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Wright was in his office, finishing up some paperwork from a recent case he took on. He got his client proven “Not Guilty” as always. But, as he was doing so, Maya burst in the office with Larry trailing behind. What could they possibly want? Those two together are not a good pair, and they even look super suspicious already!
“Uh, hello there Maya… and Larry. What do you need? If it’s burgers, you’ll have to skip out tonight or get Larry to buy them because I am swamped with paperwork and I don’t feel like waiting any-”
“No, no, no. It’s not burgers. But now that you menti-” Maya began, before getting cut off by Larry.
“We have a proposition for you. It’s… a little.. Weird. I guess. Maya, you say it ,” Larry whispered.
“ Well if you’re gonna be a wimp about it! Anyways! Niiiiiick . So, we came across something and thought-”
“Spit it out.” Phoenix was sick of all this whispering and hesitation.
“Okay, fine . Nick. We want you to try on a maid dress. It would just be so fun y’know?”
To hell with that! Does she really think he’ll just do that so casually!? They are out of their minds.
“Uhm, no. No, I will not be doing that.”
“ Pleeeeeeease ? Pretty pretty please?”
“Final answer. No.”
“Well,” Maya began. “You’ve left us no choice. You’ve chosen the hard way. So be it. Larry?”
“On it.”
What does he mean “On it?” On what!?
The duo subsequently started to surround him and his desk, blocking any exits. Maya was holding the maid dress in one of her hands. When did that get there!?
Phoenix had to think fast. How could he escape when both sides of the desk were slowly being obstructed by two crazy people? Aha! The one route they didn’t think of! Over .
Following that thought, Phoenix took a step back and leaped over the desk in a very majestic manner, totally not smacking his foot on the desk as he couldn’t jump high enough with as much space as he had.
Ignoring the pain, Wright made a break for the door. But, he had to skid to a stop when the door opened to reveal Miles Edgeworth. Turns out he had just gone home from work and decided to do a surprise visit at Phoenix Wright’s office.
Miles was very startled when he opened the door to see a frantic Phoenix suddenly sputtering out the story that Larry and Maya were trying to force him to wear a maid dress. He took a second to process, looking around the office to see Larry and Maya lurking by his desk. And, wouldn’t you know it, Maya was indeed holding a maid dress. They both suddenly looked guilty, like they were caught doing something bad, which, technically, they were.
They both thought that Miles was going to scold them, putting an end to whatever they were currently trying to do. They were slumped with sad expressions, while Wright was looking smug and proud next to Edgeworth, as if he had just ruined their schemes. But, unease started to envelope Phoenix as Miles wrapped his hand around Wright’s upper arm. His grip was quite tight and Phoenix could only assume the worst.
“You know… I don’t think I’m all that against this idea.”
Phoenix began to laugh nervously. His conceited demeanor began to crumble once Maya and Larry started to perk up.
Deciding to not see the outcome of this, Phoenix promptly ripped his arm from Edgeworth’s grasp and bolted out the door, which was still open. Maya and Larry wasted no time in following him. After the two hooligans swished past Edgeworth, he started to chase after them, just at a slightly slower pace.
Meanwhile, Phoenix had already ran down the hallway and turned the corner to get to the stairwell and elevator. With quick thinking, Wright smacked the button to call the elevator, but then went down the stairs. Right as everyone else also turned the corner, the elevator doors closed shut, making it seem like Phoenix had gone in the elevator. In reality, he was absolutely booking it down those stairs, trying to get far enough so that they didn’t notice his actual route.
Larry, Maya, and Edgeworth had all collectively decided to go down the stairs and catch Phoenix when the elevator opened. What they didn’t know was Wright had already busted through the door and called a taxi over. He frantically told the driver the address of the Criminal Affairs Department where Detective Gumshoe should have been at that moment.
The trio only noticed their mistake when the elevator doors opened and it was a random person that came out instead of Wright. Larry whipped around, looking through the glass doors of the building to see a taxi speeding off. There could only be one person in that car.
Maya ran out first, calling on a random pedestrian that was lingering outside, “Hold it! Mister, do you happen to know where that taxi is headed?”
“Uh, yeah. I think the guy said something about a Criminal Affairs… whatever.”
“Aha! Gumshoe! Thank you sir.”
They all then piled into Edgeworth’s car, heading towards the homicide division of the Criminal Affairs Department.
“Gumshoe!! You have to helpme! Larry,Maya,andEdgewortharechasingmeandtryingto-”
“Whoa there pal! Slow down! Slow down. What’s going on?”
Phoenix took a breath before speaking, “Larry, Maya, and Edgeworth are all chasing me and, this may be a little weird, but, they are trying to force me to wear a maid dress and I really need your help. Can you protect me..?”
“Sure! I won’t let them get anywhere near you.”
“Objection!”
The doors exploded open with Edgeworth in front of both Larry and Maya. Wright was shoved behind Gumshoe. A duel ensued.
“Hand Phoenix over, Detective Gumshoe.”
“No can do, pal. I have vowed to protect Mr. Wright over here, and that includes not letting you guys get anywhere close."
“How about… I give you a pay bonus?”
“...”
“How much we talking?”
“20 dollars?”
“Make it 30 and we have a deal.”
“Fine. 30 dollars for Phoenix-”
“Wait!” Maya interrupted, “Where’d he go!?”
Phoenix Wright was nowhere to be seen.
“Yeah, he went out the back door. I think he was muttering something about Gourdy. Haven’t heard that name in a while…”
It was the chief talking from the back of the room. He was still looking at his computer, not lifting his gaze at all when he spoke.
“Gah! He went to Gourd Lake! Didn’t he?”
This time, it was Larry who spoke.
This was the fastest Phoenix had ever run in his life. His feet were hardly touching the ground as he rushed to Gourd Lake. He couldn’t possibly be caught when on water. Right?
Phoenix made it to the entrance extremely out of breath. He stumbled all the way to the boat rental shop where he used the last of his strength to get in a boat and row it all the way to the middle of the lake.
Edgeworth, Maya, and Larry all only arrived when Phoenix had been sitting in the boat for a good few minutes, arms crossed and waiting. They hardly noticed him all the way out there, but it only took a minute or so since no one else was out on the lake at the time. Edgeworth had to yell out from the shore.
“Phoenix! I’m sorry! Please come back to shore!”
“No! Not until that damned dress gets burned!”
“Well! Just-”
“I mean it! I’m not coming back until you discard it in some way! I don’t trust you anymore!”
It was pointless. Wright was not backing down, nor was he picking up those oars. The only thing Miles could do was row himself out there to try and drag him back.
“Phoenix… Just.. come back. Please? Come on. You won’t even have to row. Get in my boat and I’ll, like, take both somehow.”
“I will jump out of this boat.”
“No! Phoenix, It’s January. It’s super cold. And that water’s probably frigid! I do not want you getting sick right now.”
“Hmph.”
Phoenix turned to face away from Miles, refusing to acknowledge him. Edgeworth, not wanting to deal with this and quite frankly getting a little bit irritated with his refusal to cooperate, grabbed Wright’s boat to pull his own boat closer. This got Phoenix’s attention as he turned to look at him again and was met with Edgeworth’s hand trying to grab him.
Wright scooted back in his boat, away from Edgeworth’s grasp.
“Uhm. Excuse me. Get your nasty hand away from me. I will row back on my own time.”
“Just get in the boat, Phoenix. I do not want to deal with this.”
“I already said no. Stay in your own boat!”
Miles was reaching over, practically in Phoenix’s boat trying to pull him in.
“Just get over-”
“I saiiiaaaAAHHH-”
SPLASH!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Phoenix ended up shivering, sniffling, and drinking hot cocoa under a very fluffy blanket back in his office. Turns out fighting on a boat is not a very good idea, especially when the water temperature is in the negatives.
If you couldn’t tell, Phoenix fell backwards off the boat and landed in the water. Edgeworth had to drag him into his own boat and tie Wright’s boat to his own, then row all of that back to shore. Just as Miles predicted, Wright seemed to have gotten sick and now required a lot of attention.
This all left Miles pinching the bridge of his nose on the couch, next to a sick Phoenix, and a standing Maya and Larry looking guilty as hell nearby.
“...”
“I can’t believe Gumshoe would sell me out like that for 30 dollars.”
“That’s what you’re still stuck on!?”