Seviper

Seviper
Seviper National Pokédex Zangoose - Seviper (#336) - Lunatone Hoenn Pokédex Zangoose - Seviper (#124) - Lunatone
Japanese name	Habunake
Evolves from	None
Evolves into	None
Generation	Third
Species	Fang Snake Pokémon
Height	8 ft 10 in (2.70 m)
Weight	115.7 pounds (52.5 kg)
Ability	Shed Skin

Seviper (ハブネーク, Habunēku, Habunake in original Japanese language versions) is a fictional character in the franchise of Pokémon. The name Seviper is a portmanteau of the words sever and viper. It could also be a combination of the words seiken and viper. Its Japanese name is a portmanteau of the words habu, a species of poisonous snakes in Okinawa, and snake.

Biological characteristics

Seviper is a large snake-type pokémon with red fangs, stylized textures adorning its body, and a swordlike tail. This tail is grown to be bladelike in substance and sharpness, and Seviper as a hobby tempers its tail by sharpening it on hard rocks.

Seviper is a fully-armed predator in both the wild and in Pokémon trainer battles. Secreted within both its fangs and its tail is a venomous poison which is injected into its opponent through its fangs and sprayed onto the opponent from its tail. It also of course slashes at its foes with its tail as if it were a sword coated in venom. These it uses when hunting within its environment in the grassland, jumping out at unsuspecting prey from within the grass it hides in.

It is universally accepted, both in myth and in observed behavioral patterns of the Pokémon, that Seviper is forever the natural archrival of Zangoose, for individuals of the two species always attack each other on sight and are willing to battle to the death. It is said that the marks seen on Seviper as well as Zangoose are evidence of their blood feud since ancient times, though this does not necessarily agree with science because the Pokémon carry these textured marks even when just born. But despite this feud, in the video games Seviper and Zangoose will breed with each other at the day care.

In the video games

Seviper is catchable only in the Sapphire and Emerald versions of Pokémon, both at Route 114. Seviper is spotted in several battles in Pokemon: XD Gale of Darkness but is not catchable.

For a Basic Poison-type Pokémon caught in the wild, Seviper has very good attack and special attack statistics, but the rest of its stats are average at best. It can be compared to Arbok as a snake Pokémon that leans towards offense while giving up defense. It can learn the moves Poison Tail, Poison Fang, Glare, and Crunch by level up, Flamethrower, Sludge Bomb, and Earthquake by Technical machine, and it can inherit the Egg moves Stockpile, Spit Up, and Swallow. However, due to its immediate weakness to the Psychic-type, its average defenses, and its average speed, Seviper is often KO’ed before it can attack, making its appearances in competitive play only occasional. However, if used correctly, Seviper makes a fair physical sweeper.

In the video game Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Seviper will not accept a Zangoose in the same team at the same time and vice versa.

The most prolific Seviper in any game is the one owned by Pike Queen Lucy in the Battle Frontier in Pokémon Emerald. In fact, Lucy herself has the exact same color scheme and clothing theme as a Seviper.

In the Pokémon anime

The most notable Seviper in the anime was owned by Team Rocket's Jessie. Shortly after Jessie released her Arbok to the wild, she caught a Seviper and has owned and used it as her flagship Pokémon ever since. Interestingly, Jessie had beaten it up in a rage, before catching it, as Meowth, Cacnea and Wobuffet failed to battle it (Jessie forced Meowth to battle and James to send out his Cacnea).

In the episode ZigZag Zangoose, Zangoose found a strategy to defeat Jessie's Seviper. It probably wasn't aimed to say Zangoose are better than Seviper, it was just to show how poorly Team Rocket trains their Pokemon. Seviper appears in nearly every episode since it was caught, right alongside James’ Cacnea, and battles fiercely and unquestioningly for its boss. During the episode "A Fan With A Plan", the "Trainer's Choice" feature claimed that Seviper evolves from Arbok; however, this was incorrect and caused Pokémon staff to take over the segment of the show. Interestingly, Jessie's Seviper keeps its Japanese voice. When it comes out of its ball and gets ready to launch an attack, its voice is typically dubbed over, but some of Seviper's cries are actually untouched from the Japanese version.

Another Seviper is seen as part of Pike Queen Lucy's line up in the Kanto Battle Frontier season of the anime. Both Seviper and a Milotic were used when Ash battled her for the Frontier Luck Symbol. This same Seviper was stronger than Jessie's Seviper since it had a powerful Poison Tail attack than Jessie's and it could learn Flamethrower. However, Jessie was the first trainer to tell Seviper to use Flamethrower on her first Pokémon Contest, but Seviper couldn't learn it(though Seviper can actually learn it), showing how poorly trained Jessie's Seviper is to Lucy's Seviper.

Jessie's Seviper is also used for its ability to blanket the area in haze, so they can steal pokemon while the heroes are blinded. This is an equivalence to James' Weezing as it does in a similar fashion with poison gas very lethal compared to Seviper. This Seviper Jessie currently owns is dubbed a "double-edged sword" being used as a powerful sweeper and an escaping rogue for Team Rocket's getaway plans.

In the trading card game

File:Seviper tcg.jpg

Seviper in the Pokémon Trading Card Game

Seviper has appeared on five cards so far. All of its cards are Basic Grass-types.

• EX Sandstorm
• EX Team Magma vs. Team Aqua (as Team Aqua’s Seviper)
• EX Emerald
• EX Holon Phantoms
• EX Power Keepers

References

• The following games and their instruction manuals: Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue; Pokémon Yellow; Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen; Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Notes

Publications

• Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-439-15404-9.
• Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-930206-15-1.
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 1-930206-50-X
• Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4761-4
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN 1-930206-58-5

External links

• Official Pokémon website
• Bulbapedia (a Pokémon-centric Wiki) ’s article about Seviper as a species
• Template:Serebiidex
• Pokémon Dungeon Pokédex entry, full of statistics analysis
• PsyPoke - Seviper Pokédex entry and Usage Overview
• Smogon.com - Seviper Tactical Data
• Template:WikiKnowledge