As this will be a short story, all of what happened to Conan will be revealed here! It's a shocker!


Chapter Two

"HAKASE!"

Agasa-hakase was tinkering with an invention when he heard Ai's voice. She sounded in trouble, so he immediately dropped what he was doing and went to the lab. Ai never raised her voice like this.

"Ai-kun!" exclaimed Agasa, running down the stairs and into the basement. What's the matter?"

"…Kudo-kun."

"Is something the matter with Shinichi?"

"You could say so. We all know he's been acting weird these past few weeks. I just brought him in for a physical to see what was wrong. The physical portion was the same, but when I asked him questions, he didn't know anything. He didn't know about Gin, Vermouth, or APTX-4869. When I asked him who he loved, he said he didn't love anyone."

"Really? Then why'd you yell so loud?"

"This." Ai held out two sets of fingerprints. She held out the one in her left hand, "These are his fingerprints before he started acting weird…" She held out the other, "…and these are the fingerprints I just took."

Agasa took them and compared. Then he gasped. "The fingerprints don't match!"

"Right. That means that the Conan-kun façade isn't an act. He's acts like a completely different person because he is another person. Fingerprints can't be duplicated, even with identical twins, so this is all the proof we need he's a different person."

"Then what happened to the real Shinichi?" asked Hakase worriedly.

"That's what we need to find out."

"I'll call Heiji-kun," said Agasa at once. "He'll find Shinichi. In the meantime, let's keep this knowledge to ourselves."

Agasa went into the living room and called Heiji.

"Agasa-san?"

"Heiji-kun, we have a problem."

"What kind of problem? Is it Kudo?"

"Yeah. Shinichi's been acting weird lately, so Ai-kun did a physical. He's convinced he's Edogawa Conan and doesn't know anything about anything Shinichi would know. It's like he's a separate person."

"It could just be a phase…"

"We also took his fingerprints. They don't match."

"WHAT! Then where's Kudo? Why don't the prints match?"

"We were hoping you'd be able to help us with that."

"Sure, I'll be in Tokyo as soon as possible."

Heiji hung up, and Agasa and Ai started formulating theories about what had happened.

Ai said, "A kid wouldn't have a reason to impersonate him, nor would they think they'd get caught. Plus, he knows everything he knew as Edogawa-kun, but not as Kudo-kun."

"Then what happened?"

"He's obviously been replaced. Whoever did it obviously doesn't know the truth about him, otherwise the new Edogawa-kun would know about the Organization."

"It could be a twin…" said Agasa, though he didn't sound convinced.

"Impossible, Hakase. Kudo-kun is 17, and there's no way he'd have a twin that's only 7. My guess is that it's a clone."

"A clone?" exclaimed Hakase in shock, "then wouldn't his fingerprints be the same?"

"No. Fingerprints are unique to an individual. Even identical twins have different fingerprints. That's because the fingerprints are grooves created by the umbilical fluid inside the mother's womb. The fluid washing over the unborn skin creates a unique pattern that can never be duplicated, even with a clone."

They continued to ponder what happened to Conan, spouting out ideas that were mostly crazy. That afternoon, Heiji arrived.

"You wouldn't BELIEVE what I had to tell Kazuha to keep her from coming, too! I had to tell her I was needed for an urgent meeting and that if she came, she'd be bored. Anyways, what have we got?" He sat down opposite them, waiting for an explanation.

Ai spoke up, "We have reason to believe Kudo-kun has been replaced by a clone."

"A clone? Isn't that a little sci-fi? It's too futuristic!"

"Not necessarily. In this day and age, you can find practically anything, and animal clones are already out there. Cloning a human wouldn't be too difficult."

"What would account for him being 7 then and not a baby?"

"I don't know. It could be some kind of accerlerated growth machine or something."

"Is it those guys you're after?"

"No. If it was the Organization, then they'd do a perfect job. Plus, we'd all be dead by now. This is someone else's doing. Plus, they don't know about Kudo-kun's past, and only know him as Edogawa-kun, so that's all the clone knows, too."

"We'd better track Kudo down, then! What leads to we have?"

"Kudo-kun carries a lot of gadgets made by Hakase, and the glasses and the Detective Boys badge can be tracked."

Agasa spoke up, "I'll get the spare pair of tracking glasses!" He ran off, and returned a minute later with the glasses. Heiji snatched them and turned them on.

"Mouri Detective Agency. Whoever has him tried to cover it up by giving the clone Kudo's gadgets. Any other ideas?" He turned off the glasses.

They all thought about it, and then Ai said, "His cell phone! Kudo-kun carries two cell phones, one for him as Edogawa-kun, and one for him as Kudo-kun!"

Heiji caught on immediately, "If the kidnapper doesn't know about Kudo's past, then he wouldn't have given the clone the other phone! It'll still be in his lab!"

Heiji pulled out his phone, and turned it on speaker. "First thing is to call Conan's phone," he said, "to see which phone the cloner gave him." He punched in the numbers to Conan's phone and pressed the talk button. All three heard the phone ring, and then Conan picked up.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Conan-kun!" exclaimed Heiji, "it's Heiji-niichan! How've you been doing?"

"Fine!" exclaimed Conan cheerfully, "I've been doing real well in school, and I've been helping Mouri-occhan with his cases!" They all came to the conclusion that this Conan was the clone.

"Good then! Keep up the good work! Kazuha says 'hi' too. Bye!" Heiji hung up and said, "That's definitely the clone. If it had really been him, he would've gone off on me for treating him like a kid with the 'Heiji-niichan' business. Now let's try calling Kudo's other phone."

He punched in the number, and pushed the talk button. All three held their breaths while the phone rang. It rang about 5 times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" It was the exact same voice they'd heard before.

"Kudo?" asked Heiji hesitantly.

"Oh, it's you, Hattori. What do you want?"

"I was just calling to check up on you. How've you been doing?"

"I've been out of town for a while. I told Ran I was going, though, so I guess that's why no one told you anything. How're things for you?"

"Pretty smooth. Your friends are worried about you being gone, especially the little blonde girl."

"Tell Haibara I'm fine, then. I haven't met any of them, so I'm fine, and there's no need to worry. Oh, Hattori, which came first, the chemist or the chemistry?"

"Uh, the chemistry I guess. Why'd you ask that?"

"Next question, why is Touto Tower called Touto Tower and not Tokyo Tower?"

"I don't really know. I don't live here."

"Fine then. Why do floor numbers in America start on the ground floor rather than the first floor up?"

"Kudo, I don't live in America, so I don't care! Why are you asking me these stupid questions?"

"Hattori, just remember that not everyone is perfect, and grudges can come from the smallest places. I'll see you soon, then, and be sure to show me that restaurant in Osaka you wanted to show me. Bye then!" The line went dead.

"What was all that about?" asked Agasa in wonderment.

Heiji grinned, "It's a code. He's telling us where he is."


Now to find Conan! But what'll happen to the clone, and what's the cloner's motive? And what's the answer to Conan's code? Start giving ideas in reviews, and I hope the whole cloning thing didn't turn anybody off to this story. Look forward to more, and MANY thanks to those who reviewed or favorited this story.