Arbok (Ekans)

Toxiconstrictor vocatmortem

Introduction

Before 1955, arbok was mostly notable as the link between the constrictors and the venomous snakes. The former group use their muscles and the element of surprise to wrap themselves around their prey and squeeze until their target dies of suffocation. The venomous snakes make a single strike and inject their prey with venom from their fangs. Then the snake slinks away and waits until their prey dies. Arbok is a constrictor, but they also have venom.

This venom is a paralytic that has psychoactive effects on most mammals, reptiles, and birds. They deliver this venom by spitting it through the air onto their targets face. Arbok can reliably hit a stationary target from twenty meters, and they can usually hit a moving target from fifteen feet. Once the venom reaches its target, it starts to give off noxious fumes. The fumes, when inhaled, cause the target’s muscles to lock. This is not distressing. In fact, the venom has a strong calming effect. Mammals, birds and reptiles under the effect of arbok venom are perfectly aware of what is happening and can even feel pain; they just passively accept all of it.

In 1938, the surgeon general of the United States released a report on the long- and short-term effects of hypnosis on the human mind. Hypnosis had previously been the preferred method of anesthesia in most of the world’s operating theaters. However, the surgeon general’s report suggested that hypnosis, especially from hypno and ghost-types, could add or delete memories, impair future sleep or memory formation, and cause or exacerbate serious mental illnesses. Congress had banned it for medical purposes within one year.

However, there was no good alternative to take hypnosis’ place. Faced with the option between painless surgery with potential psychological risks or painful, often lethal surgery without anesthesia, most patients who could afford to do so left the country for operations. Many who could not afford to travel died or were left severely traumatized. In 1941, after just twenty months, the ban on hypnotism was reversed.

In 1955, a monk from the Mount Otsukimi Monastery, was admitted to the newly formed NTT Hospital in Saffron. His particular sect did not allow priests to be hypnotized and the doctors advised him that he would almost certainly die without hypnosis. The monk recommended arbok venom be used, citing his experiences on the slopes of Mount Otsukimi watching arbok crush tranquil prey to death. The hospital consulted with the Sekichiki Dojo, the owners of the only captive arbok in Japan that had not been defanged. An arbok was brought to NTT for the surgery and, to the astonishment of all present save the monk himself, the surgery was successful and the patient woke up less than one day after the surgery’s completion with no ill effects. Arbok venom is now the standard anesthesia method across the world.

People under the effect of arbok venom also retain their memories, albeit rendered less traumatic than they otherwise would be. This makes the criminal applications of arbok venom rather limited. Theoretically arbok venom can be used to paralyze a target in order to murder them, but there are far more efficient ways to kill someone with a pokémon. Studies on the addictiveness of arbok venom have shown mixed results. The current consensus is that if arbok venom is addictive at all, then it is only psychologically addictive and does not cause chemical dependence. Nevertheless, arbok venom was included in the 1971 Prevention of Pokémon Drug Abuse Act and most subsequent legislation on the topic. It is currently illegal to transport arbok or ekans across regional or national borders with intent to breed the pokémon. It is also illegal to keep the pokémon there for over thirty days. Violation of the act carries a forty year mandatory minimum sentence.

In 1975, Alola found itself facing a shortage of arbok. No arbok had ever given birth to live babies in Alola and importation of more was impossible. In a last-ditch effort to avoid returning to hypno within a decade, the regional government released twenty arbok into the wild on Route 2 to see if they would breed.

They did.

There are now nearly 1300 ekans and roughly 80 wild arbok on Melemele. The federal government has even granted a partial exception to the importation ban to keep the wild population genetically diverse. In 2017 the regional government began to allow trainers on the island challenge to capture ekans.

Physiology

Ekans and arbok are classified as pure poison-types. The ruling is not disputed.

Ekans are long, thin snakes. Their backs are usually purple, but can also be green, pink, red, grey or gold. Their bellies are almost always a light-yellow color. They have large yellow eyes, but they primarily sense the world through smell. Ekans and arbok often flick their tongues out to get a sense of the heat signatures and scents in their surroundings. Ekans and arbok are entirely colorblind. Both stages have nostrils. While they cannot smell with them, the nostrils are useful for breathing while they eat.

Young ekans have no venom or poison abilities whatsoever. Older ekans gain some ability to use poison-elemental attacks, but they do not have natural venom. They instead have powerful muscles that let them crush anything they are fast enough to wrap themselves around. Additionally, their jaw is detachable to allow them to eat meals larger than they are. Ekans have a rattle at the tip of their tail. This can be shaken to create a sound that has been described as a breathy scream.

Arbok lose their rattle. They gain a large hood directly beneath their head. This hood is usually not expanded and just appears as a slight bulge at the top of their body. When expanded, it displays a distorted face. The exact pattern varies (see Relatives). It was previously believed that this pattern terrified opponents into freezing up, allowing arbok to safely constrict and eat them. It is now believed that this hood allows them to momentarily stun prey so that they can be more reliably poisoned. It is also useful for making the arbok look bigger than it is when scaring off potential predators.

Arbok are not particularly large snakes; they are less than half the length and less than one third the weight of the largest constrictors. However, they are the strongest non-draconic constrictors on record. Arbok have been observed crushing oil drums and snapping trees and bones.

Arbok can grow up to twelve feet in length and weigh up to 180 pounds in mass in their native range. In tropical environments they tend to grow up to fifteen feet and 220 pounds. They can live up to 17 years in the wild and 36 in captivity.

Behavior

On Honshu ekans almost exclusively eat eggs. They are adept climbers and are generally shorter than the grasses in the rugged savannas they inhabit. This allows them to stealthily reach both grounded and arboreal nests and eat the contents. In Alola ekans have run up against a slight problem. The most common bird pokémon is toucannon. Even if an ekans got into a nest, it would be no match for the mother toucannon inside. Pelipper, the next most common bird, fiercely protect their eggs.

There is a plethora of birds that nest on the eastern side of Melemele. There is also very sparse grass cover, forcing ekans to be exposed if they want to enter the area. In addition to being their most common source of food, large birds are ekans’ most common predators. The risk of exposing themselves to an army of mandibuzz, braviary and fearow does not make up for the risk of entering the eastern cliffs.

As such, ekans are confined to the western edge of Melemele. Their main targets here are honchkrow, delibird, golduck, fearow, and oricorio eggs. This predation has led to the near-extripation of oricorio from Route 2, as well as the decline of the local honchkrow , fearow, and delibird populations. The oricorio decline has been treated as an acceptable casualty. Melemele Meadow is routinely monitored for ekans; if any are found there, they will be removed to protect the oricorio population.

Between the breeding seasons of their prey ekans will target small pokémon. In practice, this is usually rattata. Ekans prefer to stay hidden deep in thick grass and wait for something to pass by them. They will also hide in trees and drop down on something that passes beneath them.

Arbok have no common predators of Route 2 and suburban Hau’oli. Even arcanine are unwilling to pick fights with them. Arbok spend most of their time basking in well-lit areas. They seldom fully sleep, instead keeping themselves alert enough to be able to respond to threats. Arbok have no eyelids which makes it difficult to tell if one is asleep or not. A wild basking arbok should be left alone. They are not dangerous unless disturbed.

Arbok prefer to lurk at the edge of tall grass patches. When something passes by them outside of the grass they will rise up and hiss. Arbok hisses sound like a mix of metal scraping against metal, a screaming infant, and a roaring flame. They are loud and scary enough that most creatures will reflexively look towards them, be frightened by the hood into a second of stunned stillness, and then get a blast of venom to the eyes or nose. When the prey is poisoned arbok will slither over and crush it until death occurs. Then they will dislocate their jaw and eat it whole.

Arbok’s main prey are raticate, and they will sometimes go well out of their way to hunt one. Arbok are diurnal and will approach a nest during the day while the raticate and most rattata are asleep. They will hiss to wake up the raticate, poison it, and then either scare the remaining rattata away or kill them and leave the bodies for ekans or other scavengers.

In addition to raticate, arbok often eat delibird, golduck, smeargle, growlithe (but not arcanine), and lopunny. They will sometimes deliberately kill pikachu, pichu and raichu to bait a hodad into attacking them. When the hodad approaches, they will get a shot of venom between the eyes before they can locate and attack the arbok. Given the type disadvantage, this is often a bad strategy but some arbok seem to almost exclusively hunt hodad. These are usually removed from the wild to avoid straining the hodad population.

Outside of their venom, arbok are most notable for their hibernation. The species never ventures far from caves in either their native range or in Alola. Even though they are generally territorial, during the winter arbok and ekans will all swarm together and descend into a nearby cave. They will huddle together for warmth and create a pile of hundreds of snakes. They seek out caves because they tend to stay warmer than the outside air during the winter. However, the caves are still not particularly warm. Arbok go into brumation in the winter, where their metabolism sharply drops. Arbok and ekans can go the entire winter without hunting, although they will sometimes prey on a cave pokémon unfortunate or reckless enough to approach the den.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

In Alola, some arbok brumate during the wet season (see Reproduction). Almost no ekans do. Even at the coldest point in the year the surface is still warmer than the world beneath it.

Husbandry

Recreational use of arbok venom is strongly discouraged. While not chemically addictive, it can cause psychological dependency. It can also cause fatal allergic reactions in some people. Even if it is not instantaneously lethal, someone under the effects of arbok venom will be unable to help themselves if danger appears. Some people have mild allergic reactions to arbok venom causing them to vomit; if they cannot move their head, this can cause suffocation.

Ekans will require at least twenty hours of basking time a week in either natural sunlight or under a heat lamp. If basking outside they should be provided some protection from predatory birds. Arbok require thirty to fifty hours of basking time but seldom need to be protected. Ekans should be provided with enrichment in the form of climbing structures. Arbok will not use them. Both will play with pipe systems, although it is difficult to construct one large and sturdy enough for an arbok.

Ekans can be housebroken rather easily. Arbok will generally refuse to learn if they are not already housebroken.

Ekans and arbok are rather tolerant of pokéballs so long as they are sometimes allowed to train, explore, and bask. They prefer balls designed for ectotherms and these roughly halve the required basking time. They can tolerate almost every pokéball.

Ekans should be fed primarily a diet of eggs. One large egg a day is generally enough for a small ekans, although larger ekans may begin to eat more. Neither ekans nor arbok will eat when they are not hungry, which makes putting slightly more eggs than necessary in an ekans living quarters a good strategy. Eggs can also be used for enrichment if the ekans has to sniff out and find them.

Almost all carnivorous pokémon will eat dry food, or at least ground meat. This allows trainers some disconnect between the food and its components. Arbok and large ekans will only eat their prey whole. It should be recently dead or thawed out. Some general pokémon supply stores and almost all reptile specialty stores will sell frozen or freshly killed food. Trainers who are not comfortable feeding a dead pokémon to their arbok should not train the species.

Arbok can eat rattata and raticate, yungoos and gumshoos, most small- to mid-size birds, small fish, golbat, and some larger insects. They strongly prefer eating pokémon to ordinary animals and should be fed a dead pokémon at least once a month. Arbok should be offered food one week after small meals, ten days after medium-sized meals, and two weeks after large ones. If they are hungry and go too long without food arbok will kill and consume small pokémon around them, including teammates, pets, and endangered species.

Arbok captured as an ekans are generally harmless to humans. They will often wrap around their trainer as a sign of affection, but they will not squeeze tightly enough to kill. The very few cases where an arbok kept in captivity before evolution went on to kill their trainer were generally in cases of severe neglect or abuse. Arbok and ekans can even be trusted around children, although this is generally not recommended. Kids tend to either be traumatized by arbok or harass them while they bask.

If an arbok rears up at you, it is best to slowly sit down, look away from them, and speak in soft tones. If they do not spit venom immediately, they are simply showing that they are irritated or threatened. They may also be sick.

Illness

Snake illnesses tend to require professional care to treat. The most common symptoms are random displays of aggression and a refusal to eat. These could signal anything from a minor infection to a life-threatening illness. The pokémon should be kept in their ball and taken to a veterinarian as soon as possible in these cases.

The most common disease in arbok is blister disease. This manifests as a series of blisters, warts, or sores on the belly of the snake. It is recommended that trainers examine their pokémon’s belly every few days to make sure that this is caught early. Ekans are often very hesitant to have their belly scratched at first, but will quickly warm to it and even turn over to encourage their trainers to pet them. Arbok and ekans should be stroked towards the tail. If an arbok has not yet been trained to accept scratches, it is best to have a professional handle the process. The disease is caused by excess moisture in the environment, something that often happens when a snake native to temperate scrubland is introduced to a tropical region.

Another common symptom is mouth rot. This manifests as bleeding gums, open sores in the mouth, and white pus. Ekans are always reluctant to have their teeth checked, but trainers should always be watching for signs.

Annual checkups are also useful for catching parasites, slight internal damage, developmental problems, and endocrine disorders.

Arbok are necessary for most modern operations and the restrictions on importation have led veterinarians to try and find every possible way to keep one alive. Almost all illnesses can be cured if caught early enough. The one exception is inclusive body disease. (IBD) The affected snake will be immediately euthanized. This has made many trainers unwilling to bring a snake showing signs of IBD in to be treated. This is selfish on two fronts: death from IBD is inevitable and painful, and the arbok might infect the wild and domestic populations the Alolan healthcare system depends on. Not euthanizing the infected pokémon is also cruel and pointless. IBD is an immunosuppressive and degenerative disease that causes tremors, aggression, paralysis, and ultimate death from secondary infections. There is no cure and the disease is 100% lethal.

Evolution

Around the time they reach six feet in length, ekans begin to develop flaps of skin behind their head. These eventually grow into a full hood, with colorful scales growing in to form the facial markings. Their venom sacs mature around the same time. The formal demarcation line between ekans and arbok is the rattle falling off, temporarily leaving the new arbok with a stump tail before the tip grows back.

Evolution usually occurs around twenty-four months of age in Honshu. Wild Ekans evolve around the sixteen-month mark in Alola due to abundant prey year-round and the lack of a hibernation period. Captive ekans can evolve marginally sooner than wild ekans, but this is a matter of six weeks at most.

Battling

Arbok are not often used on the competitive circuits. They are physically powerful and have a useful ability to disable opponents. However, they have some serious drawbacks. Arbok, like most poison-types, respond poorly to earth and psychic elemental attacks. Psychic types are abundant on the competitive scene and earthquake is a widespread attack among physical powerhouses. Arbok simply do not have the bulk to tank many of these hits.

Arbok venom can theoretically disable an opponent in one shot, but there are some drawbacks here as well. Generally, arbok only carry enough venom to disable something the size of a tauros. This allows them to shut down many smaller pokémon. In theory. The venom is nearly useless against mineral and phantom pokémon, and some organics with bizarre biology don’t experience any effects at all. Pokémon with very simple or extremely complex nervous systems can also resist the psychoactive effects, allowing some elemental attacks to be launched even as the pokémon remains paralyzed.

Many of the smaller pokémon arbok could theoretically disable are psychic-types with some sort of a barrier move to block the hit. Wild arbok rely on catching their opponent off guard. This is not an advantage they have on the battlefield. Most of the remaining small pokémon that see use are either too fast to hit (ninjask) or have tricks to block or mitigate the venom (smeargle).

In practice arbok’s use is limited to countering a small number of Pokémon or physically overpowering any pokémon without psychic or ground attacks that’s slower than arbok. Only one trainer in the top 100 uses one on their main team. That trainer, Elena Chirlov, is a dragon and reptile specialist who wanted a counter to most common fairy-types such as clefable, sylveon and florges.

Arbok is very good on the island challenge. Seismic attacks are uncommon outside of stadium battles and ground-types are quite rare in the South Pacific metagame. Most pokémon that the average trainer uses are small enough to succumb to arbok venom and most casual trainers will not have a premade strategy for dealing with the snake. The only issue is training an arbok to crush something to injury without killing them. This may require professional assistance.

Ekans can struggle before they evolve. Their poison attacks are not particularly potent, they are not fast, and as ambush predators they have few instincts to guide them in a one-on-one fight in the open. The best strategy is usually to poison the opponent with toxic or a similar move and then coil tightly and lash out when anything gets too close. This strategy is shut down by anything with a neutral ranged attack and more speed than the ekans.

Acquisition

Ekans can be captured or adopted with a Class II license. Arbok capture is prohibited but they may be adopted with a Class III license. Purchase of arbok and ekans is prohibited under federal law. Capture of arbok is prohibited by the regional government to ensure that breeding adults stay in the wild.

Ekans may be found all over Route 2, but particularly in the tall grass savannas near the coast. They can also be found in the forests north of Hau’oli. Most of these forests are nature reserves that do not allow capture. Consult a reserve’s website before going hunting inside of it.

Breeding

Female arbok attempt to eat as much as possible in the months before the wet season. Females that eat enough will be willing to reproduce. They will slither to the high-water mark of cool, but not cold, caves. This describes the Melemele caves that are not in the Seaward Cave complex. The depths of Verdant Cavern, beyond the trial site, are closed off in the wet season because of the number of arbok there.

In Alola the females will refuse entry to most males. They will either fight the males themselves or force them to fight each other. A handful of winners are allowed to stay; the rest must leave the cave and either hibernate elsewhere or not go into brumation at all. In their native range all arbok go into brumation, although only a handful of females are receptive to mating and they will ward off any male they see as an unworthy partner.

One female may mate with multiple males in the week before brumation begins. Once all mating occurs the snakes tangle together into one large pile. The females undergo a five-month pregnancy during brumation. They give live birth to three to five ekans upon emergence. Mothers will monitor their children for one to two weeks and then abandon them.

In captivity it is essential for breeding that arbok be given extra training and food in the months leading up to brumation. They should also have access to a secluded area kept between fifty and sixty degrees Fahrenheit and big enough for multiple arbok to rest comfortably in. The arbok should be allowed to explore this area towards the start of the dry season and then periodically return to check on it. If the female decides she wants to reproduce a powerful male who is already aware of the brumation chamber should also be introduced to it.

Arbok will sometimes mate with other large snakes and will seldom kill or reject them from the chamber. The chances of mating, successful birth, and viable offspring all increase in arbok-arbok pairings. Even a well fed and powerful female may not decide to mate in a given year. This is not concerning. If she has never gone into brumation in the available chamber, then a larger one should be provided the next year.

Relatives

There is some debate as to whether arbok with different colorations and hood markings should qualify as different subspecies. Because they have the same general elemental wells, physiology, behaviors, and range, almost all scientific bodies have accepted that there are no subspecies of arbok. While arbok have a slight preference for mates with similar appearances, wild and captive arbok will pick a stronger mate with a different phenotype over a weaker one with the same.