Green Lantern Corps fanfic!

[kozmikkommando]

I was hanging out with my Clix gaming group last night and we were talking about the DC Unleashed expansion. Everyone always has a Unique that they gotta have each set, and for me this time around it's gotta be Kilowog. One of my favorite characters ever. And so, I thought I'd write a story about him ...

[kozmikkommando]

"KILOWOG - YEAR ONE" (part one)

KKK-KRASSSHHHH!!!! A reddish-purple cube, slightly less than two feet long on each side, hurtled through the wall of the laboratory and landed gracelessly on the orange scrubgrass outside. When the cube came to rest, forty small insectile legs unfolded from its underbelly and three multi-faceted black eyes opened on one face. The bizarre organism began to feebly crawl away from the laboratory, where smoke was already beginning to billow out of upper-level windows. The cube-bug made little progress before it collapsed, clearly worse for wear after its crash through the laboratory wall.

Another creature emerged from the laboratory, although this one came on its feet through the front door. It was a male humanoid, standing over 8 feet tall and built powerfully, with a flattened face, wide skull and two small ears atop his head. He wore the green, black and white uniform of the Green Lantern Corps. His name was Kilowog.

Kilowog strode across the grass to the quivering creature he had just sent through the laboratory wall. "Well now, Aigvrai - I ain't gonna call you Dr. Aigvrai, even if y'think of yourself that way - it's been a real pleasure showin' you the error of your ways, but I'm thinkin' this is where the dance ends. Agreed?"

"^ ^ \^/ /\ ^ \/// v ^^ " Aigvrai answered in an inhuman voice.

Kilowog's power ring translated the alien language into a speech pattern Kilowog could understand. "'Fraid the Guardians see it different, Aigvrai," the Green Lantern countered. "Your experiments in genetic acceleration weren't just bad for the test subjects, they were bad for the whole planet's ecosystem. Coulda been bad for the whole blamed sector. Ahhh, but don't worry none if you don't quite see it that way yourself. You got plenty of time t'think it over on the Guardian's Prison Planet." Kilowog turned his right hand to the side and emerald energy beamed from the ring on his middle finger, creating a small green structure. One window with bars across it was set into the back wall, and a door on the front swung open. "Time t'go, poozer."

"^ \\ v^v \/\ /\ ^^ ^ /v " Aigvrai shrieked, launching itself into the air and at Kilowog's head with all the strength it had regained while Kilowog had spoken. Each of Aigvrai's forty legs brandished one needle-sharp talon each.

Kilowog reacted with a swift left uppercut into Aigvrai's underbelly. His massive fist drove the cube-bug backwards even as Aigvrai scratched Kilowog's forearm with several of its leg talons. Aigvrai dropped to the ground on its back, its legs shuddered, and then it was still.

Kilowog shook his head ruefully. He knew he should never have given Aigvrai even the slightest chance to make a last-ditch attack. He knew he should have created the prisoner transport around Aigvrai, not beside him with an invitation to step inside. As he thought this, a second energy beam split off from the one connecting his ring to the prisoner transport cell. The second beam arced towards Aigvrai's prone form and the end of the beam shaped into a set of pincers. The pincers grasped Aigvrai, lifting the cube-bug off the ground, and Aigvrai was deposited in the transport cell. A shimmering green glow surrounded Kilowog and he lifted off the ground, prisoner in tow.

Kilowog thought that someone should be training him so that he wouldn't make such mistakes. It was not the first time he had entertained the thought. He was still new to the Green Lantern Corps, having only been chosen by the collective mind of Bolivax Vik as the successor to Branwilla two lunar cycles ago. He was often homesick for his planet and the mass mind, and he was still learning how to best utilize the weapon which the Guardians of the Universe had entrusted to him, the most powerful weapon ever designed, the Green Lantern power ring.

Flames were now beginning to burn through the roof of Aigvrai's laboratory. The damage to the lab had been extensive as Kilowog and Aigvrai had battled within. Kilowog had made sure to release all of the unwilling test subjects Aigvrai had imprisoned in his mad quest to super-evolve an organism that would "dominate the universal food chain." Once the innocent victims had made their escape, Kilowog felt entitled to use extreme force in capturing the cube-bug scientist, even if it meant bringing the building down around them. The fire burning through the laboratory was testament to that.

Kilowog looked around for a body of water from which he could draw the means to put the flames out, then decided against it. Using his power ring he created a gargantuan green boot, ten times the size of the laboratory, and with all his willpower brought the boot crashing down atop the building, which was flattened to the ground. Kilowog ran the boot back and forth, scuffing along the pulverized remains of the lab, until he was convinced the fire was out and could not spread to the grass around it or the forest in the distance. Kilowog smiled. As a scientist himself, a geneticist as well, he was deeply resentful of the disregard for life Aigvrai's experiments had shown. Kilowog's only regret was that the cube-bug was still unconscious and had not seen his own life's work wiped out.

[kozmikkommando]

"KILOWOG - YEAR ONE" (part two)

Kilowog flew up through the atmosphere and soon had left the planet behind. As he streaked through the starry depths toward the Guardian's Prison Planet, he considered his situation. He enjoyed being a Green Lantern. The scientist in him was drawn to exploring worlds he never would otherwise have visited. Being a member of the Corps, however, gave him as much opportunity to flex his brawn as his brain. He was also deeply honored to have been chosen as a Green Lantern. But it was troublesome to live up to such an honor with no formal training. He had been granted the ring and his lantern, a miniature version of the central power battery on Oa, from which he could recharge his ring. He had been taught the oath of a Green Lantern, and warned of his ring's necessary impurity which made it impotent against the color yellow. And from that moment on he was considered …

"GREEN LANTERN OF SECTOR 674!" boomed a voice inside Kilowog's head. Kilowog brought himself to a stop as a large, wizened head appeared before him, blue-skinned and bald with a fringe of white hair.

"Yes, Master?" Kilowog spoke to the apparition, even though he understood the Guardian would hear his thoughts and not his voice. There was no air to carry his voice in space at any rate.

"YOU ARE NEEDED ON THE PLANET YBUJJ, IN THE OUTER REACHES OF SECTOR 674. AN OLD FOE OF THE GUARDIANS' OBJECTIVE OF ORDER, NDRIL NDRAVUS, HAS MADE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN THERE."

"I see," Kilowog assented. "I was just gonna drop m'prisoner off and then … "

"YOU ARE NEEDED THERE NOW, GREEN LANTERN. MY BROTHERS WILL GUIDE YOUR PRISONER-TRANSPORTING CONSTRUCT TO THE PRISON PLANET FROM HERE. PROCEED DIRECTLY TO YBUJJ AND RETURN WITH NDRIL NDRAVUS." With that, the Guardian's visage faded, and the green cell holding Aigvrai detached from Kilowog's ring and shot off impossibly fast towards the Prison Planet.

Kilowog berated himself again as he instructed his ring to set course for Ybujj at maximum speed. Questioning the Guardians, arguing with them in any way, was not acceptable behavior for a member of the Corps. It could be overlooked on occasion, but was certainly not expected or encouraged. Kilowog focused on his anger with himself, his insecurity in his new role, and anticipated using it in combat as soon as he located Ndravus for himself.

"Hey, Ring," Kilowog said. "Whattaya know about this Ndril Ndravus poozer?"

As Kilowog was transported through space by his power ring, an iridescent hologram in shades of green appeared before his eyes. A serpentine creature, incredibly slender and looped in extremely long coils, writhed at the center, with a very small silhouette of Kilowog's own form beside it, as an indication of scale. Based on the comparison, Kilowog reasoned Ndril Ndravus must be at least 20,000 feet long. The majority of that length was a limbless, scaly undulation, atop which sat a flattened, spade-like head. Two small arms jutted out from the sides of the body just below the head.

"UG-LY!" Kilowog commented.

The power ring began to recite the data records for Kilowog's quarry: Ndril Ndravus, galactic despot, wanted by the Guardians for crimes against universal order. Planet of origin: Exlemed-7, sector 1883. Exelmed-7 was destroyed by Ndril Ndravus, the first of many planets sacrificed in his continuing quest for power. Ndril Ndravus feeds on the energies released in the explosion of planetary cores. No known weaknesses. Lethally dangerous.

"Figures," Kilowog muttered. Fists clenched, the sturdy Green Lantern continued to barrel comet-like through the inky blackness, readying himself for confrontation.

Ybujj soon came into view and Kilowog's power ring dropped his flight speed accordingly for approach. The planet appeared to be Class IV, and was enshrouded in pale gray clouds. Kilowog willed an additional burst of speed and rocketed into the atmosphere.

Kilowog was barely able to veer away in time as he realized the "clouds" were not that at all. He flew in a wide loop outward and slowly approached the pale gray surface again. Up close he could tell that the irregular shapes were actually solid constructs. He reached out and touched the area closest to him, and quickly pulled his hand back as it crumbled at his touch. Kilowog peered down the length of the gray mass and it seemed that it reached all the way from the heights of the atmosphere he floated in to the very surface of the planet. He could see similar peaks of the substance in all directions.

Kilowog began to fly down to the planet's surface, careful not to touch the structures on either side of him. They were buildings, constructed by intelligent lifeforms, Kilowog decided. Incredibly delicate lifeforms, apparently. Kilowog continued his descent and the buildings were arranged more closely to one another, forcing Kilowog to move extremely slowly in order to avoid the slightest bump which could demolish the ephemeral constructs. Soon the buildings were so tightly packed that Kilowog could go no further - his own sturdy frame would not fit between them any more. Kilowog floated in midair, scanning the diminishing space between the buildings below him. He recalled the image of Ndril Ndravus which his ring had shown him - Ndravus was mind-bogglingly long but also slender enough to have penetrated deeper into the gray gossamer labyrinth below. Kilowog would only be able to pursue by willfully destroying everything in his path.

"Maybe this whole planet's a big ghost town," Kilowog mused to himself. "Maybe the buildings're ready to fall apart in a strong breeze 'cuz there's no one keeping them up any more."

As if in answer to his train of thought, a tiny voice reached Kilowog's ears. "Greetings, Green Lantern."

[kozmikkommando]

"KILOWOG - YEAR ONE" (part three)

Kilowog turned quickly in the direction of the noise and saw no one at first. Then he detected a miniscule moving spot, no more than a quarter of an inch long, on the exterior wall of the building. Kilowog summoned an emerald magnifying lens from his power ring, and through it he could see the diminutive creature who had addressed him. It was dark brown, had a segmented body with eight spindly legs, a long curving neck and an ovoid head. Its eyes, nose and mouth were gentle and its face was altogether a portrait of patience as it regarded Kilowog through the magnifying lens.

"It has been some time since a Green Lantern has visited our world, but your reputation precedes you, and I bid you welcome. My name is Oujo. How may I be of assistance to you?" the creature inquired.

Kilowog answered, "I'm here to stop a monster from destroying this world. He … well, he'd be hard to miss around here, I think. Real big, real ugly. Seen 'im?"

Oujo nodded slowly. "The Never-Ending One. Yes. He made his presence known here yesterday. He destroyed many of our buildings upon his arrival." A great sadness filled Oujo's voice as he recalled the devastation. "My people are a peaceful people, and did not know how we would be saved from this invader. We are grateful that you have come, Green Lantern."

Kilowog pressed on, "How many are there of you, of your people?"

Oujo contemplated. "It is hard to say exactly. The closest number of great meaning would be one hundred billion. How many more or less I cannot say, but near that number."

Kilowog made some computations in his head. The entire planet, as far as he could tell, was covered with immensely tall buildings, probably enough space to house 25 billion 6 foot humanoids. These creatures, Oujo's people, would barely fill one percent of the buildings. "Are your people the only ones who've lived here? Did your people build the city that covers the planet?"

Oujo nodded once again. "We still build to this day. It is our ommo." Kilowog's ring tried to translate the word 'ommo', and suggested a reason for being, a higher calling, and an irresistible force of nature. Kilowog decided there must be a genetic basis for these creatures' compulsion to build from the planet's surface to the heights of the stratosphere, reinforced by their culture.

"These buildings support your weight, l'il guy, but definitely not mine. I need you to help me find the Never-Ending One without wrecking your buildings. Do you know where the Never-Ending One went or how I can follow him?"

Oujo replied, "I am at your service. I will show you where to go if you take me with you."

Kilowog created a tiny green platform near the wall where Oujo stood, and Oujo stepped onto it. The pair began to fly in a weaving path between the delicate gray spires as Oujo directed Kilowog through the maze. Finally Oujo instructed Kilowog to observe a rooftop which was close to ground level.

"From here," Oujo explained, "you must descend through the shaft opening on this roof. It meets with a small passageway below leading out of the building, where you will have contact with the soil of this planet - ground which you may rest your weight upon. The Never-Ending One has burrowed down to the heart of our world, which you also must do."

"Thanks," Kilowog said, lowering Oujo to the ground. "Tell your people not t'worry. I won't let anything happen to your world."

Oujo simply nodded once in thanks as Kilowog inverted himself and began to float head first down the shaft. It was scarcely big enough to accommodate the broad build of the Green Lantern, but Kilowog proceeded slowly and arrived at the bottom without bringing the structure down around his ears. The shaft turned a sharp 90 degrees at the bottom, and Kilowog was forced to draw his entire body in as close as he could, arms folded and legs crossed, into a compact ball surrounded by green energy in order to navigate the turn. He proceeded through the passageway balled up in that position, thankful that no one was able to see his ridiculous contortions.

Kilowog emerged from the building and saw the outer surface of the planet. The sky was hidden from view by an overhanging from a nearby building just over Kilowog's head. A spinning drill head emerged from his power ring and began to bore into the ground. The green drill threw dirt to the sides, and Kilowog quickly erected barriers of energy to prevent the clods and pebbles from damaging the buildings in a stray collision. Soon Kilowog was able to enter the tunnel he was digging, and began to fly behind the drill head at greater and greater speed.

[kozmikkommando]

"KILOWOG - YEAR ONE" (part four)

After many miles of high speed drilling, Kilowog burst into a large subterranean cavern in an explosion of soil and rock. Just before the last barrier gave way, the heat radiating from the chamber was intense enough for Kilowog to know he was near the planet's core. Seeing Ndravis within the cavern confirmed it.

The Exelmedian - the part of him that Kilowog could see, as most of his gargantuan length disappeared into the darkness at the periphery of the cavern - was poised over a small fissure in the floor of the cavern. The air above the fissure shimmered with a massive outpouring of heat. Ndril Ndravus locked eyes with Kilowog, made a deep, gravelly sound in the back of his throat, and regurgitated a small, milky-white sphere which he caught in one hand.

"This planet is smaller than it looks, isn't it?" Ndravus barked maliciously. "It almost takes more energy to destroy it than I'll receive from the resulting explosion. But I am already here." With that he dropped the whitish sphere into the fissure. The sphere disappeared into the magma below the cavern floor, but the glow from the fissure brightened as it did. Ndravus' monstrous features looked pleased.

"No planet's gonna get blown up, poozer," Kilowog retorted as he flew closer to Ndravus. "Not today, not in my sector." Kilowog lowered his voice to a threatening growl. "Not by you."

Ndravus' laugh was utterly devoid of humor. "Wrong, wrong, wrong!!!" he screamed across the cavern, then brought forth another of the milky-white spheres from his stomach, depositing it in the fissure as well. "Will you take me away from here forcibly, little servant of the Oans? I think not. Most of my body is still above ground, and I have threaded it through this little planet's inhabitants' architecture! Scarcely a wall which stands on Ybujj has not been pierced by me now! Rip me from this place, and with one thrash of my tail the planet's surface will be littered with ashen rubble! You will not stop me, Green Lantern," Ndravus sneered Kilowog's title, "you will only witness the fiery death of this world, like so many worlds before it and so many yet to die to feed Ndril Ndravus!"

Kilowog froze as Ndravus' words registered in his mind, and the realization came to him that he had so much trouble navigating the delicate architecture above himself, he had never considered how he would get the gigantic monster off the planet without massive collateral damage. Everything about the situation - incomprehensibly large beings, impossibly fragile civilizations - was alien, and Kilowog did not have the time to examine all of his options scientifically. The Green Lantern began to feel sick to his bones and wished fervently that he had been trained, given more preparation for situations like this, anything that would make him the slightest bit more capable of stopping Ndravus now.

Nrdavus spit another sphere into the fissure, and the glow emanating from it was nearly blinding. Kilowog steeled himself, knowing in his heart this was no time to wish things were different. He calmly willed a strand of energy from his ring, a strand almost too thin to be seen. The emerald thread wound along the cavern floor beside Ndravus' elongated body, and into the shadows.

"I don't hafta get you outta here to make sure the planet's safe," Kilowog announced to Ndravus in a booming voice. "I can contain the exploding core with my ring, until it cools off back t'normal. I got as much time as that takes."

Ndravus snarled at Kilowog. "Your entire race was young when I destroyed Exelmed-7, pup. Do not presume to play a patient stalemate with me. By the time your body would be reduced to withered bones I would remain to finish my purpose here." Ndravus reared back to regurgitate yet another seed of the planet's destruction.

"No more!" Kilowog yelled, and a beam of solid green light shone from his power ring and created a cap over the fissure. A pale white globe dropped from Ndravus' mouth and bounced off the shield Kilowog had placed in its path. Ndravus snatched the sphere up and swallowed it whole. A moment later he spit it up again, but now it was pale yellow, and passed easily through Kilowog's energy shield. "You try my patience, whelp," Ndravus rumbled with growing anger.

The Exelmedian's anger reassured Kilowog - perhaps Ndravus would not notice the energy thread which tapped its way along his scaly hide. Kilowog needed more time, however. "I could just kill ya outright," Kilowog announced gravely.

Ndravus bellowed ferociously. "Even with your masters' mightiest weapon, you stand little chance of success. And success would mean the destruction of all that stands on this planet as my death throes tear it apart!"

"Li'l folks on this planet could rebuild, long as there still was a planet to build on," Kilowog responded. "And you ain't leavin' me too many other options." Kilowog raised his ring hand overhead and an emerald spear 50 feet long hovered in the air above his open fingers. Ndravus bared his teeth in feral rage and lowered his upper body closer to Kilowog, swiping at him with clawed hands.

Kilowog clenched his ring hand into a fist and the spear disappeared. Simultaneously the microscopic thread of green energy, which had reached the tip of Ndravus' tail, expanded around the monster's circumference and bound itself tightly around Ndravus' entire length, then constricted.

Ndravus screamed murderously as he felt himself trapped. He attempted to thrash out of the energy encasing his body, and Kilowog gritted his teeth and focused every ounce of his willpower on holding the twisted shape of Ndravus' mile-spanning tail perfectly still. Ndravus continued to howl and convulse, but Kilowog maintained the shape, squeezing even tighter. Ndravus attacked Kilowog directly, and Kilowog allowed him to, unable to spare any attention from the task of restraining Ndravus' body. Ndravus' claws rent Kilowog's flesh, but the Green Lantern held on to the flailing form in the green sheath. Beads of sweat formed on Kilowog's brow as he grimaced and struggled … and prevailed.

Ndravus was unable to escape, and so turned instead to the fissure and produced yet another yellow sphere to fall into its depths, determined to destroy the planet still. Yet just as his concentration diverted away from Kilowog, the Green Lantern was able to gather his own wits. He had sufficient control over the shape surrounding Ndravus' tail now, and he could split his attention without fear of losing that control. Kilowog generated a forked beam of energy from his power ring that caught Ndravus under his mouth and drove him onto his back on the cavern floor, pinning Ndravus' head to the ground. The thunderous fury of Ndravus' wailing filled Kilowog's ears, but he knew he now had the advantage and he was not about to let it go.

[kozmikkommando]

"KILOWOG - YEAR ONE" (part five)

Kilowog began to extract Ndravus and the encasing energy. He extended the sheath to cover Ndravus' head as well. Slowly and cautiously, he reeled in the twisted shape surrounding Ndravus' tail, following the path of pinholes it threaded, and the sheath within the cavern ballooned to accommodate the Exelmedian's length. When the far end of the sheath was pulled into the cavern, Kilowog began to collapse the balloon, until any further reduction in size would crush Ndravus into unrecognizable pulp. Not such a bad fate for a destroyer of planets, but Kilowog knew that his orders were to return to the Guardians with Ndravus alive.

At its most compact, the balloon holding Ndravus was still easily 100 feet in diameter. Kilowog created more green, glowing digging implements to widen his entrance tunnel, dragging the balloon behind him. When Kilowog reached the surface, in the shadows of buildings all around him, he contemplated again. The planet, its core and its buildings, were safe, but how to leave now?

Kilowog smiled. "Don't know why I didn't think of this before." The buildings had no foundations, but rather rested on the ground. Kilowog slid a wide band of green energy under the buildings surrounding him, and created a soft bed of green feathers beneath them. Then he lifted the buildings up off the ground, and the entire chain - buildings, green feathers, Kilowog, and green balloon holding Ndravus - began to fly upward. Soon enough they had cleared the tops of all but the tallest buildings, and Kilowog was able to float the green balloon to the side and lower the buildings on the feather bed back into their original place. Small spots moved over the tops of the buildings as they passed by, and Kilowog created binoculars through which he could see the miniscule dark brown faces of several creatures looking up at him with what looked like understanding. If they were at all disturbed by Kilowog's gentle re-arranging of their city, they did not show it. Once the buildings were safely resting in their proper positions, Kilowog sped out of the atmosphere, for the second time that day with a defeated foe in a transport construct.

On the Guardians' Prison Planet, Kilowog was met by two of the short, blue-skinned Oans. One of the Guardians took the green balloon containing Ndravus away, and one remained with Kilowog.

"You have served your station well today, Green Lantern of Sector 674," the Guardian said somberly.

"Great," Kilowog replied half-heartedly.

"Something troubles you?" the Guardian probed.

Kilowog took a deep breath, and said, "Master, I been thinking. Seems awful tough to wake up one day and be a Green Lantern when you've never known anything 'bout it before that day. And, I know I still got a lot t'learn m'self, but I been thinking … maybe someday, 'stead of me always going around chasing down the bad guys all the time, maybe I could spend some o' my time helping the new Corps members, y'know, learn a few tricks of the trade?"

The Guardian eyed Kilowog skeptically. "You would … train recruits to the Green Lantern Corps."

Kilowog looked down at the small blue man in the red robe and in his most serious voice answered, "That's right. I would."

"Perhaps," the Guardian slowly, almost imperceptibly, nodded. "We will see, Green Lantern of Sector 674. Perhaps someday you will."

END

[urlmaker]

Never was a huge GL fan but that is a good story! Did you notice that the philosophy of Oujo's people is the same of that of the Dozers in the HBO show Fraggle Rock? Coincedence? I think not. Fragile houses (likely edible), building religously. Uh huh. Let the music play... (clap clap)
Keep up the good stories kozmikkommando!

[spidergirl1]

Man, your great at this stuff!!!

I'm rating this the best!!!!!

Like urlmaker said keep up the great stories kozmikkommando!

[kozmikkommando]

Thanks, urlmaker and spidergirl1! I will keep the stories coming coming as frequently as I can!

[kozmikkommando]

Just wanted to post a quick update ... in case anyone was curious ... I split a case of Unleashed with my buddy, it arrived this past weekend, and lo and behold, I *DID* get a Kilowog Unique! And he rocks.