Mark tapped his Scout leader's shoulder, beckoning for his attention. "Hey, Mr. Bran."
The adult, visibly annoyed, shifted his gaze to the young cub scout. "Can't you see I'm busy dealing with the other troops?" he hissed, clearly exasperated. "This better be important."
Unfazed by the man's irritation, the boy reached into his pocket and retrieved a cherished badge. With both hands, he offered it to his scout leader as a sincere gift. "This is for you. I think you deserve one for all the hard work you do," he said earnestly. The man's expression softened, taken aback by the unexpected gesture. "Well," he chuckled, "No one's ever done something like this for me before. Alright, I'll accept it."
With a grateful smile, Mr. Bran secured the merit badge onto his uniform. Right then and there, the badge shimmered briefly before the changes began. Right before Mark's eyes, his Scout Leader's once proud and towering figure began to diminish, slowly inching closer to the ground. His neatly trimmed hazel hair unraveled into a wild, fiery red mop, taking on a curlier form.
"Wh-" Brann's words abruptly ceased as a cough erupted, causing his Adam's apple to retreat and his authoritative voice to morph into a higher, more childlike tone. "What's happening to me? Did you do this, you little- Ugh!"
An intrusive headache compelled Brann to grip both sides of his head, teeth clenched and eyes tightly shut, as the changes clouded his recollection, obscuring the reasons as to why he had been so mad in the first place. As that happened, the body hair he had been so proud of on his arms and torso vanished, absorbed into his body, leaving behind only a scattering of freckles that painted his face and body in their place.
Mark found himself equally astonished by the transformation. Witnessing someone of Brann's age and authority gradually morphing into another member of their troop was all too weird, and hardly what he'd expected, not that he had any recollection of ever once going through a similar change just two days prior. Strangely enough, it appeared that no one else at the camp took notice, as if the changes were only visible to the two of them, hidden by some unseen force.
Brann's scout leader uniform hung loosely on his diminishing form, sagging and bunching. In a surreal display, the material tore and seamlessly reconstructed itself, transforming into various scout outfits that symbolized their respective ranks in reverse order. Starting from the outfit of an accomplished Eagle Scout, the garments gradually shifted backward in time. Merit badges mysteriously appeared and vanished as young Brann lifted his hands from his subsiding headache, revealing his bewildered blue eyes, now a vibrant shade of green. To his surprise, he found himself approaching the height and attire of a cub scout, resembling Mark.
The pace of the changes gradually slowed, hinting at the transformation's conclusion. Brann, who now remembers going by the name "Ralph", exchanged bewildered glances as his regression continued until...