Hidden in Plain Sight

"Aaargh! Where is it?" the normally calm and collected prosecutor yelled as he grips the pink handheld console tighter. Kay had a new videogame you see, and she was stuck on a part that you needed to pass to advance the game. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find the answer and asked her friend Miles Edgeworth to solve it. Of course he accepts...after all, it was just a puzzle.

He then found out that this puzzle caused him a full hour of distraught and annoyance. "Why can't I find it? It's just a simple cross!" he shouted in frustration. "It's impossible..! There's nothing in this pattern that even resembles such a shape!" he couldn't believe that he was giving up on it, but there was nothing he could do. He had already unlocked all the hints too...including the super hint. And he still couldn't find it at all.

Out of the blue a few knocks came on the door to his office. Edgeworth then closed the DS, hid it in a drawer and hid his irritation. "Come in."

It was his childhood friend and rival Phoenix that stepped in. The spiky-haired man smiled sheepishly at him. "S-sorry for dropping in all of a sudden Edgeworth. It's just that...uhm..." the defense attorney hesitated. "I have to get an autopsy report! Yeah."

"Strange, I didn't know you were working on a case Wright." he replied.

"It's well...uh..."

"If you are trying to escape from your assistant because she is wasting your money you may come in."

"R-really?" the spiky-haired man's blue eyes sparkled. The prosecutor sighed and nodded in response. "Thanks! I owe you Edgeworth!" his big grin made him turn away. "You saved me before...you don't need to owe me." he murmured softly so that his fiend won't hear.

Without him knowing, Phoenix somehow got so close to his desk when he wasn't looking and pulled something out. "Hey I didn't know you have a Nintendo DS Edgeworth!"

"W-whaa-since when you were allowed to rummage in my drawer?" the silver-haired man screeched in anger. The defense attorney ignored him and switched it on. All the prosecutor could do was gawk while his fingers were twitching.

"You play Professor Layton Edgeworth?"

"It-it's not mine!" he snapped. "It's Kay's..."

"Oh. That explains it." Phoenix then snickered. "But its color really suits you-"

"Say that again and I'm throwing you out of my office." he said with his voice dangerously low.

"Okay okay sorry..." the spiky-haired man apologized.

The two were silent for some time until the silver-haired male spoke up. "How do you know Professor Layton? Don't tell me..."

"No no...I don't play the game. I can't afford one of these things..." he smiled bashfully. "But it is a really popular puzzle game for all ages. I've heard that some of them can stump one real smart guys..."

"U-uh...Wright," he hesitated...but better now than never. "can I ask you a favor?"

"Stuck on a puzzle Edgeworth?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, yes."

"Okay, let me have a shot at it." the prosecutor then opened the game from what Kay instructed. He then loaded the save file and skipped the dialogue. The lower screen was showing the end of the hall with a large door in their way while the upper screen had a map on it to display their current location...with a chibi Layton icon of course. He then tapped the locked entrance and a red exclamation point appeared. Skipping the characters talking again, they finally arrived at the puzzle's title.

No. 115 Hidden in Plain Sight

"The orange plus sign shown in the top-left corner below is hidden somewhere in the green grid.

It's the exact same size and shape. Can you find it?"

"So this is the puzzle huh..." the defense attorney muttered.

"You try to solve it; I'm going to prepare some tea." Edgeworth then left his chair and began to make himself a drink. While doing so, he kept thinking that there would be no way that his friend would be able to figure out that puzzle. He spent an entire hour on it and couldn't find anything at all...he could hear it now..."I got it!"

"Wait, that's not what he's supposed to say." he turned and saw the black spiky-haired man raising the pink DS up in victory. "You found it?" he screamed; not believing this one bit. "Show it to me now!"

Phoenix handed the console to him as he commanded, and all Edgeworth could do was gape in utter shock. There it was, the answer was already traced, submitted and proved correct by the game. He couldn't understand how he was able to see past the confusing lines and patterns so easily.

"I can't believe you got stuck on this one Edgeworth. It was a piece of cake!" he didn't notice he was adding fuel to the fire. "I mean, I thought it would be more difficult or mind-boggling but man-"

Simply put, the attorney found himself being held in the collar with his rival's grip and literally thrown out of the office and hitting the wall with his face.

"Hmph. I'm never going to ask Wright about such trivial things ever again."

A/N : From Professor Layton and the Unwound Future! Yesterday my friend told me she got a new game yesterday which was Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. She kept on laughing so hard because of their accents...which never struck me as funny until she mentioned it. She kept laughing so much she said she was turning to Calisto Yew.

Anyway, I made the story since we somehow drifted to that topic. Imagining Edgeworth getting stuck on a puzzle and Phoenix solving it like it was a cinch. I chose this puzzle since it stumped my sister, my mom and myself. My dad seemed to get the answer in less than a minute though. Huh...weird.

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