MTLNOVEL Chapter 5: Who changed the menu?!
Weeks later
The morning calm of Casper High was shattered by screams from the cafeteria. Samael, who had been trying to focus on his calculus homework in the library, felt his muscles tense at the sound.
A moment later, his ghost sense – a peculiar warmth that spread through his chest, different from Danny's cold breath – alerted him to what he'd been dreading since the portal accident.
Their first real ghost, not the small ectos they got used to,
He rushed toward the cafeteria, nearly colliding with Jazz in the hallway.
"Danny's already there," she said quickly, grabbing his arm. "But Sammy, remember what we practiced. Control first, smash later."
"Right," Samael muttered, though he could already feel the familiar anger building. "Control."
They burst through the cafeteria doors to find chaos. Students were diving under tables as a ghostly lunch lady floated above them, wielding deadly-looking meat cleavers.
Danny, in ghost form, was awkwardly dodging flying cutlery while trying to remember how to throw an ectoblast.
"TODAY'S MENU IS NOT UP TO MY STANDARDS!" the ghost bellowed, her grandmotherly appearance at odds with her rage. "WHO CHANGED THE MENU?"
Sam, standing defiantly near the salad bar, raised her hand. "I did! The students deserve healthy, vegetarian options!"
"THEN YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO FACE MY MEATY WRATH!"
The ghost raised her hands, and suddenly every piece of meat in the cafeteria began to swirl around her, forming a grotesque armor.
"Okay," Jazz said, pulling out her notebook even in this crisis, "maybe we should start with diplomatic-"
She didn't finish. The meat monster had thrown a table at Sam, and Samael felt his control snap.
The transformation was instant this time, fueled by protective rage. Samael's massive green form burst through his clothes (thankfully he'd worn the stretchy outfit underneath), intercepting the table before it could hit Sam.
"NOBODY THROWS FURNITURE AT MY BROTHER'S FRIENDS!" His roar shook the cafeteria windows.
The Lunch Lady ghost paused, her meat armor rippling with surprise. "What manner of spirit are you? You reek of ectoplasm but also... something else. Something angry."
"He's with me!" Danny called, finally managing to hover steadily. "And you really shouldn't have made him mad."
Jazz had pulled Sam to safety behind an overturned table, where Tucker was already documenting everything on his PDA. "Remember the training!" she shouted. "Work together!"
The ghost laughed, a sound that shifted from grandmotherly to menacing. "How sweet. Two little spirits thinking they can challenge me. HAVE SOME MYSTERY MEAT!"
Tendrils of meat shot out from her armor like tentacles. Danny went intangible, the meat passing harmlessly through him. Samael, on the other hand, caught the meat-tentacles and yanked, hard.
The ghost yelped as she was pulled forward, her meat armor starting to unravel. "HOW DARE YOU WASTE PERFECTLY GOOD PROTEIN!"
"Danny!" Samael growled, struggling with the increasingly aggressive meat tentacles. "A little help here!"
"Right! Uh..." Danny concentrated, remembering their practice sessions. His hands began to glow with ghostly energy. "Take this!"
The ectoblast hit the Lunch Lady's meat armor, scattering pieces across the cafeteria. But instead of weakening her, she seemed to grow more enraged.
"YOU CHILDREN NEED TO LEARN RESPECT FOR THE LUNCH PROGRAM!"
The scattered meat began to reform, larger than before. Samael's own anger was building with each passing moment, his rational thoughts becoming harder to hold onto.
"Guys?" Tucker called from behind the table. "These readings are getting kind of scary!"
Jazz watched her brothers with growing concern. Danny was tiring, his flight becoming unsteady, while Samael's eyes were glowing brighter, his attacks becoming more savage.
This wasn't just their first ghost fight – it was their first real test of control.
"YOU JUST HAD TO CHANGE THE MENU, DIDN'T YOU?" Samael roared, both at the ghost and Sam as he tore through another wave of meat tentacles. "I TOLD YOU THREE TIMES THIS WOULD CAUSE PROBLEMS!"
"How was I supposed to know there'd be a ghost obsessed with meat?" Sam shot back, though her voice carried a hint of guilt. "Besides, the students deserve-"
"DESERVE?" Both Samael and the Lunch Lady bellowed simultaneously, making everyone flinch.
"Great," Danny muttered, dodging a flying hamburger. "Now there are two of them angry about the menu."
"I WARNED YOU!" Samael's size seemed to increase with his mounting frustration, his green form now nearly touching the cafeteria ceiling. "BUT NO, SAM MANSON ALWAYS KNOWS BEST! ALWAYS HAS TO PUSH HER AGENDA!"
The Lunch Lady paused her assault, looking almost approving. "YES! THE MENU IS SACRED! IT CANNOT BE CHANGED!"
"NOT HELPING!" Danny yelled, trying to get between his increasingly enraged brother and the ghost. "Samael, focus! Remember what Jazz said about control!"
But the combination of extended transformation and genuine frustration at Sam's actions was pushing Samael past his limits. His next punch through the meat armor left a crater in the floor.
"Sammy!" Jazz called out, her voice cutting through his rage slightly. "She made a mistake, but destroying the cafeteria won't fix it!"
"Yeah!" Tucker added, still typing frantically. "And who's going to explain all this property damage to Principal Ishiyama?"
The mention of consequences made both Sam and Samael pause. The Lunch Lady, however, took advantage of the distraction.
"IF YOU WON'T RESPECT THE MENU," she shrieked, "THEN YOU'LL BECOME PART OF IT!"
The meat armor exploded outward, covering everything in a thick layer of processed protein. As Danny turned intangible to avoid it, Samael's fury reached new heights.
"THAT'S IT!" He grabbed a support beam, ripping it from the floor. "I'M ENDING THIS... RIGHT... NOW!"
"Samael, NO!" Danny flew in front of his brother, hands raised. "The beam's structural! You'll bring down the whole ceiling!"
The Lunch Lady cackled, swirling more meat around herself. "YES! Let your anger feed you! Just like my meat feeds the children... or WOULD, if someone hadn't CHANGED THE MENU!"
"I swear," Sam called from behind cover, wiping meat sauce from her face, "if we survive this, I'll put the meat options back!"
"A LITTLE LATE FOR THAT!" Samael growled, though he did lower the beam slightly. His massive frame trembled with barely contained rage, each moment in his transformed state making it harder to think clearly.
Jazz, ever the voice of reason even in crisis, spotted an opportunity. "Danny! Remember what Mom said about ectoplasmic entities having a core? Every ghost has a weakness!"
"Right!" Danny's eyes lit up with understanding. He turned intangible, diving through the meat armor straight toward the Lunch Lady's actual form. "Sorry about this, lunch lady, but school's out!"
His hands glowed with ghostly energy as he grabbed the ghost's actual form, pulling her from her meat construct. The armor collapsed, splattering the cafeteria with another layer of processed meat products.
"NO!" the Lunch Lady wailed. "MY PRECIOUS MENU!"
"NOW, SAMAEL!" Danny yelled, struggling to hold the thrashing ghost.
Samael lunged forward, his massive green fist connecting with the Lunch Lady's spectral form. The impact sent her flying through several walls, her final cry about "proper nutrition" fading into the distance.
The cafeteria fell silent except for the sound of meat slowly sliding down walls and Samael's heavy breathing.
"Well," Tucker said, still recording everything, "I guess you could say that ghost got... served."
Everyone groaned, though the terrible pun seemed to help Samael regain some control. His size began to decrease, the burning rage slowly subsiding.
"Sam," he said as he returned to normal, his voice hoarse but no longer thunderous, "next time you want to change school policy..."
"I'll consult with others first," she finished, looking appropriately chastened. "And maybe not mess with decades-old menu traditions that might attract vengeful lunch lady ghosts."
"Good," Samael managed before his knees buckled, the extended transformation taking its toll. Jazz and Danny rushed to catch him.
"Uh, guys?" Tucker pointed to his PDA. "We might want to clear out. My ghost detection app shows multiple signatures heading this way. Probably your Mom and Dad."
Danny, still in ghost form, groaned. "Great. How are we going to explain why the cafeteria looks like it was hit by a meat tornado?"
"GHOST!" Jack Fenton's voice boomed from the hallway, accompanied by the whine of charging ecto-weapons.
"Danny, ghost form, now!" Jazz commanded, helping Samael to his feet. "Tucker, Sam, help me get Samael to the nurse's office. We'll say he got hit by flying debris."
Danny transformed back just as their parents burst through the cafeteria doors, weapons at the ready, leading them away in case Samael hulked out again for whatever reason.
"WHERE IS IT?" Jack demanded, scanning the meat-covered room with the Fenton Finder. "The readings are off the charts!"
Maddie, more observant, rushed to the teenagers. "Kids! Are you alright? What happened here?"
"Ghost..." Samael managed, letting himself lean heavily on Jazz and Sam, playing up his exhaustion. "Some kind of... lunch lady..."
"She was throwing meat everywhere," Tucker added quickly. "Danny pulled Samael out of the way when a table nearly hit him."
Maddie's maternal instincts immediately overrode her ghost-hunting excitement. "Jack! The children need medical attention. The ghost can wait!"
"But Maddie!" Jack protested, still waving his detector around. "This could be our first real ghost capture!"
"Later, dear," Maddie said firmly, helping guide the teenagers toward the door. "Though I must say, the ectoplasmic residue readings are fascinating. Almost like there were multiple spectral entities..."
"Probably just feedback from all the meat," Jazz suggested smoothly. "You know how protein can affect ghost readings, right?"
"That's my Jazz!" Jack beamed proudly. "Always thinking scientifically!"
As they made their way to the nurse's office, Danny fell in step beside Samael. "That was too close," he whispered.
"Tell me about it," Samael muttered back. "Next time Sam wants to revolutionize the school cafeteria..."
"I said I was sorry!" Sam hissed from his other side. "Though you have to admit, you two were pretty impressive back there."
"Yeah," Tucker chimed in, still tapping on his PDA. "I got some great readings. Did you know your anger levels correlate directly with your size increase? And Danny, your ectoplasmic signature..."
"Tucker," Jazz interrupted, "maybe save the data analysis for when we're not being escorted by our ghost-hunting parents?"
Behind them, Jack was still lamenting the ghost's escape while Maddie collected samples from the meat-covered walls.
"One thing's for sure," Danny said quietly. "School just got a lot more interesting."
Samael just grunted, trying to ignore both his physical exhaustion and the lingering anger that still simmered beneath his skin. He knew this was just the beginning of their problems.