Another cave, this one more confusing than the ones before, though not particluarly large.

Rydia can inflict a fair amount of damage on certain enemies free of charge with the Ice Rod. Gilbert's status attacks may come in handy too. Cecil will still account for most of your offense. Don't miss the Lamia Harp, Gilbert's most powerful weapon (as already noted, he's really not much of a fighter).

In the depths of the cave, the party comes across a large depressed area.

He steps forward, and huge pincers stick out of the ground.

He steps forward, but the pincers take a swipe at him.

She nods, and the inevitable boss battle begins. The only complication to this battle is that the Antlion uses Counterattack Horn whenever physically attacked.

Gilbert should not attack, since his damage is feeble and he'll just provoke counterattacks. His status attacks won't work, either, so he might as well just Hide unless you need him to pass out Potions. Cecil does well enough attacking to usually make it worth taking the counter, except when someone is at risk of keeling over. Rydia should Summon Chocobo, period. Blizzard and Thunder are far weaker, and Chocobo should hurt more than Cecil's attack. Even better, the Antlion doesn't react to any sort of magic at all, so there are no negative side-effects. The Antlion has no elemental resistances or weaknesses.

In the DS remake, the Antlion switches between countering physical attacks and countering magic damage as its eyes change color. Pay attention to the current mode, and don't queue any commands when the eyes haven't changed color recently. To assist with damage-dealing, the remake also gives the Antlion weaknesses to Dark and Ice that make Cecil's blade and the Ice Rod's item effect particularly potent. Gilbert can attack, too, when the eye color is right.

Come to think of it, the original script never really explains what the Light of the Desert is, aside from being formed from the creature's secretions when it lays eggs. The English DS version calls it a Sand Pearl, which at least makes sense as an analogue to oyster pearls.

They leave the cave and take the hovercraft back to Kaipo.

Cecil finds Rosa still in bed.

The EasyType simplifies しょほ (shoho, elementary) to きほん (kihon, basic).

Fade to black.

Gilbert walks out of the house and stands by the lakeside.

He pulls out his harp and begins playing.

Then a monster leaps out of nowhere and attacks.

Combat ensues. Keep attacking to trigger the reaction scripts that Make Things Happen. Anna will appear after Gilbert first inflicts damage.

Except in the NA version (which makes harps long-ranged), try switching Gilbert to the front row so he doesn't miss as often.

Inflict damage again for more dialog.

Anna fades out.

The monster's defense now drops from 3 to 0, for what it's worth.

Inflict damage again to finish it.

Combat ends to show us Anna floating over the lake.

The reference to a vast soul might be more meaningful in the context of the Shinto and Buddhist beliefs that permeate Japanese culture, or possibly it's an early conception of what would later develop into the Lifestream in FFVII (which may itself be rooted in Shinto and Buddhist concepts).

Anna drifts away...

...and disappears.

Unfortunately, while this may do some good for plotline character development, it does nothing to make Gilbert more effective in combat beyond the small experience gain from the battle.

Rosa, on the other hand, is good with a bow and great with White Magic. She starts at level 10, and already outheals Tella by level 13 (when she learns Cura). She's not the most durable character, though. For best results, rearrange the party to have three back-row positions, with Cecil as the only one in the front.

In the DS remake, arrows are not consumed, so you only need one per archer, which I found out the hard way after wondering why it was so expensive to get Rosa a decent supply. Was that in the manual and I just missed it? It seems like a big change to make without warning, and completely counter-intuitive.