Alright then, I choose you!
"Growlithe, use Odor Sleuth!"
The Clefairy had just been walking around here, leaving its scent behind.
As soon as he gave the command, Growlithe stepped forward and started sniffing around on the ground.
Pretty quickly, a bright little light bulb went off above its head.
Target found!
"Woof woof!"
Growlithe barked twice at them, then took the lead up front.
The trio squeezed into the passage. It was pretty narrow - manageable for Kawaki, but a bit of a tight squeeze for Bewear.
Luckily, it was strong enough that when it squeezed in, it basically widened the narrow passage by force.
Kawaki, who'd been about to suggest Bewear wait outside for a bit: "..."
He looked away and kept moving forward.
Even though the cave was pitch black, thankfully it wasn't too complicated inside.
Growlithe tracked Clefairy's trail up ahead.
But Kawaki noticed something.
The deeper they went, the more spacious the passage became - spacious enough that they could stand up straight and walk normally.
"Woof woof!"
Growlithe suddenly stopped. Looking ahead, Kawaki saw they'd reached a fork in the path.
"Can you tell which way Clefairy went?" Kawaki asked.
Growlithe sniffed around for a moment and quickly determined the direction.
The group continued forward for several more minutes.
But suddenly, Kawaki heard a scream echoing from the end of the passage.
"Clefairy!"
Kawaki snapped to attention.
The next second, they saw a familiar figure running frantically toward them from up ahead.
It was the same Clefairy from before!
And right behind Clefairy, a hideous, ugly Dragon-type Pokémon with a red head and blue body was hot on its heels.
That was... a Druddigon!
Clefairy was running around in a panic while the Druddigon behind it kept roaring angrily.
Before Kawaki could react, the Clefairy, who was looking back instead of forward, crashed straight into his arms like a battering ram.
Druddigon was right behind it.
Growlithe sensed the terrifying presence. Instead of backing down, it bravely used Ember against the Druddigon.
But that tiny spark looked so pathetic compared to the Druddigon.
Druddigon's rage only intensified.
"ROOOAAR!"
Its roar shook the entire cave.
But the next second, Bewear's form flickered into action.
With a serious expression, it looked down at the Druddigon from above.
That intimidating presence actually made Druddigon hesitate for a moment.
But quickly, an even stronger fury rose from deep within. Druddigon let out a dragon's roar as purple flames gathered in its mouth.
Before it could unleash its Dragon Rage, Bewear raised its fluffy arms high and swung a heavy, powerful punch right into Druddigon's face, completely knocking its head sideways.
The Dragon-type energy that had been building up in its mouth got interrupted by the heavy blow, causing a backfire inside Druddigon.
It stared in terror at this cute-looking but incredibly brutal Pokémon, then turned tail and bolted without hesitation.
"Clang clang clang!"
Druddigon's heavy footsteps echoed through the cave before fading into the distance.
Seeing the crisis was over, Bewear turned around to face Kawaki and the others.
Its expression seemed to say: You're next!
"Clefairy!!!"
Having witnessed Bewear's terrifying power firsthand, Clefairy panicked and quickly hid in Kawaki's arms.
Kawaki: "..."
Clefairy squeezed its eyes shut in fear, but after waiting a long time, no punch came down on it.
It carefully opened one eye: "Clefairy?"
What greeted it were three unfamiliar faces.
Kawaki, Bewear, and Growlithe.
"Clefairy!" Clefairy jumped in surprise, only now realizing it was still in the human's arms, and quickly hopped to the side.
Kawaki felt a bit speechless. Just now figuring that out, huh?
"Hello there, Clefairy!" Despite thinking that, Kawaki still greeted Clefairy with a smile.
And this Clefairy finally realized after the fact that this human and these two Pokémon had saved it!
Though it had no idea why they were in this place to begin with.
Clefairy's heart filled with gratitude: "Clefairy~!"
Kawaki noticed that this Clefairy's friendship toward him had risen from 0 to 30.
"Don't mention it, Clefairy. I'm Kawaki, and these are my partners Bewear and Growlithe. We're happy to meet you," Kawaki said with a smile as he introduced himself.
"Cle..."
Clefairy blinked, then suddenly remembered it still had important business to take care of!
It quickly looked down at its palm, where a stone with the pure luster of moonlight lay quietly.
**[Moon Stone: A miraculous stone that can evolve certain specific Pokémon. Black as the night sky.]**
A Moon Stone? Clefairy was looking for this? Kawaki was a bit puzzled.
Was it planning to evolve into Clefable?
Suddenly, upon touching the Moon Stone, Clefairy's body began glowing with a rich, milky white light.
That was clearly evolution!
"Clefairy!" Clefairy forced itself to resist.
The next second, the evolution light disappeared.
And Clefairy breathed a sigh of relief like a weight had been lifted from its shoulders.
Carrying the Moon Stone, it turned and dove into a small passage nearby.
But not before looking back at Kawaki and his group.
Was this Clefairy telling him to follow?
Kawaki paused for a moment, then quickly decided to follow and see what was up.
Clefairy led the way ahead, turning left sometimes, going straight other times, and occasionally stopping to observe the environment.
After passing through a series of complex, winding passages, a huge open space suddenly appeared ahead.
This space seemed to be located at the top of Meteor Falls. The original mountain had been punched through, and large amounts of sunlight poured down from above.
Right below, there was a giant "meteorite" with a strange design that clearly didn't belong to this place.
Next to the meteorite was a large group of Clefairy gathered together. As Kawaki's gaze swept across them, he was shocked to discover there had to be at least ten Clefairy here!
And when Kawaki looked at the giant boulder the Clefairy were surrounding, his face immediately showed an expression of total bewilderment.
**[Spaceship: A creation capable of space travel. Requires Moon Stone energy to activate navigation. Can carry 20 Clefairy at a time. Manufactured by Clefairy technology.]**
This thing really was a spaceship!
Kawaki was absolutely stunned.
Just how advanced was the technology tree on Planet Clefairy?
He looked at the Clefairy beside him holding the Moon Stone.
So this was why Clefairy had been searching for the Moon Stone?
Seeing that it had safely returned to the spaceship's landing site, Clefairy was overjoyed.
It jumped down from above with the Moon Stone, landed steadily on the ground, and tossed the Moon Stone in its hand into the spaceship's "storage compartment."
The surrounding Clefairy all gathered around, happy that their companion had found a Moon Stone.
And just then, that Clefairy turned around, looked back at Kawaki, and waved its arms vigorously at them.
"Clefairy!"