As the Cadets exited the Junior Cadets’ Room and marched down the hallway, Cadet Stone mentioned “You are right Cadet Carter, the Gate Guard does look sloppy now compared to the rest of us. We just have to be careful with him, Officer Stevens left some core programming that we cannot change.”
“Yes, of course Cadet Stone,” Cadet Stevens responded, “we obviously cannot change his mandate to guard the premises, but we can improve the guard himself.”
“And the gate and fence as well.” Cadet Carter chimed in. “This place looks more like a prison than a Cadet School from the outside.”
“That is a good idea, Cadet Carter,” Cadet Stevens replied, “something like a tall brick walls as opposed to the wire fence, and then a lovely wrought iron gate like a classical Military Academy would have.”
All three Cadets nodded in agreement as they exited the barracks to the Parade Ground to the front gate. As they approach the gate, the Guard did not deviate from his post. He stared eyes scanning the street even though it was empty. The Guard was positioning is the Gate House wearing his uniform: crisp black wool dress pants with a stiff black belt and metal buckle shined to perfection. A light grey button down shirt with the name “Watch Commander Benniford” etched on it and lastly some cheap looking black dress shoes made up the rest of the uniform. It was embarrassingly cheap, and to the Cadet’s discontent was also more comfortable than the uniforms they were forced to wear. It was only fair to make the Guard’s uniform more similar in comfort to theirs.
The Cadets quickly discussed what to do before they began to change the guar welld. They knew they wouldn’t be able to change too much, but they would be able to change his appearance slightly and his uniform.
First, the Guard regressed from an already younger 26 year old age to around 18. This was evident only by the loss of some of the ruggedness of his look, the squareness of his jaw, and the thickness of his shaved facial hair, in addition to the loss of some muscle definition.
Next, he began to grow taller slowly. At first it was barely noticeable from the distance the Cadets were standing, but slowly it became obvious that his pants were not too short, his collar too tight, and the sleeves not long enough. He had grown about 5 inches until he was a towering 6’4”. Very intimidating for a guardsman.
Now for the uniform…they really wanted it to be something impressive, something very ceremonial. First his black wool dress plants began to tighten around his legs to tightly cover every muscle. The fabric became slightly stretchy, but still somehow starched, and then lightened to a brilliant white. In essence his pants had become white military breeches, but that was just the beginning. His button down dress shirt began to morph to a simple white undershirt. What you couldn’t see forming was under the shirt, a male corset with metal ribbing formed from right under his ribs to under his abdomen and tightened immensely. You could see his posture get much more erect and his breathing was even restricted. The undershirt finished forming and automatically tucked itself into the breeches. Next a ceremonial tunic began to form. It was the same gunmetal blue as the Cadet’s Blazers, but much more elaborate. Instead of a traditional collar like blazers had, it buttoned all the way from his navel to the neck, like the Marine Dress Blues tunic does. The gunmetal blue formal tunic had brass buttons and fitted his torso very tightly. Next a white leather belt with a brass clasp formed over his naval on top of the tunic to keep everything properly fitted. Next white gauntlets formed over each hand, covering his hand like a normal glove would and then extending almost to his elbows with the rigid part of the gauntlets.
Next his cheap dress shoes began to thicken to a high quality, high gloss leather. The laces vanished and the leather began to creep up his legs. The shoes became boots and creeped up to his calf and kept growing. Eventually when it reached knee height the back of the boot stopped growing while the front half of the boot grew over the knee and to about mid-thigh. The material thickened further to the point where it would be impossible to crease the leather because he wouldn’t be able to properly bend his legs or flex his feet. The leather would look pristine but it would be insanely uncomfortable and would cause him to have to walk in a very particular military fashion at all times. It made the uncomfortable boots the Cadets always complained about look positively like running shoes in comparison. They may have overdone it a tad, but the boots looked brilliant in combination with the breeches and the gunmetal blue tunic. In the end they looked like the boots worn by the Royal Household Cavalry in England, and they were entirely incongruous in the suburban area the Boot Camp resided in.
Now for some final details. First, a golden metal helmet suddenly adorned his head with a golden braided military chin strap. Then in one of his hands a saber appeared. He held the saber vertically upright with his elbow forming a right angle from his body to keep the saber perfectly level. In his other hand he held the silver case for the saber, which he held against his left leg, with the bottom tip touching the bottom of his boot. Lastly a golden breastplate appeared over his chest, which matched the helmet. In the end, the Guard looked similar to an officer in the Household Cavalry in England, but with some modifications to the uniform such as the color of the tunic. It looked very smart and was very rigid and uncomfortable.
It wasn’t even that hot outside today, but the Guard was already beginning to feel uncomfortably warm under all the layers. And the boots were so uncomfortable and unmovable the only way he could move was in a high march. Since Officer Stevens had changed his biological needs, he had no need of sleep so he would have to endure this torture 24/7, and when not wearing the uniform he would have to be prepping it: polishing the buttons and boots and starching the tunic and pants. Making sure they remained immaculate.
The Cadet’s couldn’t know this, but the Guard was not happy. He had been minding his own business and then out of nowhere those Cadets had the nerve to make all these changes without his permission. He didn’t want this new ceremonial uniform. Unfortunately he couldn’t do anything to them normally, he only had permission to intervene if the Cadet’s tried to leave without authorization, and they were clearly not about to do that. That was probably why they were standing so far away from him, because they knew he would be mad and they didn’t even want to give the implications that they were trying to leave the base. But he would watch, and if they put even a toe off the premises he would teach them the meaning of discipline.