Many Cases, One Truth

Somehow, the closest we've come to this challenge is The Zoo. I think it's way past time for a challenge about:

ANIMALS

There's a few different ways to go about this. One possibility is to write about Eri's kitten, Kaito's doves, Hakuba's hawk, Jirokichi Suzuki's dog, or any other pets the characters have. You can write about a character getting a pet in the present or having a pet die in the past. Another possibility is to have an animal involved in a case somehow. If you want to involve magic or an apotoxin alternate, you can change characters into animals. The last thing I can think of is an animal AU. Basically, what if everyone in the DC and MK world were born animals. It'd be hard to do a long fic about it, but it might make an amusing oneshot. Feel free to suggest any other possibilities!

Finally, here's a recommendation related to the challenge. It's already been posted to this community, but you might enjoy rereading it: Dear Santa.

A while back, I posted a challenge about "Child(ren)". Well, why not now do the other half of the challenge?:

PARENTS

There are 2 main ways I can think of to do this challenge. The first is to write a future fic about the main characters. They can be expecting their first child or trying to deal with any children they already have, but the main focus should be on their roles as parents and not on the children.

The second option, which really sparked this challenge, is to write about the parents of the main DC and MK characters. What were their lives like before they had children? Why did they choose their eventual careers? How did the various couples meet their future spouses and each other?

I have 2 recommendations about Toichi and Chikage that fit this challenge. Please feel free to post more, especially about the other sets of parents!

in tempo - "and with a one, two, three, four, let's take our steps down memory lane, swing in the present, and waltz to the future. Toichi/Chikage". Hilarious and heartbreaking. It skips back and forth in time for the maximum emotional impact.

Spandex, Seven Possible Uses Of - "This is not a story about love. It's not, really. Or: the true—in parts, anyway—story behind Kuroba Kaito's existence. First!KID/Phantom Lady. Also, crack. Happy birthday, hattergems!" This is hilarious. It's a couple years old so you all may have already read it though.

Finally, what is this community's policy on recommendations? My understanding of the profile is that we shouldn't post an entry just to recommend stories, but is posting recommendations with the challenges ok?

I've been exploring the Detective Conan World Wiki, and one of the things I find the most interesting is WHY the murderer did it. Sometimes it's really inane (you didn't like the book he wrote?!), but a lot of the time the murderer did it because the victim committed a crime and got away with it. Usually, the original crime was a murder too. The murderers often lose sympathy points by threatening or endangering the innocent with their schemes, but it's interesting that so many murders are done in the quest for justice. That led me to this week's challenge:

MURDERER

For this challenge, why not write the story from the murderer's point of view? What was the reason for the murder? How did the murderer feel after having actually gone through with it? Was he or she angry or relieved after being caught?

Another possibility, and what I have really been wondering about lately, is what would be enough to make one of the DC or MK characters resort to murder? What could possibly happen to make them think that murder is the only way that justice will be served?

It's strange because I'm not a big angst fan (unless it's short and usually with a happy ending), but I've been thinking this challenge over for a few days so I thought I'd post it. Below are a couple of good examples I've found if anyone wants to check them out:

Counting Crows- "Seven murders, seven motives. One for sorrow..." WARNING, the last one is heartbreaking.

The Raven- "There's a mass murderer on the loose, his social peers have turned against him, and a dead rival is haunting his dreams. Can Hakuba unravel the truth behind the Raven before it consumes him?Deathfic, ONESHOT"

Sorry, I couldn't find the one with Ai killing a Black Org. member (Vodka?) and leaving the other to take the blame. Anyone know which one that is?

I hope that this isn't a repeat, but this idea really caught my imagination:

APOTOXIN ALTERNATES

Everyone's probably seen summaries of stories when Shinichi is turned into a girl, but what about other possibilies? For example, what if the poison made him 10 years OLDER instead of younger? He'd have fewer restrictions on him, but it would also be more difficult for him to hide his identity. He would also need to be able to support himself without getting the Black Org. on his trail. Plus, if murders keep happening around him...

It may work if his mother intensively tutors him in disguises for a couple of months. Then the dead bodies would keep appearing around random people that the police later can't find. It may give the police a bit of a complex that all of these people are better at solving crimes than they are, at least until someone suggests that Kaitou Kid has taken up detective work.

This isn't the only possibility of course. Maybe the apotoxin was supposed to be an undetectable steriod but killed all the test subjects. How would super strength or super speed affect Shinichi's life? Considering how unscientific the apotoxin is, you could substitute a variety of super powers.

Or how about something that hurts Shinichi? You could do a pretty angsty one-shot about Shinichi with memory loss, especially if the brain damage is so that his memory loss is reoccuring. Deaf Shinichi? One issue to consider is whether the Black Org. as a whole even knows that Shinichi is supposed to be dead at first. Supposedly Gin forgets the faces of his victims, but Vodka may still speak up if Shinichi appears on TV. Hopefully, Shinichi would have some leeway at first as long as he keeps a low profile.

Finally, you can still use the Shinichi turns into a girl example, but please focus on how Shinichi turning into a girl would logically affect his life and the storyline instead of solely on your pairing. Pairings don't make a story; good writing does. Sorry if I seem condenscending here. I've read a few good gender benders, but I also see way too many stories in general that skip over logic in favor of getting two characters together.

Edit: One suggestion by ran_dezvous is to have someone else take the apotoxin instead of Shinichi. This would be alternating the victim instead of, or along with, the result. "# People Who Could Have Taken Apotoxin", anyone? :) A longer story would also be fun.

I do want to point out though that serious stories should have a logical reason for the Black Org using the apotoxin instead of a gunshot. My understanding of Gin using it in the first place was both that he wanted to try out the new poison and that he wanted to avoid the attention a gunshot would cause. One example might be that the Black Org. finds out that Kaito is the new Kaitou Kid, but they would prefer that no one look into why Kid steals things. A high school student dropping dead of unknown causes is not obviously murdered like a high school student dead from a gunshot wound would be. This is assuming that the Black Org. is the organization that shoots at Kid. Another possibility could be using a new Black Org. member that prefers to kill with poison instead of with guns.