Disclaimer: I dun own FFX-2 o

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Baralai took a moment to catch his breath. This was far from the old Rikku he remembered from so long ago, the Rikku that had vanished without a trace.

Her hair was curly, full of ringlets that flowed down past her shoulders. Two neatly dun buns sat atop her hair, ending in two little curls. She was clothed in what seemed to be rather large pale yellow flower petals. The sleeveless dress started below her arms, and ended above her knees, looking much like a flower bud. Starting at her elbows were separate petal sleeves that loosely billowed out. On her feet were petal slippers matching her dress.

"R-Rikku..?" Baralai stuttered at her.

The woman blinked at him. She pushed her face closer to his and widened her swirling silver eyes. "You didn't see me..." Rikku whispered. Backing up a few feet, something glittering, transparent, and gossamer rose and fluttered behind her.

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"Wings?" Gippal shrieked in a disbelieving tone. "What the hell?"

"Will you please be quiet?" Paine glared at him.

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Her wings starting beating at nearly the speed of a Hummingbird's, raising the girl into the air. Rikku smiled that all-knowing smile at Baralai, as if daring him to chase after her.

Then, whoosh! She was off, Baralai instinctively trailing after her. Leije sped up the hoover and caught up with Baralai. Grabbing him by the shirt and hurling him onto the hoover, the two men kept pace with Rikku, who would have easily lost them on foot. Right, left, left, right, under the branches, through a bush, over a midair silver path.

Content that she had lost Baralai a while ago, Rikku came to a standstill, hoovering over a shimmering violet lake, trees towering above her. While Rikku was catching her breath, Baralai jumped off of the hoover, edging his way closer to the lake, stopping a few feet away and concealing himself behind a bush. Leije moved the hover (Only Yevon knows why the noise hadn't alerted Rikku to their presence -.-;) back a ways, zooming the sphere in on the lake.

Rikku took a deep breath and sighed. Clutching her head in both of her hands, she muttered, "This is bad. Bad, bad, baa-aad!" Her voice rose to a shriek, and she attempted to stomp her foot in midair, causing her to fall forward. "What am I gonna tell the others...?" Silence filled the Woods as she glanced around.

"WHROAR!" A hyperactive voice cried out, just as a figure popped out of the lake, jump tackling Rikku and nearly soaking her in the process. Rikku glared at the other girl, noting that she was already almost completely dry. The Macalanian girl had a long orange bob, bright silver eyes and a wreath of flowers on her head. She had a silk dress, covered by pink flower petals and some leaves, quite different from Rikku's.

Rikku sighed again and shook her head at the antics of the other Macalanian child. "Cherri... Ugh."

Cherri blinked at her, playfully pushing her and flying around a bit. "What is it, Ri-Ri?"

"Stop playing around. I've got some baaad news for you guys," Rikku informed the curious girl. There was silence for a moment, and then Cherri responded, "Pssh. We already know that, we're not that dull. Anyone with a brain would have noticed that someone's been trying to destroy the woods. I'm just glad they didn't start on my part of Macalania Woods; I don't want to be the first one to die." There was another pause as Rikku glared at Cherri. "It was your section, wasn't it?"

"Well, no duh, Cherri. I've been scared to death, jump tackled, soaked, chased, and nearly killed within one afternoon!" Rikku hissed. "Wouldn't you be in a pretty awful mood, too?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Cherri looked around for her other two companions, quickly losing interest. "You can't blame them, though. Those stupid Spirans didn't know that they'd be killing you, too. I mean, they don't even know about us."

Rikku glanced in the direction where Cherri's attention was currently placed. Two girls floated towards the lake, both looking more than a bit perturbed. "That's everyone..." She muttered.

One of the girls had dark red hair, held up by a yellow flowered clip in a pony tail sort of fashion. Two bangs framing her face went down a little past her chin. She wore a white petal skirt, ending at her knees, a green leafed belt holding it up. Her top was a white silken petal blouse, ending just above her belly button, also trimmed with little green leafs. The other girl had a sleeveless dress that started tight and ended in a loose petal design. The dress was a mixture of light and dark blue petals, and she wore knee high silk blue petal boots. Her shining hair was black and straight, ending before her waist.

"How did I know you two would be over here?" the redhaired one smirked.

"Shhh, Synea," the black haired girl silenced her friend. "Someone's watching us," She faintly glanced around, her eyes temporarily landing in the direction of Baralai's hiding spopt, causing him to duck lower.

"Ahaha... Why would you think that? Whatever, Mihyn, yer just imagining it," Rikku looked uncomfortable. "They've done it again, you guys."

Synea looked startled. "They continued with another operation?"

"And I thought we scared them off for good the first time," Mihyn commented.

"Are they trying to kill us off for good?" Cherri asked, worried.

""We've gotta stop them, I knew they were trouble-," Synea started.

"Let's blow 'em up!" Mihyn interrupted.

"YEA!" the red head eagerly agreed.

"Let's NOT blow them up," Cherri glared at the two, who looked extremely disappointed. She turned to Rikku. "Ri-Ri, what's wrong? Why have you been so quiet?" The three girls' eyes snapped on the blonde.

"No... I mean, it-it's nothing," Rikku had zoned out.

"You met someone you used to know, didn'tcha?" Mihyn looked fairly interested.

"No! It's no one, never met him in my life," She denied, obviously not realizing she gave the fact that she HAD met someone away.

"What do you mean you haven't met me?" Baralai loudly asked, clearly offended by her remark. "Oh, shit. I didn't say anything. I don't exist. Ignore me," He attempted to pretend he was a tree.

"What? Who is that?" Synea asked, worried. The girl flew over to where the noise had come from, the others following meekly behind her. She pushed back a few branches and saw a certain white haired, tan skinned praetor.

"You led someone here, Rikku?!" Mihyn hissed at her.

"N-no! I thought I lost him, honest," She let out her famous puppy dog eyes, which had gone unused for nearly a year; she didn't exactly need them anymore.

"I am a lot faster than you give me credit for, Rikku," Baralai stepped out into a clearing, his chest swelling with pride.

"Oh please," Cherri sneered. "You couldn't have chased her on foot; you must have gotten here somewhere," She looked around. Finally a certain machine engine was noticed, whose presense had gone quite unnoticed until now.

Rikku turned towards the direction in which Cherri was looking. A rusty looking hoover floated about ten feet away, facing their direction. Riding it was a young man with spiked brown hair, nice tan skin and deep light green eyes. He was muscular to an extent, but not to the point of disgusting some people out.

After staring at the man for a moment longer than necessary, Rikku noticed a certain object in his hands, which he had put down when she had noticed him. A sphere. That was currently recording.

"YOU'VE BEEN TAPING ME? TURN THAT THING OFF!" She screamed at him.

"Errr... Sorry..." Leije whispered into the sphere, before turning it off.

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The screen went static. Everyone was silent, and had a blank expression, save for Gippal; he looked a bit peeved.

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Errr yeah as for Leije think Cloud with brown hair and less muscular XD