Smurfed Behind: The Departure

"Smurfed Behind: The Departure" is a "story board comic book" created by Vic George featuring his Smurfs fanfiction character Empath. It is set around the time of the Season 9 episode "The Smurfs That Time Forgot" and includes elements from the first half of that episode's story up until the point where the Smurfs travel back in time.

While Empath was away...


It is a very snowy mountain that Snappy, Hefty, Brainy, and Tracker are exploring to fetch a rare herb for one of Papa Smurf's experiments, when Snappy gets too loud speaking about Empath's absence from the village and Hefty shushes him, warning that he could start an avalanche. Of course, Brainy overdoes it by telling Snappy, "QUIET!" -- which ends up burying the four Smurfs in snow. As they dig themselves out of the heap, they hear a heart beat and ice cracking nearby. It is a baby dinosaur that wakes up, scaring Brainy and sending the other three Smurfs cowering in fear until Snappy bravely befriends the awakened creature.

Back in the village, it is a warm spring day that happens to be Empath's 155th birthday, and Papa Smurf, who happily observes the preparations going on with Grandpa Smurf and Nanny alongside him, ends up brooding about having to send Empath away to Psychelia when he was an infant. Grandpa Smurf tries to cheer Papa Smurf up by saying he wished during his 500-year journey around the world that he could have seen his own son grow up to be the great Smurf he knew he would someday become. Papa Smurf is also reminded about the time he successfully brought Wild Smurf and Polaris Psyche (Empath's friend) into the fold as part of the family.

Then Polaris shows up, now wearing a beard and moustache that he has grown. He gives Papa Smurf a report about preparations for the birthday party during Empath's absence, noting only a few incidents: Handy waking Lazy up from resting while starting up his "music-go-round", and Nabby attempting to steal a cream-filled muffin from Greedy's kitchen. Polaris then expresses his concern for Smurfette spending time with Wild Smurf lately, which makes the elder Smurfs suspect that Polaris is "jealous for Empath's sake". Nanny assures Polaris that Smurfette still has a special place in her heart for Empath that no other Smurf, not even Wild, could take the place of, that she sees that those two Smurfs were meant to be "smurfmates" for all time.



Meanwhile, out in the forest, Wild and Smurfette are watching the Smurflings play around with Hefty's football when Wild (now being able to fully talk) asks Smurfette to marry him. She is surprised by the question to which she tries to gently turn down without hurting Wild's feelings when Baby Smurf and the Smurflings see Snappy passing by riding on a baby dinosaur. Realizing the danger Snappy's newfound pet now presents, Wild quickly races to the village to warn Papa Smurf while Smurfette, Baby Smurf, the Smurflings and Puppy follow behind him.

Soon Snappy and the dinosaur arrive in the village, sending the Smurfs scurrying this way and that and rocking things inside some Smurfs' houses. Snappy now finds out he has no control as the baby dinosaur rip down greeting banners and overturn tables where the birthday party will take place. Polaris Psyche rushes and uses his mental abilities to slow the creature down to a stop. Papa Smurf shows up to ask Snappy why he has brought this dinosaur to the village, to which he answers that he couldn't leave it up in the mountains to starve. Soon Brainy, Hefty, and Tracker also show up to say they allowed Snappy to return early with the dinosaur. Papa Smurf decides to punish the three adult Smurfs for letting Snappy bring such a creature to the village without their supervision by having them clean up the mess that the creature left behind in the village.

With Snappy left in charge of the baby dinosaur that he now calls Crinkles, he starts playing fetch with him, sending him throughout the village to chase the ball, but also causing him to damage various Smurf houses along the way, including Greedy's kitchen, where he is busy putting the final touches to Empath's giant birthday cake. Later on, as Papa Smurf and Polaris wonder what to do about Snappy's new pet, the playing around begins to exhaust Crinkles, so Snappy turns to Papa Smurf for his help, saying that Crinkles won't eat all the food the Smurfs manage to put in a giant bowl for him to regain his strength. Polaris examines the creature and finds out that Crinkles' digestive system is unable to process the food of the present. Grandpa Smurf tells Snappy that the dinosaur needs to be home with his own kind, munching on prehistoric plants. This inspires Papa Smurf to call upon the only two beings who can send Crinkles back to his own time -- Father Time and Traveler Smurf (a time-traveling Smurf who comes from their future).



Arriving in Father Time's workshop, Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf encounter Traveler as he appears from the timestream, telling them that he is unable to send Crinkles back to his own time by his own power. Father Time also appears to say the same thing, adding that the dinosaur is not displaced in time like another dinosaur that he had to deal with. He does offer the two elder Smurfs a solution he has hidden within one of his magical clocks: the Key Of Chronos, which enables one to open vortices between one time period and another to travel through time, altering one's clothes to whatever time period the traveler appears in. Father Time warns Papa Smurf to be careful not to lose either the key or the crystals that power it, saying that the key is useless without the crystals, but if the key is lost, he could still use the crystals, though they will not easily bring him back to the present as they would if the key is still present. As Papa Smurf accepts the key, a shadowy figure in another location watches with a dark glee, seeing that everything is proceeding according to his plan.

Back in the village, Crinkles is getting weaker without food, and even Smurfette starts to worry about Empath's not being there to take care of this problem. But soon Papa Smurf and Grandpa Smurf return with their solution, Father Time's Key of Chronos which they intend to use to bring Crinkles back home by themselves. Snappy wants to go with the two elder Smurfs, but they tell him that time traveling is too dangerous for a young Smurfling like him. After Snappy and the other Smurflings say their goodbyes to Crinkles, Papa Smurf activates the Key of Chronos, opening a vortex into which he, Grandpa Smurf, and Crinkles enter. Unfortunately, the vortex begins sucking in the other Smurfs as well, as Polaris and Traveler (who watches invisibly) notices. Even Puppy isn't immune to the drawing power of the vortex.

Polaris grabs Smurfette and uses his powers (and, unnoticed by him, the time powers of Traveler) to keep her from being pulled into the vortex, telling her to hang on for Empath's sake. But it is no use -- Smurfette is ripped out of Polaris' hands and drawn into the vortex. Soon Traveler's own powers give out and Polaris is pulled toward the vortex, but just as he reaches it, the vortex closes up and leaves him behind in a village now totally empty of all Smurfs. The only thing he can do now is wait for Empath to return and tell him what's happened.

When Empath returns...
Meanwhile, Empath is with Homnibus in his Imaginarium, watching a "motion picture" that Actor has created, relaxing after having run errands for the human wizard when he suddenly sees a flash vision of his fellow Smurfs being swept away in a vortex. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Empath bids farewell to Homnibus and flies off to the village, hoping to find out for himself about the vision. Soon his powers begin to fade, and then Empath finds himself falling into a pond. Pulling himself out, Empath runs the rest of the way to the Smurf Village, only to find when he reaches it that there's nobody there but his friend Polaris Psyche, who briefly tells Empath what has happened during his absence. Realizing that there's nothing to do but wait for the return of the other Smurfs, Empath makes himself a stack of smurfberry pancakes and enjoys them while Polaris attends to other matters in the village.

As the day reaches its end, though, Empath gets rather impatient waiting for the other Smurfs to return, and goes over to where Polaris is busy meditating, suspecting that something went wrong. They decide to go to Father Time's workshop to find out what happened to them. Inside the workshop, Empath and Polaris discover a room full of streaking multi-colored lines, which Father Time says are the various timelines that make up the timestream. He tells his two visitors that he has lent out his Key Of Chronos to Papa Smurf and warned him to be careful when using it. Using his magic time scythe, Father Time reveals on one of the timelines that the other Smurfs are now rapidly jumping around through time, most likely because Papa Smurf no longer has the key and is now using the time crystals to try getting back home. Empath is totally disappointed when Father Time says there's nothing he can do to bring those Smurfs back home once the Key Of Chronos leaves his hands. As Empath and Polaris leave with what information they have gained about the other Smurfs, Traveler is seen inside an energy orb sitting on one of Father Time's work tables.

Sitting around a fire after nightfall, Empath and Polaris ponder about what to do. Polaris suggests that they should stay in the village and wait for the opportunity to bring the other Smurfs home from time. Empath, on the other hand, wants to journey out into the world to try finding the way to rescue the other Smurfs. Polaris believes that that way is too dangerous, but he is unable to convince Empath as he eats roasted marshmallows, wallowing over the birthday party that he's not getting. The only thing Polaris could suggest at this point is to get some rest so they can think clearly of what to do the following day.



At some point in the prehistoric past (roughly around the time of the cartoon episode "Cave Smurfs"), the time-lost Smurfs have gathered in a cave with Puppy standing guard outside it to protect them, singing a happy-birthday song to Empath who's not with them in order to get their minds off their current predicament. Grandpa Smurf says they have managed to rescue the time crystals from the Key Of Chronos before it was destroyed in the volcano. But, as Papa Smurf observes, now comes the difficult task of assembling the crystals together to try finding the combination that will bring them home -- a task that, even with Empath's help, is incredibly difficult even to start. However, Papa Smurf resolves that he will not give up trying, for the sake of his little Smurfs and for Empath's sake.

Back in the present, Empath has dreams recalling memories from his first year being home for good -- the first being Papa Smurf saying that he will never leave him like that anymore, the second being Smurfette saying that she wants to share tomorrow with him before they kiss each other. Polaris, however, has a nightmare recalling not being able to keep Smurfette from being drawn into the vortex, and seeing Empath becoming so angry with Polaris for that that he uses his mental powers to cast Polaris into the vortex. This wakes Polaris up from his sleep, only to find out that it is now morning.

As Polaris looks around the village, he notices that Empath is in Papa Smurf's laboratory searching for the magic whistle he had given Dreamy (in the cartoon episode "Dreamy's Nightmare") and puts it safely away in his backpack. Empath is now resolute in his desire to journey beyond the village to find a way to bring his fellow Smurfs back home, and nothing Polaris can do can make him change his mind. Realizing that, Polaris decides to join Empath in his quest in order to give him guidance. Before they leave, Empath uses Papa Smurf's spell to make the entire village vanish and has Polaris bury the scroll in a secret place. En route to Homnibus' hovel in order to chart their course, Empath brings forth Papa Smurf's personal assistant, the "HoloSmurf", to tell him what has transpired and what they have brought him along for. The HoloSmurf seems eager to help, but Empath shuts him off as he begins to ramble on and on about the prospect of journeying beyond the village and into the world.

(The story is still in progress at this point.)

Background Information

 * The title of this story is derived from the Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins series of LEFT BEHIND stories, but apart from the two main characters in this story being left behind by the time-traveling Smurfs, it shares no further commonality with the book series.
 * This story takes place about five years after most of the events that were depicted in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf novel, though it also happens about five years before the wedding of Empath and Smurfette in the novel's epilogue.
 * Father Time mentions in this story that the de-aging grandfather clock in his workshop has in another timeline caused three adult Smurfs to de-age into Smurflings -- referencing the origin of the Smurflings in the cartoon show universe.
 * The "movie" Hominbus and Empath watch in the elder wizard's Imaginarium is a Smurf rendition of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, particularly the scene where its version of Darth Vader reveals to its analog of Luke Skywalker the nature of their actual relationship with each other. The name Oggi Ben-Doggi is derived from a parody version of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Hardware Wars, while Chubba the Fatt is a parody version of Jabba the Hutt in MAD Magazine's satire of Star Wars Episode IV: Return Of The Jedi.