On the next screen, the party will notice the...air flickering and a hole will open seemingly in midair. Squall will reach out and feel that there's actually something there even though they can't see it, so they climb up into the hole. At a certain point in the tunnel, you can examine some of the transparent panels and realize the reason you couldn't see anything is because these panels have a "Camouflage" option that put up an image of a blue sky.
As you progress, everything eventually clears up and the humongous city of Esthar comes into view. We're treated to a nice FMV of the city as the lift flies you through it. Once we get off, Squall says that Esthar must know that they're here, so he warns them to stay alert in case of hostility. Of course, the best way to remain alert is to be unconscious, so Ellone conveniently decides to "connect" them to the past at that moment.
We cut to Laguna and company at the Lunatic Pandora Laboratory. They've found their way into Esthar, but they've apparently been arrested and forced to do slave labor. The opening scene doesn't have too much notable going on other than Laguna having some cool interactions with a Moomba. His kindness for the Moomba catches the attention of the other guy in the room, and he tells Laguna he might be a perfect candidate to be the leader of the Adel Resistance. They have a decent sized resistance and they've been doing some behind the scenes work, but they haven't really found anyone capable of leading the charge against her and removing her from power.
At this point, an Esthar soldier will come in and see them talking, and he'll resort to violence. Laguna will handle him, and then he'll offer to keep the soldiers at bay while the Moomba and the other guy escape. At that point, Kiros and Ward will enter to help him out. Once again, the game has conveniently stripped whatever Junctions they may have, so make sure you check on them. Of course, if you brought Edea with you into Esthar and you have stuff Junctioned onto her, too bad. The game won't let you use her for this dream sequence, and it won't let you switch her Junctions before it begins either. Oh well.
Before you escape, you can eavesdrop on a conversation between Odine and his assistant. Part of the conversation involves a Weapons Monthly that Odine borrowed from his assistant, which he's since lost. If you come back afterward, you can find it on the ground, which will show you how to form some of the very best weapons in the game, including Lionheart. After you leave, you'll discover that Odine's assistant is also part of the Adel Resistance, so he offers to help you find Ellone. Odine is probably the guy to ask about that though since she's his new favorite toy.
Before you head off to find him, you can get a neat conversation about Ellone. If you talk to that other guy, he'll ask Laguna if she's his "special someone," and he'll reply that it's something like that. Kiros will say that's ridiculous because she's like a daughter to him. Laguna says that Ellone's still a "lady," so he calls her that out of respect...and fear. Then he recalls "The J Disaster," an incident in which she got angry with him and put fruit jam in his shoes, which nearly brought him to tears.
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