I'm going to take another break from Turnabout Enemies, yet again. Considering how much is going into this story, I need some time to breathe. Since the side characters have been given so much development, they will now be the ones I will be talking about.

I'm going to start with Raymond Shields. Now, I will be honest, I didn't know what to do with him at the beginning. I knew I wanted him to have a deep connection with Gregory, but I didn't know how. I knew of Gregory's connection with Damon Gant and Wendy Oldbag from the get-go, since the most recent one shot I posted in Ace Attorney Collection had been worked on since the start of this fan fiction, but Raymond Shields was the one I was stuck on. All I knew, from the start of this story, was that Raymond Shields was the only character that knew everything about Gregory from his past life to everything he had been hiding from everyone else, including his childhood friends. The question became how.

I began finding the answer as soon as I began starting the flashback chapter with Miles watching the prerecording of his father's first trial with his mother being his father's first client. That's when I began counting the years back and Raymond's backstory came to me. I already started planning Gregory's connection to the smuggling with Blaise Debeste, so Raymond's involvement in that made a lot of sense. Considering the fact that Gregory is leaving a group he considers his family, it makes sense that the only person he would be the most open to would be someone he considers as much his close relative as vice versa. Raymond's loyalty to Gregory makes so much sense in the context of things, being that Gregory was the reason he was able to find his real parents and live a better life. On that note, it makes just as much sense why Gregory would want Raymond to be his official heir to take over Edgeworth Law Offices.

Now, to understand Raymond, it's important to understand where he comes from. He was kidnapped and trafficked as a child, as we all know. This gives Raymond a sense of mercy and love toward criminals, being he was one himself as a child. He also is the kind of lawyer to see criminals from a different perspective. As a criminal, who smuggled drugs to all the kiddies, Raymond knows that most criminals do what they do for the same reason everyone else works at their job. They're just trying to put food on the table, survive and find some form of life through the only way they know how. As a trafficked victim, he knows that a majority of smugglers in the International Smuggling Ring were trafficked as children and have nowhere else to go or any means of surviving in the real world. Raymond was only able to find a way, because of Gregory, thus why he became a lawyer.

Once understanding this, it also becomes understandable what Raymond expects of Miles. I've always considered Raymond's expectations of Miles Edgeworth in Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 to be different from Gregory's and I believe it's because he was never given the chance to understand Gregory's wishes for his child. Miles was 8-9 years old when Gregory died during DL-6 in canon. All Raymond knew was that Miles wanted to become a Defense Attorney and, after his old man bit the dust, he changed his mind, sided with Von Karma and became the Demon Prosecutor. In the perspective of a former trafficked child, who became a smuggler before leaving that life for a better one, it makes sense why Raymond would not forgive Miles for siding with the enemy. Unlike Phoenix, Raymond is not thinking about what's best for Miles, but what is best for Gregory Edgeworth, which to him is Miles taking over his father's law firm.

These expectations Raymond has for Miles makes sense, but only because those expectations are Gregory's expectations for Raymond Shields, not his son. Turnabout Enemies is the story where Raymond Shields comes to understanding that Gregory's expectations for Miles are actually not for him, but for Raymond himself. Not everything is going to be passed down from father to son. These days, most jobs are passed down to whoever is suitable for the job. In Gregory's case, he's passing it down to Raymond Shields and not Miles Edgeworth, because he doesn't want his son to be ruined by his criminal past. Raymond has been in the criminal world and has a better understanding of helping those in the criminal underworld find a better life. Miles, on the other hand, does not understand this, being he has been raised all his life under a loving father that's always protected him. He'd less likely do well as a Defense Attorney, the incident with saving Simon Keyes being a great example of this.

Raymond excepting his role as the sole heir of Edgeworth Law Offices will be what will help him grow as a character. It's only once he understands Gregory's wishes for Miles being far different from his own that he begins taking in that role. Regardless, one thing that will never change about Raymond is his knowledge of Gregory's love toward Miles. Even in Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2, Raymond knew that Gregory loved Miles more than anything else, thus why he was more than willing to help him out. At the end of the day, Miles will always be Gregory's son and his most beloved treasure. What Miles had done in his life is meaningless.

The next side character I want to go into is Damon Gant. Now, with him, I have known for a while what to do with his character. Before I planned on what to do with Wendy, I had planned on Damon Gant on being a close friend of Gregory Edgeworth. One of the things about Damon that stood out to me was his quote to Miles Edgeworth at the end of Rise From the Ashes, "we're the same." While I do understand the meaning of it and admire how well it played into Miles' insecurities, I never quite saw Damon and Miles being anything alike. Then, it brought out the question: why would Gant say something like that? Until that moment, I never got the feeling Gant even knew Miles on a personal level. That was when the idea of his connection with Gregory came into play.

The question then came how Gant's downfall might've been connected to Gregory Edgeworth and how it would connect to Gant's last words with Miles Edgeworth. Having the answer be Gregory Edgeworth made it much easier to create his preGant character. In many ways, Damon Gant parallels to Phoenix Wright in how he changed his career in order to save his childhood best friend. Though, unlike with Phoenix, Gant's experience has turned to tragedy, if Gregory had been murdered during DL-6. It becomes clear why he'd tell Miles Edgeworth, "we're the same" and why it would effect him to the point of writing a suicide note. Miles would not just see Gant as the Chief of Detectives that screwed him over during SL-9,but an uncle figure or a friend of the family. It would also give Damon's last words to Miles a whole new meaning.

For the sake of argument, if Miles knew about his father's smuggling days and the tragedy of his mother in canon, then Damon claiming he and Miles are the same with their hatred towards criminals would revert back to Gregory's criminal days. The reason Damon and Miles hate criminals is because of what the Criminal Underworld had done to Gregory Edgeworth. By saying that they are alike in their hatred towards criminals and reason for it, Damon is saying that the reason SL-9 happened was due to his hatred of criminals bringing him to the point of being willing to murder and manipulate evidence to prevent another Gregory Edgeworth. To Damon, Joe Darke was just another Gregory Edgeworth that needed to be eliminated. It doesn't make it right, but perhaps that's why Damon said that to Miles, aka so he wouldn't share that attitude that led to Damon's fall.

Unlike Raymond, Damon knows Gregory and his wishes for his son. Damon understands Gregory better than anyone else; perhaps better than Miles himself. It's the reason why Damon is able to interrogate Gregory in this story. Understanding who Damon is in this story can help understand his character in Rise From the Ashes from another perspective. Perhaps from the perspective of a situation where Phoenix Wright failed to save Miles Edgeworth or Miles died at Gourd Lake instead of Robert Hammond. I think everyone would agree that Phoenix Wright would not be the same person we all know and love, if that were to happen. The same can be said for Damon Gant. If Damon fails to save Gregory Edgeworth, then the only thing he can do is make sure Miles Edgeworth's tragedy doesn't end the same as his father's.

Another important aspect to Damon's character is his relationship with Bruce Goodman and Lana Skye. Now, those two we don't really get to see or know much about their characters, but we do understand their relationship with Damon Gant. Bruce Goodman is supposedly a partner of Damon Gant, both of whom share the same office. Though, in this time, Bruce is about to move to a new office at a different location. Just knowing this alone tells us that his relationship with Damon Gant was much like the partnership that we see between Damon Gant and Lana Skye in Rise From the Ashes. Though, the relationship we see between Damon Gant and Lana Skye in this story is one of student and teacher, meaning that this was also a relationship that was previously shared with Bruce Goodman.

So then, if this is true, then how did it get so far in Rise From the Ashes for Damon Gant to murder Bruce Goodman over a disagreement before throwing Lana Skye under the bus? This goes back to the relationship I have set up between Damon Gant and Gregory Edgeworth in this story. As mentioned before, Damon hates criminals of any kind, because of what it had done to Gregory Edgeworth. It set him over the edge to the point of murdering and forging evidence if it meant getting rid of people that reminded him of the kind of criminal Gregory Edgeworth was. If Joe Darke represented the kind of criminal Gregory once was in the past, then Lana Skye and Bruce Goodman would represent the kind of criminal Gregory was before his death. Just like how Lana was willing to forge evidence to protect her little sister, Gregory would be willing to do the same for his son. Perhaps Bruce Goodman was doing the same for Damon Gant before his murder.

Personally, I've always thought of Damon Gant as being the emotionally driven kind like Phoenix Wright. There is a lot to like about emotionally driven characters, but being driven by emotion doesn't always lead to heroic results. Even if this story of Damon's relationship with Gregory Edgeworth didn't match up with canon, no one can deny that the reason Damon killed Bruce Goodman and threw Lana Skye under the bus is because of his hatred toward criminals. Considering that many of Phoenix's greatest adversaries were emotionally driven villains, this makes sense. In other words, despite what many people might think, it's actually much easier to drive Phoenix to the side of criminality than anyone expects. Hm.........

Tyrell Badd is one I felt was the easiest to do, if only because I knew before starting this story what his character and story was. Tyrell parallels Raymond Shields a lot in how he was a student of Gregory Edgeworth. This parallel was probably the reason why I couldn't find a backstory to Raymond Shields, but I had planned on their paralleled characters to eventually differentiate by the end of the story. Obviously, now knowing Raymond's backstory, Raymond would never turn out like Detective Badd, if Gregory Edgeworth was to just leave his law firm and Raymond in the dust. Though, Raymond understanding Badd's situation gives him a better understanding. Obviously, he'd never treat Gregory in the same way Badd did, but he'd probably do so to Miles Edgeworth. Hint. Hint. Hint.

In the end, Tyrell Badd's relationship with Gregory ended up being a parallel to Dick Gumshoe's relationship with Miles Edgeworth. It is the reason why Badd eventually advises Dick Gumshoe to stick around with Miles Edgeworth until the end. Badd had learned that his loyalty with his teacher slash boss was as flimsy as his loyalty was. Had he been truly loyal to Gregory Edgeworth, then he would have been more worried about WHY Gregory left the Police Department than the fact he did. Badd's mistake was looking at everything black and white. It's only once he understood Gregory's situation that his perspective began changing.

Now, I'm sure you will be wondering how Tyrell Badd's relationship with Gregory Edgeworth ties in to the Yatagaratsu, which will eventually happen. Considering the International Smuggling Ring and Gregory's ties to it, I think that can speak for itself. If we are to assume that Miles Edgeworth eventually found out about it through his father's journal in canon, which according to Gregory in this story he planned on Willing it to his son, we are also to assume that Miles released the journal and evidence, under the desk, to the press before it reached Tyrell Badd. This would also happen at the same time that Tyrell Badd became a member of the Yatagaratsu. Unlike Damon, who began hating criminals to the point of forging evidence and murder in order to prevent another Gregory Edgeworth, Tyrell Badd would've taken a different direction to prevent another Gregory Edgeworth.

In the eyes of Tyrell Badd, Calisto Yew represented EVERYTHING that Gregory Edgeworth was as a smuggler, someone who was clever enough to infiltrate the group meant to destroy criminals, take it over, play with Tyrell Badd's trust, then leave him and everyone of the group in the dust. But, unlike Gregory Edgeworth, Calisto Yew had actually finished what she came to do completely. When you really think about it, what Claisto Yew did isn't too far from what Gregory Edgeworth also did. It also makes you realize that what Gregory had been trying to do as a Defense Attorney wasn't too far from what the Yatagaratsu was trying to do, if only when you keep in mind that he does have ex smugglers he works with. It's possible Tyrell Badd might've learned how to become the Yatagaratsu from Gregory Edgeworth.

I do plan on creating a parallel between the Yatagaratsu and Gregory's team of ex smugglers. To me, Gregory in my story represents a true Anti Hero, someone who uses criminal means to do heroic deeds. I've never considered Miles Edgeworth to be an Anti Hero, since he's never broken the law, unless the specific law was created by someone using it to abuse him with. For instance, preventing investigation rights in order to prevent him from finding the truth of a scandal or black market auction. By that logic, Miles Edgeworth would be as much of an Anti Hero as Captain America. Still, it does create an interesting situation for Miles Edgeworth, especially when you consider that his father is a criminal mastermind. It brings up the question how this will effect Miles Edgeworth moving forward. At the very least, Miles will have his father to talk to and will not have to be left disgruntled.

Dick Gumshoe was another character I had planned before the story to add, as seen in the cover of the story. I think the hardest part was imagining Dick Gumshoe as a teenager. I mostly wanted to create a relationship with Miles Edgeworth that would feel more of a tie-in to their relationship in canon. Obviously, my story is not canon, but I do want to point out that I didn't feel that Turnabout Reminiscence in the Miles Edgeworth Investigation game was a good starter for how Miles Edgeworth first met Dick Gumshoe. There was a lack of chemistry and relationship development. I wanted to create a better starter in this version, even though it is a What-if AU story. It also creates an eventual parallel with Tyrell Badd's previous relationship with Gregory Edgeworth.

It became a challenge how I would present the relationship with Dick Gumshoe to Miles Edgeworth in away that would match up to their eventual Prosecutor and Detective dynamic duo. Starting them out with Miles being a child and Dick being a teenager was a great way of challenging the readers to look at their relationship in a different light. People seem to overlook the fact that Detective Gumshoe is not only taller than Edgeworth, but is far older than him, especially those that try to pair them together romantically (which, for the record... ew). I mean, Detective Gumshoe called Miles Edgeworth a kid when they first met in Turnabout Reminiscence. To have someone like Dick Gumshoe hold a huge amount of respect for Miles Edgeworth, in my opinion, would take more than a simple investigation that proved his innocence. (did I mention Edgeworth and Gumshoe are 8-9 years apart? What's next? Are we gonna ship Edgeworth and Kay? ... There probably is a fan base for that too, isn't there?)

In this story, Dick Gumshoe doesn't see Miles Edgeworth as his boss, but as a child that's been hurt and continues soldiering on in order to save those he loves. To me, this is the kind of person Dick Gumshoe would hold with such great high respect to the point of following him to the ends of the Earth. For Miles Edgeworth, having a Detective that sacrifices his love life for him and helps him deal with his traumas would be someone he'll always depend upon no matter how incompetent he is. This kind of relationship makes it believable that they would eventually have the Prosecutor and Detective partnership they have in canon. (And, I swear, this better not result in child Edgey and tween Gumshoe ships. I already see enough rule 34 in anime as it is *shutters*)

With that said, I don't believe that they never had this kind of partnership in canon. More than likely, it started developing at some point after the case with Terry Fawles. Though, I think having a relationship like we see in my story can prevent a Terry Fawles trial, being that one of Miles Edgeworth's mistake in that trial was withholding evidence from his own detective. Miles is unlikely going to hold that amount of distrust toward Dick Gumshoe after this story. With the relationship like we see in my story, there's a lot of high hopes for the dynamic duo yet.

The last side character I want to go into is Wendy Oldbag. Now, she was the second person I decided to make Gregory Edgeworth's childhood friend. What made me decide to make this decision is how perfectly she'd tie in to Gregory's backstory and second how much she parallels Larry Butz. Now, her parallel with Larry Butz can be summarized in canon, so I don't need to explain. Having her join in as the main trio to Gregory Edgeworth completes the parallel of Gregory's childhood friends to Miles' childhood friends. At the same time, I wanted them to feel like their own little group instead of just a carbon copy of the main trio of Phoenix Wright.

The first obvious difference is that Wendy Oldbag is a girl. While it is a minor change, it does bring out how Gregory's relationship with his friends differ from Miles' relationship with Phoenix and Larry. Not to say there aren't any romantic relationships between two guys or gals, but with Larry and Wendy, it's clear they're both straight and prefer the opposite sex. This provides a possibility of what would happen if Larry was a girl, the answer being he'd create one of the most bizarre triangles in existence. If that were to happen, Miles Edgeworth, being Miles Edgeworth, would reject female Larry's advances while Phoenix would eat it up like the romantic sucker he is (with a pink sweater like that, you know he would). While that isn't completely what happened between Gregory, Damon and Wendy, it does give it that similarity.

The second obvious difference is how the trio met. It does hold a similarity being that the Edgeworth of the three saved one of the two other best friends and that became how they became friends. The difference is, however, that Gregory ended up saving the Larry Butz of the group and the other friend became the whistle blower before Gregory joined in. Also, unlike the case of Miles Edgeworth, where he was the victim of lunch money theft who turned out to be one of the friends helping out, neither of the friends from Gregory's group did anything wrong. Of course, Damon does come out as a somewhat troublemaker in school and is accused of something Gregory defended him on much like how Miles defended Phoenix Wright being accused by the teacher. There are many parallels, but also differences to the backstory of the two trios to make each feel unique and similar.

Just as it's important to understand the relationship of Gregory with Damon and Wendy, it's also important to understand the personal relationship between Gregory and Wendy. From the surface, it seems like your typical horny stalker gag that would eventually turn into a very sicker version of it once Wendy starts going for her old crush's son (still nasty, but at least Oldbag has an excuse). Then, once you start diving into the story of Wendy Oldbag, it starts looking much more darker and grimmer than the gag makes it out to be. In truth, it isn't Wendy's fault alone that she turned out the way she did, but also Gregory's as well. One of the major mistakes Gregory made was pushing his friends away. The farther he pushed Wendy away, the more horny, stalker-hungry she became. It's only once you put DL-6 into the mix that you begin understanding that Wendy's feelings for Gregory become much more sad.

Just like Damon Gant, Wendy Oldbag wants to save Gregory and get her Greggy back that she lost so long ago. If DL-6 had turned out like canon where Gregory Edgeworth had been shot and killed, she'd likely pull a Spinel from Steven Universe, only by being horny instead of angry and toxic. Wendy Oldbag would be spilling all her feelings onto Miles Edgeworth, who looks so much like his father, while denying the fact that Miles is Gregory's son and not Gregory Edgeworth himself. Deep inside, however, Wendy Oldbag knows Miles isn't Gregory and doesn't look or act anything like Gregory Edgeworth. The real tragedy is that perhaps Miles Edgeworth knows this and that's why he's putting up with Wendy Oldbag so much. In reality, Wendy Oldbag is seeking attention that was neglected by Gregory Edgeworth, again much like how Spinel from Steven Universe was neglected of the attention from Pink Diamond.

It's only by understanding the story of Wendy Oldbag that you begin understanding that it wasn't her fault alone that she became the way she did. It was just as equally Gregory's fault. Had Gregory not abandoned his friends, it's possible that Wendy would've resolved her relationship with Gregory and moved on. At the same time, if Wendy had not acted so stalk-hungry, Gregory would have been much more open to her and opened himself up to his new family with Miles Edgeworth. Miles could've had a second mother figure in his life. It's only in this story that Wendy's eyes are opened to her mistake and how much she had truly hurt Gregory by her actions. Both of them come to realize this.

When it comes to any relationships that have conflict, it's always best to recognize your own conflict as much as the other recognizes theirs. From there, both parties can compromise to fix or heal any hurt they placed on each other. Gregory Edgeworth and Wendy Oldbag represent the real worst case scenario of how a one-sided romantic relationship with your best friend can turn out. It seems silly on the outside, but best friends are masters of knowing how to hurt the other in the worst way possible, even unintentionally. It begs the question if it had been better for Gregory and Wendy to have ended their friendship at the moment their friendship never felt like a friendship like before. After all, Wendy took advantage of Gregory and Gregory ditched Wendy. I think that was the line that should've been drawn in the sand that would end their friendship. In this case, ending a friendship would've been the best decision for the two of them, if only to help them become better people and friends to others, before making up and returning to their friendship years down the road.

Wendy apologizing for how she hurt Gregory was a single step in her character changing and growing from what it could have been in canon. We also see the same thing within other characters like Damon, Raymond, Tyrell Badd, Miles Edgeworth  and even Manfred Von Karma. Manfred learns to love his family and loved ones more than his perfect record, Miles learns to confront his fears, Tyrell Badd learns to forgive the failings of those he looks  up to, Damon learns to never give up the hope he feels for everyone he loves and Raymond learns that a father's wishes for his son will always be different from his students. It's through learning these lessons that we began seeing these characters change for the better.

Unfortunately, it will also mean tragedy for the characters we may've once looked up to as heroes in canon. How will this version of DL-6 change the characters that we once looked up to? Will they still be the same characters as we knew them in canon or someone completely different? More importantly... what if Phoenix Wright no longer needed to save Miles Edgeworth from DL-6?

What was that? Phoenix Wright is hardly in this story and serves no purpose in this story? Well, I have one thing to say...

OBJECTION!

https://youtu.be/xugyFyyh85I

There is no one else that will be as greatly effected by this version of DL-6 than Phoenix Wright. Not even Miles Edgeworth or his trauma can be compared. Wait until next time, when I finally get into the overlooked canon characters, who perhaps were the most effected by this story and trials of Turnabout Enemies. For now, I will give you a hint of sorts of what will happen to Phoenix Wright after this story.

I apologize for some of the white left behind, though I don't think it's giving too much away. Though, I think the first letters you see in the blackened logo already tells you that  this version of Phoenix Wright isn't... well Phoenix Wright. He's keeping his birth name, but that's all I'm giving away. Have fun figuring out what this means for Phoenix Wright XD