Nearby to ICARUS was a small lumber company, and the guy in charge, a young man with brown hair, stepped out of the cabin with a cup of tea. He listened to the sounds of the chainsaws chopping down trees as if it was music.
When he heard the sound of a tree falling, he immediately sniffed the air. "Ah, I love the sound of fleshly butchered trees."
As he continued to listen to the sound of the chainsaws, he began to sip his cup of tea, sticking his pinkie out as he did so. However, the sound of the chainsaw died, and upon hearing the sirens, he growled in annoyance.
Three brothers working for the company were having some trouble with one of the chainsaws. All three of them looked different from one another; the only thing they had in common was the fact that all three of them were very muscular.
"Oh, come on, Dood."
"Yeah, we ain't got all day for you to slow dance with it."
"Don't rush me," said Dood. "It makes me nervous."
"Ford! Winston! Dood!" their boss yelled at the top of his voice.
"Oh, boy," Ford groaned.
"Here he comes," said Winston.
"Why don't I hear the sweet sound of saw teeth chewing through pine?" their boss yelled furiously. "What seems to be the problem here, gentleman? You're brothers! The three of you grew up together, right? Why can't you work together now?"
"Uh, well, Leonard, it's, uh…" said Dood.
He then immediately glared at him. "Don't call me Leonard! Only my mother calls me that. The name's Buzzsaw!"
Ford and Winsor looked at one another; they knew he chose that name to make them sound cooler.
"I think out of gas, Leonar… ugh," said Dood, quickly catching himself. "I mean, Buzzsaw."
"Out of gas?" he said in disbelief. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. You three are aware that this is the Burne Lumber Company? Established 57 years ago by Sterling Burne, my dearly departed grandaddy. Well, I, for one, will not let us fail and soil my family name over A little thing like running out of gas."
He then noticed Ford's shirt. "Is this a new thermal? Oh, what a luxurious blend—breathable And sweat-wicking. I'll have to pick one up."
He then walked away and focused on the problem. "Now, we have a problem. I have a solution! If we're out of gas, we go electric! Wait here and watch the magic."
He then walked away, leaving three brothers to look at him funny.
"Ooh, there's something not right with that boy," said Ford folding his arms.
"Yeah, born with a silver spoon in his brain," Winston agreed.
Buzzsaw grabbed an extension cable and inserted it into a multi-plug extension socket.
"Ah. That ought to do it," he said, rubbing his hands together proudly and walking away.
Unfortunately, the multi-plug was already filled with multiple cables, and it let loose a single spark. That sparkle, be it the dry grass and started a fire.
While this was going on, Tom was flying through the Hidden World on the back of Thunder, wearing his Viking helmet.
"Woohoo! Yeah!" Tom yelled excitedly as they flew around the carven. "All right!"
They continued to fly around crystals, performing quite a number of manoeuvres.
"How fast can you actually go, Pal?" Tom asked as they stopped and hovered. "Let's find out."
Thunder then took off like a bullet out of the gun with a trail of lightning trailing behind. Thunder spun around in circles for a little while before diving towards the ground and pulling up at the last moment.
"That was amazing!" Tom cried.
Thunder roared in agreement with that statement.
"All right, let's see if we can find something else out here with this dragon symbol on it," said Tom. "Something to explain this helmet. A clue… Something."
They then heard a distant roar, which they did not recognise.
"Whoa… That's definitely something," said Tom.
They followed the sound of the roar and found themselves in a new cavern, one which was home to a giant lake. Tom remembered Jun had found Wu and Wei in a large lake and figured that this was where they came from.
"Wow… Look at this," said Tom.
Thunder looked fascinated with this new cavern himself.
"Hey, Pal, how about we go in for a closer…" Thunder then suddenly dived down towards the lake. "Whoa!"
Thunder flew over the surface of the water and habitat, with his wing brushing across the surface as they flew over.
"Ah, this is awesome!" said Tom.
Thunder then soared upwards, and that was when something began to glow within the water.
"The other Dragon Riders won't believe this place," said Tom as he looked around. "But… then they'll know I went exploring without them again."
Thunder growled at him softly, reminding him they shouldn't be alone.
"I know, I know, I know. I'm just…" said Tom, removing his helmet to look at it. "I'm not ready to tell yet, Pal. I want to understand this symbol first, how it got on this helmet and how I'm connected to it. To you. I need some answers for myself. And then I'll tell the other Riders, promise. I know you don't understand what I'm saying. This just felt like… a safe place to talk it out."
Then suddenly, a large dragon shot out of the water right beneath them. They barely had time to move out of the way as it ate some sort of glowing insect from the water.
The dragon itself resembled that of the whale shark, only with wings and razor-sharp fangs that stuck out from the corners of its mouth. It also had a large bin that ran through its back and had small spikes on its forehead and running down its tail.
Tom watched after it gobbled up in sexy dived back down into the water, causing ripples to shoot out and knock his Viking helmet out of his hand.
"No!" Tom yelled as he watched the helmet land in the lake.
Without hesitation, he jumped off Thunder and dived down into the water. He quickly looked around for his helmet and saw it sinking to the bottom of the lake and quickly swam down towards it.
Thunder was still hovering above the lake, looking a little distressed as he looked for Tom.
Tom managed to grab the helmet, but then more of those glowing insects swam by any good hear a high-pitched rumbling sound. He turned around, and to his horror, he saw the large water dragon swimming towards him with its mouth wide open, making him scream underwater.
You would have been devoured if Thunder and decided to dive down into the water after him. He managed to grab Tom and quickly took to the surface, placing him down on a small island in the middle of the lake.
Tom gasped for air and looked at Thunder gratefully. "Thanks, Pal. Got the helmet back."
Thunder now in his eyes, clearly thinking the entire situation could have been avoided.
The other Dragon Riders were in the Dragon Lair, where they discovered that Tom had taken off once again on his own.
"I can't believe he did it again," said Jun.
"You can't believe the guy who wanted to keep dragons a secret, even from us, and made a career out of sneaking around ICARUS went off on his own?" said Alex.
"Yeah, I'm more surprised when he's actually here," D'Angelo agreed.
"He has been taking off on his own more after our little tangle with the Fault Ripper," said James.
"Okay, I get it," said Jun. "Kullersen's a lone wolf; that's his edge. But we're supposed to be a team."
Then, Tom arrived and landed in front of them, still soaking wet from his dunk in the lake.
"Well, well, well," said D'Angelo as Tom hopped off Thunder. "Look what the dragon drug in."
"Oh. Hey, guys," said Tom spotting them.
He then saw all four of them narrowing their eyes at him.
"Oh. Hey, Tom!" said Jun.
Thunder whimpered and then backed away, hiding behind Tom.
"We've been waiting for you," said Jun dryly. "You know you're not supposed to go exploring by yourself. It's rule number…" She paused before looking back at D'Angelo. "Help me out here, D'Angelo."
"Rule number seven—always travel with a partner," said D'Angelo.
"And that's a human partner, not a dragon partner," James added.
"Right," said Tom. "But we made an amendment to that rule during emergencies. So, technically…"
"Was this an emergency?" Jun asked dubiously.
"Uh… well, no," Tom admitted. "We were just out joy flying."
"Joy flying. Two words I never thought would go together," said Alex.
"Look, everything's fine," Tom assured them. "Nothing happened."
D'Angelo then took note of his wet clothes. "Why are you all wet?"
"Oh. Um… Well, Thunder and I found a really amazing like."
"And went swimming in your clothes?" Jun frowned.
"Not exactly. Sort of fell in."
"Ha!" D'Angelo laughed but quickly caught himself in the others looking at him.
Jun just continued frowning at Tom with her arms crossed.
"You're right; Jun," Tom gave in. "You're right; I shouldn't have snuck off alone. I was just, you know, clearing my head."
"Well, I hope it's clear now," said Jun. "You're a member of a team."
Tom nodded, and then they heard Alex's tablet beeping.
"Dragon alert?" D'Angelo asked.
Alex looked at it and shook her head. "No. This is coming from ICARUS."
Olivia, May, Philip, Clara and Sledkin rushed into the command centre, where Linda had set off the station alert.
"Linda, what's going on?" Philip asked.
"It had better be something big," said May. "You just sound of the general alarm."
"Forest fire," she said, putting it up on the screen.
"A forest fire?" said Sledkin. "I'm starting to think this expedition is cursed."
"It's still a few miles away and not burning in this direction," Linda informed them.
"Hmm. Let's be thankful for small miracles," said May. "What started it?"
"Years of drought," said Olivia. "Climate change has turned this forest into a tinderbox."
"Can't have a fire without a spark," said Sledkin.
"If memory serves, there's a small logging company doing some work in that area," said May.
"I read about that, and I hear the guy running it is a little off," said Clara. "Cares more about this company than his employees or the world around him."
"Sounds familiar," said Olivia looking at Sledkin.
Philip leaned over to Linda. "Can you get any closer?"
"I think so," said Linda. "Switching to manual drone control."
"Remember, Linda," said May before she had a chance to switch to manual. "You break it, you buy it."
"'You break it, you buy it…'" she said in a mocking tone as she operated the controls.
She switched the drone to manual control and guided it closer towards the fire, but the smoke was so thick they couldn't see anything.
"I can't see anything," said Sledkin.
"I hope the loggers evacuated in time," said Olivia.
"Well, we should make sure," said Philip. "Maybe they need our help."
"I'm in," said Clara.
"We'll take the chopper," Olivia nodded.
The three of them began to make their leave, but they were stopped by Sledkin.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she said. "You're going to risk company property and legal liability on a maybe? We have no idea if anyone is even there."
"That is true, and the fire is burning away from us," said May.
"You can't be serious," said Clara in disbelief.
"At least let us take a van, just in case," said Olivia.
"Out of the question," said Sledkin firmly.
"I didn't know you were in charge of this facility," said Clara folding her arms as she narrowed her eyes. "Last time I checked, Rakke Corp sent you here as an observer and nothing more."
"I am here to make sure the interests of Rakke are being put to good use," said Sledkin glaring at her. "As was reminding everyone here why we're here in the first place."
"Last time I checked, we were trying to save the planet and the people on it."
May looked towards the monitor and then gasped. "What was that?"
Sledkin turned and made her way over to the monitor, and while her back was turned, May tossed the van keys over to Olivia. She, Clara and Philip smiled and immediately left the command centre.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Linda cried as the drone got caught in the fire and got destroyed. "Oops."
Sledkin and May looked at her strictly, and May snapped her fingers and held out her hand the cost of the drone.
The Dragon Riders had just returned ICARUS, and they could see the fire in the distance.
"Guess we know what the emergency is," said Tom.
"That fire's too far away to make it here, right?" Alex asked.
"Depends on the wind and the terrain," said D'Angelo. "Don't forget to take the humility into account. It's very dry. Are your lips as chapped as mine?"
"Can we please focus on the huge forest fire on us?" James asked.
"We have to find our parents, figure out what's going on," said Jun.
"We do not look too far," James pointed.
They turned and saw Olivia, Philip and Clara running past towards the van.
"Mum!" Tom and James yelled.
"Dad!" D'Angelo yelled.
"We'll be back soon," said Olivia looking back at them. "Going to make sure nobody needs our help."
"You kids hunker down in your domes in case the fire changes direction," Philip ordered as they climbed into the van.
"Which is unlikely as the wind is blowing in the opposite direction," Clara added.
Once all three of them were in the van, Olivia started the engine and drove off.
"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Tom smiled.
"Oh… I'm never thinking what you're thinking," said Alex. "But, knowing you, I think I know what you're thinking."
Tom smiled and dashed off.
At the lumber company, the three brothers desperately tried to extinguish the fire. They were tossing buckets of water onto the flames from a well, the fire was just too big, and they were starting to succumb to the fumes.
"We're going to roast if we don't get out of here!" Dood yelled.
"Where's the van?" Winston asked.
"Leonard… Ah, sorry. Buzzsaw took it into town to get more gas for the saws," said Ford.
"So, anyone feels like saving Buzzsaw's family business?" Winston asked.
The three brothers looked at one another and then started running for their lives. Sadly the brothers didn't get far as a burning tree fell onto the road blocking their path.
At the same time, Olivia was driving down the road towards the lumber company driving through the forest fire.
"Fire's spreading fast," said Philip.
"It certainly looks bad," said Clara.
"Hopefully, all the loggers got out," said Olivia.
"Look out!" Philip yelled.
Olivia looked ahead and saw a huge boulder on the side of the road; she quickly swerved the van to avoid it before coming to a final stop.
"Not bad, Dr K," Philip smiled.
Olivia laughed. "I fly helicopters, Chief. This is nothing."
She then hit on the accelerator and may continue to drive towards the logging camp.
At this point, the Dragon Riders had flown out of the Dragon Lair and into the fissure.
"This is nuts, Kullersen!" D'Angelo yelled. "The dragons are going to be right out in the open."
"We'll use the smoker as cover," said Tom. "At least we can give our parents some air support."
"My dad has been in combat," D'Angelo reminded him. "He knows what he's doing."
"I'm with Tom," said Jun. "Just in case something goes wrong."
"Let's face it, with our luck, something is bound to go wrong," said James.
D'Angelo sighed. "Okay. Just in case something goes wrong. Riders till the end!"
"Stay on my wing and out of sight," Tom ordered. "We're going up."
"The one time I wish he'd gone off on his own," Alex grumbled.
They immediately flew up into the smoke cloud covering the entire forest and soon flew above it. However, they soon discover they had another problem to contend with.
"The only problem is, how do we find our folks when we can't even see?" D'Angelo asked.
Tom could see the problem quite clearly. "Okay, so maybe I didn't think of everything."
"Oh. I got it," said Alex pulling out her tablet. "Activating the mummies and daddies tracker."
"You bugged our parents?!" D'Angelo stared at her incredulously. "What are you, some kind of super-spy?"
"Now you're starting to get it," Alex grinned.
"Wait a minute. Am I bugged?!"
Alex merely shrugged, giving him a mysterious smile.
"Focus, guys," said Tom. "Take the lead, Alex."
Alex smiled, flew ahead of them, and then led them back through the smoke cloud.
Alex continued looking at the tracker once they got beneath the smoke cloud and saw the van making its way through the forest fire.
"You can't escape my watchful eyes," said Alex.
"There's the logging town, 12 o'clock!" D'Angelo pointed.
They could see the logging town ahead, but it was completely surrounded by flames.
"Jun and I will trail the van," said Tom and looked to the others. "You three at logging town in case you can help. But stay out of sight."
"That's no problem," said Alex confidently. "Feathers, hide."
Feathers turned herself invisible, but everyone could still see Alex, only now it looked as if she was floating in midair, which was slightly disturbing.
"You know we can still see you, right?" D'Angelo pointed out.
"Oh, yeah," Alex snorted.
Feathers reappeared, and soon she, along with Plowhorn and Blade, flew straight towards the logging town.
Tom then turned his attention to the van. "There they are. Looks like it's getting hotter down there."
"Not for long," said Jun as she dived down. "Wu! Chill 'em out."
Wu unleashed his ice blast down the road in front of the van, instantly dousing the flames blocking its path.
Inside the van Olivia and the others were rather surprised by what just happened.
"What was that?" said Olivia.
"I have no idea," said Philip. "But whatever it was, it bought some time."
"There was always a single second of it," said Clara.
Tom and Jun then continued to shadow them from above.
At the logging town, the three brothers were in a worse situation as they were slowly becoming overwhelmed by the fumes.
"That does not look good," said Alex.
"And there's a burning tree blocking the road," D'Angelo noted. "My dad can't get to them."
"And we can't let them see us," said Alex.
"We can't just leave them to die either; we need to do something," said James.
Alex thought for a moment and then got an idea.
On the ground were the three brothers, and had no idea how long they would last when suddenly Ford was lifted up into the air.
"Where's Ford, go?" Winston asked, noting their brother had disappeared.
Ford was, in fact, floating up in midair and was flying directly over the burning tree onto the road. A split second later, something grabbed Winston and Dood and carried them over to Ford.
"Sweet Lumber Jane!" Winston screamed.
They were then dropped gently next to Ford, but before either of them could figure out what just save, Olivia's van had arrived and stopped next to them.
"Get in!" said Philip.
Once they were in the back with Clara, who began checking them up, they immediately drove back to ICARUS.
D'Angelo then landed on the ground with Alex riding along with James, and all of them were pleased with themselves.
"Yeah," said Alex as they high-fived each other.
Feathers, who had been the one to carry the brothers to safety, reappeared next to them. Alex then rubbed Feathers' head, making her purr.
Olivia and the others were now driving away from the fire in the van.
"You guys okay?" Olivia asked.
"They appear to be a little shaken but otherwise fine," said Clara.
"We floated through the sky," said Ford.
"It was a miracle," said Winston.
"No! It was an angel," said Dood.
Olivia, Philip and Clara looked at one another. "Smoke inhalation."
They then heard the sound of a honking horn.
"Olivia! Watch out!" Philip yelled.
They screamed as they saw a van driving through the smoke towards them. Olivia quickly swirled out of the way, and they saw a glimpse of Buzzsaw, who continued to make his way into the fire.
"He's driving back into the fire?" Philip stared dumbfounded.
"That's crazy," said Olivia.
"It's stupid," said Clara.
"Yep, he's not the sharpest tool in the box," Winston agreed.
Buzzsaw was driving to his logging camp like a maniac while carrying cans of fuel in the back of the van. The fumes from the fire caused him to cough, but that didn't stop him from rescuing his logging company.
"Just breathe, Buzzsaw," he said to himself. "Relax. When you get to the lumber town, just put out the fire."
He then chuckled as if it was a simple task. "But when I figure out who started it…" He then stopped as he saw a glimpse of Thunder flying overhead. "Huh? What was that?"
He was so busy looking up at the sky that he wasn't looking ahead until he saw the boulder that Olivia could avoid. Sadly for him, he was not as good a driver as her and crashed into it. He spun out of control, landed in the burning forest, and crashed into a tree. This caused the back of the van to open another, and the fuel inside the fallout.
Buzzsaw exited the van looking furious. "Stupid boulder!" He then looked back at the van, and so it wasn't badly damaged. "Eh, not too bad. Probably still drives."
He then made his way back to the van, but a single ember hit the fuel that had spilt out, and seconds later, it exploded. Buzzsaw was flung backwards, in the van was launched into the air.
The Dragon Riders were flying overhead when they saw the burning van heading straight towards them.
"Evasive manoeuvres!" D'Angelo yelled.
They quickly swirled out of the way, and the van hit the ground and exploded. This, in turn, caused the fire to burn in the direction of ICARUS.
"Now, that can't be good," said Alex.
At ICARUS command centre, Linda sought the fire had suddenly turned direction towards them.
"Something just happened," said Linda. "Now the fire is burning right towards us."
"And Olivia, with Clara and your chief security, has left the building," said Sledkin looking down at May.
"Put out another alert to prepare for evacuation. Further extractions will follow," May ordered, and then she turned to Sledkin. "I will always put the possibility of saving a life over the protection of company property. It's shocking, Dr Sledkin, that you do not."
She then walked away, leaving a frustrated Sledkin behind with Linda.
The Dragon Riders watched as the fire was inching closer to ICARUS Station.
"The fire is burning right towards Rakke Town," said Alex. "What do we do?"
Thunder snarled, feeling absolutely useless.
"I know, Pal. I know," said Tom gently. "But you can't fight fire with lightning."
"Or bomb loogies," D'Angelo added. "Wu and Wei are our only hope."
"How much they got left in the tank?" Tom yelled.
Upon seeing the fire, Jun immediately dived down and had Wu douse it with his ice breath, but they were only really slowing it down.
"Not enough," said Jun.
"that barely made a dent!" said Alex.
"We could try making a firebreak," James suggested.
"The fire's too large," said D'Angelo. "We need a bigger water dragon. Too bad there aren't any around."
Tom then got an idea and flew off.
"Kullersen!" Jun yelled.
"There he goes again, flying off like Captain Rogue!" said D'Angelo.
"Cover, Jun," said Alex began flying after Tom.
James looked at D'Angelo. "We should try making a firebreak even if it might not work; it's better than doing nothing."
D'Angelo nodded, and soon the two of them flew down.
Tom had made it back to the Dragon World and headed straight towards the lake when he encountered that giant water dragon.
"Okay, Pal," said Tom. "Any idea how to train a giant aggressive water dragon?"
Thunder growled, informing him he had no idea.
"Yeah, me neither."
Regardless they flew down to the island, and Tom hopped off Thunder. He began making his way to the lake, but Thunder bit on his jacket, trying to pull him back.
"I got to do this, Pal," said Tom. "ICARUS and Rakke Town are in danger."
Thunder growled sadly and released him.
Tom then bent down to the lake and thrust his hand across the water, causing the glowing bugs to float to the surface.
"Come on, you big Flood Fang," he said urgently. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need some help putting out a fire, that's all."
Thunder growled as he sensed something approaching, and then the Flood Fang jumped out of the water. Tom tripped over in surprise as the massive water dragon dived towards him, intending to swallow them whole.
"Tom!" a voice yelled.
A split second later, Alex arrived and managed to grab Tom before he was eaten. The Flood Fang and began to fly over the lake.
"Okay," said Tom as he dangled in midair due to Feathers having bit his hoody. "That was close. Thanks, Alex."
Alex narrowed her eyes at him, still annoyed that he rushed off alone. Regardless he dropped him back onto the island and landed in front of him.
"That was even crazy heroic or crazy stupid!" Alex scolded as she hopped off Feathers. "Either way, crazy applies."
"I vote for crazy heroic?"
"Tom."
"Okay, okay. I know, I know. But I saw this dragon earlier, and I thought it would be perfect to put out the fire."
"And you might be right, Tom. You seem to have a weird thing, dragons," she admitted. "But you can't keep flying off to do everything by yourself. And this is coming from the girl who likes to do everything by herself!"
"It's not like I'm trying to ditch you guys and leave you in the dark. I'm just…"
"Ditching us and leaving us in the dark. We're the Dragon Riders, remember? Not the Lone Dragon Rider and Four Pointless Sidekicks."
Tom sighed and nodded. "You're right. You're right. I guess I spend so much time travelling with my mum, adventuring by myself… it's hard for me to let people get too close."
"We all did, Tom," said Alex. "But I let you into my world. If the Dragon Riders are going to work, you have to start letting us into yours. You're a natural leader, Kullersen. You just don't know it yet."
Tom smiled. "I'll try harder to open up, I promise. But right now, we should get back and see if we can help the others with the fire."
"Eh, not so fast, hotshot," said Alex stopping him before he walked off. "I mean, we're already out here. What do you know about this water dragon?"
"Uh, well, let's see," said Tom as he looked at the Flood Fang, which was still flying overhead. "It's big, aggressive, has a huge mouth, and I think it likes to eat those little blinking bugs. Probably untrainable."
Alex bent down and looked at the glowing bugs on the surface of the water. "Those look like fireflies." She then got an idea and looked back at Tom. "You know, Kullersen, I bet there's more than one way to train a dragon. And I know the perfect place to find a lot of fireflies."
Tom smiled at her.
Moments later, they were back on their dragons and began to gather fireflies in the forest with some nets. Once they got all the fireflies, they needed immediately headed back towards the forest fire.
While Jun tried to douse the fire with Wu and Wei, James and D'Angelo tried to make a firebreak. Blade was cutting down as many trees as to stop the fire from spreading, and Plowhorn was using her horn in order to dig a trench, but despite their best effort, it was just too big may have to give up.
Jun soon joined them with an exhausted Wu and Wei. "That's it! They're out!"
Wu then snorted, disappointed he was unable to put out the fire.
"Oh, it's not your fault, guys," Jun assured them. "That's a huge fire, and you're only one dragon." Wei then snarled indignantly. "Kinda."
"We didn't have better luck with a firebreak; it's just too big," said James. "We need reinforcements."
"Anyone need two giant water dragons?" said a voice.
They looked up and saw Tom and Alex flying overhead, herding two Flood Fangs towards the fire.
"Woohoo!" Jun cheered as they flew overhead.
"Yeah!" D'Angelo yelled.
"Way to go!" James yelled.
"Say when," said Alex looking at Tom.
"You know fireflies better than I do, Alex," Tom pointed out. "Make the call."
"Not yet," said Alex as they flew closer to the fire. "Not yet…"
Tom was getting a little concerned they were getting rather too close to the fire. "Uh, Alex?"
"Now!" she yelled.
They then released the fireflies over the fire, and when the Flood Fangs opened their mouths to eat them, they dropped several tonnes of water down upon the fire. The water doused the worst of the fire, allowing what remained to die out.
"Nice shot, Alex!" Tom cheered.
"Maybe I missed my calling," said Alex. "Instead of building firewalls, I should be putting them out."
They then flew back to the others, who were cheering them on.
"That was all lit!" said D'Angelo. "So to speak."
"That was impressive work, guys," said James.
"Where did you find those dragons?" Jun asked, looking at the Flood Fangs.
"It's a long story," said Tom.
"But he's going to tell it, anyway, because we're all the same team, and we share things with each other," said Alex.
Tom gave a small chuckle. "But, first, we better catch a few of those fireflies so we have something to lead the Flood Fangs back home."
At ICARUS Station, everyone was still organising the evacuation when Linda saw the fire had been put out.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Linda cried. "Stop the evacuation! Fire's out!"
"What do you mean the fire's out?" May stared.
"Gone. Extinguished. Kaput. It's happy hour!" Linda yelled excitedly. "Time for tapas."
"See, Wilma? There was nothing to worry about," said May proudly and left the command centre. "Time for tapas."
Sledkin, however, was not happy; she was still infuriated at being humiliated by May.
Meanwhile, Buzzsaw, who was a little scorched from the explosion, had managed to reach the burned-to-the-ground lumber camp.
"It… it's gone…" he said, devastated. "Roasted! Burned to the ground!"
He then screamed in frustration as he fell to his knees, banging his fists against the ground.
"I failed…! I promise… whoever did this is going to pay," he vowed. He then heard the sound of thunder and saw Thunder himself flying overhead. "A lightning bird? The lightning bird…"
Believing that Thunder had caused the fire, he immediately began to chase after him, determined to make good on his promise.
The Dragon Riders had successfully returned the Flood Fang to the Dragon World and were now enjoying the newly discovered lake.
D'Angelo and Alex were playing Wayne some sort of crystal hopscotch while James was leaning back and looking out towards the lake. Jun then noticed that Tom was all on his own and suspected he was still hiding something.
"All right, Kullersen," he said, making her way towards him. "I know when something's bothering you."
"No, no. Really, it's nothing," he said.
Jun narrowed her eyes at him, not convinced.
"Okay, okay… I'll open up," he said, admitting defeat. "You know the symbol…?"
He then stopped, feeling uncomfortable about this.
"Come on. Out with it," said Jun bending down towards him.
"This is a bit personal," he said and looked over towards the others.
"Too personal to tell the others?" Jun frowned.
"Forl right now, yeah," Tom nodded.
"I'm not sure I like that. But… okay," she said reluctantly. "Your secret is safe with me.
Tom smiled. "You know a lot about ancient myths and civilisations, right?"
"I do," she said slowly.
Tom then pulled out his Viking helmet and handed it over to her. "It's about the symbol Thunder burned into the wall of the Lair. This is a family heirloom."
Jun looked at the helmet and saw the same symbol engraved on it. Tom then placed his hand on the helmet and looked at her.
"I need your help to figure it out," he said.