Ty decided to take a little shortcut to the park to get there ahead of Brian and Ian. When he got there, he immediately spotted their friends, Hank and Paulie, swimming in the public pool from across the field. Surprisingly, there was hardly anyone around aside from the lifeguard and a few people sunbathing. Ty tentatively approached the pool so as not to draw attention to himself and surreptitiously positioned himself just behind a pole where he wouldn't be seen so easily.
"I wonder if I can pull this off without anyone noticing?" he thought. "Let's see, so far I've been able to change the way people look. Can I do the same with the way they think, at least temporarily?"
With his mind, Ty reached out to the lifeguard and the sunbathers and telepathically embedded a command into their subconscious: "Whatever happens for the next half hour or so, you will behave as if nothing is out of the ordinary." For the next few minutes, Ty observed his "targets" and when he was more or less sure his attempt had worked, he turned his full attention to the two teenagers in the pool.
First there was Hank, a 5'7" thin-as-a-reed science whiz who, unfortunately for him, kind of reminded people of Mandark, Dexter's arch-nemesis, without the lust for world domination. His weak chin and longish face reinforced the nerdy image he's been branded with since grade school. He was wearing a pair of red bermuda shorts that exacerbated his pale almost ghostly complexion where even days of tanning wouldn't help. Hank was only thirteen but thanks to his academic prowess he had skipped a couple of grades and had become classmates with Brian, Ian and Paulie.
With Hank was Paulie who stood just a little over 5'5". Although Paulie was born in Italy, he grew up in the US when his parents came over to work for the family business just a few months after his birth. Now at 14, Paulie was a still bit chubby and hadn't hit puberty yet. Unlike his friend Hank, his skin had a Mediterranean flavor to it, not too light yet not dark, and complemented nicely his choice of swimwear, a dark-olive pair of trunks.
Ty looked at his watch and determined he still had some time left before Brian and Ian were to arrive. He wasn't going to ruin this opportunity by rushing things. He wanted to take things nice and slow. As before, Ty opened his mind and let the Power slowly emanate from within. He first chose Hank who just started doing laps and imagined how the teen would look like with a few enhancements.
With a wave of his hand, Ty whisked away Hank's pale complexion and replaced it with a golden tan. Then he started aging Hank as well as pumping up his body until the science nerd had the build of 19-year-old varsity swimmer with tight and toned muscles. To complent Hank’s new physique, Ty did away with Hank’s shorts and changed them to a pair of black tight-fitting speedos.
Next, Ty did his own version of reconstructive surgery and proceeded to alter Hank's face down to the very skull and bone. Hank's weak chin squared itself out to a strong profile. His sunken cheeks were raised and his nose was straightened out a bit. Ty continued to play around with Hank's features until he was satisfied with the results, a face that even someone like Brad Pitt would envy.
During the entire time, Hank had been oblivious to his transformation as he was too engrossed with his exercise. Then Ty had an idea. Since his friend was working so hard to get into shape, he figured he'd give him an unsolicited bonus: the longer Hank stayed in the water and did his laps, the bigger and stronger he would get. Thus with every stroke and push, Hank without knowing would be contributing to his own muscle growth.
Ty moved on to Paulie whom he noticed had had gotten out of the pool to rest on one of the lounge chairs. Ty smiled as he watched the boy apply a layer of suntan lotion over his flabby neck, torso, and arms. "Guess he wants to sunbathe too," he mused. "Ah well, you're next." Whereas Ty was done fairly quickly with Hank, he decided to take it much slower with Paulie.
Just as Paulie positioned himself over the lounge chair, he felt a slight tingling sensation spreading all over his skin. "Must be the lotion," he thought and decided to ignore it. As he was lying there with his eyes closed, Paulie was unaware of the changes slowly happening to him.
The first thing Ty did was get rid of Paulie's pesky baby fat that was hiding a chunk of good-looking goodness underneath. What would have taken Paulie years to eliminate took Ty only a few minutes and clumps of flab melted away from the boy’s body. Even Ty had to stop and stare at how much more handsome Paulie had become without that extra weight hanging off his face. Ty then worked on the rest of Paulie’s body.
Slowly, Paulie's arms and legs began to stretch outward. His torso lengthened and his hands and feet became visibly longer even from afar. Then like a balloon, his body started to inflate not with air but with rock-hard knotted muscles. Paulie's skin tightened around his growing biceps, triceps, delts, quads, and calves. The growth continued around his pectorals that expanded quite considerably and an eight-pack (not six, eight) formed right on his abdominal area.
To Ty's surprise, puberty and Paulie's Italian heritage suddenly kicked into overdrive as if to catch up on years of missed adolescence. Small tufts of hair appeared around his nipples and spread around. A treasure trail crept from just above Paulie's trunks and travelled up to his chest were a small bed of fur was already waiting. His limbs also sprouted a generous helping of hair, as did his armpits. Lastly, his strong jaw had the makings of a five o'clock shadow that added to his manly appeal. Ty was about to giving Paulie a little extra in the downstairs department but sensed that the he didn't need any further additions, so to speak. He also left the trunks alone that were practically hugging Paulie for dear life. (Gotta love those genes!) By the time Ty was done with Paulie, the former boy had been transformed into a 6-foot 190 lbs. 20-year-old hairy macho stud with a 9" hose. Ty was enjoying his latest creation when he heard a familiar voice cry out.
"Hey, Hank, Paulie. Are you guys here?"
Ty turned to the source of the voice and saw that Brian and Ian had made it to the park.
Paulie sat up and called back, "Ian, we're over here at the pool."
"The pool? I don't see you guys."
"What are you talking about? I'm sitting right here. Where are you?"
The two friends circled the pool until they came upon a Mediterranean god sitting on a lounge chair. At first Ian couldn't recognize Paulie in his now adult state but suddenly a glimpse of recognition came to Ian.
"Shi-yet. Paulie is that you?"
"Huh, do I know you? How'd you know my name?"
"And here I thought we were the ones giving the surprise," Brian looked at Ian. "Paulie, it's us."
Paulie took off his sunglasses and apprehensively looked into the stranger's eyes.
"Sweet Jesus! It _is_ you. And Brian! What the heck happened to you two?"
"To us?" Ian replied. "Umm... I've got news for you Paulie-boy. Have you checked yourself out on a mirror lately?"
"What do you mean?"
Brian cocked his eyebrow and pointed towards Paulie's torso. When he looked down, the young Italian was flabbergasted at the sight of his own hairy chest. Unsure of what he was seeing, Paulie lifted his hand and rubbed it across his pecs to feel if they were actually there. "Oh. My. God."
Ian laughed. "That pretty much sums it up, I guess."
"I don't understand what happened," asked Paulie still reeling from the shock. He flexed his right arm and ran his fingers all around his bulging bicep.
"Neither do we," Ian replied. "But we're not complaining. We thought this thing has only happened to Brian and myself... well, there's Brian's dad too but that's another story. Heck, what do you think the chances are the same thing has happened to our pal over there?"
At that thought, Paulie immediately shouted to his friend who was still doing his laps. "Hank! Hank, you've gotta come up now!"
"Sheesh! Alright already." Hank swam to the side of the pool and pulled himself up. "Let me just get my glasses on. You know I can't see worth a damn without them."
"Holy shit!" Brian's jaw dropped as he watched the water from the pool trickle down and around the contours of his friend's new built and buffed body. The last time he saw Hank was when the lad had hardly any meat hanging off his skeletal frame and now before him stood a 6'6" 250 lbs. man of perfect proportions. Ian and Paulie were also in awe; the sight of Hank’s muscles rippling in the sunlight captivated them.
Their reverie was interrupted when Ian suddenly spoke. "Huh, my glasses must gotten wet."
"What do you mean?" Ian asked.
"I've put them on but everything's blurry."
Paulie interjected. "Why don't you take 'em off? Maybe you'll see better."
"That's ludicrous! I've been wearing these for years," Hank scoffed. "I'll just wipe them clean with my towel." The moment Hank removed his spectacles he was taken aback by how clear and sharp everything around him was. "I... I must be seeing things."
"No, you're not." Ian smiled.
"But it can't be. I know I'm talking to you guys but my eyes are seeing something else. You guys sound like my friends... almost... but you certainly don't look like them. I think I need to have my eyes checked."
Brian sighed. "Dude, if you ask me, your eyesight should be the last thing you ought to be worrying about."
"Huh?"
"You know," Paulie said as he approached Hank. "For such a smart guy, you could really be such a bonehead sometimes. The answer's right under your nose, buddy boy." Paulie started tapping on Hank's massive chest.
"Hey, stop that! You know I'm ticklish." Hank looked down and saw for himself what his friends had been talking about all this time. He looked up and looked down again not quite believing what he was seeing. "I... I..."
"Looks like our resident genius is at a loss for words," laughed Ian.
"That's a first," Brian joined in.
Hank explored the changes of his body from his hands all the way down to his feet. He then felt the heftiness of his chest and passed his fingers through the ridges of his eight-pack abs. His hands came to a stop just over the garter strap of his black speedo and, after a second's hesitation, pulled it away to check himself out. An almost imperceptible gasp escaped his lips: "Wow."
Paulie was snickering. "Maybe we should call you 'Hunk' from now on."
"What? Oh... very witty Paulie." Hank was deep in thought trying to figure out what had happened to the four of them. "Aren't you guys even curious of who's or what's behind all this?"
"Don't know. Don't care." Brian shrugged his shoulders. "We went here for a swim and that's what we're going to do." And with that Ian and Brian took off their sandals and jumped into the pool.
"Hey, wait for me," Paulie shouted as he dove into the water.
For a while Hank stood by the side of pool all alone but when he saw his friends horsing around and having fun, he decided that all work and no play made Hank a very dull boy. He took a few steps back from the edge and made a running leap into the pool. "Cowabunga!"
From the distance, Ty witnessed everything that had transpired and wondered how they would react if he suddenly showed up unannounced. After all, no one had any reason to suspect that he was the one responsible for their transformations. Besides, what's a little fun among friends?