Ryan (Games)

Ryan (ライアン, Raian) is the male that has canonically served as Ten's main character in the core game series.

He is a from  in the  region whose goal is to become a professional Pokémon battler. His was. Upon traveling to other regions, he also claimed, , , , , , and as starter Pokémon in their respective regions. He currently holds the rank of 's Pokémon League Champion and was 's first Champion. He is also the Hero of Ideals from legend.

In the core series
At the age of ten, Ryan was summoned by  to complete an errand. For this task, he was given his very first Pokémon: a. After completing the errand, Ryan traveled his home region of Johto collecting its Gym badges. In the process, he thwarted 's plans for revival, first at the, then at the , and finally at. Upon saving his home region, he competed in the at  by defeating his idol: the Dragon Master.

Inspired to become a seasoned battler by the experience, Ryan took his Johto team to Kanto and defeated the, culminating in a second Championship victory in a rematch against Lance. Only then did Lance tell him of someone stronger: a child who had defeated him years earlier, after the original defeat of Team Rocket. In order to locate this battler, Ryan traveled to and ascended the summit. There he battled and won after a tough battle. Shortly thereafter, Ryan departed Johto for with his family, leaving his Pokémon with Professor Elm.

In Hoenn, eager to start his adventure again, Ryan went looking for Professor and saved him from a pack of wild Pokémon. Because he had none of his old team with him, Birch offered him a new Pokémon, and Ryan chose as his new partner. Once again Ryan took on the Gym challenge and once again he was compelled to save the world, this time from the likes of and. With the help of the Legendary Pokémon, he quelled the fighting of and , saving Hoenn. He then made short work of the region's Gym Leaders, including his own father, before challenging and defeating the.

Following adventures in Orre and Fiore, Ryan went to visit his friend in the  region. There again, he saved the world from, and took on the bitterly hard. Though he initially lost to both and, he won against both in rematches and vowed never to lose again in a Pokémon League challenge. After Sinnoh, Ryan finally returned home to Johto where he visited the and witnessed  creating a new. He also challenged Red to a rematch, which he won, proving himself still the older trainer's better.

After concluding his break in Johto, Ryan took a plane across the world to to begin his next Pokémon journey. There, he befriended, an odd man who had the unique ability to speak to Pokémon. N was also the king of an organization known as, hellbent on freeing Pokémon from people. Later, it was revealed that the shadowy leader of Team Plasma,, wanted to use N to rule Unova. N proves himself to be one of the two heroes of Unovan myth when he summons, while Ryan proved to be the second hero by summoning and capturing. The two battled, with Ryan defeating N and later Ghetsis, to save the region. As in other regions before, Ryan then went on to take on and win the, adding his fifth League challenge to his belt.

Finally, Ryan ventured to, where his world was forever changed by his encounter with a fellow native: Sara. Though native to Johto, Sara had primarily lived in Hoenn all her life, and aspired to become the world's best. However, she was also a fierce battler. The two competed against each other as they took on the. During this time, Sara famously captured a with only a single, infuriating Ryan who had failed to do so with a superior. From this point onward, Ryan vowed to only capture his Pokémon in ordinary Poké Balls. After becoming Champion, he and Sara had multiple full battles, during which time his Garchomp became a rival to her, "Vivi."

Before he could select another region to travel to, Sara got word that her home region was again under siege by Team Aqua and Team Magma, and so Ryan returned with her to Hoenn to stop his old enemies once again. This time, he captured the Shiny Rayquaza he had befriended before and used it to help Sara quell the raging and. He also befriended and used her  to travel the region. Shortly after stopping Groudon and Kyogre, Ryan entered a relationship with : a young man he had met the last time he was in Hoenn. While on a date to, Ryan became aware of an approaching meteor that threatened the planet. With the help of a mysterious character in, Ryan was able to teach his Rayquaza , allowing it to Mega Evolve and battle —the alien Pokémon within the space rock—thus saving the world yet again.

With their experiences in Kalos and Hoenn behind them, Ryan and Sara became fierce rivals and friends, and traveled to the island region of together. There, they befriended and, and helped to save a pair of , which later evolved into  and. After both competed in the, they helped  to invent Alola's first official Pokémon League and took part in the tournament. In his telling of events, Ryan won and became Alola's first Champion, though Sara's account differs. The pair remained in Alola after the tournament to help protect the region from the, culminating in a fierce battle with  in an.

After returning from, the pair flew to for a vacation; Ryan bonded with a special  there and smacked down a resurgent Team Rocket in the process. Then, it was off to to compete in the region's far more televised Gym Challenge. There, Ryan helped Sara to thwart the return of the by pairing with  and  respectively. After defeating, the region's strongest Champion, Ryan and Sara faced off in the , using their newest rival pair: and. They also thwarted the plans of and  to corrupt the legendary wolves. However, Ryan was not simply content to have defeated Leon, and ventured to the (off of Galar's coast) to train under : a former Galar Champion and Leon's own mentor. On the island, he befriended and completed Mustard's training, allowing it to evolve into.

Currently, he continues his training on the Isle of Armor, but rumors of a have piqued his interest as the location of his next adventure...

In spin-off games
Shortly after his adventures in the Hoenn region, Ryan ventured to, where he had heard about an epic battle tournament on the summits of. After befriending and, he set out to become the best battler in the region. However, his adventures were interrupted by the actions of, once again forcing Ryan to play the role of the hero. He summarily defeated Cypher, capturing and purifying XD001 in the process. He then used his new Lugia, alongside a mixture of his Orre and Hoenn teams, to win the 100-battle challenge on Mt. Battle. Afterwards, he left Lugia back in Johto with Professor Elm and set his sights on a new adventure in.

At an unknown point between his adventures in and, Ryan also traveled to , where he temporarily joined the Pokémon Rangers, befriending a  in the process, and helped to save the region from the. Shortly before leaving the region, he discovered a, which he sent to Hoenn to be studied by Professor Birch. Deciding that he would rather be a Trainer than a Ranger, he then departed Fiore for his next journey.

Sometime after his journey in Kalos, Ryan became a member of and visited several  while aiding Professor  with his research. As a result, he was part of a research team that rediscovered the Mythical Pokémon. Ryan later caught a Shiny Meltan, along with 399 other members of its species, resulting in his Meltan evolving into a Melmetal.

Pokémon
Ryan has caught nearly a thousand Pokémon since his journey first began at the age of ten. Early on, he came to love Pokémon battling and specifically trained those he thought were particularly skilled in the art. As early as his Gym battle against in, he learned to appreciate the -type; and he idolized , wanting to train dragons as strong as his. Ever since then, Dragon-type Pokémon have always featured on Ryan's team. In, he captured a which he trained and evolved into a Garchomp capable of. This Pokémon became his most trusted partner and his main battler from then on.

In Ryan's early career as a trainer, he primarily relied on a Pokémon's brute strength to win a battle. However, after capturing his on a return trip to, he learned to incorporate other strategies (namely ) into his style. Afterwards, Pokémon capable of preforming and  featured heavily on his team. He is also known to favor Pokémon with the abilities and  for their versatility. He has a hard rule against using or  on his teams. The only exceptions to this rule have been his and  respectively. He also has a tendency to create teams whose members are collectively balanced, as no more than two have weaknesses to the same type at any given time.

Early on, Ryan did not his Pokémon. However, since capturing Chomper in Kalos, he primarily names his party members, or those Pokémon who feature on his team often enough to warrant individual names.

Ryan currently has ownership of 835 Pokémon and has completed the, , and Pokédexes in their entirety. He has also caught 108 species of.

In rotation
In , Ryan's team is in constant flux with the only staple being his. The current configuration of his team is:

With Grand Oak
When not in his primary party, Ryan's other Pokémon stay with  in. Because he has over 800 individual Pokémon, only his most noteworthy will be listed here.

Pokémon League ranking
Ryan has competed in the following Pokémon Leagues:
 * (Kanto and Johto) - Champion
 * - Champion
 * - Champion
 * - Champion
 * - Champion
 * - Champion
 * - Champion

Battle Tower ranking
Ryan has competed in the following s:
 * - Great Level
 * - Master Ball Rank

Mt. Battle ranking
Ryan has also battled in the competition in Orre and has the following rankings:
 * 100-battle challenge - Winner

GO Battle League
Ryan also casually competes in the battle league. He has the following ranking:
 * Master League - Rank 1

Trivia

 * Ryan has traveled to every canonical region from the core series games. He has also traveled to the side-regions of and.
 * Though he has captured every single starter Pokémon, he has never chosen a -type Pokémon on a first playthrough of a region.
 * Canonically, Ryan first visited the region during, in the aftermath of his journey through Johto. Therefore, he did not choose his own Kanto starter until the events of , during which he selected an  as his official Kanto starter.
 * Since battling in, Ryan has never lost a match with a region's  or.
 * Ryan's favorite Pokémon is and he considers  a rival for its affections.
 * The first Pokémon Ryan ever saw was an  "I." The first one he ever caught was his Red Gyarados.