Wild Habits - Part 1

~Wild Habits~
Part 1

Goldenrod City was a place filled with many unique and interesting sights.  There were the normal, expected things such as the Pokémon Gym, and less normal but still landmark places such as the radio tower.  Scattered along its streets were all kinds of intriguing sights as well, from shops specializing in single species of Pokémon, to statues sitting in the middle of small parks.  To a new, young trainer taking in the sights for the first time, such a city could be overwhelming.  The kid would likely end up resorting to simply visiting the expected locations and ignoring the smaller, more unique ones.  Zack was no such kid.

The young boy's mouth was agape as he walked through the streets of Goldenrod, staring in marvel.  Periodically he would stop, pressing up against the glass window of a store to peer inside.  He saw Pokémon being groomed by expert stylists, Pokémon in a daycare playing under the supervision of an elderly women, Pokémon toys and games devoted to those people not fortunate enough to be able to undertake their own journey.  There were plenty of places not about Pokémon of course, but Zack didn't care about those.  His bright, youthful eyes scanned the street ahead of him as he walked, watching for anything even remotely interesting.  Perhaps the most intriguing place he had yet seen was on him before he knew it.

It was located in a lot of land between the tall buildings to his right.  A tent was set up in the lot, encompassing most of its space except for a small area of grass next to the sidewalk.  That grass was taken up by signs and statues: of Pokémon, of course, and hence why Zack's attention was drawn to it.  One of the statues was of a snake-like Pokémon Zack recognized as a Seviper.  It wasn't native to Johto, but in recent years attempts were being made at introducing foreign Pokémon into Johto's wilderness, resulting in a greater variety of Pokémon than in the past.  As for the other statue, it was the rather similar Arbok.  At the base of each of those statues was a much smaller Pokémon: an Eevee stood with the Seviper, while a Pikachu was posed under the Arbok.  The snake Pokémon stretched above their partners, mouths rather curiously spread wide open.  Zack didn't understand that part, but his curiosity was sufficiently peaked.

The sign over the tent's entrance held a name: Wild Habits of Pokémon.  Zack didn't get that either, and walked over to one of the signs that held more information about what was going on.  “Come now, for a limited time only, and view the wonders of the natural Pokémon world!  See how Pokémon live in the wild!” one of the signs proclaimed.  Another sign read thus: “Battle against our experienced trainers in the style of wild Pokémon!  Win fame, glamor, and fabulous prizes!”  Now, that certainly got anything left of Zack's attention that wasn't already focused on the exhibit.  He wasn't sure what exactly the difference in such battles was, but he didn't see anyone around to ask and so walked right over to the tent's entrance, passing into its dark interior.

“Welcome, young man!” Zack was immediately greeted with.  It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light under the tent, but when he could see again he saw a man in a rather absurd purple suit standing before him in the open foyer space at the front of the tent.  Partitions on either side of the entrance were plastered with more signs and informational bulletins, which Zack didn't really pay much attention to.  Looking back at the man, Zack saw a large, friendly, yet somewhat unnerving grin was plastered on his as he held out a hand to greet the young trainer.  His other hand was wrapped around the end of a cane he didn't seem to actually need, but rather held for some strange aesthetic purpose.

Zack reached out and shook the suited man's hand.  “I saw on the sign outside, you do battles here?”

“Oh-ho!” the man exclaimed, firmly and vigorously returning Zack's handshake.  “Yes, yes, we hold the grandest Pokémon battles of all here!  We do not run tournaments, per se, but rather a gauntlet.  But come, come, let me show you around before discussing the battles further.”

The man motioned for Zack to follow, patting the boy's back as they fell into step beside each other.  “First of all, we will come across our Pokémon habit.  Here, you can see just what it is like for Pokémon to live in the natural wild, and preview some of the Pokémon you may be expected to fight in the upcoming battles.”

The Pokémon habit was a large, open-topped box of sorts that Zack and the man immediately reached upon walking deeper into the tent from its entrance.  Glass walls separated the forest-themed environment inside from the people outside, much like at a zoo.  Zack could see several Pokémon inside the habitat, mostly larger ones though and not “cute” ones.  He noticed a Seviper much like the one he had seen outside coiled around a thick tree branch.  Rather curiously though, and in a grim mirror of the statue, a small Eevee stood on the woodchip-covered ground below as the Seviper opened its mouth directly above the unaware Eevee.  As Zack watched, the Seviper suddenly lunged downwards, its spacious maw snapping around the furred creature's head.  The Eevee began to scream and flail its legs about, but the Seviper's large fangs had bit into its neck.  As the Seviper held the Eevee in the air by its head, the small Pokemon's thrashings began to die down, its kicking slowing until it all but stopped.  “Wha...  What the heck?” Zack stammered as he watched this happen.

“Ah, you are lucky.  I did not realize it was feeding time,” the suited man said.  Zack noticed his gaze flicker up towards a camera that hung from a frame suspended underneath the roof of the tent, the man smiling as he saw that it was pointing right at the Seviper and its prey.

“This is how you feed them?” Zack gasped.  He watched as the Seviper lifted its head up and the Eevee with it, spreading its mouth wide open again and letting the small Pokemon's body fall right into its maw.  The snake closed its jaws, only the Eevee's bushy tail now visible.  Before Zack's eyes, a bulge began to travel down the Seviper's body as it swallowed its prey down, the Eevee's tail slipping between the Seviper's jaws until it too was lost from sight, the small Pokémon now only a descending bulge in the snake's body.  The Seviper lifted up and rested its head and upper length along the branch, the moving bulge of the Eevee suddenly falling to a stop, sagging down below the branch.

“It is how Pokémon feed in the wild,” the man said, nodding.  “We are devoted to the accurate portrayal of the natural kingdom, so it is only fitting we feed our Pokémon with such live prey as they would feed upon if still free.”

“But...  Where do you get them from?” Zack asked, now rather curious about the gruesome, yet fascinating act he had just witnessed.  “I mean, surely you don't go out and capture them yourselves, just to use as food.”

“Ah, but that is not a question to be answered,” the man said.  “Come now, I feel you grow anxious and want to battle.  I will show you to our arenas.”

Zack was quickly pushed along, past the large glass cube and over to the middle of the tent, directly under its peak.  Curtains hung down from the metal frame overhead, enclosing the two separate arenas that sat at the heart of the tent.  As Zack walked over to them besides the strange man, he looked around at the various displays scattered throughout the open area of the tent, much like a museum.  He didn't notice many other people, those few random ones he did see staring right back at him.  Somewhat creeped out by this, he turned his attention back to the twin arenas, seeing the suited man talking to someone sitting at a desk outside the curtains.  The suited man pointed to Zack, the other guy nodding.  Returning to Zack, the man motioned towards the left arena, walking over and pulling the curtain aside so that Zack could enter.

Inside the curtained arena, it looked much like any other battle arena Zack had seen with the exception that this one had no seats for spectators and the ground was simply bare dirt.  Chalk lines were drawn on the dirt ground, with the bounding box around the arena extending almost nearly all the way to the curtains.  Overhead, Zack noticed several cameras like the one he had seen before suspended from the frame.  He noticed now that they were mounted on rails and motorized, seemingly able to be controlled from elsewhere in the tent.  As he watched, one of the cameras moved along its rail and turned to look down at Zack.  He was starting to get a little nervous by how everyone and everything seemed to be watching him.

“As you can see, our arenas aren't fancy, but do you need any more for a proper battle?  After all, out in the wild you have to deal without an arena at all!” the man exclaimed, laughing heartily at himself.

“Yeah, you are trying to show the natural, wild side of Pokémon here, right?” Zack found that concept a bit odd as Pokémon always seemed pretty wild to him regardless of where he was, but more power to the people behind this place.  He just wanted to get to the battling.  “I guess you could say you don't even need an arena period for that.”

“Ah, you got it!” the man clapped his hands together in excitement.  “Now, on to the details.  As I said, we run our battles in a gauntlet.  The six Pokémon you enter with are the only ones you may use, and no healing is provided between rounds.  Each battle is only one on one with no switching, and you'll have ten opponents total.  Your goal is to either make your way until the end with at least one of your Pokémon left, or simply be defeated.”  The man frowned sadly at that, Zack shaking his head slowly.  He wouldn't let that happen of course.  “If you lose, you will be awarded prizes in the form of money or perhaps even Pokémon depending on your performance, and if you win, well, that is a prize better left revealed for later.  In our fights, we really only have one rule: to win, the opposing Pokémon must be finished off, with absolutely no chance of them getting back up again.”

“That sounds like a pretty normal rule,” Zack said, tilting his head in curiosity over why it even had to be mentioned.

The man just grinned and nodded, slyly asking, “You'll see...  Are you ready to fight right now?”

Zack gestured at the six Poké Balls he proudly wore on his belt.  He may not be the oldest or most experienced trainer, but he was still rather proud at how many Pokémon he had already caught and just how powerful his team was.  He had already defeated two gym leaders after all!  “Yes, this is what I came for!”

“Very well then,” the man smiled, pointing to a chalk-marked box at the near end of the arena.  “If you'd please, stand over there.  Your first challenger will be out shortly.”  The man pushed the curtain aside, looking at Zack one more time, grinning as he said, “Good luck,” before walking out and letting the curtain fall closed behind him.

It was only a moment before the curtain was pulled aside at the far end of the arena, a boy not much older than Zack himself walking out.  He seemed somewhat nervous, but also excited.  “I hear your name is Zack,” the boy shouted over.

“Yes, and yours?”

“You can call me Andy.  But enough talk, let's go!”  Andy reached into a pocket and pulled out a Poké Ball, expanding it before throwing it into the air.  “Come on, Seviper!  We've trained for this very moment!”

The ball split open, unleashing a mass of red energy on the dirt ground that coalesced into the familiar shape of a Seviper.  Zack eyed the snake as it coiled about and flexed, its bladed tail waving about as a forked tongue flickered out of its mouth.  Zack thought over his own Pokémon, before ultimately deciding.  Picking a Poké Ball off his belt, he tossed it into the air.  “Let's start out strong!  Jolteon!”  Zack's prized Jolteon appeared on the ground in front of him, its yellow, spiky fur immediately beginning to crackle with electricity.  The irony of Zack using one of Eevee's evolutions against a Seviper, when he had just seen the same species of Pokémon eat an Eevee did not escape him.  “Our victory will avenge that poor Eevee!” Zack yelled.

“Oh?” Andy tilted his head, tapping his chin.  “Did you see Vipey here feeding?  Eevees are his favorite food!”

“Wha...” Zack uttered as he watched Andy call his Seviper over, patting the head of the snake as he ran a hand down its body.  The boy's hand finally came to a rest on a slight bulge, the boy pressing his hand into it.  Zack now realized that this was actually the exact same Seviper he had seen before, the one who had indeed eaten the Eevee.  As Andy fondled the small bulge the Eevee's remains made within the Seviper, Zack couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly the snake must have digested the small Pokémon.  “Well, whatever, it doesn't matter!  Poor thing didn't have a chance, but now we'll show you how a true Eeveelution fights!  Jolteon, agility!”

The yellow, fox-like Pokémon burst forward with amazing speed, running around the battlefield at a breakneck pace.  Seviper turned away from its master and looked around at the afterimages of Jolteon, unable to do  anything with its opponent moving so fast.  Before it could come up with anything, Zack proceeded to his own next attack, “Now, quick attack!”

Jolteon suddenly broke out of his running pattern as he bolted straight at Seviper, lunging forward at such speeds he was hard to see.  “Counter with poison tail,” Andy suddenly said though, Seviper cackling as it swiftly slid to the side, somehow managing to actually dodge the quick attack.  Right as Jolteon shot past where the Seviper had used to be, the snake suddenly whipped its tail about, spearing it straight into Jolteon and sending Zack's Pokémon crashing to its side as it let out a panicked yelp.

Zack's eyes went wide.  It had all happened so fast; the Seviper's reaction time was unreal.  Jolteon's speed was his primary asset, yet somehow the Seviper had easily thrown away that one advantage as if it was nothing.  The Jolteon lay on its side, having skidded along the dirt ground a good few meters from the impact.  There was a bloody gash on Jolteon's side where the Seviper's tail had hit, purple poison bubbling around its edges.  Zack gritted his teeth, this wasn't good at all.  “Come on Jolteon, get up!” Zack yelled.  Jolteon growled as he tried to pick himself up, but it seemed like his legs were injured or maybe even broken as well.

Before Jolteon could fight through the pain and stand again, Andy gave another order, “Don't let it, Seviper.  Poison tail again, and this time, keep it in.”

Seviper hissed in pleasure as it slid over to the crippled Jolteon, pulling its tail back before thrusting it down and into Jolteon's side, right next to the original injury.  Zack winced as Jolteon gave a sharp, pained jolt, blood and poison spurting up from around where the bladed tail stuck in its side.  Jolteon whined and looked over at Zack, his eyes filled with pain as he begged to be recalled.  Zack nodded and held out his Pokemon's Poké Ball, pressing the button on its front.  A beam of red energy shot out, but before it could reach Jolteon a blue barrier appeared in its path, the red energy beam absorbed into it.  “What?” Zack exclaimed, taken aback, before trying to recall his badly injured Jolteon to the same result.

“Can't recall your Pokémon, I'm afraid,” Andy said, shaking his head.  “This is a one on one fight, and it has not been won yet.  Seviper, wrap.”

Zack yelped himself as Seviper suddenly twisted its long body around his Jolteon while still keeping its bladed tail embedded firmly in his side.  The fox Pokémon whined in pain as its body was tightly constricted, his large ears drooping down.  About all Jolteon could do was give a few week kicks of his legs, before he suddenly gagged and coughed up some blood as Seviper tightened its grip around Jolteon's chest.

“What are you doing?!” Zack yelled.  “Jolteon's done for now, he can't fight!  You win!  Just let him go!”

“You think I've won?” Andy laughed.  “Do you not remember the one rule?  That the loser must be finished off, never to get back up?  Poison fang.”

Seviper hissed and barred its large, blood-red fangs.  Poison dripped off them and onto Jolteon's fur, before the snake suddenly plunged its fangs into Jolteon's neck around the white mane of spiked fur.  Jolteon yelped and gave a few sharp kicks, before starting to slow down.  Poison was now flooding the frail Pokemon's body through both the Seviper's fangs and tail, blood dripping out from the several injuries he had now sustained.  Zack gritted his teeth as he stared into Jolteon's panicked eyes, his Pokémon silently pleading to be rescued.

“N—never?” Zack stuttered.  “H—he didn't say...  I didn't know...  Oh, god...” Zack's heart began to beat faster as he came to the horrible realization.  That one, odd rule.  It didn't just mean that the Pokémon had to be knocked out, it literally had to be finished, forever, for good.  Killed.

...Just like what would happen in fights between wild Pokémon, in nature...

Zack held a hand to his mouth as he gagged, but fortunately nothing came up.  His body was shaking now as he looked at his Jolteon within the Seviper's grasp, the fox Pokemon's blood splattered on the dirt ground and along the snake's dark scales.  Jolteon's body was twisted oddly from the Seviper's constriction, his fur unruly and matted down with blood.  Sickly purple poison leaked from around Seviper's fangs and tail, disappearing in puffs of smoke as they fell on the ground or on Jolteon's fur.  The poison that now coursed through Jolteon's body was taking its toll, his flailing slowing down, his eyes drooping.  Jolteon's breathing was reduced to weak wheezes now, blood and excess poison dripping out of the corners of his sagging mouth.  Jolteon was going to die, and there was nothing Zack could do about it.

“Seviper,” Andy suddenly spoke again, a sick grin twisted across his face.  “Swallow.”

Seviper slowly slid its fangs out of Jolteon's neck, blood and poison dripping off of them while also spurting out of the neat, twin holes that remained in Jolteon's neck, buried among his furry mane.  The snake twisted its head around to face Jolteon, staring into its prey's dim, drooping eyes.  “Please, don't do this, I quit!” Zack pleaded, his heart racing.

“It's too late for that now.  It was too late as soon as you started the battle...” Andy said, a gleeful tone to his voice.  Overhead, the moving cameras whirred about on their tracks, eager to get a good view of the grand finale.

Jolteon whimpered, watching as Seviper spread its mouth wide, stretching its jaws around his muzzle.  Slowly, inch by inch, Seviper used the coils of his body to push the fox Pokémon farther in, Jolteon's nose pressing up against the rear of Seviper's maw.  Zack's Pokémon whimpered one final time before his snout was pushed into Seviper's throat, bound closed now by the tight pressure it exerted.  Seviper paused for a moment, Jolteon's entire head trapped within its maw with his large ears sticking out and lying flat along Jolteon's neck; the broader shoulders were up next.  A few small creaks were heard as the bones of Seviper's jaw literally spread apart, wide enough now to continue ingesting Jolteon.

Zack watched in horror as his Pokémon was slowly eaten by Seviper.  The yellow-furred lightning fox disappeared into Seviper with barely any struggles, Jolteon's limbs only slightly shaking now, the poison Seviper had injected into Jolteon having effectively immobilized him.  Jolteon's chest and front legs slipped into the snake without any trouble, now completely at Seviper's mercy.  The snake unwrapped the coils around Jolteon and pulled its tail out of the fox's side, letting Jolteon's lower body fall down limply to lie in the dirt.  Seviper inched forward as it continued to swallow Jolteon whole, making relatively quick work of him despite how much larger he was than the Eevee earlier.  In time, all that stuck out of Seviper's maw were Jolteon's limp rear legs, the snake raising its head in the air.  Triumphantly, Seviper swallowed down the last bit of Jolteon, finally closing its mouth again as the rear legs of one of Zack's most prized and favorite Pokémon disappeared into the snake, never to be seen again.

Tears dripped from Zack's eyes as he saw the much larger bulge of Jolteon slide down Seviper's body, to join the remains of his fellow Eevee inside the snake's stomach.  Andy walked out onto the battlefield and over to Seviper, ignoring the blood he stood in as he wrapped his arms around the snake, hugging Jolteon's bulge.  Still weakened from the poison, Jolteon was barely moving inside Seviper and it was only a matter of time until he passed from this world.  Andy continued to hug Seviper and press against Jolteon's bulge until he finally felt Zack's Pokémon fall limp and completely still, the bulge softening under his touch as digestion began working to reduce Jolteon to the mere nutrients he now was.

“Jolteon's dead now,” Andy murmured as he stood back up, a pleasured smile on his face.  “You lose the battle, and now have only five Pokémon left for the remaining nine matches.  Have fun...”

Zack simply stared blankly as Andy turned and left the battlefield through the curtain, Seviper sliding along beside him, the bulge on its stomach jiggling some under the weight of the dead Jolteon within.  Then Seviper was through the curtain, the fabric falling closed behind him, even the bulge of Jolteon's dead carcass lost from Zack's sight.  He continued to simply stare blankly at empty air, Jolteon's now useless Poké Ball falling from his hand and rolling along the ground before coming to a stop in a small crevice in the dirt.

“I...  Don't want to do this anymore...” Zack spoke slowly, unwilling to think of what would happen if he were to lose the rest of his Pokémon.

“I'm afraid that's not a choice,” a familiar voice said from behind Zack.  The boy turned to see the strange suited man from before walk through the curtains.  “You see, what we do here isn't exactly legal.  Blood fights were outlawed a decade ago.  If you try to leave, well...  Let me just say that we have plenty of Pokémon capable of devouring prey much larger than your Jolteon.”

“Can I ever leave?  Even if I lose?” Zack asked, his eyes lowered to the ground, staring at the blood stains where Jolteon had lost his final battle.

The man didn't answer that, simply standing there with a smile on his face, leaning on that pointless and stupid cane.

Getting no response, Zack knew the answer already and clenched his fists, a scowl twisting across his face.  “What if I win your sick game?  What if I survive your gauntlet?”

“Now that is a prize best left for you to discover on your own,” the man said, turning to leave.  “Your next fight will begin in a few minutes; you are not to leave this arena.  If you try, your life is forfeit.”

And then he was gone.  Outside, Zack could hear the sounds of something large walking about, some Pokémon guarding the arena to ensure he wouldn't leave.  On the one hand Zack wanted to try his hand at running, to escape this horrid place and go tell the police.  Yet, on the other hand, he wanted revenge.  He wanted to fight back, to beat the system, and tear it down.  He knew deep down that he was no doubt going to lose more of his Pokémon, but if that's what it took to reduce this whole sick operation to rubble, so be it.

“Whatever you are out there, a Tyranitar or Dragonite or whatever, you can stop pacing.  I'm not leaving.  I'm going to beat this thing.”  Zack turned to look up at the cameras overhead now.  He gathered that they weren't just surveillance cameras, they were recording the massacres so that the sick people behind this operation could watch them again at any time.  “Enjoy the show, it's going to be your last.”

To Be Continued...