This section of the river is a twisty fast-flowing menace nestled between rocky cliffs. There's no music, just the sounds of the rapids. A small raft awaits.

Bannan starts three levels behind the party average and can't fight well, but he can Pray in battle to heal the entire party at no cost. And that's what he should be doing most of the time, preferably from the back row to keep him safer.

The river has semi-random encounters and several forks in the stream. It starts with a single battle, then a choice of directions: Straight (2 to 5 battles), Left (0 to 3), or Right (1 to 3). All three then lead to a cave with a save point. After leaving and clearing another mandatory battle, go Up for a loop that adds 0 to 3 battles, or Left to reach a second save point, possibly after another battle. Beyond that, another 0 to 2 battles occur before a strange purple octopus approaches...

Of course, like just about everything else, this starts another battle. A boss battle. One of the sillier ones. A blinding ink shot and a fairly painful tentacle strike are some of the more interesting attacks Orthros (the octopus) uses.

"Orthros" (not "Ultros") is apparently the correct spelling. Orthros (also Orthrus) was a two-headed dog in Greek mythology.

Whenever Orthros is hit by a Flame attack (Tina's Fire spell is probably the only one available), he counters with Ink, and...

As time passes, Orthros targets Tina, then Mash, and finally Bannan, saying something different for each.

Yeah, I just BET you do. Keep your tentacles to yourself; this isn't that sort of game.

Orthros absorbs Water and takes extra damage from Flame and Thunder. As such, Tina should spam Fire. Mash will likely inflict more damage with Aura Cannon than anything else, and Edgar can use either the Auto Crossbow or Bio Blast, whichever hurts more. Bannan, of course, should just keep using Pray to keep everyone healthy, since he's good at that but not much of anything else.

Upon losing, Orthros disappears underwater...

2-16 "??" (that's really the track name, unless you prefer the Japanese "ん？２") starts playing.

More possible punning. てごたえ (tegotae) can also refer to a bite in fishing.

Tina is suddenly pulled along the edge of the raft.

Edgar goes to the rescue...

...and gets her safely to the middle of the raft.

He jumps over Edgar and into the water.

As soon as he says this, Mash jumps out, sort of... Actually, he kind of flies up and off the top of the screen, surprising everyone, apparently including himself.

As the raft proceeds toward Narshe, Mash floats down another branch of the river...

The music stops. Scene change to a black room with a save point. Lock stands to the left; Mash to the right; and Bannan, Edgar, and Tina front and center.

The text box clears, revealing a moogle. Controlling the moogle, the player can save and pick from the three groups.

I've listed the three scenarios in the order that I usually play through them, but any order works fine. I do suggest saving Mash for last, though, so that Gau can learn more Rages, and so that all eight characters who will be available will show up in the character window when shopping. His scenario also goes on the longest. Some suggest leaving Lock's for last instead, since it's probably the most difficult and can benefit from the extra supplies Mash's journey should provide.