"They are safe," the scientist replied. "The two of you have a few unusual catches, so we would like to keep an eye on them for a short time."

"I want them back." Aleron stopped and turned to glare at him. "They're mine and I want them back. I don't trust you with them."

"And that is ours," the scientist replied mildly, gesturing to the hatchling. "And we are trusting you with it. A fair trade for the moment, I think. Rest assured, your pokemon are being taken care of." He didn't mention how fiercely the Jolteon was guarding the Eevee egg, or how close the Metagross came to smashing its way free.

Aleron scowled at him, tempted to argue with him further, but she didn't. Instead she went back to the cell, absently calming Ho-oh as he started to fuss at the new person.

She waited until the door was closed to look at Margaret. "Well. This is going to be interesting."

Margaret looked over when Aleron came back, and did a doubletake.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, looking warily at the Ho-oh chick.

"This is what they wanted me to deal with," Aleron said quietly, sitting down across from Margaret. "He was rather unhappy, so I got him to calm down, and he refused to leave." She shrugged, careful not to upset the little bird.

"At least this one isn't trying to kill us," Margaret replied, still watching the hatchling a bit warily."

"Nah, he's good now. He'll behave." Aleron grinned when the little Ho-oh puffed up at that, moving to her lap so he could scold her properly.

"But you know what? He may be a hatchling still but he's strong. Stronger than Vulpix, I think."

"He's a Ho-oh," Margaret replied. "It's like saying Mew is stronger than Espeon. It seems kind of like a given."

"Well, yeah, but even so. Baby pokemon aren't supposed to be this strong. And it's not like we have a lot of experience with baby Legendaries." Aleron absently petted the Ho-oh's feathers back down.

"We have a little experience, though," Margaret pointed out. "Mew was that clingy, too."

"True." Aleron was quiet as she let the Ho-oh settle down in her lap.

"You know, if we get another one I bet we'd have a way out. I can get Ho-oh to blast a way out, and maybe if you can get your hands on a psychic type it can help us find our pokemon so we can grab them and get out."

"That's not a bad plan at all," Margaret replied. "I like that plan." She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "How are we going to get our hands on a psychic-type, though?"

"Maybe they'll do the same thing with you? Have you go calm one down when it hatches?" Aleron shrugged. It made sense to her.

"Maybe," Margaret said. "That would make some sense, I guess." Psychic-types weren't known to be as easily-upset as other types, like fire or fighting, but they weren't like rock- or steel-types, either, so there was a good chance the scientists would piss off a psychic-type.

Aleron nodded. "Now we just have to wait," she said quietly. The Ho-oh had already almost fallen asleep in her lap, quite content to wait there for a while.

Margaret nodded, settling in again. She couldn't help but worry for her pokemon, and wondered where they were.

Although Aleron was glad to have the little Ho-oh in her lap, she worried about all her pokemon. She was fairly sure they were okay, but she didn't like not knowing where they were. And then she started worrying about how many other eggs this place had and where they would be.

She jerked when the door opened a few hours later, a female scientist opened the door. "You're needed," she said to Margaret.

"What for?" Margaret asked warily as she got to her feet. There was no way they were that lucky. Wasn't possible.

The woman glowered. "You're allowed to see your pokemon to affirm that they're fine," she grumbled. "You stay here." Her gaze cut to Aleron when the other trainer made a motion to rise. "Just you." She looked at Margaret again.

Margaret nodded after a moment and walked out of the cell.

"What's the catch?" she asked once the door was closed behind her.

"I said you get to see them, not get close to them." The woman motioned her forward after locking the door again. "Start walking. You'll be fed once you're back in your room."

Margaret hesitated, then nodded. She wanted to make sure her group was alright. She started walking, although she tried to keep track of where they were going, for later reference.

The scientist led her to a hallway with several glass-fronted cells on one side. Margaret's pokemon were in one cell, Aleron's two cells down. And two eggs sat in the cell in between, one of them very faintly red and the other very faintly blue.

Exeggcute was the first to notice Margaret and started bouncing around on top of Metagross. The glass must have been thick, because Margaret couldn't hear the tin-roof sound of the bouncing or the normal sounds from Exeggcute or Metagross, but the little part-grass-type got the attention of Natu and Espeon as well, and they moved over to the glass to see her. Starmie followed a moment later, although it seemed to have been woken up. None of them looked hurt, although the cell was cramped with everyone packed in there with Metagross. Margaret was about to ask if they could be put into a bigger room when she noticed the red and blue eggs in the center room.

"What are those?" she asked warily.