AN: To answer a question of the guest reviewer the Ducktales characters may have seen what a human looks like because of the episode "Quack Pack!" but they've never heard the word "human" before if I recall that episode correctly.

March 15, 9:45 AM

District Court

Defense Lobby No. 2

"Are you ready for the trial, boss?" Athena asked as Phoenix paced around the lobby. "Normally we have more facts and evidence to go on than this… can we really prove Donald's innocence here?"

"We have to give it our all, Athena. We've been in worse situations than this," Phoenix said. He looked over the notes Trucy had written down to recall all the facts they did know about the case so far. (Currently we only have Donald's Testimony, but I'm sure that we'll receive an autopsy report along with a look at the crime scene and murder weapon from the prosecution. Speaking of which…)

Phoenix was pulled from his thoughts when Trucy came into the room alongside the triplets. "Daddy! We came to see you off before the trial!" Trucy exclaimed.

"We'll be cheering for you to clear Uncle Donald's name, Phoenix-man!" Dewey said, giving the lawyer finger guns.

"Being disruptive in court is only going to get us removed from the courtroom, Dewey," Huey sighed. "But yes, we wish you the best of luck on this case, Mr. Wright!"

"We won't forgive you if Uncle Donald gets arrested," Louie said.

(Heh-heh… No pressure…) Phoenix thought nervously.

"I also have something you're going to need in there," Trucy said with a wink. With a POOF of smoke, a pair of bright blue panties with pink frills appeared in her hands. Trucy counted to three, tapping the panties each time before reaching in and pulling out a small, golden object. "Ta-da! I made your attorney badge appear!"

"Thanks, Trucy. I must have left it on the nightstand this morning," Phoenix said, pinning the badge to his lapel where it belonged.

"Did she just pull your badge out of her underwear?" Louie questioned.

"It's part of my magic act! These are magic panties, and they hold all sorts of things in them," Trucy said. She tapped the panties again, this time pulling out a soda can. "Want some Pep?"

Louie blinked, but shrugged and accepted the soda can, cracking it open and taking a sip. "If the magic underwear gets me free soda, I'm not going to question it further."

"Let's save any more magic tricks for after the trial, okay Trucy?" Phoenix chuckled. "You can take the boys back to the gallery. Athena and I have got this."

Athena crouched down and gave the triplets a big smile. "We're going to get your uncle off the hook. Just watch Mr. Wright work his lawyer powers on the court!"

"Excuse me, but the trail is about to begin," the bailiff said, sticking their head into the room.

"That's our cue," Phoenix said, giving a nod to Athena as they stepped into a brand-new court.

[***]

March 15, 10:00 AM

District Court

Courtroom No. 2

The gallery was abuzz with chatter until the judge slammed his gavel on the bench. "All rise for the trial of Donald Duck. The honorable Judge B. Fair presiding," the bailiff called.

(That's an on-the-nose name for the judge if I've ever heard one) Phoenix thought, looking at the old owl with a large, white beard that sat in the judge's seat. (He looks oddly familiar, too…)

The judge looked over and stared down Phoenix. "Hm? I've never seen you before in this court, Defense. Who might you be?"

Phoenix rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, sir. You just remind me of the judge I know from back home. I'm Phoenix Wright, a defense lawyer from California. I'm here with my assistant, Athena Cykes, to represent Mr. Duck in this trial."

"California. I have a brother that works over there. Perhaps you've met him in court before," the judge nodded.

The prosecutor gave a loud cough from his bench. Athena had to do a double take when she saw who it was. "N-No way! It can't be!"

"What are you looking at, banana suit?" the sparrow prosecutor trilled. He was a common house sparrow wearing thick glasses with a maroon suit, his head feathers already balding despite looking barely older than Athena, though he tried to cover it up with an obvious combover. "Has word of Benson Payne, the up-and-coming rookie prosecutor, already made the rounds in the legal world?"

Athena looked to Phoenix in exasperation. "We're in a completely different world, but somehow we're still facing a Payne..."

"It's like an itch that never goes away," Phoenix sighed, knowing that with a Payne on the case this trial was going to be interesting.

The judge tapped his gavel. "Is the defense ready?"

"The defense is ready, your honor," Phoenix nodded.

"The prosecution is even more ready, your honor," Benson said, peering over his sunglasses and sending a wink Athena's way. "And may I say it's nice to have something nice to look at on the Defense's side for my debut case."

"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick…" Athena groaned.

"Totally gross!" Widget chimed.

"Prosecutor Payne, please give us your opening statement," the judge said.

Benson smirked and produced an envelope, pulling out a sheet of paper. "This case is centered around the murder of one Dapper Duck, a local philanthropist and playboy here in Duckburg. He was found murdered on the houseboat of the defendant, Donald Duck, with a harpoon sticking out of his chest. It's fairly obvious what was used to end the poor man's life."

The judge nodded. "Indeed. Being shot by a harpoon sounds like a ghastly way to go."

"According to the autopsy report, Dapper Duck was killed at around 10 PM, with his body not being found until 8 AM the following day," Benson continued. "I have both the autopsy report and the murder weapon here to submit to the court record, alongside a photo of the crime scene provided by the police."

"Submitting evidence?" Dewey whispered in confusion up in the stands.

"Lawyers can submit evidence to the Court Record to be used to back up their arguments during the course of the trial," Huey explained, consulting his guidebook.

"Yeah, Daddy and Athena can use anything they find useful in the Court Record and present it during testimonies," Trucy added.

Phoenix made note of the Autopsy Report, the Harpoon, and Crime Scene Photo. The photo depicted the victim, Dapper Duck, laid out on the deck of Donald's houseboat, a pool of blood underneath him with the murder weapon sticking out his chest. (According to the report, death was caused by a single blow to the heart made by this harpoon, with time of death being at around 10 PM. No fingerprints were found on the harpoon, but feathers identified as Donald's were strewn about the crime scene…)

"As you can see, Judge, this case is going to be very open-and-shut," Benson said with confidence. "I won't waste anyone's time and call on my first witness. The prosecution calls Goofy Goof to the stands!"

Soon a middle-aged dog with floppy ears and buck teeth came up to the stand. He was wearing an orange sweater with blue pants and brown shoes that seemed to be a size too big. Despite his name, Goofy didn't seem too happy, looking a bit down.

"Witness, name and occupation, please," the judge asked.

Goofy didn't respond, instead breaking out into hysterics and comically blowing his nose. "Oh Donald, why'd you have to go!?" he wailed out, much to everyone's shock.

"W-Woah! His emotions are off the charts!" Athena exclaimed. "Am I going to have to use my skills this early!?"

"No, I think Mr. Goof just has a case of mistaken identity," Phoenix shook his head. (I just need to get Goofy's attention…) With a point of his finger, Phoenix shouted "Objection!" and pointed his index finger at Goofy. "Mr. Goof, I believe you're mistaken about the nature of his trial. You seem to be under the impression that the defendant, Donald Duck, is the victim of the case."

"Huh?" Goofy said in confusion, blowing his nose again.

"I'm over here, you big palooka!" Donald called.

"Donald, you're not dead!" Goofy exclaimed with joy. "Gawrsh, and I thought you had kicked the bucket when I visit your houseboat yesterday morning…"

"That is why you were called to stand in court today, Mr. Goof. You are a key witness to the events that happened," the judge nodded.

"Witness, please compose yourself and tell the court what you saw that morning," Benson sighed, shaking his head at the scene.

"Well sure I can do that," Goofy nodded. "My name's Goofy Goof, handyman by trade! I'll tell you what I saw that morning right away!"

"This is it, our first witness testimony," Huey whispered. "Phoenix and Athena are going to prove Uncle Donald innocent with whatever Uncle Goofy has to say!"

"Or he'll make things worse," Della muttered. "This is Goofy we're talking about, and it doesn't seem like he's changed much since I last saw him…"

[Testimony: What Goofy Found]

"Donald and I had talked the day before about me coming over for a visit."

"I was going to go visit Donald that morning when I found the body on his boat."

"I was shocked that I fell right off the dock!"

"Then I called the police to come check it out."

"Hm… That's not a lot to go off…" Athena hummed.

"We were light on who we could call for witnesses, admittedly. None of other locals gave solid testimonies to appear in court today," Benson shrugged. He grinned and flashed his sunglasses. "But that just means this case will be easy for a prosecuting prodigy like me to win!"

"I see they don't teach modesty in law school here…" Athena groaned as Benson shot her another wink.

"Mr. Wright, I assume you know what to do next?" the judge asked.

Phoenix nodded. "Yes, your honor. I'll get right to cross-examining the witness." He listened to Goofy's testimony again before exclaiming, "Hold it! At what time did you call Donald, Mr. Goof?"

"Please, call me Goofy," Goofy chuckled. "Hm… I think we started talking at around seven and were on the phone until eight."

(The autopsy says the time-of-death was at ten that night, so that doesn't help me much…) Phoenix thought. (Maybe I should ask about…) "Goofy, what did you and Donald talk about that night?"

"Is this necessary? Who cares what they were talking about?" Benson scoffed.

"Indeed. I fail to see how that would be relevant," the judge agreed.

"Well, maybe the topic of conversation could help explain why Dapper Duck was at Donald's houseboat that night?" Phoenix suggested.

"Now that you mention it, Donald did mention someone called Dapper that night," Goofy recalled. "Yeah, he was talking about a feller by the name of Dapper and how he was looking for Daisy!"

"Daisy?" Phoenix raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Daisy Duck, Donald's special someone," Goofy nodded. "I didn't hear much about the guy, but Donald sure sounded mad when he was talking about him."

Benson smirked. "Hold it! That sounds to me like Donald had a motivation for his murder of Dapper Duck: to eliminate one of his romantic rivals!"

"WHAT!?" Phoenix and Athena shouted in shock, the entire courtroom muttering at the accusation.

"Order!" the judge called, banging his gavel. "Mr. Payne, do you have any evidence to back that claim?"
"Indeed I do. I would like to submit another piece of evidence to the court," Benson said. "This is a Photo of Daisy Duck that was found on the body of Dapper Duck during the police investigation."

Phoenix looked over the photo, which appeared to be a picture of Daisy with a signature at the bottom. "To my darling **** Duck" it read, part of the photo ripped off, leaving the first name of recipient a mystery.

"As you can see, Dapper Duck and Daisy Duck had a romantic history, which Donald, Daisy's current love, didn't approve of," Benson spun his tale. "This photo clearly set Donald off, and after venting his frustrations to Mr. Goof, proceeded to murder Dapper Duck when the man came to his house."

"Objection! Just because the victim and my client had history, doesn't mean Donald committed the crime!" Phoenix shouted, slamming a hand on his desk.

The judge shook his head. "What Mr. Payne is saying does make some amount of sense, Mr. Wright. Do you have any evidence to point to someone else being the culprit?"

"Hah, this California lawyer doesn't have anything," Benson laughed.

"We're really being put on the spot here, Boss," Athena said with worry.

"That's it, we're dead," Louie groaned.

"Don't give up yet, Louie. Daddy always has a way to turn things around… even if he has to bluff his way out," Trucy replied.

"Bluffing? Oh geez…" Della said, putting her head in her hands. "I can't bear to watch this…"

(How am I supposed to prove that Donald didn't commit the murder?) Phoenix thought. (Payne is pinning this all on a jealously motivated killing, but Donald was asleep the whole time… Hm, maybe I should focus more on the how Donald couldn't have committed the murder versus the why he would have…)

"Well, Mr. Wright? The court is waiting," the judge said.

"Right. This is my evidence as to why Donald couldn't have committed the murder," Phoenix said, presenting Donald's Testimony to the court.

"This is a testimony made by the defendant," the judge noted.

"Yes, and it clearly states that, while Donald Duck does own a harpoon gun, he hadn't stocked up on harpoons since his last fishing trip," Phoenix stated. He smirked. "If Donald was the one to kill Dapper Duck, then how could he have done so without the murder weapon in question?"

"Objection!" Benson screeched. "The defendant could have lied about not having any harpoons, and him owning a harpoon gun just makes him even more guilty!"

"Donald does own a harpoon gun. I've seen him use it on our annual fishing trips!" Goofy added.

(Not helping, Goofy…) Phoenix thought. "That could be the case, but just because a square is a rectangle, doesn't mean a rectangle is a square."

"What are you getting at?" Benson raised an eyebrow.

"What if the harpoon used to kill Dapper Duck was from a different harpoon gun?" Phoenix suggested.

"Hah! That's absurd!" Benson laughed. "Only someone desperate would suggest something so stupid!"

"Oh yeah? Then why don't we test my theory?" Phoenix said. "Your honor, let's see if the murder weapon does fit with Donald's harpoon gun."

"I'm interested to see if your theory holds any ground, Mr. Wright," the judge said. "Oh, this is more exciting than my usual cases…! Ahem, bailiff, send someone to go retrieve the harpoon gun on Donald's houseboat!"

A few minutes later and the harpoon gun was brought into the courtroom. "Now, if we just try to load this harpoon into the gun…" Phoenix said, carefully handling the weapon. When he tried to push the shaft of the harpoon into the barrel, the harpoon instead stopped halfway, getting jammed in the barrel.

"The harpoon doesn't fit!" Athena said. "That means it wasn't used as the murder weapon!"

"Objection!" Benson exclaimed, though there was a bit of sweat coming off his brow. "Don't get ahead of yourself, pretty bird. Just because the harpoon doesn't hit the gun, doesn't change the fact that Donald was the one to murder Dapper Duck. How do we know that Donald didn't just simply stab the man with the harpoon?"

"Objection!" Phoenix shouted, pulling out the Autopsy Report. "It says here that Dapper Duck was shot with the harpoon. The wound would be completely different if he had been stabbed, as indicated by the light bruising caused by the impact of the weapon on his chest cavity."

"Then what does this mean, Mr. Wright?" the judge asked.

"It means, your honor, that there was a third person there that night, one who used a different harpoon gun to shoot and kill Dapper Duck!" Phoenix stated.

The crowd started to murmur again. "He's doing it. Phoenix is going to get Uncle Donald off the hook!" Dewey cheered.

"That's using facts and evidence to solve the case!" Huey smiled.

"Objection!" Benson shouted, slamming his hand on the desk… then pulling it back quickly as it stung from the pain. "E-Even if Dapper Duck was shot by the harpoon, how do we know that Donald doesn't just have another, larger harpoon gun, huh!?"

The judge shook his head. "The police only found the one harpoon gun on the premises, Mr. Payne."

"W-Well, then… Where's this other gun, Mr. Wright!?" Benson shouted.

"With the killer, obviously," Phoenix stated.

"That is all well and good, Mr. Wright, but then who is the killer in question?" Benson pressed. "Even if you can prove in the moment that Donald didn't commit the crime, who will you accuse in his place? This court cannot rest until someone else is brought to justice!"

"Well, I, uh…" Phoenix stammered. (I didn't think this far ahead!)

"And there goes our easy win…" Louie sighed.

"Strange, I didn't think a defense attorney needed to name a culprit… Is that a new rule they implemented?" Huey wondered, flipping through his guidebook.

"This is how court works in our world. I was kinda hoping this world would be better for defense lawyers…." Trucy sighed.

"Well, Mr. Wright? Do you have someone you'd like to name as the culprit?" the judge asked.

"I uh… can't give you a name, your honor," Phoenix sighed, starting to sweat from the pressure.

The judge shook his head. "Then I can't move forward with the notion of a third party being involved in this crime. I'm sorry, Mr. Wright, but it looks like I'll have to declare the defendant-"

"Hold it!"

Everyone in the courtroom turned their attention to Goofy, the dog holding out his hand dramatically. "…Gawrsh, that sure is fun to shout," Goofy chuckled.

"Did you have something to say, Mr. Goof?" the judge asked.

"All this talk about harpoon guns made me remember something," Goofy replied. "When I first found the body on the boat, I fell into the harbor in shock. Luckily there was this kind gentleman that helped me get back on dry land. He even let me use his phone to call the police."

"I fail to see how this story is relevant to the case," Benson shook his head.

"Well, I figured that the guy must've been a fisherman, because when I came out of the water, I got my shoe caught on a harpoon gun, and he asked to take it from me."

"WHAAAAAT!?" Everyone exclaimed in shock.

"Order!" the judge shouted, slamming his gavel to calm the audience. "Mr. Goof, are you saying there were two harpoon guns in the area around the crime scene."

"Witness, how could you have hidden this from me!?" Benson shouted.

"Sorry, Mr. Payne, I didn't think Mr. Hooter having a harpoon gun meant anything. I thought everyone that worked at the docks had one," Goofy shrugged.

(Mr. Hooter… That's a new name) Phoenix noted. "So, this Mr. Hooter took the harpoon gun from you after it got caught on your shoe?"

"Yes sir! He looked surprised to see it as well," Goofy nodded.

Phoenix slammed a hand on his desk. "Your Honor, if this Mr. Hooter is in possession of a harpoon gun that was around the scene of the crime, we must call him here to testify! He may hold a clue to solving this case!"

"Objection!" Benson shouted, wiping sweat from his head. "Your Honor, while there is a Mr. Hooter that lives near Duckburg Harbor, the police interviewed the man already and he has an alibi for the night of the murder!"

"Objection overruled," the judge said, Benson giving a squawk of shock as his combover went sideways. "While Mr. Hooter may have originally been unconnected to the case, he currently holds what might be a vital piece of evidence that could change our understanding of this case. Bailiff, bring this Mr. Hooter to the courthouse at once to testify. This court will take a short recess in the meantime."

As the judge slammed his gavel for recess, Athena looked to Phoenix with an expression of relief. "Wow, we really lucked out there, Boss."

Phoenix nodded. "It looks like Goofy's… goofy nature actually worked out in our favor. This Mr. Hooter guy may be the key to getting Donald his Not Guilty verdict… the trick is going to be how our new witness fits into the larger picture…"

Author's Note

I feel like the trickiest thing about writing this story is going to be how the trial sections of each case plays out. In the games, Phoenix can flip between each statement of a testimony and press or present evidence as much as he wants, but that doesn't work very well in a purely written format. So I've decided that I'll arrange each testimony like it's first presented during a case, then let Phoenix bring up points related to the testimony and present evidence as needed. I'd appreciate feedback on this structure as the story goes on so I can improve as this is a new genre of writing for me!

As for notes on the story itself, I of course I had include a Payne for Phoenix to go up against, and thus Benson Payne was born. His name is a pun on "Bends in pain" (you can thank my brother for coming up with that one) and he's a hotshot rookie prosecutor that seems himself as a ladies' man- which means Athena is an unfortunate victim of his attempts at flirting.

As this is the first case there's nothing too complicated going on with the murder, other than who was in possession of the weapon and what the motivation behind the murder was. We'll see next time what this Mr. Hooter has to say about the case as the trail continues!