The Prequel Turnabout

## The Prequel Turnabout V · T

**The Prequel Turnabout** is the second episode in the game *Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney 4*. As its name suggests, the episode chronologically takes place an indeterminate amount of time prior to the previous episode. The episode shows how Apollo Justice acquires clem, who he defends against an accusation of the murder of Barack Obama, as his assistant, and introduces the famous prosecutor Vogel100 and infamous Brit Lauren, among others.

## April 21, 2029

### Prologue

Nate explained the game's controls to the player.

### Investigation

At the Wright Anything Agency, Phoenix Wright announced to Apollo Justice that he, Trucy Wright, and every other character from the first Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney game were going to Hawai, to Justice's dismay. Justice was forced to begin seeking a new underaged magician assistant. Lauren then entered the Agency, stating that she was framed for a crime she didn't commit and needed an attorney. Justice asked her if she had any possible underaged magician assistants, and Lauren answered that the only person she had ever talked to was her Mikan body pillow. She then mentioned that she used to live in Britain, but now lived in the district of Little Canada. Justice refused to take her case, and moved to the detention center.

Arriving at the detention center, Justice was greeted by detective pichuis. Justice introduced himself as Apollo Justice Ace Attorney, protagonist of Apollo Justice Ace Attorney, who pichuis had never heard of. Justice requested that pichuis talk about himself, and pichuis explained that he loved Nagito Komaeda and mvdy, and had never played video games. Justice told him that he should play video games like Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney and finish his Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony lp, but he refused. Justice then asked if pichuis had any possible underaged magician assistants, and pichuis pointed him to clem, who he said had been arrested for the murder of President Obama. pichuis advised Justice to talk to FBI Agent Wynaut at the White House, and said he had to continue working, and could be found at the precinct.

    Justice then headed to the White House, where he found Wynaut. Questioning Wynaut, Justice learned that he was watching Obama's room at the time of the crime. According to Wynaut, there were usually only four people at the White House: him, Obama, Stealphie (his secretary), and Godot (whose job was unknown). However, it was Stealphie's day off on the day of the murder. Wynaut also recommended One Piece, claiming it gets really good after the 300th episode, and that he was going to testify about it the next day. Then, explaining what happened, Wynaut said that he and Godot were watching the president's office, and let clem in, as he had a meeting scheduled with Obama. According to Wynaut, they then heard a gunshot, and went in to see clem inside with a gun and the president dead.

At Wynaut's recommendation, Justice then examined the crime scene. He found that someone had drawn Xs on Obama's eyes, and noted that Obama must've been shot by a big gun, as there was a large amount of blood around the wound for only one gunshot. He also found a file in the cabinet, which was dated April 8, 2021:

After Justice finished looking around, Wynaut left and Stealphie entered. She told Justice she didn't know much about the murder, as he was busy that day. Out of curiosity, Justice asked him what her opinion on Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. Stealphie answered that she considered it the best game ever, and carried it around at all times. Justice then inquired as to Stealphie being busy. She explained that she was bringing Obama's anti-horny bill, which was an official bill banning anything horny and had been in the works for a while, to whatever building laws were made in. Justice asked why Obama didn't go there too, and Stealphie (after checking the Discord group chat that she, clem, Rei, pichuis, mvdy, Atmey, and Wynaut were in) explained that the president had a meeting with clem scheduled, though she didn't know what it was about. Their conversation ended with Stealphie telling Justice that Godot was in the cafeteria.

Justice then went to visit Godot, who told him the coffee maker broke the day prior at the exact time of the murder. Justice next ventured to the precinct, where he found mvdy, Rei, pichuis, Stealphie, and Wynaut. Rei mentioned that clem was still in jail, and Atmey was still busy, so it was just those five present that day. Justice then told pichuis that he needed to talk to clem, and that he should play Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. pichuis refused to play the game once more, but told Justice that clem would now be at the detention center.

Meeting clem, he was seen to be quite depressed at the situation he was in, saying that he wished he could be playing Zenoblade or eating Subway. Justice retorted:

Justice then introduced himself to clem, saying he was there to defend him, but clem responded that he didn't want Justice's defense, as he didn't have any money. Justice responded that he didn't want any money, and just needed an underaged magician assistant, but clem admitted that he merely kins Himiko, and can't actually do magic. Justice said that was still enough, and encouraged clem, saying he believes in him. clem, apparently remotivated, said that Justice's earlier roast was "pretty funny". He explained that he had met with President Obama to pitch something he had invented called "comedy", which that roast could be a part of. Justice encouraged clem to set that as his Twitter bio when he got out of jail.

## April 22, 2029

### Trial

In the defendant lobby before the trial began, clem related that he wished he was president instead, outlining that he believes everyone should have free healthcare, we should attempt to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and end world hunger, and that we should tax rich people and prosecute bad people and give more power to lower and middle class people. He asked Justice if he would vote for him, and Justice affirmed that he would, which made clem decide to run for president if he was found innocent. They then entered hell at 10 a.m.

In hell, Atmey introduced famous prosecutor Vogel100, who began by claiming that Yanni Yogi was bad, and proceeded to give an overview of the crime. He explained that President Obama was assassinated in his office at 3 a.m. He continued that Obama had recently signed away on the 2029 Anti-Horny Bill, which banned all body pillows; while clem didn't own any body pillows, he had been vocally asking for a girlfriend online.

Vogel100 claimed that clem shot the president to death because his anti-horniness would harm his girlfriend attempts. He then attempted to call Wynaut to the stand, but Justice objected, saying he was ready to bring the real killer to the stand - Lauren.

Lauren entered hell, saying that her trial had beem interrupted for her to testify. She testified that she had no idea what was happening, and didn't even know the victim. However, Justice presented a legal document that he got at some point, which confirmed that President Obama had talked to every non-American person in America. Vogel100 pointed out that Lauren was clearly American, as only an American would wear such an ugly mask, but Justice rebutted that she was actually British. Lauren angrily claimed that she wasn't British, and Justice offered to stop accusing her of being British if she admitted to not being American. In the end, she admitted to meeting President Obama when she entered the country.

    Lauren then testified that she met President Obama once, and he had let her escape the not-British, so she wouldn't've killed her. clem noted that Lauren probably hadn't played Clash of Clans, and encouraged listeners to join the Never7 Fans clan. Justice objected, pointing out that Lauren had ample motive to kill the president, as she owned a body pillow. Lauren countered that she didn't have an opportunity to commit the crime, as she had only met Obama months ago. Vogel100 confirmed that she hadn't met Obama in months, and the door to the president's office had two guards present that day to prevent her from entering. He announced his desire to summon one of those guards, Wynaut, to prove it. Atmey then declared an intermission.

In the defendant lobby, pichuis told Justice that he filed his request. Justice thanked pichuis and asked if he had played Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney yet. Annoyed, pichuis repeated that he wasn't a gamer and wasn't going to play Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, as he had already explained. Then, clem described Justice's performance as "pretty good", and asked if he really believed Lauren to be the killer. Justice explained that he didn't actually care, and that whoever he decided was the killer would become guilty, as that's how the universe works. The bailiff then told the two to return to hell.

In hell once more at 10 a.m., Atmey noted that Justice's thing had been approved. Vogel100 argued that having someone testify with someone else's script was probably illegal, but Atmey explained that nobody cared. Lauren, reading from Wynaut's script, testified that Godot went into the office first, and said he saw clem's gun with smoke coming out. Lauren then asked if hearsay exists in the universe, and clem epically roasted her:

    Lauren, saddened, asked why everyone hated her, to which clem responded that she was literally British, and requested that she not talk to him. Lauren riposted that she was American, pointing out her ugly mask, which Justice noted does look very American. clem then said he would pull her mask off right then. Justice encouraged him, and he began to attempt the feat. Lauren insisted that he not, saying that her mask was probably important to the plot or something, and even claimed that clem was probably more British than her. clem, Justice, Atmey, Vogel, pichuis, Wynaut, and Nate then all rebutted Lauren with "?". Godot also appeared, though he didn't question Lauren. Overwhelmed, Lauren admitted that he was British, and asked for there to be less people in the courtroom. mvdy then appeared, and clem refused, demanding that Lauren skip the next testimony. She acquiesced, at which point hell finally became less clogged up.

Vogel100 then said that, even without Godot, they had another witness. He told Lauren to turn to and read page 2 of the script, threatening to repeat his Celeste writeup if she didn't. Vogel100 then asked if Justice would stand by clem through the next testimony; Justice, of course, refused to drop the case and continued to cross-examine Lauren.

Lauren, again reading from Wynaut's script, testified that he also saw clem holding the gun too, which was pretty small, and not a metaphor. Justice objected that Obama was bleeding a ton, and asked how he could've bled so much from being shot by a single gunshot from a small gun. Vogel100 then said that Obama was actually shot like 50 times, but Justice retorted that Wynaut had came in after the first gunshot and stopped clem. Justice began to ask how clem could've possibly shot him like 50 times, but then stopped himself, realizing a possibility that he immediately voiced: Obama was already dead by the time clem was in the room.

Vogel100 pointed out that Wynaut testified he had been there all day, and would've known if the president had been shot. clem noted that Wynaut was GOATed, and so couldn't be the killer, and so they had been sent back to square one. Justice, however, was not deterred, and argued that Obama didn't die in his office, and his body was moved there. Vogel100 argued there was no proof, but Justice pointed out the lack of blood on the carpet that he supposedly died on, pointing out that even if the blood magically cleaned itself it would still show on a carpet. Vogel100 persisted that Wynaut was guarding the door, and there was no other way to enter the office, but Justice elucidated that there was another way to enter: the windows.

Justice then explained what he believed to be Lauren's crime: on the night of April 20, 2029, she met with President Obama somewhere, and, hearing of his plan to ban her Mikan body pillows, shot him 49 times with her typical British gun. Continuing, he explained that she then loaded Obama's body into her car and drove back to the White House, entered the office, and placed the body by the door; then, clem appeared just as she planned to leave, so she rushed to the first mask she find. Justice claimed that the second Godot, who had claimed he saw the crime, was actually Lauren, as she was easily able to pose as an American with her American mask, and could slip away and pose as an official witness by simply putting on a spare Godot mask.

However, Lauren then realized that Justice had said the crime took place on April 20, which she had an alibi for. She recalled how she had told Justice she needed an attorney, and expounded that that was for a case that occurred on April 20. Vogel100 called for a second trial day, which Atmey allowed.