Author's note: Heyo!

Time for chappie two of this unusual fic! Now the ball really gets rolling!

Speaking of rolling balls, another fic of mine, Shallow Waters, is entering the arc I've most been looking forward to! Be sure to drop a review over there to show your enthusiasm!

Anyway, onward! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Two: A Troubled Soul

After their food, the pokémon had played a few games of tag. Buneary had always enjoyed being 'it', because she could chase after the others, fingers extended, while calling out 'Gonna get ya~!' It was very fun hearing their either amused or frightened reactions.

Ash had wanted to do some training, but didn't think the hilly landscape was very suitable for it. He didn't want Pikachu to tumble down the hill while using Volt Tackle, for example, so he'd decided to save it for later.

Once the humans had packed away their things, the pokémon had been put back in their pokéballs, and the group had headed on their way. So now Buneary was floating in the comfortable void of her own pokéball, listening to the outside world with only her ears, while waiting for the next time Dawn called on her.

She was just getting relaxed when she felt a massive spike of anger, fear and sadness stab her in the brain. She jumped in shock. What the heck had that been just now?! Was someone outside in trouble?!

But... But she shouldn't even be able to feel any waves in here! She had to look at people for that to happen, so how was this possible?!

... She had to know. Not only that, but, if someone really was in trouble, she couldn't just sit around and ignore them.

Gathering her particle energy together, she slammed it into the side of the pokéball, forcing it to pop open. It immediately pulled her outside, where she materialised on the dirt path. She quickly looked around for a source.

"Buneary?" Dawn murmured in surprise.

"(Huh?)" Piplup asked curiously from next to their trainer. "(You too?)"

She was about to ask what he meant by that, but her thoughts were interrupted by Pikachu.

"(Oh, hey, what's that?)" he asked from above.

Looking up at the humans, Buneary saw them all look where Pikachu was pointing from atop Ash's shoulder. Whirling around, she saw a blue, bipedal dog walk onto the pathway. One that kind of looked like a small lucario. He looked up at them, surprise in his waves.

After a moment, Buneary felt a surge of fear come from him. He stood, rooted to the spot, staring at the humans.

He was wary. Scared. Then Buneary felt a rising anger coming from him as his brows furrowed and his muscles tensed. He was clearly very on-edge.

"Riolu, the emanation pokémon," she heard one of the pokédexes say. "When sad or scared, Riolu's aura becomes stronger as a way of signalling its allies."

Buneary's eyes widened. So that was it! What she'd felt earlier had been a distress signal! A call for help! But why?

... Wait, 'Riolu'? Where had she heard that species name before?

Suddenly, the riolu's legs wobbled. He crashed to his knees, panting heavily, and his distress levels increased. Only then did Buneary notice him clutching at his left arm.

"Look!" Brock cried out. "Riolu's hurt!"

Oh, the poor thing... On top of being injured, he looked exhausted. What on earth could have happened?

Buneary slowly and carefully started to approach when Ash suddenly ran past her. "Lemme help ya!" he called out.

Pikachu stopped by her side, now down from his trainer's shoulder. A brief glance told her he was very concerned.

"(What do you think happened?)" he asked.

"(No clue,)" she replied.

Ash knelt in front of the riolu, holding the dog's arm and checking over his wound. "Are you okay?" he asked.

There was a massive spike of fear and rage from the riolu. "(Get off me!)" he growled, shoving Ash off him.

Ash was so shocked, it took him a moment to respond. "... I'm... trying to help!"

"(Go away!)"

The riolu aggressively held out his right paw, and a blue ball started forming in front of it. It glowed brightly, before it slammed into Ash. It sent him soaring backwards with a yell.

Yelping, Pikachu and Buneary dove in opposite directions to avoid being hit.

When Ash hit the ground - his jeans making a strange jingling sound - he cried out in pain.

"Ash!" Dawn and Brock called out, running over to check on him. Buneary turned to see that their waves were filled with concern.

"(Wow, that looked like it hurt...)" Piplup said, also concerned.

Ash pushed himself up, his waves a bit frustrated. "Don't worry, I'm okay," he replied. He sat up, his waves turning to ones of awe. "Whoa... Man, that was some move!"

"That was an Aura Sphere, for sure," Brock said, also in awe.

Buneary's eyes widened as she turned to stare at the riolu, who was still radiating fear and anger. Aura Sphere? The same move that Maylene's lucario had constantly been using on his own trainer?

"Aura Sphere?" Dawn asked, her voice sounding surprised. "Really?"

The riolu slowly got to his feet, still breathing heavily. It was clear he was in no shape to run away right now, yet he was quite intent on standing his ground, despite the immense amount of fear he was feeling. His glare was as intense as his waves.

... Just why was he so afraid?

"Yeah," Brock replied to Dawn. "Aura Sphere's normally learned after Riolu evolves into Lucario... but, obviously, not this time. Incredible..."

Oh, that was it! Now Buneary remembered! When Ash had scanned Maylene's lucario, it had said he was the 'evolved form of Riolu'!

"Then..." Dawn said, "that riolu's really special."

"(... I'm sure I could do an empoleon move, if I wanted...)" Piplup grumbled.

Wow. So riolu evolved into lucario. No wonder the two species looked so alike! Not only that, but this riolu knew a move that he shouldn't be able to learn yet. That would be like a buneary learning Hyper Beam, or Giga Impact. Not impossible, but certainly not common.

"Special or not, Riolu needs a hand!" Ash replied.

There were hurried footsteps, and he ran past Buneary. He stopped a short distance away from the riolu, whose anger levels spiked again. Buneary could tell that Ash would likely get attacked again, so she quickly hopped after him.

She watched as Ash spread out his arms in a non-threatening manner. "Come on, just relax," he said calmly. "I know you're hurt, and I'm only trying to help."

Landing next to him, Buneary decided to join in. "(Yeah, it's okay,)" she said just as calmly. The riolu turned his glare on her, and she could feel more fear and anger. Only now did she notice that he was a fair bit taller than her. She took a deep breath and tried to smile through it. "(Now let's get that wound seen to, alright?)"

"(Back off!)" he barked.

"(H-Hey, come on, man...)" Pikachu said from nearby.

Buneary glanced briefly at him to see him smiling awkwardly, though his waves burned with anger. Was that because the riolu had yelled at her? Heh, she'd find that quite flattering if she wasn't a little busy right now.

She turned back to the riolu to see him aggressively pointing at Pikachu with the arm that wasn't dangling by his side. "(And you, too! I'm warning you!)"

Ash took a step forwards. "Riolu..." he started.

Quickly raising his paw, the riolu formed another Aura Sphere. "(I said back off!)"

It shot towards Ash. Just before it could hit him, however, someone in a long green coat jumped in front of him, landed in a crouched position and smacked away the Aura Sphere with his arm.

Buneary stared up at the older boy, who had brown hair and turquoise eyes, and the calmest, most collective waves she'd ever felt. Had he really just done the same thing as Maylene, the fighting-type gym leader of Sinnoh, and batted away an Aura Sphere?!

She watched as it sailed away into the trees, before she saw the older boy clutch his arm and briefly hiss in pain. She couldn't help but let out a puff of amused air. Ah, so he wasn't quite as used to doing that as Maylene was, it seemed. Interestingly, though, his waves remained perfectly calm the whole time.

A moment later, a munchlax ran over to his side, his waves very chipper. He hopped up and down happily. "(Nice one, Kellyn!)" he said.

The boy looked back at the other humans. "Hey," he said in a friendly tone. "Everybody still in one piece?"

"Yeah..." Ash breathed out in relief.

"We're fine," Brock added with a smile.

"Ooh, what's that?" Dawn asked excitedly, pulling out her pokédex to scan the munchlax.

"Munchlax, the big eater pokémon," it said. "It gobbles up its own body weight in food each day, and it swallows its food without almost any chewing."

"(Sure, but I exercise it off!)" the munchlax added, still beaming. Though, now, his waves held a tinge of pride.

"(Hey, he's gone!)" Pikachu suddenly said, pointing a finger.

Buneary's head whirled around to see that the riolu had disappeared. Concern rose in her chest. At the same time, he was injured and tired, so he probably wouldn't get very far.

"Riolu!" Ash called out in concern.

"Don't worry," the boy called Kellyn said, "I'll handle this. Let's go, Munchlax!"

"(Yeah! On it!)" the munchlax replied.

A moment later, Buneary saw Kellyn run past, after the riolu. The munchlax was hot on his heels, running with bounding steps to keep up. She had to admit, it was quite odd to see a munchlax running so fast, considering their species' reputation. That wasn't what was important right now, though.

... She didn't know that riolu, but he clearly needed help. Despite being so aggressive, he'd still sent out a distress signal. One that she'd received, loud and clear.

She frowned to herself. She was going to help him! Now, if only she had a way to calm him down...

About to hop after the group, she stopped when she heard another jingle. She glanced back, seeing Ash about to run past her. The pocket of his jeans was jingling again.

It was then that she suddenly remembered the prize he'd won at the Hearthome tag battle. Was that what was jingling?

An idea struck her like one of Pikachu's Thunderbolts. Leaping in Ash's way, she held out her arms to stop him. He skidded to a halt, looking down at her in confusion.

"Buneary?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"(I need to borrow this!)" she cried, hopping over to him.

Mid-hop, she quickly raided his pocket, finding the items she was looking for. Ah yes, there were two of them! Pulling them out, she landed, then turned around and hopped after Kellyn. They jingled in her paw with every new hop.

"(Hey, hold up!)" Pikachu called out from behind her.

At the sound of his voice - and his hurried footsteps - she was very tempted to turn around and look at him, but no. She was on a mission.

Instead, she smirked to herself as she passed through rows of bushes, tracking the sounds in front with her large ears. "(Follow me, if you want~!)"

"(... Heh.)"

His footsteps didn't slow, telling her that he was doing just that. She couldn't tell his emotions without looking directly at him, but she could hazard a guess. That would do for now.

After a lot more hopping than she was expecting - proving that the riolu still had quite a bit of fight left in him - she came across a clearing. She immediately halted at the weird sight in front of her.

Kellyn had haphazardly thrown his long green coat onto a bush, revealing some sort of red, white, yellow and black outfit underneath, that had a jacket and shorts. He quickly attached some strange red contraption to his arm and aimed it at the riolu, who was panting in exhaustion, but still frowning at him warily.

"Capture on!" Kellyn called out, releasing a silver spinning top. It raced over to the riolu and started spinning around him.

Fear spiked in the riou's waves as he frantically watched the spinning top. As the trail it left behind started to glow, and form a circle, his waves emanated anger. He immediately fired off an Aura Sphere, which struck the circle and broke it. It scattered into light particles, and the spinning top flew straight back to Kellyn. The boy caught it in his hand and clicked his tongue. His waves, however, remained fairly calm, with only a tiny hint of frustration.

Buneary stared. Just... what was she looking at right now?

"(Oh, hey, it's a pokémon ranger!)" Pikachu said from next to her. She glanced at him to see a look of mild surprise on his face, but his waves were filled with shock and awe.

"(A... what?)" she asked.

"Alright, Munchlax!" Kellyn called out. There was a click, and Buneary looked over to see him reattaching his spinning top to his arm device. He held out his arm. "Use Work Up!"

"(You got it!)" the munchlax replied happily.

He threw his arms into the air and cheered. Afterwards, a red aura that blazed almost like fire surrounded him. Lowering his paws, he cupped them together, then threw them outwards, towards the device. The spinning top blazed with the same red aura.

"Capture on!" Kellyn shot the glowing spinning top towards the riolu again.

Just like before, it spun around the panicked pokémon. This time, however, Buneary couldn't help but notice that the circle it was forming was thicker and wider than before.

Now there was a lot more space around the riolu. He fired an Aura Sphere, which took a little bit longer to hit the circle than before. When it did, the circle didn't break this time. Instead, it flashed.

"Vatonage!" Kellyn called out. He pressed his middle and index fingers together and swung them around. "Ha!" A blue streak of light trailed after them. "Ha!" Another streak of blue light.

The riolu's panic and anger hit an all-time high, spiking higher than ever before. Raising both paws, he fired off a desperate volley of Aura Spheres in every direction. Each one struck the circle, causing it to flash over and over again, until it eventually shattered. The spinning top immediately flew back into Kellyn's open palm.

He clicked his tongue again. "It's no good, Munchlax. He's too strong." He slotted the spinning top back into the device on his arm. "And I haven't charged my styler in a while, so any more hits will break it." He huffed out a small sigh. "Maybe we should've tried the stealthy approach, after all..."

The munchlax closed his eyes, in a half resting, half contemplative look, though his waves were still happy. "(Maybe!)" he replied.

... Buneary was so confused. "(What's even going on?)" she asked.

"(Well, that guy's a pokémon ranger,)" Pikachu explained, "(and he's using his capture styler to try and capture the riolu.)"

"(Capture him? Like... with a pokéball?)"

"(Sort of.)"

She glanced at him, only to feel a lot of confusion in his waves. Wait, why was he confused?

She hesitated. "(Is... that bad?)"

"(No, you can trust rangers.)"

"(Oh. Okay... So, why do they need a... styler, was it?)"

"(So they don't capture pokémon permanently. Only to borrow their power, then let them go.)"

"(Oh.)

Pikachu was still smiling, but his waves still betrayed confusion, and even a growing frustration? Buneary couldn't say she understood.

Shaking her head to clear it, she turned back to look at the riolu, who was backing away, but keeping a stern gaze on Kellyn. His legs wobbled slightly as he moved. The ranger was frowning lightly back, his mouth tight in contemplation. His munchlax was patiently awaiting instructions.

Frowning herself in determination, Buneary hopped forward, clenching the objects she'd borrowed from Ash tighter. She caught a flash of surprise from Kellyn, and curiosity from the munchlax, before she stopped in front of them. The riolu tensed, looking even more wary.

Taking one soothe bell in each paw, she spread her arms out wide and let the bells on the end - which had cute little yellow ribbons on them - drop loose. Still clutching the strings, she shook them.

The most melodic ringing sound came from them, comprised of many different pitches and tones that formed a beautiful melody. Buneary immediately felt herself relaxing. It was oddly reminiscent of the large bells the group had rung to calm down Dialga and Palkia, when the legendaries had been enraged and destroying Alamos Town. Perhaps the soothe bells had similar properties to that grass whistle song.

She carefully observed the riolu's waves. They started out scared and angry, but, gradually, the anger melted away entirely. After a few moments, his expression changed as well. The wary frown soon became meek and uncertain. He slunk behind the nearest tree, eyeing her with a sad, scared gaze.

She stared, her eyes wide. Well, that was a drastic change.

"Wow, a soothe bell, huh?" Kellyn asked, sounding impressed. "Nice work."

"(Yeah, way to go!)" the munchlax added happily.

"(... Huh,)" Pikachu's voice suddenly said from nearby, telling Buneary that he'd caught up to her. "(Never thought to use Ash's soothe bells.)"

She glanced at him to see him looking mildly impressed, though his waves screamed envy. She let out of puff of amused air, though coughed a bit to try and disguise it. Was he jealous that he hadn't come up with it first?

"(Well, I guess he wasn't using them for much else, huh?)" she replied, putting her arms down.

Pikachu blinked. After a moment, shock filled his waves. "(... I guess not.)"

She grinned cheekily. "(Coulda used 'em on Maylene's lucario, but I guess he forgot!)"

"(... Guess so.)" Now his waves felt really disappointed, amusing her further.

"(P-Please...)" the riolu said, his voice shaking. She looked back at him in surprise. "(I-I just wanna go home... Please let me go home!)"

Her eyes widened. In that moment, he looked and sounded so young. Now that all of his anger had drained away, all that was left was a scared, sad little kid.

"(Home?)" she gently asked.

"(I wanna go home... Back to Mommy and Daddy and... a-and the nice old man...)"

... Yep, he was definitely a little kid. Much younger than she'd expected. She felt her heart break just from listening to him.

"(H-Hey, it's okay.)" She took a step forward, but he squeaked in fear and hid, so she stayed put. "(Where's your home?)"

"(I don't know... I've been running all night, and I'm hurt and tired, and... and none of them got my signal!)"

Ah. So that's who the signal had been for. His family. Her heart broke a little more.

"Oh, so this is where everyone-" Ash suddenly started saying, but he stopped to yelp. Buneary turned around to see him pointing at Kellyn, his waves surprised and excited. "Oh, you're a pokémon ranger!"

"(He sure is!)" the munchlax said happily.

"Yes," Kellyn replied calmly. He held out an arm in a loose attempt to block Ash's path, as he looked towards the riolu. "Please stay put for the time being."

Ash followed his gaze, spotting the riolu. More surprise entered his waves, but he did as he was asked. Satisfied that he wouldn't get in the way and scare the riolu even more, Buneary turned back to face the young dog. She smiled gently.

"(It's okay,)" she said. "(We have some nice humans and a pokémon ranger with us. We'll get you home.)"

He whimpered. "(No human's been good to me on the outside. They're all mean! And- And, if you're with them, then you're probably mean, too!)"

She let out a discouraged, yet saddened breath through her nostrils. This poor kid had been through a lot, it seemed.

"Hey, it's a pokémon ranger!" Brock suddenly said, apparently having caught up.

"Wow, really?!" Dawn asked excitedly. "Like the ones on TV?!"

"(... What the heck's a pokémon ranger?)" Piplup asked.

"And, not only that," Brock continued, "he's a-"

He was interrupted by the loud crunching sound of bushes being destroyed. Buneary whipped her head around in shock, only to see two large, six-wheeled vehicles approaching.

It took her a moment to recognise them, but, when she did, her eyes widened.

"(Uh oh...)" she mumbled.