Ace Attorney Investigations: Virtual Despair

Epilogue: From Despair to Hope

//PRESENT TIME//

July 15 2:35pm

S.P.A.R.X Factory ~ Niamh Wood's POV

I blinked as I snapped out of my trance. I had completely lost myself in thinking about the incident that happened here that my grip on reality itself was slipping away. I remembered where I had been; the room where we all woke up after we broke out of the game.

Seventeen pod-like chambers sat on the floor in a circle around the room. Some were empty, their green glow dull and unimpressive. Ten were a bright green, showing that they were occupied.

I had been standing over my own pod, which was obviously empty. I wandered over to the first occupied chamber I could find, which just to happened to be Octavio's. I almost didn't recognise him, as he was definitely taller and his hair had grown a lot longer. His chest rose and fell slowly.

I glanced over to another chamber, belonging to Susumu. His scarf had lost it's colour, now being a dusty metal gray rather than the snow white it had been all those years prior. I was about to walk away when my foot collided with something on the ground. I gasped as something red and white rolled away from me.

It stopped when it bumped into the wall, so I chased after it and picked it up. It was a Pokèball. Akari must have left it there while she was standing next to his chamber. The button in the middle of it stuck out, so I pressed it. The ball opened up to reveal nothing but a small note inside. I unfolded the letter and scanned it's simple message.

I'm still waiting for you
Come find me at Morix Law Offices

"M-Morix Law Offices?" I echoed, despite being alone in the room. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The note sent several questions swirling around inside my head. Despite that, I placed the note back inside the Pokeball and closed it, placing it back on the ground beside's Susumu's chamber.

With nothing else left to do in that room, I left the factory, making sure that there was nobody around to see me.

On that day, after we'd all woken up and escaped the game, we all went back to the school. They gave us a few days out of classes so we could recover from the experience. The day after we returned, Akari mysteriously vanished, without saying a single word to anyone. It was almost like she had run away in the middle of the night. Her room was left spotless, all of her belongings gone with her. She'd left nothing behind.

Nothing except that Pokėball.

A lot had happened since the Despair Resistance Trials. Some of the people that escaped from the game weren't around anymore. Akari, Jordan and Zach were all gone. It was just me, Angelica, Jeff and Kyle left.

Even as I was walking home, the Pokèball was still on my mind. If Akari wrote that note inside it, then that just leaves me asking how she knew about Mr. Morix's office in the first place.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and entered my contacts, finding Mr. Morix's number. I paused, thinking about what to say, before giving in and pressing the call button. After listening to dull ringing for a few seconds, the call was answered.

"Cotoli Morix speaking." He said.

"It's only me," I began. "Don't worry, this'll be quick. I just have to ask you about something that's kind of bothering me."

"Ms. Wood? Is something wrong?" He asked, concern laced into his voice. I could practically hear his frown from the other side of town.

"Uh, kind of." I shrugged. "This might sound really random, but... have you ever heard the name Akari Hinata before?"

"A-Akari Hinata...?" He repeated with a small gasp. "I don't think so... why do you ask?"

"I just found a note and it mentions your office. I think she was the one who wrote it." I explained. "But if you've never heard of her before, then I guess it doesn't matter. Thanks anyway."

"Well, okay then." Mr. Morix replied. "By the way, Sora called about you earlier. She sounded concerned about you and said that you hadn't contacted her ever since you left the house this morning."

I sighed, resisting the urge to facepalm. "I told her not to worry about me..." I muttered. "I'm on my way home now, anyway. Thanks again for your help, Mr. Morix."

"No problem." He responded before hanging up. I stuffed my phone back into my pocket with more questions that answers. Mr. Morix had sounded incredibly nervous when I asked him about Akari, but aside from the note, I had no other proof that he knew her.

I sighed and shook my head, forcing myself to forget about the situation. I smiled slightly as I pushed the door to my house open. "I'm back," I called out.

"There's my little baby!" I heard Ms. Lin exclaim. She burst into my view with a wide grin on her face. "Where have you been? You said you'd only be going out for a few hours!"

"Yeah, sorry..." I apologised. "It was pretty far away, and I got lost in thought for ages."

Loud snoring interrupted our conversation. I poked my head into the front room and saw Mr. Bespoke sprawled on the couch, sleeping away. A few strands of his hair were sticking up untidily. I noted the large stack of papers that sat on the edge of the table, abandoned next to a black pen.

I sighed and poked Mr. Bespoke's arm. His eyes flickered open slowly. "Oh, hey, you're back." He realized, trying to tame his messy hair with his hand. "Um, how long have I been asleep...?"

"You said you'd do some work just as I was leaving, so... about three hours." I told him.

"Th-Three hours?!" He cried. "Polly isn't going to be happy... She'll probably pull my ear off again or something..."

I giggled as he sat up and stretched. "So where did you go?" He asked. "It must have been pretty important if you left that early in the morning."

I shrugged. "Oh, um, I just went to a factory. You know, that one called S.P.A.R.X?"

"S.P.A.R.X?!" Both Mr. Bespoke and Ms. Lin repeated, immediately alarmed. I jumped at the sudden volume their voices had risen to, and raised an eyebrow as I watched them exchange fearful glances.

"Wh-What did you go there for?" Ms. Lin questioned. "That factory... It isn't a very nice place."

"I know..." I agreed. "I just had some things to think about. I won't go back there again if you don't want me to, though..."

The conversation was dropped as I left the room and climbed the stairs to my bedroom. Today had me thinking about a lot of things and questioning a few people, but there was one thing that I could be absolutely certain of.

The virtual despair myself and my classmates had experienced was deleted for good.

EPILOGUE: FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE

THE END

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I WENT ON A TYPING SPREE THAT LASTED FOUR DAYS TO FINISH THIS

HOPEFULLY I SHOULD GET BACK TO A GOOD UPDATE ROTATION AGAIN SOON

also look more cameos and references *looks at a certain case in a certain factory* because why not have something good to finish this thing off

AceAttorneyFan over and out!