Chapter Text
It was silent in detention. Mrs. Miller was dead asleep, she completed any missing work she had (which was little), and even did her friends work for them (for a price obviously). There were the usual faces–like Diana, Izzy, and Evan–but there were some unexpected faces, like Taylor, Lindsey, Owena, and herself. Everyone was doing their own thing, bored out of their minds, before Diana spoke up.
“Why the hell are there more people in detention?” The delinquent asked a bit harshly, though she would be surprised she spoke with another tone. “Because all the teachers' sticks in their ass were pushed deeper today.” She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Diana ignored the remark, “I’m more surprised by you, Miss President, which teacher had enough of you?” She joked. “Ooh! We were doing some boring experiments in Science and I decided to spice things up!” He giggled, “Everything went KABLOOM!”
Noa vaguely gestured over to him, “Everyone had to take the fall so here I am.” She put her head down, Noa didn’t have the time or patience to deal with any of this. She was only here to serve her one hour and leave. “Me and Linds were late to class like one time and now it’s detention for a week!” Taylor groaned, putting her head down. “Lemme guess, Mr. Karchov?” Diana asked. Lindsey nodded, “Like, we were only 5 minutes late! He barely even started class!”
Mr. Karchov was as bad as they described him, the amount of times Noa’s gotten in trouble with him so many times her parents know his name and number by heart. “What about you Big O?” Izzy turned to Owena, “Wha–Izzy, we were in the same group! Along with Evan and Noa!” “Oh, right!” He giggled madly. Noa continued to put her head down ignoring the chatter in the room, even starting to fall asleep. But right as she was about to be pulled into the comfortable feeling, someone tapped her back, “Hey, Noa, you wanna skip with us?”
“Huh?” She sat up, with Izzy right in her face, “What do you mean?” “Well, we decided that this was boring so we’re just gonna leave. It’s not like Mrs. Miller’s gonna wake up anytime soon.” Diana explained, laid back in her chair. She didn’t even need to think about it, “Yea, sure.” Noa stood up. “But shouldn’t we just stay here? We only gotta stay in here for 30 more minutes.” Taylor argued. “Would you rather spend 30 minutes bored or 30 minutes having fun?” Izzy asked.
“Oh! 30 minutes of having fun, obviously!” Lindsey replied, then turned to Taylor, “We can finally go to that cafe that's been trending!” Apparently that was all it took for Taylor to agree (simp…). It didn’t even take long to get out of the school unnoticed. Everyone went their separate ways, Noa could care less about what they were about to, she planned on taking a nap when she got home. But apparently Izzy could read her mind as he pulled her somewhere. “I heard there were some people digging up dinosaurs nearby, let’s go check it out!” Noa just let him lead her along, she’s long learned sometimes there's no convincing him. “Fine, but don’t try to interfere with their work, alright?” She sighed. Izzy winked, “You got it!”
The place wasn’t far from the school, it was at the local park. Other than the researchers (Paleontologists, as Alejandra went on about many times), there was no else there. It was obvious that it was a private thing, or maybe the media hasn’t arrived yet. Izzy said something to the people that made them leave them alone. But they just sat there, watching as they dug up some impressive fossils (Maybe the people will let her take some photos so she can show her girlfriend). It wasn’t long before she got bored, leaning on Izzy. The most exciting thing that the people found was a blue and green crystal they found in a Woolly Mammoth and Pterodactyl fossils, it being put in a box.
Suddenly, someone? Something? Came. It attacked with lasers? She didn’t know. But as she was about to run, she saw the monster take the box, and Izzy running after it. Not wanting to explain to her parents why she’s missing her only brother, she followed him. When she arrived, all out of breath, she saw that he tackled the thing. The box lay a few feet away. She grabbed it, making a beeline behind a tree. Seeing the crystals safe and sound, she sighed in relief.
“Hey, give it back! Zaltron will kill me if I don’t give it back!” The monster spoke, managing to throw Izzy off of it. It stomped over to her quickly as she quickly ran away. Who was Zaltron? Why did he want these things? Why did it give her such a bad feeling on the thought of giving it to that thing? She tripped over something, losing her grip on the box, where it landed a bit away with the crystals falling out the box. “Finally!” It huffed, ignoring her on the floor as it walked towards the objects. But out of nowhere, Izzy got the jump on it again, looking like a feral animal on it. While it was distracted, she took the chance and swept the crystals back into the box before running away once again.
If she could think more clearly, she would’ve noted this was the most she’s ever ran, but she’s not thinking clearly. She found a cave to hide in, making sure to hide deep in it. It was only then that the adrenaline wore off, making her slump to the floor. Opening the box, she wondered what was so special about these crystals that some alien wanted them. Picking the blue one up, she looked at it closely.
It looked like nothing special, it was a raw piece of crystal found in the bones of a dead animal. She truly couldn’t see what was special about that. Suddenly, the crystal glowed brightly and she was suddenly brought to the memories of a woolly mammoth, alive. It showed the memories of that woolly mammoth, from birth to death. When it finally stopped, she gasped, breathing heavily, she looked at the crystal again. Was that real? Was this just a hallucination brought by the situation? A seizure because of all the stress of running away from the monster? “Noa!” Izzy ran over to her, spooking her a bit.
She didn’t know when Izzy found her, but clearly she was out of it long enough. “I ran the monster away! He shouldn’t be able to find us pretty soon. Did you have a seizure?” He asked, concerned. “I-I don’t know? I just looked at the crystal and then I saw…I don’t even know…” She sighed. “So you had a seizure?” “I don’t know! I saw a woolly mammoth! I don’t know if that was a hallucination or not!” She yelled. “So the crystal made you see things? I wanna try!” and before she could stop him, Izzy had already grabbed the green crystal. Just like the blue crystal, the green crystal shined before pulling her brother into a trance. Something came from the crystal that sunk deep into his veins, glowing as they moved up his bloodstream. Is that what happened to her with the blue crystal? When the glowing stopped, she hesitantly called out, “Izzy?”
He snapped out of the trance, a manic grin spreading across his face. “It was so cool! I saw a pterodactyl from when it was born to when it died!” He exclaimed, pulling out some details about its life. She couldn’t listen though, because that’s exactly what she saw, only with a woolly mammoth.
“Noa? You’re not getting a seizure now aren’t you?” He worried. “No, no! It’s just…” She started, “I saw the same thing, only with a woolly mammoth.” Izzy didn’t look too shocked at the statement, like he suspected it. “Hmm, maybe that’s why that Zaltron guy wanted it.” He thought out loud. That’s another thing, who is Zaltron? Why did he send a monster to get these things? Couldn’t he have done it himself? “Found ya!” the cave echoed. When they turned to the entrance, they saw the monster. Now that Noa could get a better look at it, it looked like a garbage pile come to life, smelled like it too.
There was no other exit in the cave besides the one in front of them, and the monster was occupying it already. “Welp, there's no other choice but to go deeper!” Izzy grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the cave, the little light she could see extinguishing immediately. “Hey! Come back!” She heard the monster stomp after them. Izzy must’ve been in this cave a million times, he knew every twist and turn there was to it, and she didn’t know this cave was so deep, it looked shallow on the outside. But soon, the monster blasted something that made a pile of garbage stop them in their tracks. The pile practically made a new wall, “Finally! Now hand over the crystals and your life shall be spared.” The monster stuck out its hand-like limb.
“Why do you even want the crystals?” She yelled, taking a step behind Izzy. “Because Zaltron needs it to rule the universe! These are the finest and most powerful crystals ever found, whoever possesses all of them has the power to rule the universe! Once I bring two of them to Zaltron, he’s sure to let me go!” It rambled on. Izzy and Noa looked at each other, then the crystals. They didn’t know about the power a raw crystal could hold, and it seemed that there was more.
“Now, give me the crystals!” It yelled, “Nuh-uh! No way! I wanna rule the universe!” Izzy yelled back, but she’s pretty sure he was joking, well half joking anyway. Knowing Izzy, it’s probably somewhere on his bucket list, and he could probably achieve it. The monster, enraged it seemed, shot at them. They quickly shielded themselves, crystal still in hand. Before they knew it, a light shined brightly, blinding them even with their eyes closed.
When it stopped, Noa hesitantly lowered her arms, it was much brighter than normal. Noa could see normally around the cave. There was also the weird green text in the corners of her vision. Checking herself over, she was in some type of uniform? It was all blue with accents of white and silver, and her hands had white gloves. The boots looked large, like it didn't fit her, but she could feel them fitting perfectly, it was very furry too. It was also very warm, like the perfect temperature. It looked like they were still in the cave. Looking over to Izzy, he looked similar, only he was green and had a helmet on. Did she also have a helmet on? She felt her head. Yup, she also had a helmet on, which explained the green text and the sudden ability to see in a dark, cold cave.
“N-No! How did you become Power Rangers?!” The garbage pile exclaimed, taking a step back in shock. “Power Rangers? What’s that?” Izzy asked, the monster was practically spilling out information, hopefully this Zaltron dude would deal with a loudmouth like this guy. The garbage monster surprisingly didn’t answer, instead getting into a fighting stance. Izzy immediately copied its stance, practically vibrating with excitement.
The monster acted first, vomiting garbage their way (ew..). Izzy pulled her down, dodging the disgusting action. Izzy then tackled the thing with breakneck speed, wrestling it as Noa looked around for a way out. Her eyes landed on the wall of garbage, the crystal turned her into a “Power Ranger” as the monster put it. It also seemed fearful on the realization, so that means Noa should be strong enough to punch the wall. But the crystal could’ve also just given her and Izzy an outfit change and Noa still has her weak strength. Doesn’t hurt to try, the only other way to get out was to try and get past Izzy and the monster, and that was practically impossible.
Summoning all her strength, she punched the wall, and to her surprise, it fell. “Izzy! C’mon!” She ran through the cave, hearing Izzy quickly scramble after her. As they ran through the rest of the cave, they soon found the opening of the cave, which turned out to be a cliff. “Well,” Izzy turned to Noa, “No way else but down!” “Wait wha-” He grabbed her by the waist and jumped down. As she screamed, she soon felt that she wasn’t falling anymore. Opening one eye, she saw that they weren’t falling anymore, instead gliding over the forest. “How…?” “I noticed I had these things so I decided to try them out!” He giggled. They soon landed back in front of the school, where there was chaos happening.
There were these giant monsters wreaking havoc, taller than the buildings. Along with those monsters were giant animal (prehistoric?) machines? From what she could see, there was a Velociraptor, Pterodactyl, Plesiosaurus (is it flying?), Saber Tooth Tiger, and Woolly Mammoth.
“So…you're my teammate huh?” She heard behind her. Turning around, she saw a silver ranger. They had similar outfits, except with the animals and colors. “I mean, we’re wearing the same outfit and stuff so…I guess we are!” Izzy happily responded, “No time for introductions, I think the giant animal things correspond to us, like I have the power of a woolly mammoth and there’s a blue woolly mammoth right there.” “So do we try to talk to them?” Silver asked, turning to her, uncertainly lacing their voice. Noa didn’t have time to answer as she was scooped up by a trunk.
“So you’re the new Blue Ranger…” a voice rang out in her head, but how was that possible? Noa looked around to see where else the voice could’ve come from. “Oh, you don’t know me yet, of course you're confused…” the voice continued, “You know that Woolly Mammoth you saw when you bonded to the crystal? That’s me!” The Woolly Mammoth looked happy, “A long time ago, I was curious about this glowing thing as a little one and played with it, then left it alone and went along with my life. When I had died, I woke up in the Zord. I, along with some other animals who had also interacted with a crystal, teamed up and protected the world until a big fight that caused us to go to sleep until now, I wonder how much time has passed…” It explained, while putting Noa into its mouth, which turned out to be the entrance to a cockpit. She felt her helmet be taken off, letting her breathe.
“What is all this?” She asked, looking around the cockpit. There were a bunch of buttons and a steering wheel. “I am a Zord, you are a Power Ranger, you can control the Zord. You like video games right? Think of it like that.” How did this Woolly Mammoth know that? How did it know anything about her? She shook her head, she can think about it later, what she needs to focus on is the two monsters in front of her, and the giant garbage pile monster that just grew to the same size.
She took the Zord’s advice and thought about it as a video game. Interestingly, the screen in front of her looked like she was in a video game, with the monster’s health bar appearing on top of it along with certain moves. She could get with this. It took a little bit to figure out how to move, but once she got it she was unstoppable.
A screen beside her popped up, showing Izzy also unhelmeted. “Noa! Hey! How are you and your Zord?” He waved. “Figuring it out, I have so many questions…” She muttered, “Getting the hang of it though” “I see, I mean I see everything, you’re kicking it out there!” He complimented. Suddenly three more screens popped up, showing the Silver Ranger and two other Rangers, Black and Yellow. “Oh! Hello! Are you the other Rangers?” Yellow asked excitedly. Noa noticed that the other Rangers didn’t have their helmets off, “The reason why you can’t see the other Rangers is because you don’t know who they are, you were with the Green Ranger when you transformed, so you know he’s the Green Ranger!” Woolly (that’s what she’s gonna call it) explained.
“Hey, why do you guys have your helmets on?” Yellow asked, “It’s a privacy thing, we don’t know who the other is under the mask, so that’s why it looks like we have our helmets on.” Noa patiently explained. “Ok, does anyone know how to control this thing? And why is it talking to me?” The Black Ranger asked. “You don’t listen do you? Your Zord should’ve explained it.” Noa snapped.
“Excuse me?! What’d you just say?!-” “Ok! Let’s all calm down!” Yellow interrupted, playing peacemaker, “Black, I can help you, Blue, I know it’s a stressful time, but try to keep your temper under, please?” Yellow mediated. “Fine.” “Whatever.” responded the two Rangers.
It took awhile, but they managed to figure out how to control their Zords. After that, they fell into a steady rhythm. Blue and Black, would strike first. Followed by Silver, then Yellow and Izzy would strike down from the sky. They kept this up until the two monsters finally went down, which the team celebrated.
But instead of the Zords letting them get out, they instead led them to the forest. “Hey! Where are you taking us?!” Noa asked while trying to find a way out, spotting a hatch on the ceiling. “We’re going to the base, please calm down, everything will be explained once we get there.” Woolly tried to explain, but Noa wasn’t really listening as she was trying to open the hatch. Not even her gained super strength was making it budge.
Noa could faintly hear her teammates in similar states of panic, except for Izzy for some reason. Eventually, seatbelts wrapped around Noa and held her in place against the seat. Noa continued to try and find a way out, though she was quickly getting tired. Maybe it was fortunate, but they soon stopped. As Noa looked around, wondering why, the ground began to shake as they descended into the ground. When they stopped, she saw that they were now in a really big warehouse.
Finally, the seatbelts were retracted, and an exit was opened. Noa felt her helmet being put back on before she slid out. Looking around, she saw the other Rangers, all sliding out of their large Zords.
As the five of them met up, the zords glowed as something came out of them. Before them, a Woolly Mammoth, Plesiosaurus, Saber Tooth Tiger, Velociraptor, and Pterodactyl spawned right in front of them. And they didn’t look like the Zords, they looked like the actual animals, just with the color of their Zords. “Hello! It’s so good to meet you guys!” The Plesiosaurus spoke, looking between the five of them.
The Rangers took a step back, coming closer together. “Ah! Don’t be scared!” Woolly reassured. All five animals dissipated into mist, reappearing into humans. They looked like a mix of modern and prehistoric humans. “See? We’re good humans!” Woolly clapped. “No, you’re not, you just transformed into a weird human thing…” Black snapped. “Ok, I know this is freaking you out, but let us explain..” The velociraptor-human pleaded.
The Rangers stayed quiet, letting them spout whatever magical bullshit is behind it. “Ok, so,” Woolly started, “Long ago, we all interacted with the crystals one way or another during our lives. Originally, there were six of us, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Silver, and Black. We gained the knowledge of the universe, good and bad, and the evils that lurk. We operated using the Zords to ward off those that wanted the crystals for their own gain. Originally, Red was the leader, but after being corrupted by an asteroid, became our enemy. The last time we fought Red, it caused us to fall asleep until now.” Woolly finished. “Any questions?”
The Silver Ranger hesitantly raised their hand, “Um, what was in the asteroid that made Red evil?” “And who'd be leading you guys if Red turned evil?” Noa added. “We don’t know exactly what was in the asteroid that turned Red evil. But since Red turned evil, Blue has stepped up.” Green answered. The Rangers paused, slowly looking to Noa. Even if she couldn’t see their faces, she could feel their curiosity (and slight envy from the Black Ranger). She slowly shook her head, “Nuh-uh no way,” She backed up, “I’m not leading a team of people to fight evil aliens, I already have enough going on in my life.”
“We can speak more of this when we get to the common space, we can’t just talk in one place.” Black spoke as they walked off, the other animals following them. The Rangers stood there for a bit, processing the information. Suddenly, Izzy nudged Noa a bit, “So, leader huh?” “No. I’m not doing this.” She looked around, trying to find an exit (She couldn’t find one). “I mean…” The Yellow Ranger spoke up, “They did say that the blue crystal was the leader for the years that the Red crystal was corrupted, plus you did take the lead when we were fighting those huge monsters. I didn’t even know what I was doing!”
“Exactly! You took the lead so naturally I would’ve thought you did this before.” Izzy added in, knowing full well she has. Being student-body president is one of the most stressful jobs in her life, and she worked temporarily under their principal! Adding whatever is this into her life will practically leave her no free time. Noa doesn’t do well under stress, she knows that. That’s why she ran for vice-president, that’s why she gets her stuff done early, that’s why she always went with the flow.
“Maybe we should hear them out?” the Silver Ranger suggested, snapping her out of her thoughts, “We can find out if we want this or not.” The others agreed before walking out the warehouse. The animals were not far, waiting for them. “There you are!” Yellow exclaimed, “Now we can answer your questions, and if you don’t mind, answer our questions.” “Yeah, sure…” the Black Ranger muttered, looking around the halls.
She couldn’t really blame her, the halls looked the opposite to the warehouse. While the warehouse looked like a regular warehouse, just 10x bigger, the halls looked like they were in a cave, with torches lighting the halls.
“Okay, first, what year is it? When we were fighting those monsters, there were these weird blocky things and stuff, what are those?” Green asked curiously, “The year is 2008, and the weird blocky things are called buildings, they have many purposes but mainly it’s the place where people go to work. Though some buildings are apartments–which are mini houses– and stuff” Izzy responded. The animals nodded, taking in the new information.
“How exactly did blue become the leader? Some of you should’ve connected to the crystal millions of years before blue even existed.” Noa pointed out, if she was doing the math right–and remembering all of Alejandra’s rants about the prehistoric times–then the Woolly Mammoth should’ve connected with the crystal last, making them the youngest.
“I think it was part of our DNA and another part of her leadership. Like some of us were solitary creatures, others were not. Red took leadership because she was part of a group and was among the older ones, leading the pack and teaching the young, I guess that carried over to us. Plus, Red was the most powerful of all of us, it was like they were selected to be the leader. The same could be said for Blue, she was in a herd and was the matriarch at her time of death. So when Red got corrupted, she naturally took over. Plus, being the only prey animal she was pretty sharp at spotting danger. Over time, she became powerful enough to be on Red’s level.” Silver explained, looking deep in thought. It makes sense, the Woolly Mammoth traveled in herds, and though she doesn’t know much about Woolly Mammoths, she knew they traveled in herds. A herd typically is made up of a family, with the matriarch leading it.
Soon enough, the group entered a room. It was the common room, though it didn’t really look like one. There was a command console that stood out from the cavemen aesthetic, looking almost futuristic. On a nearby wall, there was a small opening that seemed to be full of crystals grown over millions of years, and there was a long couch nearby and a few doors behind it with the animals and the colors on it. But other than that, there was nothing else.
“This is the common room, a place to hang out and bond with your fellow rangers!” Black spread their arms out, looking proud. “In fact, we’ve noticed you guys haven’t detransformed yet, do you need help?” Woolly looked at the group, concern etched onto her face.
“I mean…we don’t really know how to…” Silver Ranger shrugged, it’s becoming really confusing on who is who, and using ranger to distinguish between crystal and ranger. “Take deep breaths, relax your body, and you’ve detransformed!” Green did the motions for it.
The group copied their movements and destransformed. Looking around, Noa was shocked to see her classmates, Taylor, Diana, and Owena. They were clearly shocked to see her and Izzy also. “It’s you?!” They all said in unison. Never in a million years would Noa think they would be her teammates, not only that but she has to lead them.
“Do you guys know each other? That’s great!” Woolly lit up. “No, not great, we’re classmates, and there’s no way I’m gonna fight aliens with them, especially her!” Diana pointed to Noa. “Same here,” She agreed, “I don’t wanna have to deal with these dumbasses all day.” “HEY!” Almost everyone, excluding Izzy and Owena, shouted in unison. It’s the truth, Noa tutors Taylor twice a week and Diana is barely passing her classes. At least Owena and Izzy knew her well enough that she excluded them (kinda, they are dumbasses). Izzy is among the smartest in their school and Owena does decently in her classes, only coming to Noa every once in a while.
“Am I lying?” She muttered, turning away from them. Noticing the tension, Yellow approached Owena, asking her something quietly. Owena whispered back (not well), talking about their pasts with each other. “Ok!” Yellow clapped, ignoring the tension, putting on a happy mood “How about we introduce ourselves and talk about life as a Power Ranger!”
(A few minutes later…)
The five sat on the couch, Noa on the far right, Diana on the far left, and Owena in the middle. After the animals showed them the uses of some objects (the crystal thing was to store their crystals and the command center is obvious enough, though it did have some futuristic stuff) and how their crystals transformed (they helped blend in with their looks, Noa has a necklace, Owena has a hairclip that looks like a fish, Izzy has a bracelet, Taylor has an anklet with a paw on it, and Diana has an ear piercing that looks like a lightning bolt), they were now sat on the couch. The tension from earlier’s discovery was still there, but it has dissipated a bit.
“I have a question,” Izzy raised his hand, “When me and Nono encountered a monster that made us transform, it mentioned this guy named Zaltron, who’s that?” The animals (now given nicknames) looked between each other before Ptera (Green) spoke, “Zaltron is from another planet, far from here. He’s conquered many worlds to find a crystal powerful enough to conquer the universe, and Earth is the perfect place for those powerful crystals to appear. We’ve had many encounters with him and his crew over the years, he’s even tried to get the corrupted Red on his side, thankfully she refused. It’s likely that he’s been here looking for us, and now that we’re back, he’ll stop at nothing to use us.”
“So what you’re saying is that because we bonded to you, we’re going to be tracked down from an alien warlord until we die?” Diana asked unimpressed, “Well, you can’t really die, but yes you will encounter him and his minions until we defeat him or we are in his hands.” “Wait wait wait!” Noa sat up, “We’re immortal?” “Technically,” Woolly corrected, “Your bond with us stops you from aging. As long as you use your abilities, you will not die from anything, but if your bond with us is weakened, it increases your chances of death.”
The group was silent. They were silent for a while. “...So we’re gonna be seventeen forever?” Taylor asked after a while. “You’re seventeen?” The animals asked in unison. “You look so young for seventeen! When I was seventeen, I had my first calf!”
…What.
“Ok–you don’t know this–but at seventeen, a human is considered a teenager,” “which is essentially an older child.” Noa and Taylor explained. The animals were quiet for a moment before they started whispering amongst themselves. They were probably freaking out about the fact that the crystals became bonded to children, not even young adults.
After some whispering, they turned back to the group, “Okay,” Velo (Black) started, “We didn’t realize that we had bonded to children…but after some deliberation–” “Aka chatting with the Rangers of the others universes” “(Wait what–) “-We found out it’s kinda normal, those who became rangers during high school are your age or older, while those who became rangers in adulthood are young adults. This is because around those years people are more vocal for change and more willing to make actions towards change, along with hormones and other biological stuff. All fucked up stuff in our opinion.” They continued despite the interruption.
“So basically it’s fate?” Izzy asked, looking unusually excited. “I-yeah, there’s no way to truly unbond from the crystals, unless it is proven that you are truly unfit for the job.” Woolly replied defeatedly. Noa could hear Woolly mutter to herself about how messed up it was to have children to save the universe. Meanwhile all she could think about was how the multiverse was real and how easily they could chat with other people from different universes. What the fuck?
(Several hours later)
It was sunset by the time the team finally got out. Turns out the base is in the middle of the forest, but there should be another entrance that they should be able to find. “So…” Owena started, “How do we feel about being the protectors of the universe…?”
“1: I’m not a protector of the universe, 2: I’m gonna find a way to get rid of this thing” Diana grumbled as she walked off to who knows where, “Y’know, we’re in the middle of the forest, how are you gonna find your way home?” Noa yelled to her, “Shut up!” Diana shouted as she walked away. Well, it’s on her when she gets lost. Noa turned the opposite way and started walking. She didn’t know where exactly she was going, but she’s been on enough of Izzy’s adventures to recognize some of the trees. The others followed her.
A few minutes later, she noticed Diana had silently joined back up with them, a grumpy look on her face. She stayed silent, not having the energy to provoke her. It took a few hours, but they eventually ended up back at the city. Everyone went their separate ways, Noa and Izzy walking back to the school, where Noa’s car thankfully remained untouched. They got in and went straight home.
Back home, they saw their sisters and parents pacing around the living room. Hearing the door open, ten heads snapped towards them. It was quiet for a while before Amara, their second oldest sister, ran towards them, pulling them into a bear hug. Shortly after, everyone joined in, scolding and sobbing as they were missing for hours.
“Where were you?!” Their father almost yelled, “You were gone for hours, we didn’t know if you were dead or alive…” The two looked at each other, unsure whether to tell their family about their crazy day. “We were hiding in the forests when the attack happened, we joined up with some classmates and hid in there until the monster was gone,” “But we kinda lost our way, sorry!” Izzy finished for her, smiling as he apologized.
The family took the excuse easily, sighing in relief. “Ok, I’m glad you were safe, but you could’ve at least text one of us when you could.” Jiya, the fourth older sister, quietly spoke. She was one of the most quiet members of their big family, there was a time when their parents thought she was mute for some time. She was also one of the most observant of their family, she probably took in their disheveled looks, their new accessories, yet she didn’t ask.
“Alright, it’s late at night, we can talk about this tomorrow when everyone’s rested and full. Izzy, Noa, dinners on the stove, wash up, eat, and go straight to bed, everyone else, go to bed.” Their mother commanded. Everyone got up to do what she said.
As Noa went down the stairs, changed into pajamas, she met Izzy on the stove, eating the dinner their mother warmed on the stove. She got herself a helping and sat down across from her brother. They ate in silence for a while before Izzy spoke, “So, miss leader…” “Don’t call me that.” She shut down. Izzy pouted as he took a few more bites of dinner, “C’mon, I mean the animals themselves confirmed it, plus out of everyone, you’re the best fit.” Izzy pointed out, taking another bite. “Yea, sure I’m the best fit, but what about what I want? Do I want to take another leadership position when I’m already focused on one thing that defines my future? Fuck no.” “I mean, if you don’t want it, I could–” “Hell no, I’d rather have Diana lead you guys!” “Then if you don't want to lead, and Diana doesn’t even want to be on the team, who could lead the team?” Izzy genuinely asked, his head tilted. Noa sighed. Realistically, no one other than Diana and Noa would be decently good at the leadership thing. Taylor would get stressed too quickly and make too many mistakes, Owena would do the same thing, and who knows how Izzy would lead.
Noa always trusted her family’s advice when it came to big decisions like this, especially Izzy’s. He may be crazy, but he knew people better than they knew themselves, his mind went a mile a minute about everything. If someone were to know if Noa was perfect for the job, Izzy would be the best candidate. They’ve seen each other almost at every point of life, from preschool to now.
“Just…give me time to think about it,” She whispered. Izzy nodded, staying silent. The rest of their dinner was spent in silence. Noa went to bed first, leaving Izzy to clean up after her, but she couldn’t sleep. Too much happened today for her to process it, it was only after the moon was high in the sky that she started to fall asleep.