Turnabout for Tomorrow

"Phoenix Wright"

- No one can escape their past. The sins we've committed and the sadness we've caused.. No matter how far we run, our past remains as ever-present as the moon in the sky. It looms in wait... for the day when we are forced to face it. But only in doing so can we truly make peace and move on in hope towards tomorrow.

Turnabout for Tomorrow is the fifth episode of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies and directly follows on from the previous episode The Cosmic Turnabout. Central to this episode is the UR-1 Incident that had occurred 7 years prior to the game that resulted in the death of Athena Cykes' mother Metis Cykes, and the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of prosecutor Simon Blackquill.

Wright Anything Agency

 * 1:23 p.m.

After the events of Solomon Starbuck's trial, Athena Cykes was arrested for Clay Terran's murder. Wright returned to the Wright Anything Agency, regretting taking Cykes and Apollo Justice's presence for granted. Attempting to make sense of the facts presented in the case, Wright decided to take up Cykes' case and prove her innocence. Joined by Trucy, he set off to investigate the case.

Lobby

 * 5:13 p.m.

Final trial

 * 5:27 p.m.

Lobby

 * 9:12 p.m.

Resolution
As the trial resolved, Pearl was the first to congratulate Wright as he returned to the lobby. To Wright's surprise and relief, Trucy was there to greet him, explaining that she had kept the other hostage's spirits up by performing magic tricks. Edgeworth also offered his gratitude to Wright, explaining that it was only through Wright's actions that the Phantom had been caught, but Wright insisted it was due to Edgeworth allowing Blackquill to prosecute in the first place that allowed the attorneys to succeed, as well as allowing Wright to regain his badge, since he had thought the process had been a bit too easy. The two then mused over the possibility of eliminating "the Dark age of the Law" once and for all.

At that moment, Blackquill arrived. He thanked Cykes for saving him, which resulted in Cykes crying, with genuine emotion. Nonetheless, she was still upset at Blackquill for "throwing his life away for her", although the prosecutor insisted it wasn't his intention, he just felt Cykes life was more important than his own.

Wright then thanked Justice and Cykes for being there for him. He claimed that his office had "the best, most capable lawyers around", to which Justice and Cykes promised to continue their hard work. Wright thought they would need it to truely overcome the Dark Age of the Law, as people were still suffering under false charges.

Before Wright could go any further, Cykes suggested they should celebrate with a noodle take-out. To make matters worse for him, Wright found that the other lawyers were intending to have him pay. Edgeworth, Blackquill, Trucy and Pearl also expressed interest in joining them. Wright decided it was time for him to say something, which Justice and Cykes were happy to join in with him.

Epilogue
Trucy was happy that Justice had returned to the office, and found a bunch of new jobs for him. She didn't seem to mind that none of them were legal cases.

Juniper Woods remained determined to be a judge and help out. She wondered which type of pepper to grow in her garden next, but after some consideration decided to go for red ones in honor of Justice.

Gaspen Payne wasn't too bothered about the dark age of the law, claiming that sometimes, getting a guilty verdict by any means possible was necessary. However, his bravado quickly dissipated once he heard that Edgeworth was looking to give him a review, and ran away again.

Jinxie Tenma reported to her father that people had been calling for him to appear as Tenma Taro, as well as asking for a match between Tenma Taro and the Amazing Nine-Tails. As Damian Tenma pondered over how he could possibly fight himself, Jinxie suggested that Justice take over as the new Amazing Nine-Tails; an idea Damian approved of.

Phineas Filch claimed to have taken over as alderman of Nine-Tails Vale, but ran away after the police approached him for trespassing, revealing his lie.

Robin Newman reaffirmed her decision to become a prosecutor instead of an artist, and was preparing to take the bar exam. Hugh O'Conner would be taking an exam, too; the entrance exam to Themis Legal Academy, in order to prove that he could obtain a perfect 100% on his own merits. Newman yelled that their dreams and Woods' would live on forever.

Myriam Scuttlebutt continued to pursue becoming a legal journalist, annoyed that her new-found friends didn't like the cardboard boxes she had picked out for them. She was pleased that the trial brought attention and junior students to the journalist club - though their write-up about how she cried at her graduation rehearsal unnerved her.

Klavier Gavin was full of praise for Woods' performance during the school festival, and expressed interest in participating in a trial with her as the judge.

Pearl was disheartened to find the office muddled and untidy so soon after her clean-up efforts. She became determined to clean up the attitudes of the others in preparation for a visit by Maya Fey after the latter finished her training.

Yuri Cosmos continued to be full of passion and self-importance, preparing for the upcoming HAT-3 launch, despite being demoted to Assistant Director.

Ponco would be going to the moon with the HAT-3 rocket. She mused if Athena and Metis would be interested in various lunar features. Clonco, on the other hand, missed Aura Blackquill terribly.

Solomon Starbuck was more determined in regards to the HAT-3 launch then ever, determined to do it for Clay and himself. He was now confident about not giving up, thanks to the Wright Anything Agency lawyers. The prospect of not being able to breathe in space, as well as it being cold, quickly made him nervous again, though.

Simon Blackquill appeared at the Wright Anything Agency Office, intending to ask Athena to help defend his sister. Noting the player as someone looking for one of the lawyers to defend his arrested father, Simon expressed interest in seeing him in court.

Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth gave Payne a pay cut, much to the latter's horror. He noted that the resolution of the dark age of the law revealed much of the corruption in the Prosecutor's Office, and now he owed Wright a few more favors - but he was sure he would repay Wright in due time.

Hope for a brighter tomorrow
Solomon Starbuck prepared to launch with the HAT-3 rocket, muttering "I'll be fine" to himself. In the control room, Wright, Cykes, and Justice watched on in anticipation as the crew counted down to zero. The rocket flew off into space as others watched its ascent: Simon Blackquill from an open field, Edgeworth from his seat in his office, and Aura Blackquill from her detention cell. Starbuck held on tight as violent vibrations reverberated through the rocket, tightly closing his eyes. Eventually, he heard Justice's voice through the radio, telling him he'll be fine, joined by Wright and Cykes giving him encouragement. As he opened his eyes, he finally saw the moon in front of him, and thanked the three lawyers for believing in him. The control room erupted with cheers from the crew, as well as Justice and Cykes, while Wright looked on smiling.

Alternate endings
There are a total of three "bad endings" for Turnabout for Tomorrow, more than any other episode to date in the Ace Attorney series. All are achieved by emptying the penalty bar, but are longer than the usual generic "Game Over" that most cases receive:


 * If Wright is unable to prove Simon Blackquill's innocence after he confesses, the judge ends the trial with no change to the verdict from before, and Simon is executed the next day. Aura Blackquill disappears with her captives, including Trucy, and are never seen again. The verdict also has a heavy impact on the Wright Anything Agency; Athena Cykes leaves, Justice never smiles again, and Wright himself resigns in shame.


 * If Wright is unable to prove that "Bobby Fulbright" is actually "the phantom", the judge ends the trial with a Not Guilty verdict for Blackquill and Cykes. However, the phantom vanishes shortly thereafter, leaving no resolution to the case and allowing the dark age of the law to continue.


 * If Wright fails to answer one of the two forced questions Aura poses to him, she takes Cykes hostage and Wright never sees either of them again.

Note

 * To date, this episode has the youngest alleged first-degree murderer in the entire series. Although Machi Tobaye in Turnabout Serenade is a younger character chronologically, Athena was only 11 years old at the time of her mother's murder, whereas Tobaye was 14 at the time that Romein LeTouse was killed.


 * This is the first time that evidence from two cases are swapped in and out.


 * This is the first time that Psyche-Locks of any kind are shown during a trial.


 * Cykes allegedly killing her parent as a child, then having this experience haunt her deep down for years bears strong similarities to the DL-6 Incident. However, while Cykes allegedly killed her mother and did so on purpose, while Miles Edgeworth allegedly killed his father and did so accidentally.


 * This is the second time someone has impersonated Phoenix Wright in court. Although the phantom does a much better job at imitating Wright, this instance is rendered much less effective by Wright's presence in the courtroom at the time.


 * This is the second case in which Black Psyche-Locks are shown in the series, but the first time they have been broken. The episode also provides more information about them.

Other languages

 * Japanese - 未来への逆転 (Mirai he no gyakuten; lit. "Turnabout to the Future")