Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law

by thedraconicwerewolf

Sonic is a defense attorney with a law degree fresh out of high school thanks to his advanced studies in the ways of the judicial system. He's now able to defend others from various allegations. Will his training be enough to help him prove his clients' innocence? And what will happen when a ghost of his past that made him walk the path of law comes around once again?

22. An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt 8

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. I've been working on this bit by bit for the past week, and I must admit that this was definitely the hardest chapter that I've ever written for anything. It was especially hard for me towards the end of the chapter on the last cross-examination portion. Then again, this is why I like to not think ahead when I write except for the current chapter I'm on. It literally means that I'm on even footing with you all in that I have no idea what's going to happen next. How I'm actually pulling this off with a story that has to deal with logic and the fact that Sonic has to win, I honestly have no idea.

Anyway, I hope that you like this new chapter as much as I had writing it, although I must admit it did give me its fair portion of frustration at times, as well. This really showcase how hard Sonic and Tails are going to have to fight just to keep their side of the argument alive. Their only hope out of this mess now is the unexpected witness from last chapter, Charmy Bee. Just what does he know or can lend to this case that can possibly help them out? This is definitely going to be the most interesting trial in this case for both you and me.

Well, I'll let you figure that out for yourself by reading the chapter. All I'll say now is to please leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. I've noticed that in the past couple of chapters, all of you have been unfortunately shy in leaving a review yet being noticeably eager to read my new chapters. Not that I have any problem with it; I just find it a bit strange. But yeah, if you can leave a review that's constructive and offers some suggestions that you may have, that would be greatly appreciated. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!

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Evidence:

Attorney's Badge: Sonic's badge proving that he's a genuine defense attorney. Ever since getting tied into a murder because of him losing it, he's since taken precautions to make sure that it stays secured within the inside of his gloves.

Shadow's Testimony: Testimony given by Shadow and memorized by Tails. The Prosecutor said that he was quite shocked upon hearing two gunshots coming from in front of his path followed by a splashing sound ten seconds later. He remembered picking up the gun with his bare hands before the witness's screams shook him out of his state of mind.

Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report: A report detailing how Ms. Mae died. She was killed between six-thirty and seven in the morning on 6/23. She was shot once in the chest, but the bullet merely caused her to faint. The real cause of death was from drowning after being thrown into the Mobius River. A horizontal bruise on her waist most likely from being pushed hard onto the harbor railing is proof of this.

Weather Report: A report on the weather on the day of the murder submitted by Detective Silver. It shows that it was a very foggy morning then with the fog at its densest between six and seven-thirty. Visibility was less than ten feet at the dock area without the aid of car headlights.

Pistol: The weapon that was recovered at the Mobius Dock. The ballistic markings on the bullet extracted from Ms. Mae's body matches to the gun. Signs show that it was fired twice. It also bears Shadow's fingerprints. However, Tails seems to think that this gun was used at the lighthouse rather than at the docks and was swapped out at some point with the Fake Murder Weapon.

Photograph: A picture that was taken by Amy Rose. While it does show the scene of the crime before the police arrived, it also seems to show another incident in the background just underneath the bright lighthouse light. It looks almost like the same exact scene that had unfolded and led to the death of Prosecutor Flora Mae. As such, it has brought about an investigation of the lighthouse in order to figure out some answers.

Blood: A small spot of blood found on the railing of the lighthouse at the Mobius Docks. Tests are required in order to determine just who it belongs to, although it is speculated to have belonged to the victim, Prosecutor Flora Mae.

Fake Murder Weapon: A proposal brought about by Tails that the weapon the police took from the scene at the docks was not the real murder weapon. It's believed that there might have been a change sometime between the moment it was filed and before the case officially made it into court. It's currently just speculation and needs more evidence in order to be considered a stable possibility.

Max's Testimony: Testimony that has been memorized and recorded by Tails. According to Max, he was alone in the lighthouse on the morning of the murder. A phone call had interrupted his morning rituals, but he does not remember the contents of the call except that it was supposedly an older man speaking.

Profiles:

Sonic Hedgehog: He's a seventeen-year-old cobalt hedgehog currently assigned to defend Shadow from a grave murder charge. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Miles Prower: A twelve-year-old two tailed fox who likes to go by his nickname "Tails" and is now working at the Robotnik Law Firm as their local detective. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Knuckles Echidna: An eighteen-year-old red echidna who is a detective at the local Precinct and now assigned to the Shadow's case thanks to the efforts of Senior Detective Silver. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Salemand Eres: A twenty-two year old black cat with unusually bright red eyes. He came to Dr. Robotnik's Law Firm in order to employ the help of Vector to find his little brother. However, his actions make him seem rather suspicious.

Shadow Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old ebon furred hedgehog who became a prosecutor at sixteen in a country that allowed bar exams at younger ages. He's currently the suspect in this case. It seems that he was a victim of a kidnapping that revolves around the LK-9 Incident.

Silver Hedgehog: An eighteen-year-old silver furred hedgehog who is the country's youngest Senior Detective. He has taken charge of the initial investigation. He seems to have made it his personal mission to solve the mysteries behind the LK-9 Incident that he was involved in during his time as an intern.

Flora Mae: A prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office. She was Shadow's coworker and was discovered to have been murdered only after Shadow heard the sound of gunshots at the dock and quickly went to investigate it.

Amy Rose: A sixteen-year-old pink furred hedgehog who attends Mobius High as a Junior and is a proud photographer of her school's newspaper. She heard the crime taking place while taking her daily summer morning walk and stumbled upon Shadow with a gun in his hands.

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who prefers to go by Max and lives in the lighthouse now under suspicion as being the real crime scene. Apparently, he seems to suffer from some kind of neurological disorder which causes him to have the mindset of a seven-year-old. He seems to believe that his older sister, Lois, is still alive.

Mephiles: A sixty-five year old veteran prosecutor whose ruthlessness is well known both inside and out of the courtroom. If not trying to leave a strong impression in all his cases, he expects nothing but obedience and cooperation from the officers and detectives overlooking the collection of evidence in the cases he's working on. He's known to get any officer or detective who dared to defy his direct orders in trouble with the Precinct.

Lois Pryce: The sister of Max Pryce who had died in the events that led up to the events of the lighthouse being used as a base for the start of the LK-9 Incident. She used to be business partners with her brother in a seafood business before it was bought out from their third partner and transformed into an shipping goods business.

Dr. Ivo Robotnik: The owner of the Robotnik Law Firm were both Sonic and Tails work at. Strangely enough, he is mentioned in the Letter that was discovered in the lighthouse basement by Silver regardless not being mentioned by name but through description.

Vector Crocodile: A local prosecutor who is friends with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. He has decided to continue with his work as a freelance detective along with Charmy Bee despite the conviction of his friend and partner Espio that caused shadows about the integrity of his work that soon quickly dissipated.

Charmy Bee: a young eight-year-old bee who happens to be employed with the Chaotix Detective Agency. Apparently, he was sent to investigate the lighthouse by a third party who had employed the agency to do so. As such, he has arrived at the courthouse in order to testify about this matter at the very last minute.

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Chapter 22: An Ironic Twist of Fate and Truth Pt. 8

"Charmy's testimony had better be something good for us," Sonic said with a frustrated sigh as he took a violent swig from his soda can he had gotten from the vending machine inside the courthouse lobby. "I don't know how I can keep going with my defensive fuel tank literally running on almost empty the entire time. I'm seriously running out of options here, and he's probably my last bet out of this mess!"

"He's probably also going to be your best bet in getting anything through Mephiles's defensive wall," Shadow spoke up as he took a seat next to the cobalt hedgehog with the bailiff following close by. Whether it was just him doing his job or just being plain nervous at the potential for him to run away, none of them knew. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's right now just as rattled as you are about that little bee's sudden appearance."

"Why do you say that, Shadow?" Tails asked with an eyebrow raised in question before handing the other a Styrofoam cup filled with water while taking a calm sip from his own. "He doesn't really strike me as the type to be easily taken by surprise. He looks more like the kind of guy who's always ready for any kind of possible scenario."

"That's because he always makes it a point to not let anybody see what he considers to be his weaker side," the ebon furred hedgehog explained as he managed to crack an amused smile at the situation they found themselves in. "Haven't you noticed how he always seems to be well prepared with both his evidence and witnesses when you face off with him in the courtroom? That's because he always had a chance to study them both to the best of his abilities in order to see what information is worth retaining and what's negligible or suspicious enough against his case to be at least be obscured or completely filtered out. That's why it always seems like he has the upper hand on you two no matter what kind of contradiction you manage to throw at him or how many flaws you find in his witnesses' stories."

"But he can't do that now since he's never heard of Charmy's testimony before!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he finally realized where his friend was trying to say. "He might be able to hear it a couple of times during this recess, but he can't really do much apart from that with only half an hour to do so. Basically, he's as blind as we are in terms of what's most likely going to happen in court later."

"And that's where your best chance to strike him down is going to be," the defendant finished with a stout nod of his head that made his red striped quills bounce around a bit. "Unlike you and Tails, he isn't used to the prospect of going into court both blind and unprepared. Ever since he first started his career as a prosecutor, he has always been exceptionally prepared to the point that many rumors started flying around about him having forged evidence. They were all unfounded, but they still remain to this day as the only suitable explanation to his exceptionally prepared nature. He's never had any real practice being put on the ropes like this like you two have."

"It's nice to know that we'll at least be on equal footing with him now," the two tailed fox responded before taking another sip of water. "We should be able to get a lot further than we've been able to."

"Provided that Mephiles doesn't learn quickly how to think under pressure like you two can," Knuckles's voice suddenly cut into the conversation as all of the room's occupants turned towards the doorway and saw him walking in with a plastic bag in his hands. "However, I doubt that anybody has the amount of both skill and luck that you two possess."

"What are you doing here, Knuckles?" the defense attorney immediately asked without bothering to give him an adequate greeting. "Aren't you supposed to be at the scene of the crime making sure things don't get messed up or anything like that?"

"Nice to see you as well, Sonic," the echidna replied sarcastically before shaking his head a bit. "And yes, I'm normally supposed to be on crime scene guard duty. However, Silver thought it best that I be here in his stead since he doesn't want to push his luck with disobeying the prosecutor again. He might have told you that he has no fear of being fired by him, but it'd still be hell for him to have to deal with his terrible revenge antics."

"And he figured sending you here to be his eyes and ears for today's proceedings was the best thing he could do," Shadow summarized as he nodded his head in understanding. "He doesn't want to risk getting pulled off the investigation now. He's probably the only Senior Detective who's actually willing to try his best for me not just because of who's the prosecution for this case. He's our best bet for getting through this."

"What's that you got in the bag, Knuckles?" Tails asked as he soon took notice of what was in the detective's hands. "I'm guessing it isn't some kind of boxed lunch for when you get hungry later."

"Oh, what's in here is a lot better than any boxed lunch," the detective responded with a smile as he shoved the bag into Sonic's free hand. "All the evidence that you found during your investigation yesterday is all in here. That's the second reason why I came here, so I could give these things to you two. I only regret that I couldn't have arrived sooner. I kind of heard from some of the gallery people that you barely managed this recess just because Charmy decided to burst into the courtroom at the very last second."

"Yeah, I really got to thank him for that the next chance I get," Sonic said with a small smile before putting his soda down on a nearby table and opened the bag. "Wow, I think this is literally everything that we found in that lighthouse. I better hurry and take a look at them before the recess is over.

"Let's see what we got to work with here," he continued on as he took out each clear plastic bag holding the evidence and read their descriptions. "The Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing is confirmed to have belonged to Ms. Mae. That proves she was definitely up there before she died. The only thing we need to figure out now is why she was even up on the balcony to begin with.

"The next thing here is the Bullet Casing that we also found on the lighthouse balcony. Not surprisingly, it matches with the bullet that shot Ms. Mae with the ballistic markings being the same on both bullet and casing. That means the gun recovered from the docks was really used at the lighthouse. What we need to figure out now is how the murder weapon just magically reappeared at the docks for the police to recover.

"The third thing is the Paperwork that Knuckles found in the lighthouse living room. These particular papers are actually Doctor Reports drafted the day before the murder sent to the lighthouse by express mail. It proves that he goes to the doctors at least once a week for the sake of his condition that is believed to have come around only after the death of his sister. I guess the shock was too much for him and that his childlike state requires him to be taken care of. We don't know who they're supposed to be addressed to due to patient confidentiality and the obvious lack of a reasonable warrant, but it was most likely supposed to be sent to whoever is meant to be taking care of Mr. Pryce. The only question now is who is this caretaker?

"The next piece of paper is the Letter that Silver found in the lighthouse basement. A handwriting analysis can't be performed since there's nobody within reasonable boundaries to compare it to, but there was just a single set of fingerprints found on it. As it would be guessed, they belong to Mr. Pryce; I guess the person who wrote this out was wearing gloves at the time. That means we're most likely dealing with a very cautious and calculating person.

"And the last piece of evidence that we found during our investigation is the Red Paper we found taped on the side of the docks and retrieved with Silver's help. Apparently, this paper is actually the outer husk of a small commercial Firecracker, and the black stain that's on it is a burn mark that resulted from the explosion that happened when it was set off. There are some small fibers akin to that of a rope found on the tape, but they are mostly burned off. Perhaps the Firecracker was meant to snap the rope it was on, but what is the reason for having done that? And unlike the Letter, no fingerprints could be found on either the paper or the tape. If the person who wrote the Letter and put this Firecracker on the side of the docks is the same, then he really knows how to think ahead and avoid any kind of mistakes that would have even the smallest chance of leading to his discovery."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm still a bit uncomfortable at the fact that the murder weapon shows signs of being fired three times," Tails announced with clear unease in his words once the explanation of the newly received evidence was over. "If everything that we've learned up to now is correct, then we only have one registered gunshot. That would naturally be the one that led to Ms. Mae's death by drowning. I guess we still have more investigating to do later if we're to figure out whether or not the other shot is related to this case."

"I'll try to look into it later today when I have the time, provided that I can even pull it off without Mephiles breathing down my neck," Knuckles promised before his face quickly changed to register a sense of remembrance. With that, he began to reach into his jacket pocket and pull a couple more things out. "Oh, I also have a couple more things to give you guys. One of them is a written affidavit from the people at the forensics department saying that they believe the chances of the gun Ms. Rose saw Shadow holding was in fact a Fake Murder Weapon. This was concluded through the evidence you found at the lighthouse."

"Sounds like my assumption back at the lighthouse was right on target," the two tailed fox responded as he took the paper and quickly read through it. "This should really help in getting us closer to the truth of things. Now we just need to find a right time in court to make this information really hurt the prosecution."

"The other thing I have isn't really evidence for the case, but I'm figuring that it's best to let you in on it," the echidna continued on as he pulled something else out that looked a lot like a photograph. "I'm not sure if you remember being that the past couple of days have been very hectic, but Salemand Eres is still trying to find his brother. I ran into him while I was making my way here, but he seemed to be in a real hurry. He barely handed me this picture he said was of his brother before he quickly left."

"Oh, I completely forgotten about him!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed as he suddenly remembered the conversation that took place the afternoon before he took on this case. He then took the Picture and saw that it showed a white furred lion with blue spots appearing every now and then and smiling a big smile towards the camera with his admittedly cute lion face. "I don't think I ever saw anybody with this weird Feralisis Syndrome. It can't be that hard to miss somebody like him roaming around the streets. I'm guessing then he's not having a lot of luck with Vector's detective work."

"Actually, Vector is busting his butt trying to find this guy's brother," the detective replied. "I've never seen him work this hard with his detective work, but I guess Salemand gave him a pretty convincing reason for acting fast. I even tried some things on my end and look up the name he gave us, Leucis Kruger, but I found no record of anybody by that name. He most likely gave us a fake name, but I don't know why if he wanted us to help him. I didn't even find the cat himself in the records. I really don't have a good feeling about this guy."

"Did you just say the name Salemand Eres?" Shadow suddenly spoke up as he took a keen interest in what was being talked about.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that's what he just said," the defense attorney replied with a questioning look on his face. "Why so interested about this? Do you happen to know the guy or something?"

Before he could receive any answer, the bailiff signaled that it was time for court to continue. He then escorted Shadow back into the courtroom while the three others were left to their own thoughts.

"I guess we aren't going to be getting an answer to that anytime soon," Tails said with a shrug of his shoulders as he took the bag of evidence after his brother put them all back in. "Let's remember to ask him about it once today's over. For now, let's just concentrate with what might happen in the next couple of hours."

"Yeah, you're right," Sonic complied as he let the two tailed fox handle the bag as the three made their way into the courtroom. Since Knuckles was neither a witness nor a part of the defense, he made his way to the gallery section where he found a spare seat while the other two took their rightful spots. Not surprisingly, Mephiles was already in his proper place, although he seemed ever so slightly unsure of himself with the current situation he has found himself in. This was no doubt because of Charmy having suddenly come about as a witness right when he was about to win the case.

"The court will now reconvene!" the Judge announced right after he came back from his chambers and made his way to his desk. Just as he made himself comfortable, he added, "I trust that the prosecution has used this time to prepare the sudden surprise witness like I had requested before the recess?"

"Of course, Your Honor," the old hedgehog coolly responded as if he did not find anything wrong with calling up a surprise witness that was not planned on his end. "As instructed, I've set myself up so that we would be ready to hear what this witness has to say about the lighthouse. I've already asked him a few basic questions, and he regrettably seems more than competent to testify."

"Very well; go ahead and bring in the witness, Bailiff!" the old man commanded with a bang of his gavel.

"No need to escort me in, Your Honor!" Charmy's hyper voice rang clearly throughout the courtroom as a familiar yellow blur buzzed all the way from the lobby doors to the witness stand in the center of the room. "I'm already here."

"Well, it sounds like somebody's eager to have their story heard. So from what I've reviewed of the document you showed me earlier, a third party had employed the services of the Chaotix Detective Agency about the day before this case began. Upon accepting the job, you were sent to investigate the lighthouse just this morning. Do you mind testifying to the court why you chose to investigate the building today rather than at the latest the day after receiving the job offer to do so?"

"I wouldn't be here if I couldn't testify to you all, now would I?" the hyper bee responded happily much to the prosecutor's clear dismay. "I'll be more than happy to tell you why Vector waited until now to investigate the lighthouse."

"Time to prepare for the wildest ride of our life," the cobalt hedgehog said as he mentally braced himself for what he felt to be most likely the craziest court day in his entire job history. "I only hope that from all this craziness will come a strong moment of truth for us or at least a chance to really catch Mephiles off-guard."

"We may have not known this guy for very long, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Charmy's the last person that prosecutor can manipulate even if he were already assigned as a witness by him," Tails said as he gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "But like you said, all that matters now is what kind of truth he's going to tell us."

"As long as it's not the kind of truth that's going to bury us alive, I'll happily take anything he has to say," the attorney responded as he was more than prepared to hear what was going to be said.

Why Choose Today to Investigate

I figured that you wanted to hear about what I found at the lighthouse first. Oh well, I guess knowing why we waited to investigate the place is pretty important in its own right. Well, I'm not too sure on the reason myself being that I'm not the one making the key decisions about the job. Vector's the one who gives the orders; I just follow them. However, I do remember kind of overhearing the croc talking a bit with the person who made the original request. He said something about wanting to wait for the right moment to check the place, and I figure that he chose this morning to be the best time.

End Witness Testimony

"And this is the reason why you chose today to investigate?" the Judge questioned while not seeming all too happy with the answer. "From what you just told the court, you're not overly sure if that's even the right answer. If Prosecutor Vector is indeed the leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency, then why isn't he here testifying in your place?"

"Unfortunately, the croc is right now busy with his own work as a prosecutor," Charmy simply explained with a grin. "Unless you want him to be fired, he can't come. As a substitute, I decided to step in. I may not be able to testify as well as him, but I know that what I say is nothing but the truth as I know it to be."

"We shall see about that," Mephiles replied without as much gusto as he usually did but still enough to sound somewhat threatening. "Well, is the defense going to cross-examine the witness or just be content standing there like a couple of ornaments?"

"Of course we're going for the cross-examination," Sonic answered with a smug look on his face. "Just be patient and watch the unscripted show take its course."

Instead of answering, the old prosecutor simply snarled at the cobalt hedgehog and his remark. He apparently knew full well what he meant and was clearly not happy with it. However, he quickly recovered and went back to crossing his arms in his usual cocky manner, although the brothers could tell he was simply putting up a calm farce now to offset the panic he was expertly hiding from everybody.

"I think we have Mephiles on the ropes now," the two tailed fox whispered to his brother. "Don't you notice how unusually quiet he's being? He also seems to be lacking that cockiness he usually has when he says something to us."

"That just means that this surprise witness deal is working to our advantage!" the attorney whispered back as he could not help but let a triumphant smile appear on his lips at the change in situation. "I wouldn't be surprised if he actually didn't object as much to every single thing I say. It's about time that he got a taste of his own 'cornered against the wall' medicine. Now we just need to make sure he keeps taking it and everything will be fine."

"As fine as things could be considering," the other could not help but add as a reflection and reminder to how the position of their defense currently stood. It was still in a bad position, and this testimony would no doubt either fix it or break it beyond repair.

Begin Cross-Examination

"Before we get to the main point, do you mind I ask you something that's a bit off-topic?" Sonic asked Charmy as he took into consideration the testimony he had just heard. "Why did you figure that the court would want to hear about your findings first before talking to you about why you waited so long to actually investigate the lighthouse as per your client's agreement? If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't go about assuming what it is the courts would want me to testify about."

"Well, I heard from Vector that you're all working on a case that's revolving around that place," the bee simply explained with a shrug of his shoulders while hovering over the witness stand so as to not be completely dwarfed by its large size. "I just figured that you'd all be wondering what it was that I managed to dig up from there. That's what I would do if I heard something like this happening."

"And I assure you that we're all very curious as to what you found there," Mephiles calmly replied with his hard eyes on the young bee. "However, we've already asked you to testify about one thing, and we only want to hear about that now."

"Alright, no need to get all huffy there," the witness countered with a childish roll of his eyes. "I'll get to that point as soon as I can."

"Then how about we get to there now?" the cobalt hedgehog suggested. "You said that you didn't know the exact reason why you were told to investigate the lighthouse this morning rather than at least the day after you received the request to do so. Could you at least offer an educated guess on the reason for having to wait?"

"If I were to take a guess, I would say that the client who hired us wanted us to wait a bit. After all, we run by the business motto that the customer is always right. So long as we're not told to do something highly illegal like smuggling drugs or whatnot, we're happy to bend to our client's orders."

"But as you said earlier, you're not sure if that's the case," Tails clarified as he tried to push for another plausible possibility. "Is it not possible then that Vector was the one who actually suggested that you hold off on your investigation of the lighthouse? It's possible that he caught wind of the place being a part of our investigation."

"Sorry Tails, but that's really not possible. Don't you remember me explaining earlier that we only got the request to search that place the day before your case started? From what I heard Vector tell me, the lighthouse wasn't even in consideration on the first day of this trial. It's impossible for him to have known the request and this case were going to be at least connected in that regard."

"Oh, I honestly forgot about that," the two tailed fox admitted as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck for his rare moment of forgetfulness in key details. "But even you would have to admit that it's strange how your request and our case seem to be connected if not only in regards to the lighthouse."

"Strange or not, that's just how things happen to be here," the old prosecutor countered as he continued to have his arms crossed. "It's a little something that the real world likes to call coincidence. How else would you care to explain it?"

"Well, if we can get more details on the general contract the Chaotix Detective Agency were given, then maybe we can figure out whether or not this really is just coincidence," the defense attorney suggested as the idea suddenly came to him. "Charmy, do you think it's possible for you to tell us a bit about the contract?"

"…Well, Vector didn't say anything about not saying anything about it, so I guess I can tell you some things," Charmy responded after thinking it over for a couple of seconds. "But don't go thinking that I'm going to tell you everything about it."

"Don't worry; just tell us whatever it is that you can say about it. We're not pressuring you to say things that are outside of your scope."

"I wonder about that sometimes with your other witnesses," the prosecutor said sarcastically in a barely audible voice that was still easily caught by the brothers. "From what I've heard yesterday, you're always on the verge of badgering my witness. I dare say you're right now doing the same thing here."

"Funny, I don't really hear you complaining about anything right now."

"Can we please just hear what the witness has to say about the contract?" the Judge asked with a sigh of frustration that caused both sides of the courtroom to quiet down. "Now witness; what do you know about the contract with your client that you can share with us?"

New Statement

Well, I saw a little addition on the contract dated yesterday saying that the job has some possible connection to your case.

End New Statement

"So even Vector figured that the two might be connected in some way," Sonic took notice as he looked thoughtful about the new information. "That would mean that the person who you made a contract with was either tipped off about this or he is connected with the lighthouse. I don't have any evidence to support it, but I dare say that your testimony is proof enough of such a possibility existing. Do you think it's possible that you could tell us the name of your client, Charmy?"

"Sorry, but we don't make it a habit to be releasing any of our clients' names," Charmy explained as he shook his head. "When people come to ask for our services, we agree to take the fall for any problems that may arise in their stead. After all, it would kind of defeat the purpose of having them hire a private detective to look into matters and end up still having them figured out as the one who hired us in the first place. We find that it might run the possibility of placing the client in unnecessary trouble.

"However, the only exception to that is if the client is involved in some kind of crime either before or after the employment of our services," he continued to explain in a rather smooth manner as if he went through this process before. "And just to say, we don't go running background checks on our clients. The only reason we would do so is if we find reasonable suspicion that they might not be legitimately innocent people."

"In other words, there's no possible way that the witness is going to tell you the name of his client," Mephiles concluded as he seemed to have recovered his full cocky attitude that had been strangely lost ever since the trial resumed. "I object to this clearly pointless line of questioning. All you're doing with this is wasting our time."

"Objection sustained," the Judge agreed with a nod of his head before banging his gavel. "Even I admit that this is starting to lose patience with me, Mr. Sonic. I suggest that you either move onto another line of questioning or just end your cross-examination. I doubt I have to remind you again about not wasting the court's time?"

"O-Of course not, Your Honor," the cobalt hedgehog responded as he quickly came up with another question. "If you can't tell us their name, then could you at least tell us the reason why your client wanted you to search the lighthouse?"

"…I guess I could tell you about that," the bee answered after giving it a bit of thought. "I'm telling you though; you're really pushing the boundaries of what I'm able to tell you. However, I really doubt that you can figure out who our client is just by what he asked us to do, so I don't see the harm?"

"Are you always this lax with details concerning your contracts?" Tails asked as he was clearly amazed with how laid-back the bee was being. "I find it hard to believe that you're just giving us the information we're asking for with hardly any resistance."

"I'm normally don't say a single thing about it. However, I figured that what we're both working on has some connections with each other; I thought it'd be best to answer what I can for you all. I mean, I'm sure that Vector would've done the same; although I doubt he'd say as much as I've been saying."

"Frankly, I'm getting tired of hearing you talk," the prosecutor refuted as the irritation in his voice was starting to build up again. "If you're not going to answer the defenses question, then I'm going to have you removed from here for contempt of court."

"Contempt for not answering a question? Do I even look like I'm being a very uncooperative witness here? You better start rethinking how you make those threats!"

"In any case, do you mind getting on with answering the defense's question?" the Judge gently prodded so as to not make the hyper bee anymore worked up than he was. "We really don't have a lot of time. Please tell us just what it was your client asked you to search for inside the lighthouse."

"Geez, even the Judge's starting to rush me. Are we all really in that much of a hurry to get this over with?"

New Statement

Anyway, our client told us that he wanted us to look for his younger brother who had been missing for a while now.

End New Statement

"Younger brother?" Sonic repeated as he could not help but feel a certain amount of familiarity in the last statement. "Your client wanted you to look for his little brother inside the lighthouse? That's kind of a strange place to ask any detective to look. If I were him, I'd have you look somewhere else rather than breaking into somebody's home like that."

"Actually, it was more like looking for information about his whereabouts in there than actually looking for his brother," Charmy clarified as he put a bit more detail into it for better understanding. "You see, he said that the last place he remembered his little brother being at was somewhere around the lighthouse. He didn't give any specifics as to why he was there; he just suggested that we search the building for any clues."

"And I'm supposing you didn't find much in that regard," Tails stated more than asked as he looked thoughtful about the whole situation. He then added while being careful not to disclose any information on the new evidence they had received during the past recess, "I mean, a detective on the scene allowed us inside the lighthouse when we went to search for evidence ourselves yesterday. I can't say we found any evidence of anybody ever being in there recently except for Mr. Pryce."

"That's because you were all busy looking for what only had something to do with your case," the bee countered with a cheeky smile. "On the other hand, I was looking for things that had to do with my job; I just happened to stumble upon a couple of things that happen to belong to your case at the same time. And before any of you ask, I'm not going to show you what we found in that place in regards to our client's request."

"As if any of us in here were even remotely interested in such pointless trivialities," Mephiles spat out with a roll of his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache. "If we are quite done here, might I ask that we move onto something else? Judging from what's been heard, I highly doubt that whoever this client is really has anything to do with our case."

"But I still find it strange that this person specifically asked the Chaotix Detective Agency to wait for the 'right time' before they searched the lighthouse for any signs of his brother," the cobalt hedgehog objected. "Charmy, are you sure you didn't hear any kind of reason as to why your client wanted you to wait?"

"…I can't really say that this is the reason, but I did hear him saying something about Mr. Pryce being in the lighthouse the whole day during the first day of your case. My guess is that he didn't want us to go around playing the stealth mission and rather we waited until he was going to be out for a good amount of time. Vector and I supposed that now would be the greatest of times simply because of him being escorted by the police to this place."

"Again, this is all good information, but it has nothing to do with us!" the prosecutor responded with some venom in his words. "This is nothing but a complete waste of time, especially since we don't even know who this client is. If we did, then I might consider having him brought in for questioning here and now. But since we don't know, I petition the courts to have the defense end their cross-examination immediately! It's clear that they're merely wasting our time with frivolous details."

"Would you consider me wasting our time if I said that I can now safely identify who their client is?" the defense attorney countered as he finally realized in his mind why Charmy's statement about the client looking for his younger brother was so familiar now. "Would you concede to the fact that I might be on the right track if I can produce the correct name?"

"If you can put your money where your mouth is, then I suppose I can let your stall tactics slide just this once. So come on; we don't have all day to be wasting! Who do you say is this person that you say you believe to be the Chaotix Detective Agency's client and who also has some kind of connection to this case?"

End Cross-Examination

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'll go ahead and say the name," Sonic responded in a cocky tone while failing to notice Charmy waving his hands around as a signal to not say anything. "The person who I believe to be our witness's client and who also holds some connection to this case is…"

"Hold it!" the bee loudly shouted so as to get everybody's attention. "You're not seriously planning on saying the guy's name, are you?"

"That is what I'm planning," the cobalt hedgehog replied with an eyebrow raised in confusion at the sudden outburst. "Are you planning on stopping me or something?"

"As a matter of fact, I am!" the witness responded with a stout nod of his head. "Do you remember the document I handed the Judge when I first came here? It says on there that as a requirement of our end of things, we are to not make mention of his name at any given time for any given reason. We only had one other client do that before, but he was a pretty high profile guy. If you blurt out his name just like that, who knows what kind of trouble he might be in?"

"…You know that we could just subpoena either you or Vector for that information, right?" Tails stated in a deadpan fashion. "If we resort to that, then it's just going to make things a whole lot harder on you."

"Unfortunately, I don't believe that is going to be an admissible course of action," Mephiles quickly spoke up as his lips twitched into a half-smile. "You see, a subpoena is usually only issued when there is reasonable merit that the information being withheld will pertain to the case at hand. Now correct me if I'm wrong here, but we're merely dealing with a supposition. And if I remember correctly, this supposition has yet to even be adequately proven to be a possible fact. I'm sure that the Judge will agree with me on the fact that your motion for a subpoena is quite underdone."

"Prosecutor Mephiles is right on this," the Judge simply agreed. "What you have provided to us Mr. Sonic is only an assumption, and a poorly made one at that. I'm afraid I can't grant your appeal for a subpoena of information."

"But it wasn't even me who suggested it in the first place!" the defense attorney complained as he shot an annoyed look at his brother for putting him in this situation. "It was my partner here who said it. And besides, he was merely pointing out a course of action; he wasn't actually suggesting that we do it."

"Look, I really don't care if you end up forcing the information out of me or not," Charmy quickly cut in before things got way off-topic. "All I'm saying is that I'm not about to go behind my client's wishes and have his name revealed to the world. However," he added with a thoughtful look on his face and hovered closer to Sonic, "I'm sure it'd be more than okay if you just whisper the name of the person who you think is our client. If you're right, then I'll let only you two have the pleasure of knowing who our client is. If you're wrong, then this discussion wouldn't have mattered in the slightest. That a deal?"

"I suppose it's better than nothing," the two tailed fox replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he leaned in close to where the bee had stopped beside Sonic in order to hear what his older brother was going to say."

"… … …Wow, I can't believe you actually got it right!" Charmy exclaimed in surprise before hovering back to the witness stand. "Yeah, that's the guy who asked us for his help. If you want, I can try and ask Vector if he can get into contact with him so you can ask him whatever it is you want."

"That'll be great," Sonic said in a grateful tone accompanied with a triumphant smile before getting back to pace with the trial. "Now that we've got that out of the way, I suggest that we move onto the next question that we want to ask the witness."

"Uh, okay," the old man replied in slight confusion as to what just went on and the sudden change of pace. "Is this alright with you, Prosecutor Mephiles?"

"Do you see me complaining?" the prosecutor simply spat out.

"Then I suppose we'll move on. Now that we've established to some extent the reason why there was a delay in the witness searching the lighthouse under the instructions of his client, let's move onto what was found there. Can you testify to the court what you found in the lighthouse that has any relation to our case?"

"No problem!" the bee stated with a wide smile. "That was what I originally came here to do, after all. Prepared to be amazed everybody!"

"I'd really like to see you top what I just managed to figure out," the cobalt hedgehog whispered as he rolled his eyes at the witness's overenthusiasm. "Then again, anything's more than possible when it's a surprise witness."

"I second that thought," Tails agreed with a light chuckle before regaining his serious attitude and prepared to listen to the next testimony.

Evidence From the Lighthouse

In terms of the evidence that I came across that has something to do with this case, I warn you that it might not be the case breaker you're looking for. In fact, I'd say that you guys did a pretty good job sweeping the place. I just happened to come across some spots that you all apparently overlooked. They happen to be a set of Fingerprints that I've sent a picture of to Vector and a Gun. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that one of them might just be that important something that the defense has been looking for all this time!

End Witness Testimony

"A set of Fingerprints and a Gun?" the Judge repeated as he raised his eyebrows at these new pieces of evidence. "Did you get a chance to have them analyzed yet?"

"Well, I did make a quick stop at Vector's to drop off what I found," Charmy explained before giving off a small shrug. "It's only been about an hour and a half at most since I gave the stuff to him, so he should be close to done provided he's got the forensics people working their butts off it. If things go well, I should get a text message on my phone from him during this time. That's just a little warning in case you see me looking at my phone and start grilling me about taking calls later."

"Well, I do thank you for that forewarning," the old man thanked as he took into consideration that the bee might take out his phone. "Once the information comes, please share it with this court."

"Until then, might I suggest that the defense continue on with whatever it is that they have planned for us to suffer through?" Mephiles spoke up. It is clear that he is not happy with the way the court proceeding is going, and things are at least right now not in his control. "This witness is the only thing getting in my way from the guilty verdict that had been so rudely disrupted out of the Judge."

"Ever heard the saying that haste makes waste?" Tails replied with his arms crossed, his face looking a bit smug and clearly enjoying the prosecutor having trouble trying to keep up with his attacks. "I know that you really value your perfect win record above all else, but is it really worth it if you end up being gravely suspected for court misconduct? I think that this case would be a good example of such a claim sticking if you keep on acting like that."

"How dare you, you little brat?!" the old hedgehog growled out as he balled up his fists in anger. "You think you can scare me with your slanderous threats?"

"I wouldn't say that it's as slanderous as the ones you've been spewing out at us since yesterday," the two tailed fox countered as he felt more than comfortable with exchanging blows with the other. He then said in a somewhat sarcastic fashion while imitating the other a bit, "However, now's not the time for such trivialities. Why don't we hurry up through this wonderful cross-examination and stop wasting the court's time?"

"Y-Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" Sonic said quickly as he started to feel nervous at the tension that was growing thicker by the minute. "Let's get on with it!"

Begin Cross-Examination

"Charmy, why do you feel that the evidence you found at the lighthouse that has to do with our case might not be a case breaker?" Sonic asked with his head slightly cocked to the side in question. "I hardly think that it's something for you to decide."

"That's why it's something that we all like to call an opinion," Charmy explained with a roll of his eyes at being asked such a question. "My opinion on the matter was that the evidence was not going to be case breakers. I wasn't saying that they definitely were not. There's a clear difference between the two."

"Gee, sorry I asked," the cobalt hedgehog apologized as he instantly regretted having asked the question. "Let's just move on to a different question. If you were to have actually been purposefully looking for evidence in our case, how hard would you say it'd have been to have spotted the Fingerprints and the Gun?"

"To be perfectly honest, it might've been hard even if I were specifically looking for things related to this case," the bee explained as he seemed a bit lost in thought. "Those Fingerprints were found on a teacup that was pushed all the way to the back of a cupboard with the other cups. The only thing strange about this was that the cup was still filled with something, so I'm thinking that it was put there in a hurry. That's why I figured that these Fingerprints might have something to do with your case. I also figured on that because I know for a fact that my client's brother cannot possibly drink out from any kind of cup."

"And what about the Gun?" Tails asked as he felt the explanation on the prints were acceptable for the time being. "Where did you find that? I'm sure that something like that is pretty hard to miss during an investigation."

"Believe it or not, I found the gun hiding behind a working clock face. Even I would've missed it if I hadn't just noticed that the dust line didn't match with each other. I doubt that anybody would've thought to have looked there even if they were seasoned detectives."

"Hmm, I wonder why a man like Mr. Pryce would have a Gun just lying around in his home like that?" the Judge wondered with a slightly confused look on his face. "Judging by his character, I hardly find him to be the most competent person to be an owner of a gun."

"Perhaps he was the owner of one back when he was still a competent man," Mephiles suggested. "After all, don't forget that he hadn't always been like this. I'm not sure if Your Honor had been made aware of this, but it was only until traumatic events came to pass did he turn into this childlike state."

"Oh, then that would make perfect sense," the old man admitted with a nod of his head. "Does the defense have any objections to the prosecution's explanation of things?"

"There is one thing that the prosecutor has failed to take into account," Sonic stated as he stared down Mephiles. "What they failed to take into account is Charmy's testimony on the state he found the clock that the Gun was hidden behind."

"And what of it?" the prosecutor asked with a huff of his breath in annoyance. "I hardly see the importance to such a minor detail."

"But don't you remember him saying that the only reason he went about searching the clock was because he noticed the lines of dust not matching with each other? If it weren't for that, I doubt our witness would've given the clock a second glance! It's under this thought that I believe that Gun had been taken out sometime very recently!"

"So you proved that the clock was most likely opened recently. I hardly see anything it has to do with this case. And where is your evidence that suggests that the Gun was even used within recent times? You're once again just delving into assumptions without having a shred of evidence to back it up."

"Well then, we propose that forensics report on the gun will help solidify my claim that the gun was used recently," Tails countered as he tried to find a way to keep his brother's claim alive. "I'm sure that you can't prove what we're saying can't be a possibility without the report, so that leaves us in a stalemate on this regard."

"Hey, no need to fight over something like this," Charmy spoke up as he took out his cell phone and began fiddling around with it. "I just got an email from Vector that has the forensics report on it."

"Oh, then can you please add the information to your testimony?" the Judge asked as he seemed more than intrigued by this revelation. "And please try to keep it as succinct as possible."

New Statement

The report on the Gun says that it's just a fake, but it does have Shadow's fingerprints on it.

End New Statement

"W-Wait a minute!" Sonic interrupted right after hearing this new information. "Did you just say that Shadow's fingerprints were on the Gun? But that's not possible! I mean, Shadow was never inside that lighthouse at any given time."

"Even I must admit that this seems like a strong impossibility," Mephiles admitted, although he did not look quite taken aback as one would normally be. "All the evidence we have quite adequately disproves the notion of the defendant ever having set foot in that lighthouse on the morning of the murder."

"I have an idea as to what might explain this strange phenomenon, but I still lack the needed evidence in order to suggest it," Tails said as he was seemingly waiting for the right time to spring one of the new pieces of evidence they received during the recess. "Until then, might I suggest that we move onto the details of the Fingerprints?"

"If the defense so wishes it to be so," the Judge responded as he seemed confused as to why the fox was not putting up a fight on this detail like he usually did when he felt something about certain points. "You do want to temporarily abandon this point, right?"

"If my assistant so wishes it," the cobalt hedgehog simply replied with a nod of his head. "I trust him on issues like this, and I'm sure that he has his reasons for not wanting to pursue this contradiction at the moment."

"I must say that this is somewhat unusual," the old man admitted in confusion before lightly shrugging his shoulders.

"I find nothing unusual in the defense temporarily admitting defeat," the prosecutor said with a sort of evil smirk. "And since they have done so, I ask that the witness continue on with his forensics report. Tell us what you found out on the Fingerprints."

"Alright, no need to be rushing me here!" Charmy exclaimed a bit angrily at Mephiles's pushiness. "I'll get to it when I get to it."

New Statement

The next thing is the Fingerprints that we found on the strangely placed cup, and they belong to… B-But that can't be right!

End New Statement

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked after seeing Charmy hesitating a bit on his testimony. "Is your email corrupt or something?"

"No, I'm just…a bit thrown off-track by this report," the bee admitted as he regained his composure. "According to this report, the Fingerprints belong to the victim in your case, Ms. Flora Mae!"

"The victim's prints were found inside the lighthouse?!" the Judge exclaimed while the gallery began to talk amongst themselves about this surprising revelation. "But how is this possible? Prosecutor Mae has no reason whatsoever to have ever set foot within that lighthouse!"

"She might have no reason to be there, but the fact remains that she was there," the cobalt hedgehog countered before anybody could say anything else about how impossible this was. "And if you think about what I've been claiming since the end of yesterday's proceedings, I say that it was more than possible that Ms. Mae was in the lighthouse in the moments before she was murdered there!"

"Once again, you're mindlessly rushing into conclusions," Mephiles quickly countered with a huff of his breath. "You might have been able to prove through this that Ms. Mae was indeed inside the lighthouse, but that's really the best you can do. You don't have anything of damning nature that can allow you to say she was there on the day of her murder. Therefore, you still don't have evidence for your claim that she was killed there!"

"Sounds like he's now starting to get used to coming up with suitable arguments on the fly," Tails said as he took notice of hard it had increasingly become to get any good point through the prosecutor now. "We better find a way to end this quickly before he really regains his regular beat-down attitude."

"Uh, can I continue here?" Charmy asked after being relatively quiet for the whole short exchange. "I still kind of have more to add on this."

"You mean there's more that Vector figured out on the Fingerprints?" the cobalt hedgehog responded. "Please don't tell me that this is another one of those bombshell information."

"I think I'll let you decide whether it is or not. But still, this is what really took me off guard earlier. These Fingerprints kind of hold a sense of familiarity to the croc. When he looked deeper into it, he noticed that they also appeared in another case. However, these prints belong to one of the victims in that case."

"And what case are you talking about?" the fox asked with an eyebrow raised in question.

"…They belong to Mr. Pryce's deceased sister who according to Vector's email here was one of the victims of the LK-9 Incident, Ms. Lois Pryce!"

"What?!" both Sonic and Tails exclaimed as the courtroom got into an even louder uproar. Then the cobalt hedgehog added, "Are you telling us that the victim on this case, Ms. Flora Mae, is actually the supposed dead woman from the LK-9 Incident, Ms. Lois Pryce? How the hell is that possible?"

End Cross-Examination

"Order!" the Judge announced over the chatter of the gallery while banging away at his gavel. "I said order! I will throw everybody out if I do not have order in this courtroom! Mr. Sonic, what in the world is this supposed to mean?"

"I-I don't know, Your Honor!" Sonic admitted just as the gallery finally quieted down. "The only thing I can say for sure is that the person we had believed to have been dead for the past two years had in fact been alive and well until her murder two days ago. That and this woman appears to have been Mr. Pryce's older sister, as well!

"But if we put this new information alongside with the Fingerprints, then I feel the possibility of her being in the lighthouse on the day of her murder increases drastically!" the cobalt hedgehog continued on as his brain calmed down enough for him to make this potential connection. "If Ms. Mae is in fact Ms. Pryce, then she would've most likely visited her brother as much as she could. It would only make sense especially since he's been put into this childlike state that we've bore witness to."

"But if the detail of Ms. Pryce's death has been a lie all this time, then wouldn't it also be most likely that Mr. Pryce's claim of mental instability also be a lie?" Tails added as the thought suddenly crossed his mind. "If we think about it, we've been led under the assumption that his instability stemmed from the supposed death of his sister. However, I say that he's merely putting on an act so as to cover up that very death. It would make a lot of sense considering what we've already figured out."

"And just how do you plan on proving this rather wild claim of yours boy?" Mephiles questioned with a raised eyebrow in amusement. "Possibilities are only just baseless guesses unless you have the evidence to back it up. I somehow doubt you have something like that in your possession."

"…I don't have direct evidence proving what I said along with my partner's statements are anywhere near the truth," the defense attorney admitted before quickly speaking again in order to prevent the old hedgehog from making any retort. "However, I believe that I might be able to indirectly prove our claims if we can prove that our victim was in the lighthouse when she was murdered."

"Well, that's quite an interesting claim you're making here," the prosecutor stated with a thoughtful look on his face. He then said with a sort of secretive smile appearing on his lips, "I'm honestly actually quite interested in this peculiar proposition of yours. I'll tell you what; I'll go ahead and entertain what you're proposing for the moment. However, my only condition for doing so is that as you're explaining the scenario you have in your head that tells us why she was up in the lighthouse, you present evidence to back up your claim. If you fail to succinctly prove every wild claim that appears during your explanation, then it'll prove you're simply grasping at empty air, and I'll have you for obstruction of justice. Do you agree to these conditions, Mr. Sonic?"

"…If that's what it takes to get you to listen to me, then yes. We'll both gladly accept your terms."

"Very well; then let's get this game of wits started. And to make it more interesting, I'll go ahead and treat this as a cross-examination. In essence, you've already provided us with your testimony that you can prove your claim, so I find it only fair to engage this as if you were a witness," he added as his eyes seemed to reflect the fact that he had finally managed to trap the defensive team in an inescapable corner.

"My, this case really is delving off from normal procedure," the Judge announced as he saw both sides of the courtroom locked in their battle of words. "Then again, this case is already becoming quite confusing. I suppose then I'll just mediate this to make sure that nothing ends up getting out of hand."

Begin Faux Cross-Examination

"I don't think I ever heard of a prosecution-heavy cross-examination before against a defense attorney, but I suppose conditions deem it necessary if I'm to get across any of my points to you," Sonic responded with a shrug of his shoulders before getting into his explanation of how he thought the events leading up to Ms. Mae's murder happened. "Anyway, let me start off by saying that Ms. Mae was definitely inside the lighthouse on the day she was murdered. The evidence I have that proves this is the Fingerprints found and recovered by Charmy here. And since they prove that she is in actuality Mr. Pryce's sister, Lois Pryce, I find it more than reasonable to believe that she was there that morning."

"Need I remind you that the Fingerprints themselves hardly prove anything about her being there at that exact moment?" Mephiles questioned with a shake of his head. "You're going to need something else to at least prove a reason for her to have gone to the lighthouse within at least the evening before or the morning of her murder."

"Then how about this?" the cobalt hedgehog fought back as he presented the Doctor Reports he had received back during the recess. "These papers are Doctor Reports drafted by none other than a doctor stating that Mr. Pryce had visited him the day before the murder. They were found in the living room of the lighthouse. They claim that he is still suffering from his psychological problems, but they were sent by express mail to the lighthouse as proof of the envelope we found them in with the address on it. Clearly, this would mean that he needed a caretaker of sorts at least frequently visiting the place if the Doctor Reports were mailed there. And if that is the truth, then why have we yet to be introduced to this caretaker? That person has yet to be accounted for in all of this!"

"Unfortunately, we don't know where she is," the prosecutor calmly explained with his arms crossed. "We did not get any kind of name when we questioned Mr. Pryce about it except that she was a woman, and we could not get any information about her from the doctors without the aid of a subpoena."

"Then how about we say that Ms. Mae was his caretaker for the sake of supposition?" Tails suggested without wasting a single moment. "The Fingerprints on the cup at least prove that she was in the lighthouse sometime recently, so I would say that possibility is more than likely, especially when you consider the fact that our victim is Mr. Pryce's sister."

"Alright, I concede the fact that there was a high probability of our victim being there. However, that's the best you've proven thus far. You still failed to fully prove your claim that our victim was in the lighthouse when she was murdered."

"Why don't you shut up for once and let the defense take their time?" Charmy spoke up in an attempt to get Mephiles off of the defense's back. "How would you like it if they kept getting on your back while you were busy trying to prove something? I'm sure you wouldn't like it one bit."

"I ask that the witness not speak unless spoken to," the prosecutor simply responded in an attempt to shut the bee up. "He has no business in what we're currently discussing. If you do choose to stay, then do kindly shut your mouth. Now with that aside," he continued on while ignoring the blatantly searing gaze he was getting from one particularly angry bee, "can the defense prove that our victim was most likely murdered in the lighthouse?"

"Well, I believe that I can now comfortably say that she was indeed there at the time of her murder," Sonic explained with a cheek smile appearing on his face as he then took out the forensics report regarding the Blood. "We have here a report on a small amount of Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing. According to the results, they belong to none other than our victim here. And I say that the Blood made its way onto that railing when she was pushed off the side after being shot. And in case you want to counter my explanation on how the Blood got there, then I suggest you read Ms. Mae's Autopsy Report once more. It clearly states she was pushed off a railing because of the bruise on her lower back!"

"It also said that the poor woman whose name we're now in limbo on was non-fatally shot in the chest. Do you mind explaining how her stumbling backwards with a wound on her front would end up producing Blood on the railing?"

"I believe you already answered the question for us after reminding us of Ms. Pryce's Autopsy Report," the two tailed fox responded with his arms crossed while emphasizing the victim's proven true name. "You already told us that the bullet that shot her was non-fatal. And while the report does say that she most likely fainted soon after the shot, there's nothing on it going against the fact that she might have still been conscious after the fact. She quite possibly could've put her hand over her wound before being knocked over the railing. And as she was falling over, she tried to wrap her bloody hand around it but failed and thus died by drowning. Being that there was no blood found on her hand is to be expected since the water washed it away, so I have no evidence that this is the truth. However, that also goes to say that you don't have any evidence to say that it isn't the truth!"

"My, aren't we being a bit quick to shoot down a statement that hasn't even been made yet?" Mephiles retorted with ever the slightest hints of amusement in his words. It was almost as if he were taking some kind of sick pleasure in all this. "I suppose then that we're in a stalemate of sorts in this regard. However, let us assume for the moment that your hypothesis on how the Blood got there is correct. What evidence do you have that suggests she was shot at the lighthouse in the first place that would then cause said bloodstain to appear there? If you can somehow prove that fact, then the Blood would automatically follow suit. I feel, however, that this shall prove to be your undoing."

"Then how about I go ahead and prove you wrong on that accord, as well?" the cobalt hedgehog countered as it was now his turn to prove another point brought up by the prosecution. "I can prove to everybody in this court beyond a doubt that Ms. Pryce was indeed shot on that lighthouse balcony. And it's with this claim that I also prove that was how the Blood got onto the railing and thus becoming the true murder scene that has since eluded us from the very beginning of this trial!"

"Your attempt at poetic speeches will get you nowhere," the prosecutor quickly shot down with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "Just hurry up and get to your point!"

"With pleasure, Prosecutor Mephiles. You see, we managed to find something else on that balcony besides the Blood. Long story short, it was a Bullet Casing with ballistic markings on the inside matching that of the bullet found inside Ms. Pryce's chest. The very fact that the casing was found within the lighthouse property strongly suggests that the balcony was the true murder scene as it had been captured beautifully by a Photograph by yesterday's witness, Ms. Amy Rose. I find this evidence quite hard to refute unless you want to claim next that somebody came into the lighthouse later and simply planted it there for convenience sake. To go about trying to frame a man with the mind of a seven-year-old hardly seems like a proper course of action for one to take."

"Yet there's nothing saying that it didn't go that way, as well," the Judge spoke up after being relatively quiet for a while. "While it would serve no purpose in trying to frame a man who has no chance of being pinned as a murderer, it would still serve to buy the true culprit some much needed time in order to either escape of adequately cover their tracks."

"…Your Honor does have a point there," Tails admitted with a small sigh before trying to quickly come up with something that would keep their hard-earned offensive going strong. "However, what if we all have been deceived even more than we had initially thought?"

"With you going at it like that, I wouldn't be surprised if we all have been deceived since the very beginning," Mephiles bit back nastily.

"Believe it or not, that's what I was going to suggest next," the two tailed fox simply responded in a calm tone as the prosecutor could only look in stoic surprise at the answer. "If you think about it, this entire case started simply because of a lie. And it has been from that lie that we were led even further down the path of truth until we as the defense made the suggestion that the lighthouse was the true scene of the murder. It's from there that this very complex web of deceit began to become unwound."

"And do you mind explaining to the court the process that this unwinding took place?" the old man asked in the old hedgehog's stead seeing as how said person seemed a bit beside himself as to how cocky the defense was acting. "I have this strange feeling that it'll end up leading to the point you're trying to get across."

"Well, this complex lie started to dissolve when Sonic and I discovered a scene looking a lot like a murder taking place in the background of this Photograph taken by witness Amy Rose. From there, we started to suspect the lighthouse shown as a murder scene. After investigating the building, we discovered evidence that strongly indicated that the Mobius Docks was in fact a staged crime scene. And during the course of this faux cross-examination that the prosecution had insisted on conducting, we've presented most of the evidence and provided adequate explanations to their questions. Of course, I must extend my thanks to Charmy Bee here for having investigated the scene when he did since the defense would not have gotten this far without the evidence he discovered during his contract job."

"Aww, it was seriously nothing!" Charmy stated as a small blush began to appear on his cheeks while still hovering over the podium like he had been since he started his testimony. "It really was just luck that I saw the stuff that pertained to your case. I seriously wasn't paying attention to anything outside the scope of the Chaotix Detective Agency's contract."

"Nevertheless, you did end up being a great help to us. And now I'll get to the prosecution's admittedly sarcastic yet still sound claim that we've been deceived from the very beginning. With what has been proven now, we seem to have automatically jumped to the conclusion that Ms. Pryce's killer is trying to frame Mr. Pryce for the crime. However, I suggest that what we're thinking can't be any further from the truth."

"Wait a minute!" the hyper bee suddenly exclaimed as he seemed to now understand what Tails was now getting at. "If I'm thinking what I think you're thinking of saying, then that's really going to be a head-turner for this case."

"…Oh, boy," Sonic then said as he turned towards his brother and stared at him wide-eyed. "It's not that I'm against you going along with that thought, but even that's crazy in my standards. How're you going to make that idea stick?"

"With this!" the two tailed fox explained without hesitation as he pulled out the Letter that Silver had found when he went to search the lighthouse basement. "I have here a Letter that was found in the basement of the lighthouse that Mr. Pryce resides in."

"I hardly find the witness's mail to be of much interest or help in the current case of things," Mephiles quickly interrupted as if confident that the defense's current line of thought was completely pointless. "I'm sure you already know that I'm objecting to this painfully obvious waste of time."

"And I'm afraid that I'll have to object to your objection," the fox countered as he crossed his arms in a defiant fashion and placing the Letter on the overhead monitor for everybody to see. "I'm pretty sure you'll understand why I'm quite adamant about this certain piece of mail being very important to our case. After all, the contents are somewhat disturbing, to say the least."

"…My, this Letter does sound rather interesting in nature!" the Judge admitted as he seemed to reread the entire thing again. "The person who authored this speaks to Mr. Pryce as if he were involved in something unimaginable."

"And what I want to draw special attention to everybody are these two sentences. 'After all, it would be unfortunate to lose such a wonderful asset to our operations such as you. That and I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss such a 'killer' performance on the docks that's to take place in the early morning after the eve of our visit.'

"Why would something like this be sent to Mr. Pryce's house?" Tails continued on after he finished reading what he felt were the key points of attention from the document. "It strongly suggests that he's not only something possibly illegal; it also seems to indicate that he knew full well what was going to happen on the morning of the murder. It's with this Letter that the defense claims that Mr. Pryce isn't the mentally unstable man we believe him to be. Instead, he is a very capable man with a very capable brain for his age and is merely putting up a farce of having mental disabilities!"

"And how do you intend to prove that this was actually meant for Mr. Pryce himself?" the old prosecutor asked as he did not fail to miss a beat in the progression of the case. "The last I heard, we've all come to the conclusion that there were most likely two people in that lighthouse at all times. That, of course, would be the good Mr. Pryce himself along with his female caretaker whom we currently know nothing about. How can you say for sure that this was meant for him rather than his caretaker? She had just as much free access to that building just like Mr. Pryce."

"Normally, I would agree with you on that note in that it's impossible to pinpoint who the Letter was addressed to. That's made even more apparent when the envelope it came in has a completely blank exterior. However, there is one other thing that stands out about this, and it isn't what's written on the paper."

"But what else could be more interesting than the written contents?" the old Judge asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't see anything on here that even remotely points to the witness as the intended recipient of this."

"I believe my partner here is talking about the fingerprints that were found all over the Letter itself," Sonic spoke up in order to take Tails's place after noticing that his little brother was starting to lose a bit of his momentum from having to explain so much at one time. "Upon our request, we asked Detective Knuckles to have this sent to the forensics department. While we cannot perform a handwriting analysis without somebody of reasonable suspicion to compare it to, we did notice that there were only one set of fingerprints to be found anywhere on the Letter. Needless to say, they all belonged to one Mr. Maxwell Pryce! So now I ask the prosecution this question: Do you still believe that this Letter was intended for the witness's caretaker when only the man's fingerprints can be found on it? I find it rather hard if not impossible to prove the impossibility of who this was directed to.

"Now allow me to recap everything that we've learned thus far before I come to my main conclusion," the cobalt hedgehog continued on as he finally felt he had everything he needed to make the very statement that could potentially turn this case around for him. "First of all, we discovered that Prosecutor Flora Mae was in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Mr. Maxwell Pryce's sister who was believed to have been an unfortunate victim of the LK-9 Incident. This revelation in conjunction with her Fingerprints on a recent-looking cup of tea shoved towards the back of a cabinet and later discovered by Charmy Bee here strongly indicates that she visited her brother sometime recently before her murder.

"Secondly, I believe that Ms. Pryce was killed in that lighthouse on the balcony instead of at the Mobius Docks like we have been led to believe. This claim is strongly supported by both the spot of Blood on the balcony railing and a Bullet Casing with ballistic markings matching that of the bullet extracted from the victim as proof. The only thing that seems to cast a shadow of doubt on this is the fact that the Pistol that killed her was found on the docks rather than at the lighthouse. However, it's because of the Bullet Casing that we have strong reason to believe the murder weapon was not only moved but also swapped with a Fake Murder Weapon that was seen by yesterday's witness, Mr. Amy Rose, when she saw the aftermath of the 'murder' at the docks. And we believe this Fake Murder Weapon to be the fake gun that Charmy found inside a clock in the lighthouse that just so happens to have Shadow's fingerprints on it. We already know that my client never entered that lighthouse before, so there's no reason his fingerprints should be on that fake gun unless it was originally at the docks posing as a real murder weapon before being swiftly and unknowingly swapped out. That's my evidence proving that our victim was most likely murdered in the lighthouse.

"And finally, I come to my claim as to who really killed Ms. Lois Pryce. Through Mr. Pryce's own testimony along with the Doctor Reports we found in his home, it is proven that he suffers from a psychological disorder that stemmed from the 'death' of his sister and caused him to become just a simple seven-year-old child. However, I find this conclusion to be the actual truth of the matter because of this Letter found in the witness's basement. While it is proven that he most likely lives with a caretaker as through the fact that a complicated document like the Doctor Reports were mailed to his house, it's highly improbable that the Letter was addressed to her. The fact that only Mr. Pryce's fingerprints could be lifted from it supplements my claim. The details of the Letter also seem to indicate that the man is more than capable to think for himself and have a competent thought process for a man of his legal age as well as somehow being connected with this murder. And it is with these words that I feel more than confident in saying this: Mr. Maxwell Pryce, the man whom we all assumed at first to have been mentally unstable, is in fact mentally competent and was the one to have murdered Ms. Lois Pryce and thus committed sororicide, otherwise known as the murder of one's own sister!"

"…And this is what you're going to stick with no matter what?" Mephiles asked with an unreadable look on his face as the entire courtroom went in an uproar upon hearing this unexpected indictment made by the defense. "I'm sure you understand how interesting your claim sounds like."

"What do you think?" Sonic asked back with a look on his face that said he was more than sure with what he was saying. "According to all the evidence I have received and reviewed, this is the only plausible explanation as to what happened in this case. It's all just too strong in one direction for me to say otherwise."

End Faux Cross-Examination

"Order in the court!" the Judge shouted over the noise of the gallery while pounding on his gavel in an attempt to regain control. He then said in an even louder shout, "ORDER IN THE COURT!"

"Well, I must commend in you in having caused quite a commotion," Mephiles simply said in a tone just barely hearable above the noise. "If this was merely your attempt at stalling for more time, then I believe you've more than accomplished that."

"You'd have to be a complete idiot to not see how everything I've proven from your attempt at a fake cross-examination!" Sonic exclaimed as he could clearly tell the noise was not going to die down anytime soon. "I doubt that the gallery would be this worked up if I had indicted Mr. Pryce as the murderer before Charmy came here. The fact that they're now out of control should be proof enough that my claim has some amount of merit to it!"

"Still, I find it hard to believe that such a competent man like the Judge would actually go along with your desperate attempt at keeping this case going," the old prosecutor continued on with his smug attitude not seeming to die anytime soon. "I wouldn't be surprised if you got kicked out of this courtroom along with your case once this storm has settled down."

"I don't believe I have much choice in the matter," the old man exclaimed in a frustrated tone as his gavel fell on deaf ears. "Because this uproar can't be quelled, I'm forced to call a suspension to this trial until tomorrow. But before I do that, I declare that Mr. Maxwell Pryce be kept under constant watch by one of the senior detectives at the Precinct until court tomorrow. I believe that the defense has a point with his claim, and I would like to hear what he has to say for himself. And I warn both sides that tomorrow will be the last day I will be suspending this trial. Court is now suspended!"

And with an official bang of his gavel that just simply fell on deaf ears once more, the Judge got up from his seat and quickly retreated back to his chambers in order to escape the uproar. The gallery failed to notice that court was now over and continued to talk loudly amongst themselves. Sonic and Tails were amazed that they managed to not only stall for time but also manage to get the Judge on their side at the same time. Mephiles seemed slightly shocked at the sudden turn of events that now went against him and was now glaring daggers at the two from across the room. Apart from the gallery, everybody was too shocked to do much of anything and could now only wait until tomorrow, a day that the Judge announced to be the last day for the case, to find out the true answer as to what happened in this case.

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I hope that you all liked this new chapter that I made for you. The reason that I decided to make the last cross-examination the way it was was because I did not want to make it seem like it was all just a bunch of talking that did not hold any kind of background meaning into it. It was also a way to show off how Mephilies was feeling cocky about the whole thing in that he felt very confident that he was going to win the case no matter how he decided to beat down Sonic and Tails. And just as a little side note, the word "faux" stands for fake.

I really have to admit that the last cross-examination was what really took the most time to get right. I had to find a way for Sonic and Tails to adequately prove how Ms. Mae, or now Ms. Lois Pryce as I have somehow managed to prove here, was killed at the lighthouse and then killed by someone else. You honestly have no idea what kind of details I had to take into consideration from the past in order to make it all make sense in some convoluted fashion. I wouldn't be surprised if I managed to dig myself into a grave here, but Phoenix Wright always managed to unknowingly do that all the time and still get out of it somewhat unscathed.

And yes, I am going to make this connected with the LK-9 Incident in case you all haven't noticed the constant connections I'm making to that case. I still have no idea how I'm going to be introducing it to you all, but I do have a basic understanding of how the case started. In case you all forgotten, the case came to be when someone from both Sonic and Shadow's side of the family was killed. That's all I'll say until I introduce the case to you.

Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

And just as a little side note, I'm thinking of reviving one of my abandoned stories. It's called "The Curse of Destati Communion Elementary". It needs to brushed up on being that it was written in a time when I consider my writing to be just above sub-par. And yes, I'm pretty harsh on my own writing sometimes that I consider myself my worst critic. But yeah, that's just a little heads-up for those of you who might be interested in it. And being that it's a horror story, I'm going to be rating it M for some rather descriptive portions that are normally not meant to be very descriptive except for horror purposes.

With that now out of the way, see you all on my next story update!

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New Evidence:

Bullet Casing: A casing found on the lighthouse balcony and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The ballistic markings on it matched exactly with the bullet that was extracted from Ms. Mae. It also proves that the gun found on the docks was actually used and moved from the lighthouse.

Doctor Reports: Paperwork found in the lighthouse living room and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. They prove that Mr. Pryce visits the doctor every week for his condition. They also seem to indicate that he lives with a caretaker because of the fact that such complicated reports were sent to his house.

Letter: A piece of mail found in the lighthouse basement and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. The contents seem to indicate that Mr. Pryce had some prior knowledge of the fake murder taking place on the Mobius Docks. While a handwriting analysis could not be done on the contents because of the lack of a reasonably suspicious person to compare it to, Mr. Pryce's fingerprints were found all over it.

Firecracker: The Red Paper found stuck on the side of the Mobius Docks and brought by Knuckles from the forensics department. Tests prove that it was once a Firecracker before it had exploded, and the black mark on it was from the explosion. The tape that is still on it has some burned fibers that belonged to a rope.

Picture: a photograph given to Sonic by Knuckles who had received it from Salemand Eres. It shows a picture of a white-furred lion with occasional blue spots on all fours like a wild animal and looking at the camera and smiling. Amazingly, his face looks almost child-like despite his rather strong-looking body. It's clear that he has the rare genetic disorder Feralisis Syndrome.

Fingerprints: Prints found in the lighthouse by Charmy Bee. They were on a cup shoved all the way towards the back of a kitchen cupboard as if in a haste with a cup of tea still in it. This proves that it was used recently. They belong to the victim in the case, Ms. Flora Mae, but Vector recognized the prints from the LK-9 Incident and realized they actually belonged to Ms. Lois Pryce. This proves that these two people are actually one.

Updated Evidence:

Blood: Blood found on the lighthouse balcony railing with the forensics report brought by Knuckles. It shows that the blood belonged to Ms. Mae and proving that she was at the lighthouse the moment she was murdered.

Fake Murder Weapon: An idea conjured up by Tails while exploring the lighthouse. After hearing Charmy's testimony, the thought of a fake weapon being in play is now a reality. A fake gun was found by the bee inside a clock and bears Shadow's fingerprints. Being that Shadow never entered the lighthouse before, this is proof that this was the gun seen at the docks the moment after the 'murder' witnessed by Amy Rose.

Updated Profiles:

Maxwell Pryce: A forty-year-old man who seems to have a mental problem and trapped with a seven-year-old mind. Through excellent execution of evidence, Sonic and Tails have thrown doubt on the thought that he is actually mentally challenged and is just as capable as any other man his age.

Flora Mae: The victim in this case who was a prosecutor at the local prosecutor's office. She was proven to have been at the lighthouse at the moment of her death. Because of her fingerprints found in the lighthouse, it has been proven that she is in actuality Ms. Lois Pryce, Max's sister who has been thought to have been killed in the LK-9 Incident.