Darkness preened at the attention, puffing out his chest proudly. "Yes." Yes he did like compliments. Keep it up. Walter just continued to comb his fingers through Darkness's feathers, rather than verbally praise him.
"He was given to me." By Team Rocket, but he's not supposed to reveal that. "He was a Murkrow back then, but I gave him a stone that caused him to evolve. He's a very good Pokemon." Walter murmured the last part but Darkness heard him anyway. The bird crowed, preening Walter's collar in lieu of his hair.

Meanwhile, Assumption beamed. A new friend! He cheered but didn't try to surge forward and grab Torch Dragon, hopping on the spot to celebrate instead. "Yay! We can hang out all the time too, because our trainer's are friends!"