Carvahna and Cobalion

Oh dear... where had they gone, where had they gone? The lone Carvahna lingered near a fallen tree, using the muddy river bottom to disguise her normally bright coloration. Last night's rain had been heavy, so the water was still murky. But the vibrations and sounds in the water told her all she needed to know. Through that, she couldn't find her school. They must have moved on when she got stuck due to the storm currents. Where had they gone?

Not wanting to get caught out in the open, the Carvahna swam into the shallows, in the shadow of a large rock. Her school had to be upstream. But how far? This was one of their usual areas to swim in, since the jungle river was wide enough here for all of them to swim freely. There were only a couple of spots further against the current. Or, had they gone further? There had been talk of seeing if there were better places outside their normal territory. Did they know she was gone?

Heavy footfalls came running her way, on the shore. She froze as one of the land Pokemon stomped into the water. From the sound of it, he was strong. Looking up at him, the Carvahna wasn't sure what he was. His four legs were tall, his torso was muscular, his blue fur had a dull metallic quality, his head was held high with two long bladed horns growing back from his ears. If she was with her school, there'd be no reason to be worried no matter how strong he was. But alone, he was a terrifying presence. Another Pokemon, one with many scars on his legs, rode on the stranger's back.

"Is this the place?" the stranger asked, in a stern voice.

"Yes, this is where they attacked me," the other Pokemon said. "I wasn't even doing anything to them, just trying to cross the river, and they were on me in a snap. I barely got myself out of it; there was no way I could fight so many."

"I'm not sure if they're here now. We'll have to look."

"Yeah, they do swim up and down the river. Thanks for your help, Cobalion."

This strong Pokemon was looking for them? That was obvious, from the wounds on the other Pokemon's legs and the fact that no other Pokemon lived in this part of the river. The lone Carvahna swam as quickly as she could upstream. She had to tell her school, so they could prepare.

They weren't at the next spot, but they were at the one past that. This area of the river had an uneven bottom, making the currents rough. However, the Carvahna were strong. They could thrive in this area where other Pokemon might shy away from. They could find lesser fish to eat swimming near the bottom, as well as catch foolish Pokemon who got trapped in these waters. She called out to them, happy and braver as she was with the rest. They welcomed her back as a missing part. While there was news of that stranger Cobalion, it did not cause fear now. They could handle him.

Several minutes later, Cobalion entered their territory. The injured Pokemon was no longer with him, so he hopped between stones, roots, and logs sticking out of the river. Thinking as one, the Carvahna school pulled together for attack. They sent four off their members to leap out of the water and grab hold of his legs. A second wave would help pull him into the water, which would allow the rest to swarm him with attacks. Even if he was bigger than their usual prey, they weren't afraid.

Much to their surprise, Cobalion seemed to sense the attack before he saw the first Carvanha. He readied himself with his head held low, then slashed at the front two Carvahna with his horns before kicking the back two. His attacks were so quick that they barely saw them before the initial wave was knocked back into the water, bleeding. Agitated by this, the Carvahna school shouted curses at him. "Get out of our waters! You don't belong here."

"Do you really need to attack everyone who enters the water?" Cobalion asked. "Or even comes near the river?"

"It's our water and nobody is going to take it from us!" They coordinated another attack to pull Cobalion in, this time with ten leaping after him at once. Overkill for most Pokemon, but this one might require it.

Cobalion attacked swiftly again, knocking all but one back into the water immediately. The last clamped onto his left foreleg and bit as hard as he could. Unfortunately, Cobalion's skin was incredibly tough, like the strongest of rocks. The Carvhana could draw blood, but it was painful to his jaw to do that much. Once Cobalion struck him hard in the side with a horn, a flexibility that seemed inexplicable, the Carvahna was forced to let go and drop back into the river in pain.

On the other side of the water, Cobalion held his injured foreleg up, but showed no fear or pain. He glared fiercely into the river, causing much of the Carvahna school to shudder. Even its most violent members saw the wisdom in ceasing this attack on Cobalion. But, what would this stranger do to them? Was he going to take the river from them?

"Answer my question without violence," Cobalion said in a dangerous-sounding voice. "Why must you attack everyone who comes into the river?"

"We need food to support us all," the Carvahna school said. "And if we don't drive other Pokemon away, they'll crowd up the river and take all of our water from us. They can have the land; we own the river."

Cobalion snorted at them. "The predatory hunts I can understand, although we would prefer you not hunt other Pokemon. But the river belongs to all, just like the land. Sharing parts of it is not going to lead others to steal your home."

"Yes it will!" the school insisted. "None of them like us. They'll keep pushing and pushing us aside, taking us out of all the good parts of the river and leaving us with just the small parts with not enough fish or space for all of us. We can't give them any part of it or they'll take it all."

"It's not like that. Besides, I've heard that you don't always attack just for hunting. You've crippled other Pokemon, then let them out of the water to suffer from their injuries. That's a cruelty I can't abide." He still had that intimidating glare.

But they were together. They could withstand this bully. "It's not our fault they get out," the Carvahna school said. "We would kill them for consumption, but they squirm and thrash away. They can't be that badly crippled, as they couldn't get out of the water if they were. Besides, it's their fault if they chose to enter our river. All the Pokemon around here know the consequences of that action. They shouldn't complain if we attack when they know fully well that we will."

"Don't ever blame the victims," Cobalion said, especially angered at that. "You ought to be taught proper respect and manners."

The Carvahna school felt divided between anger at this Pokemon's attempt to force his morals on them and fear in that he could possibly defeat the whole school. "But we're the victims because they want to take our river from us. If they just stayed out of the water, there wouldn't be any problems."

"You'll change your minds," Cobalion said, then jumped back to shore with something on his mind. The Carvahna school celebrated driving him away, but soon found out that he hadn't given up. He had gone for assistance in squashing their independence with defeat.

…

Carvahna Sapphire entry: If anything invades Carvahna's territory, it will swarm and tear at the intruder with its pointed fangs. On its own, however, the Pokemon suddenly turns timid.

Cobalion White entry: It has a body and heart of steel. Its glare is sufficient to make even an unruly Pokemon obey it.

And Hoenn is complete! Leaving me with only Unova Pokemon at the moment.