-Chapter 1: Of Sane Mind and Sound Body-
How could this have happened? An utter and complete non-sense.
"I know I shouldn't have trusted you, Maya Fey. Spirit channeling… Only a foolhardy fool would foolishly indulge in such a foolish practice!"
Franziska paced around the room a few more times before coming at a stop in front of the other occupant of the channeling chamber. She glared at the purple-clad acolyte. Normally, she would have easily towered above the petite spirit medium, but for now on, she was the small one.
"I, Franziska von Karma, am ordering you to undo this at once!" She snapped, in an attempt to sound like her usually scary self.
Unfortunately, the words, when pronounced with Maya's singsong voice, didn't ring nearly as threatening.
The girl that Franziska knew to be Maya Fey still looked absolutely dumbfounded. So much, in fact, that the prosecutor couldn't help but feel distraught. There was no strangest thing than having to look at herself- no, having to look at Maya -when she bore such a stupid expression.
Do I really look that foolish when I'm surprised? Franziska von Karma was wondering.
"You know I can't. I don't even know how this could have happened." The blue-haired girl replied, causing Franziska to grit her teeth both in annoyance and in frustration at hearing her very personal voice being used by a stranger.
"I asked you to call my father! Not to steal my perfect body!"
"Hey! You stole my body, too!" Maya immediately replied.
Franziska winced at the childish retort.
"Believe me, you incompetent fool. I can't wait to get rid of that foolishly dwarfish anatomy of yours."
Maya glowered in response, and von Karma suddenly got a good glimpse of what she must have looked like when staring at some unfortunate defense attorney. She was still pondering over whether or not she should take the risk to damage her unblemished skin by giving Maya a whiplash when someone knocked at the door.
"Mystic Maya? Ms. von Karma?" A childish voice called.
"P-Pearly?"
In the blink of an eye, Franziska leapt on the scatterbrain, covering her mouth with her gloved hand.
"Shut up, you fool!" She breathed in her captive's ear.
She then cleared up her throat and put on her most sugary voice.
"We shall arrive soon, Pearl F-"
She broke off as Maya nudged her in the ribs. The only thing that kept her from using the little girl's full name. Bad habits die hard, whispered a voice in the back of her head that sounded irritatingly like Miles Edgeworth.
"Okay."
Once she was sure that the little girl had gone away, she released her grip on the other 'her', in other words- the flabbergasted Maya.
"You must be stupid." She said viciously. "You almost gave us away! I'm sure that this little girl must suspect something."
"Aren't you just being the slightest bit paranoid?" The spirit medium protested, then held a pensive hand to her chin. "You know… The truth will come out, eventually. Wouldn't it be less trouble if we told everyone right away?"
"Get real, Maya Fey." The prosecutor snapped. "We might as well go and sign ourselves into the nearest psychiatric facility…"
"Nick would understand… I guess?"
Franziska made a face.
"Can you think of a better solution?"
"No, but I suggest we keep the whole thing a secret. Until I find a way to fix what you've done, that is…"
A few squabbles and swapped clothes later, the two girls finally emerged from the channeling chamber, each trying their best to adjust to their new outfit… and newfound personality.
However, fate wasn't so kind as they walked straight into an over-excited Pearl Fey.
"Mystic Maya!" The little girl chirruped happily and leapt in Franziska's arms.
The young prodigy, completely unused to such display of affection, was all but expecting this. She lost her balance, falling backward on the wooden floor.
Spread on her back in the middle of the Meditation Room, with Maya looking down at her with an all too familiar smirk (her own smirk!), with Pearl Fey hovering over her with a worried look on her face, Franziska thought that the situation couldn't get any more embarrassing. Of course, that was until he arrived.
"Ah, Maya, Ms. von Karma, there you are!" Exclaimed the voice she loathed.
"Hmph…"
"Mystic Maya, are you okay?" Little Pearl squealed.
Maya let out a cocky snicker that earned her an outraged look from her unknowing cousin.
"I'm fine, I'm fine…" Franziska finally answered.
Pearl gave her a peck on the cheek and then she was- finally- allowed back on her feet.
Wright was standing there, with his hands in his pockets, looking blatantly unconcerned. However, Franziska did notice the nervous look he threw at Maya. She felt a sudden rush of satisfaction in seeing that she still inspired fear and respect in her rival.
What she didn't understand was why the little medium suddenly threw herself at the spiky-haired lawyer and slapped him, seemingly for no reason.
"You are such a rude man, Mr. Nick! How could you stay there doing nothing while Mystic Maya was fallen on the floor?"
Maya suddenly looked ill-at-ease and Franziska watched her own ordinary pale cheeks turn to a rosy shade, something that never occurred when she was master in her own body.
"You must always help your special someone!"
Special someone?
It was at that exact moment that the dreadful realization dawned upon her. She stood there, horror-struck, until Maya spoke in an average imitation of the tone the German prosecutor usually took when addressing her rival.
"I…um… shall be going soon, Phoenix Wright." Franziska heard herself saying. "Maya Fey, can I have a word with you?"
Once the young spirit medium had shed light on her relationship with the defense attorney, Franziska felt slightly relieved.
At least, that meant that she had a chance to get away with it without having to hug him, or kiss him, or anything as crassly physical. In her mind, the situation had gone from bleak to endurable.
After tearful goodbyes from little Pearl and promises to come back soon, Franziska and Wright finally took their leave. The prosecutor mechanically headed for the parking lot.
"And don't forget, you're not allowed to fight!"
Then, she suddenly realized that Maya didn't have a car. Which meant…
"Come on, now. We're gonna be late for the train."
After an hour spent in Phoenix Wright's presence, Franziska von Karma was on the verge of exploding. Not only did she feel naked without her leather gloves, awkward in her channeling robes, and generally speaking, awful in Maya's skin, she was also going through serious withdrawal. Her fingers were itching and she couldn't stop herself from continuously running a hand over her hip, vainly seeking the familiar shape of a whip that wasn't there.
During the first few miles, she had been hiding into a tiny bathroom, for even being locked into a shabby toilet seemed like an option if it could earn her a moment away from Phoenix Wright.
Unfortunately, it hadn't taken long for a fool to come hammering on the door, rousing her from her gloomy thoughts. Moments later, an angry train conductor had opened the door and grabbed her by the tail of her channeling robes. Of course, she hadn't been able to whip him but that hadn't meant that she had to let herself be manhandled without reacting.
"Do you have an idea of who I am?" She had snarled.
The man had laughed, an unfortunate reaction that had lead to Maya's hand making contact with his ruddy cheek, which had ultimately resulted in him yelling at her while brandishing a menacing ticket book.
The ultimate threat had forced her back into the compartment and straight into Wright's much too welcoming hands. Welcoming, that was, until he had seen the look on the conductor's face.
He had paid for the fine (Maya didn't have much money on her)- that he had managed to reduce to an affordable amount thanks to tricks and gimmicks Franziska judged unworthy of a true lawyer. She, for instance, wouldn't dream of stooping to that low of a level.
She had endured the reprimand that followed without so much as batting an eyelash, insisting that the man had deserved what had befallen him. Her unusual stubbornness had astonished the defense lawyer. When she had squarely refused to apologize, he had ended up retreating himself into a sulky silence.
No need to say that she had greeted this unexpected turn of event with immense satisfaction.
Unfortunately for Franziska, an hour, precisely, had passed and all was long since forgotten and forgiven. She found herself desperate for a way to shut him up… again. He wouldn't stop talking about his life, telling her about his problems, and confiding in her who couldn't have cared less. And she couldn't whip him. She would have wanted to put her mouth close to his ear and scream.
Do I look like I care?!
She could imagine him jumping, wide-eyed, the shock painted all over his face. Maybe if she shouted loud enough, his spikes would even sag.
In the end, she refrained herself- After all, cheerful Maya Fey would never do something like that.
Meanwhile Phoenix Wright kept talking, oblivious to the nasty looks from the girl next to him. She was struggling with the frustration of not being able to act on her sadistic impulses when he finally noticed that something bizarre, to say the least, was happening to his assistant. He stopped in the middle of a sentence.
"What's wrong?"
She had to first chase a cloud of spontaneous -and unpleasant- replies just so she could get to the heart of the matter. She racked her brains in search of the answer to this particularly thorny question- What could Maya Fey possibly be upset about?
Then, a flash of inspiration struck. She wasn't called a prodigy for nothing. She knew.
"I'm hungry!" She stated triumphantly.
It was visibly a good guess, for Wright didn't insist, nor did he look surprised in the least.
"We'll grab some burgers on the way home, then." He simply stated.
"Peachy keen."
Luckily, he didn't see the grimace on Franziska's Maya-lookalike face.
Later that night, she found herself face to face with an unappealing meal- A greasy steak, withered salad leaves and slices of synthetic cheese. The whole lot was sandwiched between two pieces of rubbery bread and drenched in a questionable-looking sauce.
As she took her first bite and swallowed, Franziska von Karma reflected on the fickleness of fate. Just a few hours ago, she was a rich and brilliant prosecutor. Now, she found herself retrograded to the status of foolish assistant of an even more foolish defense lawyer. And, on top of that, forced to poison herself with hormone-treated beef.
For the umpteenth time since they had left Kurain Village, Phoenix Wright opened his mouth superfluously.
"I was thinking about von Karma…" He said without preamble.
Franziska immediately looked up, staring at him through the bangs that half-hid Maya's eyes. (If it were up to her, that infernal long hair would be a thing of the past.)
"I mean, did you see the look on her face right after the channeling?" Wright went on. "She was grinning like a Cheshire cat."
He paused to take of gulp of his drink.
"Looks like she really missed her father. Or…" He scratched his chin pensively. "She might be up to no good, that's a possibility too. What do you think, Maya?"
"…"
"M-Maya? Why are you looking at me like that?"