Chapter Two

I made my way to the oldest training room I knew of, throwing a "Merry Christmas" here, a "Happy Holidays" there, but all the while I was thinking of how cool it was that I was gonna get to meet the Smurfs. I was gonna meet the Smurfs. The Payo Smurfs! I got more excited by the second; so excited that I started running, B-lining, jumping, skipping, almost spilling eggnog all over Gaylord, all out of my growing excitement.

When I reached the training room, I opened the door and saw Ray, punching and jabbing at a punching bag with fists wrapped in gauze. Ray's skinny, pale, has blackish-brown prince-Zuko hair and golden brown eyes. He's also a paraplegic. So his legs don't work, big whoop, that doesn't stop him from kickin' ass. "Hey," Ray said, "what's going on?" he wiped his forehead on his forearm and grinned his signature Ray grin.

"Just goin' to see the Smurfs. You?" I asked.

"On my way out." Ray pulled his T-shirt over his head and put a few things in his duffel bag. "I gotta get to a staff meeting." ray placed his bag on his lap and began to roll away. "Seeya." he called over his shoulder.

I shrugged and walked to a corner of the room where there was no equipment and slowly eased the box open. At first, nothin' happened. After a minute, though, there was a huge blue vortex (happy, Brainy? It's a vortex) in the corner of the room. The box was sucked from my hand, and I wondered how exactly to get through the vortex. The decision was made for me. The vortex actually expanded and engulfed me, it was really really fun going through the vortex. I actually surfed for a while before getting to the forest.

I got to the village by following the map from the Smurf root and the Smurf-berry bushes to Gargamel's castle to the village. I couldn't believe my eyes. When Lucile told me the village was messed up, I thought she was exaggerating, but she was understating. All the mushroom houses were destroyed, glass and smashed Smurf-berries littered every spot that wasn't covered in other debris.

"Oh my god." I whined, covering my mouth a little.

"Whoa!" I heard. Seems my pained cry had startled a Smurf- looked like Handy Smurf -and he'd started falling off a latter. I quickly caught him and lowered him to the ground. "Golly, thanks lady." Handy grinned.

"No problem." I smiled, "Hey, you know where I can find Papa Smurf?" I asked, bending down slightly.

"Why sure, he's right over the bridge at the mushroom circle!" Handy informed me, pointing off into the distance.

"Thanks buddy, and best of luck with the repairs." I said as I walked off in the direction Handy had pointed me.

I tried not to step on anything, which was challenging, considering all of the debris was very small. I only had to go about two yards until I got to the mushroom circle, and it was even worse than the rest of the village. Busted Christmas lights strung all over the place, broken ornaments, Christmas cookie crumbs, and sad little Smurf faces. I suddenly realized that it was much colder here than home. Myrtle Beach is usually warmer than anywhere, but this was really cold.

"Aaah!" I was startled by a small, frightened shriek. "Giant!"

I looked down to see that I had scared a Smurf. He was about the size of a regular Smurf; he had freckles, big ears, and a hat that was much too big for him- covered part of his face. The little guy ran, and my eyes followed him to Papa Smurf. He hid behind Papa, who quickly hushed him, "It's alright, Bashful, don't excite yourself so..." Papa calmed him down while I caught the eyes of a lot of other Smurfs. I recognized a few, Jokey, Grouchy, Gutsy, Smurfette, and Clumsy. I would have to learn the names of the other ninety-three.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" I asked, bending down so to get (almost) eye-level with Bashful.

Bashful hid behind Papa and muttered something that sounded like, "I wasn't scared..." but he looked horrified.

"I'm sorry," Papa Smurf said, "Where are my manners? I am Papa Smurf. You must be Jack. I've been expecting you..." Papa looked me over, "But I was expecting a young man..."

"Oh, no, my name is Jackie. J-A-C-K-I-E." I spelled it out, "Ray must've called me by my nickname."

"Ah, yes, Raymon did mention that names were odd where you come from." Papa said, "Hey, his name has no "D" in it."

I chuckled, "Yeah, his dad was pretty weird that way." I looked around at all the Smurfs, looks of s adness, confusion, and a little anger on their faces. "Hi, everyone." I said, "I'm Jackie. I'm a friend of Papa's friends, and I'm here to help."

"How are you gonna help?" Grouchy scoffed.

"Now Grouchy," Papa warned, "Gather 'round, my little Smurfs. I have an announcement!" as the Smurfs collected, I saw how many there really were... a lot. "This is Jackie," Papa gestured to me, "and she's here to help us out. You Smurfs will be going to her realm for the holidays." now that provoked some gasps, whispers, mutters.

"Are you coming too, Papa?" Smurfette asked.

Papa's face fell, "Uh... no, Smurfette, I'm afraid I'll have to stay behind." When Papa said that, all the smurfs were silent. "But don't you worry, we'll all be together for Christmas. Smurf's honor." Papa promised.

It broke my heart to see their sad little faces, and the way Bashful still hid behind Papa. "Hey," I said, "chin up, guys." I couldn't think of anything else to say to them, what else could I say?

"That's right," Papa helped me out, "You'll love Christmas with Jackie and her parents."

The Smurfs began chattering amongst themselves, I couldn't understand a word to save my life, some Smurfs ran up to Papa and started taking to him in panicky tones.

After Papa had hushed them, Handy spoke up. "Well, who's gonna help with the repairs?" some of the other Smurfs agreed with handy.

"It will all be taken care of." Papa said, "Don't worry about a thing, Smurfs."

I sat and watched for a while until Papa had all the Smurfs calmed down. Once the group was settled, Papa gave each Smurf special directions. He said to Gutsy, "Keep a close eye on Bashful, you know how he gets." And to Brainy, "You've got to keep everything in order." And to Clumsy, "Watch your step."

After the goodbyes I opened the vortex, and had the Smurfs hold onto a rope so they wouldn't get lost... a really long rope. "Goodbye, Papa." I said right before we left, "It was nice meeting you!"