"Why I told you what it was going to do once I started building it! It's the ultimate swapping machine!"
Jon blinked a few times. "...swapping... machine? What the hell does that mean?"
"You know, like in those weird interactive stories online. But this one's better."
Jon didn't have the faintest idea what Leonard was referring to but decided to humor him. "Better how?"
"Those 'traditional' swappers are so limited. They might swap bodies. Or heads. Or genitals. That gets old pretty quick. This baby can swap anything! Body parts, clothes, even mental and other intangible attributes. You name it, it'll swap it. It even has some other features, but those are still in beta testing..."
Leonard was sounding a bit like an infomercial pitch man. Jon still had no idea what he was talking about. "That sounds impossible!"
"Nothing's impossible with science!" Leonard said. Jon suppressed a chuckle, since he was pretty sure it was his magic wishing stone that was responsible for all this. Leonard could tell Jon still wasn't getting the idea. "Why don't I... show you," he said, picking up what looked like a small remote and pointing it towards Jon and pressing a button.
Jon threw his hands up, "Leonard, no!" He tensed up, frozen with fear - he didn't want to be swapped! But after a second nothing had happened. He was still standing where he was, completely unchanged. Then he heard a sound behind him. A television on the wall had just turned on.
"Boy you're jittery today," Leonard said. "Relax, this is just the TV remote, I control the swapping machine with my phone! Now let's watch." The screen came to life, and Jon realized the TV was tuned to the local evening news. The two anchors were droning on about the day's news: Rick Morgan - a middle-aged man with a hint of silver in his dark, neatly combed hair, wearing a simple grey suit and red tie. Beside him was the beautiful and much younger Allie Swenson. She was wearing a figure-hugging, baby blue sheath dress and had long blonde hair that flowed past her shoulders in soft waves.
"And now the fun part. Just watch the screen!" Leonard pulled out his phone and stared tapping away at it. Jon heard the machinery against the wall start to hum softly as something was activated. He watched the TV, not sure what to expect.
The effect was like an old episode of Bewitched - in an instant the scene changed. The anchors now had each others' hair: Rick now had long, blonde, perfectly styled locks and Allie had a short salt & pepper crew cut. They both kept reading the news as though nothing was different.
Jon's jaw dropped. "Holy shit! Why aren't they freaking out?"
"I can control who notices the changes. Here let's try something different." He tapped at his phone again, and just like before the change was instant. The anchors' hair was back to normal, but something else was different - the normally buxom Allie Swenson was now flat chested. Meanwhile, Rick Morgan had some noticeable protrusions under his suit, though he was clearly not wearing a bra. Again they continued on like everything was normal.
"Leonard, this is insane! How did you come up with something so powerful??" Jon sort of knew the answer, but realized that according to the reality made by his wish, Leonard technically did come up with this on his own.
"Ah, that's top secret, my friend! Here let's do one more. Watch carefully!"
Rick was reaching the end of some sappy fluff story, "...and the couple said it was an anniversary they'll never forget!" In a blink of an eye the two anchors switched positions. Rick started talking again, but his tone was totally different.
"What a touching story, Rick," he said in a chipper voice. He still had Allie's breasts, but they were even more noticeable because he was now wearing her tight dress. It had completely resized to fit his larger frame. His greying hair was now past his shoulders, styled just like hers had been. His face was plastered in TV makeup, including shiny lipgloss and fake eyelashes. It was as though he was inhabiting her life. The original Allie watched on from the side, now in Rick's grey suit, tailored to her petite body. Her blonde hair was now cut short and parted on one side. "In other news," he continued, "an armed robber is on the loose on the city's north side..."
Jon was astonished. "This is way too far Leonard. You could seriously screw up people's lives with this! You've got to stop this."
"Why Jon, I'm just getting started!" He grinned and started messing with his phone again. Jon knew he couldn't let Leonard get away with this. Who knows what messes he could cause with this powerful technology! He went to reach for his pocket to grab the stone and set things right when he felt light headed for a moment. His hand went to his hip where his pocket should be, but all he felt was a solid piece of soft, slightly stretchy material. He looked down and got an eyeful of baby blue. It was Allie's dress!
"Wha..." Jon said, noticing something sticky on his lips and heavy on his eyelids. He even had a pair of nude stilettos on his feet - he grabbed the counter nearby to keep from falling over.
"Holy shit Leonard! What did you do!?"
Leonard just laughed, and gestured at the TV. Rick was still reading the news in Allie's light, feminine tone, but he was wearing Jon's Nirvana t-shirt (and presumably his jeans, but those were out of frame). The t-shirt was stretched to its limits by a pair of perky tits.
"Change me back!" Jon shouted.
"No way!"
"Leonard, change me back right now or I'll..."
"You'll what? You can't even take a step towards me without falling on your face. And I'd just swap something else before you did. You're lucky I kept you aware! I could have given you Allie's vapid impulses without you even noticing. In fact, I still could if you don't play along..."
Jon realized he was powerless. He clung to the countertop trying desperately to stay upright, his knees were buckling and his ankles were screaming in pain. Maybe if he played along Leonard would swap his outfit back long enough for him to use the stone! He thought about his next move for a moment...
