//------------------------------// // Short: Practice makes perfect // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Ponyville, the home where both Sonata and Aria live in together. The two of them were practising their singing. They were told that if they just simply practice, they'll regain their natural singing talent back once again. But so far, it was abysmal. Their tune and harmony were off by lightyears as each time they even attempted to sing, it sounded like metal being scraped on a chalkboard constantly whilst being up close to it. "O̶n̵e̸ ̴w̶o̶r̶l̴d̵!̴ ̸O̵n̶e̷ ̸w̷o̸r̸l̵d̴!̶ ̵N̷o̷w̸ ̶a̷n̸d̷ ̶f̵o̵r̶e̶v̷e̸r̴!̴"̵ Sonataa sung horribly. "No good. Didn't even sound it like it improved at all." Sonata sighed, sitting on the bed. "Whoever said that practice makes perfect is the worst." Aria groaned as she laid on her back. "I don't get it. How come our voices won't develop no matter what we do?" "I don't know...But I really wanna sing some songs already without having to hate the sound of my own voice." Sonata bit the pillow. That's when it hit her. The one way they could possibly get their talent back. "That's it!" She jolted up from the bed. "What?" Aria asked. "Why don't we just find a Pokemon that's all about singing and learn from them. I mean, they do say that Pokemon can do anything, can't they? And there's that Pokemon that can make you do things much better! What was it called again? V-Viplini?" "Victini. And yeah, you've got a good point. There's a Pokemon for everything apparently. But do you really think it'll work?" "It has to. Come on! Let's get our talent back! And I know exactly where we can start!" Where did they start? At the Pokemon House. Which has the most amount of Pokemon of various types living there with Fluttershy. There's a Pokemon that can do specific things that exist there, so there at least has to be a Pokemon all about singing. "Singing?" said Fluttershy who was beside her Audino, caring for an injured Shellos. "Mhm! You've got a Pokemon that's an expert at singing, doncha?" Sonata nudged Fluttershy. "Hmm. Certain Pokemon here know the move sing. It's the most common song move. Maybe they can teach you." "That's great! Which ones are they?" Sonata got up in Fluttershy's face, making her pull back. "Um. The Pokemon here that have it are Marill, Gossifleur, Delcatty and Chingling. Oh and also Chimecho." Fluttershy listed the Pokemon here that knew the move. There is a pretty large amount of them considering that they're fairly common Pokemon. "But, I've never actually heard them sing a full melody before. Usually, it's a soothing song that puts others to sleep." "A song is a song no matter what. We've hit the jackpot, Aria!" "We'd better have. Practising at home with that sound is horrible." Fluttershy called for the Pokemon that could learn sing, gathering them around. Each of these Pokemon had their own unique melody that they could perform and the sirens were hoping that they could learn a lot from any of them. The Delcatty and Gossifleur looked promising to them anyway. "Here they are. You can let them sing at any moment." "Alright. Uh...that one!" Sonata pointed her hoof at Gossifleur. "That one can teach us!" "Oh, Gossifleur. Alright. Gossifleur. Use Sing." Fluttershy commanded. "Gossi." The Flowering Pokemon made the first melody. Its singing voice was as expected, beautiful. However, the one thing they didn't take into account is that 95% of the time, Sing is mostly used for one thing. To put others to sleep. And it did just that. Sonata and Aria were already feeling drowsy with their hooves feeling weak and wobbly. "Oh, that's...beautiful..." Sonata silently spoke, falling flat on the ground, snoring. "Not bad..." Aria did the same, falling on top of her siren sister. "Oops. I guess that's to be expected." Fluttershy giggled. Her Audino picked the two of them up, placing them near a more comfortable spot to rest. Looking at the two she realized how difficult it must be unable to sing anymore, despite that being their speciality. It made her think about a scenario where everypony could no longer do what they're special at. As a result, Fluttershy felt sorry for the two of them and wished that they would get their singing back eventually. The two of them at the moment could only dream about singing once again. All they ever dream about at night nowadays. Sonata mumbled in her sleep as she started to bite Aria's tail. Turns out there are other things they dream about rather than singing. "Maybe...I can teach them!" Fluttershy's newest idea just struck her mind. She was great as singing...so...she could help the two of them by practising. It sounded like it would be effective anyway. Once they wake up, Fluttershy will do her best to work her magic and transform them into the amazing singers they once were. Time had passed. 2 hours actually. The Sing from Gossifleur was that potent. Sonata had woken up, tasting Aria's tail. She rubbed her tongue, letting out a loud yawn as she felt refreshed. "What a nap. Don't know how that happened though...Right, Aria?" "Hm?" Aria awoke as she felt something wet on her tail. "Yeah...what's going on again?" "Morning you two. Hope you had a wonderful rest because I've figured out a way to bring back your singing!" exclaimed Fluttershy. "You have?" Both of them rubbed their eyes, paying close attention to what she had to say. "That's right. I'll give you singing lessons. That's a sure-fire way to get your singing back to its best. But, I assume you two have already had singing lessons before." "....Uhh...not really." said Sonata which surprised Fluttershy. "Honestly, we never trained for our singing. We were just born with amazing singing talents." "Yeah. So we don't even have a clue on how to practice." Aria spoke. It was true. They didn't need to work for their talent, they had it from the very beginning. It was no wonder that they sounded abysmal when singing back at their home. "That's perfect! That just means that I can really teach you the basics!" Fluttershy clapped her hooves together. "We can get started right away!" "You think it'll work?" Aria turned to Sonata. "She sounded pretty good when she sang that Pokemon song with everypony else. So yeah. Maybe." Sonata shrugged. "First, let's try some breathing. It helps control the pitch and duration of your singing. The best way to start off is by opening your throat for a while. Oh, Loudred! Could you come here please!" Fluttershy called for the Big Voice Pokemon which was pretty skilled in sound itself but in a different way. "Follow the movements of me and Loudred over here." "Alright." The two of them said in unison. The practice began as they mimicked what the two were performing. Deep breathing. Not only that, but a Mime Jr. was even following along, just for fun and to perfect its mimicry skills. It started off small with simple inhaling and exhaling. Sonata puffed her cheeks, inhaling a bit too much actually and this ended up influencing Mime Jr., who was actually feeling Sonata's vibe on a usual Psychic level. Aria, however, she seemed to be thinking too much into it. She believed that if she breathed in and out rapidly, it would accelerate the process. Clearly, these two are complete rookies when it comes to practising. "Um...okay...I guess that's a good start." Fluttershy uttered. "Let's try some simple humming. Anypony can hum no matter what. Try it." "Humming? No problemo!" Sonata cleared her throat as she attempted to perform a beautiful hum. "H̶̗̿u̴͇̍ṷ̷͗u̷̟̔m̵͇͊m̶̨̀m̸͎̽" It was just horrible to listen too. The sound was so abominable, so repulsive that it affected every Pokemon and animal in the Pokemon House and the entire cottage. But the one who took the most punishment from this was Audino. It was a moment like this where she wished she didn't have such amazing hearing. It didn't help that Mime Jr. did the same. This caused Audino to faint. "Audi...no..." "Ah! Audi!" Fluttershy gasped, glancing at her fainted partner. "Nice going, Sonata. You killed it." Aria said. "I-It's fine. Practice makes perfect after all." Fluttershy nervously chuckled. "Let's try the same for you Aria." "Got it. This'll be a cinch." Aria's turn was up. And how was she compared to Sonata? Not any better. Audino got back up, luckily recovering from that terrible sound. But once Aria let out something, she was hit again." H̸u̵u̴u̵m̴m̶m̸m̶m̵." Once again, Audino fainted from the torturous sound. "Cinch, huh?" Sonata giggled. "Ugh. Whatever. Shy pony. What are we even doing wrong?" "Well, I think it might be that um...you're trying a bit too hard to sound like a professional," Fluttershy replied. "I think it's better if you take it easy. Take it easy and don't try to rush it." "Take it easy, huh? Alright..." Sonata took Fluttershy's suggestion, starting to sing at a more calm rate instead of rushing it. With that, she let out a hum that actually sounded somewhat decent, but not that great. But it was a start. And it was slightly less torturous to Audino this time. "How's that?" "That's good. It actually sounded decent!" Fluttershy clapped her hooves. "Really?" Aria held her own throat as she did the same. The two sisters were finally getting somewhere. "Huh...would you look at that... I felt some change there." "Mhm! Now, try it continuously and you'll get there." So what's they did. The two sisters began humming constantly at a slow pace. A significant change could be felt in their voices as time passed on. 3 hours actually. Their singing was actually improving. Right now they should be at least above average in terms of skills. Probably enough to sing a low pitched song at best. "Alright. I think you've reached a good spot right now. Let's try singing a song now. Repeat after me. Everybody wants to be a master.." "Everybody wants to be a master..." Both Sonata and Aria followed along with their newfound singing talent. "Everybody wants to show their skills. Everybody wants to get there faster, make their way to the top of the hill." Fluttershy continued as did the two sisters. Soon as the singing continued, it was actually grabbing the attention of other Pokemon. But in a good way this time. Mostly because Fluttershy sounded the best out of all of them. "Hey...I can actually feel it." Sonata began rocking her head back and forth slowly, feeling the rhythm and melody coming back to her. But that's when she took things overboard. Her enthusiasm was something to be admired but it was definitely something that didn't work with her current singing level. And just like that, she started to raise her voice, singing a not so great melody that caused the Pokemon, Fluttershy and eve Aria to wince. But from the look on her face, she was getting into it. "Oops sorry." She squeed, realizing she went a bit overboard. "Well. At least you two have gotten somewhere. Just keep practising and you'll get there." "Right. Thanks so much, Fluttershy!" Sonata shook Fluttershy's hoof with her own which ended up making the pegasi shake about. But before the two could call it a day, something unexpected occurred. Fluttershy could see it herself and it took her by surprise. Aria and Sonata were growing horns. It seems that from the singing they were performing, small unicorn horns were beginning to form on them. A sign that once they retain their singing, they might be transformed into unicorns. "I'm starving! Let's head home and chow down Aria!" "Sure. My throats a little dry from all that humming though." The two sisters made their way off, but Fluttershy didn't even tell them what she saw. She was too taken aback by the sudden horn growth. It was unnatural to her. She's never seen it happen once before to anypony. Not in that way at least. "Oh, my. You think that they're meant to be unicorns instead of earth ponies, Audi?" "Audino." Audino didn't know. "We'll have to wait and see then. But I wish the two of them best of luck." One day, the two siren sisters will improve greatly and retain their amazing singing talent. But that day is not today. But practice makes perfect after all. And one day, they're hoping to get their older sister back to them in hopes of snapping her out of her crazy revenge journey. But all of that will have to wait as the journey continues. Chapter 142 End!