Noah's POV:

Well, we'd done it. Together me and Sadie successfully managed to piss off my cousin. I should have kept my mouth shut. Just great first it was the mutants and now it's my cousin, life is just effing wonderful for me. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and tried to concentrate on the English worksheet I had been looking at for the past ten minutes. "So, I think A belongs to this character which means F is Finn and-"

"Uh Noah? Maybe you should take a break," I looked over to see my twin staring at me with vivid concern. "You keep muttering, and quite honestly look like you're on the verge of an anxiety attack."

"No, no I'm fine," I huffed trying to wave her off, so I could focus on being able to breath without feeling like a boulder was crushing down on my chest. "Just lemme finish this..." I muttered before attempting to lose myself in the worksheet.

"Yeah no." I looked up in surprise as Piper took away my worksheet. "It's lunch do normal kid stuff. Eat, screw around, scream for no reason, just focus on something other than this damn paper."

I scowled in annoyance. "Easy for you to say," I huffed crossing my arms and stabbing at the mac and cheese on my tray. "You're not the one with Trevor on your ass," I growled.

"Don't get all huffy on us Noah," Zoe growled at me. "You chose to hang out with the asshole," she huffed not even flinching when Piper sent her a searing glare. "And don't give me that look, he was bad for you, you can't go around him." She growled, unlike before however her voice had a bit more of a steel/dominant edge to it, something that made Piper recoil quite sharply and look at the table.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who noticed it, and we all exchanged looks. Zoe had always been the leader of our little group, but it was rare she got that...aggressive? I don't even know what id describe it as. "Zoe..." Leo asked hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder. "You, ok?" He asked cautiously.

She looked up at him briefly pausing and needing a moment to recognize what she'd done. "Sorry guys...I don't know what came over me...I'll try not to let it happen again," she stated looking down her cheeks dusted in red.

"Sis, be gentler, I know it's not exactly what you do best, but you just freaked out our friends and with everything going on we need to trust each other, not be scared of each other" I murmured quietly into her ear as the bell rang and we began to walk to our next class, which was at the pool.

She looked down a bit ashamed. "Look Noah, m'sorry, I already apologized, and I already said I'll try not to do it again, what more do you want from me?"

I sighed softly, I loved Zoe, but she was stubborn as a mule with more bitchiness than anyone else. "Ok sis, here when you need me."

I went into the locker room alongside of Leo, before I froze realizing an issue. If I took off my shirt then all of my veins including my disco ball looking ones, would be exposed. "Leo!" I hissed grabbing his shoulder and stopping him. "Our gems! We can't show that without people noticing."

I heard him swear under his breath. "Shit, shit, shit..." Coach Mayers isn't going to let us skip, it's literally the first day of gym class, and what'll the girls do?"

I internally cursed, I hadn't thought of any of those three. Sure, maybe they could wear a shirt over it or say they were on their period, but our coach was a hardass and would most definitely have an issue with it.

I looked at him hesitantly. "Just let me handle this," I muttered trying to keep my cool as we entered the Lockeroom where the other guys had already started changing into their swim trunks. Quickly I scrabbled into a stall before any of the other guys could see me and changed into my swim trunks nervously pulling on the bands for water polo and covering up my wrists as best I could. But before I went out, I threw on an old t-shirt that I had in my gym bag so that nothing would be exposed and hoped Leo had somewhat of the same thoughts. Truthfully, the shirt was always in there, I was as skinny as a baby bird and my bones seemed to jut out of my skin no matter how much I ate. So sometimes it was best to cover up.

A banging on my stall door startled me and I jumped slightly. "Noah come on dude lets go, we all know your skinny as hell, but this is ridiculous."

Quickly I shoved what cloths remained into my bag. "S-sorry!" I stammered a bit startled and nearly slammed headfirst into Leo and Trevor. "I was changing okay!" I said quickly scrambling after them on the slick tiles, dropping my bag on the bench and going out onto the pool deck. Luckily Zoe, Piper, and Sadie had clearly planned this out a bit better and were wearing some form of waterproof makeup that hid the gems well.

"Get on the line Russell!" He snapped at me, and I realized I had frozen and not lined up with the rest of the kids in my class who were in a line alongside of the pool. I nodded and tried to act calm as he explained the rules for water polo. Seemed simple enough chuck a ball at a net, and the teams were Seniors vs Juniors...of course they were. Now don't get me wrong some seniors are great, hell I'd seen some who were always looking after the little freshman who didn't quite take care of themselves, but of course there would always be the douchebags that had to give them a bad rep. They were big, bulky, somewhat smart, basically your stereotypical jocks, with worse hair. I hopped into the icy water shivering at the chills that went up my body.

"This is so cold..." hissed Piper, "I fucking hate this already." She snapped folding her arms over her chest while her teeth chattered.

"Ostriches don't swim..." muttered Sadie, shaking so badly her voice was all messed up as well. "This is so stupid..." she groaned as the game started and I shot her a look of sympathy. I felt bad, she seemed to be tolerating the cold worse than any of us. 

"Guys we got bigger problems..." muttered Zoe and I looked over to see the majority of the senior team come rushing at us to score. I gagged on water as one full on tackled me under making me kick my legs and gasp for breath as I tried not to drown.

"I'm open, I'm open!" He shouted using one hand to keep me under the water, until Zoe snarled and shoved him away.

"Don't drown someone you idiot!" She snapped and the senior's chubby cheeks reddened as though he hadn't realized what he was doing.  He froze almost instantly, looking away from my twins gaze and surge of gratitude went through me at her protectiveness. "Sorry about that..."he mumbled going away into a deeper part of the pool. I shivered and gasped a bit needing some more air in my lungs. I didn't notice the searing glare my cousin had given me until we were in the locker room and my back was shoved against the lockers so hard the doors shook.

"What the fuck was that?" He demanded to know hands gripping my shoulders so hard they felt like they were about to bleed. "You're one of the tallest guys here, besides all but two of us and you still get your ass beat so bad you need to your sister to come to your godamn rescue like your five years old?"

I flinched my eyes wide, and I stuttered for an explanation as the locker room watched us closely. "S-she didn't rescue me..." I stammered. "I just got startled that's all! He caught me off guard! Honest!" I pleaded and looked at him disturbed by the anger in his ice blue eyes.

He growled and if he was a dog would've borne his teeth. "Oh please. I have been patient as hell with you but between getting your ass kicked and quitting football my patience is running pretty godamn thin." He let go of me and I tried not to shake. He probably would've done more as when I looked at him his fist was flying towards my face but thank God Leo caught it.

"Trevor. Enough." He stated, voice even. "Walk away before all of us are in trouble."

Trevor stared at him incredulously. "Leo common I've given him every chance to succeed, and he just keeps disappointing. "You're lucky this wasn't sooner." He growled and tears threatened to sting my eyes, hurt by his words.

"Doesn't matter. Now get before you lose your line backer," Leo stated before turning to me. "Get changed and then we'll go. The rest of you mind your own damn business." He growled to the remaining bystanders as Trevor retreated to change, before going out the door in a huff.

I changed fast and walked out of the locker room. I quickly scrambled past my friends who had been waiting to cause them to go running after me. "Noah! What happened?" Asked Piper staring at me with concern.

"Guys its nothing..." I mumbled keeping my head down so they wouldn't see my tears. "I gotta get to class," I said quickly heading for my Algebra class which thankfully I was alone in. They didn't need to see my cry, I was just being stupid, besides I doubted that Power Rangers were supposed to cry. The idea was so comical I almost laughed despite the tears dripping down my cheeks and onto my paper. "Stupid, stupid, stupid..." I mumbled as my paper got splotched with tears. My teacher asked me to answer a question on the board, so I walked up keeping my head low and started to solve. People were staring at me, and the word of the Locker room incident had clearly spread. "S-so yeah X=18." I mumbled setting down the marker and going back to my seat where I was once again met with more looks. I knew it wasn't because of my answer, math was one of my best subjects, so it had to have been because of the period before.

I laid my head down on my desk for the rest of that period thankful that it was my last one. As I walked out my morpher beeped and I looked down at it. Fuck.

I sped walked to the front of the school where the rest were waiting, and Zoe nodded tearing off down the backroads. "Rangers, you've got a monster near the bridge. Be careful I've faced him before and he's not easy to beat." Spoke Abby urgently.

"Got it Abby over and out," Zoe murmured holding up one hand to stop us a bit before the bridge. "We go for a silent approach, if he's dangerous then we need to watch ourselves and take him off guard. Piper, Leo, loop around and go for the back, the rest of us will attack from the sides."

"We better not screw this up," I muttered worriedly as I joined my sibling and Sadie.

"No shit Sherlock. Now take out your morphers, it's time to unleash the beast." She stated getting into position and activating the morphing sequence.

"Savannah Beast, may your spirits unleash!" We quickly said as torrents of energy came around us from our animal forming thick suits. The team split up and I stuck close to Sadie and Zoe, still distracted from what my cousin had said about me. He just keeps disappointing! Was that true? Did other people think that?  Zoe, mom and dad? My friends? Teachers?

"Noah move!" Screamed Sadie, before tackling me to the floor landing on top of me roughly. Blasting shots go my attention as Zoe dueled some monster. He was light blue with two horns. "Come on we gotta help her!" She shouted jumping off of me and running to the fight where the rest of the rangers had already joined. I grunted and drew my own weapon before charging. Come on Noah, you can do this, just don't be a disappointment. Prove yourself, make them proud. I thought desperately as I slashed at the beast.

"Hah! You children don't know the first thing about power! Take this," its fist was suddenly driven into the ground and an ice spike went up driving into my chest with such power I fell roughly onto my back and struggled to breathe right.

"I'm sorry for my rudeness, I forgot to introduce myself!" It growled as the team circled around me protectively. "Genral Azwar, at your service, destroying kingdoms since before common era!" He cackled loudly as though it was the funniest thing, and I gripped my saber a bit tighter.

"Well, were your worst nightmare! Come on rangers!" Shouted Zoe charging at him headfirst, claws bared.

We were fighting hard against him, but it was clear he had the upper hand. His attacks were coordinated and ours were a clumsy punch or an awkward swing of the saber. Not to mention my chest was burning like it was on fire. The monster threw off Piper and she skidded back, as we crowded into each other a bit nervous. Zoe stood at the front, as though she could block an attack for all of us. "Interesting...this is good news." He said belly laughing before raising his hands up to the sky, causing a large beam of light to come down and suck him up.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and let my shoulders slump. "The monster fled Abby, now what?" Zoe spoke into her wrist quickly.

"Get back to base, then we'll talk. I'd get a move on I think the news crew is on their way." As we heard that the sounds of police sirens came whirring and news truck followed.

"Go!" Zoe snapped before running as quickly as she could off the bridge. We were all panting by the time we'd gotten down the stairs where we could demorph in private.

"Jesus Christ Noah what happened to your face?" Piper asked suddenly making me look at her and gingerly press on my face, hissing when I caught my chin.

"Uh...long story, shouldn't we be getting back?"

Leo looked at me like I was nuts. "Dude your chins bleeding and the size of a baseball, we definitely need to be getting back."

Zoe paused, glancing over at me, gaze softening for a brief moment upon seeing the pain I was facing. She seemed to shake off the feeling just as quickly as it came, because she quickly gave us a command. "Enough talk let's go before we get our asses caught." She stormed off towards the reserve and I glanced at the team in confusion, who all just shrugged before following her.

The second we arrived we were greeted by Abby, who looked us all over, bruised bones and exhausted figures. "Downstairs now." She growled and herded us all into the elevator. "Infirmary, go, you all look like shit." We all sighed and walked in, and I plopped myself onto a bed wincing slightly.

She started with the others putting a shot of something into their arms, I'm assuming a pain killer. Then she started looking at me first at my chin, but when I hissed after she brushed my chest, she looked at me. "What happened?" She asked with a sigh.

"Stupid monster sent an ice spike into me..." I mumbled a bit ashamed of myself. None of the others had gotten hurt this badly.

Abby grunted and swore under her breath. "Figures that stupid bastard would do something like this..." she put some soothing cream onto my chest that made an instant wave of cold go over me, before wrapping my ribs. "There the bruising should go down by tomorrow, just keep your shirt on when your around people."

"Thanks Abby," I murmured gratefully before turning to look at Zoe. She'd been silent this entire time and was giving me a look. "Zoe did I do something wrong..." I asked quietly feeling like i screwed up.

She looked at me eyes icy. "Noah. We are power rangers. Earths only line of defense against threats like what we just saw. You cannot space out like you just did, not on my team." She growled, but even behind her harsh tone I could see the regret and worry in her eyes. Zoe felt bad saying it, it was a secret to everyone in the room but me.

I rubbed the back of my neck as the others exchanged looks. "Sorry I just had a lot on my mind..."

Zoe looked at me. "And? So do all of us! Hell, I know this might be hard but what just happened out there will be what gets you killed Noah. Pull it together, if not for your team's sake, then for mom and dads. They don't deserve a dead son. You compromised our mission and almost got yourself and Sadie killed." She growled softly, before stalking out of the room, form set in its stride.

I tried not to whimper, and the room got blurry. It was my fault. I almost killed Sadie. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shit shit shit, why on earth did I have to be such a burden to every freaking person I interacted with. I could hear the rest of the rangers they were trying to comfort me I'm pretty sure. But it was so hard to tell! My heart was pounding and felt like it was going ten times faster than what it was supposed to.

And it was Zoe whod spoke up...my twin whod always had my back and had always wanted me around even if she didn't act like it some days...the words hurt ten times more then they already had.

Suddenly I saw Abby telling everyone to get out of the room. A warm hand gripped my shoulder, and she forced me to look her in the eye. "Noah. You're having a panic attack, follow me and I'll take you to a better spot to calm down." Gingerly she helped me to my feet and quickly nudged me past the team and into a small hallway that split into two rooms. As she opened the door to one it revealed a calming room. A couple of bunk beds were built into the wall and hammocks hung in between two of the corners. Several random books had been pushed onto a shelf, and a gaming system had been hooked up into the small tv which rested on the main wall. "I'll leave you to calm down..." Abby said and I barely noticed feeling my shoulders slump a bit in relief.

I sighed. "It's actually not bad in here..." I mumbled walking closer to one of the beds and was surprised to see a rhino and a gorilla stuffy resting on them. Looking at them closer I knew that they were from the reserves gift shop. I picked it up and petted its soft fur, it was oddly soothing with the soft texture of the fur and the extra weight from its bean like stuffing. "A little nap wouldn't hurt..." I mumbled feeling myself lay down onto the bed gripping the stuffy tightly. "Just a little one..."