Disclaimer: I don't own ace attorney or it's characters :(

Chapter 14

Date: 18th June 2026, 10:30

Location: Courtroom 4, California

"Your bold for a novice, I'll give you that." Alita said. "Mr. Justice, you must know I was only a nurse. The doctor is responsible for the chart's contents."

"Hmm… This chart business seems to be quite important." The Judge said. "Please amend your testimony accordingly."

"Too bad, little attorney." Alita uttered. Emma frowned. Something's off… She thought as she looked over at Apollo, who was rubbing his wrist under his bracelet, staring at Alita intently. What…?

"Apollo?" Emma asked. "Are you okay?" Apollo kept watching Alita as he replied.

"I felt my bracelet vibrate." He murmured. Emma's eyes widened as she realised what he meant.

"There's a weak point in her testimony Apollo. Perceive what her nervous habit is, use your senses." She said and chuckled at the questioning glance he gave her. "Trucy explained. Now focus." She said before glancing back to the witness and touched her magatama with her right hand. Apollo heard murmuring something about psyche locks but decided to focus on Alita's testimony. He noticed that she fiddled with her ring when she talked about why she would go to the clinic now.

"GOTCHA!" He shouted. "Why go to the clinic for a half-year-old chart now, you ask?" Apollo said. "But, you know why you would go 'now' don't you." Alita tensed again.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said. Emma could see one of the psyche locks begin to crack.

"It was quite clear, Ms. Tiala. You have a nervous habit." Apollo said. "The moment you said the word 'now', you used your right thumb to fiddle with your ring." Alita looked slightly shocked.

"Wh-What?" She asked. Emma saw the crack in the psyche lock get bigger. She murmured to Apollo.

"The word 'now', that's the key." Apollo realised what she was on about.

"The chart wasn't a part of your past…" He said. "It was a clear and present threat!"

"That's ridiculous, why if that were the case…" She replied. "I would have had six months to do something about it!" Emma then spoke up quietly but still loud enough to be heard.

"Indeed."

"Eh…?" Alita said.

"Which means something happened quite recently…" Emma looked Alita in the eyes. "Something to make the chart a problem for you now." The cracked psyche lock cracked even more as Alita gasped. "…Ms. Tiala. There's no use in trying to hide it. The chart became a threat to you now… because of this!" Emma presented Wocky's check-up report. "TAKE THAT!" She shouted. "A health check-up report… belonging to the defendant." Emma crossed her arms. "The Kitaki's are trying to get out of the business. The health check-up this month was their first ever…" Emma cocked her head to the side as she looked at Alita. "…What did you think when you heard about this?"

"Eh? Oh, n-nothing. Why should I think anything?" Alita asked, nervously. Apollo then stepped in.

"Oh? I would think you were positively beside yourself. Because you were afraid. You knew what Wocky's chest X-ray would reveal!" He said.

"…Urk!" Alita exclaimed.

"A full half year had passed since the operation. You thought you were home free when the chart came back to haunt you!" Apollo said.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" Alita screeched. Emma saw the cracked psyche lock break.

"That's all, Your Honour." Apollo said. The Judge was silent for a minute before speaking.

"Wh-What just happened?" He asked. "Did… the witness just admit to lying?" Alita was very quiet. Klavier then spoke.

"I sensed it." He said. "There was a great 'aura' emanating from Herr Forehead." Klavier thumped the wall behind him and leaned forward, with a flirtatious grin on his face. "…Very cool." Emma glanced at Apollo and saw him blushing causing her to cough before turning her head to the right and scratch the back of her neck. Talk about awkward, does he really have flirt with Polly while I'm here? She thought before taking a deep breath in and clearing her throat, getting everyone's attention back to the matter in hand. Klavier continued. "So, the lady was lying, it seems."

"That's correct." Emma said, as Apollo looked like he would have trouble voicing his thoughts. "She said she had no connection to the Meraktis Clinic. But her connection was deep indeed… A bit too deep." Emma crossed her arms and tapped her left arm with her right hand forefinger. She looked over at Klavier over her glasses. "If the Kitaki's got a hold of this chart with her name…" Emma then looked over at Alita and pushed her glasses up with her right hand, smirking. "…she'd be finished. Isn't that right, Ms Tiala?" Alita was silent for a moment, then began to speak.

"You guessed it." Was all she said. The gallery went into up roar and the Judge banged his gavel to regain order. Emma turned to Apollo and gave him a smile.

"Nice work Apollo! I knew you could do it." She said. Apollo smiled a small smile back. "I knew it was right to help you…" Emma murmured to herself but Apollo over heard.

"What?" He asked but Emma just shook her head and smiled again.

"Wait!" Alita shouted. The court room went quiet once again.

"Ms, Tiala?" The Judge asked.

"It's true, that chart was bad news for me." She said. "That's why I went to meet the doctor that day! But that's all! I told him about Wocky and went home!" Klavier bashed the wall again with his fist.

"…It appears this cross-examination is far from over." He said.

"Wh-Whaaaaaat!?" Apollo exclaimed. He looked over at Emma, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"She hid the truth from us, this is clear, yet…" Klavier continued. "It is not clear that this truth has anything to do with the case at hand!"

"Hmm…" The Judge said in contemplation. "Very well. The witness will add this to her testimony. And… we'll have a bit more cross-examination." Emma nudged Apollo's shoulder. He looked over at her.

"You're close Apollo. Keep going, we can get to the truth." She said. Apollo nodded and listened to her testimony once more.

"Nothing happened at all. I warned him, and left."

"OBJECTION!" Apollo shouted. "You say 'nothing happened' in the doctor's office. I disagree. Take a look at this." Apollo presented the bullet that Emma extracted from the safe in the office.

"What's that? It looks like a squished-up ball of clay." Alita said. "Kind of like you, actually." Emma rolled her eyes at that comment but said nothing and let Apollo continue.

"This bullet was found in the Meraktis Clinic office." Apollo bashed his fists against the desk and pointed at Alita. "Something did 'happen' in that office, Ms. Tiala!"

"OBJECTION!" Klavier shouted. "Enough of this joking around. The police investigated that clinic."

"OBJECTION!" Apollo interrupted. "Ah, but this was stuck inside the doctor's safe." He said, arms crossed.

"Inside the safe…?" Klavier asked, looking slightly worried.

"Guess the police didn't look that far after all…" Emma said. She shook her head and chuckled darkly. "They should really investigate better." She murmured before ranting quietly in Italian about the incompetence of the police department. Apollo nudged Emma's elbow and she snapped out of it.

"OBJECTION!" Klavier shouted out causing Apollo and Emma to jump slightly in surprise. "…But there is a problem." He said, with regained confidence. "How can you say that bullet was fired on that day?"

"OBJECTION!" Emma shouted and smirked. "All we need do is look at the rifling marks on the bullet." She said shrugged. "The pistol was taken from the Kitaki Mansion that day. If the marks on this bullet match the murder weapon…" She trailed off and Apollo continued.

"…Then that proves a firearm was discharged on the day of the murder!" He said, pointing at Klavier.

"… Not bad, Herr Forehead." Klavier said, looking at Apollo who blushed slightly. Emma rolled her eyes. The Judge banged his gavel.

"Bailiff! Have this bullet analysed immediately!" As the Bailiff took the bullet for analysis, Emma looked at Klavier and smirked before talking.

"Rocky, Werden Sie aufhören flirtet mit Apollo ? Speichern Sie es für außerhalb des Gerichtssaals , ja?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he turned away, a slight blush on his cheeks. She chuckled. Apollo looked at her curiously after hearing his name but Emma just shook her head.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Date: 18th June 2026, 11:15

Location: Courtroom 4, California

The report arrived back after about 15 minutes. Emma read it out loud to the court.

"The rifling marks on both bullets are identical." She put the report down.

"Well…" The Judge said. "It seems as though the bullet in the safe was fired from the murder weapon."

[To be continued]

I used Google translate for the German so I apologize for any errors. And to think I have a GCSE in German... :/ Please review with your thoughts or ideas though! :)