Eugene was alone in the Lair with Webmaster; he had half hoped the other Riders would appear.

He got up and sighed. Then, he noticed Jun's shield and came up with a fun way to pass the time. He gave the shield to Webmaster and then grabbed Tom's lightning sword.

"Ha-ha!" he said, wielding the sword. "You are no match for Brave Scale! Lightning sword with butt-kicking power! Which is the power to…" He stopped as he tried to come up with a cool word, "…uh, kick butt!"

He charged at Webmaster but nearly slammed into the shield and was sent flying backwards.

"Brave Scale meant to do that," he groaned.

A few moments later, he held onto the shield and faced Webmaster, who had prepared the charge. He came at him at full speed and slammed into the shield, sending Eugene.

"Okay," he groaned as he sat up. "New game."

He then collapsed.

He then began playing hide and seek with Webmaster.

"…nine, ten," he said and opened his eyes. "Ready or not, Webs, here I come!"

He looked around for Webmaster but felt something wet dripping on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Webmaster hanging upside down.

He then began mimicking all the other Riders.

"My name's Tom, and I have yellow hair," he said, imitating Tom poorly. "And my grandpa's grandpa was a dragon nerd, too. Blah, blah, blah. And I totally lost the old book. Blah, blah, blah."

He then began to mimic Jun in the same manner. "And I'm Jun. Who wants to hear about some lame myths? Nobody? Well, I'll tell you anyway."

He then began to mimic James. "I am James, and I have Viking ancestry, too. I am also a know-it-all who thinks I'm superior to Eugene in every way."

He then began to mimic D'Angelo. "I'm Doctor D, and I'm AWOL now because I'm at my new dragon hospital, pampering dragons all the time. Hey, look, here comes Alex."

He then began to mimic Alex. "My senses are sensing something. Time to make a snarky comment. Snark, snark, snuck."

Webmaster tilted his head to Eugene, unsure what was happening.

Eugene sighed as he had to come to terms with the fact that the other Riders were showing up. Webmaster then approached him and nudged him, trying to cheer him up.

"Miss them?" Eugene scoffed. "Yeah, right! They're just my sister's lame friends anyway. I miss going on missions and blowing stuff up! And occasionally having people around. That I miss."

Webmaster grunted at him, telling him he should go to them.

"You think I should round up the gang and go on a mission?" he said. "I don't know. I mean, do you really think so?"

Webmaster gave him a look.

"All right, all right," said Eugene. "No need to pressure me, Webs. Fine. I'll go see what they're up to. Even though I don't care."

D'Angelo was in his dragon hospital, trying to get his stethoscope back from a few Vine Tails.

"Hey! Get that back!" D'Angelo demanded.

He began chasing the Vine Tails around the hospital as they passed the stethoscope to one another.

"You're tampering with sensitive medical equipment!" D'Angelo yelled as one of them jumped on the blinds.

Plowhorn then walked forward and bashed her horn against the blinds, scaring the Vine Tail.

"Thank you, Nurse Plow," said D'Angelo gratefully. He then turned to the Vine Tails. "Okay. How about the trade?" He then poured another haystack. "One haystack for one stethoscope."

The Vine Tails looked at one another, then with D'Angelo telling him that wouldn't cut it.

"Fine," he said, pulling out a second one. "Two haystacks."

He dropped the haystacks onto the ground, and they happily gobbled them up. Then they gave him the stethoscope back.

"Yo, Dr D!" Eugene yelled as he barged in.

The moment they saw the open door, the Vine Tails dashed towards it.

"Eugene, don't let them out!" D'Angelo cried as he chased after them.

Too late, they had already run out the door, and D'Angelo glared at Eugene furiously.

"Up for a little joyride?" Eugene asked, completely oblivious to what had just happened. "Been a week since we…"

"Oh," D'Angelo groaned as he went after the Vine Tails. "Come on, Plow. Let's round them up before they get into the food rations again."

Plowhorn growled at Eugene before following D'Angelo out of the hospital.

"So, is that no?" Eugene asked. "Or, like, maybe later?"

Eugene then tried James, who was currently sitting outside against a tree, jotting a few things down.

"Hey, Jimmy!" Eugene waved.

"What do you want, Eugene?" James asked without looking at him.

"Just wondered if you're finally bored with whatever you're doing," Eugene shrugged.

"Well, I'm not," said James impatiently. "Now, if you step to one side, you're blocking my light."

"Come on, you can't say this is more exciting than wondering the Hidden World," said Eugene.

"Have any of the others agreed to join you?"

"Uh, no."

"Then get back to me when you do."

Eugene then made his way over to Alex, who was currently playing video games in her room.

"Gonzo!" he yelled and waved his arms around. "Hey, Gonz! Gonzo!"

Alex was doing her best to ignore him and then close the window.

"Wow," said Eugene and walked away.

Tom and Jun met up on top of one of the domes, though Tom was a little bit late.

"Where have you been?" Jun asked. "We did say 1 o'clock."

"Oh, just organising something," said Tom.

"Okay," she smiled and turned her attention back to her book. "Well, while you were organising, I was digging deeper into the myth of Midgard, which obviously isn't a myth, and…" She then noticed that Tom wasn't really listening and appeared to be looking behind her. "Hello? Hollow Earth to Tom! You still here?"

"Yeah, sure," said Tom, his eyes turning to a familiar growl. "I…"

Thunder then landed with a picnic basket in his mouth.

Jun laughed. "Thunder! Why do you have a picnic basket?"

"I was thinking we haven't exactly been on an officially official date yet," Tom smiled. "I mean, we read books together all the time, which is great, even though James is with us most of the time, but I was thinking more of a… traditional date, just the two of us. I-I know it's kind of old-fashioned, but…"

Jun then immediately hugged him before he could get another word out.

"I would love to, Mr Kullersen," she smiled.

"It is my pleasure, Ms Wong," Tom smiled back.

Eugene arrived without them noticing; he had also planned to ask them out on an adventure but suddenly felt sick seeing them together.

"Oh! Barf," he said, averting his eyes. "No, no, thank you. Hard pass."

"So, what's for lunch?" Jun asked.

"Well, there wasn't much in the fridge, so I just grabbed some cold spaghetti," he admitted.

"A spaghetti picnic?" Jun laughed. "Guess there's a first time for everything."

The two of them then mounted their dragons and took off.

Eugene made his way to the fissure's edge frustrated with the other Riders.

"What a bunch of lame-os!" he said. "They decide to take a break, and all of a sudden, they think they're too cool for me?" He then looked at Webmaster frustratingly. "You know what? They're not. I should go on my own missions. Who needs them, right?"

Webmaster growled at him.

"Yeah," said Eugene. "No debating what to do, nobody telling me not to blast things, or not at all consistently, or that my ideas aren't great, which of course they are!"

Eugene then turned to face the fissure. "That's it. I've decided. We're going on our own mission. See? Another great idea from me!"

Webmaster growled.

"Okay, you helped, too," Eugene admitted.

Eugene was now in the Ice Realm, flying around pretending to play guitar.

"Hey! Wanna play a game?" Eugene asked, looking down at Webmaster. "I used to play this with Jun when she was younger." He suddenly placed his hands over Webmaster's eyes, much to his distress. "Now, reach out with your senses." Unsurprisingly, with his eyes covered, Webmaster found it difficult to fly, which Eugene finally noticed. "She wasn't good as either."

They then crashed into the ground.

"Smooth landing," Eugene groaned.

Webmaster then got back up and approached him.

"Again?" said Eugene. "Yeah, give me a second for my spleen to stop throbbing."

They then heard a distant screech in the distance.

"What is that?" Eugene asked.

Then he saw a pack of Flamethrowers flying overhead.

"Flamethrowers?" Eugene blinked. "What are they doing out here?"

Webmaster growled as they hid.

"Yeah, there's too many of them," Eugene agreed. "Not that we couldn't chase them off. I mean, I totally could, but Flamethrowers are bad news."

Webmaster growled, telling him that they needed to tell the Riders.

"The others?" Eugene stared. "No way! You saw them up there. Too busy. Too cool. Too on a sappy relationship. No, I don't need them. I need something… better than them." An idea then appeared in his head. "Yeah, in order to do with those Flamethrowers, I need a Eugene team."

Webmaster just gave an unenthusiastic growl, predicting that this was not going to end well.

Back on the surface, Alex was now playing a game with her mothers.

"Your turn, Mija," said Carla.

Alex picked up one of the cards, and suddenly, one lifted it onto its own. Feathers then appeared in front of them and placed it on the table.

"Ooh," said Hazel. "Very nice play, Feathers."

"Gonzo!" Eugene yelled, bursting into the room, making everyone jump and throwing all the cards in every direction.

"Eugene!" Alex glared. "What the heck? Ever heard of knocking?"

Carla snapped at Eugene angrily in Spanish as she helped Hazel to her feet.

"Sorry to bust in like this, but it's important," said Eugene. "I am putting together a new team, and I—"

"Stop right there," said Alex. "I am not joining some new team."

"Ooh, yeah, this is kinda awkward, but, um, I'm actually here to see them," said Eugene, gesturing to her mothers.

"Them?" Alex stared.

"Us?" said Carla and Hazel in unison.

They immediately sat down, and Eugene looked up at Alex.

"You mind, Gonzo?" he asked.

"Okay," said Alex, looking at him suspiciously.

"Ladies! I have an amazing opportunity for both of you," he said, looking at the two of them. "I'm putting together a new team of Dragon Riders, and I'd like both of you to be a part of it. The team will be cooler, tougher, and I'll be the leader, so it'll be better-looking and just all-around more swicked! The thing is, there seems to be some new dangers in the realms and these dangers like call us on us—"

"Dangers?" Alex interrupted. "Okay, okay, okay. I've heard enough, Eugene. You are not recruiting my moms to join your team! If you want the Riders to regroup, just say so."

"Gonzo, you decide to ignore me!" Eugene reminded her. "The rest of the team decided to ignore me! So now I'm looking to a new team, and I think your moms would be ideal candidates."

Alex scoffed. "That's ridiculous. They don't want to ride dragons."

"Alejandra, that's enough," said Carla. "I think it could be fun."

"Yeah!" Hazel agreed. "I wouldn't mind learning to fly a dragon, feed a dragon, or blast things with a dragon."

"Mom!" Alex groaned. "I know it sounds fun, but being a Dragon Rider is really—"

"Only for young people?" Eugene cut a cross. "I don't think so. I think these two strong, capable women can make their own decisions. Right?"

"Yes, we can," said Clara as she and Hazel rose to their feet. "Thank you, Eugene."

"If you would excuse us, Gonzo, we have some training to do," said Eugene as they left.

Alex just stared, trying to figure out what just happened.

Meanwhile, Tom and Jun flew through the Ice Realm for their date.

"So, a nice, frigid, snowy picnic," said Jun. "This'll be great.

"No, no, no, no," Tom laughed. "We're just taking a shortcut to the Nature Realm."

"Isn't the shortcut right next to Buzzsaw's camp?" Jun asked.

"Oh, sure. But we'll be super quick and slip right past. He won't see a thing."

They were now flying directly over Buzz's camp, and they could see the man himself, but he wasn't alone. They saw that he was approaching two people and recognised them as Sledkin and Linda.

"Is that…?" said Jun.

"Buzzsaw and Sledkin. Together!" Tom finished.

"Should we go back and grab the other Riders?" Jun asked.

"No," said Tom. "We might miss something. Let's hide in the tree line. Take us down, Pal."

They then quickly swooped down towards the trees and hit from sight. They then took up positions and watched as Buzzsaw approached Sledkin and Linda to greet them.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Eugene had just put together his new team.

"Congratulations," said Eugene. "Each of you has been hand-picked by Commander Eugene Wong to be part of my elite band of heroes. Today marks the first step in your journey. Welcome to Eugene's Extreme Dream Team!"

His new team consisted of Alex's moms, Pete, and a Hobgobbler. However, another looked particularly enthusiastic.

Alex, who was watching, sniggered at the site, much to Eugene's annoyance.

"Is something funny, Gonzo?" Eugene asked, marching up to her.

"Nope!" she said. "Don't mind me. Just here for the show. And to make sure you don't accidentally kill my moms. Great name for the team, though."

"Yeah. It is," said Eugene as he walked back. "It is a great name."

"Doesn't quite walk off the tongue, does it," said James as he arrived.

"What are you doing here?" Eugene asked.

"I heard about this new team of yours, and like Alex, I wanted to make sure that no one was killed," said James simply.

Eugene glared and made his way back to his team. "Now, where was I?"

They heard a strange sound, and suddenly, Nibbles appeared out of the trees. It turned out that he went behind a tree to relieve himself.

"Hey, no bathroom breaks until after the first session, Nibby!" Eugene scolded.

Carla then suddenly began rubbing his cheek. "No!"

"You have cheesy loops dust on your chin," she said.

Hazel then pulled Eugene away from her. "Carla, leave the boy alone. He's trying to give his big leader speech."

"With queso on his face?" said Carla, pulling him back. "Nah. Come on." She finally wiped off the elements of the dust. "There." She then patted him on the head. "That's better. Now you can be a big leader."

James snorted, much to Eugene's annoyance.

"Okay, thanks. That's enough," said Eugene. "Can we please focus?"

"Um…" said Pete, raising his hand.

"What is it, Pete?" Eugene asked.

He then pointed at a Hobgobbler, who had just eaten all the snacks. "That dragon ate all the snacks. You said there would be food, so maybe I'll just…"

"I also said I wouldn't tell my mother about the power naps you take in the hangar, didn't I?" Eugene glared. "And we both going to back on our deal?"

"Carry on, Commander!" said Pete abruptly, standing to attention.

"I will," he said and then screamed as he suddenly got a sharp pain in his leg. "What the…?" He looked down and saw that Nibbles had bit down on his leg. "Get off! Respect your leader!" He then began dancing around, trying to throw Nibbles off. "Somebody do something! He's really latched on there!"

He then collapsed to the ground, and Carla quickly stepped forward, finding the little dragon adorable.

"Aw," she said, removing him from Eugene's leg and stroking him. "You can't get mad at this little angel."

"He's so cute," said Hazel.

"Cute!?" Eugene yelled and pointed to his leg. "He left a mark!"

He then stuck his finger towards Nibbles, who would have button-down on it if he had moved away in time.

"He really shouldn't have picked Nibbles," said Alex. "Awful choice."

"And he wonders how come we picked Tom over him?" said James, rolling his eyes.

"That's it," said Eugene, reaching the end of his wick. "You know what? Speech are lame." He then turned around and faced everyone. "If we're going to turn you zeros into heroes, we've got to get down to business. Who's ready to train some dragons?"

No one said anything, and then suddenly, Webmaster barged in, knocking everyone to the ground.

Eugene then set up a target and had everyone begin to practice shooting on Webmaster. The first person up was Hazel, who looked a little nervous.

"It's okay," said Eugene. "Give her a tap and say 'blast them!'"

"Feel free to commence with the blasting," said Hazel politely.

Webmaster, however, didn't fire a single shot.

"With that too hardcore?" Hazel asked.

Eugene facepalm himself.

Eugene then decided to teach Pete how to bond with a dragon.

"Good. Good," he said as Pete extended his hand to the Hobgobbler. "Now, wait for him to come to you. Or something like that."

However, the Hobgobbler just sat there.

"I don't think he gets it," said Pete.

"Whatever. Just put your hand on his face."

Pete then closed his eyes and touched the dragon. "Is that right?"

Eugene looked down and saw that Pete had placed his hand on the dragon's backside. "Your hand's on his butt, man."

"Okay!" said Pete, quickly pulling his hand away.

"Go wash that thing."

Peter then sniffed his hand and winced.

Eugene was now teaching Carla how to fly.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Carla yelled, clinging on to Webmaster. "I don't like heights!"

"You're fine," said Eugene. "Webs, stand-up."

Webmaster then rose to his feet, and she immediately screamed.

"Make him stop! Make him stop!" she yelled.

Eugene then moved back to Pete, placing his hand on the Hobgobbler's face this time.

"Wow!" Pete gasped. "I did it."

"Yeah! See?" Eugene smiled. "That's what I'm talking about."

However, Pete pulled back his hand and discovered it was covered in drool.

"Okay…" he said in disgust. "Ew."

"Go wash it," Eugene sighed.

Pete ran off, passing both Alex and James.

"They're getting there," said Eugene, approaching the two of them.

However, neither Alex nor James looked convinced.

Hazel was now attempting to do some target practice again with Webmaster. She had just tapped his head, and Webmaster fired some fire webbing. Hazel then tapped him again, and he fired some more fire webbing.

"Ha! That puppy with everything you've got!" Hazel yelled as she had Webmaster fire at the target repeatedly. "Come and get some!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Eugene yelled, trying to sell her down. "Ease up there, Mrs G! You don't have to unload the entire dragon on one target!"

Eugene then took Carla for a flight around the forest, but she was still quite terrified.

"I can't look!" she said, clinging on to Eugene and closing her eyes as tightly as she could.

"Come on! You're fine!" said Eugene.

Eugene then decided to do some fancy aerial manoeuvres, which scared Carla to no end. He then performed the flip, and Carla fell off without him noticing. He only noticed when he could no longer hear the screaming behind him.

"She ejected?" he asked as he looked behind him.

Fortunately, Alex saved Carla, who flew up to Eugene, glaring at him as her terrified mother clung to her.

"Okay, okay. That was my bad," Eugene admitted.

They then flew back towards the ground, and Alex and James marched up to him furiously.

"Eugene Wong?" Alex growled.

"What?" he said.

"Maybe it's time to admit that this team of yours is not going to work," said James

"Why did you even put this team together?" Alex asked. "Nobody knows what they're doing, most of all you! I don't even know. Why you thought you could leave anything!"

"Ouch, Gonzo," said Eugene, looking generally hurt. Then he approached everyone. "Eugene's Extreme Dream Team is officially disbanded."

"My blood sugar level is crashing," said Pete, raising his hand. "Does that mean that…?"

"Yeah! No free snacks or anything else, Pete!" Eugene yelled.

He then mounted Webmaster and took off.

James looked at Alex. "Don't you think you were a little too hard on him?"

Alex just remained quiet, looking up at Eugene as he flew away.

Meanwhile, Tom and Jun were still spying on Buzzsaw and Sledkin.

"Guss our a picnic will have to wait," said Tom.

"At least the spaghetti was already called," Jun smiled. "Can you hear what they're saying?"

"Not really," said Tom. "We gotta get closer somehow." He then looked at their dragons. "You guys wait here. And be quiet."

Tom and Jun then attempted to get closer to listening to their conversation.

Ford had just given Sledkin a cup of tea, but she refused to drink it and spilt it all over the ground.

"Mr… Saw. Why am I here?" Sledkin asked.

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" said Buzzsaw as he finished sipping his cup of tea. "You're on my land without my permission."

Sledkin looked used as she tossed the teacup aside, which smashed on the ground. "I don't need your permission to do anything."

"Oh, but I think you do. I am the Dragon King," he said, gesturing to everything around him. "All of this, as far as the eye can see, is my domain. If you want to root around and dig up this dragonsite stuff, you're going to have to do something for me."

Linder was currently with Ford and Winston as their bosses began to talk.

"Guess you guys work for Buzzsaw, huh?" Linder assumed. "He seems… nice."

"If by 'nice' you mean he lets us eat everything once in a while, sure," said Ford.

Linda just stood there awkwardly.

Tom and Jun had climbed onto Buzzsaw's hut as it was the only place in the camp where they could observe without being seen and close not to hear.

"Ford!" Buzzsaw yelled.

Ford then walked up to Buzzsaw with the Book of Dragons.

"He's showing her the book," said Tom.

Buzzsaw snatched the book from Ford and held it up to Sledkin. "Recognise this?"

"It belongs to those brats from Rakke Town," she said. "How did you get it?"

"I won it from that blonde kid in a battle of wits," he said. "Unfortunately, it's written in some old-timely code."

Sledkin snatched the book from him and recognised the letters. "Ancient Norse runes. I'm familiar."

"So you can read it," Buzzsaw smiled. "This is what I propose. You translate the book for me, and I'll let you dig up all the dragonsite you want. Do we have a deal?"

Tom and Jun gasped at one another; an alliance between the two greatest enemies was not a fun prospect.

At the same time, Eugene decided to deal with the Flamethrowers by himself. He managed to find a small pack sniffing some fish that had been placed in the open.

He then heard a small noise, turned, and was surprised to see Nibbles sitting beside him, but then focused on the task.

"Okay, listen," he said. "We gotta get those things outta here. Here's the plan."

He then performed several hand signs to Webmaster and Nibbles. He then slowly approached the Flamethrowers, and Webmaster hid behind a tree. Nibbles remained out in the open until Webmaster pushed him down with his tail.

"Hey, uglies!" Eugene waved. "Over here! Webs!"

Webmaster then jumped out and blasted the two Flamethrowers with some fire webs.

Eugene laughed in triumph. "See? That was easy! No need for the old team or the new team!"

Unfortunately, Nibbles saw the fish and licked his lips.

"We make the best team," said Eugene.

Nibbles then flew by, snatching the fish and activating the trap. A split second later, Eugene and Webmaster found themselves caught in a net.

"Webs! It's a trap!" Eugene cried.

That wasn't bad enough. A flare then fired off into the air.

"Nobody even knows we're down here," said Eugene. "Except for Buzzsaw."

Buzzsaw was still trying to get Sledkin on board.

"I'm building a dragon army the likes of which you've never seen," he said as he paced up and down. "These dragons you see caged around my camp, they're…"

"Ooh! Fireworks!" said Linda, noticing the flare.

Tom and Jun quickly ducked down as Buzzsaw turned around, noticing the flare.

"It's a signal flare," he said. "Ford! Winston! We got one!"

He then mounted Jack and held his hand to Sledkin.

"Come on, Sledkin," he said.

"Where are we going?" Sledkin asked.

"To see what's for dinner."

They then flew off towards the source of the flare.

"Oh, no," said Jun as she and Tom watched them fly off.

On the surface, Alex and James were trying to find Eugene, who had disappeared.

Alex then noticed D'Angelo exiting the hospital. "D! Have you seen Eugene?"

"No," he frowned. "What did he do this time?"

"It's a long story," said Alex.

"Suffice it to say, there's a chance he's in trouble," said James.

"That's normally the case with Eugene," D'Angelo sighed.

"Yeah, but I kind of said something I regret," Alex admitted. "I thought he went just to blow off some steam, but he hasn't come back."

"It's possible that he went down into the Hidden World alone," said James.

"You think Plow can maybe help us track him down?" Alex asked.

"Are you kidding?" D'Angelo smiled. "Plow can smell his body spray from two realms over."

Plowhorn sniffed the air, and it looked as if she had picked up his scent.

"Come to think of it, so can I," said D'Angelo as they mounted their dragons.

Eugene was still caught in the net and trying to free himself but to no avail.

"Webs! You're crushing me, dude!" he said. "You're all elbows!"

If being trapped wasn't bad enough, the Flamethrowers finally freed themselves but didn't look particularly happy.

"Down! Down!" said Eugene. "Bad Dragon. Bad dragon…"

Eugene then noticed Nibbles, and his face lit up. "Nibbles! Hey! Hey, Nibbles! Hey, chew us out."

Nibbles, however, just flew away.

"Traitor," Eugene grumbled.

The Flamethrowers were now directly below him and looked as if they were about to snap at him at any moment. Then he heard the sound of a whistle and saw Buzzsaw had arrived with Sledkin. The former was using his whistle to keep the Flamethrowers at bay.

"It's Buzzsaw's fresh catch of the day!" he said. "And whoa! What do we have here? One of the dragon fools and his freaky pet."

"Hello, Eugene," said Sledkin.

"Dr Sledkin!" Eugene stared. "Great seeing you again. Any chance you'd be open to helping an old pal out? Pretty please?"

"Save it," she said. "I'm not fooled by your impish Boy Scout routine. And why should I help you?"

"Because… you're surrounded," he said.

"Surrounded by what?" Buzzsaw scoffed. "The beauty of my dragon kingdom?"

"By my friends, the Dragon Riders," said Eugene confidently.

"Actually, Maury texted me with hot gossip," said Linda, pulling out her phone. "Rumour has it the Riders split up."

Sledkin smiled. "So, the great Dragon Riders have fallen victim to the complications of adolescent social dynamics."

"Even if we did split up, my friends still have my back," said Eugene. "Yeah. They'll like this place up like a Christmas tree."

"Don't worry," said Sledkin, looking back at Buzzsaw. "This one doesn't have any friends. He's just the older brother who latches on. He's pathetic and alone."

"My team will come," said Eugene, trying to convince himself more than anyone. "You'll see."

"Hah! False," Sledkin sneered. "At this point, we're more the team than the Riders."

"So, you agreed to our partnership?" Buzzsaw asked.

"Hmm. You have proven yourself to be more capable than I previously thought," she admitted.

"Then it settled!" Buzzsaw beamed. "The Buzzsaw Sledkin Alliance is formed! A partnership forged in legend!"

"Forged in convenience," she corrected.

"Yeah!" Buzzsaw cheered.

"Cork it, Buzzsaw."

"She only tells people closest to her to cork it," Linda assured Buzzsaw. "Welcome to the fold."

"Now, what do we do with him?" Sledkin asked, looking up at Eugene.

"Keep keep him, I guess," said Buzzsaw. "Maybe he'll come in handy. Probably not, though."

"Sledkin's right," said Eugene. "I am all alone. Just the tag-along older brother."

Webmaster nuzzled him to reassure him.

Buzzsaw blew his whistle, and Jack sliced through the net, causing Eugene and Webmaster to hit the ground.

"These were supposed to be for the Flame Splitters," said Buzzsaw. "Who knew they would work on a middle schooler?"

"Technically, I'm in high school, but I guess that makes it worse," said Eugene.

Then, suddenly, mist began to cover the area.

"Uh, Dr Sledkin, what's going on?" Linda asked.

"Ho-ho-ho!" Eugene smiled, recognising the mist. "You three are about to meet the business end of a Mist Twister."

Then suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot out of nowhere, knocking Buzzsaw and Sledkin off their feet. Eugene turned and saw both Tom and Jun landing beside him.

"Don't worry, Eugene," said Tom. "We're getting you outta here."

"There he is!" said D'Angelo as he, James and Alex arrived. He then smiled down at Plowhorn. "Your nose never fails!"

"Alex? D? James?" Tom stared.

"How do you know to come and get me?" Eugene asked.

"How do you know to come and get him?" everyone else asked at the same time.

"Oh, w-we didn't," Tom admitted. "We were following Sledkin and Buzzsaw."

"You guys went on your own mission?" Eugene stared.

"No, we were on a date," said Jun.

"Oh, is that what missions are called now? Dates?" Alex asked, not looking convinced.

"Well, what about you?" Tom asked. "What are you three doing here?"

"We came looking for Eugene," said Alex.

"So, you're on a rescue mission, and you didn't call us?" said Jun.

"Wow," said Buzzsaw, looking at them. "They are a mess."

"Can we stay and watch?" Linda asked.

"Can you guys care to explain what Buzzsaw and Sledkin are doing together?" James asked.

"Yeah! How long were you going to keep the Buzzsaw and Sledkin team up for us?" D'Angelo asked.

"We weren't keeping anything!" said Tom. "We just found out!"

"Yeah, on a solo mission," said Eugene. "Who does that?"

"You just did," Alex pointed out.

"Only after my new team failed!"

"You make your own team?" said Tom.

"You guys went on your…"

Buzzsaw then blew his whistle, gaining everyone's attention.

"Meet my newest additions!" he said, gesturing to Sledkin and Linda.

Sledkin pulled out an electric rod, and Linda removed her shoe to use as a weapon. Ford and Winston then arrived on their Gronckles. If that wasn't bad enough, the Flamethrowers from early began to surround them.

"All right, everyone focus," said Tom. "Jun and I will go after Buzz…"

"Wait! You seriously want to fight?" said D'Angelo.

"Yeah. We gotta cut our losses and run," Alex agreed.

James merely shrugged, clearly not sure which side to pick.

Alex then turned to Eugene. "You're the tiebreaker, Eugene. Make the call."

"Like a leader?" Eugene blinked. "I say we fight…" He then mounted Webmaster. "…our way out."

"You finally done with your group therapy session?" Buzzsaw asked.

"Eugene's Extreme Dream Team Part Two!" said Eugene. "Ready?"

"Did we agree to that name?" Tom asked.

"Nobody asked you!" said Eugene and turned to the others. "Everyone, pick a target!"

The Riders immediately made their move, and Buzzsaw and his group made theirs. Plowhorn quickly fired some bomb loogies at Ford and Winston, knocking off their Gronckles.

"Sing them to sleep, Feathers," said Alex.

Feathers unleashed a sonic blast, knocking Sledkin down to the ground, and Linda quickly followed her. Tom and Thunder made a beeline for Buzzsaw, and Jack fired off a lightning blast. Then, when they were recovering, Thunder fired another blast to disappear. Jun and James tangled with the Flamethrowers, blasting them before they could make a move.

Buzzsaw coughed when he looked up; he saw that the Riders had flown away.

"They're running away!" he beamed. "Cowards. You are no match for the Dragon King and his army of unstoppable dragons!"

"And us!" Linda added.

Sledkin rolled her eyes.

Linda then noticed Nibbles approaching her. "Oh! Look!" she said, bending down. "He's just the cutest little unicorn dragon I've ever seen."

Nibbles, then suddenly bit her finger.

Sledkin chuckled. "I like that one. You can keep it."

The Riders had managed to make it back to the Lair, but all of them were still trying to process what happened that day.

"Sorry our date was such a waste," Tom apologised to Jun.

"I wouldn't call intelligence gathering turned daring rescue a waste," Jun smiled. "I'd call it very us."

"So glad your date worked out," Eugene muttered. "My day was awful. Thanks for asking."

"We don't need to ask, Eugene," said Alex. "We all got dragged into this."

"Your day wasn't the only bad one, Eugene," D'Angelo pointed out.

"But if it wasn't for Eugene, we wouldn't have seen Buzzsaw and Sledkin shake hands on their new partnership," said Jun.

"Yeah. You're all welcome," said Eugene.

"Guess this is what happens when we let our villains run rampant in the realms," James sighed.

"We can't just let Buzzsaw and Sledkin run wild together in the realms," said Tom as he rose to his feet. "Things just got a lot more complicated."

"Got that right, Kullersen," said Eugene.

"So, what do we do?" D'Angelo asked.

Everyone looked at one another awkwardly.

"Look, if nobody is going to ask it, I will," said Eugene. "Are we getting back together… or not?"

Everyone looked at one another, not quite sure how to answer that question.