The three of them had decided to walk to a restaurant, as they had spent the day in the car. It was a nice, normal dinner, except for the fact that Franziska had yelled at the waiter because she didn't care about the difference between Sprite and Sierra Mist, and that he was slowing their order down. The waiter immediately ran away and got their drinks, and the rest of the meal proceeded normally.

But now the family of three had finally made it to their hotel, and once everything had been unpacked, it was late and time for bed. Franziska looked more than ready to get some real sleep, and settled herself into the hotel room and promptly drifted off.

Edgeworth and Manfred were still awake when there was knock on their door. Manfred frowned in annoyance, it was too late for any of the hotel staff to have any business with him. He went to answer the door (and tell off whomever was behind it), muttering about how imperfect some people were when-

"Manny! Manny-poo! I know you're in there! Don't you remember me? It's Wendy! Come on, Manny..." The voice continued to rant.

Manfred stopped dead in his tracks. Edgeworth's eyes widened in shock at the voice outside the door, this 'Wendy'. Frankly, he wasn't sure if he should be disturbed or amused. Just how did this crazy woman know Manfred von Karma...? A terrifying thought crossed his mind.

'Sir?' Edgeworth whispered, for Wendy was still outside their door talking incessantly. In addition, he was quite frightened of Manfred's reaction to his theory.

'What?' Was Manfred's only response.

'Is...that who I think it is...?' Edgeworth asked, bracing himself for Manfred's wrath. He, for once, hoped he was wrong, he had trouble imaging her as Franziska's m-

"NO," Manfred said loudly, forgetting that 'Wendy' was still outside and could hear him.

"Maaaanny open the damn door right this instant! You and I are going to be together whether you like it or not, let me IIIIIIN," 'Wendy' said loudly. She began to scratch the door to prove her point. Manfred mumbled something that sounded like cursing under his breath.

"Miles, you open the door."

"What?!" Edgeworth said, flabbergasted. "Why me?!" he whimpered.

"I can't open the door," Manfred said as if it was obvious. "And I'm not here. Now go," he said, giving Edgeworth a push towards the door. Edgeworth hissed in discontent, but complied as the feared prosecutor Manfred von Karma hid under his bed.

"...Hello..." Edgeworth said awkwardly coming face-to-face with and older- okay, old woman.

She pouted. "You're not Manny-poo..." she said.

"No...I'm not..." Edgeworth said awkwardly, trying not to look behind himself. "I think you have the wrong room."

"Well..." She hesitated. "You are pretty cute..."

Edgeworth paled in shock.

"So, what's your name, sweetie pie?" Wendy asked.

"Miles Edgeworth?" He said his name like it was a question.

"Well, I'll see you later, Edgey-poo!" Wendy waved to him. Edgeworth returned the wave for about two seconds before shutting the door loudly. Manfred stuck his head up from behind the bed.

"Is she gone?"

Edgeworth grimaced. "She is for now."


Now, the family could finally head to the prosecuting convention...

"Sir...?" the driver for the von Karmas looked nervous- as he should be.

"What is it?!" Manfred asked, looking stern.

"The car...it's broken..."

...or not.

This is why Manfred von Karma, perfect prosecutor, had found himself in the most imperfect of situations- he was sitting on a public bus. Franziska and Edgeworth of course had no choice to follow him. They were sitting in a seat diagonal from his. What Manfred did not know was that Franziska and Edgeworth had already started to bicker before the bus had even moved. Manfred was still mulling about his horrible situation when a young girl, no more than 11, with brown hair in a half-bun and a lab coat sat down on the seat right next to him. Manfred frowned in annoyance, he certainly hasn't given her permission to do that.

"Hi!" The girls said with a cheerful smile. "What's your name and occupation?"

Manfred didn't appreciate the way he felt like he was being address as a witness and didn't answer, but the girl continued anyways. "I'm Ema Skye, future scientific investigator! It's a really nice day, isn't it? This is my favorite weather! What's your favorite weather?"

Manfred grit his teeth at the girl's foolishness. It would painfully obvious to anyone else that he did not want to talk to her, or even sit next to her for that matter. But Ema Skye wasn't one to let trivial things like silence bother her. She managed to hold a very good one-sided conversation with Manfred. She talked. And talked. And TALKED. Manfred thought he had hit his limit of frustration but soon he would learn never to underestimate the annoyingness of Ema Skye.

"Ooh! You know what would be more fun?"

Manfred von Karma simply frowned, he did not do "fun".

"We should sing songs! I know lots of great songs we can sing!"

She can't be serious...

"Repeat after me, okay? Da moose, da mooOOoose!"

Manfred obviously did not repeat after her, as that would have been foolish and imperfect, so Ema simply repeated each line twice. After she completed her song about the moose, which ended with the moose dying mysteriously, she sang a song about someone buying bubblegum, then choking on it, about a family of sharks who ate a human while they swam, and and about a frog who got eaten by a dog.

"What kind of terrible songs are these?" Manfred asked.

Ema looked appalled. "They're camp songs! Duh!"

It was Manfred's turn to be appalled. They teach these songs to children?

"Why do they all end with the subject of the song dying?!" Manfred questioned.

"I dunno...I didn't realize that before!" Ema replied.

Manfred scoffed. Some scientific investigator, he thought scathingly. Ema jotted something on a notepad. It read- Research more about camp songs.

"You know it would be more fun if you sang along, too," Ema chastised.

Manfred glared at her. "No."

"Aww," Ema looked disappointed. "Fine." She proceeded sing even more camp songs, for the duration of the trip.

Manfred was desperate for someone, anyone, to get rid of her or shut her up. He considered his stun gun, but, he remembered with a grimace, he was on a public bus.

"Where are your parents?" He asked.

The perpetual smile of Ema Skye's faded at last. "They're dead," she said matter-of-factly. Manfred was slightly surprised.

"Do you have a guardian with you?" Manfred asked, looking around the bus for someone else who could put up with Ema.

"My sister's my guardian," Ema informed him.

"Where is she?" Manfred asked, the tiniest bit of hope creeping into his voice. But only a little.

"Uh, funny story..." Ema said, averting her eyes. "She's already at the prosecuting convention.

Now Manfred was really surprised. He hadn't heard of any other child prosecutors like Franziska, so she wasn't the prosecutor...so that must mean this sister of hers was.

"She's not actually a prosecutor yet. But she's going to be," Ema said confidently. "I was in the bathroom and kinda missed the other bus...oh well..."

Manfred resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Ema sang more camp songs until they arrived at the convention. Manfred nearly, so nearly, lost his sanity.


The first day at the convention was ordinary, and passed by seemingly quickly- if only because it was far more fun than a car or bus ride to the three prosecutors. It was a long day, filled with information and the stress of recent traveling, so the three of them were about to go to sleep when Franziska noticed a small, crawling speck out of the corner of her eye.

"Ah!" She leapt away and cringed.

"Franziska, what is it?" Manfred said frowning. Edgeworth was also frowning as well, Franziska seemed uncharacteristically...terrified.

"Spider," she said, pointing to the arachnid. "Somebody kill that spider."

Manfred seemed a little disbelieving of the whole situation. Edgeworth sighed, took one of his shoes and squashed the spider. Franziska was afraid of tiny bugs and not something like being trapped in a space, with no way out, or the very ground shaking underneath you...

Edgeworth snapped himself out of his unpleasant thoughts.

"Problem solved," Manfred said "Now go to sleep."

Franziska knew better than to argue with her father, but she couldn't relax herself. Where there was one spider, there were surely more that she couldn't see. In her mind's eye, she could see them crawling around, possibly giving her a venomous bite, and then feasting on her cold, dead body. And Edgeworth was afraid of elevators, she scoffed inwardly.

"Just on the off chance, Papa..." Franziska said quietly. "What if there are more spiders?"

"Try and find some way to keep them out. Now go to bed," Manfred snapped.

"Yes, Papa," came the immediate response. Franziska rolled over in her bed, still wide-eyed.

"Don't worry, there aren't anymore spiders," Edgeworth said. Both Edgeworth and Franziska were surprised, was he actually being comforting? Franziska brushed it off and said nothing.

"Goodnight, Franziska."

"Goodnight, Little Brother."

There are no more spiders, Edgeworth had said.

But Franziska knew better.


Franziska von Karma sighed as she walked back to her room. Manfred von Karma and Miles Edgeworth had attended some debate at the convention that she had been told she wasn't old enough for. Those foolish fools! She thought angrily. How dare they leave me out! I'm a prosecuting prodigy! In the end, her father insisted she do as she was told, even though she believed she was perfectly capable of understanding complicated things- she was a prodigy, after all. She was set to take the bar exam soon, and she was only 13 years old.

Still fuming, Franziska opened her door, and with terror remembered the events of last night. She remembered her father's words- try and find some way to keep them out. Franziska's original intent upon her arrival to her room was to study, but now...

She dug through her suitcase trying to find something, anything, that would be of use. What can I use to keep the bugs out?

Looking around the room for any suspicious looking nook and cranny that spiders could crawl through, Franziska spotted a hole in the wall and some gaps in the floor by the door that bugs could go through. Franziska resumed rummaging through her bag until she found something. It was a little odd, she admitted to herself, but the thought of no spiders was enough to convince her to use them.

Once Franziska had patched up every suspicious nook and cranny, she stood back and admired her handiwork. She used what she had on hand and did exactly as her father said- she found a way to keep the spiders out.


It was Manfred's turn to come back to the hotel by himself. He had given Edgeworth some money and told him to get dinner for himself and Franziska. Manfred had attended to some business while this happened and made his way back to the hotel. He opened the door to the room, with some resistance from the door...

Manfred turned the light on. It had felt like something had been blocking the door, a rug, maybe? Manfred didn't remember a rug there. He looked down.

Manfred paled and looked at the ground in disbelief. Along the floor by the edge of the door were...were...pads. As in, the feminine hygiene products. Why they were there, Manfred had no idea, but there was no doubt in his mind as to who put them there. Manfred inspected the rest of the room and turned red with embarrassment and fury when he saw that there was also a tampon inserted in a hole in the wall, the string dangling out. This was absolutely insane and ridiculous! Manfred thought furiously.

Franziska was going to be in a lot of trouble when she got back from dinner.


Edgeworth and Franziska arrived back at their hotel. Upon opening the door, the first thing both of the teenagers noticed as a very angry and red-faced Manfred giving them, especially Franziska, a look that could kill. Franziska stepped over the pads easily, but when Edgeworth shut the door, his eyes bugged out at the sight of the pads by the door. Yet again, he found himself unable to decide whether he was disturbed or amused. He had the urge to both scream and burst out laughing.

"Franziska von Karma."

Manfred said this with barely controlled anger in his voice. Both Edgeworth and Franziska were immediately wary.

"Yes, Papa?" Franziska said, nervously.

"Why are there..." Manfred seemed unable to get his words out "feminine hygiene products on the floor and the wall?"

"Oh," Franziska said, seeming naïvely relieved. "I put them there to keep the spiders out! You told me to find a way to keep them out, and I did!" Franziska finished her sentence with a smile, as if she expected to be praised for her ingenuity.

Edgeworth hit his forehead with his hand. He should have known that was their purpose. He understood what it was like to have a phobia...but he was sure that Manfred von Karma would not be so understanding.

There was a moment of horribly tense silence.

"When I said that," Manfred said, breaking the silence. "I meant that you should get a maintenance worker to fix it, not "fix" it yourself! Your foolish fear of spiders is not an excuse for this...this foolishness!"

Manfred's yelling was greeted with another, even more tense silence. Franziska's smile faded and her countenance darkened. Edgeworth was frozen, and felt rare pity for his adopted younger sister.

"I did what I had to do," came Franziska's response, quiet and surprisingly defiant to her father. "I used what I had and did what I had to do."

"I can't believe this," Manfred said in exasperation.

Then Franziska did something even more surprising- she talked back to Manfred von Karma.

"I'm a thirteen year old girl," she said gesturing to the floor and the wall where the pads and tampon were. "It's not that hard to believe."

Edgeworth gaped at Franziska, both impressed and terrified for her, and looked at Manfred, who had went even redder at his daughter's attitude.

The next day, Franziska was in a very bad mood, had very static-charged hair, no riding crop, and a very sore bottom.

And worst of all, spiders were sure to get back into her hotel room.


Here's chapter 2! Hope you enjoyed.

Franziska's little redecoration was actually inspired by something that my cabinmates and I came up with to keep out spiders. Our counselor was very, um, surprised when she returned to our cabin...but she took it in good fun XD