Rikku

Rikku is an Al Bhed girl who is a playable character in both Final Fantasy X and its direct sequel Final Fantasy X-2.

Background and personality
Rikku is Yuna's cousin. Rikku's father is named Cid, and she has a brother (aptly) named Brother. Her mother died before the events of Final Fantasy X.

Rikku is sprightly and energetic, and usually has a positive outlook.

Story
Early in the game, after Tidus gets trapped in the Underwater Ruins, he is 'rescued' by a group of Al Bhed. The main person (and the only one who can speak both Al Bhed and English) is Rikku.

She then enlists Tidus to help reactivate a underwater power plant, in which the Al Bhed then find an airship. She then promises to take Tidus to Luca so that he can try and find someone he knows. However, she is split apart from him when he is washed onto Besaid Island by Sin.

She is then mentioned again in Luca, when a group of Al Bhed kidnap Yuna. Tidus thinks the Al Bhed ship which Yuna is being held on is the same one as the one which Rikku was on, but it turns out that it isn't.

She is then encountered when the group is crossing the Moonflow. She pilots an underwater machina in hopes of kidnapping Yuna and stopping her pilgrimage. However, she is beaten by Tidus and Wakka, and washed ashore. She is then found by the group, and becomes Yuna's guardian.

At Guadosalam, she then teaches Tidus about creating better weapons by fusing them with items. She then plays little role till the group reaches the Farplane, where she stays with Auron when the group enters the Farplane, claiming that the past is better left alone rather then dwelled upon.

When the group reaches the Thunder Plains, it is revealed that Rikku is astraphobic (scared of thunder), and she cowers over most of the journey across the plains, only becoming happy again once the group reach Macalania.

She is then discovered to be Al Bhed by the rest of the group (as only Tidus, Lulu, Yuna, Auron and Rikku herself knew that she was Al Bhed) when the group are attacked by Brother and a group of Al Bhed try to kidnap Yuna. Tidus would then either ride with her or Lulu to Macalania Temple. If Tidus rides with Rikku, she reveals in a roundabout way that Yuna will die if she continues her pilgrimage, but Tidus doesn't realize.

She doesn't make much of an appearance again till Bikanel Island, where she leds the party to Home, only to find that it has been attacked by the Guado, and her friends have been killed. She then helps the group reach Cid, her father, who takes them on his airship. She also bluntly reveals that Yuna is going to die.

At Bevelle, she unleashes a flash bomb to blind Seymour, so the group can escape into Bevelle Temple. She then warns Tidus not to leave the fayth with Yuna and Auron, but Tidus (carrying an unconscious Yuna) decides to not listen, exits the room and gets captured.

She then helps Tidus and Wakka escape from Bevelle, defeating Evrae for a second time.

Rikku in Battle
Rikku's character class is a mix of the Chemist and the Thief. As such, she is very agile and quick during combat. Her weapons are Claws, and she uses Targes as armor. She can, by default, Steal and use special items. Her Overdrive is called Mix, which lets her combine two special items for various effects.

Rikku's Claws
The superior ability of the particular weapon is shown in brackets.

Final Fantasy X-2
Two years have passed since the events of Final Fantasy X. Rikku and her brother, Brother, have set up the Gullwings Sphere Hunters group, with the help of Brother's friends Buddy and Shinra. It is implied by Gippal that he and Rikku had been romantically involved at one time or another, but it is never clarified whether he was only joking or if they actually were a couple. However, as Paine points out, it seems very likely that they dated, since Rikku immediately becomes defensive and very touchy about the subject.

While searching for spheres, the group finds one with a person who looks like Tidus in it. She rushes to Besaid, where she shows the sphere to Yuna. Yuna then decides to join the Gullwings.

On one trip, Yuna's Garment Grid is stolen though, and Rikku and Paine infiltrate the thief's concert. The thief has dressed up as Yuna, and after a chase, the thief turns out to be LeBlanc, head of the LeBlanc Syndicate. With Yuna joining them, they manage to defeat Leblanc and her two sidekicks, Logos and Ormi, and get back Yuna's grid.

As chapter 1 draws to a close, the group has got spheres from Besaid and Zanarkand. They then hear news of a 'super' sphere at Kilika, so they head over there are steal the sphere. The sphere is of a massive machina named Vegnagun, and the person who looks like Tidus. The Tidus look-a-like talks about someone called Lenne, which sends Yuna into a mad craze. The group then decide to give the sphere to either the Youth League or New Yevon, which the player decides.

At the end of Chapter 2, the group heads off to destroy Vegnagun, which lies under Bevelle. They enter the Fayth Chamber, only to find a massive hole. After jumping down, and following the long paths, they are met by Baralai, who leads New Yevon. The battle with Baralai will happen regardless of who the player gave the sphere to. The group beats him, and then find that Vegnagun has disappeared from it's chamber, leaving a lot of pyreflies and a dark Bahamut.

As Chapter 3 ends, the group has beaten a dark version of Valefor and Ifrit, both of which appeared at Besaid and Kilika. The group then heads to Djose Temple, where they beat a Dark Ixion. Dark Ixion survives, and knocks Yuna down the hole in Djose's Fayth Chamber. Rikku and Paine return to the airship and struggle to find Yuna, but eventually find her.

Chapter 4 ends with a concert, in which Shinra has created a sphere so that she can be seen anywhere across the Thunder Plain. Yuna wears her songstress dressphere, but it reacts with Shinra's sphere, and everyone sees the tragic end to Shuyin and Lenne. Shinra then reveals that the songstress dressphere gets it's power from Lenne.

As Chapter 5 draws to a close, the group defeats Vegnagun and Shuyin, and then they cross the Farplane, where they encounter the fayth of Bahamut, who grants Yuna the wish that she can see Tidus again.

Kingdom Hearts 2
Rikku appears in Kingdom Hearts 2 alongside her fellow Gullwings Yuna and Paine wearing her costume from Final Fantasy X-2. The Gullwings are all diminutive in stature and have wings. They appear and disappear at certain points in the game and are always flying. Rikku is never referred to by name, as the producers felt that having 2 characters in the game with similar sounding names would confuse players. (One of the male character's names is Riku.) This is also why Rikku did not appear in the Destiny Islands section of Kingdom Hearts along with her Final Fantasy X compatriots Tidus and Wakka. She was replaced with Selphie Tilmitt