Hey guys! Next chapter is up, and the fight is officially on! I'm looking forward to later chapters of unparalleled excitement! Yay!
So read, enjoy, review!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Case Closed
Hody smirked at the expression, and turned his body back around to face him, ignoring Haibara and Sabo completely. "So…you're the famous Detective Jimmy Kudo, or as you called yourself in my home-world, Conan Edogawa."
Conan didn't answer him, so he continued.
"Oh, I forgot, you lied to everyone here about your identity too, including this woman behind me, right?" He snickered, just one strike had left her unconscious; humans were such pathetic creatures.
Conan still wasn't answering, rage was evident in his eyes, and it didn't seem as though he'd be in a mood to talk anytime soon. Haibara was honestly frightened, she had NEVER once seen that kind of expression on Kudo's face. He was normally so calm and put together, that you'd think rage wasn't even apart of his genetic makeup. He didn't even allow his emotions to get to him when Rachel had been taken hostage in the past, so it was surprising that this was happening.
Hody, on the other hand, was not impressed, and was honestly getting annoyed at the boy's silent treatment. "What's wrong? Jellyfish sting your tongue?"
Instead of answering, he made a request. "Sabo-san…put me down."
"No way." The blonde already knew where this was heading and their situation was bad enough. "You can't fight him Kudo-"
"Sabo-san…fighting is something that is only reserved for warriors, which is something he and I are obviously not. Now…Put. Me. Down." Conan demanded quietly.
Looking down, he saw what would make a great escape, so he decided to indulge the boy a bit. Carefully, he set Conan down, but still kept a hand over his shoulder.
Hody had to resist the urge to simply destroy the boy for calling him a non-warrior, but now he had to resist the urge to roll of the building in laughter. The boy was barely three feet tall! He was supposed to be scared of this?! "Better watch what you say Kudo…or I'll give you a worse experience than that Navy admiral."
"And even he was a more worthy creature of life than you." Conan didn't flinch. "Jones-san…I don't care what your reason for siding for the Black Organization is, and I have no idea why anyone in there right mind would follow you, but…" He felt Sabo tug his shoulder, indicating his exit. "Before I go I want you to deliver a message for me to the Black Organization, and that message is simple: it doesn't matter what disguise you people veil yourselves in, a criminal is a criminal. And like all criminals, I'll shut you down. All of you."
"Heh…big words from a trapped rat." He smirked.
"I admit I move and act like a rat." Conan smirked back. "But I'm far from trapped."
"Huh?" Hody frowned.
"Ja ne!" Sabo smiled, and suddenly picked Conan up again, and jumped off the building.
Rushing to the ledge, his eyes widened at the blue cape speeding away from the scene. But he smirked again, this meant that he hadn't given up yet…the hunt was on.
XXXXXXXX
After a couple minutes, Sabo managed to balance himself on the hood of the car he landed on.
"Kudo?!" Haibara spoke up. "Who the hell are we riding on?!"
"You'll see!" He answered.
After a couple minutes of speedy driving through back alleys, the car ended up under a secluded bridge. This was a spot that only locals of Tokyo would know, and cars seldom drove there cause of all the old graffiti and homeless people. Basically…the slums of Tokyo.
After the car came to a stop, Sabo climbed into the passenger's seat after adjusting his position with the kids.
Sabo came face to face with a woman he didn't recognize, but apparently Conan and Haibara did.
Haibara was shocked. "Faulkner-sensei?!" How in the hell did Kudo manage to get their elementary school teacher involved in this behind her back?!
"We're here too." Haibara, Sabo, and Conan looked back and saw the Detective Boys group, along with Amy. Despite how scared they obviously were, they apparently still mustered up enough of their forgotten anger towards the fake children. Georgie was the one who spoke, and did so again. "We're not here cause we want to be, but those crazy Yakuza-bastards stormed our school, looking for us."
"They found out about our connection to you somehow, and came after us." Mitch added.
"Faulkner-sensei managed to get us out before they found us. I'm scared…what's going on Haibara-san?" She asked the other girl.
She flinched at being called her name by the little girl, but answered anyways. "To make a long story short, the Black Organization has partnered up with the Yakuza, and together they have taken over Tokyo. Currently, they're after Kudo and I." Haibara turned hesitantly towards the elementary school teacher. "I assume you know the basics, ma'am."
"I was…shocked…to say the least." After the teacher had gotten the kids to her car, she had received a desperate phone call from Edogawa, and she answered it immediately. He had been missing for awhile, and when he came back he, he…obviously was not himself. She hadn't spoken to him since he left elementary school honestly. When he asked her to drive to the Moore's Detective Agency to pick him up, she happily obliged. Only to have complaints, and one complicated story thrown in her face about why NOT to help Conan and Anita.
In complete honestly, her head was still swimming and hadn't come to full realization quite yet. She then noticed the blonde man in the passenger seat with them. "I wasn't expecting someone to jump onto the hood my car, but I also did not expect anyone to be with Anita-chan or Conan either. May I ask who you are sir? And please tell me you are the age you appear to be."
"Yes ma'am…my name is Sabo, and yes…I am twenty as I appear to be." Sabo answered cheerfully. "Thank you for picking us up, you saved our lives back there."
"Anything to help my students." The teacher responded nervously.
"Sensei…I know I have a lot of explaining to do, but please…drive to the Kudo residence. It's in the upper suburban area of Tokyo." Conan requested.
"…Why?" She wasn't sure if she could handle any more surprises.
"I left my backpack there." He answered.
"Oh I see, that's okay. What were you doing at the Kudo residence anyways? Booker and Vivian Kudo are pretty famous people yah know?" She smiled, forgetting that the kids just told her that her elementary school student was actually THE Jimmy Kudo, best detective in Japan.
"That's because…I'm actually their son. My name isn't Conan Edogawa…my real name is Jimmy Kudo…thank you for taking care of me all this time." Conan answered.
A Couple Hours Later
After finally calming the teacher down and explaining their situation (minus the fishman and other world part), the teacher had managed to drive them to the Kudo manor. She called the conversation quits after Kudo and Haibara revealed how they got turned into kids, and said they could tell her the rest of the story when her head was spun on straight. The kids still weren't talking to them, which made things very awkward for Conan and Haibara in the backseat.
Conan narrowed his eyes when he saw that those bastards already hit his house, hopefully they left some useful stuff. As they entered the home, the door was already open, several windows were broken, and the lights were turned off. However had hit this place was long-gone by now. They most likely figured this would be one of the first place he'd hide. Conan's eyes widened in relief at what he saw though: his backpack! It had been shoved under the dining room table! Not questioning his good luck, Conan rushed for it, feeling even more relieved as he did inventory of his gadgets.
As he did this, the others got themselves situated in the large home. The teacher decided to fix herself and her students a snack, leaving Haibara and Sabo with Conan. "Well…the children seem less mad." Sabo observed.
"Yes…though I doubt it will go away." Haibara turned back to Kudo, surprised to see his backpack had been virtually untouched. "By the way Kudo, when did you call Faulkner-sensei?"
"When Vermouth announced the reform, I figured the first people they'd go after would be you, me, and anyone whose connected. I admit…I was dazed, and all I did was pick a number on my phone out of panic. She sometimes offers rides to crime scenes yah know, so…that's what made me think of her." Conan explained.
"Ah. So that's when you did it." Sabo sighed. "Well, now that it's open war, we need to figure out what to do next."
"Yes, I believe the first hing we need to do to find Sebastian-san, it's likely that if we don't come willingly, they're mail us incentives." Haibara agreed.
"Meanwhile, we have no idea why Kaitou was captured, or why he did what he did." Kudo hissed, he honestly didn't believe Kaitou was guilty of the crimes at all. Not after his own efforts to thwart in justice, and the document weren't even what he normally stole. He was all about jewels and artwork. "I don't know how he's involved, but if we free him, we can at least throw a wrench in their plans to take over Japan. Cause if Japan goes, there goes the rest of the countries that they had Yakuza splinter sections in."
"Yes…it's a unanimous domino effect. Day by day, the Black Organization will cease control of each country that Vermouth mentioned. While Mexico, Britain, China, and America will take longer, their intentions are definitely to force humility down on them." Haibara nodded. "So we have until 7pm tomorrow evening to at least halt their plan, and that's most likely why they're desperate to kill us at the moment."
"So that takes care of the immediate problems, next is rescuing friends and family, right?" Sabo suggested.
"Yes…the more leverage they have over us, the worse it is." Haibara nodded.
"They won't start hurting them until they get desperate, and when they do, it'll be public. They're implanting complete Martial Law, for those who don't show compliance, they meet the consequences." Conan felt sick just thinking about the examples of torture they'd use on his friends and family to scare him. "Plus…there's strength in numbers. That's true in this world and in One Piece."
"That's the other thing." Haibara interrupted. "How are we supposed to stop them? The fishmen I mean. It's obvious that Black Organization doesn't have much control over them, and once Jones-san runs out of patience, they'll start to run wild. From what they've said about humans back there, it's doubtful they intend to spare anyone."
"Ah. We're going to have use electricity or some kind of power-based weapons." Conan looked at Sabo. "Do fishmen have any known weaknesses?"
"Not that I know of, but I do know they're terrible against electrical attacks. I…remember watching other nobles using wires to torture them." Sabo cringed at the memory from his noble family. Even as a child, he knew that had been wrong. "So we'd have to use pretty powerful stun guns or tranquilizers."
"Even then, that only settled the problem temporarily." Anita stated. "We either need to kill them, or figure out a way to send them back to your world, Sabo-san."
"We could get you back to Agasa's lab, how much time would you need, Haibara?" Conan asked.
"Forget Agasa's lab, I need to get the Black Organization's main base." She stated. "That's where the technology was originally developed, and if they kept any of the blueprints, I can use it to recreate or repair the machine they used on you. Even if I know the theory of it, I would have no idea how to actually implant the practicalities of it into life."
"How long do you need?" Sabo asked.
"Depends on the state of the machine." Haibara replied grimly. "It could be an hour to as long as a year. We have no way of planning such a thing until we get to the base itself."
"Even if you had a blue print?" Conan asked.
"Even if you manged to somehow steal a picture of it from them, it won't tell me the state the machine will be in." Haibara explained. "I'm sorry…but there's no avoiding it, we have to go to the Black Organization's main base after we gather our bearings."
"Okay fine. Where is it?" Conan asked.
"It's under the abandoned amusement park in Tokyo." She answered.
Conan was shocked, that's where they had been hiding?! He was interrupted before he could comment.
"At least it's close." Sabo commented.
"Distance is hardly a comfort." Haibara sighed. "So a plan of attack has been configured then?"
"Yeah…first thing's first, we need to save Serena." Conan agreed.
For Hody the hunt had begun, for Conan…the preparation of sharpening his filet knives had begun.
Elsewhere in the house
Faulkner had just finished making up grilled cheese sandwiches for herself and the kids, and had managed to find a carton of juice that hadn't been thrown out or emptied. The house was in complete disaster; furniture had been flipped, glass had been shattered, and lit looked as if an earthquake rattled the kitchen. Despite that, the four occupants managed to have a quiet meal, contemplating on their current situation.
"Well…I can't say I expected any of this." She said awkwardly. "First…the Yakuza storms our school, then Edogawa-kun turns out to be-"
"Some lying, fake-child wacko?" Mitch interrupted, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"Yeah. Don't forget Haibara, she lied to use about the same thing." Georgie pointed out.
Faulkner frowned, looking at the three kids; Amy, just sat quietly and ate her sandwich. "Amy…how do you feel about all this?"
After a moment, the girl looked up. "I…just can't believe it. Two years of friendship was nothing but a lie. The only reason why we were able to solve cases was because of Conan-kun and Anita-chan…I mean Kudo-san and Haibara-san…and they lied to us about being our friends the entire time. It hurts…it hurts so much, sensei."
"They weren't ever our friends, it's obvious that they never cared about us at all." Mitch hissed. "I mean, what kind of person pretends to be friends with you, builds up all this confidence between you, and then destroys it? It's despicable, is what it is."
"Mitch-kun…" Faulkner had to admit she found the whole situation with Haibara and Kudo extremely farfetched, she still didn't quite believe that her elementary students were really a famous scientist and a detective. She looked to Georgie and Amy who seemed to agree with the small boy completely. "All of you are pretty broken up about this, huh?"
"You mean, you aren't sensei?" Georgie asked.
Biting her lip, she thought about her response. "I'm not saying that I don't feel betrayal over this. I mean you three are right…Conan-kun and Anita-chan are not actually themselves, and they built a relationship with us, with complete knowledge it would abruptly end. It was completely insensitive and irresponsible of them but…" She smiled sadly when she thought of all the times she interacted with the students. "I don't think they're bad people, but more than anything, I don't believe for a second that they don't care about us."
Looking up in surprise, Georgie asked: "How can you be so sure sensei?"
"Because I look back at all the things they've done to help us, and even if we are angry at them right now…they did lie to protect us." Faulkner smiled sadly. "As hard as this is to say, I would've done the same thing in their position."
"Really?" Amy asked, her eyes wide.
"Yes…I know it's hard to sympathize with them but…try to imagine it: suddenly transformed into a completely different age, then forced to adapt to a new life and new identity, and ontop of that…protecting your friends and family from the criminals who did this to you." Faulkner couldn't imagine the amount of stress going through Kudo and Haibara's minds, and now that she thought about it…their friendships with her and her students was really quite inevitable.
"What are you saying sensei?" Georgie asked.
"What I'm saying is: regardless of how true or untrue of what Kudo and Haibara are saying…it was inevitable that someone was going to get hurt. Those are situations that are adults are forced to face every day, but…I ironically, I think Kudo and Haibara were forced to grow up too fast." She answered.
Mitch spoke up. "I think I speak for all three of us when I say that: we're angry." Amy and Georgie nodded at the statement. "But…given the points you brought up sensei, I guess…we can put aside our feelings about them for now."
She nodded. "Yes…I'll need time to sort out my feelings too, I'm afraid."
"Yeah, but…what's going to happen to us?" Georgie frowned when he thought of the men who were chasing them. "Those creeps are probably still after us."
"Do you think they've gone after our families?" Amy asked.
Faulkner frowned grimly. "It's a definite possibility."
"My dad can take them…" Georgie clenched his fists, wanting desperately to believe his own words.
"Mother and Father will be in danger, I hope Onee-sama will be okay." Mitch mumbled and turned to his female friend. "Do you think your family will be okay Amy?"
"I hope so…" She honestly didn't want to think about it.
Nodding, Faulkner had her own worries, though her family was elsewhere in Japan, so they were safe for now. "We'll have to assume they're fine at the time being, but for now…we need to see what'll happen here."
"What do you mean?" Mitch asked.
"I mean, given how intense the situation is, we'll have to go along with whatever plan Sabo-san, Haibara-san, and Kudo-san come up with." Faulkner explained.
"So we'll have to trust them." Georgie concluded.
"Yes, at least for now, it'd be a good idea to follow them. At least until it's safe." Faulkner concluded. Seeing how the smaller boy was clearly unconvinced, she tried for Amy.
"What do you think, Amy-chan?" Faulkner asked carefully.
"I think…we should trust them. I want to see if my family's okay." She said shyly.
"That's good, doesn't that sound agreeable, Mitch-kun?" The teacher asked.
After a moment, the boy conceded. "They take us to our parents, that's the only way I'm agreeing to anything."
"Yeah!" Georgie confirmed.
"I like that idea." Amy smiled.
Smiling, Faulkner nodded. Yes, no matter what happened she trusted Kudo to lead them out of this, because there was one key thing she had learned about him over working with him: no matter how big or chaotic a situation was, Kudo never forgot about the little people. He always made sure to get everyone out alive, and she was positive this would be no different.
Review please! More fishmen will be introduced in the next chapter, and a surprise One Piece character no one will see coming will be appearing soon! Feel free to guess who it is, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns!