Hey all, today we're gonna hovercraft over to that cave west of Eblan Castle. This is the Cave of Eblan, and on B2 we encounter the remains of Eblan's people. They sell us some nice armour.
On B3, we encounter our old friend, hidden passages. We also see quite a few injured people, who were guarding Eblan's prince. This can't be good.
Area names also start telling us we're close to the Tower of Babil. Hmm... We find a save point in the next area, along with a Blood Sword, which is not only weaker than the Icebrand, it has the same stat wrecking properties of the Blood Lance. Not worth it.
We head north to see Rubicante and some guy fighting.
Man: Rubicante! At last...!
Rubicante: Am I supposed to know who you are?
Man: I am Edge, prince of Eblan!
Rubicante: Eblan? I don't bother remembering the names of human countries.
Edge: You WILL remember my country and my parents!
He likes yelling. Edge engages Rubicante in battle, and uses some skill called Flame. Uh, Edge? It's the elemental embodiment of fire, that's not gonna work.
Rubicante: Poor technique. This is how it's done.
Rubicante counters with Inferno, defeating Edge instantly.
Edge: Argh!
Rubicante: I must say I'm quite impressed. Continue your training. I look forward to our next meeting.
He teleports out.
Edge: Come back!
Edge collapses, and we walk up to him. We explain that we're after Rubicante too.
Edge: Stay out of this! He's mine!
Hey, we called him first.
Kain: Well, you obviously don't know who you're up against. He's one of the four elemental archfiends!
Edge: Hah, you think I'm some sissy prince? I'm the rightful heir to the throne of Eblan, famed for its ninjitsu for generations. Leave me alone! I can take care of myself!
You're still faceplanted on the ground, man.
Rydia: Stop it! Tellah, Yang, Cid... They're all gone... I can't watch anyone else die!
Edge: Hey...
Rosa: Rydia...
Rydia: *sob*
Cecil: Rubicante is the strongest of the four archfiends. The odds may be against us, but we must somehow recover the Crystals.
Edge: ...All right, I'll let you all in on the action. I can't bear to see a pretty girl cry.
Kain: ...You do not lack in confidence, at least. Rosa, give him a hand.
Rosa heals him up.
Edge: Thanks! Two charming girls! Maybe this won't be so bad after all. All right, let's do this!
Rydia: On second thought... Maybe we're better off without him...
Ninja Edge has joined the party.
Well... Edward "Edge" Geraldine is a Ninja, which means he's fast, strong, and has the survivability of wet tissue paper. Edge can equip Ninja Swords and Boomerangs, and can equip two at once. He's also got Ninjitsu, which is various weak magic, Throw, which allows us to throw any weapon we don't have equipped at the opponent, and Steal, which is mostly useless, doubly so as he can hurt himself in the process. He's good once he's levelled up a bit. He starts at level 25.
The next area is the Tower of Babil B1. We walk up a bit, but there's no entrance.
Cecil: How do we get in?
Edge: Heh heh. Watch. Ready?
He runs at the wall with such force, we get ninja'd in. And now we can't walk back out.
Onto B2, then. There's a trapped chest in the middle of the room. Rosa learns Haste from the battle and we get the Ogrekiller, an axe that predictably does extra damage to ogres and related creatures. Rydia learns Osmose on the way to the next floor. Infinite MP yay!
On B3, Edge learns Shadowbind, but there's nothing interesting, so we head to B4 where we find an Ashura for Edge. We then reach the northern part of B3 and find a save point and a path down to B5.
On B5, first we find a chest containing 82000 Gil, which is ridiculous, then we head for the middle of the room. A king and queen appear.
King: Edge...
Edge: Father! Mother!
Queen: Thank heavens... You're all right...
Edge: You're... alive?
Queen: Come with us, Edge.
King: Yes... Come with us...
Edge: Where?
Queen: ...TO HELL!
And so that scene loses all sense of being serious.
Cecil: !!!
And now we have to fight the King and Queen of Eblan, transformed into monsters. No big deal.
King: Fools... Burn to ashes!
Oh yeah, they like using fire elemental attacks.
Edge: What's going on!? Father! Mother! It's me, Edge! Your son!
Eventually, their colours change. They've realized what they were doing.
King: Edge... We are no longer human. We no longer belong here.
Queen: I'm sorry, Edge.
Edge: ...
King: We must go now. Eblan lies in good hands.
That's highly debatable.
King: Serve our people well.
Edge: Don't go!
The king kills himself.
Queen: Farewell, my son.
Edge: Mother! Don't go!
She kills herself too.
Edge: ...
Rosa: Edge...
Rubicante then comes in.
Rubicante: Lugae... How dare he...?
Edge: Rubicante! You sick bastard!
Rubicante: It was Lugae who turned your parents into monsters. I am sorry for your loss. My only wish is to battle you fairly.
Edge: To hell with your self-righteous blabbering!
Rubicante: I admire your spirit. But anger never bears true strength, and it blinds what you truly need to see.
Edge: Shut up! I'll show you the power of rage!
I suggest that you watch the DS version of this cutscene if you can find it. It's awesome. Edge learns Flood and Blitz.
Rubicante: Well, this is interesting. Still, nothing can penetrate my Cloak of Flame, not even ice! I shall restore you to full strength. Do not disappoint me!
Rubicante can open and close his cloak at will. When it's open, he hits hard, but is weak to ice. (He still has Inferno, and it hurts. And it still one shots Edge.) When it's closed, he absorbs ice, but has less devastating attacks. He also tends to counter with Fira a lot. We smash him with all we can. He can heal himself after a spell by casting Blizzara on himself, but as you're mainly casting when his cloak is open, it tends to backfire. He's the first truly hard fight in a while, but he eventually falls.
Rubicante: Well fought. But this is not the end. I shall rise again... Even the weak become strong when they gather. I am most impressed. Until we meet again...
And he dies.
Edge: ... Father... Mother. You can rest in peace now.
???: Young Highness!
Cue Eblan's troops and one of Eblan's higher ups walking up.
Edge: Old man!
Seneschal: Pray, let us fight with you! Where is that devil, Rubicante!?
Edge: We got him. It's over.
Seneschal: Amazing, Your Young Highness!
Edge: These guys helped me out.
And they managed to do it without being KO'd. Unlike you. We explain the situation with Golbez to Edge.
Edge: So he's the mastermind behind all this. ...I'm going with you.
Seneschal: But, Your Young Highness, Eblan needs you.
Edge: That can wait! We've gotta stop this guy before it's too late!
Seneschal: But...
Edge: Ahh, stop worrying and go home. I'll be fine.
Seneschal: Very well... Everyone, please take good care of our prince.
They leave.
Edge: Okay, let's go get Golbez!
Rydia: We need to get the Crystals first.
Edge: Right, right. Lead the way!
The next room, conveniently, is the Crystal Chamber. As we walk forward...
Cecil: It's a trap!
We fall down.
Edge: Owww... That hurt!
Kain: That was a nasty drop.
We're down on B6 now, and there's no way back up... We're back in the Underworld. We're not in the same section of Babil we were in last time either. We make our way down to B8 and find an airship dock!
Cecil: !? An enemy airship!
Edge: All right! We can escape in this!
Rydia: But it's an enemy ship...
Edge: Who cares? I'm sure she'd rather be flown by us anyway!
Rosa: You don't suppose this could be a trap, do you?
Edge: This beauty? Not a chance! Let's call her... Falcon! What do you think, Rydia?
Asking Rydia and only Rydia? He's Compensating for Something with this airship, isn't he?
Rydia: Suits me fine. Let's get going!
Cecil: Yes, let's go.
Edge: Falcon, take us up!
We fly out of the tower. The Falcon can't fly over lava though, so there's only one place we can go. That'll wait for next time.
Stats:
Kain: Lv 35 HP:1517 MP:0 Strength:35 Speed:27 Stamina:30 Intellect:8 Spirit:22 Attack:93 (6 attacks) Defence:49 Magic Defence:10
Rydia: Lv 33 HP:773 MP:259 Strength:23 Speed:18 Stamina:21 Intellect:41 Spirit:33 Attack:33 (4 attacks) Defence:26 Magic Defence:16
Cecil: Lv 34 HP:1583 MP:142 Strength:37 Speed:23 Stamina:33 Intellect:19 Spirit:23 Attack:97 (6 attacks) Defence:50 Magic Defence:10
Rosa: Lv 34 HP:1162 MP:285 Strength:32 Speed:18 Stamina:21 Intellect:18 Spirit:54 Attack:63 (6 attacks) Defence:25 Magic Defence:20
Edge: Lv 29 HP:1010 MP:76 Strength:34 Speed:26 Stamina:30 Intellect:14 Spirit:13 Attack: 88 (6 attacks) Defence:34 Magic Defence:6
