Prologue

December 27th, 3:45pm

Gourd Lake Beach

Phoenix Wright was utterly perplexed. This case truly stumped him up, and he couldn't help but feel like maybe Edgeworth really did shoot Robert Hammond. What other explanation was there to the two men in the boat? Currently, he and Maya were investigating the scene of the crime, Gourd Lake, and turning up with no clues. He looked to his left at the black-haired spirit medium, the girl hard at work, scouring the ground for clues. He smiled slightly, somehow feeling that Maya was the younger sister he never had. Somewhere along the line, he had made a silent promise to look out for the young Fey since her sister was no longer there to do so. 'Phoenix Wright, Ace Big Brother!' he could see it now.

"What's so funny Nick?" a voice spoke up beside him, startling him out of his momentary lapse in concentration from the case. "Or did you suddenly find poor Mr. Edgeworth's case funny?!"

Phoenix sweat dropped at this, trying to appease his partners' mind as he brought his hands up in a 'I surrender' motion. "Ah, no Maya, I don't find his case funny. Just, trying to distract myself I guess." he replied, shaking his head.

The girl frowned, going back to her searching along the ground for any sign of a clue, muttering something about how he needed to stay focused if he wanted to win the trial tomorrow. Phoenix was about to join her in her clue gathering when suddenly a new person on the beach caught his eye. Not too far away, staring out at the lake, was a woman. From the back, he couldn't quite make up her build, because she was wearing baggy clothing. The attorney walked up to question her, and was surprised slightly when she turned around to face him. Big round glasses covered most of her face, and he couldn't quite see what was behind them, so it made for an effective disguise. He mentally reminded himself to pick up a pair of those glasses, because they did a really good job at hiding this woman's face. She was younger, but probably not as young as Maya, and maybe only one or two years younger than himself. Her hair was long and a caramel color, twisted into a braid and laying over her shoulder.

"U-um, hello." Phoenix said, raising a hand in greeting as he walked up to her. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but for some odd reason this female slightly intimidated him, even though she was wearing baggy clothing and ridiculous looking glasses. If he had to guess what exactly it was that intimidated him, it would most likely be her presence. She had a particular presence about her that just was… well, intimidating! Finally gathering his thoughts together to form words, he spoke up again after a small pause. "Uh, well... I wanted to ask you about a few questions on the murder that happened here on Christmas Eve." he said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

The woman tilted her head, which was the only sign that told the attorney that she was curious, considering that he couldn't see her face to read her emotions. "... Murder?" she said curiously. Her mouth opened to say something, but in the end she closed it again. "No, I don't know anything about the murder than what was said on the news. I came to see if I could spot Gourdy."

Phoenix thought of a sarcastic comment about the undoubtedly fake sea monster, and instead shook his head to look at her. "Are you sure you don't know anything?" he asked again, looking at her.

She nodded, turning her head back out to the lake. "I just got back from Los Angeles." she told him. "I've had three days of news to catch up on, and a lot has happened in those days. I was curious about the sea monster, so I came." Looking at him once more, she smiled slightly. "Good luck with your case, Phoenix." And with that cryptic goodbye, she left, and for some reason he couldn't bring himself to stop her. Just who was she? And surely she didn't need those glasses as corrective eye wear—they were absolutely ridiculous.

He wondered silently if she knew him from somewhere, after all, now that he thought about it, her voice did sound familiar. For the life of him though, he could not remember it. At that moment, Maya came back to him saying that Lotta would trade information on the case for information on Gourdy. He sighed, shaking his head to clear out thoughts of that mysterious woman for now, just so he could focus on Edgeworth's case and proving his long-time friend "Not Guilty".

Phoenix didn't really remember the woman until after Edgeworth was proven innocent…

"Wait, who are you?" a voice echoed out in the darkness, confused and alone. "This blackout is strange, right? Ah, there the lights go. I was afraid they'd never come back on-." There was a pause in the person's speech as they turned around to stare at the unknown person. "Wait… you're not one of the cast. What are you doing backstage? Wait, I remember you! Aren't you that—W-what are you—gah! S-stop it! Y-you're going to chhhh…" With that last statement, the voice was silenced, and the person did not breathe again.

"Heh heh… rotten bastard. Finally, you're dead. Now… my plan shall commence…"

"Miss Taisho? You are under arrest for the murder of a one Mr. Luka Ponder. You have the right to remain silent, and anything you say will be used against you."

A/N:

Alright, here we go everybody. I bring you a masterpiece in the making- TURNABOUT PRODUCTION! ... Crickets? Yes? I thought so. XD

Let's start this again, shall we? This is a new story I've been wanting to start for the past... month or so? I just couldn't bring myself around to doing it, with school all around and everything. Now here it is, and I really hope ya'll don't hate it. Why would you hate it? Hahaa! My writing is perfect /shot. Anyyywhore... this story is rated for my bad mouth in the author's notes (sorry peeps! I'll try to tone it down, but nothing's set in stone... isn't that a song? There goes my one track mind again...) and for mild swearing, because that happens in the Ace Attorney games, let's be real here.

Please leave reviews in the comments! And like, actual reviews, not just "Please update." and have that be it. That slightly (ERMAGERD RAGE MODE ACTIVATE) only slightly, annoys me. I appreciate you all for reading my story! Please stay tuned for Chapter 1: Tensions in the Theatre. (A/N on my A/N: Theatre is the act of theater, and that could mean a play, musical, opera or ballet. Theater is the place in which you go to watch a play or musical)