~~*Organzation XIII goes to court*~~

Harvey looked at Pikachu. "When you are done questioning her, I have some inquiries to add as well so do not set it over for Cross Examination until I am done, alright?"

Riku tapped his fingers softly on the arm rest of the chair. Namine was under some pressure here and he gazed at Kairi, seeing her nervousness too. He wondered if Kairi knew anything from Namine but it was apparent that she must not since she had asked him to relay the account of what transpired. This was going to be a pretty rough case on everyone; maybe even the Organization, who they were all here to try in the first place. For some reason though it seemed the witnesses were getting more hell than the Org probably would. He hoped that this would be fair and balanced but it may not be. Anything could be twisted to fit the needs of the other side. It was not that Riku wanted to see the Org unjustly punished either, but the treatment of those who had already spoken was questionable. Sora getting an electric charge as an example...Namine being berated up there... He knew whatever was going to happen, that everyone needed to be ready to be called on a lot. This other lawyer was clearly looking to put blame on anyone but the Org for their actions.

Sora glanced over at Kairi. "It's going to be alright. She is strong." His voice was a soft whisper because court was like the library as far as he was concerned. He truly wished he could recall anything on his own and tried to let his mind wander back to the period of over a year ago now. It would really help if he could remember and it would take some heat off of Namine.

OOC: My question seems to not have been answered. Would it be too much if Sora were to be able to recall things if he worked at it? Or some method by the court seeing as like I said before, the Org is back in black and so is Namine? If the answer is no, that is fine, but I just would like to know.

 

OOC: You think I was a jerk before... watch this! By the way, I assume the weapons charges were dropped from all the Org right?

"They wouldn't? Are you sure?" He paused to allow the shadow of doubt to settle over the courtroom. "I highly doubt anyone could keep you in a room against your will. Care to explain this video?"

5:45 - 6:05
"Or this one?"
6:18-6:50

"Sorry, but lieing is not one of my favorite attributes of a witness."

Xelax then turned to the judge, "Your honor, if you would allow it, I would like to present an alternative scenario, which presents the real reason why Namine stayed in Castle Oblivion on her own accord."

Saix just stared at the ground emotionless, completlely ignoring the going ons of the court case, especially the kids trying to taunt him.

 

OOC: ICSP, there's a problem with the second link. =] It leads to the cutscene archive for KH2, not a video.

 

Equalizer...

OOC: Fine, ICSP. Two can play that game. It's not fair that Repliku's not getting his chance to attack or have Sora testify, since I MUST keep answering Pika_power's questions first. So...

IC:

At first Naminé was confused. What did a video clip of TWTNW where she wasn't even present except in spirit and a link to what seemed to be a cutscene archive have to do with anything?

Naminé was about to say something when suddenly something strange happened. She didn't know where it was coming from, but a silent voice began speaking to her.

"You abilities are great, little one. But, even you should know your own limitations."

She looked around in confusion. As far as she could see, no one else had heard it. Xelax was still taunting her in his arrogant manner, but she could barely hear him. It was as if everything was tuned out except the voice.

"In your heart, you would do anything to protect Sora, correct?"

Naminé silently said, "Yes."

"In this timeline, it is impossible for you to change Sora's Chain of Memories without effecting everyone around him. However, we will allow his memories to return..."

"In exchange for?"

"Your abilities as a memory witch. Until this trial is over, you will no longer have your ability to touch Sora's heart. But in return, all of Sora's memories of Castle Oblivion will become clear once again."

"But what about..."

"Everything else that happened up to this point will remain intact as well."

"So, he'll have both sets of memories?"

"Yes."

Naminé thought it over for a moment. This was her choice and hers alone. Of course, she never wanted this power in the first place and it wasn't like she was going to use it anyways.

"Will you accept the offer?"

"Yes."

"So be it."

As soon as the last syllable rang through her mind, she suddenly felt the earth beneath her feet lurch her off balance before the entire courtroom went dark.

"Naminé!" Kairi jumped from her seat when Naminé collapsed on the bench. The next few minutes were a blur. All she could see and hear was a lot of running and muttering throughout the crowd. She whipped around to see Sora's reaction, but for some odd reason he seemed to be in a daze. His eyes were darting back and forth like he was seeing some invisible movie projector flash before him. After a few moments, she saw him shake his head, his eyes wide open.

Kairi didn't know what to make of his reaction. "Sora? Are you okay?"

At the same time Sora recovered, Naminé was able to get up as well. "I'm fine..." Naminé muttered to all who asked her. But she wasn't telling the whole truth. A part of her seemed to have been numbed and amputated. She felt slightly dizzy and nauseous, but she knew it was her body getting used to her powers being taken away. Xelax looked suspiciously at her as if unsure of what just happened, but he immediately regained his arrogant demeanor.

Naminé glanced over at Sora and was relieved to see him still on his feet. Then she turned back to the defense attorney and reciprocated his cocky smile. What she sacrificed was worth the trouble.

Sora had ALL of his memories returned.

OOC: Okay, Repliku. Sora's finally capable of defending himself. There shouldn't be any problems since Naminé's the one on the stand at the moment and not Sora...yet. Dude, I entrust the rest of this fight to you.

 

The pokemon let off a jolt of lightning, skimming over Xelax's shoulder. Instead of hastily apologizing, he just muttered "damn, missed..."

He composed himself, and replied to the opposition.

"We did not hand the subject over to you for cross exminiation, so you were wasting your breath. Everything you said there means nothing. You can repeat it again when Harvey Birdman has had his say. Thanks for the insight to your defense!"

Feeling proud at the way he replicated Xelax's arrogant nature, he asked the judge "am I correct?"

The pokemon sat back, and waited for Harvey Birdman to respond. The mouse was already thinking up a counter...

Irritated at the response of Saix, Seifer grabbed a handful of Donald's spit covered head feathers and hurled them at Saix, screaming out "Whyja get your minions to attack me you wuss?!"

 

Naminé shook her head. She had just realized that she had testified out of turn. The judge never gave her permission which meant...

"Your honor, forgive me," she apologized. "But I forgot that I wasn't supposed to testify until after you gave the okay."

She could almost see the defense's mood do a 180. They had thought that they actually managed to get somewhere. But in reality, since the judge never gave the okay, her entire testimony was completely negated and irrelevant. That meant...

"Your honor, if you would give me permission, I'd like to OFFICIALLY testify." She waited for the judge's ruling.

 

OOC: It was an objection... objections interupt testimonies, and cross examinations... In Ace Attorney, Prosecutors frequently do it, and sometimes Pheonix, and Apollo do it as well on special occations. (When you do not control your character)

And yes... the format is heavily one sided... but then again, I sugest a revamp. Both sides are allowed equal opportunity to cross examine, and testimonies are no longer bulleted one liners, but bulleted paragraphs.

This seems more fair. But then again I also suggest that we now follow the "Innocent until proven guilty rather than the guilty until proven innocent." Also, I would like the ability to have my clients have the 5th ammendment right.

Also, its all up to the judge...

 

OoC: 5th amendment?

Explain please, I have no idea what it is.

So the new system would be:

Charge presented.
Witness proof presented.
Cross examined by persecutor/defense.
Replied and Cross examined by defense/persecutor.
Continued arguing, possilbe witness called again until the judge makes a ruling.

Have I got the right end of the stick?

 

OOC: I'll agree with everything except that last paragraph. So far, I've been only stating facts (other than that one bullet I knew you'd pounce on gleefully. I did that on purpose.). EXACTLY how things happened. Plus, when you press for more information, the entire strategy of the whole cross-examination concept is to ask the right questions to the statements. In the first cross-exam, you conveniently asked a question that forced me to not testify about Larxene's actions, such as that kick. That was clever thinking on your part, I'll admit it.

As for the 5th amendment right, I don't really agree with it, but it's not exactly unreasonable. I'm not going to bring in the whole "Mask*DeMasque incident" but the double jeopardy thing should only be for individual members. If we end up using it for the ENTIRE Organization, then we can't exactly prosecute them for their own individual actions.

And I'd like to apologize to you too about a few posts back. But you seem to have a lot of advantages since only you, me and Erkz are the only people that have actually played the Ace Attorney series. The prosecution and *TwilightNight* have never played it so they wouldn't know exactly how things work in this particular courtroom.

EDIT: The 5th amendment is when a defendant cannot be tried for the same crime twice. So if someone were to be found innocent on one charge, they wouldn't be able to be accused of that exact same charge later if we're on another defendant.

 

OOC: Shouldn't Axel also be charged with the MUDER OF VEXEN, if Marluxia and Larxene are charged for turning againt the Organization??


Biting his lip and a with a tight shake with his fist, Xigbar showed a slight enthusiastic reaction when he heard Pika_Power say that the possession of weapon without a license charge had been dropped from Larxene's long list of charges. Which was good, considering it meant that the charge would also be dropped from the other members' records as well. He was relieved, seating back on his chair letting out a small relaxing sigh, hoping that the case would now perhaps move a lot faster. The sooner this case was done with, the sooner he could get out this annoying courtroom. He'd been intently paying attention to the interrogation of Naminé, as he was quickly reminded of how the Assassin and the Nymph had so easily turned against the Organization and plotted to overthrow the Superior. Despicable! Though a part of him wanted the Nymph to be charged as guilty, but it wouldn't have mattered if she was charged with it or not. After all, she was merely following the Assassin's orders after he'd completely brainwashed her. Xigbar impatiently waited until it was Marluxia's turn. It was mainly his bright idea to take over the organization, and Xigbar would've been all the more glad to see the Assassin pleaded guilty, then condemned. He gritted his teeth at the thought of the man's name... not to mention it was he who recruited the ba$tard. Apart from all that, he was merely happy to see a charge being crossed off the list. It was progress, and he gave a small smirk. Unfortunately, the happy and content moment Xigbar was experiencing was utterly destroyed as their prosecutor, Harvey Birdman, suddenly pointed out something else regarding their weapons, and this time something much more serious and difficult to deal with. Did this apply to everyone... him? Whatever if it applied to Larxene, it was mainly his own @ss he cared about. Jumping to sit up in his chair as the charge was mentioned, he listening carefully to Pika_Power as he talked over the matter with his partner. Pika_Power made a quick list of all those who would be charged with it and those who won't and soon hearing that he was clear of this charge sent him back to the enthusiastic atmosphere he was experiencing at the beginning.
“What the...” Naminé had suddenly collapsed. Xigbar stretched his back to get a better look at the girl, who after a moment, got up again as if nothing happened. Muttering under his own breath, he asked himself, “What was all that about?”



Among all the excitement, screaming and yelling of the four lawyers who repeatedly debated over Larxene's case, Xaldin sat at his chair as calmly as possible, his arms crossed and eyes closed. It only seemed that the Whirlwind Lancer was asleep when in fact, he'd been listening to the intense debating of the lawyers. It seemed that the weapon charges were dropped, but the new charge brought up by Birdman apparently affected him as well, for he, as Pika_Power put it, messed around with Beast. He felt the rapid movements of Xigbar who sat next to him, shifting and turning every once in a while, in excitement, then in disappointment, then excitement again. It was supposedly understandable, he thought, the man merely moved accordingly to how the case was seeming to move. Seeing that number two had all the actions and expressions going on next to him, Xaldin figured that he was enough to act for the both of them, and continued to sit there in silence, with his eyes closed, still listening and waiting... only opening them as a loud thud and murmur was heard across the courtroom. He saw the young blond girl on the floor, weak. He felt the strange aura that surrounded her and made her so unique among the nobodies slowly disappearing. Interesting... yes, quite interesting indeed.



Disregarding everything else at the moment, Axel was concentrating on his small packet of Skittles. So delicious... so sweet... so amazingly fruity, they definitely were correct in referring and comparing the candy to a rainbow. He popped one skittle in his mouth one after another, as the debate up front continued. When he did finally look up, he saw the Pikachu giving him and his small packet of Skittles an evil stare. Returning a confused stare to him, he popped yet another Skittle in his mouth and looked to the other side of the room, where Sora and rest of the crew sat. Some of the denizens of Twilight Town had shown up as well, and Seifer and his petty little gang seemed to be enjoying themselves attempting to piss Siax off. Siax, on the other hand, ignored everything and sat perfectly still. Axel shrugged at the ongoing interactions between them and returned to the debate as Naminé was being interrogated, not yielding to the Stitch who'd entered the courtroom, now hanging from the roof and drooling as he became hypnotized by the bags of skittles in Pika_Power and his possession.
Janexna, after contributing her part in the debate, kept stealing glances at him. He pretended not to notice this, but he had to admit that he liked all the attention he always received from all the females. When Janexna had brought up the death of Larxene in Castle Oblivion, he immediately could tell that the atmosphere around member 11 and 12 had slightly become hostile towards him, after all, he DID betray them in the worst way possible. Taking a quick glace at the two, he found the woman staring at him with great hatred and much secured urges to kill him then and there. If she survives the trial, along with him of course, he'd still be screwed after this.
Xelax had been doing well so far, as to confuse Naminé and only taking the answers he needed for the win. He was glad to see such arrogance in him, it showed motivation and a strong desire to have this case packed and ready at his own side. The environment in the courtroom however, had taken a slightly different turn as Naminé suddenly paused when she was about to answer to the next set of questions. Standing there for a brief moment, then felling over. Axel quickly stood up, almost in concern, but sat back down as the members glared at him for reacting this way.
“Whatever.” He mumbled sitting back down. He reached in the packet with his fingers to get a hold of another skittle, but what the tip of his fingers met was not a skittle, but the empty paper bottom of the packet. He was out of Skittles. A sad thought. His face fell in disappointment as he was not able to taste the rainbow any longer. Looking up with his eyes giving a sad stare, met with Janexna, who was once again staring at him.

 

OOC: I believe in NORMAL court, not going by some anime, there is examination and cross-examination always available if the lists of testifying people match from each lawyer side. I do not know why there is this bias leading in this regard that there is no examination even allowed before the witnesses keep getting transferred over. I seem to have trouble getting to ask questions too of the witnesses etc, and would kind of like my chance instead of the cross-examinations being called too early. At least when it comes to not having to interview my own characters heh.

Also, the 5th amendment right...pfft. It should not apply here since there is not even a jury to do anything and the judge is making the final outcomes. It also technically would make anyone look bad and the Org lawyer would use it to the hilt to avoid them answering truthfully. I'd suggest the answer should be no then.

Lastly, the charge of having weapons without a license was dropped as Harvey declared it and i think the judge agreed. At any rate, the charge of Aggravated Assault, not just Assault and Battery should be added to the list of charges against the Org, or Larxene at the moment at least since she is the center one on trial at the moment. Also, Coercion of a Minor should be added in count 3 times pertaining to Namine, Sora and Repliku. Theft also of the oathkeeper keychain as well. I think that would wrap this up then to get us all straight.

Also, I'm kind of confused why Namine didn't say that she could not leave the "Castle" instead of the room but ah, I am critiquing. However, Namine did declare in CoM she was stranded at the castle, imprisoned there so this stuff is not real proof. But it can be handled IC so not sure why I said that.

Sora blanched and sank in his chair...then slid right off of it to his knees on the ground while gripping his head. Droves of memories from such a short time filled his mind and it was all very confusing. It was as if he had for a while lived an entire separate life, and yet this was supposed to fill the void of merely a few days? He staggered to his chair with some help from Riku and looked at Kairi and Riku now. "I remember...it's all so fast and confusing...but ...I remember now." He rubbed his eyes as visions continued entering his mind. Of course he couldn't slow them down by doing that but it was the simple action that perhaps helped him calm down some. He looked up at the stand where Namine was and though pale still, could see she was not in the best condition either. "What happened? Is she okay?"

 

Donald was torn between two options, turning Seifer into a frozen lump, or going to see what was happening with Sora. True to form, he chose to Freeze Seifer. The only catch was that Goofy chose Sora.

This resulted in Goofy charging towards Sora (through Donald) and being hit by Donald's Freeze. He froze mid jump, and sliid along the ground collected Donald, and sliding along the ground until they hit an object in the way. The object happened to be Sora.

The frozen Goofy was lying on Sora, while Donald had flipped over and landed on Sora's face. Stitch didn't like being left out, so dropping Tron, he lept onto Sora, to the disgust of Donald.

 

Xelax was not happy with the way things worked out.

"OK... so you just owned me with objections, tearing down everything I questioned... so now the balls in your court so to speak."

"Cross examin the young lady."

 

OOC: Hmm...Repliku's got a point. True, normal courtrooms have the examination and cross-examination. I think this whole thing is getting confusing and muddled due to trying to adhere to the Ace Attorney universe. If this whole thing were being played from the defense's point of view, this might actually work. But since BOTH prosecution and defense have both point of views in this case, the rules might not necessarily apply for all of this. Just my two cents.

EDIT: Crap. You guys already continued without me. Okay. But I'm curious, do I answer in one-liners or paragraphs? That would kinda determine the questions.

And do we still wait for Erkz to give ANY of the okays or are we just going to continue without him? :huh:

Another EDIT:

I wasn't thinking correctly when I made that statement. But thank you for reminding me. :)

 

The pokemon is pleased to hear the words from the opposition's mouth, but instead of continuing, turns to the judge.

"So, judge, can Harvey ask Namine some more questions?"

Pika_power had a sudden brainwave. He jumped onto Namine's shoulder and whispered in her ear "If he says that you could have escaped, say that you were bound mentally, and that the fear of being caught was too great. Also adding that they can DP as well is also a good idea. If he then says you escaped in the end, you can reply that it was only due to the trauma you put Sora through, and the blessing of Axel that you finally left."

Before Namine could react, the pokemon leaped off her shoulder and onto the seat.

 

Harvey waited for the Judge's approval before going before the table and walking to pace before the stand. "Namine, did you feel that you were a prisoner at the Castle Oblivion? If you can, detail some of your life there to us so that we can get a stage to understand you and your place in this more."

 

OOC: I'll have to think about this. I don't want to screw it up. And exactly how would I detail the life there? I only know whatever happened in Castle Oblivion via cutscenes and script. Unless you're asking me to testify made-up stuff about the daily life of Nobodies and how they never seem to use a bathroom...:huh:

 

OOC: Pretty much it seems that the Org placed her there and under Marluxia's care and she was forbidden to leave the Castle. She was not a member of the Organization or given the status, called a witch, and not really treated as an equal to them. She was lonely and stuck there. For more info you'd have to look it up but that is pretty much what is declared in the games.

 

The judge woke up with a start upon hearing the ruckus caused by Sora, Donald and Goofy.

Rubbing his eyes, he looked at everyone with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that, now where were we?"

OOC -

:\ See, the thing is, we're using the simplified Ace Attorney rules so that things would run smoother. Also, ingame, the prosecutors don't really do much on their own, it's sorta scripted, and, as such, I believe provisions should be made to accomodate this. I say that the bullets points/paragraphs remain, and both the prosecution and defense may press the witness and object to their statements; with first preference going to whichever side summoned the witness. >.> It wouldn't be a 'cross'-examination if it wasn't done by both sides, now would it? So it should go something like...
1] Witness takes the stand an gives testimony.
2] Whoever summoned the witness can press them for further info as required. The opposition may object to the relevancy, whatever.
3] When the side that summoned the witness is content with the information gleaned, the opposing side may then press the witness till they are satisfied, with the side that summoned the witness objecting as necessary.
4] Both sides content, the witness can leave the stand, and the case can continue.

How's that?

Also, 5th granted, because it's a valid part of the Ace Attorney rules. Though, good luck to anyone who actually decides to use it. It's been proven that the prosecution can bend any lack of testimony to their will as well.

EDIT - Also, why is Axel charged with the "Attempted Murder of Roxas", and yet "Murder of Vexen" seems to be missing?

 

OOC: This is why I said that we should have more time to have the witness up there because the prosecution has been getting screwed somehow. Anyhow, what you said works and is pretty much what should happen as I was mentioning. I'll try then to stick to the formula going on though I'm not that familiar with this show. Thanks for setting the record straight now.

Also, the Org themselves -did- do crimes to themselves. the Murder of Vexen was ordered by Marluxia. If it were to be added, Marluxia should have it added to his charges as well. However, the Org really isn't complaining about -themselves- though perhaps they should. lol The Org boned each other worse than others did. =:) It could be added though because the prosecution may add things like this to actually protect some org members from each other and show how -bad- some members were.