The Dragon Riders were still piecing together what had happened with Thunder, but it was clear there had been some battle.
"I just don't get it," said Tom as he watched Thunder sniffing around. "Why would Thunder leave me and come all the way out here just to get into a fight?"
"Guess he keeps secrets, too," Alex scowled. "No wonder you guys get along."
"There is way too much lightning scoring for just Thunder," said D'Angelo. "Something else here was blasting lightning, too."
"Tom! Check it out!" Jun waved.
They made their way over to her as she and James studied some footprints.
"There are two sets of dragon tracks," said Jun. "These look like Thunder's and head off in this direction. The others go into the cave."
Thunder snarled at the cave angrily.
"Thunder's family," Tom breathed. "That's it! The lining we were chasing must have been a battle between Thunder's family and… And whatever's in there."
"Oh man," said D'Angelo. "That thing must be pretty tough if it was strong enough to knock out Thunder and chase off his family."
"Big, too, if these tracks are anything to go by," James added.
Thunder then headed off towards the cave.
"Wait! Pal!" Tom yelled. "Where are you going?"
Thunder snarled at the cave's entrance.
"That's a revenge growl," said Alex and everyone stared at her. "What? I know my growls."
"And if Nibbles is anything to go by, dragons can hold a grudge," said James.
Thunder then made his way into the cave.
"Thunder?" said Tom, chasing after him, but stopped and looked at the others.
"Like I said, Kullersen. You go, we go," said Jun.
"Even if you broke our trust," said James.
"Even if you keep secrets," D'Angelo added.
"And you don't deserve us," Alex added scornfully.
Tom felt terrible; he knew he had to do much work to regain their trust.
Regardless, they made their way into the cave with their dragons.
Meanwhile, on the surface, Eugene had finally managed to get into Jun's room, though his fingers were sore from the mousetraps.
"All right, Jun Bug, what's this 'Dragon Club' all about?" said Eugene, removing the mousetrap from his fingers. "There must be a clue in here somewhere."
He then noticed Jun's laptop and smiled, but that quickly vanished when it asked for a password.
"Password?!" he moaned and then scoffed. "Oh, wait. There's a hint. 'Which way does the river flow?'"
He thought for about five seconds and then roared in frustration. "You are the most annoying sister ever! Okay, Eugene. If you're going to crack this, you need to think like Jun. Think like Jun. What does that girl think about?"
His eyes then fell upon the posters of multiple mythical creatures.
"Fairies, unicorns, dragons, how to annoy me," he said to himself, but nothing sprung to mind. "Think, Eugene, think!"
He then got an idea. "Battleaxe?" He then typed the word, which was denied. "Ugh. Nail polish!" He typed it in and was denied once more. "Ugh! It's impossible to think like her! Wait. Nail polish on a yeti?"
He typed it in, and it was denied, and then slammed his head on the table. "Agh! I was sure that was it!"
Meanwhile, the Dragon Riders were still following Thunder through the cave.
"Can you see anything?" Jun asked.
"Yeah," said Tom. "There's a light up ahead."
They then entered a new cavern filled with glowing crystals, which could easily be mistaken for ice.
"What is this place?" said Jun.
"They're definitely made of some sort of crystal," said James, who examined the wall. "I think we've found our way back into the Crystal Realm or at least another part of it."
"It's amazing," said Jun.
"Okay, we've seen it," said Alex. "Can we had back?"
They then heard a distant roar somewhere within the crystals.
"That didn't sound friendly," said James.
Thunder then suddenly took off without warning.
"Thunder?" said Tom and quickly chased after him. "Thunder! Wait!"
He then quickly chased after Thunder, but when they turned round the corner, he saw that he'd stopped in his tracks. He, too, stopped when he raised his hand. He found that they were pressing against some transparent crystal. Not realising this, D'Angelo kept on running before slamming right into it.
"You okay?" Tom asked, bending down.
"What did I hit?" D'Angelo asked, rubbing his forehead.
"Some of these crystals are nearly transparent," said Jun as she examined and Thunder licked them. "This is like a maze. How do we get through here?"
"I have no idea," said Tom, helping D'Angelo up. "Look for a path."
"A better question is, what is Thunder trying to find on the other side?" Alex asked.
They began feeling against the crystal walls for an opening.
"No path," said D'Angelo.
"Nope," said Alex.
"Nothing I can see," said Jun.
"Only solid wall here," said James.
Tom kept moving down the wall until he found an opening; he followed it with Thunder, which led to a fork in the road. The others soon joined, and Thunder looked at the left path.
"Looks like Thunder wants to go that way," said Tom, turning to the others. "I understand if you want to go home, but I can't. Not yet. Whatever Thunder's after, I have to be there for him. But you should all go back."
"Do I really have to say it again?" said Jun, turning to D'Angelo. "D'Angelo?"
"No rider left behind, Kullersen," said D'Angelo as the dragons began to follow Thunder down the path. "And since all the dragons seem to be following Thunder, we're in, too." He then placed a hand on Tom's shoulder. "Come on, man. I may be mad about all the secrets, but I don't believe a friend in need."
"Besides, we've already gotten this far, might as well go the full mile," said James.
"Funny," said Alex. "You never mentioned life or death stakes when you brought me into the club. Guess that wouldn't have been a strong selling point."
Tom chuckled as he followed them.
They continued to follow Thunder, but it was like a maze, and it looked like they had returned to exactly where they started. Plowhorn then sniffed the air, and judging from her reaction, she picked something up and gestured to the path on their left.
"We're going to get turned around if we continue walking in the dark," said James.
"I could breadcrumb our movements and try to map out the maze in case, for some unknown reason, we need to urgently retrace our steps," said Alex.
"Nuh-uh!" said D'Angelo, shaking his head. "You do not need to worry about getting lost in here. You're looking at the reigning Baker family corn maze champion."
"Yeah… I'm still going to make a map," said Alex. "You know, just for fun."
"You have a weird idea of fun."
"Says the man proud of his corn maze proficiency."
"Hey! Those are hard!"
"It's not the maze we should be worried about," said Jun. "It's what resides in its centre."
Everyone just gave her blank looks.
"Does no one read the classics?" she moaned. "Like the minotaur? Half man, half bull? A monstrous creature that the Greek hero Theseus chose to battle to save his fellow Athenians?"
Everyone just continued giving her blank looks.
"I'm just saying there's always something at the centre of every maze."
"Like corn?" Alex asked hopefully, and D'Angelo nodded eagerly.
They then heard a growling sound, and it sounded close by. Thunder didn't like it and growled aggressively.
"Here's something, Pal?" Tom asked.
Thunder dashed off, and everyone immediately followed him, but they ran in circles. Tom was sure they had returned to the same place twice, and Thunder was now looking a little agitated.
"Didn't we go back this way once already?" D'Angelo asked as they continued to follow Thunder.
"Yeah. A couple of times," Tom nodded. "This place is really confusing."
"That's an understatement," said James.
"Aw. I thought you were the corn maze champion," Alex smirked, looking at D'Angelo.
"All right, all right," said D'Angelo in defeat. "Look around! This is not corn!"
"What about your tracker?" Jun asked.
"We've been here before," said Alex, looking at her tablet. "Three times, actually, but that's okay. There aren't any monsters here."
Plowhorn then growled, gaining their attention and walked down a new path she had found.
"Plowhorn found a new opening!" said Alex.
"Good girl!" D'Angelo smiled.
They followed Plowhorn, and nothing looked familiar this time; Tom saw a few cracked crystals. Something big and powerful had been here recently.
Tom then heard a growling sound, turned his head, and found fast asleep was the biggest dragon he had counted yet; it had razor-sharp teeth, spikes shooting out of the back of its head, and spikes running down from its back to its tail.
"I told you there's always something at the centre of a maze," said Jun.
"I think we found what Thunder was looking for," said Tom.
"Good; now, can we lose it?" James asked.
"Way ahead of you," said Alex as she fiddled with her tablet. "I have our escape route already mapped."
Sadly, before they could escape, Thunder growled at the giant dragon fiercely and looked as if he was about to attack it.
"Thunder!" Tom hissed and quickly rushed over to him. "What are you doing?! Stop!" He quickly placed himself in front of Thunder before he woke the dragon. "This is no time to go all alpha."
Sadly, Thunder ignored him and continued making his way towards the dragon, and the others just stood there and watched, unsure what to do.
"Okay, okay, I get it, I get it," said Tom, trying to stop Thunder from getting past him. "That giant thing blasted you and your family. I'd be mad, too. But you can't do this. This guy is too big to have some rivalry with; he's already beaten you once!
Then, the other Riders noticed that the giant dragon had awoken and now was standing up straight.
"Tom…" said Jun.
Tom still had his back towards the dragons and didn't know it had awoken.
Thunder then tried to move him out of the way. "Hey! I'm trying to help you! Don't you trust me?"
"T-T-T-T-T-Tom," Alex stuttered.
"Alex, Alex, what?" Tom asked.
He then heard the sound of electricity fizzling, which wasn't coming from Thunder. He slowly turned around and saw that the huge dragon was awake, and electricity was surging through its body. If that was not terrifying enough, electricity began shooting in different directions, colliding with the crystals charging them, causing the Dragon Riders to panic.
Tom then looked at Thunder, who also charged his body with electricity. "Uh… I guess we're committed now." He then quickly mounted Thunder. "Go!"
Thunder took off towards the giant dragon.
"Tom!" Jun yelled. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know, but I don't want to get involved," said Alex, backing away.
"He's protecting his friend!" said D'Angelo.
"And we're involved whether we like it or not," James added.
The dragon then flew upwards to meet Thunder in the air.
"We need to do the same!" said Jun to the others.
James and D'Angelo nodded, and they quickly went to their dragons.
"I knew that was coming," said Alex and followed them.
When Jun and James got on their dragons, they took to the air to join Tom and Thunder. Alex and D'Angelo got on their dragons a few seconds later when they saw the electricity flowing into the crystals.
"Get ready, Alex! I'll cover you!" said D'Angelo.
D'Angelo and Plowhorn took to the air, and electricity immediately flowed into Plowhorn's horn like a lightning rod.
"Go, Alex!" D'Angelo yelled.
Alex then took off. "Scream, Feathers, scream!"
Feathers then file a sonic blast at the giant dragon, knocking it back down to the ground, and Thunder fired a lightning blast before it had a chance to recover.
"Fire and ice!" Jun ordered a two-headed dragon, then unleashed their heat and ice blasts.
However, it barely phased the dragon and unleashed a lightning blast at them. Luckily, Jun was able to avoid getting hit.
"Okay, Blade, hit it!" said James.
Blade launched a fire missile at the dragon, but it quickly countered with a lightning blast, which tore through the missile and continued to predict way towards them. Blade quickly performed a barrel roll and dodged it just in time.
The dragon saw Tom and Thunder flying overhead and found a lightning blast at them. The blast grazed Tom, and he screamed in pain from the electricity. Fortunately for him, Thunder could absorb the electricity, which prevented him from getting electrocuted.
"Bug out! Come on!" D'Angelo yelled at the dragon and continued firing a lightning blast at them.
They quickly flew down a nearby passageway, which was far too narrow to fly and collided with the walls.
"Another lightning dragon," D'Angelo panted. "How crazy is that?"
"You're lucky that you're on Thunder when it shot you," said James, looking at Tom. "If you'd been on the ground, you'd be dead."
Then, the huge lightning dragon appeared around the corner, rolling at them angrily with electricity flowing from its body.
"We still might!" Jun yelled.
The Dragon Riders immediately ran apart from Tom and Thunder, who remained fixated on the giant lightning dragon.
"Thunder!" Tom yelled, pushing him back. "Sorry, Pal. This is a fight we have to run from."
He then quickly mounted Thunder and promptly joined up with the others.
"Let's go," said Tom as he ran past them.
"Run!" Jun yelled to the others.
They quickly ran from the giant lightning dragon, who continued chasing them. Fortunately, it was having difficulty doing that with the narrow passageways.
Tom noticed that they were quite ahead of the others. "Thunder! Slow down! You're going to lose them!"
Thunder, however, didn't appear to be listening.
As the giant dragon made its way through the narrow passageways, it caused the crystals to collapse, blocking its path.
"Alex! Where do we go?" D'Angelo asked.
Alex quickly looked at her tablet. "This way, but…" She accidentally dropped it and landed in front of Plowhorn, who then crushed it as she ran over it. "Oh, no! My whole world is in there!"
"Hold on!" said Jun. "Everyone, stop!"
They quickly stopped as they approached a fork in the road, and there was no sign of Tom and Thunder.
"We lost Tom," said Alex.
They then heard a muffled roar.
"Did you hear that?" D'Angelo asked. Then he suddenly heard a cracking sound and realised where it was coming from. "Look out!"
Moments later, several crystals collapsed, creating a physical barrier separating Jun and James from the others.
"D'Angelo!" James yelled.
"Alex!" Jun cried.
"Jun!" Alex yelled.
"James!" D'Angelo yelled.
Unaware of what was happening, Tom and Thunder were still dashing through the crystal maze. Tom looked back and realised that they had lost the others.
"We've lost the others! What are you doing?" he asked.
Thunder then came to a sudden stop, which caused Tom to be flung off him. Then, the moment he got back up, Thunder began pushing him to one side, and then he jested his head towards a nearby passageway.
"What?" Tom stared. "Are you telling me to stay? Thunder, no."
Thunder was about to leave when crystals collapsed, blocking the passageway.
Jun and James were searching the maze, trying to find the others.
"Tom!" Jun yelled.
"Alex! D'Angelo!" James yelled.
They then heard a distant roar.
"The minotaur continues to stalk its maze," said Jun.
"The sooner we join up with the others, the better," said James.
Jun nodded. "Let's keep moving."
They then began making their way to a new passageway, but suddenly, they saw the giant dragon appearing from behind the corner. They all remained absolutely quiet, but the dragon did notice them. Thankfully, blocking its path was a transparent crystal, which attacked with its claw. It looked immensely frustrated and bashed its head against the crystal, which did not buckle, and then it left.
"Yeah, that took years of my life," said Jun and collapsed onto Wu.
"Years? Try decades," said James.
"Let's find the others and get out of here," said Jun.
The dragon suddenly descended the passageway, which led in the same direction as the giant dragon.
"Hey! Where are you doing?" Jun demanded, trying to pull them back. "Not that way! This way!"
"Blade, we need to go in the opposite direction!" James yelled.
"Yeah, we want to get away from the scary monster! Away!" Jun yelled. "Ugh! Come on! Ugh!"
D'Angelo and Alex were completely lost, and there was no sign of the others.
"We could yell for them, but that might alert that giant dragon to our location," said D'Angelo.
"We have to think of something!" said Alex as she paced up and down.
"Shouldn't we go looking for them?" D'Angelo asked.
"We weren't that far apart when we got separated. They'll find us. My moms always say that in search and rescue situations, the best thing to do is to stay put. So this time, I decided. We sit still!"
She immediately sat on the floor, and D'Angelo joined her a few seconds later. However, after about 10 seconds, he got back up, looking immensely frustrated.
"Ugh! It's impossible to sit still without the Internet," she said frustratingly.
They then heard a distant roar and massive footsteps, slowly getting louder.
"It's the beast," Alex gasped. "Quick! Hide!"
"Hide where?" D'Angelo asked.
Feathers then covered Alex with her wings and then disappeared.
"Yeah, that doesn't help me!" D'Angelo yelled in a whisper.
Feathers then reappeared and lifted her wing, and Alex held out her hand. D'Angelo then quickly knelt next to her and looked at Plowhorn.
"Plow, hide!" he whispered.
Plowhorn lowered her body as far as he could and remained perfectly still behind some crystals. Feathers then dropped her wing, covering both D'Angelo and Alex before vanishing.
The giant dragon then appeared around the corner and began sniffing. D'Angelo and Alex remained perfectly quiet, and then they could hear the sound of electricity fizzling. Then the giant dragon walked past them, mistaking Plowhorn for some crystals and then turned around another corner.
Once it was gone, Feathers reappeared and opened her wings to reveal D'Angelo, grasping Alex out of fear. It was at that point that both June and James arrived.
"What are you two doing?" Jun asked.
"Did we miss something?" James asked.
"Uh, you just missed it!" said D'Angelo, still grasping hold of Alex. "That thing was here!"
"You can let go of me now," said Alex.
"Sorry. Survival instinct," said D'Angelo releasing her.
"Come on, we got to find Tom," said Jun.
Tom was busy pushing some rubble so they could carry on descending the path. They began climbing over the crystals once they finally cleared enough of the rubble, and Thunder snarled.
"You hear something, Pal?" Tom asked.
Thunder growled with disappointment.
"Me neither," Tom sighed, and Thunder purred at him. "I get it. You want revenge. That dragon blasted you and chased off your family, right? I just don't get why you left without me. I guess Alex was right. We've both been keeping secrets. Listen, wherever your family went, we're going to find them, and I'm going to help you. I promise."
Thunder then purred him affectionately, and Tom rubbed his neck.
"We just need to stick and trust each other," said Tom. "And I need to learn how to trust my friends with my secrets. Speaking of that, let's go find them."
Tom then mounted Thunder and began making their way through the maze. However, they heard powerful stomping that shook everything and a familiar growl.
"Come on! We have to hide!" said Tom and began to look around. "Thunder, there's nowhere to—"
Thunder tossed him off his back, and they heard the distant growl again.
"Thunder!" Tom cried.
Thunder merely snarled at him, telling him to back off.
"Oh, not this again!" Tom groaned.
Thunder then pushed him back and began to follow the roar of the giant dragon.
"I thought we had a good talk!" Tom yelled and began chasing after him. "Thunder, wait!"
When Tom turned round the corner, he found Thunder facing down the giant dragon, who was trying to squeeze through the narrow passageway.
"Hey! Leave them alone!" Tom yelled, running towards them.
Thunder looked back and saw him; he then looked up at the crystal walls. He then fired a lightning blast at the top of the walls, causing a large amount of rubble to fold, blocking Tom's path. However, this did not stop Tom, who began climbing over.
He just got over the barrier when he saw Thunder charging at the giant dragon.
"Thunder!" Tom yelled. "No!"
Thunder slammed into the giant dragon head first, and the moment he did, electricity began flying around in all different directions. Tom got hit by a small jolt, but luckily, it was not fatal.
Tom climbed over the rubble and continued to chase after Thunder. When he turned round the corner, he saw electricity flying in all different directions and Thunder and the giant dragon who tried to overpower one another with their lightning blasts.
They appear to be evenly matched, and seconds later, there was a small explosion. Both dragons were sent flying and crashed into the same wall, entering a new clearing. The giant dragon quickly recovered and slammed its massive claw at Thunder, who barely jumped out of the way in time.
Thunder then tackled the giant dragon, causing more electricity to fly out, and they soon took to the sky.
Tom just arrived, moving some rubble out of the way. "Thunder!"
Once in the air, the two fired a lightning blast at one another, causing them to clash. However, it looked like the giant dragon had the advantage regarding your power.
"Tom!" a voice yelled.
Tom spun around and saw D'Angelo with the others following closely behind. "D! We have to help Thunder!"
They looked up and saw that Thunder was now being chased by the giant dragon, who continued to fire lightning blasts. Thunder, however, used his smaller size and agility to his advantage, swerving away from a wall at the last moment, causing the giant dragon to crash into it.
The giant dragon quickly recovered and fired another lightning blast at the wall. The moment a lightning blast collided, it caused rubble to fall on top of Thunder, pinning him to the ground. The giant dragon landed on the ground, growling at the helpless Thunder.
"Thunder!" Tom yelled.
Thunder looked up to see the Dragon Riders coming to his aid.
"Boom, boom, goodbye!" Tom yelled, swinging his fist.
Thunder freed himself from the rubble and quickly took to the air. He quickly fired a blast before him and dived into it, vanishing instantly. The giant dragon looked surprised when it turned around. He saw Thunder had now joined up with the other dragons and their riders.
Tom then jumped off Wei and landed on Thunder's back.
The giant dragon then immediately unleashed a powerful lightning blast at them.
Back on the surface, Eugene was still trying to guess Jun's password and was failing every single time.
He paused momentarily, trying to think like Jun, but nothing came to mind. "Oh, this is getting me absolutely nowhere! Her brain is like a puzzle stuffed in a chicken, then jammed into a turkey!"
He then noticed Jun's notebook on her bed and opened it. "Dragons and myths?"
He began looking through the pages, which showed drawings of Nibbles, the Fault Ripper and Thunder.
Eugene did look generally intrigued for a few seconds but then tossed the book to one side. "Lame."
He then left Jun's room, forgetting the number of mousetraps that had fallen and landed on the floor until it was too late.
"Agh! My pinky toe!" he wailed.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Riders were still battling against the giant dragon, constantly firing lightning blasts. One of them headed straight towards Tom, and D'Angelo quickly jumped in front on top of Plowhorn.
"Watch out!" he yelled.
He and Plowhorn jumped out in front to absorb the lightning just like before, but instead, the lightning was drawn towards the crystals or, more accurately, the silver inside the crystals.
"What happened?" Alex asked.
"The silver!" Tom gasped. "It's like a lightning rod! It absorbed the blast!"
"Explained how come we haven't got electrocuted yet," said James.
The giant dragon began charging up for another blast.
"Wu, Wei, steam it up!" Jun ordered.
Wu and Wei then unleashed their ice and heat blasts, creating a thick cloud of mist. No longer able to see them, the dragon could not attack, much to its annoyance.
The Dragon Riders use this opportunity to escape in one of the many passageways.
"All these toppled walls, I don't know how we'll ever find a way out," said D'Angelo.
"Even if we did, I suspect that our dragon friend would chase us to the ends of the earth," said James.
Tom nodded. "The only way out of here is through him."
"Pass the giant evil lightning dragon?" said Jun, staring at him incredulously.
"Piece of cake," said Alex. "I mean, not for us, but I'm sure for someone."
"He's too powerful, Tom," said Jun.
"That thing hit us with a massive blast, but we barely felt it," said Tom. "It's the silver in the walls. It attracting the lightning."
"Also, that entire time, we never land on the ground," James added.
Tom noticed a shard of silver sticking close by and pulled out his pickaxe to check it out. He then showed at the others, which resembled a crude-looking sword.
"How about we absorb a lot more?" Tom smiled.
"Are you crazy?" D'Angelo stared. "I know I see that to you a lot, but surging electricity isn't something you play with! If it charges that thing up while you're holding it, it could cook you!"
"The same thing can happen if you charge it well on the ground," James added.
"And if I don't try, we're all cooked," Tom pointed out.
Everyone was still somewhat concerned, knowing that this was Tom's craziest idea yet, and that was saying something.
"I should have told all of you about the symbol on my helmet," Tom admitted. "I'm sorry."
"See? Was that so hard?" Alex asked.
"I promise if we get through this, no more lone wolf, no more going rogue and no more secrets," Tom promised. "I trust you guys. I hope you trust me."
"Tom… we're family," said Jun.
Thunder then roared in agreement.
"Yeah," Tom smiled as he stroked Thunder. "We are family, aren't we?"
They then heard a massive rule and felt everything shake. The giant dragon was starting to get impatient.
Tom then mounted Thunder and looked to the others. "Let's go finish this fight and get our family home!"
The Dragon Riders watched as Tom and Thunder took off and headed straight towards the giant dragon. The dragon was full up towards the air after them when it saw them.
The Dragon Riders looked at one another and nodded. They then quickly mounted their dragons and took to the air as the giant dragon charged itself with electricity. It began firing lightning blasts at Tom, but Thunder could dodge them.
Sadly, the others weren't as lucky, and they were struck by the lightning blast and crashed onto the ground.
Thunder then snarled at the giant dragon angrily.
"It's okay, Pal," Tom assured him. "We can do this. Together."
The giant dragon then fired another lightning blast, and Thunder countered with a lightning blast of his own. The other Dragon Riders got back up and saw the two dragons clashing, and it looked as if they were equally matched. However, the giant dragon slowly began to overpower Thunder.
"Hang on, Thunder, hang on!" Tom yelled.
He then raised his silver sword, which immediately attracted the lightning of the giant dragon. Tom winced in pain as electricity saw through his body, and then he placed his hand on Thunder's head. The lightning began entering Thunder's body, supercharging him.
"Power up, Pal!" Tom yelled.
The giant dragon did not stop, but the more lightning was unleashed, the stronger Thunder got. Once he was fully charged, Thunder fired a new, more powerful lightning blast, and the moment it hit the giant dragon, there was a small explosion, and it crashed to the ground.
"Look!" Jun pointed.
The giant dragon had crashed into the wall, creating a new opening, and the dragon itself was exhausted.
"They did it!" Jun cheered.
"Yeah, but…" said Jun as Tom and Thunder landed.
The moment they hit the ground, both Tom and Thunder collapsed.
"Tom!" Jun cried as she and the others rushed over to him.
Tom sat up and clinched his arm, which was stinging.
"Tom!" said Jun.
"Ooh! Ow!" Tom winced and saw that his hand had mild burns. "Ah, that was crazy."
"I keep telling you," said D'Angelo, then checked Thunder. "Hey, Thunder, buddy."
Thunder growled weakly, but otherwise, he was fine.
"Ooh, Kullersen…" Jun winced, looking at his hand. "Doesn't look too bad."
James then handed him a bottle of water. "Here for this on it."
They then heard the sound of crystal and saw a new opening leading into the Crystal Realm.
"The lightning blast knocked a hole in the wall," said Jun.
"And it looks like it leads us to the Crystal Realm," James noted.
"Nice! A shortcut home!" said D'Angelo.
"Bonus," said Alex. "We don't have to run the gauntlet of death dragons again."
"Nope," said Tom. "I just have to help Thunder find his family."
"You mean we have to help Thunder find them and help answer your big question, too," D'Angelo corrected as he placed an arm around his shoulder. "Hey, we're family. Families fight. But, in the end, we're Dragon Riders."
He then held out his fist to the others.
"Dragon Riders," said Tom, the fists with him.
"Dragon Riders," said James and the girls as they did the same thing.
The dragons then roared in agreement.
They then turned their eyes to the giant dragon and saw that it had slinked into a new hole created by the explosion. They went to the opening to investigate and saw that it led to a new world.
From there, they could see a sea of lava and tall mountains made of molten rock. They could feel the hot temperature from where they were and could only imagine what it was like inside.
"Whoa… wow, look!" said Alex. "An even more dangerous place!"
"It's a whole new world," said Jun.
"Just like that Dark Realm we went through," said James.
Tom then saw something on the ground and shouted to the others.
"Is that a…" D'Angelo stared.
Tom was holding a spear; the thing that caught their eye was the dragon symbol engraved on it.
"It sure is," said Tom. "We're not the first people to find this place. Maybe whoever dropped this spearhead has some answers. And we're going to find out what they are."