Apollo lifted his eyes from the Autopsy Report. He had been leafing through it when his phone on his desk started vibrating and playing the Steel Samurai theme ring tone.

I swear, I need to change the passcode on my phone every other week to keep Trucy out of it, he thought with a sigh as he reached for his phone, she really needs to stop changing the ringtone, too. It stopped being funny the first time…

Glancing down at the caller ID, he recognized Ema Skye's phone number.

Oh, good - maybe she managed to get more details on the case, he thought as he answered.

"Hello, this is Apollo Justice-"

"You have a Dungeons and Dragons guild at your office?!" Ema cried on the other end as Apollo held the phone away from his ear.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he said, "Do you have anything else on the case?"

"Just hold on a second, let me finish here!" she said. Apollo rolled his eyes.

Why is it that I always end up with the weirdest co-workers? he asked himself.

"How come you never mentioned it before? I've been trying to find a guild for ages!" she said. Apollo sighed inwardly.

"We've got a pretty large group as it is," he said, "I mean, it's the entire agency, Pearl, Edgeworth and his assistant, Prosecutor Gavin-"

"Wait, the Glimmerous Fop is in your guild?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just said that," Apollo said, scribbling a note on the file.

"How the heck did he get in? Has he even played before?" she asked.

"Athena invited everyone. Go be annoyed at her, not me," he said, "Now could you please tell me if you have any more information on the case? Because I kinda need to get back to work."

There was a long stretch of silence.

"Ms. Skye?" he said. No answer. He pulled the phone away from his ear to see that she had hung up on him.

You've got to be kidding me, he thought with a groan, sinking back into his chair as he stared at the ceiling.

"Hey, Apollo?" Athena said. Apollo glanced up from his desk to where his co-worker was on the sofa.

"What?" he said.

"Do you know why I have over twenty texts, voicemails, and missed calls from Detective Skye?" she asked, "Did your phone die or something when she was trying to send you more evidence?"

"Believe me, if that was the case, I'd be much more enthusiastic." He sighed.

"… What the..?" she muttered, eyes narrowing as she tapped and swiped at the screen.

"Y'know, I think I should be going now," Apollo said, moving towards the door.

"Huh? Where are you going?" she asked.

"Trucy taped this to my desk this morning," he said, holding up a slip of paper. "Apparently you both made a grocery list for tonight?"

"Oh, yeah, that," Athena said.

"Why exactly do I have to go and get everything?" he asked.

"Because Trucy can't drive and I'm busy plotting," she said.

"…None of us can drive," Apollo pointed out.

"Details, details," she said, waving him off. "Oh, and I'd be quick if I were you," she added.

"Any reason in specific?" he asked.

"It sounds like Detective Skye might be looking for you," she said, once more fiddling with her phone.

Why can't I have normal friends..? he wondered, sighing as he left the office.

—-

"Hey, guys, I'm back-" Apollo started.

"About time! We're all here!" Trucy called.

"Ja, Herr Forehead. You're late," Klavier added.

"Since when have you gotten here on time?" Apollo asked, setting the bags on the receptionist's desk.

"I am fashionably late - that's on time for someone like me," Klavier said. Apollo moved to close the door with a sigh.

It's called fashionably late for a reason, Gavin, he thought.

The door was an inch from closing when it burst open, the side of the door hitting Apollo in the face as he stumbled backwards.

"What're you doing so close to the door Apollo? Jeez, pay attention," Ema said. Apollo tentatively felt the side of his face. "… What are you doing on the floor?" she added.

"I can't feel half of my face," he said. I think my nose might be bleeding.

"Apollo, who are you talking to?" Kay asked.

"Hey, Fop, move over," Ema said, walking past Apollo to where the other were seated.

"Eh? When did you get here, Fräulein?" Klavier asked.

"Just now. Now move over, make room for me," she said.

"Uh… Hello..?" Athena said as Apollo got to his feet.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," he called, "Just internal bleeding. In my face."

His comment appeared to go unnoticed by the rest of his co-workers as he went to fetch ice.

"So are you Detective Skye?" Apollo heard Athena ask, "It's good to finally meet you in person."

"Why exactly are you here?" Edgeworth asked as Apollo stepped back into the room with the ice packet wrapped in a towel against his face.

"I'm here the same reason all of you are - Dungeons and Dragons," she said.

Please no, Apollo thought.

"Huh? I didn't know you'd be into… not science-fiction stuff…" Phoenix said.

"Here's my sheet," she said, handing a set of papers to Athena as Apollo took his seat.

"Clea Koff, human alchemist," Athena read aloud, "True Neutral alignment, follower of Ioun."

"Tch. Another human," Blackquill muttered. Pearl gave him a look of disapproval.

"Humans aren't bad…" she said.

"They're boring," he said; Taka gave a cry of agreement.

"We'll see about that, Animoo boy," she said. Blackquill kept his glare on her long after she started ignoring him.

"Uh, well, I don't know if you'd be able to hop into the campaign tonight," Athena said, "since the group's kinda in the middle of a quest."

"Yeah! We're finding Apollo's brother's killer!" Trucy said.

"Cousin," Blackquill said.

"Anyways," Kay said.

"Well, I don't see reason you couldn't work some magic, Fräulein Cykes," Klavier said, "since you seem capable in your role of creating absolutely verrückt situations and somehow making it work fine."

"I have a lot of experience. Mostly from my real job, actually," Athena said, nodding and looking thoughtful.

"Wait, what?" Phoenix said.

"Yeah, sure, why not!" Athena said, grinning, "I'll make it work. Welcome to the guild, Ms. Skye!"

Save me now, whichever deity it was Heironeous worships… Apollo thought, his antenna drooping with a sigh.

"Anyways, where were we?" Athena said, flipping through her notes, "Ah! Yes!"

Standing before the now-opened double doors that stood in the midst of the trees and overgrowth, the party stared into a tunnel lit by torches or other magic lights. Even from the outside, the scent of mildew and stale air was strong. A few rats skittered outside, causing Zanne to squeak and hide behind Eusapia as they ran past.

"Ew. I guess I should have known this place was gonna be run down judging by the outside, but this is just nasty," Tryn said as they walked further into the building, wrinkling her nose as the smell of something rotten grew.

"Yeah, maybe this wasn't the best idea…. We should have at least waited until morning - I can't see a thing," Zanne said, walking on her toes as to avoid the mold growing in patches on the floor.

"I don't even think there are any windows in here anyways. I don't see any moon light coming from anywhere other then behind us," Keylith said, holding onto Heironeous' hand.

"Can you please let go of me?" he asked for what felt like the tenth time in the past five minutes.

"Nope," she said, tightening her grip, "I'm not letting anything get you while we're in here."

Apollo could have sworn he saw Ema glaring at Athena, but decided not ask about it. He'd rather not have to deal with either of them for the moment.

"Well there is a whole lot of moss and stuff growing on the walls," Eusapia said, "One quick Fire Ball spell and this whole place would be brighter than-"

"If you didn't roast us alive, you would smother us with the smoke," Jin said, "As Keylith mentioned, there don't appear to be any methods of airing the building out."

"But if we keep the doors open -"

"I'm vetoing that course of action. If you attempt to proceed with it, I will personally slay you," Suchiru said. Eusapia laughed nervously, but didn't try to argue further.

They walked on in eery silence for several more minutes with the occasional rat or overly-large cockroach skittering past them. A few of them had lit their SunRods for light as the darkness of the ruin quickly engulfed them. Zanne looked particularly uneasy, eyeing the filth-covered walls as if they might try and attack her. Heironeous was starting to lose the feeling in his arm from Keylith progressively tightening her grip on him.

Normally the darkness didn't bother Heironeous, and between his dark vision and the light from the SunRods, it wasn't even that dark. But it started to get to him when he thought he heard a voice coming from the walls.

"Uh, guys, did you hear that?" he asked.

"H-hear what?! I-I-I didn't hear anything!" Keylith squeaked.

"Oh, good, I thought that was just me!" Tryn said with a laugh.

"Gin believes he heard something as well," Jin added.

"Hear what?" Eusapia asked, looking rather annoyed, "I can't really hear much over Phoenix's drunken babbling."

There was a stretch of silence, Suchiru pausing in his tracks.

"…Did one of you drag him along without me noticing?" Suchiru asked, glancing over his shoulder to the rest of the group.

"Uh, I didn't, did you?" Tryn asked Eusapia.

"Um," was the only thing the dragonborn said, her expression blank.

"Did you guys actually leave me on the beach?" Phoenix asked, looking rather offended.

"Well, to be honest, you were drunk out of your mind for the several hours before you passed out," Apollo said, "No one really noticed you where gone since we ended within two minutes of getting to the dungeon."

"Uh, so does that mean we have to send someone back to go and get him?" Kay asked, "Because I'm not."

"Hey!" Phoenix said, "I'm letting you all meet at my office, I think you're obligated to go and get me!"

"I thought you wouldn't have gotten drunk within the second session of our campaign," Edgeworth sighed.

"You should have told me your guild was this dysfunctional before I showed up, Apollo," Ema said, throwing a Snackoo at him.

"I wasn't planning on you coming!" he cried, antenna drooping. She threw another Snackoo at him.

Half an hour and a whole lot of complaining later, they group had retrieved the now-hungover and slightly more responsive Phoenix.

"Never again," he mumbled as he followed behind the others, "will I go drinking with Dwarves.."

"I'm not letting you drink with Dwarves again." Suchiru said, not even looking back to the Dragonborn, "retrieving you was a complete and utter waste of time."

"Either way, we're all together now, let's just keep going," Zanne said. Eusapia nodded.

"Yeah! I wanna go and kill something already!" she cried.

"How about your brother for a target?" Jin said, "He's been dead weight thus far."

"Well, since you're offering…" Eusapia said, grinning as her claws lit up with orbs of fire.

"How about no," Phoenix said, glaring at Trucy.

The firelight was quickly extinguished, the Dragonborn muttering threats and ill-wishes to some outer force or another. Another few moments of silence ensued before Heironeous heard the walls speak again. Except this time is was very clearly someone shouting at the end of the wall.

"Get off of me, scaly, or I'll skin you and wear you as a new coat!"

"Sounds like someone beating you to your game of kill-everything-in-sight, fr- Eusapia," Crow laughed, the Dragonborn glaring at him.

"Can I kill him-"

"No, Eusapia," Zanne cut her short with a stern expression.

"Come on! If there's people being killed that means bodies to loot, hurry up!" Tryn said, running ahead of the group. The others followed quickly after her; Eusapia was already conjuring flaming orbs to throw at the first entity she saw.

Heironeous drew his battle-axe as the group reached the end of the corridor and entered a large room. There were several round, wooden tables in the room, similarly fashioned stools surrounding them. On the far side of the room he could see a second door, but what was currently distracting him was that most of the floor was covered in was appeared to be acidic puddles.

In the center of the room stood a woman in a long white coat, steam-punk goggles resting on her forehead. She was awkwardly perched on a half-disintegrated table, kicking at the Kolbold that was trying to sink its teeth into her leg.

"Do you want another vial of Black Dragon saliva or are we done here!?" She shouted, forcing the smaller creature into the puddle of green-gray liquid underneath the table. Heironeous couldn't look away as he watched the lizard-beast sink into the acid, it's shrieking ringing out in the room as it slowly vanished into nothing.

Well, I'm never going to be able to erase that from my memory, he thought with a shudder.

"Woah," Eusapia breathed, "She's amazing…"

"I don't think you need another bad influence in your life," Suchiru said.

"Hey! I'm not a bad influence!" Phoenix said.

"On a scale of one to ten, how hungover are you?" Crow asked. Phoenix muttered something inaudible under his breath.

"Hello there, uh, miss," Zanne said, the woman looking down towards them, "are you-"

"Don't step any closer if you want to keep your feet attached to your legs," the woman said, carefully climbing off of her perch and avoiding the acidic puddle.

"Who are you, exactly?" Suchiru asked, his eyebrow arched in question.

"Clea Koff," she said, giving a proud smile, "though, who are you guys?"

The guild members looked at each other and then at Clea and filled her in. "Oh. Then you'll probably call me the best thing that's ever happened to you dungeon-crawlers," Clea concluded.

"Oh?" Keylith said, tone dry, "What makes you say that?"

"I'm an alchemist - I can make almost anything, healing potions, poison tonics, sleeping flasks, you name it," Clea said.

"Ah. So you brew potions," Suchiru said, "I suppose that would explain the… flesh-eating puddles."

"Oh, actually, that's just one of my regents I dropped when the Kolbolds attacked me," she said, "Black Dragon saliva is harder to come by. Really stinks it went to waste on a few scaly pests."

"Why are you in this dungeon?" Jin asked, "It appeared to be abandoned."

"I came down here to gather more regents," she shrugged, "The moss down here is pretty good for some of the potions I'm working on, not to mention the bat guano."

"…Bat guano?" Tryn said, making a face, "For potions? Yuck."

"No, well, yes, but not the kind you drink," Clea said, "It's used for a lot of fire-based effects."

"Fire?" Eusapia said, an excited gleam in her eyes.

"Anyways, I'll stick with you guys for now," Clea said, "You look like a decently-armed group, and I don't want to loose any more ingredients to pests."

"I suppose an alchemist would prove to be rather useful…" Suchiru said.

"I don't trust her," Keylith muttered, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Why not? She seems fine to me," Heironeous said.

"Fine? Did you see what she did to that kolbold?" Keylith asked, "When you find random strangers in dungeons, you don't let them follow you! We could be next!"

"Onwards - the rest of this dungeon's expanse has me rather interested," Jin said, moving to step over the tables and towards the other door.

"Can you perhaps magic up an antidote for hangover?" Suchiru asked as he followed after Jin, "Our… ranger happened to find Dwarven ale rather appealing."

"Magic?" Clea echoed, "I don't - Magic? No no no no, alchemy is not magic, alchemy is science."

"…Can you perhaps science up an antidote for hangover?" Suchiru repeated, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, I probably can," she said, smiling.

"Y'know, Jin's method seemed to work just fine…" Keylith said.

"I'm not letting him knock me out again," Phoenix groaned.

"You didn't really let him the first time," Eusapia laughed.

The rest of the guild paused in front of the door. Jin crouched as he inspected the edges of the frame.

"Tryn, I want you to sneak inside and tell me how many monsters are in this next room," Jin said as he stood.

"What? Why me?" Tryn asked.

"Because you're the rogue. Sneaking around is your job, not mine."

"Alright, fine. If I'm not out in five minutes or you hear me screaming, come in and save me," she said, Suchiru sighing.

Tryn slowly opened the door, the group wincing at the loud creak that sounded from the rusted hinges. She slipped inside without a sound, the door closing behind her.

"…So now what?" Baldrick asked, "Do we just plan on waitin' for tha lass?"

"Seeing as there is no other option at the moment, yes, we wait," Jin said, sitting cross-legged besides the door.

"Actually, we could just check out the other halls or rooms or something instead," Keylith said.

"That wouldn't be smart - who knows how many Kobolds are in here?" Clea said with a scoff.

"Apparently not enough to kill one measly alchemist…" Keylith muttered, Heironeous wondering if Clea was ignoring her or simply didn't hear.

Athena handed a folded piece of paper to Kay, who eagerly unfolded it. She put on a determined look with a nod, Athena smiling slyly from behind her folder.

"Okay guys," Tryn said as she re-entered the room, "there's about a dozen of lizard people in there, all of them are armed."

"Just as I suspected," Jin said, "Was there anything else in the room?"

"A hallway to the left, and a bunch of storage boxes, but not much else," Tryn said, "I'm pretty sure we could sneak past all of them to the other room if we tried."

"I don't think that's likely." Suchiru said.

"We might have to," Jin said, the Tiefling giving him an inquisitive look.

"What do you mean?" Suchiru asked.

"I've heard rumors that the killer of Heironeous' brother was holed up in some old ruins south of Calimport," Keylith said.

"Cousin," Jin corrected, nodding.

"He could be here, in this very building, for all we know!" Kaylith continued.

"Really?" Heironeous said, "How come you never said anything about it?"

"I told Jin, and besides our deal it never really came up," she shrugged.

"You couldn't have told us?" Apollo said, Taka glaring at him on Blackquill's behalf.

"As Keylith said, it never came up," he said, reaching up to stroke the top of Taka's beak. Apollo could have sworn he saw the bird smirking at him.

Tryn quietly eased the door open again, leaving it open for the others as she darted around the corner. Suchiru was next, Jin following closely behind and keeping a hand clamped over Phoenix's snout. Zanne and Eusapia went next, Badrick and Crow lingering behind the DragonBorn before continuing. Clea and Keylith glared at each other in a silent argument before Clea proceeded first. To Heironeous' relief, Keylith wasn't holding onto his hand anymore. Although when her hands went to the sword at her side he did have to wonder if it was because of Clea or the Lizard-folk they were avoiding.

As Tryn had said, the room was mostly bare. There was a table to the center, most of the Lizard-folk sitting around it and talking to each other in a language he didn't understand. A few others were poking around some of the other boxes on the far side of the room. Thankfully, a good number of the crates were on the left side of the room, effectively hiding the majority of the group as they snuck along the wall towards their next door.

He was surprised they had gotten half-way without anyone making any noise. But then it became a disappointment that they only got half-way.

"C'mon, move it," Keylith hissed.

"Stop pushing me, human," Clea said, glaring at Keylith from over her shoulder.

"Not my fault you're walking so slow." Keylith said, "And what, you're a human too!"

"Shut up, you're going to get us caught!"

"You shut up!"

"Both of you be quiet or I will silence you myself," Suchiru growled from the front. Both of them went quiet for a moment.

That was before Keylith not-so-subtly tried to push around Clea to get in front. Clea, in response, stuck out her leg, tripping her offender.

Into the boxes they were hiding behind.

Everyone froze when the sound of wood splintering and boxes toppling filled the room; a very angry-looking Keylith glared up at Clea, who looked rather satisfied. All of the Lizard-folk were staring at the group, weapons drawn.

"Roll for initiative!" Athena called out, everyone either groaning or face-palming. Except Trucy. She seemed rather excited by the prospect of fighting.

"I call dibs on the gold!" she called.

It was chaos.

Eusapia was the first to start throwing spells: he was conjuring flames and launching them into the thick of the monsters. Tryn was attempting to use Badrick as a meat-shield to protect herself from a spear, and Zanne took refuge within one of the intact boxes before she could be noticed. Jin had drawn his sword and leapt into the fray along side Shuchiru, Gin screeching overhead. Crow could be heard singing from somewhere in the thick of the fight along with the lively music of his guitar. Keylith was trying to strangle Clea, the pair wrestling in the wreckage and shouting at each other. Heironeous was nearly shot by Phoenix while he (Phoenix) fended for himself against a pair of lizard-folk, though the dragonborn's aim was… less then admirable.

Apollo was having trouble thinking as Klavier screamed frantically in German when faced with potentially being impaled. Although he wasn't sure what she was saying, Athena was shouting back at him. They seemed to reach some sort of conclusion after a brief stare-down, Klavier appearing to have lost whatever argument (conversation?) they had.

"Alright, ah, I won't move yet, and I will instead use Vicious Mockery," he said. Athena nodded and glanced at something behind her screen.

"Go for it."

Klavier's already somewhat desperate expression paled at the dice he rolled, Kay leaning over to see the result.

"Ooh, natural 1." She said, whistling, "Good luck, bard."

"Uh, your mother was a skink!" Crow shouted at the Lizardman closest to him and pointing at it accusingly. It paused, as if confused, head tilted to the side. The frills around its neck raised up slightly, opening its mouth and making a strange, warbling sound.

Blackquill raised a brow, glancing to Athena and then to Klavier.

"What is it doing?" Klavier asked him, not taking his weary stare from Athena. Blackquill merely turned back to his character sheet with an amused smile on the corner of his lips.

Eventually the group managed to cull most of the Lizard-folk. Only two remained, both of which were flanking Crow: the one he had 'insulted' earlier (who had been oddly complacent ever since) and a second who was readying to strike him with its weapon.

Athena rolled a few dice, her eyebrows drawn together in thought. A moment passed before she flipped through one of her books.

"Hey, Klavier, what's your Charisma again?" she asked.

"27, Fräulein."

As the Lizardman pulled back his scimitar to lunge at the half-elf, another blur of scales intercepted. The other Lizardman - Crow's previous assailant - drove it's spear through the first, the sharpened head protruding from the spine of the new attacker. It thrashed a moment before it stilled, the traitorous lizard dropping its weapon and letting its companion slump to the floor.

It turned back to face Crow, frills raised and continuing to warble. It looked pleased with itself, bobbing its head and whipping its tail to and fro.

"What," Crow said, "just happened. What is happening."

"It would appear," Jin said as he flicked his blade before sheathing it, "that you have an admirer in this Lizard-folk."

"What," Crow repeated.

"They are fairly simple-minded creatures. It seems it has taken a liking to…" Jin paused, looking Crow up and down, "frankly, I'm not sure what it sees in you, but then again they aren't precisely the brightest creatures."

"Is… are you saying it's trying to woo me?" Crow asked. Jin shrugged. Eusapia was doubled over in laughter.

"This is ridiculous." Suchiru sighed, rolling his eyes, "Kill it and let us move on -"

"What!? No way! It could be useful!" Tyrn said, "If it isn't, at least it's funny."

Eusapia looked like she was going to try and comment through her hardly-contained laughter, but shouting from the other side of the room interrupted.

"If you were looking where you were going, you wouldn't have made all that racket and gotten us attacked!" Clea huffed at Keylith, unhooking a pouch from her belt.

"You - you tripped me!" Keylith cried, "Sabotage! Mutiny!"

"Mutiny? You're not even in charge!"

"I've been here longer, I rank higher then you, dungeon-crawler!"

"Dungeon-crawler?!"

"Apollo, control your girlfriends," Trucy snickered, her comment either unheard or ignored by Ema. Apollo sighed, antenna drooping as he hid his face with a hand.

"I didn't ask for this…"

"You are both at fault, and the damage has been done. See to it that it does not happen again," Jin said, glaring at the two of them. Keylith looked sufficiently shamed from his glare alone, and Clea moved on muttering about 'stupid swordsman'.

"Can we loot the bodies already?" Tryn asked. Suchiru shrugged as he counted out a number of coins in his hands.

"I've already collected what I desired from them - you are free to scavenge," he said, not looking up.

"Wh - Cheater! I called dibs!" Eusapia cried, turning to Zanne, "Didn't I call dibs?"

"Um, I think so? I was trying not to die, so I forget…" she said, biting her thumbnail.

If it was anyone else, Heironeous thought, I would have thought she was being sarcastic.

There wasn't much else of value in the Lizard-folk's possession, any coins having been taken by Suchiru while the others were distracted by Crow's newfound fan. Zanne found a fancy brooch of some kind, shaped as either some sort of misshapen star or another five-pointed symbol.

"I think I've seen this symbol before… Athena, can I roll to see if I know what it is?" Pearl asked, Athena nodding.

"Go for it - you're trained in Religion, right?"

"Yes, um… 18?"

"Uh, guys?" Zanne said, looking up from the odd trinket, "This is Tiamat's symbol."

"Who?" Phoenix asked, looking up from examining one of the lizard corpses.

"Tiamat - she's an evil goddess. She's a five-headed Hydra," she said, biting her lip, "She's a goddess of greed, and a lot of dragons worship her. I think she has some clerics and paladins, too…"

"Wait, so is this some sort of cult-hangout spot?" Tryn asked.

"There could be dragons here, too?" Crow asked, holding his precious - and very flammable - guitar closer to himself. The Lizard-folk made some sort of low crooning sound, rubbing its head against his side in what was probably meant as a comforting gesture.

"Aren't they usually… really big?" Phoenix asked, looking around the room, "I don't think one would be able to fit down here."

"Younglings can be the size of a full-grown horse. If it hatched in the last century, it could easily make this dungeon its lair." Suchiru said, eyeing the archway that they had been originally heading toward.

"…Oh."

"Aren't you, like, half dragon? Shouldn't you know all this?" Heironeous asked, Jin rolling his eyes.

"Dragonborn and Half-dragons are two entirely different creatures," the samurai said as if it was obvious. Eusapia gave a nod of agreement before making a face at Phoenix.

"What? How was I supposed to know that?" Phoenix asked.

"You read the books, Daddy," Trucy said with a smug smile.

"Anyways," Suchiru said with a sigh, "the threat has been dealt with, and we can continue onward. I am certain we will be able to discern the exact nature of this dungeon if we continue."

"Yeah! Let's find some more lizards to kill!" Eusapia cried, her claws alight with orbs of fire as she rushed toward the hallway entrance. Zanne made an alarmed sound before she pocketed the symbol and took off after her ally.

"Um, so what do we do with this one?" Crow asked, staring at the Lizardman that had yet to leave his side.

"I vote we take it with us!" Tryn said, "And name it, ooh, we should give it a name if it's going to be our newest party member!"

"Party member? Please, as if I would let that-"

"How about Alex?" Clea suggested, ignoring Suchiru's protest, "Looks like an Alex to me."

"Why do you want to keep it?" Heironeous asked.

"Mostly since Crow doesn't seem to like it," she said, shrugging, and she munched on something from her belt's pouch.

"Name or not, I will not allow a creature to be apart of this already rag-tag team of-"

"Alex, c'mon, you're going to come with us!" Tryn said, grinning at the Lizard-folk.

"Wait, it can understand me, right?" Kay asked. Shuffling papers sounded on the other side of Athena's folder.

The lizard - now called Alex - gave a chirping noise, seemingly excited by Tryn's words.

"Oh my gosh guys it can understand us!" she said. Crow frowned.

"Then how did it mistake my insult for flirting?!" he cried.

Apollo couldn't help but notice that Athena had slipped scraps of paper to both Pearl and Trucy.

"Hey, uh, guys, didn't Zanne and Eusapia run off a second ago?" Heironeous asked, glancing down the hall they left down, "Shouldn't we go and-"

A scream cut him off; Gin started at the sound with a squawk. Phoenix shared a look with Suchiru. Tryn voiced the thought in everyone's minds:

"That was Zanne!"

In an instant, everyone was running down the hallway, Jin and Suchiru leading the charge, Gin swooping just ahead of them. The hall took a right turn, Heironeous nearly crashing into Crow when the party came to a sudden stop. He couldn't see past or over the group, but he could hear.

"-Eusapia, cut it out with the fire, you're not helping!" Zanne's voice said, a nervous squeak.

"Aw, c'mon, we can take 'em! What, there's like, fifteen of them?" Eusapia said, "We've got this in the bag - Oh hey, everyone finally showed up."

Heironeous pushed his way past Alex and Crow to peer past Jin, pausing when he saw the room that the hallway let into.

He couldn't see much of the room aside from the space immediately surrounding Eusapia and Zanne, who where back-to-back with each other. At least a dozen or more Lizard-folk surrounded them, but the group's attention drew to the party as Eusapia spoke. For a few moments, no one spoke or moved.

"I want to bluff."

Apollo looked at Phoneix, a little irritated- and then realized that it wasn't Phoenix at all. It was Edgeworth that had said that. What!?

"And you're going to help me," Edgeworth added, pointing at Phoenix.

"Me? Weren't you complaining when I did that last session?" Phoenix asked. Edgeworth didn't answer. Athena watched on with a curious expression.

The two of them rolled.

"19," Edgeworth said.

"Natural 20," Phoenix said, "but what exactly am I doing-"

"Apologizes, guards, our daughters have a way of getting ahead of themselves." Suchiru said, striding to stand tall besides Eusapia and Zanne, snagging Phoenix by the elbow and pulling him along the way.

"Our what," Phoenix said. Edgeworth glared at him.

"Play along, I have a plan."

"Uh, yes. Our daughter. Daughters," Phoenix said, giving Suchiru a look that said "What are you doing?!"

"Eusapia, what have I told you about threatening our hosts with fire?" Suchiru said, Eusapia staring wide-eyed before snuffing out the flames in her claws.

"Um… not to?" she guessed. Suchiru gave a stern nod.

"These are your whelps?" one of the Lizardmen hissed, stepping forwards, "Why are you here? You say we are hosts, but we have not allowed you into our domain."

"We - my fiancé and I - came with our family to see your head cleric. We wished to ensure our union would have Tiamat's blessing," Suchiru said, Phoenix still staring blankly at him.

The lizard that had spoken leaned to look past the frontmost group to where Clea, Keylith, Tryn, Heironeous, Jin, Crow, and Alex stood. Gin re-alighted on Jin's shoulder, staring down the Lizard-folk.

"This is your family?" It asked. It was hard to tell with its odd accent, but it sounded as if it couldn't tell if they were joking or not.

"Adopted," Suchiru replied without missing a beat.

There was another pause. The Lizardman was hunching forwards to give Suchiru a scrutinizing stare, Suchiru was holding his gaze with head held high, and Phoenix was watching the entire exchange with a befuddled expression. Zanne was by now hiding behind Suchiru. Eusapia stood in between the group of Lizard-folk and the party.

"…well why didn't you just tell the first guards instead of coming all the way down here?" the Lizardman asked, straightening itself, "Would've been faster - cleric's in the other direction."

"We would have, but it appeared that there had been some sort of attack. The room we passed on our way here was in shambles - we honestly were more concerned about finding survivors at the time," Suchiru said, stepping to the side when the Lizardman started to walk past him and down the hall. A few other of the lizards followed, but the majority remained in the room.

"I'll report it to the cleric since I'm taking you there anyways," it said, the party turning around to follow after it and Suchiru, who had linked arms with Phoenix at that point. Phoenix still looked confused, but wasn't saying anything.

The party-plus-escorts passed through the room of their first encounter, stepping over and around the bloodied bodies with little to no regard. Zanne looked a little pale when one of their guides paused to pluck a polished symbol much like the one she found from a different body, ignoring the corpse in favor of pocketing the trinket.

The acidic puddles had disappeared, although recesses in the ground where the stonework had been disintegrated remained in their places. The Lizardmen led them down another corridor to the left that Heironeous hadn't seen before, and judging by the looks of the other party members, most of them had missed it as well.

"Wait, no one else realized that was there?" Kay asked, "I thought we were just ignoring it."

The rest at the table gave her stares ranging from annoyed to blank.

"What? I'm a thief, I've got a good eye for details!" she said. Edgeworth sighed.

"Yes, but actually pointing these details out would certainly be beneficial," he said.

A pair of black double doors came into view at the end of the hallway, torch in sconces burning brightly on either side. In the center of the two doors was a gilded crest, identical to the five-headed symbol Zanne had found. Each head had a unique set of gems encrusted for eyes, ten tiny eyes watching them as the group approached. The lead Lizardman stepped up to the door, pounding it with its fist before reaching to pull it open-

"And that's all we have time for tonight, amigos!" Athena said, clapping her hands together. There were various groans and an indignant "Whaaat?!" from Trucy.

"Is that Lizard-thing still going to be following me?" Klavier asked, looking a mix of worried and amused.

"Is that sword-mage still going to be following me?" Apollo added, antenna drooping.

"She'd better not…" Ema mumbled.

"So… we're engaged?" Phoenix asked, Edgeworth glaring at him.

"Y'know, I wonder what Tiefling-Dragonborn hybrids would look like," Athena said, musing aloud, "I mean, I know with this whole bluff-thing, everyone's basically adopted, but what if-"

Edgeworth was out the door before she could finish her sentence, dice and papers gathered in the blink of an eye and the door slamming shut behind him.

"Hey, I say that worked out pretty well," Kay said, leaning back in her chair, "Now we know there's a boss here - and you said this goddess is one for greed, right Pearl? I bet there's loads of treasure!"

"Indeed. Plus, the underlings are leading us past any other threats without argument. This is working in our favor," Blackquill added, nodding, Taka nuzzling into his hand.

"So… tomorrow night?" Trucy asked hopefully.

"We're in the middle of a case, Trucy," Apollo said. Klavier nodded.

"Ah, yes - speaking of which, I will see you in court tomorrow, Herr Forehead," he said as he got to his feet, "And Fräulein Skye, I will need that updated autopsy before the trail is in session."

"Wait, updated autopsy?" Apollo said.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, fop," Ema said, pelting him with a snackoo as she made her way for the door, "No promises."

"Wait wait wait, Ema, updated-" Apollo didn't have time to finish, as she shut the door behind her with Apollo half out of his chair and pointing uselessly after her.

"Good luck, Herr Forehead!" Klavier said with a laugh before he, too, left.

"…So who's helping me clean up?" Athena asked. Apollo groaned.