My first multichapter story on fan fiction!

There's a lot of people I'd like to thank for this story

Thanks to Elizabeth A. for helping me come up with the idea! We had lots of fun planning this out

Thanks to my 10-year-old cousin for listening to me tell this and for the support! And thanks to my other friends for their comments and support, too.

The von Karma family are my favorite Ace Attorney characters. I apologize to them for what's about to happen to them.

Enjoy the story!

**UPDATE** I forgot to mention earlier, this takes place around the time of the flashback case in Investigations, so Franziska is 13 and everyone else is basically a lot younger. Thank you to those who reviewed for reminding me.

Manfred von Karma squinted his eyes in annoyance. Quick and heavy footsteps pounded loudly around him as Franziska, his daughter, and Miles Edgeworth, his adopted son, ran around the house collecting items they had forgotten to pack. They should have packed perfectly, and had everything they needed. Apparently, he needed to be stricter with them.

"I'm ready now, Papa!" Franziska said coming to a halt before him, slightly panting from running down the stairs. Manfred noticed she was hiding her riding crop behind her back, but didn't comment.

"Tell Miles to hurry up. We have to leave on time, with or without him."

"Yes, Papa!" Franziska ran up the stairs, loudly again, much to his frustration, yelling out "Little Broooother!" As she did so.

A minute passed before both Franziska and Miles thudded down the stairs. It was evident that Franziska had used her riding crop on Miles, as he had a large red mark on his face. But Miles Edgeworth was to be tortured even further as Franziska ran down the stairs with him, pulling his ear as she did so.

"All ready, sir," Edgeworth said with gritted teeth.

"Good. It will be a long drive to the Prosecuting Convention, and we want to arrive on time. Don't keep the driver waiting," Manfred stated. And with that, the three of them were off.

A couple of hours had passed in the car. The movement of the vehicle and the lack of interesting scenery and activity had quickly lulled Franziska nearly to sleep. She has prepared for this, of course, and took out her pillow and laid her head upon it. Franziska was about to fall asleep when-

"Get up. Cars are not for sleeping."

Franziska immediately lifted her head in a panicked daze. Her father was glaring at her. She sheepishly smoothed her hair and sat up. Miles Edgeworth, the fool, smirked at her and she glared at him.

But just a few minutes later, Franziska realized her eyes were closed. That the last thing she realized before-

"Aaaaah!" Franziska jolted- literally, as Manfred was holding a stun gun in his hand, giving her an angry glare.

"I told you to stay awake," was all he said.

This time, Edgeworth was looking at her pityingly. Franziska wasn't sure whether she despised his mockery or pity more. She slapped him on the arm, discharging her electricity to him painfully. "Ow!" Edgeworth jerked away. Franziska grinned, while Manfred said nothing.

Thankfully, they stopped to take a break to stretch, use the bathroom, and, if Manfred allowed it, buy food.

Edgeworth walked around the store, looking for a caffeinated drink so as to not repeat Franziska's mistake.

Apparently, the store didn't sell tea, so Edgeworth took a bottle of soda. He was about to ask Manfred if he could buy it, when his had drifted to his pocket and felt some money of his own. Edgeworth smiled to himself. If ever he wanted to rebel against Manfred von Karma, no matter how small, now was his chance. He purchased a small bottle of Pepsi Max and drank it quickly. I wonder why they call it Pepsi Max, he thought. What makes it different from regular Pepsi?

Edgeworth was about to find out.

"Stop twitching," Manfred commanded Edgeworth. Edgeworth couldn't help it. This car ride was not letting him MOVE- though Edgeworth had no idea why he had the sudden desire to do so.

"Little Brother," Franziska said with a frown.

"What is it?" He said, losing a little of his composure and snapping at her.

"Your leg is shaking and I want it to stop."

His leg is-? So it was. He stilled his leg, with some difficultly. This was odd, why was he so hyper and irritable? He wasn't during the previous section of the trip. Edgeworth had to think this through, logically. Even if his brain felt as jittery and hyper as he was.

He was in a bad mood previously, he recalled. Manfred had been lecturing him about packing and sent Franziska to fetch him. She had promptly yelled at him, and when he had calmly offered an explanation, she had gotten frustrated (which wasn't that hard to do) and smacked him with her damned riding crop and pulled his ear down the stairs. Then, the car ride was fine, and a little amusing, until Franziska had shocked him with her leftover electricity. He had felt sorry for her until she had done that.

Then the soda...the mystery of the Pepsi Max. Manfred never let them have soda or sweets...Edgeworth had to get something.

Wait a moment, Edgeworth thought. Hyperactivity, irritability- they were all caused by caffeine. Edgeworth realized with horror just how much of it he had consumed. Trying to avoid Franziska's mistake had resulted in one of his own of the opposite nature. Just brilliant, he thought scathingly. This would be a very long drive.

Edgeworth and Franziska were practically dying to get to the next stop. The second the car doors unlocked, both of them flung open their doors.

Edgeworth ran a lap around the rest stop, just to burn off his energy. He kept scowling, still bitter over how his last plan for passive-aggressive revenge had backfired so badly on him. He walked in the convenience store, hanging his head in defeat. If only there was another way...

"Miles."

Edgeworth looked up. Manfred was addressing him.

"Yes, sir?"

"Go fetch some hand sanitizer." Without another word, Manfred walked away.

Edgeworth briefly wondered why Manfred wanted hand sanitizer before pushing the question away and starting to look around the store for hand sanitizer.

Soon, he had successfully located it, and started to think about what kind of hand sanitizer to get Manfred, since there seemed to be a wide variety of different types. Edgeworth scanned over the options, and soon found one that he would have loved to have given Manfred, just to see the look on his face. But Edgeworth knew that Manfred would be suspicious of it and punish him...unless...

Edgeworth grabbed every other brand of hand sanitizer and his them on a different shelf, just to be safe. Then, he grabbed his selection for Manfred, and, trying not to smile, began to look for him.

"Sir," Edgeworth said, coming to a halt in front of Manfred.

"What is it, boy?" Manfred replied.

Edgeworth held out his selection in his hand. "I found some hand sanitizer."

Manfred glanced at Edgeworth's choice, then continued to stare at it in disbelief.

"It" being a small, light pink, strawberry-scented bottle of Hello Kitty hand sanitizer.

"This was the only kind they had, sir," Edgeworth explained, trying very hard to contain his laughter.

Silently, Manfred walked to the section with hand sanitizer. Sure enough, thanks to Edgeworth's foresight, no other hand sanitizer bottles were in sight. With a sigh, Manfred took the Hello Kitty hand sanitizer to the checkout, purchased it, and squirted some onto his hands.

"This is the most boring thing ever," Franziska muttered once everyone had returned to the car. She was gazing out the window, her cheek pressed against the window, looking outside of the car with a glare as if the scenery had insulted her.

Edgeworth was slightly more entertained after his joke on Manfred, but sat in silence. Franziska shifted in her seat and frowned. "Papa, why do you have...Hello Kitty hand sanitizer?"

It took all of Edgeworth's composure not to burst out laughing right then and there.

"Don't question it," Manfred snapped.

"But..." Franziska still looked highly confused. She glared at Edgeworth, wondering if he knew anything. Edgeworth simply shrugged and shook his head.

"I said don't question it," Manfred raised his voice slightly.

Franziska shrank back in her seat. "Yes, Papa," she said. Franziska glared at Edgeworth, much to his annoyance.

'What?!' He whispered to her.

Franziska simply whispered back 'Your face looks foolish.'

Oh, now she was asking for it. 'My face is perfectly functional, or can you not tell the difference?' Edgeworth challenged her.

'Yes, perfectly functional for foolishness,' she replied with a snide expression. Edgeworth threw his hands up. 'The sooner this drive is over, the better.' Franziska smirked.

'Says the one named after American units of measurement.'

"Stop your foolish whispering at once," Manfred barked. The two adolescents quieted instantly. "We're finally at our hotel."