Chapter 18

"Opening Addresses"

"All the pleas have now been entered," said Judge Avery as he and his fellow judges finished accepting their pleas. "Mr. Schneider, your opening address please."

So, with a deep sigh and a small prayer, I walked up to the podium and faced the defendants as I began my opening address. Whatever I said from here on in was going to set the tone for the trial and that one wrong move would spell the release of some or all of the defendants. Amanda and I had spent a good deal of the previous night rehearsing how I was going to project my voice to the judges and present our case to them. As I walked up to the podium, I had to think of the victims that Team Rocket and their affiliates have slaughtered.

"In 1945, at the close of World War II," I began. "The allied nations of America, England, France and Russia came together to prosecute 21 of the most hated, the most despicable and the most inhumane of all criminals, the Nazi party of Germany. In the end, justice was served to the leaders and those who were put to death were put to death by the means of hanging from the gallows and those who spent the rest of their lives in prison, spent the rest of their lives in prison. Ever since that day, the chase for pure peace and justice has spread to the far corners of the Earth. Now, 65 years later, we enter a similar trial with 40 of the most evil modern day criminals ever to live on this Earth. I am pretty sure that every single person in this room knows the horror and devastation that the organizations of Team Rocket, Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Galactic and Team Plasma caused on the lives of people and Pokemon alike."

Giovanni looked at me with a hateful expression and I looked back at him with the same expression as I moved on to the next phase of my opening address.

"The chaos and terror that these people in the dock caused," I continued. "All started on a bright clear Tuesday morning in September 2001, when they gave powerful Pokemon to the 19 hijackers who took over 4 airplanes bound for Los Angeles and San Francisco from Boston, Newark and Washington/Dulles. The terrorists released the Pokemon from their Pokeballs and ordered them to break down the cockpit doors and kill the flight crew and terrorize the passengers. What resulted was the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the damage done to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and that over 3,000 innocent people never made it home alive that day. However, on that day, justice was served when 40 seemingly ordinary men and women aboard United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to take back their hijacked airliner and force the hijackers to crash the plane into a field in Southwestern Pennsylvania."

I stopped for a moment when I heard a woman sob in the background. I looked over and saw a woman with her husband comforting her. After a few moments, I resumed my address.

"In the days following 9/11," I continued yet again. "Both Al-Qaeda and the Pokemon criminal organizations joined forces with only one goal in mind and that was to destroy our way of life and the ways of life for people all over the world using Pokemon. Much like Al- Qaeda or the Taliban, the organizations stole Pokemon from their natural habitats or from Pokemon trainers and transformed them into monsters that were only forced to obey the orders of those who captured them. During the War on Terror, many American and British servicemen and women have died fighting these brainwashed Pokemon in addition to fighting the terrorists that vowed to destroy them."

I stopped for a moment and took a sip of water that was provided on my side of the courtroom. Then, I cleared my throat and began yet again.

Over the years," I continued. "The United States and its allies have thwarted almost every terror plot that Team Rocket and its affiliates sought to carry out against innocent people who have almost nothing to do with the actions of the governments who sought to hunt these criminals down. Throughout the duration of this trial, you are going to hear stories and see evidence that will prove to every single one of you in this courtroom that what these people did in New York, Washington, Madrid, London and anywhere else in the world was done in the name of evil and greed. And, if you think that these 40 people are innocent of these crimes, then it is our way of saying that there was no war."

With that, I ended my address and went back to our table. As I sat down, Amanda patted her hand on mine and smiled at me upon completion of my address.

"I think you convince them," she whispered.

"I hope so," I replied. "It's only the beginning."

Just then, Judge Jones, the chief British Judge turned his attention over to the British Prosecution Table and focused his attention on Harry.

"Mr. Radcliffe will now give the opening address for the British prosecution," he announced and Harry stepped forward to the podium on his side of the courtroom. As I watched, I could not help but wonder whose opening address would be effective: mine or Harry's. I guess there was only way to find out.

"Much like Mr. Schneider said," he began. "The allies of World War II prosecuted the Nazi leaders to the fullest extent of the law and many were put to death or sent to prison for their crimes. This trial is perhaps something that hold special value to me for Sir Geoffrey Lawrence, a prominent judge in the Royal Courts, was the chief judge for the trial of the Nazi's. He was the one who sentenced people like Goering, Keitel, Strechier, Ribbentrop and Kaltenbrunner to the gallows and I feel that the judges and both prosecution sides will follow in his inspiration as well as those of the three other judges as we attempt to prosecute these men and women for crimes similar to that of the Nazi's."

Harry then cleared his throat and turned the next page of his address. Our addresses were similar, yet focusing on the trial from an American and British perspective.

"But much like what Mr. Schneider had said," he continued. "Team Rocket and their affiliates also aided Al-Qaeda in not just attacking America, but also in countries across Europe. On March 11, 2004 and on July 7, 2005, the cities of Madrid, Spain and London, England were attacked within our own forms of transportation and as a result of these cowardly acts, 246 innocent men, women and children were slaughtered in the subway systems and on a double decker bus. When the July 7th bombings occurred in London, it was the first time since the Second World War that London was attacked."

Harry then took another deep breath with what he described next that was a similar repeat of the 9/11 attacks on our country.

"Over 12 months later on September 11, 2006," he continued. "A second 9/11 against America took place with the destruction of nine commercial airliners operated by United Airlines, American Airlines and Air Canada flying from London to the United States and Canada. 2,000 more lives were added to the death toll of the original 9/11 attacks, only that this wasn't caused by airliners being flown into buildings. These were just ordinary airliner bombings caused by terrorists who smuggled explosive Pokemon through airport security at London Heathrow, walked into the bathrooms once the planes were over the Atlantic and ordered the explosive Pokemon to detonate the airplanes and have the passengers and crew die a slow and painful death. These types of crimes will not be tolerated by anyone and anything and right now, we are going to do whatever we can to make sure that these crimes go unpunished and that we make sure that we set a future where crimes like these will never happen again."

Harry got down and now the gauntlets were cast upon the defendants, thus setting the trial of the 21st Century in motion.

"The tribunal is adjourned until further notification," said Judge Avery and he banged down his gavel and adjourned the court.

The first day was over, but it was only the beginning…