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A beautiful, calm morning rose over a sweetly pastoral scene: a farm, complete with a red barn and vast grazing pastures for Mareep. The farmer who owned this beautiful milieu pulled on his overalls and hat, as he did every day, and walked outside. His expression was anything but peaceful, however, for the serene scene belied a devastating storm last night. He just had to survey the damage and ensure anything essential was in one piece.
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He quickly discovered that the gated pasture was empty of Mareep, the gate hopelessly broken beneath a heavy oak branch. He leaned one hand against the damaged tree, taking a brief interlude to weigh his options. “Where could they have all gone?” he asked wonderingly.
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A Mareep plummeted out of the sky, crushing the poor farmer beneath its weight.
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“What in the—” he managed to gasp out beneath the giant ball of fluff. He looked up. Two more Mareep were stranded in the branches, unfortunately caught by their fluff.
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“Mareep?”
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“Thank you!” Xiura said, waving to the cab driver who dropped her off at the farm. She was traveling in the area and had seen an interesting job posting by the local farmer’s market, asking for help finding some stray Mareep. Fitted in a green flannel button-down and some denim jeans and boots, she was ready to tackle the job.
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She knocked on the front door of the white wooden house on the property. An older man with a dark beard opened the door, his right arm in a sling.
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“Oh!” Xiura exclaimed in surprise, before collecting herself. “Good morning! I’m Xiura Balfaltin. I’m here to help with the Mareep.” She paused, trying not to let her eyes trail rudely over to his presumably broken arm.
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“Ah, I’m so glad to see you. Thank you for coming, and please forgive me for not inviting you in. This matter is of gravest importance.” He led Xiura over to the gated pasture nearby; it looked like the gate had been newly replaced, and only three Mareep were in there. “The storm last night was terrible; a wind-blown branch broke the gate and all the Mareep escaped. I'm expecting another helper, but please, if you could recover th—”
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They passed under a tree, and the man flinched, looking up into the branches carefully. “Are you all right?” Xiura ventured.
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“Er, yes, now as I was saying—”
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“MAREEP!”
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A particularly broad ball of white fluff fell out of the tree, landing directly on the farmer. “Not again!” he groaned.
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Xiura was briefly frozen in confusion but started to push the Mareep off the poor farmer. "W-why are your Mareep in trees?" she gasped with exertion.

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