Peashooter and Sunflower stepped into the office of Crazy Dave, immediately greeted by the scent of tacos and fertilizer. Taking in a few glances, they saw seed packets scattered across the floor, a working table with various gardening tools strewn on top of it, as well as catalogs for products of differing purposes (most notably, fresh produce and trinkets), and diagrams of some nature.
The two Plants walked over to the table to take a closer look at the diagrams and discovered something intriguing. These diagrams were anatomical interpretations of different Plants. Some were familiar like Chomper and Marigold, while others showed Plants they had never seen or heard of before. Adding to the cryptic nature of the diagrams, each one had captions written in a sort of cipher.
"What are these? And why would Crazy Dave have them?" Sunflower asked Peashooter.
"I'm not sure. Maybe he'll tell us if we're polite." Peashooter responded.
"Good idea."
Turning a corner, Peashooter and Sunflower continued to walk through the office, until they were met with Crazy Dave himself, standing in front of his work desk with his back turned and appeared to be busy working with a small device. He was humming a small tune to himself, seeming to be very satisfied with whatever he was working on.
Crazy Dave was a pleasant man to be around, always greeting everyone he met with a big smile and a hearty laugh. Even so, he was, as his name would suggest, crazy. He had formed a habit of wearing a pot on his head instead of a regular hat, ate tacos to an abnormal degree (sometimes off the floor), constantly rambled about "squirbos" and being a proficient "squirbo hunter", and overall was a very illogical person. Despite all this, you would find yourself being best friends and/or neighbors with Crazy Dave and nothing would feel out of place. As a taco enthusiast, Crazy Dave was proficient at crafting the perfect tacos, along with other foods, and would often invite his neighbors to enjoy his spoils. Above all of Crazy Dave's oddities, he found a place in everyone's heart, and he was happy.
Peashooter and Sunflower glanced at each other for a moment before Sunflower decided to speak up first.
"Excuse me, Dave?" Sunflower chirped.
Crazy Dave immediately stopped his work and turned around to face the two Plants. He immediately greeted them with a wide, bearded smile, and tipped his pot hat as a kind gesture before speaking.
"Daw, Seflaflew! Bweh calleh alleh wa!" Crazy Dave spouted.
Sunflower and Peashooter could only stare in confusion.
"I'm sorry Dave, I didn't quite understand you…" Sunflower politely responded.
"Oops. Ha, ha, ha! Sorry about that. Sometimes I forget that Plants don't speak Crazy Dave!" Crazy Dave replied and chuckled.
"What I meant to say was: Sunflower, please call me Crazy Dave!" He clarified.
"Right, Crazy Dave. Me and Peashooter wanted to speak with you about some things." Sunflower informed.
"Right-o! How can I help you?"
Peashooter took a couple steps forward and spoke to Crazy Dave in a somber tone.
"Crazy Dave, I've been thinking about how many Plants we lost in the last few battles. I mostly mean the Chompers and other Peashooters. Some of them were really good friends too, but now they're gone…"
Crazy Dave's smile wavered slightly when he realized what Peashooter was telling him.
"All that's left of the Peashooters is me, Agent Pea, Law Pea, and Commando Pea. They all feel the same way I do, sad and afraid that they might die too. And the Chompers…well, you know…" Peashooter explained, his voice getting quieter with each word.
Crazy Dave scratched his beard in contemplation, pondering on how to respond to the clearly distressed Peashooter. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and a smile formed upon his face.
"Wait here, I'll go fetch us some tacos." Crazy Dave replied.
Crazy Dave went to a corner of his office with a door exiting to the outside of the bunker and went through. On the other side of the door, Sunflower and Peashooter could hear Crazy Dave saying to someone:
"Hey Penny! We're gonna need 3 tacos from the past! Thanks a plenty!"
Crazy Dave came back through the door with a plate of tacos and offered them to Peashooter and Sunflower.
"Here you two, have a taco! They're special tacos from the past! I'm sure they'll make you feel better. I know it helps me!" Crazy Dave said with a smile.
Peashooter ate his taco whole, immediately feeling his grief wash away, and smiled widely. Sunflower took a different approach to eating her taco, by tightly hugging it before taking a small bite out of it. Peashooter responded to this odd behavior by staring at Sunflower and raising an eyebrow, to which she responded by shrugging and blushing. They both laughed regardless, as it seemed tacos brought them closer to Crazy Dave than anything else would.
"Keep your spirits up Peashooter! Things can only get better from here!" Crazy Dave reassured.
Crazy Dave proceeded to eat his taco in 3 bites, wiping his mouth before addressing Peashooter once more.
"Don't feel too sad about the other Peashooters and Chompers. After all, they're up in Plant Heaven right now, eating all the Plant Food and drinking all the sunlight they want, instead of fighting Zombies and getting shot at." Crazy Dave said with a wide grin.
"I…I guess that's true." Peashooter sighed and smiled.
"Crazy Dave, I know you're trying to make him feel better, but we haven't seen a lot of success in this war. It would help if we tried a different strategy or something." Sunflower intervened.
"Don't worry. Our plan isn't to retake Suburbia in one go. We're going to capture it one garden at a time. It'll be a doozy, but we can do this! You have my word!" Crazy Dave rallied.
"I wanted to ask you one more thing Crazy Dave. We saw some diagrams and other documents on your work table, and we didn't know what they were for or what they meant. Can you tell us? We're not accusing you of keeping secrets from us or anything, we were just curious." Sunflower said.
Hearing Sunflower mention the diagrams made Crazy Dave look around and behind him, as if checking to see that no one was spying on him. After that, he inched closer and began to whisper:
"Can you keep a secret for now?"
"Yes, of course!" Peashooter and Sunflower whispered back.
"I'm planning on recruiting new Plant mercenaries to help us out! They won't be here until after this battle, but they'll definitely give us an edge. How does that sound?" Crazy Dave said.
"That sounds wonderful Crazy Dave! Having more Plants to help us out would greatly change the tide in our favor." Sunflower joyfully replied.
"I guess that is great…but that doesn't solve our problem with the Peashooters and Chompers. Are there even any others out there? If there are, I've never heard of them." Peashooter asked.
"Well, I really don't know. Even if there aren't any more Peashooters or Chompers, that won't be a problem. Plants are pretty flexible when it comes to making baby Plants. When we find a safe garden for everyone, repopulating should be a piece of taco!" Crazy Dave responded.
"'Plants are pretty flexible when it comes to making baby Plants'…okay then." Peashooter muttered to himself, his face reddening.
"Welp, we're gonna get going soon. I'll tell the others to get ready. This is gonna be one heckuva fight!" Crazy Dave cheered before casually leaving the room.
Sunflower and Peashooter stood silently in Crazy Dave's office, uncertain of what the future may hold for them. Sunflower glanced over at Peashooter to find him awkwardly staring at the floor. Attempting to lighten the mood, Sunflower jokingly chirped:
"He's right about the baby Plant thing. Remember Fire Flower? That was a big surprise for Fire Pea and Solara."
Hearing Sunflower mention Fire Pea and Solara's daughter made Peashooter cover his face and blush even more. Fire Pea and Solara the Sunflower were only in their early 20s when they gave birth to Fire Flower, and Peashooter and Sunflower were about the same age when they started to "hook up". They took things much slower than Fire Pea and Solara, and constantly being on the frontlines left little time to grow closer and develop a stronger relationship.
Regardless, their feelings for each other were mutual, both would share food and sweets with each other, Peashooter would welcome Sunflower's snuggles, and Sunflower would sometimes play with Peashooter's hair and position the leaves so that they look like a cat's ears. Despite all this intimacy, Peashooter was still very shy about his relationship with Sunflower, insecure about his ability to be a good companion to her, let alone romance her.
Noticing that Peashooter would not comment, Sunflower wrapped her leaves around him, gave him the tightest hug she could, and smiled. Peashooter was moved by Sunflower's affectionate gesture and hugged her back, giving her a peck on the forehead in the process.
"When Crazy Dave finds a safe haven for all of us, maybe we can go on a proper date! What do you think?" Sunflower inquired.
"It'd be pretty nice…" Peashooter replied sheepishly.
"You know, Crazy Dave wasn't acting as crazy as he normally does. Is something wrong with him?" Sunflower noted.
At that moment, Crazy Dave's voice blared throughout the bunker and the office, alerting all the Plants with an announcement:
"Heya Plant neighbors. Everyone get ready, cause we're going to storm the city. Storm it like a swarm of squirbos! Remember, to beat Dr. Zomboss, you have to hit him in the pancreas! Actually no, that was a different guy, forget what I said! Offend their shins, and make sure you defend yours!"
"Ah, never mind, he's fine." Sunflower said with a grin.
"Isn't it weird that he's fine when he's spouting like that?" Peashooter asked.
"Yeah, but that's why we love him, right?" Sunflower replied.
