This was not as severe a situation as when it had assimilated the wererat DNA into Host, and as such could be done without rendering host unconscious for a moment. Especially not now that Host possessed shapechanging abilities.
In a few moments of manipulation any form between combining human and rat features from the size of a common rat to Ranma's current form were possible.
And as that was being done it kept track of something else as well.
****
"What the %#$@ just happened?" Lydia demanded. The other rats in the room could only nod at the question, just as confused as Lydia.
Lydia briefly staggered and shook out her head, but the others only took that to mean that she was as shocked as them.
It wasn't the only cause for Lydia's confusion.
The symbiont within Lydia spread quickly and began exploring its host while regarding the data transferred to it from the original Symbiont.
"I think I need to #$@#in' sit down." Lydia mumbled, feeling her head. She started to and missed the chair by several inches, falling unconscious to the floor.
"Of all the times to be so clumsy," Gothwrain muttered. "Romeo, see if you can trace that strange wererat, he may be useful. Moisha, see to Lydia."
The symbiont in Lydia, now that its host was rendered unconscious, proceeded to work, and analyze the situation. It found magic almost immediately, in the form of the lycanthropic condition but then it found more.
It was very fortunate for Lydia, and the world at large, that the original symbiont had come in contact with Ranma first and borrowed a lot of its morality from him. Ranma did not like anybody to be pushed around and really liked his freedom. Symbiont and its offspring were thus likewise concerned with free will.
There were multiple spells on its host that were altering her personality matrix. The symbiont immediately went to work on the problem.
The fear of werecheetahs was removed, though. Once that was gone, unclouded memories of interactions with potential host, Britanny Diggers, revealed that Britanny was not the bloodthirsty monster Lydia had been seeing her as. Though Lydia's distrust remained as the symbiont, again, had not seen it as unnatural or extreme enough to be detrimental and thus target for removal.
Next went the compulsions of obediance. It was not beneficial to survival for most of the host's decisions to be subject to an outside mind.
The symbionts, thanks to the original merger with Ranma, understood and accepted self-sacrifice. But they would not accept the potential of being sacrificed by someone else.
Meanwhile it began to alter other negative parts of Lydia's make up. It found points of damage to the host's soul from contact with silver in recent history and some not so recent history. The effects on the host's physical body were only trace, but they were there and the soul wasn't managing to heal itself from the silver burns completely. The scars were only unnoticeable...to outsiders.
The symbiont fixed that, and then removed the weakness that had put her in the situation in the first place. Soon, Lydia was not so different from Ranma, save the buck teeth remained and that she was female.
Lydia slept through the whole process as she was invisibly improved. Her subconscious, during the process, was entertained in another matter.
The symbionts weren't willing to remove free will from their hosts, but giving strong remainders and encouragements about how...exceptional a mate Ranma would be was not beyond it's acceptance.
"Chwa," Moisha muttered as a smug smile and an uncharacteristically demure blush worked over Lydia's face. "What's she dreaming about?"
Moisha rolled her eyes.
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Mon, 05 May 2003 17:58)
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