Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 4: Rikku Arrives!

Masato sat on the soft sand of the beach on Besaid Island. He and the group had been helping to fix up the damage done by the fiends. Despite his literally broken arm he had tried to help as much as he could since Yuna had been nice enough to give him an extra room in the temple. But now that the manual labor was over he was free to rest on the beach in peace.

At least until the rest of the group had finished their work as well. "Hey Masato!" Masurao called over to the relaxing boy. Masato looked back and saw Masurao wearing a blue swimsuit running over to him. "There you are. You sort of disappeared back there after we finished working."

"I just wanted to relax a bit." Masato answered. Masurao shrugged before moving out into the water. Masato looked around the peaceful beach and felt a little happy being in the peaceful scenery.

"Hey Masato!" Masurao cried over to him. "Come on in! The water won't hurt you!"

"Idiot." Masato sighed.

"Sorry about him, he's a little slow." Celena said. Masato turned back to see Celena wearing a one piece red swimsuit that fit her perfectly. He blushed a little bit and looked away quickly, earning a small chuckle from Celena. "He means well though." Celena added before walking out to the water. Masato couldn't keep from watching her until a shadow fell over him, making him squeak in fear.

He slowly looked behind himself to find Haseo wearing a black swimsuit glaring down on him, his body surprisingly thin and lithe despite the amazing strength he used against the fiends. "H-Hey Haseo." He stuttered. Haseo glared down on him wordlessly, his eyes not leaving Masato's for a second. 'Yeah, he caught me eyeing Celena.' Masato thought fearfully.

"Oh Haseo." Celena sighed. She walked back on shore and grabbed the boy's arm. "Come on, let's leave Masato alone and let him rest. Stop being so mean to new people." She scolded. She pulled Haseo away, the white haired boy following with a reluctant look on his face. Celena pulled him into the water but before following her, he looked back and sent one more glare at Masato.

"I need to be careful about him." Masato muttered. "It's like a monster is glaring at me."

"Ya, that's Haseo alright." Vidina said as he walked up to Masato. "It's not just new people he doesn't like, he's jealous that you saved Celena when he couldn't."

"So basically he hates me and will for a while." Masato said bluntly.

"Yep, be careful brudda. He won't do anything openly bad to you, but you can bet he'll be against just about anything you agree with." Vidina chuckled. "And don't even try warming up to Celena so he'll be more open to you. If anything that'll make things worse for you."

"So I'm dealing with a jealous boyfriend that can snap my neck? Great." Masato said sarcastically. Vidina only laughed in return before throwing his blitzball over at Masurao. The boy didn't notice it coming at him and it smacked the back of his head, tripping him up and knocking him completely into the water. Masato found himself chuckling slightly at the other boy's expense.

He watched the group play and slowly felt himself relax. He found himself wishing he could join them, but that was dangerous for him even if his arm wasn't completely severed. He sat back in the warm sun and smiled as the gentle sea breeze drifted through the sandy beach. The blitzball rolled over to him and Masurao yelled over to him.

"Hey! Throw it over here!" Vidina yelled over.

"Come on! You can throw a grenade so throw the ball!" Masurao cheered.

Masato smiled and stood up, careful to not move his arm too much. He picked the ball up with his okay arm and threw it as hard as he could. The ball flew through the air and towards Masurao. "I got it, I got," The ball flew past Masurao's outstretched arms and smacked him in the face, knocking him back into the warm water. He picked the blitzball up and sighed. "Why does this always happen?" he lamented.

"Just unlucky I guess." Celena chuckled. She smiled as she scanned the beach for what she was looking for. She rolled her eyes when she saw Haseo curled up, sitting on a small area in the water. The water was barely waist high when you sat down on the spot and a part of the small cliffs you could climb hung just right to cast the small area in shadows.

"He's in his usual spot ya?" Vidina chuckled.

"Yep." Celena answered with a fake sigh and a shrug. She swam over to her friend and sat next to him. Haseo looked out towards the horizon, seemingly not noticing or caring Celena had come. Celena smirked and pushed the boy slightly closer to the water, moving him very slightly off of the ledge. He grunted and put returned to his spot. Celena pushed him again, a playful smile on her face.

"Come on, the water is fine." She said reassuringly. "It won't bite."

"I know." Haseo answered quietly, looking away from Celena.

Celena frowned and out a hand on his shoulder. "It's never too late to learn how to swim." She said reassuringly. Haseo flinched slightly, earning a small smile from Celena despite her self not wanting to. "Two things." She said seriously. Haseo frowned and looked back at her. "Water and caves." She continued. Haseo blinked and turned away with a grunt.

"Yep, that's what you said remember?" Celena continued. "A little after we all first met you, we went out on the island. We all had a lot of fun, but at the end of the day a Sallet attacked us. You battled against it and killed it by knocking it off a cliff and drowning it. After that Masurao asked you if there was anything you were actually afraid of." Celena smiled knowingly again. "And you said 'One thing, caves.'"

"But then," she chuckled, pushing Haseo again. "We went to the beach the next day. You were pretty excited, even if you didn't show it. You'd never been to the beach before, and even though it was so hot you still loved the soft sand and cool water. But then when we all went out to the water, you stopped. Masurao asked if you were okay and you just nodded in return."

"I wasn't okay." Haseo said quietly.

"That's right." Celena continued. "You didn't know how to swim. So when we all started playing in the water and you stood on the shore, you started feeling embarrassed. When Masurao, that loveable moron, started taunting you, you ran out into the water to prove him wrong." Celena pushed Haseo again, scooting him further off of his ledge.

"Lapse in judgment." Haseo answered.

"A pretty big one." Celena laughed. "Vidina had to drag you out of the water and when we went back to the shore and you could breathe again, you said something. 'Two things, water and caves.'" Celena didn't have to see Haseo's face to know her normally stone faced friend had a slight blush over his face. She laughed one more time before pushing her friend right off the ledge, making him gasp in shock. Haseo fell into the water with a loud splash, the cold water covering his body.

He lifted his head out of the water and clung to the ledge. He stared up at Celena, a very slight hint of anger within his eyes. Celena helped him onto the ledge and he sat next to her. This time however, he sat with his hands in front of him and gripping the front of the stone perch. Celena laughed at Haseo, but he remained firm and indifferent.

"So how much longer do you think it'll be?" Vidina asked.

"Until what?" Masurao asked.

"Until Celena and Haseo admit their head over heels for each other." Vidina laughed.

"A while since Haseo hardly ever talks." Masurao chuckled.

"Hey party people!" a loud voice cried from the shore. Masato flinched when the loud voice filled his ear and looked behind him. Walking out onto the beach was a girl with a smirk on her face. She had spiky blonde hair and fair skin. She was wearing a silver top that showed her stomach and fingerless brown glove with cuffs. She wore jeans and black shoes. Odd pieces of silver armor were on her upper arms and her eyes were also silver.

"It's Loaño!" Masurao cheered as he and Vidina went to the shore.

Celena swam back as well while Haseo walked through the shallow edge of the small alcove he had been in. The group got to the shore and walked up to Loaño. Masato frowned in confusion at the new girl and stood up, slowly moving over to the new girl as well. Everyone was exchanging greetings and giving the teenage girls hugs. Masato let out a small laugh when Loazño pulled Haseo into a big hug since it was obvious he wasn't going to hug her. Haseo glared at Masato for a moment, his laughter shrinking to a nervous chuckle. Loaño let go of him and turned to Masato, his eyes widening when he noticed the distinct spiral in her eyes.

"So you're the machina guy huh?" she asked. She pulled Masato's left arm closer to examine it. "This is some pretty good work." She said interestedly. She looked over at Masato's damaged right arm and frowned a bit. "Don't worry; my mom can fix you up."

"Wait, so your mom is Rikku?" Masato asked.

"Yep, that's here." Loaño answered. "She and dad are back with at the temple chatting it up with your parents and stuff. They told me to come get you guys."

"Finally!" Masato sighed. "Maybe now I can get my arm fixed."

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"Hey mom!" Loaño yelled into the temple. "I brought back the broken kid!"

"I'm not broken." Masato said quietly. "My arm is just a little on the damaged side."

"Oh, so not broken." Loaño said sarcastically. "But broken."

"Just get your mom." Masato grumbled.

A few minutes later Masato was sitting in one of the extra rooms of the temple. Rikku, looking as thin and mischievous as ever, was examining his arm with an odd mechanical visor over her right eye. She was wearing a yellow top with long sleeves that showed off her stomach and a bit of her assets. She had tight pants that fell down to her knees, showing off her figure. She had black fingerless gloves on her hand as she gently moved Masato's arm around.

"Ouch!" Masatio cried for the fifth time in the past four minutes.

"Sorry." Rikku chuckled.

"Maybe I should take a look." Gippal suggested.

"Why, afraid I'll break him?" Rikku chuckled.

"Honestly, yes. I am." Gippal answered.

Rikku didn't reply. She gently replaced Masato's arm in it's sling and stood up. She seemed to be in an uncharacteristic thoughtfulness. She was oddly quiet for a moment as she thought everything over. "Okay!" she said as she finished her thinking. "Lo, go back to the airship and get my engineer stuff. Yunie, go get me some paper and pens so I can make notes and blueprints and junk. And one of you other guys go get me a sandwich. I'm hungry."

The two girls went to get the required stuff while Masurao, Celena and Haseo looked at each other. "Not me." Celena said, raising her arm slightly.

"No." Haseo said simply.

Masurao looked between his sister and Haseo. "Fine, I'll be right back." He left the room and left the other five alone.

"Where's Vidina?" Gippal asked. "I thought he'd want to see this."

"He did but you know him and practicing with the team." Celena answered with a shrug. "He left the beach to go start practice when we left to come up here."

"You're dad is still gone huh?" Rikku asked.

"Yep, he should be back tomorrow though." Celena answered. "Hopefully he got my weapon fixed as well."

Yuna came back then and Loaño shortly after that. She had a big bag with her and placed it next to Masato. She carefully took out all sorts of devices, ranging from large wrenches, to small drills, to large drills, to small tweezers, to strange and complicated looking devices. She also took out several pieces of metal, curved and bent in odd ways. "I figured you might need extra metal for his arm or something so I brought some extra from one of the gauntlet weapons you never use anymore." The teen said.

"Good thing!" Rikku praised. "Okay, Yunie give me the paper and pen please." Yuna nodded and handed the things over. Rikku scribbled a few notes down. "I won't go into big details or anything but basically the wires in his metal arms are connected to his actual nerves. That means that, long story short, the wires convert his brain impulses into orders so he can use the arms as his own."

"I already know that." Masato said impatiently.

Loaño took one of the tweezers and poked one of his wires, making him cry out in pain. "Don't interrupt my mom." She said with a smirk.

"Basically what I need to do is reattach the wires and nerves, or completely replace the damaged wires." Rikku said, Loaño taking out several wires while she explained. "Plus, I need to replace the broken metal covers which is why Lo brought the extra metal sheets. And there are a few other broken pieces that I need to replace." She looked at Masato with a small smirk. "Sorry kid, but this is gonna hurt."

"I got my arm torn off." Masato answered. "I doubt putting it back on will hurt more than that."

"Don't say she didn't warn you." Gippal said.

"Hey Aunt Rikku, I have your sandwich." Masurao said a she walked back in with the sandwich on a plate.

"Great! I'll start after I eat." Rikku said happily.

"I want my arm fixed now!" Masato whined. Sure it was out of character, but he had his arm almost completely severed. He wanted it back on as soon as possible.

"Fine, but don't blame me if you get bread crumbs in your arm joint." Rikku answered with a shrug. She set her food down and got her tools ready. She slowly began the procedure and Masato began flinching every time she touched one of the wires or plugs where it went. Overall though, it wasn't too painful and really just more of an annoyance.

"Wow." Rikku said suddenly in awe.

"What?" Masato asked worriedly.

"Is something wrong?" Yuna asked.

"This sandwich is amazing." Rikku said. "Masurao what did you do to it?"

"Focus!" Masato snapped.

"Right!" Rikku chirped. "Now we need to remove your arm covering." Rikku picked up the medium sized drill and, with what Masato swore was an excited look; she began unscrewing the bolts that held the metal covering on his arm. Loaño and Celena gently lied Masato back onto the ground so Rikku could have a full view of his arm and move it freely. Rikku removed the last of the metal, revealing the wiry, metallic, interior of his arm. There was a central piston that would bend like an elbow would, and metal pieces that would allow Masato to move his hand and fingers normally. "As I thought." Rikku said confidently. "You're a freak kid, but a freak that I can fix."

Rikku set to work with removing the broken and torn wires. Masato let out a gasp whenever she had to unplug one of the wires' ends that allowed them to work like nerves. It was as if every time Rikku removed the wire, he was being stabbed with a knife. After removing a few Rikku took one of the new wires and after a bit of fixing, attached the sensory receptor to it and replaced it in Masato's arm, making him cry out in even more pain.

"We should go." Haseo said calmly.

"Agreed." Everyone but Masato and Rikku said.

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After Rikku finished fixing Masato's arm she left the room to let the teen sleep. Masurao had wanted to go see him, but Rikku refused. "No way! He's dead tired after I out him through that."

"Well I just want to see if he's alright." Masurao said.

"I'm sure he's fine." Yuna said comfortingly. "We just need to give him a bit of time to rest. Then when he wakes up we can ask why he's here and what happened."

"Alright I guess." Masurao said quietly. "I'm going to go outside then." Masurao left the temple and walked out into the bustling town. Most of the repairs had been finished by then. He asked a few people where his sister had gone and he moved through the town to where they said she was. "Hey Celena." He greeted when he walked up to her."

"Hey." She greeted. "How's Masato?"

"He's still asleep." Masurao answered. He looked over to see Haseo, Vidina, and Wakka all working together on fixing the house. Everything had been easy for the most part, the job was almost finished. Haseo lifted the last wooden beam and brought it over. Celena noted in the back of her head the three girls that had been watching from a bit out of the way.

"I can take it from here guys. You deserve a break after working so hard today." Wakka said.

"Thanks Dad." Vidina answered as he and Haseo walked over to Celena.

"Hey Vidina. How did practice go?" Masurao asked.

"It went great." Vidina answered. "We're definitely gonna win this year. How about that Masato kid?"

"Aunt Rikku fixed him up and now he's sleeping it all off." Masurao answered.

"Alright then. What are you three gonna do now?" Vidina asked.

"Not sure. It's getting a little late to go to the beach again." Celena answered thoughtfully.

Masurao was about to make a suggestion when the piercing shriek of a little girl filled the air. The group ran toward the source of the noise hurriedly, leaving the town slightly and going out to the forest. They didn't have to go far before seeing the little girl that had cried out. The group stopped in shock when they saw why the girl had screamed. It was a massive plant-like beast with a massive mouth filled with sharp teeth. It was mostly circular with a mass of roots and vines for legs. It had a whole forest of snail-like eyes on the top of it's head. It's mouth oozed with drool as it stared down at the girl.

"A Malboro!" Masurao cried out in shock.

As if on cue the large beast roared and charged at the girl. Haseo jumped forward and picked the girl up. He jumped away from the Malboro, narrowly missing being devoured by it. He set the girl down. "Run!" he ordered. The girl nodded in fear and ran through the forest and back towards the town.

"Why is this thing so close to the town?" Masurao asked in fear as the Malboro lifted it's head up and looked around with it's mass of eyestalks.

"The same reason as the other fiends I would guess." Celena answered.

The Malboro looked at the group slowly and calculatingly. It let out a roar, a hideous smell coming from it's mouth. It charged through the forest, towards the town. It's roots crawled and pulled it across the ground as it charged with surprising speed. "We have to go warn," Masurao was cut off when he saw Haseo charged past the Malboro. "The town." He trailed off slowly.

"Come on, you need to get your sword!" Celena said urgently as she pulled him away.

"Right!" Masurao answered as he ran next to his sister. 'It won't do much good though.' He thought to himself.

Celena and Masurao ran into the village a few seconds later. The Malboro was already there, fending off Vidina's assault. Haseo was nowhere to be seen, presumably at the temple getting his spear. Masurao gasped when he felt a vine wrap around his ankle. He cried out on shock as the Malboro dragged him towards him. The fiend lifted him into the air and let out a deep rumbling growl.

"Get me down from here!" Masurao cried out fearfully.

"Hold on brudda!" Vidina cried. He gripped the blitzball, the weapon beign covered in fire. He hurled it at the Malboro, aiming at it's eyes. Unfortunately, the Malboro saw this coming. He opened his mouth, the blitzball falling in. He swallowed with a look of satisfaction on his face. Vidina, Celena and Masurao both stared in shock at the fiend. "Well, I didn't see that coming." Vidina said quietly.

"Burn!"

The Malboro shrieked as it's eyes caught on fire. Lulu walked towards the beast, the rest of the group running up behind her. Yuna aimed and with pinpoint precision fired a bullet that cut the thinnest part of the vine holding up Masurao. The boy cried out and landed on his back with a small thud. The Malboro cried as it's vine flailed around it. Haseo surged forward and caught the flailing appendage. A blue aura covered his hand; the light spreading to the fiend and turning green. The Malboro shrieked as the aura retracted to Hasoe, his hand glowing green. He had a small smirk on his face as he lifted his spear and cut into the base of the Malboro.

"Haseo, pull back!" Lulu commanded. Malboro roared and tried striking Haseo, but he had already jumped back and landed near the black mage.

"I here Malboro's are fans of eating things they shouldn't." Rikku said playfully as she gently tossed a small metal ball into the air and caught it. "Here you go tall, dark, and ugly!" she cried before tossing the grenade into Malboro's mouth. The grenade flew in and the Malboro frowned.

"This will be messy." Haseo muttered with a small frown.

Haseo was wrong however. Rather than exploding completely, the grenade exploded and caught the beast on fire. The group stared in shock. "It's on fire." Masurao said quietly. "It's a Malboro, and now it's on fire."

"Is it dead?" Yuna asked.

Malboro roared loudly and charged at the group.

"That'd be a no." Gippal answered a she pointed his large gun at it. It launched a missile that flew into the Malboro, hitting it and finally causing it to explode. Guts and skin from the fiend rained from everywhere, covering the buildings and group.

"Nice job." Lulu said bluntly. "No really, wonderful. You caught it on fire, and then blew it up all over us."

"Not your best moments guys." Loaño said bluntly.

"Yes well," Yuna said calmly as she whipped the hideous slime from her face. "Maybe it was messy, but it's better than what the other fiends did." She looked towards the forest when she heard a deep growling noise. Emerging from the trees were two large fiends. Yuna suddenly remembered two things from her sphere hunter days. Malboro stink on the outside but worse on the inside. And what was worse?

Malboro are attracted to putrid smells.