"Look! It's a Dratini!"

"Cool! Let's catch it!"

Dratini wished it had never come to the surface. It wanted to swim freely, as it had done with its parents. It seemed like so long ago. She would swim and play about in the water with her siblings, her parents watching serenely from above, occasionally flying across the water to create a small wave that would drench them. It was a tranquil life, until the humans came.

Nets and pokéballs in hand, descending from massive crimson semis, the humans poured into the land where her family lived. She had been swimming near the waterfall, and had been spotted quickly by a man with over-large glasses and wearing a white lab coat. He opened a pokéball (something Dratini had never seen before), and out came a Porygon. Curious, she swam to the water's edge, having never seen such a thing before.

"Icy Wind, Porygon!"

A chill wind assaulted the water, and Dratini shivered. Why was this creature making things cold? She didn't like the cold much. It was never cold, not even at night.

Suddenly, an angry cry rose from her mother. She turned to the left, where she had heard the noise, ears twitching slightly. It was all the distraction her soon-to-be captor needed. She felt something bop her on the head lightly, and as she turned to face it, she suddenly found this odd material impeding her vision.

"Porygon, Psychic!"

The net rose up into the air with Dratini inside, glowing a slight magenta hue thanks to the Porygon's attack. Dratini felt a little disoriented; she hadn't flown except for in her parents' tight embraces, and so levitating in the air without their support was frightening her. She cried out, but to no avail. The doors of the blood-red van opened wide, and Dratini was thrust inside by the Porygon's attack. As she cried in pain one final time, the doors of the van closed, and everything she had known---her homeland, so beautiful, so picturesque, so peaceful---suddenly vanished, replaced by a neverending blackness.

The next thing she remembered was being released into this pond, where she had laid ever since. Some other water-type pokémon occasionally swam about, but they usually left her alone. She was different, and thus she was something to be feared, something to be ignored.

Now, she sat at the bottom of the pond, as she usually did. She was tired of this existence. She wanted to see her homeland and her family.

She wanted out.

Dratini suddenly felt something change within her. A dazzling, brilliant light surrounded her, and she felt her body twisting and changing shape. It didn't hurt, though---it was more like a warm, fuzzy tingle. She almost was saddened when the light vanished. Looking down, she realized that she had changed into a Dragonair.

Her parents had educated their children on their stages of evolution. As a Dragonair, she knew she could float in mid-air---like her parents did, with their wings. She could change the weather, she had been told. She stretched her memory, but nothing else floated into her thoughts. Ever curious, Dratini---no, Dragonair---began the ascent to the surface. As she slowly picked up speed, she plunged out of the water ever so gracefully. All the trainers nearby stopped to admire the radiant, yet confused beauty, floating in mid-air.

Then, they reached for their Pokédexes, bait, rocks, and pokéballs.

Dragonair, frightened, let her instincts take over. She flew higher, escaping the reach of many of the rocks and pokéballs.

One inspired trainer, however, had a slingshot on him. He loaded the rock into the slingshot, took aim, and fired. The rock connected with Dragonair's middle, and she recoiled in pain. Why were they assaulting her? Why were they constantly after her?

Fed up, she circled in the air, ready to fight. She never knew how to fight, but she remembered that she had accidentally hurt her brother, once, by wrapping around him too tightly. Angrily, she soared downwards and wrapped her long body around the frightened boy, squeezing him tightly. The other trainers screamed and either ran or pedaled away. Dragonair's Wrap attack, however, was hurting her as well. The wound from the rock pained more than she thought, and exerting herself was painful. She released the boy, and he fell to the ground, gasping. He quickly scrambled to his feet, though, and fled in terror.

Dragonair wanted to rest and recover her wounds, but there seemed to be no end in sight. Safari Zone rangers soon arrived on the scene, in red jeeps. Memories assaulted Dragonair, and she recalled being pulled along in a net and thrust into a red contraption. Although a semi was far different than a jeep, poor Dragonair associated the two as being one and the same. Enraged, she floated up into the air once more, and the ball-like object around her neck began to glow, swirls appearing within it. Dragonair floated even higher as angry thunderclouds began to fill the sky. The puzzled rangers watched the S-shape of the Dragonair twist about in the air. Every twist was accompanied by a rumble of thunder.

Lightning flashed as the dragon cried out. Rain erupted from the skies, and many of the rangers ran for their jeeps. Some called upon their pokémon. A Growlithe tried to scorch the dragon with a Flamethrower, but the torrential rains now falling doused it before it could reach her. A Nidoking tried a Poison Sting attack, but Dragonair, obliviously, managed to twist at all the right times. Several other attempts were made by a wide variety of types, but no pokémon could reach the dragon. The ground was even giving up the fight, becoming squishy and muddy underneath the rangers' feet. Those that had remained to try and restrain the Dragonair now ran for their drenched vehicles, recalling their faithful pokémon.

Officer Jenny ran about Fuchsia City on her motorcycle, ushering the residents inside their homes. She told them no details, and they made little fuss. The nearby beach was vacated, and the Pokémon Center was filled with put-out trainers with no place to go. This was where they were to ride out the situation, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy insisted, and told them little else. Rumors ran rampant, but few held even a tiny kernel of truth.

Back in the Safari Zone, Dragonair screeched in pain and anger. The ponds, including the one she had made her temporary residence, now were overflowing their banks. She only wanted to go home to her family, nothing else.

A teenaged boy in the Pokémon Center gritted his teeth in sudden pain. A headache was coming on, he realized.

I want my family! I want my home! I want out!

The voices. Somebody---no, something---was in danger. Reaching for the pokéballs on his belt, he released his faithful friend, an Espeon. It seemed to be wincing slightly as it rubbed against its friend's legs.

"You hear it too, don't ya, Spee?" An affirmative purr came from the purple creature, and the boy sighed.

"I guess we'll just have to help."