There's a bit of Phoenix x Maya, and although this story is a novelisation it will not strictly follow the exact same events that happen in the game, for various reasons. Also, almost all of the dialogue is my own, but in some cases I thought using the actual dialogue would work. For example, the exchange with De Killer has much of the original in it. There aren't many different ways to write reactions to a call like that…! And lastly, continuation of this story may or may not occur. Enjoy!
oOo
Farewell, My Turnabout – Novelisation
March 20, Gatewater Hotel, Hotel Lobby
Maya and Pearls were running about like kids in the hotel lobby. Well, Pearls was a kid, so it was okay, but Maya…
"Aren't you nineteen?" said Phoenix. He held a pamphlet in his hand and looked rather like a bored caregiver.
"I'm sooo excited for the post-ceremony show!" she cried, wheeling past.
The three of them had been invited to the Grand Prix by Will Powers, where there was some 'Hero of Heroes' contest thing that the Nickel Samurai had won. Maya was pretty pumped about it, but the gaudiness of the hotel kind of stole Phoenix's concentration. The staircases were insane.
"By THAT much!" Maya kept saying. "The Jammin' Ninja – I can't believe it! Poor guy, Juan Corrida."
"But he didn't have his red guitar with him," said Pearls, her forehead scrunched. "Didn't you say the Jammin' Ninja always has his red guitar, Mystic Maya? Maybe that's why he lost."
"Oh yeah," said Maya. "The Jammin' Ninja isn't the Jammin' Ninja without his red guitar, right? Maybe…" and here her eyes grew round, "maybe the guitar has magical powers?!" She shook her head. "But the Nickel Samurai won fair and square. No one can best the Nickel Samurai, warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo!"
"I wonder what he's going to confess tonight?" said Pearls thoughtfully.
Apparently, the Nickel Samurai was going to confess something after the post-ceremony stage show. That was pretty much the only thing Phoenix got from today. And that the staircases were solid marble.
"Mr. Nick, aren't you happy?" said Pearls, intruding on his thoughts. She had that admonishing look on her face again. No, please, stop! Being on the receiving end of a glare…from one so young… "You should be happy because Mystic Maya is happy!" She reached up and slapped him. Her hidden strength is really quite brutal.
"OWW! I am happy! I am!"
The intercom suddenly crackled into life, saving Phoenix from further juvenile assault.
"Attention," it said. "Attention everybody. The Nickel Samurai's Post-Ceremony stage show set for tonight has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We have a special request from the police: everyone must stay where they are. Deepest apologies for the inconvenience, and we thank you for your cooperation."
Maya was gasping for air before it had finished.
"WHAAAT?!" she said, grabbing Phoenix's arms and shaking him. "Is this – this can't be happening! The Nickel Samurai! The post-ceremony –"
"Hey, don't punish ME for this!" said Phoenix, wrestling himself out of her grip and nearly falling into Will Powers.
"Woah there, Mr. Wright," he said. "I'm really sorry about the cancellation…I really wasted your time, didn't I…?"
"Uh – no, no, no!" Phoenix said quickly, straightening up. He glared at Maya, who hastily hitched a big smile back onto her face.
"It's fine, Mr. Powers!" she said. "It's because of you we could even be here, after all."
Powers relaxed visibly; clearly this had been nagging at his conscience. He was really a big softie, if you got to know him. Appearance-wise, though, he looked like a lion that was hungry. Permanently.
"Well, I owe you for the case two years ago," he said. "I'm gonna go see what the problem is, and then I'll tell you what happened; that's the least I can do for you."
He began to walk out of the lobby, shouldering past groups of confused people who had clustered into the middle of the huge room. Phoenix faced a dilemma: he couldn't just stand around here being useless, could he? He had to fulfil his role as nosy lawyer even when off-duty. What if there had been…a murder?
"HOLD IT!"
…
"Mr. Nick, are you all right?" said Pearls.
"Nick! This isn't a courtroom," said Maya, giggling. Well, at least she was back in high spirits. At Phoenix's expense.
Ignoring them, he hurried after Powers. "I'll accompany you," he said. "As an attorney, I feel –"
"Stop! Where do you think you're going?"
Phoenix's heart sank. Oh no. Please no. Anybody but –
"The intercom JUST said to stay put! And stay put means stay put!" The shrill voice continued, and a strange figure stepped in front of them. The person looked like an astronaut. That had been purposefully made to look cheap and science fiction. And had an opaque helmet. And a ray gun. "Just who do you whippersnappers think you are, moseying around the place as if you owned it? Why, in my day, you couldn't put one toenail out of line, otherwise you would get a good beating! That was how you learnt proper respect, and –"
"Mr.s Oldbag?" said Maya, appearing at Phoenix's side.
Whipping off her helmet, the old woman glared at them. "Why, it's you!" she said, looking straight at Powers.
"Why are you here?" Phoenix interjected, before she could go off on a whole new tangent about the Steel Samurai. "I thought you worked at…uh…Global Studios."
Oldbag waved her hand at him in a dismissive sort of way. "Oh, they let quite a few people go. After that incident, well, you know how it is. So now I work as a security guard here, with the sole purpose of stopping people like YOU from breaking the rules: trespassing, theft, arson, defacing, murder –"
"Hey Nick, do you think there's been a murder?" Maya asked Phoenix, looking troubled.
"Please no," Phoenix said.
"Oh yes!" said Oldbag, triumphantly waving the ray gun in Phoenix's face.
"Please don't wave that –"
"I'll bet my money on it! Except, I'll have you know, I've never gambled in my life. It's bad sport, you know, it's all to leech you of your money and leave you with only your sorry self. Whippersnappers these days, they think they know everything! I'll have you know –"
"I think we could sneak off and see what's happening," Maya whispered to Phoenix, and when he looked down at her he was a little disturbed to see a devilish grin on her face. That never boded well. "All we have to do is pretend we're going to the bathroom!"
"- thought it was funny to make fun of my name, and I cried for such a long time because, you know, I had a crush on him, and –"
"No!" Phoenix hissed back. "Are you crazy?! The police said –"
"But you were just about to go!" said Maya, squinting at him. "You're so BORING, Nick! You never live on the wild side! You have to get out there, do things, make use of –"
"Mr. Nick!" exclaimed Pearls. "Are you giving Mystic Maya trouble?! You should be agreeing with her, because deep down you know –"
"No one listens to me nowadays!" said Oldbag, her helmet back on her shoulders. "Youth have no respect these days, they're taught all wrong, I tell you! Why, back in my day, if a child –"
"Okay," said Phoenix. "Okay. If only to get away from her."
The three of them left Oldbag as she ranted about what had to be four different topics at once, Powers remaining behind as a noble sacrifice to deter her. Heading to Viola Hall, Maya turned to Phoenix.
"You should be really glad you agreed," she said, grinning widely again. "Otherwise, I would have had to resort to telling Pearl all about that time at lawyer camp when you –"
"HEY! I agreed, all right?! You can't bring it up now!"
"I was only joking, Nick!" said Maya, and grabbed his arm. "C'mon, I wanna see what happened."
"Me too!" said Pearls. "It probably happened in the hallway, because it's empty here."
As he was pulled along the now-deserted room by Maya, Phoenix tried to ignore the unwelcome feelings boiling in his chest. He had first met Maya Fey two years ago. Now she was nineteen, and although mentally she was still just a kid who loved The Steel Samurai and The Nickel Samurai, the fact was that she had been around him for too long. She had physically grown into a young woman, somehow, in the midst of all the cases and annoyance and burgers.
Phoenix had begun to have suspicions about his feelings at least three months previously, but refused to face them. After all, what did that make him? A paedophile? He was freaking twenty-seven, eight years older than her. And it didn't help that she called him an old fart much of the time.
Watching the back of her head as she dragged him to the hallway, Phoenix realised he could never un-see her as a young woman now. Only a week beforehand he had walked in on her getting changed, and although she was wearing a wife beater underneath (what sort of name is that, anyway?), the image was imprinted in his brain.
He felt really creepy.
"Excuse me."
The little progress they had made was stopped when a tall, thin man stepped right into their path. All thoughts of Maya were erased from Phoenix's brain as he stared at this bellboy, looking so incredibly, stereotypically like a bellboy it was all he could do not to take a picture. But it wasn't just that: not even his classy monocle could take away from the line of stitches, neatly dividing his face in half from forehead to chin.
"Woah," said Maya, dropping Phoenix's arm. Her mouth had fallen open. "Mister – Mister Bellboy, sir? Can I try your monocle on?!"
Phoenix sighed. Why did he have feelings again?
"Would you be Ms Maya Fey?" the bellboy said, thankfully ignoring the question.
"Um, yes," said Maya, looking startled. Phoenix thought he would be too; how the heck did that guy even know her name?
"There is a phone call waiting for you at the front desk," said the bellboy.
Maya frowned, tapping her chin. "I wonder who it is?" she said. She glanced back at Phoenix and Pearls. "I'll be right back. Go on ahead, okay?"
oOo
If I had known what was to happen…
oOo
"Yer look here, Scruffy! I've got a job to do, so I have rights! I should be allowed –"
"Look, pal, I'VE got a job to do too! And that means only the police can be at the scene of the murder – oh, pal! Help me out here, will you?"
Phoenix started. "Eh?! Me?!" He blinked rapidly and coughed. "Uh…wait!" He straightened up. "What did you say? A murder?"
"Yes!" said Lotta Hart, elbowing herself in front of Dick Gumshoe. She was much shorter than the broad detective, but her large hairdo more or less made up for it. "The murder of a star! Juan Corrida, no less! This'll be BIG in the paper, you'll see! Yeehaw!"
And then she was gone, her footsteps ringing all the way down the hallway.
"It slipped," said Gumshoe sadly, his broad shoulders sagging a little. "Me and my big mouth, right, pal?"
But Phoenix had little time to mull over the detective's potential salary drop (not much news, anyway). The name Juan Corrida sounded scarily familiar…
"The Jammin' Ninja!" gasped Pearls, evidently arriving at the same conclusion. "Mr. – Mr. Nick! Was the Jammin' Ninja killed?!"
"Yep," said Gumshoe, sighing. "Sorry, kid…"
"It – it's okay…" said Pearls, but her eyes had gone big and Phoenix could tell she was upset. Who wouldn't be? "I…I watch Kids' Masterpiece Theatre, anyway…" Poor kid.
"Please don't tell me," said Phoenix, placing a hand on Pearls' shoulder. "The Nickel Samurai didn't kill him, did he?"
The look on Gumshoe's face was all he needed. Phoenix really wished he could react in a more shocked manner – maybe with a "WHAAAAAT?!" – but it seemed inevitable that such a similar scenario as the Steel Samurai case would appear.
"We have conclusive evidence," the detective said. "One of the Jammin' Ninja's blood-soaked buttons was found between the pleats of the Nickel Samurai costume's hakama. Matt Engarde…he's in a lot of trouble. Oh…wait. Aw, shucks!" Gumshoe hit his forehead. "That was TOP SECRET information, all right?! Don't go telling that to ANYONE! Especially not that tabloid journalist woman…" he shuddered.
"I – I won't!" said Phoenix. "Don't worry!"
He didn't know what to say about the button. It sounded like pretty conclusive evidence to him, but his experience as a lawyer told him that anything was possible, and the smallest changes in circumstances changed everything. But still, pretty conclusive.
"Mr. Nick," said Pearls, "that lady with the cotton-candy hair…wasn't she…at…the incident before, as well?"
The channelling murder, Phoenix thought. "Yes, Pearls," he said. "She was a journalist."
"Jer-na-list?"
"It's…err…I'll tell you later."
"Speaking of her, pal," said Gumshoe, "She was just hanging around here before the murder. Waiting outside the Jammin' Ninja's door. She said something about her "big scoop", but wouldn't tell me anything about it. I mean," he added, getting fired up, "Why mention it at all then?! Now I'm dying to know!"
Phoenix felt he knew that feeling. It happened all the time with witness testimonies, when they cut just short of saying something crucial. It was actually really annoying.
"Hmm," he said. "That's odd. I wonder, too. Do you think it has any relevance to this case?"
Gumshoe shrugged. "Wouldn't know, pal. That's your job, right?"
(…Yeah. Thanks for reminding me…)
"Maya's definitely going to make me take this case, isn't she?" Phoenix told Pearls in a very resigned sort of way.
"If the Nickel Samurai's involved?! Of course!" said Pearls. "But, Mr. Nick, are phone calls supposed to take this long?"
"Hah!" Phoenix glanced at his watch. "You're right! What's taking her so long? Maybe we should look for her back at the lobby. We've got all the information we need anyway."
"D – do you think she got lost, Mr. Nick?" said Pearls anxiously, hurrying ahead down the hallway.
"Wouldn't put it past her," Phoenix muttered. He really wished she would get lost from his mind.
However, once they got to the lobby – full of murmuring as people wandered about, unsure of what was happening – Maya wasn't there. Powers waved them over from near the stage, a radio transceiver in one of his large hands.
"Hey, Mr.. Wright!" he called. "Did you find anything?"
"Yeah," said Phoenix, Pearls looking about worriedly. "Matt Engarde has been arrested under suspicion of murdering Juan Corrida."
"W – WHAAAT?!" said Powers, his jaw practically hitting the floor. "Not – not again!"
(You don't say…)
"But…but that can't be!" said Powers. He really looked quite upset about the whole thing. "I mean, if anything, Juan Corrida should be the one to kill Matt Engarde!"
"W – what?!" said Phoenix. This was certainly news to him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean, they're the top stars, you know?" said Powers. "They're deadly rivals – even their shows are on at the same time! But Mr.. Engarde has always been more popular."
"He won the Hero of Heroes competition," Phoenix recalled. "You're right, it really doesn't make much sense."
Pearls tugged at Phoenix's sleeve. "Mr. Nick, what's that thing he's holding?" she asked. Phoenix's eyes dropped to the transceiver in Powers' hand. It looked like a mobile phone, he decided, except…not. Oh, the poetry.
"Oh!" said Powers, overhearing this. "Sorry, I forgot about it. This whole murder thing completely distracted me. This is meant for you."
"For me?!" said Phoenix, taking it. It was a fair weight in his hand. "Who was it from?"
"The bellboy," said Powers. "You know, the one with stitches all the way down the centre of his face…" he shivered. "It's scary!"
"The bellboy…?" Phoenix didn't have much time to think it over, as the transceiver suddenly began to beep. Unsure of what to do, he raised it to his mouth.
"…Hello?"
"Is this the attorney Mr. Phoenix Wright speaking?"
He was connected.
(…Ha. Top notch deduction skills, honed to perfection from years of artful investigations.)
"Yes. And who are you?!"
"You don't need to know who I am. You have much more important things to worry about, don't you?"
Suddenly, there was a scream on the other end that sent ice shooting down the back of Phoenix's neck.
"H – HEEELP! NICK!"
"M – Maya?" Phoenix's brain seemed to have stopped working. Surely this was all a bad dream. Surely this wasn't –
"- a kidnapping, Mr. Attorney. So if you want to see the girl again, you had better listen closely."
Phoenix almost dropped the transceiver. "Maya! Are you all right?! Are you hurt?! Where are you?"
He suddenly felt very faint. Beside him, Pearls had started crying.
"M – Mystic Maya…?" she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. "W – what's happening, Mr. Nick?!" Her lower lip began to tremble, and soon she was bawling her eyes out. "Mystic Mayaaaaaaa!"
The world seemed to be fading before Phoenix's eyes. His breathing was shallow, and he didn't think he would be able to stand for much longer.
"What…have you done with her?!" he managed to say.
"…Good. Now that I have your attention, Mr. Attorney…it is a very simple proposal. In exchange, I will return to you…your precious 'item'."
Phoenix swayed on his feet, clutching at the transceiver as though his life depended on it.
"…Mr. Attorney, are you there?"
"H – how much?!" said Phoenix, managing to snap out of it. He was going to fall unconscious in a moment, and then what would happen? "How much do you want?! Just say it, hurry up!"
"That's much better, Mr. Attorney, however…it is not money I need. You are an attorney, no? You must become Matt Engarde's lawyer. He did not kill anyone," the voice continued. "I can attest to that: he has been framed. All I simply ask is that you earn him a complete acquittal…in two days. One court trial."
"W- what?! Where's Maya?! What have you done to –"
"She is fine, Mr. Attorney…at the moment. Failure to comply, however, and…"
The unspoken threat hung silently in the frigid air.
"Who – who are you?!" Phoenix said desperately. The silence on the other end went on for so long he was afraid connection would be cut.
"I suppose I can tell you that much. I am De Killer."
"What –"
"Two days, Mr. Attorney."
Click.