Tom and the others were flying through the fissure when suddenly they heard thunder above. Thunder stopped in his tracks and looked up at the storm above them excitedly.
He then suddenly took off into the sky and out of the fissure, and Tom did everything he could to pull him back.
"Whoa, Whoa, whoa!" Tom yelled. "No, Pal! Where are you going?"
The others stopped in their tracks and saw Thunder flying out of the fissure.
"What's wrong with Thunder?" D'Angelo asked.
"I don't know! He trying to fly up into the clouds!" said Tom and looked back down at Thunder. "We can't go up there, buddy! Someone might see you."
They were now out of the fissure, and Thunder looked at the bolt of lightning coming from the storm and appeared to look very disappointed.
Tom then heard the sound of a helicopter approaching them through the thick cloud. "Quick, hide!"
They quickly dived back down into the fissure, and the others quickly hit as the helicopter flew overhead. Once the helicopter passed, they quickly flew away.
"That was close," said Jun. "They could've seen us."
"Yeah," Tom agreed.
"We were lucky there were storm clouds, but we can't be that lucky again," said James.
Unbeknownst to them, they were being observed by an invisible dragon hiding among the rocks. It looked at them curiously before flying after them.
In her Dome, Alex was still going over the drone footage.
"Definitely something weird flying around out there," she said then she saw footage of Tom exiting the town. "Wendy, how many times has Tom gone through the perimeter sensors?"
"Nine times," said her artificial intelligence. "Ten if you count the sheep diversion."
Alex leaned back in her chair. "What are you up to, Thomas Kullersen?"
The door to her room opened, and her two mothers entered. Carla, a brown-skinned woman with brown eyes and brown hair with blonde at the end and Hazel, a tall woman with brown hair and green eyes.
"Hello, Mija," said Carla.
"We've got great news!" said Hazel. "Well, more the good news bad news thing."
"The bad news is our little earthquake problem has stopped our work at the station," said Carla. "The good news is we've got the evening off."
"Yay! And we want you to come along on an exciting adventure we've planned," said Hazel.
"This adventure, it wouldn't happen to take place outside, would it?" Alex asked.
"Well, yes, but we won't be doing anything dangerous," said Carla holding out her torch. "We'll just catching fireflies."
Then suddenly, the entire dome shocked.
"Earthquake!" Carla yelled.
"Engaged safety protocols!" said Hazel handing Carla her helmet and putting hers on.
The two of them then immediately ducked down beneath Alex's deck, and Alex pressed a button on the computer. Instantly the chair began to inflate, and she found herself being bounced around like she was in a dodgem car.
A few seconds later, the earthquake died down, and Alex's mums pulled themselves out from beneath the desk.
"So, what you say? Wanna catch some fireflies?" Carla asked.
Alex de-inflated her chair and looked at the two of them. "We're just going to ignore that major earthquake?"
"We've lived in California," said Hazel. "Earthquakes are like rainstorms."
"But if you need to talk through your feelings, we're happy to do so," Carla offered. "On our evening firefly walk?"
"I feel like I should stay here," said Alex and pulled her chair back towards her laptop. "Enjoy your walk."
Disappointed, her two mothers began to leave the room, but not before Carla put a torch on her bed.
"In case you change your mind," she said.
They then exited the room, looking rather disappointed and then closed the door behind them.
"I just wish she had one good friend," said Carla.
Alex then slowly turned towards the torch on her bed and then looked back at the image of Tom on her laptop. She didn't want to go outside, but she wanted to know what Tom was up to and then reluctantly went for the torch.
At the Dragon's Lair, Tom was addressing the issue of nearly getting caught.
"All right. To Jun's point, we gotta be more careful out there," said Tom. "Keeping the dragons a secret is the most important thing."
"What do you suggest?" Jun asked.
Tom then immediately jumped behind a stalagmite. "Hiding techniques. Watch this." He then looked at Thunder. "Okay, Pal. Time for the old 'boom-boom goodbye' trick."
As he spoke, he performed a hand signal, slamming his fist down twice before lifting it up and out, stretching his fingers. Thunder nodded, understanding the signal and quickly took off. Everyone watched as he flew around the cave and then fired a bolt of lightning before diving into it, vanishing instantly.
"Whoa. That is sick!" said Jun.
"He just disappeared into thin air," James gasped.
"Where'd he go?" D'Angelo asked.
Thunder then reappeared as he flew behind them, scaring D'Angelo. Tom laughed before Thunder collided with him and began to lick him.
"Nice one, Pal," said Tom and then turned to the others. "See? You just have to train your dragons to do that."
"Yeah, except our dragons don't breathe lightning," Jun pointed out. He then turned her eyes to Wu and Wei and got an idea. "But we have a few moves of our own. Behold. The mysterious power of the ancient water dragon."
She then leaned in closer towards Wu and Wei. "Okay, let's try our new steam cloud getaway trick, remember? Woosh!"
She then performed a hand just her own by spreading her arms out wide. Wu responded by unleashing his ice breath down upon Jun, which was quickly followed by Wei's heat breath. Sadly all that accomplished was leaving Jun completely sucked.
"Yeah, not the way we practised it," she said.
"Okay, Blade, let's show them what we can do," said James as he looked at his dragon. "Now hide!"
He then pressed his arms together right in front, and Blade responded by standing on his hind legs and standing up straight.
D'Angelo frowned. "How is that hiding?"
"Give me a break; he's covered in metal scales," said James.
"Well, feast your eyes on this," said D'Angelo as he turned to Plowhorn. "This is how you go, full ninja. Do what I do, girl." He then quickly hit behind us to stalagmite. "Hide!"
Plowhorn then jumped behind a stalagmite, though it only had a small portion of her.
"No, no, no!" D'Angelo hissed. "Duck down! Ducked down!"
Plowhorn lowered herself but began scratching the ground with her back feet. D'Angelo could only himself in embarrassment.
"Wow. It's like Plowhorn completely disappeared," said Jun sarcastically.
"So, we'll practice!" D'Angelo snapped. "And when we're done, our dragons will be the best hiders in all dragon kind."
Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by an invisible track.
Alex, meanwhile, was outside making her way to the Lair looking for Tom.
"Tom?" she called. "Tom, where are you?" She then looked at her tablet. "Okay, Okay. I got this. Tom? Tom! Where are you?"
Tom and the others could hear Alex from inside the Lair; they then looked up and saw a torchlight shining through the entrance.
"Someone's here," said Tom. "Let's go check it out."
They then mounted their dragons and flew out, not knowing that they, too, will be followed once again by the invisible dragon.
Tom and the others made their way outside, and they were rather surprised to see Alex.
"No way. It's Alex," Tom stared in disbelief.
"I thought she never left her room," said D'Angelo. "What is she doing out here?"
They decided to follow along with their dragons, but unbeknownst then, the invisible dragon was also following Alex. They watched as she began making her way to the entrance to the Lair.
"She's about to discover the Lair," said Tom.
"Maybe we just tell her the truth," Jun suggested. "Let her into Dragon Club."
"Dragon Club isn't looking for new members, Jun," said Tom as he rose to his feet. "If a lot of people know, it's not really a secret."
"Uh, yeah. That's how secrets work," said D'Angelo standing up as well.
"Says the kid who told his parents everything."
"But fortunately for us, my parents think I'm insane."
"Look, even if she discovers the Lair, our dragons are here with us, so she'll find nothing," James pointed out.
"Uh, I wouldn't be too sure of that," Jun winced.
They followed her gaze into the horror. They saw that their dragons were following Alex.
"Code red," D'Angelo panicked.
Alex wasn't aware that she had four dragons following her and eventually reached the mouth of the entrance to the Lair.
"Tom?" she said as he shone his torch down into the cave. "Uh, Tom? You in there? Hello? Hello? My little toaster tracker says you're down there."
However, there was no reply, and she immediately shook her head. "Of course, he's not in there. This is silly. I…I'm going home."
She then backed up until she collided with Thunder, and her entire body went stiff. She patted her hands against Thunder without looking and definitely felt something big and scaly behind her. She slowly turned around and came face-to-face with all four dragons, with Thunder smiling at her.
"Okay then…" she said as she slowly walked away.
She took about 20 paces before running away screaming, past Tom and the others who were currently hiding behind a bush.
"Well, looks like she might be part of Dragon Club whether we like it or not," said Jun.
"Maybe we can convince bet she's seeing things," James suggested.
Tom sighed. "Let's get the dragons back into the Lair, then we'll deal with Alex."
They then mounted their dragons and took off back to the Lair.
However, none of them were aware that the invisible dragon was still hiding and had watched everything. It looked down at Alex curiously as she ran all the way back to town.
Alex managed to get back to town and quickly made her way to her dome.
"You're safe. Obviously, you're having a lucid dream," she said calmly. "You never even went outside. You've been here the whole time, safely in your dome."
She then looked at the torch she was still holding and quickly tossed it across the room, screaming slightly.
"Also part of the dream," she said.
She then heard the sound of creaking, then suddenly, the couch moved, knocking over the pot plant. Then a jug on the kitchen table shifted along with everything else on the table. She then noticed that the window to the dome was wide open and gave a sigh of relief.
"Just the wind," she said, relieved.
He then grabbed the remote control and closed the window, but then heard something being knocked over. She slowly turned and saw the door to her parents' bedroom slowly opening.
"Hello?" she said uneasily.
"Hello?" said a raspy voice.
She then nervously looked into the room and found the place completely deserted. "Moms? Moms?"
She then looked into the bathroom but once again found no one. She then opened the joint door that led into her bedroom, but again there was no.
"Okay, okay, okay. Just breathe, Alex," she said, trying to relax and then began to remove her glasses. "You're fine. In fact, you're probably just overly tired. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. Too much fresh air. Let's just go to bed!"
She then quickly jumped into bed. "Uh, lights off, Wendy!"
"Good night, Alex," said Wendy, and she switched off the lights and then powered everything in the room down, including herself.
Alex curled up into sheets, too afraid to close her eyes and then things got worse as her bedroom door slowly opened. She quickly pulled the sheet over her head and began muttering to herself.
"This is my safe space. This is my safe space. This is my…" She stopped when she finally realised who was behind all this. "Wait a second. This is all Tom, I bet. Some kind of twisted prank." She then removed her sheet and sat up straight. "Oh, Kullersen, you better…"
She then suddenly came face-to-face with a dragon and immediately screamed. The dragon screeched back at her and then suddenly disappeared.
"Oh! It's real! It's real! It's definitely real!" Alex panicked.
She then quickly jumped out of bed, grabbed her glasses and made a bolt for the front door. When she opened it, he came face-to-face with Tom and the others.
"Uh, hey, Alex!" said Tom. "Sorry for just dropping in like this, but you won't believe what we saw in the woods."
"Yeah! A bunch of weirdo mountain kids wearing silly costumes!" said D'Angelo as they made their way inside, and Jun closed the door behind them. "Teenagers, am I right?"
"What are you people talking about?" Alex snapped. "Those aren't teenagers! Those are monsters! A-and there's one in my bedroom!"
Tom and the others looked at one another and then went to investigate. However, when Jun turned the lights on, they saw nothing.
"Alex, there's nothing there," said Jun.
"Are you feeling okay?" D'Angelo asked.
"Can I get you some water?" Tom asked as he made his way to the sink.
"No, I don't need water!" Alex snapped. "And no, I'm not feeling okay! Okay? This thing has feathers and a beak, and it can turn invisible."
"Turn invisible?" Tom stared. "That's crazy!"
"Dragons don't have feathers," said D'Angelo.
Tom quickly waved his hand, and D'Angelo realising his mistake, covered his mouth.
"Wait, what?" Alex stared at them, perplexed. "Who's talking about dragons?"
"Look, Alex, maybe you were just seeing things; I mean, it was dark, and the mind can play tricks on you when you're scared," said James softly.
Then they suddenly heard a rattling noise and looked up to see Thunder looking down at them from the skylight, and Alex instantly jumped back in fear.
"There again, I could be wrong," said Jamesfacepalm himself.
"Thunder, no! Go away! Go away!" Tom ordered, gesturing him to leave.
Thunder complied and left, though the damage was already done.
Alex immediately ran across the room and tripped over something, and then they heard the sound of the dragon's roar inside the living room. It was so loud that all of them had to cover their ears, and so I was unleashing some sort of sonic attack.
They could see a brief outline of the dragon, but the moment it stopped screeching, it went completely invisible again.
"It is an invisible dragon," Jun gasped.
"What's it doing in here?" Tom asked.
"Listen, I don't know what you're talking about, but I want you to get this thing out right now!" Alex demanded.
They then heard the sound of laughter coming from outside.
"Shhh!" D'Angelo hissed. "You hear that?"
Tom looked out the window and saw Alex's mums returning. "Oh no, it's your moms!"
"Moms!" Alex yelled.
"No, Alex, wait!" said Tom quickly. "The dragons are a secret. We can't tell anyone. Just like CinnaBot538 is a secret."
"The people knew about the dragons. It would put them in danger," said Jun.
"Can we trust you?" Tom asked.
Before they got an answer, Alex's mums entered the dome.
"Sweetie? You change your mind?" Carla asked as they entered. Then the two of them gasped when they saw Tom and the others. "Alex!"
"I can't believe it!" said Hazel in disbelief.
All five teenagers looked at one another, slightly confused.
"You have friends over!" said Carla excitedly.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, it's… it's a movie party," Tom smiled and then looked at Alex. "Right, Alex?"
Alex looked at Tom, who continued to gesture his head towards her mothers.
"Right. Movie party," she said without any enthusiasm.
Tom and the others merely smiled.
"Ooh! You kids just sit right here," said Carla, quickly dragging him towards the couch.
Luckily the invisible dragon was sitting on the beam above them, so I was out of harm's way and just looked at everyone curiously.
"No cinematic bonding experience would be complete without salty treats!" said Hazel as she began getting the popcorn ready.
"We can get all sorts of movies on this thing!" said Carla operating the TV remote control. "Action, comedy, fantasy, ooh! Have a monster movie?""
"Yeah. That's appropriate," Alex muttered.
The microwave then dinged, signalling that the popcorn was now ready. Hazel then poured it into a large bowl, but as she was about to walk away, she heard the microwave ding again, unaware that it was the dragon mimicking the sound.
"Huh?" she frowned, deciding that she just heard things.
When she walked away, the dragon jumped down, examined the microwave, and then constantly mimicked its dinging sound.
"Hm… our microwave appears to be malfunctioning," said Hazel giving D'Angelo the popcorn.
"No telling what's wrong with this thing," said Carla as they examined the microwave.
"I'm sure Alex can fix it," said Hazel confidently.
Tom and the others looked at one another, all of them thinking the same thing that the dragon was responsible.
"Thanks," said D'Angelo as he looked down at the popcorn. "Who doesn't love hot buttery popcorn?"
The invisible dragon then suddenly ate the entire bowl right in front of him before he could even take one bite.
Carla looked around and saw the empty bowl he was holding. "Wow, D'Angelo! You must've been hungry!"
"I'm still hungry, actually," he said.
Everyone then looked at the two women rather nervously and awkwardly.
"Is everything okay?" Carla asked.
All of the teens then looked at Alex.
"What could possibly be the problem?" Alex asked.
"Perhaps we're 'cramping' Alex's style," Hazel suggested doing air quotes.
"Of course," Carla nodded. "Let's get outta here."
"Please, enjoy the show," said Hazel as they left the dome.
"We're off to capture more fireflies!" said Carla sticking her head out from the door with the jar firefly she was holding.
The invisible dragon, clearly like fireflies and dived in after her, but fortunately, Carla closed the door before it pounced. As and resolve, the dragon hit the door rather hard on the head.
Tom then got out of his chair. "Hey there, little mimic dragon. You wanna be friends?" He then quickly jumped at the dragon. "Gotcha!"
Sadly the dragon jumped out of the way, and Tom hit his head against the door. They then heard the dragon screeching on the kitchen table.
"My turn," said D'Angelo and charged at the dragon. "Come here, you little copycat!"
He then jumped at the dragon, which jumped away, and he slid off the kitchen table. It then began to mimic the sound of the microwave while standing on D'Angelo's chair.
"I've got it!" James yelled as he dived at the dragon, which then jumped away again. James then suddenly found himself landing face-first onto the floor. "No, I haven't!"
The three boys then began chasing around the living room after the dragon, which was rather difficult considering it was invisible. Jun and Alex watched from the couch as the three boys tried vainly to capture the dragon.
"This isn't working," said Jun getting to her feet. "We're only scaring it."
Alex then suddenly heard the dragon directly behind and quickly jumped back and hid behind Jun. "And me! This is why I never go outside because terrible things like this can follow me home!"
She then suddenly felt the dragon nuzzling her leg. She then quickly backed away from the dragon, which seemed to be following her. "No, no, no! No, No! Get away! Get away!"
"Get away! Get away!" the dragon mimicked as they ran through the bedrooms and then back into the living room.
"This is clearly not working," said James. "All we're accomplishing is wrecking the place."
"Maybe we should wait outside," D'Angelo suggested. "Too many cooks in the kitchenette."
"You're right," Jun agreed as they made their way to the door. "Call if you need us."
Alex began making her way to the door to follow them, but Tom raised his hand. "Wait, Alex. Can you stay? There's a reason this dragon followed you home."
"Why? What is it one with me?" Alex asked.
"I don't know," said Tom honestly as he sat down on the floor. "Maybe it saw us with our dragons, and you were all alone, and it's curious about you."
"Wait, you each have your own dragon?" she stared.
"Yeah. Yeah, they sorta bonded with us, and I think this one wants to bond with you. So, let's just sit down and make ourselves small."
He then patted the floor beside him.
"I-I don't know," said Alex as she sat down next to him nervously. "I'm not comfortable with animals. I-I prefer tech that does what I tell it to do. Animals, they're unpredictable, and, you know, sometimes really, really mean.
This one time, this really big dog followed me home. And everyone was saying, 'It likes you. It likes you. You should pet it,' and so I. I did pet it, and it bit me. It bit me so hard. And then it growled, and it, it chased me. So now, I don't go outside, and nothing ever follows me home. Or didn't. This is why I don't listen to people when they tell me it's it's safe outside because it is not safe outside!"
"No. Not always," Tom agreed. "Sometimes, the world is scary, but sometimes, it's amazing. And fantastic and… and worth taking a risk for."
"Yeah, but… but you don't know that this is amazing."
"No. No, I don't. There are never any guarantees, so I leave it to you to decide. But dragons aren't big dogs. They're something unique. And I don't think this one would've followed you home if she hadn't already connected to you in some way."
Alex looked at him. "So, you're saying that all your dragons are nice?"
"Oh, yeah!" Tom nodded. "They're our friends, and that's why we keep them a secret. Because a real dragon…"
"…would end up being a dead dragon," Alex finished.
Tom could hear the dragon was in the living room.
"Let me try something," he said and outstretched his hand, but the dragon chirped fearfully. "Huh. The hand thing usually works."
"Hand thing?" Alex frowned, confused.
"Well, if they accept you, they press their noses into your hands," Tom explained.
"Well, you have been chasing her around, trying to tackle her, and you said she bonded with me," said Alex. "Probably. Maybe. You're sure it's not a mean one, right?"
"I've told you all I know," said Tom honestly. "It's your choice now."
"Okay…" said Alex nervously, raising her hand.
Then she felt the dragon pressing her beak into her palm and instantly relaxed. The dragon then reappeared before them; she had beautiful turquoise green scales mixed in with some red ones. She also had feather-like scales on the top of her head and at the base of her tail.
"Whoa! Ha, ha," Alex gasped as the dragon spread out her wing. "She's beautiful. She looks a little like Quetzalcoatl."
"Quetzal who now?" Tom blinked.
"The feathered serpent," she said as the dragon nuzzled her. "My Abuelita used to tell me bedtime stories about how wise Quetzalcoatl was. Legend says that the serpent was the forefather of all Mesoamericans."
"I guess that would make you in this dragon family," said Tom. "You might even say it was her destiny to bond with you."
The others were waiting outside, and D'Angelo was a little anxious as they hadn't come out of the dome for quite a while.
Tom then stepped outside, and D'Angelo ran over to him. "It ate her, didn't it? Oh, I knew it!"
"No. Everything is fine, but we gotta get this dragon out of town before someone spots her," said Tom.
"Everybody stay back," said Alex. "She's got a little too excited, and she needs her space right now. And so do I."
They instantly backed away from Alex, and D'Angelo began imitating a reversing truck. The dragon then stepped outside, and Alex closed the door.
"Okay," said Tom. "Let's get to the Lair without being seen."
Tom was about to walk away when he came face-to-face with the other dragons.
"What I do you guys doing here?" Tom yelled incredulously.
"We told you to stay in the cave!" said Jun.
"Man! Does nobody respect the rules any more?" said D'Angelo.
"Thunder was bad enough, but this is a total disaster," said James.
The other dragons looked at the invisible dragon curiously, who backed away from them nervously and then turned invisible.
"Look, we gotta fly out of here now," said Tom.
"No, no, no," Alex protested. "I am not flying. I am more of the 'stay on the ground with two legs' type."
Before any of them could argue, they had their phones beeping.
"Uh-oh," said D'Angelo as he pulled his phone out. "That's the ICARUS emergency messaging system."
They all looked at his phone and saw a recorded message from his father being played.
"Chief Baker here with a safety alert," he said. "Due to an increase in earthquake activity, we are implementing a new security system." They then saw spotlights shining down onto the town from the wind turbines. "Motion-activated spotlights to help you all safely navigate home after dark. Didn't want them to surprise you. Thank you, and good night."
That was the end of the message, but the riders realised they were now in trouble. The moment they took to the air, the spotlights would be on them instantly.
"Piece of cake," said Tom. "Thunder, we need cover. Lights out."
He performed a hand gesture, and Thunder unleashed a surge of electricity from the entire town. The surgeon knocked out the lights, but only for a few seconds before they came back on.
"And the hits just keep on coming," said D'Angelo.
"My mum must have upgraded the backup system," James theorised.
They had no other choice but to exit the town on foot, but they had to be careful with security patrols.
"Okay, everyone. Keep moving," Tom instructed.
"Hold it. Someone's coming," Jun warned, looking behind them.
"Over here too," said James looking ahead of them.
"We're surrounded," D'Angelo panicked.
The security officers were moments away from coming face-to-face with them on their dragons.
"Keep going," said Jun. "Wu, Wei and I will slow them down. All right, you two. Steam cloud getaway." She then performed her hand signal. "But, do it like we practice this time, okay?"
The two-headed dragon then unleashed their combined breaths creating a thick mist over the entire area.
"Where did all this come from?" a security officer coughed.
Unable to see them, the security officers began to move out, and Jun mounted Wu and Wei and took off before the security officers could see them.
They then came across another security patrol.
"We'll handle this," said James.
Tom and the others nodded and moved out in the opposite direction.
"Okay, Blade, let's hide," said James performing his hand signal.
Blade quickly stood up straight and folded his legs inwards. James quickly hit behind play just as the security officer shone his torch, but when he shone it on Blade, he just assumed that he was another wind turbine and moved on.
James smiled quickly, mounted Blade, and then they took off.
Tom and the others moved forwards, and D'Angelo jumped ahead of them.
"I got this," he said. "Follow me."
He quickly hit behind a dome and, when the coast was clear, signalled the others to go on ahead, but before he could join them, he saw his father had arrived.
"Who's out there?" he demanded.
"It's my Pops," D'Angelo panicked to Tom and Alex, who were currently hiding behind a bush. "Move out! Go!"
Philip began to move to investigate.
D'Angelo quickly turned to Plowhorn, who was out in the open. "Plow, no! You need to hide! Hide!"
Plowhorn quickly turned her back and lowered her body as far down as she could.
"Come on out! I know you're there!" said Philip, and D'Angelo quickly hit behind Plowhorn. "You can't hide! I will find you."
He shone his torch around the area but assumed that Plowhorn's shell was a large boulder and then moved on. Using this opportunity, D'Angelo mounted Plowhorn, and they took off.
"Huh?" said Philip hearing the flat of her wings. He then quickly spun around but saw nothing to his frustration. "What is going on around here?"
Tom and Alex were just about to reach the edge when they came face-to-face with a shaved sheep, who was still rather angry at Tom.
"Oh no, not you," Tom moaned.
The sheep bleated angrily at them, and Alex saw two security officers approaching.
"Tom!" she hissed.
"Hear that? Came from over there," said one of the officers and reached for his comm. "Chief, we got someone moving around in sector five."
"I'm on my way," said Philip.
"Alex, run!" Tom whispered.
Alex nodded, and she and her dragon made for the woods, and Tom then turned back to the sheep. He then noticed Thunder had landed on the dome behind the sheep, and he got an idea.
"Thunder, light him up," said Tom.
Thunder then fired a small bolt of lightning at the sheep, shocking the sheep just enough to get into a frenzy and began running straight towards the security officers.
"Chief!"
The sheep then knocked them over flat on the ground.
Thunder then swooped down and grabbed Tom, carrying him up into the air.
Alex and her dragon were now in the woods making their way back to the Lair, when they spotted a firefly. The dragon looked at it curiously and began to follow it.
"Ah! No, no, no, wait, wait!" Alex panicked as she ran off. "Where are you going?"
The dragon kept on chasing after the firefly, trying to capture it, leading them straight to a whole swarm of them.
"The fireflies," Alex gasped. "That means…"
She then saw her mothers close by, a few yards away.
"…Moms."
Tom and the others arrived, flying overhead and saw the situation.
"Oh, that's not good," said Jun.
"They're about to be discovered," said James.
"What do we do?" D'Angelo asked.
"There's nothing we can do," said Tom. "Alex can do this on her own. Welcome to Dragon Club."
The feathered dragon saw Alex's mums and began dashing towards them, no doubt remembering how friendly they were.
"No, wait! Please, stop!" Alex pleaded, chasing after her, and then jumped on her back. "We can't let my moms see you! Please! You have to… hide!"
The dragon managed to throw her off her back and then continued to approach Alex's mums.
"No, no, no!" Alex pleaded. "You don't understand! The world is a dangerous place for us!"
The dragon stopped in her tracks and approached her as if sensing her anxiety. She then lowered her head and nuzzled her affectionately, and Alex hugged her back.
"You're trying to help me calm down," said Alex.
"Calm down," said the dragon imitating her.
Alex laughed and rubbed her head. "Okay, if you insist. I know you don't understand me, but you understand me."
"Ah, such a beautiful night," said Carla as they were making their way to the clearing.
"Glorious," Hazel agreed. "Too bad Alex missed it."
"Please hide!" said Alex pointing to a nearby rock.
The dragon instead covered her with her webbing and then turned invisible. Clarla noticed a firefly flying towards them and began to approach it.
"Ooh! There," she said. She then caught the firefly in a jam jar inches away from Alex. "Got it!"
Alex gave a sigh of relief when they walked away.
"Okay, now we can go home," said Carla.
Once they were gone, the feathered dragon became visible again and uncovered Alex. Alex sighed in relief and then hugged her.
Tom and the others were relieved as well.
"Told you she could handle it," said Tom to the others.
They then made their way to the Lair, and once there, the feathered dragon began running around, playing with the other dragons.
"Whoa, that dragon has really come out of her shell," said Jun.
"And so is Alex," D'Angelo noted.
"Looks like all they needed was each other to express themselves," said James.
The feathered dragon then ran over to Alex, who had her head tightly. "I'm gonna call you Feathers because of your beautiful plumage. So, now you got a name, and we gotta get you to catch up with the other dragons, so let's practice a hiding technique. Feathers, hide."
Alex performed a hand signal by spreading her hand outwards, but Feathers didn't appear to be in the mood.
"Feathers, hide," said Alex repeating the same gesture.
"Feathers, hide," said Feathers mimicking her voice.
She then promptly licked Alex.
"No, wait!" Alex protested as she kept on licking her. "No, Feathers! Personal space! 'That tickles."
"Looks like we're building a nice little family here, huh?" said Tom to Thunder.
Thunder looked immensely sad, and Tom soon realised what had been bothering him.
"That's what you were looking for earlier, wasn't it? When you flew up towards the lightning storm? Other dragons like you?" He then rubbed Thunder's head, making him purr. "We'll keep looking, okay? I'm sure they're out there somewhere, Pal."
Feathers then suddenly reappeared behind Thunder and licked him. Thunder then chased after her the two of them began to play around.