"Waddles—"
The Dragapult, covered in white frost, lay on an artificial hill, gasping heavily as if its lungs might burst.
In the distance.
The Walrein's eyes were dazed, and its plump head swayed back and forth.
The opponent's speed was too fast, making it dizzy while trying to follow with its eyes.
This was the eighth battle that Dragapult had experienced recently, but—
None were victories.
At first, it was because of the lack of coordination with Baimu, and in solo battles, Mikoli always found opportunities to exploit; later, Mikoli often chose higher-level Pokémon.
The competitors were all regulars of the Gorgeous Competition and members of championship teams.
They were entities that Dragapult couldn't easily defeat, but also ones that couldn't easily defeat Dragapult either.
Such scenarios.
Even after winning a few matches with other Pokémon, these battles made Baimu question his life.
Why is it so hard to win a match?
Oddly enough, as Dragapult kept losing, its emotions seemed to stabilize.
It no longer hid in corners while eating, occasionally wore a smile, and could be seen nearby at night, giving off a sense that nothing had happened.
Of course.
Baimu did deliberately instruct the Hydreigons not to bring up Dragapult's moment of running away to avoid making the sensitive creature feel sad.
But the speed of moving on was truly fast.
Recovering?
Doesn't seem like it.
It was still eager to participate every day, utilizing its attacks and evasions to the fullest.
It wasn't speaking out loud in response to his occasional battle cries, but it wasn't about its mentality; it was just shy.
Baimu consulted with Adam and Mikoli, both of whom said there was nothing wrong with Dragapult, suggesting its actions showed it was more focused on the practical than on words.
The practical, huh…
"Well done."
He returned Dragapult back into its ball and bowed to Mikoli on the opposite side, ending today's battle.
It's been nearly two weeks since obtaining the Glazed Badge.
Under Adam's skill guidance and Mikoli's practical teaching, Aggron and the others experienced significant growth in strength daily.
Milotic not only learned [Self-Rebirth] but also mastered [Tornado], perfectly inheriting Adam's Water Spout technique.
The other Pokémon had their moves, battle strategies, and other gains.
Compared to solo training, the efficiency skyrocketed.
Rivaling Ash Ketchum's special training meant to quickly boost strength for Gym and League challenges.
Simply put.
No matter how strong the enemy, however bad the previous loss was, as long as Ash focused on training his Pokémon, within days, they would gain the power to turn the situation around.
Baimu felt his improvements from being taught by the two were enough to emulate a bit of Ash's special training.
On another note.
Thanks to Mikoli's generous sharing of Super Evolution experiences, Baimu's understanding of Super Evolution deepened, indirectly boosting Aggron's strength post-Super Evolution.
And as for how to make Steelix undergo Super Evolution, he seemed to have found some clues.
But the biggest progress was made by Mawile.
Unable to handle the energy from Super Evolution, it was no longer in Ultraman mode—needing to exit evolution within a few minutes and was handling the explosive power from the Strongman Trait with increasing ease.
To improve its control, it recently started eating cookies after Super Evolution, leading to several days of eating cookie crumbs.
Its favorite cloisonné teacup was even broken, much to Mawile's sorrow.
[Growing Pain].
That's the name Mawile gave to the unfortunate teacup, insisting on finding a place with Baimu to bury it, tearfully bidding farewell.
It was only afterward that he learned from Porygon II that Mawile was imitating a TV show it watched recently.
In that show, the princess Lilligant treated her beloved tea set this way.
Baimu was speechless.
However, once Mawile perfectly mastered its strength, its cherished items remained safe, and its personality shifted back from cautious to "brash".
Yesterday, the Hydreigon reported that Mawile was planning something against Steelix.
What?
It wanted to lift Steelix as if it were a dumbbell.
Just hearing it felt like an insult to Steelix. Was its size and weight just to be a giant dumbbell?
Mawile, of course, firmly denied it and gave the mischievous, tattling Hydreigon a good beating.
Hmm?
You wonder how it knew Hydreigon tattled?
You'll have to ask the real spying expert, Porygon II, which Baimu referred to as the Pokémon version of the "Jinyi Guard".
Since discussing with it about secretly observing Pokémon relationships, it somehow downloaded a video recording patch.
No need for cameras; you can directly watch through Porygon II using your phone.
No Pokémon has discovered it so far.
But Baimu did subtly warn Porygon II that if Aggron and the others found out, they might give it a beating at best, or something worse he couldn't imagine.
Porygon II was unconcerned.
Its little buddies are so kind, right? Even if they knew, they'd surely laugh it off.
Surely… right?
Porygon II, having never seen Aggron angry, began to hesitate.
Baimu could only wish it good luck.
After reflecting on recent events in his mind.
He caught the sight of Mikoli approaching with a smile.