Ace Attorney Investigations: Ema Skye: Turnabout of the Stars (Kirby/Ace Attorney Quest)

[DrPikachu]

Ace Attorney Investigations: Ema Skye
Turnabout of the Stars​

You are Ema Skye, homicide detective of the Los Angeles Police Department, Criminal Affairs. You love science and forensics, disregard other people unless they bring up science and forensics, and you have an inkling that you may be addicted to snackoos. Jury's still out on a snack break with that one, though.

You are also NOT in L.A. anymore.

In fact, you're on another planet, having been brought here by a walking, sword-wielding eyeball-thing on orders from a fat penguin-thing calling itself the king of this land. Now that you know that this place is called "Dream Land", it seems like a pretty apt description. If only you could actually wake up...

The penguin-thing, or as he likes to call himself, "King... Dede...doo"... Okay, you don't remember his name; whatever. Anyway, this king brought you here to try to get someone named "Kirby" arrested. Clearly there are some grudge issues here...

---

"Gameplay"​

Much like "Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth" and its sequel, Ema must move from location to location, examine objects, and interact with other characters while seamlessly transitioning between "Investigation" and "Argument" phases. Much like Edgeworth, Ema will have multiple partners through the course of the adventure, and can converse with them and make use of their various talents.

Ema also has access to an "Organizer" of her own: the Notepad, where she will store information about evidence and profiles. She can also make use of the Logic "secondary inventory", where ideas can be combined to reach a conclusion and potentially create a groundbreaking new piece of information (don't expect her to be as calm and collected as our dear Miles, though; this IS the girl who once thought George Washington was the first king of America, after all).

Ema has a third tool in her arsenal to find that oh-so-crucial piece of evidence to turn the case on its head in true Ace Attorney fashion: her old forensics equipment. By using fingerprint powder to dust for prints, luminol to find traces of blood, a footprint analysis kit to record footprints and shoeprints, and many more tools, our reluctant homicide detective will make sure science is on her side!

During "Investigation" phases, Ema can move from place to place, examine certain areas (like crime scenes) more closely to find clues that can lead to more evidence or uncover a contradiction with already-collected evidence, and utilize her forensics equipment to find a potentially previously-unexplored angle on things.
As far as time is concerned, until Ema arrives at the next plot-relevant location, she can visit all the places she wants, no matter how potentially far away they may be, and no time will pass at all. It's weird, but it's "Ace Attorney Logic."

During "Argument" phases, Ema will question a suspect, witness, person of interest, or rival investigator in an attempt to gather more information. Suspects and witnesses will generally submit "testimonies" while rival investigators will put forth "arguments", but for the sake of this adventure, the two terms are functionally identical. Once the argument has been made, Ema then has the opportunity to offer a "rebuttal" and either press on certain statements or present contradicting evidence. Each testimony and argument will have multiple statements in which Ema can press for more information or present evidence to catch her opponents in their lies, but incorrect inferences will be penalized in the form of points taken from Ema's Poise Vitality (think classic Kirby games).
When Ema loses all five Poise Vitality points, the people of Dream Land will lose confidence in her skills, and the truth will become irretrievable, which will result in an irreversible Bad End.

---

Q&A​

Q: The heck is THIS supposed to be?

Spoiler: A

A: This is a Kirby/Ace Attorney crossover, in which you try to guide Ema Skye through a wave of saccharine-saturated lies, dead-ends and misleads, collect and sift through evidence, and find the truth to save the day (and potentially Dream Land as a whole?). The idea behind this came as a result from an old pairing generator where one of my circles of friends would drum up stories from the pairing results the generator would spit out, romantic or platonic, no matter how cracky. I got "Ema Skye and King Dedede", and tried writing up a story, but I eventually wondered if this format would suit the story better, so here we are.

Q: What characters will we expect to see?

Spoiler: Answer

A: The cast will lean heavily towards the Kirby side, including characters from the games and the anime. For the time being, Ema will be the only character coming in from Ace Attorney, but there will be nods and references to others.

Q: "Sword-wielding eyeball-thing"? Does this mean this is the Dream Land from "Right Back at Ya!"?

Spoiler: Answer

A: As previously mentioned, the Dream Land of this crossover is a blending of the games and the anime, so there will be characters and elements from both. So you can expect Bandana Waddle Dee and "Captain" Waddle Doo to be side-by-side, to name a possible example. The animeverse characters will have bits and pieces from both the Japanese version (Kirby of the Stars) and the 4Kids dub (Kirby: Right Back at Ya!), with maybe a slight preference towards the former to keep things in line with the games' established canon.

Q: Where in the timeline would this take place, for both verses? Ema's finally a forensics investigator in AA6, you know!

Spoiler: Answer

A: "Turnabout of the Stars" takes place between "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney" (AA4) and "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice" (AA6) on the Ace Attorney timeline, and after the events of the anime on the Kirby side, so Ema is still moody and lazy most of the time, and Kirby has already defeated Nightmare respectively. None of the events of the Kirby games have happened yet, as this adventure is operating under the assumption that the anime serves as a "alternate prologue" of sorts to Kirby's Dream Land for the Game Boy.

Q: What kind of pairings will we see in this? You said this came from a pairing generator result, right?

Spoiler: Answer

A: Indeed. You can expect pairings of both romantic and platonic natures, like those already established in the anime (like The Mayor x His Wife), or others that may build over time like Ema Skye/King Dedede. The latter will certainly be up in the air for a while, so it's up to you guys if this ship sails or sinks! Don't be afraid to suggest other new ones, either!

Q: What's the deal with Logic? Are we seriously Sherlock-ing this thing?

Spoiler: Answer

A: Logic is a gameplay feature from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and its sequel that reflects Miles (and his father, Gregory) Edgeworth's calm and collected way of thinking compared to the on-the-spot, edge-of-your-seat deductions employed by the lawyers of the Wright Anything Agency. Since Ema views Edgeworth as one of her idols, she employs her own style of Logic, bolstered by her love of science.

Here's how it works:
1) During "Investigation" phases, Ema will collect select pieces of information, up to six at any given time.
2) Using Logic, she can Connect her thoughts by combining two "Logic nuggets" into a tentative Hypothesis, which can either update information on a Profile or a piece of Evidence, or give birth to a new idea to use in a future Logic session.
3) Hypotheses are incomplete and therefore cannot be used to Connect other ideas.
4) If a Logic nugget is connected to multiple Hypotheses, Ema must discard enough Hypotheses so that no two Hypotheses share a "parent" idea.

---

Posting Rules​

• When presenting evidence or pressing, feel free to employ classic Ace Attorney speech bubble exclamations (or the speech bubbles themselves), such as "Objection!", "Hold it!" and "Take that!".
• Penalties to Poise Vitality will only be awarded during Arguments. You can be as silly as you want during any other phase with little to no consequence, barring extreme circumstances (like trying to kill Dedede, cuz murder's bad n' stuff).
• Likes don't count as votes.
• For most actions, voting will go by the "Majority Wins!" system, except for Logic, which falls under a "Riot!/Majority Wins!" hybrid:
  • When it comes to Connecting thoughts, each vote will count as an action.
  • However, we go back to "Majority Wins!" when it's time to drop Hypotheses.
    • This applies ONLY to dropping Hypotheses; any other part of the vote still falls under the "Riot!" system.

Disclaimer: Kirby is property of Nintendo and HAL Laboratory; Kirby of the Stars/Kirby: Right Back at Ya! is property of Nintendo, HAL, and Warpstar Inc.; and Ace Attorney is property of Capcom.

And fair warning... This Quest is very image-heavy, including a high number of gifs. Each image on its own will struggle to break 1 MB at most, but it does add up when there's about 10-20 images per post.

---

C'mon, the coast's clear! That grease monkey just went into the garage!

All right, all right, I'm comin', I'm comin'!

Get this register open!

*snap!*

Uh-oh... There goes mah last pick.

Then we take it with us! Now COME O–huh???

Wh-what's up? Hey, that smell... Izzat—

*KA-BOOM!!!*

Minutes earlier...

...At this point, I'd be better off taking things into my own hands... Escargoon! Where are they?!

They are still on their way... The same thing they were doing when you asked five minutes ago, Your Impatience.

A king should wait for no one or nothing! Not even for dinner!

How terrible that we don't live in your reality, Your Majesty...

Your Majesty! They've returned!

And it looks like their mission was a success!

Out of my way, out of my way! Make way for the King!
Hmm...so YOU'RE who they got for me.


Heh, you're certainly a strange-looking one. But, if you impress me, I might just let it slide! Bwuh heh heh heh heh!

Episode 1
The Explosive Turnabout​

---

...And that's the opening. Much like the AA games, if you don't understand who was talking and when, chances are you'll find out eventually.

still not entirely sold on that episode title

 

[DrPikachu]

Ema Skye
Poise Vitality

Current Partner: No one

Notepad

[Evidence slides are arranged from left to right, top row first]​

Detective's Badge
Type: Other
One of my possessions.
-----
Proof of my profession. Comes with an LAPD standard-issue photo ID.

Criminal Notes
Type: Information
Account received from King Dedede.
-----
Perpetrator is a pink walking face-thing with red feet and a malleable body. Identified by supposedly-constant hunger.
Update 1: A group of kids frequently acts on the perpetrator's behalf, with the Cabinet Minister's children among them.
Update 2: The perpetrator has a hideout on the outskirts, and has been routinely sighted in town at a grocery store, a toy store, and a restaurant.

Kirby Notes
Type: Information
Account received from Chief Bookem.
-----
Subject is known as Kirby, a pink, squishy ball-thing with red feet. Lauded as the kind-hearted hero of Cappy Town, despite his very young age and enormous appetite.
Update: Current residence is a house on the edge of town, built for him by the other neighborhood kids. Often seen eating unwanted food at the grocery store and a local restaurant at the owners' behest, and frequents the toy store to play with toys there. Has saved Cappy Town many times in the past from monster attacks.

Monster Attack Files
Type: Reports
Received from Chief Bookem.
-----
- Nightmare Incident -
Closed due to destruction of Nightmare and subsequent dissolution of NightMare Enterprises.
Number of confirmed monster attacks: 58

- Case Summary -
First monster attack occurred shortly after Kirby's arrival in Cappy Town. The monster was destroyed by Kirby, and later investigation concluded that Kirby had no other connection to the monster.
Attacks by more monsters followed after the first, most gravitating toward Kirby, only to be defeated by Kirby.
The final attack leveled most of Cappy Town, and was confirmed by Meta Knight to be the work of NightMare Enterprises, a galaxy-wide company serving as a front to train armies of monsters. The company was also confirmed to be the perpetrator of the previous monster attacks.
With the assistance of Meta Knight and the residents of Cappy Town, Kirby traveled to the NightMare Enterprises headquarters and defeated its founder and owner, Nightmare, bringing an end to the monster attacks once and for all.
Investigation after returning to Dream Land uncovered evidence of a transport device in Castle Dedede. Further investigation was put on hold due to the device being destroyed in the attack and the subsequent rebuilding of Castle Dedede and Cappy Town.

Cash Register
Type: Evidence
Discovered at the Gus Station Ruins.
-----
Surprisingly survived the events of the explosion and fire. The drawer has been forced open.

Crowbar
Type: Evidence
Discovered at the Gus Station Ruins.
-----
Found among what was left of the counter. Perhaps it was on display?

Glass Shards
Type: Evidence
Discovered at the Gus Station Ruins.
-----
Found in the restroom. A few of the shards from the window next to the counter are grouped closer to the wall.
Update: Found in the restroom, and by the windows next to the storefront counter and another corner of the building. A few of the shards from the window next to the counter are grouped closer to the wall.

Table Scene Photos
Type: Photographs
Taken at the Gus Station Ruins.
-----
Photographs of the ruined table taken from multiple angles for preservation purposes. Taken with my camera.
Update: Two sets of photographs depicting the ruined table scene taken from multiple angles for preservation purposes. The first set was taken before the rubble was moved. The second was done after the body under the rubble was discovered. Both sets taken with my camera.​

[Profile slides are arranged from left to right, top row first]​

King Dedede
Gender: Male
Ruler of Dream Land. Said role is likely self-proclaimed.

Escargoon
Gender: Male
King Dedede's right-hand snail.

Waddle Doo
Gender: Male (sounds like it)
Captain of the castle's many Waddle Dees. Loyal to King Dedede.

Chief Bookem
Gender: Male
Cappy Town's chief-of-police-by-default. Devoted to his job.

Kirby
Gender: Male
A stranger who can mimic the powers of whatever he eats.

Len Blustergas
Gender: Male
The mayor of Cappy Town.

Dr. Yabui
Gender: Male
Cappy Town's only doctor. Pulling double duty as medical examiner.

​

Logic

[Logic slides are arranged from left to right]​

Dedede's motivation
What does King Dedede gain from making sure I arrest Kirby?

Descended from: Hero or heel? & Dedede's dirty work

Kirby's Copy Abilities
Kirby can apparently copy and wield the powers of the things he eats.

One set of tracks
The only footprints made in the layer of ash have been my own.

​

Tools​

Slide 1

• Nothin' yet

Discarded Material

[Material slides are arranged from left to right, starting at the top]
Page 1/2[/center]

The toy store
Why is the perpetrator often seen near the toy store?

Trustworthy king?
There's something suspicious with King Dedede's story about his criminal problems. But what?

The lone badge
Cappy Town's Chief of Police is the only cop on the force, but works pretty hard anyway.

King vs. Chief
King Dedede and Cappy Town's Police Chief don't seem to see eye-to-eye.

Laws between worlds
The sets of laws between Earth and Popstar are very similar to one another for some reason.

Doctorate of what?
Dr. Escargoon is intelligent and skilled enough to build an interstellar spaceship. Is his doctorate in physics or maybe engineering?

Sending Ema
Why did King Dedede send me out here alone instead of accompanying me?

Descended from: The lone badge & King vs. Chief

Adopted laws
Since the laws of Dream Land are so similar to those on Earth, did someone go there to take them?

Descended from: Laws between worlds & Doctorate of what?

Hero or heel?
King Dedede and Chief Bookem's two accounts on Kirby do not match.

Descended from: The toy store & Trustworthy king?

Dedede's dirty work
Could King Dedede's reason for hiring me be less than scrupulous?

Descended from: Sending Ema & Adopted laws

Kirby
Gender: Male
The suspect in this case. Is he a hero or a criminal?

Shards out of place
Some shards of glass are a lot closer to the inside wall than the rest.

Page 2/2​

Arrangement of shards
Except for one, the shards below each window have all fallen towards one direction..

The open drawer
What could have forced the cash register drawer open?

Close proximity
The crowbar and the cash register were found close to each other.​

Bags of Ashes
Type: Evidence
Gathered at the Gus Station Ruins.
-----
Ashes picked up from the register drawer and around the storefront counter. Placed in separate bags to avoid cross-contamination.

Decorations
Half a Heart: Got moody enough to automatically leave a location with no one around to talk you out of it.
It's boring going it alone. I'm outta here.
Awarded—June 13, 2016​

 

[Cornix Argentus]

[X] Stay standing
-[X] Introduce yourself

I never knew I wanted this so much.

 

[DrPikachu]

(Forgot to save myself a second post there, so I'm moving this down. Votes before this new post will still count.)

---

February 2, 10:18 AM
Castle Dedede
Audience Chamber

[The doors to the room are pushed open by strange, cute walking-face-things as the blue penguin-thing in the red robe strides through, followed by the purple snail-thing, and me, escorted by more walking-face-things and the sword-wielding walking eyeball who brought me here.]

Penguin King
As the Great King of Dream Land, I humbly welcome you to Castle Dedede, my esteemed guest.

[He sits down on a large throne that looks suspiciously like a gilded recliner. The snail-thing slithers to his side.]

Snail-Stache
...Well, what are you waiting for, Captain? Make with the introductions!

Mr. Eyeball
Oh! Please forgive me, Your Majesty! Ahem...

[He draws that small sword at his side.]

Mr. Eyeball
Presenting Ema Skye of "Loss Angelis", Your Majesty.


Ema
......

Mr. Eyeball
......

Snail-Stache
......

Penguin King
......

Mr. Eyeball
...M-Miss Skye, you're supposed to kneel before His Highness. He won't wait forever...!

[] Kneel
[] Stay standing
[] Introduce yourself first
-[] Other (Write-in)

 

[Shadow-86]

[X] Kneel
-[X] Introduce yourself

 

[DrPikachu]

Voting will be closed at 12 PM CST on Friday.

 

[ChildishChimera]

[X] Kneel
-[X] Introduce yourself

 

[Vanestus]

[X] Stay standing
-[X] Introduce yourself

 

[DrPikachu]

Voting Results

[X] Stay standing
-[X] Introduce yourself
Tally Count: 2
Cornix Argentus, Vanestus

[X] Kneel
-[X] Introduce yourself
Tally Count: 2
Shadow-86, ChildishChimera

---

We've got a tie, so go and break it, people.

 

[EternalStruggle]

This is super late so I'm sorry.

But here's your tie-breaker.

[X] Kneel
-[X] Introduce yourself

 

[DrPikachu]

Aaand locked.

Now if you'll excuse me...

It's snack time. Thanks for filling the bag with votes.

 

[DrPikachu]

[X] Kneel
-[X] Introduce yourself

---

Ema
(My name is Ema Skye.)
(Los Angeles Police Detective, Criminal Affairs, Homicide. ...Yup, still can't hold back that frown.)
(Not like "Los Angeles" would mean anything to anyone here. Why would anyone care about a city on another planet?)
(Honestly, what am I even doing here? Out of all the billions of Earthlings, I'M the one who gets abducted by walking-head extraterrestrials? And I'm expected to kneel before this "king" like being abducted was an HONOR? At this point, I'd risk my entire snackoo supply to teach him a lesson!)
(...Yeah, and get myself stranded on an alien planet with no way to get back home, who-knows-how-many lightyears away. With no snacks. This is SO. DUMB. I'm on another planet, with honest-to-goodness aliens; I should be bouncing on the edge of my seat!)
(Might as well make the best of it... After all, I haven't screwed up YET, so I'd better keep my nose down for now.)

[I get down on one knee, keeping my eyes to the ground while also pulling out my badge. The snail-thing's smirk does not go unnoticed, though. The penguin-thing just puts a gloved hand to his chin.]


Ema
Detective Ema Skye, Los Angeles Police Department. Is there a particular reason you, um, hired me, Your...Majesty? All Mr. Eyeball told me was that you needed my help.

Snail-Stache
Hmph, at least we got an alien that's civilized.

Penguin King
You're right in one, Detective Skye. I sent out Captain Doo here to find me a detective that could help me find a solution to a...problem I've been having. I expect great things from you. A king accepts nothing less! Bwuh heh heh heh heh!

Ema
(Gee, no pressure, right? Now I know how that throne feels...)

Of...course, Your Majesty. I'm at your service.

Penguin King
Now with that out of the way, it's my turn to make with the introductions!

[He motions to the snail-thing.]

Penguin King
This is Dr. Escargoon, my right-hand man. If I'm busy, he's who you'll be reporting to.


Ema
(Doctor, huh... Of what, exactly?)

[He then points at Mr. Eyeball.]

Penguin King
And your escort there is Waddle Doo, captain of my Waddle Dees.

Waddle Doo
The Waddle Dees serve His Highness in every capacity, including guard duty. I'm in charge of all of them, so if you have any questions for them, please feel free to ask me!

Escargoon
You might as well do as he says, Detective. No one else seems to understand what those weirdos say, anyway...


Ema
Guess I gotta take your word for it...

[The penguin-thing gets up off his throne to make a pose.]

Penguin King
And I am King Dedede, 17,062nd ruler of Dream Land! Bwuh heh heh heh heh!


Ema
(That's...a pretty big number.)

King Dedede
Whew, all this introducing has worked up my appetite! Let's talk about your job over brunch!


Ema
(A stomach to match his ego... But still, free food is free food.)

[I follow him to another room as Escargoon barks orders at Waddle Doo to "make sure the kitchen's doing its job."]

—AAI:ES—​

February 2, 10:55 AM
Castle Dedede
Dining Hall

King Dedede
CHOMP MUNCH SMACK SNARF CRUNCH SLURP GULP BELCH.


Ema
......
(Even if I was hungry before, I'm certainly not anymore. This guy's a glutton of the highest order!)

(Still, this might be a good opportunity to find out what exactly he wants me to do here. As long as I ask the right questions, he should still be distracted enough to give me what I want to know without wising up.)
(Once I have enough information, I can then find the connections that link it all together and get to the bottom of things.)

(Detective-ism 101: A little Logic goes a long way!)

[] Question Dedede (Write-in)

---

Access to the Notepad has been enabled, which you can either browse on your own in the second post of this thread or call up with a ">Check [InsertEvidence/ProfileNameHere]" command.

If the latter is chosen, I will either throw the description (and maybe an image) into a new post, or just give you the link to an already-made post (if someone else doesn't beat me to it). Other than that, you're on your own when it comes to arming yourselves with this information.

Profiles and Evidence will be updated as the story progresses, with obsolete or irrelevant pieces getting shoved into a "graveyard archive" of sorts. Only the most up-to-date descriptions of Profiles and Evidence will be relevant to a case.

 

[EternalStruggle]

[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"
[X] "How do I get back to my world?"
[X] *Present Detective's Badge* "Does this mean anything to you?"
[X] "So, how did I get here anyway?"

We have to get the boring paperwork out of they way before we can do any objecting, or even any investigating. We have so little to go off of that it's probably for the best that we stick with the two basic questions: what are we doing and where are we going?

Also, so far I'm loving this thing!

 

[ChildishChimera]

[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"
[X] "Are there any particular places where I should be starting my investigations?"

 

[DrPikachu]

The top four questions voted on will be used in this round of questioning.

---

PROFILE UPDATE!
King Dedede (new!)
Escargoon (new!)
Waddle Doo (new!)

EVIDENCE UPDATE!
Detective's Badge (new!)

And yes, presenting the badge will substitute asking a question in this instance.

 

[EternalStruggle]

The top four questions voted on will be used in this round of questioning.

Click to shrink...

FOUR? Well then.

And yes, presenting the badge will substitute asking a question in this instance.

Click to shrink...

This, and...

Something useless but interesting. How exactly did we get here, anyway?

 

[Magnificate]

[X] *Present Detective's Badge* (You ALWAYS present your badge!)
[X] "How do I get back to my world?"
[X] "See, how did I get here anyway?"
[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"

 

[EternalStruggle]

[X] "How do I get back to my world?"

Click to shrink...

HOLD IT!

(I am legally required to do that in this thread.)

ANYWAY, I'm not sure I agree with this question. While it's logical that someone who's been whisked away to an alien planet would ask that, when we have a limited number of questions I'm not sure it's worthwhile.

This is because it's arguably self-evident what we have to do. Most likely we can be returned after we do the job here by the same way we got here.

Not that I'm arguing my alternative question is super useful, it's actually not, but still.

Maybe we can work together come up with an even better one? What else could we ask or do here...

 

[Magnificate]

when we have a limited number of questions I'm not sure it's worthwhile.

Click to shrink...

The top four questions voted on will be used in this round of questioning.

Click to shrink...

Nowhere was it stated that we get just one round of questions, therefore it should be safe to indulge our curiousity.

 

[EternalStruggle]

Nowhere was it stated that we get just one round of questions, therefore it should be safe to indulge our curiousity.

Click to shrink...

(Gah! How did I miss that?)

Yeah okay, that's fair. Still don't think it's great, but it might lead into something useful.

And satisfying curiosity is always good!

So changin vot.

 

[DrPikachu]

Your debating...

It bears mentioning. Continue, CONTINUE I SAY

---

Deadline for this round of voting will be Friday at the latest. Since there are more than four possible questions already, I'm keeping things tentative for the time being.

That being said, I will post a notification of my final decision at least six hours in advance of the true deadline.

 

[Archeo Lumiere]

[X] *Present Detective's Badge* (You ALWAYS present your badge!)
[X] "How do I get back to my world?"
[X] "See, how did I get here anyway?"
[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"

 

[DrPikachu]

Voting will be locked this Thursday, 10 AM CST.

By that time, tentative Profile images for Escargoon and Waddle Doo will have been added to the Notepad to join King Dedede's.

 

[DrPikachu]

Voting Results

[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"
[X] "How do I get back to my world?"
[X] *Present Detective's Badge* "Does this mean anything to you?"
[X] "So, how did I get here anyway?"
Tally Count: 1
EternalStruggle

[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"
[X] "Are there any particular places where I should be starting my investigations?"
Tally Count: 1
ChildishChimera

[X] *Present Detective's Badge* (You ALWAYS present your badge!)
[X] "How do I get back to my world?"
[X] "See, how did I get here anyway?"
[X] "So, what is the exact nature of this... problem of yours?"
Tally Count: 2
Magnificate, Archeo Lumiere

---

When it's snack time, the votes are locked. This will be the precedent for all subsequent voting rounds.

 

[DrPikachu]

Ema
Your Majesty, before I can accept...whatever it is you want me to do here, I'd like to ask you a few questions. Just to make sure I'm the right woman for the job. It's a...thing we detectives do.

[King Dedede stops tearing into a drumstick and watermelon to look up at me.]

King Dedede
Bwuh? Uhh... Yeah, sure. Ask away, Detective.


Ema
(Huh. Well that was easy. At least he swallowed before opening his mouth.)
(Okay, first off...)

---

[X] *Present Detective's Badge* (You ALWAYS present your badge!)

---

[Deciding to act on a whim, I take a page out of my old friend's book and present my Detective's Badge for His Highness's viewing pleasure.]


King Dedede
...Is...this a question?


Ema
...No. I'm just showing proof that I'm the real deal. Every officer in the Los Angeles Police Department has a badge like this, and as a detective, I am no different.

King Dedede
Oh, so it's a badge... I thought you were asking me if I wanted to eat it. Haven't had Earth food before...


Ema
No! Of course not! This is a badge, not a cookie!

[I hold my badge to my chest, safely out of the glutton's reach.]


Ema
(I was right! This guy will eat anything!)
(I may not be crazy about being a detective, but I know well enough to keep an eye on my badge. No one's STILL heard anything from the detective who got that latest pay cut from losing his badge...again...)

(...Although, now that he brought it up... This badge actually does look a little bit like a cookie, if you look at it the right way...)

(...NO. Moving on. I am not getting teeth marks on this thing, not even if they're my own.)

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[X] "How do I get back to my world?"

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Ema
Since you were able to have me brought here, I guess you must have a way for me to get back home, right?

King Dedede
Of course I do! Waddle Doo will take you back the same way you got here, but that'll only happen when I'm satisfied with your work.


Ema
So...if I get..."fired", you won't let me go back home? You do realize you're admitting to extorting a detective...

[King Dedede starts sweating a little under my glare.]

King Dedede
N-no, no! You can still go back to your world, even if things don't work out! We'll just...just find someone else, that's all! Eh heheh heh...


Ema
(This is one sketchy king. But at least I managed to secure a way to escape.)
(He didn't point out how I don't know any of Dream Land's laws yet, so either he just didn't call my bluff, or it's possible that the laws here are similar to the way they are back home.)


"Laws between worlds" added to Logic.

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Breaking up this post into two to stay under the 20-image limit.