The next day, students went to class as usual. Despite the Shadow Stripe ending in just a few days, most of them were able to complete relatively quickly.
Well… most being a keyword here.
Obviously, there was some students who were still struggling with their Shadow Stripe goals and were in real danger of getting expelled from the academy.
Obviously, one of these students just so happened to be Lyna Fay of the Performance Course.
Currently, Lyna was outside the Performance Course building as she and her Gothorita were struggling to do something.
"Come on… why is this so difficult?" Lyna thought as her Gothorita looked at her also being somewhat frustrated with themselves.
"Having trouble with your training?" An unknown voice called out to her getting Lyna's attention.
Lyna turned around and saw Dawn and Piplup walking up towards her with a lazy and mischievous smile on their faces.
"Professor Berlitz! I wasn't expecting to see you and your Piplup here so early!?" Lyna said slightly shocked to see her professor here.
"Well I usually arrive around this time to set up for class however I saw you training here with your Gothorita and that piqued my interest."
Lyna sighed, realizing that Dawn had seen her failing to create a new combination with Gothorita, which had been her Shadow Stripe goal.
"I was surprised to see you using a different Pokemon other than your Fennekin but it is good all the same. Though judging from your expression I am guessing that things aren't going so well." Dawn said to her.
"Yeah… I wanted to see if I can create a new combination with a another one of my Pokemon other than Fennekin, but so far it seems like nothing me and Gothorita are doing seems to work." Lyna said as she absent-mindedly cuddled her Gothorita.
Dawn and Piplup soon looked to be in contemplation before looking at Lyna.
"I think I might know of a way to help you, come with me." Dawn said as she took Lyna to a different part of the training field.
Soon Dawn and Lyna arrived at the training field for the sophomores of the Performance Course.
"Tell me Lyna, your Gothorita… did it recently evolve from Gothita?" Dawn asked her.
Lyna and her Gothorita looked up in surprise and nodded yes but not sure where this was going.
"I thought, all right Lopunny come on out!" Dawn said sending out her Pokemon.
Soon the Rabbit Pokemon came out as she gracefully posed in front of both her trainer and Lyna.
"You see, back when Lopunny was a Buneary, I had a lot of combinations that would be perfect for the judges and audiences and would get them off their feet. But once she evolved I found out that those same combinations that would sweep audiences of their feet wouldn't work anymore." Dawn said as she went up to Lopunny.
"Then what did you do?" Lyna asked out of curiosity.
Dawn smiled as she walked up to Lopunny.
"Simple I had to adapt. I had to come up with combinations that suited Lopunny, not Buneary and as a result, I was able to come up with more appealing combinations that was able to help me become top coordinator eventually." Dawn said as she petted Lopunny.
Lyna wanted to argue until she looked at Gothorita until her Pokemon grab her hand. Looking at Gothorita, she realized that she was still thinking of her as a Gothita and that Dawn was right.
"Your right Professor, and… I am sorry Gothorita. I thought I was doing the best for you but it turns out that I wasn't. Can you ever forgive me?" Lyna asked her Gothorita.
Gothorita happily nodded as she hugged her trainer.
"Great, well now that we have sorted that out I believe that it is time for class to begin… though I suppose we have time for a quick demonstration right Lopunny?" Dawn asked as Lopunny nodded back at her trainer.
Lyna was confused but had her confusion cleared up when she saw Dawn take a stance as Lopunny stood on field.
"Alright Lopunny, use Bounce and then when you are in the air spin and use Ice Beam!" Dawn said.
The Rabbit Pokemon nodded as she jumped up into the air and use her signature Ice Beam attack. The spinning of the frozen beam soon created frozen structure reminiscent of a theme park causing Lyna to smile in happiness.
"Now use High Jump Kick!" Dawn said.
Lopunny soon dropped to the structure and used High Jump Kick on it. The resulting clash of moves created snowflakes that rained down on the entire field.
It was beautiful, that is what Lyna thought as it reminded her of her family's recent trip to Snowbelle that they had taken before she came to the academy.
Ok, now she knew what she had to do.
Soon after class was over, Lyna and her Gothorita were back on the sophomore training field. During class, she had been coming up with all sorts of ideas for combinations that she and Gothorita could do.
And now, she finally came up with one she thinks that they could easily pull off to pass her Shadow Stripe.
"Alright Gothorita, you ready to do this?" Lyna asked after setting up her phone to record the performance.
Gothorita nodded as she walked onto the field.
"Alright Gothorita, first use Rain Dance!" Lyna commanded.
Gothorita nodded as she muttered some words as a huge rain cloud appeared above the field and began pouring rain.
"Now Gothorita, use Psyshock into the Rain cloud!" Lyna said hoping that this would work.
Gothorita soon sent the psychic-type attack at the rain cloud. The psychic arrows hit the cloud as a great light emanated from it as it imitated the fact that lighting was coming out of the rain cloud mimicking the a thunder storm.
"Now for the finishing touch, use Shadow Ball!" Lyna said.
Gothorita soon fired Shadow Ball at the lighting rain cloud as it hit and soon it exploded into several colorful sparks as it look like it was raining rainbow shards.
Simply put, it was beautiful.
Soon Lyna went over to her phone who had managed to record the entire performance as her Gothorita who soon jump into her arms happy that they managed to accomplish their Shadow Stripe goal.
"I know Gothorita, we did it!" Lyna said happily as she went back to her dorm happy that her skills as a performer had finally managed to grow a bit.
