The chapter opens with the protagonist waking up to smelling salts and realizing they are in a forest with both riders and infantry cadets who are all confused and disoriented.
Riders and infantry cadets have been forcibly drugged and removed to a forest known as RSC without their consent as part of a training exercise.
There is a stark difference in appearance and uniform between the riders and infantry cadets, emphasizing their unfamiliarity with each other.
Professor Grady briefs them on the purpose of their sudden relocation: to complete a joint land navigation exercise and enhance cooperation among the military segments.
Both groups are provided with maps and objective to find a marked location and secure it, but they discover they have two different maps.
Riders notice they cannot fully communicate with their dragons due to a herbal concoction given to them by their superiors, dulling their connections and power.
Professor Grady reveals a twist: there are two groups in the exercise, and their dragons will be hunting the other group while they might be hunted by unbonded dragons or the other group's dragons.
The two groups are instructed to work together despite their differences and lack of trust; Ridley, an infantry cadet, is critical of the riders and challenges their importance.
Riders are forced to take the lead when threatened by a Scorpiontail dragon, recalling past lessons on dragon encounters for survival.
One cadet,Gwen, breaks the rule and runs from the dragon, leading to being saved in a near-miss situation by Tomas before a dragon's fire blast presumably kills Tomas.
The chapter ends with the aftermath of the dragon's attack, the group reeling from the shock and a lesson emphasized by Rhiannon: never run from a dragon.