Koko sighed as he climbed up one of the many jungle trees.

Earlier on he had lead a Flygon in the Okoya Jungle to the Heart Tree springs to heal the wound on its wing from battling a Pangoro, a spring he knew he wasn't welcome at since the Zarude tribe that resided there banished his "Dada" for taking the young jungle boy in as his own.

It frustrated Koko that the Zarude's so-called jungle law was their justification to horde all the food and healing spring water for themselves, not sharing it with any of the other jungle Pokémon. Even though he's been raised as a Zarude himself by his Dada, Koko was now starting to doubt himself as one since he actually cared about other jungle Pokémon more than the other Zarude do.

And why shouldn't he? Pokémon like Cottonee, Flygon, Ninjask, they were all special in their own ways and he loved that about them! Unfortunately, the tribe of Zarude couldn't see it like he could, and that was just one of the reasons he thought he may not be a real Zarude.

Not helping was that he couldn't grow vines like they could, his skin and hands weren't like theirs, and what's most upsetting, Koko was supposed to be a Pokémon by definition, but he couldn't use a single real move. Moves like Razor Leaf and Bullet Seed came natural to the jungle Pokémon but the feral child had to use things like his own crafted slings and try to throw small pebbles really fast by himself as compensation. He mainly did this to acquire the fruits and berries growing out of the trees and bushes, but because they're not real Pokémon moves, Koko was starting to doubt that he was even a Pokémon at all now.

Eventually the boy got to a nice sturdy limb of the tree he was climbing. For some reason, the little Skwovet who was usually by his side all the time seemed pretty panicky about this particular tree, as if it was one for its pal to REALLY stay away from like the Heart Tree. Not because it was forbidden, but something…dangerous might be up in it. Unlike Koko, Skwovet as a Pokémon could detect danger at its more heightened instincts.

But all Koko could think about at the moment was who or what he really was if he wasn't a Zarude like he believed all his life. Skwovet climbed up on top his head, still a little jittery.

"Hey," he asked it, "What do I look like to you, Skwovet?"

"Skwo, Skwo!"

"That's not what I meant…"

Skwovet was trying to warn Koko about just what he would look like if he didn't get down from this tree pronto—prey.

Prey for a very long, VERY devious Serperior that had taken residence up in this very canopy. It was unnaturally larger than your typical Serperior, which was usually 10'10". This sinister serpent, however, measured up to at least three times that long, and was often regarded as the most dangerous Pokémon in the Okoya Jungle, with its own powerful Wrap and Glare moves that had taken many a helpless victim.

Koko has had quite a few encounters with this Serperior before. It had been pursuing the little jungle boy since he was age 7, and every time he wandered some parts of the jungle without his Dada, it'd try to make a meal out of him with the Wrap and Glare that no other prey has been able to escape from. Just when it'd seem like a young, tasty, hairless Zarude would be sliding headfirst down into its gullet, Dada would usually arrive as soon as the Serperior unhinged its jaws near Koko's head, the Grass-type being on the receiving end of his ferocious strikes and releasing the boy from its coils.

Serperior had been attempting again and again to get this wild child, since it's flickering forked tongue told it his scent was more scrumptious than any other Pokémon in Okoya Jungle. It had been repeatedly hunting him down for three years at this point, but no matter what the circumstances or what plans it tried—be it luring Koko in using "fake prey" Pokémon as bait for him to rescue or disguising its tail as a vine for him to accidentally grab while swinging through the jungle—as long as Dada was nearby, with that pesky Skwovet warning him, Serperior's appetite for the kid in the brown loincloth would never be satisfied, even with plenty of the other varieties of Pokémon it had managed to successfully hunt in the meantime.

But today seemed to be Serperior's lucky day.

It had been watching Koko walk so frustratedly and pouty along the jungle floor, with no signs of Dada anywhere in sight. Seeing him climb up its tree, it was certain that its dinner was delivering itself right to the slippery snake.

And…he just looked so down. Lost in deep thought, disappointed and confused. Whenever a target was in a state like this, that was when it was most vulnerable. Koko looked so unaware of the danger looming above him this would be a perfect time to try to put its infallible gaze right on the feral boy's unsuspecting face, clench its grassy squeeze around his scrawny little body and finally gulp him down his throat whole once and for all.

However…before Serperior could make its move…something needed to be done about that tattletale Skwovet.

Koko sighed again, looking at his own bare hands, how they weren't clawed or black like a real Zarude's hands. Seeing his own reflection in a pond just under his tree, he dug his forehead into his palm, gritting his teeth.

"If I'm not a Zarude," the boy grumbled, not noticing Skwovet being quietly gagged by a green tail and yanked up into the foliage above him, "Then what in the world am I?!"

"Sssshhhh…" Serperior quietly hushed at Skwovet as it was paralyzed by its infamous Glare attack, hiding it in an abandoned Cramorant nest. The snake then shifted its coils around the limbs of the tree, getting closer to Koko.

"Just who am I supposed to be?!" Koko said banging his fist onto his head.

"Ssssssss…" a voice came from above him. "I believe…I can anssswer that…"

Koko gasped in fright. "HUH?!? Wh-who said that?!" He jolted his head left and right, sniffing the air to identify what Pokémon just spoke to him. He kinda gotten a bit of an idea from the long hisses he heard in that voice, but Dada had taught him that Pokémon like Liepard or Skorupi are also known to hiss when preparing to attack. Even so, he was hoping the voice came from one of those Pokémon and not from whom he was afraid it came from.

That was when Koko noticed Skwovet missing. "Skwovet? Skwovet? Hey, where'd ya go?!" He was looking down at the jungle floor to see if maybe his little buddy fell off the tree, not seeing that same green tail winding its way under the boy's arms and yanking him up.

"HEY! WHOA!"

Pulled up above the jungle canopy where the voice came from, Koko's heart almost leapt out of his mouth when he saw who just plucked him like a Fearow to a Wurmple.

"Oh NO," groaned Koko, "Not YOU again!"

"Hmhmhmhmhm," chuckled Serperior. "Niccce to sssee you too…old friend."

"I am NOT your friend!" shouted Koko, pushing the tail off his waist. "Where's Skwovet?!"

"Oh, I sssee…" Serperior replied, moving his head in closer to Koko's. "You ssseem to be…looking for sssomeone, hmm?"

Koko immediately shut his eyes and turned his head away. He was well aware of Serperior's inescapable Glare ability once a Pokémon caught even a second of it.

"Nuh-uh, Serperior! You're not gonna get me again! Tell me where Skwovet is now or I'm yelling for my Dada!"

Serperior knew Koko was too far away for his Dada to be hearing him call out anyway, being as helpless as he was in his own turmoil right now. But it decided to play a bit of sincerity for a while…to first lower Koko's guard.

"Now now, little ZZZarude, let'sss not be too hasssty on thingsss! Your little "pet" isss right up there."

Koko unshielded his eyes for a moment, seeing where Serperior had put Skwovet.

"Huh?" Koko could see its bushy tail sticking from the nest. "You…you were actually telling me the truth, huh?" He scratched his head in confusion, but then squinted suspiciously. "Wait…what'd you do to him?"

"Pleassse forgive me," Serperior said, "But nabbing the little nut up here and paralyzzzing him wasss the only way I could be able to get your…attention…". Serperior inched its head closer to Koko again, trying to beam its Glare at him.

But the jungle boy would have none of it. Covering his eyes with one arm and pushing away Serperior's face with the other, he yelled, "N-NO WAY! DAD-mm-mmph!"

Serperior's tail muffled Koko's mouth just before the wild child was able to call out for his powerhouse papa.

"Oh no no no no, I don't mean it like that, little one," Serperior said. "Lisssten…I know I've been a bad Pokémon trying to get you all thessse yearsss, but I've learned my lessson thisss time! Believe me," Serperior rubbed its head where it'd usually get that painful Hammer Arm attack. "Your 'Dada' really hammered it in to me on our previousss...beating meeting."

"Uh, yeah right." Koko scoffed crossing his arms, still averting eye contact. "Three years of never leaving me alone and you're suddenly just now seeing the light, huh? Likely story…"

"No really! I can't take any more of thossse beatingsss!" Serperior made a funny cross gesture with its coils. "Crosss my heart, hope to die, I ssshall try to trick you…never again."

Koko put his hands on his hips. He thought to himself, "Why would Serperior be so weirdly truthful about how much it hates Dada beating it up whenever it's almost got me? I mean…it's even shown me where it put Skwovet and why."

"Well," inquired Koko, "If you don't wanna get me in those coils of yours…" he shoved a nearby coil away from him. "What exactly DO you want, Serperior?"

"Bait taken," thought the Royal Pokémon. It's little guilt trip has the jungle boy hooked without usage of it's Glare yet. Now it just needed to give him some line, and reel him in a little more.

"It'sss not about what I want…" Serperior slyly hissed, slithering its tail around Koko's bare shoulders. "It'sss about what…you want."

"How do you know what I want?" Koko said raising an eyebrow.

"You really were looking for sssomeone elssse earlier…". Serperior playfully poked its tail at Koko's chest. "You."

Swatting the tail away in defense, Koko fussed, "What do you mean 'me'?"

"You're wondering jussst who you are, aren't you? Wondering why you can't ussse movesss, why you're ssso different from all the other jungle Pokémon, why the other ZZZarude don't like you…"

"And I suppose YOU know why, you overgrown Caterpie?"

"But of courssse I do!" the Royal Pokémon smiled, moving its head in a spacious circle around Koko. "That'sss why I usssed Ssskwovet to get you up here! I jussst sssaw you sssitting there ssso pitifully and I jussst couldn't resssissst the urge to aid sssomeone ssso…". Serperior flickered its tongue at Koko's face. "…lossst…"

"Hey, persssonal ssspaccce, buddy." Koko mockingly snarked, pushing Serperior's head away. "All you know is that I got a Dada who can tie you in a million knots if he wanted to, and that he sees me as a real Zarude. How could you know anything about me that he doesn't?"

"Well…there isss…one little sssecret I do know," hummed Serperior. "Would you like me to tell?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Why don't you come clossser, Koko?"

Koko got in a instinctive defensive stance in case Serperior tried anything funny.

"Don't you want to know?"

The thick coil Koko pushed away earlier brushed up against his back, stepping him closer to the snake.

"Clossser."

Koko was sweating. What was Serperior gonna do now? "Dada, where ARE you?!…" Koko stammered under his breath.

"The sssecret isss…" Serperior lowered its voice to a whisper, right near Koko's ear.

"You don't belong here."

"EEUGH!" Koko leapt back on all fours, shuddering in disgust from how creepy that was.

"Wait…" the boy then said. "I…I don't belong…here? In this jungle?"

Serperior just shook its head.

"Th-that's a lie!" Koko said as he pointed defiantly. "You can't actually be serious!"

Serperior made it's funny cross-its-heart coil gesture again, nodding.

Koko's heart felt a little broken by what the snake just told him. "B-But…I am a Pokémon…this jungle is my home…it's where my Dada raised me...if I don't belong here, then where…where do you think I…?"

"Thisss isss it," Serperior thought. "Time for the fun."

Serperior put its tail under Koko's chin, making him look directly up at its face. "Would you...REALLY…like to know where you belong, little Koko?"

Koko, desperate for answers, swallowed in his throat. "…I…yeah…I would…" he whimpered.

Serperior then initiated...that move. The move that made this Serperior the most dangerous Pokémon of Okoya Jungle and the self-proclaimed "Lord of the Forest."

Serperior used Glare.

"Then jussst…follow meeeee…and I…will take you therrrrrrre…"

Koko's own eyes widened in response to Serperior's dazzling display, his own pupils shrinking and reflecting those same colors. His breathing became more slow, his heart beat at a more normal pace, and he stated feeling…warm.

Serperior swayed its head left and right, further causing more dizziness and fast looseness in Koko's once tense muscles. Limping forward, Koko mindlessly started to walk closer towards Serperior along the tree limb, every bad thought in the jungle boy's head being replaced with a siren-like joy he strangely wanted more and more of the longer he stared.

Serperior then decided to sing a soothing lullaby to the entranced feral child to put him even deeper under its power.

"Do not be afraid

Do not...fret

Just sssee my eyesss before you

And relaxxx...forget..."

The sound of Serperior's voice melted into Koko's ears, ringing through his emptying skull and causing a dream-like comfort all across his back, as if he was being cradled in a very soft baby's crib.

"Let go of your fearsss

Be calm...ssstay

Let thisss good sssensssation

Carry you...away..."

That soft cradle Koko was feeling was really Serperior's long coils put in a seated spiral underneath him, lifting the boy up and swaying him to and fro, all the while keeping his gaze right on him.

"You ssshan't be alone now

Nirvana beckonsss thee

I ssshall guide you to sssuch sssafety

If you jussst believe in me."

Koko was fast sinking. A bit of him inside his waning thoughts struggled to remember some names.

"Skwo…vet? Da…da?"

But the heavenly sensation enveloping him was erasing the pictures to those names. For some reason though, that was making him…happy.

"Never again know sssadnesss

Never again know fear

Just trussst in me little one

You know that I am here

Never again be lonely

Never again resssissst

Away from all your troublesss

Yesss, they will not be missssed

Now allow me to eassse

Your doubtsss now, if you pleassse

Let my eyesss be your worriesss' bane

And I ssshall keep you sssnug

In my ssscaly, comfy hug

And endanger you...never again."

Serperior slithered its head around Koko's shoulders until his entire back was blanketed by a leafy, comfy cushion. Koko's mouth hung open with a stupid, blissful smile, a bit of drool hanging down from it like a Gloom's nectar.

"Jussst follow my gazzze

Young one...sssmile

Take my sssong and coilssss now

For a little...while…"

Serperior wiped the drool off with its tail and stopped its Glare for now since its lullaby was doing a good enough job of its own to keep the boy under. Koko's smile grew dumbly wider as the snake Pokémon began to slither down his chest and abdomen.

"Jussst go with the flow

Ssslumber...sssnoozzze...

I ssshall rid your sssensesss

Of all...your bluesss..."

Serperior's coils kept sliding and gliding across Koko's bare skin the more the snake moved in its close serpentine drive downwards his body, giving the wild child a massage in an increasingly heavy but just the softest bed. Poor Koko's eyelids were now starting to flutter, struggling to stay open, as if he had been constantly looking directly at the sun. Trying to croak out some form of protest to what little rational thought Koko was hanging on to, all he could utter was a useless "Ugh…uh…"

"Do not try to ssspeak, sssweet child

All what I sssay isss true

Jussst let my coilsss, eyesss and sssweet voiccce

Bring absssolute blisss to you."

Serperior, after completing the zigzag of its coils over Koko's front from shoulder to loincloth, brought its head up to his eyesight and started up its Glare again as it sang the next chorus of its enticing lullaby.

"Never again know dessspair

Never again know fright

Give in to it my young friend

Everything isss all right

Never again know missstrussst

Never again know liesss

Let me bring euphoric joy

Gazzze deeper though these eyesss

Abandon your sssorrow

It won't sssee tomorrow

SSSay farewell to dread, tearsss and pain

Follow my sssliding danccce

Ssslip into the deepessst tranccce

Remember your caresss...never again."

Koko was yawning now, dark circles under his eyes from staring so long into that wonderful, endless pool of destiny and freedom all at once. All these years…he was wrong about Serperior. So wrong to keep running away, so wrong to keep letting…somebody…take him from this majestic Lord of the Forest. The way it's Wrap and Glare guided him when he was so lost in the jungle was something he never knew he wanted—no, NEEDED—but he now realized, through Serperior's oh so beautiful serenade, that it could give him…everything.

"He'sss almossst gone," Serperior thought to itself as it stopped its Glare again and began to unravel the makeshift coil bed from atop Koko. "Now for the point of no return…"

"Jussst lie back, little one

For I am your friend

I ssshall keep you clossse

Until your bitter end."

Koko was hugging on to Serperior's thickest coil like he never wanted this wonderful Pokémon to let him go. He was sliding belly-down in a spiral across the Grass-type snake's long body, down, down, down…and plopping into a cocoon of about five looped coils embracing him from neck to knee.

"Come clossser, jussst let go

And do not weep…"

Serperior squeezed and loosened its creeping coils all around Koko's body as the out-of-luck jungle boy's droopy, baggy eyes, still reflecting those colors and barely open, were looking upon the ultimate truth of just where he belonged…he belonged with Serperior.

Both Koko and Serperior's eyes were almost touching each other now. The snake drew out its hisses as it sang the low, whispering command that'd seal the boy's doom.

"Cuddle in my coilsss

Ressst blisssfully...and...sssleeeeeeeep…"

PING!

Koko's mind finally succumbed fully to the euphoric, hypnotic pleasure of Serperior's Wrap and Glare, his wide, dumb grin showing and his eyes momentarily bulging open with some final colors before his eyelids slowly shut and his head slumped down, tucking the hairless Zarude into a deep, deep slumber in the snake's silky, comfy hug.

Lying back against the main bark of the tree and observing the prey it had been hunting for three whole years, even Serperior was surprised with itself. At long last, the chase was finally over. Serperior swayed its bundle to and fro again as it started the final chorus of its lullaby.

"Never again you'll cry now

Never again you'll frown

Ride along, dear young cub

It isss a long way down..."

It could already imagine Koko where he REALLY belonged…squirming inside its stomach as he'd slowly dissolve and melt away amongst its slimy, gooey enzymes…all painlessly and without a trace of fear throughout.

"Never again be hunted

Never again be found

Asss in my hug you'll sssnuggle

Feel my coilsss all around..."

Serperior's words faded away at these lyrics as Koko's brain completely shut down to all further outside senses aside from peace, sighing with great pleasure in his limp numbness as he was being lifted to a proper swallowing angle. Serperior moved its head above Koko's, slowly lowering down.

"Time for you to sssee why

You mussst now sssay bye-bye

Your trussst in me wasss all in vain

Jussst sssleep without a care

All while you're unaware

That you'll be free...hmhmhm...never again..."

Oblivious to the certain death about to claim him, with no signs of his Dada nearby, and Skwovet still out of commission in Cramorant's nest, Koko quietly snored on in his scaly coffin, soon to be his digestive, gastronomical, and truly final coffin as his head was drawing nearer and nearer into Serperior's widening jaw…

Meanwhile, down below on the jungle floor, another young human was exploring Okoya Jungle. He looked to be about Koko's age of 10, with spiky black hair and bolt marks on his cheeks. Adorned in a red and white cap and a blue vest with a white shirt underneath, he was trying to pursue the Cramorant he tried to capture earlier, the one whose beak the Trainer's Pikachu had gotten itself stuck in. Pikachu shocked it from the inside to escape, but it seemed to fly upwards into a high tree they had come to.

"It went up there! Pikachu, try running up that one!"

"Pika!" Pikachu climbed up to the limb, peeking at the canopy and trying to find that Cramorant. Seeing a nest, the Mouse Pokémon figured maybe it flew up there.

"You see anything buddy?"

"Pi?" It noticed something else up there, and immediately called down to its Trainer in a panic. "PIKA! PIKA-PI!"

"Huh?" The kid called. "You think someone's in trouble up there?"

"PIKA!" It had seen a big Pokémon from afar…dangerously close to potentially devouring somebody helpless in that canopy.

The Trainer had heard about some people and Pokémon getting into trouble with some of the more ferocious jungle Pokémon that lived here. Maybe somebody got unlucky enough to get stuck with something deadly. Being the brave, heroic kid he was, he had to do something.

"Don't worry Pikachu, We're gonna save 'em!" the Trainer called, "Use Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaaaa…" sparks started crackling out of Pikachu's cheeks. "CHUUUUUUU!!!"

With a bright, electric flash, the attack hit the canopy above, and two Pokémon plummeted down with a thud. One was a Skwovet who was shaking its head out of some daze…and the other was a gigantic Serperior, KO'd with swirls in its eyes. The Trainer looked quite wowed by this find.

"Whoa…that Serperior's HUGE…looks like a Pokémon Jessie would probably go for…"

"Pi? "Pika-pi!" Pikachu called out to its Trainer.

"What is it, Pikachu? Huh?"

Right near the unconscious Serperior was a kid in a brown loincloth with brown vines on his forearms and white markings on his bare skin, tumbling out from the snake Pokémon's unraveling coils, also out cold.

"Hey!" Running up to the kid and picking him up, the Trainer asked, "Are you alright?"

The wild child could only cough a bit from being squeezed so much by that muscular grip.

"He's alive!"

"Pika!"

The Trainer lifted the conked out kid over his shoulders and started carrying him off. He had to get him to Milyfa Town's Pokémon Center to make sure he wasn't seriously hurt.

"Hang in there! We're gonna get you help."

When Skwovet came to, it found that a human had just entered the Okoya Jungle…and was carrying Koko away! It breathed a sigh of relief that he rescued him from that ferocious Serperior when it couldn't, but it had to get out of there straight away and tell the wild child's Dada about what just happened.

Serperior soon shook itself out of it's shocked state, and frustratingly saw that it's dinner had gotten away yet AGAIN. And it came so close too! It just wasn't fair!

"Ooooh, who ssstole my sssnack thisss time?!" The snake looked around, but no traces of Koko, his Dada or Skwovet were anywhere in the vicinity.

"Hmph…no matter. But know thisss, little Koko," hissed Serperior as it slithered back up its tree. "I ssswear it 'til the day I'm caught by sssome cccivilized 'Trainer' human…you WILL belong to me. Be you a ZZZarude, another Pokémon, or a human…all you really are isss my…sssussstenanccce…"

Serperior coiled itself around the limb of it's tree, grumbling itself to sleep.

"Besssidesss…what anything more could you posssibly be in thisss jungle anyway?"

THE END