"I learned it in a self-defense class actually" Athena said cheerfully as she and Trucy walked down the steps of the courthouse towards the Wright Anything Agency. They, or rather she, as Trucy was just in the gallery watching, had just finished a trial where the defendant was accused of minor theft and vandalism. It was a refreshing change of pace to take a case that wasn't centered around a murder.

They managed to prove that the defendant was not the one who wrecked her now ex's house, but that she had been framed by her best friend, who never liked the relationship to begin with. The process of discovering this was not an easy one. After going through fifty five pages of text history, using widget on every witness involved, and ending several shouting arguments, Athena really felt like she should have been getting paid as a couples therapist as well as a lawyer. The judge at least seemed the enjoy the show, Athena was secretly convinced he chose his job solely for the drama.

"You learned how to slam your arm down loudly on the table to command attention in self-defense?" Trucy asked as she walked along.

"Not really to command attention, although the sound it makes is loud enough to use it for that. It's the strategy you use when falling." Athena explained. "If your falling and you tuck your head to your chin and slam your hands on the ground before your body hits the floor, then you can destroy a lot of your momentum and and avoid a head injury. Even if you do it wrong it's better to have a broken wrist than a broken back. If you do it enough then muscle memory lets you learn how to slam your arms down fast and hard."

Trucy's eyes widened. "I learned how to fall like that for my magic tricks! Some shows require minor stunt work, or quick movements in precarious situations. I never knew it was a self-defense move" she paused thoughtfully for a moment. "What other things did they teach you in that class?"

"Well they taught the basics. How to escape from grabs, using the elbows and open hands instead of punching, safety habits and behaviors that allow you to recognize and avoid unnecessary trouble. A lot of it focused on the psychological aspects of how to react in certain situations and what the most common dangers are, but there was definitely a good bit of actual learning to fight and win from a defensive standpoint, especially as the course was a two year course so we had time to learn muscle memory and some somewhat advanced moves." Athena smiled. "I was pretty good at it actually, they had me helping out a lot of the other students more and more as time went on. I even helped teach the next round of students once I graduated." She used her fingers to make air quoted around the word graduated.

Athena paused, her eyes slid to her younger friend. "Hey Trucy, have you ever had any self-defense training?"

Trucy grinned. "I carry knives and can hit a bullseye from a distance of fifty paces."

". . . do you know any non lethal forms of self-defense?"

Upon reaching the agency they had the beginning of a plan, but they needed an accomplice to carry it out.

They spied their victim sitting on the agency's couch with his back to the doorway. Apollo was distracted, texting someone idly on his phone. He lifted his head slightly when the door was opened but otherwise didn't move. The girls grinned at each other, then moved forward on the attack slow and smooth as a pair of sharks gliding through the water.

Athena circled around to the side of the couch, and slowly slid herself onto the arm rest. Trucy sauntered up from behind and casually leaned down and rested her interlaced hands on the back of Apollo's head.

"Heeeeaaaay Apollo" Trucy said with a smile that would fool no one. She ignored the way the man twitched at the sudden contact and looked back and forth. his eyes narrowed as he glanced between the two girls.

"Whatever you two are going to ask the answer is no" He said.

Trucy's eyes widened as if in shock.

"Apollo!" she said. "At least let us pose the question before shooting us down!" She lifted her arms from his head and bounced onto the other arm rest of the couch. Apollo put his phone in his pocket.

"Nope. Nooope. Nuh uh. The last time you "Hey Apollo-ed" me I ended up stuck inside your magic box for three hours. I'm not helping you out with any more of your tricks for at least a week. Ask Athena to be your assistant."

"Who anything about magic tricks?" Asked Athena sweetly.

". . . what do you mean?" He asked.

Athena punched her hand and grinned "I'm planning on giving Trucy a self-defense course, she's never had one officially and it's important for a young lady to know how to defend herself."

"Good for you?"

"See that's the thing!" Trucy chirped cheerfully. "It's good for you as well cause you'll be taking lessons with me."

"WHAT?"

"I mean, it's really a three person minimum thing." Athena chipped in. "One person attacks, one person defends, and one person supervises to correct mistakes and call the squad if anyone messes up and gets injured!"

"Ok ignoring the last part of what you just said, you want me to mock attack Trucy so she can practice self-defense?"

"I also want you to defend yourself against Trucy. That parts important" Athena clarified.

Trucy nodded.

Apollo also nodded, but in a "no" notion rather than a "yes" motion. "Can't you just, get Mr. Wright to be the attacker or something?"

"Really Apollo," said Athena with a gasp. "You would ask a father to attack his one and only daughter? For shame. Imagine the unnecessary mental stress, imagine the subconscious seeds of betrayal. Also imagine if someone walks in to find Mr. Wright, a grown thirty year old man, attacking a teenage girl. The boss has already been on trial for murder three times already."

"He's going to be on trial for murder a forth time if he catches me going after Trucy like I'm going to hurt her." Apollo crossed his arms with a glare.

"Oh I don't know," said Trucy as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You may constantly look like you're two seconds away from a first degree murder, but Daddy knows your harmless."

"What do you mean by that!"

"The way you stare at people sometimes is a little intimidating, but that's not the point," said Athena.

"What makes you qualified to teach self-defense anyway?" Asked Apollo.

"A teaching licence and three years of experience using said licence in a classroom setting"

"You mean to tell me that you taught self-defense, while you were in school, while you were studying for the bar exam?"

"Yes"

"How did you find the time to sleep?!" Apollo exclaimed.

"Everyone needs a hobby" Athena said. "And self defense just felt important to know. Besides, it allowed me to fit in my daily exercise, and exercise is very beneficial for mental health and well being"

"I still think your crazy. Why does Trucy even need self defense training?"

". . .You're kidding me right Apollo? You do know that Trucy is a fifteen year old girl, right?"

"So?"

"Every female between the ages 13 to 18 who is able should have some form of self-defense training, if only to learn basic safety measures."

"Trucy is probably carrying around at least four knives right now."

"Seven."

"Exactly, wait, Seven?!" Apollo squawked. "Like your actually carrying around seven concealed knives on your person right this second"

"Uh, Huh"

"You're. . . ok." Apollo took a breath "Trucy is holding seven knives in her outfit right now and I've seen her throw them with frankly alarming accuracy. If anyone needs self-defense it's the idiot who thinks they can go after her."

"Apollo, the goal is to teach Trucy a non-lethal method of defense. One that she can use without worrying that if she chooses to defend herself she's not going to kill someone in a way that the rest of us will need to fight to prove as manslaughter rather than first or second degree murder. Also, going after someone with a knife, while it can be admittedly effective even against an experienced combative, is downright traumatizing. I speak from personal experience."

Apollo winced. "Point taken," he muttered. "I'll join your class, but only if they're on the weekends. And if this leads to us finding a dead body you owe me fifty bucks."

"Deal."

"Ok class!" Athena clapped her hands together as she looked at Apollo and Trucy. They were in the backstage practice area of the Wonder Bar, the place where Trucy usually practiced her tricks. They cleared an area of magician props and and dragged out the floor mats. "For the safety and wellbeing of everyone present I'm going to lay out some ground rules. Anyone guess what the first one is?"

"I know the rule!" Trucy said cheerfully as she raised her hand and bounced on the tip of her toes.

"Excellent, take it away!"

"First rule of self-defense training is don't talk about self-defense training."

"Trucy nooooooo, wrong kind of club," "Athena said before she straightened out, serious. "First rule is that we respect each other's space and personal boundaries. A lot of the moves you're going to learn here require you to get up close and personal with your attacker. When we practice these moves we're going to be grabbing each other's arms, pinning each other down, putting each other in choke holds. There's a lot of trust involved in that, so we need to make sure that we watch our opponent for any signs of distress and if they tap out, we let go immediately." Athena demonstrated by quickly and lightly patting the ground twice.

"Now sometimes in the heat of the moment beginners panic and forget to tap. That's why we watch to make sure our partner is still ok, and why I'm here to stop any moves that become unsafe. We'll take it slow, and work up to the more complex holds and escapes, but no one will be forced to do anything that they don't feel comfortable doing and that included you Apollo. Rule number one is that no has to do anything they are uncomfortable with or don't think is safe. Learning to fight and defend is a slow but rewarding process."

"Trust huh," Apollo muttered.

"That is not how I learned that move." Apollo said grumpy.

"Really?" Athena asked.

"The way I've always seen it you supposed to duck to the left and twist the arm over the attacker once you've knocked them to the ground."

"Alrighty then, show me. Slowly" Athena said as she squared her stance. "I'll be the attacker, I'm coming after you and have just started to throw a punch." She raised her fist and moved it forward in slow motion.

"Alright then, so it starts out pretty much the same." Apollo begins to walk through the steps. "I step to the left and duck under your arm. . . here's where it changes. I put my hands here, knock you to the ground, aaaaannnd I land here while still holding your arm like this." Athena was now on the ground Apollo lying half on top of her pinning her wrists to her sides. He quickly sat up and helped her up.

Athena brushed the dust off her clothes before she looked at him. "Again" she said. They went through the move twice more before Athena paused thoughtfully. "I think the move you learned is a variant for if the attacker in question is holding a weapon." She said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked, laser eyes staring into her.

"Well look at it this way, you said the beginning is the same, but as soon as we started the move in real time you dodged more to the side of the attacker then to the front, and you made a special effort to pin down the arms as quickly as possible. I think the biggest tell is how you twist the arms away from the body to the side. It's an effective pin, but it's slightly easier to get out of. The first version seems to focus more on keeping the core of the attacker securely pinned, the arms wrist down are free because there's not really a lot you can do with your hands when they're pinned to the side like that.

Athena paused. "The real question is how in the world do you, Apollo Justice who gets tired after a twenty minute jog, learn how to take down an armed combatant?"

"I, errr, welllll," Apollo stammered. "I knew someone who had this friend who was good at fighting and stuff. He taught me a little about self-defense and whatnot"

"You lied when you said the words "little" and "self-defense."" Trucy chirped happily. "Which is funny because those were pretty much the most specific parts of what you just said."

"Really," Asked Apollo affronted. "Well my bracelet reacted earlier when you told Mr. Wright how much you spent last week on Gavinner's merchandise."

"You lied about eating Athena's sandwich from the mini fridge the other day."

"APOLLO!" Athena gasped. "That was you!? I thought it was Mr. Wright, how could you?"

"It was an accident!"

"How do you accidentally eat a sandwich?!"

"I didn't know it was yours until I bit into it and tasted the pickle! And then it was too late! I thought it was mine left over from the other day!"

"No, I ate that one." said Trucy. "Next time go for mustard instead of mayonnaise, it brings out the flavor of the bread better."

"So this part of the course is less action more lesson. Is all about recognizing dangerous situations and avoiding confrontation. I want to make it clear that the point of this is not to make you afraid of everyday life, but to recognize when to be afraid and what to be afraid of. A lot of the time, instinct is the best indicator of danger. A bad feeling could be the result of a thousand different pieces of input that the brain has put together in the subconscious."

"So Apollo, scenario time. What would you do if you were approached unexpectedly by a dangerous looking, shady individual"

"Defend him in court, punch him in the face after the trial, and apply for a job under him three months later when I finally accept that no one else is hiring."

Athena stared at him.

Apollo, Trucy, and Athena were just about to leave from the agency to the self defense course when Phoenix paused in the doorway.

"What's with all the dark clothing, and the duffel bags. . . actually wait, no, don't tell me. I want to be able to claim plausible deniability for whatever it is you're about to do. Have fun, don't leave fingerprints or try to frame anyone else and come back safe." He walked over to his desk, pulled out a pair of noise canceling headphones from the bottom drawer that Apollo was sure he had never seen before and sat down to look very carefully over all his paperwork.

"Well then." Apollo said.

"I don't know whether to be appreciative that our boss trusts and supports us or. . ." Athena trailed off.

"Isn't my Daddy great!" Trucy said with a smile.

"...and that's how you make it clear to the camera like you're the victim while still inflicting maximum damage!"

"Self-defense classes should not be taught by lawyers, you are terrifying"

"Self -defense courses should always be taught by lawyers"

Yo what's up! Fray here.

I had this oneshot in my writing scraps folder and I figured, why not post it? I just want to put in a disclaimer that I have never actually taught a self defense course, I've only been in one for a short time because it was free, most of the moves in this story are made up or ambiguous enough that they should not be repeated. I also don't own Ace Attorney. I hope you all have a lovely new year.

Edit: There were sooo many mistakes when I posted this. I think I got most of them, but I apologize if any remain.

-Fray