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Jumping Hurdles Written by Leo_Todrius Commissioned by Pstrmchl

Silence reigned supreme through the school halls, in the covered area and even the parking lot. Summer had arrived, the students had gone and there was nothing but the sounds of crickets and the slightest hot breeze blowing across the grass of the football field that sat in the middle of the track... but not all life was absent. Several hurdles lined the track, placed there by one young man. Milo stood, looking at his handiwork, knowing the challenge that was about to come. He had three months to master the hurdles, to prove he had what it took for track and field when it came time for college. It was his deal with his parents, but Milo started to feel like the deck was stacked against him.

The brown haired young man moved out onto the track and took a soft breath before he started running. His sneakers pounded against the recycled rubber track, giving him a bit of spring in his step. He picked up the pace, the speed and as he approached his first hurdle, he all but closed his eyes in hope, pushing off the ground. His small feet sprung him upwards, but his legs didn't have enough oomph. He smacked his shins into the cross bar and sent the hurdle tumbling, nearly tripping himself. Milo tried to slow down but he had so much momentum that he collided into the next hurdle, flipping over with it, landing on the ground with an unceremonious thud.

The sound of the clattering hurdles echoed for a few moments, but the sound faded and only the sound of the crickets returned. Milo slowly rolled over, gazing up at the cloudless blue sky, sweat beading his forehead. He sighed gently, feeling hopeless. He'd pulled every string he had to get the equipment room key to use the hurdles over the summer, but it still didn't seem like enough. He was too skinny, too short, too small... But he hated to give up on a challenge.

Milo stood up and righted the hurdles before he moved back even further on the track. He gave himself several extra yards to pick up the pace, feeling the wind blow across him and whip through his brown hair. His mind spun through the information he'd studied about trajectory, points of impact and inertia. He approached the first hurdle again before he leapt up, lifting his legs. He grinned as he got higher than he ever had before, but the grin quickly ended as he felt the hurdle graze his thigh. He desperately tried to lift his back leg higher, but it caught. Milo balled up as he fell, hitting the ground and rolling before he landed roughly on the base of the next hurdle. He opened one eye to see it rotate down and land on him lightly. The eighteen year old sighed and stretched out on the ground, lying beneath the hurdle, sighing softly.

****

The bike tires almost sizzled on the hot street as Milo peddled his bike along, though as he neared his own neighborhood he pulled up onto the sidewalk to spare himself and his bike a bit of the heat. He looked a bit worse for wear. His shirt was sweat stained, his knees were bruised and abraded and his arms were sore. Added to that, he seemed somewhat winded after the bike ride. It had been another idea to boost his stamina, but Milo felt like it was just wearing him out.

He pulled up into his driveway and stepped off the bike, leaning it against the fence before he moved and unlocked the gate. He brought his bike with him into the backyard, setting it in a little nook before he continued on. While a lot of the back yard was grassy, it looked a little bit like a miniature zoo. Milo moved to the food containers and opened the lid, pulling out a large bowl full of kibble. He walked over to the fenced off portion that enclosed a large patch of grass, a small feature of fallen logs and a converted dog house. As Milo leaned over the fence and put down the bowl, there was movement from the dog house as a rabbit hopped out, his glassy eyes gazing up at Milo.

"Hey there Otis, how's it hopping?" Milo asked. The extremely fuzzy rabbit hopped along over to the bowl with surprising speed, his whiskered cheeks twitching and his nose quirking as he began to nibble away at his food. Milo reached down and pet the rabbit gently, admiring his fur and his abilities for a long moment, "If only I could jump like you or have your muscles." Milo said softly. The words seemed to loop in his head as he watched Otis eat before he slowly wondered if that sort of thing was possible. He looked down at his rabbit, "I'll be back, I gotta look something up." Milo said before he moved in the back door of the house, making his way to his room. He kicked off his scuffed up shoes in the corner and pulled off his t-shirt as well, settling down into his computer chair before he opened his internet browser.

His first few searches revealed little information other than the banned experiments on gene splicing, but after a few minutes Milo was better able to search for what he was wanting to learn. Articles started to come up about the experiments that had been conducted before the ban and even after, though illegally. Wolfmen, insect beings, chimeras and shape shifters. Some of the articles were from tabloids, but they all seemed to point to the possibility. Milo leaned back contemplating what he was envisioning.

All he wanted was the ability to run and jump like a rabbit; stronger legs, more dexterous, larger feet for improved jumping. They were all attributes that rabbits had, and Milo wanted them. He wanted his own lucky rabbit's feet to get into college with. He looked down at his socked feet, wiggling his toes, imagining them bigger before he returned to Google, searching 'gain attributes from animal'. The first few search results were aphrodisiacs from china, but somewhere down the page Milo found something promising. He opened the link and a video started to play. On the video a man in his late twenties or early thirties moved into frame, his dark brown hair tied back into a long ponytail, his eyes a most unusual shade of lilac.

"Greetings my friends, I'm Julian Genoa, scientist and entrepreneur. If you've found your way to me, then you are in search of what I have to offer; the ability to blend your DNA with that of an animal, to gain the best of both worlds. Whether you want to be as strong as a gorilla, as fast as a cheetah or as colorful as a peacock, I can help. While our best selling product is the prepared serum, our do-it-yourself kits offer a more cost effective method, especially if you have access to your own biological donor." The man on the video said before the video faded out.

Milo wasn't sure how he felt about that, though he did have access to his own donor. Otis would surely not mind giving up a few hairs or a swab of his mouth... He didn't have much to lose. Milo threw caution to the wind and started filling out the form, entering his information before pulling out his debit card, adding that as well. Before long the request was sent. He closed the page and stood up, moving to head back and check on Otis to see how he was doing, wondering if he'd just wasted perfectly good money. Only time would tell.

****

Days had passed and Milo had continued practicing. Sadly, that had resulted in many more bruises, cuts and even a pain Milo had considered close to a hairline fracture, at least for a little while... All in all, he decided a break was in order. Otis had been brought in out of the heat and was resting on Milo's chest where he lay on the living room floor. Otis stared blankly at the human as the human gazed back. It wasn't quite like having a cat, but sometimes doing things differently was more exciting. Hearing a truck rumble up outside, the rabbit turned and jumped off of Milo, making him cough and sputter before he stood up and moved to the door. The mailman outside held a box too big to fit into their mailbox. Milo smiled and accepted it.

"Thank you." Milo said.

"Have a good day." The mailman said, getting back to his truck. Milo closed the door and sat down, using his fingernail to cut through the tape before he pulled the flaps open. Inside was a clear plastic case holding vials, droppers, stirring tools and all manner of lab equipment. Milo smirked to himself, lifting the case out.

"Well Otis, looks like we're going on an adventure after all." Milo said happily. He stood up and moved to the kitchen, setting the case down before he pulled out some lettuce leaves and carrot greens to toss on the floor. Otis came scampering in to start chowing down. Milo moved the case from the counter to the dining room table before he sat and opened it up, pulling out the paperwork. He grimaced a bit at how long some of the words were, particularly the Ribonucleic acid transcription catalyst. He tried to understand what the paperwork was saying. Thankfully, while the writing was rather difficult, the pictures seemed infinitely easier.

Deciding to ignore the instructions, Milo looked at the pictures. He had to mix three vials, then put a skin or follicle sample from each subject into the substance. Milo guessed that it had to do with getting the DNA to work well together... but then there were other pictures, showing the vial being fed to the intended animal as well as the human subject. Milo wasn't sure why both of them would be drinking it, but then again he wasn't the scientist. He glanced down at the rabbit on the floor, moving to rub Otis' head with his foot.

"Ready for science little buddy?" Milo asked. The rabbit gazed up at him blankly, his long pointed ears laying flat along his back. Milo smirked to himself as he pulled out the vials and started to mix them together. Once the fluids had combined, he reached up to pull a hair from his head. The first rendered nothing, but the second had a follicle attached. He dropped it into the liquid and watched it bubble before the hair was gone. Milo grimaced a bit before he set the vial aside and lifted Otis up. The rabbit legs dangled beneath him before he was gently turned upside down. Otis' chest rose and fell quickly despite trusting his master. Milo carefully groomed his rabbit, looking for any stray fur.

He pulled out several, hoping not to have to pluck his rabbit's fur. That seemed inhumane.... He wound up with a clump of white and brown fur before at last he found one. He smiled gently and set Otis down before adding the fur. It bubbled away before disappearing and then over the course of several seconds the liquid turned from yellow to a foggy white. Milo was impressed and hoped that meant it wouldn't be dissolving anything else, like his mouth, and Milo already knew he was going to try it first before he made Otis do anything. He cared too much about his bunny. He took out the little eye dropper and sucked up half for his rabbit before he brought the tube to his lips and tipped it back. The liquid sloshed over his tongue and went down his throat, bubbling and tingling.

Milo made a face at the taste, but then slowly it started to taste better and he relaxed. He shivered a bit before he sat back down on the floor, grabbing the eye dropper and holding it out. Otis moved over and investigated, sticking his nose against the dropper. He sniffed a it before looking up at the human. Milo slowly squeezed the end, producing a drop of liquid. Otis sniffed the dropper again and got a nose covered in liquid. He moved and brought his maw up and began to lap at the dropper. Milo squirted it into his rabbit's mouth, letting him drink it down before there was no more... and then Milo grinned.

"I hope this works... At least whatever happens, we're going through it together." Milo said, petting his rabbit. Otis crawled back up into Milo's lap before laying down in contentment. Milo pet his rabbit, sighing happily.

****

The sound of Milo's alarm clock woke him from his deep slumber. He grunted a bit, his nose twitching as he stretched a bit and yawned. His blanket slowly slipped off his feet as he stretched and he wiggled his toes. He rolled over and looked at the clock. Ten in the morning... It was amazing how quickly he'd adjusted to the summer. That seemed early now even though he'd been getting up four hours earlier for months. He pulled his blanket back and slipped out of bed, his feet sinking into his carpet. Milo was about to get up before he realized the texture of the floor felt different. He wiggled his toes, he swept his feet back and forth, then he realized what the feeling was. His feet were bigger.

A look of glee crossed Milo's face as he brought his foot up into his lap and stroked it. His toes were longer and his heel was wider. It was actually bigger, and his ankles were thicker around. Milo let out a whoop of excitement before he traded feet. Sure enough, both were bigger! It was amazing, it had worked! Milo sprung to his feet and ran through the house in his underwear, moving into the garage where Otis was sleeping in a cage. Milo opened his cage and scooped the rabbit up, bringing his friend nose to nose.

"It worked! It really worked, I'm becoming more like you." Milo grinned, hugging Otis before he took him outside to his back yard cage and set him down, dishing him up a hefty dose of kibble. The rabbit sprung around his cage a bit, stretching his legs. Milo gave Otis one last smile before he headed inside. Otis worked his way around before he made it to the bowl, though as he skidded to a stop, he bumped the bowl and sent some kibble rolling through the sides of the cage. The rabbit's tail twitched before he moved up to the edge of the cage and slowly slipped his paw through. As his paw rested on one of the bits of kibble, one of his toes bent down opposably, curving around the bit of food. Otis drew it back in and lifted it to his mouth, crunching into it with his teeth, a soft smile crossing his rabbity lips.

****

Milo stood on the track, looking at the hurdles. His hips waggled a bit with anticipation, his foot tapping. He tried to guess his trajectory before he put a foot down, then the other, starting to run faster and faster. Before long he hit full speed and the wind whipped across him like never before. Milo held his breath as he suddenly jumped, but the breath didn't last long as he shouted in shock as he sailed higher than ever before. He arched over the hurdle and landed, his momentum keeping him going. He barely had time to think before he jumped again, clearing the second. Milo let out a huge whoop of excitement, jumping over the next, then the next, then another. He saw the last hurdle coming up and he pushed off with all his might.

The wind caught Milo's shirt, sending it rippling against his skin as he flew with the greatest of ease, the fabric brushing the soft fuzz that had formed across his chest. Milo came back down, landing and running off a bit to slow his speed before he turned around, looked at the hurdles and threw his hands up, letting out another whoop of delight. He'd done it, he'd cleared the track... It was going to happen; his life was going to take shape. Milo grinned with absolute glee... at least until his feet started to ache. He looked down at his shoes, realizing how tight they were. Still, new shoes were a small price to pay for achieving his greatest challenge.

****

While Milo usually returned home in defeat, the spring in his step hadn't gone away at all when he got home. He practically frolicked around the kitchen, deciding to whip together a meal worthy of his success. He was absolutely famished, but his usual snacks just weren't doing it for him. Chicken, turkey, ham. None of it seemed quite right... But a big, fresh garden salad? Now that would hit the spot. Milo threw in lettuce, spinach leaves, basil, cucumber slices and croutons before chopping carrots. He thought about how great it was to leap over those hurdles and how great college was going to be, missing the fact that he put the carrot greens into the salad along with the rest of the foods.

With an eager toss, the salad was mixed and Milo took the bowl out to the dining room and sat down, picking out pieces to eat. He'd neglected to add any dressing or even use a fork, his mind too far off in daydreams. Otis hopped around the kitchen floor as well, though his eyes were looking around the house with a brand new curiosity, taking note of where everything was. Despite his education, the rabbit saw one of Milo's hand dangling down and hopped over to nuzzle it. Milo smiled, reaching to rub between Otis' ears, petting the fur there... though it didn't feel quite as soft as before. It was a bit more wiry, almost like hair.

"Looks like someone needs a bath." Milo smirked. The rabbit shook its head to the contrary before nibbling some of the bits of basil that clung to Milo's finger tips. Milo smirked, pulling out more parts of his salad, dropping them onto the floor. Otis gobbled up the food happily, staying close, though when Milo dropped a carrot, the rabbit slowly sat back on its hind legs and picked it up in both hands with surprising ease, crunching away on it. Milo didn't notice, still daydreaming.

****

Milo's feet pounded along the cement as he ran down the street, eager to meet his friends at the amusement park. They'd been planning it since school let out. He looked up and saw the short line outside and his impatient friends. Milo blushed a bit as he slowed to a stop.

"Sorry I'm late..." Milo apologized.

"We were about to give up." One of his friends said as they all slipped back into line.

"What were you doing?" Sarah asked as they advanced, trying to make small talk.

"I... fell asleep while gardening." Milo blushed.

"Outside? With all that dirt?" Sarah asked in shock.

"Well, yeah." Milo said. The sun had felt so nice on him that he'd just passed out cold... Otis had certainly appreciated it.

"Gardening, dude, that's..." Frankie shook his head as he moved forward. They paid to get in and made their way across the amusement park, heading immediately for the rides, though on the way they passed a corn dog cart. Milo felt mildly ill. The breading smelled all nice and corn like, but the hot dogs turned his stomach. Milo sped up a bit, nearly passing Frankie and Sarah until they were clear of the smell.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Frankie asked.

"Yeah, I feel great. I totally got over all the hurdles." Milo smiled.

"Well, just make sure you can keep it up." Frankie said, moving through the arch to the rides. Milo followed in after but his way was blocked almost immediately by a huge guard in a blue uniform. Milo looked up wide eyed as Sarah came in behind him.

"Sir, you're not allowed to be in this section." The guard said. Milo looked shocked.

"Why?" Milo asked softly, looking around, trying to see if he'd done something wrong.

"You don't meet the minimum height requirement." The guard said. Milo blinked, not understanding at all. He looked back at the bar dangling over the entrance arch. It seemed higher than before, though the chains were just as rusted as ever.

"When did you change it?" Milo asked.

"Change it? Sir, you must be at least five foot four to ride this selection of rides." The guard said.

"But I am!" Milo said, "I ride these rides every year!" Milo said.

"Sir, you are making a scene." The guard murmured. Milo looked over to Frankie and Sarah who had once again been held up by him. He grimaced.

"You two go ahead..." Milo said. Frankie looked at Sarah before they turned and moved off, shaking their heads.

"He's such a sad case..." Frankie murmured when he thought Milo was too far away to hear. Sarah nodded.

"I feel kind of sorry for him." She said, though as they walked away, they linked arms. Milo's shoulders slumped. He felt so humiliated, but he still had a problem to investigate. He walked back to the entrance, stepping to the side to compare to the dangling bar. He reached up and felt between his head and the bar. There was at least a half inch of clearance. Milo didn't understand. No one just lost four inches of height over night... but the bar was old, it hadn't been moved. Milo turned and moved out of the arch, heading back towards the park gate. He had to get home and measure himself. Something weird was going on.

****

The tape measure crinkled as Milo pulled it up, standing on the metal clip, bringing the spool up. Milo carefully tried to ensure he had an accurate gauge of his height before he locked the measure in place and turned it around to look at it. The number he saw dumbfounded him. Five foot even... When he'd left the part, he had been five foot three. Milo put his back to the wall and slowly slid down to the floor, letting the tape measure drop from his hand. He reached up to rub at his face.

"I should have known better, I should have been smarter..." Milo whispered to himself, "I mean I didn't just put me at risk, I put Otis-" Milo paused, his eyes going wide. He sprung up to his feet and ran through the house, though his feet seemed larger again. His shoes groaned under the pressure of being in such tight confines. The pain caused Milo to stumble and lope along before he sprinted out into the back yard.

His eyes looked around desperately, searching for Otis. He checked the wood pile, all around the edge, even in the dog house... but then Milo saw the gate was opened. That fact filled the young man with even more dread. It took two hands to open the gate and no one had been home but him. Milo looked around the yard, stumbling yet again. His eyes watered gently as tears began to leak down his cheeks.

"OTIS!" Milo called out in desperation. Across the yard, the bushes shook. Milo turned, grinning. He ran along over to the bushes, tripping over his own feet, landing on his stomach at the base of it. The bushes shook again. Mile got up on all fours and reached in to grab Otis, but as he did so he got his arms around something much larger than he anticipated. It had to be the size of a medium garbage bin. Milo's eyes were wide, "Oh my god, I grabbed a raccoon..." he whispered.

Despite his concerns, his furry captive didn't bite him... and, for the most part, the fur was quite soft. Milo swallowed and decided to keep with it. He pulled back, extracting the animal from the bush, seeing Otis' distinctive white and brown mottled fur. Milo also saw that his rabbit had more than doubled in size. Milo slowly sat upright and set Otis down on his lap like always, though Ots' enormity made him much heavier, at least eighty pounds. Milo looked down at his giant rabbit and Otis looked right back up before he did the impossible.

Otis turned, putting hand like paws onto Milo's chest, standing upright with the assistance. Milo twitched in shock, looking into Otis' eyes, eyes that were no longer glassy. They were brown like Milo's. Milo's head wobbled gently before he fainted, collapsing onto the grass. The shock had been too much for him. Otis circled around on Milo's chest before lying down, nuzzling Milo's chin, but as he did, the human's chin started to produce small soft hairs. While they looked like a goatee, they were the same soft white as Otis' fur.

Milo's body shuddered in his unconscious state, starting to shift at an even faster rate. His spine contracted more and his arms and legs continued to shrink. His shoulders, knees and elbows popped and reconfigured, and before long, Milo's cheeks began to twitch before long, strong whiskers began pushing out of his cheeks. Otis watched his master change, understanding more of the waking world with every second. As the tip of Milo's nose upturned slowly and the nostrils shrank, becoming more rabbit like, Otis considered just how adorable Milo was starting to look.

The rabbit rose up onto all fours and crawled up, pressing his lips to Milo's, feeling them change beneath the kiss. Milo's upper lip split and rounded, connecting to his nose, taking on a much more rabbit like orientation. Milo's mouth began pushing forward, taking on a slight muzzle. It was a change Otis was quite taken by as well. What had begun as a fuzzy goatee started to spread. White and brown splotchy fur grew out across Milo's chin and neck, disappearing into his shirt. Otis watched in wonder, though he too was feeling changes rack his body. He cringed gently as another wave of expansion ripped through him.

Otis shivered as his chest expanded first. Ribs pushed apart, his muscles changed. Even his organs were reconfiguring. As his spine extended in length, his tail retracted and his limbs began to grow. His arms stretched, his elbows shifted, his legs elongated and his entire pelvis began to reorient... but the strangest change of all had to be watching the fur slowly start to disappear from his hands... just as the fur spread across Milo's face.

****

Milo murmured softly as he started to wake up. The air was cold against him. Milo moaned and opened his eyes, sitting up slowly. As he sat upright, he felt a weight shift on his head before a long white ear flopped over one eye, then another fell over the other. Milo gasped in shock before he reached up and pushed the ears out of his face... but he couldn't feel his thumbs. He lifted his hands and looked at them. Fuzzy, white, paw pads, claws, no thumb...

"No, no, no..." Milo whimpered.

"My-low..." Came a soft voice from near by. Milo's back arched before he turned, his jaw dropping. Sitting on his knees a few feet away was a four foot tall, hundred and ten pound rabbit man. His ears had shrunken quite a bit, his muzzle was blunted, his nose stuck out more than his mouth, but he was still very rabbit.

"Otis?!" Milo whispered. The rabbit man grinned and moved over, wrapping his human arms around Milo, squeezing him tight.

"My-low, gon be oh-kay." Otis said. Milo whimpered.

"I'm sorry I did this to you." Milo whispered.

"Ohtis love Myloh. Take care of." Otis said, nuzzling Milo's neck. Milo wrapped his arms around Otis' furry torso before he groaned, twitching more.

"I have to... see what's..." Milo panted softly, unable to finish his sentence. Otis climbed off of Milo as he watched his human try to stand. At first Milo struggled with his over-sized clothing. None of it was even close to fitting. His pants slipped down, his shoes toppled off and his shirt fell around his shoulders and then hips. Milo struggled out of it all before he stood up, but his hips and knees didn't work that way anymore. He fell forward onto his paws, his back legs already at the ready. Milo hopped and loped along the yard over to the sliding glass door, looking at his reflection. Milo had pushed past the half way point. His feet were huge, furry and clawed. His legs were bent like a rabbit's, his back was sloped like one. The biggest surprise, however, was Milo's face.

Milo reached one paw up to stroke the fur that ran from his hairline, down his muzzle to his twitchy pink rabbit nose and lips. He felt his whiskers, his chin, his floppy ears. Milo looked back at Otis with fear and desperation. Otis slowly put his palms onto the ground before he pushed himself up into the standing position. He took a wobbly step, but the next was more secure. Milo watched Otis walk over, and as he did, the rabbit man continued to change as well.

Otis' back elongated as his vertebrae enlarged and his ribs spread. His shoulders widened, his arms stretched, and his legs lengthened. His ears continued to shrink until they were round and small, and the fur seemed to retract into his skin for the most part, though the fur on his head went from white and brown splotches to all brown before pushing out into shaggy hair. His posture shifted, his muscles continued to change and his face refined. Every contour of his cheeks, chin and nose altered until he looked just like the master he had once had.

Milo sat on the grass, looking up at a perfect image of what his naked body had been like, but his own body continued to shrink and diminish. His shoulders hunched, his skull elongated, his body contracted, shrank and diminished. Milo huddled up on himself as he felt himself shrinking, feeling as though he was disappearing. In another few moments, all that was left of Milo was a football sized rabbit covered in white and brown fur. The rabbit sniffed at the air before turning, looking up at the human with glassy eyes, his whiskers twitching. Otis crouched down and pet the rabbit's fur.

While both individuals had completed their physical change, Otis was still adapting to an expanded brain. His thoughts cycled around, generating more complex thoughts, linking to memories that were more vivid than ever before. His exposure to human language took root and he started to think in the words he had heard Milo use over and over. He blinked gently before he pulled Milo onto his lap, petting his fur. Milo pressed tightly to his former rabbit, huddling against his chest.

"I'll figure out how to help you..." Otis said, "Though... I'm going to experience what it's like to be a human for a while. I hope you don't mind me borrowing your life for a while." Otis said with a wicked grin. Milo looked up with wide eyes, trembling a bit more. Otis yawned a bit before he stood, holding Milo in his arms, "Now, let's get you inside. I know how cold it gets out here." He grinned. The brand new human carried his brand new rabbit inside, sliding the glass door shut behind him.