//------------------------------// // Spectral Synergy // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// The Pokemon School, currently Induction Day. With the Pokemon School officially being open and the ponies taking part in Induction Day, the first task of induction day is for each student is to manage certain Pokemon Types that many of the ponies in Equestria have an uneasy history with. One of these types being the Ghost Pokemon. By far the most mischievous out of all 18 Types. For Fantina's class, they were given the Ghost-Types to handle. Currently, they were trying to get along with the Ghost Pokemon with only a few of them seeing some success. Fluttershy has managed to win over Mimikyu's heart whilst Golett gives all of its loyalty to Applejack since she reminds Golett of its old master from ancient times. Twilight was given a rather eccentric Aegislash who wouldn't stop swinging its bladed body around, chipping parts of Twilight's mane off. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were given Drakloak and Chandelure who wouldn't stop breathing fire in their faces. As for Rarity, she obtained a Froslass that was constantly planning on freezing somepony or a Pokemon just to impress Rarity with a sculpture. But the hardest one so far was Starlight Glimmer's Pokemon. The Ghost-Type that she had picked out randomly was a Galarian Corsola. A rather unresponsive Pokemon that doesn't seem to move at all as opposed to its Johto counterpart. Once everypony else figures out how to get along with the Ghost-Pokemon, they'll head out and have a battle with them. Just for fun. Everypony had their own unique ways of getting along with the Pokemon. Ways that they believe would work out in their favour. "Alright, Aegislash. I'm going to polish your blade now. Please don't swing." Twilight pleaded Aegislash to hold still. "Slash!" "Okay..." She used her magic to hold a cloth, gently polishing the Royal Sword Pokemon up. By giving the Steel-Ghost-Type a shine, Twilight was hoping that Aegislash's incredibly sharp body doesn't make contact with her at all. Her constant shaking was clear that she was intimidated. With Rarity, she was teaching Froslass how to properly make sculptures without using somepony or Pokemon as a base. "Alright, Froslass. Just use Ice Shard as your base. It's big enough to be sculpted from after all." said Rarity. "Lass?" The Snow Land Pokemon made a shard of ice with a flash-freeze behind it. She held the shard in her hands, waiting for Rarity to make another command. "Good. Now, you made a sculpture based on me, didn't you? Try that but this time with Ice Shard alone." As Froslass got to work, everypony else was gradually improving on handling their Pokemon. Rainbow Dash could see that Drakloak is a fairly laid-back Pokemon. Unlike its fellow Ghosts, it doesn't really rush things that much. It's a bit on the lazy side. "Kloak..." "You're not that energetic are you..." Rainbow Dash sighed. "Drak." "Well...at least you're not them." Rainbow turned her head over at the others and how they were still having trouble with their Ghost-Type Pokemon. Some of them had even become possessed in the long run. Some ponies were integrating their way of life and what they do to the Ghost-Types such as their Cutie Mark talents. It was a bit of a rocky start, but gradually, they found a way to at least work around these issues. But one pony who was having no luck with her Pokemon was Starlight. Her Corsola was even more unresponsive than Drakloak. Whereas Drakloak is just lazy, Corsola is motionless and ironically, lifeless. Starlight found this to be a huge brick wall that she had to find a way to overcome. Everypony else was at least finding a way but her. That's when an idea struck that could work. "Hm...I know." She used her magic to bring out her Poke Ball. "I'll just have Hatterene mind control it with Hypnosis. That'll work. "Non, non, Starlight Glimmer. You cannot force a Pokemon to bond with you." Fantina took the Poke Ball away from Starlight. "It must be honnêteté, véritable and from the heart. "R-Right. Sorry..." Starlight sighed. "But how do I connect with something that looks like it has no heart?" Trying to figure out how to connect with Corsola was a true challenge for Starlight. A Pokemon that seems soulless and devoid of any life would be figuratively impossible in many ways. Truly a challenge that she's never had to face before or even come across. "Sola..." The Coral Pokemon uttered a single word. Starlight realized that she had to do at least something to make this lifeless Pokemon animated. "Uh...Hey, I know!" She used her magic to bring over one of Pinkie's cupcakes. Are you hungry, maybe? I know you'll love a cupcake. Nopony can resist them." "Cor." Corsola didn't respond to her at all. "Just try a bite, please. Just one." Starlight attempted to force-feed the Coral Pokemon the cupcake instead of letting it decide. Since Corsola barely opened its mouth, Starlight was practically smearing frosting all over the Coral Pokemon's face. "Sola..." "Come on. Don't you want to taste some sweet delicious cupcakes?" Starlight spoke through her teeth. The only progress she was making was leaving Corsola's face a sweet and delicious mess. "Cor."The Ghost-Type dismissed Starlight's attempts at grabbing its attention. "Gh...Just eat it!" Starlight's eye twitched as she shoved the cupcake right in Corsola's mouth with an extra Oomph to her magic. "Corso..." That definitely got a reaction out of Corsola. Despite its lifeless personality, it was still a Pokemon that could react accordingly to whatever action is done against it. Finally responding to Starlight, Corsola used Ancient Power by slamming prehistoric rocks in the unicorns face out of aggravation. "Doh!" Starlight fell on her back with a huge rock on her face. "Maybe you can try getting along with Corsola by giving it something that it likes," Fluttershy suggested to Starlight. "Mrrgh..." Starlight pushed the rock off her face. "Like what? It already doesn't like cupcakes at all." "Well..." Fluttershy looked up, thinking for a moment. "If the Johto variant of Corsola loved the warm seas and its Galarian variant is a result of large-scale shifts in weather-patterns, then Corsola might need some warm water, maybe." "Mimikyu." "Impressionnant, Fluttershy!" Fantina clapped her hooves together. "A great deduction on Corsola's potential needs." "Warm seas and water, huh?" Starlight looked over at the Coral Pokemon. "Does Equestria have any?" "We do but...thanks to Ice-Types, it's not exactly warm at the moment. But, the move Scald can be of use." Twilight slid in, answering her. "So then, which Pokemon here has Scald?" Starlight asked her. "Désolé. But none of the Ghost-Types here have Scald on them. But, Drakloak can learn it." Fantina turned over to Rainbow Dash and the Drakloak she had. "Hm?" Rainbow noticed that they were looking right at her and Drakloak as well. "What?" "Rainbow Dash. I need your help." Starlight went over to the pegasus. "I need your little Ghost Dragon to learn Scald for me. Please?" "Scald? Why? You trying to trick me when we battle?" "Not at all. This Corsola's only gonna respond to me if it gets some warm water. So pretty please, can you do me this huge favour?" Starlight flashed her eyes at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash understood how difficult Corsola was due to its lifeless nature so she went along with it. "Alright fine. Drakloak. We got a new move for you to learn." "Kloak." "Alright. If you're gonna learn Scald, then try...hm..." Rainbow Dash got to thinking. How would Drakloak learn Scald? She can't just say Learn Scald and call it a day. A Pokemon must earn a move through hard work and practice. "Hold on, let me see something. What moves can you do?" She used her dex to check Drakloak's moves. "Will-O-Wisp. Dragon Rush. Double Edge. Dragon Pulse." "Hmm...Only two moves that come from the mouth, huh? That's fine. We can work with that." Rainbow Dash closed her Pokedex. "Alright, Drakloak. Try using Will-O-Wisp and Dragon Pulse repeatedly." "Drak." The Caretaker Pokemon nodded in response. A common known fact about Pokemon is that moves can be used together to make a totally new move. The Dragon-Ghost-Type opened its mouth white, letting out a Will-O-Wisp first by breathing ghostly fire on the floor and then Dragon Pulse next by sending a dragon-shaped shockwave down. Drakloak held its attacks back since it didn't want to destroy the classroom after all. "Will it even work?" Fluttershy wondered. "Will-O-Wisp is Fire but Dragon Pulse isn't Water." "Hard to say, Fluttershy. Whenever a Pokemon combined moves to create a new one, the results may vary. Pokemon Coordinators, such as my self, do this very often." said the Gym Leader. "This makes me wonder something..." Twilight squinted her eyes, watching Drakloak use those two moves. "How is it that Pokemon learn new moves all of a sudden?" "A good question, Twilight Sparkle. The answer is that it involves a Pokemon's emotion." Fantina answered. "A Pokemon's emotion?" Twilight and her friends said at the same time. "Yes. You see... if a Pokemon is excited, furious, sad or even determined, their power increases to Incroyable levels. They even evolve as well. The most common example are Fire-Types. If a Charizard is furious, the flame at the tip of its tail flares up in a beautiful whitish-blue colour. And if an Infernape is determined to win, the flame on its head will increase in size and intensity, you see." "Oooh..." The ponies collectively awed. "The same can be said for every Pokemon type. Isn't that right, Drifblim my petit Pokémon chéri!" Fantina hugged her Driflbim. "Drifblim!" "That would explain a lot..." Twilight thought back to moments when a Pokemon's emotion correlated with their power in certain scenarios. "Like when Eve learned Dazzling Gleam against Pheromosa. She didn't want to let me down." "Just like my Grovyle," said Applejack. "And my Altaria." So did Rainbow Dash. "So wait. If a Pokemon's feeling all moody it gets stronger or even evolves? That's pretty nifty actually." Pinkie commented. "Kloak!" The Caretaker Pokemon continued to unleash both moves. Drakloak was getting somewhere with the creation of a Flaming Dragon Pulse. It looked cool, but it wasn't Scald. "No good. I don't think we're gonna learn Scald that easily." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Kloak?" "Learning a new Pokemon move is not as easy as it seems, Rainbow Dash. Even for a powerful Pokemon." Fantina explained. Seeing how Drakloak, the one Pokemon who could access Scald wasn't going to do instantly learn it, Starlight began thinking of a better alternative. Then something in her head snapped. It was similar to the Drakloak situation but considering Corsola's origins, it just might work. "What if...we try and have Corsola learn Scald? It can do that right?" She asked. "Bien entendu." Fantina nodded. "It is still a Water-Type deep down." "Alright. Then we'll do it. We'll try and have Corsola learn Scald so that it can feel the same kind of warmth it felt as its normal self." "Sola..." Just then, once Corsola heard Starlight's, a reaction filled with a little bit of life came out of Corsola for once. Previously, Corsola didn't react that much to Starlight due to how she was acting around the Coral Pokemon. But now, Corsola could see that Starlight was actually determined to help it instead of just doing what Fantina said. The once lifeless Ghost-Type started to gain a tiny bit of life in it with slight animated movements. "Have a look at that!" Fluttershy noticed. "Corsola likes the sound of that!" "It seems that wanting to genuinely help Corsola is what sparkled some flare in it. Comme c'est beau!" Fantina clapped. "A true showcase of potential bonds!" "Sola..." "I guess that makes a lot of sense...Okay, let's try learning Scald then Corsola." Starlight picked up the Coral Pokemon. "Cor..." In response, Corsola used Water Pulse on Starlight's face, but this time out of compassion. "Mmrgh..." Starlight's eyes were glazed along with her mane being wet. But at least it wasn't a huge prehistoric rock that hit her face. 2 hours had passed. Fantina could see that while it took a while, the ponies had managed to form a decent enough bond with the Ghost Pokemon. Some more effective than others. There were only 20 minutes left until the Induction day ends. "Maintenant!" Fantina clapped her hands together. "I can see that you all have managed to come to a decent understanding with your Pokemon. So for the ones who have succeeded, we shall head out to the battlefield and battle away!" "Right now?" Fluttershy held Mimikyu? "Yes. But do not worry. I know some of you are still having problems. Which is why some of you can choose whether or not you want to battle. Tout est facultatif!" Of course, Fantina knew that only 7 of them were up for a battle. So for the ones who weren't exactly ready, they were allowed to sit back and just watch. On the school battlefield, Fantina's class had gathered outside to have a small battle to see how much they've learned from their new Ghost-Type partners, even if this partnership is only temporary. Since this was an induction day and the lessons only last for 3 hours today, the battles would last around 5 minutes each due to the ponies only being able to use one Pokemon for this battle. And there was a small number of students, around 12 to fill up those remaining minutes. As Fantina asks who would like to go first, many ponies who were battle-hungry volunteered. Mainly the pegasi. As they insisted that they go first in battle, the one classroom that was near the battlefield was Roxie's class. Scootaloo looked outside to see the older students moving about with their Ghost-Type Pokemon beside them. Since they were all given similar tasks for their induction day, just like how Fantina's class focused on Ghost-Types, Roxie's was all about Poison-Types. The foals in Roxie's class were tasked with managing possibly the deadliest Pokemon Type there is. Scootaloo was given a Toxel, Sweetie Belle a Grimer and Apple Bloom a Bulbasaur. "If you're gonna live to see another day, you brats gotta learn how to handle these toxic fellas. Got it?" Roxie placed her guitar down. "Do they have to be so clingy, though?" Sweetie Belle grumbled as a Grimer was hugging her face, getting a bit too friendly with the little unicorn. "Grimer!" "That just means it likes ya." Roxie laughed. "Now come on. We ain't got too long until this induction stuff ends. The same could be said for every other class who was tasked with handling a specific type. For each classroom, they were all given the earliest Gym Leaders as their teachers due to them being novices when it comes to Pokemon. So Gym Leaders like Roxanne, Brawly, Roxie, Norman and Lt. Surge were the ones who the ponies ended up with until they improve in the future. For Lt. Surge's class, you could see electricity burst out of the classroom. Mostly due to somepony touching an Electric-Type the wrong way. For Brawly's class, you could hear the sounds of something breaking. Chances are, a Fighting Pokemon must've smashed something inside the classroom. Roxanne's class was fairly silent since she teaches like an everyday teacher. So nothing destructive going on here. The other classrooms had zero students inside since none of them was at that level of Pokemon battling yet. Except for one exception. Princess Luna, who also ended up signing up, was given a special class which involved just her and nopony else. Her teacher ended up being Norman. The Normal-Type Gym Leader. Since he was the 5th Gym Leader due to where he comes from, Luna's strength as a trainer has been determined to be on his level. So she was just as strong as a 5th Gym Leader at the moment. Luna was given the challenge of utilizing both offensive and defensive tactics, much like the Normal-Type Gym Leader himself. Despite Normal-Types being the most standard of all types, their unique arsenal of moves allows them to manipulate the course of battle even more effectively than a Psychic-Type. Luna would be learning from him for days until she manages to perfect this style of battling. It would also help her against Daylight Blazer if she ever goes up against him. After all, he's all about strategy as well. For an induction day, it went swimmingly with a few bumps here and there. With Fantina's class, the battles went by quickly due to the small number of students in her class. "Drakloak! Dragon Rush!" Rainbow Dash commanded as she was going up against somepony's Frillish. "Kloak!" The Caretaker Pokemon's body became outlined in a light blue aura as it slammed into the opposing Frillish by using its head. "Lish!" Frillish went flying from Drakloak's devastating impact. "Aegislash! King's Shield!" Twilight went up against a Sableye who had tried to damage the Royal Sword Pokemon with Sucker Punch, but thanks to Aegislash's King's Shield coming up, this attack was prevented. "Now! Use Iron Head!" "Slash!" With the opposing Sableye in front of it, Aegislash used its bladed body to hit its fellow Ghost-Type, launching it aside. "What a way to battle!" Pinkie clapped her hooves together. "C'est suffisant! That is all the time we have today!" Fantina ended everypony's battles. "Aw...it's over already?" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Yes. It is an induction day after all. It is relatively short at the end of the day. But don't worry. After you all finish your Canterlot Tournament, we can return and finish up from where we left off. Then the real lessons can begin. D'accord?" "I guess that's fair." Twilight nodded. "Will we still have the same Pokemon with us?" "Mais bien sûr! They'll be waiting for you until you finish your tournament!" "Guess we can continue working on Scald next time, Corsola." Starlight looked down at Corsola who she held in her hooves. "Cor..." "Can somepony get this Golett off me first?" Applejack sighed as Golett clung onto her. "I appreciate the loyalty and all but..." "Golett!" "We're going to leave now, Mimikyu. See you next time." Fluttershy said to the Disguise Pokemon. "Kyu." And with that, they returned the borrowed Pokemon to their Poke Balls, returning them each to Fantina's Drifblim who held the box. They would meet again for sure. So this wasn't a permanent farewell. "À la prochaine fois!" Fantina waved goodbye to her students who were taking their leave. "Drifblim!" "Bye Fantina!" Pinkie Pie waved until she realized something. "Oh! Ghost-Types... Fantina...Phantom! Roxanne...Rock-Types! Oh my Celestia! All the Gym Leaders are named after their types!" Pinkie bounced up and down. "You just now noticed?" Twilight chuckled, prompting the rest of her friends to laugh as well. They met up with everypony else outside as their classes had just finished. The CMC had poison liquids all over their manes due to their Poison-Type shenanigans. Thankfully, if a Poison Pokemon likes someone and grows an affection towards them, the poison does not become lethal anymore. So it's safe to say that Roxie's class went well. Some ponies had their manes shocked as they stood upright. Probably from Lt. Surge. One pony's Pokemon got a black eye from probably rubbing a Fighting Pokemon the wrong way. Since it was just an induction day, the ponies had yet to fully grasp the full scope of the Pokemon School. But once the Canterlot Tournament ends, classes can officially begin and last until summer arrives with a few exceptions here and there. The future of this world looks bright thanks to the assistance of Gym Leaders across various regions and as the knowledge of Pokemon continues to grow inside of everypony's mind, so does the bond between Pokemon they would never expect to get along with as the journey continues. Chapter 250 End.