What were they going to do now? Before they could even begin to consider how to answer that question, another person entered the room.
"My Invention!" The voice came from Mr. Dirkson, who had to come back to school to retrieve something he had forgotten when he heard the commotion coming from the gym. It was there where he found that the machine that he had been working on for over a year now had broken down into a smoking heap of iron. Could he even fix the machine in this state, or was all that work just lost? At this point, he was seeing red and wasn't thinking rationally. He just wanted to unleash his anger on the person who did this, and he found that when he turned to see Coach Kelb.
"You! What have you done?! Don't you know how hard I worked on this machine! Why did I think it was a good idea to leave a big dumb oaf like you with this machine!" Big dumb oaf!? Well, now it was for Coach Kelb to see red. The coach slowly approached the science teacher, cracking his knuckles in an attempt to intimidate the other man. While Kelb wasn't that much taller than Mr. Dickson, it combined with his vastly more muscular physique, made Mr. Dickson almost tiny in comparison. Still, the smaller teacher didn't back down and stared right back at Ryan unphased before the coach started to yell back.
"Me? What have I done? What have you done?! What kind of mad scientist machine have you created?! It didn't even work correctly! I almost shrank into nothing because of you!" Ryan wanted to scream at Phill more as he had a lot of choice words to say, but something distracted him. Mr. Dickson's pants suddenly had slipped from his waist. Phill caught them before they hit the floor but was confused about why that happened until everyone took a closer look at his body. Mr. Dickson usually had a paunch, but now his stomach was flat, and his face looked a bit fresher than he used to be. Actually, now that Ryan thought about it, Phill used to be lanky until a couple of years ago when he started to gain a little weight. Wait, did this mean Phil got younger? Did he do that? Another moment of silence passed as all the men processed this revelation. After a while, Mr. Dickson spoke up.
"Ryan, what happened here? And what do you mean correctly?"
"Well, when I... used this machine, it made me younger instead of bigger like what Jake said it would..." Coach Kelb trailed off as the two men looked at the half-naked man, who was now looking quite sheepish.
"Uh... Well, you see." Jake then proceeded to tell everything. About how he tried to trick the gym teacher, how they reversed the effects, but he started growing as well, and how the machine broke down afterward. "I'm really sorry that all this happened. I didn't think all of this would happen."
Jake looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. He was really feeling bad for everything that he did. Man, what a mess. To his surprise, Coach Kelb placed a hand on Jake's shoulder in solidarity.
"No, I should apologize too. I'm the adult here. I should have known better than messing with things I don't know anything about. Especially if it's one of Dirkson's Machine." Mr. Dirkson gave Coach Kelb a look before moving on. He's going to let that one slide for now; there were more pressing matters to attend to.
"Ryan, I think..." Mr. Dirkson began. "I think you somehow absorb my invention's capabilities. You can make someone older or younger at will."
"What?! Are you sure about that, Phil?" Coach Kelb exclaimed, shocked at what Mr. Dirkson had said.
"It's the only explanation of why Jake and my ages changed when my invention wasn't used on us. Though, there is one way we can know for sure. Ryan, try turning me back to my original age."
Easier said than done. If Coach Kelb did somehow copy the power the machine had he did not know how to activate it. Did he just picture a person getting older or younger or something like that? Man, what a weird day this was. Anyway, Coach Kelb did what Mr. Dirkson asked and tried to use his powers on him. The tingling sensation Mr. Dirkson felt told him it was working.
"Oh my! I think you're doing it!" but something was wrong. Instead of his paunch coming back, he was becoming leaner and more toned than he ever was. "Wait! Ryan, stop!"
"T-the hell? What's going on?"
"I don't know... I only have one theory." It was such an outrageous theory that he couldn't fully explain it yet, but it was the only explanation that made sense for Dirkson. "I never used my invention on humans, so I think it might have used you as a template. So, if you cause someone to get older, it uses your experiences as a guide to how to age a person."
"W-wait," Jake cut in, "So, you're saying that if Coach Kelb uses his powers to make someone older, they'll become like him?" Coach Kelb perked up when he heard that explanation. Any person he ages will age like they lived his fitness-focused lifestyle? Just think of all he could do with that power. The first thing that came to mind was to teach Jake's friends a lesson. No making fun of his muscles if they had them too. Kelb was smiling at this point, which Dickson noticed.
"It's the only way I can explain why our bodies ended up like this at the moment. I need to do more testing, though, to confirm. Speaking of which, Ryan, try not to use your powers too much. There could be some side effects to you or the people you change." Ugh, why did Phil have to be right, Coach Kelb thought. Well, he certainly shouldn't abuse his powers for sure, but that didn't mean he could have some fun using them now and then.
"Yeah, I got it, Phil. Oh, speaking of using my powers. Jake, I think it's time for you to your original age."
Hopefully, unlike all the other events that had just happened within the hour, this was going to be straightforward.