"Well done Kanji-kun! Now you can become a kiddie too!" The fake's voice called out visibly making the delinquent flinch.

"Aww, shit..." In mere seconds Kanji had vanished just like the others had making Naoto call out in shock once again. Now there was going to be three kids for the team to cope with! Kanji had just finished beating a group of girls that resembled some of the girls in Yasogami high but hadn't the chance to tell his story at all! The opponents leader was actually a mean version of Naoto.

"Argh! You are all so unbear-lievably boring! Let's just skip this part and use less of my time!" The fake called out again before the team followed Teddie towards where Kanji was teleported to. However it didn't take long before a small boy came wandering out of the shadows towards them in the most causal way possible.

Kanji now had short bowl cut hair with a well-made, pristine white hoodie that had fluffy bunny ears sown onto the hood along with an adorable rabbit face masterfully stitched above his face on said hood. He wore a blue dinosaur badge from a popular TV series for kids and blue shorts with black trainers. The bullet pendant his dad had apparently given him dangled loosely round his neck, reaching down to the pocket on his hoodie whilst a small black messenger back was slung over one shoulder that seemed rather full which seemed to catch Naoto's eye more than anything. Her curiosity sparked flames of questions in her mind as she glanced around for any more shadows.

"W-who are you?" Kanji's small slightly timid voice only stoked those flames more.

"You don't know?" Rise piped up from behind her before the boy shrugged and shook his head.

"Should I?" His gaze suddenly met Naoto's as he asked that question, obviously expecting an answer from her.

"Yeah. You were with us a minute ago so you should and I don't think you broke the rules that I was told I did."

"I didn't? 'K ... So who are ya?" He tilted his head slightly in wonder.

"I'm Naoto Shirogane and this is my cousin, Minato Arisato. The others are Yukiko Amagi, Chie Satonaka, Rise Kujikawa, Teddie, Yosuke Hanamura and Souji Seta." Her eyes narrowed again as she introduced them with her gaze lingering on Souji for much longer then she realised. Kanji however was staring at her in a rather strange way.

"Okay! I'm Kanji Tatsumi! Nice to metcha' Naoto-chan!" He smiled excitedly. "So what're we doin' here again?"

"Aww! That's so cute!" Rise squeaked for seemingly no reason.

"I'm not cute!" They both yelled in unison towards her. The two of them suddenly glanced at each other in amusement.

"Okay, everyone, let's go!"

"No!" Naoto's eyes – that had been forced shut just mere moments ago – opened at the sound of that familiar voice. She glanced at her Shadow self that sat next to her, sobbing into the sleeves of her oversized lab coat. The Shadow looked up at her with recognition in its gaze. That was Rise. The two of them stood up and began to survey the area. The screen that showed her past had now vanished but the inky blackness remained. The idol was nowhere in sight. "Naoto-kun?"

"Rise-san?" The two of them called out in unison. They suddenly realised what must be going on before they shook their heads vigorously. Just as expected the black illusion swiftly vanished to reveal their true surroundings.

"Naoto-kun? Where are you?" Rise called again even though she was close by. The two Naoto's stood inside what seemed to be a pale, blue, transparent capsule that hung from the ceiling. There was only just enough room for them both to stand together inside said pod but the surroundings made her eyes widen. Next to their capsule was a similar, pale pink structure holding none other than Rise inside of it and just beyond that was another capsule. From what she could tell, there was no one in that one but its pale black tinting brought a few ideas as to who's it could be.

"I'm here Rise-san." She replied calmly whilst her Shadow attempted to get out of the shell they were in.

"Where?" The idol was staring around frantically.

"Well done Nao-chan! You've broken your seal! Now, since I'm such a bear-y nice bear I'll show you how the rest of your group are doing!" The stupid fake Teddie's voice filled the area inside the pod. Suddenly a small screen showed the rest of the Investigation Team wondering through the streets of a deformed Okina city. Three kids were with them, making her mind tumble into a torrent of questions she couldn't possibly escape. "Now, let's hope they get here soon! I'm getting so bear-y tired of waiting for them! If they keep up this pace I might have to send in more clowns to entertain me!" Now she was worried.

"Clowns?" She questioned curiously.

"Shadows! All I'll do is make it that much harder to get here so I can laugh at them!" It sneered evilly. That wasn't like Teddie at all… "Well, bub bye Nao-chan!"

"No! Wait! Don't you dare hurt them!" The two Naoto's called out desperately.

"Naoto-kun! What's going on?!" Rise called out in distress.

"It's okay Rise-san! Whatever you're looking at, it's just an illusion!" The Original Naoto responded.

"An illusion?"

"Yes!"

"Naoto-kun! Rise-san!" Kanji's voice suddenly called out to them from the third pod.

"Calm down Kanji-kun! Whatever you see, remember that it's just an illusion!" She called out again.

"What? Okay!"

"Ugh! Nao-chan, your such a fun killer!" The fake's voice rang out through the area so that everyone could hear it. "Since your ruining everything here I might just make things more difficult for your friends!"

"Don't you dare!" The two detectives cried out in annoyance.

"Oh I dare! How about this!" The image on the screen they had suddenly changed to one of horror. The entire team was suddenly being attacked by dozens and dozens of shadows! She stared helplessly at it before she exchanged a glance with her shadow. This was bad…

"So Naoto-chan, do you live in Inaba?" Kanji asked Naoto curiously as they followed Minato and Souji through the deformed streets of what seemed to be a mixture of Sapporo and Inaba.

"No. I live in Sapporo city. Do you live in Inaba?" To be honest she'd never heard of Inaba before so she was just pretending she knew where it was.

"Yeah. I live above a… Test? Tex…" He fumbled for the right word. "Textiles! I live above a textiles shop!"

"Huh? Above? Does that mean you live in the sky?" She questioned curiously.

"Nah. It's the same buildin'." He stated simply.

"Oh. Okay. Does your family own that shop?" Her interest had plummeted slightly at the fact that he didn't live in the clouds but she was still as curious as ever.

"Yeah. Ma's been teachin' me how to make animals with wool an' stuff."

"Really? Cool!" She then grinned as she showed the boy a silver watch that had been concealed beneath her jacket sleeve. "See this? I modified it so it can do all sorts of stuff!" The proud look on her face matched the curious stare of the other child as she started pressing buttons on the side of it. A purple beam of light shone from the front of it showing the usually invisible footprints of the people in front of them.

"Woah! That's awesome!" He exclaimed excitedly.

~X~

"Well those two seem to be getting on well." Souji commented as he glanced back at the young Naoto and Kanji.

"Yes. Yes they are." Minato replied bluntly.

"Hey, you okay?" He nodded calmly. "Let me guess, you're worried about Naoto right? The original one?"

"Yes. Aren't you?"

"Yeah, but we've got to focus. As I'm sure Naoto would say 'if you focus on worried thoughts then you'll be left wide open.' Or something like that."

"I suppose your right." He paused as he noticed something ahead of them. "Hey… What's that?" Whatever it was, it was definitely intimidating. The height added with the hellish crimson colours definitely meant it wasn't going to be a good thing.

"I have no idea…"

Authors Note!

Sup guys! I'm back! And with a rather short chapter as well! So yeah, hey guys! Sorry for the wait! I was going to update this earlier than this but I honestly haven't felt very well recently. Nothing to it though cause I'm back! I'm ready to continue this story! It was also rather difficult to get back into this after I left it where it was… oh well. And thanks to a very special reviewer I now have ideas for every dungeon to come! So get ready for it! Oh and I honestly don't know where that whole regular Naoto in a space pod idea came from either… I don't know… I come up with things as I go! Anyway! Please Read & Review cause I still love hearing from you guys even after a long hiatus like that! Thanks for waiting and reading this fic up to this point! :D :D :D :D :D

PS. There is a poll going on my channel by the way for anyone who likes my stories. So it would be a great help if you voted on it! Thanks guys! :D :D :D

PPS.

Next chapter should be more interesting for you!