Part 13: One Fate Change Deeper

(Music: The World of the Dead)

Last time, we ghosted into the dead van driver after realizing there was nothing we could do to stop Lynne from being squished by a giant chicken. Now we're going to...well, let's see what we're going to do.

: Hello...? (Looks like he's unconcious.)
: Excuse me! Could you wake up for a second, please?!
: (Pushy as ever, this detective.) One thing I've learned...is that the newly-dead stay unconscious for a little while at first.
: Huh?
: I was like that, and you were like that too.
: Oh, yeah...I guess you're right.
: Anyway, if we restart the flow of time now, you'll die.
: Yeah, I know.
: Why don't we try going back even further in time?
: Wh-what? Even further? But how?
: Simple. We go back four minutes before the death of this poor driver right here.
: You can do that?!
: I never tried it before, so I don't know how it'll go. But if we can erase the driver's death, that should erase your death too.
: Oh, wow!
: (I can't think of any other way. Let's try it!)



(Music: Four Minutes Before Death)





: ...what's she doing at Point X? Could it be...just a coincidence...? And we just got an APB on her a little while ago. Something about, "an EXTREMELY important cases's EXTREMELY important witness is EXTREMELY on the run." Now what? Should I report this to Inspector Cabanela? They told us to stay off the radio unless it was an emergency, but I think I'd better call this in...poor Lynne. I wonder what she did this time? Inspector Cabanela is pretty protective when it comes to Lynne. He'd want to know.



: What's the matter? All right, fine.

And after going back to report Lynne to the Chief's Office...

: The static is awful.



: What the heck is this? I can't hear very well...

But as he's adjusting his headphone volume...





: It looks like it...I noticed something, though. The conversation he was listening to just before the crash...I remember hearing it before.
: You're right. We heard it just a few minutes ago, didn't we?
: (Just after that conversation, the detective suddenly passed out. What happened, I wonder?)
: We already know the answer! We saw what happened at the restaurant. She burned up the "ladybug"...sometimes, when a high-tech bug like that is destroyed, it emits a loud signal. Loud enough to knock a person out if they were listening to it through headphones.
: So that's why the detective passed out, huh?
: Bingo! Now let's stop that from happening!



(Music: Fate Updated)

: (Hey, this place...this is the place that white-suited inspector phoned tonight.)
: This is the parking lot of the park on the east side of town...it's been years.
: You know this park?
: Yeah, I used to play here a lot when I was little. But then, one day...I swore I'd never set foot in this park again.
: (Whoa. Those are some really deep, dark feelings there...I wonder what happened.)
: Hold it! Don't give me that "a ghost doesn't have feet to set" bit! It's just a figure of speech!
: (What kind of nitpicker do you think I am?)
: Anyway, whatever. Let's get started!
: Okay, let's do that. (I won't press her about that other thing right now...)


Hm, what to do? There's not much to do over here right now...except turn the siren on.



...but it doesn't get a reaction from the detective.

: It doesn't look like the detective is going to come...
: Might as well turn it off. It's pretty loud.

If you turn the siren on again while the detective's radioing in at the back of his van, he'll go turn it off...but won't react beyond that. And while that's happening, the phone rings.



: Don't keep yelling at me about these things!
: But they might be talking about something riduclously important!
: That's true, but, still...
: It might be the person who really shot you!
: ...now you're just throwing things out there. (But in any case, it looks like it's too late to get to the phone now).
: Darn. I think we missed our chance.

I have a feeling that getting to that phone is important...but let's see what we can do anyway.



: There isn't much time left. We have to stop him...fast. Otherwise, he's going to crash into the Chicken Kitchen!
: Hmm, this is like that game, isn't it? A game of "chicken"!
: ......sorry, but what's a "game of chicken"?
: Sorry. I'd better choose my audience more carefully next time I tell a joke.
: (Never mind that. We have to do something!)



Right. But what can we do in here? There's hardly anything in here oh god oh god oh GOD the only thing we can trick is the seat QUICK LOWER THE SEAT.



Oh god bad idea fuck. Let's raise the seat back up quic-wait, Sissel and Lynne cut in right after I lowered the seat.

: What do you think you're doing?!
: Oh, uh...I just thought I'd better do "something"...
: Well, hurry and put the seat back up!
: I can't! It's too heavy! (All I can do now is hope this guy has strong ab muscles.)

Alas, the detective does not have strong ab muscles.



: I get that you felt like you had to do "something", but THAT?
: Well, there really isn't much I CAN do once the van is moving.

Let's try this again, without making the van driver's death worse than it already was. First, we have to wait for the detective to go over to the radio, since that's when he tosses some binoculars onto the back seat...



And now we can do this:



Having reclined the seat(and un-reclined it) without killing anyone, we're now on the right path to stopping this catastrophe. Sound the siren again...



Then jump into the binoculars. When the detective comes here to turn off the siren...

: What are these doing here?

He picks them up again.



And the phone rings right after that, so he ends up carrying us over to the phone. Now we can listen in to his conversation!





: Listen to this! There's a suspicious couple in the bar upstairs! I'm going to put a "ladybug" on them.
: A "ladybug"...? You mean a listening device? Don't do anything to blow our cover. Inspector Cabanela will be furious.
: But they're doing all kinds of suspicious whispering! We have to hear what they're saying! You can pick up the signal from your van. Check out their conversation for me, will you?
: All right, fine. Once you get going on something, I know there's no stopping you...
: Thanks! Later, then!
: Hold on. Did you see a customer come in just now? A woman with red hair and red boots?
: Oh, yeah. That restless, suspicious chick. Sure.
: "Suspicious"...?
: I mean, c'mon. As soon as she sat down, she ordered three glasses of water in a row. And she spilled the second glass on the table.
: Okay, fine. Keep your eye on her too, if you would.
: You got it!

: Oh wow. That waitress...was an undercover agent!
: And she apparently thought you were pretty suspicious, too.
: Oh, yeah. Sorry! I was really thirsty, so...you know. Ha ha.
: (Um, no, I don't know.)
: Anyway, did you hear what I heard? About the "listening device?" We have to do something about that bug!

We already know that staying here is pointless, so let's go to the Chicken Kitchen!







: The heart of the Chicken Kitchen, eh?
: Yup. Or, as most people would say, the kitchen.
: I hope the key to preventing that accident is here somewhere.
: Oh, I bet it will be! You know what they say..."Where there's smoke and chicken, there's fire!"
: (Hmm, now that you mention it, it IS pretty smoky in here...)



(Music: Fate Updated ~ Variation)

I'm not sure how this counts as changing any fates, but just roll with it. At any rate, what to do from here? Let's start by flipping that switch to the left of the phone...



: I can't seem to raise this switch. It won't budge.
: Yeah, well, not surprising, considering this whole place is sticky with grease. I bet it must be stuck.
: Yeah, it does feel pretty sticky. But if the switch were already raised, I bet I could manage to lower it.

And shortly after that(who knew ghosts had a sense of touch?)...

: Hey, look what she's doing! Do you think that could be...?



: (Now that I think about it...it's this waitress's meddling that starts this whole chain of events.
: The detective wouldn't have gotten his ears blown out, and wouldn't have crashed.
: In other words, we're witnessing it with our own eyes...the cause of a huge disaster, slowly being planted in a chicken.
: Hey, I just had a good idea!
: About what to do with the "ladybug"?
: No, I was thinking we could let her get crushed under the chicken instead of me!
: I can't tell if you're kidding. (At any rate, now we've seen the root cause of the accident.)
: And all we have to do now is think of a way to take care of it!



The easy way would be to get that chicken away from her. But the left switch for the lazy suzan is out of our reach, so we'll have to go over to the right one. But even that is hard to reach until the chef's hat is in the right spot.



Like so. But if we rotate the chicken away from Memry while she's watching...well, she's not THAT dumb.



...and that's a pretty interesting way to marinate a chicken.



: Maybe it's out of sorts 'cause I was spinning around on it yesterday.
: Interesting thing to do for a lady her age...
: "Maybe it's out of sorts"? How about thinking maybe it might be BROKEN?
: (But it really isn't broken. It's just us ghosts.)

But wait! Once the chef finishes the other chicken, he puts it on the other plate. Maybe we can confuse Memry now!



...but Memry's still not stupid. How can we distract her? Well, if you're paying attention, you might have noticed that the room got less smoky while I was doing all this. That's because Memry pushed up the stuck switch on the left, which turns the fans on. So if we go back over there and turn the fans back off, the room gets smoky again...



And Memry goes to flip the switch again. Now's our chance!



Memry doesn't notice that the chickens switched positions, and when she walks back to them...



...she takes the one without the bug in it.



: There! How about that!
: The "ladybug" is still sitting on the table! We did it!

(Music: Chicken Paradise)

: La la la! Chiiiiicken! Thou art so beautiful! Chiiiiicken!



: I'm consumed with the love of consuming you! La la la!
: What the heck is this?



(Music: GHOST TRICK)



: Yes, but I still haven't escaped the worst darkness of this terrible night...I...I shot you, didn't I?
: There must've been some complicated set of circumstances that made you do it...
: It's never okay to shoot a person, no matter what the circumstances!
: Hey, shouldn't that be my line? But anyway...you were investigating a case. And I was supposed to give you information on that case. Maybe it's time you told me about it...tell me about the case you were looking into.
: Yes...I guess I should...but let's go back to the new present first.
: Okay, sure.







There's a lot of coming up soon, so I'll save that for next update. But for now, let's take care of the usual "visit every single place we can but where we're supposed to be" schtick.



: It's getting late. How are things progressing?
: I saw the person who shot me...I saw the whole thing with my own eyes...
: Well well! That's a big step forward, by the sound of it.
: Forward, huh...? Doesn't feel like it.
: Here, let me share something with you.
: What's that?
: The "truth" is sometimes hidden in the shadow of what is being looked at, and can't be seen properly. Don't forget that.
: The shadow of what's being looked at, huh? I'll remember that.



: She'll complete her tale of love, even if she has to type her fingers to the bone.



: I don't see the bag of ice the little girl had on her feverish forehead. (Hmm...she's not here.) Did she go to the powder room? Is she out having a good time on the town? (I'd better be going myself.)



: This feeling of waiting for a phone call that might never come...I wonder what sort of feeling HE'S waiting with...?
: Your Excellency! Are you sure you are all right, sir?
: Please! Stay back! How many times do I have to say it?!
: I-I'm very sorry, Your Excellency! We're all just very worried about you, sir!
: I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that. But don't worry about me. Please just leave me alone.
: Yes, sir!
: The tension in this room is palpable. (It's as if...something is about to happen.)



: Detective Rindge must be at the restaurant now. Now that he's back, he might be arresting Lynne as I speak. (I'd probably better get over there too.) Come to think of it...I don't see that odd man around here anywhere, either. (Maybe he's off somewhere dreaming about the gods right now.)



: All this equipment I've never seen before...who is this guy anyway, and what is he up to? Doesn't look like he's gonna budge from that spot. Guess I'll go somewhere else.



: ......
: What do you think of my quirky behavior?! Surprised?
: ......
: You seemed bored, so I thought I'd wake you up. You can call that my "Gotcha!" move! What do you think?
: ......
: Hey, wait a minute...are you...dead...?
: Dead? Of course not.
: Oh, thank goodness! I thought I'd surprise you, but you surprised me! You're good. Oh, you're good...
: ......



: The Chief here. It looks like I won't be able to get home tonight. You go ahead and get some sleep without me. Yeah, I love you too, honey.
: Hmm. I guess he was radioing his wife. (If he had called her on the phone, I could have gone and seen what she looked like.)


Video
Saving Detective Rindge (and also Lynne)

New & Updated Records
Detective Rindge
Chef of the Chicken Kitchen
Memry
Black-Hearted Blue Man
Beauty
Bartender
The Chicken Kitchen
Kitchen of the Chicken Kitchen