#090 Shellder
Shellder, the bivalve Pokémon. At night, this Pokémon uses its tongue to burrow a hole in the seafloor sand to sleep in it. While it is sleeping, Shellder closes its shell, but leaves its tongue hanging out – Nurse Evergreen.
A while ago, Dominic Whitewater had asked Nurse Isabelle to keep the first weekend of June free and meet him at the beach of Cinnabar island. Later that summer, there would be many competitions for those who battled Pokémon competitively and it would be a busy time for both. Therefore, this weekend was about relaxation. They had booked a little cabin together at seaside, a bit further away from the main town. A bare yet charming little place for how out of the way it was.
Now used to Isabelle, Ponyta and her rider dashed over the beach around lunch time, with her usual backpack strapped on her back. Together, they rode like the wind. The sun shone down on them pleasantly, and not even the water seemed to scare her horse. Ponyta neighed excitedly at the feeling of the splatter of the ocean against her body and the sand under her hooves. Isabelle's curly hair was loose and waved behind her like a golden banner.
A bit further along the beach, there was a man standing in their way. Isabelle recognised him as Dominic, her date for the weekend, but Ponyta did not. She dug her feet into the sand to skid to a stop, reared, threw her rider off, and fled. As Dom rushed to help his girlfriend up, an orange flash dashed after the frightened horse.
"Ah shit, are you okay? I did not mean for that to happen. I mean, I know Ponyta's skittish, but this was more than I expected!" Dominic sounded so worried. It wasn't hard to forgive him for something that was hardly his fault. Isabelle brushed the sand off her flowery, summer dress, grateful for the white riding pants underneath.
"Yeah, I am okay. This happens quite often, though not as much as it used to." She stopped brushing for a moment to notice her hands were trembling. "Ah. Panic reaction. I truly am okay," she said when Dom took her hands with both of his, rubbed them, before cupping her cheek to angle her head up and kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes to be able to kiss him a little harder. When he pulled back, he grinned at her.
"I'm glad you're here."
"Me too. Now, where did Ponyta run off to?"
With the tiniest zap, Raichu had managed to attract Ponyta's attention and made her stop running. The maternal, electric mouse seemed worried for the horse with the blue fire, something Raichu did more often for younger Pokémon. Whatever they discussed together was unknown, but when Izzy and Dom stopped kissing, Ponyta calmly walked back to her rider with her head bent in shame, with Raichu sitting on her back. Ponyta rubbed her head against Izzy's chest, seemingly sorry for throwing her off. Affectionately, Isabelle hugged her back, whispering soothing things as she stroked her beautiful horse. All forgiven, of course.
After a rather delicious lunch of a chicken wrap with a homemade mustard-y sauce (since he apparently was a way better cook than she was), Isabelle took off her dress and riding pants, and took a Pokéball out of her backpack. Flaunting in a bikini which was the same colour as Ponyta's mane, she summoned Dewgong into the water, who excitedly splashed around, calling out.
As she walked back to put the Pokéball back, Dom did not even pretend he wasn't staring at her. It made her a little self-conscious yet proud at the same time. While she knew she did not have the best body, since being a nurse did not allow her to eat healthily or regularly often, her body did look decent, with wide hips and a smallish chest that was called a pear figure. Her legs were toned from riding but not nearly as well maintained as she had been at home, thanks to a local gym. Strangely enough, she felt more alive like this.
"You look gorgeous," Dominic declared before taking his own shirt off, revealing a hairy, toned torso. He was more tanned than her own milky skin, but when he approached her, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her again, she forgot about her insecurities for a while. He didn't own a Pokémon to ride yet, so his legs weren't as trained as hers, but he must do a lot of physical activity as a ranger because his arms looked amazing.
As Ponyta and Raichu laid together in the sand, uncommonly close with each other due to their typing, Isabelle, Dominic, and Dewgong played in the water. They had borrowed a beach ball that resembled a master ball from one of the stalls in town. Dominic and Dewgong were fiercely competitive, while Izzy just enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her bare skin and the ocean against her calves
When the ball flew too far, out to sea, Dominic climbed onto Dewgong's back to go and get it, like a surfer. Dewgong were rather a big species to start with, but it seemed that Isabelle's was particularly large. His back certainly was wider than Ponyta's was. Now that things were quiet, Isabelle heard a soft whimpering, coming from her right. Since Ponyta and Raichu were on her left, Isabelle left the water to find out what it was. There, in the sand, laid a Shellder. It was that little thing that made the sad, whimpering noises. Upon approaching it, she saw that its tongue was unusually red. Holding the back of her hand near it, Izzy noticed it felt really hot; Shellder had a sunburn on his tongue.
"Raichu! My bag, please!" Isabelle called out and luckily for her, Raichu complied with an eager "Rai Rai!" Dominic had trained her really well, and she was a delight to work with.
Gently, Isabelle stroked over Shellder's shell. "Don't worry, little one. I'll make it feel better. Ah, thank you, Raichu." The electric mouse had dragged her bag through the sand towards her. Inside, she found her berry pouch, where she took two berries from that each healed burns. With a pocket knife, she cut them to pieces and used a small mortar and pestle to grind it into a paste. Carefully, she spread it over the burned area, instructing Shellder not to eat it just yet. She waited for a short while while she cut up a third berry for eating. On her command, Shellder ate the berry mash and washed it away with the berry slices she had prepared. When Izzy checked again, the heat seemed to be gone from the burn, but it should still be a bit tender for a short while.
"You should feel entirely better soon, Shellder. Just be careful with the sun until you do, okay?"
"Shellder!" It replied in its adorably high-pitched voice.
"Good boy." Isabelle stood up and brushed the sand off her knees.
"You still have some here," a deep voice said from behind her, as a hand stroked across her ass, as though there was sand to remove.
Isabelle smiled. "How generous of you. Thank you for brushing it away."
"Mmm… my pleasure. Let's go to the cabin, shall we? I don't want you to get burned too, little city girl."
Isabelle snorted but agreed. They gathered up their stuff and headed to the cabin just off the beach, where they had a comfortable stay together. It turned out that Dominic really enjoyed cooking and adored to show off and make sure she was properly fed. They slept in the same bed that night, but did not mess around. Instead, they either cuddled or discussed obscure Pokémon theories.