CHAPTER 50: Kidnapped! (For the 2nd Time!)

Cold.

That was all I could feel as I regained my consciousness on a stone cold floor. My vision was about as good as a blind Sunflower's. Which is to say, not very good.

"Where the hell is this place?!" I squawked.

"Welcome back to the base, Elyssia. So glad to have you come back . . . in my custody." an evil voice replied.

My vision finally cleared, and I saw Zomboss beside me, his evil grin plastered on his green face.

"You have outsmarted me and my forces one too many times, Elyssia. Now . . . it's about time that you've paid the price, hmmm?"

I growled, and bared my sharp teeth.

"Ya think?" I scoffed.

"You're the one that deserves to be punished, Zomboss. You might as well be Satan's earthly form, hell spawn! You're a liar, a cheat, a murderer, and a heartless . . . freak! But then again . . . who's kiddin' who, eh? You're a zombie, you don't have feelings, and you don't have a soul. But at least keep you and your dirty ass away from me! Now, I mean it when I say get the hell out ―"

Zomboss cut my rant short by slapping me so hard that I was slightly disoriented.

"Right, go to la-la land." he chuckled.

"AAAAASH! C'MERE!"

With that, Ash came running, tripping over his own roots and mumbling to himself.

"Get some twine like a good boy."

Zomboss commanded. When Ash saw me, his eyes widened, and his mouth slowly parted into a far from pleasant smile.

"Dear Elyssia . . . you had it coming all along, am I right?" he purred as he dragged me into a room.

All it had was a table with bread and water, a window, as well as a chair that was mysteriously plugged into the wall.

"Stay here, and whatever you do, don't try any funny business. Pull a stunt, and you'll get this." Zomboss snarled as he pulled out something from his coat pocket.

At first, with my recovering eyesight, it was hard to make out. But as a glint of sunlight fell upon the item, I saw a long, curved blade. I bit back a gasp as Ash grabbed the weapon and swung it in my face just to give me a start.

"Try any funny business . . ."

He cut his threat short and turned abruptly. Lying down on the stone cold floor, it hit me: I had really, truly failed my side in this ongoing war between plants and zombies.

Sleep was something that I valued more than anything, whether or not it was troubled or calm.

So naturally, when Ash L. woke me up with a start, I was feeling grumpy.

But who was I to talk back or yell?

Dead meat. Or should I say dead, frozen meat.

"Elyssia! Wake up!" Ash yelled, jerking me upright.

"What," I growled,

"do you want from my life?"

Ash only rolled his eyes and dragged me out of there and into the hallway. I stole a couple of glances over to the picture frames, which had pictures of a huge building. This structure, perhaps? A closer look at the photographs revealed that this place was supposedly the Don Jail.

"Get your damn head out of the clouds, Elyssia! Did you hear me?! I said that we were going over to Zomboss' office to have a chat about what to do with you!" Ash screamed, snapping me back to reality.

"All right, all right, all right! Like, nobody said to decapitate me, Ash!" I exclaimed.

"Manners, Elyssia. I recommend that you mind them . . . if you don't want me to use Zomboss' knife and slice your disgustingly skinny stem into slivers. And all I shall do is watch the blood pour out from every disgusting little stab wound as I finally manage to tie you to the chains of death! PERMANENTLY!" Ash threatened.

Without another word, he resumed dragging me, until I was in a dingy office. Zomboss and some shapeless, white form beside him.

"Ssssooooo . . . shhheeeee issss heeerrreeee aaatt laaaassssttt?" the shapeless form asked, stretching out each and every word like taffy mixed with compost and fertilizer.

"Yes, Scuttle. Now . . . I just wish that you wouldn't speak that way, hmm?" Zomboss muttered.

"Ssssoooo sssorrryyyy, mmmmaaaasssssteeerrrrr, buuutt iiinnn orrrdeeerrrr tooooo ssspeeaaak nnnormmally, I wwouldd haaave to geett iiinnnssssiiide yyyoooouuuurrrrr hhheeaadd. Nnnoowww . . . wwwweeee ddonnn't waannnt thhhhaat . . . doooo wwweeee?" Scuttle scolded.

"No, dear." Zomboss mumbled.

"W-wait . . . you're Scuttle?!" I sputtered at the shapeless form.

"Yyyessssss, gllllaaaadd yyyoouuu nnnoooooticcceeeddd, Ellllyyyyssssiiiiaaaaa." she replied.

"Ash, get the projector going, would ya?" Zomboss ordered.

"Yes'm. Gladly." Ash replied, pulling out a battered projector that would've been used in the 1800s.

Without need for a command, Ash switched on the projector, which cast forth the image of an odd machine. It looked like a stack of glass tires, had a console on the inside, and had a conical roof.

"This, freak of nature, is the Z-Chronic, which has the ability to transport plants and zombies alike into the past!" Zomboss announced, pointing to the image on the projector with a flourish.

"Now . . . have you ever had a time when all you wanted was to go back, you know . . . turn back time?"

I shrugged. "Wellll . . . I just know that time can't be reversed, and regrets are just the part of life that help you to learn." I replied.

"Well, now time can be reversed, my dear. You just gotta step into the machine, give the exact date and time where you wanna be, and boom. Smile!" Ash coaxed me, putting a leaf on my bulb.

"N-no . . . it's the wrong thing to do." I muttered.

"Well, in the name of God! How is making yourself happy wrong?!" Ash guffawed.

"Mistakes that we wish we could reverse are what turn us into wise boy-plants and girl-plants. Now that you've made this . . . monster, you'll ruin life!" I yelled.

Zomboss gathered Ash and Scuttle into a huddle, and whispered something to them, which I could barely make out.

"Well . . . remember what we told her? We'll just get our revenge and kill the first of these weeds, even if it means going back to the year 1678*, I don't care! Just as long as we're free of all this damn hassle!"

I gasped at what I just heard. Zomboss was going to use the machine and kill the first of our kind, and then the world would be in some really serious crap. After breaking up the huddle, Zomboss half-threw me into Ash's leaves.

"Show's over, now let's get this freak out of my office before she completely infects it!" he growled.

Ash silently dragged me down the hall and down the stairs (which I didn't mention until now), until we finally arrived at my cell.

"Get in there and stay in there, girl-whose-name-I-can't-even-pronounce!" Ash muttered as he locked the door and ran off.

I took some time to look around and take in the surroundings. I saw several zombies beating an infant Sunflower to death to my left, and to my right, I saw several zombies and beat-up boy-plants abusing a young girl-plant, who was yelling out in pain with every minute that passed. I backed up against the wall and sighed, asking myself the same question over and over again.

What the hell am I doing here?!

*See my fic OMOH for more on THAT story.