August 17, 2:34 PM

Wright Anything Agency

Trucy's Room

*gasp*

"Wow, how did you do that?"

"Magic, of course!"

The two teenagers sat opposite from one another on Trucy's bed. With Apollo's unfortunate leave from the agency, a lot more space was available. Because Phoenix owned it, he decided to move in instead of paying for his apartment's rent. There were two rooms available-Mia, the agency's previous owner, had bought the place as a living space, but converted it into a law office.

Maya and Pearl had come over for a visit, which happened a lot, considering that Fey Manor was only 30 minutes away.

After 10 minutes of magic or so, Trucy had exhausted all her magic tricks. "Well, what's something else we can do?" Pearl questioned.

"Hmm… Oh! I know! We can prank call all of Daddy's friends!" Trucy said, beaming.

"Are you sure? It might not work…"

Pearl had never been one to do things without an adult's consent. She had been raised as a very polite child, and even though she was 18, it still felt wrong.

"It'll be fun! Trust me."

"Alright…"

The two opened the door and began to walk down the hall to the entrance, where Phoenix's phone lay on his desk. Pearl started to creep toward it, but Trucy stopped her. "Watch this," she instructed.

*BANG*

The pebble struck the hard tile, grabbing Phoenix's attention. He got up from his desk to investigate. Quickly, Pearl ran and grabbed the phone. Giggling, the girls ran back into the hall and into the bedroom. Distant voices could be heard, like "Maya, did you throw a rock to scare me?" and "Whaaat? Of course not. It's probably the gods telling you to stop doing paperwork and watch Magnesium Samurai with me."

"Who to call?' Trucy said, attempting to get Pearl's opinion.

"How about…. Detective Gumshoe?"

"Why not? How should we prank him, though?"

Pearl already had an idea in mind. "With embarrassment," the girl replied. Just a few weeks ago, Luke Triton had asked her out, and he was almost unbelievably embarrassed, stuttering and tripping over his words. He couldn't retain his gentleman figure, and it would have been amusing, if Pearl hadn't been nervous herself. "Is there any girl on Mr. Nick's contact list that we can use for it?"

Trucy realized how Pearl planned to embarrass the detective. "Yeah! Maggey Byrde! Oh man, this is perfect!" the magician squealed. "We can do a 3-way call. I saw it in Mean Girls!" Once again, the spirit medium in training was having some doubts. We're doing something that was in a movie called Mean Girls? That doesn't sound like something Master Maya would approve of… Oh, Pearl, you're 18 now! Get a grip! I can't back down now… Pearl swallowed, a feeling of hesitation inside her.

"Ok, I guess so."

"Great! Let's do it!" The conjurer typed in Gumshoe's number, and waited.

'Hello?'

"Uh, hello. It's Da-I mean, Phoenix." Pearl could barely stifle her giggles. Trucy had lowered her voice to sound like her father. It wasn't very convincing in the room, but considering that Gumshoe could barely afford instant noodles, his phone speakers probably were low quality.

'Oh, hello, Mr. Wright. What can I do for you?'

"I just wanted to talk with you, that's all."

'You want to talk with me? About work?'

"No, no, no… not work. Just life."

There was a silence on the other end. 'Hey, pal, is something going on? You never call me unless you want me to give you information about the prosecution's tactics.'

Trucy shot Pearl a fearful look. They were treading on thin ice, that was for sure. "Get to the point!" Pearl whispered.

"Well, I just wanted to see what you are doing with Maggey. Are you together now, or-"

'No, not yet. I was going to, after the Tres Bien case, but I couldn't build up the courage.'

Trucy flashed Pearl a big smile. "Information!" she whispered. "Yeah, the Tres Bien case really set you guys up. How come you never got together?" Of course, Trucy had no idea what the Tres Bien case was, so she bluffed in hoped of dragging out the conversation. "Quick! Dial Maggey's number for his response!" Pearl advised. Trucy tapped her father's phone 7 times and Maggey was in the conversation.

'I don't know, pal. I always liked Maggey, but I always had a fear of commitment, but I wish I did now because she hasn't talked to me in a while. I hope she does soon. Maybe then I'll say something… those dark brown eyes…

Trucy checked the conversation. Maggey picked up! Pearl, who was squishing herself next to Trucy to see what was going on, also noticed. Both girls nearly squealed in delight and listened to Gumshoe fantasize about Maggey, knowing the latter was hearing every word.

'Uh… is that you, sir? Dick Gumshoe?'

Silence on the other end.

'M-Maggey? Uhhh, I mean, umm, (crap, crap, crap!) h-how long have you been here for?'

'30 seconds.'

An audible thump could be heard, followed by some shattering glass.

'Damn it, WRIGHT!'

'Sir, don't be embarrassed, I've been waiting for this day!'

The pair of girls left them to do whatever happens when people confess over the phone. They both were laughing so hard that Phoenix came and knocked on their door to see if they were okay.

"Yeah, we're fine, Dad!" snickered the magician.

"Oh, okay. By the way, have you seen my phone?"

Both magician and spirit medium stiffened. "N-No," spat Trucy, trying to sound calm.

Luckily, Phoenix seemed to accept this answer and walked away. Trucy let out a sigh of relief. "That was close… but we did it! And look, we even got Gumshoe and Maggey together! Pearl pondered this. Gradually, her feeling of rebellion faded away and she felt much better.

"We did, didn't we?" Pearl thought out loud.

Trucy was beaming. "Of course we did, we're the… the… Ace Shippers!"

"It's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Pearl said, clearly much happier than she was at the start of this prank.

"It does. Probably because it's our future!"

August 30th, 8:04 PM

Wright Anything Agency

Living Room

Maya sat on the couch, looking at Phoenix intently while he attempted to diminish the huge stack of paperwork on his desk. If there was one thing Phoenix hated about being a lawyer, it was the insane amount of paperwork that he had to complete. Once he was almost done, the mailman would drop by, and another couple hours of his time was lost.

"Come ON, Nick! You haven't watched the Samurai series with me in ages!"

There's a reason for that, thought Phoenix. He really didn't know why he was doing paperwork while Maya was over. It just seemed so natural - back in the old days, he'd sit there while Maya complained about the water pressure in the shower being too weak, or the TV not being big enough, or wanting a burger, or the office being too hot, or the office being too cold, or the fact that he never spent enough time with her, and that his "responsibilities as a member of society" were just another piece of evidence that proved he was an old man. Phoenix had heard it all.

But… he looked at the mound of paper before him. He clearly was sick of it. And besides, he really hadn't seen the Samurai series in a long time with Maya.

"Alright," he sighed, getting a squeal of excitement from the spirit medium. "But don't expect me to- "

"When will the popcorn be ready, Nick?"

I swear, this girl will be the death of me.

August 30th, 11:04 PM

Wright Anything Agency

Living Room

"Sayo!" The Magnesium Samurai shouted to the girl in the steel cage. "I'll save you!"

"A bit cliché, wouldn't you agree, Maya?"

The girl, who had been slumped against the couch after she ate 3 bags of microwave popcorn to fill her stomachs, immediately sat up straight. "No way! The Magnesium Samurai is a hero!"

"Not so fast, Samurai! Sayo is mine!"

If this wasn't cliché before, it definitely was now. A battle ensues, and the Samurai defeats the Evil Magistrate, claiming Sayo and moving in for the kiss as a flock of birds flies in front of them, hiding the romance. "Maya, didn't this same scene happen in the Steel Samurai? And the Nickel Samurai? And, oh my god, wasn't this in the Plumed Punisher too?" Phoenix pointed out.

"Nick, really? Look closely. Does that hero look like he's made of steel? No! He's made of magnesium!"

Phoenix just sighed. At least the movie is going to end soon.

August 31st, 7:29 AM

Wright Anything Agency

Living Room

"Look at Mr. Nick and Master Maya…. It's adorable!"

"Shh… Daddy's a light sleeper. You'll wake him up!"

Phoenix groggily opened his eyes, feeling an immense weight on him. Additionally, there was hair in his eyes and mouth. Immediately he took his hand and swept it away, only to be met with the sight of Maya laying on top of him, resting in the crook of his shoulder. He shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh, Dad? Need some help?"

Phoenix instantly swiveled his head around to see his daughter and her best friend.

"Agh! Uh, yeah, I could use a bit of assistance right now." Phoenix squeezed out. Maya may look like those burgers never add to her weight, but they did, and Phoenix was sure of that.

Trucy and Pearl lifted Maya off of him, allowing him to slip off the couch. It seemed Trucy and Pearl weren't exactly the gentlest movers, however, and Maya's eyes opened, at which point the two girls just set her down on the ground.

"W-What's going on?" Maya mumbled.

With years of bluffing practice, the legendary attorney was quick to respond. "You fell off the couch, and ended up sleeping on the ground," he lied. The village master fell for it, of course, but had to leave soon after that, as the Master had duties to attend to.

Which was great for two friends, who had two new clients on their list that needed some matchmaking.

I think I'm going to make a final paragraph to respond to reviews. Of course, I uploaded the last chapter this morning, so… I don't know, I was just super motivated. Sorry for copying your system, Pudz! (P.S. I really divided this story up with the horizontal lines, didn't I)

Brock's Geodude

Oops, I'll correct that. I just assumed an adolescent was a younger kid. I was just trying to not use 'Pearl' or 'the spirit medium' over and over. And I'm glad you like it! There's so much I can do with these two shippers, including shipping my OTP's :]

thepudz

You have no idea how great it is to get some good feedback. I'm extremely happy that you like the way I captured their personalities, as it's one of the more difficult parts for me. Also, I was really thinking about how to space my writing. My ELA teacher told me that I should start a new paragraph when someone else is speaking (I know, I was listening in ELA, remind me never to do that again), but when I tried it, I thought it was too spacey. I can understand what you mean though- so I modeled this one after that advice. I'll get used to it! Hearing that such a great author like you likes my work is really motivating! I think that's why I got this one done so quick.