CHAPTER 9: I think? I've lost count.

11:00PM, Wellington's House

Phoenix Wright was forcefully pushed into the house by Argus Hakan. Argus meant no harm to Phoenix, he meant quite the opposite, but Phoenix was understandably apprehensive considering this was Richard Wellington, a man who had twice assaulted and battered him to varying results.

"Argus you scoundrel!" shouted Phoenix. "I demand an explanation! Why isn't this guy in jail, he attacked me!"

"I was proven innocent, I didn't cause your memory loss," said Wellington.

"But you attacked me years ago too, why would Argus be friends with you!"

"Alright fine," said Argus. "The truth is that Richard Wellington has been working under me for some time."

"Yeah," said Wellington. "He was the one hired me to bash you over the head!"

"WHAT?"

"Wellington you idiot!" said Argus, bashing him over the head. "There were far better ways to word it than that!"

"I'm sorry I'm sorry!" said Wellington. "I'm, um, I'm gonna make some tea!"

Wellington slipped out and went to the kitchen.

"Argus... WHAT IS THIS?" said Phoenix. He recalled the end of the trial, Wellington mentioned he was being paid big bucks to attack him, Phoenix Wright. How could it be that the man sending those bucks was Storm Sente's best friend, Argus Hakan, a man who, as a child, overthrowed a corrupt school system or something, he didn't quite understand the news entirely because neither do I, the narrator. Anyway I'm rambling, what I'm trying to say is that he couldn't believe this.

"There, there, now," Argus waved his hands calmingly like Ernest Amano did. "There is no need to be so upset. I will explain."

Argus sat down.

"Phoenix, you know that your memories are missing."

"Actually..." said Phoenix. "God told me stuff and I think I didn't have those memories in the first place because I was in heaven for a while!"

"Yes, and I shall tell you why. It is because, at that time, your spirit had been forcefully been removed from your body."

Argus threw a red object on the table and it slid towards Phoenix. He recognized it, it was a Magatama of Parting, found in the Kingdom of Khura'in.

"The Magatama of Parting. It's normally used to exorcise spirits from the bodies of spirit mediums," said Argus. "That is the normal use, anyway. It has another more grave use, and as such, is kept a secret from as many people as possible, and that is that it can exorcise someone's own spirit from it's body too. And send it to heaven!"

"Woah..." said Phoenix.

Phoenix could hear a phone ringing in the next room but ignored it because now shit was getting interesting.

"It is very brief, however... which leads me to the solution to why you woke up in the middle of an alleyway," said Argus. "In order for your spirit to not immediately be sent back to it's body, it must be possessed by a new spirit with the help of a spirit medium."

"So in other words, I was possessed by someone..." thought Phoenix. "But the only spirit medium in town is... Maya!"

In that moment there was a crash in the kitchen. Wellington screamed for and then was heard no more. Phoenix and Argus ran to the kitchen and saw some shadowy person at the window but they jumped out and ran away.

Wellington was lying limp against the wall, clearly having gasped his last breath. The telephone on the wall (it's still 2016) hung next to him, buzzing monotonously. Phoenix ran over to the body and that's when he noticed the written note next to him.

It said "The killer is the culprit behind the Storm Sente trial."

"FREEZE PAL!" yelled Gumshoe, breaking down the door.

11:00PM, Prosecutor's Office

Ana took Storm and Seven to the prosecutor's office because the one who asked Ana to examine the corpse was none other than Winston Payne.

Storm knocked on the door.

"Hello, is this Mr. Payne?"

The door unlocked and Payne peeked out.

"What can I do for..."

Payne went pale.

"Wh-What are you doing here?"

"We'd like to ask you why you wanted Ana here to keep examining the victim's corpse even though that case ended yesterday."

Payne sweated profusely.

"I-I-I uh, um, th-that's... no, no this is no good!"

Payne slammed the door shut.

"HEY! OPEN THE DOOR YOU BASTARD!" Seven hammered on the door and Storm could not blame him, Payne was clearly up to something.

Payne never came back to them, so they left the office.

"What could he have been so afraid of?" said Ana.

"Hmm..." Storm muttered, and he thought about Payne's words.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" he had said. The exact meaning of his words were lost on Storm, but while the three of them were hardly expected guests, one of them must have been someone he had rather not met. Who that was, though, was difficult to determine, especially considering his eyes were obscured by his thick, foggy glasses.

"I'M INNOCENT I TELL YOU!" came a scream from down the road.

"Huh?" Storm recognized that voice and ran down the road and turned the corner. By the time the others caught up they were just on time to see Dick Gumshoe carrying Phoenix over his shoulder before throwing him into the police car!

?

John Phoenix stood on the top of a tower, staring down at the town, specifically where Richard Wellington's house was, and he was watching the detectives investigate as if that would do anything.

"And so it has begun," he muttered.

To be continued...