Smurfing with the Wolves

by PhantasyPhan13

Lupine Smurf has been raised by the wolf pack of Aluraris all his life. When he follows Papa Smurf back to the village, he finally meets the family that he's forgotten. But it isn't so easy for a wolfish Smurf to settle down into the quaint village life of his kin. And when Papa becomes ill, he may be thrown into a whirlwind of events that will change his entire existence.

3. Chapter 2: Reunited Again

Chapter Two: Reunited Again

"We shall miss you, little Smurf-wolf of the pack Aluraris," whispered Deer-song as Lupine hugged the alphaess for the last time. It felt so odd to be saying goodbye to the wolves to live with the Smurfs, but he knew it had to be. Lupine knew that he'd see them again, but it was so heartbreaking to be saying goodbye to his family that he'd shared good and bad times with over the past century. But when he looked at the Smurfs, he felt a strong connection binding him to them. He knew that if he left them, it would be just as heartbreaking as leaving the wolves.

The festival had lasted for a week, and it had been a fun and happy time. Over the last seven days, he'd gotten to know his new family and now knew the name of every single Smurf in the village. Brainy had given him more tours and Lupine now knew the village like the back of his claws. He'd seen the other Smurfs giving him odd looks, but Brainy had told him that all of the new Smurfs got stared at like that. Lupine had wondered whether it was because he looked so different than everybody else.

All of a sudden, Lupine felt small and alone, and he wasn't sure he could do this. How could he leave the pack and say goodbye, just like that? He was going to be living with a bunch of strangers that would stare at him until they got used to him. Lupine started to shake, and he tried to gulp down the lump rising in his throat. "Don't worry. Just follow your path and everything will be alright," whispered Deer-song, licking the tears off of Lupine's cheeks.

"I know, but it'll be so weird without you!" Lupine whispered back, taking one last look at his wolf family. "It won't be the same playing tag without you, little brother," said Grayfur. "High paw!" The two brothers high-fived each other for the last time. "I'll miss you too," said Icefeather, nuzzling Lupine. "ALL of us will miss you!" barked Sunpelt, slapping Lupine on the back so hard that he fell over and got a face full of dirt.

"Bye-bye!" yipped Ivyberry and Storkwing, Lupine's two younger adopted sisters. "You too," he smiled, patting them on the head. The wolves and Lupine threw back their heads and howled one last song together, full of sadness and joy all mixed together. Then the wolf pack turned away and headed back into the forest without Lupine.

Suddenly, Lupine was overwhelmed with sadness. "What am I going to do without them?!" he groaned, holding his head in his paws. "You can always go back to them if you're really unhappy," advised Papa, patting him comfortingly on the back. "But for now, why don't you stay awhile? I think you'll enjoy life in the village." "That may be true, but how will I know how to behave? I've been raised by wolves all my life! I don't know how to be a Smurf like everyone else. It's different for them; they've been in the village since they first opened their eyes. I've lived with the wolves forever and already I'm expected to be like everyone else!"

"It's always hard to be the new Smurf on the block. But everyone goes through it, and it's just a part of life. Besides, once you get used to living here, you'll find your talent and you'll be able to contribute to the village! That's something to be proud of. But you won't find your talent right away. Sometimes it takes a few months, for others it's a few years," said Papa. "I mean, look at Clumsy. He didn't find his true path until very recently! But still, he's a good Smurf and you can trust him to always try his hardest." "Easy for him, he looks just like everybody else. I, on the other paw, look like a freak!" moaned Lupine. He'd never been ashamed of his appearance before, but now he felt he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Nonsense! You don't look like a freak at all. You're you and that's what makes you unique! Besides, not everyone here looks like twins," Papa assured him. "For instance, before Narrator came, Brainy was the only Smurf who wore glasses here! Do you think that made him feel a little different?" "Maybe it did. But he didn't look like a werewolf!" "You're more handsome than a werewolf! You're probably cleaner than one too. Urgh, their breath is horrendous! It could knock out Gargamel, it smells so bad," Papa winced.

Lupine couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sure I'll get used to it after a while. Maybe I could be the village detective or something. I mean, I've got really good smelling and hearing and things, and I can walk so quietly that nobody hears me!"

"See, you've got your own special talents too! That's the spirit," Papa encouraged. "I'd like to stand around and talk all day, but I've got to get going now. I need to finish up an experiment in my lab this afternoon. If you need any more help, talk to Brainy or my deputy, Blue. It's easy to spot him; he wears red just like I do. See you around!" Papa walked off towards his mushroom, and Lupine was left alone to do his own exploring. "Hmm, maybe I should see if anyone needs help. Perhaps I'll find some new friends if I do some work," he thought out loud, trotting off to see what he could find.

"Hey! Who has a pet wolf around here?" snickered somebody behind Lupine. He turned around and was face-to-face with a mischievous-looking Smurf holding a mysterious giftbox. "Who taught you your manners?! Gargamel?!" snorted Lupine, raising his eyebrows suspiciously. "You're not too polite either, wolfie!" retorted the Smurf. Lupine was starting to get angry.

Suddenly, something took over his body and before he knew it, the Smurf was pinned on the ground underneath him and holding his nose, which was bloody. "Y-you're mean! It w-was j-just a joke! I was going to g-give you a p-present!" whimpered the Smurf, wriggling out of Lupine's grasp and running away to Doctor's house to get his nose bandaged.

Lupine was shocked at how he'd behaved. He normally was not a violent sort of person and he never had attacked a rude guy before. He'd just been so angry about the Smurf teasing him that he'd sort of gone into a rage. He hadn't even had control over it, it happened so fast. "What kind of a Smurf am I?" he said in disbelief just as Blue started to run over.

"BLOOD?! What in Smurf's name is going on around here?!" Blue yelled, leaning over and glancing at a bloodstain on the ground that must have come from the rude Smurf's nose. "This rude guy holding a giftbox came over and started teasing me for looking like a wolf. Then suddenly I got so mad that I flew into a rage or something and the Smurf was pinned under my paws with a bleeding nose. I d-don't know what happened; I d-didn't even have any control over it," explained Lupine, shifting from paw to paw nervously.

"Well, tell it to Papa. I'm not falling for that tomfoolery," sniffed Blue, grabbing Lupine's arm and dragging him towards Papa's house. "Jokey was probably trying to goof around; he's always like that. Thank goodness that you didn't open that giftbox or it would've exploded in your face!" "Was he raised by clowns or something?" Lupine asked, but he didn't get a chance to say any more because just at that moment, Blue knocked on the door and Papa let them into his house, a flabbergasted look crossing his elderly face.

"Can somebody please explain what on Smurf is going on here?! I wasn't exactly expecting to open the door and see Lupine look like he just killed a deer!" "He beat up Jokey because he was teasing him," explained Blue. "Lupine says that he flew into an uncontrollable rage and then the next thing he knew, Jokey was underneath him with a bloody nose, but of course I for one wouldn't fall for THAT kind of pathetic excuse. I figured that you'd probably know what to do about it; you're always breaking up Smurf-fights all the time anyway." "Lupine, maybe you should tell your side of the story," Papa suggested. "Blue, you can let go of him now." Blue did as Papa asked and Lupine sagged to the floor in relief.

"What exactly happened? And no lying," Papa prompted, and Lupine told him what had happened. "I just don't understand," Lupine finished, ignoring Blue's wary glances at him. "I'm normally not the kind of person who goes around beating up people when I'm angry, but I was so steamed that it just sort of happened to me. If I'd been able to control it, I would've. It's just that it happened so fast that I wasn't aware of what I was doing until it was too late." Papa had a worried look on his face and he opened his mouth like he was going to tell them what was on his mind, but he closed it again and just shook his head. "Tell everyone that I'm going to be doing some testing in my lab and that I won't come out until dinnertime," he told Blue, then pushed him and Lupine out the door.

"What was THAT all about? Is he going to turn me into some kind of wolf science experiment?!" asked Lupine in total confusion. Blue shrugged. "All he's probably going to do is look into the past and watch what happened for himself. One time, when Grouchy was screaming at Baby Smurf for getting in his way, Papa used his magic to watch what had happened and concluded that Grouchy did it on purpose. After that, he wasn't allowed to eat sarsaparilla for a week and boy was he mad. I don't even want to THINK about it, his mood was so terrible. But stay out of his way until dinner. When Papa's angry, he's worse than two Grouchys and three Jokeys put together."

"Okay," said Lupine, walking off to his temporary house with his tail between his legs, wondering what he could've done wrong. "I must be a curse," he thought to himself as he curled up in front of the hearth and fell asleep.

…..

"Lupine? Lupine? Hey, wake up! You're going to miss dinner at this rate!" Somebody was shaking Lupine awake. He blinked and saw Brainy leaning over him, trying to wake him up. "Come on, we're having dinner and unless you want to go hungry, you should get going." "I'm just going to beat someone up 'accidentally'," whimpered Lupine, but he followed Brainy outside anyway. He sniffed the air to see what was on the menu for dinner and smelled only berries and sarsaparilla. "Ummm…do you guys have a rabbit leg or something?" "Are you out of your mind?! Who'd want to kill a poor, innocent little rabbit?!" exclaimed Brainy, a horrified look crossing his face.

"Ummm…you forget that I was raised by wolves. I'm not used to eating plants," explained Lupine, his stomach growling with hunger. "Well, I'm afraid that all of us are vegetarian. However, if you're lucky Lazy might've caught some fish, maybe that'd fill you up," suggested Brainy. Lupine sat down at the outdoor table that Handy had set up and scanned the table to see if he could find any meat. The only thing he found was a roasted fish, but it was only as big as his paw and hardly filled him up. He tried sarsaparilla and found that it wasn't bad, but it just didn't taste the same as deer meat, fresh off the carcass.

"ATTENTION!" Papa banged on the table to get everyone's attention. "I have some important announcements to make! First off, something very serious happened today. Lupine and Jokey got into a Smurf-fight…" At this, everyone startled grumbling at once. "ANOTHER SMURF-FIGHT?! What is this village coming to?" "Who won? Ooo, I want to know! Me me!" "Gosh, what were they fighting for? One time I slapped Jokey in the face when he gave me a giftbox, but I've never punched anyone before…" "YOU SLAPPED JOKEY?! Why didn't Papa or Blue find out about it?" "I didn't tell them. I didn't want to get into trouble." "Well, they'll know NOW, you Smurf-brain!" "SILENCE!" Papa called, and the comments stopped. "Like I said, they got into a Smurf-fight and Jokey got a bloody nose. Blue told me that Lupine was out of control and that he didn't believe that he was innocent. Lupine told me that he didn't intend to hurt Jokey, but that he got so mad that he flew into an uncontrollable rage. I was in my lab for a long time today, as you all know, and I was watching the fight to see what really happened. It seemed that both Blue and Lupine were right. Now, I don't want to give Lupine punishment for something that's beyond his control, but he IS guilty of hurting Jokey. I want your input on it. Should I punish Lupine or let him go?"

Once again, everyone began talking at once. "He should get punishment for hurting him; Jokey's my friend after all!" "He shouldn't be punished for something that wasn't his fault; that's unfair!" "You're only saying that because you like wolves, Leafette!" "Should we have another trial?" "NO, you remember what happened last time right?" "Yeah…bad idea!" "Me, I hate people who can't agree on anything!"

"One at a time please," said Papa, and one by one each Smurf stood up and voiced his opinion. Half of them said that Lupine should receive punishment because uncontrollable or not, he did hurt Jokey after all. The other half said that what happened wasn't Lupine's fault and that he shouldn't be punished for something that was uncontrollable. Grouchy didn't take either side, and Jokey was so incensed at Lupine that he said that Papa should just banish him from the village altogether and send him back to his wolf pack. "He's just a wild animal, an uncivilized creature! He's just a blue, furry beast," said Jokey coldly, giving Lupine a murderous look. The hurtful words, combined with the mean stare made Lupine burst into tears and run from the table, sniffling and tucking his tail between his legs.

"Get back here!" called Papa, but Lupine just ran and ran and ran until he burst through the barrier of the village and into the forest. He kept running and running until, sides heaving with exertion, he collapsed at the foot of a sinister-looking castle. He didn't notice an evil figure look through the window and chuckle at him.

Lupine was starting to doze off when something ensnared him and scooped him up. Terrified, he found himself looking into the cold eyes of Gargamel and his cat, Azrael. "A Smurf at last…and a wolf too! This one just came running into my hands; I suppose the village doesn't take very good care of him," snickered Gargamel. Azrael chuckled too. "THEY DO CARE ABOUT ME!" yelled Lupine, but he was starting to feel sleepy and he didn't have that much energy. "It's just….I was….so…mad…and…and …and..." Lupine couldn't go on. There was something about Azrael's eyes that made him feel very relaxed. A fuzzy, warm feeling rose inside his body, and he suddenly felt incredibly exhausted.

He tried to fight the urge to close his eyes, but it was useless and his eyelids drooped. Just before he drifted off, he heard Gargamel say, "Good work, Azrael! I didn't know you could do hypnosis!"

…..

"Lupine! LUPINE!"

"Where are you, little fuzzball of a Smurfie?"

"Where could he have disappeared to? Oh, I hope Gargamel didn't capture him!"

"Be optimistic; maybe he just went home to his wolf pack. You know how upset he was last night."

"I know. Jokey was so mean! I can't believe he'd say something like that in front of everybody."

The Smurfs had searched every nook and cranny of the village and found no sign of the wolfish Smurf. So they'd started to trek out into the forest in search of their new friend. So far, nobody had found anything and they were convinced that Lupine had returned to his wolf pack.

"Look at this! It's a tuft of his fur!" called Brainy, leaning over and picking up something blue and furry. "Good work! He must've headed this way!" agreed Papa, leading the search team in the direction the tuft had been pointing to.

Soon they found a bit of claw along the same path, and some footprints that looked like paws were found a little farther on. The Smurfs kept following the trail with determination and soon found something that made their hearts fall into the soles of their feet.

The trail had led them to Gargamel's castle! "Oh no! He must've captured Lupine! We've got to save him!" exclaimed Papa, going white in the face. "I'm going to start organizing search teams to investigate the castle for signs of Lupine. First, Brainy, Hefty, and Leafette should go in. I'll organize the next search team after them. Go!"

The search team started to climb the stones of the castle and soon they climbed through a window and disappeared from view. There was nothing to do but wait and hope for news of their village member.

…

Lupine felt very, very groggy and he had trouble waking up. He couldn't remember feeling sleepier in his life. Come on, getting up's not that hard, he told himself, but his eyelids felt like lead and so did every single square inch of his body. He just wanted to fall asleep again, but he knew he had to open his eyes. If he didn't, then one day he would fall asleep and never wake up again.

So, with great effort, he raised his eyelids and looked around his current surroundings, wondering if he was having a nightmare. Maybe he was really back in his mushroom and the gloomy gray environment he was in was just a mirage. He had a sinking feeling that it was real, though, and almost fainted when he saw Gargamel and Azrael watching him through the bars of his cage. "Wh-where am I? L-let me g-go! I d-don't w-want to die, I'm only 100 after all!" he stammered, trying to stand up but failing. "I see you're awake now, little Smurf," cackled Gargamel. "I can't decide: should I drain you first, or do tests on you? You seem to be more than the average annoying Smurf…"

Lupine felt scared, but he was so drowsy that he could care less what was going to happen to him. He tried to make an effort to look scary. He hunched his back and bared his teeth in a ferocious snarl. Gargamel only laughed and walked off into the dark depths of the castle for who-knows-what reason. Lupine was convinced that nothing he could do would scare Gargamel and decided to sleep again. It'll only be a minute, he promised himself. He curled up on the icy cage floor, wrapping his tail around himself.

He'd just started to fall asleep when he heard something running on the castle floor near his cage. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking around to see what it was. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the shapes of a group of something small. It was red and blue and white, and he thought that it must be some kind of magical cloud. Must be something Gargamel created to kill me, he thought despairingly.

Then the cloud surrounded his cage and started calling his name. "What is it?" Lupine asked groggily, getting to his feet with a tremendous effort. "Lupine, what happened to you? You look like something knocked you in the head!" said the figure closest to him that looked a lot like Papa. "I-I fell asleep…the cat's eyes….so groggy…let me sleep…" said Lupine, annoyed. Couldn't he take a nap in peace?

The figure said something more, and the cage started to move. Lupine felt a flicker of hope rise inside him. Was he going to be freed? He lifted his head and tried to help the blue things free him by pushing the cage as hard as he could.

The next thing he knew, he was falling onto the stone, and something cold and hard slapped into his body as he hit the floor. That brought him to his senses, and he gnawed through the weakened bars of the cage. "Come on! Gargamel will be here any second!" said Lupine, running for his life. The others followed him as well, but Papa was lagging behind for some odd reason. "Hurry up! You don't want to become Smurf-meat, do you?" said Lupine, stopping in his tracks.

Papa was staring at a sickly yellow light that was seeping through one of the windows. It looked like some kind of steam, and Lupine wondered if Gargamel had made it on purpose. It was swirling like a portal, and seemed almost hypnotic. Papa's eyes glazed over, and he started to walk towards it as if he were in a trance. "Hey, ummm..everyone's left…you might want to hurry up..." Lupine said, but it was as if to Papa nothing existed but that strange light.

Just at that moment, Gargamel burst into the room, cackling delightedly when he saw that he'd be able to capture two Smurfs instead of one. "YOU'LL NEVER CATCH US!" yelled Lupine, grabbing Papa and climbing out the window of the castle using the stones as footholds.

Soon, he jumped onto the ground where everyone was waiting. "What's with Papa? He looks hypnotized!" said Blue worriedly. "I don't know, but let's scram! Gargamel and Azrael will be on our tails any minute now!" said Lupine, and every raced off towards the village as fast as they could, Lupine dragging Papa behind him.

Soon they raced through the barrier and were safe at last. Gasping, Lupine let go of Papa and his tongue flopped out of his mouth as he panted. "Guess…pant…we're safe…pant…" gasped Lupine. "But…pant…Papa doesn't look any better…pant…" "Yeah, he looks really weird. He looks like he saw a ghost or something! I don't even think he recognizes us!" said Blue, gnawing on his fingers. "We need to wake him up!" "Can I try?" said Jokey, a mischievous glint shining in his eyes. "I guess?" said Blue, backing up as Jokey gave Papa one of his famous exploding presents.

The blast knocked Papa backwards and he hit his head on the ground. "Ouch…what happened?" he groaned, rubbing his head. He suddenly felt like he was catching a cold and thought that maybe he'd caught a chill from being inside Gargamel's freezing castle. "Are you okay? You look sort of sick," said Clumsy. "Do you need a blanket or something?" "I'm fine," Papa insisted, "I think I just need to take a rest." He started walking towards his mushroom, leaving everyone very worried about their beloved leader.

….

"Papa's SICK?! Oh no, he should never have come into the castle to save me!" Lupine gasped as Blue announced the awful news. "I wonder if it had something to do with that weird light he was looking at in the castle?" "Beats me," shrugged Brainy, a worried look on his face. "This is really bad. He's never caught a cold before. He's stronger than a dragon." "What kind of cold is it exactly? Maybe he just has a cough or something," asked Lupine. "Doctor doesn't know! He says he's never come across that kind of illness before. That's the scariest part," said Smurfette, wringing her hands. "I hope he's okay! I mean, Blue would be a good leader, but it just won't be the same without him…"

"Poor guy. Maybe I ought to go visit him," Lupine suggested. "You know, to see how he's doing and all that…" "Definitely NOT! Doctor's ordered everyone to stay away from him, even his wife. He doesn't want anyone catching the cold, especially if it turns out to be some kind of dangerous flu and it starts a whole epidemic or something," Brainy said. Just then, Blue finished the announcement and everyone was excused to go about their business.

However, Lupine found that he couldn't concentrate on anything because he was so worried about Papa. He wondered if maybe he should sneak over and visit him anyway. "I mean, it's not exactly like there'll be guards stationed outside his front door or anything. But I don't want to make the village angry at me…they probably mistrust me enough anyway from that stupid incident with Jokey. Oh, which is the better choice?" Lupine fretted aloud to himself, pacing back and forth. "If I follow Blue's instructions, then I won't have to worry about getting caught and nobody will be suspicious of me, but then I'll worry about Papa the whole day long and probably won't get any sleep either. On the other paw, if I see how he's doing, then I might not be so worried and I'll be able to get through the day without being all wound up. But if someone catches me, I'll be the 'untrustworthy Smurf' and I might catch his cold if I see him…"

Lupine finally decided that he'd just pop his head through the window and talk to Papa at a distance, and then he'd run off and get back to work. He felt relieved with his decision and sneaked quietly towards Papa's mushroom. Fortunately, he had been trained by the wolves to be a stealthy hunter and so nobody heard or saw him. He braced himself and opened the window.

Lupine did a double take when he saw the condition that Papa was in. He was coughing like crazy and his nose was dripping like a leaking faucet. He was green in the face and his beard was streaked with snot from his nose. He was shaking all over and his teeth were chattering so hard that you could've heard him from a mile away. On top of all that, he was sweating and looked like he would collapse at any moment.

"Papa! Oh my Smurf…you poor creature…" Lupine trailed off, unable to think of anything to say. He could hardly believe the state that his leader was in. No wonder Doctor hadn't wanted anyone to come near him. "Lupine…you shouldn't be here," rasped Papa, looking at him with watering eyes that were filled with sickness and pain. "You'll just catch my cold too, and then it'll spread like wildfire…" Suddenly, he had a sneezing fit and the sneezing soon turned into coughing. He was keeling over, he was coughing so hard. "Cough…you should just…cough…leave now…cough cough cough…"

"I can't leave you like this! You look awful!" exclaimed Lupine. Suddenly, Papa stopped coughing and gasped raggedly, as if he couldn't catch his breath. "Papa!" screamed Lupine in horror, running off to get Doctor right away. He knew he couldn't just leave his leader alone when he was like this. "DOCTOR! PAPA'S HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING! AND HE'S COUGHING REALLY HARD!" hollered Lupine as soon as he reached Doctor's house. "He can't breathe?! In that case, I need to see him right away!" exclaimed Doctor, following Lupine to Papa's house. "Stay outside," instructed Doctor, leaving Lupine to watch anxiously through the window.

Time seemed to pass slowly and it didn't seem as though Doctor was making any progress with Papa. He just examined him for what seemed the longest time ever and asked Papa questions about his sickness. Finally, Doctor walked out of the house with a worried look on his face. "I'm afraid that Papa has an entirely new disease; at least, entirely new to Smurfkind." "What is it?!" gasped Lupine. "He has…" Doctor paused. "…portal fever."

"Portal fever?! What's that?" asked Lupine. "Portal fever is when someone stares at a cursed portal for so long that it hypnotizes them and leaves them in a paralyzed state so that the sickness can infect the victim. Once the subject snaps out of the trance, the fever is in their body and they can't get it out. The only way to cure it is to make them look at a reflector portal or…they have to drink a special potion. And I'm afraid that it will be impossible to make. Reflector portals are very difficult to find too, and portal fever makes the victim look away from reflector portals, so it's very hard to get them to look at one to counteract the illness." "What exactly makes the potion so hard to get? I'll bet you ten to one that half of the herbs are in Papa's lab," Lupine said.

"For one thing, most of the herbs needed for the potion are extremely rare and difficult to get. But the thing that is the hardest to obtain is that you need to get hairs from the person who made the cursed portal in the first place, as well as hairs from everyone involved or nearby them when they made the portal. Which would mean someone would have to sneak into Gargamel's castle and collect hairs from him and Azrael, which would be incredibly risky. It's far easier to just see if Papa can fight it off on his own and look for reflector portal sites in the meantime…"

"But we can't just let him suffer! He looks so awful; it just breaks my heart to see him that way. And anyways, how do you know that it's not just a really nasty flu or cough?" "I know because there's no other known illness that a person can receive from hypnosis or staring at a portal. Besides, he has all the symptoms of it: coughing fits, ragged breathing, a fever that constantly switches from very low to very high, bouts of sweating…no other disease has the same symptoms."

"I'll go get the hairs from Gargamel and Azrael," said Lupine bravely. He knew he'd have to be very careful, but it was a challenge that he was willing to take on. "No way! It's too dangerous," said Doctor. "It's not. I'm very good at sneaking around; I mean, nobody knew that I was at Papa's house until I ran screaming down the street, did they?" "You've got a point there," said Doctor. "I suppose that I can let you go, but you should get Blue's permission first. I feel bad about Papa's fever as well, and the sooner he's healthy, the sooner he can return to being leader and the sooner his quarantine can end."

Lupine didn't stay around any longer, because as soon as Doctor said it was okay for him to leave, he took off like a shot down the street to find Blue and get permission to journey to Gargamel's castle.