Robyn's Rhyperior

**Robyn's Rhyperior** (Japanese: **ろびんのドサイドン** *Robyn's Dosidon*) is the third Pokémon that Robyn Oak captured after becoming Viridian City's Gym Leader, and his twelfth overall.

## **History**

### **Johto**

Immediately after Robyn Oak was named the new Viridian Gym Leader, an earthquake occurs, after which Robyn quickly discovers it was caused by Rhydon and its comrades Arcanine, Exeggutor, and Alakazam. Wondering what the cause of their rampage was, Robyn sees a Pokémon Association's van playing Pokémon March, the cause of the Pokémon's rampage.

As Bayley and Carly Oak head towards the van to stop the sound, Robyn deals with the rampaging Pokémon all by himself. Robyn calls out Charizard. Robyn orders Charizard to attack the Pokémon with Fire Spin, which catches their attention. Then, Robyn draws them towards Viridian Forest, where he uses the enviroment to his advantage. Using the trees for cover, Robyn orders Charizard to use Mega Punch and send a tree flying towards Exeggutor, sending Exeggutor flying. As Arcanine charges towards Robyn with Fire Fang, Charizard jumps in front of the attack and hits Arcanine with a Mega Punch to the jaw.

Then, Alakazam jumps into the fray and uses Psychic to restrain Charizard, and Arcanine gains revenge by using multiple Extreme Speed attacks towards Charizard, who's floating in the air by Psychic's effects. Then, Robyn tells Charizard to break out of it, and Charizard quickly breaks free and aims at Alakazam with Flamethrower. However, Arcanine jumps in front of the attack and absorbs the attack without damage, thanks to its Flash Fire Ability. Then, Arcanine uses Overheat, striking Charizard and causing significant damage due to Flash Fire enhancing Arcanine's Fire attacks.

As Charizard slowly gets back to its feet, Rhydon charges at it with Megahorn, but at the last second, Charizard grabs Rhydon's horn and holds him steady. Alakazam then tries to use Confusion, but Arcanine stops him with Aerial Ace, angrily barking at Alakazam for being willing to hurt a comrade to defeat the enemy. Robyn took notice of this and became impressed with Arcanine's sense of honor and loyalty.

Robyn orders Charizard to use Fire Spin, hitting Rhydon with close-range. Rhydon then uses Horn Attack, but Charizard flies out of the way and Rhydon pierces through a tree with its Horn Attack. Rhydon then notices Robyn and charges at him, but Robyn jumps out of the way with agility and performs a roundhouse kick onto Rhydon, although he hurts himself due to Rhydon's rock-hard body.

Charizard then hits Rhydon with Flamethrower onto the back of its head, causing significant damage. Then, Exeggutor returns to the battle and uses Seed Bomb towards Charizard, but misses as Charizard swiftly dodges before using Fire Spin, hitting Exeggutor. As Charizard begins to pant due to his exhaustion, Robyn decides to end the battle quickly.

Arcanine and its comrades charge towards Charizard together, with Arcanine using Overheat, Exeggutor using Egg Bomb, Alakazam using Confusion, and Rhydon using Rock Blast. However, Charizard flies up to dodge the attack and charges an overloaded Flamethrower, whose power was so great, its range of attack was bigger than usual, and struck all of the Pokémon at once.

Out of all the four Pokémon, only Arcanine remained in the battle, while the other three were knocked out. After Arcanine was defeated, Rhydon, along with its friends, were captured by Robyn, and subsequently placed as guards around the Viridian Gym.

During the Gym Leader exhibition match at the Indigo Plateau, Robyn faced off against Cianwood City's Gym Leader, Chuck. After Chuck sends out his Machamp, Robyn chooses Rhydon, despite the type disadvantage, relying on Rhydon's stubborn body to challenge Chuck's attacks.

Rhydon is ordered forward by its Trainer, but is slammed to the ground by Machamp's Vital Throw. Machamp is switched for Hitmonlee who uses Mind Reader to dodge Rhydon's attacks. When Hitmonlee goes forward to attack, Rhydon uses Stomp. Chuck responds by commanding a Reversal to throw Rhydon off its balance.

Then, Chuck switches in for Hitmontop. It immediately launches a Triple Kick at Rhydon. Robyn responds by having Rhydon use Earthquake. Hitmontop stops spinning, but immediately gets up to launch another Triple Kick, which leaves Rhydon in massive pain.

As Hitmontop spins up in the air again, Robyn jumps on Rhydon's back. This shocks Mary, who fears for Robyn if he gets hit. Rhydon's drill-like horn begins to spin. By closing his eyes, Robyn feels the environment around him. Once Hitmontop closes in, Robyn snaps his eyes open and gets Rhydon to focus on Hitmontop's head. To the audience's amazement, Rhydon's spinning horn strikes the tip of Hitmontop's head, and the opposite motion of Rhydon's spinning horn brings Hitmontop's spinning to a stop. Upon Robyn's Horn Drill command, Rhydon brings its horn downwards to knock Hitmontop out, and Mary declares Robyn as the winner.

Rhydon was later used by Robyn to dig a tunnel to Ilex Forest so that he and Edge could help their allies confront the Masked Man.

### **Crisis of Deoxys**

Rhydon was used during Robyn's Double Battle against Edge. As Edge commands his Pikachu to fire a Thunderbolt towards Machamp, the attack is suddenly redirected. Robyn smirks and reveals Rhydon, who has the Lightning Rod Ability, which causes all Electric-type moves to be redirected towards it. Robyn claims victory, but Edge refuses to back down. Edge decides that if Pikachu's Electric attacks won't work, then a body attack will work instead. Pikachu jumps into the air and delivers an Iron Tail onto Machamp's head. The battle then ends in a tie.

Rhydon later battled against Orm and his Shuckle on Six Island. With his drills, Rhydon broke the horde of Shuckle Orm was using to keep Robyn pinned down. Later on, Rhydon helped to slow the descent of Team Rocket's airship to prevent its crash-landing into Vermilion City with its Megahorn attack, along with receiving help from Robyn's Golduck and Roberta's Blastoise's combined Hydro Pump attacks.

### **Battle Frontier**

Rhydon appeared alongside the rest of Robyn's team when he was checking to make sure they all survived the petrification caused by Sird.

### **Arceus Arise**

At some point following the crisis at the Battle Frontier, Rhydon was traded to Martinez to replace his missing Ursaring. With the Protector he received from Martinez, Rhydon evolved into a Rhyperior. Rhyperior was first seen with Martinez battling Ariana on Route 38. With an Earth Plate-boosted Earth Power, he distracted Ariana long enough for Martinez to escape and head to Ecruteak City to meet with Morty. When Martinez arrived at the Ecruteak Gym, he was stopped by Falkner, Bugsy, and Chuck, who were protecting the Gym from suspicious people under Morty's request. Having no time to explain the situation, Martinez battled the three Gym Leaders in order to force his way into the Gym. Chuck used his Hitmontop to battle against Rhyperior, but the two Pokémon stopped when their drills collided, both realizing that they had fought each other in the past. After Martinez explained who Rhyperior originally belonged to, Chuck decided to trust Martinez and allowed him into the Gym.

Later, Rhyperior battled Giratina to protect Martinez's father, Giovanni. Martinez then revealed that he decoded Giovanni's book, which allowed him to teach Rhyperior the powerful Rock Wrecker move. After the crisis with Arceus was resolved, Martinez returned Rhyperior to Robyn, with the former thanking Rhyperior for its efforts in stopping Team Rocket.

## **New Era**

### **Indigo Challenge**

When Dwayne challenged the Viridian Gym, Robyn selected Rhyperior as his second Pokémon to battle against Dwayne's Butterfree. Buttefree fires a Sleep Powder, but Rhyperior's Megahorn dissipates the spores. Rhyperior then responds with Rock Polish, greatly increasing Rhyperior's speed. Dwayne commands a Stun Spore, but Rhyperior easily dodges with his increased speed, and knocks out Butterfree with a single Rock Wrecker.

Despite losing half his team, Dwayne remains confident that they can win, sending out Wartortle. Dwayne orders an Ice Beam, but Robyn has Rhyperior use Earthquake, and the earthquake ends up being disruptive enough for Wartortle to lose balance and miss Ice Beam. Wartortle uses Rapid Spin, but Rhyperior dodges again and attacks with Megahorn. Dwayne encourages Wartortle not to give up and calls for Water Pulse. Wartortle manages to stand up despite the damage he suffered, launching the powerful attack towards Rhyperior, knocking him out.

## **Personality and Characteristics**

Rhyperior is very loyal to its friends, and helped them battle against Robyn and his Charizard without hesitation despite seeing how powerful Charizard was. Aside from his loyalty, Rhyperior is very serious and determined, doing its best to overcome Charizard's strength, albeit unsuccessfully.

During Rhyperior's battle against Chuck at the Gym Leader exhibition match at the Indigo Plateau, Rhyperior's growing bond with Robyn was showcased as Robyn trusted him enough to defeat Chuck, and the two worked perfectly well together and ultimately defeated Chuck.

In terms of battling, Rhyperior is incredibly strong, both physically and psychologically. Rhyperior's sturdy body allows him to withstand many powerful attacks, including super-effective ones, such as Hitmontop's Triple Kick. It also allows him to be unfazed by normal attacks, such as feeling no damage whatsoever after receiving a roundhouse kick by Robyn. Rhyperior's power also allows him to battle against Legendary Pokémon like Giratina, and although not being able to successfully defeat, Rhyperior was able to slightly damage it, something that no other Pokémon had been able to do.