Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. I wish I did, but I don't.
Rikku was bored.
Hardly anything had happened in the past week! No sphere waves, no fiend infestations, and all the Sphere Break players in Luca seemed to have all caught a cold simultaneously.
So, she trudged through the Calm Lands in search of something to do.
"What do you mean the Lupine Race is closed!" Rikku yelled at the manager of the race.
"There's been a bug going around! They're all ill, so they can't race," the man replied.
"Has everyone in Spira caught something? Sheesh," Rikku grumbled. She trudged off in the direction of the Chocobo Ranch. Chocobos were cute and cuddly, and perhaps Rikku could convince Clasko to let her ride one.
However, when she reached the entrance...
"Quarantine," Rikku read from the sign on the door. "Outbreak of Choco-Fever. Do not enter."
"Augh! How does everyone get sick at exactly the same time!" Rikku yelled in frustration. "Did they plan this or something?"
As she ranted, something caught her eye. "Hey, I don't remember this being here before..." It was a book. Oddly enough, although it was sitting on the ground outside, it didn't appear to be wet or damaged. Rikku picked it up and read the cover. "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy."
"Well, I suppose I may as well read it," said Rikku. She headed back to the airship.
---
Yuna, Tidus and Paine were playing a rousing game of Go Fish.
"Tidus, got any sevens?" Paine said.
"Go fish," he answered.
They all looked up as Rikku traipsed onboard, holding the book. "Hello guys! You'll never guess what I found by the Chocobo Ranch!"
The answer was, of course, immediately evident to the card-playing trio, who quickly became worried.
Rikku didn't wait for an answer, however, but skipped off to the Cabin.
"Do you think we should intervene?" Paine asked.
"Hey, it's only one book this time," Tidus pointed out. "A rather thick book, but still. What could happen?"
"Well, if she's in there for more than two hours, we'll go check on her," said Yuna.
They went back to their game.
---
Six games of Go Fish later, Barkeep came running onto the bridge.
"It'sh teribibble!" he cried. "Rikku hash jumped ship!"
"Oh no!" Yuna cried.
"'It's only one book', eh?" Paine said sarcastically. "'What could happen?'"
"Hey, this isn't my fault!" Tidus protested.
"Do you know where Rikku might have gone?" Yuna asked Barkeep.
"No, I haven't the shlightesht clue," the Hypello answered.
"She was in the Calm Lands earlier," Paine said. "Perhaps she's gone back there."
"It's worth a shot," Yuna said. "Let's get equipped, then go and find her."
Equipment was stored in the Cabin, so Yuna, Paine, Tidus and Barkeep went there en masse. When they got there, they noticed something strange...
"Hey, all the ring accessories have gone missing," said Yuna.
---
In the deepest portion of the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, Rikku sorted the rings neatly into piles.
"Yesss... my preciousesss..." she hissed, and then let out a very creepy sounding giggle.
---
"I never thought I'd say this, but we've got to keep Rikku away from books," Paine said.
"Come on, not every book has this affect on her," Tidus said. "I mean, didn't she read that cookbook a few weeks ago in order to make dinner?"
"Well, the dinner certainly didn't turn out very well," Paine replied.
"Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover," said Yuna. They continued their trek across the Calm Lands.
---
Rikku sat reading the book. It was really quite good. She turned the page, each finger of her hand adorned by at least two rings. She hadn't felt comfortable just leaving her preciouses on the floor like that, so she put them all on. She decided that this was where her rings belonged.
---
"She doesn't seem to be anywhere," said Tidus.
"Where could she have gone?" Yuna asked no one in particular.
"Well, we're not far from the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth. We can check there next," Paine suggested.
---
Rikku looked up suddenly.
She could hear footsteps.
Someone was here to steal her preciouses!
Rikku let out a low growl.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, she had a craving for fish.
---
"I don't know why she'd go in here," said Tidus.
"Well, she is under the influence of that book," Paine said.
"We're getting near to the back chamber, the last one before the Chamber of the Fayth," Yuna said.
They turned the corner to see Rikku, who flung herself at them in a blind rage.
"You can't have the preciouses!" she shrieked.
Remembering how Rikku had recovered last time, Paine gave Rikku a whack on the head.
The Al Bhed girl slumped to the ground. "Unhhh..." she moaned. "What happened?" She looked at her hands. "And why am I wearing all of these rings?"
"It's... a long story," Yuna said. "Let's get you back to the Celsius."
In their hasty departure, they forgot completely about the book still lying on the ground. However, just after they had left the cavern, a space-time anomaly swept the book away to another world entirely...
---
Zidane was skipping along merrily, fighting the occasional monster, and of course robbing it before defeating it. Something caught his eye.
"Hey... what's a book doing just lying on the ground?" he wondered aloud. He picked it up.
"The Lord of the Rings Trilogy... I wonder if it's any good."