Chapter 5: Winnie the Pooh and Lea Too

A recently renovated house in the middle of a rebuilding city, with three stories—the third underground. Just through the front door, visitors come across a large common room with an open kitchen on the right and coffee tables on the left, right up against knick-knacks and trinkets ranging in all sorts of sizes and shapes. Shelves of ceramic creations lined the walls, and books took up so much space that there wasn't enough bookcase for them, resulting in them being stacked haphazardly on the floor in the corners. An old-time clock hung over the front door, with a hand-carved owl popping out to hoot along with every hour.

Now, this might be the home of any wise sage, but it happens to belong to a wizard named Merlin. And, like most wizards, Merlin had plenty of books, both magical and otherwise. And one special book in particular led to remarkable adventures in an enchanted place called the Hundred Acre Wood. But of all the adventures there, the ones that held a special place in the heart of Merlin's visitors were with a bear called Winnie the Pooh.

"Winnie the Pooh?!"

An orange blur came bounding forward with the sproing of a spring accompanying his every leap. The stuffed tiger never quite came to a stop, bouncing up and down and side to side on a spring-like tale while his thick black eyebrows directed his glare forward. "Wait half a darn minute! It seems to me that most o' these stories are about that silly ol' bear."

Well then, Tigger. Who should this story be about?

Tigger grinned slyly and bounced up high, then landed on his feet and placed a hand on his chest. "Well, I happen to know someone who's extremely fascinatin'! Not to mention handsome an' debonairy." He wiggled his eyebrows while cupping his chin in his hands, but it's a bit too late for that. The title already says 'Winnie the Pooh'.

"Aw, that's easy to fix!"

Chapter 5: The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers

"There! Now that's a wonderful title! And speakin' of wonderful things…" Without wasting any more time, Tigger let out hooting laughter and leapt into the autumn forest, bouncing among the vibrantly colored leaves with a boastful, excited tune on his lips.

"The wonderful thing about Tiggers
"Is Tiggers are wonderful things
"Their tops are made out of rubber
"Their bottoms are made out of springs"

"They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
"Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
"But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers
"Is I'm the only one"

x-x-x

Red and orange leaves flew through the air and between the trees, riding on chilly autumn winds. The breeze rustled Lea's spiky hair and he reached up to pluck a leaf from his locks. It wavered back and forth between his thumb and pointer finger until he let it go and turned to watch the leaf catch up to its fellows. The wind did bring a bit of a chill with it, though, and Lea moved to zip up his light jacket—only to find it already was. In fact, his entire outfit had changed ever so slightly to accommodate the autumn weather. Not only was his jacket zipped tight, but it was slightly thicker and had sleeves now. An orange scarf wrapped around his neck, thicker than the one he had worn as a kid.

In momentary surprise, and a bit of a dizzy spell in his head, the ice cream that Lea had nabbed from Merlin's house slipped from his grasp and fell onto the forested floor. "Aw, damn it…" he muttered, turning away from the lost treat and toward the others he had arrived here with.

Not just Lea's clothes had changed, either. For Sora it was rather simple, his sleeves extending down to his gloves and his pants covering his ankles. For Kairi, who wore lighter clothing more suited to Destiny Islands to begin with, the changes to her outfit was more noticeable. The light jacket she had worn at Merlin's house was now a coat more along the lines of Sora's and zipped up all the way, and while her shorts remained unchanged she now wore leggings beneath them. Wrapped around her neck was a light blue scarf, the ends changing to white.

Lea looked around the area again, taking in his surroundings this time. They weren't in Radiant Garden anymore. That much was clear just from the weather, but he didn't recognize his surroundings either. The yellowing grass beneath his feet was covered in twigs and dried leaves, crunching every time he shifted his weight. The forest around them wasn't particularly dense, and the leaves that still hung from the trees were vibrant shades of red and orange. Occasionally he spotted a tree that had a tiny bit of snow held in its highest branches. "What happened?" Lea turned to Sora, who had a grin plastered on his face and his arms crossed behind his head. "What was that book?"

Kairi, however, didn't know where they were either. "Did it take us somewhere?"

Sora was still smiling while the two of them questioned him. "Yeah, but it's not like a portal exactly. We're inside the book."

Lea raised an eyebrow. A world inside a book? Sounded like something right out of a fairy tale to him. "Pull the other one."

"No, really! I've even had to find the pages to put it all back together. This is a world I've come to alone a few times before, and it's just the place to be when you need a pick-me-up. Just think of it as somewhere only we know."

Kairi frowned for a moment, but after a shrug it turned into a smile. "Well if nothing else it's really pretty here. I don't think I've ever seen a real autumn like this." She held her arms out to her sides and spun around on one foot as she took in the sights.

"It's new to me, too. Last time I was here it was…" Sora trailed off and lowered his hands, then after a moment crossed them over his chest. A thoughtful look crossed his face. "Snowing, I guess? I think I stopped by after Xehanort was revived. Oh, that's right!" He snapped his fingers and nodded to himself. "Yeah, Donald and Goofy pushed me into it—almost literally. I gave the woods a visit right as they were celebrating Christmas."

Kairi had been more interested in the forest than what Sora had to say, but she paused at that and turned back to Sora. "Who's 'they'?"

Lea looked left and right. "Yeah, I don't see any towns or anything. It's all forest around us for like fifty acres."

"A hundred acres, actually," Sora said. "And there isn't really a town here, no. My friends' homes are all pretty spread out, though I think from here the closest would be P—"

"Wait." Lea put his hand on Sora's shoulder and pulled him back, putting the kid behind him. "You hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Mrroowwrg…

"Growling." Lea narrowed his eyes and looked for the source of the sound. In the bushes? In the leaves? Everything was blowing in the soft breeze, so he couldn't tell if any of them were rustling. They could be being watched from anywhere. "Probably an animal."

"I don't think heffalumps growl…"

Lea stared back at Sora. What the heck was a heffa…whatever? He shook his head and turned back to the foliage. "I don't know what you just said, but I am definitely hearing the growl of some wild animal."

"Could it be a bear?" Kairi asked. "Maybe we got too close to its den?"

"Well we are by a bear actually—"

Mrroowwrg…

"Say that a little sooner, why don't you?!" Lea snapped. He took a step forward and held his hands out to his sides, fingers tensed. Heat gathered from the pit of his belly, up through his chest and his arms. It concentrated in his palms and then billowed outward, igniting. Flames burst to life and swirled around his arms, billowing outward and then circling back inward. The fires died down and Lea felt hot metal meet his fingers, but it didn't burn him. He grasped his chakrams tightly.

A familiar flash of light beside Lea told him that a Keyblade had just been summoned. Kairi's. He'd only seen it one or two times before, just enough to know that she called it Destiny's Embrace and had been training under Sora and Riku. An orange blade, a paopu keychain, and one part of the handguard resembling an ocean wave. To top it all off, the 'teeth' of the weapon were composed of flowers. It screamed Destiny Islands like nothing else.

But as Lea and Kairi stood ready to face the bear, or heffalump, or whatever it was that was growling at them, Lea couldn't help but notice there wasn't a second Keyblade flash. He spared a moment to stop searching for their hidden foe to glance at Sora, who looked completely nonchalant about the whole thing. "You just gonna leave us in the dust?"

Sora shook his head and rested his hands on his hips. "Relax." The growl sounded again, and Sora nodded. "I recognize that growl. It is a bear, but don't worry. He's a bear of very little brain."

Just then, among the growling and from the bushes to Lea's left, a voice called out. "Sora! Is that you? Why I thought I heard a familiar somebody while I was out gathering my hunny this evening." A yellow head popped its way out of the bush, followed by a rotund body wearing a too-small red shirt. A brown ceramic pot was held in the little bear's hands, but as he emerged from the bush his foot caught on a root and he fell forward, causing the pot to go tumbling from his grasp and roll across the grass until it stopped at Lea's feet.

What the heck?

"Oh bother," muttered the bear as he pushed himself up and then sat down on the forest floor. There was another growling coming from him, but he just stared up at the three of them with a bewildered expression. Only after the growling had died down did Lea realize where it was coming from, and a moment later Kairi held a hand up to her mouth to hold back a giggling fit.

Sora smiled and shook his head, then knelt down and picked up the honey pot. "Hey there, Pooh! You're tummy's rumbling again, isn't it? Here, let's get you some honey." He examined the pot, and his brow furrowed. "Hey, this one's empty."

"Yes, that's right." The bear climbed up to his feet and walked over to Sora unevenly, as if he could topple over at any moment. He reached up and Sora graciously handed him the pot. "I thought I would congratulate myself for gathering hunny today with a small smackerel."

"You're gathering honey?" Sora crouched down to eye level as they spoke, his hands resting on his knees.

"That's right. I have to stock up for winter." He thrust his whole arm up to the elbow into the pot and then dug around for a few moments before pulling it out. "Though it would seem I have more stocking up to do than I thought."

Sora sighed and stood up, then rubbed his hand on the bear's head affectionately. "We'll help. First let's go see how much you have back at home." He turned to Lea and Kairi. "Guys, meet Winnie the Pooh. He's a really good friend of mine here in the Hundred Acre Wood. We've had lots of fun together!"

Lea raised an eyebrow at the silly looking bear, then narrowed his eyes and leaned in to get a better look. Was that stitching keeping his body together? Like a stuffed toy? But Kairi was far less inquisitive, and quickly dismissed her Keyblade before running up beside Sora and crouching down as he had done before.

"Hey there, Pooh! My name's Kairi, and the hothead behind us is Lea. We're friends of Sora's!"

Pooh smiled widely and then waved at Kairi with his stubby arms. "It's nice to meet you, Kairi. Would you like to help me get some hunny to last the winter?"

"Sure! How hard could it be?"

Sora smirked. "You are really underestimating just how much honey Pooh eats."

Pooh's tummy rumbled once more.

x-x-x

Kairi grunted as she let go of a heavy padlocked chest filled with full honey pots. She nursed her sore arms; Sora was right, she really hadn't expected just how much honey they'd have to gather. She almost found it hard to believe that such a little bear could eat so much. Then again, she had a first-hand encounter with that. Stopping Pooh from eating all their hard-earned honey had been quite the lesson in patience. Still, she noticed that in such a short time she had already grown fond of him. No wonder Sora said this was a place to cheer up, Pooh had such a kind heart and knew just how to lighten the mood no matter what he did.

Kairi looked behind her, where Sora and Pooh were stacking more honey pots in Pooh's closet. Pooh reached for one of the pots and Sora tried to stop him, but too late. The silly old bear grabbed a pot from the bottom of the stack and pulled it free with a lick of his lips, unaware of the damage he had just caused. The pots shuddered for a fraction of a second, just long enough for Sora's eyes to go wide as saucers, before the entire thing crashed down on top of him. Kairi jumped to her feet to give him a hand, but already Sora popped his head and one hand out of the pile to see Pooh face-first in the honey pot he had grabbed, blissfully unaware. Sora let out a breath and smiled with a shake of his head.

"You never change, do you, Pooh?"

"I hope not, Sora. Otherwise I wouldn't be Pooh anymore." His voice was muffed behind the honey pot. He tugged on it, and with a pop! it came right off, letting Pooh lick up the last bit of the sticky treat left on his face. "That small smackerel was quite scrumptious."

Sora pulled himself out of the pile of pots and started to pick them up. "Well let's keep it small, alright? You said you need this for winter."

"Right. I can keep my smackerels small, Sora." He reached for another pot and licked his lips, but Sora pulled it out of the way just before Pooh got his hands on it, then handed it to Kairi who set it against the wall to start a new pile.

"Pooh, you know what I meant."

"Bother."

Kairi couldn't help but giggle at their interactions, but she also noticed their third part not joining in. Lea was off at the other end of the room, helping Pooh out with the honey organizing but not getting involved in the fun and the banter. Kairi found herself frowning at the sight, not at him but for him. Lea was the reason Sora had brought them here, wasn't he?

"Hey, Lea! Come on over here!"

Lea perked up at her call, looking over his shoulder at her and then at Pooh and Sora playing tug-o-war with a honey pot. He let out a sigh, stood up straight, then rolled his shoulders. "I'm coming, I'm…" Lea trailed off. "Do you hear that?"

"…are made out of rubber
"Their bottoms are made out of springs"

"They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
"Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
"But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is
"I'm the only one"

"IIIII'm...the only—OOF!"

From out of nowhere, a blur of orange and black slammed hard into Lea and sent him tumbling across the floor of Pooh's house. Lea and the blur crashed into the wall and then were flung into the air, spinning around wildly before landing on Pooh's bed. Lea, sprawled on his back, looked bewildered up at the giant stuffed tiger who was staring right into his eyes, nose to nose, springy tail wagging.

"Hello! I'm Tigger! T-I-double-guh-RR! That spells Tigger!" Lea could only spit out a jumbled, shocked, mess of words before the newcomer lost interest and let out a loud gasp as he turned to Sora and Kairi. "Sora! Why hey there ya ol' so-an'-so! What are you doin' all the way outta here?! Ooh, and who's your lady friend?"

Kairi raised an eyebrow and sent Sora a silent question with a single look: He knew this guy? But Sora greeted him with vigor almost matching the jittery tiger's own. "Hi, Tigger! I'm just here with some friends today. This is Kairi, and the guy you just bounced is Lea."

"H-Hey," Lea groaned as he climbed off Pooh's bed. "Ow, my back…"

"Lea, ya say?" Tigger moved back over to him in a single leap, landing once more on Lea's chest and pushing him onto his back. "Lea ol' buddy ol' pal! Somethin' tells me you can bounce with the best of 'em! Whaddaya say?!"

"Bounce?" Lea asked through a pained wince.

"And watch out, Sora here might just be my number two bouncin' lieutenant with all the times we've bounced together!"

Sora shrugged and looked over to Kairi. "Tigger is always jumping and bouncing all over the forest. Sometimes I've joined him on that." A blush creeped onto his face and he scratched at his cheek while avoiding Kairi's eyes. "You know, uh, once or twice."

From his prone position, Lea let out a laugh. "Now that I have to see!"

"Sure ya o! Bouncin' is what Tiggers do best, after all!" Tigger jumped off Lea one last time and bounded around the room on all fours. "Why, we'll bounce up and down all hundred acres! It'll be the time of our lives! Woohoohoohoo!"

Not watching where he was going, Tigger soon collided right into Pooh and sent the honey pots the little bear had gathered up flying once again. Dazed, Tigger shook his head and held it in his hands while his eyes spun. After a moment, he turned to Pooh and held out a hand. "Hey there, Pooh boy! Didja hear? We're gonna go bouncin'! You wanna come?! You know how much fun it is!"

"I know. You've bounced me lots and lots of times…" Pooh drawled out with a tired expression. He climbed up to his feet and picked up two of the scattered pots, but on attempting to get a third he dropped the first. "Oh, bother. I'm sorry, Tigger, but," and he dropped another one, "I am too busy to go, um, bouncing today. I need to gather hunny for the winter."

"…Oh." Tigger was visibly deflated by the news, his entire body drooping. "Well, uh, if you say so, Pooh. Well, come on, Sora and pals! We can at least go bouncin' together!"

Lea climbed up off of Pooh's bed. "Fun as that sounds, we're gonna have to get a raincheck on that, um, Tigger."

Sora smiled sadly and moved to go help Pooh, taking some of the pots off his hands. "Sorry, but we promised to help Pooh get ready. Another time, okay?"

If it was possible for Tigger to slouch any further, he did it. "Oh, yeah… Okay. See ya some other time, then."

Rubbing his arm and looking down, Tigger slowly backed up and made his way toward the door—or that's where he thought he was headed. One step a bit too far back landed Tigger's left foot firmly in the open top of a full pot of honey. He gasped and groaned as he kicked his foot, trying desperately to get the pot off of him and muttering about how gross it was all the while. As he grew more frantic, his tail whipped back and forth, knocking into things hanging from Pooh's wall like photos and his cuckoo clock. Eventually Tigger did manage to get it off, but not before one last kick sent the honey flying right at Sora—and dumping it all over him.

"Yech!" Tigger winced at Sora's sticky appearance and took another step back, this time making sure he was actually headed for Pooh's front door. "Well, uh… TTFN. Ta-ta for now…"

Lea put his hands on his hips and watched as Tigger bolted off. "What's with that guy?"

Kairi didn't take time to consider the question herself, as she immediately ran over to Pooh's kitchen cabinet and fished for a washcloth to help clean Sora up. "You okay?"

Sora took the cloth with a thank you to Kairi and began to clean off his hair. For curiosity's sake, Kairi turned to Pooh to make sure he wasn't about to suck it all off Sora. Pooh didn't seem to go that far for honey, though. As she watched, he finished gathering the pots and putting them into his closet, then turned back to the others and waddled over to them on his stubby legs. "Are you alright, Sora?" he asked.

"Thanks guys, I'm fine." Sora's hair wasn't, though. It looked even wilder than ever. He looked to Kairi and smiled. "Don't mind Tigger. He's sweet, really. He's just…eccentric. And excitable. Very excitable."

Kairi turned back to the door, which was still open and letting the chilly breeze in. "I'm worried we hurt his feelings."

"We probably did." Sora's reply was surprisingly nonchalant. "But don't worry. Tigger's attention span is almost even shorter than Pooh's. He won't be down for too long, and later we can go bounce with him."

Lea shivered in the cold and moved over the door. Once he had shut it, he leaned his back against it and crossed his arms. "What does that mean though, exactly?"

Sora let out some awkward laughter. "Well, the first time I met Tigger, he was on a bouncing spree at Rabbit's house. I had to stop him from bouncing all over Rabbit's vegetable garden."

"There's someone here named just 'Rabbit'?"

Sora either ignored or didn't notice Lea's under-his-breath interjection, as he kept talking. "The next time, I found Tigger as his 'bouncing spot' and he had me follow him around on some tree stumps. The last time I was here Pooh and I bounced together to reach the top of Rabbit's house before Tigger and win some honey."

Pooh rubbed his belly. "That was a very scrumptious Christmas."

Kairi couldn't help but smile at the picture, and it grew wider with each thing Sora listed off. She sat down in a chair and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her chin resting in her hands. "Sounds like you've had a ton of fun here. I'd love to hear more!"

"What, seriously?" Lea asked with a groan.

"Come on, Lea. We came here to cheer you up! What could be more cheerful than getting to laugh at Sora's embarrassing stories?"

A spark shined in Lea's eye. "Well, when you put it that way…"

"Aheh…" Sora laughed awkwardly, then sat down on Pooh's bed and helped Pooh up beside him. "Well, alright then. The first time I met Pooh he was sitting on a log thinking to himself…"

Time seemed to just slip away from them, minutes turning into hours as Sora spoke about helping Pooh get honey from the hollow of a tree, getting his head unstuck from a honey pot, and more. And long after Kairi had stopped keeping track of time, someone pounded on Pooh's door and caught all of them by surprise. "Is that Tigger again?" Kairi asked.

Sora shook his head. "Tigger doesn't knock."

Seemingly oblivious of the frantic rhythm of the knocking, Pooh happily got up off his bed and walked over to the front door with a smile on his face. The visitor didn't even stop knocking once the door was open, so caught up in it that he pounded his fist into Pooh's belly a few times before catching notice.

"Oh, d-d-d-dear! Pooh! It's terrible!"

"Oh! Why hello, Piglet. Look: we have visitors."

A small pink figure, standing barely taller than Pooh's legs, poked his head out from in front of the bear and gazed into his house at Sora, Kairi, and Lea. True to the name he was a little piglet. Very little. He examined the three of them with wide, fearful eyes, eyes that fell on Kairi, then Sora, then Lea. And at that last one, he let out a startled gasp and ran right past Pooh, the force of his speed spinning Pooh around in place. With a yelp, Piglet dove under Pooh's bed, shaking.

"That giant is so t-t-tall!"

"Is he okay?" Kairi asked, jumping to her feet. She was ready to rush over to the bed, but Sora held a hand out.

Sora stood up slowly from the bed, careful not to scare Piglet beneath him. "Easy, Kairi. No sudden movements. Piglet's a nervous, little guy, so you gotta be gentle with him." Sora got down on his hands and knees, then turned to look under the bed. "Piglet?"

Kairi couldn't see what Sora saw, but after a moment things seemed to calm down and Piglet let out a small "…Sora?"

"Hey, Piglet." Now she knew he was smiling, just from his tone. "It's okay. The giant is my friend Lea, don't worry about him. And the girl with us is my other friend Kairi."

"O-Oh, w-well if they're your friends, Sora…"

Sora stood up and dusted his pants off, and a moment later the little pig came crawling out from under Pooh's bed. He still shook slightly at the sight of Lea, but nowhere near as much as Lea's appearance had frightened him before. He did have to crane his neck very far back to get a look at Lea's hair, though, to the point he almost fell over.

Kairi put on the most disarming smile she could. "It's nice to meet you, Piglet. Sora is showing us around the Hundred Acre Wood today."

"N-Nice to meet you. You're Kairi, right? And that's Lea."

Lea nodded. "Yup, that's Lea. Got it memorized?"

Pooh walked over to the four of them and looked down at his newest visitor. "Would you like a snack, Piglet?"

"Oh, that sounds very nice Pooh, but no." Piglet shook his head. "It's Eeyore! Eeyore needs help, right now! Something terrible has happened to his house!"

Sora slapped his hand over his face. "Again?"

x-x-x

Lea scratched his head. "What exactly am I looking at here?"

"Why, genius, of course!" Rabbit laughed. Lea still couldn't quite comprehend that the rabbit was literally named Rabbit.

That wasn't even the half of it. Turns out the owl was named Owl, and the gopher Gopher. The mother and son kangaroo were Kanga and Roo, which Lea had to admit he found kind of clever. At least Eeyore had turned out to be a donkey and not some animal he hadn't heard of before called an eeyore. Lea liked Eeyore already, to be honest. He was mopey and dull, but in a charming way. Like Roxas had been early on.

As for the 'genius' in front of them, well, Lea wasn't sure he'd call it that. It was certainly something. Turns out Eeyore's house had been crushed by a massive boulder. Or so that's what they said, anyway. All Lea could see under the giant rock was a couple of sticks, but Sora assured him he could see the remains of the poor donkey's humble abode. He must be as crazy as the people living here. When he, Sora, and Kairi had arrived with Pooh and Piglet, they found the boulder done up with some crazy mess of pulleys, levers, and rope. Rabbit stood atop the boulder with a set of blueprints in his hands and a smug smile on his face.

"Rabbit's Rock Remover!" he exclaimed proudly, emphasizing the R with each word. "I have officially completed…the plans!"

From down on the ground, everyone stared up at Rabbit in silence until Pooh questioned: "What plans?"

Rabbit choked for a moment before slapping his foot on the rock beneath him. "The plans! For removing this boulder and restoring to Eeyore his happy home."

"No need to bother on my account," Eeyore muttered. Pooh patted him on the head, causing Eeyore to give Lea an irritated aside glance. Oh yeah, he was Lea's kind of people.

Rabbit examined the blueprints in his hands and nodded. "Alright, err… Sora's new friend. The tall one!" Lea looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "If you would, place Eeyore in the weight there." He pointed at the far end of the messy contraption, where a tarp had been tied to a bent branch and hung lifelessly.

"You good with that?"

"Don't suppose I've got much choice." Eeyore slowly walked over to Lea and slumped down, letting his legs go limp and his belly drop to the ground. "Whenever you're ready. Don't rush yourself on my account."

Lea bent down and scooped Eeyore up with both hands. He was surprisingly light, and his skin soft. Soft like fabric. Wait a second, were all of them stuffed animals? He entertained the thought as he moved Eeyore over to the tarp and struggled to fit in him it, more due to his size than his weight. Once Eeyore was secured, Lea leaned against a nearby stick. "You good?"

"Hanging in there."

Lea turned to Rabbit as he ordered the others around, directing them to different locations across the field. "Now then… Pooh Bear! Release the counterweight!"

Pooh stared at Rabbit dimly before Sora gave him a gentle nudge, which turned Pooh's attention to the wooden lever attached to a stone wheel. Leaping up and grabbing it with both hands, Pooh's weight did the rest of the work and brought the lever down. Ropes tightened and loosened along the contraption, lowering Eeyore closer to the ground.

Rabbit wasn't done giving orders. "Kanga and Roo! Start depressurizing the granite extractor!" Extractor? Lea wasn't entirely sure Rabbit knew what that word meant, but regardless Kanga and Roo started moving the stone wheel near them. Rabbit, still atop the boulder, looked down to a lone rope where Piglet and Kairi stood. "Piglet! …Piglet, start pulling your own weight!"

Piglet struggled to pull on the rope, but of course with such his small size couldn't keep up with the forces of Kanga and Roo rotating their wheel and Eeyore's weight. He slipped and was dragged along as the rope moved into the contraption instead of being tugged away from it. That was when Kairi stepped in, grabbing Piglet and pulling him back as Piglet pulled the rope. Even she couldn't quite deal with it, though, and she had to dig her heels in to keep from getting pulled herself.

Rabbit rubbed his forehead and began to give more commands as it became apparent that Piglet and Kairi weren't the only ones having trouble. Roo was too small to pull his own weight, and Pooh's arms were about to give out and release his lever even with Sora helping. Beside Lea, Eeyore let out a grunt of pain as the tarp suddenly tightened before loosening again. Then Lea heard the snap of a thread, followed by an "Oh, bother," and everything went wrong.

Suddenly the rope Piglet and Kairi were holding on to got tugged back with such force that Piglet was pulled right out of Kairi's hands and Kairi herself fell onto her back. Piglet got caught up in the rapidly spinning stone wheel by Pooh, Kanga lost grip on her lever, and Roo began to spin around in time with Piglet. The rope holding Eeyore bounced up and down and up and down, banging his head against the wood.

Sora looked up. "Uh oh."

The wood creaked and groaned and collapsed under the strain of it all, sending Rabbit's Rock Remover crashing to the ground.

Lea groaned and rubbed his face as Rabbit went over his blueprints, trying to figure out why it didn't work. Kairi sighed and moved to tie up the loose strings on Pooh's back exposing stuff and fluff inside. Oh, so they were stuffed animals!

"Maybe we need another helping hand," Kairi said.

Rabbit looked up from his papers and smiled. "Oh, yes! All we really need is—AAAGH!"

A familiar orange and black blur slammed into Rabbit, sending him toppling from the top of the boulder. Tigger wagged his tail as he shoved his face into Rabbit's, and beside Kanga Roo let out an excited. "Tigger!"

"Hello, you blokes! Anyone up for a little bouncin'?!"

"No!" Rabbit coughed as he climbed up and brushed the dirt off his body. "No, Tigger! We all told you when you came buy our houses earlier, no bouncing! Look!" He shook Tigger by the shoulders and then gestured to the boulder right beside them. "Just look at all this work we have to do!"

Tigger shook his head. "What? Movin' that old thing? Not a problem, all you need is a little bouncin'!"

"How will bouncing move it?" Sora asked.

Tigger shushed Piglet and moved over to the rock with his chin cupped in his hands, examining it from various angles, knocking on it, and checking the direction of the wind. Rabbit, having gathered his scattered blueprints and climbed back onto the rock, rolled his eyes. "'Bouncing will move this boulder.' That's almost amusing."

"Right there!" Tigger shouted, pressing his finger against a seemingly random spot on the boulder. Before their eyes his body contorted, his torso twisting as his springy tail spun like a screw and he stood on one foot. Lea couldn't help but notice the way Roo smiled in awe at the sight, but didn't have time to really understand what that would mean before Tigger suddenly release the pressure he was building up. His entire body spun like a top and he shot high into the sky, kicking up a wind that blew the papers out of Rabbit's hands again. He bounded off a tree, shot past Eeyore still hanging there, and leaped off the nearby cliff face. Bouncing again and again off the wreckage of Rabbit's contraption, hos hooting laughter seemed to come from every direction at once. At the last, loudest "Hoo!" Tigger landed feet-first on the exact spot he had pointed out on the boulder and then jumped off of it, landing on the grass where he had started.

The boulder reacted immediately, the force of Tigger's super bounce getting it rolling away from Eeyore's house—with Rabbit atop it! The ropes attached to the boulder pulled Rabbit's Rock Remover along with it, which in turn caught up the whole group in its debris. Lea's world went green and brown as he crashed into the dirt and grass, and he heard nothing but the panicked cries of everyone around him. There was a free-falling sensation for a moment, and suddenly he found himself soaked to the bone.

Lea pushed himself up to a sitting position to see that he and everyone else had landed in a small pond that was more mud than water. Sora and Kairi acted quickly after they recovered, conjuring up a combination of Aero and Water that cleaned and then dried everyone, but the damage had been done. When Tigger came bounding down after them, Rabbit met him with a furious glare.

"Now that that's outta the way, who's up for a little bouncin'?!" Tigger slapped Rabbit on the back, sending him toppling right back into the mud.

"What is it with you and bouncing?!" Rabbit demanded as he clawed his way back out, once more drenched. "Just look at my rock remover! Everything's ruined, and all you can think about is bouncing!"

Tigger seemed genuinely hurt by Rabbit's shouting. He took a step back and looked down, a hand over his mouth. "But that's what Tiggers do best…"

"Exactly," Eeyore said as he climbed his way out of a thorny bush. "Unlike us."

Piglet wrung his hands. "What, uh, we're trying to say is, uh…we really can't bounce like Tiggers."

Sora rubbed his head, visibly dazed from the crash. "Tigger, sorry. But the thing is…"

"…we're not Tiggers," Pooh finished.

Seeing Tigger's heartbroken expression shook Lea, but he had to admit this guy was way too peppy and over the top, even for someone like him. There was a time and place for everything, but he took it way too far. They were lucky no one was seriously hurt in that crash, or things would have been even worse. Everyone else looked just as sorry as he did, though not as much as Tigger. Except Rabbit, who let out a "Hmph!" and turned away with his arms crossed.

Tigger practically looked like he was going to break down crying. With his lip quivering and his eyes watering, he turned away and slowly walked off into the woods, his tail dragging behind him along the ground.

Kairi rubbed her arm as she watched him go, then turned to Sora beside her and spoke softly. "Is… Is he really all alone? The only Tigger, I mean?"

Sora shook his head. "I'm not sure. I know he says he is…"

Roo's voice came sadly from a branch up above. "I've got a mama. Doesn't he have a family somewhere too?"

Lea stared down at his reflection in the muddy water. The only Tigger out there, huh? Maybe his apparent pride in being 'the only one' wasn't actually pride at all. He suddenly found a pang of sympathy for Tigger in his heart; Lea also knew the pain of not knowing where someone was out there.

Kairi spoke up again. "Sora, does anyone around here have a pen and paper?"

"Owl probably does. Why?"

"I have an idea."