Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Chapter 6: The End Approaches - Part 1 (Deadly Life)

~ Ultimate Investigator Niamh Wood's POV ~

Once I finally opened my eyes, the scent of medication told me that I was in the hospital - albeit a very glitchy hospital. The room was green and some of the objects in the room were fading into numbers for some reason. I couldn't see very well, though, so it might have been my eyes playing tricks on me.

"Ah! You're awake!"

Multiple voices gasped in surprise above me. I sat up, my head throbbing with pain as I threw off the covers of the hospital bed. "Guys...?" I whispered. "What happened?"

Zach hugged me, almost choking me with the sudden action. "I'm so relieved that execution failed!" He exclaimed. "If it succeeded, then...!"

"Execution?" I repeated. It took me a few seconds before I remembered what he meant; Monokuma had thrown me into the same situation as Akari just for the heck of it. "W-We got out alive...? Is Akari okay?"

"She's fine, but she's just waiting outside." Kyle explained. "After what happened with Susumu, she doesn't exactly want to be in here anymore."

"Oh, okay." I nodded. Something still seemed off, making me frown as I glanced around. "Um... is it just me, or it the glitchy program making the hospital kind of hard to see?"

"Wh-What do you mean?" Angelica questioned, her fingers twitching nervously. 

From the corner, Jordan sighed agitatedly and strolled over. "Don't sugar coat it, idiots. Just show her the truth." He grabbed a mirror from the side and shoved it in my face. My vision blurred for a few moments before I could see the reflection clearly. But when I did see it clearly, I nearly fell out of the bed.

My left eye was bandaged up with some kind of red material. I raised my hand to poke it, stopping when a razor sharp pain coursed through my head. "Is this... my jacket sleeve?" I asked.

Zach nodded. "It was an emergency, and there wasn't really anything else we could use to help you. When that gun hit you, it did a pretty big number on your eye. We stopped the bleeding, but..."

"I-It won't work?" I concluded, my voice catching in my throat. "Is it stuck like that?"

"In the game, yeah." Jordan replied. "But if Monokuma told the truth back there, then someone in the real world is trying to break us out."

"It's true," Zach agreed. "The program is having a really tough time keeping itself together. The mastermind is trying to fight back from the inside, while our saviours are breaking in from the outside."

"What if it's just a trap, though?" Jeff suggested. "What if this is just some stupid stunt Monokuma is pulling? You know, something to get our hopes up, only to crush them later?"

"I don't think so," Zach said, shaking his head. "When it first happened, Monokuma sounded genuinely alarmed. I don't think this is some kind of sick joke."

I clambered out of the bed, pausing for a moment to let the dizziness pass. Once I recovered, I rubbed my singular working eye and replaced my glasses on my face. "At least this 'your left eye is blinded forever' thing won't happen in real life." I sighed. "So, now what do we do?"

"I don't think we should just sit around and wait to be saved." Zach answered. "Who knows how long that could take? We should try confronting Monokuma about the situation."

"Seriously?" Jordan scoffed. "You want to talk to the bear about this? I knew you were nothing special, but now you're just making yourself sound stupid."

"Don't talk to him like that." I muttered, glaring at Jordan. "He might be onto something here. If Monokuma didn't plan this, then maybe he'd be willing to shed some light on the situation."

We left the room and stepped out of the hospital. After waving in greeting to Akari, I glanced around the third island; even the scenery was buggy. The sky was no longer a peaceful blue, but a mix between green and red, casting darkness over the island. I gulped, biting my lip nervously.

"Where do you think Monokuma would be?" Angelica asked. "He might be too busy fighting against the hackers to talk to us."

"He usually just showed up when we called for him." Akari responded. "Monokuma? Are you out here?"

Surprisingly, the monochrome bear appeared in front of us, although he was fuming in anger. "What do you kids want?" He demanded. "I'm trying to keep this program intact!"

"We just want an update on the situation," Zach explained. "Do you know the identity of whoever is trying to break in yet?"

"I bet it's the stupid cops!" Monokuma exclaimed. "I captured all of the remaining workers inside that factory, but one of them must have broken out and called for help!"

"What, is your little accomplice not going to help you?" Jordan taunted. "We know you're not working alone."

Monokuma's anger seemed to fade away as he contemplated Jordan's words. After a few moments, he began to giggle. "It sounds like you want something new to investigate, now that the game is ending." He said. "Fine! I'll give all of you a new challenge!"

"A new challenge?" Akari echoed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"The final battle between hope and despair!" Monokuma cried. "All of you need to make your way over to the ruins on the second island. That's where the final battle - the final trial - shall begin!"

"One more trial?" Kyle frowned. "But nobody's died yet."

"I don't think he means a trial to uncover a blackened." Akari said. "I think he means a trial to uncover the mastermind behind this game."

"That's right!" Monokuma confirmed. "Now, come on! I've got some pretty big things up these black and white sleeves of mine, and I can't wait to see you in action one last time! It'll be bear-y exciting!"

Cackling, Monokuma vanished, leaving our group bewildered and frightened. "So... should we do what he said?" Angelica questioned. "Should we head to this 'final trial'?"

"You want to get out, don't you?" Jordan asked. "Then get a move on. I just want to get out of here, now that we're being given the opportunity."

I looked towards Zach, who gave me an encouraging smile upon noticing my anxiety. Seeing that made some of my fear dissipate, although it would have been a lie if I said that I was completely relaxed.

With nothing else to do, we set off for the ruins on the second island, hoping to escape this virtual game of death.

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friendly reminder that niamh wood and niamh tenniswood are two separate characters, I admit I lacked creativity with names at the time, but I noticed there was some confusion in the comments of the last chapter about which niamh was present here, so yeah it's the younger/prosecutor one here okay

okay

AceAttorneyFan over and out!