Rei Ryghts: Ace Attorney
The High School Turnabout
By Derald Snyder
Investigation, Day 4 (Part 1)
Court Record:
-Ghost Article
-Byleth's Sword
-Byleth's Planner
-Crime Scene Diagram
-Combat Knife
-Security Footage
-Ryoko's Mother's Affidavit
-Ryoko's Knife
-Kyoko Tachibana's Glasses
-Byleth's Testimony
February 17, 12:03 PM
District Court
Defendant Lobby No. 1
"Good work so far, Ryghts-san," Koizumi said with a satisfied smile. "Only a little bit more to go now... Nagato-san, I hope you understand why we requested this."
"Y-yes," Yuki nodded. "I hope my parents understand as well..." She looked over as said parents walked up.
"Well, good work," Yuki's father said with a nod. "At least now everyone understands our daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time... we'll try not to blab that to everyone in earshot, though."
"Just, please be careful, Koizumi-san," Yuki's mother pleaded. "If these slithering snakes are willing to stab a professor, who knows what they'll do to you..."
"Trust me, I know what I'm getting myself into," Koizumi assured her. "And I'll be sure to have backup at the ready... ah, John-kun, good timing," he said as Kyon entered.
"Yeah, so you're heading back to Kyouoen School, right?" Kyon said. "How about I come with you? That way if we meet Kuyou, she won't get too suspicious right away..."
"Yes, just what I was thinking," Koizumi nodded.
"You d-don't want me t-to come, then?" Rei asked.
"No, because that would give away the game," the student agent pointed out. "Don't worry, we should be fine. For now, how about you head back to your office and take a break? The Guild should be able to handle the investigation from here on out."
"W-well, c-could you make sure th-this gets back t-to its p-proper owner?"
*Ryoko's Knife handed over to Koizumi.*
"Ah, certainly, I'll give it back to Asakura's mother when we're done." Koizumi nodded. "Come on, John-kun."
"Coming..." Kyon said as he followed Koizumi out of the room.
Looking over her evidence, Rei thought, (I won't need this anymore either...)
*Ryoko's Mother's Affidavit thrown in the trash.*
"We should be going, too," Yuki's mother spoke up. "Um, Ryghts-san, are you going to charge extra for all that's happened?"
Rei just shook her head in response. "You c-couldn't have known th-things were g-going t-to spiral out of hand like this... A-and neither d-did I. So I'll j-just charge my usual fee..."
"That's a fair point," Yuki's father nodded. "Even I couldn't have fathomed all this coming to pass, and I'm much smarter than the average NPC. But yes, we'll be on our way now. Come along, Yuki."
"See you tomorrow," Yuki gave a quick wave as she left with her parents.
February 17
District Court
Main Entrance- Outside
(Well, back to the office, then...) Rei sighed as she descended the steps. (I just hope those who slither in the dark don't try to pull a fast one or something...) Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw an NPC approaching her... "Oh! Um, Detective Brightman, was it? D-did you need something...?"
In response, the shadow-man suddenly pulled his gun and fired! And everything went color-inverted...
(Huh?!) Rei thought, seeing the bullet an inch away from her chest, suspended in midair...
"For a CPU and a lawyer, you really need to work on your instincts! Honestly! Couldn't you tell something's been shady about this guy from the beginning? Why do you think that student agent chased him off the case?!"
(Sothis?!) the bluenette realized, though she was unable to move or speak at the moment.
"You should count yourself very fortunate that I decided to stick with you instead of going with Byleth! So, you're probably wondering what the heck is going on here... simply put, I stopped time at the moment before you died. Normally I can only do this with Byleth, but I was able to 'borrow' some of your Share Energy for the same effect!"
(But what good does that do me now?! There's no way I can dodge in time at this point!) Rei thought desperately.
As if to answer her question, Sothis said, "Now, I'm going to turn the back the hands of time. But I can only go back a few seconds, so you better make them count! Here, I'll make it easy for you: turning back time, in three, two, one!" And with that, Rei saw the bullet retreat into the NPC's gun, which he seemed to put back into it's holster... then the inverted colors returned to normal.
Once again, the gun fired... but this time, Rei managed to roll to the right and avoid the deadly projectile, feeling it whizz through her hair! "What?!" Brightman cried in shock.
Tumbling down a few steps, Rei managed to stop herself, crying "Access!" A bright light engulfed her as she transformed, pinning the NPC to the nearest pillar in an instant! "Alright, maggot, who do you think you... are..." Her enraged expression shifted to one of confusion as the detective's outline suddenly became fuzzy and distorted. "What the- an illusion?!"
"A solid-light hologram, actually," 'Brightman' spoke, though his voice was distorted, going higher in pitch. "I'm impressed at your instincts, Rei Ryghts... I thought I had you dead to rights, no pun intended."
"Who are you?!" Rei growled, "and what have you done with Detective Brightman?!"
"I'm afraid the good detective is no longer with us," the voice replied. "But if you want to know who I am, you'll have to find me yourself..." With that, the hologram faded away completely, leaving only a familiar sword laying on the steps.
(What the-?! Is that Byleth's sword?! But why did he have it...?) Rei realized.
*Byleth's Sword picked up.*
"Rei Ryghts! Why... why did you kill that detective?!" another NPC cried.
"I didn't kill him, he was an illusion!" Chaos Heart growled. "Listen, worm, make yourself useful and go tell security to lock down the courthouse! There's a dangerous terrorist in the area!"
"Y-y-yes ma'am!" the NPC cried, fleeing into the courtroom out of fright.
(Good, that'll help make sure innocents don't get caught in the crossfire... Now then.) Closing her eyes, Rei concentrated... feeling a dark aura a fair distance away. "Aha! Found you, maggot!" Launching into the air, Chaos Heart flew in the direction of the darkness she sensed, soon closing in on the top of an apartment building. Landing, she looked about, seeing no one... "Alright, worm, I know you're here! Show yourself or I blast the top floor of this building to rubble!"
"No need for that," the voice from earlier responded, an old man dressed in dark-red robes fading into view, along with a few archaic-looking robots. His skin was extremely pale, his forehead was massive, framed by thin lilac-colored hair, and his eyes were yellow with black sclera, though his left had a futuristic monocle over it. "Well, since you found me, I may as well introduce myself. I am Solon, the savior of all, who shall liberate this land from you fell CPUs."
('Fell' CPUs...?) "Are you one of 'those who slither in the dark'?!" Rei growled.
"If that is how that meddlesome Guild refers to us, then yes," Solon replied. "It's a shame, really... you could have become the next incarnation of the Deity of Sin had you so chosen... but instead you cast your lot in with those usurpers who dared to render the Gamindustri Graveyard unto nothingness!"
"I never asked to become a final boss!" Chaos Heart shot back. "This power was thrust on me, unwillingly, by an evil fairy! It was never my intention to join with devil-worshippers like yourselves!"
"An evil fairy, hmm? Fascinating... we should look into that after we tie up loose ends here," Solon mused, clearly uncaring that an angry goddess was standing before him.
"You should be more concerned whether you'll live to see another day!" Rei declared, marching forward... only to falter when Solon tapped his cane, falling to her knees as her HDD suddenly reverted! "Wh... what?!"
"Did you truly think I wasn't prepared for the likes of you?" the evil elder chuckled. "My robots are equipped with HDD cancelers, though it seems I had to activate all of them to revert your transformation. Clearly the tech needs tweaking before we move against the main fell CPUs... Now then, this would be the part that I demand you hand over that sword-" Rei reflexively clutched said sword tightly to her body- "-but I already know what your answer will be, so let's skip that." Raising his staff, he began chanting in an unintelligible language tendrils of black smoke appearing around Rei!
"W-what's g-going on?!" Rei looked around in abject terror.
"The Forbidden Spell of Zahras!" Solon exclaimed in reply. "I shall now send you to a dimension of complete darkness and nothingness to languish for all eternity! Losing the Sword of the Creator will be a blow, but this is better than having it fall back into that fool mercenary's hands!" He grinned in delight as the tendrils wrapped around Rei who shrieked in mortal fright! "Farewell, false fell CPU Rei Ryghts! And don't worry, your fellow so-called goddesses will join you soon enough! Oh-ho-hohohohooo!"
Date: ? Time: ?
Location: ?
It was like the one time she'd been locked in a solitary confinement cell in Lastation... total darkness. Except she couldn't smell or touch anything either... she was just floating aimlessly in a black void, forever... (How could I have been so stupid...?!)
"I can't believe you!" Another voice suddenly spoke up. "You know, getting caught off-guard by the fake detective I could excuse, but this... the fact that old man showed no fear whatsoever should have been a huge red flag to you!"
"Sothis?!" Rei gasped. "Wh-what are y-you d-doing here?!"
"Uh, hello, my soul is bound to that sword, remember?!" Sothis sighed exasperatedly. "If it gets chucked into another dimension, I go with it! But seriously, does transforming cut your intelligence in half or something?! You should have known better! or at least, you should have followed through on your threat to blast the rooftop to rubble!"
"I'm sorrrrry! I'm so, so, so very sooorrryyy!" Rei wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I-it's my f-fault we're t-trapped forever...!" She then dissolved into body-wracking sobs.
"...okay, maybe I was a little harsh there," Sothis' tone softened a little. "Byleth's got thicker skin than you do, so he can usually handle my berating better... ugh, if it weren't for a CPU's power being so dependent on people's faith! Then maybe you could get us out of here!"
"Huh...?" Rei grunted, still sniffling a bit. "What... d-do you mean...?"
"I mean if you could transform, you could use that sword in conjunction with your Shares to cut us out!" Sothis elaborated. "But in a dimension with nothing, there's no people, which means no Share Energy!"
"Is... that all we need?" Rei pondered. "Hold on a moment..." Searching her coat pockets, her hand eventually closed around something... "Oh thank goodness, it's still here!" Pulling it out, the area was suddenly illuminated a bit from the object's glow!
"What the...?!" Sothis gasped. "Is that... Sharicite?! Since when did you have that?!"
"Lady Blanc g-gave it t-to me after I helped Lady Noire stop a vampire in Lastation," Rei elaborated. "She made it c-clear th-that I had earned her t-trust enough for her t-to g-give me th-this, and t-to only use it as a l-last resort..."
"Well, I'd say this is the perfect time then! What are you waiting for?! Pull yourself together and let's do this!" Sothis demanded.
"Right..." Taking a deep breath, Rei calmed herself before focusing all her attention on the Sharicite in her hands. "Here we go... Access!"
February 17, 12:59 PM
Apartment Rooftop, Lowee City
Solon and his robots were just turning to depart the area, when a sound caused the old man to look back! "What...?!" he gasped upon seeing a slice in reality itself tear open, his heart quickening as a familiar horned female form emerged from the rip. Chaos Heart stood before him once more, Sword of the Creator in hand, a murderous glare in her danger-symbol eyes. "So... the power of the final boss fell CPU cuts even through the darkness itself..." His body quaked involuntarily as a chill slid down his spine...
"And guess what I'm cutting through next, maggot!" said final boss growled, her long hair blown upward by her battle aura. Solon tapped his cane, the robots immediately charging forward... But Chaos Heart easily sliced through one, then blasted another apart with red energy! "No more games! YOU DIE!" In an instant, she was standing behind Solon, holding out the sword to her side, as the evil elder suddenly split in half at the waist, collapsing to the floor!
"Agh... Deity of Sin..." Solon choked out as his life left him. "Forgive your... servant's weakness..." With that, his body and clothes dissolved into black smoke, leaving behind only his cane, monocle... and a cell phone.
"...Well, at least you learn from your mistakes, if nothing else," Sothis said. "(yaaaawwwn)... Ugh... I haven't felt like this since... Byleth first awakened me... Sorry, I... think I need to rest... for a little while..."
"Go ahead and take a nap, then," Rei sighed as she stood straight once more... only to turn when she heard a smashing sound, seeing a familiar axe buried in the head of one of the remaining robots! "Wha- White Heart?! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Like I could ignore you when I sensed you transforming!" the flat-chested CPU shot back, turning to the final robot... only to realize it was no longer moving. "The hell...? Did it shut down or something?"
"Without it's master to give orders, it must have went back to standby mode," Chaos Heart deduced. "Don't smash it, I'd rather the Guild take it into evidence, got it?"
*Solon's Robot has been added to the Court Record.*
"Fine," White Heart agreed, dismissing her weapon. "But you've got some explaining to do! What the hell's going on with the Guild and you, anyway?!"
"It's a long story," Rei deadpanned. "Maybe we should head back to your Basilicom first... after I call the Guild to clean up this mess." She took out her mobile device and dialed Koizumi's number...
*To be continued...*