Once we rode through the Southern Gate, Alaric drove us back to the deployment field, where Elitist Medics waited to treat any injured Elitists-In-Training who returned. Oliver was immediately taken to a private tent, and Quincy went along to help. After watching them leave, the rest of us unpacked our rover and went to find Chieftess Hunts. The dead Carnotaurus was more than alarming, especially since we were supposed to be the only humans within that area. On Testing Day, only Exploratory Teams are supposed to be outside of the gates.

Alaric leads us into the Head-Quarters building across the street from the field, and then up to the Chieftess' office to speak with his mother. Other Exploratory Teams were arriving, so we needed to find her quickly to inform her of our findings before the ceremony.

"Mom?" Alaric calls out as he opens the double doors, giving us full access to a, normally, restricted room.

"You're back! Oh, my baby!" The short, dark-skinned woman stood from her desk and practically ran to embrace him.

"I can't believe you weren't on the field." He rolls his eyes but hugs her back anyway, a small smile crossing his face.

"I had to start sending Elitist Teams out to rescue the stranded ones." She pushes away but holds both of his hands as she eyes him. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Thanks, Mom." He mutters, then glances towards Axia and me.

"Excuse me, Ma'am." I hesitate as she looks at me, a bit worried she'd be mad about the interruption. "I'm sorry, but we have something to show you." I glance towards Axia, who immediately pulls out her tablet.

Chieftess Hunts' eyebrows furrow as Axia approaches, showing her the images of the dead Carnotaurus. "He was shot with this." She then pulls the bullet from her pocket.

"None of you used lethal ammo?"

"No, Ma'am. We'll gladly turn in our weapons for inspection along with the ammo." Alaric replies.

"There shouldn't have been Carnotaurs near your Hunting Grounds. That's why we sent you so far." Chieftess Hunts face turns in confusion as she looks at us. "We'll investigate it."

Just as she finishes speaking, the doors open again, and this time the Elitist Commander Marko Riley enters. "Chieftess, all passing Exploratory Teams have returned." He says standing firm with his hands at his sides. He seems surprised to see us all so relaxed around the Chieftess but doesn't say anything as she speaks.

"Before the ceremony, these kids have something to bring to your attention." She says, waving her hand to release him from his frigid stance.

Commander Riley relaxes and turns to us, his eyes falling on me before he smiles a welcoming grin. "Lexa O'Neil, rising star of the graduating class." He greets me happily, "Let me be the first to Congratulate Team 5 on your outstanding victory on this Testing Day."

"We passed?" Axia questions, her voice raising an octave in excitement.

"Yes, with an incredibly high score of 290. Getting all Carnivores seemed to get you quite a bit of points." The old man replies, turning to the Tech Specialist, "And don't worry. Your Veterinarian is fine. He's finishing up treatment as we speak."

"So quickly?" Alaric butts in, "He was in a lot of pain when we got here. It's only been... 30 minutes?" He looks down at his watch, his face then twisting in confusion. Halfway through the ride home, the Rivatiza stopped helping Oliver's fever so it's almost hard to believe that he's okay already.

"The medical tent has hospital-grade equipment. They were able to stop his infection from spreading as well as get his fever under control. Uriah and Miller will both be at the graduation ceremony. Uriah's lucky he didn't lose an arm." Commander Riley informs us, referring to both our teammates by their last names. "Anyway, what is this information you need to give me?" He then asks, looking back at me for an explanation.

"Our first tracks were two Carnotaurs who were uncharacteristically in the mountains. They were untracked, obviously, and had 3 juveniles with them. They didn't follow us there." I explain, turning towards Axia and gesturing her forward to show him the images. "Then this morning we ran into this."

Axia shows him the pictures, and he inspects them for a moment before looking at me in confusion. "This is one of the juveniles?"

"Yes. We originally thought the small wound was caused by the Utah Raptors sickle claw until Oliver pulled out this." I look at Axia again, and she shows him the bullet.

"None of us used lethal ammo. We'll give our weapons and ammo up for inspection." Alaric says once again, wanting to prove that we, for sure, weren't the cause of that animal's death. Elitists are only permitted to use lethal ammo if absolutely necessary, otherwise, we can be thrown in prison for cruelty to animals and tampering with wild life. Even if it's used in a life-threatening situation you have to go to trial and prove that your life was endangered. That's why it's important to stay with your team.

The whole point of only allowing Elitists to leave the Fence is so that we don't harm the wildlife any more than we already have by building Viadon. Our Ancestors believed that the dinosaurs were sacred beings, and while I don't necessarily agree with that, they are still animals who deserve to live peacefully.

"No need, I believe you." Commander Riley responds quickly, "I have no idea how this could have happened, but trust me, it will be investigated. Chieftess Hunts, may I speak with you privately before the ceremony?"

"Of course." She replies with a nod, then turns to Alaric once more. "You all go shower and get ready for the ceremony. It'll be in one hour. Fall in formation on the deployment field with everyone else."

"Yes, Ma'am," Alaric says, before beginning to rush us out of the room.

"Wait, Lexa, Axia." Chieftess Hunts stops us, "I'd like to have lunch with the whole team and your families after the ceremony. We'll eat back here, I've made food."

"Okay, thank you, Ma'am," I reply gratefully, smiling gently before continuing to walk out of the room.

Once the door is closed, we all head for the nearest locker room, where all Elitist Teams go to prepare before missions outside of the Fence. They all have showers and bathrooms, most better than the ones in the barracks at the academy.

"Do we all have extra clothes?" I ask, scrunching my nose as I look down at my dirty uniform. I always pack an extra set, just in case, but Axia tends to forget hers.

"I've started following your advice after that last PT session." Axia laughs softly as she remembers. We had to crawl through mud, and she ended up having to stay in that dirty uniform all day. The rest of us got a chance to change.

"I'm not dumb enough to forget an extra set of clothes," Alaric says, his voice laced with anger.

"No one asked you if you were dumb. What's the matter with you now?" I snap back, rolling my eyes at his comment.

"Just ignore him, Lexa. He's naturally just a jerk." Axia assures me, also rolling her eyes.

"I'm just saying. Why would you not think to bring extra clothes on a day you know we're crawling through the mud? Instructor Harper warned us the night before." Alaric continues, shrugging his shoulders as he continues to walk.

"Again, you weren't asked for your thoughts," I reply as we finally reach the locker room. Without another word Axia and I go to the "female" side of the locker room to shower, a bit thankful to be away from Alaric's random bouts of anger.

"I bet he's mad that our results weren't a surprise," Axia comments before she steps into a shower, laughing at her own joke.

"You're probably right. I'm just glad we passed." I laugh with her, excited to see how Quincy and Oliver react upon hearing the news.

We both quickly shower and get dressed in fresh uniforms. I've always hated the brown cargo pants they gave us at the Academy. They're baggy and super uncomfortable, but once we're graduated Elitists we'll get better uniforms, with pants that are slim fit for better movement. I do hope we'll have the same type of shirts though. The long sleeves help with the briars in the forest.

"Are you ready to go?" Axia asks, and I turn to look at her with a grin.

"Mhm, let's go wait on Alaric," I reply, feeling myself get more and more excited over the graduation ceremony. We walk out into the common area of the locker room, where Alaric is already waiting for us instead. "Oh wow, usually you're the last to finish getting ready," I comment, smirking as Axia giggles aloud at the joke.

"Well, I'm excited for the food my mom cooked." He explained seriously, though also laughs. He can't deny that usually, he takes forever to get ready.

"She's the best cook!" Axia agrees, "She cooked dinner for my family one time and it was phenomenal."

"My parents have never met Chieftess Hunts before so it should be fun," I reply, shrugging my shoulders slightly. My mom spends her time running a small shop selling herbs, and my father is a farmer. Before I joined the Training Academy, we lived a simple life. They were supportive though, so I'll always be thankful to them for that.

"What are they like?" Axia asks, prompting an amused grunt from Alaric.

"Probably simple and boring." He huffs, "They live on a farm."

"Something wrong with that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow curiously, "I grew up raising Torosaurs and Ankys so I don't see why boring is the word you used."

"I grew up roaming the halls of the Academy and training early for all of this." He gestures around the hallway, obviously referring to becoming an Elitist, and one-day Chieftain.

"But you didn't see your first dinosaur until you were actually enrolled," I reply, remembering how young 18-year-old Alaric was star struck by his first look at an Ankylosaur, on a farm. "And, I'm still a better shot." I add on with a small laugh, "Guess I'm just naturally better."

"I'm still the leader of Team 5, so I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you." Alaric fires back, now grinning to himself.

This is true. At the beginning of our Elitist training year, each Exploratory Team held a competition between its two warriors to see which one would be the leader of the team. Alaric and I were basically neck and neck, but I most definitely won. Instructor Harper and Commander Riley still chose Alaric despite that, so here we are. I had to just deal with it, or be sent back to normal Guardian training.

I stay quiet as Axia scolds Alaric for his words, and eventually, we reach the deployment field. His comment doesn't bother me too much. I know that at the end of the day, we're a team. Both Alaric and I will always do what it takes to protect our group. That's our job as Warriors.

"There are definitely not 50 people here," Axia says quietly as we make our way towards our designated place on the field.

"You're right," I mutter, looking around at the other EITs. I only see 10 teams right now, but we have a bit more time before the ceremony begins. Usually, all returning teams stand on the field, and then the ones who didn't pass leave after the scores are posted. Either way, there were 20 teams before.

"Let's not tell Oliver and Q about us passing. Let them be surprised." Alaric mentions, "Pretend we don't know."

I'm a bit thrown off by his comment, but nod in response. It's nice that he doesn't want to ruin it for them.

"Good idea, Alaric," Axia says with a smile, giving him a thumbs up for the gesture.

Soon, I can see Quincy's tall, awkward stature through the small crowd and sigh in relief. Commander Riley was right, Oliver stands in a clean uniform beside him. "You're okay?" I step in front of him as we approach, then grab his arm and push up his sleeve to inspect the wound. To my surprise, even his veins are back to normal.

"I'll need to go back to the hospital tonight, for a follow-up, but I'm okay." Oliver nods, a smile spreading across his face. "They were able to stop the fever with a better medication, then they applied some crazy burny stuff to the bite mark and it stopped the infection completely. It was crazy."

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it before." Quincy adds, "I assume I'll learn more about stuff like that if we've graduated." He seems excited, which makes me feel even more impatient about the ceremony.

"Did you guys tell Chieftess Hunts about the dead Carno?" Oliver asks, turning to look at Alaric.

"Yeah, we did. Mom and Commander Riley both said it'd be investigated."

"Neither of them kept the bullet, but I assume they'll send a team out there to search around," Axia adds, pulling the lethal bullet from her pocket.

Suddenly, a buzzer emits from behind us, and we all turn to see that the stands at the back of the field are finally being opened, meaning the ceremony should start within the next few minutes. Our families are now being herded to their seats to watch us Graduate. Once the ceremony is over, we'll be released and our families will be able to meet us down here on the field.

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me. My mom wants to eat lunch with all of us and our families across the street once all of this is over." Alaric says, looking towards Quincy and Oliver.

"That sounds awesome. Did she cook?" Oliver replies, rubbing his stomach in anticipation.

"Sure did. I can't wait. It's been 3 years since I've been able to have her home-cooked meals. Even if she's not the most present mother, she sure is the best cook." Alaric boasts happily, also rubbing his stomach. "I'm already hungry."

"Only 2 more teams have shown up. I wonder what happened." Axia randomly mutters to me, pulling my attention from the other's conversation.

"I'm sure they'll be okay," I reply, though I take a moment to look at the surrounding teams. 12, including us, are present out of 20. It's a reason to worry, along with the suspicious dead Carnotaurus.

"Welcome everyone, to this year's Graduation Ceremony." Chieftess Hunts' voice rings over the loudspeakers, and we all turn to the tall balcony she was on when we left yesterday. "Before we begin, I would like to address something that you all have, no doubt, already noticed. Only 12 Exploratory Teams have returned to Viadon, so far. 4 teams are still outside."

Voices erupt from the stands behind us. Parents worried about their children who're stranded outside of the Fence.

"Elitist Teams are already en route to their locations, but we have also had several confirmed deaths. All families have been notified already. Like always, in order to honor the deaths of our fallen, their names will be inscribed into the Elitist statue, which stands at the center of our great city. Their families will also be given their personal items. We know that this does not make up for their losses, but we will forever be thankful for the sacrifice that these Elitists-In-Training made." Chieftess Rose Hunts hesitates before continuing, "As for their team-mates, they will not be graduating as Elitists, because of this, those teams are not present on the field."

If four teams are still stranded, that means that four other teams lost at least one member, possibly more. That's the most we've lost in 20 years on Testing Day.

"On a much lighter note, it is time to reveal the scores for our remaining teams. Only seven teams have passed on as Elitists this year." Chieftess Hunts moves to the side of the balcony, and a large digital screen appears beside her. "Exploratory Teams 5, 7, 12, 1, 3, 15, and 18. Congratulations on being the next generation of Elitists!"

Cheers erupt from all around us, including Quincy and Oliver who are genuinely surprised and excited overseeing our names at the very top.

"All other teams please leave the field and meet your families." The Chieftess continues, pausing for another moment as 5 teams slowly leave the field. Even though they aren't graduating as Elitists, they'll still become Guardians in their trained professions. Warriors will go work on the Fence for defense, while the others will go work in hospitals, vet clinics, or in the control rooms.

"To our newest Elitists, in just a few moments I'll release you to your families, but first I'd like to say a few words. We, the leaders of Viadon, are so very proud of each and every one of you. With all of our losses this year, we are thrilled to have you all aboard and hope you all will go far in your careers. You all deserve this off day with your families, but make sure to be back at the Academy by 8 PM. Tomorrow you will be getting your assignments and moving to your posts. You're dismissed."

With that, the Chieftess of Viadon retreated from the balcony and into the building, leaving the rest of us to go and meet with our families. Instead of heading towards the stands though, I turn to face my team. "We finished first!" I say excitedly, looking at Quincy with a wide grin.

He and Oliver are both still reeling over the surprise, high fiving the others before then turning to me. "I can't believe it! I thought we had a pretty low number." Q says though the smile on his face doesn't fade at all.

"Commander Riley said that all the carnivores did it for us," Alaric explained, finally giving away that we had already known.

"He told you?" Oliver asks, scoffing, "I see why you all weren't so enthusiastic now."

"Yeah, it's fine though. We finished first!" Axia butts in, stepping in front of Quincy and grabbing his shoulders with an excited grin. "We're Elitists now!"

"Damn right!" Alaric adds in, raising his fist in victory, "We'll be the best team they've got, no doubt."

"Alright guys, let's go find our families and meet back in the Head Quarters building, I'm starving!" I remind them, feeling my stomach growling from the lack of breakfast. While being outside of the Fence was an absolutely amazing experience, I'm glad to be back home, and I'm ready to see my family after 3 long years.

"Lexa's right, I'm hungry too!" Axia agrees, "I'll meet you all there!" She then heads off into the crowd to find her family.

"See you soon," Quincy says happily, before padding off after Axia. His parents both passed away a few years ago, but he has two sisters who will no doubt be waiting for him.

I turn to say bye to Alaric and Oliver, but only find the latter, who's standing awkwardly where he was left. "Got no one waiting for you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow inquiringly.

"My parents are both Elitists. They saw me in the medical tent before being sent to retrieve a lost team." Oliver replies, shrugging his shoulders.

"Come on, you can just walk with me." I gesture for him to follow as I turn to head into the crowd. At this point, most of the family members have made their way onto the field to meet their kids halfway, and it doesn't take me too long to spot my father's face above the crowd. His eyes fall on me too, and he immediately pushes through the crowd, dragging my mother behind him.

"Is your dad the tall guy?" Oliver asks, finally catching up with me through the other people around.

"Yep."

"You look nothing like him." Oliver pauses for a moment and then laughs, "You look almost just like your mother, though. Except for the blonde hair, where'd that come from?"

"My grandmother was blonde, apparently it skipped a generation." I roll my eyes before also chuckling, realizing how right he is. I've always been told that I could be my mother's sister and my grandmother's twin.

"Lexa!" My dad calls, finally making his way to me through the crowd. He immediately grabs ahold of me with both arms, hugging tightly before letting go to allow my mom to do the same.

"I'm so glad to see you!" My mom exclaims, hugging just as tight as Dad did.

"Are you okay? No injuries right?" They both talk quickly, obviously wishing they could both have all of my attention at once.

"I'm okay." I laugh at their urgency before suddenly remembering that the Chieftess had wanted to meet them. "Oh, Chieftess Hunts wants to have lunch with all of us in Head Quarters. We should at least start heading that way."

"She wants to meet us?" Mom's voice sounds shrill now, a clear indication that she wasn't expecting that.

"Yeah, since the leader of my team is the future Chieftain, I guess she thought it'd be appropriate," I reply sheepishly, shrugging my shoulders lightly. I then glance towards Oliver, who's trying too hard not to stare at the reunion taking place.

"Who's this?" My father asks, noting my glance towards my teammate.

"This is Oliver Uriah, my teams Veterinarian," I reply, pushing away from Moms hug to gesture his way. "His parents are out retrieving lost Exploratory Teams, so I asked him to tag along." I quickly explain, really not wanting them to get the wrong idea.

After speaking with my parents for a few minutes, Oliver leads the way back to Southern Head Quarters for lunch. Mom and Dad were both ecstatic that the Chieftess cooked for us, but are more excited just to spend time with me. While we were training at the Academy, the only contact we had with home was through letters. Even Alaric wasn't allowed to speak with his mother throughout training, and his mom is literally the leader of Viadon. I just hope that this luncheon goes okay.