Sprout to Saviour
Conquerors
Keeping the fate of suburbia should they fail firmly in their minds, the plants stared with dreadful intent in their eyes as they pressed the attack.
Already dazed and wounded, the soldier could hardly pull itself up through Lathyrus' leguminous onslaught. Pulling the trigger of it's paintball gun with barely enough force, the zombie sent a handful of pellets at the peashooter, to no avail. Unflinching before this last-ditch offensive, Lathyrus ignored the vestiges of the stick cloud as he vaulted over his opponent, blasting it's neck and back with a pea. Lathyrus noted that the zombie was on the verge of keeling over. Snickering mischievously to himself, Lathyrus landed a pea on the ground next to the soldier's bare foot, the impact sufficient to send it tumbling down like a puppet freed of it's strings. The thrill of victory was somewhat lost to confusion; surely the fight should have been a little tougher, given the royal pruning the same guy gave him before, but the peashooter's rarely-seen tactical acumen kicked in and offered an explanation: The soldier knew the plant's capabilities in advance and planned the previous battle accordingly, but without it's advantage in knowledge and specialised urban training it simply did not compare to his homegrown strength. With that thought, Lathyrus launched one more pea as a coup de grace, relieving the battered zombie of duty and rendering it fit for a soup.
Helianthus' gambit proved successful as the scientist once more emptied it's clip into the potted plant, though she was forced to shed a tear as the flower gave a feeble salute and topped onto the soil of it's pot as a wilted husk. Filled with a fleeting sense of triumph, the zombie's mojo was burned away along with it's unsuspecting face as the raw power of the sun beset it. Having the reanimated body of a scrawny pallid bookworm did no favours for the scientist's durability as it began to cook to a fine crisp. Teleporting in a random direction from panic, the scientist jerked it's head around to find Helianthus turning to face it's new position, the beam priming to fire again. Thereafter, all sensation was lost to searing heat and oblivion. Wasting no time with something like basking in her enemy's defeat, Helianthus immediately ran back to the heal flower, without her usual skip, and adjoined her tether of light to it. Gaining strength slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the flower pulled itself upright as colour was returned to it. Taking a deep breath, the flower put on a brilliant smile as it waved in greeting to Helianthus, who gave it the gentlest of pats on the receptacle.
Having torn the dummy to shreds, Dionaea finally saw the opening he needed to bring death from below to his enemy. The athlete zombie backpedaled until it bumped into one of the damaged generators, which it promptly used to lift itself off the ground. The distance was nowhere near enough to pull out of Dionaea's range, but as the chomper erupted out of the ground, the split second of additional time gave it the chance to react. The zombie reflexively rallied it's strength and tackled downward, crushing Dionaea's lower jaw with the sheer force before quickly performing a forward somersault out of his mouth. The teeth that gouged it's flesh as it did so were ignored. The sudden and overwhelming pain was enough to keep the chomper metaphorically rooted in place as the all-star gained some distance and revved up. Tentatively lifting up his head, Dionaea was unable to do anything but watch and try to endure as ball after ball pounded him. Sap leaking out, Dionaea lost his strength as his vision began to fade and his head hit the floor once again.
As the garlic drone cruised forward, it's undead target seemed to experience a rare brainwave and summoned it's own drone, the laser being a much more suitable weapon to strike such a small and swift target. Carnegiea considered using her drone to destroy it, but a better idea occurred to her. The engineer would simply sit in position for as long as it controlled it's drone, setting itself up perfectly for a bombardment. The garlic, seeming to understand it's mistress' intent without words, prepared a corn strike. Normally such a tactic would require access to open air, but with Crazy Dave's brand of engineering and horticulture, anything goes. The sound of shrieking came from the ceiling as kernels of corn descended around the zombie, which was somehow not tipped off by the sound of loud whistling right next to it. The engineer's drone struck true, bringing down the faithful garlic and moving on to it's next target. About to set off it's own airstrike, the drone lost signal as it's owner launched and tumbled through the air, thrown by a nicely-buttered chain of explosions.
Overtaken by the rush of victory, Lathyrus danced merrily to some rhythm he couldn't name, exciting Helianthus with the prospect that the peashooter could also pick out the world's beat. With Carnegiea recovering from the sudden desynchronisation of her garlic drone, only Dionaea noticed as the all star approached Lathyrus and took aim. First, there was terror on his friend's behalf. Though he lacked a heart which could beat in overdrive, the effect was the same as fear ebbed away and was replaced by an iron resolve. With a gargantuan effort, he pulled himself back up as if manipulating his body like a puppet, suppressing the groans and whimpers that threatened to spill out.
Taking a moment to gather it's strength, the surviving zombie braced itself for another tackle when the gentle but ominous sound of leaves scraping over ground came from behind before it was impaled through the torso.
Suddenly frantic, the all-star noted that the weapon running it through was a tongue.
Only a moment was given for the implications to settle in as the all-star was hoisted into the air and forced into Dionaea's enormous maw, it's awkward position making resistance impossible as Dionaea almost bisected it with a particularly forceful bite. Chewing his prey with great relish, Dionaea only regretted that he had no salt to improve the flavour. Crushing pain reminded Dionaea that he was still heavily injured, but he had to make sure that his victory was final. Dionaea raised his head and swallowed, pulling the meal down into his stomach where it was broken down in short order.
Giving a crooked smile to Lathyrus, who had now clued into the situation, Dionaea allowed himself to return to his previous posture sprawled messily over the ground. Surely he could sleep for just a little bit?
Surprise, I'm not dead (Even if work is kicking my ass)! Kudos to anyone who still holds out hope, and here's a reward for them. There'll be one more chapter to properly conclude the story followed by an epilogue, though I can't promise upload dates for either given my chronic schedule slip.
Dorylus signing off.
