Yukizuki was having a wonderful day.

True, there was a raging snowstorm outside. True, she was stuck inside a cave. But what did that matter? She still had the most important things: Her adorable Lynkos, a raging fire to keep her warm, and a sweet cup of hot cocoa. Even the turbulent sounds of the storm outside were soothing in their own way.

Ah, this is the life. I don't care what anybody in the Lunaverse says, there is nothing better than this. She smiled and took another sip of her cocoa.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud yowling of one of her lynkos. She turned around to see Purple Lynko, standing at the mouth of the cave, covered in snow.

"Purple!" She slammed her cup to the ground with such force that some of the liquid flew out of the cup before falling back in. She stormed towards the lynx-like creature. "Did you go outside? There's a blizzard! Do you understand how dangerous that is?"

Purple didn't respond to her scolding. Instead, he bit into the side of her boot and pulled it towards the exit.

Yukizuki folded her arms and continued glaring down at him. "Are you listening? I said it's too dangerous! You could get lost, or trip over something, not to mention how cold it is outside! No matter how thick your coat is, it's safer to stay here!" She stamped her foot at the word, "here" for added emphasis.

Purple simply continued pulling on her boot.

"I know it's hard being stuck inside here and not being able to go outside. But there's tons of fun things in here, too!"

At this point, Purple gave up on tugging, let go of the boot, and simply walked to the mouth of the cave.

"Purple, no! We literally just talked about this!"

The Lynko yowled again and returned.

"Oh good. You understand. Now let's—"

He walked back to the entrance again.

Yukizuki cocked her head, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "What's this?… Do you want me to follow you?"

Purple screeched in agreement, and began pacing in frantic circles around her.

Yukizuki sighed, cradling her head in her palm. "Fine, fine, I'll go. I have a feeling you'll just leave by yourself if I don't… Just let me get dressed first."

Purple seemed to have no patience, screeching and yowling while Yukizuki put on her special snowshoes, snow goggles, earmuffs, and extra warm, waterproof coat.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! I swear, this better be something really good if you're making me go out there. Like a matter of life and death. And I mean a literal matter of life and death, not a figurative one."

Finally, she was finished. "Kay, I'm ready. Now let's go—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Purple bolted out of the entrance.

"Hey!" She called running after him. "Wait up! I can't help you if I can't see you, remember?"


It was horrible outside, and Yukizuki was not happy.

The biting cold was almost unbearable in spite of all her warm clothes, she could barely see an inch in front of her face, and all she really wanted at the moment was to be back in her warm cave, snuggling next to her Lynkos.

Purple wasn't providing any sort of comfort, either. Every now and then, he would walk in a certain direction, pause, turn around, pause again, and then turn back and walk in the same direction he was walking before.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Yukizuki shouted over the wind.

Purple gave no response.

"Any tracks you made earlier have probably already been erased by snow! We're just going to get lost. Let's turn back!"

At this point, Purple turned back at her and let out another yowl. The message was clear— This was too important. They weren't going anywhere.

After a while of trudging through snow, Purple looked up and sniffed the air. He paused for a second, then sprinted forward out of Yukizuki's view.

"Purple? Purple!" Yukizuki looked around, her highlights turning lime green. Try as she might, she couldn't see him, or anything for that matter.

Oh, no no no no no! I can't lose you! Come back!

She looked around frantically, and saw a shadow in the distance.

"Purple? That you?"

Sure enough, Purple was running towards her.

"Oh thank goodness, you're alright!" She said, the lime glow subsiding. Without hesitation, she picked him up and snuggled him close. "Do you have any idea how much you scared me? Come on. We're heading back."

Purple bit her arm and lept back onto the ground.

"Come on! Something's bound to happen if we keep going like this! Let's go home, please!"

Purple shook his head and walked a little further. He turned back to Yukizuki with a pleading look on his face.

Come on, just a little further. Please?

She frowned, her highlights turning lime green again. But she nodded.


At least Purple wasn't lying when he implied "just a little further." It felt like they had only been walking for a minute before Purple made them stop.

Yukizuki looked around, confused. "This is what you made us come here for? I don't see—"

That's when she spotted them.

Lo and behold, there was another moonflower on her moon.

Surprisingly, despite the extreme conditions, he didn't seem to be wearing anything other than some green swim shorts.

(Yukizuki didn't think that would be practical on any moon, but that wasn't the point.)

The other moonflower was knee-deep in snow, digging for… something. No gloves so his fingers are definitely going to fall off if this keeps going.

What the heck is he doing?!

"What the heck are you doing?!" She called out.

The other moonflower looked over at her. "I- I'm looking for my— I'm looking for my—"

Yeah, that chattering wasn't a good sign. "What are you looking for? Is someone else here?"

"No, it's my—"

"Then it's not worth our time. Come on!" She said, grabbing onto the other moonflower's arm.

"But I-" He protested.

"No buts! Come on! Purple, lead the way!"

His protests fell on deaf ears. She was the moonflower of this moon, and there was no way someone was going to freeze to death on her watch.


This girl didn't understand.

She seemed super nice, but she didn't understand. Yes, he's cold and his hands are kinda numb, but everything was fine. He was fine, but he really needed to get back home otherwise his friends would worry themselves sick.

He tried to explain himself to her, but he was having a hard time. His teeth kept on chattering, and his thoughts were kinda all jumbled. Plus despite the fact that it didn't take much effort to dig through snow, he felt completely wiped out. Still, he kept trying.

"H… Hey, thanks for trying to help and all but I…" It was getting so hard to force out the words "I really…"

The other girl still did not listen. She just kept pacing back and forth, tugging on her spiral pigtails, muttering frantically to herself. "Okay… okay! This is fine! Well, it's not fine, but you know how to fix this! Yin and Yang taught you well! Once… a while ago." She stopped in her tracks and shook her head rapidly.

And she was panicking. That wasn't good at all. "Calm down, there's no emergency."

She spun around to face him. "There is most certainly an emergency!"

"In that case, you should really calm down."

"But— Ugh, no he's right. Focus!" She stomped her foot on the ground, and her Lime Glow shut off. "Okay, mental checklist. First things first… oh!" She quickly removed her coat and moved to drape it around his shoulders.

Maroshi reached out to grab the jacket when she yanked it away. "Wait, stop! I don't think you're supposed to help in your or own treatment. That's one thing I do remember from what I learned."

"Huh?…" Maroshi didn't get why she was making such a big deal out of this. He was just cold, right? Surely it didn't warrant that much of a fuss. "I'm fine…"

"No you're not." She said, wrapping her jacket around him. The insides were incredibly soft and warm, and Maroshi had to admit it made him feel better.

"Is that good?"

"Yeah."

The moonflower girl heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. Step 2: Check temperature." She walked towards a big black bin in the center of the cave and started digging through it. "Come on, come on, I know that there's a thermometer in here somewhere…" She pulled something out. "Aha! Got it! Oh, thermometer, you're the best, I love you!" She walked back towards him. "Here, stick this in your mouth."

Too exhausted to protest anymore, Maroshi just obliged.

One… Two… Three…

*BEEP BEEP!*

"There we go." She removed the thermometer and read the screen. "33.5 degrees. That means…" she growled. "I don't know what that means! I retract my last statement! Thermometers are useless!" she threw the device to the floor. "Okay, new plan: How are you feeling?"

It was a weird question in Maroshi's opinion. "C-cold, I guess…"

She heaved a sigh of relief. "Cold? That's good. Cold means mild. I can work with cold."

"Yip!"

Both moonflowers turned to see the arrival of another one of the cat-like creatures with the tufted ears and stubby tails. (Lynkos, he had thought he heard her call them) This one was pink, as opposed to the purple one that had been with her when he'd been dragged out of the snow. Balanced perfectly on their back were two cups of a steaming liquid.

The girl's eyes lit up, and for the first time, she smiled. "Pink! You little godsend you! How are you even—" she paused. "You know what? Just this once, I'm not going to ask questions. Just thank you." She removed both cups from the Lynkos back, and handed one to Maroshi. "Here. I think that warm sweet drinks are supposed to be good for you."

Maroshi accepted the drink gratefully, and took a long sip. The drink was indeed warm, and Maroshi could practically feel the cold melting away. He smiled. "Wow. This is really good."

"I know right?" Yukizuki said happily. "There's nothing like a sweet cup of hot chocolate to make all your worries melt away." She let out a contented sigh. "And I could really use some relaxation now." She turned to face him. "What about you? Are you feeling better… err… uh…"

"Maroshi. And yeah, I feel fine."

She still narrowed her eyes in concern, and removed her gloves. Very carefully, she put her hands on his. "Wow." Maroshi said. "Your hands are incredibly warm, did you know that?"

"It's not that my hands are warm, you're just really cold." She let go of him and put her gloves back on. "But you're definitely warmer than when I found you, so I think we might be in the clear. Thank goodness."

Maroshi raised his cup up. "Cheers to that, huh?"

She lightly clinked her mug against his with a tired smile. "Cheers. So, welcome to the moon, I guess. I'm Yukizuki."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Although I do wish you came at a less stress-inducing time." Yukizuki's expression shifted into one of confusion. "Actually, what the heck were you doing outside during a blizzard anyways, especially dressed like that?" She gestured to Maroshi, who was still only wearing her jacket in addition to his regular swim shorts.

Maroshi laughed. "That's actually kinda a funny story. Ya see, I was skyboarding through the area because there was a meteor shower, and I love to get in on that action. But," He blushed. "I guess the action was a little too action-y, because one of them hit me and sent me flying down here."

Yukizuki raised an eyebrow. "That's a 'funny story'?"

"I mean, I'm sure one day I'll look back on today and laugh." He stood up. "That reminds me. I really gotta get home before my friends freak out."

"What? No! Sit down!"

The sharp sound of Yukizuki's voice shocked Maroshi into sitting down. "Did I do something wrong?"

She groaned, her free hand cradling her forehead. "No, you didn't, but…" she pointed outside where the storm was raging. "That is not go-outside weather. You were just out there! You know what it's like! Why would you ever want to go out there?"

"I told you. I need to get my skyboard so I can get home."

Yukizuki sighed. "Well I hate to break it to you, but that thing is probably buried under a mountain of snow right now. Like you will be if you go out there." She added pointedly.

Ah, right. He hadn't thought about that. "So I just stay here until tomorrow?"

"Well…" she hid behind her bangs. "It's more like 7 to 14 days. The blizzard season can last a while."

Maroshi felt his heart drop at her words. While he definitely could spend time away from his friends, he certainly didn't enjoy it. Not to mention the resultant panic his disappearance would likely cause.

Still, he kept his relaxed manner. "That blows. Still, what can you do about it?"

Yukizuki smiled sadly. "Nothing. Nothing at all." She took a final swig of her drink. "With that said, I think I'm going to turn in." She pulled out two sleeping bags from the black bin.

Maroshi finished his own drink before glancing outside. "Is it nighttime already?"

Yukizuki shrugged. "I can't see the sky, so I don't know. But my internal clock is telling me to rest and I've had an exhausting last couple of hours. She crawled into one of the sleeping bags. "Goodnight, Maroshi…"

As soon as her eyes closed, Maroshi yawned. The day had been pretty exhausting for him as well. He crawled into the other sleeping bag.

So I'll be spending time here for the next couple of days? I guess that's cool. He stole a glance at Yukizuki. At least she seems nice. Kinda intense, but nice.

Soothed by the roaring sounds of the fire, Maroshi shut his eyes, dreaming of things to come.