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245px-Gary Oak

Ash Ketchum's first main Rival.

History[]

Gary has been a neighbor of Ash Ketchum since they were both young. At one time they seemed to be friends and went to see movies together as seen in Lights, Camerupt, Action!. Shortly after the both of them started on their journeys, Gary and Ash found an old Poké Ball while fishing. The two boys began fighting over who would get to keep the Poké Ball but ended up breaking it in half. Since then, they decided to keep the two separate pieces for themselves. It was revealed in The Ties That Bind that they still carried the pieces with them.

Gary made his debut appearance in Pokémon - I Choose You!, where he went to Professor Oak's Laboratoryalong with two other Pokémon Trainers before Ash did. After choosing his starter Pokémon, he left Pallet Town with his cheerleaders on a sporty red convertible.

As Ash kept in touch with Professor Oak, he has informed Ash about Gary being ahead of him with the amount of Pokémon he caught and Badges he received.

In Dig Those Diglett!, Gary was one of the Trainers who decided to help out the foreman in getting rid of the Diglett. Gary attempted to send out a Pokémon but the Pokémon did not exit the Poké Ball, thus having the Diglett return it to him. As he tried other Pokémon, they did not come out of their Poké Balls too and the Diglett returned them to him. Since his Pokémon did not want to battle the Diglett, he deemed it pointless to stay and left with his cheerleaders in the convertible.

In Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon, Gary went digging for Fossils in Grampa Canyon.

Prior to the events of The Battle of the Badge, he had received ten Badges. He went to the Viridian Gym and took on the Gym Leader, Giovanni. At first he seemed to be winning against Giovanni, knocking out his Golem and Kingler with Nidoking and Arcanine, respectively. But then Giovanni sent out Mewtwoagainst the Trainer and even let Gary use both his Pokémon against him. Mewtwo made quick work of the two Pokémon and Gary ended up losing.

When Ash and his friends went inside the Gym, they found Gary lying down, suffering from the defeat of Giovanni and Mewtwo. Gary explained to Ash about the Mewtwo that is evil even though Ash denied the fact. Afterwards, Gary watched Ash's battle with Team Rocket. Following the battle, the Gym started to collapse and Gary and the others were able to flee the building.

In Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, Gary returned to Pallet Town and headed to the lobby of Professor Oak's Laboratory. Professor Oak mentioned to both Ash and Gary that they were the top Trainers in contrast to the other two who left the same time as them as they couldn't compare with their battling skills. Professor Oak showed Ash Gary's collection of Pokémon. After Team Rocket was defeated, he promised Ash that they would have their battle at the Pokémon League.

In All Fired Up!, Gary met up with Ash in the Pokémon League in Indigo Plateau. He departed the area after claiming he would get Loseritis. The next day, he was seen in the stadium with the other Trainers and Ash. He did not stay that long as his opponent, Melissa, defeated Gary's Nidoking using her Golem, which eliminated him from the Pokémon League. Following the loss, he left on another journey.

Gary eventually returned from that journey in A Tent Situation. Much unlike his former self, he congratulated Ash on his victory in the Orange League. Ash challenged him to a battle in the next episode with his Pikachu as his choice. Gary in turn used his Eevee. Gary managed to defeat Ash and then left on his journey through Johto.

In Power Play, he battled a Trainer named Alex Davis with his Umbreon. Gary was able to defeat Alex and his Alakazam. The battle made Ash want to challenge Gary next, but Gary refused and walked off. Ash sent out his other Pokémon to battle Gary's Umbreon instead of Pikachu but he already left. At the campsite, Gary and Umbreon noticed a blackout in a town Ash and his friends were in. Gary and Umbreon jumped into the rescue of the Power Plant when the Robo-Mecha Wobbuffet was attacking it. Following the mecha's defeat, Gary worked with Ash and his friends to get the power back on.

In Extreme Pokémon!, he was practicing with Arcanine for the Extreme Pokémon Race. He then entered the race and competed against Ash and his Bayleef. They were both in the lead but Ash was able to narrowly win the race.

Gary arrived in Silver Town in A Claim to Flame! to compete in the Pokémon League. He greeted Ash and exchanged pleasantries, promising to get to the top and defeat Ash. Gary was able to get past the screening round along with Ash and Harrison.

In The Ties That Bind and Can't Beat the Heat!, he battled Ash at the Silver Conference. Ash ended up winning the battle when his Charizard defeated Gary's Blastoise. With this, the two became friends again.

In Johto Photo Finish, Gary decided that he didn't want to be a Pokémon Trainer anymore, but instead wanted to be a Pokémon researcher like his grandfather.

In Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl, Gary worked on Sayda Island with Dora. There, he revived an Aerodactyl from an Old Amber. At first the Aerodactyl was afraid of him and every other person on the island, but Gary soon gained its trust after he fed it some fruit that Aerodactyl used to eat.

Eventually, he moved to the Sinnoh region where he is currently conducting his research. He sent a postcard to Ash from there in The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing!, which motivated Ash to not to get himself down after a loss and keep fighting, much like he did during their rivalry.

In Home Is Where The Start Is!, Gary reunited with Ash and battled him with his Electivire and defeated Ash's Pikachu once more.

During his time in Sinnoh, Gary became an assistant of Professor Rowan. As before, Gary conducts his research on rare Pokémon, including Fossil Pokémon and Legendary Pokémon. Gary demonstrated more maturity and more respect for other people, especially with Ash. Upon meeting him, Dawn thought that he was a poet like his grandfather.

In Ill-Will Hunting! he was taking care of a group of Shieldon and protected them from the evil Pokémon Hunter J and her minions, Gary and Ash were forced to join forces to defeat the enemy, even though Ash has been against it. However, thanks to the efforts of the two they managed to save Shieldon from the hands of J.

He appeared again in Fighting Fear With Fear! where he helped Ash and Gligar by giving a Razor Fang to Ash which caused Gligar to evolve later. He was in the area after hearing rumors of Azelf, whom Ash had seen earlier at Lake Valor.

Gary later appeared in The Needs of the Three! and The Battle Finale of Legend!, working alongside Professor Rowan at Valor Lakefront where he attempted to protect Azelf from Pokémon Hunter J and Team Galactic; however, he was unable to defeat Saturn in battle. He later monitored the changes around Mt. Coronet caused by Cyrus's attempts to summonDialga and Palkia.

Gary later reappeared in a flashback in The Dream Continues!.

Character[]

The day he started out on his Pokémon journey, he came off as an arrogant Trainer, much like his game counterpart, Blue. His chosen starter Pokémon wasSquirtle, which was actually the same Pokémon that Ash originally wanted to start with. He even had a group of cheerleaders who cheered him on in all his battles and would go so far as crying whenever he lost. He didn't walk on his journeys like most Trainers did; instead he had his own sporty red convertible with a chauffeur. Gary loved when he got a chance to make fun of Ash by bragging about how far behind Ash was compared to him. He also gave Ash the pet-name of "Ashy-boy" (Japanese: "Satoshi-kun"), which occasionally seems to annoy him. His style of training at this point was to capture many Pokémon and to use the strongest, as a stark contrast to Ash, who focused on developing a bond with his Pokémon.

His arrogance continued overtime during Ash’s journey in Kanto until he challenged the Viridian City Gym Leader, Giovanni, to a Pokémon battle for his final (but not necessary) Badge in The Battle of the Badge where his was brutally defeated by Mewtwo. However, this still didn't change his arrogance. It would take a loss at the Pokémon League way later on against Melissa for him to finally realize that he greatly needed to change himself.

In his few appearances during the Johto season, he seemed to have grown more polite and respectful to others, including Ash.

Pokemon[]

  1. Blastoise
  2. Eevee
  3. Electivire
  4. Shieldon

Achievements[]

Gary's collection of Kanto Badges

Badges obtained[]

Kanto Badges[]

During his journey through Kanto, Gary collected ten Gym Badges. Of the Badges he received, he already had five by Primeape Goes Bananas, and he showed off the whole set in The Battle of the Badge. This listing is of the Badges Gary has obtained:

  • Boulder Badge (prior to The Battle of the Badge)
  • Cascade Badge (prior to The Water Flowers of Cerulean City)
  • Rainbow Badge and two unknown Badges (prior to Primeape Goes Bananas)
  • Five unknown Badges (prior to The Battle of the Badge)

Johto Badges[]

  • At least eight Johto Badges (prior to A Claim to Flame!)

Pokémon League[]

Gary has competed in the following Pokémon League Conferences:

  • Indigo Plateau Conference - Top 32 (The Fourth Round Rumble)
  • Silver Conference - Top 16 (Can't Beat the Heat!)

Pokémon competitions[]

  • Extreme Pokémon Race - Runner-up (Extreme Pokémon!)

Trivia[]

  • According to Gary, the Pokemon League only meets once a year in the exact same place.
  • According to Professor Oak, Gary has captured more than 200 Pokemon.

Pokemon League[]

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