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

#115 Kangaskhan

Kangaskhan, the Parent Pokémon. Kangaskhan is a nurturing Pokémon that protects its young at all costs. The baby leaves the pouch only rarely until it is three years old. In order to avoid crushing the baby, Kangaskhan sleeps standing up. If the mother feels the environment is safe, it will allow its young out to play. However, it will violently attack anything that it sees as a threat to its young. Regardless of how badly injured it becomes, the mother will not cease fighting until its young is safe. Although it was nearly hunted to extinction, Kangaskhan can be found in savannahs and other grasslands.

What better place to train a Chansey than the Safari Zone? Not only did some Chansey live in the wild there, there were also many Pokémon and situations to test her new Chansey's skills on.

Nurse Isabelle had the notion that Chansey's anger mostly came from her frustration; the frustration of being different, of being stuck in a Pokémon Centre, of being frowned upon. To prevent another Wartortle incident, Isabelle hoped to whatever deity there was that this was the case.

Because both Chansey and Kangaskhan were female-only species and both kinds carried something in their pouches, be it a baby or an egg, Chansey could be a perfect Pokémon to help Izzy during her checks with the Kangaskhan.

The Parent Pokémon attacks anyone they think is a threat to their babies, so Izzy has never seen one up close. Holding Chansey's now empty Pokéball in her fist, she watched as her Egg Pokémon approached a lone Kangaskhan. If anything went wrong, she would summon Chansey back and dash for safety. It was an excellent plan, if she said so herself.

Isabelle sat in sight of the Kangaskhan at a safe distance as Chansey approached the much taller Pokémon. Izzy's orders had been simple. The baby Kangaskhan felt a little poorly and one of Chansey's eggs, given in goodwill, should make it feel better. Chansey was to offer the egg to the mother and then leave again.

The young nurse had to admit: that pink Pokémon had guts. Any normal Chansey would have shivered under the glare of a Kangaskhan, since they usually possessed little self-will, but her own Chansey marched firmly yet carefully up to Kangaskhan.

Izzy crossed her legs as she watched Chansey talk for a small while to the mother, gesturing to the nurse, to the sickly young, and to her own eggs. Then, she took one of her eggs from her pouch. Instead of giving it to the parent, she broke it open and offered it to the child. Alarmed, Izzy sat up straighter but, for whatever reason, Kangaskhan was fine with it. Chansey wasn't a threat in her eyes, apparently.

The eggs weren't the tastiest a Chansey had ever laid. Those eggs improved in quality if a Chansey was treated with love. Izzy didn't know much of the way she had been treated, but it did not feel very loving. That was fine by Izzy. Isabelle could love her gutsy nursing companion, especially if she turned out as incredibly as Izzy suspected she might.

The baby Kangaskhan soon felt better. Chansey shook the mother's paw before leaving them again, waving as they parted. Kangaskhan walked back into the woods with her thundering steps and Chansey marched back to her nurse.

"Amazing job, Chansey! How do you feel?"

"Chansey! Chansey! Chance!" Her Pokémon looked very excited and began a long explanation on how she felt. Izzy had to guess most of the story by the gestures she made and the intonation in her voice. However, the point remained that Chansey seemed so much happier than she had been in that centre.