Emma knew the fight was particularly rough through what she had heard and watched through Ernie's TV. It was probably extra difficult on Noah, having been directly confronted by the monster and defeated. When a ranger was singled out and beaten, it never felt good.

She had teleported to a nearby location that Tensou had sent, hoping that if Noah was taking time to himself, she wouldn't startle him. She fully intended to respect Noah's wishes for privacy if he asked her to leave, but she would feel terrible if she didn't at least check on him. The pink ranger felt like she was partially to blame for not having been in the fight at all, so she wanted to do everything she could to help her team in the aftermath.

Emma wasn't sure what she was expecting to find, but it certainly was not a thorn whizzing by her face as soon as she materialized on the forest floor. The only thing that saved her from a thorn to the face was her sharpened instincts. She ducked down, narrowly avoiding it, and recovered from the shock to see Noah swinging a practice sword wildly, trying to deflect a bunch of thorns he set up to attack him.

She had never seen him so intense before. Jake was usually the one always cracking jokes, but Noah had a dry humor and didn't tend to take himself too seriously as a result of always being around him. The only thing he really worked tirelessly at was his schoolwork. Emma was seeing a newfound intensity and focus from him, as he deflected all the thorns, that she hadn't even ever seen in training before.

The pink ranger was pulled out of her stupor though, when Noah cried out. She rushed over and saw his arm was dripping with blood, where he had been cut by one of the sticks of wood he had thrown in, to add onto the thorns. Noah was surprised to see her there, but wasn't necessarily shocked. He knew someone would be out to check on him, and lamented the bad timing. It wasn't his wish to worry his teammates. He just wanted to be better. Her seeing him like this probably did him no favors.

Emma fussed over his cut and managed to wrap it, along with his other cuts from battle beforehand, with the medical supplies she had brought in her backpack. Noah remained completely silent as Emma cleaned him up. Finally, when she finished, he sighed.

"Why are you here, Emma? You should go. I need to practice if we have any chance of beating this guy. And it's not really safe for you to just be standing around here. Any stray thorns or sticks could hit you."

Emma face soured. "Yeah, I know. Almost got impaled on the way here." When she saw he was about to comment on that, she interjected. "This isn't healthy, Noah. We win and lose as a team. We practice as one, too. You shouldn't take it upon yourself to beat him, we all need to work together. I know how it feels to be singled out and taken advantage of, but that doesn't mean you don't have people you can rely on. Tensou says I can get my cast off tomorrow. We'll be back to a full five-member team, and we will get him. You don't need to do this by yourself."

Noah sighed. "I don't know, Emma. I guess sometimes I just feel useless, you know? I'm the worst fighter on the team. I feel like the only reason this guy singled me out was because he knew that. If it had been Troy fighting against that spell, I'm sure he could have beaten it. Gia and Jake, too. But out of the four of us, he chose me, and I failed. Sometimes, I feel like all I'm doing is holding the team back."

Emma sat down on the forest floor next to him. "I know the feeling. Troy's the leader and he's been training forever. He's the best fighter and really smart when it comes to combat and strategy. Jake is the strength behind the team, and he's naturally athletic. He more than makes up for a lot of the muscle we need on the team, and he picks up on fighting really easily.

Gia has always been good at everything she's tried, even since we were kids. She never needed help adjusting to life as a ranger either, everything just fell in stride for her. And you are probably the smartest person I've ever met. You literally help Tensou design weapons and zords, and you can always think of new ways for us to succeed. It makes me feel like a nobody. Even now, I've been off the team for a month and a half, and it's like nothing's changed. You guys were just fine without me."

Noah was about to interrupt, but again, she cut him off before he could.

"Let me finish. Despite all those things, I can still recognize that everyone adds value to the team, and it doesn't work well with any of us missing. Including me. I guess I haven't really found my role in the team, but I do know that I have one. You're the same, Noah. Maybe you don't feel like you have an identity within the team, but the rest of us know you do. We know how valuable you are, and we know we'd be a total mess if you weren't with us.

I mean, just look around. You devised a way to replicate the monster's spell and practice against it with a stick and a bunch of thorns. None of us would have ever thought of something like this, let alone been able to make it actually work. You are not useless, and you shouldn't have to feel like you're in it alone. Because like it or not, you're stuck with us. And that means that whatever happens, we all win or lose together."

The blue ranger nodded and allowed the words to sink in. "Maybe you're right. Once the others wake up, let's invite them out here so we can all practice against the attack. You haven't trained or battled in a while, and the training couldn't hurt for any of us. I'll just practice a couple more times and we'll see if they want to join us."

Noah made to stand, but he could feel Emma's head drop onto his shoulder. She had been exhausted and overworked too, having to work insane hours to provide for Gavin while still keeping up in school and recovering from her injuries. As soon as she came to the command center, she had to take care of the others, and without rest, she still came out to the forest to make sure Noah was okay. He knew she hadn't been sleeping much either, on top of all that.

The blue ranger looked over and saw that the pink ranger was out cold. He was afraid to move, so he let her lay on his shoulder for a little while longer, before he was sure she was deep asleep and set her down on a soft patch of brush. He set up her backpack as a makeshift pillow and pulled out her jacket to cover her.

He texted the others to meet them in the forest when they were ready, and got back to practicing with his sword. Emma was right in saying the team should practice together, but that didn't mean he couldn't get in a little extra work while he waited for them to show up.