It was a calm breezy day outside. The wind whispered its words to the people of the city and soothed many of them. Today was a day to relaxed. Or so it seemed.

"Come on! It has to be here somewhere!"

Today was a Thursday and the time was 11 AM. In the city, an agency existed, mostly acting as a law firm, made up of three lawyers and a magician. The head of the lawyers, Phoenix Wright, was currently stressed.

"If I can't find it, it's all over for me."

The root of this stress was because he lacked a device many people needed in order to live peacefully.

"I could have sworn I left it here by this cup of milk. Ghh! If I don't find it soon, I might not make it!"

He searched around the table between couches for a few minutes before conceding to the truth.

He let out a deep breath.

"Uhhh. It's no use. I'll never find the remote control in time."

"In time for what, boss?"

Behind the couch was his younger subordinate, Athena Cykes, wearing her usual yellow suit.

"Huh? Oh, Athena. Back already from the store?"

A smile sprung from her.

"Yup! Got a few things for the mini-fridge!"

She raised both her hands from behind the couch and revealed two bags filled with various food items.

Phoenix observed the bag and saw they were heavily filled.

"Are you sure we can fit all of that in the fridge? Besides, how much food do we need anyway?"

"Enough so we never have to risk energy depletion," she said. "You've seen Apollo during a case. He practically sweats every ten minutes! We can't risk having him fall down in exhaustion. I can just imagine it now: Apollo suddenly falls to the ground and his horns accidentally stabs a witness we were talking to!"

"Um, I don't think hair can actually stab someone, Athena."

(Or, at least I hope not,) he thought.

"Hey, speaking of Apollo, where is he? He went with you, didn't he?"

"That's right! He's also carrying to bags. I don't know why he's taking so long, though."

Heaving breathing could be heard and the sounds of exasperation were coming closer and closer.

Phoenix smiled and said, "Ah, I can hear him, but why does it sound like he's on the verge of dying?"

Apollo appeared at the doorway and dropped the bags he was carrying.

"That's because I really am on the verge of dying! Athena! Why did you get on the elevator without me!?"

"And why did you give him the heaviest bags you could make?" Phoenix said. "How do you even fit three gallons of orange juice in one bag?"

"With determination!" she said. "We only have four arms, so I had to make things work with four bags. It's okay, though, since I'm sure Apollo has gotten stronger."

"Is that why you also got on the elevator without him?" he asked. "To make him stronger?"

"If we're going to be the very best lawyers in town, we've got to be the strongest!" she announced before she punched her hand and gave her signature peace sign. "I even pressed all the buttons on the elevator before I got off so Apollo couldn't get on."

(Poor Apollo,) he thought. (He's going to hate himself as soon as he remembers there was another elevator at the end of the hall.)

Apollo hadn't moved since he arrived, but he also hadn't let go of the grocery bags.

"My arms feel like they're going to fall off!"

Athena was pleased to hear this. "That's what we call 'the burn'!"

"Gah!" Apollo looked around the office. "I forgot how messy this office was, again! There's nowhere I can put down the bags."

"Why don't you just leave them behind you in the hallway?" Phoenix said.

"...I'll do that!"

Apollo slowly dropped his arms and left the bags by the wall.

"Sweet relief."

Athena made a small frown in disappointment. "I guess Apollo isn't ready for my grocery bags exercise. Hey! Maybe you should come with me to the store next time, boss!"

(Oh dear, oh dear.)

Phoenix quickly changed the subject in order to evade Athena's training. "It sure is a mess here. You two can't even put the bags down anywhere."

"You also can't find the remote control," Athena said, recalling what she heard when she arrived.

"That's right. No matter how busy she is, Maya seems to have enough time to make sure I've watched the complete series of the Steel Samurai and its spin-offs. She's expecting a report this weekend and I've got two seasons to watch today and tomorrow, in addition to the detailed twenty-page report."

"She's quite the fan, isn't she?" Apollo said. "But what happens if you don't make it in time?"

"Well, the first time, she convinced Trucy to have a slumber party for every girl she could invite. The second and last time I failed to make my report, she somehow convinced my friend, Larry Butz, to come over. You two remember that day."

"Unfortunately, yes," Athena quitely said.

Phoenix heard her and suddenly realized what made him come over.

(I've got to have a closer eye on him. It won't do me any good to ignore him if he's harassing my subordinate.)

"In an case," he said, "I don't want to see what her next punishment is, so let's clean up this place. If either of you find the remote, tell me."

Phoenix began at the coffee table. He got a garbage bag and threw in useless paperwork and reciepts. He arrived to the milk in the disposable cup. Looking at it closer, he saw some chunks.

(Maybe I should make cleaning up the office a weekly chore. I hate to throw away a good cup.)

He threw the cup in. Next to where the fermented cow juice was, a digital music player was sitting alone.

"Apollo, this is yours, isn't it?"

Apollo was slowly cleaning his way to his desk when Phoenix called him. "Hm? Oh, it is. Thank you, Mr. Wright."

He quickly went over and got it and returned to his cleaning.

(I'v never seen him so enthusiastic about cleaning. Why can't he show that same amount of passion when he's cleaning the toilet?)

Athena was taking thing off things on the bookshelves between her desk and Apollo's. Among the empty bottles of hair gel and orange juice were a pair of headphones connected to an old CD music player.

"This is also yours, Apollo."

Apollo closed one of the drawers connected to his desk and got his item from her.

"Thanks."

She finished cleaning the shelves and moved to another spot to clean. Before she left, though, she faintly heard Apollo mutter to himself. She didn't know what he was muttering on about, but heard him say "steal" or "steel". She took a quick look at the small clock on her desk before going away.

After two hours of cleaning, the office was immaculate and ready to serve clients as soon as the smell of rotten milk went away.

But the remote control remained unfounded.

"I don't get it," Phoenix said. "Where could it have gone?"

"I wonder where it could have gone," Athena wondered out loud. "Apollo, do you remember seeing it?"

"No, I can't say I have."

Suddenly, Phoenix heard the sounds of chains rolling and stretching across and he looked over to Apollo.

Three Psyche-Locks were surrounding him.

(W-what!? What are these doing here?)

He continued to be bewildered and confused until he noticed Athena was giving him a thumbs-up. Apollo noticed too and quickly realized his co-worker had set him up.

"Eh, look, Mr. Wright, how about I just go out and buy a controller like the one we have? Eh heh he..."

Finished with his nervous laugh, Apollo headed for the door.

"Hold it!" Phoenix shouted. "Come back here."

Apollo reluctantly came back in and faced his boss.

"Apollo, my magatama is telling me you're hiding something. The remote control, that is."

"That's just silly," he said. "Now why would I hide the remote control? I remember Larry Butz. Don't think I want to see your next punishment either."

(Well, he has me there. There's no reason I can think of that would make him keep the remote.)

"Boss!" Athena shouted. "If it helps, I heard Apollo say 'steel' at his desk."

"Steel? That's it! You didn't want to watch the Steel Samurai and that's why you would hide it! You're so intent on not watching the show, you'd rather risk Maya giving me a punishment that only applies to me than to watch another minute of the show!"

"Actually, I'm indifferent to the show," Apollo said. "I don't think I've ever complained about you watching the shows here, Mr. Wright."

(Hm, his Psyche-Locks are all still there. But Athena heard him say steel. Steel?)

An explanation suddenly came up.

"It was for your Chords of Steel, wasn't it?"

Apollo's eyes shook, but the locks were unmoved.

"My Chords of Steel? Why would I hide a remote for Chords of Steel?"

"I don't know," Phoenix said, "but what I do know is that there was a problem with it."

"Huh? How do you know? What proof do you have?"

Phoenix went over to Apollo's desk and showed him his digital music player.

"Take that!"

"M-my aPod?"

A lock broke down, leaving Apollo with only two left.

(I'm on the right track,) Phoenix thought.

Apollo looked taken back, but he quickly gained confidence and asked, "What about it? There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, I practiced my Chords of Steel here in the office earlier today. There's nothing wrong with them."

"Ack!"

(He's got me again!)

Just when all seemed lost, a yellow blur back-flipped between the two of them and landed by Apollo's desk.

"I think not!"

"Wait, don't go in there, Athena!"

Athena opened Apollo's desk drawer and pulled out his CD player with headphones attached.

"Take that! Not only are your headphones connected to your CD player and not your aPod, there's a physical copy of Chords of Steel in here!"

"Gack!"

Phoenix eyes were looking at Athena, but he still heard the penultimate lock break.

(Just one more left to go.)

Apollo was looking nervous now and laid his last defense.

"So? What does it matter? What does me and my CD player have to do with the remote control?"

(Hm, that's a good question. What is connecting the two of them? Something that would lead Apollo to hide the control...)

(…)

(…)

(No. No. No!)

"Come on, Apollo!" he shouted. "Didn't I tell everyone, including Trucy, to stop stealing batteries other things?"

The last Psyche-Lock broke and Apollo had no choice but to confess.

"I'm sorry, it's in my pocket! It couldn't be helped! I haven't been able to find the charger for the aPod so I had to use the CD player. I put in new batteries yesterday, but in the morning, the batteries were already dead! It's almost as if someone switched them," he said while looking at Athena with an eye.

Athena looked away and whistled with her hands behind her back.

"Hey, don't act innocent, Athena! I know you stole them!"

"Objection!" she shouted. "You know I stole them?"

"That's right! I was so annoyed, I even mumbled about it next to you several times around the day so you could get the hint. I even thought you were going to the store to buy batteries."

"How convenient! Besides, where's your proof?"

"Take that!"

Apollo showed her his phone.

"That's a pretty big phone, Apollo. Is that thing holding you back from reaching modern times?"

"Hey! I don't know if you've noticed, but we don't make a lot of money here."

(Unfortunately, I've notice that too,) Phoenix thought.

"But the phone's not important," Apollo said, "the clock on the phone is what's important!"

"Huh?"

"The time is 1:22 PM, Athena. Your little clock with the walking ducks over there is the only thing you have that needs batteries. I wonder if the time on your clock is the same as mine?"

Phoenix slowly turned his head to Athena's clock and took a step.

Upon seeing her boss make his move, Athena tackled her desk while shouting, "No, Mr. Wright, there's nothing wrong with it! Believe in your clients, remember?"

"That doesn't apply to my subordinates."

"Mrrrnnn! Nnnnoooooooo!"

Phoenix calmly rested his face onto his palm and slowly shook his head.

"I'm going to go get some noodles and pick up Trucy. When I come back, I want to see somebody watching the shows and the other writing the report. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

Phoenix and Trucy were at the building of the office now and they could both hear Apollo and Athena arguing over the batteries. Their main argument being which is more important? Chords of Steel or a clock that has little ducks walking around the time.

"Trucy," Phoenix said, "you've made people disappear before..."

Phoenix immediately halted Trucy from making them disappear when he saw Trucy trying to push Apollo into her panties.

Ahem, anyway, I just finished Dual Destinies and it went FAR beyond my expectations, considering this is the team that made Investigations. I haven't played, GK2 yet, but I think you get the point. The game was, in my opinion, worth most of the wait.

I might make this into a little series involving the trio in small scenarios like this, but if not, consider this a one-shot.

Apollo has characterization, Athena gave the agency a sense of a complete team, and I hope now that Phoenix NEVER becomes playable again until the very last case of a very definite last game, if ever made. If AA6 is ever made, Apollo and Athena (mostly Apollo) should be the only playable characters. Phoenix has had more than his share of exposure, his story is CLOSED.

One last thing: AthenaxPhoenixxApollo (or APA for short) is the One True Threesome of this series. This APA joke is too good to be left alone. For example, the three could get together and do it APA style!

*gets shot for worst pun ever*