At about 12:25 PM in our time, a white streak slashed the sky. It's a Mareep, freefalling his way to the Pokemon world. "Wheeeeeeeee!" He cried, his back facing the ground. He did cartwheels and backflips and frontflips all the way down, not knowing of the lake below him...
Sure enough, like a nuclear explosion, he made fast and merciless contact with the crystalline water, causing a jaw-dropping tsunami that covered all the Duckletts, Starlies, Basculins, and even the local Vaporeon swimming there. As for Mareep himself, he had dove in so fast that he shot deeper and deeper into the lake, like a bullet. He went in so deep the blues around him turned to blacks, before he finally stirred up a cloud of mud. Then everything was quiet, as if he went deaf. (Thanks to the roar of the water around him, it certainly felt like it) Mareep simply saw the glimmer of the surface above him, possibly hours away from him as if it was just a sapphire in a cave wall. But he couldn't wait hours-his lungs started begging for a fresh breath. He began to paddle towards the sapphire surface-in vain, thanks to his stubby legs. Then he saw several lights above his eyes. He didn't know it yet but Mareep had been found by a school of Lanturns; they were fat periwinkle fish creatures with yellow masks and fin bottoms. They had lights on their heads just like anglerfish. Then mareep felt cold, rubbery skin beneath him; it was a Wailord, a gigantic whale creature, and it was annoyed with him for invading on their territory. Wailord positioned itself so Mareep was right on top of its blowhole, then swept him up to the surface. And the moment the tip of Mareep's nose felt chilly air, Wailord emptied the water from its body in a powerful manner that sent Mareep hurtling into the sky.
The ground was much harder than the water, as Mareep felt his spine explode. Worst of all, thanks to those stupid stubby feet he couldn't upright himself. He wriggled around desperately, knowing that he looked ridiculous to an outsider. Then a force rolled him over on his side, making him able to stand upright. When Mareep looked around he saw a blue-faced cat covered in black fur. His star-tipped tail lashed, and his yellow eyes were fixed on Mareep. "Hey-o." He said bluntly. "Hey-o." Mareep replied. "Haven't seen you around." The cat tilted his head. "Mareep usually live in the Arcane Area." Mareep's eyes squinted. "There's MORE of me?!" "Uh." The cat read Mareep's offended-confused expression. "We haven't met properly. I'm Link. Link the Luxio." Mareep's jaws went agape. What's my name?! Oh God I don't have a name! Frantic, Mareep went around in uneasy circles, screaming "I DON'T HAVE A NNNNAAAAAAMMMMEEE!" Then he smacked, hard, into something heavy. It was a light purple round thing with its eyes on its sides, covered in spines and red spots. When Mareep uncurled, the thing was staring right at him, furious. Within an eye blink, the thing gave chase. "COME BACK HERE, PUNK!" It shouted. "Punk." Mareep's ears picked up. "Punk the Mareep...I like it." Then his tailtip felt the thing's dry, rapidly moving skin. It was closing in. Terrified, he decided to burst ahead of the critter; when it drew near again, Mareep closed his eyes, lifted his back legs into the air, and kicked as strongly as he could. When he opened his eyes and turned around, he saw a purple, red-spotted, spiky disk launch into the air, yelping.
As Mareep smiled in relief, Link came up again. "That was amazing!" He wagged his tail. "Kicking away Whirlipede like that. Usually he slams into every single Pokemon in his path for days on end!" "I've decided on my name." Mareep didn't let the trickle of pride disrupt his train of thought. "I'm Punk." "Well, Punk, you're something special." Link instantly accepted Punk's new name. "So, uh, the Pokemon world is...well, it kind of relies on friendship, so...want to be friends?" Punk's face brightened in amusement. "Sure, why not?" And they shook paws. "Now then...what's the Arcane Area?" "Oh, right. Let's get you there." Link padded forward, past a big, blobby frog-like being. At the sight of him Link went faster, but the frog-thing gave chase. Thankfully Link outran him. It was Punk's turn now, and he scurried. But the frog saw him and started lumbering towards him. Frightened, Punk fled, outrunning him as well. He was only a hair's length away from ramming Link. "Who was that?" Punk asked. "That was Seismitoad. He's a TOTAL jerk. Even more so than Whirlipede." Link's ears flattened. "He thinks he owns that part of the path, and he's happy to clean the clock of whoever thinks otherwise. I can't believe the Tympoles idolize him."
They climbed a big hill, meeting a Psyduck and Vaporeon. Link informed Punk of each Pokemon they found. "This is Verdant Court, a sister area of the Meadow Zone." He explained. "The Arcane Area is beyond all this. They just repaired the bridge a couple days ago." Then, when they came to the top of the hill, where there was a cave and a tall ledge, Punk saw a beautiful creature. Its underneath was a pale yellow. The ears were tall and straight. A yellow flower sat atop its head, and it had four legs with stony gray hooves. Its overcoat was a lovely dappled orange-brown, and it glowed in the warm light as the creature danced and played. Punk was completely blown away by her beauty. "Who...is THAT?" He sputtered. Link moved his eyes in the creature's direction. "That? That's just Leap. She's a Deerling." "Leap~" Punk said softly. Link seemed to read his expression. "Let's just move on before you turn into a statue." He gave his friend a small shock to get him out of his trance. "You can make your advances on her later, Romeo." His eyes glazed as they walked over the bridge. "We're almost there."
"I like that big tree." Punk looked admiringly at the tree in the center of the grass. "They grow berries, but I don't trust 'em too much. They might let out a Stinkberry." Link's nose wrinkled. "Purple berries with horrible stenches. Even the happiest Pokemon get into bad moods if they're in proxy of one of those snotballs." "Oh." Punk looked at the big steps of land that led to a brighter light. "Is that the Arcane Area?" "Yep." Link nodded, and they headed up the stairs together.
The Arcane Area was lovely. Pastel flower patches were walked on softly by Buffoulant, big buffalo-like animals, and stacks of blue Lotads. A Charmander sailed the skies brilliantly, like an orange balloon. In front of Link and Punk were, as Link said, more Mareep. They moved around drowsily. Smaller Pokemon chased each other with glee. "This is supposed to be my home?" Punk was displeased by the slowness of his kind. "It's the sun that's doing it." Link looked distant. "It beats down on their wool. I bet it's like an oven underneath that stuff. But you should see 'em in the winter." Link yawned. "But...they have the...ability...to make you t-tired...too..." Without another word he plopped down on his side in the warm grass. The Mareep saw him and fell asleep all the same. Punk just rolled his eyes and explored the Arcane Area.
The area was circular, with shallow ponds and a big lake a little left from the center. The land beyond the lake was bordered off by a gigantic patch of aquatic plants, and it was inhabited mostly by Basculin, intimidating little piranhas. Punk turned around and decided to check out the other side, with the soccer net. It seemed that most Pokemon hung around here, including the Charizard from earlier and a huge deer-like animal. A funny orange Pokemon with a red-brown crest and yellow "pants" was fiercely guarding the net. Beyond this part of the area, Punk could see a tiny pink and yellow kitten examine...something, but he couldn't tell because a ring of rock served as a picket fence, which obscured his view. He needed to go over to the kitten himself. When he did, all he saw was a small black hole, in which the kitten's tail disappeared as it giggled. He looked in the hole and saw nothing. Curious, he crouched down and began to stuff himself into the hole. Although he definitely didn't have as much space to move around as the kitten did, he was able to fit.
The tunnel was pitch black, and Punk could barely feel anything but stone. But he still wanted dearly to know what was at the end of the hole. The silence made his wool tingle. Suddenly, he heard somebody shout his name, making him bang his head against the tunnel's roof. "That HAD to have been Link."He gulped. "And he's probably not happy I sneaked off to this tunnel."Because the tunnel was so small, he couldn't turn around and make sure. "Link?" He called. But there was no response. "Might've just been hearing things." He mumbled. But soon after, he really did hear something. It sounded like hundreds of tiny voices mewling...for help. Punk did his best to speed up.