Melissa was squeezing his frills hard again, but Jake barely noticed. He was listening to screaming and howling coming from a part of the jungle in front of him. It was impossible to see the ground, the thick purple canopy blocking everything, and muffling the sounds.

"We need to land in a tree and climb down!" Jake yelled, trying to keep his voice as low as possible as not to alert those below. He got a pat on the side as a response, and he began descending to the leaves. I can't see any branches! Keeping his eyes peeled, he felt his hind paws touch the first leaves. Another roar came from below, and he wondered if that had been Mason. Cursing, he lowered himself until his wings were beating the leaves, and he finally felt something with his right paw.

Grabbing on to it, he folded his wings, flailing with his front arms for something to grab hold of as he fell. He found nothing, and after a second, he was hanging from one hind limb, looking down through the jungle. The sounds of battle and fighting were less muted now.

"I can't hold on! Hurry!" Melissa's voice sounded panicky.

"Brother, over there! A large branch!" Tir's soft voice startled Melissa, but Jake just followed Tir's directions and saw a thick branch a dozen meters down. Craning his long neck around, he found no better option.

"Hold on tight!" He hissed, before spreading his wings a little and letting go, angling towards the branch. He felt the small twigs and leaves scrape across his wings, and his heart began thumping in his throat. Then he felt the bark under his nails and folded his wings. He slammed with his chest and belly against the side of the tree, and quickly scrambled up.

"Everyone alright?"

He got two small yips from the lizards and a soft curse from Melissa.

"Next time, give someone time to hold on tight before you jump instead of just saying it!" Cursing again, she was shivering slightly.

"Sorry. Climb off and follow me, we need to find the others!" Jake could hear the fear in his own voice, but he couldn't stop it. As soon as Melissa's weight was gone, he climbed across the branch to the side of the tree. Without waiting, he went straight down, head first. "Follow me, but make sure you stay out of sight!"

"For fu... Sure!" Melissa scrambled to catch up, but Jake's slender, nimble form disappeared down the tree faster than any Kobold could hope to climb.

"Tir, Ter. When we get down, if there is a fight, you need to stay in the trees and wait. If, for some reason, something terrible happens, you need to stay together and help each other and become big and strong!"

"Brother! Let us come. We can help!" Tir shot back, but Jake shook his head. "No! If I have to look out for you, I can't fight at my best. Hide, and as soon as you see that we are winning, come closer. If I have to flee, try and get close enough to jump on my back!"

Jake found the sounds were moving through the jungle a bit, and he hoped he would be in time. All of a sudden, he broke through the thickest leaf cover, the crowns of the enormous trees, and he could see partially through to the ground. Surrounding a tree, separated by bushes, were five Kobolds wrestling with over two dozen Goblins. A few unmoving shapes, Goblins from what he could see, were littered around the bushes.

He felt a shock when he saw Mason, his arms held by three Goblins, another sitting on his chest, hitting him in the face. "MASON!" He roared so loud all fighting ceased for a second, many looking around in wonder to find the source of the voice. Jake didn't think. He jumped off the tree, rage clouding his mind. With a snap, his wings spread, and like a rocket, he shot towards his friend.

The Goblin couldn't see the origin of the shout and turned back to Mason's bleeding and struggling shape, raising his hand. Before he could do anything, a blue and silver blur rammed him off Mason's chest.

Jake roared at the tiny Goblin, his long nails piercing its shoulders, and he slammed him into the tree, feeling it go limb, before shooting up the tree. Upside down, he snarled at the three Goblins that were still holding Mason. They were staring at him with eyes as round as saucers.

"Jake!?" Mason's muffled voice sounded tired and weak, enraging Jake even more. Seeing his best friend beaten and battered below him, caused murderous thoughts to rush through his mind. Jumping forward and down, he landed behind Mason, causing the three Goblins to jump back, trying to get out of the way.

Free of the restraints, Mason just stared up at Jake, one hand raised as if to touch him.

"Mason, are you injured?" Jake stared at his silent friend, worried they had scrambled his brains somehow.

"Jake... you're a Dragon..."

Jake felt like grinning but instead snarled at the Goblins, who backed up even more. "No shit, Sherlock! Now get up, we aren't safe yet!"

Mason blinked, blinked again, and all of a sudden, he scrambled to his feet, a look of utter shock on his face. "Sandra!" He shouted, looking around, barely noticing the three Goblins flee in terror. From on the ground, it was hard to see what was going on, because the bushes and vegetation were blocking a lot of the view.

Seeing Mason look around in a panic, Jake jumped back on the side of the tree, climbed up a few meters, and looked around. "To the left, behind the yellow leafed bush!" He yelled, seeing another Kobold, still standing but with a Goblin on him, that was biting in his shoulder while he was struggling with another one. A third was hovering around, a spear in its hand, ready to strike.

Mason rushed forward, and Jake jumped down, running after him on all fours. They burst out of the bush almost at the same time, and Mason immediately rushed to the green Kobold, whom Jake didn't recognize. With a snarl on his face, he grabbed the Goblin, tearing it off the Kobold's back, slinging one of his massive arms around its neck. Jake dodged around them, heading towards the Goblin with the spear, who was staring at him open-mouthed and backing up. Not giving it a chance, Jake accelerated, biting the wobbly spear aimed at him and ripping it out of the Goblin's arms.

Spitting the spear away, Jake bit the Goblin, slinging him around as a crocodile did with its prey until he heard something snap. He hurled it away, spitting out the foul-tasting blood. Behind him, he saw that the unknown Kobold and Mason had taken care of the other two.

"Henry, are you alright?" Mason stepped forward, placing a hand on the much smaller Kobold's shoulder and staring at his face.

"Yes," the Kobold replied in a somewhat high-pitched, juvenile voice. He was drawing in ragged gulps of air and swaying a bit on his feet.

"Ok, let's go. We need to help the rest..."

"Mason, there is a Dragon behind you!" Henry hissed, interrupting Mason.

"I know! That's Jake, my friend. Now follow me!" Looking around, Mason rushed towards the only direction where they could still hear fighting.

They quickly came across a peculiar scene. Sandra, bleeding from a few gashes, was slamming a Goblin headfirst into the ground. Behind her were seven unmoving shapes, one of which was a Kobold.

"What took you two so... what the fuck is that!" She sounded pleased with herself at the start, but when she saw Jake, she jumped back, almost screaming.

"Whatsup, Sandra," Jake said, knowing that although his voice was deeper, it was still similar to before.

After a few seconds of opening and closing her mouth, the tall and muscular, bronze-colored Kobold stepped forward. "Jake? How did you get here?"

"We can talk about these things later! Where are Melissa and Sam?" Mason shot back, kneeling next to the unmoving shape of the Kobold. Carefully turning him over, Jake saw another unfamiliar face, and from the snapped off spear sticking from his chest, he would never get to know this Kobold either. "Damnit!" Mason shouted, slamming his fist on the ground with a vengeful look on his face.

"Melissa is fine. She is hiding in one of the trees a bit back. She is the one who brought me here!" Jake hurriedly said, seeing Mason become more and more upset.

"Good, that just leaves Sam. Can you climb up and look around?" Mason was looking around, cupping his large and pointed ears in an attempt to pick up any more fighting sounds. But besides the rustling of the wind and some faint bird tweets, it was quiet.

Jake ran to the nearest tree, climbed up, and looked around. He vaguely remembered he had seen another Kobold further away from the tree, but now all his keen reptilian eyes could see was a little mulled earth and some marks on the ground. He ran down and quickly shared what he knew with Mason.

"Ahh, shit..." Mason's head dropped a bit, while Sandra looked around worriedly. Henry still seemed woozy, leaning against a tree staring at the ground.

A soft scuffle came from the trees above them, followed by a high pitched voice. "Brother, can we come down now?"

Besides Jake, everyone stared up at the two small lizards that were looking down at them. A lot higher up, they could see Melissa climbing towards them, an annoyed and upset look on her face.

"Brother?" Mason stared at Jake with a look of utter confusion, shaking his head. "Did that Gekko just call you Brother?"