I. Hate. WRITER'S BLOCK! I know or at least think that you've all been concerned about my lack of updates but with school starting and all, I haven't really had time to get on the computer. Not to mention that the writer's block came even before school started. I have only one more piece of bad news: The six missing Smurfs won't be appearing in this chapter. There will be plenty of them in the next chapter, but not this one. (breathes than puts on a happy face)
Hello! Here's another chapter for Absence Makes the Heart Grow Smurfier! But first, we must do the reviews!
Benny- First of all, thank you for the new OC that will appear in the next story: Noctuma the Snowy Owl! In fact, I've decided to have him be one of the first new characters to appear in the story! With you having the credit, of course. Yes. More than half of the reviews gave out fan-girl shrieks at the fact that Gutsy's planning to propose to our favorite Smurfette. One thing I have to correct you by, though, Benevolent didn't technically reveal himself to her. He only said he was the Arch-Angel Smurf. There's a big difference between showing and telling. Remember that.
Oh, and by the smurf, Crafty already knows Benevolent is an angel. Try to see if you can figure out that while I continue on.
FrittzyCrazy- Tiger! Good choice! Actually, the second I posted the sixth chapter, I got right to work on the next one. And, as you can see how long it took me to post this chapter up, I'm not always going to post up that quick. Don't count on it happening a whole lot. I figured I could get it ready until someone sent in the right answer, which Benny did. So I posted it up. And, to be perfectly honest, I got the idea of Gutsy proposing to Crafty a few weeks ago and wrote it down in Microsoft Word and saved it. So I already had a head start on it.
flowerpower71- Whoa, woman! Lay off the chocolate for a little bit, why don'tcha? You're way too excited about it. Besides, save the enthusiasm for when he actually proposes to her. And believe me, Hefty didn't say what you think he said. Kind of like on Elf when Buddy said 'Son of a nutcracker!' instead of...well, you know. Though I have to admit he could've kept his temper in better check. And like I said before, I can't spoil all the scenes in the movie for people who haven't seen it yet. But I also had to make it make sense to other people, so I came up with those.
Sapphire777- Um...First of all, I think you need to post that review again. I think it got cut off and I seriously have no idea what happened but let me guess. (thinks for a second) Gutsy and Sweepy fought and somehow, Cupid's Double Love Arrow got released and hit them both. Now they're in love with you and don't know what to do?
If that's the case and Cupid really did that (though you'd think it wouldn't be a good idea), Then the only advice for me to give you is to grin and bear it until we can come up with a solution for this. In the meantime, if you want, you can borrow the Boys-Be-Gone spray given to Crafty by YingYangofthePeaceCircle in the last story. I'm sure she won't mind lending it to you for a while.
Zinka17- Aw. Thank you! I'm flattered! Yeah, imagine this being made into a movie. I bet it would get a bunch more hits. Not that the original movie wasn't good, I just think that I would spice things up a bit. Snow leopard eh? Nice.
billy bob- I know. It's so tragic. Don't worry, though. They'll be back together soon enough.
pat- Thanks. I'll try to keep up the good work.
Spring-Heel-Jaq- I am so so sorry about that. I kinda had the reviews organized by the ones who reviewed in chapter seven and I forgot to look for others. I'm sorry again and I promise it won't happen again. Anywho, thanks for pointing out your favorite parts of the story. That really made my day. And, (blushes embarrassingly) yeah. I did do that by accident. For using OCs of yours, I'll consider it. To answer your question, Toddlette belongs to me.
Lady of Luck- First of all, I love how you caught onto that when nobody else did. I can't answer those questions now, but it will become very very clear to everyone in the next story. Glad you did catch onto it, though. It actually surprises me a lot that there were small, crucial details that nobody caught onto, like how the letter said that her home was no longer fit to raise Toddlette. Or the fact that Balthazar and Hogatha are missing along with Gargamel even though he is in New York with the other Smurfs.
Selene rose- I guess Grace could be a redhead but I wasn't sure, so I just went with what it looked like to me. Either way, for anybody that's seen the movie, they know what she looks like. I do have good news for Scaredy though. All of the things he went through so far are the worst he's going to experience so everything else won't be as bad. For this story, at least. The next story though, oh boy, but to make it fair it's going to be bad for everysmurf. And I mean every body. I including the humans. You'll see what I mean when you read it.
Oh. And one more thing. I see that on my poll, there is a close tie between hearing the life story of Ipati the Indian Cobra and Benevolent Smurf A.K.A Arch-Angel Smurf. So, I have developed a tie-breaker for those who wish to participate. I am thinking of two numbers between 1 and 20. For anybody who wants to, put only one number in your review or PM message. As you can probably tell, one number will be Ipati's and the other will be Benevolent's. It doesn't matter which one you guess, the one closest to that character's number that you put will be a vote for that character and remember, if the character you wanted to win doesn't, I will be doing one of all. It's all based on popularity. The character with the most points wins. Disclaimer time!
Crafty, Toddlette, Hummer, the Creatugos, Benevolent, Meena and Fencette. Livy belongs to flowerpower71 and Jo belongs to CartoonCaster21. The Smurfs belong Peyo and we're all ready to start the story again!
The sun rose over Central Park so slowly it felt like an eternity before the entire land of Manhattan was to be lit up with sunlight and life.
In a circle of bushes near the center of the park, the group of newly arrived and wet Smurfs and animals were sleeping after their crazy situation that occurred last night. All of them were a complete wreck.
Wooly's wooly hat was hanging on a bush branch as it dried, though the stench it gave off wasn't entirely pleasant. Sweepy's clothes were a dark gray from all the water that washed the ash off. The Smurflings were curled up under Puppy, who was lucky enough to catch onto the rock at the end of the portal and stayed dry.
Monty's right wing had many damaged feathers which could be easily fixed. Xavier's brown fur was extremely damp no matter how hard he shook it off. The one who surprisingly was completely unfazed by everything was Toddlette. She slept through everything and she actually was still asleep in Scaredy's arms. Vanity, well, he was still out cold, thank smurfness for Crafty's nerves.
Above all, they were tired, wet, and still worried about the missing Smurfs.
When light from the sunrise hit Crafty's eyes, she blinked them open and blocked the light with her hand. She yawned as she stretched her body and stood up. She ran a hand down her braid, which now was a wreck. She could feel wet tangles and stringy split ends on the tips of her fingers. Because of the darkness from last night, she never got a good look around the new realm they were in.
She climbed to the top of a bush and poked her head through the leaves of the bushes. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the buildings in front of her.
"Whoa," She whispered. "No palaces like this back at home."
"Whh-WAAAAAH!" Toddlette began to cry and thrash in Scaredy's arms, making his eyes snap open and yelp out of complete surprise. Some of the others jumped to their feet and were ready to go. Others weren't so enthusiastic to be woken up so early in the morning.
"Ugh. Shut that kid up!" Xavier groaned as he put his paws over his ears.
"Xavier!" Crafty scolded from her place in the top branches of the bush as Scaredy tried to rock the baby in his arms to calm her down.
"I'm not a morning badger! Stop yelling at me!"
"C-come on, Toddlette," Scaredy tried to coax to the wailing infant. "P-please stop cr-crying."
"Come on now, Scaredy! Ye ain't gonna make a baby stop cryin' like that!" Wooly shook his head taking Toddlette from the timid Smurf's grip. "She's probably hungry."
"EW! No she's not!" The Smurflings gagged in disgust as they held their breath. Snappy continued while pinching his nose, "I think Toddlette needs a diddey change."
"Not it!" Crafty called from above.
"Not it!" The Smurflings raised their hands in unison.
"Not it!" Sweepy and Scaredy parroted.
"Oh, for Smurf's sake, I'll do it!" Grandpa sad grabbing Toddlette from Wooly. "Now I just need a diddey."
"Alright," Xavier paused before asking. "So...Where do we get a diddey?"
"Maybe there's something in here we can use for a diddey," Sasssette's voice became muffled as she dug through the large sack given to them by Benevolent.
"Sassette," Crafty said. "I doubt that he's good enough to predict we'd need-"
"Diddeys!" The Smurfling called out, crawling out from the bag with a pile of fresh clean diddeys.
"Wow. He's good," Xavier commented taking his paws off of his ears. He looked up at Crafty in the bushes, "Still think he can't be trusted?"
"Let me think about that," Crafty pretended to think for a moment. She frowned and said, "Nope. Still can't be trusted."
"Who's good? Who can't be trusted? Who're you guys smurfin' about anyway?" Sweepy asked, feeling just as confused as the other Smurfs.
Snappy just waved his hand dismissively, "Aw, just a Smurf we met in the woods. He's a friend of Crafty's."
"He's not my friend! At least right now he's not," Crafty grumbled as she went back to looking around her.
Wild tilted his head confused, then scurried up the branches like he did all the time at home. He got to the top and looked up at whatever it was that Crafty was looking at. His eyes grew dramatically and he looked around, almost fearfully seeing that there were things that taller than trees. Much much taller.
"What are you two looking at, anyway?" Wooly asked as he climbed up the branches of the bushes. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he got a good look at what they were so preoccupied with. He whistled, "Uh. I'm gonna guess that this's gonna make lookin' for the others a bit more difficult, ain't it?"
If only Monty could fly. Then we could see over those tall palaces and castles easier, Crafty thought as she put a hand under her chin.
"Smurfaroo! Look at what I found in the bag!" Snappy's voice was muffled since his whole upper body was inside the bag.
The Smurfs below gathered around and the three looked down from their place in the bush. Snappy crawled out with two items in both of his hands.
"This is un-smurfing-believable," Crafty shook her head as she slid down the branch to see if what she was seeing was real.
In Snappy's left hand was the newest Don Smurfo and Fencette book. In the other hand was a pinkish potion filled bottle.
"This is starting to get creepy, now," Slouchy mumbled with his eyes wide as he looked at the mysterious items in his brother's hands.
Puppy yawned and stretched, shaking himself as he stood finally awake and ready to explore. His nostrils flared, however, when he picked up a familiar scent. He took in the scent before growling. He gave out a loud bark before taking off into the direction of the center of the park.
"Puppy! No! Bad dog!" Crafty yelled running after the beagle. Wooly and Sweepy took the liberty of going to assist Crafty with getting Puppy back.
"Well now. Let's get that diddey of yours changed, Toddlette," Grandpa smiled at the infant as she continued to bawl.
"Those disgusting, annoying, vile little blue cockroaches!" Gargamel muttered as he and Azrael trudged through Central Park with new Smurf essence extracted from the strands of Smurfette's hair. "Now, if I were a Smurf, where would I go? Where would I hide?"
Azrael shook his head and rolled his eyes before his ears perked up in recognition. It sounded very familiar to him, something he heard a lot at home. Puppy sudden leaped from the bushes as he continued to growl and bark while charging straight for the feline.
"RREEOW!" Azrael yowled as he took off in another direction away from the canine.
"Azrael! Now's not the time for this foolishness!" Gargamel yelled before shouting in surprise as Puppy crashed into his legs making him fall over and land flat on his back.
Azrael quickly scurried up a nearby tree and onto the closest branch he could get to. Puppy threw his front paws on the trunk of the tree and barked continuously, growling with fierce eyes at the feline up above.
"Puppy, come back here!" Crafty panted as she slowed to a stop at Puppy's wagging tail.
She grasped her knees to catch her breath, Wooly and Sweepy's chests heaving as they breathed heavily from exhaustion. After filling her lungs back up, Crafty went up to Puppy's collar and pulled on it gently at first, but when Puppy wouldn't respond to her, she began a more rough version of tug-a-war. Sweepy grabbed Crafty by her waist as did Wooly with his and started to help her with gaining control back over Puppy.
"Don't worry, chica! We're here ta help!" Wooly grunted as he dug his feet into the dirt.
Unlike the response they were hoping for from her, Crafty bitterly replied, "Oh. So now you choose to help me? Could've used that help when Hefty smurfed me into my mushroom like a pile of firewood!"
The two Smurfs cringed and couldn't help but feel shame, but immediately shook it off as they still continued their efforts of pulling Puppy back. It was usually the Smurflings, Papa, Grandpa or Hefty that had better control over Puppy, but seeing as none of them were there at the present time, the trio was all there was.
"Look. We're sorry. You're right. We should've fought for you, even when Hefty threw you in your mushroom," Sweepy apologized, hoping that she would let it go.
"Even when? You're kidding, right?" Crafty questioned angrily.
"Okay! Especially when Hefty threw you into your mushroom! Are you happy now!" Wooly shouted, starting to get sick of the Smurfette's stubborn attitude.
"No, I'm not happy!" Crafty hissed letting go of Puppy's collar and turned to them sharply, making to two fall onto their tails. She narrowed her eyes at them as she continued, "You wanna know why I'm not happy? I've been attacked by a cobra, one of my closest friends nearly died because of that cobra, my smurffriend and our family is missing, I've got a Smurf I left behind who's probably dead by now since he's taking on the same snake that tried to kill me, and to top it all off, I brought all of you to an unknown world we know nothing about bringing along with us four Smurflings and a baby! A baby, for Smurf's sake! I have no idea what I'm doing! I just...I just want our family back!"
Crafty's head made a loud bonk as she threw it at the tree, letting her words sink in for the two Smurfs. In an instant, she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her waist, though Crafty made no move to react to them.
"None of this is your fault, Crafts," Sweepy muttered setting his head on her left shoulder. "None of it at all."
"Yeah. And in case you didn' notice, we didn't have much of a choice. With tha' cobra and all," Wooly laughed weakly.
Crafty couldn't help but let her lips crack into a small smile. Truthfully, she wasn't angry at all about not helping her, she was only angry at herself for putting her and the other Smurfs in danger by dragging them here. Wherever here is, that is. That, and really: Who would be dumb enough to go up against an angry Hefty Smurf? The answer is Papa, Brainy or Gutsy, of course. Well, at least Brainy, anyway.
Noticing the distress from the three Smurfs next to him, Puppy ceased his senseless barking and took his paws from the tree and sat down. He panted happily and just waited for them to be done.
"I'm sorry," Crafty muttered loud enough for them to hear. "About yelling at you two. It's just been hard for me. For all of us, really."
"No doubt about that, Crafts," Sweepy smiled. "No doubt about that."
"But the important thing now is that we go out there and find our missin' Smurfs. That sound good?" Wooly asked.
Pulling her head from the tree and the Smurf's arms from her, she turned to them with a smile and nodded. She then wrapped both of her arms around the necks of the two Smurfs, who happily returned the warm embrace.
"Have I told you both how wonderful, smurfy friends you are?"
"Couldn't kill ya to say it more often," Wooly teased.
"Smurf up. I'll say it when I want to," Crafty playfully punched Wooly's chest, but accidentally did it a tad too hard.
"Hey!" The Texan Smurf protested as he fell right on his tail as he rubbed his chest in false hurt.
"And you. Come here you," Crafty smiled at Puppy and waved an arm for him to come closer. The beagle waggled his tail as he affectionately pressed his snout against the Smurfette. "You're a silly puppy. What were you chasing, anyway?"
Puppy yipped and looked up at the top branches. Crafty followed his look up the tree and to the branches before freezing.
"Azrael!" She squealed.
And sure enough, just as the other two Smurfs looked up at the tree, the orange tabby cat's ears perked and he looked down. He flattened his ears and hissed at them viciously.
"Let's get smurfing!" Crafty ordered climbing onto Puppy's back.
The other two Smurfs threw themselves onto his fur as Crafty nudged Puppy making him go now. With a loud bark, Puppy charged forward over to where the other Smurfs were. Azrael growled and threw himself to the ground and gave chase to them.
"For the love of Smurf! I hope the others are better off than we are right now!" Wooly hollered.