Victoria was woken up when Dawn burst into her room
"Helloooooooo!?" Dawn called "Fist day of boarding school?!"
"Yeah…" Victoria moaned "5 More minutes"
"NO… NOW!" Dawn shouted "Everyone else is up!"
"Alright…" Victoria said as she got up and stretched
"Remember, clothes are everything" Dawn said as she went out of the room.
Victoria padded across the floor and over to the built-in cupboards that contained her clothes. She opened the door and pulled out her favourite dress, it was white and yellow checked with a white collar and a white belt. Victoria looked down to the bottom right of her wardrobe, to her Parasol collection, and selected a Yellow parasol, exactly the same shade as her dress, with a white handle. Victoria went over to a jewellery box on her dressing table. She opened it and began leafing through necklaces, bracelets, ring and tiaras until she found a small, purple bag. Victoria opened the bag and tipped the small silver charm bracelet onto her hand. Lance and Cynthia had bought her this bracelet when she had first agreed to join Titan to become part of their First (and probably last) Poke-human Squad: Team Ventura. Since then, with every completed mission Lance, Cynthia, Victoria and her siblings would go to the massive shopping centre in the next town over and buy each other something to celebrate…
Last week at the end of their Dark ball mission
"So…" Dawn called out to her siblings and adoptive parents "Who's first?"
"I think it should be Gary" Misty said "I mean… He did fight of 50 armed guards"
"Yeah, but I fought of 60 odd last time and then I also took down… Oh what's her name…? Mars, That's It Mars, and that was last time and I got to go first, I think it should be Drew" Gary said
"I didn't do much!" said Drew "And I had to call Gary for help on the Laser barriers"
"Yeah but you stood closest to the Weird spider thingy" Dawn said "Anyone who stood that close should get a medal"
"It's decided then" Victoria said and with a flourish of her parasol she pointed it at Drew. "Drew, your siblings and I have decided that you should get the first Present" then Victoria signalled to her Siblings "Shopping time!"
The siblings ran off into the Shopping centre to find a gift for Drew. They ran straight to the co-ordinator supplies store.
"Ok" Dawn said, having taken part in quite a few contests before deciding to be a fashion designer "Victoria, look for Good Pokéblocks, Gary, you're on Cases and Holders. Misty, I want you to look for any new gear in the magazines, I'll Scan the Middle shelves for anything good, meet back here in 10 minutes and we'll decide on our purchase"
Victoria ran over to the Pokéblocks and made a few discoveries about new brands before she saw a Pokéblocks and Poffin recipe book. Victoria picked it up and checked around to see that the rest of the family were assembling at the foot of the store.
"So, what have we got" Dawn asked the siblings
"I found out that there's a new Pokéblocks and Poffin maker featured in Co-ordinator 4 u" Misty said as she came out of the magazine isle,
"And I found a book on the best recipes for Poffins and Pokéblocks." Victoria said adding her opinion
"There weren't any new cases down the case Isle," Gary chimed in "But there was that new Poffin cooker"
"let's get him the cooker and the Recipes," Dawn said
10 minutes after they bought the cooker and book they went to the gift parlour and asked them to wrap them up. Then the siblings, led by Dawn, took the wrapped up and tagged gifts down to the car and put them in the boot, as was the family tradition. Dawn led the triumphant family down to the foyer and greeted Drew
"SO… who's next?" Drew asked as they approached
"Dawn" Misty said "She led the present buying, so she should get next present"
"Agreed" Victoria said and they all sprinted off to the escalators before Dawn could object.
They went up to the top floor, the fashion floor, for Dawn's gift, and they knew what they were looking for, the white, red and blue dress that dawn had seen in her fashion magazine last week. She loved this dress and had talked about it non-stop for almost an hour since she saw it. Misty pulled a picture out of her trouser pocket.
"Right," Misty said "We are looking for this dress." She passed the picture round "It has to be in these colours, and in this size"
"Ok…" Gary said, he was no expert on clothes and didn't pretend that he was
"You two head that way" Victoria said to Drew and Gary "and we'll go this way"
"and if we find it?" Drew asked
"Text us then buy it." Misty said as they headed into the nearest store
"Right" Gary said as he gritted his teeth and started to walk towards the shop to his left. Oh how he hated dress shopping.
30 minutes later they assembled into the foyer again to select the next prospective present recipient.
"This time it has to be Gary's turn" Drew said
"Yeah, you know how much he hates dress shopping" Misty said
"Actually I wanted to get rid of him for a while" Drew said and Dawn laughed out loud.
"Alright then" Victoria said and she and her sisters and brother headed off to the sport department.
The siblings, minus Gary, Were walking down the main Isle of the sports shop looking for a new basketball for their brother. Many of the Basketballs were good but they weren't what they were looking for. Victoria was about to suggest looking for something else when she spotted a White basketball with… Gary's face on it. She snatched it up and looked at the ball. Underneath his face were the words 'Kanto champion on court'. Victoria whirled round and showed it to her siblings.
"Perfect" Drew said "Just what we want,"
"You don't think this will give him a big head do you?" Misty asked sarcastically
"His head can't get any bigger, it'll explode!" Dawn giggled and Victoria went and bought it.
When the 5 assembled in the foyer for the fourth time it was 4:30
"We need to be ready to leave by 5," Lance said "So that we can have our dinner and you can have your presents from us"
"Ok…" Dawn said "why don't we do Misty's and Victoria's presents together?"
"Good idea!" Gary said
"Yeah, come on Basketball head!" Drew teased
"Huh?" Gary said in a confused tone and Victoria and Misty gave Drew a sharp, cold stare
"Oh, don't worry" Drew said sheepishly
Dawn led the two boys off to choose the other sisters their presents and, true to their word, they were back with two brightly wrapped boxes by 5 'o' clock on the dot
"Ready to leave now?" Lance asked
"Yeah, we're ready" Dawn said as she got into the family's limo
"that's enough shopping for a long while" Gary said
"What do you mean?" Misty asked "Dawn will want to be back here tomorrow morning"
"Well I'm not coming!" Victoria said as she followed her sibling's into the limo
"Me neither" Drew said "Although I could do with a new jacket"
After dinner it was time for the present giving. Everyone watched each other as they opened the gifts that their brothers and sisters had selected for them. Victoria opened a small, black box to find a Shedinja enamel painted charm for her charm bracelet. She clipped it on right away and let it jangle happily beside her other 12 charms: Butterfree, Crustle, Masquerain, Volcarona, Leavanny, Dustox, Scolipede, Forretress, Armaldo, Illumise, Kricketune and Parasect. Victoria loved her new charm more, because she had been searching for A Shedinja to be her first ever Pokémon. She had never ever managed to track one down. It was one of the biggest quests of her life. She had 15 agents all around the world keeping an eye on the Nincada/Ninjask population and she had set up her own website that dealt information regarding the population figures and locations of rare and important sightings; it even carried rumours about legendries. But on every page was an advert she set up asking for Shedinja sightings. There was even a cash reward of 10,000 pounds if your sighting was correct… but so far no proper luck. Most sightings were fake and the fraction that were real were owned by trainers, breeders or Co-ordinators. Compared to this her Singing career was about as important as a pinprick was compared to losing a limb.
Misty got a new azure blue swim suit that matched the colour of her eyes. She was still celebrating her present with Dawn who was amazed by her dress when Lance came in with 5 big presents, each wrapped in different colours.
"Here are your presents from us" He said
"Misty, yours is the blue one, Gary you have the red one, Victoria has the yellow one, Drew has the green one and Dawn, yours is the white one." Cynthia said as the children raced to get their presents and tore off the wrapping paper. Misty whipped the wrapping paper off in an instant and saw a Yellow egg in a gold cylindrical case, decorated in silver with ocean patterns like starfish, shells and on the top a crown. Misty looked around at the others and saw that they, too, all had eggs in different colours… all except for Victoria whose present contained a pair of expensive black sunglasses studded with topaz's and a golden Pokétch and Xtransceiver combined. Misty could see the disappointment flicker onto Victoria's face as she hoped that she had been given a Shedinja egg. But seconds after Misty saw it Victoria covered it up and masked it to the world by hugging her parents and then retreating to her room.
Misty bid her parents and siblings good night and headed up to her own room, placed her egg on her bedside table and headed back out into the corridor and into Victoria's room.
"You OK?" Misty asked, Victoria replied by sniffing loudly and looking down at her feet
"You know they got you a staryu egg right?" Victoria said
"Yeah," Misty said, "I Figured it would be a staryu"
"And they gave Drew a budew, Gary a tyrogue and Dawn a togepi"
"Yes, I did think that that's what they probably where"
"And no-one can find a Shedinja," Victoria said "There are no Shedinja eggs, no wild Shedinja, no people who want to trade. I can't get my hands on one and I've been trying for two years. I mean, I'm happy for you, getting a Pokémon you can truly understand… but… I…I-I don't think It's fair! I've worked so hard to find one and I still can't get my hands on any proper leads!"
"I know this must be hard for you" Misty soothed "But we've been trying very hard as well for you. Gary spent more time on Pokémon adoption sites this year than he did eating, Drew put up a poster in every Pokémon centre we've been to and I've been charting possible migration paths by comparing Nincada's and Ninjask's. We've been trying for you"
"I know, you're such a great family. Besides, I needed a pair of sunglasses, my Ghost half has been acting up again. It's painful to spend too much time in the sun, especially on the eyes"
"Night Sis"
"See you tomorrow Misty"
Present day
Victoria slid the Charm bracelet over her wrist, put her sunglasses on, picked up her carry case, carrying clothes, a wash kit, her laptop, some money, a school bag, some gadgets and a bit of makeup. She placed her parasol under her arm and proceeded to exit the room, she got out of the door and down the stairs when Drew came rushing Round the corner out of the dining room and ran straight into her.
"Victoria!" He exclaimed after he picked himself up off the floor, "Sorry, I left my Watch com up stairs!"
"Don't worry," Victoria said as she dusted herself off. "I'm fine" Victoria went into the Kitchen dinner to have breakfast and Drew legged it up stairs to get his Watch.
Drew saw his emerald green watch and clipped it on his wrist. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked his mail… Inbox empty… or at least empty of anything he deemed important. Drew crossed the room and looked at himself in the mirror. Yep He thought still smoking. Drew loved looking good, although he didn't need to. Drew's awesome control over spores let him release pheromones into the air to make people like him, or hate him. He often got bored of toying with girls before he spoke to them. Drew looked down at his personalised utility watch and looked at his Hormone count, pretty low, Drew considered making it higher. His family where immune to it now and it would be funny to watch people stare at him in the street. You know, Drew told himself as you're going to a NORMAL school you could at least TRY to be normal. Drew stopped himself inflating his Hormone and Pheromone count, besides; he said I can up it again later if I need to.
Gary was feeling Nervous when Victoria walked in the room, he had been nervous before in his life, and had vowed never to be nervous again. Unfortunately he just couldn't help himself. Gary raced through breakfast and spent the next 10 minutes wishing that his siblings would hurry up with theirs. He fiddled around with his watch, his own personal features including a quick Pokémon identification unit, a compound and element identification ray and a bug Pokémon tracker set with Shedinja's heat scan. If there was a Shedinja, a Ninjask or a Nincada in the area an alarm would go off and Gary would find it. Gary had never had the alarm go off before, but when it did… he would be ready…