After saying a few words to Phoebe and the others, Yuga set out in the direction of the snowy mountain, escorting the Froslass and Glalie group.
The Froslass and Glalie were overjoyed when they learned that Yuga was going to take them back and help them reclaim their territory. One of the Froslass, who had previously been seriously injured and saved by Yuga, even tried to "offer herself in gratitude," but her potential was really not that great, so Yuga politely declined.
After being rejected, that Froslass looked extremely heartbroken. Along the way, she kept glancing at Yuga from time to time, hoping he would change his mind—unfortunately, Yuga wasn't the type to be swayed by a beautiful face in distress.
The snowy mountain wasn't far from where their aircraft was grounded; Yuga arrived at the destination in just over an hour.
Today's weather was clear with a gentle breeze. Even walking on the snow-covered mountains, one could still see the bright sunlight. It's just that the surrounding temperature was so low that even sunlight couldn't bring much warmth.
Under the guidance of the Glalie and Froslass, Yuga soon found their territory.
This snowy mountain wasn't particularly tall or vast, and it seemed that not many Pokémon lived on it. Along the way, Yuga only saw a few scattered Snover and no other large groups of Pokémon, which explained why a not-so-strong group like the Froslass and Glalie could live here peacefully.
After entering the territory of the Glalie and Froslass, Yuga gradually noticed traces of the battle between Altaria and Darkrai. There were still faint residual waves of Dragon-type and Dark-type energy in the air.
However, the area was extremely quiet—it didn't feel like any Pokémon were around. After searching for a while, Yuga didn't find any trace of Altaria or Darkrai.
Could they have already left? Yuga couldn't help but wonder.
At the center of the territory, Yuga saw a large pit. According to the Froslass, this was caused when Altaria fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.
This place had originally been the orchard where the Froslass and Glalie planted their Berries, but after Altaria crashed into it, the whole orchard was nearly destroyed.
Berry trees that could grow on snowy mountains were rare, and the reason the Froslass and Glalie settled here in the first place was precisely because of this patch of berry trees.
When they fled during the attack, everything was so chaotic that even though they knew the orchard had been damaged, they didn't have time to care. Now, seeing it with their own eyes—how the orchard had been reduced to such a state—every single one of them couldn't help but feel heartbroken.
Seeing how sad they all were, Yuga comforted them: "Alright, I'll help you bring these Berry trees back to life."
Hearing this, the Glalie and Froslass looked at Yuga with surprise and delight.
Amid the expectant gazes of everyone, Yuga released Florges.
"Florges, I'm counting on you to take care of these Berry trees."
"Florges~!"
Florges nodded confidently and then unfolded her Grassy Terrain.
The orchard wasn't very large, so with Florges's current strength, it only took a few minutes to rejuvenate all the damaged Berry trees.
Looking at the orchard, now even more lush than before, the Glalie and Froslass cheered joyfully and danced in circles around Yuga and Florges.
After a bit of playing around with the Glalie and Froslass, Yuga was about to leave. He had originally planned to come and teach Altaria and Darkrai a lesson, but now that both of them were gone, he had no choice but to give up on that idea.
However, just as Yuga was preparing to leave, a Snorunt came running over in a hurry, anxiously saying something to Yuga, urging him to follow.
Yuga followed the Snorunt to the edge of their territory, where there was a massive ice boulder with a crack running through it.
Peering into the crack, Yuga saw a badly injured Altaria lying inside. Its entire body had frozen into a block of ice—it was indeed the same Altaria that had previously clashed with Darkrai.
Could it be dead?
Yuga hadn't expected Altaria to be beaten so severely by Darkrai. He had no idea what kind of grudge existed between the two.
Yuga jumped onto the ice boulder and released Buzzwole, asking it to use its fists to smash part of the icy rock and lift Altaria out from the crevice.
"There's still a life pulse!"
Because of two special abilities, Yuga was extremely sensitive to signs of life. As soon as Altaria got close to him, he immediately detected that this guy wasn't fully dead yet.
It really wasn't this guy's time to die. If it hadn't been accidentally discovered by the Snorunt and if the Snorunt hadn't called Yuga over, Altaria would definitely have died.
Darkrai really did strike hard—both of Altaria's wings were almost broken, all the feathers on them had disappeared, and large patches of frostbite covered its body, likely caused by being frozen in ice overnight.
Most Dragon-type Pokémon dislike low-temperature environments, especially one like Altaria. If it weren't for this Altaria being high-level and having tenacious vitality, being frozen like that overnight would have surely led to its death.
Yuga released Charizard and had it use a small flame to melt the ice on Altaria's body, then carried it to a cave within the Froslass tribe's territory.
Altaria, now featherless, looked especially ugly. Yuga had to force himself to endure the discomfort to carry it into the cave. The current appearance of Altaria was such an eyesore that Yuga felt nauseated holding it.
Once inside the cave, Yuga immediately took out a Max Revive and fed it to Altaria. If it wasn't treated quickly, it would be beyond saving.
After feeding it the Max Revive, Yuga took a blanket out from the system space and wrapped Altaria in it. Then he used his own healing ability to relieve the frostbite all over Altaria's body. Only after a long time did its vital signs finally stabilize.
But Altaria's injuries were so severe that even without the risk of death, it didn't regain consciousness immediately.
This guy, along with Darkrai, had caused no small trouble for Yuga and the others. Yuga had originally planned to teach it a lesson, but seeing it in such a pitiful state now, he had no choice but to give up that idea.
After treating Altaria's wounds, Yuga took out two Pokeblock, dissolved them in hot water, and fed them to it. Without enough energy, Altaria wouldn't be able to warm up.
About an hour later, Altaria slowly opened its eyes.
During that time, Phoebe had sent Yuga a message telling him that the rescue team hadn't arrived yet, which was why Yuga had stayed with Altaria the whole time.
As soon as Altaria opened its eyes, it saw Yuga and was stunned, thinking it had already died and was now in the ghost world.
It didn't know Yuga. Although Yuga and Phoebe had been watching its fight with Darkrai for quite a while earlier, at the time Altaria had exhausted all its strength dealing with Darkrai and didn't have the capacity to notice Yuga. It only vaguely sensed that there were humans present then—back then, even Lunala had a stronger presence than Yuga.
"You're awake!"
Yuga's voice sounded in Altaria's ear. Altaria tried to move but realized its whole body was wrapped in a blanket, and any slight movement caused intense pain all over. Only then did it realize it was still alive.
So it was this human who saved me? Altaria thought. It was well aware of how badly it had been injured at the time, and hadn't expected that this human would be able to bring it back from the brink. Truly impressive!
"You shouldn't move around just yet," Yuga reminded.
"Altaria~"
Altaria gave Yuga a grateful look.
After letting Altaria rest for a while, Yuga said, "I'm about to leave here. Do you want to come with me?"
Yuga figured that since he couldn't teach this guy a lesson, he might as well recruit it. After all, it was a Master-rank Pokémon. Although its current appearance was extremely hard on the eyes, with proper care it would recover just fine.
...
[ Altaria ]
Type: Dragon, Flying
Ability: Unaffected by Weather
Gender: Male
Potential: Indigo
Level: 91
Moves: Peck, Growl, Sing, Fury Attack, Safeguard, Disarming Voice, Mist, Take Down, Refresh, Round, Echoed Voice, Dragon Pulse, Cotton Guard, Moonblast, Roost, Aerial Ace, Double Team, Steel Wing, Attract, Dazzling Gleam, Agility, Heat Wave, Boomburst, Defog.
...
Under Yuga's Insight skill, Altaria's data was completely visible.
Hearing Yuga's words, Altaria hesitated a little in its heart. Although Yuga had saved it, that didn't necessarily mean Yuga was trustworthy.
However, Altaria soon realized that it had no other choice, because in its current state, staying here would only mean waiting for death. The Froslass and Glalie who had been affected by its and Darkrai's battle wouldn't care whether it lived or died.
"Altaria~"
Altaria nodded at Yuga, thinking it would temporarily follow him for now and figure things out later depending on the situation.
Seeing that Altaria agreed, Yuga couldn't help but laugh.
"You should enter the Poké Ball first, otherwise, with your injuries, moving around won't be easy," Yuga said, taking out a Poké Ball.
Altaria: ...
Altaria was well aware of what a Poké Ball was and what it did. Looking at the Poké Ball in Yuga's hand, it suddenly felt like it had been tricked.
"Don't get the wrong idea—your injuries really aren't suitable for moving around right now. Otherwise, it'll only make them worse," Yuga explained.
In reality, after eating the Max Revive, Altaria's injuries were basically fine. Even its broken wings had recovered. It was just that some parts of its body were still quite sore.
But since Yuga intended to trick it, of course he wasn't going to tell the truth. After all, Altaria wouldn't know any better.
At first, Altaria didn't believe Yuga's words, but every time it moved even slightly, it felt intense pain all over its body. Left with no better option, it entered the Poké Ball half-believing, half-doubting.
Now that it was inside the Poké Ball, would it still have a chance to escape? That would depend on whether Yuga was willing to let it go.
After settling Altaria, Yuga bid farewell to the Glalie and Froslass, then flew back to the airship landing site on Charizard.
Without a large group of Glalie, Froslass, and Snorunt slowing him down this time, it took Yuga less than twenty minutes to return.
However, not long after Yuga returned, the rescue team sent by the League arrived—four brand-new aircrafts in total.
The arrival of the rescue team let everyone breathe a sigh of relief. One by one, they moved from the damaged old airship to the new ones.
Because Yuga and Phoebe had helped so much this time, the airline specially arranged private rooms for both of them on the new aircraft and provided very attentive service.
Once everything was properly arranged, the four new aircrafts took off. As for the old one, it was temporarily left behind so that the airline's maintenance staff could repair it before it left the area.
After settling into his new room, Yuga released Altaria.
"How are you feeling? Any better?"
"Altaria~"
Altaria called out, its voice much stronger than before, though its body still ached intensely with every movement.
"Sigh… I went through so much trouble just to save you, you know. I even used a precious Max Revive on you. Do you know what a Max Revive is? It's a miracle medicine made from Revival Herbs!" Yuga sighed dramatically on purpose.
Altaria was indeed fooled. It didn't know what a Max Revive was, but it did know what Revival Herbs were—those were extremely rare and valuable. In fact, it had only ever heard of them but had never seen one with its own eyes.
No wonder it didn't die from such severe injuries at the time!
"Once your injuries are fully healed, you can return the Max Revive I used. Then you're free to go. If you can't return the block, giving me a Revival Herb instead is fine too. I'll waive the production cost and supplementary materials as a gift from me," Yuga said with a false air of generosity.
Altaria panicked upon hearing this. Where was it supposed to get a Revival Herb?
Seeing Altaria looking so anxious, Yuga smiled again and said, "But there's no rush. Let's wait until you've fully recovered before talking about it."
Only then did Altaria breathe a sigh of relief. Suddenly, it felt that Yuga was actually quite easy to talk to—he must be a genuinely good person. It began to trust Yuga a little more.
After that, during the return journey, Yuga took meticulous care of Altaria—offering it delicious Pokéblocks and calming incense for its mental state, sparing no expense or effort.
Under such a warm offensive, Altaria's trust in Yuga grew stronger and stronger. By the time they arrived in the Hoenn Region, all of Altaria's injuries were completely healed—aside from not having fully regrown its feathers. It now felt that it had formed a deep bond of friendship with Yuga.
After getting off the aircraft, Yuga said to Altaria, "Your injuries are all healed. Now give me the Revival Herb, and then you're free to leave."
Altaria immediately felt troubled again—where was it supposed to find a Revival Herb? What's more, it already felt a faint reluctance to part with Yuga.
Seeing Altaria spacing out, Yuga said, "How about this? Come visit my home. You can repay me with the Revival Herb whenever you get one. Besides, you're unfamiliar with the Hoenn Region and don't have a place to go right now, right?"
Altaria thought that made a lot of sense. It and Yuga were friends now, weren't they? So repaying a little later shouldn't be a problem. Visiting Yuga's home might actually be nice.
During their time together, Yuga had enthusiastically introduced his hometown and all the great things about his home. Altaria was now very eager to see it for itself.
Seeing that Altaria agreed, the smile on Yuga's face grew even wider.
"All right then, let's head back to Verdanturf Town together!"