Date: August 4

Time: 5:57 p.m.

Location: Matlock Apartments

*CLANG!* *CRSSH!*

*THUMP*

"Huff... huff... no... I won't... let you... do this... huff..."

"...Your legalism blinds you, do you know that? Absolute justice does not exist."

"...nnggghh..."

"It's a shame, really. I... rather like you, I suppose. But now look at you. You can't even stand under the weight of your chains... your precious law binds you, holds you down."

"...no..."

"True justice can only be found outside the law. That's just the way of the world."

"...Perhaps in your eyes. But you... view the law as a chain, a hindrance to true justice..."

"Well, that's what it is, and you know that as well as I."

"No... you see, to me, the law is not a chain. It's more like... a mighty shield. It protects justice, and strengthens it..."

"Waah-?! Th- This power! Where is it coming from?! You have no strength left!"

"On the contrary... for you see, I draw my strength from justice and truth!"

"B- But I seek truth as well! Why can I not defeat you?!"

"You are weak because you fight without your shield, Ninja Queen Obsidian Raven!"

"No... we were once friends, but you will not stop me this time, STEEL SAMURAI!"

Edgeworth sat on the edge of the couch cushion, transfixed. He stared intently at the TV screen as the narrator's voice boomed out through the speakers...

"Will the Steel Samurai be forced to defeat the Raven once and for all? Or will the two seekers of justice be able to restore their alliance to face the Evil Magistrate? Find out next time, on THE STEEL SAMURAI: WARRIOR OF GREAT JUSTICE!"

Pearls gasped, nearly spilling her tea. "Mr. Wright-werth! What's going to happen next?!"

Edgeworth picked up the remote and turned the TV off when the show's brief credits started to roll. "I'm sorry, Pearls, but I don't know," he said, placing his now-empty teacup on the coffee table in front of the couch. "We won't find out until the next episode."

Pearls pouted. "But I have to know NOW!" She clenched her tiny fists. "The Steel Samurai needs to convince the Raven to come back to the side of good so they can defeat the Evil Magistrate together!"

Edgeworth smiled slightly. He was glad he'd finally found someone he could watch his favorite show with and not feel deeply ashamed. "I wasn't sure if you would like the Raven," he said. "She can be quite unsavory at times..."

Pearls looked up at him. "But, Mr. Wright-werth, the Steel Samurai has to stand by her! Because..." Her eyes sparkled, and she held her hands to her cheeks. "...she's his special someone!"

Edgeworth stared at her. "But the Pink Princess is..."

Pearls huffed. "No way! They're obviously just friends!"

Edgeworth was aghast. This innocent little girl couldn't be... shipping... already, could she?! "Don't go down this path, Pearls!" he urged, kneeling down and grasping her shoulders. "You're far too young to be saying these sorts of things!"

Pearls blinked. "Um... o- okay..."

Suddenly, a tinny, electronic version of the Steel Samurai theme song started blaring from his pocket; it took Edgeworth a moment to recognize the sound as Wright's cellphone. He stood up and cleared his throat before answering it. "Hello?"

"NIIIIIIICK!" Someone sobbed on the other end. "You gotta help me out, man!"

Edgeworth had to hold the phone a little distance away from his ear to avoid blowing out his eardrums. "Larry?" He grimaced. "What is this about?"

"Come on, Nick, it's an emergency this time, I swear!" Larry sounded comically desperate; nothing unusual there. However...

"Larry, this is Edgeworth, remember?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Edgeworth was about to hang up, when Larry suddenly shouted. "Aaaah! That's right!" He sounded surprised. "Wow, I totally forgot about that!"

Edgeworth was taken aback. "How could you just 'forget' something like this?!" he fumed. "You were there when it happened! Last night!"

Larry chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I know... sorry, man."

Edgeworth sighed. Never again would he underestimate that man's idiocy. "What do you want, Butz?"

"Geez, you sure are cold," Larry pouted. "Like I said, it's a real emergency this time! Honest!"

Edgeworth was beginning to grow impatient. "Get on with it..."

"Well, see, um..." Larry sounded slightly sheepish. "Maybe you'd better just come meet me here, man..."

Edgeworth ground his teeth. "You know what, I don't even want to know. I have things to do today, you know. Lots of very important things..."

He saw Pearls glance up at him quizzically. She looked like she was about to say something like 'but Mr. Wright-werth, we're not doing anything,' so Edgeworth held a finger to his lips. If Larry heard her, it would ruin his entire evening.

Larry made a noise that sounded rather like a dying cow. "Aww, come on, Edgey! You really gotta help meee! Pleeeaase?!" He moaned. "If you don't come help me out, I'm gonna diiie!"

Edgeworth narrowed his eyes. "Where are you?"

"I- I'm at this fancy French restaurant... umm, Tres Bien, I think..." Larry sounded cautiously hopeful. "Does this mean...?"

Edgeworth thought about it. If he simply ignored Larry, he was bound to get called back within two minutes with another desperate plea for assistance. Plus, he and Pearls hadn't had anything to eat for dinner as of yet, and he happened to like that restaurant... "Alright," he sighed. "I'll meet you there."

"YES!" Larry shouted happily. "You're a lifesaver, man!"

Edgeworth cleared his throat. "But I think you should be aware, if this 'emergency' of yours is financial in nature, it wouldn't be fair of me to loan you any of Wright's money. Especially since I'm sure you would never pay it back."

"Oh, um, well, it's not exactly like that..." Larry muttered. "Just, uh, just come meet me here, and I'll explain, okay?"

Edgeworth narrowed his eyes. "That's not incredibly reassuring-"

"Thanks, man, see ya in a few!" And with that, Larry ended the call.

Pearls looked up at Edgeworth, chewing on her thumbnail. "Um, what was that about?"

Edgeworth simply shrugged and opened up Wright's wallet. "It was only Larry," he said dismissively, silently counting the bills. There was actually a pretty good amount of cash inside; while it certainly didn't compare to what he was used to, there was definitely enough there for them to treat themselves a little without leaving too big of a dent in Wright's finances. Edgeworth closed the wallet and turned to Pearls. "Have you ever tasted French cuisine?"

Pearls looked confused. "What's coo-iz-een?" She bit her thumbnail. "And what's a freh-nch?"

Edgeworth was astonished. "W- well, 'cuisine' is kind of like another word for food... and something is 'French' when it comes from the country of France," he explained. "Has no one ever taken you to a French restaurant?"

Pearls shook her head. Edgeworth's eyes widened. This poor child! "Well, we are going to amend that," he stated firmly. "Now, if you would be so kind as to set your teacup by the sink and find your shoes..."

Pearls gasped excitedly. "Are we going out to eat?" Her eyes sparkled. "Will it be someplace fancy?"

Edgeworth shrugged. "Well, Tres Bien is a café of sorts, so it's not the kind of place one would need reservations for, but it has a very agreeable atmosphere, and the French cuisine is good for its price."

Pearls stared at him blankly. "So, it's fancy?"

Edgeworth sighed. "Yes."

"Yay!" Pearls dashed off towards the kitchen, deposited her teacup by the sink, and hastily slipped on her sandals, which were lying on the tile floor. She then scampered back to where Edgeworth was standing and bounced on her heels excitedly. "I've never been to a fancy restaurant before!" she gushed.

Edgeworth smiled slightly. The little girl's ability to find joy in almost anything was refreshing. He wondered if this was how Wright was able to stay so... happy all the time. "Well, then, we should get going," he said, opening the door for Pearls. "I can only hope the public transportation system will be easier to navigate this time..."

Pearls giggled as she entered the hallway. "Well, fifth time's the charm!"

Edgeworth closed and locked the apartment door behind him and headed towards the stairs.

"Um, Mr. Wright-werth?"

Edgeworth turned to Pearls, who stood in front of the apartment door, biting her thumbnail. She looked mildly upset. "Do we..." she began, then paused before continuing. "Do we have to take the stairs this time?"

Edgeworth started to feel a familiar sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Well, it's healthier for you to take the stairs," he said, hoping that would be enough.

Pearls looked up at him. "But the stairs here are dark and scary," she said, fidgeting. "Sometimes I get scared that I'll trip and fall... why don't we just take the elevator?"

Edgeworth cringed. There it was; the one word he'd been trying to avoid. However... Pearls seemed just as afraid of the stairs as he was of the elevator. And, to be fair, the stairs in this building were pretty dilapidated... He gritted his teeth. Pull yourself together, Miles! he thought to himself. I shouldn't let a little elevator frighten me like this! He closed his eyes; even thinking the word 'elevator' sent a chill down his spine.

Pearls stared at him. "Umm, Mr. Wright-werth...?"

Edgeworth glanced at her; it really wasn't fair of him to make her face that very frightening, mold-infested stairwell because of his own irrational fear... He gathered up as much resolve as he could muster. "Alright, we can take the... elevator..."

Pearls chewed on her thumbnail hesitantly. "Well, if you don't want to, I guess..."

"No!" Edgeworth would not turn back now; he'd already made up his mind to do this. He guided Pearls towards the elevator and pressed the call button.

Within moments, the doors slid open, and Pearls stepped inside. Edgeworth closed his eyes, prepared to fight off any panic attacks. He steeled himself, took a deep breath, and stepped into the elevator.

Nothing happened.

After a few moments, he hesitantly opened his eyes and looked around. Pearls was pressing the 'Lobby' button; the walls of the elevator car were dingy and covered in graffiti. As the doors closed, Edgeworth blinked a couple of times. Normally, he'd be huddled in a corner terrified by now, especially in an elevator as clearly suspect as this. Instead, he felt... fine. His eyes widened slightly as he realized he wasn't frightened at all. He didn't even feel uncomfortable anymore.

Edgeworth folded his arms and glanced around the elevator car in confusion. He couldn't possibly have just magically gotten over a fear he'd had since he was nine... Suddenly, the answer came to him.

Wright wasn't afraid of elevators.

Edgeworth wasn't quite sure why, but that realization worried him deeply. Up until that point, it had been almost easy for him to forget about his circumstances, especially during the investigation. However... now even his emotions were being affected, and it was unsettling...

Pearls tapped him on the arm, interrupting his thoughts. "Mr. Wright-werth, are you okay?"

Edgeworth blinked. "Oh, ah, yes, I'm fine." The elevator dinged as it came to a stop and the doors opened; Edgeworth waited for Pearls to exit the car before following her into the building lobby. Any disquieting thoughts were forgotten as he mentally ran through the different bus/subway lines they would have to take in order to reach Tres Bien. Once he'd managed to convince himself that he knew where he was going, Edgeworth held the lobby doors open for Pearls, and together they exited the building.

Date: August 4

Time: 6:03 p.m.

Location: High Prosecutor's Office 1202

Phoenix glanced at Franziska. "Not to be rude, but why are you still here?"

The female prosecutor glared at him. "That vas extremely rude," she said, examining her whip handle. "I am your co-counsel, you know. Vhen the fingerprint analysis comes in, I have as much right to see it as you do."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fair enough. Then why..." he pointed at the blonde teen. "...is he still here?"

The blonde, who Phoenix now knew to be an intern named Klavier Gavin, pretended to be offended. "Vhat?! Are you saying you don't enjoy my presence?!"

Kay, who was sitting next to him on the office couch, punched him on the shoulder. "He's saying you're not getting anything done," she quipped.

Klavier rubbed his shoulder. "Autsch... you're a hard Fraulein to impress," he said, grinning.

Kay rolled her eyes. "No, you're just not very impressive."

Klavier flipped his bangs. "Vould I be more impressive if I told you I vas in a band?"

Phoenix cleared his throat loudly. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to interrupt your clearly important discussion, but I do have a case to prosecute tomorrow..."

After things with Franziska had cooled down a bit, she'd agreed to help Phoenix with the rest of his preparations for the second trial day, because she "had nothing better to do". Since apparently the fingerprint analysis on the knife handle had yet to be completed, the group had kind of migrated back to Edgeworth's office to "talk strategy." However, it seemed like the only strategy that was being discussed was Klavier's increasingly varied attempts to hit on/annoy Kay. Phoenix honestly could not tell if the blonde was being serious or not, but luckily, Kay seemed to be impervious to his... charms.

Franziska shrugged. "Vell, as long as the prints come back the vay I think they vill, ve should be fine. There's not a lot of evidence in this case, but most of it points towards the defendant, and the Judge can see that." She scowled. "Although, vhy you insist on dragging this trial out is beyond me. If I vere prosecuting this on my own, I vould have gotten a 'guilty' verdict vithin ten minutes."

Phoenix sighed. "Look, I'm sure Maya will be back before the third day, and then you and Edgeworth can yell 'guilty' to your hearts' content. But I-" He stopped. Even though he was pretty sure she could guess the reason, he was just too afraid to tell Franziska why he wanted to drag the trial out. He was almost certain that if she whipped him again, he'd die.

Franziska scowled at him. "Do you really still think your client's innocent? You've seen all the evidence ve have; Marie D'angelo is the only one who could have killed the victim. Period." She folded her arms. "You are so naive that it's becoming disgusting."

Phoenix didn't have the courage to tell her that he'd used the magatama to find out if Marie was innocent or not; somehow he had the feeling that Franziska wouldn't consider that a sufficient explanation.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door. "Hey, you in there, pal?!" The voice was obviously Detective Gumshoe's; he sounded a bit agitated.

Phoenix got up from behind Edgeworth's enormous desk and went to open the door. There was Gumshoe, of course, but there was someone else with him, too. All Phoenix could see of the person was a pair of giant pink glasses...

Gumshoe grinned. "We got your fingerprint analysis for ya, pal! Took 'em long enough, but they said it was because of all the dirt on the handle..." He fidgeted slightly. "Hey, um, I'm real sorry about ditching ya earlier... I just didn't think I was much help, and I... well... Please accept my apologies!"

Phoenix held up his hands and shook his head. "No, it's okay. Really, I get it."

Gumshoe looked relieved. "Thanks, pal." He stepped into the office and motioned towards the person behind him. "Guess who decided to drop by?"

Phoenix stared. "Ema?"

The aspiring forensic investigator grinned. "Hi, Mr. Edgeworth!" She held up a plastic evidence bag. "I brought the knife handle, since they're finished with the fingerprint analysis." She pouted. "I could've done it myself, scientifically, but I'm not technically a forensic investigator yet..."

Phoenix blinked. He hadn't really seen Ema Skye since her older sister's trial a couple of years ago... she definitely looked a little older. She still had her signature obnoxious pink glasses and white lab coat, though. He smiled and took the evidence bag. "Thanks. So, how are you doing? What have you been up to these days?"

Ema looked at him strangely. "Umm, well, not much has really changed since I saw you last week..."

Phoenix blinked. "Oh..." How did Edgeworth manage to run into her before I did? I didn't even know she was back from Europe...

Franziska cleared her throat. "Vell? Whose fingerprints did you find?"

Ema pulled her glasses down from the brim of her white hat and set them in place atop her nose. "Scientifically speaking, all of the fingerprints on that handle belong to Marie D'angelo," she said, then turned to Phoenix. "Well, except for yours, Mr. Edgeworth. There were more than a few dirt-covered partials that the lab guys had to clean off... why weren't you wearing gloves?"

Kay shot him an I-told-you-so look. Phoenix ignored her and inspected the evidence bag. "Well, this is certainly good news," he said, turning to Franziska. "This should be decisive enough for the Judge, right?"

Franziska nodded. "It vould be perfect if you hadn't rubbed your filthy fingers all over it..."

Phoenix resisted the urge to snap at her and set the evidence bag on the desk. "Great." He folded his arms and smiled. "Thanks, Ema. I guess that means we're done investigating for today."

Kay jumped up off the couch and whooped. "Awesome!" She turned to Phoenix. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

Phoenix glanced at her. "Um, go home?"

Kay punched him on the shoulder. "Hey, you can't just kick us all out! We haven't even had any dinner or anything yet!"

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to feed you?! Since when was that part of the deal?!"

Kay looked miffed. "Since, like, forever! Geez, you're really stingy!"

Klavier hopped up off the couch. "Achtung! Don't make the Fraulein starve!" He rubbed his hands together. "I think ve should get Chinese..."

Phoenix placed his hands on his hips. "I am not ordering Chinese!"

Ema scribbled in her notebook excitedly. "By my calculations, if you were to purchase five large pizzas, each of us could have approximately 6.6666 slices..."

Gumshoe looked ecstatic. "Wow! Six whole slices?! I haven't had that much pizza in months!"

Franziska flicked her whip in the air. "Buy me food."

"No!" Phoenix protested. "Get your own food! I'm not feeding all of you!"

Kay grinned. "Alright, pizza it is!" She tugged at the bottom of her left glove. "You know what we should do? We should make a party out of this!"

Klavier snapped his fingers. "Jawohl, baby! I've got just the thing!" He grinned. "Two beautiful Boses are sitting downstairs at my desk at this very moment!"

Kay looked confused. "What's a Bose?"

Ema held up a finger. "Scientifically speaking, they're speakers."

Klavier nodded. "Just let me bring those puppies up here, and ve'll have the best prosecutor's pizza party around!"

Phoenix's eye twitched. "Wha- ?! Who said anything about a party?! There's not going to be a party!"

Gumshoe gasped excitedly. "Hey pals, I think I know where they keep the black-lights and stuff!" He turned to Klavier. "Let's go get your speakers, and we can pick up some of those babies on the way back!"

Klavier nodded. "Wie cool!" He and Gumshoe exited the office, slamming the door behind them.

Franziska sat down at the desk and turned on Edgeworth's laptop. "Vell, if ve're going to throw a party, it must be perfect," she said. "Six people is simply not enough. I'll invite some of the other prosecutors vhile you set things up."

Phoenix gaped. "Wha... what?! What?!"

Ema scribbled in her notepad. "Scientifically speaking, parties need brightly-colored drinks," she said. "I have the perfect formula for making some really smooth stuff..."

Phoenix stared at her. "Ema, you're underage!" he scolded.

Ema shook her head at him. "It's not alcohol, it's SCIENCE!" And with that, she headed for the door. "I'll run down to the lab and whip some up! Be back in a bit!"

Kay grinned excitedly. "This is gonna be so awesome!" She started pushing the couch towards the wall of the office. "I'll move some of this furniture out of the way so we have some more room! And then I'll order the pizza!" She turned to Franziska. "How many do you think we'll need?"

Franziska looked up from the laptop screen. "At least ten. Payne and Ichiyanagi already confirmed, and it sounds like McCoy, Carver, and Gregson are all interested." She cracked her knuckles. "I'd better invite Klavier Gavin's detective friend, too... vhat vas his name again? Crescendo?"

Phoenix leaned back against the wall, almost in a state of shock. How in the world did this happen...?

Author's Note: How indeed... poor Nickles will be paying for ten pizzas.

Somehow, I feel like if there was anybody who actually liked the food at Tres Bien, it would be Edgeworth. I really wanted to get to the restaurant in this chapter, but I guess we'll all just have to wait a bit.

I've now officially decided that this takes place recently after the events of AA:I, so Ema's on summer vacation, scientifically speaking.

Also, to anyone who may have read 'Operation: Turnabout Birthday Present,' the fabled 'Warrior of Great Justice' mini-series has officially come into being. Whether or not it was written by Miles Edgeworth in this instance, I will leave to your imaginations.

McCoy, Carver, and Gregson are all very thinly-veiled references... two are prosecutors and one is a detective. An Internet cookie to anyone who can tell me what they're all from...

I'm sure nobody really cares, but here's some pencil sketches of TGW-related things (Marie D'angelo, Jane Doe, Beat-Up-Nickles Day), just in case you were wondering what they looked like: ht tp / / fav . me / d6hfa3r