It was a lovely day outside; the sun was shining in the clear blue sky, the birds were singing their lovely melodies, and the air wasn't too cold or too warm. In one of the neighborhoods far from town, four kids who called themselves the Little Einsteins were outside, all enjoying the outdoors.

Quincy was playing one of his musical instruments for Leo, who pretended to be his conductor; Annie was singing a song about how it was a beautiful day; and June was dancing elegantly through the flower field that grew around her house.

What the kids didn't know, however, was that something sneezy was about to happen.

As June was prancing and twirling about in her garden, she didn't notice as a small gust of wind blew upon her beautiful flowers. From their delicate centers, a fine yellow dust emerged and gathered to form a little cloud, yellow as the sun.

"Thank you, thank you," June said to herself as she bowed, imagining that she was recieving a round of applause for her graceful performance. When she was finished, she stood back up, a smile of contentment upon her face. "I picked a lovely day for practicing my favorite dance."

She took a light inhale through her nose and sighed happily - but then her eyes widened. She reared her neck back slightly, then brought it forwards, bringing her hands up to her mouth.

"Chu!"

Once she'd lost her breath, June opened her eyes, realizing what had just happened. She couldn't help but giggle to herself.

"Excuse me," she said politely, as if someone had heard her sneeze.

She pulled her hands away from her mouth and walked over to another section of the flower field. As she did so, another gust of wind blew behind her, pushing the yellow cloud somewhere else. Unbeknownst to the young ballerina, it was on its way to make her friends sneeze, too...

Annie had just finished singing one of her favorite songs, and was taking a minute to catch her breath. Once she'd done so, she giggled to herself in enjoyment.

"There's nothing I love more than hearing my own singing voice," said Annie.

What she didn't realize was that the yellow cloud from earlier was creeping up behind her. Once she thought she'd rested her voice enough, she cleared her throat a bit. Then she began to sing again, not realizing that a tickle was finding its way into her nose.

"La, la, la, la--" After a few notes, Annie's eyes widened as her nose twitched, moving here and there. She lowered her eyelids, but tried to continue her little melody. She couldn't get too far, though. "Laaa… Aaah-chew!"

Annie released a light sneeze, doubling over as she did so. She then stood back up, her eyes wide with surprise. She blinked a couple of times.

"That's odd. Where'd that come from?" she wondered. "It wasn't part of my song…"

She shrugged her arms cutely, and then put one hand to her chest. She took a breath to sing again, but then the tickle returned to her nose. She stood where she was with a rather endearingly funny face, and then sneezed a second time.

"Tttchyoo!"

The sound of her sneeze was quite squeaky; it sounded like the kind of sneeze that Minnie Mouse, a favorite cartoon character of hers, would emit.

"There it was again!" Annie brought her free arm up underneath her nose and rubbed it slowly. Then she put her arm down. "That is so strange. I can't sing if I keep having to… having to… Haaah-choo!"

She sneezed again, and then sulked in slight dismay. Just then, her eyes widened, and an inspired smile appeared on her face. She'd gotten an idea for a song she could sing, a song based on her problem. So she began to sing again, and this time, she didn't let the returning tickle in her nose stop her.

"I don't know how this started - Hah-tchew!" Annie put her hand over her mouth with her first sneeze, "but tickles are in my nose.

"It itches and twitches and then I-- Ah-ptchyew!" Another sneeze, this one uncovered, "and it goes on wherever I go.

"How did I get like this? Ah, ah-choo!" Annie lowered her eyelids as she moved her neck slightly backward with the first inhale, then moved it forward with her next sneeze, "I don't know, but I'm not pleased.

"I wish, I wish I wasn't this way; always having to--" Just as she was about to finish the final line of her song, Annie felt another tickle in her nose. Her nose wiggled here and there as she moved her neck backward again, lowering her eyelids. "--having to--"

"AHHHH-TCHYUUU!!!"

Annie released another sneeze, bringing her upper body forward as both of her feet left the ground for a second. This sneeze wasn't like the smaller ones she'd let out not too long ago; this one was louder and more forceful, especially for a little girl such as her. Once she was back on the ground, Annie placed her forefinger under her nose, looking a bit dazed from her strong sneeze. Luckily, she was able to finish her song there.

"...always having to sneeze."

Now that she'd finished singing, Annie sniffled as she rubbed her nose a few times with her forefinger. She'd sneezed quite a few times during her song, and she wasn't happy with the fact that she still had that itchy tickle in her nose.

"Really, though, I wish I wasn't as sneezy as I am right now…" Annie lamented. "Maybe one of my friends can find a way to help me stop sneezing. Ah, aaah-tchyew!"

She sneezed again, and then sulked. It wasn't too long afterward that she saw June walking up to her. She'd heard the sneeze.

"Hello, Annie," June greeted her. "Was that you sneezing just now?"

Annie nodded her head. "I'm not sure how it happened, but… Aaah-choo!" She sneezed again, bringing her hand over her mouth for a second before pulling it away "My nose has been feeling awfully sneezy lately."

"I'm sorry to hear that," June said with a sniffle, then lowered her eyelids as she tilted her neck backward. An inhale later, she brought it forwards for another one of her sneezes. "Haaah… Aaaah-chew!"

"Ah. Sorry." June rubbed her nose lightly with the back of her hand. "I've had a few tickles in my nose myself."

"Gee, I wonder why…" Annie replied. She then closed her eyes as she brought her neck backward a few times. Another sneeze was about to come. "Ah, hah… Haahhh-ptchewww!!"

"Oh, my!" June looked a bit surprised from hearing the sneeze. "Bless you, Annie."

"Thank you…" Annie rubbed her nose again with her forefinger. "By the way, my sneezy-ness has been so bad, I decided-- decided-- Ah-chew!" She sneezed again, keeping her finger under her nose, and resumed rubbing. "I decided to sing a little song about it."

"Well, I-- Ntchew!" June let out another sneeze, making sure to put her hand over her mouth. "Do you suppose you could sing it to me? Perhaps I could come up with some words for it, too."

"I'll try." Annie pulled her forefinger away from her nose, and with the lightest sniffle she could take, she sang her song once more.

"I don't know how this started - Ah-tchyew!" Both of Annie's hands went up to cover her mouth, "but tickles are in my nose.

"It itches and twitches and then I-- Hah-choo!" She turned her head away from June, "and it goes on wherever I go.

"How did I get like this? Hhh-- Aah-chuu!" Annie threw her right hand over her mouth for a moment, "I don't know, but I'm not pleased.

"I wish, I wish I wasn't this way; always having to--" Before she could finish the final line of her song, Annie felt her nose tickle once again. She placed her forefinger back underneath her nose, but judging by how her nose and eyelids twitched about, it was pretty obvious that her attempt to stop the sneeze wasn't working. "--having to--"

"HAAAAHHHH-SHEEEWWW!!!"

Annie released another loud sneeze, doubling over as she did so. She then rubbed her nose again, looking a bit unhappy, but still managing to finish her song.

"--always having to sneeze."

"You poor thing," June said in sympathy, before blessing her with a bit of emphasis. "Bless YOU, Annie!"

"Thank you." Annie sniffled, continuing to rub her nose. Not long after she'd said that, however, June found herself needing to sneeze again.

"Hah-ah… Nntchoo!" Luckily, she had just enough time to bring both of her hands over her mouth before it'd happened. She kept her hands over her mouth as she looked at Annie in rather sheepish embarrassment. "And bless me, too."

"Bless you is right," Annie said with a giggle.

"Well, if we're going to be sneezing," June said as she pulled her hands away from her mouth, "we might as well ask Quincy or Leo to-- Hhh-tchew! --to help us out."

"Good idea," said Annie.

With that, June and Annie headed over to whoever of their remaining friends they could find. What they didn't realize, however, was a gust of wind pushing the yellow cloud behind them.

"Aaah… Aaah-tchyoo!" Annie sneezed again, then sulked.

"Haaah-tchu!" June sneezed, too, and then placed one hand upon her chest. "Oh, dear. I hope we're not coming down with something."

"Me too!" Annie rubbed her nose again with her forefinger. "The only thing worse than being sneezy is being sneezy from a cold, or the flu, or anything else…"

"That would be worse, wouldn't it?" June commented.

Quincy was practicing his trumpet when he saw June and Annie walking up to him. He pulled the end of his instrument to greet them.

"Hey, June. Hey, Annie," Quincy started. "Um, is something wrong?"

"You could say that, yes," June replied. "We're not sure why, but-- Haaaah-tchew!" She sneezed once more into her hands. "--Annie and I can't stop sneezing."

"We were wondering if there was a way you could-- Aaah-choo!" Annie let out another sneeze of her own, then rubbed her nose with her arm. "--a way you could help us stop sneezing."

"Well, I guess I could play you girls a song on my trumpet." Quincy gave a light sniffle, although he didn't realize. "Maybe that'll help make your sneezes go away."

"Any sort of help would be nice," June admitted.

"Okay." Quincy cleared his throat a bit, then held his trumpet in front of his face as he took a deep breath. Before he could begin playing, however, he felt a tickle in his nose. Without any time to react, he gave a desperate sounding, "HAAAH--", before putting the mouthpiece of his trumpet in between his lips.

What followed, as he doubled over, was a strange but funny-sounding combination of loud brass notes. June and Annie winced in surprise, with Annie bringing her hands up to cover her ears He tried to stand back up, but emitted another "AH--" before he suddenly doubled over again, causing an almost identical round of different notes to come barrelling out of his trumpet.

"My goodness!" June said in disbelief.

"That was a really, really funny-sounding song you just played for us!" Annie said, also not believing her ears.

Quincy pulled his trumpet away from his mouth, looking a bit dazed. "Ugh. Sorry, girls." He brought his hand up, rubbing it underneath his nose. "I wasn't playing there; I was sneezing."

Annie's eyes widened. "What?! You're kidding!"

"Nope. Aaaah-- Choo!" Quincy released another sneeze, this time uncovered. He put down his trumpet on the ground. "And now my nose feels all itchy. Isn't that-- Haaah-- weird? Hah-tchoo!" Another sneeze, and he brought his hand up to cover his mouth.

"Oh, no… Not you, too!" Annie lamented in worry.

"I just don't understand. What could possibly-- Hah-chu --be making us sneeze?" June wanted to know.

"I don't know, but whatever it is… Ah-choo!" One more sneeze from Quincy. "...it sure is tickling my nose." He sniffled. Not too long afterward, Annie felt another one of her sneezes coming on. She reared her neck back, lowering her eyelids as she inhaled.

"Aaah… Aaah… HaaaaAAAHHH-- TCHEEEWWW!!!"

Annie shot her upper body forwards as she released the sneeze, blowing both of her feet off the ground for quite a few seconds. When she landed, she sulked as she rubbed her nose again with her forefinger.

"Wow! Bless you, Annie!" Quincy said, his eyes wide with shock. "I, canNOT, believe what you just did!"

"Sorry, Quincy…" Annie apologized, still rubbing her nose. "We've got to tell Leo about this. There's got to be a way he can help us!"

With a nod of agreement, June and Quincy followed Annie to where she thought Leo was. And neither of them were aware of the yellow cloud that the wind was pushing behind them.

Leo was sitting on a tree stump, reading a book that he had in his hands. That was when he heard three sneezes, one after the other; they sounded exactly like they were coming from his best friends. He looked up from his book, only to see June, Quincy and Annie walking up to him. He could tell by the looks on their faces that there was a problem on their hands.

"What's the matter, everyone?" Leo started.

"Oh, Leo, it's terrible!" Annie started. "We can't stop-- Ah-pchew!"

"Uh-oh." Leo put down his book, got up from the tree stump and walked over to Annie. She was rubbing her nose again, this time with her hand. "Are you feeling alright, Annie?"

"My nose is really, really itchy and tickly… Hah-chew!" She sneezed again, then rubbed her nose again.

Leo placed his hand on her forehead, but she didn't feel warm. "Hmm, you don't have a fever." Just as he pulled his hand off, a sneeze from June almost caught him off-guard.

"Aaah-chu!" June then sulked as she rubbed her nose gingerly with her arm. "Ugh. Sorry, Leo; my nose has also been rather sneezy."

"And I can't stop sneezing, either. Aaah, aaah-- Tchuu!" Quincy also released a sneeze, making sure to put both of his hands over his mouth.

"That's too bad - not to mention, very strange," Leo stated. "It doesn't look or sound like any of you are getting sick. Maybe there's something around here that's causing all of you to--" He suddenly felt an itchy sensation in his nose, which began to wiggle here and there. He lowered his eyelids and reared his neck back. He tried to finish his sentence, but he just couldn't. "To-- Aaah-chooo!"

"But what could be causing all of us to achoo?" Annie asked. Apparently, she hadn't realized that Leo had just sneezed. "We've been to a couple of different spots, and we were achooing in each one."

"Ugh." Leo rubbed his nose once with his arm, but then sneezed again - twice, in fact. "Hah-choo! Ah-chuu!" He then sniffled, rubbing his nose again with that same arm. "Excuse me."

"Oh, dear!" June said in horror. "Now Leo's sneezing, too!" She then gave a few quick, nearly inaudible gasps, before releasing another, "Haaahtchyew!"

"Talk about something to sneeze at!" Quincy commented before another sneeze slipped out, upon which he threw his hand over his mouth. "Ah, ah-choo!"

That was when Annie finally caught on; Leo, too, had become another target of the seemingly unknown sneeze attack that she and their friends had already been suffering from.

"Oh, no… Oh no!" Annie took a step back, her hands on her cheeks in horror. She had to pull them off, however, in favor of three more quick sneezes. "Ah-choo, ah-chyoo! Hah-pcheww!!"

Although none of these little releases were too powerful, the last one was enough to make her fall backward onto the ground. She then sulked in sadness as well as defeat, forefinger under her poor nose.

Out of instinct, Leo reached down and took his sister's hands in his own. He then pulled upward to help her up.

"Are you okay, Annie?" he asked. Just as he let go, however, he let out another sneeze, putting his right hand over his mouth in the process. "Aaah-choo!"

"Oh, this is terrible! The terrible-est thing in the history of terrible things!" Annie said in worry, looking on in concern as Leo rubbed his nose.

"Haaah-pchu!" Quincy doubled over with another sneeze, and then rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Yeah, it sure is…"

"It truly is!" June said in agreement. She gave another little, "Nntchew!"

With that, Annie decided the best way to express their resignation over their situation was to sing her song again. So she proceeded, not realizing as her friends joined in - despite that Leo and Quincy hadn't even heard it before.

"We don't know how this got started-- Hah-pchew!" She threw both of her hands over her mouth, "but we're all a-sneezing right now."

"I can't even play on my trumpet-- Ah-chu!" Quincy sneezed as well, also putting his hand over his mouth, "without making a really weird sound."

"If only we knew why we're like this-- Aaah-chooo!" Leo and June sneezed in unison, but didn't let that stop them from resuming their little round, "It's such a strange mystery."

"We wish, we wish, we were not this way," the four finished, or attempted to finish, adding an additional final verse as they did so, "you really don't want to be like this all day, always having to-- having to--"

"Ah-tchoo!" Leo sneezed,

"Hah-tchew!" June sneezed,

"Haah-choo!" Quincy sneezed,

"Aaaah-cheww!!" Annie sneezed, before they all finished,

"-always having to sneeze!"

Their song now finished, the kids rubbed their noses; Leo used his arm, June and Quincy used their hands, and Annie used her forefinger.

"What are we going to do?" Annie lamented, sniffling. "Where in the world are all these sneezes coming from?"

Leo raised his head for a few seconds, possibly to look off into the distance - but then his eyes widened. He'd seen something he'd never seen before, and he was sure his friends hadn't seen it before, either.

"Uh, guys?" Leo asked.

"Yes?" June replied, raising her head to look at him. Quincy and Annie looked over at him as well.

Leo pointed his forefinger, and the kids looked in that direction. They saw the yellow cloud, the one that had been following them where the wind had taken it.

"Wow…" the four said in unison.

"I've never seen a cloud like that before," Annie said.

"Me neither," replied June. "And especially not one as yellow as that."

"What do you think it's doing here? Hah-tchu!" Quincy rubbed his nose again with his hand.

"I'm not sure exactly," said Leo. He then sniffled. "Although just looking at it makes my nose feel awfully ticklish…"

"Tell me about it," Annie said in agreement. She then closed her eyes and reared her neck back; she was about to sneeze, or so she seemed. As soon as June and Quincy saw that, June brought her hands up to cover her ears, and Quincy brought his hands up to cover his eyes instead.

"Ah, hah, haaaaaahhhhh--..." Annie inhaled, and then placed her forefinger underneath her nose. That seemed to stop the sneeze, so she pulled her forefinger away. But just three seconds after she'd done that, she exploded. "HAAAAHHHH-TSHYUUUUU!!!"

And just like that, her forefinger was back underneath her nose. She sniffled once, then twice, looking almost exhausted from the amount of sneezing she'd done.

"Bless you, Annie," said Leo. "I'm not exactly sure what this cloud is, but do you suppose-- Hhh-choo!" His next sneeze sounded similar to how Tails would sneeze in an episode of one of the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, or perhaps one of the games. "--it could be the reason we're all sneezing?"

"Golly, Leo, I never looked at it that way," Annie admitted.

"But perhaps me and Annie could have a look at it and see if it does anything," June suggested. "We were the first ones to begin sneezing, after all."

Annie looked at her when she said that. "I don't know about that, June… What if it makes me-- Aaaah-pchoo!" She doubled over again with another sneeze, then rubbed her nose again. "--even more?"

June thought for a moment, then came up with an idea. "If you hold your nose gently, and breathe through your mouth, you shouldn't be able to sneeze too much more. Now, why don't we-- Chu! --go and investigate the yellow cloud?"

"Well, okay." Annie brought both of her hands up over her nose, pinching both sides of it shut with all of the fingers on her right hand, and using her left hand to hold those fingers in place.

She then looked ahead, eyeing the yellow cloud. She looked a bit nervous, and she couldn't help but whimper a couple of times. But then she felt a hand touch her shoulder; when she turned around to look, she saw her brother.

"Don't worry, Annie," said Leo. "We're right behind you."

"Yeah. It's not like it'll hurt you," Quincy replied. He then inhaled before another small sneeze came forth. "Hhh-- Ah-choo!"

Annie looked back over at the yellow cloud, and then she and June slowly began to walk up to it. Even though Annie's hands were firmly keeping her nose closed, she was sure that wouldn't quite be enough to keep another sneeze from coming. Aside from that, June was also holding her nose, albeit with one hand, to keep herself from needing to sneeze as well.

In a few seconds, the two of them had made their way up to the strange yellow cloud. They stared at it for quite a long moment.

"Do you think it can talk?" Annie wanted to know. June thought it would be silly for a cloud to talk, since most of them weren't sentient like Rocket, Big Jet and a few other things they'd met on their adventures were. But she decided to test that out and say something.

"Hello?" she started, but there was no response. "Mister Yellow Cloud? There's something we'd like to ask you."

"Are you the one who's been making us sneeze? Because we've been going achoo an awful lot today," Annie added, bringing one of her hands off her nose to point at the cloud. Her other hand continued to hold it shut, however.

But the cloud didn't respond. It just stayed where it was. June looked over at Annie, not looking too amused but not angry.

"It's not saying anything," said June. "We'd be the only ones to understand it if it did, anyway."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Annie replied.

After she'd said that, June cautiously removed her hand from her nose. Then she leaned her head forward until her nose was quite a few inches beneath the yellow cloud, and then took the lightest, most gentle sniff she could.

"Ah, ah…" Her eyes opened as she began to inhale. She pulled her head away from the cloud, but it was equal parts too little and too late, as she found herself sneezing again into her hands. "Haaahhh-chewww!!"

"Oh, my!" June said, sounding like she couldn't believe it. "This cloud really HAS been making us sneeze this whole time!"

"Really?!" The look on Annie's face told her she couldn't believe it, either. She pulled her other hand away from her nose, having forgotten why she was holding it in the first place. "Wow, and to think none of us found out until just now…"

She then sniffled to bring some relief to her itchy nose - but then her eyes widened and pupils shrunk as she winced. Her nose froze for a moment, and then began to twitch around. With another whimper, she threw her hands back over her nose, but the urge to sneeze had already spotted her. Her mouth quivered a bit as her eyes watered slightly.

"What's the matter, Annie?" June asked in worry. She was sure that she could guess what the matter was, though.

"I, I think I-I'm going to sn-sneeze again…!" warned Annie.

"I figured that," replied June. "It's alright, Annie; if you must sneeze, you may."

"N-no, you don't understand!" Annie said, hastily, her nose shaking wildly. "This is gonna be one of my really… really…"

"Ah, HAH, AHHH..."

As her breath began to hitch briefly but desperately, Annie just couldn't finish her warning. As June realized what was going to happen, she took a few steps back, moving one hand over her mouth and concern as well as suspense.

"HAAAH, AHHHH…" Annie continued to inhale, moving her neck back each time, until her eyes had fallen closed. She then sent her upper body as far back as it could possibly go, gave a final inhale, and then exploded with possibly the biggest and loudest sneeze she had ever released.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-SSSSSHHHHYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

Annie shot her upper body forwards with her massive sneeze, the force of which blew her quite a few feet backwards. In fact, by the time she'd landed, she was back with Leo and Quincy. As June ran over to her, the boys looked down at Annie in concern, watching as she rubbed her nose repeatedly with her forefinger.

"Wow!" Quincy said in disbelief. "Are you okay, Annie? That was a really big sneeze you did there!"

"It sure was. Bless you, Annie!" Leo replied.

"Thank you…" Annie sniffled a few times, still rubbing her nose. "Sorry, guys. I'm okay. I just couldn't help it…"

June reached her hand down to help Annie up. Annie smiled at her to thank her, but then gave another rather audible sniffle.

"That cloud is pretty mean if it can make us sneeze just by coming near us."

"Well, at least we know what was causing our sneezing in the first place. Ah-- Hah-choo!" Another sneeze from Leo, and with a sniffle, he rubbed his nose again. "But this cloud must be made of some kind of stuff that makes people sneeze."

"Well, maybe it is. But what? Ah-choo!" Quincy gave another sneeze, then sulked.

Leo looked over at June. "June, what were you doing when you first started feeling sneezy?"

"Well… Aaah-choo!" June sneezed into her hand before she explained. "I was dancing around the flowers that were growing around my house. It was a little bit windy at the time."

Leo thought for about a minute about what June had told him. Another light sneeze slipped out as he did so, but he didn't let that distract him. At last, he came to a conclusion.

"The wind must have stirred up some pollen from the flowers!"

"Aaah-chooo!" Quincy sneezed again, making sure to put his hands over his mouth.

"Bless you," Annie said as Quincy rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Thank you. But what's pollen?" Quincy wanted to know.

"It's a kind of powdery, dusty yellow substance that lives inside flowers," Leo explained. "When something makes it come out of the flowers, and if you get too close to it, your nose will start to tickle, and you'll start sneezing."

"So that must mean, this cloud that has been bothering us… Ahh, haah-tchew!" June sneezed again, putting her hands back over her mouth.

"…is really a cloud of pollen!" the Little Einsteins finished in unison.

"It all makes sense now!" Annie said with a smile. She couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds, however, before another sneeze came to get her. "Ah, ah, aaah… Hah-chyuuuu!!"

It sounded a bit forceful, but luckily wasn't too loud. Annie gave a rather sheepish giggle as she rubbed her nose with her forefinger.

"If we don't want this pollen cloud to make us sneeze anymore," Quincy said with a sniffle, "we'll have to find a way to get rid of it."

"Maybe Rocket can find a way to do that," said Leo. He turned behind him, held out one of his hands and called for the kids' favorite rocket ship. "Hey, Rocket!"

In a few seconds, a familiar red rocket ship came flying toward the kids. He descended onto the ground, bringing its wheels out as he did so.

"Do you suppose you could blow this cloud of pollen away?" June asked.

"Ah-choo!" Annie sneezed into her hands before adding, "It's been giving us the sneezes, and it'd be great if you could get rid of it for us."

Rocket nodded in response, and made his way over to the cloud of pollen. Before he could do anything, however, he stopped where he was, then moved his head back a few times.

"Rocket?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

Rocket moved his "neck" as far back as it could go, then brought it forwards with a "K'choo!" This was followed up by a similar sounding, "Ktchoo!" There was no doubt about it; he was sneezing, too. The kids could hear a few little inhales emerge from him as well, a sign another sneeze was coming. A panel in his body opened, and out came a robotic arm with a white, four-fingered glove on the end; this glove moved up to cover the end of Rocket's "face," and out came an "AHH-CHOO!"

This third sneeze was enough to blow him a few inches backward, although he was able to cover it. Once he slowed to a stop, he rubbed his "nose" with his forefinger on that same glove.

"Bless you, Rocket," the Little Einsteins said, one by one; Leo said it first, then June, then Quincy, and finally Annie. As he continued to rub his "nose," Rocket made a little sound in response to thank them.

"Oh, dear me. I didn't know pollen could make you sneeze, too," June said in concern.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I don't think you should help us get rid of this pollen," Quincy said. "What if you sneeze like that one dwarf did in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?"

"We certainly wouldn't want that to happen, do we? I surely don't," June replied.

"Me either," Annie said.

Although Rocket couldn't believe what he'd just heard, he could see the point the kids were making. He backed away from the pollen cloud, and eventually the mechanical arm that had the glove upon it was brought back into his body. The panel closed as well.

"Well, if Rocket can't help us-- Ahh-chu!" Another sneeze from Leo, who then rubbed his nose with his arm. "We'll have to get rid of this cloud ourselves. But how?"

He, June, Quincy and Annie all thought about what to do. Just then, an idea came to Annie.

"I've got it!" she said. "What if all four of us had to do a really big sneeze, all at the same time?"

Leo's eyes lit up as he smiled. "That's a great idea, Annie! If we all sneeze at once, all of the air that we blow out should be able to blow the cloud away!"

"Yes, but wouldn't it be hard for all of us to-- Ah, haah-chew! --to sneeze all at the same time?" June asked. She rubbed her nose lightly.

"Yeah, but not if we all try," said Annie. "Just follow my lead."

The kids stood where they were for a moment, until Annie could feel her nose begin to twitch again. She brought her hand over her nose to hold it shut, and then waved her other hand toward her friends. Soon, June's nose twitched as well, so she brought her hand up to hold her nose as well. Then Leo's nose also itched, so he held it with his hand; and Quincy held his nose when it began to itch as well.

"A-are you sure a-about this, A-Annie?" Quincy asked.

"I-I'm a-as sure as y-you c-can get…" Annie replied.

That was when a gust of wind pushed the yellow cloud toward the Little Einsteins. Annie counted to three, certain that their chance was coming.

"One… Two… Three!"

When she'd finished, the wind had died down; and now the cloud of pollen was right in front of the four children. They let go of their noses, closed their eyes and reared their necks back a few times. They were going to sneeze, and they could almost tell it was going to be a big one…

"Aaaaaah… Haaaaaah… HaaaaaaAAAAHHHHHH…"

"AH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

And that was exactly what it was. Leo, June, Quincy and Annie all exploded at the exact same time, bringing their upper body forwards, with the kind of sneeze that could be heard from miles away. Fortunately, the cloud of pollen practically exploded from the force of the sneeze; thousands and thousands of yellow particles were scattered and blown to goodness knows where, and another gust of wind from behind blew them even further away.

The four children all sulked from their powerful sneezes, but then their eyes widened as they saw the pollen dispersing. Had they not almost completely lost their breaths, they would have rejoiced over their resolved problem immediately; but instead, they all sighed with relief and rubbed their noses. Leo used his hand, Quincy and June used their arms, and Annie used her forefinger.

"Oh, thank goodness that's over!" June said.

"Thank goodness, indeed," Leo said in agreement.

"I… canNOT... believe that actually worked," said Quincy.

Annie wanted to say something, but she just sniffled as she kept rubbing her nose.

Rocket then made a few sounds, letting the kids know he had something to say. They turned around to look at him, and after a few more noises followed, he did something they didn't expect him to do. He spoke:

"Bless you!"

Leo, June, Quincy and Annie all smiled as they continued to rub their noses. "Thank you, Rocket!" they replied in unison.

A few minutes later, the kids went to Leo and Annie's house. There, they went to one of the bathrooms, where they each took turns pulling out a tissue from one of the boxes and wiping their noses. When they were done using their tissues, they threw them into the nearby trash bin before washing their hands at the sink. They'd lost track of how many times they'd sneezed into them, anyway.

"I don't know if you guys could tell, but I am so, so happy my idea worked," said Annie.

"And we are so, so happy that it did," Quincy added.

"It sounded pretty silly, but I guess sometimes the silliest ideas are the ones that work best," Leo mentioned.

June approached Annie with a smile on her face, and then hugged her gently but warmly. "Thank you so much for finding a way to help us stop sneezing, Annie."

"You're welcome," Annie said, hugging June in return. After a few seconds, they let go.

"Is there anything we can do for you in return?" June wanted to know.

"Yeah, is there?" Quincy asked.

"You could use a reward for lending us a hand, after all," said Leo. "Don't you think?"

"Gee, thanks, guys," Annie said, "but I don't think that's something you have to do right now. I'm just glad we're not sneezing anymore, too."

"We all are," June commented. The looks on Leo and Quincy's faces told Annie that they agreed.

They then all made their way out of the bathroom, and not too long afterward, they'd made their way back outside. As they did, however, something flew close to Annie. She looked over at it, seeing what it was: it was a little butterfly with pink wings. She raised the palm of her hand, and the butterfly landed on her fingertips.

"Oh, how cute!" said Annie. "Hello, Miss Butterfly. How are you on this lovely day?"

The butterfly didn't respond; or if it did, none of the kids could hear it. Then, however, the butterfly floated off of Annie's hand, fluttered up to her face… and landed right on her nose.

Leo, June and Quincy's eyes widened and pupils shrunk when they saw that. They had the strangest feeling they knew what was going to happen.

"Um, Miss Butterfly?" Annie asked. "I don't think my nose is a good place for you to be… You know that, right?"

The butterfly stayed where it was for a few seconds, and then flew off. But that was when Annie's nose began to twitch again. She lowered her eyelids and placed one hand on her chest, moving her neck backward. She was going to sneeze.

"Ah… Aaaah.. HAAAAHHH…" Her buildup sounded quite desperate and almost dramatic, which made all three of her friends think the sneeze would be another one of her big, loud releases.

But when it finally came, it was anything but.

"Ah-chyoo! Hah-choo! Aaah, hah-chew!" Annie shot her neck forwards a few times as she sneezed; the first two were uncovered, but the third one was released into both of her hands. She then stood where she was, blinking a couple of times, before rubbing her nose again with her forefinger.

Leo, June and Quincy all smiled; those sneezes had sounded quite adorable, and they'd been amusing to hear after that buildup. They each blessed her:

"Bless you, Annie!" said Leo.

"Yes, bless you," said June.

"Yeah, bless you!" said Quincy.

Annie gave a couple of light sniffles, forefinger under nose, but not without smiling and thanking her friends. "Thank you, everyone."

"Are you alright, sis?" Leo wanted to know.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Annie replied. "But I guess I didn't know butterflies could make me sneeze, too."

The kids all laughed over her comment as Annie continued to rub her nose. It may have been true that this had been quite a sneezy day for them, but it was alright; what mattered was that their problem had been solved. Even if one of them still had to sneeze from something sometimes, at least they could all go back to enjoying their day together.