Feuded Love

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. The title of this fic was borrowed from an image on Deviant art by Ethice.

The forest remained quiet as the young Zangoose walked through it. Being so young, he didn’t have the red markings, or the viciously sharp claws and teeth as adult Zangoose, which makes you wonder why he was walking alone in the forest, when danger could be lurking right around the...

A nearby bush rustles, causing him to freeze. He’s about to turn around and see what had caused the noise, when something long and black suddenly leapt out, surprising him. Before he could react, the black serpent had coiled itself around him, holding him to the spot. The Seviper looked at its prey, before…licking him with her long forked tongue. The young Zangoose started to laugh as he was tickled.

“Stop it…” He tried to say through his laughing, “You know I’m ticklish!”

“Ya…” said the female serpent, “But what’s the magic word?”

“Ok, ok, ok! You win!” As those words left his mouth, the Seviper ceased tickling the little guy, before looking at him with a smug look on her face.

“Now, was that so hard, Aaron?”

“Actually it was. Now can you please let me go, Silvia?”

The Seviper known as Silvia nodded to him as she released him from her coils. As he climbed out, he looked up at his best friend. Ordinarily, you would never see a Zangoose and a Seviper occupying the same space without fighting, let alone playing as these two were.

For as far back as anyone could remember, the two had been mortal enemies, always fighting. The two Pokemon had fought for so long, that no one, not even the oldest of them, knew why they were fighting. Their were many stories between the two to explain why they fought, but each one only blamed the other, saying that they had done something wrong in the past. Never the less, Zangoose and Seviper were mortal enemies.

Except for two: Aaron and Silvia. The two had been friends for several years now, always meeting in secret and playing games such as tag. Both were very young, and both lacking the markings and abilities that their older counterparts possessed.

Aaron’s fur was solid white, as Silvia’s scales were solid black. Aaron only had small stubs for claws, while the blade on Silvia’s tail was so small and dull; you couldn’t even call it a blade.

“Well, that makes me with 5 wins to your 2. Wanna make it an even six?”

“Actually, I think it’s about time we headed home.”

“What, the big scary Zangoose afraid of losing to little old me?”

“Hardly, it’s just that I don’t want a repeat of what happened last time we were both late getting home. Remember?”

“Oh ya…we were both grounded for a week because of that. You know what’s actually funny?”

“What?”

“That for being enemies and being on opposite sides of the forest, both our parents act and think almost identically. It’s kinda creepy…”

“Ya, that is pretty creepy.” They both remained silent for a minute, before bursting out laughing. This went on for a few more minutes before they stopped. Once it was over, they both headed their separate ways.

After a few more minutes, Aaron had reached the edge of the camp. He called it that because it was just a small area, filled with several leave and bark huts, not what you’d call a village our town. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he crept towards his house. He was almost there when…

“Hey short stuff!” Yelled a voice from behind him before lifting him up by his tail. Aaron groaned as he looked at the face of his older brother, Zack. Zack had become an adult several months ago, gaining claws and new-found powers, which he spent every minute of the day trying to test on his younger brother.

“What cha doing out in the forest by yourself? You could get hurt, there being so many monsters in that forest.”

“Hardly.” He responded, “The only monster I see is standing right infront of me.”

This easily tempered his brother, which he was known for thoughout the entire camp. Anything could set him off, even someone just lightly nudging him. Still gripping Aaron by his tail, he sneered at him.

“Oh really. Well then, you wanna see how much of a monster I can be?” He said as he raised up his right claw, ready to inflict some torment on his baby brother. But before he could do anything, they both saw the shadow of someone standing before them. They both turned, and Zack’s ears drooped in fear as he saw who it was.

Their stood their mom, Elaina, one of the toughest Zangoose in the entire camp. She was also the only one that Zack actually feared. She had her arms crossed across her chest, showing that she was mad with one of them.

“Zackary! How many times have I told you to not pick on your little brother?” She only called Zack bhis full name when she was angry with him.

“But…I was just…he was…”

“No buts! Now let Aaron go before I really start to get angry!”

Not wanting to back up his mom’s threat, Zack took one last glare at Aaron before placing him back down and walking off. When he was gone, Elaina walked over to her youngest son.

“That should take care of him for the rest of the day.”

“But mom, why can’t you just stop him from picking on me entirely?”

“Because Aaron, you have to learn how to defend yourself. If you don’t learn, you won’t be ready when you encounter an enraged Seviper.”

“Ya…” Aaron responded meekly, knowing what it was already like to meet a Seviper, except not one that was enraged. Not wanting to continue this conversation, he excused himself to his room, his personal hut attached to the main hut. As he walked into the house, he passed his dad who was chatting with some of his hunting buddies. Ignoring him, he walked into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Flopping down on his bed, he stared up at ceiling as he found himself think back to Silvia. From what they had talked about over the time they had known each other, Silvia didn’t have any siblings. It was just her and her mother (Her dad left years ago for someone he said was better). As he thought of that, he found himself remembering the first time he had met Silvia. It was at least two years ago…

It was a regular day. His mom and dad were out hunting, and Zack was running around being a jerk as usual. So Aaron was home alone, bored. He was so bored, that he decided to do something that he wasn’t suppose to. He was going to go into the forest.

Both his mom and dad had told him time and time again to not go into the forest, being that it were filled with many dangerous Pokemon, the most dangerous of them being those savage Seviper. But boredom overrode his common sense, and within minutes, he had made his way into the forest.

“I don’t know why they won’t let me come out here,” he muttered to himself. “There’s probably nothing dangerous out…”

He stopped as he heard leaves rustling to his right. Looking over, he noticed a near by bush starting to shake. Slightly afraid, but also curious he slowly started to step towards the shaking bush. Parting the leaves with his paws, he immediately came face to face with a Seviper. For a few seconds, neither of them did anything, before they both leapt back from shock.

“Your one of those savage Sevipers!” Screamed Aaron.

“Your one to talk you blood-crazed Zangoose!” Yelled the female snake back.

“Who you calling blood crazed!” At his outburst, the pitch black serpent started to laugh.

“ Won’t my mom be happy when I bring you back? She might even forget that I was out here while she was away!”

“Funny,” He said with a smirk, “That’s exactly what I was going to say.”

Without another word, they both pounced on one another. They were a tangled mess of fur and scales as they tried to claw the others eyes out. Aaron was trying hard not to get tangled in his opponents long tail as the Seviper tried to avoid Aaron’s flailing arms and legs.

They continued for this for several minutes, neither of them seeming to have the upper hand. They were so preoccupied with each other, that the didn’t notice the blanket of leaves right infront of them, until they had rolled ontop of it, collapsing under their combined weight, both of them plummeting into a previously constructed pit.

Aaron let out a scream as he tried to grab onto something. Feeling something brush against his hand, he immediately grabbed it, suddenly stopping. As he stopped, he thought he heard someone grunt. Looking up, he realised that he was holding onto to the Seviper’s tail, who had grabbed onto a random rock just as they had plummeted.

“Lhet go!” He heard the snake say with the rock in her mouth.

“No way!” He yelled back at her. “There’s no way I’m letting go!”

“I canth climb upth with you holding on!”

“Well then…” he said as he gripped even tighter. Using her like a rope, he then started to climb up her, slowly reaching the top. Using her head as a stand, he was able to pull himself back. Once he was back up, he raced off back to the camp, ready to tell the others about what he had done.

As he ran off, he heard her yell, “Help me! Someone please help me!” from within the pit. For some strange reason, her yelling for help suddenly stopped him in his tracks. He didn’t know (and he still doesn’t know why), but at that moment, he turned around and raced back to the pit.

The Seviper glared at him as he reappeared at the edge of the pit.

“What do you want?”

Ignoring her, he crouched down and reached his hand out to her.

“Grab my hand!” As he said this, he saw a confused look appear on her face. Not wanting to refuse his help, though still confused, she started to swing her tail back and forth, trying to swing it up. After a few more seconds, her tail came flying out of the pit, which Aaron quickly grabbed in both hands. Pulling with all his might, he was able to get her above the pit. As she let go of the rock she was gripping onto, the resulting force sending them both tumbling back, landing in a heap.

Aaron slowly sat up, his head slightly hurting from the tumble he just took.

“Why did you come back and help me?” He turned around as he heard the sound of the Seviper speaking behind him. He felt strange talking to someone who was suppose to be his enemy, but he answered anyway.

“To be honest, I don’t know why I came back. I just had a feeling and I went with it. Besides, why are you even asking me a question like that? You were in trouble, so I helped.”

“Hmm. I was told that all Zangoose are crazy and that they would help anyone, not even their own kind. But you came back and saved me, of all people.”

“And I was told that you were savage and would attack anyone once their back was turned. But I’ve been sitting here for a few good minutes, and you haven’t even tried to attack me.”

“I guess both of us aren’t what we thought.” The Seviper grew silent as she started to think this over. After a few moments of silence, Aaron spoke up.

“By the way, what’s your name?”

The Seviper looked at him for a few seconds, seeming to contemplate his question or thinking of whether to answer him or not.

“It’s Silvia.” She finally answered.

“Well Silvia, I’m Aaron.” He held out his hand, a simple gesture. She just started at it, before reaching her tail over and shaking his hand. As they shook, they both heard voices and footsteps in the distance.

“We should go.” Suggested Silvia.

“Agreed.” Was all he said as they both got up and raced off deeper into the forest.

From that moment on, their friendship continued to grow. It started off with them meeting every so often to talk, which then turned into them meeting almost every other day to hang out and have fun. From there…He stopped as he thought about that.

Getting up from his bed, he walked over to the far side of his room. Grabbing a plank of wood on the wall, he pulled it back, revealing a stone box sticking in the wall. Pulling the box from the wall, he slowly opened it up, looking down at the two gold bands sitting inside.

A few months ago, Aaron had found these bands on an old human’s dress he had pulled from old tree. He had been planning on giving one to Silvia as a gift, but he always felt strange when he was about to give it to her. He felt like he was giving something to more then just a friend, but a…

He was startled when he heard the sound of knocking on his door. Quickly placing the lid back on the box, he slid it back in the wall and covered it up. As he did this, he heard his father’s voice from behind the door.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” Was all Aaron said before his dad walked in. His dad was a rather fit Zangoose, the best hunter in his squad and one of the best in the camp. He had taken a poison tail to the eye several years ago, causing him to lose his left eye.

“Hey son. Your mom told me that you’ve been getting in trouble with your brother over the last few days. Is something the matter?”

“Well…It’s…it’s just that…you and mom are some of the best in the whole camp. Everyone knows that Zack is a jerk, so they all expect things from me. Zack has his powers and all I have is nothing!”

His dad smiled as he prepared to talk. “Well, you’ll be happy to know that it won’t be like that for much longer.”

Aaron looked up at his dad, confused. “I don’t understand.”

“In a few days, you’ll go through the same thing your brother did.”

“You mean…”

“Yep. Think about that.” That was all he said as he left the room, closing the door behind him. This left Aaron to think of what his dad had told him.

A few days and I’ll be as powerful as Zack is? That means that I’d be able to go hunting with dad. Hunting wild game and… stood up as he realised what that meant.

“Oh-no. I have to talk to Silvia!” Getting up from his bed, he walked over to one of his walls and opened up another compartment, revealing some handmade parchment and ink made from berry juice. Him and Silvia made the ink so that they could send messages between each other.

Taking the inkwell, he dipped one of his claws into it, making sure the tip was covered. Using the wall as a hard surface, he quickly scrawled something on the paper, before rolling it up. Walking over to the window on the far side of his room, he lifted his right paw to his mouth and whistled. Hearing the sound of wings flapping, he saw Lark land on his window.

Lark was a Tailow that Silvia and him had saved from an Ariados web at least a year ago. For saving his life, Lark had promised two things: 1: That he would keep the secret about them meeting and 2: That he would send messages between the two when possible.

“What you need?” He squawked at Aaron as he landed.

“Bring this to Silvia and make it fast.” Was all he said as he handed him the note. Grabbing the note in his talons, he squawked once again before flying off. As he saw him fly off, he silently wished that the note would reach her in time, as time was something that was against him.

End Chapter<u>