Beast's world was soon far away behind us as we blasted off toward our next destination. I settled in the back seat with Donald and Goofy while Sora got to pilot the ship. He got Donald's official approval to do so, so there were no disputes about who got to do what.

But, when we got to a certain point, I noticed that the gummi ship was slowing down and changing directions. The path that we needed to go to was the other way.

"Sora, what are you doing?" I folded my arms and grumbled at my friend. "We're need to go that way."

"Hey, it's not my fault!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"Huh?" Goofy titled his head in confusion.

We were all crowded around Sora's seat when we noticed something odd going on. The steering controls were acting on their own. Sora wasn't doing anything to take us off our intended route, after all. I kind of felt bad, but there was no helping it now.

"Wait a minute..." Sora scratched his head. "Is the ship moving all on its own?"

"Yeah, you're right," I said, sitting back down. "We're being taken back to Hollow Bastion."

After being led back to Hollow Bastion, we docked just outside the town and made our way to where Merlin's house was. My guess was that he and the others wanted to see us about something. It'd have to be important if we were dragged all the way here by what had to be the old wizard's magic.

Do they have any info about Riku? I wondered to myself, smiling a little bit.

"I wonder what's up," Sora said, leading the way passed the reconstructed houses.

"Huh... maybe Merlin's got some more stuff to teach you, Sora!" Goofy teased.

"Aw..."

Taking a turn around the corner, we could see that the door to Merlin's place was sitting wide open. I narrowed my eyes and focused my gaze on it. That wasn't like them to carelessly leave it open like that. It was dangerous, especially since Heartless and Nobodies were lurking around.

A Heartless trio of Soldiers came running out of the cozy home seconds later, alerting us of their presence.

"Uh-oh!" Donald gasped.

"Not good," I gritted my teeth, rushing toward the Heartless with Light Seeker at the ready. The Heartless, to our dismay, ran away before we could take them out.

"C'mon, let's go check and see if everything is okay," Sora suggested and pointed to the house.

Inside, Merlin was on the ground rubbing his backside. I ran over to him and helped him back to his feet. It didn't look like he was badly hurt, but there were some scuff marks on his robes. Those Heartless did a number on his home, though. Books were knocked all over the place.

"Uh... Phew... Thanks, dear," Merlin patted my shoulder, and I nodded. "Well, now... took your time, did you?"

"Oh, so it was you who summoned us, Merlin?" Goofy realized.

"Yes, yes," Merlin confirmed. The old wizard was still out of breath a little, so he sat down in his chair and sipped a cup of cooled tea to regain his strength. "But it seems I used too much power in doing so, and those infernal Heartless...Oh..."

"What's up?" Sora asked.

"Well, I happened to stumble upon this in the Zero District," Merlin pulled out a book from his bag and handed it to me.

I gasped and admired the book's cover. On it were four figures- a little bear wearing a red shirt, a tiger bouncing on its tail, Sora, and myself. Donald jumped onto my back to see it, too, and the others gathered around with happy faces. I remembered the tender memories we shared with Pooh and his friends.

"It's Pooh's storybook!" Sora announced gleefully.

"That's right," Merlin chuckled, standing back up. "Sora, Kara- I know you're both good friends of Winnie the Pooh. That's actually why I summoned you here. And when I did, I was attacked by the Heartless. O-Of course, I fought back with some rather powerful magic, but then I feared the book would get damaged. So, I... Er. Now, just a moment. Leon and the others need to hear this, too! I-I'd better go and find them. Be back in a jiffy."

Merlin left, poofing away into a puff of magical clouds. I tried to let all of what he just said sink in, but it wasn't working so well. He was about to go into detail about his "fantastic fight against the Heartless", I was sure. It sounded pretty interesting. I wish he'd have continued a bit more.

"Anyway..." I turned to Sora and the others with the book still in my hands.

"I wonder how Pooh's doing," Sora said, staring at the large book.

"You two wanna find out?" Donald asked us, and we turned to each other thoughtfully.

He smiled big, and I grinned at the same time.

"Yeah!"

"You guys!" Goofy held his mouth upon seeing the Keyblade masters square up to Winnie the Pooh's storybook.

Sora hunkered down and gave Goofy a thumbs up. "Cover for us, 'kay?"

"We won't be long," Kara smirked. Donald stood by with the opened book in his hands, waiting for them to get sucked into the world inside the storybook. A light shined and warped both Kara and Sora inside, taking them to the Hundred Acre Wood.

Goofy looked around, but Merlin was still absent. He hoped that they'd hurry back so to avoid getting in trouble by the powerful wizard.

"Ya think this is okay?" the shield knight asked Donald, but he noticed the court magician chuckling darkly. "Donald?"

...

"Let's see..." Sora walked around the page and looked around at all of the pictures there were. "Where could Pooh be? The meadow?"

"Mm, maybe we could check out his home," Kara suggested, pointing to a popup of Pooh's house.

Approaching the familiar setting, the duo found themselves walking down a long and windy path to a part of the woods. They were near Pooh's home now, and they could see the sign sitting above the front door. It just so happened the Pooh was sitting outside on a log, right in front of a warm campfire.

Smiling, Kara was the first to approach Pooh and extend a warm greeting.

"Pooh Bear!" she grinned, leaning down to be at eye level with the yellow bear. "How are ya?"

"Hey, finding enough honey?" Sora chimed in.

"Oh, yes," Pooh nodded. "In fact, I was just about to do my stoutness exercises. Would you like to join me, Sora and Kara?"

"Sure, I'm game!" Sora agreed to it, then looked to Kara.

"Why not?" Kara said.

"Let's..." Pooh went to hop down from the log he sat on, only to freeze midair.

The very air around them stilled. A leaf dropping from a branch had stopped in its descent. Kara furrowed her brow as Sora went to check on Pooh; they could still move freely. Touching the leaf with her finger, Kara gasped when it shattered into tiny fragments.

"Sora!"

Kara called out to her friend, but it was too late. His hand was inches away from Pooh. An invisible force repelled Sora away, knocking him into Kara. It was like a whirlwind was throwing them out of there.

I landed hard on my front when the book ejected us from the Hundred Acre Wood. Groaning, I sat up and turned around to see the book sitting on a podium against the wall. Sora was next to me, looking worriedly at it as well. The book closed by itself and was locked tight, denying us entry.

What happened? I wondered, slowly getting up to my feet. Donald and Goofy aren't here...

"Sora! Kara! Hurry!" we heard Donald shouting from outside.

To my ears, it sounded a lot like trouble was brewing out there. I turned on my heels and ran outside to confront a band of Heartless surrounding Donald and Goofy. Those creeps must have thought to raid Merlin's abode while we were busy in the storybook.

I summoned Light Seeker and charged a few Shadows spawning in front of the doorway. Sora came up behind me with his Kingdom Key, and he took out a few more Heartless attempting to get behind me.

"Sora, the book?" I turned to him after finishing off another Shadow.

"Book?" he blinked, only to realize at the last minute that he didn't have it with him. "It's still in the- Hey!"

"Give that back!" Donald stamped his feet.

A group of Soldiers came running out of Merlin's house, one of them holding the book triumphantly. It's claws were digging into the fragile fabric of the book. If they weren't careful, and I doubted that they would be, the book would be torn all up.

Merlin's gonna be mad at us now, I gritted my teeth and chased the Heartless down through the alley while the others handled the ones around the house.

"I'll get it!" I called back to the others and ran at full speed after those thieving Heartless.

Catching up to the Heartless in the back, I cut it down and pursued the other two before they could escape. Zantetsuken...! I slashed through the remaining Heartless in one decisive blow, putting an end to this wild chase. The book landed harshly on the stone ground when the Heartless faded. I picked it up and returned to where the others were waiting; they also came out victorious.

A gloomy mood hung over our heads in spite of the win. Long tear marks ran along the front and back sides of the book. It was damaged pretty bad by the Heartless thieves. Hopefully, it wasn't too bad on the inside. I gulped quietly and gave the book to Donald along with a page that had been torn out of it.

"Think it's okay?" Sora asked worriedly, staring at it.

"Gwarsh, maybe you two better go back and make sure Pooh's alright," Goofy suggested.

"But, what about Merlin?" Donald asked.

"Well..." Goofy tapped on his chin. "Gwarsh, I forgot about that."

"We'll just have to be honest and explain what happened," I sighed. "Anyway, let's go see Pooh."

"Right!" he nodded as Donald opened the book.

Sora and I were enveloped in a light. The book, still functioning as it did before, took us back to the storybook world.

Sora and Kara touched down on the book's pages once again. To their dismay and misfortune, much of the book interior was blank as a result of the Heartless attack. It was lucky for them that there was still one popup page standing. Pooh's house was their destination again.

Wasting no time in getting to Pooh's home, the young masters ran along the winding road to the large tree sitting in the middle of the woods. They stopped near a large tree root and saw Pooh sitting on the same log he was on during their previous visit. It was a relief to see that he was doing just fine. That meant the damage was not extensive.

"Pooh!" Sora called out to the yellow bear on their way over, but he didn't hear him.

Kneeling down beside Pooh and the small campfire, Kara examined him closely to see if there really was nothing wrong with him. Sora was on the other side, smiling happily at his friend.

"We're so glad you're okay, Pooh," Sora said, getting down on one knee.

"And I'm glad you came to visit," Pooh smiled kindly. "But, you see, I was just about to do my stoutness exercises. Perhaps we could visit a bit later... Somebody-I-Don't-Know."

"Oh... sure," Sora stood up, scratching his head in confusion.

"Er..." Kara put a hand to her mouth and looked back to Sora in an equal amount of confusion.

"Uh, so how's Piglet these days?" he asked instead of responding to the peculiar matter thrown at them.

"I don't think I know anyone by that name," Pooh said, shocking them. He continued to do his exercises. "Now where was I? Oh, yes. My stoutness exercises."

"Pooh?" Kara spoke quietly, wanting to reach out to Pooh Bear. Yet, the little bear paid no mind to them. It was like they were of no important whatsoever.

"Something strange is going on here," Sora said, folding his arms. "Maybe we should go back and tell Merlin about this."

"I think you're right," Kara nodded in agreement.

Upon exiting the Hundred Acre Wood, we saw Merlin standing over by a pile of books with Merlin. He finally returned from his trip into town or wherever he was. Those three were talking about something, but their attention turned to us when Goofy pointed our way.

Of course, the look on Merlin's face told us that he wasn't all that impressed by our actions. I was certain that the others already told him about the Heartless attack.

"Couldn't be bothered to wait up for an old wizard, eh?" Merlin sighed.

"Sorry about that..." Sora smiled sheepishly.

"Anywho, how are thing's in there?" the wizard asked, paying no more mind to our lack of patience. "I heard about the trouble those Heartless gave you."

"Ah, well..." I winced. "Seems like Pooh's forgotten all about us."

"And not just us- all his other friends, too," Sora continued on.

"Wack!" Donald quacked in shock.

"Oh, no!" Goofy shook his head.

"I was afraid of that..." Merlin sighed. He walked over to the podium that had the book on it and opened it up to the page containing Pooh's home. There was plenty of evidence pointing to the darkness. "I suspect it has something to do with those pages stolen by the Heartless."

"Oh, right, kinda like the last time," I said. And thinking about the page I picked up earlier, it went back into the book to restore Pooh's home. "I'm guessing we have to... go on a huge hunt to pick up all the torn out pages."

"Right you are, dear," Merlin nodded, closing the book. "This book is one of the world's most cherished elements. I'd been meaning to tell Leon I'd found it, but perhaps we should keep it between us for now."

"We will!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy shouted. I simply nodded and agreed to the plan.

"Good, good..." Merlin chuckled. "Now, the book isn't all that's cherished... This is for you, Sora."

Merlin used his magic to create a sapphire blue orb, and he let it float over to Sora. The symbol on it was vaguely familiar.

"What is it?" Sora asked, taking it into his hands.

"Simply concentrate on it with all your heart, and you need only say the word to summon an ally who will help in times of need," Merlin explained to him.

"Oh, so you mean a summon, like Mushu when we were here," I figured, and Merlin nodded.

"Precisely!" Merlin smiled. "Now go forth, with your friends by your side!"

"Thanks, Merlin," Sora grinned brightly, accepting the gift. "We're worried about Pooh, so we'll be back once we've found those torn pages."