The Smurfocalypse Chapter 109: The Search for the Savant Cure part 13: A battle of raw skill
When was the last time Smurfstorm had to fight without the use of her Smurf essence? In reality Smurfstorm had discovered her Smurf essence months before even Farmer had his own essence beaten out of him by Hefty. It was the winter following the summer which started everything exactly one year ago. Smurfwillow had been gone for almost a month, and Smurfstorm and the closest of her inner circle including the now deceased Smurflily had to think fast in order to save the Smurfettes of Smurfy Grove from a painful death of hypothermia and starvation. They roughed it out in the wilderness for a long time wasting the entirety of autumn foraging just enough to sustain themselves while avoiding the blackhearted and their forces. The basic survival training presumably every Smurfling eventually goes through is the sole thing that kept them alive without the comforts of a village, but as winter approached Smurfstorm had to come to a decision which would put them all in danger. She led them into the remnants of a human village where some of the occupants still remained. Smurfstorm led them into a house which was occupied, and during a stealth mission gone wrong in which Smurfstorm and her knights tried to steal from the humans a battle broke out where Smurfstorm was stepped on by the angry resident. This led to a near death experience that nearly spelled the end of everything. Thanks to Smurfblossom acting quickly and developing her healing powder concoction Smurfstorm was able to survive. It was in the days following that moment that she developed her Smurf essence far faster than any of Hefty's group was able to. Her leaf type Smurf essence though not an accurate representation of her physical power was able to handle the dirty work that'd keep them alive to this point. However now that she faces an opponent that can cut off access to her Smurf essence, Smurfstorm would have to return to the roots every Smurf warrior that's survived to this point would start from. That is her raw skills.
"Now that you can't use your Smurf essence you will surely be no match for me!" Terry claimed.
Smurfstorm just laughs and wipes blood from her eye.
"I'm only just getting started!" Smurfstorm claims.
Terry cracks her whip towards Smurfstorm, but she rolls out of the way to avoid the attack and while on one knee fires an arrow at Terry. The arrow flies right past Terry's face grazing her cheek and creating an open wound.
"It seems your wound is hindering your accuracy!" Terry said as he draws back her whip.
Smurfstorm jumps and fires two arrows at Terry causing her to have to cancel her attack to avoid them.
"Stormy is only getting warmed up. Her opponent has no idea what she is getting herself into." Smurfblossom said.
"So Smurfstorm really is tough huh?" Farmer asked.
Smurfblossom shakes her head and laughs.
"You have no idea! She saved our lives more times than I can count. If I had money I'd bet it all on Stormy winning." Smurfblossom said.
"I couldn't care in the slightest about human money, but your faith in her gives me strength." Farmer said.
"Let's see if you truly have what it takes to be a Knight of the Smurftable… It'll take more than a few parlor tricks and the fact you're extremely cute to convince me." Hefty thinks as he observes the battle.
As the battle progresses Smurfstorm reaches further into her bags of techniques to stay alive. Terry flies above her out of range of everything she has on her except her bow. As terry swoops in to attack she has to dodge.
"Her aerial techniques look oddly familiar…" Farmer said.
"You noticed as well? We know those techniques." Archer said.
"They're the techniques of a falcon. Pterodactyl must have studied the movements of falcons hunting." Falconer said.
"Does that mean she could be as strong as Zarus?" Smurfblossom asked.
"Highly unlikely, but we can't rule that out." Falconer said.
"It's that whip that's the main problem. Something tells me we haven't seen its true power." Smurfblossom said.
"That's true it's definitely imbued with magic of some sort. That magic weapon and her wings gives her the advantage when Smurfblossom can't use her Smurf essence." Hefty said.
"You just continue believing that if you want, but I know Stormy is in no danger at all." Smurfblossom said with a sassy smirk.
In that instant Terry had unleashed a whiplash towards Smurfstorm before taking back to the air causing Smurfstorm to have to jump to avoid it. It seemed like a truly one-sided battle where Terry's assault was swift and brutal, but Smurfstorm has been observing Terry's movements the entire time while evading attacks. She was coming up with a plan. Terry swoops in again and with a war cry thrashes her whip towards Smurfstorm, and then she executes her plan. Demonstrating a skill that none of the knights had ever seen before, Smurfstorm leaps into the air high above Terry's head and then kicks off mid-air and performs a second jump before flipping forward into the air. She then readies her bow as Terry swoops passed where Smurfstorm stood and fired a bow reinforced with wind similar to Hefty's Wind Cutter. The arrow soars through the air and hits Terry in the back the arrow penetrating her armor and lower back causing Terry to scream out and stop mid-flight.
"Nice shot Stormy!" Smurfblossom said.
"Unbelievable! Did you see that?!" Farmer said.
"It looked like she jumped a second time in mid-air." Archer said.
"That's Stormy's Double Jump technique. No matter how hard I train I've never been able to master it." Smurfblossom said.
"So there's a technique that allows you to jump a second time in mid-air, and it doesn't use Smurf essence… incredible. Her skill with the bow is just like what she said it was too. Did she hold back these techniques during our spar on purpose? If so then why?" Hefty thought as he observed.
"Sorry Hefty I know you must be shocked, but I didn't know if I could trust you… So I kept my best skills a secret in case I'd have to have killed you. I know you'll accept this battle as an apology especially if it means I can take out one of the bastards that killed Timber." Smurfstorm thought.
Smurfstorm lands as Terry violently rips the arrow out of her back and throws it.
"This is my favorite dress and you ruined it!" Terry said.
"Dress? Who even cares about that?" Smurfstorm said.
"I do! And now its bloody and full of holes! Grrr I'm going to make you pay for every drop of blood on it!" Terry shouted.
"Whatever floats your boat I guess." Smurfstorm said.
As they fought Smurfstorm's wound began to swell as well as bleed. This level of pain would leave a grown man writhing on the ground, but Smurfstorm seemingly was shrugging it off as though it were a papercut. Smurfstorm loads three arrows and fires a Triple Shot at Terry causing her to have to fly from her spot in the air to avoid the arrows.
"She's mastered the Triple Shot?!" Archer said.
"Yup!" Smurfblossom said, nodding with pride.
"I hope you didn't plan on hitting me with that." Terry said.
"Not at all…" Smurfstorm said loading her bow.
She then fires an arrow that whiffs by a long shot missing Terry entirely. And flying into the trees.
"Ha! Your wound is weakening you after all!" Terry said just before taking an arrow to the back of her head.
The shot pierced her helmet, but didn't penetrate.
"You're lucky." Smurfstorm said.
"How?! What did you do?!" Terry shouts.
"The arrow ricocheted off a tree trunk." Archer said.
"But the darkness of the forest makes that so hard to see. How did you figure it out?" Smurfblossom asked.
"I work night and early morning shift. I guess my eyes have just adjusted after so long." Archer said.
"Nothing gets passed our sentinel!" Farmer said.
"Oh stop it's not that great." Archer said humbly.
"You haven't said anything in awhile Jupiter are you good?" Smurfblossom asked.
"Yeah it's just I have this bad feeling in the pit of my Smurf." Jupiter said.
"About what?" Farmer asked.
"It's that magic weapon she's holding. Just like what Smurfblossom said we don't know it's true power… I'm worried. I just don't want another one of us to die." Jupiter said.
"Stormy will be fine Jupiter you'll see." Smurfblossom said.
Terry takes flight and soars toward Smurfstorm and Smurfstorm stubbornly charges her back. Smirking Terry cracks her whip right towards Smurfstorm's face, but then she slides under her across the ground repeating her strategy from earlier only this time it connects and Terry takes an arrow to the gut close range which causes her to fall out of the sky and land on her back.
"Damn!" Terry said.
Smurfstorm aims her bow at Terry as she lay on the ground and fires another shot causing Terry to roll instinctively and lean on the arrow pushing it deeper into her skin. Terry screams out and rips out the arrow before grasping her wound.
"I've underestimated you! I guess it's time I go all out then." Terry said.
Terry cracks her whip and aura it emits intensifies. She has finally decided to reveal the magical properties of her weapon.