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Author
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Topic: "Gargamel's First Catch" -- the full story
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 10-28-2023 09:00 AM
Here is my EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf adaptation of the comic book story "The Smurfnapper". Enjoy!
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Prologue
Empath's personal journal.
This day marks the first anniversary of the Smurf Village's liberation from the torment that was called Gargamel, and most Smurfs are in happy spirits knowing that the evil wizard is no more to be seen in the Smurf Forest. Ironically, most Smurfs have spent the day telling tales of how they have dealt with Gargamel in one way or another, as if to recall the very fact that despite what the wizard tried to accomplish with his various spells, schemes, and inventions, they were always foiled by the Smurfs. It only makes this smurf jealous that this smurf has never been in the village to have met Gargamel at the same time that the other Smurfs did, but then it makes this smurf appreciative of the fact that if it weren't for Gargamel being in our lives, there wouldn't have been a Smurfette in this smurf's life to be this one's potential mate. Polaris Psyche, who is a new member of the Smurf Village, never had the fortune, whether good or ill, of meeting Gargamel face to face, which is what peaks his curiosity on the subject of someone who has been a constant shadow over the Smurfs and their peaceful way of living.
The Smurfs all gathered inside Tapper's Tavern, watching Jokey on stage playing with his marionette of Gargamel, portraying one of the scenarios that have actually happened in regards to his being the biggest threat to the village. The Smurflings were manipulating the marionettes of the Smurfs as they were acting out their parts.
"This time I shall have you all in my stewpot, and some of you will help me to become the richest wizard in all the world," the marionette Gargamel said in his usual threatening manner, letting out an evil laugh.
"Oh no! Papa Smurf, what are we going to do?" one of the marionette Smurfs asked.
"Do not be afraid, my little Smurfs," the marionette Papa Smurf said. "Gargamel may be big, but there's only one of him and a hundred of us. Together we can smurf the evil wizard and make sure he never threatens us again."
"You'll have to get someone bigger than me in order to get rid of me, you vile despicable little Smurfs," the marionette Gargamel said.
Then Hefty came on stage dressed in the manner of Bigmouth the ogre. "Why you pick on my little friends, Gargamel?" Bigmouth said in a threatening manner. "You make Bigmouth really mad. Bigmouth needs to teach you a lesson."
"No, please, Bigmouth, I never meant to hurt any of your friends," the marionette Gargamel said, sounding intimidated by Bigmouth's presence.
"Too late, Gargamel," Bigmouth said as he took the marionette Gargamel and shook him around while Jokey mimicked all the pain and suffering Hefty as the ogre put the evil wizard through.
"Just remember, my little Smurfs," the marionette Papa Smurf said, "for every big fish that smurfs in the sea, there's an even bigger fish waiting for them."
"I hate bigger fish," Grouchy said as he was watching the show.
The Smurfs cheered as the show was brought to a close, and Jokey, Hefty, and the Smurflings took their bows on stage with Jokey cradling his marionette Gargamel like an injured pet.
"Sorry for smurfing a little rough with your toy there, Jokey," Hefty said.
"You probably would have smurfed the same to Gargamel, if you were big enough to smurf Bigmouth's shoes anyhow," Jokey said.
"Okay, who's up for a game of whacking the Gargamel pinata?" Party Smurf said, which elicited a lot of enthusiastic responses.
"Oh, that game seems to be so barbaric," Vanity said.
"Aw, it's a good fun game, Vanity, in case you need to smurf your frustrations out on something," Grouchy said. "And I've got a lot of pent-up frustration right here."
"Just make sure you smurf it low enough so I can whack Gargamel right in the smurfberries, laddies," Duncan McSmurf said.
"If only you could smurf that on the real Gargamel when he was still here in the forest, Gutsy," Hefty said.
"That's Duncan to you, laddie, and if he does return our way, he's going to wish that he hadn't thought of smurfing it," Duncan said.
"Hey, save some of that pinata for us Smurflings," Snappy said as he and his three Smurfling friends followed after the adult Smurfs to join in the contest.
"This one does not understand the point of telling these stories about defeating this human wizard named Gargamel and using it as a form of entertainment among yourselves," Polaris said to Empath.
"The point of these stories is that they form part of our history, Polaris," Empath said. "In every culture, there is always a personalized form of danger that threatens the livelihood of every person in that culture, and in those encounters there will be those who will stand up against it in the way that they know how. Smurf culture is always threatened by anything that is bigger than ourselves, and that can also include regular creatures such as bears and wolves and hawks."
"But most of your fellow Smurfs do not have the benefit of your minds-eye abilities to deal with these threats by themselves, Empath," Polaris mentioned.
"It doesn't always have to require someone of this smurf's stature or Papa Smurf's to deal with them, as long as the Smurfs are resourceful in their knowledge of using what's available to them to the best of their own abilities," Empath said.
"That's very true, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "There are benefits to being a regular Smurf that balance out our...uh, shortcomings, so to speak. Our size allows us access to places that humans cannot smurf without the use of magic to make themselves smaller. We are also capable of hiding ourselves in places that such creatures that pursue us cannot smurf us from."
"And with our village looking like a patch of oversized mushrooms, we can make ourselves look like we don't even live here, should any of the humans even make it into our village by happenstance," Empath said.
"It doesn't mean that we like having Gargamel smurf into our village every now and then, Polaris," Smurfette said. "Sometimes that mean wizard smurfs too big for his smurfs, and it requires a whole village to smurf him out and away from us."
"One time he even tried to be a Smurf, and that was during Sassette smurfing the Mr. Smurf Contest for the luckiest Smurf who would escort Smurfette to the Harvest Moon Ball," Papa Smurf said. "None of the Smurfs knew what to call him, so they called him Nosey Smurf because of his nose which surprisingly smurfed like Gargamel's. However, when the spell wore off and he transformed back into being Gargamel, he ended up still smurfing the same size as the rest of us, which made it easy for him to be thrown out."
"Oh, poor Gargamel," Smurfette said with a snicker. "He really did fool me into thinking he was the Smurf who could impersonate that mean and nasty wizard."
"This smurf did not expect you to actually feel sorry for him, Smurfette," Empath said.
"I probably feel more sorry for what he's smurfing now, Empath," Smurfette said. "But all the same, it just feels so smurfy to smurf out into the forest and know that I won't have to worry about him anymore, trying to smurf up on me."
"But how did you first encounter Gargamel?" Polaris asked.
"It was six years ago, five before Empath smurfed home for good, that he first smurfed into our forest, Polaris," Papa Smurf said. "Narrator has smurfed us some of the details from what he smurfs, but this is how the whole thing happened."
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 10-28-2023 09:02 AM
Chapter 1
The story began about five years before Empath's final return from Psychelia, when the evil wizard known as Gargamel first settled in the Smurf Forest. On the day that he moved into the rundown hovel that was left by his father with the promise that it had a very special book that could help him whenever he needed it, he saw a flock of cranes flying over him that made him wonder where they could all be going. He then just dismissed the thought altogether, telling his cat Azrael that they have more important matters to deal with. Primarily, Gargamel wanted to be the first wizard who could assemble the legendary Philosopher's Stone, which would grant him the power to change base metals into gold, something that would make him rich as well as the envy of every wizard that ever thought that Gargamel would never amount to much in his profession. No sooner did Gargamel get settled in did he start reading from one of his spellbooks.
"Here it is...the Philosopher's Stone," he read aloud to his cat. "Hmmm...when the Sun is in Aries and the Moon in Taurus, you must grind mandrake roots and soak them in a solution of serpent venom. Salt, sulfur...not the vulgar type, but the philosophic...will be added, as well as mercury, which is purified as it is indicated here. When the first rays of the sun heats this liquid, we will take it to a boil over a fire of oak coals. At that time, there will dissolve a little Smurf..." He pondered at the last three words he read. "A Smurf? What in the devil's name is a Smurf?"
His cat Azrael meowed a response that sounded like "I don't know".
"Maybe this book about mythical creatures can help me with this problem," Gargamel said, looking through his bookshelf and pulling out the book in question to read from. "Smurf...Smurf...ah, here it is! 'Intelligent small beings, living in the land of Smurf, but sometimes found in our regions...they speak in a special language called Smurf. They are said to be very fond of a plant called sarsaparilla...Aha!" He came across an inscription that he felt he had to show to Azrael. "This engraving here shows us what a Smurf looks like." Azrael saw the picture and tried to swat at it, but Gargamel suddenly closed the book, making Azrael retract his paw. "Good! Then I, the sorcerer Gargamel, will finally achieve the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. All I need to do now is to capture one single Smurf...and if sarsaparilla is what will draw one to me, then so much the better."
Azrael watched as his master gathered some things he intended to use to capture a Smurf.
"Come along, Azrael," Gargamel said. "It's time for us to set up a trap."
Azrael reluctantly followed along as his master stepped out into the surrounding forest at night with his plan.
By morning, two Smurfs were walking in the forest. One of them was Brainy, the Smurf wearing glasses who felt it was his moral duty to share his words of wisdom to his fellow Smurfs, and the other was Nabby, a Smurf who loved eating more than he did listening to Brainy, and who also loved stealing food from his brother Greedy's kitchen when he wasn't looking.
"We're not smurfing back on this, Nabby," Brainy said as he and Nabby passed through a patch of tall grass. "If Papa Smurf wants us to smurf after nuts, then we are going to smurf that, because Papa Smurf says..."
"Papa Smurf this, Papa Smurf that...smurf, you're so annoying," Nabby said. "If Papa Smurf wanted nuts so badly, he should be smurfing them himself."
"That's the problem with you, Nabby...you have no respect for authority, most of all Papa Smurf's authority," Brainy said. "It's because of your antics with Greedy that you smurf into trouble all the time and Papa Smurf has to remind you that the food we smurf is for all Smurfs and that every Smurf must have his fair smurf and furthermore..."
"He should be scolding Greedy, because he smurfs more food than me when he smurfs in the kitchen," Nabby said, interrupting Brainy's thoughts. "I'd rather be smurfing in trouble back in the village than smurfing it out here. We only have to tell Papa Smurf that we didn't smurf any nuts ."
"No!" Brainy scolded. "We are not going to lie to Papa Smurf! We're going to smurf nuts for him and that's final!" He then turned his face away from Nabby, who then stuck out his tongue at Brainy. "And I will tell Papa Smurf about that!"
Then something along their path caught Nabby's attention. "Oh, Brainy, smurf at that sign," he said, which said SARSAPARILLA FIELD. "There must be lots and lots of sarsaparilla that we can smurf our hands on." He raced off in the direction that the sign was pointing in. "Last Smurf there is a rotten Smurf!"
"Nabby, where are you smurfing?" Brainy shouted, following after his fellow Smurfs. "Papa Smurf wants us to smurf..."
"Oh, enough about Papa Smurf!" Nabby said. "Let's smurf this place out for oursmurfs! Think of all the sarsaparilla we will smurf, just you and me."
Nabby saw another sign, saying THIS WAY, which pointed in a new direction. "You're going to smurf yourself into trouble, and you'll be sorry," Brainy said as he continued to follow along.
"Not as sorry as you'll be once we smurf there," Nabby shot back, not turning away.
Then another sign appeared in his path, saying NO, NOT THIS WAY. Nabby stopped and looked around until he saw a sign near a hole under a bush that said THIS WAY. Nabby raced toward the hole.
"Papa Smurf specifically asked us to smurf nuts, Nabby, and not..." Brainy said as he caught up with his fellow Smurf.
Then suddenly a cage door snapped shut behind Nabby as soon as he entered into the hole. "HELP! I AM SMURFED!" he shouted.
In the meantime, Gargamel was preparing some of the ingredients for the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone when a bell that was set up near his window started to ring.
"Ah, my trap worked!" he said excitedly. "I must have caught one of those Smurfs. Come, Azrael, and let's see for ourselves."
Back where the trap was set up, Brainy wagged his finger at Nabby, lecturing to his friend in his usual I-told-you-so tone. "You see, Nabby, Papa Smurf has smurfed you time and again that gluttony is a bad thing that will always be punished, and this time it has smurfed you into a trap that..."
"Oh, stop smurfing on about Papa Smurf and just help smurf me out of here!" Nabby shouted.
"Why, certainly," Brainy said a bit sheepishly. He tried to pull on the bars of the cage, but they were beyond his own strength level to break.
"I should have smurfed out here with Hefty instead of you, Brainy," Nabby said. "At least he will be able to smurf me out of..." He stopped talking as soon as he heard sounds of footsteps. "Quick, Brainy, hide yourself!"
Brainy hid himself behind the bushes as he also heard somebody approaching. He watched as what appeared to be a balding human in a ragged wizard's robe came closer to the trap.
"There's our prize," the human said, rubbing his hands together at what he saw caught in the trap. As he kneeled down to see what was in the trap, he said, "Well, what do you know? It is one of those legendary Smurfs from the book."
Azrael sniffed the Smurf that was in the trap, and found his scent to be very delicious. He was licking his chops in anticipation as Gargamel reached in and pulled the Smurf out of the trap.
"Hey, smurf go of me, you ugly smurf," Nabby shouted. "I have nothing to smurf with you!"
The human chuckled. "My, my, such cries of mercy coming from a small creature. You are indeed such an interesting prey that will make me, the great sorcerer Gargamel, a name to be revered in these parts." He then felt his cat Azrael rubbing against his leg, licking his chops as if hoping for his master to feed him the Smurf that was captured. "No, Azrael, this Smurf isn't for you. It's time for us to return home with our guest of honor, where I have a special place for him."
Brainy watched the whole thing from the safety of the bushes, keeping himself out of sight as much as possible. "Great Smurfness," he said to himself. "This was an ambush, and Nabby fell for it. I better smurf after this wizard to see what he wants to smurf with him."
He watched as Gargamel and Azrael walked off with Nabby still in the evil wizard's clutches, and then followed safely behind them until he saw the hovel that the human lived in. He hopped up to one of the windows facing the front of the house and watched what went on inside, keeping himself well hidden.
Gargamel placed Nabby inside a cage that was suspended from the ceiling with a rope and sealed with a padlock. "There! At dawn you will come out of your cage, only to dissolve into a solution made with serpent venom," he explained with an evil laugh. "You will help me to make the legendary Philosopher's Stone that will turn base metals into gold, and I will become rich...incredibly, absolutely filthy rich!"
Brainy gulped, as did Nabby, when they both heard what was going to happen. "This is terrible," Brainy said to himself. He then hopped down from the window and raced back to the village as fast as he could. "I must smurf home and tell Papa Smurf! He's going to be so mad when he finds out, but I won't let this human smurf Nabby into the Philosopher's Stone."
As Brainy ran as quickly as he could to the village, Gargamel continued to talk to his captive. "All the gold that I will make with you will increase my power, for I am indeed a very powerful wizard." He then showed the bottles that were lined upon his shelf. "Behold...these bottles contain evil potions for my wicked purposes." He pulled the bottles one by one off the shelf to explain their purpose. "This bottle, for example, contains a potion that can render things invisible...and this one right here can turn a living being into a giant. This one, however, can shrink a man to the size of a thumb. And this one contains a virulent poison. Just think of it...one drop from this and I can..."
Gargamel's rambling was interrupted when he noticed Azrael had climbed his way onto the cage and was pawing at the Smurf inside it while his back was turned.
"AZRAEL!" he shouted, swatting at the cat to get him down from the cage. "You stupid feline furball, I have already told you that this Smurf isn't for you. I need this Smurf to complete my formula, and if I see you coming at my captive again like that, I swear that I will turn your miserable hide into a..."
Suddenly Gargamel felt the Smurf biting the tip of his forefinger as he was using it to point at his captive while he was scolding at Azrael.
"OUCH!" Gargamel cried out. He then looked at his captive, who just made himself look like he did nothing of the sort. "Try to play innocent with me? That will only seal your doom at dawn when my formula is ready."
In the Smurf Village, Tapper watched as his friend Duncan McSmurf stepped out of Barber's shop with his sideburns nice and trimmed. "Ahhhh...now this is the proud look of a true Smurfsman, is it not, my fellow Tapper?" Duncan said as he stroked his chin and felt the smoothness of it.
"Great Smurfiny Crickets, my dear Duncan, you're surely going to be the envy of your fellow Smurfs," Tapper said. "Papa Smurf said that Smurfs won't normally smurf their own beards until they're at least 300 years old."
"Well, that's part of the blessing Mother Nature has smurfed on the McSmurf clan there, laddie," Duncan said. "It's just too bad that there's only us male Smurfs around that I can impress with my whiskers."
"That is indeed unfortunate, Duncan," Tapper said. "Well, perhaps the Almighty can help rectify that situation in some fashion."
Just then, they saw Brainy passing right by them. "Michty me, what has gotten into Brainy that he has to smurf in such a hurry?" Duncan asked.
"He seems to be terribly worried, Duncan," Tapper said. "We might as well go and see what's making him smurf that way."
They joined the other Smurfs that gathered around Brainy as he was busy telling Papa Smurf what had transpired when he and Nabby were sent into the woods to run the village leader's errand.
"And you say that Nabby is smurfed in a cage by this human?" Papa Smurf asked, sounding worried.
"Yes, Papa Smurf," Brainy answered. "And by dawn, he's going to be smurfed into a solution made with serpent smurf."
"Great Smurfiny Crickets, Papa Smurf, this human sounds more dangerous than the one that we had to smurf the magic flute from," Tapper said, overhearing the conversation.
"It would appear so, Tapper," Papa Smurf said. "If there's a human that's settling in our forest, who knows what kind of trouble we could be smurfing in. Nevertheless, we must rescue that unfortunate Smurf from the sorcerer before it's too late."
"Anything you want us to do, Papa Smurf?" Hefty asked.
"Quick, have Crazy sound the alarm to smurf us all together," Papa Smurf said. "We're going to pay this sorcerer a visit inside his own house and rescue Nabby from him."
"Right away, Papa Smurf," Hefty said as he raced off.
Papa Smurf then turned to Brainy. "I will deal with Nabby's problem later, Brainy. For now, his safety is what matters to me the most. You smurfed the right thing in smurfing this matter to me."
"Somehow I doubt that smurfing Nabby out of that sorcerer's smurf is going to be that easy, Papa Smurf," Tapper commented.
"We have dealt with bigger threats than ourselves before as a family, Tapper," Papa Smurf said. "You just have to have faith in your fellow Smurfs to smurf their jobs while you smurf yours."
"Aye, Papa Smurf," Tapper said. "May the luck of the Smurfish be with us all."
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 10-28-2023 09:07 AM
Chapter 2
Back in Gargamel's castle, the evil wizard was preparing to step out. "Now you behave yourself while I am gone to collect some mandrake roots," he warned his captive Smurfs. "I will be back soon to make sure that you don't escape...not that I can see how you will. Come along, Azrael."
Azrael raised his head from the pillow he was resting on, meowing as if he was saying "Who, me?"
"I am not going to leave you here alone with that Smurf, you worthless fleabag," Gargamel said angrily. "I do not trust you, so get up and let's get a move on."
Azrael sounded annoyed as he got up from his pillow and left the house with his master. All he could think about was the Smurf in his cage.
Nabby sighed as he watched both the wizard and his cat leave. "It figures that me and my stomach would smurf me into this mess," he said to himself. "I'm really smurfed this time. I'll probably never smurf my village again...never smurf my brother's home smurfing...never smurf one of his goodies behind his smurf...never have him smurf after me for smurfing his goodies." He felt a tear forming in his eye as he thought about all the things he will miss. "I probably won't even get to smurf my final meal before I'm smurfed for good."
He went over to the bars and looked down upon the wizard's laboratory in despair, thinking of how it was going to end for him when he heard a voice going "pssst" from another direction. Nabby looked and saw a familiar face at the window.
"Be brave, little Smurf. We're here to rescue you."
Nabby recognized who it was. "Papa Smurf?" He saw that he also brought along the other Smurfs. "Oh, yes, I am smurfed! Quick, smurf me out of here!"
"Don't worry, laddie," Duncan McSmurf said. "We'll smurf out of that cage before that wizard smurfs back here."
"Tracker, smurf an eye through the door to see if the sorcerer returns," Papa Smurf instructed. "Hefty, I want you to smurf up to that cage and smurf it down."
Hefty gulped as he saw how high the cage was. He was afraid of heights, but he wasn't going to let his fear get the better of him. "Yes, sir, Papa Smurf," Hefty said bravely.
He looked to see how he will get up there, and then made a quick succession of hops from the floor onto the table and then onto the highest point on the table. The next leap toward the cage was going to be tricky, though. He pushed off with his feet with all his might and managed to grab the bottom of the cage. Nabby noticed that Hefty was starting to slip off and quickly grabbed him.
"Thanks, Nabby, I needed that," Hefty said. He then climbed unto the top of the cage with the axe he was carrying. "Well, time to smurf this cage down."
Nabby felt the cage shudder as Hefty chopped away at the rope that was holding it up near the ceiling. "Hefty, what are you trying to do?" Nabby cried out. "You're going to break my..."
Suddenly the rope snapped, and both Hefty and Nabby fell to the ground. "Good work, Hefty," Papa Smurf said. "Now we just need to..."
"Fellow Smurfs! The sorcerer is returning!" Tracker shouted as he was looking out the door.
"Quick, my little Smurfs, hide," Papa Smurf said. Every Smurf ran out of sight, leaving Nabby still in the cage for Gargamel to find as he arrived.
"Now how do you suppose this happened while I was gone, Smurf?" Gargamel asked as he was examining the cage and how it broke off from the rope. "Well, we can't have you trying to leave so soon from your warm bath now, can we?"
He went into the closet and pulled out a thick chain that he attached to the cage, hoisting it high above the room near the ceiling again.
"Let's see you try to break your way free from this," Gargamel said with an evil smile. He then turned to his spellbook. "Let's see now...do I have all the ingredients? I seem to be lacking the sulfur. I must have some of it lying around in my attic. Come, Azrael, we might as well take a look."
The Smurfs watched as Gargamel and Azrael headed for the stairs that would take them into the attic. They came out as soon as the coast was clear.
"Quick, I need three Smurfs to jump onto that cage," Papa Smurf said. "Hefty, smurf a rope onto the cage as soon as the others are on top of it. Duncan, smurf me over that metal file."
The Smurfs did as Papa Smurf asked. Nabby could see that they were going to try bringing a file to the cage so that he could cut his way through the bars.
"All set, my little Smurfs?" Papa Smurf said as Duncan tied one end of the rope to the metal file. "Now jump and smurf the rope."
The three Smurfs on the cage jumped while holding onto the other end of the rope, causing the metal file to be raised up to the cage for Nabby to grab.
"Michty me! I hear the giant smurfing again!" Duncan shouted.
The Smurfs all quickly ran for cover, causing the metal file to drop to the ground before Gargamel and Azrael came back from the attic.
"That's strange," Gargamel said, sounding puzzled. "How did that rope and this file get over there, near the cage?" He picked up the file and examined it with the rope still tied around it before putting it down. "Ah, no matter...I have all that I need for my experiment. I'll see to you later, my little blue captive...I have work to do."
And so into the evening, the Smurfs watched as Gargamel mixed all the ingredients together for the formula to create the Philosopher's Stone. "And now, ten drops of serpent venom," the evil wizard announced, counting each and every single drop into the boiling cauldron.
"There," he said as the last drop was added. "Now all that remains is to wait for the first rays of dawn to heat up the liquid." He let out a yawn as he turned away from the cauldron and toward his bed chamber. "And that will give me time to sleep, for I am really tired." He went over to his bed and covered himself with a blanket. "Soon I will be the richest and most powerful wizard in all the world. Just think of all the things I will be able to buy with the gold...even a nice chateau for my dear old Mummy. She deserves the best for all the hard work in putting me through the sorcerer's guild. Oh, I can't wait to show up all those wizards who never had any faith in my abilities. My name will go down in history as the first sorcerer to ever assemble the Philosopher's Stone...and it's all thanks to one little Smurf out in the forest."
Gargamel chuckled at the thoughts he was having as he drifted off into sleep. Azrael went back into the laboratory and settled down on his pillow to sleep. The only thing that was still on his mind was the delicious taste of a Smurf.
The Smurfs peeked out from their hiding places as soon as Gargamel has fallen asleep. "This wizard certainly smurfs me the chills all over, Grouchy," Tapper said.
"I hate being smurfed the chills," Grouchy said.
"But how are we going to smurf Nabby out of this mess now, Papa Smurf?" Brainy asked.
"I'm not sure how, Brainy," Papa Smurf responded.
"If only we could smurf our hands on the key to the cage, we could smurf the laddie out of there before the giant smurfs anything," Duncan said.
"That's it, Duncan! You smurfed me a good idea!" Papa Smurf said. He then whispered, "Nabby, have you smurfed where Gargamel has smurfed the key to the cage?"
"No, Papa Smurf," Nabby answered.
Papa Smurf sighed. "Then it smurfs like we're going to have to search the whole house in order to find it. All right, my little Smurfs, we have until sunrise to find the key, so smurf out and look for it. And whatever you do, try to keep quiet. We don't want to attract any attention unto oursmurfs."
"You heard Papa Smurf, laddies," Duncan said as he hopped down from his hiding place. "Let's get a smurf on in finding that key."
And so the Smurfs came out of their hiding places and looked in every nook and cranny of the laboratory in order to find the key. From their diligent search, they couldn't find anything yet.
"Uh, Papa Smurf, I think I have found the key," Dimwitty called out.
Papa Smurf came over to see. But then what he saw Dimwitty had found made him angry instead. "That isn't a key, Dimwitty...that is a NAIL!" he said in an angry tone.
"Oops," Dimwitty said, slightly chuckling nervously.
Just then, Sickly and Scaredy were passing by Azrael sleeping on his pillow, who slowly opened his eyes to see the little blue intruders roaming about.
"Well, the key certainly isn't here," Scaredy said to Sickly.
"I don't like...I don't like...achoo...the smurfs of this," Sickly said. "By the way, where is that...that...achoo...cat?"
Scaredy looked behind him and starting running. "HERE!"
"What do you mean...here...," Sickly said as he slowly turned around and saw Azrael was right behind him and ready to strike him. He screamed and started running, with Azrael chasing him. "HELP! SMURF ME! I'M ALLERGIC TO CATS!"
One of the Smurfs on a shelf watched Sickly being chased by Azrael down below. "We have to smurf something or Sickly is a total goner."
The Smurf beside him said, "Get ready to smurf that bottle off the shelf." The first Smurf placed his hands on the bottle that was near him and waited until Azrael was coming directly beneath the shelf. "NOW!"
The Smurf pushed the bottle down onto Azrael's head, hitting him and causing him to wander off in a daze.
"Oh, thanks for the...for the...achoo...rescue!" Sickly said as he hopped onto the shelf from where the bottle was pushed.
Papa Smurf observed the whole scene and realized something. "As long as that cat is on the loose smurfing through the house, that's going to make our search all the more difficult," he told his little Smurfs as they gathered together. "We'll need a plan to smurf him out of here."
"I think I have one, Papa Smurf," Chatty said. "All we have to do is smurf that cat to smurf us at that window near the smurf of the house, and then we just smurf out of the way and smurf the window shut before he can smurf back in."
"Now that smurfs like an excellent plan," Papa Smurf said. "The only thing we need is a Smurf who's brave and fast enough to smurf this off."
"Hey, Papá Pitufo, ¿alguien llame por mi?" a Smurf called Zipper asked, sounding like he was eager to do it.
Azrael was back to being alert and on the prowl for finding Smurfs that are in his master's house, but now he saw that they were nowhere to be found.
And then suddenly, "Hey, estúpido gato, usted está buscando para mí?"
Azrael saw that a Smurf was hanging around near an open window attracting his attention. "You think you're fast enough to catch un ratón azul pequeño like me?" Zipper taunted, razzing the cat all the while.
Azrael leaped toward the window at Zipper, who just quickly dodged the cat's charge. "Toro, toro," he said as he dodged.
Azrael looked like he was ready to leap toward Zipper again. Zipper then quickly closed the window and locked it, causing Azrael to hit his face right on the window and fall down to the ground.
"Supongo que no eres tan rápido como pensaba," Zipper said as he watched Azrael fail in his attempt to leap at Zipper when the window was closed.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 10-28-2023 09:12 AM
Chapter 3
Papa Smurf watched as Zipper took care of Azrael. "Good work, Zipper," he said as the Smurf hopped down from the window. "With the cat out of the way, we can smurf through the house in peace."
And so the Smurfs continued their search for the key. Sneaky and Tuffy were on the shelf where the bottles of potions were kept. "Do you smurf anything, Tuffy?" Sneaky asked.
"Not a thing, Sneaky," Tuffy said, letting out a frustrated sigh. "This is nuts! We should be smurfing that sorcerer a good smurfing for smurfnapping one of our fellow Smurfs!"
"Are you crazy?" Sneaky said. "You'll wake up the sorcerer, and I certainly don't want to be joining Nabby in being smurfed in a pot of serpent venom."
"Well, how are we going to smurf that big smurf a lesson, Sneaky?" Tuffy asked. "Because I'm not afraid of that big lug smurfing in the next room."
Sneaky looked around at the bottle of potions, and then his eyebrows furrowed as a mischievous plan formed in his mind. "I think I know how we can smurf him a lesson. These bottles all contain different kinds of potions, don't they?"
"Yeah, so what?" Tuffy asked.
"If this sorcerer is intending to use them sometime soon for his evil plans, whatever they are, then what would happen if we were to smurf around what's inside the bottles and smurf them with the contents of other bottles?" Sneaky explained.
"Well, he would be smurfed with whatever potion the bottle actually contained," Tuffy answered. And then it dawned on him what his friend was thinking of. "Oh, I get it. That's a pretty sneaky plan that you intend to smurf on the wizard."
Sneaky snickered. "That's why I'm called Sneaky Smurf. And if you want to help me smurf this plan into motion, you're welcome to smurf me."
"All right, Sneaky, let's smurf this," Tuffy said.
"Let's first start with that bottle, and desmurf it into this vessel over here," Sneaky said, pointing to one of the bottles.
Tuffy grabbed the bottle and poured it into the vessel near Sneaky. Then Tuffy grabbed another bottle and poured its contents into the first, then he took a third bottle and poured its contents into the second, and so on and so forth while Sneaky helped arrange the bottles, making them look as if they haven't been tampered with.
Sneaky chuckled. "I can't wait to smurf the look on that sorcerer's face when he finds out what's really in these bottles," he said as he and Tuffy were switching their contents.
Then Tuffy accidentally bumped an empty bottle off the shelf, which then fell to the floor and cracked loudly.
Suddenly Gargamel woke up. "Eh? What? What is it?" He looked around at the laboratory near his bed chamber and saw no trace of anyone else in it. "Azrael, is that you?"
Crazy let out the sound of a cat meowing in response.
Gargamel sighed. "Try to keep the noise down while I'm sleeping, you imbecile. I will not have you disturbing me by turning my laboratory into a disaster area. One more noise from you and I will put you outside where you belong."
He then laid back on his bed and covered himself with the blanket. The Smurfs let out a sigh of relief.
Later on, Nabby asked Papa Smurf, "Well? Did you find it?"
"Not a thing, Nabby," Papa Smurf answered, sounding frustrated. "We smurfed everywhere in this house and we couldn't smurf the key."
"There's one place we haven't looked, Papa Smurf," Brainy chimed in. "Maybe the sorcerer has the key smurfing on him."
Papa Smurf stroked his beard in thought. "You may be right, Brainy. Smurfs, I will need a brave volunteer to smurf the sorcerer and smurf the key from him."
Most of the Smurfs shook their heads and refused, looking rather fearful of doing the task. But Duncan said, "I'll smurf it, Papa Smurf, if only to show these Smurfs that I'm not afraid of this giant."
"Good luck with that, Gutsy," Hefty said.
"The name is Duncan to you, Hefty," Duncan said.
"Just be careful, my good friend," Tapper said.
Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs watched as Duncan creeped into the bed chamber and hopped onto the bed with Gargamel sleeping on it. He tried to pull the blanket away from Gargamel so he can slip underneath, but then Gargamel pulled the blanket away as he turned over to his other side. "This is going to be more challenging than I have smurfed," he whispered to himself.
He looked around and saw what appeared to be a key-shaped bulge near the waist area of the sorcerer. Duncan slipped under the blanket and carefully crawled inside the pocket to grab what he thought was the key.
The Smurfs watched nervously as Duncan carefully slipped under the blanket, hoping that the sorcerer wouldn't turn in his sleep again or feel what was going on. Some Smurfs covered their eyes for fear of what might happen.
Then after a good while of waiting, Duncan slipped back out from under the blanket with the object in hand, which turned out to be the key.
"Yes! He did it! Duncan smurfed the key!" Brainy said as he was standing near Papa Smurf. "It's just like I knew he would!"
"Woo-hoo! Duncan smurfed the key! Duncan smurfed the key!" Clumsy shouted.
"Not so loud, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf warned. "We're not out of this yet."
"One step closer to home," Tuffy said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
The Smurfs watched as Duncan carried the key from the bed chamber into the laboratory, where they tied it to a rope and then hoisted it up to the cage to fit it into the lock. One of the Smurfs was busy trying to turn the key in the lock when they heard a noise of somebody awakening in the bed chamber.
"Uh-oh! It's the sorcerer!" Brainy said.
"Quick, my little Smurfs, smurf for cover," Papa Smurf said.
They all raced for cover as Gargamel rose from his bed, stretching his arms. "I had such a peaceful night's rest, Azrael," he said before noticing that his cat isn't around to greet him with any sort of greeting. "That foolish feline must have went outside for the night. Just as well, because I am ready to bring my experiment to fruition, and I don't want him interfering with it."
He stepped into his laboratory and saw that the cauldron he had left near a window where the first rays of the morning sun were warming up its contents. Then he saw that the key to the cage that was in his pocket was now inside the lock.
"What in the devil's name is going on?" Gargamel wondered as he took the key out of the lock. "How did the key get from my pocket into this lock while I was sleeping?" He looked at the Smurf still inside the cage and realized that there was no way he could have done it himself. "I must be going mad, or maybe there are spirits lurking around inside this old hovel that my father didn't warn anyone about. In any case, it doesn't matter. It won't stop me from completing my experiment in the least."
He took the cauldron away from the window and placed it on the stove, which he heated up so that it would be boiling again. "Perfect! And now for the final ingredient...one live little Smurf!"
Gargamel laughed as he reached into the cage where Nabby was held captive and pulled him out. "Help! Smurfs! Save me!" he cried out.
"Cry all you want, Smurf, because there's nobody here that will save you now," Gargamel said.
Papa Smurf and the others fearfully watched. If there was a chance to save Nabby, now was the time to do it.
"SMURFS! ATTACK!" Papa Smurf cried out.
Gargamel watched as all the Smurfs came out of their hiding places in the laboratory and swarmed him. They were pawing him, clawing him, biting him, kicking him, throwing all sorts of objects at him. The evil sorcerer muttered curses as he vainly tried to fight them off, but there were too many.
Then a tower of Smurfs approached Gargamel from behind, with the topmost Smurf carrying a pitchfork who drove it right into the sorcerer's behind, causing him to yelp in pain.
"The sorcerer is distracted," Papa Smurf noted. "Hefty, Duncan, smurf this rope around his legs."
"Come on, Gutsy, let's smurf this together," Hefty said as he and Duncan raced toward Gargamel's legs, the both of them carrying each end of the rope. They ran around the sorcerer and wrapped the rope around his ankles, causing him to lose his balance and to fall to the ground.
"Yay! We did it! We kicked his smurf!" the other Smurfs cheered.
"Nabby, are you all right?" Papa Smurf asked.
"Never felt better, thanks to you and all the other Smurfs," Nabby asked.
"The sorcerer is down, but he's not going to stay down, Papa Smurf," Tapper reported.
"Then we should all smurf out of here before he recovers," Papa Smurf said. "We smurfed what we came for, and that's all that should matter to us."
"You're just lucky Papa Smurf has smurfed a retreat for us, you numpty wizard," Duncan said to the unconscious Gargamel. "I would have smurfed you alive and smurfed haggis with your innards."
"Well, this one's for Nabby, because I hate smurfs that smurfnap Smurfs," Grouchy said, as he kicked Gargamel's butt before joining the others on their way out.
"Hey, Gargamel, take a smurf of this," Sloppy said as he bent over in front of Gargamel's nose, pulled down his pants, and let out a fart before leaving with the other Smurfs.
As the Smurfs happily headed back to the Smurf Village, Brainy trailed behind to give Nabby a piece of his mind. "I told you so," Brainy said.
"Now what are you smurfing on about?" Nabby asked, as if he really wanted to hear Brainy speak his mind.
"Papa Smurf had asked us to smurf nuts, not smurf sarsaparilla," Brainy said in his usual lecturing tone. "But no, you had to follow your smurf and smurf sarsaparilla instead, which smurfed us into a whole lot of trouble smurfing you from that sorcerer. And you're just fortunate that Papa Smurf would smurf the entire village to smurf after you because Papa Smurf would never leave any Smurf to smurf for himself whenever he's in danger. If you had only listened to Papa Smurf in the first place, none of this would have ever happened, because Papa Smurf is always right, and furthermore..."
Nabby just looked at Brainy, wondering when he was going to shut up.
Sometime after the Smurfs had left the hovel, Gargamel awakened and felt his head. He wondered what had happened and then realized it. "The Smurfs! Where are they?" He got up on his feet and looked around the laboratory to see that they were nowhere to be found. "Horns of the devil, I'll find them!" He quickly went to his door and looked outside, but he couldn't find a trace of them there either. "They couldn't have gone far! There's only one way I'll be able to find them...and that is with my giant-making formula!"
He went to his shelf and looked frantically for the bottle that contained the potion. "There it is!" he said proudly as he found and held the bottle. "With this, I will be able to find them no matter where they go...and then, I will crush them all! I will turn them all into little blue pancakes!" He laughed as he relished the thought of what he intended to do with his targets once he became a giant.
Gargamel opened the bottle and drank its contents until it was dry. "Get ready, Smurfs! If you think I was such a big problem, your problems are about to get even bigger..."
But as Gargamel felt a tingling sensation that indicated that the potion was having its effect, he found himself getting smaller instead of bigger until he was no bigger than a Smurf himself.
"Huh? This isn't fair. The potion is supposed to make me bigger, not smaller. It even says so right on the bottle what kind of potion it is." And then he smelled the inside of the bottle and realized something. "It's those Smurfs. They switched the contents of all my bottles. And they made me drink the potion that makes men smaller." Gargamel sobbed angrily at the thought. "Those vile, despicable, sneaky Smurfs...they will not get away with this." He went outside in order to vent his rage against them. "I will find a way to make myself bigger again. And in that day, my revenge against them will be so terrible, they will regret that they ever crossed Gargamel."
And as Gargamel raised his voice shouting toward the Smurfs wherever they happen to be, Azrael was right behind him, ready to play with his new toy.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 10-28-2023 09:18 AM
Epilogue
"It is quite interesting, if also rather amusing, that Gargamel would be 'hoisted by his own petard', as Brainy would be fond of saying, when he attempted to make himself bigger so he could find and destroy the Smurfs," Polaris said after the story had ended.
"Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of our troubles with Gargamel," Papa Smurf said. "Sometime after that, he would attempt to destroy us by creating a female Smurf out of blue clay, but that would smurf against him as Smurfette expressed her desire to become a real Smurf, and with the Adam's Rib Spell I was able to accomplish that."
"But that only made me a target for Gargamel, as he now smurfed to capture me so that he could smurf me back into his obedient little creation of his," Smurfette said, sounding a bit sad.
"This smurf doesn't like the thought that Gargamel still thought of you as his daughter, even if you have turned against him, Smurfette," Empath said.
"I wasn't happy of that myself, Empath, believe me," Papa Smurf said. "Sometimes I still have nightmares that Gargamel would succeed in turning Smurfette against us, and that there would be no return for her."
"What became of Gargamel's desire to create the Philosopher's Stone?" Polaris asked.
"From what Narrator had told us, Polaris, Gargamel would eventually find out that the formula for creating it would require six Smurfs instead of one because of an error that was smurfed in the spell book he first found it in," Papa Smurf said. "That started the time when he was smurfing out all sorts of traps in the forest to capture my little Smurfs so he could have his six Smurfs for making gold."
"And that was also around the time when I have smurfed a nightmare that Papa Smurf was losing his magic powers, which I thought was smurfing true when he was working on a plant-growth formula that kept failing on him," Smurfette said.
"Well, I figured if Gargamel wanted gold so badly, I was going to smurf it to him in order to get my little Smurfs away from him," Papa Smurf said. "So I smurfed some of Smurfette's hair in order to make a pile of gold coins to lure the wizard out of his hovel to follow the trail that I smurfed for him so he could be captured and smurfed out of the way along with his cat." He then chuckled as he added, "The only problem with the 'gold' that I created for Gargamel is that it wasn't waterproof, so when it rained, it ended up smurfing into a golden puddle."
Empath also laughed, as did Smurfette. "Gold that wasn't waterproof...this smurf could only wish to be there to see the look on Gargamel's face when he found out that his gold wasn't real."
"As Brainy would say, 'all that glitters isn't gold', Empath," Smurfette said, enjoying the thought.
"This one still appreciates knowing about this Gargamel, even if this one may never have the chance of ever actually encountering him," Polaris said.
"We can't smurf on our laurels, thinking that everything in our lives will be smurfy again just because we don't have Gargamel as part of it, Polaris," Papa Smurf said. "We still have Lord Balthazar, Hogatha, and Chlorhydris to deal with, not to mention whatever kind of perils still exist out in the forest and beyond it."
"You don't think that we might run into someone like Gargamel in the near future, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.
"We can never be certain of that, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "That's why we must always be vigilant whenever we travel beyond our village, because someone as evil as Gargamel may use us for whatever purpose smurfs him or her."
"This smurf understands that, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "And if the Psyche Master himself decides that he would want to wage war against the Smurfs, we will stand together against him, won't we, Polaris?"
"This one doesn't wish for that scenario to happen, Empath, but if it's for the safety of the Smurfs that this one must stand against his own Psyche brethren, then so be it," Polaris said.
Empath smiled as he and Polaris looked at each other. "Let's go find Narrator and see if he can tell us anymore stories about Gargamel that only he knows about."
"This one shall accompany you, Empath," Polaris said.
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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Vic George The ND Guy
Super Smurf
Member # 300
Member Rated:
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posted 10-28-2023 09:20 AM
For the original story:
"The Smurfnapper"
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VIC GEORGE -- Westfield, MA, USA
"Cat and mouse games really aren't much fun for us mouse types" -- Empath from "Empath The Bandit Smurf"
Posts: 4103 | From: Westfield, MA | Registered: Mar 2003
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