The Exile of Krang

By Gary “Destruction” Davison

In 2,000,000 BC, Dimension-X, a remote dimension accessible only through dimensional portals, peace was the norm. Despite the extreme diversity of life in Dimension-X, many species had no problem coexisting. Sure, there were ion and plasma storms and black holes abroad. There were some adverse atmospheric conditions on some planets. But life continued to thrive with little effort in most cases.

The biggest problem Dimension-X faced was asteroids. The dimension had hundreds of millions of rocks floating in space. For those who were interstellar travelers or commuters, these massive rocks were difficult to navigate around. There were many accidents as a result of asteroid collisions and “stone storms”. These stone storms were a result of two or more asteroids colliding with each other at high speeds. The result was space being populated with large chunks of rock moving at an accelerated rate.

Ships were often left marooned or stranded as they crashed on worlds other than their occupants’ own. Tourists were often the biggest victims, as they would be left light years away from home for months. There were often survivors of these crashes and eventually communications would be established to the survivors’ home worlds. Some survivors built colonies on planets where they were marooned. Others left. And still others became galactic nomads, roaming from one system to the next.

Interdimensional travel was vital to Dimension-X. So many species would not be able to reach it without this form of advanced transportation. Interdimensional travel was made possible by the dilithium crystal. It was a crystal that is still very widely used in Dimension-X. It was the Leptonites (ancestors of the Neutrinos) who figured out how to make dilithium crystals open holes in space and time. Interdimensional travel gave way to interdimensional trade. Treaties were signed and peace was made with inhabitants of other dimensions. There were times when relations between Dimension-X and other dimensions became tense. But through much diplomacy and compromise, peace was maintained.

Unfortunately, peace in Dimension-X was only temporary. By 1865 AD, things began to become turbulent. A race known as the Krangazoids, who had remained unknown to most Dimension-X inhabitants until recently, had decided that, they were of superior intelligence and strength. They felt that they should govern Dimension-X and should be solely in control of interdimensional travel. They hadn’t appeared prior because of violent atmospheric conditions on their planet. It took them a few millions years to adapt to these conditions.

The Krangazoids felt that other species in Dimension-X were weak and inferior. And while Dimension-X was democratically maintained, the Krangazoids felt that a totalitarian regime would be both more efficient and easier to manage. Of course, they hadn’t mentioned their feelings to anyone and continued to work in secrecy.

The Krangazoids had stumbled across something big while traveling through the wastelands of Dimension-X. It was a substance known as impervium. Impervium was extremely hard, nearly impossible to shape, crush or destroy. Based upon evidence that the Krangazoids had researched, impervium was the hardest known substance in the galaxy. If its light prisms were defracted just right, it could be used to generate an impenetrable force field around its holders. The Krangazoids had tested the impervium and were able to make a few of themselves invincible, but not all of them. The impervium had to be expanded large enough to protect them all.

The Krangazoids had concocted a ray to enlarge the molecules of the impervium to compensate for all of them. It had been tested but only found limited success. The ray could only increase molecular size by 15%. The impervium needed to be enlarged by at least 18%. A short time went by before the Krangazoids had finally reached the enlarging power they needed. They had tested the ray on some small rocks. The growth size was 22%. It was more than enough.

Now, with control over Dimension-X in their minds, they were ready to fire the glowing beam on the impervium gem. Dimension-X would be their oyster and the impervium their pearl. They were about to fire the beam when an unexpected ion storm struck the area. The plasma storm was extremely violent and struck with horrendous electrical charges. Communications throughout Dimension-X were being hindered by the storm’s sheer magnitude. Equipment was especially vulnerable. The plasma storm’s turbulent ionic discharge had interfered with the enlarging ray’s circuitry.

The ray fired an intense electrical pulse that hit dead on with the impervium gem. A bright flash of light was seen as the gem had eluded the Krangazoids without a trace. A black, charred surface echoed uncertainty to the Krangazoids regarding the whereabouts of the impervium gem. For hours on end, they pondered and debated its fate. But after a substantial duration of time, they concluded that it could not be recovered. The cerebral-centric, lizard-like race had to devise another way to take control of their home world.

At the dimensional conference, where representatives of species from all over Dimension-X had convened for political and scientific discussion, one Krangazoid had something interesting to show the council. It was a substance that the Krangazoids had developed known as Mutagen. Mutagen could turn inanimate objects and animals to humanoid life forms. The Krangazoid also demonstrated how it was possible to take characteristics of an animal and use Mutagen to use that animal’s characteristics to enhance another being. The council awed at the display but many members grew weary rather quickly. The majority of the council believed that Mutagen could be used as a weapon to build armies, which could jeopardize peace in Dimension-X. The Krangazoid asked that more research be done with Mutagen before any final decisions were made. The council responded very hastily and reached a resounding “no”.

Under order of the dimensional council, Mutagen had to be destroyed. The Krangazoid was told to turn it over to the council for disposal. The Krangazoid cooperated without any resistance or hesitation.

“The formula for mutagen must also be destroyed,” a council member said.

“We don’t have a formula. We discovered it on accident,” the Krangzoid replied as he hid his deception. The Krangazoid presented documented findings of the experiment. The lab results of course were falsified so that the council wouldn’t discover the true nature of the experiments.

“Very well then,” agreed the council.

The meeting was adjourned and the Krangazoid left with splendor, as he knew the formula was intact. The council on the other hand had met later on in secrecy. The council members had felt suspicious about the experiments the Krangazoids had been conducting. They were particularly apprehensive as to what the Krangazoids were doing when they “discovered” Mutagen.

The council had met again at a later time to go through the lab results and attempt to make Mutagen. The chemicals were mixed in accordance to the chemical analysis of the Krangazoid’s lab report. A substance was created during the experiment but the lab results proved inconclusive. The report didn’t state how much of each chemical was present. This led most of the council to believe that it was in fact an accident. Some council members were still skeptical and demanded that the Krangazoids be watched closely.

“I still think they’re up to something,” one council member said.

“Those Krangazoids give me the creeps,” said Zeto of the Leptonites.

The council debated for a bit and agreed that it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the Krangazoids just to be sure that they weren’t lying about Mutagen being an accident.

Working attentively and vigilantly, the Krangazoids had begun developing weapons in defiance to the council. They were determined to rule Dimension-X and felt that the peaceful council wasn’t a threat to them. They began developing missiles and ground units. Their arrogance, however, was going to get the best of them. The council had covertly been watching and listening from a distance. Over time, they had realized that the Krangazoids couldn’t be trusted and that they threatened peace in Dimension-X.

The council had been meeting in secret on a regular basis and had reached an agreement to develop a military of its own against both the Krangazoids and other possible threats. Dimension-X inhabitants had been lucky as well as naïve. Threats from other dimensions could have easily attacked the peaceful world. There was the possibility that diplomacy wouldn’t cut it. A military was the best solution and its continued development would prove vital as time went on.

One Krangazoid by the name of Krang had ideas of his own. While the other Krangazoids argued and bickered about the best strategy to launch of a full-scaled attack in Dimension-X, Krang had his own plans. He anticipated that the council was in fact watching and he felt an urgency to depart from the others. He was also a key player in the formulation of Mutagen.

Momentum and tension began to build as the council’s military continued to grow. The Krangazoids were ready to roll out their first ground units but lacked something vital. They had no one to man them, other than a few robots that they had recently made. Krang knew that Mutagen would be the solution to the problem but he kept quiet. The others began to wonder why Krang had been so quiet as of lately. But for them, there was no time to find out why.

A loud blast had rocked the Krangazoids’ laboratory. The council had begun an attack with its military. Krang quickly memorized the formula for Mutagen and headed towards toward a small craft that he made just for such an occasion. He squeezed his lizard-like body inside of the ship just as a blast had blown a gaping hole in the lab. Krang quickly brought the ship’s main thrusters online and took off. Fire from both sides lit up the sky as Krang moved further and further away from his small homeworld of Krangus. He escaped the conflict narrowly, but undetected.

Gun turrets and tanks returned fire against the council’s military. The council had both air and ground support for the strike. The Krangazoids barely had a chance to develop full air support as they were receiving heavy fire from the ground and the air. Tanks fired missiles at aircraft and downed many of them. But reinforcements were on the way. The council had used cooperative efforts from many different planets in Dimension-X to mine the resources necessary for military craft and vehicles. They wasted no time building them as workers labored day and night. They continuously cranked out more vehicles as the war was well underway.

The training that soldiers received was crude and basic, yet adequate on such a short notice. This short notice also meant relying on strength in numbers rather than strength in technology and strategy. Some of the recruits were skeptical about following through with the war because they were so used to a peaceful way of life. But the council said there were no other options as the Krangazoids were already developing weapons, which was a clear violation of the Dimension-X peace accord. The council itself wasn’t fond of the war either, but a defenseless council would prove futile against a potential military force of Krangazoids, let alone some unknown external threat.

More reinforcements had arrived from the council’s military. And while shear number was strength, the Krangazoids had strategy and technological know-how to return fire against the military. A missile launcher took out 10 of the military’s ships in one fair swoop. Three gun turrets were still powerful enough to clobber several tanks with only moderate effort. It was clear that this war would not be over soon as the Krangazoids began rolling out bigger guns and the council continued bringing reinforcements.

The violent atmosphere of Krangus caused many craft to crash or miss their targets. The Krangazoids were inflicting quite a bit of damage as well. Ground forces were having better luck as they were able to infiltrate some of the Krangazoids’ defenses. They weren’t as vulnerable as the air forces, but the atmosphere made communication difficult to maintain at times. Military intelligence information was sometimes only received in bits and pieces. Other times, messages were garbled and unreadable. This made things increasingly difficult for both ground and air forces.

Krangus was a mountainous and rugged planet. Troops had no difficulty handling the uneven terrain. In fact, in 1931 AD, a major victory was won by ground forces as they claimed control of several small strongholds in the Krangazoid Mountains.

By 1985 AD, the council was able to deliver enough firepower to begin driving the Krangazoids back. And back they went. A dimensional portal was opened only a few kilometers south of the Krangazoids’ position. Where it led was to a place of total ruin and despair. It was a gateway to the dead lands. But it was difficult to maintain the portal under such adverse atmospheric conditions, let alone during a massive civil war. There were many failed attempts at maintaining the portal for a reasonable length of time.

Left to man their own stations, the Krangazoids were running out of resources and firepower. Some robots were badly damaged while many of them were destroyed by the storm of lasers and missiles flying from overhead. The options available to the Krangazoids were to surrender or to continue fighting. And despite their increasing losses, the Krangazoids chose to fight because they were too proud to accept defeat, especially from a group of inferior species.

Casualties of the war were in the millions and were still climbing at a moderate rate. The Krangazoids continued falling back closer and closer to the portal, though they knew it was present. They weren’t out the game yet as an explosive device used for a last minute resort was detonated. It destroyed 300 of the military’s ships. The counter-strike was effective, but still futile. Soldiers were told to eliminate the Krangazoids at all costs, even if it meant ramming their ships into them to push them through the portal. Such a noble, yet controversial maneuver wasn’t necessary, however as the Krangazoids saw the ships approaching and fled through the portal. The idea of ramming ships into the Krangazoids seemed drastic and extreme to many of the inhabitants of Dimension-X, but maintaining peace hinged on the Krangazoids’ expulsion.

A bright flash displayed the end of an era. The flash was visible as the portal closed. It was the end of the Krangazoids and the end to a 120-year war. Council members were both relieved and satisfied. As for the Krangazoids, their fate was sealed in the dead lands. There was nothing in the dead lands. It was a wasteland with no resources and only the most meager of lifeforms existed there. And while peace was restored in Dimension-X, Krang was still around and that meant trouble in the time to come.

In the 120 years that the war was taking place, two things were happening that would change Dimension-X forever. One was the war with the Krangazoids. The other was Krang using the distraction from the war to amass his own army. And despite the new security procedures, which required Dimension-X to be patrolled for possible threats, it was already too late. Krang had created a massive army of rock soldiers, also known as stone warriors. Krang knew that they wouldn’t turn against him because he was all they knew. It did, however, take Krang some time to develop enough Mutagen for his army. But in the end, 10,000,000,000 rock soldiers stood strong and ready. One rock soldier was created to lead the army. His name was General Traag. Traag was tough and burly, yet charismatic and commanding.

“We are standing by for further orders, my lord,” said General Traag.

“Excellent, General Traag,” replied Krang with a sinister grin.

Krang had his base of operations set up in a large asteroid field. The asteroid field made a perfect hiding place during the war. It was in a remote and uninhabited region of Dimension-X. And because Dimension-X was vast, military patrols had a tremendous area to cover. One council member suggested setting up small bases throughout Dimension-X. But an endeavor like that would have taken a tremendous amount of time and resources.

A group of military patrols received a distress call from a distant planet.

“We are under attack. We are taking heavy fire. Stone-like soldiers are attacking us. Please assist.”

The staticky, scrambled message sent chills down the tentacles of the soldiers on patrol. They knew that something big was taking place. At that, they sent a dispatch back to the council who responded by deploying troops for reinforcement. But before they could reach the ailing planet, Krang had already put a strangle on it with his diabolical claws. It was the seventh world Krang had taken that week and he was moving quickly to conquer more of Dimension-X.

Krang and General Traag had devised a device known as a weather maker which created violent weather. Weather makers were useful in destroying cities. The weather maker was programmed with atmospheric conditions similar to that on Krangus. Cities couldn’t withstand the horrendous force that the weather makers put out. Buildings fell to ruin in minutes. Resources were plundered from the remains of the cities.

Another devious device that Krang had made was the minimizer. It was a boomerang-shaped device that literally shrunk anything it fired on. Entire military installations were reduced to near nothingness, which meant left worlds to be conquered with little effort. The only flaw of the minimizer was that it was programmed to shrink only military installations. Krang never did reprogram it do shrink other things.

Krang didn’t stop with planets. He had already successfully opened portals to other dimensions and launched attacks against them as well. Many of them were peaceful and not at all militant. As a result, Krang’s name struck terror upon those who escaped his ruthless attacks. He began to become infamous and feared in just a short time. With an army of rock soldiers at his command, he was virtually unstoppable. The Dimension-X military was the only worthy opponent simply because its sheer size.

Scopes began to light up as the military was approaching the already war-torn area of Dimension-X that Krang had conquered. Thousands upon thousands of unknown craft were detected by their scanners.

“I’m detecting a lot and I mean a lot of activity on the radar,” an intelligence officer said.

The military was about to come face to face with the leading edge of Krang’s massive army. Dimension-X in less than two years was already facing another civil war. But this war was much worse than the battle of Krangus. Rock soldiers were plentiful and they were an unfamiliar threat to the military.

“I am Krang, warlord and ruler of Dimension-X. I demand you to surrender to me or face retaliation,” demanded Krang as he was escorted by a battalion of rock soldiers.

The council who was watching what was happening became shocked and appalled at the site of another Krangazoid as Krang appeared on their main screen.

“I thought all the Krangazoids were expelled at the battle of Krangus,” one council member said.

“This is outrageous,” exclaimed one council member. “We’ve fought so hard to keep peace here. We can’t let Krang take that away from us!”

The council, still shaken but now infuriated, refused to comply with Krang’s ultimatum. The council replied to Krang saying, "We’re not complying with your ultimatum, Krang. We will NOT surrender!”

Krang responded to them with anger and contempt saying, "Very well. If you fools will not surrender to me, then I shall destroy you all.”

And at that, Krang terminated communications. The council was very upset and angered by Krang’s words. Something had to be done. Military intelligence had reported hundreds of millions of rock soldiers in Dimension-X. Eliminating Krang’s rock soldiers would not be an easy job. In fact it could take hundreds of years if not more to do so. Nobody was ready for this. Even with the amount of military forces that was generated during the battle of Krangus, things seemed rather uncertain about the war. The rock soldiers added such a devastating variable to the equation that the council was left both frightened and awe struck.

“Open fire!” commanded General Traag.

Both sides began blasting away at each other in what would be a fearsome fight.

At about that time, Krang had enlisted the aid of a vile and sinister fellow by the name of Berzerko. Berzerko was exiled from another dimension for war crimes. He was however, a brilliant engineer and a remarkable inventor. Krang approached Berzerko with an offer in exchange for his services. Krang’s troops had difficulty maneuvering around all the rock in Dimension-X and he felt that the weather makers weren’t efficient conquering machines on their own. He needed something more. Krang had offered Berzerko wealth and treasures from plundered and conquered worlds. In return, Berzerko had designed a mobile fortress that he felt would suit Krang’s needs. He called it the Technodrome. The Technodrome was an enormous armored fortress with a large front canon designed to cut through rock. It was capable of demolishing anything in its path. Berzerko explained to Krang that certain materials would need to be gathered in large quantities before the construction could begin. Krang accepted the design plans from Berzerko and told him that he would have his reward very soon. Krang of course had no intention of paying Berzerko.

The council had been convening secretly to plan Krang’s exile. They knew that the rock soldiers were difficult to deal with on their own. But without Krang’s leadership, they felt that his rock soldiers would be without guidance or direction. By exiling Krang, communications between him and his rock soldiers would be severed. This seemed to be the only solution. An elite task force needed to be assembled to get rid of Krang. The council began planning their strategy.

A group of young aliens, known as the Neutrinos (descendants of the Leptonites) found themselves constantly caught between battles. They were just teenagers wanting to have fun. But both sides of the war ostracized them for their interference. The Neutrinos grew to resent war and developed an even stronger resentment towards Krang. Often they would intentionally hot rod in the way of the rock soldiers’ aim. Krang made it a priority to have them captured because he felt that they were a nuisance to his plans.

The council had been planning carefully to ensure that the elite task force would strike at just the right time. Military intelligence had found something that added an interesting twist to the situation. An ion storm was approaching the region and Krang’s forces would be encountering it soon. Unlike a plasma storm, which interfered with communication and some equipment, an ion storm interfered with dimensional portal flow. In fact, an ion storm could destabilize a dimensional portal unless there was an even portal exchange. One individual would have to be sent from the place the portal opened to allow an individual from the other side of the portal to enter. But that was only one complication of an ion storm. Depending on the severity of the storm, it could also cause a portal to open to the wrong dimension. And it could even cause the individual entering the portal to undergo molecular dismemberment. The council knew the risks but had no option but to proceed with its plan.

“It’s looking really bad out here,” said an intelligence officer as he saw an incredibly violent ion storm approaching.

Krang and his troops began entering the region with total disregard to the storm. Krang was used to this kind of weather because his home planet of Krangus had frequent ion storms. The military began to diverge from its standard formation into what appeared to be a foolish and dangerous attack position.

“Those fools are setting themselves up for defeat. Their attack formation is flawed,” said Krang, as he laughed arrogantly.

The rock soldiers began to engage the military when it suddenly moved in an x-shaped direction. At the same time, another group of ships flew around the x-formation in a circular motion. This caused great distraction to the rock soldiers. But Krang thought of it as an act of sheer desperation. The military again moved in circle x-formation and moved in and out while doing barrel roll maneuvers. The rock soldiers began dividing up in an attempt fire upon the darting crafts. The military brought reinforcements and repeated this maneuver several times while dropping quasar mines.

The distraction created by this unusual movement left Krang exposed. He was however protected by a small forcefield. Several missiles were enough to disable the forcefield. Krang didn’t hesitate to return fire, which downed several ships. General Traag felt an urgency to protect Krang. He ordered some rock soldiers to return to Krang. A small ship moved and nudged Krang out of their reach. The ship then turned around and fired an electron harpoon, which snagged Krang. It then dragged him to a dimensional portal. When it got close enough to the portal, it let go and sent him flying through. His reign of terror had ended in 1987 AD, just two years after starting the war.

The ion storm made the portal extremely unstable and caused Krang’s body to split in half. The military opened the portal to the dead lands but the ion storm caused it to open to Earth.

Krang was gone but his rock soldiers continued fighting. They become somewhat distraught without Krang to guide them. General Traag continued the war but the odds had evened up some.