Somewhere deep down in the desert, the sun raged on. Vultures picked on rotting flesh, armadillos scurried under, finding areas to keep themselves cool from the hot sun. On a road as hot as a burning oven, Jean-Luc, Joey, and 100% Julie drove down in the Groovemobile to the ruins of the Whacko-incorporated Fortress Defense Zone. On the way, the hot, blinding, golden landscapes and burning skies of the desert began to turn cloudy and somewhat dark green. The windshield and overall the entire car were covered in green fog that it was too difficult to see anything in path.

“Huh… this is an odd kind of fog,” Jean-Luc noted, “Better close the convertible.” Jean-Luc closes the hood of his car so that the fog doesn’t penetrate any further. He then adjusts the ventilation so the Groovemobile allows the trio to at least see the road ahead of them. Time may have passed some, but the gang immediately arrive by crashing into a wall.

“Smooth driving, fox boy…” 100% Julie snarked while recovering from the crash only to have the airbag blow up in her face. The trio get out of the car and walk to the front entrance, only to see it barricaded by debris. Jean-Luc swings his fist around then threw a punch that broke through the barrier, allowing the gang to explore. The fortress defense zone was a wreck. Robot parts rusted and broken, sentry-bots and turrets piled in a corners of their own destruction, and barrels and planks stuck on walls and monitors all around.

“Heyyyy~!” Joey says and he picks up an object, “My Game Buddy! I knew that ended up somewhere.” Joey turns on his Game Buddy and the screen glitches some but turns to normal and the intro screen and the game begins to play. Joey chuckles at the fact that his missing handheld still works even after all that damage.

“Zentindo makes some sturdy handhelds,” Jean-Luc commented as he goes back to searching, but without looking, he trips over something and falls to the floor.” Jean-Luc turns around to his back and looks over to see what tripped him. Tangled around his foot is a long vine of vegetation, with the roots hovering somewhat over the ground. Joey and Julie investigate the vine, and watch as it slowly grows while around Jean-Luc’s foot. They help the fox get the vine from around his foot, and then Jean-Luc grabs a hold of the vine gently and rubs it, questioning to the others, “What would this vine be doing here? Especially out in the desert…?” Jean-Luc cautioned the two bunnies and then had them follow him as they saw that the vine was a part of a trail. The trio follow the vine, going deeper and deeper into the defense zone. However, as they kept going, the mist that covered much of the vine felt as if it was getting heavier and heavier, disillusioning the trio.

“Everybody keep close. It looks like this fog is getting heavy,” Jean-Luc ordered until an idea came to his mind, “Hey Joey.”

“Yeah?” Joey responded. Jean-Luc picks him up and pulls his arm until the little rabbit’s ears began to whir like a copter, blowing away much of the fog so that they could at least see where they were going. The vine that the trio followed, combined with the lowered wind from Joey’s ear-copter, they were able to find themselves coming close to the defense zone’s own command center. Julie looks up some and acknowledges where they are heading, and the trio continue forward until then stumble into a wall. The fox ponders on how to make his next move. His tail then grabs Julie, then pulls on his ear, making the fox stretch his body high while Joey blows some of the fog away. Once high enough, the gang stretches over the crumbling crater, looking over the destruction with dismay and somewhat anger.

“Sheesh… who knew that one bomb could cause all this damage?” Jean-Luc said in a bothered tone.

“I feel sorry for whatever poor sucker got himself trapped down there,” 100% Julie replied. Joey looks down while his ears twirl away, only to see what he believes is a red eye staring the trio down. Chills fall upon the little bunny, causing him to be afraid. He stops twirling his ears and clings to Jean-Luc in dismay. Jean-Luc said, “What’s wrong, bud?” as he attends to his adoptive son, only to stretch too far and knock his head against a dead sentry gun.

“I-I-I saw something…. In the fooog…” Joey shivered, “it-it was staring at us as we stretched over the crater….” Jean-Luc cradled and comforted the young bunny and said, “Awe, I’m sure it’s only just one of the robots in here trying to turn itself back on.” Jean-Luc spoke some more to cheer the bunny up, but Joey kept his guard up and held onto the fox’s tail. 100% Julie called the dynamic duo over and told them that she found the entrance and led them inside. If outside was foggy and dingy to see, inside was worse than a citywide blackout in a horror movie. The trio blindly head forth, with no idea where they are going and no clue to help them except their wit, resilience, and Joey’s cowardly fear.

“Why are we in here? Shouldn’t we investigate outside for clues on Ryan?” Jean-Luc asked.

“Not unless you want to walk around here blindly,” Julie came back, “I installed a fail-safe program in the ventilation system that’s designed to last if anything were to happen to the defense zone.” Julie then poked her hand in her trusty fruit-hat, and rummaged around until she felt something she needed. She then goes, “Ah-ha,” and pulls out a flashlight and turns it on.

“Much better,” Julie relieved, “C’mon boys. Let’s get a move on.” Joey and Jean-Luc follow Julie through the corridors of the laboratory. Desert creatures that somehow found their way into this demolished area were scurrying and slithering through the corners, attempting to take refuge here despite the fog outside. After passing the corridor that had housed the remains of the sentry-bots all piled together like a pyramid, the three had finally reached the command center where Julie could watch over everything through the zone. Julie waves her flashlight around until she finds a control panel. She then tucks the flashlight in her hat and began to twiddle and tweak the system while padding and flicking up and down the switches for a good few minutes. Once all of that was done, she punches the inner part of the panel and the system whirrs and powers on the ventilation system, and as a bonus, the computer that allowed Julie to see what goes on around the place, turn itself on. Jean-Luc slowly mouthed a shocked expression as Joey hops over to Julie and hugs her.

“You did it, Julie!” Joey exclaimed with joy.

“There’s a plot hole to be pondered around here…” Jean-Luc spoke out, “…but…. I-… just can’t put my finger on it. Anyway… at least the some of the system is working.” Julie looks over at the computer and types away at the keyboard and starting up the ventilation system causing the green fog to be blown away. There, the trio walk outside and can now see entire base despite it being destroyed. However, before any of them can finally go to explore, a low grumble is heard from the distance.

“D-….did you hear that?” Joey asked as he made a gulp. Jean-Luc wonders at first until the sound is made again, causing his ear to flicker. He acknowledges to the others that he hears a grumble from down a hole. He then points to the hole with which the giant crater was made. Jean-Luc slides down and looks over the hole. The others follow and peek over the hole as well, wondering what may be down there.

“Hellooooooooo~” Jean-Luc calls out, causing an echo.

“Gee… I wouldn’t want to be trapped down there…” Joey said with a small fright.

“Oh Joey. You’re as scared as Melody,” Julie commented as she gently pats his head. However, Joey’s fears were true as the trio commented on the situation, a red glowing light stared the three down. Jean-Luc, Joey, and Julie decide to leave the hole alone and go look for clues. The three decide to split up and search for any clues to what may have caused the situation. However, knowing that some government group might be on the lookout since the place was erupted by a massive explosion, they won’t have much time. Searching far and wide, Julie, Jean-Luc and Joey look through any nook and cranny for at least something… but to no avail. However, as the gang kept looking, Joey felt as if something was watching him. He was searching through the corridor that originally had housed snacks in hopes that something survived the explosion, or at least was still edible. As he kept searching, the red eye that he had seen before was secretly following him. At first, Joey turned around in belief that something was RIGHT behind him, but as he did, the red eye had disappeared.

“I’m sure it’s nothing….” Joey laughed in a worry. He then stumbles into a dimly-lit room which wasn’t too destroyed from the explosion. In fact, the room he walked into was the Defense Zone’s bunker, which, to his surprise, didn’t even have a scratch on it! Joey smiled with glee and immediately searched around. His first area to search was, obviously, the fridge. He opens it up and finds a nice array of foods that surprisingly are still fresh. Hot cakes, glazed turkey, smoked ham, Caesar salads, fruit smoothies, tofu, some Asian food, a bowl of chicken soup, and more. Joey rummages to take his pick and then go heats it up in the nearby microwave. During that time, the bunny-boy sets a nearby table so that he can go ahead and enjoy his food. Once the table was finished being set, Joey gets his bowl of freshly cut carrots mixed with Chinese food and sits over at the table. Once set, Joey wraps his napkin around his neck and is about to eat, but… he’s missing his fork. Joey looks around for his fork but can’t seem to find it, until a fork is present before him while being held on a vine, while standing in front of his was a giant plant.

“Oh, hehe. Thank you,” Joey says to the giant plant and then delightfully digs in. Joey takes some of his food and begins to enjoy himself, but somewhere in his brain, his common sense begins to plug in, and the bunny’s eyes crack like glass before slowly turning them upward to see the giant plant staring him down with its crimson-red eyes. Joey stares at the beast as it stares at him back, but Joey slowly swallows what large chunk of food he had in his mouth and began to inhale a large amount of air.

“Man, there’s gotta be some clues around here…” Jean-Luc muttered to Julie.

“Well if we do find something of him, we can always create a replica or something,” the scientist suggested. Two loud screams were suddenly heard from a far, shocking and worrying Julie and Jean-Luc.

“Joey!” Julie screamed.

“Hold on, son! I’m coming!!” Jean-Luc shouted, taking Julie by the hand and zipping forward to Joey’s location. Joey was backed up against the wall as the plant monster reared its ugly head towards him. The giant plant slowly came closer and closer with its gaping maw just coming near the boy, causing Joey to slowly flatten himself against the wall as it got closer. Joey then scrambles into the cupboard and throws a variety of condiment bottles at the plant beast’s head.