"Hey . . . wanna catch a collage game the next city over?" Casper asked the bright neon lizard girl.
Ashley shook her head, "Nah, I'm not really interested, I'd rather go see Tommy play and Lana cheer, and watch you change the rest of their fans before we take this show on the road."
Her eyes widened a bit as she remembered what day it was and what time it was.
"We missed their game tonight, didn't we?" she asked the red and purple latex ram.
Casper nodded, "Yeah, we kinda did..."
"Dang," came her response, "I guess there is always next week. Oh, I'm sure there is an after party happening somewhere, maybe we can put in an appearance!" she grinned mischievously at him.
Casper took her meaning, and grinned a bit himself, "You mean, change more people?" he asked.
The rubber lizard girl blushed, "maybe..." she said, shyly.
Casper had to smile, he knew that she didn't mean anything malicious by it, and that she wanted to help him in his quest...was it a quest now? He supposed that it was.
His musings were interrupted when a voice spoke his name. He turned to regard the speaker.
"Are you Casper?" the human male said, looking one part suspicious and one part curious.
"...Yes?" the inflatable ram-man replied.
"I know what you've been doing." came the response from the man standing in front of him.
A cold fear shot through the synthetic ram, his thoughts beginning to race. Was this one of those self-righteous, self-appointed "guardians" of the world that he was worried about? Was his existence about to be rendered null, or worse, reverted back to the way that is was, when he was human, and boring? These questions and a million more ran through his mind as he contemplated running, fighting, ignoring the man in front of him.
"I'm sorry?" Casper finally settled on.
"Don't play dumb, Synthetic." the man continued, "I know you've been using that ring of yours to make people like you, to change people into Synthetics like you."
The man looked rather unassuming, with dirty blond hair, and blue eyes, a medium length beard adorning his face. He wore tan pants, a red T-shirt, and a beige trenchcoat. The sneakers over his feet appeared well worn, but not shabby.
"I fancy myself a bit of a student of the occult," he continued, "and I felt a great gush of power earlier. I followed it to a beach, and from there around town. I didn't know what had caused it, until I saw you using that ring of yours on some of the patrons here. I saw what you can do, and thus here I am."
"Are you here to stop me?" Casper asked.
The man chuckled, "Actually, no...you have an artifact of immense power, I'm not sure if I could actually stop you from using it on other people, or even myself for that matter. No, I actually came here to ask you to use it, to use it on me."
Casper and Ashley both looked at the man in shock. This had never happened before, though, Casper hadn't really ever expected anyone to notice what he was doing either.
"You want to become a Synthetic, like me?" Casper asked, "Why?"
"It's not so much, the man said, "that I want to become an inflatable rubber anthropomorphic animal, it is specifically the kind of animal that I want to become, and well...my own powers are somewhat limited in this. I have not been able to manage it thus far."
"What do you want to become?" asked Ashley.
"A dragon." the man said, matter of factually.
Casper shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't think I'll be able to help you. I've tried turning people into mythological animals with the ring, but it never worked. I don't think the ring can do that."
"Perhaps I can help with that." the man countered, "May I see your hand, the one with the ring?"
Casper proffered his left hand, the ring prominent on his thick first digit.
"I'm a bit of a sorceror," the man explained, "and while my own magicks have not been sufficient to alter my form to my desire, perhaps I can empower your ring further. It would seem, after watching you for a time, that as you use the ring, it grows more powerful, I think I may be able to increase its abilities quite a bit."
The man held his hands to either side of Casper's, fingers spread and flexed slightly, and began to chant in low tones. Neither Casper or Ashley could make out the words that the man was saying, nor even what language he spoke in. It was about then that Casper felt the ring start to grow warm on his finger. The man continued his low chanting, a soft glow beginning to emanate from his hands, a similar glow reciprocated by the ring. The chanting intensified, but never increased in volume, as sweat began to bead on the man's forehead, his concentration increasing. The ring continued to warm, becoming hot, and then uncomfortably so. The man finished his chant, and with a small pop, like a soap bubble collapsing, a ripple seemed to form in the air about the man, rush down his arms and be absorbed by the ring on Casper's finger. The man collapsed into a chair, but Casper took no notice, as his mind's eye was filled with the images of the pony-girls he had transformed at their birthday party. He saw the blue one with the rainbow mane and tail and the yellow one with the pink mane suddenly grow small rubber-feathered wings, as the white one with the purple mane grew a stubby unicorn horn from her forehead. The orange one and the pink one did not receive any new features, but the birthday girl, the purple one with dark blue mane and pink stripe was granted both a unicorn horn and a pair of wings, cutely protruding from her back, arching out behind her as they came into being.
~The condition has been met, master~ came a voice in Casper's head. He instinctively knew this to be the voice of the ring.
'You can talk?' he thought to the ring.
~Yes, communication is possible in this fashion~ came the reply.
Casper looked at the man, "What did you do?" he asked.
The man looked up at him, "my spell transferred all of my magickal power into your ring." he said, still short of breath.
Ashley piped up, "All, as in you can't cast spells anymore?"
"No," the man said, shaking his head, "I gave up all my power to that artifact."
"Why?" Casper asked, "Why give up that power?"
"A small price to pay for the larger payoff of what I want." was the man's reply.
'Can you make this man a dragon now?' Casper thought to the ring.
~Creatures of myth, or of the imagination are possible now~ came the ring's reply.
"The ring says it can do what you want now, are you ready?" Casper asked.
The man stood back up from the chair, squared his shoulders and looked Casper in the eye, "Yes." was all he said.
Casper beheld the man, and willed the ring to change the man as he desired.
His clothing vanished, as did all the hair on his body. His skin darkened to black and took on the shine of latex, as thousands upon thousands of fine lines appeared all over his arms and legs. Casper realized that they were fine scales covering most of his body. Large portions of the man's chest and inside his thighs formed into larger plates, splitting and arranging themselves into scute patterns from his neck down to his thighs. His neck elongated slightly, as his whole frame grew larger, from 6 to 7 feet in height, muscle, or the appearance thereof, being added to his shape. His face elongated into a draconian muzzle, ridges and spikes forming at jawbone, cheekbone and brow. His ears disappeared, replaced by fin-like appendages on either side, and great black horns sprouted from his now flattened head, spiraling up and behind him, adding another foot to his height. A great pair of rubbery wings sprang forth from his back, unfurling to show the red-orange translucent membranes. A thick rubber-scaled tail grew from his backside, widening at the base, and a ridge forming down the top side of it. His hands grew in size, losing his pinky finger as talons came into being at the end of each finger. His feet grew and stretched, pushing the dragon-man up onto his tiptoes, as they too lost a digit or two, ending in three-toed, taloned paws. His legs stretched and squished, equalizing the dragon-man's balance as the tell-tale pop of his nozzle came into being where his navel was, and Casper did not need to look to know that the man's groin was now just an air filled bulge, likewise his rear no more. The scutes of the dragon's chest and belly took on a deep red shade, and then seemed to crack all over, red-orange filling in. Lastly, the dragon closed his eyes, re-opening them to reveal slitted pupils among a sea of embers.
520.
"My gods..." the dragon-man's low tenor replaced by a rumbling bass voice, "that was incredible."
"Wow," Casper and Ashley both said in unison.
"Thank you Casper, " the dragon rumbled, bowing deeply to the inflatable ram.
"You're welcome...uh, what was your name again?" Casper stammered.
"You may call me Haeliax, now," the dragon replied, "If ever you need anything, please look me up."
"I will." said Casper.
He and Ashley watched the newly minted dragon Synthetic turn and leave the bar, unfurl and pump his wings a few times before leaping into the air, sailing off and blending into the dark of night.
"That was certainly...interesting," Ashely observed, "what now?"