Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 1 – Pokémon Season 11, Episode 19

Plot episodeRanger special, part 1Aired out of order in the US

Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part 1 is the 19th episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 534th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 538, Bulbapedia code DP071). It first aired in Japan on 20 March 2008 and in the United States on 1 November 2008. It falls within the season’s Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu stretch (EP71–EP72).

Aired out of order: Cartoon Network held the two-parter back until the North American release of Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia and showed Part 1 on 1 November 2008, after Chim – Charred! (DP081). Pokémon.com’s official list and later repeats put Cream of the Croagunk Crop! (DP082) first instead.

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Amid explosions, a Riolu that its captors call “RX1” breaks out of a research facility, and the kidnappers’ Golem fires Hyper Beam at the building as the gang escape in a truck with Riolu locked in the back. Using its Aura, Riolu overhears the boss and his men laughing that they tricked it into believing they would take it home, so it blasts open the door with Aura Sphere and flees, injuring its arm. Impressed, the boss orders his henchmen to recapture it. Later Ash, Dawn and Brock find the injured Riolu in a forest, and it fires an Aura Sphere at Ash when he tries to help, a move that Brock notes it should only learn as a Lucario. A cloaked stranger deflects the next one with his arm, and when Riolu runs, Ash impulsively chases after it. Team Rocket, watching from a tree, decide that Riolu would make a fine prize.

The stranger pulls Ash into the bushes and tells everyone to keep quiet: Riolu only wants to go home. Armoured vehicles carrying Pokémon Hunter J’s henchmen arrive, and a Crobat knocks Riolu out of a tree, but Riolu’s Aura Sphere knocks it out and a barrage of further Aura Spheres drives back the henchmen. When a second Crobat attacks, the stranger throws off his cloak and reveals himself as Pokémon Ranger Kellyn. Using his Capture Styler, he enlists an Ariados to bind the henchmen’s Pokémon with String Shot and a Nincada to trap the men in a pit with Dig. Kellyn heals Riolu’s arm with a Super Potion and hangs a little wooden figurine around its neck in a pouch, a gift from the man who raised Riolu. When Riolu looks at it, Ash sees a vision of that man giving it the figurine, and Kellyn explains that Ash’s Aura closely matches Riolu’s.

Ranger Solana calls Kellyn on his Styler, delighted to hear that Ash and Brock are with him, and reports that she and Officer Jenny are heading for the house of J’s client. Spotting J’s airship overhead, the group cross a lake in a boat towed by Piplup and Buizel while Kellyn explains that Riolu comes from the Lucario Kingdom, where it is destined to become the guardian. J’s henchmen send Sharpedo to smash the boat, and Kellyn recruits a wild Floatzel with his Styler to carry them to shore. Then J herself arrives on her Salamence, blocking every attack with Hyper Beam. When she fires her freezing bracelet, Riolu dodges but drops its figurine into the water and swims after it, while a Hyper Beam brings down the cliffs and cuts Kellyn, Dawn and Brock off. Ash, Pikachu and Buizel follow Riolu as the figurine goes over a waterfall, and Ash rescues the drowning Pokémon and returns its treasure. But J’s Salamence sets the forest ablaze, trapping Ash and Riolu inside a ring of fire.

Major Events

• Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu, part 1. The Pokémon Ranger Kellyn debuts and Solana returns
• An injured Riolu escapes its kidnappers and Hunter J’s henchmen
• Ash’s Aura matches Riolu’s
• Kellyn’s Capture Styler partners
• Based on a Shadows of Almia Ranger Net mission
• Riolu’s and Floatzel’s TV debuts
• Aired out of order in the US

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Riolu#0447 · DP071
• Floatzel#0419 · DP071

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Sinnoh storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• The dub keeps all of the Japanese music

Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.