Conan shot straight up as soon as he heard the doorbell half an hour later. Kid had taken out one of his probably many packs of cards he used for ammunition in his gun and called everyone for a game of Cheat. Needless to say, Kid's 'poker face' was impeccable, only to be rivalled by Haibara, whose unwavering gaze didn't move an inch with each word she spoke. Conan himself had been called out surprisingly early, followed closely and frequently by the professor. However, the Conan duplicate had been uncannily unfazed when he'd been called, almost as if he'd expected it and not hidden his change in expression on purpose. He remained creepily innocent and playful all the while.

The card game had, however, brought about many an interesting comment, mostly due to the duplicate's insistant pestering of the Phantom Thief. Conan had never thought he'd see the thief annoyed, what with that annoying smirk constantly plastered on his face, but he was pretty sure the whole room had had enough by the time they were finished...

The duplicate's turn came around, "Ne, ne, Kid-san. Why'd you steal your jewels? There's gotta be some reason right? Three fours."

Kid ignored him, instead looking at Haibara to prompt her in placing down cards.

"A five." Haibara complied.

"Ne, ne, Kid-san. Why did you dress as Kudo Shinichi from the news when you came here?"

"A four." Came the reply.

"Kid-saan~, why does everyone call the Kid Killer 'Kudo'? It's weird to call people by someone else's name..."

Conan sighed, feeling slightly sorry for the thief, "Why would you ask him that? Two threes."

"Cheat." The duplicate's grin grew, "Well why don't you answer then, Kudo-senpai?" At Conan's raised eyebrow he continued, "Well, you were the one imitating Edogawa Conan first, weren't you? It's only right that you'd be my senior." The duplicate's face turned to challenging, and Conan could swear he'd seen his eyes flicker red for a second.

Shaking off his uneasy feeling, he reluctantly turned over the cards he'd just put down, revealing a three and a seven, "You know, I think we might need a longer chat even after your guardians come for you..." he put the cards on the table into his hand and grimaced at them before sighing, "Four queens..."

"Heh...'guardians'..." he heard the duplicate whisper to himself as he turned back to Kid, "Ne~, Kid-san-."

"What?" Kid's face turned to glower at the duplicate.

"Ah, Kid-san, I was just wondering what 'Pandora' is, is all~! Apparently one of your doves was talking to my friend about it. Something about im-" he was cut off with a puff of pink smoke, soon revealing him to be handcuffed and shut up with a piece of tape around his mouth.

"That's better." Kid nodded, turning back to his cards, "Now-"

"Kid-san, you didn't answer my question..."

Everyone in the room turned suddenly towards the previously bound child now sitting free with the most innocent and disappointed look on his face.

"You- How...?" Kid stuttered, "I-I checked they were on, you can't just...!"

The duplicate smiled again, "It's because I have the perfect disguise, Kid san~!"

"Ah," the professor interrupted, probably not really paying attention for his own sanity, something which Conan wasn't sure he still had himself at this point, "two kings."

Conan raised his eyebrow another time. There wasn't enough clues in the mystery, the child was a perfect copy, excluding his attitude. Kid had gone back to subtly glaring at the duplicate every so often, and Haibara and the professor had simply restarted playing the game. He couldn't understand what was going on with the duplicate, and that wasn't something he experienced often — it seemed to be nothing short of, well, magic, but Conan was a firm denier of such superstitions. He sighed once again and made a sideways glance at his imposter. On with the game, he supposed...

-xxx-

"Hurry up, Kudo, we haven't got all day."

Kaito glanced at the mini scientist. So even she was getting annoyed. Thankfully the squirt had stopped going on about his personal secrets a while ago, so he didn't have as short a fuse as he had earlier, but he had to wonder where he'd gotten the information. He'd said it was from his friend who could talk to doves, but that was stupid, right? Maybe I should've talked to Akako about this...or not. Nope, nope, never going to her for things...dispel the thought. He felt himself shiver.

-xxx-

Akako sneezed as she waited behind a bush near the professor's house.

"Akako-sama! Are you feeling well?" Her faithful servant asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine...so be quiet!" she peeked out of her hiding spot. She was wearing normal everyday clothes as she'd passed the strange group as she was out shopping with Aoko and Keiko. Sensing they each held some power in them, but not being able to identify the source of such powers, she felt it would be safest to follow them. Quickly excusing herself from her friends' company she'd hurried after them, her servant who always seemed to follow her tracing her steps and catching up to her outside the Kudos' residence. She recalled it as being the home of the detective who'd once shot at Kid, and had noted it for...reasons. However, the group didn't head to the abandoned mansion: they headed to the next door home, one she knew the boy dubbed as 'Kid Killer' frequently visited. That was also something she'd noted for...other reasons.

"But why would they go to meet Conan Edogawa..." she muttered to herself.

"Akako-sama, you seem a bit pale."

The witch closed her eyes and let out a noise of frustration.

Maybe she should stay a bit longer.

-xxx-

Shaking the thought of his more than strange classmate from his mind, Kaito observed the teens who'd just stepped into the house: the first being a green-haired girl sporting a purple MP3 player style hoodie and a woried expression on her face.

"Ah, umm...excuse me, I'm Kido, Kano's sister. Is Kano in here?" Her slightly deeper than average voice displayed her anxiety clearly, somehow seeming out of character for her laid back appearance, Kaito noted.

Kaito grinned widely as he lifted the small imposter by his shirt, "If by Kano you mean this squirt then of course~! We'll be glad to be rid of him."

The girl — Kido — seemed surprised for a second as she surveyed the two duplicates, the group behind her seeming momentarily confused as well. But all at once looks of realisation dawned on their faces.

"Kano? You disguised as the Kid Killer?" A voice emanating from the dark haired teen who'd entered second asked — someone on the phone to him? Kaito could only really guess why. The guy quickly pulled out some headphones and plugged them into the phone, probably ending the call as well.

Now that all of the members of the group had entered the room, he could see just how odd of a group they were. For starters, their ages ranged from about 19 all the way down to a 12 year old boy who looked very reluctant to be present, every so often glaring at an orange haired girl who was holding his arm — perhaps, he supposed, to prevent escape. A young girl of maybe 14 rested sleepily on the back of a guy clad in a green hoodie, whilst the eldest looking of the group stood at the back — by far the oddest member with his albino white hair and red eyes, his outfit reminiscent of a gaming character.

His eyes kept on returning to the ginger girl, wondering if he'd seen her somewhere before. Her eyes seemed to be tinted slightly red the more he looked at them which he found unsettling. More unsettling, however, was the calculating, yet dull gaze the guy now presumably listening to music on his phone was surveying him with. Though his expression was that of someone bored and waiting to get home, Kaito felt as though he was under suspicion...

"Heh, it was fun~!" The squirt broke his thought.

Kaito had only blinked and his weight had gotten heavier. Surprised, he dropped the kid, only to realise it...wasn't a kid anymore? The 'squirt' had evolved into a blond-haired teenager with a brown hoodie and a grin as wide as a Cheshire's, "Umm...I..." The great Phantom Thief Kid was at a loss for words. Magic? Maybe he should have— nope! Nopedy nope! You can never trust a witch.

"For goodness' sake, Kano! You should know better than to just run off!" Kido huffed, "Let's get going. I'm very sorry about this." She turned to the professor, him probably seeming the most adult-like in the room.

"Oh no! Not at all!" Agasa quickly replied.

Kano meanwhile set an eery grin on his face, "Aww~ Kido! You do care!"

"Let's get going." Kido turned and grabbed the blonde, dragging him out of the door.

The rest of the odd group started to make their way after Kido and the brightly waving Kano, but Red Jacket lingered behind so he was last out.

"Ah!" Conan suddenly exclaimed next to him, "I know where she's from!" He looked up at Red Jacket, "You know a pop idol, huh? Lucky you."

The guy shrugged, "She's my sister actually, but that's not what I was going to say." He adressed the room, "I know one of you is Kaito Kid. I won't say I'm a massive fan like Kano, but I was just going to reassure you that no one but Kano knows who you are, nor will he disclose it to anyone, stupid as he is." He sighed, "Also, umm...I was thinking you should know about the weirdo stalkers outside. Seto kinda said they mentioned Conan, and they don't exactly look like nice people. I mean one looked like a troll Hibiya said so..." he held up a hand, "Bye."

He turned to go and suddenly winced as a muffled noise erupted from his headphones. His expression then changed to one of horror as he yelled at it, "NO! We are LEAVING! What-! I- You know-!" He paused for a second before a defeated and quite scared look crossed his face.

As quick as he could, he unplugged his headphones and presented the screen to them. It showed a series of apps with a blue haired girl lazing about on top of them. When the phone turned, her face immediately went from smug and cocky to wide eyed excitement, "Kaito Kid! I know who you are! I'm a massive fan, I've read all the articles on you you're amazing!" The girl looked over at Conan, "AND YOU little boy are also amazing! It's so cool how you're friends with the Kaito Kid even though you're always trying to catch him! That's so awesome!" She beamed, "Okay, Master! Your files are safe." She grinned evilly, "For now..."

For some reason, Kaito felt like becoming friends with this girl, or even hanging out with her, wouldn't be recommended.

"Oh my...! Is that an AI? A true AI?" Haibara's eyes gleamed excitedly. Wow. That was a rarity.

The girl saluted, "That's me! The one and only Ene! And well...sort of. You can't really replicate me. I'm kinda one of a kind."

"I, ah, think we should go catch up with the others." Red Jacket turned abruptly, "And go check those stalkers. Bye."

Kaito held up a half wave as the now stiff Red Jacket guy walked out of the door and off to the rest of his group waiting by the gate, "Well...that's sorted now?"

Conan shook his head then turned to look at him, "Nope! You're going to catch the stalkers they were talking about!" He grinned.

"What- Why me?"

"Because you owe me now. Plus, what're we going to do? We're only little kids." Conan smiled his gaze reflecting all the fake innocence he had.

-xxx-

Hello again! Sorry for the wait but I hope it was worth it. I'm not going to give excuses, we've probably all already read and/or enough fanfiction to know that writing takes time which most people lack and motivation which people also lack at times to know where the heck I was. Answer: not being motivated.

Anyways a few facts: firstly the 666th word is 'she' relating to Haibara ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ make of that what you will.

Second, for those of you who've never played Cheat, imma teach you an awesome card game:

• Everyone is dealt cards until they're all given out.

• Players, starting with the left of the dealer, then place cards face down in the centre of the table. They can play up to four cards, but they all must be of the same number. The cards must be the same, one above or one below the previous card placed down; obviously for the first person placing a card this doesn't matter. When you place down a card the player must declare what they just put down. For example: 'One five' or 'Three Aces'.

• Whenever you want to in the game, you're allowed to cheat. This could be anything from putting down cards with numbers contradictory to what you say or placing five cards down at the same time. However, if anyone says 'cheat' before the next players turn, the cards of the player who just declared their cards will be overturned. If this player cheated, they must take all of the cards in the centre and play is resumed from the left of the cheater. If they didn't cheat, the person who said 'cheat' must take all of the cards in the centre and play is resumed from the left of them.

• The game continues until one player gets rid of all of their cards.

You're welcome, my readers! Have a nice day and look forward to the next and probably final chapter. XD