Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of the update. Gosh, we're already three months away until the end of 2017! Where'd the Time go?
Oh well, at least next year(hopefully if they don't change the release year for the real KH3)is something I'm really looking forward to.
I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy.
CH25: An Unusual Visit.
By the time Sora and occasionally the others were done, they were met with a brief silence, as everyone who heard the story shared concerned glances. Sora and his group didn't blame them for looking and most likely even feeling alarmed with how the situation was really going on right now.
"...And, you're a Keyblade wielder, chosen by Sora, and despite that, you were forcefully exiled from your world due to Davy Jones and tricked him into believing you're dead?" Leon finally quired to Jack after a few moments, also getting that Sora had admitted that he'd chosen the Pirate as his successor without realising it.
Jack shifted uncomfortably, grinning sheepishly, "Pretty much. You can thank Lizzie for that one."
"Lizzie?" Sora asked, dumbfounded.
"I think he means Elizabeth." Goofy thought, somehow reading along the lines of what their pirate companion was talking about. Once Sora remembered, he nodded in understanding and realized that Jack had gave Elizabeth a nick-name.
Leon sighed, placing a hand to his forehead. "Looks like things have gotten more and more complicated."
"Sorry." Sora muttered, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Hey, didn't the Professor mention about you guys havin' an update on Chaos and Bhunivelze?" Lea quickly spoke up, remembering the main reason why they were all here in the first place.
"I sure have." Von Drake said, before admitting, "And uh, it's not what any of us had expected."
"Indeed." Even nodded in agreement, explaining, "Through the research Ienzo, Von Drake and I have looked through along with the others is quite astonishing. It appears that Chaos is, shall we say, an abomination of discord and destruction."
Lea rolled his eyes, "We already know that much. Not to mention that Yen Sid warned us that Chaos' lookin' for allies to go up against us."
"As are we all. However, it appears that Chaos and Bhunivelze were once allies, along with a couple of others during the time of one hundred years ago." Even cotinued.
"What!?" Sora's group exclaimed, shocked. Did that mean Chaos and Bhunivelze were awake a century ago too? How was that even possible?
"In a diary that we found in Ansem's Lab, it was handed down to him and his ancestors by someone who we are unfamiliar with. All we can say is that he wore a black coat and could foresee the future events. It is written that Chaos and Bhunivelze could be linked even to the Keyblade War." Ienzo spoke this time.
"The Master of Masters." Skuld muttered in realization.
"So it may be." Ienzo nodded in agreement, given the further knowlage Skuld and her new friends had mentioned earlier. "Unfortunately, the pages were scattered or possibly destroyed. All we can gather is that the two were allied with another Goddess and...an immortal man with powers of darkness who had been alive for 2,000 years. No one knows his name."
"Who was the Goddess?" Kairi asked, suddenly getting a bad feeling about all of this. If what Ienzo, Even and Von Drake were saying was true, then the situation was more dangerous than ever. She tried not to think about the nightmare she had back at Kuzco-Topia.
"Well, the only thing we could make out was that it begins with a 'C'. But the rest of the letters have faded, unfortunately. Which is quite annoying." Von Drake shrugged, apologetically, which made the group slump.
Except for Jack who muttered, "Hang on a minute. I know one Goddess that bears a name that begins with a 'C', ni unfamiliar;" He paused for a moment before saying softly, "Calypso."
"The Sea Goddess you briefly mentioned about?" Roxas asked, recalling Jack mention that name when Kairi read one of the many letters that was with the Dead Man's Chest in the old wooden chest back in the Caribbean.
"You know who she is?" Tifa asked, a little skeptically.
"'Course I do. Most pirates know the story of Calypso in my world." Jack nodded, before adding, "Not everyone believes it because no one knows what she looks like. I still find it hard to believe that Davy Jones even fell in love of her."
"Wait a minute...Are you saying that Squid-Face guy was in love with a girl?" Myde asked, incredously and shocked.
"Yep, just like all stories say about Davy Jones being possessed by love and that love was towards a woman. No one knew who she was...up until now. Or rather, if this is the same Calypso as the one from the legend." The Pirate nodded.
"Ewwww." The mullet-haired man groaned in disgust at the image of Davy Jones's fishy-face kissing a human girl's face which, in most people's opinion's, was pretty much disgusting.
"That's what that creepy Voodoo lady told us; Davy Jones fell in love, but for some reason, or another, something bad happened and he couldn't live with the agony he was feeling in his heart." Lea realised, recalling what Tia Dalma mentioned during his, Roxas, Isa, Xion and Namine's adventure together earlier.
"And in the end, he cut out his heart and placed it into the chest, making himself immortal, but evil at the same time and did not turn into a Heartless." Isa added in agreement.
"Wait, he what!?" Rikku exclaimed, shocked at what else she and everyone else just heard.
Yuffie shook her head, protesting, "Hold on. Hold on! This is crazy! He can't just cut out his heart and not turn into a Heartless! No!"
"I agree. There's no way anyone could do something as that. It's impossible!" Ienzo added.
"Ah, but it's actually improbable, mate." Jack said, knowingly. "Met the Fish-Face himself, more times than I can count. Ask them, they'll tell you." he gestured his hands to Sora and the rest of the group who, to everyone else's surprise in the room, nodded in agreement.
"It's true. Unfortunately." Terra said. "We're not sure how he was able to do it, but instead of turning into a Heartless...he mutated in form of sea life."
"Besides, if Xehanort can do something as crazy and evil as splitting his heart into twelve pieces and take control of twelve people with no hearts or broken hearts and turn them into clones of himself, then it makes sense that Davy Jones could do somethin' as crazy as cut out his heart and survive to tell the tale, becomin' immortal in the progress." Lea nodded, his arms folded to his chest.
"Hmm...very questionable." Even muttered, deepily in thought. "Yet, considering that all worlds are different...it does make sense." smirking.
"Hey, don't you go get any ideas, Even." Lea quickly warned with a frown. "This is a situation with Chaos, Bhunivelze and Aced, alright?"
"So if Calypso is the same Goddess that was with Bhunivelze and Chaos, then what happened to her?" Aerith asked, worriedly.
Everyone turned their attention to Jack who shrugged a little, explaining, "Nobody really knows. At least I don't. If this is the same Calypso Jones fell in love with, then he might know." before cringing at the awful thought, "Pity that would mean questioning him, which I doubt he would even listen. He practically rules the sea, especially with his terrible Beastie."
"What Beastie?" Cid asked, skeptically.
"He's talking about the Kracken. The giant Octopus." Ven answered.
"It almost ate us too." Goofy added, shivering at the memory of having trouble fighting and avoiding it.
"Thanks for the reminder, Goof'." Lea grumbled sarcastically after Tifa, Aerith, Yuna, Yuffie, Rikku and Namine gasped in horror at what Goofy just said.
"Do you have any idea at least about what happened to Calypso?" Aqua questioned to the pirate who blinked.
"Well..." Jack began, awkwardly, "There is one legend. Possibly took place a century ago. This is a restricted secret that only pirates that have governed one part of the my world are knowlaged of. Not that I much believed in it, but I'm willing to half believe it."
"Pirates governing one part of the world?" Riku repeated, skeptically. "How does that work?"
"I trust that you lot will keep it a secret?" Jack inquired in return.
"Just tell us already!" Donald yelled impatiently.
"Sure, we'll keep it a secret." Mickey promised.
The Pirate Captain of the Black Pearl shook his head, before admitting, "The Brethren Court."
"The what?" Myde slumped.
Jack sighed, beginning again, "The Brethren Court. Located in a strong-hold only nine Pirate Captains chosen to govern any part of the world they would want, known as Pirate Lords, would know the way and would go only if there would be a a meeting of case of emergency that a threat should behold to all pirates. The song, which is also known as Hoist the Colours, would be sung that would be time to condeem the Court itself, and the Pirate Lord would have to honor it."
"I never knew even Pirates had honor." Xion muttered.
"Yes, well, teamwork between Pirate Captains is the most difficult task ever known. Especially if other Captains would are breathing down your neck and you have a dept to owe them. It's rare to actually come to an full agreement first hand. Someone always starts a brawl like in a bar fight in Tortuga as well." Jack continued.
"What's that got to do with Calypso?" Isa asked.
"I'm getting to that." Jack said, rolling his eyes. "According to Pirate Lore, the first Brethren Court discovered a way to capture Calypso and imprison her in her human bones, and tamed the sea to all pirates. She did have a wrath towards humans, with the storms and maelstroms, hurricanes, all of that."
"The sounds suspiciously similiar to what Gibbs told us about those Cannibals believed in, thinkin' that you were a god in human form wanting to set you free." Lea muttered, skeptical about the entire thing. He then questioned, "Besides, how the heck would you know about all of this, anyway?"
"He snuck in. That's how." Roxas answered sarcastically.
"Have not." Jack pouted, while fully aware of the sarcasm. "There was no sneaking in. I was there at the Third Court, which was my first one. Savvy?"
"Hold on. Are you saying there was only three Brethren Courts so far?" Terra asked, not buying any of this.
The pirate nodded, "Yep. The second one was just a meeting to keep things under control, as I was told. The third one was dealing with the threat of another Pirate who turned himself evil, calling himself the Shadow Lord...which unfortunately, fell upon me to deal with it."
"Why you?" Skuld inquired.
"Tia Dalma asked me to. The Shadow Lord wanted to destroy the Pirate Lords with his army of Shadows. Not like those Heartless thingies, mind you."
"That doesn't explain how you would know all of this." Leon pointed out.
Groaning in exasperation, Jack finally gave up and revealled, "Alright, I confess. The reason why I know all of this is because...I am one of the nine Pirate Lords; of the Caribbean...The youngest to have ever joined when I was twentytwo, to be honest."
"YOU!?" Sora and the rest of his group exclaimed, in shock and disbelief, while Leon and his group stared at the Pirate in shock and disbelief. Not only was Jack a Keyblade Wielder now, but before meeting Sora...the man himself was also one of the third or second generations of the current Pirate Lords?
"Whoa." Lea muttered, stunned. "Never imagined ya' to be part of an Organization."
"It's not that thrilling." Jack shuddered, "I've never been comfortable in being at the court. Thank goodness there hasn't been a calling to the fourth court yet."
"Gosh...I'm not sure trapping Calypso is such a good idea. On the other hand, if she was with Bhunivelze and Chaos, then she could be sided with them if she finds out what's going on." Mickey said, worriedly.
"Especially given that should Aced find out about this, he would no doubt believe releasing her is the right course of action to defeat the rest of our enemies as well as us." Skuld nodded in agreement. "And since there was a journal of the two gods found earlier, perhaps finding more in this Ansem's home may be our next step."
"I know Ansem the Wise, and if that's the case, then maybe you're right." Mickey agreed with a serious expression.
Everyone else nodded in agreement despite that things had got more and more confusing. Just then, in a magical cloud of dust appearing next to Cid who cried out in alarm, a familiar elderly man in a blue robe and matching pointy had and the ridiculously long beard appeared.
"I thought it was you. Right on time." Merlin greeted to Sora and the others who most of them were relieved to see him, while Jack stood there, shocked and in disbelief at the older man's sudden appearence.
"Hey, Merlin." Sora greeted with a smile.
Jack, once again stunned, turned to the others, and questioned softly, "...Does he always do that?"
"Yeeeeah, he always appears outta nowhere." Cid answered before the others could, groaning, "Crazy old coot."
"Ahem!" Merlin grunted loudly, as he had heard this, sending Cid a glare while tapping his wand in the palm of his right hand, threateningly. Seeing that glare alone was enough to surprisingly make the mechanic hold a worried expression before the blond-haired man backed off a little, looking quite scared.
When Jack saw Cid's expression and how the other man held his hands up in either surrender or defense, he muttered, "I take you are not in each other's likings. Ay?"
"Last time I called him old, he blasted me." Cid mumured.
"He could at least have a trim." Jack whispered to him as he leaned towards the mechanic. "That is the longest beard I've ever seen."
"I heard that!" Merlin said, which made Jack frightened a little. "I may be old, but I'm not deaf." before admitting, "On the other hand, I think it may be time to trim this confounded beard."
"Hey, how come you're not zapping him?" Cid protested, finding that totally unfair.
"Simple." Jack began, "A beard like that could get in a way for lots of things. For example, he could hurt himself if he got it caught in the door or anything else for that matter."
Merlin gave a sigh while everyone else glanced back and forth between the conversation. "Unfortunately, it's already happened."
Suddenly Lea chuckled with a smirk, "Yeah, the first time me, Rox', Xi' and Namine came back home last year, Merlin got his beard caught in the door, ending up pulling it out but got it stuck around his head."
Flash-Back: After the events of "Second Chance" and before the events of "Second Life"...
"...So, you're willin' to let us stay?" Lea asked, hesitatedly. It's been at least seven hours since Mickey, Donald and Goofy brought him, Roxas, Xion and Namine here to Radiant Garden. After they and the Disney Trio explained to Leon and the others what happened, Lea had decided earlier to make his childhood home his permament home along with his three best friends.
"Of course. I mean, we all had our problems everywhere." Merlin nodded. But as he shut the door behind him to head over to the Bailey on foot, he didn't realise that his beard got stuck in the door which pulled him back. As he yanked at it, the wizard complained, "There! See what I mean?"
With a giagantic tug, Merlin successfully pulled himself free. But his heard rapidly wrapped around his head and wand. He pulled hard while groaning, only for his entire head to be covered in white aging hair. For a split second, it reminded Lea of a dandelion covered in seeds. For another second, Merlin spluttered as he unrolled his beard from his face, resulting secret snickers from Roxas, Xion and Namine, while Lea tried not to laugh.
End of Flash-Back.
Donald ended up snickering at the memory, while the others tried not to laugh and hid their smirks and giggles behind their hands.
"By the way, Lea." Merlin spoke up, ignoring the snickering from the younger wizard. "You and Isa are rather behind schedule for your training in using our Keyblades."
"Oh! Uh..." Lea shrunk back a little, embarrassed. "Sorry. Emergancy things happened and well...with Yen Sid captured by a crazed new bad guy, none of us had the time to think about training."
"We were too busy with our current mission that we sort of forgot." Isa added.
"I was afraid of you'd say that." Merlin sighed. "I do sense that Yen Sid is still alive. Pity I have no idea where he is at the moment."
"How did you know that?" Skuld inquired, stunned.
"Oh ho ho, I thought you would ask that, young lady. After all, I am a powerful Wizard, and we tend to know almost everything! I've even seen the future once and awhile." Merlin replied, "For example, I've predicted that you and Captain Jack Sparrow would join Sora and the others."
The young woman stared at him in awe, muttering, "Amazing!"
"Say, why don't ya's train for a little while we're here." Mickey suggested, before gazing at Kairi, adding, "Kairi could use some special training too."
"Good idea. I do want to be a bit stronger to help out more." Kairi nodded in agreement.
"Me too. I need to keep up with my training in magic." Namine added.
"What about you, Jack? You could use some tips in training with the Keyblade." Sora asked the pirate.
Jack shook his head, "No, thank you. I'd rather stick with the traditional combats of fighting skills. If I learn to use magic...that would not be a good thing if I ever return to where I came from. Savvy?"
"He has a good point." Aqua replied in agreement now that she thought about it. Plus, if other pirates saw that Jack Sparrow could use magic, things would not be good at all. That would just make him an even bigger target.
"I think some training might help for a little while while we're here, and also to keep the Heartless at bay at the same time." Riku added.
"Good idea, Riku." Mickey said, "And maybe see what else we can find while we're at it."
Three hours later, as Kairi, Lea and Isa were practicing with Aqua, Terra and Skuld, while Namine practiced with Aerith and Merlin, Sora, Riku, Roxas, Xion, Ven, Jack, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and even Myde trained occassionly while they, Leon and Yuffie would fend off the Heartless once and awhile that appeared, including the tubby large ones that were quite annoying.
Finally they were given another break, this time calling it a day, much to Myde's relief as the young man moaned while falling onto his back. "Oh, please tell me there's decent food I can eat." He muttered.
"There's a resturant in town that has good food." Yuffie offered, finding herself a little hungry too. "They have all kinds of meals; Pasta, Pizza, Burgers, you name it."
A grin filled up Myde's expression as he sat up excitedly, "Now that's more like it!"
"You said it." Donald, who overheard, said in agreement.
"I don't know what these Pizza or Burgers are, but I could use some Pasta." Jack muttered in agreement. At least this world has something he was used to...once a month or two. He then asked, hopefully, "Do they have pies too?"
"Yeah, why?" The young ninja girl replied.
"Oh good." Jack smiled. "I love pies."
"I'm surprised you even like things other than Rum." Riku smirked.
The pirate shrugged cluelessly, "What? Anything is better than Cookie's...very vile and awful Beacon Grease."
"Too right." Ven chuckled in agreement.
Myde groaned, "Try not to kill my appetite, please."
"I'm not hungry." Sora confessed.
"Yeah, me neither." Kairi added.
"That reminds me." Merlin suddenly spoke up, approaching the two teenagers, "Sora, perhaps you should give Pooh a visit, considering how Roxas and Xion were placed there a little while ago."
While confused at first, Sora then remembered the early start of the Kadaj incident and perked up happily, "Sure! I'd love too!" before remembering something and turned to his friends, asking, "Hey, any of you guys wanna join me?"
"Sounds like fun. I've always wanted to see what the Hundred Acre Wood was like." Kairi said, grinning.
"Ay?" Jack muttered, dumbfounded.
"Yeah...no thanks." Riku quickly shook his head.
"Pooh? Wait, you mean..." Ven began, trailling off. "Hold on...you're talking about the book?" while Terra and Aqua shared a confused glance.
Everyone followed Merlin back to his house where they stood in front of a table, and a familiar book sat peacefully. Sora smiled fondly at the front cover; Pooh bear and Sora himself watching the stars, the renewed cover that was fixed when Sora restored the book once more.
"Wait...the cover's different than what I remember." Ven realised, as he instantly recongized the book. The same book that gave him a slight upgrade of his powers twelve years ago. The title was the same, and he reconized the bear. But what shocked him, Aqua and Terra who also recongised it, was the fact that the picture of Sora was on it.
"Why is Sora on the cover with a stuffed bear?" Jack muttered, puzzled. The title 'Winnie the Pooh' was bad enough, but for the teenaged boy to be on the cover with a toy bear was just utterly ridiculous. From what he's understanding, it was suited for small children.
"Sora goes into the book and visits everybody in that world." Goofy explained.
"You can actually do that?" Terra asked, in disbelief. "I thought it would only make you stronger."
"You mean you know Pooh's storybook?" Sora asked, surprised.
The older man nodded, explaining, "I found it twelve years ago when I first came here. I thought Merlin dropped it, but it wasn't his. I left it here for safe keeping, though."
"Well, that explains everything." Ven thought, folding his arms to his chest.
"Interesting. To think that Sora is capable of going inside the book is astonishing." Aqua thought to herself.
"Xion and I went in there too two weeks before the two of us, Namine and Lea found Isa." Roxas explained.
"A witch named Madam Mim trapped us in there for a little while. It's a long story." Xion added.
Isa blinked, before gazing at Lea, saying, "Please tell me this is a joke..."
The redhead grinned, "Nope. This is the real deal." before remembering, "Uh, we should move out of the way so that we don't get accidently sucked into the said book." moving Isa to the side. Riku and Goofy did the same with Jack. The others, shrugging, moved out of the way except for Sora and Kairi.
"Ready?" Sora said with a grin.
"Yeah!" Kairi nodded.
The teenage boy turned to the rest of the group, saying, "We'll be back soon."
"Maybe next time most can all go. I've always kinda wondered about that place too." Mickey admitted.
"We'll keep things under control, just in case the Heartless attack." Riku promised.
"Oh, c'mon, Riku!" Sora groaned.
"Nice try." His friend smirked.
The spiky-haired teenager sighed, defeated. Eventually, he will get Riku to come with him. At least Kairi's enthusiastic in going with him, though. With a smile, Sora turned and unlatched the golden lock and opened the book for both of them. There was a brillilant glow which made most of them cry out in alarm, and then when the light faded, Sora and Kairi were gone and the book snapped shut on the table.
"Sora! Kairi!" Aqua cried out, alarmed.
"Don't worry." Riku said, calmly. When the others turned to face him, he, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine, along with Yuffie and Leon all held knowing looks. "This happens all the time."
"So...Sora does this often?" Skuld asked, blinking uncertainly.
"Yup!" Goofy nodded, before explaining, "Though, most of times, Sora had to find the missin' pages to restore the book; twice in fact."
"Well, at least the living toys are inside this book and out out in the open." Myde shrugged, gazing to Jack, "What do you say?"
But then he noticed that Jack had such a shellshocked and utter disbelieved look, not to mention slightly horrified, which was a bit comical. He was left speechless at what he just witnessed. So much so as that he was certain he briefly forgot to breathe.
"Jack?" Myde asked, concerned, which got the attention of everyone else.
Finally, unable to absorb all of this, Jack's vision went black and passed out, collasping onto his back on the stone floor.
"Jack! Are you okay? Ven cried out, worriedly as he, Aqua, Namine and Xion rushed over to see if the pirate was alright, while everyone else just stood there in awkward silence.
Finally, Mickey spoke awkwardly, getting a fair idea of why Jack Sparrow had just suddenly fainted. "Um...I think he's seen too many strange things that he's not used to."
{HUNDRED ACRE WOOD}
Kairi was more than surprised to see that she and Sora had landed in a completely different world, just as he told her once. A field like forest surrounded them with green leaves, yellowish green grass. It was quite possibly late spring. She didn't recongise the place at all. The tall tree next to them had a door that looked small, about Mickey's height. High up the tree was a window and a made up balcony.
There was also a broken wooden sign that said 'Trespassers Will—" but other than that, it looked imcomplete and broken.
"Sora...is this really...?" Kairi trailed off, unable to finish.
"Yep!" Sora said, grinning. "It's not exactly a portal. We're inside the book."
"It doesn't seem like it, but...wow!" Kairi spread her arms out and spun around like she did at Arendelle.
Her friend chuckled, happy that she was enjoying herself already. Sora knew that his friend would love this place; just the right place for a little bit of a fun adventure without too much to worry about. In fact, the most worrying having to worry about was—
"Bees!" A chorus of fearful cries startled Sora and Kairi out of their thoughts. As soon as the two teenagers looked into the direction where it was coming from, coming from the thickerish trees were a stuffed tiger, bouncing in a hurry. Behind him was a yellow and white rabbit, running on two legs, and behind him was a stuffed yellow bear with a red shirt, running in a panic.
To Sora and Kairi's surprise and shock, the leaves above the trees suddenly shreded apart as hundreds of bees came zooming, which also startled a small blue bird who clucked in panic like a chicken in fright as the bees came zooming past. One of the bees looked around before pointing down at the animals and led the other bees to a full on attack, which everyone else on the ground noticed.
"Oh bother!" The bear cried out.
"Uh oh." Sora muttered, before turning to his friend, saying, "Kairi, keep Pooh and the others safe! I've got some bees to take care off." hurrying over along with Kairi who, concerned that her friend could most likely get stung, followed.
"Look! There's Sora!" Rabbit cried out, recongising the boy.
"Don't worry, guys! I'll handle this!" Sora told the animals while summoning his Keyblade to handle the bee problem. "Just get behind my friend here! She'll help too!"
"Thanks, buddy boy!" The tiger said hurriedly.
"Thanks, Sora!" Rabbit said hurriedly.
"Thank you, Sora!" The bear said hurriedly.
Sora nodded, before turning to glare at the bees who, before they knew it, were quickly and easily knocked away by the strange giant Key that did more harm to them than they could with their stingers. Nodding, Sora then gestured all of his friends into the house, the two teenagers had to crouch down to fit in. Both Sora and the bear closed the door before the latter joined Rabbit and the tiger onto the bed, hiding underneath the blanket.
"Phew." Sora sighed, dismissing his weapon.
"Where did all those bees come from?" Kairi wondered, panting a little.
The bear peaked his head out from the blanket, asking nervously, "Are they gone, Sora?"
"Yeah. We should be fine for now." Sora replied.
"Or maybe they're pretenderin' to be gone." The tiger said, almost ominously which was unsual for him, also peaking from the blanket along with Rabbit. "You know, bees are sneaky like that."
Just then, the door was suddenly banged, alarming everyone and while Sora and Kairi quickly stood in defense, the three animals hid back under the bed while the tiger gasped in horror, whimpering, "I was right."
The moment the door opened, however, it wasn't the bees as everyone had been expecting. They relaxed when it was a stuffed gloomy donkey. To Sora, Kairi and the bear's concern and pity, though, a single bee sting pimpel was right on the middle of his noise.
"Eeyore? Are you alright?" Sora asked, concerned, as he bend low.
"Oh, Eeyore. You got stung out there?" The bear asked, worriedly.
"No." Eeyore muttered gloomily, eying the stung, "I got stung right here where I can keep an eye on it."
Kairi bend on her knees, gently patting the donkey on the head, "Oh, you poor thing. Does it hurt?"
"It only stings a little. Thanks for noticin' me." Eeyore replied at the new commer.
"Well, is everyone else alright?" Sora asked to the others.
"Uh...Tigger's here, Pooh's here, Eeyore's here, Sora's here with a new friend, I'm here..." Rabbit counted, before asking the boy, "Who is this young lady?"
"Oh, right." Sora remembered, "This is my friend, Kairi. I brought her with me today. Kairi, this is Eeyore, Pooh, Rabbit and Tigger."
"Nice to meet you, everyone." Kairi said with a gentle smile.
"Oh, hello, Kairi. Nice to meet you too." Pooh greeted.
"Hello." Eeyore said.
"Well, aren't you very polite. Nice to meet you, too." Rabbit said with a smile.
Tigger bounced off the bed and towards Kairi, saying, "Kairi, eh? Well, I betcha go bouncin' around with Sora, don'tcha? Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"
"Bouncing?" Kairi blinked, glancing at Sora who blushed a little, embarrassed.
"It's a long story." Rabbit shook his head, before wondering, "Now, um...who am I missing?"
Pooh in the meantime climbed up a tipsy art's table to use to grab the honey pot from the bookshelf next to the window. The pot itself, due to some loose honey, had a book stuck on.
"I don't know, Rabbit. Let's ask Pig-let!" Pooh cried out in alarm when, as he sat down, the table gave way and he was suddenly thrown out of the window and landed outside on the soft grass.
"Pooh! Are you alright?" Sora cried out as he, Kairi, Rabbit and Tigger raced to the window, carefully moving the table out of the way. Pooh was lying on his stomach, the honey pot on his head with honey leaking out, and the book stuck on...his back.
"Oh, bother. I just landed on my, um... self." Pooh replied, a bit awkwardly.
Tigger then noticed the book and, curiosity getting the better of him, carefully and successfully pulled it off of Pooh, and opened it up to take a look inside. It was revealled to be a scrap book, filled with paintings. While Sora helped Pooh up and had him sit on the window sill with Kairi removing the honey pot from his head, what Tigger saw made him gasp before he bursted into tears, crying.
"What's the matter, Tigger?" Kairi asked, quickly concerned. Then as she and Sora looked at the picture, it was a painting of Tigger himself, with almost everyone else dressed up in...Tigger costumes? Sora blinked in surprise as he also recongised both Roxas and Xion there as well.
Rabbit rolled his eyes, saying to his bouncy friend, "Oh, please, Tigger. It's just a drawing in a scrapbook."
"But it reminds me, of the bestest family reunion...I ever had!" Tigger sobbed, wiping away tears of not sorrow, but rather happiness of his and the others' most recent adventure. He then stopped crying, and just as Rabbit turned the page, he turned it back before turning it to the next page again, much to the latter's exasperation.
Tigger then smiled the picture of Pooh in a tar-pit, with a jar on his head, saying, "Oh, look. There's the day little Piglet caught his first Heffalump."
"Tigger, that's not a Heffalump." Sora corrected with a chuckle. "That's just Pooh with a jar on his head." with Kairi giggling at the picture as well while trying to cover her giggles with her hand.
Pooh, being a bear with a very little brain, chuckled, "I forgot how much I look like a Heffalump with a jar on my head." which caused Rabbit to groan again, and Sora to shake his head with a knowing smile.
"Heffalump?" Kairi asked, puzzled.
"They steal honey." Tigger whispered to the teenage girl.
"Piglet caught Rabbit, all right." Eeyore noted as the page was turned again.
"Oh, let me see." Rabbit said eagerly. To his annoyance, however, was a picture of himself, looking quite annoyed with his hands on his hips. He glanced at the others, placing his hands on his hips and said with an annoyed look, "That doesn't look a thing like me."
Sora, Tigger, and Kairi glanced back and forth, all three of them realising that Eeyore was right; in fact, Rabbit was unknowingly doing the same thing as the picture Piglet had drawn. But they decided not to comment. They turned the page and Sora smiled a little; it was a picture of himself with Pooh, Rabbit, Eeyore, an Owl, a Kangaroo and a baby Roo, a Gouper, and a pink dot that he knew was Piglet.
"What's that tiny pink dot?" Tigger asked, pointing at the picture as he didn't recongise it.
"That's Piglet." Sora noticed, before his eyes widened as he suddenly realised that this was Piglet's house and yet, the said small animal wasn't here at all. "Hold on. Where is he, anyway?"
"Piglet?" Rabbit repeated, also realising and remembering now that there was someone missing. "Where is Piglet?"
Tigger moaned worriedly, saying, "We must've lost track of him after we got chased by the bees."
"That means he's out there somewhere." Sora realised, worried.
Pooh shared Sora's concern, "Ohh, but he's so little. He could be in big danger."
"That means we have to find him and see if he's alright." Kairi said, worried. She might not know Piglet, but even she was concerned for the little guy's safety.
"Yeah." Sora nodded, before muttering in realization, "Only problem is...where could he be?"
"Think, think, think." Pooh muttered to himself while tapping the side of his head. Then he had an idea, and said while gazing at the scrapbook, "You know, since this is a book of Piglet's memories, maybe it remembers where Piglet is."
"Oh, brilliant deduction there, Pooh boy." Tigger praised, "It's a regular Piglet map."
Rabbit gave the two of them a skeptical look, "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard."
"Yeah, I don't think it works like that." Sora admitted, before suggesting, "Maybe Owl might have a clue where Piglet is."
"The first page has Owl's house anyway." Eeyore said, after he and Tigger flipped the page back to page one. True enough, a picture of Owl's tree house was there.
"Great work, Sora, o'l buddy!" Tigger praised happily, making his way out of the door, "I bet the little guy is there right now."
"Do you think this Owl can help us?" Kairi asked.
"Well, he might've at least seen Piglet earlier." Sora shrugged with one shoulder, as he and Kairi followed the others out, Pooh putting the honey pot away and carrying the scrapbook with him, and Eeyore following behind.
Rabbit was dismayed, "Not to Owl's!" before realising that everyone else has already left, leaving him with no choice but to follow, groaning in exasperation, "Oh, no. We'll be there all day."
So Sora and his friends ventured off to Owl's house on their new quest to find the missing Piglet, hoping that their missing friend was alright and not in any real danger.
It didn't take Sora and the others long to find Owl's tree house, which Kairi was once again amazed by. As Sora had mentioned, everyone lived in tree houses...well, Eeyore's house was just made from a pile of sticks.
"Hey there, Owl." Sora called up, as the said Owl was sitting in a rocking chair until the teenager called.
"Sora! It's good to see you again." Owl greeted, standing up, "I have more stories to tell you."
Sora shook his head, "Thanks, but um, have you seen Piglet?"
"Piglet? Why of course I've seen him, many times!" Owl replied, "He's about so high, with little pink ears—"
"Uh, actually." Sora gently interrupted, "What I meant was have you seen him at all today? We're trying to find him but he's missing."
That caught Owl's attention, "Missing? Why, that's terrible. I just happened to have seen him go by earlier. Would you like me to keep a sky-high look out for him, Sora?"
"That'd be great, thanks." Sora replied, with Pooh and Tigger nodding, Kairi smiling, Eeyore just standing there, and much to Rabbit's relief.
"Very well. I'd best be off." Owl declared, before pausing just as he was about to take flight, adding, "Oh, and uh, watch out for Heffalumps. I actually saw one just the other day?"
"Heffalumps!?" Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger and Eeyore exclaimed, horrified, while Sora and Kairi both glanced at each other in alarm. Not only was Piglet missing, but now there was actually a real Heffalump around as well, in the Hundred Acre Wood? Or was Owl just seeing things?
"Indeed. Good luck, all of you." Owl said, before asking again, "Oh, and who might this young lady be?"
"This is my friend, Kairi. I brought with me to visit." Sora introduced.
Kairi waved with a smile, "Nice to meet you, Owl."
"Pleasure is all mine, miss Kairi. You and Sora both look adorable together. Now then, good luck!" Owl waved once more before finally taking off flying into the sky, while both Sora and Kairi both blushed heavily by this comment, and groaned in embarrassment.
"Thank goodness you're around, Sora." Rabbit sighed in relief, "I thought we would've been stuck here listening to his stories all over again."
"Yeah, hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" Tigger said in agreement, "And then Owl would've gone to the part where he goes on for a while."
"But what about the Heffalump?" Pooh said worriedly, "Piglet's in more danger now than ever."
Tigger gasped at the quick realization, "You're right, Pooh boy! We gotta go find him!"
"And then make a plan to capture this Heffalump once and for all." Rabbit declared, boldy, even though his knees were shaking like mad at the very idea of encountering a Heffalump.
"Do you guys even know what a Heffalump looks like?" Kairi asked, sounding a little scared.
"Well...not really. But if there is one around here, we have to be a bit more careful." Sora shrugged, even more worried about his smallest friend. "Let's get going."
So with the led that Piglet had been at Owl's earlier, Sora, Kairi, Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger and Eeyore continued their search on foot, only to pause halfway when they all suddenly heard a very unfamiliar noise that, to Sora and Kairi, sounded like an Elephant trumpeting that echoed through out the entire area.
"What was that?" Kairi asked, glancing around.
"Heffalump!" Tigger cried out, fearfully as he, Pooh, Rabbit and Eeyore all quickly hid behind Sora's legs, shaking and quivering as they all rapidly glanced around their surroundings for any signs of the said dangerous beast, as the said noise continued, but then began to fade.
"...Well...it might be somewhere, but I don't think it's close by." Sora muttered, frowning in great concern. Nothing like this happened before, and he began to worry. What if darkness was starting to enter even the peaceful world like the Hundred Acre Wood? Heartless did tear up the book twice; the second time resulted in Pooh losing his memories.
"Uh, Buddy Bear. What does the Scrappity book say on page two?" Tigger asked, nervously.
Pooh, nervous himself, opened up the book again and turned to the second page, revealing another familiar house, answering, "Looks like Kanga's house. Piglet loves to go there."
"Well, Kanga's house is where we'll look for Piglet." Rabbit agreed.
"Good idea. Maybe Kanga and Roo know where Piglet is." Sora added, only to cry out in alarm when the ground suddenly moved in front of him and the others, all of them backing up. To their relief, was a familiar small gouper coming out of the ground.
"Say, if it ain't Sora!" Gouper greeted happily, "What bring's ya' back here, sonny?"
Sora sighed, "Hey, Gouper. You kinda nearly scared us." before asking, "Hey, have you seen Piglet by any chance?"
"No. Last time I saw Piglet was yesterday." Gouper shrugged apologetically, before noticing Kairi and pulled himself out of the ground, asking her, "Who might you be?"
"I'm Kairi." Kairi answered. "Are you one of Sora's friends?"
"Kairi, this is Gouper." Sora introduced, before explaining to Gouper, "I brought Kairi with me and well...now all of us are looking for Piglet who's missing."
"And we have a Heffalump lurking around in the Hundred Acre Wood too!" Tigger added, almost panickily.
"Heffalumps, and now Piglet missin', you say?" Gouper repeated, before thinking deepily and said, "Sounds like big trouble today. I'll see if I can't search underground for things we need to capture the Heffelumpy and find Piglety."
"Thank you, Gouper, and oh do please be careful." Pooh said, with the others nodding in agreement.
Gouper saluted, turning to leave, "Glad ta be at service. I ain't in the book—HWAAAGGGH!" he suddenly screamed as he fell into the hole he dug up, not having payed attention, landing back underground with a thud. Despite this, he called up from below, "Don't forget to call."
Rabbit facepalmed himself, moaning. "We're never going to find Piglet at this rate."
"Sure we will. We're not giving up." Sora told him with confidence. "C'mon. Let's go."
At least Sora hoped that they would find Piglet and that the Heffalump wouldn't cause too much trouble around here. Looks like things were getting a bit twisty here in this world as well.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. Well, we've entered the Hundred Acre Woods and I've combined the storylines of "Piglet's Big Movie" and "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" into a single storyline for this world adventure and added Gouper since he wasn't in either films.
See you in the next chapter!