Say hello to Maria, the jolly but quick-tempered flaaffy. Okay, so when I read that you could get a Mareep encounter at Route 32, I decided to test my luck and see if I could get one by the patch of tall grass accessible to the player before entering Falkner's gym. I only had Palma, 2 birds, a Beedrill named Queenie, a Zubat named Sonnia, and a Rattata named Risa. So adding an ellectric type pokemon would have been amazing... You know what I got instead? A freaking Bellsprout.
Nothing wrong with Bellsprout, but I already had Palma, and I wasn't gonna take another grass-type to the freaking flying-type gym. It wasn't until MUCH LATER that I had the opportunity to finally get a Flaaffy on my team. It was at the end of Route 42, so I used Repels and surfed to the end of the route before going to Cianwood's gym. Maria was perfect for capturing lower-level encounters with Thunder Wave, plus she was more of a support Pokémon, chipping away or paralyzing opponents during tough gyms. Kitsune and her dealt with the ice gym with no problems, and she prevented a few deaths at both the Team Rocket hideout and at the radio tower.

⋆.ೃ࿔⛈ ݁ ˖*༄˚⋆°•☁︎
Backstory
Once upon a time, Maria was a happy mareep that lived with an elderly grandma in Mahogany Town. Their house was massive since the grandma had many children and grandchildren who would visit her every month. Maria liked the visits because the adults would bring her treats, toys, and accessories, but she hated it when the younger children would pull on her wool or chase her around the house. Despite this, she loved living with the elderly grandma; Maria would cuddle with her on colder nights, accompany her on walks by the Lake of Rage, and play dress up.

But just like every good thing in life, it had to end. And one morning, the grandma didn't wake up anymore... the sons and daughters of the old grandma argued over who should take care of Maria after the funeral, but before a decision could be made, a loud thunder roared throughout the house. The younger kids found Maria hiding under their grandma's bed and would not stop pestering her, pulling on her tail while trying to get her out. It was an accident, of course, the kids didn't know any better, and Maria was grieving over her old owner, not eating or sleeping for days at that point.

Even so, Maria had shocked 3 children. Their wounds weren't too severe, but when their parents reached the room, they had their own Pokémon fight with Maria out of fear. She evolved into a Flaaffy out of stress during that battle and ran away immediately after. She joined the team a few days later; Magnus had gone into hiding near Mt. Mortar, and Maria helped him during a terrible snowstorm. She joined out of worry for Magnus and because she didn't want to be alone anymore.

໒꒰ྀི ˶• ༝ •˶ ꒱ྀི১