Pokemon: The Queen of Kalos

Raising the Little Ones!

Enjoy a freshly-basked, home-cooked meme to go with the chapter!

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"Now that all the eggs have hatched," Shadow told them, "we should look for food for the little ones. They've got to be hungry!"

"Oh! I got you covered!" Zenith exclaimed as she crouched down, reaching one arm up to steady Star on her shoulder and used the other to reach into her bag, pulling out a large container of berries. "I always carry around snacks for my Pokemon, so I think these will be plenty!"

As she peeled off the lid, the noses of all four shiny Eevees and Ash's Noibat were suddenly pointing toward the berries, their eyes wide. With a gentle smile, she gestured for everyone to get berries for their Pokemon, reaching in the bag to get a Sitrus Berry for Star.

"Ooh! Ash, can I feed Noibat!? PLEASE!?" Bonnie pleaded, giving the black-haired boy puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, okay, fine. Noibat, Bonnie's going to pick out some yummy berries for you to eat, alright?" He told his Pokemon, who seemed unsure, but slowly nodded and walked tentatively over to the others.

After Crystal got a couple of Oran Berries for Melody, Pine picked up the Pecha and Cheri Berries for Pepper, and Shadow managed to get a Tamato Berry and a few Nanab Berries for Nyx, Bonnie reached in, Dedenne at her side, staring at all the different varieties. Her face scrunched up in concentration before she pulled out green one.

"Here, I got this one just for you, Noibat!" The young girl exclaimed, holding it out to the small Flying- and Dragon-Type. "It's a... yummy..."

"Lum Berry," Pine finished, recognizing the status-curing berry from all her time running a battle facility.

"Right, a yummy Lum Berry just for you, Noibat!" The Pokemon didn't budge, causing Bonnie to frown. "Come on, why won't you eat it? It's gotta be delicious!" Noibat angled its ears at the berry and turned its head up. "What? You don't wanna eat it? I'm sure it's good, I'll show you!"

Zenith's face paled a bit and she looked up. "Bonnie, I'm not sure that's the best ide-" It was too late, for the girl had already taken a large bite out of the berry, face instantly contorting as she spit it out. "-a... Lum Berries are bitter, especially to humans..."

"I know that now," she groaned, reaching for the container and picking out more berries, but Noibat wouldn't even look at her. With a sympathetic glance, Zenith reached in and pulled out a Leppa Berry, though it seemed Noibat's trust had been broken, since it refused to take it from her, too.

Soon, every person was trying to coax berries to the newly-hatched Flying- and Dragon-Type, who didn't take the food from any of them. Not even Ash's long speeches about trust and friendship, nor Clemont's speeches about the values of nutrition, could convince it to take the berries from them.

All of the sudden, Melody leapt from Crystal's arms, nudging at Bonnie's arms until she managed to get a berry, which she rolled over to Noibat using her nose. "Eeeeevui! Ee!" The shiny Eevee pawed the fruit and then looked at Noibat, as if to say eat this.

The Pokemon made a reluctant noise and huffed, but slowly waddled closer and inspected it. Zenith noticed it was an Iapapa Berry. "Noi..." It finally sighed, before biting into the fruit, eyes lighting up a moment later as it tasted the juicy insides. "NOI! Noi Noi Noibat!" The tiny little thing practically devoured the fruit after that, much to everyone's relief.

"And here I thought no one would like the sour Iapapa Berries...," Shadow groaned.

"Noiiii!" Noibat snapped back, crawling forward with its wings pulling it forward, as it began sniffing around for more Iapapa berries. This time, as Melody was climbing back into Crystal's arms, it was Red who gave the young Pokemon the berry, wordless as usual.