Prompt: "Tell me something only the real [Character X] would know."
Ms. Byrde was completely confident in her new attorney. The new attorney was completely confident that he was the old attorney. The Judge and Prosecutor Payne exchanged confused glances a lot at first, but then he started winning and Mr. Payne also suddenly started acting very confident in this person being the one and only Phoenix Wright. This left only the Judge, confused all by himself. Which... had been known to happen in court sometimes, yes, but it was still a lonely feeling! And also, not really the same as usual. Normally he was confused about who was guilty. Now it was clear that Ms. Byrde was the culprit, but the identity of her lawyer was the matter in question.
He just looked - oranger. Tackier, also. And it seemed he'd been injured since they'd last seen one another, judging by the giant scar crossing his eye. His accent had changed too, and was his voice deeper or just loud? Hard to tell. He was talking a lot but so far he hadn't objected once. And he didn't even have any penalties. Not that he hadn't done things deserving of penalties, but he was being very loud and he was losing the case badly anyway, so the Judge didn't feel the need to bother him for something as minor as constantly interrupting everyone and not respecting the usual rules of the courtroom.
It was probably fine! He had his badge on and everything. Still... the Judge felt like it was probably his duty to say something before the trial ended.
"Um, Mr. Wright," he said very bravely, peering down at the no-longer-blue-suited lawyer. "A-are you, um, Mr. Wright?"
Wright looked up at him and roared at the top of his lungs.
"O-o-o-okay, sounds like you!" the Judge agreed. His voice might be a little muffled from under the desk, but at least Mr. Wright stopped roaring a moment later, so it was fine! Everything was completely fine and ordinary! He started to stand up.
"Who da hell da youse tink I am?! Of course I'm Phoenix Wright!" Phoenix Wright yelled.
The Judge ducked back down. Just - just because he'd dropped his pen. He couldn't adjudicate the trial without his pen. Quite a shame it was so small and so dark down here that it would take him some time to find it.
"Yes, of course," he said again, while he was looking, "o-o-obviously that's who you are."
Several minutes later, once the courtroom had grown quiet again, the Judge remembered he didn't even have a pen at his desk. He stood up and the trial resumed.
-xxx-
So as it turned out, that man had in fact been faking it. With a cardboard badge, no less! It was shameful that the bailiff's had allowed themselves to be fooled so easily, but then again the Judge understood. Furio Tigre had done an excellent job impersonating Wright, after all. The man must be a master of disguise. Why, the Judge himself been the only one to express any doubt, and even then it had been fleeting.
The Judge resolved to be more wary of anyone seeming odd in the future.
-xxx-
Nearly ten years later, it was revealed that Detective Fulbright had been a masked assassin for at least several years. He, too, had taken on Wright's appearance, if only for a short while before cycling through a truly disturbing number of other people. The Judge, of course, kept his composure admirably in the moment. Unofficial trial or not, it was his responsibility to serve as an example!
That said, he did have nightmares about the whole scene later. His grandchild very kindly asked him if he was okay when next they saw one another, which made him feel much better. Also the fact that the Phantom, much like Furio Tigre ten years before, had been thrown into jail.
The Judge didn't mind it when people lied. He saw that all the time in his job. It was more... taking over someone else's identity that bothered him. He had once watched almost half of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and two years ago his child had informed him that he wasn't simply forgetting a vacation to the Caymans, but someone had stolen his credit card and they'd gone on the trip pretending to be him. While relieving that he hadn't forgotten an entire two-week adventure, it was still rather a harrowing experience.
No, the Judge decided, he really couldn't allow this to stand any longer. If he saw anyone acting even slightly different from usual, he wouldn't hesitate to confront them! No matter how subtle the change, surely he'd be able to spot it.
-xxx-
The Judge was quite proud of himself for finally pushing through the holiday. There had certainly been a lot of opposition, and Casual Friday had completely fallen through, but one was better than none after all. He really wasn't sure why anyone had minded. It was such a harmless little thing, and everyone else was making changes to the legal system anyway, so why shouldn't he?
Besides, his great-grandchild's favorite holiday was Halloween, and they were supposed to be attending his trial on a class field trip this Halloween. So, at the end of the day on October 30th, the Judge made sure to remind everyone scheduled for trial tomorrow to wear their costumes. It wouldn't get in the way of justice at all and it would be such fun! Just to be sure they got the message, he also had his secretary email everyone that costumes were mandatory.
He came dressed as a swashbuckling pirate. In addition to pirate clothes, he also wore an eyepatch, put a fake parrot on his shoulder, and even attached his gavel to a fake sword. The Judge thought he looked quite dashing, but he was especially interested to see what the rest of the court had come dressed as.
It seemed the defendant had chosen to dress as a prisoner. Fair enough, if a bit boring. The bailiffs all had coordinated stormtrooper costumes, which was an impressive effort! The Judge made sure to give them all a high-five on the way in. His first trial of the morning had Prosecutor Blackquill against Ms. Cykes and Ms. Wright. The Judge was delighted to see them all in costume: Cykes was dressed as Daredevil, Trucy Wright showed up covered in chains and then promptly freed herself and declared she'd come as Houdini, and Blackquill was sporting full armor and two swords instead of his usual one. Even his bird was dressed up like a samurai. When the Judge failed to figure out who he was, he seemed quite disappointed.
"'Perceive that which cannot be seen with the eye,'" he scolded. "I am Miyamoto Musashi, of course."
The Judge didn't know who that was, but the trial was quite fun nonetheless. He went off to his afternoon trial - between Phoenix Wright and Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth - full of cheer.
And stopped dead upon stepping into the room.
Oh, most of them were just fine. Edgeworth was dressed as the Steel Samurai (it seemed like that whole office were following a theme, which was lovely), the defendant was dressed as a prisoner just like the first had been, Ms. Fey was here and dressed in yellow, with a mask, red cloak, and dagger - a costume the Judge recognized as the Plumed Punisher from his great-grandchild's favorite new show. All of that was fine. Great, even. What was not fine was the impostor standing in the place of Phoenix Wright.
"Bailiffs!" the Judge shouted, pointing at the escapee. "Arrest that man!"
Four stormtroopers moved forward hesitantly. Furio Tigre put his hands up in the air.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said nervously. "What'd I do? The trial hasn't even started yet!"
The Judge took his hands off his ears (he had been prepared for a roar) and pointed his gavel-sword at Tigre.
"Don't try to fool me this time," he said. "I know your tricks, Mr. Tigre."
(The sword was trembling violently, but the Judge couldn't hesitate. He had to conquer his fears, for the sake of justice! Honor! His great-grandchild in the audience!)
"...What." The fake Wright said. Beside him, Ms. Fey burst out laughing. "I - c'mon, Your Honor, this is just a costume. You told us we had to dress up today."
"A perfect excuse," the Judge agreed. The stormtrooper bailiffs arrived at his desk and tried to handcuff him. For a moment, Tigre resisted, and the Judge became very nervous, rushing to the safety of his own desk. "Y-y-you are clever as always, Mr. Tigre!"
Tigre sighed heavily. On the other side of the room, the Steel Samurai's face was in its hands.
"OBJECTION! He was a total id- look, I promise I'm Phoenix Wright," Furio Tigre said. The Judge couldn't see him from under the desk, but after that first word he didn't sound murderous. Mostly just tired. "Look, okay, I'm wearing makeup."
The Judge peeked up above his desk. Arms now cuffed behind his back, Tigre had rubbed his cheek on his shoulder. Sure enough, a smear of orange had come off, revealing a more natural skin tone beneath.
"Well, there isn't much opportunity to get a spray tan in prison, makes sense he'd be pale by now," the defendant pointed out. Everyone turned to look at her, Tigre with a betrayed expression. "What? I wanna be sure I'm getting who I paid for!"
"You haven't even paid me yet," Tigre grumbled dangerously.
"That is an excellent point," the Judge agreed. "Miss Leade, you should be a lawyer!"
"Thanks," she said. "Maybe once I'm not falsely imprisoned for murder."
"Your Honor," Edgeworth said, taking his face out of his hands, "Furio Tigre received the death sentence several years ago. I can promise you, that is Phoenix Wright. I'm sure Ms. Fey will testify to the same... once she stops laughing."
Maya took deep breaths, composing herself: opened her mouth to speak, let out a giant snort, and started cackling once more. Between breaths, she gasped out, "He's... Xin... Eohp!"
"I won't believe that so easily again!" the Judge declared. He rose to his feet again and squinted at Furio Tigre. After a moment he took off his eyepatch to squint better. "Do you have any proof you are who you say you are? Tell me something only the real Phoenix Wright would know."
"Sure, but," Tigre hesitated. "Would you accept something that these two can verify, or does it have to be something you also know? Because we don't really know each other that well, Your Honor, so it's kind of hard to think of -"
"Of course it has to be something I'd know," the Judge scoffed. "We've known one another for decades, it can't be that difficult."
"Oh my god, fine... I ran into you at the pool once and you invited me to go swimming with you," Furio Tigre said, after a thoughtful pause. The Judge tried to recall when that had been - oh yes, the time he'd tried to implement weightlifting penalties. Another excellent reform that had never caught on for some reason. "You talked about your, um, 'Kiss Me, I'm the Judge' apron? I actually kind of dread- I mean, I thought you'd wear that today."
"Of course not, that's casual cooking wear not a costume," the Judge said. Still, he couldn't think of any reason Furio Tigre should have known about that encounter. He looked closely at the possible impostor. "...And that scar's makeup, too?"
Wright(?) sighed and rubbed the other side of his head on his opposite shoulder. Some more orange came off, along with part of the scar.
"Hmmmmmmm," the Judge said.
"Your Honor, please," Edgeworth said. "It's really Phoenix Wright. Let's get this trial back on track."
The stormtroopers looked up at him, hands hovering near the cuffs Wright still wore.
"...First check that he's wearing a real badge," the Judge decided. "It's really not cardboard, right?"
"No, Your Honor," a bailiff reported. The Judge let out a great sigh of relief, falling back into his chair and gesturing for them to free Wright.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, the Judge happened to glance up to the audience and caught sight of his great-grandchild watching him. He straightened, beaming proudly - his vigilance had paid off, and he'd clearly shown his great-grandchild what a sagacious judge he was. And before the trial even got started!
"Really, though, that's an excellent costume, Mr. Wright," he said. "Very convincing."
"It really wasn't," Wright mumbled with an odd tone that the Judge put down to modesty.
The trial went excellently after that, at least up until it was revealed that the true murderer had snuck into the trial by wearing a stormtrooper costume to pose as a bailiff, and he nearly killed the star witness. It all turned out fine in the end regardless, but the Judge had a sinking feeling about the future of Halloween Costume Day.
Then again, if it prevented another scare like Wright had given him, the loss might just be worth it!
The encounter the Judge and Phoenix had at the pool is a reference to Look At That Body, chapter 24 in this collection.
This was a really quick write and honestly I put the most effort into looking up various famous samurai to confirm I had the right one for Simon, in his very brief appearance. Still, I had fun.