FSE

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In a place far away from where you'd expect a Pokémon to be, whose reason I do not care to remember, there was a Serperior named Draco. The place in question is Lut Gholein, the so-called "Jewel of the Desert" of Sanctuary.

The Serperior found himself in an odd situation at first, for everyone looked down upon his condition of being a serpent with arms. Nevertheless, with some effective aid to the populace, he gained their trust. Donning some heavy armour and a pair of large swords, no threat ever came close to defeating him, even though his serpentine body meant that his lower half couldn't wear any armour whatsoever.

One day, during a heating midday, Draco happened to be talking with the local wizard, Drognan, when suddenly the place went darker than the night itself.

"It's like an eclipse," Draco points out something kind of obvious.

"I only know one thing that can cause something like this," the elder wizard explains. "The Claw Vipers."

"Other wizards?"

"... you could say so," Drognan says in a rather vague way. "Beyond the Lost City in the desert, their temple is located. It is said that those vile beings have an altar that can block the Sun for their benefit."

"... well," Draco says nonchalantly as he picks up his swords. "I guess I gotta visit their temple."

"Be careful. The Sabre-cats can easily pick you off during this darkness."

"Oh, don't worry," Draco beats his heavily-armoured chest. "I'll be back before the next expected sunrise."

And thus, Draco slithers away.

"I wonder if I did right by not mentioning that the Claw Vipers are snake-men..." Drognan mumbles when he's finally alone.

Drognan's warnings were not in vain, for even with an advantageous Waypoint placement, the Serperior does find the wildlife in between it and the Claw Viper temple quite nasty to deal with. But it was ultimately no big deal for the grass serpent, for he does make it to the temple.

Draco readies his swords, ready to cut through what he thinks must be some group of demonic sorcerers whose appearance might scare the average person...

...

... only to find out, upon entering, a large, grey, fairly beefy snake-man. A large, grey, fairly beefy snake-man with immensely long claws, shortly followed by a red one, seemingly as confused as Draco himself is, nonetheless.

"Oh!" Draco expresses his surprise. "I didn't know you guys were also snakes!"

The grey snake-man frowns at him. "Begone! You are not a Claw Viper!"

"Or a Salamander!" The red one snarls.

Draco makes the odd (or maybe not so odd) decision to sheathe his swords.

"Please, please, guys, be nice towards a fellow serpent. Can't we deal with this nicely?" Draco asks.

"No, you are not a Claw Viper like me." The grey snake insists.

"Or a Salamander!" The red one keeps yelling.

"Salamanders aren't snakes... agh, oh, well." Draco shakes his head. "... wait, YOU are the Claw Vipers?"

The grey Claw Viper crosses his well-built arms. "Yes, any problem with that?"

Draco clasps his arms as if he were begging. "Could you please please please let the sunlight back? Please, I come with no intention to hurt."

The red one, the 'Salamander', looks at Draco's swords.

"I mean, I even put them away! If you turn your 'thing' off and end the eclipse, I'll leave as if I had never been here."

"No." The Claw Viper is not on friendly terms. "We need darkness to perform optimally."

Draco tilts his head in confusion. "But... you're serpents! Like me! In any case, you'd need sunlight to be at your best."

The Serperior may find his logic sound, but... it ends up angering the two serpents.

The Claw Viper is the first to charge, using those incredibly long claws.

Draco dodges it, but it makes some marks on his chest armour. Good thing he had it. With a quick move, he throws the Claw Viper away.

That was just in time because then the Salamander attempts to stab the grass serpent with his very sharp tail. Another timely dodge allows Draco to grab him by the tail and throw him right towards the Claw Viper.

The two hostile serpents are on the ground, but Draco still doesn't draw the swords.

"I insist, I have no intention to deal fatal damage to a fellow serpent," he says. "Who's your leader? I bet he'd be more reasonable than you two."

The Claw Viper growls... somehow. "You will not touch Fangskin!"

At least Draco now has the name.

The Claw Viper charges at Draco again.

This time, the Serperior ducks under the slashing attack and buries his fist on the grey serpent's abdomen with an uppercut. The two opponents might be quite fit-looking, but it's that Draco is simply very strongly built! This is nothing beyond his unarmed capabilities.

The Claw Viper gasps, as his torso bends around the succession of upwards strikes his stomach takes. A hard cross-punch to the face sends him right to the ground.

Now it's the Salamander who tries his own slashing attack, only to be interrupted before even starting with a hard hook to where Draco thinks their solar plexus is located.

The Salamander lets out a loud gasp and then a wheeze before a hard jab to the centre of his gut and then an uppercut to the chin sends him to the ground as well.

The Claw Viper feels his belly before starting to rise, but Draco pins him down.

"I say again," the Serperior states. "I want to talk to your leader. That... Fangskin guy. I bet he will think of a solution that involves no bloodshed."

"He's much stronger than we are! You don't stand a chance! He will kill you as soon as he sees you."

Draco thinks as he makes an aside glance at the Salamander, who is still on the ground. "Okay, let's make this." He tells the Claw Viper. "If you don't want me to keep beating you up, take me to him. And tell him I challenge him to a fight."

"Hah." The Claw Viper lets out a brief chuckle. "You will have signed your death sentence."

Finally, the Salamander rises up and slowly closes in.

"Will you do it?" The green serpent asks.

The Salamander and the Claw Viper look at each other for a moment.

"We shall." The Salamander nods. "It's been a long time since Fangskin showed his killing potential, anyways."

No matter how much stronger he may be, Draco has a plan.

The serpents take the serpent to the second underground level of their temple. It's a very large room, with an altar in the centre. Some more Claw Vipers and Salamanders are there, surrounding a serpent like them... that happens to be green like Draco. Not a Serperior, just green like one.

"Hey, leader!" The Claw Viper says as they enter the room. "We got someone stupid enough to challenge you!"

The green serpent turns around to see Draco between the Claw Viper and the Salamander. "Another serpent?" He quickly slithers close enough to inspect him. "I had never seen your kin. What are you called?"

Draco takes a moment to answer because he can't but see that, at least visually, the two serpents didn't lie about Fangskin being stronger. His physique is noticeably more bulked up than the other two, with thicker arms, larger pecs, and his striped stomach showing abs. Not to mention that he's bigger overall. "I'm... called a Serperior. I'm not from these lands."

"... and you intend to challenge me, 'Serperior'?"

"... yes. I challenge you to a 1v1 fight. Me without my weapons and armour, and you without your claws or tail."

This surprises all the other serpents in the room.

Fangskin, on the other hand, seems amused. "An unarmed fight, you mean? It's the first time someone has ever told me that. I admit it, you have made me laugh. I'll give you one chance to understand why that would be foolish. Touch me."

"... w-what?" The Serperior flusters a bit.

"Poke me anywhere on my body." Fangskin spreads his arms.

Confused, the grass serpent does as he says and prods the green serpent... and feels as if he were being electrocuted. Barely, but he does. "... ah, you're Lightning Enchanted." Lightning Enchanted creatures emit electric discharges when they get touched (not when they touch someone else, however).

"How can you dare to hit me with your fists when every strike is going to electrocute you?"

Draco smirks and searches through some until-now-unmentioned pockets to get a pair of long rubber gloves, which he uses to cover the entire length of his arms, only missing on the shoulders. "I can dare to do that because I have experience in handling Lightning Enchanted creatures."

Fangskin smirks at the Serperior's resourcefulness. "You are very determined on taking me on in an unarmed fight. It's settled, I will humour you with your challenge."

"If I beat you, you shall destroy your altar," Draco says, which makes the other serpents gasp.

All Fangskin does is puff his chest instead. "Ask anything you want and I will be fine with it. After all, you are NOT going to get it. Instead, if I win, you will become my personal pet."

Draco stays silent for a second. Maybe he should have planned beforehand. But he's gone too far, he cannot go back. "... I'll do it if you win." He takes off his chest armour, 'opens up' a bit of his protective green layer of skin to show off a bit more of his body, and puts his swords next to the stairs to the first underground level.

Fangskin smirks, and turns around. "You all! Move aside! I don't want anyone to intervene in the fight. Even if I somehow end up losing. You may only do anything if this 'Serperior' tries to escape, understood!?"

The Claw Vipers and Salamanders are very confused but still obey. The 20 or so serpents decide to line up next to the stairs so that no one can leave.

"I'll be a nice serpent, and let you strike first," Fangskin says.

Draco gulps a bit and concentrates. He wonders if being Lightning Enchanted is not the only trick in his sleeve. Fangskin is much more buff than the other, already fairly buff serpents. Is he Extra Strong? Stone Skin? Both could be possible and could easily make things very difficult. But he has to try.

So Draco advances. With caution, he closes in and throws a quick jab to try... but Fangskin dodges, and swiftly tackles him towards a wall.

He doesn't get enough time to process the situation that Fangskin jabs both sides of his face, as well as his stomach, once.

The hits and the quick succession tells Draco enough.

"... you're Extra Fast." The Serperior says, not trying to get off the wall.

Fangskin smiles. "What made you realize?"

"... that you don't hit harder than you look," Draco smirks. "Not bad, but I've taken worse."

"Oh, really? And what about THIS?" Fangskin asks as he lands a hard hook on Draco's gut.

"MPH!" Draco grunts, but not much, and tanks it well enough that he counters with a hook of his own at Fangskin's abdomen. Extra Fast or not, he was distracted.

"Ngh!" Fangskin winces and then grunts when Draco hits the two sides of his belly, forcing him to slither back. "Okay, I've got to admit... you have a good shape not just visually, but also in practice."

"If I didn't have confidence in my physique and technique, I wouldn't have challenged you," Draco says.

Fangskin goes on the offensive, using his speed to find openings in Draco's guard.

The Serperior may block the first strike or two, but he cannot reposition his defence fast enough that Fangskin is beating either in his face or abs.

It's just a bunch of jabs, but that doesn't mean Draco can take it easy. Fangskin might not hit harder than he looks... but he looks like a heavy hitter, and a heavy hitter he is... despite his less-than-ideal technique.

Enough punches go past Draco's guard, nearly pinning him to a wall again, to make him realize that he cannot win on the defensive against an opponent with this agility.

Instead, he tries to take advantage of Fangskin's inferior pugilistic style and reads his moves to know when to just tank the hit and strike back with force.

The Claw Vipers and Salamanders observe how Draco and Fangskin slither in circles around each other, not really bothering with blocking and just exchanging blow after blow after blow. Their faces, and especially their bellies, are taking a solid amount of hits, with Fangskin throwing nearly unstoppable jabs and Draco compensating the number of hits with harder, better-placed strikes to ensure neither is more worn down than the other.

Fangskin is starting to get shocked (pun intended) that this unknown serpent can somehow keep up with him, that he can take so many hits and then strike him so hard, to the point he's starting to pant. Draco's strikes keep him in a near-continuous wincing state as he does not want to vocalize that he's hurting.

Draco, on the other hand, knows he's not in control of the fight so he has to stay concentrated. Things might start to get a little difficult for him, however, when Fangskin starts to include hooks on his strikes. Those things hit hard, and when they land on his scaly abs, they make him groan and moan a bit.

A duck and counter-attack later, however, tell the Serperior that this is advantageous for him. The hooks might still be incredibly quick, but they can be dodged, unlike the jabs.

This becomes particularly obvious when Draco ducks under a cross punch to his face and, much like he did with the Claw Viper before, repeatedly uppercuts Fangskin in the gut.

"Agh! Mph! Ugh! Gh!" Fangskin can't avoid letting out loud grunts and moans after the strong strikes from the grass serpent, with his upper body slowly bending down.

Unlike the Claw Viper, though, that isn't going to nearly knock him out... instead, Fangskin strikes Draco hard at both sides of his midsection. Draco loudly moans, his assault being interrupted, and then is swept right back-first into the half-sandy temple floor by Fangskin's tail.

Recovering from the attack, Draco finds himself at the green serpent's mercy, who quickly swoops down and starts landing hard punches on both the face and abs of the Serperior, making him feel that he may be a poor puncher, but he still punches painfully hard.

But Draco somehow endures this and, while he's being punched, lands another, powerful uppercut on Fangskin's own abs, with the latter loudly groaning as Draco's fist buries into his stomach, and even spitting a bit of saliva. Fangskin is stunned enough that Draco can land a few more similar strikes, before grabbing him and throwing him to a wall.

And Fangskin is still stunned enough that, while his back is on the wall, he moans a bit before doing it louder when Draco slams his elbow onto his stomach. And just like before, Draco elbows him a few more times to force Fangskin into groaning, grunting and gasping a bit.

This only ceases when a cross punch to Draco's belly, plus an uppercut to the chin, makes the Serperior back away and even fall towards a column that surrounds the mysterious altar in the room.

Despite his state, though, Draco does not find himself under Fangskin's assault, for the green serpent is still by the wall, feeling the damage he just took to his stomach, and catching up his breath.

"This is the moment," Draco mutters, and charges towards Fangskin.

His attempt to punch him in the face doesn't work, for the green serpent blocks the grass serpent's strike, and retaliates with a hard hook to the gut.

Draco groans as his midsection seems to bend around Fangskin's fist, but when the latter tries to do what Draco tried to do to him first, his attempt is interrupted when it's now the Serperior who scores a hard hook at his own stomach.

Fangskin moans in pain, as the two fighting serpents find themselves slightly bending around, due to having each other's fists on their guts.

The Claw Vipers and Salamanders watch in awe, but that excitement towards the fight seems to slowly turn into worry as, despite taking similar blows at around the same time, it's Fangskin who is looking worse for the wear.

Grunting a bit as he backs away from the fist, Draco lands a cross punch and an uppercut at Fangskin's face to perk his body upwards and leave his abs open for a series of hooks that quickly bend his body down as he grunts.

And then...

"... guh..." Draco gasps loudly as he feels Fangskin's fist hammer his solar plexus, completely stunning him and taking all the air out of his sole functional lung.

The Serperior stumbles back towards the columns again as Fangskin, heavily panting and hurting as he is, takes this advantage to slug him hard in both face and stomach, as Draco can only weakly grunt and moan, as well as cough as he tries to gasp for air.

He eventually can, but he has been punched so many times in his snout, cheeks and gut, and then jabbed towards a wall, that he seems to have lost nearly all his advantage.

A hard hook to the abs, right when his back meets the wall, puts him in a compromising situation.

"I underestimated you," Fangskin says, still looking very worn down. "But I won't lose."

Draco tries to use this moment of distraction to strike him on a side of his midsection, but Fangskin catches the fist.

"You won't fool me twice... NGH!" Fangskin comments proudly when a major detail escaped him: Draco still had another free fist, while he himself had none. Thus, Draco struck him hard on the other side.

A hard jab to the snout leaves Fangskin open for Draco to hit his belly hard again but, to not fall to the same mistake again, Draco resorts to jabs at a safe distance, enough to make the green serpent feel considerable pain but also to ensure counter-attacks are easier to take care of.

Fangskin, however, ends up using one of Draco's tactics against him and slithers through the punches to land four hard hooks against the Serperior's abdomen, who moans louder and louder with each strike.

And then Draco lets out an even more pained vocalization when Fangskin punches him on both sides of his midsection hard at the same time.

But, just as it seemed he had the grass serpent on his figurative ropes, Draco manages to Overgrow the situation and scores a hard straight punch at Fangskin's own solar plexus.

It's not a powerful uppercut, not something that will leave him dazed for a good while, but it's enough to halt the attack and force Fangskin to bend down to catch his breath.

Draco ends up using that bent-down posture to almost freely strike at his face and send him right to the wall.

Without his breath, Fangskin can't really use his superior speed, letting Draco land jabs and straight punches at him like he were a punching bag, with the shocking serpent desperately trying to block his hits.

Fangskin recovers his breath and goes for a powerful straight punch to put Draco on the floor, and with that...

BAM! Another hard jab on his diaphragm leaves Fangskin gasping for air, letting the tired but better-feeling Draco just grab him by the shoulders and throw him to the ground.

Careful enough to not let his non-rubber-covered sections trigger electric discharges, Draco gives Fangskin a beatdown while the green serpent is on the floor. His face, but most particularly his abs, get pummeled with a dozen or two strikes before Draco perks back up and gives the writhing Fangskin a moment to recover, feeling he has pretty much won the fight.

Fangskin, around a minute or so later, slowly rises up, although clearly spent and needing to support his serpentine body with his thick arms to not collapse before fully perking up.

He slowly approaches Draco. "You... have... not won..." Fangskin tells the Serperior.

"I'm pretty sure I have," Draco says, before sneakily jabbing him in the gut.

Fangskin moans in pain, bending down from all the hits he took. He replies with a hard hook to Draco's abdomen.

That makes Draco moan in pain and bend down as well... but he perks back up with a smirk. "That hurt... but I don't need to hit hard to put you under similar duress anymore." He comments after recovering from a hit he simply could not dodge.

"That doesn't mean... I've lost..." Fangskin, panting badly, snarls at the grass serpent.

Draco takes a page off Fangskin's book and merely replies with a hard hook of his own. Just as Draco said, Fangskin is simply so hurting that he collapses from the strike, with the only reason his face is not on the half-sandy floor is that his arms still have some strength left.

The Claw Vipers and Salamanders attempt to rush in, but a glare from the pained Fangskin makes them retreat. "Don't you DARE... step... in..."

Draco sighs at Fangskin's hardheadedness, and similarly to before, he grabs him by the shoulders and puts him back-first on the floor.

One hard punch to the belly makes Fangskin's body arc up a bit from the pain while he shuffles and moans in near-agony.

Draco does not lift the fist. He keeps it resting on Fangskin's abs. "Surrender." He says coldly.

"... no..."

Draco begins to bury his fist. Fangskin feels how Draco's fist applies pressure on his very pained abdomen. He's crying out in pain. "I'll say it again. Surrender."

"No... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh..." Fangskin's reluctance to admit defeat is making him whimper in intense pain.

So Draco digs and twists his fist as deep as he can so that he can inflict as much pain as he can on the poor grass serpent. "I won't stop until you give in."

"I... nnnnnngh... mmmmmmph... aaaaaaaagh... su...rrender..." Writhing more and more, Fangskin ends up giving in to the Serperior's demands.

Draco pulls out his fist, and that allows Fangskin to breathe comfortably again, although still shuffling and moaning in intense pain.

Draco pats the losing serpent in the pectorals. "Good fight." He looks at the Claw Vipers and Salamanders. They are mortified that their leader lost to a nobody.

With their inaction guaranteed, the victorious grass serpent waits for a minute or so.

"Now, Fangskin, I have three demands," Draco says as Fangskin looks at him from the ground. "First, your serpent minions will not dare to attack me now, and will not dare to use their claws and tails against me in the future."

"I... said I'd... accept." Fangskin, still panting, says as he nods.

"Second..." Draco picks up Fangskin and drags him towards the altar. "I want you to restore sunlight to the world, and never try this thing again."

"... but..." Fangskin protests. "... we... we need the darkness..."

"Start to appreciate the sunlight, buddy," Draco glares at him. "And besides, you said you'd accept any demands if I won..."

Fangskin snarls at him and pushes him aside, but before Draco can even think he was not going to hold his word... Fangskin actually does and deactivates the altar. "... there..."

For a few seconds, a blinding light surrounds the room. A few cracks on the room's floor let Draco know that sunlight is indeed entering the room, making the Serperior smile and nod, while Fangskin and the other serpents look devastated.

"... what is your third demand?" Fangskin asks as he clutches his stomach.

"This is a simple one." Draco crosses his arms and smirks. "If I want another fight in the future, you will accept it under the same terms."

"... next time, I will be stronger..." Fangskin boasts in between his pained sounds. "I will be a Nightmare... or maybe someone out of Hell..."

"Oh no, you will be Normal," Draco pokes Fangskin in the abs. "Extra Fast alone was tricky enough to deal with. Extra Strong or Stone Skin would be impossible to deal with..."

And with that, Draco turns around and slithers away. "See you." The Serperior says as he puts on his chest armour, grabs his swords, and leaves, with the Claw Vipers and Salamanders very defensively shuffling to the sides, not wanting to even exchange contact with the serpent that beat their seemingly-invincible leader.

"You did well in destroying the Claw Vipers. We are all glad to see the sun returned to its former glory." Drognan tells Draco as he explains he destroyed their dreams.

Of course, Draco never told him he was involved in an unarmed fight, or that he did not kill a single serpent. Or perhaps the bruises on his body tell enough. After all, the topic was never raised again on Lut Gholein...

THE END