"Form up around Ursaring, Politoed, and Poliwrath while they use Belly Drum!"
Immediately, all the Pokémon abandoned their respective battles and formed a ring around the named Pokémon as they smacked their stomachs as if they were truly drums. Their attack power began to rise with each smack.
"Goodra, use Draco Meteor."
"Manectric, use Thunder."
"Raichu, use Discharge."
"Pyroar, use Fire Blast."
The enemy trainers realized the gravity of the situation and tried to stop the collective power-up. However, a collective Protect was enough to defend against the assault.
Their movements had been so sudden that it was hard for the Court members to properly guard against the boosting moves.
As a result, all 4 Pokémon completed their power-ups. One could feel the intense, oppressive power emanating from the Pokémon, especially Politoed.
"Tropius, use Grassy Terrain, and Infernape, use Psych Up."
Tropius created the terrain beneath everyone's feet, and they could feel energy being funneled into their bodies.
Infernape's eyes glowed with a pink light as he stared at Politoed. Suddenly, the flame on his head intensified and tripled in size.
"Go further and ignite your aura."
The giant red flame turned blue and enveloped Infernape in his signature aura cloak.
Infernape executed his signature Mega Shift and delivered a powerful Mega Kick to Goodra that left it in a deep crater before slashing it repeatedly with aura-infused Shadow Claws.
Ursaring was a madman on the battlefield, combining Close Combat and Fury Swipes for devastating effect. Politoed and Poliwrath executed the Mega Shift as well.
Even though they weren't as fast as Infernape, it was enough. They began to terrorize the Pyroar and Pangoro.
Seeing this, the rest of Silas' Pokémon attacked with renewed vigor. This time, with 4 advanced tier Pokémon possessing maxed-out attack power, they were able to overwhelm the enemy Pokémon.
A little over 5 minutes later, when the boosts wore off, the damage had already been done.
Despite Infernape's assault, Goodra was still standing, though it had several slash wounds across its chest.
Goodra, 2 Pyroar, 4 Pangoro, 2 Noivern, 3 Manectric, a Raichu, 4 Helioptile, and 2 Talonflame remained from the 30-strong group.
The battlefield was littered with Pokémon corpses and a few humans. During the chaos, Silas managed to personally slay 2 of the cloaked men.
Silas' Pokémon were injured and fatigued as well. Ursaring, Tropius, 1 of the Poliwrath, and Flygon had been defeated. However, Silas still counted himself lucky.
He had managed to kill all the defeated enemy Pokémon, while all of his defeated Pokémon had been safely returned to their Poké Balls before a final blow could be struck.
Unfortunately, Belly Drum could not be used again, so Silas had to improvise. The enemy Pokémon were fatigued as well, but they still held the numerical advantage.
At that moment, Silas sensed a powerful aura calling out to him. It was the dark-skinned high-ranking Rocket!
Silas relayed his plans to his remaining Pokémon as they began to retreat, intending to rendezvous as planned.
"After all the damage you have caused, you still think you can run?"
The cloaked men were furious. Initially, they thought they could abuse Silas with their superior numbers, but reality had been cruel.
Many of their Pokémon had been killed by Silas' Pokémon while they hadn't managed to finish off any of his own.
They were rightfully furious, but this was exactly what Silas wanted to see.
"Hahahaha! Can you stop me? Don't worry, once I am back to 100%, I will come back to finish what I started. The mountain will be painted red with your blood the next time I see you."
Silas returned all his Pokémon to their balls except for Greninja and Swellow.
Silas jumped up and mounted Swellow, then they flew away in one smooth motion. Swellow had been conserving its energy because of this part of the plan.
He flew fast, but not so fast that the enemy couldn't follow.
Greninja was already merged into Silas' shadow.
Swellow occasionally used Boomburst to deflect incoming projectile attacks and harass their pursuers.
After several minutes of pursuit, Silas finally saw the burly man. Unsurprisingly, he was also riding a Pokémon, but it was a large Togekiss.
Togekiss was known for being a kind and magnanimous Pokémon. However, Silas could tell from its eyes that this Togekiss was bloodthirsty.
As if proving Silas' thoughts, Togekiss unleashed several blades of wind toward Silas' pursuers. The attacks were so fast that they couldn't react in time.
1 of the Noivern and a Talonflame had a wing sliced clean off, sending them tumbling uncontrollably toward the ground.
Pangoro, being the slowest of the remaining Pokémon, were mercilessly targeted with Air Slash, beheading 1 and creating a deep gash in another.
Silas was incredulous. He had fought hard for so long against this group and managed to slay some of them, but the way Togekiss alone was able to remove 4 of them from the battle so easily left him feeling inadequate.
He now understood why reinforcements had never arrived. They were clearly struggling with his superior.
Behind the man were numerous pursuing Pokémon and trainers.
There were 25 trainers in total. Among the nearly 40 Pokémon chasing him were several pseudo legendary Pokémon like Hydreigon, Salamence, and Garchomp.
There were also several starter Pokémon like Delphox, Greninja, Sceptile, and Serperior.
"It seems that I was right about you, boy!"
The man gave Silas a look of approval, not many people could execute a plan like this efficiently.
"Everything is going as planned with my group."
"Good, same here. We can discuss it on the way."
The man threw out a Poké Ball, and out came an Aerodactyl.
"Jump on, we have to go. Protect yourself with your aura. We will be moving fast."
Silas jumped without hesitation and returned Swellow to its ball.
Aerodactyl and Togekiss took off into the sky at incredible speed but then slowed down after a few minutes.
Seeing this, their pursuers became even more eager. They had been locked in bitter combat with these 2 men and couldn't defeat them. It was incredibly frustrating for these proud, high-ranking Luminary Court officers.
"We have to kill them. Otherwise, we can never show our faces at the base again."
"Yes, let's go all out."
Several of the men produced one of those dark pearls. These ones were dark blue. 2 Pidgeot, 2 Charizard, and 1 Salamence consumed the stones and instantly triggered a powerful transformation.
They were enclosed within an orb with a giant, flashing DNA strand over them. When the light dissipated, the Pokémon were in their Mega forms.
These Mega Pokémon became much faster and quickly caught up to Silas and the dark-skinned bald man.
The man finally got serious and had Aerodactyl fly at full speed under Tailwind while Togekiss used Extreme Speed.
However, it wasn't enough.
Mega Salamence was like a living jet, and Pidgeot was just as fast, if not faster. Both Pokémon used their respective moves, like Air Slash and Dragon Pulse, but Aerodactyl and Togekiss were by no means weak.
They expertly dodged every attack.
This advantage wouldn't last.
The 2 Pidgeot combined their Hurricane attacks for a devastating combination move that Togekiss and Aerodactyl couldn't resist being pulled into.
As they were being pulled in, Salamence and the 2 Pidgeot used Hyper Beam. The destructive attacks caused massive explosions when they struck Silas and the bald man. At the last second, both Pokémon used Protect and managed to safely block the attacks.
Through the smoke came 2 giant Fire Blast attacks from the nearby Mega Charizard X and Y. They had no time to defend against the attacks, so both connected cleanly.
Togekiss and Aerodactyl were tough Pokémon. They withstood the attacks without falling or dropping their passengers.
Silas was growing concerned. The plan was spiraling out of control. If they couldn't break away from this encirclement, then it would all be for nothing.
He made a decision.
"Flygon, use Draco Meteor."
Flygon came out of its Poké Ball and flew high before releasing the Draco Meteor orb. He was improving his mastery of the move. The powerful meteors rained down on the Mega Pokémon pursuing them.
As soon as the attack was executed, Silas returned him to his Poké Ball.
Draco Meteor slowed down their pursuers greatly, especially Mega Charizard X, who couldn't avoid taking damage from 2 separate meteors.
The attack only bought them a few seconds, but that was enough to break the encirclement.
The Mega Pokémon were still in hot pursuit. They shot several waves of attacks, but the duo skillfully dodged them.
"Are you enjoying yourself, kid? This is where it gets fun."
The man took out some Poké Balls that contained Electrode. He began throwing them at high speed by reinforcing his arm strength with aura. There were 4 of them.
After the first 3 exploded and caused some chaos, the last Electrode used Thunder Wave on a few of the Pokémon before being blasted away by a Flamethrower from Mega Charizard Y.
Togekiss and Aerodactyl dove toward the ground and managed to return all the Electrode to their Poké Balls.
When they landed, Silas followed the man, and they disappeared into the nearby clusters of trees. The mountain was vast, so there were plenty of spots to hide.
Seeing this, some of the pursuing group dismounted their flying mounts and continued the chase on foot, while the rest remained airborne just in case.