The scene changes. The Impresario, Lock, and any additional party members other than Celes are all seated in a large, otherwise empty, balcony that overlooks the orchestra and stage. 2-7 "Overture" plays. The curtain rises, and a man walks onto the stage.

The narrator leaves the stage. A man wearing plate mail walks on stage and is promptly trampled by a trio of chocobo-riding soldiers. He reacts by getting up and starting to sing. Gotta love opera. Though technically this is more of an operetta, considering some dialog is spoken.

The game uses doubled sixteenth notes, not single eight notes, but it's close enough.

I'm making no effort to match the words to the music. Neither did the official translation, evidently, though it's likely that only the text was available. In contrast, the GBA version matches up well enough that it's been performed live, and apparently also stays impressively close to the original meaning for the most part.

The screen pans back to the balcony. Lock gets up.

I guess opera's just not his thing. Unfortunately, this leaves you a member short for quite some time...

Why make up meaning where there isn't any?

Lock heads to the anteroom to find Celes dressed up in a fancy gown. He takes a look at her and turns away, blushing deeply.

An obvious and rather inept attempt to change the subject. Luckily for him, Celes doesn't seem interested in talking any more about it right now either.

This is possibly the first time Celes speaks with a distinctly feminine (as opposed to simply non-masculine) tone (note in particular the わ (wa) at the end of the first line and the omission of だ (da) between the noun and よ (yo) at the end), and she continues to use mildly feminine speech for the rest of the game. Perhaps dressing up in pretty clothes and being able to figuratively let her hair down for once and do something less hardassed than soldiering helps change her frame of mind. I can't imagine that she had much of a normal childhood.

Celes rereads the script. It contains the lyrics for the first part of the upcoming aria, and the following stage directions.

Celes walks out onto the stage.

The scene shifts back out there, now showing the rooftop of a castle at nighttime. 2-8 "Aria de Mezzo Carattere" starts playing.

That's apparently Italian, and mezzo carattere translates to "half character", which refers to a character in an opera who mixes serious and comedic (or perhaps more precisely to a vocal classification that's a mix of those typically associated with those two character types). Here, it also seems to suggest that Celes is acting out a mix of different roles, to the extent that it's difficult to tell how much of what she says and does, both in and out of the opera, is geniunely her. Thanks to ic0n67 for suggesting the proper meaning of the phrase.

This doesn't necessarily mean the wedding has occurred yet, just that she's being forced into it.

At several points during the aria, the player must choose the correct next line, out of two choices. Picking the wrong line, or failing to follow the stage directions properly, ends the scene abruptly and forces starting the play over (and only a few tries are allowed, though it's always possible to load, of course).

Celes walks onstage as Maria, and the first choice comes right away.

I'm still not attempting to match the music. However, this part of the official translation seems to have been reviewed with an eye to at least coming close.

Censorship? What censorship?

Celes, as Maria, climbs to the castle roof. A man appears nearby.

He walks around the roof, and Celes, as Maria, follows (or else the play flops).

He vanishes, leaving a bouquet of flowers behind. Celes, as Maria, picks it up and quickly walks up to the balcony (or else the play flops).

Assuming she makes it in time, she starts singing again, and casts the flowers toward the starry sky as a shooting star appears in the background.

A noble of some sort walks out onto the roof.

Showing reluctance, Celes, as Maria, follows him into the castle. The scene changes to show ballroom dancing. Celes, as Maria, dances with a green-haired aristocrat who could only be Prince Ralse. The waltz part of 2-9 "The Wedding" plays.

The scene shifts back to the waiting room, where Lock is looking out at the stage.

Once the aria has been completed successfully, any retries skip to this point.

Lock starts back to the balcony, but finds a letter on his way there.

Lock hurries back to the balcony.

Suddenly, the music changes to the duel part of "The Wedding". The view pans onto the stage, where a soldier rushes into the ballroom.

Several soldiers of the Western Forces rush into the room, where they start battling the soldiers of the Eastern Forces. Suddenly, a voice cries out...

...and Draku rides into the ballroom on a chocobo, running over Ralse on the way. He hops off and begins to (what else) sing:

Celes sings as Maria:

Literally, "I believed in this day," but you know what she means.

Ralse counter-sings:

Maybe it's just me, but the way Ralse sings, with one arm raised and the other at his chest, looks horribly stupid.

Draku sings back:

Ralse sings again:

They begin dueling, and the view shifts back to the balcony.

The following line from the ROM could go here, but is unused.

The view shifts to show a series of planks above the stage. Orthros stands there, next a large weight labeled "4t".

Come to think of it, that's some amazingly sturdy scaffolding.

Back to the balcony. Lock's not exactly thrilled.

The following line from the ROM looks like it belongs here, but isn't used.

As soon at the talking ends, a five-minute timer starts counting down. Lock (with the others, if any) rushes to the room indicated.

Flipping the switch opens a door in the room on the opposite side of the stage, and Lock hurries there. The door leads to the planks above the stage, but it's infested with killer rats. The party has to either attempt to avoid them (with minimal room to maneuver) or waste valuable time fighting them.

The other switches (there are three of them) have somewhat amusing effects, but now isn't the time. You can always come back and play with the switches later, without having to worry about the countdown. One is even useful, much later.

Hopefully, they reach Orthros before time runs out.

Orthros suddenly lunges at Lock. The only thing this does is to make everyone lose their balance, falling onto Draku and Ralse, who are still dueling on the stage below. None of those involved move for a while, but Celes at least had enough sense, and quick enough reflexes, to move out of the way and avoid being hit. The music stops, a murmur runs through the crowd, and the Impresario runs onto the stage in another panic.

Of those hurt, Lock is the first to get up. He has a sudden inspiration, or something.

Lock's making quite a bold statement here... I wonder how much he realizes what he's saying and how much he means it?

He claimed to be the world's greatest adventurer. He never said a word about being able to act...

Orthros and any remaining party members get up.

2-10 "Grand Finale?", a tune that's just about as silly as fighting a talking purple octopus on stage in an opera theater, starts playing. It's battle time, but first, our tentacled buddy has a few words to say.

Just to add the the weirdness, Orthros keeps moving around, and also talks a lot, usually when moving or using special attacks:

The above line occurs periodically when enough time passes and is always followed by using Kappa Song.

Without kanji or context, よんだ (yonda) could be either 読んだ (read) or 呼んだ (called).

Orthros's attacks vary depending on his current position, and he changes location every two attacks (not counting the timer-based Kappa Song). Position A: Battle, Ink, or Tentacle. Position B: Battle (33%) or Fire (67%). Position C: Battle (33%) or Level 3 Confuse (67%). Position D: Battle, 10 Kilovolts, or Drain.

Not having useful magic could become a problem here. With Tina bedridden and Celes too busy wearing a dress to fight (not that there's anything wrong with dresses, but who would want to fight a giant octopus while in formal wear?), the only spells available for this battle are whatever Lock and the others have learned from Genjuu since Zozo. That could be just what you need, though, since Orthros is weak against Flame and Thunder, and current magicite provide Fire and Thunder (and Thundara if you've been grinding), plus the Ramuh summon. Slow also works, and Cure is, as always, very useful as well.

Be careful if using Mash or Cayenne, since Orthros will also counter Deathblow Sword or Deathblow Technique attacks with Acid Rain.

Gau has several useful options for this battle. If you've been back to the Beast Plain recently, Aspilance (Aspik) uses 1000 Kilovolts, a surprisingly powerful Thunder attack that will severely damage Orthros, and the Rage also absorbs Water (Acid Rain) and is immune to 'kappa' and 'confusion', though it's weak against Flame. And, like the last few bosses, Orthros is vulnerable to 'stop', so Alacrán (Areneid) and Acrophies (Primordite) work well again. Even better, 'stop' prevents him from switching positions, which makes him seem weaker because the various positions each have independent HP totals internally.

Also note that losing just ruins the play and doesn't (necessarily) result in a Game Over.

After fighting and acting silly for a while (maybe trying to amuse the audience?), Orthros finally gives in.

Possible pun on タコ as 蛸 (tako, octopus) and as 胼胝 (tako, callus). Calluses never seem to go away either.

Orthros runs away, leaving a measly 2 gil as spoils. Oh well. Lock laughs after the battle, but then a voice is heard.

The lighting shrinks so that only a small area around Celes is lit up. "Setzer" begins playing. Predictably, Setzer leaps down onto the stage and grabs Celes, who suddenly reverts to her usual outfit for no apparent reason.

Still holding Celes, he takes to the air, presumably on a rope from his airship.

The Impresario starts running around excitedly. By the end of his little speech, he's hopping up and down like a little kid who's had far too much sugar.

Each time, before the event continues, he adds:

Of course, you can't fail too many times, or you'll get this message and a Game Over: