Chapter 11: Eating Like Animals

It hadn't taken long for Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis to find a hollow tree and stow their things there. Once they finished, they had another pow wow about their next course of action.

"Our first priority is finding a way to turn ourselves back to normal," Zelgadis stated.

Lina shook her head. "No, our first priority is finding something to eat." Gourry nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

Amelia and Zelgadis both gave her a look. "How could you possibly think of food at a time like this?" Amelia demanded.

"No point in finding a counterspell if we die of starvation first," Lina replied. Zelgadis sighed.

"That's all very well, but where do you propose we find food? The nearest village is several miles away," he pointed out, but Lina wasn't deterred.

"Then we'll catch our own food. Cats and dogs are supposed to be hunters, right? How hard can it be?"


30 minutes later…

Lina yowled in frustration as yet another mouse scurried off before she could pounce. "This is impossible! How can you catch anything like this?!"

"You should try stepping like this Miss Lina," Amelia suggested, demonstrating. "You won't make as much noise this way."

Lina tried to imitate Amelia's crouch, but stumbled and fell. "Forget this," she grumbled. "I'm going to see where Gourry went." She stalked off in a huff. Amelia and Zelgadis watched her disappear into the bushes.

In actuality, Amelia hadn't done all that much better than Lina. The pile of things she'd caught was small. If you could consider two dead mice a pile. And one of the mice had already been dead when she found it.

Amelia sniffed her catch and nibbled at it curiously. She looked up at her companion. "Do you want some Mr. Zelgadis? It tastes better than it looks."

Zelgadis shook his head. "I'll find my own thanks."


Meanwhile…

It didn't take long for Lina to find Gourry. Her erstwhile protector was standing by the edge of a nearby river, staring intently at the water. In fact it was actually more of a stream, but proportional to her current size, it seemed like a river.

Without warning Gourry dove into the water, sending water everywhere. A second later his head reappeared from beneath the surface. He floundered around in the water a bit, and for moment Lina wondered if he was drowning. Then she saw another movement right in front of him; she realized he was in fact chasing a fish.

A few minutes later, the swordsman-turned-golden-retriever clambered onto the sandy riverbank. Spotting Lina, he marched over to her, sopping wet with his prize clamped proudly between his jaws.

"You idiot!" Lina whacked him on the nose with a forepaw. "What're you thinking, getting all wet when it's so cold?! You're gonna freeze!"

Gourry whimpered and said something unintelligible through a mouthful of fish.

Lina gave him a look. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

He set the fish on the ground and pouted. "Don't I least get a thank-you for catching it?"

Lina sighed. She'd never admit it out loud, but she had to admit, that puppy-dog pout (no pun intended) looked really… cute on him. I always was a softie when it came to cute animals, she thought wryly. "Alright, thank you," she said. Her expression softened. "Not a bad method of catching fish," she added, "even if it was a little unorthodox."

Suddenly Gourry shook himself, spraying water everyone. Lina yelped in surprise.

"Waaaugh! What d'you think you're doing?!"

"What?" Gourry looked genuinely puzzled. "This gets the water off so I don't freeze."

She glared at him. "Yeah, but now I'm wet."

"Oh, umm…" Gourry wisely decided to switch subjects. He nudged the fish towards her, sort of as a peace offering. "You want some of this?"


Zelgadis munched on the remains of the dead rabbit, feeling somewhat satisfied with himself. Normally he would have been utterly grossed out by eating anything that was still raw and furry. But as Amelia had said, it tasted a lot better than it looked.

"I wonder if Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry were able to find anything." Zelgadis glanced at his companion. Hunting had also been easier he'd thought. I wonder if that's a built in aspect of the spell, he thought absently. Getting the same basic instincts as the animals you become.

"We'd hear explosions if they hadn't." Zelgadis belatedly realized that Lina wouldn't be able use magic in her current condition.

Amelia laughed. "You're probably right." She curled up on the ground. "I guess we'll just wait here until they get back."

No sooner had she settled down, when loud voices heralded the arrival of their friends. Speak of the devil… Both emerged from the bushes… soaking wet.

Zelgadis stared. "It's a little cold to go swimming guys."

Lina glared at him. "We weren't swimming, we were fishing. Gourry, hem, fell into the water and out of the goodness of my heart I decided to help him."

"Lina, you pushed me in!"

"Minor detail Gourry."

As the pair of them argued it out, Zelgadis and Amelia shared a knowing look, both thinking the same thing: Those two have the weirdest relationship.


A/N: Ok, I owe a LOT of this chapter to Erin Hunter, the author of the Warriors books. Without her books (and her method of writing cats, which I've, hem, -borrowed- a little bit), writing the Slayers as animals would be near impossible, even if they aren't all cats.

I had fun writing the fishing bit between Lina and Gourry. Those two are great together. And I couldn't let Amelia and Zelgadis hog the spotlight forever. Gotta give Lina and Gourry some time on centerstage. Otherwise Lina will fireball me.

Man, I'm on a roll with this thing. Let's hope my inspiration lasts long enough to reach the end.