Hi, me again! Just wanted to let you know how lazy I was in typing this story. Anytime you see Amelia talk with *...*, she sounds like whatever it is she is. (Hence chirping, barking, meowing, etc.) No way was I going to type that everytime she spoke... Also, anytime she speaks in "..." (italicized as well), she's thinking to herself.

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Come morning, Amelia had finally convinced Zelgadis to let her accompany him to the cave. The two broke camp, and then knocked on Bert's door. After a moment, he opened it.

"Oh, morning! So have you decided?" Bert asked.

"Yes, I will accompany Mr. Zelgadis into the cave!" Amelia beamed. She seemed a bit too eager, in Zelgadis' opinion.

"Then please, come this way!"

Bert led them into a small room in his cabin. In the center of the room was a big magic circle. Bert motioned for Amelia to remove her pack and step into the circle. Having done so, he started to cast a spell.

Zelgadis watched on in fascination. At first nothing happened, but then Amelia was surrounded by a white aura. As Bert continued chanting, the aura became blindingly bright. When Bert completed the spell, the aura shrank and faded away, leaving a small bird in the center of the circle surrounded by now useless clothes. Amelia the bird swayed to and fro for a moment before finally planting her two clawed feet on the floor. Zelgadis just watched on in astonishment.

"Oh good, everything went well. The spell is only temporary, and will only last for about a day. So please, do take all of your things." Bert said.

Zelgadis crouched down by Amelia. "Now you're sure about this?" he asked her. Amelia chirped in response. "All right already! Come here, I'll carry you for a bit." Zelgadis offered his hand to Amelia, who in turn was quick to climb on, if not a bit clumsily.

"The initial shock from being morphed should wear off soon." said Bert. He watched as Zelgadis gathered up Amelia's things. "Oh! There is one thing. Make sure she doesn't get too excited."

"What?!"

"Nothing drastic, if anything it will just cause her minor discomfort."

Zelgadis shot Amelia a look. "Hear that? Disobey, and I'll have to bring you right back."

*No fair! I'll be fine.* Amelia chirped back.

Zelgadis just rolled his eyes as he left the room.

*Good-bye Mr. Bert!*

Bert waved and watched them leave.

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Back outside, Amelia could only look about in wonderment. (It didn't help that Zelgadis had her cupped in his hand.) Everything was so...well, so BIG! She wanted to see things from higher up.

*Mr. Zelgadis, I'm feeling better now. May I explore?*

Zelgadis looked down at Amelia. "Only if you stay within sight. I don't want to have to chase you down."

*I will, I promise!*

"Well okay then." Zelgadis his grip on Amelia.

She tentatively hopped to the edge of his outstretched fingers, then lept off! Zelgadis started to panic as she neared the ground, and reached out his hands to catch her. At the last moment ,however, she hit an updraft and soared high above his head.

What fun! This was a much better way to fly than any spell could ever be! Amelia soared higher and higher, but then looked down and realized she couldn't see Zelgadis. "Uh oh, he won't like that..." She prepared to dive but something on the horizon caught her eye. There! It was a cave, but there was something else. Two somethings, actually. A short human girl, and a tall human male. Amelia looked closer. "It is! It's Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry! Wait until Mr. Zelgadis hears about this!" Amelia dove until she could again see Zelgadis. She flapped close to him. perching on his shoulder.

*Mr. Zelgadis! It's Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry!"*

"Where?" Zelgadis looked around.

*This way!* Amelia again took off, and quickly flew down the path, out of sight.

"Amelia! Wait! Come back!" Zelgadis charged after her down the path. "Why me..?"

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Lina was pleased. She and Gourry had just finished another odd job' and had earned enough money to live (luxuriously!) off of for weeks! Life didn't get much better than this. She continued down the path, tossing a small bag of coins as she went.

Nothing but blue skies, fresh air, her constant companion at her side, and that crazed bird flying straight at her. What?! Lina broke out of her daydream and saw that there WAS a crazed little bird flying straight at her. Lina did the best thing she could think of.

"Scram, you stupid bird!" she yelled, all the while preparing a Flare Arrow.

Needless to say, Amelia panicked. She immediately veered off-course and tried to circle back to Zelgadis. Something wasn't right, or more importantly, something didn't feel right.

"Oh no!" Amelia thought.

Lina watched the bird veer off, but was more amazed to see it change shape in mid-air. "What the...?"

It's tail became long, thin, and hairy. Not to mention it's feet looked more like that of a mouse. The wings became shorter and formed into two legs, causing it to fall to the ground. As Lina (and Gourry at this point) watched, was once was a bird was now a small black mouse. Lina, unsure of what it was, continued to point her spell at it.

Zelgadis had seen the whole thing. Fearing what Lina might do, he burst into the clearing. "Stop! Don't hurt her! That's Amelia!!"

"Wha..?" Lina looked up to see Zelgadis appear out of the forest, then back down to the mouse, which was curled up and cringing by this point. "Amelia?" Lina discharged her spell, then bent down to get a closer look.

With it's black fur and blue eyes, it did resemble Amelia, sort of... Lina poked at it with her finger. "A-Amelia?" she asked.

The mouse looked up at her and squeaked. Lina scooped up the small bundle of fur then turned to Zelgadis.

"What? Is this some joke? You got some enchanted animal that can change shape, and you named it Amelia?" Lina tried to stifle a laugh.

Amelia was outraged. A mere animal? And Mr. Zelgadis would never do such a thing! She decided to give Lina an earful, when that sickening feeling returned. Her whole body was coming in on itself. She looked at what she was becoming. "Oh no!"

While Lina yelled to Zelgadis (who was quite out of breath), she felt something different in her hand. Something slimy... Lina grew very quiet, as she slowly uncurled her fingers.

"Lina, what's wrong?" asked Gourry.

It was just as she suspected! "S-S-S-S-SLUG!!!!" Lina tried to fling it off of her glove, to no avail. "GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!!! She was flailing her arms around like mad.

Zelgadis saw this, and lept at Lina, holding her arm above her head so she couldn't continue to flail it. "Lina! Get a grip! That is Amelia! Our friend Amelia! Just calm down, it'll be okay." Zelgadis tried to sound soothing.

"But it's so slimy and disgusting!" Lina was practically beside herself in hysterics. Lina could feel her arm going numb. "Please, just get it off!" she bawled.

Seeing his chance, Zelgadis picked Amelia the slug off of Lina's soiled glove. "Amelia, are you okay? Everything's fine now, just relax." He gave a sigh of relief when she again reverted back to being a bird. A bird who couldn't see straight thanks to Lina, but a bird nonetheless.

"Lina, it's okay now. The slug's gone." Gourry said, rocking her out of her state of shock.

Lina sniffled and looked around, just to be sure. Other than the slimy residue on her glove, the slug was indeed gone.

"Hey Zelgadis, what was that all about?" Gourry asked.

"It's a long story. Amelia and I were on our way to a cave, but now we'll have to turn back." Zelgadis looked down at Amelia.

Amelia sat up in shock. Go back? But they had just gotten there! She couldn't let Zelgadis turn back now, especially since this whole scene was her fault! Ah- on no, she'd gotten herself worked up again...

Zelgadis quickly realized that he no longer had hold of a bird, but that now there was a fairly large dog tugging at his pant leg. "Why me...?"

*Mr. Zelgadis!* Amelia barked. *We can't turn back now! I'm fine, really!*

"Somehow, I don't believe you." Zelgadis found himself sitting on the ground.

*I'm serious, Mr. Zelgadis!* Amelia looked him right in the eye.

"All right! All right!!" he exclaimed.

"Zel, something the matter? You sound like you can understand what the dog is saying." remarked Lina.

Zelgadis stood up and dusted himself off. "Look, I already told you, Lina. That "dog" is Amelia! She was accompanying me to a cave that no "pure-humanoid" can enter. We met someone that changed her, but because of that whole scene you caused, something's gone wrong!"

Amelia leaned against Zelgadis' leg. *And you say I need to calm down...*

"Well, hello to you, too! Do you always treat old friends this way?" Lina snapped.

"Lina, calm down." pleaded Gourry.

*Fighting never solved anything! Miss Lina! Mr. Zelgadis!*

Lina looked down at the barking Amelia. "What did she say?" she asked.

"She's reprimanding us for fighting. Sorry Amelia, you're right." replied Zelgadis.

"She would... Anyway, where's this cave you were headed to?" asked Lina.

"It shouldn't be much farther. Maybe a half-hour walk or so. Why do you ask?"

Lina smiled. "If it's as you said, there might be some good stuff in there!"

Zelgadis shot an amused look at Lina. "Provided you can get in."

"Yeah well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. C'mon, Gourry!"

"This I'll have to see." Zelgadis smirked.

And so the foursome made their way to the cave. Sure enough, it wasn't much further at all. The cave itself didn't look too special, just your average hole in the hillside.

"That's it?" Lina scoffed.

"According to my map, yes." answered Zelgadis.

Lina approached the entrance. "I don't see any magical barriers. It was probably some old tale to scare off would-be looters!" Having said this, Lina stepped boldly into the cave. That had been her intention, anyway. She was flung back violently to the ground instead.

"Lina, are you okay?" asked Gourry.

"Oww.. So much for that theory." Lina rubbed her bruised back.

*Let me try!* Amelia bounded up to the cave, but then slowed down and approached the entrance cautiously. Sensing nothing amiss, she stepped into the cave. Other than an odd tingling feeling, she made it in. *Mr. Bert was right! Are you coming, Mr. Zelgadis?*

"Yes, hang on a second." Zelgadis turned to Lina and Gourry. "What do you two plan on doing?"

"Seeing as we can't go in (it's so unfair!), we'll be gracious enough to wait here for you. Right, Gourry?"

"Right! ...but Lina, what'll we do about lunch? I'm starved." Gourry moaned.

"There's a creek about a mile back. It has enough fish to suit your needs. Especially since Amelia refused to eat any..." Zelgadis said.

*No fair! You know I don't like fish!*

"Sounds like a plan then. Just don't be gone too long!" Lina winked at Zelgadis. "Oh! Hey Amelia, c'mere real quick!" Amelia bounded over to where Lina was still sitting on the ground. "If you see any souvenirs' -especially the shiny expensive kind- could you bring me some?" Lina whispered.

Amelia gave Lina a disgusted look.

"Please? I don't want to miss out on this entirely."

*I guess...*

"Thanks, Amelia!" Lina pet her on the head and grinned. "Oh, and keep Zel out of trouble." she winked.

Amelia made a hasty retreat back to Zelgadis, who was already in the cave.

"See you guys later!" Lina waved. "C'mon, Gourry, those fish are calling!"

"All right! Food!"