If all of Ash's rivals...?

I've thought up of two story lines.

Gary vs Paul, December 2011

Gary has seen that he automatically qualified the morning of his battle. He gathered up all his stuff and rushed to the place.
After two VERY tough battles he and Paul reach the finals. Gary hasn't battled in some time and Paul has.
In a bit Gary was defeated despite his experience and awesome Pokémon who rival Paul's in strength.
It was all because of Gary's lack of practice.
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I play table tennis and I know how it is to get back into the game without practising for some time.
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Gary vs Paul, January 2012

Gary had gone to the qualifying matches and had made the place. He had trained up hard and breezed through them. He had spent two whole months training up for this.
He had slight difficulties with Morrison's Pokémon, but because of his experience, recent practice and knowleadge he managed to beat him. Next was Barry. Barry had strong Pokémon, but Gary managed to beat him quick enough.
He was facing Paul in the finals. Paul had strong Pokémon that rivaled Gary's and some experience, but Gary's knowleadge of Pokémon, 2 years(considering 1 reigon to be a year) of experience as a trainer and 3 years experience as a Proffessor was second to none. He managed to defeat Paul after a tight match.

Gary being better at Strategy? Are you guys implying that Paul didn't rely on Strategy? Just Asking.....
Its Like:

Gary= Startegy/Tactics
while
Paul= Powerhouses+Strategy/Tactics .. :\

trip's potential is not yet fully shown, but i can see him not going any further. i am going for paul, because he has such a diverse set of Pokemon, great battling strategy. gary is just... cool as ever right now.

Gary is a Pokemon researcher he knows a-lot about Pokemon: Tactics, Moves, Weakness ect. No-ones got anything on Gary. :)

psyanic said:

Honestly, I'd rule out Gary because he'd be so out of practice. I don't think he trains his Pokemon so much anymore, but his strategy would surely grow there's no question in that. Gary probably caught a lot more Pokemon too. I don't remember the episode, but I remember that the Oak Ranch was filled with Pokemon Professor Oak said belonged to Gary. I thought there was about 200 or so, though there were some duplicate species there. If Gary had like months to prepare himself, like Rocky or someone, then I'd say he'd be the top contender.

I'm going with Paul here. I'm pretty sure he doesn't abuse his Pokemon anymore, following the loss to Ash, so I'd think his Pokemon would grow stronger in a way. They wouldn't be physically and mentally abused so that's a plus. He's also traveled around a lot so he'd have just as much, if not more, experience as Gary.

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Pretty sure around the Diglett episode he had around 60+ and Ash had like 9. Gary has quite a lot of selection to choose from there is no doubt about that. The thing is how powerful would they be, since last we saw him they seemed lack luster.

Paul would have more battle experience per say. But for all we know Gary does a good deal of field research and intel on all things pokemon so he knows the ebb and flow of most known pokemon at that point of the battle, so that would give him a bit of experience with how they operate which helps him analyze how they would do vs. his pokemon in battle.

But yeah regardless of his knowledge he is out of practice as said many times over so Paul being the expert technician he is watches his prior matches and analysis tactics to counter them like he did with Ash during their battle at Lake Acuity. If he fought Gary without prior knowledge he may have a bit more of an issue.

tminus89 said:

Assuming this is a universe where Gary continued as a trainer, Gary would definitely win. He is not only well disciplined as a trainer, but he also loves and cares so much for his Pokemon. Plus, he has a Nidoking which is definitely one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, so ya, I'm a lil bias.

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Problem with your Nidoking bias is that Paul also has one, which he used against Brandon Registeel.

Charicific said:

Gary being better at Strategy? Are you guys implying that Paul didn't rely on Strategy? Just Asking.....
Its Like:

Gary= Startegy/Tactics
while
Paul= Powerhouses+Strategy/Tactics .. :\

Click to expand...

Not really, at least not me...

Gary= Powerhouses + Strategy + More experience and knowleadge about Pokémon being a Professor and all that.

Paul= Powerhouses + Strategy + Experience and knowleadge, but less than Gary.

drarixio said:

Not really, at least not me...

Gary= Powerhouses + Strategy + More experience and knowleadge about Pokémon being a Professor and all that.

Paul= Powerhouses + Strategy + Experience and knowleadge, but less than Gary.

Click to expand...

Paul has less experience than Gary? Where are you getting this from? Paul went to all the regions Ash has, with Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, etc. Gary stopped at Johto. In addition, Paul battled Brandon of the Battle Frontier adding on to his growth as a trainer. Sure Gary travels around, but he's not exactly battling every Gym around or participating in the tournaments.

I don't get why everyone is saying being a Pokemon Professor makes you a god at battling. You research Pokemon and not how they battle. You would research behavior or the different aspects of Pokemon, like evolution or breeding. If anything, it would make a professor able to understand how to use a Pokemon to its full potential.