"Alex!! Wake up!! Wake up!!"

Alex quickly opened his eyes again, sat up, and breathed heavily. He turned and saw Josie and Freddy sitting next to his bed with worried expressions on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Freddy asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Alex replied, although he wasn't sure how true that was.

"Sounded like a pretty bad nightmare," Josie said softly.

"It was," Alex admitted. "I dreamt Dave was a zombie and tried to kill me!"

"Rough!" Freddy said with wide eyes.

"Well, it's all over now," Josie concluded with her hand on Alex's shoulder.

"I guess so," Alex replied with a nod.

"Speaking of Dave," Freddy suddenly told them, "what do you say we check what he's up to?"

Wit that, Alex got out of bed and they headed downstairs and into the basement.

Once downstairs, the teens saw the lunatic at the work table clearly doing something. From what they could see on the table, the newest Plant was yellow, but that's all they could see.

Then, Dave turned around and saw the three teens in the basement. When he did, he smiled and stepped out of the way.

When he did, the teens could clearly see the Plant on the table was in the shape of a yellow star. It also had two big eyes in the middle, as well as one buck tooth in its mouth.

"This," Dave explained, "is Starfruit! As requested, he can fire stars in 5 different directions all around him!"

"Excellent!" Josie replied with a smile.

ERT! ERT! ERT!

Everyone turned to the TV and saw zombies approaching the backyard! Dave then sat down and started planting.

After planting the Sun-Shrooms and Puff-Shrooms, he simply waited for other zombies to appear through the fog. Sure enough, a Conehead could be seen through the fog. After planting a Plantern behind a Wall-Nut, the area could be lit up to reveal another Conehead near it.

After taking those out with Puff-Shrooms, they all noticed more zombies approaching.

"Let's get fruity!' Dave said aloud. "STAR fruity!"

He then planted a Starfruit in the fifth column from the house, second row down. Right away, the Plant fired 5 stars out of his points. One went straight down, one to the bottom right, one to the top right, one directly behind, and one to the back left! While most weren't going towards zombies, a few were direct hits!!

"Don't worry," Dave told the kids. "By my calculations, a whole column would do considerable damage!"

He then kept placing the Starfruits along the column when needed.

Once or twice, a Digger Zombie appeared at the back, but it was nothing some Split Peas couldn't stop. There were also Jack-In-The-Box Zombies, but the mass amount of Starfruits took them out no with problem.

Finally, with a whole column full of Starfruits, the two columns behind it full of Split Peas, and a few Puff-Shrooms for close range, it didn't take much more effort to defeat the remaining zombies.

"That was amazing!" Freddy said with a giant smile on his face. "We just keep getting better and better!"

"So are they, though," Alex told him. "We still need to be extra careful."

"Understood!" Dave replied. He then paused, grabbed his gut, and continued, "but first, I gotta use the facilities!"

He then bolted off the chair and ran upstairs.

"What's up with him?" Freddy asked.

"Probably has diarrhea," Alex replied casually.

"EW!" Josie exclaimed with a disgusted face.

"Hey, he asked, and I answered!" Alex said with a shrug.

"What's diarrhea?" asked Peashooter.

"It's..." Josie said awkwardly.

"Let's just say it's when a human's body has to go to the bathroom suddenly," Freddy quickly responded.

"What's so disgusting about that?" Sunflower asked.

"Don't worry about that," Alex replied.

Then, there was a flush upstairs, as well as footsteps coming down the basement steps.

"Do you happen to have any air freshener or something?" Dave asked whlie standing in the middle of the stairs.

"There should be some in the closet in the bathroom," Freddy replied. "It's the pumpkin spice kind!"

"Thanks!"

Dave then went up the stairs before pausing and saying alound, "I got it!" and then ran up the remainder of the stairs.

"I will never understand him," Josie said while shaking her head.

*          *          *

An hour later, after the bathroom had been freshened, Dave called the teens back downstairs to the basement.

"Here's our new Plant!"

He then moved to reveal what appeared to be just a giant Jack-O-Lantern sitting on the table!

"This is Pumpkin!" Dave said proudly. "He has the toughness of a Wall-Nut, but his hollow shell allows Plants to be put INSIDE of him! Doing this saves space on the lawn!"

"Smart thinking!" Alex said with a nod.

ERT! ERT! ERT!

Alex then sat in the chair and worked the planting magic. Or science. None of them knew for sure which it was. Anyway, Alex commenced the usual planting of Sun-Shrooms and Puff-Shrooms in the fog.

When it was time to plant the Planterns, Alex did something a little different; instead of planting a Wall-Nut and then a Plantern behind it, he planted a Pumpkin and a Plantern inside of it! When the fog cleared, it became obvious what Dave said was true; the Plantern was inside the Pumpkin! The only disadvantage was the fact that Pumpkins required more sunawatts, but it was definitely worth it to Alex.

After a few more minutes, the gang could hear what sounded like springs bouncing. Before any of them could ask what was causing it, they could clearly see a zombie wearing glasses and a black T-shirt bouncing on a Pogo stick! It was in the bottom row and was bouncing at a fair speed towards the house!

"Maybe it'll just be like a Pole Vaulter and it'll stop when it goes over a Plant," Freddy commented calmly.

However, his thought vanished when the Pogo Zombie bounced over the first Puff-Shroom in the row...and kept bouncing! It then went over the second Puff-Shroom with ease!

Before it could go over another Plant, though...POWIE! Alex blew him up with a Cherry Bomb! After that, it was the simple task of killing the remaining zombies.

"They're advancing quickly," Josie said with worry. "Dave, do you think you have any ideas that could help us?"

"You know what?" Dave said while stroking his chin in thought. "I think I do! How does a chocolate covered sweater sound?"

"How will that help with those Pogo Zombies?" Alex asked, clearly confused.

"Oh, you meant to help with THEM?"

The teens, as well as the Plants, rolled their eyes.

"Well, I do have an idea for a Plant that could help with them," Dave continued. "It'll help with a lot of other zombies, as well!"

"Perfect!' Freddy said with a smile. "We'll let you work on that!"

With that, the teens went back to the living room.

"I'm feeling a little more confident," Alex admitted. "As long as Crazy Dave has a clever way to stop the zombies' clever attacks, we'll be fine."

"But what if they try something new before he can find a way to stop them?" Josie asked. "Like that Pogo Zombie just now; we were lucky you blew it up before he could reach us!"

"Well, it was still one of Dave's ways to stop the zombies, though," Freddy pointed out. "You need to relax a little bit."

"Excuse me for not staying calm while there's the possibility of a zombie or ten getting in our house and killing us!"

"Hey, I'm probably as worried as you are," Alex told her calmly. "but that doesn't mean I'm thinking negatively. I'm staying calm and believing those Plants will save us. After all, they are the only thing that ARE saving us! Just have a little faith, okay?"

Josie stared at him before replying, "Alright. Maybe I AM overreacting a little bit..."

Alex just smiled and patted her on the back.

"It's okay," he told her.

She then gave a small, shy smile at him.

"So now what do we do?" Freddy asked suddenly.

"I actually don't know," Alex admitted.

"Maybe we could just talk?" Josie suggested. "I actually just like sitting back and talking to you guys. It makes me feel relaxed."

"What do we talk about?" Freddy asked. Josie just shrugged.

"Anything, I guess," she replied.

There was an awkward silence for a bit before Alex chuckled and said, "Alright, one time in 5th grade, during our annual talent show..."

*          *          *

"...and that's why people still at my old school refer to nerds and geeks as a 'Deacon'," Josie told the boys.

"Wow!" Alex said with wide eyes. "Didn't you get offended by that?" Josie just shrugged.

"They call them that because I'm smart. What's there to be offended by?"

"I guess you have a point," Alex admitted with a nod.

"Okay, here's one," Freddy quickly said. "When I was an 8th grader..."

ERT! ERT! ERT!

"I guess that'll have to wait," Alex told his brother.

With that, the teens ran back into the basement, where Dave was already at the computer typing away. On the work bench laid, what appeared to be, a giant red horseshoe magnet with dotted eyes and a stem in a flower pot!

Dave turned around and looked at the kids with a smile.

"That over there," he told them, "is Magnet-Shroom! He is ultimately a magnet that will pull any metal object a zombie has away from them and onto him!"

"You mean, like those Pogo sticks?!" Josie asked excitedly.

"Yup!" Dave replied proudly. "And by my calculations, they should also get a Digger Zombie's pick, a Football Zombie's helmet, and even a Bucket Head's bucket!"

"Sweet!" Alex exclaimed.

With that, Dave commenced the planting.

After planting the Sun-Shrooms and Puff-Shrooms, as well as some Sea-Shrooms and Planterns, Dave simply waited to collect enough sunawatts for the really good plants.

A few times during the attack, some Balloon Zombies hovered over the backyard, but it was nothing a couple Cacti couldn't handle.

A few minutes later, a couple Bucket Heads entered the yard. Rather than planting some Snow Peas to slow them down, however, Dave decided to try something else.

He quickly planted a Magnet-Shroom in the middle of the backyard and instantly one of the zombies' buckets flew off its head and onto the mushroom! It then took a few more hits before it was taken out. A few seconds later, the bucket on the Magnet-Shroom disappeared and the mushroom seemed to be functional again.

Dave then planted more of the Magnet-Shrooms as more of the Bucket Heads appeared. Just as the zombies seemed to be stopping, a familiar springing sound was heard. Everyone looked and confirmed their suspicions of another Pogo Zombie bouncing along the yard! Fortunately, the Magnet-Shrooms pulled the Pogo stick out from under him and he fell to the ground! However, he quickly got back up and started walking towards the house, but not for long, as he then got decapitated from spikes!

Another minute later, the zombies were all finished. Everyone then sighed with relief.

"That Magnet is definitely going to help with a lot of zombies," Freddy said to Dave.

"Exactly my intentions!" Dave replied with a smile.

ERT! ERT! ERT!

Everyone then turned towards the TV and saw yet another zombie run up to the middle of the yard, drop a piece of paper, and run away!

"They seriously have no idea how easy they could get in?" Josie asked.

"Let's consider that a blessing," Alex simply responded.

He then went up the basement stairs and into the backyard. After picking up the paper, he unfolded it to reveal this message:

Hello.

This iz your muther. Please come over to my house for "meatloaf". Leave your front door open and your lawn unguarded.

-Mom (not the Zombies)

Alex just sighed at the level of stupidity of the zombies at this point. Nevertheless, he went back inside and showed Josie the note.

"Wow, they must think we're stupid!" Josie said with a smile. She then handed it to Freddy.

"I know, right?" Freddy agreed after reading it. "Only an idiot would believe this!" He then gave it to Crazy Dave.

"My mom's alive?! And she has meatloaf?!" he said it a smile. The teenagers just stared at him and sighed.

"Dave, it's a trick from the zombies!" Alex told him.

"It can't be!" Dave argued. "It says right here: 'Mom (not the Zombies)'!

"Yeah, but...Never mind," Josie said.

"Let's just prepare for a zombie attack," Freddy told them all.

"But my mom's meatloaf..."

"There IS no meatloaf!!" they all shouted.

*          *          *

About half an hour later, everyone was still in the basement, just talking and telling stories.

"...and that's why I'm no longer allowed in the state of Texas," Dave concluded.

"That's just awful!" Josie gasped.

"Not as awful as the time I sliced open my toe on a scooter!" Freddy commented. "I had to get like 10 stitches!"

"Well, to be fair, you kinda had it coming," Alex pointed out. "You were barefoot!"

"Still," Freddy replied with a shrug.

"You people have great stories!" Peashooter commented.

"It makes me jealous!" Sunflower agreed with a nod.

"We've just been telling stories about painful experiences," Alex told them.

"Still!" Wall-Nut added. "At least it's something exciting!"

"Yeah," Potato Mine agreed. "We're not old enough to have exciting tales like that!"

"Oh, really?" Josie asked with a smile. "Most of you are only a day old and you've already worked together to kill more zombies than we ever could!"

"Yeah," Scaredy-Shroom said with a shiver, "but we just go wherever you tell us to."

"And that's the easiest part!" Josie continued. "You guys are the ones who fire peas, spit spores, and block zombies! If those aren't experiences worth sharing then I'm not sure what are!"

There was a pause while the Plants looked around at each other and smiled and nodded.

"You're right!" Peashooter finally told her. "But it's not like there's anyone we can tell right now."

"Well, maybe in a few decades you can tell some more humans about the things you did these last few days!"

She then gave a glare towards Alex, who quickly turned red with embarrassment.

CRACK!

A loud thunder boom could be heard just then! The sound of hard-pouring rain could be heard outside, as well! Everyone turned to the TV, but were shocked to see it pitch black!

"Why'd it get so dark all of a sudden?" Dave asked.

"Did the power go out or something?" Freddy asked.

"No, the lights are still on!" Alex replied with a head shake.

Just then, there was more thunder, and when it sounded, the screen lit up, revealing the lawn for about 2 seconds before going black again!

"This can't be good!" Josie said with fear.

ERT! ERT! ERT!

"Oh well," Dave replied calmly. "Hope we survive the night!"

Alex then rushed over to the laptop and took a look at the TV. A second later, another flash of lightning lit up the backyard enough to reveal some Regular and Cone Head Zombies. He then quickly planted some Starfruit so the stars could easily get them!

It was quite scary with limited light on the yard, but the lightning was definitely helping!

A few Balloon Zombies came along, as well as Pogo Zombies and Bucket Head Zombies, but some Cacti and Magnet-Shrooms managed to help!

"Did you see that?!" Freddy suddenly said with a gasp.

"What is it?" Alex asked with worry.

"It looked like a giant, white, furry zombie! Almost like a yeti or something!"

"Well, I don't see it..."

"Huh. Must be seeing things..."

Finally, with a back column of Cactus, 2 columns of Starfruit, and another column of Magnet-Shrooms, even with little light, the zombies were really taken out.

"That should be it," Crazy Dave said with a sigh of relief.

Josie took a deep yawn and looked at the clock.

"It'll be sunrise in a few hours," she told the guys. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep."

"Me, too," Alex agreed. Freddy nodded, too.

"Alright, then," Dave said with a smile. "Goodnight, everyone!"

The teens then said their goodnights and headed upstairs. They then said goodnight to each other and went into their rooms.

As he laid on his bed, Alex closed his eyes and relaxed. He certainly didn't need another nightmare. The last thing he remembered thinking about was him in the basement, staring at the yard with confidence.

*          *          *

Dr. Zomboss stared at this chalkboard while stroking his decaying chin. On the board was his list of methods to get the brains.

There was 'front lawn', 'front lawn (night)', 'backyard', and 'fog' written on the board. All of them were crossed out.

Suddenly, he got an idea. It was a crazy one, but he was running out of options!

Grabbing some chalk, he wrote four simple letters on the chalkboard: R,O,O,F.