Rainbow gulped. She stared up at the massive dragon in complete awe. The force of its roar still reverberated inside her head. Then, with her head still reeling, she saw a massive talon lift up and swipe toward her. She dodged to the side, still wobbling.

The massive dragon’s talon crashed into a stalagmite. It shattered and sent shards of rock flying. The dragon hissed loudly. Kryptonite growled back. Then, when the dragon stepped into the light, Rainbow saw that it had eight legs instead of the normal four.

Rainbow scrambled out of the way as another huge talon came towards her. The rock cracked with the force of the blow. Rainbow and Kryptonite huddled together as the huge dragon searched for them.

With a massive crash, the dragon knocked aside the pillar of rock they were hiding behind. The pair scrambled away. Rainbow tripped over something lying on the ground. She fell backward, landing hard. She sat up quickly, then froze when the thing she had tripped over (which was still underneath her legs and tail) twitched.

Hissssssss. Rainbow jumped up and over, turning around to face what was actually a dragon. It slowly sat up with its eyes closed. Its body was long and serpentine, with two dragon-like wings in front and a second smaller pair behind them. Its scales were a green that glittered in the dim lighting and the tail ended in a sharp point that looked sharp and dangerous. Attached at the shoulder, just above the front legs, were two wicked-looking legs that looked like the praying mantises Rainbow had seen before. The eyes snapped open and revealed two glittering compound eyes. The dragon looked up and saw the titanic dragon crashing around.

“Move out of the way, kid,” she said, for it was undoubtedly a she. Her voice had a strange accent that is what the humans called a southern accent. Rainbow stumbled out of the way, just before the dragon shot through the air. She tripped over her talons again and fell down. She looked up and saw that the green dragon was latched onto the array of horns behind the huge dragon’s head.

The furred one roared and shook its head wildly, trying to shake the green one loose. The green one dug the spines on her extra legs into the neck she was standing on. The big dragon roared in pain.

Then the green dragon lost her grip and was flung across the cavern. She hit the wall with a thud and slid down to the floor.

“SPINNER!” she roared. The large dragon froze in his tracks. “Stop this right now!”

Spinner turned to face her. He growled, and the sound echoed around the cavern. He reached towards Rainbow with one huge talon.

“No!” the green dragon yelled. Spinner whined slightly, reaching for Rainbow again.

“No!” the green dragon said, flicking her thorned arms out and sending out a crackling bolt of electricity. It zapped Spinner, causing his fur to flare for a few seconds and him to yelp.

“You get over here.” the green dragon said. “Now!”

Spinner lumbered over to the green dragon as Rainbow and Kryptonite watched on in complete confusion.

“Sit!” the green dragon said. Spinner lay down on his stomach and stared into the green dragon’s eyes, silent.

“Welp!” the green dragon said. “Now that that's over… My name’s Stryker. Sorry about Spinner. Also, what are you doing here?”

“Um…” Rainbow said.

“Well, we kind of got here by accident,” Kryptonite said.

“And how is it an accident to wake up the last remaining Titan on the planet?” Stryker asked.

“We were wandering through a cave and came upon this place,” Rainbow said. “We didn’t know there was anyone down here.”

“And what’s a Titan?” Rainbow asked.

“Fair point,” Stryker said. “And a Titan is a huge spider dragon, like Spinner here.”

“So that’s how big a Titan is?” Kryptonite asked, looking nervously at Spinner.

“Oh, most are bigger! He’s a baby tarantula.” Stryker said. “I am a mantilis dragon.” She smiled at the two, her sharp, needle-thin fangs showing.

“Hmm,” Rainbow said. “How big are the largest ones?” she asked.

“Oh, well over six hundred feet tall,” Stryker responded. “But it takes years and years for them to grow that large.” She turned her head as Spinner whined loudly. “Oh shut it, you!”

Spinner turned his head to face the group. He let out a series of clicks and other odd sounds. They stared at him blankly. He huffed and turned away again.

“Does he talk?” Rainbow asked.

“Technically, yes, but in a language no one understands,” Stryker said. “Except for other Titans, but he’s the last one.”

“That’s so sad!” Kryptonite said. “Is he lonely?”

“Well, he has me, but no one else,” Stryker said.

“Well, do you think we could leave now?” Rainbow asked. “We need to get going.”

“Oh, definitely!” Stryker said. “You just have to go through that tunnel over there.” She pointed. “You’ll exit near the waterfall where you entered.”

“Thank you,” Kryptonite said.

“It was nice meeting you!” Rainbow said. She waved at Spinner and left with Kryptonite. They walked through the tunnel, turning in slow spirals while going upwards. When they finally emerged from behind some vines, they heard the roar of the waterfall nearby.

When they walked over, they saw that the river was huge, over 30 feet across and 15 deep. The water tumbled over the rocks on the sides and created a fierce current.

“Hey, look at that!” Rainbow said, pointing to a large slab of wood lying nearby. “We could surf on that.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Kryptonite said.

“Oh, come on! It’ll be fun!” Rainbow said.

“Ok,” Kryptonite said reluctantly. They grabbed the board and tied a single vine to it. They anchored the vine to a tree and set the board in the water. The vine held it in place while they got on. When they were ready, Rainbow sliced through the vine with her claws.

“Wahooooooo!” Rainbow shouted. The water pulled them along faster than they would ever have been able to fly. The sound of the rushing water was loud in their ears as they shot down the river.

“This does not seem that fun!” Kryptonite shouted. She yelped as the makeshift raft went over a small wave and then fell sharply.

“It’ll be fine!” Rainbow shouted back. They tumbled down the river as the landscape shot past them. At one point Rainbow thought she saw a mountain like the one they had seen before, but they were moving so fast she couldn’t tell.

Finally, after several minutes of rafting, the water began to slow down. They slowed until they were barely moving along. They drifted down the river, looking around. After a while, they heard the sound of other dragons in the forest nearby. They didn’t notice the current picking up again.

As they turned to look, the raft smashed into a floating log, sending both dragons into the water. As the water closed above Rainbow’s head, she began using her wings like flippers to swim. She gasped when she reached the surface. Suddenly, right next to her, Kryptonite popped out too. They tumbled through the water, trying to stay above.

With a small splash, they went over a short waterfall and landed in a lake. They spluttered and flailed in the water. They felt the fish flickering around their bodies as they slowly realized what had happened.

Suddenly, all the fish dashed away. Rainbow turned and saw ripples on the water and a shape underneath that showed a huge fish was heading straight toward them.

“Move!” Rainbow said, pointing. She and Kryptonite raced to the shore as fast as they could. They had barely made it halfway before the fish splashed out of the water majestically, its huge toothless maw opening to swallow them whole. With a yell, Kryptonite focused her power and swiped her claw through the air. A blast of energy followed, cutting the fish clean in half and scorching the cut. The two halves fell into the water with a splash.

“Woah,” Rainbow said. She bent forward to look at the body. Smoke was rising from the cut, and no blood was leaking. “The cut was cauterized. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither did I,” Kryptonite said. She looked over at the forest. “What’s that?” Rainbow turned and looked. There came the sound in the distance of trees falling.

“Let’s check it out,” Rainbow said.

“I’m not so sure…” Kryptonite said.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Rainbow said.

“Ok, fine,” Kryptonite said. The pair walked towards the commotion. The ground rumbled as someone in the distance yelled, “Timber!”

“There are other dragons here,” Rainbow said. “Maybe you were right.”

“Don’t get too hopeful,” Kryptonite said. “It could just be the colony expansions.”

“We’re too far away for that,” Rainbow said. “Remember, I have an excellent sense of direction.”

“Well, where are we then?” Kryptonite asked. Rainbow concentrated and her map of the jungle appeared in her mind. Based on where they had moved, they were in the middle of the jungle.

“The middle of the jungle,” Rainbow said. “There shouldn’t be any dragons anywhere nearby.”

The pair continued on into the forest. They heard two voices ahead that were both coming toward them.

“Into the trees,” Kryptonite said. She and Rainbow jumped up and climbed the rest of the way.

“I told you, I heard something over here!” A voice said.

“Well, I don’t see anyone here, just tracks.”  A familiar voice replied. Slangfang! Rainbow thought. What is he doing here? She looked down and saw a gray, feathered, dragon with a large and flamboyant red tail standing right next to Slangfang on the forest floor. She shifted on the branch, and one of the smaller shoot-offs snapped.

“Hey!” the other dragon said. “Who’s there!”

Slangfang looked up and straight at the branch Rainbow was sitting on. He held up one of his talons and slashed it through the air. A blast of magic shot from his talon and sliced through Rainbow’s branch as well as Kryptonite’s.

“Yaaah!” Rainbow yelled as she fell. She landed with a crash right in front of Slangfang. She looked up at him.

“You!” she said.

“Hello again,” he said. “Long time no see Kryptonite and Rainbow.

“Wait a minute,” The other dragon said. “You’ve met each other before?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Slangfang said.

“What are they?” the unnamed dragon asked.

“Invaderss.” Slangfang hissed. The other dragon hissed as well and pulled back.

“What does that mean?” Rainbow asked.

“You and your people are invading the forest!” The gray dragon said. “You are destroying the natural world that has thrived for centuries past, but it's all being ruined by you!”

“Calm down, Firetail,” Slangfang said. Firetail hissed and stepped back again.

“We don’t have time for this,” Rainbow said. “We need to go.”

“I don’t think we’re done yet,” Slangfang said. He swung his tail forwards and brought the sharp, blade-like tip to Rainbow’s throat.

“Hey!” Rainbow said. “This did not need to get violent.”

Firetail tilted his head. Suddenly, his tail burst into brilliant red and orange flames.

“Let her go,” Kryptonite said. She held out her talons and dark purple energy formed in her palms.

“What are you going to do?” Firetail said mockingly. Kryptonite threw the energy at a tree, cutting through the entire trunk and making it fall with a crash. Firetail and Slangfang stopped and stared at the smoking log.

“Well, there still isn’t anything you could do to us,” Slangfang said. He held up one talon and blue energy flowed from his claws. It formed into a protective glimmering shield that surrounded Firetail and Slangfang but not Rainbow. “Because I have a shield.”

Kryptonite flung the other ball of energy, and it passed straight through the shield completely unaffected. It zipped right under Slangfang’s wing and cut through the grass and dirt like a hot knife through butter. Kryptonite smiled at both dragons.

“Now, where were we?” She said, “Hmm, let’s see. Let. Her. Go.”

Slangfang dropped his tail, stunned. The blue barrier fizzled and wavered, then disappeared. Rainbow moved backward and bared her teeth at Firetail.

“Maybe we could make a bargain,” Firetail said. “We could probably help each other.”

“What kind of bargain?” Rainbow said. “Cause I’m not sure I trust you.”

“If you help us, we could help you,” Firetail said. “Or we could leave you alone.”

“What would you want?” Kryptonite asked.

“Well, there is this problem we have,” Firetail said. “The forest is being attacked by ant dragons.”

“Sorry, what?” Rainbow asked.

“Ant dragons,” Slangfang said. “It’s pretty clear what he meant.”

“Ant dragons?” Rainbow asked again, confused.

“Yes,” Firetail said. “They are dragons that look like ants. Anyways, we need to defeat them, and we can’t do it on our own.”

Kryptonite looked at Rainbow. Rainbow shrugged.

“Well, I guess we could do it,” Kryptonite said. “And I know just who can help us.”