"I can't believe you locked us in there for an hour!" Dib snapped, holding an ice-pack over his black eye.

"I can't believe you dislocated his antenna!" I retorted, popping one of his glasses lenses back into the frame, "It's a good thing they have a Doctor Smurf in there!"

"He broke my glasses, gave me a black eye and look at this bite!" he pulled the neck of his shirt back to reveal a purple mark on his shoulder blade.

I examined it, "It's not as bad as it was."

"You sure? It was bleeding!"

I smirked, "Okay, so you didn't like Zim's love-bite, don't blame you; it's a pretty bad job."

"It's not a love- bite! He tried to rip my throat out and -" he paused and flushed, taking in what I'd said, "Huh? How'd you know what a good one looks like?"

I patted his shoulder with a wink and got to my feet, returning to the machine. I picked up a wrench and started picking up where I felt off, fixing some bolts into place. Clumsy looked at me nervously, Smurfette tilted her hair questioningly.

"Are they always like this?" she asked.

"Pretty much." I nodded.

"Aren't you worried that they'll smurfly hurt each other one day, or worse?" Clumsy muttered.

"I used too, but they wouldn't go that far. They'd get bored without each other, why'd you think Zim was so willing to fix the portal; he'd miss us too much if we were running around after you guys all the time."

"Do not put words in Zim's mouth Amy-worm!"

"I don't hear you denying it, Zimmers!"

Zim, his antenna bandaged back in place, glared at me and swiftly returned to his welding. Clumsy smiled sheepishly at my retort while Smurfette giggled a little. Dib came to join us and started rummaging through the toolbox looking for something that he could use to take part in the fixing of the machine. He noticed Handy and asked his opinion, hammer or screwdriver. Handy directed him to the screwdriver and to the base of the machine where a pile of scrap parts were laid out ready. There wasn't really much that could be done at that stage, we were just focused on building the frame of the machine. The technical wiring and stuff was going to be a lot more difficult. I was okay with building stuff, being the eldest and having a mum who can barely put together the toy in a Kinder Egg, I had to fix together most of the stuff in the house. Beds, wardrobes, shelves, stands, desks, even the fold-down stairs that lead up to the attic! However, wires and electrics… hated me! But until we reached that point, things were going good. You know, if you didn't mind Zim barking orders at you and Dib trying to prove his own capability by offering to do all of my jobs. Honestly… men…

Before long, we'd managed to rebuild at least half of the portals frame. It still looked like it was going to take a long time before it was back to its previous form. If Brainy was right with his calculations, as he was constantly insisting that he was, then it would be three days till it was fixed. However, from an observational perspective, it was going to take a lot longer.

"Anybody else hungry?" Greedy asked after a while.

A few of the Smurfs nodded, others were too polite to leave their work. A few looked at Zim who just rolled his eyes and didn't answer. I scowled at him, he quirked his antenna.

"What? Zim has no need to keep sustenance for anyone besides Zim."

Dib rolled his eyes and flashed me a 'what did you expect' kind of look. Okay, what did I expect? Anyway, even if Zim was at least a reasonable host, there was no telling if these guys could eat the food he had. If he did have any…

"What can you eat anyway?" Dib asked, "Is there a specific diet or is it the same as humans? Do you hunt or gather?"

Before he could ask anymore questions, Brainy stepped in, "We forage mostly, but only when Farmer's supply of harvest is short, which is rare. As for diet the Smurf species is mainly herbivore and are actually closely humanoid. Our anatomy for instance -"

"Smurf it, Brainy!" a few chorused, much to Dib's dismay.

"Hey, that was just getting interesting!"

Brainy adjusted his glasses, "Really? Well, if you want to know about…"

I couldn't help but smirk as Brainy started on a tangent of his own and Dib brought out a note-pad and pen, jotting away at the new information he was obtaining. Dib actually seemed quite shocked that the creature was giving away the information so freely. After all, Dib was used to full scale break-ins and planning to get a scrap of knowledge. But I think that was mainly down to the fact that Brainy liked the sound of his own voice. As the pair started on a frenzy of questions and answers, a few other smurfs started to shake their heads in annoyance.

"Veggie pizza then I'm guessing?" I offered, when no one answered me I carried on, "I'll get it then shall I?"

Zim blinked and stopped me half-way through putting my jacket on, "You're not leaving me here with the Dib and the mini-beasts!"

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes tops, and anyway, you need to tell them how to fix the machine."

He narrowed his eyes, "Zim refuses to act as a smeet-sitter!"

I folded my arms, "Well, you can either carry on fixing the machine while Dib's occupied with his 'research', or you can come and get pizza with me and leave all of them alone in your labs with everything at their mercy. You're choice."

His eye started to twitch and he pointed a wrench at me, "One of these days human…"

"You'll tell me how much you love me?" I asked with a babyish tone, clasping my hands together in mock hope, "Because we all know how much Zim loves his sis,"

He shuddered, "Zim shall ignore that insulting comment, if the Amy-worm brings Zim the slushy he so deserves."

I bowed mockingly, "If the almighty Zim wishes it." I smirked and turned away, hoisting my bag over my shoulder, "Dib, you want anything?"

He looked away from his notes, "Uh… no thanks, d-do you need help with anything?"

"I'll be fine thanks."

"Oh, wait a minute."

Dib stepped up to me and started to trace his thumb over my cheekbone, for a second I thought that he was being a softy, I smirked, "What're you doing?"

"You've got a grease mark on your face." He answered, still smoothing his skin over mine.

"It's not me, you've got grease on your glasses." I giggled, removing them and cleaning the lens for him.

"Oh…" he blushed.

"Do not infect Zim's base with your profanity!" Zim snapped, shooing me towards the elevator.

"Alright, I'm leaving!" I chuckled, heading towards the elevator, "Hey, Heft, Gutsy, smurf an eye on them, please?"

"Ah, you're learning the lingo, eh lass?"

"You pick it up, I guess." I smirked, vanishing up into the kitchen.

I moved off into the living room realise how long we'd actually been in Zim's base. The sky outside was turning a pink-orange colour as the sun was starting to set. Oh well, at least we'd gotten a good part of the frame done, even if it was still no where near available for use. Looked like there would be another night of playing hotel landlady. Or mothering as Dib insisted on calling it. Yes, that was till playing on my mind a little. But, I knew he was only messing around. But why did he have to be right about it?

As I was walking down the sidewalk into the main street, I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was being watched. It started out like a tingle at the back of my neck, and now it turning into a burning sensation travelling right down my spine. Where was this coming from? There were barely any people walking and those that were just ignored me. All of a sudden, something soft nudged me in the back. I froze, and turned steadily on my heel. But there was no one there. There it was again. This time I didn't hesitate, I span around and threw an arm out to catch whatever it was if it tried to move again. However, my hands only clenched on air and once again I saw nobody. This was starting to freak me out.

All of a sudden, something solid smacked into my side and nearly knocked me to the ground. I landed on my knees and gasped to reclaim the air that had been forced out of me. There was a flash of green and black and the sound of hysterical giggling.

"GIR?" I breathed, "You scared the life out of me."

His fabricated eyes widened and his arms waved, "Whoops! I'll catch it for ya!" he swatted the air around me, "Better?"

"Kind of…" Something poked my back again, I turned but once again there was no visible cause, "Have you been following me all the way?"

GIR nodded, "You let little mini go, we wants to go too!"

"Who's little mini?" I asked.

The disguised android started pulling at my backpack, out of curiosity I let him take it and open the zipper. He reached inside and pulled out a very dazed, and sheepish Smurf. He waved and gave a nervous chuckle.

"Clumsy?" I blinked.

He ducked his head, "Sorry, I kind of tripped and… well… you know…"

"See," GIR nodded triumphantly, "can we come too?"

I sighed and readjusted my back, brining clumsy up to perch on my shoulder and tousled GIR in the head, "Why not, I think I need a little company at the moment."

GIR tottered at my side, occasionally pausing to adjust his disguise every now and again which I thought was a little strange, normally he didn't care about his disguise. In fact more times than not it was a struggle to get him into it. But I chose to ignore this, after all it was GIR, anything out of the ordinary was expected from him. Clumsy was securely hidden behind a curtain of my hair, peeking through curiously. I lost count of the amount of times I'd had to stop him from falling before I have up and placed him in the pocket of my jacket. To be fair, I should have done that from the beginning, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight. That feeling was back again, the feeling that I was being watched. I asked if there were any other smurfs around when Clumsy had fallen in my bag, but he insisted that it was just him.

Finally we arrived at Bloaty's and I told GIR to wait outside with Clumsy while I ordered the food. Remembering how many smurfs there were, I chose to order three large veggie pizzas along with the slushy for Zim. Just to be on the safe side I ended up buying one for Dib, GIR and me too. It was a good thing GIR had pointed out Clumsy to me, it would have been a bit of a shock for both of us if I'd found him while trying to stuff the pizza boxes into my bag. However, what came to more of a shock was when I went back outside. GIR and Clumsy had gone, but there was a series of childish protests and yowling coming from the side alleyway.

I peeked around the corner and my eyes widened in horror. GIR had his hood down and was pressing himself against the wall, Clumsy lifted high above his head for safety. A snarling ginger-tabby was pacing back and fore in front of the android, taking a swipe towards the smurf whenever it saw an opportunity.

"Silly kitty-moo!" GIR chuckled, "Little mini is my friend, there's lots more to be your friend!" The cat hissed at him, GIR tilted his head with uncertainty, "You's not a happy kitty-moo, are you?"

Clumsy tried to cower to safety but couldn't get far, and daren't move too much for fear of falling, his eyes caught mine, "Amy! It's Azrael! Help!"

The cat turned to glare at me with its glowing eyes. It eyed me and let out a hiss which clearly meant that it recognised me, and was just about as happy to see me as I was to see him. I stepped up to it, smacking my hands together to try and scare it off with the noise. Clearly it wasn't phased by this at all and tried to swipe a claw at me. I avoided it my inches and tried to get closer to GIR, but it stepped out to block me. I made an attempt to softly nudge it to the side with my foot but it bared its teeth and hissed again. This cat was insane! But, it was also intelligent, from previous experience, it could understand me, and knew what I was trying to do.

"Okay cat," I snapped, "back away or you're getting a slushy bath."

I held the slushy cup over its head threateningly. For a moment, it hesitated, but then smirked. It actually smirked at me! Then it lifted its head, almost challenging me to tip the contents over his head. For a moment, I was willing to comply, but just as I was about to tip the contents over its smug little head, I felt like I couldn't move. I was lifted off of the ground and slammed into the wall behind me. The air was forced out of my lungs and my arms and legs seemed pinned to my sides. Panic started to rise in my throat. As far as I could see, there was nothing binding me. It was like there was some kind of force pressing me to the wall, my feet a good three feet off of the ground. GIR looked up at me with confused awe as he was backed into a corner, still holding clumsy above his head. Azrael nodded curtly at me while he stood guard over them. A sniggering laughter echoed around the alley as a man stalked forward, dressed in a tattered robe and a cruel sneer.

"You again?" he questioned, glaring at me accusingly, "So you're the one hiding what's rightfully mine?"

I begged my voice to stay steady, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man glanced over at GIR and Clumsy, "Who are you trying to fool, wench?"

"Leave them alone!" I ordered, struggling viciously.

This however just made him snigger all the more, "You think you can order me around? Have you never heard of the great and powerful wizard that is Gargamel?"

I had to smirk at the introduction, it reminded me a little of Zim, "Not really, no. Sorry to disappoint you. Now let them go!"

"Now why would I do that? Why just let them go, when I've searched for them in this diabolical realm as well as my own for so long?"

"And why do you need them?" I challenged, sounding a lot braver than I felt, "I can think of better cat toys!"

He smirked, "As can I, such as your hair pulled into a ball of string, or your eyes attached to a bell on a string? I'd bet my power you'd make a very appetising mouse, wouldn't she Azrael?"

The cat snickered in agreement and slowly licked its lips. Fear was starting to build up inside me. Who knew what this maniac was capable of? It was already clear that he had power, but how much of it was he able to use?

"All of which can be avoided, if you're willing to cooperate. All you have to do, it tell me, where are the rest of the smurfs?"

I didn't answer; instead I just put all of my energy into struggling against his power, all attempts fruitless. He was growing angry with me, it was easy to tell by the way his fists were clenching and the vein in his temple pulsating. My heart was pounding, fear coursing through me. But I refused to beg or cry, I'd been through enough to know that it got you nowhere with people like him. My eyes travelled to GIR who was shifting uneasily with concern. Clumsy was quivering, fighting every instinct to run, for he knew that if he did, he wouldn't get far without Azrael knowing. Gargamel lifted a hand, using his powers to bring me forward from the wall only to slam me back into it again.

"Speak or so help me I'll transform you into the pests you're pointlessly protecting, you'd make a lovely blue meal for Azrael!"

My head bowed from lack of air, I noticed the slushy cup still in my hands. I shut my eyes and trembled with effort, willing myself to move. My muscles ached and the invisible grip around me just seemed to tighten by the second. Finally, I felt my fist clench suddenly and forcefully. The icy drink was forced into the air by the sudden pressure, I felt it splatter over my hands and speckle on my face. There was a cry of anger and pain and I felt myself crumple to the ground. My eyes snapped open to see Gargamel swiping viciously at his eyes as the red iced drink coated his face, burning his eyes. He stumbled and stood on the cats tail, making it hiss and sink its claws into his masters leg.

"GIR, come on!" I cried.

The android saluted and rushed forwards, handing Clumsy to me before joining me in a sprint. My hands cupped protectively over the smurf, I could feel him trembling horribly. Adrenalin and terror was pushing me forward, forcing my legs to move faster than they normally would. There was an angered cry behind me, but I daren't look back. Gargamel was coming. I could feel it. So, I did what any scared, teenage girl who was being chased and wanted to feel sage would do in that situation. And it was stupid. I ran home.

The trip was so much shorter than it normally would be, even if I had chosen to run, fear pushed me forward. The door slammed shut behind me and I leant against it to stop myself collapsing. I opened my hands to see if my charge okay. That was hardly the way I'd describe him though. GIR patted his head softly.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Clumsy asked.

I tried to regain my breathing back to normal, "I'll be fine, what about you?"

"Just smurfy…" he said, wrapping his arms around himself for comfort, "Did he follow us?"

The door behind my back shook violently as someone started to hammer their fist against it. I accidently let out a shriek of terror and pressed myself more firmly against the door. GIR tapped my arm and beamed at me.

"Pizza's here!" he announced.

"Open this door or by the gods I'll open it myself!" Gargamel sneered, "Come out wherever you are little smurfs!"

I bolted the lock and grabbed GIR by the arm, dragging them through the house and towards the back door. I searched around for the key, but it was nowhere to be found. Oh crap, my mum tidied the house before leaving, that key could be anywhere in the state! I struggled with the lock as the crashing on the front door grew more desperate. There was a yowling in the window; I flinched at the glowing eyes staring at me through the glass beside the door. It hissed and started mewing louder, signalling for its master. Clumsy looked at me fearfully while GIR started tapping the window, waving at Azrael.

"Not helping GIR…" I breathed, trying to plan my next move over the noise of my heart racing.

"You can't hide them forever, wench!"

"Leave us alone!" I yelled, pulling the curtains to shield us from view.

"Amy? Are you out here?" a familiar voice called, muffled from the outside.

Dib, oh no Dib please go back into Zim's house! Don't let this crazy lunatic see you please, just go back inside!

"Amy? Weird, I was sure I heard shouting out here… Well, that weird robot thing's been gone for a while, no doubt it's broken into Amy's house again, it wouldn't be the first time, I guess…"

With my free hand, I covered my mouth to stop myself from shouting at him. This was no time to start talking to yourself, Dib! Please, go back inside where it's safe! No such luck. There was a lighter knock on my front door, along with Dib calling my name. What should I do? Should I call to him? Let him in? Pray that Gargamel didn't see him? Run for it? I didn't know. I just didn't know. GIR however, made the choice for me. He skipped to the front door and opened it wide, waving at Dib.

"Heya Mary-Dib! You see Pizza-man around here?"

He arched his brow in confusion before setting eyes on me, instantly he rushed forward and grabbed my shoulders.

"Amy? What happened? You look like you've seen a -"

"Gargamel!" Clumsy cried, squirming in my palm.

"I was gonna say ghost but…"

"No!" he pointed out into the front yard, "Gargamel!"

Dib span on his heel and threw an arm out to shield me. The angered man stood before us, beckoning for us to come out. We did no such thing and didn't plan to.

"Pizza-man!" GIR waved.

"You can't hide from the wrath of Gargamel mortals! Now hand over the smurfs!" he sneered.

"There's an alien next door, why not take him instead?" Dib asked anxiously.

"It's smurfs I need, and smurfs I'll get."

"Not likely." He retorted.

The wizard threw his arms outwards before bringing them back together, Dib and I were lifted off out feet and hoisted out into the open air before being dropped to the ground. I curved around Clumsy protectively, Dib jumped to his feet and pulled me up with him. I felt myself being pushed towards Zim's house. Everything was moving so fast, it was like a blur! From what I could tell, Dib had forced me towards the house, ducking the invisible attacks that Gargamel was throwing. Suddenly, I tripped and skidded along a tiled floor, Clumsy being forced from my hands and was caught by another group of smurfs. I turned in time to Dib landing flat on his stomach, half inside the house while his legs still on the front step. Gargamel focused his aim on Dib's feet and started pulling him outwards with his mind.

Dib scrambled and whimpered in protest, gripping the doorframe for safety. I rushed to grab him, but I was brushed aside. All of a sudden, Zim was glaring down at Dib. He grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hoisted him up to eye-level.

"What are you playing at Dib-worm?" he snapped.

I lunged and slammed the door shut, panting for breath. However, the angered cries still sounded from outside. We peered out of the window to see Gargamel try and walk up the pathway, but the gnomes were activated by the unknown intruder and started shooting, making him fall back in surprise.

"You may be protected by such magic, but you'll have to come out sooner or later, if you want your pet returned!"

Pet? What pet? I looked around and found that there was someone missing… I pressed my face against the glass to see the despicable man holding out his prise smugly. GIR waved at us, totally oblivious to the entire situation.

"GIR's out there?" asked Smurfette, trembling herself.

"Wait, where are the smurflings?" asked Papa.

"Well they were smurfing around with GIR before Amy left and…" Brainy paled, "Oh no…"

I remembered GIR's words when he had caught up with me. He said that we, not I wanted to come along. We? Why we? And there had been the adjusting of his disguise, and refastening the lid of his head. I flushed in anger at the wizard. He grinned in triumph before throwing his hands in the air, vanishing as he was hidden behind an explosion of smoke. Once it was cleared, he was gone. GIR along with him, and…

"So, where is the slushy that Zim demanded?"

"Zim!" I cried, "He's got them! Gargamel's got the -"

"That human took Zim's slushy?" he yelled.

Dib shoved the alien harshly, "Man Zim this isn't the time!"

"Zim demands his slushy!"

I covered my ears with my hands, guilt and horror washing over me. He had them, that evil wizard took them, and he didn't even know it.

"We've got to get them back…" I muttered, more to myself than anyone else, I needed to hear it out loud, to give myself an order so that I'd react, "GIR, and the smurflings… we've got to get them back…"