The Dragon Riders were currently in ICARUS Station in the visitor centre. They were currently having a lesson given by D'Angelo's mother, and she was now giving them an assignment.
"Public speaking," said Angela.
"Yeah!" said D'Angelo.
"Cool," said Jun.
Alex was not as enthusiastic; in fact, she was downright terrified.
"As we've been discussing, in our modern age, with smartphones, video blogs and social media, learning to speak in public has become a lost art," said Angela. "That's why, class, for your next assignment, you're all going to give a speech in front of the entire station."
"Ooh! Ooh!" said Jun raising her hand excitedly.
"Yes, Jun?" said Angelo looking amused.
"How long should the speeches be, Mrs Baker?" she asked.
"No more than three minutes, Jun. Now I know public speaking will be easy for some of you but for others…" She then suddenly noticed that Alex had disappeared. "Where did Alex go?"
The Riders looked around, equally surprised, but none of them had seen Alex move and began to look around for her.
"She did that thing where she disappears," said D'Angelo. "Like the wind. Whoosh."
"Alex isn't into public speaking," Jun explained.
"Of course, she's not! She's the wind. Whoosh."
Jun just shook her head.
"Okay, everyone, that's it for today," said Angela. "Practice those speeches! They can be about whatever interests you. And when Alex reappears, remind her to practice too."
Everyone soon left the visitor centre except for Alex, who was hiding and hugging her tablet.
The next day the Dragon Riders made their way to the Dragon's Lair to practice their speeches.
"Now, buckle up, wing nuts," said Tom as he put on a helmet. "I'm about to share to you the life and the legend of Chuck Yeager, the greatest aviator to strap on a helmet."
Jun, James and D'Angelo clapped, but Alex remained focused on her tablet.
Jun then stepped forward with her presentation and held out a photo. "Behold. Photographic evidence of… the Chupacabra."
Tom merely facepalm himself in dismay. "Jun…"
Jun knelt towards him. "You put bad energy into the world, Kullersen, and it comes back to you times three."
"That's not true," said Tom and then looked to the others. "Is that true?"
"Eh…" said D'Angelo, then scooted away from Tom as if he had the plague.
James then stepped forward with his presentation. "Now I'm here to tell you what made D-Day so successful and have some of it come down to luck."
"Luck?" D'Angelo scoffed. "It was a carefully planned operation."
"The main reason it was successful was that Adolf Hitler was fast asleep, General Rommel was in Berlin celebrate his wife's birthday, and there was a small break in the bad weather they had."
"Sounds pretty lucky to me," said Tom.
D'Angelo was next, and he had Plowhorn to help him. "And that is why proper dental care for pets cannot be overstated. Which reminds me." Plowhorn then opened her mouth, and he reached to brush her teeth. "The back molars are the toughest to reach."
He reached into her mouth and pulled out a crystal wedged between her teeth. "Dang, girl! Flossing is your friend."
Tom, Jun and James winced in disgust.
Jun then turned to Alex, who had remained quiet throughout all their presentations. "All right, Alex. Your turn."
Alex merely smiled. "I'm good. My speech is done."
"Done?" Tom frowned. "You haven't even practised."
"Don't need to," she said.
She held out her tablet, and then a holographic image of herself appeared right before them.
"Whoa!" Jun gasped.
"Cool!" Tom stared.
"Good morning, ICARUS," said the holographic Alex. "Today, I am going to discuss the importance of a good avatar."
"Whoa," D'Angelo stared.
"Amazing," said James as he got to his feet.
"Whoa, a hologram for your speech?" Jun stared as they examined the hologram. "That's way better than picturing everyone in their underwear."
"You picture everyone in the underwear?" Tom blinked.
"Doesn't everyone?" she said, looking slightly embarrassed.
D'Angelo waved his hand through the hologram. "This is totally against the rules and a cheat! The whole point is for you to be brave, Alex, and get in front of a hundred people, not send this… thing." The hologram then immediately stared at him, which freaked him out. "Yo! Ah, make it stop eyeballing me."
"I am afraid I have to agree with D'Angelo, Alex," said James rubbing the back of his head. "This does defeat the purpose of the assignment."
Alex then switched off her hologram and looked extremely crestfallen. "Fine, forget it. I'll just take an F."
"Alex! Come on," said Jun. "You'll do great."
"Your social skills have improved greatly," said James encouraging. "When we first met, you barely said a word to us, and now you have no confidence speaking your mind to us."
"There's a big difference between talking to you guys and speaking to over a hundred people!" Alex snapped. "Talking to people is easy for you guys, but I'm more of a 'behind-the-scenes, speak only if a car's going to hit me' type of person."
"Alex…" said Jun softly.
Before they could continue this conversation, Alex's tablet then beeped, informing a movement was detected within the Hidden World.
"Crisis alert," said D'Angelo.
"What is it, Alex?" Tom asked.
"Something's triggered the early warning sensors we placed in the Dragon World," Alex informed them. "And it's coming this way."
"We should strategise, set up a defensive perimeter, and…" said D'Angelo, but stopped when Tom mounted Thunder and flew off.
"Woohoo!" Tom yelled.
"Or we can just recklessly race towards a blaring alarm," said D'Angelo.
Tom had reached the Dragon World, and the others soon followed him on their dragons.
"Nothing's here," said Tom.
"Tom, you can't just blaze off on your own like that," said Jun.
"We're a team, and this lone wolf attitude of yours could get you killed," said James.
"Yeah, this could have been something bad," D'Angelo agreed.
"Uh, guys? Something bad," Alex pointed.
They all looked down and saw what appeared to be bones lying there on the ground. They flew down towards the ground and examined them; they were indeed bones, dragon bones, to be exact.
"Dragon bones," said Tom as they dismounted their dragons.
"Cool," said D'Angelo.
"Cool?" Alex stared. "There's nothing cool about bones."
"Are you kidding me?" said D'Angelo. "If I'm going to be Doctor D, I have to understand the dragon's skeletal anatomy." He then held out one of the bones. "Now, does this look like a rib or a tailbone?"
"It looks like a good reason to head home," said Alex looking creeped out.
"This is the first time we've encountered dragon bones in the Dragon World," James frowned. "I mean, we've seen dragons fighting other dragons, but we've never seen any remains, and none of you are curious as to why?"
Everyone looked at one another, knowing that James was right. However, before they could delve deeper into this thought, Alex's tablet beeped again.
"Huh?" she said, pulling it out.
"What is it?" Tom asked as he looked over her shoulder. They saw that every single centre in the area was flickering. "Every sensor's going off. They're all around us!"
"What's all around us?" D'Angelo asked, looking away from the bones.
They then suddenly heard screeching.
They slowly turned around and saw a pure ghostly white dragon emerging from the shadows, which resembled Feathers quite a lot.
"What the…?" Tom stared.
"Zombie dragon!" Jun gasped. "Those bones must have been its last meal."
"Whatever it is, it still looked hungry," Tom warned.
They then started to make its way towards them but then vanished right in front of them.
"Uh, where did it go?" Alex asked. Feathers began to move closer, but Alex quickly stopped her. "No, no, Feathers, stay with me."
Suddenly, The dragon reappeared directly behind them, and Thunder quickly blasted it with a lightning blast at its feet. He then quickly vanished once more that just like before.
"They can cloak!" D'Angelo yelled.
Then suddenly, more of these dragons began to reappear all around them.
"Run!" they screamed.
They quickly made a run for quickly blocked by another one of these dragons. They kept on running, but no matter which direction they ran to, more of these dragons reappeared in front of them, blocking their path.
"Get out of here, Pal!" Tom yelled, mounting Thunder.
Thunder quickly took off, but then one of the dragons bit down on his tail and slammed him back down onto the ground, throwing Tom off of him. One of these dragons then began to approach him, but Thunder blocked his path with a lightning blast.
"Nice one, Pal!" said Tom.
Jun then suddenly came face-to-face with two of these dragons, but Wu and Wei jumped to her rescue. The two-headed dragon then knocked the two dragons aside with their two heads.
"Thanks, Wu Wei," said Jun gratefully.
James, one of these dragons, advanced towards him, but Blade jumped between the two of them. He began swinging his blade-like wings, forcing the dragon back.
"Nice save, boy," James smiled.
D'Angelo wasn't as lucky as the others; one of the dragons pounced on him, pinning him to the ground.
"You want some D'Angelo, huh?" he said, trying to throw it off of him. "Come on!"
It then bit down on his arm, and he yelled in pain, but Plowhorn came charging in, knocking the dragon off of him.
"Thanks, girl," he said, getting up and then winced, "Ow!"
Alex was running as quickly as she could, with Feathers following behind her. She then finally looked back at Feathers and saw that she was being dragged away.
"Feathers! No! No!" she cried. "Feathers! Come back!"
The ghostly white dragons then reappeared as they were the ones dragging Feathers away into the shadows.
"No!" Alex screamed and tried to follow her, but Tom pulled her back.
A good thing that he did because a bunch of dragons revealed themselves blocking their path. They then all watched helplessly as the dragons returned to the shadows and vanished.
Everyone was still rather shaken up by what had just happened, but Alex felt absolutely terrible for leaving Feathers behind.
"She's gone," said Alex. "I can't believe she's gone."
Jun then bent down and comforted her.
"Perimeter's clear," said D'Angelo as he and James returned with their dragons.
"How can you be sure?" Jun asked. "They turn invisible."
"Jun's right," said Tom. "They look like Feathers, and they cloaked like her."
"Except these were white and seemed undead," said Jun.
Alex then gasped upon hearing this.
"Oh, no, Alex," said Jun quickly. "I'm sure Feathers will be fine."
"They're not undead!" said D'Angelo. "They're just creepy-looking, Feathers-like dragons."
"Actually, in Chinese mythology, white dragons are an omen of death," said Jun.
This made Alex feel even worse.
"Really, Jun?" Tom groaned. "Not the time."
"I know, I'm sorry," said Jun. "Sometimes I get carried away."
"Okay, let's be clear here and now that there is no such thing as zombies," said James. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation regarding the origins of these dragons."
D'Angelo then looked down at the bite mark on his arm. "But what if she's right?"
"She's not right," said Tom.
"I'm just being a nerd," said Jun. "Fortunately, no one was bitten."
D'Angelo immediately looked worried. "W-Why is that?"
"If the undead bite you, you become one," she said simply.
"Huh!" D'Angelo panicked and immediately hid his arm behind his back. "Fortunately, no one was."
"Who cares?" Alex snapped. "All that matters is those horrible creatures have Feathers, and we have to get her back!"
Tom then looked at Thunder's saddle; Alex had made saddles for the dragons a little while ago and got an idea.
"Alex, did you put a tracker on our saddles?" Tom asked. "We can use that to find Feathers."
Alex's eyes lit up, and she quickly pulled out her tablet. "Oh, yeah. Got her."
"Okay," said Tom to the other Riders. "Let's do this. And whatever those things are…"
"Zombies," said Jun.
Tom narrowed her eyes at her. "…we just have to be really quiet."
They soon mounted their dragons; Alex was riding Thunder with Tom and headed towards the coordinates given by Alex's tablet.
"We're getting closer," Alex informed them. "Head that way."
As they flew, D'Angelo was still rather worried about the bite mark and was beginning to feel he would become a zombie.
To that end, he decided to fly up to Jun. "So, uh, Jun, hypothetically speaking, how long does it take to turn into a zombie? You know, once bitten."
"The time seems to vary by myth, but the symptoms are always the same," she said. "Fever sweats…"
D'Angelo then suddenly felt rather warm and wiped the sweat off his brow.
"… dizziness…"
D'Angelo then suddenly felt rather dizzy.
"…a ghastly moan."
D'Angelo then moaned without thinking.
"Yeah, just like that," said Jun.
D'Angelo was starting to become very worried that he was, in fact, going to become a zombie the more he talked to her.
"And then there's the insatiable hunger for brains," Jun finished.
D'Angelo then suddenly felt the desire to have brains for lunch, which was initially written all over his face.
"You airsick, D?" Tom asked.
"No, not at all," said D'Angelo quickly.
"Feathers is down there!" Alex yelled, pointing down. "Hurry!"
All of them then quickly flew down towards the ground and then dismounted their dragons. The moment Alex jumped off Thunder, she quickly followed her tracker to find Feathers, and they all followed.
"What our backs, Pal," said Tom to Thunder. Thunder merely raised an eye. "Yeah, yeah, I know they're invisible."
"She's here!" Alex beamed.
She quickly dashed around the corner, but her smile faded as Feathers' discarded saddle was lying on the ground.
"It must've fallen off when they dragged her away," said Tom.
Alex immediately fell to her knees in front of the saddle. "I got scared and ran. I should have been more brave. I should have saved her."
"Alex, it's not your fault," said D'Angelo gently. "If you didn't run, they would have grabbed you too."
"At least we'd still be together," she said. "Now I'm all alone. Again."
"You're not alone," said Tom kneeling beside her. "We're with you."
"You'll always have us," said Jun.
"we'll do everything in our power to rescue Feathers," James promised.
They then heard a distant screech which sounded a lot like Feathers.
"That sounded like Feathers," said Alex rushing to her feet.
D'Angelo quickly looked at Plowhorn. "Plowhorn, track that screech."
Plowhorn sniffed the air and picked up the scent, and they all began to follow.
"We're going to get her back," Tom assured Alex.
They soon reached the crater and frowned as the entire place was filled with those white dragons. All of them just stood there cloaking as if they were doing a Mexican wave as they looked at the giant crystal formation in front of them, moving their heads in sync as if they were in some kind of trance.
"Whoa," D'Angelo gasped.
"Wow, look at that," said Jun. "They're acting in unison like they're psychically connected."
"Do zombies have a hive mind?" D'Angelo asked.
"I don't know about zombies in particular, but these guys seem to be linked," Jun observed. "Zombies are generally considered just eating machines, but I suspect they could be connected in a singular drive to find food."
D'Angelo looked at the dragons and couldn't help but move his body in tandem with them. "Yes…" he said slowly as if he was hypnotised.
"What are you doing?" Tom frowned.
"Nothing!" he said quickly, snapping out of his trance.
Tom shrugged and looked back at the dragons. "What creature in the animal kingdom actually has a physically linked hive mind?"
Tom then looked at D'Angelo again, who was still moving his body around strangely with a strange look on his face.
D'Angelo then saw Tom looking at him and immediately snapped out of his trance. "Why are you looking at me?"
"You're the animal expert," Tom reminded him.
"It's not like I'm part of the hive mind or something, jeez."
"That isn't what I asked."
"You're right, D?" James asked. "You've been acting funny ever since we first encountered these dragons."
D'Angelo immediately became more worried. "No, I'm perfectly fine. It's not like a zombie or anything."
"Can we focus on Feathers, please?" Alex snapped and then looked at her tablet. "I'm running a thermal scan. It should be able to spot her if she's down there."
She raised her tablet, which began to scan the body heat coming from the dragons. Everyone looked at it and saw that the thermal scanner registered them cold.
"Hmm," Jun frowned. "The others are all registering as cold. Zombie theories looking more and more…"
"Jun!" Tom snapped.
"Sorry."
Alex raised her tablet, and at the very top of the crystal formation, they could see the thermal scanner had detected a dragon with far more body heat.
"There!" Alex beamed. "She's still alive! And they're holding her prisoner. Those monsters!"
"It's okay," said Jun, gently placing her hand on her shoulder. "We'll get her back, Alex." She then looked at Tom. "How are we going to get her back, Tom?"
Tom was examining the dragons in the crater and noticed that their wings were slightly shredded and had holes.
"Their wings, they're all torn up," he noted. "I bet we can fly right over them and rescue her. Come on!"
They then mounted their dragons, with Alex sharing with Tom. D'Angelo kept on groaning like a zombie as they took off.
They then started to fly directly towards the crystal formation in the crater's centre.
"You got her?" Tom asked back at Alex.
Alex looked at her tablet and nodded. "Mmm-hmm. She's on top of the tower."
As they flew over the pale white dragons, they were soon noticed, and they quickly roared up at them.
"Tom, I think they saw us," said Jun.
"Stay up high, we'll be fine," said Tom.
D'Angelo looked down at the white dragons. "You know, maybe we should just go down there and join them, girl. Give ourselves over to the power of the horde."
Plowhorn rolled her eyes and roared at him indignantly, telling him not to be ridiculous.
"No?" said D'Angelo looking at her. "Just a thought."
Tom was right; the white dragons weren't able to fly up towards them, but instead, they fired sonic blasts straight up at them. They had to fly around the sonic blast in order to avoid getting hit, which was not easy considering there were so many of them.
"Hold on!" Tom yelled.
"I'm trying!" Alex yelled in his ear.
"I hear you, my zombie brethren," said D'Angelo. "Your cries echo in my beat-less heart."
Plowhorn roared at him, telling him to remain focused. "Oh, sorry, girl. I can't help myself."
The Dragon Riders continued making their way towards the crystal tower, but it was extremely difficult with all the sonic blasts. One of them struck Wu and Wei, knocking Jun off Wei's saddle. Luckily the two-headed dragon flew down and caught her before she had the ground.
"Tom, we can't keep this up!" Jun yelled at him.
"We're almost there!" Alex yelled.
As they got close to the crystal tower, they saw, resting on top of it, some sort of cage made of crystals. As Tom and Alex flew past, they could see Feathers trapped inside of it.
"There she is! Hurry!" Alex pleaded.
Tom flew towards the cage, but suddenly appearing before them was a giant version of the white dragons blocking their path. It roared at them loudly, clearly not wanting them to get any closer.
"Pull back!" Tom yelled.
They quickly pulled away from the crystal tower, but the giant white dragon chased them.
"No! Feathers!" Alex cried as they flew further and further away from her.
The giant dragon blasted them with a powerful sonic blast.
The sonic blast was so powerful that it sent the dragons flying, and they landed back into the crystal world painfully.
"You okay, Pal?" Tom asked, reaching out to Thunder.
Thunder gave a weak roar, telling him he was fine.
"Is everyone all right?" Tom asked the others.
Alex got to her feet, rubbing her forehead. "I think I need a reboot."
"I'm okay," said Jun, looking back at Wu and Wei. "Not sure about Wu and Wei."
The two-headed dragon gave a very weak roar, looking a bit disoriented.
"No bones broken here," said James and looked at Blade. "But Blade looks a bit winded."
Alex immediately looked towards the cavern when they saw Feathers. "Feathers…"
"D'Angelo, you good?" Tom asked.
D'Angelo was currently hiding behind Plowhorn, and he really believed that he was becoming a zombie.
"Stop! Don't come near me," he said.
"D, is something wrong?" James asked.
"Just stay away!" he yelled.
Jun walked over to him and then saw the bite mark on his arm. "Look at his arm. D'Angelo, you've been bitten!"
"I'm one of them!" he panicked. "The undead! Bug out and save yourselves!"
"Oh, come on, D," said Tom bending down towards him. "You just let Jun's stories get in your head! Zombies aren't real."
"You sure they're not real?" he asked.
"Of course, I'm sure! You're perfectly healthy."
"You just think you are. That's why you've been acting strangely," said James. "It's just all in your head."
"They're right; I got caught up in the stories," said Jun. "And besides, if you had been bitten, the zombie saliva in your bloodstream would have made new undead long before now."
James shook his head violently, trying to stop talking, but it was too late.
"I have… been feeling it. It's… been happening!" said D'Angelo horrified, and then ran away.
"No, D'Angelo!" said Jun.
James looked at Jun. "You certainly have a way of reassuring people, don't you?"
Plowhorn flew over to D'Angelo, trying to comfort him.
"It's true!" he said. "I'm turning! Just… just leave me here, girl, and save yourself. I'll be roaming the Hidden World with the rest of this hideous horde."
"You are not a real zombie, and nobody's leaving you here," said Tom strongly.
"Fine," said D'Angelo turning to face him. "Then there is only one way to keep you guys safe from me."
He then looked back at Plowhorn, who looked at him confused.
Moments later, Tom, reluctantly, was tying D'Angelo to Plowhorn's horn.
"Seriously, I can't believe you're making me do this," said Tom in disbelief. "You are not a zombie. Is that you tight?"
"It needs to be tight, okay?" said D'Angelo. "This is the only way to keep you safe from me. Can someone scratch my nose?"
"As if this day didn't get any weirder," James sighed as he scratched D'Angelo's nose.
They then heard a distant screeching from the cavern, which was getting louder.
"The horde," said Jun.
"We got to get out of here," said Tom.
Sadly the dragons were still a little disoriented from the crash and didn't have the strength to fly.
"Our dragons can't fly," said Tom. "We'll have to make a run for it."
"But what about Feathers?" Alex asked.
"Alex, we don't have a choice. We'll have to come back later."
Alex, however, refused to abandon Feathers again. "No. We're not leaving without Feathers." She immediately turned to the other Dragon Riders. "D'Angelo, James, Plowhorn and Blade—make a barrier out of those crystals to hold back the horde. Ju, Wu and Wei—fortify it with freeze blasts. Tom and Thunder—give them some cover. I'm going to get Feathers."
"I'll go with you," said Tom.
"No," she said firmly. "Stay here and help the others. Some things you have to face alone."
Then before anyone could stop as she ran off.
"Being the wind, Alex. Whoosh!" said D'Angelo.
"You heard her," said Tom to the others. "Let's do this!"
The white dragon soon exited from their cavern and began to advance towards the dragons. However, the Dragon Riders had already created fortifications in order to protect themselves.
Plowhorn was knocking over large crystals, and Blade cutting them to knock them over. Jun had Wu fortify the barrier with some ice, and Tom and Thunder had positioned themselves at the top of the barrier. Thunder began mining lightning blasts down other dragons as they got closer to the barrier. Both Jun and James soon joined them and had their dragons attack the horde.
While this was going on, Alex was sneaking around as quietly as possible around the dragons using large crystal formations to hide behind. When she hid behind one of these formations, he found a large chunk of crystal on the ground and picked it up, using it as a shield.
With a new crystal shield, she continued to sneak around. "Hold on, Feathers, I'm coming."
She then reached a clearing and saw one of the white dragons; she quickly looked around for a place to hide there weren't any. She then knelt down and used her new crystal shield to cover herself just as the white dragon turned its head to look at her.
The dragon advance towards her, looking at the crystal curiously. As the dragon circled around, Alex made sure to circle her new shield around to avoid revealing herself. Dragon continued looking at the crystal suspiciously before making its way to the rest of the horde.
"You're brave, Alex. You're brave," she said to herself and then soon into the cavern containing the crystal tower. "You are brave."
The other Dragon Riders continued to hold back the white dragons, but they were starting to become overwhelmed.
"Hey, Jun?" said Tom looking at her hopefully. "We could use one of your mythology-based teaching moments right about now!"
"Yeah, how to win against hordes of undead zombie dragons?" she said as they continued to fend off the said dragons. "No real allegorical fable for that."
"Use me!" D'Angelo cried. "I'm dripping in fever sweats. Bathe yourselves in it, and they'll think you're one of them!"
"Ew…" said Jun in disgust.
"I think I would rather be an undead zombie," said James.
"Let's just keep blasting," said Tom as Thunder fired another lightning blast. "We got to buy Alex more time."
They then continued to fire down upon the advancing horde with everything they had.
Meanwhile, Alex had reached the crystal tower; now that most of the horde had left the crater, it was easy enough to sneak in. Though she still had to be careful as there were still a few dragons on guard.
She managed to climb onto the tower, though she had tossed her crystal shield onto the ledge in order to climb a particularly steep incline. When she was on the ledge, she quickly rushed towards a shield and hid behind as a dragon on patrol walked by.
"You're brave, Alex," she said to herself as she moved on. "You're brave."
She eventually managed to climb all the way to the top of the tower, and she could see the cage that Feathers was trapped in.
"Feathers!" she gasped, rushing over to her, who was relieved to see her. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm going to get you out of here."
She then noticed that Feathers was not the only Featherhide in the cage. There were two others, but they would clearly be adolescence.
"I'm going to get you all out," she promised.
She then began using her crystal shield to break the cage, but it was quite tough.
"Come on. Come on," she said as she continued to whack it.
Sadly all this noise drew the attention of the large dragon from earlier. Alex heard its roar and slowly turned around at the dragon materialised behind her.
Alex then immediately dropped her new shield and quickly ran away, and the dragon began to chase. She quickly dived into a small hole and hid inside it, watching as the dragon walked by.
"You can do this, Alex," she said to herself. "You're the wind."
The other Dragon Riders were still trying to fend off the horde of dragons, but they just continued to advance. Eventually, they managed to reach the fortification and went over it slowly began to surround them. Both Plowhorn and Balde tried to fight back but were completely out of shots.
"We're almost out of juice," said Tom.
"Wu, Wei! Circle of protection!" Jun yelled as she performed a hand signal.
The two-headed dragon then began to spin around on the scene and ice blast that created a ring of ice around. Wei then blasted it with his heat blast, and the sudden change of temperature caused a small explosion that sent the white dragons backwards.
"Yeah!" Tom cheered and then turned to Jun, shocked. "Where'd that come from?"
"Just one of those circus tricks we've been working on," she shrugged.
"Well, it was most certainly effective," said James.
Unfortunately, the white dragon soon recovered and was advancing towards them once more.
Alex had managed to run all the way around the cage and return to Feathers, who she then petted. Then she saw the giant dragon resting upon the cage growling at her angrily. He then jumped off the cage and landed directly behind, and she quickly ran between its legs as it tried to bite her.
She kept on running until she hit behind a crystal, but the giant dragon saw her hit behind a knock to the side. Alex looked at it terrifyingly as it swung its giant claw down upon her, only for it to go straight through her. This to the dragon by surprise as it looked at his hand confused.
"Good morning ICARUS," said Alex, who was, in fact, her hologram presentation. Alex had somehow hidden her tablet amongst some crystals nearby, projecting her hologram to fool the dragon. "Today, I'm going to discuss the importance of a good avatar… avatar… avatar…"
It didn't take long for the Dragon to realise it had been tricked.
Alex had made her way back to the cage and managed to smash through the bars with a shield, freeing Feathers and the other Featherhides. Once freed, Feathers immediately rushed over to Alex and nuzzled her.
They then heard the giant dragon roar as it approached them, and it looked angry.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Alex yelled to the other Featherhides as they quickly took flight.
She then mounted Feathers, and the two of them glared at the giant dragon. "Stay away from my dragon!"
Then they took off.
The giant dragon was not going to let this insult fly and quickly chased after them.
"Feathers, watch out!" Alex yelled.
They quickly began flying around a number of crystals, but the giant dragon would not let them go. Fortunately, while Feathers was small, she was much more manoeuvrable than the giant dragon and was able to avoid its attacks.
After performing a somersault manoeuvre, the giant dragon turned its sights down upon the other Dragon Riders, who were surrounded. It then flew straight down at them with murderous intent.
The Dragon Riders continued to fend off the white dragons, but Thunder was now out of shots. Wu and Wei did their best to repel the horde, but one of the dragons managed to jump inside the ice ring but was quickly knocked out by Plowhorn.
"Giant dragon of death incoming!" D'Angelo warned as he saw the giant dragon descending upon them.
The giant dragon unleashed a powerful sonic blast, completely destroying the ring of ice around them. The smaller white dragons then began to advance towards them, and Wei lasted a few of them with his heat blast, but the two-headed dragon used up all of his shots in the process.
"That's it, we're out of steam," said Jun.
All of them stood ready to make their last stand of the dragons surrounding them.
"Oh no, you don't!" Alex yelled as she swooped in.
"Alex!" the Dragon Riders cheered.
Feathers then blasted the white dragons with a sonic blast knocking them backwards. However, when the dust settles, the white dragons scales had vanished and standing before them will be perfectly normal and peaceful Featherhides.
"Wait a minute, they're colourful underneath!" said Alex. "They're not zombies."
"Of course!" D'Angelo gasped. "They're just moulting, shedding old skin. It can make some animals feel vulnerable, so they act aggressively. Wait that means…"
"You're not turning into a zombie, D," Tom finished.
D'Angelo gave a sigh of relief.
"You're just nuts," Tom smirked.
"Hey!" He then looked down at Plowhorn. "I'm back, girl! Can someone untie me? My hands fell asleep."
"Feathers' sonic blasts with enough power to knock off the dead skin," James theorised.
"Alex! Last, the rest of them, hurry!" Tom yelled as the remaining dragons continued to advance towards them.
"Sing 'em to sleep, Feathers," said Alex.
Feathers then flew up into the air and blasted all the dragons with a sonic blast removing the dead scales. Once their dead scales were removed, the Featherhides returned to their peaceful selves, but one remained.
The giant dragon that had been harassing them landed on the crystals and looked as if it was going to attack them at any moment. Feathers blasted it with a sonic blast, but she was in power enough to remove all the dead scales.
Feathers quickly roared at the other Featherhides, asking them to help. They complied, and all of them in the state sonic blasts upon the giant dragon, removing its feathers and revealing that it was really a giant Featherhide, who turned out to be just as peaceful as its brethren.
"Yeah!" the Dragon Riders cheered.
The giant Featherhide flew up into the air and roared at the others to follow it back home. Once the Featherhide flew away, Alex and Feathers flew down to join up with the other Dragon Riders.
Jun immediately hopped off Wei and hugged Alex. "You did it, Alex!"
"Yeah, I guess I did," she said, surprising herself.
"That was the bravest thing I've seen," James smiled.
They then saw the two young Featherhides landing next to them and looked at Feathers. They roared at her, no doubt asking her to follow them, but she refused, and they flew after the others.
"Looks like Feathers chose you over going with the other Featherhides," said Tom.
Alex smiled at Feathers. "She needs me as much as I need her. And she doesn't care if I can't give a speech in front of a crowd of people; I'm brave enough for her when it counts."
"You sure are," Jun agreed.
"Yeah?" D'Angelo yelled. "Now I can't be on my thighs."
They all burst out laughing.
"All right, all right, all right, let's get you untied," said Tom as he shook his head.
Tom made his way over to D'Angelo and began to untie him from Plowhorn's horn.