"Damn it Kirby, you just had to say that, didn't you?" Meta Knight glared at the pink puffball.

"I didn't know this would happen!" Kirby relaxed when he saw that Meta Knight was only teasing.

What happened was that during the night, the wind became so strong that the power lines attached to the Smasher's Base became severed; which meant there were no lights, television, or Brawls. And all of this meant they wouldn't be able to call Tails to get the recording, for the phone lines were out as well.

"All of the planets in every single universe must have lined up for this to happen," Pit muttered.

"It would have been better to have made Tails mad at us instead of having to wait for this all to get repaired," Link whispered back to Pit.

Master Hand was working with Pikachu to see if they could get the power working again. You could see Master Hand easily against the gray, cloudy sky, and once in awhile you would see the electricity coming off of Pikachu.

All of the other Brawlers were outside as well, braving the chill to wait and see if the power would be restored. A number of Brawls had already been missed, and nobody wanted to hang around and keep guessing on when the arena would work again. Most of them were sitting and rescheduling Brawls, although Pit, Link, Kirby and Meta Knight huddled together on a huge branch in a tree out front with the rest of the Brawlers hanging out below. Sonic was sitting off to the side by himself, pretending to sleep, although he probably was just too tired to pay attention anymore.

Ten minutes later Master Hand called, "Forget it, Pikachu! I'll have to get an electrician to come fix this. All Brawls are cancelled today."

"Oh well…" The fighters sighed and headed back into the dark building. The sky was growing darker with every passing minute, and it was obvious there was going to be a major storm.

"Let's stay out here to talk. Nobody else wants to hang outside," Link said after the others were out of earshot.

"And for a good reason," Kirby muttered, snatching a bit of Meta Knight's cape and wrapping it around himself.

"We've got a problem. Now we have no way of contacting Tails until everything is repaired, and that won't be for a while. After that, we still have to wait for the recording to come, because Master Hand can't take any more action without proof." Pit folded his wings around himself, trying to keep warm.

"I still think it's stupid, actually needing some kind of proof to show that someone is being abused…from the looks of Sonic, it actually is the most logical explanation," Link said, "I wish we could actually look into this more without the recording…"

"Is there a way any of us could take some time off and collect it manually?" Kirby asked.

"Not without being suspicious, I think…we all have Brawls scheduled for the next week and to suddenly cancel them all and go on 'vacation' without making everyone confused would require some real talent. I may only speak for myself here as well, but I don't feel like injuring myself in order to get out of the fights." Meta Knight handed a bit more of his cape to Kirby.

"Maybe we could fake a friend or family death?"

"Ok, who here has a random family member who's 'death' would be easy to make up?" Link asked. No response, "How about any major friends that aren't already known here?"

"Damn, we're screwed for that. Unless anyone can make up a fake great aunt…" Pit blinked as a rain drop hit his nose.

"Ok, forget the death thing. Anyone else have an idea?" Kirby asked.

"I was thinking about this last night," Meta Knight said, "And maybe we really don't need the recording after all. It's possible that we could just tell Sonic we know about the abuse and make him spill. I mean, he's already told Tails; couldn't he tell us?"

"It's a good thought, but I was thinking about this as well…and I think the reason Sonic was beat up was because he did try and tell someone. Now Sonic must be too frightened to say anything and if we ask he just might deny it, or his attacker will come and hurt him again if the guy overhears." Pit put his chin in his hands, "I don't think Sonic will say anything until he thinks he's safe, and that won't be until we find out who is hurting him."

"Also, Sonic said that, 'nobody would believe him if he told'…what doesn't he think we would believe? You can easily tell from his voice that he wasn't lying. Nobody could fake sounding that upset," Link added.

"You know, that's one thing I don't get – why would Sonic not speak out? Forty against one is extremely good odds for Sonic, so there's no way he could be hurt again if he told," Kirby closed his eyes in thought, "What kind of threat would make Sonic so scared to tell?"

"Who knows?" Meta Knight sighed, "Maybe you're right, Pit…anyone up for plan 'C'?"

"We wait for the psychiatrist to examine him and hope Sonic isn't dead by the time we can get in contact with Tails?" Link asked.

"Let's do our waiting inside; it's about to storm!" The four fighters jumped out of the tree and raced back inside while the black clouds above began to let an entire ocean fall.

XXXXXXXXX

The storm grew steadily worse all day long. Everyone had spent the day looking out the windows and talking because it was simply too dark to see with no lights. The four Brawlers had decided on taking some small action and simply told Sonic they were concerned and hoped that he would trust them and say something soon. By sunset, or what should have been sunset, the storm was right overhead and so loud no one could concentrate. Nightfall came, and somehow the world grew darker than it already was. Tired of hanging around watching raindrops make patterns on the windows, most headed to bed early on, hoping to wake up in the morning and find the storm dispersed.

Sonic was sitting on the edge of his bed, swinging his legs back and forth. He wasn't completely sure if Wario was coming in tonight or not, with the storm and all. The noise from the storm would be more than enough to block out any sounds they could make. Sonic couldn't tell what time it was, so how would he know if it was too late for Wario to come in?

"Ah, screw it…he'll just wake me up if he wants to have fun again." Sonic curled up and fell asleep instantly.

Maybe it had been minutes, or maybe hours, but Sonic woke up to someone pounding on his door, "Sonic, are you there?"

"Huh, Wario doesn't knock, he comes right in…" "Yeah, what's going on?"

Captain Falcon opened the door and immediately dragged Sonic off of the bed, "Do you have any idea what's going on? Man, everyone was wondering where you were…"

"I was asleep, damn it, and I wasn't the only one!"

"Didn't you hear the announcement that was, like, a half hour ago?"

"What announcement?"

Captain Falcon shook his head and began to pull Sonic out of the room, "Dude, the storm has gotten worse and now the main floor is flooded. There's only about two inches of water down there right now, but it's going to keep rising unless we stop it. We need all the help we can get."

"Is that why everyone was so worried about me?"

"No, we thought you'd gone onto the roof with the other group and maybe slipped and fell off and–"

"Ok, two things: First off, I have good balance and wouldn't fall, thank you very much, and secondly, what the heck is up with the roof?"

"The wind is clogging up the eaves troughs with debris and adding to the flooding; debris is also hitting the shingles, making the shingles come loose. To add onto the problem, with all of this wind and rain and the steep roof it's nearly impossible to keep your footing. Only the lightest ones are able to stay up there for long, because they are able to quickly shift their footing when needed if a shingle moves under them, which the shingles don't do often under their weight, and considering most of them are short, they can take shelter from some of the storm."

"I fall into both of those categories. Which way should I take to the roof; north, south?"

Captain Falcon gave Sonic a quick glance, "Um…I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why isn't it?"

"Dude, have you even looked at yourself lately? You're nothing but skin and bones!"

"And you're telling me that being 'nothing but skin and bones' is more suited to lifting heavy buckets of water than digging out a bunch of twigs and leaves?"

"Don't you hate water?"

"Yes, but if they need me up on the roof I'm going."

Captain Falcon muttered to himself, "Fuck, Master Hand is going to kill me…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing…the other Brawlers went to the north stairwell and up those little steps in the wall. Climb up that way and open the trapdoor onto the roof, for the others should be nearby. And please, tie yourself to someone else? I don't want to be held responsible for your death…"

"If I fall, tell Master Hand I ran away from you onto the roof. I'm off." Sonic quickly dashed away before Captain Falcon could change his mind.

In the right hand corner of the stairwell were little hand and foot holds, like long grooves carved into the wall. Sonic looked up at the trapdoor, "I need to put aside my emotions for now and focus on helping as much as I can. I was never raped and I'm not being abused…" Sonic took a deep breath and quickly climbed up and onto the roof.

XXXXXXXXX

This storm must have had the power of a hurricane. Rain came down in sheets, drenching Sonic before he was even on the roof for two seconds. He could see a few fighters digging quickly into the troughs and flinging the debris off the side, although they were too blurry for him to figure out who they were.

"Sonic, tie yourself to me!" Sonic blinked back the rain to see Pikachu standing a few feet in front of him, completely soaked.

"Got it," said Sonic as he tied the rope around his waist.

"Great! We really need your help. These things are getting clogged faster than we can unclog them." Pikachu leaned against the roof and began to slide across, and Sonic copied him. The pelting rain and loose shingles made it hard to stand, but like Captain Falcon had said the more weight on them, the more often and farther the shingles moved.

It took nearly three minutes to cross a small stretch of space, which in normal weather would take all of three seconds for anyone. The two bent down and began scraping out the gunk. Leaves, twigs, pinecones, even a few rocks made their way into the troughs. And of course, water: dirty, muddy water. Their hands quickly grew dirty; debris and rain was flung into their eyes and made them sting; and they both grew cold, but they couldn't stop. Sonic's hands were warmer from his gloves, but Pikachu's were turning an odd shade of blue. Every time they got up to move to another place, Sonic took the time to help warm Pikachu's freezing hands.

So far Sonic had only seen two other groups: Ness and Lucas were both busy rummaging through a stuffed corner, and they had passed Jigglypuff and Lucario who were trying to get a huge rock out. Sonic was surprised that Jigglypuff wasn't being blown away, but Lucario's weight was probably holding her down. Pikachu said that Kirby and Meta Knight were together somewhere as well, as well as Yoshi and Diddy Kong, and Olimar with Squirtle, but Sonic hadn't seen the others.

Pikachu and Sonic now were on one the most dangerous parts of the roof; right above the main entrance. If either of them fell now and weren't attached to each other, they would fall onto the little roof above the entrance before smacking onto the stairs three stories down, a fall that contained so many sharp edges that it would most likely prove fatal.

The two of them began clawing their way through the muck, getting colder and more exhausted by the second. Neither of them knew how long they had been on the roof, or how much longer before the storm would end. They were growing tired, and that made their movement more sluggish and sloppy. They sometimes dropped the handfuls of junk they were holding, and even in the cold they were starting to fall asleep.

It was no wonder that disaster struck. One of the shingles under Pikachu's feet began to slide, and he didn't react fast enough before he lost his footing and slipped off of the edge.

"Pikachu, NO!" Sonic immediately got onto his belly and grabbed the rope with both hands, an instant reflex. It tightened around both of their waists, letting Pikachu see the height from which he was being dangled over. Little pebbles bounced off of Sonic's cheeks as he tried to peer down and see how Pikachu was doing.

"Sonic, I think…oh shit!"

"What's going on?" Sonic had to shout in order for Pikachu to hear.

"The shingle must have cut the rope! It's going to break!" Just as Pikachu said the words, it happened. The rope snapped in two, but Pikachu was able to move fast enough this time and grabbed the other end.

The rope came loose for a brief moment around Sonic's waist and had slipped up to his shoulders. Now Sonic had Pikachu's full weight on his weak arms. It would have been easy to hold Pikachu before, but now…Sonic couldn't let him fall!

Pikachu tried to climb up the rope, but it was too soggy and his exhaustion made him quickly abandon the idea, "Sonic, there isn't anything to hold on to down here. You have to pull me up!" Pikachu's face was streaked with dirt, and the rain running down his face made him look like he was crying.

"I…I don't know if I can!" Sonic tried to haul Pikachu up, but with the lack of food and his fatigue, he could barely lift the electric rodent an inch.

"Please, Sonic, try harder! I'm going to die if you let me go!" Now Pikachu's face was worried, "Oh no, he's too thin and weak and now he can't do it…"

"Hang on …here I go!" Sonic used all of his strength and began to lift Pikachu. No matter how hard he tried, he was only able to get Pikachu up a small distance at a time. Inch by inch, Sonic fought the wind and rain to save his friend. Pikachu was almost able to reach the roof, but then a powerful gust of wind blew, nearly sending Sonic toppling after Pikachu. Sonic was starting to think that perhaps he couldn't win…

"No, I won't fail; I refuse to let Pikachu die. I can and I will do this!" Sonic used all of his remaining stamina and pulled Pikachu back onto the roof.

Pikachu clawed at the shingles and made his way to Sonic. The two of them clutched each other, panting heavily, shocked at how close they had come to losing against the storm.