Date: August 4

Time: 6:18 p.m.

Location: Tres Bien

Edgeworth folded his arms and glared furiously. "You CANNOT be serious!"

Larry flinched, stepping backwards, and squealed. "Pleeeeeaase don't hurt meeeee ~ !"

Edgeworth gritted his teeth. "Do NOT attempt to flee, Lawrence Butz! I demand an explanation!"

Larry gulped visibly. "D- Don't use my full name like that! It's scary..."

Edgeworth glared at him. "Why on earth..." he growled, "did you feel the need to drag me all the way out here... if all you wanted was someone to help you eat this pile of food?!"

Larry held up his hands. "H- Hold on, let me explain... see, I came here with Chelsea, and then she just dumped me in the middle of our meal and left me with all this food... I mean, she paid the bill already but there's just so much..."

Edgeworth sighed. "Why don't you just take it home and eat it later?"

Larry glanced around furtively. Aside from him, Edgeworth, and Pearls, the restaurant was completely empty. "Listen, man," Larry said, voice lowered. "The chef dude here is really weird. He says he doesn't have any boxes 'cause the food can only be really enjoyed inside the restaurant. He won't throw any of it away, either..."

Edgeworth grimaced. "Alright, so you want me to help you finish the food. But I still don't understand how this in any way qualifies as an emergency..." He glanced over at the food in question. "It looks like both plates are almost completely untouched," he mused. "Why didn't you even try eating it yourself before resorting to calling outside help?"

Larry made a peculiar face. He looked rather like a llama that was about to vomit. "No way, dude, that food is completely disgusting," he muttered. "You're such a strong person, I figured you could handle it." He held a hand over his heart dramatically. "But with my tender, sensitive constitution, I'm afraid the shock of eating all of that myself would simply kill me!"

Edgeworth rolled his eyes, but inwardly, he was pleased. If he's going to give us the food for free, Wright's finances may not have to suffer after all. "Well, luckily for you, I happen to like the food here," he said, folding his arms and tapping his finger. "Although I'm not entirely surprised by the fact that you don't care for it... clearly you have no taste."

Larry stared at him strangely, but he didn't seem inclined to argue. Shrugging dismissively, he motioned towards the uneaten food. "Hey, thanks for helping me out, Edgey..." He grinned sheepishly. "You're a real life-saver!"

Edgeworth shot Larry a glare to let him know that he was still displeased before stiffly sitting down at the table. Pearls, who'd been rather quiet for the past couple of minutes, hopped onto the chair across from him and studied the plate of food in front of her. "This is Freh-nch coo-iz-een?" she asked, eyes wide. "It looks so pretty..."

Larry cleared his throat. "Hey, um, Edgey, I'm really thankful for your help, man, but..." He looked somewhat guilty. "Just don't make the little girl suffer, okay? Pearls is too innocent! I'd feel like a terrible person!"

Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. "Whatever are you talking about?" He dug his fork into the dish in front of him, a quiche of some sort. "Honestly, why you, of all people, would pass up perfectly good food is beyond me." With that, he lifted the fork up to his mouth and took a bite.

After about two seconds of chewing, his eyes widened slightly and he started to gag. It took nearly everything he had to avoid spitting the stuff back out. After a couple more chews he was able to force himself to swallow; that action alone left him gasping for air and trembling.

Inwardly, Edgeworth was shocked and confused. I can't believe it... it is disgusting! Unbelievably so! But I normally like this food...

Pearls chewed on her thumbnail worriedly. "Mr. Wright-werth, you look a little green..."

Edgeworth was too absorbed by his increasingly horrifying thoughts to hear her. A connection was forming in his mind, and he didn't like its implications one bit. First I lose my fear of elevators, and now I'm tasting things differently... He felt a small lump in his throat. What is happening to me?! Am I... turning into Wright?!

Pearls' eyes widened with concern. "Mr. Wright-werth! Are you okay?!" She paused, chewing on her thumbnail. "Did... something strange happen?"

Alarm bells started going off in Edgeworth's head. He hadn't voiced any of his concerns... how did Pearls know to ask about "something strange"? Edgeworth frowned. It seemed like the tiny spirit medium knew more about what was happening than she was letting on... He looked her in the eye. "Pearls, is there something you're not telling me?" he asked, speaking slowly and firmly.

Pearl's bottom lip trembled, and for a moment she looked torn. "Umm... I..." She smiled weakly. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Wright-werth..."

Suddenly, Edgeworth heard the clanking of chains, and five large red locks appeared in the air in front of Pearls. Edgeworth gritted his teeth. Psycho-locks... and there's so many...

Pearls looked guilty. She probably knew he could see the locks. "I'm sorry," she said, eyes on the floor. "I can't tell you. I promised Mystic Maya..."

Edgeworth blinked. "You spoke with Maya?" He folded his arms. "When?"

Pearls gasped and held a hand over her mouth. "Oh! I, uh... I... umm..."

Edgeworth narrowed his eyes. "Pearl Fey, what did Maya tell you?"

Pearls chewed on her thumbnail and smiled sheepishly. "W- Well, she said she found an ancient text with the secret technique she needs to switch you back, but... she hasn't figured out how to read it yet..."

Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. The Psycho-locks were still there, so there had to be more; however, he didn't think he'd get anywhere pushing her now. He sighed. "Did she say when she plans on coming back?"

Pearls shrugged. "Mystic Maya said she's not sure..." She perked up a little. "But she thinks it'll be soon!"

Edgeworth nodded. "Well, that's good news, I suppose..." He decided to drop the issue of Pearl's secret for now; he knew from experience that if he deliberately refrained from bringing it up, Pearl's guard would be down the next time he was ready to question her about it. However, the question of what these strange occurrences could mean still burned at the back of his mind. He knew, deep down, that no matter how he tried to rationalize these recent events, they simply defied logic; that fact alone was perhaps what scared him the most.

Suddenly, Larry cleared his throat, interrupting Edgeworth's thoughts. "Um, I really don't know what's going on right now," Larry began, scratching his head, "but... are you still gonna eat that?"

Edgeworth glanced down at the plate of food before him and almost immediately started to feel sick. He closed his eyes and grimaced. I should never have come here...

Date: August 4

Time: 6:23 p.m.

Location: High Prosecutor's Office 1202

Phoenix leaned on the edge of Edgeworth's desk (which had been pushed up against the back wall) and surveyed the scene in front of him with some astonishment. In less than twenty minutes, Kay and company had managed to turn the office into a full-blown discotheque. Klavier's 'Boses' were now blaring out a mix of German techno, popular American dance music, and a bunch of songs by a band that Phoenix didn't recognize. The songs in the third category all seemed to be about trials or law enforcement, which struck him as odd, but appropriate.

Franziska hadn't been kidding when she promised to invite as many people as the room's occupancy regulations would allow. Phoenix scanned the room, and though he recognized a few faces, most of the people there were strangers to him. For some reason, he'd always gone up against the same prosecutors over and over in court... he wondered why that was.

Looking through the crowd was a little difficult, since Gumshoe had turned off the ceiling lights and strung up a line of black-lights to "set the mood." Phoenix was, however, able to spot Winston Payne; the glare on the prosecutor's enormous glasses kind of reminded him of a lighthouse, flashing on and off as the man moved about the room. Turning to his right, Phoenix saw Kay and Klavier dancing together... they looked like they were having fun. There was another guy near them, and he had this really weird, phallic-looking blue hair that shot straight forward from the top of his head; whenever anybody got within a foot of him, his hair would hit them in the face. It was kind of funny to watch, especially when he accidentally poked Kay with it and she kicked him in the shins.

A couple feet away, Phoenix could see Gumshoe chatting with somebody... upon closer inspection, he discovered it was Maggey. It looked like she was laughing, probably at some joke the detective had told. Phoenix smiled slightly. Good for you, Gumshoe. Although, since Maggey Byrde wasn't a police officer anymore, he wasn't sure how she'd gotten invited to the "prosecutor's pizza party"... he decided it didn't really matter. After all, he didn't really deserve to be here, either, but somebody had to pay for the pizzas. He'd felt kind of bad using Edgeworth's credit card, especially after seeing the bill, but it couldn't be helped... Franziska had threatened to skip rope with his entrails.

Suddenly, Ema popped up out of nowhere and nudged him off the desk. "Hey, make some room, please!" she shouted over the music. "I need this desk for the drinks!"

Phoenix noticed that the aspiring scientist was carrying a cardboard box full of shot glasses, as well as a huge beaker full of a glowing blue liquid that sloshed around like watered-down Jell-O. He raised an eyebrow. "Ema, what exactly is that stuff?"

Ema set the box down on the surface of the desk, walked to the other side, and started pulling out shot glasses and setting them on the desk. "It's SCIENCE!" she exclaimed, starting to pour the blue liquid into one of the glasses.

Phoenix grimaced. "I know that... but what is it?" He watched her pour the stuff into another glass. "It looks kind of... gloppy."

Ema stroked her chin thoughtfully, studying the beaker through her pink 'science goggles.' "Hmm... it might be too viscous," she muttered. "Maybe I'll have to put some more water in it, scientifically speaking..." She held up a shot glass. "Will you test some for me, Mr. Edgeworth?"

Phoenix narrowed his eyes. "...only if you can tell me what it is."

Ema was quiet for a long time, staring at the shot glass in her hand. Eventually, she looked up at him and smiled sheepishly. "It glows..."

Phoenix stared at her. After a couple of moments, he sighed and shrugged. "Good enough."

Ema grinned brightly and handed him a shot glass. "I can tell you it isn't toxic," she said. "And it's probably not Luminol... although it does seem to glow brighter under the black-lights..." She opened up her notepad excitedly. "You'll have to tell me what it tastes like!"

Phoenix sighed. "Fantastic..." He didn't want to disappoint Ema, but he really didn't want to drink that stuff, either... there was only a tiny amount of it, though, so he might be able to swig it down without thinking too much. He took a deep breath to prepare himself, closed his eyes, and gulped down the iridescent "science."

Surprisingly, it was pretty good... and it had kind of a pleasant aftertaste. Phoenix ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek; it almost tasted like strawberries.

Ema watched him expectantly. "Well? How is it?"

Phoenix smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. "Not bad, Dr. Skye," he said. "A little 'viscous,' but it tastes kind of like strawberries..."

Ema scribbled furiously in her notebook. "Intriguing..." She held up another shot glass. "Maybe we should do a second trial!"

Phoenix held up his hands. "Umm, maybe we should save some Science for everybody else..."

Ema pushed up her sleeves. "Oh, yeah! If other people drink it, that'll add a variable that I can use to map the formula's effectiveness by gauging their reactions..."

Phoenix sighed and shook his head. Leave it to Ema to turn a party into an experiment...

Someone tapped him on the shoulder, making him jump. Phoenix turned and saw Franziska von Karma standing next to him, whip in hand.

"Vhat in Himmel is that... stuff?" she asked, eyeing the glasses of blue liquid with disdain. "It looks like Luminol..."

Phoenix picked up a glass and held it out to her. "It's Science," he said. "Care to try some? It tastes like strawberries..."

Franziska folded her arms. "Nein, danke." She glanced at him. "So, Phoenix Wright, are you enjoying our perfect prosecutor's pizza party?"

Phoenix laughed. "Hey, that's pretty good! 'Perfect prosecutor's pizza party'... You got it up to four!"

Franziska raised an eyebrow. "Four? Vhat do you mean?"

Phoenix shook his head. "Never mind." He turned back towards the desk. "Hey, can I get another round over here?"

Ema grinned. "One Science, coming right up!" She passed him a glass, and Phoenix took his time sipping it. It really was pretty good...

Franziska scowled. "Please tell me that isn't alcohol..."

Phoenix sighed. "It's not alcohol, it's Science."

Franziska tugged her whip taut. "You've said as much, but vhat is it?!"

Phoenix shrugged. "It glows..."

Franziska grimaced. "Perhaps I really don't vant to know..." She glanced at him. "It must be difficult for you, I suppose... to be suddenly thrust into a whole new unfamiliar world like this." She narrowed her eyes. "If you need anything, I guess you can... call me."

Phoenix was stunned. "Franziska... that was really... nice." He smirked. "Does this mean you have a heart, after all? Next you'll be skipping through fields of flowers and carrying baskets of puppies..."

Franziska whipped him across the face. "Foolish fool," she growled. "Vhy must you always say the most foolish things?!" She wagged her finger at him and smirked. "If I vas to carry around a basket full of baby animals, they vould be tigers."

Phoenix sighed. "Of course, how... foolish of me." He grinned. "Hey, you didn't deny the skipping through flowers part..."

Franziska whipped him again. "If I ever feel the urge to do so, I vill let you know," she huffed, and headed towards the front of the office, where it looked like Kay and Klavier were trying to see how many chess pieces they could balance on the third kid's obnoxious hair. From the looks of things, they were up to seven.

Suddenly, the office door swung open with a bang, instantly filling the room with yellow light. Phoenix had to blink a couple of times before his eyes could adjust; once they did, he saw a tall wolfish-looking man with spiky brownish hair and a fur-rimmed jacket framed in the doorway.

The man, quite literally, growled. "Prosecutor!" he shouted. "I have something to discuss with you!"

Pretty much everyone in the room turned and stared at him. Wolf-man growled again. "Not you, the one with the ruffles," he clarified.

Phoenix gulped. Uh oh... once again, I have never seen this person before in my life.

Kay might have guessed his problem, because she suddenly stepped forward. "Interpol Agent Lang? What do you want?" She didn't sound extremely pleased.

Lang scanned the room and scowled. "What is this? A party?" He huffed. "I spend my whole week working hard, and here you all are, hardly working." He turned to Kay; apparently, he couldn't see Phoenix where he stood in the back. "I've got business with Mr. Edgeworth," he stated blandly. "Is he here?"

Kay nodded. "He's in the back."

Lang nodded and started making his way towards the Science table. Phoenix grabbed another shot glass and gulped it down. For some reason, the Interpol agent made him slightly nervous. Too many frightening people in this room...

Lang pushed past Payne and stood to face Phoenix, smirking. "Well, well, well... I never really pegged you as the partying type, Prosecutor..."

Phoenix sighed. "Believe me, I have no idea how this happened." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the rest of the crowd starting to get back to whatever they were doing before the interruption. He thought he saw Franziska eyeing him from a few feet away.

Lang shrugged. "Hey, I don't really care about what you do in your spare time." He held up a thin manilla file. "I'm here about the smuggling ring."

Phoenix blinked. "What smuggling ring?"

Lang stared at him, mouth parted slightly. It was a classic 'are-you-freaking-retarded?!' stare.

Phoenix coughed. "Ha ha, just kidding," he said, grinning. "Of course, it's that smuggling ring..." Oh God what have I done?

Lang shook his head. "Lang Zi says: 'A lone wolf should not stray into unfamiliar territory.'"

Phoenix stared at him. "...What?"

"Don't try to be funny," Lang said bluntly. He hefted the file. "Even though we finally caught Alba, some of the other members of the ring have been causing trouble. After months of non-stop investigation, Interpol managed to track two of these stragglers down."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. He had absolutely no idea what the agent was talking about. "Okay, so what does this have to do with me?"

Lang narrowed his eyes. "Well, we tracked the two to this area, but we only know the identity of one." He folded his arms. "His name is Kyle D'angelo."

Phoenix's eyes widened slightly as he realized what that meant. "...Oh."

Lang growled. "Yeah."

Author's Note: Perfect Prosecutor's Pizza Party! I like alliteration! Although it would be more fun to call it a German Sparkle Party...

I am officially a college student for the first time now, so my update schedule will probably be a little less frequent, at least until band camp is over. 12-hour marching rehearsals make it kinda hard to write fan fiction.

Behold, the dreaded Tres Bien food! Probably more suspect than Ema's Science.

Agent Lang cameo. Because you all knew it needed to happen eventually. Also, another plot twist! By the end of this thing even I might not know what's going on.