After catching back up to where I wiped last time (and making a trip back to Lindblum to stock up on extra potions before starting again this time), we find an injured soldier in a room full of water who tells us the black mages have taken control of Master Gizamaluke, who immediately attacks. Gizamaluke is some sort of half dragon, half manta ray monster that hovers in the air. I seem to recall this boss being really challenging, but the only challenge is in how damn long I have to stand around doing nothing waiting for Zidane to finally steal his last item. All Gizamaluke does is cast Water, use a melee attack, and counter-attack spell casters with Silence. On the up side, it does turn out that going back to town for more potions was a good idea, because I burned through almost all of them by the time I was finally done stealing from him. Remember what I said earlier about liking getting to steal cool stuff from bosses? I'm kind of regretting that.
After defeating Gizamaluke, we cut to Steiner approaching South Gate on foot with a huge sack over his shoulder. Garnet is hiding inside, smothered in stinky pickles that Steiner acquired a taste for in Lindblum. Rather than traveling to Burmecia, they're returning to Alexandria to confront Brahne. We board a cable car to the top of the mountain, and then cut back to Zidane's group.
It's a short walk from the Grotto to Burmecia, the "realm of eternal rain," which makes me feel right at home, being from the Seattle area. I have to wonder where all that rain goes, though, considering that there are no bodies of water anywhere near the city to absorb the constant downpour. Anyway, Freya hasn't been here in five years, so the ravaged streets of her beloved country are making for quite the bittersweet homecoming. At first, the dead bodies of Burmecian solders and citizens are the only one to meet you, but Zorn and Thorn will soon sic another pack of black mages on you, then make vague references to "the general" when you beat them.
We meet a soldier named Dan and his family fleeing from the palace, who accuses us of being in league with the black mages, since we have one in our party, until he recognizes Freya. Dan reports that he didn't see the king in the palace, and then leaves with his family, urging us to come with him. We find a few more survivors and help them along, but there's still no sign of the king.
Reaching the palace, we find Brahne and General Beatrix inside. Freya reveals that she had heard rumors that Brahne was planning to attack, which is why she had decided to return to Burmecia. Well, it certainly is a good thing she went directly there instead of stopping off in Lindblum to waste time competing in a hunting festi-oh, right. Recognizing Beatrix triggers a flashback to the last time Freya saw her missing lover, Sir Fratley, just before he left on a training journey prompted in part by rumors of Beatrix's legendary power. He never returned, and Freya has been looking for him for the last five years without success.
Suddenly, a stranger appears. Being a white-haired pretty boy, there's a 90% chance he's the real ultimate villain. And being half naked, there's a 73% chance he's a member of Tantalus. His name is Kuja, he's enjoying the rain, and he's responsible for supplying Brahne with the black mages. On the plus side, it seems the Alexandrians still haven't found the king of Burmecia. Kuja thinks the Burmecians have fled to their hidden desert city, Cleyra, and now I'm even more confused as to how the topography of this realm of eternal rain is supposed to work. The Alexandrians start making plans for an attack, when a lone Burmecian soldier rushes the group screaming a battle cry like an idiot, and forcing the group to break cover to save him.
Beatrix is one of those most obnoxious of boss fights: the one you can't win. Beatrix is a powerhouse to begin with, having some nasty sword techniques, including one that straight up one-hit KOs the target, but on top of that, after a set number of turns she just kills you all. On the positive side, she leaves everyone at 1 HP rather than actually killing you, which is nice, because I've been known to reset the game at that point against other impossible bosses and keep coming back over and over again, not realizing that I'm supposed to lose.
So much for Beatrix being infamously merciless, though. The villains leave us there, unconscious, though Kuja muses that Zidane could be a problem.
...then why are you just leaving him there?
And then Kuja rides off on a dragon, because he needs to do something to offset that outfit's damage to his menace rating.
End of Disc 1.
