Chapter One

Besaid Isle - A few months after the return of Tidus...

Feet dangling in the water, a lone girl sat at the edge of a dock, on the beach of Besaid. She was humming a tune of no origin and tilting her head every now and then. Blonde braids showered down from the top of her head each time she moved. It was Rikku, the Al-Bhed princess, spending her afternoon relaxing near the ocean. With a sigh, she tilted her head again while pouting.

When am I ever going to find that special guy? I'm so happy for Yunie but sometimes I feel a little bit... jealous...

But upon that thought, she quickly shook her head. "No, no. I'm just lonely! Since Tidus returned, she hasn't been around as much... and Paine never hangs out with anyone anyway... Hmm, speaking of Paine, I wonder how many friend points I have right now..."

Amidst her thoughts, Rikku saw a white round blur in the water. The waves were distorting it but she was pretty sure it was a blitzball. Curious to who might be practicing, she leaned over the edge more, for a better view. The round shape grew bigger and was definitely a sphere. Rikku was puzzled by now because it was about twice as large as a blitzball. Then, she saw the pupil and leaped up in horror. The round object was a huge eyeball and it was staring right at her! Stifling a scream, she stepped back and caught her breath. Slowly, she peered over the dock again and her heart skipped a few beats. The large eyeball was near the surface! Suddenly, a tendril of water snaked up into the air, growing thicker and thicker until the large eyeball had traveled up the stream. It was a huge, literally all-water, one-eyed serpent and before Rikku could scream in terror, it wrapped itself around her with lightning speed, dragging her into the ocean, down into the depths...

Unknown

"Look! You can almost see-"

"Is she Gerudo?"

"Could be... but she looks too nice-"

"Of course they do, idiot! Why do you think they are so successful-"

"What should we do? Bring her back to the cottage?"

Rikku slowly gained consciousness as she blinked open her eyes, quickly closing again since the sun was glaring directly down. It suddenly felt much colder, almost like it wasn't Besaid anymore. After closing her eyes, she started drifting into darkness again.

"Here, you take her shoulders, I'll take this end..."

Earlier, the unconscious Rikku's skirt had been hooked by a fisherman accidentally and when dragged in, the fisherman and his two colleagues were astounded by their "catch". An unconscious, scantily clad girl with strawberry blonde hair had been floating in the middle of the water. They had decided to take her back to the cottage and wait for her to recover.

"Sigh, Lake Hylia has been getting chillier this year... wonder why..."

Lake Hylia – Fishermen's Cottage

Ugh... Wake up, Rikku! I smell fish...

For the second time, Rikku blinked her eyes open. The dim lamplight was soothing and she had been sleeping on her side, facing it. Just when she was about to drift off to sleep again, she felt hands near her rear end, caressing. Whipping around, Rikku found a shocked looking man, pudgy and soft, lifting his hands up in surrender. She quickly kicked him in the face and he slumped to the ground unconscious. Calming down from the sudden surprise, Rikku took a moment to figure out what the heck had happened.

Okay... so first, I was just sitting on the dock, then that eyeball, yuck, and then... some voices and that really bright sun... and it was really chilly too, now this pervert feeling me while I was out and now what? Yunie!

Suddenly, the door opened silently but swiftly, and two other similarly pudgy men came in, one with a pair of scissors and the other with a gleeful smile on his face. Rikku had a good hunch on what the scissors were for and why the two had such a perverted look on their face. Anger suddenly flared within her and she did a flip kick on the man with the scissors and while the other one stepped back in shock, she front kicked him in the chin, effectively clearing the path out of the room. Without hesitation, Rikku left, while grumbling. The hallway was short and led to a main room of sorts that held many fishing poles and different boxes most likely filled with other equipment.

So they are fishermen... that explains the fish smell... ugh...

It was then she realized that the whole cottage smelled funny. Rikku wasted no time exiting the cottage. Once outside, the sight that met her eyes stopped her in her tracks. Instead of the vast, blue ocean and sandy shores, there was grass everywhere and the water was a darker blue, and much calmer. She was in front of a large lake and it didn't seem like she was anywhere near Besaid, judging by how chilly it was. Looking to her left, she saw trees of some forest. Turning to her right, she saw a large opening in the wall of trees that surrounded the lake area. It seemed like a good direction to go so Rikku started running to stay warm.

Oh no... where am I, what is this place? And how did I get here... Am I still in Spira even? And did that eyeball creature take me here? Ahhhh!

Moments, minutes, or hours later, Rikku found herself in a slightly warmer place. The trees had long gone as she looked around now to see herself on a vast plain, with almost nothing but short grass. There was a dirt path that led to a lone collection of trees, almost like an island on land. Looking more closely, Rikku noticed that there was a house there as well as two larger buildings and a tower with some sort of large fan. It was all very strange the way the buildings looked, but Rikku decided to go check them out. The house had a light on so there must be people inside. She hoped they would be safer to be with since it was getting darker.

"Hello?" Rikku shouted as she knocked on the door of the house. There was some grumbling and another gruff voice saying something. Rikku also heard a female voice speaking so she relaxed a bit. The door opened and a grumpy looking man peered down at her. He had strange facial hair that almost looked like it could be worn, but Rikku had a feeling it was natural. It was a really strange place she had ended up in. Looking past the first man, Rikku saw a bigger man lazing on a sofa of sorts. Sitting near him on another cushioned chair, was a young lady similar to her age. The girl had reddish hair and was very pretty. After explaining why she was here, Rikku was let in and spent the night on what she found out the next day to be the Lon Lon Ranch.