Although Deino couldn't see the fireworks.
Just from the sound alone, it could tell the move missed, moreover, there was the Trainer's reminder.
And Baimu, after a simple judgment, decided not to battle remotely against Piplup, as this little penguin was too tricky at long-range.
In the animation, several times it turned defeat into victory with remote strikes and the script's blessing.
"Dragon Dive!"
"Mwu-nao!"
Deino let out a fierce low growl, its head covered in a bright blue glow, and the powerful energy quickly spread throughout its body, transforming into a giant dragon head with teeth and claws as it charged forward.
The sound of the wind was as fierce as the roar of a giant dragon, even experienced in battle like Piplup couldn't help but be startled.
However, its counterattack was swift.
"Tide Spin!"
"Poh-ku—ma!"
Piplup raised its small wings to create an immense swirling blue water vortex, then fiercely hurled it towards Deino!
In an instant.
Boom!
You saw Deino encased by the giant dragon head rushing into the Tide Spin, its immense torque and the constant flow of water suppressing its energy.
It could be overwhelmed at any moment.
"Break through it! You can do it!"
Baimu shouted loudly, Deino also let out a raspy shout, the Dragon Flame attached to its body igniting fiercely with its high fighting spirit, and the energy dragon head's previously closed mouth suddenly opened!
"Roar—!!"
The water mixed with the Dragon Attribute Energy, emitted a real thunderous roar!
Finally.
Deino, relying on its strength, broke through the flow of water, riding the giant dragon head with teeth and claws successfully closing in on Piplup.
But the latter had been waiting for it for quite some time.
"Frozen Beam!"
"Poh-ku!"
Piplup, under Xiaoguang's command, swiftly shot out an icy blue lightning towards Deino, the latter fearlessly collided against it, and Dragon Attribute Energy clashed instantly with Ice Attribute Energy!
Bang!
The misty white fog mixed with countless shimmering light blue dots scattered outward.
Piplup originally thought Deino would be forced back like this, unexpectedly the opponent burst out from within, full of fighting spirit, rushing to its front.
"Thunder Fang!"
"Beak Drill!"
Baimu and Xiaoguang ordered almost at the same time!
"Mwu-nao!" "Poh-ku!"
Deino and Piplup shouted in unison, the former's mouth constantly sparked with thunder, while the latter's beak instantly grew long like a cone, its body involuntarily rotating like a little top!
Szz—bang!
Lightning thunder!
The dust cloud from the explosion of Attribute Energy rolled up fiercely, clearly, this time Piplup failed to control the move's power to turn the explosion into fireworks.
Even this is enough to prove Deino pushed it to a certain limit.
"That's the end!"
Seeing movements still happening within the smoke.
Baimu immediately shouted.
Turning around.
The explosion's smoke slowly dispersed, revealing Deino panting heavily with its tongue out while lying on the ground, and likewise panting but evidently in much better condition, Piplup.
Which is better or worse is evident at a glance.
"You still have room to grow." Baimu approached, patting Deino's head.
Even though it ultimately didn't gain the upper hand, it breaking through Piplup's Tide Spin already delighted him, knowing that this move was the opponent's best move.
Like Bubble Beam, it remained popular in Gorgeous Competitions and battles.
He opened his phone, sure enough, Deino leveled up—perhaps the biggest difference between the game and the animation is that beating an opponent wasn't necessary for growth in Energy Level, and daily training had similar effects.
Not far from evolving.
On the other side.
Xiaoguang also praised Piplup, making the latter a bit overconfident, it puffed out its chest and glanced sidelong to see Mawile, hoping for an admiration-filled gaze from the goddess.
And Mawile indeed looked at it, which made Piplup quite joyful, just the gaze… seemed a bit odd?
That enthusiasm-filled expression seemed to mix in some sort of battle desire?
Piplup just hoped it was mistaken.
But soon.
As Baimu's other Pokémon and Xiaoguang started to battle, especially when Mawile itself entered the ring, it gradually realized it was not mistaken earlier.
The goddess is too violent!
Piplup looked on in shock as Mawile pounded on Mamoswine with a flurry of hits, the latter's massive body not providing an advantage, instead becoming a blown-up size target!
"Poh… ku…"
It widened its eyes, as it watched Mawile swing its Giant Jaw, suddenly smashing Mamoswine into the ground, its little heart trembling with the earth's shaking.
To the extent that Xiaoguang summoned it for a battle against Aggron which it didn't hear, forcing her to send in Pachirisu, trying to leverage a size advantage.
Unfortunately, Aggron had ample experience handling smaller opponents, mainly learned from fighting a minimized Chansey, linking two Quicksand Hell moves together, instantly locking down every escape path for Pachirisu.
After a competition, Pachirisu was angry enough to lick its tail furiously.
Then there's Chansey, though it didn't know any attack moves, its opponent was Buneary, relying on excellent Special Defense and the advantage of Buneary not knowing Healing Bell, causing substantial distress to Buneary through Severe Poison.
"Certainly, it's still crucial to learn more moves."
Xiaoguang realized that a rare move might not be universally effective.
Also, Galarian Corsola faced Togekiss, since the latter's Physical Attack was low, it couldn't use Absorption Power to restore lost stamina and regretfully lost.
Finally, Quilava, Baimu originally considered Steelix to counter it but decided to give Porygon a chance after a thought.
Win or lose wasn't the issue.
It's meant to be practice matches, ones where opponents aren't knocked unconscious.
The key was Porygon was present while Steelix was not, having new companions all battling while it hadn't, would it not be awkward?
Thus, Porygon entered.
Very smoothly lost.
Xiaoguang wasn't like Ash Ketchum, who has never changed Pokémon over the years, always battling with the same six, even though she's specialized in Gorgeous Competitions, the long-term accumulation of battle experience coupled with occasional sparks of Ash-like inspiration, was enough for her to possess considerable battle strength.
In Baimu's view, Xiaoguang's strength was about equal to a relatively average new-generation Gym Leader, like Axing from Kanto, Yasha from Hoenn, Alee from Sinnoh, Celestial Tung from Unova, etc.
Especially Piplup.
After battling Deino it proceeded to battle Steelix, remarkably suppressing it as well, its intensity truly not low.
Were it not for Aggron needing practice with Heavyweight Charge afterward, and Piplup although having an edge was also quite exhausted, he would have had it face off with Aggron properly.
And after his comprehensive assessment, if it were a complete battle with six vs six, defeating Xiaoguang shouldn't be difficult, after all, Aggron, Mawile, and Steelix count as overpowered in battle prowess, accumulated through numerous near-death experiences.
Plus, Chansey's Severe Poison and dodging with Minimize was indeed enough to frustrate opponents.
Though such imaginings were actually meaningless, a bit of mental victory delusion, he waved it away and let it dissipate.
Then the subsequent move practice.
Uncertain if it was related to the earlier battles, Mawile gave him a small surprise—though foreseeable, it was nonetheless worthy—
[Sword Dance] mastered.