Disclaimer: I don't any of this…maybe I own a couple of the plot points…other then that…
A/N: Does anybody else smell brownies? runs off to get some Much better now I can write…
"Miss? You okay miss?" my eyelids fluttered open and I saw a familiar boy in front of me.
"Owie, my head hurts." I began rubbing a bump on my head before getting a grip of my surrounding. The last thing I remembered was a psychotic pizza delivery boy with a gun…and now I was in a small one-roomed house. It had blue curtains and a soft light. There was a ceiling fan. (A/n: the small house in district three in traverse town…) I saw several people staring at me, none of whom I recognized.
"You were lying in an alley way, the heartless were trying to get you. But I took care of that." The boy swung a large key around and grinned. Where did I see him before?
"Where is Yuna? And Paine?" I kept rubbing the large bump on my forehead.
"That silver-haired girl? And that blonde guy? They're in the red room down at the hotel. Aerith had to heal them, but Leon and I figured since you weren't badly injured to just take you back here." He had really dark blue eyes…I racked my memory for the place where I've seen him before. And who were Leon and Aerith?
"Yeah, silver-haired girl that's Paine. Umm, a blonde guy I'm not sure whether I know him or not…and did you see a girl with short brown hair?" I sat upright in the bed and I saw a girl with high socks and short black hair and a guy with dark brown hair.
"No sign of a girl with short brown hair. I'm Sora by the way." He pointed at the people in the room the black-haired girl's name was Yuffie and the brown-hair guy was Leon.
"My name is Rikku." I smiled at stood up. I dusted myself off and finally got a grip of myself. Something deep inside told me I was not in Spira anymore.
"Rikku? I have a friend named Riku! I'm not sure where he is right now." Sora's voice lowered, "The last time I saw him we was…uhhh…not himself…" Sora turned away and shivered. I could sense he didn't want to talk about it.
"Oh, that's too bad. Umm, if you wouldn't mind could you take me two the other two people you found?" I started walking towards the door.
"Sure, but stick with me, the heartless roam these parts even though the keyhole is sealed. I can take 'em, but if your not careful…they could…ummm…well just stick with me Rikku." Sora ran out the door and I followed. Several minutes and about twenty heartless later we were at a large hotel.
"Hey Aerith are they okay?" Sora called out into a hotel room.
"Yeah, we found them just in time. The boy can talk now." A brunette with a long braid came out of the room. She smiled at me and seemed really nice.
"I'm Rikku." I held out my hand for her to shake, but instead she gave me a friendly hug. I smiled and was really happy to meet someone as nice as her in this strange world.
"I'm Aerith. These are the two we found in the first district. They were unconscious." She fumbled with a piece of thread in her hand and lead Sora and I into the room. I let my eyes look over the surroundings and saw Paine lying on a bed reading a magazine. Then I saw Tidus sitting in a chair drinking coffee.
"Painey! Tidus! Oh my god! I am sooo excited! I thought you guys were uber injured!" I ran over and embraced Tidus first and then Paine. To my surprise neither of them seemed to mind. I think Paine even gave a slight smile.
"Aerith is a great healer." Sora said stepping into the room.
"Rikku have you seen Yuna?" Tidus was standing now, a concerned look on his face.
"No…but I know she's in this place…somewhere. That pizza guy blasted his gun at all three of us!" I paced around the hotel room.
"Did you say a pizza guy? Because the person that pointed a gun at me, Gippal, Wakka, and Baralai was a Chinese delivery woman." Tidus started pacing with me.
"Wait a second…did you just say his named was Tidus? And you mention the name Wakka?" I spun around and saw Sora looking slightly confused.
"Yeah? Why?" I looked into one of the tasseled pouched on my belt and found my favorite picture. It was of me, Yuna, Paine, Baralai, Wakka, Tidus, Nooj, Le Blanc, and Lulu. I pointed at each person and told the name to each.
"That's weird. Your name is Rikku and there's a Wakka and Tidus too." Sora said. I was slightly confused. I decided no to think about it anymore and to turn my attention to a more important subject; Gippal was here too, most likely.
"Tidus you said Gippal was with you? So he might be here too?" I asked him. I just remembered my boyfriend was having a sleepover as well last night.
"Yeah…" then Tidus remembered about Gippal and I were dating. "I'm sure he's fine Rikku."
I nodded and then faced Sora. "Would you help us look? For our friends?" I told myself I was only asking him because he seemed to know his way around and I had no clue how to battle those heartless. They left behind colorful balls when they disappeared and I doubted you could cast the same spells on them that you could cast on fiends.
"Sure it'd be my pleasure. I'm kind of on this…umm…well you could call it a mission, but I'm doing it right now and if you would be willing to come along and maybe help me…" his voice trailed off. Sora scratched the back of his head.
"Yea! No problem Tidus, Paine, and I have all saved Spria at least once," I lowered my voice to a whisper, "but I saved it twice." I giggled and added a wink. Sora turned bright red.
"Tsk tsks Rikku, what will Gippal say when he sees you flirting with a fourteen-year-old?" Tidus teased me and I just giggled again in defeat.
"Sora before we leave don't you think the three of us had better get some weapons that work against heartless?" Paine's monosyllabic voice spoke up from the corner.
"Your weapons should work fine." Sora answered.
"Sora didn't you notice by our attire, we're all in our pajamas. We don't have electro marbles and phoenix downs. We don't have dresspheres. We don't have thief blades or guns…" Paine started rambling off to Sora all the things we didn't have. I decided to play thumb wars with Tidus and tune her out.
"Umm Paine actually, the thing is I have my thief dressphere with me…" I began to say; but I was met by a death glare.
"And I always carry some small weapons with me in case I run into a fiend." Tidus added. Paine looked a little ticked off. Sora ran over to Aerith and asked her something; she nodded.
"Paine since you're going to be on a long journey with Sora you can always borrow my staff." Aerith went into the closet and took out a long brown staff.
"A Long Journey? And what am I supposed to do with a piece of wood?" Paine asked; sounding more then slightly annoyed.
"You use it for magic and healing. Just point the staff and cast your magic." Aerith quickly explained. "You do know black and white magic right?"
"Yes of course I know magic. Thanks for the staff Aerith." Paine took the staff out of Aerith's hands and stood up. "I guess we better get going, we have bigger fish to fry."
"That's the spirit!" Tidus said and everyone but Paine danced out of the hotel happily.
"Minus ten respect points, all of you." Paine said slightly jokingly from behind us.
"Don't ask" I whispered to Sora.
"Wait until you see my Gummi ship! Its awesome Cid made a really cool design since I was picking up all kinds of parts from allover…" I walked through the quaint town listening to Sora's voice trying to remember where I had heard it before.
"So where are we going?" Tidus asked Sora. I was about to laugh at the question when I realized that I still had no idea where we were.
"Well, I'm not sure exactly, but I think we need to be heading in the direction of Hallow Bastion." Sora answered and then began running. "Last one to the Gummi is a rotten egg!"
I began to run after him when Paine stopped me.
"Rikku look." Paine pointed at something in the ground. It looked like a name badge, from Brother's Pizza Parlor.
"So…" I began to say; then I got it. That was the name of the place where I had ordered Pizza from last night. Maybe this was our first clue to our friend's whereabouts. Maybe just maybe Yuna and Gippal…and Baralai weren't far away after all. But I had no time to think about it then, I didn't want to be the rotten egg!
A/N: Ooo! Not very cliff-hangery is it? I like that ending when I started this chapter I wrote the last line first and tried to see if I could make it work…lol I know I'm a freak. Please review and maybe I'll update soon…
Lucy Samantha