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"How old are you?" asked Brainy.

"369 years old," said Cyber, "I thank Chernov for that age. Like I said before, he saved the smurfs from the loss of the Long Life Force Stone by turning the smurfs into... what does he call it... Cybernetic Organisms? Yeah, cyborgs. But just barely as you can see, I look older than I should by our former age standards."

"So where are all the other smurfs now?" asked Papa Smurf.

"To tell you the truth, most of the smurfs are either dead or turned into disgusting monstrosities." explains Cyber, "These monstrosities are called Ghouls, who suffered ungodly amount of radiation. You'll know them when you see them, they look like rotting zombies."

"Including my counterpart?" asked Smurfette.

"Yup, she's now called Ghoulette now," said Brainy, "Lost most of her hair and skin like the rest of the smurfs, if they have any hair. This was due to severe radiation poisoning as they happened to be drinking Irradiated Water, I always purified my water and I have radiation cures on hand."

"And you didn't save them?" asked Papa Smurf.

"I would and I wanted to at the time," explained Cyber, "But they were already gone and by the time I heard from them 6 months later it was too late, they won't even listen to me if I warn them to the danger and now look what happened to them. Some of the Ghoul Smurfs had lost their ability to reason and had pose a threat to the Smurf Village."

"How?" asked Hefty

"They come by at night and try to attack us," claimed Cyber, "Most of the, Feral Ghouls, that attack us happened to be former green smurfs. Several green smurfs or the past few generations got radiation poisoning and a small percentage of them turned into Ghouls, and a fewer percentage of them went insane due to the radiation eating their brain. It's horrible, but it was accepted as a fact of life."

Papa Smurf got up along with the other smurfs, "Well," he says, "Best to make ourselves useful Cyber, do you need anything done around here?"

"Well for starters there is one thing I need to have done," said Cyber as he got up, "But that will be for tonight, I have to warn you that everything you know around here is gone. If you want to stay for awhile, you have to learn this well. There is no law and order here as much as I wish there to be, if you are caught doing wrong-doing it will NOT be tolerated. Courtesy to the green smurfs, bunch of wackos if you ask me."

"Like the Village Idiot." said Rick.

"Yes, like the Village Idiot."

"So what's needed to be done?" asked Papa Smurf.

"Well, you ask the green smurfs and not me." said Cyber, "I have some business to attend to, don't wander out of the Smurf Village or the Mutated Animals will eat you alive. If you wanna get around faster, hitch a ride on the Radroaches."

"Radroaches?" asked Smurfette worriedly.

"Radroaches!" asked Sassette excitedly.

"Big ginormous bugs to your eyes," explain Cyber, "They're over there. Don't worry, they're harmless."

Smurfette turned and saw gigantic Radroaches the size of Azrael near the edge of the Smurf Village. She can't believe of their size, Sassette soon got excited of them and took off. As the smurfs depart, Cyber stopped Smurfette by placing his hand on her shoulder. When she turned around, Cyber looked at her in the eyes and said, "I need to talk about you about your counterpart," he said, "Your encounter with her is inevitable and word will spread fast, I'll do my best to limit the damage."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Cyber sighed, "I'll need to speak to you inside close doors, I need to tell you information that only you should know. Is Baby Smurf fast asleep?"

Smurfette looked at Baby Smurf who happened to be in her arms, the infant was fast asleep. "Yes," he said.

"Alright, come," insisted Cyber.

Cyber led Smurfette inside his Mushroom Home, which happens to be filled with books. As Cyber shuts the door, Smurfette takes a seat on a stool as Cyber sat down on another stool. "Two weeks after mankind destroyed most of the world, the smurfs were led out of the vault by Chernov Reznov." he began, "I am of course is just following him, it took a week or two until the smurfs left the village but before that we experienced our first deaths."

"As you may know, Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf's counterparts are dead. Everyone of course was drinking Irradiated Water, I tried my best to warn everyone about the danger once I took over as Papa Smurf and Chernov left me in charge of things. I only wish everyone could listen. As a result of everyones ignorance including your counterparts, Baby Smurf's counterpart died from Radiation Poisoning."

Smurfette's mouth dropped as Cyber continued, "It gets worse, the Smurflings soon past away soon after with Radiation Poisoning as well. Sassette's and Baby Smurf's counterpart's deaths had such a burden on your counterpart, so distraught. She changed is what I'm saying, something in her snapped. Within the following days to the Origonal smurfs departure, her hair turned from yellow to brown. When Hefty's counterpart tried to reason with her, she punched him straight in the face."

"I never seen her that upset before, I hadn't seen YOU that upset ever. My only hope is for you not to become her, I honestly think that your sister and Baby Smurf will not survive in this environment. Green Smurfs may have a lifespan of 100 years but their life expectancy is shorter than that. I seen so many newborn children die when they start coming into the world, due to the radiation that is making reproduction difficult."

"So for once, listen to me as Brainy not a Papa Smurf, make sure Sassette and Baby Smurf are careful with their surroundings. Their counterparts died from radiation poisoning after drinking Irradiated Water from a pool of Toxic Waste, the last thing I want to deal with around here is history repeating itself. Remember Smurfette, no one is going to help you in this world as nobody has infinite generosity anymore."

"Ghoulette, your counterpart, is still out there pulling off raids against the Smurf Village Caravans to other villages like Creepy Deepy Swamp and Greener Pastures. She won't look anything like you, be warned that reasoning with her might be difficult as her mind is decaying from the radiation she usually spends in. Once she lost it all together, I'll be forced to find a way to put her down."

"Thank you for the warning," said Smurfette.

"I'm still Brainy by heart Smurfette," said Cyber as he cracks a smile, "And Papa Smurf is always right."

The door opens and Ricks steps into the room, "Pa, Radroach is mounting ma daughter egan!"

"Oh smurf," said Cyber as he put his hands on his face, "Not again."

He and Smurfette followed Rick out to the Radroach Ranch at the edge of the Smurf Village and found one of the Radroaches simply laying on top of a green smurfette rather than "mounting" her as fellow green smurfs simply look on, she had brown hair trimmed to her eye brows and looked quite cute like Smurfette. Like all the other green smurfettes, she wears a pair of green overalls and green smurf hat. And as some green smurfs, she appeared to be really dirty.

"How did you get there?" asked Cyber.

It didn't take long for him to get his answer as Sassette was on top of the Radroach, just sitting there with a smile on her face. Cyber lend a hand to the green smurfette and helped her squeeze out from underneath the Radroach, the Radroach slowly gets back up to it's feet once she's out of there. Smurfette realized she's 2 and a half apples tall or 6.35 centimeters. "Damn bug landed on top of me," said the green smurfette in a southern accent, "I'd swear it did."

"Sure you do," said one of the green smurfs sarcastically, another green smurf snickered.

"What's your name?" asked Smurfette.

The green smurfette looked at her and smiled, "I'm Engineer Smurfette, but they call me Amy." she replied.

"She's also the, female, village idiot," said a green smurf, "Who happens to have a relationship with the, male, village idiot."

"I ain't no idiot," squealed Amy.

"What's 2 plus 2 then?" asked the green smurf.

Amy remained silent. The look on her face says it all, she had no clue whats 2 + 2 is. "I know what 2 times 2 is," she claimed.

All the green smurfs burst out laughing, Sassette also burst out laughing as she falls off the Radroach and lands on her rear hard. She was laughing so hard, she didn't even noticed. "Okay, what is it?" asked the green smurf once he calmed down.

"Umm... the 8 had killed the 4." she replied.

Everyone burst out laughing again, this time Rick stepped in, "Okay Malcolm," he demanded, "Stop teasing ma daughder will yeah."

"If you say so Rickie," chuckled Malcolm as he walks away, still laughing his head off.

"What's his problem?" asked Smurfette.

"He's Malcolm," said Rick, "He'd a gambler, wins half da time in every game of Caravan."

"What's Caravan?" asked Sassette as she got up to her feet.

"It'd a card game that has been circulating trroughout le Pays maudit for awhile," explained Rick, "He learned about da game when he'd a trike, even wrote a pamphlet bout it."

"And I damn lost after ma first few tries on dat game," said Amy, "He'd be teasing me since."

"I managed to beat him on Caravan," said Cyber, "Turns out Chernov is an expert on the card game, don't know how I picked up his skills when he spared me from death."

"You think I could beat him at Caravan?" asked Smurfette.

"You'll do dat for me?" asked Amy.

"Of course I would," said Smurfette.

"As I remembered correctly," recalled Cyber, "You were threatened to be forced into marriage several times by several enemies and managed to escape. Note that this game requires strategy, not luck. And you'll need a deck of 30 playing cards, I know where to get you a deck."

"I'll wait for tonight before I challenge him," said Smurfette, "In his own house that is."

"Oh thank you!" cried Amy as she ran up to Smurfette to hug her, but Rick pulled her away.

"Amy," said Rick, "Don't hug her yet."

"Yes Pappy," said Amy.

"So," said Smurfette, "Is there any work that needs be done?"

"There is," said Cyber, "But it's mostly dirty and unhygienic, you can't handle how bad it is."

"Oh..."

"However," noted Cyber, "I could teach you how to play Caravan so you'll be fresh with the know-how of the game when you play against Malcolm, the reason is that he's been winning a lot recently. Last night, after the zombie attack, he challenged several green smurfs to the game and won. I just hope his winning streak has died down when he plays against you."

"Great idea," agreed Smurfette, "Sassette, go play with the other smurflings as Cyber teaches me Caravan. Okay?"

"Alright Smurfette," said Sassette.

"A word of advice," said Rick, "Stay away from da village well, Amy fouled it recently."

A large guilty smile soon appeared across Amy's face. Luckily Sassette didn't know what Rick mean about the well being "fouled." As Amy runs off with Sassette, Cyber takes Smurfette back to his mushroom house to teach her how to play Caravan. Rick was soon left alone with the Radroach who started the mess, the mutated bug stared at him with curiosity without blinking.

"What yer looking at you overgrown cockroach?" asked Rick.

The Radroach simply blinked in response. Since Rick isn't a Radroach Whisperer, he walks away to avoid from frustrating himself.

TO BE CONTINUED...