This isn't the first time I've seen snow, but it's something of an abnormality to me. And even though it's still winter, it's not typical for a place like Treasure Town to get much of it. I can only imagine the current weather being a peculiarity caused by the still healing planet.

Several months have passed since Ri and I placed the Time Gears in Temporal Tower. Time is still out of control within a few areas—particularly where the Time Gears were first removed—but overall things are going back to normal. According to the letters we've received from the Lake Trio, things are slowly beginning to flow back into their natural course. We haven't had any reports of hurt or frozen Pokemon in a while either. The only true after effects that remain are the occasional, minor natural disasters and the odd hot and cold fronts we've been getting.

It's fairly nice here though. It's not too terribly cold, so we can still enjoy a day at the beach: However, if you walk into the forest, you would've thought you had stepped into a winter wonderland. We're getting the best of both worlds.

Pushing open the window of mine and Ri's room, I stick my hand out into the snowfall—catching the frozen crystals within my hand as my own warmth melts them upon contact. It's strange to feel this serene, after all we've been through, but I'm thankful for moments like these. When I returned from the future, we were given a few days to ourselves before we had to return to our work. Things have been rigorous ever since. Ri and I have resumed our training, and we've helped out with recovery efforts across the continent. Grovyle and Celebi have been spending a lot of time together—in fact, we only get to really see them every now and then—as the two have also been traveling to see to the remaining abnormalities. Dusknoir's retaken his room here at the Guild, but has been a shut-in for the most part as he's kept to watching over the Guild's books and records. We've all stayed busy in our own ways.

But other than for the common criminal, there hasn't been any real trouble. The only 'trouble' I can say we've experienced has been in dodging the hounding Pokemon that want to know about our adventure. At least I don't have to handle it alone—Ri took the brunt of it when he first came back from the Hidden Land—but word of my having been human has doubly made me the target of inquiring minds, not to mention my Dimensional Scream ability. We've had leaders from other continents who've wanted to speak with us, exploration and rescue teams who've wanted to partner with us. Only when it came to other guilds wanting us to join their ranks did Chatot and Wigglytuff stop snickering behind our backs to come to our rescue…

Ri got his wish: We're a top-notch exploration team. And we're paying for it in spades… It's not all bad, but I could make do without the interruptions on our days in town.

I hear the door creak open behind me and turn to see Ri stepping into our room with a carefully -wrapped box cradled in his arms. "Chatot's not going to be happy with you if you let in a draft," he reminds teasingly, setting it down on the floor. He had stepped out to check on the mail, but with the holidays already being well behind us I didn't really expect us to get anything more than letters or job offers.

"You'd think our saving the world would spare us from getting lectured as much…" Sealing the window once again, I step over to him and remove the note attached to the box. My mild confusion is soon dismissed, and I summarize the note to him with a grin, "It's from Grovyle and Celebi. It says they stopped at a trading post in Capim and are on their way back from their last mission."

"Then I guess they sent us a souvenir," he concludes. For all the traveling we've done, we've actually never been to Capim: All we know is that it's a port town. I don't think it'll be much longer before we get our chance though—seeing a letter from the Water Continent mixed in with our mail only confirms this much.

"Lira, look at this!" Ri's excited claim beckons my glance away from the letters to him as he opens the box. Peering within it as well, I nearly gawk at the variety of foodstuffs it contains: Gateau, jam, maple candies, honey, fudge, lava cookies, Pokeblock, Gogoat cheese, and a few other things to try. I know I shouldn't—we haven't even had breakfast yet and I'm not even that hungry—but I'm tempted to swiping something now.

I'm as easy to read as ever I guess, because he chuckles at me, "You've always had a sweet tooth, haven't you?"

"Can you blame me? Dessert was all but unheard of in the dark future: It's my ambrosia." This only gets him to laugh further.

Shuffling through the items, I also find a small packet of biscuits-like sticks dipped in chocolate with another note attached. I've never seen anything quite like them before, and pick up the paper. From the handwriting, I can tell it's an extra piece from Celebi—which is strange in itself because Grovyle's usually the one to write. According to her, they're a type snack of known as Pocky, and there's some sort of game where…

Oh…

"What else did they say?" Ri tries to crane his neck to see the extra note, but I crumple it up before he can. My blush, however, is not so easily hidden. He doesn't even have to get an answer from me before releasing an amused snort and blushing himself. Probably not because he knows about Pocky, but because we both know Celebi.

Ever since Ri and I started going on… intimate terms, we've somewhat become targets of our friends and family. Just like Celebi, Sunflora and Chimecho went into near hysterics over our being a couple. Meanwhile, Ri's faced his share of teasing from Croagunk, Corphish, Loudred, and Diglett. Out of our guildmates, only Bidoof, Chatot, and the Guildmaster have shown any restraint. Even some of the townsfolk have joined in.

But in all honestly, now that we're like this, we don't really know how to conduct ourselves anymore. For the most part, we've just gone on with ourselves as we've always been—just with the occasional kiss on the cheek. I mean, we pretty much just hung out with one another all the time anyway, so it's not like calling it 'dating' would really be any different, right? It's still just us: Ri and Lira, Team Crusade. The ones who are making the biggest fuss about it are everyone else.

Team Salacious would probably be making—and mind the pun—the biggest stink over it were it not for the fact that we actually haven't seen very much of them lately. Like many other things, it's also strange—not having our rivals to pester us. We've made up for the empty place though with our recent training routines.

The papers I got from Jaden in my own world have come in handy for us. There are moves and techniques we've never thought of, and that not even Ri has ever heard of: Communicating through aura-infused gemstones, manipulating aura to levitate objects, creating barriers that can even contain explosive blasts. Not that we've skillfully mastered any of that just yet, but we're improving. And for Riolu, our abilities go behind average. After all, we shouldn't have been able to learn Aura Sphere and Bone Rush until we had evolved, but we can. We can only grow stronger from here on out.

"We should probably hurry," Ri says as he puts on a dark, navy scarf and hands a matching one to me. "We can get breakfast in the mess hall, and Chatot said he and the Guildmaster are going to make an important announcement during the morning address."

An announcement? I have to admit, I'm curious. Everyone in the Guild has been so busy with the recovery efforts on top of our regular work that we haven't done much else, and we haven't heard of any major problems since our journey to the Hidden Land. Maybe Wigglytuff is planning another expedition for all of us. Or maybe we'll be sent out in mass once again to help some of the gradually unthawing lands that were trapped in time. Either way, I suppose we should get moving before Loudred comes knocking on our door with his usual, ear-splitting wakeup call.

I nod, shrugging on our Treasure Bag and soon after wrapping the scarf around my shoulders. Outside of our door the Guild's daily bustle has already begun, and as we step into the hallway we find ourselves greeted by our fellow apprentices. Farther away, I can smell freshly baked muffins being prepared in the mess hall and, sure enough, I can hear Loudred yelling at the door of some other team's room. Just the sort of lively morning rituals that we're used to. Announcement or not, I guess it's really just another day for us.