Pete told us last night about the Sea Monster that lurks in the area, and that’s why he can’t just take a boat to Fueno. Instead, we need to walk through the Subterrain Cave underneath a straight. It’s a quick one screen pass, but Pete goes tells us that there is more to this place. I suspect we'll see that part later. It’s blocked by rushing waters now but hasn't always been the case. Something to keep in mind as we continue to Fueno.
As we enter the town, with its jovial theme music, Pete, his mom, and the dog, Pooch, thank Dart and Rose for the escort before heading towards the clinic. He thinks the two are in love and tries to get them to admit it. Neither do.
Fueno is a tourist town famed for its hot springs. Those hot springs are also magical and can heal almost any disease. They do nothing for us, so we continue the search for our friends. The city is small, so we head to the docks and see the Queen’s Fury docked there. Kayla, the second mete, tells us everyone's in town, despite us not seeing them, so we head back out.
The first person we see is Meru, who’s even more ebullient than she usually is when learning we're not dead. She tells us we have a room at the hotel. There we see Albert, who covers our eyes in a “Guess Who” type game. He removes his hands, and everyone else is there, thrilled to see us alive; everyone except Shana, that is, who is up in the room. Albert tells Dart to go there, and the two embraces embrace because they’re totally not in love. It gets interrupted by Meru, Haschel, and Albert trying to be creepy voyeurs, but they quickly leave them alone again.
The screen fades, and everyone is back in the tavern part of the inn to plan their next move against Lenus. They first decide to ask around town for information. There are two places we can go, Commodore Pulor and three citizens by the entrance. They both say something about the Island of the Jailed Dragon, so that’s where we go. To get there, return to the cave and discuss the raging waters. To fix them, return to Lidera. Talk to the mayor on the floating platform, and tell him you want to see the dragon. He’ll advise you that he sealed off the cave for safety, and it can be turned off with a secret lever. He opens it up, we turn the lever, and we go back to the cave. We progress through a water theme dungeon filled with blue enemies, most of whom can be one-shot by Dart and his Heat Blade. The falchion you can buy in Fueno is a distraction. Carry on until you get to the end.
There we see Lenus, handing over the Moon Dagger to her love, Lloyd. As she goes to wrap her arms around him, we show up and ruin the fun. There’s some arguing, and then Lloyd ditches Lenus. You’d think this would be bad, but the Wingly transforms into a Dragoon, summons the water dragon, Rigaole, and a boss fight breaks out. Clearly, it's not as bad as she should have thought.
The dragon is weak to magic, so spam the fire magic you can buy in town. Lenus still has high magic resistance, so keep Dart’s Heat Blade on. She’s not as fast but loves to use teamwide magic against us. They’re all about drowning us, for some reason. I had three teamwide potions in my pack that I had to use but managed to kill the thief. As she died, Lenus tried one more desperate attack on Dart’s life, throwing her chakram at him. Shana pushes him out of the way of the first one, I think, while Dart manages to hit the second with his sword. Meru looks over at the dying Wingly with a rather upset expression on her face as a blue light escapes from the corpse. And then the game crashed!!!
Apparently, the disks were questionably coded or something, and the game won’t make it past the rewards screen if you went Dragoon during the fight. This is a common bug, and I have no idea how it passed testing. Did no one transform during development? Regardless, I boot back up, try again, win more decisively, somehow, and carry on. Clearly, it was as bad as she should have thought.
The blue light from Lenus’ body was the Blue Dragoon Gem. It chooses its next host to be Meru, who begins to dance around in jubilation. Rose says Dragoons tend to group up accidentally, and this is no different. She then announces a new name I don’t remember, and everyone leaves Meru to dance around, alone, after Dart and Shana hug. When Meru realizes she’s alone, she gets comically upset, mournfully looks at the sky, and we return to Fueno.
We board the Queen’s Fury and return to Fletz. Despite not doing our job, the king still holds a great feast in our honor. Dart is unsure why since the Dagger is still in enemy hands, but Zior reminds them of what they've done. The party saved Emilie, defeated the bandits, and slew a disruptive Dragon. Ya know, checks out. They also decide the Moon Dagger is just some meaningless icon. They can replace it with anything, and they do. Instead of a cool dagger, the new royal tradition will be to tell heirs of the tale of Dart & Friends. Ya know, doesn’t check out...
Next, we prepare for the feast, but first, Shana and Dart go somewhere alone. Shana tells Dart, “I love you.” Dart says he’s happy to be around her, and they embrace again. It’s interrupted a few times for comedy, but then go gather everyone for the feast.
Albert is hitting on Emilie in her room.
Meru and Haschel are trying to steal food.
Kongol is still thinking, happily, about having friends from other races.
Rose is in the bedroom showing her emotions for the first time and brings up her choker.
The women are then told to wear fancy dresses, but only Shana abides.
That night, Dart and Shana, in Yuna from FFX’s wedding dress, have a romantic dance on the patio. We’re asked to save and then insert disk three.
Another unceremoniously granted Dragoon Spirit. What’s Meru’s connection to Lenus? There seems to be one, so maybe I should just be patient? I like how forward Shana is in confessing her love. It ends the will-they-won’t-they junk, and we’re not annoyed by it for the last half of the game. There are quite a few game characters who should learn from her. *Stares at Squall* Lastly, seeing the royalty easily cast away a useless tradition might be my favorite part of the game so far. Just because things are old and "how it's always been" does not mean it brings any value to people. I wish more individuals in the real world would consider this aspect of things. It might save a lot of hardship for no reason.
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