Chapter Text
It was an egg.
She had seen eggs before, dozens, maybe even hundreds of them at this point. Over four years of working for Spark allowed her to take part in the hatching and raising of many orphaned or gifted Pokémon eggs.
But this egg was bizarre in all meanings of the word.
First: she had just finished having a nice friendly battle with that one huge fellow that occasionally accompanied the rambunctious teens who flew around on the hot air balloons (she thinks his name is Cliff? He was built like a goddamn mountain so maybe it was a nickname?). He had done his usual posturing (she had long since learned that anyone wearing an R on their person had a flair for dramatics- it was hilarious) before taking off again- but not after shoving the egg into her arms which had distracted her enough for a quick departure.
Second: the egg had red spots. She had known green and yellow and purple, had several yellow spotted ones in incubation, but she had never seen a red one before. It felt heavy in her arms and cool in the way of an egg not ready to hatch.
Third: Why were the balloon people giving her eggs?
“HEY!” she shouted up at the long departed balloon, before cursing loud enough for Tonka Truck to pop his head out of the window he was sunning himself in and blinked with a deep burr.
“Sorry, Tonks,” she apologized to the Bulbasaur. “But can you believe this? He left his egg child here!”
Scarlet eyes peered at the egg she held out to him, already forgiving her for disturbing his rest as vines trailed out of his bulb to feel along the smooth edges of the egg with a curious murmur.
“Yeah, I though the same too. Haven’t seen an egg with red spots before. I should probably talk to Spark and scramble his brain- hey, can you open the door for me? Thanks!”
--
“I have never seen an egg like this.” Spark scratched his head, looking over the readings on his screen. “It’s slightly denser than some of the others we’ve scanned, but these readings look normal.”
“Huh.” The white-haired Trainer rolled over to the machine on the other side of the small lab space, peering at the egg inside. “We’ve been doing research that the heavier eggs are indicative of a heavier Pokémon, either by type or size. Yet with a new egg group to study, it could make or break the study.”
“It does expand our statistics,” Spark hummed from the computer. “That is, if we can get access to more. I will send a note out to the others in the Team and ask Candela and Blanche to tell theirs as well, maybe we can compile more concrete data. You said you got it from someone in a hot air balloon? It wasn’t a Rocket, were they?”
“Not everyone in a hot air balloon is a Rocket Operative, Spark, we’ve been over this-“
A loud bang shook the entire research outpost, knocking several things off shelves and tables and onto the floor. She swore as a stack of articles scattered across the room, having to hop over them to avoid getting footprints on the sheets as she made her way to the front of the small house.
“Cheese, what have I told you about landing on the roof?!”
She realized her mistake as soon as she shouted out the window, the Charizard fast asleep in a sand bath on the side of the mesa across the way. Her head clonked against the windowsill as she jerked her head back inside, Tonka Truck already at the door with a concerned warble as they both went to investigate the source of the trouble.
It was another hot air balloon. Of course it was. Didn't they know she had research to do?
“So you’re the one causing trouble around here.”
The trainer stared at the unfamiliar woman on the roof for several seconds before a lightbulb went off in her head.
“Oh! You must be- oh, what was it? The one kid with the Cubone told me- Sierra! It’s Sierra, right? Can you not land on my roof? We just fixed it.”
The sneer and the snap of a Pokéball opening evicted another colorful word as the Instinct Trainer lunged back inside the house to find her belt.
--
By the time Arlo showed his face, she had two red-speckled eggs and an inkling of what was going on.
“Look,” she told the scientist as soon as he opened his mouth to do his usual speech. “Let’s cut to the chase and just, hand it to me.”
“What?” Arlo had the audacity to look a bit taken aback as she held her arms out.
“The other two already left their egg children here with me. You don’t need to make a big fuss about battling and pretending to be upset when you lose just as a cover to leave an egg in my care. There’s no way I should be able to sweep your teams with just a Mamoswine. You could, I don’t know, just ask?”
Arlo just stared at her.
“Also there’s a shortage on potions and the nearest Poké Center is literally a day trip away and Cheese’s currently shedding.”
“…Only if you say I won.”
“Yeah yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. Now cough it up. There’s a water bottle in the cooler over there that you’re free to help yourself to. Goodness knows why you wear so many layers in the desert in the middle of the afternoon-“