MD: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Conan: You haven't updated in several weeks, and all you can do is sleep?
MD: Huh wha? What did I miss?
Conan: Don't you have anything to say to your readers?
MD: (looks at readers) Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't see you there! I was uh uh…busy?
Conan: . . . . Yeah, right. Since when has sleeping been work?
MD: I'm sorry! I'm just so tired from all those finals. It's gonna take the first few weeks of summer to make up for that miserable hell they call finals week. That's also why I haven't updated in so long! I'm really sorry guys, but I had to study. Unfortunately for my brain, I'm in honors classes so I had to work really hard.
Conan: How long did you study for?
MD: Well, for history I studied a good 15 hours at least. I'm not sure about my other classes though. Pretty long, if I remember correctly. But no worries! It is now summer break so I will get to be lazy and just write! The only things for school I need to do is read 4 books (don't remember the titles) and learn some stuff for chemistry.
Conan: Good! I was getting bored! I wasn't allowed to talk to you during finals week. Your dad can be scary at times, you know that?
MD: Ha ha… (rubs back of head)
Conan: I'll just do the disclaimer now, before you ask. Masked Detective doesn't own Detective Conan or any of its characters. She also apologizes if any of her ideas resemble another fic. All of these ideas were from her head, and she never meant to use ideas already used.
MD: Ok! Let's start this chapter! Oh, and as a side note, italics are used for both thoughts and Conan's glasses! You'll see why in this chapter!
DBZGTCCY
So Close
Ran stared for a few seconds at the badge in her hand. She looked at it with a determined face before she snapped out of it and got to work.
"Did you hear what Conan said Dr. Agasa? And did you know what he was talking about?" Ran looked at Dr. Agasa nervously. She wasn't sure what Conan had been talking about, and didn't think she would be able to repeat it without making a mistake. If only she had been listening just a bit more closely when Conan had told her about all of his different gadgets!
"Yes I heard him, and I know exactly what he's talking about. And I must say, it's a brilliant idea." Dr. Agasa turned around and walked to his lab. While waiting for him to come back, Ran turned to talk to Ayumi.
"Ayumi, can I borrow your Detective Boys badge for a little while? It would be a huge help to me and Dr. Agasa." Ayumi just nodded her head. She looked thoroughly confused and unable to find the right question to ask.
"You can go home if you want. I'll try to explain everything to you as soon as we get this problem all cleared up, ok?" Ran hoped Ayumi wouldn't ask any questions. How could any one explain what was happening to a little first-grade girl?
To Ran's great relief, Ayumi nodded her head once again and went to the door. She put her shoes on, said good-bye, and left, shutting the door behind her. Just as she left, Dr. Agasa came back to where Ran was holding a pair of glasses that looked perfectly identical to Conan's pair.
Ran stared at the glasses, and started to remember what Conan had told her about his glasses. He said something about being able to plant and bug and listen to whatever was near the bug through his glasses. Also, his glasses could trace whatever Conan had put the tracer on. She quickly figured out Conan's plan, and started to smile. It really was a brilliant plan!
Dr. Agasa pressed a button on the side of the glasses. A small antenna slowly appeared out of the top of the glasses. Than the screen turned a dark blue color and some sort of map looking thing appeared on one of the lenses. Ran saw a small, white dot flashing at the center of the glasses.
Dr. Agasa studied the map thing for a minute and seemed to sigh in relief. Ran held her breath, hoping desperately for good news.
"Well, it looks like the kidnappers didn't take Shinichi very far. They are actually very close by." Dr. Agasa looked up at Ran, a small smile showing beneath his moustache. The situation was starting to look a lot more hopeful.
"Are you serious? That's great!" Ran was starting to get excited. Maybe she could save Shinichi that day! Than this whole situation would be over!
"Shinichi is close by, so I would advice that you go on foot and alone. A car would be too noticeable and so would two people. I'll keep in contact with you with the glasses. Those were a new pair that I was planning to give to Shinichi. They work as both a listening device, and a way to communicate. Just press a button and speak with the glasses on." From there, Dr. Agasa taught Ran how to read the map on the glasses. Ran listening carefully and made sure to not make a single mistake.
After a few minutes Ran sighed and looked at Dr. Agasa.
"I guess it's now or never." She walked over to the door, put her shoes on and left.
"Ran, can you hear me?" Dr. Agasa talked to her through the glasses. She pressed the button and said that she could. Dr. Agasa just said "good", and told her good luck.
Ran pressed the button on the glasses and studied the map carefully. She looked down the street where she was headed and started to run. Fortunately, she had put on loose shorts for running, and a loose, white shirt that she had used in PE at her school. If anyone saw her, it would just look like she was taking an afternoon run.
Ran ran (MD: I never get tired of that! Conan: You're beyond hopeless.) at a slow jog so that it would be easier to read the map on the lens. She had some trouble trying to dodge everyone on the sidewalks, and could have sworn she heard some colorful language from the people who she had bumped, but she just ignored it. The only thing that was on her mind was Shinichi.
As Ran was getting closer to her goal, she slowed down a little bit. She didn't want to look suspicious or draw any attention from the kidnappers. They might panic and run off before she could get there.
"Ran, can you still hear me?" It was Dr. Agasa again. She pressed the button on the side of the glasses and answered with a short "Yes".
"Good," he responded, sounding relieved. "I wasn't sure if the glasses would work at that long of a distance. I just built these, so I haven't had a chance to test them out yet. I'm tracking you on my computer screen and you seem to be around the area where Shinichi is, if I remember correctly."
"Yeah, I'm getting really close now. I can't see the building yet, but it could be fairly small." Ran looked around again and realized that this place was fairly close to her school.
She started wondering if they were at her school, but than she went in the opposite direction of the school and almost laughed at herself for thinking they were at the school. That would be a pretty dumb hiding spot! By tomorrow, it would be crowded with students, teachers, etc.
Ran continued walking toward where Conan was being held captive. She tried to make it look like she was just on an afternoon stroll, but the bright, blue lens on her glasses weren't helping much. People kept shooting her odd glances which she did her best to ignore.
Finally, Ran spotted the building. It looked abandoned and as if no one had been in there for years. Some of the windows were cracked and others were boarded up with wood planks. The building looked ready to collapse at any moment. It looked like it had once been a two story building but had collapsed and been very poorly redone.
Ran made sure to walk past the building without looking at it too openly. Her heart beat quickened and she walked a little faster without realizing it. She didn't want the kidnappers to realize that they had been found out.
Once Ran felt she was out of sight, she hid behind a large dumpster where she could still see and spy on the building where Conan was. She stayed there for about three hours and started to feel tired. She had woken up really early that morning and gone to bed late last night because of what had happened. She yawned, than gave herself a light slap on the cheek. She had to stay awake; this was the worst moment for her to fall asleep.
After another hour of waiting, it was fairly dark out. Ran shivered from the slowly creeping cold, wishing she had brought a jacket. She blew into her hands, frowning.
All of a sudden, Ran saw the van that had driven away with Conan the other night pull out of the building. Ran tensed up and quickly became more alert.
The van pulled out of the building, seemed to pause for a second, than drove in the way that Ran had just come from.
Ran slowly stood up and brushed her shorts off once the van had disappeared from sight. She ran up to the building and looked around. There was dust all over the floor except for a trail that seemed to have been walked on for a short while.
Ran walked inside slowly and looked around. She looked around and frowned at what she saw. There was an old, wooded table with chairs lying around. Since there was no dust on the chairs or table, it was safe to say that they had been used recently. She noticed that only three of the five chairs were dust free. She assumed that three people had been there recently.
Ran didn't see anything else in the room, so she headed to a large wooden door on the opposite side of the room. She silently walked over to the door and tried to open it. She was thrilled to find that it wasn't locked. It was heavy door, so it took her a few seconds to open it, but she eventually got it open.
She looked around and saw a strange looking cell with bars at the other end of the hall. It looked like a strange looking jail cell. Her face immediately brightened. "Shinichi must be there! Where else could he possibly be?"
Ran rushed over to the cell and felt her heart drop into her stomach. The cell was empty. She opened the cell and walked in, feeling her eyes get watery. She looked around and felt her stomach churn at what she saw.
There was blood and glass on the floor. She walked over to the glass and saw cut up ropes next to a particularly large and sharp piece of glass. The glass had blood on it on the sides. She assumed that Conan must have cut his ropes with that piece of glass and had accidentally cut his hand also.
Ran than walked to the side where she saw more blood. She was confused because it looked more like splatters, as if the blood had splattered from somewhere. She looked all over the room in a blind panic and was relieved when she didn't see a small body. She looked at it closer and realized that there was a clean spot. It was as if something had covered where the blood was coming from partially.
Ran thought about that splatter for a few minutes. She thought about her conversation with Conan when using the badge. He had sounded weak and sick, and by the end of the conversation he was coughing. That's when it hit her. Conan hadn't just been coughing; he had been coughing up blood!
Ran let out a dry sob as she left the cell. She walked outside slowly, dragging her feet. She felt tears slowly fall down her face. She walked outside and stared at the direction the van had left from.
Now she realized that the kidnappers weren't the only ones that had left, they had taken Conan with them. She had been so close! If only she had found a back entrance or something and had taken Conan earlier.
She sighed and wiped the tears off of her face. She pressed the button and looked for Conan's signal again. She had come so close, and there was no way she was going to quit at this point.
DBZGTCCY
MD: Hooray! I'm done! I finished the chapter! Now that I've got that off my chest, I feel packed full of energy!
Conan: Uh oh, this isn't going to end well.
MD: (twitch, twitch) Must…release…energy. (Runs off around the house yelling and letting her hands fly behind her to knock everything on the floor.)
Conan: Great, she can do this for hours. (sigh)Hmmmmm. Oh, I know! HEY MD, DON'T YOU WANT TO RESPOND TO YOUR REVIEWS?
MD: Reviews! Gotta respond to my reviews! And we're off! WHHHEEEEEEEE!
Alexandra: Thanks! I thought the tracer idea was an okay one. It just popped into my head so I figured, why not use it? I can't wait to get your next letter. Did you get the one I sent a little while ago? I hope so. If not, just tell me and I'll resend it. I hope this little twist was okay for you! I've been dieing to put it in. Well, thanks for reading and reviewing! I hope you continue to enjoy!
Raye Sun: Thanks for the birthday wish! It really meant a lot! And it also shows that some people do read my erm strange author notes. I hope this latest chapter was to your liking! Thanks for reading and reviewing my fic! I hope you keep enjoying it!
michel 8 8 8: I'm really glad that you still enjoy my fic! And don't worry at all about being busy. Authors have a life too, and unfortunately that life gets in the way of writing. Happened to me for the last few weeks. Thanks for taking the time to read and review my fic. I hope that you continue to enjoy it!
jimmy's girl: I'm glad you got our e-mail. We'll try to send one again this time. I'm glad you still like my fic! And thanks for your really nice e-mail! It really made both of us feel good, although Conan was blushing at the end! Ha ha! I love seeing Conan embarrassed! I hope you continue to enjoy this fic! Thanks for reading, reviewing, and the e-mail!
Jim: I'm sorry this took so long! School has to come first unfortunately. I wish my writing could come first, that would be awesome! I'm glad you've enjoyed my fic so far though! I hope you continue to enjoy! And thanks for reading and reviewing!
Dragonmaster01: I know what you mean about the names. It took me forever before I was used to recognizing them, let alone writing with them! I'm glad you're enjoying my fic! I know what you mean about the all of a sudden happy ending. I tried not to do that! Thanks for taking the time to read and review! I hope you like my latest chapter!
Kayla: Wow! You've made me blush! Thank you so much for all those kind words! That meant so much to me! It really encouraged me to write as much as I have! Normally this chapter would have taken longer. Thank you so much again! As for character death, I don't think that'll happen. But sometimes I don't know where my mind takes me. But I defiantly couldn't kill wittle Conan! He's too cute, and so is Shinichi! I hope the small twist I put in was okay for you! I've been dieing to put it in since it popped into my head during finals week (although I wasn't supposed to be thinking of my fic for those weeks, heh!) I tried to send you an e-mail, but my computer wouldn't let me! If you want, you could send me an e-mail, which will make it easier for me to e-mail you. My e-mail is harrypotter17 at cox dot net. It's also on my bio if you want an actual link thing. I hope you continue to enjoy my fic so much! Thank you so much for reading and giving me such inspiring words!
MD: Man, you guys rock! I really am sorry about the wait. Stupid finals, they should die!
Conan: I think I have to agree with you on that. But at least it's summer!
MD: Yeah! And I've gotten into this new anime/manga Megaman (also know as Rockman). It's so awesome! I'm trying to write a new fic for it. But this fic will always come first, so no worries!
Conan: You should have seen her face when that Megaman DVD came in the mail. She literally screamed, and scared her little brother half to death.
MD: Ha ha! Poor Ototo!(Jap. for little brother)By the way! The next chapter of this will come out fairly quickly! I already know what I'm gonna do, so it shouldn't take to long!
Conan: Good thing too. I feel bad for our readers. But that's enough for this chapter!
MD: Yeah, I guess it is. So, TTFN!
Conan: Ta Ta For Now!