This one was a little different, with two perspectives rather than one. I realize the whole "Zangoose/Seviper feud" idea isn't exactly new and exciting, but that's why I was trying to go a slightly different direction with it. Since it had to do with both of them, I tried to fit in two variations on the same theme. First-person isn't my strong suit, and I'm fairly sure the two are going to read pretty similarly; I may have gotten enough of an undertone to make them marginally distinct, but it's hard for me to tell.

Definition

Let me start off by saying that I know it's not absolutely unheard of for a Zangoose and a Seviper to coexist. Just so no one makes the mistake of thinking I've got some kind of tunnel vision or something when it comes to the matter. Those cases, though, they're almost always cases of trainers pairing them together and forcing them to work together. Even a blood feud as deep as ours can be trained away, and once you've got them working together, they're as reliable a pair as any.

In the wild, it's a whole different story. I can count on one paw the number of instances I've heard of Zangoose and Seviper interacting peacefully with each other. Simply put, without a trainer's influence, we don't get along and putting the two together is just a recipe for disaster.

I guess that makes me one of the strange ones. I share my den with a Seviper. Now, let it be clear, I don't particularly like Seviper in general, or this one in particular either. I wouldn't really even call us friends, just cohabitants. So I imagine it's a mystery to you as to why I'm doing this. I know it is to others of my kind, so don't worry, it's not like this is the first time I've had people wondering about me. The answer isn't a simple one, and I can't guarantee you'll really understand it once I've gotten through it, but I'll give it a shot.

What's the first thing you think of when you think of Zangoose? If you're anything like most of the humans I've met, it's that we hate Seviper. And vice-versa if you ask about Seviper. Really, even if they've had a lot of experience with either of us, hack, even if they're a trainer who's worked with one for a long time, that's what comes first.

I'm certainly not denying the fact. Goodness, no. Zangoose clans in the wild, they always live near Seviper clans; it's perhaps an irony of nature that we're so well-adapted to similar habitats. And it's always the same thing with our clans, the most important thing is to destroy any Seviper we come across. The hate is there, and it is strong. Seeing a full-on brawl between a large group of Zangoose and Seviper, it's really something even if you're not big on our blood feud. You will never see a more vicious and feral swarm in all your life. You never want to get close, it could cost you your life. There is no discretion, there is no caution; if you're in the way, either one will go right through you, not caring about your health or safety.

So, yeah, no love lost between us. And that's basically what life is like in the clans; everything revolves around the opposition, and your status is primarily defined by your battle history only with those opponents. I once knew a Zangoose who single-handedly forced a Rhyperior to submit to him and beg for mercy, but he wasn't highly respected in any way because he had a fairly nondescript record against Seviper. Not because he couldn't beat them, but because he didn't find them enough of a real challenge. And that's the truth; there are lots of Pokémon tougher for us to deal with than each other. Ghost-types would be hell for any one of us Zangoose, and Seviper would be virtually fangless against any Steel-type. But that doesn't matter to the clans; all that matters is each other.

And when it gets down to it, that's the part that started eating at me. As I said, I'm no real friend to the Seviper, and I never have been. But it wasn't about friendship, no, the reasons are more internal. See, I asked myself the critical question: what happens if we beat all the Seviper?

You may wonder how someone with such a historical in-bred antagonism could be so foggy on the question of what happens once they've actually succeeded in terminating that which they so tirelessly fight against. And, well, I would sympathize, because I'm kinda wondering the same thing myself. It wasn't something that came to me immediately, it was several years and several fights and kills before the thought ever occurred to me. Of course, when it did, it hit like an Aggron.

I mean, think about it. Our entire lives revolve around our little mutual vendetta. So, when one half of that is gone, what does that mean for the other half? How does it change our lives? Where do we go from there?

I mean, maybe it's hard to conceptualize because "gone" is a tricky designation. After all, there is a Pokémon which acts as a living repository of the DNA of every single species of Pokémon that has ever lived. And these things are literally everywhere. Heck, there are Dittos that live amongst wild Pokémon as if they are that Pokémon, never revealing that they're actually Dittos. If they wanted, they could recreate any species at any time. Why they don't is a mystery for the ages, and one I'm not going to even take a stab at. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a Ditto.

But that aside, we could conceivably wipe out the Seviper entirely, even if only temporarily. And yeah, they could potentially do the same to us. And no one thinks about that. No on ever asks what's going to happen if we actually win, if we actually eliminate the group that we've pretty much dedicated our entire existence to eliminating.

Predictably, when I asked these questions to my clan mates, they had no clue. Answers ranged from nonexistent to incoherent, and often I ended up with the brush-off. And of course this bothered me. How could they not have some idea? Wasn't this part of our lives? You would think somewhere along the line they'd figure out the endgame, but apparently not.

I didn't stop there; for all I could have known this was a peculiarity to my clan. But extending the same questions to others yielded the same results. That's when it really began to sink in that we really have no idea what we are, aside from enemies of Seviper. That's pretty much how we've defined ourselves. We have nothing else.

Yeah, it's really incredibly depressing to come to that kind of conclusion. It's basically an admission that we don't really mean anything in the grander scheme. We're basically a side story, something that will get wrapped up eventually and then we'll never be mentioned again. I can't think of anyone who wants that. But it's a hard thing to accept, and that's probably why no one wanted to listen to me when I brought it up to my clan. They thought I was trying to defend the Seviper or something. Maybe it's one of those things that you can't just hear from someone else, you have to actually arrive at it on your own. I don't really know.

Anyway, that's the big reason I'm doing what I'm doing. I couldn't stomach the idea that we were basically meaningless. I want to at least try to have some sort of impact that means something in the greater scheme. Maybe it won't happen, but if it doesn't, I wouldn't want it to be because I stuck around in a circle that made it impossible. Living with a Seviper is kind of the first step. Even if I'm not terribly fond of them and the feeling is mutual, just simple coexistence breaks that trend of just being defined as enemies of Seviper. If I can make a new definition, maybe I can bring others in, and we'll amount to something more in the long run. At least, that's what I hope.

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I think the only reason the other Seviper haven't ostracized me completely is because they're too confused by my actions. I've tried to explain, but they don't get it. I guess I can't blame them too much, though. After all, it's something that doesn't align with their views on the world, and even if they could get past that, ours is a rather strange case.

In essence, our reluctant partnership is an effort to separate us.

Groups can be bound together by many things. A common origin, a shared experience, feelings between them that tie their destinies together. Usually those feelings are such things as love or kinship or just pure dedication, but hatred is as much a binding force as any of those. And that's what binds together the Zangoose and Seviper, the mutual hatred that we have had for longer than anyone is capable of determining.

Seviper clans are very similar to Zangoose clans in many ways. The most surprising thing to both of us was finding out how eerily similar each of us were to the other. Somehow, despite our blood pitting us against each other, we're practically mirror images; we live in the same areas, we organize ourselves in the same ways, and our attitudes, both towards each other and towards life in general, are practically identical. And while I haven't heard this acknowledged by any of my kind, word from the world of trainers is that we can sire each other's children. Now that would be a dysfunctional family.

Of course, if you tried to tell any of this to one of my kind, we would sooner rip you to shreds than listen. It doesn't matter that we wouldn't be able to come up with any really crucial ways that we're different, just clinging to the idea is what matters to us. Don't break the illusion, that's the only rule of any importance.

That's what happened to me. I broke the illusion, and now I can't get it back. Not just about the lack of differences between us, but also how much we actually mean to each other. We act as though it would be the greatest thing in the world to be rid of the Zangoose, but in reality, the way we live our lives is entirely reliant upon them. And the same is true for them.

We are joined together. Our mutual hatred is the tie that binds us. And that means if one of us dies out, both of us do.

Having them be the central fixtures of our lives means everything has revolved around them. When they're gone, well, what's left? We go from being enemies of Zangoose to...well, just being. And just being is the last step to not-being. Once there's no good reason for us to be around, we'll go quickly, because there'll be nothing holding us together, nothing for us to strive for. Not even life. They way we've lived, we've lived to destroy Zangoose.

It wouldn't even really require us to be the winners. One of us could be laid low by a plague that only infects their type, or we could have a natural disaster set upon us that one group is more likely to die from. Who knows. What it would mean is that we've lost our competition, our reason for our existence, without really doing anything ourselves. Not only would it be unfulfilling, it would still leave that void of purpose that would eventually be our downfall.

My clan wouldn't buy this when I told them, but that's to be expected; no one wants to be painfully reminded of their own mortality, much less be told that they're inviting it by doing what they were born to do. As you might expect, I didn't end up being a popular Seviper. More than a few times I was told to forget it and go back to my life. And really, I tried to a couple times. But it never took. You can't just forget about something like that. It's like being told you've got a deadly plague, or that you've been struck with a poison that's going to slowly kill you (something especially familiar with my kind, though on the giving end rather than the receiving end).

It was kind of just by chance that I happened upon a Zangoose who had fallen into similar realizations. There aren't many meetings between the two species that don't result in immediate bloodshed, but this was one of those rare occurrences. It still wasn't overly friendly, but we were both capable of realizing that we had to set that aside for the time being. We talked for a long time. It helped both of us get a better idea of the problems we had and how we had to tackle them.

Living together...well, that wasn't something either of us were exactly excited about. But it was still a kind of natural step. I mean, let's face it, neither of our clans were receptive to how we felt, and in fact were somewhat hostile. We could only really confide in each other and discuss our worries and ideas with each other. Plus, being in each other's presence would help start to prove that we could be more than just those two warring Pokémon species, and that our hatred wasn't the only thing that could define us.

Like I said before, my choices are completely beyond the understanding of the other Seviper. It just doesn't make sense to them that I'd willingly share space with one of our mortal enemies. I don't fault them for it; it's hard to watch someone go against their inborn drives for something that isn't easy to grasp. They don't get that this is kind of the point. It's an effort to break that hatred, to not make us mortal enemies, so that we aren't bound to each other's fates and don't have to place our lives on their continued survival.

It's an odd catch-22; we can't achieve our ultimate goal and survive without breaking those ties that bind us, but because it's our hatred that binds us, breaking it would likely lead to us never achieving our ultimate goal. But the choice isn't difficult for me; if continued survival means breaking off the feud with the Zangoose, well, I sure as hell am willing to make that sacrifice. We stand to lose a lot more by just letting it continue.

I wonder sometimes whether these stories sound authentic. That may be a strange concern to have given the subject matter, but I'm not talking about literal realism or anything like that. I mean more like that the undertones aren't artificial, like they would truly be thought or spoken by the characters in question. It's kind of difficult for me to judge because I'm the one writing them and I have a very difficult time entering the perspective of a character without putting myself into it.

I guess another question is whether it can be interesting even if it's not relatable. These are issues that are kind of predicated in the traits and characteristics of fictional and fantastic creatures, and I wonder if that might make them less compelling because it can't really establish a personal connection with the reader. Maybe the format helps, since it's kind of writing as the character talking to the reader, but again it's hard for me to judge.

Maybe I'm putting too much thought into it, considering the medium I'm working with. I'm not trying to disparage fanfiction or its writers - I'm right there, obviously - but from what I can tell its consumers aren't expecting professional work, which is probably all the better for me since it's well out of my league. But I don't want to be turning people away, either.

Feel free to leave a review or comment on this or anything else. And keep in mind, I write up these short stories when inspiration strikes, and I won't be averse to you supplying the hammer if you have what you think is an interesting idea. I can't make any promises, but I will give it thought.