chapter 6

"I founded the Tokyo Troopers to help keep the city safe," Daizo smiled friendly towards his guests. "We're not too different from you Titans or young adventurers, except... We are all grown-ups."


The shaft showed them around to show them agents in training for their new occupations.


"My operation is a triumph of Japanese culture, technology, and design," Daizo continued. "Living units are efficient, but comfortable. Hourly training sessions keep my Troopers in peak form. My highly advanced command center has reduced crime in Tokyo by 200%."


"Wow, that's a lot." Lucky said, impressed.


Daizo looked to Lucky. "Your dog speaks..." he then gave a small smile. "Impressive."


"He's not the only one that talks." Patch said.


"So I see..." Daizo said then.


They came to another end and found troopers who were on the computer and allowed his guests to come out and take a look. Beast Boy saw a shining red button and reached over to it.


Raven slapped his hand, glaring right behind him, menacingly. "Don't. Touch. ANYTHING!"


"Especially big red buttons." Atticus added in.


Beast Boy pouted like a sad puppy and even let his ears droop and he went away from the button.


"With your permission, Daizo, I'd like to use this equipment to complete our mission." Robin stated to the commander.


"Ah," Daizo smiled. "Certainly, my young friend. And what, may I inquire, is your mission?"


"We're tracking a criminal who calls himself Brushogun." Robin explained.


Daizo laughed to this as if it were a joke.


"What's so funny?" Dot asked.


"Forgive me, but you are ignorant of our culture," Daizo explained. "Brushogun is an urban legend, a myth. I'm afraid you've come a long way for nothing," he then showed his workers who were checking monitors. "As you can see... My Troopers have Tokyo's real criminals well under control."


"But... Saico-Tek said--" Patch spoke up.


"I'm sorry," Daizo stopped him. "I don't know who that is. Someone is playing a trick on you, perhaps, hmm?"


"Maybe." Lucky shrugged.


"I'm... I'm not sure..." Robin added.


"Commander Uehara!" a man called as he stood with a large group from the press behind him. "Tokyo thanks you. You've saved our city once again!"


"It is my honor to serve, Mr. Mayor." Daizo smiled respectively after he took a bow to the mayor.


"Come, Commander," the mayor told the man. "The people want their hero and I want to give you another medal."


Daizo turned to his guests. "Enjoy your visit. But remember, here, you are just tourists. Leave the law enforcement to us, hmm?"


"Yes, sir." Atticus said while having a sneaky suspicion before seeing the teenage boy again.


The press snapped photographs as Daizo met the people.


"All right, what's up with you?" Cherry came to Atticis in a spot where they could talk alone.


"What do you mean? Everything's fine." Atticus said.


"You've been acting weird lately..." Cherry said to him.


"It's just that there's been this teenager that seems oddly familiar." Atticus said.


"Really?" Cherry asked.


"Yeah." Atticus nodded.


"I'm gonna need a little more to that... Come clean, what have you done and who's out to get you?" Cherry waited.


"Oh, come on, Cherry, he's telling you the truth and besides, he hasn't done anything bad, right, Atticus?" Patch asked.


"Yeah, but I don't know what's going on because no one is telling me anything!" Cherry explained.


"Well, then maybe we should do some research on the teenage boy that me and Atticus saw." Patch said.


"Did you bring your laptop?" Atticus asked Cherry.


"Is that a trick question?" Cherry gave him a sarcastic look.


"So I'll take that as a yes." Atticus smiled.


"Duh..." Cherry rolled her eyes. "Though, where do we use it? We're kinda stuck here."


"Good point." Atticus said.


Cherry gave him a look. That didn't answer her question. She just shrugged and looked annoyed again. Robin took a look at the pink sphere that was left from the Saico-Tek and it puzzled him since Daizo said that Brushogun was not real.


After taking a look around, everybody went outside.


"So... This was a fairly impressive waste of time." Raven muttered dryly.


"I don't understand," Robin sighed. "How could this whole thing be a wild goose chase? I feel like an idiot."


Starfire came to his side. "No, please, do not blame Robin for the wild chasing of the goose."


"She's right, maybe the commander was wrong." Patch said.


"I can't even find my way around in this town, much less catch a criminal." Robin sounded very disappointed in himself.


Beast Boy was very quiet for a moment, then his brain hatched an idea. "Ooh! Dudes, I got it! I totally know where we need to go!"


The others decided to humor him and they followed him. Beast Boy stood in front of where he wanted to go and rushed down to the front door.


"Wakamono Shuppan?" Starfire, Cherry, Atticus, and Mo asked.


"That comic book place?" Lucky asked. "Beast Boy, I thought you were leading us to a clue about Brushogun."


"This is Beast Boy remember?" Raven asked.


"Beast Boy, why are we here?" Mo folded her arms.


"Hello?" Beast Boy got in her face. "Daizo said he's not real, remember? But as long as we're here, we gotta take the tour!"


Patch looked up at the sign in Japanese characters. "It says it's closed."


"What?!" Beast Boy exclaimed.


"Come on," Robin suggested before turning the other way. "Let's just go home."


Cyborg zipped right in front of their team leader. "Are you out of your spiky-head little mind?!?"


"Mr. Robin, we're in Tokyo!" Dot told him as well. "We might as well take a look around, we've never been in Tokyo before, this could be the vacation you all always wanted!"


"The kid's right." Beast Boy said.


"Whatever." Raven shrugged.


With that, the Teen Titans and their guests decided to go along and explore Japan while they were there.


Starfire had excitedly pulled Robin to join in.


"So, can we go on your laptop?" Atticus asked Cherry.


"Sure, let's just find a place with free WiFi." Cherry said to him.


"Perfect." Atticus said.


The Titans and others went their separate ways.


"Where are you going?" Forte asked Cherry.


"Atticus and Patch want me to find something with them," Cherry looked up at him. "I'll be fine, since Brushogun isn't real, I don't have to worry about getting kidnapped like some damsel in distress... I'm not Daphne from Mystery Inc."


"Okay, okay." Forte said.


"He's been insanely protective of me lately," Cherry said as she walked with Atticus and Patch. "I feel like he's trying to make up for nearly killing me on Christmas."


"Where are you guys going?" Colette asked as she and Mo noticed them leaving.


"Finding research," Patch smiled to them. "You girls wanna come?"


"We might as well, besides, Mo and I are lost without you boys." Colette smiled.


"Agreed." Mo nodded.


Cherry hid an eye roll.


Atticus and Patch smiled and allowed Mo and Colette to join them.


They came across a coffee cafe and stepped inside, once they got to a table for all of them to fit in, Cherry took out her laptop and connected to the WiFi, then got out the internet browser for this place.


"All right, what am I looking up?" Cherry asked.


"Any teenage boy that matches the description of the teenage boy that me and Patch saw." Atticus said.


"Umm... I'll try..." Cherry shrugged, then did a search on her computer.


"So what's the description of this teenage boy we're looking for?" Mo asked.


"He has really dark brown hair, a little like mine and his eyes are like sapphire gems." Atticus explained the best he could based on what he saw.


"Yeah... I think..." Patch agreed, though not very strong since he was a dog and everybody knows that dogs are color blind.


"Hmm." Cherry said before finding someone matching the description.


"Find him?" Colette asked.


"I think so," Cherry said, then turned the screen on an image of the mysterious boy over to show Atticus and Patch. "Did he look like this?"


"That's him!" Atticus and Patch told her.


Cherry took it back and then went to the website link that came with the image.


"So, who is that?" Colette asked.


"Someone named Shinichi Kudo," Cherry read. "His English name is Jimmy and he's a high school student."


"It also says that he's a detective much better than someone named Richard Moore." Atticus said.


"Funny, he's a detective, he's like your Japanese counterpart," Cherry chuckled as she went further to the site that had Jimmy's profile, she then came to a site that was blocked for any innocent civilian. "'Scuse me a sec..." she said, then took out her wallet, taking out a picture of her sister and looked on the back to see a secret password that was written in incredibly small print and upside down on the bottom right side, she then typed it in which allowed her to gain access through the website's security. "Haha!" she laughed, then continued to find out information. "He goes by the alias 'Conan Edogawa' as an elementary school student."


"What?" Atticus asked. "Why would he go by a different name?"


"Protection," Cherry guessed with a shrug. "Don't you detectives do that?"


"Let's find out where he lives." Atticus said.


"Does it say?" Mo asked.


Cherry scrolled through the best she could. "Having a hard time getting an address here." She finally got the address to where this Conan Edogawa AKA Jimmy Kudo lived.


"How'd you get past the security?" Mo asked.


"My amazing sister." Cherry smirked, showing the picture she had of her sister.


"You have a sister?" Mo asked, a little surprised.


"Yes, yes, she does." Atticus said before his cell phone started ringing.


This made the others jump slightly. Atticus asked for them to be quiet for a little while while he would be on the phone before he answered. Mo, Patch, Cherry, and Colette silenced themselves.


"Hello?" Atticus replied on his phone.


"Hey, there, cous," A teenage voice said. "But I can't tell ya."


"Huh?" Atticus said, confused.


"Your father is my father's brother." The teenage voice said.


"I don't understand, who are you?" Atticus asked the person on the other line.


"Your cousin." the voice replied.


Atticus rolled his eyes. "I know that now, but who are you?"


"My name is Jimmy Kudo." The teenage voice whispered to him.


"Hey, squirt, you almost done with the phone?" A man's voice asked.


The teenage voice, Jimmy, called back off the phone before getting back on. "Listen, I can't stay too long."


Atticus took the name into mention and looked at the picture. "My puppy and I saw you earlier, what's going on?"


"Your mind must have been playing tricks on you, I can't tell you, I'm sorry." Jimmy said before hanging up.


"Hey, I'm not done with--" Atticus growled. "Hello? Hello!"


"He must've hung up." Colette guessed.


Patch nodded, that was very likely.


Atticus hung up his own phone and put it down. "Well, that was weird."


"Yeah." Mo said.


"I traced the phone he was using." Cherry said.


"You did?" the others asked.


"Yep, and it says that it belongs to Richard Moore's office?" Cherry said, confused.


"Richard Moore?" Atticus and Patch asked.


"Look him up, Cherry." Mo urged.


Cherry then went to the search engine and put that name in. "He's a private investigator, he used to be a police officer and worked in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Division One."


"It also says he's known as the Sleeping Sleuth." Patch said.


"Why do they call him that?" Colette asked.


"It says it's because he....." Atticus started before reading the rest, seeing some information that would not be for children to hear.


Mo and Cherry decided to look with them. Patch and Colette were curious, but they were technically children, so they could not be in on it.


Mo and Cherry then flinched slightly. "Ohh...."


"Well, now I can see why his wife left him." Atticus said.


"Yep..." Cherry folded her arms.


"So, why do they call him that?" Patch asked.


"Uhh... He had sleepovers with other women without asking his wife if it would be okay." Cherry slightly lied, it wasn't technically lying, but still, that wasn't the full truth.


"Really?" Colette asked, trying to get a better look. "That's why?"


"Yeah." Cherry closed the laptop before she could see the real reason.


"Aww!" Colette whined.


"Take our word for it..." Cherry sipped her hot chocolate she ordered.


"So, what did Jimmy tell you on the phone?" Mo asked her boyfriend.


"Well, he said that me and him were cousins and his father and my father are brothers." Atticus said.


"What else?" Patch asked.


"That was it," Atticus shrugged. "He said my mind must've been playing tricks on me though and he couldn't tell me."


"Tell you what?" Cherry then asked.


"That's just it..." Atticus sounded lost.


"Ugh, this whole trip is just so confusing..." Cherry leaned back.


"Yeah, but it also seems like a mystery." Atticus said.


"Mystery schmystery..." Cherry mumbled.


"Do you think Daizo might be hiding something?" Colette spoke up. "That ninja told us that he works for Brushogun, but Daizo said Brushogun is a myth."


"I think that Daizo is hiding something villains usually do and most show everyone that he's a 'hero' to them." Atticus said.


"He seems nice, but looks can be deceiving," Cherry agreed. "Meeting Quasimodo and Prince Adam taught me that looks and appearances don't always mean everything."


"It's true." Atticus said.


"So, what're we gonna do?" Cherry asked Atticus. "You usally have an idea right about now."


"Well, for this idea to work, we'll need some help from someone," Atticus said before writing down the address to Richard Moore's office. "And the one we'll need to help is the same one that I just talked to on the phone."


"You sure this'll work?" Colette was a little worried.


"Yes, I'm sure." Atticus said.


"It better..." Cherry took a deep breath.


They then started their way to Richard Moore's office. They all stayed close because of how crowded Tokyo was and how easy it was to get lost.

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