Chapter 9: Balls of Steel and a Heart of Gold
While Timber celebrates his victory at camp, Tracker and his brave scout troop fearlessly snuck their way through No Smurf's Land unharmed and undetected. Tracker lifts a hand swiftly, ordering a halt as he alone climbs Gargamel's stone brick wall to the front window and very stealth fully takes a peak inside. Much to Tracker's surprise nobody was home nether man nor cat. Tracker gives the signal and Hefty, Tuffy, and Gutsy, all wielding spears, carefully slip in threw a crack in the door made by spear and inspect make a stealth walk to the nearest place of security, Gargamel's bookshelf. Tracker inspects from afar atop the window seal and just as his nose told him, Gargamel's house was in fact for perhaps the first time ever full of bounty of all sorts. Food and drink of mass quantity covered the dinner table so well that it's wood surface was not visible, his alchemy shelves and cupboards were stocked richly with all different kinds of expensive and rare alchemical delicacies that would be the envy of any dedicated sorcerer.
Tracker also noticed a vast amount of human currency and gems scattered about but he couldn't care less about that, he was in awe at the site before his eyes, and it was unguarded and all their's.
"Since when did Gargamel get so rich?" Hefty asks, looking around at the bountiful site before him.
"Since he be thee only human left on earth!" Gutsy replied.
"We don't have proof of that just yet." Tuffy says, as he cautiously looks around the room.
"It's a trap! Quick! Everysmurf find a good hiding place now! Hurry!" Tracker yells smelling the scent of cat and human from afar.
Tracker performs a leap of faith out of shock and with luck lands in a gemmed vase, gold sovereigns cushioning his fall. The Smurfs wait for ether shear dumb luck or certain death as the smell of cat hair burns stronger and stronger in Tracker's nose.
-INSERT GARGAMEL'S THEME HERE-
"Hurry Azrael! The night is still young and we must scavenge as much treasure as possible just incase others survived the storm! With all this at my disposal, those rotten miserable Smurfs stand no chance at all! I'm rich! Rich I tell you!" Gargamel says while hulling a crate a food down the dirt path to his house and laughing like an idiot.
Azrael follows behind him with a sack strapped to his back panting.
"mweah mweah…." Azrael responds.
"I am telling you Azrael! We will never go hungry again! But what's better, we will get those Smurfs to!" Gargamel said, as he approached the door.
"Wha- What the?!… What's this?!" Gargamel says, looking at the hole Hefty made in the door with his spear.
"So… Those rotten blue beasts think they break into my house do they!? I bet they even stole from me! Come Azrael, we will get to the bottom of this!" Gargamel shouts while opening the door and storming into his house with Azrael close behind.
It is not long after entering the house that Azrael picks up the scent of Smurf and begins pacing about, poking his whiskers into cracks and under furniture to see if he can sense them. Azrael approaches the gold pile where the vase lays that hides Tracker is located, he swings his paw into the pile sending coins and gems into the air, one of them smacked Gargamel right upside the face which made him pissed and he scolded Azrael for it calling him a miserable cat. Gargamel was flipping threw pages of a book he had salvaged from the ruins he obviously is looting everyday and night, looking for a spell that will be the base of his next idiotic plan.
Azrael keeps searching, soon enough he approaches the vase holding Tracker, and much to the dismay of the other Smurfs, stuck his entire head into it and immediately started causing a ruckus. Azrael's head was stuck in the vase and he was thrashing around the room, crying out and running into things. Gargamel shoots up out of his chair extremely pissed off and annoyed and starts chasing Azrael around, trying to keep him from breaking anything. Azrael rams into one of the stone brick walls that make up the house and the vase shatters into pieces. Surprisingly, Azrael was conscious and kept thrashing his head around and crying out. Gargamel, thinking his cat was possessed, backs up to the window and just watches when suddenly he sees Tracker fly across the room into the gold pile holding one of Azrael's whiskers, and Azrael dives into the pile of coins, enraged and hurt, searching for his attacker.
"That's it Azrael! Get that miserable blue bandit!" Gargamel shouts, as he watches the fight.
"Poor Tracker…" Tuffy whispers, helplessly watching.
"We are going to help him!" Hefty says.
"You got a plan Hefty?" Gutsy asks.
"Yeah, and this should rid us of that troublesome cat forever, listen up here's what were going to do" Hefty huddles the other two closer so he can discuss his plan while Tracker continues his struggle just across the room.
"You'll never take me Azrael!" Tracker yells, as he springs up from the pile of coins and strikes Azrael between the eyes with his walking stick.
"I don't understand! Normally those miserable Smurfs are cowards! Azrael hurry and finish him!" Gargamel shouts.
Azrael grins, and lifts up his paw, 5 deadly claws unsheathed themselves from their retractable prison, each one freshly sharpened and thirsty for the blood of Smurf. Azrael's deadly gift from nature gleamed in the lantern most sinisterly. Tracker was readying another uppercut blow to his large opponent's head when Azrael's paw swiped like lighting towards Tracker when the crash of broken glass threw Azrael's aim off track. Tracker threw his head back as Azrael's middle claw grazed the left half of his face leaving a scratch wound that ranged from the middle of his eyebrow to the middle of his left cheek, tracker fell backwards into the pile of coins holding his face and screaming out in pain as dark red blood already began running down his face.
"Tracker! No!" Hefty yelled, as Azrael ran to the bookshelf and proceeded to climb it.
"Yes! You did it Azrael! You got one!" Gargamel shouts, laughing maniacally.
Azrael shouts out aggressively as he climbs the book the bookshelf. Standing approximately 3 shelves above was Hefty Smurf, and he was unexplainably pissed.
"Alright Smurfs! Initiate plan A!" Hefty shouts while staring hatefully into the eyes of his friends attacker.
Upon hearing the signal, Tuffy and Gutsy push a very large vase off the shelf, the heavy glass structure plummeted with a deadly whistle as it whirls through the air, shattering upon impact with Azrael's skull, the feline howled in unexplainable pain and then fell from a height of 6 shelves and landed on his back, a crack noise was heard throughout the room that would make a man want to vomit upon hearing it and then Azrael was silent.
"Azrael?!…AZRAEL?! NO!" Gargamel screamed in pure terror, for the first time in his life he realizes just how important Arael is to him.
Azrael lay sprawled out on his back in critical condition, he chest moves up and down slowly.
"Gutsy! He is still breathing! Ready yourself for plan B! Tuffy, get Tracker back to camp to doctor immediately! Hurry! Hefty ordered, as he readied his spear with Gutsy.
Tuffy nodded and made a dash for Tracker's location while Gargamel stood in complete shock by the window just trying to take in the whole situation. Hefty and Gutsy looked at each other and nodded before pointing the head of their spears to the ground, grabbing the handle tight, and with a scream dove off the edge of the bookshelf and impaled Azrael in the form of a deadly Arial attack. Hefty landed with his spear protruding from Azrael's heart, Gutsy 's in his neck, needless to say Azrael claimed his final breath.
"You little blue Bastards! I-I.. I can't believe you just did that! I will kill you all!" Gargamel screams in rage and tears.
Gargamel runs for Tracker and harshly grabs him by the face and lifts him up, he reaches into his cloak and pulls a pocket knife out and readies it, holding it to Tracker's neck.
"I will slaughter you all one by one! You will pay!" Gargamel yells, tears streaming down his face as his hands shake.
"You make one false move and Papa Smurf is going to kick your Smurf!" Hefty yells.
Gargamel laughs that sinister laugh and replies: " If you think for one moment that I would ever fear Papa Smurf… Then your dumber then I thought.. Say goodbye to your hopeless blue friend here!" Gargamel begins clenching his fist with Tracker's head still in it and Tracker's face turns purple and he screams in the utmost pain any Smurf had ever experienced. Hefty was prepared to hurl his spear into Gargamel's kneecap when all of a sudden a huge smacking noise was heard and Gargamel's facial expression changed from pissed and upset to shocked, he then dropped Tracker and proceeded to fall forward, hitting the ground with a thud inches from Gutsy's face.
"What was that?! How did you do that?!" Gutsy yells to Hefty.
"I… I didn't.." Hefty replied in shock.
Just then a Smurf-sized figure appeared to them on the window seal, it then jumped down onto the dirt floor and stepped into the light, revealing it's identity.
"Cl…. Clockwork Smurf?…." Hefty said.
The tiny wooden automaton nodded his head and approached Gargamel. Clockwork used his super strength to haul Gargamel away to the cellar and lock it tight. That should be quite the rude wake up call for Gargamel later.
Clockwork lays Tracker, who is now unconscious, over his wooden shoulder and dashes out of the house towards the camp, leaving Tuffy, Hefty, and Gutsy standing where they were when Gargamel was knocked unconscious completely stupefied with their mouths wide open.
"We should Smurf back to camp and tell the others what just happened…" Tuffy says.
"I'm not even sure I know what just happened…" Hefty said, still dumbstruck.
"Lets go get some sleep…" Gutsy says, as they all 3 exit the house and head towards camp.
And as they approach the camp the first signs of dawn make themselves known in the sky, though they have vanquished a powerful foe and finally proved to themselves that Smurfs indeed can be useful in battle, our three warriors still have a lot left on their plates. And so the final words of chapter 9 write themselves out… Don't you miss out on the next exciting chapter of Smurfocalypse!