Welcome to my Riley Shrine!

Hi there! This is my Riley shrine, dedicated to any info and merch I have of this guy and more! This is dedicated to the guy who marked my pipeline to learning I'm a lesbian! Much of the info and models used here is something I'll do my best to properly credit (save for the manga/anime as there are many sources to read/watch from, just make sure you have a good adblocker!) and much of it is compiled from Bulbapedia and Serebii as well as a spin of my own personal interpretations, but any artwork on here will be made by me unless stated otherwise! I also do not consent to people using my works without permission for any form of machine learning, otherwise all pieces made by me will be watermarked! Please be mindful!

There's a lot I love about Riley, he's genuinely one of my favorite characters to draw as of making and posting this shrine. He's a neat little NPC in the 4th generation DS games that gives you a funny little blue dog and he's somehow inhabited my brainspace for years. I've drawn him a lot over the course of my time at college, and I'll still be drawing him even after graduating! He's been a surprisingly big influence on my life for the better going forward, and after a couple bad years I went through I've gotten a Lot more confident in speaking my thoughts out in a space for myself. But on a personal level, he marked a specific turning point of my life!

When I was little (like DPPT release little), I liked his design a LOT. His suit and kind demeanor and overall design really appealed to little me, and it was hard to express wanting to present myself more formally masculine(? still unsure of a good term but that's the feeling) when the gender norms during the 2000s were...not great. The misogyny of the time made it hard to be a girl in general. It wasn't until I got older that I could find better words to describe the feelings I had were not that of attraction, but instead I just...REALLY wanted that kind of gender presentation. Even so, I used to be around a lot of people that restricted and dumbed a lot of my feelings down to fit their personal agendas and keep me under a specific level of control. So much so that I sort of potatoed myself around people just to fit in with who I was around, up til around midway through college.

After talking with my longtime friend about much of my own feelings of my gender presentation and sexuality, I realized my ex-friends' have heavily affected any amount of introspection for myself. I brushed away almost any and all thoughts of preference as if I wouldn't have time for it. And even if I did talk about any of it, my feelings were always ignored and I had to focus on their problems. It was always about putting everyone else's feelings and crushes over my own, choosing to conform over setting proper boundaries so I can be a "better friend" to people that never cared about my wellbeing in the first place. I'm no longer around people who cross lines or tie me down that heavily these days, but it was a much needed slap-in-the-face my friend helped me with (shoutout to my bestie Clownie :o]).

Looking back on my own Pokemon journey, I remembered my copy of Platinum that I still kept with me up til now, and I remembered Riley. He's by all accounts just some guy that tags along with you for a section of the game, but I remembered how much the world had changed since then. How he and Lucario started to chip away at the mold on how I felt about myself and how I express myself around people. And that sort of led me down a memory lane of other characters I liked that had the kind of presentation I've wanted to give myself. A real identity for myself not built by others who would dismiss my feelings or drag me down their spirals. I think in a weird way, he helped me reclaim myself and clear the path for the kind of person I wanted to be.

In recent I came to the amazing revelation that I have a preference towards girls! Guess when you find time to reflect, you find yourself eventually! And much of that self reflection couldn't have happened if it wasn't for this guy starting the path of dominos down the lesbian brick road! Gradually I started to learn more about him, writing and even drawing him for a zine I was in (I already posted it in my art section, but he'll be in this gallery too because it's still relevant)! He's genuinely an interesting little character that presents concepts and ideas of aura that are fascinating even if overlooked as the series progressed, and one of the big reasons Pokemon is so great is that even the most obscure pokemon or guy is someone's favorite. His dog has certainly skyrocketed in popularity over the years, but I'll still remember the time I got a Riolu egg from him (and I also was gaslit into believing Riolu evolved if it held a Metal Coat, it wasn't until years later that I learned it was actually with High Friendship LMAO).

So now we're here! I wanted to compile as much info as I could of this guy all in one space that I can update with merch, artwork I've made or the offhand chance he gets any official TCG art. There's a lot more that I wanna say about him, but if I kept that up any longer, this site wouldn't be up for another couple months! I've been working on this shrine for the good part of my website revamping around mid 2024, because I like to be thorough, ESPECIALLY for one of my favorite characters of all time. So hopefully this stuff is mildly interesting to you, and if you have any thoughts or inquiries, let me know on my Guestbook!

Click on the other tabs to view all the info I have compiled about him!

So...who even is this guy?

Riley/ゲン (Gen) is an NPC that appears in Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum and in their subsequent remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (that's him on the right! I manually made an transparent hd version of his default artwork :D)! He's part of a set of five trainers that specialize in various stats that can be partnered with during specific events in the game, and of them he specializes in Pokemon with high Physical Attack. He's also the one who gives the player a Riolu egg on Iron Island before Or after you beat the sixth gym in Canalave City.

In his event he and the player must navigate through the mines of the Island and take down various Team Galactic Grunts who've been agitating the pokemon living there. Battles with him become Double Battles for a brief time, and he'll keep your pokemon healed after every battle. Once he learns the pokemon are feeling restless, his kind demeanor shifts to concern and determination to wanting to investigate what's been causing it.

In dialogue blurbs throughout his event, it's mentioned that Byron (the current Gym Leader of Canalave) had asked him before to become a Gym Leader, but politely declined his offer and instead wanted him to consider his son, Roark (the first Gym Leader you face in Oreburgh). Towards the player he does occasionally catch himself depending on if you obtained Canalave's badge or not, but keeps an overall polite demeanor as he navigates the mines with you. He also offers you a Riolu Egg as a token of friendship, which is unobtainable anywhere else in the game.

In Platinum and BDSP he's available in the Battleground to challenge full parties of previous trainers you've fought with and battled against. His party at the Battleground consists of his Lucario, Absol, Ursaring, Metagross and Salamence! In Platinum you can face him in Single Battles and in BDSP he and Marley can be challenged in the Master Class Double Battles at Rank 6. He also briefly appears in Heartgold and Soulsilver versions as a partner for the Battle Tower consistently using a wide array of pokemon with high attack.

Lucario Lv. 65	Absol Lv. 61	Ursaring Lv. 61	Metagross Lv. 62	Salamence Lv. 63
Type:	Type:	Type:	Type:	Type:
Ability: Steadfast	Ability: Pressure	Ability: Guts	Ability: Clear Body	Ability: Intimidate
Close Combat	Swords Dance	Slash	Meteor Mash	Dragon Claw
Blaze Kick	Night Slash	Avalanche	Zen Headbutt	Crunch
ExtremeSpeed	Psycho Cut	Shadow Claw	Hammer Arm	Fire Fang
Bone Rush	Quick Attack	Aerial Ace	Bullet Punch	Thunder Fang

A few things to infer from his (mostly) full team, he happens to have a LOT of Hoenn pokemon. Since the original Lucario movie came out around the time that Hoenn and Gen 3 was still present, it could also be seen as a fun little tie in! Majority of them have Attack moves (save for Absol's Swords Dance to buff Attack) and he really leans into his role as a Stat Trainer, whoof. The part that still remains a little funny is that his signature Lucario doesn't know Aura Sphere, when aura is essentially what this guy was designed for. Unfortunately a different Stat Trainer took the Special Attack role, so he's still resolved to physically hitting others pretty hard.

Besides this, that's about as much that's been given about him as of current mainline titles. You battle in a cave with him and then get that done and come out with an Egg (or not, you could honestly get that dog whenever after and leave him hanging. kinda rude/mean to do that though). He's at best an NPC and that's about it, really. Why did I take this long to build a shrine for him?

Well, what I find really interesting about him is what surrounds his characterization, or what has come out before and after DPPT and subsequent media, from gacha to manga to anime! There's a lot of surrounding information on him that you can infer from to see that he's a lot more than what he seems, and some of the stuff I've found is pretty fascinating!

Riley's Incarnations

Yes the title of this section sounds crazy but stay with me here. Riley's design and character was essentially derived from another character from the movies, namely Sir Aaron! Concept art shown of Riley even copies directly from Sir Aaron's, down to the hat and hairstyles, even the shades of blue and similar Groudon-like patterns on Sir Aaron's gloves and Riley's necklace. Sugimori even designed both characters! It's never elaborated on, but Riley does specifically say he's an Aura Guardian in training, one of the the only times in the games aura is used in that same definition/context outside of the show/movie.

As of current, there is no directly said evidence from the games of the two being related besides the Aura similarities (unless newer games will prompt an update on here). But there is a lot to speculate on intention-wise. Is he just a fun nod to the movies? Is Sir Aaron an ancestor to Riley? Did Sugimori just Really like the design he made and wanted to implement him in the games to introduce a new pokemon to obtain (the Riolu/Lucario line) because he thought it would be cool? There IS a connection here, but with the games never elaborating much on concepts, it's left up to speculation and active imagination. And hey, he even got a game specific ancestor most recently!

Sir Aaron (Lucario and the Mystery of Mew)

Before the release of DPPT (or rather, before Riley even existed), on July 16th, 2005 (and September 19, 2006 in the US), the 8th movie of the pokemon anime introduced Sir Aaron (アーロン or Arlon) in Mew and the Wave Hero: Lucario. This movie introduced many pokemon not seen yet at the time, including Bonsly, Mime Jr., Weavile, Regice, Regirock, Registeel, and the main star of the movie, Lucario!

This movie was also one of the first introductions to Aura (or the Wave), an ability that the Lucario line and even certain individuals can wield and sense. It's never explained fully indepth, due to it being similar to concepts like qi, but in essence it's shown as the life force of all living things. Those able to wield it were named Aura Guardians, and the movie itself shows how aura is used in various ways. From telepathic communcation to sensing other auras and surroundings to creating physical barriers and attacks.

Sir Aaron is shown as a knight of the Cameran Palace located in Rota, an area north of Kanto (exclusively for the movies). He was one of the first known people to use aura, even teaching his own Lucario how to master it as his student. Although we don't see too much of Sir Aaron due to being spoken more in the past tense, he still is an amazing character! The contrast between the renowned hero seen in legends versus the memories Lucario has with their close friend is so interesting from a storytelling perspective, and all the more tragic knowing what he gave up so the land could remain in peace.

In the movie he's shown in past tense from Lucario's perspective and the cast's perspective learning about him from time flowers left behind. Sir Aaron chose to leave the castle to stop the war from destroying their kingdom, but Lucario misinterpreted his words, only believing he was abandoning him and Queen Rin as he remained trapped within his staff and throughout the movie as he and the others made their way to the Tree of Beginning.

It's eventually revealed that he was a genuinely kind teacher to Lucario, teaching him all about what the world was like and never betrayed the kingdom in the first place. Rather, he knew the sacrifice he'd made would lead to his end and didn't want to see his friend share a similar fate, and Lucario, finally knowing that, was able to accept that to see him in the afterlife. And he even introduced his friend to something he found interesting, a chocolate bar! The way the movie shows the contrast of Sir Aaron's historical presence and his prescence as a friend to Lucario is really well done here!

Sir Aaron's character has essentially been a large influence on Riley's character, but the small distinctions of the two are interesting. Riley is shown as more soft spoken and viewed less as a hero and more of a regular person training in the mines, but he still upholds feelings of justice and gentle kindness shown towards the player akin to how Sir Aaron was with his Lucario. Sir Aaron is praised for his heroism and bravery and similar heroic terms, but the movie shows a different perspective in how he, too, lived his life pretty humbly. The movies themselves never connected 100% with the games, so much of this is inference on what was shown of them. That's about all that Riley had for a good while, until Legends Arceus decided to include distant ancestors of characters we knew!

Rye (Legends Arceus)

Another one of his incarnations came in Pokemon Legends: Arceus as Rye (ハク or Haku), but only for a brief cameo mission. He shows up around the end half of the game (which is also when the climax happens so its a tad abrupt) when the player interacts with a Lucario in the Galaxy Hall Entrance to give the player Request 88: Steely Lucario. His request is to battle him in the Jubilife Training Grounds, waiting at a nearby tree before initiating the battle. Funnily enough, the game registers his Lucario as a wild one (even playing the wild encounter music to boot) because Rye doesn't even have any trainer data present at all.

This is all that he does, but his dialogue and general appearance is a nod to Riley in DPPT. Given he also appears only for a brief mission in the game, it's nice to see a version of him again like with most ancestors present. Alas, that's all the game really has for him, as after battling he just disappears, not even appearing in postgame.

Completing his request even grants you Riley's signature hat (labeled as Brimmed Hat in the game, my trainer wore it on the right!), and it's swappable between multiple colors! The game has a ton of clothing varieties but nothing super modern, so it's fascinating that Riley's hat in particular could also be an old style garment in a sense (although probably not super uncommon if Sir Aaron wore it in his time). It's also interesting that Rye doesn't actually wear the hat in game, instead donning a straw hat like a farmer, but maybe wearing a large hat stuck at some point, so it's funnier knowing the trait still stands.

Appearance wise, he's shown to be a part of the Agriculture Corps, taking care of the pastures and having many of their requests revolve around planting crops. Part of him being there is also a pun on his name in japanese being Haku, relating to hakumai meaning white rice and in english with Rye being named after a grain, so reading into it that's pretty funny. I genuinely love when the games keep up their naming convention puns. It works similar in both and they keep up the consistency in other languages, too. In Korean, Rye's name is Baekhyeon based on baengmi (white rice) and Riley's being Hyeon'i based on hyeonmi (brown rice). He's always and forever gonna be a man of the grain in any game...

It's also worth noting that he does still look about the same face/model wise. He has a different outfit but besides having some longer hair on the right side of his face and a lot less spikes in the back, he doesn't look all too different on facial structure. The game doesn't elaborate much on the similarities with Riley or on Rye being an Aura Guardian, only really mentioning he can sense the player's aura. Because of this, a lot of direct connections like with Sir Aaron are left pretty vague.

Credit to the 3D model rip of Riley's BDSP model converted to MMD are to New3DsSuchti and MikuMikuKnight, the Rye model is by Pikapika2000! I had to make a slight edit to the eyes of Riley's BDSP model since they were a different color on export, but besides that everything else remains constant!

In Pokemon Masters EX

On February 19, 2024, he was finally added to Pokemon Masters EX! (after like what, the game's 5th year? crazy that he hasn't shown up til now...) After living off of scraps of fanart and Movie 8, BDSP, and Legends Arceus' brief cameos of his incarnations, it was a delight to hear the news of him actually being added to the game. He has not had any other merch or art outside of his base one, so it was exciting to see him outside of the mainline games.

His sync pair is with Lucario, and is able to Dynamax that dog! He's a Fighting Type Sprint Pair, one of the new unit types introduced in the game AND one of the first free Sprint Units you can obtain without spending gems, providing speed buffs and when raised to 6☆EX are able to reduce the Sync Move countdown by 3 after using their Sync Moves in battle. His unlockable Role when he gets raised to 6☆EX is a Physical Strike alongside his Sprint (which is a cute way to allude to his role as an Attack Stat Trainer in DPPT).

This section will be updated on the offhand chance of him obtaining an alternate outfit or Sygna Suit, otherwise his personality and demeanor have remained constant from his interpretations in his base game! As of uploading, it's unknown who his english voice actor is. However, his japanese voice actor is confirmed to be Jun Kasama! Much of the information of him here was found on Serebii and Bulbapedia, with a bit of my own interpretations mixed in as well (and hopefully not too OOC).

Riley's Sync Pair Story (which you can view in full on the left! credit to Absol-utelyPM for the video!) is really sweet too! He reminisces on training in Iron Island's caves and takes that habit with him coming to Pasio. It's endearing that he finds some way to bring familiar routines with him going to another region. Going by some of his dialogue, it's unknown if the "mysterious power" he's drawn to is either just a nod to strong trainers that are on Pasio or the general Arceus related events occurring within the game's story. Either way, he proceeds to ask and then explain to the player about aura, discussing how it functions like waves and vibrations that emanate from one's heart or soul, tying into the general information currently known about aura.

He does also mention that in using aura, he's capable of sensing the feelings or read the thoughts of others. But he makes a small remark that he can't read them as adeptly as Lucario can. As he is still an aura guardian in training, he doesn't have that aspect fully mastered yet. A fun thing of note is that when examining the player's aura, he calls it "loud" and "yet to be imbued with anything." While he says he reads it to judge the kind of heart someone has, he also remarks that our character's heart is still developing in our efforts to understand others (or perhaps harder to discern when the player is us).

A few details of note from this Story, his Event Story with Roark, and his little dialogue blurbs in the Center/Battles show that he's considerate, likes routines and eating well, a little bit unusual (he Shouts the word Aura, and every time he does I hear more of a japanese ORA like it's JJBA), and is capable of sensing the emotions of others using aura. There is no mention of aura guardians specifically, but he does mention how the powers he senses draw him towards others or mentions how it piques his interest. He's also shown to be pretty adaptable, mentioning in random conversation that he was traveling and got lost when training, but accepted the situation pretty quickly when he found some way of continuing his training routines in another region with strong trainers. Gotta hand it to the guy for making the most of a strange situation!

Type	Potential	Role	EX Role	Bio	Lucario
	★★★★★☆			This mysterious Trainer with a soft demeanor trains on Iron Island in the Sinnoh region. Through his aura powers, he is able to sense the emotions of others.	It concentrates its mental energy and fires off mysterious waves called auras, which can crush boulders of large size to dust.

He's a free unit obtainable during limited time Special Sync Pair Events, his event being labeled as 'Riley and Lucario Quest: Aura-Driven Sync Pairs' available between 2/19/24 to 3/31/24 and 9/9/24 to 9/21/24. The shop for his event provides various items and sync orbs to max out Riley's stats using special event vouchers obtainable when battling Roark after completing his Story Stage. Even if you missed his event, he'll likely show up again in event reruns. Don't worry too much if you missed him, he'll be back soon (and I'll be updating this section's dates for when he's obtainable)!

As a disclaimer for this next section: I am not an expert with things like best builds or strategies in a gacha game. But I am good at giving recommendations, general information, and possible ideas for this guy if you happen to catch his free scouting event. I also recommend utilizing PoMaTools if you'd like to view his sync grid or want to see what he's capable of in-game. Feel free to have this information help you decide on a build for him, be it a pseudo-Strike unit on top of being a Sprint, or have him generally reduce the Sync Move countdown and have him function like a Tech with stat debuffs.

Close Combat	Iron Tail
Category: Physical	Category: Physical
Base-Max Power: 124-148	Base-Max Power: 132-158
Accuracy: 100	Accuracy: 75
Target: An Opponent	Target: An Opponent
Lowers the user's Defense and Sp. Def by one stat rank.	Has a chance (30%) of lowering the target's Defense by one stat rank.

Dire Hit +	Testing Our Skills!
2 uses	1 use
Category: Status	Category: Status
Target: Self	Target: Self
Raises the user's critical-hit rate by two stat ranks.	Applies the Move Gauge Acceleration effect to the allied field of play. Raises the user's Attack by four stat ranks. Raises the user's Defense and Sp. Def by two stat ranks.

His moves mostly revolve around physical attack and buffing critical hit rates, so it's best to pair him with harder hitting Physical Strike units and ones that will keep his Defense and Sp. Defense in check, as Close Combat can result in him being more vulnerable to attacks over time.

He pairs well with Fighting types, and can gain a good boost if they're also from Sinnoh. He pairs best with Sygna Suit Cynthia (Aura) and Lucario or Rei and Decidueye if you're planning on a full Fighting Type Sinnoh team to gain multiple theme skill buffs for a battle. Grid upgrades can also power up Riley's moves the more his speed is raised, as well as boost his Max Move or Sync Move power depending on grid setup. For a free unit, he sure covers a lot of bases!

	Sync Move: Aura Driven Fighting Impact	Category: Physical	Base-Max Power: 200-240	Target: An Opponent	The More the User's Speed is raised, the greater the power of this attack.

With his Lucario also being able to Dynamax, he can use two kinds of Max Moves:

	Dynamax Move: Max Knuckle	Category: Physical	Power: 480	Target: An Opponent	Raises the Attack of all allied sync pairs by 2 stat ranks.
	Dynamax Move: Max Steelspike	Category: Physical	Power: 480	Target: An Opponent	Raises the Defense of all allied sync pairs by 2 stat ranks.

Riley makes for a really good general attacker and speeds up the countdown for Sync Moves after using his Max Move, raising ally speeds and even functioning as a pretty decent physical attacker to boot. His sync grid can be maxed out almost immediately after obtaining him as a free unit, so he can utilize boosts for his Max Move power and add a couple more attack and speed buffs to his build.

Overall, he's pretty good for a free unit! He's also great for teammates that rely on speed boosts and units that rely on the reduced Sync countdown. If you're thinking of any lucky skills for him, some of the best ones for him are: Super Powered 3 (Powers up the user's moves and sync move that are super effective.), Adrenaline 1 (Reduces the sync move countdown by 1 the first time the user's sync move is used each battle.), Head Start 1 (Reduces the user's sync move countdown by 1 the first time it enters a battle each battle.), or if all else fails, Critical Strike 2 (Powers up attacks if they become critical hits.). Below are some of his Passive Skills, functioning as abilities characters can activate under certain conditions.

MAX Countdown 3	Dashing Team 9	Unflappable
Reduces the user’s sync move countdown by 3 after using its max move.	Has a chance (100%) of raising the Speed of all allied sync pairs by one stat rank when the user’s attack move is successful.	Prevents the user from flinching.

And below here are his Theme Skills! You can match different ones to get various buffs for your team when they enter battle, the more themes each character shares with each other, the greater buffs that everybody gains at the start of battle!

In Pokemon Special

In the manga, he's actually first teased around the end of the Emerald arc during the Epilogue (around Chapter 337), showing him on a boat to the Battle Frontier. But his first official manga appearance was in the Diamond and Pearl arc (Chapter 378-382), showcasing his mentor skills and even explaining briefly how aura works (my thoughts of which I'll get to later on).

At Byron's request, he was asked to train Dia to see where his skills are at. While Dia is not excited about having to train for three days straight with the deadline of Team Galactic arriving at Lake Verity, he still holds his own against the terrain. He even makes friends of the pokemon there when he cooks up food for everybody. Riley takes note of Dia's weak points, noting the lack of speed can be used as an advantage due to his team consisting of pokemon with high defense. Over the course of a few days, he updates Byron on Diamond's progress and even highlights his compassion and his tenacity towards solving problems.

On Dia's final day, Riley tasks him with finding a Pokemon Egg, but is interrupted when a duo of hired Roughnecks take down the large Steelix guarding the caverns and steal it. Riley couldn't sense their auras at first due to their Mothim disrupting air currents to mess with his aura sense and blinding Riley and Lucario with honey from Vespiquen's Attack Order. With the Roughnecks' pokemon relying on speed, Dia takes the opportunity to show the fruits of his training by using his Torterra's Razor Leaf a specific way to control the number of leaves launched each time he uses the attack. By gradually decreasing the number of leaves launched, the remaining leaves' speed is raised greatly, so his last leaf shoots with supersonic speed right through the Vespiquen. With her Attack Order still unleashed, their drones backfire against them and Riley beats them all down with Lucario now that he can sense their auras. With Dia completing his final test of strength, the egg also hatches into a Riolu that sticks with Riley past this chapter!

After Dia took out a camera in the sky that was recording information on him, Riley takes it upon himself to investigate who sent the drone after him, sensing an aura of evil and malice behind the person who designed it. During the battle with the main characters on Spear Pillar against Cyrus using Dialga and Palkia, they reintroduce Sird, the former Team Rocket Admin who was secretly a part of Team Galactic trying to find information on Deoxys when she was with Giovanni or Archie. She talks about how her plans were stopped by the previous dexholders and the petrification that occurred after, and had a Grunt working for Team Galactic acting as her stand-in while she would be away trying to pursue Deoxys and to get away from Mewtwo pursuing her. After Sird releases the Grunt of their duties, Riley reappears in Chapter 414 when he overhears Sird discuss her plan and realizes the evil aura he had sensed was not the Grunt's, but hers, and battles her while the Team Galactic Admins make their escape.

It is then shown in Chapter 418 that she had gotten away immediately after, and Riley had gone to Palmer to see if he can find a way to fix the drone to find more leads. Palmer is nice enough to get the help of Thorton to fix the machine, and while at the Frontier he sensed a similar pressurized aura he felt at the Spear Pillar interfering with the communication devices lingering outside the facility. When the device is fixed, Riley uses his aura senses to figure out where it will lead itself back to, leading everyone to the Sendoff Spring where Marley and the Galactic Grunt are. Riley recognized him as the Grunt that Sird put his consiousness into, but the Grunt states he's no longer part of Team Galactic, revealing that he and other Grunts were controlled by a hive mind. Riley sensed he was telling the truth, no longer holding the animosity he had when he last saw him.

The Grunt then reveals the Turnback Cave leads to the Distortion World, and everyone heads in for the final showdown against Team Galactic. Though Riley doesn't participate in the battle, only really landing on a floating island and appearing around the end to witness the battle between many legendaries and saving Marley from a hit by Regigigas, the fight eventually comes to a close and Charon is stopped, Team Galactic disbands and legendary pokemon find trainers to go with. Riley shows up for one last panel to comment on Darkrai disappearing off somewhere, and that's how the manga closes things off for him. His last appearance was on Chapter 441 after everything is resolved for the Diamond Pearl and Platinum arc.

My general thoughts are that his involvement and debut were very interesting. As the character himself is based on Sir Aaron's mentorship with Lucario, he displays teaching skills reminiscent of that with Dia. There were upsides to him being involved with the overall story, but a few other points kinda missed the mark. Riley's shown to be at least considerate and generally kind to the player in game, but the manga makes him out like he's trying to be some cool and collected teacher who just leaves the kid to fend for himself in the island caverns and calls it training (and Dia is like 11-12 years old. like chill out man that's a child). He has a good sense of justice and uses his power to track down who sent the machine after Dia, but he doesn't display a lot of his own skills as a battler after confronting Sird. They only really had him around just to lead everyone to the plot.

While the appearance of him was pretty alright, my overall feelings on the manga are very mixed. For what it's worth there are a few concepts the manga introduces that are pretty interesting, but in execution they fell flat somehow. Aura being something sensed through the air makes some sense as energy and life being something that flows everywhere, but then it takes it too literally by having a Mothim disrupt air currents so he can't sense anything. The whole thing of aura is that it's a spiritual kind of thing, so sensing souls and emotions and life should be different from sensing literal air frequencies.

I don't think the manga did a good job with that part either, it was basically a setup for Dia to prove himself strong and it didn't feel all that earned if Razor Leaf does WAY less damage against a Bug/Flying type if you did the general math for Grass effectiveness even if it did a Critical Hit, so they handicapped Riley briefly for main character development. I know it's mostly an NPC goal to help the player with objectives and recieve an award, but it just felt like a half baked training arc that Riley had to be a cold mentor for.

It also looked like there was going to be some kind of showdown happening with him and Sird, but it never amounted to anything, nor have either of them shown up in the manga again. The drone led up to everybody going to the Distortion World, and Riley had very little involvement being there despite being the guy who led everyone to that area? Where was he when everybody and Team Galactic were fighting each other over there? Once they get out of the Distortion World and Charon is defeated he makes a comment about Darkrai leaving somewhere and thats the last panel of him. The manga introduces all these interesting concepts and forgets how much time they actually have left to tell the story and leaves a ton of random miscellaneous plotlines behind. Sird never shows up again in the manga after that, and I wish they did more with her.

The singular upside to all this is that we get some cool panels with him and a characterization, but said characterization is undercooked and forgotten about once the main story comes into play. They really dragged out a lot of these big fights around the end and characters are reintroduced again only to just be forgetten about after. Plotlines on the side are just thrown out because the manga wants to focus on the main character's developments. Sird honestly should have gotten a cool showdown with Riley but it ends as quickly as a single page in chapter 418 when she just up and disappears RIGHT AFTER telling the other Galactic members that she was gonna fight him so they can make their escape. Riley still has aura by the way, he could have at least sensed where she could have disappeared off to, but the plot forgot about Sird so his sideplot ends as quickly as the manga dropped her from the story entirely.

While these are simply their own interpretations of the game story events, I don't really agree with a lot of the choices made for some characters. I like Riley being a mentor figure of some kind, but there isn't a whole lot the story does with him besides being a plot device to lead everybody to the Distortion World showdown. They acknowledge he can use aura (not calling him an aura guardian but a wielder?) and they drop the ball on a lot of cool ideas. It's very hard for me to enjoy the story if it falls flat on all the ideas it introduces around the end. I'm just not too big on how the manga handles or depicts any of the game events.

At least we got some cool art of him though, I specifically love the one on the right. As much as I seem like a hater I am not a full time one, and the manga has it's good points. But I am but one opinion to the millions out there that praise or like it, and this manga isn't for me I think. Sorry!

In Pokeani (Diamond and Pearl)

In the actual TV series he first appears in episodes 110-111 of the Diamond and Pearl Anime and in episodes 576-577 of the general Pokemon Anime series on January 15th (in japan) and June 13th (in the US) of 2009. The episode titles are "Steeling Peace of Mind!" and "Saving the World from Ruins!" in the english dub, "Gen and Lucario!" and "The Ruins of Steel Island!" in the japanese dub! This is also the first time the character himself was given a voice in the anime! He's voiced by Yu Mizushima in the japanese dub, and in the english dub he's voiced by Marc Diraison!

These are the only episodes of the entire anime that he appears in, but there's a lot of interesting details to discern from between dubs! His appearance in the anime is pretty straightforward and takes from his game interpretation, the similar events of Team Galactic causing havoc on Iron Island and the protagonists helping him out to stop their meddling.

Barry is doing more training with his Heracross and Empoleon on Iron Island, until his Empoleon starts acting strange and becomes aggressive towards him and Heracross, blasting him with a Hydro Cannon. Following this, Ash, Brock and Dawn are waiting to go on a ship to head to where the next Contest is held until Barry gives them a call telling them how he'll be investigating why much of the pokemon are rampaging all over the Island. Of course when hearing this they all want to join and help him, much to him taking to things headfirst. The three set out on the next boat over to Iron Island with Team Rocket trailing after them when they take a detour, but when they get there Nurse Joy informs them that Barry has already gone out. She then shows how the abnormal behavior is only been occurring with Steel types, and the three head out to find Barry until a Lairon and many other Steel types start thrashing about to distract themselves from feeling pain, leading to many pokemon like Geodude or Diglett escaping in a panic. An Aggron uses a Flash Cannon against Ash but before the attack lands he's saved by Riley and Lucario.

Once Lucario guides everybody to a safer spot from the rampaging pokemon, they sit down and introduce themselves. Riley states he's a Steel type specialist who was training on Iron Island and is also investigating what's causing the disturbances with the other Steel type pokemon there. His Lucario thankfully isn't affected due to having their aura surround them. Riley shares what information he's gathered so far on the attacks. A low frequency only detectable by Steel types has spread all across the island, almost like a dogwhistle making the pokemon's react negatively to the noise. While he directs them back to the town to stay safe, Ash, Brock and Dawn all want to find some way to help Barry and figure out what's been going on to cause the disturbances. Riley concedes, albeit with a fair warning that they will have to defend themselves in order to stay safe.

The episode switches perspectives to Barry and his Heracross narrowly escaping many Steel types attacking them before falling and meeting Team Rocket by chance, arguing until they notice the large structure in the distance is being operated by Commander Mars of Team Galactic. Barry's outnumbered until Team Rocket backs him up, only because they have a grudge against Galactic for showing them up previously. Mars however handles all of them with ease, knocking the bunch into a pit where a large underground ruin lies, depicting Dialga and Palkia on the walls inside and as large statues surrounding the place. Riley and the others meet at the location to scout out what Team Galactic is planning, his Lucario growls and says the source of the frequency is coming from there, noting the machine holding the Spear Key is where it's at it's highest. They watch as Mars brings the Key over to a specific stone, causing the ruins to react and glow. A large beam is shot out from the ruins, the energy surrounding the place causing Lucario to lose it's concentration and start attacking the group.

Riley shields the kids by creating a barrier with aura around them to avoid getting hit by his Lucario's Aura Sphere, proceeding to go into a frenzy and attacking nearby Geodudes. When Riley tries to return them to their ball, they break the ball out of his hand and send Riley back with Bone Rush (as much as that brings up interesting points about their ball being broken, that detail is never addressed). Before Lucario tries to land a hit on Riley, Ash blocks the attack and he and Brock hold them back from doing any more damage. The large beam is directed towards Mt. Coronet and causing the meteorites in Veilstone City to react, alerting Professor Rowan and Cynthia's grandmother Carolina and many other professors in the region trying to figure out what's going on. The ruins that Barry and Team Rocket are stuck in also glow and react to the phenomena with Mars informing the rest of Team Galactic of the success and Saturn showing Cyrus how this will help determine the precise location of the Spear Pillar.

Trying to hold Lucario back, Riley tells Ash he has to have his Pikachu attack back. Much to his discomfort of the idea, his Pikachu reassures him on the decision and hits him with a Thunderbolt. This only knocks them back briefly, but then Lucario charges towards the large energy beam Team Galactic activated and is stopped with ease by Mars, leaving them briefly fainted. Riley points out that they were directing attention towards the machine, and the rest of them rush towards them to see if they can stop it. Dawn's Piplup falls into the pit and finds it was where Barry and Team Rocket are and tells everyone else to go on ahead while she figures out how to help them out from there. Dawn ties a rope to try and get them out of there until a rampaging Steelix appears and knocks her into the pit, and is about to worm inside to attack everyone until Riley protects all of them with an aura barrier, telling Ash and Brock to go destroy the machine while he keeps the Steelix at bay.

Brock sends out his Croagunk and Sudowoodo and Ash sends out his Staravia alongside his Pikachu, Brock distracting Team Galactic while Ash goes after the machine. Their pokemon take on Mars' fleet of Golbat and signature Purugly and see through their plan immediately, but Ash is able to stop the machine in time with a good ol' Brave Bird and Thunderbolt. The Spear Key used still remains intact, and the ruins go back to their normal state as Steelix and many other Steel type pokemon snap out of it. With the machine stopped before it could finish scanning to find the location of the Spear Pillar, Cyrus orders for the island to be blown up to avoid anyone following where she goes. While Ash and the others go after them, several Grunts plant bombs all over the place before making their leave, Mars threatening to blow the island up if they try anything.

Riley tells Lucario to sense for where the bombs are located, as Team Galactic makes their escape, telling them they can destroy anything as they please knowing the world will be remade. Lucario tells Riley that the bombs are underground and informs Ash and Brock that he's paying back what he owes for helping out. He'll be stopping the bombs while the two try and get their friends out of there, but much to that statement he made, there is a considerable amount of bombs to blow the entire island up than just the ruins alone. With only three minutes before Team Galactic exits the blast zone, everyone is scrambling to get out of where they're stuck in, but James' Carnivine and Ash's Grotle come in clutch to get everyone out. Riley and Lucario struggle to no avail to pull the bombs off the pillars they're attached to and have to resort to a last minute idea as Mars hits the detonate button.

The entire island shakes from the bombs going off, everyone holding on to each other in anticipation for the impact that eventually subsides. Instead, they show Riley and Lucario bubbled the entire explosion up with aura, Mars questioning why the island hasn't reacted to her setting off the detonation. Riley tells Lucario to send the explosion into the air in a Really COOL sequence to show a glowing bubble of explosions getting sent out from underground into the stratosphere! Everyone watches as the explosion is sent high into the sky and explodes, and they all breathe a sigh of relief. Both Riley and Lucario walk out from the smoke with a couple scrapes but came out from that ordeal alright. With the island safe, the pokemon on Iron Island all congratulate everyone on pulling that off, and they all head out to their usual routines and plans. Team Rocket takes their leave and a helicopter arrives to the island to have Professor Carolina greet everyone as she and many other professors come by to study the ruins.

She states that the machine Team Galactic used has the same minerals as the meteorites in Veilstone, likely made from the one they stole in previous episodes. She brings up interesting points about the island, even saying that it was created from an ancient meteorite. Riley asks if the steel that the ruins are made out of are made of the same material refined and she confirms that both the ruins and machine emit a unique electromagnetic wave that when amplified likely was the cause of the pain the Steel types felt, with the island too being made of the meteorites that surround Veilstone. The professor said that the purpose of the ruins were to locate the Spear Pillar to summon Dialga and Palkia, and asks Riley if he'll be on the island for a while to help them do research. Riley wholeheartedly agrees in pursuit to learn more about the island he trains on as Ash, Brock and Dawn continue their journeys back on the mainland.

Honestly these two episodes showcased a lot of interesting details! Getting to see aura used in more physicality than as merely a sense really brought up a lot of neat points about how it can be used, even showing Riley himself create barriers and bubbles to effectively protect against various threats! While these episodes were mainly used as a mini adventure it shows more consistency with how he's presented in the games. There are a few points that feel a little shoehorned, especially when Team Rocket, Barry and eventually Dawn too are all "stuck" only for Carnivine and Grotle to pull them out at the last second (maybe a little bit of quick thinking would be better if they only had three minutes to figure stuff out?). But it's harder to complain when these are still anime episodes that come out on a weekly, so much of my gripes would be on the limitations a series format unfortunately has. It's enjoyable to see Riley given a voice for the first time though!

Overall Thoughts

As much as I have gripes in a lot of areas for both adaptations, I think these both managed to bring up interesting details with Riley's characterization outside of his previous incarnation! He certainly shows similarities to Sir Aaron, but manages to have his own distinctions and moments of COOL that really hit specific notes that still stick true to his game counterpart. He's well meaning but won't hesitate if it gurantees the safety of the people and pokemon on the island. I like that he does have notes of being a mentor in both interpretations, though something about the manga makes him seem colder to me with how he trains Dia (and is less considerate than how he's shown in the game) but the anime does it more in a "if you're coming with me, you Will have to defend yourselves" way that at least feels more impactful for Ash, Brock and Dawn to make their decision to help a risk that they'll have to take. When it comes to teaching, there should be something of a goal to get towards, but Riley is more vague about it in the manga that doesn't really seem to help Dia, given he eventually figured stuff out with his Torterra on his own rather than Riley really "teaching" anything to him and more someone he has to prove himself to? I dunno, maybe the manga isn't my thing.

Seeing more physical usage of aura is also really cool, but I still wonder of how the thing of sensing aura being comparable to sensing air waves/frequencies makes much sense. In simple terms they describe it like he can sense the air but not the energy of something, so part of me wishes they could expand more on that beyond air waves with him specifically. The anime made some sense of it if there was some kind of interference with the energy from the meteorites were messing with general electromagnetic frequencies but manga just reads aura like its air if Air Slash effectively leaves Riley blind. The concepts of aura are fascinating outside of simply being a means to detect energy, but newer games don't explore much on the mysticism of it. Even rarer seen now due to the games implementing new concepts and characters into the mix that can already communicate with pokemon directly. Makes me kinda wish pokemon did more with one-off ideas like what the movie presented with an entire fantasy-themed land, it definitely makes the movies more charming to me.

Aura itself has definitely been expanded upon by the titular aura doggies Riolu/Lucario and Ash's capabilities of it as well! If anything that boy should've at least asked Riley a question or two about Aura if the movie canon plays a part of why he's capable of using it? The anime retconned a lot of details and the manga just gave me more questions with how it functions. That can of worms just gets thrown out once Ash's journey is over though, but good for Ash honestly he can live like Tony Hawk with lowkey superpowers and buys stuff from your local Circle K every so often. He needs that hilarity if he's ever shown older honestly, hopefully the anime has him return to be a cool mentor figure. That's going off topic though!

As much as I have my gripes I can say that the limitations are just a part of the formats these series are created in, full of schedules and deadlines to finish on the weekly so not everything is gonna be super refined like a movie is, but my perspective is surface level with either field. As an artist though, I can appreciate some of the rougher edges both the manga and anime have in their conception!

My Headcanons

These are more or less my own headcanons and interpretations of Riley from the games! At least when he's not super well known, there's a lot more free reign to headcanon stuff for him. So, here's a few! Art in this section is made by me!

This one I want to be known from the get go, but I like to think Riley is autistic! With what info is given about aura and being able to sense emotions and thoughts of people and pokemon, it makes sense that he doesn't go into a lot of crowded or public spaces due to feeling the emotions of people around him all at once. His hat helps him feel less anxious with eye contact, or to also help in masking in unfamiliar social situations.

Adding onto the previous one, Riley's Lucario is a trained autism assistance and therapy dog! Given how he's suceptible to being overstimulated from crowds filled with so many auras and feelings at once, it can be difficult to manage on his own. I'd like to think he got his dog trained at an early age to keep himself active and generally assist him if he experiences a sensory overload or similar. He keeps his Lucario out with him often when he goes into public spaces so it feels less anxiety inducing. A certified helpful doggy!

I've headcanoned Iron Island to be a port town based on how the anime reinterprets the island, rather than just a barren island with a cave as depicted in the games. I like to think Riley helps out with the odd job or two, assisting with fishing ports and deliveries from the boats that travel to and from Canalave. His main job is making sure the wild pokemon residing on Iron Island's caves don't cause too much of a ruckus with the residents making a living there. He also guides anyone specifically navigating the caverns as to make sure tourists or residents don't get lost. His aura comes in handy when it comes to keeping track of people in the vicinity. He's grown accustomed to navigating caves and mazes, and is able to traverse Iron Island's caverns with very little difficulty.

Another one based on the movies is that he's got a sweet tooth. With his dog being part steel at least means he's immune to food poisoning (which is really funny given the movie, they even encouraged giving a chocolate to Lucario there), so he and his dog enjoy chocolates and other sweets like Sir Aaron did with his dog. I like the idea that it's a running trait in his family that everybody has a secret love for chocolate in all forms, even great heros love a good treat from time to time!

I like to think Riley enjoys mining like Roark and Byron do! He has his own gear specifically for it so he's not going into caves underprepared (I still wonder how he manages to wear a suit when caves get cold or humid). I would like to think he gives any interesting materials he finds to the two of them, but enjoys the idea of creating new paths for people to explore! They probably gifted Riley some tools as well if they notice his gear is getting a bit rusty, or at least offer to keep everything sharp. He's still a family friend to them, so they help each other out!

These are just a few of my own headcanons, but hey I might update this section when I happen to come up with more!