Alright. What this is: A little while ago, I was playing Children of Mana, and I did an event where I had to get Watts' robot from Star Lake. The scene that occurred during the game gave me this idea for a fanfic I made in a couple hours!

The pairing is made obvious, but it's a Oneshot of Gumshoe and Franziska... Non-Romance, but just Gumshoe being Gumshoe and Franziska being Fra... Oh, for crying out loud, JUST READ IT!

Disclaimer: I am Wrestlemania. Ergo, I am NOT CAPCOM!!!

This occurs at around Case 3 of JFA, for reference...
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Franziska walked into the Police Department. The past few months, it appeared that her dear "Scruffy" hadn't been working as efficiently as he normally would be, and considering that he normally didn't work efficiently, the problem appeared quite severe in this instance. She walked, whip in hand, over to the detective's desk. She knew how to knock sense back into him. Or rather, whip it back into him.

She had thought that something might've been wrong with the detective lately. On the last few occasions, whenever he would get a paycheck from Franziska, he didn't seem as desperate as he used to seem when he was broke and starving. She had thought that he might've had a stroke of good luck, but considering it was Scruffy, she deduced that that probably wasn't the case.

Franziska made a mental note to whip the constructors of the building later on. She had counted four trips she made around the area and she didn't see the detective's signature olive-shaded coat anywhere. However, as she was in the middle of passing around the room for the fifth time, the police chief could sense Franziska's frustration and chose to stand and speak up before he'd have to write out injury reports for the whole department.

"E-Excuse me... Miss Von Karma? I-If you're looking for Detective Gumsho-" Her whip chose to follow the sound to its source relatively quickly.

*CRACK*

"AAH!" The Chief of Detectives fell back into his chair, just managing to avoid the prosecutors' trademark weapon's lashing, though he could tell that she only stopped short so he could still talk, so he chose to speak quickly, though stuttering severely.

"H-H-He's at h-h-h-home, ill, Miss v-v-v-"

*CRACK*

"GAH!!!" This time, it got him right on the forehead, somehow lacking in impact enough to keep his blood from spilling on his desk.

"And why, may I ask, did you choose to come forth with this information just now, Detective!?" Franziska was ready to whip him for the first thing that the Chief said, no matter what it was. Perhaps he would be competent enough to not give a wrong answer and say something incredibly foolish...?

"... Err... You... You didn't ask...?"

...

Wrong Answer.

*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*

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Franziska left the precinct utterly enraged at this new update, to the mercy of the nearly-dead Chief of Detectives who was still inside the building. Franziska's anger wasn't towards him anymore; it was now solely geared towards her once-loyal Scruffy Detective.

"How could that fool simply 'Call in Sick'!? Why, if I ever took a day off of work, my father... GRR! If there is any sort of excuse that could possibly save him now, I don't know it." Irritated, Franziska got into her limousine, and her chauffeur drove off in a hurry after inputting the directions to the detective's location onto his GPS-Navigator.

"Now what was that place called again? Compton... Castles? Sounds like it would suit Scruffy well, seeing as how it sounds horrible...” She thought. Franziska was still enraged, but realized that she was talking out loud to herself, and chose to immediately quiet down and simply consider how she would absolutely CRUSH her dear detective when she met up with him.

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The driver managed to find the place without too many complications, and saw that there was someone waiting in the passenger seat of a large "Gov-Ex" van in front of the complex, taking up two parking spaces, one being the one he was trying to get into. Because of this, he had to drive down the street to another parking spot, which simply fueled the fire in the "Reasons to kill Scruffy" Furnace that was heating up inside Franziska at the moment.

As soon as her driver let her out, she immediately walked up to the Gov-Ex truck, and cracked her whip at both left-side tires, slashing them both. The passenger looked out the window and was immediately greeted by the leathery crack of Franziska's whip, before she angrily stormed inside the building.

She went in the elevator, because she believed that the only people who would use the stairs are morons and her brother, but he had an excuse. A stupid excuse but... an excuse nonetheless. She got to the third floor, but when the door opened, she was immediately greeted by a large, muscled man in a "Gov-Ex" uniform, and was considering whipping him, but realized that she still had things to do, so she chose to spare him his life as she marched out of the elevator and down the corridor to her prey's location.

The walls were horribly cracked, and many had clear watermarks showing. The ceilings looked like those in prison cells, and the floors, though carpeted, were torn up from what looked to be the teeth of what she could only assume to be several rodents that would wander the halls. However, as she went to the door and got ready to descent upon Scruffy's poor soul, she heard something from inside the room.

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*cough* *cough* "I really... hope... she appreciates this..." *cough*

Dick Gumshoe was sitting inside, opening the box he just got from the nice man that came to his door. He had to save a lot of money in order to pay for this to be sent to the 'States, let alone to HIM, but he was positive that it would all be worth it soon.

*cough* *cough* "I'm... So... Hungry...... NO! I have to finish this! I HAVE to! Come on, Gumshoe, keep it together!" Gumshoe was actually losing a lot of weight from this, but for all the wrong reasons: Because of the massive amount of money his gift cost to be sent, he wasn't even able to afford much food, or almost any essentials at all. His coat was being used as his only source of heat, a candle was the only light he had in the whole room, and he had run out of food earlier that day. He was sick, he was tired, but he wanted to do this.

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Franziska was outside the room, and she heard Gumshoe speaking to himself. He would speak to himself on occasion, and even sing to himself on occasion, but what he was saying now caused an unfamiliar feeling to rise up from Franziska... concern?

Whatever it was, it wasn't needed now. Casting it aside, she knocked on the door, and then immediately opened it. Gumshoe originally looked up to see who it was, thinking it was the landlord (but praying it wasn't), but when he saw Franziska walking through the door, the hallway light barely revealing her silhouette, he immediately jumped up in attention and hid the item that was inside the box, behind him. Franziska became annoyed by this, but chose to keep her demeanor calm.

"Scruffy. I heard you were not at work today... Is something wrong?" Franziska said most of that with the slight hint of venom at the end, but the last few words were said with mild curiosity, mixed in with a sense of teasing the frail detective. She didn't even think she needed the whip. Just a gentle push could've probably knocked him down, she thought.

"Miss von Karma! N-No Sir! Everything's good, Sir! Sorry, Sir!" Gumshoe's fatigue immediately vanished and was replaced by a sense of survival: He forgot about Franziska von Karma HERSELF, he was so worried about what he was getting all this time, that he hadn't really been paying attention to anything else, actually.

Franziska's attention suddenly shifted to the trinket behind the Detective, which he was trying ever so hard to keep out of her sight. Curiosity was always something that Franziska was afflicted with: The bigger the secret, the better it is for her to know it. It was SCRUFFY who had it after all, so it should be easy enough to take from him, right?

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"Scruffy, I couldn't help but notice the little... thing... behind your back. Can I see it?"

"Um... Umm.... N-No, Sir" Gumshoe muttered frighteningly.

(...Did... did he just say No to ME!?)

Franziska cracked her whip in front of her and held it threateningly, posed to strike at Gumshoe. She was pretty sure that he wouldn't even LIVE through a crack of her whip, let alone risk it!

"Scruffy, that was a rhetorical question. You will show me what you are holding behind your back!"

"... N... No, Sir!" Gumshoe was standing his ground, which to him, he felt like he was sinking in right now, as his fatigue was finally coming back to him.

*CRACK!*

Franziska hit the spot right in front of Gumshoe's feet. She wasn't playing around anymore, and she knew that. What's more, HE knew that!

(H... He knows that…?)

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"... Scruffy... You know that if you disobey my orders, you'll be getting a whipping from me, right?"

Gumshoe suddenly became very confused. Raising his eyebrows in thought, he pondered what she was meaning. "Y... Yeah, pa-... I mean... err... Sir!"

"... Then allow me to make this clear: Why won't you show me it? If it was embarrassing, you would have probably kept quiet. Instead, you're simply defying me... which makes me think that it has something to do with me...?" Franziska saw Gumshoe suddenly give a heavy sigh and looked at her with his famous puppy-dog eyes that seemed to get him everything he wanted from anyone... except her.

"... I heard something from Mister Edgeworth, sir. He said that... well..."

(Miles... Edgeworth?...!!!) Franziska suddenly realized why Gumshoe was keeping that item from her, it was the same reason why Miles Edgeworth would have to be involved with it: Her Birthday was approaching. In fact, it was today! She didn't like celebrating birthdays; her father told her that celebratory days are simply "Days without any realistic purpose". Any day where one doesn't have to work, he considered to be a day without any purpose. A Useless Day.

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Gumshoe could tell that Franziska knew what he was getting at, so he continued. "Anyways, Miss Von Karma, Mister Edgeworth told me that there was something from your home he could help arrange to get as a gift for you, but said you disliked gifts... but... I got you it anyways... it took a lot of money, but I was hoping to have it ready for you by toni-"

*CRACK*

"OW!" Gumshoe didn't get hit by the whip itself, but the loudness of the crack hurt his head regardless.

"Enough... Scruffy, you knew that I don't like gifts. I don't like opening them, I don't like receiving them... Why on earth would you do something so... INSANELY FOOLISH as get me one!?" Franziska snapped at Gumshoe.

Gumshoe simply stared in a mix of shock, horror, and sorrow, like a puppy that was just kicked by its loving owner. Gumshoe didn't even give Franziska his puppy-dog expression. He simply looked at the floor sighing to himself, trying his hardest to remain calm in front of his boss, though anyone, even those who were blind, could probably see right through the good-natured detective's weak attempt at feigning dignity.

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"... However..."

Gumshoe suddenly looked up slowly, though he wasn't expecting much sympathy from Franziska von Karma.

"... I have never been one to turn down an offer made to me by a peer... I'll accept your gift, Scruffy... But do this again, and I swear I'll ki-"

"Really, Pal!? Gee, Thanks!" Franziska rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance of the detective's sudden optimism, but when she stopped to look at the detective again once everything was quiet (save a few joyful chuckles to himself), the detective was suddenly holding out his hand, with the "item" in question. It was too dark to see what it was, exactly, since the detective's hand was actually blocking out most of the light, and Franziska's head was blocking the light in the hall, dim enough as it was.

"Here you go, Miss Von Karma! It arrived just a minute ago, too!"

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Franziska's eyes were adapting to the darkness of the room, and all light around her was slowly illuminating more and more of the area. She could start to see the item a bit clearer... it was a picture, in a small frame. She could see that there were two people in the picture too. One looked to be a man... about middle-aged... the other appeared to be a small child... very young...

That's when it hit her... she knew who this was in this picture... she spent her first few weeks in America searching her bags for this, and couldn't find it anywhere... so... it was there...

"Um... Miss Von Ka-"

"... Scruffy... I came in a limousine... I want you to go outside, and head down the street. Talk to the man outside it, and tell him your name is "Scruffy". Tell him to wait for me for a moment, I will be right out... Alright?" Franziska was suddenly in her own world, completely ignoring all else around her... There was only her... and this picture.

"Umm... Sure thing, Miss Von Karma! See you soon, Sir!" Gumshoe immediately left his apartment, then ran back to pick up his coat, which he dropped earlier when Franziska appeared. He then left immediately, so Franziska could be alone.

Franziska walked over to the small bed at the side of the room, holding the candle in one hand, and the picture in the other. As she sat, and stared at the image, tears slowly began to run down her cheeks.

"... Father..."

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Hey now! I can do things OTHER than Ganticizations, Slogans, and Song Edits!

PLEASE COMMENT!!!

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I thought this was lovely.
I hope Miss Von Karma buys Gumshoe some noodles for this!
Happy birthday Miss Whiplash, you nosy cow ;-)

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Was that adorable or was it ADORABLE?
I loved it!

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I had about 4 ideas on how to end it, and since I have ADHD, they changed about... every 10 minutes (Have you ever heard the term, "I had some idea on how to end it from the beginning"? Well, that didn't apply much. ), but I liked the result! I like paying plenty of attention to detail as well... I've always been analytical.



Thanks, ese!

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ese?

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"Ese" Is more of a friendly term, kind've like "Amigo" or "Comrade", etc. I use it as a tribute to the late, great Eddie Guererro though, more than anything else, however.

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Okay! ^_^

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This was a very nice read. It was sweet. Nice wok.

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Thanks, Mia_Fey!

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Hee~ I like that, Very sweet, and muchly in character. ^_^
Very good Work. ^_^

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Awwwwwwww.

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Very well-written, very fitting. I like it!

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I've always been a fan of writing Detailed Fics (My "Confrontations" on FF.Net seems to be a favorite among fans... especially Chapter II: Manfred's First Visitor).

Thanks, guys!

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