"Okay, so how do we do this?"

"Filter the blood?"

"Ick, too messy."

"Kill off the unwanted parts?"

"No idea how to do that."

"Hmm..."

Zelgadis shook his head. Lina and Dorel had been off in a corner of the room for who knows how long now, debating about the best way of undoing what Dorel had done. He glanced over to Gourry, who was propped up against a wall and snoring quietly. Gourry never was good with following such talking. Zelgadis attempted to shift to a more comfortable position on the ground, but then remembered that he was currently being used as a pillow of sorts.

He settled back into his seated position, being careful not to move the leg Amelia was currently resting against. She had been exhausted after Lina healed her, the monotony of listening to Lina and Dorel also sending her swiftly to sleep.

Zelgadis sighed. Usually at times like this he was able to be a part of the conversation, not a silent listener. Although he'd not be much help at the moment since no one but Amelia could understand him.

"That's all well and good, but how do we do this? I don't think those capsules of yours are big enough for my buddy there to fit in." Lina pointed back at Zelgadis, who snorted in return. He watched as Dorel turned to study him, before turning back to continue the debate with Lina.

Zelgadis shook his head. At this rate they'd be stuck listening to Lina and Dorel for weeks. There had to be something that...wait! Zelgadis suddenly recalled the small syringe Dorel had stuck in him. He wasn't sure exactly what had been in it, but it might be good to bring to their attention. Zelgadis looked on the floor for where he had last seen it, noticing it was within arm's reach. He stretched out his free arm to pick it up, fumbling a bit since it was now a lot smaller to him. He eyed it a moment before calling out to Lina and Dorel, but got no response.

He fumed in silence, intent to walk over to them and interrupt, but Amelia was still sleeping soundly, her weight heavy on his foot. If he moved he knew he would wake her. Zelgadis contemplated just throwing it in frustration when Gourry suddenly gave a start before falling back to sleep.

Gourry!

Zelgadis called out to him, but again got no response. He'd not be able to reach him with his arm since Amelia was resting against the arm closer to Gourry... Zelgadis tapped his tail against the floor, somewhat flustered. The 'clack' 'clack' 'clack' of his tail against the stone floor suddenly caused a grin to come to his face. Although he couldn't reach Gourry with his arm, his tail was more than perfect for the job! Zelgadis swung it around and prodded Gourry with the tip, nearly causing the sleeping swordsman to fall over.

"Huh, wha?" Gourry asked as he woke up more, seeing Zelgadis staring intently at him. He was about to ask what was going on when Zelgadis held a hand out, Gourry automatically reaching out to take what was being held. He looked at the syringe Zelgadis dropped into his hand. "What's this for?"

Zelgadis made a rumbling sound, then pointed to Lina. He looked down at Amelia before meeting Gourry's gaze again. Gourry in turn nodded in understanding, then walked off to interrupt the little pow wow.

"...so you think the blood thing might be our best bet? I'm not sure how Amelia will feel about that, but..."

"...well, it's all just theory, but at this point it seems-"

"Hey, Lina?" Gourry interrupted, looking none too sorry.

Lina jerked up from her seat and looked up at Gourry. "What is it?" She was a bit irked at being interrupted.

"Oh, uh, Zelgadis wanted me to give you this." Gourry then placed the syringe on the table and scooted away before he ate any punishment from Lina.

Lina completely forgot about the interruption, quirking a brow at the new thing to query over. "What's this?" She looked up at Dorel.

"Oh, this..?" Dorel seemed a bit shaken, but he reached out to pick up the syringe. He gulped, but knew he better not keep any secrets at a time like this. He'd rather keep his life! "This," Dorel swallowed, "this was an experiment. I already told you that I usually create my chimeras in those capsules, then I inject the fluids around them with my concoctions. I theorized that the test subjects absorbed the concoction through their skin. Thing is, that's time consuming. I thought that if I stuck my concoctions directly into them that there'd be a more dramatic result." Dorel glanced over at Zelgadis, but shied away at a loud growl. "He wasn't my intended target, but Mino, er, your friend proved my thinking to be true."

"Stuck it right in him, huh?" Lina rubbed her chin in thought. "Just what's in this 'concoction' of yours?"

Dorel fidgeted. "Ah, well, the special properties of a creature. What makes a cat a cat, or a dog a dog. I take that and mesh it with other animals and monsters and see what comes of it."

"Hmm..." Lina tapped her finger on the table. "So what you're saying is that these 'special properties' you tagged my friends with took over their bodies, which is why they are no longer human. Am I correct?"

Dorel nodded his head.

"Is there any way to reverse that? Say, if we target the invading 'special properties' and kill them off, leaving only the human part behind. Would that work?" Lina looked hard at Dorel.

Dorel thought this over a moment, muttering quietly to himself. "I don't see why not, but that's going to take some work. I've never tried to unmake a chimera before."

"There's a first time for everything," Lina replied. "You better do it as well, otherwise I'll make sure you never get to experiment with anything or anyone else again."

"Y-yes, Miss Inverse!"

Lina inwardly grinned. These people were always such pushovers!

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: I know, I know, it's been well over two months since I updated, and this is a rather short chapter to boot. All I have to say is, this past summer was crazy. I was working full-time again, dealing with coworkers who didn't want to listen to me (stress, yay), had a lot of family things come up (most fun), and then just a few weeks ago my grandmother finally passed on after a long illness. So maybe you can see why I haven't been updating.

Oh, and trying to get back to school...that was fun. Thankfully I am back in school, I can afford to be back in school, I am at peace with my grandmother's passing, so now it's just getting back into the swing of things. I really do hope to have more of this up soon, but if not, please forgive me. Much as I love writing these characters, real life has a tendency to drain the creativity out of me.

Now then...

As to the chapter itself, the whole dialogue between Lina and Dorel was inspired by my Biology (practically Chemistry!) class I took last semester. The teacher got really in-depth about genes and DNA, which got the gears turning. Originally it inspired me to do something a bit more extreme, but then I thought better of it. So you only get it in discussion. (This stuff really does fascinate me, and although I know it's not ethical, I have to wonder if it is possible to alter DNA to give something traits that are usually dormant.)

Next time: A battle to the death, and why it's bad to let Lina get a swelled head. Hopefully I'll have it written soon so it can be seen...