Kawaki jumped down from the cave opening and landed in front of the Clefairy.
The other Clefairy saw this stranger and immediately showed wary expressions.
But the Clefairy that had been chased by Druddigon looked at everyone and happily said to them: "Clefairy, Cle~"
The surrounding Clefairy paused for a moment, then the wariness in their eyes completely disappeared.
"Clefairy~!"
However, the Clefairy didn't keep their attention on Kawaki for too long.
They still had important business to take care of.
Namely, using the Moon Stone's energy to activate their spaceship and return to the sky!
One Clefairy stepped forward and inspected the Moon Stone collection progress around the spaceship.
Seeing the energy storage compartment full of Moon Stones, it excitedly turned back to call out to the other Clefairy: "Cle~! Cle~!"
Hearing this, the eyes of all the surrounding Clefairy instantly lit up.
"Clefairy!"
With cheerful cries of "Clefairy! Clefairy!" the surrounding Clefairy joyfully rushed toward the spaceship.
They all squeezed through what appeared to be a hatch opening, and within moments, they'd all entered the spaceship.
"They could finally head back to space and continue their epic voyage!"
"Cle—fairy!"
Cosmic Power!
Gravity!
The Clefairy's bodies all glowed with rich pink light, and the spaceship began glowing along with them.
The next second, the spaceship that had originally crashed at Meteor Falls actually began slowly rising from the ground with rumbling sounds!
Kawaki looked amazed.
In just an instant, he figured out the key to what was happening.
The Clefairy were using the move Cosmic Power to harness the energy within the Moon Stones, replenishing their own depleted energy and the ship's, then using Gravity to make the spaceship take flight.
No, to be precise, that wasn't ordinary Gravity - it was reverse gravity!
Normal Gravity increases the pull of the ground, hindering Flying-type Pokémon and those with the Levitate ability.
But from what the Clefairy were doing, it seemed like they'd reduced the ground's gravitational pull while increasing the sky's pull, making it so the spaceship got drawn upward toward the sky.
Gravity could be used like that?
Genius move, Clefairy!
In mid-air, just as the spaceship was about to fly out of Meteor Falls, the pale pink glow that had been enveloping the spaceship suddenly vanished.
Then, amid a chorus of Clefairy screams and cries, the spaceship came crashing back down to its starting point with a thunderous boom.
The Clefairy came running out looking disheveled. One Clefairy checked the ship's energy storage, and seeing the completely empty Moon Stone compartment, immediately broke down crying.
All the Moon Stones they'd worked so hard to collect over the past two days had been completely drained by starting up the ship!
Now they really couldn't get back home.
When it rains, it pours. Not only was their energy insufficient, but the Clefairy also discovered in horror that the ship had been damaged in the crash!
"Clefairy..."
The Clefairy all plopped down on the ground looking utterly dejected.
In truth, Clefairy technology wasn't all that advanced. It was just that long ago, some Clefairy in their tribe had accidentally discovered that by using Cosmic Power along with Moon Stones, they could make those big rocks (spaceships) fly.
And so, the Clefairy's age of great space exploration officially began.
Clefairy kept leaving their tribe aboard spaceships to explore the starry sky.
Some Clefairy successfully returned and shared news with the tribe's Clefairy.
Namely, that at the edge of the universe, there was a place flowing with milk and honey, where there was endless delicious food and fruit juice, just like paradise. Any Clefairy who reached that place would live happily ever after.
So the Clefairy got excited. They collected a huge pile of Moon Stones. While Moon Stones were pretty rare on this planet, on their home world, they were just little rocks you could find anywhere on the roadside.
After collecting enough Moon Stones, the Clefairy officially set off. They were going to that planet to find the "land flowing with milk and honey" and live happily there together.
However, their beautiful dream burst like a soap bubble.
They couldn't go back...
Their mission couldn't be completed.
Now they were going to be trapped in this place.
"Clefairy..."
The Clefairy hung their heads in despair, looking completely dejected.
Kawaki, who had witnessed the whole process: "..."
His gaze swept over these Clefairy. Almost every single one had a little storm cloud floating above its head - some were raining, others were heavy with dark clouds.
These represented that the group of Clefairy were feeling extremely down.
And in the Clefairy's description column, Kawaki discovered the reason.
[It's over, we're out of Moon Stones and the ship is broken too. Everyone's going to be stuck here! —Clefairy]
[There's really no way to leave now. —Clefairy]
[What a terrible day. —Clefairy]
Out of Moon Stones? Kawaki stepped forward and looked into the energy storage compartment where the Clefairy had been keeping their Moon Stones. Sure enough, it was now completely empty.
These Evolution Stones were solid forms of pure energy. Once they reacted with other external things and their energy got used up, the Evolution Stones would disappear.
And when the Clefairy had just activated their ship, they'd obviously consumed every bit of energy in those Moon Stones.
Now Kawaki understood why the Clefairy were feeling so down.
He thought for a moment, then asked: "About how many stones like those would you need to leave this place?"
"Clefairy?"
Although they didn't quite understand, the Clefairy were still friendly toward this human who had just helped their companion, so they answered:
"Clefairy!"
One Clefairy stepped forward and gestured.
It meant that when they'd arrived, they'd packed the energy storage completely full.
Kawaki understood what it meant and asked: "Fill it up completely?"
"Clefairy!" The Clefairy nodded.
"Well, even if you searched all of Meteor Falls, you probably couldn't find that many Moon Stones!"
Hearing this, the Clefairy felt even more dejected.
"However, I have a suggestion that might be able to help you guys." Kawaki's face broke into a smile. His gaze swept over the group of Clefairy in front of him as he carefully counted them, discovering there were about twelve Clefairy total.
"Clefairy?" The Clefairy immediately looked up at him.
"How about you all come stay at my place for now! I run a shop nearby with lots of space where you could live temporarily."
"If you're willing, you could also help me out there. In exchange, I'd provide you with food and fruit juice, and I could help you collect Moon Stones too."
Clefairy were Pokémon with simple social structures, so they quickly understood what he meant.
Soon one Clefairy cried out in amazement: "Clefairy?!"
Really? Was that true?
Not only could they get food, but Moon Stones too? Were there really such good deals in the world?
Several Clefairy got excited.