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

#037 Vulpix

Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon. Vulpix has a flame inside its body that never goes out, and is capable of manipulating fire to such precision as to create floating wisps of flame. When the temperature outside increases, it will expel flames from its mouths to prevent its body from overheating. Vulpix is known to feign injury to escape from opponents too powerful for it to defeat. Vulpix can be found most commonly in grassy plains.

Nurse Isabelle hadn't been on Cinnabar Island ever since she rescued a Charmeleon. While it hadn't been pleasant weather back then in early autumn, it was in the beginning of spring now. On the island, the weather was usually much warmer than the rest of Kanto, so Izzy was dressed accordingly. It felt so good to be out of that nurse's outfit for once. Wearing a sky-blue t-shirt with a Sandshew resting underneath a palm tree on it, and some jeans shorts, Isabelle couldn't even be recognised as a nurse anymore. Her golden blond hair was done up in a bun with a few strands framing her face.

As Isabelle walked over the path that led up to the volcano, she sighed at her porcelain legs. She had spent so much time working that her tan had completely gone back to milky white. Oh well, while there were Pokémon that needed her help, Isabelle couldn't take any time off.

While her time at Cinnabar may look like a holiday, it actually was not. She was on her way up to the Cinnabar Gym, one of her favourite ones based on the Pokémon used. Blaine used Fire types and most of them were so adorable. Vulpix, for example: the elegant fire fox with the gorgeous tails.

Blaine awaited her at the door of his inn. Isabelle could feel his eyes drag from her exposed legs up her body to finally settle on her face. He always did this, and it unsettled Izzy a little, but so far, he had meant no harm.

"Hey there, Blaine. I see you received my message. I thought I'd drop by. Surprise visit and all, to check that you're taking proper care of your Pokémon," Isabelle said, smiling brightly.

Blaine stood there in his bald-headed glory, wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, doing his belly-shaking laugh.

"Nah, little lady, you just want to cuddle with my Pokémon some more. But that's okay. I got a little task for you, and I'm sure you'll like it!" He winked at her, creepily.

Following Blaine inside, he actually led her to the volcano. The place had more rooms than just the battlefield, and in one of them, where it was nearly unbearably hot, Isabelle saw an egg laying on a blanket. Two things were immediately noticeable about the egg. Firstly, it had the characteristic pattern of a Vulpix on it, being those gorgeous tails, so the kind of Pokémon that was in that egg wasn't hard to guess. But the second thing was much more worrying; the egg was cracked!

"Blaine!" Isabelle called out, utterly startled and fearful for the unborn Vulpix's life. "What happened here? How could this happen? I hope it wasn't you who did this!" She glared at him warningly, but he merely raised his hands innocently.

"No, little Missy. I did not do this. You know I'm worthless with female tasks like this." This earned him a frown from the blonde. "I found the egg like this," Blaine continued, as if he did not see Izzy. "It was near the geysers so it must have been launched? I have no idea what exactly happened, but I tell you, I did not do this. So, do your nurse magic. Save this Vulpix," he demanded. Isabelle sighed.

"Because you asked me so kindly..." She mumbled. Both of them knew she'd never deny an assignment like this. Life was much too precious to Isabelle not to accept it.

For the next few days, Isabelle didn't see much sun either. One of Blaine's gym trainers, who also had a Vulpix, was an excellent cook and made sure both Blaine and Isabelle ate properly. He had quite a task to get Isabelle to leave the antechamber in the volcano.

Then, late at night on the third day since Isabelle arrived at Blaine's Gym, the egg began to shake and crack even more. In her education, Isabelle had watched a fair share of hatchings but they always remained special to her. If she could not have been a nurse, she would have loved to work with eggs. It had been her second choice in life.

The egg wiggled and cracked further, before finally bursting open, flinging egg shell shards all over the place. The little Vulpix inside was a fighter, this much was sure from the way he survived the crack and the way he hatched.

After blinking a couple times, he opened his eyes and yawned adorably. Taking the fox in her arms, she checked him gently for any injuries or deformations. To her relief, she found none. He was quite a big boy, almost as big as grown Vulpix. His one tail was properly white and shone so brightly, it looked as if someone had brushed it all evening.

As the Vulpix kicked off the shell shards off his blanket and curled up, Isabelle wondered about one thing. Who would be his mother?