A Hundred Smurfs Of Gray: A Narrator's Story/Part 6

"Wait a minute, Narrator...you're saying that we got seriously owned by those Grey Smurfs in that story?" Hefty asked.

"And none of us were able to fight back?" Duncan asked. "That's a real smurfy shame upon us."

"I'm only telling you what I have witnessed, believe me," Narrator said. "It wasn't pleasant having to smurf in that story to begin with, and I would never want to smurf that kind of story ever again. Unfortunately, I don't have control over where I end up smurfing to."

"Well, I personally liked the story where the six of us, myself included, were smurfed through a waterfall into that magic place that was called...uh...," Brainy began to say.

"New York City," Empath prompted.

"Thank you, Empath," Brainy continued. "And we smurfed with this human couple while Papa Smurf was smurfing for a way to smurf us home, and Gargamel was smurfing after us because he wanted to extract Smurf essence for us to power up his magic so he can smurf over the world."

"Yeah, we all know the story by now, Brainy," Greedy said as he was just joining in to listen to Narrator. "It's a real shame that I wasn't in it...well, actually I was, but more like I was my brother Nabby and there was Baker and Chef Smurf, and...am I really smurfing any sense here?"

"Not really, Greedy, but that's okay," Smurfette said. "Sometimes Narrator's stories just don't make any sense at all, but they're fun to listen to all the same."

"So what became of the Smurfs when they were being smurfed into captivity by the Grey Smurfs, my good Narrator?" Tapper asked.

"They were smurfed to work breaking up rocks in the forest while they were being watched by the Grey Smurfs, Tapper," Narrator answered. "Every day they would be smurfed with only bread and water, and then be smurfed into a camp surrounded by a high fence covered with thorny vines to prevent us from escaping. I honestly felt like the writers who smurfed me into that story were just going to abandon me there, and that I would never see you Smurfs ever again."

"This smurf understands how you feel, Narrator," Empath said. "Having to be in Psychelia for nine years between visits to the Smurf Village made this smurf wonder if this smurf would ever be able to go back home, and if anybody would miss me when I was gone."

"So let's hear what else that smurfened in your story, Narrator," Handy prompted, also joining the audience.

And so as Narrator continued, the Smurfs saw in the story themselves with balls and chains attached to their legs, breaking rocks in a quarry in the forest with the Grey Smurfs watching over them. Empath could see that they looked pretty miserable from all the work they were made to do as the Grey Smurfs' slaves.

One Smurf stopped briefly to wipe his brow. "I'm sick and tired of smurfing all these rocks," he said as he exhaled greatly.

"You smurfed it, brother," another Smurf said. "It makes me wish we were all back home. Papa Smurf never smurfed us this hard like the Grey Smurfs."

"I wonder what those Smurfs are doing to Smurfette, though," the first Smurf said. "I haven't smurfed her among us ever since we got smurfed to the Grey Smurf Village."

"I wouldn't want to know, but I don't think it would be very smurfy," the second Smurf said. "What I wouldn't give to be able to smurf her and everyone else out of here."

"Hey, you two, this isn't a vacation," one of the Grey Smurfs said sternly, holding up his spear towards them. "This road must be cleared of rocks before the fall, so let's get a smurf on...now!"

"RALLY!" another Grey Smurf shouted.

"Didn't you Smurfs hear? They said, 'rally'!" the first Grey Smurf commanded, poking both white Smurfs in their behinds with the sharp end of the spear.

"Okay, okay, we heard you the first time," one of the two white Smurfs said as they picked up their balls and carried them before being rushed to join their fellow Smurfs gathered around a big rock, where the Great Leader has assembled them to give a speech.

"My dear Smurf friends," the Great Leader spoke, "you've been wondering why you've been smurfed with these balls and chains. Do not worry...you are not our prisoners. Unfortunately, you have smurfed all your years in recklessness and without discipline. It is time for you all to learn your lesson so that you will become real Smurfs, and then you can join us."

"Excellent speech, Great Leader," Brainy said as he was the only one among the white Smurfs who clapped. "Now those were well-smurfed words indeed. I'm sure that every Smurf here will be quick to smurf your..."

The rest of Brainy's speech was cut short by another Smurf beside him quickly swinging his ball and chain so that it hit Brainy's head from behind. That Smurf quickly made it look as if he had done nothing of the sort.

"We only will become one single nation," the Great Leader continued. "And then we will be...INVINCIBLE!" He stood there with his arms raised up, waiting to hear applause, but none of the white Smurfs responded.

"You Smurfs must applaud the Great Leader," one of the Grey Smurfs said as he rushed toward the white Smurfs with his spear. "Applaud now or else I will..."

The Grey Smurf slipped on a pile of small rocks, flipping over and bumping his head on the ground. The white Smurfs clapped their hands at the sight.

This made the Great Leader very upset. "You dare to laugh at us! We will smurf you a lesson for this mockery of our authority! Smurf them all without bread and water!"

"Okay, you Smurfs, smurf forward and hurry," the Grey Smurf said as he and a few others herded the white Smurfs back to their camp, where their balls and chains were removed.

"Work or be smurfed up here in this camp...they really smurf us here like slaves, laddies," Gutsy said to Hefty and Tuffy.

"At least they don't have us smurfing those balls around when we're in here," Tuffy said.

"Work...always work...I can't smurf it anymore," Panicky said. "I need to smurf out of here!" He looked around the camp and then inspiration hit him. "I know what I will do...I will smurf myself a really long tunnel, and when I smurf out of it, I will be free!" He laughed like a maniac at the thought as he headed off in another direction.

"Poor Panicky," Gutsy said as he watched his fellow Smurf rush off. "All that work has finally smurfed to his head."

"If we don't smurf ourselves out of here, we're going to end up just like him," Hefty said.

"Hey, Smurfs, take a look at Papa Smurf," Jokey said, directing their attention toward the village leader just sitting on a rock cradling his head in his hands. "He's been smurfing like that ever since we got smurfed in here."

"That's not usual for him to smurf like that whenever we're in dire smurfs," Gutsy said. "I wonder what's smurfing on with him."

"Maybe it's time that we smurfed a few words with him about this," Tuffy suggested.

"I don't want to kick a Smurf when he's down, Tuffy, but we do need to find out," Hefty said. He as well as Gutsy, Tuffy, and Jokey went over to where Papa Smurf was sitting. "Papa Smurf, what's smurfing on here? You're usually the last Smurf who would give up. Isn't there something you can smurf? Surely you must be thinking of a way out of this."

Papa Smurf sighed. "I have smurfed my brain for a solution, my little Smurfs, and alas, there is nothing we can smurf. This situation we are in is all my fault, because I wanted you Smurfs to start smurfing together like you used to."

"Your fault? How is any of this your fault, Papa Smurf?" Gutsy asked.

"Let me smurf you everything," Papa Smurf answered. "Remember how selfish and irascible you all were as Smurfs, how you kept fighting all the time...even to the point where you would not listen to me anymore, your own Papa Smurf? It was then that I decided that you all needed to be smurfed a good lesson...so I smurfed through my books and found a magic formula that I could smurf up, and then at night I smurfed out into the forest and, in a clearing not far from us, by the light of dawn, I used the formula and created with it another Smurf Village. This village was populated with Smurfs that were warlike and embodied all the bad things about each of us, including me. I wanted for you to meet these Smurfs and smurf in them what you would become, so you would smurf to your senses."

"So that explains how these Grey Smurfs had smurfed here in the first place," Tuffy said.

"It's just too bad that your magic formula had succeeded all too well, Papa Smurf," Gutsy said. "Now they've got us smurfing at their mercy."

"But if you could make those Smurfs appear, Papa Smurf, couldn't you also make them disappear?" Jokey asked.

"Yes, I could do that, but unfortunately, I cannot, because during the attack on the village, the Grey Smurfs have destroyed all my spellbooks, so you see, all is lost," Papa Smurf said. "There's nothing we can do to smurf us out of this."

"I can't believe this is you smurfing like this, Papa Smurf," Gutsy said. "If you're not going to smurf us a way to get rid of these Grey Smurfs once and for all, then maybe I will."

"Hey, wait a minute...I just smurfed a thought," Jokey said. "Papa Smurf, if I'm smurfing this correctly, isn't this Smurf Village the same as ours?"

"Yes, Jokey, it is," Papa Smurf answered.

"Then if it is the same, it should have a laboratory just like ours, and in that laboratory there should spellbooks that are just like the ones in our laboratory," Jokey said. "You can smurf for the spellbook in there and smurf up the formula that would make those Grey Smurfs disappear."

Papa Smurf stroked his beard in thought. "I can see where you're smurfing at, Jokey. But it must be a copy of the exact same spellbook I have smurfed, and one that hasn't been destroyed by the Grey Smurfs."

"You never know, Papa Smurf, but at least you should smurf it a try," Tuffy said. "What else are we going to smurf?"

"But how are we going to find out if this village even has a laboratory?" Gutsy asked.

"Just leave that part to me, because I have an idea," Jokey said. He then went over to a part of the fence where a Grey Smurf was standing guard near. "Hey, psst," he whispered to the guard, "is it true what they've been smurfing in the camp...that you Grey Smurfs are very stupid?"

"What?" the Grey Smurf shouted, turning his attention toward Jokey. "Who dares to smurf that, and why?"

"Well, it must be true or just a rumor, but I hear them smurfing that you don't even smurf a laboratory in your village," Jokey said.

"Of course we have one," the Grey Smurf said. "It is the old abandoned house, over there at the bottom of the village. But we have no right to smurf...or ever to talk to you." He stuck the blade end of the spear to chase Jokey away. "Go, smurf off now!"

Jokey ran off and rejoined Gutsy, Tuffy, Hefty, and Papa Smurf. "I knew it! Those Smurfs are truly very stupid! They've got a laboratory in this village, all right...it's located in an abandoned house at the bottom of the village."

"Good work, Jokey," Tuffy said.

"Now we just need a way to smurf ourselves and Papa Smurf there," Hefty said.

"I think I have a plan on how to smurf that," Papa Smurf said. He huddled the four Smurfs close together with him as he whispered his plan to them.

One of the Grey Smurfs standing guard noticed the huddle. "Hey, what's this smurfing on here? Smurfing so softly, are we?" he shouted as he approached them with a spear. "Disperse, all of you!"

And as the five Smurfs made it look like they were doing nothing wrong, Panicky was busy burrowing a hole in a corner of the camp not watched by the guards.

"Soon, thanks to this tunnel, I will be free," he said, giddily laughing. "It may smurf a good while, but I'll be free, and I won't have to work anymore!"