Alright, here's the second chapter. Just so you know, I've played chess a few times but I'm no expert. I can count my victories on one hand. Just as the previous statements hint at, this chapter involves chess. It's sort of a one-shot idea I had, so I decided to add it to the story. I assure you there's real plot in this chapter though. For those of you who are unaware; in the ancient cultural language of FanFiction, leaving a review after reading a chapter is considered a sign of respect and love. ;D

Miles flipped through his organizer, looking at some notes he had taken. It had been a slow day so far; he considered taking an early lunch. He took out a couple old pages and filed them away. He made himself a pot of tea and poured himself a cup. As Miles took a sip, he grabbed a newspaper resting on the corner of his desk and opened it.

Let's see what we have here. Skipping the sports section… Skipping the TV section… a swarm of earthquakes?

According to the local news, they were in the middle of a series of minor earthquakes. It was suspected to be a brief one, with no serious damage. That didn't make the seismophobic prosecutor feel any better about it though. I suppose I should have known; there have been a couple scattered earthquakes these past few weeks. At least this says there won't be very many. Miles sighed. And you can always trust the news, right?

Disheartened by the weather report, Miles went back to his tea. He was putting fresh pages in his organizer when his office door opened.

"Good day Edgeworth," Maria said.

"Coldstare, hello," Miles said. He noticed he was tilting his head. This awkward habit of mine has to stop. "What brings you here?"

"You got a fax downstairs," Maria said, holding up a couple sheets of paper. She walked up to Miles and placed them on his desk.

"Ah, thank you," Miles said.

"Don't mention it."

Maria turned around to walk out the door. She suddenly stopped. "I never noticed that chess set before."

Miles got up from his desk and poured himself another cup of tea. "Do you play?"

"Yes, it's been awhile though."

"How long?"

"I'm not really sure, but I still remember all the rules. Along with a few techniques."

Maria picked up one of the chess pieces, a red knight. "This is an interesting chess set. I don't think I've ever seen a knight like this. Not to mention the pieces are usual black and white."

"I suppose that's true," Miles said. He stared at the knight in Maria's hand. He couldn't recall exactly where he had gotten that chess set. All he remembered was seeing it in a store and being overcome with a strange feeling.

He pushed the thoughts away. He had contemplated it before, but ended up going in circles around himself. Miles tried to think of a new topic and went with the first one that came to mind.

"Would you care to play?"

Maria put the knight down. "I guess I'm not all that busy right now. Which one goes first with this set?"

"Blue goes first," Miles said, joining Maria at the small table with the chess board.

Maria, who was using the blue pieces, moved one of her knights. Miles, in turn, moved one of his pawns. As they played Miles tried to figure out Maria's strategy. It was always difficult to find any pattern during the first couple moves, but to Miles it almost seemed as if his opponent was just moving random pieces and waiting to see what happened. At first she seemed to love playing with her knights, but then she abandoned them and started toying with her other pieces. As a result, Maria lost one of her knights, a bishop, and several pawns. Miles, on the other hand, still hadn't even moved many of his pieces.

Maria moved one of her pawns forward and Miles saw an opening for his bishop to take one of her rooks. He slid his piece diagonally across the board and swiped away the blue rook. In retaliation, Maria moved her last bishop to the side of the board. Miles quickly saw that she was aiming for the pawn in front of his king. She does know that she won't be able to get the king from there, right? Miles moved the pawn a space forward, just to be safe.

Maria moved her knight. "Checkmate."

"What?" Miles said, jerking back in surprise.

He looked at the board and sure enough, his king was trapped. Maria's knight threatened his king, which was blocked off by his own pieces. If he moved forward, he walked right into Maria's bishop. His red king was, in effect, trapped inside the walls to the point where it couldn't escape. However, the blue knight could get in.

Wow, and I thought she was awful. Miles stared at the board, impressed. I walked right into that, she's amazing. He looked at Maria, who had a triumphant smirk. Almost in a daze, Miles was washed over with a sense of warmth. Wow, she's smart. It's actually quite… what's that word Larry uses all the time? Heated?

"Do you not lose very often?" the "heated" woman said.

Miles realized his mouth was open and promptly closed it. He felt color flare into his cheeks. "No, I was just, ahem. Very impressive Coldstare."

"Thank-you," Maria said, still smirking. "Well, I should probably get back to my office. I can't leave Missile alone in there for too long. Thanks for the game, Edgeworth."

"Sure," Miles said, unable to take his eyes off her.

"Have a nice day," Maria stood up and strut out of the office.

Miles parked his car in the "A" section of the parking lot, turned off the ignition, and stepped out of his car with his briefcase. Soon after locking his car door, he entered the lobby of the Prosecutors Building. He went up the usual 12 flights of stairs and walked down the hall until he reached his office. He shuffled through his pocket until he found his office key.

He took his keys out, only to drop them on the floor. He knelt down to pick them up. As he grabbed his keys, an office door opened. Miles looked up just in time to see the furry face of Missile, the police dog in training, mere inches away. Missile licked the prosecutor's nose.

Miles grimaced, wrinkling his nose at the touch of the dog's wet tongue. Standing up, he took out a handkerchief and wiped the bridge of his nose. He tried to ignore the smell of dog breath that wouldn't go away.

Internally, he softened when he saw Maria, who was holding Missile's leash in her right hand and a book in her left. She looked mildly embarrassed.

"Edgeworth," Maria said. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine," Miles said, not wanting to continue the subject. "Are you taking him for a walk?"

"We have another training session. I'm meeting Detective Gumshoe in the lobby. He and I wanted to get a little more practice in before the final test."

"When is that?"

"The test is a couple weeks away still. I'm not sure I've ever seen Detective Gumshoe so excited," Maria said, flicking her book against her crossed arms.

You haven't known him very long in that case. Miles gave a thin smile. "I take it Missile is fully prepared then?"

"I don't doubt he'll pass," Maria said. "Missile's already had experience in the field, having been a police dog before. He just needed to calm down and find things other than hot dogs. All he needed was varied stimuli, along with a consistent reinforcement…"

Miles listened to Maria lecture on about dog training, somewhat amused. She gets so animated, it's kind of cute. Miles asked her the occasional question, more to keep the conversation going than out of curiosity. Whether he knew it or not, he had lately been taking every opportunity to talk to Maria. It was normally a challenge for Miles to keep a casual conversation going, he had never been a social butterfly, but Maria was different.

"So how was the trial?" Maria said.

"Fine, I suppose. It was extended for another day in light of new evidence that had yet to be examined, but I imagine the verdict will be given the next time," Miles said.

Maria adjusted her glasses. "That's always good to hear, I suppose."

Hold on, when did I say anything about a trial? Miles almost asked, but decided to let it go. She must have figured it out on her own. Knowing her, she doesn't want to talk about something so obvious to her, not to mention trivial.

Out of nowhere, Miles began to feel uneasy. He looked at Maria, who seemed to be swaying. No, she's not moving. Oh no.

The ground shook violently, and Maria was thrown to the floor screaming. Miles, in a trance, grabbed onto a doorknob to support himself. His legs were starting to give out, and he could barely hold onto his consciousness. Keep it together, don't think about… gah!

In his mind's eye, there were faint images of a gun and blood trickling down. He felt as though the oxygen around him was thinning out, and his vision blurred and darkened. He forced himself to listen to Maria's screams to avoid fainting.

"Missile!" Maria shouted.

Adrenaline and fear shot through him; bring his sight back into focus. He turned his head and saw Missile running, dragged his leash behind him. Everything seemed to happen at a break-neck speed, yet at the same time in slow motion. It almost didn't seem real. Miles saw Missile running, probably scared out of his wits, down the hall. Everything rattled, and a picture frame flew off the wall. It landed inches away from Missile. Miles caught movement in the corner of his eye and found that an entire bookcase was flying in the little dog's direction.

In that instant, Miles flung himself over to Missile and shielded him from the bookcase. He could barely manage to wrap his arms around the little dog before everything went dark. The last thing he remembered hearing was a scream.