Morning Patrol Blues

Turbo Crayon Lion stretched his powerful claws and adjusted his yellow sunglass goggles. The morning sun gleamed off the crystal walls of his headquarters, casting rainbow patterns across the crayon floors.

"Another peaceful day in Canvas Pride City," he said, floating through the main window. His blue and yellow supersuit caught the breeze as he soared over the colorful streets below.

Children walked to school with their backpacks bouncing. Artist vendors set up easels in the town square. Everything looked normal, but something felt off. Turbo landed near the community bulletin board and read the bright poster: "ANNUAL CANVAS PRIDE ART CONTEST - THIS WEEKEND!"

A small girl with pigtails ran past, clutching a paintbrush. "I'm gonna win the grand prize!" she shouted to her friend.

"Me too!" called another kid, waving colored pencils.

Turbo smiled, but his superhero instincts tingled. The contest seemed to have everyone unusually excited. He made a mental note to check it out later.

The Silver Scanner

Later that afternoon, Turbo Crayon Lion soared toward the contest registration booth downtown. His yellow goggles gleamed as he spotted something unusual.

A woman with short black hair stood behind a gleaming silver machine next to the art booth. She wore a crisp white lab coat and typed rapidly on a tablet. The machine hummed loudly, with wires snaking out toward colorful paintings hanging nearby.

"Welcome to the Canvas Pride Art Contest!" she called to passing children. "I'm Dr. Sketch, the official judge. Just let my Creativity Scanner examine your artwork!"

A boy approached with his crayon drawing. The machine beeped and flashed red lights across his picture. Numbers appeared on Dr. Sketch's screen.

"Hmm, creativity level: 23 out of 100," she announced. "Not very imaginative, I'm afraid."

The boy's face fell. He walked away clutching his drawing.

Turbo landed behind a lamppost, his superhero instincts buzzing. Something felt wrong about this machine. Real creativity couldn't be measured with beeps and numbers, could it?

He watched Dr. Sketch scan three more children's artwork, each receiving low scores that made their faces crumple with disappointment.