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Chernov drove us back to the Smurf Village, he was quite a swell driver the way he control's the smurfvee in high rated speeds. I try to relax, trying to ease myself from nearly being overwhelmed by Taken. "Nearly got outta there alive," said Chernov, "I thought the Dark Presence would total us completely."

"I'm still confused on why I have to save you." I said again.

"Scales have to be balanced Paps," said Chernov to me again, "Or else the situation would be worse than it has to be."

I couldn't make sense of all of this, I do understand that the scales have to be balanced but did Chernov used me? Was this all necessary? What is he really planning? "Here Papa Smurf," said Chernov as he pulls out a handful of manuscript pages out of his backpack, "These will help put your confusion at rest."

I grabbed the papers from Chernov, under the glow of the smurfvee's light I read every manuscript page Chernov gave me. He written such detail of the events I had just experienced, the Dark Presence attacking me and Handy being taken by the witch, he also described my thoughts about the nightmare, it scared me to the core. After reading a few more manuscript pages detailing my experiences, I reached a point where I had enough.

"Stop the smurfvee." I said bluntly.

Without question, Chernov stopped the smurfvee and I got out. I slammed the door shut and marched off into the night, "Where do you think you're going?" asked Chernov.

"I'm not going to stand for you for getting my smurfs killed," I said, "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Papa Smurf," said Chernov as he pulls up and keeps a constant pace to me, "You can't let what I did effect you this deep!"

"Smurf yourself!" I barked at him.

"You don't understand Papa Smurf." insisted Chernov, "You're not turning your back at me, you're turning your back at yourself. You are becoming the very thing that makes you unsmurfy, you're acting human, a selfish one."

I stopped cold in my tracks, I realized that he was right. I was acting human, I was going against my own word about humans. I told my smurfs that despite humanity's benevolence, the dark nature in human hearts made me convince my smurfs not to act like them. By what the Dark Presence did to my smurfs, it tore my heart open and darkness was filling it.

I didn't even knew that rage was building up inside me, Chernov caught it in time and warned me about it. "I have to pull you out of your comfort zone in order to help you Paps," said Chernov, who I nearly forgotten he was there, "There's no other way."

I turned and looked at him, he just sat there staring at me with his hands still on the steering wheel. I sighed as I opened the smurfvee door and got back in, "What exactly did you do?" I asked as I shut the passenger-side door.

"I left loopholes," said Chernov, "Loopholes in which the Dark Presence can fill in, I didn't catch the loopholes in time and so they are attacking your heart as we speak. The major loophole is what you are feeling, I didn't put in too much detail about feelings in the manuscript pages. Truth is Papa Smurf, I wrote that you were upset, I know that sorrow, sadness, and fear can turn into anger because I've been through it, and so have your smurfs."

"The Dark Presence wants this," I said, "Does she?"

"Yup," said Chernov, "And you fell for the trap, but I got you out of the spider's web just in time."

I sat there thinking about it for awhile, after a minutes I decided to continue on, "Drive." I muttered.

Chernov continues driving us towards the Smurf Village, I just sat there trying to sleep. I needed rest, so I tried my best to sleep in the car. Thoughts of the Dark Presence and attacking Taken prevented me from doing so, it feels like that I'm suffering from insomnia.

"We're here." said Chernov as I looked up.

I saw the Smurf Village under attack by the Dark Presence, Chernov stopped the car as he drove underneath an activated outdoor lamp. I was surprised to find the smurfs fighting back the Taken, actually defending themselves instead of hiding. They held flashlights and guns, they were taking out the Taken one by one and even face off against the ones welding chainsaws.

Me and Chernov got out of the smurfvee and watched the show unfold, "Mother Nature must have provided my smurfs with firearms." I said.

"That's not what stuns me," said Chernov, "Who's leading them?"

"Fight back comrades!" I heard Rachael's voice say, "Scourge of light upon the dark!"

"Rachael," chuckled Chernov, "I love that smurf."

Chernov head back to the trunk of the smurfvee and opened it, "Lot of flare gun ammo here," he said, "And some flare guns. Paps, grab some of these, we'll fight back the Taken using flares."

I rushed to the back of the smurfvee and grabbed as much flare gun ammo as I can carry, Chernov handed me the flare gun and I loaded it with a single round. "Just go in and take out as much Taken you can see," said Chernov, "Simple as that."

We grabbed our flashlights and head off into the village, there we split up and scout the entire village for Taken. Where we see a group of Taken, we fire a flare at them, easily killing them. The smurfs who saw our arrival had their morale raised and they continued on to defend their village, interestingly only green smurf Taken were attacking, no light-blue smurf Taken were present at all.

All over the village, I discover crates full of flare gun ammo, they help me replenish my reserves when I run low on flares. I couldn't remember how many flares I have used, but it was a lot. Many smurfs came to my aid as I fight back the Taken, they were spot on when attacking them, "Papa Smurf!" I heard a smurf say, "You're okay!"

"Just keep fighting my smurfs!" I called out to them, "We're not out of the woods yet."

Just as we finished off the last of the Taken, we saw the Dark Presence itself approach. The tornado form it uses was ripping through the trees, tossing them aside like twigs as it comes thundering into the village. I aimed my flare gun at it and fired, I watched as the flare comes shooting at the Dark Presence and explodes, I can hear it scream in pain from the light.

Chernov fired away some more flares at the tornado at another place in the village as I backed him up, the tornado was tossing random junk at us and we took our time dodging them all. The winds were blowing so fast that it would have picked me up and tossed me across the village like a rag doll, thankfully I wasn't close enough for the Dark Presence to do so.

"Your smurfs will make good puppets," I heard the Dark Presence say, "So weak, they're easy prey. Before I get to them, I'll start, with you."

"Not if I get to you first." I said as I fired my final flare at the Dark Presence.

The flare shoots into the tornado and explodes, I heard the Dark Presence die as the tornado disintegrates into shadows. At first, everything went silent, but soon the whole village erupted in celebration. The smurfs around me were cheering and praising me for defeating the Dark Presence, Chernov regrouped with me and shook my hand, "With that taken care of," he said, "I can now reclaim myself."

"Chernov!" I heard Rachael's voice say.

Rachael came out of nowhere with a flashlight in her hand, she rushed up to Chernov and gave him a big hug, "You're back!" she cried, "I missed you!"

"I missed you to Rachael," I said, "But I'm not entirely here."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Remember, I'm the Rational part of Chernov," said Chernov, "Papa Smurf saved me so I can reunite with the Chernov who constantly dreams and is bent of self-destruction, so where is that Chernov?"

The expression on Rachael's face changed when she releases her hug from Chernov, "Uh oh." she muttered.

All the smurfs' excitement were short-lived afterwords, its clearly not over yet.

TO BE CONTINUED...