The next morning, after getting some well-deserved rest, Youngster Sprye and Youngster Bello stood in front of the Daycare, waving goodbye to Kawaki.
"Thank you so much for your hospitality last night, boss! See you later!"
Kawaki smiled and nodded. "Have a safe trip!"
With the guests gone, the Daycare suddenly felt empty.
Bewear headed upstairs to the guest room to tidy up.
Meanwhile, Kawaki took down the "Open for Business" sign from outside.
That Taillow showed up at the Daycare again today for its usual free meal, but Kawaki noticed something troubling.
After several visits, the Daycare's current food supply just wasn't cutting it anymore.
The food here could fill Taillow's belly, sure, but it wasn't making the little guy happy or satisfied.
Without being able to boost its happiness, Kawaki couldn't get any more intel about Latias and Latios.
"Looks like developing new Pokémon food is gonna have to move up on my to-do list," Kawaki muttered to himself.
But before that, he had something else to take care of.
The intel Taillow had provided about "Clefairy" really caught his attention, and last night while hosting that guest named Youngster Bello, he'd gotten the exact location where tons of Clefairy had been spotted.
So Kawaki decided to take a half-day off and head to Meteor Falls with Bewear and Growlithe to search for Clefairy.
As for that other lead about Axew's habitat...
According to the intel, Axew lived in groups protected by powerful Haxorus. Unless an Axew agreed to come with him willingly, it was way out of his league.
While Bewear was still cleaning upstairs, Kawaki took the opportunity to check on Swampert and Quagsire in the backyard.
Then he made a trip to the herb garden to see how Oddish was doing.
Unfortunately, Oddish's current abilities were pretty limited. Unlike those amazing Grass-type Pokémon that could make plants grow super fast, the seeds in the field hadn't changed much at all.
This left Oddish feeling pretty bummed out, wondering if it could even be helpful to Kawaki.
But Kawaki didn't scold the little guy. He just patted its small head gently and said, "Don't worry about it, take your time!"
"Od-dish!" Oddish felt comforted and quickly perked up again.
Kawaki smiled and headed back to the main hall with his little shadow Growlithe trailing behind.
Bewear, all cleaned up and ready to go, was already waiting there.
"Alright, let's head out!" Kawaki said.
"Bewear!" Bewear responded.
The trio locked up the Daycare and officially set off for Meteor Falls.
The Daycare sat right between Meteor Falls and Fallarbor Town. Following the main road east would take you to Fallarbor Town.
But heading west, you'd catch sight of Meteor Falls.
Legend had it that Meteor Falls used to be a massive mountain with a spectacular waterfall cascading down from the cliff tops. But one day, out of nowhere, a huge meteorite came crashing down from the sky, slamming into the mountain and hollowing it out, creating an enormous cavern. The waterfall got redirected inside.
The meteor's impact brought a really unique Pokémon ecosystem to the area. Solrock and Lunatone, which were pretty rare everywhere else, were totally common at Meteor Falls.
At eight in the morning, Kawaki and Bewear reached Meteor Falls.
At the end of the path was a pitch-black cave entrance. Next to the cave stood a man-made warning sign.
It read: "Dangerous Pokémon Inside - Unauthorized Personnel Keep Out."
"I guess we don't count as regular people, right?"
Standing in front of the cave, Kawaki hesitated for a moment.
"Bewear, how confident are you in your abilities?" he asked.
Instead of answering, Bewear just scooped up both Kawaki and Growlithe under its arms and dove headfirst into Meteor Falls.
Kawaki: "..."
Well, that answered his question pretty clearly.
Since that was the case, they'd just push forward, and if they ran into any dangerous Pokémon they couldn't handle, they'd just make a run for it.
Surprisingly, the cave wasn't nearly as dark as Kawaki had imagined. Since the meteorite had punched through the mountain top, beams of light streamed down from above at regular intervals, lighting up the interior.
In the distance, Kawaki spotted several Solrock and Lunatone floating silently through the air.
Looked like this was definitely their territory.
"Bewear, try to avoid them as much as possible."
Both of those Pokémon were known for using Self-Destruct. If one of them got ticked off and decided to blow up with a base power of 250, they'd be toast.
Besides, their main goal at Meteor Falls was finding Clefairy.
Bewear glanced at the sun and moon-like Pokémon a few times but didn't say anything.
Meteor Falls had multiple levels - not just ground level, but underground and above-ground areas too. The internal layout was super complex and really easy to get lost in.
Luckily, Kawaki had specific intel on where the Clefairy were hanging out.
Dodging the Solrock and Lunatone, they followed some man-made stone steps upward, passed through territory occupied by Geodude and Graveler, and soon reached the spot mentioned in the intel where Clefairy had been discovered.
After searching around for a bit, Kawaki finally spotted a familiar figure in a small crater.
It was a Pokémon with pink fur that looked like a star - all fluffy, chubby, and soft.
It had an absolutely adorable appearance with a big tail sticking out behind it.
A Clefairy had appeared!
The Clefairy had its head down, looking left and right, like it was searching for something.
"Huh? There's only one Clefairy here?"
Wasn't there supposed to be a spaceship that crash-landed here with a whole bunch of Clefairy?
Kawaki focused his mind, and the Clefairy's data popped up in his head.
[Pokémon: Clefairy]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Magic Guard]
[Moves: Pound, Growl, Sing, Defense Curl, Bounce, Sweet Kiss, Charm, Copycat, Disarming Voice, Stored Power]
[Status: Healthy]
[Mood: Complete mess]
[Happiness: -30]
[Friendship: 0 (You're strangers)]
[Description: If we don't fix the spaceship soon, we'll be stuck in this place forever! —Clefairy]
Kawaki: "???"
Fix the spaceship?
No way, seriously? He wasn't too shocked that Pokémon like Solrock and Lunatone had arrived on this planet via meteorite from space.
But were these Clefairy really traveling around the universe in actual spaceships?
Kawaki was pretty stunned.
Right at that moment, the Clefairy suddenly dove into a narrow passage and disappeared from sight.
Kawaki froze for a second, then quickly went over to check it out. The passage was pitch black inside - he couldn't tell if it had been dug out by Onix, Geodude, or some other Pokémon, and he had no idea where it led.
But since Clefairy felt safe enough to go in there, it probably meant there weren't any seriously dangerous Pokémon lurking inside.