Disclaimer: Final Fantasy X-2 and all its related indicia belong to Square-Enix. In other words, I own squat.

Author's Notes: Yup, it's a new chapter. I was gone on vacation during the summer so I didn't have much time to write and now I'm at university. I don't think I'll be able to update as fast. We'll see. Thanks to all you reviewers for sticking with this story:)

Reminder: Just a reminder, Rikku is in Gippal's body so it's Rikku's mind in Gippal's body and vice versa.

Change!

Chapter Three: There's Something About Gippal…

Rikku sighed as she sipped her glass of low-fat shoopuf milk. Boy, being Gippal sure was tough. Lounging around in an air-conditioned office, having everything you could want at your fingertips… Yep, being the leader of the Machine Faction was not exactly a cup of tantal juice.

"Gippal, oui ryja kiacdc Gippal (Gippal, you have guests)," an Al Bhed technician informed her.

"Caht dras eh (Send them in)," Rikku replied, waving her hand lazily as she took another gulp from the glass.

"Hello Gippal."

Rikku spit out a mouthful of milk when she heard that voice. It was Baralai, the Praetor of New Yevon. She turned around to face him and dropped her glass in surprise because standing beside him was none other than Nooj, Meyvan of the Youth League. Baralai and Nooj, Gippal's best friends, and the worst people for Rikku to meet in her current situation.

"H-hey guys," Rikku squeaked, sounding much more like her normal self than she thought possible. She cleared her throat, relieved her next words came out in Gippal's voice. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Don't you remember?" Nooj asked, his lips curving into a… smile? Yes, there could be no mistaking it. Who knew he was even capable of such an emotion?

"Uh, no?" she replied, slowly running over her options in her head. Why didn't Gippal tell her about this!?

Baralai chuckled. "You asked us to come and help you prepare for that big machina competition in Luca, remember?"

"O-oh yeah." Rikku plastered a huge grin on her face and rubbed her head in apparent embarrassment. Machina competition!? "Um, guess I forgot, sorry."

"That's like you," Baralai grinned. "Hey, what's that?" he asked, glancing curiously at Gippal's invention, otherwise known as the body-switching machina from the Farplane.

"Don't touch it!" Rikku burst out, quickly darting in front of the machina, blocking it from Baralai's reach. The last thing she needed was another body-switching fiasco. "It, uh, isn't finished yet!"

"What's it supposed to do?" Nooj asked, curiosity clearly getting the better of him. Another surprise.

"Oh, um…" Rikku scratched her head. What had Gippal told her? Was it a shoopuf-breeding machine? No. A gyshal green dispenser? Nah. Oh, she couldn't remember! 'Ah, I'll just make it up.'

"It, uh, makes milkshakes. Yep, it's a milkshake making machine. Pretty cool, huh?" Nice save, Rikku!

Nooj and Baralai exchanged a look. Milkshake making machine? Gippal must not be getting enough fresh air. Time for some drastic action.

"Hey, uh, Gippal," Baralai interrupted Rikku as she continued to ramble on about her amazing milkshake machine, "why don't you take a break from work and come to the Moonflow?"

"The Moonflow?" Rikku's eyes lit up and she stopped mid-ramble. "Definitely."

She absolutely loved the Moonflow. All the pyreflies dancing on top of the water… It was so romantic… Wait a minute. Romantic? Uh oh, was Baralai asking her on a date? And he thought she was Gippal. This could get seriously confusing.

Before she had a chance to say anything more, Nooj stepped in. "We'll meet you there."

What? Nooj, too? A double date? Well, not really but…

"Hey, wait!" Rikku shouted after them as they left the room. "Guys, I'm not-! …Aww, poopie! Huh, what's this?"

She reached down and picked up a piece of paper. Turning it over she saw her own messy handwriting. It was the letter she was supposed to give to Gippal. Correction, the love letter she was supposed to give to Gippal. Paine had double dared her to do it and Rikku was not one to back down from a double dare. She had stayed up the entire night writing the most sappy, mushy dribble she could muster under Paine's watchful eye.

But wait… Wasn't she Gippal? So she had completed the dare!

"Ha, ha! In your face, Paine! Oh, hey guys, wait for me!"

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Rikku clambered down the temple steps after Baralai and Nooj. What was their hurry? Couldn't they just wait for her? Especially if this was supposed to be a date.

"Gippal!!!"

"Huh? Rikku felt something grab onto her arm, then another, and another.

"Gippy, were you hiding from us?"

"We missed you!"

Three Al Bhed females were clinging onto Rikku's arm, squealing like baby chocobo.

"Ah, get off me!" Rikku yelled, quickly pulling her arm out of their grasp.

"But Gippy-"

"You promised-"

"Stay away from me you, perverts!" Rikku ordered dashing after Nooj and Baralai.

"You didn't spend much time with your fanclub," Nooj noted, as Rikku caught up with them at the Moonflow's south end.

"Fanclub!?" Since when did Gippal have a fanclub? Why didn't she know about it? Was he trying to hide it from her?

"It's just an expression," he answered flatly.

"O-oh, right." Rikku breathed a sigh of relief. Why had she gotten so worked up about Gippal having a fanclub? It's not like she cared or anything.

"Hey, is that… a giant Cait Sith?" Baralai piped up, pointing ahead.

Rikku whipped her head around. Giant Cait Sith? It couldn't be Gippal. She squinted her eyes to get a better look and was nearly knocked over by the fiend that went whizzing by, barking and howling.

"Nice job, Rikku." Rikku knew that voice. It was Yunie and that meant…

"Ah, the Gullwings," Baralai voiced Rikku's thoughts and sure enough Yuna, Paine and presumably Gippal were gathered in the distance. "Why don't we go say hello?"

Nooj nodded. Rikku blanched.

"I-I'm not sure that's such a good idea," she said, waving her arms frantically. How could she act like Gippal in front of Gippal? That would definitely be intimidating. "Yunie and the others are probably busy!"

"Yunie?" Nooj and Baralai said in unison.

"I, uh, mean, uh… Yuna," Rikku quickly corrected herself. That slip up had nearly blown her cover.

"Hello, Gullwings. What brings you to the Moonflow?"

Paine gave a small wave in acknowledgement while the Cait Sith-Gippal struggled to remove his mask.

"We're sphere hunting. There's supposed to be a treasure sphere nearby," Yuna said.

"Sphere hunting?" Rikku asked as she clenched her fist in excitement, all thoughts of acting Gippalish driven from her mind. She lived for sphere hunting. "We'll help! Right guys?"

"Gippal, we don't know the first thing about sphere hunting," Baralai muttered.

"Of course we do. Let's find that sphere!" Rikku skipped, laughing madly, down the path towards the bank.

"Does something about Gippal seem odd to you?" Baralai asked. Gippal struggled even harder to remove the mask. Trust Rikku to screw with his manly image.

"Well, he does seem a bit more… energetic than usual," Yuna offered.

"Yeah, energetic is one way of putting it," Paine mumbled.

Gippal finally yanked off the mask and gasped for air. "Man, that dressphere's a deathtrap waiting to happen! Hey, where'd Rikku go?"

"Um, you're Rikku," Yuna said, concern rising in her voice.

"O-oh, yeah," Gippal stumbled over his words. Why did he keep forgetting that? It's not like it was an easy thing to forget. Maybe he really was turning into Rikku.

Paine rolled her eyes before following the real Rikku. "Stop fooling around Rikku, we've got a sphere to find."

Baralai and Nooj followed her leaving Gippal and Yuna alone.

"Are you really all right, Rikku?" Yuna asked, staring at her cousin worriedly.

"Y-yeah, I-I'm fine," Gippal stammered. "U-uh, Yuna, there's something I wanted to ask you for a long time."

"Okay. What is it?"

Gippal felt his face redden. Why was his heart racing? Could he do this?

'Just ask her.'

'But what if she says no?'

'She won't say no!'

'But what if she does?'

'You'll never know unless you ask!'

'Fine, I'll ask!'

Yuna stood there smiling, blissfully unaware of the argument raging inside Gippal's mind.

"Um, Yuna, do you… do you think you can help me out of this dressphere?"

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Author's Notes: Third chapter done! Sorry that it took so long. The Internet here hasn't been up for awhile but I also have had lots of work. I also try to post quality chapters every time. I don't want to post something I'm not happy with just to get on with the story. Quality over quantity:)

Is it just my imagination, or is Dryden from Escaflowne a dead ringer for Noojie-Woojie? Check out this picture (scroll down to see it and LEAVE OUT the spaces!)

w w w . e s c a f l o w n e o n l i n e . c o m / c h a r a c t e r / d r y d e n . h t m l

Well? Please leave a review. I love reading them and knowing that there are people who enjoy (or don't :)) this story. They inspire me to write more! Thanks!

(I'm not sure if it's the south end or the north end when Rikku catches up with the guys. Well, anyway, it's the end that connects from Djose Temple. I don't have my guidebook with me so please forgive me if I mixed this up :))

EDIT: Thank you Master Thief for pointing out the Al Bhed translation notes. It seems erased my square brackets. I fixed it now, though. I don't want my readers to get confused :)