Alright, as of now, the rating has changed from K+ to T.
Everyone was sitting by the fire, but Gargamel has been gone for a very long time.
"Where is he?" asked SmurfLily.
"I don't know" answered Hefty.
"He's been gone for exactly three minutes..." said Brainy.
Then, Denisa started to yawn.
"...and it's past Denisa's bedtime."
"But, I'm not sleepy" moaned Denisa, trying to resist from falling asleep.
"Yes, you are, my child" replied SmurfWillow.
"No, I'm not."
Not wanting to fight with her friends, Denisa followed all of the Smurfs into the mouth of the cave.
Then, Papa Smurf approached Azrael.
"Azrael" he whispered to the cat.
"If Gargamel shows up or if you see any sign of Black Shards approaching, let me know."
Azrael meowed understandingly and nodded his head, slowly.
"Goodnight, Azrael."
As soon as the Smurfs and Denisa were fast asleep, Azrael stood at the cave's entrance like a vicious guard dog.
Sure, Gargamel and I hate Smurfs Azrael thought to himself. But, they need our help. We need their help.
For most of the night, Azrael stood at the cave, but he fell asleep two minutes later.
However, he was rudely awaken by a painful bite on his tail.
"RERROOOWWW!" screeched the cat.
Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Hefty, Brainy and SmurfStorm rushed over to the cave's opening, armed with weapons, bows and arrows.
"Wait, wait, wait!" cried Smurfette. "It's only Monty!"
The vulture raised his head and started to screech wildly.
"Whoa, easy, boy, easy" cooed Hefty. "What's wrong?"
Monty started to act out what he saw back at Gargamel's home, Papa Smurf could understand what the vulture was trying to say.
"You were about to come find Gargamel and Azrael..." he translated. "Then, you noticed some footprints covered in mud."
"Uh-huh" squawked Monty, before continuing his story.
"You followed the footprints to the castle, but it just stops at the door?" asked Hefty.
The vulture nodded his head and tried to mimic a wolf howl.
"Wow! That's quite a howl, bird" said Brainy, sarcastically.
But, Papa Smurf knew it wasn't Monty making the howling.
"Wait!" shouted SmurfStorm. "You don't think-"
She was interrupted by a loud twig snap.
"What was that?"
Azrael hissed. Monty frowned.
"Is it a wolf?" asked Brainy nervously.
"Shhh, quiet" whispered Hefty.
There was only silence, luckily Denisa and most of the Smurfettes were fast asleep and they couldn't hear anything.
Suddenly, something quickly entered the cave, screaming!
"Is that a... mongoose?" asked Smurfette, having to be awoken to the loud animal's noise, along with the other Smurfettes.
"That's strange" frowned Papa Smurf. "Those kind of animals can only be found in the mainlands of Africa."
The mongoose just kept on running without stopping.
"What the..." said a frightened Brainy.
"Why is that mongoose running?" asked SmurfWillow. "And what is it running away from?"
The Smurfs slowly approached the cave's opening, gripping their weapons in their hands, tightly.
But before they could turn in for the night, the Smurfs screamed as a large white wolf paw jumped in front of them.
"THE WOLF!"
SmurfStorm shot an arrow at the wolf, but it didn't help.
With one swipe, the wolf threw the Smurfs out of its way and went after the mongoose.
"NO!" cried the Smurfs.
"It's gonna kill Denisa and the mongoose!" shouted Smurfette.
"After that wolf!" ordered Papa Smurf.
Hefty, Papa Smurf and SmurfWillow jumped onto Azrael while the Smurfettes jumped onto Monty's back. They ran after the hungry wolf.
Denisa was sleeping peacefully with one of her dollies under her arms.
The wolf slowly and softly approached Denisa, its teeth baring and hunger in its eyes.
The savage animal crouched down, ready to pounce on the little girl.
However, a small claw slashed the wolf's face, drawing blood.
Azrael meowed angrily at the wolf and then both he and Monty tackled the beast to the ground, engaging a savage combat.
The Smurfs carefully checked to make sure Denisa was alright.
"She's okay" sighed Smurfette.
Despite a brief moment of relief for his new friend, Hefty started to encourage Azrael and Monty.
"Get 'em, Azrael, Monty!" he cheered. "Bite 'em in the head!"
As the fight against the wolf continued, the mongoose ran off in such a hurry that it didn't seem to have a hint of gratefulness for the Smurfs and the animals for helping it or without even saying goodbye.
However, the wolf went after the mongoose out of the cave.
"Oh, no!" cried Brainy. "They're going into the forest!"
"Oh, my! I hope they get back here safe" said Papa Smurf, his voice almost trembling with fear.
Out in the forest, the wolf was trying to catch its midnight lunch.
It zipped past the Black Shards and was trying to get Azrael off to its back. But, Monty swooped down and rescued the cat before he could be thrown off.
Azrael meowed as if to say thank you and quickly gave Monty a quick high five with his back paw.
Monty squawked in pain and stumbled, but he managed to get back on course, following the wolf down a hole and into the belly of the underground.
The wolf was so desperate to lose the cat and vulture, but it thought that the ground was the worse places it could be chased in.
But, Azrael wasn't going to give up that easily.
The vulture threw rocks and dirt, but the wolf was too quick for them.
Angry, Azrael jumped off of Monty and went after the beast.
Monty stopped in his tracks and watched as his friend was chasing after the vicious beast that could possibly kill him.
Be careful, my friend thought the vulture, before returning to the surface.
The cat was getting closer to his target as the wolf leaped up towards the surface.
Growling, Azrael jumped after the wolf.
The chase continued through a large mine filled with abused animals, Azrael and the wolf bumped into carts and then, across a log bridge over a large, misty waterfall.
Finally, Azrael caught up with the wolf and bit it, causing it to lose balance on the log and into the water unconscious, sending it down a path of rocks and all the way down the waterfall.
Azrael laughed in triumph and blew a long raspberry towards the water below as if to say "serves you right."
But before he could leave, he slipped into a small calm, pool.
He swam towards the rocks, tired and out of breath.
The next morning, Azrael swam towards shore.
I'd better get Gargamel and return to camp was the first thing that came to Azrael's mind.
As he slowly climbed out of the water, Azrael suddenly felt two human feet blocking his path.
The cat slowly looked up and saw Gargamel, who had a large, long leaf for a towl on his lower half of his nude body and holding his clothes in one arm.
"Uh-oh" Azrael moaned in cat language.
"Well..." frowned the wizard. "I know one cat who not only disturbed my bath, but has got some explaining to do."
To be continued...