"So, you are telling me that these two plants are actually plant superheroes like in your comic?" asked Mink.
"Yep," Alice confirmed.
"-And they are in this car and we are taking them home to see Crazy Dave..?"
"Mhm,"
"Ah. I understand. Interesting."
Alice and Ragz had swapped spots in the car, allowing Alice to sit in the back with Mink and the two plant heroes. They had countless questions for Green Shadow and Solar Flare, all about themselves - and the two zombies they'd been fighting.
"How did you even get into that fight?" asked Alice. "It seemed pretty heated by the time we got to see it,"
Solar Flare rolled her eyes. "Well, those two bozos Rustfuck and Bitchfinity-"
"-Rustbolt and Impfinity," Green Shadow corrected.
"Yeah, whatever. They showed up and were like 'ugh we hate plants we're gonna like kill you cause you're mistakes or something,"
"To be specific, I remember Rustbolt stating that we weren't meant to exist," added Green. She sighed. "I fear he may be right, considering the lasers seem to be Dr. Zomboss's doing,"
"I do not understand Dr. Zomboss's plan," said Mink. "If he is to make zombie superheroes, why would he make the lasers random? If you truly are accidents, then his plan was not reliable,"
"That's what we're wondering as well," said Green Shadow.
"Odd.."
"-I mean, Zomboss isn't really that smart," Solar Flare interjected. "I know his whole thing's that he's the smartest zombie ever or whatever, but come on. The dude thought turning Neighborville into a pinball machine was a good idea. This is one of the less dumb things he's done,"
Mink nodded. "True.. it is still very odd, however. I think Dr. Zomboss should have tested his laser on specific zombies and not at random,"
"Maybe you should be Zomboss instead, kid,"
"I would not like to be Zomboss! Zomboss is bad! I am not bad, I am Mink! And being Mink is one of the greatest things you can be!"
"You keep thinkin' that, kid,"
"Hey, uh- Alice, you're the one who's going crazy over superheroes being real, right?" asked Ragz.
"Yep! I'm going absolutely bonkers right now but I'm trying not to be weird," they responded.
"Well, look! There's more of them!" he pointed out the window to another street over.
"YOU TOLD ALICE BUT NOT ME??" Peter immediately skidded the car to a halt, giving him a chance to scold Ragz. "Ragz, I'm the one responsible for all of you, you're supposed to tell me if you see anything dangerous, not just point out a potential threat cause you think it's cool!"
"-Peter, it is cool!" said Alice, who - with the car stopped - could watch the fight Ragz had pointed out. Sketchbook in hand, they wrote, "one plant, one zombie. Plant's a bonk choy, zombie's a disco zombie? All i know is that the zombie's got hair kinda like mine and its cool."
Green Shadow and Solar Flare had hopped up on Alice's lap to get a better view out the window - Mink even looked over Alice's shoulder. Staring out, they watched a masked bonk choy throw punch after punch at a disco zombie clad in yellow and black, but miss every punch due to the disco zombie's.. Bizarre movement pattern.
"Shit, that zombie's so funky that he can't hit him!" said Solar Flare.
Solar Flare was right, but the zombie hero had more than the disco fever on his side. He charged an electric blast, shocking the bonk choy - who twitched and sputtered as he fell to the sidewalk.
"..Oh no," Alice mumbled. "He's down,"
"That zombie can't get away with this-" Green Shadow rolled down Alice's window - only to jump out and rush over to join the fight!
"Woohoo! You go, Green!" Solar Flare shouted out the window as Green Shadow attacked the disco zombie mid-victory dance. Though - just as he'd dodged the bonk choy's punches - he could even dodge Green Shadow's intensely accurate peas. He began charging another electric blast, but just before he could unleash it on Green Shadow -
"Take this, you outdated fuck!-" the bonk choy punched the disco zombie off-balance from behind, causing him to stumble over his own feet and fall to the ground. Immediately, the bonk choy took to repeatedly punching him.
Eventually, Green Shadow stopped him before he could continue punching the disco zombie. "Don't overdo it. He's already down." she pushed the bonk choy off of him.
"Aw, but he really deserves it!"
"Does he really?"
"Uh, yeah! He was try'na kill me n' shit!"
Green Shadow sighed and rolled her eyes. "Name?"
"His name's Electric Boogaloo. Stupid, right?" the bonk choy replied.
"No, what's your hero name?"
"I don't know yet! Real name's Ryder, though,"
"..Alright,"
Green Shadow lead Ryder over to the car. Alice opened the door to let them both inside.
"What's with the party in here?" asked Ryder.
"I dunno, glasses dude in the front says he's taking us to meet a 'Crazy Dave'," said Solar Flare.
"Which glasses dude?"
"The stuck-up nerd who's like really lame and stuff. The one with the dyed hair,"
"Oh. Huh. Well, hello, teenagers, sunflower and peashooter! I'm Ryder, the new coolest plant on the block!"
"I'm Solar Flare," she said. "-The actual coolest plant on the block,"
After some quick introductions, and somehow getting a seatbelt to fit over three plants at once, Peter was already driving them back home. He'd sworn to himself that that was the last stop; everyone hoped he was correct.
"So.. there are six heroes, correct?" said Mink.
"Green Shadow, Solar Flare, Rustbolt, Impfinity, Electric Boogaloo, and.." Alice trailed off, looking at Ryder.
"I'll think of something eventually!" he said. "Maybe I'll name myself after a weapon. Imagine if my hero name was just 'gun'. That'd be a good one,"
"Wouldn't something related to your power be more accurate?" said Green Shadow.
"Yeah, I guess.. Maybe I'll go with just Knuckles,"
"Throw in 'brass' at the start and you'll even keep your weapon name idea!" suggested Solar Flare.
"Brass Knuckles? More like.. Grass Knuckles. Get it? Cause I'm a plant?"
Solar Flare nodded. "Ooh, that's good, man,"
"-and Grass Knuckles, apparently," Alice finally continued. "Six."
"Mink, check your video. I'm fairly certain there was more than six lasers shot out last night," Peter requested. Mink did as asked, pulling up the video.
"Eins, zwei, drei.." he counted as he rewatched it. "There were zwö- twelve lasers in all!"
"Only twelve? Huh. It seemed like more," Alice muttered. "..Wait, this means there's- there's got to be more heroes out there!"
Peter sighed. "I assume you'll want me to take you out 'hero hunting' again tomorrow then?"
Alice's stare said all the words that needed to be said.
After returning home, despite their excitement - Alice ran up to their room to write down more of what they'd seen. Sweetpea had hardly scrambled into his pot by the time Alice had asked, "Sweetpea, isn't this the best day ever?"
Sweetpea shrugged at them.
"I mean, there's real superheroes - right here in Neighborville! I've wanted this ever since I read my first Sunshine Girl comic!" Alice beamed. They flopped onto their bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I can't believe it's really real.."
After a few silent moments, Alice got bored and sat back up. They glanced at their art supplies strewn across their desk. An idea sparked in their mind.
"..Sweetpea, what if I made my own superhero comics?" Alice wondered aloud. Sweetpea glanced up at them and raised an eyebrow. "Like, about the plant heroes," they added. They stood up and approached their desk, sitting down at it. "They're so cool.. It's like - I wanna show my appreciation, y'know? Oh, this is gonna be great,"
"What color's Grass Knuckles' mask again? -Oh, yeah, it's red and yellow,"
"No, Solar was the one who dodged the weird ray attack thing super closely. She called him a dumbass after it, I remember that."
"Wait, should we be in this panel?"
They worked long into the night.