Pooh and Piglet walked off to the western edge of the Hundred Acre Wood and with Sora and Ruby following. The serenity of the Wood was such a soothing far cry from what the huntress and Keyblade Master had been going through as of late. Eventually they came to a broad expanse of vegetable fields near a very tall, broad tree with a door and a mailbox in front of it. "Is this where one of your friends live?" Sora asked as they walked through the dirt path through the fields.
"Oh yes. This is where Rabbit lives." Pooh answered with a chuckle and a hungry look in his eyes. "Now, I like Rabbit. Because he uses short easy words, like, 'How about lunch?' and 'Help yourself, Pooh!'" Sora and Ruby looked at each other with confounded expressions. Pooh had JUST eaten a helping of Honey, yet he was already hungry for more? It may have just been their imagination, but something about that just...didn't bode well.
As Pooh and Piglet kept walking while Sora and Ruby looked around the garden. "This rabbit must be quite a hard worker if he's got this much food growing." Ruby observed, kneeling down to look at the collection of carrots, cabbages, pumpkins, and onions. Sora and Ruby couldn't help grinning at how their labels were misspelled. Something about that, while silly, was also very endearing.
In front of the house, there was an open mailbox with a letter sticking out of it. Curiously, Sora walked over to it and pulled it out. Ruby's eyes widened anxiously, as she remembered that places like Atlas were very strict upon laws like not reading other people's mail. Sora read its contents all the same, scrawled in rather silly handwriting.
I hope we'll be finding more honey together soon.
-Pooh
"Is anybody at home?" Sora and Ruby perked up at the familiar falsetto voice of Pooh. He was standing in front of what looked to be a hole with the sign 'Rabbit's Howse' above it. The bear stepped closer to it, calling out again, "What I said was, is anybody at home!?"
"No!" a slightly scratchy, frantic sounding voice answered from inside. Pooh sat on the ground with a disappointed, "Bother." Before calling back insistently. "Isn't there anybody there at all?" Only for the voice to reply back with an equally anxious sounding, "Nobody!"
Sora and Ruby looked at each other, equally confused and curious, so they walked around the corner to see Pooh talking into the hole with Piglet watching. The timid little fellow noticed the two and waved, pointing to the sign above the hole. "Look, Rabbit's house c-came back! But it looks like Rabbit isn't home." Piglet's words drew another confused look to their faces. Sora and Ruby were certain they heard another voice inside. "What do you mean, Piglet?" Ruby asked. "Pooh's been calling and calling, but the house says no one's there." Piglet's explanation didn't do much to erase their confusion. Especially as once again, Pooh called out, "Nobody's home?" And yet again, that anxious sounding, wearied voice replied with, "That's right! Nobody!"
Realizing that this likely wasn't going to go anywhere, Sora and Ruby decided to inspect what was really going on by heading to the front of the house. As they did so, Pooh asked the voice from inside the hole, "Who is this person named Nobody?" then climbed up, kicking his little legs to crawl into the hole. "Nobody, have you seen Rabbit?"
The voice grew more frantic as Pooh climbed in and squeezed himself through. "No! No Rabbit's here! There's no one here!"
There was indeed somebody inside. The voice belonged to an anthropomorphic looking rabbit with predominantly yellow fur. Except for his belly, mouth and tail. All of which were white. He also had long ears that were pink inside, four-fingered hands, large three-toed feet, a round pink nose, oval shaped black eyes, brown eyebrows and four black whiskers, two on the sides of his upper lips. When Pooh entered through the hole, he sighed and slumped in defeat. "Hello Rabbit." Pooh greeted innocently as Piglet came through the hole after him.
"Why, P-Pooh. What a pleasant surprise..." Rabbit said in a less-than-pleased way as he looked between the unexpected and uninvited friends entering his home. "Nice to see you too, Piglet. And..." One of his long ears twitched turned to the sound of his front door opening. In came Sora and Ruby, earning a curious look from the house's owner. "Are these new friends?"
Ruby smiled and greeted the weary looking rabbit with a wave. "Hi there. I'm Ruby. This is Sora." "Hi there." Sora chimed in with a brief wave of his own.
"Hello to you." Rabbit said with a weak, wearied smile before turning to the other two. "P-Pooh, I'm sorry, but... I'm all out of honey at the moment." Despite Rabbits seemingly regretful words, Pooh sniffed around with a profound air of certainty. "Hmmm. That's odd. If you don't have any honey then I wonder why I smell it?" His statement as well as the sniffing caused Rabbit to smile nervously. "Perhaps you just have food on your mind, Pooh."
From the corner of his eye, Sora noticed something in the makeshift shelving area where the tree roots were. "What about that jar that has the words 'Hunny' written on the side?"
Rabbit tensed when he realized that he'd been found out. "H-Honey? How did that get up there?" Rabbit said unconvincingly trying to play innocent. Ruby looked at the nervous long eared fellow with a raised brow. It was obvious he tried to hide it from Pooh. Now that he was found out, Rabbit knew he had no choice. "Would you like some, Pooh? Don't feel you have to, of course." And of course, his last attempt to dissuade the gluttonous bear was met with failure. "Oh, thank you Rabbit. I would like just a small smackeral. I'm quite hungry." Rabbit let out a sigh as Sora pulled it down and handed it to him.
The instant Sora did so, Rabbit reluctantly brought it over to the hungry bear. Now with his most beloved food right before him, Pooh wasted no time as he ate- "Um, Pooh Bear..."
-and ate...and ate- "You're not eating the whole pot, are you?"
-and ate and ate and ate and ate- "Sigh Once you start, there's no stopping you, is there?"
-and ate and ate and ate and...ATE. "I'm so glad to have found both Rabbit, and some honey." Pooh said, his mouth stuffed with honey. Of course, Rabbit was less enthused.
Both Sora and Ruby were astounded at just how much Pooh could eat. As they watched the carnage, Piglet spoke up and got their attention. "So Rabbit came back too, but someone's still missing too. Some places in the Hundred Acre Wood are gone too! Oh, wh-what to do?" he said nervously. Ruby knelt down and pat Piglet on the head to reassure him. "We'll find everyone else, Piglet. Don't worry." Her words were joined by Sora who spoke up with a chuckle. "If Pooh doesn't eat Rabbit out of house and home."
Smacking his honey laced mouth, Pooh stood up. "I must be going now. Goodbye Rabbit." he said in a rather sticky voice, shaking Rabbit's hand with his honey coated one, turning back to the home. "Well goodbye, if you're sure you won't have any more." Rabbit replied as he tried to get the sticky honey off his arms. His words making the much more tubby looking Pooh turn back around. "Is there any more!?" Pooh asked excitedly. "No, there isn't." Rabbit answered, shaking the rest of the honey off his hands. "I thought not..." Pooh said dejectedly, making sure to slurp up the very last bit of honey before climbing through the hole.
Despite eating so much after recently having lots of honey less than an hour ago, Sora and Ruby were astounded he could still be hungry. It was like he had a bottomless stomach. "Let's get going, see if we can find anybody else around here." Ruby suggested, earning a nod from Sora as they left.
Just as they walked through the garden and were about to leave between the two large trees, Piglet called out in desperation. "H-Help! Please help Pooh!" As they turned, Piglet was dashing to them but tripped and hit the dirt.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked in concern when helping him stand up again.
"In Rabbit's house! Come on!" Piglet said with a worried plea. They came back inside the gardener's home, seeing the bottom half of Pooh seemingly stuck in the hole he came in prior. He also seemed much more rotund than before as his legs kicked.
"Oh help and bother. I'm stuck again," Pooh said with a slight muffle on the other side of the hole. "I came through this hole, so it must have shrunk."
Ruby and Sora tried not snickering at Pooh's logic since that couldn't possibly be the case. Their amusement died down when Rabbit looked genuinely grieving and said, "All this because he can't stop liking honey so much!"
It was quite an inconvenience for Rabbit, to say the least. And it was especially true for Pooh as well. With that in mind, Sora, Ruby, Piglet, and Rabbit went outside to where Pooh saw his upper half barely stuck out the hole. His arms only able to hang outward in front of himself. "Don't worry, Pooh. We'll get you out. Ruby, grab hold of me." Sora said as he grabbed Pooh's hands.
Ruby grabbed ahold Sora's shoulders and on the count of three, they pulled. Pooh didn't budge an inch, even as they used all their strength. Even when digging their heels in, it did nothing. Eventually they gave and regained their footing. "Well now what? We can't leave poor Pooh bear like this." Ruby said with a sigh of worry.
A worry that Pooh shared as he bemoaned, "Oh, how will I eat honey if I'm stuck in here? When it's lunch time, perhaps you could bring me a honey jar?" Before either Ruby or Sora could chuckle his silly request, a harsh, insistent ultimatum of, "No honey til you're unstuck!" rang out from Rabbit who dashed outside, frantically rubbing the sides of his head. "If Pooh doesn't slim down, my house will stay plugged up forever! If only there were something we could do..."
The four unstuck parties wracked their brains for some way that they could help Pooh get unstuck. "Wait, I know! A bit of carrot top juice will do the trick!" Rabbit declared proudly. Ruby and Sora were confused as to how that would work. Or perhaps it was also because this was the first time hearing of such juice. "Carrot top juice is just the ticket to slimming down a Pooh." Of course, Rabbit was content to be proud of himself. However that pride turned to sheer horror when Rabbit turned to look toward his garden as he let out a great, "Oh no!"
Sora and Ruby ran after Rabbit as he dashed out to see what had horrified him. It looked to be a stuffed tiger bouncing ridiculously high and at an immense pace in the direction of Rabbit's house. So much so that said tiger managed to smash the bridge into splinters somehow. And then, before they knew it, Sora and Ruby were somehow both bowled over by the newcomer. Both youths were wide-eyed with surprise as the tiger let out a cheerful, "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoooo! Hey there! Name's Tigger! T-I-double-guh-RR! That spells Tigger!" A distinct lisp seemed to rise up from his s's as he excitedly looked at both Sora and Ruby with fascination. "Well now, I don't think I've ever seen YOU before." Ruby and Sora blinked rapidly, unsure of how to react to this.
"Oh, hello Tigger. You've just bounced my new friends Sora and Ruby." Pooh introduced, surprisingly cheery despite the fact he was still stuck. Tigger looked up at the stuck bear, seemingly not comprehending his predicament as he cheerfully said, "Hey, Pooh. Say you're lookin' mighty uncomfy today. Is that some new exercise? Why, bouncin' around is a lot more fun!" A statement he emphasized as he bounced off the two teenagers at last.
Once he was off them, Sora and Ruby slowly got back up and dusted any dirt off their clothes. "Wh-Why do you bounce around so much, Tigger?" Sora asked, still recovering from being knocked down. "Why? Cause bouncin' is what Tigger's do best!" the new acquaintance said proudly. Ruby chuckled at his seemingly limitless enthusiasm. "Wow. I think we just found someone who could finally give Nora a run for her money." she remarked. Dare she imagine what would happen if the two of them ever end up meeting though?
"Speaking of which," Tigger muttered as he narrowed his beady eyes and held a paw over his brow, scanning everywhere in front of him. "My bouncin' spot has gone and disappeared! So for now, this'll be my new bouncing ground." Tigger's last words followed with a happy little cheer that sounded all his own right as he jumped at least twenty feet into the air then bounced throughout the vegetable patches, much to the horror of he who owned them.
As Rabbit watched with mortification, Sora and Ruby came to his side. Rabbit turned to them with nigh unhinged desperation as he said, "Tigger's bouncing will ruin my vegetables. And if we don't give Pooh the carrot top juice, he'll be stuck forever. Please help me!" Tigger certainly didn't seem like he meant harm, but given the circumstances and everything else, Sora and Ruby realized that they couldn't just sit back and do nothing here.
"This is quite a fix. But I have just the solution," the voice of Owl rang out as he fluttered down next to Rabbit. "Tigger enjoys having fun. If you can make it seem like a game to him, it'll be a good enough distraction for Rabbit to collect whatever carrots he can. Try to catch him before he hits the ground and it'll ensure none of Rabbit's crops are damaged."
Sora and Ruby looked between Owl and Tigger in the wake of the aged bird's suggestion. So they had to help Tigger have fun so they could get the carrots for Pooh's carrot juice? "Couldn't we just tell Tigger about what's happening and why we need him to stop?" Ruby asked, trying to be rational. "Ohoho, you can try. But once Tigger gets in a jolly mood about bouncing, there's no stopping him." Owl said with a chortle.
Sure enough, try as they might to reach Tigger with words, it just didn't work. Whether it was because Tigger next to them for a moment only to bounce away the next and not catch their words, or simply him was too into his bouncing to register them even being near him, it seemed diplomacy was out of the question. "Guess we gotta do what Owl said after all." Sora said, sharing a shrug of resignation with Ruby. Pooh's freedom depended on it.
Rushing out to the carrot patch, both Sora and Ruby darted about to try and stop Tigger from bouncing on the carrots and burying them. And thankfully, whenever Tigger utilized a particularly long reaching bounce, Ruby managed to stop him with the aid of her semblance. Tigger didn't even seem bothered by the fact that they were intercepting his bounces. Likely because he simply bounced off of their clasped hands instead. It seemed a bounce was a bounce, regardless of the source.
And as they distracted the ever bouncy Tigger, Rabbit darted in and did his best to pick enough carrots to make that juice. Of course, Tigger was making that exceptionally difficult. But eventually, Tigger finally came to a stop as Sora and Ruby had actually gotten a bit winded from this tomfoolery. "Say, you kept up pretty good there, Sora. You too Ruby. Especially for some non-Tiggers! Let's have another go!" Before either Sora or Ruby could wearily answer, Tigger simply bounced off elsewhere. "Phew. He and Nora would get along great." Ruby said with a shake of her head. "Yeah...That actually tired me out more than some of our fights with the Heartless." Sora said, wiping his brow. One might think he was exaggerating given how many life or death situations they had been in, but if anyone doubted him, then put them in a place along with tigger.
Thankfully, that problem was out of the way, so they could now attend to the REAL problem that started all of this. That being getting Pooh free. "Thank you so much. I'll get the carrots, so please wait inside the house." Rabbit said as he began picking the carrots one by one. Both Sora and Ruby followed Rabbit's instructions and went inside. Both of them let out relieved exhales as they sat down...once again of course being reminded of Pooh's predicament as his bottom was sticking out of the wall.
"You feeling okay, Ruby?" Sora asked, still catching his breath.
Ruby smiled with a terse nod to him. "Yeah. I'll be alright. Using my semblance repeatedly tuckers me out though."
Pooh's lower portion was still stuck out the hole inside Rabbit's home and Piglet was less worried though only a little from the look of him. When Rabbit came back in, he sounded and looked relieved. "Oh, what a day! I gave Pooh the carrot top juice. All we have to do now is push him out. Just a little push should do."
"One little push?" Sora inquired before standing up and moving to the other side of the room, earning confused looks from everyone else. "Better to be sure."
"S-Sora, what are you-?"
Piglet didn't get a chance to finish his question because Sora suddenly charged across the room toward the stuck bear, leaning his right shoulder forward as he shoulder-checked Pooh with all his might. The bear shot straight out the hole like a cannonball and crashed into a pile of mixed vegetables surrounding hidden pots filled with honey. Piglet shuffled back and forth with renewed worry as Rabbit watched in wide eyed, jaw dropped shock. "Jeez, Sora. Wasn't that a bit much?" Ruby asked, hoping Pooh was alright.
"First my vegetable patch and now this..." Rabbit said with dismay as he rubbed his temples. Sora suddenly felt a little guilty, thinking that maybe Ruby was right. Despite wanting to make sure Pooh would get free, that was...probably a little much.
Outside the house, Pooh was thankfully right as rain... except for the honey pot covering his head as he sat on the ground. "Oh bother. Where am I? It's ever so dark in here," his muffled voice inquired as his hands felt around the jar. His tone however shifted to a more jolly one when he realized he was tasting favorite food. With a laugh of enjoyment, he assured everyone outside, "Well, it isn't so bad, I suppose. There is plenty of honey."
Now Sora was REALLY starting to regret his reckless course of action. One which had left poor Rabbit upset all over again, it seemed. "Um... sorry, Rabbit." Sora said, hoping he wasn't too angry. "Well it's not the first time something like this has happened. I doubt it'll be the last. But at least Pooh isn't stuck now." Rabbit assured him.
All's well that ends well, as they would say. Of course, this still wasn't exactly ended. For Sora and Ruby still had to help Pooh find the rest of his friends. So Sora and Ruby both went out to help get Pooh's head free. "Aaah, that was delicious. Though I would very much like to get back outside." The two youths shook their heads with smiles as they grasped ahold of the honey pot. "Hold still Pooh. We'll get this off of you." Ruby said. And with a great heave, the pot came off with a pop. "Oh, hello Sora. Hello Ruby. I was hoping I'd see you again when I got back outside. It was ever so dark where I suddenly ended up." Sora and Ruby snickered softly at Pooh's words. "Silly old bear." Ruby said adoringly as Pooh turned on his heels down a path.
It was one that Ruby and Sora could have sworn wasn't there before. Piglet soon emerged and followed closely after Pooh, while Rabbit went to fix the damage Tigger caused. Both Sora and Ruby looked at each other, wondering if perhaps this was another case of the book's pages being restored. Could it be that with the pages in their possession, the more of Pooh's friends they found, the more the 100 Acre Wood was restored? Eager as could be, Ruby ran ahead after Pooh and Piglet, gesturing to Sora to follow. Being of the same mind, he followed her enthusiastically.
What sorts of hijinks would they get swept up in next?
