A/N: This will have both Trent and Dacoda's POV. Dino Fury spoilers up ahead so be cautious. Trying to set things up for my next book. Enjoy!

edited on september 5th, 2022 @ 8:54am

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE - EVOX UNLEASHED

Previously in Back in Black . . .

"Look out!"

"Give me the access codes." Evox said before attacking the Rangers.

"Evox hacked into our systems and stole our data, making him immune to all our weapons." Trent's voice narrated.

"What?!" Devon exclaimed.

"It's Blaze. He's been spotted heading for Tower Seven." Devon announced.

"And Evox used our access codes to take control of the entire Morph-X network!" Trent's voice continued.

Now . . .

𝓣𝚁𝙴𝙽𝚃

EVERYONE WAS MORPHED AS WE stood behind Muriel along with Commander Shaw. "People of Coral Harbor, we're interrupting with an urgent announcement from Grid Battleforce." Muriel said as Commander Shaw stepped forward along with Mayor Daniels.

"Evox has taken control of the Morph-X Tower Network. Towers around the world are sending pure morphing energy into Tower One of Coral Harbor." Commander Shaw announced.

"Evacuation of the city is already underway. Everyone needs to get as far from the Morph-X towers as possible." Mayor Daniels said.

"Grid Battleforce will stay to protect our home! You can count on us." Devon added on.

"And cut! That'll go out on every channel." Muriel said.

"Good. Thank you." Mayor Daniels said as we all headed out of the command room.

All of us were demorphed as we got ready. "Load this into the Ultra Bow— carefully, though. We won't have time to build a second one." Nate told Ben, handing him the bow.

"You got it."

"You know, distracting Evox can help us hit him with the Antivirus." Ravi informed.

"But his hacking made him immune to our weapons, so how can we fight him?" Steel asked.

"Steel, my dear friend, that's where you're wrong." I replied, coming out of the vault with Devon, Betty, and Dacoda. I was wearing a green tank top with a black denim jacket over it.

"We have something planned he'll never expect. Actually, Trent and Dacoda were the ones who came up with the idea." Devon added as the four of us set the crates down and the alarm blared. Commander Shaw appeared on the computer screen.

"Rangers, Evox has appeared near Tower One. It's go time." Commander Shaw informed.

"Roger that, Commander. Position them for transport, okay?" Devon told Betty and Dacoda.

"Absolutely."

"Got it, Devon." Dacoda said as him and Betty left with the cases.

"What's in those cases?" Zoey asked.

"We'll explain on the way." Devon replied as we headed out.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Evox laughed. "The universe will be so much better when I cleanse it of humans." He claimed as all of us soon arrived at Tower One.

"It's you the universe will be better without!" Devon exclaimed.

"Haven't you learned? Fighting me is futile." Evox said.

"I made you, Evox, but today, we're gonna destroy you— as a team!" Nate said as the rest of us stepped forward.

"It's morphin' time!" We all shouted, getting our morphers out.

"Activate Beast Power! Ha!" We exclaimed in unison as we morphed.

"Unleash the Beast!"

"Transport!"

Legendary weapons soon appeared in front of us. "Ninja Super Steel Blaster!" Devon shouted.

"Dino Saber!"

"Delta Enforcer!"

"Cloud Hatchet!"

"Thermo Blaster!"

"Ninja Master Blade!" I concluded.

"What!? Those aren't Grid Battleforce weapons!" Evox exclaimed.

"Yeah, cause you never got the chance to hack these legendary Ranger weapons. See how you like this!" Devon said as Evox collapsed to the ground.

Steel and Nate charged forward and began attacking Evox. "Transport!" Devon exclaimed as the Ultra Bow appeared. "All right, team, one last shot."

"Beast-X King Power Bolt!" Devon shouted.

The arrow headed towards Evox as he deflected it, causing it to fall to the ground.

"What!?"

"You foolish Rangers can't stop me now!" Evox claimed as he brought more monsters.

"Uh-oh, he's got back up." Devon said as we got into a fighting stance.

"Robotrons, obliterate them!" Evox ordered as we began fighting them.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

𝓓𝙰𝙲𝙾𝙳𝙰

Evox entered the tower as I was in front of the beaming green energy. "Huh? A kid?" He exclaimed.

"My god, you sure are ugly up close." I insulted. "Oh, Trent and Nate are definitely going to give me an earful."

I clenched the Brachio staff in my hand. "And what's a kid supposed to do to me?" Evox asked.

"This kid grew up around Grid Battleforce. I don't have to do anything. As long as I can stall you long enough until the Rangers get here, that's more than enough." I claimed.

"If anyone can hear me. Past Rangers or whatever, I can sure use some power right about now." I added in my head.

"Don't worry, Dacoda. We'll lend you a hand."

A male voice was soon heard as I glanced over, seeing a Silver Ranger with a blue chest plate outlined in gold. The arm and leg cuffs, as well as the helmet, were also blue.

I blinked, not knowing who this was. It certainly wasn't a Ranger from the past. Though, it seemed to catch on to my confusion.

"Don't fret about who I am. All will be answered in the near future. For now, let the Silver Morphin Master and I help you."

I only nodded, raising my Brachio staff in the air with the unknown Silver Ranger hovering his hands above mine. A hand cladded in armor soon joined after him.

"Brachio Staff! Wind Strike!"

A silver line soon appeared as it attacked Evox, knocking him back a bit. In retaliation, Evox fired back at me, sending me flying into the wall.

I could only watch as Evox entered the bright green energy while I groaned.

I was unaware that somewhere in a forest, in a town called Pine Ridge, a brachiosaurus statue's eyes glowed silver.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

𝓣𝚁𝙴𝙽𝚃

All of us were still fighting the Robotrons outside of the tower.

I used my supersonic roar as I made a Robotron fall back while the others dealt with theirs.

"Finally, that's all of them." Devon said.

Nate took off his helmet. "We gotta go help Steel! Come on!" Nate informed.

All of us had our helmets off as we saw Steel near the green energy. I saw Dacoda limping towards me.

"Coda? What are you—" I began.

"Sorry, Trent. I tried to stall him for you guys. Didn't seem to work." Dacoda interrupted.

"Don't get any closer! It's too intense!" Nate warned.

Steel grunted as he entered the green energy, stabbing the antivirus into Evox.

"Yes! He did it!" Devon exclaimed.

Evox laughed evilly as the arrow disappeared. "Impossible!" Steel shouted.

"Nothing can destroy me now. You're too late! Say goodbye!" Evox then attacked Steel.

"Steel!"

Steel was pushed out of the Morphin Grid, falling to the ground. "No!" Nate shouted out as Zoey, Devon, Ravi, and I kept him from going any closer.

Steel soon demorphed. "I tried my best. I'm sorry. . . brother." He said as we kept holding onto Nate.

We watched as Steel's body was soon engulfed by the Morphin Grid in blue energy.

Tears formed into my eyes as Zoey was comforting Nate. "You'll pay for this, Evox!" Ravi claimed.

"We'll get back at you 100 times over for destroying Steel, I promise you that! We'll make you pay, you hear me!?" I shouted as well.

I felt my heart clench in pain as the tears didn't stop rolling down my face. Never in my life have I had a teammate — a friend — die in the line of Ranger duty.

"I don't think so." Evox denied as he fired at us, making us scream. We fell out of the tower and crashed to the ground, demorphing in the process.

Grid Battleforce cars soon appeared. "Devon!" Mayor Daniels shouted out.

"Are you guys okay?" Muriel asked.

"Not even close. We gotta stop Evox!" Nate responded as Devon grabbed him.

"Nate! There's nothing we can do right now." Devon said as him and Zoey grabbed him. "We gotta get back to the base, regroup."

Zoey grabbed onto Nate's cheek. "Let's go." She said.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

We were all back at the base with gloomy auras surrounding us. Zoey and I were busy comforting Nate.

"Hey, guys." Ben greeted. "Where's Steel?"

"He's not coming back." Devon replied after a moment.

"What?"

"Commander, if you don't mind." Devon said as Commander Shaw handed him the transceiver.

"Grid Battleforce. This is Devon Daniels, Red Ranger. Today, our team of six Power Rangers went up against Evox. Only five returned. When no one else could, Steel made the choice to fight against Evox alone. And now, he's gone. Evox is in Tower One, gaining more and more strength. You've worked hard to hold on, but now, it's time for Grid Battleforce to evacuate. Like Steel, the Power Rangers will stay and fight and defeat Evox if we can." Devon announced.

"We won't evacuate." Betty said as her and Ben stepped forward.

"Us Burkes never back down!" Ben added on.

"You know what? Us Beast Bots are staying too!" Cruise informed.

"We came this far, we're seeing this through till the end!" Harlem stated.

"Yeah, not a chance we'd leave!" Jax agreed.

"Just in case anybody needs a hug. Huh?" Smash added on.

"Zord maintenance will stay."

"I'm staying." Dacoda spoke.

"We'll stay too." Muriel claimed as her and Mayor Daniels stepped forward.

"Rangers, the Command Room is with you."

"We're not going anywhere."

"We're with you."

"You can count on us."

"We're staying."

"We're not leaving."

"I'm not gonna leave."

One by one, each of the Grid Battleforce workers came in, saying that they were staying.

"We're with you, Power Rangers."

"Okay, then, we'll defeat Evox together. For Steel!" Devon said.

"For Steel!" Everyone cheered as the alarm soon blared.

"Commander, the sky's gone dark. Something's happening to Tower One!"

We all saw the tower being engulfed with red energy. "Whatever that is, it doesn't look good." Nate commented.

"Look at it. It must be 50 times the size of a Gigadrone." Zoey said.

"It's Evox. He's harnessing the Grid's energy!" Nate said.

"So that beast is how he plans to eradicate all human life." Devon pointed out.

"Battle stations! Prep the Ultrazord!" Commander Shaw ordered. "Rangers, Evox's strength comes from data and energy, nothing more. But you— you're strong because you're human. You fight for each other and for the world. If you can remember that, there's a chance you can beat him."

"Thanks, Commander." Devon said as we all rushed out.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"It's been a long time since I've taken out a civilization. Where to begin?" Evox laughed.

"Not so fast." Devon said.

"You'll have to go through us." Nate added.

"Feel my wrath." Evox said as he attacked us.

"Hold on, guys!" Nate told us.

"We're going down." Devon said as the Ultrazord crashed to the ground.

"I'll enjoy defeating you." Evox laughed. "Just like I did your robot friend."

"Steel wasn't just a robot, he was half human too." Nate claimed.

"Being human makes you all weak!" Evox exclaimed.

"No. Like Mom said, being human makes us strong!" Ravi said.

"Exactly. Exactly! Remember when Evox tried to get into Steel's body?" Nate asked.

Zoey gasped in realization. "Yeah, he couldn't handle his human DNA." She replied.

"Plus being in my dad's body really messed him up." Devon pointed out.

"So that must be his weakness." Ravi commented.

"Yeah, affirmative! If I can redirect Morph-X through our bodies, our attack will be infused with human DNA!" Nate said.

"Just like how my original team infused ourselves with Nexus energy. It's how we defeated Odius!" I realized. "Nate, you're a genius!"

"It's risky, but we've gotta try it." Devon informed.

"Coming to your cockpit, Devon!" Nate said, standing up.

"Ravi, Trent, and I will charge the main weapons." Zoey said.

"Okay, I need to re-route the Morph-X energy circuitry. It'll take a little time." Nate stated.

Evox soon attacked as our Ultrazord was in flames. "We're not going to last much longer." Devon informed.

"It's okay. I've boosted weapon's power using Morph-X from the Wrecker and Jet Zords. They're offline, so we need another formation." Nate said.

"Got it! Beast-X King Megazord, combine!" Devon shouted.

"Beast-X King Megazord, unleashed!"

"Brace yourselves, everybody. The Morph-X is about to flow through us." Nate said, grabbing Devon's shoulders.

I could feel the Morph-X going through my body. "It's time! Attack!" Devon said as we came out of the flames.

We stabbed our weapon straight into Evox. "What?! No!" Evox exclaimed.

"We didn't penetrate his armor!" Nate said.

"Then we know what we have to do." Ravi stated.

"Give it everything we've got!" Zoey said.

It was then when I noticed rainbow-like energy was mixing in with the Morph-X. "Hey, team! Something's happening to me!" I informed.

"Trent, what's wrong?" Zoey asked in worry.

"I'm not sure, but I think my Nexus energy is mixing in with the Morph-X. Lord, it hurts!" I responded, screaming in pain.

"Hold on a little longer, Trent!"

"I'm trying!"

Green energy entered our weapons, along with the Nexus energy from me. "No, it can't be! Human DNA!" Evox exclaimed.

We all continued groaning. "It's corrupting my systems!" Evox said as we dived the sword deeper into Evox's armor.

"Curse you, Rangers!"

We moved out of the way as Evox exploded into a ball of light. "We did it!" Nate gasped.

"Evox. . . eliminated!" Devon cheered.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

The sky soon went back to normal as green orbs floated into the air. We were all demorphed.

"I think that's the Morph-X. . . returning to the Morphin Grid." Nate said.

"Wow." Devon commented.

"What's that?" Zoey suddenly asked.

We saw a ball of blue energy forming, revealing a shadowy figure of what looked like Steel.

"That's impossible." Nate said.

It soon revealed Steel as a human. "I can't believe it." Nate said.

"It's me, Steel!"

He then looked at his hand. "Uh, hold on a second." Steel said in confusion, touching his face. "I'm human?"

I chuckled in astonishment. "Steel! You're. . . alive! And human!" I exclaimed.

I quickly engulfed Steel into a hug. "Oh, it's so good to have you back, buddy." I said honestly, releasing him so Nate can hug him next.

"The Grid must have had enough energy to do what I couldn't. Phenomenal!" Nate remarked. "It made you human!"

"Are you sure? This is for more than just one day?" Steel asked.

"If the Morphin Grid did it, it's forever." Devon replied as Steel gasped before chuckling.

"Finally. I really am human!" Steel said, hugging Nate again as the rest of us joined in on the hug, chuckling as we did so.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

One year later . . .

A year after Evox's defeat, we finally found Scrozzle and locked him up. Commander Shaw moved down to General, making Devon her successor.

Surprising, right? I thought so, too.

But I guess it was to be expected. Devon was the Red Ranger, and a great one at that. He was right up there with Brody.

Steel went on to become a movie star, with Blaze as his stunt double. Now that? Didn't surprise me at all. It seemed Steel had the same personality he had as a half robot.

"Are you sure about this? There's no take backs." The receptionist told me.

"I talked it over with my husband. He thinks it's a wonderful idea." I replied, signing the form and handing it back to the woman who placed it in a yellow envelope and handed it back to me.

My wrist comm suddenly beeped. "Guess that's my cue." I said to myself.

"Never fear, Steel is. . . Huh?!" Steel paused when he saw it was dark, taking off his helmet. "What in the. . . ?"

The lights soon turned on.

"Surprise!"

"Happy Birthday!"

Nate soon rolled in with a cake. "Wow! I had no idea!" Steel exclaimed.

"You're one year old today!" Nate said.

"Now, make a wish." Devon told him.

"No need for wishes." Steel said, kneeling down and blowing out the candle, making us cheer.

"After one year as a human, I have everything I could possibly want!" Steel claimed, licking the icing off his gloved finger. "Mmm! It's great to be human!"

We all laughed in response and cheered. All of us soon began to dance.

Afterwards, I decided to pull Dacoda aside. "What is it, Trent?" He asked.

I handed him the yellow envelope. "Open it." I replied.

Dacoda looks at me in confusion before opening the envelope, gasping as he read the contents.

"This is a joke, right?"

I shook my head. "No joke. I talked it over with both Aiden and Nate. They think it's a great idea." I told him. "How about it, Dacoda Romero?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Dacoda exclaimed, hugging me tightly.

Everyone was eating cake as I walked up to them. "I hate to down everyone's spirits, especially on Steel's birthday. But while everyone's together, there's something I think you all should know." I spoke up, causing everyone to turn towards me.

"What is it, Trent?"

I sighed. "Aiden and I. . . have decided to move. Um, again. You know, now that I'm no longer needed here, I can actually. . . start my life with him." I replied.

"You moving back to Summer Cove?" Devon asked.

"No, actually. We're going to a completely new town. Free of evil villains and monsters wanting to destroy the world." I responded, causing everyone to laugh.

"What town are you moving to?" Ravi then questioned, making me grin.

"Pine Ridge."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

A/N: For those of you wondering, yes, the Silver Ranger that visited Dacoda was the one on Zayto's team. The epilogue is next! Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 2986 words.