Wildwing’s hatching day was the next day.

They always found it incredibly hard to find presents for their older brother, and Nosedive informed Jadestar that it was even harder now, since he had the money to just buy whatever he wanted anyway.

"Ohh," Jadestar groaned, head in hands. "This is hopeless! There’s nothing that he wants!"

Nosedive scratched his head. "We’ll just have to think of something he’d like that he doesn’t know he wants." That concept didn’t make much sense to him, but it was true.

"Yeah, but what! He doesn’t need hockey gear, he doesn’t need clothes, knick-knacks, anything!"

Nosedive frowned. "I think we’re going to have to fall back on something not so materialistic. Something that he can’t buy."

Jadestar counted ideas off on her fingers. "Getting back to Puckworld. Well, he’d love that, but I think that’s rather out of the question, unless we get together with the others, and it’s a little late for that. Hmm…well, I’m out of ideas."

"Umm…he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Maybe we could hire Tanya for a day." Nosedive grinned.

"Oh ha ha ha. I’m sure Tanya would agree too. What else?"

Nosedive shrugged, and kept going along the same line of thinking. "Parents, wife, kids, family in general, a job back on Puckworld…"

"That’s IT!" Jadestar suddenly shrieked into her brother’s ear. He grimaced. "Sorry, but I know what to get him! What does he love best in the world?"

"Living? Puckworld?"

"No, you dork. I’ll give you a hint. There’s two, and they look the same…"

"Ohh. But what do we have to do with…" He was cut off.

"Shut up and listen." She started whispering in his ear. Nosedive listened, and poked his tongue out at the end of her explanation.

"Girly girl, that’s so corny and sugar-sweet it’d taste like caramel popcorn with extra sugar and chocolate sauce with it!" Nosedive complained.

"Do you have anything better?"

He screwed up his face with concentration. "Nope."

"There, you see?"

He sighed as he followed her away from the seat. "I have the strangest feeling that I’m going to regret this."

She turned with a teasing look on her face. "Maybe you’re turning into Grin!"

He looked down at himself, as if considering it. "Perhaps…nah, I’m too light…hey, wait up!"

***

Jadestar stood back and gazed at the box satisfied. Nosedive shook his hand to try and free himself of a lone piece of sticky tape.

Mallory came in and stared at the large box covered with wrapping paper and a big bow. "What’s that for?"

"Ah ah ah!" Nosedive wagged his finger at her. "Surprise!"

"You know the bow is crooked, don’t you?"

"Oh, quiet, this took us ages!" Nosedive looked slightly put out. It had taken them awhile too, and even longer to find a box the right size.

Mallory put her head on one side, and looked at it critically. "Maybe Wildwing wont notice, assuming this is for him."

"Nah, he’ll be too busy unwrapping it!" Jadestar grinned, and nudged Nosedive. Mallory gave them weird looks, and kept going on with what she was doing.

***

"No way am I signing that!" Wildwing heard Nosedive complain as he walked down the corridor. The twins had their bedroom door open, and Jadestar was writing something on a piece of card.

"You have to!"

"Girl, that’s just mush. I’m not putting my name to it."

"Oh, yeah?" Jadestar grabbed his hand, shoved a pen into it, and pressed it to the paper, trying to move his hand so it would write. He wriggled violently, and she let him go. "Great. Now it says ‘love forever, Jadestar and scribble’."

"Well, at least he won't think I wrote something so gross!"

"Have I ever told you you’re hopeless?"

"Actually, yes, many times."

"I thought so."

Wildwing kept walking.

***

Wildwing smiled broadly as he looked around him. Thankfully, Phil wasn’t there.

The kitchen wasn’t really decorated, but there was a cake (he was informed with a whisper that Mallory had made it, but for him not to worry, Tanya had brought a cake in case Mallory’s cooking was of it’s usual standard). And there was a pile of presents.

The only thing missing were his siblings.

"Where’s Dive and Jade?" he asked Duke. Duke shrugged.

"I dunno." was the short reply.

Mallory thrust a little box at him. "Open your presents anyway." she ordered.

He took the box, and unwrapped it. It was a small ring box. He gave her a strange look.

"Just open it."

He did so, and found a piece of folded up paper. He unfolded it, read it, and smiled. "Thanks Mallory. *This* is a present!"

"What is it?" Tanya wanted to know.

Wildwing handed her the paper, and she laughed. "A piece of paper signed by Phil excusing you from three photo shoots of your choice. Why didn’t I think of that?"

"I’m just special." Mallory grinned

Wildwing accepted a small, wrapped up oval-shaped present from Grin as Phil burst in, pushing something. It was a large box.

"Are you sure about this?" Phil mumbled, for no reason the ducks could see. He grunted as he shoved the box into the center of the kitchen. "Happy Hatching day, or whatever you call it."

"That’s from you?" Wildwing asked, amazed.

"Nope, read the tag. This is my present." Phil fished in his pocket, and pulled out a $5 note. He placed the crumpled note into Wildwing’s palm, and walked out of the kitchen.

Wildwing snorted, put the money in his pocket, and reached for the tag. ‘Happy Hatching Day! Sorry we aren’t here…kinda important. Anyway, heaps of kisses and hugs! Love forever, Jadestar and…’ It finished with some kind of scrawl that Wildwing couldn’t read.

"It’s from the twins." he told the others. Mallory didn’t look surprised. He reached for the ribbon on the top, pulling it off. He ripped the top of the wrapping paper, and opened out the lid.

And got a party favour blown in his face.

Two blond teenagers jumped out of the box, startling the other ducks.

"Surprise!" Jadestar cheered.

"Happy Hatching Day!" Nosedive whooped, and threw a few streamers at Wildwing.

Mallory slapped her hand on her forehead. "I should have seen this coming."

Jadestar hugged Wildwing. "Did we surprise you?

Wildwing cleared his throat. "Yes, you certainly did that."

"That’s your present?" Duke asked. "A surprise?"

Nosedive hesitated. "Not quite. Uh…Wildwing, can we have a word?" He promptly started pushing Wildwing out of the room.

"I guess." Wildwing said, slightly bemused, as he was dragged off.

Once away from the other ducks, Nosedive began. "It’s like this. We couldn’t think of anything to give you, so we…um…"

"We decided to give you us." Jadestar finished.

Wildwing rolled their words over in his mind. "Come again?"

"We don’t have any parents, right?" Nosedive said meaningfully.

"Ohh…" Realisation dawned.

"Yeah. We thought, hey, someone has to take care of us!" Jadestar smiled.

"I *do* take care of you. Well, I try."

"Yeah, but legally. We figured you could be our legal guardian. So, how about it?" Nosedive waited for his older brother’s answer. "Of course, if you try getting too heavy about curfews the transaction is void." he winked.

Wildwing thought for a moment. Two hyperactive teenagers? Not really his idea of a birthday present. But then he looked at them, and saw that he couldn’t very well say no. It’d be like he was rejecting them. And he did love them. He gave them a smile, and for some reason felt like crying. "I’d be honoured." He grabbed them in his arms and gave them a quick hug. He let them go. "Hungry?"

"Let them eat cake!" Nosedive declared, racing back into the kitchen. "I bags a piece with sprinkles! Is it chocolate?"

"Hey! No touching!" Wildwing heard Mallory screech. He followed Jadestar back into the kitchen for his party.

***

"Social Security." Duke read out the sign on the building.

The Flashblades headed into the building. Duke, Tanya and Mallory went to follow, but were stopped by Grin. "Family moment." he told them.

"Oh, yeah, right." Duke agreed, and peeked in the window.

"You have a very curious mind." Grin told Duke.

"Yeah, that’s why I’m so lovable."

Tanya and Mallory rolled their eyes at each other.

***

The counter-lady raised an eyebrow as the three ducks approached the desk, but she remained professional. "What can I do for you?"

"Can I become a legal guardian?" Wildwing asked bluntly.

"To whom?"

"Us." Nosedive waved at himself and his sister.

"Of course. Do they have parents?" She turned back to Wildwing.

"No. Dead."

"And you are…?"

"Wildwing Flashblade. Older brother."

"Okay…" She fished around for some documents. "Normally it wouldn’t be this easy, but there’s not really anyway I can check up on you." She pushed the papers over, and Wildwing took them over to a little bench-table where there was a pen on a string. He started filling out the forms. He had to leave some spaces blank. Nosedive and Jadestar peered over his shoulder, occasionally being helpful, but for the most part being irritating. What am I getting myself in for? No more than usual I guess…

"I need another witness," Wildwing said after having the twins sign their names. "Go get Tanya, would you?"

Nosedive saluted. "Aye, aye captain!" He ducked outside. "Hey, Tan-Tan, we need ya."

"Me? Why?"

"Wing needs another sig. And he said to go get you."

"Oh. OK." She went inside and signed her name. Wildwing took it over to the desk. The lady (Mrs Richard, Wildwing read from her badge) was about half way through when a funny look came over her face, and she kept glancing at Nosedive and Jadestar.

"Excuse me for a moment." She hurried into some room out the back. The Flashblades exchanged looks when she came back with someone who was obviously the manager.

"Maybe we’re wanted in several states." Nosedive whispered to the other two.

"Mr. Flashblade?"

"Yes?" Both male ducks answered at once.

"I meant the older Mr. Flashblade. Would you please come with me?"

"Sure." Wildwing followed the manager into a conference room.

"What’s happening?" Jadestar asked Mrs Richard.

"Just a few things we need to sort out." she said, smoothly and evasively.

Jadestar went to tell the ducks outside what was happening. "You can all come in you know."

"Grin didn’t want us to." Mallory said.

"Well, something’s happened. They took Wing out back, and we’re bored! Come and keep us company!" Jadestar walked back into the building.

"Yes ma’am." mumbled Mallory as they entered.

***

"WHAT?!" the two youngest ducks said in perfect unison.

"School." the manager repeated. "How old were you when you left school?"

"14." Jadestar answered softly.

"What grade?"

"About Year 9? We aren’t sure." Nosedive was getting an idea where this was going.

"Well then, you haven’t finished school yet. You’ll have to go back."

"Trust me, there’s nothing we’d like better…but there’s a whacked out lizard in the way." Nosedive mumbled.

"He means to school."

"I *know* that." Nosedive scowled.

"Here’s the deal." The manager leaned forward earnestly on his desk. "You take a test to determine your Year. Then, when it’s not hockey season, you come to school 3 days a week. How does that sound?"

"It’s not going to get any better." Wildwing whispered.

The twins conferred for a moment.

"This totally bites!" Nosedive squawked.

"I know. Hey, maybe it’ll turn out that we don’t need to go to school!" Jadestar tried to be optimistic. Nosedive gave her a scornful look. "Well, it could happen."

"Doesn’t look like we have much choice anyway." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and sullenly kicked the floor. "OK," he addressed Wildwing and the man. "We’ll do it."

***

"Test results are in!" Mallory waved the envelope cheerfully. Nosedive snatched it off her, and ripped it open.

"We’re both in Year 10." he said, trying to decided whether to be happy or sad.

Jadestar heaved a sigh. "Well, at least we skipped a year."

Duke put his arms around both their shoulders. "So, should we be buying you two cute little school uniforms or something? Maybe you should put your hair in pig tails Jade…" He quickly moved backwards to keep from getting elbowed in the ribs.

***

"Hold your head high and keep walking." Nosedive instructed Jadestar. She nodded, and did so.

It was hard. Everywhere, people staring as they walked down the corridors. On Puckworld they’d always been the freaks too, but even if they weren’t together they’d stick out here!

They entered their home room and sat down at the back. Everyone turned around to look at them. The teacher entered the room, and all the students faced the front.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Mrs Wickershire." they chanted in a well used, sing song voice.

"As you can see, we have two new students." Everyone turned to face the back again. Seeing the upset look on Jadestar’s face, and the threatening one on Nosedive, Mrs Wickershire hurried on. "I’m sure you know very well who they are, and where they’re from, but perhaps you could look past that, hmm? We’re all the same on the inside after all." She narrowed her eyes. "How would you like being treated different from everyone else? You wouldn’t like it at all!" She seemed very formidable from her desk out the front.

"That didn’t help." muttered Nosedive.

***

But, to Nosedive’s surprise, it did. He figured that these kids were easy to guilt-trip (which would come in handy later). It didn’t help much, mind you. They were now seen as stars instead of aliens.

"Is it fun, playing hockey I mean?" one teen asked Nosedive. Nosedive treated him to a scornful look.

"Are you kidding? It’s the greatest! You get such a high when you score a goal, it’s better than anything?"

"Have you tried ‘anything’?" a girl asked suggestively. Nosedive blushed.

"Well, no, but it probably is! Especially when it’s the winning goal."

Jadestar stood to the side, and watched. Being the center of attention wasn’t really her thing, and she let her brother answer all the questions.

***

"We’re back!" Nosedive yelled down the halls of the Pond. Phil bustled up to them.

"How did it go? Make any new friends? Meet the kids of any TV stars?"

"Phil, get a clue." Nosedive poked his hand into the kitchen, and found Wildwing and Mallory. "Hi! Did you miss us?"

"Like a hole in a bucket." Mallory muttered, leaving.

"Did it go OK?" Wildwing asked, leaning on a bench.

"It was pretty sucky a first, but it got reasonable at the end." Nosedive grabbed himself a can of soft drink, and chugged down the contents.

"Where’s Jade?"

Nosedive made a face. "She’s probably in our room. She went all quiet again."

"I think it’s something about large groups of people." Wildwing said thoughtfully.

"Whatever. She’ll get over it." Nosedive finished his drink, and put the can in the bin. "Right now, I’m ready for a little hockey practice. Wanna help me?"

"OK. Why don’t we see if Jade wants to play? We could give her a few pointers."

***

Jadestar agreed, and it ended up with the whole team on the ice. Mallory was showing Jadestar how to control the puck better, while Nosedive practised scoring goals with Tanya trying to steal the puck off him while Grin and Duke had a little one on one.

Afterwards, Jadestar had improved on her game, and everyone was happily exhausted.

Nosedive suddenly put his hand over his eyes in mid-joke. "We forgot! We have homework!"

Wildwing patted his little brother’s back. "You two better get busy."

***

Nosedive lay on his stomach, trying to figure out ‘simultaneous linear equations with two variables’. "This," he grumbled. "bites. It’s going to be a loooooooong three years."