"So how long do you think he could blast electricity?" Grayson asked Nebula as he sat down next to Nebula on the family couch. The two were waiting for their parents to finish talking in the other, and they knew it would be a while before they were done.
Nebula looked up from her book and thought for a second "The average chomper can sustain their electricity for 3.2 seconds, but why don't you ask him when he gets here."
That got Grayson really excited since he had never actually seen an electric chomper's attack.
Grayson began reading his Attack of Chompzilla comic while Nebula sat there thinking about how her father would respond to learning her new partner was a chomper.
Her father was a great military commander and one would think he would appreciate the value of chompers, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. He use to tell her mother stories about seeing them eat zombies, and how it was the most disgusting and repulsive thing he'd ever seen.
Her mother had always felt he was just taking his anger of losing troops out on them, after all he lost less chompers than any other plant.
Nebula was taken from her thoughts when she heard a knock at the door. She looked over at the sundial and began to panic. "I must've been so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even realize how late it was." She whispered to herself.
She shared a look with her brother who immediately understood "I'll distract him, you go get yourself ready." She gave him a quick hug before rushing upstairs to take a shower, as she had not had time yet to do so.
Static was waiting patiently outside the house for someone to answer the door. It was a lovely house, two stories with a nice garden out in front. It reminded him of one of those human houses he used to read about, but an older model. One that was from the 1970's that was commonly found in the suburbs.
It had taken him longer to find the house than he would care to admit. The houses were all similar in design and all painted golden yellow, so it took him a bit to narrow it down. The house number wasn't on the side of the building like in his neighborhood, it was in tiny print on the mailbox. How any mail plant could read it so easily was beyond him.
The doorknob began to rattle before the door swung open to reveal Grayson standing there with a comic wrapped under his arm and a smile on his face.
Before Static could say a word Grayson asked "How long can you hold your electricity?"
Static thought for a second before answering "Five seconds."
Grayson's eyes grew wide and he dropped his comic onto the floor "No way, sis said that the average is like three seconds."
Static laughed at that before looking down at him "Wanna bet?"
Grayson immediately ran inside to get a timer while Static walked out to the street and prepared his electric breath. He had never actually counted how long he could hold it, but he assumed it was around 5 seconds.
"It's not like the kid will be upset if I'm wrong, he's probably just excited to see it." He thought to himself.
Grayson came running out of the house with a timer in his hand "Alright, you ready?" Static shook his head before Grayson started the countdown "Three! Two! One! GO!"
Static unleashed his power and held it at a steady rate. He began to feel himself get tired but he was determined to keep it up for as long as he could. He finally ran out of energy and allowed himself to relax as he looked over at Grayson for the results.
Grayson blankly stared at him for a moment before saying "You were wrong about it being five seconds long...TRY 8!" Grayson was so excited that he was practically jumping up and down.
Static hadn't expected to go that long, but he was impressed with his own skill nonetheless.
"What are you two doing?" A voice called from the garden. The two looked over to see Nebula staring at them with a curious expression on her face. She looked nicer than she had earlier today, less nervous and more well composed.
Grayson answered back in a small voice "Uh, testing Static's electric breath. Did you know he can hold it for 8 whole seconds!"
Nebula smiled at this " Go help mom finish dinner, you can talk to Static afterwards." Grayson nodded and took off into the house.
Nebula walked over to Static "Thank you for being so nice to him, he loves chompers and you doing that for him is a bigger deal than you might think."
Static smiled back at her "No problem, he's a great kid." Static looked around before commenting "You know, it's confusing when you all have the same paint job."
Nebula smirked at him "What's the matter smart guy, was finding our house to hard for you?"
They both walked inside and were greeted by the intoxicating smells coming from the kitchen. Nebula led him through the house into the dining room, where seven places were set at the table.
Nebula looked at her mom questionably before asking "Mom, why'd you set seven places at the table?"
"Because we're having two more guest over tonight who want to discuss a possible career path with the two of you." she answered. The two partners looked at each other in shock before hearing a knock at the door.
"And that's them now. Grayson can you get the door please." She called to her son.
He quickly responded "Sure thing mom." And he dashed off towards the door. When he reentered the dining room, two plants were following him.
Static and Nebula looked at them questionably before they introduced themselves "Hello there, I'm Winston and this Grace. It's a pleasure to meet the two of you." He extended his pods out and shook both of their leaves at the same time.
An older looking sunflower entered the room and looked around at all the other plants. "Alright, let's just get this over with." He sighed.
Dinner went on for a while with minimal chatter. Static and Nebula were very curious as to who these plants were and what offer did they want to make them, but they were told they would talk after dinner.
When they had all finished, Grayson and Barbara got the dishes and left the others to discuss things.
Winston spoke first "So have you two considered what career you want want to go into?"
The two looked at each other before Nebula responded "No, not really. I guess we haven't thought about what we want to do."
A smiled appeared on Grace's face "Well we might have the perfect solution for you. We want to take a team of four plants outside of Suburbia to the outskirts, and begin planting gardens to push back the zombies."
Nebula and Static considered this before Winston continued on "We would fight the zombies head on and find a way to win this war."
Static seemed very interested in this idea, but Nebula was unsure. They had always had success in defending Suburbia, why risk anything by going outside the limits.
Before Nebula could respond, her father cut in "I see no reason for such an idiotic plan."
Winston and Grace both turned their attention to him now and it was Winston who replied "With all do respect sir, this could finally end the war. We can't just sit back and defend forever and hope to defeat the zombies."
Static spoke next "They're right, if we could capture the areas surrounding Suburbia and slowly move the ranks of plants up to defend them, we could force the zombies out once and for all."
The old sunflower angrily turned his attention to Static "If I want advice from a monster, I'll let you know. Until then I forbid to let my daughter travel outside these lands."
Before Static could respond, Nebula angrily stormed out of the room and up the stairs.
Nebula went to her room and climbed out of her window onto the roof. She sat there for a bit just thinking to herself before someone sat next to her. She expected it to be her mom but she was surprised to see Static sitting next to her.
He sat quietly for a minute before he looked at her and sighed "I'm sorry if I offended you by making it look like I was trying to make the decision without you." He slowly finished.
Nebula immediately put her leaf up to his mouth to shush him "Static! Oh god no, that's not why I'm upset." Static looked at her quizzically but let her continue "I'm upset because my dad thinks he can still make decisions for me, and blatantly insulted you for voicing your opinion on the matter."
Static scooted closer to help comfort her "It's fine. Your dad isn't the first person to insult me and he won't be the last. You and I have the rare opportunity to end this war, and I think we should take it." He stood up and offered her his leaf "What do you say, partner?"
Nebula stared at him for a second before smiling and taking his leaf in hers "Alright, let's go make a difference."
"Sweet, I'm glad we can get off this roof now. I'm kind of afraid of heights." Static nervously chuckled.
Nebula laughed at him before climbing through the window "You are full of surprises Static."
The two walked downstairs together where they saw Winston and Grace sitting.
"Alright, we're in." Nebula firmly spoke.
"Good." Winston replied while watching the T.V. "Because our first mission starts now."
Static and Nebula both looked at the screen to see a breaking news report. The Garden Center had been overrun by zombies, and there was no plants who could stop them. That was, until now.
The next chapter is finally getting to the action and the first Garden Ops mission. I'll probably have it done in the next 2-3 days, depending on how well I can write action sequences.