The situation in the cafeteria was now settling down. Athena DeVries and her friend Sabrina Johnson had seized the three Transformation Guns, and the food fight was now over. Coach Barry, the only adult faculty member in the cafeteria not transformed by one of those three Transformation Guns, was testing the cafeteria's microphone.
The cafeteria itself was a mess, with thrown food all over the tables, floor, and some of the walls. A number of the students and workers had food on them, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Some were now smiling and taking the ordeal with good humor, and now seemed relieved to be able to just sit and rest. Though most of them had been transformed by one of the Transformation Guns. Most had been changed by either the Goth or the Punk Guns, but some by the Hillbilly Gun.
With the chaos now over, most of those within the cafeteria were now in the mood to rest or chat, or see to injuries. Jessica Davis and Erika Weber were tending to Moose Matthews, who was still dazed and confused after he fainted earlier.
Zelda Whitefield was chatting with Walter Smukmeyer. She laughed politely when talking about his earlier book recommendation. "I've already read 'Neuromancer' a few times. I have a copy at home."
Walter just laughed. "Silly me. I wonder how many regular 'punks' read cyberpunk anyway."
"The ones with a 'geeky' side to them, I guess." Zelda replied.
Reggie the cheerleader was speaking with Alison Wright. "I thought you weren't going to help us."
"I wasn't, to be honest." Allison replied. "But then Jessica and Erika showed up in the hall with the others from the gym, and they told me to come and help. I just got caught up in the moment and followed them."
"You showed up just after the Goth girls took down the last of them." Reggie noted.
"We made it here just as they were fighting Starla. Erika wanted to go in, but Coach Barry told us all to wait for the right moment." Allison replied. "It turned out the Goth girls had things in hand. We didn't even need to worry much."
Jay and Athena, meanwhile, were chatting about Athena's pendant. "So you have that pendant, and a similar one at home that's different." Jay said. "So what do you call them? To tell them apart?"
Sabrina chimed in. "She's got two names for them. The boring ones and the fun ones."
Athena smiled. "The one I'm wearing now is the one that blocks curses and magical transformations. It's the Greater Pendant, but I like to call it the Blackhearts Pendant."
"Because it protects you from blackhearted magical spells?" Jay asked.
Athena laughed. "I suppose. But that's not why I call it that. I just wanted to name it after one of my favorite bands."
"And what about the other one?" Jay asked.
"The other one isn't quite as good, but it's still useful." Athena replied. "It's not as good at blocking the curses and physical transformations as the other, but it still shields one's memories and personality from malicious magic. The boring name for it is the Lesser Pendant, but I like to call it the Banshees Pendant."
"Let me guess." Jay said. "It's because 'banshees' is a metaphor for the forces that would try to get in your head and make you do things you otherwise wouldn't?"
Athena laughed. "No. I just wanted to name it after one of my favorite bands."
Jay laughed, mostly at himself. "Okay. Anyway, do you know where you can get more of these?"
"I'm afraid they don't mass-produce them." Athena said. "They're very hard to come by. You'd really have to ask around the underground magic community to find out more about any kind of rare magical..."
The conversation was interrupted by the feedback from Coach Barry's microphone. "May I have your attention please?" Coach Barry asked, her voice amplified by the microphone. "May I have your attention please?"
At once, all the conversations in the cafeteria stopped, and most of the students and workers in the cafeteria turned to face Coach Barry.
"I don't know who or what started this. That is something to be discussed later, and appropriate punishments can be decided at that time." Coach Barry began. "But we are in a situation none of us were prepared to deal with. We are dealing with strange devices that change our appearances and sometimes our behavior in strange ways. Despite this, we are all in this together. We need to act that way. Act like we're all part of the same team."
Some of the crowd was paying attention, others seemed bored. The transformed Vice Principal Rick Shepperd shook his head, and uttered a weak "Boo". His change with the Punk Gun had been the most pronounced of all. Most of the students zapped had some non-conformist or anti-authority traits beforehand, but Shepperd, being an authority figure to start with, had an especially dramatic transformation to anti-establishment rebel.
Undeterred, Coach Barry continued with her speech. "I'll keep this to the point. A number of people here have injuries. Our school nurse Dawn Carrington is still missing, but even if she were here, she would need help. I need volunteers to help those in need of it."
Most of the injuries were bumps and bruises, some from fighting and some from slipping on the food from the food fight. Mike 'Moose' Matthews was slowly stirring, looking confused as Jessica Davis and Erika Weber continued to look after him.
Danny Foster, Starla Stanfield, Clyde Meehan, and Zach Jones sat at the same table, carefully watched by Tyler Jackson and a few Goth-changed students who were making sure they wouldn't cause any more trouble. They appeared sufficiently embarrassed at the moment, however.
A number of people, including Carl James, Zelda Whitefield, Walter Smukmeyer, and the Taylor Twins, volunteered.
"So what happened to Moose?" Reggie asked.
Sabrina answered. "Zach, Clyde, and Starla kept zapping him with their Transformation Guns. After getting changed about a dozen times, he fainted."
"Transformation shock." Athena said. "From what I've heard, too many transformations in too short a period of time can make people dizzy. They might lose consciousness."
"Will he be all right?" Reggie asked, now concerned.
"He'll probably be fine, with rest and some water." Athena said. "At least physically."
"I think I'll go see him now." Reggie then went to the area where Jessica and Erika were helping the dazed and confused Moose.
It was then that Melony Tyne, an upbeat black girl approached Athena, Jay Duncan, and Sabrina. "I was just in the bathroom. You know Nadine Ferguson, right?"
"All too well." Athena said, with a wince. Too many times Athena had been on the receiving end of verbal abuse motivated by Nadine's ill-informed beliefs about the Goth and witch culture.
"Well, she's in the bathroom now and doesn't seem to want to leave." Melony said. "And she had two of those ... what do you call them? Transformation Guns."
"I wouldn't worry too much." Athena said. "Knowing her, she's too superstitious to use them on anyone. I hope she heard the Principal."
"That was the Principal on the intercom a little while ago?" Melony asked. Athena and Jay nodded in response.
"We think the Principal got changed." Jay said.
Athena hoped Nadine Ferguson would show some sense and head to the Principal's office to turn in the Transformation Guns she found. But that was largely up to Nadine. If Nadine needed someone to convince her to do it, then that someone couldn't be Athena. Athena would be one of the last people Nadine would listen to.
Athena, meanwhile, had other things to tend to. There were people she needed to talk to here in the cafeteria, one of them being her friend Zelda Whitefield (who had been zapped by the Punk Gun). And then she needed to go and reunite with Zoe, Rebecca, and the transformed Trevor Blake.
She knew that while they had made a lot of progress, this day was not over yet.
