Chapter 129: Pippi Star

On Clefairy's home planet, a legend had been passed down for generations:
Long, long ago, a group of Clefairy boarded a spaceship to explore the vast and boundless universe.
Midway, the spaceship malfunctioned, and they were forced to make an emergency landing on a blue planet.
Expecting a catastrophe, they instead encountered a strange species on that world.
Those creatures called themselves "humans," and they generously provided them with "milk and honey."
From then on, that group of Clefairy lived happily ever after with the humans.
Because of this, the modern Clefairy had boarded a spaceship, following the guidance of this ancient legend to arrive here.
And in this very place, they discovered the descendants of that original group of Clefairy.
Regrettably, those descendants no longer remembered their homeland, and had even elevated the Moon Stones—which had helped them grow—to the status of gods.
The Clefairy were deeply disappointed. Not only did they fail to find any "milk and honey," but on the very second day after their landing, their spaceship was mistaken for a shooting star, towed away by humans, and placed on display in a place called a "museum."
The Clefairy were furious. They tracked it down repeatedly, intending to pilot the ship away, but for some reason, the vessel was broken.
Unable to fly it away, they had no choice but to settle down in this place, slowly searching for tools to repair the spaceship.
This was the primary reason they had been rummaging through garbage cans and scouring everywhere for tools.
To repair the spaceship and return to their homeland as soon as possible, the Clefairy had hidden their collected tools in a secret treasury.
Today, after returning from the human city, they had gathered together to discuss their next steps.
And then they witnessed a bird Pokémon fly into the treasury and steal a stone right in front of all of them.
So a mob of angry Clefairy had given chase.
Inside the dim cavern, separated only by a campfire, they stood in a standoff against that human.
Looking at these pathetic Clefairy who had been caught rummaging through trash, Huyang suddenly did not know what to say.
He felt he couldn't bring himself to rob these pitiful Clefairy of their cherished collection.
Yet Huyang was unwilling to give up the Mega Stone either. After a moment of thought, he pulled the Moon Stones from his backpack and said, "I'll trade you these instead, how does that sound?"
If he remembered correctly, Clefairy were intelligent Pokémon that possessed a communal society and religious awareness.
Because in the anime, the researcher Rick on Mt. Moon had discovered that Clefairy lived in a communal society and revered the Moon Stone as a deity.
They would gather on nights of the full moon, dancing together around the Moon Stone with their companions, while the surrounding area became enveloped in an abnormal magnetic field, causing some Clefairy to evolve into Clefable at that very moment.
The Moon Stone was an immensely important item to Clefairy.

Aerodactyl's Mega Stone was useless to them, so Huyang's idea was to trade Moon Stones for it.
A win-win situation—how wonderful!
To his utter surprise, however, the Clefairy flatly rejected the trade proposal.
"Clef!" The lead Clefairy shook its head resolutely.
Moon Stones were hardly rare treasures; on their home planet, Clefairy Planet, there were plenty of them!
Huyang was momentarily dazed, asking with some uncertainty, "You don't want the Moon Stones?"
He picked up the Mega Stone and said, "This thing doesn't seem to be of any use to you, right?"
The Clefairy let out a huff and muttered, "Clef."
Gengar translated: "It says, 'We don't want those. On our planet, that kind of stone is everywhere.'"
Recalling the origin of the Clefairy, Huyang asked out of curiosity, "Are you guys really from a planet out in space?"
"Clef?"
Gengar translated: "It says, 'Is there anything strange about that?'"
Huyang, harboring a deep interest in outer space within the Pokémon world, retrieved candies, cakes, and berries from his backpack, preparing to have a heart-to-heart night chat with the group of Clefairy.
"Here, have some and sit down to talk," he invited with interest.
"Clef?"
The Clefairy exchanged bewildered glances, seemingly failing to understand why this human would suddenly make such a gesture.
Huyang explained, "I don't mean any harm. I just want to understand what your hometown is like."
The Clefairy could sense that this human was not a bad person. The simple and kind-hearted creatures realized he truly meant no malice and self-consciously sat down.
Huyang sat down with his Pokémon as well, pulling the drowsy Charmander into his lap. While absentmindedly stroking its claws, he began to converse with the Clefairy.
Gengar sat on the ground, serving as the translator.
Before long, Huyang learned the origin of this group of Clefairy.
Roughly a year or two ago, they had landed on this planet aboard their spaceship.
Humans had mistaken their vessel for a shooting star that had fallen from the sky, hauled it away from the mountains, and placed it on exhibition in a museum.
After a year of continuous exploration, the unfortunate Clefairy finally ascertained that the humans would not harm them, and they began venturing into the city to search for their spaceship.
Regrettably, their spaceship was broken.

Following the exchange, Huyang roughly gauged the level of civilization on the Clefairy's home world.
It was not as advanced as he had imagined; rather, it was quite primitive, having birthed only the most rudimentary small-scale society.
As for why they had mistaken a shooting star for a spaceship, that dated back to a certain Clefairy that had accidentally ridden a shooting star up into the sky.
The meteorite had concealed a Moon Stone, and the Clefairy's move, Cosmic Power, could resonate with the energy within the Moon Stone, allowing them to freely manipulate the flight trajectory of the shooting star.
"So, you've been rummaging through trash cans to look for tools to repair your spaceship?" Huyang asked thoughtfully.
"Clef!" The Clefairy nodded rapidly.
As long as they could bring the spaceship back, they would be able to fix it!
Huyang asked again, "You really want to ride that spaceship home?"
The Clefairy nodded, "Clef!"
Sadly, those humans were completely unwilling to return the spaceship to them.
That clearly belonged to them...
At this thought, sadness washed over the faces of the Clefairy.
Even without Gengar's translation, Huyang could read their expressions.
He pondered for a moment and proposed, "How about this: I'll bring your spaceship back for you, and you give me this stone in return. Deal?"
Hearing this, the Clefairy exchanged blank stares, looking somewhat hesitant.
"Clef?" (Really?)
Huyang hummed in assent and said, "I never lie."
He wasn't strapped for cash; even if he didn't use the Aerodactylite himself in the future, he could sell it at a high price to someone in need, or trade it with another Trainer.
Either way, he wouldn't lose out.
Upon hearing this, the Clefairy held a brief discussion among themselves. Moments later, the leader of the Clefairy spoke up earnestly:
"Clef!" (If you can bring our spaceship back, we'll give you everything we've collected during this time! Including this stone.)