Noah was casually sitting inside the school's computer lab in an attempt to get a head start on his research paper. Being a ranger took a lot of his time away, so he started working on the assignment the moment he got it. He even forced himself to get up earlier than usual so he could get to school early. He wanted to make sure there was no one distracting him as he worked. After all, who would willingly want to go to school early?
Noah was halfway done with his paper when he heard the bell ring. He clicked the save button on the top left corner and packed up his things. He decided that he would probably stay afterschool to finish it. That way, he had one less assignment to worry about. As he exited the computer lab, he heard his name being called.
"Hey Noah, what're you doing here at school so soon?" A voice called out. Him and his group of friends had just entered the building and caught him sneaking out of the computer lab. Noah paused at the sound of his name and turned around. Instantly, he regretted it when he saw Tyson and his group of friends surround him.
"Guess the geek can't stay away from his computer girlfriend. It's probably the only girlfriend he'll ever have." Aiden, Tyson's friend, teased. "You know, I haven't seen you in a while Carver. You owe us some homework."
"Aiden and Tyson smirked as the open up their backpacks. They pulled out several sheets of unanswered homework and shoved in onto Noah's chest. Noah took a step back from the shock, barely managing to hold onto all of the papers.
"What? You can even lift a few papers?" Aiden mocked. "I knew you were a weak little nerd, but I thought you'd at least be able to carry a few papers, especially since you always carry those dumb little textbooks."
Noah looked up to the boys, slightly fearful of what Aiden and his friends were go to do to him this time. Growing up, Noah had always been bullied because of his petite appearance and unique abilities. For a high school teenager, Noah was probably considered a genuis. His grades were perfect and he could solve the hardest equations in his sleep. Jake always said that Noah would probably be the one to find the cure to cancer one day. However, brains didn't matter to other teenagers these days. Instead, they preferred shallow compliments about how good they looked. To Noah, all of that didn't matter. He proudly wore his glasses and favored his blue polo matched with light brown khakis.
"Careful Aiden, you might scare him to death." Tyson joked. "Anyways nerd, we want that homework done by tomorrow morning. Just make sure you miss a couple of questions here and there. We don't want the teachers to get suspicous."
For a moment, Noah almost wanted to agree to his conditions. He wished that Jake and Troy were by his side so he wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt. He didn't want to get beat up by a bunch of jocks, not again. Everytime he declined them, they would beat him up and then pick on him even more. But Noah wouldn't have it anymore. He wasn't going to let a few idiots push him around anymore. Ever since Noah became a ranger, his physicality and confidence had improved greatly. He wasn't the strongest person on the team, but he certainly wasn't helpless either. No one was here to help him, but then again, he didn't need help. He didn't need Jake. He didn't need anyone. This time, he would stand up for himself. He was longer the same unconfident person he was a few months ago. He was now the mighty blue ranger. And now, he was finally going to speak up.
With a deep breath, Noah looked at Aiden with confidence brimming in his eyes. "No."
Aiden stood over him, trying to intimidate the smaller man. "What did you say nerd?"
"No." Noah repeated firmly.
"Wrong answer." Aiden growled.
Suddenly, Noah felt his arms being grabbed, and before he knew it, he was dragged outside of school. The two boys holding him brought him behind the school building and then roughly shoved him onto the ground. Noah quickly looked at his surroundings and counted four boys in total. Though Noah was nervous, he knew that he could handle four teenage boys. If he was able to take on dozens of loogies, then he could handle four humans. The four boys surrounded him and looked like they were ready to beat the crap out of him, but Noah was prepared. His ranger career gave him the advantage that would surprise his opponent. All the hand to hand combat he learned would finally help him outside of the suit.
Noah sensed a punch coming from behind him and quickly stepped to the side. The jock didn't expect Noah to move so quickly which caused him to hit his friend square in the face. Tyson saw this and growled. He threw a swift punch at Noah's stomach, but Noah easily blocked it and threw a punch of his own. It knocked the wind out of Tyson, causing him to step back in an attempt to catch his breath. The other two guys that Noah brought down earlier slowly got up and tried to tag team him. Noah felt himself getting a bit tired, but he knew that he needed to push on. Noah thought back and remembered what Troy said about trying to fight more than one opponent at once. Monsters often brought several loogies that would outnumber the rangers. Because of this, Troy thought of a strategy that would help them dim the numbers. All they had to do was focus on fighting one at a time. Dodge the other attacks and focus your own attack on one enemy. It proved to be efficient on the battlefield, so Noah decided to try it out.
He kicked away one of the guys and focused his attack on the other. He jabbed the guy with his left hand and then used his right elbow to smash the side of his face, knocking him out quickly. He turned around and ducked just in time, narrowly avoiding another punch. This caused the other guy to lose his balance so Noah took his chance and flipped him over. It didn't cause him to black out, but he wasn't going to get up for awhile. In the corner of his eye, Noah saw Aiden trying to sneak his way. With a smirk, Noah kicked back his leg, catching Aiden off gaurd. It was only Aiden left, so Noah decided to have a little fun. He let Aiden throw as many punches as he wanted to, but dodged them all. Aiden quickly tired out, and Noah saw his moves getting slower and slower.
"I expected more from a bunch of jocks. Guess I'm not as weak as you thought I was." Noah stated as he grabbed Aiden's fist. Aiden let out a scream of anger and tore his hand away from Noah. He tried to counteract by tackling Noah, but Noah simply rolled to the side. Aiden didn't see this coming and hit his face on the wall. Noah laughed at the sight and looked around. All of them were groaning and holding their injuries in pain. He didn't hurt them too bad, but they would definitely be feeling sore for a few days.
"Do your own work." Noah spat as he threw the papers at the fallen boys. He decided that they had enough and walked back inside the school building with pride. He was exhausted, but proud of what he had done for himself.
"Hey, there you are." Jake called out to his best friend. "I've been looking all over for you. Where have you been?"
"I've been here for a few hours. I came in early to start on a research paper."
"Why am I not surprised?" Jake chuckled.
"Yeah, but then I got caught up with Aiden and all them." Jake's chuckle was replaced quickly with a deep frown. He knew that Aiden and his possy constantly bullied Noah, and made him do their homework. It was the reason why Jake always stuck by Noah's side. Jake would usually be the one to chase off the bullies whenever they tried to get to Noah.
"Are you alright?" Jake asked. It was only then that he noticed that Noah's shirt had some dirt and a few blood drops. He was sweating heavily and had a few bruises forming on his knuckles. Noah looked down to see what Jake was staring at and noticed the new blood stains on his polo.
"Aw man, they got their stupid blood on my favorite shirt."
Jake's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, you fought them?"
"Yup."
"And won?"
"Mhmm."
"Just you?"
"Are your ears working today, Jake?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just a little surprised. You're not usually the one to start a fight."
"I didn't. They dragged me outside and tried to beat me up, so I defended myself. I'll admit, I was pretty scared and it was hard to keep up with them, but I'm wasn't going to let them push me around anymore."
"Aww," Jake grabbed Noah by the neck and nuggied his head. "My little boy is growing up. I always knew that you would be able stand up to them one day."