Peashooter and Sunflower were making their rounds to all of the plants they could, from the anxious Scaredy-Shrooms, to the determined Bonk Choys, from the optimistic Moonflowers, to the volatile Cherry Bombs. Every plant in the bunker was preparing for another siege on Zomburbia, some wished to be anywhere else other than Zomburbia, while others knew that this siege may be their last stand. The current mindset of any given Plant mattered very little in the grand scheme of nature, for the Plants were biologically engineered to consider a single Zombie one too many and to eliminate it at any risk.

Then there were…the Weeds. The most recent Plant creations of the team, the Weeds were created as a mobile unit free from the confines of a flower pot, essentially as an answer to the Zombies' Browncoats. They were just as resourceful as well, utilizing flower pots as helmets, leaves as shields, and even resorted to suicide explosions. Although the Weeds were undoubtedly useful, they were rather unpleasant to be around. They were very antisocial, consistently ignored other Plants, and even started fights among each other. Strangely, this is probably for the best if their sole purpose was to combat Zombies, who likely behave the exact same way.

Finally, Peashooter and Sunflower had made their way to Cactus and Chomper, their best friends and comrades.

Cactus was the primary sniper of the team, providing supporting fire from afar as well as reconnaissance from the skies with her invaluable garlic drone. Her presence in the team was greatly appreciated by all of the Plants. Without her and the other Cacti, the team would have next to zero offensive capabilities, especially in the absence of most of the Peashooters. Even though Cactus took her work seriously, it didn't stop her from being charismatic, kind, and warmhearted. She's prickly, sure, but her spikes belie a spongy heart filled with love and goodwill.

Chomper was just as charismatic and warmhearted, although somewhat stranger than most Plants. He was a Plant that consistently behaved like a domestic dog, constantly panting, making excited noises that resembled a dog's barking, and even regularly chewed on Zombie bones that were salvaged from fallen Zombies. Regardless of his odd behavior, the other Plants loved him, giving him love and affection in the form of petting and rubbing, offering Plant food as treats, and even offering to take him on walks.

Peashooter greeted Cactus with a soft high-five (soft in order to minimize the pain of receiving a high-five from Cactus), while Sunflower gave Chomper a warm hug and patted his head, to which Chomper responded with squeals of happiness.

"Who's a good boy? Oh yes you are!" Sunflower cooed.

"How have you been doing Cactus?" Peashooter asked.

"I'm fine, I've been expecting a video call from someone and I'm just anxious…" Cactus replied.

Peashooter giggled, knowing that Cactus was referring to her longtime boyfriend, an armadillo of all things. Cactus once had a difficult time finding another Plant to start a relationship with. Most of the other Plants weren't on board with the idea of having to give Cactus a hug every time she wanted one. She understood why, but continued to search for a partner that wouldn't mind her prickliness. While she was strolling through the backyard one day, she came across the armadillo scavenging in one of the gardens for food, decided that it was a cute armadillo and gave it a bear hug. Long story short, the two became the Odd Couple of the Plant team.

"I need to go check again, I've been waiting all day for him to call me." Cactus said.

"Shouldn't you call him instead? He's an armadillo, it must be really hard for him to use a computer, let alone send you video messages." Peashooter questioned.

"Crazy Dave taught him how to use the computer before, so he's fine." Cactus responded.

"Does he even have a name?" Peashooter asked.

When Peashooter asked this, Cactus responded by rolling her eyes and sighing in discontent. This gesture caught Peashooter by complete surprise. He knew Cactus could be prickly and stern sometimes, but he didn't mean any harm.

"Ugh…I thought you'd never ask! Yes he has a name, Crazy Dave named him himself." Cactus replied, happily, but with a tinge of irritation.

"What's his name?" Sunflower popped in and asked.

"Andy!" Cactus chirped.

Sunflower giggled at the name. Andy the Armadillo. It sounded just like a name Crazy Dave would give. Alliterative monikers much like Stinky the Snail and Bernie the Bee were a knack of his. It was a cute name for a cute armadillo.

Suddenly, Cactus's computer, which was sitting on a small table near Chomper, made a pinging noise that caught the attention of all 4 of the Plants. The digitized voice of Crazy Dave prompted the group:

"You've got video letters! Yahoo!"

"Oh, that must be him!" Cactus said smiling.

"Let's hear what he has to say!" Sunflower chimed.

Cactus gingerly tapped a button on the keyboard to open the message, and upon the screen flashed Andy the Armadillo. At first, it seemed as though he didn't realize the camera was on, since he was busy rubbing his face and squeaking. But then, he walked away from the screen and came back holding an index card in his mouth that said:

"Hi Cactus."

"Hi Andy! How are you?" Cactus replied cheerfully.

Andy brought along a few more index cards that read in order:

"I've been very well. Thank you for asking sweetie."

"You are looking very cute today. Did you style your eyelashes again?"

Cactus smiled and blushed at Andy's kind words, feeling more than happy to speak with her partner after so long.

"Thank you Andy, the mascara was a bit thick though, I hope you don't mind." Cactus said.

More index cards followed:

"No."

"I love you no matter what, remember?"

"Yes, I remember!" Cactus beamed.

"Good."

"I have something important to tell you."

"Yes, go on Andy!" Cactus said, smiling with anticipation.

"I miss you a lot."

"I am hoping that you can come home someday."

Cactus wished she could go home too.

"So we can have dinner at your favorite taco restaurant."

Dinner at a taco restaurant sounded like fun.

"So you can give me the tightest hug you can give."

Cactus would kill to hug Andy again.

"Cactus…I love you so much. I want to ask you something."

Andy went away from the camera one last time and came back with a small black box.

"Andy, what's that?" Cactus asked.

Andy struggled with the box for a moment before successfully prying it open, revealing a sparkling blue diamond ring, at least 12 karat. Cactus's eyes widened as she covered her mouth and gasped in surprise. When Andy told her that he wanted to tell her something important, she didn't expect a gesture like this.

Down to his final two index cards, Andy concluded his message:

"Cactus…"

"Will you marry me?"

Without thinking, Cactus picked up the computer and gave it a hearty squeeze, all the while laughing and shedding joyful tears.

"YES! I promise we'll get married as soon as I can come home! I love you too, cutie!" Cactus euphorically cheered.

"Oh jeeze Cactus! Careful with that, we only have so many computers!" Sunflower jokingly chuckled.

Chomper gave a belly laugh at Cactus's response to Andy's proposal while Peashooter and Sunflower both smiled and giggled. They all thought that the two were a very cute couple and were happy for them to get married soon. It more than lightened the bleak outlook of the war. Even so, Peashooter still had some matters lingering in his mind.

Peashooter tugged on Sunflower's leaf and told her:

"Hey Sunflower, I want to go see Crazy Dave. Maybe he could put me at ease with all of this."

Sunflower, knowing Peashooter was still very anxious, replied:

"Ok, just give me a minute"

Sunflower walked over to Chomper and gave him one more pat on the head before addressing Cactus.

"Did you tell him, Cactus?" Sunflower asked with a somber tone.

"I…uh…"

Cactus placed her computer back down on the table before responding.

"Yes, I did. I told him about Count Chompula. How he didn't make it." Cactus responded sadly.

"Does he know that that means he's the only Chomper left?" Sunflower asked further.

"He seemed to take it pretty well. But he knows that he has to be extra careful now. We can't lose him." Cactus said.

"I promise I'll take good care of him when we're out in the field. I won't let him out of my sight." Sunflower reassured Cactus.

Cactus nodded in contentedness, knowing that Sunflower would defend her friends with her life if she needed to. That sort of selflessness was both comforting and terrifying. The mere possibility that Sunflower could be killed herself was a terrible thought, but Cactus stayed confident in Sunflower's skills as a medic and bodyguard.

Sunflower walked over to Peashooter and took his leaf, smiling as he tightened his grip.

"Ok, let's go see Crazy Dave now."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sometimes, I feel like college just eats away more of my life every day. I meant to post this chapter as soon as GW2 launched, but didn't want to rush the chapter either. Anyway, I hope this one is good.