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

#012 Butterfree

Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon. The final evolution of Caterpie and the evolved form of Metapod. Butterfree's wings are covered with poisonous powders that fall off continuously as it flies. This powder repels water, enabling it to gather honey even in the rain. Butterfree will roam up to six miles from its nest in search of honey, which it carries with the hairs of its legs. It also consumes sap from pierced trees. Butterfree is found in forests, but has also been observed flying near the ocean as part of its migratory breeding pattern.

Merely a week later, Nurse Isabelle was called to Viridian City again. The town, once so calm and peaceful with children playing with their Caterpie and their mothers watching over them as they chatted and gossiped, now laid barren. There was not a single person out on the street. All the doors were shut and the windows were closed as if they were scared of something. The hospital and Pokémon centre were busy, though.

Route two, leading to Viridian forest, did not look much better. Some purplish sheen hung low over the ground. Isabelle deduced that it was a residue of poisonous powder. One that probably caused the town to be a ghost town. Staring at this scene, Isabelle found Officer Jenny with a mouth cap.

"Let me guess. The Metapod evolved?" Isabelle asked, causing Officer Jenny to nod. "How many were taken ill by their toxic dust?"

"All the children and their Pokémon," came the muffled reply. Izzy wasn't surprised. Butterfree were gorgeous Pokémon, being basically huge butterflies. However, their wings scattered poisonous dust, making them a bit tricky to handle. It was their way of protecting themselves against other Pokémon.

"Shall we chase them off to Viridian Forest?" Isabelle suggested.

"We?" Jenny asked, looking around them. "I'm not going,"

"My Pokémon and I," Isabelle said, releasing her Ivysaur and her Wartortle. The nurse had already briefed them last night when they were near Viridian again. But just to be sure, Izzy had stocked up on antidotes.

Chasing away Butterfree was only slightly more entertaining than moving Metapod was. These butterflies were not challenging at all to the Pokémon of the young Nurse. With Wartortle's Water Gun and Ivysaur's Vine Whip, the nurse's Pokémon did not come near enough to get poisoned by the butterflies. However, with the whole lot of them, the air was poisoned as well. Not for the first time that day, Isabelle found herself wishing she had a flying type to get rid of this poisonous fog.

Getting rid of the Butterfree was the easy part. When they had finally left for Viridian Forest, bullied away by water and vines, Isabelle's Pokémon collapsed on the ground. Walking towards them, feeling quite dizzy herself, Izzy gathered the heavy Ivysaur in her arms and told Wartortle to hold onto her back, or to her braid if she must. Like that, they staggered away from Route 2 to the city in which the fog was thinning already. There, Isabelle administered the antidote to both her Pokémon and headed with them to the Pokémon centre.

At the Pokémon centre, it did not matter that Nurse Joy was busy with poisoned Caterpie. Isabelle could take care of her own Pokémon, and so she was given her own treating room for them. Laying them on oxygen, she could tell that her Pokémon would be fine once the antidote had cleared away all poison in their bodies. Izzy sighed as she felt how feverish she was herself. She didn't like the poisonous types. They were a lot of effort to treat with a lot of consequences for the one treating them.

Despite being sick, Isabelle watched over her Pokémon all night and only when she was sure they were healthy again did she call them back to their balls and headed up to go to bed herself. Pokémon would always come first for her.