A small crowd had gathered around a picnic table at the Forest Meadows public park that morning for a special celebration. Several parents were there, along with a few teenagers. Everyone was in a festive mood, and for a good reason. It was a hot, muggy day and there was a tremendous need to get wet or drink a lot of fluids.
The parents brought plenty of bags of sandwiches, bottles of soda and juices, and bags of ice in the cooler. It was a hot, Saturday morning following the last day of school. Summer vacation had arrived, and the teens were very happy about that! No class, no homework, no books, no essays, and no tests! There was nothing but fun times and summer camps and time to relax.
Since it was so hot, the place, time and location was the ideal setting for a small, private birthday party. A teenage boy named Allen Andersen, thirteen years old and about to turn fourteen that day, was enjoying the fun with three of his friends at the park. His mother had picked up Tom Mason, Alice Morris and Damian Peters at their homes before driving everyone to the public park. Since there was a small swimming pool located at the park, it was just the ideal location for the party. Large wooden picnic tables were set up just several yards away from the pool, and there were locker rooms with showers available as well.
Allen, Tom, Alice and Damian changed and jumped into the pool as soon as they arrived while Allen’s mother prepared the snacks, the sandwiches, and she placed the fourteen candles on the small chocolate birthday cake.
Her son had been very particular about blowing out the candles at the exact time when he was born, fourteen years earlier. This magical moment was around 12:30 in the afternoon. Since everyone was still swimming, it worked out well for his mom. She prepared the food and waited till about noon. Then, she asked everyone to get out of the pool and dry off, so they could surround the table and watch as Allen blew out the candles.
Aside from Allen’s mother, his younger sister was also there, so it was a truly great little party for everyone!
When it got close to noon, Allen’s mother, Mrs. Anderson walked up to the edge of the pool and called out to all the teens to come out and to take time to dry off, change, shower, and to put on some dry clothes. Everyone had done that, and about fifteen minutes later, all four kids were sitting on the wooden bench at the picnic table. Allen’s mother had already lit all the candles, so it was just a matter of waiting for the right moment to arrive.
When it was about 12:29pm, she asked everyone to stand up and to circle around the table. Allen came to the front, facing the cake, as his mom announced that it was almost that exact time, fourteen years ago, that her son was born.
When her watch turned 12:30pm, she said “Now!”
Allen took a deep breath and blew out all the candles with one mighty blow. While he did this, he quietly thought to himself, “I wish I could go on a life-long adventure!”
As soon as all fourteen candles were extinguished, Allen felt funny… He began to feel weak for a brief moment… He felt a bit faint, like he was getting sick. Something strange was about to happen…
“Man… I feel… weird…” Allen said quietly.
Suddenly, he started growing taller! Allen wasn’t a big kid to begin with. In fact, Damian was an inch or so taller than him! His legs continued to stretch out, making him taller and taller. He was just over 4 feet tall, and he had suddenly passed 5 feet… 6 feet… 7 feet… the growth finally stopped when he reached the astonishing height of eight feet! Allen looked like a giant!
But his height wasn’t the only thing that changed about him! His arms grew longer and his torso grew bigger and wider as well. In fact, his entire body grew in proportion to his amazing height! Within seconds, Allen was suddenly the biggest kid at the park, towering over everyone who was there!
While he was growing bigger and taller, another transformation took place: His muscles increased as well! Allen had always been a scrawny kid. Well, that all changed when the birthday boy blew out the candles!
His muscles started expanding at an exponential rate! The scrawny kid suddenly transformed into a giant, massive muscle man, right before everyone’s eyes! His arms exploded with huge muscle, sporting bowling ball biceps and triceps. His calves, his glutes and his quads grew bigger and thicker and wider than anything that the kids had ever imagined! Allen’s pectorals became giant mounds of steel! Finally, his flat stomach was now totally covered with washboard abs! He was totally ripped! Not to mention, his incredible growth spurt caused him to totally demolish his khaki shorts and his t-shirt to shreds!
Allen must have weighed about 675 pounds by now! Not only was he covered in muscle, but he was incredibly strong! He was probably strong enough to easily lift cars, trucks, and even buses with his bare hands!!
Finally, Allen’s skin color began to change! It darkened a bit, indicating that his fair skin had hardened! His entire body now took on a completely different tone! His body now looked like it was made of concrete! He had in fact turned into a giant man of stone! When his head cleared and he looked down, he realized what had happened to his body! He was HUGE!
After Allen’s amazing growth spurt had stopped, one last change took place! Allen’s fingernails quickly changed into hard diamonds, each and every one of them! His toenails turned into sparkling diamonds as well, sparkling in the bright sunlight. His dark brown hair followed suit and transformed into a big massive diamond, fastened to his head. It was the same color as his nails, but it was of an organic variation. The pupils in his eyes also turned into diamonds, giving him a very sinister but cool look. His eye balls became Eton blue while the iris turned electric blue. Lastly, four large diamond spikes emerge from his back and shoulders, casting his shredded shirt off his back.
During the entire transformation, Alice, Damian, Tom, Lily, his little sister, and his mother just watched everything in shock and in complete silence. Once it became clear that Allen wasn’t changing anymore, Lily was the first one to speak up.
“Wow! Allen! You look so cool! And you’re so BIG!” she said.
“Holy crap! Allen! How did you do THAT?” Damian gasped.
“Well what do you know? Allen’s a mutant!” Alice exclaimed.
“Amazing!” Tom shouted. “Look at my best friend… and he’s HUGE!”
The only person who wasn’t impressed was Allen’s mother. Somehow, she knew in the back of her mind that her son was a mutant, and that his mutated form would show up on his birthday.
After a few minutes, Allen’s diamond spikes shrunk back, his nails turned to normal, and his huge muscles receded. Very quickly, Allen’s body reverted back to normal and he dwindled back to his normal size, like nothing happened. Only his shorts and shirt were completely destroyed!
Allen’s mother quickly found out that she needed to buy a whole new wardrobe for her son, now that he had discovered his new mutation abilities. The teen had spent the first few weeks of the summer vacation experimenting with his cool new powers, growing into the large diamond-covered muscle man, and then reverting back to his normal self again. His mom had bought hundreds of Dollars’ worth in clothes, since Allen ended up ripping clothes all over the place! Luckily, she had a great job and she was able to afford it!
Allen also began to experiment what his diamond form can do. So far, he has been able to shoot diamond shards from his hands. He was also able to make blade-like diamond constructs come out from the side of his wrists. He was also able to make claws out of the diamond nails he had in his alternate form.
After about a month or so, his mom found out about Xavier School for Gifted Children. She signed up Allen to go there right away, since this was where all the gifted and talented kids were sent. They had a special program over the summer, and Allen was eager to go there just to check it out. This was a small public school, located just outside of the city, so Allen needed to ride a special bus in order to get there.
Allen walked over to the bus stop with a feeling of excitement flowing through his body. It was a new beginning. It was like his wish was about to come true after all. He was going to embark on that life-long adventure that he had always wanted…