DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the installments of Ace Attorney or any of the characters.

A/N: This idea was suggested by JordanPhoenix. Thanks again for another awesome prompt! I hope you enjoy it! *Virtual hugs, cookies AND balloons!*

ACE ATTORNEY SCRAPBOOK
Chapter 31: Knight in Shining Armor

Case Tag: 3-5 (Bridge to the Turnabout)

Quote: User Suggested Prompt!

Pearls:

So it's true! Mr. Nick really is Mystic Maya's knight in shining armor!
He went through with the Special Course, all the way to the end!
Actually, I heard there's a legendary, extra-special Ultra Course here, too.
I think I'll surprise the two of them by making them a secret reservation…

March 5, 2019
Hazakura Temple

Every time the alarm clock went off, Phoenix Wright cried a little on the inside. Every day, for the past week, he had been forced to get up before the sun was even on the horizon; it was dark and cold on the snowy mountain top and those conditions really didn't put him in a 'get up and go' kind of mood. Why did he agree to do this again? He wasn't even a spirit medium, so there really was no point in him being here…

"C'mon, Nick! Let's go!"

Oh, right, Maya. That's why he was doing this.

Nick groaned and buried his face further into his pillow. Maya, hands on her hips and a pouty frown on her face, yanked the blankets off of him. Nick shivered as the freezing mountain air whooshed into the room.

"Let's go, Nick! We can't be late! Sister Bikini is expecting us for the first lesson of the day in, like, ten minutes!"

If he made it through this Special Training Course, it would certainly be a miracle. Nick heard Maya run out of the room to head down to meet with Sister Bikini to get today's lesson plans. He forced himself up off his spot on the floor and crawled over to the box where his clothes were being stored during the course. After a quick trip to the bathroom to spike-i-fy his hair, Nick hurried down to join Maya.

"Oh, good," he said, as he took a seat at the table in the Main Hall. "Hot tea."

"Ho, ho, ho!" the jolly laugh of Bikini echoed through the room as she entered the Main Hall carrying a tray with a tea pot and matching cups. "No hot tea for you today!"

Nick could feel the tears prickling his eyes.

"Say what?"

Bikini set the tray down on the table.

"Oh, no," she said. "Today is the day when you complete the Special Spirit Challenge part of the Special Training Course!"

Maya was absolutely ecstatic. She pumped her fists in the air.

"You mean, we're finally ready, Sister Bikini?"

"Yes-siree!"

"Um, what exactly is this 'Special Spirit Challenge,'" Nick asked. "And why can't I have hot tea? It's even colder today than it was yesterday!"

"Well, we need to adjust your body temperature gradually before you complete the Special Spirit Challenge otherwise the block of ice and freezing spirit water might shock your body enough to make you join the spirits!"

Nick's eyes widened as Bikini gave a hearty chuckle.

"Join...the spirits?" he gulped.

"Didn't you read the pamphlet, Nick?" Maya asked, as she poured herself a cup of cold tea. "The Special Spirit Challenge is what we've been working up to this whole week!"

"S-s-sorry," Nick's teeth were chattering. "I guess my brain's frozen. What is the Special Spirit Challenge?"

"Today," Bikini began. "Is the where the true test to your spiritual powers will take place! You are both going to sit on a block of spirit ice in the Inner Temple to increase your spiritual powers while chanting a spell..."

That doesn't sound so bad, so far, Nick mused.

"...that you will have to say 30,000 times!"

Never mind.

"What about the spirit water?" Maya asked, clapping her hands together.

"Good memory, Mystic Maya!" Bikini said. "While chanting the spell 30,000 times on the block of spirit ice, you will also be showered in freezing cold spirit water!"

"Doesn't that sound fun, Nick?" Maya smiled at him.

"I want to cry," Nick said. "But I think my eyes are frozen."

"C'mon, Nick, it'll be fun!"

He wasn't sure how much trust he could put in the judgment of someone who considered herself an expert at getting kidnapped, captured and arrested because she'd done it so many times. Nick sighed and then drank his cold tea. Spirit ice, here we come...