The next couple of weeks were like a dream for Ravi. He had given his all, every moment, every thought to his education and his training, giving up virtually everything else to focus on his goal, his ambition to be a Ranger. Dedication and commitment were Shaw family traits, one that even extended to the rare few who didn't end up in the armed forces. His grandfather, his mom's dad, had instead found his calling in life with jazz music. He hadn't really made a whole lot of money out of it, and he was always something of the black sheep of the family, the one that was a curiosity at the family gatherings that few of them really knew what to talk to him about since most of them talked about deployments and assignments, but even he showed the Shaw family obsession with being the absolute best in anything he put his mind to. He was a master musician in several different instruments, able to take up any position in the band whenever he wanted to and able to write music for any of them. Ravi had the exact same obsession, and could never imagine anything that would serve as anything other than a distraction to be sidelined.

Then she walked into his life.

Roxy was incredible, taking him to the medic when he injured himself in the park. He did get a limited dispensation from the physician to allow him suitable consideration while he recovered in his assessments, but Roxy was with him all the way. She always said she felt responsible for his injury, though he couldn't imagine how since their meeting at the park had been entirely chance, and it was his own fault he stepped off the path. But every day, she would come to check on him, help him study for his assignments, not that he needed it, and bring him his favourite protein shakes and meals.

While he was disciplined, he wasn't blind. It hadn't escaped his notice that Roxy was an absolute vision. Quite why she spent her time with him was completely beyond him, and she had a laugh and a manner about her that was infectious. He almost kicked himself when he blurted out before she left on the first night that he wanted to give her his number in case she wanted to meet up again. It almost put him in a coma when she smiled and gave him her phone to put in the number.

He had always thought that anything other than his training was a distraction. He saw guys messing around with other things like video games, movies, books, comics and he always thought that all it meant was their minds were split. It amazed him when, if anything, spending time with Roxy meant that he had moments of clarity when things started to make sense. Somehow stepping away from problems to spend some time with her walking in the park or helping her plan her karate lessons gave his mind a break and let him put together a lot more of the study he had put in and fit it together in a much more organised way.

He was very surprised when he found out she was in the same karate class as him, something he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed. As they spent time together he found out they had a remarkable amount in common, but more than anything else, more than he could explain, sometimes it was just being with her, not even talking, just being in the same place as her made him happier than he could ever remember.

The assessments were ongoing, and now a couple of weeks in, the first few cuts had been made. Not many so far, but enough to make sure people knew that Commander Shaw was serious when she told people that they were under the microscope at all times. People were cut for a variety of reasons. A couple of them were dropped when they were caught trying to buy answers to a quiz, Shaw explaining that first and foremost a Ranger had to lead by example and live the values that they preached. It was now a month into the program and people were getting the message loud and clear that no one was safe.

Nate was taking a lecture, explaining some of their equipment to the cadets. So far, none of them had gotten to handle or use any of the weapons they would eventually be asked to wield in defence of the city, but there was only so long that simulations and sparring matches with rubber weapons could prepare them for the harsh reality that one day they would need to use these weapons in a life or death situation. All of the weapons they were going to use were highly advanced and extremely powerful, meaning that if they were not handled correctly they could easily be as deadly to the Ranger, their team or any poor bystander unfortunate enough to be in the area if they weren't up to the task.

"And those are all the safety features of the Beast X Blaster." Nate said proudly, holding his creation up for them to see. "It's got the power of a bazooka in a hand-held format, but as long as you follow the simple instructions I've given you, then they should be entirely safe to handle."

"Thank you Mr Silva." Commander Shaw said, acknowledging Nate as he got a polite applause from the audience. "Now, before you all head off for your latest physical assessments, I just have time for your most recent written exams. Remember, you don't pass and you're out. Davis, F, you're gone. Edwards, F, you're gone. Winchester, 73 percent, well done."

Nate saw Blaze smirking as he got his paper and turning around, smugly showing it to some of the others. Blaze was doing well in his assessments, far better than Nate would have liked. He had grown up with stories about the Power Rangers and always saw them as heroes, examples of the very best that humans could be and should strive to be. It was about more than just giving someone who could fight a weapon and a fancy suit to him. Commander Shaw had reminded him that ultimately they were training soldiers to fight a war, and that didn't necessarily mean they would be nice people, but there was a part of Nate that would really love to see Blaze's smug, self-satisfied smile get wiped clean off his face if he was cut.

"Ravi, 98 percent, top of the class yet again, well done." Commander Shaw congratulated her son. They both had an understanding to try and not make the connection obvious. Ravi encouraged people to use his first name and didn't speak his surname out loud. His mother did the same in order to keep things less obvious. "Ms. Sears, 80 percent, well done. Ms. Reeves…MS. REEVES!"

Zoey grunted and stirred in her seat. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but her schedule was catching up to her. She almost jumped out of her chair as Commander Shaw slapped her paper down on the desk, waking her up with a start.

"Fifty percent, that's the skin of your teeth Ms. Reeves, I'll need to see those grades picking up!" Commander Shaw warned her. Zoey took the paper and wiped her eyes, before reading over the answers, looking to the corrections to find out where she had gone wrong. It wasn't easy having to pick times to borrow Roxy's books between all the time she was working in the laundry and of course the times Roxy needed them herself. Commander Shaw got to the front of the class, having finished reading out the results.

"Those of you who have been cut, go to your dorms and pack. You have until the end of the day to report for debriefing and then you'll be dismissed." Commander Shaw told them. "The rest of you, remember that tomorrow is the assault course. I suggest you all rest up and get yourselves ready. I expect to be sending a number of you home tomorrow. At ease!"

With that, she left to go and attend to other duties. Ravi smiled as he looked over his paper with glee.

"Wow, top of the class again!" Roxy congratulated him as she popped him on the shoulder. "So, what's that? All of the classes you're acing?"

"Not quite." Blaze said as he started to saunter over with his usual, arrogant swagger.

"Yeah, what a surprise, the multi-time world karate champion is acing the unarmed combat classes." Roxy said, rolling her eyes. "All we have to do is hope anyone attacking the city only wants to throw hands."

"It's OK Roxy, he's got every right to be proud." Ravi said as casually as he could. He was indeed the top of every other area of training. From weapons to tactics to procedure and theory, all of them, Ravi was the one to beat, sometimes by a very large margin. If it wasn't for Blaze beating him in unarmed combat scores, he would be the top across the board. "He earned those scores."

"Yeah, it's always good when people earn scores isn't it?" Blaze asked.

"What's that meant to mean?" Roxy asked.

"I was just thinking, has anyone else noticed how Commander Shaw refers to all the rest of us by our surnames, but always calls him Ravi?" Blaze asked. None of the others had really given it much thought, but now that he said it out loud, it did seem a little strange. There were some murmurs.

"If you've got something to say Blaze, how about you just come out and say it?" Ravi asked.

"Oh…OK." Blaze said, snatching the exam paper off Ravi's desk. Ravi was just a little too slow to stop him. Blaze pulled away the paper and started reading it aloud. "Hey, how's this for a thing, look at the name on this. Ravi…Shaw!"

There was something of a murmur among the other cadets. Roxy wasn't surprised. Ravi had told her who his mom was a couple of weeks ago. Zoey was too tired and frustrated over her own grades to really care much what anyone else was doing. Ravi just stood up to Blaze.

"What are you trying to say Blaze?" Ravi demanded angrily. Blaze just gave him a cocky little grin.

"Oh, nothing at all. I'm sure it's entirely a coincidence that the son of the Commander in charge of the whole program is acing every class." Blaze answered with an insincere little shrug. "I'm not suggesting there might be anything to it at all."

"Back off Blaze!" Ben called out as he and Betty interjected themselves between Ravi and Blaze.

"Yeah, that's so far out of line!" Betty agreed. "Ravi works twice as hard as anyone on this base, we've all seen it!"

"Like I said, I'm not suggesting anything." Blaze said as he held up his hands and backed away. "Anyway, I've got things to do. You know…assessments to prepare for. It's not like we know ahead of time what's coming do we?"

As he walked out, Ravi could see a lot of different looks coming his way. This was exactly why he didn't want anyone knowing who he was. It was bound to come out at some point, but he was hoping by the time it did no one would be under any doubt he had earned every bit of recognition he got. The way some of the cadets were giving him side-eyed looks and a wide bearth told him all he needed to know about how they had taken Blaze's none-too-subtly veiled suggestion how Ravi was getting to the top of every class.

"Ravi, ignore him, he's just a jerk." Roxy sighed as he gathered his things and wordlessly strode from the room. He knew better than to try and protest or reason with the other cadets about this. They'd already made up their minds, it was unlikely anything he said was going to change their minds. "Ravi…Ravi, wait!"

As she ran off after him, Zoey just put her stuff away and gathered up her bag. Ben and Betty came over to her.

"You know, I look at Blaze and I see a guy who looks like a Ranger, but he just..GRRR!" Ben put it rather eloquently, making a motion with his hands like he was breaking an imaginary stick.

"Who the hell is he to decide who earned the right to be here or not?" Betty agreed. Zoey just yawned.

"Guys, you don't need to worry, I'm the President, treasurer and founding member of the 'Blaze is a dick' club." Zoey assured them. "Anyway, I need to be going, they're expecting me back in the laundry."

With that, she just left the hall.

Roxy caught up with Ravi outside of the building, where he was on the basketball court, dribbling a ball and shooting it for the hoop. His frustration was obvious between the fact his aim had gone completely to hell, more often than not hitting the backboard or the rim and bouncing in random directions, and the fact he was throwing the ball so hard the whole apparatus was shaking.

"Ravi, calm down, please." Roxy begged him. Ravi threw the ball again, this time missing everything completely and instead hitting one of the cars parked nearby. He went to collect it. "Ravi…"

"What am I meant to do Roxy?" He asked her. "What am I meant to do?"

"Look, what Blaze did…that was a total dick move." She told him. "I don't know how he found out about you, but now that he has, is it really so bad?"

"You saw the way everyone was staring." Ravi told her.

"Well, not everyone." Roxy reminded him. "Ben and Betty were pretty quick to stand up for you."

"Ben and Betty have known me since we were kids. They already knew." Ravi told her.

"Well…Zoey didn't seem to care." Roxy pointed out.

"Who the hell is Zoey?" Ravi asked. Roxy didn't really think now was the time to tell him about her room-mate, not when he was so upset. Right now she was more worried about Ravi.

"Look, anyone that doesn't know you work twice as hard as anyone in here isn't worth giving a shit about." Roxy assured him. "You're the first to arrive and last to leave every single class."

"Yeah, gives me all the more time for my mom to give me all the answers." Ravi said bitterly.

"Ravi…"

"Well that's what everyone's going to think!" Ravi snapped at her. He threw the ball away as hard as he could. Roxy just put her hands on his shoulders, stroking them reassuringly.

"Well…maybe…maybe you could, I don't know…report him or something?" She suggested.

"Report him for what?" Ravi asked her.

"For spreading lies about you?" She suggested. "Making false accusations?"

"That's just the thing, he didn't accuse me of anything, he's too slimy for that." Ravi reminded her. "And if I tell mom and she comes down on him it's just going to make everyone assume he's right and she's coasting me right into being the Red Ranger!"

"So you're not going to do anything?" She asked him.

"I really don't see what I can do, nothing he's said is untrue." He reminded her. "I am the son of the Commander. If everyone thinks that means I'm getting an easy ride then there's nothing I can really do about that other than work so hard no one can doubt me. Of course, this is a competition and people will always be bitter when they get beat, so they'll always be looking for reasons why someone shouldn't get the position they think they deserve."

"Ravi, you know as well as I do that in the end, they're only going to choose the best." Roxy told him. "If whoever they pick isn't up to the role and they screw up, that's on their heads. No one's going to take on that kind of responsibility so that their kid can get to wear a fancy tight suit…no matter how good he'd look in it."

Ravi let out a little laugh. Roxy came close, placing her hands on his face tenderly.

"How about I take you for some yogurt?" She asked him.

"Sure, why not?" Ravi asked.

From the window just above them, Commander Shaw was watching. She just breathed a deep sigh. It hadn't taken long for word of what happened in the lecture hall to reach her. It was pretty much her worst fear coming to pass. She always knew that no one put more pressure on Ravi than he did himself. She knew that now people knew the truth, there would be a lot of ugly rumours and resentment, but that didn't cause her nearly as much concern as what Ravi might do to himself in his efforts to try and prove all the naysayers wrong.

After her shift, Zoey staggered through the halls back to her room, her clothes matted and drenched in sweat. The laundry was hard work, it was tiring, it was dirty, but most of all it was like working in a damn furnace. She got back to her room and opened the door, coming in past Roxy, who had returned after taking care of Ravi. She turned around to see Zoey coming in.

"Wow, tough shift?" She asked.

Zoey didn't answer with anything remotely resembling words, instead just kind of staggering past her into her own bedroom.

"Ravi's fine by the way." Roxy told her.

"Ravi?" Zoey asked wearily. "Oh…yeah, the…thing. That's good."

"I was wondering if you could give me access to Blaze's laundry." Roxy said. "I heard if you put pepper in someone's underwear…"

"I have no idea who get what uniforms, they're just issued." Zoey told her. "But if I think of something I'll…um…yeah."

"Wow, you really do look wiped." Roxy said sympathetically. "You should probably hit the sack if you're going to have any hope in the assault course tomorrow."

"I was planning on it." Zoey said, before looking to her comfortable…inviting bed. Without even a thought to undress, she flopped forward face-first into it, and regretted it almost instantly when her head collided with something with a solid thud. "OW! Son of a bitch!"

"What?" Roxy yelled. "What is it?"

"I don't know…" Zoey said as she got up, holding her head. She pulled back the covers, revealing some books. "Someone put books in my bed!"

"Really?" Roxy asked. "Why would anyone do that?"

Zoey picked up one of the books inspecting it. The title was familiar. She checked another, then another.

"These are all the course books I need." Zoey said, before opening one. "I thought this might be of some help. A friend."

Zoey took one of the books and rounded on Roxy.

"Roxy…"

"What?" She asked.

"Roxy, I am not a charity case!" Zoey yelled at her. Roxy just looked a little stunned. Zoey hated people feeling sorry for her or thinking she needed handouts to get by, unfortunately she still only had a couple of the books she needed and was way behind the others on the reading. She swallowed her pride and took a deep breath. "Look, I really appreciate this but…I'll pay you back, alright?"

"Pay me back?" Roxy asked.

"I insist!" Zoey put down flatly. "I don't take handouts. I never have and I don't plan on starting now."

She took a deep breath as she saw the look on Roxy's face. She knew that her friend was only trying to help. She did appreciate that Roxy had her back and would go to the trouble. "Thanks though."

She took the books out of her bed and put them on the desk, before heading for the bathroom to get cleaned up. Roxy just looked to the pile of books and picked one up, reading the message written inside.

"A friend, eh?" She asked, biting her lip thoughtfully. She didn't know about the books at all. She only found out when Zoey almost gave herself a concussion on one of them, but she could see Zoey was far too exhausted to be convinced that Roxy had nothing to do with it. "Now, that…that is interesting."

She put the book down and headed for her dresser to get ready for bed. She did want to help Ravi with his new problem, and she had her own assessment to worry about, but now, her curiosity was piqued. There was nothing she loved more than a good mystery, and right now, it seemed to be the perfect distraction to stop her trying to find a way to get even with Blaze.