The airport was rather crowded that day. Not that Phoenix knew how it usually was on other days, but it was difficult to move around altogether. The fact Maya had such a big piece of luggage didn't help. Eagle lead the way, and they took but a few minutes to get into an empty corridor that went to the opposite side of the commercial planes, as it could be checked by the glass walls that allowed a good view of the outside.

"Oh, right, it's a jet…" Phoenix reminded himself, as they continued onwards, with much more freedom than in the crowded area. They went down a set of stairs (Maya almost lost balance, which would have been life threatening to the two men since her carryall would roll over them) and were finally on an open field. Stationed by the airport were about 10 jets painted in green, deployed in an arrow-like formation. A group of pilots walked around, talking casually, all of them with green uniforms. When they noticed the newcomers, one of them screamed a command and they got in formation in no time, facing Eagle.

"All right, boys, we got what we were supposed to. We leave at once! Everyone, to your fighters!" He exclaimed, and so the soldiers obeyed heading each to their planes. Eagle called Phoenix and Maya to the place in the middle. He had to call them, for they didn't seem like they would move soon after seeing what they did.

Several green airplanes… WAR airplanes, rather. And green soldiers… man! Who IS this guy? Is this Green Earth faction so big? Phoenix thought as he followed. Then something came to mind. "Eh, Eagle… isn't that… Sensei coming along?"

"Sensei? He said he still has business here in Los Angeles. He'll catch up with us eventually. I could wait for him, but we ARE in a bit of a hurry…" He added, thoughtful, right before properly entering the plane. The others followed, and Phoenix sighed.

"Isn't this commonplace already for us, Maya? Being in a hurry, that is." He said, referring to all the cases they've taken part on where they didn't have a lot of time to investigate or anything. She nodded in response, but now her attention was drawn to the interior of the plane. Though there was little space, the available seats were inviting, and Eagle asked them to sit, which they did, once Maya and Phoenix placed their luggage somewhere safe.

"Well, you should stay here. Here there are no seat belt lights, no emergency exits to your left or right either, but for your convenience, in the event this aircraft falls due to an attack of Black Hole's fighters, your seats can still be used as a floating device." He laughed again. Unconsciously, Phoenix gripped his seat with all of his right hand's might. "It's not like this will happen with me piloting, but oh well. Enjoy the view."

Once Eagle set off to the cabin, both Phoenix and Maya immediately attached their seat belts, more out of panic than because of anything else.

It didn't take long for them to take the skies. All the planes were taking off in the same formation they were on ground, and going as fast as the roaring engines allowed. Now, Phoenix could only wait to see how this would turn out. He and Maya stared into the darkness of the night, feeling too much aware of the godly speed they were travelling at right now.

"Eagle… he said he took 2 hours to get in Los Angeles, right?" Maya asked, uneasy. "So we'll take the same time to get back, right?"

"Hopefully." Phoenix said, looking back at her. Both of them were nervous, but now that they had embarked, it couldn't be helped. The duo just hoped time didn't cost very much to fly in that flight.

"Nick!" Maya's voice sounded, waking Phoenix from his trance. He had spent the last 30 minutes reviving his previous cases in a dreamy fashion. But now he found himself back in the interior of a Green Earth's fighter. He noticed Maya was pointing to the window, and when he looked over to it, he was taken aback in utter surprise.

The sea had disappeared from their sight. In its place was a massive amount of land, but not as massive as the colossal building made right in the middle of it. It was the biggest Phoenix had ever witnessed. Several flashlights surrounded it, which made it possible for them to identify its peculiar color scheme. It was mostly covered in a pure white ceramic tilework, while the corners were painted each of a particular color. From north to east to south to west, respectfully: red, yellow, blue and green. Right now they were facing the green and blue corners. The latter had a quarter-circle drawn as its logo, much like a waxing crescent moon, while the former had a full circle, which was familiar to Phoenix, as he had seen the same logo in the card Eagle had given him.

The ace attorney and his trusty companion had seen much that day that left them with the jaws dropped in amazement, but that monstrous building had topped them all. So much so that none of them noticed when they started to descend to one nearby green airport, at least until the tremor became intense enough that they understood they were landing. Both instantly held to their seats, but it didn't last long. They soon came to a full stop, and Eagle appeared from the cabin, looking at his watch.

"I can better that time." He commented, distractedly "But that'll have to wait for a while. Please come with me, Mr. Wright. Don't worry about your luggage." The pilot added once Phoenix had unfastened his seat belt and meant to grab his belongings. "I'll have some of my men take it to your quarters. Right now, I need you to follow me."

Phoenix and Maya complied, and they went outside. A transport vehicle ("APC", as Eagle had called it) took them to the giant building they had seen previously. Several doors led inside, but Eagle took the one in the very middle of the side they entered. The group crossed an immense hall, which was empty, and reached a narrow corridor that led to a string of elevators. Eagle went all the way to the seventh, and called it. Not a second later, the door opened, and the three stepped inside, Maya being the most excited, Eagle being thoughtful, and Phoenix showing signs of tension. Instead of going up, they went down to the basement, which was just below them. Eagle took off as soon as the doors opened again, and Phoenix and Maya were on the verge of running in order to keep up. The basement wasn't like a parking lot or anything. Instead, it contained a number of big cages to each side, leaving only a narrow pathway in the middle to be traversed. As they walked, Phoenix noticed all of them were empty, except for the farthest one to the left. The figure inside was still too far to see, and the relative darkness of the place, only slightly helped by three light bulbs along the path, didn't do much to reveal the person, until the individual stepped up to greet them.

The person in question had light-red hair, a slender build and wore a tidy green uniform. Phoenix had some difficulty in determining its gender, for the general look, the uniform and the pose were those of a man, but the stature, along with the hint of breasts on the chest, suggested it might be a woman after all. The person was carrying a large pointy yellow object, that should be no less than 3 feet high, although Phoenix couldn't determine exactly what it was at the time.

"Mr. Wright, this is my companion and your client, Jess of Green Earth." Eagle announced, solemn. The prisoner stretched her arm between the bars in order to shake Phoenix's hand.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Phoenix Wright." Jess spoke, and then Phoenix was reassured that the person was female. "No other attorney would make me easy at this point."

"Since you touched the subject, Miss Jess…" Phoenix interjected. "Why exactly do you want me to represent you so badly?"

Jess looked at Phoenix for a second, and then to Eagle.

"You didn't tell him." She said, sighing. Eagle shrugged.

"I thought he would feel intimidated."

"How can he be of use if he doesn't know who he is fighting?"

"Well, he'd discover eventually… I was just planning to wait until he was sure to stay, but now that you said it…"

Jess shook her head, and faced the puzzled Phoenix.

"There is a very good reason I called upon you, Mr. Wright. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably dispense a lawyer and defend myself." She said, with a certain level of arrogance in her sentence. Phoenix blinked.

"And what is it?"

"The prosecutor… will be rather special."

"The prosecutor? W-Who is it?" Maya asked, shaken by the dramatic moment. Jess made a pause before uttering the name.

"von Karma."

Phoenix began to sweat. The image of the blue-haired, whip carrying prosecutor stormed his mind. He had faced her so many times as of late. He was finding it hard to believe that yet again they would face off in court.

"Wow… I can't believe it's HER again, even in this far away land." Phoenix spoke, more to Maya than to anyone else, but the remark made Jess raise one eyebrow.

"Her…?"

"You said that von Karma is the prosecutor." Phoenix explained, looking back at her. Eagle and Jess exchanged a look.

"We are not speaking about a girl." Eagle remarked, crossing his arms again.

At first, Phoenix didn't understand what that meant. They should be speaking of her, right? But then it occurred to him of another possibility. If the thought of Franziska von Karma made him sweat, now his heart had almost stopped.

"You don't mean… you can't mean…" He began, but couldn't finish. Jess nodded once.

"Yes, I mean it." She said, rather dramatically. "The one and only. The one with the perfect record. The one only you were able to beat… Mr. Manfred von Karma.

x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x

Author's Note: OK, so I sincerely apologize for abandoning the story, but I decided I will write it to the end now. Very sorry for everyone that read it before, and thank you very much for reading it. I'll try not to dissapoint anyone with the upcoming plot. I could use some constructive criticism, though. So, see you in the next chapter.