ITEMS TO GET: 9693 gil, Ether, Elixir, Wing Eyes, ? [staff], Red Cap, Demon's Mail, Maiden ?, Ribbon, Garnet

   Catch a Chocobo from the tracks and ride west to Esto Gaza. If you've been here before, you'll notice that things that changed. There's no people out front; instead, you'll be attacked by Garudas! Hurry inside and talk to the bird priest. You'll see a brief flashback of the Black Mages entering the palace with Eiko. VIVI will demand to come with you; if he wasn't in your party before, you'll have to add him now. He remains locked in the party until you complete the quest.

   The people have returned to Esto Gaza, and the weapon shop now offers new equipment (not the Mithril stuff from before). Upgrade your equipment, but don't equip Steiner with the Flame Tan, since most of the enemies in the upcoming dungeon are resistant to flame. (You can go ahead and buy it for future use, of course.) Head up the stairs in the back of the main room and go right. The previously-sealed gate is now open; proceed through and you'll be in the infamous Gulg Volcano.

Q. What would happen if you made an RPG without a volcano dungeon?

   From the entrance, go left into the building. Search the floor in the lower-right for 9693 gil, then climb the ladder. There's an Ether on the bottom of this floor. Get it, then exit to the left. Climb down the ladder and collect the Red Cap. Return to the entrance and go right. Pass through the building. Walk to the lower-right corner of the platform and activate the exclamation mark (not the one in the back) to jump up onto the ledge. Head all the way to the right and search around for a Maiden ?.

   Go back to the platform and climb down the rope in the back. Once you hit bottom, go left to the next screen. There's actually two exits here. One is the building just to your left; there's a chest with Demon Mail inside. The other is the cave behind you; it leads to a Save Moogle who also sells curative items. Climb up the stairs behind him and proceed into them. A dragon will jump through the window to your right and attack you. Defeat it, collect the Elixir from the back of the room, and return to the rope.

   This time, go right into the building there. Collect the Wing Eyes from the lower-right corner, then go right another screen. Proceed through the maze of stairs; the next screen holds a new staff for VIVI. He learns Aspel / Osmose (the MP-draining spell) from it. Return to the rope; as you make your way through the "staircase" screen, 2 more dragons will attack you.

   Back at the rope, trigger the question mark to the left side of the rope. You have to flip the switch (or whatever that is) in the right sequence; flip it up three times and down once, and the block hanging from the rope should fall away. Climb down and two more dragons will attack you. Defeat them. Heal up and equip Poison Guard, and then proceed through the hole they made.

I'm going to give you a TICKET to HELL as a PRESENT

   Thorn and Zorn try to drain Eiko's summoning powers, triggering a battle. Mog (Eiko's guardian Moogle) automatically turns into Maduin and kills the two jesters. You then receive the Ribbon, which contains the Maduin summon. VIVI runs off in pursuit of Kujya, and Eiko fills the slot he vacated. Before you can do anything else, Thorn and Zorn merge into Mertizemini, a monstrous two-headed creature.

   Fortunately, Mertizemini isn't very powerful. It attacks your whole team with Bio, but if you equipped the anti-poison ability, you'll only suffer damage from the spell. Mertizemini should go down quickly; you'll receive 11 AP for defeating it.

The Frog Prince

   Your party then encounter Cid's wife Fylda, who was locked away in the volcano for some reason. Everyone returns to Lindbulm, where Fylda restores Cid to his original human form with a kiss. After a lot of dialogue, Garnet is cured of her curse (she no longer gets frozen during battle), Beatrix gives you the Garnet (Bahamut), and you receive the airship.