A/N hey there! ThePeaWithGoggles here! And welcome to chapter 23! :P It was fun writing the last chapter as I was experimenting in writing more on the thoughts than anything else, and I think I'll go with that way for the fanfics I'll be writing. :P but let's just start, enjoy!
The Peashooter flinched as his sister's chilly pods made contact with his injured stem, who was removing the bandage then replacing with a new one. Peater watched with interest as she did so, he has nothing else to do anyway, might as well study the situation they were in.
Icee sighed as she stepped away from the Peashooter, walking towards a nearby table muttering something to herself, with a nod that didn't direct to anyone, she left the room without speaking another word, leaving Peater in isolation once more.
With a quiet sigh, he decided to examine the room that was recently given to him. It was the same in terms of size as his previous room many years ago, it had a slight change in design when it came with the room adjustments. The table was at the leftist of the room while the bed was at its opposite, a pouch which seemed to belong to Kendrick sat on said bed, as much as the Peashooter was curious he wouldn't used his time to check what was inside a normal pouch. But what else could he do with a big wound in his stem? Oh yeah, pretty much nothing.
Which what felt like forever the murmurs of a conversation could be heard outside his room which Peater took his attention towards. The door creaked opened a few long moments later, revealing Icee and Kendrick, both having a concern expression on their features.
The Fire Peashooter cleared his throat before speaking up. "We need to talk, Peater." His tone was dead serious, and the young Peashooter never liked when the Fire Pea was serious, it just made conversations more awkward than it already was, but either less he didn't speak up, knowing it was rude to say that to someone, especially if that someone was older than you.
Both Plants sat next to Peater, Kendrick at the right while Icee sat on his left. Welp, looks like there's no escape from this sibling conversation. The Peashooter waited for either of them to speak up in silence, he didn't really need to talk in these kind of talks. He just stayed as the nonchalant brother he was.
"Ane told us about the Time Machine." Icee spoke up. Oh. Looks like we're getting straight to the point, Peater resisted the urge to let out a loud sigh, this is gonna be a tedious conversation indeed, one where he preferred to just sleep through.
"Peater, I know that you're not vocal in these kind of conversations but this is some urgent news, the Zombies could be planning something big, something we don't expect." The Ice Pea continued, she placed her pod on the Peashooter's stem as a act of comfort. "You're the one that has been in the battlefield the most out of us three, you must've gotten some Intel, right?" She was getting desperate, but the Peashooter simply wasn't one for gathering information, he never was.
With a shook of his head, he shrugged. "I haven't even learned of L.E.A.F until Ane told me about it when I saw him a few days ago, and yet you're expecting me to know what they're planning?" The Ice Pea nodded in understanding, knowing that what her brother said was true, she looked up to make eye contact with Kendrick, hoping for some back up.
With a vague nod, the Fire Pea took over. "Then you can help us, right? I may have my experiences with fighting on the battlefield but you have faced much more than I have, what I'm saying is that we're counting on you, this may be your only chance at righting the wrong you have done four years ago." The Ice Pea nodded at her brother's statement, a small smile creeping over her features.
The Peashooter bit his lip, not knowing what he should do. This is why he never like getting into meetings or confrontations, it was because of the decisions he had to make. He never felt so pressured in his life when it came to making hard choices, he felt like he always chose the wrong decision each time he was asked, and that feeling haunted him for ages.
But yet, it's not like he had any other decision anyway. Live the life as a coward or do the right thing? The answer was obvious. He started to feel like he was a Sativum or something close to that, what felt like years, he finally answered.
"Sure." It was a reluctant answer, but it was good enough to please his siblings, well he thought it did. Icee nodded while Kendrick seemed to had a look of worry, but was soon replaced with a shrug. With a wave of goodbye, both siblings left the room, leaving it to Peater.
The Peashooter sighed. Knowing that this was inevitable, it was either die in vain or die a hero, he wasn't sure if his upcoming fate was any of those.
Sarah awoke with a jolt, her breathing as fast as it could be and her eyes were at their widest. Swear poured down from his head as her breathing softened slightly. She closed her eyes in relief, knowing that she hasn't died just yet.
She looked down at herself, she looked worse of wear, yet she didn't even wear any clothes. No injuries could be seen anywhere so she guessed she just passed out from lack of sleep and rest, perhaps because of how frantic her breathing could get? Probably not.
With a audible gulp, she took her attention towards the scenery she was in. A white bed, white walls, nearby Sunflowers running around to attend to other Plants. It was a infirmary, but it was smaller in comparison to both L.E.A.F and SF Alpha's infirmaries.
She took a deep breath, right now wasn't the best time and place to panic. She brushed off one of the flowers that were blocking her vision, looking up, she noticed a rather boisterous Sunflower, a wide grin printed on her face.
"Hey there!"
Oh great, another Mystic. The Sunflower was just as outgoing and optimistic as it seems, but the Cactus really couldn't judge from appearance and a single sentence, but it wasn't like she had anything against Mystic at all anyways, it was always nice to have her around.
"You alright there, miss?" The voice of the Sunflower snapped her from her thoughts, blinking a few times, she looked up. A sight of slight concern could be seen in the Sunflower's face, but overall she seemed to be have rather non-pessimistic expression on her face.
"Yes." Sarah replied flatly, her voice no more than a whisper even though she tried to speak as loudly as she could. Sighing, she stroke her head, trying to make sense of this situation. It was a ignorant act indeed, going out in the middle of the night like that. Ane might as well have come back by now.
"You're from SF Alpha, Sarah Caryophyllales. Am I correct?" The Sunflower medic asked, a document of sorts was held in her equivalent of hands. "We have found you passed out near our borders. You are not harmed, but you forced yourself to continue running at a fast pace even when your body was begging you to stop. Are you alright?"
The Cactus nodded, there really wasn't a reason why she just packed her bags and went out without a direction, unless aimlessly trying to find your friend counted as a poor excuse. She growled at herself. How could she be so stupid? Letting her emotions take control, why did she have to be the one who got easily concerned? She always hated when her own emotions got out of hand. Thanks mom.
Realising that she was in a unfamiliar location, she asked. "Uhh...where am I exactly?" It was probably one of the bases that were near her own, but she really weren't very familiar with the other teams, that was Ane's job.
"You are in Border Sunalima, sector Z1, the most outer base that guards L.E.A.F HQ along with the other bases within the border. It's pretty neat." The Sunflower replied in a rather blissful tone. Were Sunflowers always so optimistic as this Sunflower and Mystic? the Cactus wasn't sure. But Sarah was sure that she was on a roll with meeting friendly Sunflowers.
"Oh! You must want to leave?" The Sunflower let out a soft gasp, soon being replaced with a smile. "Don't worry, but our leader, Hirion, would like to see you before you leave. He's at our meeting room, it's at the left of here, just keep going left then you'll see the meeting room in no time!" With one final wave of goodbye, the Sunflower left to do her other duties, leaving the Cactus allowed to get out of the bed.
The Cactus got out of the bed in no time as she made her way out of the door and into the daily crowded hallway. She took a quick turn to the left, following the Sunflower's instructions to whatever their leader's name was.
Once she reached a door that was labeled as the "Meeting Room", she opened the door to be met with a large room. It was much similar to L.E.A.F's meeting room in terms of design, but was quite smaller than L.E.A.F. Chairs were in their rightful positions. A Fire Chomper who appeared to be wearing a blue ascot was standing behind the chair the farthest from Sarah.
"Hello Sarah, that is your name if I am correct?" The Fire Chomper asked with a friendly and toothy smile. The Cactus nodded, not knowing how to really react in this situation. "I am Hirion, I'm in charge of this sector of Border Sunalima. You're in SF Alpha, right?" The Fire Chomper named Hirion continued. The Cactus nodded once more as she took a few steps to get a bit closer to the Fire Chomper.
The Fire Chomper grabbed to what seemed to be a blueprint from the table in front of him, he handed Sarah the blueprint, who grabbed it fairly quickly, but she decided not to look what this blueprint was for.
"Please deliver this to your leader." Hirion kindly asked with a small smile. "It's..important. Don't get curious, okay? I only want Ane to read this, even if you let curiosity get the best of you..you won't understand anyway, I wrote it in a way only us Chompers can understand." If Hirion had eyes, he would be winking.
The Cactus mentally rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the door, only to come to a abrupt stop as the sounds of gigantic stomping could be heard. The Cactus gasped as she turned around, Hirion turned on the screen that stood in front of all the chairs.
The Cactus' eyes widened as she realised where the stomping came from. It was the Zombot, but much less outdated than it already was, which equals to a bigger problem with dealing with the massive machine.
"The Zombot..it has reached the inner bases!" The Fire Chomper exclaimed, earning a gasp from the Cactus. "And it's heading for L.E.A.F!" With that, the Fire Chomper took action and ran towards a table that had many kinds of buttons and levers.
With a few flicks and clicks, the Fire Chomper ordered through a speaker. "Warning, warning! The Zombot has reached the inners and is heading for L.E.A.F HQ! We must delay its arrival, I'll contact L.E.A.F to ready the defences." Without another word, Hirion left the meeting room, getting ready to head for the Zombot that was advancing towards L.E.A.F HQ.
The Cactus ran out of the meeting room as well. She took a turn to the right, hoping that it was the direction to the portal room. Her adrenaline powering her speed, she needed to get to L.E.A.F, right here, right now.
And luckily. The portal room was indeed in the right of the meeting room, with a sigh of relief, she walked towards a Berry Pea, who appeared to be the one that took control over the portal. They were frantically flicking levers and pressing buttons, getting ready for the upcoming large group of Plants that will get here in any second.
Sarah cleared her throat before speaking. "May I go to L.E.A.F HQ?" She asked, hoping that the Berry Peashooter would accept her task. It took a while for the Berry Pea to reply. Luckily, he nodded as he typed in the coordinates that led to L.E.A.F HQ.
In a matter of 4 seconds, the portal was opened. The Cactus sprinted towards the portal, the blueprint firmly within her grasp.
Once she went through, she was met with tons of different Plants running around the base, getting ready for the upcoming Zombot to arrive, or so she thought. With a gulp, she ran towards whatever the Chomper could be, if he wasn't here..then well, she didn't want to think about that.
But only within a few seconds after starting their journey to find the Chomper, she was softly tapped on the shoulder. She turned around, only to be met with Ane, a relived smile in his face. "Y-you're here."
The Cactus took a few steps back, eyes widening. Looks like the opposite happened, Ane was the one to find her, with a smile forming, she ran towards the Chomper, hugging him, blissful tears forming in her eyes, but she kept them from getting out.
Seconds later, the hug broke as Sarah took a few steps back, with guilt coating her voice, she apologised. "Sorry about what happened a few days ago. It's just...it was something that I've never seen you do. But since you are a Chomper, I can forgive you." The attempt to apologise turned into a joking remark.
The Chomper chuckled softly. "Alright alright, I get you're trying to apologise, I already did. It's hard to stay controlled when you're angry, we both know that really well." The Chomper smiled. The Cactus could feel her face heating up, she didn't realised how cute Ane was when smiling, the Cactus laughed embarrassingly, she could easily tell that she was blushing. Ane joined in the laughing for as well, his face darkening to a different shade of purple.
Sarah's eyes widened slightly as she realised what she should doing. "Has L.E.A.F been informed of the upcoming Zombot attack?" She asked, only to be returned with a confused look. "What do you mean, Sara-"
A explosion occurred near the area of the duo of Plants. Nearby Plants were sent flying while others shielded their eyes from the dust that started to form. Sarah squinted while Ane, who didn't have any eyes, look towards the explosion.
A massive hole had formed from the explosion's wake, the sounds of guns firing from the other side of the hole could be heard, moments later, Zombies of every kinda came storming in, guns loaded and ready to vanquish.
But what frightened the Chomper weren't the Zombies, it was the Zombot who could be seen a suitable distance where you could see most of its structure. With a audible gulp, he looked at Sarah with concerned eyes, who recently has recovered from dust that started to subside. Once she fully opened her red eyes, she immediately knew what happened.
"T-they're here." The Cactus stammered as she look around the scenery they were in. Zombies were vanquishing Plants around all corners while their adversary attempted to fend them off, but were failing immensely. It was pure luck that both of them weren't attacked just yet.
Ane, suddenly filled with determination, sprinted towards the Zombot in hopes of delaying its time in destroying L.E.A.F HQ. Sarah closely following him, a feeling of something bad was going to happen crawled on her stem, but she proceed to ignore it.
It didn't take long for the duo of Plants to arrive at a distance to shoot the Zombot, well for Sarah at least. If Ane wanted to do some real damage, he had to get quite physical with the towering machine.
Bu before the Chomper could get any closer, the Cactus grabbed him by the stem, a concerned look printed on her face. "Please..don't go, I do not want to risk getting you injured." She begged, knowing the damage the machine could do if you were that close to it.
The Chomper shook his head. "Then what else can I do? Watch Plants die by the hands of this machine? No, I'm going." With that, he sprinted towards the Zombot, not knowing what he could have put himself into.
The Cactus sighed, hoping that he wouldn't get too injured.
A/N and wow, here it comes! Finally, some real action happening in this fanfic! :P anyways, I don't have much else to say other than how long this chapter is. XD..honestly, I never thought I write so much ever since I joined this site. Well ever since I did join, my writing has gotten better! And well, that's thanks to other fanfictions and their fancy words. :p haha, so. I guess we are at the last few chapters! Man, I know I could've reach 30 chapters, but I know the next story will pass that fairly easily (you'll know what I mean :P) Welp, until next time! ThePeaWithGoggles out!