Head back through the forest to the hole where you lost Garnet. At this point you'll get an ATE about the band playing music back on the ship. Wheeeee.

Head into the hole, cross the river, and down the path. You get yet another ATE, about the boss. You'll find Monty the moogle by a hp/mp spring. Now follow the path, see the flower, and it's a boss fight.

You fight the giant flower, who likes to hit you with his tendrils. Blank runs in and joins you. Just keep hitting the plant, it's not too hard to kill. You'll grab Garnet and then start running from the attack bugs/plants.

They'll trap you once - kill them and get a fang card. Then you race out. The plants grab Blank, who throws the map to you before becoming petrified. You barely escape out of the forest before the entire forest petrifies behind you.

You hang out by a campfire for a while, and you get an ATE that *finally* starts to teach you about combat. You also get a Moogle, Monty again, to show up with a flute, so now you can call them whenever you wish.

Final Fantasy IX Walkthrough Index