Chapter 9: Smurf vs. Smurfette
A WEEK LATER
Brainette walked through the village, calculating what other chores that needs to be done. She stopped when she saw four smurfettes not doing anything, but sitting on a log and staring at something.
"What do you smurfettes think you are doing? Why aren't you doing your chores?" Demanded the bespectacled brunette. No one seemed too eager to answer, instead they leaned their heads over to one side to look past Brainette. This frustrated the smart smurfette. She pushed her glasses up against her face before forcing her fists on her hips.
"I demand to know what is so interesting here!" She cried out in desperation.
Valvette finally looked at Brainette. She didn't say anything, but gently pushed her face towards the direction where all the other smurfettes are staring.
"Oh." Brainette said before finding herself at a loss for words.
Over by Gingerette's house stood Hefty Smurf. He apparently offered to chop wood for the chef of the village. The smurfettes watched as he carefully placed another log onto the stand. He lifted the axe up over his head and with one mighty swing he was able to spit the log in two. Hefty pauses for a bit to whip a few beads of sweat off his brow before picking up another log.
"Well, it certainly looks like our, ehm, guest is getting better now." Brainette commented, as she too if finding the scene rather hypnotic.
"Yes. I could defiantly smurf that sight all day." Valvette sighed dreamingly.
Brainette shook her head out from staring at the smurf and brought her attention back to the lazy smurfettes. "Yes, well, with attitude like that then nothing in this village will ever get done. Now I suggest you stop loitering and go off to finish your chores before Mama Smurf sees you here." She said pushing the smurfettes off the log and herding them away.
Before leaving, Brainette once again stops to look at the smurf. She lets out a small whistle before walking off.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
After Hefty helped chopped firewood for Gingerette, the village cook, she gave him a couple of delicious Smurfberry tarts. Normally, Gingerette doesn't hand out any deserts before dinner, but she was very grateful for all his help.
As Hefty ate the tarts it reminded a bit like Greedy Smurf's baking. Although Greedy would never let him have any desert treats before it was dinner time, even if he would help chop wood for him. Yes, living here does have its privileges, especially with really tasty tarts that could give Greedy a run for his smurfberries.
Hefty just finished the last tart when he spots Toughette walking by. She is carrying two heavy pails of water on a lever. The lever is sitting on her shoulders causing her to slump forward slightly.
In Hefty's mind it looks like she needed help with that water. He got up and rushed over to golden haired smurfette.
"Can I help you with those?" Hefty asks holding his hand, ready to receive the heavy lever.
"No thank you. I got it." Toughette quickly jerked away before Hefty could grab the lever.
"But those look heavy. I don't want you to hurt yourself carrying them."
Toughette glared hard at Hefty. "Are implying that I cannot carry heavy things?"
"Well, I..." Hefty wasn't sure how to address this subject.
"Listen, Mr. Muscle Smurf, not all of us smurfettes are as 'delicate' as you may think. I mean, who do you think carried your sorry smurf butt all the way from the beach?" Toughette snapped.
Hefty was speechless. He was told that a smurfette named Toughette rescued him from the shore. Now he is meeting her in person for the first time. Not a very good first impression, he thought.
"If you would excuse me. Some of us have chores to finish." Toughette growled before walking off.
Hefty was about to follow her when someone grabbed his arm. He turned to see a smurfette in a purple dress.
"It's better to let her do her own thing, it's just safer that way." Valvette spoke.
"Safer?" He wondered if this smurfette was really dangerous, or if Valvette was just pulling his leg.
"Oh, trust me. That smurfette has a temper like you wouldn't believe." The long curly-haired brunette smurfette chuckled.
Valvette coiled her arm tightly around Hefty's muscular arm. "Now, if you really want to be helpful, you can come help me move some furniture from my home." She purred.
"Again? Didn't we do that last week?" Hefty asked suspiciously.
"True, but I just didn't like how the new furniture clashed with my curtains. I have decided to go with my old furniture." Valvette shrugged. She then guided the young smurf to her home still draping over his arm.
Toughette turned to glance at Valvette and Hefty walking in the opposite direction and growled. She knew Valvette's game. 'How can this smurf be so gullible?' She thought angrily. Toughette shook her head and continued walking with the heavy water pails.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
LATER THAT DAY
The smurfettes often enjoy a time in just having fun. A couple of smurfettes gathered to play some smurf-volley ball in a field just outside of the village. There are two teams of five smurfettes with a net dividing them. Toughette played on one side with four other smurfettes. Cowgirl played on the other side with her own team. Valvette played referee, while at the same time touching up her make up.
Hefty just happened to be walking by when he caught a glimpse of them playing. He had no idea that they knew how to play smurf-volley ball. Without interrupting, Hefty sat on a near by rock to watch.
"Best you be moseying along on now, Toughette. I recon that we've have got you and your team beat this time. One more point, and my here team will win this game." Cowgirl snarled mockingly.
"You can go ahead and try, Cowgirl." Toughette smirked.
Cowgirl served the ball over her head and smacked it with her fist. The ball flew over the net and one of the smurfettes on Toughette's team tagged the ball up and Toughette leapt up from behind, and slammed the ball hard with a loud "Ee-yeah!" over the net. Cowgirl and another smurfette on her team ran into each other trying to reach the ball first. The ball bounced on the ground in front of the two smurfettes.
"Awe nuts." Grumbled Cowgirl.
"Ha! Better luck next time." Toughette stood tall and proud with her arms crossed over her chest. Her teammates cheered knowing they have won another game.
"But we almost had you beat this time." Complained Cowgirl.
"Forget it Cowgirl. Nobody beats Toughette. She's just too good." Valvette says as she still admires herself in the compact makeup and mirror case in her hand.
"You know, it would be nice to have a real challenger in this game for once." Toughette thought out loud.
The sound of someone clearing his throat brought everyone's attention to the smurf sitting on the rock. Hefty hopped off the rock and walked up to the smurfettes confidently.
"I'm a little out of practice, but can I play?" He asked.
"Well if it isn't for the big tough smurf." Toughette teased.
"Awe, come on Toughette. Let him play." Valvette said, looking up from her reflection.
"Yeah, unless you are afraid of a real challenge." Cowgirl snickered.
"I'm not afraid of anything…" Toughette growled. "Fine, lets see what your are made of… Smurf."
Hefty smirked as he moved his hat forward slightly as he headed up to the other side of the net.
"Just to let you know that I won't use my full strength." He said thoughtfully. Hefty remembered that anytime he used his full strength in playing any sport the other smurfs would get hurt. The last thing he wants to do was hurt anyone, especially one of the smurfettes.
"Hey, don't smurf me any favors. If you're going to play, then play." Toughette warned.
"Alright, here comes the serve." Hefty maked the serve. The ball flew over the net and Toughette slammed it back towards Hefty with her fist.
"Is that the best you got? I thought you were tough?" Toughette raised her eyebrow.
Hefty felt insulted with that remark, so he decided to give her a sample of how strong he really is. Again he tosses the ball in the air, and with all his strength he slams the ball over the net.
Toughette barely got to smack the ball back over to Hefty. But as she hits the ball with the lower part of her arm, she felt a sting of pain from the force when it impact against her skin.
"Ow," She mutters as she rubbed her arm.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. See, this is why I don't use my full strength when I play smurf-volley ball." Hefty apologized.
To Hefty's surprise, Toughette did not respond angrily. She chuckled and looked up at him.
"Finally, a real challenger." Toughette cheered. "Come on. Let's play, for real now."
Hefty grinned impressively. None of the other smurfs from his village could ever handle playing smurf-volley ball with him. For the first time, he found someone that actually wanted him to use his full strength. Again, he smacked the ball over the net. Toughette returned it with a forceful punch. Back and forth the two of them hit the ball as hard as they could to each other. The other smurfettes cheered excitably. For once they felt that Toughette has met her match.
Hours have past. Most of the smurfettes got bored and left. Only now Cowgirl and Valvette stayed to watch, but even they were slowly becoming bored.
"Ok, I like watching a good game now and then, but this is just plain ridiculous." Valvette whined.
"I am inclined to have to agree with you on this one." Cowgirl sighed. "These two have been smurfing the same game for hours."
Valvette had enough and stood up. "Look you two, it's getting late!" She spoke out loud to the players. "The sun is starting to come down now."
"Forget it, Valvette. They are too into the game to listen. Lets just go." Cowgirl suggested.
"Fine. You want to go smurf some Smurfberry tarts from Gingerette's secret stash?" Valvette mischievously smirks while jerking her thumb back towards the village.
"Sure."
As Cowgirl and Valvette leave the playing field, Toughette and Hefty still kept to the game. Neither of them showed signs of wanting to catch a breath.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
THREE DAYS LATER
For the first time in months, Hefty was able to wake up at the crack of dawn. This is a great accomplishment being that for the longest time since the accident he found it difficult to get up early. He began with his morning stretches and exercises. Afterwards he opened the door to ready himself for his first jog in months, Hefty spotted Toughette, as she too is getting ready for a jog. An idea came to him, and he jogged up to her.
"Hey," he said to her.
Hefty's voice took her off guard slightly. She quickly turned and replied, "You're up early..."
"This is the time I usually get up." Hefty stated. "Getting ready to go jogging?" He added.
"Yeah, so?" Toughette stood with her hands on her hips.
"Well, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I joined you. Being that I am unfamiliar with these woods." Hefty sheepishly admitted.
Toughette rolled her eyes skyward. "You think you can keep up?"
Hefty smirked and raised his eyebrow. "Just lead the way." He said with a gesture of his hand.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
Both smurf and smurfette jogged side by side. At one point the two of them stopped to get some fruit from a tree.
Toughette leapt from tree branch to tree branch and grabbed the biggest, juiciest fruit she could see. She did a few 'Tarzan' moves before doing a flip and gracefully landing on the ground. Mockingly she tossed the fruit up in the air and caught it back in her hand. She gave Hefty a cocky look, as if to say, 'now lets see how you get the fruit.'
Sure enough, Hefty didn't want to let her know his greatest fear was heights. Quickly he looked around his feet and spots a pebble. He picked it up then looked for a proper target. Aiming the pebble, he pulled his hand back then threw it. The pebble hit the fruit perfectly just where it touched the tree branch. Hefty caught the fruit just before it comes near the ground. Giving Toughette the same cocky smirk look, he added his performance by gently tapping the fruit against a nearby rock. It cracked down the middle breaking it open. Hefty separates the juicy liquid evenly in the two halves and offers Toughette one half.
Toughette simply raises her eyebrow. She is only slightly impressed.
As they continued jogging, Toughette started to warm up to Hefty. She began telling him about the safety areas, and the dangerous areas of the woods. Their morning jog ended up being a long guided tour. They even stopped on the very part of the beach where Toughette first found Hefty Smurf. Some of the debris from the damaged dam still lingered along the shore. Hefty reflected for a moment as he picked up some of the broken pieces of wood. He became quiet for a moment as he thought of how he must have survived while floating on this debris. Toughette simply just allowed him to stand silent for a bit before taking him back to the village.
By the time Toughette and Hefty returned to the village, the other smurfettes had already started on their daily chores.
"Ah, there you two are." Mama Smurf said as soon as she spotted Toughette and Hefty jogging by.
"Sorry we're late, Mama Smurf," Toughette panted. "This mornings' jog took longer then expected."
"Oh, I'm not too worried about that." Mama Smurf said with an assuring tone. "Did you two have fun?"
"You could say that." Hefty grinned. "Toughette decided to show me around a bit."
"Glad to hear you two getting along. Now if you both don't mind there are many things that still need getting done around here. And we can always use a pair of strong helpers to assist." Mama Smurf gestured to Hefty and Toughette.
"Yes Mama Smurf." Both Toughette and Hefty chime.