Dr. Zomboss was never a morning Zombie, always despising sunlight and fresh air. Not to mention, simply hating having to wake up at all. Nevertheless, it was his responsibility as a leader to be awake long before anyone else. After brewing himself a cup of brain coffee, he turned on his computer and got to business. The very first thing Dr. Zomboss always did, out of habit, was check the surveillance cameras surrounding Zomburbia. As he expected, he saw no Plant intruders and only a couple of early-bird Zombies, both of them Foot Soldiers. Next, he checked the weather. Thankfully, it was forecasted for Zomburbia to be cloudy for most of the day, so Dr. Zomboss took joy in the absence of sunlight. Then he checked inventory, to find that he was plentiful in supplies and rations aside from Unobtainium for his Chemists. Finally, he took a glance at his stocks. Not just his own, but the stocks of others that had decided to invest their money and brains into the development and growth of Zomtech industries. As always, stocks in Zomtech remained overwhelmingly high. At this point in time, Dr. Zomboss decided that checking the stocks was trivial and unnecessary, as he felt Zomtech would never dip downwards, slightly or severely. Having nothing else to do, Dr. Zomboss contacted his future self to speak with him.

"Don't you think it's a bit early for this?" Future Zomboss asked his past self.

"If our timelines overlap at the same time, I apologize. But I must ask about the delivery of my new mercenaries." Dr. Zomboss replied.

"Just be patient. I will have them all available by…8:00 AM." Future Zomboss stated.

"Can we go through the list to make sure you deliver them all?" Dr. Zomboss asked.

"Very well. I will be sending through the Park Ranger, the Scuba Soldier, the Moto-X Star, the…*groans* the Tennis Star, the Zoologist, the Computer Scientist, Roadie-Z, and AC Perry." Future Zomboss listed.

"Excellent, I await their arrival later today." Dr. Zomboss said.

"Oh, I almost forgot about the last three mercenaries. They are the Punk Zombie, the Glitter Zombie, and the MC-Zombie." Future Zomboss added.

"Who?" Dr. Zomboss asked.

"Consider them as bonus mercenaries. They will require some training as they are…well, teenagers." Future Zomboss replied.

"You expect me to allow teenagers onto the battlefield?" Dr. Zomboss exclaimed.

"You don't seem to have any issues with recruiting little children to fight your wars." Future Zomboss quipped.

Dr. Zomboss was taken aback by Future Zomboss's statement. Rubbing his wrist in anxiousness and irritation, he decided not to give his future self any reason to criticize him.

"Never mind then. I will allow them into my military. But if they slack off, I will send them back where and when they came from. I do not tolerate inadequacy." Dr. Zomboss said.

"Fair enough. I will speak with you later." Future Zomboss said before cutting off communication.

Dr. Zomboss tapped his fingers on his desk, thinking about what his future self had just told him.

"Recruiting little children! The Imps are perfectly capable of fighting wars with their future technology, technology my future self had provided. But teenagers…I was a teenager once, and it was horrendous." Dr. Zomboss muttered.


Captain Deadbeard had decided to return to his ship, carrying his parrot friend on his shoulder. His ship was in poor condition, but technically still usable. After all, if Deadbeard was able to survive being frozen for over 400 years, his hearty vessel would fare even better. Deadbeard climbed aboard his shipwreck and entered below deck. Here, he hobbled toward his sleeping quarters, a small room carved into the side of the ship with a small bed and shelf. Beside his sleeping quarters was his work desk, cluttered with maps, pencils, a compass and gold coins. Captain Deadbeard's pet shark, Snaggles, was still stuck in a hole in the side of the ship. It was going to take a while to free Snaggles from the wall, but Deadbeard was able to consistently feed him and keep him happy. As he lay down on his bed, Deadbeard grabbed a book from his shelf, titled "Time Travel for the Elder Pirate", and began indulging in the text.

The descriptions of temporally distant places such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Imperial China, Imperial Japan, and Dark Age Europe lit a fire in Deadbeard's imagination. Now that he was living in a future world where time travelling technology was a reality, he knew that he could easily visit these places whenever he felt, so long as Dr. Zomboss allowed him. It seemed like a good idea, not to mention the amount of treasure he could obtain from these time periods.

"What do ye think Cracker? Where and when should we visit someday?" Captain Deadbeard asked his parrot.

Cracker, having no concept of other places aside from atop the shoulder of the captain, scratched the underside of his wing with his beak. Deadbeard, realizing that Cracker had no opinion, continued to ponder.

"I remember the Dark Ages anyhow. I heard there's plenty of treasure hidden in the castles. But the book says that the Dark Ages were a time of plague and death. Maybe it wouldn't be safe for us ta travel there." Deadbeard said.

Cracker stared Deadbeard in the eye with an odd glance, making Deadbeard realize his mistake.

"Ah, never mind. We can't get sick, we're already dead! Silly ol' me!" Deadbeard chuckled.

"Still, I feel like there's someone I am forgetting about. Someone who might get in the way. But who is it? Who is the sworn enemy of the great Captain Deadbeard?" Deadbeard said to himself.

Deadbeard looked back to his shelf and saw a plush figure sitting on the second shelf. It was a plush figure of Rose, the flower sorceress from the Dark Ages and onward. Deadbeard removed the figure from the shelf, puzzled by its presence.

"Cracker, who is this? Where did I get this strange toy?" Deadbeard asked his parrot, not expecting an answer.

"I think it was a gift from Dr. Zomboss himself. He said something about getting it from an amusement park. But he could very well have gotten it from the garbage for all I know." Deadbeard stated.

Deadbeard observed the plush figure thouroughly. He looked at the details in the face, the body, the cloak, and the wand that the toy was gripping in its soft fabric petals.

"Ha, it sure looks like garbage ta me. Why do I have this anyway? Might as well make use of the bloody thing." Deadbeard commented.

Deadbeard opened his nightstand drawer and pulled out a sewing needle. He proceeded to stick the needle into the plush figure's chest, where the heart would be.

"This is how voodoo magic works, right? They just stick needles into a doll and it hurts the person it looks like?" Deadbeard asked himself.

"Eh, I'm no good at magic. I can't even begin to wrap me head around the concept. That scurvy wizard…" Deadbeard muttered.

"There must be some way of dealin' wit a Plant with such powers…" Deadbeard said.

He placed the plush figure back onto the shelf and took down another book from the same shelf, titled "How to Counter a Scurvy Plant Wizard as a Pirate", and began to study.


The Imps at the Imp Daycare had just finished their lunches and were following Steve as he led them around Zompark. Steve's job was to have the Imps walk around the park after lunch so that they would eventually get tired enough to go to bed later. With the sheer amount of energy the little Zombies had, it was not a simple task. Many Imps would attempt to stray away from Steve, to which Steve responded by launching a Biotic Pull energy ball to bring the Imps back to the group. One of the Imps saw a Zombie slug and pointed his blaster at it. Steve picked up the Imp and shook his finger, telling him to respect the animal life.

"Flower!" Imp cried out.

"Yes, master. That is a Lilium occidentale, or a western lily." Steve informed Imp.

"Kill flower!" Imp cried out.

"Well, I suppose that is alright. Dr. Zomboss despises Plants of any variety. I allow you to exterminate it." Steve told Imp.

Imp fired his twin blasters at the flower, quickly burning and killing it. Imp tossed away his blasters, letting them hit the ground with a clack.

"Remember, no littering." Steve reminded Imp.

"Ok…" Imp said as he picked up his empty blasters from the ground.

Steve nodded to Imp and continued the park walk.


After walking in Zompark for a couple hours, the Imps had gotten quite tired, prompting Steve to walk them to their homes to tuck them into bed. He visited each Imp's house and brought the respective Imp to their room to rest. He repeated this process until he arrived at his Imp's house. The garage door was still broken from when Steve crashed through it. Knowing that Imp needed his rest, Steve decided that he would repair the door early tomorrow morning. Imp had already gotten so tired that he was half asleep in the passenger seat. Steve took him out of the passenger seat and cradled him in his mechanical arms, carrying him over to his queen size bed, many times bigger than Imp. Steve placed him down on a small pillow and carefully pulled the covers over him.

"There now. Go to sleep, master. I will see you in the morning." Steve whispered.

Steve began to walk out of the bedroom when all of a sudden, Imp cried out in fear.

"Daddy!" Imp screamed fearfully.

Steve stood frozen in shock when he heard Imp refer to him as "Daddy". He was not programmed to respond to that word, and so he had trouble functioning properly. Steve decided to override his protocol and went to care for Imp.

"What is it master?" Steve asked worryingly.

"Scary Plant! Scary!" Imp cried out.

Steve scanned the bedroom frantically, searching for the assumed Plant threat so he could eliminate it. What he found instead was a large shadow casted onto the bedroom wall in the shape of a gnarled tree. Steve looked for the source of the shadow and found that the object casting the shadow was a harmless daisy that had somehow grown outside the windowsill without a flower pot. Steve walked over to the window, opened it, and pulled off the daisy and threw it away.

"There master, the source of the intimidating shadow has been dealt with. Can you sleep now?" Steve asked Imp.

"Thanks." Imp said.

"Now please, go to sleep." Steve said.

"Good night." Imp responded, as he quickly fell asleep like nothing had happened.

Steve electronically sighed as he exited the bedroom. As he got to work on repairing the garage door, he thought about Imp's cry for help.

"'Daddy'…he has never referred to me by that word. Though, now that I am processing the thought, he has never referred to me as Steve or Z-Mech 11011-3 either. Could it be that he has always thought of me as his father? I…it is beyond my comprehension! How could I possibly act as his father? I am his caretaker; I am nothing more than that. I am his service robot; I am nothing more than that. I am…" Steve wildly pondered.

Steve attempted to collect his composure for a moment, and began to calmly reflect upon the problem.

"Perhaps this was intended. Dr. Zomboss programmed me to take care of all the Imps, but he must have made it so that I was particularly caring for my master. If I am his father, then…does that make him my son? Or is the relationship one sided?"

Steve decided to abstain from thinking about the situation, feeling that it would interfere with his current objective, which was to repair the garage door. Still, the thought that he and Imp shared a family bond was haunting and pinned more responsibility on Steve than he already did not care to handle.

"Well, good night…son." Steve said to himself.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to apologize for not posting in a while. I am on vacation in CA and was not able to set up my computer for a while, due to my parents traveling outside the country for a few weeks. But now I am settled in a relative's house, and should be able to post a little more consistently. This will be the last chapter that is from the perspective of the Zombies, as I wish to go back to focusing on the Plants. Anyway, I hope this chapter turned out well. Thank you all once again for your support!