Smurfette's Frog Prince/Part 3

Empath's personal journal, supplemental.

''After receiving the directions to Prince Theodore's castle, we directed Feathers to fly in that particular course. Smurfette is so excited that the prince will be reunited with his fiancee Lady Jasmine, and Poet is so excited of the prospect of experiencing the rest of his novel firsthand in the hopes that the ending will turn out to be a good one. This smurf is somewhat ambivalent about how things will actually turn out, and as we draw closer to the castle, this smurf is beginning to sense that Poet's story may not have the happy ending that he was hoping to discover. Nevertheless, we will escort the prince back to his castle and see what happens from there.'' - As Feathers continued to fly in the direction of Prince Theodore's castle, Empath could sense nervousness on the part of all his fellow Smurfs, and to an extent which is somehow inhibited by the magic spell, he could also sense the nervousness in the prince.

"Oh, I can't wait to find Jasmine and break this spell," Prince Theodore said.

"Worry no more, your royal smurfiness," Smurfette said, sounding confident. "We'll personally see to it that you're rejoined with your lady love."

"Hey, look!" Poet said, pointing to a location they were now getting close to. "That must be..."

"My palace!" Prince Theodore exclaimed.

"Oh my...look at those decorations," Smurfette said as she noticed the streamers all around the battlements. "This is just so beautiful to smurf at."

"Uh, you don't understand, Smurfette," Prince Theodore said. "Those decorations are for a wedding...my wedding."

"You mean Morlock is proceeding to marry Lady Jasmine with your impostor?" Empath said.

"I'm afraid so, Empath," Prince Theodore said. "If this happens, Morlock will have control of the kingdom...and I may never become a prince again."

"Bouncin' bullfrogs...we've got to stop this wedding before it happens," Sassette cried out.

"Descend carefully, Feathers," Empath said. "We must find a way to enter into the castle without being seen by any of the guards". - Within the castle grounds, a young lady is with Morlock and an elderly woman looking at all the preparations that were being made for the wedding inside the banquet hall.

"Oh my...everything looks so lovely," the young woman said in a shrill voice. "I can see why you're the most sought-after wedding arranger in all the kingdom, Madame Lavinia."

"I promise you, my dear lady, that your wedding ceremony tonight will be the talk of the continent," Madame Lavinia said.

"Aye, the groom will be quite pleased as well, Lady Jasmine," Morlock said.

Madame Lavinia leaned closer to Morlock. "Speaking of the prince, rumor has it that he has been acting rather peculiar lately," she said in a low voice, hoping Lady Jasmine would not overhear the comment.

"It's merely wedding nerves, my dear," Morlock said. "He's just a little jumpy." He then spotted the impostor prince crouched near the main door to the banquet hall. "Ah, here he is now. Come, Theodore."

The impostor prince hopped his way into the banquet hall, carrying a bouquet of flowers. Madame Lavinia recoiled with a bit of shock as she watched how the prince made his approach.

"My, what have you there?" Morlock asked, prompting the impostor prince to answer.

"Rrrrroses, ribbit," the impostor prince answered.

"And who might those roses be for?" Morlock asked again.

"For Lady Jasmine, ribbit," the impostor prince answered.

"Then why don't you give them to her?" Morlock prompted with a bit of anger in his voice.

The impostor prince tried to raise himself up as much as possible as he handed Lady Jasmine the bouquet. "Here, my lady," the impostor prince croaked.

"My, the prince sounds so strange," Madama Lavinia said to Morlock in a very private manner.

Morlock chuckled. "It's just that he has a frog in his throat."

"Oh, these flowers are so beautiful," Lady Jasmine said to the impostor prince. "I might go and find a vase for them."

After Lady Jasmine left the banquet hall with the bouquet, Madame Lavinia asked the prince, "Ahem, Your Majesty, what do you think of my choice of food for the wedding?"

But the impostor prince was now distracted by the sight of a fly that was now flitting around in the banquet hall. "Yum, yum," he replied as he tried to tongue it.

Madame Lavinia watched as the impostor prince hopped after the fly, chasing after it until he was out of the banquet hall. "Wedding nerves, eh?" she asked Morlock.

"Never you mind about him, Madame," Morlock said. "You go look after Lady Jasmine while I take care of the prince."

Meanwhile, the four Smurfs and the real prince watched the whole scene from the rafters. "Oh my smurfness," Smurfette said. "It looks like Morlock is smurfing through with the wedding plans."

"Yes...the plot thickens," Poet said.

"That just makes me so hopping mad," Prince Theodore said.

"You must warn Lady Jasmine and make sure that she never marries this fake prince," Sassette said.

"This smurf will lead us on a path to intercept Jasmine, Prince Theodore," Empath said. "Follow this smurf." - Out in the hallway leading to Lady Jasmine's chambers, the young woman was singing "Here Comes The Bride" in such a horrible voice that the Smurfs hiding behind a tapestry had to cover their ears to shield themselves from the singing.

Poet was still covering his ears as the four Smurfs and the prince peeked out from their hiding place. "Oooh, that voice," Poet groaned.

"Yeah, isn't she divine," Prince Theodore said, finding himself lovestruck.

"Once you explain everything, I'm sure that she will smurf you the kiss that will reverse the spell," Smurfette said as they watched Lady Jasmine enter her chambers.

"Of course she will! She loves me!" Prince Theodore said.

The Smurfs watched as the prince hopped his way into Lady Jasmine's chambers. "Oh, isn't this so romantic?" Smurfette said.

"I only wish that I could go in there with him," Poet said. "I would give anything to smurf the scene of the two starsmurfed lovers, finally reuniting..."

Suddenly there was the sound of objects breaking and a scream. The Smurfs saw Prince Theodore quickly hop away and join the others in hiding. "Great Ancestors, Prince Theodore...what happened?" Empath asked.

"I...I...I don't know," Prince Theodore answered. "I was just barely in there when she screamed and started throwing things at me."

"Quick, we must hide ourselves before anyone notices us," Smurfette said, as they covered themselves up behind the tapestry at the same time that Lady Jasmine emerged at the door with what was left of her bouquet, looking very upset.

Madame Lavinia and Morlock arrived at the door to her chambers. "Jasmine, what's wrong?" Lavinia asked.

"There's a...there's a...f-f-f-f-f-frog in my room," Jasmine stammered.

"A frog?!?" Morlock shouted, sounding surprised.

"Yes, and if there's one thing that I cannot stand, it's a slimy, warty, filthy frog!" Jasmine said.

"Wow, she sounds really upset," Sassette said.

"Well, this certainly represents an interesting twist to my novel," Poet said as he overheard the conversation.

"This smurf fears that this 'twist' may not bode well for Prince Theodore if he is not able to get near her as he is in order to explain his situation to her," Empath said.

"There, there, my dear Jasmine, the big bad froggie is all gone," Madame Lavinia said as she walked with Lady Jasmine to help calm her down.

Out of earshot of Madame Lavinia and Lady Jasmine, Morlock then called out. "Guards!"

The short guard showed up outside Lady Jasmine's chambers. "Yes, Morlock!"

"I thought I have ordered you to keep all frogs out of the castle," Morlock said.

"But...but we have," the short guard said.

"One of them has managed to get in," Morlock said. "I want you to find that frog and capture him NOW!"

"Y-y-y-yes, Morlock," the short guard said as he rushed to obey Morlock's order. - Sometime later, Madame Lavinia returned Lady Jasmine to her chambers and helped her get settled in her bed, placing a warm cloth on her hand to help her get to sleep.

"I hope that I don't sound foolish, but all my life, I had this terrible fear of fr...fr...," Lady Jasmine said.

"Frogs?" Madame Lavinia asked.

"Yes," Lady Jasmine answered.

"I understand, my dear," Madame Lavinia said as she lowered the cloth over Jasmine's eyes. "Now close your eyes and get some rest. The wedding is only hours away."

The Smurfs watched from their hiding place on top of a pile of linen sheets as Madame Lavinia left the room and Lady Jasmine relaxed herself. "Now's your chance," Smurfette prompted the prince in a whisper. "You have to tell her

"Remember not to let your fiancee see you at first," Empath warned.

Prince Theodore hopped from the hiding place and onto the bed next to the pillow. "Jasmine, my love...keep your eyes closed while I speak," the prince spoke.

"Theodore, is that you?" Lady Jasmine asked.

"Uh...yes," Prince Theodore answered. "I don't quite know how to tell you this, so here goes. A terrible thing has happened, and I have been turned into a...a frog."

"Theodore, if this is your idea of a joke, then I am...," Lady Jasmine began to say.

"No, this is true," Prince Theodore said. "And now that I have prepared you to know the truth, take a look for yourself."

Lady Jasmine slowly removed the cloth from over her eyes as she opened them. What she saw sitting on her bed next to her pillow was Prince Theodore in the form of a frog. "See?" Prince Theodore said.

Lady Jasmine screamed at the sight, and then she fainted.

"Boy oh smurf, she really does hate frogs," Sassette said as she and the other Smurfs continued to watch from their hiding place.

"Wake up, Jasmine," Prince Theodore pleaded as he tried to get his fiancee to awaken. "Please wake up...you've got to kiss me!"

"Aha!" another voice suddenly broke in. "I thought that I heard a familiar scream."

Prince Theodore saw who it was that appeared at the door to her chambers. "Morlock!"

The evil sorcerer chuckled, seeing that he has the prince right where he wanted him. "There's no windows for you to jump out of this time, Theodore," he said as he moved in to capture him.

Theodore jumped down from the bed and tried to hop away, only to find himself trapped in a corner. Empath and the other Smurfs realized that they need to help the prince escape capture again.

"Stand back, my fellow Smurfs," Empath said. Using his minds-eye, he telekinetically lifted one of the sheets from the top of the file and covered Morlock with it, binding him up so that he would be unable to get loose.

"Quick, we need to find another place to hide," Smurfette said. The four Smurfs and Prince Theodore fled from the room and disappeared into the hallway.

Morlock struggled uselessly to get himself free of the sheet that bound him. "Guards! Guards!" he shouted.

The guards quickly came into the room and saw Morlock covered and tied up with the sheet. They quickly cut him loose from the sheet and followed him down the hall to search for the frog that slipped into the castle.

"That demon frog must have friends," Morlock said. "We must search every inch of the castle and find him and his friends before they cause any trouble at the wedding."

As Morlock and the guards turned a corner and went down another hallway, the Smurfs and Prince Theodore hid themselves inside a suit of armor and watched quietly as the humans passed by them in their pursuit of the "demon frog".

Poet sighed with relief. "Well, that was close. If it weren't for you smurfing with us, Empath, I woudn't know how we would escape from that."

Suddenly they heard the voice of Madame Lavinia nearby. "There, there, my dear," she said as she was walking with Lady Jasmine, trying to comfort her. "Everything is all right. There's no need to be frightened."

The Smurfs kept themselves as quiet as possible while watching the two humans talking with each other. "Oh, Madame Lavinia, it was terrible," Lady Jasmine moaned. "I dreamed that my husband-to-be has turned into a fr...fr...frog."

At that point, they both saw the impostor prince hop around in the hallway chasing after a fly that he was trying to tongue. "Somehow I am not surprised," Madame Lavinia said as she shook her head in disbelief.

After Madame Lavinia and Lady Jasmine walked on, the Smurfs lifted up the face covering of the suit of armor. "Oh, Jasmine still doesn't believe what has happened," Prince Theodore said.

"Well, maybe it's time that we told her straight up," Sassette said.

"Now, Sassette, you know Papa Smurf's rule about revealing ourselves to humans," Smurfette said.

"But what are we going to do?" Sassette asked. "Every time Lady Jasmine sees him as he is, she flips her smurf."

"That's just an unfortunate circumstance, Sassette," Empath said. "It seems that the one who loves him the most cannot get past the fact that he now appears as a frog."

"I just wish there was a way that Prince Theodore could receive his kiss from her without her smurfing him as a frog," Smurfette said.

"I think I may know of a way," Prince Theodore said. "This may be tricky, but I have a feeling that it could possibly work."