xx49.07.17 | 22:10 | Still Thursday

I am DEFINITELY not trusting the live update system to record this, because THE most exciting thing just happened.

I found a blackout field.

Not just a 'spike', the last one of those we found turned out to be the winning goal of a soccer match, apparently our sensors aren't very good at distinguishing between 'types' of psychic energy. But this isn't a spike, it's a blackout field for reals. The computer says it's VERY similar to the one that covered Emerald Hill, Daniel's just running some checks now—it's over a little place called Arrow Island.

"I think probably they've changed up." Daniel's talking while he works, I'm writing it down because I'm too excited to just sit still and do nothing. "I think this stage of their plan is coming to an end, based on what we've seen and the lower frequency of possible Segregation incidences."

"If you didn't talk could you do the checking faster?"

"No. Mostly I'm just waiting. Why are you writing down everything I say?"

"Because I can't stand just sitting here doing nothing!"

"Did you just write down what you said, too? You're really weird, Curls. You take that whole diary thing too seriously. Or is this part of your half-curse?"

Actually maybe it is, I do kind of feel a constant need for things to be accurate.

"How fast do you type on that thing, anyway?"

"Ninety-eight words per minute, ninety-six percent accuracy. And the spellcheck thing takes care of any little mistakes that slip through. Well, mostly. Homonyms can trip it up if there's not enough context."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Huh. Well even so, why don't you turn on auto-transcribe instead of typing?"

"Auto-what?"

"Auto-transcribe—give it here a moment."

[Auto-Transcribe: ON]

"There, see? Look, I'm talking and it's recording it perfectly, no need to type."

"This is a little bit less fun, and also now I'm not doing anything again and getting all antsy! Is it finished yet?"

"Still waiting."

"Well HURRY! In fact, let's just skip the check and send me there—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the car. We're not sending you anywhere, Curls. If this does turn out to be something then all we're going to do is tell Mum and Dad about it, they're in Free Paradise anyway, it'd only take them half an hour to get there—"

"Half an hour might be half an hour too late! You said it yourself, the supervillains are changing things up, nearing the end of their plan, they could be doing something as we speak!"

Daniel's thinking about that. I can tell, he always—

"Look, would you stop narrating? It's really starting to bug me, seeing you type away while I'm trying to think. You actually have kind of a point, I mean the whole reason I got you to scan that particular area was because of a spike the wide-scan picked up—"

"What? You never told me—"

"Because I knew you'd get over-excited and start jumping at shadows. This way—"

The computer just beeped THE COMPUTER JUST BEEPED it must—

"O-kay. Definitely something weird happening on Arrow Island."

"What is it what IS it?"

Daniel's frowning. He's taking SO LONG to answer—

"Cut out that typing, I said. There's a really weird ... I mean, the blackout's there, that's suspicious to begin with, all they've got on Arrow Island is a little town of a couple of thousand people and a marine biology institute ... which is ... also a school, a training college—"

"Aha!"

"Yes, yes, it fits the profile ... and this energy ... this radiation..."

Daniel's frowning again.

"This ... could be bad."

"What could? What's bad?"

"I'm calling Dad—"

"No, just send me! You can send me, right? The teleporter's working, right?"

"You don't have any powers—"

"WRONG! I have YOUR power, and if this is a Segregation event then there'll be supervillains around, I'll copy their powers once I get there—Daniel, this is SO important, I have to stop this, this could be our last chance to get a lead, and you already said, there are thousands of people living there, if there's even a chance I could save them—"

"Stop. Stop talking."

"But—"

"You're right, we can't just let this happen. Come on, Curls. Let's zap you to the islands."