A Flower's First Rainstorm

Silence reigns over the chirping morning birds as a never-ending sea of men surround the little girl. Looking back and forth, Lily contemplates on what to do. She has always wanted to go back to her grandfather's house because that's her home, but with how her grandfather has been treating her the past 24 hours, she's scared to return to him. She remembers how much fun she had at Lucario's house and the love she received, but she doesn't want to completely leave her grandfather yet. Unsure of what the right answer is, Lily shrinks back.

"Can I choose both?" Lily asks Zoro while she fiddles with her fingers.

Zoro shakes his head. "You must choose, little girl. This was the deal that your grandfather and Mr. Lucario made each other."

Lily glances over at her grandfather who has a scowl on his face. She then looks over at Lucario whose eyes are full of fear and compassion. He holds out his arms to her as if he's telling her to come home. Finally realizing where she is actually loved and cared for, Lily takes a step in Lucario's direction when her grandfather starts yelling at her.

"You're going to choose the people who took you from me rather than your own family member?!" the old man shouts to the point where he's practically spitting. "I raised you! I gave you everything you wanted! These strangers have done nothing but abused you!"

Baffled by the old man's remark, Billy steps forward. "We have never abused Lily while she was under our care, so I don't know who told you that lie. Although, I have an idea of who the liar might be." Billy glares at Zoro and shakes his head. "We have provided Lily with the best care that money could buy, all the food she's ever wanted, and every toy that she pointed her finger at."

"Lies! Lily! Are you really going to go with those men who bribe you with money and hit you rather than your family member that loves you?"

Terrified from all of the yelling, Lily squats down where she's standing and covers her ears. This angers her grandfather since she isn't walking over to him, so he stomps over to her and grabs her arm, causing her to shriek from the pain. "Let's go, Lily!"

All of the world's bright colors instantly turn a dark shade of crimson as Lucario charges over to where Lily and her grandfather are and clutches the old man's arm to make him let go. As soon as the old man lets go of Lily, Lucario squeezes his arm so tightly as if he's trying to squeeze lemon juice out of a lemon. He twists the old man's arm so far behind his back that he could hear an audible crack from the old man's bones breaking.

Zoro shakes his head in disappointment as he sends in his men to try and save the grandfather. This causes the Buenavista men to finally step up and protect their boss. Looking for blood, Lucario starts to hammer down on the old man with his massive fists. Punch after punch after punch, Lucario's fists seem to go deeper and deeper into the grandfather's chest as if the old man's rib cage wasn't even there to begin with.

With every heavy hit, the old man coughs up more and more blood. It isn't long that he eventually dies under Lucario's rage, but Lucario isn't aware in the slightest that he has a corpse under him. At least, not until he hears Lily screaming.

Amidst the chaos and fighting, Zoro slips around and scoops up Lily who was still crouched down and covering her ears. "Let's go inside while we let the animals fight it out," Zoro says as he walks over to the house.

Not wanting to leave with the man responsible for her kidnapping, Lily struggles to wiggle out of Zoro's arms. Lily soon realizes that she can't get out of her captor's grasp, so she looks around to find anyone who can help her. Billy and Ryan are busy trying to keep the Kang men from approaching Lucario, so she knows she can't call for them. Scared that her grandfather will hit her if she is caught by him, Lily quickly scratches off her grandfather from the list. Running out of men on whom she can call on, she understands that there is only one person that she can call on who she knows will save her know matter what.

"Lucario! Save me, Lucario!"

Like magic words that snaps people out of a trance, Lucario comes back to his senses once he hears the voice he loves so much calling out for him. Frantically searching, his eyes eventually land on Lily, who is kicking and screaming, being carried into the Kang Manor. Seeing the stream of tears roll down her face as she calls for him switches him into a whole new mode that he never knew. "Lily! I'm coming!" he roars over the loud screams of the battle around him.

The Buenavista men hear their boss's scream and do their best to create a pathway while fighting their opponents so that Lucario can run over and save Lily. Upon seeing what his men are doing, Lucario charges head first through the crowd as he watches the door to the Kang Manor close. He gets his fingers smashed from the door closing on them but that doesn't stop his rage from almost flinging the door right off of its hinges.

"Give Lily back to me. Now," Lucario demands as he makes his way over to where Zoro is still walking.

"Lucario! I want to go home!" Lily cries between her tears. "I want to go home!"

"Don't worry, Lily. We'll go home right after I deal with that man that's taking you away from me."

"You make it seem like I'm the bad guy," Zoro 'whines' as he turns down a hallway. "You took this child away from her grandfather, and here I am trying to reunite them. Why do you want this child so bad?"

"Because…" Lucario stops himself before he could finish his thought. He never told Lily that he wanted to adopt her. He doesn't even know if Lily would want to be adopted by him. Lucario begins to doubt himself, thinking if maybe Lily would rather be adopted by someone like Billy or Ryan who she's always around with.

Lucario's silence confirms Zoro's suspicions, making him laugh so heartily. "Were you really going to adopt this child after you took her away from her grandfather? Did you really think that she would agree to become the daughter of her kidnapper?"

As he laughs at Lucario's intentions, Zoro calls for his aide. "Grant, take care of this wild animal."

"Yes, Father Zoro." Being given his orders, the thin man removes his glasses and unbuttons his blazer. He doesn't even warn the distracted Lucario before he starts throwing a barrage of punches. However, this doesn't affect Lucario in the slightest. At least, until he tries to walk.

Grant's punches aren't random, and Lucario would have been aware of that if he was paying attention. The punches blown are actually targeting Lucario's pressure points which makes it difficult for him to move.

"I see that old snake kept you around for a reason," Lucario comments after he catches himself from falling onto the ground. "You were supposed to die along with the rest of the men who failed to assassinate Nicholas. Do you not feel any guilt for betraying the Buenavista Family?"

"I was given a chance to live despite the odds of me dying being high," Grant responds, fixing his wrinkled blazer. "Us, humans, naturally go for the choice to live as part of our survival response. So, no, I do not feel any guilt, for I was merely looking out for my own safety and survival the whole time."

Slighted by Grant's lack of loyalty, Lucario wobbles about as he does his best to stand back up. However, he suddenly feels a warm touch on his back, so he looks over his shoulder to see Billy standing behind him.

"Go to Lily. I'll take care of Grant," Billy offers before hitting the right pressure points on Lucario's body to help him regain his balance and strength back.

"Thank you, Billy," Lucario quickly throws while he runs off past Grant.

—

"Let go of me!" Lily shouts while Zoro straps her into a chair. "Lucario is going to beat you up if you don't let me go!"

Zoro chuckles at the little girl's threat. "Child, Lucario won't be coming to save you. You'll have to stay here for the re-"

In the middle of Zoro's sentence, the door to the room swings open, revealing Lucario who is unharmed. "Impossible," Zoro says to himself. "You should be preoccupied with Grant."

"What can I say? I have a pretty good aide myself." Lucario grabs onto Zoro's neck and raises him as high as his strength will allow him. "I will be taking back my child now. If you move so much as one inch from where I throw you, you can consider yourself dead." With that, Lucario launches Zoro over to the other side of the room then turns his attention to a still crying little girl.

"Lucario… You big meanie," Lily insults between sobs. "Why did you take so long?"

Kneeling down, Lucario pulls out his pocket knife and cuts the rope off of Lily. "I'm so, so sorry, Lily. I didn't mean to keep you waiting." After freeing Lily from the ropes, Lucario faces Lily with his arms wide open. "Lily, would you like to come home with me?"

As if a dam has opened up within Lily, a bigger wave of endless tears storm out of Lily's eyes as she eagerly nods her head. "I wanna go home with you, Lucario!" For the first time in a long time, Lily sheds genuine tears that she has been holding back for quite a long time. Tears of relief. Tears of sorrow. Tears of happiness. The repressed sadness that she has held within her completely vanishes as Lucario wraps Lily in his newly warm embrace.

Lucario picks Lily up in his arms while wiping his own tears. "Lily, I'm about to do something that might be very scary. Can you close your eyes and cover your ears for me?"

Lily nods her head then proceeds to do as she was requested. Once Lucario sees that Lily has covered herself, he walks over to Zoro who is still recovering from being slammed against the wall. With the rest of his anger, Lucario repeatedly kicks Zoro in the stomach. "For someone who acts tough, you sure do like to hide behind your men so that you won't reveal how weak you really are." Lucario reaches into his blazer and pulls out a lighter that he flicks on. "Be happy. You can finally burn in hell where your spot has been long overdue for occupancy."

Dropping the lighter on Zoro, Lucario walks away without sparring another glance at the old snake who burns alive behind him. As soon as the door closes behind him, Lucario gently strokes Lily's head to let her know it's okay to open her eyes. "Let's go home, Lily."

Relieved that it's finally over, Lily nods her head before collapsing from exhaustion. Lucario spots Billy walking over to him, so he makes his way to meet Billy in the middle. "I want this place to burn to the ground, but keep Nicholas and Lindsey alive. Bring them back to the manor. I will personally see to their deaths tomorrow."

"Yes, Father Lucario," Billy promptly responds with a deep bow while Lucario walks by.