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

#143 Snorlax

Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax's body is composed of mostly its belly, where most of its fat reserves accumulate. It is often found in mountains and forests, only waking up to eat. It is not a picky eater, as its strong stomach allows it to eat even mouldy food without feeling any ill effects. When hungry, it is not satisfied until it consumes 400 kg of food. Snorlax is docile enough to let children and small Pokémon bounce on its large stomach. – Nurse Evergreen

The morning after the race, Nurse Isabelle and Dominic the Ranger packed for a large hike and went into the thick forest nearby. Dominic had called it a scouting mission and Isabelle filed herself, officially, as a field medic on this mission, so they were free to go. It did mean they had to give a report of their findings, but that would not be too difficult. Izzy mentioned to Dom she had several other reports she still wished to publish anyway.

The forest was thick and full of life. Caterpie and Weedle crawled over branches and into the trees. Pidgey and Spearow were nestled into the treetops, occasionally calling out for their kin. None of Izzy's Pokémon were considered useful for such a hiking trip, so she'd kept all of them inside their balls. Ivysaur would have loved it here, but he was not with her at the moment. Maybe, one day, she'd pick him up if he was willing to say goodbye to Rosie, the rose-subspecies Ivysaur that lived in Erika's gym back in Celadon City.

Dominic's Raichu was out, but this was no surprise. He was incredibly fond of his first Pokémon, who had grown up in the Safari Zone. Raichu was a peace-maker and got along with just about every Pokémon. While Isabelle was struggling a little, flinching when a Beedrill got too close, Dom looked entirely in his element. He kept pointing at stuff for her to look at, whether it's a slightly bigger Caterpie or a pretty flower. He had a surpisingly keen eye for picking out details amid the noise of the undergrowth and thick trees. After the hundredth time he called out something, Isabelle looked up, interested. His voice had been slightly different. From "look, this is cool" to "you really need to see this." He'd found a trail of a big Pokémon. Finally something bigger than Pidgey or Paras. Much bigger.

When Isabelle caught up to him, he pointed to where the foliage was damaged. The shrubs were decidedly less full than those Izzy had seen earlier, as if something had eaten them bare. Branches were snapped off the trees and laid trampled on the ground.
"What could have done this?" Isabelle asked at a whisper, as if that which caused it was nearby and dangerous.
"Tricky to say. Something big, at least. My instinctual guess would be a Snorlax, but something like a Rhydon could have caused such destruction," Dominic replied, tapping his lip thoughtfully.
"Snorlax does seem right. These branches have been eaten from, not destroyed for the sake of chaos," Isabelle mused as they kept walking, following the trail. They did not track him because they thought he was in trouble, but for fun and curiosity.
A short while further, Isabelle shrieked when her foot slid away. Luckily for her, Dom caught her swiftly, pulling her back to safe ground. The slope had been hidden by the foliage and was nearly invisible. More worryingly, the trail of destruction intensified on the way down.
"Do you think what I think?" Dominic asked carefully. Isabelle nodded.
"Our friend has fallen down the slope."
"I was afraid of that, as well. Seems like we need to find a safe way down. He could be in trouble."

Has it ever been mentioned that Izzy did not feel at home with mud and other filth? Hiking was no problem, but she hated becoming dirty. It made her want to wash immediately. For those who have never tried it before, skidding down a slope slippery from mud, holding on to trees and vines and the occasional Ekans for dear life, was a dirty job. Within seconds, her trousers were muddy up to her thighs and whatever was on the trees clung to her hands, arms, face, and hair. Isabelle felt disgusting and wished to shower badly.
Dominic moved as elegantly as a Dewgong in the water, not minding the streaks of tree sap on his hands, nor the way his boots became caked with mud. He was a man on an exciting mission, in this view.
At the bottom of the hill, the forest began to thin and the earth evened out. However, their friend never made it. Mere meters before the slope ended, a Snorlax was caught in vines, dangling above the ground. Isabelle took a moment to admire the way the vines held the struggling Snorlax, impressed by the way they held his weight.
Dom, however, immediately acted. He grabbed a ball from his waist to summon Kingler, whose claw could snap the vines with ease. Raichu had settled on his stomach, occasionally zapping Snorlax lightly to stun him, preventing him from fighting too hard.
Dom and Kingler were an amazing team; Dominic sought which vines could be snapped by Kingler and then unwound them from Snorlax's limbs.
Eventually, the support was thinned to such an extent that Snorlax fell. Raichu leapt off into Izzy's arms, but when Snorlax came crashing down, several things happened at once: Snorlax rolled further down the hill, raised his muddy body to a standing position and marched off; a cracking sound could have been heard when Snorlax came down; and Dominic shouted in a way she had never heard him shout before.

When Snorlax was gone, Isabelle could see what happened as Raichu leapt out of her arms to rush forward. Kingler laid on the ground with his one half of his crabby legs in painful looking positions. It did not take a Pokémon nurse to know that some of them, at least, were broken. Dominic looked frightened in his concern for his Pokémon.
"Don't just stand there. Summon him back to his ball and let's go! Move it! We're going to a centre. I need better equipment to get this right!"
From a squeamish city girl to a demanding Pokémon nurse, Isabelle sure switched quickly.
Dominic snapped into action, with her words as a stimulus. They ran to the nearest town. Raichu refused to go into her ball and ran along with them. All their morning exercise worked out as the electric rodent had no problem keeping up.

Now it was time for Isabelle to be in her element and for Dominic to feel out of place. Without hesitation, the blond nurse barged into the centre, shouting for an emergency room. She mentioned for Dominic to come, knowing better than to take the ball away from him.
The centre was small and relatively calm, so this was the only dire case. Within moments, Isabelle had summoned her own Chansey and grabbed herself some gloves and an apron while Chansey, having had the proper medical training, prepared anything she might need for fractures.
When Kingler laid on the table and was sedated by Chansey's singing, Izzy gently guided Dominic out of the room. A surgery was for medical staff only.
The procedure itself was unpleasant. All four of his left legs were broken in several places. No wonder when one is crushed by something as heavy as a Snorlax. The tricky part was that Kingler was old already. His claw was worn down with scars and several of the spikes over his body had blunted. A young Pokémon could heal from this with little problem but not someone as old as Kingler.
After a few hours, Isabelle turned off the light and declared the procedure done. She hugged her Chansey and headed outside to face the trainer, who also was her boyfriend.
As Chansey spoke to Raichu, Isabelle explained to Dominic:
"He's fine. I've set his legs, put them in a cast and left them to heal. He'll wake up soon. However, I don't think he'll be the same. I'm afraid that battling will cause his injuries to hurt him. Maybe it's time to retire him. He can have an excellent life, but as a Ranger's Pokémon, his time is up. I'm sorry."

Dominic embraced her, and kissed the side of her cheek gratefully. "You were amazing, Izzy. Thank you." He said the words with a great deal of sincerity and smiled at her. His place, though, was with his Pokemon and, without any further words, he stepped past her to stay with Kingler.
Despite the bad news she had had to give, Izzy felt rather good. This field medic stuff was much more exciting than being a travelling nurse. Once she had her shower, she'd be even better.