"It was terrifying," Dratini said darkly. He shook his head sadly, as though traumatized, and pretended he was too heartbroken to make eye contact with his captivated audience. (Dratini's so-called audience consisted of one girl. But she tensed and gasped at all the right places, and that was enough for the dragon.)

"Did they hurt you?"

"Oh, the savages had to. I got between them and my trainer, see, and told them they'd have to kill me if they wanted to hurt her." He finally looked up at Emily and sniffled. "The Mightyena didn't care. The pack leader came up and scratched me, right down my face!"

Emily clasped a hand over her mouth. "Oh dear!"

Her attention fueled Dratini's lies and he kept going. "I know! I used Thunder Wave to knock him out, but it takes so much strength to pull that much electricity together--before I could get another shot out, the rest of the pack had gotten to my trainer."

For the briefest moment, confusion flitted across Emily's face. She hadn't realized it was possible to knock a pokemon out with Thunder Wave; as far as she was aware, it only paralyzed her victims. She chalked this up to a misunderstanding on her part. Dratini saw her confusion, though, and hurried onward. He wanted someone to admire him and he wasn't strong enough to earn that on his own, not yet. He hadn't had anyone to talk to since his abandonment. He missed it.

And what else was there to talk about? His life was dull, his skill set was poor, his move pool was limited. If he didn't lie and lie and lie some more, this Emily girl would move on, just like all the rest. So he carried on with the elaborate lies, hoping the grand story would make her forget whatever doubts she had.

"I wrapped myself around one of their legs, and held him off. But without ranged attacks, I couldn't... I was helpless." Dratini lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. "The Mightyena pack... they killed her." Truthfully, he didn't know what had happened to his last trainer. But the truth didn't matter here so Dratini wobbled his lower lip, like he was about to cry at the thought of her. And before Dratini knew what was happening, the girl's arms were wrapped around him, embracing the dragon in a giant ursaring hug. After a moment of hesitation, Dratini leaned into the hug. Did this mean she was his friend now? Was he finally not alone?

Emily pulled back after a moment, hands still touching his blue scales. "You poor, poor dear. You've been through so much." Her eyes were watery and she looked the Dratini up and down. Slowly, she ran a finger down the Dratini's face. She looked for signs of the injury from the pack leader's scratch; wild pokemon's claws were hideous. They could pass all manner of infectious material into wounds they caused. But she looked over the right side of Dratini's face and the left... and found nothing.

"The scratch... Where was it again? Your face, right?"

Dratini tensed. He hadn't been thinking that far ahead when he'd spoken; otherwise he would've said they used some sort of ranged attack, or maybe that the pack leader had stepped on his tail and held him in place--something that didn't leave physical traces. He'd been too preoccupied trying to impress her, trying to win her over with his bravery, to think his story all the way through. Luckily it didn't take him long to come up with another lie to tack onto the last one.

"Yes, right here," he said after a moment, pointing to the right side of his face with the tip of his tail. "My skin is thick, from all my training. I'm an expert fighter, you know." Or at least I will be one day, he thought to himself. He would never admit to that sort of weakness out loud, though. Weaklings didn't have friends. "The Mightyena didn't think it would take much to knock me out so I guess he didn't put much weight behind the attack? Either way, it didn't cut deep." He gulped sadly. He had to veer the conversation back into safer waters, away from this questionable stuff. "So I'm okay... But my trainer..." He heaved a heavy sigh and brushed his tail up against his right eye, feigning wiping away a nonexistent tear.

That won Emily over completely. She nodded sympathetically and embraced him in another hug. "Are you sure you're safe on your own? The pack won't come back for you?"

Excitement shot through Dratini like a bullet. That was it! That was what he was after! An excuse to join with a trainer--so he could legitimately become powerful! But he had to play this just right, so he kept his face neutral. "I haven't thought about it much. I haven't thought about anything except my trainer much, I guess." He sniffled again. "But I don't know. Maybe another trainer... maybe it would be a good idea. Maybe I could avenge her that way."