az: This would be the localised version of Trial on Fire. I'll be changing the title slightly just to differentiate it with Trial on Fire. Because truthfully, I can convert this to AA version regardless of my past excuse. XD. Give me a bit of time. I'll try changing more of the details aside from names and locations to add variety. Give me time. Yet, I probably won't be posting so constantly.

The Fiery Trial

Prologue: Unexpected Call

by Izumi Ishtar alias izzu

o

o

A familiar tune pulled him back from his deep slumber as Miles Edgeworth groggily opened his eyes and blindly searched for his phone in the darkness. As he grabbed it, he flicked it open and placed the phone near his ear.

"Hello—?" he said as the familiar buzzing in his head started to clear.

"Edgeworth?"

He blinked. Suddenly, a slight feeling of déjà-vu hit him.

Normally, when called during these wee hours and finding out that the caller had been either of his two friends; he would have certainly flip out and shout at them for waking him up from his needed rest. After all, Larry had most often sent him plenty of false alarms and causing him to fly across the globe to find the matter to be not so distressing. Phoenix on the other hand, more often than not tends to drag him into some nefarious plans regarding the judicial system without allowing him any choice to refuse the request.

Whenever this happened, he would in one way or another regret his decision but would still help his friend out. However, those request are all related to Phoenix wanting to seek his own justice and as far as he remembered, that case was already settled. Phoenix would have no reason to call on him so suddenly, especially this late.

Somehow, he felt that this was no normal prank call. Knowing him now with his tendency to shoot out lame jokes. An unfamiliar dread started to well into his gut. Dread?

"Wright? Are you all... right? You're not one to call me up so sudden—" he asked, unsure as why his own voice shook.

"Edgey... sorry to put this unto you..."

Phoenix spoke straight to the point. No greetings, no initial ramblings... nothing. For some reason, Miles felt even more unnerved.

"Listen. The case... not like what it seemed... my client... please... help her!"

He frowned.

"Wright? What—what're you talking about? Hey? Are you still there?"

"..."

Somehow that feeling in his gut became more intense. Something was certainly wrong and it was not just inside his head. If this was a prank, well... he found it hard to believe. Phoenix was supposed to grow out of his hobo-ness anyway and this was not how he should have behaved. And this was a bit different than the usual prank he likes to pull on him. That guy had a certain style to his pranks after all.

"Wright! Are you there? Talk to me!"

Again there was silence. Miles could help feeling even more uneasy.

"Where are you now?" he asked as the other side remained silent. And his feelings of dread immediately changed into a sense of urgency. This was no time to lie on the bed and do nothing!

Miles ended the call right away without waiting for any other response from the other side. He got off the bed clumsily before entering the bathroom in a hurry to wash his face and get himself changed. Few minutes later, he stormed out of his house and drove his car out into the streets. Placing the earphone on his ears, he started dialing Wright's apartment number as the car sped into the highway.

As the ringing tone clicked, he heaved a sigh of relief as he heard another voice answering the call.

"...hello? Apollo here—"

"Apollo, this is Prosecutor Edgeworth. Is Wright at home?" he asked right away, not waiting for the other person to finish talking.

"Ah, Mr. Edgeworth! Err... no. Mr. Wright was still at the office, ironing out some of the last minute report for tomorrow's case. Is there something you need to—?"

"Apollo, earlier... have you been receiving any calls from him?"

Apollo sounded confused before laughing nervously.

"Uh, maybe, I guess? I'm not sure. Trucy and I had gone out shopping earlier..." he explained. "We've just happened to have just arrived home, so if there was any calls coming... well—we were supposed to wait for him for dinner but he haven't returned our calls. He might not have left the place as of yet."

Miles snorted impatiently as his thought hovered back towards Phoenix's earlier call.

"The office... is it? Is there something he needed to do over there?"

"Huh? Err, no. It just happened that there was something he forgot to take from the office so he went back to get it. Why... did something happen?"

Miles bit his lips as he paused. There was no need to alarm them yet for something that he did not confirmed himself.

"Err, nothing. I'll call you back later. There's something else that I needed to make sure first." he said as he ended the call.

Perhaps he had been overreacting a bit here but he did not want to regret not doing something if his suspiciouns had been true. If something had happened to Phoenix, he would not be able to forgive himself for it.

After all, Phoenix had called him. For his help... most definitely.

Phoenix had helped him in the past to clear him of suspicions of murder even when he had refused the help initially. Sure, since then both of them have helped each other a lot in court and in life but that does not mean that the thing between them would be over once the debt of gratitude was paid. They were friends and still are. In addition, if it were true that Phoenix was in such grave danger and in need of help, he would not be so sparing as to not offer the needed help. But hopefully, it was not needed. He did not want to think of what he would do if something did happen to this old friend.

He turned left as the car entered the road that headed towards Wright's office. To his disdain, there was a single patrol car parked nearby the office. An officer, standing not far from his car; was seen talking to a very animated elderly woman. Miles parked his car nearby as he walked out of the car.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked as he reached them.

The officer turned towards him as the man sighed exasperatedly.

"Nothing important, sir. Just a false alarm. This lady here mistook a prank by some kids to be real. I'm sorry if you had been troubled because of it... Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth." said the officer as he gave him a look of recognition.

Miles waved him off as he turned his attention towards the old lady.

"It might be... it might be not. May I know what the matter was about...? Madam?"

The old lady leered at him as she explained again.

"That's what I'm telling this officer, young man! I know I may be an old lady but I know what I have heard! It was a gunshot, you hear me? Not some hillbilly of a prank like this officer said it could be. Sure, there were some kids in the neighbourhood playing pranks and setting off fireworks lately here... but I know the difference between firecrackers and gunshots!"

"There's a chance that you might be mistaken, Ma'am. Here sir, I found this at the alley nearby—" said the officer as he showed the burnt pieces to Miles.

"Hmm..." Miles frowned as he examined the burnt residue.

Some of the paper casings were still intact and it did appear to have been lighted previously. Still, he felt that there was something was amiss. He could not smell any hint of sulphur in the air, any evidence that some firecrackers had been set off recently. Even if it has been more than a few hours since the incident occurred; traces of sulphur in the air could not have disappeared so fast if there were crackers lighted in the area prior. Because if what the lady had heard was true... he feared that it was not just a simple false alarm.

"Madam, did you remembered when was it that you heard the gunshot sound? Or the cracker sound–whichever it was for real." he added as the officer gave him a look.

The woman's eyes shifted as she tried to remember the details before answering.

"I think it was about two hours ago. I was watching my favourite oriental drama series around that time when I heard the noise. I can't be mistaken!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure it didn't come from something else... or even from the TV?" chided the officer again as the old lady exclaimed in protest.

"Of course I am sure! It was very loud! People around here don't turn their volumes so loud!"

"Two hours ago?" he mused loudly as he frowned. Two hours ago would be around the same time when he had received Phoenix's call. It could not just be a coincidence!

He sighed.

"Officer... A. Heid. I know that this may sound strange now but I would like you to take this woman inside her home and write down her statement; including what you've just found at the alley. Madam, I would also like you to tell everything you've heard in detail to this officer. I'll excuse myself for a while..."

"Sir, where are you going?" asked the officer as he was about to leave.

"I'm checking up on something. Hopefully this was just a misunderstanding—" he said hurriedly as he ran up the stairs leading to Wright's Anything Agency.

xxx

His hands hovered over the door knob as he hesitated. It had been like almost eleven years since he had entered this place to find the body of Mia Fey; lying motionless in her office. Since then, he had dreaded walking into this place with or without any reason. He was not one to believe in anything occult-like but with everything that he had seen since, he could not deny the possibility. This place had given him a sort of uneasy feeling every time he came to visit, as if the office itself had drawn in all of the darkness in this world and brings misfortune to anyone occupying it. Mia Fey had lost her life in this office; Phoenix kept getting himself into hopeless cases and eventually was disbarred. It was as if this office brought him and his former mentor nothing but bad karma.

Nevertheless, it was not like only bad things ever happen to him, he should not be superstitious so suddenly. Moreover, worrying over nothing over here was not getting him anywhere; the office would probably be closed by now. Miles shook his head as he twisted the door knob.

He could barely hold his breath when he found out that the door was unlocked. His heart thumped rapidly, his anxiety reaching up the limit. Wait... he should calm himself down. Phoenix might have forgotten to lock his door when he was coming in and he probably was still inside...

... but the office was dark.

Who on earth would stay in this pitch black place like this, doing absolutely nothing? His nose immediately caught a smell that he did not hope to get as he entered the office.

The coppery smell of blood, the smell of death...

"Wright!" he cried as he dashed towards the office room only to confirm his nagging suspicions. Books cluttered everywhere; Trucy's props as well as the random thing around the room had been thrown all over. It looked as if the office have been ransacked! Feeling the sense of urgency again, he hurried towards the smaller room.

To his horror, he found a fallen figure in the room; unmoving, almost at the same spot where Ms. Fey had lost her life prior.

He shakily stumbled onto his fallen friend as he lifted his body up. Phoenix's shirt was wet with his own blood and they were still fresh. Miles hesitated before checking his pulse to see if he had kicked the bucket. To his relief, Phoenix was still alive... barely. His eyes immediately darted towards the cell phone lying nearby.

Several spots of blood could be seen on some of the keypads on the phone. Phoenix probably put his number on speed dial. Can he say it was luck? If he was still living abroad, it might have been too late. Phoenix would have died before help could come!

Soft footsteps could be heard approaching the room as the officer from earlier poked his head into the room.

"Err... Sir? Is there anything I could—?"

Realization snapped him back to life as Miles turned towards the voice.

"Hurry! Call for backups! And ambulance! Someone had been shot!"

The officer was taken aback before noticing the fallen attorney as he ran out to get help. Miles turned his attention back towards his fallen friend as he tapped him softly on his cheeks.

"Wright... Phoenix Wright! God help me please be alive!"

After a few nudge, Phoenix's eyes slowly opened. Miles let out a sigh of relief.

"You all right, Wright? I'm here..."

For some reason Phoenix started to giggle. He hissed at him for trying to make light of his situation just because he had made a bad pun. Miles turned his attention towards the door.

Damn... where did that officer went? Calling for ambulance and backup can't take that long... can it?

Miles pulled out his cravat as he used it to stop the blood from gushing even more. Noticing the entry wound on his chest, he was glad that the shot missed Phoenix's heart entirely. But still, this wound—he really hoped that he did not lose too much blood. He prayed repeatedly for the ambulance to come faster.

His prayers were answered thirty minutes later as he could hear the sound of sirens coming towards the place. Moments after that, the officer reappeared with paramedics as they carried Phoenix out of the office to get him to the nearest hospital...