Flowerbell's Love Triangle/Part 1

It was morning in the Smurf Village. Papa Smurf was in his bedroom still asleep when there was a knocking on his door. "Papa Smurf?" a familiar voice called from outside.

Papa Smurf slowly lifted his eyes open when he heard the voice. "Who is it?" he asked.

"It's Empath," the voice answered. "This smurf needs you to answer the door for something important."

Papa Smurf stretched and yawned as he got himself out of bed. He climbed down the stairs into his laboratory and opened the door to see that Empath was waiting there, wearing jogging clothes. "Empath, what's the meaning of this?" he asked.

"Don't you know, Papa Smurf?" Empath said. "This is the day you're going to get yourself into shape."

"Smurf myself into shape?" Papa Smurf said, not believing what he was hearing. "I surely don't remember smurfing anything about needing a day to..."

"Dabbler Smurf begs to differ," Empath said, interrupting Papa Smurf. "He says that you need to get yourself in shape because you've been putting on some weight since the last time you had a checkup with him."

"Empath, I'm a busy Smurf," Papa Smurf said. "Can't we find some other time that we can smurf this?"

"This smurf already had a discussion with this smurf's fellow Smurfs, and they agreed to take care of important village tasks while you take the day off for your exercise regimen, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "Brainy can do some cleaning up of your laboratory, and Hefty can oversee important village tasks, and Tapper can take care of whatever Smurfs need a bit of counseling. Everyone else in the village will be fine without you for a day."

Papa Smurf sighed, realizing that he had no choice. "All right, Empath. Smurf me some time to prepare myself."

Empath handed Papa Smurf some jogging clothes. "This will be waiting right here until you're ready."

As Papa Smurf headed back inside his bedroom to change into the jogging clothes, Smurfette came walking by. "Hello there, Empath," she greeted. "Getting Papa Smurf ready for his day of workouts?"

"Papa Smurf senses a bit of reluctancy on his part, Smurfette, but this smurf is certain that he is willing to get through this day without a single problem," Empath responded.

"Well, I'm going to miss you at breakfast this morning, so don't oversmurf Papa Smurf with your workout routine," Smurfette said as she slipped him a kiss. "I'll see you later, Empath."

Shortly after Smurfette left, Papa Smurf emerged from his house wearing the jogging clothes. "So now what do we smurf with this morning, Empath?" he asked.

"We're going to start with a jog around the outer perimeter of the village, Papa Smurf," Empath answered. "This smurf will start off slow so you can build yourself up to a pace that you are comfortable with."

"Well, lead the way, Empath," Papa Smurf said as he closed the door to his house.

Empath started to jog, and Papa Smurf followed right behind him, trying to keep up with his son even though he was jogging at a slow pace so that Papa Smurf would not lag behind.

"Gosh, look, Dimmy, it's Empath and Papa Smurf," Clumsy said to his brother Dimwitty as they both saw the two of them jogging.

"I didn't know Papa Smurf had smurfed up jogging as of lately, Clumsy," Dimwitty commented.

"Uh, me neither," Clumsy said as the two of them looked on in wonder at Empath and Papa Smurf passing by them.

Empath saw Hefty, Tuffy, and Duncan McSmurf as they were doing their own jogging circuit around the village. "Salutations, my fellow Smurfs," Empath greeted as he came into range of the three other joggers.

"Greetings, laddie," Duncan said back to Empath. "Taking Papa out for a jog around the village, I see."

"How's he doing so far, Empath?" Hefty asked.

"He should be catching up with us right about now, Hefty," Empath answered. And surely as he said that, Papa Smurf was doing his best trying to keep up, though he seemed to be breathing hard as he was running.

"Not quite as fast as he used to be when we had Gargamel smurfing after us all around the forest now, is he?" Tuffy commented.

"You really want that evil wizard smurfing around here again, Tuffy?" Duncan asked.

"We could all use a bit more exercise to smurf ourselves out of any danger, you know," Hefty said. "It's not like we can always rely on old star-face to protect us from every sort of danger."

"Just the really big ones that even we as a group of Smurfs can't handle, Hefty," Tuffy said.

Empath and Papa Smurf were now passing by Handy, Miner, and Farmer as they were heading out to Farmer's fields to work on the irrigation system. "Smurf and begorrah, there goes Empath with Papa Smurf on a morning jog," Miner said as the three of them watched the two joggers pass by.

"Is it me, or is Papa Smurf do be smurfing shorter of breath in his old age?" Farmer asked.

"What do you expect with a Smurf who's only 549 years old, Farmer?" Handy replied. "I just hope I'm not in the same shape as him when I get to be that age."

Tapper was near the outskirts of the village doing his daily morning prayer when Empath and Papa Smurf passed by him. "O Lord God, the Heavenly Father, I pray for the sake of Papa Smurf, our beloved leader, that you would smurf his heart from all temptations of evil and that you would smurf him wisdom to guide us in our everyday living as You are the Good Shepherd that smurfs over your flock at all times. I ask You this in the name of Your only begotten Son. Amen."

"Empath...could you please slow down?" Papa Smurf requested, panting heavily.

"We're almost finished, Papa Smurf," Empath responded.

Empath and Papa Smurf continued their circuit around the village, passing by several more Smurfs that were just getting ready for their day, including Wheelie, who was busy delivering the morning newspaper while riding his unicycle around the village. Papa Smurf could feel his heart beating faster as he continued trying to keep up with his son.

Then finally, Empath said, "You can relax now, Papa Smurf. Our circuit around the village is finished."

Papa Smurf exhaled greatly as he and Empath slowed to a stop. "That was quite a workout there, Empath."

"We're not finished with the workout, Papa Smurf," Empath said as he continued to move around. "As soon as we are cooled down from the jog, we will be going into an exercise routine for the next thirty minutes."

"Another thirty minutes?" Papa Smurf said, sounding exasperated.

"You want to maintain good health in your later years, Papa Smurf, you should listen to what your physician is telling you," Empath said, trying not to sound like he was lecturing. "You'll get through it in fine shape, this smurf promises you."

Papa Smurf slapped his forehead in frustration.

To be expanded on.