Sprout to Saviour

Triumphant

A moment of peace had allowed most of the homegrown squad to grow complacent, a mistake they cursed themselves for when they turned to find the allstar was still alive and kicking, leaving one of their comrades in a sap-covered pile on the floor in it's wake. Once the pile pulled itself up into the shape of a chomper, relief dulled their concern before it forced itself back twice as strong when Dionaea collapsed again, having just barely taken down his target.

Carnegiea carefully took the seed packets from Helianthus and Dionaea and tapped Lathyrus with her unthorned head to grab his attention, leading him away from the medic and patient. Itching to do something about the situation, Lathyrus' mood plummeted further as he realised that his combat-specialised morphology couldn't help at all. He decided to busy himself by attacking the power cores that remained from when the group was jumped by Zomboss' squadron. Carnegiea, meanwhile, had gently taken the seed packets and vials of sun from her teammates. Llet's conveniently ignore the subject of how they might have been carrying them, or how one keeps sunshine in liquid form. Opening four of the packets and arranging the contents over the floor, Carnegiea was satisfied to see four plant pots grow in strategic positions around the hatch, ready to host the actual defences; This humble roster consisted of a gatling pea, a fume shroom, a scaredy shroom and an ice shroom.

Helianthus softly pulled Dionaea further away from the hatch, savvy enough to anticipate that the zombies would arrive before she had finished operating. Advanced medicine for sentient plants was not a well-explored field, but Helianthus had an idea and enthusiasm to spare. The lowest sepal behind her golden crown extended down toward the prone chomper, connecting with the top of his bulbous mouth. As soon as the link was established, Helianthus was bombarded with information about the distribution of sun energy through his body or some such voodoo. Startled by her findings, the sunflower prioritised getting the stem in order for proper circulation.

Just as Lathyrus finished peaing over the remainder of the power cores, Zomboss' not-so-merry band of unfashionable walkabouts reached the vent as if compelled by some narrative law of inconvenience. Fortunately, they were about as adept at coordination as anything else and ended up clogging the space above the vent so thoroughly that none of them could even fall in, at least for the moment.

Helianthus almost abandoned her operation, but faith in her comrades (friends) won out and she pressed on. Lathyrus was about to start pelting the zombies, but Carnegiea halted him for a moment. The peashooter cottoned on, paying special attention to the way the undead pile shifted in order to determine when it would collapse. The cactus quickly dropped potato mines underneath the vent before returning to her previous position. When the moment arrived, Lathyrus decided to cushion the zombie's landing with a chili bean bomb. The twisted foot of one of the security force knocked the bean away; fortunately, the VIP of the plant team proved to be a zombie dog who fetched the bean and dutifully brought it back. It didn't have long to consider whether it had been a good dog before an extra-spicy explosion tore through the pile of invaders. Carnegiea beheld the scene with a stone face, but Lathyrus looked a little torn.

As though an official call to battle had been sounded, the aggression of the zombies mounted while the potted plants got to work mowing them down. Carnegiea was not well-suited to fighting against crowds, but Lathyrus picked up the slack in earnest, his assault ploughing through the response force with complete ease. Given this much breathing room, Helianthus tried her best to make progress with her ravenous patient, but Dionaea's injuries were even more severe than they appeared. Crazy Dave's watering can was almost a miracle solution; Helianthus' homegrown healing capabilities simply did not compare, especially against internal injuries. Regardless, the sunflower managed to patch up the internodes of the chomper's stem and moved on to the nodes and leaves as a zombie's head flew close by. She was thankfully oblivious.

Sweating with anxiousness, the scaredy shroom popped off the leg of another zombie only for an imp to emerge from behind and charge it at full throttle. Too busy panicking to process the improvement in strategy, the poor fungus missed it's next shot due to intense twitching and curled in on itself as the imp drew close, reaching out with a small but pincer-like grasp. The comically small hand would never find it's mark, crystallised in a surge of sheer cold from the ice shroom who favoured it's companion with a comforting smile.

Meanwhile, the operation was starting to go much more smoothly, the patient beginning to stir and groan as his appetite kicked into high gear despite the nausea. Heartened by the sight, Helianthus knew she was almost done. Dionaea wouldn't be in fighting shape until proper treatment could be performed in Crazy Dave's hurticulture facilities, but he would at least be mobile enough to get out of dodge when this base went down.

Speaking of which...

Sudden power outage never preceded good things for any building, but Dave knew in advance that the zombie headquarters had a lot of moving parts and it was a simple matter to send in some dandelions in advance of the main assault to...interfere with them.

To make a long story short, there would be explosions.

The hordes were staying strong for a short while, repopulated by zombie workers who had been put out of a job by the blackout, but with a little patience the river thinned to a trickle before stopping completely. They could simply have Dionaea burrow back out of the complex (given that the previous hole caved in on itself from the kerfuffle), but with his current state a normal run out the now-deserted front door would be less strenuous and more convenient for extraction.

The plan decided, Carnegiea got to work forming the zombies into an improvised staircase around the ice shroom, who dutifully consolidated the pile into a solid if slippery foothold. Taking their cue, the plants surmounted the pile and climbed out of the hatch (with the exception of Lathyrus, who felt justified in going hyper and outright leaping through the gap) before dashing for the exit.

Negotiating the unfamiliar architecture proved almost too easy, but given that literally braindead minions needed to have the ability, that was perhaps to be expected. The breeze picked up around them as the pushed through the front door, thunderous booms coming from behind them. For a moment, the plants allowed themselves a moment of silent contemplation on their victory, but an incoming message from the grapevine drew their attention.

"Will be there in a while. Grabbing a burger."

That's a wrap on the main story; I didn't think the inspiration would come back! The epilogue should be coming relatively soon, fingers crossed. The end could probably have been expanded, but the plants leaving the facility just didn't really justify as much writing as the rest of the chapter.

Thanks for your patience.

Dorylus signing off.