Mitch drifted back to consciousness, his head pounding. As his vision came into focus, he realized he was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar living room.

"Guys, he's waking up!" came a voice nearby. Mitch turned to see Astor hovering over him, the other kids gathered around looking relieved.

"Ugh...what happened?" Mitch muttered, struggling to sit up.

Ms. Minx quickly explained how he'd been knocked out at school defending them from the wolves. Mitch shook his head, trying to clear the foggy memories.

"Oh right...those freaky monster things," he said. He glanced down at his hands which faintly glowed red.

Just then, a tremendous crash came from the back of the house, making them all jump. Howls and shrieks sounded from outside.

"They've broken through the barricade!" Booker yelled.

Mitch leapt to his feet, adrenaline coursing through him. "You guys stay here, I'll handle it!"

He raced toward the back as Ms. Minx shouted after him. Bursting into the kitchen, he saw three misshapen beasts clambering through a shattered window.

With a roar, Mitch launched himself at the intruders, pummeling them with glowing red fists. The creatures fell back howling under the brutal barrage.

"Is that all you got?" Mitch yelled, grabbing one creature by the throat and hurling it back outside. The other two lunged at him, but his empowered punches sent them flying into the walls.

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Mitch pursued them into the yard, unleashing a flurry of enhanced kicks and chops until the beasts lay unmoving. Breathing hard, he turned to see the others gaping at him from the kitchen doorway.

"That was incredible!" Astor exclaimed.

"Yeah, remind me not to get on your bad side," Booker added with an uneasy chuckle.

Mitch rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed by the praise. "Just trying to pull my weight around here."

Ms. Minx gave him an appraising look. "Those Aura abilities make you our best fighter against physical foes. We'll have to strategize how to best utilize each of our powers together."

Mitch nodded, straightening with pride. For the first time, he felt like he belonged to something bigger - like he could really help these kids who'd never given him the time of day before today.

They returned inside, boarding up the broken window as they discussed their next move. Mitch knew the monsters would keep coming, but with his friends counting on him, he would keep fighting with everything he had.

Astor sunk down against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. He could feel Mitch's hostile glare boring into him from across the room.

Ever since Mitch had regained consciousness, he'd been itching for payback against Astor for the mind control. The only thing stopping him was the sliver of manipulated affection Astor had planted.

But it was rapidly wearing off.

"I should bash your scrawny face in for what you did," Mitch growled, his fists clenching.

Ms. Minx stepped between them. "Mitch, violence won't help. We need to stick together right now."

"He messed with my head! I won't just let him get away with that!"

Mitch lunged toward Astor, but Booker caught him by the shoulders.

"Dude, chill out! Look at him, he's terrified," Booker said, nodding to Astor.

Mitch shook off Booker's grip but stayed back. The others turned to Astor, who squirmed under their questioning looks.

"I'm sorry," Astor mumbled. "I only did it to save my life. That goblin was going to kill me."

"So you controlled my mind instead? Not cool, man," Mitch shot back.

Mei spoke up gently. "Mitch, Astor knows what he did was wrong. But we have bigger problems right now than placing blame."

Mitch scowled but backed down. Astor wiped his eyes, which had started watering.

"I swear I'll never do it again," he pledged. "I was scared and desperate. I don't even know how I did it."

Ms. Minx gave him a sympathetic look. "Your Psi powers are still new to all of us. Controlling them won't be easy."

Astor nodded. He was terrified of his own abilities, especially seeing how much they revolted the others. But he knew they had to move past this incident for the sake of survival.

"So...are we good?" he asked Mitch hesitantly.

"Don't expect us to be buddy-buddy," Mitch grumbled. "But yeah, we're good for now. We've got bigger problems to deal with."

The tension in the room dissipated slightly. They were an unlikely and uneasy team, but external threats forced them to cooperate.

Astor hoped in time he could genuinely gain their trust. He would do whatever he could to help, while keeping his unstable Psychic powers in check.

With Ms. Minx's guidance, maybe they could overcome their differences and work together. Their lives depended on it now in this strange new world.