148 Say A Little Prayer

Throw your doubt away
And come fly with me
For a day believe
You live in a dream

Let magic take your breath away
Let me show you anything’s possible

Breathe in, close your eyes and
You’ll see what you’ve been missing

Make a wish and maybe you’ll be lucky
Make a wish and maybe you’ll — find that you’ve got it all

There’s so much to see, and there’s so much to learn, oh there’s so much waiting

Don’t be afraid
Cause I’m here with you, and we’re gonna go
Far away for a spell, to where magic dwells
Oh you’re gonna see that I am not your typical, ordinary girl, no sir
I will change your world
It’s just my specialty, I’ll show you life’s true melody
And soon you’ll be singing just like me right to the tune of miracles

There’s so much to see, and there’s so much to learn, oh there’s so much waiting

Nothing’s what it appears to be
So don’t judge anything by what you see
You’ve got to reach beyond what you know, and give everything a chance
There’s a world of wonders waiting, it won’t disappoint you, promise you you’ll love it here
You’ll never want to leave this place and go back to the ordinary
Just see for yourself — honey right here, you know you’ve got it all
(Magic is what you need!)

Let’s…go!

Have some faith
You’ve got to leave disbelief behind
You have to open your heart and mind
You’ve got to know, it’s time to let go

Take my hand
Come with me
Be amazed… you’ll never see this anywhere else!

Throw your doubt away
And come fly with me
For a day believe
You live in a dream

Let magic take your breath away
Let me show you anything’s possible

Breathe in, close your eyes and
You’ll see what you’ve been missing

Make a wish and maybe you’ll be lucky
Make a wish and maybe you’ll — find that you’ve got it all here

Throw your doubt away today
Come and fly with me today
Say the magic word today

(Just take a chance for me!)
Let’s soar through the sky, all the rules we’ll defy
And I swear I’ll dazzle you

 Trucy Wright
Wright Talent Agency
June 15, 2026, 8:45 AM

Even though she was generally a very cheerful and optimistic person, for the most part, there were times when Trucy gloomily wondered if the universe was conspiring against her, her father, or just anybody with any sort of affiliation with either one of them whenever catastrophe hit!

Amid this newly discovered tragedy involving Maya Fey, the distraught teen had also completely forgotten to call back her best friend with the latest update on her father’s condition. To make matters worse, the saintly patient Pearl was undoubtedly waiting, with mounting anxiety, for Trucy to call back as promised, so the magician could inform her that Phoenix was going to be just fine. 

Dammit, Pearly!  Why didn’t you forget what I said about calling you and just call me back anyway?! I am a completely forgetful ditz with borderline attention deficit disorder! Did you just meet me?!

Therefore, due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, at present, poor Pearl Fey was still under the impression that Phoenix’s health could potentially still be in mortal peril because the last thing she’d heard was that he’d been hit by a car and was in intensive care!

Unfortunately, the spirit medium’s frayed nerves had been the last thing on Trucy’s devastated mind, which was still flooded with overwhelming pathos for the selfless man who’d loved and raised her for the better half of her life.

The discovery of her father’s letter, which she had read and reread at least a hundred times the night before, had left her so powerless and hapless about how to remedy the tragic situation regarding Phoenix’s love life that she’d barely slept a wink last night.

The scenario seemed completely hopeless.

The wedding was in just over 24 hours from now, so sending the love letter in the post wasn’t even a viable option, as there was no way in hell it would get there in time! Based on what Trucy had gathered from her father’s forlorn message, coupled with the fact that he’d waited until the penultimate night before the nuptials to mail it, it was obvious he’d never intended for his ex to get the note prior to getting hitched. The fact that Trucy intercepted the letter was a fluke stroke of fate, but even if the magician herself were to have it same or next day express couriered, there were still zero guarantees that Maya would read her mail before her ceremony.

After all, what bride-to-be would be pouring over her post the morning, she was supposed to walk down the aisle?!

Every time the teen had closed her eyes, she’d been haunted by nightmares involving Phoenix, Maya, an evil-looking witch, a blond demon, and other unspeakable Netherworld beasts, cackling and leaping out from underground infernos and creating flaming barriers for the two star-crossed lovers as they tried futilely tried to run into one another’s arms. Throughout this harrowing scene, all Trucy could do in the background was impotently scream for her Daddy as he got engulfed by the fiery blazes with his fingers desperately still reaching out for the woman that he loved…

Each instance had resulted in her waking up shaking and in a cold sweat. She’d finally managed to shut her eyes just after 4:30 in the morning, only to be jolted awake by her father’s phone call from the hospital at 8:45!

Without any preamble, a thankfully very recovered–sounding Phoenix swiftly informed his daughter about Eldoon’s mysterious, vanishing noodle stand and that she could expect to see a Mr. Apollo Justice arriving at their home within the next half hour or less!

Holy Harry Houdini! A boy is coming here, and I still haven’t even dressed, or ingested the approximate half a dozen cups of coffee I’ll need to ensure my coherency today… or most of all… formulated a game plan as to how I’m going to sneak this love letter back into Daddy’s room before he notices it’s missing!

Moreover, her father then went on to say he expected to see them both at the hospital immediately after Apollo’s arrival and had then commenced by briefly giving her an outline of the proposal he had for the young attorney, and his take on what he believed was possibly correlated events from last night: her stolen Magic Panties (which Trucy had managed to let him know about as soon as she got a word in edgewise), his hit-and-run, and now the missing noodle stand.

Her mind swimming with this inundation of newly acquired information on top of everything else, the now frantic Trucy gasped dismay as she looked up at the clock and hastily cut the conversation short.

“Gotta run and shower now, Daddy!” She was already leaping out of bed. “Take care! I love you! See you soon!”

Her exhausted, sleep-deprived body contrasted sharply against her racing pulse, while her mind continued to niggle at her, as though there was something she was forgetting, but couldn’t quite place her finger on…

Oh, my goodness, thank heavens school’s out for the summer! I would be a complete zombie if I had to be up for classes after almost zero sleep, what with all this stress and sorrow plaguing my mind!

Trucy was finally dressed and chugging back her third cup of coffee when she suddenly remembered Pearl! Groaning, she raced back to her room to grab her cell phone. Sure enough, as her lousy luck would have had it, she saw the two missed calls from the spirit medium while she had been showering, and repentantly listened to her friend’s anxious voicemails.

Message 1 at 8:50 AM: “Trucy, it’s Pearly! I’m so sorry I missed your call, but I haven’t been able to get near my phone what with Luke arriving late last night, and all this wedding stuff… What happened to Mr. Nick?! Are you OK?! I’ve been sitting here waiting by the phone…you said you were going to call me back and I still haven’t heard from you, and I’m very concerned … Please call me!”

Trucy clapped a hand to her forehead and moaned as she noted how the poor girl sounded nearly frantic with worry.

For the love of Criss Angel, I am the biggest jerk in 37 states and Mexico! How could this possibly happen twice in two months now is beyond me!

Message 2 at 8:55 AM: “Trucy where are you?! Please try to call me back before 9:30 as I need to go out with Luke to run some last-minute errands for tomorrow. I’m going to need to leave my phone at home to charge it, because I had it turned on all last night, when it was already nearly dead, waiting for your call. I didn’t want to miss you, so I didn’t power off to save the battery. But I was so scared about your father and distracted by everything else going on up here that I forgot to plug it in! I tried to call the hospital myself earlier, but they won’t disclose any information to me over the phone! Is Mr. Nick going to be alright?!” 

Glancing up at the office clock, Trucy saw that it was 9:10 now. At least she would hopefully be able to catch Pearl before she headed out. She crossed her fingers as she quickly dialed the spirit medium’s phone number. Luckily, this time her friend answered.

“Pearly, it’s me!” The words came tumbling out of her mouth in a rush. “I’m sooooo sorry! Please still love me!”

“Trucy!” Pearl cried, without prelude. “What happened to Mr. Nick?! Is he going to be all right?! I’ve nearly been going out of my mind!”

The magician cringed at the minor note of hysteria in the normally soft-spoken and polite spirit medium’s voice.

Golly Siegfried and Roy, I suck! I suckity suck! I’ve seen and heard the stories from Pearly and Uncle Gumshoe over the years of what a sweet little family Pearly and Maya were with Daddy back in the day! That photo in the locket of the three of them proves as much! Daddy was practically a father figure to Pearly at one point, so of course, she’s practically mad with anxiety about his accident! She probably loved him almost as much as Maya did…

Suddenly a light bulb went off over Trucy’s head, and a speculative smile crept across her innocent features. In that split instant, the mischievous magician realized that she was every bit as much of a gambler as Zak Gramarye had been! Except, in this case, the stakes were so much higher, as she had her beloved adopted father’s entire existence, his whole life’s happiness, on the line.

And his daughter, with her angst-filled heart and slumber-robbed mind, having exhausted every other possible solution, was about to put everything at stake, by betting the odds that another young teenage girl’s unequivocal parental love for Phoenix, which definitely had never wavered, would ultimately be what would save the day.

There was no other option at this 11th hour, for Apollo was on his way over any minute now, and after this, the situation would be completely out of her hands. The Cupid scheming illusionist could only pray that Pearl would be able to someday forgive her for the undue distress of what Trucy was about thrust upon her – intentionally, this time! – and that in passing the relay baton to her unknowing, unsuspecting teammate, it’d all work in the way she was betting on.

Oh please, God! Trucy silently prayed to whatever divine powers may have been listening. Please let this work out the way it’s supposed to! Also, please don’t let poor Pearly have a heart attack in the process…

It was too much of a risk to simply inform Pearl about the letter. Without tangible proof of it in her hands, even in emailed photograph form, there were no guarantees Maya wouldn’t question the note’s authenticity. Plus, there was the chance that her skeptical best friend would also doubt the legitimacy surrounding the hearsay evidence of Phoenix’s alleged ardor, what with the impromptu way he’d abruptly severed ties to her and Maya. The worst-case scenario was Pearl wouldn’t think the letter alone was substantial enough to bring to her cousin’s attention right before the wedding, and even if she did, there were too many what-ifs involved to result in Trucy fearing the note alone wouldn’t be sufficient to spur things into action.

However, noting that Phoenix remained as the treasured “Mr. Nick” to Pearl, and as far as the acolyte knew, his vitality still hung in potential jeopardy – these factors could mean a whole new ballgame entirely!

“As I said, Daddy got hit by a car last night.” The well-intentioned teen tried to inject as much nervous trembling into her tone as humanly possible, as though she still genuinely feared Phoenix’s life was hanging in the balance. “Pearly, I’m so scared. He’s still in the hospital, and he’s alive, for now … but –”

“But?” Pearl shouted plaintively, sounding ready to burst into tears. “But what, Trucy?! Tell me!”

At that moment, there was a loud, impatient knock at the door, followed by another, and the magician halted in mid-speech, a triumphant gleam in her eye at the impeccably timed interruption. 

“Dang it, David Copperfield!” Trucy announced abruptly, her cadence laced with very authentic-sounding regret as she rushed to answer the door.  “Someone’s at the door, Pearly! I gotta go! Byee!”

With that, she hung up the phone.

200 miles away, in the remote village of Kurain, the panic-stricken Pearl Fey turned to her boyfriend, still clutching the phone so tightly in her hand, her knuckles, along with her face, were visibly white.

The British youth’s brows were knitted with loving concern at the sight of his girlfriend’s thunderstruck expression.

“Pearl, love, what’s going on?” Luke asked quickly. “What did Trucy say about Mr. Wright?”

The spirit medium’s lips quivered as she repeated the ominous yet maddeningly ambiguous message, then raised watery gray orbs to stare beseechingly into worried coffee-brown ones.

“Oh, Luke!” The spirit medium wailed helplessly, burying her face into his shoulder. “I feel like I’m going crazy here! I – I’m having a complete crisis of conscience! What am I supposed to do?!”

Back in Los Angeles, Trucy Wright (while silently praying on all that holy!) was now flinging open the agency door, only to discover a completely bewildered Apollo Justice standing on the other side.

Apollo Justice and Trucy Wright
Wright Talent Agency
June 15, 2026, 9:12 AM

As much as I acknowledge that I have been proverbially screwed, financially, and in every sense of the word since that trial, I still cannot believe I let Clay talk me into coming here! Apollo lamented as he knocked onto what he assumed was the portal to the legendary Wright & Co. Law Offices, too lost in his heightened sense of apprehension to notice the actual placard now read Wright Talent Agency. Even when I hit rock bottom, I told myself I’d never come here, ever! Ugh, I need to stop trembling already! I’m going to blame it on that fourth cup of coffee I had with breakfast…

The door flung open, revealing a petite young girl in a blue hat and cape, who was practically bouncing on her heels with excitement at the sight of him. She looked strangely familiar, although his astounded gaze was too busy soaking in his bizarre surroundings, with its haphazard, random paraphernalia scattered everywhere! The place resembled a scene where a magician’s bomb had exploded, rather than a law office of any sort, and he wondered if he’d somehow ended up at the wrong place by mistake.

“Hello there!” The girl chirped, ushering him inside with a flourish. “You’ve found the Wright place!  Welcome!”

“Huh? Uh…Ah…” he stammered, as his round eyes continued taking in everything around him.

Trucy ruefully noted the baby-faced lawyer’s shell-shocked expression, while she struggled to come to terms with the fact that she was nose-to-nose with the very same individual she had risked potentially ruining with her unthinking zealousness to save her father not too long ago! She’d never dreamed that she would ever see him again, and judging by those overwhelmed Bambi eyes of his, he felt the same way! The fact that he looked as ill at ease as she felt somehow made her feel slightly better, and she used this as a reason to crank up her performer charm a few notches, in an attempt to make him feel more relaxed.

“Let’s begin the interview, shall we?” Trucy continued cheerily. “First things first, any special talents?”

“Talents?” Apollo regarded her as though she’d acquired a second head. “Well… I guess… defending?”

A cheeky grin flickered across the magician’s visage. This one seemed seriously uptight, so she was definitely going to have to loosen him up a little! It seemed she’d need to start from scratch and act as though she’d never seen him before, even if that meant having to introduce herself properly and give him a little bit of back story about the location to which he’d been summoned. 

And of course, yanking his chain, just a little bit! 

Apollo was apparently at a loss for words as Trucy goaded him about his inability to “defend on command” and determined that his talent would need some “jazzing up” if he was going to be a professional for their talent agency, lest they end up with people laughing at them rather than with them!

The dubious expression on his face when she blithely informed him their agency didn’t see it as a problem in the least that “Phoenix Wright, Pianist Extra Ordinaire” couldn’t really play the piano was downright
comical. Her urge to giggle only increased at his terse reply to her pointing out how many magicians couldn’t do magic, after all!

“At least you’re optimistic.” Apollo shook his head. “I’ll give you that.”

While he had kept his composure, for the most part, Trucy couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor, poleaxed fellow, who’d thought he would be arriving at The Wright & Co. Law Offices. He explained how he’d gotten a call from Phoenix just that morning and had assumed to be meeting the person in charge. It was only when Trucy introduced herself as the Wright Talent Agency professional magician and CEO that a flicker of recognition dawned upon Apollo’s childlike countenance.

Trucy’s insides shuddered slightly as she read his face. Oh, he remembered her all right!

It was most assuredly time to switch tactics and move on from that one little past instance and quell any sneaking suspicions he might have concerning that card trick she’d subjected him to!

“Hey, what’s that?” She feigned wide-eyed innocence as she pointed to the shiny gold pin on the lapel of his red vest.

“Oh, this?” Apollo smiled slightly and held it up for closer inspection, a note of pride in his voice now. “This is my defense badge.”

“Ah, I’ve seen one of those before!” Trucy’s blue orbs were alight with mischief. “That’s an attorney’s badge. It looks just like the one Daddy used to have. Now if I take this badge … And do this, and this…” She waved her hand. “See! It’s gone!”

“H-Hey!” Apollo’s eyes nearly bulged out of his skull in alarm. “My badge!  What’d you do with my badge!?”

“No need to worry!” Trucy barely bit back a titter. This guy was way too easy to rib! She could almost forget about her troubles momentarily because getting under the overly straight-laced lawyer’s skin was such fun! “Just look in your pocket!”

“Huh?” Apollo frantically groped at all the inner linings of his red-suited ensemble, much to her great mirth. “No way … My pocket? Hey! This isn’t my badge – it’s a flyer for your agency!”

Fearing confuddled the boy was about to burst into overwhelmed tears, Trucy relented and smiled angelically as she waved a gloved hand and presented the coveted item back to its owner.

“And here’s your badge. You can have it back now.”

Apollo glowered at her. 

That’s the last time I let her touch anything of mine. Period!

Trying to distract his mounting agitation, he cast a cursory gander around the office, his gaze finally landing on an old, round-framed photograph of a young Magnifi Gramarye in his glory days.

“An old, sepia-tinted photo of a man in a silk top hat?”

“That’s my favorite magician!” Trucy declared proudly, gesturing at her grandfather’s picture. “I want to be just like him someday!”

“Sure, nice… Guess it’s good to have a role model,” Apollo mumbled under his breath. “Even if he’s gotta be well over 100.”

Judging by the scowl on Trucy’s face, his commentary hadn’t been spoken discreetly enough.

“How rude!” She huffed, putting her fists on her hips in indignation. Mr. Snarky was going to pay for that wisecrack!

Undaunted, Apollo stared warily at the strange split box by the wall that the illusionist used for her Zig-Zag sawing trick.

“I’ve seen that on TV,” he commented. “Why’s it just sitting in your office? Isn’t this one of those boxes for cutting people in half?”

“It’s a little too big for me, you see.” Trucy winked. “You know, I’m always on the hunt for a magician’s assistant. My old ones seem to keep disappearing somehow… But it looks like it’d fit you just perfectly!”

“Ah…” Apollo cleared his throat uncomfortably, his horns drooping in what she surmised was ever-so-slight terror!

She beamed sunnily in an attempt to mollify him.

“But in the meantime, I’m just using it as furniture. It adds a nice touch, don’t you think?”

“Um… sure. So you’re his, er … you’re Phoenix Wright’s daughter?”

“That’s right! After Daddy quit law seven years ago, I promised I would keep him fed!” She twittered slightly. “So I’m kind of his sugar daddy! Get it?”

“No.”

Apollo didn’t seem at all impressed by the attempted joke, and Trucy barely stifled a pained sigh that such a young man could be such a stick in the mud! It seemed she was going to have to pull out all the stops, as Apollo was going to need a lot of loosening up!

Otherwise known as razzing the heck out of him!

“I’m in charge of this whole office, too,” she boasted, tipping the brim of her hat. “Pretty amazing for a young lass of 15, wouldn’t you agree!?”

 “F-Fifteen?!” Now that got a reaction out of him! “Uh, how old is Mr. Wright?”

The staggered look on Apollo’s face was priceless! Trucy briefly contemplated putting him out of his misery and explaining that she was adopted, and thence, hadn’t been a high school accident on her father’s behalf, but what fun would that have been?

Besides, he deserved to stew just a little bit longer for that off-the-cuff remark about her grandfather!

“Daddy?” She smiled sweetly. “Oh, he’s 33 this year.”

“I’m sure there’s a good explanation.” Apollo attempted to pick his jaw up off the ground, this time managing to keep his inner editorial to himself.

… I hope…

Trucy continued to bounce lightly on her heels in obvious anticipation for him to carry on the conversation as he awkwardly searched for a way to bring up the other pink elephant in the room.

“Um, about Mr. Wright giving up law,” he began hesitantly. “It was because of that incident seven years ago, wasn’t it…?”

In her second-best thespian performance du jour, Trucy opted to play the bewildered, naïve card as the best option for now, in response to his inevitable, albeit uncomfortable question. If her father wanted to get into the nitty-gritty about the situation, that was his call to make, not hers!

The teen theatrically clapped a hand against her mouth and widened her eyes in shocked confusion.

“Eh?” She gasped. “You know about that!?”

“Not the gory details,” he admitted, scratching his head. “I remember the news, though. It was a big deal.”

“So I hear,” she returned breezily, flipping back her hair in an effort to appear casual. “But I was too young to understand what was going on. I’ll ask Daddy about it next time I get a chance.”

“Daddy, right… That reminds me.  About Mr. Wright…” Apollo’s voice trailed off uncertainly. “As I said, he was the one who gave me a call this morning to come in…”

“Daddy’s not here right now.” Trucy’s shoulders drooped dejectedly as she cast her gaze to the floor. This time, her reaction to the reminder of her father’s narrow brush with death was completely genuine. “He’s in the hospital.”

“The hospital?!” Apollo gawked at her, indicating Phoenix hadn’t let on to the young man as to his whereabouts when he’d rung him earlier.

“Yeah.  He’s on strict bed rest until he gets better.”

“Which hospital is Mr. Wright in?” Apollo was already striding to the door. “I’ll pay him a visit.”

“The Hickfield Clinic. It’s quite close.”

“Right.” He threw the door open and was already out in the hall by the time Trucy had grabbed her bag. “Well, I’ll be going now.  And I’ll, uh … give this showbiz gig some thought, OK?”

“Wait, I’ll go with you!” Trucy called, already running after him.

Jeepers Creepers! It’s amazing how a little guy with such short legs can walk so dang fast!

Apollo Justice and Phoenix Wright
Hickfield Clinic
June 15, 2026, 9:45 AM

When Trucy and Apollo got to Phoenix’s room, the magician internally thanked her lucky stars that her father wasn’t present, and even better, she saw his sweatshirt was still tucked away in his night table drawer, where she had last seen it.

It was also to her great fortune that immediately after their arrival, her companion failed to notice her espionage, as, upon entry, the gaping Apollo was momentarily distracted by the snaggle-toothed, pink-haired, freak of human nature who greeted him, spouting a  nightmare-inducing mug which rivaled those of the demons plaguing Trucy’s horrific reveries the previous night!

Ergo, the dumbstruck young man failed to notice the teenager swiftly tucking the absconded love letter back into its original location, before spinning around and coming face-to-face with the creeper himself, barely stifling the petrified scream that had arisen in her throat!

“Oh, hiya there, Trucy.” The deranged-looking lunatic, who had just introduced himself to the lawyer as Doctor Hickfield, scratched at his various body parts as he leered at the teen, who reflexively shrank back behind Apollo. “Cute as ever!  Eh, heh heh.”

“Good morning Doctor.” Trucy forced a fake smile at the giver of heebie-jeebies from her safe position behind the red attorney’s back, grateful that her companion made no move to cease being her human shield. “Er, this is my Daddy’s room, right?”

Apollo fought back the urge to vomit in his own mouth as the freak suggestively raised his hands, and begin making lewd finger-tweaking gestures towards the teen, who was still attempting to hide behind him.

“Oh, yeah. ‘Cept he’s gone for a mornin’ checkup.  Be back soon. How’re you, Miss Trucy? Got any places you’d like…examined?  Eh heh…”

Apollo inexplicably, yet instinctively, felt his protective impulses kicking in for this young girl whom he’d only just met. This fact seemed wholly irrelevant as he pushed her further behind him with one hand, while his free one curled into a fist, almost silently daring the suspicious-looking cretin, who was all but licking his chops while ogling Trucy, to even try taking another step forward!

If this pedophile, whacko freak show is a Doctor, then I  am Attila the Hun! And if he lays one hand on Trucy, I’m going to be the one needing a defense lawyer!

“Oh, Doctor…” Phoenix’s unruffled voice broke in suddenly. “The nurse was looking for you.”

The macabre creature shifted his lascivious grin towards the hobo, who had just hobbled into the room. Phoenix was wearing the same beanie and hobo outfit Apollo had last seen on him, except for the missing sweatshirt, and his one arm was presently around the shoulders of the dark-haired young nurse whom he was using as a human crutch.

“Why, if it isn’t the Daddy o’ the cutest l’il thing in town!” The phony doctor now directed his lewd gaze to Karin Jenson. “Hrm.  Hrmm.  Guess I’ll be off then, eh? Hey Nursey Nurse – I hope you’re the one in charge of my sponge bath this afternoon! Heh, heh.  Later, Trucy.”

The nurse shivered slightly at the notion of having to wash any part of that monstrosity, but dutifully assisted Phoenix to his bed, and seeming gravely reluctant to release him, while she made a big fuss out of fluffing his pillows and straightening out his bed.

“I’m fine now, Nurse Jenson,” he assured the pretty brunette, waving at Trucy and Apollo over the shoulder of the fastidious Florence Nightingale, who hadn’t even taken notice of either of them, as she was too busy fussing over her patient.

“I keep telling you to call me Karin,” she insisted playfully, waving her finger at him in mock disapproval. “Now you make sure you stay off that ankle and keep it elevated, Mr. Wright! We need to ensure the swelling goes down before we can get you a proper bandage for it!”

“I swear I could’ve made my way back here, just been fine, without your escorting, but I promise to take heed to your words.” Phoenix nodded solemnly, looking slightly amused by her zeal.

“You best not be a bad patient and disobey my orders!” The nurse lectured. “I know you think you’re all better already and want to go running around, but you must obey the doctor’s orders! Better safe than sorry! A pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure! That’s my motto!”

“I promise to be a good little boy,” Phoenix promised with a straight face as he eased himself more comfortably back on the bed. “You have my word… Karin.”

“You best make sure to use that call button to fetch me if you need anything, and don’t try to be getting out of that bed for any reason, other than going to the bathroom!” Karin smiled coyly. “If you’re a bad boy and don’t obey my commands, I may just have to tie you up to those bed railings!”

Apollo’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head upon hearing this double entendre and coughed slightly to remind Nurse Naughty of his and Trucy’s presence. Karin whirled around in surprise upon hearing him, her cheeks turning crimson at the sight of the two visitors, then hastily mumbled something about being back later to check on her patient and made a rapid exit.

Phoenix chuckled softly, pausing in the act of grabbing his hoodie from his night table and putting it back to return the embrace of the slightly traumatized Trucy, who’d wrapped her arms around him in a huge hug. Propped up against his super attentive nurse in the doorway, he’d silently witnessed the whole exchange between the secret siblings and the walking aberration. He’d also diligently noted how innately protective Apollo had just been of his secret half-sister. At least he knew his daughter would be in good hands if left in the greenhorn attorney’s care since his tender ankle indicated he was in no position to do anything of the sort for the next little while.

Also, I know firsthand that little Scrappy-Doo isn’t afraid to throw a punch if need be!

“Wow, what an odd bird that guy was,” Apollo ventured cautiously, uncertain how to greet the injured man whom he’d perpetrated physical violence against the last time he’d laid eyes on him.

However, if Trucy’s father bore him any grudges from the first and only time they’d met, the horn-fringed lawyer saw no indication of it on that shuttered, but slightly smiling, visage.

“Good morning,” Phoenix smiled pleasantly. “Didn’t expect you so soon, Apollo.”

Trucy chose that exact moment to notice how despite Karin’s best efforts, her father’s bed, and the room itself,  were in complete disarray.

“Daddy!” The teen clucked her tongue at him in condemnation. “Look how messy this is! You’re just hopeless without me, aren’t you?”

Yikes! Apollo barely stepped out of the way in time before he was steamrolled by the determined, frenetic
tidying machine that had suddenly become Trucy Wright. She’s attempting to clean up!  Look out!

In a small frenzy, the magician commenced organizing and straightening up all the scattered items surrounding her father’s bedside, looking like a blue hurricane-like blur as she did so.

“Ah haha. You got me.” Phoenix smiled sheepishly at the nonplussed red attorney. “What can I say?  I was raised in a barn. Try not to let word get out, Apollo.  If you don’t mind.”

Apollo barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

Yeah, it might ruin your illustrious career pretending to play the piano!

“What’s that on TV?” The defense attorney asked, in an attempt to change the subject from Phoenix’s slovenly ways. “Looks like some sort of action hero show…”

“Oh, I know that one! That’s the Sniffling Samurai!” Trucy crowed excitedly. “His “Booger Flick” attack is a big hit with the grade school crowd!”

Ew! That’s disgusting!

The grossed-out Apollo stared speechlessly, first at Trucy, then at the unaffected faux musician.

“Er, I had no idea you liked this kind of stuff, Mr. Wright,” he said at last.

“Well, what else is there to do when you’re stuck in bed?  You heard Nurse Ratchet – I am to remain completely bedridden until further notice.” The patient shrugged. “Besides, the episodes will just keep piling up if I don’t keep up, you know? And now’s the only time I get to watch and write up my reports.”

“Your reports?” The boy stared at him blankly.

“It’s a long story,” Phoenix flashed his customary enigmatic smile. “Like a lot of things, actually.”

Apollo paused, waiting for him to continue on the topic, but he didn’t. Bewildered as to why the former lawyer had brought up a  subject he had no intention of further elaborating on, he pressed ahead with inquiring about details of the accident. While it was utterly creepy to hear the older man speak so nonchalantly about an incident that could’ve easily claimed his life, sounding as indifferent as if he’d simply acquired a hangnail! He couldn’t help but fathom that Phoenix Wright truly was as lucky as everyone seemed to say he was. Despite his mixed feelings about his former idol, he also had to ruefully admit that it was pretty mind-blowingly badass how he’d merely suffered a sprained ankle after such a gruesome accident.

Later, the red attorney was going to blame being utterly taken aback by the hobo’s lack of injuries as the underlying blaming factor for his brief moment of ineptness, when he then inquired about how someone as young as his former hero could have a daughter Trucy’s age.

“She’s so big!” He exclaimed, which only earned him a withering glare from the affronted magician in response. “Er, sorry that came out wrong. I mean, not fat, but, er, you know what I mean…”

Trucy continued to glower at the now red-faced attorney, but Phoenix simply smiled knowingly and decided to put the youngster out of his misery.

“It’s all right Apollo. I know what you meant. But for the record Trucy is still a child.”

“Daddy!” The Troupe Gramarye heiress huffed, as though she’d just been grievously insulted. “How many times do I have to remind you that I’m not a child anymore!”

“But you’ll always be Daddy’s little baby girl to me.” A flicker of warmth flashed over the inscrutable mien as he smiled fondly at his daughter, before turning back to Apollo, his typical poker-faced mask now back in place. “Oh, there’s something you should know about Trucy.”

“She’s a magician, right? She already told me.”

“Not a mere stage magician … She’s a genius.” Phoenix proclaimed proudly.

“Tee hee!” Trucy giggled modestly and smiled lovingly at her father. “Aw, Daddy!”

“You’ll soon come to appreciate her talent, Apollo,” the card shark told him, a mysterious smile playing on his lips.

“You know, you could just tell me things instead of insinuating them, right?” The horn-haired legist was beginning to get irked with all these incomplete thoughts and hints. “Why did you contact me anyway? What could the Wright Talent Agency want with me?”

“No need to get prickly now.” Phoenix appeared more entertained than affronted by the irate outburst.

“Hey, I didn’t ask to be dragged in like this!” Apollo snapped, momentarily forgetting his earlier promise to Clay to approach his fallen hero with an open mind and heart full of compassion.

“Huh?” Trucy blinked in confusion. “But didn’t you come into the office of your own free will?”

“Well, yeah, of course!” The perceiver yearned to pound a fist against his forehead in frustration. “The exact message conveyed to me when I was called early this morning was:  ‘Help!  We’re in big trouble here at the office!  Big!’ So naturally, I came right away! I thought someone was dying!”

I was envisioning a life-or-death situation with Mr. Wright! Not coming in here and needing to fend off the advances upon his daughter from Doctor Bad Touch, then witnessing him comfortably sitting and watching children’s DVD shows, with only a sprained ankle, while enjoying the flirtations of attractive nurses!

The ex-attorney turned to his daughter, and the two exchanged a surreptitious wink, which the flustered lawyer fortunately missed.

“So, you don’t think this is big trouble?” Phoenix inquired calmly, unfazed by the eruption. “My talent agency represents only two people … and one of them is in the hospital.”

“That’s right, Daddy!” Trucy’s face crumpled, right on cue. “How are we going to pay this month’s rent!? And the groceries!?”

“Yeah … That’s the problem with such a tight operation,” her father remarked mildly, as though they were discussing the weather and not their precarious finances. “It’s a symbiotic relationship. When one of us falls, the other, too, must fall, I’m afraid.”

“Hey!” Apollo interjected, his tone rife with disbelief. “This isn’t exactly a suitable conversation to be having with a 15-year-old kid!”

Phoenix ignored him and affected a saddened expression. “In any case, if Apollo here can’t help you, you have to transfer to a new school, baby girl. Again.”

“No!” Still playing this farce to the hilt, Trucy affected a crestfallen downcast expression, while barely fighting back a snicker. “I can’t!  I only just made friends … Starting over was so hard after that whole bully incident with Drew Peacock at my last school…”

Suddenly her head jerked up, her eyes shooting daggers at the flummoxed red attorney as her gloved hands turned into tiny fists, which he fervently hoped were not going to be targeted in his general direction!

“Darn you!” The magician erupted ferociously. “How could you do this to me … to us, Polly?!”

“Huh?  What?  Now it’s my fault?” Apollo was too taken aback by the teenager’s precipitous shift in mood to even protest how within the last split-second, he’d gone from having the powerful name of a Greek God to now being christened with the moniker of a parrot – the latter being something he’d never agreed to be called!

Phoenix decided to ease up on the double-team guilt-tripping and smiled at the rattled young man.

“On that note, how about you come to work for us? I’ve got the perfect client for you already lined up.”

Unable to help himself, Apollo’s hazel eyes lit up with excitement. Could this possibly mean he would get to do his job and defend someone in court?!

“Alright.” He sighed, hoping he wouldn’t regret this decision. “I’ll hear what you have to say.”

“You got him, Daddy!” Trucy cheered. “Hook, line, and sinker!”

“Ah-ha. Now it’s time to reel him in!”

Apollo looked back and forth at the conspiring grins of both father and daughter and felt his horns beginning to droop.

It’s official: I’m scared.

In spite of his misgivings, he took the map the hobo gave him while reiterating the circumstances surrounding his accident, then concluded his anecdote by smilingly wishing the rookie attorney good luck, stating that Apollo Justice now had a case – Phoenix Wright, hit-and-run victim, and that the lawyer’s mission was to find the guy who had knocked him into the telephone pole.

“Whoa, hold on!” He eyed his so-called client incredulously. “You’re kidding me, right?! I’m a defense attorney, not a detective!”

“Don’t worry,” the pianist deadpanned. “Once you’ve found the guy, I intend to sue him!”

Apollo gaped at him in disbelief, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

We’ve seriously got to get this poor guy a pillow for the floor, so his jaw has a soft landing every time it falls upon it! Trucy quietly sniggered to herself in the corner.  Since Daddy’s enjoying messing with him as much as I was!

“And then,” Phoenix continued with a shit-eating grin. “You can stick it to him in court!”

“This is a totally ridiculous and utter waste of my time!” Apollo threw his hands in the air disgustedly and spun around on his heel, ready to storm out the door. “I’m not a prosecutor, either! I’m sorry but …This is too crazy, even for me! Forget you guys! I’m going home!”

Trucy sobered instantly and cast an uneasy glance at her father. It appeared they had finally gone a bit too far with their relentless ribbing of the young man. Phoenix flashed his daughter a reassuring smile and called out to Apollo just as he got to the doorway.

“Hey! Don’t get so worked up! It was just a joke!”

Reluctantly, Apollo turned around and faced both father and daughter, the former still with an impish twinkle in his eyes, and the latter with a placating smile on her face.

“Oh, Daddy!” She heaved an exasperated sigh and shook her head. “Sorry, Apollo. He just loves jokes, you know. Even the ones that aren’t very funny!”

Apollo scowled. He wasn’t sure who he was more disgusted with; the fiendish Mr. Wright of the twisted sense of humor acclaim, or himself for not having left already!

“Your real client should be stopping by the office any time now,” Phoenix informed him, his expression once again serious. “Although I do hope you’ll look into my accident too. As well as that one other incident of Trucy’s.”

“Incident?” He echoed, sliding his confused gaze over to the expectant magician. “What incident?”

“Well…umm…” Trucy took a deep breath, then blew it out. “Someone stole a pair of my panties.”

If Phoenix’s dumbphone hadn’t been from the Jurassic era and been in possession of a working camera feature, he would’ve snapped a shot of the completely gobsmacked expression on the young man’s visage upon hearing the foundation garment word! It took all of his self-control to keep a straight face while Apollo’s mouth cartoonishly opened and closed, like a fish out of water, for several moments.

Now that there is the kind of face lifelong memories are made out of!

“Panties?!” Apollo finally croaked. “Erm, so they were, um, stolen, your, er…”

“My panties, yes!” Trucy stamped her foot. “I was alone in the office last night. I had hung my panties out the window there to dry … when a thief came and took them!  My favorite panties! I ran after him.  ‘Give those back!” I shouted. “Wait!’ But I lost him! The freak who stole my panties!”

Please stop saying panties! Apollo felt his horns drooping again. I will do anything in the world right now just to make your 15-year-old self stop saying the word panties! It – It just seems so wrong on so many different levels!

Inwardly, Phoenix chortled to himself as the red attorney’s face began to slowly match his vest.

“Do your best to find the fiendish panties-snatching pervert, Apollo, will you please?” He drawled, trying not to relish the embarrassed young man’s discomfort too much. “They’re not just any normal panties, you see. They’re Trucy’s special Magic Panties.”

“Oh, I see. Well…erm, I’ll try my best.” Apollo cleared his throat. “Trucy, I promise to do everything in my power to help you find your magical …. underwear.”

“Not underwear!” Trucy corrected him with a frown. “Panties! My Magic Panties!”

“Right,” he mumbled, quite certain that by this point, you could’ve roasted frankfurters against his blazing cheeks. “I will do everything I can to help you find your, er … you know what.”

A devilish glint flickered in Trucy’s cerulean orbs.

“Polly…” She asked benignly. “Do you have a problem with the word panties?”

“Don’t be silly!” He denied hotly, while he felt his heated blush creeping from his face down to his neck. “It’s just that I don’t see a need to keep repeating… that word… over and over again!”

“You barely even said it once and even then you whispered it! They’re a normal part of every female wardrobe!” Her eyes were now dancing with merriment. “Oh my goodness, Polly, you are such a prude!”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are!” Trucy pranced around him as Apollo tried to stalk past her out the door, after curtly bidding adieu to Phoenix. “If you’re not, then prove it! Say panties!”

“Will you stop saying that word over and over again already?!”

“Are you kidding? I couldn’t stop now even if I tried!” Phoenix could hear the laughter in his daughter’s voice as she quickly blew him a kiss goodbye, then chased after Apollo down the hall. “Come on, Polly! What’s in a word? Just say it already!”

“No! I don’t wanna!”

“Panties! Panties! Panties! Panties! Panties!”

“Ngh! Stop it!”

Phoenix let out his first shout of genuine laughter in what seemed like ages. Trucy was just too much! Apollo definitely was going to have his hands full with his little sister’s merciless teasing, that was for sure! He almost felt sorry for the young man for what he was being subjected to that day, and undoubtedly would be forced to endure, for the rest of his days!

Those two are siblings already! He smilingly leaned his head back against his pillow. They just don’t know it yet!

Adriana Figueroa – Child Of Magic
Diana King – Say A Little Prayer