To Pinnacle Rocks and Beyond!

There's one last obstacle to face here and that's Ralvuimago. To face him, I set up my characters as follows:

Zidane                     Vivi                     Dagger

Mythril Dagger         Ice Staff             Multina Racket
Bandana                  Magus Hat          Feather Hat
Glass Armlet           Bone Wrist           Bone Wrist
Mythril Vest            Magician Robe     Cotton Robe
Gold Choker           Magician Shoes    Cachusha

The Magician Shoes are to boost Vivi's magic. Zidane needs the Gold Choker so he can make up some of the AP he lost from getting knocked out in his last Bandersnatch fight. I also made sure to revive Zidane and give Vivi an Elixir. I left all their abilities the same.

In the first round of the fight I had Zidane steal a Phoenix Down, Vivi cast Blizzara, and Dagger defend. Ralvuimago then used Ultra Sound Wave on Zidane, turning him mini. I then repeated Zidane's and Vivi's commands, stealing the Adaman Vest. Ralvuimago then tried to stab Vivi but missed. One more round ended it. Zidane failed to steal the Oak Staff, but I did get the extra Ether drop so I'm satisfied. As a result of this battle, Zidane has mastered Antibody, Vivi has mastered Add Status, and Dagger has mastered Life, Shell, and Chemist.

The major problem with this boss is that it likes to use MT Thundara which wipes out your party. The strategy in the guide makes this a non-issue, but it takes much longer to carry out. It takes so long, in fact, that it's impossible to make the target time following that strategy. With these things in mind, I created an alternate strategy that could be used. It's meant for those times when there's a strong chance Ralvuimago will get a turn before Vivi does.  Here's how it goes:

Dagger goes first and attacks. Ralvuimago will then curl up. Zidane should steal every chance he gets. Vivi should focus on his first turn, then cast Blizzara twice once Ralvuimago opens up again. Ralvuimago will get one opportunity to attack between castings of Blizzara, so hope it doesn't mess you up. The second casting of Blizzara will defeat the boss unless Vivi does minimum damage both times. If this ends up being the case, one more attack from Dagger will finish it. This strategy is safer than the one I actually used and is still pretty fast.

With that out of the way, I arrived at Pinnacle Rocks. The only thing really worth mentioning is the fact that the guide's target times assume you don't go back to read the letter from Stiltzkin, so I skipped it. Lindblum is mostly just dialogue skipping, plus a bit of business with Mognet and picking up treasure. I skipped the shopping as I have no need for an Exploda right now. That can wait until I reach the Black Mage Village.

I also skipped saving at the Dragon's Gate because Pinnacle Rocks and Gizamaluke's Grotto aren't too difficult to get through with no encounters. I rode Choco over to the grotto, gave Moguta a Kupo Nut for an Elixir, then hopped back on Choco, headed to Qu's Marsh, got off, and saved. I'm not adjusting my equipment yet because I need to change Quina's as well when I get him. My time is now 04:19:29.