Cleffa Report

Cleffa (the Star Shape Pokémon) is a relatively rare Fairy-type Pokémon found among grassy fields and mountains within the Kanto, Sinnoh, Unova, Alola, Galar, Hisui and Kitakami regions as well as the Hoenn region on rare occasions. Exceedingly cute and fascinated with the stars, Cleffa are fun-loving creatures that can make great partners for young kids or trainers that are just starting out on their journey. They certainly might not be able to do much in battle or even last very long, but if you really want to see a meteor, keep one around anyways; if one ever does show up in the night sky, your Cleffa will be the first one to know and will be more than happy to wake the rest of the world up for it…even if it's 2:00 A.M. at the time!

While it is a common belief that the members of the Cleffa family came from the moon or perhaps another planet entirely, there is absolutely no evidence supporting the belief; in fact, all of the present evidence points to contrary. Energized fragments of meteoritic material, commonly known as Moon Stones, are perhaps the rarest type of evolutionary stone and are only linked to a few families of Pokémon, most of which are of little interest to the public eye. It is well-known, though, that the members of the Cleffa family (Clefairy and Clefable in particular) require these stones to evolve fully and have become quite popular not only because of their cute appearances but also because of their rarity and otherwise extraordinary powers. Unlike most organisms, however, it appears that this is not an evolution by forced mutation but by natural mutation; simply put, Clefable are the real adult forms of the family, and all Clefairy are meant to evolve at some point in their lifetime. More importantly, however, the members of the Cleffa family seem to all have come to recognize adult Clefable as the only creatures that should have the right to breed in the wild, as they are both the oldest and the wisest within their group. This in turn places the livelihood of the entire Cleffa family on evolution, thus making evolution into Clefable akin to a sacred rite of passage and therefore of great importance to them. This is the real reason that the members of the Cleffa family are always seen worshipping the moon and other extraterrestrial objects: it's not because they are from another place but because they are dependent upon Moon Stones, which they strangely are able to notice are not originally from this world, for survival. The origin and mechanics of their powers, however, is still a relative mystery, but they are currently being studied intently by researchers hoping to understand these shy creatures better (much as they have for the past several hundred years).

Since they are still fairly young, Cleffa are inherently weak and are unable to properly defend themselves in battle with anything other than weak attacks like Pound and Fairy Wind for much of their life (though they can learn the Charm, Sweet Kiss and Copycat techniques and Magical Leaf attack, which both Clefairy and Clefable are oddly unable to normally learn). Interestingly enough, while Clefairy and Clefable are commonly associated with the moon, Cleffa are often associated with stars and meteors instead, even being believed by some to have come to the planet on a meteor. The reasoning behind the first object of interest is relatively clear, as the bodies of Cleffa are themselves vaguely star-shaped and believed by some to be the reborn incarnations of stars; the other one, however, is a bit more complex. It is common knowledge that the asteroids floating in space are effectively the remnants of proto-planet material left over from our solar system's creation and are occasionally nudged towards our planet due to impacts or gravitational forces. When these fragments interact with certain parts of the Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere, they become lightly energized in a highly specific (and still somewhat uncertain) way, turning them into Moon Stones. This is where Cleffa come in: They are effectively the astronomers of their family. Whenever a meteor is spotted or when there is a meteor shower visible in the night sky, large numbers of Cleffa will stop gazing at the sky with a longing in their eyes and suddenly appear out of nowhere in places where meteorites have impacted in the past, beginning to dance in a ring in a display of praise that they hope will bring more 'special' meteors down upon the planet. If it is to no avail, then they will simply continue dancing until dawn, with those witnessing the ritual having good things come their way in the future according to legend; if something actually hits within their general area, the Cleffa will quickly rush towards it and surround the meteorite, quickly filling up whatever space the impact crater creates and effectively turning the meteorite's surroundings into a happy-go-lucky mosh pit. It takes time for any meteorite to turn into a Moon Stone, so Cleffa will keep the meteorite out of sight by dragging it to a safe location shortly after its landing. Regardless of what happens, though, Cleffa will always take the time to cleanse their palette after dawn by drinking the dew forming in nearby grassy fields before finally retreating back to their homes and waiting for the next meteor appearance. Unfortunately, while well-meaning, Cleffa are not always intelligent about examining their finds and have been known to congregate around Minior, mistaking them for meteorites; the strange beasts do not usually take offense to this, though they have been known to use Self-Destruct and Explosion attacks in order to ditch their crazed stalkers.

While they might not be worth anything in battle, Cleffa are fascinating creatures that certainly prove that you don't need a science background in order to be an astronomer. You probably won't ever have to worry about seeing one of these odd critters on the battlefield nor will you probably ever see many in the wild, but if you can acquire one, consider yourself lucky. After all, it's not every day that you find something lighter than a telescope that can effectively tell you if and possibly where a meteorite will land if it appears in the night sky; even if you don't care for how they look after landing, you would be surprised to see how much even a small hunk of space-rock is worth to the right collector!

Professor Wormwood