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

#068 Machamp

Machamp, the Superpower Pokémon. The evolved form of Machoke and the final evolution of Machop. Machamp is known as the Pokémon that has mastered every kind of martial arts. If it grabs hold of the foe with its four arms, the battle is all but over. The hapless foe is thrown far over the horizon. Machamp has the power to hurl anything aside. However, trying to do any work requiring care and dexterity causes its arms to get tangled. This Pokémon tends to leap into action before it thinks.

After the tournament in which Dominic's Machoke fought and lost, there was a lull before the winner would be announced and crowned. This was the busiest moment for Nurse Isabelle, since all trainers wanted an okay from the nurse. Raichu and Wartortle let people in whenever a bed became free. Pidgeotto took medicine from the table and flew it to Izzy whenever she asked for it, and Dominic helped Izzy with the patients, holding them still or calming their trainers while Isabelle checked them out. While it was chaotic, Isabelle loved it. She was in her element.

When all of the trainers had been dealt with, a massive man entered, followed by a Machamp. The four-armed Fighting type was very tall for his kind, taller than average, but its trainer was even taller. He was easiest the biggest man Isabelle had ever seen, and that included men such as Giovanni from Viridian Gym.

Unlike Giovanni, this man had a very kind smile on his face. He did not wear much. Merely a championship belt and shorts, revealing his muscular chest. His shoulders were broad and his six-pack so defined that Isabelle longed to run her hands over it. She had no doubt this man was strong enough to lift her easily, even though she wasn't the skinniest of girls.

The man stuck out his hand to Isabelle, who looked flustered in her activity, with strands of her hair coming loose from her braid, making her look rather messy. Isabelle, self-consciously, ran her hands through her hair in an attempt to smooth it down, making the man laugh a booming laugh.

"Don't worry about that, miss Nurse. I respect women that work hard, and the colour of your cheeks and the amount of patched up Pokémon tells me that you do. I'm Bruno, and this is Machamp." Upon Dominic's start, Bruno looked over at him.

"You're Bruno? From the Elite Four?"

"Was it your Machoke that held the hill for so long?" Bruno stuck out his hand. "I must offer my compliments, then. Your Machoke was great. You clearly trained him well. And yes, I am Bruno of the Elite Four."

Isabelle wasn't very interested in competitive battling and so she wasn't that hyped about the Elite Four. Dominic clearly was, it seemed, and so he sat down somewhere to talk about the training of their Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Isabelle checked out Machamp. He had some bruises on his body from where Machoke tried to defend himself, but the healthy glow of his skin told her these would be no problem. Machamp was one of the healthiest Pokémon she had ever seen. Like Machoke for Dom, Machamp seemed to revere Bruno and follow his every command.

After Bruno and Machamp had taken their prize for winning the tournament (which was some belt,) Dominic sat down with Isabelle in the nurse's tent. Dom sat with his back to one of the support beams with Isabelle sitting between his legs, with her back against his chest. As they shared some lemon ice cream from the same carton, Dominic explained that the Elite Four were using their fame to promote Pokémon welfare. Kind of like what Izzy and Dom were doing, but then on a bigger scale. It made Isabelle more interested in them.

After the ice cream was gone, Dominic angled Izzy's head up with his cold fingers and kissed her softly on her lemon-flavoured lips. Despite them both tasting like lemon, Isabelle enjoyed the fact that there was still a hint of something that was uniquely Dominic. With her eyes closed, she kissed him back, languidly and lazily, and they relaxed from a long and hectic day.