Kirana watched as the scientists took the blood samples they'd taken from her and placed into various pieces of equipment that soon had data appearing on some of the computers in the laboratory where they were working. Kirana did her best to stay out of the way, but she did remain curious about the situation and watched intently. She figured it would help solve many of the mysterious about Animalia and why all these scientists were interested in it.
"So... how does all of this work?" Kirana asked after a moment as she came up to the leading scientist.
"Well... it's basic genetic science," the scientist answered with a weak smile, "Well... not exactly basic... but each step isn't that complex. There are certain aspects of your DNA, and the DNA of all snake Animalians that allow you to effectively stand on your tail."
Kirana watched as the scientist actually moved the mouse and opened another window on the screen. The appearance of things on the screen was like magic to her. It brought up images and codes on the screen that Kirana didn't fully understand, but she guessed this was the "genetics" that the scientists mentioned. The scientist then highlighted a section of those codes on the screen so that it looked as though it looked like white lettering with a blue bar around the letters. On the sides that weren't highlighted had plain black lettering.
"This is that specific code," the scientist explained, "once we isolate that specific code we'd mix it with established Animalia Virus that has been adapted for fish. It isn't too hard to do, but mostly because we have the computers and machines doing a lot of the precise work... without them, it'd be impossible."
Kirana then watched where her blood sample was. She noted that the blood was pumped along into what looked like a big box with various lights and buttons on it. She figured this device was used to find separate that specific part of her genetic code, though she didn't know exactly how the device did it. There were two tubes that came out of the box. One tube lead to a large beaker, and a red fluid flowed from the box to that beaker. Next to it, another tube ran to another sort of container that was held in airtight conditions. A more clear liquid seemed to run to that container. This, Kirana figured was the part of her DNA that the scientists wished to isolate.
"So... how long will this take?" Kirana wondered.
"Not too long," the scientist answered, "We should be able to move forward with uplifting Teela shortly."
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Teela swam slowly as she explored the tank she was in. The largely brown skinned Slender Giant Moray had a long and sinuous body, much like Kirana's did, but both had different adaptations that marked them as different. Kirana still had her venom glands that marked her as reptilian and Teela, like all Moray Eels, had two sets of jaws. One enabled her to bite prey while the second set would serve to pull food deeper into her throat. The eel didn't know why she had been placed in the tank, but the people had fed her well and had even done their best to make the tank as "comfortable" as possible. The trouble that she had was that the tank was cramped. Little did she know that her own release was about to happen.
A pair of footsteps came into the water and Teela easily felt the vibration. She turned her head to notice to legs encased in some black cloth that looked rather shiny. In reality it was a thick rubbery cloth that was designed to protect the wearer from Teela's jaws should she decide to defend herself. For the moment, though, Teela decided to move away. The person that had entered her tank followed her slowly, ultimately moving to the point so as to pin her in one corner. Teela eventually turned and aimed her head toward the man and looked for a way to escape. Before she could move however, a long metal pole with a rubber clamp on its end caught Teela behind her head.
"Okay, Thompson, hold her there so that I can give the injection," the man in the tank spoke. He was thigh deep in water and really didn't want the eel to get loose before he'd injected the virus. He bent down and stuck a long needle into the eel's skin and then depressed the plunger. With it safely behind the gills it was able to go in deep enough that the Animalia Virus was able to be safely introduced. Once that was done, the man moved back and climbed out of the tank. Once he was out, Teela was released.
Teela thrashed forward in the tank and felt very strange. She was already of decent size, but she felt parts of her seeming to stretch. Her minuscule front fins were seeming to spread longer and in a way more sturdy. She shook in the water and soon saw her tiny front fins thicken and lengthen. Eventually they lengthened into modest arms with clawed fingers, though unknown to Teela, they were different from the other uplifted fish. Their fingers were largely webbed. Teela's were not. A part of Teela was curious and fascinated by this, but wasn't able to truly ponder it as the process of this strange transformation continued.
The area around her new arms widened out to form shoulders and let her arms sit to the sides of her body without being stressed by anything. It then meant that below that was the development of a chest where Teela felt the strangest things were developed. First two round points seemed to push out on her chest. They darkened until they were an even darker shade of brown than the rest of her. Another dark brown patch soon surrounded that. What became even stranger was the tissue behind them began to push out and became larger and larger, and were fairly sensitive to the flow of water over them besides. In this, Teela felt herself growing aroused as her breasts grew in size and then as a lot of her muscles seemed to enlarge as well. Her pondering on this was such that she didn't even notice the black bands wrapping around her tail as she felt her muscles there grow in strength.
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In the laboratory, Kirana and the scientists only looked on with some surprise. Teela had clearly become an Animalian, but they noticed surprises they didn't expect. Namely the fact that Teela's hands were more like Kirana's rather the webbed hands that Ran, Gaz, and every fish based Animalian had and the fact that Teela's tail had gained black bands on it that also mirrored the black bands that wrapped around Kirana's silvery-white body.
"Did you expect this?" Kirana asked as she looked to Teela as the uplifted eel looked at herself in the tank, seemingly oblivious to her nudity and the audience outside the tank.
"The difference in the hands and the tail markings..." the main scientist spoke, "No... though, it would look as though the uplifting was for the most part successful."
"But wouldn't this represent a problem for your research?" Kirana wondered.
"Perhaps," the scientist admitted, "but then this was also the first time we've actually used Animalian DNA as part of the uplifting process. When we've mixed additional animal DNA in the past, it was with mundane animal DNA. Perhaps the fact that you've already been uplifted has changed things in a way that we didn't initially expect... We'll need to do some testing."
Kirana watched as the man walked from his computer and toward the door that lead into the room where the tank was located. Kirana slowly followed behind. He ultimately approached the tank and tapped on the glass with one finger. Inside the tank, Teela noticed and turned toward him. The scientist then pointed up with that hand toward the surface of the water. Kirana seemed to think Teela understood as she nodded and lifted her head and ultimately breached the surface of the water.
"Don't worry, you should be able to breathe air now as well as water," the scientist said to Teela.
Kirana watched as Teela hesitantly took her first breath of air. Her chest expanded outward and her large breasts pushed outward a bit more Teela filled her new lungs with air.
"This is all very strange," Teela stated.
"For both of us," Kirana said with a nod, "but we were all recently chosen to join Animalia."
"Animalia?" Teela asked as she hesitantly climbed out of the tank.
"A society of animals of all kinds that have gained human like form and matching their sentience as well," the scientist explained.
"But don't humans have legs?" Teela asked as she found herself balancing on her tail and "standing" in the same way that Kirana did.
"Yes... but for snake Animalians and you, my dear Teela, our first eel Animalian, legs aren't necessary as you can clearly stand without them," the scientist flashed her a warm and friendly smile, "and in the end, whether or not you have legs doesn't change your status as an Animalian. The world is open for you Teela... to learn, dream, and grow... and hopefully that helps everyone on Earth in the long run."