Hello, everybody! School is over and I am now a high school graduate, soon to be attending as a freshman college student this fall! Can't wait to start up on these stories again. Yeah. Wish me luck. A few more OCs to add to our roster before we start:

Vladimir will be voiced by Jeff Bennett (Kowalski from The Penguins of Madagascar)

Rose will be voiced by Sally Field (Sassy from Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey)

Era will be voiced by Paige O'Hara (Belle from Beauty and the Beast)

Okay, time for the reviews.

Benny- I know you changed your screen name, but I'm still gonna call you Benny if it's all the same to you. Anyway, don't worry about reviewing. Just so I know that everything is all right. You left out one important character in that list, by the way. Bronzo. And indeed you are right. Aurora was indeed healed by Crafty.

Just as an announcement for the contest, I will not comment on your guesses UNLESS it is to tell you your three tries are up. I like how you're thinking of how the marriage affects Life Givers instead of only complaining that it's unfair. Don't get me wrong, it's a dumb law, but it's still a law. Instead of telling you how it affects them, I'll let Era do the explaining later in the story.

Oops! Spoiler alert! Well, some of you who check out my deviantART account know that I will be introducing my first permanent human OC into the story in a few chapters!

But what I will tell you is that you're right: Sailor Smurf, while he is about three and a half billion years old, is a complete, deceptive jerk. You will soon find out how.

As a matter of fact, Favian and King are the only Creatugos that Sailor has any respect for.

Spannerrette- I know, I know. You're not the first to complain and you won't be the last. Don't feel sad for them now, feel devastated for them after this chapter. Hmm, a counterpart for Handy? (checks OC list) Well, he does make a new friend in this story, but no romantic one. He's all yours. As to the comment from Vanity, well, welcome to my nightmare.

SmallSunshine- Get used to flashbacks, cuz you're about to see a lot of them and I mean a lot. I'm just going to say this about Sailor and his laws: He made each and every law from experience and for a reason. Some of the reasons are pretty dumb reasons, but reasons nonetheless.

Chloe- I'm afraid I can do nothing about the law. It's Sailor's and he's about a good three billion years older than I am. But good luck with your problem.

flowerpower71- Not only can't a Life Giver befriend a Creatugo, but they cannot speak to them or even make eye contact with them.

perdylexie101- Nice name, by the way. I am really looking forward to your future reviews here.

Candy Girl- If we know Crafty and Gutsy for real, that would be sure to happen.

Flaming Eagle- I love your strategy, unfortunately, I don't think I quite explained that part as well as I should. The animal that Crafty will be is voiced by the actress or actor that has voiced an animal in another movie. The character doesn't need to be an animal in this story, it just needed to be voiced. Like I said though, you are on the right track. Well, let's not keep the public waiting.

I own only Crafty, Hummer, Sailor, Benevolent, the Smurfettes, Creatugos, and Drakonai. Livy and Nanu are owned by flowerpower71, Misty is owned by Sapphire777, Jo belongs to CartoonCaster21, and Noctuma belongs to Benny. Bye!

Greedy whistled a merry, smurfish tune as he carried a platter of Smurfberry tarts on a large picnic table. Looking around, Greedy found no spying eyes and relaxed instantly. He slowly and carefully reached a hand over to snatch a quick little treat.

A wooden spoon slammed down on his wandering blue hand with a loud "Thwack!" Greedy yelped in pain and shot his hand back, using his uninjured hand to rub the ouch away. He looked where the spoon had come from, only to come face to face with Baker Smurf. He was now cross-armed and narrow-eyed, glaring at the always hungry Smurf with only slight annoyance. It really wasn't a surprise for Greedy to do such a thing, anyway.

"Lunch first, dessert later, Greedy," Baker bluntly, yet sharply, spoke.

Greedy nodded his head furiously, shrinking back a bit as he made a run back to the kitchen. There was no need for Baker to worry, though, since Chef was in charge of keeping an eye on the food while Greedy was alone with it in the kitchen. Still, it didn't take much to tell Greedy when not to have food…if you're convincing enough.

Baker, nodding in satisfaction, set the wooden utensil on the table and turned to grab another platter, this one covered in Smurfberry muffins that was set on the grass. He hummed lightly as he set the platter down on the wooden table. His humming instantly stopped when his blue eyes roamed onto the neighboring platter. Nearly half of the Smurfberry tarts on the platter had vanished, only little crumbs left in their place.

"GREEDY!" Baker exploded, stomping off after the smurf with the insatiable appetite.

At the sound of the shout, Noctuma, who happened to be preening his feathers, lifted his head and stared after the angry blue creature. His yellowish-green eyes roamed onto the emptied platter, now gaining a little bit more comprehension of the situation. Crunching noises was caught with his sharp hearing and he turned his head to find the source.

The six Smurflings were sat against a nearby wooden fence. Snappy and Martialette sat up on top of the fence, finishing off their share of the stolen sweets. The rest sat on the grass, Oddette and Sassette sat right next to each other while Slouchy lied on his back with his head on Nat's legs.

With a pitiful sigh, the snowy owl spread his wings and took off only a few feet off of the ground. He glided over and almost silently landed right next to the Smurflings, who had hastily finished off the sweets in the presence of the avian adult.

Leaning down, Noctuma said to the oddly dressed Smurfling, "Oddette. Where did you get those treats?"

"From that table over there," Oddette sweetly replied, pointing to the robbed platter.

"Oddette!" Martialette smacked her palm across her forehead.

"I see," Noctuma nodded, then continued with, "And just why did you take your dessert now instead of after your lunch?"

Oddette merely shrugged and replied, "What difference does it make that we eat dessert first? It's all smurfing to the same place, anyhow."

Noctuma blinked and stared at her for a moment, even the other Smurflings looked at each other and her strangely. He then stood up tall again and sighed while shaking his head. It was no surprise to get that answer out of Oddette. She had been spending way too much time with her elder, sharp-tongued inventor of a sister.

"Fair enough," he said. "But what about Greedy? He's taking the brunt of all of your thieving ways."

Slouchy shrugged, "Greedy gets suspected all the time. Crafty'll probably come along and figure it out, anyway. Either way, I'd rather stay out of trouble for as long as possible."

Snappy nodded, giving out a small yawn, "Well said."

Noctuma, once again, sighed and flapped his wings, pushing himself off of the ground and away from the Smurflings.

"Crafty is a terrible influence on the young," Noctuma thought aloud, a certain quadruped stalking beneath the bird.

"What else is new?" Xavier answered, his newly sharpened claws scratching at the dirt. He settled himself down next to the Smurflings. "So, what did you little squirts do this time?"

"We smurfed our desserts early," Martialette sighed in content, her hands going behind her head as she leaned back onto the fence planks.

"I had to ask," the badger shook his head and rested his head on his paws, shutting his smurfy blue eyes to rest.

"You know, I never got to compliment you on your blue fur, un tejon."

Xavier growled under his breath as he squinted one eye open. He heard Oddette call out sweetly, "Hi, Misty!"

The red fox smiled and nuzzled the Smurfling with her snout, "Hello to you, too, mi carina."

"Hi, Mist. What smurfs you over to this part of the village?" Martialette leaned her head back.

Misty smirked and sat herself on the ground and answered, "Well, as I said, I never got to compliment our good friend here. You pull off the color blue very nicely."

Xavier merely growled out, baring his teeth and flattening his ears on his head. Misty merely flicked her thick, bushy tail, but didn't faze any further than that.

"That," she continued, lying herself down on the ground, "and I just had to come acquaint myself with the former jefe of the CPPF."

Lifting his ears from his head, Xavier opened both of his eyes and lifted his head up, "What do you care, Ginger?"

Misty twitched her ears in distaste, a frown taking place upon her features, "I will let you have that one, but I am only trying to show some respect. Especially to the Creatugo who had hunted and caught the rogue walrus officer with his bare claws."

Xavier quirked an eyebrow at her, but couldn't help but smirk in pride. He couldn't help it, though, he was a natural born bragger. He especially couldn't help it when pretty lady Creatugos gave him compliments about his previous work.

He blinked to himself and raised an eyebrow. What in the good name of grub worms was he thinking?

"Who did?" Slouchy asked, now sitting up.

"Uh…I did," Xavier raised his paw up, waving it slightly to the Smurflings.

"No you didn't," Sassette said. "Misty said bear claws, not badger claws, Xavier!"

Misty put a paw next to the red headed Smurfling and explained, "Honey, it is, how they say, a sort of expression. It means he did it solo. Alone."

"Oh," the Smurflings chorused in unison. They then sat down in front of the two Creatugos and looked at them expectantly.

Xavier sighed and started, "It all started about five hundred years ago-"

Misty suddenly placed her paw on top of his and asked, "Isn't it a bit graphic for children so young?"

He didn't even reply, at least, not at first. His eyes kept shifting from her face down to her paw on his. All he could really think of at the moment was how grateful he was that fur covered his cheeks to hide how red they were.

This wasn't like him. This definitely wasn't like him. He never even imagined this ever happening to him. Heck, he had never felt emotionally or physically attracted to anyone, especially to one of the opposite sex.

The red fox tilted her head and nudged the side of his face with her snout, "Javier? Javier, are you with us?"

Xavier shook his head and cleared his throat, "Don't worry. I'll keep it PG."

"Aww!" The Smurflings groaned. Snappy complained, "Come on, Xavier! That's not fair!"

"Okay!" He shouted in reply. "I'll make it PG-whenever you guys turn into teenagers!"

"Ipati! Ipati, where have you gone now?" Favian called out, strolling through the village as he did so.

He lifted his clawed foot and with it, lifted a small boulder with his powers. He stretched his neck as he searched for the cobra. After seeing that he wasn't, the ancient tortoise sighed and set his foot down along with the rock.

"Excuse me, Wooly," Favian said to the Texan Smurf. Wooly had finished cleaning out the wool he had collected and was now bagging it and getting ready to take it to Tailor. When Wooly turned his attention away, the reptile asked, "Have you seen Ipati anywhere? I need to speak with him."

Wooly humphed and jabbed a thumb towards the forest, "Saw'im slitherin' outta here this mornin' in that direction."

"Thank you," Favian nodded in gratitude and said, "Do try to give him a second chance. He has a strange method of caring for his friends. Strangely enough, the more violent he is, the more he cares."

The frown on Wooly's face only deepened before he shook his head and went back to stuffing the sacks with the fruit of his labor. Favian sighed and started off into the direction where Wooly had pointed.

"It was worth a try," he murmured to himself.

He slowly walked down the forest path and looked around constantly for the Indian cobra. It was a nice day for a picnic, he had to admit. He loved seeing the Smurfs and their cheerful activities. It's had to have been years since he's witnessed one. Not since the annual athlete day the Smurfettes held in their village.

"Hmm?" Favian lifted his head as he strained his ears, trying to catch the sound that he could just barely pick up.

Curious, he followed the sound until he could distinctly identify the sound as heavy breathing. Either a mother was about to give birth or someone was in extreme discomfort. He soon came upon a bush that shuffled slightly along with the heavy breathing. Favian tilted his head, then ducked it down to peek underneath.

"Ah, Ipati! There you are! Are you alright? You look dreadful," he looked over the cobra worriedly.

Ipati was all coiled up into a medium-sized mound with his head poking up at the top. His lavender eyes were wide and shifted around as if a beast was going to snap at him. From the look on his face, he thought of a beast much worse than Feralette. His coiled body shuddered occasionally as he breathed heavily and out of great discomfort.

"I cannot stand staying here another day, Favian," he whispered out. "I can't be near this village of Smurfs anymore."

"What? Why not?" Favian quirked a non-existent eyebrow as he crawled underneath the bush. "I know the Smurfs didn't give you a very warm welcome, but I'm sure they've put it behind them now."

"It is not them! It is only one Smurf that is making me like this!" Ipati hissed, using his tail to gesture wildly to his…less than reputable state.

Favian frowned and said, "If this is about Gutsy punching your snout-"

"Not him," Ipati sharply answered, giving out an involuntary shudder at the mention of Gutsy. "The shaky blue one! The one who is victim of Affectionette's boa constrictor arms!"

The old Galapagos tortoise drew his head back in surprise, "Scaredy? Scaredy Smurf has you like…like-"

"Like this?" Ipati finished with a reptilian hiss. "Yes."

"But…but how?"

"Don't you remember what fear does to snakes?" Ipati raised his voice along with his widening hood. "It drives us insane! It's why I almost kill Crafty and winged Smurf! His scaredyness makes me go crazy and when he sees me, he scares even more and makes me even crazier!"

"Ipati, pull yourself together!" Favian concentrated and in less than a second a hard rock pulled itself from the ground and chucked right at the cobra's head.

Upon contact, Ipati's head flew forward and he gave out a hurtful growl. His tail reached out of his coil and rubbed his tender spot, "I…I needed that, thank you."

"You're welcome," Favian responded, then said, "I can only assume it is why you nearly attacked him and almost killed Xavier, which I will assume you will apologize to both for."

Ipati growled out, "The badger started it…"

"I don't care who started it, but either you will end it or I will," Favian ordered before clearing his throat and changing the subject, "Anyway, I came to ask you something."

"If memory is needed, I will try," the serpent pointed to his sore spot on his head as he laid it down on his coils.

"How exactly did Crafty lose her memories to the Rod of Reminiscence? I know you wouldn't dare to do it to her herself," he asked, being completely serious. He wanted answers and he surely didn't want a single detail left out.

Sighing heavily, Ipati lifted his head and started, "Is not a very good memory. It was stupid accident, really…"

Ipati was all coiled up in his large cave slash forge, in a nest of soft moss and hay. His profession, along with some snoop jobs he was given from time to time, was blacksmithing. Though they were more of hobbies then they were jobs. As anyone would think it would be impossible for a snake to be a blacksmith due to lack of arms and hands, Ipati was the snake to prove everyone wrong.

The whole workshop was an anvil for hammering weapons, armor, and, of course, Rods of Reminiscence. There were also empty cauldrons near the rushing river of the cave he lived in. Hammers and grabbers of sizes and such were mainly spread out in a mess along the caveSets of armor and weapons were set off to the side for the Creatugos to pick up as they requested. A small fire was going more near Ipati in order to keep himself warm. The consequence of being a snake living in a moist cave, most would think.

"IPATI!"

"OWCH!" Ipati hissed, his head jerking up and hitting it on the low stone ceiling he slept under. He pulled it down and rubbed it with his tail, grumbling to himself.

"I am closed for today! Go away!" Ipati shouted, his voice echoing through the cavern.

"Not for me, you're not, you lazy viper!" Crafty exclaimed, skidding around a corner as she rushed along the bank of the river to Ipati's forge.

"Lazy?!" Ipati repeated offended, narrowing his lavender eyes at her. "How dare you-"

"Not now, Ipati! I am not in the mood," Crafty put up a hand irritably, still approaching her with impatience and fire.

Ipati scanned her form, noting the scratches and dirt on her body and clothing. It was obvious from the weariness in her voice that she had ran the whole way from wherever she came from and wherever that was, it was far. He, of all creatures, knew not to toy with Crafty when she was like this.

"Fine, fine. What do you want, oh witty one?" Ipati slithered down from his ledge and down on the floor.

"I need a Rod of Reminiscence and I need it soon. It's an emergency," she bluntly demanded.

Ipati blinked at her for a good few seconds, then snorted, "Good one. What are you really here for?"

"I'm not joking, Ipati," Crafty growled out.

"Even if I wanted to, you know I must have permission to make one for criminal or dictators and whatnot-!"

He grunted as he was tackled backwards and into the wall. Crafty grabbed the edges of his hood on both sides and pulled them so that she and Ipati saw eye to eye.

"Does it look like I care right now?!" Crafty hissed at him, actually making him shrink back just a little. "Ipati, I've never known you to follow the rules. So, either you do this or so smurf me, I will tie you up twice as tight as I did in the flower patch and this time I will not untie you. Are we clear?"

"You must understand, Favian, she was scary and willing to kill me. I had no choice but to comply."

"I completely understand," Favian said. "What happened after that?"

"Scarier than Scotsmen, Crafty was," Ipati shuddered, then continued, "After the Rod was made…"

"And…there. Done," Ipati lodged in the Forget Me gems into the eyes of the cobra-shaped Rod of Reminiscence. He held it up in his coiled-up tail with pride and announced, "One Rod of Reminiscence, ready to suck memories out of unsuspecting skulls."

"Finally," Crafty sighed, jumping down from a rock she was sitting down for three hours straight. She held out her arms and said, "Thanks, Ipati."

"Ah ah ah," Ipati lifted the scepter up and away from the inventor Smurfette. "First you must at least tell me who the unlucky soul you will use this on. Wait! Don't tell me…It's Pridette, isn't it? I know you don't like her, but even I must go against my instincts and tell you is not good idea."

"It's not for Pridette," Crafty crossed her arms, her foot impatiently tapping on the ground. "And it's none of your business who I'm using it on. Let's just say I'm going to be using it for good and leave it at that. Now, what's the incantation?"

"Hmm," Ipati hummed, tapping the head of the serpentine rod against his own before saying, "Corimon Initio Acrasha."

The Rod of Reminiscence's eyes then flashed and clicked, registering the incantation.

"That's it? Great. Give me it, now!" Crafty made a jump up for the scepter, but was still out of reach from her.

"Who is it for?" Ipati asked once again.

"Noa. It's for Noa, okay?!" Crafty shouted, her echo seeming to silence everything else in the cave.

Ipati's eyes widened drastically as he was taken aback. He lowered down the rod as he quietly asked, "Are you mad?! He is a prince! A prince, Crafty! You would be killed if you do such a thing!"

Crafty arched an eyebrow at him, her expression turning from irritated to confused, "You're not even surprised that I'm going to do that to him?"

"It's surprising that you of everyone else would be first to volunteer for job, but not really. That Drakonian has been turning into complete nutjob! I am surprised that, as his best friend, that you would allow it."

"Believe me, it's the last thing I want to do, but it's the right thing to do. Besides, I already talked to Morgana and Ichabod. They think…well, they think it's best."

"Oh, well in that case, here you go. You remember incantation, no?" Ipati said just as he released the rod from his grip.

Crafty nodded and held out her arms again, "Corimon Initio Acrasha."

"NO! Don't say it out loud!" Ipati dropped the scepter and backed away quickly.

Unfortunately, Crafty was not able to back away fast enough and, out of pure instinct, her hands caught onto the silver hood of the metallic cobra. Electricity flashed out of the freshly made relic and right at Crafty.

She threw her head back and cried out loudly in pain. Even so, her grip on the nonliving cobra tightened, her knuckles turning a very pale blue as blood stopped circulating to them. As the electricity struck at her mercilessly, blue splotches occasionally drained from her and to the rod.

Finally, the lightning pulled back into the rod and the eyes of the metallic cobra radiated a smurfy blue just as Crafty's were. Crafty groaned and stumbled backwards, dropping the scepter onto the ground.

"Uh…You alright, Crafty?" Ipati slithered up to her, she herself trying to regain her balance while trying to fight off the fuzziness of her now drained mind. He used his tail and poked at her chest, only managing to push her back even further, "Wakey wakey, little Smurfette. Time to put memories into your head."

Crafty inadvertently backed away just at the edge of the raging river. Ipati gasped, "No! Not there! Do not fall into water!"

Ipati struck forward, attempting to grab at the Smurfette before she could fall into the water. Unfortunately, the only thing that happened was instead of grabbing her, the action shoved her off of the edge and into the river.

"That is not good thing," Ipati stated before thrusting his head underwater and trying to spot the Smurfette. As much as his eyes roamed around, the water was too dark, deep, and fast for him to spot her.

"I could not find Crafty after that," Ipati finished. "Not until I find her trail, anyway."

Favian's nonexistent eyebrows shot up in memory, "I remember! Noa had sent his guards out to find her and Vladimir found her in the river."

"Then you find her just as guards did and knocked him down when he went way north. Then she fall into river again and you send Hazel to get her back."

Favian nodded in understanding, "It all finally makes sense. There's only one thing I don't understand."

Ipati lifted up his head and waited for his response. Favian then asked, "What about this…this 'winged Smurf' you say that battled you. I know no Smurf like that."

"Neither do I," Ipati shrank into himself at the bad memory of the vicious beating he had endured. "He was walking with Crafty one night when her Scottish fiancé went missing. He called himself…Benevolent, I believe."

Favian tensed up, his eyes suddenly becoming distant as he seemed to be searching his memory. It isn't possible, he thought to himself, Benevolent Smurf died hundreds of thousands of years ago.

"Favian," Ipati waved his tail in front of the elder Creatugo's face to gain his attention. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head and nodded to the reptile, "Yes, I'm fine, thank you. I need to go and think now. Try to get that problem with Scaredy sorted out. I think we'll be here for a while."

Ipati groaned childishly and pulled his head into his coils.

"I see you two are finally getting along," Crafty smiled at the two Smurfs lapping at the gentle part of the River Smurf. She sat herself on a large tree root that nearly went into the water.

Wild lifted his head, chittering and cooing as he nodded it vigorously. Feralette looked at her distracted mate from the corner of her eye and smirked. As she stopped drinking, she picked up her hand and swiped it at the water and splashed Wild in the face.

The squirrely Smurf screeched and jumped back, rubbing the water off of his face and even dragging his face against the ground to relieve the wetness. He picked himself up and shook himself like a wet dog and glared at Feralette. She growled out in what sounded like a humorous chuckle.

"That's right, Feralette. Keep your Smurf in place," Crafty applauded with a grin from the sidelines.

Wild growled and reared back before pouncing at the mongoose-raised Smurfette. She yelped and growled as she and Wild rolled around the edge of the river, never getting close to the water after what had happened only days ago. Crafty watched boringly from the side, the two animal-like creatures giving her only mild entertainment.

In only a few minutes, Feralette was on top of Wild and she purred to him, rubbing her head against his chest before jumping off and scurrying off into the bushes. Wild rolled his head and stared after her, panting with his tongue hanging as he still lied on his back. He almost looked like Puppy wanting to get his belly rubbed.

"Go on, Wild! I know her, and she waits for nosmurf!" Crafty shouted to the shocked Smurf.

Wild picked up his head and gave Crafty a lopsided grin as he continued to pant. He chattered out a goodbye and scrambled to his feet to chase after his girl.

BAM!

Crafty winced at the sickening thud as Wild smacked right into a rock before falling right on his back again. He looked to be unmoving for just about two seconds before he got back to his haunches, shook himself off, and climbed over the rock to chase after Feralette once again.

"Well," Crafty stated to herself, leaning back against the tree, "at least he's got good resilience."

"Tha' he does," she smiled and turned her head slightly to the left. Gutsy lied down next to the river's edge, one arm crossing over his chest and the other lying limply in the gentle current of the river.

"Didn't hear ya comin', Blue Kilt," Crafty turned back and shut her eyes. "What're you doing out here, anyway? I thought you were hanging out with Grouchy and Hefty today."

"Change of plans, lassie," he replied. "Needed te blow off some steam and came out here. Water soothes me in a way, I guess."

"I could say the same thing," Crafty inwardly raised an eyebrow at him, but kept her tone normal. Never once had Gutsy made that kind of statement to her. Sure he liked to swim and play in the water with the other Smurfs, but as far as she knew, he never liked to do anything in the water that was at all calm.

However, she pushed it to the back of her mind and continued to let her mind wander a bit. She sighed and said, "I'm going to have to leave for a while, you know."

"Hmm? What?" Gutsy turned his head to her in question.

"I have to go back and deal with Noa, you know. I just have to. If I don't, he'll come after you and the other Smurfs," she explained sadly.

"Oh, I see," Gutsy sighed and turned away from him, a deep frown on his face. Crafty opened her eyes and looked to him, guilt now starting to eat at her.

"But after that…when all of our troubles are over, we can finally join together as husband and wife," she smiled, her fingers now fondling the silver ring with the amethyst jewel.

Gutsy's muscles instantly tensed as he looked to her from the corners of his eyes. Crafty then let out a dry laugh and said, "Hey, since it will be happening soon, there's something you should know. I don't know why I didn't tell you earlier, but it's so stupid."

"What?" He looked at her with a small smile, though it seemed to be forced.

"Apparently, a rule was made for someone of, well, my kind. I'll need to tell you later about that," she started, sitting up and hugging her knees to her chest. "It says that I'm not allowed to get married. Can you believe that?"

Whatever smile there was on Gutsy's face vanished instantly and turned to complete seriousness, "Are ye tryin' te tell me somethin'?"

Crafty furrowed her eyebrows at him in confusion, "Excuse me?"

"Ye heard me, lassie. Are ye tryin' te tell me somethin' or not?"

"What? No! I'm saying it's a stupid and unsmurfy rule and it shouldn't interfere with your decision! What else would I be trying to say?" she asked, staring at him disbelievingly.

"It sounds like yer sayin' dat ye don' want te marry me," he accused, narrowing his eyes at her as he got to his knees.

Crafty did the same as she asked, "What gives you the right to question my loyalty and love to you?"

"Oh, so now I'm de bad guy fer standin' up for meself?" Gutsy jumped to his feet, his anger now starting to show.

"I never said that. If this is how you feel, maybe we shouldn't get married, then!" Crafty stood up, crossing her arms as she let the venom ooze from her tone.

"Maybe we shouldn', then!" Gutsy crossed his own arms.

"While we're at it, maybe I should go off alone and, maybe, never come back!" Crafty exasperated, her arms spreading out for emphasis.

"Fine! See if I care!"

CRACK!

Gutsy stumbled backwards, his hand clenching around his aching and possibly dislocated jaw. He looked at Crafty, completely thrown off guard by her sudden burst of anger. She stood there, panting heavily with a look on her face that could only be described as fury, anger, and terror.

Pulling her clenched fist back, she spat out, "Fine. Don't expect me to be coming back any time soon."

She sharply turned around and stomped through a nearby brush. She didn't let him see the pent up tears that were now pouring down her face. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Dere. Dat's done for, then," Gutsy let go of his jaw and turned on his heel to calmly walk away.

"How could you?" he heard a melancholy voice speak to him. He perked up in attention and turned to his left, only to roll his eyes in annoyance.

Angel was perched on a low tree branch, his beak creasing in a deep frown and his nonexistent eyebrows furrowing at the Scottish Smurf. His smurfy blue eyes were sad and at the same time, they were angry.

"Ye know it had to be done, Benevolent. An' I don't regret it, either," With that, Gutsy turned his back on the dove and disappeared into the forest.

Benevolent shook his feathery head and flapped his wings, taking off above the trees and away from the Smurf Village. Was he going to stop Crafty? No. He was smart enough to know she was in too vulnerable of a situation for more salt to be thrown in the wound. She wouldn't believe him, anyway.

He flew and flew until he came to a hill with a tall pine tree. Underneath the brush of pine needles, sat a human girl with a small easel and some paints. She seemed to be in her early twenties and around Jo and Livy's age.

She had pale blonde hair, which was pulled into a waist-length braid. A few noticeable strands of hair hung on the side of her face with a blue flower tucked behind her ear for decoration. Her facial features were soft along with the look in her smurfy blue eyes. A teardrop-shaped, blue jeweled necklace graced her neck as well. She smiled as she dabbed and stroked her small canvas with light green paint.

Her body was covered in a dark blue dress, whose floral-styled straps wrapped around the lower part of her shoulders instead of the traditional upper shoulder. The satin material was light and reached down to her ankles, where she was sporting dark blue flats.

Benevolent fluttered his wings and landed on her shoulder. He cooed depressingly into her ear, his language seeming to be completely normal to the girl, especially since her prime reaction wasn't to shoo him away.

She frowned deeply and put the canvas and brush down on the ground, "I thought he wouldn't changed after all these years. Clearly I was wrong."

The angelic dove cooed out again, his sounds in the form of a question. She bit her lip and thought for a second before deciding, "Let's get going to the village. I'm sure all hell is about to break loose on a certain innocent Smurf soon."

Sorry for the little bit of profanity in that last part, but I rated this story T for a reason, you know. I hope you enjoyed it. From this chapter on, that's when the juicy stuff starts happening.