HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Much to the devastation of a 6-year-old, a light-blue Pokémon went missing after a trip to the arcade.

“I noticed when we were exiting that she didn’t have Piplup,” Jonathan Martin said. “Actually, when we were making our way to the car. I ran back in and went to go see. Asked some of the staff members and no one turned it in.”

This wasn’t just a plushie for Jonathan’s daughter, Lillyana Martin.

“She has been a Pokémon fan through and through,” her dad said. “There is a lot of cuddling. Piplup loves to go to dance parties.”

Lillyana struggled without her favorite stuffed animal.

“She was crying, unconsolably, for a couple of days,” Jonathan said.

Lillyana asked her dad to call police to help find the plushie.

“They reached out to me and asked if I could help out because this Piplup is very, very close to their daughter,” Hampton Police Officer Kai McKinney said. “We really wanted to help answer the call for duty.”

Lillyana’s dad and the officer coordinated a plan to “investigate” the missing animal. The dad secretly purchased a new Piplup, and McKinney recruited officers to role play an investigation to find the Pokémon. Finally, through their detective work, the new Piplup was given to Lillyana.

 “I got Piplup back,” Lillyana said.

“It was awesome,” Jonathan said. “It was great — she is happy to have her Piplup.”

McKinney said he was happy to be able to reconnect the Pokémon with Lillyana. He said this will also show her a positive experience with police in her community.