I do not own power rangers

The green ranger woke up with a start, cold sweat forming on his forehead. Mike had just woken up from a nightmare, not the first of the night. His nightmares plagued his mind with terrible things, and he was truly terrified. In the most recent one, all of his friends got extremely sick to a point where they couldn't be rangers anymore and he had to save the world by himself. Eventually, the pressure got to his dream self and Master Xandred had brutally killed him. Mike saw his own death, he had a right to be scared.

But he couldn't show it. He had to be strong for his friends. They were sick and they needed him. They needed him to be strong. But he was cracking. He was injured, alone, and he was scared. All of his insecurities of his worth flooded into his mind. I'm not good enough. They don't need me. Why do I even try to be strong? We all know that I'm worthless.I know it, and they know it. I'm useless. I'll end up like my dream self. Going down without a good fight.

Pushing away these thoughts, Mike rubbed his eyes and pushed away his exhaustion. and looked outside. He saw sunlight streaming in through the windows, and decided that it was time for him to get up. He stood up, but had to steady himself on a stool when he began to feel dizzy. The dull pounding in his head began to settle and he walked out of the common room.

He quietly put the pillow back in the closet and went to his room to check on Kevin and grab some clothes. When he walked in, he saw that Kevin was still asleep. Mike looked over at the clock on his nightstand. 8:32. Mike couldn't believe it. Even though the blue ranger was sick, he still thought he would be awake at ungodly hour, asking for some water or a blanket. The green ranger, still in shock, walked over to his dresser and grabbed some clean underwear, and picked up some training clothes from the floor. He knew Kevin would yell at him if he saw this, but Kevin was sick, so Mike could get away with it.

Mike went into the bathroom to change his clothes and bandages. As he ripped the old bandages of of his injured leg, Mike could definitely see that it was infected, and the negligence of care plus his constant walking weren't making it any better. He knew that it hurt, but he had to suffer through the pain, and it had sort of become numb. He cleaned it to the best of his ability, and although he had to stifle a few screams, it was clean, and that was all that mattered. He undressed and put on the somewhat clean pair of clothes and walked out of the bathroom, only to hear coughing coming from Kevin.

The green ranger quickly refilled the blue ranger's glass of water and handed it back. When the coughing ceased, Kevin rested back into his pillow.

"How are you feeling?", Mike asked his friend.

"Much better actually. Thanks for the water, by the way."

"You're welcome… do you need anything? Are you hungry, or thirsty? Do you need more blankets?" Mike stood up and started to race out of the room, but Kevin settled his on edge friend.

"Mike, I'm fine. Calm down…" Mike eased and sat back down on his bed.

"Are you sure?"

"I am kind of hungry," Kevin admitted, "Can you make me some toast?"

"Sure" Mike answered, uplifted, and stood up, when a dizzy spell almost knocked him on his butt. Kevin saw the green ranger wavering on his feet and became concerned.

"Mike...Mike?" Kevin's voice seemed far out to Mike, and he had to breathe through his clouded mind to hear it. "Mike, are you okay?" Mike finally mustered up the strength to respond.

"Yeah, I'm fine...Why?" He asked nonchalantly as he started to walk out of his and Kevin's room.

"Because you're limping, " Kevin responded.

"No I'm not… What are you talking about?" Mike rebounded quickly.

"Dude, I know it's not just the fever this time… Just, please, be careful...We can't have you hurt right now…"Kevin said, insensitively. Mike looked back at Kevin, hurt.

"Thanks for caring about me… I really appreciate it…" Mike stormed out into the hallway, trying to keep the tears in, and leaving Kevin confused. He was having a hard enough time, and Kevin's comment only made it worse. It made him feel disposable. He felt like he was being used. Once everyone was healthy, he wasn't needed anymore. He wasn't valuable. He walked into the kitchen and made some toast for his so-called best friend. He dropped the toast off quickly into Kevin's room without a word to the blue ranger and headed to the dojo for some training.

Mike didn't hesitate to start relentlessly beating one of the dummies. He had so many emotions traveling through his brain that he didn't even see Mia walk in. When he decided that he needed a water break, he saw the pink ranger and concern grew onto his face.

"Hey." She said sheepishly, from the bench she had been seated on for ten minutes.

"Mia, what're you doing out of bed? You're sick...I'll…"

"Mike, I'm fine… I'm worried about you…" She reassured him, as he sat next to her.

"Why are you worried? I'm fine…" Mike asked.

"Kevin called me, he said you seemed upset about something." She said comfortingly. He started to cough, so he took a swig from his water bottle and stood up, fighting back the nausea it caused.

"Nope, nothing's wrong, I'm fine." He said, trying to get around the subject, while picking up his practice weapon. Mia noticed him leaning to one side and decided it was time to confront him about it.

"Mike, what's wrong with your leg." She asked.

"Nothing."

"I can see you limping, so either you show me your leg now, or I call Emily and Kevin in to look at it too." Mike thought about her ultimatum, and decided that the first option was the better choice, he didn't need his girlfriend and best friend seeing his weaknesses. He leant his leg up on the bench and rolled up his pant leg.

"Jesus Mike, what happened?" Mia asked in shock. She hadn't realized how bad it was.

"I got hit by the nighlok's weapon."

"And you didn't think to tell us. We could've helped."

" In what way? You guys were all sick, and more important than a little injury like mine." He rolled down his pant leg and stood up again.

"Mike, this isn't a little injury… and what do you mean we were all more important..."

"I mean that I didn't matter as much as you guys, you're all sick, I couldn't be bothered by an injury, I needed to be there…" Mike said, his temper rising. He wasn't mad at his friend, but was aggravated by all of the stress, the injury, and by the fact that he was sure he'd come down with something. He would never admit this, but he was glad mentor was coming home tomorrow. He was exhausted and having mentor bring medicine for his friends would put them all in a better mood, himself included.

"Mike, you matter as much as we all do to the team, why do you think we were more important?"

"Because it's true Mia, as soon as you guys were all better, I would go back to being the nothing on the team. I had to push myself away to help the more valuable member get better." Mike was talking lowly, now almost whispering, and he couldn't turn to face Mia, he was afraid she would be angry with him. What he didn't see was her face drop at the revelation. She stood up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Mike, you are so valuable to this team...contrary to what you think. You're just as important as we all are...maybe even more. You're the one who unravels us when we get too overwhelmed. You are the one who makes us laugh when we need to let loose. You are the one who Emily chose to love. You're the one who Kevin chose to be his best friend. You are the one who I chose to be my little brother. You are the one who takes care of his friends when they are sick. You are so valuable, so don't let anyone tell you different." Mia said, still hugging him. Once she let go she saw the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. She hugged him again and started to walk back to her room, feeling a bit dizzy, when she heard a hoarse croak from Mike.

"Thanks Mia… I needed that."

"You're welcome, anytime…" Then, the gap sensor started to blare.

"I better go."

"Good luck...we'll be watching."

"Thanks." He started to run out but was stopped by Mia's voice.

"And Mike…"

"Yeah…"

"You can do this… You are amazing…"

"Thanks Mia…" He grinned and ran out of the Shiba house. On his way into battle, thoughts swirled in his head.

I can do this. I came to win. I am good enough. I will succeed. I am invincible.