Victini's eyes lit up as it pulled out a Polaroid-style instant camera, face shining with surprise.
(So this is the thing Tim Wynn mentioned—the one that lets you save a photo the moment you take it?)
When Auron Vale developed the photos for him before, Tim had explained it once to Victini.
He had even taken out his phone to show Victini a clip of how it worked—that kind of camera that spits out the picture right away after you press the shutter.
In the end, under Victini's sparkling gaze, Tim called his family's butler.
After he explained, the butler sent someone out to buy an instant camera and had it delivered the fastest way—by Dragonite courier.
Victini followed Tim's instructions to the letter.
(Point this screen at whatever I want to photograph, and then press the red button.)
Hugging the camera in both arms, Victini aimed at Xiao Sizi's face. After pressing the shutter—
Click!
With that crisp sound, a photo slowly slid out from the slot at the bottom.
Victini took the photo, smiling so happily his cheeks hurt—and then the smile dimmed a little.
(If Xiao Sizi were here, she'd definitely love this thing that can keep what it captures forever.)
All at once a little grass-green Pokémon flashed through Victini's mind; the image cleared his thoughts in an instant, and he perked up, eager to look at the next present.
When he finally laid everything out, Victini could hardly contain his delight.
First up was the blue scarf hand-knitted for him by Serena Elm. Blue to pair with red, of course. (She'd learned the skill back when she'd planned to give Auron a scarf.)
Then came the Gengar pillow from Simon Greaves and the Mismagius pillow from Lena Greaves.
And stuffed at the very bottom—Jace Rowan's gift: a real-time communicator…
Who knew what had gotten into Jace; he'd given Victini a communicator. A touchscreen model, no less—one that needed to be charged.
Victini couldn't quite make heads or tails of it. He turned the device over in one hand and its charging cable in the other, fiddling again and again without understanding it at all.
There was nothing for it but to set it aside for now.
Next came a handful of small items. Because, over these past two days, the two Charmander and the Shuppet had all played so happily with Victini, the three Pokémon insisted on giving him something too.
In the end—after everyone's painstaking selection and only when the Pokémon nodded in satisfaction—
each Trainer bought their own partner a small plush toy made in that Pokémon's likeness.
When it came time to pack the gifts, each Pokémon personally placed its present into the gift bag with its own paws.
Victini looked at the floor covered in plush toys and was over the moon.
After hugging every single plush one by one, Victini flew off with one toy at a time to his little hideout.
It was a blind spot in the room's lines of sight, the kind of place no one would notice.
Full of high spirits, Victini ferried the plushies over again and again, arranging them one by one just so.
At the very end, he carefully stowed away the big bag of little round biscuits Auron had made just for him.
With everything done, Victini drifted down to land in front of Empress Zhangsun and Xiao Sizi.
The loneliness of being suddenly idle pounced on him all at once. Victini gave his head a quick shake and immediately began bragging to the two of them about Auron.
(Auron is really, really good to me, you know? Did you see? He even made all those little round biscuits just for me. He must've made them while I was asleep.)
(After all, whenever I'm awake, he's always playing with me. Impressive, right?)
Chin tipped up, Victini boasted with a little tsundere tilt.
(Not only that, he even lets me sprawl on top of his head—just like how I love flopping on Xiao Sizi's head.)
(And I like lying in his palm, letting him hold me up. He's just like you; he feeds me biscuits, and when I'm eating too fast he hands me water without being asked…)
Victini's voice trailed off. He ducked his head as if he'd suddenly remembered something, speaking more and more softly.
At last he raised his head again, tears gathering as he looked at Empress Zhangsun.
(Sis… The person my brother told me to wait for—I waited, and he came. But I think… I might have missed him again!)
Victini sank to the floor, sorrow writ plain across his face. In the end he couldn't hold back. Teardrops slipped one by one down his cheeks, quickly soaking into the stone at his feet until a dark patch spread there on the ground.
…
"Tim Wynn, get over here and drive!"
Jace Rowan swerved the car to the curb, flung open the driver's door, and hopped out.
Then he yanked Tim out of the passenger seat and shoved him toward the wheel, bouncing with excitement like a baboon on caffeine.
Tim had no idea what was going on, but seeing how keyed-up Jace was, he couldn't help following his lead.
He did growl a warning as he moved across the hood.
"If this isn't something serious, I'm telling you now: you're going to be the one crying."
Jace gave Tim a push between the shoulder blades to hurry him up and waved away the threat, full of swagger.
"Relax. I'm about to give you all a huge surprise."
In short order the engine turned over again—this time with Tim behind the wheel.
As he pulled into traffic, Tim pressed him, one eye on the road and one on Jace.
"All right then, show me what qualifies as a surprise."
Catching everyone's attention riveted to him, Jace puffed up even more and drew a compact device from inside his jacket—the communicator.
"Ta-daaa!"
"A communicator? What's that supposed to mean?"
Catching sight of the device in Jace's hand, Tim nearly exploded. He felt, very reasonably, that Jace had conned him into driving for no good reason.
Jace patted Tim's shoulder lightly and turned to the others' puzzled faces with great satisfaction.
"Hey now, listen to me."
"So, you all gave Victini gifts, right? Want to guess what I gave him?"
"Tch, you were so sneaky about it—how are we supposed to know?"
Serena Elm shot Jace a look full of disdain. Everyone else had put their gifts in the bag out in the open; only he had been furtive, refusing to answer when asked.
Auron and Tim put two and two together at the same time and blurted out in unison:
"Your gift was the communicator?"
Jace grinned, smug as could be.
"Bingo. A communicator!"
The car screeched to a stop at the curb for the second time. Now it was Tim's turn to lean in, suddenly hyped, urging Jace to call Victini right now.
With everyone watching, Jace jabbed the button for the number he'd already saved and placed the call.
The car fell silent at once. Only the communicator's tones sounded in the quiet cabin.
"Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… We're sorry. The communicator you dialed is not being answered. Please try again later…"
Jace felt the others' gazes on him out of the corner of his eye and began to panic just a little.
He fidgeted with the device, hands moving faster and faster.
But there were only so many buttons on a communicator. No matter how he fussed with it, it was just the same few keys.
"You… sure? You actually delivered it?"
Jace snapped, flustered.
"Of course I did! I timed it—by now it has to be fully charged. This model charges crazy fast."
Everyone froze for a beat—then gave Jace a collective look of pity.
One by one they settled back in their seats. Tim exhaled, turned the key, and pulled away from the curb with a soft sigh.
Jace was left sitting there, communicator in hand, staring into space.
At last, he seemed to realize exactly where he'd gone wrong.
(End of chapter)