A Possible Gary Oak vs Paul Feud

[owenpeterson]

A while ago, I did a blog about my problems with a lot of trolls and their overzealous praising of Gary.

In the blog I made a brief mention that what would make Gary more sympathetic would be if by some way Gary would encounter Ash's other major rival in the anime: Paul, and a feud between the two rivals of Ash would spark.

I imagine that Paul would insult Gary by saying how his cheerleaders dumped him after losing to Ash in the Johto League, that he's a "has been". a "quitter", how he has gotten soft, etc. Gary would then challenge Paul to a Pokemon battle and Paul would just DESTROY Gary. Paul would then say that Pokemon researching is for the weak and state that his style of training always wins, or something like that. Thus would spark a feud between the two

I feel as though this sort of storyline would help add some character development for Gary and would prove that he's human and imperfect and would garner some sympathy for him against Paul.

It would be a very interesting storyline as it's between two of Ash's most heated rivals. Both of which are considered to be powerful Pokemon trainers and it would be interesting to see who would be the better trainer overall, whom the fans would root for, whom Ash and his friends would root for, etc.

How well do you think a possible Gary vs Paul feud would play out?

 

[KrspaceT]

I saw it a fan-fic once that had Gary face off against Paul, but it wasn't a major part. I do think it could be something rather interesting if done right, though I agree that Gary gets a lot of slack. He is a lot nicer in Japan though from what I understand.

 

[Lufenium]

This could have been an interesting side plot in the D/P series, but doing it now would make no sense. Neither have appeared in over 200 episodes.

It also sounds somewhat...forced, imo. These two characters have no real connection other than they both fought Ash repeatedly, won, and eventually lost to him in a League match.

 

[Pokemaster97]

The last time we saw Gary's character, he was rather mature imo. It's hard for me to picture him in a petty feud like this again.

 

[Steel_Justice]

There probably won't be a feud since it isn't like Paul or Gary to hold one. A mutual dislike for sure though. Gary's choices mirror Reggie's which Paul dislikes and Gary has become more like Ash since his early days.

Paul would likely win in a battle between the two since Gary is likely a bit out of practice since his tournament days.

 

[Madame Pika]

I can't see Shinji taking enough of an interest in Shigeru to find out about Shigeru's rivalry with Satoshi. I can't see them thinking of each other that disliking Satoshi is a reason to dislike each other and I can't see them acting that immature. Shigeru finding out about Shinji and trying to start something is more likely, but even then that's kind of a stretch.