Zorgamazoo by Robert Paul Weston

work all together. They’d give it their all,
like a team on the field, playing Zorgally Ball.
    Â 
    They stood, all together, in steely suspense.
Their eyes were unblinking. Their muscles were tense.
    Morty looked round, with an arch of his brow.
“That’s it,” he said softly, “just wait for it now.
Just wait…and we’ll take them, I think, by surprise.
Just wait…’til you make out the whites of their eyes.”
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    But the Octomabots, they were smarter than that,
and one of them lunged, right off the bat.
It moved blindingly quick, but be that as it may,
the Behemoth was there, and he stepped in its way.
    Â 
    He snatched up its tentacles—six in a fist!—
and he hefted it up with a heave and a twist,
so the Octomabot, its whole body and all,
went sailing away and smashed on the wall!
    Â 
    The Behemoth was stunned. He was rather impressed.
“I don’t know my own strength!” he sincerely confessed.
    Â 
    â€œAll right,” Morty cried, “let’s give ’em what for!
That was only the first. There’s a great many more!
But if we stick together, like paper and glue,
then I think we can take them, I honestly do!”
    And so, all at once, a great battle began
(you might say the hooey was hitting the fan).
The battle went crashing all over the place,
between creatures of Earth,
and the creatures from space!
    Â 
    Â 
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    The giants galumphed with a

    While the punches of pixies went

    The griffins, whose wings had been formerly pinned,
soared up in the air, like hawks in the wind.
They snatched up the arms of the Octomabots,
and, looping in circles, they tied them in knots!
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    Even the tiniest creatures of all,
the faeries and imps (who were awfully small),
they, too, waded into the furious fray,
and were helping to fight, in their miniature way.
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    On the robots they leapt, with the greatest of care,
going deep underneath all the layers of hair.
They went under the arms, where they tickled the pits,
so the robots were reeling in snickering fits!
    Soon the Octomabots were battered and bruised,
looking messy, disheveled, and rather confused.
But still they fought on. They were stubborn and stout.
They continued to bully their muscles about,
thrashing and flailing their pincers and claws,
gnashing and grinding their slavering jaws.
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    So the battle raged on for the Octomabots,
against dragons and manticores, covered with spots;
against sphinxes and griffins and ogres and elves,
all struggling together, defending themselves!
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    It was then that Katrina was struck with a thought,
of a way they could maybe avoid being caught.
“Morty!” she bellowed. “You stay here and fight!
I’m going off now, to set everything right!”
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    â€œBut how?” Morty wondered. “I don’t understand.
And where are you going? What’ve you planned?”
    Â 
    But Katrina had vanished, without leaving a trace.
In the spot where she’d been, there was nothing but
space.
    Not again , Morty thought, as he muttered a sigh,
while dodging a tentacle, slithering by.
Katrina was smart, that much was true,
but honestly, what could she possibly do?
    Â 
    There was only one person who saw where she went.
He was stooping and crooked and thoroughly bent;
and this aging, decrepit, cantankerous guy
had ironically seen her with only one eye .
    Â 
    Watching her vanish, having heard what she said,
he winked, with that vacuous hole in his head.
“Good luck,” said the ogre, with a weak little wave,
“You’re probably nuts…but you’re certainly brave!”

Chapter 17
    inside the machine

    I magine, of course,
you’re eager to know: Where was Katrina?
Where did she go?
    You’re wondering where and you’re wondering how.
Wait six little words…
and
I’ll
tell
you
right
now:
Looking behind her, Katrina had seen,
a hatch in the Hoarder of Boredom Machine.
She opened it up with the