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

#019 Rattata

Rattata, the Mouse Pokémon. Rattata can live wherever it can find food, which it searches for most of the day. Thanks to its sharp fangs, it is able to eat nearly anything. Its hardiness lets it live in many environments, although it mainly lives on plains and savannas. Because it reproduces so quickly, a pair of Rattata can quickly colonize an area. When it is threatened, Rattata can deliver a powerful bite.

"Isabelle! Psssst! Isabelle!" A whispered voice woke the aspiring nurse up. She was disorientated for a moment, having dreamt she flew a Charizard in a journey around the world. When she opened her eyes, she was still in her bed in her dorm room of the Nursing School. Her friend and classmate, Wendy Foxglove, knelt in front of her bed. "Oh good, you're awake."

"Hm? What time is it?" Isabelle mumbled sleepily, rubbing her emerald eyes. Her golden hair was loose, not braided at night, and the waist-long curls laid on her pillow, shimmering a little in the moonlight.

"Long past midnight, but Isa, I need your help." Only Wendy called her Isa. To everyone else, she was Miss Evergreen, Isabelle, or Izzy. Slowly, Isabelle got up from bed, not entirely awake yet.

"I did a thing..." Wendy began, causing Izzy to narrow her eyes.

"What did you do, Wendy?" Isabelle sat up to prevent falling asleep again.

"I ... ehm ... I took in a nest of mice," she stammered, fiddling with the front of her sleeping shirt, looking down at her feet.

"Mice? What kind?" Isabelle asked urgently, in a whisper. "Where?"

"Rattata. In our room," was the reply.

"In our ...? Oh goodness, Wendy..." Isabelle ran a hand through her hair.

"They were scared and hungry! They were so young; one was still in an egg. I could not leave them. Their mother was nowhere to be found, not a single trace. And believe me, I looked!" Large brown eyes filled with tears.

"Okay, okay. Don't cry, Wendy. But they have to go. You need to return them to the wild before they're too old and before Nurse Joy finds out." To Isabelle's surprise, Wendy nodded.

"Let's do it right now!" She hissed, surprising Izzy again. The shy girl never was this bold or forward.

"Now? Right now? Goodness, that's why you woke me, isn't it?" She sighed and looked around for her shoes and her coat. Wendy was already dressed and stood ready with a large basket from which some muffled squeaking came.

Barely dressed, the two girls sneaked out of the dorm room and made their way outside. Despite there being a curfew, no one was in the hallways to check on them. The Pokémon guarding them were fond of Wendy and did not stop her.

At a patch of tall grass outside of the School's gardens, Wendy knelt down and took one of the Rattata out of the basket with trembling hands. The girl had yet again tears in her eyes, Izzy saw as she looked at her.

"Come on, do it. We don't have all night. They might remember you and come back to play." That was encouragement enough for the sensitive girl. One by one, Wendy pulled them out of the basket and put them down near the tall grass. Following their instincts, the Rattata dashed away right when their paws touched the ground. In less than a couple minutes, all three of them were gone.

"Well done, Wendy," Isabelle merely said, wrapping her arms around the shivering girl. "They're able to defend themselves. They'll be fine. You saved them from starvation when they were younger, but it's time for them to go now."