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Not translated Pokéspeak.
"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on." –Carl Sandburg
Mt. Coronet, one of the major symbols of the Sinnoh region. A huge, towering, and intimidating mountain that trainers pass through to reach the cities that lay past it.
Harry was no exception, and as he trudged through the cave, he only had one thing to say about Mt. Coronet.
"I'm glad the way to Hearthome is a straight path, or we'd probably never get out." He told Nightshade, who was floating next to him.
"Gastly." Nightshade agreed.
They continued on, until they found themselves at a pond.
"This looks like a nice place to eat lunch, don't you think?" Harry said, getting out Meki and Lilium's Pokéballs.
After letting out his Pokémon and all of them ate, he gently pulled out the Egg Minn had given him. As usual he checked to make sure there were no cracks or chips in the shell, and he put it down briefly to rearrange the nest he had made for it.
As he was fixing it, an odd, squeaking sound reached his ear. He ignored it until Meki's voice got his attention.
Harry! The Egg! He called. Harry looked and gasped in shock.
The Egg was rocking from side to side, and the squeaking was coming from inside.
As he and his team watched, the shell cracked and crumbled away, leaving…
"A baby Venonat!" Harry gasped. He picked up the young Pokémon in his arms, and it giggled and snuggled closer.
"Come on guys." Harry said, grabbing his things, being careful of Venonat. "Let's get to Hearthome. I want to get Nurse Joy to check to make sure nothing's wrong with Venonat, and I need to call Minn."
They all made noises of agreement, and followed him as he headed for the exit.
He sat down at one of the phone booths in the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy had just taken all of his Pokémon for a checkup and he still needed to call Minn.
Ring… Ring… Ri-
"Hello?"
"Hi Minn!" Harry grinned at the monitor.
"Harry, it's wonderful to hear from you." Minn said smiling slightly. "Don't tell me you got another Badge already?"
"Nah, I've still got just the two." He answered. "I'm in Hearthome. My Egg hatched in Mt. Coronet, and I wanted to call and say thanks."
Minn's smile grew a little.
"I'm glad you like it, you did say you wanted a Venonat to evolve into a Venomoth." She said.
"You're awesome Minn." Harry grinned. Minn laughed.
"Thank you, now I've got to go, Sol's been quiet for too long, I need to make sure she hasn't gone and gotten herself into trouble."
"Alright, bye Minn." Harry chuckled.
"Goodbye Harry, good luck."
The connection went dead. Harry got out of the booth the same time Nurse Joy came back with his Pokémon.
"They're all perfectly healthy." She said with a smile. "You're taking good care of them."
Harry thanked her and let out his Pokémon so they could eat dinner.
Have you called Minn yet little brother? Meki asked.
"Yes, Meki, I did." Harry told him, exasperated. Meki nodded contentedly.
What about a name for the child?
Harry snapped his fingers.
"Ah, right!"
He rummaged through his bag until he found his book about poisons. He picked up the little Venonat and put her on the table in front of him.
"Let's see… How about Rhubarb?" Harry asked. Venonat shook her head.
"Belladonna?"
Another shake.
"Caladium?"
Shake.
"Hmm… How about Cerbera?"
After a moment's pause, Venonat cheered and hopped around on the table. Harry laughed at her enthusiasm.
Looks like that answers that. Lilium (who had evolved into a Nidorina during the battle with Gardenia) said.
Looks like it. Nightshade agreed humorously, he suddenly grinned and turned to Meki, who had finished eating and was stretched out about to take a nap. Be careful Meki, or else you might get replaced as Harry's favorite.
Meki cracked open an eye and gave him a dull glare.
Harry doesn't have any favorites. He grunted, before going to sleep.
They let him be, waking up Meki was just asking for your ass to be kicked.
Cerbera jumped down from the table without Harry, Lil, or Nightshade noticing, and curled up next to Meki and went to sleep to.
When they finally noticed, Harry thought it was cute, and Nightshade and Lilium wished they had a camera.
Harry and his Pokémon spent the next few days in Hearthome, training and exploring the large city.
On the day before they were going to leave, a sign caught Harry and Cerbera's attention.
"'Pokémon Contest'?" Harry read aloud. "Oh, Sol told me about these, they're where you try to show off your Pokémon's 'beauty' and 'grace'."
"Nat?" Cerbera said, staring at the poster. "Nat! Venonat!"
"What is Cer? Do you want to enter a Contest?" Harry asked.
Cerbera nodded quickly, almost falling over herself.
"Well, I don't know how good we'll do, but it's worth a shot I guess." Harry mused, before picking up the Venonat and walking inside the Contest Hall.
He strode to the desk to talk to the woman sitting there about competing in Contests.
Harry came out of the hall with Cerbera holding onto his head, a Contest Pass in his bag, and a plan to train for the Contest taking place in two days.
*Two days later*
Harry sat, yawning, in the waiting room for the Coordinators competing in the Contest.
He noticed a few people giving his outfit annoyed looks, probably because he had worn his regular outfit instead of some fancy thing like they were.
I think a purple shirt, blue jeans, black Running Shoes, and a lavender hat is a perfectly fine outfit. Harry thought to himself, yawning again. And why did this thing have to start so early?
Harry barely paid attention as the other competitors were called on stage, and only came out of his tired stupor when he was called.
He stood up and walked up onto the stage.
"And now we have Harry Potter!" The announcer cheered into her microphone. "What Pokémon will he choose!"
"Go! Cerbera!" Harry cried, releasing his newest Pokémon.
Her Pokéball opened in an explosion of silver sparkles, courtesy of some seals from Minn.
"Venonat!" Cerbera trilled as she landed.
"Mr. Potter has chosen a Venonat! Isn't she cute?" The announcer giggled. "But cuteness isn't going to win him the ribbon! What move will he use?"
"Poison Powder Cerbera!" Harry commanded.
The young Venonat released a cloud of purple dust around her, to the point she couldn't be seen.
"Confusion!"
The powder glowed with a light blue light, and flowed up near the ceiling.
Using the Psychic move, Cerbera began making shapes with the poisonous dust, starting with simple hearts and spirals.
She filled the air above her with the sparkling powder, and for her finale made a crescent moon surrounded by stars before allowing the dust to float back down and dissipate.
Harry didn't listen to the judges' comments, and barely heard the crowd's cheers, as Cerbera leapt up to give him a hug and was currently stealing all his attention.
He went back to the waiting room with Cerbera in his arms, and politely thanked the Coordinators who congratulated him and Cerbera. Harry watched with the others as the final few people had their turns, and waited patiently for the results.
When they finally came up, he was surprised.
"Wow, you made the top five." A girl next to him said. "Nice going."
"Thanks, I didn't even think I'd get into the next round." Harry admitted.
"Why's that? I'm Alexia by the way, but you can call me Ale."
"Harry Potter. This is my first Contest." Harry said.
"Really?" Ale looked surprised. "That's amazing, your Pokémon looked great out there."
"Venonat!" Cerbera chirped, looked proud. Ale and Harry laughed.
"You made it into the next round to." Harry noted, looking over the pictures of the people continuing on.
"Looks like it." Ale grinned. "If we end up battling, I won't hold back!"
"Neither will we, huh Cerbera?" Harry looked down at the Venonat in his lap.
"Nat!"
Harry's first battle was against a guy named Variel. He won by having Cerbera dart around spreading Poison Powder until it took effect.
After that, Harry had Cerbera dance around the slower Chingling avoiding its attacks, and when she couldn't, having her send the attacks back with Confusion.
During the semifinals, he battled against some woman with a weird name. Jess-something he thought. She used a Dustox.
It was a close battle, ending when Cerbera's Confusion met her Dustox's Psybeam and created a large flash, which Harry had Cerbera jump through and Tackle Dustox to the ground.
A simple tactic turned out to be rather pretty, as the gleam from the two attacks seemed to follow Cerbera as she flew through the air.
And then it was the finals. Harry couldn't believe he had made it this far, or who he was going up against.
"…I think we jinxed ourselves." He whispered to Ale as they stood side by side as the announcer said something.
Ale giggled as they were finally allowed to take their places.
"Let's do this, Copper!" Ale yelled, releasing her Pokémon, an Abra.
"Cerbera!" Harry shouted, throwing her Pokéball.
She jumped up and down when she appeared, once again shrouded by silver.
"Start it off with Shadow Ball!" Ale commanded.
The Abra formed a dark ball between its hands, and shot it towards Cerbera, who wasn't about to stand still and let it hit her.
She leapt up and the Shadow Ball passed harmlessly below her.
"Use Bug Bite Cerbera!"
"Copper, Teleport!"
Just as the Venonat lunged forward, Copper disappeared, causing her to skid to a stop in shock.
"Psychic!" Ale commanded.
Cerbera turned just to get struck by the powerful, and super-effective, move, but didn't stay down.
She struggled to her feet, swaying slightly.
"Cerbera, spread Poison Powder around the stage!" Harry yelled above the crowd.
Again, the purple powder filled the air, this time with a much less nice purpose.
Somehow the Abra managed to keep on the edges of the stage, where the dust hadn't settled, and Harry knew his points were going down and time was almost up, but he had a plan.
"Cerbera!" He called. "Use Morning Sun!"
Cerbera gave a cry from the midst of the swirling dust, and above it, the image of a sun appeared, and sunlight shone down, illuminating the powder, and making it possible to see the Venonat.
She, and the Poison Powder, shone and sparkled with golden light, just as time ran out.
"And time is UP!" The announcer practically screamed. "Was that final performance enough to allow Harry to win? Or was it too late?"
Harry picked up Cerbera, turning to the screen that would show their scores. On the other side, Ale did the same, with Copper on her shoulder.
After a moment the scores appeared, and for a minute Harry forgot how to breathe.
"I don't believe it!" The announcer gasped. "Harry Potter has won by a small margin!"
'Small' didn't seem to cover it. 'Tiny' was closer, but still not enough. 'Miniscule' seemed to fit the best.
Dimly he noticed that everyone was clapping, including Ale, and that a judge was approaching with the Ribbon.
"Nat!" Cerbera cheered. Harry grinned.
"You did great." He told her, shifting so he was holding her with just one arm.
He shook the judge's hand and accepted his Ribbon, still amazed he had won.
"Well that was fun." Harry told his Pokémon and new friend, standing by the entrance to Route 209.
"Yeah." Ale laughed. "It was. I hope we get to compete against each other again!"
"Me too, but I've got to get going. I've stuck around Hearthome too long anyway." Harry said.
"Too bad, but we'll see each other again, I'm sure." Ale smiled. "See you!"
"Bye Ale!" Harry waved to her as he headed out, his Pokémon following closely. Cerbera wearing the Ribbon she had won on a string as a necklace proudly.
I love Cerbera, she's so cute.
The battle seemed too short to me, but I'm not very good at writing them so…
And Ale appears! This time as a Sinnoh Coordinator!
What did you think of the Contest? Please review and tell me!