"Just who are you?"
Pearl sat up in her futon and rubbed her eyes. "Who said that?" She asked sleepily. There didn't seem to be anyone in her room… had she imagined it?
"Hold on. Can you… hear me?"
Pearl let out a squeak in surprise. There were two large yellow eyes staring right at her. (A monster!) She caught herself. Mystic Maya had promised that no monsters could get into her room! Besides, monsters weren't supposed to be real…
As her eyes acclimated to the darkness, Pearl began to notice a faint outline around the yellow eyes. The creature must have been dark-colored which made it hard for her to make it out at first, but it looked like a cat. "S-Sissel? Is that you?"
"…Yes." The voice was faint, but it was clearly coming from the cat.
"But… but kitties aren't supposed to talk!" She thought she'd heard him say something when Lynne first showed him to her, but that should be impossible! If kitties could talk, then that might mean monsters were real too…
Maybe she should turn on the light.
"I'm not your average cat." Sissel replied before she could do anything. Pearl had to strain a bit, but she was able to catch enough of his words to fill in the blanks. "And from the looks of things, you're not your average girl. That core in your head is more solid looking than Maya's, but it's still not complete."
"Core?" What was Sissel talking about?
"I have a question that might seem kind of odd to you."
"Okay…"
"Have you ever… died?"
Pearl bit her thumb in thought. Had she? She couldn't ever remember dying before. Plus, she wasn't being channeled or anything, so it seemed unlikely that she'd still be in the world of the living. "No, I don't think so."
"I expected as much." The cat replied. "I guess it must have something to do with your channelling ability."
"Channelling ability?" Pearl bit her thumb again. Sissel wasn't making any sense. How could her ability to channel spirits have anything to do with being able to suddenly talk to animals? Or was it just him?
"But enough about that." Sissel continued. "I want answers. I saw you inside Phoenix Wright's Magatama. Why?"
Pearl blinked. "I… I don't understand." What was Sissel talking about? He was a small kitty, but there was no way he could fit inside Mr. Nick's Magatama!
The cat twitched his whiskers in annoyance. "Here, let me start over. I'm not an ordinary cat because I have powers of the-"
Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside, followed by some muffled words that Pearl's mother had forbidden her from saying. But that wasn't the worrisome thing. With the thin walls of the manor, she was able to hear the voice pretty clearly, and she was certain it belonged to a man she didn't recognize.
"Who was that?" Sissel asked, suddenly sounding worried. "Do you know?"
Pearl shook her head. "It didn't sound like anyone from the village."
"I was afraid of that." Sissel replied. "I'm going to go check this out. It's probably nothing, but I need to know for sure." He bounded for the exit. "I'll be right back!"
Sissel still didn't completely trust Pearl (it was pretty hard after being effectively tortured by her), but he'd also had plenty of experience with people stealing the faces of others. Just because that young girl he saw in the Magatama looked like Pearl Fey didn't necessarily mean they were the same person. Either way, there were more pressing matters to look into. (That voice from the street… It sounded just like…)
"Watch where you're going! And don't say 'They don't call me Nearsighted Jeego for nothing.' Someone might have heard you." A man in black whispered. A man that Sissel recognized.
One-Step-Ahead Tengo.
"Sorry." His partner, another man in black, this one scooping a couple tools and a bunch of metallic disks off of the ground and into a bag, muttered in frustration. "But really, who puts rocks in the road where people can trip on them like that?"
Nearsighted Jeego.
Why were they here? It didn't make any sense! Sure, Sissel had effectively averted their fates as well when he prevented Yomiel's 'death,' but that should have also meant that they wouldn't have known about the powers granted by the Temsik Meteorite. And if that was the case, just what could they possibly be doing in Kurain?
He was more worried, however, by the silver rifle in Tengo's hand and the golden shotgun that Jeego had in his stack of instruments. Were they after someone? Had they already killed someone?
Being so small, Sissel was able to get pretty close. He supposed that was one plus of not being human. He could always abandon his body if need be, but considering what those foreigners did to Yomiel, he'd rather avoid such risks.
"Hurry it up." Tengo muttered. "We've only got a few more hours left of night."
"Well maybe if you would help carry some of this stuff." Jeego growled back, having finally succeeded at gathering up all of the tools that had spilled to the ground.
Tengo shrugged. "Not my fault. I said I'd do the work for our last job if you did the work for the next one. Plus," He reached his hand into his pocket, producing a stone slightly larger than his palm. "I'm carrying this." Sissel's eyes widened. Even from here, it looked like it was shaped like on of the Fey Clan's Magatamas. A quick look in the ghost world confirmed that it was giving off the same radiation as the Kurain Boulder. But there was something different about this one from Mr. Wright's. For one thing, it was larger, but secondly, it was a lot less perfected, being rough and clearly just carved out of stone rather than some sort of gem. How in the world Jeego and Tengo get their hands on a Magatama?
"Yeah, but that last one was so much easier than this!" Jeego replied.
"Huh. What do you know? You're right. I guess I just have really good luck. After all, there was no way I could have known that beforehand, right?"
"Just shut up."
"Hey, you asked."
"…"
"Well, this is it."
The two men stopped. Sissel did too. (This can't be good.) They were standing right in front of the Kurain Boulder.
"And just how do you know for sure?" Jeego grumbled. "This doesn't look that much like a boulder to me. We're not looking for the 'Kurain Rectangle.'"
Sissel cocked his head to the side. (I guess strange minds think alike.) That was a saying, right? But more importantly, it looked like they were after the Kurain Boulder.
"I read the sign." Tengo said, gesturing at the placard with his rifle. "Now come on. Let's get some confirmation."
"Yeah, yeah." Jeego said, waving a sensor quite similar to one Sissel had once seen that pigeon man using in front of the Kurain Boulder. It beeped, and he squinted a bit in order to read the display. "Hmm…"
"Let me guess. It's giving off the same radiation as this thing here." Tengo asked, holding up the stone Magatama.
"That's right." Jeego didn't sound too happy.
"I thought so. Now, get this stuff rigged up."
Sissel had seen enough. Whatever these two were up to, it clearly wasn't anything good. (Couldn't even make better life decisions in a new timeline, huh?) Time to get to work. Unfortunately, there weren't too many cores near the boulder itself, but Jeego and Tengo had luckily brought a plethora of different items that Sissel could make use of. There was just one problem:
He had no idea what most of this stuff even was.
Then again, maybe he didn't need to. Leaving his body in a shrub nearby, Sissel quickly made his way to Jeego's shotgun. The man was busy attaching up some strange beeping disks to boulder, meaning that he had just left the weapon laying there on the ground. "Let's see here…" Sissel thought aloud. If he could make a loud enough noise, maybe he could make some of the villagers to wake up and take notice of the strange going-ons. "I just pull the trigger and…"
BANG!
"H-huh?" Jeego started, dropping one of the disks, which rolled over to Sissel. Considering such an occurrence was not likely to repeat itself anytime soon, the spirit jumped to it.
"Be quiet, you idiot." Tengo growled, striding briskly to the still-smoking shotgun and picking it up with his free hand before laying it up against the wooden shed with its muzzle pointed away from them. "What a shoddy weapon, going off like that. If that woke anyone up…" He turned to Jeego. "Hurry up."
"It would go faster if you gave me a hand." Jeego replied as he angrily picked up the final disk - the one containing Sissel - and forcefully slammed it onto the boulder. To the cat's surprise, immediately after he did so, a set of pick-like anchors shot from the disk and embedded itself into the stone itself as web of metal wires shot from his disk and the others before wrapping themselves tightly around the boulder.
"Don't think I'm not going to tell the boss about this." Tengo said with a smirk. "I doubt Commander Sith will appreciate your carelessness."
"Now look here." Jeego replied, storming towards his partner. "I'm getting sick and tired of that smug attitude of yours."
"It comes from always being one step ahead of everyone else." Tengo replied with a wry grin. "I'd recommend trying it if you weren't so likely to trip over your own feet."
"That's it!" Jeego grabbed his shotgun. "If you keep acting all high and mighty, I'm gonna lose it!" As if to emphasize his point, he kicked one of the other devices he had been carrying, which flew into the shrub where Sissel had hidden his body. A frightened squeak came from the bush. Clearly there was something else in there.
"Did you hear that?"
Tengo reached into the plant and pulled out a small girl, who was fearfully clutching Sissel's shell in her arms.
(Oh no.)
"Well looky what we have here." Jeego said, approaching Pearl Fey. "What are you doing out so late on your own, girly?"
"I… I was following this kitty." Pearl said quietly, clutching Sissel's body ever tighter. "And… and now he won't wake up!"
"Well then, little one. You'd better run along now." Tengo said smoothly, but with a faint hint of menace. "My friend and I were just passing through. You'd better just go back to bed. No reason to disturb your parents."
Sissel tried to make his way back to his shell, to the girl, but the only thing within his reach were the wires around the Kurain Boulder itself. (Go, Pearl. Just go…)
Pearl gulped. "N-no! You two are bad men! What are you doing to the Kurain Boulder?"
Tengo sighed dramatically. "It's unfortunate you had to say that. Too bad. I'm not a huge fan of snuffing out kids. You want to do it, Jeego? I did get the kill for our last job, after all."
(No…) Even though Sissel had the ability to bring people back to life, he could never erase the scar on their psyche. Adults usually could deal with the trauma, but children were often a different story. There was a reason he had been so desperate to save Lynne fifteen years ago.
Jeego grunted. "Yeah, whatever." He leveled his golden shotgun right in Pearl's face. "Nothing personal, little lady. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
(NO!)
Sissel froze time by entering the ghost world and cast his sight around for a core, any core to possess. In the end, he jumped to the only thing he could: The wire mesh around the boulder. Luckily, there was a little metal… thing (Sissel wasn't sure what it was called) at every point the wires intersected, which gave him a wide range of motion around the Kurain Boulder itself. Even if he was unable to jump to anything around it, at least it was a start.
(What now?) Sissel wondered. He had very little time to figure out a way to save Pearl, and he seemed unable to find a way out of the giant metal net.
…
(Hold on…) A plan was forming in Sissel's mind. The net seemed to be stretched tightly enough to make it work… It would be a gamble, but it wasn't like Sissel had many other options.
Acting quickly, Sissel jumped across the mesh to one of the anchor discs on the side of the boulder facing away from the assassins. Returning to the world of the living for less than a second, he deactivated the locking mechanisms. Sissel quickly repeated the process, save for a couple of the ones near Tengo and Jeego, and one of the anchors on the opposite side. The net was now taut, with only one of the tiny discs preventing the whole thing from flipping over. He heard Jeego cock his shotgun. No time left. (Here we go…)
Sissel released the final clamp on the opposite side. The net then shot over the top of the Kurain Boulder, before landing on top of the two assassins. The wires were rather thick, so the force of the impact caught them off guard and caused the two to drop their weapons. Wasting no time, Sissel immediately jumped to the discs no longer connected to the boulder and reactivated the anchor mechanisms, locking them into the ground. Jeego and Tengo wouldn't be able to get out of that. Either way, they seemed too stunned at the moment to try. They might even be unconscious.
Another fate averted before it could even happen.
From his new position, Sissel was able to jump to the shotgun laying on the ground, before finally settling into his own body. "Ah, that's better."
"S-Sissel!" Pearl gasped. "You're okay!"
"Yeah, sorry about that. I had to deal with those two assassins over there."
"Assassins?" Pearls' eyes opened wide. "S-So they were going to kidnap me? Or were they going to-?"
"Uh… something like that." Sissel interrupted hastily.
"And… and you did that with that net?"
"Yes."
"T-thank you…" Pearl said, her lower lip trembling. "Thank you so much!" She said again, this time bursting into tears and clutching Sissel tightly. It was a good thing he couldn't feel anything, or it might have hurt.
"It's alright. You're safe now." Sissel assured her, wriggling out of her grasp and jumping to the ground. "We should go tell Lynne and the others about this."
Pearl nodded a bit, and Sissel started to lead the way, before she said in a trembling voice, "C-could I carry you?"
Sissel turned back to Pearl. She was shaking and her eyes were still quite wet. Understandable, Sissel realized. She'd just had a shotgun aimed right at her, after all. He was now certain that whatever he had seen inside the Magatama was not this girl. The thing he had seen was cold and cruel… but she was just an innocent child. He couldn't help but draw parallels to the time Kamila was possessed. At moments like these, Sissel really wished he had a human body so he could comfort Pearl properly, like how Lynne did for Kamila that time, or how Detective Jowd was able to make the younger Lynne feel safe in the park all those years ago. Oh well. He'd just have to do what he could. "Okay."
"Thank you." Pearl sniffled, scooping the cat up and holding him tight the whole way back to Fey Manor.
"What?" Lynne practically shouted. "Jeego and Tengo are back?" She paused. "Wait, who are they again?"
Sissel gaped at her, which he assumed looked pretty funny considering his species. "You're kidding right? They both killed you in the past!"
"You'll need to be a little more specific than that."
"In the junkyard? And then in the Superintendent's office?"
Lynne put a hand to her chin in thought. "I can't really remember either of those that clearly. Didn't you say my soul was still unconscious when you saved me those times? It makes sense I wouldn't be able to remember them."
Sissel groaned. He guessed that did make sense, but they had been so memorable to him…
Regardless, they woke Phoenix and Maya, and it wasn't long before the police arrived to arrest the two captured assassins. They seemed perplexed by how the men supposedly netted themselves, but the didn't seem able to find another explanation. Meanwhile, after comforting Pearl, Phoenix left the girl in Maya's care while he went to speak with Lynne and Sissel.
"So… Pearls says you saved her." Phoenix said to Sissel as he approached them. "Does that mean she…"
"Oh, no!" Sissel assured him hastily. "No, no, no. I was able to capture the two before anything happened to her."
Phoenix looked confused. "But then how did she know that you were the one to do it?"
"I'm not sure." The cat admitted. "But it looks like spirit mediums have partial cores that let them hear me."
Lynne crossed her arms. "But then shouldn't Maya-?"
"Hers is fainter than Pearl's." He explained. "I'm probably just too quiet for her to hear. Even Pearl seemed to have some trouble at times."
"That would make sense." Phoenix said, his hand on his chin. "Pearls' spiritual power has always been stronger than Maya's."
Lynne and Sissel looked at each other. "But isn't Maya the Master?" The detective asked. "Shouldn't the Master be the most skilled of the mediums?"
"I'd rather not get into it." Phoenix said, suddenly seeming very weary, and not just because it was extremely early morning. "It's… complicated."
"Alright then." Lynne allowed, changing the subject. "But just what were Jeego and Tengo doing here anyway?"
"They seemed to want the Kurain Boulder for something." Sissel explained. "But also, Tengo had a Magatama like yours, Mr. Wright."
Lynne scratched her head. "Maga-what?"
"Magatama." Phoenix said, pulling the gem out of his pocket. "You mean it looked like this? Did it glow?"
"Well, no." Sissel admitted. "But it was giving off radiation like yours, and I haven't seen any of the other Fey Magatamas doing that."
"That's odd." Phoenix said, scratching his chin. "I didn't think there were other Magatamas like mine. Then again, Iris had those Psyche-Lock looking trick locks, so they must have known about them…"
"Hmm?"
"Oh, never mind." The lawyer replied. "It's not important. I was just thinking out loud."
Silence.
"So what now?" Lynne asked, yawning.
"You guys may as well go back to sleep." Phoenix shrugged, before looking at the clock on his phone. "The train will be here soon, so it would be pointless for Maya and I to do the same. I'd better go talk to her and see how Pearls is doing."
Lynne rolled her eyes. "Psh, this is nothing. I'm a detective! You should have seen the night I met Sissel. I was running around all night! I didn't have time to get even a wink of sleep and I was fine!"
"Yeah, except that night never happened anymore." Sissel muttered.
"Well, you can do what you want." Phoenix said with another shrug, clearly not as chipper as Lynne.
In the end, Lynne did decide to take a quick cat-nap (she assured Sissel that no pun had been intended) before investigating what the foreigners might be up to. Pearl, deciding not to go with Phoenix and Maya into the city, but still shaken up, stayed with Lynne in her room. Of course, that meant that Sissel was left to ponder the situation on his own. Ever since he was struck by the Temsik Meteorite, not only had Sissel lost his ability to feel, but also his ability to sleep as well. He honestly didn't mind it too much - there was a surprising amount of things a cat could get up to while the rest of the world slept - but he could understand how it had driven Yomiel to such desperation. For now, he was keeping his mind occupied with all that had happened recently.
There was another rock producing strange radiation… there were people who had cores but never died… and now Commander Sith - that was that eyebrowed villain, right? - was up to no good again. Sissel hadn't encountered such a perplexing mystery since that night. The one that had long since fallen through the cracks in time…
In a way, it was strangely exhilarating. Now that he was secure in his own identity - and there was no cosmic deadline looming over his head - Sissel was actually excited to be doing something more than just visiting crime scenes and averting deaths, as he'd been doing recently.
Then again, he needed to be careful with such thoughts. It was clear that Command Sith and the rest of the foreigners had not changed much after Sissel changed the past, which meant any plan of theirs could potentially put countless people in harm's way. Even though he didn't have to worry about disappearing at sunrise, Sissel couldn't waste time. He needed to figure out what the foreigners were up to and stop them.
The first order of business would be to figure out just what they wanted with the Kurain Boulder. That net that had surrounded it looked like it might have been used to transport it, but just how would they do that? There was no way two men could even hope to lift such gigantic rock. Did they have a truck or something? Sissel's whiskers twitched. He sometimes got confused about what constituted a 'truck,' but he wasn't even sure one of those could transport the Kurain Boulder.
Next, was that Magatama of theirs. How did they get their hands an authentic one when it looked like the only other one with spiritual properties belonged to Mr. Wright? Shouldn't the Feys have some? Then again, they did have the Boulder itself. Hopefully Pearl could provide Sissel with some answers. He glanced at the sleeping girl. The core in her head seemed to pulsing as she breathed softly.
(That's odd.) Sissel thought, padding over to Pearl. He wasn't able to interact with Maya's core, but hers had been a lot fainter. What would happen if he tried to possess this one? Sissel lay down next to the girl's head and reached out with his soul. He had been wondering…
"…!"
Sissel blinked in surprise before struggling to stand underneath a large weight of extra hair on his head. (What the?) More strange, however, was the realization that he wasn't just aware of the hair (light brown hair, from the looks of the locks that kept falling in his face) on his head, but he was actually feeling it. Sissel could feel. More than that, he had a physical body. But that made no sense! His real body was right over there… And where had Pearl gone?
Kurain Channelling Technique. (Of course.) Sissel realized. He didn't realize it, but he had just performed a Ghost Trick on a living thing. Not just any living thing either; a spirit medium. Sissel quickly jumped back to his shell and spotted Pearl once again laying underneath the blanket on that strange mat on the floor. Oddly, the core in her head was completely solid now. Sissel wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he assumed she'd be able to hear him more clearly the next time he spoke to her.
"I herby find the defendant, Barley Waheet, not guilty." The Judge declared, banging his gavel. "Court is adjourned."
Phoenix gave sigh of relief. As expected, the trial had been relatively simple - it wasn't even noon yet - but he had been worried that Chris Saant might have been able to get his story straight now that he'd had prior warning. Of course, the chef wasn't the brightest of murderers, and had already pulled a gun on Phoenix, so there hadn't been a problem. For once, the trial day had been completely straightforward. (Good thing, too.) He thought, spotting Saant getting led away in cuffs. He should probably return to Kurain and see how Pearls was doing. From the sound of things, her experience had been pretty terrifying. That said, at least she wouldn't have to live with the memory of dying. Phoenix shuddered a bit. He was no longer having flashbacks, but he wasn't sure if he'd ever completely recover.
Either way, after his client thanked him and left, Phoenix was about to make his own way to the exit, when he was greeted by a large scruffy man practically kicking down the doors to the Defendant Lobby.
"There you are!" Detective Gumshoe growled. "Where the heck've you been, pal?" The 'pal' was not friendly.
Phoenix shot Gumshoe a look. "Uh, in trial, remember?" Actually, this had been one of the few times Gumshoe hadn't testified. Then again, the case was honestly pretty open and shut.
"Well I knew that." The detective said, rolling his eyes. "I meant before. I've been calling your office all morning, pal!"
"Oh, that's my fault." Maya admitted, actually looking a little sheepish. Despite being a goof most of the time, when he got angry, Gumshoe was scary. Phoenix had once seen the man take down four mafia enforcers all on his own. "I messed up with the train schedule, so Nick had to stay the night at Kurain."
"That's not important!" Gumshoe insisted. "Listen, pal. I've got a client for you."
"Well, actually…" Phoenix began.
"Uh-uh. Nope!" Gumshoe said, shaking his head furiously. "I'm not taking no for an answer. If you refuse, I might just arrest you!"
(I'm sure the chief of police would love that.) Phoenix thought, but in the end he relented. He'd only seen Gumshoe this worked up about two of his clients in the past, and if either of them was the one Gumshoe was talking about, there was no way he'd refuse to defend them. Unfortunately, Pearls was going to have to wait a little longer. Maya could probably give her a call on the way.
"Great!" Gumshoe said, suddenly all jovial now that Phoenix had agreed to help. "I'll give you two a ride to the station, so shake a leg!"
Ugh... sorry about the delay, that scene with Sissel and his Ghost Tricks was a bitch to write. I'm still not entirely happy with it, and there was another scene I wanted to include in here, but I decided I've kept you guys waiting long enough.