After they all calmed down, Jeff's dad said, "well there's not much we can do about this tonight. Jeff – looks like you'll have to be a jeep at least for a couple of days."
"At least can I still drive Jeff to school until you get him transformed back?"
"Yes" replied Jeff. "It beats sitting bored in the garage. Plus – I like all the people admiring my new tricked out body."
Greg turned off Jeff's key. "Just to be safe," Greg said, "I should probably take the keys in so that you can't be stolen."
"Wait – don't do…" Jeff's radio went silent when the key was removed. It shut off all of his main power, and put him in a drowsy mode. He soon fell asleep, and had dreams of racing in the desert.
The next day, Greg jumped into Jeff the jeep started him up with the roar. Jeff went from asleep to fully aroused in the turn of the key. "Well good morning to me!" said Jeff."
"Time to race to school," Greg smirked. "Think you can enjoy that?"
"Let's see what I can do you the highway!" Jeff mused.
After getting to school in record time, Greg pulled Jeff the jeep around back to the schools auto shop.
"What gives, Greg? You promised no more mods yet."
"Don't worry, bro. You're safer back here. Besides- I'll tell mr. Osborne your off limits today."
"I'll come check on you at lunch," Greg said.
Jeff the jeep got bored and dozed off in the auto shop.
Danny came in for his advanced shop class, and noticed that Jeff was back.
"If Greg brought his Jeep back, he must have liked all the mods I've made. Maybe I should look to see if there's anything else I need to do." Danny slips into the seat and starts Jeff up. Jeff awakens and is nervous that Danny is back. He hated that he was helpless, and couldn't control himself in any way. Danny revs Jeff's engine, and notices that the RPMs are not quite as good as he would like.
"Let's pop the hood and check your programming" Danny said.
Programming? Jeff wondered. I wonder how much of that is car programming, and how much of it is me?
Danny popped Jeffs hood, and found the diagnostic port near his fuses. Danny plugged Jeff into the computer and downloaded Jeff's programming. To Jeff, it felt like someone was sticking a hand in his brain and mixing it all about, touching every part of his thoughts.
Danny sits back perplexed by what he sees on the screen. "I've never seen anything like it. What did your previous owner do to you? This is ridiculously more complex than a jeep needs. That's why it's not running smoothly; too many instructions! Oh well- I bet I can fix all this with a firmware update."
Jeff is now in full panic mode. What if the new firmware changes his soul?
Jeff breaks character and turns on his radio full blast to warn Danny.
"DON'T DO THIS PLEASE!!" Unfortunately for him, it is bad timing as the station Jeff is tuned to is playing Heavy Metal. Danny hears Jeff screaming; but just dismisses it as part of the song.
"Crazy ass radio" Danny says as he turns the switch physically off. "Too bad the update won't fix that." Danny finally finds the right file for Jeff's model of jeep.
Jeff screams again, " STOP- DONT DO IT! YOU MIGHT HUrrrr -czzzzzzzzzzt!
"There," said Danny. "Old program deleted; new firmware uploaded. Let's see how it sounds now."
Danny starts the jeep up, and it's engine revs beautifully.
"Much better. Greg is going to be thrilled!"
It may be Jeff's body, but Jeff is no longer at home.
Greg ends up missing lunch due to a detention he hadn't served. He finally got back to the shop after school.
He hops into his jeep and pops in the key.
"Hey bro- sorry I didn't make it by at lunch. Did you survive the boredom?"
The jeep stays silent. Somber slightly sorrowful music is playing on the stereo.
"Are you pissed at me? Giving me the silent treatment? I'm sorry! I got detention!"
The jeep still doesn't respond.
"Fine." said Greg. " you can pour all the way home. Greg zips out of the parking lot and heads home.
As they pass the farm on the way home, Greg has had enough.
"You can give me the the cold shoulder; but you're gonna have fun doing it." Greg turns into the field and locks up some mud.
After he had his fill, Greg finally drove the jeep home and parked in the garage. He slammed the car door because he was done with Jeff's 'attitude.'
Jeff and Greg's dad was waiting for them in the garage. "Enough of that! Jeff may be made out of metal; but he is still your brother. While you were at school, I've managed to reprogram the Chronivac to allow the me parts to become part of Jeff."
"Fine- knock yourself out" Greg replies.
" well then- lets get this started so that your momma doesn't yell at us for supper."
Jeff's dad had moved the Chronivac to the garage toke the process smoother. He hit enter to start the transformation.
Jeff's body started to soften and reform itself. It appeared that the new transformation program was working; because all of Jeff was changing back to human- including the premium parts.
But it wasn't the same Jeff. His souped-up engine transformed into a burly chest with pecs that any wrestler would kill for. His back tires transformed into perfectly muscled tree trunks for legs. His front tires became arms so chiseled that there were shadows in the creases between bulges. His shifter didn't change much in length; it turned into 12 inches of thick man meat. And his premium paint job became perfectly sun-kissed skin. Jeff's dad couldn't help but admire the muscled stud that Jeff had become. "That process did right by you; you wouldn't have got there with our genetics."
As the process completes, Jeff stays down on all fours in a football posture and stares blankly at the back wall of the garage; breathing hard. Jeff's dad figured he may be worn out from the process."come in for dinner when you've caught your breath and have put on clothes."
Jeff never came in. Greg figured he was still moping around for being forgotten all day. The rest of the family heads out to the garage to check on him. They stopped in shock- Jeff hadn't moved an inch.
Jeff's mom stroked his hair; his dad tried to slap him out of it. Nothing would bring Jeff out of it.
Just then, Greg start to put two and two together and wonders if Jeff got modified at school. He quickly calls Danny on his phone.
"Danny – did you mess with my jeep today at school?"
"Sure did, bro – the engine's running a lot better now."
"What did you do to fix it?"
"I deleted out the old programming, and uploaded the latest firmware."
"Holy shit, Danny! You just erased my brother!"
"Wha-" Danny started to ask, but Greg hung up on him.