You find a Mimikyu in the underdark, alone and injured. They appear to wear a rag fastened into the rough shape of a Riolu. You’re wary, as it is not the first Pokémon you’ve run into down here. Unnaturally aggressive lot down here, after all. Except…they aren’t.

Tendrils of darkness extend out from under their disguise, coiling threateningly in the air between you both. A voice, a light, high-pitched voice, echoes in your mind as if from another realm.

Leave. Please.

You glance closer; the disguise makes it impossible to tell on vision alone, but the voice sounded…frightened and unsure. A rare thing, not having to defend yourself on sight.

You offer calm words, words of peace. You offer to heal. The tendrils recede, and a feeling of confusion enters your mind, before a tentative nod comes from the creature in front of you.

You expend some of your precious healing supplies as the Mimikyu eyes you warily. You respond in kind, readying your wings to take off. You never need to, as you and the Mimikyu make an uneasy alliance, agreeing to help each other. You ask for help to traverse the unknown underground; they ask for help to find their way home. They don’t belong in the Underdark.

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You share many adventures. Many battles. You get to know them and their wary shell hides an innocent, playful personality underneath. They share their insecurities on forming bonds, as their Fairy and Ghost powers and reputation push most folks, Pokémon or otherwise, away. You share your sense of lost honor, and your goal to retain it by helping to right a great wrong done to your homeland. How, no matter what you’ve done, it hasn’t been enough.

Surprisingly, you become good friends. You had traveled alone for necessity’s sake, but, against your better judgment, you let someone in that appeared to be going through something similar to yourself. Alone. Scared. Now together.

Your journey continues on, but the Mimikyu has a surprise for you. They tell you to wait outside the tent you share to bunker down at night the next morning. You wait patiently, laughing as they tell you to cover your eyes as well. You made sure the path was clear and neither of you were in danger as you played along. Eventually, they tell you to open your eyes.

Surprise initially hits you; the tattered Riolu you had grown used to was no more. Instead, a colorful mask and fake beak adorned the Mimikyu’s front, with tattered cloth extending to the sides as it shimmied back and forth in the shape of makeshift wings. Suddenly, a feeling of something you have not felt in what feels like forever hits you; fondness.

You rush forward and hug them, and you feel the wings you saw before curling around you.

You were, after all, their favorite Pokémon now.