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

#014 Kakuna

Kakuna, the Cocoon Pokémon. The evolved form of Weedle. When it comes close to evolving, its body gives off heat that makes it warm to the touch. Kakuna remains virtually immobile and waits for evolution often hanging from tree branches by long strands of silk. When attacked, however, it can extend its poison barbs. Kakuna nests in forests and misty wooded areas. Occasionally, it will also nest at the mouths of tunnels and caves.

Even nurses took the day off, occasionally. When no emergency calls have been made and no wild Pokémon seem to be in trouble, Nurse Isabelle took the rare free time to relax. As was the custom, Ivysaur and Wartortle were released from their Pokéballs.

There was a tiny stream nearby. Not enough to bathe in, but Wartortle enjoyed herself none the less. The water seemed to be pure and so, sitting on a rock in the sunlight, the vain turtle began washing and grooming herself, taking extra good care of her gorgeous tail.

Ivysaur, on the other hand, stayed close to Isabelle. Sitting cross-legged with Ivysaur on her lap with his eyes closed in bliss, Izzy searched through her Pokédex for more information on Ivysaur. She had a vague memory that her Grass-type starter could learn something around this stage.

"Aha! Take Down!" Isabelle exclaimed triumphantly. Ivysaur merely opened one eye at the noise.

"Let's learn Take Down, Ivy. That should be useful to be able to take down a Pokémon after you put it to sleep. Some remain standing, you see? Come on, silly sleepy head! We'll nap later, okay?"

Reluctantly, Ivysaur stood up from her lap, allowing the young nurse to get up as well, but before doing so, Isabelle rubbed her Pokémon over the head, affectionately.

As Izzy and Ivysaur searched for a proper target to practice on, Wartortle merely glanced at them before continuing what she was doing. Isabelle didn't mind as long as her Water-type Pokémon did not run into trouble.

Just a bit further was a massive apple tree. The apples were big and red and looked juicy.

"Let's try to get those, shall we, Ivysaur? Take Down is basically a harder Tackle. You will receive recoil so let's not use it too often, okay? I don't want you to get hurt. Ready, Ivysaur? All right. Take Down on that apple tree!" Isabelle called out the last part, pointing at the tree she wished her Pokémon to attack.

Eagerly, Ivysaur dashed towards it, charging at full speed. As he bashed against the tree, Izzy was happy the Bulbasaur line had tough skulls, because it sounded a tad painful. They were rewarded with a load of apples that came crashing down, perfectly ripe and edible.

Proudly, Ivysaur took one of the apples in his maw and ran towards his trainer, fully expecting her to be happy with him for successfully getting them some apples. But instead of pride, horror was to be seen on Isabelle's face.

This horror was caused by what else was shaken loose by the tree. Several cocoons slid and fell down from the tree, laying on the ground among the apples. They were not green like the harmless Metapod. These were beige and, therefore, they were Kakuna. To make matters worse, one of the Kakuna began to light op, signalling an evolution.

"Nope. Nope. We're out of here," Isabelle decided. Without explaining herself, she recalled her Pokémon to their balls, grabbed her backpack and ran as fast as she could. Because the evolved form of Kakuna were known to attack humans and Pokémon with the slightest cause, and disturbing their tree was reason enough.

Isabelle did not look over her shoulder to see if she was being followed. She ran to Viridian City as fast as she could, not resting until she was in the Pokémon centre. Panting, she stopped there against the counter. One did not even have time to get fat and lazy around here, living among Pokémon.