"Come on, let's play this thing for Master Hand," Link said as he ejected the chip. They had quickly played it on Link's laptop and it was the recording after all. He had told them what Sonic had said and the cream, and now they were really concerned. The worst thing possible seemed to be the truth.
"Tails is pretty smart…how did he know to bring us another copy?" Meta Knight said as he started towards the stairs.
"Probably he was alerted when the first one was lost, like we were. I'm glad he thought of it!" Kirby leaped off of the stairwell and landed on the ground floor.
The four Brawlers made their way to Master Hand's office, "Hey, open up! We've got it!" Pit knocked on the door, "Master Hand? Are you there?"
"He practically lives in there…" Meta Knight began knocking as well, "Hello?"
The door opened slightly, and then seeing who it was Master Hand opened it all the way, "Oh, hey you guys. What do you need?"
"We've got the recording! Now we can actually do whatever we want into figuring out the truth! Ok, almost anything…but still!" Kirby trailed off when he saw around Master Hand. The room seemed dark and cold, unlike normal.
"It's nice that you guys are still up for helping, but now there's nothing we can do…" Master Hand began to shut the door, but Link pushed it open and walked in, the others following.
Master Hand shut it and flicked on the light, and then Meta Knight said, "What do you mean there's nothing we can do? Sonic's abuser is still here and we can find and expose them!"
Master Hand sighed, and then floated behind his desk, "You guys can go for it, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be."
"Hey, you're the one who can initiate anything around here and get anybody in; because Crazy Hand is technically insane…you alone can solve this!" Kirby argued.
"I can't…so many people wanted to see Sonic here and fight, and because of the whole third party deal I had to be extra careful with him to make sure he'd be safe, and I've failed. I've let myself down, I've let the rest of you Brawlers down, I've let the fans down, but most important I've let Sonic down. He's been violated and hurt and it's my fault."
"Master Hand…we can fix this! You can't give up!" Pit said, trying to get Master Hand to change his mind.
"All of you…just go. I don't want to talk right now." Master Hand went limp, meaning the conversation was over. Kirby was about to speak, but Link shook his head and the four left the room.
XXXXXXXXX
"You've done well…and your reward shall be arriving shortly."
Wario sent back a reply, "I'm glad that hedgehog is gone. Will we be found out?"
"No, our tracks have been covered. They have no evidence, and Sonic is so disturbed he won't speak out for a good, long while…and we'll scare him into silence if he dares to try and talk…give my minion the cuff as soon as it arrives with your reward."
"It shall be done."
"The pleasure was all mine…I couldn't have done this without you. Farewell." The screen flashed again, but this time it was dark red and sunset orange. Wario blinked a few times and stared at his screen.
"Strange…I must have fallen asleep here or something." Wario looked at the clock in the corner of the laptop screen, "What? The date here says it's been three weeks…I must have screwed up the clock…" Wario changed it back, "There we go."
That's when he noticed the cuff sitting beside him on his desk. He picked it up, "I kind of remember this thing…oh yeah, it was a stupid pop up and this thing flashed on the screen. What is it doing here?" Wario looked around, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary put the anklet in his pocket and went downstairs.
Everyone seemed upset; nobody was smiling or planning any Brawls. Wario looked from face to face. You would think somebody had died…
"What's everyone so down about?" Wario asked Bowser as he walked past, "What happened?"
"Did you lose your mind or something? Sonic's gone."
"Gone? Gone where?"
"He left Smash Bros. forever this morning, you idiot. He's been upset for some time… where were you for the past two weeks; on the moon?"
"What day is it?" Wario asked. Now he was confused…
"It's Friday; duh!" Bowser was tired of answering such stupid questions and walked away.
It was Friday? But Wario only recalled it being Sunday! Maybe he really did fall asleep for three weeks! But if that was so, why hadn't anyone noticed? And he would have starved to death after that long…
"Hmm…" Wario muttered out loud, and pulled the cuff out of his pocket, "I bet you have something to do with this, don't you?"
The cuff glinted back at him evilly in the light, but of course made no response.
Wario stared at the anklet for a full ten minutes. He whispered, "You did this, I bet. You must have had something to do with Sonic leaving." He twisted it around, looking at it from every angle, "But I wonder what you do."
XXXXXXXXX
"What now guys?" Pit's wings were folded against his sides in sadness, "Master Hand is so upset about Sonic leaving that he won't help us…" The four Brawlers had returned to Pit's room to talk.
"I say we search Sonic's room for clues. His abuser must have left some traces that both of them missed…" Kirby said.
"But how will we get in? We don't have the card key, and I don't know if Master Hand will give us the spare…" Link replied.
"Don't worry about that. I've got it." The four Brawlers turned to see Pikachu standing in front of the closed door. He must have slipped in while they were talking. Pikachu held up the card in his right hand.
"When did you get here?" Meta Knight asked.
"Like, a minute ago? I thought the same thing; checking out Sonic's room…and I heard you guys were trying to figure what was happening as well."
"Were you spying on us?" Link asked.
Pikachu nodded, "I owe that hedgehog my life…I would have died that night if it wasn't for him. So I've been eavesdropping a little. I'm so small that most people don't notice me, so it's easy for me to sneak." True enough; most newcomers thought Pikachu was an easy fight, and they quickly learned that their assumption was dead wrong.
"The more the merrier, I guess. It's not like you've done anything to him; if you did, Sonic probably would have let you fall," Pit said. The others agreed.
"Alright then, let's go…and hopefully you guys can update me on what's been happening with the fastest hedgehog in the world."
XXXXXXXXX
Sonic's eyes slowly opened, and he peered around the room. Lifting himself up on his left elbow, he could see that he was in his bedroom – well, not really his bedroom. Most of the time he slept outside, but when it was cold, wet or he was too injured to move, he stayed in Tails' house. Tails had given the room to Sonic, even though the blue hedgehog rarely slept in it.
"It's about time you woke up. Welcome back to the world of the living." Sonic flipped half over so he was resting on both elbows to see the familiar fox staring at him from the doorway.
"Hey Tails…long time no see."
"You fell asleep while I was flying back so I called Knuckles. Knuckles carried you inside, while I helped to unload your stuff. You've lost a few pounds, you know…do you Smashers not have the time to sleep or eat, let alone reply to your friend's messages?"
"Sorry, I've been busy lately…"
"Excuses, excuses…are you hungry?"
"I'm starving." Sonic followed Tails downstairs into the kitchen.
"Look, I know you've just returned from the Base…but we really need to talk," Tails said after he placed a chili dog in front of Sonic.
Sonic's hand shook while he reached for a glass of juice, "Tails, I really don't want to talk about it right now…"
"It's not about…you know…it's about something else."
"What, then?"
Tails sighed and took a seat, "While you were sleeping, you were muttering and thrashing back and forth. You were pretty disturbed…like you were having a horrible nightmare or something."
Sonic went pale for a second before asking, "Did I actually say anything?"
"Nope, just nonsense; but you sounded scared."
"Huh…I don't remember my dream." That was a lie; Sonic fully well remembered the dream. It must have been the eighth or ninth time when Wario came…he –
Sonic's thoughts were interrupted by Tails shaking his shoulder, "Hello, anybody home…?"
"What?"
"You just spaced out right then…are you alright?"
"Yeah, sure…" Sonic began eating, taking quick bites.
"Please Sonic, tell me the truth. You know I'll always stand by your side, no matter what happens."
"I know, but…I'm not ready. Later I will."
Tails looked at Sonic, his blue eyes hopeful, "Promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
"Alright," Tails sighed, "I'll let it go for now. Check in my workshop if you need me, ok?" Sonic nodded.
Once he was gone, Sonic let his head drop into his hands. How could he ever tell Tails he had been raped? He was young, yes, but he was smart. He probably knew enough about the topic anyways to understand…
"I can't do it. Everybody here looks up to me, and I just can't let them down. Now that Wario's gone, I'm sure I'll be able to snap out of this state of depression I've fallen into. Surely I will."
XXXXXXXXX
Pikachu swiped the card through the slot and opened the door to Sonic's bedroom. It was sadly empty now; the bed was just a mattress and there were no pictures on the walls. Nothing showed whose bedroom this once was. It hadn't been cleaned yet or had any plans been made on cleaning it; no one could stand the fact of clearing out a now-empty bedroom…
The four Brawlers quickly explained what they knew about Sonic, and Pikachu agreed to keep their work a secret. "Let's spread out and see if we can find anything that will help," Kirby said. The others nodded.
"I'll check the bathroom," Pikachu said.
"I'll come with you," Meta Knight added.
The other three began scanning the room. Link opened the closet and moved his hands around the bare shelves, checking to see if there was anything in the back. Kirby looked through the drawers in Sonic's desk, and Pit looked over the bed.
From the top it looked alright. There was a spot of blood on the mattress, but that probably was from a nosebleed or something of the sort; Pit's mattress also held some stains from injuries and snacks. Seeing nothing extremely unusual, Pit rubbed his hand along the headboard. Once again, he found nothing. There was no board at the end of the bed, so Pit decided to duck under to see if anything was there.
There were dust bunnies, a blue pen and one of the game pieces from Life. Also underneath the bed was a nickel, crumbs from something, a rubber bouncy Easter egg from the Easter Hunt and a small paper ball.
Pit grabbed the ball, and still on his stomach half underneath the bed he unfolded it. It was just a bunch of little reminders written on sticky notes and then attached to the page, each with their own date. Most of them were from before the abuse should have begun, but there were three that definitely came after:
May 22: Get more aspirin
May 29: Needing more stain remover
June 4: Pills now in drawer
The first was common among Brawlers, and the last probably was some sort of medication Sonic had been taking. It was the second one that had Pit confused: stain remover, of all things? What would Sonic need with that?
"Pit, did you find something?" The voice made Pit look up and he smacked his head on the bed frame.
"Ow…fuck…" Pit crawled out from underneath and rubbed his now aching head, "Thanks Link, now I'm in pain…"
"Oops, sorry…" Link moved Pit's laurel wreath so it was straight again, "What did you find?"
"Regular stuff, and then these notes…" Pit pointed to the one on May 29th, "What would Sonic want stain remover for?"
"No clue…" Link shrugged.
"Hey guys, check this out!" Kirby waved the other two over to the desk. Kirby pulled out the phone cord, "Look at this! Somebody destroyed it, probably to keep Sonic from making any more calls!" The cord looked like someone had cut through it.
"No wonder Tails couldn't reach Sonic; this phone is useless." Link sighed.
"We've found something interesting as well." Meta Knight motioned the other three to enter the bathroom. The floor and lower tiles of the wall was a deep ocean blue, while the rest was white. Turquoise accented the rest of the room.
Pikachu was standing in the shower, and he pointed up at the dispenser, "This thing is almost empty, and it should have been filled at the beginning of the month. That was only a week ago. He's been using a lot of body products…"
"That's not all; look at this." Meta Knight jumped into the Jacuzzi bathtub next to the shower, "All of the soap here has been used as well. Sonic must have had really wanted to get clean…" Meta Knight suddenly ended the sentence.
"Are you ok, Meta Knight?" Link asked.
Meta Knight swallowed slightly and then said, "I just remembered something: rape victims often have an obsession to wash, because they feel so dirty about it…"
"Please, couldn't anything else could happen to Sonic, anything but this…" Pit bit his lip and scanned the bathroom as well.
"Everything seems to point to the fact he was…you know…raped…" Pikachu rubbed his tail nervously.
"But he never came out with it…" Link trailed off.
It was quiet for a few moments, and then Kirby waved the paper in the air, "I think I've figured this note out!"
"What are you talking about?" Meta Knight asked.
"The note about the stain remover…if Sonic was raped, maybe there was something left behind on his bed, and he would need to hide it somehow. Even if the laundry is done by machine, someone might spot the evidence before it's washed away and get suspicious."
"You think there could be evidence on his laundry?" Pit asked.
"Do you have any other explanation?"
"Nope…so let's check it out this evening," Pikachu said, shutting the shower door, "The arena is fixed now, and we should get some Brawls going. Besides, the laundry should be washing right now, and I hate how loud it gets down there."
XXXXXXXXX
"Hey Sonic, are you still there?" Lucario was knocking on his bedroom door.
"Oh shit, oh shit…" Sonic whispered, panicking; scrubbing as hard as he could. This was the last of his sheet sets, so he hadn't changed it for three days…now the stain was so bad, he was rubbing it furiously and it wouldn't go away.
"Come on, come on; disappear already!" Sonic wiped off the excess stain remover and squeezed the bottle again. He grabbed the cap with the little brush and began to grind the gel into the fabric.
"Are you chickening out of our battle, or what?"
"I'm coming…just hold on!" Sonic put the cap on the bottle and sighed. While the stain wasn't as noticeable as before, it was still quite easy to tell what it was up close. Well, at least it would disappear in the wash. So all of the evidence was hidden…Sonic made sure to carefully fold up the sheets so the wet blotch in the middle wasn't visible.
"So there you are! Stripping your bed, then?"
"Yeah…stupid thing was caught underneath the mattress. That's why it took me so long."
"I see…well, I'm glad you're alive and well. I'll meet you at the arena after breakfast." Lucario went in one direction while Sonic went to the laundry hamper. He shivered slightly while stuffing the sheets down the chute, Lucario's words hitting closer to home than the Pokémon knew.
XXXXXXXXX
Tails sighed and rubbed the hedgehog's side to wake him up. He had basically slept the day away, "Sonic, quit moping around. What's with you?"
The sapphire blue hedgehog lazily opened one eye. He was lying stomach down on Tails' couch with one arm draped off, and one leg slowly slipping.
"Don't you want to go for a run or something?"
"Don't feel like it," Sonic muttered, and he rolled over to face the back.
"I haven't told anyone about the abuse…but I will if you don't tell me…"
"I don't want to talk about it right now." Sonic curled into a ball.
"When do you want to talk about it? Maybe you will in an hour, a day, a year?"
"Go away, Tails," Sonic growled, "You said you'd let this drop for now."
"I'm really worried about you; this is so far off from normal I'm scared that something will happen if you keep everything locked inside. So I'm not letting this go until you tell me the truth."
"I said fuck off!" Sonic snapped. He rolled over just in time to see Tails glare at him with anger and leave the room.
Sonic sat up and stared at his friend's retreating back. He had never, ever spoken to Tails that way. He quickly got up and chased after his friend, "Tails, I'm so sorry…"
"Go away, Sonic," Tails replied in the same tone Sonic had earlier.
"I didn't mean to –"
"I said fuck off!" Tails glared at Sonic one more time before heading down to his lab, slamming the door behind him.
Sonic slowly walked back to the couch and sat down, feeling horrible, "Great, because of my attitude I've got Tails swearing and hating me…but I can't make myself tell him the truth…is there anybody I can tell?"
XXXXXXXXX
"I hate going down here; it's filled with so many creepy things…" Kirby said as he was walking down the stairs to the laundry room.
"Are you scared of a bunch of spiders and bugs? Poor little Kirby…" Meta Knight mocked back.
"Actually, it's just those costumes that scare me…" Kirby shuddered.
Meta Knight stopped in his tracks at the memory, "Damn it, now I'm scared to go down there…"
"Move it, soldiers!" Pikachu said sarcastically as he hopped over the pair and made his way down. The two puffballs looked at each other and then followed.
The laundry was still going through the machines and coming out perfectly dried, folded and clean; although since it was drying and not washing, it was pretty quiet. Luckily, yesterday's laundry was still to be done.
"Ok, let's see if we can find Sonic's stuff…" Link looked up at the huge pile, "We're screwed."
"Well, all of his sheets are going to be blue, most likely, right? So we look for blue!" Pit began pawing his way through the tower, and the others began to dig as well.
It took a good half hour of searching before Pikachu called, "Found it!"
"How can you be so sure?" Meta Knight asked.
Pikachu pulled out a blue sheet with a look on his face that was a combination of sorrow and disgust. He turned the cloth slightly so everyone else could see the stain, "With this, how could you go wrong?"
The stain was dried semen, mixed with blood.
"Oh no…" Link whispered, taking a corner of the sheet. It looked like it already had been scrubbed before to make the stain less noticeable.
"Well, this is it. Now we just need to figure out who did it…" Meta Knight said quietly.
The five Brawlers were completely stunned. They had known before that Sonic could have been raped, but it wasn't until now that their fears were confirmed. They were all speaking in hushed tones, even though there was no reason to.
"Do you guys think that maybe this has been going on from the start?" Kirby asked.
"I think so…it would make sense. No wonder Sonic left; I would have disappeared A.S.A.P if this was happening to me," Pikachu slumped against the pile of laundry.
"So what do we do now?" Pit asked.
"We do some DNA testing." Everyone looked at Meta Knight, who then explained, "One time I was traveling and I met a researcher on DNA, and I have her phone number. All we have to do is collect samples from everyone and send them along with the sheet. I'm sure she will help us."
"Aw, does the noble knight have a lady friend?" Pikachu scrambled out of the way before Meta Knight could grab him.
"Very funny, mouse…"
"Hey!" Pikachu tried to kick Meta Knight, who had grabbed his tail.
"Stop it, you two. Your idea sounds great, Meta Knight, but we can't just go up to someone and say, 'Do you mind giving us a few hairs? It's for no particular reason at all…ok thanks bye!'" Pit said sarcastically.
"I wasn't saying we do that! We just have to be…crafty...in the way we collect the samples." Meta Knight let go of Pikachu, who promptly hid.
"And I guess we should send our own off as well, just in case someone asks about it later?" Kirby asked.
"Sounds like a plan," Pikachu said, crawling out from underneath a shelf.
"Then all we have to do is divide up the Brawlers we each take and set this into motion," Link said.
XXXXXXXXX
Even when Tails came up later, he didn't speak of the abuse for the rest of the day, although the thoughts stood between them like a fog. Shortly after ten, Sonic went to bed. He actually had packed the knife from the Base and hidden it; luckily Tails hadn't found it. He made a few more cuts on his wrists, cursing himself for doing so. At the least the pain made it easier to fall asleep; although his sleep was anything but peaceful.
"Come here, Sonic. You like that, don't you? You're so tight…good hedgehog; good boy…I'm going to fuck you real good…"
Sonic's eyes snapped open and he looked around the room. The clock read 12:19; the time when Wario usually came in. He shivered, waiting for the door to open, waiting for the nightmare to begin all over again…but there was nothing.
He knew Wario wasn't here and couldn't touch him, but Sonic was still scared. He was safe and wouldn't have to live through the torture again…at least physically.
Mentally, Sonic was still back at the Base, feeling the same pain as he had before leaving; trying to hide his feelings and endure the abuse. A small part was still convinced that at any moment, Wario was going to walk in and touch him again. Sonic kept his eyes on the door, waiting…the waiting was hard. It was like Wario was messing with him and waiting for Sonic to fall into a false sense of security before punishing him.
Sonic was chewing on the edge of his pillow in fear, still staring at the door, "I really can't get away. Even here I'm not safe. He's going to hurt me somehow; he'll find me…Wario gets me through my dreams and thoughts. I'm still his no matter where I am. My demon won't let me go."