Earlier that day
"So where are our seats?" Grace questioned Winston as they headed off towards the academy.
"Third row, seats number five and six." He replied as he began to quicken his pace, just barely holding in his excitement.
Grace rolled her eyes at him but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't excited. Just the thought of finding new graduates that would join their team filled her with glee. But it was also the thought of being back at the academy. It had been the best four years of her life and she was thrilled to get to see all of her favorite places, especially chomp burger.
"Hey Grace we're here." Winston snapped her out of her thoughts. She hadn't expected to get there so soon but sure enough the academy was sitting right in front of them. Winston spoke again "Come on Grace, the graduation ceremonies are happening over there." He pointed his pods over to a gigantic room.
Grace followed behind him, but she couldn't stop thinking about that chomper burger. It was one of those places that would give any health freak a heart attack, but she had never had food better than the food at the chomper burger.
Winston could apparently read her mind as his next comment was "Afterwards we can eat at the chomper burger."That was enough motivation to get her to nearly sprint to the ceremony.
They found their seats rather quickly and Winston struck up a conversation with the two sunflowers sitting next to them. Grace didn't engage in the conversation but she did catch snippets of it. Something about them being the mother and brother of a very intelligent sunflower, typical of sunflowers to brag about themselves and their family.
Winston leaned over to her and began softly speaking "You know, not all sunflowers are bad. By the sound of it, you'd get along with her daughter." Winston gestured to the sunflower sitting next to her.
"Maybe some other time, look the headmaster has begun speaking." Winston followed her gaze to see a very old cactus struggle to get through his opening speech. They both knew that he actually gave the same speech every time, but it was a pretty good one and parents loved it so they couldn't complain.
Grace and Winston had already agreed to be watching every pair announced, and they would tap the other one if they believed the current pair would make a good choice for teammates.
The first pair announced was a pair of sunflowers who Grace thought looked like they might have the combined IQ of a toaster. Winston had thought about poking Grace, but decided it'd be better if he didn't.
The next pair was a male fireflower and a female fire pea. They had enticing career paths but something about them made Grace feel they wouldn't be a good choice. Evidently Winston felt it too as he made no gesture to Grace about considering them.
The next two they saw was Grace's favorite pair so far, a cactus and a peashooter. They both looked intelligent and the two reminded her of Winston and herself. Winston looked over at her and pointed out that the two were seeking careers in GMO research and development. As disappointing as this was it was probably for the best, the cactus looked like he was about to faint by just being on the stage.
The next pair was the most intriguing of all. They were both said to be great in character and extremely intelligent. Another big plus is that neither one had a career path they were looking into, meaning it'd be easier to get them to join garden ops. What happened next shocked everyone in the hall, except the headmaster himself. As Grace heard the names called she looked to see a sunflower stand up. Grace was about too just forget about it until Winston started madly poking her and pointing to the other side of the stage. An electric chomper had stood up and began walking to the center stage to meet his partner.
When the two met at the center stage, Grace could immediately tell that the two were attempting to get a good read on one another. It wasn't until the chomper stuck out his leaf and the sunflower accepted the leaf shake that the crowd really started cheering.
The rest of the graduation seemed to fly by as all Grace or Winston could think about was the pair made up of a chomper and a sunflower, which was the first of its kind to come out of the academy.
When the graduation ended, all of the new graduates got together and began conversing while the family members left to the main gardens to wait for them.
Winston talked for a little longer with the two sunflowers sitting next to them before they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Grace gave him a puzzled look before he began to explain "So it turns out that the sunflower sitting next to us is the mother of Nebula, the one who's partner with that chomper. She also felt that our plan could be just what the plants need to win this war."
"That's good news" Grace replied as they headed over to chomper burger.
They ordered their meals and found a good place to sit before Winston continued on. "It gets better, she has invited us over to her house later on tonight to discuss garden ops with the two of them." Winston took a break to take a bite of his burger before he proceeded "This could be our best chance to convince these two to join, and with a chomper and a sunflower we'd have a solid team."
"Well first we have to actually convince them to join, and then we have to decide if they're a good fit for garden ops." Grace stated, not too thrilled at the thought of working with a sunflower.
"But any sunflower that can work well with a chomper shows that they don't judge plants based off of their outside, but on their insides." Winston countered, already knowing what she was thinking.
Grace would never admit it to him, but Winston was right. She'd see for herself if this Nebula was really a fair and just plant or if she was just another stuck up sunflower.
Back with Nebula and Static
When everyone was dismissed, Nebula dragged Static to find Diana. They had yet to speak a word to each other and Nebula needed her friend to make this situation less awkward. She finally found her in deep conversation with her new partner Reginald. They quickly introduced themselves before Nebula dragged Diana away so she could speak with her.
"Diana help, I don't know what to do." Nebula looked like she was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown and from past experiences Diana knew she would start rambling soon.
"Nebula you've gotta start small. Just start by having conversations with the guy and I'm sure you'll find something in common. That's what Reginald and I did and we're already getting along amazingly." Diana calmly replied.
Nebula had slightly calmed down but was still unsure "What could I talk with him about?"
"You could talk about the fact both of you were the most passionate during the plant's rights unit in history." A new voice chimned in.
Nebula turned around and looked up to see Static standing behind her with a grin on his face. "Yes but that unit was immediately followed by the study of plant defenses, which was one of the most boring ways I've ever spent my time." Nebula replied.
"Oh yeah, I slept through most of those lectures. It's all the same thing when you break it down." Static fondly remembered the hours of sleep he got from those days.
At this point Nebula hadn't even noticed that Diana had left as she was too busy talking with Static about the many units of science and history, subjects any other plants would find extremely boring.
"Oh yeah, my mother wanted to invite you out to lunch with us. She wanted to meet my new partner so we should get going." Nebula led Static through the crowd and out to the garden area.
"So where is she?" Static asked while watching Nebula search the crowd.
Nebula didn't actually know where her mother was, but she figured her brother would find them. Turns out she had been right, because the next thing she saw was her brother running towards her with a smile on his face. Her mom was right behind him, struggling to keep up with the young sunflower.
"Big sis! Why didn't you tell me your partner was a chomper? That's so cool!" Nebula's brother exclaimed. He didn't just respect chompers like Nebula did, he loved them. He thought their style of fighting zombies was better than anything else, and he strived to be as tough as them.
Static smiled down at the young plant "And who's this amazing kid? It sounds like he's just as intelligent as you Nebula."
"Well they are my children." Nebula's mother said while extending a leaf out to Static. "I'm Barbera, and this is my son Grayson."
Static shook her leaf "I'm Static, pleasure to meet you two."
"Would you mind coming over to our house later this evening, we have much to discuss and I assume your parents want to take you to lunch." Barbera politely asked.
Static smiled back at her "I'd be delighted mam, now if you'll excuse me I'm going with my mom to eat at the Chomper Burger." He left the family standing there in shock at his overall politeness.
"He might be the smartest plant I've ever met." Nebula thought to herself, until Static showed up a minute later realizing he had no idea where they lived.
"It's 5000 Petal Lane Drive, it'll be the house painted golden yellow." Nebula told him as she did her best not to laugh at his silly mistake.
Static could tell she was trying to contain it "Listen I swear I'm usually not this stupid." He murmured as he turned around and began walking away, only to run into a light pole.
Nebula couldn't control herself as she began to laugh hysterically at the embarrassed chomper. She could definitely get used to having him as a partner.