PMD-E In-Depth Bio: Rigley the Elgyem

Name: Rigley 
Species: Elgyem



Other Names: Rigs (by Isaac the Lucario), Son (by Blune the Beheeyem)
Relatives: Blune the Beheeyem (father), Psyme the shiny Beheeyem (mother), Ligray the Elgyem (older sister), Verdona the Beheeyem (maternal grandmother), Montague the Beheeyem (maternal grandfather)
Current Moveset:
Teleport
Telekinesis
Psybeam
Psyshock

History:

Rigley the Elgyem is the second and last child of Blune and Psyme. It is said that when he hatched, and they introduced him to his older sister, she just stared at him for a while, eyeing him narrowly, before finally saying, "…Put him back?" He always wanted to play with her, but she didn't seem too interested or thrilled to have a little brother, and the times when she would play, she would push and shove him around, causing him to cry a lot.

As soon as Blune and Psyme became the High Commanders, they became so busy that Ligray and Rigley had no choice but to go into the military training that was becoming a requirement for everyone due to the fact that the planet's environment was worsening. Rigley never had much of an interest in it in the first place, and desperately pleaded to be placed in some other activity, but he couldn't go against his parents. They were the almighty High Commanders, after all. So Rigley had no choice but to try and do his best at it.

Ligray was a natural-born military genius, and mastered the training programs faster than any of the other kids. Rigley, on the other hand, could never perform above average no matter how hard he tried, and was really jealous of his sister's talent. He and his sister looked to the Planet Paion Military Hall of Fame and saw that a kid named Rallen held the record for completing the program in the fastest amount of time. Not only that, but he evolved the earliest, too. The two of them began to look up to Rallen, and Ligray made it her goal to beat his record.

But that didn't mean it was all doom and gloom for Rigley. A few times, he was allowed to play around at the various theme parks on the planet. Very, very few times.

Though he did his best, there was a certain incident that has left an impression on Rigley so major, it's influenced his whole outlook on life. There was one survival exercise in which the kids had to fly 50 miles into and back out of a canyon maze on the planet known as Dusk Canyon. If a stalactite or a boulder fell on them, they had to deal with it themselves, with no help. Poor Rigley was caught in an avalanche of rocks, which pinned him down into the deepest part of the canyon, so that no matter how much he shouted, no one could hear him. He tried not to panic, thinking "I can't cry, I can't cry, I can't cry..." But when he finally gave in and stopped trying to pretend he was someone he wasn't, he finally felt better about himself, and was able to think more clearly about the situation he was in. More importantly, the tears actually softened the ground enough for him to dig out and escape to be reunited with his loving family. But when he tried to tell everyone his discovery, they didn't believe him, except for maybe a certain few.

It is said that this incident was where Rigley learned how to dig through dirt with the sheer effort of his hands without necessarily knowing the move Dig, and where he made a promise to himelf: That he would one day escape from Planet Paion and find the one person who would accept him for who he was.

Finally, Ligray completed the program…in exactly the same amount of time that Rallen did. She didn't evolve, though, and was disappointed. But then O-Bem and O-Beema gave the High Commanders the idea to send a couple kids to the nearby Planet Portania to get more data on what life is like in Tao World, and naturally, they chose the best of the best, Ligray. But even more surprisingly, they also let Rigley join her! Rigley was thrilled. It didn't matter if it was because they thought he "looked the cutest, most innocent, and least likely to be attacked"—he was finally able to prove that he could do something right. And even better...he might finally be able to fulfill that silent promise to himself.

He and his sister were driving a ship down to the planet when a certain goddess, Loire the Reshiram, still in Light Stone form, ordered them to turn back. When they didn't, out of fear of what O-Bem and O-Beema would do if they did, Loire ordered her guardian Estoc the Cobalion himself to leap up onto the ship and smash it, giving Ligray and Rigley concussions so severe that they lost all their memories up to this point.

They woke up in the desert, wondering where to go, and were attacked by a nasty gang of desert Pokémon. But at the last second, having seen their ship and wanting to know more about them, Amy and Chikorita rescued them in time.

The first person he saw when he woke up after that was Amy, and the first thing she asked him was if he was a human. He said that he didn't know what a human was, but he was definitely an Elgyem. Disappointed, but still excited to meet an alien, Amy introduced Ligray and Rigley to Tao Village. There, Rigley went along with his sister's decision to become Rescuers, and as they completed jobs, he realized he was liking it more and more. Rigley had a hard time reading the language used in Tao Village, but Chikorita taught him. He spent most of his time observing other Pokémon and making sure his sister wasn't bored. If she ever became bored, she would wildly fling random stuff with Telekinesis in frustration, and he couldn't have her get in trouble like that.

Shortly after Event 4, a UFO came in and abducted Ligray. Flabbergasted, Rigley, along with Amy and Chikorita, followed them to Planet Paion, and there, rescued his sister and got all their memories back. It turned out to be part of an evil invasion plot by O-Bem and O-Beema. Busted, O-Beema then knocked out Ligray, Rigley, and their parents, took the position of High Commander herself, and blamed it all on Amy and Chikorita. Poor Rigley was knocked out for the whole battle, and wished he could have done more, but he was relieved and happy to find that Amy and Chikorita beat the odds and managed to bring O-Bem and O-Beema to justice.

He was shocked to find out that his sister wanted to quit being a Rescuer. However, he understood her feelings about wanting to help the people of Planet Paion, and was thrilled to finally be given a chance to prove himself as the leader of the one-man team.

His first day as a solo rescuer was a disaster as he tried to buy Space Alien Repellent from Treble the Chingling to protect his sister and friends, and Merri the Paras chomped on his head instead. Luckily, his sister came in to give him some words encouragement so he could stand up for himself for this injustice. He also helped everyone to escape town when Sorbet the Kyurem started rampaging.

In the aftermath in Mission 6, he let Amy and Chikorita live in his spaceship, feeling sorry that they had lost a good friend. He, however, wasn't going to let Treble get off so easily, and also desperately needed money of his own. He tried to perform at the King's Rock Casino in Alomomola City, but it turned out to be a huge conspiracy. With his own determination (and Lipless the Gothita's silliness), he was able to overcome the obstacles, bust the conspiracy, and get the money he needed. When he returned, he saw that the Rescuers' guild was in shambles, and was being led by little kids who didn't know proper management. With a stirring speech, he rallied the Rescuers, and brought the guild together long enough for it to run properly until Mike came back.

Having proven himself as a hero (and in his mind, as a man), Rigley had then turned his attention to love, inspired when he saw Mike come back with a new girlfriend in Event 6. At the time, he chose Amy just because he thought she was the "right person" without much proof other than the fact that she was a very good friend to him who helped him out so much and that she liked alien stuff. After much silliness resulting from him trying to ask her out, mostly involving Bisharp, thanks to Rallen's advice, he finally succeeded by offering to teach her how to drive spaceships with Psychic power.

He also listened to Rallen and Jody's epic story of how they met, fell in love, and overcame all odds to stay together, and it left a very deep impression on him that would forever change the way his feelings about romance were.

Right now, Rigley's doing all he can to help support his best friend Amy in her and her team's new job on his home planet.

Current Personality:

Rigley is certainly much more confident than he was before. Instead of looking at the ground with his head down, he now floats around looking straight ahead. He also likes the thrill he gets from rescuing people, and the good feeling that comes from the knowledge of having done the right thing. And if his fellow Rescuers don't know what to do, he can now give orders to them to help them out. He's still working on explaining why to those who are skeptical, but considering how he started out as following along with everything his sister decided, it's an amazing leap of progress.

He's more of the type who prefers love over war. Sure, battling is easy and fun due to his advantages (teleporting, telekinesis, antigravity core), but making friends with people and finding those whom to really care about are way more fun to him. But when it comes to romance, he doesn't quite know what he's doing. All he can do is watch people like his mom and dad, do what they do, and hope for the best.

His tail tends to wag uncontrollably whenever he's nervous. He doesn't like how easily this occurs, so he's been trying to curb it, but so far, not much luck.

He also would rather avoid direct conflict, and works hard to impress those who are higher-up. But he can also become exasperated by his mom's attention-seeking fashion-diva behavior or his dad's view that the whole universe is a great big place to study and perform experiments on.

In terms of fashion, he's even more of a dunce than Amy, but he doesn't mind. He would actually prefer to not have to wear anything since that would slow him down, but Psyme insisted that if he wanted to impress Amy, he, too, should get an accessory that could be used to identify him from other Elgyems. So she helped him pick out the Bubbly Backpack, and since it represented how much he liked water-based activities, he accepted it.

It is said that the main reason he has no problem being around girls is because he has a big sister. But he would certainly never admit it. His sister always had a tendency to play rough, and he likes Amy better because she was the first person who ever talked to him "in a nice way." To him, girls make more sense than guys, and he can't understand why guys like how Bisharp used to be are failing so miserably to understand that simple fact. It used to bother him when his guy friends would tease him and say that he might as well be a girl himself, but considering how he's observed that they now have as many troubles with romance as Bisharp used to, he now shrugs such comments off and smiles in the knowledge that he had the advantage over them all along.

Since he's been mediocre at almost everything in his life (especially the Planet Paion military), he's not much of a perfectionist at all, and even more importantly, he doesn't care about what people think of him anymore, in stark contrast to his days back on his home planet. The proudest moment of his life was when he told this to Amy, making her realize that she doesn't have to worry about people being mad at her, as long as he's with her. He's truly a Rescuer in many more ways than one.

At this point, if people like his grandpa Montague disapprove of his relationship with Amy, instead of timidly agreeing with them, he would get defensive and list all the reasons why it's wrong to try to believe that Elgyems and Beheeyems are superior beings, and everyone else is inferior.

Hobbies and Skills:

Pro surfing. Rigley has always excelled at water-based activities. He can hold his breath for a really long time (it helps when he doesn't have a visible mouth), and he can float as naturally in it as he can in the air. Upon seeing how some Pokémon surf at beaches, he's decided to take up the activity for fun, too. Having an antigravity core really helps him avoid wipeouts.

Singer and dancer (in training). Watching Amy's song and dances has inspired him to take this up all the way back in Mission 3, though he's still not very good at it. At all. His sense of rhythm sucks, he goes off-key a lot, and messes up on the dance moves. He's still learning from Amy, but hopes one day to get good enough at it that even she is impressed.

Playing at Planet Paion amusement parks. This has always been one of his most favorite activities. Places such as "Invader Zim Land" (not its real name, but it's the closest equivalent in English) have all sorts of rides, roller coasters, spaceship simulations, and more. He hopes to visit them more often, and maybe even bring Amy along one of these days.

Teaching Amy how to operate Planet Paion technology. Rigley (and his dad) has succeeded in creating a spaceship that can operate on Amy's odd brain waves, so now he's teaching her how to drive it like a pro.

Being a romantic. This, for him, is about as hard as singing and dancing. (I mean, he IS quite young…) Luckily for him, his parents, Rallen, and Jody are willing to help him out.

Trying out various things in general. Rigley has been mediocre in almost everything he tried in life, except maybe surfing. As a result, he likes trying out anything and everything so he can find more of what he's good at and stick with it.

Life goals:

To make a name for himself, prove to his sister that he can be just as good as her, become a well-respected Rescuer, teach people to respect aliens, to make Mike proud, to help all his friends, to make Amy happy, and maybe even get her to like him back. He's smart enough to know that getting married is still a long way off, but he doesn't think it would hurt to keep the possibility in mind.

Trivia:

Out of all my characters, Rigley is the one whose personality has grown and changed the most from the time I first thought of him to today.

He's also the nicest of all the "nice guy" character types that I've made, with Bisharp quickly becoming a close second.

His favorite berries are Chesto Berries, and he likes dry food in general. That being said, thanks to Amy's influence, he doesn't mind sweet stuff now and again.

Rigley's philosophy of "girls make more sense than guys" was inspired by what a friend of mine from high school once told me. I was really surprised to hear that from a guy, but considering how he had three little sisters, it made sense.

Amy and Rigley is one of the few pairings in which I developed both characters separately, for a very long time, before it ever occurred to me just how perfect they would be for each other.

Another reason Rigley likes Amy so much is because if he uses her as a pillow, he can fall asleep almost immediately and stay asleep even if such people as Team Nighty Knights are partying nearby. Elgyems really do need their sleep, after all, or else their brains wouldn't be able to use Psychic power properly.

Speaking of Elgyems, I took a few more artistic liberties with their design than usual for Ligray and Rigley. I allowed their eyes to actually close, which was never depicted in the anime, and adjusted their heads (and body proportions) to make them look cuter. They do speak with their mouths, as far as I can tell, but I never depict them with visible mouths unless they're eating something.

That cute little "...Put him back?" line that Ligray says was inspired by something I actually said when I was about 2 years old and my little brother was born. At least, that's what my mom and dad told me.

Ligray's skill in being the best and Rigley's resentment of her being so good was modeled after the real life experiences of me and my brother. Except, replace "military academy" with "schoolwork."