Gerald's footsteps echoed throughout the dank, urine-soaked corridor of San Bernardino County Jail, as he closely followed an elderly sheriff. The sheriff stopped as they reached the last cell on the row. "This is it," the sheriff said; and he took his key chain from his belt, looking through the various keys until he found the right one. "You've got ten minutes, Mr Silberman," he said as he opened the door to the cell. Gerald nodded; and entered the cramped cell to find Sonic the Hedgehog lying on the bunk, his eyes glancing across different points of the ceiling now and again. With a start, he looked up, his freakish mono-eye widening as he saw Gerald.
"Gerry!" he said, leaping up from the bunk, "I'm so glad you came! I'm in real deep fucking shit here man, you've got to help me out!"
"Sonic, baby!" Gerald said, running a hand through his thinning hair, "You're really busting my balls here! Three-hundred and fifty one counts of rape? How do you expect me to sell your brand with that shit, huh?" Sonic groaned.
"Forget that, Gerry! Just tell me you can get me outta here!" Gerald nodded.
"Look, I can get you out on bail, Sonic, but it won't exactly be cheap." Gerald sighed, walking further into the cell and taking a seat on the small toilet in the corner. "This is fucked, Sonic," he went on, "this is a goddamn mess. How the fuck did this happen? Couldn't you keep it in your goddamn pants? I mean, I get if you did it once or twice, that's showbiz, but-"
"Goddamn it Gerry, I didn't do it!"
"Well," Gerald said, crossing his arms, "you'd better get a damn good lawyer if you want to get off." Sonic shrugged his shoulders.
"No problem, just call Donald Grillo. He's always been in my corner." Gerald leaned back (well, at least as far back as the prison toilet would allow), rubbing his eyes gently. He inhaled deeply, then (as you might expect); he exhaled just as deeply.
"Grillo's dead, Sonic. Killed in a National Guard training exercise, they told me."
"Well, Jesus!" said Sonic, as he began to pace around the cell with increasing speed. "Fantastic! What are we going to do now?"
"Sonic, relax," Gerald said, holding his hands up. "Just cool your jets! This ain't over yet. We can get you a lawyer and fight this out in court. If you want to get out of this thing a free hedgehog you can't afford to lose your shit this early in the game." Gerald stood up and walked back to the doorway of the cell. "Look," he said, turning back to look at Sonic, "just you sit tight, ok? You'll be outta here soon enough. In the meantime, I'll get you a good lawyer." Sonic stopped pacing, nodded; and sat down on the edge of the bunk. Gerald returned the nod and swept out of the cell.
As it turned out, finding a lawyer (at least one worth hiring) was more difficult than Gerald had first anticipated. Certainly, finding one willing to represent Sonic in light of the circumstances made it all the more challenging. Gerald was sat slumped over his desk, leaning over the Yellow Pages and several advertising leaflets. He looked at his watch. Apparently it had only been an hour and half since he first started looking, though it had seemed like so much longer. After another long while of skimming through the Yellow Pages, he came across the name of another law firm. Gerald reached for the phone on his desk, dialed the number and brought the handset to his ear. After a brief moment, he heard a male voice on the end of the line. "Hello?"
Hello," Gerald said, "is this the Fey & Co. Law Office?" For a moment, there was no reply.
"No," the voice on the other end of the line said, "Well… not anymore. This is the Wright & Co Law Office, Phoenix Wright speaking. Can I help you?"
"Yes," Gerald replied, "I'm looking for somebody to represent my client, a Mr Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Well, you've called the right place," Phoenix replied, chuckling slightly at his own clever witticism, "but I'm afraid I'm going to need a little more to go on than that. It'd be helpful if you'd tell me what he's been charged with, for a start." Gerald winced, rubbing his chin.
"Well, I mean, let's be straight here, Sonic's innocent. He's as honest as it gets, he's a fundamentally decent guy, you know?"
"Sir, I appreciate all of that, but you really should tell me what your client has been charged with if I'm going to help." Gerald breathed out audibly, leaning back into his seat.
"Alright," he said, after a brief pause, "alright, he's been charged with… well, with rape. Three hundred and fifty one counts of it." There was another pause. For a moment, an uncomfortably long moment, Gerald did not receive any reply. He opened his mouth to speak when Phoenix responded.
"Yikes," Phoenix said. For a second, he did not say anything further. "Well," he continued, "you're absolutely sure that he's innocent? No word of a lie?" In spite of the futility of the gesture during a conversation over the phone, Gerald nodded his head vigorously.
"I'm telling you straight, buddy, he's innocent. The guy's an icon! If I believed he did what they say he did, I would've dropped him as soon as I'd heard!" Gerald leaned forward, again, holding his breath and gripping the handset tightly in his hand.
"In that case, I think we can discuss my fee, Mr…?"
"Silberman," Gerald said, letting out a breath, "Gerald Silberman, I'm Sonic's agent."
"Alright Mr Silberman, I work for one hundred and fifty dollars an hour; and I'm not going to compromise on that. Take it from me, it's a very reasonable price." Gerald began drumming his fingers against his desk, though stopped just before he replied.
"That's… we'll take what we can get. I think we may have a deal, Mr Wright. I'll contact you again once Sonic's out of the clink and then the three of us can discuss this in person."
"That suits me just fine. Give me a call whenever you're ready. Goodbye, Mr Silberman." Before Gerald could reply, Phoenix hung up. With a sigh, he slammed the phone down. Gerald stood up and glanced at his watch. '17:13' the digital numbers read. By now, Sonic would be out of jail. Well, Gerald thought to himself, it's a start.