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thecourtscorkboard · 4 months ago

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Review - A Flawed but Charming Masterpiece

As we finish up Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, we discuss this game's legacy: and how it stacks up in modern times.

I'm... not exactly sure where to start here.

It would be a bit spoiler-y to say how I think of PW:AA in relation to other games, but I guess there's nowhere else to put it. I think PW:AA is one of the best games in the series, and an incredibly strong starting point. It's my second favorite game in the overall series, and for quite a few very good reasons; it's one of the few games in the entire franchise that I don't think has a single bad case. In fact, it has two of my favorites back-to-back; 1-4 and 1-5.

Here's how we're gonna order this. I'm gonna go through an overall list of pros and cons, giving a few paragraphs explaining them. After that, I'm going to give some closing thoughts and an overall ranking of the cases and top 5 characters. Sounds good? Sounds good.

PROS

Pro One: Tone-Setting.

PW:AA knows how to set a tone. Each case has a very unique feel to it, from the frantic and almost manic speed and nerves of 1-1 to the depressing and bleak atmosphere of 1-4 to the downright oppressive and confounding nature of 1-5. Each case is very easy to distinguish from one another: they have different "vibes", I guess is the best way to put it.

Each case establishes these vibes in different ways. 1-1 puts you straight into the deep end; Mia's still holding your hand, but the case is relatively simple and the stakes aren't very high. 1-2's tone is unfamiliar but not depressingly so, still managing to be relatively lighthearted and fun. 1-3 is incredibly fun and filled to the brim with excitement; we get to see a movie studio! 1-4 and 1-5 take on very bleak tones, but it's different types of bleak; 1-4 is incredibly high-stakes and rather straightforward, setting its bleak atmosphere through the time of year and the overall aesthetic of the case surrounding it all (DL-6), while 1-5's tone is created over time as the corruption and rot at the center of SL-9 comes to light. For example, in 1-5, Gant starts off as a goofy and kind of lovable old codger. By the end, you want to punch him in the face.

This is all done through some of the strongest opening cutscenes in the mainline series. Each case has an incredibly unique and tone-setting opening, from 1-3's exciting showdown between the Steel Samurai and Evil Magistrate to 1-5 starting on an overview of the city during a thunderstorm and ending on a reminiscence theme; tones are made with opening cutscenes, and PW:AA does it nearly flawlessly.

Pro Two: Characterization.

PW:AA is one of those very rare AA games where there's not any characters I downright hate. Hell, the only character I dislike is Sal Manella for obvious reasons, but if you took that away I honestly wouldn't mind him that much. Even from the first case this game sets up its characters and keeps their core values intact; Phoenix believes in his clients no matter what, Edgeworth cares about bringing criminals to justice, Larry is awkward but well-meaning, Mia is a veteran who teaches Phoenix what she knows, Maya is experiencing new stuff and exploring, and so on. Even one-off characters stick around in your head!

One thing I really like about AA in general but PW:AA in particular is that, to some extent, every character we see has some sort of flaw. Phoenix acts first and thinks later. Maya does the same but with a far less mature outlook. Edgeworth gets tunnel-visioned and others, like Manfred, Gant, and even White, will take advantage of that. Even minor characters have flaws; the Bellboy is easy to embarass, Cody lies to protect his favorite hero, Angel has an incredibly personal vendetta, and so on. Even minor flaws exist; Vasquez smokes, Jake (implicitly) drinks, Gumshoe is forgetful, and so on. It all makes these characters feel like real people.

Every culprit has something about them that makes them stick out as their own unique character. Frank is a nervous wreck, Redd is rich and corrupt, Vasquez is aloof and deeply tragic, Yogi is a great actor, Manfred is hilariously aggressive, and Gant gets under your skin. Even the victims have levels of characterization! Hammond was corrupt, Goodman was diligent and liked by many, Hammer was vengeful, and so on. Even Sal is recognizable. No character in this entire game just fades into the background; they all stick.

While we're on the topic of characterization, I'd also like to point out the dialogue in this game. It can go from downright hilarious to deeply personal in just a few lines and the tone can change seamlessly. It's great.

Pro Three: Mystery

At its core, Ace Attorney is a mystery series: a mix of whodunnits and howcatchems. PW:AA has some of the strongest in the series in that regard. 1-3, 1-4, and 1-5 are all standouts: 1-3 is the purest howcatchem in the series while 1-5 is a brilliant example of a whodunnit turning into a howcatchem. Even 1-2 carries its own weight here. Its mystery is lackluster, sure, but it's still engaging!

Circling back to those opening cutscenes, 1-2's, 1-4's, and 1-5's all set up their mysteries within just a minute very well. 1-3's mystery is set up over the course of the first couple of minutes in the case, and they're all articulated well and feel, for lack of a better word, believable. These are things that could feasibly happen, but at the same time some of them are downright challenging (lookin' at you, 1-5!) in very good ways.

The clues provided to us, in most cases, are easy to piece together but not handholdingly so; this game trusts that the player can piece things together by themselves, including things that are seemingly unrelated or mentioned aaaaaaages ago like the parking stub in 1-5, the bent fencepost in 1-3, or the metal detector in 1-4. It's all a really neat and effective way of engaging the player in, generally, well-crafted mystery narratives.

Pro Four: Worldbuilding.

Yeah, bet you didn't expect that one.

PW:AA is a very grounded game. As such, it has pretty grounded worldbuilding; it all makes sense in its confines, which is the type I enjoy. Evidence Law makes sense for what we see, and at times the worldbuilding actively works its way into cases like 1-4's statute of limitations or 1-5's taking 30 minutes to go from the Prosecutor's Office to the Police Station. 1-3 makes the Steel Samurai feel alive, mostly thanks to its opening cutscene: even 1-2 expands on a wider outside world, with Redd White's role in the suicides and blackmailing of political and business figures.

Stuff that doesn't need to be explained, like prosecutor's badges or why trials can only take three days, are! There's also elements that exist behind the scenes, like guilty defendants having to face a higher court or the bureaucracy present in the Police Department. It's all meshed together into a believable world; which, speaking from experience, is not easy to do.

Pro Five: Aesthetic.

I know this is kind of lame to give to PW:AA given that all AA games have similar aesthetics, but I feel like PW:AA gets some leeway because it was the first game in the franchise and therefore set the series's aesthetic going forward. I love it. Characters are portrayed realistically (more or less): nobody in this game feels cartoony at all, which I appreciate. In addition, this game's setpieces are very grounded: lakes, law enforcement buildings, offices, and of course the courtroom.

The courtroom itself is incredibly well introduced and designed; one of my favorite bits is how when Edgeworth points at von Karma he points to the side of the room von Karma is on instead of just forward. The defendant's lobby is probably my favorite setpiece; it's just... cozy.

Like, look at the courtroom! It's so grandiose yet so grounded at the same time. I could see myself in this room! It's a treat for the eyes; the clashing light browns of the desks and Judge's seat with the golden and white walls is awesome. PW:AA knows color theory and it shows. I particularly love the white pillars in the back.

Pro Six: Music.

PW:AA has the most memorable music in the series and for pretty good reason. The Pursuit theme is my second-favorite in the entire series, and it's instantly iconic. This is the Ace Attorney song to many people, including myself! That's not mentioning the Reminiscence themes, which all set and fit the tones of each case perfectly. DL-6 and SL-9's reminiscence themes are perfect for their cases, but I'd also like to point out Maya's own specific reminiscence theme; this plays after Manfred tases her and Phoenix in 1-4, and it fits the inner turmoil and the line where she says she wishes she'd never woken up perfectly. Speaking of DL-6 and SL-9's themes, they both do something very different that fit each case; DL-6's is somewhat hopeful, like there's still a mystery to be solved. SL-9 has come and gone. There's nothing left but despair.

This game plays with your emotions with its music in a very, very, very good way. There's the adrenaline-pumping octane energy of the Pursuit theme and the sadness of the reminiscence themes, but also the sense of relieved finality you get with the Victory music or the "let's get busy" feel to the Investigation theme: and we're not even mentioning character themes yet.

Every character theme has a sense of purpose. Jake Marshall's establishes his rough-and-tumble attitude: the song is wild, carefree, like if you told it to slow down it wouldn't listen. Gumshoe's is weathered and basic but still strong and good at heart; it fills your chest, y'know? I think overall, though, there are two standouts: Maya's, which is upbeat, cheery, and maybe a little scared to be on its own; and Gant's, which immediately makes itself known and takes over the room. Each theme has a purpose and a feeling; it's an incredible use of music.

CONS

Con One: Pacing.

PW:AA is not... the best paced game ever. Out of all the baseline cases, 1-2 is probably the best paced; 1-3 and 1-4's final days feel rushed, with 1-3 being the biggest offender. The DL-6 trial is criminally short for an already short game; 1-5 is nearly half of the game's length on its own! 1-3 is too long and 1-4 is too short, whereas 1-2 is perfectly passable; but I don't think I'd call it excellently paced by any means. 1-5, as much as it pains me to say it, is also a bit too long at times. There's only one excellently paced case (1-5), one case that's paced well (1-2), and three cases that have pacing that's a little all over the place.

One argument I've seen is that another case could easily fit between 1-1 and 1-2, and I'm honestly inclined to disagree. I just think that 1-3 could've been shorter and 1-4 could've been longer: like I said, the DL-6 trial is far too short for one of the most pivotal moments of the series! I get this was their first attempt, and it was a decent showing, but it's still lackluster.

This game just kind of feels a little bit all over the place. There's never really a great time to stop outside of days shifting over for a lot of these cases, which makes sense, but pausing in the middle of an investigation or trial to do something else feels awkward. It's not a satisfying game to put down, which is probably a good thing for some people; but it isn't for me.

Con Two: Original Pixel Art.

Oh, man. I know I just praised this game's aesthetics, and this still holds up, but good God some of the original pixel art sprites were ugly. Edgeworth's stands out the most: it looks like he's trying to see something from far away without his glasses on (which DD later shows is probably what he's doing, but I digress).

It's not like Edgeworth is the only example, either. The contrast between 1-5's sprites and the rest of the game is painfully apparent on the original DS release, which makes sense—1-5 was released in 2006, 5 years after the first game and when AJ was being developed, so of course it matched that aesthetic—and the witness stand backdrop just... isn't great.

Con Three: Navigation.

Bear with me for not having a photo for this one. PW:AA's navigation system is very outdated; and it shows. I complimented it for setting up the general aesthetic, so I guess I can point out that it brought in my least favorite feature that would last until DD. The navigation system is occasionally pretty cool, but more often than not it's just a hassle. I get why it exists, and like I said it's occasionally cool, but on the whole... it gets in the way.

Having to go through two separate locations to get to another is annoying, and it's easy to lose track of the map in your head. It's not "you need to write it down on paper" bad like the first Zelda, but it's definitely not great.

We've still got one promised place to go; my top 5 favorite characters. We'll do this ascending, so let's start with #5!

Number Five: Damon Gant

I think Damon Gant is the best example AA has for "affably evil". He's a heartless piece of shit, sure, but he's also the kind of guy I'd go out and get a beer or watch a movie with. This alone speaks to the power of his character; he's a masterful manipulator, an open abuser, and a two-time murderer, but still a rather fun and swell guy to be around. Have you ever watched Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino? He reminds me a little bit of Calvin Candie, just... y'know, actually smart. And not a racist. Sometimes he's fun to be around and it is incredibly uncomfortable to be fun around him. It feels almost... wrong, you know?

Over the course of 1-5, as Gant's mask slowly slips, so does the overall tone of the case; a double murder mystery becomes an incredibly thrilling conspiracy, all with this man behind it. He influences every little part of this case: there is nothing that his grimy hands do not touch.

And I love it. His shadow looms over the case, and once you go from "whodunnit?" to "howcatchem?" and finally piece together how you're going to take him down? Oh, man. Peak cinema.

And God, is it satisfying to take him down! Watching him slowly crumble into nothing is one of the most satisfying moments in the entire series, and us doing it nearly singlehandedly (with a little help here and there from Edgeworth and Ema, of course) is an absolute perfect way to cap off Phoenix's arc.

Let's talk about his design, too. Orange is his most prominent color; his suit is orange, his skin is orange, even the gold police badge on his tie looks orange, and it's on a red tie; red and yellow make orange. Orange is a color of happiness, enthusiasm, and youth, but it's also a color of spontaneity, superficiality, and in Confucianism is associated with transformation. It's a color that perfectly fits Gant's charming and goofy mask slowly transforming into the man that spontaneously killed Bruce Goodman and keeps up his charades through superficial charm and goodness.

Number Four: Maya Fey

I'll be the first to admit that she is way lower on this list than I expected: but this is not a diss at all. Maya is at her second-best in her debut appearance, and for good reason; this is just as much her game as it is Phoenix and Edgeworth's, making up the last part of this game's core three cast.

Maya is incredibly fun and plain enjoyable, but she also brings a very tragic and emotionally heavy element to this game. Throughout the game she's constantly battling feelings of inadequacy; this all comes to a head in 1-4, but it's hinted as early as 1-2. Maya's arc through this game is trying to find a place to fit in: Phoenix is a defense attorney, Miles is a prosecutor, even Larry is a bachelor... but Maya is just a "spirit medium in training". She's not even good at the one job she has yet.

The climax of her arc and the end of 1-4 tie into each other and it's an incredibly emotional moment; her relationship with Phoenix evolves from an employer-employee one to siblingesque very naturally. By the end of the game, you'd be hard-pressed to say they weren't related if you didn't know their surnames!

Let's go back to color theory. Maya's main colors are purple, black, and white: her robe is purple, her underrobe is a very light lilac, her hair is black, her pearls are white, and so on. It's a color of royalty and creativity: much like how Maya is the heir to the Kurain Channeling Technique through her mom, the heir to Mia's legacy, and the driving force behind some of Phoenix's big breakthroughs like drilling witnesses to get information in 1-2 and that von Karma killed Gregory Edgeworth in 1-4. Black is a strange color and hard to pin down to have a single meaning; it's a color of defiance, sadness, death and life, and so on. In Japan, it's a color of mystery and the unknown; much like how her psychic powers are never fully explained and are incredibly alien and out of place (but in a good way!) throughout the game.

White, meanwhile, is associated in China and Japan with grief: and hooh boy, does Maya carry a lot of it. Grief over her sister and mother, grief over not living up to anyone's (perceived) standards, the grief she gives Phoenix, and so on. White is a color of death: perfect for a spirit medium. Also: red and blue make purple and her pearls are white. Redd, White, Blue[Corp]...

Number Three: Phoenix Wright

Phoenix is at the top of his game: which makes sense, given that he literally is! This is some of his best characterization in the series and an incredibly strong first showing. Mia calls him a genius and it really shows; he pieces together some pretty complex theories by himself, like the entirety of 1-5 and the first half of 1-4. I like to equate him to a chainsaw; he needs time to rev up, but once he does he'll cut down anything in his path.

And boy does that show up here! His thought processes can easily match the player's, and his own arc does as well; over the course of the game he slowly comes into his own as an attorney and problem solver just like the player. By the end of the game he's experienced but not seasoned: again, just like the player.

He has incredibly solid relationships with the entire main cast, and his chemistry with every character is awesome; I particularly like his chemistry with Maya and Edgeworth of course, but he also has some incredibly strong dynamics with Ema, Gumshoe, Lana... even His Honor and Redd White of all people! He's a great bouncing off point for every other character as well as the player.

Talking about color theory a bit more, his main color is obviously blue. It's an old color, and people described it before they had a name for it. It's a color of business—which makes sense, given his role as CEO and owner of the Wright and Co. Law Offices—but it's also a color of authority and nobility: when people think of police officers, the color blue comes to mind, doesn't it? It's a color of the law! Blue is also associated with Heaven and immortality in some Asian cultures, giving Phoenix an almost divine presence; a gift to his clients, saving them from darkness.

Number Two: Miles Edgeworth

Edgeworth has my favorite arc in this game. I think this game really did a good job in making him fascinating: he's an incredibly tough nut to crack, but under his exterior he's very soft and sensitive. He's initially presented as this incredibly intimidating and corrupt conviction machine, but over the course of the game it becomes clear that he doesn't believe in convictions. He believes in justice. Instead of caring about a win record, he cares about what that words to his very twisted worldview.

This all stems from DL-6, the core lynchpin of the game. I'd actually argue that even more than Phoenix and Maya this is Edgeworth's game: I think that JFA and T&T fill Phoenix and Maya respectively. But PW:AA, despite being named after Phoenix, revolves around Edgeworth's trauma and beliefs. When those are shaken in 1-4 and 1-5, he becomes frazzled, dazed, incredibly irritable. His arc breaks down barriers he's kept up for years and doesn't know how to handle coming down. This is his story.

I think that his transition through 1-5 is one of the best parts of this game. To see him slowly realize he has absolutely nothing left to lose and just go full steam ahead on the person who has ruined his career, Damon Gant, is satisfying: it gives Edgeworth even more agency and coolness than he already had, which was already a lot!

His main color is red, obviously. Red is a color of passion and desire, but it's also one of blood and intimidation; it's complex and has two faces, just like Edgeworth. It's also a color of religious reverence, showing up frequently in Catholic art: Edgeworth himself almost looks like a pastor with his black undershirt and white collar. In that respect, there's the opportunity to view his arc through the lens of Christian (specifically more modern, Western, and sometimes secularized) themes of redemption: a dark and tortured soul brought to the light, finding a sort of peace through both the light and his struggle towards it. It's also a color of anger, which Edgeworth has no shortage of: anger at the world, anger at himself, anger at us.

Number One: Ema Skye

I'm admittedly very biased by her later appearances, but Ema is also an incredibly fascinating and amazing character in her first appearance. She is the heart and soul of 1-5, both as your assistant and the reason for the case's existence: it was Gant's fabrication of her murder of Neil, after all, that led Lana to forge evidence.

She has an incredibly active role throughout all of 1-5, as your assistant, suspect, and pseudo-charge: it's hard not to feel like you have to take care of her. Her personality is incredibly bubbly and endearing, creating adorable dynamics with Phoenix and Lana as well as an incredibly hilarious mini-crush on Edgeworth that she's so unsubtle about. Takumi really shows his maturity as a writer with 1-5 as a whole, but Ema is a great example of how he's become a better character writer over time.

As your assistant, she's spunky and fun; she's not even somewhat reserved like Maya is from time to time, but at the same time her spontaneity is far more mental than physical. A lot of people call her a Maya clone, but I disagree: she's a Maya mirror, just like how 1-5 is a mirror of 1-2. Whereas Maya is spiritual, Ema is scientific and materialist; Ema's main color is pink, in a similar spectrum to Maya's purple; her hair is brown, like Mia's, instead of black, and so on. The dynamic that she leads with Lana is incredibly captivating.

Let's finish this off with a discussion of her main color; pink. Yes, I know that most of her design is white, but her design is splattered with splotches of pink that stand out and are meant to be eye-catching, from her glasses to her necktie and undershirt to her watch and even her bag. Pink is her color and it's a color of soothing, love, and in Japan is a rather masculine color. She tries to soothe Lana's worries through her unconditional love, and it's that love that shines through the darkest parts of 1-5; be it Ema's love for Lana or vice-versa. In full honesty, I just decided to bring up pink being a masculine color in Japan because I wanted to share a headcanon I have that Ema is trans. Sue me. There's even an element of her relationship with Lana in the color alone; until the 1850s pink was seen as a masculine, immature and boyish shade of red; a color of young boys in contrast to the crimson worn by men and seen as a symbol of authority. Edgeworth's jacket? Lana's muffler? It's not hard to see the connection.

Overall Thoughts

PW:AA is a treat. It's my second favorite game in the franchise, and for good reason! It's a very very solid mix of mystery and character-driven storytelling, with a whole host of standout moments and an incredibly fun cast. The core cast is generally at their best here; not to degrade his latest appearances, but I think this game by far has Edgeworth's best characterization. I also think Gumshoe and His Honor are at his best here, and even with characters who have their weakest showings in this game still have standout moments that make them incredibly loveable.

My favorite thing from PW:AA isn't its characters, cases, or even its music, though. It's how it slowly builds up Phoenix alongside the player! We mimic his journey; we start off being handheld by Mia, and then we're thrust into a situation without her that we get through with her help. We also rely heavily on Maya but still get to shine on our own terms. In 1-3, we're finally on equal footing with Maya, solving the mystery with her. In 1-4, we take it on in a leading role; Maya takes an understandable backfoot for Phoenix's strong showing, but we still need her to finish the case and Mia still needs to intervene near the end. In 1-5, the core moments—the final trial especially—are nearly done entirely by Phoenix alone. It's an incredibly awesome buildup of development for both the player and Phoenix.

As a fic writer, I'd also like to point out some standout ships. While I don't ship it, Phoenix/Edgeworth ultimately finds its roots in this game; and it roots itself in very well! There's a reason it's the most popular. They have great chemistry. Some ships I do ship that also find their roots in this game are Lana/Mia, Ema/Maya, and some of my favorite non-romantic ships (be they platonic, adversarial, or something in-between): Phoenix and Ema, Gant and Ema, Edgeworth and Gumshoe, Phoenix and Maya, and Phoenix and Mia all shine through in my mind and find their roots in this game. It's a lynchpin for the fic-writing, shipping side of me!

PW:AA isn't a perfect game, but I think that's where a lot of its charm comes from. It's rough around the edges when you really look, but those rough edges make what shines really shine: the highs of 1-4 and 1-5, the dynamic between Maya and Mia in 1-2, the incredible way it sets up themes and vibes, and so on. It does a lot in its limitations and sets up an awesome format for the later games to follow.

Overall? It's fantastic. It's very understandably cemented itself as one of the greatest mystery games of all time! It's aged incredibly gracefully and is a perfect introduction to one of my favorite series of all time.

PW:AA holds a very special place in my heart as the second Ace Attorney game I've ever played and the first one I finished. It was a very fundamental part of my childhood; I started playing Ace Attorney in elementary school. It's incredibly nostalgic for me and this game is a massive reason why.

To wrap it all up, we'll give this one an overall rating and place its cases on our case tier list. See you for 2-1 and Justice for All!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #review #miles edgeworth #phoenix wright: ace attorney #game review

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thefandomcassandra · 11 days ago

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hallowed be thy unknown Ch8: Tokusatsu Haunting 4: Lunaria and White Lilac

"You want a gionbō disaster?" Will Powers blinked at Maya. She waved a small plastic bag of the misshapen wagashi at him and raised an eyebrow. "Apology for Oldbag. Not all of 'em look pretty but they taste fine enough. Want one?"

In her defense: making gionbō was way more complicated than she thought and Mia's handwriting was almost unintelligible when compressed on a tiny index card. Half of the measurements were tallies next to lopsided indicators of dry or wet ingredients. There was also what looked like some kind of jam smeared across a line that meant she had, at one point, rewritten the step in quick Japanese, the ink bleeding the kanji into awful blobs of black on slightly-white. It was very much like Mia.

So having any edible gionbō at all was a miracle.

And if she was passing off the rejects to people other than Penny, it was only because she had made so many.

After taking a moment to consider, Will Powers shook his head. "I don't think I could stomach it."

"Understandable."

Maya sighed and placed the bag on the floor, rummaging around in it for the breakfast she brought. When she stood back up with a couple of apples in hand, she offered him one. "Will lighter food help?"

(The home altar had incense wafting scented smoke towards the Twilight, some of the better-looking gionbō left for Mia to enjoy. Maya clasped her hands and muttered prayers as she tried to still her beating heart. Be calm, be calm, don't let the door to your soul remain open. The jade magatama around her neck was an ice-cold barrier between her and death. All she had were rituals and prayers.)

It would, in fact, help. Will Powers gratefully took the apple and bit into it, his crunching the loudest sound in the defendant's lobby. Meanwhile, Maya rummaged around for her file folder of evidence and printouts among the various items she had been juggling. The bottle of pills pressed against her stomach, a reminder she had an ace up her sleeve for later. "Let me know when you're good to discuss today's proceedings." She passed him a water bottle and went back to rummaging, unable to find the one piece of paper she was looking for. She swore under her breath and took a vicious bite out of her apple to quell her frustration. The feeling of her teeth ripping a chunk out of the fruit was cathartic and didn't that say something about her as a person.

While the two ate in relative silence, Maya's mind was running a million miles a minute, not helped by Nick's snide commentary. "Do you think you can get a headshot of Powers to put on the work altar?" As if he felt the full force of Maya's withering glare, he chuckled and tried to explain his quote-unquote 'joke'. "Because he's a dead man walking?"

Not funny. Maya tried her best to communicate her thoughts to him through a deadpan stare and a larger than average bite of apple.

He seemed to get the hint because he stopped talking after that, which was a rarity for him.

"Anything I need to know?" Will Powers wrapped his apple core in a fistful of napkins and disposed of it in the trashcan by the couch. "In particular, I mean." He was looking less peaky now that he had food in him. Score one for pre-trial rituals. And nutrition.

"Sal Manella will be brought to testify today." Will Powers' face pinched and twisted. Understandable. "Due to his presence during the run-through, he needs to discuss what he and Dee Vasquez were doing at the time. I'm also..." How to put this? "I don't think he was being honest with me? So I'm going to press him for specifics. The gallery might get loud about that."

"Be nice," Nick warned, the teasing tone he took was light and airy compared to how sour he looked when Sal Manella was even brought up.

"Oh?" Apparently Sal Manella lying about things made Will Powers nervous but, unfortunately, a lot of things seemed to make him nervous, so it was hard to gauge if it was going to be a problem or not.

Maya flashed him a warm smile to assuage his fears. "Aside from that, I might have found proof you were drugged?"

"What?!" Maya had never heard Will Powers shout so the sudden volume startled her. As if he caught on to how surprised she was, he immediately folded in on himself again, all the comfort he seemed to feel around her replaced with shame and confusion. "Drugged?"

"There was a bottle of over the counter sleeping pills in the Employee Lounge. Might explain why you were out like a light." If she kept her tone cheery, maybe he would pick up her mood.

"Anything else?" It wasn't working the way she hoped.

"Uh..." What else? "The only other witness I know of is the young fan that was on set that day." The way Will Powers blanched made her immediately jump to reassuring him—and maybe also herself. "His mom is going to be in the gallery, he trusts me, and Gumshoe will be there."

"No trust for Edgeworth?" She hoped the flat stare she gave Nick communicated that, while she didn't like Prosecutor Edgeworth, she did somewhat trust him with Cody's emotional well-being on the stand. She wouldn't say it out loud unless pressured, but the point stood.

Nick just smiled, eyes squinting in unspoken delight. He understood what she hadn't said and was probably filing it away to tease her with later.

"That's - that's good..." Will Powers didn't sound like he believed her. She didn't really believe her either but that wasn't the point. The point was that she was trying to reassure him and, for better or worse, she'd managed that at least.

The clock on the wall ticked away, the only sound remaining in the defendant's lobby, counting down the time until she'd have to fight for his innocence again. She felt more prepared today than she did yesterday but it wasn't enough.

She'd probably never be over the pre-trial jitters.

"Hey, uh, Maya?" The sound of the door opening startled both Maya and Will Powers so badly they jumped. To his credit, Gumshoe did look apologetic. "Do you mind if I, uh, come in?"

She looked at her client, trying to get an idea as to if he was going to be fine with a cop in the room. He didn't seem too upset with the idea of Gumshoe being there so she just turned back to him and nodded. "Sure. What's up?"

For a man his size, Gumshoe sure did have a talent for looking like a very small, very sad puppy. Sidling through the double doors leading from the courtroom hallway into their defendant's lobby, he closed them behind him and idly scratched at his bandaged cheek as he sorted his words out in his head before he spoke.

"Wonder what's the matter." Nick bristled at Maya's grimace. "The answer could be nothing! I'm just worried is all..."

"Wanted to update you about Cody's situation."

Maya hissed in relief through her teeth, like a deflating balloon. She hadn't even realized she had been holding all that in. In her peripheral, Will Powers also relaxed. Maybe he could just pick up on her tension. She needed to get better at looking calmer than she felt if that's the type of client she was going to get. "Yeah?"

"So his mom is here; she's gonna be in the stands where he can see her at all times, by the judge on the defense's half." Good to know exactly where she was sitting, in case Maya needed to look to her for guidance. "Aside from that, Mr. Edgeworth already talked to the kid and I know you're worried and all but—"

"I'm more worried about Cody kicking Prosecutor Edgeworth in the shins than I am about his questioning going poorly when he testifies."

"Sound less upset," Nick wryly commented. Sure, her words had been clipped but—

Well, she needed to be professional and holding a grudge wasn't professional, was it? It was childish.

Gumshoe, however, laughed. It was a huff of amusement, just a snort that he tried to disguise as a cough, but at least he had a sense of humor about it. "Kid's got good aim."

"Already?"

"Um...Mr. Gumshoe?" Will Powers' question drew everyone's attention. Maya hadn't forgotten he was there but he had been so quiet that...well...when he did speak up, she'd been thrown off a little. "Thank you for the ice pack. Back in the detention center, I mean."

Gumshoe rubbed the back of his head. "It was nuthin', pal. Common courtesy and all. You were injured."

"I still wanted to say thank you anyway."

"Well then you're welcome!" Gumshoe's smile lit up the room. Then he turned back to face Maya again. "That's all I got "

"Thanks for the update." Genuinely, it was a load off knowing that Cody was alright. "Don't let us keep you from doing your job."

"We still down for burgers?"

"After the case is over and done with and my client has been proven innocent." The latter half of her statement was more for Will Powers than anyone else. She was reminding him, like before, that she believed he was innocent and would get him declared as such.

"Alright. Have a good trial Mr. Powers!" And in the same manner he entered, Gumshoe left.

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence he left them with. Even if he hadn't meant to, his information helped calm down Will Powers and knowing Cody was alright made most of the tension leave Maya's shoulders. Even Nick—who had been playing with the elastic of his mask's earbands, floating upside down in the center of the room—was looking less wan. They were relaxing a little and that might help keep them from collapsing mid-trial due to stress.

Will Powers was innocent, no matter what Cody's eyewitness account said. It was the same as Oldbag saying she saw Will Powers when she only saw someone in a Steel Samurai costume. Just bad luck, really.

She only had to fight to prove it in court.

��—

Filing into the courtroom on the second day of Will Powers' trail just felt different than day one. The room was still as populated—fans will be fans and, while they weren't allowed to film or take photos without getting kicked out and banned, the actual event was a hot commodity—but it had a less hostile air. It didn't immediately feel like a powder keg, just an anxious tangle of people muttering this, that, and the other.

"I still say that Powers is guilty. Have you seen him? He could crush a child with his bare hands, why not murder his coworker?"

"My friend said that the hot prosecutor almost choked on his tongue when the old security woman wouldn't stop flirting with him. Apparently it was hilarious."

"I hope this doesn't take long. Surely they can't drag this case out another day, can they?"

"I dunno...Powers lawyer—the fat chick—sure is good at making things more complicated than they need to. Must be coz she's a teenager."

"You're a teenager, jackass."

"Tune them out." She didn't need Nick's advice; she knew she shouldn't be listening to them but—

In. Hold. Out. "Yeah."

"All in all, it's actually impressive you've managed to draw two trials to their second day." The faintest ghost of a smile crossed Nick's face. He tugged at his scarf. "Ol two-day Maya!"

"Great legacy." She rolled her eyes at him. "Can't get a verdict on day one, might as well settle for second place."

"Don't be mean to my friend."

He was right though.

Maya looked at where Will Powers was sitting. He still looked uncomfortable—too big, too scared, too aware of all the eyes on him—but he didn't look terrified. He was walking on his injured foot a little gingerly, which meant he trusted her enough to not hide a healing sprain, but he didn't seem to be in pain. He also was wringing a napkin into a rope, eyes flicking from one side of the courtroom to the next.

He was probably trying to avoid hearing the gallery too.

Maya flashed him a subdued mimicry of the Steel Samurai's victory pose and he nodded back at her. His shoulders relaxed and his death grip on his napkin loosened. Good.

"You're getting better every time you do this."

"I would hope so." In. Hold. Out. She was prepared. She did the legwork. Will Powers wasn't guilty. "Sure would suck if I was getting worse."

In the gallery, a harrowed looking older woman sat to the right of the judge's bench, nervously shifting in place. Cody's mom. Maya gave her a soft smile and a wave.

She had been nice. Worried—she swept Cody up in a choking hug and peppered him with kisses until he wriggled free—but nice. She had also thanked Maya for playing with her son.

Maya had, of course, told her it was no issue. Cody had been a delight—past the bruises on her shins—and he knew a lot about Steel Samurai.

Knowing that a woman like that—someone kind and loving, everything Maya imagined a mom was like—was there for Cody during a difficult moment in his life meant the world to her. It eased her worries.

This will be fine.

In. Hold. Out.

"Court is now in session for the trial of Will Powers." The judge, as direct as always, opened the trial with a series of even raps of his gavel. "Has the prosecution ascertained whether or not the last witness was capable of being the culprit in the murder of Jack Hammer?"

"After rigorous testing," Prosecutor Edgeworth coolly replied, "we have determined that, no, Wendy Oldbag could not have killed Jack Hammer. Aside from the suit being cumbersome enough that it would have been difficult for her to thrust the Samurai Spear with enough force to perforate Hammer's lungs, she also was too short to see out of the eyeholes properly and the hem of the suit's hakama would have unnaturally dragged the ground. This, of course, was done with a spare suit the studio provided, as we have yet to find the missing costume, but we can assert—with some certainty—that Wendy Oldbag is not the culprit in this crime."

"A lot of fancy words for 'we made her walk around with the Spear, she yelled at us, and we gave up and let her be someone else's problem'." Maya had to hide her snickers by faking a stifled cough. The mere thought of Prosecutor Edgeworth trying to reign in Oldbag while she ranted a mile a minute was amusing.

The judge nodded, not surprised but certainly not pleased by this news. "And what of the supposed meeting that Ms. Oldbag spoke of?"

"We have a witness who will be testifying as to that meeting." Curt, keeping his cards to his chest, Prosecutor Edgeworth said nothing of any note.

This, of course, was normal. "Then may the court hear your opening statement?"

"Of course, Your Honor." As always, he opened his statement with a deep bow. "Despite the information regarding the number of people on campus during the time the murder occurred, the prosecution stands firm with regards to the accused. Sprained ankle or not, his alibi is tenuous at best, and he is the only one present who had the motive and the means to carry out this heinous crime. With the two witnesses we have planned for today, we plan to put a pin in the defense's pathetic attempt to wriggle out of any potential consequences for their client. Our information is decisive and damning and we ask the court to consider it in full as their testimonies are given, regardless of my opposition's likely barrage of objections and complaints."

Pointed and petty. Two can play at that game.

And she wasn't even going to mouth off and get a penalty about it either. Growth, right?

"Thank you. Your first witness."

Sal Manella looked as awkward on stand as he did in Global Studios. Maybe it was his posture or the way his glasses made it look like he was always squinting, but he had the air of a bug trapped under a cup, waiting to be released or killed.

Maya could sympathize a little bit.

Beside him, Will Powers also seemed to be sympathizing, his face screwed in worry. The furrows in his brow deepened, his nose wrinkled, and he nearly snapped the twisted mess of napkin in his hands.

"Your name and occupation, witness?" So it began.

In the gallery, a cascade of noise washed across the room. "Does he not know who this is?"

"Does the prosecution live under a rock?"

"C'mon, not this shit again!"

One sharp set of raps from the judge and it all fell to nothing but Maya caught the way Prosecutor Edgeworth's eye twitched in frustration.

Of course he knew who Sal Manella was. He's a huge fan—according to Gumshoe, whose embarrassment at letting that slip made Maya certain it was the truth—but this was standard procedure. It was a necessity of the trial itself, a way to have proof of identification in the transcript should issues arise later.

Not like the people in the gallery would know that. To them, it was just a repetitive mess that was ruining the spectacle of it all.

"You don't know me?" Sal Manella's voice was soft, barely projected to the defendant's bench, let alone further in the courtroom. "Me? The man who made the Steel Samurai?"

"Witness—" Prosecutor Edgeworth skipped asking and was already at demanding, the word folded iron from between his teeth.

"He has terrible luck with witnesses, doesn't he?" Nick mused.

"Between Redd White, Oldbag, and him, yeah." Maya wasn't going to disagree; Prosecutor Edgeworth was unfathomably unlucky with getting witnesses to cooperate from the get-go. "I just hope this one will be more direct."

Nick raised an eyebrow. Maya remembered how talking to him in Global felt. She grimaced and Nick's eyebrow dropped back down into a displeased furrow. Right. Well that would be a problem for later—even if later was sooner than she'd like.

"Sal Manella, director and writer at Global Studios. I work in TV, mostly, but they consult me on other projects when need be." He sounded pretty professional for someone who designed characters the way he did.

"You were at Global Studios the day of the murder, correct?" Sal Manella nodded. "Then your testimony as to what you were doing at the time, if you would."

"It took no time for Edgeworth to give up on being starstruck or nice, huh?"

Maya couldn't even fault him for it either. "Sal Manella has a track record for being disappointing to talk to, I suppose."

"Apparently."

The man adjusted his glasses by grabbing the lenses, smearing fingerprints on them, and cleared his throat. "I got to work around nine because there was an action run-through that day. Big fight between the Steel Samurai and the Evil Magistrate for the upcoming finale arc so we needed it to be perfect. Coz Powers hurt himself, things ran longer than expected so I wound up missing lunch to go to the executives meeting with Diva. That ran from noon until four. Nobody at Studio Two got up from their seats during the meeting."

After Oldbag's testimony the day before, the brevity of Sal Manella's was refreshing. Maya happily took the transcript and scanned it for anything she could prod at. "Thoughts?"

Nick hummed a bit. "Unclear. He's being vague in a weird way. There's details, sure, but it's all broad strokes. It doesn't differ too much from what he told you yesterday does it?"

Maya retrieved her notebook and flipped to her scribbled notes from the day prior. "Uh...no? More fluff, same story."

"Press and pray then." Joy.

"According to the autopsy report, Hammer died around two-thirty, which was in the middle of your meeting." The judge frowned down at the witness stand. "That certainly is useful information to have. Defense?"

"Thank you, Your Honor." Maya turned to face Sal Manella. Glancing down at the transcript and her notes, she cleared her throat once. "When I spoke with Dee Vasquez—who you call Diva—she stated the meeting was about finances and general management. Could you tell the court about who was there?"

"Objection!" Cut off at the pass. "This is clearly irrelevant."

"Objection sustained. The court finds the odds of any higher-up in Global Studios having been complicit in this crime to be unlikely."

"Weird decision to start with that." Maya tried to not let her irritation show on her face but it must have because Nick jumped back and floated further away from her. "Geeze, sorry."

There was a reason she did that. She wasn't just being a weird fangirl. She wanted to disarm them—Sal Manella and Prosecutor Edgeworth both—so she could strike for the jugular with precision.

"Of course." Changing course, Maya found something she might actually get information from. "Reports say that Dee Vasquez was also present during the run-through?"

"Hardly." Sal Manella scoffed and twiddled a pencil between his fingers. "Diva was there for the setup for the run-through but she didn't stick around. The security lady, one of our camera persons, the stunt coordinator, myself, and the actors were all that stuck around."

"And you said the run-through ran long?"

"Normally it's supposed to maybe be an hour or two at most but when Powers twisted his ankle, we had to break to figure out if we could even continue. Something about making his injury worse, plus we had to fix the Samurai Spear." 'We', like he actually had a hand in things. "In the end, it pushed against my lunch break but the meeting was more important."

"He sounds pretty put-off about missing lunch."

"I would be too," Maya muttered back to Nick. Louder, she honed in on the problem. "So you didn't eat at all that day?"

"Not a real meal." Sal Manella's frown was pinched and puckered, the pencil in his grip creaking gently. He'd probably snapped the lead somewhere in there with the force he was exerting on it. "Which sucked coz it was t-bone steaks."

There it was. "When I visited Studio Two's lot, I actually saw two plates there—identical to the ones in the Employee Lounge."

"Oh?" His voice cracked as he flinched.

"Which leads me to believe that you did actually have lunch; which means you could be lying about more than just going hungry that day."

"I - I mean, sure, I ate lunch, but it was just a quick break. Nothing else happened!"

"You explicitly stated, and I quote, 'Nobody at Studio Two got up from their seats during the meeting.'" Maya slammed her hand on the defendant's bench. "If you did take a break to eat, then it isn't outside of the realm of possibility that someone left the studio to go murder Jack Hammer!"

A wave of noise made its way around the gallery. Muttering concern about whether or not Sal Manella had done it, complaints about how Maya was attacking the witness, but mostly surprise and delight at this turn of events. The judge banged his gavel to call for silence.

"Order in the court! Mr. Manella, you will testify as to the lunch break you took." Sal Manella swallowed heavily, sweat beading on his forehead, his glasses fogging up a bit, fingerprints on the lenses making his eyes look like a bug's.

Across the courtroom, Prosecutor Edgeworth looked unbothered. In fact, he looked rather self-assured. Maya frowned.

"Um, okay." Sal Manella swallowed heavily and closed his eyes—likely to sort his thoughts out. "We took a fifteen minute break to eat. Catering got us some steaks and me and Diva ate them no worries. Barely any time to do anything, let alone walk across the campus to kill someone."

"Oddly specific example."

"Odd murder," Maya rebutted.

"Fair enough." Nick wasn't watching Sal Manella. His blank gaze was locked on Prosecutor Edgeworth the entire time, a pensive frown dominating his usually cheery face.

"This feels...weird." It felt too easy and too obvious but also too obscure. "It's not just me, is it?"

"Don't think too hard about it."

"Great advice." Still...something about this line of questioning felt like when she had pressed Oldbag about the photo that had Cody in it. Like it was an obvious trap or maybe a path that went nowhere.

Or maybe Maya was just being paranoid.

Turning to face Sal Manella, Maya cleared her throat. "You got steaks delivered?"

"I grabbed some from the Employee Lounge before I went to the meeting." He twiddled with the pencil some more, spinning it between his fingers. "Covered them with foil so they'd stay warm in case it took us a bit but we got lucky."

"Lucky?"

He flashed her a smirk. "We got to break pretty early in. Not a long break of course, but a break."

"Fifteen minutes, you said?" That's hardly enough time to eat a normal steak, let alone a t-bone.

"Yeah. Me and Diva ate them as fast as we could."

"And when was this break?"

That gave him pause. "Uh...I don't know. We ate outside so I couldn't see the clock inside the trailer. Maybe about two, two and a quarter?" Never mind, that was vague enough to work. "I remember hearing Mr. Monkey go off twice, so..."

"Does the defense have a point to all of this inane pedantry?" Prosecutor Edgeworth cut in. His tone was all ice and Maya bristled in response.

"The defense was getting to the point, Prosecutor Edgeworth, thank you for your concern." She took a measured breath and focused back on Sal Manella. "Manella-san, you took a break around two-fifteen or so, one that lasted approximately fifteen minutes, and both you and Vasquez-san ate t-bone steaks?"

"Yes?"

"Considering the nearly impossibility of consuming a steak in fifteen minutes and the fact that none of the other people who were at this meeting can corroborate this alibi—barring Vasquez-san herself, who isn't here at the moment—the defense would like to accuse the witness or Dee Vasquez of leaving the lot to murder Jack Hammer during that fifteen minute break."

What little pride Maya felt at laying out her theory quickly disappeared as Prosecutor Edgeworth simply chuckled and waggled his finger at her.

"Is the defense forgetting? From two-fifteen until four that day the path between Studio Two and the rest of the campus was blocked off by the fallen Mrs. Monkey."

Oh. Right. She and Nick had even verified that the poor clock's mechanisms stopped on impact, proving that her accusation just now was actually laughably bad.

"Isn't it Mr. Monkey?" Nick muttered to himself.

Maya would have laughed at Prosecutor Edgeworth for that if she wasn't busy trying to salvage her accusation. "The path being blocked off doesn't mean Studio One was inaccessible from Studio Two during that time. There is a swathe of forest in Global Studios and—"

"The police combed the forest." Prosecutor Edgeworth cut her off. "Besides, even if they made a mad dash from Studio Two to Studio One by foot, it wouldn't be a fifteen minute round trip. Going off the beaten path, so to speak, would easily add another ten or fifteen minutes to it one way. It's even less possible that way." He sounded so smug.

He had every right to, considering. She felt a little foolish, cheeks burning as she stared down at her transcripts and evidence, shuffling through her things to find some way to salvage this.

Nothing was coming to mind and, with the way the gallery was starting to rile itself up, she wasn't going to be able to recover her momentum in this instance.

Their eyes burned holes in the back of her neck.

"If the defense is done wasting the court's time?"

"That's unnecessarily harsh." Even Nick's adoration for Prosecutor Edgeworth had its limits, it seemed; especially in court.

"I, uh..." What could she even say here? "That is..."

"Can the defense offer any alternative way for the people in Studio Two to have gotten to Studio One and back in fifteen minutes with the path closed off?" Now he was just mocking her. The way Prosecutor Edgeworth's lips curled up, self-satisfied and vicious, made Maya's vision swim. Still, she couldn't refute him.

"Not at this time." Admitting any kind of defeat to him of all people was like pulling teeth. She wanted to spit the words with force, she wanted to tell him off, but she needed to be a professional more than either of those petty, angry feelings.

"Then we can safely assume anyone at Studio Two at the time cannot be a potential suspect and, as such, this witness can be dismissed." Prosecutor Edgeworth gave Maya a sweeping bow, hand against his chest as his fringe brushed the prosecutor's bench. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Manella."

The judge rapped his gavel against his podium once. "Then the witness is dismissed." A bailiff came to escort Sal Manella back to the lobby while the gallery muttered among themselves. After the bailiff returned, the judge turned to Prosecutor Edgeworth with a question. "The missing suit has yet to be found, correct?"

He nodded. "As was said in my opening statement, the police have yet to find a single scrap of the missing suit. Regardless of this fact, the time spent proving the security woman was not the culprit did prove that the suit is heavy and tailored to someone Powers' height, which paints him as the only possible suspect—as the prosecution has asserted from the beginning."

"Nobody asked for all this extra stuff," Maya hissed under her breath. She was starting to get upset enough that she might accrue a penalty just for lip.

Nick sighed and floated next to her, legs crossed. "Calm."

"I'm trying." And she was. It just wasn't working. She was embarrassed, Prosecutor Edgeworth was being irritating, and she hadn't made any headway. She knew—definitively—that her client was innocent. It sucked that nobody else could see what she saw.

"Then talk as little as possible."

"That's the plan." And to supplement that, she sorted her evidence and transcripts, cross-referencing them against her notes. Superfluous information got put in one stack, useful information in another, and she quietly scribbled in the margins of her transcript with stuff from her notebook so she didn't have to keep flipping back and forth between the two.

As she did that, the judge managed to calm down the gallery. Something about how Prosecutor Edgeworth stated things—like they were objective fact but also like he knew better than you—riled more than just her up. "Now, you have a second witness?"

"Yes, Your Honor. Our next witness is a crucial one as he saw the moment of the murder." The gallery quickly became ungovernable again.

"Why now?"

"Well isn't that convenient?"

"Can't wait to see how Powers' lawyer tries to weasel out of this one."

"What a smug asshole. Why is he doing this? It's obvious Powers is innocent."

"Sure, this one witnessed the moment of the murder, and I'm a psychic."

"Order! Order! Order in the court!" Finally the noise died down. The judge fixed Prosecutor Edgeworth with a hard stare. "A witness who was there for the moment the crime was committed?"

"Yes, Your Honor."

"Then the court will take a ten minute recess while the prosecution prepares the next witness." And that was that.

——

"I don't know why I feel like Mr. Monkey being knocked over doesn't matter half as much as Edgeworth is making it out to be..." Nick would be wearing a hole in the floor if he wasn't incorporeal and floating above the ground. He had been pacing the whole recess thus far.

At least he was doing better than Maya, who was furiously chewing on one of her gionbō disasters to keep from running her mouth. Or Will Powers, who looked like he was seconds away from crying—although he always had that air about him.

Maya swallowed the food in her mouth and sighed. "So the next witness—"

"That Cody kid, right?" Will Powers continued on after Maya nodded. "I'm...he saw that?"

"From what I got out of him when we talked yesterday, yes. Or something akin to that." Will Powers' face fell but Maya soldiered on regardless, trying to bolster his spirit. "He saw the Steel Samurai beating the bad guy." Vague, but using the same words he had when they'd talked.

Will Powers shrunk in on himself a little, his face falling. "Oh?"

"I don't know exactly what he saw but, as Gumshoe said, his mom is in the courtroom and he trusts me. I won't push too hard." Hopefully she won't have to.

"That's not— I'm worried and all but not just about that..." He wrung the napkin in his hand—a new one, the old shredded paper in the trash can in the lobby—as he spoke. "The detective said that the prosecutor won't be mean or anything but—"

"He won't." The conviction Nick has for Prosecutor Edgeworth's character—in spite of how little evidence Maya has seen to support his beliefs—continued to be astounding. Irritating, sure, and baffling, but astounding.

"I trust Prosecutor Edgeworth to at least be professional about this, if nothing else." She doesn't like the man, but she does at least know he's capable of being an adult about things in court. For the most part.

Will Powers wrung his napkin some more. "If - if you say so. It's just...I'm worried. For the kid."

"Cody is...he's pretty tenacious. And stubborn."

"He's a kid," Will Powers reiterated.

"I know." She didn't have anything else to say that would assuage his fears. Being in court was...rough, especially if you were there for a murder trial. Cody's mom being there and Gumshoe reassuring her that Prosecutor Edgeworth was going to be civil and maybe even kind did wonders to ease her anxiety about the situation but it didn't change the fact that a small child—a child Pearl's age—was going to have to talk about seeing a murder. She was going to have to pry the details from him.

It made her more than a little nauseous.

"You're going to be fine." Nick's quiet affirmation startled Maya. "Like you said: he's not alone, both you and Edgeworth will work to soften things, and you just need him to talk about it so you can understand. Yes, he's young, but we've taken every precaution we can to assure that he's treated with care and respect. Even the judge, harsh as he can be, will be watching to make sure Cody is safe and comfortable."

"What about the gallery?" Will Powers wrung the napkin in his grip. "They're already so loud and - and they're vocal about their opinions and—"

"Powers-san." Maya cut him off. He blinked wet eyes at her, mouth wobbling as he closed it with a snap. "Don't pay the gallery any mind. Remember that they're fans first and foremost, but not of you. Law is a spectacle here. The fame of your case—of it being a trial about the Steel Samurai—is a draw, but it's just more fuel on the fire. What they want, more than the truth, is a show and, especially because Cody is a young child, it's likely the bailiffs will crack down on things like flash photography and filming with more impunity."

Nick watched her talk with pride in his eyes. She didn't know why—she was just telling her client the truth, even if it was to assuage his fears—but he seemed immensely proud of her.

"O-oh..."

"And more than that, the judge will not allow them to get loud about him." That was an assumption at best but, knowing how no-nonsense the judge was and how small Cody was, was a fair assumption to make. "If they start to get rowdy, they will be told to shut up or get out."

"Not in so many words but..." Nick snorted.

That finally did the trick. Whatever knot of fear and anxiety was tangled in Will Powers came undone and he started to relax a little.

"Thank you again."

"For?"

"Being my lawyer." What an odd thing to thank her for.

"You're welcome?" What else could she say? Oh, wait. "One more thing!" Will Powers blinked at her in confusion but she quickly continued her thought. "Cody is a huge Steel Samurai fan. He hasn't missed a live show, takes photos all the time, and that's part of why he snuck onto the campus to watch you film. If you think he's worried or stressed, you'd be one of the best people to assure him things will be alright."

"Me?" Maya had almost forgotten that Will Powers had a complex regarding how he looked. Still, the boy had been sneaking into Global Studios to watch filming. He had to know what the Steel Samurai looked like underneath the mask. "I-if you say so?"

"I promise. It'll work." Will Powers nodded.

——

Cody Hackins was so small. The witness stand was made for adults of a moderately average height, not young children, and the top of his chonmage cap barely poked out over the top of the witness stand, his eyes just below that.

Maya had to swallow a wave of nausea as her anxious brain superimposed Pearl there instead of Cody.

"Can a bailiff retrieve one of the milk crates from the back for our witness?" Prosecutor Edgeworth curtly waved down a bailiff, who nodded and scuttled off towards the back, returning with the aforementioned milk crate.

With a bit of a boost, Cody's head was above the witness stand at last and he peered out at the courtroom with a muddy mix of emotions on his face. Maya could see him fiddling with his camera's flash trigger, even as he scowled at Prosecutor Edgeworth. And when his eyes caught on Maya, his shoulders relaxed a little and a faint smirk appeared on his mouth.

She was helping. He did trust her.

Cody's mom watched him intently, her face drawn in a very serious way. Maya couldn't blame her.

Everything about this was tense and somewhat miserable.

"This is our young witness, is it not?" The judge asked. As always, his voice was projected out into the courtroom with skill, but there was a certain soft edge to it now, as though he was being conscious of Cody's age and possible mental state. "The one who saw the moment of the crime?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Prosecutor Edgeworth bowed to the judge, the action lacking a fair amount of the usual smug vitriol it often had. "His mother is in the stands at this very moment and did give her consent for both our earlier questioning and his being brought to testify here and now."

"Young man," the judge turned his attention to Cody, "Do you know why you are here?"

Cody played with his camera. "Yeah."

"And do you know what it is you need to do today?"

"Yeah."

"Then know this: I will not allow any heckling or harassing of this young man in the slightest. If I hear one peep out of anyone in the gallery, you will be forcibly removed and issued a fine, is that clear?"

"Immediately putting his foot down." Nick sounded proud. "Good old judge. Love the guy." Maya did too.

Muttering assent made its way through the gallery, begrudgingly in some places and adamant in others, but the gallery seemed to get the gist. Maya and Prosecutor Edgeworth and Will Powers were fair game for complaints and other such statements, but Cody was not.

Thank the Founder. Maya knitted and un-knitted her fingers beneath the defense's bench. Thank the Founder that the judge is a good man who suffers as few fools as he can. She couldn't say he suffers no fools due to the state of the courts but...he was relatively good at stopping nonsense in its tracks—even if it was her nonsense meant to save her client.

"Good. Now, Prosecution? You may begin."

"Witness," Prosecutor Edgeworth turned to face Cody, his normally stern voice a touch less sharp, "what is your name and grade in school?"

Cody glared at him, remaining adamantly silent.

"Witness—" His tone took a sharp edge of frustration, mouth thinning as he tried to get Cody to answer him.

"You think just coz you're an adult you can boss me around?" His audacity caused a wave of tittering laughter to pass through the gallery, quickly squashed by hushes from other gallery members. "Why should I? You're asking a lot of me right now." He was fiddling with his camera rather aggressively.

He's nervous, Maya realized. Or, more than nervous; he's scared.

"Cody?" Maya pressed, drawing his attention to her side of the courtroom. As he turned to look at her, his gaze caught on his mom and something in her expression must have meant something to him because his nerves seemed to ease a little. "Remember what I said?"

A shaky smile crossed his face and he nodded at her. Then he turned back to face Prosecutor Edgeworth and clearly said, "Cody Hackins. I'm in second grade."

Maya fought the urge to smirk at the prosecution.

"Thank you." The words were delivered as though someone was holding Prosecutor Edgeworth at weapon-point, through his teeth with resignation. "Can you please recount— that is, can you please tell the court what you saw the day of the murder?"

"For someone who has a reputation for being a demon," Nick mused, "Edgeworth is really trying his best to be gentle." At Maya's raised eyebrow he elaborated, "I didn't say he was good at it, just that he's trying."

True. She couldn't fault him for trying.

"The court meaning, what? You and the old bearded guy over there and Maya?" Cody sniffed at Prosecutor Edgeworth. "Is that it?"

From where she was standing, Maya had the perfect view of both Cody's mom—her expression tightening, shaking her head ever-so-slightly as to tell off her son for his attitude—and Prosecutor Edgeworth. Neither of them looked particularly pleased by what Cody was saying or how he was choosing to say it.

The judge, on the other hand, seemed nonplussed. "I'd prefer 'bearded gentleman' to 'old bearded guy' myself."

"Yes." The word was hissed through clenched teeth. Maya was a little worried he might hurt himself. "When I or the defense refer to 'the court', we mean ourselves, the judge, and the gallery."

"Nice of him to explain at least."

Cody nodded, seemingly satisfied with what he was told. "Gotcha. I can do that."

"May I first ask why the witness has a camera on his person?" The judge cast a stern frown at Prosecutor Edgeworth, who kept his cool demeanor even though he must be feeling shame. "You, of all people, should know the court's rule regarding flash photography."

"Of course, Your Honor, but the witness refused to testify unless he had this or his replica weapon. As it was the lesser of two hazards, and he swore he wouldn't be taking any photographs, the prosecution determined it would be a negligible bending of the rules."

Nick leaned in towards Maya. "He wanted to keep them both, Edgeworth said no but couldn't get him to give them up so he stopped fighting so hard." A fair assumption that painted the whole exchange as a farce. Really, the idea made Maya smile.

Go Cody.

"I suppose since he isn't taking any photographs," the judge maintained stern eye-contact with Cody, who fiddled with the flash, "then I must agree with you. It's perfectly harmless. Do inform myself next time this occurs, however."

"Of course, Your Honor." Prosecutor Edgeworth bowed and that was that.

"Now, witness, your testimony if you please?"

Cody nodded, took a deep breath, then began to speak.

"I snuck in coz it was a rehearsal day. There's a loose vent that's just the right size for kids like me and I just slipped in, then hid in the woods to avoid the security lady." He chewed on his lip and fiddled with the flash of his camera, thinking. "Got lost for a bit, maybe thirty minutes or whatever? Then I saw the Steel Samurai walking and I followed him! There was a bad guy and the Steel Samurai beat him, easy, like he always does! Would've been cool if I got a shot but I didn't. Then I went home coz it was too late."

"Why is he being so vague?" Nick frowned at Cody. He was asking what Maya was thinking. "Yesterday we got more detail out of him than now. Did Edgeworth coach him?"

"Would Prosecutor Edgeworth coach a child?" It was a fair question.

Nick shook his head, face pinched in concentration. "I don't think he would so why—?"

Maya took the transcript and glanced down at it in comparison to her notes from yesterday. Cross-examination time. "Cody?" His attention snapped to her, his nervous fidgeting stopping entirely. "You said you got lost for about thirty minutes? Do you remember what time you were in the woods?"

"Uh...the rehearsal was at five and I wanted to make sure I could get in, coz Studio One is locked with the card readers, so I think two or so?" That matched with what he said yesterday.

"Why'd you go into the woods?"

Cody stared at her, confused. "To avoid the security lady, like I said. I've been to Global Studios before but always she tends to get me in the end. I figured she would have a harder time catching me if I wasn't on the main path."

Fair enough. "And how'd you get into the woods? Was it by the Employee Lounge or further down the path?"

"There's an easy fence to hop near Mr. Monkey that you can scramble over to get to the studio lots." And, if he had gone past there, he would've had his picture taken by the security system. "So I went there."

"Is there a point to the defense's line of questioning?" Prosecutor Edgeworth cut in, curtly sneering at Maya. "If not, then it's a waste of the court's time and should cease."

"I simply wanted to make sure that Cody's testimony matches the evidence we have thus far. Both his and Oldbag's testimony place him on the main path sometime around two, corroborated by the missing photograph." Maya didn't waver. "But, if the prosecution is so pressed for time, then allow me to expedite my questioning."

Cody's eyes sparkled, seemingly delighted by how vicious Maya was being. Maybe now he realized why she said that being in court was a little like the combat in Steel Samurai.

Nick, on the other hand, just sighed fondly and rolled his blank eyes.

"Cody, yesterday you told me that you saw the Steel Samurai beat the Evil Magistrate." Careful, quiet, soothing. Maya didn't want to upset him or scare him but this was important. "Today you were a lot less detailed but something stood out to me: you said you didn't take a photograph."

"Y-yeah?" Immediately, Cody began to tense up. "What about that?"

"You wouldn't pass up an opportunity to take a photograph of the finishing blow, would you?" The Path to Glory was a testament to that. He was dedicated to documenting the Steel Samurai's victories. "And you don't like being without your camera. I think you're not telling the whole truth here."

"I—"

Maya tried to communicate that she was on his side with only her eyes. They'd had their little heart-to-heart yesterday and, sure, one day chatting with a kid wouldn't make him one-hundred-percent trust her, but it did help.

Cody fiddled with the flash, refusing to raise his eyes from the floor of the courtroom. "...yeah. I tried to, anyway."

Prosecutor Edgeworth's face pinched, brow drawing tight as he stared at Cody. "And you decided to lie about it? Why?"

For all he had been strong and resolute, Cody was just a child and, for the briefest of moments, a little of that shone through as his mouth wobbled. "I...look, I just did, okay? I know I wasn't supposed to but I did."

"Cody," Maya drew his attention again, "why don't you tell the court more about what you saw?" His mouth pressed into a thin line, the water in his eyes clearing a little, and he nodded. He looked so timid in that moment that Maya wanted to rush over and sweep him into a hug and assure him things would be okay.

She couldn't and, despite his age and their weird friendship-rivalry thing, it would be inappropriate of her, but she wanted to nonetheless.

"Alright." Deep breath in, deep breath out. "So the Steel Samurai was there and the - the bad guy came out. They fought and the Steel Samurai won, like he always does. The bad guy fell down and stopped moving!" Something about his tone rang false and tense. "I just...couldn't snap a photo is all..." He looked down at the stand, fiddling with the flash on his camera.

Beside the judge, Cody's mom watched her son with a terse sort of concern painting her features. Her hands were folded in her lap but Maya could see that she was fighting the same urge to comfort him. She met Maya's gaze and smiled, a thin, grateful thing.

"You're doing good," Nick assured her.

It's not Pearl. It's not Pearl. It's not Pearl.

Maya felt surprisingly homesick.

Accepting the transcript, Maya flipped to the part that caught her attention. "You said the Steel Samurai fought the bad guy, I assume you mean the Evil Magistrate?"

Cody nodded, though he wasn't making eye-contact with her, continuing to fiddle with his camera. "I guess it was. I couldn't see too well coz of the woods. And I was trying to—" He cut himself off, mouth clattering closed.

Odd.

"So why didn't you take a photo?" Maya pressed; her voice even, although she felt like she was a wound spring mere seconds from snapping. "Like I brought up before: you have a tradition of making sure you get the finishing blows at all the live performances. Why was this time any different?"

"Because it was!" Cody snapped, then withdrew. "Sorry." He must've seen something in his mom's expression because he immediately apologized. "I shouldn't yell."

"Thank you for apologizing." Maya inclined her head.

"Young man," the judge spoke up, "I understand this is a stressful situation but do try and be mindful of your manners."

"Yeah, I will..." Even a reminder to be polite was met with rolled eyes and a half-hearted agreement.

"You have to at least appreciate his drive."

Maya shot Nick a quick look before turning back to Cody. "Why couldn't you take your victory photo?"

"I...my camera."

"Your camera?" Prosecutor Edgeworth's question carried a degree of incredulity with it, biting and bitter. "What about your camera prevented you from taking a photo? It's a fairly simple digital camera, even someone your age could use it with no issue."

Cody bristled. "Yeah, well, it's new. I was having issues with the shutter."

"If I may?" Everyone turned their attention to the judge, who was looking slightly confused. "Can someone explain to me what the importance of his camera being digital is?"

"Oh, right," Nick sighed, laughing a bit, "forgot how old this guy is."

He had to be kidding. Thankfully, Prosecutor Edgeworth was a teacher's pet. "A digital camera is a camera that takes digital photographs instead of creating negatives on a physical film roll. It stores the photographs on a memory card and that card's data can be transferred to a computer to print or email the photographs to whomever. They're significantly more convenient and easy to use, as there's no fear of exposing the film and ruining your shots, nor do you have to pay for development."

"Ah, thank you." The judge seemed mollified by his explanation. He nodded and gestured with one hand. "You may continue."

Nick continued to laugh as he floated gently by Cody. It took everything Maya had to not try and swat him out of the air. Honestly, of all the times to be a dork.

"So you, what, couldn't get the shutter to open?" Maya pressed.

"Yeah. I wanted a picture but—" The way he said that felt wrong, not an outright lie, but something adjacent to it. Maya could recognize the way that Cody tilted his head, pulled his camera close for comfort, curled in on himself. He wasn't telling the truth because he was afraid. Or, no, maybe not just afraid. Maybe something else. "I just saw the start and the end of it. Not the finishing blow."

"Did you get a good look at the bad guy, the one the Steel Samurai beat?" Simple words, simple questions. Don't push too hard. "Everyone says it was the Evil Magistrate but we're assuming because of Jack Hammer."

"Objection!" Prosecutor Edgeworth's sharp voice cut across the courtroom, startling Maya and Cody equally. He glared at her, hand flat on the prosecution's bench. "The defense will refrain from engaging in pointless suppositions that might confuse or influence the witness!" She'd overstepped, forgotten where she was and who she was up against.

"Sustained. The defense should be more mindful." She couldn't even protest—not that she wanted to.

"Yes, Your Honor." Maya turned back to Cody, who still looked on-edge. "Cody?"

"Yeah?"

What about his testimony felt weird? What detail was niggling at the back of her mind, tickling the bits of her that remembered being an accident-prone kid who reflexively lied to cover up her mistakes? What part of this was wrong, but not obviously so?

She needed more information. "Can you explain more about what was happening between you seeing the fight start and end? In more detail, please?"

"I've already talked about it!" His whining, while petulant on the surface, felt more genuine than his bravado. She was getting close, she could tell, but what was she close to? Would she even want to know? Would forcing Cody to recount the truth be a good thing?

"Witness, you're obligated by law to—"

Cody cut Prosecutor Edgeworth off before he could finish chiding him. "Yeah, well the law sucks!"

"Young man," the judge's soft tone belied steel beneath that, a stern grandfather demanding attention when pushed too far.

Next to him, Cody's mom actually spoke aloud so he could hear her. "You promised, didn't you?" Cody shrank in the witness stand. A frustrated flush crossed his face but he nodded. "Then do as you're told. The truth."

"It's alright." Maya coaxed, giving him a smile she hoped read as reassuring. "Remember that only I'm allowed to make you cry, right? I'm your rival."

Whether or not that helped, Cody pulled himself together again and looked over at Prosecutor Edgeworth. "Sorry. I'll, uh, sorry..."

"Thank you." Maybe Maya was seeing things but it almost looked like Prosecutor Edgeworth was relieved or happy or something like that. He was smiling a bit—the weird smile he did when he thought he was winning, only less sharp—but who could say? Regardless, Cody took a breath and started his third testimony of the trial.

"It was a birthday gift. The camera, I mean. Mom got it for me since I kept borrowing hers for the shows. But it's so new I just... Anyway, the Steel Samurai started fighting and I was struggling with the shutter. When I finally figured it out, the fight was over and the Steel Samurai won!" He grinned. "But, uh, yeah. That's why I don't have a photo, even if I really really wanted one."

"He's just...being weirdly vague." Nick pointed out from his spot at her shoulder. "Yesterday he wouldn't shut up about every minute detail about the live shows. Now he just...isn't?"

"I know." 'The Steel Samurai won' was a definite statement if you didn't know how much Cody cared about the finer details of the world of the show. "If he really saw the fight, however little he might have, then he should have more to say." She just hoped she was wrong. Prayed, even.

She didn't want to be right because it would complicate things even more. Because, unlike the rest of the court, she had an idea as to who was really in the Steel Samurai costume that day.

Prosecutor Edgeworth also seemed somewhat bothered by Cody's testimony. His usual stern face was creased in new ways, his eyes hooded and dark but not angry.

Accepting the transcript, Maya turned to Cody and took a deep breath, pasting on a friendly smile. "Cody, you said the Steel Samurai was victorious, didn't you?"

"Yeah?"

"How did he win? You didn't see the finishing blow, but you did see some of the fight. Did he use Iron Boar Charge? Or was it more of a flourish like Rising Steel Hawk?"

Nick rolled his eyes so hard he might've given himself a headache if he could still feel pain. "Nerd."

Maya wasn't going to engage with him. Not now. She had to focus on coaxing the truth out of Cody and, while it seemed odd, this was her plan of attack.

Cody's nose wrinkled. "Uh...I mean, I didn't see much. It was more like uh...a Samurai Chop and a Samurai Kick?" That was nothing. Less than nothing, even.

Maya's face fell with her heart, deep into her stomach. "Oh? Are you sure?" She wanted to give him an out, a way to prove her wrong.

"Y-yeah." He didn't.

Across the courtroom, Prosecutor Edgeworth was also grimacing. He seemed to have caught on to what she was trying to get at and, while he was in his right to object to her methods, he remained silent.

Why wasn't he stopping her? Didn't he want Will Powers found guilty?

It didn't matter. What mattered was Cody and the Steel Samurai and his camera.

"Cody, yesterday you gave me your Path to Glory." More for the court than Cody, she explained what she meant. "It's really, really cool; a collection of every victory blow from every live show you've ever been to. It also acts as a record of your devotion to the Steel Samurai. That's why I'm disappointed in you."

"Huh?" Pink crept across the bridge of his nose and his cheeks. "Huh?!"

"A real fan would know what moves the Steel Samurai was using in his fight and could tell the court. The fact that you're not means one of two things: either you're not a real fan—"

"Hey!"

"—or you're lying again." For the first time since Cody was put on the stand, the gallery erupted with noise, roaring in surprise and disbelief. Like the gallery, the judge also seemed startled by this accusation.

The judge's gavel rang out across the courtroom, raps echoing with finality. "Defense?" What are you getting at, he didn't say, but Maya was capable of picking up on his unspoken question.

"The witness— Cody is a huge fan of the show. Any fan would love the chance to take a photograph of the moment the Steel Samurai dealt a final blow to the Evil Magistrate, even if the circumstances weren't what they appeared. New camera or not, the vague way he's speaking about specifics regarding the struggle between the two leads me to believe that Cody is withholding information. Namely," and she really really didn't want to do this, "that he did take a photograph but that something about it upset him enough he'd rather not admit it ever happened to begin with."

Cody shrank on the witness stand. He pulled the brim of his chonmage cap down over his eyes some more and wouldn't meet Maya's gaze. She didn't blame him. This was the hard part. This was why she said she was the only one who was allowed to make him cry.

"Cody." He still didn't look at her. "Cody, you can't withhold information like this. Even if it's scary, even if it's upsetting, I need you to tell the truth."

He mumbled something under his breath, inaudible. Face screwed in frustration—or something closer to anguish—he just fiddled with his camera some more. Maya slammed her hand on the defense's bench.

"Cody!" He jumped, squeaking in fright. Maya choked down the guilt. "You saw something you're not admitting. You took a photo that day, didn't you?"

"I—"

"Does the defense enjoy bullying small children?" Prosecutor Edgeworth chose that moment to cut in, his smug tone sending irritable bristles up Maya' spine. "Yelling at him will accomplish nothing, you know. Weren't you the one who demanded I be delicate with him? Or do you not care if this exposes your hypocrisy to the wider public?"

It wasn't the same. She didn't enjoy this like he might. He was trying to get under her skin, make her lose her composure even more.

It was working.

"Deep breaths." Nick's voice was an anchor, a lifeline that Maya grabbed ahold of to haul her out of the mires of her mind. "In, hold, out. He's trying to get a rise out of you but he isn't wrong. You have to ease up." If Nick was saying so then it had to be true.

Maya grit her teeth and composed herself again. She needed to be collected and put together. She couldn't lose now, not so close to the finish line.

One more day. If she had one more day, one piece of evidence, she could prove Will Powers' innocence. She just needed to find the right place to hand over the sleeping pills.

Cody continued to play with his camera, eyes locked on the floor. Next to him, Will Powers wrung out his napkin like it offended him somehow. The judge watched her with a patient sort of neutrality. Next to him, Cody's mom stared at her son, expression indescribable, skin pale and drawn. Maya took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled.

Right.

"You took a photo, didn't you?" Slow. Steady. Careful.

Cody finally—finally—looked at her. His eyes were puffy, the way that said he was holding back tears, but not frightened. Angry, perhaps, or resolute, but he wasn't scared.

"Yes or no; did you take a photo of the fight?" He nodded. Maya could feel her stomach twist into a knot. She was right. She was right. Founder be merciful, she was right about what had happened. Now she just had to prove it.

Across the courtroom, Prosecutor Edgeworth gripped his own bench like he wanted to upend it but he didn't speak out again. His pale skin was even paler, waxy and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. He was unhappy with what was being said and yet—

No reason to bother with him. Cody. The truth. Maya asked him her next question. "Did you delete the photo?" He nodded. "Would you tell us why?" He shook his head. "Then can I guess? Tell me if I get anything wrong, okay Cody?" Another nod.

This was it.

"The Steel Samurai and the bad guy fought. You had some trouble with your camera so you missed the scuffle, but you did get a photograph of the finishing blow. However, you deleted it, which means it was a bad photo." Cody didn't say a word. So far, so good. She just hoped she could get the rest of the way through without becoming upset herself. "The only thing that would make a photo of the Steel Samurai bad is if he didn't win. The reason you deleted it is because the victor was the bad guy, am I right?"

Cody froze, face wrenching into a piteous expression. His eyes watered, mouth wobbling, but at long last he nodded. Once.

Maya let out the breath she'd been holding.

The gallery exploded and Cody started crying.

"Wait, wasn't the victim Hammer? He's the Magistrate, isn't he?"

"Is she crazy? She just said the victim killed Powers? That's impossible."

"Why is she getting away with this shit? She's obviously talking out her ass and the kid is playing along."

"Order in the court!" Silence fell, Cody's crying weakening to stuttering hiccups, and the judge looked at Maya quizzically. "Are you insinuating that the victim was the one in the Steel Samurai costume?"

Maya could only nod. "Yes, Your Honor. The person wearing the missing costume was the victim, Jack Hammer."

"You have no proof that Hammer was wearing the costume!" Prosecutor Edgeworth snapped at her. He sounded as horrified as Maya felt but, unlike her, he didn't have the key evidence that sorted the whole mess out.

"I do, actually." She took great satisfaction in watching him reel back in shock and horror. Maya reached into her sash and pulled out the bag containing the sleeping pills. "Yesterday, during my investigation, I came across this bottle of over the counter sleeping pills in the Employee Lounge. I believe that Jack Hammer drugged my client and stole the Steel Samurai costume and Spear so as to frame him."

"This is ludicrous!" Prosecutor Edgeworth leaned forward, practically snarling at Maya from his bench. "Are we supposed to believe you? You could have easily planted it to exonerate your client!"

"Test the plates in the Employee Lounge. One of them will likely come up positive for these drugs." Maya offered the bag to a bailiff, who watched her with unhidden suspicion. "The food hasn't been touched so their placement should reveal where my client was sitting. Additionally, as I wore gloves when handling the evidence, you could also dust the bottle for fingerprints to test my theory."

"And this, what, exonerates your client? The victim being in the Steel Samurai costume while your client napped away in a drugged haze?"

Maya didn't rise to the bait, instead choosing to explain her thought process. "Oldbag said she didn't see Jack Hammer after one. That's on the record, although she assumed that he went to the Studio One lot before recording time to do...something. Additionally, we do have some proof that my client was napping during the time the murder occurred—or at least was napping at all—as the cot in his dressing room was unmade in a way that implies it had been used.

"If Jack Hammer was in the Steel Samurai costume, he would have known to mimic Will Powers' injury as he was one of the few people who saw it happen. That means that, while covered head to toe, he could implicate Powers-san in whatever it was he planned to do as he walked from the Employee Lounge to the studio lot." Maya nodded her head at the bag holding the sleeping pills. "He drugged my client, stole his costume, and tried to make it look like he was the one moving around. For what, I'm unsure of, but the court cannot deny that the facts reveal a strange truth."

Prosecutor Edgeworth continued to glare at Maya but she didn't care. Finally she had the case in a place she felt comfortable with. Sure, she might have to draw it out a little longer, but she was making progress. Slow, steady progress.

"Oh!" Cody speaking up startled everyone, Nick included. Everyone turned their attention to him as he hurriedly flipped through the photos on his camera, the backlight from the display casting stern shadows across his face. "I w-was wondering why he was walking weird!"

"Do you mean limping?"

Cody shook his head at the judge. "No. Not limping. He j-just wasn't walking like the Steel Samurai. It was weird. But - but if it was the guy who's the Evil Magistrate then that makes sense. He's not used to the Steel Samurai's outfit."

Prosecutor Edgeworth looked as though he had developed a migraine. "His gait was off for someone supposedly used to wearing that suit then?"

"If it - if it wasn't actually the Steel Samurai then—" He let out a low cheer, "—yes! Maya! I remembered I h-had another photo from then, coz even if - if I deleted...that one, I took a couple. Fat fingered the button." When prompted, he relinquished his camera to the bailiff near him, who walked the object to Prosecutor Edgeworth and then Maya to see.

On the screen was someone in the Steel Samurai costume, mended Samurai Spear in their hands, in front of a gate marked with a stenciled '2'.

Nick whistled. "Cody really pulled through."

"He sure did." Maya looked back at the young boy on the stand and grinned at him. Louder, she said, "This is incredibly useful, Cody. Thank you."

Cody scrubbed at his nose and eyes and sniffed. "Welcome."

"Enlighten the court as to why this is useful? It seems to be an inconsequential photograph."

Maya gave the judge a quick half-bow. "In the same way that we've been assuming the victim was in his Evil Magistrate costume, like when he was found, we've also been making another incorrect assumption. We have been operating under the false assumption that the murder scene was Studio One, where the body was found." She gave Prosecutor Edgeworth a vicious smirk. "But this photograph shows the Steel Samurai—Jack Hammer—walking to Studio Two." Suddenly Sal Manella and Dee Vasquez's alibis weren't so airtight any more.

The judge blinked at her, confused. "How can you be so sure?"

"The number '2' on the gate here. Both of the gates to the studio lots are numbered and, if you cross-reference the guide map here, you can see that, while the path towards both studio lots starts the same, there is a fork in the path. If this photo is to be believed, then the actual crime scene could have been Studio Two instead of Studio One, which flips this case upside down." Maya beamed up at the judge, the knot in her chest loosening.

Prosecutor Edgeworth, on the other hand, wouldn't let up. "Are you not only suggesting that the victim was the one in the Steel Samurai costume, but also that the crime scene was Studio Two? That's a reach, even for you."

"Hardly." Maya wouldn't let him stop her. Not now. Not when she was starting to see a path forward. "The only people for whom suspicion changes if the crime scene isn't Studio One are Dee Vasquez and Sal Manella. Everyone else was very clear on where they were and their access to the studio lots. Due to the collapse of Mr. Monkey at two fifteen, Studio Two became isolated and getting to and from that lot became near impossible. It's the very same basis for their alibis: if they couldn't leave Studio Two's lot, they couldn't have killed Jack Hammer. Only now, the opposite is true."

"If no one could get to Studio Two's lot, then only the people already there could have killed the victim." The judge seemed to understand what Maya was getting at. His eyes were wide with surprise. It felt like a victory of a sort, even if it wasn't a verdict.

Prosecutor Edgeworth was less impressed. "You're implying the victim walked all the way to his death! Why?"

"As I said regarding the sleeping pills: whatever Jack Hammer did was premeditated. While the defense doesn't currently have any idea or proof to indicate what Jack Hammer had planned, it can't be overlooked that he willingly drugged his coworker and stole his costume to do something." Don't give him an inch or he'll take a mile. "Just because he wound up dead at the end doesn't mean that he's incapable of being the instigator."

Prosecutor Edgeworth scoffed. "You believe whoever killed him did so in self-defense?"

"It makes the most sense with the evidence we have at the moment." And with only one more day to iron out the kinks and determine the truth, self-defense was an easier sell than a collision of murder schemes that culminated in the wrong man dying.

"The defense does raise a good point." The judge nodded, much to Prosecutor Edgeworth's bristling chagrin. "While we do not know why the victim stole the costume or drugged his coworker—or if he even did administer the sleeping pills to the defendant at all—we do know that this is a much more complicated case than at first blush. Court will adjourn for now and reconvene tomorrow. I hope the defense will have a better understanding of motive and reason by then." Maya just nodded at him.

She felt like crying. She did it. She pulled through. Will Powers had one more day for her to figure out the truth of the matter.

"As for the prosecution: re-examine the alibis of those in Studio Two while the police fingerprint the sleeping pills and test the leftovers. Clearly the case thus far has been built on assumptions and we do not want to continue that way. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Prosecutor Edgeworth bowed low. Maya could see his shoulders shaking, likely from tension. He was upset. Maybe that meant she was doing something right for a change.

"Of course, Your Honor." Maya also bowed and court finally adjourned.

#the sheepy writes fic #hallowed be thy unknown #long post #ace attorney #ace attorney spoilers #trials and tribulations spoilers #gyakuten saiban #aa3 spoilers #sorry this is late i was watching the live action film and went ''i should make sure this is posted''#anyway is the aa la movie good? yes and no #i think they should have let miike do all of aa he couldve fixed her (the shit i think could've been better)#they got an ARTHOUSE HORROR AND YAKUZA DIRECTOR for the funny lawyer game and IT WORKED

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