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Imagine this, Miles, drenched in pink, glittery shampoo. Larry
and Phoenix, panicking.
Years, of evolutionary advancement led up to that...particular situation, but since we don't have enough time to make a complete timeline of events, we'll focus on what transpired a few hours ago.
It had all started with a tiny Larry, Phoenix and Miles sitting in a circle on Miles's special steal samurai themed bedsheets that covered his plush bed. It wasn't their first time together in his house. However, it was their first slumber party as a trio. Which explains why it had started off...rather different than usual slumber parties. Such as, Miles forcing them to complete their respective homework, or giving them a salad (or in Larry's words "goat food") to gobble up. But as soon as Phoenix took charge, their night started to look better.
Phoenix proposed an idea, that all of them should act out a fantasy story that they'd be in charge of directing. Something entirely new, never been done before. According to Phoenix, "With the greatest minds in the entire world...well...minus Larry of course, what could possibly go wrong?"
"HEYY! THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA BE A FLAME SNOW WIZARD! AND I'M GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN FOR SAYING THAT!" yelled Larry, voice high and squeaky
"Larry, keep your volume down! We're right next to you! We don't have auditory problems like you." huffed a young Miles Edgeworth.
"We DoN't HaVe AuToRy PrObLeMs like YoU! Bleh!" Larry repeated, sounding more like Alvin from the chipmunks rather than himself.
"Oh someone...please help me.." Miles mumbled to himself helplessly, "All I ever did, was seek the truth, why am I being punished like this?"
A sudden clap of the hands caught both of their attention.
"Okay boys, if we're going to do this, properly," Phoenix glares at Larry.
"..then we're gonna have to follow two rules."
Larry whined
"Aww no more ruless-"
"SHHHH LARRY! Rule number one, Miles, you won't nag Larry, for anything he does," Phoenix ordered like how he remembers his mom ordering his dad around.
"If only he woul-" he tried to say, but Phoenix has had enough of these silly bickering.
"Not even me! No nagging me. Nagging is off the hook for the entire night! Got it kid!?" Phoenix wagged his finger at Miles, just like how his Mom does at his Dad whenever she finds him shooting spitballs at the dog. Miles raised an eyebrow, but submits to his demand.
"Number two! LARRY WON'T CUT IN BETWEEN!" This time Phoenix pointed his finger towards Larry, expecting more shrieks and wails.
There were none.
His silence shocked Phoenix, which made him think if he had crossed some line.
"Larry? You with us?"
The concerned boy asked his friend. After a moment of silence, Larry quits messing with Phoenix and finally spoke up,
"Guysss I can be hushy hushyy! Why you lookin' so worried?"
Phoemix sighed from relief, then continued, "Okay, the third and last ru-"
"Didn't you says two rules?!" interjected the Butz.
"Larrryyy!"
"OKAY! okayy" he made a motion of zipping his mouth shut then, sways his hand up and down as a signal to get on with his last rule.
"Okay okay...We have to have fun!" The spikey headed boy grinned grinmed so wide, you could see last night's food between his teeth. "I start! I start! Once upon a time there was a cowboy in the wildest of all wilds, of wests." Miles rolled his eyes at the nonsensical phrasing but doesn't stop his friend "He rode a cow named Charle-"
"mmmmm!" Larry erupted a sound from the deepest depths of his lungs that came out muffled due to his closed mouth.
"What. Larry?" inquired a fed up Phoenix.
Larry stood up straight up, ontop of the bed and boomed,
"COWBOYS RIDE HORSEYS!" in the most, comical wild west accent known to mankind.
"Larry! Sit down thi-" Miles could almost feel Phoenix's eyes on him. He agreed to the no nagging policy, he can do this, he tells himself. After he took a long, deep breath, he spoke up, "This is fiction...my..dear.. friend. Anything is possible, we just need to make sense."
"Sense you say? Well in that case, why don't you be our pretty little princess?!" snickered Larry, unable to hide his overflowing malice.
The absurdity of his statement shook Miles's core. How am I supposed to be patient to a boy...who is the human equivalent of a bad rash! Miles internally monologues. He needs to clear up this situation. And quick.
"What makes you think I'll be a good princess?"
"Oh well, Pheeny's a cowboy. I'mma wizard. Now, we just need somebody to save brotha."was the reasoning the brunette gave. (If only the boy took his classes this seriously...)
His points, albeit logical, weren't enough to convince Miles of the role.
"Weren't we supposed to make something that has 'never been done before'?"
"BUT! You fit the role perfectly! Pheen said once that,
all you do, is sit around, lookin' pretty. ISN'T THAT WHAT PRINCESSES DO- MMM!" Larry was violently shut down by Phoenix, as he was forcibly toppled over onto his back. His mouth was then clasped shut by tiny, tan hands.
"WhattheheckLarrywhywouldyoutellhimthataaaaaaaaa." Phoenix spat out. Voice low in volume but faster than his granny's raging chihuahua.
"What the-?" Before Miles could finish his sentence, a loud scream cut him off.
"AAAAAAA! WHY WOULD YOU LICK MY HAND LARRY?!"
"You ate cheese puffs without meee!?" Cried Larry in mock disbelief.
Miles simply...stared at the potential zoo escapees in disgust, wishing he knew how to drive so that he'd escape this visual hell once and for all. But, since he agreed to this, he'll have to be the bigger person. Just like how his father taught him to be.
"Fine! I'll be the foolish princess." He said through gritted teeth. "On the condition, that you two stop fighting over nothing and get done with this so that I could go to sleep."
"But it's eigh-"
"Agreed?" he coerced.
The tangled lump of two kids gave a combined nod.
"Now, we shall do this the right way. Once upon a time, there was a cowboy named Phoenix West, with a cow named charley, as his only form of company,"
"That's sa-"
"HE, was on a special mission." Miles intentionally interrupted Phoenix.
"TO SAVE THE PRINCESS!" Roared Larry, unable to help himself from cutting in.
"Er...yes the princess who was-"
"Princess-napped by the evilest of all evils! THE WIZARD OF APRICOTS!" Larry took a few items out of his pocket and yeeted them into the air. The tanned boy saw the display with a spark in his eye. Miles on the other hand...
"LARRY! WHY DO YOU HAVE CANDY WRAPPERS IN YOUR POCKET? Wait... WERE THESE MINE?" Miles demanded an answer.
"Uhhhhh..T-The...oH HUSH PRINCESS OF THE UNCOOL LAND!
DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION THE MOST FEARSOME WIZARD IN THE LAND OF UHH..."
He turned towards Phoenix with an expression that read "heLp".
"LAND OF THE LIZARD MEN! With that Mark Zingerburger as it's ruler!" chimed in Phoenix.
Instead of retorting, Miles accepted that, his fate will never be according to his wishes. So he left the wild animals to their tomfoolery.
"AND, AND CHARLEY THE COW WAS ACTUALLY AN ANGEL SENT FROM THE HEAVENS TO CHALLENGE THE WIZARD TO A THUMB WRESTLING MATCH TO SEE WHO WINS!" Squeeled Larry, pitch higher than his dad's receding hairline.
"SO THENTHE COW FLIES THROUGH THE SKIES, RIGHT TO THE WIZARDS DEN!" Added Phoenix, matching Larry's excitement.
"I wonder what heppened to the cowboy?" Miles says under his breath as he stares off into the abyss, mentally, and physically defeated.
"YAH AND THE COW NINJ-
"Will you two. ..stop yelling!" This made the two boys stop in their tracks. Maybe I can reason with them, the silver haired boy noted to himeself.
Only to be let down.
Again.
In a way, much worse than ever before.
Because this time, he was forcefully thrown into their messy fights.
Larry rushed into Miles's bathroom to retrieve something. He tried to keep it hidden. Unfortunately for Larry, Phoenix has known him since a long time. He knows about all of his tricks, like the back of his hand.
"Larry...Put. That. Back." Phoenix said with more caution than when he revealed to Miles, he folded his paper crane wrong. This time though, instead of a hint of sympathy, his words were drenched in fear.
Something bad, is going to happen, and I have nowhere to escape, were Miles's last thoughts, before Larry's commenced with his plan.
"FACE THE WRATH OF THE APRICOT WIZARD YAAAAAAAAAA!"
And just like that, Larry revealed the two bottles that he had been hiding behind himself. One, a shampoo and the other, a conditioner, which he squeezed.
Slimey liquid qushed out at unmatched speeds, covering each and everything that's in it's range, with a sticky, glittery-pink coating.
That includes Phoenix's left arm.
And.
The entirety, of Miles.
"Larry, what have you done! You got it on Miles!" Phoenix exclaimed worriedly. He made it to Miles's side within a blink of an eye to check if his soul is still within his body.
"Umm... Miles?" Phoenix waved his hand infront of his face.
Larry hopped over and held the stunned boy by his shoulders.
"Helloooo! Earth to Miless!" Hollered Larry as he shook Miles back and forth like a mad man. "Phoenix, I think we broke hi-"
Larry stopped, as the boy infront of him giggled lightly, then more boldly till he got hiccups.
"Oh my God we really broke him." deadpanned Phoenix.
"No, yo-!" the, once silver haired, now a shiny, sticky, pink haired boy tried to say before he got interrupted by an intense round of hiccups and giggles. Distinguishing between the two sounds was difficult as they were quite interchangeable.
His giggles were contagious.
The two boys couldn't contain their laughter and joined in with Miles. Each laugh so different, so distinct, yet seamlessly blending in with the other. It sounded like a choir, different tunes working together harmoniously to form one singular sound that leaves the audience in a state of tranquility and awe.
Even in this case.
Even when the audience is just one single man, standing outside his son's room, his back against the door, eyes closed. The affects were the same.
Peace, calm and a sense of assurance.
Assurance of a future, in which his boy won't be lonely, for even a single day.
