Hey everyone, sorry it took so long... /ducks out of the way of flying objects/
-----------Chapter 5: Who to Believe?
"Conan, are you okay," Ayumi cried.
It took him a second to answer, and when he did it sounded shaky. "Yeah, but I think there's something down here. I'm gonna go have a look around."
"We're coming down," proclaimed Genta.
"No!" Conan realized that had come out quite forceful, and lowered his voice a little bit knowing that no matter how much he advised them against it, they would still come down after him. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I gotta make sure you guys don't get hurt." The next sound his friends heard was of something being knocked over, and a strangely deep-sounding voice.
"Ha! Now I have you," it said.
Mitsuhiko had had enough. "I don't care how dangerous you say it is – we're coming down." Conan hid behind some boxes as they slowly made their way down the stairs.
Ayumi looked around, but she didn't see anybody. "Conan? Where did you go?"
Conan realized how powerful the voice modulator really was, when he set it to make it sound like he was about five feet farther back than where he was actually standing. "I'm over here!"
"Don't come any closer," the scary voice said, "or I may have to cause some physical damage. I don't really want to hurt anyone, but I will if you force me into it."
At that moment, Genta remembered his courage. "What do you want with Conan?"
The monster stood up head and shoulders above one of the stacks. The first thing the Detective Boys noticed was his face. The skin was all sagging and wrinkly, and the eyes were sunken in over sharp cheekbones. Its hair was long and scraggly, and the clothes were tattered, from years of neglect. In an attempt to be unlike the classic bad guy, it said "That's for me to know."
"Why you..." Genta was chomping at the bit for a fight, but held back when he felt Ayumi tug on the back of his shirt. He turned around to face her. "What's the deal, we gotta protect Conan!"
"What if this is the monster that ate Shinichi!?!? He's too strong, even for you." She was on the brink of tears, which melted all three boys' hearts.
Conan couldn't let it show, though, so he resumed his act. "You should listen to the girl. I could pick you off all in one shot, if I wanted." He started laughing maniacally, but changed back to his normal 'Conan' voice quickly, to keep the act up. "Go next door and get help! I've been able to determine how strong he is, and it's too much for you! Don't worry about me, I'll be able to last long enough until help gets here."
"Shut up, you," the monster retorted as he turned around and moved back down behind the boxes. Conan made a sound like he was being kicked in the stomach. "Go now! Hurry!"
The Detective Boys found no other option besides following Conan's directions. They ran back up the stairs, and out of the house.
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"At least one of us should have stayed down there," Genta realized.
"That monster was scary," Ayumi retorted. "I didn't want to stay down there by myself, and anyway it's too late now..."
Mitsuhiko looked at his watch. "Too much time has passed. If we wait any longer, it will be too late!" He kept going towards the next gate, with the other two in tow.
Conan waited until he heard the door shut before he pulled the mask off and relaxed. He hadn't realized how tense his body got from the rush of adrenaline. He went back upstairs to where he could get a better cell phone signal, and waited for the Professor's next phone call.
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The Detective Boys were breathing heavily when they arrived next door. Ran met them at the entrance. She counted the number of children standing in front of her. "Hey guys, where's Conan?"
"The...monster...got him..." Ayumi explained while trying to catch her breath.
Professor Agasa walked up behind Ran. "A monster, you say?"
"Yeah, the one that ate Shinichi! You have to come help us, we're not strong enough by ourselves!" implored Mitsuhiko.
Ran wasn't so quick to believe them even though Conan wasn't with them. She knew he had a certain knack for getting himself into dangerous situations, but they were just kids.
Agasa whispered in her ear so the other three couldn't hear him. "These kids and their imaginations... Why don't you take them home while I go see what Conan is up to? For now, it would be better to just play along with them."
She nodded. "Let's let Professor Agasa take care of this one, okay? I'll walk you guys home."
"But we have to make sure Conan is okay!"
Agasa wouldn't hear of it. He held up a finger and winked. "You may not know this, but my inventions are pretty good for fighting monsters. I'll just go back inside, and pick out the right one. There's nothing to worry about."
"But he's been down there for a really, really long time! He said he could last long enough to be rescued, but someone has to go now!"
Now it was Ran's turn to try. "You'll see him in school tomorrow, I promise. It's more important to me, Professor Agasa, Conan, Shinichi, and especially your parents, that you get home safely." At the mention of their parents, the Detective Boys relented. They waved to the professor, praying that he would be able to fulfill his promise. Ran didn't say anything else, but resolved in her mind to come right back after dropping them off.
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Conan watched impatiently while his friends tried to enlist some help. He wasn't worried, though, as long as they didn't come back inside. He knew there would be hell to pay later for his antics, but that didn't matter anymore when it came to keeping his secret. He was amazed it went as smoothly as it did, sure that his friends would have been more insistent on staying.
He felt the buzz of the cell phone in his pocket again. "Moshi, moshi."
"Shinichi, you did it! They're going home."
"Ran too?"
"I asked her to walk with them. She didn't say whether she was coming back or not."
Shinichi contemplated the weight of that statement. "I'm not sure I want to be here when she gets back."
"You may not have a choice in the matter. I just want to warn you, I'm coming in. They insisted someone come in and 'save' you, although I planned on stopping by before you left, anyway." He hung up the phone, and opened the front door. "Shinichi, where are you?"
"I'm in my room, be down in a minute! In the mean time, could you turn the answering machine back on? I rewashed the cups, but I wanted to make sure they were really leaving, so I didn't get to anything else. I moved a few of the boxes around in the basement, but other than that, the only things are the basement light and door. I'll take care of the boxes next time I'm here. Actually, don't worry about the basement at all; I still need to put my costume back down there." He appeared at the top of the stairs back in his school uniform, with his arms full. He looked at his friend. "Who'd have guessed these would come in handy again?"
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Conan came back upstairs after putting the costume back in its storage location. He looked at the clock, and then at Agasa. "It's been a while... I'm surprised Ran isn't back yet." The sun had set over half an hour before, and he decided it was okay to turn on the kitchen light because it simply didn't matter anymore. He joined Agasa at the kitchen table.
The professor was dying to know exactly what had transpired. He waited to ask until Conan got himself situated.
"I was worried you'd think my idea was too dangerous, so I only told you your role. I'm sorry. Anyway, the three of them were expecting this house to be haunted, so that's what I tried to give them – a monster so powerful they'd be convinced that they wouldn't be able to defeat it by themselves. You'd be pleased to know that the voice-changer bowtie was an enormous help. Hopefully, they won't try to come back. I'm sure they'll forget after a while."
"They're convinced they saw the monster that ate you, and that's what they told Ran..."
"Man, if only they knew what kind of monsters I was really dealing with..." Shinichi mused.
"Well they don't, and you know it needs to stay that way."
"Yeah..." Conan looked back up at his friend. "I just want to grab a few things, and then I'll be ready to go."
Agasa was about to protest – it would arouse suspicion to take too many things from the house, but then decided it wasn't really worth it. Shinichi had his own agenda.
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Conan hadn't returned to the kitchen yet when Agasa heard the front door open.
"Shinichi? Conan? I saw lights on, are either of you here?"
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End Chapter 5
A/N: I don't know if Halloween exists in Japan, but I imagine there must be some festival where they dress up in weird and funny costumes like that. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I only meant to use it as a plot device. Also, one of my reviewers suggested I split the Detective Boys up, and I'm sorry to say I already had much of this chapter in place, and it didn't even occur to me to try something like that.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get chapter 6 up this weekend, because I actually have a lot of it written already, too.