A/N: Hey all. So this is different. I know I teased the story a couple years ago in a bonus chapter of Back in Space, but I've hesitated on it and I want to get a sense of how into the idea people are. It's definitely a darker story, which should be a given considering who the main character is. It's also basically an original story, since we get no background at all on Grumm and Morgana, even though they're among the more interesting villains of the franchise.

Disclaimer: Power Rangers is owned by Hasbro. There isn't much that's canon here, but the characters Grumm and Morgana are properties of the franchise. Anything that you don't recognize from the franchise is from my own imagination.

Chapter 1: Peace

"Grumm… I have chosen you…"

He awoke in darkness. Suddenly, everything was calm and silent, so different from his dreams. There was no fire, no war. Only silence.

Peacefulness.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. Then he squinted before opening the light-channel, letting his eyes adjust slowly.

His room was scattered with mementos of the bygone era, images of proud Troobian soldiers bringing the Light to nearly a hundred worlds. He looked at each of the images in turn, though he knew them all by heart: The Great Battle of Moresh, the Liberation of Tarena, the Illumination of the darkworlds Raqana and Mitos on the edge of the galaxy, the Conquest of Shela.

A toy staff that he had played with as a child leant against the corner of the room. He remembered those days, teaching himself to fight with the staff in preparation for when he would be undergoing real training with the real thing.

He had come so close. Then, just before he reached the age of Induction, the Conquest ended. The soldiers all came home, and the Time of Peace was declared.

He sighed, getting out of bed.

He arrived downstairs to find his father waiting for him. "Finally. You are going to be late."

"You waited to make sure that I would go?"

His mate, Niela, came up alongside him. Both wore their black council robes, emblazoned with the white star of the Light. "I would have waited no longer."

"Be calm," said Niela, placing her hand on his shoulder. Her voice was gentle. Everything about her was always gentle, and it irritated Grumm. Troobians weren't supposed to be gentle. "He is a responsible young man. He will go."

His father glanced at her for a moment, then back at Grumm. "Delay yourself no further. Glory to the Light!" With that, they left.

Grumm frowned, and considered waiting just to spite him. But there was nothing else to do. He followed them out, then walked in the opposite direction.

He kept his gaze straight ahead, avoiding looking at the Reproduction Facility. It was his father's cruelest decision to locate their home next to the building that had been responsible for all of the problems in Grumm's life.

As he continued on, his path joined with others converging on the academy. He avoided looking at them, although he knew that wouldn't make them do the same.

"Good morning, Runt. How's the ground today?"

He ignored it, continuing on. He was becoming quite good at that. He was getting plenty of practice.

"Berin, leave him be." Now Grumm looked up as Murela angled her path towards his. She frowned as she passed the bully of the day, and then fell into step beside Grumm.

He quickly looked away as she came close. He didn't like having to look up at her. He didn't like having to look up at all of them.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," he echoed.

They entered the academy. Columns of oldstone lined the outer corridor, creating a path of alternating light and shadow before them. Grumm shut his eyes, feeling the warm light and cool shadow cross his face in sequence.

"Glory to the Troobian Federation! Glory to the Light!" the teachers called.

Grumm echoed the words with the others, withholding his sigh.


He shut his eyes as his face was pushed into the dirt. Twirling his staff, he tried to knock Berin away, but the other boy flipped backwards away from him. Landing on his feet, he turned and used his own staff to catch the karthonen that was zooming towards him from behind, redirecting it to his teammate. Grumm glared as he stood back up, wiping the dirt from his face.

Since the Time of Peace was declared, combat training had been replaced by Karthon, a sport that was part physical combat and part coordination. The four karthonen, balls of yellow energy that were always moving, could be protected or used as weapons, but whichever team controlled their movements for longer would win. There were no rules for how the players could go about depriving their opponents of the karthonen, which was what fueled the combat part of the sport.

And Grumm's failure had all but doomed his team.

"It's okay." Murela arrived beside him, even as her eyes tracked the movement of the nearest karthonen. She lunged in front of Berin to try to intercept it, but he was ready for her, knocking her away with his staff and then tripping her after he redirected the ball.

Grumm growled and took a step forward, but Berin turned to him, looking smug and prepared for his attack.

Murela got back to her feet and backed off without any anger, brushing off the dirt and going right back to tracking the karthonen.

Once the inevitable defeat was complete, Grumm stalked over to a bench and sat down, glaring at the emptying field. Murela joined him. "You don't need to prove yourself to them."

"What?"

"You focus too much on trying to better your opponents, rather than helping your teammates. That puts you at more of a disadvantage than your size does."

Grumm cringed at the comment. He hated when anyone referenced his defect.

"You should stop thinking so much about what makes you different. You're just like all the rest of us in so many other ways."

"Tell that to them." Grumm glared at the top of the Reproduction Facility, which was visible over the nearer buildings of the city. He had come out of it defective, too small, a lone anomaly among the perfect clones.

And yet his father hadn't discarded him. He hadn't gotten rid of him and gone to have the process redone.

Grumm couldn't understand it. He knew that he had a destiny, but his father couldn't have known. Had the Light saved him, persuaded his father to keep a defective son instead of going back for a new one?

"Come," said Murela. "We need to return to our studies.

He turned his gaze away from the building as a stray dream of seeing it in flames swirled behind his eyes.


Niela's daughter, Cora, was younger, still a child. She was fond of stuffed dolls, and had a collection ranging from Troobian heros of old to aquatic creatures from Shela to monsters of the Tarenan jungle.

Grumm's favorite was the Tarenan serpent, a creature that was small and easily-overlooked until it suddenly grew to several times its size and attacked. Cora hardly ever played with that doll, and it sat on a shelf near the entrance to her room. Grumm often glanced at it as he passed, wishing that he himself could grow the way the serpent could. Perhaps one day he would travel to Tarena and discover how the creatures grew the way they did.

He would need to be well-prepared, of course, as there were other monsters in that jungle that were even more dangerous.

"Good morning, Grumm."

"Good morning, Cora." He liked that Cora was still a child. She was still smaller than he was, and didn't look down at him the way his peers his own age did.

"My mother says that you will teach me Karthon."

He looked at her in surprise. "You're too young for Karthon."

"I want to learn."

He pursed his lips, and turned to the stairs, descending them. "Niela?"

"Yes, Grumm." Her gentle voice grated on him. She was holding a pair of Karthon staffs, and controlling a karthonen between them.

"You think Cora is old enough to learn Karthon?"

"I think Cora is old enough to learn anything she wants to." She passed him the staffs, and he carefully kept the karthonen between them. "I'm not saying to involve her in a match, but you can teach her the skills required."

"Okay."

"Glory to the Light!"

"Glory to the Light." Carefully guiding the karthonen, he led Cora to the open area past the Reproduction Facility. The dirt here was firmer than it was on the field at the academy, but he wouldn't be instructing her in any combat.

He passed her one of the staffs, which towered over her. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

He sent the karthonen slowly floating towards her. "Don't just knock it away. Use the staff to catch it and push it back towards me."

Her first attempt sent the karthonen veering off in a different direction, and he quickly ran to intercept it before it hit anything.

"You have to be precise with how you move the staff." She was too young for this. He knew it. Niela was wrong.

Again, she sent the karthonen veering off, too small to handle the staff with the precision that she needed to. Fighting back his impatience, he ran after the ball again.

He noticed a couple of peacekeepers watching. The officers, who were capable of instantly teleporting to the scene of any crime, wore heavy black armor emblazoned with the white star. They crossed their arms, watching as he ran to catch up with the karthonen before it caused any damage.

He nodded weakly towards them as he turned the karthonen back towards Cora. "Glory to the Troobian Federation."

They nodded sternly in response.

Soon, he was running after the karthonen yet again, but was surprised to see Murela appear with her own staff to catch it.

"Murela?" He stared at her in surprise as she sent the karthonen back over to him.

"You look like you could use some assistance."

He smiled gratefully at her. With both of them there, they were able to keep the karthonen controlled until Cora finally admitted that she was still too small to properly maneuver the staff.

"Thank you for your help," Grumm told Murela.

She smiled at him. "See you at the academy. Glory to the Light!"

He gave her an exasperated look, to her amusement. "Glory to the Light."

"Glory to the Light!" Cora echoed with far more enthusiasm.

As Murela walked away, Grumm turned and retrieved the staff from Cora, again controlling the karthonen between the two staffs as he led the way back home.

"Is Murela going to be your mate?" Cora asked.

Grumm's eyes widened at the question, and he felt heat rush his face. "No, I don't think so."

"Why not?"

He cringed inwardly at the question, his gaze straying to the large building between them and their home. Murela had many options that didn't have his defect. She would never choose him for a mate.

"Grumm… I have chosen you…"

The darkness and flames swirled behind his eyes, and he closed them, focusing on the dream that made him feel better. He had a destiny. The Light had chosen him. Even without Murela, he would find his own glory.

"Grumm!" At Cora's cry, he opened his eyes again. The karthonen had escaped from him, and was floating towards the facility.

He knew that he should run after it, stop it, but yet he stood still. A dark fascination filled him as he watched the ball of energy fly towards the building that he hated. The flames arose behind his eyes, and he willed them to erupt from the wall in front of him.

The karthonen struck the building, and the energy lanced across the wall. Stone dust erupted outwards as the wall trembled violently, and Cora screamed.

Then the peacekeepers were there, stopping the damage and surrounding him. His arms were twisted behind his back and he was forced face-down on the path as they bound him.