The Mask of Thorrgad by Storm Parakaitz
Chapter 3: Curious Conversation

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 mean, have you seen how strange my creations are? Do you really want Pokémon to become that?
Gotta love Panther X, my beta-reader.


Bang!

Diego tilted his head to the opposite side, annoyed at a sound's attempt to rouse him.

Bang!

He had a strange dream, forgotten and tossed to the abyss. No feeble attempts at a lucid dream today.

Bang!

Wait, what time was it anyway? And what was that banging sound?

"Hey wake up!" a juvenile voice cried. Then he remembered: he was still trapped with that brat twin on a plane trip to some unknown destination, and somehow he fell asleep. He groaned and opened his eyes, only to remember he's kinda blind now. That'll be hell to get used to.

Diego yawned. "...Coffee?"

"Uhh, we don't have coffees here... but I maybe able to make it if you tell me how?" Pichips hesitantly tripped over his own words as he spoke.

Diego shook his head, fighting back the urge to grumble. "Later."

Pichips helped him out of the plane, which not even Diego himself knew how he managed to fall asleep in, and guided him to a building. Diego placed a hand on the wall to balance himself, but almost fell over once he shifted his weight over to the wall as he began to slip on slick, cold steel.

He heard the door open and followed Pichips inside, only to be greeted by a sensory overload: thick metallic smells, odor of something burning not too far from where he stood, and ear-tickling upbeat, foreign-sounding techno music. The electronic earworm echoed through the oddly-built place, and his headache quickly returned.

"Where?" he managed to ask, mostly to himself.

"Just sit down here on the couch. It's warm. Whee!" Pichips' voice rang. Diego heard him bouncing on leather, at least, what he hoped was leather; supposedly the couch. He followed the sound carefully and stopped when his foot touched it. He gave himself a mild smirk, beginning to think how easy this is getting.

Diego turned around to sit down... but he fell on cold steel instead of comforting leather. "Ack," he groaned.

Pichips cackled up a storm. "Oh, hahaha! Oh man, that's rich! Hehehehe!"

"Glad you're enjoying the joke..." Diego retorted bitterly.

"Oh, I am! I am! Hahahaha!" Pichips laughed with a snort. Diego got up and finally found the seat.

"OK, I'm leaving now. Bye bye!" Pichips cheered as he hopped over to the door and closed it with force.

Diego sighed. Now he was alone. Maybe he could take some time to reflect on what happened... why and how did he end up in this situation?

He stretched his body across the couch and his feet dangled at the end of the armrest. He decided to kick his shoes off and prop his head up with his wrists.

Then a thought entered his mind: something struck him about Pichie and Pichips. Something he didn't know about them... and something he did.


The Mask of Thorrgad

"Bro," Pichie addressed, searing herself in the blue plane. "How did Diego-"

"fare, since he's all blind and stuff?" finished Pichips. The Pichu scratched at his ear. "He's OK, fell asleep in the plane."

"So what did you leave him to do at the Beach?" she asked."

Pichips started the plane and took off before answering. "He just sat on the couch... uhh... whoops."

"Pichips..." Pichie addressed accusingly.

"Bu-bu-bu-but he looked OK to me! Oh, and he fell when he reached for the seat. It was great! Haha!" Pichips laughed, snorting in between.

Pichie adjusted her goggles. "Poor Diego..."

"Peach, I thought his name was Diego Armando."

"...His name is Diego Armando."

"Why you call him just Diego, then?"

Pichie pulled her goggles down over her vibrant pink eyes and sighed. "Diego is his first name. Armando is his last name."

"How do you know?!" Pichips criticised, "You asked him?!"

Pichie sighed.

"Don't sigh at me!"

"I thought it was obvious... but then again, I am talking to you..." she muttered.

You're lying!" Pichips accused.

"Nuh uh." Pichie defended, albeit half-heartedly.

"Yeah huh!"

"Nuh uh."

"Yes huh!"

"Nope."

"Yeah!"

"Prove it."

"Uhh..." Pichips struggled, "...you twiddle your thumbs when you lie!"

"So do you." the female countered.

Pichips groaned, "Well... you're still lying!"

"Nuh uh."

"Yes HUH!" Pichips began to yell.

"I'm older."

"By five seconds!"


The Mask of Thorrgad

Diego shifted on the couch. He was trying to fall asleep, as there was a lack of anything else to do and he was exhausted; whatever happened to him earlier sure did a number on his body. But his headache, which never quite lifted, was just getting worse as he had nothing to focus on but the loud music made more atrocious by the shoddy acoustics in the room. A building made of steel? Why was it always playing annoying music throughout?

As he continued to concentrate on his headache, for lack of anything better to do, he could feel depression trying to pull at his heart, made worse by the surrounding darkness whose only rival was a scalding hot beverage he so craved. He grunted in disgust at his own thoughts, fighting the urge to become saddened by a situation he could do nothing about. That was it. There wasn't a reason to become affected by it, so instead, he should try and think on what he should do to fix it or remember how he got to his present location in the first place.

While stuck in his own perpetual railroad of thought, Diego swore he heard a knock or two at the door. He wasn't sure, so he dismissed it when it didn't return. He was too focused on what he couldn't see...

Then there was an abrupt pause. He lifted his head slightly in confusion, thinking the music player might have gotten itself busted, but then another song started. His headache worsened at the sound; some sort of high-pitched, almost flute-like sound began to echo throughout the building. The words were annoying and hard to understand, but he could certainly distinguish the words "ding ding" being said all over the place. With a laugh, he remembered Pichie mentioning those words. As he continued to listen, his train of thought completely lost, a string of words came up that he understood:

Oh no, you're crossing every line, I'm gone No no, I'm all fed up, don't wanna see no more

Then he groaned as those words managed to find a way to ramble over and over again in his head, even as the song changed to something much calmer sounding.

Just then, the door opened, and he sat up, hoping he would see who it was. Oh who was he kidding?

"It's just us," Pichips' distinctive voice called. Footsteps approached him.

"Diego! Heya!" Rang Pichie's bell of a voice. "You doing OK?"

Diego shrugged, but otherwise said nothing.

He heard Pichips jump onto the back of the couch. "Howzat turned knee?"

"What?"

"Pichips," Pichie butted in, "he said he was an attorney. Like a lawyer. His knee is fine."

Then Diego heard another knock. He mentally hit himself for ignoring it last time. He heard Pichips jump down and answer it.

"Pichips!" came a young, raspy voice. As Pichips rattled on about some nonsense to the visitor, Diego directed his attention to another set of footsteps wandering about.

"Oh!" he heard Pichie gasp from beside the couch, "G-Gale!"

The visitor said nothing. Diego had the feeling he was being stared at, but he didn't move.

"Hm," A stern, deep voice muttered. After a few seconds of unnerving silence, Diego heard several pairs of footsteps make their way elsewhere, until they were finally out of earshot. He concentrated his focus to the others in the room.

"So, didja screw things up?" he heard the first visitor ask, slowly approaching the couch.

"No!" Pichips replied.

"You so screwed things up, didn't you?" He laughed. Several more pairs of footsteps approached. This didn't make any sense – why did it sound like there were more people there?

Suddenly, most of the footsteps halted. "Pichips..." his voice turned serious. "What... what is that?"

"His name is Diego Armando!" Pichips replied, oblivious to the hints of concern within the other.

"You're..." Diego heard him mutter cautiously.

"Blind." Diego finished calmly.

"And a turney?" Pichips tried. "Anyway, this is my buddy Savage! He's cool." Pichips introduced happily.

Diego heard a twitching sound. "Right... where is Gale?" Savage asked.

"Uhh..."

"Pichie and Gale went elsewhere." Diego answered, "I could hear them walking behind me."

"Well, I'm going to find him. I don't need any of this nonsense right now." Savage arrogantly proclaimed. Diego caught the wind of hate in his voice. He dismissed it when a thought entered his mind: Savage sounded like an adult; why did Pichips refer to him as a friend?