Nurse Isabelle and the Kanto Pokédex: the Diary of a Travelling Nurse

#004 Charmander

Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. A fire burns at the tip of this Pokémon's slender tail, and has blazed there since Charmander's birth. The flame can be used as an indication of Charmander's health and mood, burning brightly when the Pokémon is strong, weakly when it is exhausted, wavering when it is happy, and blazing when it is enraged. It is said that Charmander dies if its flame goes out. However, if the Pokémon is healthy, the flame will continue to burn if gets a bit wet and is said to steam in the rain. Charmander can be found in hot, mountainous areas. However, it is found far more often in the ownership of Trainers. Charmander exhibits pack behaviour, calling others of its species if it finds food.

Nurse Isabelle's journey to heal sick Pokémon as a travelling nurse brought her to Cinnabar Island after receiving a worried call from the Nurse Joy there. Living on an island meant that all medicine had to be shipped in and, occasionally, a shipload was late. The late delivery had come in at an exceptionally bad time; since many young trainers had challenged the Cinnabar Gym Leader in the last couple of days and had lost against the Fire Type trainer. Because of this, Nurse Joy was extremely busy with treating the injured and burned Pokémon and could not go to get more medicine herself.

Packed full with supplies, Isabelle arrived by a small fisher's boat, shakily stepping foot on shore again. So, the young Nurse didn't want to waste any time and thus she tugged her bags higher over her shoulders and marched up to the Pokécentre. Because she was a nurse herself, she did not waste time at the reception and walked in, trusting the basic layout was the same to find the medicine storage where she could unpack. Someone would find her as she worked. She still wore the characteristic colour scheme of a Pokémon Centre Nurse so no one would accuse her of being an intruder. Eventually, as she put the last potions away, Nurse Joy herself came walking in. She looked flustered and absolutely exhausted, but she had her customary smile on her face.

"I'm so glad you're here. Come with me, I have a treat for you that I haven't managed to give attention to, yet. Oh, and take those burn heals. You're going to need them," Nurse Joy said, earning her a suspicious look from Izzy. Laying the empty bags on the floor, she put a couple burn heals in her own backpack and followed Nurse Joy, who had already left, hastily.

Joy led her into a deeper part of the Centre, where trainers never came. Under a heat lamp in the Hatching Room, two orange eggs laid, unhatched yet. Near those eggs, two young Charmander sat. They were so young their eyes hadn't even opened yet. And still they swayed those burning tails around everywhere as they crawled and fell over the eggs and each other. It was a good thing a glass wall was built around the hatching area or else they would have fallen off the table.

As Isabelle approached, the reason Joy told her to bring the burn heals became evident. Because they could not see yet, let alone control their flaming tail, they burned themselves and each other with the fire, giving them small burns all over their orange bodies.

Smiling fondly, Isabelle pulled up a chair and took one of the Charmander out of the box and cradled it on her lap, careful of the tail. Tickling it gently with her bare hands, she sprayed some burn heal on the blistered skin, rubbing it in gently. As Izzy worked with the first Charmander, its eyes slowly opened and it let out a soft "chaaaar," making Izzy smile fondly. Young Pokémon were adorable in their innocence.