Alternate Route :: The Chase

Pretty angsty until therapy. Sorry, guys.

This takes place in the school, right about the time Maya enters the Mnemonic Abyss.

"Alright, snooze time for the Butz," Larry said, fluffing his pillow and rolling onto the stack of items sitting on his bed. He could move them . . . actually, who was he kidding? There was nowhere to move them to. Settling in between an old Steel Samurai prop sword and the advance copy of Franzy's Whip Lash Splash, he closed his eyes and let sleep overcome him.

He was locked in a bathroom stall. Vaguely he remembered what had led up to it; he'd seen some freaky ghost girl in a box and promptly ran in the opposite direction. How that had taken him into a bathroom, well, that was a little stranger and far less clear.

But, here he was, perched on a toilet, staring at the solid walls in front of him. The door was a complete barrier, not just one of those crappy half doors that showed everything from the calf down. No, it reached from the ceiling to the floor. No room for ghosts to go over, no room for ghosts to go under. This was his sanctuary. He could stay here forever.

Well, or at least until he got hungry.

His stomach grumbled in response. He took stock of his inventory. There wasn't much: an empty lighter, a cell phone that seemed destined to do no more than send him random text messages, and half of a piece of gum. He'd have to figure out how to banish the ghosts with those things. Larry Butz, ghostbusting MacGyver.

He crept forward, his hand resting on the lock. Maybe it was safe now. If he could find the exit, he could go home. Unfortunately, the exit didn't seem to be in this bathroom, so he'd have to venture to the outside world first.

He took a deep breath, and the bathroom door opened.

Larry jerked back, pressing himself against the toilet once again. Ghosts. Why did it have to be ghosts? Why couldn't it be friendly unicorns and rainbow kittens?

The door to the stall rattled, and he heard his name.

How did the ghosts know his name!?

The door rattled again, making him shriek in terror.

"Larry!" The voice was clear, and it seemed familiar somehow . . .

"Maya?" he finally asked, the name associated with the face.

"Larry!" She sounded happy, and if she was alive, he could certainly understand why. He wanted to peek, but the fact that she couldn't get through the door seemed to be proof enough of her solid state.

"How are you here?" he asked.

"Same as you, I'm guessing. I don't know. I remember being at the Agency, and then . . . coming here. It's all a little fuzzy, if we're being honest."

He swallowed. "What's up with the ghosts?"

"I dunno." He could almost see her shrug her shoulders. "But they're not overly friendly, that's for sure." She took a deep breath. "We need to get out of here through. Come on, let's find the way out," she said, rattling the door once again.

"NO! Not yet," he begged. It was true that she was friendly, but he was still terrified. His heartbeat sped up just thinking about going out there. "I just need a few more minutes. Stay with me."

"It's not like I have anything better to do." The door moved, and he screamed. "Sorry, I leaned against it." She was laughing, and even though he knew it was at his expense, it made him feel a little better just to hear something that wasn't screaming or eerily deserted school sounds. He leaned up against the door and closed his eyes. Maya was familiar, and it was comforting. Her presence was enough to reassure him that everything might be okay. He imagined her on the other side, leaning against the door, her head bowed. She had to be as scared as he was, maybe more so after all of the craziness of the past ten years. Maya Fey was a force to be reckoned with, but she'd always had Phoenix Wright by her side. This was a threat that she seemed to be dealing with alone.

Larry took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. If Nick could do it, he could do it! He could take the place of her rock, no problem! He put his hand on the lock.

"Gotcha." The new voice came out of nowhere, but he recognized it as the Box Girl's voice. Maya gave a shrill scream, and Larry jerked back, holding his breath. He could hear the chuckling of the three students, familiar since they had chased him down the hallways, and then the sound of the bathroom door swinging open and slamming shut.

And then silence.

"M—Maya?" he asked.

No answer.

"Come on, Maya, this isn't funny," he said, even though he was more than aware that if she wasn't answering, she wasn't there. She wouldn't do that to him, and the arrival of the three students only spelled out what was happening to her. She was gone, likely running for her life, and he was alone.

He undid the lock on the stall, stepping out. His cell phone rang, and when he answered it, the voice on the other end (it sounded like the pottery boy) said, "We've found a new toy."

"MAYA!" There was no time to waste. He ran out of the bathroom. Larry Butz might be a complete idiot, a putz, a villain by coincidence, always in the wrong place at the wrong time, and, well, when something smelled, it usually was the Butz, but he was not going to leave Maya in the hands of these students. He was going to turn over a new leaf, starting today! If Nick could do it, and if Edgey could do it, he could too. It was time for Larry Butz to be the hero for the first time in his life!

He sprinted down the hall, listening hard. From his experience earlier, he knew they tended to laugh when they were inflicting hell upon others, and unless Maya had miraculously escaped, she would be no exception.

He couldn't hear anything on the floor he was on, so he went up the nearby staircase and immediately heard giggling. It was coming from a door near the stairs with cracked glass and chipped wood. He tried to open the door, but it was locked tight.

What could he do?

He peered inside. Maya was locked in battle, her hands pushing away the girl in the cardboard box. Her face was stark white and she was breathing heavily. Her eyes were glazed over, as if she were running a high fever. Things didn't look good.

Cardboard box girl fell back, but she'd somehow managed to throw the box over Maya's head. The spirit medium was hidden, save for her legs and one hand that was groping for something to orient to. The pottery man laughed loudly, slamming what looked like a ceramic vase down on the box. Maya's hand disappeared back under her prison just in time for an arrow shot by the tallest man to miss.

The box, however, was a bigger target.

Larry reacted just a second too late. "MAYA!" he shouted, and the other two turned to look at him, but the man with the bow and arrow had already released the string.

The arrow shot true, piercing through the center of the box. The cardboard box slumped, and Maya's legs went limp as she slid to the floor.

No.

No, this couldn't be happening.

Not Maya.

No, no, not Maya!

NO!

"MAYA!" he shouted again, and this time, all three reacted. They nodded to each other as they advanced towards him. He tried to step away from the door, but his body felt so heavy. His vision was blurry from the tears he could feel running down his face. They grabbed at him, and he let them.

"So, how is everyone?" Athena asked, chipper as always.

Phoenix yawned. "Great, until Larry decided he needed to sit outside my office with a plastic sword at two in the morning."

"You were leaving Maya unprotected!" Larry indeed still had the Steel Samurai prop sword beside him, though Maya kept picking it up to look at it.

"She didn't get here until two in the afternoon! What were you going to protect her from in front of my door with a fake sword twelve hours early? And is it anything that wouldn't be warded off by a lock?" Phoenix rubbed at his eyes.

"Ghosts!"

"Larry, we got rid of those ages ago," Apollo pointed out. "It's been almost a month since we got out of Dahlia's spirit world. Besides, she had to bring us into it. There was nothing about the Wright Anything Agency even in the spirit world."

"I beg to differ," Maya grumbled.

Edgeworth grimaced. "As much as I hate to agree with Larry on something, we did see some real places. That being said, he was clearly being illogical, as per normal."

"You might want to tone down that vocabulary, Edgeworth. I don't know that Larry understood that." Phoenix had his arms crossed over his chest, still glaring at his childhood friend.

"Wow. Nick's really in a bad mood now." Maya said. She stood suddenly, disappearing into the kitchen before coming back out with a bowl of popcorn.

"I'm sure we could ask Mr. Tenma to borrow the wrestling masks if you guys want to duke it out," Athena said. Her hands were balled into fists, and she was leaned forward, clearly excited for what was about to happen. Maya extended the bowl to her, and she stuffed some popcorn in her mouth. "Bets?" she asked the spirit medium.

"$25 on Larry."

"Hey!" Phoenix protested. "I bought you burgers two days ago!"

"Nick, I can beat you up. And I'm five foot one and about fifty pounds lighter."

"Well, this is productive," Apollo said to Edgeworth.

The prosecutor nodded, leaning back on the couch. "$35 on Larry."

"Whoo! It's a party now!" Athena said, pulling out her wallet.

"Guys!" Phoenix whined.

Maya's cell phone, poised on the side table, vibrated. "Sorry, that might be Pearly. I bought her a cell phone so she could text me before she went to bed. Calls don't go through so well from Kurain." She picked up her cell phone, scrolling to the new message and selecting it. As soon as the message popped up, she gasped and the phone dropped to the carpet with a soft clatter. "But . . . this was only supposed to happen to Edgeworth!"

On the screen was a picture of the three students, posed in the picture like it was a photobooth, peace signs and hearts drawn on the screen.

Phoenix picked up the phone and sighed. "Round two with good ol' Jose Cuervo."

"We do many more of these and we might as well change therapy night to happy hour," Athena complained.

Maya shrugged. "Hey, this way, we might actually get to see that wrestling match."

"$10 on Mr. Wright," Apollo said, throwing the bill on the table.

Maya snickered. "Easiest $10 I'll ever make."

"Indeed," Edgeworth said, nodding. Maya held out her fist, but Edgeworth merely glared at it before gently tapping it with his own. "Fine."

"Aw yiss. Team Steel Samurai, go!"

Edgeworth groaned, putting his head in his hands.

End :: The Chase

A/N ::

Shikola Krasno ::

Aww poor Larry. I have a tendency to forget about him, but he did still die horribly. Then again everyone seemed to die horribly. Athena stabbed herself, he got smothered. . . I won't go into Apollo's death yet (let's just say I'm sorry now). . . And Phoenix. . . Um. . . I'm still trying to work that one out. Knowing me it might end up worse than Athena's AND Apollo's. The story did suggest that he chose death as a sort of last resort. . . Who knows. I'll write that chapter out eventually (and I'll get Polly's up soon enough. It needs a lot of editing since it was written long before Fatal Turnabout was finished).

More props for Melody, though! Way to make something with Larry in it sad! Can you guys tell she has issues with comedy? She either pulls it off nicely, or it takes a turn for the dark. . . Which is technically what happened to all of the main story since it was just something we decided to do based on a joke. . . Oops.

And on a side note: my money's on Larry too. . .

Melody Canta ::

I'm actually a little depressed about this one. Originally, I'd picked Larry because he was a hilarious character to work with, pickup lines and all. I also wanted to have that bathroom time, since it's definitely my favorite part of Larry's character that he hides in a bathroom for ages and you get to torment him for as long as you want. However, the more I wrote in his perspective, the more I started to feel a little bad for him. No one really expects much of him, and each time you see him in the games, he's just trying to better himself. So, that's where this came from.

On the other hand, wrestling match between Larry & Nick! Take your bets! Personally, I'm with Team Steel Samurai. Team Steel Samurai is now a thing, just watch. Shikola needs to take the computer away from me. xD