| “ | Mom, this is Thunder. Thunder, this is my mom. | ” |
| — Tom introducing Olivia and Thunder to each other for the first time. |
"Punishment and Torcher" is the first episode of the fifth season of Dragons: The Nine Realms.
Synopsis[]
| “ | Tom is grounded for lying to his mom about dragons. While stuck at home, the riders need help in the Hidden World. Tom must figure out a way to help his friends without getting in more trouble. | ” |
| — Hulu |
Plot[]
When Olivia sees Thunder, she is frightened and tries to scare him off and protect Tom from him. Tom explains to her that Thunder is a dragon and his best friend. He tells Olivia he was just as scared as she is when he first met Thunder, but assures her that he won't hurt her and reminds her that Thunder is an incredible discovery. Olivia considers petting Thunder when he allows her to, but she is too upset with Tom's lies. The other dragon riders hear their voices and wonder what's going on. Eugene originally considers just going up, but when he sees Olivia, he gets nervous. Tom sees Eugene and, possibly not wanting the others to get in trouble, distracts his mom and secretly tells Eugene to stay away, Eugene understands and sneaks away and tells the others that Tom's mom is there. The livid Olivia takes Tom away, and tells him he will be grounded for a very long time
One week later, Tom is still grounded and not allowed outside of his home. The others visit and Tom tells them that Olivia only knows about him and Thunder and that she has agreed to keep Thunder a secret until she can figure out how to handle the news. He also reveals that he and Jun have put together a key to decipher the Viking runes to read the book of dragons. Olivia cuts the visit short, and Tom asks the others to keep a promise they made to not explore the hidden world since he kept their dragons a secret. They agree despite their frustrations with not being able to explore. The others pass the time at the Dragon's Lair, where Thunder lies depressed over being separated from Tom. Alex gets an alert from the Ice Realm sensors and the group agrees to secretly go solely to check and see if there are any injured dragons.
Back at Tom's house, Tom deciphers new information about the Sky Torcher from the book but finds he can't contact anyone from dragon club. In the Ice Realm, the group discovers Buzzsaw has built a makeshift base and has begun caging dragons again. When they try to free the dragons, are stopped by Flame Throwers Buzzsaw has tethered to the ground. Buzzsaw captures the group using his Timberjack, which he has regained control of with a new whistle. Thunder, who snuck along with the dragon riders, sees them get captured and flies to ICARIS to get Tom's help. He shorts out the power and sneaks into Tom's house after Olivia leaves to investigate. Tom is happy to see Thunder again but doesn't want to leave and break his mom's trust again. Unfortunately, Olivia immediately returns to get something she forgot and sees Thunder has gotten into her house. She tries to chase Thunder out and Tom has to calm her down. Olivia demands Thunder leave, but when Tom tries to get him to go, he refuses to budge. Realizing something is wrong, Tom admits to Olivia that there is a whole world of dragons, and the other kids are involved. Tom explains that if Thunder risked coming to him, the other kids are in danger, and they are the only ones who can help them. He begs with his mom to let him go find them, but Olivia refuses to let him go and tries to get Thunder to leave, but he refuses.
Buzzsaw cages the other riders and ignores their warnings that if the Flame Throwers are in the Ice Realm, the Sky Torcher will be nearby. Back at Tom's house, Thunder tries to get Tom and Olivia to talk, and Tom admits he lied because he was trying to protect Thunder from Rakke Corp. Olivia didn't believe lying to protect Thunder would be the same as lying to protect Tom, but Tom believes otherwise. Thunder supports this and shows her his dedication by laying his head on her lap. When she pets him, they both smile, and she finally realizes Tom was right about Thunder being friendly. Tom asks his mom for a chance to earn her trust, and Olivia understands that he meant well, but she fears for his safety. Tom points out the others need him and Thunder, and Olivia reluctantly agrees to let him go. Tom and Thunder go to Buzzsaw's camp and while freeing the others, admits he told his mom everything. Before Buzzsaw can sick his Timberjack on them, the Sky Torcher arrives. Buzzsaw runs for his life on his Timberjack, despite Tom's motivational speech for them to work together to stop the large fire dragon. D'Angelo asks Tom how that can stop the Sky Torcher, and Tom reveals he learned the Sky Torcher's weakness from the book. The dragon club confronts the Sky Torcher and lure it down to a frozen lake and trick it into melting the lake and falling in it. Tom believes the cold water will cancel the Sky Torcher's ability to breather fire, but it appears to have failed and the dragon climbs out of the lake. When the dragon is about to fire, the cold water finally works, and it can't breathe fire. Jun wonders why the heat dependent dragon would come to the Ice Realm, until Tom sees it calling out to the tethered Flame Throwers. Tom realizes that the Flame Throwers didn't come to the Ice Realm to scout it out for their boss, Buzzsaw lured them there, and the Sky Torcher just wants to free its pack. The dragon club frees the Flame Throwers and they and the Sky Torcher leave peacefully down a hole. The group discovers that the hole the Sky Torcher left through leads to a new realm resembling a rainforest. Tom apologizes for keeping the group from exploring while he was grounded and asks them to keep protecting the hidden world since he doesn't know when he will be allowed back.
Tom returns home and tells his mom the others are okay but downplays how dangerous the situation really was. Olivia asks Tom to tell her everything and the two reconcile and hug, but Tom is uncertain about letting his mom know everything. Meanwhile, in the forest at the sinkhole, two of Buzzsaw's old loggers, Winston and Ford, mourn their boss (and their employment), at the sinkhole where they believe he died. However, Buzzsaw emerges from the hole, tells them he has a new job for them, and pulls them down the sinkhole into the Hidden World.
Characters[]
Humans[]
- Tom Kullersen voiced by Jeremy Shada
- Jun Wong voiced by Ashley Liao
- D'Angelo Baker voiced by Marcus Scribner
- Alexandra Gonzalez voiced by Aimee Garcia
- Eugene Wong voiced by Vincent Tong
- Olivia Kullersen voiced by Julia Stiles
- Buzzsaw voiced by Haley Joel Osment
- Ford voiced by Al Rodrigo
- Winston voiced by Christian Lanz
Dragons[]
- Thunder
- Wu and Wei
- Plowhorn
- Feathers
- Webmaster
- Jack
- Fissure Fault Ripper (mentioned)
Dragon Species[]
- Night Light
- Mist Twister
- Gembreaker
- Featherhide
- Deadly Spinner
- Flame Thrower
- Sky Torcher
- Timberjack
- Terrible Terror
- Snowtail
- Gronckle (mentioned and pictured)
- Fault Ripper (mentioned)
Locations[]
- Kullersen Fissure
- ICARIS
- Rakke Town
- Tom's Dome
- Dragon's Lair
- Research Station
- Lab (mentioned)
- Hidden World
- Ice Realm
- Buzzsaw's Camp
- Nature Realm
- Crystal Realm (mentioned)
- Ice Realm
Objects[]
Flora and Fauna[]
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the debut of the fifth realm of the Hidden World, the Nature Realm.
