The eelektross felt like he'd only just fallen asleep aboard the SS Marie, a brand new cruise liner, when his trainer, woke him again in the middle of the night. „A storm! Come on Sparks!“ he explained briefly and rushed out the room. Still half asleep, the eel pokémon did his best to follow Oliver, floating through the ship's corridor's like a wind-swept balloon.

Chaos reigned on the deck of the ship. Despite her size, she swayed heavily in the waves. Chairs, desks and whatever hadn't been secured in place tumbled or slid across the slick, wet floor, which included quite a number of passengers who'd been attending that night's party. Oliver was already trying to help the crew in herding to safety those that were either too panicked or too drunk to get below deck on their own and Sparks quickly joined him.

As the minutes passed the storm seemed to grow worse and amidst the turmoil it took him a moment to notice when Oliver shouted his name. He turned to see his trainer cling to the ship's railing with one arm and wave frantically with the other, gesturing out to the sea behind him.

There, something huge rose out of the ocean. A black, frothing wall of water that rose higher and higher until it crashed into the side of the cruiser, shook it to its core. People screamed as they were knocked off their feet, windows shattered and steel moaned under the strain as the ship threatened to keel over. That alone posed little threat to a levitating pokémon, much unlike the wave itself when it collapsed onto the deck, slammed into the eelektross like an icy fist and swept him off the ship into the raging sea.

By the time the world had stopped spinning and Sparks managed to fight his way to the surface, the SS Marie was almost out of sight and he caught only a glimpse of her swaying in the waves, before another breaker dragged him under again.

Several days later, four, five, perhaps a week, the eel pokémon was still swimming, gliding along just beneath the water's surface and occassionally dipping his head out of the shallow waves. By the time the storm had settled, there'd been no sign of the SS Marie, but Sparks, out of naive hope or pure stubbornness, had darted off in the direction he believed the ship was headed to. So far, he had seen nothing but a seemingly endless ocean stretching all around him. He'd passed all kinds of other pokémon, some he recognized, some he didn't, but he'd quickly given up on trying to ask them for directions. Most either fled or threatened him and he had no time for chases or pointless battles.

By now, he swam on mostly because he had no idea what else to do and while the cold no longer bothered him, his stomach had begun to ache. Feeding time was long overdue but without Oliver around, who would feed him? Would they know what to feed him?

The eelektross stopped. There on the horizon faint, jagged lines that he could barely make out against the bright blue sky had appeared. A few hours of swimming later they turned out to be mountains, though these looked like they were made out of snow and ice and around them the water had frozen over several hundred feet into the ocean. Bits of ice seemed to have broken off and floated like nearby like tiny islands. Where in the world was this place?

After passing beneath the first ice floe, Sparks stuck his head above water again and noticed a group of pokemon nearby: Dewgongs. Covered in bright white fur, their slim, torpedo shaped bodies blended perfectly into their surroundings, so he hadn't spotted them sooner. Almost all heads turned to him when he greeted them, most appeared startled and inched away.

One of them did so across the edge of his floe and plunged into the ocean with a cut-off yelp, which in turn caused the one dewgong that hadn't bothered to react to Spark's greeting to give an annoyed groan.

„Whaaaat?“ it rumbled, a male judging by its voice and, as far as the eelektross could tell, the only pokémon of the group which did not live up to the 'slim' part. It looked at least a foot longer than the others and considerably more corpulent. In fact, the way it lay there sprawled out on the ice reminded him more of a stranded jellyfish than a seal.

„And just what are you supposed to be?“ the dewgong scoffed once it had heaved its body into a position from which it could have a look at the newcomer.

„Excuse me, I did not mean to startle your herd or bother you, but-“

„Well, you failed on both of those accounts already.“

The interruption left Sparks startled for a moment. He'd encountered fear and hostility before, but this kind of disdain was something new.

„Well, I-I'm looking for my trainer. We were separated in a storm, have you seen any ships pass by? I really need to find him,“ he continued, slowly rising out of the water to levitate just above the surface to let the heat of the sun warm his hide.

Silence stretched between them while the dewgong merely stared, a mix of surprise and disgust on it's face. All around, Sparks could see the other seal pokemon huddled together in small groups for hushed conversations. „And why's that?“ the fat one finally answered, without actually answering any of the posed questions.

„Because,“ he continued more urgently now, this blubbery thing was trying his patience as much as his manners, „I haven't been fed since I lost Oliver and I don't know where to find the proper food for me. He always feeds me seperately from his other...“ The dewgong had stopped watching him, lowered it's head and it's entire body was quivering. „What's wrong?“

A moment later it exploded with bellowing laughter, its blubbery body rippling like a lake someone had tossed a boulder into and though that insult enough to anger Sparks, it paled in comparison to when the seal caught its breath and started talking.

„Let me tell you what I think. You are one of the weirdest, ugliest water or whatever-types I have ever seen. A tentacool would be a sight compared to you! That and the fact that you're too stupid to even feed yourself, well-“ another fit of laughter interrupted the monologue and, whiping tears off his eyes with his fins, the dewgong failed to notice the electricity arcing back and forth between the spots down Sparks' sides. „Your Oliver is most likely happy to be rid of you! I guess he had to feed you seperately because other's would have been too sick to-“

There was a blinding flash of light, thunder clapped and the dewgong's voice distorted into a horrifying howl as Sparks' Discharge surged through it, causing its body to spasm and twist in ways it shouldn't be able to. Beneath the steaming, jerking mass of fat and fur the ice gave way and the seal pokémon crashed into the sea, a furious eelektross diving right after it. His arms managed to latch onto his opponent just just before it could regain enough strength and control to dart out of reach, who instead began dragging him through the water in a wild zigzag, desperately trying to shake him off.

But Sparks held on, and while he watched the panicked pokémon's tail fail right infront of his face, instincts he didn't know he possessed, that had been buried deep under a life of safety, luxury and love finally emerged, took over and turned opponent into prey. Without thinking he strained his arms, stretched his tubular mouth and shot forward, engulfing the fins and a foot of tail. A muffled scream sent a burst of bubbles from the dewgong's mouth streaming towards the surface and it began to twist even more, frantically beating its flippers.

Other dewgong now floated in respectful distance, watching as the two pokémon spiraled through the water in a grotesque dance while one disappeared inch by inch into the other. Unsatisfied with his slow progress the eelektross poured another Discharge into his struggling quarry, which spasmed once more, then fell limp. The fight was over, won by a predator who had been deemed too stupid to be one but turned out to be a very quick learner.

Ecstatic from the thrill of the fight, his victory and distracted with his prize Sparks still hadn't noticed his audience and once he did, he couldn't help but worry. Would they intervene? Attack in an attempt to save their leader?

None of them did. Most of them didn't even look particularly frightened anymore, or upset. In fact, some almost looked relieved and he'd swear he could see one chuckling to himself...

---

And the morale of the story is... Don't be a dick. c:

I took a few liberties with Eelektross' design, especially after stumbling across this masterpiece: http://umbrielle.deviantart.com/art.....Dark-328524855

Hope you like it. :D