Who does Ash try to prove himself to the most; Gary or Paul?

[Paulisthebest]

I made one about who ticks him off the most so I had to do one about who Ash feels he must prove himself to. The answer seems a bit less obvious this time between Paul and Gary.

Proving himself to Paul has been one of his major goals in Sinnoh. This has been his downfall as well as we have seen in several of his battles. He lost to Roark because he was trying to prove that his way of battling was better than Paul’s, but Ash was a bit careless if you pay attention to his first battle with Roark closely. To me his battle style seemed a bit off. He even yells out, “Ok, Paul, watch this!” and other things that actually distracted him from focusing on Roark’s style of combat.

There are many other signs of this but there are too many to list but here are a few; showing off how many badges he has to Paul (Top-Down Training and A Pyramiding Rage), bragging about Counter Shield (Evolving Strategies), telling Paul in a nice way that he was wrong about Starly being weak (Pursing a Lofty Goal!), and there are a lot more examples of this in the series.

Gary on the other hand, this has been going on since the beginning of the series. Ash started off trying to catch more Pokemon than Gary, but well we all know near the end of the Kanto series this was not meant to be (Showdown at the Poke’ Corral! when Oak mentions that Gary has over 200!), but even in the first few episodes Gary was shown to have caught 20 or 30 some Pokemon while Ash only had 6 or 7.

Ash also tries to throw his accomplishments in Gary’s face from time to time (being in the top 16 in Kanto and being winner of the Orange Cup in “The Rivalry Revival”), but Gary (being more mature) brushes it off and proves himself to be the more competent trainer. After the rivalry was over, Ash still tries to prove himself better than Gary by refusing to take his advise at first but eventually listens to it and it proves to be the right choice in the end (this may be because Ash wants to show that he can do things his own way, but finds out that getting help from a rival or in this case a friend is not so bad).

He also tries to outdo Gary by copying what he does; going to Johto or entering the Extreme Pokemon race.

So, who do you think Ash tries to prove himself as a trainer to more Paul (in order to show that his way of training “being friendly and kind to Pokemon” is better than his lack of friendship theories of training) or Gary (his lifelong rival)?

I’ll put up the “other” opinion if there is someone on the side that you think Ash tries to outdo or prove himself to besides his two rivals posted above.

 

[Falconwing]

I think Gary. Every time Ash and Gary interact, I get the feeling that rivalry, though not as severe, is still there.

 

[Godzillawolf]

I think he tried to prove himself more to Gary. In the Paul rivalery, it seems Ash is trying to get Paul to understand that its not how powerful the Pokemon starts out as but how powerful it ends up being as a result of training, and he's correct in that. Only thing is he just gets too caught up in it. Had he not bragged so much or let Paul know some of his stradages in advance, he probably could've won the full battle they had, or at least made a bigger dent. So he's trying to prove something to both of them but he's try to prove himself to Gary.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Gary. I mean, back in Kanto Ash was always saying something like, "Grrr that Gary I'll show HIM!" and crap like that. Gary was so arrogant to Ash that the only thing he wanted more than being the world's greatest Pokemon master was to prove to Gary that he could excel and one day be a better trainer than he was.

With Paul, Ash doesn't really try to outdo him or anything. He's not concerned with matching up to Paul's skill level. He just wants him to stop being an asshole to his Pokemon, more or less.

So yeah, I say Gary.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I'd say Paul and Gary. (forgot to vote for Gary)

Ash wants to prove to Paul that he can be a good trainer if he doesn't have strong Pokemon with him. Ash also wants to prove to Gary on how much he's improved during the time he spent in a region.

 

[Hellion]

Damn, I forgot to vote for other... he's always really tried to prove himself the Jeanette !

I'd say both, in different ways. I think the Ash v gary is just unadressed sexual tension a childhood rivalry where both of them are friends. I think Ash wants Gary to acknowledge his existence cause for his whole lif Pallet Town feared him because his father, the fourth mayor of Pallet had sealed the spirit of the nine-feathered Ho-oh inside of Ash... No wait, wrong manga/anime... Let's do this again, Ash and Gary were both Princesses in the Moon Kingdom... No wrong again...

Seriously, I think that in the original series, Ash wanted to prove himself to be as good as Gary no matter what, it was all about the win and to prove that he was as good as him. Their main difference was in skill level, where Ash was just trying to catch up to Gary.

With Ash and Paul, it's different, because they are themselves polar opposites, so their main difference, isn't so much skill level as Ash and Paul are pretty much around the same level as trainer, but it's their philosophies and methods on training pokémon. Ash isn't necessarily trying to prove himself to Paul as Paul has stated many times that he views Ash as a worthy opponent (unlike Barry for exemple), it's a matter of proving their views, philosophies, methods are stronger.

So both, but I would say that the rivalry is more intense with Paul than Gary.

 

[Dexter]

I think the person that Ash is trying to prove himself to the most is himself and his pokemon. He is sometimes says that he lets his pokemon down if they have a really bad loss and loses his confidence. But then he works really hard with them and wins with them in order to prove that he is the best trainer they can have.

 

[Yoshi-san]

I'm sorry but I feel that Gary's rivalry is way over-hyped than it really was. Ash and Gary had only 3 major rival battles. The rest was informal for Gary's favor.

Paul's rivalry with Ash was written better.

 

[Hellion]

I'm sorry but I feel that Gary's rivalry is way over-hyped than it really was. Ash and Gary had only 3 major rival battles. The rest was informal for Gary's favor.

Paul's rivalry with Ash was written better.

That's true. A lot of people are under the impression that just because Gary was Ash's first rival that he's automatically better/more meaningful. Just because something came first, doesn't mean they're better...

 

[skypiercer77]

I got to say Paul. Gary really didn't get into many debates with Ash. All Gary was doing was showing off his skills. Really Ash and Gary's rivalry symbolize the maturing between the two to find their true paths. As we see Gary choose to become a researcher. With Paul Ash has struggles showing Paul the way to train Pokemon is through love and respect. Unlike Gary Paul is more arrogant so he cannot understand. Plus with Gary, Ash is able to work together as a team. Paul however, being a loner cannot cooperate with anyone.

 

[Ivoryr]

Paul

because hes teaching someone who is ignorant and hes more expreinced then when he was rivals with Gary

 

[Blazaking]

There is much stronger rivalry between Ash and Paul centered around their completely different training styles. While Ash and Gary were also rivals, they were also good childhood friends. Paul on the other hand is a completely unknown jerk who openly mocks Ash. Which makes Ash more determined to prove him wrong.

 

[Chicken Nugget]

A lot of the rivalry that occurs between Ash and Paul is something we can see. It appears much more than back in Gen I with Ash and Gary. Paul's relationship with Ash is something where more head on battles occur and thus "proving himself" is something that can be easily recognized when either failed or achieved.

Gary was sort of an unseen rival most of the time, back in Gen I. Ash would hear stuff from the Professor about his grandson's accomplishments and how Ash needed to step up his game. Or he would go to a gym and the Gym Leader mentions how wonderful Gary's battle performance was. He severely wanted to be established as the better pokemon trainer but could never succeed because anything he did was what Gary had already completed and more successfully so, it would seem.

I feel Gary is the one that Ash strives harder to prove himself. Gary really gets under his skin.