No kid likes to move out of their neighborhood, away from their friends and things they are familiar with. The same is felt by Jason Pard a 13-year old who just moved to a new town with his parents and pet frog Fred. As he and his parents pulled into their new driveway, the feeling of loneliness sets in Jason.
"Here we are guys, our new home." Jason's Dad said.
"It's a lovely house, what do you think Jason?" his Mom asked.
"I think I wanna go back to Detroit and see my friends." Jason said.
"Now we've been over this, St. Louis was the closest place in a suburban area that fit our price range."
"Your father's right so please do us a favor and try to accept this place as your new home."
"Fine, I'll try. But there are no promises though."
"Your mother and I have adapted to this change and it's time you do the same."
In midst of their family quarrel, the parents cell phone rings.
"Hello?...Yes this is Bill Pard…Really, how far back…No is not a huge problem…Oh, we could, alright my wife and I will be their shortly…Okay, bye."
"Is something wrong Bill?
"Well it seems that the moving van broke down a few blocks back, but they said we could come and grab anything we might urgently need. And now that think about it, we can leave Jason here so we can load up more stuff and he can get more acquainted with our new neighborhood."
"That sounds good to me. Okay Jason we will be back in a little while so look around and try not to get into trouble."
Jason got out of the car without saying a word and watched his parents pull away. He turned towards the massive house he now called home and clutched Fred's bowl tightly towards himself. Having Fred close always seemed to calm him down and stopped him from worrying. Jason decided to take a look around the property and see what kind of backyard they had.
As he walked around to the back of the house he saw an out of place square container. He wondered what it was as he noticed a sign on the adjacent side. "Radioactive Materials" the sign read as Jason jumped back.
"Radioactive materials? What the hell is this doing here?" Jason exclaimed.
Jason wondered why such a thing was sitting in his back yard, let alone out in the open. It was possible some kid in the neighborhood made a sign that said this box contained radioactive material as a goof. Or maybe someone is hiding something in the container and didn't want anyone looking in it. Or in a real messed up way it really was radioactive material and that could mean trouble but that seemed unlikely.
But as he looked more at the container he had an uneasy feeling come over him and he decided to check out the house.
Jason went back around and unlocked the front door with the key that his parents gave him before they made the trip to St. Louis. As he shut the door behind him he realized how big the house was. The living room was huge and the kitchen was the size of s restaurant kitchen. After looking at the first floor he went upstairs to find his room. He passed by the master bedroom that he knew was his parent's room and found the only other bedroom.
As soon as he stepped in he saw the size of his room was almost twice as big as his last room. Jason placed Fred's bowl onto the nightstand and sat on his bed which were the only two pieces of furniture in the room. As he looked up at the ceiling he had a thought come through his mind, that he might actually like it here. While Jason began to settle himself in, Fred for an unknown reason jumped from his bowl.
By the time Jason noticed Fred was not in the bowl, the fool hardy frog had already hopped himself outside. Jason managed to track his pet to the front lawn where Fred began to hop towards the backyard. Jason ran after him trying to pick him up but Fred was extra slippery today and he could not get a handle on the frog. Fred managed to hop up on the container and stayed.
Jason sighed as he knew his pet was tired and also knew he would be able to grab him. But as he approached Fred, the amphibian began to grow and increase in size.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Jason said as he fell back onto the ground.
Fred continued to grow until he was the same height as the second floor of the house.
"How am I going to catch him now?" Jason asked himself.
Fred let out a loud ribbit causing a hole to open up in the ground. Without any hesitation, Fred leaped from the container and down through the hole.
Fred's life passed before Jason's eyes, seeing him as a tadpole in the pond he visited on a class trip when he was 7. Watching him grow into a full frog and seeing him jump around his bowl. Remembering how when he couldn't sleep at night Fred's croaking helped him to drift off into slumber. And remembering about when he was bullied by Pauli Inus in the third grade and how their love of frogs brought them together and made them friends.
Knowing the love he had for his pet, causing him to jump down the hole after Fred not caring what may be waiting down there for him. As he fell through the earth, his desire to save Fred took over and courage was all he felt. Light began to disappear as he hit the bottom of the hole and landed into a soft pile of dirt. As he stood up and brushed the dirt off himself, a bright light shown on him as if he was on stage of a play.
"Hey, turn off that light, I can barely see." Jason said shielding his eyes.
"Oh, I am sorry…" a female voice said as the light dimmed.
As Jason lowered his arms to see where the light had been coming from, his jaw fell open. Directly in front of him sat a tank with relatively large cannon.
"Wow, that's some tank."
"Thank you, you're not too shabby looking yourself." The female voice said.
Jason's face turned red a little.
"So what's your name?" Jason said looking for the body that went with the voice.
"Sophia…what's yours?"
"Jason. Sophia is a pretty name."
Jason couldn't see what Sophia looked like through the main window of the tank so he decided to get her to reveal herself.
"So you drive this tank yourself?" Jason asked.
"Yes. I'm the only one who ever piloted this tank."
"That's cool. Can I take a look inside?"
"Sure."
The door opened slowly revealing a high tech cockpit. As Jason looked around the inside he noticed several different controls and lit up grid schematics. He was amazed at all he saw, but was a little confused since there was no one in the driver seat.
"Hey Sophia, where are you?"
"Right in front of you."
Jason looked around confused more than before.
"I don't think I understand. I don't see you."
"Well that is because you are standing inside of me."
"Wait…you're the tank?"
"Yes, Super Outfitted Plasma Hyper Infused Auto or Sophia for short."
"Wow…that's so cool. So tell me, why are you here?"
"I was built by a man named Merrick on the planet known as Sophia the 3rd, in which I am partially named after. An evil and vile entity known as "Plutonium Boss" is traveling to all the galaxies and solar systems, taking control of the most advanced planets then the rest of the solar systems. It was reported that Plutonium Boss was making its way toward the Milky Way Galaxy and to the planet Earth. Merrick teleported me to Earth as quickly as he could. "
"How come you ended up underground?"
"Something malfunctioned during the teleportation; I was teleported deep under the Earth's surface. I've been waiting for someone to come by, since the plan for me to come across a human from Earth and by putting our knowledge together we would take down the Plutonium Boss for good."
After hearing her story, Jason decided he was going to be the hero and save the Earth. Also thinking with Sophia's help he could find Fred and bring him back home.
"I've made the decision to help you. I will become your human driver and you and I will save my home, and find my pet frog too."
"If you insist Jason, but first put on this suit. It will protect you as well as mend your mind with my intelligence. You will be able to drive me without being taught anything."
A hidden compartment opened with a white with red stripe suit. With no hesitation, Jason put on the suit. As soon as he finished zipping the suit, his brain began to absorb massive amounts of information.
"Whoa, that was intense. Alright let's go save the world!" Jason said as he pushed the acceleration lever forward and the booster rockets flared on.
The wheels began to spin as the tank rocketed through the underground tunnels. Jason gripped the steering column, stoked about his new adventure.