Chapter 1: Wright v. The New World
First thing is first, I wanted you guys to see some basic character design ideas I have for this fic. http [:][/][/] [angelrin89.] [tumblr] .com [/]post/169489975418/the-great-dual-substitute-turnabout just remove the brackets and spaces and you can see the inspirations for some of the character designs I have planned for this fic. I'll get around to sketching my inspirations eventually but here is something to use as a point of reference.
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, this story is something I've been working on since May of 2017 and I finally decided to post it!
I will state when I normally write character's thoughts I don't normally use them in parenthesis, however since that's what they do in the games I figured to use them. I also very very rarely use capslock in a story as I feel italics and describing how loud someone is, is more useful and better way to describe the volume or emphasis of a word, but again, in the games they have done that. So it's interesting to try it out, it feels weird to me, but I want to try to keep to the spirit of the games as much as possible.
I wanted to give a special thanks to my friend, coolman229, for helping me edit this chapter and agreeing to help beta for this story!
Phoenix felt hazy, like that feeling when you first wake up early in the morning. Where you are so tired that your eyes feel like lead, and opening them in the slightest almost feels too draining and even somewhat painful weirdly enough. So he kept his eyes shut. It was when his body slowly started to become more alert that he realized he had a large headache pinching right in the center of his forehead as well as around both his temples. His back he noticed was aching too, like when you slept on it wrong—knots and a lot of built up tension from laying in an uncomfortable position type of ache.
That was when clarity started to reach his mind. He was sitting in a chair, head resting on something wooden. His eyes still felt heavy and even when he barely tried to open them it felt like too much effort, still hurting a bit. But then he became confused.
("What am I doing here again? No wait, what was I doing again?") He thought as he still felt too hazy to move.
He sleepily tried to trace his steps mentally. But his mind still felt so foggy. He was struggling but for the life of him he couldn't remember what he was previously doing. Staying with his eyes closed and sitting there like a bump on a log was obviously not helping solve that answer.
He forced himself to blink his eyes open despite the grogginess, the headache, and the discomfort. That was when he first noticed he was in an office chair, and he was at a desk. He blinked several times and then stretched his arms as wide as he could. He rubbed his eyes then shook his head, as if to shake the metaphorical cobwebs from his mind. He proceeded to massage his forehead and temples in hopes of easing the headache.
When he finally felt a bit more alert that was when he noticed immediately what was off.
This desk wasn't his desk. This chair wasn't his chair. This office wasn't his office.
He looked around in the spacious dark office room that he fell asleep in. The room wasn't lit save for behind him from the window that the curtains covered enough just to leave a crack of moonlight to stream in. He couldn't tell its quality or color but there was a large sofa to his left in the room, and to the right there was an enormous book case that took up the entire wall. It went from ceiling to the floor it was so massive. From what he could tell from the very limited light there were several books and even more binders with labels he couldn't make out. Vaguely he was reminded of all the paperwork and files they keep in those cabinets at his office, but these were much bigger and there were much more of them. It was then it dawned on him how it reminded him in a way to Edgeworth's filing system.
He wanted to inspect more but he sat there scratching his head instead; he still felt incredibly groggy. He stretched his arms around some more then rolled his shoulders. His back was extremely stiff. He took a deep breath then let out a heavy exhale through his nostrils as he tapped his chin with one hand and rubbed the back of his neck with the other hand.
Just how did he get here? Why was he sleeping at this desk? What was he doing before he got here?
Then a knock at the door broke him from his thoughts.
"Uh—come in?" He said after rubbing his temples again.
Why was he giving someone permission to enter? This wasn't his office. Then again he had no clue to how he got to… wherever the heck he was. He heard the doorknob twist with a clicking sound, the door started to creak slightly as it was pushed open.
He could see the silhouette of a large and burly man.
"Sir? You're still here?" The man asked.
He wasn't sure how to answer that question. He had no clue where "here" was. He saw movement of the man's arm reaching over to the wall and Phoenix winced as he realized the man turned on a tall lamp by the doorway. Phoenix's headache he apparently had was still sensitive to light as he shut his eyes for a bit and waited a second before slowly opening them.
It was Detective Gumshoe; he hadn't seen him in a while. He looked still as unkempt as ever, his jacket was brown instead of the green he was used to, but it still looked pretty tattered and frayed on the ends and sleeves. He noticed several dark stains that were peppered here and there on the jacket. He still had the usual earnest but clueless expression he was certain the man must have been born with.
"Oh—Detective Gumshoe."
"You should have gone home a long time ago."
("If it's so late then why are you here? Wait...did he just call me Sir?") He thought puzzled.
Gumshoe apparently was acting as if him being where ever this was, was normal. Not to mention he was treating him differently. That was odd. Phoenix figured maybe he'll just play along and that could help give him answers. Who knows, maybe this was all just some weird dream he still hasn't woken up from yet?
"I uh—say Gumshoe, how come you knocked if it's so late?" He asked instead.
"Oh well I always knock just in case you are busy working late Sir! You know how it is, I got all the old files you said you needed. I was gonna leave them here locked safely in your special drawer. But it really is late though Mr. Wright. That desk can't be a comfortable place to sleep." Gumshoe chuckled as he scratched his cheek.
"Um...nodded off I guess." Phoenix said with a shrug, then thought to himself, ("Not Pal? When did I get promoted to Mr. Wright and Sir?")
"I'll leave the files here for you Mr. Wright. You should head home and get some rest. Big day tomorrow ya'know." Gumshoe said with an ear to ear grin.
Gumshoe moved over to a filing cabinet that Phoenix didn't notice until now, by the sofa. Gumshoe pulled a small key out of his pocket and unlocked the middle drawer and placed the files he had under his armpit into the drawer. He then shut the drawer and locked it back up.
Phoenix sighed to himself. Yes home did sound good. He still was trying to figure out what was he doing before he got there, and why was Gumshoe acting this way towards him all of a sudden. He grabbed a familiar blue coat that was draped over the chair; the material felt nicer than he remembered. He noticed a briefcase next to his feet and he picked it up. Phoenix couldn't for the life of him think of one reason of what he was doing here or even where here was. When did he get to this office? Whose office was it? Just what the heck was he doing before he fell asleep? He had a feeling it was something important but his mind was still hazy and aching. And why did he have such a huge headache all of a sudden?
Also the briefcase looked nicer too now that he thought about it; actually this wasn't even his normal briefcase he uses. His shoes also felt way more comfortable than they normally are. His neck felt very itchy he realized too, he reached to grab what he thought would have been a tie normally was instead...a cravat.
("What the heck?")
Phoenix stared at the piece of fluttery fabric tied around his neck like it was some second head that spontaneously grew from his collar bone. What in the world was he doing wearing one of these stuffy, itchy, overly fancy things?
"Oh before I forget, Ms. von Karma said for me to remind you that she wants to meet you early tomorrow." Gumshoe said.
"Von Karma?" Phoenix just blinked at Gumshoe completely lost.
What did Franziska want with him?
Suddenly something caught his eye on the lapel of his jacket. Something that reflected a small light the second his jacket happened to catch a bit of the moonlight that peaked through the window.
It didn't look like an attorney badge. He felt his eyes widen soon as he noticed what it was.
("What is THAT doing on my jacket?!")
The weirdness of the cravat on him momentarily forgotten to the new even more startling revelation.
"Umm—Detective?"
Phoenix felt his legs frozen where he was standing and he gulped what felt like a rock in his throat; staring at...that alien object. Because that was not a defense attorney's badge. That was a prosecutor's badge.
"Yeah Sir?" The detective asked.
This clearly was some weird dream right?
"I'm...your boss?" He questioned anxiously.
"Of course you are Sir!" Gumshoe exclaimed with pure enthusiasm.
"And this is...my office?" Phoenix questioned as he felt his confusion and anxiety grow.
"Well yeah? Of course it is, you feeling okay Mr. Wright?" Detective Gumshoe tilted his head with slight confusion mixed with worry.
"I'm not sure." He admitted.
"You must be working yourself too hard." Gumshoe said as he crossed his arms.
"Yeah...that's it." Phoenix agreed half-heartily.
This was just some crazy dream. He must have overworked himself on another case and his mind was creating some weird dream to release his pent up stress he's no doubt had bottled up.
"Oh Mr. Wright, I just remembered, your car is in the shop until tomorrow. Do you have a ride home?" Gumshoe inquired.
"Well no but—"
Since when did he own a car?
"No worries Sir, I can give you a lift!" Gumshoe exclaimed.
"Yeah...thanks Detective." Phoenix nodded, still in a daze.
He kept pinching himself and it wasn't causing himself to wake up. That's when it finally started to slowly come back to him. Not all of it was back, but he remembered that morning getting a call. His old friend Larry was arrested again, but this time the charges against him were far worse than usual. He told Larry they'd take on the case. He remembered then going to the office to talk to Apollo and Athena and...no he was still drawing blanks. His mind still felt fuzzy. This clearly had to be a dream because he has had weird dreams before where he felt very disoriented when trying to remember things going on in his real life outside of his subconscious. Trying to force himself to remember did feel similar to some of those occasional really weird dreams he's had in the past.
He followed Gumshoe out of the office and into the elevator, neither men saying anything. Eventually they made their way to the parking garage and to Gumshoe's beat up looking police car. Phoenix climbed into the passenger's seat and strapped himself in. When Detective Gumshoe drove him away from the—dare he say it—prosecutor's office, he didn't know what to think. This was one confusing dream.
The dream became much more unbelievable when Gumshoe pulled up not only into a nice looking neighborhood with all nice looking small houses, but then he pulled up to a house. It wasn't huge but still—it was a house. Not an apartment complex or even a condo, but a house—and a fairly nice one at that! Whoever owned it obviously had tastes because the landscaping not only was beautiful but well taken care of. Everything about it seemed clean, modern, tasteful, filled with colorful flowers in the garden (which he had no clue what type any of the flowers were), and someone who was financially well off despite the house not being huge he could just tell. He just had this feeling whoever owned this house wasn't hurt for cash.
"Here we are Mr. Wright, home sweet home." Gumshoe said after several seconds of Phoenix not moving.
Maybe he assumed Phoenix was falling asleep and he was helping his boss wake up?
("Wait so...this is MY house?") He thought with surprise.
This definitely had to be a dream; he never once owned a house in his life (not counting his parent's house he grew up in). He and Trucy recently moved to a much nicer apartment complex but that was still all Phoenix could afford even between the two of them. But he made certain it was in a nice area and it was a cleaner much newer complex so he knew it would be good for Trucy. But not a house...so there was no other explanation other than that this was a dream.
"Yeah...home sweet home." Phoenix said absently as he gathered his things, "Thank you for the ride Detective Gumshoe."
"Think nothing of it Mr. Wright." He grinned.
"Hey Detective before I head out, I had a question...what was it Ms. von Karma wanted to meet with me about?" Phoenix asked.
"Well I'm sure it has to do with tomorrow's trial." Gumshoe shrugged.
"Trial?" Phoenix tried not to sound as clueless as he actually was.
"Yeah, you know how much she wants to win tomorrow. I definitely wouldn't want you to keep your partner in crime waiting." Detective Gumshoe said jokingly.
Phoenix was starting to open the car door but immediately froze at the word partner.
Partner? Franziska von Karma? And what did he mean by partner? This dream was getting more confusing and weird by the second.
"I—um...good night Detective Gumshoe." Phoenix finally said after shaking himself out of his bewilderment.
Gumshoe saluted him (just adding more to the bizarre trend tonight) and bid him goodnight. Phoenix shut the car door and started to make his way toward what was supposedly his house. It then occurred to him he'd need keys. He checked his pockets and sure enough he found a set of keys in the left side pocket of his jacket. He assumed it was for the front door and his assumption was proven correct when he successfully unlocked the door.
He switched on the light and everything looked so neat, so pristine.
The furniture all looked high end from what he could tell in the front living room. He lazily wandered a little bit and found a kitchen, a utility closet, a study, then a hallway connected to the living room by the front door that lead further into the house. He was too groggy and disoriented to explore more so his only goal now was to find a bedroom.
He moved like autopilot out of the living room and into the hallway. There were quite a few doors. The first door he opened led to a bathroom. He checked the door next to it and sure enough it was a bedroom. However when he flipped on the lights he noticed the very clean room was probably not for him. Something about it had a bit of a feminine touch to it. What with the lacy bed-skirt and a couple of the throw pillows on the bed even had lace. The bedding was a light teal color, and he also noticed the smallest throw pillow in the center of the throw pillows had a white ribbon tied around it. The furniture in the room was modern but felt more like something a woman would pick out than a man...at least if he had to guess. It just looked slightly fancier than something a man would pick out.
He had no clue as he only ever had two criteria when picking out furniture. Trucy could not find it ugly and it was cheap, that was all he cared about on the subject. Phoenix briefly wondered if his dream conjured up this image of a fancy room to have for Trucy if they lived in a nice house. Although he didn't think Trucy would care for the fancy lace.
He turned the light back off and shut the door. He checked the doors to the right, there were three of them. He went to the one closest and thankfully it was a bedroom, he flipped the light switch on and that room felt more like himself if he had money.
The bedding was pretty basic and his favorite color blue, with just some decorative white and black throw pillows. However the material looked like a high end soft fabric—just by looking at it. The headboard was a black metal frame that seemed simple yet modern. The furniture in the room all matched the more modern style of the headboard. The curtains and the rug by the doorway matched the bedding.
He sighed and kicked his shoes off. He was bored of admiring furniture. He just wanted to lay down and get rid of this headache. He opened the closest dresser and started to inspect for some pajamas. He finally found some simple blue tops and blue bottoms except...
("Wait are these made of silk?!")
He rubbed his hands against the material and it was definitely silk. Upon further inspection nearly all of the pajamas in the drawer were made of silk!
("Why would I ever own something as stuck up as several pairs of silk pajamas?")
And why would he ever pay for something as ridiculous as that many either? Those couldn't have been cheap!
He shook his head, this was a dumb dream—no point in worrying about it. He changed out of his clothes, extremely grateful to peel off that stuffy cravat, and into the stuck up rich boy pajamas.
He pulled the object that felt so foreign to him, the prosecutor badge, from the lapel of the jacket and discarded the jacket onto the carpet. He pulled a handful of items, something smooth like a bead but he was too sleepy to tell what it was, along with a fancy leather wallet, some spare change, and the house key from his pocket. He was far too exhausted and confused to care that he just left the clothes all dumped onto the floor. He pulled out the sleek smart phone he was shocked he also apparently owned from the right pocket of the jacket before discarding the jacket on the floor again. He then went and turned off the light to the room, using the light from the smartphone to guide him to the bed. He placed the phone on the nightstand and rolled over into what was probably the most comfortable mattress he's ever laid on. He actually smiled and let out a moan, he felt like he was melting into the mattress it was so relaxing. He set the wallet, spare change, the prosecutor badge, the smooth bead like object he hadn't given much thought to, and the house key all on the nightstand next to the smartphone. He crawled under the covers and buried his face into the pillow.
This was just a strange dream. That's all this was. He'll lie down, wake up, and he'll be back in his homey apartment with Trucy greeting him for the morning.
Phoenix woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. Soon as he opened his eyes and nope...this still wasn't his apartment. This was still that nice room with the expensive furniture and the dumb silk pajamas.
Just what the heck was happening? His headache had lessened but was still there. He however didn't answer the phone in time. He frowned and scrolled it, whoever owned this smart phone apparently wasn't smart enough to put a lock code on it.
He groggily raised his head from his pillow and let out a yawn.
("What time is it anyway?")
That was when finally more memories surged back into what he was doing yesterday, well at least until he woke up in that weird office that most certainly was not his. He remembered the call from Larry. He remembered bringing Athena and Apollo with him to the detention center to go talk to him. He remembered they all went out investigating all day then he returned to the detention center and when he asked more questions to his old friend, three psyche-locks appeared. He remembered he currently didn't have anything that could have broken those locks. He remembered going home that night but then quickly texting Apollo and Athena to meet him early in the morning. He wanted to head down to the art studio Larry often worked at since he had a hunch he could find a clue there to break those locks. They were then going to quickly stop by the detention center and see if they could break the locks before his trial later on which would have been today.
So is he still dreaming? If he isn't dreaming then...what exactly was going on and how did he get here? Last thing he now remembered before waking up in that office was he took Trucy home, kissed her goodnight, then he went to bed. But he woke up in that office instead of his bedroom.
He went to look back at the phone screen to check the time but then several notifications popped up. He felt his heart freeze as soon as he saw what was on the phone screen. The name on the screen jolted his conscious to be firmly awake and he immediately jump out of the bed.
Five missed calls, the caller ID read "Franziska"!
"Oh hell...this weird dream is about to be a nightmare." He groaned.
He swiped the notifications away for the missed calls and went instead to the unread text message notifications. All of them also from Franziska. He felt a knot had begun to form in his stomach while his brow begun to sweat. He naively hoped that perhaps somehow in this weird bizarre dream he happened to know more than one Franziska, but he knew that hope was in vain as soon as he read the messages.
There was no doubt who this was...
["Where are you? I thought we agreed to meet early, it's been 15 minutes past the agreed time. Do not be foolish and respond to me post haste."]
Phoenix wiped his brow as he continued down to read more messages.
["Fool! You know better than to keep me waiting, where are you? Cease this foolish foolishness and respond immediately!"]
He felt himself involuntarily gulp as he read further.
["Why are you not responding to any of my calls or texts?! This is most unbecoming and foolish! The most foolishly foolish foolhardy foolishness! Cease this silence and respond to me! YOU FOOL!"]
Phoenix groaned and rubbed his temples while he set the phone back down on the nightstand then moved to get himself dressed. He had increasingly become suspicious that this was no dream (if it was then it was no ordinary one).
But dream or no dream...keeping Franziska von Karma waiting is a death wish he was not going to dance around with.
He stopped himself though when he started searching the drawers and the closet, not a single tie in sight! But there sure were a lot of cravats all neatly folded in a drawer! Either this was a bizarre dream, or Edgeworth was playing an extremely elaborate prank. Though he supposed that couldn't be right either, after all Edgeworth doesn't have much of a sense of humor. He went back to the closet where he saw all the suits and dress shirts all hung up neatly and organized.
He was grateful the suits were all mostly in his favorite color. He didn't feel right in anything but blue. All the vests though in the closet however were either gray or black. So he opted to put on a gray one over the dress shirt. The material felt really nice to him for some reason. And the shoes were pretty nice too. Even the belt he put on felt like it was more expensive material than he normally would buy. He placed on another really nice jacket, blue to match his suit pants.
He hesitated as he found the prosecutor badge on the nightstand after exiting the closet. He eyed it like it was some sort of alien. It was silly to be wary over such a small object, but none of this was natural. He grabbed the spare change that he set there last night as well as the house key and wallet he left on the nightstand, placing both into the other pocket of the jacket. He then sighed and grabbed the prosecutor badge and placed it into his front left pant pocket.
But that was when he spotted the other object he hadn't realized was in his pocket that he pulled out last night. He realized it was the magatama. So that was the smooth bead-like object he found. It was strange because not only did he wake up in that office he'd never been in before, he was wearing clothes that weren't his, and yet that was his magatama. It apparently was in his pocket despite all these strange changes he woke up too. He couldn't think of a single explanation for how that happened or any of this beyond this has to be a dream.
He heard the smartphone buzz again on the nightstand. He walked over and picked it up. Phoenix glanced down at it and saw another text message from Franziska.
["I'm here, I don't know what's gotten into you, YOU FOOL—but you better greet me at your door or I'm going to break it down and drag your foolishly foolish self out myself!"]
He groaned further, he was about to call her but he should have known putting it off was not a good idea.
Everything that was going on was absolutely crazy.
Why was he a prosecutor? Why was Franziska his supposed partner? None of it made sense. It was an insane dream, right? He hoped someone could slap him and wake him up from this already as Phoenix had just about enough.
He left the room and moved to head back into the living room. Phoenix went up to the front door, unlocked it, then opened to see Franziska stepping out of what looked like a brand new (probably the latest year model of the car if he had to guess) silver Rolls Royce.
Her hair was longer, it went about to the middle of her back in length, and she had it tied in a low pony tail. She was sporting an outfit similar to her old one but had its differences; her tastes were still as classy as he remembered. She didn't have any puffy shoulders of the sleeves. She had on a cropped black jacket that was trimmed with gold around the edges of the top and end of the sleeves. She was wearing black gloves and had a blue triangle shaped jewel pinned at the top of the cravat around her neck. The skirt was high waisted to just below her chest yet hugged her figure in a way to look more like a slimming short dress instead of a skirt. It too was also colored black with gold trimming on the edge to match her cropped jacket. She had on light brown colored tights and he assumed designer black high heeled shoes. They looked brand new almost, he didn't see a single scuff mark on them and they had that new shoe shine to them.
She eyed him with an icy glare that only made him immediately gulp in response. Despite her small size and after all these years of not seeing her, Franziska von Karma was still quite intimidating. Her heels clicked loudly against the pavement as she stomped up towards him. He couldn't help but take a step backwards out of instinct.
"I demand an explanation! You know it is foolish to keep me waiting, fool! And what's with you? Your hair is not even fixed, no badge or cravat? Let me guess, you didn't even eat breakfast and being a foolish fool you foolishly prepared to fly out the door?" She chastised crisply.
He felt like shrinking away. He had no idea what was going on but somehow she made him feel ashamed for his state despite him not caring that much five minutes ago. But he felt justified as he was really confused and out of his element, not that he'd ever voice those excuses to her. Dream or no dream, she'd never hear them.
"Uhhh..." He scratched the back of his head.
With one swift movement, her whip flashed in the blink of an eye. He flinched on instinct hearing the sound of her cracking the whip against the pavement.
"What is the matter with you?! Today of all days?!" She berated with that terrifying glare that caused him to shiver.
("Why does the universe hate me?")
He didn't argue as she grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket and dragged him back into "his" house. Franziska continued to pull him along and then forced him into the bathroom.
"Fix that mess, your head looks like a couple of foolish pigeons made a nest! Then you are to come to the kitchen and explain yourself, am I clear Phoenix?!"
("Wait, Phoenix—just Phoenix? No Phoenix Wright? This is surreal, I must definitely be dreaming.")
"I said, am I clear?!" She rose her voice and the glare she squared on him was even more scary, if that was possible.
"Yes ma'am!" He hurriedly exclaimed.
He sighed as she turned on her heels to head back to the kitchen. He fixed his hair to his usual look; trademark spikes looking particularly groomed not to toot his own horn. Phoenix brushed his teeth and washed his face and hands; he then dried off his face and hands with the small towel hanging from a handle on the wall by the mirror. He put his jacket back on and placed the prosecutor badge on the lapel of his jacket.
It felt so...wrong.
He would worry about that later. Phoenix turned off the light and exited the bathroom. He turned around the hallway and walked into the living room, then turned into the open doorway to the kitchen to find Franziska was pouring coffee into two plastic cups.
She certainly knew her way around here. That felt so strange to him. He woke up in some weird dream bizarro-world where apparently Franziska and him were well acquainted enough that she knew her way around his kitchen?
"We need to hurry, the trial may have been delayed for tomorrow instead being as there are no open courtrooms for today, but we cannot allow for setbacks! We will use this extra time to gain every scrap of evidence we can! We must not allow this additional time to be played to the defense's advantage!" She declared.
She forced the cup into his hands and he drank it, grateful to at least have something in his stomach. She then placed what he realized was a bran muffin into his other hand.
"You need to eat something. Now hurry, and once you finish you will put on your cravat, we have a reputation to uphold Phoenix! Perfection is our burden after all. You will quickly explain why you have delayed us. Then we must be going to the detention center, we're behind schedule as it is." She ordered.
He didn't pay attention to what she said as he realized he was quite famished. He took a bite into the bran muffin then took another gulp of the coffee. Phoenix gobbled the muffin up so fast that it dawned on him he shouldn't of done that. As Franziska was waiting for the food to be finished before demanding more answers.
"You were supposed to meet me forty-five minutes ago regarding this case! What happened?" She said crisply.
He swallowed the last fraction of coffee with almost a loud gulp.
"Huh?"
He wanted to slap himself. He was on the spot and had no idea what excuse to make up and instead of trying to think of one he actually blurted out "Huh", to Franziska von Karma, of all people.
"Huh?!" She yelled incredulously.
Suddenly the crack of a whip and a stinging pain across the back of his left hand signaled to him what he already knew was going to be the consequence for his stupid answer.
"OUCH!"
He jumped out of his chair and cradled his left hand with his other hand, as he blew on the stinging skin.
"HUH?! That's all you have to say for yourself, you fool?!" She exclaimed.
("Someone please wake me up from this nightmare.") He mentally groaned.
"Phoenix!" She slammed both hands on the table, "The case! Don't tell me you forgot?!"
"Uhhh..." He couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh as he tried to think of something to say, "Well..."
She crossed her arms to await his apparent explanation while she tapped her left foot in impatience.
"Which case...is that again?" He asked nervously, feeling he would regret it.
Her eyes widened like saucers, "Are...are you SERIOUS?!"
He definitely regretted it.
She pushed herself out of her chair and stomped up towards him. He backed away but she continued to march closer regardless. Her impatience looked like a volcano that was going to erupt on him.
"Foolish! Foolishly Foolish! An absolute foolish foolhardy tomfoolery foolishness of a fool!" She erupted.
("That's eight, what we couldn't shoot for nine different ways to say fool at me Ms. von Karma?") He snarked to himself.
"Phoenix, have you lost your mind?! The. Case. You know, the murder of our sworn enemy, the famed defense attorney—Gregory Edgeworth! The prime suspect is his former protege and also business partners with his son, both of whom are also our sworn enemies—Mia Fey!"
Phoenix felt his stomach back-flip up into his rib cage.
"W-What?" He barely squeezed that word out.
He felt a cold sweat break out onto his forehead and the back of his neck. His mouth felt extremely dry.
He was still trapped in a nightmare, right?
("Mia...is alive?!)
He felt numb everywhere all of a sudden.
She also said Gregory Edgeworth! She implied that Edgeworth's father had been alive in recent years?! (Well until even more recently.) That Mia killed Miles Edgeworth's dad?! That couldn't be right! It was obviously a mistake, a horrible mistake!
He felt nauseous. Phoenix felt as if his own heart was hammering in his throat. The room was spinning and his headache increased again.
"Phoenix?" Franziska said with concern in her voice.
("Wait is she...?")
He looked up and she did indeed look worried.
("She's worried...about me?!")
"Nick, you should sit down." Franziska said seriously but still with concern.
"No I'm fine." He lied, his legs felt like jelly. "It's fine..."
Nothing about this was fine! Why is she so concerned over him? Why is she not just calling him Phoenix Wright every time she addresses him? Why is he here and what's with the prosecutor's badge and everything else? Why was this all happening?
And she just called him Nick! Nobody but Maya, Larry, and Pearl called him that!
"Nicky, you fool stop lying to me, you're as white as a blank sheet of paper." She said with more quiet concern but a hint of annoyance.
("Did she just call me...Nicky?!")
It became weirder...unsettling actually—only his mom and grandparents called him that!
Franziska von Karma is showing concern about his health and called him by just his first name and even nicknames?!
("Does not compute!")
Suddenly he felt dizzy, really dizzy. The headache multiplied double in pain—most of the pain stabbed right in between his eyes, white and yellow spots began to decorate his vision.
This was all a nightmare. It had to be it. Soon he would wake up. He would be greeted by Trucy, or Maya and Pearl, or perhaps Apollo and Athena. Or hopefully maybe even Mia herself.
Someone. Anyone.
Someone to let him know that it was just a bad dream.
That was when his legs gave out and his vision went black. The last thing he heard before his consciousness faded was hearing, disturbingly, Ms. von Karma's (of all people) frantic voice start calling for someone.
When he finally came too, he noticed Franziska hovered over him. She looked nervous out of her wits and someone else with her observing him.
("Wait...is that Gaspen Payne in a lab coat and stethoscope!?")
Just when he thought this day couldn't get any more strange.
He noticed he was still in the living room of the house that was apparently his, layig on the sofa.
"Thank goodness, you've come too!" Franziska let out a sigh of relief.
"You gave us quite the scare Mr. Wright. Luckily Ms. von Karma was with you while you passed out. I happened to be close by when she called so I was able to make a house call. Knowing you, you've been pushing all-nighters again and skipping out on meals occasionally for work. Mr. Wright we appreciate your hard work but running yourself ragged won't do you any good. Eat more protein and drink a lot of fluids. Ms. von Karma I would make certain he goes to bed early tonight."
Phoenix tried speaking up several times but the younger of the Payne brothers kept yapping not letting him speak once.
So apparently this—as strange as it was to say it—Dr. Gaspen Payne, thought he already knew everything and didn't let Phoenix get a word in to explain his symptoms and assumed he knew the full story. Somehow that's not surprising.
"Thank you Dr. Payne." Franziska said as she handed Gaspen a check.
"Also eat more bananas, and complex carbs, none of the fatty stuff. You need real energy. If any of his symptoms change or worsen give me a call Ms. von Karma." He instructed.
She thanked him again and he left, leaving Phoenix alone with Franziska again.
"Phoenix...what's going on?" She asked with evident concern that felt so jarring to see.
He sat up and rubbed the back of his head.
Either he was going crazy and having delusions, or this was some kind of nightmare his body still wouldn't wake up from yet...or...was this all real? Whatever this was? He had no explanation. He felt like he was losing his mind.
"I...I don't know." He answered honestly.
Franziska sat down next to him, she looked so worried. It was so weird seeing her this concerned about him, almost like they were good friends or something. The more they talked the more it was obvious how little he knew about what he clearly was supposed to know. The case, this house, everything attached...he had absolutely no clue what was happening to him.
"You really have no idea?" She inquired anxiously.
"No, I don't. This is the first I heard of this case. At least...that's what it feels like." He added that last part remembering that the Phoenix she was used to was clearly supposed to know.
That thought then caused him to pause...the Phoenix she was used to.
He thought back to some sci-fi TV show that Athena, Apollo, and Trucy were all getting into. They were watching it at the office last week. Some space explorer woke up in some alternate universe where he never became an astronaut but instead was apparently some evil general who worked for the tyrannical empress to some evil empire that controlled the galaxy in that universe. Basically the opposite of the space explorer who often stops to help anyone he travels across in his exploration of the galaxy. He heard Trucy and Athena start exchanging all sorts of theories on the show about other possible...what did those kids call it? Multiverse theory?
But that was just a science fiction show with cheap practical and CGI effects—and hokey scripts! None of that was real! That was crazy! There was no way he woke up in some alternate universe where he was apparently a prosecutor or something because that was dumb and crazy! This is real life, not science fiction! He was just trapped in a bad dream he hadn't woke up from yet!
("I'm NOT in denial!") He insisted to himself.
"I caught you before you could hit your head...unless you passed out before I came here and possibly hit your head earlier—and now you're having a lapse?" Franziska von Karma theorized.
"No, I don't think so Ms. von Karma." Phoenix shook his head.
"Phoenix, we're not in front of reporters or in the courtroom. There's no need to be formal with me in your own home." She frowned.
"I...wait—I'm allowed to call you by your first name?" He tried not to sound so surprised but he couldn't help it.
"Of course, don't be ridiculous." She pursed her lips into a thin line.
Suddenly the concerned expression was back on her face again.
"Phoenix—what do you remember?" Ms. von Karma asked.
He knew he would need to keep it vague. Otherwise he'd go from just concern over possible amnesia to completely hysterical raving lunatic who has delusions of a different life that gets locked up in the asylum. Though he was starting to honestly worry he was going crazy.
"Well I'm Phoenix Wright. I'm a pretty decent lawyer, passed the bar exam and everything. I remember the court and won some cases...umm..." He tried to think of what else he could mention that wouldn't give too much of the actual truth away, "I'm the only child of Nicholas and Phoebe Wright. I remember Detective Gumshoe assisting me on some cases. I remember the Judge. I remember my favorite foods and TV shows and..."
He stopped himself from rambling when he noticed the female prosecutor appeared to be nervous.
"What is it?" He raised a brow as he asked.
He didn't know why but it unnerved him to see her that way. Something was wrong. He could feel it.
"What do you remember about...about me?"
She surprisingly sounded uneasy, really uneasy. He felt that bad feeling swell inside his gut again. Something definitely wasn't right.
"Franziska von Karma. Prosecuting prodigy. Became probably the youngest prosecutor in history when you became a prosecutor in Germany when you were thirteen years old. Your father is Manfred von Karma—he's also considered a prosecuting genius—never lost a case in what? About forty years or so right?" He said as he crossed his arms as he attempted to shrug off the anxious feeling inside his gut.
He deliberately left out also Manfred von Karma was an arrogant, vindictive, cold-hearted, petty, manipulative, heartless, and despicable monster. Probably wouldn't go over well.
"And...?" She said warily.
"And?" He said and just blinked.
Franziska sighed in an almost melancholic way and her eyes also were still showing hints of that anxiety still. That was incredibly bizarre for Franziska von Karma.
"Phoenix...I—you...you aren't an only child." She said in a defeated tone.
"Huh?" He said as he stood there dumbly and blinking again.
"We need to call Dr. Payne back immediately! It's obviously worse than we thought!" She exclaimed.
"Wait slow down, what's going on? What do you mean I'm not an only child?" He grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
She turned to look him straight in the eye and it caused him to let her go. There was such...sadness in her eyes.
"Is that really all you remember, my brother?" It was faint but he could hear a twinge of heartbreak in her tone.
He felt his blood stop cold and he held his breath for a second. His eyes widened and his brows rose practically to his hairline.
("B-Brother?!")
Alright! That ends my first chapter!
Basically the reason why Franziska treats Phoenix this way as you'll discover more in this fic is that unlike Miles, she really does view him as her brother in this universe. I never subscribed to the headcanon of Miles and Franziska being like siblings. He doesn't treat or view her as one (he treats Kay Faraday more like a little sister), and in every instance he doesn't refer to the von Karma's as like family. Franziska is the only person who used the term brother but that was like once and it felt more like she was being condescending, like she was mocking Miles. Phoenix however actually was officially adopted by the von Karma's here. However that does lead to certain questions, how did it happen, and why does he go by Wright here too, because he did at one point go by von Karma, so yeah? Excellent questions which will be answered the more and more you read! And we'll dive also more into the relationship between the alternate Phoenix and Franziska, which honestly is some of my FAVORITE things I've been developing for this story, so I think you guys are in for a treat.
Now as I was in the process of writing this story I discovered a fanfic with a similar premise. Of canon Nick, waking up in a world where he's a prosecutor instead. Granted mine will have many different choices and directions it takes, one of the biggest being that we'll also see Prosecutor Nick waking up and dealing with the canon universe, which I should mention this story takes place a little bit after Dual Destinies. But I digress, when I discovered this fanfic I had no idea someone else had a similar premise as I did. I was pleasantly surprised and I recommend you check her fic out too. Her username is Nenilein and her fanfiction is titled "A Complete Turnabout" you can find it here on ffdotnet. She makes many different choices I personally wouldn't do but despite that I still think it's an amazing story with a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing, plus it's just very well written. I highly recommend it!
But yes this fanfic takes place a little bit after Dual Destines, but it will go a bit off canon being it is a fanfic and I think I'll just bring in elements of Spirit of Justice later into the story, just not fully...granted I'm still debating this. I may not. I have so many different ideas it's a lot of fun for both universes. Basically I'll refer to one as "Prosecutor Universe" which is the universe where he became a Prosecutor. The other universe I will tend to refer to either as "Canon Universe" or "Attorney Universe". Basically it's the Universe of the games where everything up until the end of Dual Destinies happens exactly as in the games. Again I'm still debating on whether or not to incorporate elements of Spirit of Justice, we'll see.
Oh I also want to warn you guys ahead of time. I'm a huuuuge fan of shipping Phoenix/Mia (yes like me and 6 people ship it but I ship it hardcore) and Apollo/Athena, so if you aren't a fan of those then just know I will heavily ship tease both. I also have several other rare pair ships that I adore that I will reference. Romance isn't the plot but I will still be ship teasing some stuff so if you aren't a fan of that then I just want to warn you that stuff will be coming.
Also yes, I named Phoenix's parents Nicholas Wright and Phoebe Wright because when you put their names together you get Phoenix :D
Also the chapter title—it's a twofer reference. A lot of court cases in America are usually things like "Roe v. Wade", "Plessy v. Ferguson", etc. so it's a reference to that, but also Ace Attorney loves pop culture references, so it's a little wink also to Scott Pilgrim vs The World. I'll try to have all my chapter titles either some kind of legal reference or as geek or pop culture reference...if possible a combination of the two.
Anyways thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review, it helps me write faster I promise!
And for readers of my other fics, I know I've been away, I had a ton of irl issues I won't get into here, as well as a computer breaking and a loooooot of notes and outlines for that stuff lost, which was why I stopped writing for some time because I was very upset and lost motivation. 2018 however is the triumphant return of me as a writer! So those fics will be back in business baby!
Thank you for your support guys and have a nice day!