Author's note: Sorry it's been a while since my last update.
Ashlynn: We went on vacation!
Aralyn: Yup, we went on a trip down to the florida keys.
Ashlyn: Yeah and guess who I got to-
Aralyn: Ash, don't tell them about that you'll ruin part of the chapter.
Ashlynn: Right they don't know what I had planned for the royal trip to the beach.
Aralyn: *rolls eyes* Anywho, I do not own the smurfs, any of their characters, or episode plots.
Ashlynn: The only thing she owns is herself... oh and me too!
Medieval and Modern Times
(S)
"Ashlynn are you ready to go yet?" Gerard asked for possibly the fifth time.
"Almost, I'm just waiting for the carpenter to get here, he has something that I requested for this trip." Ashlynn watched the courtyard anxiously, and to her relief a middle aged bearded man came running their way with a large wrapped package in hand.
"Here you go m'lady," he panted, "I just finished this morning, and I hope it's the way you wanted it."
Ashlynn gave a quick peak under the wrapping, hiding the contents from the curious king that was trying to peer over her shoulder. "It's perfect, I couldn't have asked for better workmanship. Thank you." She smiled as she paid the carpenter for his work and gave him a small kiss on his whisker covered cheek.
Finally ready to leave Ashlynn hoped into the waiting carriage, her package tucked under her arm.
Both teens looked back as they crossed the draw bridge, "Good bye Clockwork, farewell Mrs. Sourberry." Gerard called back.
"Bye!" Ashlynn waved excitedly, "Hold down the fort for us while we're gone! See ya'll soon!"
However Ashlynn wasn't as happy as the trip progressed, as noontime began to approach she couldn't sit still.
"Ashlynn, be patient, we'll arrive at the beach soon enough." Gerard sighed as Ashlynn sat, feet in the air and her head hanging above the floor.
"But I'm bored." She wined, pulling herself back up into a normal sitting position.
"Try looking out the window, perhaps something outside will entertain you."
With a discontented sigh Ashlynn followed Gerard's advice and things were quiet for a second. Then Ashlynn let out a surprised gasp, "Gerard, what in the world is that?" she exclaimed pointing out the carriage window.
Gerard quickly leaned over, sticking his head out the window trying to see what had caught Ashlynn's attention, but he didn't see anything, "Ashlynn, there's nothing out of the ordinary out there-"
He stopped mid-sentence when he turned around and Ashlynn wasn't there, looking at the opposite window he managed to catch a glimpse of her light brown leather boots before they disappeared in the direction of the roof.
"Ashlynn!" Gerard yelled, sticking his head out and looking up to see her perched on top of the moving carriage, "Get back in here, it's not safe up there."
Ashlynn grinned as she looked down, "Why don't you come up here and make me you highness!" she challenged, sticking her tongue out at him.
Rolling his eyes Gerard sat back down, trying to fight with her wouldn't be worth it, besides, at least now she wasn't bored. Closing his eyes Gerard began to relax, until he heard a small shriek and saw Ashlynn hanging in front of the carriage's back window with a sheepish smile on her face, "Tree branch." She laughed lightly as she climbed back inside.
Gerard chuckled, "So you're not bored anymore?"
"Maybe a little, but not as much as before." She smiled as she dug around for something. Finally she pulled out her mandolin, according to her music always made things better. Giving it a quick tuning she started playing for her own entertainment,
"The day I first met you
you told me you'd never fall in love
but now that I get you
I know fear is what it really was
Now here we are, so close
yet so far, haven't I passed the test?
When will you realize
Baby, I'm not like the rest
Don't wanna break your heart
I wanna give your heart a break
I know you're scared it's wrong
like you might make a mistake
there's just one life to live
and there's no time to waste, to waste
So let me give your heart a break
Give your heart a break
Let me give your heart a break
your heart a break
Oh, yeah, yeah
On Sunday, you went home alone
There were tears in your eyes
I called your cell phone, my love
But you did not reply
The world is ours, if you want it
we can take it, if you just take my hand
there's no turning back now
Baby, try to understand
Don't wanna break your heart
Wanna give your heart a break
I know you're scared it's wrong
like you might make a mistake
there's just one life to live
and there's no time to waste, to waste
So let me give your heart a break
Give your heart a break
Let me give your heart a break
Your heart a break
There's just so much you can take
Give your heart a break
Let me give your heart a break
Your heart a break
Oh, yeah, yeah
When your lips are on my lips
and our hearts beat as one
but you slip right out of my fingertips
Every time you run, whoa
Don't wanna break your heart
Wanna give your heart a break
I know you're scared it's wrong
Like you might make a mistake
There's just one life to live
And there's no time to waste, to waste
So let me give your heart a break
Cuz you've been hurt before
I can see it in your eyes
you try to smile it away
some things, you can't disguise
don't wanna break your heart
Baby, I can ease the ache, the ache
So, let me give your heart a break
Give your heart a break
Let me give your heart a break
Your heart a break
There's just so much you can take
Give your heart a break
Let me give your heart a break
Your heart a break
Oh yeah, yeah
The day I first met you
you told me you'd never fall in love…"
Finishing her song she noticed Gerard watching her, "Sorry about that," she blushed in embarrassment, "I hope I wasn't bothering you."
"No, not at all," Gerard reassured her, "It was a lovely song, I enjoyed hearing it."
The carriage pulled to a stop and one of the guards opened the side door, "You're majesty, m'lady, we've arrived at our destination." He spoke as Gerard exited first and then offered a hand to Ashlynn as she stepped down.
"We'll take your things to the royal beach house, you may do as you please." The guard explained as him and his men unloaded what had been packed for the trip.
"Ashlynn would you like to head down to the beach with me?" Gerard asked, offering an arm for Ashlynn to take.
"Yeah, just let me grab something first." She smiled as she retrieved her large package the carpenter had given her from inside the carriage. "Ok, let's go!" she cheered as she linked arms with Gerard and they both made their way towards the sapphire blue waters that crashed on the creamy white sand.
"It's so pretty." Ashlynn sighed happily.
Clearing his throat Gerard pointed to Ashlynn's package, "So when will I find out what that is?"
"Now I guess." She grinned as she tore the wrappings from around the mystery object. It seemed to be a wide plank wood shaped like a pointed drop of water, it almost reached Ashlynn's chest in height, seemed to only be about an inch or so thick, and was covered in a layer of the same type of water-proofing material that was used on the kingdom's ships.
"What is it?" Gerard eyed the strange piece of wood, wondering why Ashlynn would ask for something like this for a trip to the beach.
"It's called a skim board." Ashlynn explained, "Watch and I'll show you what it can do." Setting the board down she removed her boots and outfit to reveal a secondary outfit she had been wearing underneath. Just a simple short sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts. Of course Gerard had never seen that much skin on a girl before, girls were always wearing long dresses and the like, even Aralyn, and he was more than a bit embarrassed to look at Ashlynn.
Ashlynn however was laughing at the shade of red Gerard's face had turned, "Come on Gerard, it's not that bad, I don't mind." She picked up her board and started walking towards the waves, "You might want to get rid of all that fancy clothing too, it'll get messy out here."
Gerard slowly removed his boots, fur lined hat and vest, and his deep purple tunic, which left him standing there in a white under-tunic and his blue trousers, which he rolled up to his knees, before joining Ashlynn by the water.
Without a word she set the board down and back up a few paces, from where she ran towards the board and used her momentum to have to board skim across the surface of the water. Using her body Ashlynn leaned in order to turn around and used a good sized wave to push her back to shore as she zigzagged back and forth with quite a bit of skill.
"Fascinating." Gerard gasped in awe of the strange contraption, "How does it do that?"
"It curves up at the ends and using the momentum from the rider it manages to float as it moves across the water." Ashlynn attempted to explain as she slowed to a stop and set her feet back down on the sand.
After a few minutes of explaining and teaching Ashlynn actually got Gerard to try it too. Surprisingly he was pretty good at it, for his first time trying something like this.
Ashlynn smiled as she swam out into deeper water, she was far enough out she could just touch the ocean floor with her toes as the water lapped at her chin. Gerard began to swim out there to join her but stopped quickly when she suddenly dove under the salty waves. He watched with worry until after a few seconds her soaked head broke through the water's surface, taking in a deep breath of fresh air.
"Ashlynn, why did you do that? Did you go under by accident?" he asked pulling up beside her as she wiped the salt water away from her eyes.
"No, I did that on purpose." She lifted her hand out of the water, holding it out towards Gerard. "Look what I found!"
Gerard looked at the object in her hand, it was small, but almost as big as her open hand, it was thin and circular, like a large coin, it seemed to be covered in small hairs, and was a dingy brownish green color. "What is it?"
"Where I come from," Ashlynn explained, "We call them sand dollars. They may not look it but they are living animals." Flipping the creature over the pointed to different parts of it, "It moves really slowly on the ocean floor using these tiny little hairs as legs, and this is its mouth right here in the center."
Gerard couldn't believe it, this strange little thing was an animal. He had never seen anything like it, it was, for lack of a better word, interesting.
Ashlynn gently released the sand dollar back into the water as they raced back to the shore, but she stopped short, spotting something else in the water.
Gerard came up behind her to see what she had picked up this time. He wasn't surprised to find that it was another little creature he had never seen before. It had five points like a star, but it was a dull orange color and covered in bumps.
Ashlynn didn't even wait to be asked, "It's a sea star, or star fish, they've been called both. See it's got this bumpy armor on its body to help protect it and underneath," she turned the star shaped animal over in her hand, "he's got these little suction cups that he uses to move around, similar to that sand dollar, and his mouth is in the middle too."
"How do you know all of this?" Gerard asked, raising an eyebrow. He was a king, he was given the best education one could ask for and yet Ashlynn knew so much about animals he had never known to exist.
"I really love animals, and whenever I could I would buy or read a book about all sorts of animals, from all over the world. I thought it was fun to learn new things about animals, no two are exactly the same."
Hearing the dinner bell they both turned to the little house over-looking the beach. Quickly they gathered up their clothing and made a mad dash for the dinner table, all that fun had given both of them a healthy appetite.
Next morning Ashlynn woke up to a strange feeling in her gut, like something was wrong, but she quickly brushed it off as nothing and got dressed for breakfast.
"Morning Gerard!" she smiled as she took a seat across from the sleepy looking king.
"…Morning…" he managed to sleepily mumble in response.
Ashlynn quickly ate her own breakfast and then waited patiently for Gerard to finish his. When he finally cleared his plate she grabbed his hand and dragged him back outside and sat her-self down in the sand.
Gerard slowly but surely started coming out of his sleep induced trance, "What are you doing Ashlynn?"
Ashlynn scrapped some semi-damp sand into a pile in front of her, "Well, we're at the beach, and I don't want to leave until I've made a sand castle."
"Sand castle?"
"Yeah, you make a mini castle out of sand. Haven't you ever made one before?" Ashlynn asked in disbelief.
Kneeling down beside her Gerard shook his head, "What do you do?"
"Basically you make a pile of sand, then you form it to look like a castle, and when you're finished with it you can decorate it with shells and stuff if you want."
Without another question Gerard pitched in to help with the formless mound of sand.
By the time the cook was ringing the bell for the noontime meal, both teens were finished and standing proudly over their fine piece of sand art.
As they ate lunch everything was going fine until Ashlynn dropped her spoon with a metallic clang.
"Ashlynn," Gerard looked up at the girl, who made no response to her name. Getting out of his seat Gerard went around the table and made Ashlynn look at him, her eyes seemed vacant and glazed-over for a second, then they became clear again, as if nothing had happened. "Ashlynn, are you alright?"
"I think so, but…"
"But what?"
"I just got a really bad feeling, I felt it earlier this morning when I woke up, but I didn't think anything of it. But now, I'm not sure, but I think there might be something wrong back at home." Ashlynn shook her head as if she was trying to get shake off a bad memory.
Gerard seemed to think for a second, "If you think something might be wrong, then we will head back to the castle without delay."
"No, you don't have to." Ashlynn quickly objected, "I don't want to ruin your holiday, I'll just go back by myself and see what's going on, you can stay here."
"Nonsense, I trust your judgment, and if you think something may be wrong, then I wish to return home and see how things are." Gerard countered, "We can have everything packed within the hour and on our way home by early afternoon."
True to his word they were packed and on the road not two hours later. Ashlynn stared mindlessly out the window the whole time, anxious about what was going on back home.
The carriage wheels rumbled as the made their ways across the castle drawbridge as the sun was beginning to set behind the trees in the west.
Leaving the luggage to the servants both teens hurried to find Clockwork and make sure he was alright before any further investigation. Ashlynn walked into the throne room, "Clockwork? You here?" but she didn't get an answer.
Noticing a bit of parchment on Gerard's throne she picked it up to get a better look.
"I can't find Clockwork anywhere." Gerard worried as he came in behind her, "It's not like him to leave without telling me."
"The smurfs were here." Ashlynn stated as she turned around, "They were here and I think when they left Clockwork might have gone with then."
"How do you know that?"
Ashlynn held out the bit of parchment, "Brainy left a note," she explained as Gerard took the letter and read it for himself, "But I have no idea what he's trying to say."
"Dear King Gerard and Ashlynn,
Tree-cutters are smurfing your forest. You must smurf them before the smurf the smurfs from smurf village.
Stuffily yours,
Brainy Smurf
You're right, Ashlynn, this note is confusing to say the least." Gerard agreed.
For a moment they simply looked at the letter, trying to figure it out, when Ashlynn jumped up, "Tree-cutters!"
"Yes, that's what the note said."
"In your forest. What if they knew you were going on holiday and decided that while you were gone they could cut down all the trees they wanted, with no one being the wiser?"
Gerard's eyes widened as he looked back at the note, "By Jove! Not only does that make sense of the note, but it also makes sense of that feeling you had while we were at the beach!"
Running back the courtyard Gerard summoned a small troop of guards as Ashlynn and him-self mounted their horses and made haste into the forest. But after a while the trees became too thick for the horses and they had to continue on foot.
As they went deeper into the woods they heard what sounded like cries of terror as three men ran into the guards, who immediately had them chained up before they tried to make an escape. Hearing another shout through the trees Gerard and Ashlynn turned just in time to see a short stocky fellow tumble out of the brush with something stuck to his face.
Unknown to the man, he had come to a stop right at Gerard's feet. But he didn't notice for a second, he was too busy ripping the glowing white object off his face and tearing it to shreds, but he shrunk back when he looked up to see the displeased monarch standing over him.
"Well, well, well," Ashlynn smirked, "What do we have here?"
"Mr. Knot! What is the meaning of this?" Gerard sternly demanded of the dumbstruck man before him.
"K-king Gerard!?"
"I warned you to stay out of my forest!" he glared before speaking to the guards, "Arrest this man too, I want them all banished from my kingdom."
"Oh thank you you're grace, thank you." Mr. Knot blubbered as the guards restrained him too.
"But first," Gerard continued, "You and your men will plant one hundred trees for every tree you have cut. Away with them!"
The guards followed Gerard's orders and led the men away to the castle, where they would remain in the dungeon until they would begin their punishment.
Once everyone was gone Gerard dared to speak up, "Clockwork, are you there? Smurfs, you can come out now, the tree-cutters are gone."
"Yupp!" Ashlynn confirmed with a smile, "The coast's clear!"
With happy cheers and cheerful squeaks from Clockwork, all the smurfs joined their two friends.
"Oh King Gerard, Ashlynn, you two arrived just in time!" Smurfette said excitedly as she hugged Ashlynn's ankle as best she could.
"We would have been here sooner," Gerard explained pulling out the letter, "But it took us a little while to figure out what your note meant Brainy."
"Really!? I thought it was quite clear."
"Well," Papa Smurf reminded, "Let's be thankful that the forest has been saved."
"Yes, thanks to you smurfs." Gerard said, relieved to have the little ordeal dealt with.
"As I always say never fear." Brainy lectured as he leaned against a nearby tree, "For as long as there are smurfs protecting this forest, these trees will stand forever."
As he finished his little speech the tree gave a low groan, then a snap, and fell, hitting the ground with a thunderous crash.
"Brainy!" Ashlynn scolded the little know-it-all smurf, her hands firmly set on her hips.
Brainy let out a nervous laugh, "Except for this one."
(E)
"Peewit, is everything set?" Aralyn whispered as she pulled her fellow schemer aside.
"Uh huh." Peewit nodded, "I got him to learn the song, just like you said."
"Good, we'll be leaving for the fair soon. When we get there I'll go sign them up and then I'll rejoin you guys for the rides."
"Then at the end of the night, when they are having the contest we push them on stage for their song and everything that happens after that will be left up to them."
"You got it Peepod," Aralyn smirked, "We have this awesome chance, don't waste it."
"Right!" Peewit smiled in agreement, "Let's do this."
Aralyn: * creepily laughing in a corner* Hee hee, my plan is working perfectly.
Ashlynn: What plan?
Aralyn: Oh nothing. * decides to change subject* So who else noticed Gerard's reaction when Ash was getting ready to swim?
Ashlynn + Gerard: *blushing furiously*
Peewit: *laughing uncontrollably* Yeah that was awesome!
Aralyn: One skim board-two gold coins, carriage ride to the beach-total boredom, Gerard's expression upon seeing Ash in a t-shirt and shorts- priceless.
Ashlynn: It's not that funny Ar.
Gerard: It's just most girls wear dresses, or in your case Aralyn, long sleeves and trousers. And, well...
Aralyn: And you in all your noble kingly manner has never seen that much skin on a girl before. *turns to readers* Isn't it adorable how innocent he is? Anyway, tune in next time for more adventure and teenage drama, have a smurfy weekend yall!
