I know what you're thinking. "Wait, what? Did she just update in less than a week? Who is this person and what have they done with Smart Aleckette?" But, if I didn't update quickly, I would feel guilty. Y'know why?

Thirteen reviews. That's how many I received after I last updated, the first ten having appeared in my inbox the morning I put up the last chapter. You guys rock. Seriously. 8D

Disturbo: Godot/Diego's one of my favourite characters, too. :) And, as for Edgeworth, have no fear – I have no intent on pairing him up with anybody. -nod-

MorenoX25: I can't wait to write the reactions to the announcement, to be honest. It's going to be fun!

Amanda Hiromu: Thanks for the reviews, especially the one about how Capcom should make it canon, but I don't really think it's that good. :)

BlueRaider: Trucy, Trucy, Trucy. . . just wait 'til you see what she does this chapter to poor Apollo. XD

sonicandlink: Apollo won't be. . . I'm going to stop there, actually. You'll find out by the end of the chapter what happens to him. -smirks-

Fireblast123: Actually, Adrian works for Lordly Tailor, the department store in the third game. I also have a little, um, "scene" planned between Trucy and one of the other people you mentioned during the reunion. . . XDD

So, this chapter takes place two days after the last one, the day of the reunion. We're getting close to the end of the fic. . . scary thought, eh? And now, I'll end this author's note and you can read chapter six. :)

Chapter 6

Battle Plan

Trucy paced up and down Apollo's apartment, holding a black magic wand with a white tip, beating it against her palm to the beat of a Gavinner's song and checking her watch every few seconds. Pearl sat cross-legged on the floor, stroking Phoenix the cat, who was sitting on her lap, purring loudly, his eyes closed. Hanging on the wall in front of Pearl was a piece of bristol board, and written on the piece of bristol board was a list, scrawled untidily in black marker.

A few minutes later, Apollo came out of his bedroom, looking as if he had just woken up. His signature red suit looked rumpled, and his hair was coming out of its horns, as if he hadn't had time to put any gel in it. Plopping himself down on the sofa, he blinked at Trucy sleepily. "Is this really necessary, Trucy?" he asked, stifling a yawn. "Any more early starts, and I'll be falling asleep at noon."

Trucy glared at him. "It's Sergeant Trucy to you," she told him sternly, sounding uncharacteristically business-like. "Now, listen up, troops! We're laying out our battle plan for tonight." Trucy pointed her wand at Pearl. "Report, Trooper Fey!"

Methinks you're taking the army theme a bit too far there, Trucy, Apollo thought, but since Trucy was already annoyed at him for being late for the meeting, he decided not to say anything.

"Um. . . on what, Sergeant Trucy?" Pearl asked, looking a bit taken aback.

"What is Maya Fey's schedule for the day, Trooper Fey? Report on that," she told Pearl.

Pearl closed her eyes, the better to remember. "Today is the last day of lectures at the Gatewater. Mystic Maya and the other spirit mediums will be showing the differences between their techniques by channeling spirits. They finish at one o'clock, I think, but then they're all having a late lunch in one of the banquet halls, so that should be another two hours, so I would say Mystic Maya would be free from three o'clock onward."

"Thank you, Trooper Fey." Trucy began to pace again. "Daddy's out looking for work today, since Maya is busy at the Gatewater. He leaves at noon and doesn't come back until four. Afterward, he'll return home and stay until five-thirty, when he will leave for the Gatewater, under the impression that he and Maya are going out to dinner with P–I mean, Trooper Fey and myself." She stopped pacing beside the poster, and pointed to it with her wand. "Now, if you'll just follow my pointer–"

"You mean your wand?" Apollo asked, settling into a more comfortable position. Trucy glared at him.

"Quiet, Trooper Justice!" she told him, waving her wand through the air menacingly. Apollo half-expected sparks to issue from the end of it, like in a Harry Potter movie, but then she turned back to the poster. "We then bring them through Viola Hall, where they will be greeted by their old friends. This will all occur by 18:15."

Apollo closed his eyes, trying to remember what time that was when using the twelve-hour clock. "Is that five-fifteen or six-fifteen?" he asked Trucy.

She rolled her eyes. "Six-fifteen," she told him. "Now, shush, Trooper Justice! The reunion lasts until 22:00–that's ten o'clock for those who don't know how to use the twenty-four hour clock–" She glared pointedly at Apollo before continuing, "–so that leaves them plenty of time to catch up with everybody else. Isn't it going to be so exciting?" she finished, scrapping her business-like demeanor with the last sentence and looking like her regular self, smiling and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"It'll be exciting for me, but for a decidedly different reason if Mr. Wright doesn't want this reunion at all," Apollo agreed sullenly. "He likes you two; he'll let it go. Me? I can say goodbye to my pitiful pudding wage."

Trucy patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Daddy wouldn't take away your pudding," she reassured him, but not very convincingly.

"Gee, thanks a lot," he replied dryly, standing up and stretching. "If that's all, I'll go back to bed. I'm really tired, and I'd like to be wide-awake so I can run away from your dad at the reunion. You two can stay out here if you want, but I'd prefer it if you went back to your place, Trucy."

"Don't worry, we're leaving," Trucy assured him, taking the bristol board off the wall. "Coming, Pearl? We can work on your. . . thing, for the reunion. You know." She winked at the spirit medium.

Pearl nodded, removing the cat from her lap. "Okay," she said, getting to her feet slowly. "Bye, Mr. Apollo!"

"Byem" he said wearily, opening the door to his bedroom, wondering momentarily what "thing" they would be working on. Then his fatigue kicked in, and he crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

—Later—

Apollo, Phoenix, Pearl, and Trucy arrived at the Gatewater together. Phoenix, rather than wearing his usual hoodie, jeans, and blue hat, was wearing the old blue suit and red tie from his glory days as a defence attorney, thinking he was having dinner at a restaurant that wouldn't appreciate his normal clothes, though he still hadn't shaved. The others had come in their normal clothes, even Trucy, who refused to wear anything besides her costume. Apollo had come along with the others on the pretense of wanting to talk with Maya before they left, and Phoenix had accepted the story, though with a raised eyebrow.

"Daddy, you can go ahead and get Maya," Trucy told Phoenix, looking suspiciously innocent. "We'll wait in the lobby."

"Sure," Phoenix replied, ambling toward the elevator. "Don't get into trouble, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy!" Trucy called to him as he stepped inside the elevator. When the doors had slid shut, she turned to the other two. "Now, time to put our plan into action!" she said. "Pearl, can you lead us to Viola Hall?"

Pearl nodded, and led the way up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. At the end was a pair of closed doors, outside of which hung a sign that read, "Viola Hall." All was silent behind them. Apollo walked up to the doors and looked at them curiously.

"I don't hear anyone," he said, then opened the door slightly. The room was full of people, quietly talking to each other as they waited for Maya and Phoenix to appear. He shut it silently and turned. "Never mind, the guests are here," he said nervously.

"How many are there?" Pearl asked nervously. "I don't do well speaking in front of lots of people. . ."

Apollo stared at her. "Why would you be speaking. . ." He didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to. He had his answer within a heartbeat. Glaring first at Trucy, then at Pearl, he said, "Oh, no. You're announcing it, aren't you, that they're getting engaged?" He took a step forward. "I'm warning Maya and Mr. Wright."

Both girls' eyes slid toward an open door next to him, the keys still in the lock. They then exchanged looks, Trucy's regretful, Pearl's uneasy. Wordlessly coming to a decision, they turned to face him again. "Sorry, Apollo," Trucy said, taking a few steps toward him. "But we can't have you ruining this." Then they both pushed him into the closet, and Trucy turned the keys in the lock until she heard a click.

"Hey!" he yelled, pounding his fist against the door. "Let me out, you two! Let me out!"

Pearl and Trucy hurried down the hallway. When they reached the lobby, Phoenix and Maya still hadn't come down. They sat down in chairs silently, Pearl squirming in her seat.

"I feel guilty," she said, her eyes downcast. "Poor Mr. Apollo."

Trucy sighed. "It had to be done, Pearl. He would have ruined our battle plan."

"I still feel bad," Pearl replied quietly. "When will we let him out?"

"After you make the announcement," Trucy replied. "He'll only be in there for half an hour. If he let me teach him magic, though, he'd be able to unlock the door and get out. So, technically, it's his fault."

Pearl sighed. "Maybe we shouldn't make the announcement. Maybe we should just let everything fall into place by itself," she suggested. "After all, Mr. Nick and Maya–"

At that moment, they heard the elevator doors open. Trucy leapt to her feet, suddenly looking nervous.

"That's Daddy and Maya," she said, smoothing her costume over. "Time to execute Operation Engagement, Pearl." She crossed the lobby toward the stairs and, reluctantly, Pearl followed.

—Phoenix Wright—

At the same time Apollo was being locked inside the broom closet, Phoenix knocked on Maya's room's door. Almost a second after he knocked, the door opened, and Maya stood in the doorframe, grinning as she noted his clothes.

"I miss seeing you in that," she said, gesturing toward the suit. "It brings back loads of memories, doesn't it?"

Phoenix looked down at his suit, then at her again. "Yeah," he agreed, thinking about some of the things that had happened when he had been a lawyer. "It does." He almost added that it felt wrong to wear it when he was no longer a lawyer, but he didn't want to

"How do I look?" Maya asked, fiddling with the Master's Talisman she wore around her neck. "I wore my good robe and kimono for tonight!"

He looked at her clothes, which looked exactly the same as they had yesterday. "Um. . . great?"

"Thanks!" Maya looked almost as if she were glowing. "So, Pearl and Trucy are in the lobby, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, and Apollo, too. He says he came to 'talk to you,'" Phoenix informed her, twitching his fingers when he said "talk to you."

Maya nodded sagely. "Ah. So, whatever they're planning, it'll happen tonight, won't it?"

He nodded in reply. "Yep."

"Well, whatever it is, pretend we had no clue that anything was going to happen, okay? It'll thrill them." She stepped out into the hall and lead the way toward the elevator.

"That won't be hard. We still have no clue what they're doing," he pointed out, walking half a step behind her. They stepped inside the elevator, along with an old woman leaning heavily on a cane. They pressed the button that would take them to the lobby as the doors slid closed and the awkward elevator music began to play.

After they had descended a floor, the old woman hobbled out, leaving the two of them alone in the elevator. As the doors closed and they began to descend again, Maya continued their conversation as if there had been no interruption. "We'll find out soon enough, I expect. But something tells me we're not going to end up having dinner where we thought we were."

The elevator ground to a halt when it reached the ground floor, and Phoenix and Maya stepped out into the lobby. Pearl and Trucy were standing almost right outside the elevator doors, waiting for them.

"Hi, Maya!" Trucy greeted the spirit medium, beaming. "Hi, Daddy!"

Phoenix looked around the lobby, but there was no sign of Apollo. He exchanged a confused look with Maya, then asked his daughter, "Where's Apollo?"

Pearl lowered her eyes to the floor, looking guilty. If she had a tail, it would have been between her legs, like a dog who had disobeyed their master. Trucy herself looked a little flustered as she replied a little too quickly, "He went to the bathroom." Glancing sideways at Pearl, she gave a little cough.

The young spirit medium looked at Trucy, confused. Then, a look of understanding dawned on her face. "Oh! Right!" she said. Then she turned to Phoenix. "Um, Mr. Nick? Remember when we were invited to that ceremony for the Nickel Samurai?"

Phoenix tapped his chin with his finger, a look of mock concentration on his face. "When Maya was kidnapped by a professional assassin, I was coerced into defending a guilty man, I almost sent an innocent woman to her death, my friend-turned-rival appeared when we all thought he was dead, and I had to pay for the party we had afterward? Vaguely."

Trucy giggled. "Where was this party?"

"Viola Hall," Maya replied. "It's on the second floor." A vacant look appeared in her eyes. "The food they had there was amazing. Especially since I hadn't eaten in a couple of days."

"Can we go there before we go out for dinner?" Trucy begged. "Please?"

Phoenix sighed. "Trucy, I don't–" Maya elbowed him in the side, giving him a look that clearly said, Remember? Their plan? "Actually, yeah, let's go," he said, changing tactic at top speed. "It'll kill time until Apollo comes back from the bathroom."

"Let's go, then!" Trucy cried, leading the way up the stairs. Pearl followed her, looking nervous and excited at the same time. Maya and Phoenix followed behind them, whispering to each other so that Trucy and Pearl didn't hear.

"I wonder what it's going to be?" Maya muttered, keeping her eyes fixed on the girls in front of her. "Maybe we're going to dinner here?"

He shook his head. "Maybe this isn't their plan," he suggested. "Maybe they honestly want to see the place."

"I doubt it. I still think we're going to end up having dinner there." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I hope there are cheeseburgers," she added fervently.

Phoenix merely rolled his eyes and continued up the stairs.

They reached the corridor outside Viola Hall a couple of minutes later. Trucy and Pearl dashed toward the double doors at the end of the hallway, looking both excited and nervous. Phoenix and Maya followed at a slower pace, Phoenix stopping in front of a broom closet. Was it him, or could he hear soft thumps from behind that door?

Trucy walked up to him and pulled him next to Maya, who was standing in front of the door with a quizzical look on her face, evidently trying to figure out what could be on the other side. "Can we go inside, Daddy?" she begged. "Please?"

Phoenix nodded. "Yes, we can go inside. Just make sure–"

Before he could finish his sentence, Trucy had let go of his arm and raced back to the doors. Together, she and Pearl pushed them wide open, and Phoenix stopped talking, his mouth still open, as he stared at what lay beyond the doors of Viola Hall.

I couldn't resist. I just couldn't resist having Trucy and Pearl lock Apollo in the broom closet. XD

So, the reunion starts in the next chapter, and, personally, I can't wait for your reactions to it. I've been planning it for months, who the guests are and what's happened to them in the past seven years. Hopefully, I can finish it as quickly as I finished this one, but I make no promises. XDD