Sixteenth Flight. [audio/action for travel party.]

[newberktown]

[Among the background bustle--familiar sounds for anyone who's set foot in a Pokemon Center--there's a small whine from an Eevee, almost like a prompt for Hiccup to speak. After another second or so, he does.]

Uh... Has anyone ever, uhmm. [There's another pause. How should he put this...] Lost...half their pokemon? [He clears his throat before continuing, quicker this time like an excuse.] I still have all their pokeballs, and those are registered to all of them still, according to the people at the Center. But I can't find them anywhere...

[Hiccup sighs, and there's a subtle clunk as he moves his hand to the 'gear to shut it off. Before he does, though, there's one last mumble.]

I can't believe this is happening again...

Comments

[audio]

[captainash]

You didn't?

[He's not judging, but.]

Were those you say acting strangely? Secretively? Spending time together even though they normally wouldn't?

[audio]

[newberktown]

I...left to go check something in the Dragon's Den. I wasn't really expecting them to leave.

[Obviously.]

Not really... Or not that I noticed. Everything seemed pretty normal, to me.

[audio]

[captainash]

Maybe they didn't leave of their own will.

[He hopes not, though.]

I'd offer to help look for them, but since there's no place called the Dragon's Den around here I doubt I'd find anything.

[audio]

[newberktown]

Someone thought they might have been stolen... But then why not take their pokeballs?

[Not like they could all have been nabbed individually, if they'd gone out... That'd just be extremely bad luck.]

Thanks anyway... But yeah, not much to be done, if you're not in Blackthorn...

[audio]

[captainash]

It could be that they didn't have the time to look for them.

[But surely the ability to recall Pokémon that are fighting back would be worth a few minutes?]

Well, if they somehow find themselves near Ecruteak I could always tell you. What are their species?

[audio]

[newberktown]

It wouldn't be easy to take them all... Er, give me a minute.

[Because now he's got to go through and see for sure which ones have left--when he decided to make his situation known, he'd just had a general idea of things. It's a little relieving to see that he hasn't lost quite as many as he'd thought. Some of the dent had been caused by recent releases.]

Looks like a Kabuto, Blitzle, Treecko, Vespiquen... Feraligatr and Staraptor, Lapras and Aerodactyl... An Igglybuff, Charmander, Larvitar... An Ampharos and a Flaaffy, and a Carracosta. [He exhales, double-checking his mental list. Nope, fourteen was right. Dang.] They'll all be registered under 'Hiccup Haddock'.

[audio]

[captainash]

...Ouch, that's a lot more than I thought.

[Which means it's also a lot worse than he thought.]

Most of those are not very common, at least. They'll be easier to recognize if I see them.

[audio]

[newberktown]

Mmn. [Hiccup's not going to argue with that.] Really, thanks. Hopefully I can find them before they get too far away from Blackthorn, though...

[audio]

[captainash]

That shouldn't be a problem for most, but the three that can fly could have gotten surprisingly far.

[audio]

[newberktown]

Yeah... [They certainly did have an advantage, but...] Kite should stick with Key, though--she's the Feraligatr. And my Aerodactyl might stick close to my Lapras... At least, I think he would. Gabbee's the real problem. She's not too friendly with my other pokemon.

[audio]

[captainash]

I can't imagine anything flying off with a Feraligatr or a Lapras; there is that. But if any of your remaining Pokémon can also fly, I'd suggest sending them out to find Gabbee as quickly as possible.