Gary Oak

Gary Oak (Japanese: オーキド・シゲル Shigeru Okido) is a recurring character who appeared in the Pokémon anime. He is a Pokémon Researcher from Pallet Town and grandson of. He is a childhood friend and former rival of Ash Ketchum. His Japanese name is derived from Shigeru Miyamoto.

Pre-series
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.

Kanto
Gary made his debut appearance in Pokémon - I Choose You!, where he went to Professor Oak's Laboratory along with two other Pokémon Trainers before did. After choosing his starter Pokémon, he left Pallet Town with his on a sporty red convertible. Gary is referenced again in the episode Clefairy and the Moon Stone, however it is said that he had a battle with the Samurai in Challenge of the Samurai and the next episode was one of the trainers who beat the Sensational Sisters.

Gary made another appearance in Here Comes the Squirtle Squad and Beauty and the Beach. In the first, he is seen through a town as Ash search for help and the next Gary is seen to be taking part in the beauty contest with their cheerleaders.

As Ash kept in touch with, he has informed Ash about Gary being ahead of him with the amount of 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. 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.

Gary appeared in the episode Riddle Me This.

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,. At first he seemed to be winning against Giovanni, knocking out his and  with  and, respectively. But then Giovanni sent out against 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 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. 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. Although Ash had seen more Pokémon, Gary had managed to catch a far greater amount. 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.

Orange Islands
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 as his choice. Gary in turn used his. Gary managed to defeat Ash and then left on his journey through Johto.

Johto
Gary appeared in Illusion Confusion!.

In Power Play, he battled a Trainer named Alex Davis with his, which had evolved from Eevee prior to events of this episode. Gary was able to defeat Alex and his. 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. They were both in the lead but Ash was able to narrowly win the race.

Gary arrived in 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.

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 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.

Chronicles
In Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl!, Gary worked on Sayda Island with Dora. There, he revived an 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.

Kanto Battle Frontier
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 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, thought that he was a poet like his.

In Ill-Will Hunting!, he was taking care of a group of and protected them from 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 by giving a Razor Fang to Ash. This caused Gligar to evolve later on. He was in the area after hearing rumors of, 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 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 summon and.

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

Character
The day he started out on his Pokémon journey, he came off as an arrogant Trainer, much like his counterpart,. His chosen starter Pokémon was, 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: ), 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,, to a Pokémon battle for his final (but not necessary) Badge in The Battle of the Badge where he was brutally defeated by. 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.

Pokémon
Since the very start of his own journey, Gary has shown exceptional skill as a Pokémon Trainer, catching and training an astonishing number and variety of strong Pokémon in a short period of time and losing battles very infrequently. However, since retiring as a Pokémon Trainer to become a researcher, it isn't known if he continues to catch new Pokémon often.

This listing is for Gary's as of The Battle Finale of Legend!.

Unseen Pokémon
Before his battle against Gary in The Ties That Bind, Ash was seen checking Gary's page on the Silver Conference website, where Gary's Pokémon were listed with pictures. Among them, there were several Pokémon that Gary hasn't been seen using.

As of Showdown at the Po-ké Corral, Gary had captured more than 200 Pokémon from 60 different species.

Kanto Badges
During his 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 in the Kanto region:
 * (prior to The Battle of the Badge)
 * (prior to The Water Flowers of Cerulean City)
 * (prior to Primeape Goes Bananas)
 * Two unknown Badges (prior to Primeape Goes Bananas)
 * Five unknown Badges (prior to The Battle of the Badge)

Johto Badges
This listing is of the Badges Gary has obtained in the Johto region:
 * At least eight 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
Gary has competed in the following :
 * Extreme Pokémon Race - Runner-up (Extreme Pokémon!)

In I Choose You!
Gary appeared in a brief, non-speaking flashback in I Choose You!, which is set in a timeline separate from the main series. In the flashback, he was seen choosing as his starter Pokémon, much to the dismay of, who had wanted Squirtle as his own starter.

In the Ash & Pikachu manga
Gary appeared in One Half Of A Poké Ball of the Ash & Pikachu manga, facing Ash in the Silver Conference.

In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
Gary is one of the recurring characters in the The Electric Tale of Pikachu. In the manga, Gary is a childhood friend and rival of Ash and frequently appears when Ash does something wrong. He has a sister named May, who has no equivalent in the.

At the Pokémon League, he is defeated by Ritchie, but confronts Ash at the end of the series. In the epilogue, he and Ash are shown traveling together on their journey.

Pokémon
This listing is of Gary's known Pokémon in the manga:

Trivia

 * Gary is one of the few characters from the who appeared during both dubs of the anime to have his English dub voice remain unchanged, always being voiced by Jimmy Zoppi who was credited as Billy Beach during Gary's appearances after 4Kids Entertainment stopped dubbing the anime.
 * In the original series, Gary's attire is similar to 's during Generations I and . In his and  appearances, Gary wears Blue's outfit from . Interestingly, the cape he adorns in the third opening and in EP115 resembles the one worn by his cross-canon manga counterpart  in the . Gary has yet to be seen wearing Blue's outfits from  and.
 * Gary owns the final evolutionary forms of each of the special Pokémon that can appear on via dual-slot mode, swarming, or the Poké Radar (Arcanine, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Dodrio).
 * In Pokémon Stickers series 1, a sticker depicting Gary identified him as "Bailey". The same error occurred in the dub of Challenge of the Samurai. The occurrence of the same error in two apparently unrelated sources might indicate an early-planned name, much like how Ash was initially known as "Casey".
 * Gary is currently the only one out of Ash's three main rivals to have never battled a Champion.
 * Although Ash's flashback in Lights, Camerupt, Action! seems to suggest that Gary and Ash were childhood friends, this is contradicted by Gary's conversation with Ash in Pokemon - I Choose You! when they first started off on their Pokémon journey, which indicated that that was the first time the both of them met.
 * In Pocket Monsters: The Animation, it is revealed that, aside from his being Professor Oak's grandson, he is also the grandnephew of Pallet Town's mayor. It also explains that his girlfriends are the mayor's electoral staff.

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Gary Eich Gary Oak Régis Gary Oak シゲル 小茂（動畫）