Hi, hi everyone! Another awesome update from yours truly! Now, just a tiny spoiler alert: This chapter mainly focuses on Crafty, Baby and Hummer. Big things happen in this chapter, so be sure to read it well!
Papa: Yes, it will be one worth smurfing for, isn't it my little Smurfs?
All: Yes, Papa!
Grouchy: I hate smurfing for updates!
Of course you do, Grouchy. Who doesn't?...Huh. I guess that's one thing we can all agree we hate.
All: You can smurf that again.
Disclaimer time!
Grouchy: We belong to Peyo...But I hate it very, very much!
Hummer: Chirp. Chirp chirp chirp squeak.
Nat: Hummer says that he and Crafty belong to frostforge44.
Papa: Enjoy the new chapter, everysmurf!
Four days had passed since the recollection potion had made her immobilized. The Smurfs that had taken their shifts had tried to do things to make her more comfortable even if she didn't know it.
Tracker had sniffed out some truffles so Greedy could start in making a special dish for when she woke up. Smurfette and Vanity decorated her home, giving it a little bit more of a delicate, feminine touch. Handy and Hefty had gotten started on building some of the inventions she had on the various blueprints she had in her workshop.
Baby had spent most of his time sitting on Crafty's stomach and playing with her braid. He would sometimes get frustrated when she wouldn't look at him and would even cry. The Smurf present would have a hard time getting him to calm down, but he usually got over it when he went to squeeze her nose. All of the other Smurfs knew that was another thing he liked to do to Crafty.
The Smurflings, Smurfette and Wild had taken it upon themselves to be Hummer's caretakers. Each and every day, Wild would bring more and more leaves and such to make him feel more at home. Nat and Sassette helped groom his feathers since he couldn't with his broken wing. Snappy and Slouchy brought him fresh water every morning and Smurfette was sure to bring Hummer many flowers for him to eat out of.
Yes, it was much easier than expected to care for Hummer, Crafty, and Baby. Everything was going quite smoothly.
Until two days later. On the seventh day and it was only hours away until Crafty would wake from her slumber…
"This is so stupid…" Grouchy grumbled. It wasn't even half way through his shift and he just wanted to leave. It was completely boring just sitting there doing nothing!
Grouchy suddenly brightened as an idea started forming in his mind.
"Papa said I couldn't leave them alone. He never said I couldn't take them outside."
Grouchy put on the backpack and placed Baby on his back and lifted Crafty into his arms and grunted as he made his way out of the mushroom. He looked around to see if there was anysmurf watching.
The only ones that could possibly catch him were the Smurflings and Wild since they were watching over Hummer. He, however, saw them napping in Hummer's nest, so he was safe to leave. He sighed in relief and then went to take the two Smurfs just outside the village.
"Ah, this is nice," Grouchy sighed sitting against a tree next to Crafty as he held Baby on his lap. The day was beautiful and there was no sign of anything bad happening.
Grouchy noticed by the position of the sun that his shift was almost over. He needed to get Crafty and Baby back before anyone noticed. He lifted Crafty and Baby up and went to bring them back to her mushroom.
However, a hidden trip wire hid itself from Grouchy. When he stepped on it, a wooden cage, much like what captured Hummer, crashed down around them and shot them up in the air.
Grouchy groaned and rubbed his head. He looked around and saw their current situation.
Great. I'm trapped in a tree with nosmurf that can help me. The others will know I smurfed Crafty and Baby out of the mushroom. They'll know I got us trapped up here, and if they don't get us down before Gargamel finds us, we'll be as good as smurfed.
"I hate this so much!" Grouchy growled crossing his arms.
Gutsy strolled by Crafty's mushroom to relieve Grouchy of his shift early and knocked on the door and waited. He raised an eyebrow when there was no answer and knocked more loudly on the door. He frowned when there was, again, no answer. He growled in impatience and just let himself in.
"Grouchy?" Gutsy called. He looked around and listened, but heard no life of any kind in the mushroom at all.
"Grouchy? Baby? Lassie?" He called out entering the bedroom. His eyes widened as he saw the room to be empty. Not even Baby was in his crib nor Crafty sleeping peacefully in her bed.
Gutsy ran out of the mushroom and looked all around for the three missing Smurfs. He saw that after minutes of running through the village that they were nowhere to be seen. So, he went to the forest.
"Grouchy! When I smurf my hands on ye-"
"You'll what? Anything's better than being smurfed up here!"
Gutsy jumped as he heard Grouchy's voice but saw no Grouchy Smurf. He looked all around him but didn't see Grouchy or anysmurf for that matter.
"I said up here!"
Gutsy looked straight up to see a wooden cage. He also saw a blue arm waving frantically from out of it. He stepped backwards to get a better view and it was indeed Grouchy Smurf.
"Grouchy!" Gutsy snickered. "How'd ye smurf yerself all de way up there?"
"Uh…I wanted Baby and Crafty to get some fresh air and got caught up in our fun…?" Grouchy nervously answered trying to make it sound innocent.
Gutsy frowned, "Wait! Ye mean they're up dere wit' you? What were ye smurfin', ye numptie!"
"I know, I know. I'm stupid, it was wrong, I know! Just get us down from here!"
Gutsy sighed pinching the bridge of his nose, "Fine. I'll be back wit' some help. Don' smurf anywhere, now!"
"Like we have a choice!" Grouchy grumbled.
Gutsy went to find Wild and the Smurflings near Hummer's nest. Wild was the only one who could go up a tree that high. If he could get Hummer out of that cage once, he can do it again.
"Psst! Smurfs!" Gutsy whispered loudly to get their attention.
The six of them turned their heads and smiled.
Wild chittered in greeting and Nat asked, "Hiya, Gutsy! Aren't you supposed to be watching Crafty?"
"No time fer dat, lad! We need to go, now!" Gutsy ordered. The Smurflings and Wild looked at each other as Hummer jumped onto Wild's shoulders. They only shrugged and followed Gutsy as he led the six of them to where the cage was hanging.
"Hey! What took you so long? I hate being up this high!" Grouchy complained as they all looked up at the dangling cage.
"C'mon, lads! Let's get'em!" Gutsy started running for the tree the cage was hanging onto.
"Gutsy! Wait!" Nat shouted grabbing Gutsy's hand to stop him. Gutsy stopped and gestured with his hands, "What?"
Nat pointed up to the branch where the cage was being held. It was extraordinarily thin and it looked close to breaking. They wouldn't be able to save them if that branch broke.
"Crackling Cave Bats! What do we do?" Sassette called out worriedly.
Hummer thought for a moment before his face brightened up. He chirped enthusiastically to Nat and he gasped in fear.
"Hummer says he wants to try to get them out! But why?"
Hummer chirped more determinedly and pointed up to the thin branch.
"That is true…" Nat thought out loud.
"What? What is it, Nat?" Snappy asked.
"Hummer said he's the only one light enough to let those three out without breaking the branch. Maybe he should do it."
Gutsy thought for a moment about this. Their only problem was once the cage was opened from the bottom like the last time. But it was inevitable. Hummer going up there was their only hope of getting the three of them down safely.
Gutsy's shoulders slumped as he sighed in defeat, "Alright. Let's give et a try."
Hummer chirped and Wild chittered back to him and began to climb the tree.
"Be careful, guys!" Sassette called up.
When Wild and Hummer reached the top of the tree, he jumped off of Wild's shoulders and slowly slid onto the thin branch. It shook slightly and all the Smurfs held their breath. The branch shook only a little but didn't break any more. Hummer slid the rest of the way to the cage, climbed down it slowly to the bottom where he remembered Wild to have freed him the last time.
Hummer looked down below to see the others getting ready to catch the trapped Smurfs. His foot hooked onto the latch and pulled at it, releasing the floor to the cage.
Grouchy yelped as he, Crafty, and Baby Smurf fell out of the cage and were free-falling to the ground.
In an act of instinct, Hummer dove down the creatures in need and latched onto the arms of Grouchy, who was holding both Crafty and Baby to keep them together. He opened up his wings and began to flap at a blinding pace. The gauze on his broken wing tore off and fell to the forest floor.
In an instant, Grouchy started to notice, their fall was slowing down greatly. It wasn't stopping, but it was definitely slowing down. Finally, with all of Hummer's might, the three Smurfs hovered just above the Smurfs who were to catch them. All of them stared up with amazement at Hummer's strength, and not to mention that his wing was perfectly healed.
Hummer squeaked as he let go of the Smurfs for the ones below to catch. Gutsy caught Crafty into his arms, Snappy and Slouchy caught Baby with both arms, and Grouchy…well, nosmurf caught him.
"Gee, thanks guys. Nice to see that I have such good, smurfy friends!" Grouchy grumbled spitting out dirt and dusting himself off.
"Eh, no problem, Grouchy. But ye did deserve et."
"How did I deserve that?" Grouchy yelled throwing his arms in the air.
"Ye brought dem out 'ere in de first place. Ye deserved to eat dirt," Gutsy laughed along with the Smurflings and Hummer.
Suddenly, Gutsy felt Crafty stirring in his arms. He looked down to see here tossing her head side to side and silently groaning.
Crafty felt herself being held in strong arms when she felt her consciousness coming back to her. Her eyes parted slightly, but shut as there was too much light. She tried again, doing it a little more slowly, and let her eyes adjust to the light.
The light dimmed down and she saw the grinning, familiar face of Gutsy Smurf. She looked around her and saw the Smurflings, Baby, Wild, Hummer, and a mysteriously dirty Grouchy. What confused her was the last time she knew, she was in her bed. Looking around, she saw she was in the forest.
"Guys," She said with a weak voice. "What are we doing out here?"
"It's a long story, Crafty," Slouchy replied.
"Wait! You're awake! What do ya remember? Huh? Huh?" Snappy bounced up and down, itching to hear something interesting.
"Maybe we should go back to the village first, Snappy," Crafty replied laughing quietly. She frowned and blushed furiously at the position she and Gutsy were in. Her head was nestled into his neck as he held her with both of his arms, almost in a protective manner. "Uh, Gutsy?"
Gutsy raised an eyebrow in reply. His eyes widened at what she meant and blushed as he set her to her feet. She stumbled and her knees knocked before she could try to balance herself.
"Whoa dere, lass!" Gutsy laughed as he grabbed her around her waist. "Alright, boys. Let's smurf back to de village den."
Hummer chirped and showed off as he hovered around with his newly healed wings. They all laughed as he did flips, twists and, turns. Crafty had to wrap an arm around Gutsy's shoulders to support her as the two of them led the small group of Smurfs back to the village.
"Oh, thank smurfness you all are alright!" Papa exclaimed as he and a group of Smurfs surrounded the returning Smurfs. "What happened?"
They turned to Grouchy who had his eyes cast downward and the others understood immediately.
"Grouchy Smurf! What were you smurfing?" Papa scolded.
"Wait!" Crafty suddenly shouted causing everysmurf to look at her. "Has anysmurf noticed that Baby isn't bawling his eyes out?"
They looked down in Slouchy and Snappy's arms to see Baby looking at all of them happily, but not sad in the least. They put him on the ground and Baby hastily crawled in Papa's direction. Papa picked him up and held him close, making Baby squeal in happiness as he tugged on his beard, which made Papa wince.
"Hehe. I guess Baby is ready to let go, now, Crafty," Papa chuckled as he playfully threw Baby into the air. His face turned serious only a second later as he asked, "Crafty. Have your memories smurfed back to you?"
Everysmurf turned and looked at her expectantly, patiently (or in Snappy and the Smurfling's case, very impatiently) awaiting her reply. Crafty's face fell as she said four mournful, shocking words.
"No. Nothing at all."
Everyone's shoulders slumped and even some Smurfs cried out "What?" in pure shock.
"Hmm," Papa said deep in thought. "That was my most powerful recollection potion. Something is not quite right."
"What do you mean, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.
"I mean that what happened to Crafty was no ordinary accident. I have a feeling there is some sort of magic behind all of this and very powerful magic at that. I will need to study this more thoroughly."
"Oh, Hummer! Your wing! It's healed!" Smurfette gasped in happiness. Hummer smiled and back-flipped in the air as he showed off his newly healed wing. The Smurfs cheered as Hummer did tricks for them as they applauded on and on.
"Pappy? Does this mean that Hummer has to leave, now?" Sassette asked extremely hoping the answer would be no. Hummer's face fell and he landed next to Gutsy and Crafty.
"Well, if Hummer wishes to leave or to stay here, I will leave the decision up to him. Well, Hummer? Would you like to smurf our village?"
Hummer chirped loudly and flapped both of his wings rapidly.
"Yes! He said yes!" Nat jumped up and down as he and the other Smurflings clung to Hummer in pure joy. Other Smurfs rejoiced in happiness as they all gathered into a group hug.
Crafty's eyes widened in realization, "Papa! Wait! There is one thing I do remember!"
The silence swept over the crowd extremely fast at the sound of her voice saying those words.
"What? What is it, Crafty?" Papa asked.
Crafty looked over at all of the Smurfs and hesitated, then asked, "Can we smurf about this in private?"
"Of course, Crafty," Papa answered nodding his head in understanding. The other Smurfs groaned in disappointment but Papa remarked, "Now, my little Smurfs. Crafty will smurf it all to you when she is good and ready."
Papa gestured for Crafty, Hummer, and Gutsy to follow him back to his mushroom to move this conversation to a more private environment. They all had a feeling that by her voice, this memory of Crafty's wasn't going to be a pleasant one.