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Seeing Sato's actions up ahead, Thomas, who was following closely behind, quickly copied him.
However, the only Pokémon he had that knew Protect was Rapidash, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and have Rapidash take on the roles of both Bellossom and Arcanine.
Fortunately, Rapidash didn't disappoint him. In the face of danger, the timid Pokémon unleashed a burst of surprising strength.
It simultaneously used Protect and Agility, carrying Thomas as it followed closely behind Arcanine.
In just a few seconds, Arcanine and Rapidash had successfully carried their Trainers out of the range of the Mankey and Primeape's Fling-induced stone rain and broken through the blockade.
Seeing their targets fleeing in panic only fueled the rage of the Mankey and Primeape. They leapt through the treetops in hot pursuit, determined not to let the humans get away.
At the same time, they let out calls for reinforcements, summoning others from the forest to intercept Sato and Thomas.
After dodging the first wave of long-range Fling attacks, the pressure on Sato and Thomas dropped significantly. The Primeape and Mankey couldn't immediately launch a second long-range stone barrage.
Though still in pursuit, the wild Pokémon were forced to watch helplessly as Arcanine and Rapidash steadily pulled ahead.
But as expected of such hot-headed species, the Mankey and Primeape refused to give up and stubbornly continued chasing.
A few minutes later, Arcanine and Rapidash burst out of the dense, perilous forest into a relatively open grassy field.
"You've done well, Arcanine. Stop and rest. Bellossom, hurry and use Grassy Terrain to heal Arcanine."
"Come out—Swampert, Gyarados, Heracross, Ariados. Prepare for battle."
Upon reaching the clearing, Sato immediately commanded Arcanine to stop, then had Bellossom begin healing the heavily injured Arcanine with Grassy Terrain. He quickly released the rest of his Pokémon.
Bellossom's Protect simply couldn't withstand the full power of the earlier stone rain. Arcanine had taken damage from the barrage of Fling attacks.
Worse, its wounds had worsened from the constant high-speed movement—several cuts had torn open and were now bleeding profusely. If it kept going like this, its life would be in danger.
Sato would never allow that to happen. He had known they'd need to stop and heal somewhere, and now that they were out of the dense forest, he knew it was time to fight back.
Sato was not the kind of person to suffer a beating without retaliating. Getting attacked for no reason and just swallowing it down? That wasn't his style.
His back was still stinging painfully from the multiple stone impacts earlier—likely already bruised.
Seeing Sato come to a stop, Thomas also ordered the heavily injured Rapidash to halt. He brought it over to Arcanine and Bellossom, thick-skinned enough to ask Bellossom to let Rapidash enter the Grassy Terrain for healing too.
As for Sato's Bellossom, Thomas couldn't help but envy it immensely.
As a Trainer from a civilian background, he understood better than anyone the true worth of a healing-type Pokémon—it was like owning a mountain of gold.
With a healing Pokémon, the growth rate of any team increased dramatically. Thomas was certain that Sato's strength was, in no small part, thanks to Bellossom.
Especially now, in a near-isolated environment like this mysterious island, a healing Pokémon like Bellossom was simply priceless.
In truth, one major reason Thomas had followed Sato so loyally—aside from the fact that Sato was currently carrying all his belongings—was precisely because of Bellossom.
Thomas knew that sticking close to Sato would bring all sorts of benefits. At the very least, he wouldn't have to constantly worry about his Pokémon being injured.
There were no Pokémon Centers on this island. Once a Pokémon was hurt, the only options were to burn through precious healing supplies or rely on the Pokémon's own natural recovery.
But medical supplies were limited. On this danger-filled island, if participants didn't find a way to grow stronger, they would either be eliminated—or die.
And to grow stronger meant fighting, which meant getting hurt, which meant needing healing. Without fast recovery, a Pokémon would be out of action for too long—which in turn meant death in most cases.
So no matter how many healing supplies a contestant had, it was never enough here.
Thomas was certain that once the tournament reached the later stages, players would start actively hunting each other down.
He had already realized this island was a goldmine for quickly strengthening one's team—and the other contestants likely knew it too.
But to gain strength here, one first had to secure a foothold.
And to do that—unless you had a special method—the only way was to take resources from others.
But with Sato's Bellossom, that major hurdle was already resolved. Add in powerhouse Pokémon like Swampert, and Sato's rise on this island was practically guaranteed.
Honestly, Thomas wanted to tell Sato: if they just kept surviving like this, even without stealing from others, their strength would still far outpace the rest by the end.
Of course, Thomas had enough self-awareness not to say such a lazy, loser-like thing out loud. He knew full well that he and Sato weren't even in the same league.
This was a guy who, upon hearing about how terrifying Ranka was, still wanted to go hunt him down. If Thomas dared utter such a defeatist suggestion, Sato might kill him on the spot.
A strong general doesn't tolerate weak soldiers. And Sato was absolutely a strong general.
If Thomas exposed his cowardly nature now, Sato wouldn't hesitate to cut him loose.
Right now—this moment—was the perfect chance to prove that he wasn't dead weight. There was no room for cowardly thoughts.
"Come out—Houndoom, Pinsir, Seismitoad! Prepare for battle!"
Seeing the wave of Mankey and Primeape charging across the field, Thomas, whose scalp was tingling with nerves, forced himself to suppress the urge to flee. His expression went cold, and he released his other Pokémon with resolve, ready to fight alongside Sato against the advancing horde.
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Note:Guys, I've amended the wordings of the previous chapter. Ranka's Aggron after Mega Evolution is at the Elite Four level in strength, not at the near pseudo Champion level. I guess the wordings did make it seem like it and I admit it was my mistake, trying to hype up its strength before the inevitable clash, but I want to make this distinction clear before moving forward.