Turnabout Big Top

Episode 3: Turnabout Big Top is the third episode in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All. Much like Turnabout Samurai in the previous game, this is a "filler" episode, having little to do with the main plot of the other episodes, although Berry Big Circus is briefly mentioned in Farewell, My Turnabout. The episode also explains Miles Edgeworth's "death" and features his return to America.

Prologue
All that can be seen is darkness. Suddenly, a drum roll starts and an announcer begins to speak:

Lights come on to reveal a giant lion's head bathed in red light. The light turns from red to blue and jets of smoke blast up at the front of the mouth. The smoke disappears to reveal a man wearing a purple top hat and cape. The voice-over continues:



Galactica then proceeds to fly up and out of the lion's mouth into the air. He soars across the circus arena and audience below before twirling on the spot, wrapping himself in his cape, then disappearing, leaving only his hat and cape which drop to the ground below to rapturous applause from the awed audience.

Dec. 26
At the Berry Big Circus Entrance, Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey and Pearl Fey talked about the show they had just seen. Pearl was awestruck, talking about the various things she saw: a dancing bear, a tiger that jumped through a ring of fire, an elephant who rode a giant ball, and Galactica's flight through the air. Maya then took Pearl home on the last train with Wright promising to clean his office for New Year. Pearl wished him a happy New Year (hoping that Maya would spend it with her "special someone") and left.

Dec. 28
Two days later, Wright was in his office worrying about whether he would be able to clean his office in one day. Suddenly, his phone began to ring. Wright answered it to find it was a distraught Maya. She urged him to turn on the TV. He promptly did so and witnessed a news report on a murder at the Berry Big Circus. Maya then informed him that Galactica was the one the police had arrested as the prime suspect and ordered Wright to meet her at the Detention Center in two hours.

Wright arrived to find an agitated Maya demanding to know why Galactica had been arrested, saying that he would never kill anyone. She was interrupted by a voice telling her that what she had said was "fabulous" and that she was a clever girl. Much to the delight of Maya, Max Galactica appeared. After a pick-a-card magic trick with a star-struck Maya (and a less enthused version with Wright) he told Maya to dump "porcupine head" and shower him with her attention. The conversation revealed that he had joined the circus to revitalise it, as it was a "dinosaur" in his eyes and his act had made all the other circus performances obsolete.

Eventually, Wright managed to steer the conversation onto the murder. Galactica told them that the previous night Russell Berry, the circus ringmaster, had been been found slumped over after being smashed over the head with something. He had been brought in for questioning by the police who proceeded to thoroughly question him, since Galactica had been the last person to see the ringmaster before his murder. When Maya asked why he had been arrested, Galactica reacted with surprise, telling her that she was making "an ant hill into a moutain, sweetie". He thought he was just there to consult the police on matters. Wright and Maya realised that the circus magician didn't understand the seriousness of the situation. They questioned him on his meeting with the ringmaster. Galactica told them it was about his salary, namely about a raise since he was the one bringing the customers in. When he told Wright that was the only thing they talked about, three Psyche-Locks appeared.

Galactica then asked why Maya looked at him in such a sad way. She replied this was due to his arrest, which Galactica didn't believe since they "wouldn't arrest someone like [him]" since he was the "fabulous" Maximillion Galactica. Eventually he realised the seriousness of the situation and reverted to his true self; that of "country bumpkin" Billy Bob Johns (much to Maya's dismay) and begged Wright to help him. After composing himself, he apologised for not being his "usual fabulous self just now". Wright eventually agreed to become his defense attorney and he and Maya left to begin their investigation.

The duo began at the circus entrance noting that, since the crime was fairly recent, the police were still present at the scene. Not finding any useful clues or information, they moved onto the lodging house plaza, where the circus performers lived, to find Detective Dick Gumshoe working hard at his investigation. Unusually for Gumshoe, he sounded restrained and slightly fed up with his job. Wright and Maya joked that it was a rarity to hear Gumshoe complaining. As the three talked, Gumshoe began to return to his usual self, talking about how the lack of any footprints from the killer made no sense. When asked about Galactica, he showed them Galactica's silk hat (which along with his cloak and white roses is one of his trademarks), recovered from the scene of the crime, citing that as proof of Galactica's guilt. He also mentioned the magician's unpopularity with the rest of the circus performers and that there was a eyewitness. When asked about said eyewitness he told them that they were not to talk to him. Gumshoe then a mistake typical of the blundering detective; he told then that he was suddenly remembered to tell them to stay away from the lodging house. When asked why he hastily said it was "for no reason". Wright and Maya guessed that the witness was inside and so went in, leaving an angry and embarrassed Gumshoe behind.

They entered a room on the first floor of the lodging house. However, when they arrived they found that nobody was in and so they left for the moment and went on to investigate the Big Top. While Maya was teasing that Wright should try some somersaults, the pair were interrupted by growling. This growling quickly turned into a roar, and the source was revealed to be a tiger which prompting leapt onto Wright. Suddenly, a voice commanded the tiger to heel and stay, and the big cat moved away from Wright and Maya. The voice was revealed to be that of a blonde-haired and blue-eyed teenager who told them that the "cute tiger"'s name was Regent and that he apparently hardly ever bites people. She then said that Wright was lucky to get to play with a wild tiger and looked at him in a cutesy, innocent way, such that Wright was forced to half-heartedly agree with her, to Maya's surprise.

The girl then became excited at Maya's "cute" spirit medium outfit, wanting to try it on. Although Maya was as uncertain as Wright was before, once again the newcomer gave the look she had earlier given Wright and Maya also half-heartedly agreed. The bubbly girl finally introduced herself as Regina Berry, the circus's animal tamer. When they asked about what the animal tamer knew about what had happened, Regina stated that her dad, Russell Berry, had been murdered. Maya said that she was sorry for what had happened, but Regina was puzzled about what Maya was sorry for. Wright was confused. This girl's father had been murdered the night before, but she seemed unperturbed by this. Eventually she was able to point them in the direction of the ringmaster's room, where Russell and Galactica had their meeting. Before they left, however, Regina admitted to having something on her mind. When Maya asked about it she revealed that both Max Galactica and someone named "Trilo" had professed their love to her on the same day. Asking who "Trilo" was, Regina told her that he was "a tenor who sings in the circus". Not entirely surprised with Regina's popularity amongst her fellow performers, Wright and Maya left to investigate the ringmaster's room.