Beautiful with how many responses there was to the contest, but alas, nobody got the answer right. The right answer as to what Crafty's gift is...it is Life Giving. It's kind of like healing, so if anybody would've answered that, I would've accepted it. But since nobody won, I feel bad. So, I have another idea in mind but I don't know when I'll be putting up, but it'll be soon. So don't worry about it. But there's good news! Our three favorite teens are making their first appearance along with the new teen to the saga: Joannie McCrae! (or Jo) Oh, and sorry that this chapter is shorter than my usual ones, but I'm tired and I think this will suffice for now. Review time!
candyflossgirl- Thank you for your encouraging reviews and may I say that I've read quite a few of your stories and I just love them.
Smurf Lover- Yeah. Half of the reviews here aren't too pleased with Hefty's actions. He might be playing the big brother in this story, but he still could've been more rational with it. And yes, what you said with all the search party nonsense there does make sense. By the way, you guys have probably noticed that none of the Smurfs have talked on her, right? Well, it doesn't feel right to have them talk on here when they're so far apart.
Benny- Actually, you were wrong about the Smurfling being Crafty's "gift". I never said it wouldn't happen. But don't worry, you still get a chance to make your own Creatugo. I'll make sure everyone get's a chance. Anyway, I probably would've done the same thing. I mean, if it were my boyfriend out there and was lost, I wouldn't care how safe I was. I would need to know he was safe. Which is more than likely the reason Crafty is doing this.
flowerpower71- Haha. I know. Angel and Devil are one of the best Smurf additions I've added onto theis saga. Wouldn't you agree? Crafty and Miner both thought it was a good idea to have an emergency escape route, so they worked on that in their free time.
FrittzyCrazy- Thank you. Angel and Devil probably won't make many more appearances in this story, but I can't be sure. You'll know them when you see them.
Chloe- Yes, Chloe. For the first time and probably the last, Devil had an idea that wasn't completely impulsive and evil. Hefty was being sexist, I won't argue with that, but he was also being a very protective big brother. Plus, you all know Crafty's a..a velociraptor! She would've torn any other Smurf up if they tried to stop her. And to your father, nobody can control a Smurf. They do what they want. They're just like honey badgers: They do what they want and they don't care. Nice time with Painter, I see.
Cutie Kyuubi- You could've changed your answer if you wanted to. But seeing as I already posted the answer, now you can't. Sorry.
Sapphire777- Whoa. WHOA! Hold on there, missy! Calm down. I have a solution to one of your problems. First of all, Crafty's gonna have Gutsy's head when she learns about those thoughts of his from your review. Second of all, the way I see it, most of the Smurfs that do have crushes on you looks more like "puppy love" to me. It won't last. Also, Sweepy seems like he likes you, too. So just tell him you like him! He's a nice guy and he won't laugh at you or anything! Believe me when I say that the worst he could do is say no.
I own Crafty, Hummer, Xavier, Meena, Benevolent, and Ipati. The Smurfs belong to Peyo. Livy belongs to flowerpower71 and Jo belongs to CartoonCaster21. Enjoy, everbody!
"Go fish," Livy smirked as Peewit grumbled and grabbed another card from the deck.
"Got any fours, Jo?" Livy asked the raven-haired girl she sat next to.
Jo frowned and she groaned as she handed over two cards to Livy, "Dangit!"
Livy dropped the last of her cards onto the table as she grinned victoriously, "Alright! Who's up for five out of nine?"
"No thanks," The two teens chorused as they dropped their cards to the table. Johan chuckled as he took aim at the target, then released his arrow from the bow, landing a perfect bull's eye at the very center.
"Bravo, Livy. You're quite a card shark at this game."
"More like a card dolphin," Jo muttered to Peewit, who snickered along with her. Livy raised an eyebrow at the both of them.
"Okay, first of all, that doesn't make sense. Second, you do know dolphins are mammals. Not fish, don't you, Jo? We talked about this in school, you know."
"School...school..." Jo tapped a finger on her head as if she were trying to remember just what school was. Then she looked blankly at her best friend, "Yeah, I got nothing."
"Yeah, I thought you wouldn't," Livy sighed.
Flapping wings could be heard and before the three teens even looked up, Meena landed on the table instantly, making the cards fly everywhere at once from the force of her landing.
"Oh. Sorry," Meena apologized as she craned her neck and looked around.
"It's no biggie, Mimi," Jo shrugged as she walked away from the table, Peewit following close behind.
Livy looked at them and sighed, "Okay. No big deal. I'll pick them up."
"Is something the matter, Meena? You look awfully worried," Johan asked as the phoenix continued to look around the courtyard of the castle.
Meena replied, "Apparently, Gargamel found the Smurf's village and chased them all out. They're all alright, but a few are missing and haven't returned. They aren't here, are they?"
"No," Livy answered as she finished picking up the cards. "But we'll come and help look for them."
"Yeah," Jo yawned as she stretched her body. "It was gettin' boring around here, anyway."
"Oh, your help would be appreciated," Meena was about to take off, then stopped as she added, "And another thing. Beware in the forest. There's a dangerous cobra in there. If you see him, warn me or any of the other Smurfs."
"Cobra?" Livy froze at the very mention of a snake being in the forest, let alone a cobra.
"Cobra? Sweet!" Jo grinned. "I'm gonna catch it!"
"What's a cobra?" Peewit scratched his head confusedly.
"Yes. I've never heard of a cobra around these parts," Johan pondered.
"It's this cool-looking snake that lives in...uh...Indiana," Jo explained.
"INDIA!" Livy shouted.
"Yeah. What she said. I'm still gonna catch him, though," Jo shrugged.
"I'm sure the Smurfs would be...er...grateful to you if you did, Jo," Meena smiled as she opened up her wings and rocketed herself into the sky.
"Well," Johan declared. "We best be going. The Smurfs will need our help."
"Finally, something fun to do!" Peewit exclaimed as he followed Johan over to the stables.
"C'mon, girly," Jo started pushing a still-stunned Livy towards the stables as well. "We gotta go. I just hope those little blue dudes are doin' alright."
"WAAAH!" The six Smurfs screamed as they were thrown continuously through the dark blue tunnel, with the other end of the portal coming to an end quickly.
Clumsy yelped as he flew out first and landed on a moist rock. Before he got up he heard similar yelping and thuds from behind. Brainy had come after him, who was then the cushion for Grouchy and Gutsy. Papa and Smurfette came out last, though they had a better landing than the others did.
"Dat. Was. Great!" Gutsy cheered as he jumped to his feet. "Let's 'ave another go!"
"Are you smurfed?" Grouchy asked shocked. "We almost died in there!"
Gutsy only shrugged and joined the others in observing their new environment. This part of the Enchanted Forest was completely alien to them, even to Papa. Clumsy and Brainy decided to journey ahead and explore the new place.
"What part of the Enchanted Forest is this?" Brainy asked himself. He thought for a moment before concluding, "My calculations indicate that-"
He never got to finish as something warm, moist and sticky threw itself at his face.
"Ugh...That's slimy," He finished as he pulled the mysterious thing off of his face.
"I don't think we're in Smurf village anymore," Smurfette looked around.
Clumsy climbed onto a large rock to get a better view of their surroundings, only to be shown a very very different sight.
"Uh...Smurfs? You might wanna take a look at this," he said to the incoming Smurfs.
"What is it?" The Scottish Smurf asked as he continued to climb after his younger brother.
"Why are we listening to him? He just got us sucked through a giant hole!" Grouchy protested as he followed him with the others.
"Uh, it's not a hole, it's a vortex," Brainy pointed out.
Grouchy rolled his eyes, "And can't we just go around the rock?"
The six Smurfs froze as they came to the top of the rock. Everywhere they looked they saw tall buildings, some the size of castles and palaces back at home. New noises filled their ears, though more than half of them were completely unfamiliar to them.
"Oh. My. Smurf," Smurfette dragged out as they kept looking at the new sights. They definitely weren't in their forest anymore.
"Where the smurf are we?" Grouchy asked.
"Up the smurfin' creek withou' a paddle. Dat's where," Gutsy replied.
Brainy thought for a moment, then said, "Well...At least they're not coming after us."
Azrael screeched as he flew from the portal and shot over the water, finally landing in the pond a little bit ahead. The Smurfs scrambled off of the rock and started running away from the water before Gargamel joined Azrael.
"Oh no!"
"Not again!"
"Azrael!" Gargamel's voice sounded from the other side of the vortex. "Are you dead?"
"We'll circle back when it's safe!" Papa called to his Smurfs as they went to find a place to hide. Though in such a strange and unknown place to them, what place really is safe?
An hour and a half went by since escaping when Crafty exited from the secret hatch under Wild's tree.
"Finally! Fresh air!" She gasped as she came out of the passageway and fell on the grass in complete relief. After catching her breath, she got onto her feet and started to walk away. That was, until, she saw him.
Xavier was sprawled out at the edge of the village, barely moving at all. His breathing sounded ragged and forced as he did his best to stay awake.
Looking around to see if anysmurf was watching, Crafty warily made her way over to the wounded badger. She put her blue hand on his snout as she whispered, "Xavier."
His brown eye opened up weakly and he looked at the Smurfette while putting on a smile to mask his pain.
"Hey, kid. You finally escaped?"
Crafty smiled sadly and nodded, "Yeah. What about you? Are you doing okay?"
"I've been through worse...but I might not make it, this time," He grumbled as he let his body relax.
She winced as she nodded, "Yeah. I know."
There was silence between the two before Crafty continued, "Xavier?"
"Yeah?"
"I...I just want to say that if it weren't for you, I would've never made it this far. So thank you," She felt tears threatening to rush out as she hugged his furry neck. "I just wish I could smurf something to help you."
"Meh," Xavier snorted. "Don't feel bad. It's the life of a Creatugo. None of them live and die of old age. It's either assassination or dying in combat. At least if I'm going down, I'm going down doing the right thing."
The tears finally poured out as Crafty clung to Crafty ever more tightly.
"But that's what makes it unfair!" She sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Xavier! This is all my fault!"
Xavier began to breathe deeply but didn't give any reply.
"Xavier?" She looked up and saw that the badger seemed to be falling asleep. Though she had a feeling that it might be the last nap he ever took. She frowned and clamped her eyes shut as she buried her face into the crook of his neck.
It was then, very suddenly and with no other eyes watching that something special happened. Crafty's hands began to glow a bright blue aura and the essence seemed to leave her hands and travel to the other side of Xavier's neck where Ipati bit him. The two holes made by the cobra's fangs glowed also as the aura hung over it. Eventually, the two holes closed up and finally, the essence made its way over to the badgers face. More specifically, the essence phased into both of Xavier's eyes, then gave out one final flash before vanishing completely.
It was completely silent for what felt like several moments later, with Xavier still out cold and Crafty's head still buried into the creature's furry neck. Xavier finally opened his eyes, which were now, instead of a dark brown, a smurfy sky blue.
Xavier felt renewed strength and he felt no pain in his body anymore, so he tried to stand up on his own four paws. With all his might, he pushed himself up off the ground, making Crafty yelp as she held on tighter to Xavier's brown fur. He shook his head to clear the fog that clouded it, also making Crafty fall to the dirt with a grunt and a thud.
"Sorry, kid," Xavier sheepishly apologized.
"Xavier! You're alive!" Crafty cried as she jumped up and hugged his snout happily, tears still pouring out of her eyes, though these were tears of happiness, not sorrow.
The badger couldn't help but blush and feel embarrassed, but he also couldn't help but feel grateful that she cared so much. Hardly anyone has ever showed him so much kindness and generosity to him. He gave the Smurfette a small smile as he used his front paw to pat her on the back, "Good ta be alive, Crafty. Good ta be alive."