Disclaimers: All the characters are belonged to Detective Conan by Aoyama Gosho.
Chapter Two. APTX4869 no Nazo (The Mystery of APTX4869)
Prince Shinichi had turned into in a small child and was in the Forbidden Forest.
"Ouch…My head hurts." Prince Shinichi was trying to remember what had happened to him.
'I come to this forest to help Shiho to find her sister, and she attacked me when I was examining the necklace…'
'She forced me to take drug and then I feel hot like melting… why did she do this to me?'
'She said she can't betray Gin. It must be Gin and Vodka. I can't go back to the palace now.'
So Prince Shinichi started walking into the Forbidden Forest. He could not walk fast with all the oversized clothes and shoes. It was almost midnight that he finally found a small cottage in the middle of the forest.
"Hello, is there anyone here?" Asked Prince Shinichi.
"…" Prince Shinichi waited for people to answer but it seemed there were nobody in this house.
Prince Shinichi went inside the small cottage and found out that there were only kids living here. The wardrobe was full of children's clothes, the beds were small, and there were five children living here (using his detective skills). No signs of any adult here. He decided to change his clothes as his clothes were dirty and did not fit him.
Suddenly there were some noises outside, Prince Shinichi looked out from the window. He could see five kids coming to the cottage.
"Wow, I am very hungry now." The fattest boy said. "I can eat ten bowls of unagi rice."
"Don't eat too much or else you will also have rice in your brain." Another small boy with freckles said.
"Let's go inside quickly and have dinner." The only girl in the group said.
There were also a dark-skinned boy and a miserable boy still remained silent.
When they went inside the cottage, they saw Prince Shinichi, but they were in no surprise.
"Who are you?" The little girl asked. "Are you get lost in the forest?"
'I can't tell them my true identity.' Thought Prince Shinichi.
"Yes." Prince Shinichi answered. "My name is…is …Conan"
"Oh I see. I am Ayumi and this is Heiji." She pointed to the dark-skinned boy. "And this is Takagi." She pointed to the other boy. "They were also get lost in the forest a few weeks ago."
"I am Genta." The fat boy said.
"I am Mitsuhiko." The little boy with freckles said. "Why there are so many kid getting lost in the forest?"
"I don't know." Prince Shinichi answered.
"You can stay with us until you find your way home. You haven't eaten your dinner, do you? You can have dinner with us now." Ayumi said.
"Thank you." Prince Shinichi said.
"But you cannot eat my unagi rice" Genta said.
After finishing their dinner, they all went and take a bath.
"There is a large hot spring at the back of our cottage and we can take a bath together. You can even swim there." Genta said.
"But I will not go with you all." Ayumi said. "All boys. Why is there no girl get lost in the forest?"
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At the hot spring
"It this great!?" Genta said.
"Yeah. It's even better than the one in the palace." Conan said in a small voice.
"What are you saying?" Genta asked.
"Yes. This is great." Conan answered, with his half-moon eyes on his face.
While Genta and Mitsuhiko were enjoying their bath together, Heiji and Takagi come to Conan.
"Hello." Conan said.
"I know that you did not get lost in the forest, right?" Heiji said. "You must know the men in black in the castle, right?"
'He know about Gin and Vodka?!' Conan thought.
"I was lost in the forest. What are you talking about?" Conan asked.
"You have taken a mysterious drug that will turn you into a small child, I know that because you don't look really like a child. Your eyes look like a grown-up."
"Have you also taken that drug? Who give it to you? Who are you?"
"Takagi and I are also victims of that drug. We both were forced by a man in black to take that drug." Heiji said.
"I was attack by a man with long hair and he hit me hard with a baseball bat and forced me to take the drug." Takagi said.
"That is Gin." Conan said.
"I was attack by a wide-face man with a baseball bat also. I wonder why they like using baseball bat to attack people so much." Heiji said.
"That must be Vodka who attacked you. Then, who are you then? Why did Gin and Vodka attack both of you?" Conan asked.
"I was sent here on behalf of Queen Eri from the Kingdom of the West. I come here to propose a marriage to Prince Shinichi with our princess, Princess Ran." Takagi said. "I want to meet King Kogoro, but the men in black, Gin and Vodka, won't let me to meet the king. And they take me to the forest and then force me to take the drug. I don't know what to do and come to this cottage and later I meet Heiji."
"I am a detective and I come here to investigate the missing of Takagi. Queen Eri also told me to investigate why she can't contact with King Kogoro and Prince Shinichi. I was tricked by Gin and attacked by Vodka." Heiji said. "You must be Prince Shinichi."
"How do you know?"
"I am also a detective, you know." Heiji said. "Did you find any clue about the drug or about those men in black?"
"No. I have no idea what they are up to or what the drug is."
"But I got something, this paper was slipped from Vodka's pocket when he gave me the drug." Heiji said. He showed Conan a paper writing 'APTX4869'.
"What is this?" Conan asked.
"This is probably the name of the drug we have taken. Put it under the water." Heiji said.
"The antidote to this drug is the 'X' from the one you love." Conan said. "What is 'X'?"
"I don't know, I have spend more than a week to think about it, but I still have no clue."
"How long do two of them take the bath in the hot spring?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"OKAY, we are coming." Heiji and Conan answered together.
All of them sleep in the same bedroom. It was very silent except Genta was snoring loudly. Prince Shinichi still staying awake. He was still thinking about what had happened today.
'So Heiji and Takagi had taken the same drug as myself. What do Gin and Vodka want? What is 'X'? How about Princess Ran? I haven't seen her for almost five years. I haven't sent her a letter for almost a month, I wonder how she is right now.' The moment of thinking Ran make his face flushed. After a while, Conan fell asleep.
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In the meanwhile, there were three people heading to Mouri Kingdom."Are you sure this is the right way to Mouri Kingdom, Princess Ran" a girl with a ponytail asked.
"Kazuha, I have told you not to call me Princess, we need to conceal my true identity. I flee from the castle." Princess Ran said.
"Yes, Ran is right. We need to be careful." The other one with short hair said.
"It will be fine as we have Sato as our bodyguard." Kazuha said. "I know Aikido and Ran know Karate, we are pretty safe."
They continued their way to Mouri Kingdom.
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Ran finally shows up, what do you think about the story. Please R&R.