Seviper

The secretary had a white coat with fake fur. Lady found herself fascinated by it. Her trainer had a great many beautiful coats, some with fur, some without. But not a white one. Why should it make any difference? Lady wasn't sure why, so tried to keep her mind off it.

She looked around the lobby of the psychiatrist's office, but there wasn't much to see. White and gray walls, speckled tiles, wrinkled magazines, and a few toys, although none of any interest to the Seviper. She turned back to the secretary, who was hanging her white coat on a coat rack on wheels. "Gracious, it's gotten as cold as Snowpoint out there. And the roads are just terrible."

Yes, it had been cold; Lady could still feel it within her reptilian blood. But this trip was necessary. She was in the center of a controversy. She hadn't caused it, exactly. A local news program had when they alleged her owner of cruelty to Pokemon. If this meeting went bad, her owner's license would be revoked.

Which meant Lady would be taken away from the only home she knew. It was an awful thought. Who would polish her lovely violet and yellow scales? Who would know that she couldn't stand any music but classical? Who else would give her her own private space with a gauze curtain, satin pillows, and a soft nightlight? Who would know exactly how to prepare her meals (fresh but not alive, warm but not hot, perfectly clean, ready right at six pm on Tuesday)? Life without those things would be unbearable.

Although sometimes she dreamed of a rugged wilderness of hard rocks and harsh plants, of struggling to survive under the gaze of an ashy volcano. To wait patiently to kill unwary prey, to slither through grasses to avoid becoming prey, to be as venomous as the environment... it was a dream of a primal life.

But that wouldn't do, she sighed. She lived a sophisticated life. She was a civilized Seviper, was one from the day she hatched. In her world, the only thing that was harsh was the cold shoulder she gave anyone who suggested that she do something as lowly as battling.

"Lady, Ms. Kingsley," the secretary said. "Dr. Maple is ready to see you."

The psychologist was a short man, with short brown hair, short bifocals, and a short brown mustache. He started off by giving Lady a physical examination. He stroked her head. "You are a lovely specimen."

"Of course she is," Ms. Kingsley replied. "She is bathed every day."

Maple looked Lady in the eyes, brown meeting yellow. "But you've shortened her fangs."

"It's for the safety of those in my home. Even though she is well-trained, it makes my guests more comfortable to know that she can't bite them hard."

"And it seems you've had her poison sacs, both in her mouth and on her blades, surgically removed."

"That is a standard procedure for home-bound Pokemon."

"I wouldn't recommend it. Or keeping her tail blunt. Does she have a whetting stone to sharpen it with?"

"Of course not. She's too refined for that kind of activity."

True, she was. Although, sometimes she really wanted to whack something with her bladed tail. She wasn't sure how that would work, but it seemed like something fun to do. And there were times when she felt a desire to make her tail sharp. But that wasn't proper; it wasn't the way she had been raised. She worked out those feelings by gnawing on something, usually the sturdy rope she was provided with.

"It's an instinctive activity for a Seviper. I'm sure she feels the need to keep her blades sharp; being denied that could adversely affect her emotions."

"Lady is just fine, you'll see. Isn't that right, dear?"

She looked to her owner and flicked her tongue out affectionately. Yes, she did love her life. And yes, she was perfectly fine with everything. Although that white coat... somehow it was not leaving her mind.

And it stayed on her mind through the entire session. She was given a few things to play with, although play was beneath her as much as battle was. She settled on picking up blocks in her mouth and stacking them on each other. Then she thought about that coat and wondered about investigating it. But she had to perform well for the psychologist.

Maple seemed frustrated, if the way he kept biting the end of his pen was any indication. He couldn't find any obvious signs of psychological problems because there weren't any to find. "She is unusually docile for a Seviper."

"That's because everyone focuses on them being vicious and violent, but I know they don't have to be. Lady is the way she is and she's happy with it."

"Still, removing her natural weapons and keeping her from learning any kind of attack? What if she gets out in the wild? She won't have any way to defend herself or fight against other Pokemon."

"She won't be going into the wild or any battle. She wouldn't want to, anyways. I take care of her and treat her well. I admit that she might be a bit pampered, but that's not cruel."

"What is cruel is going against her instincts and animal nature. All Pokemon have some part of the wild in them, even the most truly docile like Togepi or Clefairy. Denying them their heritage is wrong."

"So you're saying that humans should still live in caves and be completely uncivilized? What if she wants to be that way? I know she does, because she shows disdain at anything you would call 'natural' for her."

"It has nothing to do with humans. This has been proven by years of research and observation."

"Well then you people have obviously missed something!"

There she went again, arguing passionately about her beliefs. Lady knew this could take some time. After glancing at them both, she felt certain that they weren't paying attention to her. She slipped out of the exam room.

In the hallway, she found the mobile coat rack. There were many articles of clothing and hats on it, due to the cold morning. That white coat was in the middle. Lady slithered up and sniffed it. Fake fur, as she suspected. That shouldn't be as interesting as a real fur coat.

And yet... it was interesting. She moved back and looked at it. It reminded her of something she didn't exactly know. Ancestral knowledge, perhaps, like how to sharpen her tail blades. If she ever got the right kind of rock for it, she could do it. But what was the meaning of this white coat?

Somewhere, deep in her primal dreams, there lived a white beast. Something with sharp teeth and claws, something that no poison could bring down. Something that would fight her simply because she was a Seviper and something that she would fight simply because it was... whatever it was. This blood feud was from the distant past. Even if she knew another like her, the other might not be able to tell her why they were fighting this beast. Just that it was the way it was.

Lady shook her head to clear the haunting thoughts, then headed back to the exam room. No, she was too sophisticated for such violent daydreams. It wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be this way. There was nothing about any white coat or dream beast that could change that.

Right?

Maple and Ms. Kingsley were still arguing, still ignorant of the fact that the subject of their argument was missing. Lady turned back to look at the coat again. It wasn't anything important. And yet she felt that she was committing a deep wrong by ignoring the dream beast. She might be feasting now, but should that beast be allowed to take over, her life would turn to famine. She was to fight that beast until the day she died, no matter what form the battle took.

There was a terrific crash as the metal coat rack was knocked into the glass door, then onto the floor. The receptionist yelped. It got strangely dark. Lady panicked for a moment that she had lost and fainted. Then she smelled dandruff and human hair. Ah, a hat had fallen on her head. She shook it off and surveyed the damage she did.

"Lady!" Ms. Kingsley called. She pulled the Seviper out of the pile of coats. "What happened to you?"

"This is clearly a sign of inner conflict," Dr. Maple said, proud to have found what he was looking for at last. "Why else would she attack a coat rack?"

"She did not!"

"She did," the receptionist said, seething. "Jumped right at it and grabbed my new coat, completely ruining it!"

Kingsley grabbed her coat and noted the damaged white coat. "You were baiting her! I'll sue this office!" She stormed out, carrying Lady. "Come on, Lady baby, let's go home."

Well that meeting had been a disaster. But Lady the Seviper found that she didn't mind all that much. She felt immensely satisfied with herself for defeating that stupid white coat.

…

Sapphire entry: Seviper's swordlike tail serves two purposes - it slashes foes and douses them with secreted poison. This Pokemon will not give up its long- running blood feud with Zangoose.

This one was partly inspired by a discussion of declawing cats.