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.
