Prophecies of the Morphing Grid
Prophecies of the Morphing Grid by "Darky" began fairly inauspiciously, as a summary of the history of the Power Rangers universe as he perceived it, in the form of a short Fanfic. It would later spawn a series of fics that continue to this day. The original Prophecies was revised in the form of a longer, more epic story; while the original had been simply narration, this one had characters and a very involved plot, with we the reader seeing the universe through there eyes. The story is a scene-setter, explaining precisely how the universe got to the way it was that fateful day when gullible astronauts opened Rita Repulsa's space dumpster. It seems that this version has been discontinued, and the author has expressed interest in revising it, meaning the above-mentioned versions are likely no longer canon to this universe.
Prophecies was followed with a second story, A Future in Ruins. Set in the future, specifically following Power Rangers SPD, everything seems like it should be going just fine, but all is not well in the galaxy. Well-loved leaders of democratic planets have been dying mysteriously, their deaths attributed to a shadowy organization called "The Skull" it only goes downhill as the Rangers discover that the forces of evil want Earth specifically, and that everything is leading up to the resurrection of their greatest enemy...
Ruins itself got a sequel, A Future in Recovery. In the aftermath of Ruins, a shady conspiracy comes to light, one that promises to set up the most horrifying dictatorship planet Earth has ever known! Aliens, plotting, and Xanatos Roulettes ensue as the Rangers try to make sense of it all, and it's not going to be easy, as everyone who seems to know what is going on is dropping one by one. A story that could do with better writing and less soapboxing and pinching from Star Wars, but well-plotted and good at making you want to stay until the end. Unfortunately, has not been updated in over a year now.
- Abusive Precursors: King Ra claims to have created humankind. He's lying through his teeth.
- Aliens and Monsters: The Pentastar Federation and its creations. Every last cryptid (apart from, apparently, yetis)? All created and set loose on Earth by them.
- The Antichrist: President Henry Fullenton/Dark Venom turns out to be this almost literally.
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Dominus Lords have been around, thanks to King Ra's manipulation, since prehistoric times.
- Badass: Dark Venom. Both of him.
- Badass Grandpa: Leanbow has aged into one of these.
- Big Bad: Dark Specter.
- Big Good: Tommy, Rita, Doggie Kruger and Lar Deus all have shades of this.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Hoo boy...
- Career Killers: Hacksaw from Recovery.
- Catharsis Factor: A big part of the appeal is seeing the heroes of our childhood beating up the sort of people we hate as adults.
- The Chessmaster: Mordecai, the head of the conspiracy.
- Conspiracy Kitchen Sink: All the villains are based on conspiracy theories, and pretty much every conspiracy theory shows up. Well, all the tasteful ones, anyway, there's thankfully no AIDS denialism or the Jews blowing up the Twin Towers.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Sky Tate's father Howard. He turns out to be exactly right, which dooms pretty much everyone...
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Most of the Dominus Lords.
- Dark Fic: Though, interestingly enough, not to the point of Genre Shift. There's swearing and non-explodey death and ethnic cleansing, but it's still mostly about the Rangers kicking the crap out of people.
- The Dragon: Dark Venom to Dark Specter.
- Dungeon Master: Lar Deus. He and his organization could give every sentient species in the universe everything they'll ever need, but he doesn't, because he doesn't want them to become dependent on him.
- Expy: The new head of SPD, identified only by his cigarette habit.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: More like "humans are the stupid teenagers of the galaxy, and need to wisen up a bit." On the other hand...
- Humans Are Special: They're the only ones who can defeat the UAE.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Z's missing parents are Rita and Zedd, and she's also niece to Zordon!
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Pretty much everything the author likes gets a turn in here, and it's actually justified through an excuse used in the show itself.
- The Messiah: Z.
- Official Couple: Tommy and Kat, Billy and Cestria, Joel and Angela, Kim and Skull, Lucas and Nadira, Bridge and Syd. Sky/Z and Nick/Madison appear to be setting themselves up as well.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Dominus Lords.
- Our Presidents Are Different: Specifically, they're The Dragon and very, very Badass.
- The Quisling: Hey, remember Simon, Joel's child prodigy friend from Lightspeed Rescue? He's grown up into a bitter, angry scientist who's thrown in his lot with the villains!
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Justin grew up to be quite the badass.
- Satan/The Antichrist: Dark Specter is a blend of both archetypes.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After being subjected to torture and a particularly nasty Hannibal Lecture on how Humans Are the Real Monsters from Dark Venom, several of the Rangers themselves do this, deciding to just quit because the Earth will never be totally saved. They come back.
- Shout-Out:
- There's a scene in an execution arena, complete with a bad guy getting away on a speeder thing
- Dark Specter's return in Ruins was an homage to Myotismon's in Digimon Adventure 02.
- The Starscream: Pretty much all the villains end up plotting against one another, but a notable example is Dark Venom to Dark Specter in Ruins. He's killed before he can actually carry it out, though.
- The Dog Bites Back: How Shredder and Gruumm die.
- Xanatos Roulette: As of this writing, the Rangers have yet to do anything Mordecai hasn't predicted. Justified as he's from the future.
- You Have Failed Me...: Mordecai does this to Amor Nal.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Dark Venom does this to Colonel Wyman and Sal Muldoon.