Athena did a quick check. Yes, she was wearing just the right pendant. She was so glad she remembered to wear it to school today.
The previous night, she had a strange and vague dream. A dream where everything looked hazy, where she sensed powerful magic forces at play. When she awoke, she decided it had to be a premonition. That morning, she decided this was a day where she would feel much safer if she wore this particular pendant.
She turned to Jay. "Leave this to me."
"You're going in there alone?" Jay asked. He stared with concern at the food fight that was still ensuing, and the people who had just been transformed by Transformation Guns.
"Trust me. I've got this." Athena replied, with a smile.
With that, Athena charged into the cafeteria, bravely charging ahead at Zach Jones, who had the Punk Gun.
Elsewhere in the cafeteria, Jennifer Taylor had plugged her phone into the cafeteria's speakers, and the speakers were now playing a Joan Jett classic for the whole cafeteria to hear. Athena was dodging thrown fruit, french fries, and ketchup from various food fighters as she raced toward Zach. She didn't care about the food being tossed any more than the girl in the song cared about her bad reputation.
Zach fired the Punk Gun directly at Athena, and the blast struck her. However, she was completely unchanged. Zach's jaw dropped in shock as the young Goth witch rushed toward him, punching him in the face and grabbing him by the arm. Zach attempted to fight back, but Athena had the advantage of surprise. With a few swift kicks and punches, Zach went down and dropped the Punk Gun.
As Athena reached for the Punk Gun, Clyde Meehan took the opportunity to zap her with the Hillbilly Gun. Much to his shock, Athena was unchanged.
Athena just smiled. She reached for the Punk Gun, and as she did so, the clown Danny Foster was behind her aiming a can of whipped cream at her.
"Oh no you don't!" Athena's friend Sabrina Johnson exclaimed, tackling Danny Foster to the ground. Sabrina was one of the feistier of Athena and Zoe's Goth friends, and could certainly take care of herself in a fight. Athena was glad Sabrina seemed unchanged, and was there to back her up.
Athena then charged at Clyde Meehan, swinging the Punk Gun like a club and hitting him in the stomach. Athena and Clyde exchanged a few punches, but Athena was quicker, and kicked him painfully below the belt. She then zapped him with the Punk Gun, and he changed.
No longer was Clyde wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt with a cowboy depicted on it. Instead, he was wearing a leather vest and a Cure t-shirt, and black pants, and had spiky hair. He dropped the Hillbilly Gun to the ground, as Athena punched him one more time, and he fell over, stunned.
This left Starla Stanfield as the last Transformation Gun holder standing, still carrying the Goth Gun. She turned to look at Athena DeVries, backed by Sabrina Johnson, and all at once, her confidence began to shrink. Still, she fired the Goth Gun at both of them as they approached, and to her horror, neither were changed.
Athena just laughed, and she and Sabrina easily tackled Starla and took her to the ground. Sabrina wrestled the Goth Gun away from Starla, and turned it on her. "See how YOU like it!" Sabrina said, as she zapped Starla with the Goth Gun.
Starla, once dressed in fairly fashionable attire, was now dressed in a black outfit that included a black corset, a black skirt, fishnet stockings, and black boots. Her previously blonde hair was now dyed black. She looked at herself in confusion.
The food fight continued around them, but Athena and Sabrina just smiled. They occasionally tossed some food back, but otherwise just ran right past those who had yet to run out of food to toss.
It was then, just as the last few choruses of the song played on the speakers, that Jessica Davis rushed into the cafeteria, followed by Erika Weber, Allison Wright, Coach Felicia Barry, and high school basketball star player Tyler Jackson. Each of them moved to restrain some of the more aggressive food fighters, with Coach Barry taking down the Punk Gun-changed Vice principal Rick Shepperd. Coach Barry then blew her referee/coach's whistle, to indicate that the food fight was over.
Athena and Sabrina walked over to Jay Duncan, who remained near the entrance of the cafeteria. Athena had a satisfied smile on her face.
"How ... how did you do that?" Jay asked, gazing at Athena in astonishment.
"Anti-magic pendant." Athena replied. "This is the most powerful anti-magic pendant I have. It protects the wearer from curses or magical transformations. See, I told you the Transformation Guns were magical!"
"Nice." Jay said, genuinely impressed. "I don't suppose you have any more of these?"
"I'm afraid not. The only other anti-magic pendant I have just protects people from mental effects, meaning it'll protect you from having your personality or memories altered, but it won't stop any physical transformations." Athena said. "I'm afraid I left that one at home."
"A shame. We still could have used it." Jay said.
Reggie the cheerleader approached. "Wow! You kicked some ass out there. How come your friend wasn't affected?"
Sabrina smiled. "I only got zapped by the Goth Gun. And since I was already a Goth, nothing happened."
"Thanks for backing me up." Athena said.
"Any time." Sabrina replied.
Athena was pleased with herself. They had now captured the Goth Gun, the Punk Gun, and the Hillbilly Gun. All in all, this mission had proven to be a success. Once they had tied up a few loose ends here in the cafeteria, they could head off to the Principal's office.
Things were starting to calm down in the cafeteria. The food fighters were starting to settle down, the music had stopped, and Coach Barry was heading to the microphone to make an address. But Athena knew just as well as Jay and the others that there were plenty of strange events happening elsewhere. This very strange day was still far from over.
