Chapter 1: Rough Mornings

April 17th, Wright and Co Law Offices

Phoenix Wright was suddenly jerked awake by the movements of the young girls on his lap. He looked at the clock on his cell phone to see that it read 10:43 PM. This was actually pretty early for the two young girls who'd often stay up late into the night, far past what Phoenix was capable of sticking around for. He'd usually check out around 11:00, 11:15 on a good night, to the bedroom and let the two do their thing. Tonight though, they'd all somehow fallen asleep far too early. Phoenix had already regained enough of his consciousness to regain recognition of the people on top of him.

To his left was the smaller of the two, Pearl Fey. She was still just a small girl, but it was deceiving of her true powers and abilities. Only nine years old, but a steadily improving strength she had. Her hair was usually in a small topknot that resembled a heart on the top of her head, but she had taken it out long since returning back to the office that also served as Phoenix's home. Usually she hated going to sleep because she didn't want to miss "the moment" with him and Mystic Maya, but right now she was in a serene state that only sleep brought.

To his right was the bigger, and by some default, the older of the two, Maya Fey. No longer was she the young teenager Phoenix had met the night of Mia Fey's death, but a maturing young adult woman. Currently wearing the usual brand of acolyte training clothes she had worn since they had first met, it was actually hiding her new status as the Master of her home village, Kurain. She had grown so much in the past three years it had actually been almost inspiring to Phoenix. Even in the face of murder charges, kidnappings and even her mother's death, she had become a beautiful young girl.

Beautiful. So Beautiful. He had begun stroking her hair through his fingers as she moving around, much more than just dreamy fidgeting. She was waking up. Phoenix quickly retreated his hand back to his side to avoid some sort of situation he couldn't describe in his drowsiness. He looked down to his right to see Maya's eyes were open and she was looking at him.

"Nick…" her voice was filled with sleepiness, her words lagging behind her the movement of her lips. "What are you doing…here?" She finished, but not before he grew nervous about her final word.

"You two feel asleep on top of me. I was trapped." He said with a light laugh. He couldn't hide the sleepiness from his own voice, making it clear just how "trapped" he had been.

"Whoops." She said. "Sorry." Her voice now sounded a little more awake, perhaps a little giggly. She then got up off the couch to allow Phoenix to get up. But he couldn't help but notice her giggling and laughing, what seemed to be at him.

What's so funny? Is it just what happens when she first wakes up or something? Phoenix thought to himself as he laid back down on his bed. Now he felt a tad bit too awake to just fall back asleep with no reserve. Well may as well change into some sort of sleep clothing, my jeans and work shirt isn't very comfortable anymore. He then took off his shirt and looked down to his pants and spotted it. What had made Maya laugh like a sleep deprived hyena.

… Oh no. I must have… No no no no. Damn me and my seductive dreams! She must have seen it from a mile away!

And then an even worse thought popped into Phoenix's mind.

… Could it hav- No, no, no I will not even think about that! I refuse to! I plead the fifth!

Phoenix put on some boxers and an "Ivy U" T-shirt on and thought nothing else to himself. He just desperately wanted to go to sleep, and eventually he did.

The next morning…

Maya Fey really wanted a burger right now so badly. Even at 10 in the morning, burgers were her favorite comfort food. So succulent and tasty it was. Unfortunately none of the burger shops were open for business, or at the least not for selling burgers yet. Maya was afraid going and asking one of them for a burger now would get her the same result as when she'd asked the fireman if he could waterfall over her a few years ago: She'd get yelled at for even trying.

She didn't need that. Not right now.

Looking through the freezer, she saw that Nick did have some patties for cooking and heating up. Unfortunately Maya remembered that she didn't know how to use the stove and the times and temperatures for cooking patties. The last time she had tried, back at her Aunt Morgan's house in Kurain, she had unwittingly burnt out all the oil in the oven and it was unusable from then on. Aunt Morgan had tried to make Maya pay for the replacement costs, but since Maya didn't actually have any money at the time she dropped it.

She remembered this memory now and decided it may not be a wise idea to potentially burn down the office, so she searched for anything else in the freezer. "Bingo!" She said aloud to herself. "Toast able waffles!" Maya was glad to have found something tasty and edible that would not require much flammability in the end. She popped two into the toaster and was waiting when Pearls walked into the kitchen. The young girl had a cheerful smile on her face as she usually did, excited for what lie ahead of her that day.

"Good morning Mystic Maya!" she said in a chipper tone. "How are you doing on this wonderful morning!?"

Maya looked back at the little girl to reveal deeply reddened eyes. It looked as if she was hungover or she hadn't gotten any sleep, or worst of all to the little girl, had been crying. Her hands, her fingertips in particular, had a reflecting glow of sorts which looked like light coming off of her hands, but it was clearly water to Pearls.

"Mystic Maya! What's wrong?" She said alarmed. "Did something happen? Where's Mr. Nick? Did you get salt in your eyes again!?" There she went, asking twenty questions again, Maya thought to herself. I wish I could explain it to you Pearly. I really wish I could.

Just then, the waffles burst out of the toast, doing its momentary somersault above before landing back in place for eating.

"I was… just making waffles for you!" Maya said, setting the waffles on a paper plate for her. "Eat 'em up Pearly!"

As much as they tried, it was quite obvious something was wrong and it made Pearl's appetite disappear into thin air. She just moved the plate over to where Maya was sitting. "I think you need it more than I do." She said. Maya simply rebuffed the offer by turning away from Pearl. "I'm not hungry." she said.

"But you don't look well!" Was the little one's reply. "I always feel better when I eat. It just makes feel so filled and ready!" She was quite discouraged when she realized Maya still hadn't even turned around to face her yet. "Did you have a bad dream last night? I know I feel not good sometimes when I have bad dreams."

"…More like lived one…" came in a mumbled ruffle from the master. It didn't escape past the hawk ears of Pearly though.

"What happened!?" She said, finally sounding something other than chipper and happy. She'd been trying her hardest not to get upset, but Mystic Maya wasn't even trying to help her, and it was finally showing. "I just want to help you!"

"I appreciate it, this is just between me and-"Maya stopped as she suddenly saw the bedroom door open. Walking out in a casual t-shirt and blue shorts was Phoenix, having woken up.

XXX

On the Other Side of Town around the same time…

Looking out at the golden streets of Los Angeles, Kristoph Gavin saw all the activity in the grand city below him. He saw flashy cars and men who looked as if they were made of money, while also seeing relic cars and people who didn't have a dime to their name. But to Gavin, they were all the same regardless of their status:

Fools. He thought to himself. Fools without a skill in the world to stand even close to me.

That morning was one of particular that had been quite successful for Mr. Gavin. He had checked the local court files to see that the trial for Zak Gramarye, set to begin the next morning, still had no defense attorney. Gavin had been hoping for this all weekend and into the beginning of the week. The Gramaryes were well known even to the riff-raff of the world, so this was a case he was very interested in. He didn't really know (or even care) about the man's innocence; he cared only about victory. After it wasn't through losses that he had earned the nickname "The Coolest Defense in the West" And so it was with great excitement that he opened the letter from D.M.

The letter contained what had appeared to be a diary page, signed from Magnifi Gramarye, the recently deceased. It looked exactly like the man himself had written it.

But Kristoph knew better. "Excellent." He muttered to himself. "I have this one in the bag." Now armed with this new evidence, he picked up the keys to his car and left his office. Walking out to a dark green car, Kristoph unlocked the doors to step in and began driving off to the Detention Center.

April 18th, 11:36 AM, Detention Center, Visiting Section

Kristoph stepped into the Detention Center with his head up high and his spirits even more so. He felt confident that Mr. Engimar, or Gramarye as the commoners knew him as, would readily accept his defense. After all the trial was set to begin tomorrow, after several extra days for the police to thoroughly investigate. This was because of the extreme publicity of the case, the judge had granted an extra five days to investigators to make sure no mistakes were made. Still in all that time, it seemed very little beyond what they had started with:

The victim, Magnifi Gramarye, was shot once in the head with the show pistol left behind at the scene, a hospital Magnifi had been staying in for most of the past year. He had been slowly dying of cancer, but one of the two great magicians, Zak or Valant, had shot their great mentor it seemed, based on the amount of IV had been left in Magnifi's hospital room, which flowed between 11 and 11:30. There being any left spelled that Magnifi had been killed during this time.

Still, for having arrested a man on such a heinous charge as murder, the case seemed flimsy. Flimsy enough for someone with the skill of Kristoph Gavin to exploit. I can already see the accolades coming to me. I'm going to be famous beyond the wildest of dreams…

As he thought this to himself, a man emerged on the other side of the glass, a hulking big man. He wore a pink suit along with an identically colored hat. The clothes looked sweaty, as if they had been worn all this time he had been incarcerated, however the man himself looked quite relaxed. He wore a smile on his face that may have disarmed another man, but had no effect on Mr. Gavin.

"Mr. Engimar, I assume?" Came the question. The man's smile was unwavering.

"That I am, or Zak if you are a fan." He replied. "What can I do for you, even behind these walls?"

"I am Kristoph Gavin, a defense attorney. You may have heard of me?"

"Sorry Mr. Gavin. I am not particularly versed in lawyers, so I apologize for not knowing of you already."

So he's a cretin himself. I should have known from someone performing in such an art…

"Not a problem Mr. Engimar." Came the real reply. "I am here because I understand you have a need for an attorney. After all you are behind these walls for a reason."

Zak shifted around in his seat, his first true movement since they began meeting. "I should have assumed that was why you were here…" The magician then pulled out a deck of poker cards and began dealing them out. "What do you say to a quick game, Attorney Gavin?"

Gavin nodded back as he received his hand. "They don't call me the quickest hand in the west for nothing…"

XXX

April 18th, Wright and Co Law Offices, 11:36 AM

"What's wrong Maya?" Phoenix finally asked her. The three of them had sat in silence all morning eating breakfast and just sitting around before Phoenix's question. Maya just let out an awkward laugh.

"Ph-Phoenix…" Phoenix became even more tensed up.

She never calls me by my real first name anymore! This-This is really bad.

"We can't-t talk about that while Pearly's here! You know that!"

"Hey!" Pearl interjected back. "I'm old enough to understand something's going on, and I wanna know too!"

Neither acknowledged her, Phoenix just staring back dejectedly.

"Nick, we can't talk about this right now. I know what I saw last night." Phoenix just stood on his feet, shaking with such intensity that it almost shook the table.

"When?" He asked, unable to hide the desperation in his voice. "I don't know what I did? Was it my e-!"

"Don't say it Nick! Not now!" Maya said. {Well, at least we're back to Nick now, so that's a start.}

"We have to get back to Kurain now for... master stuff." Maya said uncertain

"No, we don't Mystic Maya! Mystic Venus said everything is i-" Maya suddenly cut her off.

"Something came up and we need to go. Right now." Maya said. "We'll talk about this later."

And with that, they all got up and did their own thing. A weak hour passed before the fey girls left, but Phoenix felt more confused than ever. He needed something to distract him.

Suddenly the phone rang.

"Is this Phoenix Wright, the attorney?

XXX

Later on that Day…

Kristoph Gavin sat angrily in his car. He couldn't believe what had happened. Not only had Mr. Engimar not allowed him to be his client, he did it in the most ludicrous of ways.

"I lost a game of cards to him, and he just said:"

"Thanks for the work Gavin, now be gone. You've lost." Kristoph recounted over the phone.

"Wow, how ridiculous." The person on the other line recounted, his German accent quite heavy. "What a shame, it was going to be my first case against you brother. I was looking forward to it."

"Indeed Klavier… especially because…" Kristoph trailed off as he spoke as he eyed his "decisive" evidence, the one that had arrived in the mail earlier that day. And then, a devious idea entered his head. One that was somehow even worse than the forgery sitting in front of him.

"What was that Kristoph?" Klavier asked.

"Especially because the man he chose over me…. Is a cheater." Kristoph said. "He convinced the defendant with… with…" He deliberately trailed off to create some sort of suspense in his mind. "With a forgery."

"Really? What a joke!"

"Indeed. It's a diary page, supposed to be from the victim's diary. However, it's a false one. I know because it had a symbol, one from the forger man."

"Wait, how would you know this Kristoph?" Klavier intervened. "If you aren't his attorney, how would you know this?"

But before, he could create a story, the phone went dead.