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

#005 Charmeleon

Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. The evolved form of Charmander. In the rocky mountains where Charmeleon live, their fiery tails shine at night like stars. Charmeleon has a vicious nature and will constantly seek out opponents. Strong opponents excite this Pokémon, causing it to spout bluish-white flames that torch its surroundings. However, it will relax once it has won. It is rare in the wild, but it can be found in mountainous areas.

Charmeleon were known as tricky Pokémon to handle, especially for starters, because they loved to fight. As long as they fought other Pokémon and obeyed their trainers, all was relatively well, but it occasionally happened that Charmeleon turned against their friends and family. Such a case drew Nurse Isabelle's attention. Still on Cinnabar Island, the parents of those baby Charmander were a pack of Charmeleon. Nurse Joy explained to Isabelle where those Charmeleon could be found but warned her. This pack was rather aggressive. A smaller female was seen amongst them that did not look well the previous time Joy saw it. Nurse Joy had asked if Izzy had anything to do, if she didn't, could she please look for that Charmeleon. Just to make sure she was doing better.

The Charmeleon were not hard to follow. They had left a path of destruction with burned grass and claw marks in trees. Just up ahead, she could see the Charmeleon walking uphill, towards the volcano. It was becoming a bit colder so they moved closer to the heat of the lava. Just as Izzy came close to the pack, one of the Charmeleon collapsed and crashed heavily to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to billow up. The other Charmeleon barely glanced at their fallen pack mate before continuing. Not wishing to attract the attention of so many Charmeleon without a water Pokémon, Izzy had to hide nearby until the group was gone. Only then did she dash towards the fallen one.

A quick check told her that the Charmeleon was female and was in a rather bad state. Her rusty-red body was covered in scratches that had bled in the past but had already been turned to crusts by her body heat. Whatever skin was not cut up was burned by a fire attack. Her skin was also extremely dry and her claws were tagged. Her tail burned weakly.

Unsure where to begin, Isabelle checked whether the Charmeleon was still alive and breathing. It may sound crude but there was no use in treating a Pokémon that had passed away. Faintly, some scorching air came out of the Fire Type's mouth to show she was still breathing. As she cast a quick glance around to look for the other Charmeleon, Izzy pulled out a potion from the pack she had always with her and began treating the poor, fallen Charmeleon. If this Fire Type still wanted to go back to her group, she had to rejoin them soon. If not, she'd, probably forever, be cast out.

The Charmeleon made no move to get up, though. Taking the choice for her, Isabelle gathered the Fire-type in her arms and started to carry it back to the Pokécentre. It was lighter than the nearly twenty kilos it's supposed to weigh and it worried her. Charmeleon's flame was still rather weak too, even after administering the potion. If Izzy did not hurry, the Charmeleon wouldn't need to worry about what came after this episode since there might not be anything after it. As Izzy rushed down the side of the volcano, she could hear murmuring behind her. Carefully looking over her shoulder, she saw that the other Charmeleon were back. They did not attack her, though, so the nurse kept walking briskly downhill to get the smaller, female Charmeleon in safety.

It was not hard to get an emergency stretcher for Charmeleon at the Pokécentre. It seems Joy had expected something like this to have happened and had already prepared a room. In there, she worked hard as Izzy washed the dirt off her face. Her pants were yet again filthy because of the dust that caked the ground outside.

After washing up, the young woman stood on the other side of the window overlooking the room in which the recovering Pokémon lied. The smallish Charmeleon rested on a bed nearby, allowing the nurse to watch over her. Her breathing was still too shallow for Izzy's liking and her tail burned merely weakly, though stronger than before. However, the nurse had done the best she could. Now, it was up to the Charmeleon to fight for her life.