Pclendafuun responded to Senjen before Ruknar could even blink.

“Aesthetics and artistic message are considered by the J-J-judges when scoring entries.” He seemed more confident now.

“Ooh, I wonder if they have any Grabglove spores - they like grabbing fish that clean their scales on spinereef. Maybe it will like these…rose thorns ” Light wasn’t an avid gardener, but had very fond memories of Grabglove from his infancy. He used to play around the deep spine reefs with shoals of other juveniles. They’d flit in and out of range of the grab glove arms, delighting when they would snatch at their tails with their brightly covered ‘mouth’ flower.

“G-g-grabglove is statistically uncommon in this tournament - that may play well w-with the judges if it grows properly.” Pclendafuun offered helpfully.

“Ok, ok, what could I grow?” Ruk raked the moist, loamy soil with one taloned foot.

“Ooh, what about Creeech? Its smell is so potent that it can make you pass out!”

“An interesting c-choice!” The Tindrel chittered. “Creeech developed symbiotically with scavengers who would eat the sleeping prey, leaving some of the flesh at the base of the plant as an offering.” 

“Thats right, buddy!” Ruk clicked.

“We have a special announcement. Mokhtar Brobdingh AgriKem have just sponsored this round, offering 50% off their BioBurst range to any gardener who successfully seeds an unwanted companion in another team’s patch. The round starts in ten seconds. Good luck!”

“Hmmm.” Light cast a suspicious eye around as a wave of murmuring rippled across the dozens of patches around them. Teams of all sizes conversed urgent together.

“What is BioBurst?”

“It kills plants. Useful for next round.” Pclendafuun chirped.

A klaxon sounded, and it seemed like every single gardener under the giant shrub that day rushed to one of the dozen terminals placed strategically around the allotments.