Now for anyone concerned about what's going on, this is an event that takes place one year after my story 'Catharsis'. Officially, I actually did write this over a year after writing 'Catharsis' (in 2012!). So if you'd like to know how Mars actually got to this point, I encourage you to read the last two chapters of 'Catharsis' at least.

November 26

Christmas This Year

Floaroma Town: one year later

The snow had blanketed the fields of Floaroma Town, not to mention the flowers. Nevertheless, the flowers did not fall apart but stayed frozen like delicate berries in a wide garden. Houses were covered in snow and fireplaces were all active, where families stayed warm and cozy at home. Everything was well, and even the children were playing leisurely around in the snow with their Pokémon friends.

The Pokémon Trainer Mars was also at her home, starting to decorate her house. It had been barely over a year since she had been granted and given freedom by the International Police. Within that time, she had experienced numerous journeys, one including an act of inception, but that was a different story…

Dressed in her iconic red sweater, a sleeveless black dress, and black pants, she opted to purchase some new clothes at Jubilife City, one which included a white dress and trimmed with red again, a housecoat, but also bought a shell jacket; it was her clothing of choice when it came to the winter. Indeed, her hairstyle was just the same as ever for the past years, and she was happy that all of Sinnoh seemed to accept her at last. A few times; she had to get a haircut since her hair would grow longer eventually.

Brr… it's cold this morning! Mars thought, looking around her two-storey house. In the past year it had already been partly furnished, but it still needed some room for improvement. Using her money earned from selling berries, she bought a wardrobe, flat-screen television, a low high-end couch, coffee table, and even resources to develop a fireplace! It was installed in the past month.

So Mars went downstairs dressed in her robe to turn on her fireplace. For her own comfort, she wasn't alone; Purugly, Bronzor, and Kangaskan wandered around the house too and not to mention the Marill Kellyn had captured for her the year before.

"It's so cold today!" Mars exclaimed. "To think –"

But Mars was interrupted by the sudden nudging of her Marill who, after Mars gave some afterthought, made her follow the little Pokémon to the door. Although Marill was small, the Pokémon blasted a small Bubble attack on the doorknob. The door swung open where Mars saw a lot of snow falling down in the community.

"That's very nice, Marill, but it's really cold!" Mars said, closing the door.

She walked over to the sofa, picked up a blanket on the way and tossed it on the seats. Mars planned to comfortably wrap up in blankets, but not before she would turn on the fireplace.

Only a minute later, the fireplace on the side wall was up and running and the entire house was filled with a tremendous sense of warmth. Purugly simply crawled near the fire and rested in front of it. On the other hand, Mars went to the kitchen to prepare a quick drink of hot chocolate, and eventually brought her laptop and her drink to the low sofa, placing her contents on the table in front and wrapped herself up in blankets.

"Mm…" Mars hummed, sipping the hot drink. It was sweet, as it always was, and was made from very hot Moo-moo milk mixed with cocoa powder. To her, it was possibly one of the best drinks she ever came across.

When she was about to fade into sleep again, Mars distracted herself by turning on her laptop. She began to work on it and happily typed out some business documents she was working on – which really were for her berry marketing career – while listening at the sound of the fire.

Knock. Knock.

Hmph! Now I have to get up… Mars thought grudgingly. Still dressed in her favourite clothes, she got up to walk to the door. When she did open it, an astonishingly cold gust blew into her house. Mars couldn't take it.

"Hurry up! Come in!" she demanded, not bothering to look at her visitor. "It's so cold outside!"

The visitor walked right into her house, and Mars slammed the door shut.

"Mars… I'm not the only one who came in you know…" the visitor said.

Mars actually took her time to look at who came in. It was… Kellyn, the Pokémon Ranger, and his Pachirisu resting right on his shoulder. When she realised that, Mars blushed out of embarrassment.

"Oh! Sorry Kellyn! But that would mean…" Mars' eyes widened: she knew who would be waiting right outside in the cold. Reaching for the door, she opened it and as expected, saw –

"Kate! I'm sorry!" Mars quickly said, and whilst messing with her hair, and furthermore blushed red from major embarrassment. "Sorry Pachirisu! Sorry Grotle! Excuse me for being heartless!"

Indeed, Kellyn's co-worker and Partner Pokémon were just as unhappy as they were cold. Kate, her Pachirisu, Kellyn's Grotle and Kirlia walked right in. Mars beamed at her guests and dashed to grab some towels to dry them off. Right after, she gave one hug each to Kellyn and Kate.

"It's been too long, Kellyn!" Mars grinned. "It's been like a year since we met! What brings you here to Floaroma Town, anyway?"

"It's been more like over a year, I haven't seen you since we went with on that 'mission' with Wes," Kellyn politely corrected her. "You know… seeing that I haven't seen you for so long, Kate and I agreed to pay you a visit for Christmas! Besides, Kate was quite keen to meet you face-to-face."

Mars gestured for the Rangers to sit on the low sofa while the Pokémon made themselves comfortable looking for a nice place to rest. Incidentally, the favourite spot to rest was beside the fire.

"Shall I get you some drinks?" Mars offered.

"I'd like some hot water, please," Kellyn said to her.

"I'd like a cup of hot chocolate, Mars," Kate said right after.

"Oh, of course!" Mars nodded, face full of optimism. Immediately she thought of looking for another container of Moo-moo milk.

While she went to the kitchen, Kate turned her face to Kellyn's. "Don't you think it'd be nicer to do something for her? It looked like we couldn't get in to her house. There's so much snow!"

Kellyn looked up and then got up. "You have a point there, Kate. Here, I'll go and help sweep and clear the snow."

Before Kate could try to say a word, Kellyn had already gone outside, dragging Grotle with him.

"Here's your drink, Kate," Mars said, putting a cup of hot chocolate on the low table and also a plate of cookies. "I just opened these cookies. Try some!"

"Aw, Mars, you didn't have to," Kate protested, picking up her cup and taking small sips.

The two of them ended up chatting for a while. Kate noticed that Mars was more than happy to talk with someone. Of course, Mars did seem alone at her house.

"By the way, where'd Kellyn go?" Mars asked, halfway eating a cookie.

"He went outside to help sweep the snow off your doorstep," Kate replied, also eating a cookie. "I wanted to ask if I could help him, but Kellyn just came and went. He even brought Grotle to help him! Then again, he's keen to help people, like me!"

Mars laughed. "So how have you and Kellyn been helping people?"

"Oh, you know… Ranger's work," Kate replied. "We recently did a ridiculous Quest to help a tropical country prepare for a winter and Christmas festival. You know what we did? We had to bring snow there!"

Mars stared at her, and then giggled. "How did you do that? It's not like you could ship amounts of snow from Snowpoint City by ship; the snow would melt!"

"We had to capture a wild Froslass and Walrein on our own!" Kate said.

"What?!" Mars' jaw dropped. "Wild… how did – that must have been a pain! You two must have spent at least a day to look for them. You know, Froslass are naturally rare to find around these parts."

"Literally, Mars," Kate simply said. "It took twelve hours from dawn to dusk. We spent like a few days trying to recover from exhaustion."

And then Mars burst into fits of giggles, and Kate did exactly the same. In fact, it took the better of one minute to settle down, and drinking hot chocolate did not help stop it. Around the same time, Kellyn and Grotle walked in, welcoming the warmth of the house.

"The deed is done," Kellyn said in a light tone. "I was freezing out there!"

He finally sat down on the sofa and drank a mouthful of water, simultaneously taking a cookie.

"So Kellyn… what really brings you to Floaroma?"

He took his time to swallow, and then put his cup down. "I thought that after a year, and that I haven't seen you for so long, I would drop by to celebrate Christmas with you. Kate wanted to meet you in person, so… she came along. It looks like she finally did."

Kate looked at him. "You were right, Kellyn. She really is a great person. While you were out clearing the snow, Mars and I had a nice chat."

"About what?" Kellyn leaned in.

"It's a girl thing," Mars rushed to say, and before long Kellyn got suspicious. "Anyway, what do you think of the idea going to Veilstone for a bit?"

Kate dignified this with a grin. "Yeah! We could do with some shopping!"

Officially, I've actually completed this story and it was a one-shot. But the story, a free time one month project of mine, is so long I just had to break it down into smaller bits...