Quote:
All it takes is one bad seed to ruin the bunch. What should have been the highlight of the Destiny City Botanical Garden's Winter Extravaganza turned into a nightmare; their newly unveiled Winter Star Poinsettias had come to life and attacked! While there were no casualties and no severe injuries, many guests of the Botanical Gardens suffered slices from the razor-sharp leaves of the poinsettias and mild to severe bruising. That wasn't even the worst of it, though.

During the final battle, a blinding flash of light that spread across Destiny City left some with temporary blindness or difficulties seeing. Pollen fell like glittery snow across the city, afflicting many people with a strange winter-time 'allergy'. Anyone who inhaled the pollen may find themselves sneezing frequently, especially around a strong smell. They may also find themselves suffering from flu-like symptoms such as fever, coughing, fatigue, and nausea. No medicine relieves these ailments, however all symptoms will gradually disappear over the next week.

It doesn't seem to be contagious, but it's probably a good idea to take your vitamins anyway...

Bundled up in blankets in his apartment on his couch, Kit was miserable. He'd managed to look away in time to avoid the flash of light during the event at the Destiny City Botanical Garden that night that the Winter Stars had attacked, so his eyesight was fine. But he hadn't thought to avoid inhaling the glittering snow that turned out to be pollen afterward. That had been stupid since pretty much everything else about the monster plants had turned out to be dangerous - from their eerie glows to their sharpened leaves. He should have had some caution regarding the substance that rained down upon their demise, lovely as it might have been to look at.

Ever since that night, though, the teen had been stuck in his apartment on his own and barely able to move. He was glad it was Winter Break so at least he didn't have to attend Sovereign Heights Preparatory like he usually did, nor did he have to worry about missing any classes or catching up on assignments. Of course it was still a pain to spend his vacation like this, but it wasn't as though he had family around to spend the holidays with. He'd come to Destiny City to leave them, after all. Times like these tended to make him more homesick than ever, though.

He kept sneezing and though he had a box of tissues nearby, it never seemed to be enough. His nose was red and sore from all his blowing and his throat felt dry and raw. Although he felt like he was being cooked from the inside out and he was fairly certain he had a fever with how hot his breath felt, his extremities - mainly his hands and feet - continued to freeze. His piles of blankets caused him to sweat, but when he got too warm, he couldn't take them off because the evaporation of his sweat caused him to freeze up all over again.

Eating was a whole other problem. When he sat up to get something or go to the bathroom or go about other daily business, a cascade of nausea overcame him and he had to fight it to keep from throwing up. Kit's head constantly ached with dizziness and fatigue which normally would have been satisfied with food, but he found he couldn't stomach much because he felt so nauseated. The whole thing seemed like a paradox. If it had been a normal fever or flu, he imagined flushing out his system with lot of water or even having emptied his stomach's contents as he had would have improved his situation, but that turned out not to be the case. No matter what medicine he tried to take or how much water he tried to drink, the symptoms wouldn't let up.

It was frustrating because in spite of everything he'd done to try to keep himself healthy during finals week and to avoid getting too stressed out by school, work, the holiday season, or his double life as a Dark Mirror Senshi, he'd still somehow managed to get sick and it wasn't even his fault. He'd even avoided getting bitten by those creepy white rabbits invading the city, but it seemed the winter season was out to get everyone regardless. One way or another, by natural causes or unnatural, it seemed there was a much higher chance to become bed-ridden in Destiny City this time of year.