Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus Part #16 - Episode XV: Copyright Infringement

Part 16: Episode XV: Copyright Infringement

Episode XV: Copyright Infringement

So, what does this scenario mean? People can die in one shot during cutscenes. But, Vincent is ridiculously more skilled in them, as well. Do the two factors simply cancel each other out and a bullet in the eye will just result in a few numbers popping out of his head?

Oh, wait. Nevermind. False alarm, folks. Nothing to see here. Though, I like how Vincent can detect a sniper on a rooftop a football field away. But an invisible little girl tip-toeing behind him goes unnoticed.

Vincent seems disinterested in this whole affair. As such, he'll say absolutely nothing for the five minute duration of the scene.

And Lieutenant Elementary School finally gets a name - Shelke. So as to keep up with the dopey color theme of the villains, Shelke apparently means 'orange' in Urdu a language of the Indo-Iranian area of the Middle East/Asia - the official language of Pakistan!

What kind of schizophrenic entity went to picking these names? We've got a German, Italian, Spanish, and...obscure Middle Eastern color themed names. What's next? Esperanto?

"I have a penpal or two and I occasionally chat with Reeve on AIM, but I would not consider them acquaintances."

"No, you haven't changed at all. Not in ten years."

<gasp>

"Shelke. It's me. Shalua. I've been searching for you for so long."

Shalua goes in for huggles or whatever sissy reunion shit sibling sisters do.

Oh, now this game was doing so well on avoiding the use of elements from other titles. I'm shocked they'd bring this into the work.

"How much of a step are we talking here? You know. Depth perception and all that. Should I back up some?"

"Or whether this is a 'lightsaber' or 'laser rapier'. My current mission as a Deepground soldier is all that is relevant."

"No, it does matter. We could get sued for the former! Besides, nobody has any remote idea what Deepground is up to. How is that any kind of answer?"

"Ten years. Has it been that long? The day they came to take me away, they said I had potential. But those words were nothing but a precursor to a decade of suffering."

This is getting good...

"They manipulated my mind until I was a shadow of my original self. There's no frame of reference to what I used to be like, but I assure you it was probably a bad change. Just take my word upon it. The pain. The fear. For ten years I lived in a hell far deeper than any you could imagine."

If only this girl was ten years older.

S-Score...? Ugh... I feel dirty now...

"If I don't receive my daily dose of mako, this body wouldn't last a day."

"I'm no scientist or anything, but isn't mako...a bit harmful to be exposed to?"

"Have you not paid attention to the previous game? Mako can be used as fuel, breaths life into newly born beings, turn people into super soldiers, unlock hidden pasts, and save the planet. Is it such a stretch to have it keep someone eternally nine years old? And you are a scientist. You are wearing glasses and a labcoat."

"Ergh... Of course, of course."

"Except for so long I held on to a foolish thread of hope that someday, someone would come to save me. Granted, there seems to be no reason I can't just walk off, at this point. But I'm still going to be cross about it."

Did her model just collapse into an original Final Fantasy 7 form? Is she about to arise with Popeye arms?

"Go ahead. Strike me down. But I'll -"

"Become more powerful than you can imagine. Yes. Yes."

"I was going to say I'd be gone for good."

"Oh - you weren't going for the Sta-"

"No."

"Oh... Look, there wasn't much of a movie selection in Deepground. References get thrown out there a lot. It is a bit socially awkward to be nine for ten years. Bare with me"

Reeve rushes in, since the rest of the trained para-military WRO is too busy staring at walls...

"Reeve Tuesti."

"So you are Shalua's younger sister. I guess terrible character gimmicks run in the family."

"Excellent. Now I can terminate both of you at once."

"Look at her. Look at how ridiculous her character design is! That's the price she has paid fighting Shinra for the past ten years."

"All to find her lost sister. I told her it was a terrible waste of time and she should give up while she's ahead but - hey, things seem to have worked out."

"Mostly by a complex system of machinery crudely held together by an intricate system of belts and medically sealed by several therapeutic zippers. Not a day goes by when Shalua doesn't suffer the pain of a hundred souls."

"That was a double negative."

"I know... But still, she..."

"Enough. I've heard enough. Your poorly worded diatribe holds no water here."