Pokémon Breeder's Story

Chapter 24: The Clefairy

In that case, I choose you!

"Growlithe, use Odor Sleuth!"

The Clefairy had left its scent behind when it walked here. At the command, Growlithe immediately took a few steps forward and began sniffing the ground intently. Soon, a bright little lightbulb lit up above its head. It had found the target!

"Woof woof!"

Growlithe barked twice over its shoulder and then took the lead, guiding them forward.

The boy and his two Pokémon squeezed into the tunnel. The passage was relatively narrow; it was fine for Kenji, but a bit of a tight fit for Bewear. Fortunately, its strength was great enough that as it squeezed through, it forcibly expanded the narrow passage.

Kenji, who had been about to ask Bewear to wait outside, was left speechless. He averted his gaze and continued forward.

Although the cave was dark, it fortunately wasn't complex. Growlithe tracked the Clefairy's trail up ahead. Kenji, however, noticed something. The further they went, the wider the passage became, until it was spacious enough for them to stand up straight.

"Woof woof!"

Growlithe suddenly stopped. Kenji looked ahead and saw a fork in the path.

"Can you tell which way the Clefairy went?" Kenji asked.

Growlithe lowered its head, sniffed for a moment, and quickly determined the direction. The group continued forward for a few more minutes.

But suddenly, Kenji heard a scream from the end of the passage.

"Clefairy!"

Kenji was on high alert. The next second, they saw a familiar figure sprinting towards them from ahead. It was the same Clefairy from before!

And hot on its heels was a ferocious, ugly Dragon-type Pokémon with a red head and a blue body. It was... a Druddigon!

The Clefairy fled in a panic while the Druddigon behind it roared continuously. Before Kenji could react, the Clefairy, looking behind it and not in front, headbutted him right in the chest.

The Druddigon was right behind it.

Growlithe sensed the terrifying presence. Instead of retreating, it bravely used Ember on the Druddigon. But the tiny spark of fire seemed so weak in the face of the Druddigon. The dragon's anger, far from subsiding, only grew stronger.

"ROOOOAR!"

The roar echoed, shaking the cave.

However, in the next second, Bewear's figure flashed into view. Its expression was stern as it looked down on the Druddigon from above. Its sheer presence made the Druddigon freeze for a moment. But soon, an even greater rage welled up from within it. The Druddigon let out a dragon's roar, and a purple flame began to gather in its mouth.

Before its Dragon Rage could be unleashed, Bewear raised its fluffy arm high, swung its heavy and powerful fist, and slammed it right into the Druddigon's face, knocking its head sideways. The Dragon-type energy in its mouth, struck so heavily before it could be released, caused the attack to backfire inside the Druddigon.

It looked at the cute but incredibly cruel Pokémon before it with a face full of terror, then turned tail and fled without hesitation.

Thump, thump, thump!

The Druddigon's heavy footsteps echoed through the caves and quickly faded into the distance.

Seeing the crisis was over, Bewear turned to face Kenji and the others. Its expression seemed to say: You're next!

"CLEFAIRY!!!"

The Clefairy, having witnessed Bewear's terrifying power firsthand, was scared out of its wits and quickly hid behind Kenji.

Kenji: "..."

The Clefairy squeezed its eyes shut in fear, but after waiting for a long time, no fist fell upon it. It carefully peeked its eyes open. "Clefairy?"

It was met with three unfamiliar faces. Kenji, Bewear, and Growlithe.

"Clefairy!" The Clefairy was startled, only now realizing it was still hiding behind a human, and quickly jumped to the side.

Kenji was speechless, thinking, You're only just realizing that now?

"Hello, Clefairy!" Despite his thoughts, Kenji still greeted the Pokémon.

The Clefairy also belatedly realized that this human and his two Pokémon had just saved it! Though it had no idea why they were here in the first place. The Clefairy's heart filled with gratitude. "Clefairy~!"

Kenji noticed that this Clefairy's friendship level towards him had risen from 0 to 30.

"You're welcome, Clefairy. I'm Kenji, and these are my partners, Bewear and Growlithe. We're very happy to meet you," Kenji said with a smile, introducing everyone.

"Clef..."

The Clefairy blinked. It suddenly remembered it had important business to attend to! It quickly looked down at its own palm, where a stone with a luster as bright as the moon lay quietly.

[Moon Stone: A peculiar stone that can make certain species of Pokémon evolve. It is as black as the night sky.]

A Moon Stone? Was Clefairy looking for this? Kenji was a bit confused. Was it to evolve into a Clefable?

Suddenly, upon contact with the Moon Stone, a rich, milky-white light burst forth from the Clefairy's body. It was the light of evolution!

"Clefairy!" The Clefairy gritted its teeth and resisted. In the next second, the light of evolution vanished. The Clefairy let out a sigh, as if a great weight had been lifted.

Carrying the Moon Stone, it turned and ducked into a small, adjacent tunnel. It didn't forget to look back at Kenji and his group.

Was this Clefairy telling him to follow? Kenji was taken aback and quickly decided to follow it to see what was going on.

The Clefairy led the way, sometimes turning left, sometimes moving forward, sometimes stopping to observe its surroundings. After passing through a series of complex, winding tunnels, a vast, open space suddenly appeared before them.

This space seemed to be located at the very top of Meteor Falls. The original mountain had been smashed through, and a large patch of sunlight poured down from the hole in the ceiling. Directly below was a giant "meteorite" with a peculiar shape that clearly did not belong here.

A large group of Clefairy were gathered around the meteorite. Kenji's gaze swept over them, and he saw that there were at least ten Clefairy here!

When Kenji's eyes fell upon the giant rock the Clefairy were surrounding, a look of astonishment spread across his face.

[Spaceship: A vessel capable of cosmic travel. Requires the energy of a Moon Stone to initiate flight. Can carry 20 Clefairy. Manufactured by ClefairyTech.]

This thing really was a spaceship! Kenji was incredibly shocked. Just how advanced was the Clefairy planet's technology tree? He looked at the Clefairy beside him, which was holding the Moon Stone. So, this was the reason the Clefairy were searching for Moon Stones?

Seeing that it had safely returned to the ship's docking point, the Clefairy was very happy. It hopped down from above, holding the Moon Stone, landed steadily on the ground, and tossed the stone in its hand into the spaceship's "warehouse."

The surrounding Clefairy all gathered around, happy that their companion had found another Moon Stone. Just then, that same Clefairy turned around, looked at Kenji in the back, and waved its arm vigorously.

"Clefairy!"