Chapter 13: ?????? Playing detective?

"My verdict is that Princess Daisy is…" Toadsworth began.

"OBJECTION!"

The yell was heard in he whole Courtroom.

Everyone was wide-eyed. No one knew what was happening. Until they recognized the voice. It was… Luigi? The plumber, looking at everyone with more self-confidence than ever, was ready to save the one he loves.

"LUIGI?" Everyone yelled.

"What are you doing?" Kamek asks.

"I`m not saving Princess Daisy. Actually, I think there are some things we are wrong on. You remember the small game we used to find out which Koopaling had used the seal-less javelin?"

Toddtoad nodded.

"Well, this whole case is a complete game like this. See, we have many things: the location, the weapon, the victim, and of course the day the victim had. First off, let`s take a look back at how Yoshi died."

"He was found dead on Sunny Mushroom Beach, with the Bowser-seal javelin through his heart," Toadsworth recalled.

"Yes, THROUGHH HIS HEART…"

"Yes, through his heart," Kamek said. "Get to the point."

"First off, the location. We understood since a while that the Beach was used by almost everyone at least once to go from one place to another. This means the Beach is located somewhere in the middle." Luigi took out a paper and a pencil, and drew a small circle in the middle, then surrounded it with many other circles, and linked all the surrounding circles to the circle in the center. "Each line is approximately a thirty-minute walk. As we saw, going from one location to another takes an hour. This means the Beach is in the center of it all. Then, we remember that the javelin was thrown from Bowser`s Castle." Luigi wrote "Bowser`s Castle" near one of the surrounding circles. "If the path from Bowser`s Castle to the Beach is about thirty minutes if you go straight and don`t stop on the way, then something is strange."

"Get to the point!" Kamek yelled.

"See, it`s difficult to throw a javelin at such a distance. I`d even say it`s impossible. Butthanks to Daisy`s Superthrower, it reached the Beach. Now, Daisy wasn`t aiming at Yoshi. Remember, she was attacking Wario. However, if she wasn`t aiming, how could she have hit Yoshi`s heart from that far? It`s impossible."

"Are you saying someone else did it? Someone we haven`t interrogated about it?"

"No, the solution is simpler… now that you all understand why I believe this story is fishy, let`s get to the next point: the victim. We all know how Yoshi is."

"Yes; he`s light-hearted, always nice, and always ready to help his friends. However, when something bad happens, he`s easily sad, and he can also feel terrible," Toadsworth said.

"Yes. However, his death would have been something too big. Let`s review his day now. I`ll explain it first as a whole, like some kind of testimony, then we will understand what happened."

"At 7 AM, he was eating on the Beach when Wario stole his eggs. Trying to protect his belongings, Yoshi runs after Wario, but the plumber ends behind Peach`s Castle before and hides the eggs in a tree. Yoshi does not find them and goes back on the Beach. It`s now 10 AM. Princess Peach finds him on the way and brings him back. There they see Birdo`s towel, so Peach suggests he guards it by sleeping on it. As such, when Birdo is back on the Beach, somewhere around 11 AM, she thinks he stole it. But Yoshi explains the story about the eggs, so she decides to go find them behind Peach`s Castle."

"Yoshi leaves for Mario`s house. Here eh finds Wario. They fight, and Yoshi is knocked unconscious. Princess Daisy finds him and wakes him up. He tells her about Wario stealing his eggs, so she swears revenge. Together they go to the Tennis Court. There Princess Daisy takes back Wario`s underwear. Yoshi decides to go take a look again behind Peach`s Castle. However, he meets Birdo, who`s holding the Anything-Gaddfinder – she lies and tells him she is actually trying to find them for him. Thinking Birdo was telling the truth, he goes back on the Beach."

"At 4 PM, Yoshi arrives on the Beach and finds Tatanga trying to sunbathe. Daisy arrives as well and she threatens the alien, until they finally leave. However Yoshi goes a final time to Peach`s Castle, but when he arrives he sees Birdo, using the rocket shoes to reach the eggs. Maybe he hears her talk about her real motives, so he goes back to the Beach, heartbroken. That`s when the javelin arrives from nowhere and goes through his heart."

"That`s exactly what happened to Yoshi," Toddtoad said.

"Yes, but look at how the day was spent: he was always trying to get his eggs. He couldn`t find them, and this made him sad. A first problem for him. Then, later that day, as he meets Wario again, he battles, hoping to learn where his eggs are. This is useless. Later, he hears Birdo talking about scrambled eggs while she`s picking up the eggs in the tree, so he gets heartbroken."

"He`s had a rough day, we understood. Now can you tell us what happened?" Kamek said, impatient.

"Hold on, I`m not done yet. See, w know Yoshi is light-hearted, but he easily takes things personal. As a result, a day full of problems like that one would make him depressive, and in the end, since he would think of it as the only solution…"

"You`ve got to be kidding!" Kamek yelled. "Are you saying that the real killer is nobody who passed here to testify, because the killer was killed as well… in other words, are you suggesting that Yoshi committed suicide?"

"That`s exactly my point. Or something like that."

"It makes no sense!" Kamek yelled.

"Actually it does. You don`t know Yoshi. He`s always happy as long as nothing bad happens. When something terrible happens, he gets depressive. Besides, it`s only when it`s personal. When he helps us fighting Bowser, it`s not personal, he just helps the heroes. He likes to help. But he got his eggs stolen and he lost his possible girlfriend. That was too much for him."

"I agree with Kamek, Luigi…" Toadsworth said. "You can`t say Yoshi committed suicide only because you know him well!"

"Actually, only one thing has been ticking me. Remember how we found the javelin?"

"Yes, through the heart…"

"That`s it, though the HEART! And the person who threw it was thirty minutes far away! It is impossible to make such a precise throw at such a speed and that far, mostly if we were aiming at someone else! My theory is that Yoshi saw the javelin coming, and he positioned himself so that the javelin hits on the spot. On his heart."

"Well, I gotta admit you may be right on that one, finally," Toddtoad said.

"Yes, it makes sense. But now he`s dead, and there`s no way to revive him…" Kamek said.

"I`m not so sure about that… I know Mario always keeps a 1-Up Mushroom hidden behind the house. Toadsworth, do you think the Toad Brigade can go get it and bring it to Yoshi?"

"…I think so…"

***

The case is closed. Luckily. Everyone was fed up. This case had taken so much time to solve, and the answer was so… mundane compared to what everyone else was expecting!

Birdo and Wario have been called in the coroner room. Birdo was asked to bring the eggs with her. Luigi let the 1-Up Mushroom in Yoshi`s mouth and made him munch. Automatically, the mushroom had an effect, and soon Yoshi was alive again. As if nothing had happened, the hole below his left shoulder had disappeared. The dinosaur immediately remembered the day and began crying, until Birdo gave him his eggs. Yoshi took them, and a little smile appeared on his face. Just then Birdo kissed him on the cheek and Yoshi was shining of happiness. Wario finally apologized, and Yoshi accepted.

All`s well that ends well in the Mushroom Kingdom, once again. And this time it`s not Mario who solved the story.

Author`s notes: Who guessed right? The whole idea of the fanfic was at first to use the same concept than the Ace Attorney series, but the deduction part of it was left to you readers. Sometimes simple details reveal the answer. The thing that was to be looked for is how the javelin struck Yoshi. Luigi clearly said that it`s impossible to shoot so precisely because of the distance and also the target. Actually this could have been guessed from the beginning.

Anyway, it`s the end of Toddtoad Ace Attorney. I was also getting a little fed up of writing only dialogs, that`s why I`ve been waiting some days before finishing it. But now that the case is closed, you readers will just have to wait that someone else writes a similar story to this one – why don`t you try it?

Here`s how I wrote it. First of all, I wrote the complete day. What happened each hour for each character, and then I used this to write the testimonies. This took me two or three days, but it was worth the story. After all, if a mystery isn`t complicated and you find out who did it right away, then it`s boring. Remember this word of advice: sometimes only a few words can completely transform the original case. Use it well if you try it!