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

#134 Vaporeon

Vaporeon, the Bubble Jet Pokémon. One of the evolved forms of Eevee. This Pokémon's tailfin has been mistaken for a mermaid's in the past. It is rumoured that rain will come within a few hours if Vaporeon's fins begin to vibrate. Vaporeon is mostly seen in urban settings and is rarely found in the wild, but it can be seen near fresh, clean lakes. It has evolved to become better suited to an aquatic lifestyle. In addition to developing gills to be able to breathe underwater, it has a cell composition similar to water molecules, which allows Vaporeon to melt into water at all and keeps it camouflaged as it swims. – Nurse Evergreen

The summer was slowly ending and it was in September that a fresh batch of young trainers would start the journey that would change their lives. Because many parents are frightened at the idea of their child travelling alone, groups have been erected. They were similar to guilds and members of the same team would always support each other. They sort of became like a second family. Isabelle never joined one, but she thought the idea was really cool.

In Viridian City, near the road that would lead to the Indigo Plateau, where the conference would be held in mid-summer. The trainers had about a year from the start of their journey to obtain all badges and register to enter the Indigo Plateau Conference. The order in which the badges were obtained did not matter, for not all trainers started in the same town.

In Viridian City, an information market was held both for the trainers and the caretakers. Cooking workshops, stalls selling bikes or proper shoes for walking and running, information on how to challenge a gym, and many other useful tutorials and useful items were all on offer. The Trainer School was explaining all on how to battle efficiently, and another stall explained how to capture a Pokémon. Nurse Joy of Viridian Pokémon Centre had a stall where she explained what the Pokémon centre provided to trainers (Pokémon healthcare, meals, bed, and laundry machines, to name a few,) and Nurse Isabelle was asked to talk about on-the-road healthcare, such as the importance of potions, berries, and antidotes.

There was a stall near to hers that drew her attention. It boasted a blue banner with a magnificent, blue bird on it, which Isabelle identified as one of the rarest Pokémon native to the Kanto region. Known for their extraordinary power, they'd been hunted and captured to near extinction.

During her lunch break, Isabelle headed over to the blue stall. Trainers stood around wearing blue shirts with the same symbol on it, depicting the icy bird in its full glory. They talked to interested kids while their leader typed on a tablet behind the stall.

The first thing Isabelle noticed is that it was hard to assign a gender to Blanche, as the tag read. The person was neither convincingly feminine nor masculine. Not that it really mattered to Izzy.

Blanche was scrolling through sheets of numbers, discussing them with his Vaporeon, who sat on top of the stall's table. Of all Pokémon Izzy had seen, this Vaporeon was the most intelligent looking. She sat primly and straight, looking at the tablet screen as if she could read what it said and listened to Blanche as if she understood that, too. After Izzy had listened for a few moments, she deduced they were discussing training results, going over improvement over time.

"Hello there, miss nurse!" A kid with a bright grin said. He was missing some teeth but he looked exceedingly proud to be wearing the blue shirt. "Are you here to join Team Mystic?"

Isabelle smiled sweetly and shook her head. "Maybe another time. I'm not looking to join any team right now. I'm old enough to travel on my own."

"But you're also old enough to guide young trainers like me! If only from Viridian to Pewter, for example. Last year, someone your age accompanied me through Viridian Forest. I met him at the Pokémon Centre and he noticed this shirt of mine and we travelled together!" The kid began speaking faster with every sentence. It seemed he was getting excited at the memory. "He taught me stuff and helped me capture a Caterpie, who is a gorgeous Butterfree by now! I called mum every night, of course."

People passing by heard the kid's shouted story and actually came over, interested. Blanche looked up, impressed with this young trainer's popularity. The kid received a ruffle to his hair as he repeated his story, more calmly this time, to the parents and children who had gathered around to listen. Isabelle took this as her cue to sneak away. Only Vaporeon saw her go.