Emma was woken up to the sound of a soft crunching of leaves behind her. She looked up groggily to get her bearings and saw Noah in a distant clearing, practicing with his sword. She shook her head and stood up with the help of her crutches, slightly confused.

If Noah was way out in front of her, then what was making the sounds behind her? She turned around to see what was going on, and at that moment, she felt a kick to her back which sent her tumbling forwards.

She cried out and Noah immediately turned when he heard her in distress. He saw from a distance that Emma had been kicked away from her backpack and morpher, and was currently being surrounded by an army of Loogies. She still couldn't even fight that effectively because Tensou hadn't gotten to take her cast off yet.

Noah ran for his morpher and immediately contacted the others, before morphing and running out of the clearing to help her.

Emma found herself being surrounded by a bunch of Loogies, and knew fighting would be futile. The numbers were too much, and though her injury was basically nonexistent along with the pain, her movement was still limited by the cast.

However, she knew she couldn't just give up and fold either. Noah was only a little bit away and would be there to help soon. All she had to do was hold out until then. She stood up and firmly planted her good foot into the floor, and used her crutches as weapons against the incoming Loogies. Whenever one got close, she took her crutch and smashed it, sending it flying backwards and knocking over the ones behind as well.

This only worked for so long though, until the numbers began to overwhelm her. Emma had swung her crutch into some Loogies in front of her, but didn't see how close the ones behind her had come. By the time she turned around, they were already upon her. She braced herself for an attack, but none came. When she looked back up, it appeared the Loogies were now focused on fighting the Blue Ranger. Relief flooded through her as she realized Noah had finally made it over.

She collapsed on the forest floor, and watched in a daze as Noah's sword slashed and weaved through the Loogies. It appeared the training had already taken some effect and he was taking them down in a blur. She felt hands grip her arms and readied herself to swing again, when she realized they were friendly and not trying to hurt her.

She turned and saw Gia helping her up, while the boys went to help Noah. Her best friend frantically looked her up and down, looking for signs of injury. "Emma, are you okay? We got an alert from Noah saying that you were in trouble. Are you hurt? Is your leg okay?"

Emma just nodded. "I'm fine. You should go help Noah. If Loogies are here, that means the sword guy won't be far behind. I was hoping he would attack again when my cast was off, but it looks like that's not the case. I'm going to teleport to the Command Center and have Tensou take it off. Hopefully, you guys can stall until I make it back."

Gia nodded and made to run off, but not before hugging her best friend. "I was so worried when we got the call. I'm glad you're okay." With that, she charged towards the swarm of Loogies.

Emma hobbled over to her morpher as quickly as her injury would allow and teleported herself back to the command center. Tensou immediately wheeled over and got to work, trying to remove it as fast as he could. Emma watched the monitors anxiously as the rangers battled the monster from the previous day. But she had no reason to be anxious.

Noah's training in the forest had paid off, and when the monster singled him out again, the blue ranger held him off with no problem. Once he got past his spell, the rangers made quick work of him. By the time her cast was off, the rangers had all gotten into their zords and battled off his enlarged form without even needing to summon the Megazord.

The rangers ran into the Command Center in high spirits, while they all congratulated Noah for finding a way to beat the monster. They were in even higher spirits when they looked at the pink ranger and saw her cast was off. Their team was finally whole again. Emma made her way over to congratulate Noah, secretly reveling in the feeling of finally being able to walk again. It was something she would never again take for granted.

When she finally reached him, she engulfed him in a big hug. "I knew you had a role on this team. You used your intellect to devise a way to beat the monster's spell and you had the strength to see it through. I hope you don't feel totally useless anymore."

Noah laughed. "You were right, like always. I couldn't have done it without you. If you hadn't come down to keep my sanity in check, there's no telling what could have happened to me in the woods by myself." He smiled. "Next time, I'll include everyone in the fun."

Emma shot him a smile in return. "You better." She then checked her watched and groaned.

"I'm really sorry, guys. I need to go. My shift at the Brainfreeze started ten minutes ago."

As she teleported away, the rest of the rangers realized she was right. They had rested after their first battle, and had missed the entire school day. It was already four o'clock the following day, and they knew they were going to need to explain away their absence to their parents, as well as why they hadn't come home that night. Their parents were probably worried sick.

They all groaned as they tried to think of an excuse. Together, the rangers decided that after they notified their parents, they would meet at the Brainfreeze.

Emma was happy to see her friends walk in the door an hour later, and they were happy to just see her walking in general. When she came in for her shift, she explained what happened to Ernie, and he didn't question her at all about being a ranger. He just pretended like he had never found out, which Emma was indescribably grateful for. If he had pressed her, or worse, fired her for a perceived hindrance to her job, it would have been really rough trying to find another job that would accommodate her.

She should have known that Ernie would be gracious though. Throughout the entire time since she began working, Ernie had been extremely caring and understanding. Keeping her as an employee was still not something he was obligated to do though, so she made sure to thank him properly for everything he was doing for her and Gavin.

He brushed it off as always, and told her to get back to work. Her friends had a lot of school work to catch up on since everyone had missed the day, and were also trying to teach Emma some material during breaks. They ended up staying until the end of her shift, at which point the rangers decided to go home for the night. As Emma left and headed home, Noah caught her just before she left the mall.

"I just wanted to thank you again for what you did back there. You made sure I knew I wasn't alone and made me feel appreciated and important. It kept my head screwed on straight, and allowed me to bring down that sword monster."

Emma smiled shyly. "It's the least I could do."

Noah shook his head. "See, that's just it. A wise person once told me that even if I don't know my role on the team, others do and will help me see it through. The same can be said for you. Somehow, you can't see it. I don't know why or how that is, but you really have no idea how important you are to the team. You don't think you can fight well enough, or are smart enough, to pull your weight. But what you did for me is the exact reason that we would be lost without you too.

You may not be the brains or the muscle of this operation, but you're the heart. You always take care of us in battle, constantly putting yourself in harm's way to keep us safe, and you will get hurt so we don't. You take care of us outside of battle too, and always treat your injuries last, in favor of helping the rest of the team. You think we don't notice these little things, but we do. At least, I know I do. You are the glue that holds us together. Even with everything going on at home with your dad, you still managed to put everyone before yourself, and even now with Gavin, you are somehow finding a way to make everything work.

Not only that, but you make sure the rest of us know we have you in our corner no matter what. You support us tirelessly, and you don't give up no matter how bad the situation looks. You're the most loyal person I know. Even today, I'm not sure if even Troy would have been able to hold all those Loogies off with a messed up leg and two crutches, but somehow you held out until I got there. Maybe not because of your ability in battle, but because of your spirit. You're just as important to the rest of the team as any of us. And don't you ever forget it."

Emma thanked him wordlessly, afraid that if she said anything, she'd break down. The look in her eyes was enough to communicate the gratitude she felt to Noah. She wasn't aware, but that was exactly what she had needed to hear for so long. It felt like nothing was going right in her life lately, and the mounting frustration of feeling useless to the team was bringing her to her breaking point. Seeing the other rangers perform so seamlessly without her the past month and a half had not helped the situation either.

She turned to the Brainfreeze and saw Ernie was still inside. "I know we just left, but do you maybe want to grab something real quick? I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I'll make your favorite, Ernie will let me get it free."

Noah could see it was her way of thanking him without actually having to say the words, and gratefully accepted. "Who can turn down free fro-yo?"

A/N: I don't know what I'm going to do with the solo scenes between Jake and Troy, but I always found this scene really meaningful from the actual series and wanted to expand on it. Hope you are enjoying some wholesome Emma interactions with the boys for a change. If you have any suggestions on what you want to see with Jake or Troy, feel free to PM me with ideas or leave them in a review :)