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Please do not read if you are under 18! The following contains mature content not suited for general audiences. You have been warned.

Sylvia is put in front of a judge to respond to her actions.

TRIGGER WARNING! Contains: NC/rape (mentioned), hypnosis (mentioned), hate crime (mentioned), transphobia, homophobia, slurs, courtroom, anxiety, seizure (mentioned), gaslighting, emotional manipulation

Sylvia, Val, Grace, etc. are characters made by me, based off of characters in the Pokémon universe owned by GameFreak and Nintendo. I do not claim rights to characters such as Sylveon, Vaporeon, Glaceon, etc.

By PseudonymousUmbreon. If you wish to use or reference my work and/or my characters, please contact me first.

*****

The Trial of Sylvia Clements

Coevolution Ch.16

Sylvia didn't want to be there. But if she wanted to save face and keep her father's name, she had to pull out all the stops--without the help of her powers, of course. Because why would life ever be easy for her?

The judge, a tall, muscular Garchomp, cast an imposing shadow over the courtroom. The nerve. Her father couldn't have gotten her a fairy-type judge? Maybe then the judge would treat her fairly. Not that she was in a position to be asking any favors; Dad was pissed.

Thomas, the latest in a long line of secretaries her father had employed, was the one who delivered the message that Sylvia's connection to the Clements name and estate was in jeopardy. The bumbling faggot had nervously given her the letter saying, "Your father thought it best that he not speak with you personally."

Cowardly Thomas. If she got through this, she would have him fired.

Sylvia stepped up to the podium and took a deep breath. Alright Sylvia. Work your magic.

"My name is Sylvia Clements..."

*****

The last time Val had been present in a courtroom was the day he and Vicente had gained their Unovan citizenship. How far away the island of Sa'huana felt now, as he stood before a jury of Central City citizens, his friends, and the bitch who had almost killed several of them.

The prosecution lawyer they were working with was a tall, elegantly-dressed Mienshao named Xu Shen. He stood firm and faced the judge, yet still managed to surreptitiously send Val a wink and a smile.

Behind the scenes, Shen had worked with Val, Jess, and Nate on their plan to win the case, and once the rape charges were added and Grace and Espen came on board, Shen had become even more determined to bring Sylvia to justice. Val just hoped that the judge was reasonable enough to see their side of the story in spite of Sylvia's connections.

"Mister Zoo, you may proceed with questioning."

In the front row, Val saw Grace wince, but Shen managed to remain ever stoic. He turned to Val and nodded. "Why don't you begin by introducing yourself?"

"My name is Valentino Martín de los Ríos, and I use he/him pronouns." The judge raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "I was the shift manager on duty when Sylvia Clements assaulted my friend, Jess Hart."

Shen nodded once again. "Could you please tell the court your perspective of the situation?"

"Of course," Val said, smiling slightly. "I had just arrived on shift courtesy of my brother, Vicente, at the campus Alcremie's, and relieved Jess of her position as shift manager before me. I saw Sylvia sitting at a table and, since she and I have prior connections--" Val shot a look at Sylvia, who was glaring directly into his soul, "--I figured I'd strike up a conversation, since it would be rude to ignore her completely.

"We had a very heated exchange, but that's not really the point--Sylvia got frustrated with me and headed outside, and Jess, who had stuck around to make sure I was okay, soon left afterwards with Nate.

"Next thing I know, I'm hearing screams and Nate is rushing back in to collect me and Vicente and get us outside, saying Sylvia's attacking Jess. Sylvia was pummeling her face hard, and there was blood everywhere. I called the cops right away, and then Sylvia started running. I guess she didn't run very far, 'cause the police found her pretty quickly." Val smirked at Sylvia. "And then, because I had to do my shift, Vicente took Jess and Nate to the hospital."

Sylvia looked like she wanted to explode; her lawyer, a stern-looking Ninetales, kept giving her warning glances--though that didn't stop the Ninetales from looking shaken themself.

Shen seemed deep in thought, despite the two of them having gone over the questions numerous times today. Nevertheless, he went with the script: "Could you please describe the nature of the 'heated exchange' that occurred between you and Miss Clements?"

Val grinned. "Certainly. You see, I had been in contact with Sylvia's ex-boyfriend, Jonah--"

"OBJECTION!" Sylvia jumped up, throwing daggers with her face in Val's direction. "Inconsequential, your honor."

The judge huffed. "Miss Clements, this is not a television show. You may speak when it is your turn to do so. Mr. Ríos, please continue."

"But--"

The Garchomp slammed the gavel down on the desk with a ferocity that might have broken it. Sylvia practically fell back into her seat. The Ninetales buried their face in their paws.

"As I was saying," Val continued, inwardly celebrating at seeing Sylvia brought down a peg, "Jonah Newelle, Sylvia's ex, had broken up with her a few weeks prior to these events. This being the first time I'd seen her, I wanted to ask her about the whole situation--Jonah had informed me and my partner--his roommate--of how Sylvia had sexually assaulted him. When I mentioned this to Sylvia, in between the transphobic slurs she threw at me, she got incredibly defensive. While I admit I may have egged her on a little bit, she escalated the conversation of her own volition."

"And, if you could," Shen said, with the hint of a smile behind his eyes, "would you please explain the nature of Miss Hart's injuries?"

"According to a text from Nate, they had to do a blood transfusion, because she'd lost a lot from cuts and bruises on her face and chest. She was also concussed, and wasn't able to attend school or work for two weeks."

"Thank you Mr. Ríos. No further questions, your honor."

Val stepped down from the podium and took his seat between Jess and Grace. He smiled at the Gallade and gave her a fistbump under the table. That couldn't have gone better.

*****

Grace's mind was racing, desperately rehearsing everything she needed to go over for the sake of the case. She was barely listening when she was called up to the stand, and she hardly processed as she took oath to the truth. Shen seemed to pick up on her energy, because he approached her much more casually than he had with Val, Jess, and Nate.

"Grace, can you tell the court who you are please?"

Grace swallowed and nodded. "Grace Nieves. I'm, well. I made the report about Jonah being raped." Fuck, that wasn't the script. She wasn't supposed to say the word rape yet. "I-I mean, sexually--"

Shen held up a paw. "It's okay, Grace. Can you tell the court why you made that report?"

Breathe, Grace. Breathe. "Yes." She glanced down at the paper notes she had been clutching in her paws throughout the hearing. It was cold and stiff, and ice crystals had formed around where Grace had grabbed the paper. "Well. I had been working my shift at the campus library when--well, I actually made the report from--" Grace stopped.

She had to do this. For Jonah. And Jess.

"Jonah had a panic attack, which became a seizure. And, as I'm sure you know, your honor, electric-types, they don't take seizures well. It was the direct result of Jonah recontextualizing his experiences with Sylvia to be something that constitutes rape--I had, somewhat unintentionally, brought him to that conclusion. I only realized later in the discussion that what Jonah was seeing as rape was the instance where he and Sylvia got banned from the campus library while I was on-duty. I heard a cry of outrage, and caught her with her paws in--in his pants. And he was very mentally compromised as the result of a psychic attack, I can only conclude was carried out by Sylvia."

Grace blinked. Did she really just say all that? She glanced at her notes again. She had gone way off script, she probably ruined something for Shen, she--

"Thank you, Miss Nieves. That was very helpful. No further questions, your honor."

*****

"Miss Castora, I understand that you are in a very unique position in this whole situation, is that an accurate assessment?"

"Yes Sir," Espen said. "I would certainly agree with your statement." The Espeon shifted in her seat.

The Beeheeyem sitting off to the side, almost obscured by the sheer volume of the jury, stared intently at her, eyes glowing faintly, but steadily. Their job was to ensure that no psychic abilities were at play in the courtroom--a psychic-type was always required to be present during a court case of such high caliber. It was a career path Espen would have considered if the job description didn't come with so much survivor's guilt and empathetic trauma.

"Could you describe how you became involved in this debacle?"

Ez had to chuckle at the use of the word "debacle." It felt almost unprofessional in a setting such as this, but it was nice to know that Shen wanted her to feel comfortable in such a stressful situation. "The day in the library that Grace mentioned, I was there with my eSports Club in the other room with Jess and Nate. On the other side of the wall, I could sense a lot of psychic energy, so that naturally piqued my interest. I didn't really mean to eavesdrop, but it was enough energy that both Jess and I were starting to get headaches.

"So, yes, I read their thoughts. First, Jonah's; I asked him what was going on, shielding myself with my own energy to make sure whoever was wielding psychic power--Sylvia--didn't know I was there. I asked if he needed to be bailed out, and he said he did--badly--so I put a psychic shield around him, and then... popped into Sylvia's head and said that her boyfriend wants to break up, which is what he told me to say."

"That was YOU?" Sylvia cut in.

Before the judge could say anything, Espen opened her mouth. "I didn't say anything to you that Jonah didn't ask me to say."

"You MADE him break up with me!" Sylvia made to rise again, but the Ninetails lawyer next to her put their two rightmost tails over Sylvia's lap.

The judge banged his gavel, twice. "Enough interruptions, Sylvia. If you want to continue to be present at your own trial, you'll stay quiet and stay seated."

"Thank you," Ez said, nodding to the judge. "The psychic shield was designed to last long enough for him to be able to get away from her. Naturally, there are limits to any Pokémon's powers, otherwise I would have been much more protective. I didn't want to make more enemies than necessary."

Shen nodded. "A wise decision. Could you tell us about the psychic energy you felt coming from Sylvia?"

"Simply put, it was hypnosis." Espen sighed. "And it wasn't anything rudimentary either, this was the type that was relentless, and had been deeply conditioned over a long period of time. When Jonah had his seizure, several weeks after their break up, I could still tell that not all of his thoughts were completely... his. Sylvia had more or less cemented herself in his brain. It's completely possible the damage is irreversible."

"Thank you, Miss Castora. No further questions."

*****

"'Despite the overwhelming evidence against me, I want to make three things incredibly clear:

"'Number one: Jonah and I had discussed the prospect of engaging in hypnosis during our sex lives. He consented willingly and enthusiastically.

"'Number two: Jonah did protest. His protests were ignored, however, because we had previously agreed I was allowed to ignore his protests. He consented to this willingly as well.

"'Number three: I was not completely mentally aware of my actions when I attacked Mr. Hart. I should not be held liable for a fit of insanity.

"'I did not rape Jonah, and I plead innocent on the grouds of insanity for the assault of Mr. Hart.'" Sylvia looked up from the prepared statement and cast a smug glance in the direction of her supposed "victims."

Nancy, Sylvia's lawyer, took a deep breath. "Miss Clements's communication with Mr. Newelle may have been incredibly flawed, your honor. It's possible that she did not properly negotiate terms before engaging in sexual affairs with her partner. It was a mistake that I think Sylvia should learn from.

"As for the situation with Miss Hart," Nancy continued, with a sidelong glance at Sylvia, "Miss Clements has had extreme difficulty in the past with controlling her actions. She has assured me that this is something she will be improving in the future."

The judge leaned forward. "And how can we trust that these are changes that Miss Clements is committed to making?"

Nancy nodded solemnly. "A valuable question, your honor. One that I'm sure Miss Clements has come up with an answer to?"

Sylvia froze. She hadn't prepared for this question. What game are you playing, Nancy? Whose side are you on? The Sylveon was about to open her mouth to speak when a door in the back of the courtroom opened.

"Your honor, I have information that may affect your judgment of the case."

Jonah stood in the doorway, seemingly out of breath.

"Jonah?" Sylvia stared in disbelief. Now that asshole shows his face?

The judge raised his eyebrows. "You are Mr. Jonah Newelle?" Jonah nodded breathlessly. "Well, as unconventional as this may be, given your central position in this case, it would be unforgivable of me to not let you speak."

Sylvia wanted to cut in, to say something to stop him, but Jonah took his position in front of the judge and was sworn to the truth, just as everyone else had.

And now he was here to ruin everything.

"Your honor, I... I apologize for being late. I've spent the past week thinking about this decision. But I want the court to know, that. Sylvia, she..."

Jonah and Sylvia's eyes met for the first time in a month.

Sylvia suddenly remembered how much she missed those eyes.

"She didn't rape me."

A murmur spread across the courtroom. Everyone seemed to need a second to process what Jonah had said.

But Sylvia, for the first time since the break up, smiled.

So it really was only a matter of time until he came around again.

"I, uh, that's all I... I want to say. Thank you."

The judge was quiet for a moment as the courtroom silenced themselves once more. "We're going to take a brief recess."