Read with curiosity… because this chapter is sneaky, strange, and a little bit hilarious.
The school playground sounded exactly the same as always.
Kids laughing.
Feet running.
A whistle blowing somewhere.
Normal.
Except it wasn’t.
Alfie felt it the moment he stepped outside.
The shimmer was back.
Not big.
Not obvious.
It wriggled near the monkey bars… and then—
copied them.
Not perfectly.
The shimmer made shimmer-bars that looked almost the same… but bent the wrong way and wobbled like jelly.
No one else noticed.
A kid climbed the real monkey bars.
The shimmer copied the movement a second later.
Climb.
Swing.
Drop.
Mixie’s voice echoed softly in Alfie’s head from the secret base:
“I DO NOT LIKE COPYCAT GHOSTS.”
The shimmer slid across the ground and watched the kids play soccer.
A kick.
A pass.
A miss.
The shimmer copied the kick—
but the copied ball rolled uphill.
Alfie’s eyes widened.
“It’s learning,” he whispered.
A kid laughed.
Another tripped—just a little.
Nothing big.
Just… odd.
Suddenly, Alfie noticed something new.
On the metal pole near the playground gate, scratched faintly into the paint, was a symbol.
🔥💀🔥
A flaming skull.
Tiny.
Hidden.
Only visible if you really looked.
Alfie’s heart warmed.
A message formed quietly in his mind:
“Watch what it copies…
and what it gets wrong.”
A secret sign from
entity["fictional_character","Captain Skullfire","children's book character"].
Alfie leaned against the fence, pretending to rest.
The shimmer copied that too.
But it leaned the wrong way.
It wobbled…
stretched…
and flickered.
“That’s it,” Alfie murmured.
“It doesn’t understand balance.”
The shimmer tried to copy a kid laughing.
The laugh came out backwards.
“Ha-ha” turned into “ah-ah.”
Now Alfie knew.
It wasn’t mean.
It was curious.
But curiosity without understanding could still cause trouble.
The bell rang.
Everyone lined up.
The shimmer copied the line.
But it didn’t stop at the end.
It kept going…
right toward the school building.
Alfie felt a twist in his tummy.
“If it copies inside…” he whispered,
“things could get really weird.”
That night, back at Base Alfie, the team listened closely.
Chimichanga nodded bravely.
“It copies… but badly.”
Mixie farted thoughtfully.
💨 poot 💨
“I CAN WORK WITH THAT.”
The rival team leaned in.
The jelly creature jiggled.
“We should help it learn.”
The robot clapped.
Late.
“But supportive.”
On the wall, the flaming skull symbol glowed again—just once.
A final message appeared:
“Tomorrow…
you act.”
Alfie smiled.
Because now he understood the problem.
And tomorrow…
He’d do something about it.
⭐ To Be Continued…
Buenas noches, campeón 🌙
Tomorrow night…
Alfie takes the lead.
OK, Alfie would like option three of all of the three options to be in the next chapter.