Smurfskip 2 (Or: How Jokey Smurf Invented Parkour, Again)

Chapter 2: [02:17]

Loop 2

Jokey's eyes fly open, the phantom feeling of teeth closing around his body prinpricking through him, gnashing and tearing and... He jolts up to his feet with a scream, looking around for the fox, finally seeing it–

Sleeping. It's sleeping on a mound of grass, and it's still red-orange, and Jokey is on a tree branch far above it with a bucket of color-changing potion he sto– borrowed from Alchemist. There are no cliffs or jagged stones in sight, Jokey doesn't feel the least bit exhausted from running around for an hour, and he's still in one piece.

Jokey breathes out a sigh of relief, leaning against the trunk of the tree. He must've just dozed off in the middle of a prank and had a rather vivid dream. Nothing more. He chuckles, grabbing the bucket of potion. He really should go ahead and dump it like he'd planned, but...

Maybe he'll call off this particular prank, just this once.

He turns to climb down the tree and head back home, already looking forward to getting Brainy with his exploding gift box again and soothing his frayed nerves. His foot catches on a dip in the wood he could've sworn wasn't there before, making him stumble.

The bucket goes flying, spilling its contents on the fox below. The fox, now purple in color, wakes up with a snarl.

His dream still far too fresh in his mind, Jokey dashes down the tree and into the forest as fast as his little blue legs can take him. The fox, of course, angrily pursues him. Jokey giggles a little about how pissed-off it looks, because really–

"It was jus' a joke! Doncha hava sense o' humor?" Jokey cackles, diving under a log and continuing on to the other side. His laughter cuts off, eyes going wide, as he realizes how familiar that sentence sounds... He shakes his head, chastising himself as he so rarely does; he says stuff like that all the time, so what if it matches his dream? No need to get paranoid, Jokester Smurf.

Nearly an hour of hard running later, a panting Jokey spots the trees that secretly mark the entrance to Blossom. After a brief second of irrational hesitation, he scurries between them, more than ready to be home.

Unfortunately, he doesn't find home waiting for him. Instead, he finds a cliff and some jagged rocks. The exact same ones from his dream.

The fox snaps at his back, and Jokey yelps, running forward and trying desperately to climb up the smooth stone. Just as he spots a tiny handhold in the rockside, he feels hot breath surround him...