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

#011 Metapod

Metapod, the Cocoon Pokémon. The evolved form of Caterpie. Its soft body is protected by a hard outer shell while it undergoes metamorphosis. While this shell is said to be as hard as steel, a sudden, powerful impact could cause its tender body to pop out, leaving it completely exposed. Metapod generally remains motionless, preparing its soft innards for evolution inside its hard shell. If an enemy discovers Metapod, it is unable to do anything other than harden its outer shell. Metapod lives in forests.

On days like these, Nurse Isabelle wondered who was happier she had become a travelling nurse: Nurse Joy or herself. After a quiet first month, the requests had started to pour in of rumours of sick or injured Pokémon, all sent in by Nurse Joy. There were even requests of Pokémon that were just in the way, but those came from Officer Jenny. Isabelle sighed, smoothing her tied-down hair flat and pushing some stray locks away. It wasn't that she hated doing those requests; she loved the work. It was just that running errands felt silly.

Today's errands involved some Metapod. They had evolved just outside of Viridian Forest and now clung to trees near a frequently travelled road. Her job today was to move them to someplace safe nearby where they could evolve without danger.

The Metapod were easy to find. Their green colour contrasted nicely with the brown bark of the trees. Just east of Viridian forest laid a less frequented part of the road, since many travelled through the forest, instead of around it.

"All right, you guys. Come on out," Isabelle said, opening her two Pokéballs. Bulbasaur and Wartortle came out. Bulbasaur, as usual, was ecstatic to be out. He came close for a pet on his head and then ran on his stubby legs around them, for some happy exercise. Wartortle was much calmer. The female Water-type was, like Izzy, not fond of getting dirty and a bit vain, but she hadn't caused any trouble. While she wasn't tight buddies with the excitable Grass-type, she did not seem to hate him either. She just had a big ego.

"Okay. Today, we're moving these Metapod. They're in danger of getting trampled here." Isabelle explained where they would take them and emphasised that they must be handled carefully. She did not want any of them damaged, no matter the hardness of their shell.

They started with the low hanging ones because they could pluck them off themselves. The string of silk that kept them to the tree was easily cut. And so began a long day. All three of them plucked a Metapod and walked the way to the side road Isabelle had chosen for them, placing them a bit out of sight.

As they needed Bulbasaur's vines to pull down the higher ones, Isabelle reflected on how grateful she was neither of her Pokémon had become bored yet. That would have been a bad case scenario.

"You're doing great, you guys. I'm proud of you," Isabelle told them as they took an afternoon break, sitting on the grass near where they placed the Metapod. The Metapod took this mass moving silently, not even talking at all. It suited Izzy. This was much better than angry Metapod. As lunch, Isabelle gave her Pokémon a berry with the taste of their preference. They may be more expensive than normal Pokémon food, but her Pokémon deserved it.

Her Pokémon's personalities shone through in the way they ate. Like how Bulbasaur tackled life, he ate the berry with gusto, digging in as if it were the best thing he ever tasted or the last thing he would ever eat. Wartortle, on the other hand, sat up properly and took small bites of her berry, savouring every bite. Just as they were going back to work, Isabelle noticed that Bulbasaur's bulb has a blue-ish gleam. Curious.

The rest of the day went by faster. It seemed the Pokémon were quite tired of this dreary job and worked harder to get this done as quickly as possible. It only took two more hours for all Metapod to be brought to safety.

"Phew," Isabelle wiped her forehead. "Glad that's done. Let's go to Viridian Pokémon centre. You deserved a long sleep. Want to sleep in your ball or..." Surprised, Isabelle stopped talking as Bulbasaur lit up.

She did not need to guess what was happening. This light was one of the clearest tell-tale signs. Even Wartortle stood next to Izzy to watch. As they waited for Bulbasaur to be ready, the nurse laid a hand on Wartortle's head, smiling down at her affectionately.

It merely took a minute but it felt much longer. When the light had subsided, Bulbasaur was gone. Instead, a slightly bigger Grass-type stood on the exact spot where Bulbasaur had stood. Only his colouring was different and the bulb had budded into a gorgeous pink bud. He even smelled different. From an earthy scent that reminded her of some healing herbs, he now smelled distinctly more flowery.

Bulbasaur had evolved into Ivysaur.