Hello, viewers! I'm sorry to say that our little blue friends are not here today. But they will be here in the next chapter disclaimer, and I do have a reason for this. I have some news to share with you all that they can't hear about. Understood? Good. Let's get started by first answering some reviews.
flowerpower71- First of all, thank you for recommending my story on your "Questions" story. I think I'll wait for you to catch up on your questions before asking more. Btw, love your stories. Can't wait for you to upload. Second, you're right. We're not even close to seeing the last of the Smurf-cannon.
Chloe- I know. Crafty is the best sweet talking Smurfette you'll ever meet. As for Gutsy...well...I'll get to that in a minute. But yes, she sure showed Gargamel and Azrael a thing or two!
Okay, now for some "good news, bad news". Sorta, anyway.
Alright. Bad news: I'm sorry to all of you about this, but I don't want keep the suspense up any longer. This story will have very little romance in it. There will definitely be romance, but not that much.
But, the good news: This is only the first of many stories to be written. There will be big time romance in the sequel. It is under development, but I'll let you guys know when I'll be posting it!
More good news: Yes, I did include Doctor, Narrator and Crazy for a reason. I want to have Crafty have a special bond with all of them. And I mean ALL of them. So, throughout this story and the stories to come, I will include each and every Smurf. In fact, there's one in this chapter right now. Not to mention a new OC that'll have a special role in the village.
Also, I need to smurf you all a secret. (looks around to see if anysmurf is listening)
It is true that Crafty and Gutsy will get together. But they don't know it. I'm trying to get them to like each other, but I think nature is taking its course quite nicely. They're not quite "in love," but I think there's something there.
Okay, now for the disclaimer!
I only own Crafty and the new OC. The Smurfs belong to Peyo. Enjoy the new chapter!
"Could you just set it right there, Hefty?" Crafty asked.
"No problem," Hefty said barely breaking a sweat as he set down the newly improved cannon in an open space in the forest not too far from the village. She was proud to say that now was the time for testing.
It had been about two days since the last incident with the cannon. She was sure to lower the strength and force from then on and to not let the Smurflings near it when it's being used.
"So, when's this thing gonna be ready for smurfing, Crafty? I'm dying to see how strong this thing is!"
"Trust me. I felt it the first time," Crafty stated rubbing the back of her head. "I don't want to go back."
"Anyway, I'm having Wooly spare some extra wool to use as testing dummies. So, if all goes well today, I can have this smurfing in no time at all."
"Well, then what're we all waitin' fer?" A voice called from the side in a Texan-accent.
Wooly was carrying at least six bagfuls of wool from the looks of it. Yes, Wooly did say he would let Crafty use the extra wool, but he wanted them in bags to keep it clean. He always did like to have extra wool just in case they needed it for winter.
Frankly, she didn't even know why it was so important. Then again, she didn't really know how cold it can really get in the winter time in the village.
"Here ya go then, Crafty. Just don't smurf'em dirty, now. Gotta have'em good an' clean, ya hear?"
"Will do, Wooly! And thanks again! I'll bring it right back to you when I'm finished!"
Wooly tipped his wooly, cowboy-like hat in farewell and sauntered off. Crafty took the first bag and shoved it into the cannon.
She let out a loud whistle and shouted, "Is the target ready, Wild?"
Wild scurried out onto the tree branch and hung a large, round target onto it. He tied and tested the strength of the rope. He squawked sticking up a thumb, indicating it was ready.
Crafty grinned in excitement. She got behind the cannon and aimed right for the middle of the target. She slammed her palm right on the button and the wooly dummy was sent flying at the target. The tree branch and Wild shook as the target wobbled at the impact of the dummy.
"Yes!" Crafty threw a fist in the air in triumph. There was a round of applause from the Smurfs that decided to view it as a show.
"Whew, howdy! That there was the best shootin' I ever did see in all my years!" Wooly hollered throwing his hat in the air, then having it land perfectly back on his head.
"Hehe. Yes, I will admit that this invention of yours is one smurfy idea, Crafty," Papa Smurf said.
"Thank you, Papa. I think I should adjust it, though. Just so we can get a better idea of what to expect with a real Smurf."
She tuned it up to shot at only half the force as it was a few days ago. She threw in another dummy and motioned for Wild to get ready. She got it in the same position and fired.
"Okay, I guess for Smurfs, I need to aim a little lower," Crafty muttered as the wooly dummy flew over wild and the target and into the forest.
Wooly stood there open-mouthed and wide-eyed in shock and dismay. That was his biggest bag of wool. Crafty noticed this and reassured, "Don't worry, Wooly. I'll go get!"
Crafty went to get the dummy before yelling back, "Just make sure nosmurf goes near that cannon!"
She ran through the wood but was still cautious as she did it. She didn't want to get caught by that washed-up wizard again, or that nasty cat of his.
She felt her braid being pulled on by, who else, Baby Smurf. Crafty thought that since the last few times, she would need both of her hands to work. But it wouldn't work with having to hold Baby all the time, so she made little backpack so Baby could be comfortable. This, again, is an actual invention of hers that the whole village was impressed with.
Crafty laughed as Baby giggled and hugged her braid. She always figured now Baby only tugged on her braid so he would get her attention.
She peered around as she jumped over large tree roots and ducked under tree branches. After a few more minutes of searching, she finally found the bag of wool snagged on a tree trunk just low enough for her to reach.
As she went to reach for it, there was a frantic chirping sound followed by a hollow thud. Crafty looked around but saw nothing at all. She went back to grab the bag when there it was again. The chirping was accompanied by a fluttering of wings before the thud came again.
Crafty then realized it was coming from right above her. She looked up to see a wooden cage, much like the one she was trapped in only days ago, erratically swinging side-to-side and hitting the tree. The creature inside was obviously distressed and it sounded like it had trouble flying.
"Okay, how am I going to get that cage down here? I can't let it drop. The bird in there might get hurt."
A loud chitter sounded from above. Crafty smiled as she knew that chitter anywhere.
"Wild!" Crafty shouted to the feral Smurf in the tree above. "Can you see if you can open up the cage?"
Wild saluted and jumped down onto the top of the cage, which seemed to startle the bird since the fluttering increased along with the chirping. Wild gently chittered and cooed to the bird to calm him or her down. It seemed to work and Wild searched for a way to open up the cage. The bird chirped, as if talking to Wild, and he went to the bottom of the cage where there was a sort of latch. He pulled it out of its place, but in doing so, the whole bottom of the cage fell and so did the bird.
The bird hurriedly flapped one of its wings, trying to get airborne. Crafty thought that its other wing must be broken. She flung herself under the bird and caught it before it hit the ground.
Crafty sighed in relief as the bird gasped for air and Wild scurried down from the tree. Crafty set the bird down gently to get a better look at it. It had bright green feathers with red feathers covering the top part of its chest and white covering the bottom. One of its wings were spread out and the other was tucked in, so it definitely was injured.
It looked up at the both of them fearfully with its brown eyes darting back and forth between the two. Crafty carefully picked up the bird and steadied it.
"Wild? Can you grab the wool? We need to get this hummingbird back to the village."
Wild nodded and snatched the wool into his teeth. Crafty nodded back and started running back towards the village but was sure not to bounce the hummingbird too much. Wild ran on all fours after her.
"Golly, Papa Smurf. It's been a while since Crafty left," Clumsy stated. The other Smurfs stuck around, waiting for Crafty to return with the wool.
"I know, Clumsy," Papa ran a hand down his beard in worry. "Perhaps we should send some Smurfs the smurf her-"
"Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf!"
The other Smurfs jumped at the sound of Crafty's voice being so panicky. A chittering mimicking her voice indicated that Wild was with her. Crafty ran into the clearing with the hummingbird in her arms and Wild running with the bag of wool in his arms.
"Great Smurfs! What happened?" Papa gasped at the injured bird in her arms.
"I found this hummingbird trapped in one of Gargamel's traps! I think it has a broken wing!"
"I hate Gargamel's traps!" Grouchy complained. "And broken wings!"
Nat and the Smurflings approached the bird with a warm smile.
"Hello," Nat greeted. "I'm Nat. What's your name?"
The hummingbird chirped nervously.
"He says his name is Hummer," The bird chirped again in a more calm manner. "He also says thanks for getting him out of that cage, Crafty and Wild."
"You're welcome, Hummer," Crafty smiled. Wild bowed and chirped back a "you're welcome" as well.
"Well, I'm sure Hummer would appreciate it if we smurf him over to Doctor to get that wing of his fixed, wouldn't you?" Papa asked kindly.
Hummer nodded solemnly and let Crafty carry him over to Doctor's mushroom with the other Smurfs following.
Wild went over and handed the bag of wool over to Wooly and chittered a goodbye before running off to catch up with the others.
Wooly frowned as he felt the wool to be wet. He then shouted, "Wild, you no-good Smurf! You had my wool in your mouth, didn't you?"
Wooly grunted in anger and dragged his wool back to his mushroom, grumbling to himself along the way.
"So, Doctor. How long will it be before Hummer is able to fly again?" Papa asked as Doctor finished wrapping the gauze around Hummer's wing.
"Well, it wasn't that bad of a break. So, I'd say about a week or two."
Hummer hung his head in dismay. Crafty comfortably patted his back.
"It's alright, Hummer. I promise we'll help you any way we can. Right, Smurfs?"
There were nods and a series of "of course" and "yup." Crafty smiled at him and looked back at Doctor.
"So, what should we do?"
"For one thing, I would start by building him a nest. A bed for Smurfs isn't going to do it."
"I'll get Handy. I'll need his help with this one," Crafty ran out of the mushroom to look for Handy.
"Grouchy, Wild, Smurflings. Why don't you go help Crafty and Handy? I'm sure you'll do an excellent job in making our guest feel more smurfily at home," Papa suggested.
"Of course we'll help!" Nat exclaimed. He turned to Hummer and excitedly said, "Don't worry, Hummer. We'll smurf you the best nest ever!"
Hummer tilted his head, but nodded. He had no idea what kind of things they meant when they said "smurf" for those things.
"I hate smurfing the best nest ever!" Grouchy complained. Then he muttered, "But I'll help, anyway."
Wild chattered and chirped as he ran out of the house to chase after Crafty. The Smurflings and Grouchy followed hastily behind him.
"Clumsy? Could you and Hefty take Hummer to Smurfette's house. I'm sure he'd love some food right about now. Who knows how long he was smurfed in that cage," Papa asked. Hummer nodded his head rapidly, obviously excited at the thought of eating something.
"Uh, but won't Hummer eat all the flowers?" Clumsy asked. He knew Smurfette wouldn't like it one bit if all her flowers were eaten.
"No, no, Clumsy," Papa chuckled. "Hummingbirds feed on the nectar from the flowers. It's actually quite smurfy for the hummingbirds and the flowers to grow better."
"Like bees and butterflies, Papa?"
"Exactly. Now, get going you two. I'm sure Hummer's famished."
Hefty scooped up Hummer and went with Clumsy to Smurfette's house.
"The nest should have plenty of soft grass in it!" Nat said settling in blades of grass to the resting nook of the deluxe nest complex for Hummer.
The nest complex was coming along nicely. It was set up a bit high so Hummer could have a nice view. A ring was set up next to the resting nook so a bowl of water could be easy for him to access. A large, leafy umbrella was attached to the side so he can have some shade if he wanted to sleep, but there was a part of the nest where he can get some sunshine as well.
Since Crafty had found Hummer first, she took it upon herself to mainly care for him. So, she had it so the nest was built near her mushroom.
"Crafty? Why did you put steps like these on the nest?" Sassette asked pointing to the round, wooden steps that led up to the resting area.
"So that if Hummer ever needs to get down, he can just use the steps to get down without straining his wings."
"Hmm," Handy thought aloud. "I never thought about that. That's a smurfy idea, Crafty!"
"Aw, anysmurf could've thought of that, but thanks," Crafty bashfully said stepping up the ladder, placing the wooden water bowl onto the ring.
"Snappy, Slouchy, Grouchy? Could you three smurf some water from the well so we can fill this up?"
"I hate smurfing water from the well!" Grouchy started trudging toward the village well with an empty bucket in hand.
"Smurfaroo! Sure we can, Crafty!" Snappy started running for the well. Slouchy stayed in place until Snappy ran back and grabbed his arm and dragged him to the well.
"Alright," Crafty thought examining their work. "I think it's just about ready. But I think we need an expert's opinion. Wild? What do you think?"
Wild narrowed his eyes and observed the nest intently, something that the Smurfs saw him rarely do. He climbed up onto the resting nook and settled himself in it. He 'hmm'ed as he looked around and moved around.
Finally, he pounded his chest and purred in delight.
"Great! Then it looks like we're finished!" Handy dusted his hands onto his dark-blue overalls.
"We're back with the water!" Snappy called as he and Slouchy worked together to carry one bucket of water. Grouchy struggled with carrying two.
"Good. Could you smurf them up to me?" Crafty held out one hand while keeping the other on the leg of the ladder. Handy grabbed one from Grouchy and stepped up to hand it to her. Sassette and Nat went and held the ladder in place.
Crafty dropped one bucket-full into the bowl and went to grab the next one. Before she dumped this one, she asked, "Snappy? Could you and Slouchy have Hefty bring Hummer over here? I'm sure he wants to rest now."
Snappy grabbed Slouchy and ran off to find the strong Smurf and the injured hummingbird.
Wild hopped off of the nest, but not before politely dusting it off and fixing it up for Hummer.
Just moments later, the two Smurflings ran to them with Hefty carrying Hummer, Clumsy, and Smurfette trailing behind. Hummer's eyes widened at the nest that was built for him to live in.
"Gosh. You guys did a smurfy job! It's got everything!" Clumsy exclaimed starry-eyed.
"If it weren't for my mushroom, I'd probably want to live in that thing!" Hefty nodded impressed by the hard work of Crafty and his best friend.
"It's beautiful! I'm sure Hummer will love it!" Smurfette cooed.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Crafty gestured for Hummer to test out the new nest.
Hummer carefully jumped from Hefty's arms and hopped onto the steps. He cautiously stepped on each step, observing everything with curiosity. He jumped into the resting nook and padded his feet on the nesting. He fluttered his good wing and ruffled his feathers while letting out a loud chirp.
"Hummer likes it! He likes it!" Nat jumped up and down in excitement. The others cheered but then stopped instantly when Hummer scrunched his head inwards and closed his eyes.
"I think he wants to sleep," Handy whispered. "We should leave him to rest."
The others nodded in agreement and quietly walked away to let their newest guest recuperate.