Ryan and Samantha were both silent. Neither knew what to do. There was no putting this genie back in the bottle.
After a while, Ryan spoke. "I think I'll text Kyla again. Let her know I'm okay."
Samantha nodded. "I think I'll text Jay. I hope he's safe over there."
Lake Point High School, Principal's Office Lobby
Kyla Leeson had been silent for a while after receiving her cousin's text. She wasn't sure she wanted to tell Nicole and the others what Ryan had said. He claimed he and his tech friends at McMillan Tech Industries had created the Transformation Guns, but was vague on the details.
And then she made the mistake of scrolling her social media feed on her phone. She saw a bunch of disturbing news stories in her feed about strange transformations. And when she looked at them closely, she saw the pattern.
"I think ... it's gotten a lot worse." Kyla said.
Ms. Davison, the transformed Principal, had rejoined Nicole, Kyla, Melissa, Amber, Chris, and the rest in the lobby. "So you've seen the news? I saw it earlier, just before Steve Farber arrived. I didn't tell you about it because you had enough to worry about already. But this is real. This crisis has spread far beyond the school."
Kyla could only wonder just what had happened, and how it was affecting things all over the world.
Flashback: Lake Point Mutual Bank, at the time the magical wave struck
The wave of magical energy swept its way through the whole world, transforming ordinary guns into different types of Transformation Guns. For example, at the moment the wave struck, Lake Point police officers Danielle Chase, Sean Briggs, and Robert Bowen were confronting a bank robbery at the Lake Point Mutual Bank in west Lake Point. The situation had developed into a hostage crisis, with four criminals taking hostages within the bank. The leader of the gang finally got fed up with the hostage negotiator's attempts to get them to stand down, and took his gun to fire at the cops. Only for it to suddenly transform into a weird ray gun, and for the man from Hostage Negotiations to suddenly become incredibly fat and nearly obese.
Another member of the gang fired one of the weird ray guns they found themselves holding at the negotiator, and the negotiator suddenly was no longer fat, but now looked like a fit, trim, athletic sort. Officer Bowen fired back, using the strange ray gun he was now holding, and the second gang member suddenly was dressed all in black gothic clothing.
"What the f-?" The gang leader's expletive was cut off as Briggs fired on him with another science fiction style ray gun, and he suddenly appeared to be wearing a more modest outfit than he had previously. "I meant what the fudge, of course." the gang leader continued
Briggs looked down at the weird ray gun, and saw it was marked 'Prude Gun'. Bowen's was marked 'Goth Gun'. And Danielle Chase's was marked 'Hippie Gun', which gave her an idea. She quickly zapped the gang leader with the Hippie Gun.
The gang leader, predictably, was suddenly dressed in psychedelic colors, and saying "Like, wow man. This is a bummer. Bank robbery is just too much, man. We can work this out. Peace."
Everyone present -- police, gang members, hostages, and witnesses -- looked on in utter confusion. No one knew what was happening.
Flashback: New York City, an alleyway, at the time the magical wave struck
"Please, I'll give you anything you want!" Lips Lorenzo pleaded, as his mob boss Victor the Vicious and his bodyguard Francois the Finger towered over him.
"Too late for that, Lips." Victor said. "You should have thought of it before you squealed to the cops. Francois, make Swiss cheese out of him."
Francois raised his gun, which suddenly changed into a sci-fi type ray gun just as the henchman was about to pull the trigger. Lips was zapped with a strange glow, and then changed. Lips was suddenly wearing white makeup and a black and white outfit, and seemed to be trying to communicate with gestures and nods as if he couldn't speak.
Francois and his boss Victor looked in shock, and Francois stared at the ray gun he was now holding, which was labelled 'Mime Gun'.
And so it went, throughout the world.
Assassinations were thwarted because their targets were turned into Goths, Nerds, Clowns, Geeks, Punks, Jocks, or whatever.
Battles in wars in progress overseas were abruptly halted when people all over the battlefield began changing in bizarre ways.
And it wasn't just the guns one could hold in their hands that were affected. Even tank cannons, ship cannons, airplane cannons, and regular cannons were affected, transformed into one sort of Transformation Gun or another.
Flashback: Semini Sisters Circus, Ontario, Canada, at the time the magical wave struck
The Amazing Jacques the Human Cannonball was preparing for the act he knew the crowd was waiting for. His helmet was fully secured, the cannon was prepared. All he had to do was slide into the cannon and his assistant would light the fuse.
However, just as the cannon was about to go off, there was a bright flash of light, and the cannon disappeared, replaced by what appeared to be a small laser cannon. Jacques was thrown to the floor, but had been greatly changed. Jacques now resembled a very attractive young woman, even lovelier than Jacques' lovely assistant.
Jacques stumbled for a bit, stunned and confused by this strange turn of events. Especially since he .. she was feeling oddly comfortable, relaxed, and at peace. But she knew what to do. She stood up, smiled and waved, and took a bow. This was one of those times where it was best to pretend any unexpected events were all part of the show.
The audience was surprised and confused. They weren't sure how to react. But when the transformed Jacques took a bow and waved to the crowd, they burst into applause. This was clearly an impressive bait-and-switch magic trick and they wondered just how it was done.
Only a few audience members noticed the words 'Babe Gun' marked on the side of the bizarre sci-fi cannon.
The Present: Lake Point High School, Principal's Office Lobby
Nicole did not take the news very well. "You mean we've been gathering all these things together and they're just showing up all over the world anyway? My God, what's the point of this anymore?!?"
Principal Davison turned to Nicole. "I don't blame you for being frustrated." she said. "But as long as we gather together as many of these Transformation Guns as possible, and put them in a safe place, then things can settle down and we can get back to normal everyday activities. The world outside is a very different place now, and it's still too early to tell how this change will affect society. But at least we can try to maintain some semblance of order around here."
Nicole sighed. "I guess you're right. It's just that I thought once we'd found all the Transformation Guns in school, this whole mess would be over."
Melissa, Amber, Chris, Randy, Biff, and Reggie said nothing but exchanged knowing glances with Nicole to let her know they had each more or less thought the same thing.
Kyla, meanwhile, had received another text on her phone. "At least Ryan's okay. He just texted me again. Jay's mom caught the guy who sent the Transformation Guns here. But then there was an accident, and now ... you know. But Ryan and Jay's mom are okay. They're just feeling awful about the whole thing."
Nicole nodded. It sounded like there was some long and crazy story to tell. But she couldn't think about that too much. She hoped Jay Duncan and Rebecca Fadil were making progress tracking down the high school's Goth Gun and Jock Gun. And she hoped to hear from Sarah again soon. She hoped someone would find a way to fix things. If not in the world, then at least around the school.
