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Elementary Level Magic

The room was completely silent other than the constant ticking of an old grandfather clock. There was an unnatural sense of order throughout the crowded office. Sure there was plenty of clutter of papers on a desk, stacks of books and open ledgers. But it was as if the clutter was very deliberate, as if placed there by someone who wanted to look as busy as possible.

The owner of the office sat behind a mahogany desk. The figure dressed in silver and blue robes could almost be mistaken for a human at first glance. But a few small details broke the illusion. Her waist length hair was pure white for a start. Then her eyes though partially hidden behind crescent shaped spectacles were yellow and had a hawk-like quality to them. Something about the shape of her face was off, it was almost bestial. Then her canines were visibly sharp.

Sitting across from her desk along a bench were four figures that were slumped against each other unconscious. The first one was a female snow leopard. She wore a simple blouse and skirt, with a pair of glasses and a sunflower hair pin. Sleeping against her shoulder was a smaller figure, something resembling a cross between a coyote and a fox. He wore a green cloak and nothing else. Next to him was a bluish gray dragon. He wasn't wearing much of anything as he lay with his head in the foxyote's lap. The last one on the bench was the odd one out. It was a human! Something of a rarity in these halls. The brown haired man was in a blue sweatshirt and jeans with a pair of glasses.

The yellow-eyed woman busied herself with paperwork ignoring the four unconscious figures. After several minutes of passed the four figures slowly began to stir and come to. With a heavy sigh the woman put down her pen, adjusted her glasses and looked to them.

"Well it's about time." She spoke in curt voice. "I was beginning to worry we had overdone it on the sleeping charm. Glad to see we won't have to spring the money to bring a Prince Charming in."

"Huh..." The human was the first to wake up. "What, where am I!? Who are you?"

"I understand this must be disorienting, but if you give me a moment to explain..." The yellow-eyed woman started.

"Wh-where am I!? What's going on!?" The dragon demanded as they came into alertness.

"Okay, I should have expected that, but if we waste time having you each freak out one by one we'll be here all day and-" The woman tried to continue.

"What happened?" The snow leopard looked frantically. "I was in the park and-"

"Okay, you know what? Fine. Let's get this over with. Freak out." The woman sat back in her chairs. "Just get it all out of your system." The four figures stared at her in silence at this. After a few moments she looked to the foxyote who hadn't spoken. "Well?"

"Actually I think I'm good." The foxyote replied.

"Wonderful." The woman leaned forward. "The four of you have been involved in a rather unfortunate incident. No one was harmed but... Well likely the last thing you remember before waking up was being in the park."

"I... I remember that." The human muttered. "There was some kind of festival, they were having some kind of contest and..." His face went pale.

"Long story short, one of our students entered the pumpkin growing contest at the harvest festival. They attempted to cheat to produce the biggest harvest and well... The pumpkin was indeed the largest... But it was alive in more than just the usual sense. And it turned out to have a rather murderous streak."

"I knew it!" The dragon's eyes widened. "I knew that I heard that thing growl at me."

"Quite." The woman began. "Anyway, rest assured no one was hurt. In fact the situation was taken care of before most people even saw the offending vegetable. But... You four happened to be close by that we're not sure what you did and didn't see. And that puts us in a bit of a situation. We can't have you going around telling someone what happened."

"Wait... Are... Are we being threatened to be silent?" The snow leopard asked.

"What!?" The yellow-eyed woman's eyes widened in genuine horror, then softened as she gave out an earnest laugh. "Noooo! Of course not! These aren't the middle ages! Our ethics committee won't even let us modify people's memories anymore without their permission. No, instead we're going to offer you a scholarship."

"To what exactly?" The foxyote had been studying the woman for some time with keen interest. The tip of his tail was twitching in anticipation as he had been putting together what was going on.

"To the Switch City School of Arcane Arts of course." The woman replied smugly. "I'm the headmistress. You can call me Professor Kouro. Of course, you'd never have heard of me. We've put a lot of effort into that. But if you'll agree to sign a quick non-disclosure agreement we'd be happy to give you full access to the school and magical training. We've found the best way to get people to keep magic is a secret is to make them invested in said secret."

"Whelp this is clearly not real." The dragon muttered. "I have no idea what is going, or what kind of joke this is. But I'm not buying it."

"Try to keep an open mind Koda." Kouro smiled.

"How... How did you know my name?" The dragon flinched.

"The arts reveal many things to me." She turned to each of them one at a time. She looked to the foxyote. "Kickaha." Then the snow leopard. "Woxy." And finally the human. "Zeelo." She paused for a brief moment after saying their names. "Though truthfully we also checked you for identification after putting you to sleep. I know it's a lot to take in, but you've just been attacked by a giant pumpkin, put into a magical slumber and dragged to a secret school. Just hear me out read over this form that explains the entire thing." With that Kouro reached into her desk before producing a worn looking scroll. She unraveled it revealing pages worth of reading. She then continued to unravel revealing more. And then there was even more to unravel. This continued for quite some time. "Please pay close attention as we only have time to go over this once."

The importance of reading what you sign cannot be stressed enough. However just as important and often less stressed is the importance of understanding what you just read before you sign. Documents written to be clear to the letter of the law are not always clear to the average person. And though the four acted as a captive audience for Professor Kouro most of the explanations were simply in terms they couldn't understand. They understood the gist of it. Don't talk about what happened and they get a free scholarship. The terms and conditions that went with it were a bit more complicated.

"Is everything clear?" Kouro asked after she finished going over the contract.

"Not at all!" Kickaha was the first to react. "But where do I sign?"

"Well... There are four places on this document..." Kouro began. "Just take a pen and-"

"Done!" Kickaha had snatched a pen off the desk and quickly signed his name.

"Well I had a bit more to explain but okay then..." Kouro gave a heavy sigh.

"I guess... It doesn't seem like you're trying to do anything too bad..." Woxy picked up the pen and signed second. "And if this is real it does sound kind of neat." She signed her name directly to the right of Kickaha's.

"If it gets me out of here faster..." Koda muttered and was the third to sign. He signed on the bottom right line.

"Everyone is just going with it?" Zeelo looked reluctant. Seeing the others already on board, he didn't feel he had much of a choice though. He took the pen and signed the remaining line on the bottom left.

"Wonderful. Now then, we'll get you to your dorm and you can start class in the morning." Kouro nodded eagerly.

"Wait dorm as in one?" Woxy tilted her head. "Do you expect us all to share a room?"

"Well of course!" Kouro didn't seem to see a problem. "Didn't you read how it was outlined in the contract? The two of you assigned as mages will act as roommates. And we let you keep your familiars in room as pets."

"Wait what? Pets but... What does that even mean!?" Koda tried to ask. As he did he suddenly felt a strange sensation run through his body. The dragon suddenly had a sense of vertigo as he fell off of the bench and onto the floor. He landed on all fours. He tried to push himself back up but found himself unable. It was as if his spine had just snapped into different position that made it impossible to stand on two legs. At the same time... The entire room seemed to be getting larger.

"Wh... What is this?" Woxy was in a similar state. She soon found herself down on all fours shrinking in size as well. Her clothes sagged onto the floor around her as she scrambled trying to get back up onto all fours.

"The necessary adjustments as outlined in the contract." Kouro responded nonchalantly. "It clearly stated right now we only had an opening for two students in our mage program. That's why we opened up two more slots in our familiar program. The familiar signature slots were on the right, the students on the left."

"F-familiar?" Koda demanded. "What is..." Everything was so much bigger now. His voice cracked as it rose in tone. He hadn't sounded like that since he was a little kid.

"A wizard's animal companion." Kouro replied not recognizing the panic in the dragon's voice. "I realize that you four having been of more mundane origins probably aren't familiar with the concept. I'll make sure to give you some reading material to take to your dorm with you. After all, don't want you behind the other kids in first year?"

"... Other kids?" Kickaha tilted his head as he looked at the two familiars. Where moments ago had been two civilized animals were now much more mundane feral beasts. "So then that means me and..." As he spoke Kickaha began to shrink in size. Though it wasn't quite just size. His features softened, became rounder. His paws larger in comparison to his body. He was getting younger.

"W-what!?" Zeelo squeaked as the same started to happen to him. His pants and shoes slid right off his diminutive legs leaving him dressed in only a sweater and a pair of glasses that were suddenly no longer needed as his eyes got younger.

It only took a few seconds. Kickaha and Zeelo had been reduced to a mere eight years old each. Koda and Woxy who were now small feral cubs couldn't be much older physically.

"Now remember your bond with your familiar is important." Kouro spoke gently to the children not seeming to even notice the shocked expressions they gave her. "And based on the contract it would... Kickaha you're with Woxy and Zeelo you have Koda."

"Has me!?" Koda objected. "I'm not some pet..."

"And with that we're out of time. I have another meeting." Koura stood up and began to usher all the children out the door of her office.

"H-hey but! My pants!" Zeelo objected feeling exposed in only a sweater. At least it was long enough to cover everything.

"Now now! The headmaster is busy! We shouldn't take up more of her time!" Kickaha was clearly enjoying this. Possibly too much. He scooped Woxy out of her clothes and carried her against his shoulder.

"H-hey!" Woxy's ears flattened against her head at this. The snow leopard was clearly embarrassed being treated like this.

"But-but!" Zeelo meanwhile was still trying to walk past the headmaster back to the office where his discarded pants were.

"Look, you can explore the school grounds tomorrow." Kouro spoke in an exasperated tone. "And your teachers will explain things better!"

"BUT!" Zeelo tried again but it was no use. All four of the new students were ushered down a series of long hallways, down a staircase, through another hall, then to a large circular rooms full of doors alongside the wall.

"Let's see... Number 124 should be free." Kouro opened one of the doors before shoving the children in and slamming it behind them.

"Anyone else feel like we just got thrown in prison?" Koda asked.

"I assure you, this is an authentic boarding school experience." Kickaha kneeled down to pat the small dragon on the head. "We'd have way more freedom in prison."

At that the door opened and Professor Kouro appeared again. "Oh right, I forgot. The book I promised." She tossed a large heavy tome into the middle of the room then disappeared again.

"DIBS!" Kickaha shouted as he tackled the book.

"This clearly isn't happening." Zeelo began to pace back and forth along the room. "Pumpkins don't just randomly attack you and people don't just turn into kids again. This is all a dream. Just gotta be a dream and I'll wake up any moment."

"No, I'm going to wake up!" Koda growled. "If anyone is dreaming all this nonsense up it's me! You three are just figments of my imagination."

"I feel like I deserve to be called a bit more than a figment..." Woxy lay down on the ground. The small snow leopard was trying to get used to the feeling of moving around on four legs.

"Look, the point is none of this is real!" Zeelo laughed nervously. "So anything you say to me doesn't matter cause it's all a ridiculous dream and you're not real!"

"No! You're the one who's not real." Koda shouted.

"Well how does that make sense?" Zeelo asked. "You can't all three be having the same dream! That'd be silly. Obviously, you three are made up, and I ate a bad burrito or something before going to bed."

"No, I mean... Yes obviously the other two are fake! I mean what species even is that fox thing." Koda gestured at Kickaha.

"Foxyote." Kickaha spoke without looking up from his book.

"Well, glad we agree there, Mr. Dream." Zeelo stuck out his tongue.

"Guys come on!" Woxy pleaded. "I'm pretty sure I'm real! And I don't think I'm asleep."

"That's just what a dream would say!" Koda huffed and shielded himself with his wings. "I'm the only real person in this room."

"Keep telling yourself that." Zeelo chuckled.

"DING DING DING! End of argument time!" Kickaha sat the book down and stood up. "Everyone's half-right. Reality is nothing more than perception to begin with. You're all equally real and fake at the same time."

"Well I don't feel very fake." Woxy muttered.

"But none of that's important right now! Not after what I just saw in this book." He grinned and knelt down to look at Woxy.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Woxy backed away from the foxyote child uncomfortably.

"Just... trying to picture what fits your personality most." Kickaha tapped a paw to his chin. "Kind of shy... Kind of feel like you have that deer in the headlights thing going on! Ah! Perfect!" He snapped his fingers. As he did Woxy's body suddenly began to reshape itself. Her tail shrunk in size as her paws were replaced by hooves. Her legs became thinner and her ears shorter. After a few seconds where a leopard had stood was now a young doe.

"What did you do to me!?" Woxy asked. She slowly picked up one of her hooves examining it.

"It's cool, right?" Kickaha's grinned widened. "According to this book, mages can change their familiars' forms with just a thought! I could make you any species! Even any age or size."

"Is... Is that so?" Zeelo forgot his current discomfort at the idea and looked at Koda.

"Hey now, let's not get any wise ideas...." The dragon began to back away.

"I just want to try it out a little." Zeelo explained. "Besides a dragon is a bit much to have to tow around everywhere I go. I just... Think something more compact would work."

"You should be able to make any species smaller if you want!" Kickaha held the book up to Zeelo. "Look! Just gotta think! Could even change his age."

"Now wait just a minute--don't I get a say in this!?" Koda asked. He received his answer quickly. Several changes overtook him all at once. He began to grow even younger than he already was... But was shrinking beyond just that. The entire room shot up in size around him as he grew smaller, and smaller. He was soon no bigger than a mouse! And yet the changes continued. He flopped onto his belly as his legs became unsteady due to becoming younger. He was little more than a baby. But it wasn't done there. His wings retracted into his body as fur began to grow over and replace his scales. His snout formed into a narrower muzzle with a wet black nose as his ears became large triangles atop his head. His tail grew shorter and thinner, but appeared larger to being heavily covered in fur.

"Whoa he's a doggy." Woxy crouched low to the ground to stare at the diminutive figure.

"He's not a dog! He's a jackal!" Zeelo puffed out his chest, proud of his work.

"Whyyyyyy!?" Koda squeaked. He was surprised he could still talk. Had he still been humanoid he would have likely been a toddler.

"I guess maybe I got a little carried away." Zeelo grinned. "But look! You'll be much easier to carry around now!" Zeelo bent down and picked Koda up off the ground before setting him on his shoulder. "See! Now you can just ride everywhere!"

"But... But..." Koda whined then sagged in defeat. It wasn't as if he had any control of this situation.

"Well I for one am excited at the prospect of these magic lessons." Kickaha rubbed his paws together.

"I must admit... If this school is real the ideas are a little exciting... Even if the conditions are a bit strange." Woxy slowly trotted in a circle getting used to the feeling of walking on hooves.

"Guess we don't really have too many options other than just running with it." Zeelo looked around the room. "Might as well get to bed so we can start classes tomorrow."

"But there are only two beds." Koda protested from where he was on Zeelo's shoulder.

"Guess familiars have to sleep at the foot of the bed." Kickaha shrugged as he jumped into one of the twin sized beds.

"I guess if there's nowhere else..." Woxy jumped up after him and curled up at the foot.

"I don't feel like that's very safe for me..." Koda muttered.

"Don't worry! I've got you covered!" Zeelo pulled out a drawer from a desk in the room. He then began to dig through it until he found a pack of tissues. He tore them open before setting a few down in the corner of the drawer. He then grabbed Koda between two fingers and set the small jackal down on the tissue. "There you go! See you in the morning!" With that he crawled into bed himself.

"You... You could have just made me big again..." Koda muttered as he realized that was probably never going to happen.

The next morning would be the start of a very busy day. No sooner had the new students stepped foot outside their dorms than they were caught in a tsunami of other students moving through the halls. Caught in a tide of fuzzy and scaly bodies they couldn't do much but be carried to everyone's destination. The cafeteria! It had to be as big as a football stadium for as many students were crammed into it. Small winged creatures that resembles tiny humans with bug-like eyes and wings flew around the room in a flurry dropping off bowls of food for each student. They never spoke to anyone, but seemed to have some understanding of the dietary needs of each student. They would drop a plate or bowl on the table and then fly off.

Kickaha and Zeelo both received a plate of eggs and bacon. Woxy was given what appeared to be a bowl of freshly cut grass. Koda was given two raisins.

"This is it!?" The tiny jackal whined. "Come on!"

"I know, right?" Kickaha's ears flattened against his head as he looked at his own plate. "This is hardly a proper nutritious breakfast. Not even a trace of rodent!"

"Wanna trade?" Koda asked.

"Not a chance." Kickaha stuck his tongue out at the tiny jackal sitting on the table while devouring his food.

"Personally I think this is pretty alright." Zeelo happily dug into his own eggs.

"I was skeptical, but this grass is pretty delicious." Woxy supported herself with her forepaws against the side of the table to eat. Having had time to process things overnight she was adapting to her new position remarkably well.

The four finished their breakfasts with varying degrees of satisfaction. As they finished up the loud clang of a bell-tower rang throughout the entire school. The cafeteria was abandoned in an instant except for the four.

"Huh... Guess class is starting." Zeelo mused as he threw his hands up at the top of his head. "I had honestly hoped they'd give us new clothes or something before that." He was still dressed in just his oversized sweater.

"Probably too many budget cuts to give out uniforms." Kickaha shrugged. "We should get too class."

"Does... Anyone know where our class is?" Zeelo asked. Everyone fell silent. This school was practically a maze of torch lit hallways and staircases. No one was even sure if they could find their way back to their dorm room, let alone whatever class they were supposed to be in.

As the four began to try to figure out where they were supposed to go a large shadow traveled across the wall before falling over them. Bat wings began to stretch out from it as a deep booming voice spoke.

"And what do we have here? Four little lambs who belong in class. You wouldn't be playing hooky are you?"

"What? No!" Zeelo protested as he shrunk away from the shadow. "We just don't know where our classes are! Honest!"

"Is that so?" The voice chuckled. Then suddenly the shadow began to shrink in size against the wall. A moment later a small bat no bigger than tennis ball flew straight out of the wall. "Then you must be the new students I was told to expect." Despite his diminutive size his voice remained deep and booming.

"Whoa, can you teach me how to do that shadow thing?" Kickaha asked.

"It's one of the many lessons you'll learn here." The bat smiled revealing a toothy fang he probably shouldn't have had. "Which we should be getting you to your first class. I believe you should be starting Alchemy with Professor Celia. Follow me." The bat began to flutter through the air.

"Um, excuse me!" Woxy called out of it. "Out of curiosity what would have happened if we had been playing hooky?"

"Then I would have carried out my duty as warden and you would have been dragged into the shadows down to the depths of the school." The warden chuckled. "And there you would have been forced to write a one thousand word essay on the importance of showing up on time!"

"That... went in a completely different direction from what I expected." Koda muttered but may no further attempts to draw the bat's attention.

"Now then let's continue on." The bat led the students out of the cafeteria and down a hall. "I know the school may look complicated, but it's fairly easy to find where you're going once you understand the layout. The ground floor is where the cafeteria, gym and administration buildings are. As well as where any classes that meet up outside regularly are held. On the second floor you'll find all first year and second year classrooms. Third floor is third and fourth. Fourth floor, fifth and sixth years. The fifth floor is student dorms for the first three years, sixth the second three years. Then faculty offices are on the seventh floor." He led them up a flight of stairs.

Eventually they arrived at a classroom. It was... Noticeable normal looking. It looked like a high school chemistry lab. The room had several lab benches, each with a faucet on the end of it. The back of the room was filled with cabinets that had a number of bottles in them, each clearly marked. Then the front of the room had a chalk board and larger lab bench with multiple bottles of chemicals already on it. Standing behind the bench was an eight foot tall wolf dressed in just a lab coat and a pair of goggles over a small pair of spectacles. She was far from alone in the room, as several children of various species sat at the benches staring up at her.

"Oh what's all this now?" The wolf asked as the four students were ushered in the door.

"New students boss!" The warden chattered happily. "They had no idea how to get here so I was just escorting them." With that the bat melted into its own shadow along the ground and disappeared. "Oh and remember." His voice echoed throughout the room after he vanished. "Follow your teacher's rules because I'm always watching."

"Not creepy at all..." Zeelo shuddered.

"Ah I was told to expect new students, but they hadn't updated my roster so wasn't sure if it was today or not." The wolf flashed a toothy grin. "I'm Professor Celica! Please come in! Come in! You two and your familiars can take a seat at lab station five." She pointed to an empty table.

"And their familiars?" Koda groaned. "It's like we don't even count."

Kickaha and Zeelo took a seat on the stools next to the bench. Woxy curled up underneath the bench while Koda sat atop Zeelo's head.

"Right then where were we?" Professor Celica hummed to herself as she looked over the class. Ah that's right! It's a free lab day. Everyone will get to choose whatever type of potion they want that we've studied this unit to brew. Now we have a few new students, so I'm going to give a quick recap of each of them before we start. I'm sure the rest of you who weren't paying attention in the previous lectures will appreciate that!" There was a small outburst of nervous laughter at that. "Now then... Let's recap. The four types of potions we've covered this unit are: Beast Tongue, Renewal, Fire Belly and Liquid Luck. And just a reminder you'll need more than luck to pass your exam in two weeks so pay attention! It's very important you get the ingredients as close to exactly measured as possible. Many of these potions have what we call volatile ingredients that can have permanent and irreversible side effects if you go over..." With that Professor Celica continued her lecture. It was exceptionally long.

Kickaha and Woxy hung on every word of it. Despite the circumstances they were excited to be here and enjoying the lesson. Zeelo was doing his best... But found the subject matter harder to keep straight. There were so many numbers and measurements to keep straight he felt his head spending. As for Koda? Well... He figured he was just a familiar. So it wasn't like he had to make a potion. He had decided to take a nap instead of paying attention during the lecture. The entire lecture lasted thirty minutes.

"And with that we are halfway through class." Professor Celica looked up at the wall where a clock was ticking away. "Luckily all four of these are basic potions that shouldn't take very long to make so you have plenty of time. Begin."

"Begin!?" Zeelo seemed panicked. "But I don't even know which to make."

"Oh I've made my decision!" Kickaha grinned. "I'm going with a Renewal Potion! My past experience has taught me that having something on hand that can both heal wounds and refresh your spirit is something that comes in rather useful."

"It's the most complicated to make of the set." Woxy interrupted. "But I've got the ingredient list memorized! It's just like cooking--as long as we follow the recipe it'll come out fine."

"You memorized the entire thing?" Kickaha's eyes shone with awe and approval as he looked down at his familiar. "You know, I think I got your personality wrong. You're much more perceptive than a deer. No, no you're like a proper witch's assistant you are!"

"Wait before you-" Woxy didn't manage to say anymore before she suddenly felt her body reshaping itself to Kickaha's whims. Her body felt familiar after the change, but she was smaller than she had been as a deer, or as a leopard. She had been transformed into a house cat. "You know these sudden changes are very disorienting..."

"I'm just trying to figure out the right you." Kickaha shrugged. "Don't worry, pretty sure this is it! I'll get the pot set up, you go get some of the ingredients from the back."

"Fine fine..." Woxy muttered.

"Wait! Can you help me! I'm going to make the same potion!" Zeelo tugged on Kickaha's cloak. Then he picked up Koda off his head.

"Who, what, what!?" Koda squeaked as the tiny jackal was awoken.

"Go help Woxy pick out the ingredients please!" Koda sat the jackal down atop Woxy's head and then turned back to Kickaha.

"H-hey!" Koda protested then he noticed Woxy. "Huh... Did... you change species again."

"Apparently." Woxy sighed. "Let's just go get this over with." She began to trot across the classroom with Koda atop her side while looking up at the cabinet.

"Can't believe we're stuck like this." Koda complained. "And they can just change us anyway they want. And we can't do anything to them!"

"Well..." Woxy seemed hesitant. "That's not entirely true."

"What do you mean?" Koda asked.

"I dunno..." Woxy muttered. "I feel like giving you that answer is irresponsible. Do I really want to give in to the dark side here?"

"Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!" Koda chattered excited by the idea of getting a little revenge.

"Well..." Woxy couldn't help but chuckle. "I was paying attention to the warnings the professor gave about the potions." Woxy explained. "And I couldn't help but notice there were a few things that could go wrong... Like the Beast Tongue lets you talk to animals and has different ingredients for different animals. Add to much of it though, and you might mutate yourself partially or completely into that animal. Then the Renewal potion, if you overdue some of the healing ingredients well... It'll literally renew you too much, making you younger."

"So what would happen if you added both to one potion?" Koda grinned.

"I guess you'd get younger and turn into an animal?" Woxy seemed unsure. "But they both plan to make renewal potions. And pretty sure Kickaha paid just as much attention to the presentation as I did. I doubt he'll mess it up. Though... It would be pretty hilarious if I maybe just slipped in a little extra while he wasn't paying attention."

"Yes... That would be hilarious." Koda rolled onto his backside to rub his paws.

With that remark the two turned their attention just to gathering ingredients. This proved difficult. Woxy could carry one bottle in her mouth, but she had problems carrying anymore with paws. Then Koda wasn't big enough to be transporting anything. Eventually they had to make multiple trips. Woxy would carry things one by one to the table. Koda meanwhile moved to her back and did his best to carry things that weren't help in bottles such as a twig with fae berries. By the time they got the other two Kickaha and Zeelo had already started their potion.

"So you basically just start with water!" Kickaha was walking Zeelo through making the potion. "Light the fire underneath then let it to boil! Then we throw in some of the fae berries."

"Yes just a few of those." Woxy muttered to herself as she jumped up and sat on the bench. She waited until Kickaha was helping Zeelo add his own before she added her own extra ingredient to his potion. They were a few seeds from a very specific wildflower.

"Okay I think I got it." Zeelo was following Kickaha's instructions. "So I just throw the berries in whole... And then what comes next?"

"A little something extra I think." Koda snickered to himself as he scrambled off of Woxy's back. He carried a small twig with what resembled acorns next to them. While Zeelo was paying attention to Kickaha he climbed up a series of books on the table and tossed the nuts into the cauldron.

"The main ingredient that gives healing was..." Kickaha paused for a moment. "Just a sec, I know this!"

"It was Bile Leaf Dew!" Woxy nudged the bottle close to Kickaha.

"RIGHT!" Kickaha said. "We want exactly 10 ml of it and no more!" He picked up the bottle Woxy had brought and slowly squeezed out ten drops. "We wanna make sure we're careful with that one."

"Why?" Zeelo asked.

"Cause!" Kickaha grinned and turned to Zeelo. "It's one of those volatile ingredients we were warned about. Means we'll want to keep it in mind for some later fun."

"Or some now..." While Kickaha was distracted Woxy quickly picked up the bottle in her mouth and tilted a few extra drops into the potion. She didn't dare try to add too many for few of being noticed. In fact as she sat the bottle back down she saw she had done it just in time as Kickaha was reaching for it.

"Now you go ahead and do the same." Kickaha grabbed the bottle and passed it to Zeelo.

"R-right!" Zeelo very carefully measured the ten droplets out before setting it aside next to Koda.

"Almost making it too easy." Koda smiled. A few extra drops of that would make the potion a lot more fun for him! He couldn't really do a whole lot at his size to lift it. Instead he just slammed his body into the side of it, tipping the bottle over and dumping the entire thing into the cauldron. "Oh... That's... a lot..." His eyes widened. He hadn't meant for that much! "It's probably fine." He quickly slammed into the bottle again to knock it away from the cauldron and off the table.

"What was that?" Zeelo asked.

"I tripped!" Koda squeaked up. He figured it was half true, that had been a clumsy tackle. "Woxy help me... Clean up the mess I made while they're finishing up the potion."

"Oh fine..." Woxy acted disappointed as she let Koda climb up onto his head. As soon as they both disappeared beneath the lab bench though they couldn't stop snickering as they waited for their prank to succeed.

There was a bit of a wait before that. The potions had to be stirred, needed several more ingredients, then were heated, stirred again, then had to be allowed to simmer. However after about twenty minutes they were ready. The teacher was coming around the room checking each student's potions by having them take a sip.

"Alright you two are up!" Professor Celica came to the bench Kickaha and Zeelo were at. "You went with the Renewal Potion I see, looks like it has a good healthy glow to it. Well go ahead and test them out."

"With pleasure!" Kickaha picked up a glass vial before scooping some of the potion up and drinking it without hesitation.

"Just like that huh?" Zeelo was a little more hesitant... But having put so much work into this wasn't going to stop as he used a glass vial to drink his own.

The effects were not what they were expecting to say the least. Both of them suddenly began to shrink in both size and age. Kickaha's tail got shorter as his ears got much longer. Meanwhile his cloak grew so large on him it slid right off. He had turned into a bunny! He was at least a humanoid one at least... But he was much younger than he had been. He was a mere baby now, no older than about a year and a half.

Zeelo on the other hand had gotten even worse. He was smaller and younger than Kickaha. The now former human had shrunk right out of his sweater as brown fur covered his entire body. A long bushy tail pushed out from his spine as his ears had become more round and moved to the top of his head. He was a squirrel, and though humanoid was only about six inches tall now. He struggled to climb out from his sweater and looked around. He tried to stand up on his legs but failed toppling down onto all fours. He was an infant now. He couldn't be older than six months.

"That... Was unexspwected." Kickaha muttered. Talking was difficult for him at this age, but still possible.

"Sq-squeak!" Zeelo on the other hand was so young he couldn't even form the most basic of words.

"Seems you both overdid it on the Bile Dew." Professor Celica shook her head. "I've seen it happen before. We've actually had a few people graduate without even being old enough to talk or walk as a result. Having said that, it looks like you got some of the ingredients from the Beast Tongue potion in here by mistake. That is a much less forgivable mistake. I know it's your first time, but I'm afraid the best I can give you two is a C minus." With that the professor moved on to the next table as if this wasn't the first time two of her students had turned into small baby animals.

"I woulda sworn I got dat wight..." Kickaha muttered. "Guess I'll chalk it up to learning and-" At this point his large rabbit ears began to twitch. His hearing was even better than it had been as a foxyote and he could hear the two familiars snickering beneath the table. "Hang on a minute..." He grabbed Zeelo and then climbed down from the stool beneath the table. Or at least he tried. His legs weren't very stable and he wound up falling to the ground. He had to grab on to the side of the stool to balance himself to stand up. Staying up on two legs on his own was difficult.

"AHHH!" Woxy tried to recover her composure as she saw them come down. She tried very hard not to laugh. She wasn't very good.

"BWHAHAHAHAHA! Look he's just a baby now!" Koda on the other hand was not doing such a good job at hiding it.

"You did dis!?" Kickaha's eyes widened. "Why... I can't believe dis! How could you do such a thing..." He narrowed his eyes. "And not have a clever qwuip to go with it!?"

"W-what?" Woxy looked confused. "Wait you're not mad."

"Why would I be mad?" Kickaha shrugged. "It was a good joke! I'm just disapwoi- Disapoin- ...Sad you didn't go the extra line to give it a real punch line! Like you could have said something about the ears! Or how bunnies hop around a lot! Or some kind of age crack..."

"Wait, so does this mean there's not going to be any kind of revenge prank?" Woxy asked.

"Oh there will be wevenge." Kickaha rubbed his paws gleefully. "After all... One good joke deswerves anothew! And I look forward to your wevenge for my wevenge, and so on. But we weally shouwd stawt planning some good jokes on the othews that won't get us thrown out of cwass..."

"I gotta admit this went a completely different way from what I expected..." Woxy muttered.

Meanwhile Koda was still laughing about what he had done to Zeelo. The baby squirrel crawled over at him and narrowed his eyes. He was still bigger than Koda, but now only twice his size, not quite big enough to easily pick him up anymore.

"Oh what? What's wrong?" Koda asked. "It was funny right! Besides what would you do about it-" Suddenly Koda began to shrink. "Oh right that..."

"Squeak!" Zeelo stuck his tongue out. Koda had left him an infant of just six months old... So Zeelo had decided to do much worse than him! By the time he was done Koda wasn't even six seconds old... And Zeelo was actively keeping him that way. Then for good measure he had shrunk the newborn jackal down even smaller so that he'd remain pocket sized to the squirrel... Well pocket sized if the squirrel was large enough to wear anything with pockets.

"Arrrrrooooo!" Zeelo's tail sagged and he whined. Being a mouse sized toddler was hard enough! Now he was an insect sized infant!

"Um you're not going to do that to me?" Woxy watched what happened as she turned to Kickaha.

"Of course not!" Kickaha smiled. "But... You know I think I had you wrong again. You're a lot twickier than a cat... No I think you should be a..."

"Here we go again..." Woxy sighed as she began to reshape again. This time she got bigger as her tail shrunk slightly proportionally to her body. This time she grew as large as a some dogs, or at least as a puppy given her age. "A coyote?" She walked in a circle looking at herself.

"Of course!" Kickaha smiled. "I hadn't pegged you for a twickster at first... But now I'm sure I've gotten it right." He paused. "Plus I'm pretty sure you as something big enough for all three of us to ride on if we have any hope of getting to class." With that Kickaha climbed up onto the coyote's back. He reached down to grab Zeelo to help him up who in turn grabbed Koda by the tail and lifted him up.

"So this is my life now huh?" Woxy muttered as she began to trot for the class door.

"Isn't it great?" Kickaha asked.

"It's not too bad..." Woxy admitted.

"Squeak squeak!" Zeelo had his own opinions.

"Arooooo!" And Koda had his. But neither one of them were in a position to express them. In fact with the current dynamic between the two it would be a very long time before either one of them found themselves old enough to talk or carry a conversation again.

By that point Kickaha might have even settled on what species he though Woxy should be.

But for now one class was over and there were several more to attend.

The End