Gullwings

The Gullwings, also known as the Seagulls in the Japanese release, is a neutral Sphere Hunting group that Yuna, Rikku, and Paine belong to in Final Fantasy X-2. As implied by the term "Sphere Hunter," their main purpose is to hunt and obtain Spheres in order to assist in the uncovering of Spira's history. However the group ends up providing a variety of additional services throughout the game, mostly because of Yuna's innate compulsion to help people in need and inability to say "No." The group travels around Spira by use of their airship, the Celsius. Each member of the trio brings something to the Gullwings; Rikku has the brain, Paine has the brawn, and Yuna has the heart and soul.

Origin
The Gullwings were originally an 'all-Al Bhed' group founded by Rikku, Brother, and his old friend Buddy, however they were shortly joined by Shinra, Paine, and lastly Yuna. In order to recover the airship Celsius, Brother and Buddy traveled to Spira's cold northern regions. At first their attempt to find an airship appeared to have failed. However, suddenly spotting a single gull in the sky, they, on a whim, decided to follow it. The gull managed to lead them to the airship, and so, based on this event, the group was named the Gullwings, after the bird.

Two years had passed since Yuna defeated Sin. Back on Besaid Island, her quiet life was shattered when she received a message from Rikku, who had a gift from Kimahri - a sphere he found on Mt. Gagazet, which showed a man who bears a striking likeness to Tidus.

Final Fantasy X-2
Yuna joins the Gullwings in order to find out more about the sphere and whether or not it means Tidus is still alive. However, Yuna's Garment Grid is taken from her by a group called the LeBlanc Syndicate led by the Sphere Hunter LeBlanc. Using her Garment Grid LeBlanc impersonated Yuna and used her fame to gain money by organizing a concert at Luca. Rikku and Paine enter the concert in hopes to get Yuna's grid back. Yuna is left behind wearing the Mascot dressphere, where she pretends to not be "Lady Yuna". After getting her grid back, the group begins the search for spheres.

The trio heads to Kilika Port, where they obtain a sphere detailing events which the Gullwings wish they hadn't seem, of a dangerous weapon known as Vegnagun. However, they see the man who looks like Tidus in the sphere and he talks about a songstress called Lenne. The group decides to give up the sphere to either the Youth League or New Yevon. Yuna, Rikku and Paine, together with LeBlanc, Logos, and Ormi enter Bevelle, and manage to get to the old Chamber of the Fayth, into the underground section where the sphere was found. The group must fight Baralai, the leader of New Yevon. They defeat him and enter the Vegnagun chamber, only to find Vegnagun gone and a twisted, Dark Aeon version of Bahamut in its place.

The group visits Besaid Temple to rid the Dark Aeon Valefor, Kilika to beat the Dark Aeon Ifrit and Djose Temple, where they defeat the Dark Aeon Ixion. When they enter the Chamber of the Fayth, Ixion explodes as he has merged with the Machine Faction's machina, knocking Yuna into the Farplane, where she meets 'him'. However, instead of Tidus, the man turned out to be a look-a-like named Shuyin, an angry unsent bent on revenge for his love, Lenne's, death. However, Yuna was able to see the real Tidus when she heard his whistle in the Farplane. Upon seeing him, she tries to catch up to him, only to find herself back in Spira.

In an effort to quell the rising tension in Spira, Yuna holds a concert on the Thunder Plains, where she wears the songstress dressphere. As part of the concert, Shinra creates a sphere-screen so even the spectators further back the crowd can see the performance. However, the songstress dressphere has an effect on the screen, and people end up seeing images of Lenne and Shuyin in front of Vegnagun just before their deaths.

After the concert the group travels into the depths of the Farplane where they encounter Vegnagun. They defeat it, only for them to be attacked by Shuyin. They trick him into thinking Yuna is Lenne, but the trick fails. They defeat him, and Lenne leaves Yuna's dressphere, encouraging Shuyin to return to the Farplane with her. He complies and the two are peacefully reunited for ever.

While leaving the Farplane, Yuna meets the Fayth of Bahamut. He asks if she wants another moment with 'him', to which Yuna agrees and the Fayth find Tidus' pyreflies and restore him to life. Surfacing in Besaid, Tidus and Yuna reunite in each other's arms and Yuna begins retelling her story.

International + Last Mission
Three months after the events of Final Fantasy X-2, the now separated members of the Gullwings have gone their separate ways; Yuna living with Tidus in Besaid, Rikku working mission after mission and Paine wandering Spira by herself. However, each receive a letter that calls them back to explore the Yadonoki Tower. As the trio explore the ruins they converse with each other over what they'd been doing since they had separated and why they hadn't stayed in contact. The conversation escalates as Rikku expresses her jealousy towards Yuna; who had reached her goal in life and settled down. The angry bickering between the pair caused Paine to raise her voice. Eventually, Paine revealed she was the one who sent out the letters; citing that it was her wish to not lose the friendship they once shared, having learned from both her previous friendship with Nooj, Gippal and Baralai, and from her own lonely travels. The trio eventually reached the top of the tower, where they found a broken machina and not much else. However, due to their conversations they realize that the machina was a bit like their group: broken, separated. As they vowed to be more than just strangers who had met by chance, becoming friends once again, the machina begins to work, and their adventures continue...

Members
Yuna: the former High Summoner herself, joins the Gullwings after seeing a 1000-year-old sphere, found by Kimahri, containing images of a man greatly resembling Tidus confined in a prison cell. Yuna hopes that by joining the Gullwings she would be able to find more spheres like the one she had seen, in order to find hints about Tidus's whereabouts, should he still be alive. She leaves Besaid Island and her High Summoner duties in order to live a more free and more exciting lifestyle. She has become more open and direct since Final Fantasy X, but is still teased by the other Gullwing members due to her being somewhat of a pushover (as she never says "no" to anyone). Her new and more revealing attire was a gift from her cousin, Rikku.

Rikku: Yuna's cousin, former Guardian, and Gullwings' co-founder along with Brother and Buddy. She has overcome her fear of lightning by camping in the Thunder Plains for a week during the two-year gap between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, or at least that's what she told Yuna. She maintains her sunny disposition and is usually at the forefront when creating the Gullwing's next scheme with Brother.

Paine: the x-factor of the group, as none of the other members really know anything about her. The same goes for the player, as she was not a part of Final Fantasy X like all the other members. She says her primary reason for joining the Gullwings was be able to ride on the Celsius. During the course of the game, parts of her dark past are slowly revealed; particularly her involvement with the male trio, Nooj, Baralai and Gippal.

Brother: Rikku's brother, cousin of Yuna and co-founder of the Gullwings. Despite being directly related to Yuna, he quite obviously has a crush for her, though she has yet to notice it. He even started learning the Spiran language because of his love for her. He is the self-proclaimed leader of the Gullwings, yet he is quite incompetent and often leaves the decision making to Buddy, his second in command, or to Yuna. During the two-year gap, he had a falling out with his father Cid. Brother names the Gullwings' airship the Celsius in direct contrast to Cid's airship, the Fahrenheit.

Buddy: the co-founder of the Gullwings and the second-in-command. However, it might be more correct to call him the shadow leader, as it is in fact him that supplies the Gullwings with important information, as well as doing all the actual work, such as piloting the airship, analyzing Sphere Wave data and making many of the decisions that Brother should have made. However, Buddy seems quite content with his current position and doesn't seem to mind Brother taking much of the glory, as they are old friends.

Shinra: an intelligent, young Al Bhed kid that provides the Gullwings with valuable information and technology. In particular, he designed the Garment Grid, the CommSpheres, and provides the Gullwings with data decoded from acquired spheres. However, he doesn't know everything, and often retorts with "I'm just a kid" when he cannot answer a particular problem.

Barkeep: Hypello who runs the bar onboard the Celsius. He was picked up by Brother for unknown reasons, and was allowed to stay on board if he worked. No one knows Barkeep's name, so he is simply referred to as Barkeep. To Brother's great dismay, Barkeep eventually finds a girlfriend. Barkeep is one half of a glitch the player can exploit in order to get infinite money. However, this is not possible until O'aka XXIII comes aboard the ship in Chapter 2, as he is the second half needed for this trick.

Biggs and Wedge: they only appear to be part of the Gullwings through Blitzball.

Blitzball
Due to babysitting Wakka and Lulu's baby, Vidina, the Besaid Aurochs allow the Gullwings to take their place in this year's Blitzball tournament. Blitzball is available in Luca during Chapter 5. The player can elect to play the game as soon after landing, or drop in at the booth at Luca Stadium Entrance any time. The original team consists of Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Shinra, Brother, Buddy, Biggs and Wedge – however, new players can be signed on and rotated with the current ones.

Musical Themes
As the game's protagonists the game's soundtrack possesses numerous songs named after or devoted towards the Gullwings group:
 * "We're the Gullwings!"
 * "Sphere Hunters"
 * "The Gullwings March"
 * "Your Friendly Neighborhood Gullwings"
 * "YRP, Fight! No. 1", "YRP, Fight! No. 2", "YRP, Fight! No. 3"

Kingdom Hearts II


Yuna, Rikku, and Paine make an appearance in Kingdom Hearts II in the form of a pixie trio. Calling themselves "treasure fanatics", the three Gullwings were mercenaries spying on Leon for Maleficent, though after being left behind by Maleficent and some trickery from Donald involving promised treasure, they join with Leon and help defend Radiant Garden against the army of Heartless.

Later the Gullwings discover Donald's lie but feel sympathetic to Sora's cause. Instead of taking his items they give him the Keychain "Gullwing".

Dragon Quest &amp; Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special
The Gullwings (Yuna, Paine, Rikku) are all playable characters in the special edition of the Monopoly-like video game available only in Japan.

Trivia

 * Each of the three girls have a unique coin illustration etched in their likeness in the Sphere Break coin game.
 * The term "Friendly Neighborhood Gullwings", which the group uses to refer to themselves when contributing to community service, derives from a phrase affiliated with the western comic book hero, or more accurately; the "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man", who is popular in Japan.
 * While the name originally referred to the Sphere Hunting group in its entirety in Final Fantasy X-2, the term "Gullwings" has become affiliated with, and refers to, the three-way combination of Yuna, Rikku, and Paine in other media.
 * The inclusive group name for the Gullwing girls is "YRP", from their initials (or "YuRiPa" (Yuna, Rikku, Paine) in Japanese), and also acts as the girls' pre-mission cheer.
 * The girls' Final Fantasy X-2 color schemes change in Kingdom Hearts II. Rikku's remains yellow, but Yuna's changed from pink to blue and Paine's from purple to red.

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