Turn It Into Magic

"Trent, you motherfucker! Come out and play!" Pogo shouted, firing a warning shot with his dart gun. "I know you're the leader. Come out here and face me like a fucking man!"

Trent slowly peeked out from the corner he was using to hide himself. He seen Pogo with a gun and that was enough to terrify him. He pulled himself back from the corner.

"Only if you meet me, unarmed," Trent called, holding his own dart gun out to Tim. Tim took it and gave Trent a thumbs up.

"Cover me," Trent whispered to Tim, who nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright, I don't have any guns. You can come out now," Pogo called mockingly. Trent, not able to handle Pogo thinking he was the better human, stepped out defiantly from behind the wall.

"Pogo," Trent greeted with a nod, stopping just at the edge of his 'territory.'

"Now Trent, I think we should dicuss the terms of our... disagreement, shall we say," Pogo said with a smirk.

"Okay. What did you have in mind, Pogo?" Trent asked. A sudden movement from the corner of his eye caused him to go into defense mode and tense up, looking carefully at the movement from the corner of his eye. It was Abi, Elizabeth, and Ginger, peeking in to see what was going on. He couldn't blame them. The hospital could be in ruins knowing Pogo.

But Trent wasn't going to back down. He was going to stand tall and look as alluring as possible because the girl he was trying to impress was there, watching him. He was going to show Abi was he was made of, to prove to her that he was a worthy lover.

"Well, since I don't plan on surrendering, or letting you surrender, I suppose we'll be fighting on my terms. There are no rules, really, except that my territory is my territory and if you or any of your teammates venture over here, I will have to tie them up and hold them hostage," Pogo said, obviously contempating the terms.

"Sounds fine to me," Trent said, cursing himself for not being able to find better, more clever words, since he knew Abi liked that kind of thing.

"Alright. Now get the hell out of here before I shoot you," Pogo said, snapping his fingers. From his place cross-legged on the floor, Zim handed Pogo one of his dart guns.

Trent turned to leave, taking a deep breath before winking at Abi as he walked away. Abi's face filled with disgust and Trent's heart fell. He'd have to try again later.

"How'd it go?" Tim whispered excitedly, handing Trent his gun. Trent simply shook his head and sighed, knowing that if he were to speak, it would be about Abi, not Pogo.

As Tim and Trent went back to their headquarters, Elizabeth, Abi, and Ginger were retreating to their sanctuary.

"They're so stupid. I don't know why we let them get away with this stuff," Abi sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"Meh. It probably won't last long, considering Trent's ability to give in to pretty much anything," Ginger shrugged.

Abi sighed again, "I suppose that's true. It's quite a surprise that Trent actually agreed to it this time."

"He didn't," Ginger said. By now they had reached the door to the office, but stopped before it could be opened.

"What do you mean? He's the leader of his team. Doesn't that mean he agreed to it?" Elizabeth asked.

"Not necessarily. Tim was the one doing all the talking. Trent didn't really become the leader until he involved Daisy. That's when Tim stepped aside and let Trent do the commanding," Ginger informed everyone. Abi shook her head and opened the door, allowing everyone to step inside.

"Still. It just seems weird that he'd be in charge and not Marilyn. Marilyn just seems much more leader-like," Elizabeth shrugged, sitting down on one of the couches. Abi layed down on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling and Ginger sat by Elizabeth.

"Is she okay?" he asked quietly, pointing at Abi. Elizabeth diverted her gaze from her fingernails to her friend.

"She's fine. Just in a major state of disbelief. Nothing a little hot chocolate can't take care of," Elizabeth said, standing up and stretching. "You want some, Ginger?"

"Uh, sure... that sounds good."

__________

"And - you're not going to believe this - she reached over and-"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"

As Pogo stormed into the room, Abi stopped telling her story, clutching her coffee mug tighter in her hands. Elizabeth and Ginger, who weren't facing the doorway, turned to see who had walked in.

"We're in the middle of a war and you guys are drinking cocoa and gossiping like old women!" Pogo yelled, his eyes scanning the room. "Ginger! Ginger, they got you in on this, too! Jesus Christ, you should be out here with the rest of us!"

"Well excuse me for thinking your war is childish! I'd rather be in here," Ginger yelled back.

"Ginger. You're sitting on the floor surrounded by girls, pillows, blankets, and cocoa. You're not even trying to fuck them!" Pogo said, exasperated at his bandmate's behavior. "What would John think?"

"John would think this is just fine, because we're dating and he'd be pissed if I were trying to get in their pants!" Ginger shot back.

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Pogo said before exiting the room. Ginger stared at the place where Pogo used to be before shaking his head and turning back to Abi.

"So, what were you saying?"

__________

"Where the hell did Pogo go?" John muttered to himself, walking quickly through the unnaturally silent halls of the hospital. It had been fifteen minutes and he still wasn't back, which could mean one of two things:

1. Pogo got caught up in a 'conversation' with someone.

2. Pogo had been kidnapped.

Now, to everyone - including John - the latter seems quite impossible. Partially because of the fact that Pogo was so heavily armed he probably weighed as much as a buffalo, partially because Pogo somehow always knew when he was about to be attacked and came prepared. Just like he had been with the water gun when they'd all gone on a hunt for string and glue.

But there still was the possibility of Pogo getting drugged, which seemed like something Marilyn would do, considering how he always seemed to have a stash of drugs somewhere in the hospital.

Which is why John grabbed as many dart guns as possible and left Zim in charge, despite the doubts of his teammmates.

He came across Abi and Elizabeth's office and decided to take a look inside. If anything, he would at least eliminate the large possibility that Pogo had taken Abi off to some dark corner of the hospital.

He knocked and quietly opened the door, then walked in hesitantly in case Marilyn had decided to pay them a visit.

"John? What the hell?" The voice was so familiar to John that he immediately threw up his defenses and shakily pointed his gun toward the person. "For Christ's sake, put down the gun. The most violent thing in this room is the coffee pot."

John put down his gun and smiled widely at Ginger. "Hey Ginge! Have you guys seen Pogo around here lately? I've been looking for him."

"Yeah, he just left," Abi said, pointing at the door behind John.

"Dammit," John hissed, knowing how close he'd come. "I need to go find him. I'll see you guys later!"

Before anyone had a chance to reply, John turned an jogged from the room.

After a while, the white walls and light blue doors all began blurring together and John had no idea where he was. He'd turned too many corners to simply turn around and re-trace his footsteps.

"I'll just have to find an elevator then," he sighed to himself, quickly shutting his mouth when he realized how loud it sounded in the deathly silent hallways.

John continued on a little further when a movement and a flash of sparkles caught his eye. Curious about why there was something sparkly, John lifted his dart gun and peeked around the corner.

There, in the middle of the hallway, lay one of his sparkly, pink scarves.

"Goddammit, I bet Tim took it and then just dropped it here," John muttered, storming over to inspect the scarf and make sure there were no rips or stains.

John didn't realize he'd dropped his guard until his hand rested on the fabric of the scarf in front of him. Marilyn and Daisy realized this right away and pounced, screaming, "SPOOKY KIDS FOREVER!"

__________

"Come on you guys, this isn't cool. Just let me go. And give me back my goddamn scarf!" John whined, reaching through the bars of the cage he'd been locked in.

"Shut the fuck up! We're writing a ransom note!" Marilyn snapped, turning around in his chair to glare at John. Then he turned back around, muttering angrily, "Fucking Christ..."

John rolled his eyes at Daisy and Marilyn's giddiness as they wrote the ransom note together. He tried to stretch his legs out but found that his cage was too small. John's irritation grew as his clothes began to wrinkle.

"What is this?" John asked, patting the bars of the cage. Both Marilyn and Daisy turned around to see what he was talking about.

"It's Marilyn's Madhouse," Marilyn replied with the straightest of straight faces. John couldn't help but roll his eyes again.

"Looks like a cheap fucking imitation of Pogo's Playhouse if you ask me."

"SHUT UP!" Daisy shouted, throwing a crumpled up piece of paper at John, who grabbed it and tried to throw it back. The paper fell short due to the fact that John was in a cage.

"Where am I?" John asked, now making it his mission to annoy the two men in front of him. Daisy sighed heavily but didn't reply to his question. John waited for them to speak to him, but all they did was murmur ideas to each other, then nod and laughed excitedly as they wrote their ideas down.

"Daisy," John said, searching for attention as he tried to smooth down his hair, since it had been ruffled up during his struggle with Marilyn and Daisy. "Daisy! Hey, Daisy!"

"WHAT?!" Daisy yelled turning around to glare at John.

"Could you hand me that piece of paper? It didn't hit you before and I want to try again."

This caught Marilyn's attention. The singer turned around and stated, "Christ, John. You're the most annoying prisoner I've ever had."

John's face contorted in a mix of laughter and confusion. "You've had other prisoners?"

"Well...well..." Marilyn's face began to turn red as he searched for a reply. "It's not what it sounds like!"

"Sure it's not."

"Seriously!"

"See, that right there tells me that it's exactly what it sounds like. And it's a wonder Twiggy even lets you do that to him," John said, shaking his head. Marilyn narrowed his eyes and turned around, not responding to John's taunts.

"You know, Pogo is gonna come searching for me," John stated pompously, inspecting his fingernails.

"John, I didn't want to have to do this, but you won't shut the hell up," Marilyn said, standing up. He nodded to Daisy, who also stood and ran over to a corner of the dark room, opening a chest and rummaging through it.

As Marilyn approached his Madhouse, John shrank back into the corner of it, trying his hardest to make himself invisible. "Daisy," Marilyn said, his voice filled with the same commanding authority he used on stage. The moment he held his hand out, Daisy placed a rag in it.

"What... what..." John stuttered, not able to ask the question.

"It's just chloroform, John. It won't hurt a bit," Marilyn said, his voice soft as if he were talking to a little child.

And with that, Marilyn firmly pressed the rag down over John's mouth.

__________

Pogo walked over to his headquarters and did a survey of the men there.

"Where's Pretty-Boy?" he demanded. Zim's head snapped up from the gun he was painting with black nailpolish.

"Who?"

"John."

"Oh, he went out looking for you about..." Zim checked the clock on the wall, "Twenty minutes ago."

"Shit! Are you serious?" Pogo asked, though the expression on Zim's face told him that he wouldn't lie about where John was.

"Fuck. If he's not back, that must mean he got lost or got raped." Pogo's eyes went wide as he said the last two words. "Oh my God, he got raped!"

Zim and Twiggy stared at Pogo, both emotionless. They knew Pogo was overreacting, though neither of them had the heart to tell him.

Just then, a paper airplane soared into the room, sliding into place in front of Pogo's boot. Pogo rolled his eyes and picked it up. Seeing some writing on it, he unfolded the airplane and scanned over the message.

"What's it say? What's it say?" Twiggy asked excitedly, suddenly interested.

"It says, Dear Pogo, We stole John. We have him locked away in a secret hiding place. I bet you can't find him. Love, The Spooky Kids," Pogo read aloud.

"Those assholes!" Twiggy cried. "How the hell are we supposed to find John now?"

"That's easy," Pogo said with a smug smirk.

"It is?" Zim asked.

"Yeah. I already know where they are."