Gary Oak: Difference between revisions

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 ''[[AG086|Lights, Camerupt, Action!]]''. Before either of their journeys began, both 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 ''[[EP269|The Ties That Bind]]'' that they still carried the pieces with them.

The day he started out on his Pokémon journey, he came off as an arrogant Trainer, much like his {{pkmn|game}} counterpart, {{ga|Blue}}. His chosen [[starter Pokémon]] was {{TP|Gary|Squirtle|Blastoise}}, which was actually the same Pokémon that Ash originally wanted to start with. He even had a group of [[Gary's cheerleaders|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: {{tt|"Satoshi''-kun''"|Satoshi is Ash's Japanese name and ''-kun'' is a Japanese honorific, kun can be considered insulting when not used among friends}}), 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.  

Soon he would eat his words when he would challenge the [[Viridian City]] [[Gym Leader]], {{an|Giovanni}}, to a Pokémon battle for his final, but not necessary, Badge in ''[[EP063|The Battle of the Badge]]''. At first he seemed to be winning against Giovanni, knocking out most of his Pokémon (even at a type disadvantage). But then Giovanni sent out {{an|Mewtwo}} against the Trainer and even let Gary use both his {{TP|Gary|Arcanine}} and {{p|Nidoking}} against him. Mewtwo made quick work of the two Pokémon and Gary experienced his first (known) loss. However this still didn't change his arrogance. It would take a loss at the [[Pokémon League]] way later on to finally realize that he greatly needed to change himself.

Gary eventually returned in ''[[EP115|A Tent Situation]]''. Much unlike his former self, he congratulated Ash on his victory in the [[Orange Crew|Orange League]]. Soon Ash challenged him to a battle with his {{AP|Pikachu}} as his choice. Gary in turn used his {{TP|Gary|Eevee|Umbreon}}. Gary managed to defeat Ash and then left on his journey through [[Johto]].

In his few appearances during the Johto season, he seemed to have become the complete opposite of who he was. He became polite and respectful to others, including Ash. In ''[[EP269|The Ties That Bind]]'' and ''[[EP270|Can't Beat the Heat!]]'', he  battled  Ash at the [[Silver Conference]]. Ash ended up winning the battle when his {{AP|Charizard}} defeated Gary's Blastoise.

He appeared again in ''[[DP085|Fighting Fear With Fear!]]'' where he helped Ash and {{AP|Gligar|Gliscor}} by giving a {{DL|Evolution-inducing held item|Razor Fang}} to Ash which caused {{AP|Gligar}} to evolve later. He was in the area after hearing rumors of {{p|Azelf}}.

=== In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga ===