There's a whole lot to be said about this story.
It's certainly got that Ace Attorney feeling to it, what with the chaos and the self-references(Distant Traces of Beauty and Fragrance of Dark Coffee, anyone? I think the others were song refs too...), and it's kept me on the edge of my seat! I know it's been... a while now since the last update, but there's still hope for the future, right?
The new characters have been fun and the ways that the old characters have been introduced and connected is fun! Something about Badd being Apollo's neighbor is really entertaining cause there's just this kinda weird old guy who helps him break into his own apartment sometimes. Bringing in the mysterious other von Karma sibling and having her be... not all there was fun! And Kay! Kay's great and I'm glad she's still around doing things.
As for the new cast, I've got to say that the trio in the center of Songs were not what I expected and yet still things go horribly horribly wrong whenever too many main characters just want to have a life.
I wonder who was found dead in the preview... and why do I have the sinking feeling that Gavin's going to get his turn as defendant? Who's a MAN close to Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl but not the rest(based on the "the man accused of HIS murder")? Edgeworth? God that'd be weird. Larry? Godot?

Wasn't 'Distant Traces of Beauty' Dahlia's theme in T&T.

Wh-what just...Why was this last updated in 2012? I'm seriously considering checking my date settings because all the great stories that show no sign of stopping that are incomplete keep saying thelast update was anywhere between 2009-2013 aka 6-2 years ago!

I LOVED this story so much! Your writing skills ate AMAZING! Although I didn't really like the sad ending to the last case. Is it just me or were there multiple references to the original? "Fragrance of Dark coffee" (Godot's theme), "Distant Traces of Beauty" (Dahlia Hawthorne's theme), and The Defendant dying? (Terry Fawles' case) I loved the whole story. Maybe you can have Apollo showing signs of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)? I was kinda wishing to see Athena Cykes somewhere in here though... Never mind. I'm loving it so far. Keep up the good work! LOL!

Great chapter! When Apollo said 'No it's not okay!' I was remind of Watson from Sherlock :) you have some great ideas and I have loved your story so far.

Just finished reading this, is it going to be finished? I'm mainly asking because well the last update was two years ago...

I Hope you're not thinking in abandoning this fanfic.
I hope you indeed write this last case.
Please?

Hey! Nice story you have going here! Don't stop now though, you have a lot of people waiting for the next chapter! ;) It's amazing how you can come up with all of these cases, I could never imagine thinking all of this up. Congrats! I am normally not very good with reading mysteries or cases because I always look up the ending, however the way you wrote this had me so interested that I just couldn't bring myself to do that! That in and of itself is pretty amazing. I would love to see more Phoenix/Iris moments, as it is my favorite pairing of all time.

OMG, you need to update! I can't wait! This really good!

Man, even the Japans couldn't imagine more "brain$%&king" ending. But I think that Detective Badd should appear more often. About the plot: Fantastic. I'm some kind of expert in such stories and believe me I've just feel like I've played AJ while reading. You're the best!

I always imagined the older von Karma sister as a disappointment to Manfred and rebelled against his ideals instead of the complete opposite, but you have served your purpose well...she's pissing me off to no end and I think it fits her character very well. (You know, if you are interested, a fic on the older von Karma as a disappointment is on this website "Disappointment" by HowObjectionable)
I feel bad for Franziska, though. Living with the fact that your father and sister (possibly at this point) murderers.
And poor Apollo thinks it is all of his fault that the trio of friends died...
You might think I'm crazy or something, but I think I'm starting to ship Apollo and Pearl...I think they're so cute together, especially in this fic. And I don't know if it's just me, Maya seems...jealous of Iris? Or maybe I'm just being delusional (though I'm not big on Phoenix and Maya as much as Klema to write about).
And, oh, my heart melted at the quote about being lucky that two hearts are with you! (I know some German - I had to google translate whatever rest I didn't know)
But anyways, please update soon! :)

I just read this entire thing so far.

AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT.

The investigation chapters were great, and the mesh of characters from the first trilogy and AJ (I haven't actually had a chance to play it, although I want to. But a lot of fans were disappointed by it. It is worth getting?) was perfect.

And I love the trial sections. Not only are they enjoyable to read ("OBJECTION" battles FTW), but they're also formatted well. It makes the cross-examinations very easy to read.

The cases so far are just...OMG, they're great. They really seem like something right out of an Ace Attorney game! But I understand what you're saying with how painful it is to write a mystery-like story when you already know who did it. It pains me to do so, too. (Also, I laughed heartily with the "arrow to the knee" joke. That was perfect.)

This is just amazing. Are you going to be updating anytime soon? I'd love to read more of it, but if you're busy, then I understand.

Hmmmm...Am I the only one sensing Apollo possibly defending Damon Gant for the the murder of Diego Armondo? Because the way I see it one close person to Maya, Nick, and Pearl is Diego, and by my count he would still be in prison for the murder of Misty Fey. Ema loathes one man thats behind bars in Gant. Then again I could be wrong but its an idea. Absolutely fantastic job.

Gah, just gah. Someone call in Mr. Godot/Mr. Armando for an expert opinion on why it is most likely not a suicide via poisoned coffee...

Anyway, I figured earlier on as soon as things started looking suspicious for either von Karma that it wasn't going to be Franziska. I figured that would be a false lead.

But I didn't foresee or guess that the older von Karma would be involved with serial killings.

In a not-so-scientific manner of speaking, Ema has nerves of steel. She was definitely frosty. Though, I have to comment: for being a professional, de Killer seemed a bit below par. Come on, who would blatantly advertise himself via his license plate? Then again, this is the world of Ace Attorney...
But bah, Trucy should feel very fortunate that she got out of there in the first place and especially that she got out of there alive. De Killer could've always tried pulling another stunt like he did in State vs Engarde: trying to pull a kidnapping.

Anyway, so I'm assuming based on your notes at the end, that this poisoning will have some ramifications later on, or rather, significant ramifications. Perhaps a line of consideration for this court is to consider just closing most if not all food vending services on the premises, or at least, stop serving coffee. Two coffee poisonings is two too many in that courthouse's history now.

But alas, I think that's an irrelevant tangent to your plot.

I enjoyed how you managed to blend both narrative and game elements in this fic. Though I noticed that chapters tended to be a bit short, but meh, long or short doesn't really matter as long as the plot points and details are present.

Well, I'm looking forward to more, whenever you managed to start the next case...which would be case 4 in your fic right? (/rhetorical question)

Let's see: Case 1 with Pearl as defendant.
Case 2 with Ron deLite and Kay Faraday.
Now, I just finished reading case 3 with Ruka Mills, an oc, as defendant.
So, if you're following typical Ace Attorney game patterns, then that means the next case if/when you post it, will be the finale, the culminating case of your fic. So that means for the next case, the stakes are about to soar even higher (unless you make this a five-case game, seeing how T&T sets the most recent canon precedent of a five-case game with PW:AA setting the original precedent, though it did so by having an added case [my recollection of precedents may be off due to me not double-checking how many cases were in the Ace Attorney Investigations spin off(s)].

Anyway, until next time,
JF

Is it a bad sign when the defense gets into an objection match between its members?

Nonetheless, I'd say the theme for this chapter is the more objections the merrier.

JF