Cloud: Apollo is ten whole kinds of awesome sauce, but Phoenix's place is still in the courtroom damnit! I want to play as them both. : (

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Case 1: Turnabout Flame

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The bone crushing hug was the last thing he expected the second he stepped into Fey mansion, but then again, maybe he had been expecting it. "You did it Nick! I can't believe it's taken you seven years to prove your innocence!"

Phoenix laughed and patted his partner on the back, "Hey, I'm just glad it all tied together like that, I had no idea that one case would lead to all this."

Maya's grin didn't show any sign of vacating the premises, "We have to throw a local feast; Pearl is just going to be beside herself when she hears this! Where's your daughter?" she asked curiously.

"Oh," he scratched the back of his head, "She and Apollo are fishing for clients."

"Aw, I was kinda hoping I could meet the little guy."

"Say Maya, can I speak to you about the Magatama? While I was asking Kristoph some questions… something strange happened."

"Sure," she said, dragging him through the mansion. Phoenix never failed to notice how it almost never changed. It felt like walking through an almost translucent house, which was probably the effect they were going for when they had built the place. Yet here he was with a grey hoody and a goofy looking beanie hat on his head, he looked more like a kid than an adult, this fact caused him to smirk. When

they reached the side room Maya sat cross legged on the floor, and Phoenix followed, sitting just next to her. He eyed the clothing box at the end of the last bed and smiled, reminiscing one of his most difficult cases. "So what happened?" asked Maya, snapping him out of his day dreaming.

Suddenly he was all business, which startled Maya, it must have been something super serious for him to dawn his 'attorney face' as she liked to call it, "Well, I asked him… about the case, and he had four psyche locks."

"So?"

"So," he continued, "They were black… not red, and I couldn't challenge them. It felt like my Magatama had been drained of its power in his presence."

Maya went deathly silent and stared at the floor of the side room for a good moment or two, "That has only happened one other time in the history of our necklace use."

"What does it mean though?"

"It means that Kristoph has no soul," muttered Maya, looking like she had just seen a ghost.

"… he what? He has no soul? How is that possible?"

"Nick, you've seen your fair share of evil, but nothing before what happened in that prison cell even compares. A shell with a mind and no soul… is the most evil thing in the world. You remember Dahlia I'm sure, she doesn't even compare to Kristoph. The man framed you for using fake evidence because you 'stole' his client, but there is much more than that… you are his opposite."

"His opposite?"

"Yeah, you're everything that he's not."

Phoenix pondered on this for a second, "I'm not exactly a revenge kind of guy, but to tell you the truth… at the end of that case I felt satisfied that he finally got what was coming to him after all those years. I'm glad I was shed in a better light again, but now I'm not sure I want to hold a badge ever again."

"Trust me Nick, you belong in the court room, you're too boring and closed-minded to be anywhere else, why do you think you're so bad at piano no matter how much you practice?"

He frowned at that, but he couldn't deny that she raised a very good point, "I know that, there's nothing that can compare to it, but some will doubt, I'll always be stained by that case."

Maya shook her head, "I don't, and your friends don't. You just need to face it down, and prove to them why they're wrong. Show them what being an attorney really is."

"But Apollo…"

"Yes Nick, I know, the whole passing down the torch thing, but… you're still alive, and you have this chance to do what you love again, why not take it? You revolutionized the world and brought the jury back to the courtroom, now it's time to take your place again."

"You're right," he finally admitted, "I'll take the exam again, Poker gets boring anyways."

Maya smiled and wrapped an arm around him, "It's been seven years, you're gonna be sooooo nervous."

"Shut up," he said, glaring at her.

"He what?"

Apollo could have sworn that his jaw was now fifty feet below the Earth's crust, the only thing disproving his theory was that he retained the ability to speak coherently. They were at the "Wright Anything Agency" practicing magic when Trucy decided to drop the bombshell on him. "I said that daddy is going to take the exam and get his badge back, didn't you hear me?"

"Wait, so what about the whole piano act and poker thing?"

Trucy simply shrugged her shoulders, "Being an attorney is what daddy loves, and I guess the opportunity presented itself with that last case."

"When I figured everything out, I bet he would've liked to do that himself, he's the one that got all the evidence."

She put a finger to her chin and pouted in thought, "I don't know whether to think of him as a detective or an attorney, I think he's a bit of both."

Apollo nearly jumped from his skin when the phone rang, he jumped right to it without hesitation, prying it from the cradle, "Wright Anything Agency, defense attorney Apollo Justice speaking."

"Apollo."

"Phoenix."

"… We have a big problem, come to Kurain village."

"So about these Black locks, is there any way to break them?" he asked as they walked back to the meditation room.

"Not that I know of, it's only happened one other time. I'm sure you can figure something out though, IF it happens again, that is."

"Watch it," he warned, pulling her away from mystic Ami's jar as they walked the winding path.

Maya pouted, "I swear, that thing is like a magnet for disaster."

"At least it doesn't say I AM anymore, I can't believe you didn't notice that."

They continued walking and Maya smirked, "Truth be told, I haven't really cared since the time Mia and I broke it, it's kind of expected now. Even Adrian had her share of that thing. Speaking of Mia, you need to give her the good news too, when she heard through me that you got your badge taken away, I think she was just as torn up as you were."

Phoenix nodded and smiled, "Now that the school year is over, you have a summer off as master, what are you gonna do with it?" he pondered sarcastically.

"Hmm, I don't know," she said, opening the front door and walking out to the village, "Maybe keep a certain ace attorney from losing his job again."

He flinched and gritted his teeth, "That one hurt."

"We all make mistakes Nick, you just have to move on," she said, her smile true this time.

"HELP! There's a fire!"

Phoenix and Maya automatically turned and saw smoke blooming from about a mile away, "Is anyone hurt?" asked Phoenix.

The man shook his head, "No, everyone is fine, but our sacred scrolls, they…"

"NO!" shouted Maya, following the man to the location, Phoenix trailing behind as he pulled his Steel Samurai cell phone from his pocket.

He speed dialed his own number, hoping to God that Trucy and Apollo would be there. He knew this feeling, this was no accident, this was a crime, and crime meant court, "Apollo."

"… We have a big problem, come to Kurain village."

With that, he hung up his phone and hoped his instinct was lying to him.