az: It took a technical glitch for me to get another review... and even that was not really nice. Is it that hard to just tell me there's a glitch without inserting profanities? It's not like I expected that glitch to happen. But then again, I did not hope to get much review anyway. For the last chapter, writing the Japanese localization version was easier. Surprisingly it took me a few hours to finish that. Anyway... on to the next chapter!
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. Because I'm lazy to type long ass disclaimers. Gyakuten Saiban was created by Shuu Takumi. AU pertaining to whatever future plots this game would have.
Rise from the Ashes
Turnabout Reunion
by Izumi Ishtar alias Izzu
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Apollo bit his lips nervously as he drew a very long breath.
"I-I... WANNALEARN-EVRYTHINGFROMYOUFROM-ATOZ-LIKEHOWYOUSEDTO—"
Phoenix laughed as he immediately waved his arm around to stop him.
"Whoa... hold your horses there! Take a deep breath. Don't worry, I won't run before you're done talking."
Apollo could barely restrain himself from wanting to run away right at this moment. Certainly it should not be hard for him to say it aloud. B-but... the more he thought about it, the more the idea sounded stupid inside his head. I mean... there were also a lot of other good lawyers in this country! There must be someone else that had more experience than Mr. Wright in this field to whom I could learn from!
For a second there, Apollo wondered if this stubborn wish that he had was a bit too selfish on his part. He had already seen a glimpse of how this last case had truly affected Mr. Wright personally inside. He wondered if he had the right to force Mr. Wright to make a definite decision... now.
"I'm waiting here... do you need a longer time to formulate your thoughts aloud?"
Apollo looked up. Mr. Edgeworth looked as if he had expected him to turn tongue-tied at this moment. Perhaps, he had planned this out? But it had been a while since Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth had met—or so they said, the two of them could not possibly have instigated this just to test him... right? And there was also Trucy... argh! Is this some kind of a test? Or... if it was not, did Mr. Edgeworth plan to use him in order to change Mr. Wright's mind? Why can't Mr. Edgeworth be doing all this talk instead of him?
The sounds of funfair-goers around him, chattering and everything seemed to fill the void of silence between them. Oh wait... was that just now a sound of whip lashing and a cry for help just now? And what was that ruckus that he heard somewhere behind him about some Samurai Dogs?
Apollo shook his head. This was not the time to be thinking about other unrelated stuffs!
"I—Mr. Wright, is it really okay for me to ask this from you? I know I had been rather persistent earlier... but now that I started thinking about it, I realised that it was rather presumptuous for me to demand such things from you. I—"
The voice that spoke up later, sounded gentler than he could have expected coming at him.
"About becoming a lawyer again? Hmm... to tell you the truth, it's not that I had really minded it. I actually did thought of returning into the field after I've finally resolved the case and cleared my name and such related stuffs. I just didn't feel any urgency to do it so fast though. I mean... it's not like I always get a lot of money coming in from this lawyer business, considering the crowd that I have and the circumstances that always made me end up spending more money than I could earn. So there goes the allure of actually wanting to get back to the business. But, I could always consider it... depending on what you have to say. So... would you say it out loud?"
Apollo frowned. He turned to look as Trucy flashed him an encouraging smile. He closed his eyes as he drew a long breath.
Well, here goes nothing!
"Mr. Wright... actually, the reason for me to want you to become a lawyer again... well, it's because—I still wanted to learn a lot from you. On how—to become a good defense attorney like you used to be. I mean... I used to have Mr. Gavin as my mentor, but considering the things that had happened lately... I wondered if anything that he had taught me in the past was correct or not. And even though I had been handling several cases already, I still felt it wasn't enough. Half the time, I had received help from either you yourself or Trucy. I guess—what I meant to say is, I wanted you to become a lawyer again... because... I wanted to truly become your apprentice. I mean... not just learning from reading your old cases but also to actually see you doing the job!"
There he said it. He really did it! And he had not being vague about it. He did say it in a very straight forward way!
Apollo opened his eyes to look at Mr. Wright as the older man flashed a gentle smile at him. Well, at least he's not angry...
Phoenix let out a soft sigh before turning towards Trucy.
"I guess having you tagging alongside him was not enough, is it?"
Trucy shrugged.
"Polly's quite hard to watch over, Daddy. I guess having me around is still not the same to him as having you around helping him."
"Hmm... I guess so. A pity though, I thought by having you be by the kid's side could make up for my presence. Considering you already knew most of my tricks... but I guess that wasn't enough—"
"Polly's not as daring as you, Daddy. Last time I had to coax him several times to get him to try butter up towards people in order to get information! It's even harder to push him around to gather evidence..."
"Hmm... I had to agree on that. Not many lawyers would go barging into the crime scenes; where usually it was restricted to the likes of them, the way Wright often did. To find another as daring and shameless as him would be almost rare—"
"Hey... could you not put the word 'shameless' in there—?"
"Not to mention sneaky..."
"Hey, hey!"
"... annoying..."
"That's a bit too much, Edgeworth—"
"COULD YOU PLEASE NOT ACT AS IF I'M NOT AROUND? I'm still standing here, you know?"
Phoenix and Trucy turned to face him as Edgeworth started to laugh by himself. Phoenix cast an amused glance towards him.
"I see that you at least enjoyed this. Didn't you also drop by my place to try talking me back into law? I didn't see you do anything just yet."
Edgeworth shrugged.
"I noticed that it was more convenient for me to let that boy try talking you out of it first. Face the fact; I've known you for a very long time. As much as I hated to admit it, your stubbornness and persistence on dealing with things can be hard to break, even for me. Granted... you might be even more stubborn than me. It'll be hard to try to talk you out of anything if you're like that."
"And besides... I've been through almost about the same thing as what you've gone through, despite that we ended up with a different situation in the end. I guess... I can understand a bit."
Phoenix shrugged.
"True... I guess I could understand more of what happened ten years ago, when you had disappeared. I guess aside from doing your soul-searching, you also wanted to be alone... isn't it? Your pride was like that... after all."
He sighed.
"Still... I'm not you. Mind telling me your own motives... my dear friend, Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth? I'm curious."
Edgeworth shrugged.
"I had nothing... much. I'm often working abroad anyway so things happening here shouldn't bother me much. But it'd sure be nice if I could have my old partner back working with me on a case. It would make coming back to the country to handle cases to be more bearable. And something more to look forward to—"
"Oh? I thought someone had stated earlier that you found said person to be shameless, sneaky and annoying—and I thought you already had a sidekick to help you... uh, whoever that girl's name I forgot—"
A glare darted towards him.
"I meant partner during the court sessions, not—anyway, that's beside the point. I just wanted to have back the defense attorney whom I used to work well with. It makes work seemed more... bearable. It sure beats having to handle some other rookie attorneys who more often than not tend to mess things up worse than you."
"Hey!"
"And Franziska tends to grumble about it too... about not being able to fight with you in the courts anymore. What was that—about a selfish fool who foolishly letting go of his foolish future just because of his foolish pride—well, something like that. I remembered she kept repeating the word 'fool' one to many..."
"Eh?"
Apollo turned to look at Mr. Wright's face as the man appeared to be totally perplexed at this revelation.
"And also there's Ema, badgering me about convincing you to get back to your attorney job—despite her only other motive of wanting you back aside from being able to work with you again; was to see Klavier Gavin got kicked out like a stray puppy in courts. And there were those Fey girls and even Iris badgering me as well. Since they knew how you've been like; these seven years and thought by having you get back to your old job, you'd be back to your cheerful life. And don't get me started on the rest of the people on the list!"
A hearty laugh greeted him. For some reason, Apollo felt a different feeling from it. He could not detect any bitterness from his laugh this time, unlike usual. Mr. Wright did sound very amused this time. Honestly, Mr. Wright had a lot of people still caring for his well-being. At least this time, seeing this before his eyes could he really associate this Mr. Wright to those stories about his legendary court trials. Before this, he could never have believed that the Mr. Wright before him matched the legendary Phoenix Wright persona. This Phoenix Wright had been too bitter and spiteful, not to mention cunning. Totally did not match the stories that he had heard all this time. But now, his hopes rose again. That old Phoenix Wright still lived inside of him!
"I've got you into such a big trouble now, I guess? Am I that bothersome to you as well, Trucy?" asked Phoenix as he looked down towards the young magician. Trucy shook her head as she wrapped her arm around his waist.
"No, Daddy. I still love you no matter what!" said the young girl as Phoenix smiled. And as if he had suddenly remembered from the back of his head, he turned around towards Apollo.
"Well, you've convinced me. I give you that."
Apollo started to grin widely but Mr. Wright was still talking—
"—though I won't suddenly go up and retake the exam right away, but I'll consider it. There were a lot of things needed to be sorted up before I made any drastic changes to my life now. I certainly hadn't thought of taking you in as my apprentice for one thing. It never crossed my mind, really. I just wanted to get a lawyer that I could place my life on him, that's all." he added as he placed a hand on Apollo's head, ruffling his hair as he did.
His eyes flitted away for a second as he seemed to recall something.
"But thinking back... you already had been learning bits from me already! Just maybe... indirectly, I guess. Somewhat. These past three cases you've handled while working under me, from what Trucy's been reporting back to me had told me much. For one thing, you've learnt to gather evidence and do your own investigations before hand. You've learnt how to get testimony from people... and even mastering using that Perceive ability of yours! Weighing that over your argument, it seemed a bit weak compared to Edgeworth's reasoning."
Apollo's dumbfounded expression was too amusing to ignore as Edgeworth laughed aloud.
"I think our young attorney was too shocked to reply. You've revealed all your cards too abruptly. I guess it was too much for him to handle all at once."
Apollo blinked.
"B-but, Mr. Wright! You've said earlier—! You can't possible take back all—"
"Well, that's settled—Trucy."
Trucy perked up.
"I don't suppose you did bring your Magic Panties along, do you?"
"Hmm? Should I?"
The man laughed.
"Well, if you hadn't... it's alright. I just thought it would be amusing if you could pull out some of my old friends using that favourite trick of yours. Namely those people named Franziska von Karma, Ema Skye, Maya Fey and Pearl Fey, Iris, this one obnoxious trouble-maker, Mr. Gumsh—"
"OBJECTION!"
The four of them turned towards the voice as Phoenix Wright grinned. Just as the voice rang out, several people stumbled out from the nearby foliage as Franziska von Karma stood up to free herself from the tangle of limb; barely able to contain her temper at bay.
"I for one did not approve of being pulled out from some magic panties!"
"Me either!" cried Ema as she managed to shrug Maya and Pearl off her. The two girls pouted at him as another batch of people started to come out in the open and showed themselves. Iris shrugged at him as Phoenix returned the smile.
"You've caught us, pal! And here we thought we had you on." exclaimed Gumshoe as Maggey gave him a salute.
"I couldn't help noticing. And earlier, I did hear very familiar voices in a commotion behind us just a few minutes ago. It's not that hard to guess."
"Hey Nick! Why are you ignoring me? And why I'm the only one not addressed by name—"
WHAAAP!
A whip hit Larry square on the face as Franziska made her presence known.
"I said... what's up with the magic panties!" she argued as Phoenix started to laugh even harder. He chuckled as he brushed away the stray tear that suddenly materialized from the corner of his eyes.
"How heart-warming this is! If today had been my birthday or anything special I would have cried shamelessly over here. I hadn't expected such a sudden reunion like this, it's not good for my psyche—", and he turned towards Franziska to explain. "—the Magic Panties was one of Trucy's favourite tricks. She was a gifted magician after all... performing at the Wonder Bar every night."
If that was meant to shut her mouth, it surely worked. Franziska von Karma's fury did appear to have calmed down.
Phoenix sighed.
"Well... you guys heard me. So, it's about time also for you guys to stop worrying about me, as well? We'll talk about me retaking the exam for later day. You guys have my word. I won't go back on my word on this."
As if on cue, the rest of the group cheered as Gumshoe and Maggey started throwing confetti around them, Larry bringing out some crackers. Maya and Pearl started to dance before dragging Trucy and Iris around joyfully. It seemed that there's no stopping this joyful celebration.
Edgeworth laughed as he walked to Franziska to wrap his arm around her. The young prosecutor appeared to be feverishly trying not to suddenly break into tears as both Edgeworth and Phoenix tried to calm her down. Everyone seemed to be in a joyous mood. Not a hint of the serious atmosphere earlier remaining in the air. Apollo Justice watched everyone around him in wonder as he noticed how the dark aura around Mr. Wright seemed to dissipate. The man had looked younger now, more befitting his actual age. It seemed that whatever darker thoughts that still haunted him had disappeared finally.
"Hey!"
Phoenix turned as Trucy glared sternly at him.
"So can we now properly enjoy the funfair as we were supposed to?"
The man laughed.
"Sure! We had three times as much people now, so it should be three times the fun. Besides, it's what people are supposed to do in funfairs... having fun."
Trucy clapped her hands aloud.
"So let's all ride the Ferris Wheel!" exclaimed the girl as Maya and Pearl also squealed. The three of them started dragging everyone towards the direction of the giant Ferris wheel. Well, except some certain two people as Apollo turned his glance towards them. Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth had suddenly turned very pale.
"Uh, can we... possibly... escape this? Is that even possible? Edgeworth!" cried one panic-stricken voice.
"Don't ask me! It's your daughter, Wright!" cried the other.
And one other prosecutor smiled mischievously as she hooked both her arms around both men to drag them along while Edgeworth and Wright screamed in protest over their impending doom...
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az: Sorry if this ended a bit cheesy. I just had to break the tension there. Comments and corrections are welcomed.