Soon enough, Jr.'s first birthday came around and everyone was excited. Especially when Atta brought in a berry for her gurgling son.
"Little Jr. is a year old now...Wow…" Flik expressed to his sister-in-law Dot. Most of the ants watch Jr stuff his face with the berry, causing a few awws in the room. Even the P.T. Flea circus arrived for the boy's birthday.
"Baby wants pie" Heimlich whined, playing a baby for the boy's party
"He said he wants it...Should I give it to him…" Francis asked. The crowd cheered. Then Francis threw the pie in Heimlich's face, making the audience and baby Flik Jr. laugh. Then Manny and Gypsy came with a bundle in their hands
"Flik Jr. might have a friend...this is our daughter Filia…" Gypsy kindly spoke to Atta who was holding Jr.
"Aww, she's so beautiful...Looks like her mother…" Atta complemented Filia who did indeed take after her mother. She had a bit of green in her wings from her mantis side.
"Thank you, my queen and the boy takes well after his father," Manny said taking a good look at Jr. He was a small blue ant with a large lavender splotch on his left eye, and his antenna matched Flik's.
"Aww, he has his mother's eyes…" Gypsy complimented.
The baby boy giggled seeing Filia, wanting to say hi to her but she turned him away, making him confused.
"Okay time for presents guys…" then all of the ants gathered a bunch of gifts for the boy
"Ooh, Atta I have a perfect present for Jr….Tada…" Flik pulled out a wooden rattle for the boy. It was a stick with small little pebbles inside and a few bits of wood entrapping them. Jr. giggled as his father gave him the gift and shook the rattle playfully
"Oh this little guy will invent amazing things for the colony I can feel it…" Flik rejoiced, taking his son from Atta and cuddling him.
"Now now Flik, may I also remind you that the boy is part royalty...He may have some royal responsibilities when he grows older…" Mr. Soil chimed in.
"Now hold on Soil...He's just a kid...He doesn't need that type of weight on his shoulders…" Thorny argued.
"Oh, Inventor or prince...I don't care...He's our little bundle of joy...ready to do great things…" Atta embraced her son with her mate, making the baby ant giggle again.
5 years later…
A small ant was asleep in his little leave bed. His room had a bunch of inventions, some were basic, some of which were hard to make and he had a little hole view of outside. Then Flik gently walked in the room and shook the ant a little
"Jr. It's time to wake up…" then the ant moaned a little and opened his eyes
"Hi, Daddy…" Flik Jr. yawned and rubbed his eyes
"Hey, buddy...ready to do some inventing today…"
"Uh-huh...I have a bunch of ideas…" Flik Jr. jumped out of bed and his father picked him up and took him to the inventing room.
Since Jr was a toddler, he became his father's assistant when it came to inventing, since he had that inventive knack at the age of 2. He even made a few inventions on his own.
"I'm ready to finish my invention…" Jr cheered. Flik giggled at his son, seeing his excitement.
The two ants weaved together a little invention. Wood and leaves and rocks were used to make it. The two backed away to admire their finished product. One could see that it was a desk...a slightly curved desk. The father and son glanced at each other and smiled.
"Our best invention yet huh son…"
"Uh-huh…Can we test it…"
"Sure we can" Jr then raced over to the finished desk and gave it a little shake and it was sturdy and stable
"Aah we're geniuses" Flik picked up his son and swung him around in his arms and kissed him on the cheek, making his son giggle
"Flik...the queen would like to see you…" Mr. soil came in on the duo.
"Okay son, go play...maybe pick some berries for your grandmother…" Flik escorted his son away from the anthill.
Flik Jr. decided to surf on a leaf and tried to float his way down. His father was the one that taught him that.
He whooped and laughed, having a wonderful time, doing loopty loops and flips with the leaf. When he came down he went on his back and happily laughed at the fun he just had.
He didn't know that he landed in front of a bunch of kids his age who just looked at him in bewilderment. Jr. timidly stood up and smiled, trying to bring joy in this awkward moment
"Hi…" he waved. Most of the kids just walked away from him, making him sigh sadly to himself. Despite being half royalty and being an inventor, Jr got lonesome sometimes, even if he had his family and Alphie to play with. Then he remembered the berries.
He went to his favorite stalk by the riverbed and tried to grab a berry but his small size couldn't pull something so big
"Need help buddy…" he looked down and saw an ant that was slightly older than him, maybe even a teenager
"Yes please...it's this berry here...it won't budge…"
"I gotcha covered…" the ant said. She pulled out a wooden slingshot with a pebble. "You might wanna duck out of the way…" then the ant shot down the berries to the soil
"Thank you so much…" Flik Jr. grinned as he climbed down
"Any time…"
"Skipper, what are you doing-Hey aren't you Flik and queen Atta's son," another ant asked
"Yeah that's me…I'm Flik Jr. what's your names"
"Oh...I'm Skeeter and this is Skipper...we're twins…" Skeeter introduced
"Nice to meet you guys...oh I need to get these to my grandma…thank you Skipper for getting the berries down for me…" Jr. then took off with the berries.
When Jr. got back to the anthill, he went to his grandmother's room
"Hi, Gramma…" Flik Jr. said delightfully. The former bedridden queen turned to her grandson and grinned.
"Ah Jr. you brought berries...so kind of you…"
"I love sharing berries with you grandma…" Jr. broke off a small chunk of the deep red berry as gave it to his grandmother which she took lovingly and he took a piece for his own
"Make sure you save some for your mom and dad…" Jr. nodded his head as he continued to devour the berry, his mouth already covered with berry juice.
"Come here you…" then the elderly ant tickled Jr, making him laugh. "How did I get such a sweet grandson like you…"
Then Thorny walked in on the bonding of the two ants.
"Alright Jr. we should let your grandmother rest…" he ordered.
"Just a little longer Mr. Thorny please…" Jr begged
"Come on...are those berries…"
"Yeah, I was sharing them… I promised to save some...honest…"
"What did I say about the berries…" Thorny scolded
"To not get them before dinner…" Jr. sighed
"Come on...put them back…"
"But I was just…" then thorny pointed to the exit. "Trying to share…" the Jr. took the berries and sadly leave the room
"Aww don't be so hard on him...he's only a little boy…" the elderly ant said, enjoying the last of her berry.
"I know but you know how Queen Atta gets when he does this…"
"I know she's trying to be a good mother to Flik jr. but I think she's being overprotective of him…"
When Jr. placed the berries back on the same stalk, he spotted a small stick nearby
"Huh…" he curiously wandered towards it and grabbed it and began to examine it. The stick wasn't too thick or too skinny but it was a little taller than him so he broke the ends to make it holdable fit him.
Then Jr. glanced at a tall sweet grass and broke that off and tied it onto the stick like it was a bow tie and took some berry juice and drew dots for eyes and made a smile with it. Jr. smiled at his latest invention and heard some footsteps coming towards him
"Jr. what are you doing?" His aunt Dot asked.
"Look what I made…" Flik jr. showed his teenaged aunt.
"It's a stick with eyes and a smile?" Dot questioned
"Well, a little buddy…" then she heard Dr. Flora coming towards the two.
"Aww Jr. look what you made," Flora said warmly
"Do do do do...I'm Buddy...Nice to meet you" Jr. waved the stick around showing it to Dr. Flora.
"Aww your so adorable…" Dr. Flora said, pinching the boy's cheek. "Your mother wants you back for your curfew."
"Oh okay...I'm coming…" Flik Jr. carried buddy and went with Dot and Dr. Flora
When he arrived back, the leftover berries were at the table for them to eat, much to Jr.'s surprise.
"We heard about the berries, mister…" Atta lightly scolded her son, pointing a
"I was just sharing with gramma like we always do…." Jr. cuddled Buddy.
"What do you have Jr.?" Flik asked him
"My name is Buddy...Nice to meet you…" Jr. said in a deep playful voice. This made his father chuckle.
"Well nice to meet you too Buddy…"
"I made him...While I was putting the berries back…" Jr told his parents.
"Aww isn't he adorable…" Dr. Flora asked.
"Yes...Such a sweet boy…" Mr. Soil replied.
Then it was time to put Jr. to bed, but he was a little restless.
"Come on Flik Jr. It's time for bed…" Atta told him
"But I'm not tired…" a bouncy Jr. sang.
"Yeah isn't it a little early for Jr. to go to bed, it's barely past sunset…" Flik asked his mate.
"We have that town hall in the morning…" Atta replied.
"Wait...I'll come with you...you won't even know I'm there…" Jr. begged.
"Sweetie...We talked about this...Town halls are"
"For adults only...But I wanna go with you...I don't wanna be lonely…" Jr. begged.
"Well, you can play with Auntie Dot and find some kids your age...maybe the blueberry scouts…"
"Mommy It's mostly for girls...and the other kids think I'm weird…" Jr. held Buddy close.
"Hey...Look at me...You're not weird...I think your an amazing kid…" Flik told his son.
"Really…" Jr. smiled.
"Yeah…" Atta added. "Your sweet, adorable, smart, creative and did Mommy mention, ticklish" She tickled her son's sides and tummy, making him laugh
"Tickle bug…"
Then Flik picked Jr. up and blew raspberries on his tummy, making him squeal
"That tickles Daddy…" then Atta tried to hush the both of them
"Okay okay...Flik, we're supposed to put Jr. to bed…"
"Honey I was trying to have a little fun with him…" Flik placed Jr. back down on his little bed and tucked him in.
"Good night Jr.," Flik said.
"Good night Daddy…" Flik kissed him on the head and left. Atta placed Buddy right next to Jr. which he caught in a big hug and gently hummed her son a lullaby and kissed the sleeping ant on the forehead
"Goodnight my little prince…" Atta whispered and departed leaving her son to sleep