Allen, Pete and Jason (also known as Tiga) had been planning a card game tournament at the Books-A-Billion bookstore during the past three weeks, and they were anxiously waiting for the big day. The management had rented several dozen tables and chairs in order to accommodate the players, and huge posters were plastered all over the school and the bookstore announcing the big event.
Allen and Tiga were greeting people at the door, while Pete was showing them the tables where the players were to dual each other using their cards. The cards had special point values, and each winner would advance to the next round, until two people would dual in the final match for the championship. The first place prize was a brand new XBOX video game console with over $500 Dollars worth of new video games! It was a generous prize which attracted hundreds of players from across the state.
Most players were very considerate and honest when playing against others, but there were a few of them who had begun to raise their voices and had started to shout at their opponents if they suspected that they were cheating, and Tiga and Allen became concerned at the possibility that things might get out of hand.
“Hey guys, do you think we need to hire a security guard or something?” Tiga asked Pete. The two of them walked up to Allen, who was in charge of getting the space at the bookstore for them.
“We don’t have the money to pay for a security guard, dude! They charge over $150 per hour, and this tournament lasts all afternoon! We can’t afford that!” Allen whispered back.
“We need at least two people here who can keep the loud players under control. Who else can we ask?” Tiga wondered.
“I know!” Allen replied, while snapping his fingers. “Ty and Peter can help us!”
Allen quickly closed his eyes and summoned Peter to appear before him at the bookstore. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and Peter materialized out of nowhere, dressed in his usual basketball shorts, jersey, and high tops.
“Dude! Were you playing basketball again? Do you ever play anything else?” Allen chuckled.
“I was practicing my shot!” the tall teenage basketball player replied, as he started to look around the bookstore. “Why did you make me come here?”
“I want you and Ty to help out and provide some security. There is a card tournament going on and some of these players look like they will do anything to win and that includes putting up a shouting match or perhaps even a fight, if they want to. Can you help us?” Allen asked Peter, as Tiga and Pete joined them.
“You can use your powers to help keep the rough guys under control!” Pete replied, with a smile.
“Yeah! So Peter, get Ty to join us! We need both you guys here!” Tiga asked Peter. Peter then closed his eyes and sent a telepathic message to Ty, who was at Milton’s house playing video games.
Suddenly there were two bright flashes of light, and both Ty and Milton appeared before Peter! Milton was the geeky computer whiz who Ty had allowed to grow some muscle. Milton wore his button shirt and he always had his PDA in his shirt pocket with him.
“Hey Peter, Tiga, Allen, and Pete… What’s up?” Ty said, as he looked around the bookstore.
Allen then gave Peter and Ty some instructions, while Milton and Pete walked around the large room. Salvador, Rob, Derrick, Jace and Dustin also showed up to watch the tournament. Once the tournament got started, it seemed like the entire school had showed up for the event!
Little did Ty and Peter realize that two characters had walked in the door, having their mind set on winning it all. Keith and Kevin were two die hard card sharks, and they were determined to win the tournament, even if it took some cheating or card stealing to meet their goal.
“Alright Keith,” Kevin sneered at his partner, “let’s teach these kids how to play a hot card game! See you in the finals, bro!”
“Yeah… Let’s cream these losers at their own game!” Keith replied with an evil grin. Keith was tall and skinny; he wore sunglasses and a cloth with the American flag over his head. He had wild, blond hair, a black t-shirt and a black leather vest over it. He also wore several golden chains around his neck, including one with a large, golden cross on it. He wore arm bands, white pants and black boots. Kevin was short and stocky; he wore a plain black t-shirt and blue jeans. They had come to play quick and to play dirty, and they didn’t care about the feelings of their opponents, as long as they won!
Ty and Peter continued to walk around opposite sides of the room while the tournament was underway and everything went without incident, until suddenly Matt started screaming.
“Hey! YOU’RE CHEATING!” Matt shouted, as he pointed his finger at Kevin.
“I AM NOT! YOU’RE ACTING LIKE A LOSER!” Kevin shouted back. Peter quickly walked over to the table and asked what the problem was. Matt mentioned that he suspected that his opponent was cheating, and Peter decided to supervise the match.
Things went well for awhile, until Matt became upset again and stood up.
“I’M NOT PLAYING WITH YOU ANYMORE! YOU’RE CHEATING!” he yelled.
Kevin got up and became very angry.
“SHUT UP OR I’LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!” he shouted, while making a fist. Peter asked them once more what was going on, and Matt explained in detail why he suspected that Kevin was cheating. He had a very good argument, and Peter decided to investigate. Unfortunately, Kevin started reaching out and gave Matt a shove. Matt then stood up and walked around the table. Fists started to fly, and Peter couldn’t break them up!
“FREEZE, YOU TWO!” Peter shouted out loud, as both Matt and Kevin were suddenly frozen in time.
“Alright, unfreeze Matt!” Peter ordered, releasing Matt from the suspended state. Matt argued his point, and then Peter released Kevin as well.
“Okay, you guys. Let’s continue the game. And no more fighting, or else you’ll be disqualified!” Peter warned.
The boys sat down and Peter continued to walk around. Everything was quiet until Matt got upset again, and they started to push and shove again!
Peter quickly ran over to their table, just as he saw that Kevin had made a fist and was about to deliver a heavy blow to Matt’s face!
“FREEZE KEVIN!” he shouted again, and Kevin was frozen in time, with his arm extended and with his fist before him. His left fist was also ready, poised to deliver the second punch after the first one were to make contact. Peter couldn’t have a fight in the tournament, so he decided to keep Kevin frozen for awhile.
“Matt, I think you’re right! He was cheating! Well, he won’t bother anyone now…” Peter said to him, pointing at the frozen teenager.
Allen and Pete quickly joined Matt and Peter to see what was going on.
“Alright, I’m going to disqualify him. You may as well throw him out, Peter!” Allen whispered.
“Why not keep him frozen for the rest of the tournament?” Pete asked Peter. Peter placed his hand below his chin as he thought about it for a moment.
“I can’t keep him frozen for that long, unless…” he wondered. He then turned towards Kevin and closed his eyes. Then both Matt and Pete gasped as the figure of Kevin started to change color. His skin, his clothes, his hair, his arms and his hands suddenly turned to stone! He was now a gray statue, still shoring the details of the eyes and his eyelashes, the knuckles of his fists, the angry expression on his face, and the hair on his head.
“Oh my God… You turned him to STONE!” Matt exclaimed.
“HE’S A STATUE!” Pete shouted. Both boys were astonished, for they had seen the big, husky teen turn to solid stone before their eyes.
“Look at him… He’s a STUD IN STONE!” Peter chuckled, as he folded his arms in front of his chest while he admired his handiwork. “I guess he won’t bother us anymore! I’ll turn him back to normal and then I’ll unfreeze him after the tournament is over!” Peter then turned around and walked away, as if was no big deal to him.
Both Matt and Pete were left with their jaws wide open, as they watched the mighty teen wizard casually walk around the room. What else could happen?
Ty and Allen were strolling around the other area of the large room, where several players had already started the second and even the third round duals. Ty noticed that one of the players was being very loud and obnoxious when defeating his opponent.
“HA! I knew I was going to win! YOU LOSER! GET OUTTA MY FACE!” Keith shouted at Ian, who was soundly defeated by Keith. Ty heard Keith’s shouting, and decided to quietly walk over to the table, when Keith had just stood up.
“Hey dude, nice shirt… Just wear pink next time, okay?” Keith sneered, as he walked right by Ty while pointing at his bright green t-shirt.
“Who’s that?” Ty wondered, as he watched the taller student walk away, whistling his tune while strolling around the hall with an air of overconfidence, pride and arrogance.
“Hey Ty… That’s Keith. His nickname is ‘Bandit Keith’ and I think he just ran off with one of my best cards!” Ian said, with a tone of sadness.
“He stole one of your cards?” Ty asked Ian, who was beginning to get angry.
“Yeah, the guy’s a jerk. I don’t trust him…”
“I’ll keep a close eye for him, dude. Don’t worry; I’ll make him feel really bad if I catch him doing anything suspicious!” Ty replied, as he followed Keith closely.
Bandit Keith’s next opponent happened to be Ty’s buddy Jason, and Ty decided to watch the match closely. He had the feeling that Tiga was going to have a hard time with Keith, and he never walked too far away from their table. He noted that Peter has had some trouble with some players already, and he just chuckled when he saw the statue of Kevin standing there for the first time.
Keith and Tiga started to dual and things got off to a great start for Tiga. Ty closely monitored the match, and he read Tiga’s mind to see what his buddy was thinking. He knew that Tiga didn’t like Keith’s character because he found him to be selfish and arrogant, but he liked the way he looked, with the headband, the jewelry, and the sunglasses. Ty thought it would be fun if the two were to slowly swap bodies while they were playing their card game.
“So you think you can beat me, huh? Good luck with that, little Jason!” Keith said to him, with an evil chuckle on his face. Jason was about 5’6” tall and had light brown hair with blue eyes, while Keith was about 6’3” and had blonde hair. Ty noted that Keith was about as tall as his cousin Peter.
“You’re gonna wish you could play like me, card boy!” Keith laughed, as he put down his card on the table.
“I could be you, but I don’t like your attitude!” Tiga replied in a serious tone of voice.
“You can never be me, you loser! You just wish you could even have my looks, Shorty!”
Tiga didn’t reply, but Ty felt like it was time to implement Tiga’s wish, just to teach Keith a lesson.
Tiga began to grow taller and more muscular, while Keith slowly started to shrink. Tiga’s hair turned from brown to blond, while Keith started to turn light brown. But neither of them had noticed the changes yet.
“I’m gonna beat you and then I’m gonna win this tournament, and you can’t stop me, you little moron!” Keith chuckled.
“Watch who you’re calling a moron, you JERK!” Tiga lashed out. Immediately Tiga grew a little more as Keith shrunk another two inches.
“Darn it, I feel different…” Keith wondered, as Tiga noticed that he was growing taller. Ty just watched from a difference and started to smile when he saw the first effects of his body swap wish.
“It doesn’t matter, I’m gonna beat you anyway because I’m a hundred times better than you, you wimp!” Keith sneered back at Tiga.
“I can be just as cool as you think you are, and even cooler!” he replied.
“Forget it, shrimp! You’ll never be like me! I’m too good looking for a guy like you. You’re short and ugly and I’m tall and blond and you can’t change that!” Keith growled back with a laugh.
“You’re nothing but an arrogant jerk and I’m gonna beat you fair and square!” Tiga replied, as he put down another one of his cards. He actually scored some points this time, and Keith looked at him with a surprised look on his face.
The dual continued and Tiga started winning. And as time went by, Tiga started to resemble Keith more and more as his shirt and jeans began to transform into the black t-shirt, black leather vest, accompanied by the chains, the necklace, and the golden cross around his neck. Suddenly Tiga was wearing a cloth with an American flag around his head and he now had a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes, while Keith’s clothing suddenly transformed into the plain t-shirt and jeans that Tiga was wearing before he changed.
“Hey! What is this! You’re beating me at my game and you’re stealing my clothes and my jewelry?” Keith shouted at him, when he realized that he had swapped with Tiga.
“Yup, I won, you creep! I beat you fair and square. Not only that, but now I got your looks and your clothes, too!” Tiga cheered, as he turned towards Ty and gave him thumbs up sign.
“CHANGE ME BACK, YOU DWEEB!” Keith shouted, as he stood up in protest. But his mouth dropped wide open when Tiga rose, towering 9 inches over him now.
“HOLY COW! YOU LOOK LIKE ME!!!” Keith shouted, while he was now looking like Tiga.
“Not a chance, dude! I’m gonna stay like you during the tournament and I’m gonna play the next round fair and square!” Tiga chuckled.
“WHAT!? NO WAY! CHANGE ME BACK! NOW!’ Keith started to shout.
Keith walked over to Tiga and started to shove him, when Ty decided to do the same thing Peter had done to Kevin and Matt.
“FREEZE KEITH!” he shouted, as Keith was now left completely frozen, with his teeth grinding and his arms and hands extended out before him as he was poised to shove Tiga once more.
Then Ty concentrated and levitated the frozen figure of Bandit Keith over to where Kevin was standing, in the form of a statue. Ty gently set Keith down facing Kevin.
“Time to turn you to stone as well” Ty chuckled, as Keith now started to lose his color as his skin, his face, his hair and his clothes slowly faded as he turned to stone.
Peter had just walked over to where Ty was standing, and admired his work with a smile.
“We should unfreeze them at the same time after the tournament is over!” he said, while looking over the two stone figures standing there, side by side.
“These troublemakers won’t bother us anymore!” Ty exclaimed, as Pete, Allen, and Tiga walked over to join Ty and Peter.
“Hey, you look just like our bandit now, Jason!” Ty laughed as he stood next to Tiga, who now looked just like Keith did before they swapped bodies, thanks to Ty.
“Let’s finish the tournament so that we can unfreeze them!” Allen said.
In the meantime, several shoppers were walking by the two statues of the angry men, wondering why they were standing in the middle of the bookstore in the first place. Several kids had even tied a few balloons attached to strings to Keith and Kevin’s arms. One girl hung a roll of colored paper from Keith’s arms, for decoration. And another kid was walking around with a broken dog collar, which he neatly placed around Kevin’s neck. The kids made fun of the statues and they laughed at them, while they wondered why they were so angry.
“Remember, kids…” Ty explained to a group of school aged kids, as they walked past the two statues, “Remember to always be nice! Otherwise you’ll end up like these angry, ugly looking dudes!”
The kids just laughed as they walked past Ty and the statues.
In the meantime, the remaining players continued to dual, until just Pete and Tiga remained in the final match. Tiga played hard, so did Pete. But Tiga had a bunch of great cards that were worth a lot of points, and he finally won the last dual!
Allen presented Jason with his new XBOX system, and Peter handed the card champion his gift certificate for $500 Dollars in video games! They people who were there then got to enjoy a dinner buffet and desert, with music videos playing on a large screen TV in the background. After the party was over, Ty and Peter turned towards their statues.
“Look at those two studs in stone!” Ty laughed out loud. “Shall we take them out of their misery and bring them back to life?”
“Yeah, let’s do it!” Peter answered.
“Alright, Peter, on the count of three…” Ty ordered his cousin.
“One… Two… Three!” he shouted.
Immediately Kevin and Keith regained their colors back, as their stone bodies started coming back to life. Stone turned to skin, and their faces, hair, and clothing turned back to cotton, leather, and human flesh. While they were still frozen, Ty swapped Keith and Tiga back, so that Tiga started to shrink back to his old self, while Keith turned back into his old body as well. Then Ty and Peter made Kevin and Keith unfrozen again, and the two men were suddenly shouting, shoving, and punching each other when they realized they were fighting against themselves!
“WHAT DID YOU HIT ME FOR, YOU JERK?” Keith shouted after Kevin had punched him.
“WHAT? YOU SHOVED ME FIRST, YOU MORON!” Kevin hollered back.
The crowd just laughed as the two confused young men ran out of the bookstore, feeling embarrassed and humiliated.
“Let’s get out of here! See how we lost? It’s all your fault!” Keith shouted at Kevin.
“My fault? You’re the one who dragged me into this stupid game!”
“I have NEVER been so humiliated in my life! I’m GONE!” Keith screamed, as he ran home.
“Well, I guess we taught those two jokers a lesson! And now, let’s go hook up that XBOX!” Ty laughed, as he grabbed hold of the big, black box. The guys all decided to head over to Tiga’s house and to spend the rest of the afternoon playing games.
And Tiga was very happy about his prize, while Allen and Pete were extremely pleased with the fact that they were able to count on Ty and Peter once again. The tournament was a success!
Written by Scriptboy, idea by Tigaronso.