Empath Goes Wild/Part 6

At this point, Traveler began to wonder about Gargamel, the evil wizard who in the main timeline had been expelled from the forest for being too dangerous around the Smurfs, along with his cat Azrael and his apprentice Scruple. Apparently Wild didn't seem to be powerful enough to get the entire village to be behind him so that they could force Gargamel to leave, so that would result in a different outcome than the one he was all too familiar with from his great-grandfather's stories. He decided to rewind time to the point after Gargamel had his encounter with Wild Smurf and see what the wizard would end up doing.

Then he saw that Scruple was alone in the hovel, doing some cleaning work all by himself. He seemed happy to have some time away from the evil wizard, given how neither the young boy nor the wizard liked being stuck with each other since he wound up being reluctantly adopted by Gargamel.

"Gee, it's almost sundown, and Gargamel hasn't returned from his Smurf watch," Scruple said as he looked out at the sky from one of the windows and then returned to his cleaning. "That goofball must have had rocks in his head."

Suddenly the door opened, and Gargamel showed up looking like he had taken a beating by Bigmouth the ogre. "Actually, you obnoxious little twerp, the rocks were on my head," he said sourly as he stepped through the door with his cat Azrael following him, also looking rather beaten up.

Scruple gasped as he saw how his master looked. "Gee, Gargy, I've seen you taking some beatings before, but you never looked like that after dealing with a Smurf."

"And I will never look like that ever again, Scruple," Gargamel said as he walked right past his student. "My Smurf-chasing days are over." He picked up all the things that were on top of his work table and threw them on top of his stove. "No more Smurf potions, no more Smurf cages, no more Smurf traps. It's all behind me now."

"Gargy, are you really serious?!?" Scruple asked, not believing what he was hearing from his master.

"I have never been this serious in my life," Gargamel said. "I don't want to see them, I don't want to eat them, and I don't want to turn them into gold. All I want to do now is DESTROY THEM!!!"

Scruple fell to the floor when Gargamel yelled out his response. "Gee, Gargy, I'm, uh...glad to see that you're turning over a new leaf. Is there anything that I can do to help you?"

"Just one thing...stay out of my way until I tell you that I need you," Gargamel snapped as he headed for his bedroom and slammed the door so that he could be alone with his thoughts.

Traveler slipped inside the bedroom and saw that Gargamel was alone in what appeared to be in a prayer position. "O, Lucifer, I just don't understand this at all," Gargamel said as he faced the only open window in his bedroom. "There's no wizard who's more well-studied in the ways of those wretched blue creatures than I am, who's even been to their village and lived among them for who knows how long. So why is it now that I have to deal with one little Smurf who is more than capable of facing off against me myself? Oh, there's got to be a way that I can destroy them all, to be rid of them forever so I don't have to live even with that savage pipsqueak haunting me in the forest. There's got to be some way that you can help me."

Gargamel buried his face on his head and sobbed for what seemed to be an hour or so, but after that hour had passed, he looked up as if the deity he was praying to had given him his answer, the inspiration that he needed to fulfill his goal. He went back into his laboratory after Scruple and Azrael had gone off to bed and started working on a couple of potions that he was going to use to destroy the Smurfs with.

By nighttime, the potions were ready. He went out into the forest with his cat Azrael, holding the two vials seperately in each hand to keep them from being prematurely mixed together before giving them a proper test. "We should be far enough away from the hovel, Azrael," Gargamel said. He then noticed a small ant hill up ahead in his path and decided to test the potions out there. "I can only hope for the sake of the ants that this ant hill is as abadoned as it looks," he said as he knelt down and poured a drop from the green potion and then a drop from the orange potion, then stood back to see what kind of effect it would have.

Azrael dared to take a closer look at the ant hill as it started to glow, and then all of a sudden it grew until it became a big volcano that started spewing fire and smoke. Azrael quickly scurried away to safety hiding behind Gargamel.

"It works, Azrael, it works," Gargamel said gleefully. "And it took was just two drops. Imagine what will happen when I use all of the two potions together. There will be no place for the Smurfs to hide from the disaster that I will bring upon them for all the trouble they have brought me through the years." - Traveler realized that Gargamel would find another way to destroy the Smurfs completely, but unfortunately there wasn't anything that he could do to warn the Smurfs about it. He only hoped that someone in this timeline will notice it and give the Smurfs ample warning so that they could deal with the situation effectively.

He returned to the present time in the timeline, and saw that back in the village, the Smurflings woke up one morning to find that Nat isn't in his bed as usual. "Seafaring seagulls, where do you suppose Nat smurfed off to this morning?" Sassette asked.

"Who knows? He probably smurfed out into the forest with Wild Smurf to see how he smurfs and all," Snappy said.

"This early? Oh well, at least he won't smurf himself into any trouble," Slouchy said.

"Let's smurf ourselves ready for breakfast and see what Greedy's got smurfing for us this morning," Sassette said.

As soon as they got dressed, they headed out of their playhouse and were on their way to the dining hall when they ran into Smurfette. "Oh, Smurflings, do you know where Wild smurfed off to this morning?" she asked.

"We were wondering that ourselves, Smurfette," Snappy answered. "He probably smurfed off into the forest with Nat very early."

"Oh, dear, and I was going to smurf him on a picnic sometime today, just he and I alone together," Smurfette said.

"Who wouldn't? I mean...it's too bad he won't be home for a while, though," Slouchy said.

Smurfette sighed. "Well, that's too bad. Maybe another time, he and I can enjoy the great outdoors together by ourselves."

Just then, Tapper joined Smurfette and the three Smurflings. "What a smurfy morning it's been for me, my fellow Smurfs," he said, sounding very worried.

"You don't sound like you had a very pleasant night's sleep, Tapper," Sassette said. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know what it is, but something in my spirit is telling me that we'll be in danger, and if we don't find Nat or Wild soon, they will be in danger as well," Tapper said.

"Then we've got to smurf out into the forest to find them and make sure that they're safe," Smurfette said.

"We want to smurf with you two, to help you find them both before something terrible happens," Snappy said.

"Very well then, my little Smurflings," Tapper said. "Just smurf close to us and don't smurf for anything unless you see those two Smurfs. I pray that we will be able to find them in time."

Papa Smurf was with Hefty and Duncan when they saw Tapper, Smurfette, and the three Smurflings head into the forest together. "I wonder what those laddies are smurfing at this time of the morning?" Duncan asked.

"Who knows? Maybe Nat got lost in the forest and they need to find him," Hefty answered.

"I'm sure that whatever it is, they are more than capable of handling the situation without needing us to smurf a hand," Papa Smurf said. "Now let's smurf ourselves over to Greedy's and get our breakfasts." - Meanwhile, Gargamel was heading in a certain direction with both of his potions in hand, while Scruple was trailing behind the evil wizard, carrying a cart full of equipment. "Hurry it up, Scruple, we haven't got all day," Gargamel snapped.

"Give me a break, Gargy," Scruple said as he was huffing and puffing and working up a sweat. "Where are we going anyway? What's the big plan?" He suddenly pinched his nose as he noticed a powerful odor in the vicinity. "And what's that awful stink?"

"It's the sweet smell of success, my sniveling student," Gargamel answered. "Look!"

Scruple stopped pulling the cart and joined Gargamel at the precipice in the location that they have stopped at. He looked and saw that it was a giant tar pit. "This is where you wanted us to go?" Scruple asked.

"That's right, and I'm going to use this tar pit to seal the Smurfs' doom by turning it into a volcano of tar," Gargamel answered. "But in order for it to work, the potions must be poured directly into the center of the pit."

"And how are you going to do that, Gargy?" Scruple asked.

"You'll see, as soon as we unload this cart," Gargamel replied, as he went to get the equipment that was loaded into it. Soon it was constructed into a primitive crane which the evil wizard used to lower Scruple into the center of the pit while holding onto the two potions in each hand.

"Be careful not to drop me into this tar pit, will you?" Scruple said, sounding rather fearful.

"Oh, be quiet...I know what I am doing," Gargamel shot back. "Now pour in the potions like I have told you...first the green potion, and then the orange."

Scruple poured the potions into the tar just as he was directed. Suddenly there came a rumbling as the tar pit started to stir rather violently. "Quick, Gargy, pull me back up!" Scruple cried out.

Gargamel tried to reel Scruple back in by using the crank to control the crane, but he soon found out that something was wrong. "Egads...I must have stripped the gears," Gargamel said before he started running for his life.

Scruple saw that Gargamel was abandoning him to his fate and quickly climbed up the rope to safety. "Oooooh, I'll get you for this, you stupid cowardly wizard!" Scruple shouted as he tried to vacate the pit before it turned into a volcano. - Out in the middle of the forest, Wild and Nat were both walking together, talking to each other. "Well, you sure know a lot about smurfing various animal noises, Wild, which is why you must be able to smurf to them much better than I can," Nat said. "I just wish the other Smurfs would better appreciate your abilities so they wouldn't have to treat you like they do."

Wild spoke a response in animal chatter that Nat seemed to understand.

"You seem to like Smurfette just like the other Smurfs in the village, and I certainly don't blame you, because she's just so beautiful," Nat said. "The only thing is, she's never chosen which Smurf she would love more than any others because she happens to like them equally. It's too bad that me, Snappy, and Slouchy are still Smurflings because we also love Smurfette the same way, but we're too young for her to marry."

Wild sighed, seeming to understand Nat, then spoke another response.

"Well, who knows, maybe you'll be the lucky Smurf who will capture Smurfette's heart and you might be the one who will marry her," Nat said. "I could only imagine what kind of life you will smurf with her, but as long as the both of you are happy, who am I to complain about it?"

Suddenly Wild stopped in his tracks, and motioned for Nat to be silent. "What's wrong, Wild?" Nat whispered. "What are you hearing right now?"

Nat heard for himself a growling that came from nearby. He turned and saw that they had just came across a fierce wildcat that had spotted them. This scared the both of them to the point where they started running for their lives.

Nat followed Wild up a tree where they hoped to escape the wildcat chasing after them, but the wildcat managed to climb up the tree and trapped them on a tree branch, with no possible way of escape. "Holy hickory nuts, Wild, what are we going to do now?" Nat asked, sounding very fearful.

Wild saw some hanging vines nearby and motioned for Nat to take a hold of one of them. Then Wild let out a loud cry as he swung himself to safety, far away from the approaching wildcat. Nat swallowed hard and did the same, holding on as tight as he could until he swung right over the same place that Wild landed, letting go of the vine so he could drop down. Wild caught him to make sure he landed safety.

Nat let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Wild...I'm sure glad you were able to save me from that wildcat." Then they noticed that Gargamel and Scruple were both running for their lives before they also noticed what they were running from: a deluge of thick hot black tar that was flowing through the forest. Wild and Nat saw that the tar was rising quickly and climbed up another tree to get to safety, but it would only be a matter of time before the entire forest...and soon the whole village...would be covered in tar. - Traveler saw that the Smurf Village was starting to panic as they felt a rumbling in the ground and saw that there was a huge volcano that emerged from somewhere in the forest...a volcano that was spewing tar. It was splattering the Smurf Village here and there, making a huge sticky mess that the Smurfs found themselves hard-pressed to escape from when they got stuck wherever the tar had hit them.

"Great Smurfs Of Fire! Where did that volcano come from?" Papa Smurf said as he saw what had emerged in the distance.

"I don't know, Papa Smurf, but I have a very bad feeling that it was smurfed by Gargamel," Duncan said.

"Crazy, sound the evacuation alarm so that the Smurfs will know to escape the village," Papa Smurf ordered. Crazy immediately went into action and sounded the alarm, getting all the Smurfs' attention.

"I've got Baby Smurf safely in my smurfs, Papa Smurf," Narrator said before he and Baby both got hit by a splash of tar.

"Michty me, Tapper, Smurfette, and the other laddies are still out in the forest, Papa Smurf," Duncan said. "We've got to go and find them before the tar smurfs them as well."

"As soon as we leave the village, we'd better smurf together and find higher ground for us to smurf out the deluge when it finally comes," Papa Smurf said. "I only hope that the other Smurfs out there will find safety soon." - Meanwhile, Tapper, Smurfette, and the three other Smurflings were still looking for Nat and Wild when they started smelling something that was hot and sticky coming their way. "I have the distinct feeling that we're going to be smurfed with a deluge of something we don't want to be smurfed in very soon," Tapper said. "Quick, my fellow Smurfs, climb up onto that rock!"

They quickly scrambled up to the top of a nearby rock and watched as the tar came flowing by them, rising up so high that it was almost up to their feet. "Oh dear, how are we going to escape this?" Smurfette cried out.

"I honestly don't know, my dear Smurfette, but perhaps calling out for help will attract someone's attention," Tapper replied.

All five of them cried out for help as loudly as they could, hoping that someone would come to their rescue before the tar level rose too high. And then suddenly they found themselves being swung to safety by two Smurfs that were swinging on vines. It was Nat and Wild.

The Smurfs let ouf a sigh of relef as soon as they landed on a high ledge, away from the flow of the rising tar. "Oh, Wild, thank Smurfness you've saved us," Smurfette said as she gave Wild a kiss.

"No time to celebrate yet, Smurfette," Nat said. "The flow of tar is smurfing straight towards the village. We need to find a way that we can divert it away from there."

Tapper looked around and saw something they could use. "Those boulders up on that high ledge can smurf the trick, my fellow Smurfs," Tapper said. "Now we just need a Smurf who is able to smurf up to that ledge and..."

Wild immediately started climbing up to that ledge and used a branch to act as a lever so he could dislodge the boulders. He pushed down on the lever with all his might, and then soon the rocks came tumbling down into the gulley below, blocking the path so that the flow of tar was directed elsewhere.

The six Smurfs cheered as Wild came back down from the high ledge to join them. "Smurfabunga!" the Smurflings shouted. "Wild Smurf is a true hero."

"I knew that Wild would prove himself to be a Smurf just like us, my fellow Smurfs," Tapper said, sounding pleased.

"It's too bad that the flow of tar is now headed straight for Gargamel's lair," Nat said as he was laughing.

And as Traveler went to see, Gargamel was resting in his hovel, feeling relieved that he was safe from the flow of tar and imagining what it must be doing to the Smurf Village, when Scruple charged through the door and warned his master that the flow of tar was headed in their direction. Gargamel rose up and saw it for himself, then he, Azrael, and Scruple climbed up the chimney to get to the roof where they would be safe as the flow of tar filled the entire house. Gargamel ranted and raved, cursing the Smurfs for foiling his plan once more.

To be expanded on.