Intergalatic Turnabout: Investigation (ZFRP Related)

 Any lawyer worth their salt, whether defense attorney or prosecutor, started with the investigations. Usually, detectives and police handle that, then hand over all the relavent information over to the lawyers for review. However, in more recent days, lawyers have taken things into their own hands, finding things that detectives seem to overlook and understanding the situation better than others.

 Apollo couldn't exactly go over to the supposed crime scene, though. A ticket to New York from California was more costly than he could afford. His wallet was already crying after Athena bought a few knick knacks from Nine Tails Vale. A trip to Manhattan, on top of a trip to space in about three months or so? Not even the money he gained from his recent cases would be able to pay all that off, along with the monthly rent of his apartment!

 So what better way to start researching than to borrow Phoenix's laptop, go back to his apartment, and go from there? He relaxed in his chair as the laptop booted up, marveling at all the photos and newspaper clippings on the walls. Of his debut in court. Of his triumphs in the Turnabout Serenade. Of the Jury System test and more. Various Gyaxa paraphanillia, such as Clay Terran's coat and pictures of the HAT-2 launch, sat on top of his dresser. A radio sat on his bad, softly playing "The Guitar's Serenade" on repeat.

 Once the laptop was booted up, it was all a matter of searching the internet about Manhattan incidents. The most recent article he could pull up was titled, "A Living Nightmare: Dragon Swarm Destroys Part of Manhattan". From what he could glean of the details, witness reports claim that the skies were darkened in the afternoon before someone realized that it was a cloud of dragons, swooping down and tearing apart anything they could reach. The leader of the dragons happened to be a knight one King of Beasts patron named Josephine Boutelle said was named Garland, and his motive was to get revenge on her family and herself, while causing the most damage possible.

 "This can't be real," Apollo muttered under his breath as he read the more specific details. "You gotta be kidding me. They're all just actors, right? People in a lot of dragon suits?"

 His hopes of that being a fantasy were dashed when he saw that someone managed to take a picture of a barbarianess fighting off a dragon belching out flames. No, those were real dragons, alright. How they were real and hid from scientists for hundreds of years, he had no clue. But these were all second hand accounts, right? What about first-hand accounts?

 Could he even question this Josephine? How about her relatives? The search began anew, and while he had to dig through a bunch of unrelated articles and a forum topic related to "Celestial Buns" ("I...I don't think I'll ever wash my brain of that."), he finally found some contact information about her sister, Sarah Triden. Eager to take his new lead somewhere, Apollo opened up a video chat program and dialed in the number, hoping that the girl would be actually there.

Riiiing. Riiiing.

Click.

"Hello?"

 That didn't sound like a girl's voice. In fact, the video showed a man, blonde hair a mess, an idiot hair waggling about, and a cat wrestling in his arms.

"You... you don't happen to be Sarah Triden, are you?" Apollo asked, breaking out into a sweat.

 "No, I'm actually her husband, Alex Triden. Er, is this important? I can't stay here long, I have to handle the latest addition to our family."

 Husband? Guess he shouldn't be surprised. With a sigh, Apollo said, "I'm Apollo Justice, an attorney at law. There happens to be a lawsuit coming up against you guys and your friends at the King of Beasts from Manhattan, and I would like to get you guys clear of all charges. You wouldn't have happened to be involved in the Dragon Swarm incident, have you?"

 Alex tilted his head a little and blinked. "Is that what they're calling it? Well, erm, I do have a bit of relation to it... I faught the knight who caused it. I'm also a patron of the King of Beasts, although I've been absent. A lawsuit sounds like a big problem, though."

 "I'd be more worried about whether or not you killed anyone, because if anybody has proof of that, you might be as good as gone. Although a big dent to savings isn't too good, either. Could you tell me more about the King of Beasts and those fishy incidents?"

 The blonde man blinked again before setting the cat down and crossing his arms. "The King of Beasts started as a bar to talk about the bloody fights between modified, powerful animals. Most of the incidents happened after the event we call the Big Bar Brawl, where the patrons fought to the death. A robot one that one, but that's not important. After that, our pasts seemed to catch up with us, and various dangerous incidents started happening. I mean, two of the patrons were Space Marines, and I had to face off with someone who was capable of using a powerful, destructive spell. We killed him of course-"

 "Woah, woah, woah, hold the phone!" Apollo was terrified by how much he was sweating now. "You mean you admit to murder?"

 Alex's idiot hair drooped as he bend his neck downward. "W-well, yeah, we didn't have much of a choice for most of the incidents," he replied gloomily. "It was do or die. Its not something the normal police could handle. This was supernatural stuff! I only wish the police could have done something about the Lord situation before it got out of hand-"

 "Uh.... Lord situation?"

 "Er...its complicated. Simply put, the Lord was someone with a great hatred for humanity and wanted to destroy everything. We put a stop to him, but he was... extremely difficult to kill."

 Of course. A supervillain. Right in the middle of New York. Wonderful. Apollo gulped before putting a finger to his forehead and thinking long and hard. "So all of the patrons were responsible for the murder of some villain of the week,"Apollo stated, "otherwise there'd be more casualties. But murder's still murder. You guys could get some serious jail time for that, even if some guy makes some stupid claim about wanting to get revenge! And you seriously think bringing your own problems into a usually peaceful city is a good idea?"

If Alex didn't look guilty before, he looked even guilter now, the color draining from his face. "I'm sorry," he said, "but... you'd understand more if you experienced it for yourself."

 "Not that I have a choice," Apollo grumbled. "600 dollars for a ticket, though? I don't even have that much!"

 Alex seemed pensive for a moment. He even had the same look Athena had when she had her thinking cap on. "If it's money you need, I'd be willing to vouch for you and get you a discount. I'd even pay for it! We have a little amusement park in Manhattan that brings in quite a bit of money each year, so I don't mind using it to help you."

 The attorney stared for a moment, wide eyed. "You'd... you'd pay for all my expenses?"

 "Of course! If you're really interested in investigating this more, you really have to understand how everything works at the King of Beasts before making a fair judgement! I'll even pay for the hotel costs. And maybe a weapon or two of your choice."

 "Wait...a weapon? Why would I need one?"

 His client smiled apologetically over the screen. The moment he saw it, Apollo began to sweat bullets. Almost as if he knew...

  "Where you're going, it's better to be safe than dead."

 Oh dear. Apollo bit off more than he could chew, and there was no turning back.