It took about a month for the Wardens (and, apparently, the world) to recover from the shock of my revival. I'll admit, I was also surprised that I'd been given another chance at life. I had accepted that my life would end with the destruction of the dark energy, and that would be it, so when I got the anonymous order to go into stasis before I completely left this world, I was skeptical. I didn't expect to come back, but I am certainly glad I did.

Still, I recovered from my surprise within a week, so I was a bit thrown by how long it took my friends to get over it and return to normal interaction. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy the attention most of the time, sleeping in Penny and Mei Lian's room when they have nightmares, going on digs with Nate and Roland or missions with Leon and Lucky, even running with Dahlia. However, the careful way I was treated, like I was something fragile, started to get on my nerves after a while. I still remember getting yelled at when I sat out in a typhoon in Fossil Park Asia about a week after I officially returned to the Wardens. I found it slightly insulting that they thought a little wind and rain could hurt me, though I did find it amusing when Penny and Mei Lian insisted on drying me off themselves once they'd finally gotten me inside. Especially when I'd held my wings over their heads and they'd had to get Nate, Roland, and Hanzo to climb onto my shoulders to weigh them down while Stryker, Little, Liu Ren, Elric, and Nibbles looked on and laughed.

Professor Little had fun testing the mechanisms of my wings and tail, examining and taking notes on how they work as I fly. Not only am I the only dinaurian in this time, and the first dinaurian seen since the rest of my kind left the planet, but I'm also the only known vertebrate with more than four limbs, making me a 'scientific marvel'. He and Yamamoto would call me into the lab to run tests, not only on my body, but also on my attacks, trying to figure out what my mist and flames were made of. They are always careful not to hurt me, but Mei Lian still gets angrily defensive when she catches me there. She doesn't like the thought of tests being run on me, even harmless ones, and her protective nature has only increased after my death.

The veteran Wardens of the Parks tried, for the most part, to take my revival in stride, with the exception of Mei Lian, who didn't even try to hide her shock and joy. Becky spoke calmly about my revival, just as she had with my death, but just like she hadn't been able to hide her tears, she also couldn't hide her grin whenever I showed up or was mentioned. Violet had fun bragging about how she'd 'predicted' my return, usually being met with rolling eyes, groans, or exasperated pats on her back or shoulder. Hanzo seemed to enjoy competing with me, sneaking around and trying to out-wit me as I did the same to him. I'm starting to learn how to tell when he's smiling; his eyes crinkle at the corners.

It seemed like the ones who recovered from the shock of my revival the quickest (other than Elric, who had gathered the light energy in the first place) were the leaders. Liu Ren appears to be too experienced for anything to surprise him for long, though he did seek out my company more frequently. Sean, with all of his hyper energy and bright smile, is highly adaptable to change, no matter how unexpected and improbable it may be. He had fun announcing the news of my revival to his rival and fans, and the energy and excitement could be felt in the Parks for days afterward. And Drake, the timidly bloodthirsty enigma he is, was just happy to have me back and didn't seem to care how.

My team, for the most part, remained in the places they'd made for themselves, with the exception of Nibbles, who generally stayed by my side unless he was needed elsewhere. Since I could fight for myself, I didn't need to carry a team with me, though I did sometimes carry a vivosaur or two with me for old times' sake. Due to my status as the Commander of the Vivosaurs, I could command almost any vivosaur, but I usually stuck with my teammates from my days as the Captain's emissary.

Of course, there was another reason I kept at least one vivosaur with me. Despite the revelation of my true identity to the public and the acceptance of the Wardens, my appearance still disturbed many people, so I carried my holographic disguise with me in case I needed to interact with strangers who weren't used to my true form. Elric and I insisted on it, despite the protests from the Wardens and vivosaurs. We had, before settling in the Wardens' era, frequently traveled to times that had no record of dinaurians, and we knew firsthand how people could react. In order to help the humans of this era adjust, my true form would be unveiled more slowly, with periods of time in my holographic disguise gradually decreasing in length and frequency. It took a bit of debating, but my comrades eventually accepted it, though Nibbles still sulked whenever I took on my human disguise.

The Captain, a few days after the Angel's Cup, formally announced my return to the Wardens as the Commander, a rank equal to his. We essentially work together to run the Fossil Parks, with him handling the humans and me handling the vivosaurs. I didn't know how well he'd adjust to sharing authority after leading the Wardens alone for over five years, but he showed no signs of apprehension. If anything, he expressed relief at having part of the burden of leadership shifted to me.

And that was why, about a month after my revival, I sat in Captain Stryker's office at the top of Warden HQ. The Captain had offered to give me my own office, but I'd declined. As the head of the vivosaurs, most of the things I would need to do couldn't be done in a building, much less an office. So, on the occasions when I needed an office, Stryker let me use his, with me standing next to him when we both needed to address the Wardens or vivosaurs. At this moment, however, the meeting was between Stryker and myself, with Stryker at his desk and me sitting next to him. I had offered to stand in front of him as I always had, but the high-ranking human had turned that down, stating that "We're equals; we should act like it." Which worked out well, because it let me see the computer we were looking at.

"This is the list of people trying out for the Wardens during our next recruitment session. We've set up a slightly different test for them, including the introduction of a written exam, but the battle section remains the same as the final test." Stryker explained to me, gesturing to the list on the screen, "Your instincts are the best we have. Do you notice anything?"

I leaned forward, my tail thumping against my chair as my golden eyes scanned the list of people, their names, pictures, and statistics displayed on the screen.

"Hm." I hummed, tilting my head, "It appears one of them has experience with the Wardens."

"Oh?" Stryker asked, looking at the screen in search of what had led me to that conclusion, "Which one?"

I pointed at the picture of a boy who was around my age. He had sandy brown hair, slightly darker than Sean and Becky's. He had blue-green eyes that held a calm confidence somewhat similar to Elric's, and his clothing, a red sweater covered by an olive-green jacket, was obviously high-quality, indicating a wealthy family.

"I've seen that look before. That kind of confidence doesn't come from personality alone." I stated, leaning back in the chair as Stryker looked more closely at the boy's picture, "He's had previous experience, whether he's worked with Wardens before or has helped with similar tasks. He has potential. Keep an eye on him."

"Prescott Benedict." Stryker muttered to himself, "Sounds quite regal. I'll watch him."

"Him, too." I said, pointing to another boy on the screen listed directly above Prescott. He looked quite different from classy, confident boy below him. He had confidence, that much was clear, but there was nothing calm about him. He had spikey dark brown hair with yellow-orange highlights around the edges. His amber eyes held a wild look to them, a fire so bright I could almost feel it. He also bore a scar across his nose.

"Frett Collins?" Stryker read the name on the screen with a questioning tone, "What about him has caught your eye?"

"His fire." I said simply, pointing a claw at his eyes, "There's a fire in there. He's a battler."

"A Fossil Battler?" Stryker asked. When I nodded, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we could always use more battlers, but he seems rather out-of-control. Would it be wise to give an uncontrollable battler a Warden license?"

"If you pair him with someone who can balance him, yes." I replied, "That's one of the reasons Elric and I were partnered together. His calm nature balanced out my predatory instincts."

Stryker glanced at me warily, an eyebrow raised. "I haven't noticed any 'predatory instincts' in you, even when Elric wasn't here."

"Only because you haven't faced me directly." I replied simply, "Also, Elric's calm demeanor has rubbed off on me. We have been working together for years, after all."

Stryker was nodding absently, choosing to let it go at that. He then asked me, "Anyone else you notice?"

I looked over at the screen, scanning the pictures, names, and information, before sighing lightly. "No. The rest are pretty average, at least as far as I can tell."

Stryker nodded again, seeming satisfied. "Well, that will be all. Thank you, Tria."

"No problem, Stryker." I replied. I had stopped calling him 'sir' when we'd become equal in rank. I walked towards the elevator, but stopped and tilted my head to ask, "By the way, when does the Warden Test begin?"

"One week from now." Stryker replied, "You're expected to be there. In your true form."

"Of course." I said, before asking, "Can other Warden candidates join between now and the Test?"

Stryker looked up at me, somewhat shocked and definitely confused. "I suppose so." he said haltingly, "Do you have an idea for a Warden candidate not listed here?"

"Mm…maybe." I said, smirking but giving away nothing, "Don't worry. I'll keep you posted."

I then left the Captain's office, ignoring the annoyed glare aimed at my back from the authoritative human. He still wasn't a big fan of secrecy, especially where I was concerned, but he was no longer my superior, and so he couldn't order me to tell him anything. I stepped into the lobby, also ignoring the gawking stares my true form still brought from Fossil Park visitors and civilians, and pulled out my phone as it started ringing.

"What's up, Elric?" I said as I answered, "Find anything?"

"Yeah." my friend's voice on the other end replied, "She's here. And she's not getting a very warm welcome."

"All right. I'm on my way." I replied, putting my phone away and heading through the World Gate without another word.