Chapter 1079: Shadows Under the Moon

This gift was a token of appreciation to Yuga, and through it, Yuga learned that Ruri and Amber, the two sisters, are the granddaughters of Professor Oak's cousin, Samson Oak.

To thank Yuga for saving Ruri, Amber, and Gary in the Petalburg Forest, Principal Samson Oak sent a gift. Upon learning that Yuga was in the Kalos region, he sent the gift directly there.

The package contained two red-and-white Poké Balls. When opened, two pristine white Vulpix appeared before Yuga.

As soon as the Vulpix appeared, a system notification sounded in Yuga's mind.

"Congratulations, Host! You've triggered a new mission: The Final Sub-park.

Description: Thanks to your tireless efforts, your Pokémon Daycare has gained some renown. You are now on the brink of collecting all the sub-parks, so keep up the good work.

Objective: Capture 10 or more high-quality (green or above) Ice-type Pokémon.

Reward: Qualification to open the Snow Mountain Sub-park."

Yuga was surprised to see that this sub-park was the last one he needed to unlock. What changes would the system bring after completing the main quest for unlocking sub-parks?

Thinking about this made Yuga feel a bit excited.

After reviewing the new system mission, Yuga turned his attention to the two Vulpix before him. The Vulpix were also curiously observing Yuga, their clear, amber-like eyes filled with confusion. Why was this person suddenly lost in thought? Was there something wrong with his mind?

Suspected of having a mental lapse by the Vulpix, Yuga activated his Insight skill.

**Vulpix**

Type: Ice

Ability: Snow Cloak

Gender: Male

Quality: Green

Level: 24

Moves: Powder Snow, Confuse Ray, Ice Shard, Frost Breath, Will-O-Wisp.

**Vulpix**

Type: Ice

Ability: Snow Cloak

Gender: Female

Quality: Green

Level: 20

Moves: Powder Snow, Confuse Ray, Haze, Icy Wind, Moonblast.

Seeing the data for these Pokémon, Yuga was impressed by Principal Samson Oak's generosity. He had given a pair of green-quality Pokémon, and they were rare Ice-type Vulpix.

Being a variant of the Fire-type Vulpix, the Ice-type Vulpix is even rarer, currently found only in the Alola region.

"Vul!"

Noticing that Yuga had drifted off again, the two Vulpix made soft calls to bring his attention back.

Snapping back to reality, Yuga was immediately charmed by the two little ones. He extended his hands to rub their heads, and the Vulpix, not shying away, nuzzled affectionately against his palms.

Seeing how adorable they were, Yuga took out some Frosted Pokéblocks meant for his Lapras, which immediately captivated the Vulpix.

Watching the Vulpix enjoy the food, Yuga thought: To provide these little ones with a comfortable living environment, he needed to capture the Ice-type Pokémon required by the system as soon as possible.

He remembered that his Pokémon Daycare already had some Ice-type Pokémon, such as Shellder, Spheal, and Lapras. He wondered if these could count toward the mission objective.

He asked the system but was promptly rejected… As expected, there was no shortcut.

On the day he received the Vulpix, Yuga left Lumiose City. With Lysandre captured, he no longer needed to be discreet and could travel openly in Kalos.

Before leaving Lumiose City, Yuga sent his Grass-type Pokémon and Florges back to the Pokémon Daycare. In exchange, his Bagon, Kartana, and Abomasnow were teleported over.

The two Vulpix were also teleported back. Although the Iceberg Sub-park wasn't open yet, it would be good for them to adapt to the Pokémon Daycare environment in advance.

To help Aegislash find its original owner's tomb, Yuga's destination this time was the Sather Plateau in the eastern part of the Kalos region.

Unlike the Hoenn region, which has a more uniform climate and terrain, Kalos features warm coastlines to the north and west, vast forests and mountains to the south, and plateaus and swamps to the northeast and southeast.

The Sather Plateau, where Yuga was heading, is the largest plateau in the northeastern Kalos region and is also where Aegislash was brought out by Ogata's friend.

The Sather Plateau is a cold, high-altitude region connecting many undeveloped areas of Kalos.

The entire Kalos continent is vast, with only a small portion developed and utilized by humans, concentrated in the northern part. The northeastern, southern, and southeastern parts remain largely inaccessible.

The term "Kalos region" refers only to the developed areas. When Yuga and others mentioned Laverre City being in the northern coast of Kalos, it was relative to the narrow definition of the Kalos region. In reality, Laverre City is in the northwest of the entire Kalos continent.

The Sather Plateau, in the northeastern part of Kalos, is also within this narrow sense of the region.

The closest human town to the Sather Plateau is Snowbelle City. Due to its proximity to the cold plateau, it is often windy there.

However, the strong winds have allowed Snowbelle City to develop unique agriculture powered by wind energy.

Snowbelle City is not too far from Lumiose City, but as soon as Yuga's train entered Snowbelle City, the climate changed drastically, with temperatures dropping significantly. This made Yuga, who had lived in Hoenn all his life, quite uncomfortable.

To cope, Yuga put on a thick coat on the train, and even his Bagon in his arms began to shiver.

Bagon was growing rapidly and was in a high-speed development stage. The side effect of this rapid growth was growing pains due to the development of bones.

After examining Bagon, Nurse Joy recommended supplementing it with calcium. For Pokémon like Bagon with many bones, timely calcium supplementation is crucial, especially as it evolves into a Shellgon.

In addition to special calcium tablets, Nurse Joy also taught Yuga a special massage technique. Proper massage could alleviate Bagon's growing pains and promote bone development.

"Ta-ci…"

After a massage session, Bagon let out a satisfied groan, and even the cold seemed to fade away.

After the massage, Yuga gave Bagon a special calcium tablet and a Dragon Bone Pokéblock.

The Dragon Bone Pokéblock is named for its primary ingredient—dragon-type Pokémon bones and scales. It significantly benefits the growth and development of dragon-type Pokémon and provides a solid foundation if consumed from a young age.

However, dragon bones and scales are difficult to obtain in large quantities, making the Dragon Bone Pokéblocks the rarest and most expensive among all the Pokéblocks produced by Yuyu's Pokémon Daycare.

The quality of the Dragon Bone Pokéblock varies with the quality of the dragon bones and scales used. Yuyu's Pokémon Daycare currently provides Dragon Bone Pokéblocks made from ordinary dragon-type Pokémon materials.

Here, "ordinary dragon-type Pokémon" doesn't actually refer to dragon-type Pokémon but to Pokémon with dragon bloodlines, such as Arbok, Seviper, and Salazzle, which are non-dragon-type Pokémon with dragon lineage. The term "ordinary dragon-type Pokémon" is a more refined term.

Although dragon-type Pokémon bones and scales are hard to buy in large quantities, materials from ordinary dragon-type Pokémon are still available in some places.

Some places breed Arbok or Seviper in large numbers, and their shed skins are valuable medicinal materials, often purchased at high prices by pharmacies.

Yuyu's Pokémon Daycare mainly uses these Arbok and Seviper shed skins, while any pure dragon-type Pokémon materials are reserved for internal use.

However, the Dragonbone Pokéblocks Yuga provides for Bagon are homemade, with a small amount of Rayquaza's blood added. He only sent the final product to Bagon after extensive experimentation, being very precise about the amount of Dragon blood in each Pokéblock.

Since Bagon is still young, Yuga added just a drop of Rayquaza's blood to each Pokéblock, ensuring that it could absorb it fully without causing harm.

As for the Rayquaza's scales, Yuga plans to use them to make Pokéblocks for Bagon after it evolves into Shellgon. The current Dragon blood will be sufficient for Bagon for a long time.

Shellgon is the transitional stage between Bagon and Salamence. During this phase, energy accumulation is crucial, as it provides a solid foundation for Salamence.

Legendary Pokémon are strong, but raising them is indeed expensive. Without the Rayquaza blood and scales previously collected, Yuga would have to search for high-quality Dragon bones and scales to feed it.

At that time, Dragonite had the advantage of resources accumulated by its mother and received occasional special treatment, which saved Yuga a lot of trouble. Now, Bagon has to rely entirely on him.

Aside from the cost, Yuga is not short on money; the issue is that some materials cannot be bought with money. The higher the quality of Dragon bones and scales, the rarer they are.

After spending a long time on the train, Yuga finally arrived at Snowbelle City. With Bagon's company, the journey was not as boring.

Upon arriving at Snowbelle City, Yuga's first task was to buy enough warm clothing from a local store. It was clear that the temperature on the Sather Plateau would be harsh.

Having lived in Hoenn for a long time, Yuga was not accustomed to such low temperatures. Even in winter, Hoenn is not very cold, and snow is rare.

He didn't stay long in Snowbelle City. After stocking up on enough clothes and food, he set off for the Sather Plateau.

Entering the Sather Plateau, Yuga's first challenge was the Frost Cavern.

Despite its name, the Frost Cavern is not a real cave but a wind tunnel formed by the icy winds blowing down from the plateau.

Even though Yuga was prepared, he was still taken aback by the strong wind and heavy snow when he arrived at the Frost Cavern entrance, dressed in thick snow gear and riding Absol.

The scene reminded Yuga of the snowy peaks of Mount Coronet!

At this point, Bagon had already been recalled into its Pokéball. Yuga was worried that Bagon might get frozen in such severe weather, as Dragon-type Pokémon are not very resistant to the cold.

After recalling Bagon, Yuga had Aegislash with him.

Seeing Yuga's cheeks turn red from the cold and his eyes unable to open due to the wind, Aegislash created a protective energy shield with its psychic power, enveloping Yuga and Absol tightly.

Watching the storm outside, Yuga rubbed his numb cheeks and thanked Aegislash. Aegislash showed no reaction, simply floating quietly above his head.

With Aegislash's protection, Yuga was no longer disturbed by the wind and snow, and his progress became much faster. With Aegislash's strength, blocking the storm was very easy.

It was hard to tell how long he had been walking, but the storm showed no signs of easing. Yuga saw some Ice-type Pokémon taking shelter in the caves along the way. Even Ice-types didn't want to endure such harsh conditions.

Whenever he encountered a Pokémon, Yuga used his Insight skill to check if any were suitable targets, but he found none.

Whether it was because of the storm or the low number of Ice-types in the Frost Cavern's wind tunnel, Yuga encountered far fewer Ice-types than he had imagined, and they were mostly Snover and Abomasnow, with a few Swinub.

Abomasnow is a solitary Pokémon, usually accompanied only by other Snover, while Swinub gathers in small groups. Compared to the stronger Abomasnow, Swinub can only survive by forming groups.

As night fell, Yuga had yet to leave the Frost Cavern. The storm was not letting up, so he decided to find a place to spend the night.

Fortunately, the Frost Cavern had many caves, and Yuga quickly found a spacious one where even a large Absol could easily fit.

When Yuga entered the cave, some Pokémon were already there, including Swinub, Snover, and Abomasnow. When they saw Yuga and Absol, they huddled together, shivering from fear, especially frightened by Absol's intimidating presence.

Yuga did not disturb them. He found a spot, started a fire, and warmed himself and Absol. Despite Aegislash's protection, his fur had gotten wet after the long journey.

Seeing that Yuga and Absol meant no harm, the Ice-type Pokémon gradually relaxed. However, they did not approach the fire, only watching the food Yuga took out with eager eyes.

Seeing that there were not many of them, Yuga distributed a Pokéblock to each.

Pokéblocks are high-energy food, and one is enough to satisfy them.

Once nightfall came, the storm finally began to subside, and by midnight, it had completely stopped.

With the storm gone, the surroundings became very quiet, to the point where Yuga had trouble falling asleep.

Listening to the snores of the Swinub, Yuga became insomniac.

While Yuga was repeatedly counting Mareep, Abomasnow at the cave entrance suddenly became alert.

To prevent the earlier storm from blowing back in, Yuga had stationed his Abomasnow at the entrance. The small amount of wind and snow at the entrance was just right for an Ice-type Pokémon like Abomasnow.

Unexpectedly, after the storm stopped, Abomasnow issued a warning.

Yuga went to the entrance, and Abomasnow shifted slightly to allow him to see outside clearly.

With the storm gone, a cool silver moon hung in the sky, its bright light reflecting off the snow on the ground.

By moonlight, Yuga saw several dark figures moving swiftly across the snow.