The Mask of Thorrgad by Storm Parakaitz
Chapter 2: Eurofighter's Flight

Note: Notes from chapter 1 apply to the entire story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Attorney, Pokémon, or any related characters and likewise used in this piece of writing. I am NOT responsible for Luvdisc's creation!
Quick shout out to Panther X, my beta-reader.

"I'm back and ready, Peach!" Pichips announced. Pichie giggled in response.

"Hm?" Diego uttered. He could faintly smell something, but he couldn't place what it was.

"Oh, his face... is all black. Teehe." She giggled.

"Oh shut it, Peach! I got the plane fixed up, so does it matter if it blew a little?"

"Well," Diego could hear Pichie begin to pace as she spoke, "if you read the directions, nothing would be doing the blowing up."

"How would you know?!" Pichips demanded.

"Because I read directions all the time." Pichie stated matter-of-factly.

"Well I don't like reading!"

"You'll have to read eventually."

"Never!"

"You make blueprints, don't you? Don'cha have to read those?"

If Diego could see, no doubt would his head be turning every time a word was said from the other side. Quite a confusing affair.

"No! I write 'em!" came Pichips' scowl.

"But after you write something you have to read it."

"I..." Pichips hesitated. "I never read!"

"Yeah ya do."

"Nuh uh! Can't prove it!"

"Can too!"

"Can't not!"

"...Can't not?"

"Can not!"

"I'm older."

"By ten seconds!"

Diego mentally rolled his eyes, tired of this sibling charade. "Can you two just shut up?"

"Okay," they both said simultaneously.

"If the plane's fixed," Pichie started-

"then we should be able to go, right?" Pichips finished. "Actually, we have this itsy-bitsy problem." Uh oh. That didn't sound good. As a lawyer, Diego knew a simple problem can unwind into something much more than meets the eye. He sighed as Pichips continued. "Eurofighter..."

He was interrupted by his twin. "Only seats two people. A pilot and a passenger."

"Exactly."

"Well..." Pichie began to think things over. "Maybe you could fly Diego to the Beach and then make another trip for me? I'll be just fine out here on my own."

"Why would I leave you alone?"

"Because I can defend myself alright. Diego can't see, you know. It's not like you can just leave him here alone; it's dangerous up here." While he wanted to object, Diego knew he could not. She had a good point, just the way she delivered it so selflessly... quite a daring personality, this one had.

"What if you flew yourself back, then came back for all of us with Ding Ding?"

Ding Ding? What on earth was that? The attorney dared. "What's that?"

"My jeep." Pichie replied.

"You're eleven." Diego countered.

"So? I built it myself." This confused Diego; he thought they were pilots? Just who are these two?

"Hey!" Pichips yelped, "I am not you!"

"Oh right," Pichie giggled, "I had his help, too."

"Thankie."

Time to get back on topic. "So... what's the plan," asked Diego, "Princess?"

"I think Pichips should take you back. I'll be fine. Really."

Diego heard a drooping sound as Pichips resumed speaking. "Well then... I guess I'll go with Diego..."

"Don't worry," Pichie reassured, "if anything bad happens–"

"–you'll let me know." Pichips finished sadly.

Diego wondered for a second what that could mean. But there wasn't that much time to be thinking about that. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he heard Pichips turn around with a clumsy tumble to the ground.

"So uhhh..." Pichips started, getting up and dusting himself off, "how am I s'posed to tell you where to go? I don't know left from right..."

"I'll follow your footsteps," replied Diego as they slowly took off through the grass, Diego staring into dark oblivion the entire way.

The Mask of Thorrgad

"Owch," Diego cried as his forehead collided with another low tree branch.

"I thought you said you could follow me," Pichips rang from a few feet away.

Diego rubbed the now-red spots on his forehead, the result from many wrecks into stray branches. "I can."

"Then why are you facing the wrong way?"

"Dammit..." Diego murmured. This was going to be tougher than he anticipated. Add a splitting headache to the mix wasn't helping things any, either.

Suddenly Diego's foot slipped, the man barely managing to stop himself from falling, listening to a surprised Pichips warn him of how slippery the mud underneath was just a little too late.

"Thanks for the warning... I miss my coffee."

After what felt like hours, enduring many falls, aches and whispered curses from Diego, they made their way to the plane. From there, Pichips hesitantly guided him to a seat which was just a little too small for him. They abruptly took off soon after, the sounds of a propeller and wings slicing wind entering Diego's ears. The air was cool, not too painful against his face, though the roaring sounds pestered his headache.

"So what was your name again?" Pichips asked suddenly.

Diego brushed some stray hairs from his face, "Diego Armando."

"Oh, OK." the twin paused for a second before he resumed speaking. "Hey why are you on Crimson Island anyway?"

Diego sighed; this was going to be a bit of a trip. "I don't remember. I just woke up, don't remember why or how I got here."

Pichips neglected the conversation for several minutes. Diego hated the suspense in the cold air. It made him wonder if the twisted twin was even listening to him.

"So that means you're from somewheres else." Well, that answers that mental question. But even for 11, Pichips' deductions were too– "Do you remember where you're from?"

Diego closed his useless eyes. "Los Angeles."

"I've heard of that, I think."

"I would hope so."

"But that's really really really really far away."

Diego's mind halted. "...Where exactly are we?"

"Crimson Island!" came the 'are you stupid or something'-toned reply.

"I know that," Diego snapped, impatience growing thin, "but where is Crimson Island? I don't believe I've heard the name." Upon hearing him say the name aloud, a strange feeling of deja vu struck him.

"I don't know," Pichips replied.

This, Diego found peculiar. "You're a pilot, aren't you? You don't know where to find your home on a globe or something, kid?"

"Well no," Pichips admitted sheepishly. Diego imagined him looking down as he spoke. "Today was the first time me and Peach were going to go 'cross the sea, but we crashed. We live by the sound end of Crimson Island."

"Why'd you crash?"

"Some part of the plane busted. This is my test one, so it kinda sucks."

...More holes in the explanation were emerging now. Diego had the feeling Pichips was lying... but why? "Why were you adventuring with a test model?" he decided to ask.

"Huh?!" Pichips muttered, as if realising his own tangle. "Oh! Huh... I dunno!"

...OK, maybe he wasn't lying. Maybe he was just stupid.

"Well," Diego started, feeling a little more comfortable if not confused beyond all reason, "can you tell me more about what it is you do, exactly?"

"OK!" Pichips replied, giddy. Oh lord, what did he get himself into? "Well, we make things. Lots of cool stuff! Pichie knows a lot about that stuff. I fix things for people and stuff. We like to help people, too. Pichie and me make stuff that makes all kinsa things better and stuff!"

Well that made Diego's headache return in full force. "C-can you be a bit more specific as to what this 'stuff' you make is?"

"Maybe," came the slow reply. Then there was an eerie pause. Diego waited for the continuation, his teeth gritting against the wind. "Hmm, we made a goggles that sees in the nighttime. Maybe you can use them to see!"

Diego sighed. "I'm pretty sure I'm blind now."

"Exactly!" Pichips clapped, "Oh wait! You'll need some pasketti too!"

Wonderful mental facepalm moment. "Pichips, I can't see. It's not dark out, is it? Night-vision goggles will do no good."

"But goggles never do nothing!" Pichips remarked.

Diego groaned. "I give up!" he admitted, head sinking downward. "I want some coffee."

"What's a coffee?"

Diego was about to go crazy. "...A warm, dark, bitter drink."

"Sounds nasty."

"Most kids think so."

"Then why do grownups like it?"

"I... guess because it's addicting, and it contains caffeine."

"What's that?"

"Energy."

Pichips gasped in realisation, "So it's like pasketti!"

Diego's head jerked up as if he was expecting to see the crazy twin's face. "What?"

"Oh my Gods you need everything explained! Sketti gives you energy, don'cha know?"

"I thought it helped you see better..."

Pichips giggled. "Who told you that? Sketti gives you wings!"

Diego tilted his head back, taking in a breathful of air. This had to be the worst possible fate he could have imagined for himself – amnesiac, blind, and in the middle of nowhere with this crazed kid, with no thoughts on how to return to wherever he was needed.

To top things off, when he reached into his pockets to see what he had, he'd apparently lost his cell phone.