One Fish, Two Fish, Half Red Fish, Half Blue Fish! [SWC]

"Oh my God! Look at this one!" the chubby boy squealed, pudgy fingers jabbing at the glass. The sign clearly state not to touch, but excited children pay no heed to such warnings.

"Ew, that thing is sooo gross! It looks so angry!" the bashful girl exclaimed, before she ran away to look at some of the more desirable aquarium Pokemon.

The boy lingered for a moment, eyes focused on some of the Carvanha's more prominent features -- testaments to its former position as king of the ocean, fearsome predator. Now it was nothing more than a glorified goldfish, destined to wander in solitary confinement. Its only form of companionship was an ornamental treasure chest spewing out faux gold amulets and some mossy rocks, dotted with tooth marks. Carvanha got frustrated, to be fair. When the children would insult him, and not recognise his authority, it really made his blood boil. And, so, he would sink his oversized fangs into the rocks and hurt himself in his own frustration. It caused the pet store employees to label Carvanha as an imbecile, but it was an outlet for his frustrations.

Carvanha couldn't control his aggression. He wasn't designed for this cramped uninspired lifestyle. At times as he relayed the tank he would catch a glimpse of his reflection in the glass. He looked like an over-inflated beach ball, with a jagged lower jaw separating the upper blue pole from the inferior red hemisphere. At his base, a five-pointed shape could be seen, which wild Carvanha wore as a badge of pride. A large star indicated a superior ticket for the genetic lottery and the attention of prospective mates. But none of that mattered here. He missed the rush that would surge through his body when competing for a mate. The v-shape, cause by the two upper fins and the lower fin would become more pronounced in a bid to intimidate other courting males, the gums would recede ever-so slightly to expose the pointed fangs and the sudden hormone release would prompt an elevated adrenergic fight-or-fight response.

Now there was nothing to cause that excitement, and those physiological changes were just a distant memory. Forced into a monotonous routine of morning feedings, visitors poking fun of him and then evening feedings did not exactly inspire a high quality of life, at least for Carvanha anyway. Other Pokemon seemed to have been selectively-bred for such tedium. Goldeen for instance, loved to drift gracefully through the water, flowing fins draping gracefully behind them. Their beautiful patterns caught the attention of most of the human onlookers, evoking a chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs'. What's more? The Goldeen had the most fickle memory of all Pokemon species so they would forget, and subsequently relive these experiences, as though they were novel, each and every day.

"Can you understand me?"

Carvanha was a bit taken back. It was the frumpy child from earlier. The palms of his sweaty hands were resting on the tank. His chocolate-stained mouth fogged up the glass a little bit more with each clumsy breath. Carvanha was a little repulsed by the prepubescent child, but a visitor was a visitor. With a single swish of his hind-tail, Carvanha propelled himself right up to the fore of the tank. The boy recoiled a little at the speed at which the Pokemon had advanced, but relaxed once more as he remembered that this ferocious Pokemon couldn't leave the water. He thought he would try again.

"Blink once and do a little spin thing if ya know what I'm saying."

Carvanha's beady red eyes locked on the round hazel eyes of the equally-round hazel-haired boy. He had no idea what this human was barking at him, but it had been far too long since this Pokemon had received any flicker of attention that he was not going to let it slide away immediately. But what the boy wanted eluded him. His gaze was fixed on the ugliest Water-type here, and Carvanha wanted to keep it that way. At least for the moment. The boy had certainly moved a tad in response to Carvanha's movements, so Carvanha figured that this was probably what the boy wanted: parlour tricks.

Tentatively, Carvanha rotated his body slightly so that his left fin was raised skyward. The boy's fat fate stretched into a grin. He began clapping in a very Sealeo-esque manner. Within minutes Carvanha was somersaulting around the tank and whizzing back and forth through the ornaments and doing whatever it was to retain the boy's applause. The boy had even beckoned for some of his friends to join him and within moments Carvanha found himself surrounded by a small crowd of children and their approving mothers.

"Oh, isn't he just charming," one generic maternal figure gushed.

"Absolute dote!" They were all fawning now.

Carvanha couldn't help but notice between laps of the tank that the child who had originally shown him interest was now tugging at the sleeve of his mother.

"Pleeeeeease mom. I promise I'll clean his tank and make sure he behaves. It'll be my Christmas and birthday presents!"

His mother, tempted by the thought of finally being able to purchase that Mareep skin fur for the dining room without Christmas presents to worry about, approached one of the employees. She tapped the greasy-haired man on the shoulder. "Ahem."

"Oh, hello their Ma'am. Welcome to Aquaopolis. How may I be of service to you today?"

"How much is it for that fish Pokemon over there," the woman said, gesturing with her handbag-draped arm towards Carvanha's tank and the small crowd of guffawing families.

"Th-that one?" the employee confirmed, a little incredulously. "Uh, yeah, uh, that's a Carvaha, y'know? Like it's not just your usual Magikarp."

"Yes, yes. Fish are different. How much will it set me back?"

"Well, with a tropical fish like Carvanha you're going to need a hot-water tank, and it's not the most adaptable of Pokemon so a year's worth of pet insurance would be necessary... but we could throw in some little figurines. Like, y'know, boats and stuff. So he's not lonely."

The woman wasn't too fazed. She flashed the shiny debit card and the deed was done. Her eyes had practically glazed over as she imagined herself lying on the that plush rug basked in the warmth of the hearth, glass of vino in one hand, estranged lover in the other. She was delighted, her son was delighted. Brilliant.

And so, with a little help from the mildly-enthusiastic staff at Aquaopolis, Carvanha was shifted from its mundane life at the pet store to an equally mundane life at some kid's home. While the new setting was refreshing initially, Carvanha soon found himself drifting into the same lifestyle he had had at the petstore. It didn't take long for the spoiled child who had initially shown an interest in Carvanha to find new distractions and Carvanha found himself becoming more and more isolated. His new backdrop consisted of a forgotten room, coated in a muted yellow paint that some designer recommended when this room was first being furbished. A white skirting board separated the barely-used wooden floors from the subdued wall paint. A framed picture of some battle no one know remembers hung from the wall, with some forgettable moment glorified in dreary watercolours.

However, there was one thing that made this room special; something usually taken for granted, but to a lonesome Pokemon, it meant everything.

Nestled within the wall sat a high definition flat-screen. To any normal human, it looked like an expensive television; to rich, snobby children with no appreciation for monetary value, it was just another forgotten present, collecting dust in the spare room. As such, the television was left powered on. One of the children at some point had gone through a wildlife phase, so naturally, the TV had been playing the National Geographic channel for some indeterminate amount of time.

The family that lived here never had much need to disturb this room, so the TV was generally left alone. The only person who did come in semi-regularly was the maid. She sprinkled some flakes of generic fish food into Carvanha's tank. She would occasionally flick through the channels and giggle to herself over whatever soap opera was playing, but she would always return to Nat Geo for fear of getting caught -- as unlikely as that would be.

For the most part, however, the room was left unperturbed. At some point, the flickering images on the television had piqued Carvanha's interest. Transfixed, he watched as the narrator, equipped with scuba equipment tumbled out of a boat into a clear, blue ocean. The diver spoke briefly, muted, as he threaded water. Then, beckoning the camera man forth, he raised his arms in above his head, propelling himself downwards. The man turned in the direction he was moving and began to swim deeper beneath the water's surface. Carvanha watched excitedly as the man pointed at a brown starfish Pokemon with a bright crimson jewel in its center. It had been so long since Carvanha had seen another Pokemon that his tail-fin started wagging, excitedly.

As the swimmers descended on screen, Carvanha noticed that the water was getting murkier. With each forward stroke, the darkness oozed forward, gradually consuming the explorer. At this point, the cameraman turned on a flashlight strapped to his head, temporarily piercing the darkness around the original diver. Carvanha was engrossed.

As the pair ventured further, a faint white glow in the distance caught their attention. The divers turned towards it. Like Mothim, mesmerized by the flicker of a bug zapper, they were beckoned closer. The light grew brighter as they swam closer until it was near blinding. The coral below soon became illuminated by the fluorescent signals ahead. The cameraman seized this opportunity to capture the moment that a pink and blue Pokemon with antler-like appendages peeking its head out from the coral bed curiously, before sheepishly ducking out of view once more. Carvanha found himself yapping at this little Pokemon. It looked just like the Corsola that Aquapolis had stocked for a season!

Gradually, behind the bright light, a figure came into view. It must have been about the size of the divers! A big blue Pokemon with a yellow underbelly drifted lazily forward. Carvanha noticed as the cameraman closed in on this unusual deep sea creature that the source of the light was coming from this Pokemon's head. The large Pokemon, however, didn't heed the humans much attention as they swam by, gesturing excitedly at the Lanturn. Although these Pokemon used the luminescence to draw in prey, the narrator indicated, they were a very docile breed that generally only fed on much smaller creatures. The divers would live to explore another day!

At this point, the camera cut to the diver now resting on top of the boat. Carvanha couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed when he realised that the deep-sea diving part of the program had concluded. Still, though, he did feel a slight elation seeing the great big ocean out there for the first time... and all of the incredible Pokemon that lived there! After spending his entire life thus far in captivity, there was something so wondrous and promising about seeing what resided beyond the tank; a gentle reminder that some day, maybe Carvanha would be free to explore the depths of the ocean and do some exploring of his own. For now, though, Carvanha had to remain optimistic.

As days became nights, Carvanha found himself drawn more and more to the never-ending supply of nature documentaries. Even watching a pack of Liepard track down and subsequently devour an injured Zebstrika tickled his inherent predatory instinct. Carvanha began to find great solace in these moments -- each offering a brief reminder to this little Pokemon that there was a vast, incredible world out there waiting for him. He just had to wait until he would have the chance to explore it. He knew that if he clutched onto those exploratory cravings, he would make it through this. And he was going to get out of here some day... but there was no real rush. This freedom could wait...

... at least until Sharpedo week!

--

Target capture:
Rank: Medium
CC: 12,099

ty Dr. Seuss for allowing me to plagiarise the title <3

 

Claiming!

 

Graded. Waiting to confirm i can post grade.