//------------------------------//
// Food for thought and tab 
// Story: My Little Pokémon 
// by Amarvax 
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Canttelot. Day.

Currently showing up in Canterlot today was Team Rocket. They haven't used their Rocketship to get here. Just their usual method of travelling. They walked the streets of Canterlot as Jessie and Meowth looked down.

"Keep those smiles up!" James encouraged.

"How can I keep a smile when my insides are frowning?" Jessie mumbled as her stomach growling. "We just ate today. How are we so hungry already?"

"Tell that to the Snorlax back at the house." Meowth groaned.

"A shame you couldn't try some of Applejack's apple pies." James grinned. "Those are delicious. Being a friend of Apple Bloom has its perks."

"Could've told us that before!" Jessie held James' shirt. "But I was pretty hungry even yesterday. Need something that I can eat for hours." 

"My stomach's lost a bunch of hours." Meowth held his stomach. But very soon, their wishes would be granted as a wafting scent met with their noses. Immediately, their attention had been drawing to a wonderful smell that they couldn't ignore.

The smell of food.

"Oh but that's all about to change..." Jessie said as she and Team Rocket made their way towards the scent. Immediately, they across a small food store that was right near the Pokemon School.

They had something they could eat. At least, Jessie and Meowth did. James was all full. After entering, they selected the food of their choice once they got in there. Their stomachs would be filled with the best that this stand had to offer.

"Ooh! Merry Medley!" Traditional Pokemon Curry was for them. Specifically the Spicy Mushroom Medley Curry. They dug in with great energy, filling their stomachs as much as they could.

"S-Spicy!" Meowth breathed fire as the heat of the curry was hotter than expected. However, they continued to eat it anyway, despite the heat.

After that, they had instantly finished their meal, feeling stuffed. James was beyond stuffed since he had some good food earlier at Sweet Apple Acres.

"Mmhm." Jessie nodded after a good meal. "Splendid. Now, go ahead and pay our tab, James."

"Me? But I'm flat broke." James pointed at himself as Jessie's eyes widened.

"What do you mean you're flat broke?! You didn't spend it all on that pie did you!?" Jessie got p in James' face.

"The pies were free!" James waved his hands. "It was a courtesy meal!"

"It's fine. Let's just juke this place out and scram." Jessie whispered. "A satisfying meal is one without pay."

"So you don't have anything to pay the tab do you?" Just then, the owner of the shop heard their conversation, appearing behind them and startling Team Rocket.

"Aaah!" Team Rocket screeched, holding each other. Jessie then rushed over, kneeling at the unicorn for some convincing and hopefully an easy way out. "Now, look. It was in the spur of the moment and-"

"Don't." The mare interrupted her with a sigh. "This isn't the first time this has happened. "Luckily for you three, I have a solution to this."

"You do?" Team Rocket said. The earth pony had brought to them to the back of the food store for one purpose. There, Team Rocket stood firmly, awaiting what they believed to be a punishment.

The mare had brought over some aprons for them. Fittingly, some were human-sized and the others just the perfect size for a Meowth. Almost as if a moment like this was anticipated. Jessie, James and Meowth looked at the apron before realizing what this meant.

"Since you can't pay, you can make it up to me-"

"By working here?!" Jessie intervened.

"Right. But more than that. You're going to have to cook instead of cleaning the dishes and scrubbing the floor. All for the customers that come here." The mare explained as Team Rocket scrunched their faces. "You can cook, right? That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"Oh sure, sure!" Jessie rubbed her hands together before putting the apron on. "We can cook without a doubt!"

"We'll make it up to you so much it'll feel like paying full price!" James gave an OK finger sign.

"Price to pay for missing price!" Meowth grinned.

"Hm." The mare squinted her eyes. "I see. If you say so. Work for at least 10 or 11 hours to make it up for me and you're free to go. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" They each said as Wobbuffet suddenly appeared.

"Wobbuffet!"

At the moment, Jessie, James, Meowth and to a small extent Wobbuffet were now workers at this small food store near the Pokemon School. A way to make up for the lack of money.

But more than that, Team Rocket were opportunists. Not just with capturing Pokemon when the time is ripe, but also when it comes to money. If there's a chance to make money, no matter what form, they'll take it. And this was one of those moments.

However, for old habits, Team Rocket had put on disguises. And by disguises, they essentially just altered their hairstyles and replaced their normal Team Rocket clothes for something else while putting on the aprons.

Works every time.

Team Rocket stood in front of the stand, ready to take orders. Lo and behold their first customer was an important one. Princess Luna.

"Hm. That's strange. Where is Glittercook?" Luna asked after showing up at the store.

"Busy at the moment. We're filling in, princess~" Jessie whistled. "Now, what would you like, your highness?"

"Right. I'm heading for my final gym today. And I want to be ready on a full stomach. Give me the best possible food that you believe will carry me to victory. Oh and some for my Pokemon, if you can."

"A princess and a future champion deserve only high quality. We'll get right on it!" James snapped his finger as Team Rocket got to work, choosing the food for Luna. They went for some curry but with their own unique twist and flair to it.

Actually, all three of them went for their own instead of making a collective meal. James was making a Spicy Boiled Egg Curry, Jessie went for Sour Leek Curry while Meowth had selected Sweet Bone Curry. They were positive about which one would be perfect for Luna as they went above and beyond to make their meals fit for a princess. They even started adding extra parts to their curry.

"This should do." James crossed his arms as he made multiple eggs, piling them together. He also put some Smoke-Poke Tail in the mix. Straight from a Slowpoke. The tails were placed through the eggs and also surrounding them too. "This is a meal for royalty here! Spicy too."

"That looks like it would mess a stomach up in just a few seconds." Jessie grimaced. "Try some inspiration from this." Jessie's Leek Curry had additions from other curry parts. The leeks were decorated with the Decorative Curry. The decorations were of various Pokemon such as Seviper, Yanmega, Dustox and Mimikyu. All Pokemon that Jessie used to own. "Ta-dah!"

"That brings back memories." James narrowed his eyes. "But isn't that a mess too?"

"It's consistent and festive," Jessie smirked. "Meowth. How goes yours?"

"This!" Meowth showed his creation. He had mixed the Bone Curry with the Fresh Cream ingredient. Forming a massive cream tower in the form of an Alcremie. He also added some Peccha Berries in there for extra sweetness. "How's that?"

"Whichever one the princess prefers will be good enough. As long as we get paid. Getting cash from royalty is a big deal after all!" Jessie giggled as Team Rocket rubbed their hands and paws together. They then grabbed their curries, rushing over to Luna who was waiting.

The Princess of the Night was given the curries as they were all placed on the table she sat on. Immediately, once the curries appeared before her, Luna's eyes widened with shock and horror. The amalgamation of various curries was perplexing to the eyes. Luna wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Our own little touches, princess~!" Jessie whistled. "It's sure to get you raring for the final gym."

"Fit for all Pokemon too!" James nodded.

"In all flavours." Meowth grinned.

"Dig in!" All at once, the three of them exclaimed. Luna pouted her lips as even her Pokemon were a bit befuddled by the food in front of them. They had never seen curry being mixed.

"T-Thank you." Luna stuttered before using magic to grab a soon. She went for the Boiled Egg Curry as that looked the most pleasing to her eyes. But not by much. She dug in, grabbing a part of the egg and tail into the spoon for a spoonful.

Her Pokemon went for the other curries by opening their mouths. In unison, Luna and her Pokemon bit onto the curry. They braced themselves by closing their eyes and holding their breath. They expected the worst. And in reality, it wasn't as bad as they thought. But the mixture of various things definitely felt strange as they kept eating.

"Not too bad."

"Right, right?" Team Rocket uttered while nodding in unison.

"This will have to do." Luna accepted the food as she started finishing it all along with her Pokemon. Team Rocket felt like they had done a swell job.

After a few minutes, Luna and her Pokemon had full stomachs, satisfied with the meal they were given. She could commend Team Rocket for doing a good job of being substitutes.

"Many thanks for the meal. Here." Luna gave out what Team Rocket wanted. Currency. They had received piles of bits that had been placed on the table for them to gawk. And gawk they did with their eyes flashing stars. "Now we are sure to win this final gym. All of you. Let's go."

"Thank you for your patronage!" Team Rocket thanked as Luna left the premises. Jessie grabbed the bag of its, gawking at it.

"We're in business now you two! Let's up our game for some more!" Jessie giggled excitedly.

"Yeah. But..." Meowth suddenly stopped her. "We kinda used a bunch of that food for the curry. We're looking a bit low here." He held up the various food items such as the Fresh Cream and Leek, showing that they had used a large amount just fr Luna and her Pokemon.

"Already?!" Jessie screeched as she bit her thumb. "That's fine. We'll improvise."

"And buy some more?" James leaned in, poking at the bag.

"Sacrifice this much cash for some food products?!" Jessie gasped, pulling herself and the bag back. "You've lost it, James!"

"Pah, that's got an easy answer!" Meowth raised a nail. "We'll just use the cash from some other customer and buy stuff with that. While the royalty's cash is still all for us."

"Nice, nice." Jessie and James nodded in approval.

"Wobbuffet!"

Team Rocket started working with what they had as some more customers came along. They had specific orders that the trio could fulfil. At least, with the number of products they had left. They started making curries of all kinds, even adding their own touches to them again.

Glittercook, the owner of this store, entered the storage to see that a majority of her products had already been used in the span of 20 minutes. She only worked for 13 hours a day, so her food storage, while not massive, wasn't limited. The unicorn pouted her lips, knowing exactly why the products had been diminished so rapidly.

All because Team Rocket decided to be creative with their food. That is a common theme with them. Great ideas. Great execution. But the aftermath always ends up turning on them in some way.

"You three. Don't go wasting all the products." Glittercook walked over to try and lecture the trio. "There's only-" But once she got there, Team Rocket were nowhere to be found. Only Wobbuffet.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet not only had an apron on him but also a sign that said Gone Shopping. Left by Team Rocket. They had left Wobbuffet to do the cooking as he saluted.

"...." Glittercook paused for a moment before rolling her eyes. "Okay then. Let's hope you're a good enough cook."

"Wobbu!"



Wobbuffet was not a great cook at all. The way his body was built was not made for cooking. He could take orders but cooking the food was another story as he got these orders from familiar faces.

"I want tacos! Lots of them!" Sonata exclaimed as she was here with her sisters. "Oh, but also Oran Berry Juice, plus some Haddock Sandwich, Butternut Squash Soup, Popcorn Shrimp and-"

"You're taking too long." Aria pushed Sonata aside. "Give me Pasta Primavera. And add some Spiced Sparking Grepa Juice with it."

"Disgusting. Spice and juice don't mix well together." Adagio intervened, getting in front of her sisters as she felt like gagging after hearing their orders. "Observe. I want a Tri-Colour Velvet Cupcake, some Fruit and Yogurt Parfait, Caprese Salad and some Lemonade. And give some berries to Kricketot. See? Nothing too bizarre or disgusting."

"Salad is pretty gross though. Bleh." Sonata stuck her tongue out.

"Pah. What do you know? At least I eat healthily." Adagio smiled with confidence.

"Cake doesn't sound healthy." Aria shook her head.

"It is healthy. Plus, Princess Celestia loves them so that just proves my point."

"Pfft. Yeah, because you're her student." Sonata chuckled while having her hoof over her mouth. Adagio gave her a vicious stare with glowing red eyes. But Sonata kept laughing as Adagio started barking at her.

As the sisters went on their usual rambling, it was Wobbuffet's duty to make the food of their choice. Unfortunately, he was incapable of doing so. But perhaps not on his own. That's when Wobbuffet had a solution to this issue.

"Wobbu-Wobbu!" He cried out to the sky, calling for one Pokemon. Pelipper. Not just Pelipper. But the Rocket Prize Master machine that Team Rocket use for spare Pokemon.

"Pelip-Pe-pep-pepper!" Along came the Water Bird Pokemon, dropping the machine as it crashed right outside the store. Pelipper then flew off, returning to the Pokemon House.

Wobbuffet went outside to recruit some Pokemon to assist him in his culinary endeavour. Meowth wasn't here to activate the machine, but there was a solution to this. While small, the bits would be good enough substitutes. Wobbuffet used the bits that had been dropped from the bag, putting them on the machine.

After a few cranks and an approving Giovanni face by the machine, a few Team Rocket Poke Balls came rolling out, landing on the ground. Out came these Pokemon specifically.

The Milk Cow Pokemon, Miltank. The Mitosis Pokemon, Duosion. The Scale Pokemon Vivllion with an Archipelago Pattern. The Numb Pokemon, Numel. And a new one that Wobbuffet had never seen before. The Chimp Pokemon Grookey.

"Grookey!" Immediately after emerging out of the Poke Ball, Grookey jumped onto Wobbuffet, beating him on the head with its stick. "Key! Groo! Grookey!"

"W-Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet cried out, putting his hands on his head and trying to shoo it away. Grookey beat on his head a few times more before jumping somewhere else.

The Chimp Pokemon landed on Adagio's mane, hitting Kricketot in the process while also lunging from head to head on different ponies and Pokemon.

"Ow! Hey!" Adagio winced as Kricketot fell out of her playful mane. Sonata giggled while Aria was the only one exempt from his head bounce by simply moving away. The rest, not so much.

Wobbuffetl looked in the distance as Grookey had runoff. Now they were down one Pokemon, unfortunately. But some effort could still be made either way.

"Wobbu!" Wobbuffet began speaking to the group, explaining the situation. Team Rocket were currently out buying more products so it was up to the Pokemon to fill in for a while until they return. 

Wobbuffet had good faith in them. The flames of Numel could be used to heat up food. Miltank's milk is self-explanatory. Duosion was incredibly smart and had two brains so that could be of great help. Vivillion was up in the air but there was probably some use.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet gave a salute as everyone saluted back. They were going along for the ride as Team Rocket Pokemon. Glittercook stood by, deciding to observe how this would turn out.



Manehattan. Afternoon.

As for Team Rocket, they were currently shopping. However, things were taking a bit of a turbulent shift. Mainly on Jessie's side. When arriving at Manehattan, instead of going straight for the food products and some traditional grocery shopping, Jessie shot right for the clothes instead.

"Oohohoo!" Jessie gawked at some clothes through the window. "I like what I see! All I need to do is adjust them and they'll be Jessie suitable!"

"What about the food?" James and Meowth asked.

"Yeah. In a minute." Jessie held up the bag of bits. "We'll just make a quick purchase before that."

"Hm. Hey, get a look at that." Meowth spotted something surprising, causing Jessie and James to change their attention. What he saw was in the same area as the clothes that Jessie couldn't resist.

While the clothes were attractive for anyone wanting to look beautiful or even for the Grand Galloping Gala that was closing in, there were some involving the one Trainer that they always end up meeting with. 

Ash Ketchum.

No matter what, Team Rocket could not escape Ash. The clothes that Rarity had made had gone on sale and retail. They had become smash hits instantly due to Ash's reputation. And with that reputation, his clothes were prominent with great abundance.

"No matter where we go, the twerp is always around, isn't he?" James scratched his hair.

"Grr...! How come I don't have dresses based on me!" Jessie grizzled her teeth with jealousy. "We've been around him for years! We helped stop that invasion too!"

"You win some, you lose some. But we've been losing all the time to that twerp and his Pikachu, right?" Meowth shrugged as Jessie sighed with disappointment.

Indeed, Ash was always there to haunt them. One way or another.



Canterlot. Afternoon.

Back at Canterlot and the food store, things weren't so pleasant at the moment. The Dazzlings were waiting for their food while some new customers were showing up. Mainly Brawly, Roxanne and Valerie who were also hungry.

"I could go for some of that Gigantamax. It's new and fresh." Brawly said, holding his stomach. "Think it'll make me grow big?"

"I'm not sure that stuff works on humans." Roxanne shook her head.

"You never know." Valerie stepped forward. "I mean, I was affected by Fairy magic. So there's a chance it could do something."

"Anyway. I bet it would taste good either way." Brawly shrugged. "Glittercook's the best cook we have at the Pokemon School. And...kinda the only one too. Won't we get more?"

"Ms Cynthia's been thinking of getting the brothers Cilan, Chili and Cress to try and fill in for the Pokemon School," said Roxanne. As they made their way to the food store, there wasn't' a line there luckily.

But, while that part may have been lucky for them, the rest, not so much.

Because currently within the store, Wobbuffet and the other Pokemon were as disorganized as a box of jigsaw puzzles. Despite how some of them would work well with cooking, their coordination was abysmal.

"Wobbu! Wobbu!" Wobbuffet cried out, going into a panicking frenzy.

"Mil!" Miltank was spraying milk everywhere on the foods that did not need milk at all. It was also unable to aim properly, causing some of its milk to fly all over the place, making a mess of the area.

"Duo. Duosion." Duosion, despite being a Psychic-Type, the type with the most intellect, was struggling. Ironically, it was with its brains. Since Duosion has two brains, they are both constantly trying to take two different actions at once. And this was another scenario where that happened.

One part of Duosion's brain recommended that they add more to the pasta, even though it would most likely take forever to eat and cause a stomach ache while the other recommended less to the point where the pasta would only take 1 minute to finish, ruining the mood.

Vivillion was no help. It started scattering its colourful scales on all of the products that it had collected. The food was now being contaminated by scales that Vivillion barely had any control of.

Numel was heating the food, but the amount was too much. Thus, the kitchen caught on fire immediately from Numel's flames. After all, Numel stores magma of almost 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit within its body. That's some serious firepower.

All the while, Glittercook sat in the corner, watching everything unfurl before her. She knew something like this would happen. Team Rocket leaving one Pokemon that summoned other Pokemon that had no experience in cooking at all to handle everything was screaming disaster.

"Where's my food already?" Adagio came over, tapping her hoof on the stand.

"Buffet! Wobbu!" Wobbuffet raced over, trying to convince Adagio to wait a bit longer. The Dazzlings looked inside of the store to see smoke coming out and scales flying all over the place along with the milk.

They didn't ask questions as they went to sit back down, waiting for their meals to arrive. While all of this was happening, Brawly and the others were ready to order.

"Gigantamix Curry. Please." Brawly ordered for him and his friends as Wobbuffet saluted, rushing off to pass that order to his partners.

But it didn't end there. More customers were showing up for food. One of them being Spike as was being carried by Haxorus to have a higher height when making an order.

"Give me the hardest food you can make," Spike said as he held Deino in his hands. "For this little gal, right here."

"Deino."

"Wobbu!" Wobbuffet passed it on again.

Once more, another order came by. And this was an order from Daylight Blazer and Sunrise Sprint. The two siblings were feeling peckish. And once they had their orders, more kept coming. Familiar faces and new faces came by to the store, asking for various meals.

Unfortunately, they would be disappointed due to how the Pokemon were unable to cook and how few products they had left. They were already waiting time as the kitchen was ablaze. Wobbuffet started panicking as he was about to break down.

"We're back!" Jessie entered the room as Team Rocket had returned. Once they made their return, they witnessed the chaos occurring within the kitchen. "Uhh..."

"Welcome back." Glittercook walked up to them. "Good job leaving your work to Wobbuffet over here. Really made a difference."

"Apologies for the wait!" James apologised while holding multiple bags and dresses on his shoulders.

"As long as you're here. You still have time so don't let me down. We've got a lot of orders to finish up. But with how things are, that'll be difficult. Luckily for you, I can use my magic to-"

"Save the magic! We'll make it up to you!" Jessie suddenly tossed aside the rest of her newly bought dresses, putting on a serious face. "What are the orders?"

"Oh my." Glittercook's eyes widened. She was shocked to see Jessie suddenly become serious despite what she was previously doing. Buying dresses. Wobbuffet brought over the orders that he had written down.

Team Rocket placed their aprons back on as they got to work. They looked at the others clearing everything up within the kitchen. By utilizing the products they used, Team Rocket were not only able to make the requested orders but also add their own flair to them. They made the hardest food for Spike and Deino successfully, allowing for the Irate Pokemon to practice his crunch. The Dazzlings got their dream food and feasted like queens. Brawly and his friends received the Gigantamax. They didn't grow big but oh well.



Afterwards, Team Rocket had successfully served every customer here. They were indeed good at cooking. It wasn't just for show. Hours had passed and Glittercook nodded in approval.

"Good job, all of you," Glittercook said. "Seems I misjudged you. You may not have the cash, but you can back things up, can't you?"

"Sure can!" Team Rocket said in unison.

"How about this? Sometimes, you can stop by and work a few hours? A job for you to take."

"Hm? We already have a job over at the Pokemon House sometimes." James said.

"But, a second one won't hurt." Jessie stepped forward. "If it means making some sweet moolah."

Then we'll snatch that chance for the cash!" Meowth giggled.

"Good enough for me." Glittercook shrugged. "Well. I'll see you all around."

"Buh-bye!" And with that Team Rocket bolted off. Off to do whatever it is they do on a daily basis. Whether to steal Pokemon or help Fluttershy at the Pokemon House. They sure are interesting characters as the journey continues.


Chapter 549 End.