Nina curtsied, hands splayed by her hips to imitate a dress.

This was part of an officially released guide by the Pokemon League on what to do if one were to encounter a Dragon. The document itself was fairly anemic, but it did contain some essential information. Like how to greet a Dragonite without incurring its ire.

Dragon Types were inherently regal, and each species had their own distinct cultures and behavior. The Dragonite line in particular were a stickler for good manners and respect.

Nina maintained her curtsy, trying hard not to fall over from how slippery her feet were. And desperately praying that the boffins over at the Pokemon League knew what they were talking about.

She kept it up until the Dragonair before her made a noise of approval, tacitly permitting the girl to raise her head and meet its gaze. Nina could feel an immense pressure as she looked into the eyes of the majestic being. Seeing sprites on a computer screen could hardly compare to the sheer oppressive aura of a real life Dragon.

“My apologies for intruding upon your abode,” began Nina. The Dragonair nodded to indicate that she understood human speech. “I came here out of curiosity because I wish to make friends with your children,” she explained, gesturing towards the half dozen or so Dratinis bundled around their mother.

“Not for any ulterior motives,” she added quickly. “I’m too young to be allowed to train any Pokemon, unfortunately. It is simply that I’ve adored your kind from a very young age and have always dreamt about playing with a Dratini.”

Nina moved to unclip her Berry Pouch, being careful to make slow deliberate movements so as not to alarm the Dragon matriarch.

The Dragonair tensed, as she observed the strange human girl who had barged into its nest. Only relaxing when she emptied the contents of the pouch on the cavern floor to reveal a colorful array of Berries.

Nina carefully stepped back and watched as the Dragonair slithered forwards, sniffing at her offering and sampling a Berry before she cried out in approval. The noise she made was beautifully haunting, like a whale’s song.

Dragonair turned around, nodding at her progeny to allow her permission before moving back to her little nesting spot. However, the Dratini all looked wary, too scared to approach the stranger. All except one that was.

“Hey little guy…” Nina gently greeted the curious Dratini who bravely came closer. “Actually, are you a boy or a girl? I can’t tell.”

“Tiin.” It cried.

“Hmm… How about this?” Nina held out her hands. “Right hand for boy and left hand for girl.”

The Dratini booped her right hand, the first contact with the baby Dragon’s snout nearly making Nina squeal.

“Boy it is then. No wonder you’re so handsome. Go on, I brought a whole bunch of Berries with me just for your family. Feel free to pick the ones that you like.

“Tiiin!” It squealed, before circling around in a happy little dance, lowering its head to sniff at the Berries and sampling a few of them.

Nina watched in amusement as Dratini made different faces at different Berries. He looked intrigued when tasting an Oran, crinkling his face when biting into an Aspear, gagging at Lum, before eyes widening and making a happy little noise at Bluk Berries.

“Seems like my guy here has a bit of a sweet tooth.”

Upon seeing that their sibling was unharmed, the rest of the Dratini also approached, each tussling to try out the colorful little fruits that the little human girl brought in.

Nina chuckled. “No need to fight. I’ve got more where that came from,” she said as she unclipped another Berry pouch and emptied its contents.

That was the last of Nina’s berries. Not that it mattered, she had accomplished her ultimate goal of coming to the Safari Zone. There was literally nothing else she would rather use the Berries on. If anything, she regretted giving out so much over the past few days when she should have saved most of them for this moment.

Nina giggled while watching the curious little Dratinis sample the myriad of flavors in fascination. Their giddiness reminded Nina of children in a candy store, wide eyes gleaming at the dizzyingly colorful selection on offer.

“Star.”

“Poli.”

Upon hearing the familiar cries, Nina was reminded of her companions who got her here in the first place. “Oh, sorry guys. I got too excited. Come here, feel free to share with Dratinis.” Nina reached into the water and brought Staryu close to the Berries. Poliwag could walk on his own.

“Tiin…” Cried the first Dratini that approached her. His mouth was holding a Bluk Berry which he offered to Nina.

“Aww… aren’t you a sweet little prince.” Nina gracefully accepted the gift and reached out with her other hand to scritch the back of Dratini’s head wing/fin/ear thing. Dratini purred in delight as Nina took in the unique sensation of the little Dragon Pokemon.

Dratini reminded Nina of eels. Not just in terms of appearance, but also in terms of feel. Nina could see tiny scales covering their skin upon close inspection, but they could hardly be felt as her fingers simply slid across the little Dragon from how slippery he was. There seemed to be a thin layer of mucous membrane covering the Pokemon to help with his movement and keep his body moist.

Nina lost herself in the ecstasy of finally being able to interact with her favorite Pokemon when a buzzing sensation on her hip knocked her out of her stupor.

“Oh shoot!” Exclaimed Nina. “Sorry, buddy. I’ll be right back with you.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The buzz was actually the timer on her Pokegear going off. She had set it as a reminder to check in with her guardians.

Nina grabbed her device to do just that, only to realize that she forgot to reply to her messages from earlier.

In response to her notice, Stephen simply replied: “Okay,” with a thumbs up emoji.

Meanwhile, Kumiko wrote a whole essay on how dangerous it was to stray away from the group, along with a whole bunch of safety precautions and ending with: “Make sure to use the SOS function on your Pokegear if anything were to happen at all. I don’t care if you’re being paranoid or not. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

The first thing Nina did was send out a ping on her location to indicate that she was still alive. Then she drafted a simple reply to assure Kumiko that she would be careful. It was actually kind of impressive that the Pokegear was still connected even deep in an enclosed space like this cavern.

As Nina was typing, she noticed a little white fin obstructing part of her vision. She turned her head to find that Dratini number one had snuggled up to her and was looking curiously at her Pokegear.

“Hey there, handsome. This nifty little device is a Pokegear. Do you like it?”

“Tin tin?”

Nina smiled at the curious little pokemon and rubbed her nose against his, much to Dratini’s delight as he giggled at the contact.

“I can die happy now!” Thought Nina. She wouldn’t even mind if Arceus took her soul back right this instance. Her lifelong goal had now been achieved. All the pain and suffering of existence had been worth it for this one moment.

“A Pokegear is a human invention. We’re not powerful like pokemon, so we use devices like these to keep in touch with other humans through the Pokenet. Here, let me show you something cool.”

Nina pulled up a video she had downloaded on her Pokegear introducing the Safari Zone and its different biomes.

Dratini’s eyes practically glistened at the moving pictures and catchy tune coming out of the strange contraption, having never seen anything like it before.

“This here is a video about the Safari Zone. Do you know what the Safari Zone is?”

“Tin?”

“The Safari Zone is your home, you silly.” Nina giggled. “That’s the name of the area where you’re living in right now. See this lake? That’s just a short walk from here. Though I’m sure you can find a way to swim there as well. Or at least Staryu seems to think so.”

Dratini number one dazzled at the strange new sights. “Either this one is recently born, or his mother has been holding him back from venturing out.” It was hard to blame the Dragonair for being overprotective. Nina did not even want to imagine the frenzy that a wild Dratini would cause.

Eventually, some of the other Dratini also got curious and slithered beside their sibling to check on what was so interesting, prompting the others to pile in as well. For a brief moment in time, Nina was covered in cute little Dragon eels and she was the happiest little girl in the world.

The moment did not last, however, as some of the other Dratini’s got bored and wandered away. At some point, Staryu and Poliwag, being the competitive little brats that they were, challenged the Dratini to a race around the cavern pool.

A couple of the Dratini actually took up the challenge, Nina and the rest staying on the shore cheered each of them on. Then, Nina was guided further into the nest where the Dratinis showed off some of their prized possessions, mostly consisting of pretty looking rocks and crystals that they must have picked up in the nearby tunnels. Nina swooned at how cute the little babies were.

However, she also found skeletal remains of Pokemon among the pile. One of the Dratini had a habit of collecting Pidgey skulls judging by how neatly arranged they were. And Nina dared not ask which of them it was.

Nina spent over an hour with the Dragon family, completely forgetting the time until she received a lengthy, anxiety-riddled message from Kumiko. After sending another ping and reassuring Kumiko that she was on her way back, Nina sighed.

“Sorry guys, I have to go now.”

The Pokemon all moaned in despair.

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll try to come back tomorrow if I can. In the meantime, my guardian… That is, my equivalent of Dragonair is worried and wants me to go back.”

Nina then turned to her original two companions. “Sorry guys, can you help me get back to the forest? You can come right back if you want to continue playing. I can find my own way back to the lake.”

As Nina began stepping away from the nest, she felt a force constricting one of her legs. Looking down, she saw Dratini number one wrapped around her ankle, staring up at her with teary eyes.

Nina bent down and booped Dratini on his nose. “I’m sorry, buddy. I really have to go now. I promise I’ll try to come back tomorrow.”

Dratini fervently shook his head. “Tini tin tin.” He pleaded.

The little guy must have said something outrageous because Dragonair called out with a stern “Drag!”

Dratini turned around to face his mother. “Tin! Tin tin tin. Tini tin tin!”

Dragonair growled, before closing her eyes briefly then opening up to focus an intense stare at Nina.

Nina could feel the blood drain from her face instantly, cold sweat permeating her skin. She struggled to breath as an oppressive aura invaded deep into her core. For the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to be a mouse cornered by a cat.

After what felt like an eternity, Dragonair let out a snort and gave a curt nod to Nina. “What… What just happened?!” Thought Nina. Her mind still reeling from the harrowing experience.

Whatever happened, it seemed to have made Dratini happy as it let out a cry and looked at Nina with a cheerful expression.

“I… I don’t understand Dratini. I already said I couldn’t stay here.”

Dratini shook his head. “Tini tin tin.” He then reached out and touched his nose against Nina’s Pokegear.

Nina’s head spun, trying to make sense of what the little Dragon was trying to tell her. “Are you saying… You want to come with me?”

“Dra!” He cried, bobbing his head up and down.

“I…” Nina’s legs turned jelly, succumbing to gravity as she sat down on the floor to compose herself.

A million thoughts raced through her head, but the most pressing ones were matters of practical concern. Rearing a Dragon was difficult work. Would Dratini be happy in their little apartment, or would her father need to spend money to rent space in a specialist ranch.

Then there was the matter of clean water. Nina lived in Cerulean City, the Water City, so that shouldn’t be too difficult to obtain. But would it be fair to Dratini to constrain him in his Pokeball until Nina deemed it safe to release him?

And given how rare Dragon Types were, Pokemon feed specific to Dragons were sold at a premium, another financial burden she would be forcing upon Patrick. With Leanette undergoing rehab, Nina had been the one handling the groceries and other household expenses over the past year, she knew better than anyone their family’s budgetary constraints.

Evolving him into a Dragonite was a matter of course. Nina’s silly preferences weren’t grounded on any rationale anyway. However, that left the matter of her age. It wouldn't be fair to hold Dratini back for another four years when clearly the little guy was eager to go out and explore the world.

“I don’t think you fully understand, Dratini…”

“Tin?”

“I’m too young to train Pokemon. If you go with me, you’ll have to wait another four years before we can properly train. That means another four years before you can evolve. Are you really okay with that?”

Dratini tilted her head, still staring at Nina with those naive, innocent eyes.

Nina turned to Dragonair. “You understand right? I don’t want to hold Dratini back. I’m worried I won’t be able to treat him right.”

Dragonair huffed and jerked her head, simply responding with an indifferent cry.

Nina looked at the Dragonair in disbelief. It seemed the elder Dragon was recusing herself from the situation, leaving the future of her son entirely in his own metaphorical hands.

Nina looked back at Dratini and lowered her head in guilt. She couldn’t do it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but she was simply too much of a coward to take it.

As if reading her thoughts, Dratini let out a sad moan, lowering his head in disappointment. Then, to reassure Nina, he reached out and booped her in the nose.

Nina’s lips formed a weak smile in spite of herself. She reciprocated the affection with a boop of her own. Dratini giggled, immediately retaliating with another boop before receiving another one in return. They went back and forth like that for a little bit until Nina burst out laughing like a crazy person. Her voice reverberated throughout the entire cavern.

The girl shut her eyes and took in a deep breath.

“Fuck it!”

If this was what fate had in store for her then she would simply grab it by the neck and take it one step at a time.

Nina opened her eyes, and looked into Dratini’s with a determined gaze. “Dratini. I still don’t know if I’ll be able to do right by you. But what I can promise you is my maximum effort. No matter what happens, no matter the hardship, I will do my best to make you happy. And if one day you find me lacking, say the word and I will personally break your Pokeball and escort you back to your family.”

A tense silence descended upon the cave.

“So, Dratini… Would you be willing to be my partner and explore the world with me?”

“Dra!” Replied the happy little Dragon.