Chapter 14 – Hundred Acre Wood Part 2

"Now," started Pooh. "would you three like to join me for my stoutness exercises?"

"Sure, we're game." yawned Sarah. Pooh went to his mirror and began singing to himself as he began exercising. He moved up and down, waving his arms and stretching.

"Up, down, up, when I up, down, touch the ground it puts me in the mood... up, down, touch the ground, in the mood" he smacked his lips. "for food. I am stout, round, and I have found speaking poundage-wise, I improve my appetite when I exercise. I am short, fat, and proud of that and so with all my might, I up, down, up down to my appetites delight. While I up down, touch the ground I think of things to chew. With a hefty happy appetite, I'm a hefty happy Pooh."

After a few minutes of doing the same, Pooh was all ready and the trio was as well. As he bended for some reason, part of his back ripped, showing the stuffing in him.

"Oh, stuff and fluff!" he said.

"Want me to fix that for you?" asked Sarah.

"No, no, it happens whenever I exercise." he fixed it easily and tightened it up. "That's better. Let's go see my dear friend Rabbit. It feels like its time for breakfast."

Walking outside the house, they began on their way, but stopped moments later when an owl stopped them. Pooh was happy to see the owl.

"Oh, hello Owl."

"Hello Pooh Bear. Who are your friends?"

"Ken, Sarah, and Alex, my new good friends."

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Owl, the Woods' most educated individual. Should you stay, I should tell you about my Aunt Elma during the Winter Storm of '45."

"We're on our way to Rabbit." said Pooh.

"Of course, of course." said Owl. "Well, good day Pooh, Alex, Sarah, Ken." he said before flying away.

Within a few minutes, they came to a tree with a rabbit hole in the back of the house. Pooh led the way to the back and inched close to the hole.

"Is anyone home?" he asked.

"No!" said a voice coming from inside.

"Nobody is at home?"

"Nobody!"

"Now someone would've had to say 'nobody', so somebody is home. Rabbit, is that you?" Moments later, a tall rabbit came out of the hole and stood before them.

"Pooh Bear, uh, what a pleasant surprise. You must be Ken, Alex, and Sarah. Christopher Robin told me that you'd be stopping by. I'm Rabbit." he shook all their hands.

"Pleasure to meet you." nodded Ken.

"Well, please come in through my front door, since you are obviously too big for the hole." chuckle Rabbit. They did just that while Pooh went through the rabbit hole.

Inside, it was cozy. A warm bed, a little table with chairs, and shelves full of jars that said: Hunny. Pooh was already at the table eating jar after jar of the golden nectar. The trio sat there as he ate and ate and ate and ate and ate and ate! After nearly two hours, the was finally finished and he was a bit larger then before.

"Thank you Rabbit." said Pooh as he shook Rabbit's hand and headed for the door.

"You sure you won't have anymore?" asked a concerned Rabbit.

"Is there anymore?"

"No there isn't."

Pooh inched through the hole, but couldn't go all the way. Pooh was stuck in the rabbit hole, unable to move forward or backward. Rabbit was in a frantic state of worry, pushing on Pooh to get him out, but it was no use.

"Oh dear, it's no use. You three comfort Pooh while I go get Christopher Robin!" said Rabbit as he began hopping out of the house and down the road. The three ran outside to Pooh and sat down next to him, easing him through it.

Nearly a few minutes later, Rabbit came back with Christopher Robin and a few other friends. One was a gray donkey who looked very gloomy, and the other two were a mama Kangaroo and a child Kangaroo. The mama hopped on over and looked sad.

"Oh dear Pooh bear. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Kanga. As long as I got my new friends here to comfort me, I'll be fine." laughed Pooh. Kanga looked to the three.

"I'm Kanga and this is Roo." she said looking down at her pouch and a small Kangaroo popped out.

"Hello!" cheered the young Kangaroo.

"I'm Sarah." said Sarah happily as she tapped Roo on the head. "This is Alex and Ken, my bestest friends."

"Oh, how sweet." smiled Kanga. "And the gloomy donkey here is Eeyore."

"Hi..." said Eeyore in a gloomy voice.

After Christopher Robin examined the hole and how good he was stuck, he came to a very wise decision.

"Well Pooh, we'll have to wait for you to get thin again and then we'll push you out."

"Oh, bother." said Pooh sadly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure our new friends will look out for you."

"We sure will!" cheered Sarah. Christopher smiled and everyone else left, off to continue their daily routines.

Days passed and passed before Rabbit was able to push Pooh a bit through the hole. His cheering woke the three up as he came out of the house.

"Today's the day!" he said as he pulled on his ears. In mere moments, the gang was coming along with a drum around Christopher's neck. That's when the started singing. For some reason, the trio knew the words and sang as well.

"Hooray for you!" they sang.

"Hooray for me!" cheered Pooh.

"Hooray, hooray, the Pooh will soon be free. De Dee Dum De Dum De Dum De Dum. Now the time has come for proving what the diet did for Pooh. And since we pledged he'd be unwedged that's what we're gonna do. He'll be pulled and he'll be tugged and eventually unplugged. We'll have a tug of war" Christopher Robin took Pooh's hand and many came from behind him and began pulling. Ken took the drum and pulled as Kanga pulled on his shirt, who had her tail pulled by Alex, who's shirt was being pulled by Eeyore, who was picked up and pulled by Sarah. "to open Rabbit's door. Think heave-age. Think ho-age. And out the Pooh will go-age. For mind over matter has made the Pooh unfatter. Heave ho! Heave Ho! Heave-heave-heave-heave-h-eeee-a-ve!" and with a final push from Rabbit, Pooh went flying out of the hole and clearly a few miles into a honey tree.

They all quickly reached the tree and Christopher was worried.

"Stuck again..." said Eeyore.

"Don't worry Pooh! We'll get you out!" shouted Christopher

"No hurray! Take your time!" said Pooh from inside the tree.

After the grueling hour of getting up the tree and removing Pooh, he was safely on the ground and was smiling from eating so much honey from the tree. As Pooh hugged his new friends, they got a noise coming from their watches.

"Time for us to go guys." said Alex.

"Already?" asked Christopher.

"Sadly,"

"Will you come back?"

"Someday soon." said Ken.

"I'll miss you new friends." said Pooh. Ken couched down near his friend.

"As long as we're in here." he touched Pooh's heart. "we'll always be with you."

"In my fluff?"

"No silly, in your heart."

Pooh smiled and gave Ken the best hug he could muster. The same went for Alex and Sarah. They could feel the power of the book pulling them up and out of the book and back into the house in Hollow Bastion.