A Messy Array of Stories, AUs, Covers and Many More

Prologue 1: Childhood of the Two Masks

It started simply enough. With a boy and a Pokémon.

A young child was struggling to climb up the hill, but soon fell back down as he sniffled. "Aw man, it hurts..."

His legs were smeared with mud, and tears were falling. The sun was setting and yet he still couldn't get himself out of the hole. He had told his sister he would be back home soon, but at this point, he would be out here all day... and the Dreaded Den was just close by... 

He gripped his ogre mask over his face, the black-haired child trying to psych himself up to try one more time. "I-I can do it! I gotta get home now!"

 He knew his family had warned him to stay away from the mountain, but he had always been careful not to stay out too late. 

Well, today happened to be the exception, because a small Pokémon had caught his eye. 

Said Pokémon was now trying to nudge him up as well with its huge tail, even when its own wound was still healing from the thorn it had accidentally stepped on. When the child had tried to help and pull it out, the force had caused both to topple over off a cliff. Thankfully, the soft bushes underneath had broken their fall, but it left them stranded for the night, and that was actually scaring him a bit. He didn't know what to do; he knew there were dangerous Pokémon out in the wild that roamed at night, and right now all he had for company was a Sentret, which, if he remembered his reading correctly, did not have the best attack or defense stats.

The child inhaled, and small fingers gripped whatever he could find before starting to pull himself up again, even as his arms shook, not used to carrying his entire weight despite the boost from the Pokémon. Once he was sure he could pull himself up again, he slowly began to make his way up, one painful grip at a time. By now, the sun had completely sunken away, leaving the Miniors to roam high above while the Noctowls and friends began to awaken. 

He began to panic a bit, picking up the pace as much as he could. This was bad, this was REALLY bad, he HAD to get hom-

His hand slipped, and his body began to fall again, gravity pulling him down...

Until a spiky club made of plants suddenly appeared and lunged out. His hands instinctively reached out and grabbed the club, his eyes still trying to adjust to the darkness. "I-Is there anyone there? T-There's a Pokémon down there who needs help too!"

The club then retracted, pulling him up as well and setting him on the ground gently before a blur passed him and jumped down. 

He blinked, trying to reorient himself. Was it just him, or had that blur been green?

But soon enough, the blur returned, setting the Sentret down on the ground as well. "Ponio, grah pon!"

The Sentret made its own noises, even nuzzling the creature. His eyes finally adjusted to the faint moonlight above, and yellow met orange. The Pokémon (it was green all over minus its face, so maybe a Grass-type?) smiled at him, those star-shaped eyes bright while it said, "Grah grah!"

He had never seen this Pokémon before, but... "T-Thank you for saving me! I-I really appreciate it!"

"Ponio?!" It seemed to retract a bit, and with a start, he realized he was still wearing the mask. 

"O-Oh, 'm sorry if I startled ya!" He apologized while taking it off, revealing the purple hair underneath his black and his yellow eyes. "I-I'm Suguri, but Sis calls me Kiki or Sugu, c-cause my other name is Kieran."

"Yo yo!" Its eyes widened, but it didn't seem too scared of him anymore as it walked closer to him and nuzzled his cheek, and oh, that felt nice!

"Awww, I should be the one thanking you!" He said. "Wowzers, you're so cute!"