Brendan Namron: Ace Attorney

"The only way any of us are going to get through this is if we play our roles ... and do our jobs."

—Kirlia "Skye" Namron, Turnabout Tragedy (Case 2)

"Why do you think we're holding a normal trial with a Pokémon as the defendant? Because Pokémon have souls and intelligence to match ours. One of these days, maybe the entire world will come to see that ..."

—Brendan Namron, Turnabout Return (Case 1)

Brendan Namron: Ace Attorney is an ongoing series of "cases", written in the style of an Ace Attorney game transcript, that attempts to tell the tale of Brendan ten years after his journey through Hoenn as a Pokémon Trainer; he has become a defense attorney. A Fanfic written by Strife 89 (real name: Michael Carr), it only has two cases fully written, with a third in planning stages. The author has the intention of creating a set of four or five cases that tie in to each other, forming a complete story. The series was inspired by ShadowKnux372's Phoenix's SSBB Case Files.

Brendan is accompanied by two Pokémon, Phoenix (a Torchic) and Skye (a Kirlia). Little is known about them, except that they are the children of two of the Pokémon that Brendan traveled with during his years as a trainer.

The series is currently being posted on The Cave of Dragonflies forums, where members are given the opportunity to "play" the trials, in a similar manner to the traditional Ace Attorney gameplay.

Wants More Love

Tropes used in Brendan Namron: Ace Attorney include:

• Always Murder: Played straight so far.
• Amateur Sleuth: Skye doesn't appear to have any proper police training, given her accident in Turnabout Tragedy, but she is on the forensics team all the same. Brendan, much like Phoenix and Apollo in their series, does his own unprofessional investigations between trials.
• Author Appeal
• Author Tract: The evidence is the end of this post.
• Avenging the Villain: Mars kills Brendan's mother in case two, as revenge for her research ultimately leading to the loss of Cyrus.
• Big Damn Heroes: Skye bursts into the courtroom, evidence in hand, in case one, just after Roxanne gives Brendan a talking-to about accepting his "loss".
• Big No: Used on occasion. Prosecutor Blue seems to use it the most, so far.
• Big Word Shout: The author tries to make it clear that, were this an actual game, it would use the Big Word Shouts found in the Ace Attorney games.
• Continuity Drift: Despite the trope below, several of the characters have been taken in unexpected directions.
• Conviction by Contradiction: For obvious reasons.
• Courtroom Antic: Case one attempts to introduce a new one: Pokemon battles in court!
• Development Hell: Roughly half a year passed from the release of parts four and five of case two.
• Doing It for the Art: Debatable. The author had already "finished" part four of case two, and was working on part five; but when a forum member pointed out the numerous problems, he scrapped virtually all of those two parts in order to try again.
• Did Not Do the Research
• Dramatic Irony: The first case's culprit is made known before the "game" begins, and most people seem to figure out pretty quickly that the murder in case two is Mars.
• Economy Cast: So far, there are VERY few original characters (not that that's a bad thing) and virtually no minor ones; however, many of the non-originals get their personalities and backstories elaborated on a lot.
• First-Person Smartass: Brendan is nowhere near as snarky as Phoenix in his head, but he has his moments. Granted, Skye is capable of monitoring his thoughts, so it might be for the best.
• Foreshadowing: While present, the attempts are lukewarm.
• Fridge Brilliance: At first, the remark from Slooth about how all of the office "computers" are dumb terminals seems like a lame plot device to make getting Brendan's results take longer. But then, you remember that the only thing you were allowed to do with, say, the Pokémon Center PCs, was to access other computers.
• Good Lawyers, Good Clients: So far, it appears that Brendan has had nothing but good clients - not that that's guaranteed to last.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Mars to Cyrus; this is her main motivation for committing the crime.
• Idiot Ball: Night Russ carries it.
• Improbable Age: Skye is nine years old when she joins the Goldenrod City forensics team.
• Jerkass: Blue might be this, but it's a little early to tell for sure.
• The Judge: Practically imported straight from the Ace Attorney universe.
• Just in Time: Skye's interjection in case one.
• Kangaroo Court: Every single thing in this entry under Ace Attorney applies here.
• Lampshade Hanging: Every now and then. For instance, one of the Talk topics is "What have you been up to?", which gives only three lines of text; the last one has Brendan wonder to himself, "Is that it?"
• Late Arrival Spoiler: Late-game plot points from Pokemon Platinum are referenced in case two.
• Life Meter: Penalties are mentioned in-script, and the forum players get their "health" tracked by the author.
• Like Brother and Sister: Brendan calls Phoenix and Skye his closest friends, but Phoenix is barely even mentioned by him or the author during a lot of case two (thus far). While this may simply be due to the fact that Skye is his client in the case, one could read the relationship as something closer than "good friends".
• Meaningful Name: Several of the Punny Names.
• Memetic Badass: Red is mentioned by Blue in the second case, and Brendan has definitely heard of him.
• Mystery Magnet: Brendan is potentially shaping up to be this. Case 2 starts with him asking his mother about Team Galactic. Guess who kills her shortly thereafter.
• Not as You Know Them: Brendan was Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald's silent male protagonist, who (like the other games' player characters) led a successful life in nothing but training. Guess where this series takes him after six years of that.
  • Silver appears in case two. He's mellowed quite a bit since the end of Soul Silver.
• The Perry Mason Method: Used by Brendan quite a bit.
• Plot Hole: See Ass Pull above.
• The Power of Trust: Brendan evidently wants the world to trust in their Pokemon as friends on a human level, rather than as animals.
• Psychic Powers: Skye, naturally. Rarely done well.
• Punny Name: Brendan Namron, Night Russ (nitrous), Detective Slooth, Torchic!Phoenix ....
  • Expect an "Odor Sleuth" joke any day now.
• Schedule Slip: There's not an actual schedule, but once the author's thread caught up with what he wrote, things slowed down.
• Script Fic: Although case one's introduction is in prose.
• Sdrawkcab Name: Brendan's last name is just his father's name (Norman) reversed. It exists only in this series.
• Shout-Out: Lots, with more expected to appear.
  • Brendan's Torchic is named Phoenix. He shares Maya's love for burgers.
  • Brendan's Kirlia is named Skye, and she works on the forensics team.
  • While at the Goldenrod Docks, Brendan recalls a Milotic he owned named Mimi.
  • Detective Slooth uses Gumshoe's Verbal Tic, pal!
• Villainous Breakdown: When Brendan pins Russ in case one, Russ calls out his Mightyena and tries to kill him.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The series attempts to make Pokemon read like an Ace Attorney game while fantasizing on the futures of the mainstay characters from the former series.
  • Some say it is awesome.
• World of Ham: As expected, there is a LOT of yelling in the courtroom.