were true, you know? Wouldn't… wouldn't that be, like, super weird, like, like-like Jun? I… She's weird… No, she's not… That's really a stretch.
James winced and facepalmed himself, and Thunder covered his ears.
"It's because we're like, you know, um…" said Tom, turning to Jun. "Go ahead, tell them, tell them, Jun."
Jun narrowed her eyes at him. "Right, Tom. That would never happen because I'm just super weird. In fact, since you're so weirded out by me and I'm so 'yikes' to you, I'll just leave you alone. You'd probably prefer that anyway."
She then walked off in a huff towards Wu and Wei.
"No, Jun, wait!" Tom pleaded as she mounted Wei. "That's not what I meant!"
Jun narrowed her eyes and then dashed off into the jungle of tallgrass.
"Well, this is awkward," said D'Angelo.
"At least she took it well," said James.
Eugene then made the sound of an aeroplane crashing. "Crash and burn, Kullersen. Ha-ha-ha!" Everyone immediately glared at him. "What?"
Tom then mounted Thunder and then took off after Jun.
"And there goes again," said Alex. "Sticking his head right back into the mouth of the lion."
"All the dragon, in this case, a two-headed dragon," said James. "Maybe he should have brought a shovel to dig into his own grave."
Tom managed to catch up with Jun, who wasn't stopping.
"Jun, slow down!" said Tom. "Jun!"
Unbeknownst to them, Buzzsaw was watching them. "Looky, what we have here. A house divided. Ford! Winston!"
"Yeah, boss?" Ford asked.
"Ready your boulder barfers," said Buzzsaw. "I'm going after the two twerps and the lightning bird. You to round up the others. Should be easy pickings."
"You can count on us!" said Winston.
"Not really, but do it anyway," said Buzzsaw. "Let's go, Jack."
They then watched as Buzzsaw and Jack walked away.
Ford looked at Winston and smiled. "We got this."
The two of them elbow-bumped and then turned to discover their dragons had disappeared.
"Uh, where'd our dragons go?" Winston asked.
Ford sighed.
Jun soon reached the base of a giant tree and was a little upset. Wu and Wei comforted her and cheered her up.
"Jun!" Tom's voice yelled.
Jun groaned as she saw Tom arriving on the back of Thunder and dismounting him.
"Hey," he said, waving.
"Hey yourself," she said, turning her back on him.
"I just… wanted to see if you were all right," said Tom, approaching her.
"Like you care."
"What?" Tom stared. "Why would you think that I don't care?"
Jun looked at him furiously. "We can start with 'yikes'? Or could you have possibly said 'weird' more times?"
"I… I didn't mean that you're weird," said Tom. "Just that it would be weird because we… I… I just…"
They were suddenly interrupted by a loud roar, and when they looked up, they saw Buzzsaw appearing around the giant tree on top of Jack.
"Surprise, kiddos!" he said.
"Buzzsaw!" Tom gasped.
They quickly ran for it, and Buzzsaw chased after them and then blocked their path to their dragons.
"Your dragons are as good as mine!" he said.
"Jun!" Tom yelled, pointing to a cave within the giant tree and then looked back at Thunder. "Thunder!"
Buzzsaw laughed, but then Thunder fired a lightning blast at Jack's tail, who immediately rolled in pain.
"Jack?" said Buzzsaw as Jack took off.
Using this opportunity, Tom, Jun and their dragons quickly dashed to the cave. Buzzsaw tried to pull them, but Jack couldn't fit into the cave. However, when he crashed into the cave, some rubble fell, and he quickly backed away and watched as the rubble blocked the entrance.
Tom and Jun coughed as the dust filled the cave, and they suddenly found themselves in a cavern.
"At least we're safe," said Tom.
"For now," said Jun, walking off.
Wu and Wei then growled at Tom and joined her.
Tom looked at Thunder, who gave a small growl, and they followed them. They were amazed by what they saw.
It wasn't just the cave but a complete network-winner honeycomb with a network of tree roots.
"Amazing!" said Tom. "Not a bad place to be trapped."
He tried to approach Jun, but Wei slammed his tail in front of him, and they heard several growls.
"Look," said Jun.
Sitting on the tree roots, they saw a group of small dragons with bucked teeth resembling woodchucks. Apparently, they were rather curious about them as they began climbing down and approaching them.
"Guess these are the dragons that carved to this place," said Tom.
"Aw! They're like little woodchucks!" said Jun.
"Woodchipers," Tom corrected, chuckling.
Jun narrowed her eyes. "We should find a way out. I'm sure you don't want to be stuck in here with me any longer than you have to be."
Thunder growled at Tom softly.
"I know. I know, Pal," said Tom. "She's tough." Thunder then nudged him, encouraging him to talk to her. "I'm working on it!"
Outside, Buzzsaw was very annoyed. Tom and Jun had decided to hide from him from inside a tree.
"Those scrawny middle schoolers think they can hide from me inside a tree?" he said. "Trees are my thing! I felled hundreds of trees before, or at least paid someone to do it, and this tree will be no different. Jack! Start chopping!"
Jack then began crawling towards one of the tree roots and sliced right through it with his wing.
Inside, Tom and Jun felt the entire place shake.
"What's happening?" Jun asked.
"Buzzsaw," Tom assumed. "If he takes down the street, he's going to take the entire Woodchipper colony down with it."
Then, to make matters worse, the Woodchippers began snarling at them.
"Uh, Tom?" said Jun. "the tree is not the only thing we have to worry about. I'm pretty sure the Woodchippers have decided we are the bad guys."
Meanwhile, the other Riders will begin to become a little concerned with Tom and Jun's absence. D'Angelo and James had just turned after searching the skies while avoiding the giant sky dragons.
"Any sign of them?" Jun asked.
"Nothing," said D'Angelo.
They then heard the roars from the sky dragons.
"And I don't want us to stay up there too long," said D'Angelo. "Those giant, hungry sky dragons are still out there."
"Normally, I wouldn't be too concerned with Tom and Jun, but given the circumstances, I can't help but worry," said James.
"Maybe the person that caused Tom and Jun to leave should be doing the searching?" Alex suggested, glaring at Eugene.
"Look, don't blame me," said Eugene. "I bet they're glad I said it. Ha! They're probably off holding hands and talking about the universe or something."
He then pretended to throw up.
"I don't know, Eugene," said D'Angelo. "If Tom says it's not like that, then it's probably not like that."
"Oh, okay, Dr D," said Eugene. "Just tell me something. Is living in the dark really peaceful?"
"You know relationships do take time to foster; you can't just force someone to get together," said James. "Tom and Jun have been getting close to one another recently, and I say we just let nature take its course and not interfere."
"A little late for that," Alex muttered.
"Well, wherever they are, we should widen our search," D'Angelo suggested and looked down at Plowhorn. "Ready that sniffer, Plow!"
Plowhorn then began to sniff, trying to pick up the scent and got something.
"What is it, girl?" D'Angelo asked. "Are they close?"
Plowhorn then suddenly took off, and the others quickly followed him. Then, they began to hear voices.
"Here, little dragons," said Winston's voice.
"That doesn't sound like Tom and Jun," said Alex as D'Angelo dismounted Plowhorn.
"No, it sounds like one of Buzzsaw's henchmen," said James as he dismounted Blade.
D'Angelo and James carefully approached the source of the voice hiding behind the giant grass. Then, they noticed that Ford and Winston were looking for their dragons.
"Ps-ps-ps!" Winston hissed. "Come on out."
"They're not little, Winston," said Ford.
"It's a term of endearment."
"Yeah? So is sweetie and lambchop, but you don't hear me calling them that, hmm?"
Ford then began to make his way towards the grass jungle when suddenly Feathers jumped out screeching at him with Alex on her back.
"Surprise!" Alex yelled.
Ford and Winston immediately ran away, only to slam into Plowhorn. Then, Webmaster and Blade appeared from either side of them.
Eugene then approached. "What are you bozos doing?"
"We're not telling you kids nothing," said Ford.
"Yeah. What he said," said Winston.
"Then I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way," said Eugene, cracking his knuckles.
Meanwhile, Tom and Jun found themselves completely surrounded by the Woodchippers, and if that wasn't bad enough, the entire place was shaking, no doubt, due to Buzzsaw.
Thunder growled at them, but Tom stopped him.
"Easy, Pal," he said. "They're just scared."
The entire place shook once more, and the Woodchippers continued to hiss at them. Wu blasted them with his freeze blast but only seemed to aggravate them.
"We wouldn't even be in this position if Eugene had just kept his big mouth shut," Tom grumbled.
"More like this wouldn't have happened if you didn't give a big, cringy speech about how unlikable and weird I am."
"Now you're putting words in my mouth," said Tom.
"It wasn't just what you said; it was the way you said it."
"I just said we've known each other since we were little kids, so it would be weird…"
"See?"
"No, no! I just… Uh! Can we just get out of here and then discuss this?"
"Fine. If you want to avoid the issue."
"I don't want to avoid anything except being attacked!"
"All right! What's your plan, Kullersen?"
Tom began to think, but it was a bit difficult with the entire place shaking and a horde of angry Woodchippers growling at them. However, when he looked at them, he suddenly got an idea.
"The exit is blocked, but these Woodchippers can chew through the tree," said Tom. "If we can bond with them…"
"Maybe they'll dig at an exit," Jun finished smiling but then frowned when Tom smiled back. "Better than watching you dig your own hole deeper."
Tom then carefully approached one of the Woodchippers. "All right. Come on, little Woodchipper." He held his hand in front of the Woodchipper, which began to sniff his hand. "There you go, there you go."
Then suddenly, the entire tree shook again, and the Woodchipper tried to bite his hand off. Luckily, Thunder was able to pull him back before that could happen. Then, all the Woodchippers began to snarl as they closed in on them again.
"This isn't working," said Tom as he picked himself up.
Then suddenly, they heard a screech, and all the Woodchippers stopped in their tracks for a few seconds. Then, at exactly the same moment, they began to advance towards them.
"They move in perfect unison," Jun noted. "It's like they're all of one mind!"
"Well, if that's true, then we have to find out which mind is controlling them," said Tom.
"They operate like a colony of insects, and a colony usually has a queen."
"Right. And if we can bond with her, maybe she'll convince these guys to help," said Tom as he smiled back at Jun. "Nice work, Jun!"
"Guess it actually a good thing I'm around," she said coldly as he mounted Wu.
"I never said I didn't like having you around!" Tom yelled as she took off.
He then quickly mounted Thunder and followed her.
Meanwhile, the other Riders had tied up Ford and Winston, and now Eugene was interrogating them.
"Give me everything you got on Buzzsaw, you maggots!" he demanded.
"Where are Tom and Jun?!" D'Angelo demanded.
"D! I'm doing a thing here!" Eugene pointed out.
"And what's the deal with the flags?" Alex asked.
"And where are your Gronckles?" James asked.
"Guys! Come on!" Eugene moaned. "I'm playing Good Dragon Rider, Bad Dragon Rider, and I'm the Bad Dragon Rider!"
"Sure words have never been spoken," James smirked.
"Hey!" Eugene glared and then turned on Ford and Winston. "You two are going to talk all we feed ya like tater tots to our ferocious dragons!"
He then pointed at Plowhorn and Webmaster, but even then, he looked particularly ferocious. Plowhorn was fast asleep, and Webmaster was busy licking a rock.
"Uh," Eugene groaned and looked at Ford and Winston, who didn't look particularly terrified.
"Don't worry," Alex smiled innocently. "You have plenty of time to think about it."
Ford then found his leg being lifted up into the air, and Feathers de-cloaked, revealing that she now had his foot in her mouth.
"When Feathers eats, she starts at the toes and slowly works her way up to the head," she said.
"Let us not forget about Blade," James smiled as Blade approached Winston and moved his razor-sharp wings towards him. "Blade likes to cut his food into tiny pieces; keep telling him never to play with his, but he just doesn't seem to listen."
"All right, all right!" Ford yelled.
"Yeah, yeah!" said Winston. "We'll tell you everything!"
Tom and Jun were now trying to locate the Queen of the Woodchippers, but all the tunnels within the trees were like a giant maze.
"This place goes on forever!" said Tom. "And is it just me, or do all these chambers look the same?"
"Not this one," said Jun. "Look."
Jun moved to the side, and they saw a new chamber. It resembled all the others they had found, but there was a huge slab of stone, like a throne or something. Then, they could see a Woodchipper sitting on that slab, but it was slightly larger than the others and had wings.
They watched as it roared at a Woodchipper as if giving orders, and then it ran off.
"The Queen. We found her," said Tom as they dismounted their dragons. "We score points with her; we're as good as outta here."
Tom then approached the Queen and extended his hand towards her, and she jumped down to approach him.
"Careful, Tom. If you mess this up, you'll be stuck in here with me forever," Jun reminded him coldly. "And we both know you'd take that."
"You know that's not true!" said Tom and Jun scoffed. "You're one of my best friends. How could you think that…?"
The Queen suddenly snapped at him, and Thunder barely had time to pull them away.
"What the heck?!" Tom stared at her. "What was that for?"
"I guess you offended her, too," Jun assumed. "You're on a roll. Here, let me try."
She approached the Queen and extended her hand towards her, and she had a far easier time than Tom.
"Hmm…" she said smugly. "She doesn't think I'm so repulsive."
"Seriously?" Tom groaned. "Okay, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, but I was put on the spot. I didn't know what else to say."
"Whatever," said Jun dismissively.
"'Whatever'? Okay, what would you have said if Eugene said that to you?" Tom asked.
"That's dumb!" she said, a little flustered. "It… it doesn't matter what I would've said. Eugene says dumb things all the time. It's just… it's dumb."
"Oh, so hanging out with me is dumb?" Tom smirked.
"No! No, no, no!" she said quickly. "That's not what I meant. You're being stupid."
"Oh, hear that, Thunder," said Tom, looking at him. "Now I'm dumb and stupid."
"Stop distracting me!" Jun yelled. "You want to get outta here or not?"
The Queen immediately roared at them furiously, and they heard additional hisses.
"Uh, Jun, something tells me she's changed her mind about bonding with you," said Tom slowly as the entire colony of Woodchipper surrounded them.
Jun backed away and glared at Tom. "You scared her, and now here comes her whole colony!"
"Me?!" Tom glared. "You were bonding with her!"
"Well, clearly, no one feels like bonding," said Jun as they quickly mounted their dragons.
"Clearly!" Tom glared. "Come on, Pal!"
They quickly ran off before the Woodchippers completely surrounded them.
Meanwhile, the other Riders were attempting to interrogate Ford and Winston, who were giving everything except what they really wanted.
"All right, look, we don't know where he gets them, but he uses botanicals," said Winston.
"To survive the harsh Hidden World environments?" Eugene asked.
"What?" Ford frowned. "No. To smell fresh.."
Alex groaned. "This is going nowhere fast."
"Wait! What kind of botanicals?" Eugene asked.
"The fancy organic kind," said Ford. "But that's all I know."
"Very interesting."
D'Angelo groaned.
"What else?" Eugene pressed, and Webmaster snarled at them.
"Okay, okay!" said Winston. "Buzzsaw's allergic to synthetic fabrics."
"And he says he's 5'9, but he is not an inch over 5,7," Ford added.
"Yeah, we got a hunched down around him just so he doesn't feel bad."
"And his eyebrows are not natural. Somehow, he threads them!"
"Great, we got exactly what we wanted," said James sarcastically.
Eugene then bent down closer to them. "How do they compare to my eyebrows? In your opinion. Now, be honest, but not too honest. Be gentle."
Tom and Jun had managed to escape the Woodchipper and sought refuge inside one of the tunnels.
"That was so strange," said Tom as they dismounted their dragons. "Why couldn't either of us bond with her?"
"I don't know," said Jun.
"It looks like it was working when you tried," Tom noted.
"Yeah, and then you broke my focus."
Tom sighed.
"You put me on the spot, and I didn't know what to say," said Jun. "I got… anxious."
"That's how I've felt all day," said Tom. "Every time I try to talk or explain how I feel, I get all…"
"'Weird?'" Jun finished folding her arms.
"You don't like that word, but I get anxious, I guess."
Jun then made her way to the edge of the tunnel and looked down to see the Woodchippers. Upon seeing them, a thought occurred to her.
"That's it," she said. "We're the problem."
"You think we're a problem?" said Tom, a little crestfallen.
"Yes!" Jun nodded and then shook her head. "I mean, no, but, yes. Dragons are emotional creatures."
"You think they're picking up on our emotions?"
"Yeah. Every time you and I argued, the Woodchippers reacted. So did the Queen. Animals can be really sensitive to emotional energies, sometimes becoming aggressive when they sense…"
"Anxiety!" Tom finished. "So, if we want to bond with the Queen and get out of here, we need to figure out what's making us anxious and resolve it."
"Exactly," Jun nodded.
Thunder looked at Wu and Wei, as it was clear to them what was causing their anxiety. After a few moments of pondering, Tom and Jun came to the same conclusion and looked at one another awkwardly.
"Uh…" said Tom.
"Well?" said Jun. "Go ahead."
"Me? Why do, why do I have to start?"
"Because you started the whole thing," she pointed out.
"What?! Just because I don't know how to… I mean, if you're so sure about what the right thing to say is, why don't you say it?"
"Because you're supposed to!" said Jun and groaned. "Ugh! Never mind. This is pointless."
She then walked off, and Tom groaned.
Thunder looked at the two of them and knew that those two were being ridiculous about this entire mess.
The other Riders were still questioning Ford and Winston and not getting very useful Intel.
"…and ever since, I've had a deep-seated fear of abandonment," said Winston.
"Okay, enough!" said D'Angelo. "This isn't working."
"What are you talking about?" Eugene asked. "They're giving me everything."
"We don't care about that stuff," said D'Angelo, marching over to their captives. "We just need to know what Buzzsaw is up to. What's he planning?"
Ford and Winston looked at one another and refused to speak.
Alex approached them, held out her tablet, and began playing recordings.
"'And he says he's 5'9, but he is not an inch over 5,7,'" said Ford's voice.
"'Yeah, we got a hunched down around him just so he doesn't feel bad,'" said Winston's voice.
"'And his eyebrows are not natural. Somehow, he threads them!'" said Ford's voice.
Alex stopped the recording and smiled at Ford and Winston, who looked horrified. "You want me to play this for Buzzsaw so he can sic his giant dragon on you?"
"All right, all right!" said Winston. "He's been setting out those flags to send a message and stake his claim."
"He wants this whole dragon world entirely under his control," said Ford. "Like, his own empire or something."
"He went after those friends of yours."
The Dragon Riders immediately gasped upon hearing this.
"Tom and Jun!" said D'Angelo horrified.
Tom and Jun still refused to talk to one another even when the entire tree shook around. Tom wanted to talk to Jun but couldn't, so Thunder nudged him towards her.
"Hey! What are you doing…?" said Tom.
Jun looked up, and Tom quickly pushed Thunder back in, hidden behind the wall. However, Thunder nudged him away, and upon seeing him, Jun looked away.
"What if she doesn't feel the same way?" Tom asked.
Thunder growled softly, telling him that he had to talk.
Tom then approached Jun somewhat awkwardly. "Hey."
"Hey," she said quietly.
"Um… Look, I'm really, I'm really sorry," said Tom. "All the stuff I said… I was just nervous because I don't know how to… I should've told you how I felt sooner."
"How you felt?" said Jun, looking up at him.
"How I feel," Tom smiled and bent down towards her. "Jun, I'm…" Then suddenly, the entire tree shook more violently than before. "…falling?"
"You are?" Jun smiled. "You're falling for…?"
"The tree!" Tom yelled, and then the entire place shook. "The tree is falling!"
Outside, Buzzsaw watched as Jack cut through the giant tree's roots.
"Nice work, Jack," said Buzzsaw. "Just a few more strikes, and those twerps will be shouting, 'Timber'! Then we'll move in on that lightning bird."
Inside the tree, things were getting intense and constantly shaking.
"Wu! Wei! Stay close!" Jun yelled to them.
"Just hold on, hold on!" said Tom. "We'll get out of here."
The tree then shook violently, and Tom toppled over.
"How?" Jun asked. "The Woodchippers won't help us, and the tree is coming down!"
The trio then shook again, and she toppled over.
Thunder then nudged Tom, telling him to continue his talk with Jun.
"I know… it's now or never," he said and then crawled his way over to Jun. "All right, Jun. I didn't say before because I don't want to mess up our friendship, or, like, you know, but I like you. Like, like-like you. I have for a while, and I like hanging out with you. You're the coolest person I've ever met, and if you don't feel the same way, I understand, and that's okay, and I feel really weird now, so…"
"I like you too, Kullersen," Jun interrupted, and Tom stared at her. "Like-like. You're crazy and really full of bad ideas and some good ones, but it wasn't fair to put saying it first totally on you." She then grasped his hand and looked into his eyes. "I was scared, too. And… yeah."
They then heard some noises around them and saw that the Woodchippers had gathered around them, including their Queen.
Jun chuckled. "Looks like we got an audience."
The two of them looked at one another, smiled, and then held out their hands to the Queen. She lowered her head, placed it against their palms, and allowed them to stroke.
"We need a way out of here," said Tom.
"You think you can help us out?" Jun asked.
The Queen then turned her colony and began barking out some orders. Instantly, they stood to attention and began to chew their way through the tree, creating a new tunnel.
Outside, Buzzsaw and Jack had cut through many of the roots, but only the main one remained.
Buzzsaw laughed as he looked at the giant root. "All right, Jack. Take out that central root, and this whole thing will come down! And along with it, the lightning bird and his dweeds."
Jack growled and was about to cut through the root when they suddenly heard some rumbling.
"What's that?" Buzzsaw asked.
Suddenly, the Woodchippers broke out of the tree, and Tom and Jun, who were on the backs of their dragons, followed close behind.
"That's enough, Buzzsaw!" said Tom and then turned to the Queen. "That's your guy."
The Queen then roared at her colony, and they began to advance toward Buzzsaw and Jack.
"What? No!" Buzzsaw yelled, quickly mounted Jack and took to the air. "They will pay the price for helping you; I'll see to it!"
He blew his whistle, and Jack unleashed a powerful wing blast that knocked the Woodchippers back.
Buzzsaw laughed. "That's all you got? A bunch of runt dragons? Ha! Hold them off, Jack!"
Then suddenly, a loogie blast shot out of nowhere right above him, knocking him out of his saddle.
"Stay away from our friends!" D'Angelo yelled as he and the other Riders swooped in.
"What?!" Buzzsaw stared.
"Ha-ha! Take that!" said Eugene.
"About time you showed up!" said Tom.
They then quickly flew around Buzzsaw, and Jack completely surrounded them. The Woodchippers recovered and began to surround him on the ground with the Queen snarling at him.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Buzzsaw warned as he slowly backed away. He then mounted Jack in the took-off. "The odds won't be this good for you next time… Jack!"
The Riders then watched as Buzzsaw blew away.
"Yeah!" Alex cheered.
"In your face!" D'Angelo yelled.
"See ya!" said Tom.
Buzzsaw had retreated to the grass jungle.
"They got the drop on us with those beaver dragons, but next time…" he said to Jack.
"Boss?" said Winston.
Buzzsaw turned his head and saw Winston and Ford approaching him while still tied up to one another.
"What are you idiots doing?" Buzzsaw asked.
"It was the Riders!" said Winston. "They came out of nowhere!"
"They interrogated us!" said Ford. "Gave us the third degree! But we didn't say anything."
"Oh, yeah, right," Winston scoffed. "You sung like a canary!"
"Oh, yeah? I was the one who spilled the beans about botanicals!"
"Enough!" Buzzsaw roared. "For your buffoonery, you can both find your own way back. Oh, and don't bother returning until you've found your dragons."
He and Buzzsaw then walked off, leaving the two of them alone.
They then began searching for their dragons once again.
"Dragons!" Winston called. "Ps! Ps! Ps! Dragons!"
Unbeknownst to them, their two Gronckles were actually hiding behind the grass nearby.
Meanwhile, the Riders examined the damage Buzzsaw had inflicted on the giant tree.
"Buzzsaw did a lot of damage, but I think the tree will hold," said Tom confidently to the Queen.
"And it'll go back over time," Jun added.
The Queen then flew off and back into the tree.
"I'll have you know, Kullersen, then while you were off making goo-goo eyes at my sister, I gathered some serious intelligence on our boy Buzzsaw," said Eugene.
"I think he means Alex gathered the intelligence," said D'Angelo.
"Gonzo helped. I'll debrief you later. But you probably won't recognise me because these puppies are getting threaded," he said, tracing his fingers across his eyebrows.
Tom and Jun looked at one another, not sure quite what Eugene meant by that, but smiled.
"Seems like you, too, patched things up," D'Angelo noted.
"You could say that," said Tom as he grasped Jun's hand.
"I knew it!" D'Angelo beamed.
"What happened to, 'If Tom says it's nothing, it's nothing'?" Alex asked.
"I was just being supportive," he said.
"Hmm, well, it's about time!" said Alex.
James nodded. "I was wondering how long it was going to take you two to admit you like one another and I mean like as in like-like."
Tom and Jun looked at one another and smiled.
"Don't smile at each other," Eugene moaned as he rode Webmaster. "I'm right here! Oh, come on, guys!" He then covered Webmaster's eyes and walked away. "Webs, look away. Ugh!"
Everyone laughed.