No More Smurfing Chances
Chapter 1
The moon was high in the sky, a slight dew covered the grass and leaves that had fallen from the late summer trees. A chill hung in the air.
The same chill crept into a small village of mushroom houses, each little home had it's curtains tightly draw to keep out the light of the moon. Each home held a little blue creature. A little Smurf.
But one home had a candle burning bright in the window. It was the home and laboratory of the eldest Smurf in the village.
Papa was pacing up and down his front room, hands behind his back, head bowed, muttering to himself.
"It's no good, this can't be allowed to continue. But it would mean going against all that is smurfy. What would my little Smurfs think of me?"
His bearded blue face crumpled up in a frown and he sat down in an overstuffed armchair. Still frowning, he looked up at the shelves above his laboratory table. All kinds of bottles, jars and boxes were kept up there. Each ingredient had an important part to play in any spell or potion he was called upon to prepare. He stared at them for a long, long time.
Suddenly he stopped frowning and stood up with a look of determination. He had decided to act, to do the only thing that would work. He would prepare the potion that would solve their 'problem' once and for all.
He pulled up the sleeves of his nightshirt, and re-positioned his red hat. He still had a few hours before dawn and that was all he needed.
Before long, the sun took over from the moon and the damp mist that had enveloped the village was burnt away by it's warmth. One by one, each little Smurf woke up and prepared for a new day. It was going to be smurftastic!
"Hackus hungry, belly growling!"
Groaned a large Smurf with grey clothing and tufts of red hair on his head and face. A younger female Smurf looked at him with sisterly love in her eyes.
She was much slimmer than him and had a shock of black hair with a blue streak. Her clothing was different but she also had a grey hat. She had decided to keep it as it was part of her and white would clash with her 'goth' look, Vexy had to keep her image. She may now be a true blue Smurf but she still remembered where she came from. Just the thought made her shiver, but her past is what made her who she was.
"Oh Hackus, you're so greedy! Why don't you go down to see Baker Smurf and see what's on offer this morning?" she replied and then added;
"And get me a couple of Smurfberry muffins please!"
"Okay Dokey"
And the happy fat smurf opened the door of their mushroom house and went out into the sunlight.
All the Smurfs eventually gathered in the main square where tables had been laid out for breakfast. Each and every one of them groaned with an assortment of pastries, breads, jams and pancakes. You could have anything you wanted, as long as you liked Smurfberries. And all true Smurfs loved them!
In another part of the forest, the sun didn't seem so bright or cheerful. In fact it felt quite chilly and eerie.
One lone human lived here with his cat in a dilapidated castle, well it was more of a hovel but he liked to embellish the truth. The owner of the hovel, stepped out of his front door and grimaced when the sun touched his face, he had one friend in the world, a scruffy ginger tom cat, who was sleeping on a flagstone just outside the doorway.
"Urggh! Another horrid sunny day! How I hate days like this! Where is the rain for my vegetable garden? I'm fed up of having to fetch water to irrigate it. One of these days Azrael, I'm going to build a proper water tank to solve this problem. But first I must finish what I started, Mwa,ha,ha,ha!"
He rubbed his hands with glee and went back into the dark recesses of his home, where in the gloom a gigantic structure could be made out. It filled the whole hovel, it looked very unsmurfy.
This human called himself a wizard but he was more of an inventor and an alchemist. He would spend hours and days on end thinking up plans for weird and wonderful machines. If he had put his mind to it he could have made himself rich with his skills. But instead he wasted his natural talent and most of his adult life on the one thing that always eluded him...
Capturing Smurfs to make gold!
Ever since he found that wretched book on how to make gold using Smurfs, his every waking moment and even his dreams were filled with little blue creatures, that ran away from him, slipped through his fingers, taunted him, humiliated him. But no more! He now knew their secret.
He knew where the village was and his new Smurfalator would finally get to process the whole little blue population in one go. He had a secret weapon of his own and just the thought of it made him laugh maniacally.
The cat in the meantime was enjoying the sunshine laid flat on his back, belly exposed. He was going to enjoy this moment whilst he still could. He joined his master in a cat like snigger.
Back at the Smurf village;
"How is grumpy chops feeling today?" asked Vexy
"I hate that nickname!" spat back the other Smurf, but he then cracked a smile and put his arms around the love of his life, gave her a peck on the cheek, adding;
"But I hate it when we're apart"
Vexy kissed him back. Ever since their adventure in Paris, she and Grouchy had been soul mates. They did everything together and knew when to give each other space to be alone. At first Grouchy did not like the fact that Hackus would follow them around as well. But he understood that Vexy felt very protective of her brother and the big Smurf did give them space when things got intimate.
They were all so very happy that they knew it could not last.
There was one niggling worry in the mind of all the blue people of the forest. Their deadliest foe was back and he was sure to attack soon.
Meetings had been held a few days before and discussions carried on well into the night. The topic was what to do with the 'problem'. Papa had listened to all sides, looked into all the scenarios. Should they abandon the village? Fortify it? Get some outside help? Or attack Gargamel first?
The discussions soon turned to arguments with a clear dividing line between the Smurfs who thought it best to run and hide and the ones who wanted to stand and fight to the bitter end. Vexy, Hackus and Smurfette found the debates very awkward.
On one hand they felt they were fully part of the Smurf family, but on the other hand some of the un-smurfy things some Smurfs were saying about what they would do to their father made them feel uncomfortable. But at the same time, for some reason, a little angry.
Papa said he would think things over and come to a conclusion before the end of the full moon and that would be tonight.
Arm in arm, Grouchy and Vexy walked through the village and followed a path to the dam. They found a nice spot to sit down.
"Oh Grouchy, I don't know what to think anymore. Papa will be announcing his decision soon and no preparations have been made to evacuate the village yet. He's even commissioned Handy to build a new home for Brainy after the last one was blown up by an experiment going wrong. He should never had left Brainy in charge."
"Brainy put himself in charge. I never wanted to go to Paris in the first place!"
said Grouchy, but he stopped himself from saying anything more. It was true, he hadn't wanted to go, but finding Vexy made up for it all.
" I just hope they don't hurt Gargamel too badly. I mean they give him a good smurfing when they have to, but it never seems to stop him. I'm just scared that they will...Murder him, as it's the only thing left to do"
For some reason that she could not explain why, she started to cry. Grouchy cuddled her in his arms and put his cheek next to hers.
"Papa wouldn't allow any Smurf to do that! You've been in the human world too long. We have our own ways to deal with people like your dad. Rest assured we won't take his life. That would be un-smurfy and we would never do that, even if he killed one or all of us."
Vexy pulled away from Grouchy with tears streaming down her face.
"But why? Would you not want revenge? Take his life to pay for what he had done?"
"How would that be a punishment? He would be dead and not be able to learn from his mistakes. We have our own ways to deal with evil."
Vexy was not sure if that made her feel better or not. Before she could say anything else, she heard a shout above them and a large boulder came crashing down against the dam sending water flying into the air. Grouchy laid on top of her protectively as the falling water drenched both of them, he looked up and saw that thankfully the dam still held. But where had that boulder come from?
Other Smurfs came running up to the dam, checking out the damage and trying to figure out what had happened. Papa was on the scene within a few minutes, he looked all around and he could not see anything either. Until they heard a shout above them. Way above them.
"Ha! You little blue vermin are not safe from me! That is just a little taste of what I can do. The next one will explode your little mushroom houses to smithereens! Lucky for you I've not made it yet, but give me a few hours and I'll be back to test it. And don't think of running away, I've put a counter spell on your invisibility force field. None of you can EVER leave the village! You are just like...Sitting Smurfs! Ha,ha,ha! Get it? Sitting Smurfs, just like sitting ducks? Oh never mind! Hasta la Vista Smurfs!"
And with that Gargamel's flying balloon contraption turned around and headed back towards his hovel. The wizard was enjoying every moment. Terrifying his prisoners was so much fun. They were all at his mercy and he was not going to show them any. Within twenty four hours, Smurfs would be no more.
A few hours later, the dam had been made safe. Papa Smurf and a few others went to the edge of the village and tried to go into the forest. They found that their way was blocked by the very magic that had protected them all these years.
Papa tried lots of different spells to try and cancel out the evil magic, but it was too strong. Papa had tried to summon their avian friend Feathers but the bird had almost broken it's neck when it flew hard into the force field. It was too injured to fly. There was no time to wait for it to recover. They were well and truly trapped in the village, they had to act soon!
"I'm no standing for this one smurfing moment longer!" shouted Papa. His face was going purple with anger, he marched back to his laboratory, went to a cupboard and pulled out a large net, big leather gloves and a pot of honey.
Smurfette and Vexy had followed him and were anxious to find out what he planned to do.
"What are you going to do Papa? What's the honey for?"
"This honey is our only ticket out of here. Remember that hornets nest we found a few days ago?" asked Papa,
"Yes, it's just within the force field isn't it?" answered Vexy
"Well I'm going to capture at least four of them with this drugged honey, they will fly me out of the village. The force field is open at the top. And then I'm going to sort things out once and for all!"
"Oh Papa, it all sounds so dangerous. Please be careful!" pleaded Smurfette
"Don't worry I will. Only I can go as I will need to keep the hornets drugged for as long as possible and I only have enough honey for one journey. By the time I return, if all goes well, the force field should have collapsed. If by nightfall it has not, then everyone needs to hide in the trees as best they can and run as soon as Gargamel enters the village. Do you understand?" urged Papa with a steely look in his eyes.
"Yes, yes Papa I, we understand" Smurfette and Vexy looked at each other and understood that things had now gone too far.
An hour later Papa had four hornets in front of him. They all had little harnesses on their thorax with a rope that hung below their body, allowing their wings to flap freely. Each rope was tied to Papa who stood behind them and each hornet had reigns on either side of it's head for the Smurf to control them.
Close up the insects looked fearsome, but thanks to the drugged honey they were very docile but had not lost any of their strength. Their sting could still kill a Smurf.
Papa also carried a rucksack with the potion he had made the night before. It would be crucial for his plan to succeed. After another check on the ropes and harnesses, he then gave the four sets of reigns a flick of his wrists and the insects took to the air, pulling Papa along below them.
The rest of the village came out to cheer and wave at their brave leader, who was going out to battle with Gargamel. Would they see him again? They could only hope, as he was the only chance they had.
The journey to the wizard's hovel had been very bumpy indeed and half way into the trip Papa almost lost his rucksack, but thankfully he managed to hold onto it. The hornets landed on a windowsill, with great care, the elderly Smurf cut himself loose from the ropes, and cut the reigns and harnesses off the hornets.
They did not fly off, but watched his every move with their big alien looking bug eyes. Papa knew that the honey was going to wear off soon, but this was part of the plan. He looked into the gloom of the hovel and could see a figure lying prone on a tatty single bed. The cat lay on top of his master's chest. The rest of the hovel was filled with the smurfalator. Papa could not stop a shudder of fear from creeping up his back.
They were both snoring loudly!
It was late afternoon and it seemed that Gargamel had decided to take a nap before carrying on with his destruction of the Smurf village.
"Thank Smurf for small mercies" whispered Papa to himself.
He rummaged in his rucksack and took out a bottle of blue sparkling liquid. With great care he gave each hornet a drink of the potion, they all turned blue and slowly but surely they started to become agitated. Papa had to make them go into the hovel, so he threw in a pot of un-drugged honey through the window. All four angry hornets chased after it.
Success! The first crucial part of his plan was working. Now to finish the job.
Papa took out a magic wand. He did not usually use one, but he needed the extra power right at this moment, working quickly and whispering under his breath he made all the shutters and doors close and lock themselves silently. He then put a spell on the chimney so that nothing could escape that way.
He could still see into the hovel through a tiny crack in the wood, although it was gloomy in there, shafts of light still streamed in.
Nothing happened for a while but soon enough there was shouting and screaming...
"Help Azrael! They're after me!" screamed the terrified human. Gargamel hated hornets even more than Smurfs and he had just been awakened by one landing on his nose.
He had tried to swat them, but they were un-squishable, they would not die. He tried to get out of the hovel but found that every exit was jammed shut.
Even his magic could not save him.
"By Beelzebub's beard! These hornets are enchanted!" It seemed that Gargamel had only just noticed that the insects were blue instead of the usual hornet colour. It could only mean one thing. Papa Smurf was attacking him.
Before he could shout out to curse Papa, two of the hornets stung him on the neck. The other two went for the cat, who writhed around before lying still.
The human staggered around the room, knocking things over, half destroying his machine as he tried to fight against tiny enemies, but his legs were giving up on him, his heart was hammering in his chest but he could hardly breathe.
He fell against a wall, chest heaving, he slowly slid down it, whilst he clawed at the cold stones trying to hold himself up, but his knees crumpled beneath him. His face was etched with a look of pure terror as it scraped along the unforgiving wall, just before he lost consciousness and slowly turned blue.
Papa Smurf had watched the whole scene unfold before him. He opened up the shutters and doors with his magic wand and let light flood the interior of the wizard's home. The hornets were free to go, they had lost their blue colour. The potion had been injected into their victims.
The wizard and his cat would not bother the Smurfs again.
"It is done!" said Papa and he went inside the hovel.
To be continued...