Carnivine, Pidgey, and Pidgeotto

Patience was rewarded. And he was vastly patient, hanging off a tree like a thoughtless vine, keeping his mouth open for hours at a time. Other Pokemon would mistake him for a dumb plant and come over to check on the delicious scent wafting around him. What they didn't know was that it was his saliva, baiting them to their doom. Carnivine was patient.

The marsh he lived in was a sluggish place. The water blended with the earth, making thick beds of mud underneath the grasses and weeds. All around, there were stately slow-growing trees that slowed the progress of wind and further slowed progress of those passing through. Some Pokemon around here, like himself, were quick in a pinch, but mostly lived slow lives of patience. The mud glurgled and the leaves rustled. There was never any need for rush.

Apparently, somebody hadn't told that to the Pidgey rushing through the marsh. Every so often, he would see him rushing across the marsh in a flurry of wings in on direction. He would appear a day or two later rushing the other way. Carnivine wondered what for. There was no real reason to rush. Espeically if he was coming right back once he arrived.

One day, the Pidgey arrived and landed on a branch of Carnivine's home tree. The little tan bird was breathing heavily, shifting his black eyes about as if expecting an ambush. Now that he was sitting still, Carnivine could see that the bird wore a red band around its neck, with a metal sleeve over one leg. It was probably working for the humans then. Carnivine didn't care about that, though. He waited patiently, as always, for his next meal.

The bird rested for a while, then became interested in the sweet scent around him. Pidgey hopped along the branch, finding that the scent came from the strange looking flower on the vine nearby. Finding himself hungry now, Pidgey fluttered down and started to land on the edge of the flower, so as to search for the berry or whatever making the scent. Just in time, he noticed the flower move. Pidgey fluttered off right as the jaws of Carnivine snapped shut. If he hadn't have moved, his neck could have easily been broken.

"Ack!" Pidgey shrieked. "Enemy spy found!" The bird rushed off, escaping the marsh.

Carnivine grumbled at the loss of a good meal, but soon had his jaws open and waiting again. All his life, he had been patient. One loss meant nothing. If he was patient, there would be a meal.

The next day, Carnivine was at his usual tree, hanging down and waiting. He had eaten a nice Wormadam the last evening, so he wasn't too watchful. He should have been, as a large tan and red streak dove out of the sky and slashed sharp claws at him.

This was a situation that called for quickness. Carnivine lashed out his vines and let go of the tree, causing himself to wrap around the neck of the Pidgeotto who was attacking him. "You try to make me your meal and I'll make you my meal," he growled.

Pidgeotto slashed her claws at him. "Fool. We will win."

Outpowered and desperate, Carnivine attempted to bite her head. If he could make her pass out and fall into the mud, he could hide in the grasses and get away from whoever else she meant in 'we'. He tried his hardest, but Pidgeotto prevailed and knocked him out.

Carnivine woke up later inside a brown canvas tent. He was tied down with sturdy nylon ropes attached to a container of heavy ammunition. With that weight, there was no way he was getting out of this tent. The ground was hard-packed, not loose and muddy like his marsh home. Where was he?

He was alone, but patient waiting eventually solved that. Pidgey and Pidgeotto both came into the tent. Around their necks, both of them wore the red band that signified something. The smaller bird fluttered up to a crate. "He's awake!"

"What am I doing in here?" Carnivine asked. "Why did you two tie me down?"

Pidgeotto ruffled her red crest feathers. "Because you're a prisoner of war, that's why," she told him. "We're making arrangements to hold you more securely."

Snapping his vine on the floor, Carnivine growled. "Prisoner of war? What kind of nonsense is that? I'm not involved in any war!"

"You're lying," Pidgey accused.

"You're assisting our enemies by baiting our messenger," Pidgeotto said. "So who's in charge of you? Who put you along the path back to the main base?"

"Nobody put me there," he insisted. "I live in that marsh; I was born in that marsh. I don't care about some stupid war the humans are having. I just wanted some lunch and he happened to be there."

"But you weren't there before," Pidgey said.

"I was. You've been rushing through that area too fast to notice me anyhow. And what's the big deal about rushing so much? There's nothing so important that you have to be constantly between one place and the next."

Angered, he puffed his feathers up. "It is so important! I carry lots of important messages. It doesn't matter where they move this base; I'll always find my nests back home and here."

"Hush," Pidgeotto reprimanded her junior. Then she looked to Carnivine. "You must be involved in the war. Everyone, human and Pokemon, are in this war. So are you with us or against us?"

"I told you, I don't care about some stupid war." He flicked his red leaves, which looked peculiarly like a cape around his 'neck'. "Until you goofs came and disrupted my quiet life, I was just something silly Pokemon talked about. It's just humans bickering over what they think of as land ownership or something. Just take me back to my home marsh and nothing will change."

"Nothing?" she asked skeptically. "Are you sure of that? What about the weapons? What about the bombings, the airplanes, the armies? You aren't that isolated in that marsh, you see. Even if we take you back, the war will affect you whether you want it to or not."

"But he's a spy," Pidgey said, looking to Pidgeotto.

"No, I think he's really just some civilian," she replied.

"That's right," Carnivine said. "So just let me go and take me back home."

"I'm afraid we can't do that," she said. "You're at our base, so you know where it is. You could tell our enemies. And I'm not about to fly out fifty miles again to return somebody to a disputed territory. No, I'm drafting you into our army."

"What? That's ridiculous! As I said, I don't care about what humans think. I just want to live life as I always have."

"I'm afraid that you can't do that," she repeated. "This is war, Carnivine. I am thinking of your best interests, whether you realize it or not. We'll leave you here until the humans are free to get you in a Pokeball. Come on, messenger, I think you need a rest before heading back out."

"Right, thanks." The two birds left the tent.

Carnivine grumbled but from that day forward, he was a part of the army.

...

Carnivine Platinum entry: It binds itself to trees in marshes. It attracts prey with its sweet-smelling drool and gulps them down.

Pidgey Emerald entry: It has an extremely sharp sense of direction. It can unerringly return home to its nest, however far it may be removed from its familiar surroundings.

Pidgeotto Soul Silver entry: It renders its prey immobile using well-developed claws, then carries the prey more than 60 miles to its nest.

Written for Memorial Day.