Author's note: Sup, dudes!

So the fic's rating has been upgraded to a T (shock and horror!), just purely because of Pikachu's foul inner mouth. It just doesn't suit him to use K-rated language, honestly, so screw it.

It won't go any higher than that, though! Promise.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Four: An Uphill Struggle

Pikachu continued his stupid duty of charging Kellyn's capture styler.

Okay, maybe 'duty' was a strong word, but frigging hell. He'd been politely asked to help, so he couldn't exactly say no, could he? Then he'd look like an asshole.

Heaving a mental sigh, he kept up the steady stream of Thunderbolt. Arrrgh, he could hear the clashing of moves behind him, but it was kinda hard to watch the battles from this angle. Not to mention, he had to concentrate, in case he messed up and overcharged, or something.

Urgh, so annoying...

"Hang in there, Gligar!" Ash called out worriedly.

Deathly curious, Pikachu craned his head at an awkward angle to look. He could just about make out Gligar falling towards the ground, having real trouble stabilising himself.

Pikachu frowned. Tsk. It was just as he'd thought. Gligar was in no way ready for a battle, was he? Ash should swap him out if he planned to get anywhere with these goons.

"I'll help!" Kellyn suddenly said. "Munchlax, Work Up on Gligar!"

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

Pikachu spun around to look at him, only to see him raise his arms into the air in a cheer. Once he'd 'worked himself up', he started blazing with a red aura. Holding out his paws, he aimed them in Gligar's direction.

... Oh! Was he doing the same thing he'd said he could do with the capture styler? Now that was frigging cool.

"Looks like he gave Gligar some extra power!" Brock said, sounding impressed.

"Awesome!" Ash replied enthusiastically. "Thanks for that!"

"(No problem!)" the munchlax replied happily.

Heh. Maybe that would help the bat a bit more. Pikachu still thought he should be swapped out with someone more qualified - since fighting Hunter J's goons was quite a bit more serious than training - but whatever. If it worked, then great.

He went back to focusing on charging the capture styler, listening to Ash, Dawn and Brock all calling out moves to their pokémon. Well, everything seemed to be going well so far, so maybe he wasn't needed after all.

... A thought that greatly aggravated him, but what could he do? He heaved another internal sigh.

"Bah?!" Dawn cried out suddenly, surprising him. "Oh no!"

Twisting his head around, Pikachu could see one of the crobat spewing Sludge Bombs everywhere in a confused frenzy. It looked like it was interfering with everyone else's battles, too, which was really bad for business.

"Alright, we're all done!" Kellyn said, catching his attention. The pokémon ranger smiled down at him. "The styler's fully charged now. Thank you, Pikachu."

Pikachu cut his electricity, smiling back. "(No problem!)" he replied.

"(Great!)" the munchlax said, happy as ever. "(Now he can capture pokémon without worrying about breaking his styler!)" He threw his arms into the air in a cheer. "(Woo! Three cheers for Pikachu the hero!)"

Pikachu gave him an embarrassed chuckle. "(Aww, thanks. Hero, though?)"

Damn right he was a hero. Not that he'd say this, of course.

"(Yeah! You really saved the day!)"

Oh, he loved having his ego stroked. "(Oh yeah? Well, cool. Happy to help!)"

"Buneary!" Dawn cried out in panic.

Whirling around to see what was going on, Pikachu was in time to see the teeth of one of the crobat deeply embedded in Buneary's shoulder.

His eyes widened. Oh crap...

Buneary slowly pushed herself to her feet, wobbling a little as she did. Ohhh, she felt so woozy. Her vision was blurry, and she could feel nausea churning in her stomach.

Urgh, this was why she hadn't wanted to fight the crobat who had nothing but poison-type moves. Just in case this happened...

If only she and Gligar had swapped crobat opponents. Then she - the normal-type - would have had the one with the ghost-type moves, and he - the part ground-type - would have had this one with the poison-type moves. They'd have both probably had a much easier time...

She looked up at the crobat in question, trying her best to stand straight. He looked directly at her, his waves feeling maliciously smug. Oh, he knew what he'd done, alright...

"Buneary, Ice Beam!" Dawn called out.

Taking a breath through her nostrils to steady herself, she formed a cold ball of energy in front of her mouth.

"Dodge!" the serious goon commanded.

Once the Ice Beam was formed, Buneary shot it towards the crobat. Despite one of his lower wings still being frozen, he managed to dodge perfectly fine.

"Again!" Dawn called out.

Buneary fired off another Ice Beam, which was also dodged. Then another, and another. Each one was perfectly dodged by the crobat. Grumbling, Buneary tried again, only to get a sudden head rush.

As she wobbled, she felt a rising desire to throw up. Swallowing heavily, she desperately tried to squash it down.

"Now!" the serious goon called out. "Venom Drench!"

... Venom what now? She'd never heard of that move. Though it did sound like yet another poison-type move, so she supposed that confirmed it. This crobat only had poison-type moves.

Before she had time to lament this, the crobat flew right in front of her, inhaled and sprayed some sort of purple liquid all over her. Ack! It felt like a sprinkler was going off in her face!

After only a few moments, she was utterly drenched in the liquid. Ewww...

She tried to shake it off, but then she was hit by a tremendous weight on her limbs, causing her to crash down onto one knee.

Good grief, what was this?! Her arms and legs felt like lead! Why were they so heavy, all of a sudden?!

She struggled to her feet, every movement feeling like she was trying to move a truck with her body alone. Another head rush assaulted her, blurring her vision and causing bile to bubble up from her stomach. She harshly swallowed it down again.

Glancing around briefly, she could just about make out the figure of Piplup, his flippers clenched as he glowed white from Bide. The bulky goon's crobat flew straight towards him, glowing with the light blue aura of Sky Attack. He rammed straight into Piplup at full force, causing a loud noise akin to a car trying to smash down a tree. The crobat poured all of his energy into the attack as he desperately pushed against Piplup, who was still holding strong.

Elsewhere, Sudowoodo was charging full speed at the sleazy goon's crobat with Double-Edge. He slammed into her, causing her to screech in pain. He, himself, though, looked no worse for wear, since his ability, Rock Head, cancelled out recoil.

Catching sight of Gligar, Buneary saw him still glowing with the fiery red aura of the munchlax's Work Up, as he used Steel Wing on the stoic goon's crobat. He already seemed to be getting the hang of gliding, as she didn't think he'd crashed yet.

"Cross Poison!" the serious goon called out.

"(Huh?)" Buneary asked woozily.

With great effort, she turned to see the crobat rapidly approaching, his upper wings crossing over each other. She knew she needed to dodge, but she felt like that was impossible in her current state. She could barely move!

Once he was close enough, the crobat's upper wings glowed bright purple. They swung outwards, striking her in the neck. Agonising pain shot through her entire body as the force knocked her off her feet.

Her back hit the ground, bouncing her onto her front. She skidded backwards on the dirt, feet first, her face to the floor, until she stopped. She lay there, her consciousness fading in and out. She could hear her name being called, but it was faint. Distant. Like it was slowly leaving.

Wow. This really sucked.

... Well, she supposed she wasn't the best at battling. She hadn't done too well against Maylene's meditite recently, after all. She'd only managed to damage her enough for Ambipom to finish her off, and that had been it.

Not to mention, out of the five contests that Dawn had competed in so far - which were Jubilife City, Floaroma Town, Alamos Town, Hearthome City and Solaceon Town, if Buneary remembered right - she'd only battled in one of them. The very first one, where she'd been defeated by Zoey's glameow.

Dawn had planned to use Buneary and Buizel in the double battles of the Hearthome contest - before she'd given Buizel to Ash - but that had never happened. Piplup and Pachirisu hadn't managed to pass the appeal round, so Dawn had been eliminated before Buneary had been given a chance to shine.

Urgh. Well, she'd tried her best against the serious goon's crobat, but maybe this was the extent of what she could do...

Suddenly, she saw Kellyn leap over her. "Capture on!" he shouted, firing his spinning top at something in the distance. When he landed, he pressed his middle and index fingers together and swung them around, leaving trails of blue light in the air.

... Of course. She couldn't forget why the ranger was here in the first place. It was to protect the riolu. To keep him from being captured by Hunter J's goons and sold off who knows where. Then he'd never get home. He'd never see his mother, his father or 'the nice old man' again.

... She'd also promised to protect him. To make sure he got home safely. True, someone else could probably do a much better job in her place, but she'd promised.

Fighting against the urge to black out - which was desperately trying to pull her under - she forced herself to her feet. Wobbling slightly, she stared defiantly up at the crobat. Though her vision was blurry, she could feel confusion, surprise and annoyance in his waves.

... Heh.

"Buneary, no!" Dawn called out in distress behind her. "That's enough! Come back and let someone else take care of it!"

She slowly shook her head. Her stomach churned, but she tried not to vomit. "(No, it's okay,)" she replied. She took a deep breath through her nostrils. It calmed and steadied her as she exhaled again. "(I can do this.)"

"Finish her off," the serious goon said. "Cross Poison!"

Flapping his wings to fall back a bit and give himself some space, the crobat then began to swoop down towards Buneary, his upper wings glowing purple.

Buneary stood in place, watching him get closer and closer. Well, if she couldn't move, then she'd just have to do the next best thing.

This was very risky, though. One more hit from Cross Poison and she'd definitely be down for the count. There was no question.

So she just had to not fail.

Right when the crobat was directly in front of her, his wings ready to swing outwards and slash her neck again, she opened her mouth. The quickest Ice Beam she'd ever fired immediately shot out, engulfing the crobat. It wasn't fully powered, but it still did the job.

Now coated in ice - his eyes wide and his waves full of shock - he dropped to the ground with a thunk. Immediately afterwards, there was a scream and a crash from where the four goons were, which made her jump. Looking over, she saw a hole where they'd once stood, with a very pleased-looking nincada standing next to it. Scattered around were the unconscious bodies of the four crobat.

She smiled to herself. Ah. They'd all been taken care of. That was good...

Her eyes suddenly felt very heavy. She swayed on her feet, gravity pulling her forwards. After a moment, she saw the ground rapidly approaching.

Then everything went black.

With the crobat taken care of, and Piplup, Sudowoodo and Gligar now back in their pokéballs to rest, Pikachu ran towards Buneary, skidding to a stop next to her. He stared down at her unconscious form, as Dawn came running up beside him.

Holy crap. Buneary had really stood back up again, just to make sure the crobat went down.

... Badass.

He was never going to say this out loud, but man. Her hotness points had gone up a frick-ton just now! Maybe sitting the battle out hadn't been so bad, after all.

As Dawn knelt down and picked Buneary up, Pikachu also saw Brock approach.

"Buneary?" Dawn asked worriedly.

"She'll be fine, Dawn," Brock reassured her. "Though she'll need an antidote. Hang on, I've got one in my bag."

"Hold that thought for now," Kellyn said, kneeling by the nincada. He thanked her pressed a button to release her. She scuttled away and Kellyn stood back up. "First, we need to deal with Riolu."

Pikachu watched as the ranger passed by him. He began heading in the direction of the riolu, who was still cowering behind the tree. At the same time, though, the young dog was looking over at Buneary in intrigue.

Pikachu huffed in pride. Yeah, he'd better be grateful that Buneary worked so hard to save his ass.

He watched as Kellyn approached the riolu, kneeling down in front of him. Again because of Buneary - which caused another swell of pride to rise in his chest - the dog was a lot calmer than before, so less likely to lash out.

Pulling out a small pink, string-tied pouch, Kellyn emptied its contents onto his hand. It seemed to be a small wooden figurine or something.

Pikachu didn't really get it, but it was hard to ignore how much the riolu's eyes widened in shock upon seeing it.

Putting it back into the pouch and tying it, Kellyn put the string around the riolu's neck, all while his munchlax was smiling nearby in a very relaxed way. Then Pikachu watched, utterly baffled, as the riolu just allowed Kellyn to pick him up.

Jeez, just what was that fricking wooden thing, anyway? It had given the ranger so much power and sway just now.

"Come on," Kellyn said with a smile to the group. "Follow me."

"But what about Buneary?" Dawn asked worriedly. "Should I put her in her ball?"

"Maybe carry her for the moment, so she can be treated later."

Dawn sighed. "Okay..." She stood up, holding Buneary in her arms.

"And what about the henchmen?" Brock asked cautiously.

"Yeah!" Ash agreed angrily. "Shouldn't you arrest 'em, or something?"

Kellyn's smile dipped. "Sadly, I don't have the authority to arrest people," he replied. He turned around, still looking at them. "I could wait for the Officer Jenny that's with us, but that would take too long... and I wouldn't want Hunter J to find us."

"You think she's coming?!" Dawn asked, shocked.

"She will be, once she realises she hasn't heard back from her henchmen." He looked ahead of him. "Besides, my mission is to get Riolu home safely, so that's my top priority." He took off at a jog, his munchlax following closely behind with bounding steps. Pretty impressive for such a fat pokémon, Pikachu thought, and far more agile than May's had been. "Let's go."

"Right!" all three humans replied.

Buneary cracked her eyes open. They were heavy, and hard to lift, so everything looked blurry. Glancing around wearily, she noticed that the scenery seemed to be moving. Actually, she could feel herself being jostled. Looking up, she saw Dawn, who must have been carrying her.

Ah. Well, that made sense.

"(Oh, you're awake,)" Pikachu said from nearby. She glanced in his general direction - which seemed to be on Ash's shoulder - but it was a bit hard to see him. Wow, her whole body felt like lead, still. "(You doing okay?)"

Gosh, was it hard to read waves when she was like this, too? She tried to focus on what emotions were coming off him.

Um... happiness? It kinda felt like it, but she was too tired to really pinpoint it. Maybe... attraction, too? Or something like that.

She smiled to herself in amusement and a bit of pride.

"(Heh,)" she replied. "(I've felt better.)"

"Hang in there, Buneary," Dawn said comfortingly. "You'll be better again soon."

"(Thanks.)" Buneary blinked a few times, trying to will her eyes to open. She glanced around as she realised something. "(Where's the riolu?)"

"(Kellyn's got him,)" Pikachu replied.

"(Ah, that's good.)" She supposed the young dog was a bit more trusting now? Well, she hoped so, anyway. She paused for thought, though it was difficult, since her brain still felt fuzzy. "(... Hey, Pikachu?)"

"(Hmm?)"

"(What was that... Venom Drench thing? Did Brock say anything about it?)"

"(Oh, yeah. He said it really messes with your attack and speed and things... but it only works when you're already poisoned.)"

"(... Ah.)" Well, that explained it.

"Hey, Kellyn," Brock started. Huh, had the humans introduced themselves to each other while she'd been out cold? "You're a top ranger, aren't you?"

"Why, yes, I am," Kellyn replied, sounding impressed.

"Huh?" Ash asked in confusion. "What's a top ranger?"

"The best of the best when it comes to pokémon rangers," Brock replied.

"Oh, like a top coordinator?" Dawn asked excitedly. "Wow, that's so cool!"

"Yeah. And they're the only ones skilled enough to use what he has: a vatonage styler."

"So that's why it looks different to the other ones I've seen!" Ash replied.

"Right. It's much stronger and more precise, but it requires a pure heart, a calm mind and laser focus to use well. So the only ones trusted to use them are top rangers."

"Wow!" Dawn replied in awe. "Is that true, Kellyn?!"

Kellyn chuckled. "Well..." he replied, "it's almost right."

"(So close, but not quite!)" his munchlax added cheerfully.

"Oh?" Brock asked, sounding a bit disheartened. "Did I make a mistake?"

"You're thinking of the fine styler," Kellyn replied. "The vatonage styler is a much more advanced version of that."

"Whoa, Brock got something wrong?!" Ash asked, both in shock and amusement. Dawn giggled in response, but Brock heaved a defeated sigh.

Kellyn chuckled. After a moment, he spoke. "One day, we hope to mass produce them, so that all top rangers can have one. Heaven knows my friend, Keith, would like to have one... As for right now, though, there's only one... and I was lucky enough to be the one they chose to give it to."

"Wow!" Dawn cried in awe. "So how's it different from the regular stylers that I've seen on TV?!"

"Well, it's specially designed to combat brainwashing, which other stylers struggle to do. Also, if a pokémon has completely closed up their mind or heart... again, this styler's designed to combat that."

"That's so cool!" Ash replied enthusiastically.

Kellyn hummed in appreciation. "The word itself, 'vatonage', refers to light being rekindled in the darkness."

"Really?" Dawn asked, sounding fascinated.

"(Yeppers!)" the munchlax replied happily.

"Wow," Ash replied. "Wish I had one of those." He laughed. "Would've been real useful a number of times!"

"No kidding..." Brock replied, sounding exasperated, yet amused.

... Honestly, Buneary still didn't entirely understand what pokémon rangers were, or what they did, but she had a bit of a better idea now. At least as far as vatonage stylers went.

Still... oof. She really hoped she'd get healed soon. She could still feel that poison messing with her...