Gender Bending 2: Zella

Disclaimer: All characters and places mentioned are property of Namco.

Alright, so things are going to seem a little odd in this chapter, but bear with me: there's a method to my madness!

Chapter 7

Almost an hour later, the group was still slowly making their way through the Gardens and still hadn't found the Mana Leaf Herb. They recently encountered a thick fog and Kratos ordered all of them to get closer to each other, to avoid the group getting separated. Genis had ended up huddled up near Lydia and was blushing profusely at their close proximity. Interestingly, Sheena was huddled up near Lydia as well and she too found herself blushing. What the hell is going on? She thought. Why am I suddenly so uncomfortable with Lydia? She paused. Oh, who am I kidding? It's been uncomfortable ever since Lloyd changed into her. Even though she might not admit it to herself, Sheena had had feelings for Lloyd for a long time and the transformation was what was making things so awkward. At least, that's what Sheena thought...

"Hey Kratos." Zella began. "We've been walking for, like, an hour now." She paused, temporarily disturbed by the feminine phrasing of her comment. "How about we take a break?"

Kratos looked at Zella at the mention of his name, having obviously been shaken from his no-doubt mysterious thoughts. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

Zella sighed in exasperation and repeated her suggestion.

The Seraph looked thoughtful and then said, "Yes I suppose we should." He stopped walking and held out his hand to stop everyone else. Next, he did a quick observation of the area before him, probably checking for the Mana Leaf Herb. Then, he held his hands out in front of him, muttered an incantation, and shouted "Judgement!" Immediately, a large pillar of light shot down from the purple sky and obliterated a large circular area of the Gardens.

The group stepped into the newly made circular clearing, which was about 30 or 40 feet in diameter. Now clearly visible, both Genis and Sheena quickly moved away from Lydia with their faces beet red. Lydia, of course, was oblivious. While this was going on, Kratos said, "This shall be our camp. If any of us should get separated, it should be first priority to get back here. Without touching any plants, of course." He added quickly. "I'd like to avoid any situations like last time in the Ymir forest."

Everyone wholeheartedly agreed and the group started setting up camp in the clearing. While they did so, Kratos began to leave.

Zella noticed first and said, "Hey, old man! Where are you going?"

The Seraph, with his back to the gender-bent pervert said. "Sometimes I need to be alone with my thoughts. This is one of those times. You don't have to worry; I'll be extremely careful about the plants." Without saying more, he began cutting himself a different path out of the clearing and into the lush Gardens.

"I bet he's just trying to get out of setting up camp." Zella pouted. "Well, I'm out of here!" She started off in a different direction from Kratos.

"And just where are you going?" Sheena asked with a raised eyebrow. "We still need to set up camp."

Zella gestured to a sleeping back she had set up on the ground. "I am set up."

"What about what Kratos said?" Lydia asked. "I'm pretty sure he told us to stick together."

Zella shrugged. "Hey, if he's not going to follow his own advice, then neither am I. Besides, I want to find the Mana Leaf Herb as fast as possible. Splitting up is probably out best bet."

Raine stepped forward. "While I'm not sure I agree with your reasoning, I do think that splitting up is the best way to cover the most ground." She reached into her rucksack and pulled out some notepads, which she began passing out. "I want all of you to sketch and observe three plants before tomorrow, obviously being sure not to touch them. Since some of us seem to be going out into the forest, I figured this is the best time to give out this assignment."

Lydia and Zella both groaned in unison. "You're giving us homework?"

"I suppose you could describe it that way." Raine began with a glint in her eye resembling Ruin Mode. "But if everyone documents three different plants, imagine the scope database we could establish in just a few days! Think of it like the Monster List or the Collector's Book."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." Zella muttered sarcastically as she jammed the notebook into her pocket and started cutting herself a path through the forest.

"Hey sis, you look shorter..." Genis began when Raine handed him a notebook.

Raine smiled. "You're probably just growing." She reassured him.

"Maybe..." Genis thought aloud as he sat down at the edge of the clearing to observe a plant. It made sense that he would reach a growth spurt at this time, since he had obviously hit puberty recently, but something about his sister's appearance was still bugging him. In addition to appearing thinner, he thought that her clothes seemed just slightly looser, meaning she was a little thinner as well... He shook his head. He was probably just being paranoid. Maybe she had been getting more exercise recently. Either that, or maybe he was subconsciously associating his sister with some of the younger, slightly less filled-out girls of the group, like Sheena or Lydia.

Thinking that was a mistake. Unbidden, he started having not-so-innocent visions of the two girls, distracting him further from his homework. He blushed and cast his eyes around the campsite, eying Sheena, Lydia, and even Colette. If Zella had been there, he would have examined her as well. Finally, his eyes rested on Presea and he felt a pang of guilt. Ever since they reached Derris-Kharlan, he hadn't given her a second thought as he admired every female he saw except her (Excluding Raine, of course). It wasn't that he didn't love Presea anymore; he still did...But she was undeveloped, and his hormones were obviously uninterested in her. It was an odd feeling to love Presea, but to be physically attracted to all of the other girls in the party. He resolved to talk to her, but when he saw Sheena bend over to pick up her pencil, his mind went blank and he furiously began scribbling in the notepad to distract himself.


Zella was furiously cutting her way through the jungle with her sword, looking desperately for the Mana Leaf Herb. Damn it! Where is that stupid thing? As Kratos was leaving the camp, she'd found herself eying the Seraph with intensity. She didn't think anyone else had noticed, but the experience was unnerving enough for her. She paused, looking for the Mana Leaf Herb and found that she was placing most of her body weight on one leg in a feminine manner. She quickly corrected herself with a scowl and continued moving. If we don't find it soon, I'm not gonna want to change back! I'll be damned if I let that happen! Distracted with her thoughts, in addition with her unfamiliar center of gravity, she stumbled and found her face falling directly at a flower. Luckily her arm shot out and caught a vine. With her hold on the vine, Zella was able to pull herself back to her feet before the flower could shoot any pollen into her face. However, the vine she grabbed had been covered in large thorns and she received large cut on her finger. In an even fouler mood than before, Zella continued to make her way into the jungle.
"I am going for a walk." Presea said calmly. "Perhaps I'll be able to find the Mana Leaf Herb. Would anyone like to come along?"

"I'll come." Colette said, hopping to her feet. "This assignment is boring anyway."

Presea raised her eyebrow at Colette's disregard for Raine's feelings. Of course, Raine wouldn't have been hurt by the comment, but generally Colette was so afraid of hurting someone's feelings she would have never dreamed of saying such a thing. Presea shook off her suspicion and the two set off into the Gardens as the pink-haired girl cut the way with her ax. Genis probably would have offered to go with them if he'd heard them, but he was so focused on not thinking about any of the girls in the group that he was rigorously doing his homework and didn't hear a word anyone said.


Kratos angrily stabbed his sword into one of the many purple trees. He had absolutely no idea why, but he'd recently found himself attracted to Sheena of all people! Why? He wondered. Why now? Despite the summoner's low-cut clothing and large chest, he'd never once felt attracted to her in any way. Being over 4,000 years old and being extremely loyal to your dead wife will prevent a person from feeling such feelings about other women. Of course, he didn't love Sheena or anything, that was still reserved for Anna and Anna alone, but he couldn't deny that he found himself thinking about her. Why now? He asked himself again. I've never felt even remotely attracted to her in the past! He paused. That wasn't true, was it? No, it wasn't. He had felt attracted to Sheena before: when she kissed him with the pollen-laced lipstick back in that Altamira hotel room. But I was cured, wasn't I? What would make me start thinking this way about her again? He mood wasn't helped by the fact he could hardly see where he was going with that blasted fog everywhere! Kratos paused, thinking. Although it had been in varying amounts, they'd all been in that fog ever since they entered the Gardens, right? It was definitely unnatural. No ordinary fog was purple, after all.

Realization dawned on him. Could it be that the fog was bringing out the effects of flowers they thought they'd cured? That would explain his reemerging feelings for Sheena. That would mean that the others in the group were probably being affected as well! Colette would gradually become more lustful and selfcentered, Raine would slowly become younger, and Sheena would be falling in love with Lydia all over again! Now that he thought about it, Kratos had noticed Sheena blushing as she was huddled up next to his daughter earlier...

Kratos immediately pivoted on his feet and set out at a sprint back towards the camp. He wasn't sure if pollen that canceled each other out, such as the two others Lydia was effected with before, would reemerge, but he wasn't going to wait to find out! He had to get back to the camp and warn everyone before they all started to relapse. Silently, he cursed himself for how far he'd wandered from the camp. Still, he should be able to get back soon. As he ran, he couldn't help but think how lucky Yuan was for not being here. I doubt gradually turning into a woman would be a pleasant experience.

Unfortunately, in his rush, Kratos didn't watch where he was going and tripped on a tree root. He landed with his face right next to a flower, which suddenly expelled a lot of pollen at him. Kratos was unable to get up in time and breathed in the dust. "Damn it..." He muttered as the pollen filled his lungs...


As Presea and Colette made their way through the Gardens in their currently unsuccessful search, Presea was thinking about Genis. He seemed distracted lately, and didn't seem to want to talk to her. Normally, her offer to go on a walk would have been answered by an enthusiastic, if nervous, reply from Genis. She also thought she saw him staring at some of the other girls... She stopped herself there. She was probably being paranoid. Not only that, but Presea refused to turn into one of those jealous, backstabbing kinds of girls that would follow Zelos around. He's probably fine. She thought, but still decided that she would talk to him about it later. Suddenly, there weren't any plants in front of her to cut down.

The two girls stepped into a small clearing with a metal floor. In the middle of the clearing was what appeared to be a staircase leading underground. "What is that?" Colette asked.

"This is quite peculiar." Presea responded.

"Let's go inside!" Colette said.

Presea cocked her head to one said. "Kratos said not to touch anything. It's odd for you of all people to be disobeying the rules."

"Oh, it'll be fine, Presea." Colette said cheerfully. "Don't you want to know where it goes?"

Presea shrugged. "I suppose it would be interesting to investigate. All right. Let's go."

The two walked down the staircase, going deeper and deeper underground...


Zella groaned as she walked towards the camp. She hadn't found anything in her search and she was boiling mad. She set her eyes around the camp as she thought. Damn it! I've got to find the Mana Leaf Herb before I change too much! Gah! Not to mention this stupid cut won't stop throbbing! She angrily rubbed the cut from the thorn on the vine. Oh, well, at least the flower thorns don't cause any change. ...At least I don't think so. Maybe I should have Raine check this cut out... Suddenly, though, none of that mattered to her. Zella had looked at Genis, and a wave of emotion washed over her. She didn't care about the cut anymore. She didn't care about the Mana Leaf Herb. She didn't care about being cured at all anymore. All she cared about was that silver-haired half elf. Zella blushed bright red as she walked closer to the camp and Genis.

Genis.


Well, I think things have been shaken up enough for this chapter, don't you think?

Oh, and by the way, "cured" pollen is being brought out by the unnatural fog, but pollen that was "canceled out" is not. For example, Lydia will not be becoming overly preppy or falling in love with Sheena, and Genis will not be falling in love with Lydia. And speaking of Genis, he is going through puberty, and is not being magically affected at the moment. And trust me; things are going to get increasingly awkward regarding our favorite half-elf mage, and I love writing it!

Please review and make sure to keep sending ideas (I'd especially appreciate suggestions about what's going to happen to Kratos)!