'Bang!'

"Ahh!" Naoto screamed as something exploded in her room moments before she rolled of the bed in panic. Suddenly confetti seemed to appear from no where all around her as she scrambled to her feet and the sound of laughter replaced the panicked ringing in her ears. "What the?!"

"Happy birthday Ace!" Minato called to her in between fits of laughter. It had only been a day since they'd returned from he TV world completely exhausted from their expedition and now she was being woken up by her cousin with an oversized party popper. What the hell...

"What?" Her voice was tinged with confusion as she slowly began to relax.

"It's your birthday! Remember?" He responded in a nonchalant celebratory way.

"My birthday? But... How did you...?" Her confusion turned into curious disbelief as she stared at her cousins grinning face.

"How did I know? Your my cousin! How wouldn't I know? I asked your Grampa a while back and he told me it was the twenty seventh of April. So I made the effort to remember! Did you not want me to know?" Minato had a mockingly knowing expression on his face as he seemed to know the reason why she had never told anyone her birthday. She simply hated all the attention everyone would give her and the fact that people would spend their money on her just for living another year in life.

"Not really, no." She frowned at him in annoyance as she calmly crossed her arms.

"Why not? It's the best day of the year for you!"

"Because you do things like this!" Naoto motioned towards the confetti covered room that surrounded them in agitation. "I also prefer it when people don't go out of their way for me." She mumbled as her gaze returned to the still slightly over-excited cousin of hers.

"Well at least let me take you out somewhere! I remember how much you loved it when I took you somewhere when you were younger!" When her face turned to one of worry he instantly added, "Er, don't worry. I won't make you wear a 'birthday girl' badge or anything."

"Good because I'm not –"

"Ah, ah! You don't have a say in this Ace! It's your birthday so we're going to celebrate in anyway possible!"

"That's what worries me..." She mumbled before sighing in defeat. "Fine. I'll meet you downstairs when I'm ready then."

"Okay! Oh and I'll help clear this up later." And with that he swiftly moved towards the door.

"Yes. You will."

"Where are we going?" Naoto asked her cousin as they wondered around town.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you until we get there." Damn... Glancing up at her cousin she noticed the annoyingly smug expression he wore as he answered her. "After all, a surprise wouldn't be much of a surprise if I just told you now would it?" Damn it...

'Beep! Beep! Beep!' Minato swiftly answered his phone as it rang.

"Hello?" Naoto strained her ears to at least her anything from the caller as they spoke to each over. "Yes... Of course... Bye." What was that about?

"Who was that?" She asked curiously as they rounded the corner towards the train station.

"Oh, just someone I met the other day..." Someone he met the other day? Who on Earth could that be? Did she know this person? Does it even matter? No... It's not suspicious at all...

"Hmm... Okay." Her eyes glittered with suspicion as she noticed a small glint of panic flicker on his gaze for a few seconds at least.

"Are you guys on your way?" Rise questioned the one she had just called.

"Yes."

"Good! Now are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course."

"Well we'll see you there then, I guess. Bye!" With that she hung up the phone and turned to the others. "There on their way."

"Well, lets get going then!" Yosuke grinned as the others all nodded and followed him onto the train.

"Lets make this day perfect!"

"Are we almost there?" Naoto asked impatiently as she and her cousin awaited their stop.

"Almost." He reassured her calmly as he smiled at her. "I promise Ace." He chuckled slightly as she yawned sleepily. "I can wake you when we get there if you want." Minato just rolled his eyes as she shook her head stubbornly. After all he knew she'd been awake later then usual last night working on her case work so it was only natural for her to still be at least a little bit tired.

"I'd rather stay awake, thank you." Even as she said that she was drifting into unconsciousness.

"Are you sure?" He knew the answer already but still felt like he should ask.

"Uh huh." She nodded in affirmation as her eyes closed and her head slowly came to rest on his shoulder, whilst she unwillingly fell into slumber.

"Naoto?"

"Hmm?" The young detective's eyes slowly opened as reality returned to her.

"We're almost there." It took her a few moments to fully register what her cousin was talking about as she blinked a few times.

"Almost where? Did I fall asleep?" She yawned as she sat up and stretched.

"I told you before that I can't tell you where we're going because its your birthday surprise. Remember? And yes. You did fall asleep." Minato's calm tone brought Naoto to full attention.

"Er... Right. I'm sorry."

"Hmm? Sorry for what?" His questioning gaze earned both an apologetic and curious one in return.

"For falling asleep..." She looked away in embarrassment before an announcement filled the train carriage.

"We will be arriving in Shiruba-Mun shortly." Er... What? Where on Earth was Shiruba-Mun?

"Well, lets get ready to go!" Naoto glared at him as he spoke up. She'd never even heard of this place before now! Was it a town? A city? A village? Some other random area? She hated not knowing anything or even have enough clues to go on to figure something out herself.

"Here. Put this on." Naoto's eyes widened as Minato handed her a blind fold.

"Um... Why?" Her agitatedly questioning tone brought a smile to his stupidly smug face.

"Its a surprise right? I would be giving it away if I let you see where we were going!" With that he swiftly covered her eyes before she could protest anymore.

"I hate you..." She mumbled in pure agitation at now being completely blind.

"Calm down! Its your birthday! Have some fun!" His nonchalant tone would have earned a fierce glare had she been able to see him or anything.

"I believe we have rather different definitions of fun. Don't you think?" She growled as he began to lead her around... well whatever kind of place this was. They hadn't even left the train station yet!

...

"Okay! We're here!" Minato cheered in delight as he watched Naoto swiftly move to untie the knot of the blindfold.

"Why was this even necessary? People only do this sort of thing when they're hiding something ridiculously huge or something of the sorts." The second her eyes could see anything that wasn't darkness they widened instantly. Her gaze rose to the giant sign that hung above the entrance to somewhere she never ever thought she would see. "You... Brought me to Okami's?"

"Yep!" Okami's was one of the most popular adventure parks in all of Japan! The activities were definitely different to a regular adventure park as it included more then just a aerial courses but also things like quad biking and laser quest. They also had a ridiculous amount of water activities going on at their giant lake and the entire forest was just filled with different things to do! This place had been open since she was about five meaning she was one of the first to hear about it. "I remember you telling me about it when you were a kid and I thought why not bring you here now?"

"Really?" Her amazement instantly earned a chuckle in response.
"Yes. I really brought you to Okami's. Now I have a few more surprises but you'll have to wait for them, so for now would you like to accompany me to go in a seemingly random direction?" Suspicious. Very suspicious.

"Of course."

"Then right this way, ma'lady." Er... What? Ignoring all negative emotions about his comment she eagerly followed him in a seemingly random direction. "Oh and you might want to put this back on."

"No." This time she was unable to keep the agitation out of her voice as he gestured towards the blindfold again.

"Why not?"

"Minato, you have only just let me take that thing off after you forced me to stay blind for the entire journey from the train station to here. I am not putting it on again."

"Are you afraid of the dark or something?"

"No." He sighed at her calm tone.

"Fine. I think you'll be surprised anyway."

"Is that so?" Her questioning gaze penetrated into his thoughts as she ran through the possibilities.

"Yes. It's right over there." Glancing over to where her cousin had just directed her the young detectives eyes widened as she beheld the sight. The entire Investigation Team were seated at a picnic table not too far ahead of them with each of them deep in their own conversations. "Hey! We're here!" In an instant the team stopped talking and turned towards the two cousins that were approaching them.

"Hey! Happy birthday Naoto-kun!"

"Happy birthday!" She smiled in embarrassment as her face turned a light crimson from all the attention.

"H-hello everyone. W-what are you all doing here?" She knew the answer to that. Who wouldn't?

"Isn't it obvious? Its your birthday!" Naoto glanced at Chie as she spoke before her gaze turned to everyone else.

"Didn't Minato-kun tell you that we would be hear? Or was that part of the surprise as well?" Minato nodded at Souji's question before gesturing for her to take a seat next to her boyfriend.

"Well, I'll go see about getting this party started. I'll be back in a minute." With that, Naoto joined her friends at the picnic table as her cousin swiftly left to find someone.

"So, do you know what he has planned for us?" Her gaze met Souji's as she shook her head.

"No. He hasn't told me anything. I didn't even think that he would remember my birthday after so long." Her expression turned curious as she watched him throw a knowing glance at the others.

"That's good. Wouldn't be a surprise if he just went and told you now would it?" She nodded in both agreement and annoyance at his statement that reminded her that once again she had been completely left out of the loop. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll love it." This caught her attention immediately, causing her to through a questioning glance at Yosuke who sat there with a smirk on his face.

"What's that look for?" He knew what the look was for. When she had ended up shot and stuck in hospital they had a rather interesting conversation. A conversation about motor-cycles. Yosuke had been the one that had made her go into fangirl mode over them, so she had a pretty good idea why he looked so smug and at the same time completely innocent. "I only told them how much you liked motorbikes!"

"Yeah! Who would have thought that someone like you could talk so much about one thing!" Rise had a huge grin on her face that seemed to rub off on Teddie.

"Yeah Sensei! Yosuke-kun told us all about it!" Damn... She sighed in defeat after she'd glared a few daggers at the music loving teen. Damn him.

"Are you all ready for the party?" Minato suddenly appeared behind them almost making his cousin jump as he stepped forwards with a member of the staff. In a matter of minutes the Investigation Team were wearing biking helmets and following the activity guide towards a race track. This was going to be fun!

"On your marks... Get set... Go!" In an instant the team had flown forwards on their quad bikes for a few laps around the track. With every bump and hill Naoto just speed up causing her to rocket over them with amazing speed and altitude! Good thing she knew what she was doing! You know, hopefully...

Of course she had been the one to win with a few of the team moving at steady paces and others like Yosuke moving at a speed that would rival that of a tortoise in quicksand. Every single time she flew over mounds she would grin or maybe laugh in excitement if the jump had exceeded her expectations. This was AWESOME!

"Dude! She drives like a lunatic!" Yosuke cried in disbelief and amazement as the detective rocketed past him and Souji. "And so does he!" Minato suddenly raced after her at similar speed whilst obviously trying to catch up to her.

"Yeah." Souji had an awfully strange look on his face as Yosuke stared at him. The two of them had been moving at a steady pace since the heir to Junes couldn't keep control of his bike but that look was a huge combination between longing, adoration, worry, excitement, boredom and a bundle of over words that it was impossible to tell them apart from then on.

"Hey, I bet you couldn't go that fast without at least falling of your quad!" The silverette grinned at the obvious challenge. "Probably couldn't even catch up to Minato-kun." The next look was one of annoyance. "Go get 'em partner!" No need for that at all but oh well! In an instant Souji had sped up to the point that he would be able to swiftly catch up with Minato if he got round the track without faults.

Meanwhile~

"Hey Naoto-kun!"

"Hey Rise-san!" Wait... Hey? When did she ever say hey? Hmm... Perhaps it was the thrill of going incredibly fast on a quad bike...

"Wait for me!" The idol screamed after the detective as she'd only slightly slowed down to say hello.

"No chance with that Rise-san!" Minato suddenly appeared beside them as he swiftly attempted to overtake Naoto. She grinned as she slammed her foot down on the accelerate pedal sending her flying forwards with a huge grin on her face.

"Naoto-kun!" In an instant Rise had giggled at the two blue haired cousins that seemed to be racing each over before racing as fast as she felt comfortable with after them.

"Whoa!" Naoto clung tightly to the handles of the quad as she suddenly hit a mound with a bit more force then she'd expected. The quad had flipped over itself almost crushing her as it was about to land! Right at the last second she yanked the handles upwards and pressed her feet into quad causing the quad to only just land on its wheels! However she'd completely forgotten about the brake pedal that she'd activated in her hurry to straighten the vehicle again.

"Naoto!" The bike had hoped a few times at the sudden brake which almost sent her hurtling over the handle bars! The second the bike stopped trying to throw her of like an oversized raging buckaroo game she gave another grin. Despite the panic and the fear of being crushed that was amazing!

"I'm fine!" She called as she swiftly sped forwards again. Skidding round corners the two of them had almost crashed into the back of Teddie who was moving around like a pig on caffeine. A slow pig on caffeine. The bears quad was swaying left and right on the track with no clear pattern to help them get past at all!

"Teddie!" Her cousin called to him but he seemed not to hear them. This was it! Her foot instinctively slammed onto the pedal again sending her hurtling forwards! This time she hit another mound with the necessary force to send her flying over his head whilst he was moving at any speed! Keeping the

"Wow Sensei! That was amazing!" Teddie was visibly grinning as he watched her swiftly pass the next biker. Kanji who's mouth was now agape as he watched her race past him suddenly smiled in his delinquent way.

"Yeah! Way da go Naoto-kun!" She glanced back at him before skidding round the next corner whilst Minato struggled to pass the stupid bear in front of him. However it didn't take long for him to catch up again. Though she did notice that Souji wasn't too far behind them either.

The two of them swerved around Yukiko and Chie who were traveling side by side. Out of everyone in the group she thought that Yukiko would be the first to start riding around at full speed that wasn't her... Probably Chie. The steak loving girl didn't look too sure about what she was doing.

"Hey Naoto-kun!" She couldn't tell which one of them had called out to them because she'd probably made them eat her dust as she raced by.

"Hey!" Suddenly in the side mirrors another two quads had sped up to them. Nope! No chance! The second they got just a tiny bit further she rocketed forwards again to see how fast they would go to keep up with her. "Come back!"

"Keep up!" Minato had called back to them as she flew round the next corner so that a spray of dirt and stones covered the grass next to her. To be honest she wasn't even paying attention to them but instead was just enjoying the rush of moving this fast with others trailing behind you. This was great!

"Naoto-kun! Look out!" Chie's call was completely unnecessary as she had already seen Yosuke going at the same speed as an old electronic kids car without its batteries! She swiftly swerved around home once again kicking dust in his face accidentally.

"Hey!" He cried in annoyance.

"Keep up Yosuke." Came Souji's calm reply that was only just audible from the where the young detective drove.

"Dude, what the hell?!" This'll be fun! Suddenly the ground seemed to give way beneath her as her quad launched of another mound at an unexpectedly ridiculous speed sending her spinning in the air again. Once again she'd managed to straighten herself out again but this time without slamming her foot on the brake pedal. She cried out in excitement as Minato once again called out to her.

"Naoto!"

"What? I'm fine!" This was awesome! Why wouldn't she be fine?

"We have enough time for one more lap!"

"Already?!" Her disappointed tone made Minato's grin stretch wider.

"We still have another activity after this one!" Wait... What? More?! Hurtling round the corner she glanced back to see Yosuke's still mind blown expression. Seems like he's actually sped up to keep up with her! Finally! Naoto's grin widened at the sight of almost the entire group speeding around trying to keep up with her.

"Okay!" She agreed before skidding round the next corner and once again struggling to get past Teddie. Stupid bear... "Teddie! Drive straight!" Her agitated tone seemed to be noticed by the blonde shadow was he cried out in panic.

"I-I can't! I've tried my bear-y best but it won't go straight!" He didn't even have his hands on the handles! Geez!

"Put your hands on the handle bars in front of you and hold them straight!" The two of them explained in unison.

"It worked! Thank you Sensei's!" The bear suddenly began to drive straight again just moments before the two blue haired cousins flew past him!

A few minutes past before they finished their final lap. Naoto had used practically every scrap of fuel in the entire thing so it was no surprise that the quad stopped moving the second she had left the track. Minato's had only lasted a few seconds longer before his did the same.

"Do you think we over did it?" He asked curiously as they both pushed their quads into a shed.

"No. We just... Went faster then normal..." She smiled back at him as they followed the others back over to the activities guide.

"Well are you all ready for the next activity?" He spoke up before leading the group away from the quads.

"What? There's more?!" Chie stared in disbelief at Minato as he casually nodded in response.

"Dude this is awesome!" Kanji's reaction gained a swift agreement from Yosuke.

"That goes without saying!" He'd grinned as they followed the guide.

"What do you think so far Ace?" The detective smiled at her cousins question that obviously didn't need answering.

"Do I really need to answer that?" She'd replied as calmly as she could possibly be. That had been amazing for her! She'd loved every second of it!

"Here we are!" Naoto's face wore the most curiously knowing face as she stared around the area. The team were in a large open forest clearing surrounded by trees and filled with random structures ranging from walls to barrels. Taking note of the colourful splatters dotted around she threw a questioning glance at her cousin. "Welcome to the arena!"

Authors Note!

Lol! Yes! You all know what's coming! The next chapter will include the rest of Naoto's birthday and most likely some other random stuff but don't worry guys! I WILL get back to the shadow challenges! Okay so just to let you guys know I have been thinking about the story so far and I'm not sure I've been retaining Naoto as a proper character but more like an OC version... Is this true? Please let me know! Its driving me insane not knowing if its right or wrong! So to clear a few things up Naoto has more reasons as to why she dressed up as princess sort of character in the Cruffs competition with one of those being that Souji always liked it when she did more feminine things. I couldn't figure out how to put that in the chapter but its here now!

Okay um... I think I went a bit overboared with this one or I could just be paronoid about it, I don't know... Look things are pretty downhill for me at the moment so um yeah thats probably why I'm like this right now. Oh and I've hinted to what some of the Persona challenges will be in a lot of these chapters and I will explain a few things about Kanji's boss soon I promise! Also I won't have my laptop back ever again so yeah on my birthday I'll be able to get a new one. If I mentioned that before then I'm sorry. So yeah I'm still stumped for a few ideas for character challenges but only for a few of them. Actually I think its just Souji I'm stumped for... Any ideas? ANYWAY! Please Read & Review! I just love to hear from you and it honestly makes my day to see both good and bad reviews! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

PS.

I only took away Souji's Wild Card ability because I think he's been the most milked out of all the protagonists i have ever seen that wasn't either Sonic or Mario. Plus I think Naoto and Minato work well as Wild Cards and the enemies wouldn't stand a chance if there were three Wild Cards!

PPS.

I only just noticed that if I put my first innitial in between the initials of my pen name I would get DJH. DJ H BRO! Lol :D :D :D :D :D