Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Part #29

Part 29: Fateception II

Alright, time to go save Pigeon Guy(and hopefully be able to save Cabanela somewhere along the way)!

(Music: Fate Updated)

: Easy enough for you to say.

: Foolish of you to say, too. If you stop the explosion, he'll just do me in some other way.

: Fair enough. Then jump in there and take care of that man in red, would you?

: I repeat. Easy enough for you to say.

: And most likely impossible, to boot. That huge explosion didn't even make him bat an eye.

: Well, what do you propose then, Prof, pray tell?!

: Your best bet...is to save me during that explosion without him noticing.

: (Easy enough for you to say! Sheesh, what's with all these people?)

: Anyhoot, jump in there and do SOMETHING!

Easy enough for him to say. What CAN we do here? Let's see, if we check out the device Pigeon Man's holding...

: This device has that meteorite data entered into it. If it detects Temsik radiation, it responds.

: Got that, kiiid? Isn't it a lovely thing?!

: (I guess sometimes it's important not to think about things too much...)

: Hmph. What a sorry pair.

Well that was a dud. But wait...there's a door right beneath the pigeon man! Why not just open it?

: Could the fact the Professor is standing on it have anything to dooo with it?

: I may look small, but I'm pretty heavy-set.

: (He sounds so proud of that fact, too...)

: This door...such a piiity. Too bad it doesn't open downward. Sometimes life can be so hard, wouldn't you agree, Professor?

: Yeah. That's why we're both DEAD.

If you don't like the Professor after that line, I don't think I can respect you anymore. Anyway, what else is there to try around here? Well, there's that balance toy...

: I just thought I'd try it out.

: If you do, you're going to set the contraption in motion!

: ...oh, yeah.

: "I just thought..." Hmph. He just thought he'd blow me up, is what HE thought!

: (Oops. That was my bad. But there aren't a whole lot of things I can use my ghost tricks on in this room...)

Indeed. We've run out of things we can try Tricking. Well, guess we'll just have to wait.

...hmm, once Evil Sissel stands back up, he happens to be over the trap door...

: Could the fact the guy in red is standing on it have anything to dooo with it?

: Is he more heavy-set than he looks, too?

: (why are you asking me?)

At this point, I think it's just a matter of "you can't open a trap door upwards while anyone is standing on it." And more importantly...we can't do anything! And we're almost out of time!

(Music: COUNT DOWN)

: ...time is running out, baby!

: Yeah, no "perhaps" about it. I know. But, you know...(there aren't a whole lot of things I can use my ghost tricks on in here!)

: It looks like it's all over.

: (Unless I find another path, I'm sort of at a deadlock here!)

But just when all hope is lost...

: ...! (Hey, I know that voice...)

: Wh-where are you...?!

: Hmm? What's with the frail-sounding call for heeelp?

: (He's here somewhere!)

: A friend of yours?

: Yup. A little guy that looks a little fragile, but has strength that'd surprise you.

: Well, he's asking you to find him.

: And before he's "carried away", no less!

: (But I'm almost out of time! Should I look for him...?)

Of course we should, and you all know why if you've been paying even the slightest amount of attention to that conversation. And finding him is as easy as sliding the view around to the bottom-right of the scene.

(Music: Missile ~ A Courageous Little Animal)

: Oh hey! It's...

: ...Missile!

: What are you doing there?

: Do you really have to ask...? Seriously, are you really going there?!

: Uh, no, that's okay. Never mind. Anyway, I need your powers. Will you help me out?

: Of course! Here, let me come join you.

: (Now maybe things will "flow" in a new direction!)

: Even though the "flow" of the sewer is a little bit stinky!

(Music: COUNT DOWN)

: Okay, let's stop that explosion!

: Uh, no...we can't do that.

: Okay, let's take care of that man in red, then!

: No, we can't do that, either.

: We can't do this! We can't do that! What can we do?

: We let the explosion happen. Then we rescue the old pigeon guy without the guy in red noticing. And your powers are the key to all of it, Missile.

: Oh, I don't know about that...but I'll do my best!

: (We're talking about a matter of seconds. We can't miss our chance!)

: Yeah. You can swap things that have the same shape, right?

: Well, to be precise...I can swap things that LOOK like they have the same shape.

: What's the difference?

: As I was being carried away by the wind and falling into the river, I realized something. If you look at a thing from different angles, it looks different!

: (You know, that's a pretty good point...for a little doggie who came in with the sewage...)

That IS a good point. But what can we do with this new information? There doesn't seem to be anything around that Missile can swap, and nothing we can fiddle with to change its shape...

: (But that won't really solve anything!)

: There's a smart boy. If you stop the explosion, he'll just find another way to get me. And it would probably give away the fact that you're here, too.

: So I have to rescue you without stopping the explosion. (Is that even possible?)

: That's what has to be done. Deal with it.

As a note: If you remember when we first dealt with the murder machine, Sissel can't stop the balance toy once it's in motion anyway. So Pigeon Man's intervention was unneeded(not that he knew that). But...there doesn't seem to be anything else we can do...

...unless you realize that Missile can reach that trash can down there. It's very easy to miss, and probably the most annoying part of this puzzle.

: Sissel...my animal instincts are starting to surface!

: If you mean you want to chase them, I think you have to be alive to do that. (Hmm...there must be some kind of rat feast in that trash can.)

: Those things usually make a bigger commotion than that.

: (A bigger commotion, eh...?)

Let's help the rats along by swapping the small stack of magazines for the big stack of newspapers!

: They're making that trash can dance.

: Truth be told, I feel a bit like dancin' now, myself!

: It's getting harder and harder to hold my wild instincts back!

: (What a dangerous bunch...)

The important bit now is to quickly get Missile over to that trash can lid, because soon...

And while it's rolling, Missile has to go into ghost mode again.

I'm showing the top screen here because it allows you to easily compare the apparent shapes of the objects involved. Since the lid is rolling on its side, it appears to be a circle - just like the tire. After Missile swaps the two, you have to wait a minute for this to happen:

Once the lid gets settled on its side, it appears to be the same shape as the trap door, so Missile can swap it again!

: Ngh...

: I have a little job for you.

: I-I can't move...I think I have...four or five broken bones...

: I don't mind. It won't prevent me from manipulating you! It might make it hurt a little bit when I move you, though...quite a bit, actually.

: D-damn you!

Cabanela may be in horrible pain, but at least the pigeon man is safe!

(Music: GHOST TRICK)

: You lot actually pulled it off.

: Sorry, Inspector Cabanela. I couldn't do anything to help you...

: And there I am, a poor, broken heap of arms and legs...but, no matter. I enjoooyed the show! The magic disappearing act, that is! Nothing like it, baby!

: Yeah, except...unlike a normal magic trick, I'M the one that managed to vanish without a trace here.

(Music: The World of the Dead)

: What's the matter? You look like you'd rather be dead, not that you aren't.

: I was just rememberin' the fact that, right about now...the "real" me is givin' the poor justice minister a real fright.

: Um, excuse me, mister.

: ...?

: You really shouldn't be mean like that.

: ......and what's this lively little creature?

: Oh, this little doggie is the warrior who keeps Kamila safe. Or...he would be, if he was actually still "full of life."

: Kamila...gods in heaven! What a terrible thing! That poor little girl...taken hostage...

: It's a cruel twist of fate indeed...

: Wait just a minute! Miss Kamila is...a hostage...?

: Yes, we're sorry, little warrior...

: M-Miss Kamila...?! A hostage...?!

: ...anyway, Inspector Cabanela...it's time to save your life now.

: But you couldn't get very far when you tried befooore, am I right?

: But this time it's different! Right, Sissel?

: That's right. With us working together, it's a whole different situation. We'll save the inspector in white, and then we'll go rescue Kamila. Okay?

: Okay! Let's hurry up and get through this!

: Gee kiiids, you're makin' me feel like an afterthought...

(Music: Fate Updated)

: Inspector Cabanela is upstairs. So our first step is to get up there.

: Sissel, I'll go up first and wait for you!

: Carry this measuring device upstairs. It has Mr. Ghost in it, so don't drop it!

: I'd better get up there, before the little pigeon's strength gives out. (Missile is waiting for me. I'd better hurry.)

But what if we just stay down here like a dumbass? Well, after ten seconds or so...

: Looks like my little pigeon friend ran out of steam.

: Or maybe that was her way of "throwing in the towel"?

: (Anyway, I won't get anything done from down here.)

: It all sort of ended before it begaaan this time, didn't it?

: Maybe I'd better start over...

: Hey, don't go working my Lovey-Dove too hard!

: (Seriously? His pigeon's name is "Lovey-Dove"?)

...anyway, after restarting and actually jumping back up into the main office this time...

: Sorry for the wait, Missile. Four minutes from now, the inspector will be killed by a gun.

: You just jump in there and stop him from firing, would you?

: *sigh* There you go again with that stuff.

: Besides, it doesn't make any sense. If you stop him from firing, he'll just kill you some other way.

: Wait a minute! That sounds familiar...

: Yup. Same situation as mine. Your best bet this time around is to allow him to shoot, and then save Cabanela without him noticing.

: (Whew. It's even WORSE than last time...)

: Anyhoot, jump in there and do SOMETHING!

(Music: Four Minutes Before Death ~Variation)

(No, I didn't mean to put Fate Updated ~Variation; the game really does use the Four Minutes Before Death variation here!)

Now then, there's nothing we can do at the start without evil Sissel noticing us(and if we try, we get the exact same scene as last time)...

: That bad Sissel turned around!

: Do you have to call him that? (But yeah. Maybe this is our chance to try some ghost tricks!)

: This is the only time he takes his eyes off of me, too.

: If you have something to do, do it now.

In case the game didn't make it obvious enough for you, there's something we have to do now. That highly important move is...

...swiveling the lamp(good thing the other Sissel doesn't notice anything if he turns around at the tail end of the Trick!). And now that we've done that, we can...um...uh...let's talk to Missile and see if we get any ideas.

: Exactly how did the man in white die?

: He got shot with the gun.

: "Gun", huh? I always wondered about those things...how come people die when they hear that loud "bang"?

: Huh? Oh, uh...(Hmm...why DO they...? I don't remember.)

: Oh, brother. I hope I never lose my memory...Mr. White Coat here died because he got shot with a bullet.

: "Bullet"?

: A little lump of metal. It proves fatal when it gets lodged in his head.

: Aha! I get it. It's like a little tiny "Mino", right?

: Yeah, um...something like that, I guess. Different shape, though.

: In that case...I ought to be able to use my powers on it to save the man in white!

: Hey, good news, eh, White Coat?

: Can't anybody here just call me "Cabanela"?

And now all we can do is wait...until...

(Music: COUNT DOWN)

: Why didn't he die?

: Because he's already dead. He died ten years ago. I knew full well he wouldn't die if I shot him.

: (Then why did you go to the trouble of shooting him at all?)

: Time's almost up. That's enough chitchat.

: (But now the situation has changed slightly. These last split-seconds are our chance!)

Yes they are! ...but what can we do? Let's wait and see.

: Again? I'm going to get shot AGAIN?

: No, wait! Our chance is coming up!

: The last split-second, right? Leave it to me!

And at that last split-second...

: The bullet is hanging in mid-air, between the gun and the inspector's forehead!

: Now's our chance! I'm here in the bullet right now! Let's swap this little thing with something else!

: Wh-what?!

: (It's our only hope. There's gotta be somethng here with the same shape and direction as the bullet!)

: I never saw a bullet before! It has such a cute little shape, doesn't it?

And the shape happens to look like the hat that was hanging on the wall there...looks like Cabanela's safe!

...or not. That didn't sound pleasant.

: We tried swapping what we could find, but that just made things worse.

: Not nice, kids. Not nice at all. You put a dent in my lovely mask.

: (I guess we'd better look for something softer to swap with...)

(Music: Four Minutes Before Death ~Variation)

Okay, let's try this again. As before, we can't do anything until Other Sissel turns around; then we swivel the lamp again. And while we're waiting for our next chance to come up...let's check out those books at the top of the shelves!

: How does the old pigeon guy even reach up here? (And I wonder if he makes his pigeon fetch these books for him?)

: I ain't telling.

: Hmm. So many mysteries surrounding this old man!

: (But never mind those...)

Oh wait, there's one more thing to do while Other Sissel is turned around. Better do that quick.

Thankfully, Other Sissel doesn't question the noise any further than that. Now there's nothing to do but wait until Cabanela shoots Other Sissel & Other Sissel rises again, since then we can reach the stepladder!

(Music: COUNT DOWN)

And now we can check out the weird stuff on the other side of the room! Let's start with what appears to be a microscope.

: (It looks like a giant nail clipper to me...)

: No, it most certainly does not. It's an instrument used in analyzing radiation-emmitting matter.

: O-Oh. Ahem. Yes, I see...

: You're not alone, kid. None of the rest of us understand it either, baby!

: Yeah! You said it!

Sissel's odd comparisons aside(what the hell kind of nail clippers has he been using?), let's check out those pictures too.

: Those are Temsik fragments. That's an article from back when it was big news.

: Ten years ago, nobody really understood it.

: I guess that's still true today.

And now to do what we're really over here to do: Knocking over a knit hat!

And getting back to the other side of the room requires an annoyingly precise arrangement. If only Sissel and Missile could easily swap places.

Back on the other side of the room, it's Missile's turn. The hat's flat shape happens to look like the books at the top of the shelves, so let's swap it! After going back to real-world mode, the hat quickly succumbs to gravity.