It had been a few days since we lost Ash, a power Chomper who gave his life to protect an infirmary full of injured plants. I sat in front of a fire opposite the, literally, hottest Sunflower ever. Her name was Alison, she was slightly smaller than most Sunflowers, wore a pair of crooked aviator glasses and her petals were actual fire. The fire Sunflower had been at my side for just over a week now, and, despite losing her once, I swore to never let her leave my sight. Alison had a look of deep thought on her face and asked me.

"What did happen that night? You know, the one you and Zomboss were discussing." I looked up, I was surprised by the question. I knew I wouldn't be able to put it off forever, so I spoke to the entire group.

"Anyone want to hear a story." A bunch of nearby plants came over, a few of which were thankfully my friends. The Commando Peashooter, Peter, the Chomper, Cole, the Plasma Pea, Wulf and the Metal Petal, Elanor. A few plants mumbled and a Snapdragon asked.

"So, what and why do you want to tell a story?" A couple of plants mumbled in agreement, I simply replied.

"We have to keep our hopes up and not give in, some of you have already given up. We need something to keep our hopes up and Alison has provided that opportunity. If you don't want to hear the story go, but it's a story that strikes me harder than any Zombie could." Alison gave me a questioning look but I ignored it and continued on. "It's the story of what happened to me, one fateful night four years ago." There were murmurs and questioning glances. Wulf broke up the murmuring and asked.

"Is this the night, that you could not talk about last week?" I nodded, I couldn't hold this in forever and sometimes, letting go was better than holding it in. I began to speak in a somber.

"It all happened, around four years ago..."

Flashback Four Years

Who knew an attic could be home to so many plants. Our planter was eaten three days ago by an imp that a Gargantuar fired over the plant defenders. The few plants that survived the chaos that ensued were now hiding in the attic. A hole in the roof let us see out to a neighboring house where a human was still planting for survival. At the moment, it was me, the Peashooter named Pete, my older brother, the Repeater Jack, my friend, the Torchwood, Flame and my brothers girlfriend, the Sunflower, Josie. We were watching the plant defenders next door take down Zombie after Zombie. All afternoon they fought and when dusk came, the Zombies retreated and the plants went to do their evening chores. My mum, an Ice Pea named Elaine, called me and my brother over for dinner. I said goodbye to my friend while Jack my brother kissed Josie, I made a face of disgust and went over to the table that was set up in the middle of the attic. When all three of us plants were at the table, we began eating, unaware of what was about to happen.

A strange looking Zombie was in the hole in the roof looking at us, we had no idea how he got there, but the sight of him was enough to shock us all. We all ducked for cover as strange yellow pellets flew out of the device it held and vanquished a Fume-Shroom. The Zombie made a strange grunting sound and soon, normal Zombies were filling into the attic. The yells and screams were deafening, a few plants fought back, but were quickly vanquished by the strange Zombie that still stood in the hole. I was hiding with my brother in a small gap between some sacks of fertilizer and the roof where we could see the hole, but nothing could see us. A few minutes passed before a giant metallic hand enlarged the hole and a robots head presented itself. In it, a stranger looking Zombie laughed and congratulated the strange Zombie that had vanquished so many plants with its strange weapon. The Zombie in the robot pointed at the hole we were hiding in, we both spotted this and my brother threw me deeper in. He was swiftly grabbed and taken away, the strange Zombie fired and I heard a thump on the floor, I presumed they shot him.

I began to cry, I had lost everything. I was sitting in a small crevice in an attic full of Zombies crying. Everyone I knew, probably gone, it was a miracle I was alive. The noise of boots and feet walking along the floor meant the Zombies were leaving. It took half an hour for the Zombies to clear out the attic, at which point I left my hiding spot and I was met with the most horrific sight. Dead plants littered the floor, most had multiple, small wounds, probably caused by the strange Zombies weapon. With nothing left for me in the attic, I decided to leave.

After gathering everything that was of value to me, I jumped out of the hole in the roof, the jump was higher than I expected and I hit the ground with a thump. I got up and wandered the streets, heading no place in particular. Around three hours after leaving, a strange flying RV landed nearby and picked me up. Inside, a man named Crazy Dave was flying the RV rather crazily. I took a seat on a couch while it appeared I wasn't the only plant in there. A Fire Pea introduced himself as Kendrick, a Chomper introduced themselves as Vinnie, and a Sunflower introduced themselves as Alexa. We talked about how we ended up in Crazy Dave's RV for about quarter of an hour as the human flew us to his home. It was a large mansion that Crazy Dave clearly took pride in.

When we were all inside, he brought us into a lab he had in his home, no wonder he was called Crazy. He asked one of us to volunteer to enter a new machine he had just finished. Kendrick was first to volunteer so Dave put him into the machine and activated it. After a few seconds the machine began to glow and Kendrick yelled out. When the machine stopped glowing, Kendrick stepped out, and he had pods? The fire Peashooter appeared to have arms with pods on the end of them. We all went through the machine and came out new. Crazy Dave said that we were the first of the new 'advanced' plants...

Back to the Present

"So that's what happened that night, I became the fourth advanced plant, at the expense of my family and friends. A few days later, Crazy Dave taught us about our new abilities, hyper, chili bean bomb etc. I ran away after that, I wandered suburbia and eventually stumbled upon the border, I crossed it and headed into Zomcity."

I looked up at the plants around me, they appeared enthralled in the story. When I stopped, most of the plants left, discussing the story and wondering if it happened or not. I looked at Alison, she came over, hugged me and spoke.

"You're brave to tell a story like that, but why? Why tell it to everyone here?" She released me, I looked into her eyes and said.

"Because I didn't give up when I lost everything, and now that some plants have lost everything, they're losing hope, I tried to restore some of their faith with that story." I said goodnight to everyone still at the fire and went to bed.