The fifth chapter of Paranatural, titled The Activity Club and the Insidious Infiltrator, began on 12/22/2014 and ended 9/18/2018. It was preceded by The Activity Club and the Ghost Train and followed by Stephen and the Suspension of Disbelief.
Chapter 5 follows Max's (presumed) fifth day in Mayview as he and the rest of the Activity Club deal with a body-snatching spirit with an agenda.
Summary[]
The chapter begins with the Activity Club barging into the Teacher's Lounge with Mr. Garcia, Ms. Baxter, Richard Spender and Mr. Starchman eating lunch and someone saying "It's one of them". The scene then cuts to hours before school starts as Vice Principal DuNacht convinces Principal Pleezdoo that the bus-jumper from days prior must be apprehended, with the permission from an unidentified "Mr. President". Meanwhile at the Puckett household, a groggy Max has to decline his dad's offer of a Baxborough trip due to the previous night's events.
At the Dojo, Isabel Guerra observes Mina Zarei tend to a ghost and steals one of her vials after being given a new tool by Francisco Guerra. Mina catches her and takes her wound to fix later, while Isabel dodges her questions and heads off.
Inside the Slanted Manse, Isaac O'Connor and Doorman have a discussion about exclusion and anger before the spectral heads off to school, where Spender hides the locket he's been trying to open. Doorman and a ninja rabbit spirit (later identified as Nin) communicate with their master and open the locket, which alerts Spender and worries Doorman. Isabel, in the meantime, is chased into the Corner Store by a long dog. Max discovers her buying a toothbrush, and the two have a discussion on friendship that PJ overhears. As the two spectrals and the dog walk to Mayview Middle School, they discuss Spender, Isaac, ghosts that can last longer and use tools, and the feeling of being followed.
Jeff Flavors's act of greeting Max at school makes him the target of Johnny Jhonny, Ollie Oop and RJ. After they leave, an irate brain spirit leaps from the dog into Jeff and attempts to enter the Teacher's Lounge, but is told that he can only get in there for getting in trouble. Meanwhile, Isaac's confrontation of Max for information only gets him told off for acting like he's owed anything.
Gym class begins and Coach Oop explains the rules of Hitball using Ollie as an aide. Johnny's group (sans Stephen, who is absent due to a suspension) try to identify the floating Activity Club members in the picture before Johnny is chosen as a team leader alongside Isabel. The two leaders pick their team members and Coach Oop starts the game from the safety of his office.
Max is taken to a corner by Suzy after dodging Isabel's concerns, while Ed Burger speaks to his spirit, Muse, about his own. Ed's attempt to block a ball from hitting Isabel allows Johnny to identify him as one of the "floating people", while Ed gets advice from Muse before being knocked out of the game. Suzy blackmails Max with photos of his bus-jumping and warns him about the Student Council's investigation. Shortly after this, Johnny hits Max with the Golden Switch, a ball that causes a person to switch teams on a clean hit and the whole team to come back into the game on a catch. As Max is crossing sides, he hears a voice tell him to duck and narrowly avoids being hit with a ball thrown by the possessed Jeff.
Dimitri Danger ropes Max and Johnny into a plan to defeat Isabel, and later Dimitri takes a hit for Johnny after the Student Council's attempt to subdue Jeff fails. As he heads to the bleachers, Max and Johnny's group execute the plan to hit Cody Jones with the Golden Switch; Isabel confronts the possessed Jeff in the meantime, learning that his name is Hijack and his plan to get into the teacher's lounge. Dimitri's plan goes off without a hitch as Cody is hit by the Golden Switch after jumping to avoid a combo throw. Before Cody can properly swap teams, he is hit by Jeff, who then launches into a rant about Johnny's bullying.
Isabel's attempt to knock out the group to end the game gets foiled by Johnny when he catches her ball. Johnny ushers RJ and Ollie off the field for their protection and Max notices, delivering him a backhanded compliment; Johnny in turn commends Max for standing up to his bullying. The two are given the Golden Switch by a departing Cody, which Max uses to knock out the Ball Golem, removing most of the balls on Jeff's side. Jeff responds by pitching the Switch with the intent to hurt Johnny; Max is able to redirect the ball and slow its speed enough for Johnny to catch it, but his deflection breaks his arm. Johnny then rallies the benched Burnhounds into lobbing balls at Jeff, who gets locked down into taking them by Lisa. The onslaught of balls is enough to eject Hijack, but the resulting confusion from Coach Oop's return allows him to re-enter Jeff. During the confusion, an unknown party supplies Max with a Doctopus.
Coach Oop leads Max and Jeff away to the nurse's office and the teacher's lounge respectively. On the way out, Suzy puts a wire on Max in order to blackmail him and an unknown party slips him a note. Max has a talk with Johnny about taking the hit and misplaced guilt, and Johnny rouses the kids into a chant as Coach Oop leads Max away. He turns around to see a shade of the Doctopus on Max's arm. Isabel is also able to give Max a warning about Hijack's intentions before he leaves.
Richard Spender and Lucifer have a discussion about the threats lurking in Mayview, but when Spender refuses to seek aid for his burn, the spirit launches into a scathing take-down and a plea to not let him be ruled by his emotions. Max criticizes Hijack in turn as he heads to the nurse, noting that his actions got innocent people hurt and that he's just as much of a bully as Johnny's crew. Back at the gym's entrance, Ed's mounting insecurity leads to him asking Isabel if she's angry at him, and being left directionless at her non-answer. Johnny and the group spot him and formulate an attack strategy, and the Journalism Club, the Activity Club, and Johnny and RJ race past Coach Oop to their respective areas.
After recruiting Isaac and reuniting with Max, the Activity Club barges into the Teacher's Lounge. Spender leads the kids into a plan to trail the teachers to see which one could be hosting Hijack, pairing Isabel up with himself and making Max sit the mission out. The Journalism Club's attempt to obtain the blackmail information on Max during this conversation is sabotaged constantly by Dimitri. Dr. Zarei, in the meantime, patches up Isabel's wound remotely and talks to her spirit, Patchworm, regarding her handling of Spender and the Ghost Train; the doctor's attempt to show her control of the train backfires and her trepidation causes her connection with the train to break. Zarei's parents have a slight discussion with her before she reveals that she is heading off for a date.
Spender sends the kids off for the tracking mission, with Isaac tailing Mr. Garcia, Ed following Mr. Starchman, Spender and Isabel following Ms. Baxter, and Max being benched due to his injury. Max decides to head to the School Store to follow up on the note, bantering with Ollie before heading into the saloon-styled store. He is greeted by Lisa serving as a bartender. Ed witnesses Mr. Starchman engage in various weird activities before finger-skating with a skateboard; while he looks at the event with awe, he is ambushed by Johnny and RJ. As Ed is dragged away, Isabel and Mr. Spender have a conversation while watching Ms. Baxter, discussing Spender's injury and secretiveness, as well as Isabel's lost friend and her recent injury. When Ms. Baxter leaves for the restroom, Isabel sneaks into her office to look at her computer. Isaac mulls over his anger problems during his tracking of Mr. Garcia, and his spirit responds by stating something feels off, putting the spectral on edge.
Zarei proceeds to go on her date with Agent Day at a restaurant in the Mayview Mini Mall area. After their server, Penny, takes their drink orders, Day divulges her theory on the town: a hidden truth inside Mayview connects incidents such as the disappearance of Ed's parents, Spender's secrecy, an overabundance of ghosts and spirits, and the threat of monsters inside the town. Zarei's attempt at intimidation is quickly shot down and she tries to discuss tactics with Patchworm, unaware that Day has also gone into heightened perception with her spirit, Venus Guytrap, in order to get the menu read to her and eavesdrop on her conversation. After a bit more banter, Zarei asks Day how much she knows about her, Spender, and the town, to which Day replies about her connections to Boss Leader, Agent Walker, and a "mutual friend" between Zarei and herself.
Meanwhile, at the School Store, Lisa explains the store's functions to Max. While she doesn't know who gave him the note, she removes Suzy's wire from him, using it as blackmail to get him to do her dirty work. Max screams out if anyone wants to talk to him, and is answered by Cody.
Johnny and RJ slam Ed against a locker and interrogate him, showing him the picture RJ had obtained the night previously; Ed can only see the Ghost Train in the image. Ed then tells Johnny to beat him up, psychoanalyzing him when Johnny gets suspicious; Johnny's reluctant punch and Ed's subsequent dodge invigorates Ed, who then goes all out and defeats the two.
After Max taunts Collin about his situation and a brief disturbance by Serge is dealt with, Cody and Collin give Max a little backstory on the school's power struggle between the Student Council and the rule-breakers. Violet and Cody then get into an argument about how to help Jeff, with Violet being displeased at Cody's unwillingness to use his position on the Council to help Jeff out. Max then tells the two that he'll look into the situation, and a disgruntled Violet leaves to go wait for Jeff by the teacher's office, remarking that it should be Cody going instead.
In Ms. Baxter's office, Isabel's sleuthing fails to bring up any leads. When she calls out for Spender, she realizes she's been pulled into a spirit world, and meets her new partner, Flipflop. After a rocky introduction, the timid spirit reveals his power to flip objects, and Isabel applauds his showcasing performance. Isabel then tells him that he can stay in the umbrella for as long as he needs to, and Flipflop sadly states that he'll try not to burden her, to her discomfort.
Max confronts the true sender of the note, Alex. She believes that the Activity Club is about hunting aliens, and Max shoots this idea down. As he leaves the store, he shoots her some words of encouragement, and gets her to tell him her name. In the meantime, Ed gives Johnny advice when the latter opens up on his insecurities on how people see him. Ed's advice to Johnny to be himself winds up strengthening his resolve to be a bully, since that's who he is, and Johnny also tells Ed about RJ's nonbinary status and backstory. Ed then ropes the duo into helping him chase down Mr. Starchman.
Max runs into Serge again as he's walking down the halls, and the Student Council member attempts to recruit him. Max turns this offer down, and Serge's comment about not being able to stay neutral helps Max realize that he shouldn't be sitting out of the Hijack hunt after all. As he turns to leave, he bumps into Dave Jones, whose presence alarms Serge; Serge tries to warn Max that the local business owner is dangerous, but Max has already left.
King Catnine once again notes that something is wrong, sniffing out two familiar scents before ruling them out as unimportant, before screaming at Isaac that he'd been led into a trap. The Ravenous Gobbledygook attempts to fight Max again as he's pulling out his bat and nicknaming his Doctopus PK, but Max is pushed out of the way in time by PJ, who has been following him ever since he left the school and had been the one to give him the Doctopus back in the gym. In the meantime, Ed, Johnny, and RJ pursue Mr. Starchman, who engages with them on one rollerskate and fires Nurf darts at them, and Isabel has to sneak back out of Baxter's office when the teacher makes an abrupt return.
Max attempts to fire a spec-shot at the bat spirit as PJ is dragging him away, but the shot plops onto the floor, prompting PJ to rush at the bat in a desperation move. RJ is able to deflect the foam darts using a locker door for a time, but gets tripped up along with Johnny when Starchman darts one of Johnny's shoelaces to the floor. The locker door goes sailing past them, and Ed manages to jump onto it and grind down a rail with it to continue the pursuit. Isaac's confrontation with Mr. Garcia goes poorly, as Isaac's wind attacks do absolutely nothing and the boy gets stuck in a rope trap, leaving him hanging by his foot up against a tree. Isabel has to quickly dash to Baxter's door after she steps on a bag of potato chips and alerts her. Max is able to hit his previously failed spec-shot with his bat, and the Gobbeldygook releases PJ and retreats. Flipflop is able to flip the door Isabel reaches so that she's out of view of Ms. Baxter, and RJ and Johnny give Ed the final push he needs to tackle Mr. Starchman.
Mr. Starchman, upon hearing Johnny and RJ question why they went after him in the first place, declares that the three children must have wanted his Starchman Stars, as many children chase him in the hallways to try getting some. The trio are then rewarded with the fabled stars, and Ed hastily makes his escape upon realizing Hijack wasn't in his target. As Johnny notes that he's definitely forgetting something, the Vice Principal catches the remaining two over Starchman's body.
Isabel and Spender run away from the office and have a discussion, where Spender agrees to get Dr. Zarei to aid him and tells the young spectral that she's a good kid. Isabel then runs off to find the other Activity Club members, leaving Spender to mull over his situation in a restroom. Spender admits that he can't deal with the situation by himself, adding on that he doesn't want Isabel or anyone else to get hurt while noting that there's already been damage done. He then takes a picture of his injury and sends it to Zarei, with Coach Oop watching him.
PJ's conversation with Max reveals that Hijack had been hiding in the dog, but the ghost doesn't know where Hijack went after that. Max then gets a text from Isaac concerning Hijack's location; around the same time, Mina gets Richard's text and immediately bolts to the school, bumping into Penny on her way out and leaving Agent Day to rope a not-very-covert Agent Savage and Agent Griggs into following her.
Ed, Isaac and Isabel meet back up with each other and soon engage in a standoff. They ask each other questions to prove that none of them have been Hijacked, and when Isaac declares that it might not have mattered anyway, both Isabel and Ed shoot him with a spec shot. This causes Isaac to break down, screaming that he knows that the two hate him, that he ruined his chance to fit in unlike Max, and that he's sick of being teased and having information held back from him from everyone in the club including Mr. Spender. Isabel retorts that the incident hurt everyone, not just Isaac, and that he never considered her feelings. The medium then states that he'll deal with Hijack on his own right as Isabel tries to reach for him, and he leaves her and Ed distraught.
Ed apologizes to Isabel and in turn she asks him to stay by her side. After the two make up, Isabel sets off to follow Isaac, reasoning that either they need his help, or he thinks he knows Hijack's target and would need theirs. Isabel realizes that Hijack's desire to punish bullies could mean that he never swapped to a teacher, and she accuses a passing Principal Pleezdo of being Hijack.
As Max approaches the two, he asks what Isabel is doing and informs her of what Isaac told him. At the same time, Lucifer initiates a chat, revealing that Hijack had actually been inside Spender since Jeff got in the office. Lucifer interrogates Hijack, who reveals that Zarei created him three years ago and sent him to find out how the Ghost Train got damaged. Lucifer in turn tells Hijack about the fight, as well as revealing The Shadow, the dark shadow spirit Spender acts as a medium to. The light spirit tells Hijack he wants him to tell Zarei of what he learned so that she would work together with Spender, but the two of them are interrupted by Isaac's arrival.
Isaac, eager to prove his worth, engages in a battle with the Hijacked Mr. Spender. As Spender leaps over him to escape, King C. provokes Issac into trying to shock him. King C. then amplifies the shock into a giant blast, forcing Lucifer to briefly take over Spender in order to dissipate it. As the smoke clears and Isaac stares in shock, Hijack lets the spectral know that he's OK before fleeing. Hijack explains why he did this to Lucifer, and then runs into the rest of the Activity Club. They give chase, but Max stops to help Isaac up so that he'll join them.
Hijack manages to lose the kids, and discusses the importance of emotion vs. reason with Lucifer. Lucifer stresses the importance of reason over emotion, while Hijack states that emotional attachment is just as important. The discussion then turns to Spender being unable to stop what's going to befall the town by himself; when mentions of teaming up with Mina result in Lucifer responding that it will fail, Hijack suggests that the Activity Club kids would be able to help, the light spirit dismisses him, and Hijack asserts that the kids would pull through together as opposed to tearing themselves apart. Lucifer then causes the Heightened Perception to end, leaving Hijack in control and in front of PJ.
PJ punches the possessed teacher and promptly runs back behind Max. Hijack attempts to abscond again, but is halted by the arrival of Dimitri. The brain spirit decides to play the role of the villain to prove that the kids can face off against trouble, and proceeds to taunt them and goad Dimitri into joining the fray.
Isabel uses Flipflop's powers to pin Hijack!Spender's arm behind him, while Dimitri creates spectral boxing gloves and a headguard out of his energy. The teacher then dodges one of Dimtri's constructs, causing it to hit Isabel, and goes in for a palm strike. Dimitri then inadvertently dodges this by morphing his face out of the way, causing Hijack to panic and kick him away. After more failed attempts by PJ, Ed, and Max, Hijack taunts the group again as an attempt to inspire them, and Isabel screams at him to shut up. She grabs Spender's shirt and flips herself upwards, and working in tandem with a gust of wind from Isaac and Ed's attempt to judo throw him manages to throw him to the ground. Isabel then further yells at him while trading blows, asserting that she's not falling for what he's saying, while Hijack encourages her to fight him. Max's attempts to include himself end up with him stuck to the water fountain.
(TBC)
Trivia[]
- The chapter's cover includes the following:
- This chapter is to date Paranatural's longest, with 300 pages. It took Zack 3 years and 9 months to complete.
- According to Chapter 5, Page 223
's alt text, a major theme Zack Morrison intended to convey with the chapter is hurting others without meaning to.
| Meta | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cast Page · Comment Section · Filler Pages · Merchandise · Zack Morrison (Zack's Comments) | |||||||
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| Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 · Chapter 4 · Chapter 5 · Chapter 6 · Chapter 7 · Chapter 8 | |||||||
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| Chapter 1 · Chapter 2 · Chapter 3 · Chapter 4 · Chapter 5 · Chapter 6 · Chapter 7 | |||||||
| Short Stories | |||||||
| Supernormal · The Activity Club and the Final Hole | |||||||