A/N: Hey readers, hope all is well with you all since I posted the last chapter! I don't want to spoil too much of this chapter, but I will say this chapter will contain an investigation, along with Apollo and Trucy, meeting that certain someone that I mentioned in the A/N's of chapter 2 and I think you all will be very happy, to see who this person is! I also have a poll on my profile page, concerning something I am contemplating putting in this story so please give a vote on the poll and thank you to everyone who voted!
Let The Story Commence!
Knights Baseball Field
September 16th, 2027
2:50 PM
"This is a great baseball field, Polly! It's just as good as the baseball field at my school if not better!" Trucy exclaimed as she and Apollo arrived at the Knight's baseball field in search of evidence for Adrien's trial.
"This is a good looking baseball field Truce, but we came to look for evidence, not admire the ball field." Apollo told Trucy as he walked towards the bleachers were Adrian said he had found the body. The attorney and assistant were hoping to find at least one piece of evidence that they could use for their case and were disappointed that there appeared to be nothing until Apollo noticed a piece of paper folded against the back of the bleachers.
"Trucy do you see that piece of paper underneath the bleachers?" Apollo looked towards Trucy, kneeling down on the ground to try and reach the paper. He was hoping that it would be a note that he could link to the murder during the trial tomorrow.
"I do see it, Polly. Maybe it will be a note that we can use to find the coaches killer."
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Apollo picked up the note and read it to himself. He found the note interesting to be sure and thought it to be worthwhile evidence for the moment at least.
"What does it say, Polly?" Trucy was curious to find out what the note said, she could tell by the look Apollo's face that it must have been something that they could use as evidence, but why they could use it was still a mystery to her.
Apollo handed the note to Trucy who gasped after reading the note. She couldn't believe someone would leave such a note under the ball field bleachers, unless the recipient was supposed to pick it up and didn't, for whatever reason.
"This seems like valuable evidence Polly." Trucy tipped her hat to Apollo pleased with the note they had found.
"I couldn't agree more Truce. I hope we can find more evidence like this."
Note added to the court record
Apollo put the note in his pocket, then walked away from the bleachers to search for evidence in the ball-field, with Trucy following behind him.
"Polly, look at that baseball cap over there. Could it be evidence too?" Trucy asked, picking up the baseball cap and handing it to Apollo.
"Not sure Truce, but we can hold on to it for evidence, for now, you never know what could be important evidence in a case like this." Apollo looked over the baseball cap, wondering if there was an in particular reason for why a cap with a professional teams logo was found on the high school baseball field.
Baseball Cap Added To Court Record
Of course, the thought did come to his mind that someone could have lost it while running away from the baseball field when the coach got akumitized but who did the hat belong to? That in itself was a mystery that Apollo wanted to solve, if they could find the owner of the hat, maybe they could find a witness to the murder since it happened during Ladybug and Cat Noir's fight with the villain after the crowd had fled from the ball-field.
"I would like to find a witness to the crime, or talk to someone that was around the vicinity at the time the crime happened." Apollo said to Trucy, scanning the ball field for more evidence. He was beginning to think they were going to have to leave the ballfield and search somewhere else for evidence when they saw a girl walking towards the bleachers.
"Do you think she could be a witness, Polly?" Trucy's question was quickly answered when the girl approached them, with a question of her own.
"Are you Adrien Agreste's lawyers?"
"Yes, we are. My name is Apollo Justice and this is my assistant, Trucy Wright."
"I'm also a magician." Trucy added tipping her hat to the girl who looked to be about her age.
"Nice to meet you both. My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"It's nice to meet you Marinette. Are you a friend of Adrian's or maybe his cousin?" Apollo asked as the girls face turned red, bright red.
"Me? A friend of Adrien's? Yes… of course I am..
"Is he your boyfriend?" Trucy smiled brightly at Marinette, whose face somehow got even redder.
"Adrien.. My boyfriend? We're… just friends. Yeah, we are just friends, everyone wants to be friends with Adrian." Marinette's face was still a little red yet, beaming brightly at the mention of Adrien Agreste.
You can say what you want Marinette, but I can see right through you, if you are not in love with this boy, I will be shocked.
"Marinette, since you appear to be such good friends with Adrian, can you tell me where he could have gone on the night of the murder?"
"You both believe he's innocent don't you?" Marinette asked she knew that Apollo and Trucy were Adrien's lawyers so she was hoping they believed in his innocence. If they didn't she thought they would have had a hard time winning his case.
"Yes Marinette, we do believe that Adrien is innocent of the murder charge, but to prove his innocence we need to get all of the witness testimony that we can get, along with the evidence that is needed to help us prove his innocence." Apollo briefly explained to Marinette, he could tell by the look on her face that she didn't seem very familiar with the procedures of the courtroom, so he was hoping this brief explanation would help her understand more.
"Thank you for the explanation, Mr. Justice, I'm so glad that you believe in Adrian as much as I do."
This girl has got a serious crush. If for some reason I can't win this case, she will be devastated.
"Your welcome, so now that you know Trucy and I truly are on your and Adrien's side, would you be you willing to tell me what you can, about the night of the murder?" Apollo asked, knowing that they really needed more information about the murder. Sure Adrien told them some things, but he didn't tell the attorney and Trucy where he was after the coach got akumitized.
"Sure I can tell you some things that I know… Oh, no.. I can't. I should not have talked to him, or else I could have told you all more about what happened.
More? Him? I wonder if she is talking about the prosecutor.
"Who did you talk to, Marinette? Was it the prosecutor for the case or an officer?" Trucy asked, and Apollo didn't mind, he figured for as worked up as Marinette was getting, he thought she might have been more comfortable talking with Trucy instead of him. That trick did work with Adrien after all.
"He said he was the prosecutor, he had his assistant with him too. I told them what I knew about what happened, and then after I told them, he said I couldn't tell anyone what I told he and his assistant until after the trial. It was so dumb of me to talk to the prosecutor."
"That's alright, you didn't know that he was going to tell not to say anything to anyone else."
"Trucy is right, Marinette. You didn't know and besides, you don't have to worry to much about the fact that you can't say anything." Apollo spoke again, he knew he would be hearing her testimony on the stand tomorrow morning anyway, so he would still get to know what she knew.
"I don't?" Marinette was curious about where the attorney was going with his statement.
"No, you don't, because I'll be hearing what you know about the murder tomorrow morning when you testify for the trial. I just wanted to know what you knew so I can come up with a plan for Adrien's defense, easier, but we will still have a good defense plan." Apollo informed Marinette, who was relieved over the fact that she didn't appear to have hurt Adrien's case in any way.
"I'm so glad you will have a good defense plan to fight against the prosecutor with, from what he was saying, you are going to need the best plan of defense you can get." Marinette's words brought one face, one name and one prosecutor in the mind of Apollo Justice and it was not the face of someone he was hoping to find in Paris.
She can't be talking about 'him,' could she?
Marinette, what was this prosecutor, like?" Apollo just had to know the answer to that question.
"Well.. he really thought Adrian was guilty but Adrien would never kill anyone and he was really confident in the fact that he was going to win the trial. He kept bragging that he and his assistant found all of the best evidence and because his evidence and presentation of why he believes Adrien is guilty is going to be so great that you are going to need the best defense plans to prove his innocence.
"There's just no way it could be possible for it to be him." Apollo said out loud this time. No longer able to keep the thought of the prosecutor's identity in his mind.
"I think it could be fun if it was him, Polly, because if it is, France would be able to see what our trials back home are really like and how exciting they are!" Trucy thought the idea behind that would be exciting, Apollo, however, did not.
"Trucy, he is hard enough to beat back home, if he is our mystery prosecutor, he better be ready to bring it."
"He must likely will be, but we can beat him here. We have to for Adrien and Marinette's sake." Trucy and Apollo continued their conversation not even thinking about the fact that Marinette was still standing right in front of them.
"I hope you can beat him, because… I wouldn't know what to think if you lost the case." Marinette shuddered, not able to think about Adrian being sent to a prison if Apollo and Trucy lost the case.
"You don't need to worry, because if it is who I think it is when I walk into that courthouse tomorrow morning and see him there-"
"Polly," Trucy interjected as she saw someone who was calmly but briskly walking towards them.
"I'm going to corner him, then give a piece of my mind-
Polly."
"And after giving a piece I'm going to-"
"POLLY!" Trucy said, much louder this time to get his attention.
"What is it Truce?"
"L-Look behind you." Trucy said, looking at the person who was standing behind Apollo, not looking happy.
"And what exactly do you have planned to do once you cornered me into a wall in the courthouse, Apollo Justice?" That would not be a very wise place to insult the prosecutor."
"It is you!" Apollo said after he turned around to see who was behind him. He could have faced any of Paris's top prosecutors, but instead the prosecutor he was going to be facing tomorrow morning was none other than his arch courtroom rival, Sebastian Debeste.
"What is so shocking about that? They are treating this an exemplary case for the Legal League Of Attorneys Exchange I was informed that the defendant had requested your services which because you are ranked one of the best of defense attorneys so if you are defending, of course, the Legal League Of Attorneys Exchange, is going to pick the best prosecutor, to be his opposer." Sebastian's statement caused the face of Apollo Justice to get as red as his vest over the trouble that Prosecutor Debeste was already causing him.
"There really is nothing shocking about it. I was just hoping to escape you in the courtroom for once. I really believe the kid is innocent and nothing including someone like you is going to stand in my way."
"You don't sound very happy to face me, and to think I have been looking forward to facing you."
"And why would you be so happy to face me?"
"This may sound a little unprofessional of me, but for me, the courtroom is like a battle of the band, serious yet often fun." Sebastian started his explanation pointing his baton at Apollo to try and intimidate him. Apollo just sighed, deciding it was best to remain silent until the prosecutor finished his explanation. "I have been watching videos of trials here in France, and even though they have some great attorney's here the trials here need to be spiced up a little compared to the trials that we have back home, especially compared to the trials between you and me, so I was hoping we could bring a little excitement into this courthouse and give Paris a trial they will never forget."
"He said something like what I said, Polly, on how it would be exciting if it ended up being us as the defense and prosecution of the case." Trucy interjected, but her interjection was ignored by both the prosecutor and the defense attorney who just kept arguing right where they were standing in the Knight's ballfield.
"Excitement is not what this trial is going to need, all this trial needs a not guilty verdict because I and Trucy believe that Adrien Agreste is innocent and your witnesses, their testimonies and your evidence are not going to change our minds about that." Apollo's statement was true, he was not going to try and not let anything Sebastian threw at him in the courtroom, whether it be witness testimony, evidence, or even batons, get him down. This was his first trial outside of the US and he was determined to win in it, not just for himself and Trucy, but for Adrien Agreste.
"I wasn't expecting you to. Your job is to believe in your client, Adrien Agreste, in this case, no matter how incriminating the evidence or witness testimony may be. My job is to use the evidence and witness testimony to prove his guilt." Sebastian's response brought a new thought to the mind of Apollo Justice. The thought was actually a question he been wanting to ask Prosecutor Debeste for a long time, but the defense attorney couldn't keep the question in his mind any longer.
"And what if the client is innocent, Prosecutor Debeste, what would you do then? Keep trying to prove their guilt, just for your own personal victory just because it's in your job description?" Apollo asked, causing Sebastian to take a few steps away from the attorney, a little shocked over the question.
"I think you just hit a nerve, Polly. You might not want to ask him any more questions like that." Trucy spoke up for the first time in a little while.
"I believe you are right, Truce, but I want an answer to that question. I want to know what his true intentions are. Why he is always so eager, for a win, when his victory, causes some people their deaths, and others have to suffer, many years of the life, some the rest of their lives in prison all because they were found guilty, thanks to you." Apollo told the prosecutor, who was trying hard to maintain a cool composure. How dare Apollo Justice who knew nothing personal about the prosecutor standing in front him, question him on such a matter?
"Of course I care about the lives of the defense's clients. How many times when we were in a trial together, have I backed off when I was well on my way to a victory? You know why I backed off and settled down a little? It was because I believed you were right, and that your clients were innocent and I couldn't let an innocent person get convicted." Sebastian gave his explanation and was hoping it was enough to make the defense attorney step away and back off.
"If you care so much, why do you seem to thrive on winning, and take so much pleasure in it the way you do?" Sebastian was already getting annoyed with the defense attorney but this was the prosecutor's last straw.
"Why do so much on winning and take pleasure in winning?!" Do you really want the answer to that, Apollo Justice?" Sebastian snapped, causing Apollo and Trucy both to take a few steps back. Neither the attorney or his assistant had ever seen or heard Sebastian Debeste look or sound this angry out in public, so the two thought it best to give the prosecutor some space.
"Yes, Prosecutor Debeste, I do want the answer to that question." Apollo firmly gave his answer, really wanting him to know he was just going to keep asking the question until he got his answer. He was really trying to not let Sebastian get the better of him before the trial but the prosecutor's outburst was making it very hard.
"Fine, I'll answer your question. The reason I thrive on and take so much pleasure in winning a trial is that it's my job as a prosecutor to bring criminals to justice, to pay for the crimes that they have committed, that have caused suffering to others. When I win a trial, I feel like I am helping to bring peace to the people so they can live day to day and go to sleep at night knowing that there are prosecutors out there that fight to help keep them safe by keeping criminals off the street, to prevent evil people from committing evil deeds. I know we are on opposite sides of the court Apollo, and you don't see my job in the same way I do, but just as your job as a defense attorney is to protect and defend the innocent from potential false accusations, my job as a prosecutor, is to protect the innocent from the guilty by fighting for that guilty verdict and when I win a trial and the guilty have been convicted, I feel like I made the country and the world a safer place for the innocent to live in." Sebastian answered Apollo's question and explained way more than what Apollo and even Trucy were expecting. The defense attorney and assistant just stood in front of the prosecutor in silence, neither sure what to say over the words that the prosecutor that had just told them.
"I never thought about the job of the prosecutor that way before." Apollo finally spoke, after he had time to think about what Sebastian had said. "When you put it that way, in a sense we both have a part in defending the innocent. I defend the innocent in the courtroom from false charges, and you defend the innocent by protecting them from the criminals by fighting for a guilty verdict." Apollo was almost blown away by this thought. Maybe it was wrong of me to see him as my enemy. I couldn't stand him because I thought he was just a heartless jerk that didn't care about anyone, but maybe I was wrong about that.
"Do you understand now Apollo? I only fought you so hard because through my evidence and witness testimony, I believed that the accused was guilty, and if they were guilty, I didn't want them to go free to commit whatever crimes they were accused of, because I want to protect the innocent from guilty."
"I understand that now," Apollo said, putting out his hand to Sebastian to shake it. "Trucy and I have more investigating to do, so we are going to have to leave this ballfield and start searching else, since, between us and you, this ball field is cleared from whatever evidence that may have been left behind."
"You are right there. I'm going to head back to my hotel to prepare for the trial tomorrow." Sebastian told Apollo as the two shook hands, before going their separate ways.
"I wonder where Marinette disappeared to." Trucy wondered out loud after they had parted from Sebastian, Marinette was nowhere to be found.
"Once she saw Prosecutor Debeste she must have ran, considering the reason why they talked earlier that wouldn't exactly be a surprise," Apollo said, thinking about how stressed the girl had become when she started talking about Prosecutor Sebastian Debeste.
"She probably did, from what she was saying he wasn't exactly the nicest to her, but maybe that was because he currently believes that Adrien is guilty and he didn't like the fact that such a nice girl like her was possibly in love with a murderer."
"In light of what he told us earlier that is a likely possibility but I really don't believe Adrien Agreste is the guilty party in this case."
"I don't either so let's keep investigating! Maybe we can find some evidence by the school!" Trucy started running in the direction of the school with Apollo following her.
Francoise Dupont High School
3:30 PM
"Tru-cy." Apollo breathed, feeling out of breath after his unexpected run. "Why did.. You have to .. run?"
"So we could there faster, we really need to find more evidence." Trucy knew that just having two pieces of evidence was not going to be very sufficient for a trial, and they desperately needed to find more.
"Polly, why do think all of these pieces of paper are here?" Trucy pointed all of the paper pieces that were scattered on the ground.
"I honestly don't know, Truce. It certainly is strange, but I don't think we could consider it as evidence unless we could somehow prove it is relevant to the case." Apollo picked up the pieces of paper trying to figure out why they would have been so ripped up. Adrien did tell us the Knight's coach was akumitized on the ball field during the game, so is it possible that this picture could be related to the case somehow?"
"This might be evidence Polly, from what I've put together it looks like a picture of a baseball field." While Apollo was in thoughts on if the ripped was evidence, Trucy was trying to put the picture back together. Being a magician the girl was used to performing a lot of different tricks, so trying to put a picture back together, just took a little observation and wasn't too challenging of a task for her to complete.
"You put some of the picture back together? That's great, Trucy!" Apollo looked at what the pieces of paper that were on the ground, that this assistant had put back together.
"Maybe we can get some tape from the stores and I can put the whole picture back together." Trucy tipped her hat with a bright expression hoping that if the picture was relevant to the case that she could put it back together, for sake of the Adrien Agreste, they definitely needed more evidence to prove his innocence to the court. Of course, Prosecutor Debeste probably had enough evidence for the both of them prepared and ready to present at any time during the trial, but they couldn't just rely on what he would he would submit for evidence.
"Let's investigate a little more and then if we do not find anything that we think could be used as evidence, we go to the store and buy tape, so you put this back together," Apollo told Trucy. Still observing all of the pieces of paper that were in both of his assistant hands. The more I look at what we have for a picture, and what some of the other pieces look like, I just can't help but feel like this picture could somehow be of relevance somehow.
Ripped Photograph Added To The Court Record
Happy Stay Hotel
Apollo's Room
5:45 PM
"I'm glad we were able to get the tape, Polly, but I do wish we could have found more evidence, then what we did." Trucy said as she continued to tape the picture back together.
"I would have liked to find more evidence too, Trucy, but at least we were able to find the few things we did." Apollo looked up at Trucy who was hard at work sifting through the different pieces of paper, so she could have an easier time trying to figure where t put what pieces. "But with Prosecutor Debeste on the case, it's not that surprising that we didn't find a lot."
"Not that surprising but at least you know where he stands now and that is nothing you have been wanting to know for a long time." Trucy said, ripping a piece of tape off of its holder.
"Yes, I am glad I finally was able to ask him that and even more glad that he answered my question. I wonder what exactly he is going to say and present at the trial tomorrow."
"I don't know, but we will find out soon enough."
"That's for sure. He probably already has a strategy and a plan to prove Adrien's guilt at the moment I don't have any idea what my defense plan is going to be yet." Apollo let out a sigh, hoping their case wasn't doomed before they even started.
"I'm sure you will figure something out. I can help come up with a plan after I finish this picture."
"How much longer do you think you will be?" Apollo asked, from where he was standing beside the window.
"Just give me a couple more minutes." Trucy didn't really didn't think she would need much more than a couple minutes to finish the picture, something that Apollo was glad for.
That's fine, just me know when you are finished." Apollo told Trucy while picking up his notebook, then sitting in one of the chairs in the room to write down a few of his ideas on what the evidence could have proved.
"I'm done!" Trucy happily informed the defense attorney who quickly jumped out of his chair and walked towards the desk that was in the room, to see Trucy's completed work.
"This looks great, Truce." Apollo said, looking at the picture, after looking at the reassembled photograph, Apollo noticed the picture looked like it was taken, at the Knight's ball field.
"You know Trucy, this actually looks like it was taken on the Knight's ball field."
"I was thinking the same thing. It looks we found a valuable piece of evidence by the school after all."
"But who are these two men?" Apollo wondered out loud, he was thinking that they could have been the couches for the Knight's but he wasn't sure.
"Adrien goes to school here and he also had a photoshoot done with the Knight's so he would probably know who is in the picture."
"We can't visiting hours will be over in 15 minutes and we don't have time to get down to the detention center and ask him in detail about who they are." Apollo said, looking at the clock on the wall.
Awe, it took me to long to put the picture together."
"Don't feel bad, Truce. If you didn't take the time to put this together, we wouldn't even have to present as evidence. We can ask Adrien about the picture in the lobby before the trial starts tomorrow."
"Alright, sounds like a good plan to me." Trucy tipped her hat to the attorney, who couldn't resist a smile. With her bright and happy personality, Apollo was glad that she had come with him to Paris she was also a great assistant for him as well.
"That's going to have to be the plan because tonight we don't have any other choice. So we can spend the rest of this evening planning for tomorrow's trial."
I was not sure what to expect for the trial tomorrow but with Sebastian Debeste being the prosecutor on the case, Trucy and I should be prepared for anything he might try to throw at us. We believe Adrien is innocent but Sebastian at the moment does not and if he doesn't ever believe in Adrien's innocence, Trucy and I are really going to have to fight this courtroom war with everything we've got if we are going to win this trial. So tonight we will be the spending the evening preparing and the night resting, so we come into the courtroom tomorrow morning prepared for battle. _
A/N: So who was expecting Prosecutor Sebastian Debeste, to be the mystery person that was mentioned in the A/N's of the last chapter? It has been a while since I have written for him and AAI 2 was what inspired me to want to write fanfiction in the first place, so it was great to write for him again! I always thought that Apollo and Sebastian would have been courtroom rivals like Phoenix and Edgeworth, so I thought it would be interesting for Apollo and Trucy to be the defense and Sebastian, and Kay (even though she wasn't in this chapter) to be the prosecution. Apollo and Trucy didn't find a lot of evidence but what they did find will be useful, so stay tuned to find out how the evidence will be used in the courtroom. Hope you all liked what I chose to name hotel. Haha! If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider following this story and adding it to your favorites list. Also please go over to PierceTheVeils page, and read Ace Attorney Investigations 3: Miles Edgeworth: End Of An Era. I am a co-writer for this fanfic and know you all will really enjoy reading it!
