Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Chapter 6: The End Approaches - Part 5 (Deadly Life)

~ Ultimate Investigator Niamh Wood's POV ~

We turned away from our debate with the Dezpaire twins, Akari's voice distracting us from the discussion. A lot of us were wearing frowns at seeing her sudden determined expression. She had looked so distant and defeated before.

"Who were you talking to earlier?" Jordan interrogated with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sure you weren't just yelling at thin air."

"She was!" Justin cried. "Sapphire said she was crazy, after all! She was talking to her imaginary friend!"

Akari hesitated before answering Jordan's question. "That... doesn't matter." She decided. "What matters is that I know how we can get out of here!"

"That's impossible," Sapphire snapped, showing slight anger. "You can only shut down the program from the outside."

"You've got that wrong." Akari smirked. "Susumu told me that the podiums have buttons which we can press to help us get out."

"S-Susumu?" I repeated. "How could that have happened?"

"Neither of us really understood it, but he thought that the program brought him back for a while to help us!" Akari explained.

Jordan sighed. "Akari, are you really stupid enough to believe a trick like that? Haven't you considered that Susumu's appearance could have been a lowly trick from the masterminds?"

"Don't blame us!" Justin cried, holding his hands up defensively. "We didn't organise that!" He turned to his sister for support in the argument, but all she did was glare at him. "U-Um, I mean..." Justin stammered. "Y-Yeah! We totally organised that to trick you! Hah!"

"It's too late to deny it now." Zach said. "Now we have a way to get out of here." He turned towards Akari. "What do we have to do?"

Akari ran back to her podium in the circle. "Susumu said that each of these contained an electronic panel. Through them, we can decide to shut down the program or reset the game."

"Let me guess: it's a majority wins thing?" Kyle asked. "I don't think it'll be anything other than a unanimous vote, though."

We all took our places next to each other, staring down at the screen that lit up our faces. One button was a sea green and read 'Shut Down'. The other was an eerie black that said 'Reset'. My finger hovered over the first button when I heard approaching footsteps.

"Get away from those! They're not important!" Justin yelled, glaring at me dangerously. I gasped, stepping backwards out of habit when a leg flew out and kicked Justin in the stomach. The redhead flopped to the ground with a loud thump.

I turned towards the person to my left, which happened to be Jordan. "Thanks." I smiled.

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I didn't do it for you." He grumbled. "Just get ready to press the thing."

I nodded and held my finger over 'Shut Down'. I glanced at the others, making sure that they were doing the same thing. "Everyone ready?" I asked.

"I was born ready." Zach answered.

"Let's get out of here... for the sake of everyone we have to leave behind." Akari said. Everyone else merely nodded, so with no further hesitation, we all pressed 'Shut Down'.

Suddenly, the world around us began to tremble. A few panicked shrieks erupted from within the group as we held onto whatever was closest. "Th-This is bad! This is really, really bad!" I heard Justin yell over the roaring. "S-Sapphire, don't leave me here!"

The world around us was no longer a dull grey, but instead a blinding white. Bits and pieces of the room were literally falling apart and fading away into green code.

"This is something you don't get to see every day." Zach said, a small smile on his face. "I think I'm going to enjoy this while it lasts."

"Who do you think's waiting for us on the other side?" Angelica asked. "Do you think there'll still be people there to help us?"

"There should be," Akari nodded. "I'm sure that we'll be fine. We have to be fine."

I looked around, tried to find Justin or Sapphire somewhere, but I couldn't see them. "Sapphire was still in the real world." I said. "I hope they catch her before she manages to get away."

Angelica suddenly began to look sleepy, her eyes flickering open and closed rapidly. "Is it just me... getting light headed?" She asked, her voice becoming difficult to hear.

She wasn't wrong; I also began to feel dizzy and unstable on my feet. I allowed myself to fall to the ground, everyone else appearing to do the same thing, and the rumbling faded away as I gradually lost consciousness.

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After what felt like eternity in nothing but darkness, I began to hear a voice. The words were difficult to make out, but a voice was dragging me back to the real world. My whole body ached, but I forced myself to open my eyes. A bright light burnt my pupils. To my right, I could see the silhouette of a person.

"Are you okay?!" I heard them say. It was a woman with brown hair mixed with a variety of blues and purples, with a huge black hat sitting on her head. Her eyes were narrowed with concern.

"Who are you...?" I whispered, the drought in my throat preventing me from raising my voice.

The woman grabbed my hand and gently pulled me up, revealing a circular room filled with green light. "My name is Abilene Umber." she said. "I'm a detective."

I nodded, unable to say anything else. Detective Umber gasped and reached behind her, holdng up a water bottle in my line of sight. "You're pretty dehydrated." She observed. "Take this."

I nodded and took the water from her, satisfying the dry itch in my throat. Once I had drunk my fill of the water (which ended up being most of the bottle), I gasped and my hand flew to my left eye. "I-It works again...!" I whispered.

"What do you mean?" Detective Umber frowned.

"O-Oh, um, nothing." I lied, shaking my head. I remembered the Dezpaire twins. "Did you catch them? The two people behind this?"

Detective Umber glanced away, biting her lip slightly. I knew what she was going to say before she even said it. "Um... unfortunately not." She said. "But... you don't need to worry about that right now. You and your friends look completely exhausted, so there's a bus waiting for you outside to take you back to school."

"Okay. Thanks." I nodded. Detective Umber left me to my own devices while she checked on Angelica a few feet away from me. I spotted Akari's bright red hair and approached her. She was standing over another pod, staring down at it sadly. Susumu was inside, sleeping peacefully. "The experts said that nobody died," Akari monotoned. "They're just comatose. They don't know how long the comas will last, though."

"Are you okay?" I asked. I knew she wasn't, but I wasn't sure what else to say to her.

She sighed. "Yeah. Let's just go. I don't want to be in this place any longer."

I nodded and we gathered the others before walking out of the factory. It felt so good to be back in the real world, but it would have been a lie if I said that I felt completely satisfied about the outcome of the situation.

CHAPTER 6: THE END APPROACHES

THE END

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i usually try to avoid doing two chapters in a row in the same pov but it might have to be wood's pov as well next chapter because of the circumstances i cri

also abilene cameo does a certain dij appreciate my gift

AceAttorneyFan over and out!