Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Part 2

Sassette found herself skipping merrily along and singing as she and Puppy followed along the yellow smurf road that Glinda the Good Witch said would lead them straight to the city of the Emerald Village. She looked around and saw how beautiful and vibrant everything was in the land of Odds, which made the beauty of the Smurf Forest seem pale by comparison. She would have wanted to enjoy the scenery a bit more if it weren't for the fact that, besides finding the Wizard of Odds, she also had to find her own friends.

She soon came to a fork in the road next to a corn field as there were now three paths all leading in different directions. She stopped and looked at each of the three divergent paths. "Now which way is supposed to be the one that smurfs to the Emerald Village?" Sassette asked herself.

"I think it's the path that smurfs straight ahead...or maybe the one that smurfs to the left...or maybe it's the one that smurfs to the right," a familiar voice broke in.

Sassette looked around and saw a familiar face in a somewhat different form. "Nat Smurfling...is that you as the Scarecrow?" she asked as she went into the corn field to get a better look.

"I'm afraid so, Sassette," Nat said. "The only thing is, I don't know how I ended up as a scarecrow, because the last thing I remember was smurfing in the playhouse with you, Snappy, and Slouchy."

"Flapping flounders, that must mean the others are in the Land of Odds just waiting to be found," Sassette realized. "You've got to help me find them so we can smurf out of here."

"I wish that I can smurf with you, but I can't seem to smurf anywhere as long as I'm still smurfed on this pole," Nat said. "There's got to be some way that you can smurf me down from here."

Sassette went to the back of the pole and felt around behind Nat until she found a nail. She turned the nail around, and then suddenly Nat fell down from the pole, causing part of his hay stuffing to fall out.

"Uh-oh," Sassette said, looking at Nat. "Here, let me help smurf you."

"That's funny that I didn't even feel anything when I fell down from the pole," Nat said as he and Sassette picked up the hay and stuffed it back inside him. "It's even stranger that I seem to actually be a real scarecrow than a Smurf."

"But are we in a dream or something?" Sassette said. "I only wish Empath were here to help us figure this thing out."

"If we know the story, there's only one person who can help figure this out, and that's the Wizard of Odds," Nat said. "Maybe when we meet him, we will know what's up and find out how to be real Smurfs again."

"What else can we do?" Sassette said. "Now if we can figure out which way we're supposed to go..."

Puppy barked as he looked straight in the direction of one of the divergent paths.

"Aha!" Nat said. "Puppy must have smurfed up the scent of the other Smurflings. Let's see where his nose will smurf us."

"You know, this adventure could be fun, even if we're all stuck together smurfing it," Sassette said as she and Nat followed Puppy along the path on the yellow smurf road. - Soon they came into a wooded area that was full of smurfberry bushes, with berries that were much bigger than either Nat or Sassette have ever remembered seeing them.

"Those berries are making me feel really hungry, Nat," Sassette said. "I wish that we could stop and smurf one of those right now."

"Strangely I don't seem to have an appetite for smurfberries, Sassette," Nat said.

"I know, because you're a scarecrow now," Sassette said. "I just wish that being a scarecrow didn't have to mean that..."

Puppy soon barked. "What is it, Puppy?" Nat asked.

"Maybe he's found either Snappy or Slouchy," Sassette said. "Let's go follow him."

Puppy led the two Smurflings to a place where they saw what appeared to be a Smurfling made entirely out of tin. Sassette recognized the face of the Smurfling. "Prickly porcupines, this must be Slouchy," Sassette said.

"Holy hickory nuts, he seems to be frozen in that smurf," Nat said as he examined Slouchy.

"Mmmmh mmmme mmmmh mmmmoil mmmmman," Slouchy tried to speak.

"What did he say, Nat?" Sassette asked.

"I think he said 'give me the oil can', Sassette," Nat said.

Sassette looked around and then saw the oil can. "Here it is," she said. "I'm going to try oiling him up and see if he can move."

"Smurf some oil on his lips first," Nat suggested.

Sassette put some oil on Slouchy's lips. Soon with a loud squeak, Slouchy was able to move his lips again. "Oh, thank smurfness you smurfed me back to life again."

"How did you end up being the Tin Woodsmurf, Slouchy?" Nat asked.

"I don't know, Nat," Slouchy said. "All I remember was being in the playhouse with you Smurfs, and then I fell out, and the next thing I knew, I was smurfed here, unable to move."

"This oil should help keep you mobile, Slouchy," Sassette said as she oiled up the joints in Slouchy's now metal body.

Slowly Slouchy began to regain his mobility, able to move his arms and legs. "If this is what being a Tin Woodsmurf is like, somebody else is more than welcome to smurf this part."

"We're on our way to the Wizard of Odds to find out how we can be real Smurfs again so we can smurf out of this place," Nat said.

"That means that we also have to find Snappy," Slouchy said.

"And if Snappy is the character that I think he's become, finding him may not be that hard to find," Sassette said.

"Snappy as the Cowardly Lion," Slouchy said. "I would surely love to smurf that."

"Sassy, Slouchy, Puppy seems to have found Snappy's trail," Nat reported as he saw Puppy sniff the ground along the yellow Smurf road and then bark, eager to get going.

"Well, let's get smurfing to find him already," Slouchy said as he tried to start walking, only to find himself feeling rather uncoordinated as he only managed to fall over.

"Walloping weasels, it looks like we've got to oil Slouchy up really good if we want him to be fully mobile," Sassette said. - With Slouchy now fully oiled and mobile, the three Smurflings continued along the path of the yellow smurf road, following behind Puppy as he went after the scent of the missing Smurfling.

Soon the forest got really thick and dark, as if night has fallen upon it. "I sure don't like the smurfs of this, Sassette," Nat said with some foreboding.

"This forest is really starting to smurf me the creeps," Slouchy said, seeming to second Nat's emotion.

"Oh, don't be such a couple of scaredy-smurfs," Sassette said. "I know Snappy has to be around here somewhere..."

Suddenly they could hear a loud roar as they saw the figure of an anthropomorphic lion up ahead on the path, looking at first like a fearsome shadow. Then as the lion got closer, the three of them could see that it bore the face of somebody that looked rather familiar. "Snappy Smurfling!"

Snappy laughed. "I really scared the smurfs out of you with my lion impression, didn't I? And you thought that I was a cowardly lion."

"Well, you sure didn't impress me that much, Snappy," Sassette said as she slapped him in the face.

"Ow! Now that really hurt!" Snappy whined. "I was just having fun being the lion in the forest, scaring away all the animals, making myself the fearsome king of the beasts...and then you smurfed along and ruined everything."

"We're sorry to ruin your fun like that, Snappy, but all of us are stuck here in the Land of Odds, with me as the Scarecrow, and Slouchy as the Tin Woodsmurf," Nat said.

"And me smurfing these smurfberry red heels that the Wicked Witch is after," Sassette added, showing off the heels to Snappy.

"So what do you need me for?" Snappy said.

"We've got to smurf out of here, and the only way to do that is to go to the Emerald Village and smurf the Wizard of Odds," Slouchy said. "That way we can smurf back to the Smurfs that we once were."

"Well, have fun smurfing that, you guys," Snappy said. "I'm going to smurf my fun scaring up the animals."

"Then I guess you really are a cowardly lion, Snappy...or are you afraid of the Wicked Witch?" Sassette said.

"Me, afraid of a wicked witch?" Snappy said. "I'll come along with you and prove that I'm not some cowardly lion like you think I am, Sassette."

"Good, now we need to smurf our way to the Emerald soon as...," Sassette began to speak, before she was interrupted by Puppy's barking.

"Now what's Puppy barking at?" Slouchy asked, sounding curious.

The four Smurflings looked in the direction that Puppy was barking in. "There's a light at the far end of the path," Nat said. "Good work, Puppy."

"Then the Emerald Village must be smurfing for us where that light is," Sassette said. "Come on, Smurflings, let's follow that light."