Note: This was written an entire year ago pretty much, but I'll slowly start to write more of this.
Kendrick nervously glanced at the Ice Pea before taking his attention towards the scenery ahead, letting his pods anxiously play around with each other in complete apprehension. This plan will only give false hope for them.
He bit his lip in both fear and anxiety. Eyes desperately scanning the area in desolate hope to find something that could help them in any way. But all he could see were the dead and the dying bodies of both Plants and Zombies.
The Zombot was yet to be calmed as it rampaged. Roaring somewhere between angry and Irritation every now and then. Everyone would covered their ears in an attempt to not make themselves deaf. But it proved futile.
Icee stood somewhat near him, shoulders slouching in fatigue. She seemingly appeared to be more focused on other matters, or she simply tried to ignore the screams of fear and agony that echoed throughout the now ruins of L.E.A.F HQ. He silently watched the Ice Peashooter, his mind labouring as he tried to find something to say that could make their current situation somewhat tolerable.
His sister looked back at him, eyes strained and wary. The Fire Peashooter never seen her so focused. "I'll help out the Plants that are injured, I'll join you whenever you manifest the courage to fight alongside Peater, alright?" Kendrick gave her a quick nod even before he completely understood what she said.
An annoyed frown appeared on Icee's features, only to be replaced with a look of determination and hope in a matter of moments. "See you in a bit." She hypered out without saying another word. Kendrick was left to muse yet again.
His attention suddenly took an abrupt and frantic turn as an Ice Cactus was sent forcefully cartwheeling through the air from a punch combo of a nearby Toxic Brainz, who had luckily taken their attention towards another group of Plants who were holding themselves well. The Fire Peashooter's eyes widened in aghast as said plant landed in a heap in front of him.
Kendrick found himself suddenly unable to move- as if weight was added onto his roots- or entire body for that matter. There were multiple lacerations and wounds scattered across their body. Eyes darkening as their own blood trickled down from their wounds, forming pools of blood on the ground below them. The Fire Peashooter could barely stop from cringing in shock and disgust.
Wait, he knew this Ice Cactus.
"LARCUS!" He cried out in aghast as an sudden air of unease and desperation filled the scene, but his roots protested him from moving. He snarled at no one in particular as his teeth gritted to the point of them possibly breaking. He nearly fell to his knees as he tried to run with all his might, he just couldn't do it.
The Ice Cactus only grunted in response, his body slumped, flopped and staggered as he vaguely tried to get on his cactus feet. It only proved to be even harder than the Fire Peashooter trying to run. Despite the chaos they were in, Larcus could only give him an hopeful smile. The Fire Peashooter knew it was forced. But yet the Ice Cactus seemed to have assumed that the Fire Peashooter could prevail no matter what the cause. He had to, anyway.
Oblivious to them both a Camo Ranger stood behind a piece of debris that was once part of L.E.A.F HQ, taking aim right for the Ice Cactus' head. An instant kill was guaranteed. Zooming in, they shot.
The camouflaged bullet sent an explosion through the Ice Cactus' skull, phasing right through Kendrick's flames. The Ice Cactus stood there, eyes wide in horror. His short legs wobbled and staggered heavily until they gave up. Larcus fell limp onto the ground, blood dripping down from his head, forming an bigger pool of fresh blood. A tunnel was carved in his icy skull. Dead.
He was beyond saving.
The Fire Peashooter placed both pods on his circled mouth, eyes were nothing but dots at this point. Larcus. An old companion of his, dead. Right there on the ground. Dead. Dead. Dead.
This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't HAPPENING-
He fell carelessly on the ground, hugging his roots in false comfort as he frantically placed his pods on his temple. His refused to tear his eyes off the dead Ice Cactus. He refused to even stand up and fight anymore. What was the point? Why couldn't he could just give in?
He felt a wave of regret he never felt before. Why did he leave this country in the first place? WHY did he leave his siblings? Why the hell did he let Peater be in charge in the first place? The scene was gulped in an never ending wave of guilt.
Why why why why why.
He reluctantly looked to his right, eyes peeking through his pods. An all so familiar Top Hat laid on the ground a few meters away, ragged, torn and blood stained. But there were no sounds of an engine. And a Hot Rod Chomper could not be seen from all angles.
Chomp. Another old friend. Dead.
It felt like a knife had stabbed his insides, it felt like someone had easily ripped out his heart from his stem. He had never realised he started to hyperventilate, but he was. His breathing ragged and fastened until it felt like it was choking. He had never realised he started to cry, but he was. But the tears immediately evaporated once they set foot on his flaming bulb.
He sat there as his roots shook uncontrollably. He was alone, afraid and was at his most vulnerable moment. Even the most rookiest of Zombies or even Plants could take him out as easily as walking. When did he get so certain that he would die? The still rampaging Zombot could take him out in any moment and yet he just sat there. Icee would most definitely freeze him to death if she had found him sitting there doing absolutely nothing.
His stomach writhed in exhaustion and dread, a agonising mix of what he had felt over the past few years. His stomach bubbled up in fear, pain and fatigue. Where was Icee and Peater when you needed them? Where was anyone when you needed them the most?!
However. He refused to yell out, he refused to let things go in Zomboss' favour. He refused to let everyone's labours and deaths- including Larcus', to be in vain. Every bone and muscle in his fragile body told him to give up, to just..loose. But his mind refused. His head did not want to give in so easily.
He looked up to see-
Icee walking next to him, pods firmly holding a document or two. The Fire Peashooter could not tell what expression the Ice Pea wore currently, but the sudden decrease in temperature throughout the sterile hallway told enough.
The atmosphere was swept by a wave of tension, neither Plant wanted to look at each other. Neither Plant wanted to speak with each other. It remained eerily silent, for the two of them at least. It smelled like the cackling of fire.
He tried to approach her earlier, but it only had ended up with Icee prying his pods off of her, a mixture of solemn and anger on her face. And he easily was taken back, unsure what to do nor say.
He would try to approach her again, this time more cautious. But the decreasing of temperature threatened to lower even more, reaching below 0. Perhaps any non Fire Variant would freeze on the spot if they set foot on this particular hallway.
Despite him being made out of fire, he felt cold.
He felt his-
Body waver and stagger in nothing but protest when he tried to stand up. Growling, he stood up on unsteady roots, threatening to make him fall onto the ground again. He felt a sudden twinge in his chest, forcing him to stagger yet again. His own body was making him feel infatuated.
He ached. Every inch of his body protested him from doing such a simple task from some sort of exhaustion, the kind that he did not knew it was possible to even feel. It felt like an overexertion. Or dehydration, perhaps. A stiffness in his bones told him he needed to move, fast.
Again, he tried. Reluctantly using his flaming pods for support until he was standing on all fours. (six? Since uhh..Plants use four roots to walk..) He growled under his breath, gingerly letting out a mix between a sigh and a pant. His stomached twisted and turned for some odd reason. He almost hated being like this, he almost hated feeling sore. Almost.
A sudden gust of wind swept over his form, making the flames on his head and pods move towards the north slightly. Must've been from the wake of an explosion of sorts. He really should stop prolonging his movement.
He forcefully pushed himself in order to stand up in a more straight manner. Bad idea. His head pounded painfully as his roots threatened to give up yet again. But this time, it was him who had protested. No way he's going to just sit on the ground depressed and not knowing how much time had passed, he already wasted to much overthinking things.
He emboldened himself as he-
Warily look at Icee's General direction. She still haven't said a word since their argument and the temperature around them remained freezing cold. This is can go either way. Straightening himself, he approached yet again, gingerly this time.
"Hey uhh..Icee," He let out hesitantly, it felt as if he abruptly lost the ability to speak, or even move at this point. His pod extended to grab hold of the Ice Peashooter. The tension remained in the air and a thick layer of worry coated over it. He definitely was not sure if this was the right thing to do.
"What?" Icee rasped out, voice filled with dread and weary. It sounded like she hadn't slept for ages. Even with the short reply, she did not look back at him, she did not even stop walking. But this was an improvement. At least she was in the mood to talk, the Fire Peashooter could not bare the silence.
But he did not know how to reply even though he knew what to say. He knew he had to apologise, he knew he had to say sorry for everything he had done for the past 20 or so years. He opened his mouth then close again. The tension remained high.
"If you want to apologise. Don't, " The Ice Pea threatened abruptly, voice going dark, nearly intimidating, but she kept her nonchalant stride. Kendrick deflated significantly, pod recoiling from its previous position. His brown eyes glanced at her, awkward but tense. When will she stop being in this foul mood?
Their footsteps finally came to a halt as they stood before a large metal door. Kendrick watched, arms crossed but his brow furrowed with growing curiosity as Icee unexpectedly hesitated, almost looking as if she was dreading whatever was behind that towering door.
But with no further hesitation, she opened the door as it creaked open, allowing the pair of siblings to go in. Kendrick followed behind her steps, a hollow feeling growing in his chest. His curiosity had disappeared and was replaced by creeping apprehension.
He went in to find-
Himself starting to run before eventually hypering- Wait, when did he even start moving again? No- this wasn't the time.
He picked up speed, glancing around for any sign of either the Zombot or his siblings. He did not want to do this- definitely not- But then what could he do? He didn't want to be part of the growing corpses laying on the floor and nor did he want to be part of those who are just standing there waiting for the Grim Reaper to come take them.
A roar split the air. One that was robotic and malicious, one that had the full intent to kill and destroy, and it had nearly made the Fire Peashooter trip, but luckily gained balance before he could. 'Well that was nearly embarrassing', he would think if he wasn't in an life death scenario. Right now he was just relieved. He continuing hypering despite his growing fatigue, he had to keep moving. The roar came about again, and the ground shook once more.
He finally caught sight of the monstrosity as its form started to appear before his eyes a few hundred meters away from him, it shot out its projectiles at the ever more crumbling base and stomped on the helpless plants below its gigantic figure, all perishing in agony. It's rampage only becoming more and more of a problem. It showed nor remorse, no hesitation to kill everything in sight. And the zombies who were scattered across the once large base wasn't helping either.
Kendrick's eyes narrowed before letting out a roar of his own, his battling cry taking the attention of both nearby plants and zombies as they gazed at him in either confusion or awe, they watched as he approached the towering machinery, he looked up to see rumble flying towards him, he gained speed as he did quick calculations, he took a leap of faint, and jumped onto-
The room was filled with different species of plants, all have stopped their conversations and turned their attention of the two plants. Their stares were intent, patient but were filled with the pains and sorrows of the past, all have been through enough. But right now, they were all in this meeting room, alive and well, all ready for the twins to begin. The two Peashooters glanced at the others before taking their seats.
Kendrick felt a sudden wave of guilt as his stomach writhed, why was he feeling such guilt? It has been 10 years since the war ended, yet he still couldn't move on, he still couldn't help but think of the unfortunate souls that have sadly passed away. But here he was now, one of the survivors, with his beloved sister, with his friends that he knew so long. But why did he feel so... Empty?
"Former leaders." The Ice Pea's soothing voice snapped him out of his thoughts, blinking a few times, he then turned to look at her, she looked the same, she looked exactly same as she was when she first became an advanced plant, she looked so young, but her icy blue eyes were filled with years of being alone, years of wondering where both of her brother's went, years of having to be a leader of an entire organisation alone. The guilt he felt only intensified.
"It has been exactly 10 years since the end of the long war, exactly a decade since Doctor Edgar George Zomboss has been arrested." She continued, stopping to look at all the pleased faces the leaders had, they were all glad that it had finally ended, they were all glad that the delinquent Doctor had finally been taken away, they were all glad to be alive. It smelt of old memories returning and the hope of a better future.
However, Kendrick did not take notice of the Plants' looks, he only looked down at the table, swimming in his own thoughts yet again, or was it because of the undeniable guilt and sudden rage that only grew and grew in his head? Why did he feel like blaming himself for everything? Wasn't he the reason why Peater got the great idea to create the time machine in the first place? He tried to focus on his sister's words, but it only drove him deeper into his musing.
He shook his head to himself. No, now wasn't the time, now wasn't the time to blame himself, it has been 10 years already, what happened has happened, the time machine is gone and the war is over... But why can't he keep getting this bad feeling that something is or will happen?
He looked at his sister again, trying to get himself to think of other things other than the weighing guilt and self rage, she was speaking once more but... why couldn't he hear her? When the hell did he get deaf? If not then-
His calculations were correct as his landed on the pile of rumble before taking his attentions towards another piece of flying debris that was just within his jumping range, he once again jumped onto that one, and then he slowly started to gain more and more momentum as he leaped from one remains of the base to another, getting closer to the head of the Zombot. He grinned to himself, ignoring the growing aches of his entire body due to his extensive hypering.
The machine, fortunately, had not noticed the advancing Fire Pea, it gazed down on a horde of nearby plants, charging up a fire ball to take them all out. He was getting closer to it, only a few more jumps before he could reach its shoulders and- His eyes widened when he noticed a green form that has just jumped on the Zombot, stopping it from charging up its attack as it let out another air-splitting roar at the intruder. He immediately recognised it as his brother, Peater, he had just in time stopped the robot from his tracks as he tried to gain decent balance on its head.
But then, terror stroke.
He heard his brother scream louder than he ever heard his brother scream before, a loud, panicked and concerned exclaim: "W-WAIT!" The Fire Peashooter looked down on whatever that could cause him to yell like that as he jumped on another piece of debris, but he soon noticed a Chomper that he knew- Ane. His eyes widened immensely in aghast as he watched his friend get crushed under the large foot of the Zombot over and over again, a pool of the Chomper's own blood starting to form nearly immediately.
He had finally reached the Zombot's shoulders, almost slipping in the process due to how much he was panicking and was worried for his chomper friend and for his own brother's safety. "P-Peater!" He called out after gaining balance, exhausted as he run up to younger sibling, the peashooter only looked at him in horror for a few seconds before looking down on the ground below again.
The Fire Peashooter looked down as well, only to be greeted with the form of a heavily bleeding Ane, his entire body filled with bruises and such, but the one problem that sent him a red flag was: He wasn't breathing.
He quickly Improvised, looking at his distraught brother in the eyes, his worried expression replaced with the most solemn look he could conjure up. "Peater." He called out once again, this time more serious, his brother looked at him, his distressed look never leaving his face as tears started to form in his eyes. He wasn't sure what to think, he had no idea that Ane would just... Do this, he knew full well that chompers really couldn't do much in this sort of situation yet... He honestly didn't want to look at anyone in the eyes.
The Zombot roared yet again, clearly furious that the duo was still on its shoulders. It started to shake in an attempt to get them off, it was obviously starting to get even more angry than it already was, "Peater!" Kendrick yelled as he held onto the Zombot in any way he could, his brother doing the same as he looked at him. "Get Ane to a safe spot, I-I'll try to dismantle the Zombot!" The Peashooter only stared at him, his expression unsure and worried, Kendrick knew that this plan might not work, but it was the best thing they could do now. With another few seconds of staring the younger one nodded, his expression wary, scared but brave at the same time, he wouldn't let things go this way, letting go of the Zombot, he jumped down.
The Fire Peashooter watched as his brother started to hyper across the battlefield with Ane in his pods, but his speed was toned down slightly due to the extra weight of the Chomper. He sighed, the Zombot was getting more aggressive and this was the only chance of ending all of this. He was so high up that he could see the entire battlefield, he could see the corpses of the fallen plants and zombies, he could see the remaining plants fighting for their lives, fighting off the zombies in any way they can, he could see the zombies doing their best to annihilate all plant life they could see. He couldn't tell who was winning, but both teams were definitely having their fair share of deaths.
The Zombot roared as it shook again, snapping Kendrick out of his thoughts as he firmly gripped on anything he could to stay on the machine. He looked the head and the shoulders, trying to find something that could help him destroy this monstrosity, but realisation hit him like a ZPG.
The head had a control panel like the previous model.
He grinned yet again, he looked up, his face one of determination and perseverance. And he jumped. He suddenly was started to get a bit excited, perhaps he could end it here and now, maybe, just maybe, this could be the end of the war...?
He finally landed on top of the rampaging machine and the first thing he saw was-
The meeting had only lasted a little bit over 10 minutes and the Fire Peashooter already wanted to leave, badly. The Plants nearby were giving him concerned looks, they obviously have noticed his strange behaviour.
He tried to look the other way, but he couldn't, he tried to look fine again, but he couldn't. Why did he feel paralysed all of a sudden? Why couldn't he hear anything nor move? What in the name of Dave was happening to him?! He tried to take his attention on something- anything to get his mind off whatever he was thinking. Why- why couldn't he? Why were the memories of the past suddenly plaguing him? He had not realised he was sweating.
"Ken?"
Her voice was so so distant. He could barely hear her, it was almost like she was miles away. Almost. Just almost. He tried to focus on the voice. Why is it so hard to do anything now?
"Earth to brother? Hello?"
His focus was all on her voice, he wanted no- he needed to hear her voice again. Why does it feel like it has been years since he last heard from her? Why-
"Kenny!"
His eyes widened as all sense returned, his hearing came back in full swing as he frantically looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him, all either looking concerned or annoyed due to him interrupting the meeting or just simply acting weird. He looked at his sister with shameful eyes, but his breath caught in his throat when he noticed the outright worried look she had on her face. She looked like she just experienced her own brother's murder, as if she was one of the witnesses of the most brutal crimes in history. And it did nothing but further the emotions that was starting to sicken him.
"Kendrick, are... Are you alright?" She asked, her voice coated with concern and confusion. He could only stare at her, an embarrassed expression on his face, he had no idea how to reply. He just didn't know what to say or do.
But somehow, he managed the courage to speak. "I-I'm alright, I probably just need some fresh air- Yeah, some fresh air." He let out a nervous chuckle, hoping to not get any weird looks, but it only resulted in the opposite. The concern around the group of plants' faces only deepened, even to the point where they were murmuring to each other.
His sister's eyes only narrowed, unsure on what to think of this, but eventually, she reluctantly nodded, her eyes still showed her worry and confusion. "Okay, you may go. It's been a long day for you after all." All he could do was nod before heading out of the room. That feel of guilt and rage still coursing through his veins.
He walked out, and he sat there, lying against the wall of the base, feeling like being in a fetal position. But he just, sat there, thinking to himself, musing to himself. The never ending guilt that writhed in his gut. He clenched his teeth, why is this happening so suddenly? Why on the exactly a decade after the war ended? Why?
It smelt of confusion and flashbacks.
A/N Potatoes.
