Funktastic Frog Boy
| The Funktastic Frog Boy | ||||||||||
| Player: @valiants88 | ||||||||||
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| The Funktastic Frog Boy leaps into action! | ||||||||||
| Biographical Data | ||||||||||
| Real Name: | Frederick "Freddie" Pond | |||||||||
| Known Aliases: | None | |||||||||
| Gender: | Male | |||||||||
| Species: | Human (augmented) | |||||||||
| Ethnicity: | Mixed | |||||||||
| Place of Birth: | Liverpool, England | |||||||||
| Base of Operations: | Liverpool, England; Millennium City, Michigan, U.S.A. | |||||||||
| Relatives: | Diana Pond (mother); Colin Pond (father, status unknown); Fred Milne (uncle, deceased) | |||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||
| Age: | 15 | |||||||||
| Height: | 6'0 | |||||||||
| Weight: | 120lbs | |||||||||
| Eyes: | Light grey; gold sclera; very similar to an actual frog's eyes. | |||||||||
| Hair: | Black; light green highlights; thick and spiky, with a prominent widow's peak. | |||||||||
| Complexion: | Medium tone; smooth; often damp dependent on general state of health. | |||||||||
| Physical Build: | Wiry | |||||||||
| Physical Features: | Distinctive physical mutations include large, protruding eyes; wide mouth; protractible tongue; long limbs with above-average flexibility; large hands and feet. | |||||||||
| Status | ||||||||||
| Fame: |
Local | |||||||||
| Alignment: |
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| Identity: | Secret | |||||||||
| Years Active: | One | |||||||||
| Citizenship: | United Kingdom | |||||||||
| Occupation: | Student | |||||||||
| Education: | Secondary school | |||||||||
| Marital Status: | Single | |||||||||
| Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
| Superhuman strength, agility, and jumping speed; enhanced jump ceiling; increased flexibility and elasticity; expanded lung capacity (can hold his breath for up to an hour); extendable, sticky tongue, can be launched quicker than a human eye can perceive; adhesive grip; night-vision; lightning-fast reflexes; skilled swimmer prior to mutation; practised acrobat and martial artist. | ||||||||||
| Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
| Protective goggles; reinforced boot soles; communicator-watch; Poisondart. | ||||||||||
| Physical Attributes | |||||||||
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| Speed |
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Reflexes |
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Stamina |
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Agility |
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| Combat |
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Regen |
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| Non-Physical Attributes | |||||||||
| Energy |
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Psionics |
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| Telepathy |
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| Sorcery |
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Tech. |
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Knowledge |
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Bravery |
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| MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada | |||||||||
Contents
Background
Early Life
Freddie Pond was born in the Knotty Ash area of Liverpool, the only son of Captain Colin Pond and biology teacher Diana Pond (née Milne). He was named in honour of his uncle, his mother's twin brother, who passed away after succumbing to grievous wounds sustained whilst foiling a mugging. Although Fred Milne is remembered as something of an eccentric who spurned social niceties, Diana maintains that her brother was the most heroic man she had ever known, and a good friend to those who needed him.
The time Freddie got to spend with his father was always limited, as Colin's purported work with the United Kingdom's Special Air Service frequently required him to operate in secrecy in far-off countries, and correspondence was heavily restricted. His current status since his deployment to the Middle East in 2012 remains confidential. Freddie's adolescence brought with it an unfortunate sense of ambivalence towards his father as a result of their poor relationship.
Becoming Frog Boy
Freddie was one of many victims of bullying at the hands of a gang led by Moses "Croc" Crocker. After a complication at school, during which he inadvertently humiliated Crocker in front of the student body, Freddie was jumped on the way home by a thief who ran off with his schoolbag. This turned out to be part of a revenge ploy on the part of Crocker, who was waiting in ambush in a nearby park. The attack was swift and brutal. Crocker intended to drown Freddie by holding his head under the surface of a pond.
It was just as Freddie was losing consciousness that a meteorite touched down in the same pond, irradiating the water with strange, mutagenic energies and subjecting him to a painful transformation that left him with a plethora of frog-like powers. Freddie was quick to observe the possibilities this presented, though he opted to keep what happened a secret for the time being. This was easier said than done, however, as the change also gave him enlarged hands and feet, rubbery skin, and exaggerated facial features.
In order to maintain his secret, he took to covering his face, leading others, including his mother, to assume he had been badly injured when the gang attacked him. Crocker fled, scared of the potential ramifications, and has not been seen or heard from since. Freddie lamented that the situation had spiralled well out of his control and may have ruined someone else's life. Deciding to make the best of things, he spent a weekend testing out his new powers, designed a costume and styled himself as "Frog Boy."
The Hero of Merseyside
Frog Boy made his debut when he thwarted an attempted mugging of his school's headmaster. He went on to make local headlines by intervening in robberies and mob-related criminal activity across the county. After aiding the police in a siege and saving fourteen people, a D.J. on B.B.C. Radio gave Frog Boy the title "Funktastic." Frog Boy contacted the show personally to accept his new name.
On his fifteenth birthday, he received a surprise message from Defender, leader of the Champions, inviting him to Millennium City for a celebration of young heroes from all over the world. The cover story he gave his mother was that he had been in contact with the administrator at a noted school for gifted youths, and had been asked to attend an open day which required him to visit the United States. When she tried to follow him, he told her he planned to stay with several other invitees.
Arriving in the United States, he met and befriended other fledgling heroes, as well as more experienced ones. Many of the latter were alarmed by just how young he was. Several patronising remarks later, he decided to extend his stay, buying more time to leave an impression on the wider adventuring community.
Joining the Adventurers
Over the next few days, Frog Boy proceeded to make a nuisance of himself to the numerous gangs vying for control of Westside. While out on patrol, he foiled the supervillain Ice Ice Johnny's robbery of an off-license. He was approached by Red Spider and Fox, two leading members of the Adventurers, who had been watching from close by. Impressed by his feats of athleticism and improvisational capacity, they believed he would be useful in their battle against Lady Vengeance, the despot of a parallel universe. Excited, he agreed to join them without hesitation.
The subsequent debriefing revealed the team's plan to force Lady Vengeance to abandon her impenetrable armour, but the set-up demanded that her attention be focused elsewhere, something the Adventurers were convinced Frog Boy's speed and agility allowed for. Footage of the group's prior engagements with the villain took some of the wind out of his sails, but when given the option to stand down, he immediately refused. Entering Vengeance's reality, he participated in a concentrated effort along with Red Spider, Juggernette, Knightshadow, Dreamweaver and Meltdowner, allowing Roak and Lady Justice sufficient time to bring her down. The attack was ultimately successful, but Frog Boy was unprepared for the intense agony Vengeance suffered as a result. Faced with a momentary lapse in faith, and wondering if his efforts were truly significant in the grand scheme of things, he fled to be alone. He was later found by Lady Justice, who helped to reaffirm his convictions.
Saving Christmas
The Adventurers received a surprise during the Christmas season, when they discovered the true existence of Father Christmas, who had been ousted from his throne by his negative counterpart, who had also enslaved several other holiday characters. Lady Justice expressed disbelief about the situation, but Frog Boy insisted that whether this Father Christmas was real or not, he still needed their help, and having glimpsed the negative's underlings making their escape as they arrived on the scene, they could at least confirm something was amiss. On instruction from Father Christmas, he and Knightshadow travelled deep into the North Pole to find the prison of the Ghost of Christmas Past, overseen by a jealous, lesser-known reindeer known as Arrow, while their teammates were liberating the remaining ghosts from Frostee the Snowman and Krampus. Knightshadow managed to remove the control device from around Arrow's neck, ending the fight.
Frog Boy later joined with Arrow, Meltdowner and Infinity-Zero and tracked the "Nega-Santa" to his factory, where they engaged him in battle above a frozen lake. Seeing Father Christmas already trapped beneath the lake's surface, Frog Boy leapt in, pulling him into a position where Meltdowner would be able to free him. The heroes were able to defeat the Nega-Santa, who was then revealed to have been merely one part of an elaborate trick orchestrated by Krampus, who congratulated the three Adventurers on their victory before making his escape. Frog Boy began to succumb to his injuries, until Father Christmas restored him with a spell. The Adventurers returned to Millennium City to enjoy the rest of the holiday, having saved it just in the nick of time.
The next morning, Frog Boy discovered a present in his bedroom at the Justice Cave, containing a parcel and a note. The latter addressed Frog Boy's anxieties about his mother, advising him that people could provide happiness for one another every single day, and could do so even without the magic of Christmas. The former was a lost photograph of the Pond family together, taken when Freddie was a toddler and his father was still around. Seeing the image of his mother's smiling face prompted him to make an early New Year's resolution, one he was determined to see through.
Newt: The Girl Amphibian
In the days immediately following the Christmas debacle, Frog Boy was foiling a bank robbery, which was being used as a cover by a teenaged thief named Newt. He was able to prevent her from stealing a specific safe deposit box, but she evaded capture. Intrigued, he made several attempts to track her to her hideout, only to lose her each time. Eventually he succeeded, tailing her to the lair of Doctor Koobus Mangeist,
Realising that Newt could not recall her life from before she changed, and possessed an almost child-like mentality he was not ready to deal with, Frog Boy took her to a private detective friend, Shamus Roper, and his wife Bettie. The couple were both quite surprised by the request, but welcomed the lost girl into their home, giving her the name Katie. While Newt's programming still compelled her to commit acts of mischief and larceny, Frog Boy hoped her new foster family would prove to be a positive influence on her, and decided to take her under his wing for, in his own words, "crime-fighting night classes, twice a week." He chose not to tell the rest of the Adventurers, worrying they might consider it too much responsibility.
Ravenswood Academy
Freddie resolved to enter the most prestigious school in Millennium City, so as to finally make his claims to his mother true. That was the Ravenswood Academy, and getting through the doors proved to be a difficult and arduous task. Many exhaustive weeks of work later, and with some unseen support from Lady Justice, he was accepted. In his first week, he met a bookish female student named Angela Mackie, to whom he felt an instant attraction.
Terror of the Blood Caiman
While Frog Boy had been making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, Moses Crocker had survived as a fugitive. The same radiation that transformed Freddie Pond had mutated Crocker into a monstrous, sharp-toothed reptilian, the Blood Caiman. He had come to blame Frog Boy for his misfortune, and managed to make his way to Millennium City on a ship. After several days spent stalking him from afar, Crocker kidnapped some classmates and used them to lure Frog Boy and Newt to the harbour, where he lay in wait. Although the pair's speed and agility allowed them to stay ahead of the Blood Caiman for a considerable time, they were no match for the monster's brute strength. The Caiman was defeated when the duo led him into a trap of their own. Snagged in an anchor chain, he lost consciousness due to oxygen deprivation, allowing Frog Boy and Newt to rescue the Ravenswood students. The Caiman apparently regained his senses and escaped during this time.
Covert Ops.
Balancing school and his responsibilities to Newt meant that Freddie was not available to act with the Adventurers again until some time after their battle with the Leviathan, led by Aquatide. During intense judicial proceedings that called the character of several members of the team into question, Frog Boy accompanied Red Spider, Fox, Dreamweaver, Lady Justice, Roak and Artisan to Vibora Bay to meet with Alexander Brightman, a scientist who had recently been rescued from death at the hands of Source Biotech Enterprises, a sinister company revealed to be neck-deep in a scheme involving cloned and kidnapped superhumans. The doctor proved his goodwill by healing the injuries Frog Boy had sustained fighting the Blood Caiman. He was invited to join the team as their official medic, and Frog Boy suggested the codename "Doctor Hope," which Brightman immediately took a liking to.
Frog Boy attended a meeting with Suzuki, a high-ranking UNTIL operative, to further discuss matters regarding Source Biotech Enterprises and exchange information. It was revealed that a division within the company were using a sophisticated device called the Meta Detector to find and monitor superhumans across the United States—any subjects the division considered suitable for their purposes were then abducted and taken away for experimentation. Suzuki had decided to entrust the mission to the Adventurers rather than expose his own men to unnecessary risk. Since anyone possessing superhuman traits would be detected by the device, it fell to a small, covert team consisting of Fox, Roak and Artisan, along with the independent heroine White Star—who was also investigating the company's shady practises—to infiltrate the train carrying the device to the Source Biotech headquarters in Florida and neutralise it.
Forced to remain on standby, Frog Boy talked to Dreamweaver and Meltdowner about past adventures, including their trip to Lady Vengeance's alternate universe. He voiced his curiosity about the possible existence of his own doppelganger, and how they may have turned out in that reality. Their conversation was cut short when word reached them that the mission had gone badly, and the three of them intercepted the train so they could aid their teammates. While the rest of the team destroyed the Meta Detector, retrieving its hard-drive as well as several pieces of incriminating documentation and a mysterious laptop, Frog Boy entered the crew compartment and successfully altered the train's course, sending it towards Atlanta, and a waiting UNTIL unit.
The Clash in Club Caprice
Powers & Abilities
Freddie Pond obtained his frog-like powers after being doused with water irradiated by a meteorite. They include:
Physical aptitude: Frog Boy's strength, agility, speed (especially when jumping), and reflexes have all been drastically enhanced.
Flexibility and elasticity: although Frog Boy still has a human skeletal structure, his physiology is much more rubbery, meaning he can contort or stretch his body further than normal without injuring himself, and his skin can absorb a lot more punishment.
Lung capacity: Frog Boy's lungs have greater plasticity than a mortal's, allowing him to hold his breath for up to an hour at a time. Prior to his mutation he suffered from a mild case of asthma, however the condition seems to have been eradicated.
Jumping: Frog Boy's trademark ability is his remarkable jump ceiling. His maximum height and distance have yet to be properly documented, however as of this article's publication he has been witnessed crossing whole city districts in just a few short hops.
Tongue: Frog Boy's second signature is his tongue, which can stretch to an approximate length of twelve feet. He is able to launch it at incredible velocity, and it is extremely sticky. This adhesion can be switched on or off at will, so it can be effectively wielded as a snare, bludgeon or grappling device without the risk of becoming stuck.
Grip: Frog Boy's fingers terminate in flat, sticky pads, which allow him to scale walls and ceilings, and make it much harder for opponents to dislodge him. Just as in the case of his tongue, he can control when his adhesion takes effect.
Night-vision: Frog Boy's eyes share more factors in common with the structure of an actual frog's eyes, making him better suited to operating under cover of darkness. His ability to perceive yellow light has also been improved.
Tools & Equipment
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Goggles: Frog Boy initially incorporated an ordinary pair of swimming goggles into his costume to protect his eyes when travelling through the air at high speeds. He soon upgraded to a pair with tinted lenses that would compensate for his inability to perceive red light. He owns several pairs of these goggles, each with different special functions, which he uses to facilitate various situations. |
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Reinforced boots: although he can withstand a significant degree of punishment, Frog Boy realised that excessive jumping at great heights and speeds could still hurt him, not to mention destroy his footwear on a regular basis. He designed special boots with tough but flexible soles that could cope with the stress as well as protect him against injury. |
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Communicator-watch: given to him by Red Spider after officially joining the Adventurers, Frog Boy uses this device to maintain contact with the rest of the team over long distances, as well as to keep an ear out for emergencies occurring in the vicinity. |
Relationships
Allies
Red Spider and Fox: as the members of the Adventurers who originally scouted him for the team, Frog Boy feels an immense desire to prove they were right to choose him.
Lady Justice: after the battle for the alternate universe, Lady Justice helped Frog Boy to find his faith again. She also gave him the location of the Justice Cave when it was revealed he could no longer afford to stay at his hotel in Westside. He believes that he owes her for keeping him on the right track and off the streets.
Shamus and Bettie Roper: a private detective and history teacher respectively, Frog Boy encountered the couple on a number of occasions, and formed a fast friendship with them. They trusted each enough for Frog Boy to learn that Bettie had regretted never being able to raise a child, and so he believed them to be the best choice to look after Newt after she was liberated from Doctor Mangeist. That said, they are unaware of Katie's twice-weekly nighttime activities.
Newt: his partner, sidekick, and protégé in the world of crime-fighting. Frog Boy believes that educating Newt to use her special abilities for the good of others is his personal responsibility, and although they sometimes bicker, he has come to rely on her to watch his back when things get tough, and returns the favour in kind.
Angela Mackie: although she was standoffish at first, Freddie has developed a strong attraction to Angela since meeting her at Ravenswood. He seems content simply to study with her, but is working up the courage to formally initiate a relationship.
Doctor Hope: one of the newer members of the Adventurers, Frog Boy does not know Doctor Alexander Brightman especially well, but was the one who suggested his new name after he was recruited to join as the team's medical officer.
Enemies
Ice Ice Johnny: the first super-powered villain Frog Boy faced in Millennium City, confronting him outside an off-license he was in the process of robbing. Johnny wields the ability to freeze the moisture in the air around him, which he used to pin the young hero down. Frog Boy was able to out-think him, however, and rendered Johnny insensible. The fight was seen by Fox, who was watching from a nearby rooftop, and Red Spider, out on patrol. What little conversation they had was mostly used to trade petty insults. Frog Boy looks back on the incident with pride, however Johnny likely holds a grudge against him for his arrest.
Doctor Koobus Mangeist: a mad scientist from South Africa, whose experiments are dedicated to guiding evolution in such a way that all life-forms on Earth may eventually become a single, supposedly perfect entity. He abducted a young girl and infused her with amphibian D.N.A., resulting in the birth of Newt. Frog Boy holds particular animosity towards Mangeist for his careless disregard for human life and his monstrous treatment of innocents. There is little doubt the doctor hates him for taking one of his prized specimens from him.
The Blood Caiman: Moses "Croc" Crocker was a bully caught in the same event that turned Freddie Pond into Frog Boy. Unlike Freddie, Moses hated his condition, in spite of his increased strength and durability. Abandoned by his old gang, forced to live on the run, and ostracised from society, he became obsessed with getting revenge, the one thing he thought he had left to live for. He tracked Frog Boy to Millennium City and attempted to kill him, but was outsmarted and defeated. Although Frog Boy is relieved to know that Crocker survived, the vision of what he has become weighs heavily on his conscience. He has made it his personal mission to capture the Blood Caiman before his cold-blooded reptilian form drives him to do something irreversible.
