Zoe POV:

I walked into the cafeteria and went over to our table, noticing the others already eating. I wasn't surprised, I'd had to talk with a teacher before I went in, so the lunch period was already a third or so of the way through. Hell, even the food line had its metal shutters pulled down, indicating it was closed for the day. But looking at the table I noticed someone was missing. "Hey y'all, where's Lee?" I asked them curiously.

Sadie hesitated, looking around as though she expected him to appear. "That's actually a great question...he said he had to run home and grab his lunch, but it shouldn't take this long."

Noah shrugged, "maybe he hit some traffic?"

I snorted, "it's noon, not exactly rush hour. Everyone's either at work already or at school already. It's not like anyone's trying to go anywhere." That was an advantage to being in a small town. everyone was predictable in every way. Not only did people only drive at certain times of the day, but they also only used certain shops and restaurants on certain times and days. Like the Kalloways bakery, it would always see its customers on Wednesday afternoon because Wednesday afternoons were when they'd bake the bread fresh, and everyone loved that bread, so everyone went on Wednesday afternoons and only Wednesday afternoons. Heck, mom would probably go today to pick up a loaf for the week.  The same went for the rest of their products, cookies: Monday, croissant's: Fridays, macarons: Tuesday. A bit annoying that things never changed but useful if you needed to see when something had gone wrong and find out what had been disturbed in the pattern. 

Sadie frowned, face turning slightly stormy, "I'll text him," she muttered, quickly pulling out her phone and typing quite quickly. She hit send and went to put her phone away but quickly stopped. "Message not delivered...? What in the world I have service!"

Piper frowned, "maybe he doesn't? I mean were in a mountain town, we all know how often the service drops. Like look at our cell tower! that thing's a fossil by now and quite frankly I'm surprised it's still standing." She paused for a moment, then reached out to touch Sadie's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry too much, babe, Lee's extremely capable, and we've got his back. It'll be okay."

Sadie bit her lip and glanced at Piper, before nodding slowly, though her brow was still furrowed with worry.

I nodded. "Piper makes a good point, besides if anything went extremely wrong, we would've gotten an alert," I reminded the still stormy faced Sadie gently, cautious about how loudly I was talking, and ensuring to be vague. "For now, I think it's best we all keep our eyes and ears peeled, for all we know Leon could've gotten a flat tire or had his mom eat his lunch. Heck, maybe he just decided to skip school altogether!" Don't get me wrong I was worried about him and all but our morphers had proved to be flawless at alerting us whenever there was trouble, and I had no reason to jump out of school and put myself in a lot of trouble over something not as important. "We may be power r-, but we couldn't go blowing our cover every day of the week. Stuff like that adds up and people will notice eventually. Our identities and reputation matter, now more than ever." I state, reassuring them, but also trying to get across my memo. We were seriously fucked if people started putting together clues.

Sadie looked uncomfortable, chewing on her lip slightly. "It's not like him, but I guess your right. And besides we would know if something happened. R-right Zoe?" She asked looking up to me, eyes glittering nervously.

I nodded locking eyes with her reassuringly. "Right." I agreed.

Silently, I prayed I was right.

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At long last the bell rang, signaling that school had officially ended and now it was time to head to work. As I pulled together my stuff a pit of worry built in my stomach; something was wrong. Leo hadn't returned to school nor had anyone received a word from him. As much as i hated to say it, it was time to take matters more seriously. "Everyone head to headquarters, it's time to work."

Nods came from all around, faces turned suddenly serious and everyone was ready. As we arrived and headed for the elevator nobody needed an explanation for what we were working on. Our priority was Lee. "Abby! Where are you?" I holler into the base, pausing as she comes out from the infirmary unit, taking us all in for a moment. Then she noticed.

"Wheres-"

"Leon? Don't know, but we need a way to locate him. Both regular cell phones and morphers are down. He never showed up to school and we have no evidence of an attack. Morphers never alerted or anything."

She frowned, quickly heading for the table in the center. Going to Lee's side she was quick to tap into something grid like. The whole team gathered around, though no one quite knew what we were looking at. Seeing our confusion she began to explain. "Unfortunately for us, I am not a text expert. Peter designed most of our technology a while ago, so some of it is outdated. There are ways for monsters to slip through the sensors undetected. But, we keep measurements on morphing energy, where it was used, and when." She continued typing as she spoke.

"So we need to look at Lee's, see if there was a spike in morphing energy where none of us had it., That would indicate an unrecorded attack, maybe one that explains this whole mess. We'll use that to find him and give whatever monster attacked him hell." 

"Bingo." Abby agreed, giving me a quick approving glance. The team nodded at my statements and everyone fell silent as Abby pulled up his morphing energy graph. Sure enough right in the middle at around 11AM, a large spike appeared. The rest of us had been at school and we certainly hadn't morphed so that was what we wanted to see. 

"There!" I shouted quickly. "That, where was that?"

"Uh..." she clicked a couple of keys, zooming in on the map. "Fox lane...about a quarter mile from its eastern end." I tried to think, Lee didn't live on Fox lane, he lived on Dewberry which was the street just behind it. Maybe he was on his way home when it happened?

"Then thats where we go. If the monster took one of us, I assume he's after the rest of us. Safre bet to assume, Zion and Ziona want our power correct? If this monsters on there sides we'll be the perfect bait." Abby nods at my words, looking grim, but alright with my plan.

"Zoe wait a minute," Noah interrupts suddenly. "Look at that spike...it doesn't fade off. If Lee morphed, he's been morphed this whole time. He's either stuck or fighting."

My heart sank slightly at the thought. "Then he's losing power. We need to move out now. Lets ranger up!"

"Savannah Beasts, may your spirits unleash!" Amira blurred around me in red and power encased me just as it did to Noah, Piper, and Sadie.

"Tunnel opening." Beeped the feminine robotic voice from the overhead speakers.

Abby nodded to us as we left, "good luck rangers. May your Beasts and their spirits guide you."

Our feet pounded against the hard concrete at the bottom of the tunnel, twists and turns came at us so sharply I nearly lost my grip. But surprisingly, no one stumbled. We all seemed to have some instinctual sharpness to our movements. Especially me for whatever reason. Luckily, my plan worked and Jeskor arrived. There was no question about him wanting our Beast Gems, he launched himself at us the second we were on the surface. No civilians were around luckily, they'd all been smart enough to flee the scene.

"My friends are back!" He stated with a grin, bouncing backwards after attacking. Sadie moved from my side to advance, but I stopped her, barricading the charge with an arm. "Another playdate! Yay! Yay! Yay!" He cheered clapping his hands.

"Zoe..." she growled, warning me not to test her. I could tell Lee's disappearance had her both angry and worried, and now almost nothing restrained her. Since I was in her way I was apart of the issue.

"I have a plan, just need you to trust me." I state and Sadie looks at me before nodding, pulling back. The others nod as well. "Jeskor! We are here for a playdate, but I see an issue!"

He tilted his head at me, seeming genuinely stumped. "A problem? What is it ranger? Is it that I don't have your Beast Gems?" At that statement my team seemed to bristle, and I felt Noah's body go tense as a spring next to me.

I shook my head, "no, you're missing one of us! Our green ranger isn't here, and it wouldn't be nearly as much fun without him!" We were fighting a monster that loved to play, even more so than he loved the idea of power. We could use that.

Noah seemed to catch on to what I was doing rather quickly, nodding at my statement. "She's right! Every time we played a game, he was always the winner, he's a real challenge!"

I nod, nudging my brother gratefully. "Except now he's not here, and if we don't get him back there won't be any more fun games!"

"Jeskor sees your point! I will take you to him and then we will see who wins!" That's when it happened again, he started doodling like mad on the square spot on his hammer handle.

"Whatever happens we all stay together." I state to my team, who nod, gathering close to me. "This might not feel great, but it could be our only shot at taking back Lee and getting rid of clown face for good."

Sadie nodded, set with determination. "We also win whatever game this dick starts." Her voice still held a growl.

"Right."

We might've gotten a moment together, but we also let our guard down and all of a sudden were sucked into a colorless world. Everything seemed topsy tervy, grey, black, and white were the only colors. It was Briarwood, but with all of the life, people, and joy sucked out of it. Chills ran down my spine. The only color spared was that of our suits. Jeskor was in front of us, but Leon was no where in sight. My heart sank, had I led my team into a trap? Suddenly a series of bangs rang out, we all ignored Jeskor, crashing down the streets until we hit the playground. There Lee was atop of a set of monkey bars, his large form teetering dangerously as he attempted to fight and balance. Lee was positively mobbed with Skeiks on all sides. He took down wave after wave, but more just kept coming. He was strong but was tiring fast. Before we could rush in to help him, the Skeiks disappeared.

"What?" Leon looked around in confusion, extremely startled by the change. "Guys!" He shouted upon seeing in In us, and I had the feeling he wore a grin that matched mine as he leapt down from the monkey bars and ran over to us.

"Don't ever do that again you damned idiot!" Sadie huffs, punching him rather roughly after crushing him with a hug.

"Sorry...sorry..." Lee replies, running a sheepish hand over his helmet.

I smiled, "good to have you back Lee. I'm just sorry we didn't get here sooner."

That catches his attention, "how did you all get here?"

I cringed, this was the part of my plan I didn't like. "We arranged for a playdate."

"With a seriously fucked up clown," Piper adds. Almost as though he'd heard Jeskor appeared atop of the slide, scaring the absolute shit out of Noah who was standing closest to it, and immediately stood closer to the team.

"Jesus Christ, the dude needs to wear a bell!" He mutters annoyedly.

"Okay friends! Jeskor has an idea for a game!" Pausing for dramatic affect and to scribble some pictures on his pad, he pauses before five symbols appear hovering in the air. I realize rather quickly that each is emblazed with our ranger colors and Beasts. They then disappear flying off in all different directions so quickly I can barely keep track "They will appear all around Briarwood! If you can touch them before I do, you get a point! But if I get there first, your symbol is destroyed! Whoever has the most points wins! If I win, the Beast gems are mine! Each ranger must only go after their own coin, if you break the rules, you will be punished!" Something told me that if this guy won we wouldn't be able to stop him from grabbing our Beast gems.

I grind my teeth together and tighten my stance, hands curling into fists at my sides. No way in hell would this guy get our powers. We were quite literally the last line of defense. Not to mention a fight with Jeskor without our Beast gems? We'd be rainbow colored splatters on the gray concrete.

"Without our Beast gems..." Leon trailed off, clearly adding up the same thing I just had.

"One more thing. You only have until the end of this hour." He states, pointing at the clock tower in the distance. 12:21PM. "LETS PLAY!" Jeskor went smashing off into the woods before any of us had a chance to react.

"Fuc-"

"Zoe! I saw a coin go this way! We should go after it before he gets to it!" Noah urges, jerking his head towards where Main Street is.

"Right!" I nod, snapping out of my daze. "Lead the way." As we scrabble down the hill that sharply curves and declines before dipping down into Main Street and pass the farm on its left-hand side Sadie lets out a shout.

"Noah, I see it! It's your coin!"

Way up in the air, plastered onto the silo wall lies the coin, it had to be almost a hundred feet. Also the cows...they didn't look right. Pitch black fur and gleaming eyes with pupils so small they looked almost pure white the herd stared at us, tails lashing back and forth. "You ready for this Noah?" I ask, not breaking eye contact with the herd.

"Ready as I'll ever be..." he rolls his shoulders nervously, cracking his knuckles. Before he steps over to the gate I touch his shoulder, stopping him. "Listen to me, your more powerful than you know. You have a bond with Kodo and he'll let you draw more strength out of his bond. You just have to feel it, press through the barrier between the two of you and borrow more power. Each of you can do this," I add glancing at the rest of my team. "Trust yourself and trust your beast. They will help you when you're ready." Amira and I had already done it when I'd summoned the tiger claws, Kodo and the others would help the team, we just needed to ask for help.

Everyone looks at me, Piper nods, Sadie seems somewhat confused, Lee straightens slightly and Noah breathes a little deeper and I noticed some of the tension left him. "You've got this."

He goes in without a word drawing his saber from his belt. Sure enough, the cattle charged him, hoofs smashing into the field. He dodges, gracefully for the most part until one mashes itself against his side throwing him to the ground and sending his saber skidding across the concrete.

"Fuck Noah!" Piper lunges forward; the fence made they barely three feet apart. As though a force field was there, she slams back into the pavement and it rumbles menacingly. "Damn it..." she cusses, rubbing her sore shoulder.

Noah's back on his feet, except his sabers no where in sight. Instead on his fists glow two gauntlets black streaked with dark blue. They send the bulls flying with a hit and when another charges from behind a blast goes off turning it into a pile of dust. Confidence growing he crosses the yard, barely flinching as bulls try him and slams his gauntlet into the symbol, it dissolves and that's a point in our favor.

"Nice work Noah," I state, pride filling me from my twin brother's success. "Now onto the next."

Internally I whooped with joy; me and Abby had been theorizing that each of our suits contained a specific weapon, suited to our beast and style of combat. It was just a matter of us being able to reach that power. I'd done it almost unintentionally when I'd summoned my tiger claws, those came as almost a second nature and proved more powerful than my saber or blaster. Now I had my tiger claws and Noah had his gorilla gauntlets.

"About that!" Piper jumps in before I can give the plan. "I caught a glimpse of something pink looking that direction," she gestures closer to town, and I realize its about where the reserve would be located.

I nod, looking to Sadie, whose stayed quite silent since reuniting with Lee. "Sadie, you ready?"

"What?" She jumps, helmet flicking upright and glancing back and forth between me and Piper.

Seeing her confusion, I repeat what Piper's just said, and she nods, "yeah I got it," though her tone doesn't carry much confidence at all. Even as we near the parts of town that are more populated no people appear, its just empty. I could feel the teams nerves as we traveled, everybody slowing pushing closer together. We enter into the actual reserve itself, which was a whole nother feeling of creepy, no Abby, no people, barely any traces that animals existed. For a place so full of color it was extremely unnerving to see it this bleak. Somewhat hesitantly, Sadie led us towards the Savannah section graciously named "Safari Slopes" due to the hilly terrain around the enclosures, making the path bounce up and down. No animals were present in the enclosures, hell it looked like they'd been abandoned for months. 

"Well there it is," she mutters, tipping her helmet upwards. The symbol flashed above the rocky cliffsides that had been installed in the lion enclosure, a good form of enrichment for them, but challenging to climb without a harness or set of claws. Wordlessly she starts making her way up the cliffs, steadily, but somewhat slowly. Then just as she reaches the top everything goes to shit. 

"Hi hi friend!" States Jeskor bouncing up and down so hard the cliff shakes. Then his foot comes down atop of her hand and she yelps grip slipping as she tumbles to a ledge in the middle of the cliff. 

Beside me, Noah goes tense and makes a low concerned and angry noise in his throat, one I can't quite identify. My own body has ridged, but I can't do anything, it'd just injure me worse. Silently I pleaded with her to follow my advice, something that would let her win. 

"You're nothing but a cheater Jeskor, let alone a friend." Her blaster is off her belt and a few pink flashes go off. Jeskor does nothing but giggle, back handspringing away like a child at gymnastics. Once again, the cliffs rattle and she slip downwards landing awkwardly on her back. For a split second she pauses, and I see a brief flicker of pink, like what we'd seen Noah have and hope flutters inside of me. Then its forcefully ripped away and she's smashed with his mallet, causing her to fly through the enclosure barrier and back out to us. Jeskor claims his symbol as we gather around Sadie protectively. A growl rumbles low in my throat as I watch the clown move away.