Part 45: NGAE: ~/yellow sigma\$ cd _
VLR OST: [Placidity]
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
Think this actually works?
Donno. Only one way to find out, though.
Hey. Someone's coming.
*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*
What's going on here?
We bumped into them a little while ago.
Who'd have thought we'd bump into you, too?
Lemme see the map.
Oh... sure.
All three routes end up here.
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
That map... It's just like the one we found in the crew quarters.
Crew quarters?
Oh, we found a map like that too.
There was one in the lounge.
There's a lounge?
Anyway, ours was in the infirmary.
Hmm... Maybe we should sit down for a bit and exchange information.
No. There's plenty of time for that after we check out this elevator.
You may have noticed that that scene just now was extremely similar to the scene we got after exiting the lounge on the last branch! We're going to be seeing a lot of this; a mixture of new scenes and old scenes, and old scenes with switched around names and places.
That means it's time for us to avail ourselves of 999's most innovative feature...
Wheeeee!
VLR continues the proud tradition of having the greatest fast-forward button in videogames, allowing us to breeze through text and animations at ludicrous speed. It even lets us skip through those god-forsaken bleeping map segments and door-opening animations!
The other very useful thing about it is that it screeches to a halt whenever there's new or new-ish dialogue to see.
So yeah, I'm going to be skipping (and summarizing) these bits, whether they're entirely recycled or just other people saying the same things. As such, this update is going to cover a lot of ground!
Anyway, after everyone discovers that they all have the same note about supplementary rules, they all head back to Warehouse A, as they did last time...
...but via a different route.
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
That means you can come visit the lounge, too.
You'd like it, Grandpa.
There's lots of alcohol. They've even got some of your favorite.
Oh ho! Well, that sounds great.
Maybe I'll go have a drink later.
The hell, man? How are you so damn calm?
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
I can't be sure yet, but there's no way this is all just coincidence.
Yeah. There's even a Zero...
Whatever it is that's going on, we need to get in touch with headquarters, and fast.
Yeah, I agree.
They've probably figured out we're gone by now...
Yeah...
Do you think they'll find us?
Let's hope so.
(How are these two connected...?)
Sigma stealthily slips away, and everyone continues on their merry way.
We are reunited with Zero III, who promptly starts needling Dio.
And then we have to play the Ambidex game!
But, er, then this happens.
The group quickly concludes that K is a hitman working for Clover, whom he has known since childhood. Someone timidly suggests that maybe Luna did it and the AB Rooms have been moved around, but is shouted down for that being a dumb answer that would come out of nowhere.
Then everyone starts wondering about whether the murderer was in fact Zero Sr., and then gets reminded about the time limit and decides to just get on with the AB Game.
Sigma and Phi are the last to leave.
I mean, there was a dead lady in there just a few minutes ago...
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
What, are you worried there's a ghost or something?
No! No, of course not... It's just...
Doesn't it bother you?
Nope. I don't believe in ghosts.
I feel bad that she died, of course... But there's not really anything I can do about that, is there?
Damn... You're pretty cold, you know that?
That's... pretty much the definition of "cold".
...
Anyway. Let's go.
Looks like the others have already gone in.
VLR OST: [Ambidexterity]
No. Look at the screen. There's something there...
Ghost comment aside, this is pretty much the same as before.
Zero lays out the rules.
The entire spiel is identical to before, except the names and colour assignments are switched around to reflect what actually happened.
One thing that's kinda nifty, I guess, is that even when his lines are all otherwise identical, Zero III always, always, always uses a different version of this line for each possible version of all of his scenes.
Listen in: [English/Japanese]
Rock, paper, scissors.
R-Rock, paper, scissors...?
We have to decide who's going to press the button.
And you think that's a good way to decide?!
Just shut up and do it!
Alright, time to v-
-oh, hell with it.
Rock always wins!
Scissors!
Rock!
Damnit...
So what are you going to pick?
I guess "ally"?
We're playing against Tenmyouji.
Do you have any reason to think he won't betray you?
Um...
...I guess not.
If he does, what does that make our BP?
We'd be down to... uh... 1 point each.
But that's not hopeless.
I mean, sure, we'll be a little further away from the goal, but all we've gotta do is earn those points back.
And when will we do that?
Okay, well, I don't actually know.
But it's pretty obvious we'll be playing this game more than once.
After all, we can't get to 9 BP if we don't.
The decision's yours.
Now, decide.
Ally... Or betray.
Three...
Two...
One...
Okay, for real this time! Let's vote!
And yes, in an astonishing break from tradition the Rock Paper Scissors game is rigged in our favour.