Chapter 19: Disk 3.4 - Lindblum

[Screen changes to inside Lindblum; the Business District, to be precise. Regent Cid is following Minister Artania]

Minister Artania "As you can see, the reconstruction is moving right along."

Regent Cid "Good. We've started building airship No. 3. It's going well, too gwok. Many engineers from the Industrial District have volunteered."

Oh now construction on the non-Mist powered airship is going well? Why didn't this happen for the second Hilda Garde?

Skipping Cid and Artania's unnecessary pep talk.

[Baku and Blank walk onscreen]

Baku "Hey, Regent. What's goin' on?"

Regent Cid "I'm tired from working day and night on a new airship... Hey, why don't you come by the research center and give us a hand sometime?"

Also there was that whole "you were going to leave my niece, Garnet, behind in the Evil Forest" issue, but I guess that will never be brought up.

Baku & Blank "..."

Baku "You talkin' to both of us?"

Regent Cid "Heh, heh, heh. I'm just kidding. We already have enough people gwok working on it."

Baku "Oh... Do you know how Zidane's doing?"

Regent Cid "He's fine. In fact, he's probably awake now."

Again, how the heck did Zidane, Garnet and the others get out of the Invincible's blast completely okay? Especially when they were at the centre most point of the explosion.

Baku "Blank, go to the castle and see how he's doing."

Regent Cid "Oh, and tell him to come to my room."

What about Garnet, your niece?

[Blank runs off screen. Screen changes to the Guest bedroom, where Zidane, lying on a bed, wakes up]

Zidane "Dagger... Eiko..." "...How did I get here?"

[Zidane heads for the exit, but Blank runs in]

Blank "Zidane."

Zidane "!?"

Blank "So, how are you feelin'?"

Zidane "Okay, I guess..." "By the way..."

[Choose between "Where's Dagger?" or "How did I get here?"]

IF YOU CHOOSE THE FIRST CHOICE...

Zidane "Do you know where Dagger is?"

Blank "No, I haven't seen her. Maybe she's upstairs by the telescope."

Really? Garnet wasn't going to stay by Zidane's bedside until he woke up? So much for all that drama from the last few chapters (and it's only going to get worse)

Zidane "Oh yeah!" [Zidane runs out]

Blank "Man, isn't there anything on his mind besides girls...?"

IF YOU CHOOSE THE SECOND CHOICE...

Zidane "So what happened after that? How did I get here?"

Blank "Slow down. Geez..." "Things were so chaotic; it took forever to find you guys." "No one really got hurt except you. I heard you pulled some crazy stunt."

How the heck was Zidane (who was actual supposed to be a bio-engineered super soldier) the only one who got hurt from that explosion while everyone else was completely okay?

Zidane "Yeah... Eiko and Dagger were in trouble, so..."

Blank "Always showing off." "You got hurt pretty bad because of that." "After we found you guys, we stole a ship by the port and escaped."

Why would you need to "steal a ship and escape"? Cid was there and the Alexandria guards weren't against you, plus the explosion had already happened and the threat had left, so I don't see why you felt the need to leave instead of helping with rebuilding.

Zidane "Wow. I don't remember any of that."

Blank "I didn't think so. You know, you slept three days straight..."

I think you mean unconscious, not "sleeping", Blank, those are not the same thing.

Zidane "Really!?"

Blank "By the way, Cid said he wanted to talk to you in the royal chamber."

Zidane "Oh, Okay. I wonder what he wants..."

[Zidane leaves the the room]

[Depending on which choice you made, you can either head to the telescope or to the royal chamber. Since going to the telescope gives more lines, that's where Zidane'll be going; then to the royal chamber]

- Something Washed Ashore [At Lindblum Harbor, two guards are overlooking the motionless body of Quina]

How the heck did Quina get here? Last I checked, the lake in Treno that Quina jumped into wasn't connected to the ocean, and there was no way that s/he drifted all the way here without drowning.

Skipping the rest of the ATE, it's just filler.

[Zidane runs to the telescope. Dagger's there]

And so it begins… Garnet's "mute" BS.

Zidane "Well, look who's here." "Man, we went through some crazy stuff, huh? I honestly didn't think I was gonna make it this time." "But as you can see, I'm alright now."

What do you mean you "didn't think you were gonna make it"? There is no way you could have foreseen that giant explosion from the Invincible, which you aren't even aware of yet.

Dagger "..."

Zidane "Dagger... Is something wrong?"

Dagger [Shakes her head] "..."

Zidane "Ohhh, okay. You're so happy to see me, you don't know what to say." "I didn't know you loved me so much."

These lines are written like all that melodrama between Zidane and Garnet for the last few chapters never happened, which I am really going to be addressing later.

Zidane (Did I do something wrong...?) "Alright, what did I do wrong?"

Well you did eff off to Treno like a complete moron before.

Dagger [Shakes her head] "..."

Zidane (...Maybe she's just tired. A lot had happened since Brahne's death...) (...I'd better cheer her up.) "Hey, let's go check out the town." "It'll be fun. Come on!"

And you didn't try to do this back in Alexandria at the beginning of Disk 3 (as I've already addressed), because…?

Dagger [Hangs her head] "..."

Zidane (...I think she's starting to get annoyed.) (Maybe I should leave her alone.) "I guess you have a lot on your mind right now." "Sorry to bother you." "I'll see you later."

Oh heck no, for the past several chapters you were all anguished about not being with Garnet (the same goes with Garnet who I will be getting to in just a moment), and now you are just going to leave and not figure out what is wrong? TALK TO HER, ASK WHAT IS GOING ON, YOUR DEVOTION SUCKS.

Dagger (Zidane... You're so sweet.) (Thank you.)

And yet you aren't even going to try to speak to him and are giving him the cold shoulder because of your wangst, nor did you try to invite him to the castle to be with him in person a few chapters ago.

Skipping ahead.

- Self-reproach

[Dagger is at the telescope]

Oh boy here we go… Dagger only repeats garbage in her head.

Dagger "..." (Alexandria is gone...) (I still can't believe it...) (So many people were killed.)

Then how the heck did you, Zidane and the others survive when you were all in the centre most point of that massive explosion?

Dagger (The survivors are homeless and destitute.) (How could this have happened...?) (Maybe I shouldn't have listened to Eiko and summoned Alexander...)

And do what? Let Bahamut continue to devastate the town? It wasn't even Bahamut or Alexander that caused the massive explosion.

Dagger (No. It's not her fault.) (It's my fault! I never should have run away from home!) (I got everyone involved in this: Zidane, Vivi, Steiner...everyone...) (Had I stayed with Mother, maybe I could've stopped her.)

Well, screw it, eh. We already went through this: she ordered to have your head cut off, fool! Did you forget that YOUR MOTHER WANTED YOUR EIDOLONS TO USE AS WEAPONS? If you stayed home, your eidolons would have been extracted and used to destroy things, not that it mattered since you still poisoned Zidane and ran back home like idiot anyways, completely defeating the purpose of running away in the first place, making this dialogue even more pointless and dumb. Also funny how you claim to care about "getting Zidane involved" but didn't care about that when you abandoned him and he was in Burmecia.

Dagger (...It's all my fault.) "..." (I shouldn't have assumed the throne...)

WELL GOOD THING YOU HAVEN'T, RIGHT?

Just friggin- and who should sit on the throne, if not you? Why the heck don't you and Zidane clean up the ruins of Alexandria when your loyal subjects need you so much?

Dagger (I thought I could make amends, but...) (...I've only brought misery to everyone.) (...What am I going to do now?) "..."

It's amazing how some of the FF fanbase complains about Cloud and Squall being "emo" when IX gives us scenes like this that show that Dagger takes the cake for most excessively angsty character in the series. Why don't they just play Linkin Park's "I've Become so Numb" during this part while they're at it?

[Screen returns to the group in the conference room]

Steiner "...The town is now in shambles. Many innocent lives where lost."

How? Didn't they do a good job of evacuating? And when you go back to Alexandria, you see that a lot of the NPC's there are fine and even organizing things to rebuild. Not to mention how you all seemed to have survived being in the centre of that explosion with no scars or missing limbs.

Regent Cid "Gwok ...I can imagine."

Minister Artania "Her Highness is probably beyond despair."

Steiner "I have never witnessed such tragedy." "There was nothing we could do. We fought with everything we had, but to no avail." "Beatrix and I were prepared to give our lives." "...I don't know what happened to her."

Okay how is Beatrix not with you? Last we saw Steiner and Beatrix, there were in the town together, how could they have gotten separated?

Minister Artania "We have spent much time and effort rebuilding Lindblum." "But I believe it will take much longer for our people to overcome their losses." "Those who survived have a long, tough road ahead of them."

Yes, thank you for spoon feeding us that, Artania, is that the only reason you are here?

Freya "Burmecia, Cleyra, Lindblum and now Alexandria..." "Kuja has vanquished all four nations." "What is he trying to accomplish?"

Technically it was Brahne that did that to the first three, and forth was done by Garland (though they aren't aware of the latter)

Zidane "Who knows!? Let's just go get him!"

Amarant "It's not that easy." "Kuja's powers are beyond ours. How do you plan to fight him?"

Zidane "..."

Ironic considering that Zidane is supposed to be superior to Kuja, Amarant just doesn't know that yet.

Regent Cid "Kuja is a man of many mysteries, indeed. I still can't believe what I saw when we were evacuating from Alexandria."

Zidane "What!? What did you see?"

Regent Cid "I saw him escape on my stolen airship, Hilda Garde 1 gwok." "There were black mages onboard, too." "They weren't any old black mages! They were talking normally!"

How did Cid see that? Wasn't he with the others in Alexandria Castle at that point while Kuja was at the edge of the town far away, and how could he have heard the Mages talking? How did the Hilda Garde 1 even get there when Kuja uses the Silver Dragon to fly around?

Vivi & Zidane "!"

Vivi "NO!"

Zidane "No way..." "Are you sure about this?"

Regent Cid "There's no doubt."

Vivi "WHY!? Why are they with Kuja...?"

- Deep Anger

[Screen changes to show the Hilda Garde 1, on the ground. Kuja is on its deck]

Kuja "That blast almost destroyed our ship..." "For a second, I thought I was..." "...Hahahahaha! What am I thinking!" "What can that old fool do to me!? He can't kill me! Nothing can!"

Okay what makes you think that you can't be killed, Kuja? Did Garland ever give you any indication of that? You also seem to be forgetting that he made you and he and the Invincible are far stronger than you, isn't that the whole reason you were after Alexander in the first place?

Kuja "...Besides, he's too late. The wheels are already in motion." [He walks off the ship. Black mages follow him] "I won't let him interfere."

Except that he already did when he stopped you from acquiring Alexander and blowing it up, I don't see how Garland was "too late".

[Zorn and Thorn run on screen, and up to Kuja]

How did these two get with Kuja? Last we saw them, they left Alexandria way before Kuja showed up there and they were nowhere to be seen nearby when Bahamut was attacking, how did they even get the Hilda Garde and know to bring it to Kuja? This comes out of nowhere.

Zorn "What happened?"

Thorn "Terrible injuries, you have suffered."

Kuja "Shut up!" "...If I can't have Alexander, so be it. I'll find another eidolon soon enough."

Okay Kuja is just delusional at this point, Alexander was the most powerful Gaia Eidolon that Kuja was after to take on Garland and it got blow up, what makes Kuja think he can take on Garland with a weaker Eidolon? The only Eidolon that seems to rival Alexander is Ark, which is actually a Terra Eidolon, but Kuja doesn't even go after it or seems aware of it's existence.

This is just padding (which Disk 3 will have a several of, we will be seeing one later this chapter) Not to mention that the whole hunt for Alexander and the Eidolons will be rendered completely pointless once Trance suddenly becomes a plot point.

Kuja "Hey, you!"

Black Mage "I am Mr. 234."

Kuja "Shut up! I didn't ask for your number!" "Are the preparations complete?"

Black Mage "Yes."

Kuja "It's about time." "Hahaha... Zidane, your role in my play is far from over."

What was his role before this point? Zidane had nothing to do with your plan until now, after you've failed to get Alexander.

Kuja "I'm gonna go rest now. Get back to work."

[The black mages nod and return to the ship; Zorn and Thorn follow Kuja off screen]

Steiner "...So basically, your wife got mad at you and used magic to turn you into an oglop."

Regent Cid "Sad story, isn't it? My lecherous character has led to my undoing."

Steiner "But how did Kuja get a hold of Lady Hilda's airship?"

This will, of course, never be properly explained.

Regent Cid "Gwok! That's what I'd like to know." "He probably commandeered it to further his mad schemes, whatever they may be." "In any case, I must get Hilda and her airship back somehow gwok!"

Freya "What a shame, for a ruler to end up like this..." "But we can't ignore this situation. Kuja must be stopped!"

Thank you for pointing out the obvious.

Steiner "Indeed! We must deal with him before it is too late!"

Zidane "It's easier said than done." "We don't know where he is. We don't even have an airship to look for him."

Regent Cid "He's right. No. 2 is still gwok out of commission." "And I doubt I can oversee the construction of a new airship in my current form."

This BS again? Also didn't you say before that construction on the new airship was going well?

Regent Cid "If only I were gwok a man again..." "Artania, is there anything that can be done?"

Minister Artania "I have spoken to Doctor Tot regarding this matter and asked him to join us." "He should be here any minute."

Steiner "That's wonderful! I'm certain Doctor Tot will be most helpful!"

[Tot walks in]

Tot "I'm sorry I'm late."

Minister Artania "Please forgive me for calling you on such short notice, Doctor. Thank you very much for giving up your precious time to come here."

What "precious time"? Before the beginning of the game, Tot just effed off to Treno doing nothing when just about every NPC and their mother knew something was up with Brahne. (I refer you back to my rants in chapters 7 and 8 about Tot)

Tot "Please, Minister. You need not be so formal." "I heard what happened in Alexandria. I am so relieved to see you all again." "Hmm? Where is the princess? Eiko is missing, too." "!? Are they alright!?"

Zidane "Don't worry, Doc. They're alright. Eiko's out looking for Dagger right now."

You know where she is though, Zidane, and you should be with her too.

Skipping ahead.

[Zidane runs out, followed by everyone else. They head back to the guest room. The screen shows Zidane, Steiner, and Tot running in]

Tot "Please wait!" "Huff-Huff-Heave-Heave."

Eiko "She's sitting on her bed."

[They go up the stairs and approach her]

Zidane "...Dagger?"

Dagger "..."

Tot "Princess?"

Dagger "..."

Steiner "Princess, what is the matter...?"

Dagger "..."

Zidane "This is a bad joke." "Doctor, isn't there anything you can do?"

Tot "What tragedy..." "The princess has indeed lost her voice." "After all that she has gone through - the death of her mother, the destruction of her beloved kingdom..." "She has suffered so much pain."

Thank you Doctor. Of course, we should have heard that from you, because this screenwriter can not properly show us the melodrama of Garnet in real time. We will confine ourselves to third-hand retelling.

What about everyone else? You don't see Freya going mute do you?

Steiner "P-Princess..."

Eiko "Dagger..."

Zidane "So that's it!? There's no hope!?"

Tot "...I believe this is only temporary." "But it may be months, even years, before she can speak again..." "...until she can overcome her grief."

This is so melodramatic and forced.

Zidane "So, all we can do is wait."

ARE YOU SERIOUS, ZIDANE?! CONFESS YOUR LOVE! TELL HER YOU LOVE HER!

This is what I've been talking about before when I said that all that melodrama between Zidane and Garnet for the last few chapters when we were going through the coronation and that FMV of Zidane swinging with Garnet on a rope would have been rendered even more pointless. All that build up and it all gets forgotten and swept aside for this dumb and wangsty "Garnet goes mute" subplot that Zidane isn't even instrumental in, the whole thing just arbitrarily fixes itself later, it's just another thing that gets in the way of the love story. Not to mention how this affects gameplay in battle during this point by having a halfway chance for Dagger to not perform an action.

Tot "I'm afraid so..." "This is no ordinary illness." "We must keep her heart at peace. That is all I can think of."

It's not an illness at all, Tot, you hack.

Zidane "..."

Steiner "Princess, please forgive me!"

Zidane "...Eiko, can you look after her for a while?"

Eiko "...Sure. What are you gonna do?"

Zidane "Find Kuja and beat the crap out of him!" "Doc, I need an airship to find Kuja." "Tell me how to turn Cid back into a human! That's the only way!"

I refer to what I said above about Zidane, how about you stay be Garnet's side. I also hate how Zidane doesn't seem that shaken up by all this, he made a promise back in Dali about how he would protect Garnet, yet no matter what he did he couldn't prevent this stuff from happening to her, he should be the one feeling distraught. Seriously, if Garnet has way too much angst, then Zidane has way too little angst, the most we get from Zidane is really forced moments like when Garnet was being coronated a few chapters ago, and the "You are not Alone" scene later ahead (will be tearing that train wreck apart), which is part of why their chemistry sucks so much.

Tot "Now, now. Calm down... Let's go see the regent."

Zidane "Come on, Rusty. Get up."

Steiner "Princess, sniffle-sniffle! Please... Say something! sniffle-sniffle!"

Zidane "You're gonna have to baby-sit him, too..."

Great, the annoying Steiner slap-stick is back.

[Eiko nods. Screen changes to Cid's chamber. Tot is standing in front of Cid]

Tot "..."

Regent Cid "So... gwok is there any hope for me?"

Tot "...I'm sorry, sire. We must find the person who cast the spell to reverse the effect."

That makes no sense, Kuja put a sleeping spell on Dagger before and we saw that Beatrix was able to reverse it, why not use her to turn Cid back, or use a remedy?

Zidane "Dammit..."

Tot "...Actually, there may be another way. Long ago, I read a book on metamorphosis that discussed methods to reverse the effect."

Regent Cid "Is this true!?"

Tot "Yes. However, I don't know if it is a reliable source. The book had a rather comical tone."

Regent Cid "Is there a chance that I could die from it?"

Tot "I doubt it will be lethal, sire. We will simply mix three ingredients and apply the formula to your body."

You sure you aren't just talking about a remedy potion?

Zidane "Let's just try it."

Regent Cid "Gwok! That's easy for you to say."

Zidane "What are the three ingredients?"

Tot "Unusual Potion, Beautiful Potion, and Strange Potion. They must be mixed in a 5:2:3 ratio."

Minister Artania "Oh... Magicians of early times often used those potions." "They were all fairly common in the old times."

Thanks for that pointless bit of lore. What did magicians even do with these stupidly named potions?

Tot "Yes. I expected the ingredients to such a powerful cure to be more exotic, too." "But as you mentioned, they are no longer popular, so I do not know if we can find them."

Zidane "...I think Cinna has the Unusual Potion." "I'll take care of this. I'm gonna go downtown and look for the ingredients."

How about someone else does that, like the guards or one of the other main characters, while you stay with Garnet, Zidane, and actually have the love story that this game pretends is a big thing?

But here with go with this fetch quest that is a huge waste of time.

[Zidane runs out]

Regent Cid "I'm counting on you gwok."

- My Hammer

[The Tantalus members are working on reconstructing their hideout]

Benero "It's gettin' hot." "WHOAAA!" "Damn, I hate heights."

Marcus "Hey, I need a hammer."

Cinna "Let's see..." "Hold on. I'm gonna have to go find one."

Marcus "Just let me borrow yours."

Cinna "What!?" "No way! Nobody uses my hammer but me!"

Marcus "Oh, come on."

Cinna "No!" "No one touches my hammer but me!"

Marcus "Fine... But I still need something to drive in these nails."

[Cinna mutters something quickly, before walking into the hideout]

Another empty ATE that's just about a freaking HAMMER of all things.

[Zidane exits the castle and heads to the Theater District. Upon exiting the air cab station, two Burmecians, one female and one male, are standing on the left side of the screen]

"Hey, isn't that...?"

"I think it is."

Kal "Yo!"

Zidane "?"

Kal "How's it goin', buddy!?"

Zidane "Hey, you're the couple from Burmecia!"

Ah yes, the minor characters that still have a much better love story than Zidane's and Garnet's, it's also ironic that they appeared both times when the Zidane/Garnet romance was really going downhill, the first was in Burmecia when Zidane was abandoned by Dagger, and the second is now during Dagger's mute wangst.

Wei "Thank you again for your help in Burmecia."

Zidane "Ah, it was nothing. I'm glad to see your husband's doing well."

Kal "Yeah, my leg's all healed, thanks to you." "It was a struggle, but luckily, we were able to get here."

Wei "Some of our friends made it to Lindblum, too, but they said many people died on the way."

Zidane "Geez..."

- The Rally

This is the ATE that I was referring to back in Cleyra that only serves to remind us of Freya's and Fratley's unfinished story.

[Screen changes to inside Lindblum Castle; Freya runs up to two Burmecian soldiers]

Burmecian Soldier Doyle "Freya!"

Burmecian Soldier Gray "I'm so happy to see you!"

Freya "Likewise! I'm glad you all made it here."

Burmecian Soldier Doyle "Yes, it was a long trip, but somehow, we found our way here."

Burmecian Soldier Gary "I only wish Dan and the others were here, too... We've lost so many friends..."

Freya "...Indeed."

Burmecian Soldier Gray "We can't get down now. We have to go on, for their sake and ours."

Burmecian Soldier Doyle "So, Freya, what are you going to do now?"

Freya "I'm going after Kuja with Zidane and the rest of the party." "And you?"

Do these two even know who Kuja is?

Burmecian Soldier Doyle "We're going to regroup and embark on the reconstruction of Burmecia." "Many of our comrades are still scattered all over the continent."

Where exactly? After this point, you barely see any rat people NPCs around parts of the Mist Continent, heck, even if you revisit Burmecia by this point, the place is still completely vacant, the only other rat person you can find is a Cleyra priest in Daguerreo, but that's on the Forgotten Continent.

Burmecian Soldier Gray "Actually, we were hoping you would join us."

Freya "Oh..." "Then I will see you all, as soon as I complete my objective." "Please take care of things 'til then."

Burmecian Soldier Gray "Will do."

Burmecian Soldier Doyle "Good luck to you, too."

Freya "Thank you." (I wish Sir Fratley were with us...)

Is this dialogue implying that Freya thinks Fratley is dead? The game's ending clearly proves that to be BS. Is she wondering where he is? Well then why don't you ask were he is and go find him? But thanks for reminding us of your's and Fratley's subplot that never went anywhere. Fratley should have been a main party member.

Kal "...Yeah." "Oh, I forgot! I wanna show you something."

Wei "That's right, huh?"

Zidane "?"

Kal "Hey! Come here!"

"Okay."

Zidane "!"

[Five small rats run onto the screen]

Wei "They're our children."

Regarding the children, when you saw Kal and Wei back in Burmecia before, Wei was pregnant with those kids, it can't have been a least more than a month since that event, yet these kids seem to be past the toddler stage, do the rat people mature rapidly? This is never elaborated upon.

Skipping the rest of the potions quest.

[Zidane returns to Cid's throneroom. Doctor Tot, Minister Artania, and the Regent are all gathered there]

Zidane "Hey, I got 'em!" "I mixed the 3 potions in this bottle, like you told me to."

Tot "Excellent. Let's test it right away." "Sire, are you ready?"

Regent Cid "...Oh, what the hell. Go ahead."

Zidane "This better work."

Tot "Alright. Here we go."

[Tot shakes the bottle onto Cid. Cid transforms]

Zidane "Whoa!"

Regent Cid "Did it work!?" "...Hmmm? Something wrong ribbit."

Zidane "...Ribbit?"

Tot "..." "It didn't work."

[Tot steps aside. Cid is now a frog]

…yep all this pointless fetch quest did was change Cid from an Oglop to a Frog. This is some of the most blatant padding in an FF game (and that's not even mentioning the "Red Light, Green Light" minigame later that also involves Cid), they'd rather waste time on this than focus on Zidane's and Garnet's love story or finish the Freya/Fratley arc or make Amarant an actually interesting character.

[Screen changes to the Conference Room. Everyone's there, except for Tot and Cid. Minister Artania is standing in front of the throne]]

Minister Artania "Thank you for coming." "The regent has an important announcement."

[He walks forward, revealing Cid]

Steiner "!? Now he's a frog!"

Regent Cid "I wanted to ribbit become a man again, but this is all I got." "We all know that Kuja holds the key to our fate ribbit." "We must find him at any cost!"

Steiner "But we don't have an airship."

Regent Cid "We can use that ribbit ship we stole from Alexandria." "Artania, order Zebolt to service that ship immediately."

Minister Artania "Yes, sire."

Zidane "So, where exactly are we going?"

Regend Cid [Yes, it's an in-game spelling mistake] "Ribbit... I'm still working on that."

Vivi "...Um, you said earlier that there were black mages on Kuja's airship." "So if we go to the Black Mage Village, maybe we can learn something."

Regent Cid "Hmmm..."

Vivi "...I still can't believe it." "Why were they on Kuja's ship!?" "WHY!?"

Yeah, how did they even find Kuja or get the Hilda Garde airship? (yes we do see that Hilda was captured by Kuja later, but it isn't really explained when he captured her, and why Kuja would want the airship when he already has a Silver Dragon to ride on, the dragon does disappear after Alexander, but Kuja couldn't have known about that in foresight)

Zidane "Well, I'm with Vivi. I think we should go to the Black Mage Village."

Steiner "Yes. Brilliant idea, Master Vivi." "Princess... will you be going as well?"

Dagger "..."

Eiko "Of course she will!"

Zidane "I don't know if that's a good idea."

Dagger "..."

Eiko "Don't worry. I'll take care of her."

How about YOU do that Zidane?! You were all upset over her not being by your side a few chapters ago, now you are trying to do the same?

Regent Cid "Alright then! Ribbit! Let's go to the Black Mage Village!" "We'll all meet onboard the ship at the harbor in the Base Level."

[Everyone walks out]

- No Free Lunch

[Quina is wandering around Lindblum's Business District section, stopping near Grandma Pickle's pickle stand. "Fresh gyshal pickles!" and "They're delicious!" are shouted repeatedly by her]

Quina "I lost already. This town too big." "What all this construction?" "Delicious! You have delicious food!?"

[Quina walks up to Grandma Pickle]

Grandma Pickle "Yeah. These pickles taste great."

Quina "What!? That is food!?"

Grandma Pickle "You've never seen a pickle before?"

Quina "No. First time." "I still eat many different food and get much learning." "My master tell me so."

Grandma Pickle "In that case, you should try one. I think you'll like it."

Quina "Okay! I eat!"

[Grandma Pickle steps aside. Quina eats one, then another, and another...]

Great, now it's rehashing the ATE from Disk 1 Lindblum where Steiner tries the pickles.

[If Zidane visits Quina at the pickle stand, Quina rejoins your team. If not, he'll rejoin your team in the boat. This is an optional event, but let's presume Zidane does it anyways. So, Zidane goes to the pickle stand, where Quina is]

Skipping this scene.

[Zidane and Quina return to the castle, go down to the Base Level, and head for the harbour. Once there, they board the Blue Narciss]

[Screen changes to the dock of the ship, where the characters are gathered]

Zidane "Man... I hope this thing can get us there."

"Yo, what took you so long?"

Zidane "?"

[Zidane walks forward; Blank is in front of the steering wheel]

Zidane "Blank! You're coming, too?"

Blank "Yeah, I was asked to."

Zidane "By whom?"

Blank "The boss, of course. But it wasn't his idea."

"It was mine ribbit."

[Cid walks on screen]

Regent Cid "We need at least one person to look after the ship when we reach our destination."

Wouldn't a small group of guards have been better?

Blank "Plus, I still owe you guys one, so I volunteered."

Quina "F-Frog..."

Zidane "...You don't owe us anything."

Regent Cid "Okay, anchors aweigh!"

Quina "Is talking..."

Zidane "Hey, Quina loves frogs, so you'd better watch out."

Regent Cid "I'm not worried. I've had more enemies as an oglop. Ribbit!" "Oh, by the way, if you ever want to change your party members, talk to me."

Quina "Maybe I eat it...?

Was that one of the only reasons they did this "Cid changes to a frog" nonsense? To make a joke with Quina who is obsessed with frogs?

Blank "Okay, where are we off to?"

Zidane "We're going to the Black Mage Village on the Outer Continent."

Blank "Alright. Press SELECT whenever you wanna verify your location!"

[You pick your party of 4. In my case, I chose Zidane, Quina, Amarant and Freya. Unlike past FF's, the script is hardly affected by whatever your team is, which makes my job so much easier. Anyways, after choosing your team, you're on the World Map in the boat. The gang heads on over to the Black Mage Village]

End of Chapter 19.