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

#006 Charizard

Charizard, the Flame Pokémon. The final evolution of Charmander and the evolved form of Charmeleon. Charizard's powerful flame can burn absolutely anything. It uses its wings to fly high. The temperature of its fire increases as it gains experience in battle. A Charizard flies around the sky searching for powerful opponents. However, it never turns its fiery breath on any opponent weaker than itself.

Nurse Isabelle could hear him long before she could see him. The mighty roar of a Charizard echoed through Fuchsia city as she spoke to Officer Jenny about the situation. On Route 15 to the east, a Charizard was throwing a fit. Witnesses told the officer that the Fire-type seemed enraged about something. All of them spoke about his Flamethrower as he set the trees around him on fire, but there was only one witness that testified that the Charizard was limping. Just in case, that's why a nurse was called to help with this. From all the nurses in the nearby area, Isabelle was the bravest. Most Pokémon that were brought to Joy were docile and belonged to trainers.

Calling Bulbasaur from his ball, Izzy knelt down just before the exit of the town. She filled Bulbasaur in about what was going on.

"This Charizard isn't attacking to harm anyone. It's probably hurt and confused. We must keep that in mind. Now, I know that a Charizard would have a type advantage against you, that's why I will not force you to battle it. What we do is this: I will distract it, hopefully not get burnt while you wrap your Vine Whip around it from behind to pin his wings and tail to his body and then use your Sleep Powder. Even if he's stronger than you are, it should still make him drowsy and calm him down some. Okay?" "Bulba!" Since that was as good as an answer as she was going to get, the travelling nurse and her Bulbasaur moved out towards Route 15.

It was a risky plan and if she'd tell her friends, they'd be upset with her. But this was her duty as a nurse. This Pokémon needed help and she had to act before a trainer decided to knock the Charizard out with an attack, enraging it even further.

It became hotter and hotter as Izzy approached the site. The trees around here were burning, but the firefighters could not extinguish it until the Charizard would stop torching the whole place.

Bulbasaur sneaked close to the ground, making no noise as he crept away from her to be able to attack Charizard from the back. Isabelle walked slowly and in plain view. The fact that Charizard wasn't doing this to be evil showed in the fact that he did not shoot his flamethrower right at her as soon as he saw her.

"Hey there, big boy," Isabelle said softly, inching towards the enraged Fire-Type with her hands held up. "What's bothering you?"

Severely stressed, the Fire-type huffed and shot fire right up, more to show off than to attack.

"Calm down... Recognise these colours? That's right. I'm a nurse. I can make the pain go away. But only if you let me come close to you," she kept her voice slow and pleasant, trying to be as non-threatening as she could.

Still, the Charizard was too agitated for this because when Isabelle came too near, he reared his wings up to either blow her over or fly up.

"Now, Bulbasaur!" Izzy said urgently, trying her best not to yell. It made her proud to see vines wrap around the orange Pokémon as soon as she gave the command. That dangerous tail and the wings were flattened against his bulky body.

Just in time, Izzy took a few steps back to allow the blue sheen of Sleep Powder to wash over the Fire-type. But the sleep-inducing move came a bit too late. Charizard, feeling betrayed, had shot a small Ember at her, his weakest Fire attack. It glanced against her arm and burned her skin, causing the girl to cry out in pain and grasp her arm. She had no time to worry about herself, though. The Charizard was getting drowsy and had fallen on his behind.

"I'm fine! Keep holding him," she answered the worried cry of her starter. Kneeling onto the scorched grass, Isabelle pulled out his left paw to expose what had been hurting him. His skin was nicely hot but that was no surprise with so much fire-breathing exercise.

She found a nasty cut underneath his foot, probably caused by a sharp rock. That's what had been hurting him this whole time. Taking a potion from her back, she sprayed it over the wound, watching as it healed the cut to a ragged line that would slowly fade as the body's natural healing took over. The pain should be gone as well.

Looking up, she saw the Charizard looking down at her. Because this Charizard was so much stronger than her own Pokémon, Sleep Powder had had little effect. Isabelle was relieved to see the Fire-type looked sane again.

"Hey there, big boy," Isabelle said again, stroking his belly with the flat of her hand, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her arm. "Welcome back to us. Bulbasaur, release him." On her command, the vine whip drew back, freeing the Flame Pokémon.

"Do be more careful, next time. And if you're in pain, just try to find me, okay?" She patted the Charizard on his arm as he spread his wings to fly off, back to where he came from now that he could fly again without pain.