Grouchy And The Love Doll/Part 4

Upon daybreak, Smurfette woke up, feeling refreshed and ready for the new day ahead of her. She got up from the bed, looking at Empath as he continued to sleep blissfully, feeling happy about the privilege of having Smurfette all to himself. She nudged him slightly to get him to wake up, but he seemed to have resisted any of her attempts. She smiled, knowing that her husband is satisfied with her.

She got dressed and went downstairs to the living room to see if Angel was still there. She soon found her answer, and she yelled, "EMPATH! WAKE UP!"

Empath's eyes suddenly shot open as he got out of bed and joined Smurfette in the living room, still dressed in only his underwear. "What's the matter, Smurfette?" Empath asked, sounding concerned.

"Angel...she's not here in the living room where she ought to be," Smurfette answered.

Empath looked around the house to see if he could find her. "She doesn't appear to be anywhere else in the house, Smurfette," he said. "Maybe she just went out sleepwalking or something."

"Can't you use your minds-eye to sense where she is?" Smurfette asked.

Empath opened his mind to scan the village and sense who is in it at that moment. Then he frowned, seemingly frustrated. "It's no use, Smurfette. Whatever Angel happens to be, her mind is not open to this smurf's scans."

"Then where could she possibly be at this moment?" Smurfette asked.

Before Empath could answer, there was a knocking on his door. He opened and found out that it was Polaris Psyche.

"You must come with me, Empath," Polaris said. "There has been an incident taking place at Grouchy's house."

Empath nodded, realizing that his presence was needed. He quickly got changed and joined Polaris at Grouchy's house, where they found Angel standing around, telling what has happened to Papa Smurf, as well as a crowd of Smurfs gathered together, curious to know.

"I came to his house early in the morning and found that Grouchy's body was lifeless," Angel said. "I called the other Smurfs to their attention as soon as I found out what happened."

"Angel, why didn't you smurf put inside our house last night?" Empath asked.

"I couldn't help it, Empath," Angel said, sobbing. "I just felt that I had to be near Grouchy. And I'm afraid that I'm a bit too late."

Empath went inside Grouchy's house to find Grouchy still lying on his bed, not moving. He quickly touched his hand and scanned him with his mental powers. "He's unconscious, barely alive," he said. "We need to bring him to the infirmary so we can find out exactly how this happened."

The Smurfs stood back and watched as Empath picked up Grouchy and carried him all the way to the infirmary. Smurfette came to the scene to be with Angel as she wept over what has happened.

Tapper and Duncan watched as Empath carried Grouchy away. "Blessed smurfs of Eire, I wouldn't think that something terrible like this would happen to our dear Grouchy," Tapper said.

"I'd be curious to know exactly what smurfed this to him and how we can stop it from happening to others," Duncan said.

"I can sense in my spirit that there's something evil smurfing on here, my fellow Duncan," Tapper said.

"You mean that it could be that Angel that Grouchy's so fond of?" Duncan asked.

"I wouldn't smurf to conclusions that quickly, but her recent arrival in the village is just too suspect," Tapper said.

"We might as well smurf ourselves available in helping to smurf this mystery, lest we want to smurf more incidents like this," Duncan said.

To be expanded on.