I hope everybody had fun reading about the new characters from the previous chapter, because guess what? They're in this chapter as well! It's roughly the same length as the last chapter, and I believe you guys will enjoy it if you have followed the story thus far. All of you guys mean the world to me.
And, of course, if anyone wishes to contact me off the site, my Discord tag is Lucas Whitefur#7822. But you guys all knew that already, so let's get into it.
VICTOR CHELAN, 20* - FIRST PERSON
By the time I reached the outskirts of the agricultural complex, I was already feeling slightly peckish. Indeed, "slightly peckish" was putting it mildly, for I knew that full-on hunger wasn't going to be far behind. At that point, I would truly be suffering.
It didn't help that the sun was beating down; it felt even more intense than it usually was on this island, as though it were a hammer against my neck. I knew within minutes of leaving the house that a nasty sunburn was inevitable.
It hadn't even been a week yet, but I still had a difficult time finding the Orkun Orchard again. And yes, judge me all you want for not thinking to make a map, but at the time, I'd had other matters on my mind.
As it turned out, it wasn't my innate sense of direction that led me to the right orchard; rather, it was a familiar Zoroark standing right by the chain-link door.
"Good morning, Victor," Zapo told me as I walked up to him. "I'm glad you survived the storm yesterday."
I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean, survived? Can we even die here?"
Zapo shrugged, causing his crimson ponytail to shake. "There's only one way to find out, but I'm glad you didn't end up murdering your soulmate. Perhaps there's a post-afterlife or something like that, but I'd rather not risk it."
"So what do you think would happen to Amanda if, hypothetically speaking, I were to murder her? Of course, I would never actually do such a thing." It was exceedingly important to use that last sentence as a qualifier, simply because I didn't want anyone thinking I had ill intentions towards the Braixen.
In fact, I did care about her. Yes, we didn't always get along on every single thing, but I didn't exactly blame Amanda for wanting to keep some things secret from me if they were too personal.
Zapo shook his head and bared his fangs at me, as though he were preparing to strike. Fortunately, he didn't do that.
Instead he simply responses with, "Again, I don't fucking know. But I remember reading a book once in which the residents of the afterlife were warriors, and they were immortal as long as they stayed within their realm. If they left, though, they wouldn't respawn."
Now that he mentioned it, that suggestion seemed fairly reasonable to me. Of course, it was far from the most pressing issue at hand, and Zapo seemed to understand that.
"Are you ready to put in some work today? I assume you brought your lunch this time, right?"
I nodded, smiling. I'd made that mistake once, and I would not make it again, even if I'd gotten lucky the first time. Prior to leaving for the orchard, I had packed myself a nice hearty meal of leftover kielbasa and sauerkraut soup, which had thankfully cooled down. It would taste almost refreshing in the hot sun.
We entered the enclosure and immediately agreed that we'd use the same tactic as before. This time, for the sake of variety, we decided that I'd be the one in the tree, and Zapo would work the wheelbarrow.
It didn't take long before I realized that maybe this wasn't such a smart idea. The ladder had seemed so steady and strong when the Zoroark had been the one climbing it, but it felt wobbly to me, and grew increasingly so with every rung.
"You can do it, Victor!" I heard Zapo exclaim from the ground. I didn't dare look down.
What felt like five minutes later, I was "safely" on one of the mango tree's thickest branches. It was probably about twice as thick as my upper leg, although I'm not great at measurements. I scooted out a couple feet on the branch until I was within reach of a sizable number of mangoes.
How the hell did Zapo make it look so easy?
"Okay, good," Zapo said, looking up at me. "Now start tossing mangoes over, and I bet I can catch them; I need to have a lot of dexterity to be a disk jockey and pour drinks."
With all the intrigue of the last week, I'd basically forgotten what the Zoroark had told me about his life on Earth. Nonetheless, I reminded myself that it was hardly the most important thing. Instead, I plucked a mango from the nearest branch and dropped it over the edge.
In the act of reaching up for the luscious tropical fruit, I'd upset my fine balance on the branch, and needed to grab on with both hands to steady myself. If I wasn't careful, I might end up plummeting twenty feet and splattering all over the ground just like that poor mango would if Zapo didn't catch it.
Fortunately, I was a good thrower; or, more likely, my partner was a good catcher. For the first wheelbarrow of twenty-five mangoes, Zapo only missed two.
His first trip from the orchard to the supply depot, however, was rather nerve-wracking for me. To be on the branch without anything to do made me feel as though, any moment, I could lose my concentration and fall to possibly my second death. It didn't help that a slight breeze rustled the branches around me, making me feel even more off-balance.
When the Zoroark once known as Jack Froot returned, I resumed tossing mangoes down to him. Before long, however, I found myself greatly wishing that I could have taken a bite out of one of the delectable fruits.
Within less than an hour of starting, my stomach was already starting to feel hollow. My mouth was a bit dry as well, but I knew that if I drank water too quickly, my empty stomach would kill me for a few seconds. Of course, that might be worth it in order to stay hydrated.
It was an enormous relief when Zapo came back with his seventh or eighth empty wheelbarrow (I'd lost track of exactly how many) and called for a lunch break.
Even though being in the tree was frightening, and there was only one way down that didn't involve a straight drop, I still dreaded climbing down the ladder. Since I couldn't necessarily see where I was going, I had to "feel" my way around with my feet.
"Careful, Victor" the Zoroark told me from below. "You might end up kicking the ladder over, and you don't want that, do you?"
I couldn't help but roll my eyes, grateful that I was facing away from Zapo as I did this. Slowly, I managed to make my way down the ladder.
I could have kissed the dirt; that's how grateful and relieved I was to be on solid ground again. Even more relieving was the fact that it was time for lunch.
"You don't know how much I needed this" I told Zapo as I unzipped my lunch box. "I. Am. So. Hungry."
My partner looked at me curiously. "Did you start the medication recently?"
I looked at him in a confused manner, deciding to have a little fun here. "What medication?"
Zapo's teal eyes glinted. He didn't exactly look angry, simply surprised and/or a bit annoyed.
"You know what I'm talking about, Victor. The drug that makes you a Pokemon. Have you been taking it?"
I nodded, deciding that playing dumb hadn't been wise. This wasn't something to be joked about.
"No wonder you're so hungry; I could practically hear your stomach rumble from the ground when you were up in the tree! And yeah, I felt the same way when I started my transition into a Zoroark; it's really, really tiring to be a Pokemon. Burns a lot of calories."
Zapo's tone of voice suggested that he was on the verge of laughter, and I couldn't help but laugh along with him. There was a certain level of camaraderie that came from a day's work in the orchard.
PROFESSOR SAMUEL OAK, 54* - THIRD PERSON
After the opening statements from Danny California and the prosecutor, whose name turned out to be Ben Bannock, the trial was adjourned for the day, which Samuel Oak had mixed feelings about.
On the one hand, he didn't like seeing Sarah Mariner in the defendant's chair; he gained no joy from seeing her suffer emotionally. On the other hand, he knew that there probably wouldn't be much to do wherever they were sequestered. He certainly wouldn't be able to welcome people to the afterlife.
Once they had been dismissed, with the reminder to come back to the courtroom the next day at the same time, Chief Justice McCastle turned to the other Heaven Renders.
"Ponderosa is the name we have given to your quarters, which are underneath the Sky Garden. You will all be teleported there by one of the Laurens here. Hey, Lauren?"
The perfect-looking woman appeared out of nowhere. "Hi there!"
"Take the other eight Heaven Renders to Ponderosa, and show them to their quarters. They are to be sequestered from both the outside world and from each other, so that nothing outside of the courtroom will influence their decision. Do you understand these orders?"
Lauren frowned, which was quite a rare event. "I understand all orders, Chief Justice McCastle. That is what I am programmed to do."
"My apologies for being tactless, Lauren. In any case, please take these eight to Ponderosa, where they will remain until the trial resumes tomorrow."
"There is no need to reiterate the instructions. I grasp them perfectly." Turning to the Heaven Renders, Lauren motioned for them to follow her out of the courtroom.
"All of you, I know you're not keen on holding hands, but please grab onto one another and form a human chain. That's the only way to make sure nobody gets Splinched."
Everybody present knew what Splinching meant. The term referred to when teleportation went terribly wrong and part of someone's body reached the destination, whereas the rest of it remained at the origin. It wasn't an experience one wanted to have happen.
Once they were in a side room, Professor Oak took Mike Mindanao's hand in left and Claire Conakry's in his right. In this way, the eight Associate Justices formed a circle, much like children playing a game involving a parachute.
Lauren then snapped her fingers, and, with a familiar flash of light and awkward sensation, the eight found themselves in what looked like the lobby of a five-star hotel.
I'd rather not be trapped here, but if I need to be trapped anywhere, this place isn't half bad. You could do a lot worse.
The lobby of Ponderosa had a woman who looked identical to Lauren as the receptionist. There was also a buffet restaurant like many hotels had, a game room with a pool table, etc. There were, however, no electronic devices visible other than the computer behind the desk. And Professor Oak was under no illusion that the Heaven Renders would be allowed to use said computer.
"Good day to all of you," the Lauren behind the desk told the members of the afterlife's high court. "I am the Lauren who will be assisting you all during your stay at Ponderosa, but first, I wish to set some ground rules."
Ground rules? Does she think we're children?
"First of all, you are to remain in your rooms at all times except when you return to the lobby every morning at 8:45. The only reason you're allowed to be in the lobby is to teleport to and from the courthouse. Otherwise, it is off-limits, and if you're seen there when unauthorized, you're gonna have a bad time."
Professor Oak thought he remembered those last five words from somewhere. Wasn't it a popular saying on Earth, a "meme" if you will?
"The second rule is that you are not to visit each other unless absolutely necessary. It shouldn't be necessary, since I will provide everything you may need, but if you are caught visiting one another, especially if you discuss the case, you're gonna have a bad time.
"Also, Pillowtalk isn't used here, since there are no computers in the rooms. If you expect Pillowtalk to be available, you're gonna have a bad time."
Well, we're jurors for an espionage trial, if you will. We're not supposed to have a good time, so that's a rather odd way of saying it.
"Finally, you are not allowed to devise clever methods of communication with one another. This is mostly irrelevant, since the walls are soundproof, but if you somehow manage to do it, we will know, and you will be punished. If you're punished, you're gonna have a bad time."
Thanks a lot, Captain Obvious.
Even though he knew he'd likely get bored quickly, Professor Oak was eager to get to his hotel room and not be in the company of this Lauren. For some reason, she seemed to have a different personality than the one who worked in his Enil Edam office, and not in a way that made her more lenient.
The other Associate Justices hadn't seemed to be paying much attention to Lauren's speech, but that changed when she clapped her hands. "Everyone!" she barked, raising her hands in the air like a criminal suspect. "This is super important!"
This was what shocked the others into attention. Mike Mindanao in particular, who had been conversing quietly with Associate Justice Izzy Lando, abruptly turned in Lauren's direction.
"Each of you will receive a key to your room. Just like in any Earthly hotel, these keys will only work for your particular room. As I've already said, there is to be no communication whatsoever between you eight, unless there's a very good reason."
Out of thin air, Lauren produced eight card keys, all of which looked identical in color (bone white), but each of which had a different number printed on it.
"It doesn't matter which one you take, just go to that room" the receptionist told the Heaven Renders, unnecessarily. "I'll see you all in the lobby tomorrow morning."
Professor Oak was the last one to grab his key. Seeing that it was Room 245, he reasoned that it would be one floor above this one, since that was also how Earthly hotels worked, where the first digit was the floor number.
He followed the others to the stairwell. It contained an ornate spiral staircase made of granite, with a small fountain at the bottom that was peacefully bubbling.
Oak found the correct room and unlocked the door. Once inside, he discovered a luxurious hotel room behind the door, one that might be found at an opulent resort in the Caribbean.
There was a king bed that looked far too big for him, as well as walls painted a color brighter than gold. The wall-to-wall carpeting was silver in color, and a quick look at the bathroom revealed that it was bronze. All the colors of Olympic medals were used.
Well then. I guess they want me to be happy here, at least.
Of course, there were many things that interfered with the professor being happy. For one, the trial was weighing on his mind; he really didn't relish the look of sheer terror that had been on Sarah Mariner's face. Nor was he pleased about the fact that she might be sent to the Underworld, since that was the standard punishment for heinous crimes committed against the Sky Garden.
Finally, even though the room was beautiful, there was a vague sense of unease triggered by the lack of a window. Something about the room felt claustrophobic even though it wasn't particularly small.
Or maybe it was that he really felt trapped here. He was obligated to serve his jury duty, since that was one of the tasks associated with being a Heaven Render. He might be an accessory to the condemnation of an innocent woman to the Underworld.
If I think she's innocent, I can just vote no, and urge my colleagues to do the same. McCastle himself said that we followed the principle of innocence until proven guilty.
Even if he did vote to acquit, however, that was no guarantee that Mrs. Mariner would get off. If the prosecution was persuasive enough, they'd convince the other jurors that somebody had to swing for what had happened on the fifth of March. What difference did it make if that person was innocent?
Professor Oak sat down on the bed, head in hands. Most people liked to pretend that juries were perfectly rational and objective, that they always arrived at the best conclusion given the evidence presented.
But that was exactly what they were doing: Pretending. It simply wasn't true; jurors, even those in the elite group known as the Heaven Renders, were prone to very human errors. In the end, they had all been human before becoming immortals, and once a human, always a human.
There was a knock at the door, but it didn't shake the professor out of his reverie. He was still pondering the implications of what might happen if there were doubts about Mrs. Mariner's innocence.
It was only after two more knocks that Oak stood up off the bed and walked over to the door. "Who is this?" the professor asked. "Reveal yourself!"
"Hi there, it's the room service Lauren!" a singsong feminine voice told him from the other side.
The clear difference between the two moods was almost comical, but Samuel Oak didn't exactly feel like laughing. "Come on in," he replied gravely.
Lauren opened the door with her left hand; on her right, she was carrying a tray containing a hamburger and fries, as well as a piña colada.
"There's grilled pineapple on your burger, Your Honor" Lauren told him, using a title Oak rarely heard when being addressed. "The powers that be here thought it would be a taste of home."
"Well, they were right," the professor replied, still not smiling. "Thank you." He didn't make eye contact while speaking.
The room service Lauren eyed him with a bit of concern, but didn't press him any further. Instead, she handed him the food and continued down the hallway, pushing her cart to someone else's room.
Professor Oak took his food and set it on the hotel's dresser. He wasn't particularly hungry. Instead, he sat back down on the bed and kept thinking about how difficult the next few days were going to be.
VICTOR CHELAN, 20* - FIRST PERSON
Twenty minutes after we'd resumed the labor of the fruits, as some would call it, Zapo and I were on a roll. After the fifteen-minute mark, he didn't miss a single mango, and I was dropping them faster than ever.
Eventually, however, our efforts ground to a halt when I realized that there were no more mangoes within reach of my current branch.
"There aren't any mangoes left!" I yelled at the Zoroark, who was looking up at me, probably wondering what was taking me so long.
"Then climb higher! I can catch them from thirty feet rather than twenty!"
Thirty feet. I remembered reading that anything above thirty feet was typically in the "red zone", as it were; if you were to fall from there, you stood very little chance of surviving. There were famous exceptions, of course, but they were just that - exceptions.
I steeled myself for the climb upward. The nearest branch was about two feet above the current one, and I wouldn't have been too worried about this step had I been closer to the ground. However, when you were two stories in the air, with nothing to arrest your fall, things were far more precarious.
Taking the deepest breath of my afterlife, I reached out for the branch and tried to pull myself up. Almost instantly, I realized that I had miscalculated the amount of force necessary to climb onto this branch, and had overshot the branch!
I tumbled forward, but was able to catch myself on the following branch. I tried to climb onto said branch, but I swung forward and ended up hanging by my fingers from over twenty feet in the air!
"You okay?" Zapo all but yelled from the ground. He could definitely tell something was wrong, but I wasn't going to risk looking down.
"Yeah, I'm fine" I lied, trying to raise myself onto this branch. It would take a level of upper body strength that I didn't possess.
"Careful!" the Zoroark shouted, but I'd already swung myself forward and tried to grab the next branch with my feet. I don't know what my endgame was here, if I was going to hang upside down like a monkey from here, but I never got to carry out my plans.
It was a dead branch. I should have known this when my left foot had first touched it, and it had nearly given way. This time, it actually gave way.
I tumbled two stories to the ground. Along the way, I landed flat on my back on a branch halfway down, and the wind was immediately knocked out of me. Before I could reach out with my arms, before I could do anything to hold onto this branch, before I could even think about climbing back off, I slid off the branch. Backwards.
Landing on the ground hurt worse than anything I'd ever experienced, either in my first life or on Paradise Island. My neck took the brunt of the impact as it hit one of the tree's roots.
"Victor!" I heard Zapo yell as he rushed to my side. My vision was tinted with red, and I fought to stay conscious.
I groaned, feeling the back of my neck with my hand. It didn't seem like any major damage to my spinal cord, or any other part of my bone structure, had been done. That didn't make the physical pain go away, though; if anything, I'd figured one might lose feeling if they experienced such an injury.
Anyway, the Zoroark took my left hand in his claw, and I grimaced from the scratch it created on my wrist. "Are you okay? Is anything broken?" he asked me frantically, worry evident in his eyes.
"It hurts like heaven" I responded, not sure what else to say. The pain was starting to subside ever-so-slightly, and my vision was getting clearer, but make no mistake: I was in agony.
Zapo didn't seem amused. "Do you think anything's broken?" he repeated. "Should I call an ambulance?"
I laughed dryly, even though doing so made the pain worse. "There's no need for that," I responded. "Can an ambulance even get here? The paths are very narrow."
The Zoroark shook his head. "Honestly, probably not. That was a bad joke, I apologize."
It had seemed pretty clear that he wasn't joking, but I didn't stay mad about that for long. I continued lying on the ground, head propped up a few inches by the tree root, waiting for the pain to go away.
"It doesn't feel like anything's broken" I managed to choke out after a minute or so. "Just really, really hurts."
"That's a relief," Zapo replied. "Well, whenever you're ready, I can help you up, and then you can go home for the day."
Although doing so caused immense pain, I managed to shake my head. "No. We still have seven wheelbarrows left. Isn't it important to meet the quota?"
"Well, yes, but it's more important to me that you get some rest and don't hurt yourself again. We've got to let you heal."
Miraculously, I was already starting to feel better. I realized then how lucky I was to have survived. Perhaps lucky is the wrong word, but I knew that if I'd suffered such a fall on Earth, I would very likely not have survived.
"I think I can keep doing this" I said weakly, my breath starting to return and the literal pain in my neck receding. "But I do want to change one thing about this job."
"Yes?" Zapo asked, sounding rather confused. "Victor, there's only one way to do this job. One person in the tree, the other on the ground to catch the mangoes and put them in the wheelbarrow."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, but who says I need to be the one in the tree? Last time you were up there and it went just fine."
The Zoroark laughed. "I guess so, my bad for not realizing it. In that case, yeah, you shouldn't go back up there. Sorry for making you do it earlier."
"It's fine. I didn't really feel forced at all."
"If you say so," Zapo replied. "Well, then, do you need me to help you up?"
I was about to protest, saying that I was perfectly capable of doing this myself, but it seemed that the question had been rhetorical. Zapo took my left hand in his right claw, and I grabbed his left claw with my right hand. It was automatic; there wasn't much conscious thought that went into this instant decision.
My partner pulled me back to my feet. I stumbled a bit once I had solid footing, but managed not to fall over. That would really have added insult to injury.
"Thanks" I told Zapo, but I felt my wrist sting slightly. It took me only a few seconds to realize why.
"Oh, sorry for scraping you" the Zoroark said as I glanced at my left hand. Sure enough, a small drop of blood had appeared. It was slowly trickling out of the wound, which, to be clear, wasn't severe by any means.
I grabbed my left wrist with my right hand. "It's fine. Doesn't hurt all that much, only stings a little."
Zapo shook his head. "We need to get the wound dressed. This can be a dirty environment, and infection can set in with little warning. That's the last thing you want, trust me."
"You won't die from the infections, though, right?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Of course, I'd already died in a terrifying manner, so I probably shouldn't have been afraid of a little infection killing me, but Zapo's normally lighthearted tone sounded grave here.
"No you're not going to die from it. If you survived a fall like you just suffered, you'd survive that with ease. That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like a bitch, though."
"Do we have anything to dress the wound with?" I replied, looking around for a first aid kit. "That would really be helpful."
"Yeah, there are some bandages in my backpack" the Zoroark responded quickly. "I'm really, really sorry; my claws are sharper than even I realize. I don't know if I'll ever get used to being a Pokemon."
"You sure seemed to have the hang of it last week" I told him, visions of how he balanced gracefully in the tree dancing in my head.
"That was different. Balance is one thing, but remembering that you have claws that can maim others is quite another. Anyway, let me go get the bandages."
It didn't take Zapo long to clean and dress my scrape. Internally, I questioned how much of this was necessary. Again, how much would a little scratch hurt me if I could fall from a great height, land on my neck, and not be seriously injured?
"There" the Zoroark said once he was satisfied. "That should keep out any infection. You don't want to have to get pumped with antibiotics, or worse. There are some real nasty bugs out here."
"Judging from what you're saying, it sounds like you have personal experience."
"Maybe, maybe not," Zapo responded, suddenly smiling again. "Now let's get back to work, those mangoes aren't going to pick themselves."
PROFESSOR SAMUEL OAK, 54* - THIRD PERSON
The professor had a hard time sleeping that night.
Of course, strictly speaking, an immortal being such as himself didn't need eight, or even six, hours of sleep. However, even though some of his peers could get by without much shut-eye, he wasn't one of them.
He tossed and turned for what felt like forever. He slept only in his boxer shorts, but even though the room got fairly chilly at night, he found himself sweating every few minutes.
It wasn't hard for him to understand why he felt ill at ease. Tomorrow was the big day, the day when the process would begin of deciding whether Sarah Mariner was innocent or guilty.
Professor Oak may not have been the one on trial, but he felt immense pressure to come to the right decision. If the jury acquitted when Mrs. Mariner was guilty, she'd still be free to commit such a crime again. If they convicted her when she was innocent, of course, the consequences would be far worse. He'd stories of what went on in the Underworld, and he wouldn't wish banishment there on his worst enemy.
If he made the wrong decision, he'd feel horrible about it for the rest of his life. Unlike a human's life, of course, his life would be infinite.
That's a key thing to remember about immortality. You stay alive to reap all of the consequences of your actions, good and bad. The sweet release of death simply doesn't exist. That was the best thing about living forever, and it was also the worst thing.
What's that saying? "You only live twice, but the second time you live forever?" Man, I didn't sign up for this shit.
Of course, when he had accepted the nomination to sit on the afterlife's high court, trials were exactly what he'd signed up for. Like it or not, he had made his decision, and he'd be stuck with it until the glorious day when he could quit.
It was almost a relief when morning finally came, because it meant that he no longer had to pretend to sleep. He had an excuse to get out of bed, even if it didn't exactly feel like morning due to there being no light from the outside world. And, not for the first time, he felt somewhat trapped inside the room.
Well, I am.
The room service Lauren brought him breakfast, pancakes with bacon and fruit salad. This was his third meal at the hotel known as Ponderosa, and the food tasted as though it were trying too hard to be perfect. For instance, there had been no need for the fancy sauce on his chicken Caesar salad last night; Professor Oak would have been perfectly content with standard dressing.
Only a short time after he had finished his breakfast, one of the hotel's security guards, a muscular Asian man in a police uniform, opened the door. It seemed that he had a skeleton key, because Oak hadn't invited him in. Nonetheless, he was almost glad to see him.
"Good morning, Professor Oak. Your presence is required in the lobby at this time."
The professor nodded curtly as he stood up off his bed; the room had no desk, so the bed had been his de facto chair. "Can I have five more minutes?" he asked the guide, suddenly feeling as though he'd forgotten something.
The guard narrowed his eyes. "Why could you possibly need five more minutes? No, you're coming with me right the fuck now. The trial starts in fifteen minutes!"
Fortunately, the professor had put on more presentable clothes about an hour before breakfast had arrived. He still didn't look as formal and well-groomed as he could have, but he figured he'd make the other Heaven Renders, as well as Chief Justice McCastle, angrier if he kept them waiting.
"I'll come," Professor Oak responded. He followed the guard out of Room 245 and down the spiral staircase to the hotel's lobby.
To his slight embarrassment, he saw that the other Associate Justices were already there. He might have been up all night, but he'd still been the last to leave his room.
Lauren entered the room. It was near-impossible to tell which Lauren this was, or even if they'd seen her before; all of them looked virtually identical to one another. She flashed her smile that four out of five dentists approved of.
"If all of you are ready, and I trust that you are, I will take you to the courthouse. Any objections to that?"
If I'd had the opportunity to say no, wouldn't the security guard have granted me the option when he'd first knocked on my door? That would make a lot more sense.
Nobody objected, so the eight Heaven Renders all formed a human chain once more. Professor Oak felt rather self-conscious about how this would have looked to an outside observer, but tried not to think about that. He had a lot more problems ahead of him.
Lauren teleported them back into the atrium of the courthouse. It was bustling with activity; a Pikachu was being dragged on a leash to a separate courtroom, which was a sight that nearly broke the professor's heart.
Most likely, this Pikachu was on trial for electrocuting a human, potentially causing serious injury. While Pokemon bodies were very resilient and could recover from most injuries pretty easily, humans weren't as lucky. Moreover, Pikachu and Pichu often ended up sneezing out flames when they were excited about something, which could have devastating consequences.
What a sad situation. It's very possible that Pikachu will be consigned to spend eternity in the Underworld, simply for something it might not have any control over.
Of course, the professor didn't have much emotion to spare, as he saw a Torchic also on a leash. More importantly, Samuel Oak had a trial to worry about as well, even if he wasn't the defendant in this case.
As he and the other Heaven Renders made their way into the courtroom, Professor Oak tried to reassure himself. He wouldn't be the only juror who made the decision; there were nine votes on the court, and he was just one of them. Maybe somebody else would come to the right decision without his help, and he wouldn't have to do anything but listen in on the proceedings and try not to get bored.
It was a possibility, but he'd be a fool to rely on it.
Last note: The evening prior to posting this chapter, this story received its 30th favorite and 45th follow. That's just awesome!