After taking a few minutes to get ourselves sorted out lined up. C.R, from his post on Fen's shoulder, led us out of the landing zone, into the compound proper. I saw small groups of birds hurrying to complete some task or another. None of them bothered to greet us as we passed, but that wasn't surprising since we weren't supposed to be friends. If anything, we were expected to compete against one another for the glory and prestige this mission offered us.

As our group passed through the doors to a fairly large building, two fairly large birds intercepted us. The first bird had sleek blue feathers, red eyes, and a huge, multicolored tail that poked out from over his shoulders. The second had fluffy mud-colored feathers, beady black eyes, and appeared wingless. Oh, sure, he had stumps where his wings should have been, but that was it. Height wise, the blue-bird was around mom's height, while the brown-bird was a slightly chunkier version of Commissioner Pierce.

"Ooo, Rogar. Glad you could make it." The brown-bird said. His voice was higher pitched than I'd expected from someone of his size.

"Hello, Rogar." The blue-bird nodded his head in greeting. His voice sounded almost as flamboyant as his tail feathers looked...

"Captain Shalor," He first nodded to the brown-bird. "Commander Towlis," then the other. "Meeting under different circumstances would have been preferable, but nice to see you all the same. Are we ready to begin?"

"Yes, we were just discussing that." Shalor agreed.

"Good. Fen, escort the cadets to the course. Cogi, you go round up the other groups and do the same."

"Sir!" They said in unison.

C.R lifted off Fen's shoulder with a gentle push and landed on Shalor's head.

"This way." Fen circled around the group and began leading us towards the center of the compound. As Fen led us away I heard them begin speaking in clipped tones, but the noise of the other cadets prevented me from understanding them.

"What happens now?" I heard Gri's loud voice ask from somewhere in the crowd.

"Now? Now we separate you into teams based on what you're good at. Those capable of combat will undoubtedly go to the guard squad. If you're particularly fast, but not combat oriented, you may find yourself in the Intel or scouting squads."

"What happens if we flunk out of all three?" Someone asked.

...

"Let's hope no one does."

"That's an odd way to reassure someone." I grimaced.

He led us through the winding branches of the compound to a large, open space at the center. It was separated from the rest of the compound by vines wrapped around poles, creating a large square, or 'ring' of sorts. Inside the ring was four clearly defined courses.

The first, and longest of the five, was a standard obstacle course. It had hurdles, climbable walls, and was littered with solid looking poles. Each pole was positioned in such a way that any runner either had to dodge around them... Or crash.

The second looked like an old Grecian fighting ring... Just seeing it caused my stomach to start doing flips.

I couldn't see much of the third course because of the high walls that surrounded it. I could tell a few things, though. It was long, thin, and presumably incredibly dark inside those walls.

The last 'course', if that's what you wanted to call it, was two insanely tall verticle walls with barely a wings breadth between them. The walls had polls sticking out from every side in a presumably random pattern.

"Cadets, meet the training course. You're own personal hells for the next month."

"A Month!?" Several cadets yelled in unison...

"How do they do that?" I wondered. "Seriously, that's like the fourth time they've done it since I met them. Did they practice, is it coincidence... Does it really matter?" I sighed.

"So!" Fen flapped his large wings to get everyone's attention. "Who's first?"

...

"First for what?"

...

Fen sighed.

"For the course, of course. Weren't you paying attention?"

"Obviously not."

Nearly every cadet jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of C.R on Fen's shoulder.

"Gridar," C.R called.

"Sir?" Gri replied

"You're trying out for the guard squad, are you not?"

"Yes!"

"Then you're in the ring first. Anyone else looking to join the guard squad should follow behind him. Those looking to join the Intel squad should form up on the first course. Scout trainees should head to course four.

Everyone scrambled to follow his directions... Well, everyone except for me. I had no idea which squad I wanted to join since I didn't realize we were being given a choice, I never thought about it.

That's when I noticed Sonny heading for the Scout testing course.

"Scout it is."

It was difficult to get an accurate head-count since everyone kept shuffling around, but it looked like the guards had the most recruits, followed by the scouts, then the Intel squad had the least with only five members.

C.R, Fen, and Cogi each moved to the front of the lines and faced their chosen recruits.

And, lucky us, we got C.R.

"Scout is a dangerous job. You must think on your feet, predict the unpredictable, and ultimately face death at every turn. You will be the first to encounter the enemy, and you will be the first to die. Look around at the cadets around you..." We did as he asked. "Most of them won't survive their first mission... If you can't handle that, then join one of the other squads."

Half our number left the group following C.R's speech, leaving us with only five recruits. Most of those leaving our group went to the Intel squad, bumping their number from five to eight, while the other two moved to join the guard.

"Five recruits... More than l expected." C.R mumbled.

The five recruits were Sonny and myself, a black-bird with a long, needle-like beak, a multicolored female that was about my size, and a large multicolored bird with a blood-red face, and dangerous looking talons...

"That guy should be a guard..."

C.R's body flickered for a moment, almost as if he was a picture on an old television, then he was gone... So was the rest of the cadets... And the compound.

The only thing that existed was darkness.

"Survive the night, and you join the scouts." C.R's voice said from within the darkness.

"And if we don't?" The large bird asked.

"I said survive the night. Failure isn't an option for you." C.R replied, his voice barely above a menacing hiss.

I gulped...

"Well... That's not good."

"Your time begins now."