The Dragon Riders just stared at the devastation on the mountain; it was completely covered in snow and ice, and there was no sign of Thunder and his family.
"I don't get it," said Tom. "What happened? Where is everyone?"
"I don't think the snow was here before," said D'Angelo.
"Could a storm have blown through this fast?" Jun asked.
James shook his head. "We were only gone about 10 minutes; no storm moves that fast."
"And storms don't usually behind claw marks," Alex added, noticing a few claw marks on the ground.
"Thunder!" Tom called.
However, there was no answer, and Shadow rushed over to Tom, looking terrified.
Tom bent down to the little guy down. "Shadow, Shadow! Hey, hey. "What happened? Where is everyone? Can you show us?" Shadow still looked terrified; whatever had happened had scared him badly. "He's too freaked out. I never should've left Thunder here. What was I thinking?"
"Tom, this was his home," said Jun gently. "You couldn't have known something was going to happen."
"And Thunder and his family are tough dragons. I'm sure they'll be okay," said Alex optimistically. Everyone then stared at her as this was the first time she had ever been optimistic. "What? I can be optimistic. It just doesn't happen very often."
"Or ever," said James under his breath.
Tom stroked Shadow and then turned to D'Angelo. "D?"
"Already on it, Kullersen," he said, saluting and sliding off Plowhorn. "Okay, girl. Time to crank up that super-sniffer and find us some Lightning Dragons."
Plowhorn then began to sniff the ground, and it looked as if she had managed to pick up the scent of Thunder and his family. She then guided them towards the mountain's peak, where there was another cave.
Shadow then landed on Tom's back, still looking a little frightened.
"We must be on the right track," he said as Shadow flew towards the cave. "Look at Shadow! Come on."
The Riders hopped off their dragons and began making their way up to the cave, unaware they were being watched.
Tom reached the mouth of the cave. "Thunder! You in here?"
Once again, there was no answer, but Shadow entered the cave, and the Riders soon followed.
D'Angelo then turned towards the dragons. "You guys stay here and watch our six. Just in case."
They soon entered the cave, but it was pitch dark, so dark they could see their hands in front of their faces. Tom soon collided with something that felt as if it was made of wood.
"I can't see anything in here," he said.
"Hang on, Kullersen," said D'Angelo and then rushed outside. "Hey, Plow. Give me a little loogie."
They heard Plowhorn firing a loogie blast, and D'Angelo returned the torch in his hand.
"Where did you find the torch?" James frowned.
"Just found it lying on the ground," he said, handing the torch to Tom.
With the torchlight illuminating the cave, they saw that Tom had walked straight into a table. The table itself was made of wood, and it appeared to be rotting, but there were a number of items still on it: a few plates and a mallet.
"What is this place?" Jun asked.
"It's a hang-out, like the Dragon's Lair!" said D'Angelo.
"This must be where they lived," said Tom.
"Who?" Alex frowned.
Tom then noticed a bunch of torches that littered around the cave and lit one of them. The moment he did, the others immediately lit up, eliminating the entire cave.
"Them," James pointed.
They turned and saw a painting on the cave wall; it showed a tall man with a reddish brown beard standing behind a dragon with pitch-black scales that only resembled Thunder. Standing next to the man was a beautiful blonde-haired woman, who had to be his wife, and in front of them were a boy and girl who had to be their children.
The Riders just gasped and stared at the painting. Tom immediately reached into his backpack and pulled out the Dragon Book as he recognised the tall bearded man. He opened the book to the page where the Vikings were drawn and looked at the tall, lanky young man. He then looked at the bearded man and recognised him as being one and the same, only about ten years old.
"So… you're the one," Tom gasped.
"Not just him," said James, pointing to the woman next to him. "Looks like I was right. She could also be your ancestor, and judging from his attire, I would say that he is a Viking chief."
"Paper, pencil, mallet," said Alex as she went through the items on the table. "All pretty standard. But what is this thing?"
She then pulled out some strange contraption with a curved metal rod sticking out of the wooden base.
"An old Viking shovel?" Alex frowned.
"Or maybe a giant spoon to stir their gruel," said Jun, taking it from Alex and pretending to stir a cauldron.
"Nah. Looks like a fake leg to me," said Eugene, taking it from her.
"Fake leg?" D'Angelo scoffed. "Come on, man."
"Uh, yeah?" said Eugene. "Look, it's got a weird-looking heel thing, with this other thing over here that connects to that thing there."
Jun shook her head and folded her arms. "Eugene, for once in your life, can you be serious?"
Eugene looked immensely insulted as he was being serious.
"Okay, well, whatever it is, it's coming with me," said Tom, grabbing the weird contraption and putting it in his backpack. "All right, now let's find…"
They then heard a roar further down the cave, a familiar one.
"Thunder?" Tom gasped.
Shadow ran off deep into the cave, and the Riders followed him.
When they turned around the corner, Tom was immensely relieved to see both Thunder and his family safe and sound.
"Thunder!" Tom cried and rushed over to him. "Hey. You okay, Pal?
Shadow rushed over to his younger siblings and his mother, who were all relieved to see him, as was his father. He played around with his siblings until his mother pulled him to one side and began licking.
"Is he okay, Tom?" Jun asked.
"I'm not sure. He seems pretty dinged up."
"Let's let Doctor D have a look," said D'Angelo and began to examine Thunder. "Hmm. Nothing seems broken, and his heart is still beating strong. I think he's okay."
Shadow then suddenly jumped onto his head.
"And Shadow is… still Shadow."
Tom then knelt next to Thunder. "Hey, it's all right, Pal. It's all right. I'm here now."
Sadly, the reunion was short-lived as stepping out of the shadows was the Elder, who, judging from his expression, was still not happy to see them, especially Tom.
"He's looking at you, right? Not me," Eugene asked, shaking.
The Elder then spat a tooth at Tom's feet.
"Is that a Lightning Dragon tooth?" Jun asked.
Tom examined it and shook his head. "Nope. It must have come from whatever attacked them."
The Elder then growled, clearly wanting them to leave now.
Meanwhile, on the surface, Olivia was still concerned about Tom and wanted to investigate that cave she saw in his drone footage.
"All right, boyo," she said. "Time for me to find out what you've really been up to."
She had no idea what Tom was up to, but she didn't see the need to inform Chief Baker of this. It was after a family matter, and she really didn't want Tom to get into any trouble, so she attempted to sneak out of town.
"Olivia," said a voice.
She turned and saw the one person she wanted to avoid, most of all Sledkin.
"Wilma!" she gasped.
"When you weren't in the lab, I figured you might be at home, checking in on Tom," she said.
"Tom? He's fine. Just doing what teenagers do."
"Then where are you doing? Another expedition, perhaps? Looking for more Dragonsite?" she asked, leaning on her shoulder. "I know how your mind works."
"Oh, no," she said, backing away from her. "I'm just getting some fresh air, you know, clear my head. It's been a long day."
"You know what? I'll go with you," said Sledkin, not believing a single word she said. "I could use some fresh air myself. Any particular direction you'd like to walk?"
"On second thought, if I don't finish those charts that May requested, I will be able to sleep tonight."
She then turned around to walk away but walked straight into a building. She laughed nervously and left in the opposite direction.
Sledkin, however, found her behaviour rather suspicious and wanted to know exactly what she was up to.
Meanwhile, in Dragon World, the Elder pretty much forced the Riders out of the cave.
"Okay, okay," said Tom as the Elder nudged him outside.
"We're going," said Alex.
Tom looked back at Thunder, who, along with his parents, had followed the Elder. The Elder then growled at Thunder's parents, and they waved their way back into the cave. Thunder was a lot more reluctant, but one look from the Elder, and he followed his parents, but not before looking back at Tom one last time.
The Elder then made his way back into the cave, still glaring at Tom.
"He blames me," said Tom as he joined the others.
"Blames you? For what?" Jun asked.
"For…"
Then suddenly, a blast shot right past them, hitting both Plowhorn and Blade, knocking them out.
"Plowhorn!" D'Angelo cried.
"Blade!" James yelled.
The two of them rushed to their dragons, but another blast erupted in front of them, sending them backwards.
"We're under attack!" D'Angelo yelled.
"Look out!" Tom yelled as another blast headed their way.
They quickly scattered in all different directions, with no idea where the blasts were coming from. Tom tripped and saw a blast heading straight towards him, but then a lightning blast shot from no way destroying it.
Tom looked up and smiled as Thunder flew out of the cave to join him. He then fired a lightning blast at a nearby peak, and hiding behind it was the attacker.
It was a dragon with scales as white as snow; it only had two legs, a pair of long white wings and small spikes sticking out of its body all the way down to its tail. It also appeared to be rather aggressive.
"I should've stayed in bed," said Alex.
The dragon then flew down and unleashed another blast at them. Riders quickly jumped out of the way and saw the blast hitting the ground and covering it in frost.
Feathers then turned invisible and rushed over to help them, but the snow dragon fired a blast, which struck.
"Feathers!" Alex cried.
Webmaster Wu and Wei watched as the snow dragon flew overhead, and seconds later, it struck them with a snow blast.
"Oh, no," Jun gasped.
"Webs!" Eugene cried, rushing to his dragon.
The snow dragon then landed in front of him, blocking his path, and its long wings acted like an extra pair of legs supporting it. It began to advance towards them and roared viciously.
"We got a go," said Tom as they ran off. "Retreat, Riders! Retreat!"
Alex, however, refused to run and watched as the snow dragon approached Feathers.
Eugene tried to pull her back, but she merely shook off. "Gonzo, we're out of here."
"Stay away from our dragons!" Alex yelled and, in anger, tossed a stone at the dragon.
Naturally, this turned the dragon's attention back to them.
"Alex! Are you crazy?" Eugene yelled and then quickly grabbed her. "Come on!"
They quickly began to climb down the mountain, but the snow dragon was hot on their tails and nearly took a bite out of Eugene. It looked down at them, but before it could do anything, it was hit by a lightning blast from the Elder.
The snow dragon took to the end and began chasing the Elder, giving the Riders the chance to escape.
The Riders regrouped in the cavern that connected the Ice Realm to the new realm they discovered. They were all exhausted after running so much, and the concern of their dragons weighed heavily on their minds.
"We can't just leave our dragons out there," said Alex. "I mean, what was that thing? It had no mercy."
"Some sort of ferocious snow dragon," said Jun.
"It was worse than that," said Eugene. "Like an apex predator. It just kept coming."
"How did he even see Feathers?" Alex asked. "She was invisible."
D'Angelo pondered. "It might not see the way we do. Some animals use echolocation, like bats or dolphins. Or maybe just body heat."
"Whatever it is, it's obviously from the Ice Realm," said Tom. "That's why the Elder Lightning Dragon blames me. That predator dragon probably followed us here."
"Why?" Alex asked.
"I don't know. I don't know," said Tom, looking immensely depressed. "But the Elder's right. It's my fault."
"Don't say that," said Jun.
"It's the truth. I couldn't just let Thunder and Shadow go home alone. I had to come too and bring the whole group with me. We must have looked like a flying buffet to that hungry snow dragon."
"You can't know that for sure, and it's not like you asked the snow dragon to follow us," said James. "All you were trying to do was help Thunder unite with his family, and there's nothing wrong with that."
"And now they're in danger because of me," said Tom.
D'Angelo then knelt next to him. "Come on, Tom."
"Save your breath, D. I know what you're going to say. It's not my fault."
"No, it might very well be your fault," said D'Angelo, and Tom looked at him questionably. "Or maybe it's my fault, or Jun's. The point is, Tom, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. We have to fix this and get our dragons back… together."
"And right now, if we're going to rescue our dragons and save Thunder's family, we can't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves," Jun added. "We have to figure out how to chase that snow dragon back into the Ice Realm."
"Without the help of our dragons," Alex pointed out.
"Or an army behind us," Eugene added.
What Eugene said gave Tom an idea; he looked towards the booby-trapped chest and then looked at the dragon tooth the Elder gave him.
"What are you thinking, Kullersen?" D'Angelo asked.
"When we went through all those Viking traps, it sure felt like we were under attack from an army, didn't it?" said Tom.
"You want to lead the snow dragon through the traps?" Jun blinked.
"That's the stupidest idea I've heard all day," said Eugene. "Who'd be dumb enough to fall for that."
"Yeah, who would?" said James, rolling his eyes.
It only took several seconds for Eugene to realise what he just said.
D'Angelo looked at Tom with concern. "Those traps weren't made for dragons, Tom. They were made for humans, remember? The stunned darts weren't strong enough to penetrate dragon scales."
"I know, but I think I might know a way around that," said Tom, looking at the tooth in his hand. He then turned to Thunder. "I'm going to fix this, Pal, no matter what."
Everyone was completely unaware that the Elder was watching them from a ledge above, but he did not make his presence known.
On the surface, Olivia was sneaking out of town; the last thing she wanted was to be followed by Sledkin or anyone else. However, she was unaware that Linda was observing her on Sledkin's orders.
"Target acquired," she said to Sledkin on her hands-free radio. "Eagle is on the move, heading through Rakke Town towards the perimeter."
"Good," said Sledkin, who was watching from a window from the research centre. "Whatever you do, don't let her see you. And don't lose her. Olivia can be a bit slippery."
"Oh, you can count on me, Dr Sledkin. I'm as slippery as they come." She proved this quite effectively by slipping on the wet ground but quickly picked herself back up. "Eagle is on the move. Linda out."
She then began to follow Olivia.
"Linda," said a voice making her jump.
She quickly spun around and saw Philip standing there. "Chief Baker!"
"Who are you talking to?" he asked suspiciously, looking around for someone else.
"I… ah… well, no one," she said. "Why?"
"Linda! The Eagle is getting away," Sledkin yelled over the radio.
Linda ignored her and looked at Philip. "Well, sometimes I just talk to myself, Chief, while I'm out walking outside… alone."
"Well, I could use some help," said Philip. "A few of the surveillance cameras are down. The squirrels are probably chewing on the wiring again. I would ask Clara, but she's too busy on drone maintenance."
"Actually, I'm kind of busy at the moment," said Linda.
Sadly, Philip was not taking no for an answer and began pulling her away. "You have plenty of time to walk around talking to yourself after we're done."
"Linda!" Sledkin yelled.
"Talking to myself again," Linda chuckled.
"What are you doing?" Sledkin yelled. "Don't lose the Eagle. Ugh! Why is everyone such an idiot?"
Meanwhile, the dragons were still out cold with the snow dragon over them, but he didn't look particularly interested in them and was more interested in Thunder's family up in the cave.
"Are the dragons okay?" Jun asked D'Angelo, who was watching everything through a pair of binoculars.
"What about Feathers?" Alex asked.
"And Webmaster?" Eugene added.
"Guess the man's chance to talk," said James.
"They're freeze-blasted and can't really move, but they're alive," D'Angelo informed them. "That snowy beast seemed to be more interested in the Lightning Dragons."
"Of course!" said Eugene. "It wasn't us he was following out of the Ice Realm. It was Shadow."
Jun then punched him in the shoulder.
"Ow!" he said, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm just saying it's Shadow's fault."
Tom and Thunder then swooped in and hovered in front of them.
"All right. It's ready," said Tom.
"You really think it's going to work?" Alex asked.
"It has to, Alex."
"Right," Eugene nodded. "As soon as that hungry hunter's gone, we're going in to get the dragons."
"Be careful, Kullersen," said Jun.
"Come on. I'm always careful," Tom smiled.
Thunder growled, ready for action.
"Okay, Pal. Let's go pick a fight."
They then flew up towards the peak.
The snow dragon was now approaching the other dragons and was just about to fire a snow blast when a lightning blast struck him in the face.
"Hey! Layoff our dragons, you overgrown snowflake!" Tom yelled.
They then flew off, and the snow dragon soon followed them and began firing snow blasts at them.
"That did the trick," said Tom, leading the snow dragon back towards the passageway. "Hope this works."
With the snow dragon gone, the other Riders climbed onto the peak and quickly rushed over to their dragons.
"Webs!"
"Feathers!"
"Blade!"
"Plow! You all right?"
Tom and Thunder soon entered the passageway with the snow dragon hot on their tail. Tom then jumped off Thunder, and the two of them turned to face the snow dragon. Land on the ground and was slowly approaching the trip wire.
"Come on," said Tom encouragingly. "That's it. Right here. Take another step."
Unfortunately, the snow dragon sensed something was off and stepped away from the trip wire.
"Come on," said Tom, waving his hand in front of the snow dragon. "I'm right here! Come and get us!" Instead, the snow dragon opened its mouth. "No! No!"
Thunder quickly tackled Tom, shoving him out of the way just as the snow dragon fired a snow blast. Thunder then fired a lightning blast of the trip wire, triggering the trap and launching the snow dragon tooth at the dragon itself.
Tom had replaced one of the darts with the snow dragon tooth and coated it with the same numbing poison. The tooth penetrated the snow dragon's wing, and it became completely limp seconds later.
He tried to fly away, but with only one good wing, that was impossible, and eventually, the venom affected the rest of his body, causing him to collapse.
"Yeah. We did it, Pal!" Tom cheered and began dancing around victoriously. "Woo, look at us! We're the best! We're the baddest. We're the best all around. Woo!"
The Elder had watched everything, and he was grudgingly rather impressed with how Tom dealt with the snow dragon as well as his bond with Thunder.
Tom finally stopped dancing around and cleared his throat. "All right. Now we just have two-way for the other Riders. And with all of us, we should be able to airlift this dude back to the Ice Realm before he snapped out of it."
He then heard the sound of a dragon roar and assumed to belong to the other Riders.
"And here they come now," he said.
Then he heard thundering footsteps and saw that it was not the other Riders but a second snow dragon.
"That's not them," said Tom, completely stating the obvious.
This new snow dragon looked as irritable as the other one and instantly found a snow blast at them.
"Look out, Pal!" Tom yelled.
The snow blast hit right in front of them, sending Tom flying and knocking the sheathed lightning sword out of his backpack. Thunder quickly rushed towards Tom and tried to wake him, but he was completely out of it. The snow dragon then fired a snow blast, hitting Thunder and sending him skidding across the ground, where he hit the rock; the sheathed lightning sword rested, knocking the sword out of its sheath.
The new snow dragon turned towards his downed comrade and pulled the two out of his wing. He then helped the other snow dragon to his feet, and the venom began to wear off him.
The two of them then flew off, making their way back to the mountain realm.
The other Dragon Riders were still trying to help their dragons up, but it was slow going. They had only just managed to get them onto their feet when they heard the sound of the snow dragons.
"Oh, boy, that doesn't look good," said Alex, looking down the mountain.
Flying straight towards them were now two snow dragons, and there was no sign of Tom or Thunder.
"Looks like Tom's plan didn't go quite according to plan," said James.
"We need to lay down some cover so we can slip away with the baby Lightning Dragons," said D'Angelo. "Then we'll go find Tom and Thunder."
Jun looked up at Wu and Wei. "Wu, Wei steam cloud getaway. Make it a big one."
The two-headed dragon immediately unleashed a combination of mist and steam, creating a thick fog hiding them from the view of the snow dragons. Thunder's parents, getting the plan, grabbed the children and then quickly made their way into the fog.
"Tom leaves, this one snow dragon," said Eugene. "He doesn't come back. Now, there's two. What leadership!"
"Shut up, Eugene," said James.
The snow dragons had finally reached the peak, but with the fog now hiding the dragons' body heat, they could not see them. To that end, they dived into the fog and began looking for them on foot.
The Riders had to carefully navigate through the fog to avoid the snow dragons, which was not easy, considering they could barely see in front of them.
Tom had finally regained consciousness, and the first thing he heard was Thunder's painful growls.
"Thunder," he gasped and quickly sat up.
Thunder lay there next to him, looking rather weak from the direct hit he took from the snow dragon.
"Thunder! Are you okay?" Tom asked, bending down to him.
He then heard another roar and saw the Elder stepping out of the shadows.
"Great. The boss dragon," Tom muttered. "Come here to rub it in? You know, we really could have used your help earlier."
The Elder dragon growled, but then he turned his attention to the lightning sword on the ground. He then shouted towards Tom, who looked surprised. He looked up at the Elder, who gestured for him to pick it up.
Tom smiled and nodded.
The Riders were still trying to escape from the snow dragons, but they had been separated from one another.
"Those two snow dragons are dopey than I thought," said Eugene, looking back at Webmaster.
He then ran into something scaly, and he heard a dragon growl. He slowly looked ahead of him and saw that he had bumped right into the snout of one of the snow dragons.
"Oh, I was totally talking about someone else," he said nervously.
The snow dragon then growled at him furiously, making him scream.
"Go, go, go!" D'Angelo yelled.
Everyone quickly ran out of the fog, a Eugene who was too scared to move. Luckily for him, Webmaster grabbed him before the snow dragon could bite down on him; he then carried him to safety as he screamed. The snow dragon immediately chased after them, but then a lightning blast shot the ground in front of him.
He looked up and saw Tom flying down towards him on the back of the Elder, wielding his lightning sword.
"Hey! You looking for something to eat?" Tom yelled.
The snow dragon instantly fired a snow blast at them, but they were able to dodge it.
"It's chow time!"
The Elder began charging the sword with electricity, and Tom fired a lightning bolt straight down at the snow dragon. He fired a shot at the base of its feet, and the impact of the blast was enough to knock it unconscious.
Sadly, they had little time to celebrate as the second snow dragon showed up and began firing snow blasts at them in retaliation. The Elder was just able to block the first attack with his wing, but the snow dragon soon flew up straight towards them, continuing to fire snow blasts at them as they flew down towards it.
The Elder fired a lightning blast, destroying the snow blasts, and the two dragons passed one another. The Elder skidded across the ground and quickly turned to look up at the snow dragon, who performed a U-turn and dived down at them.
They quickly flew out of the way just before the snow dragon fired a snow blast, but it soon chased after them, firing snow blasts consistently. The Elder had to do a lot of dancing around to avoid getting hit, firing lightning blasts at him whenever he got the opportunity.
Finally, the snow dragon got lucky, and a snow blast struck the Elder on the back, sending him crashing to the ground and throwing Tom off his back. As he felt, Tom lost his grip on the lightning sword, which skidded across the ground a fair distance from where he landed.
The snow dragon landed in front of Tom, ready to finish him off.
"Oh, this isn't good," said Tom as the snow dragon advanced towards him.
He slowly backed away from the snow dragon into his hand and touched the strange contraption they found in the cave. Clearly, it was to slot from his backpack when he landed on the ground, but he had to roll across the ground to avoid getting eaten by the snow dragon.
Tom quickly got to his feet and swung the device at the snow dragon just as he opened his mouth. The strange contraption then wedged between his jaws, making it extremely difficult for him to close his mouth. This allowed Tom to get away as the snow dragon crushed the device inside his mouth.
The other snow dragon soon recovered from Tom's attack, and now both of them began chasing after him.
"I don't know what that thing was, but thanks to whoever made it," said Tom as he ran.
Thunder then swooped in out of nowhere, grabbing him just before the snow dragons descended on him.
"Thanks, Pal. Just in time," said Tom, climbing onto his back. He then looked back and saw the snow dragons were now chasing after them. "Great. Two on one."
The other Riders could only watch as the snow dragons began firing at Tom and Thunder. As much as they wanted to help, their dragons hadn't fully recovered from the snow dragons' attack.
When it looked as if the snow dragons were about to fire a direct shot, the Elder appeared out of nowhere, firing his lightning blasts at the two dragons. He then quickly joined up with Tom and Thunder like a fighter escort.
"Whoo! Yeah!" Tom cheered, but then he shifted his focus to the snow dragons, who were still firing at them. "Hope you guys have a plan. Because I'm just about out of ideas."
Shadow then arrived carrying a lightning sword in his claws and tossed it over to Tom.
"Yeah!" Tom cheered as he caught the sword. "Whoo!"
He and Thunder then charged the snow dragons, but one of them fired a snow blast that struck him, and he fell off Thunder's back. He began plummeting towards the ground, but the Elder caught him, much to Thunder's relief.
"Let's focus all our power," said Tom.
Thunder and Elder began charging the sword with electricity, and Tom stood up. He then unleashed all that raw power directly at the snow dragons, and it struck them with so much force that they crashed onto the mountain.
They got back up only to come face-to-face with the Thunder and the Elder, who the other Riders and their dragons soon joined.
"Get out of here, both of you, and stay away from my family," Tom demanded.
The dragons growled at the snow dragons, and upon realising they were outnumbered and outmatched, they took off.
With all the excitement now over, Tom approached the Elder.
"Erm… Thank you," said Tom.
The Elder nodded, telling him that he was welcome.
Thunder then carefully approached Tom and began to nuzzle him.
"Oh, come here," Tom smiled, hugging him. "I'm going to miss you, Pal."
Shadow then flew towards them and tried to grab Tom's sword, making him laugh. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Come on, Shadow. It's still not a toy."
Shadow then flew to the other Riders, soon joined by his siblings.
"Don't alter any strange snow dragons," said Alex.
"Bye, Shadow," said Jun, hugging him.
"You stay out of mischief," James smiled, rubbing the baby dragon on the head.
"Take care, little guys," said D'Angelo.
The three little dragons then flew up to Eugene, smiling.
"Okay. You guys are cool," he said and outstretched his arms. "Come here." The baby dragons then jumped on him, making him laugh. "Okay, that's enough!
Tom smiled, but he knew it was time to say goodbye. "It's… it's time for us to go."
Tom rose to his feet and walked away, and Thunder looked on sadly, not wanting him to leave again. He attempted to follow, but the Elder approached him and growled, forcing him to watch as Tom joined up with the others.
Tom looked back at Thunder one last time before Wu lowered his head for him to mount. The Elder looked at Tom and then back at Thunder, and he could not ignore the bond the two of them shared. He nudged Thunder, who looked at him confused until he gestured towards Tom, permitting him to remain with him.
Thunder smiled and looked over to Tom excitedly just as he was about to mount Wu.
"Wait. Is he saying what I think he's saying," Tom gasped.
The Elder nodded.
Tom instantly rushed over to Thunder, who also rushed over to him. Thunder was so excited that he actually tackled Tom to the ground, making him laugh and instantly licking his face.
"Oh, come here," said Tom, hugging him. "I guess you're coming with me."
Thunder's parents joined with the Elder, and they respected his judgement. They looked on as their children played with the Riders.
It was late at night by the time they returned to the fissure and immediately made their way back to the Lair.
"What a day," said Tom.
"It turned into night," said D'Angelo worriedly. "We are so late right now."
Tom looked down at Thunder. "What you say we drop the hammer, Pal? Show these guys how to make up some time."
Thunder didn't need any convincing and quickly zoomed off ahead of the others, who cheered them on.
"Woohoo!" Tom yelled as they circled around the Lair.
They circle around the Lair before finally landing on the ground.
"Yeah! Nice one, Pal," said Tom. "Hey, next time, let's go for a full barrel roll."
"Tom?" said a voice.
Tom quickly spun around and saw his mother standing directly behind him.
"Ahem… Mom!" said Tom awkwardly as he stood there with Thunder directly behind him.