"Please remind me how Pearls got these passes."
"I told you Nick! She entered some sort of Valentine's giveaway on a radio station and won."
"And they had absolutely no problem giving them to an elementary school student?"
"Apparently not!"
Phoenix sighed through the scarf he had wrapped around his neck and bottom of his face. He would rather not be walking halfway across the city to an old arcade, but the look on Pearl's face as she handed them the laser tag passes was enough to convince him.
"Mystic Maya, Mr. Nick! Look what I got! They're free passes for a game of laser tag! Just in time for Valentine's Day!"
He glanced at Maya. "And please remind me why we're walking instead of just getting a taxi?"
She stuck her tongue out at him in defiance. "You need the exercise Nick! Pointing your finger and yelling 'OBJECTION!' can only keep you in so much shape. Besides, it's not even all that cold."
"I can see my breath."
She turned to face him, but continued walking. Good thing the sidewalk was clear; she'd probably be bumping into people all over the place otherwise. "Oh stop complaining. You have that sweater and some gloves, what more could you need?"
"A hat would be nice." He mumbled under his breath, but she was right. He had forgone his signature blue suit for striped T-shirt covered by a grey pull-over sweater and some jeans. Even he had to admit that playing a game of laser tag in a suit wouldn't be all that fun.
Maya had changed her outfit too. In fact, it was one of the only times Phoenix had seen her in anything other than her traditional robes. Instead today, she was sporting a long sleeved Pink Princess shirt and some nice fitting jeans. No jacket or sweater, which Phoenix initially found kind of odd considering the temperature until he remembered part of her spirit medium training involves sitting under an ice cold waterfall. She would be used to this by now.
The only thing familiar about her outfit at all was the fact that she was still wearing her magmatama, which would make sense. While Maya isn't what he would describe as devout to her village's traditions, she still respects them. It would be basically sacrilege to go out without it, especially as she was next in line to be the Master.
Overall, the outfit was a nice change of pace from her usual more…conservative robes.
"Earth to Nick! What on earth are you staring at? Is there something on my face?"
Her voice snapped him out of whatever daydream he had been in. Had he been staring at her?
"I was just wondering how long you're going to walk like that. It's impressive you haven't fallen yet."
"Oh good point!" Without skipping a beat, she turned back around and was next to Phoenix again.
They turned a corner and their destination suddenly appeared before them. "Oh look, there it is!" She grabbed Phoenix's wrist and started to run to the building. "Come on slowpoke!"
"M-Maya!" She yanked him so hard he nearly lost his footing. Without being given much of a choice, he started to follow her, stride for stride.
As they entered the building, Phoenix was overcome by an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. "Woah wait, I've been here before!"
Maya released his wrist and turned to him, curiosity sparking in his eyes. "WOAH! Really?"
He nodded taking in the surroundings. "Yeah!" He smiled and pointed to an arcade cabinet that was near to them. "Me and Larry used to come here and play on that Street Fighter II cabinet all the time when we were younger! And over there is Donkey Kong and Marvel vs. Capcom!" He grinned ear to ear.
"Nick you look like a little kid on Christmas day." Maya giggled.
"Just…man I haven't been in here for years. I'm surprised this place is still up and running to be honest."
"Well we aren't here for the video games. Now let's see…" She looked around briefly. "Ah ha! Over there!" She pointed towards a large bright green sign that said "LASER TAG THIS WAY" in obnoxiously huge letters.
They walked in the direction of the sign. Phoenix couldn't help but feel a little out of place being a full grown adult in a place packed to the brim with children in elementary and middle school. But to be fair, he saw a good deal of college and high school students.
The stepped through a door to an open area that must be some sort of waiting room. There were chairs set up all around the room. There were ads for all sorts of food, games and prizes adorned on the walls. On the opposite that they came in from there were two doors, one labeled "ORANGE" and the other labeled "GREEN".
"Hello, how can I help you?" A kind voice from near the entrance greeted them. They turned to see a young woman sitting behind a counter that said "Laser Tag Sign Up" above it.
"Oh! Um," Phoenix approached the counter and began to dig through the pockets in his jeans. "Yeah we uh, have these passes…" He handed them to the girl.
She took the passes and glanced over them quickly. "Ah, you must be Mr. Wright and Ms. Fey. The radio station told us you had won some passes for a free game."
'Pearls knew exactly what she was doing, didn't she?' Phoenix couldn't help but be impressed by the girls determination.
"Before I get everything set up I'm required to give you the following warnings. There will be rapid flashing lights, and is advised that anyone with epileptic episodes not participate. Will both of you be all right?"
The nodded in unison.
"There will be loud noises as well. This game requires a lot of physical activity and the vests are both heavy and tight fitting, thus not recommended for women who are pregnant or may be pregnant." She cast a quick glance to Maya. "Do you two wish to continue?"
"Heck yeah we do!" Maya thrust her fist into the air, as if she just won something.
The girl smiled. "Of course. If you two could just sit down. I'll go set everything up and tell you when we're all set."
Phoenix offered a quick thanks as the lady exited through a door behind the counter. The two of them went to sit down.
"What was up with the glance she threw you when she was… uh, you know?" Phoenix asked as sat down.
Maya shrugged nonchalantly. "To be fair it does kinda look like we're on a date." She laughed at the thought of it.
Phoenix on the other hand blushed at the mere idea. "Well even then…to imply…"
Maya laughed again, only harder this time. "What, does pregnancy make you uncomfortable?"
"ACK stop saying that word!" Maya was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. 'Glad to know she cares about my feelings.' He sighed, but couldn't help but smile.
Suddenly, the girl reappeared behind the counter. "Okay, we're all set! Mr. Wright, could you please enter the orange door and Ms. Fey, the green door?"
Maya literally jumped out of her seat in excitement and Phoenix followed, albeit much slower. She beamed at him. "Good luck Nick! May the best man or woman win!" And with that she ran through her assigned door.
Removing his sweater and hanging it on a hanger on the wall, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair as he entered his door. 'She's going to be the death of me someday, I swear.'
The room he entered was pitch black aside from a row of neon orange lining one wall. He cautiously walked forward as to not trip on anything and touched the neon lights. He traced his hands over it before coming to the conclusion that it was a vest. He took it off the hook and as his vision became more accustomed to the darkness, his suspicions were confirmed.
He fumbled around with the latches and quickly managed to get it on. It was a bit heavy, as he had been told earlier, but it fit surprisingly well. He noticed there was a plastic gun in a holster that hung down his waist. He took it out and realized it was attached to him by some sort of cord.
"Well now what?"
As if to answer his question a loud booming voice came over the speakers that must have lined the room's ceiling. "HELLO CHALLENGERS! Welcome to laser tag!" The voice began to go over safety rules ("No running!"- as if anyone's going to listen to that one) and the disclaimers he and Maya had heard earlier, followed by where the emergency exists were located.
"Now for this game mode is one on one, so the rules are a bit different! Instead of trying to take over the enemy's base, you're simply trying to get the most points! Aim for the lights on your opponents vest. If you get them in the front, it's worth 7 points. On the shoulders is 4 points and on the back is 1! So aim for the front to score biiiiiiiiig! You have 15 minutes. Be sneaky, be quick but most importantly have fun!" After the message ended, another voice came over the speaker "The match will begin in 1 minute."
Music began to play and Phoenix was actually feeling pretty pumped up. "Who knows, this may be kind of fun." He took the plastic gun out of its holster and pulled trigger a few times and pretended to aim in an over exaggerated fashion. 'If Maya saw me right now she'd never let me hear the end of it.'
"The match will begin in 15 seconds." The wall on Phoenix's left started to slide to open. Fog began to roll in and the music began to grow louder.
He smirked confidentially. "Let's do this."
"GO!"
Phoenix full out sprinted into the open room and ducked behind a structure as loud pop music assaulted his ears and strobe lights bombarded his eyes. He peeked over the structure to get a good look at his surroundings.
It was a fairly wide open room with structures all over the floor. To the left and right were staircases leading up to a higher level. There were two staircases in the orange "base" so he assumed there were two on Maya's side as well. Other than that, there was nothing much of note.
He took a deep breath and stood up and ran towards the stairs to his right. 'Knowing Maya she probably went upstairs first.' But about half way up, he suddenly heard loud noise that sounded from some speakers on his shoulder.
He whipped around and saw Maya at the foot of the stairs pointing her gun right at him. She had a devilish grin on her face.
'Oh shit.'
He turned back around and sprinted up the stairs. He quickly realized the layout was basically the same as the lower floor. Hearing Maya run up after him, he chose a nearby structure to duck behind.
"Ohhh Niiiiccckkkkk!" He peeked over the side of what he was ducking behind. The two made eye contact but before she had to react, Phoenix was rejoicing in a 7 point shot. He ran out from his cover and tried to lose her, but he heard another sound effect erupt from his speaker shoulders. Man, she was good.
He took a second to catch his breath and came out from his hiding spot to find that she was nowhere to be seen. He kept his gun at the ready spinning around looking for any sign of movement. There! A flash of green. He took aim and hit what he suspected was Maya's shoulder pad. He heard her curse despite the loud music and snickered under his breath.
Their game of cat and mouse continued for quite a bit longer. They were always at least one step in front of or behind each other. And as far as Phoenix could tell, they were evenly matched.
As time began to dwindle down to the final minutes of the game, Phoenix found himself trapped. Maya had somehow stalked him into a corner and he had no feasible way of escaping her wrath.
Now he stood back to the wall as Maya slowly approached him, an absolutely demonic look in her eyes.
"Ahh the great Phoenix Wright. Has he finally met his match? Will he finally be struck down from his incredibly tall high horse?"
"Hey I don't have a high horse!"
"Shhhhhh, you're ruining my monologue Nick!" She came in range to shoot, which is exactly what Phoenix expected her to do. But she didn't. She kept walking.
"The reign of Phoenix Wright will finally come to an end! Prosecutors everywhere breathe in a sigh of relief as papers read out 'Famous Lawyer Struck Down by Best Friend'." She threw in an almost too convincing evil laugh.
She was right in front of him now, with the nose of her gun planted up against the sensor on the front of Phoenix's vest. The countdown of the final 30 seconds of the match began to sound over the speaker. "Any last words, Phoenix Wright?"
"Yeah actually. You're way too good at this. Next time you get in trouble I'm not sure if I'll be able to defend you- I won't believe you're innocent!" He laughed.
"Aww Nick that's just mean." She pulled the trigger and scored another 7 points. Phoenix yelled in an exaggerated tone to signify that she had shot him dead. The countdown hit the 15 second mark.
Maya was still standing right in front of him and for some reason he felt his heart begin to race. "Um, you gonna move? Time's almost up." She stayed quiet for a few more seconds.
As the timer hit the 5 second mark, Maya suddenly reached upward and lightly pressed her lips to Phoenix's. Before he could even register what was happening, she pulled back and turned away from him. The timer hit 0 and the lights came on in the arena. The announcer voice started to speak again, but Phoenix didn't even hear what it was saying. He just stood where he was until he noticed there was no more sound.
In a daze, he returned to his "base" and took off his vest and hung it back up. He stood in front of the exit door for what felt like hours.
'Oh god what am I going to do? How do I respond to that? Is this going to change things? What if it does? Don't make it awkward don't make it awkward don't make it awkward don't make it awkward…'
He gulped and opened the door to see Maya siting looking at a piece of paper. "Oh Nick come look at this!" He cautiously approached her and sat down as she handed him the paper.
It was a list of how often each part of their vests were hit. Phoenix hit her shoulders most often, Maya hit his chest. She won by over twenty points.
"That was a lot of fun, don't ya think?" He didn't respond. She waved her hand in front of his face. "Niiiccckkk? You there?"
"Hm? Oh uh yeah." 'How is she not freaking out?'
He took a quick look behind the counter and noticed that they were alone. Mustering up his courage he turned to her. "Maya… what was that?"
She looked at him and tilted her head in confusion. "Hm?"
Phoenix's already deep blush deepened. "Y- you know! That…that kiss?" 'What am I so scared of? Why is this more nerve wracking than being in court?'
Maya smiled and giggled a little. "Oh that silly thing? Pearly and I had a bet. If you won the game she would have to make me dinner one night this week and if I won I would have to kiss you. She's gonna be happy to hear that I won!"
"O-oh. That's it? Okay then." He forced himself to laugh but for some reason felt disappointed.
'Well that's good then… I guess. Wait why is it "I guess"? Did… did I want it to be more? Ack I don't know anymore.' He glanced at her. 'Now isn't the time to worry about that.'
"Soooo Nick I was thinking. Wanna show me that Street Fighter II cabinet you were talking about earlier?"
He grinned. "Oh yeah! But be warned, back in grade school I was undefeated."
"You're not in grade school anymore though." She winked at him and stood up. "I bet I can beat you!"
"I'm really not in the mood for a bet right now, Maya. If you won one, I'm sure you'll win another." He stood up as well and grabbed his sweater off the hanger.
"Good call." She walked towards the door and held it open. "Ya coming?"
"Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses."
He looked at her again, standing in the doorway and couldn't help but smile. She was his best friend and nothing could change that. And if he wanted this little kiss to mean something more than it did, he would have to figure it out later.
For right now, he had only one thing on his mind: kicking her butt in Street Fighter II.