It didn't take long to get to the old wizard's house, and this time they didn't fall into the water thanks to the moving rocks. Inside, Merlin was perusing some of his books with a spot of tea, before perking up at the return of his youthful visitors. "Aaaah, it's good to see you all again. Have you been practicing your magic, Sora?" The brown haired boy smiled and nodded excitedly. "Yeah, Merlin. And look what else we found in all the worlds we've been to!" Ruby emphasized his response by showing all the torn pages. "By George, you've done it! You found all the missing pages! How did you manage it so?" Merlin's question was answered by an exuberant bark from Zwei. To whom Ruby pointed with a cheerful, "Zwei managed to sniff them all out for us. We might never have found them all if it wasn't for him. Isn't that right boy?" she said adoringly, earning a cheerful panting from the corgi. "Well I dare say, you've done well, pooch. Good show! Now we may be able to restore the book."
While the rest of the group still didn't fully understand what it was Ruby and Sora saw in that book, they knew at least they wouldn't be in any danger. So they would wait patiently in Merlin's house the book opened and the youthful pair vanished into the book in a flash of light just like before.
As their vision returned, Sora and Ruby once again found themselves standing at the hill where they met Pooh. Though this time, there was no sign of him or anybody, anywhere. "Guess Pooh is somewhere else." Sora said to Ruby who looked back at Sora with a shrug. "Let's look around. Maybe the pages might have done something to the rest of the wood." she said, walking down to a collection of trees she was certain wasn't there the first time she and Sora came to the Wood.
Within minutes, the two teens found themselves before a tall, somewhat thin tree with horizontally lined branches at nearly even levels. A few had bee hives attached underneath and one naturally carved out hole was at the top. By one side there was a small pond. In front of it was a log with a hollowed out end. Inside it came a voice that was barely above a whisper. "Hello? I-Is anyone there?" They were so tiny and his skin was completely pink because he looked like a tiny anthropomorphic pig. His ears and nose were darker shades than the rest of his body. He wore a pink striped jumper fitting him snugly while his thin, noodle-like limbs came out at the top sides or underneath. A fearful and sad frown crossed his face as he timidly walked out. "Wh-Wh-What am I to do? I'm all alone." Speaking up, or at least as much as his still quiet voice could speak up, the minuscule animal held his fingerless hands near his mouth and said, "Pooh? Pooh? Where are you? It's me, Piglet."
Sora and Ruby's attention was completely focused on the source of the timid voice. Curious about the new person they didn't see during their first visit, they approached the aptly named Piglet. As the bipedal porcine turned around, feeling as if something was near, he and gasped fearfully at the sight of two new figures towering over him.
"Hey there," Ruby said with a cheerful smile and wave to the little guy. "My name's-" Before she could finish, Piglet turned on his heels and scurried as quick as his little body could move, right into the bushes at the other end of the tree. Sora and Ruby watched the sight with wide, confused eyes, not sure why the little fellow suddenly just ran from them. "Was it something I said?" Ruby asked guiltily. She didn't mean to scare the poor thing. "Nah, we probably just surprised him." Sora assured her as he turned to see Piglet's head poke out of one of the bushes.
Sora looked at Ruby then at the bush that the timid Piglet hid inside of. He wasn't sure why he was so scared, but...maybe if he could stop the little guy from scurrying away, maybe they could find out if he knew a certain bear. And see that they didn't mean him any harm. With that hope in mind, Sora went around the tree, just as Piglet timidly peeked out to see Ruby was still there. Though she looked over at Sora curiously, wondering what he was doing.
And sure enough, the moment piglet turned around, he found himself staring up at Sora and jumped fearfully, shuffling from side to side before turning to see Ruby again. "Oh d-dear! I-I was jus-just...N-Nevermind! I'm sorry!" he implored, his voice nearing a whimper from the sheer, inexplicable terror he felt. Ruby felt even more guilty, realizing just how scared he was. The two knelt down, making the little guy cover his eyes, despite the fact that neither of them had any intention to hurt him. "No, no, no, it's okay. I didn't mean to frighten you." Ruby said gently, as if consoling a scared child. "Yeah. Don't be scared." Sora assured, being as nonthreatening as he could...which wasn't very hard for him and Ruby all things considered. But such things aside, "You're looking for Pooh, right?"
That question caught Piglet's attention as he looked up at Sora with surprise. "You know Pooh?" he asked, to which Ruby nodded with a smile. "We sure do." The switch from fear to relief on Piglet's face was like night and day as he finally calmed down. Though a moment later, he let out a gasp as he remembered something. "Oh, y-you see, I have something for him. I have to take it to him right away!" Piglet explained nervously.
As if on cue, the bear in question waddled up along the field, his gaze fixed upon the tree they were all beside. "Hey, look! There he is!" Ruby said, pointing toward him. Piglet followed her pointing to see that sure enough, he was here. "Oh, Pooh!" Piglet called out softly as he ran toward his friend.
Sora and Ruby followed Piglet as Pooh stopped to sniff something his nose caught. "Oh, I believe I smell a delicious something," he said with growing delight as he sniffed more. "A something like honey."
"Pooh!" Piglet cheered with a smile as he came to him.
"Hello, Piglet. How have you been?" Pooh asked with a pleasant greeting as he smiled to his little friend.
"Oh, I-I'm so glad to see you. I thought you'd gone away," Piglet said with relief before taking something out. "I brought what you asked for."
In moment Pooh was carefully holding a small light blue colored balloon on a small thread. He looked up to the floating item with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Piglet. Now I can finally have some honey."
Piglet was curious as he asked, "Really? B-But how?"
"I shall hold onto the balloon, and fly like a bee up the Hunny Tree, see." Pooh answered, unintentionally making a small rhyme.
As was normal, Piglet became worried about the possibility of danger or any other form of distress when he said, "But, if you take their honey, won't the bees be angry?"
"Hmmm... Oh!" Pooh realized it after thinking on Piglet's words. If all those bees saw their home being invaded they might think of him as a threat. When looking to his friends though, he seemed to have an idea. "Sora. Ruby. If you could only chase away those bees, I'm certain I could get a small morsel of honey. Would you help me get some honey?"
"Um... should we help Pooh get some honey?" Ruby asked Sora when looking to him.
Sora nodded. "Sure. They're just bees. We've fought way worse things. We can handle them."
"Fair point. I doubt they're anything like the rapier wasps we have back in Remnant." Ruby muttered with a soft chuckle.
Just the name of those creatures was enough to make Sora put the pieces together as to how those particular wasps got their name. And it made his skin prickle, despite not even knowing what they looked like or did.
But such things were for another time. For now, Pooh was floating up the tree, somehow not weighing the balloon down anymore. Bizarre as it was, Sora and Ruby had seen weirder sights. And this one balanced out absurdity with wholesomeness, so it was all good.
As he floated up, a familiar feathered fellow flew onto one of the branches, earning a smile from Pooh. "Oh. hello there, Owl." Pooh greeted cheerfully. The aged bird brushed his wing along his chest, smiling at the sight of the silly old bear floating up with Sora and Ruby following behind. "Using a balloon to get some honey? Splendid idea!" Of course, how splendid it was would ultimately depend upon Sora and Ruby's aid.
The bees weren't hard to scare off as they hopped from branch to branch after Pooh. Whenever he stuck his hand into one of the hollowed out holes, the bees would act up and attempt to protect their honey. Thankfully with an intimidating swipe of their weapons, the bees retreated before they could sting the balloon and make Pooh fall.
Of course, that could only last so long before the bees wizened up to their plan. They managed to weave around just enough so that they avoided Sora and Ruby, and buzzed toward the balloon. But just in the nick of time, Sora yelled out, "WIND!" And surrounded Pooh in a protective windy barrier. It scattered the bees, but also whirled Pooh around and suddenly tossed him right into the hollow. At first Sora and Ruby blanched with shock, worried that he may have been tossed right into the bees. But those worries were unfounded as they looked within the hollow to see Pooh gorging himself on a veritable pool of honey all around him. "It is rather funny, what I will do for honey." Pooh said with a cheery chuckle, smacking his lips as he savored his meal.
As they climbed back done once Pooh was full, which seemed to take a little while, Ruby thought she heard something at the base of the Hunny Tree. Like a spark of electricity. When looking around, she heard it again but also saw a small spark of light flickering out from one of the roots. She inspected it as Pooh was helped down by Sora. It looked...somewhat similar to the gem Leon gave them.
Sora noticed Ruby seemingly distracted by something and approached her with a concerned expression. "Ruby? Is something wrong?" Ruby perked up at Sora's inquiry. "Hm? Oh, no. I just found this at the base of the tree." she answered, showing him the little bauble she pulled out of the roots. "It looks like what Leon gave you, doesn't it?"
Sora inspected it then remembered something. "Oh yeah. I also found something like that from when we were in Monstro. If these both look like what Leon gave me then they must be more summon gems!" Ruby's eyes flew back to the gem, then back at Sora with an astounded expression. "Then let's be sure to speak to Fairy Godmother after we get back." Ruby said as she handed the gem to him.
Turning back toward Piglet, Ruby bent down to look at him again, asking. "So, what are you gonna do now?" "Oh. W-Well..." Piglet said while trying to think. "Maybe some of our friends have returned? I-If so, maybe we should try looking for them?" The mention of the rest of his friends made Pooh smile as he finished off the last of his honey. "You may have a point, Piglet," said the cheery bear as he rubbed his full tummy. "Let's go and see, shall we?"
