Chapter Two: Meet Molk

There was a slight, refreshing breeze down by the river. It was a huge relief after the still, heavy heat of the village. Brainy, Hefty, Clumsy, Jokey, Handy, and Smurfette were playing volleysmurf on the sand of the riverbank, three Smurfs on each side of the net. The others were lying under oversized umbrellas or splashing about in the cool, clear water of the River Smurf. The four Smurflings were busily burying a napping Papa Smurf in the sand while a giggling Baby Smurf looked on.

Smurfette spiked the volleysmurf ball over the net, straight at Clumsy. Clumsy clasped his hands and stretched out his arms, the tip of his tongue stuck out in concentration. He stepped forward to meet the volleysmurf ball, but his foot slipped into a slight dip in the sand. He fell to the ground, the volleysmurf ball bouncing off his stomach and into the air.

"Oooff!" he exclaimed.

"I've got it!" Brainy shouted from behind him. He raced under the rising ball, jogging backwards as it reached its apogee and started its descent. He was so intent on watching the ball's progress that he didn't notice he had left the boundary of the makeshift volleysmurf ball court. The Smurfs on the other team were still concerned, though, because if Brainy managed to smurf the ball before it landed out of bounds and Hefty or Clumsy managed to smurf it over the net, Brainy's team could still make the winning point.

Suddenly...

"Brainy, look out!" exclaimed Smurfette. Brainy took his eyes from the ball and glanced behind him.

"What?" he started, just before he crashed into a hard something behind him. His thick, round, black-rimmed glasses flew from his face with the force of the impact. The volleysmurf ball landed in the bracken a few steps away and bounced three times before coming to rest.

Smurfette, Hefty, Handy, Clumsy, and Jokey ran to the scene at once.

"Brainy, are you all right?" asked Smurfette. She picked the black-rimmed glasses out of a nearby bush and handed them to him.

"Thank you," said Brainy as he slipped them on and blinked. Then, he squinted. "Everything's still kind of blurry, but I'm fine. What happened?"

Jokey chuckled and pointed to a small bush. "You ran backwards right into this funny looking little creature with big, shiny eyes. It flew into that bush."

"Who are you calling a creature, you little blue fiend?" demanded a shrill, grating voice with a very strange accent. There was a rustle among the bush's branches and a tiny ball of silvery fur leaped out. It came almost up to the Smurfs' shoulders, but it seemed to have no facial features whatsoever.

"Little!" Jokey exclaimed. "That's a laugh, coming from you!" Then, he noticed there was something different about the tiny furball. "Wait a minute," he said. "What happened to your great big eyes?"

"No, first of all, who are you?" demanded Hefty. "And what are you doing here?"

The creature was still for a moment, then answered Hefty's question. "My name is Molk. I come from a very distant land. I'm here in search of a strange species of creature known as Smurfs."

"But, we're-" Clumsy started.

Hefty nudged him into silence, then said, "What do you want with Smurfs, Molk?"

"I've heard that the leader of the Smurfs is quite an accomplished wizard."

"He certainly is," Brainy said proudly, puffing out his chest. "He's the most powerful wizard in this whole land."

"Well," Molk continued, not sounding very impressed, "he'll have to be if he's going to be able to help me."

"Help you with what?" Handy inquired.

"Why, help me to get home, of course! It's these blasted glasses, you see." Two dark, greenish hands appeared from somewhere under all that silver-white fur and reached up to what was probably the creature's head. "Wait a moment!" Molk exclaimed. "Where have my glasses gone?"

"What do they look like," asked Brainy. "Maybe they fell off like mine did when we collided. Sorry about that, by the way."

Molk harumphed. "They're black, with round lenses. Not unlike yours, actually," the furry creature snapped. "Hurry up and find them! I want to speak with the Smurf leader at once!"

"I don't think Molk is very nice," Smurfette commented as she searched through the underbrush for Molk's glasses.

Jokey chuckled. "He sure is funny looking. I wonder where he's from."

"Are these your glasses, Molk?" asked Handy. He plucked a pair of half-buried glasses from the sand and handed them to the furry creature. Molk snatched them from Handy and gave them a thorough examination.

"You can see things without your glasses?" Brainy exclaimed with interest. "I can't smurf a thing without mine." He squinted harder. "Actually, I can't smurf all that much with mine at the moment." He took them off and felt the lenses. "Funny, they don't seem damaged. Maybe something happened when I smurfed into you."

"I don't use these glasses to see with, you idiotic blue cretin," Molk exclaimed. Brainy stiffened, infuriated at the insult. Molk turned to the others, shouting, "These are magical glasses! I wouldn't expect foolish creatures like you blue things to understand. Now, take me to the Smurf leader. At once! I'm wasting time talking to you, and time is the one thing I don't have!"

"Is that so?" said Brainy. "Well, if that's the way you feel, I don't think we will take you to Papa Smurf. You'll just have to smurf back home on your own."

The tiny silver fluff ball expanded to about twice its original width. "How dare you! How dare you speak to me in this way!"

"Well, you should take the time to find out who you're talking to before you start insulting them," Brainy snapped back. "You say you want help from the Smurfs. Well, it just so happens that we are Smurfs! In fact, I am Papa Smurf's assistant! But, now that you've been so rude to us, I don't think we want to help you."

The little creature seemed stunned. "You mean that you are Smurfs?"

"That's right," said Hefty.

A change seemed to come over the furry little being. He shrank back to his original size and brought out four pairs of dark, greenish hands. Clasping them together in what looked like remorse, he said, "Oh, then I am sorry! I really had no idea, and I've been under such a great deal of stress lately. I'm not usually so short tempered, you see. It's just with being lost, and this wretched heat and..." he sighed. "I apologize for my rudeness."

Brainy was still glowering at him, but Smurfette nodded. "I understand, Molk," she said. "This unsmurfy weather has been making everysmurf bad tempered. Come with me. I'll take you straight to Papa Smurf."

"Thank you," said Molk humbly. His hands vanished under his thick fur, along with his glasses. Smurfette started to lead the way back to the river bank. Hefty, Handy, and Jokey followed directly after them. Clumsy was about to go, but then he noticed that Brainy was making no move to join them.

"Uh, aren't you coming, Brainy?" he asked.

Brainy sat on a tuft of grass and put his chin in his hand. "No," he said.

"Gosh, Brainy. Why not? Molk apologized."

"It's not that," said Brainy. "I'm feeling a little dizzy. Everything's still really blurry too. I think I smurfed down harder than I thought. I should be all right soon, though."

Clumsy looked concerned. "Gosh, are you sure you're all right? Do you want me to stay with you?"

"No, Clumsy. I want you to go over there and smurf what's going on. Then, come tell me. I just need to sit here for a few minutes."

"Well, all right, Brainy," said Clumsy. "If you say so."

"I do. Now go."

"Right. I'll be back soon, don't you worry!"

Clumsy raced awkwardly over the sand towards the crowd of curious Smurfs that had already gathered around Molk and Papa Smurf. Pushing his way to the front, he was just in time to see Papa Smurf brush the last of the sand from his red pants. The Smurflings were behind him, rapidly filling in the hole he'd left in the sand. It was one of Papa Smurf's firmest rules for play on the river bank that every hole they dug had to be filled in before they left for the night. Such holes could be very dangerous if left unfilled, especially in the dark. The Smurflings were now using the rule as an excuse to stay and hear Molk's conversation with Papa Smurf.

"I came here on vacation with my brother Nolk," Molk was saying in his strange accent as Clumsy arrived. "Nolk is a great practical joker."

Jokey laughed. "Probably not as great as me!"

Everysmurf ignored him. Molk went on. "Nolk told me that the ultraviolet radiation from the sun here would burn out my eyes if I didn't wear these special glasses." He held out the glasses to Papa Smurf with two hands. "He was wearing a similar pair himself. However, he had enchanted mine to make the wearer go back in time! I left my brother in the Earth year 2354. The last I saw of him, he was rolling in the sand, laughing his fur off. The problem is, Papa Smurf, that I don't know how to get back! And, if I don't get back before the solar eclipse in two days-that is, two days from when I left-I'll have to wait four months before I can return to my home moon in Orion's Belt. So, you see why I need your help."

"How smurfy!" Dreamy Smurf exclaimed. "A real alien! From another planet!"

"Moon," Molk corrected. "It orbits around a gaseous planet not unlike your Jupiter."

"May I examine your glasses, Molk?" asked Papa Smurf.

"Certainly." Molk held them out to him. Papa Smurf held them up and looked through them. He squinted.

"Were these supposed to be corrective lenses, Molk?" he asked.

"No, just regular glass. Well, not quite regular. They were enchanted."

Papa Smurf drew his eyebrows together. "Hmmm. This is very strange. These lenses show a strong magnification, almost like-"

He looked around at the gathered Smurfs and noticed a conspicuous absence. "Where's Brainy?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

"Um, he's not feeling very well, Papa Smurf," said Clumsy. "I left him at the sand's edge. He said he felt kinda dizzy after colliding with Molk."

Molk hopped forward and put a blackish-green hand on Papa Smurf's shoulder. "I felt dizzy when Nolk gave me the glasses. Your Brainy and I must have picked up the wrong glasses after we crashed into each other!"

"Then we must switch them back immediately!" exclaimed Papa Smurf, starting to run towards the sand's edge. "Brainy!" he shouted. "Take off those glasses! They belong to Molk!"

Brainy signaled from his tuft of grass that he couldn't hear what Papa Smurf was saying. He started to stand up, then obviously felt dizzy and sat down again.

"Hefty," called Papa Smurf. "You're the fastest runner. Take these glasses and warn Brainy as quickly as you can."

"Yes, Papa Smurf," said Hefty, taking the glasses and putting on a great burst of speed.

"Brainy!" he called as he ran, "Brainy, take off your glasses!" He skidded to a stop in a cloud of dry sand and thrust the glasses Papa Smurf had given him into Brainy's hands.

"What's smurfing on, Hefty? " asked Brainy, squinting up at him. "Aren't these Molk's glasses?"

"No, Brainy, they're yours," said Hefty. "You've got Molk's glasses on. Papa Smurf says you have to take them off at once, or else you'll end up back in time!"

"What?" Brainy asked, incredulous. "What are you smurfing about Hefty?"

"I'm not smurfing around, Brainy," said Hefty seriously. "Take off those glasses."

"All right, all right," said Brainy, slipping them off.

"Papa Smurf!" came Smurfette's stunned voice. "Brainy's turning transparent!"

The other Smurfs had just caught up with Hefty. "Oh no!" exclaimed Papa Smurf. "I fear we may already be too late!"

"What's smurfing on, Papa Smurf?" asked Brainy, his voice bright with panic. He put on first one pair of glasses than the other. "I can't tell which pair of glasses is mine! Everything's still blurry!" As he spoke, his voice got fainter and fainter.

"He's fading away, Papa Smurf!" said Handy. "What should we do?"

Papa Smurf looked stricken. "I don't know, Handy! I don't know! Perhaps if he-"

But, it was too late. Brainy, along with both pairs of glasses, was gone.