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

#076 Golem

Golem, the Megaton Pokémon. The evolved form of Graveler and the final evolution of Geodude. Golem is known for rolling down from mountains. To prevent them from rolling into the homes of people downhill, grooves have been dug into the sides of mountains to serve as guideways for diverting this Pokémon's course.

Having spent the night at Pewter City Pokémon centre, Nurse Isabelle walked through the doors entirely refreshed, holding a bagel between her teeth as she made sure the tie on her braid was secured tightly. Just through the automatic doors, however, she nearly dropped her breakfast when someone leapt in front of her.

"Hey there! Going somewhere?"

It was Dominic, that sly son-of-a-Bellsprout. He was grinning smugly at Isabelle, who had nearly choked in her bagel when she became startled.

"Damn you, Dom," she glared at him when she had recovered from the shock. He merely smiled, held her bagel for her, and kissed her cream-cheese flavoured lips.

"I'm sorry. Is that better?" Smiling fondly, Isabelle could only nod. Then she took a huge bite out of her bagel, chewing firmly. It seems she was quite hungry.

"I'd like to show you something while you're around here," Dominic said as he walked with her out of town. "I really like the mountains. It's much less tame out here, since it's hard to control rocks. Grass can be controlled, woods and even rivers can be moved. But not mountains; you can't move a mountain. People have to submit to nature here, whereas nature seems to play a secondary role in the cities or on the plains."

As they walked, they saw Machop play-fighting by throwing rocks and Geodude at each other, the latter merely taking this with a sullen frown and crossed arms. However, this apparently was not what Dom wanted to show her.

Dominic led her deeper into the mountains, hiking over a trail as they breathed in the fresh air. At first, Isabelle heard them before she saw them, but when Dominic pointed them out, she watched in awe.

Golem were feeding themselves by climbing a steep mountainside. Whenever they lost their footing, they withdrew into their thick shell and rolled noisily down the hill. At least four Golem were at it, who stayed together like a pack or a family.

As they walked along, Dom took a printed email from his pocket and showed it to Izzy so she could take a brief look. It was written slightly sloppily with some spelling errors, but nothing major. What was cute was the fact it started with "Dear big brother!"

"You've got a younger brother?"

Dom nodded, smiling. "Yeah. His name is Hal - Hamilton actually, but he prefers Hal - and he's still back home in Johto. He says he's going to try for the Johto League soon. Getting all the badges and so on. It's a good plan."

"Nice! How old is he?"

"15, now. Father made us wait before we could set out into the world. I do believe he already picked up his starter, though. I can't remember what it was..."

Isabelle nodded. "I was sixteen when I went to the Nursing School and had worked with Mum in the Celadon centre since I was a young girl."

They smiled and continued walking, downhill this time, till they came to a nice place with water and grass, like a little oasis among these grey mountains. Unfortunately, Dom's phone rang. He walked away as he took it, which was probably just a habit. When he came back, his face was grim.

"I have to go. There's been an emergency," he said. Isabelle couldn't suppress a whine.

"Really?" It sounded more pitiful than she intended it.

Dominic frowned at her. "These Pokémon need me. You of all people should understand. You dropped our date because the Abra needed help."

"Are you holding it against me I rushed to their aid? They were sick!"

"No! Argh," He fisted his black hair. "I'm just saying that we both put our work first. I'm not accusing you of anything. Oh, you're frustrating! Look, I've got to go, urgently." With that, he stormed off.

Too upset to go after him, Isabelle sat down inthe grass near the pond, watching a Psyduck float on its back, totally uncaringof the screaming fight that just happened nearby. Only when storm clouds camerolling in did Isabelle return to Pewter, hoping not to run into Dom. Shedidn't want to tell him she had realised he was right.