Maylene loved spending Christmas at Snowpoint. In a way, it was almost paradoxical—why would the twinkling winter stars, the soft powder drifting earthward, the white-dusted boughs and needles of the pines and firs feel special up here? After all, Snowpoint was always like this. (It was kind of in the name.) But the truth of the matter was that there was something magical about spending the holidays in the coldest part of the region; the noble solitude of it, the way that the cold and chill felt familiar, like a blanket, gave it a little something extra special.

Candice’s laugh jolted her out of her reverie, and Maylene smiled. There was the matter that her best friend lived here, too.

Maylene made a showing of enduring the frigid conditions in her martial arts gear for the public—but truth be told, the moment that challengers weren’t looking she ditched it quick for earmuffs, gloves, boots, a knitted scarf, and one very heavy coat. Even now she didn’t feel entirely warm. But Candice, though… Candice was a Snowpoint native and looked it. A single-layer shirt whose sleeves barely stretched past her elbows, ears exposed to the open air, a skirt of all things, and all capped with what had to be her showing off—a jacket wrapped lazily around her waist like a sash.

Shivering against herself, Maylene rolled her eyes, surveying the way that breath formed a small puff of vapor in front of her friend’s mouth before vanishing into the cold-darkened sky. Maybe someday she’d be able to handle the cold like Candice, but for now? She was content to bundle up as best she could.

“Wonder when the deliveries are gonna start,” Candice was saying, leaning on the railing of her porch. She had a small cottage at the town’s outskirts, perfect for solitude; they were staring up at the night sky. “Santa Delibird usually makes it to this part of Sinnoh by now.”

“You know he doesn’t show up if you’re looking for him,” Maylene said, lightly elbowing her friend in good humor. “Let’s go enjoy some hot chocolate and just wait for the presents, whatcha say?”

Candice didn’t look convinced; her fingers drummed against the railing in worry.

But as the two of them turned to go back inside, a sudden melody touched their ears—a carol of jingling bells! Both of them feeling giddy like young schoolgirls, they turned to see if they could spy Santa Delibird overhead, his sleigh weighed down with gifts and goodies.

To their astonishment, though, the two young women didn’t spy the sleigh flying overhead—it touched down jerkily right on Candice’s snow-covered lawn! Both their mouths agape, they could only watch as the jolly old mon himself hopped out of his sleigh and flapped his way over to them.

“I’m told the Gym Leaders of Sinnoh are the ones to ask when the region faces a crisis?” he asked, as if he wasn’t a living legend—and a pokemon at that—who had just walked up to chat.

Candice stood stunned, and Maylene didn’t blame her, but the Fighting-type specialist answered quickly: “We’re as good as any! What seems to be the matter?”

Chirruping with great dignity, Santa Delibird waved at his sleigh. “My lead sleigh pokemon have fallen sick, and Christmas is falling behind! I might not get presents to Sinnoh’s hopeful youth in time unless I get help!” His face was in open entreaty, his eyes wide and pleading.

“Well, you can count on us!” Candice said, snapping out of her funk. She placed her hands on her hips, a daredevil smile touching her lips.

“Yeah!” Maylene affirmed. “We’ll help, Santa!”

The jolly red pokemon clapped his wings together. “Excellent! Well then, I’m just going to work a little Christmas magic…” Reaching into his sack-like tail, he sprinkled sparkling dust over each of them. Maylene sniffled at it, and Candice coughed, and then suddenly—

They started to change.

A weird pressure—not painful, in no way did it hurt, but it was definitely weird—started to assert itself at Maylene’s tailbone. Wrinkling her brow, the martial artist flexed her hands experimentally, suddenly feeling strange tingling all across her body; likewise, the cold was chased away as she suddenly felt better insulated than ever.

From Maylene’s side came a surprised squawk—glancing over, she saw Candice teetering uncertainly on rapidly-changing limbs. The Ice Leader’s legs were narrowing into small, slim things ending with hooves, cloaked in russet and frost-covered fur; she fell over on all fours with a yelp, catching herself on hands that were quickly morphing into more hooves. Branch-like antlers grew from her receding hair, and a tufty tail poked out from her skirt.

Eying Maylene, Candice’s eyes widened. “Maylene, you’re changing!” she exclaimed. Maylene rather thought that was like the pot calling the kettle black—but glancing down at her body, she had to agree.

Sunny, amber-colored fur was claiming most of her body; her toned arms were shortening into truncated forelimbs ending in small paws while her legs and hips swelled up, giving her body a definite pear-shape. As a long tail, tipped with a ruby-red bauble, sprang out of her pants, she eyed Santa Delibird. “What’s happening?” she exclaimed, only to gasp; her voice was different, melodic and musical—a pokemon’s voice!

Santa Delibird spread his wings in a placating gesture. “Ah, I thought you’d understood. Two trainers can’t pull my sleigh, can they? I need replacement pokemon—a Sawsbuck to lead the team, and an Ampharos to light the way!” He grinned a grandfatherly smile. “Don’t worry, it’s only temporary—think of it as a Christmas adventure!”

With that relief, the confusion lifted from Maylene and she rode out the rest of her transformation with a sunny disposition. Her neck lengthened, her face pointing out into a snout, another bauble growing atop her head; her body thrummed with electricity, and as she shook herself out of her clothing, she experimentally light up both her tail and head, the gleam filling the winter night with piercing light.

As Santa Delibird clapped delightedly, Candice was finishing out her transformation. Her face was by now fully ungulate, and she too had shaken off her clothing; big ears flapped the side of her head, and a collar of creamy white fur cloaked her shoulders. A winter-coated Sawsbuck, she tried her new hooves in the snow experimentally before returning her attention to Maylene. “You know,” she said, her voice a pokemon timbre easily understood by Maylene’s new form, “I think I could get used to this!” Turning to Santa, she stamped her hooves in the snow excitedly. “Well, come on! Don’t we have a holiday to save?”

He laughed. “That we do!” He flapped back to his sleigh, Candice trotting excitedly after, and Maylene, after a few more moments to explore her new Ampharos body, followed.

Santa was fitting Candice with a harness, the Leader-turned-pokemon standing proud with her head high, and then he gestured at a nearby spot for Maylene. “The foremost places are special,” he said, “reserved for the strongest flyer and the pokemon who lights the way!” She flared power to her baubles in response, stepping in and letting him strap her in. The moment that the harnesses were in place, a curious power descended on her and she met Candice’s eye, the two of them grinning madly. As Santa Delibird hopped into his sleigh, he called out: “Now dash away—dash away—dash away all!”

And the power of winter’s magic holding into them, Candice pawing the ground excitedly with her new hooves and Maylene shining bright, the sleigh…

It flew.

The transformed Leaders laughed in unison, wonder and delight filling their voices, as Candice’s little cottage became like a wooden block below, the trees looking like matchsticks. Beyond, they could see the lights of Snowpoint spread out like a child’s playmat. “Hup-ho!” cried Santa, and at Candice’s urging, the team of pokemon driving the sleigh—Stantler and Galarian Rapidash and Zebstrika and so many others—cantered through the air, going far faster than any normal pokemon could have hoped to match. Somehow, Candice knew exactly where to go; she pulled them unerringly towards the right houses and buildings. Below, people looked up, gasping and clapping in wonder at the jangling of the bells, and Santa Delibird tossed presents out of his bag to perfectly tumble down the chimneys below.

“No time to visit in person, I’m afraid!” he said as the last gift made its way down. “Too much lost time! Now—south to Celestic!”

Spurred on by the magic of the sleigh, they turned south and made their way over the peaks of Mt. Coronet. For the first time in the night, Maylene’s wonder started to dampen as she saw the massive bank of clouds ahead. Coronet’s weather could be sour at the best of times…

“Hold fast!” cried Santa, perhaps sensing her disquiet. “Remember, you’re here to show us the way!”

She steeled herself. That’s right! She could do this! As they plunged into the cloud bank, she summoned all her newfound power and lit the stormy weather with a bright red glow.

“Thanks, Maylene!” Candice cried out, her new Sawsbuck voice low and husky. “I got this!” With Maylene serving as a guiding light, Candice expertly dodged around peaks and stony spires, whooping with delight as they danced across rolling flurries of skybound snow. Maylene shone brighter than ever, exultant in her role as the one to save Christmas, proud that she could light the way!

When it was time for them to break off, they finally plunged sideways and left the cloudbank—

And Maylene’s voice caught in wonder. Here, above the clouds of central Sinnoh, was the most fabulous aurora she had ever seen. The lights waved and undulated, first emerald, then sapphire, then amethyst, magnificent in their glory; she dimmed her own lights, knowing the time would come when she would have to summon them again.

“Wow,” Candice breathed at her side. “This… this is…”

“…spectacular,” Maylene sighed in unison. They cantered along, tugging the sleigh, and as Santa dropped presents into the homes of Celestic, Maylene glanced gladly at her friend under the glorious northern lights. “You know, this is… I think this might be the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.”

Candice laughed in response, throwing back her head; her pristine ruff shook in the air, speckled with dusty snow. “Yeah,” she said, “I think I’d agree.”

They made their way across Sinnoh, racing against time, and as they returned to Snowpoint, the sun was just about to rise. Santa Delibird touched his sleigh down in front of Candice’s cottage and regarded them both with a wide smile. “I knew I picked the right ladies for the job,” he said. “You know, neither of you have ever been on the naughty list!” Raising one red-feathered wing, they felt the magic of Christmas play about them. “Ready to be turned back?”

“S-Santa, wait!” Maylene cried out. The pokemon stopped and looked at her.

Maylene glanced down at her new body—the bright yellow fur, the soft paws, her long tail. “I’m not asking to stay this way forever, but… do you think I could get a few days to enjoy it?” She smiled at him. “As a special sort of Christmas present?”

“Me too!” Candice cut in, stamping her hooves excitedly against the snow, antlers silhouetted against the dawning sky. “I’d like that too, please!”

Santa’s face split into a broad smile. “Of course,” he said, waving his wing at them—and they each gasped as they felt the lingering enchantment settle into them. “There. That will stay with you, and the transformation will be undone whenever you’re ready, whether it be ten hours from now—or ten years.” He chortled good-naturedly. “Enjoy, girls, and be proud! You helped bring joy to countless little children!”

As he and his sleigh slipped away into the dawn, the two pokemon glanced at each other excitedly—and then slipped away to play and frolic in the snow-crowned forests of northern Sinnoh. Soon after, a new legend was born in Snowpoint—that of the strange pokemon from other lands who slipped like phantoms through the snow-clad trees. When Candice and her friend returned from their sabbatical around the new year, Snowpoint’s favorite daughter merely laughed and waved off such reports, dismissing them as children’s exaggered stories.

But, with knowing gleams in their eyes, both women still repeated the tales themselves, and slowly the legend took on a life of its own: that of the Ampharos and Sawsbuck who, when push came to shove, helped save Christmas.