"We are all connected. ...It's true. Every decision has the potential to impact someone else. The evil we do especially so. The strings are often hard to spot. Even harder to fully understand. Yet, eventually, fate will do its own special magic. ...And force them out into the light. When it does... We'll be held acountable for all the pain we've caused... And face judgement."
The Dragon's Turnabout
is a fan-made work of the Ace Attorney series created by DudeWithAMask using the Ace Attorney Online trial editor. It takes place two years after the first bad ending of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies in which Simon Blackquill is executed and the Phantom agent is not caught, which can be seen here.
This fan case provides examples of:
- Alternate Universe: Being set in the future of a bad ending makes this plainly clear.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different:
- After playing the first few segments as Phoenix, you take control of Apollo for the next few segments, swapping with Phoenix again for the final confrontation with "The Dragon".
- Marvin Grossberg is playable in the trial from 15 years earlier in "The Case of the Missing Painting".
- Amoral Attorney: Prosecutor Anne Fawkes ensured the Phantom's acquittal 15 years ago by presenting an incredibly weak case based solely on three testimonies and the guard's written testimony, omitting the fact that the door was opened three times, not two. She also bribed the judge into letting it slide - though he did so because she was his child he was forced to abandon.
- Asshole Victim:
- Anne Fawkes, who was killed by Amelia Wonderley, was actually in league with the Phantom and his organization.
- Amelia Wonderley herself was one, her sole motive for killing Fawkes being that as an actress she couldn't have a scandal such as the theft to her name. In the eyes of "The Dragon", the other two witnesses deserved to die as well for not testifying to the murder.
- Elliot Kane was murdered by the mastermind behind the Dragon Murders before being able to testify about their true identity.
- Book Ends: The story began with a party at the mansion of Kyle Jupiter, who challenged the thief Marrascaud to steal his painting of "The Woman and the Dragon". If the thief failed in stealing it before midnight, Jupiter would burn the painting before his guests afterwards. In the ending, the painting is burnt by Phoenix after Jupiter is arrested.
- Big Bad: The Honorable Judge is the real mastermind behind the Dragon Murders and the deaths of Ian Moriarty and Elliot Kane.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Kyle Jupiter appears to be a likeable gentleman at first, but his true personality surfaces when things don't quite go his way. Oh, and he dealt the killing blow (though none of the other wounds) to Alice Short to keep her from getting dirt on him in case she survived.
- Cassandra Truth:
- As the last known remaining living link to the original theft, Marvin Grossberg was suspected of being "The Dragon" by Phoenix Wright. Grossberg denies this entirely, claiming he has nothing to do with the current case and only met Kane to offer his services as an attorney. He's actually telling the truth, even when saying that he forgot that he knew about Ian Moriarty.
- Despite being outed as "The Dragon", Elliot Kane continues to assert that he didn't kill Alice Short. For once, he telling the truth - she stabbed herself while in the safe, and when Kane dropped off the body in the hallway she was finished off by Jupiter's sword cane.
- Chekhov M.I.A.: Trucy Wright. The three witnesses to the theft of "The Woman and the Dragon" from 15 years ago, Compton Baskerville, Theresa Wright and Amelia Wonderley are played up as this when they show up in the court record with present day ages, but ultimately Subverted when it's found out that they're long dead.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The Dragon Murders. The serial killer used the victims' own, living and conscious bodies to deliver the blows to themselves. Only one of the victims escaped the killer, only to succumb to the numerous wounds later on.
- Dead All Along: When Apollo first learns about the three witnesses to the theft of "The Woman and the Dragon" 15 years ago, Compton Baskerville, Theresa Wright and Amelia Wonderley, the court record initially shows their profiles with their present day ages. However, the three of them have been dead for fifteen years.
- The Dragon: Elliot Kane, in both senses of the term. He was the one who did the murders, but ultimately he was not the mastermind behind the killings.
- Dramatic Irony: While playing as Apollo, you're presented the profiles of Compton Baskerville, Theresa Wright and Amelia Wonderley with their present day ages, leading you to think that you'll eventually be able to speak with them. However, at this point you're already aware from Phoenix's POV segment that Theresa Wright has been dead for 15 years, and was the last of three victims of the serial killer known only as "The Dragon", killed sometime after she testified to the theft of "The Woman and the Dragon" 15 years earlier. It's easy to deduce that the other two are dead as well.
- Driven to Suicide:
- After losing her case to Marvin Grossberg, Prosecutor Anne Fawkes was found dead in the Prosecutor's Lobby, the weapon used to end her life being the knife solely covered with her fingerprints. Subverted. She was murdered in a fit of rage by Amelia Wonderley, who used Fawkes' own hand holding the knife to murder her.
- Alice Short stabbed herself nearly to death in the same manner as the Dragon Murders to place suspicion on Elliot Kane, the serial killer behind the murders. She was finished off by Kyle Jupiter's sword cane.
- Fighting Your Friend: The "Appeal" section has Phoenix cross-examining his daughter Trucy, who seemingly showed up out of nowhere after two years and is accused of being the phantom thief Marrascaud.
- Intrepid Reporter: The victim in this case, Alice Short. Her identity is not confirmed until Apollo speaks with Grossberg, who was an acquaintance of hers, but she was investigating Jupiter and his links to the theft of "The Woman and the Dragon" 15 years earlier.
- Karma Houdini: Subverted. Kyle Jupiter finished off the victim by stabbing her in the back with his sword cane while she still stirred. Though he managed to get an acquittal and would normally be untouchable through double jeopardy laws, the fact that the presiding judge was the mastermind behind a number of killings, including a final one in the courtroom, resulted in a mistrial. And as Athena smugly states, the police will be arriving at his mansion shortly, leaving little time to remove the traces of blood from the sword cane...
- Karmic Death: Amelia Wonderley was killed in the same manner as the one she used to kill Anne Fawkes.
- Laughing Mad: Elliot Kane, after it's revealed that he's "The Dragon".
- Leitmotif:
- "Marrascaud's Smile/Anger/Deception/Defiance" for Marrascaud/Trucy Wright.
- "The Phantom's Silhouette" for the Phantom agent.
- Meaningful Name: "Mr. Reichenbach"'s real name is Ian Moriarty.
- Mood Dissonance: Trucy's phone call to Phoenix and her later testimonies, in which she is way too calm for someone who hasn't seen her father in two years.
- Not Me This Time: Elliot Kane does not stop claiming that he wasn't the one behind Alice Short's death despite being "The Dragon". He's right: Short stabbed herself in the same manner as the Dragon Murders to place suspicion on Kane, and was later finished off in the hallway after Kane had dropped off the body by none other than Kyle Jupiter.
- Parental Abandonment: The Judge was forced to leave his daughter, Anne Fawkes at some point earlier in his life. Her death drove him to begin the Dragon Murders by blackmailing Elliot Kane.
- Phantom Thief: Marrascaud, the Impossible Thief who stole five of the "Dragon" paintings by the Italian master painter Lodovico Mortissimo despite numerous security measures being in place, and who later stole the sixth, "The Woman and the Dragon", despite it being practically impossible to do so. The thief's true identity is later revealed to be none other than Trucy Wright, who was forced to do it by Aura Blackquill in order to draw out Kyle Jupiter, who was linked to the theft of "The Woman and the Dragon" 15 years ago and hired the Phantom to steal it. The goal was to find a link to the true killer of Metis Cykes and Clay Terran. Of course, for the last theft Trucy got the help of Elliot Kane, one of the two security guards watching over the vault.
- Red Herring: Phoenix is led to believe that Marvin Grossberg is "The Dragon" due to being the last known living link to the case from 15 years ago. He isn't, despite being quite suspicious and even forgetting that he knew of one of the latest victims, Ian Moriarty.
- Serial Killer: "The Dragon", who murdered three people fifteen years prior to the events of the case, including Phoenix Wright's mother Theresa. His real identity is Elliot Kane, and he was blackmailed into doing the murders due to his involvement in the case that resulted in Anne Fawkes' apparent suicide.
- Thanatos Gambit: Alice Short ran one of these to bring down "The Dragon". By stabbing herself in the manner matching "The Dragon's" MO, she placed suspicion on Kane, who was the last person who was with her, to be both her killer and the infamous Serial Killer (which he was). Furthermore, Kane was one of the three people who knew the combination to the safe she was locked in, one of which whose presence was not even known at the time, making it even more suspicious.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Phoenix has this mindset towards bringing down "The Dragon" due to his personal link to the case.
- The Unseen: Aura Blackquill is referred to a number of times during the case, but she never appears herself.
- Vocal Dissonance: Marcus Jones has a very high-pitched voice. Phoenix blamed it on the bourbon at first, but it later turns out that it really is that high. Becomes a plot point later on when it's used to prove that the victim was killed in a different place.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue:
- Phoenix decides to keep going on as a lawyer, with his daughter back and the agency doing well again.
- Apollo mentions his stuff is still being held by Trucy, yet she left a package of Eldoon's noodles for him. He notes that he could never hate Mr. Wright, and decides it's probably time to return to the agency.
- Trucy is getting released soon and mentions she doesn't hate Aura for everything. If anything, she promises to never leave her daddy again.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After using him to murder the killer of Anne Fawkes and her two witnesses fifteen years earlier, the mastermind behind the Dragon Murders killed Elliot Kane, "The Dragon", to silence him when it seemed like the truth would come out.
