Vampyre

by Icka M. Chif

[AU] (formerly 'Night Dreams') Detectives Kudo Shin'ichi and Edogawa Conan get a strange a strange request from an even stranger person. The Kid's been bitten by a vampire and wants their help. Plus 2 short scenes from what happens later.

2. Night Dreams II

[Authour Note:]
Sorry this has taken so long.
The teaser was posted before this part was split in half, so a great deal of the previous teaser is that and some of what you have already read has been re-written.
Was originally rated R for some swearing, most of which got taken out. -_- New rating now up.

Night Dreams pt II
By Icka! M. Chif

You might consider picking up some holy water and a few stout wooden stakes. They'll come in handy soon, although I'm not sure how.
-humorscope.com

.................//Ö\\...........

"So..." Ran grinned, as she set three bowls of ice cream down on the table. "Kaito-kun or Hakuba-kun?"

Aoko gave her a blank look. "Huh? What about them?"

Kazuha grinned conspiratorially. "Who do you like better?"

Aoko's blank look turned even blanker. "What? Oh!" She laughed, shaking her head. "No, no! Hakuba-kun is just a classmate of ours. And Kaito and I have been friends for YEARS. That's all."

"Uh-huh. And that's why you were staring at Hakuba-kun while he had his shirt off." Kazuha teased. "And then chased Kaito-kun around like that."

"But I always chase Kaito around." The wild haired girl protested, fiddling with the blue silk omamori around her neck that Kazuha had given her. "And I've never seen Hakuba with his shirt off before. He's a lot more... muscular than I would have thought."

"Okay." Ran nodded, taking her word for it. "Alright, what would you say is their best physical attribute?"

"Who?" Aoko inquired, looking puzzled.

"Hakuba-kun and Kaito-kun."

"Hmm...." Aoko took a bite of her ice cream, musing the question over. "I'm not sure about Hakuba-kun, but I'd have to say Kaito's hands are his best feature. And his grin."

"What about his gymnastic skills?" Kazuha wanted to know. "I've never seen anyone move like that before!"

"Really?" Aoko blinked in surprise. "He was a bit off today, we're usually faster."

"Faster?!"

"Umm-hmm..." She nodded, taking a bite of ice cream. "Ooh, Vanilla. Don't tell him I said so, but I really think his hands are his best feature. He's a magician, and you should see what he can do with a simple ball or a deck of cards. He's really very impressive."

The other girls mused it over, momentarily lapsing into silence as they savoured their ice cream.

"What about you?" Aoko inquired. "What's Kudo-kun's best feature?"

"Shin'ichi?" Ran glanced around for a second, double-checking that, yes the boys were gone. "When he's not being a mystery nut, he loves to play soccer." She grinned, blushing faintly. "He's got nice legs, and a really good butt."

"So that's why you were going to all of his games!" Kazuha giggled. "Those little soccer shorts!"

"Ka-chan!" Ran made a face at the pony-tailed girl. "Fine. Your turn. Hattori-kun's best feature."

"That's easy." Kazuha informed them promptly, flexing one arm. "His shoulders."

"Shoulders?" Aoko's eyebrow rose.

Kazuha smirked. "Kendo does a boy -good-."

The girls momentarily dissolved into giggles.

"Don't you dare tell him though!" Kazuha scolded, once they got their breath back "He's got a big enough ego as it is!"

"It's okay." Ran assured her with a grin. "The boys would probably just think that this is all just silly girls talk anyway."

"It is just silly girls talk." Aoko pointed out.

"So?" Kazuha retorted. "They don't need to know it."

"That's true."

"What about his fur?" Ran inquired of the Osaka girl with a wicked grin.

Kazuha turned fuchsia as Ran dissolved into giggles.

"Huh?" Aoko just looked confused.

"Never mind." Ran giggled, letting her friend off the hook. "Alright. Hakuba."

"Hm..." The girls paused, musing.

"I'm not sure." Aoko admitted. "He's in my class, but he usually sticks to himself, trying to chase the Kid. Either that or hit on Kaito."

"You're kidding."

"Um..." Aoko took a bite of ice cream, evading the question.

"Well..." Kazuha mused. "He looks exotic. Gold eyes and hair..."

"He's build pretty nicely too." Ran added with a bit of a grin. "Very solid, almost dense."

Aoko smirked. "His mental state or his body?"

"Aoko-chan!"

"He did look pretty out of it." Kazuha mused.

"Hmm. Speaking of out of it..." Aoko commented, suddenly moody. "I hope the guys are doing okay. Kaito's been acting funny the past couple of days. It's like something's wrong, but he won't tell me what it is."

"Don't worry about it." Kazuha assured her. "They do this all the time. Act strange because of a case, and just when you start to get really concerned, everything goes back to normal. It's the same thing every time."

Ran nodded. "It doesn't mean we worry about them any less when they do this though."

"Yup." Kazuha agreed with forced cheerfulness. "Just because they're our mystery loving idiots doesn't make them any less insane."

.......//Ö\\...........

"It's late night, it's black out, there's no moon, we're about to enter a dark creepy looking building that most likely is hiding our worst enemy and you're wearing -sunglasses-?" Conan commented in disbelief.

"Yup."

"You're even more insane than I thought."

The Kid grinned. "Thanks!"

"That wasn't a complement." Shin'ichi grumbled.

"We ready to go?" Hattori requested, shifting impatiently. "Kid, you got the omamori?"

"Right here." The thief patted his chest, where the small black bag fell right above his heart. He wasn't sure why it was so important, but the Kansai werewolf was insistent, so he wore it.

Somehow, he got the feeling he didn't want to be on Hattori's bad side.

"Wait a moment..." Conan frowned. "I was just thinking,"

"You think?"

"Quiet you." Shin'ichi mock cuffed Hattori for the comment.

Conan shot his other self a grateful look before turning back to the subject at hand. "But what happens once we defeat who ever is behind this?"

"What do you mean?" Shin'ichi frowned.

"Well, from what Ai said, Zombies can't really think or move on their own. Who ever killed Hakuba put a lot of work and energy into him to make him move and act as freely as he did back in the alley."

"Fastest way to stop a Zombie is usually to either remove its head or stop who ever is controlling them." Hattori explained. "After that, the spells animating the bodies disappear and then the bodies just fall down and... decay..."

Everyone turned to look at the stoic English Detective. He looked back at them with a bland expression. "And?" He asked mildly.

"You're a royal pain in the keister, but even I don't wish that for you." The Kid's face had fallen into an expressionless poker face, but the concern was still easily apparent.

"The sentiment is appreciated, but un-necessary." Hakuba informed them in a brisk business like matter. "You are failing to take into account the fact that I am already dead. And regardless of that, we still must put an end to this."

"Hey, who knows?" Hattori said optimistically. "Maybe the Kid's spell backfired in more ways than one and you'll make it through this."

Hakuba shrugged. "Unlikely. Now, if this discussion is over, we still have a fiendish organisation of the un-dead to stop."

Without another word, the un-dead detective moved forward, sticking to the shadows as he crept up to the entrance.

The other detectives pensively followed, the Kid going last, cursing the entire time about stupid stubborn British detectives with icicles shoved up some very un-comfortable places.

...//Ö\\................

Between the Kid's lock picking skills and Hattori and Hakuba's eagerness just to knock the dumb door down, they got into the building rather quickly.

Quietly was another matter entirely. They didn't get three steps into the darken interior of the building before something sent up a hideous ear-splitting screeching racket.

Conan flipped on his light, shining it in the direction of the noise.

"It's a Screaming Red Zombie?" Hakuba puzzled at the obvious dead creature, which oozed red liquid from every pore in its body.

"Well, that is the name of an alcoholic drink." Shin'ichi pointed out.

"So is 'Screaming Orgasm' but you don't see them using that, do you?" The Kid retorted.

Conan shot him a bland look. "Pervert."

"I'm a teenage male. There's a difference."

"Can we debate this later?" Hattori snapped. "It has friends."

And it did too. At the sound of the scream, several dozen Zombies of different shades and decay staggered out of the shadows, effectively pinning them against the wall behind them.

The Kid and Conan stepped back as Hakuba and Shin'ichi pulled out their weapons and clicked the safeties off. Hattori got a feral grin on his face and pulled out a katana.

"Where'd you hide the blade?" The Kid questioned, curious.

Hattori smirked. "You know where Heero Yuy hides his gun?"

Conan shot the werewolf an incredulous look. "Don't tell me. Hammerspace."

The Kid raised an eyebrow. "I thought he had his gun shoved up his a-"

"-Ahem." Hakuba cleared his throat. "If you don't mind, we do have work to do here..."

Kid snorted. "Hey, Hakuba." He called, obviously less than impressed by the current situation. "Bet I can name more alcoholic drinks than you."

Hakuba shot him a glare.

"C'mon." The Kid wheedled. "Sake to me."

"That's it. You must pay for the pun."

The English detective stepped forward and began to take shots at the incoming wave of moving dead bodies.

"He drinks a whiskey drink *Blam!* He drinks a vodka drink *Blam!* He drinks a lager drink *Blam!* He drinks a Cider drink-" With a smooth motion, Hakuba released the clip he'd been firing from the gun. "He sings the songs that remind him of the good times-" He loaded a fresh clip "-He sings the songs that remind him of the better times." *Blam!*

He took a step back, giving Shin'ichi a chance to try to pick off some Zombies as well. "Is that what you meant, Kaito-kun?"

"I didn't know you could sing." The thief admitted honestly, scratching his head. "Wow. You had to die to gain a sense of humour..."

"I don't think guns are going to be much help to us here." Shin'ichi commented, looking disgruntled as a Zombie he had just shot continued to move closer to them, regardless of the fact that it was now missing a large chunk of it's leg. "They just keep moving."

"Neither is cutting them." Hattori said with great disgust as he sliced and arm off, only to have the arm start to move independently of the body, creeping forward to grab him. He speared it with his katana, using the blade to toss it away.

"Hitting them in the brain does seems to work." Conan observed as one fell down and didn't move.

Hattori grunted, his attention obviously divided. "Yes, but do we have that many bullets?"

"Point."

"You're starting to get a little furry there, Hattori."

Hattori glared, his green eyes smouldering with barely repressed anger. He was filling out his jacket a bit better than he had before as well, especially in the shoulders. "Shut up. I know."

"Fuzzy navel?" Kid inquired innocently.

"That's it. Hattori, don't give the Kid any more chocolate. I don't think his systems can handle it."

"Or ours." Conan added.

"Is fuzzy bad?" Hakuba asked with the air of someone who -knew- they wouldn't like the answer but had to ask anyway.

"Depends." Conan answered with a grin that just bordered on malicious.

"On?"

"Whose throat he rips out first." Shin'ichi smirked.

"Ah." Hakuba nodded. "Fuzzy = bad. Got it."

"Any body got any ideas before he starts ripping throats out?" The Kid ventured. "I can get out of here, but I don't know about you guys."

Hakuba eyed the thief thoughtfully. "I've got an idea."

Conan raised an eyebrow, also eyeing the thief with a mischievous smirk. "Kid-kun, it's just your 'magic' that you're having problems with, correct?"

The Kid shrugged. "Now that I've had something to eat, yeah."

"Perfect." Shin'ichi grinned, putting his gun away. "On the count of three, everyone?"

Hattori looked slightly puzzled for a moment, then caught Shin'ichi's eye and grinned, sheathing his sword. "Works for me."

"Okay!" The Kid cheered, glad to have a plan of action. Then he caught the detectives' glances and his face fell as he caught on. "...no..."

"Just think of it as another game of 'Dog Pile on the Bandit'." Hakuba said almost cheerfully as the three larger detectives grabbed the thief and bodily picked him up. "Without the police officers."

"But I LIKE playing with the police officers..." The Kid whined as his feet left the ground.

"One..."

The Kid glared at the smugly smirking blond detective. "I'll get you for this, Hakuba."

"Two!"

"AAaaaaaahhh!"

"Fire in the hole!" Hattori shouted as they threw the Kid into the crowd of Zombies on 'Two', then took off running for the door on a silent 'Three'. The Kid let out an un-dignified squawk as he landed in the pile of Zombies, then started stepping on limbs, heads and what ever he could to stay on the top of what was rapidly becoming a classic free for all.

Hattori lead the charge, using his katana to cut a path through whatever limbs attempted to grab them. Conan took advantage of this by turning up the juice on his sneakers and using a hissing head as a soccer ball.

"Hey you!" Conan sent the head into several other mobile corpses, which went down under the impact. "Out of the gene pool!"

"They're already dead." Shin'ichi pointed out, slowing down to keep his smaller self by his side.

"Yeah." The smaller twin admitted. "But I felt like saying it anyway."

"Fair enough."

"How's Kid doing?" Hakuba called.

Hattori opened the door for them, taking advantage of the pause to use his height to peer into the mass of moving bodies to look for the dark form of the thief. "He was hopping around a second ago..." He was forced to duck into the room when the horde turned their attention toward him, shutting the door just in time for the first wave to impact against it.

"Everybody intact?" Conan inquired, taking a moment to catch his breath after the sprint.

Hakuba glanced around the dark room. "Where's the Kid?"

A small light burst into existence next to them. "Just waiting for you." The Kid's too cheerful voice said calmly as he held the Zippo lighter up for illumination. He was in one piece, no scratches or tears on him, and wasn't even winded. "What took you so long?"

The twins stared at him. "When did you-"

"How did you-"

The Kid waved a finger at them, clucking his tongue. "Ah-ah-ah. A magician never reveals his tricks. And Hakuba-chan... You really -must- learn that throwing things at people is not the best way to solve a conflict."

Hakuba blinked, a sardonic smile slowly forming on his lips. "Right..."

"Well, if we're all here..." Shin'ichi motioned towards the darkness. "Shall we go?"

The group nodded, and they silently began to stalk forward into the dark room, un-able to make out any details despite the light that the Kid held aloft as well as Conan's flashlight. It was if the darkness simply swallowed it up.

"I think I hear something." Hattori whispered in a hushed tone, turning his head from side to side as his pointed ears scanned for sounds.

The others slowed their pace down, straining their senses as well. "Smell anything?" Conan inquired, casting his light about.

"Just rotting flesh."

Then the lights came on, momentarily blinding the group. Conan and Kid quickly extinguished their small lights, as they all blinked to clear their sight. And when they could they found...

... a bigger crowd of Zombies than the room they had just left. Only these Zombies weren't staggering towards them, they were making strange little hops with their arms and claws outstretched, like large deranged rotting Easter Bunnies.

"Ever had one of those days when you feel like you're stuck in some sort of video game?" Hattori mused to himself as the un-dead began to move towards them. "Get out of one room, only to run into another room full of mindless drones you have to get past in order to get to the final Boss?"

"It could be worse!" Kid volunteered cheerfully.

Conan glared at him, shifting back to the relative safety of the group. "Don't you dare finish that line-"

"-Zombies are bad enough." Shin'ichi muttered, moving so that the five of them were back to back to face their opponents. "I'm beginning to hate Zombies."

Hakuba winced.

"Actually, these aren't Zombies." Hattori helpfully offered.

"Oh, good."

"They're Kyonshi."

"Kyonshi?"

"Uh... Jiangshi?" Hattori tried again. "Chinese Hopping Vampire. Kind of like the Zombies, only stupider and slower. Downside, they're stronger. Oh, and you'll get turned into one if you get scratched or bit by one."

"Oh, goodie..."

"Well... that's one way of increasing your security system the easy way." Shin'ichi mused. "Get passed the Zombies, get turned into a Kyonshi."

"Not all of us." Hakuba said pointedly, coldly shooting an oncoming Kyonshi between the eyes. It kept hopping towards them, undaunted. While Hakuba wasn't exactly pleased with being a Zombie, he was getting rather tired of the disparaging comments. And he was pretty sure that he couldn't be turned un-dead again.

"Uh, no offense, Hakuba-kun." Shin'ichi quickly stammered.

"Okay, so how do we get rid of them?" Conan asked, glaring at his other half for his lack of tact. "Shooting them through the head doesn't seem to work very well."

"Physical attacks aren't going to work much, period." Hattori growled. "There's too many of them, and it takes a lot just to knock one over. What we need now is either a non-physical attack or one hell of a distraction."

All eyes turned to the Kid.

"My magic's all mangled, remember?" The Kid reminded them, raising an eyebrow. "Everything's coming out twisted."

"Twisted," Hakuba noted, eyeing the ever approaching Kyonshi with obvious distaste "May be exactly what we need right now."

The Kid sighed. "Alright. I'll give it a shot." He stepped forward, pulling a white silk top hat out of mid-air as he muttered about always being the one to end up fighting the dead guys. Reaching into the hat, he pulled out a light grey cape, the fabric swirling around him to finally settle around his shoulders. Gone was the teenage boy who had come to them for assistance, in his place was the cool, calm, legendary Phantom Thief.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" He shouted in accented English, drawing the hopping vampires attention towards himself. "Boys and Ghouls of all decay! May I welcome you to Magic Kaito's Magic Show!"

He tossed his arms out wide, cards flying from his sleeves. The cards changed into ravens in mid-air, which swooped down to cause chaos among the Kyonshi ranks. The Kid took the hat off his head, reached in and pulled out something that looked like a cross between a small dragon and a large canine. What ever it was, it was big, mean and breathed fire.

The Kid casually tossed it into the middle of the hopping horde, where it immediately turned several of them into ash before it went on to chase anything that dared to move within it's line of sight.

"What the heck is THAT?!" Hattori gasped.

The Kid put his hat back on his head. "That-" He informed them with a great deal of dignity "-Was a bunny rabbit. And I suggest that we leave before it turns it's attentions towards us, gentlemen."

Conan's eyebrows went up. "A bunny rabbit?!"

"Don't need to tell us twice." Shin'ichi spotted an opening in the now confused horde and ran for it.

"And who just commented about throwing things at people was not the best way to solve a conflict?" Hakuba wanted to know of the Kid.

"Oh, shut up."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of a bunny rabbit." Hattori teased Conan, who was eyeing the fire-breathing creature with not a small amount of trepidation.

"I'm not." Conan glared. "But to that thing, I'm bite sized."

Keeping well clear of the creature, and un-distracted hopping Kyonshi, they made their way towards the only other exit in the room, a door on the far wall. As they approached, the Kid seemed to move slower and slower, a disturbed look on his face. Hattori noted, pausing them all just as they reached the doorway. "What's wrong?"

"I've got a bad feeling." Kid confessed.

"We've all had a bad feeling since this whole thing started." Shin'ichi shrugged. "So?"

"What kind of bad feeling?" Hakuba asked, his concern evident.

"Uh... " The Kid looked somewhat nervous as he glanced at Hattori and the Twins. "Painful. Like when a heist is about to go really wrong."

Kudo snorted, obviously finding the idea laughable. "Anyone else getting anything?"

"We wouldn't." Hakuba terse reply drew Kudo up short. He began to look angry. The British Detective glared back. "We're not the ones who get shot at on a regular basis. We're the ones who shoot, remember?"

"He's got a point." Conan admitted. Kudo snorted, crossing his arms, but backed down.

"Any thing specific?" Hattori asked. "I'm not really getting anything myself."

The Kid shook his head. "Nope. It's just that... this would be a really convenient place for a trap."

Hattori and Conan nodded. "Got it." Hattori said solemnly. "Stick to the edges, don't lurk in the doorway?"

"Yeah." The thief looked more comfortable, having given a warning. "And be prepared to run really fast if something does go wrong."

"Understood." Hakuba nodded as they moved to the sides of the door, he reaching out to grab the knob. He glanced both ways. "Ready?"

They nodded back.

He opened the door and stepped into a room that was vaguely lit, just bright enough to make out fuzzy dark shapes. They cautiously slunk in until they were all inside.

"Looks like your spider-sense was wrong." Shin'ichi commented.

Two shadows shifted slightly.

"Look out!"

The shadows opened fire, the teenagers scattering as they dived for cover. Hakuba, Hattori and Shin'ichi dove one way, the Kid, acting much like a white shadow, grabbed Conan and rolled the other way.

"You don't have to grab me like a sack of potatoes." Conan griped as the Kid set him down from where he had thrown him over his shoulder.

"Sorry." The Kid apologised, looking too distracted to be sincere. "I'll remember that next time."

"Next time?!" The small boy's voice whipped out sharp like a crack as he shot a death glare at the thief.

"Well, unless the next time you're about to get shot you'd like me just to stand there and dumbly watch, yes!" The Kid growled back, pressing his back up against the crates they were hiding behind as he attempted to spot where the rest of their group was. "Unless it's escaped your detection abilities, I do take offense to people getting hurt."

"I have noticed." Conan grumbled back. "Personally, I think it's a waste of your abilities to be on the wrong side of the law when you could be doing so much -good-."

"Yeah, well," The thief shrugged, obviously not interested into going into that at the moment. "As the great Lupin once said, ' when one cannot be a great artist or a great soldier, the only thing to be is a great thief'."

Conan raised an eyebrow. "You read the classics?"

"I read Holmes to find out if Hakuba's idol had that much of a stick up his butt." The Kid commented, his face edging out of the cover of the boxes they were hiding behind to peer at the dark men with guns. "The Lupin was worth learning French for, even if it makes my accent a little antique, nes pas?"

"If you're so smart-" Conan winced as a bullet kissed the wood of the top of the crate they were hiding behind, sending some chips of wood down on them "Then why the heck are you doing-"

"Something so stupid as being on the wrong side of the angels?" The Kid finished smoothly for him, fanning out a handful of cards and throwing them like miniature throwing knives at the gunslingers. "Wasn't exactly had planned out for my life, y'know. But you got to do what you got to do sometimes."

"True." Conan grunted, knowing that feeling. He hadn't exactly planned on getting shrunk either.

"While we're on the subject of true confessions..." The Kid shot him a wink, crouching down as he tensed like a coiled spring. "You think you could tell your Dad sometime that the Kaitou Kid is a fan of his Night Baron books?"

"Really?" The question turned into a squeak as the Kid scooped him up under one arm and dashed into the shadows again, just before something hit the crate they had been hiding behind, causing it to explode.

Conan didn't have time to scream as they just seemed to -blur-, reappearing behind another crate where his other half, Hattori and Hakuba were hidden.

"Miss us?" Kid asked, not even winded.

"Always." Hakuba quipped dryly. The Kid scrunched up a face at him. The Kid blinked, noticing something strange about the English detective. "You've got holes."

Shin'ichi ignored them, focusing in his smaller twin. "You alright?" He demanded.

Hakuba glanced down, apparently just now noticing the bullet holes in the side of his body. "Oh, so I do."

"Peachy except for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over there." Conan motioned back at the 2 men in black.

"You're not bleeding either." The Kid continued, a look of vague disturbed awe passing over his features.

Hakuba shrugged. "It's just flesh wound."

"You've just been shot, you're not bleeding and you're quoting MONTY PYTHON?!" Kid was passed disturbed and on to outraged. "Jeez, if you weren't dead already, I'd kill you myself!"

"If you two are done with your lover's spat..." Hattori's blade flashed as he glared. "Does anyone have any ideas of what to do with dead and deader there?"

"Well, chances are at least one of them is responsible for those Zombies out there." Conan pointed out.

"Though which one it is, I haven't got a clue." Shin'ichi finished. He spared a glance towards the dark skinned boy. "Hattori? You getting anything?"

The werewolf shook his head. "Can't get a good enough scent. 'Neechan's better at sensing anyway."

"What about you, Hakuba?" The Kid asked, all sign of his previous irritation gone.

Hakuba had a strangely perplexed expression on his face. "I am strangely drawn toward the hat."

"Hat?!"

"On the smaller mime." He motioned towards Vodka.

"Mime?!" Shin'ichi and Conan echoed in disbelief.

"Pale faces and black clothes, what else would you call them?" Hakuba snapped, sounding faintly exasperated.

"Toast." Hattori grinned grimly. "Kudo, Hakuba, go long."

"Huh?" Neither of them caught the American football reference.

The Kid gave them a push. "Run."

That they got. They took off running, both keeping low to avoid the spray of bullets from Gin, and Kudo casually keeping the un-dead Hakuba between him and the 'mimes'.

The thief took offense to Gin shooting at the people if they were not quite his friends, they at least his co-conspirators in this matter. He pulled off his hat and reached inside.

"Not another bunny rabbit..." Conan muttered, moving to Hattori's far side, away from the crazy magician.

It wasn't. Dark multi-coloured rounds spheres floated out instead, flying towards Gin. They looked like they might have been balloons at one time, that is if balloons came with large mouths full of jagged teeth, wiggling tendrils and exploded when shot.

"What's your plan, anyway?" He asked casually, ducking back down as the balloons swarmed the men in black.

"Well, while you're taking care of defense..." Hattori grinned cheerfully, casually picking up Conan. "Why don't we take care of the offense?!"

"Hattori?" Conan asked warily, just before the Osaka boy tossed him high up into the air like a baseball. "HATTORIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Biting off the scream of surprise with a brief epitaph for Hattori's mistreatment of him, Conan took advantage of the sudden increase in height to pull out the Kid's card gun and aim it at the stoically standing Vodka's head.

Vodka's attention was on the strangely attacking balloons instead of the small flying boy. Just as gravity re-asserted it's self on Conan's slight body, he fired the card gun.

Two cards shot through the air, cleanly slicing Vodka's hat in half.

And there was a brief silence.

Then the scraps of fabric that had been the hat started to drift towards the ground.

Shin'ichi scrambled to catch Conan, wrapping his arms around the small boy even as the momentum sent him stumbling backwards. He crashed into Hakuba, sending the three of them down in a tangled heap on the ground, Conan safely held on top.

"And the kid wins the game!" The Kid grinned, holding his hands up in a classic 'goal' pose.

Gin fell to the ground with a meaty thud as well, then almost seemed to melt into the floor as his body reduced itself to ashes in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a pile of bland ashes and a black trench coat and hat.

Hattori summed it up for them in one word. "Ew."

"Aniki..." Vodka stared at the crumpled outline of his partner, his face pale and clammy looking. He began to move towards the fallen Black Ops member, only to pitch forward, landing face down on the ground about a hand space away from his goal.

Conan looked up from the targeting lens on his wristwatch dart. "Whew."

"Oi, Hakuba?" The Kid called, his voice un-certain on who he was expecting to reply back. "You dead?"

"I'm still here!" The blond detective called back, his voice sounding muffled. "Though if Kudo doesn't get his scrawny self off of me, that may change!"

Kudo grumbled and climbed to his feet, releasing his smaller self in the process. Hakuba shot him a baleful glare, smoothing out the wrinkles on his jacket. "Thank you."

"Thank you, actually." Conan shot him a grin.

Hakuba waved it off in favour of getting upright again.

"How's Vodka?" Shin'ichi asked as Hattori leaned down to check on the stocky man.

"Think he's going to suffer from an energy backlash for a while." Hattori said seriously. "He'll probably sleep for quite a while, even with out the dart."

"Heh." Conan grinned.

"We should probably call Inspector Megure and leave an anonymous tip." Shin'ichi sighed, rubbing the back of his head in a weary gesture. "Can I-"

Conan handed him the bow tie changer without a word.

"Speaking of cleaning up..." The Kid put two fingers to his mouth and whistled, a long high-pitched noise.

"What are you calling?" Hakuba asked suspiciously.

A mischievous grin was his only answer.

Until a large black shadow came galloping towards them, the dark creature's mouth open and bits of flame flickering from it.

"It's the bunny rabbit!" Conan panicked, darting behind his other self, who was dialling a number on his cell phone.

The Kid, on the other hand, was completely calm about it. He took off his top hat and held under his arm on one side. The creature leapt for it, disappearing into the hat, regardless of the fact that it shouldn't have been able to fit its head inside, much less its whole body.

He turned the hat towards them so that they could see for themselves that the hat was empty, turned it upside down and gave it a few shakes to make sure nothing fell out, then turned it right-side up again and reached his hand down inside.

And pulled out something that was the same size and shape of a black cat. Only with bat wings and a row of spikes going down it's back.

"Well, my magic's not completely back to normal, so it'll have to do." The Kid commented with a slightly rueful tone as he put his hat back on his head. He held the cat creature out toward Hakuba. "What do you think, Hakuba? Think Akako-chan would like a dark creepy pet of the neither world with a carrot fetish?"

The cat murrr-ed in response.

"Just as long as I'm not there." Was all Hakuba had to say about it.

"One thing I don't understand..." Hattori mused out loud. "We're down a bad guy. We got the two that Hakuba saw, but what about the one that bit the-"

"Look out!" Conan shouted, catching sight of another shadow out of the corner of his eye.

His warning came a fraction too late. There was a sudden rush of darkness and the five boys quickly lost consciousness.

.....//Ö\\....

To be concluded in Part Three. Or so we hope...

Quick Notes:

The girls chat at the beginning was largely inspired by Yaoi-Con. Fortunately, they're not speaking Fangirl, which is easy to speak, slightly hard to understand, but extremely difficult to type.

Sake to me = Sock it to me. An old joke out of the 70s.

Hakuba's singing 'Tubthumping' by Chubma Wumba. Fun song.

Screaming Red Zombie, Screaming Orgasm and Fuzzy Navel are all names of alcoholic mixed drinks.
Original idea was to have alcoholic drink puns throughout the fight sequence, but it kind of fell through, due to the fact I don't drink, therefore don't have an extensive enough knowledge of drinks to pull it off.

Ah, well.