13-year-old Ran Mouri sobbed as she waited for emergency vehicles to arrive. She blamed herself as the reason Shinichi was now laying on the ground, unmoving. If only she'd stopped him from chasing after that murderer! The man in question was unconscious, for different reasons than her friend, she'd tied him securely to a pipe in the abandoned building earlier, before she'd called for help. She didn't need him waking up and making her friend's condition worse.

Kudo Shinichi wasn't dead yet, she'd felt is breath, albeit too softly, against her fingers, and she'd found a fluttery pulse. But that didn't mean he wasn't in dire need of help. Her tears were forming a small puddle underneath her chin, a few centimeters from the top of Shinichi's head. As soon as the man was securely bound to the pipe, she'd fished out Shinichi's phone and dialed the police. Inspector Megure had been the one to answer, and promised her in a soothing voice that help was on the way, all they needed was the address. She'd stayed on the line for a minute longer before hanging up and breaking down.

Shinichi's skin was too pale, and dark bruises that hadn't been there earlier rested beneath his closed eyes. She couldn't see the rise and fall of his chest, his breathing was that shallow. The little girl prayed to every god she could think of, then prayed to the ones she couldn't remember at the moment or didn't know about, that her childhood friend would live. He just had too. Her spirits rose when she heard the far-off sounds of sirens. She held a breath, and only let it go when she saw adults rush in with medical equipment, the police right behind them. She let them nudge her aside as they examined Shinichi, and let her follow along in the ambulance as they rushed him to the nearest hospital.

The only place they didn't let her follow was into the ER, instead, a nurse took custody of her and managed to call both sets of parents- only actually reaching her own. She was handed over to a chair to wait for her parents. Not too long after the pair arrived, Eri taking her daughter up into her arms while Kogoro sought answers from the nurse.

"They should be finishing up with the boy in an hour, if things go well, I can let you three know when he's ready for visitors." The lady nurse said in a kind tone.

It was an hour and a half before she got the call and directed them to Shinichi's hospital room. She heard her dad suck in a sharp breath when he saw the boy in question. Ran rushed over to her friend's side. He was still unconscious, several machines hooked up to his body than now appeared smaller than it should be, like a broken doll.

"Oh, good."

The trio turned around to see a man in a crisp white coat walk in, his name tag had Dr on it.

"I'm Dr. Yamatori, it seems his parents have yet to arrive, so I was hoping I'd be able to talk with you both." The man said.

Yamatori was a gentle face middle-aged man with smile lines and kind eyes. Or, that's what he looked like to Ran. Still, there was a hint of darkness in his eyes, not the bad kind, but the kind that meant bad news.

"They boy is stable now, and should recover." Yamatori began."

"But," Eri prompted.

"But, to call it a full recovery would feel wrong, they boy suffered extensive damage to nervous system, he'll be unable to move around like he used to."

Ran grimaced. Shinichi loved soccer, but from the sound of it, he'd be unable to participate in the sport anymore. How would that affect his dream of becoming a detective?

"We've also noticed a decline in white blood cells, probably from the stress. The boy did entire clinical death soon after arriving at the ER."

The three all shot the doctor panicked looks.

"He's fine now, his heart did stop suddenly, but also restarted on its own, it was deemed the aftereffects of the extensive nerve damage," Yamatori explained. "We are hoping the decline in white blood cells is just a temporary decline of the immune system brought on stress, but there is the potential for this to worsen and become permanent, if this does happen, the boy will need to be cautious of his health. A shot immune system is not something to be ignored."

Ran resisted the urge to grip tighter to her friend's hand. This sudden drop of information was taking it's time to sink in. Her parent's talked with Dr. Yamatori a bit more, but she didn't bother listening.

2 hours after Dr. Yamatori left them, the Kudo parents arrived. Kudo Yuusaku remained mask faced as she watched his wife Yukiko cry and grip Shinichi's free hand. He did wake up the next day, by then the hospital staff had confirmed his immune system was compromised. Nether that fact, nor the news of his damaged nervous system wavered his desire to become a detective. His mind, after all, was still as sharp as it was before. Ran promised to become stronger, so she could protect her friend properly now that he could not.

"And the culprit is you!" Shinichi said, pointing at the supposedly wheelchair-bound man.

He made quick work of the man's supposed alibi and broken leg. When the man, cornered by all the facts, chose to run, he reacted with the reflexive motion of using his tranquilizer watch to stop the man, letting the cops take it from there.

"Good work there Kudo-kun!" Inspector Megure said, patting him lightly on the back. Handling him with kid's gloves, as though he might break under pressure.

"No thanks needed, catching criminals is what I do." He replied. "But I'd better get home now, before Ran blows a fuse- could I gut a ride from one of your officers?"

Megeru nodded. "Takagi Come here!"

"Someone looks pleased with himself!" Ran teased, carefully elbowing the boy at her side.

Shinichi chuckled.

"I suppose," He replied.

As they passed by a group of schoolgirls, he heard them talking about him, specifically singing praise about his deductive skills. Pride well up in his chest, but he simply continued listening to Ran talk about karate. Maybe in another life, who where he hadn't been disabled at the tender age of 13, he might have reacted more to the praise. Certainly before the accident 3 years ago he would have been puffing out his chest, maybe even laughing as he spoke up the words, but not now, not when he was so dependant on other to take care of him.

"I can't wait for Saturday to come around!" Ran said.

"Oh, a karate tournament?" He asked.

His childhood friend shot him a scary look.

"Don't tell me you forgot!" She barked at him.

"Hm? Do you mean about Tropical Land?" He asked sweetly.

Ran gave him the dirtiest look she could muster, grown men would probably be cowering in fear if they were in his place. But he was used to it, and knew she would never dare lay harm to him.

"I hate you sometimes, you know that?"

"Love you too, Ran."

Tropical Lads was bursting with life and cheer when they arrived Saturday evening. He made no protest as Ran dragged him from ride to ride.

"If I had to choose a favorite villain, it definitely had to be Professor Moriarty, he could always match wits with Sherlock, no matter what turn of events happened," Shinichi said.

"No surprise there, since Sherlock is your favorite character, it makes sense his antagonist would be your favorite villain." Ran replied.

The pair made it to the rollercoaster while there was still a decently lengthed line. They watched as one of the cars sped off down the track. There was a trio of older women in front of them, and she caught of trickster glint in her friend's eye.

"Excuse me miss, could I have your hand for a moment?" He asked.

Ran sighed.

She watched him shake the hand of the lady closest to them, a brunet with a string of pearls.

"You're a part of the local gymnast team, aren't you." He said, earning a gasp from the woman and a rushed nod.

"And how did you figure that out?" Ran asked, unimpressed. She'd seen him do this several times.

"The calluses on her hands are those characteristics of people who swing from uneven bars." He replied.

"But wouldn't a tennis player have the same calluses?"

"Yes, but gymnasts also use powdered chalk to reduce friction, which gives the hands, and calluses on them, a rougher feel to them. And besides," Shinichi said. "the wind picked up her skirt for a moment, she had bar-shaped bruises on her this."

Ran gave her perverted friend a deadpanned look. She wasn't really surprised.

Eventually it was their turn for the ride. Two of the ladies from the group, the gymnast and another, hopped into the front seats, she and Shinichi took the second row. The last member of the group on her boyfriend took the third. Before another couple could clime in, two men dressed in all black shoved their way through and took that last row. The shorter man was clutching a black briefcase while the latter man with long platinum blond hair glared at anyone who tried to protest.

Shinichi and Ran were no stranger's to dead bodies, not even those who'd just had their head severed. Shinichi seemed to attract death wherever he went, it was a fact no different than the sky being blue or the earth having gravity.

Ran found the scattered pearls right where her friend had predicted she would. Along with a few cunning children.

Shinichi felt nervous around the blond man in black, his piercing eyes were ones he was all too familiar with; the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. He was unable to do anything more than watch him and his partner leave, neither of them was the culprit, and he had no grounds to detain them. He watched as a pair of cops took the true culprit, the gymnast who'd had the pearls, away. He'd never understand what drove people to kill, or what pushed them to blame another for their own crimes. Bother were puzzles he had no desire whatsoever to solve.

When he caught sight of the shorter man in black, the one with sunglasses and a briefcase, run by, he knew something was up. He wanted to go after the man himself, but was hindered by his own physical limits.

"You head home, I'll call you when I'm done." Ran promised, running in the direction of the suspicious man in black.
Shinichi chose to remain at the table.

Ran watched the exchange with baited breath.

It was a please doing business with you." The stocky man in black said, excepting the briefcase with money in it.

She felt something hard hit her head. Her legs gave out beneath her and she fell forward.

"You need to be more careful- this pest saw the entire thing." An icy voice said.

"S-sorry Aniki," The stocky man said. "I'll take care of her."

She watched as the man pulled out a gun from his suit jacket.

"This place is crawling with cops, shot now and they'll come running." The cold voice said.

"B-but Aniki, how are we supposed to kill her then?" The other man asked.

"With this, the organization's latest weapon." The cold voice said. "It a poison that is supposed to be untraceable, and leaves no evidence."

A hand grabbed her hair, lifting her face off the grass. Something was shoved into her mouth, then a cylinder of water was pressed to her parted lips. Once she swallowed, her head was dropped back to the ground. She watched the two leave, vision hazy.

Then the pain hit. It was as if her bones were melting. Her body was on fire, and no matter how deep she pressed her face into the cool earth, the burning feeling persisted, it made the ache in her head worse.

I'm sorry, Shinichi, I don't think I'll be getting back to you.

When Ran didn't contact him an hour later, Shinichi knew something was off. He wandered over in the direction he'd seen the man run. He probably wasn't their anymore, but maybe something had happened to his friend and she needed help. It was worth a try.

Behind the amusement park, he found a little girl dressed in clothes far too big for her. And those clothes just so happened to be the ones Ran had been wearing earlier. He knelt down beside the child and placed a hand on her shoulder. There was blood trickling down from her hairline, and obvious sign of a head wound, but other than that she appeared fine.

Why was she in Ran's clothes, and where had she even come from anyway? She couldn't be Ran, right? People don't just shrink. But he was having a hard time coming up with a more plausible explanation.

"Ran!" He said, nudging the girl gently.

"Ran, wake up!"

This time he got a response in the form of a long groan. A pair of blue eyes lazily blinked open as the girl lifted her head.

"Shinichi?" She murmured.

The first two chapter should be the longest ones, everything else will hopefully be no more then 1000 words and a little bit over.

There will be a bit more focus on the DC characters because their's more content, but we will se a fair bit of MK character and Kid!Aoko, dont't wory.