Wow, I'm finally getting around to this -.-;
Lucario-It's about freaking time!
Luxray-Luxray!
Geeze…'kay…sorry…
Lucario's Haunting Past
Chapter 13: Relief?
Everyone remained silent for most of the drive. Johnny hadn't decided to give chase so everyone was able to calm down. The backseat was cramped with Snake, Ness, Lucas and Lucario. None of them cared at this point though. Lucario just stared at the floor. It all happened so fast. He was weak and couldn't do anything about it; he couldn't control the outcome. Now he was safe but he wasn't able to save Riolu. He tried to convince Snake to grab him too but Snake didn't listen to him. Was Riolu going to be okay? Lucario didn't know but he did know this. He needed to go back and get him; he needed to keep his promise.
Why Snake? Lucario broke the silence.
"Huh? Why what?" Snake asked the wounded poke'mon, not sure what he was trying to say.
Why didn't you save him? Lucario asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
"Save who?" Snake asked, getting a bit irritated.
Who the hell do you think? Lucario snapped, Riolu! You could've saved him, but you didn't! You should've saved him instead of me, but you didn't! He's only a child for God's sake! Don't you think he should've been rescued before me?
"Well excuse me for saving your sorry a..! I could've just let you stay, but no, I had to come here and get you out of this mess!" Snake argued ", Would it kill you to be thankful? I had no time to react, no time to grab him or I would've gotten shot! Did you want that? Did you want me to get shot and killed?" Snake paused as if waiting for Lucario's response. The poke'mon remained silent so he continued. "I'm sorry I couldn't save him, but it was either you whom we set out on this rescue mission for in the first place, or that little runt none of use even know!"
There was silence once again. Lucario stared down at the floor again, a sad look in his eyes.
I…I'm sorry…I shouldn't of snapped at you. But we need to go back.
"Why? So we can have that freaking maniac shoot us all up? I don't think so."
I know you couldn't save him at the time, but we can now! We can still go back before it's too late and—
"No Lucario! We can't go back—"
Please Snake! I'm begging you! Take me back there so I can—
"Would the two of you just SHUT UP!!" Fox finally shouted from the front. The whole car went silent for a moment ", Lucario, you should be happy to be alive and safe right now! We all just risked our lives there to save you so be thankful to even be in this car right now!"
"That's right," Snake agreed.
"And you Snake!" Fox turned to Snake, which caught him off guard ", You need to be less harsh with him! Just look at him! He's got cuts, bruises, burns and even a gunshot wound for crying out loud! He's been through enough tonight!"
The two remained silent for another moment longer. Fox took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before continuing.
"Listen, we're all a bit shaken up right now. I think we just need to get back to SSBHQ and get some sleep. Lucario, we'll talk about rescue in the morning okay?"
Lucario slowly nodded in response.
"Good, now we're almost there so let's all just not talk to each other for the rest of the ride okay?"
……….
Snake paced about the waiting room outside of the SSBHQ's infirmary irritably. The other smashers who knew nothing of the recent events were all informed and waited outside, worried for the safety of their fellow smasher (with the exception of Ganondorf, Wolf, Bowser and Wario). The moment the rescue group had returned with Lucario they rushed him in to get his wounds treated and he had been in there quite awhile now.
"What the hell's taking so long?" Snake asked no one in particular.
"I don't know," Red replied ", Just calm down."
"I can't calm down, the freaking Johnny guy needs to pay!" Snake snapped.
"Don't worry Snake," Lucas tried to calm him, being the innocent little kid he was ", We'll find a way to get back at him. That's not important right now though, we got Lucario back and that's what matters."
"I guess you're right…but still…"
The room remained silent as Snake continued to pace. Pit was also in the room, being one of the concerned smashers of course. Also being one of the uninformed smashers, he had to ask.
"Lucario was saying something about going back to rescue someone," he piped up ", Who was he talking about?"
"Riolu," Snake answered the young angel ", He's a young poke'mon…not sure about much else."
"Yeah, I was wondering what Lucario was talking about," Red jumped in ", Riolu is the pre-evolved form of Lucario, to clarify things. Maybe Lucario feels so attached to him because of that fact?"
"Maybe, but the biggest reason is because he made a promise to the little guy that he was going to save him and return him to his mother, whom he was taken from," Snake explained.
"Well…why don't we just call the authorities?" Pit suggested. Snake turned to Pit and snapped his fingers.
"That's it! Can't believe I didn't think of that, it's so obvious! Thanks Pit!" He ran over to a nearby phone and picked it up. He was about to dial the number when suddenly someone stopped him.
No! someone shouted from behind Snake. Lucario had just barely left the operating room all bandaged up and heard the conversation.
"What! Why?" Snake asked ", This is the perfect chance to get back at him!"
Just…no. We can't involve the police just yet; I have my reasons…
"Oh, you got to be kidding me. Like what?"
First of all Snake, if the police are involved they'll take all the captured poke'mon and send them off somewhere randomly in the wild or to some kind of shelter. I made a promise myself to save Riolu and return him to his mother. If the police rescue him instead, I wouldn't be keeping my promise and he would likely not see his mother for a long time if at all. Besides, I need to face Johnny myself.
"Okay, maybe the first reason makes some sense, but the part about you needing to face Johnny yourself? Give me a break. Does it really matter as long as he leaves you alone?"
Just trust me Snake…I need to face him when the time comes…
There was a long pause as the two stared at each other. What was really about one minute seemed like an hour. Finally someone unexpected intervened.
"He's right Snake," a deep voice spoke. Snake turned around to see Meta-Knight standing behind him ", Not only does the child need to be returned to his mother, but if the police simply arrest Johnny then he won't be getting what he truly deserves. Lucario needs to face his one true enemy and defeat him, that way Johnny can learn who is the superior."
Snake sighed. "It's all about honor and justice with you guys…" he put down the phone ", Whatever you say. We'll let Johnny go about his business until you're ready then."
Good, well I'll be perfectly ready in the morning, Lucario turned to walk away.
"Not quite," Meta-Knight stopped him ", You still need time to recover. You may be bandaged up but that doesn't mean you're in any shape to fight yet."
You're…probably right…but as soon as I can fight at my fullest then I'm going to go back there whether I have to do it myself or not. With that, Lucario headed off to bed. He nearly fell but Fox ran over to help him keep his balance. Many of the smashers headed off to their dorms too but some of them walked Lucario to his dorm first, including all of the smashers from the rescue group.
The second they made it to his room Fox laid him down on his bed and pulled the covers over him. It felt so good to Lucario to finally be in his own bed again. It was so warm and comfortable; he had almost forgotten what the felt like after those few days of sleeping on a hard concrete floor. They all bid Lucario good night and left the room until Lucario stopped them.
Snake, Lucario called causing them all to stop, thankyou…for caring enough to help me
Snake finally gave Lucario a sincere smile and replied ", No problem."
And thank all of you as well…I'm so sorry for putting you all through this.
Well that's this chapter. Not very exciting aside from the tension between Snake and Lucario for a bit there :P
Lucario-Zzzzzz…
Mmkay then…R&R please -w-