Disclaimer: I do not own any characters that were created by someone else
Claimer: Go to my profile to view my characters
ACT III: Chapter XXXVIII
Something crashed nearby, causing the group to be cautious, "What was that?" asked Jammy.
"Did something crashed?" asked Lori.
"I think so," said Lori, "What do you think it was?"
"I don't know," said Chernov, "There's only one way to find out. Lori, let me see that ax you made."
Lori handed Chernov her stone ax and the group head over to the source of the crashing sound.
. . .
Dropping to a steep level brought a lot of hurt to Cherskey, he banged himself into the machine gun but didn't break anything. It was only a bruise, he was more concerned of his sister at the moment, "Nell," said Cherskey, "You alright?"
Nelly was still holding onto the steering wheel, she turned around and gave Cherskey a look. She had a bruise on her cheek, but nothing that appeared serious, "I'm fine bro."
Cherskey got down from the gun and flopped into the snow below, Nelly climbed out of the jeep and helped her brother up, "So what do we do now?" she asked.
"Go back to the drawing board," said Cherksey, "Since- Wait, I think somebody's coming."
"I hear it, I don't see a hiding place around here."
"Don't bother, we have nowhere else to go now."
. . .
The group rushed over to the source, they found a jeep partially sitting on it's front bumper. Behind it was a path of destruction on the face of a hill, trees and branches had snapped off from the vehicle's weight, flattening the vegetation into the snow. Sitting next to the jeep were two green smurflings, Chernov recognized them at first glance, "Holy crap," he said, dropping the stone ax, "Cherskey, Nelly, is that you?"
"Dad?" cried Cherskey.
"Daddy!" cried Nelly.
Nelly got up and rushed into her father's arms as Cherskey sat there in utter confusion, What deity made us do all this? He thought.
"I was starting too loose hope!" she cried.
"I know what happened to you guys," said Chernov, "I know how they treated you."
"I don't blame you Dad," said Cherskey as he got back up onto his feet, "There isn't much you can do in the first place."
"The war isn't over, we need to get back to the colony. Somehow."
"Is that Cuddles?" asked Nelly.
Cuddles simply waved, "Yeah," said Chernov as he put his daughter down, "Long story, I'll explain later. Right now we must find our way back home."
"We don't have a direction to go to." said Sally.
"I know this forest well like it's the back of my hand. We have to head south, that's where the colony and the village are. The sun will be our guide for the day and the stars at night, we can't waste anymore time than we have too."
Chernov picked the stone ax up and handed it back to Lori, "We have some weapons back in camp," said Sally, "A couple of SK-47s, nothing special or anything."
"They'll do for now."
"We also have a jeep we can use, though I don't know if it's battery is still good or not."
"You can use the battery in the one Nelly wrecked," said Cherskey, "Oh, I think some red smurfs are finding their way down here so we best hurry and get out of here."
"Sibs, let's break camp and get a move on. I think the war is heating up, so we must get back home and reorganize the army to put a death blow to the Red Smurf Army... or risk extinction."
"Lead the way Chernov," said Jammy, "I trust you in this."
. . .
Antosha and his army managed to make his way to the Smurf Village's exact location, he was surprised to find it covered with frozen bodies of red smurfs. Parts of their skulls were blown off, arms and legs were amputated, and a downed vertibird lay in a pile of twisted metal and burned wood: The defending actions of the Wunderwaffe.
The red smurfs went to work cleaning up the mess, the colonel sat back and watched them dig a big hole and tossed all the bodies into it. Thankfully it was winter, if it was spring or summer then everything would be more hazardous, not to mention the smell of death. Once the bond fire was started and was burning the bodies to ash, Antosha decided to investigate the mushroom houses of his adversaries.
He approached one house, the colonel noted that the wooden door only had a handle and not a knob. Antosha simply gave the door a push and it gave in without any form of resistance. This peaceloving species deserve to die. He thought. Colonel Antosha took that thought back once he got inside, this mushroom house was loaded with books. A symbol of intelligence. Books covered the furniture and floor, some stacks even reached the ceiling. He can't help but give his enemy respect, it's best to keep it to himself since respecting the enemy is a sign of defection to the eyes of the average red smurf. Unless your Dragovich.
Antosha spotted a desk and approached it, on it was a stack of manuscript papers. They were typewritten. Seeing the typewriter wondered if this was the Wunderwaffe's house. No, it's too smurfy, as a blue skin would say. This couldn't be his house. He stepped out of it and something catches his eye, a smokestack. It wasn't wood, it was metal. A sign of green smurf activity.
"Attention!" he called out to his nearby red smurfs.
The subordinates who heard him stiffen as those who don't carry on to cleaning up, Antosha pointed to a couple of red smurfs, "You two," he said, "Follow me."
"Yes Comrade Colonel!" said the red smurfs in unison.
The red smurfs followed the colonel all the way to the suspected home of Chernov Reznov. When they approached it, Antosha' suspicions was confirmed when he saw the security bars and steel industrial door. Looks like the Wunderwaffe was paranoid. He thought. "Soldiers," he ordered, "Get that door open."
"Yes sir!" they replied.
The red smurfs walked up to the steel door, one of them touched the door knob and got a nasty surprise. Antosha jumped back as lightning and electricity came out of the red smurf, his body was struck by the massive sparks and was knocked to the ground. The red smurf who touched the doorknob was blasted back, his hand was annihilated in the process. He dropped and rolled onto the ground in a violent seizure for a few seconds before going limp.
"Medic!" cried Colonel, "Get a medic over here!"
A medic soon arrived, "Tend to that one, he got the worse!"
"What happened!" cried the medic, "What happened to his hand!"
"He triggered a trap, I think he was electrocuted!"
"Damn, a bottle of vodka won't be the answer this time!"
As the medic went to work on the red smurf as Antosha checked the one who got indirect contact with the trap. He checked his pulse, nothing. Colonel Antosha went to work and giving him CPR, after a few agonizing seconds the red smurf coughed and gasped in fresh air. "What happened?" he asked.
"You were shocked by the Wunderwaffe's trap," said Antosha, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks for saving me. I didn't know you can do CPR."
"Anyone can do CPR if they know a thing or two about oxygen."
"He's dead Colonel," said the medic, "He's bleeding from the mouth, he's gone."
Antosha helped his subordinate up, "Throw him into the fire along with the Wunderwaffe's victims, they will be honored after this war."
"Yes sir."
A red smurf came running out from nowhere, "Sir," he said, "We got a green smurfette here that wished to see you!"
"A what?"
"She said she work's for Dragovich."
Antosha remembered something, Dragovich did say he had a spy in place, "Where is she?"
"Right this way."
Antosha followed the red smurf, the red smurf took him to an area where several of his subordinates had their guns drawn in a circle. In the center of that circle was a green smurfette, she had black hair and was wearing the clothes of a red smurf. With trenchcoat and all, it was an unexpected and ironic sight, "Dragovich speaks highly of you," said the green smurfette, "My name is Dashie Reznov, I had been working with your superior officer for quite awhile now."
"I'm surprised my men hadn't shot you yet." said Colonel Antosha.
"They didn't need much persuading."
"Yeah, they don't," he gave a cold stare at his red smurfs before returning his attention back to Dashie, "Why are you here?"
"I had to leave the colony since they were on to me," explained Dashie, "I brought with me some useful intel and such."
She pulled out a thick folder packed with documents out of her trenchcoat and handed it to Antosha, "Thanks," said Antosha, "I'll read these later."
"They're going to be sending a recon team to the Smurf Village to check if it's safe for the blue smurfs to return, with the downfall of their leader I'm sure they won't be much of a hassle."
"I heard about the Wunderwaffe's demise, they must be having a hard time finding a successor."
"That successor happens to be my boyfriend, he told me he can't handle the pressure of being a full-time leader. Now he's at wit's end, and he will soon be forced into making a decision. I know of a road they will use in order to get here, have your forces ambush them here. Don't kill them, we need them alive. And I want to see the looks on their face when they see one of their own had betrayed them."
"Can we trust her Colonel?" asked a red smurf.
Antosha stared at Dashie for a moment as he thinks, her evil grin suggest she's to be trusted, "She might be a double-agent for all I know," he said, "But since we won't be hearing from Dragovich for awhile, this will be the only lead we have. First we rest for tonight comrades, tomorrow we put the defector's plan into action. If anyone were to harm her in anyway, I'll have them shot. That's an order, got it?"
"Da." said the red smurfs in unison.
Colonel Antosha returned his attention back to Dashie, "Don't abuse it, I'm not saying I trust you but I'm still mad at Dragovich for the lost of our main base."
"Maybe after all this is over, you can lead a civil war in claiming his place?"
"Ah, that is a nice idea. I like how you think, what had you been doing on your free time?"
"Sit around, get drunk, stuff like that."
"Interesting... Sounds like my subordinates alright."
"No where close, we have a diversity of alcohol at the colony. Maybe when a red flag flies over it, your men might get a taste of our liquor."
Antosha saw that she got the red smurf's attention, "Okay everybody, move along and get back to work!"
. . .
It wasn't much of a ceremony, in fact there wasn't a ceremony at all. Rick just announce his change in permission from Lieutenant Commander to Supreme Commander on the radio, he doubted anyone cared. They all know he wasn't cut out to be a leader, but someone had to do it. There was no one else that can do it for him. Even with the help from Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf, they couldn't do much. They're for peacetime, they weren't cut out for war. Suffice to say Rick's own siblings couldn't do much help either, they lack the experience needed to coordinate an army. They can keep the colony running for awhile, but not lead an offensive.
An offensive, Rick thought, We can defend the colony from the largest red smurf attack possible but cannot coordinate an offensive, why does Chernov have to be the one with the most military experience?
Of course he had lead an army on an offensive, but he just follow orders. He had no strategy, just do what Chernov tells him to. With that in mind, he can pull of his objective without a problem. With Chernov out of the picture, he wasn't so sure now. What his half-brother left behind, this clue of this single photo from what he captured from Fort Romanov, may be the only lead they have towards victory. They must know more, the only place where they can get that knowledge is maybe at his own home.
He succeeded in sleeping throughout the entire night, yet he struggled to make it through the entire day. It was barely 10 hundred hours, two hours before he officially takes total control of the Green Smurf Colony. Announcing it all on the radio early was just to save time, since he found himself sleeping at his desk, snoring away.
"Rick." he heard a voice say his name.
He looked up and saw Papa Smurf walking in, "So how do you wanna start the day Paps?" asked Rick, "Some time later in the afternoon, you wanna make the journey back to your village or make it soon?"
"We're in no rush," said Papa Smurf, "You look very unsmurfy today, had you slept well at all last night?"
"Yeah, I slept on a cot Lizzy help brought in. It's great in all but I feel like I cannot solve these two problems we have over our heads. One, how to solve this puzzle Chernov unintended left for us; second, how to coordinate an offensive without having too many casualties. Before we came along, had you ever defended the Smurf Village like this before?"
"No. We did have a couple of human armies at our doorstep once. But we weren't their target, the village was just caught in the crossfire."
"That's it?"
"Yup, that's it."
"So it's when the green smurfs came along, well first Chernov then us, is where you guys started having these problems?"
"Your father exposed our weaknesses, some we know, most we don't. Me, and especially Chernov, tried our best to keep the green smurfs from corrupting my smurfs. I don't think that's possible now."
"Before we rescued you guys, he told all of us he gave up on preventing corruption. It's all about survival now."
"Figures."
"Speaking of Chernov, his research may be the key on defeating the red smurfs. I can't place my finger on it, but I think he may be on to something. Something about the green smurfs, a key to solve our problems. Can you round up a team for a recon party at the Smurf Village?"
"I can do that, I'll see what I can do Rick but you're the one who's leading the green smurfs now."
Rick grumped, "You don't need to say the obvious Paps."
He turned back towards his radio and turned it on, "Chad, get Rachael and Lizzy here to the Command Center. And do come along as well, we may need you just in case this operation get's out of hand."
"Sure thing Rick." said Chad.
Rick sat the microphone aside, "You ever had technology like this before?"
"On occasion we do get something similar," said Papa Smurf, "We once had vehicles as you green smurfs call them."
"What happened to them?"
"Gargamel destroyed them, we just simply went back doing manual labor and what not."
"Looks like a bad move on your part. If you stick with new technologies, I don't think you would ever need protection at all. Who knows, you might even drive the red smurfs back and you would never need us."
"Maybe that would change after all this is over."
"Yes, if we managed to get the red smurfs out of our backyard that is. Since I never been to the Smurf Village myself, I need you to help guide me around. Are you up to it?"
"It's my little smurfs' village, I'll gladly smurf you around."
Rick chuckled, "You sound like my father, he also call us little smurfs. That's because he had a good reason why, since we're only. What, 7.8cms tall?"
"In metric?"
"You still figuring it out?"
"Yup."
"It's only been around for at least 300 years, not to mention it was invented in the neighboring country of France. Your 5 and half centuries old, what were you doing all that time when the world is adopting this system?"
Papa Smurf gave him a look, "I cannot explain it in a language you cannot understand, even Chernov will find that it makes no sense at all."
"Okay then..."
TO BE CONTINUED...