Ricky woke up feeling strange. Like he felt fine physically and mentally; in fact, he felt better than he had in a long while, but despite that, something still felt strange. He felt heavier than before, but why? Still a bit groggy, Ricky looked down, only to see his view blocked by two mounds. What?! Fearing something was terribly wrong with his body, Ricky bolted up from his bed and scrambled to the mirror. To his surprise, instead of his body being disfigured or something like that, he found an adult staring back at him. Instinctively, Ricky flinched, thinking that there was a strange adult in his room. However, seeing the "adult" flinching as well and noticing the clothes he was wearing were the same as his own made the new man realize who he was staring at.
"I-is that me? It's me! Holy crap! This is me!" All the yelling Ricky was doing alerted his friend that he had woken up. Bobby made his way upstairs to find Ricky touching his new muscles and doing some poses. Damn, Ricky was buffer than he expected him to get. He wasn't a bodybuilder, but it was clear that he knew his way around the gym. Clearly, Bobby needed to work out more if he was ever going to catch up to him.
"Well, you seem to be enjoying yourself, Ricky. I have to say, I wasn't expecting to grow up as well as you have." Ricky turned to see "Eric" leaning against the doorway. At first, the newly grown man smirked, thinking of how he wasn't going to be pushed around by Eric again. However, another revelation hit him. Was this Eric? Because he looked like a certain someone who appeared in the dream he had.
"Bobby?!" Bobby smiled and slightly nodded at the answer.
"Heh, finally, you figured it out. I didn't like getting yelled at by my friend, you know." Ricky rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He knew that Bobby was just teasing him, but it was still a bit embarrassing.
"Sorry... Huh, wait, how are you an adult now! How am I an adult now?! How did this..." Before Ricky could continue, Bobby raised a hand, signaling for him to stop.
"Hey, slow down. I'll tell you everything later. Right now, I think we should let you finish. You still have a few minutes left of aging."
A few minutes left? Wait, yeah, Ricky could feel his body still growing. All of his new muscles were still hardening and expanding! Biceps, Pecs, Shoulders, Back, Abs, Legs. Everything was getting stronger. Just a bit more, just grow a bit more! The formerly baggy clothes Ricky had on were quickly becoming skin-tight. It wasn't long until a tear was heard. Yeah, this shirt was getting a bit too tight right now. So, with a roar, Ricky tore the shirt in half, leaving his muscular body on display for all to see.
Woah, that was one nice bod you got there Ricky, Bobby thought...
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After all the changes were done, the first thing the two did was find clothes that would fit Ricky's new body. They managed to find some athletic shorts for him to wear, but none of the shirts in Ricky's house was big enough to fit him. Guess the two were going to have to go to search Bobby's house for some clothes or go shopping if nothing fit him. For now, Ricky was just going to have to remain shirtless for now. Which he didn't mind. In fact, Ricky was still engrossed in exploring his new muscles. Right now, he was amazed at how his back was wide enough to have lats visible.
Well, now was a good time to explain how this all happened. So Bobby invited Ricky to sit down as he explained everything. Starting from the old man to where they are now. Hopefully, Bobby explained everything well enough. From the look on Ricky's face, it seemed like the case. Although it seemed like other ideas were floating around his head.
"So, that's how you did it," Ricky said, looking deep in thought. It seems like he was planning something. Out of the two of them, Ricky was always the one scheming something. "Hmmm, you know I had to wonder what happens if you add an adjective to your wish."
"Adjective? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, for example, I could wish for you to age 2 years and add that you were training as a bodybuilder during that time. Huh, I guess modifier would be a better term, actually."
"I haven't even considered. Yeah, we can try that. I wish-" Bobby was raising up the ring when Ricky grasped his hand to stop him.
"Wait, wait, hold your horses, Bobby. We shouldn't test this out on ourselves. After all, what if our own desires end up causing us to influence how we grow up? I mean, I think both of us like being big and buff, so we might end up causing a false positive if we wish that."
"Good point. So, what do you propose you do. You seem to have some sort of plan."
"Well, I say we pick some test subjects and use the ring on them to test our modifier theory. Though, we're not going to tell them that we're changing them until after the fact. That way, we have zero influence on the results."
"I see you've been paying attention in science class. Alright, I'm game. I'm assuming you already have some targets in mind?"
"Yup, the first one would be Cole Maxwell." Cole Maxwell? He was the son of the CEO of Maxwell Technology. Despite being a rich kid, he was actually quite nice. Guess his parents managed to teach him to be humble. It explained why he went to public school, now that he thought of it. "I think pretty boy needs to man up. What if we make it so that he went to military school, or played for the football team? Oh! What if he grew up with double the normal testosterone? Wouldn't that be interesting?"
Yeah, it's true that Cole probably wouldn't do either of those things. He'd be a perfect test subject for that. Not to mention, Cole was rich; if there was anyone who could get that second ring, it would be Cole.
"Second, Edmund Walker," Oh, Edmund. He was a chubby nerd that Ricky befriended, mainly because both of them were bullied. "Edmund is always self-conscious about his weight. So I'd say he either needs to embrace it and become a powerlifter or reject it and become a bodybuilder."
"Third, I'd say we could use it on Malcolm West."
"Malcolm?!" Bobby was shocked that Ricky would suggest him. Malcolm was one of the bullies who tormented them. "Why would you want to help him out?!"
"Who said anything about helping him out? I'd say we make him grow up to be the loser we all know he is. We can also try and make him younger. I know that old man said that you need another ring for that, but what if we wished for him to age a negative number? I'd admit, it's probably not going to work, but it won't hurt to try."
Using Malcolm as a target to see if they can make some negative changes, huh? Yeah, Malcolm certainly could be taken down a peg, but Bobby was worried about what would happen if those adjectives didn't work.
"Finally, there's always Eric." Before Ricky could say anything more, Bobby interrupted.
"Hey, I know Eric can be a jerk sometimes, but he's my brother. So, don't be too harsh on him."
"What? Me? I would never. Ah, but don't worry I won't mess with him much. In fact, maybe we can do a bit of role reversal and make him the younger brother."
"Well, that's all my test subject candidates. I'll let you choose which one we pursue and how we will change them. Although if you have a better idea, I'm all ears."
He was going to decide? Well, talk about being put on the spot. Hmmm, after thinking it over for a moment, there was one person that he was interested in changing over all the others.