The wind beat against Funshine, pelting rain into his face and eyes. The droplets felt like pings of fire as they hit him, and as soon as the door closed behind him, lightning lit up the sky, the bolts briefly illuminating the land. He could hardly see a foot in front of him, and three steps outside his hut and he was disoriented. The wet sand squished beneath his toes as he looked around. All he could see was darkness.

The clouds above him were black and angry, forked tongues of lightning moving between them and providing brief illumination, but he needed more light. He rubbed his belly roughly, and a beam of light shot from his belly badge. The ray seemed thin and wavering in such dark, stormy weather, and he could only see a few feet in front of him through the sheet of rain. But he knew Care-A-Lot so well that a few feet was all he needed.

As he trekked through the cold, cutting rain, his single-minded focus was on Grumpy, on getting to him and helping him however he could. He fought against the gale, heading for the bridge to Gloomy Glen. It was a much longer walk than a ride, but he didn't dare get into the Rainbow Ride in a lightning storm.

He passed Share's cottage as he struggled through the Forest of Feelings. The light twinkling through the storm promised warmth and safety, but he pressed on, crossing the bridge to another island fifteen minutes later. Going off his memory, he snaked through a valley and then a small forest on his way to the glen. When he finally trudged into Gloomy Glen, he was shivering from exhaustion and cold. Lightning split the sky again, and a booming roar of thunder met his ears, almost deafening. Then another roar met his ears, one that seemed to contain thunder in its core, but it wasn't just thunder. It was a cry of pain.

Funshine stomped through the mud until his light beam rested on Grumpy's Care-A-Van, and he fell against it, gasping for breath. He was almost there. Just a few more feet…

Another roar met his ears, so loud and powerful that it made his ears tingle. The pain was so sharp, this time mixed with fear that bordered on terror. And it came from inside the Care-A-Van. He had to get in there! He had to help! Funshine screamed and launched himself at the door, beating against it with his fists.

"Grumpy!" he bellowed. "Grumpy! Let me in! I'm here to help!"

A cry of fear came from inside, faint against the howling wind and pounding rain. But nobody came to the door. Funshine tried the knob desperately, knowing it was no use, but to his immense surprise and relief, it turned smoothly and opened. The door was flung back against the side of the van, and Funshine lunged inside and tugged it shut with all his might. The slam was loud, and another pained scream came from behind him. Funshine turned around, his eyes scanning the room for Grumpy, and what he saw made him freeze.

In the center of the room, surrounded by tools, globs of spilled paint, and a half-painted train toy, was a black bear. He was bent over, his paws clasped against his ears, breathing fast and moaning on every exhale with a sigh of wind and rain. It was a Thunder Bear. Funshine didn't know what to do. He couldn't believe it. Had the bear attacked Grumpy? He stepped closer and saw something. Between the Thunder Bear's knees, on his belly, was a rumbling black rain cloud. There were no hearts on it, but yellow bolts of lightning. Thunder Bears didn't usually have belly badges, but he'd know that badge anywhere. It was Grumpy.

Funshine stared in disbelief as the truth of the situation crashed over him. Grumpy was a Thunder Bear. Their own Grumpy, disagreeable, cranky Grumpy, was actually a Thunder Bear. Funshine's mind went numb, and he tried to reconcile the stories of terrible Thunder Bears with Grumpy. It didn't click. But then his mind turned to the scared, wary, sometimes playful little black cub he used to spend time with. Were they the same? He and Grumpy were near the same age. They would have been cubs around the same time.

Funshine was drawn out of his thoughts when Grumpy fell forward with a wail, his eyes glowing blue but focused on nothing in the van. It didn't matter at the moment, he decided. All that mattered was helping his friend, Thunder Bear or no. He gingerly stepped through the scattered tools and knelt down beside Grumpy.

"Hey, Grumps. It's okay."

He reached out his paws, laying them gently on Grumpy's back. The reaction was instantaneous. A roar of thunder blasted out of Grumpy's mouth, and the cloud quaked beneath them as the wind howled and lightning flashed. Thunder crashed a second later, shaking the sky, and Grumpy cried out, flinging himself away from Funshine, frightened hissing and the sound of splatters of rain coming from his mouth. Funshine got the message at once: do not touch. He sat back and shivered from cold and surprise.

What was he supposed to do if he couldn't even give Grumpy a Care Hug? He stared at the shaking bear in front of him and thought hard. They'd had one kid, about eleven, who'd been abused. She'd had a flashback once, and Grumpy had laid out the rules. Don't touch her, not even for Care Hugs. Well, he'd remember that for next time. What else? Don't ask about what she's seeing. That might be too much. Okay. He thought harder as Grumpy began groaning and shaking as lightning flashed again.

Talk calmly and firmly, reassure them, and get them to focus on the present! That was it. Funshine swallowed and took a deep breath. He crawled closer and stopped a short way away from Grumpy.

"Hey, Grumps," Funshine said, forcing himself to remain calm. "Hey, it's me. It's Funshine. Can you hear me?"

Grumpy let out a noise of rain and wind, but he seemed unable to speak in English.

"You don't need to talk. If you can hear me, nod your head, okay? Just nod if you can hear me."

Grumpy didn't move for a few moments then jerked his head up and down, his eyes still glowing.

"Good. That's good, Grumps. I need you to look at me. Can you look at me?"

Grumpy shut his eyes tight then opened them. The glow was brighter, yellowish-white instead of blue, almost like what he'd looked like as a cub. But the important thing was that he was focused. He was scared and confused, but he looked directly at Funshine.

Funshine smiled. "Good. Good job, Grumps. Now look around. Tell me what you see. What, um, what colors do you see?"

Funshine hoped he was doing this right. He vaguely remembered Grumpy asking the girl to do things like name colors and shapes. Grumpy whined like the wind whistling through eaves, and Funshine hesitated. Reassurance, right.

"It's okay, Grumpy. You're right here. Whatever's going on in your head? That's in the past. You're right here, and you're okay. You're with me in your Care-A-Van." He paused. "Can you feel the floor?"

Grumpy nodded, quicker this time, the sound of a shower of raindrops falling from shaken leaves leaving his mouth. Funshine didn't understand, but he smiled

"Good. Can you wiggle your toes?"

Grumpy made another noise then looked down at his feet. He seemed surprised to see them there. After a moment, he began to slowly wiggle his toes. He dug them into the rug, flexing them into the soft cloth. He began to stir a little, and his paws unclenched from around his arms as he reached down to rub the rug with his fingers.

"You feel the rug? Can you tell what colors it is?" Funshine asked.

A hissing patter, like droplets blown onto a tin roof, came from his mouth. Funshine had no idea what was said, but he decided to humor him.

"What other color? There's two."

Grumpy drew his finger onto the white part and spoke in Thunderspeak again, this time letting out a soft rumble like a fading storm.

"That's right. The rug is blue and white." Funshine looked around desperately. "What color am I?"

Grumpy slowly looked up, his eyes even brighter than before, so much so that Funshine could barely see his pupils or blue irises, only yellow-white, like lightning flashing. It reminded him of Inky again. Grumpy made a whistling noise, like a soft breeze fluttering in leaves, and instantly Funshine knew he'd said yellow. He liked the noise for yellow. It reminded him of the breeze blowing fluffy clouds across the sky as the leaves rustled, dewy with rain and fresh and clean, like the world made new.

"That's right. I'm yellow. And what's on my belly?"

Grumpy seemed to be coming out of it. He made another noise, this time of sizzling, like steam created by water thrown on a hot pan.

"That's right. A sun."

Funshine paused as Grumpy looked around, the confused expression never leaving his face. He suddenly looked tired, and he rubbed his eyes. Funshine inched closer.

"Can I give you a Care Hug, Grumpy?"

Grumpy stared at him for a moment then nodded and reached out toward him. Funshine carefully embraced the black bear, who sighed in delight, nuzzling his face into the yellow fur.

"That's it, Grumps. You're okay," Funshine murmured, rubbing his back. He pulled back. "Need anything?"

Grumpy yawned and rubbed his eyes again, making a pitter-patter noise.

"Okay then. Let's get you laid down. You want your blankie?"

Grumpy nodded, so Funshine grabbed the Carry-All and rooted around in it. After a minute, he pulled out Grumpy's soft blanket, covered in moons and stars. He helped the black bear up the ladder into his bed, then carefully tucked him in. Grumpy gave a satisfied sigh, closing his eyes and curling up under his blanket. Funshine made sure he was comfortable then hopped down onto the floor and took a deep breath. That has been wild.

As Funshine stood there in the cool van, he became aware that he was still drenched from being out in the storm. The lightning and thunder had stopped, but the rain still fell from the sky in a heavy sheet. He didn't dare leave Grumpy anyway. So Funshine rooted around in Grumpy's Carry-All and finally pulled out a big, fluffy towel. He dried himself off then prepared to spend the night. He cleaned up the spilled paint, set the train aside, and stacked the tools neatly off to the side.

Several times Grumpy made soft rainy and thundery noises in his sleep, and each time Funshine looked over to make sure he was okay. He slept comfortably, hugging his blanket, which he was so embarrassed about needing. Every bear knew about it anyway, but they pretended they didn't so Grumpy wouldn't shy away. He was so sensitive about needing people. But it was very clear to Funshine that he did need people. He needed help, and a lot of it.

As Funshine pulled out a sleeping bag, he wondered what Grumpy usually did when he had flashbacks. It was obvious that nobody knew about them. Tenderheart would throw a fit if he knew that one of his Care Bears suffered like Grumpy clearly did. Why wouldn't Grumpy come and ask for help? What held him back?

And then Funshine wondered what exactly had happened to Grumpy that was so traumatic as to cause such flashbacks. When he had talked to Cheer, he'd mentioned near-death experiences. Could Grumpy have almost died once? When? It must have been when he was a cub, back before he'd come to Care-A-Lot. Then again, why had he come to Care-A-Lot? What about his family? Why had nobody ever come for him?

All these questions raced through Funshine's head as he unzipped the sleeping bag and slipped inside. He snuggled down into the warmth and continued to ponder the puzzle that was Grumpy. He just didn't understand how Grumpy had come to live in Care-A-Lot. And for that matter, how had he changed his appearance? All Thunder Bears were black, and it was clear that Grumpy could change colors. He had been his usual blue-furred self just a couple hours before. But now he was black as midnight. It was strange.

And as Funshine began to fall asleep, the biggest question of all popped into his head. If Grumpy was a Thunder Bear, why did he have a belly badge? It was the mark of a Care Bear. So how did he come to have one? Before he could think too deeply about that surprising mystery, the day's activities caught up with him, and he fell asleep to the soothing sound of rain hitting the top of the van.