Cobalto (Empath stories)

Cobalto is a character who is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series. He is a Cerulean who is the custodian of the royal family of Cerulea. He was the faithful friend of Princess Sapphire's father, King Navidian, who upon his liege's death was put in charge as co-regent of the kingdom until Sapphire was of age to claim the throne. However, some rebels among the Chartreusians, who sought to claim the throne for themselves due to long-standing injustices between their people and the Ceruleans, had Sapphire kidnapped and secretly taken away from the kingdom by two mercenary trolls seeking to make a profit. Sapphire fled from her captors, but in her flight she fell into the Smurf River and lost consciousness.

Eager to keep the royal court from falling into the hands of the Chartreusian rebels, Cobalto had sent some of his loyal guards to search for the princess. They found instead Smurfette, whose features were identical to those of the princess, so Cobalto suggested that she should pose as Sapphire until the real princess is found, saying that he promised to return her safely to the Smurfs if she didn't comply, though it would be at the cost of the kingdom. Cobalto helped Smurfette as best as he could with the masquerade, though only Indigonius was aware of the difference being that the real princess was a well-trained fighter and Smurfette lacked any fighting skills. Taking advantage of this knowledge, as he was secretly working for the Chartreusian rebels, Indigonius visited Smurfette at night and attempted to coerce her into addressing the Ceruleans by saying she was going to turn control of the royal court to the Chartreusians. Instead of going along with that, Smurfette simply told the assembly that they don't deserve such a princess like her and ran off to secretly tell Cobalto about Indigonius. However, by that time, Indigonius and the leader of the Chartreusian rebels took Smurfette hostage and put Cobalto and his men in prison.

Later on, Empath appeared in Cerulea with the real princess, who had suffered amnesia during her stay in the Smurf Village. He freed the royal court as well as Cobalto's men from imprisonment and then with the princess confronted Indigonius and the Chartreusian rebels inside the court room. Indigonius appeared to escape with Princess Sapphire following after him to stop him, but it turned out that he was just luring her so that he could best her in a one-on-one duel. However, just as Indigonius was about to make the killing blow, Smurfette sneaked up from behind him and knocked him out with a frying pan. Grateful for her doppelganger's rescue as well as Empath's, Princess Sapphire officially knighted them and made them honorary members of the Cerulean royal family.