A/N: Hello, readers! Welcome to another chapter! Enjoy!

edited on may 4th, 2022 @ 9:25am

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - ARTIST ANONYMOUS

𝓣𝚁𝙴𝙽𝚃

I WAS WEARING A BLACK SWEATSHIRT staring at the news as Devon called Ravi. "Dude. Turn to Channel 10." I heard Devon tell Ravi on the other side of the phone. "Ravi, dude, this mural is awesome! I'm sure cameras don't do it justice."

"So, people really like it, huh?" Ravi questioned.

Devon switched hands. "Of course! Your skills are next level." He replied.

"What do you mean, my skills?" Ravi asked.

"Come on, dude." Devon said.

"Okay, I painted it. How'd you know it was me?" Ravi asked.

"We had a feeling. Now, get down here, Michelangelo, and check out all the people enjoying your art!" Devon responded.

"Sure. I'll head over now."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"Incoming!" Devon called out as him, Zoey and I eventually appeared morphed to help out Ravi, Nate, and Steel.

"More Rangers? No thanks!" Keytron exclaimed.

"Stop!" Devon called out, but it was too late as Keytron had already disappeared.

"Hey, team." Zoey greeted.

"Sorry we're late." Devon apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I have a feeling he'll be back." Ravi informed.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

All of us arrived, seeing paint being transported. "Son." Mayor Daniels greeted.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Devon questioned.

"I'm working on a new campaign to promote Morph-X as the energy source of the world." Mayor Daniels replied.

"He's convinced me to allow a mural to be painted here, on the outside of our HQ." Commander Shaw informed.

"A mural? But why?" Ravi questioned.

"To keep the public excited about the global Morph-X network. The more buzz we can get going, the better. And as we all know, the new mural downtown is extremely popular." Mayor Daniels explained. "Therefore, we'll use the same artist to paint this one."

"Um, but how will you find the artist?" Nate asked.

"He's right here." Mayor Daniels responded. "Guys, meet Pierre."

A French-looking man appeared from the back of the van. "Bonjour." He greeted.

"Uh. . . you painted it?" Ravi questioned.

"Mais oui. I am guilty. . . of creating beauty. The soul of the city, it speaks to me, and my paintbrush began to dance." Pierre replied.

"Whatever that means." Steel commented.

"Alright, listen here Patrick." I spoke up.

"It's Pierre." He corrected.

"Okay, Pablo. Look, you can't be the artist of that mural downtown." I informed.

"And why is that?" Pierre questioned.

I scoffed. "Because the real artist of that mural is—" I started to say before Devon clasped his hand over my mouth, keeping me from continuing on.

"You don't recognize Pierre? You chased him off when he was painting. Is he the artist or not?" Commander Shaw asked as Devon removed his hand from my mouth.

"Well, it's just that he moved so fast when he ran away." Ravi paused for a moment. "But, yeah. This is the guy. Definitely."

I ran a hand over my face in frustration as Pierre clapped. "I am ready. . . to make this building into a work. . . of art." He said.

"Let's get you set up." Commander Shaw told him.

"Oui."

"The wall you're painting is just over here."

"Come, come."

Ravi turned to face us. "That guy's taking credit for my work. Incredible." He said.

"Well, he's a fake." Devon claimed.

"Sure, but can we tell the Commander that?" Zoey asked.

"I was about to, until someone." I glared at Devon. "Kept me from doing it."

"No, we can't. You don't understand. My mother expects me to follow in her footsteps. She's been putting me in uniforms since before I could walk." Ravi answered. "It means so much to her, and I don't want to let her down."

"I get it, Ravi. I do. I've been in your shoes before. My dad trained me to be a ninja since I started walking." I said. "Sometimes a moment of truth is the best policy. If you keep lying, it'll cause bigger problems. And yes, I'm speaking from experience. I've seen it before."

"Trent's right. By lying to her, you're already letting her down." Nate agreed.

"I know, but what can I do?" Ravi asked.

"You can tell her the truth. Like Trent said." Zoey replied.

"Yeah." Steel agreed.

"I don't know, guys. My mom would be so mad. I'd be in a world of trouble." Ravi claimed.

"But how long can you keep lying to her?" Nate questioned.

"You're right. I'll talk to her, right now." Ravi informed.

"Okay."

We all followed after him. "Oh, oui, oui. Everything is ready for my new masterpiece to begin." Pierre exclaimed.

"I can't wait to see what you come up with." Mayor Daniels said as Pierre dipped the brush into the paint can.

"Wait! Not so fast." Ravi called out. "This man is an imposter!"

"Son!" Commander Shaw exclaimed.

"Excusez-moi?" Pierre questioned.

"He did not paint the mural in the city." Ravi claimed.

"How dare you call me a liar?" Pierre exclaimed.

"Oh, put a sock in it, Peter." I insulted.

"But you just confirmed it was him." Commander Shaw pointed out.

"It wasn't him. It was me." Ravi revealed. "I painted the mural."

"You? But you don't know anything about painting." Commander Shaw said.

"I didn't think so either, but I tried it, and, well. . ." Ravi reaches into his pocket to pull out a sketch, handing it towards his mother. "turns out I'm pretty good."

Commander Shaw then opens the sketch. "So, you lied to me?" She asked.

"Mom, I, uh. . ." Ravi stuttered.

"So, this morning, when I was out jogging, you had not just chased off an artist?" Commander Shaw questioned.

"No. There was no other artist." Ravi confirmed.

"You. . . are a painter." Commander Shaw said, making Ravi nod in confirmation. "I can't believe you hid this from me. How long has this been going on?"

"Watch out!" Devon suddenly warned as we all dodged the incoming paint, making it explode into a purple blast.

Pierre turned out to be Keytron and the helpers were Tronics.

Keytron laughed manically. "How's that for my masterpiece?" He questioned.

"What?"

"No way! They're all bots!"

"I. . . I don't believe it!" Mayor Daniels exclaimed.

"Come on Mr Mayor. Let the Rangers handle this." Commander Shaw said.

"Oh, okay." Mayor Daniels said, following Commander Shaw.

"You've really painted yourself in a corner now. It's morphin' time!" Devon shouted as we all activated our morphers.

"Activate Beast Power! Hah!" We all shouted as we morphed.

"Unleash the Beast!"

Keytron laughed. "Perfect! Now I can put all your weapons safely under lock and key." He claimed as he fired at our transporters.

"Transport ultra blaster!" Devon shouted, but nothing happened. "Huh? It's not working."

"No, he must have locked the programming, which means. . ." Nate trailed off.

". . . we can't teleport anything!" Steel finished.

"Lucky for us, we don't need weapons to take them on." Devon claimed as we got into a fighting stance and charged towards them.

I kicked one of the Tronics aside, shoving them to the ground before sending a punch to another.

Devon finally destroyed Keytron as we regrouped. "What's the situation, Commander?" Devon asked.

"One of our detectors just triggered. A Gigadrone is about to land in sector Charlie 3-7." Commander Shaw replied.

"All right, let's go!"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

All of us headed towards the Ultrazord. "Beast-X Ultrazord unleashed!" We all shouted.

"Okay, team. We got this." Devon told us.

A red sphere then appeared, just like with Gamerdrone. "Oh, man. It's another one of those dome things!" I informed.

"Then we better destroy it before it drains our Morph-X again." Devon said.

We sliced through the red dome, heading in. "Okay, Commander. The Ultrazord is inside the dome. We're gonna do this quick." Devon said.

We headed towards Keydrone and attacked him. The lasers fired again as a lock appeared in front of us. Keydrone then inserted his key in and turned it.

"Oh no. My controls are locked!" Steel exclaimed.

"Not again!" Nate shouted.

The Gigadrone then continued attacking us. "We're losing Morph-X!" Zoey announced.

"We've gotta think of something fast!" I added on.

"Cruise, what can you do?" Devon asked.

"I've done a scan, and our jet boots are not locked." Cruise informed.

"That's genius! Use them now." Devon said.

"Lift off!"

We activated our jet boots as we flew into the air. "Cutting engines now!" Devon shouted out. We then flew back down, landing on the Gigadrone as an explosion followed.

"Its key is broken!" Zoey pointed out.

"Systems are back online." Nate informed.

"Then let's wrap this up. Transport Cheetah Beast Blaster!" Devon shouted as the blaster appeared in his hands. "Beast-X Ultra Strike!"

We attacked Keydrone as he finally exploded, destroying him. The red dome soon followed.

"Virus eliminated."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

I was walking past Ravi's mural with Dacoda and saw that he had signed his name on it, making me smile a little.

"By the way, Trent." Dacoda spoke, causing me to hum. "Are you going to tell Devon that you suspect his Dad to be Evox?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to tell Devon that his Dad can possibly be Evox in disguise when I don't know myself." I replied.

"Villains disguising themselves as humans. . ." Dacoda paused. "Has it happened before?"

"Probably in the past. The Power Rangers legacy does go all the way back." I responded, thinking about all of the previous Rangers I met when I was with the Ninja Steel Rangers—including the legendary Tommy Oliver, and Tanner Morgan. "But for my generation, both Galvanax and Odius were monsters."

"If Mayor Daniels is really Evox in disguise, we're in a lot more trouble than we thought. . ." I think to myself.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

A/N: Another chapter is finished! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1648 words.