The Smurfocalypse Chatper 135: Pluto's New Family.
Brainy was stirring up trouble for Pluto, but right now she didn't really even think about what had happened due to it just being something she was used to going through and continued to just spend her afternoon with Coconut. Brainy would make it back to the port with his team and sent some knights out to find Jupiter. Brainy had a plan to punish Pluto, but it wasn't going to be extreme. He knew he'd have to get someone she trusted involved in order to prevent any Smurf from getting hurt as even Brainy had seen first hand what Pluto was capable of when pushed into a corner. Jupiter had been told the full story and was feeling kind of foolish as though he had been used or tricked by Pluto. He was hurt, but he was still going to do his part to help her in whatever way Brainy wanted. He simply wanted Jupiter to get Pluto to follow him to Papa Smurf's hut where she'd receive the first part of her punishment. Even now though Jupiter was not going lie or trick Pluto he was going to be straightforward. It would be within his right to deceive her and drag her to Papa Smurf's hut kicking and screaming, but even though she hurt his feelings he still cared for her and respected her. He realized out of all the adults he seems to be the only one she really confides in. It had to be Jupiter that showed her a better way.
He caught them on their way back from their play session. He came alone with none of the other knights accompanying him and stopped them right in their tracks by approaching them from up front. The Smurflings stop and look up at him and its clear he's not happy.
"Mister Jupiter?" Pluto asked tilting her head.
"Pluto we need to talk." Jupiter said.
"About what mister Jupiter?" Pluto asked.
"I found out about what you did in the forest." Jupiter said.
Pluto's expression immediately reflects her unease. She looks back to Coconut and is clearly becoming both scared and embarrassed at the same time.
"Mister Jupiter I-" Pluto began.
"You lied to my face Pluto." Jupiter said coldly.
Coconut was starting to look a mixture of uncomfortable and nervous as she just awkwardly stood there not knowing what either of them were talking about. Pluto tries her hardest not to, but then tears involuntarily begin to run down her cheeks. One could tell they were real because she was suffering in silence, trying to hide her tears in shame. These were not tears anybody was supposed to see.
"I'm sorry mister Jupiter." Pluto mutters hanging her head in shame still silently crying.
Jupiter has mixed feelings as he watches on.
"You're mad at me!" Pluto said covering her eyes unable to let muffled sobs escape.
Everyone watches on sympathetically as Pluto has a genuine break right in front of them showing them a side of her they had never seen.
"I wasn't going to break my promise! I swear! I didn't know if we were safe and I didn't want you to die!" Pluto shouts towards Coconut even though she had her hands over her face and wasn't directing her glance at anyone.
She continues to cry taking immediate note nobody was judging her or threatening to smack the hell out of her for it and just let it go as though she were alone. It was still humiliating how she was showing such weakness, but at least she wasn't afraid she was going to die for showing it. Coconut gently sat Elaeis on the forest floor near a tree on his stomach and he eyed a dandelion with determination as he was going to grab it and stuff it right in his mouth the moment Coconut turned away. Her chief was important, but her best friend needed her more at the moment. Coconut walks up to her and rather directly just embraces her as a tribesmurf would another tribesmurf in a similar situation, and Pluto wraps her arms around her.
"I'm sorry guys… I don't know what I was thinking." Pluto said.
"It's ok Pluto. It'll be ok. I'm not mad. We're still going to be friends forever." Coconut said.
Meanwhile Elaeis was successful in his first ever quest and had the dandelion in his mouth, but God damn it he doesn't have any teeth so he can't really chew it like Coconut chews her food. He spits it out onto the forest floor and stares at it as it lay before him covered in his own saliva. How dare that thing not magically dissolve in his mouth and then will itself down his throat so he could properly taste it? Was it aware of how far he had to stretch his little arm to get it? If only he could move in some way on his own… His retainer would eventually lift him up though way before he could process that last thought and he would be ready to face the world again, wiser.
"Pluto, Brainy wants me to take you to him. I promise I will protect you just as I always have." Jupiter said.
Pluto could easily relate her bond to Jupiter to something she might have had with Nova had the world not been destroyed and Titan hadn't torn apart everything she knew. She trusted him without question and followed behind him as he led her to the port. Jupiter leads her inside where Brainy was anticipating her arrival. He had to prepare himself for this conversation as he wanted nothing more than to hit Pluto as hard as he could with the book of Hefty's laws, lecture her for being a danger to the community, and stress adamantly that she must walk the line in Port Saint Smurf to no longer be seen as a Smurfette of interest amongst authority figures. However he must remember that he needs to practice using his filter, he must not falter especially not in front of an influential figure such as Jupiter who has never seen him actually pop off. When Pluto realized she wasn't going to be elbowed and then slapped in irons and thown into a cage she looked a lot less stressed and sat down as Brainy gestured to an empty seat.
"Pluto Pluto Pluto… You've had a busy day today haven't you?" Brainy said with a sigh.
Pluto looks down at the surface of the desk knowing she's in trouble.
"I just wanted everyone to be safe…" Pluto said.
"And safe is what everyone was, until you did what you did." Brainy said.
"I'm sorry." Pluto said not looking up.
"Because of what you did a friend I've known since before all of this started is gone. Not dead, but I'll never see him again. Do you realize that what you did could scare the others around you?" Brainy asked.
Pluto looked up at him slowly. She never really had to care whether or not her actions would instill fear in fact, that was one of the major reasons she was able to sit in this chair on a foreign planet alive. Right about now would be when Titan would have broke Brainy into literal pieces while proclaiming she had done nothing wrong. She looked over at Jupiter just to see if maybe he'd save her and he was still just standing there looking visibly upset and silently watching, curious as to what Pluto had to say for herself. She was on her own in a situation she had received no education or direct experience or training in. Pluto shrugs.
"I did what I thought I had to do to survive." Pluto said no longer looking like a scolded child.
"That's the problem. Someone clearly taught you all the wrong ways to deal with problems, and so I have a fitting punishment for you." Brainy said reaching into a drawer and retrieving a long rope.
Pluto watches curiously suspecting he was going to propose her execution in which case this whole port will be a frozen wasteland depicting a tale of slaughter. However Brainy placed the rope on the desk and folded his hands.
"You and Jupiter are going to be closer than you could have ever imagined." Brainy said.
Jupiter raises his eyebrows.
"What do you plan to do Brainy?" Jupiter asked.
"Pluto is literally going to be tied to your waist for the rest of the year. She is not to leave your side until she's learned a thing or two about what it truly means to be Smurfy. You'll have to take her to work, eat together, sleep in the same room, and spend every waking moment together until you have reformed her… Either that or the knights are going to imprison her in the brig on the human ship." Brainy said.
Pluto's eyes widen and she looks to Jupiter mouth agape and Jupiter places a comforting hand on her shoulder as he grasps the rope in his other hand.
"I won't allow them to lock you up Pluto…" Jupiter said comically lifting her arms to fasten the rope around her waist before tying it to his own.
"Don't worry Brainy. I will show Pluto the way of peace and smurfiness." Jupiter said.
"See to it that you do. I look forward to seeing her progress." Brainy said with a nod.
Jupiter looks to Pluto and tugs on the rope causing her to stand.
"Come on Pluto. It'll be fun I'll let you hold the lantern." Jupiter said.
The two exit the hut, and Pluto's reconditioning begins. Can the noble Jupiter Smurf reform this victim of war and chaos? Only time will tell.