With Andy alone in the clearing, a figure in a hockey mask sneaks up on him and shouts "raaa!" Quinn and Vange laughingly end the joke. With a grin, Tucker removes his mask, and explains it to be for his story. Andy takes it in good humour. Tucker’s story is of hockey and friendship. Friends laugh together and help each other - but what if it came to life or death? Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, he calls this story "The Tale of Jake the Snake."
Best friends Zach and Wiley try to make the school hockey team. On try-out, Wiley falls, gets a bloody nose, and is sent by coach Harry Cramp to clean up.
In search of ice for his nose, Wiley approaches the windowed door of the Training Room. Through the frosted window, a silhouetted figure, through a small arched hole in the window, passes a bag of ice. The stranger tells him of Jake Desmond - on finding a new hockey stick, a new attitude made him a legendary hockey player, Jake the Snake, who could snake through any defence. All his stuff remains in this basement.
The stranger vanishes. Wiley descends into the darkened basement. Propped against a wall is a hockey stick marked "Snake."
Next tryout, Wiley, charged with confidence, gives a hearty performance.
In the changing room, while Zach hasn't made the team, Wiley has.
In bed that night, on his right forearm, Wiley scratches at an angry purple rash. Hours later, in his sleep, he scratches at his neck. Beside him, the hockey stick twitches. Its wooden frame slides into the lithe fluidity of a snake, which glides beneath the quilt. It then emerges the form of a large cobra. It eyes the sleeping Wiley, and strikes…
Next day, Zach brings his lunch to Wiley's table, and is told of the table's reservation for team members.
In a science classroom, Zach records the progress of Puzzler the mouse. Wiley arrives, and scratches off a flake of dry skin. He reaches into the plastic cage, picks up Puzzler, and lowers the mouse towards his open mouth. With a yell of shock, Zach catches him in the act, takes Puzzler, and puts him back in the cage.
Genuinely baffled, Wiley doesn’t know what came over him. From his forearm, he pulls away another strip of dried skin. Beneath is a pale layer of scales.
Alone, Zach sneaks into the Training Room, delves into the basement, looks around, and finds himself faced with the black-cloaked, hooded figure of Jake the Snake. In the darkness of his hood are scaled, yellow eyes and pointed teeth. Mouth and eyes suddenly glow blue. Soon, Wiley will join previous users of the stick - beneath a trapdoor, as one of a brood of snakes. Zach runs.
After the game, Wiley, in his bedroom, applies cream to the rash - which has now reached his face.
Zach hurries in, and fretfully warns him of the transformative danger. Wiley puts Zach’s fears down to jealousy. Zach snatches the stick, and returns to the Training Room. As he searches, the grill of a ventilation shaft swings open. From inside, a huge snake glides across the floor. It hooks around Zach’s foot, knocks him down, and drags him to the open ventilation shaft.
Just in time, Wiley arrives, and seizes Zach’s hand. However, their grip slips, and Zach is dragged into the ventilation shaft.
In the basement, Zach, on a rope, dangles above the snake pit. As Jake gloats, Wiley arrives, and demands his friend’s release.
Jake continues to lower Zach. Wiley hesitates. Around him on the floor lie several spare hockey pucks. He takes careful aim - and launches one at the Snakeman. Knocked into the pit, the Snakeman lets go of the rope holding Zach. Wiley quickly grabs it, and pulls his friend to safety. In the snake pit, the Snakeman’s scaly hand sinks beneath the snakes.
Wiley lies on the ground. The reddened skin of his hand writhes and ripples - the magic stick is transforming him. Zach snaps the stick across his knee, halting the transformation.
Tucker douses the flames, and starts to apologise for pranking Andy - who seems to have mysteriously disappeared. The others see nearby branches rustle, and sarcastically appraise Andy’s counter prank. Andy, however, is right behind them. The branches rustle again. The Midnight Society run for it.
This episode provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Wiley won't believe Zach's warning about how the hockey stick will turn him into a snake, Zach brings up a question concerning how the hockey stick belonged to the "famed" Jake the Snake.Zach: If Jake the Snake was so great,
why has nobody heard of him before? ...Because he turned into a nasty snake person! - Black Cloak: A hooded black cloak conceals Jake’s serpentine features.
- Body Horror: Wiley scratches increasingly dense flakes of dry skin, revealing scales beneath.
- Cursed Item: The hockey stick rouses users to excellence - then turns them into snakes.
- Deal with the Devil: The hockey stick drives users to sporting excellence - at the cost of their human form.
- The Dog Bites Back: The snakes imprisoned by the Snakeman take him prisoner.
- Forced Transformation: A hockey stick caused hockey player Jake Desmond to acquire serpentine eyes, fangs and scales. Subsequent users of the stick were more fully transformed into snakes. Wiley is threatened with the same fate.
- The Mind Is A Play Thing Of The Body: The more Wiley uses the hockey stick, the more his skin grows snake scales and the more he acts like a snake, right down to having a cold "new attitude". It comes to a head when, while playing with Zach's pet mouse, Wiley finds himself willing to eat the little rodent like it were "a hotdog".
- The Power of Friendship: With a well-placed shot of the hockey stick, Wiley stops the Snakeman from feeding Zach to the snakes, whereupon the freed Zach snaps the hockey stick, ending its power over Wiley.
- Snake People: Jake.
- Snake Pit: On transformation into snakes, previous users of the stick are imprisoned beneath a trapdoor in the basement.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: On empowerment by the stick, Wiley becomes aggressively dismissive of Zach.
