We called Professor Elm. During the wait, Cupid stuck, glued to my side, terrified of the balloon pokemon, and Ulric attempted to talk to Faye. Faye wouldn't answer Ulric, though. He soon gave up and pouted.
"Thanks for calling me," Elm said when he finally picked up. "It looks like you've got yourselves a drifloon. They only live in Sinnoh. Maybe a traveling trainer left it in that geocache of yours."
"What should we do?" I said. "We're not this pokemon's trainer. It's been so long I don't think we can count on that trainer being in Johto anymore."
"I believe the only thing you can do now is take it to a pokemon center and have them take care of it."
"Do you think they can contact its old trainer?"
Professor Elm paused. "Astrid, I think you're under a little misunderstanding. That trainer didn't leave the drifloon here by accident. They did it on purpose."
My stomach rattled like it was in an earthquake. "What do you mean? That the trainer just – just abandoned it?"
"Yes, that's what I'm saying." Professor Elm's voice was tinny over the device. "But the trainer probably didn't see it that way. They probably thought of it as a trade of some sort. Or possibly they didn't want the drifloon anymore and wanted to give it to a better trainer."
"This pokemon has been in this tin for almost a year," I said, outraged.
Luca took my pokegear from me, despite it being on speaker and didn't matter who was holding it or not. "So we have to take care of it now?"
"You can send it back to me by using the nearest pokemon center," Professor Elm said. "Or yes, you can take care of it yourselves. Drifloon aren't supposed to be aggressive, but they can be mischievous sometimes."
"I'll take care of it," I said.
"Don't be so quick to make a decision, Astrid," Professor Elm said. "A new pokemon is good for your team, but I also neglected to teach you about care for ghost pokemon. They can be quite… unorthodox. As well, there might've been another reason why that trainer abandoned that drifloon."
His unsaid words hung in the air. The pokemon could be violent.
I looked at Faye. She stared at the grassy field around her. If she was listening or understanding, she made no indication of it.
"Let's think on it first and decided when we make it to Goldenrod," Luca said.
"Okay," I said. It made my blood boil to think that she was stuck in a pokeball for so long, though. It didn't matter how Professor Elm justified that trainer, no pokemon should have to be alone for that long waiting for someone to find her.
"By the way," Elm said, "I never asked you about the egg. How is it doing?"
"It's doing fine. It feels heavier." After some final small talk some egg advice, we hung up. I opened the egg pouch to see how the egg was doing. It was warm and cozy. "It's looking good," Luca said. "I think it might hatch soon."
Faye reached out with her hand tuft and placed it on the egg. Cupid burst to her feet and snarled. Faye shot her string away. "Whoa there, stand down!" I said to Cupid.
Cupid continued to growl, but sat on her haunches. Panic gripped at my chest. Cupid had never acted like this before.
"Maybe it's better to keep the drifloon in its pokeball," Luca said, soft.
I swallowed and retrieved Faye's pokeball. "Sorry," I said, and returned her inside.
Author's note: I'm going to attempt regular updating. Weekends are best for me, but then again, my study abroad experience is almost over so I need to have some fun.