Ian made it back to his car without finding any more medallions or articles of clothing. The gallon of gasoline was enough to get his car back to the filling station. After filling his car, Ian realized he now needed to make a decision: what to do next.
He could always look up the kid, but then what? "Hi, I know I look like you, do you know why?" Ian supposed he could ask. He doubted the kid would know, and the whole thing might freak out the kid's parents. Hell, it might even be considered a form of identity theft! On the other hand, he could always drive to another town, find a store, get some clothes, camp overnight, and try touching the medallion to his old clothes the next morning, and see if that did anything. Who knew? Maybe it would even work.
A few hours later, Ian found another town and a big box, low cost store and got some shirts, pants, a package of socks, a package of underwear, and a couple pairs of shoes. By the time he was done, the day had turned into night, so he found a fast food place to eat, and somewhere inconspicuous to park his car overnight while he slept.
Early morning sunlight awoke Ian. Surprisingly, he felt better than he had in years. Maybe this whole new body thing wasn't all bad...
Climbing out of the car he popped the hatch and dug through the clothes he purchased the day before. As he did, Ian noticed that the medallion wasn't around his neck.
'Oh no! It has got to be here somewhere!' he thought in panic, emptying the bag onto the gravel of the truck stop parking lot he'd parked in. It might have fallen off when he was trying on the shirts...
There, a glint of something metallic! Clumsily, still not wholly used to this body, Ian shifted his stance and accidentally stepped on the package of underwear. Slipping, he knelt, hard, on the gravel.
"OW! Stupid underwear!"
Choking back an obscenity, the boy grabbed the package and angrily ripped it open, throwing it at the open hatch of his car. The underwear fluttered, leaving a white trail leading from Ian into the car.
"I shoulda bought boxers!" Ian grumbled. Now, where had he seen the metallic glint? Ah, right where one of the pairs of underwear had landed. He grabbed the underwear to move it, accidentally brushing the medallion in the process. A tingle went through his body.
'Huh?' he thought, then looked at the underwear.
"Boy's Medium," it read.
Oh no!
Panicked, he grabbed the torn plastic of the package. Sure enough, the underwear wasn't meant for an adult, or even a teenager. Now that he looked closely at it, it was clearly a child's size.
'No! No! No!' he thought, taking a quick look in the side view mirror. Was his face already softer? Younger looking?
Grabbing a pair of the underwear, a shirt, drawstring cargo shorts, socks, and a pair of flip-flops, he tossed them all into yesterday's shopping bag, then locked up the car. Pausing, he noticed the medallion, still on the ground. Jamming it into his pocket, Ian ran to the Men's room.
This time he got to watch most of the transformation in the rest room mirror. Smaller, softer featured, softer muscled. Shoulders narrowing. No one was around, so he stuck a hand down his pants and felt his pubic hair vanish, his balls and penis shrink.
Eventually, the changes stopped, leaving him looking like Kyle must have looked about age eight. By that point, his pants and underwear from yesterday had pooled around his feet, and his shirt fit like a dress.
He pulled off the shirt, and put on a pair of the boy sized underwear. Sure enough, they fit perfectly! Grumbling,he pulled on a clean, although still dress like, teen shirt, and teen cargo shorts. Pulling the drawstring, he was able to keep the shorts up, even if they did look ridiculous. He put on the flip-flops.
Well, at least now he knew for certain how the medallion worked! He'd just have to go and get some clothes which fit for today, and tomorrow he'd change back to himself. Or, maybe an older version of Kyle would be nice...
Ian pondered the possibilities while transferring items from the now over-sized pants into the over-sized shorts. Pausing for a moment, he suddenly realized something was missing.
The medallion!