Gary Oak/History

## The New Timeline (Past)

Growing up Gary attended a boarding school in Viridian City at his grandfather's request so that he could have a better education than what was offered in Pallet Town.

At age fourteen, Gary would attend Professor Oak's Summer Camp, as a chance to earn a Pokémon Trainer License, along with the right to get a Pokédex and a starter Pokémon from his grandfather. During a Pokémon Orienteering and berry collecting competition for the camp, Gary was partnered with Joshua and a borrowed Munchlax. Near the end of the competition, Aideen and Elwood accused their Munchlax of eating all of their berries. Gary denied these accusations and after a brief argument left for the finish line with his teammate and Pokémon partner. When they reached the end, they learned that they had come in first place. At the end of the camp, Gary and the other camp attendees wrote an exam testing their knowledge on Pokémon. Gary was able to get the top score on the exam earning the license, Pokédex and starter Pokémon.

On Ash's fifteenth birthday, Gary returned home from a vacation he was on with his sister and met up with Ash. He let slip that he had peaked at the results of the test they took at the end of the summer camp and that the two of them were the only ones to pass with the required 90% to get a Pokédex and starter Pokémon. To commemorate the beginning of the upcoming journeys Ash gave Gary half of a broken Poké Ball and in return asked for a promise that the two would face each other as equals once they both were powerful trainers.

## Starting Arc

Gary got up early on the day he was started his journey, and went to the lab and chose Squirtle to be his starter Pokémon. He made his way up through Viridian City and into Viridian Forest. There he ran into Red and had their first battle where his Squirtle lost to the other trainer's Pikachu.

## Pewter Arc

Gary passed the qualification challenge to battle Brock his first attempt and was also able to beat the gym leader thanks to his Squirtle's type advantage.

## Rota Arc

Gary made it to Cerulean City where he challenged the Sensational Sisters for his second badge. He was easily able to beat them using some combination of his Squirtle, Rattata, Pidgeotto and Abra. On the way back to the Pokémon Center he ran into Red again and had another battle. He lost once more and to further bruise his ego was talked down by the new young girl who was following him, Yellow.

## Cerulean Arc

On the way out of Cerulean, Gary ran into his grandfather who was excited to gift him a H.O.P.E. Glove.

## Vermilion Arc

Gary challenged Lt. Surge for his third badge and walked away successful.

## Hunter J Arc

Gary had a battle with a random trainer in Lavender Town where both his Nidoran evolved. He then encountered Red once again, and lost to the other trainer this time as well.

## Poison War Arc

While Gary is traversing Route 13 he catches a Tangela. That afternoon he sat down to do some fishing, where he pulled up and then captured a Qwilfish. A couple days later he entered a Bug Catching Contest on the same route. There he captured a Pinsir, winning him the competition. He then took on a number of battles winning ten in a row before he was challenged by Casey Snagem. Casey easily won the two-on-two battle even going so far as to show off his Bond Phenomenon Chesnaught to make a point. Thanks to a wager on the battle Gary then followed Casey in order to be lectured for a bit. They returned to Casey's home where it was revealed the older trainer was quite accomplished. the two discussed what being a Pokémon Master really meant and Gary discovered it wasn't as clearly defined as he had thought.

## Fuchsia Arc

Gary participated in the Fuchsia Tag Tournament, where he was partnered with Paul. In the first round both of their opponents fell to Paul's Hypno's Psybeam before any anyone else could rally do anything. Gary complimented Paul's power but the other teen just brushed him off. After watching Ash and Red's battle alonside Paul, the other trainer commented that it was obvious that the talent of the family must have gone all to Red. This stunned Gary because he knew that Delia didn't have any siblings so there should be no way.

The next round for Gary was against Septimus and Giselle, who brought out a Gyarados and Cubone respectively. Gary chose his Exeggcute and Paul brought out Raichu. In the battle Gary accidentally had his Grass-type put Cubone to sleep at the wrong moment causing it to break its arm. Gary and their opponents all paused for a minute while Gary apologized, but Paul had Raichu defeat the Gyarados during the distraction. This caused Gary to feel even worse, and question the morality of his partner. This was further exasperated when he later attempted to convince Paul that they should do some training together to try to make sure they are ready for some of the tougher opponents. Paul retorted that he didn't care as he would just carry them through it all anyways. Angry Gary just left to find a meal and while waiting in line requested a street performer play him the blues.

When Gary and Paul were matched against Iris and Misty in the next round, it ended up being his Porygon and Paul's Raichu once again against an Excadrill and Poliwrath. Even after Raichu went down, Gary was able to pull out a close win by abusing Iris' confusion about his Porygon. The final match ended up being against Red and Ash who brought out a Charmeleon and Servine respectively. Paul chose his Torterra for the match and Gary brought out his own starter. Even though it was a close match, Gary wasn't able to keep up and Blastoise was the first to go down, with Torterra following after Charmeleon spontaneously evolved to finish it off.

When Gary went to leave the city after everything was over, he ended up catching a ride to Celadon City with the musician who had played for him at the restaurant. Once in Celadon he made his way to the gym where he challenged Erika for his seventh badge. With the help of his Growlithe, Pidgeot, Golbat and Magneton he was able to narrowly defeat the gym leader. Not feeling super satisfied thanks to how close the battle was he took the time to mope in a nearby cafe. His bad mood only got worse when Erika invited herself to join him at his table. She gave him some advise that he had something missing in his performance even though he had chosen the correct Pokémon and moves, but left him to figure out what that something was.

## Stuff In Between Arc

In an effort to figure things out, Gary took up the Celadon City Don George's 50 Trainer Challenge at the local Battle Club. He was able to win all fifty battles and as a reward was offered the chance to be teleported over to Gardenia Town, which he took advantage of. Once there he was witness to Paul crushing a young trainer with his Magby. Angered by Paul's attitude he confronted the other trainer who still did not take him seriously. Paul condescendingly explained that he was just training his newer Pokémon but his core team was still getting plenty of work themselves. Gary challenged him to a battle right then and there, but Paul declined saying that neither's team was fresh so it could give Gary the opportunity to blame that when he lost. Instead he said that the would battle the next day. In the morning the full battle commenced and although Gary was able to put up a bit of a fight he was clearly outmatched, losing pretty handedly. With his spirit now broken, his Pokédex played a recording his grandfather had preloaded advising him that losses happen and sometimes one needs to ask for help to get going again. Taking the advise his grandfather had given him seriously he tried to think of whom he could ask, eventually deciding that Casey Snagem was his best bet,

## Sabrina Arc

He made his way to Casey's home once again to ask for the older man to help him train and figure out what he needed to. The older man was happy to accept, with his wife, Gabriela, also wanting to pitch in. The couple put him through harsh training but it was the advise that Ms. Snagem gave regarding rivalries and self-worth that helped him the most. She explained that rivalries can empower you to be better but relying on comparisons to other people to determine your value makes it very fragile. What really matters is to learn from your experiences and ensure you always are working for something more. Ruminating on this as well as the follow up confirmation from Casey, Gary called his sister to ask her own advise. She explained that they key is to try something different if one strategy will not work for you. With everything now in mind, Gary was finally able to overcome a particularly demanding task in his training that he had been struggling with for quite some time.

## Mewtwo Arc

Gary was one of the trainers invited to New Island to meet "the world's greatest Pokémon Master." He agreed to go and bring Casey with him. Upon reaching the warf that the ferry to the island was scheduled to depart from, they found out that the freak storm that blew in has caused the voyage to be cancelled. As they discussed how to get to the island anyways they ended up running into Alexander Silph who agreed to allow them to ride with him in his personal submarine. Once they arrived they were joined by Fergus who discussed Gyarados training strategies with him before they all had to bring out all of their Pokémon. To Gary's surprise he found that both Ash and Red had arrived to New Island before him and were already in the main hall. He approached Ash and the two talked a while to catch up.

Eventually Mewtwo made his appearance, and when Ash confirmed the Pokémon's question about being Yellow's brother, Gary was stunned. It was eventually decided to have a battle of Mewtwo's fully evolved Kanto starter trio against one of each of the trainer owned starters. Gary had a brief discussion with Misty and Neesha, with him and the former agreeing that the latter's greater experience lends her to be the best option to have the Blastoise match.

Although Mewtwo won the first two battles, he did lose against Ash and his Charizard. The Psychic-type then summoned a swarm of special Poké Balls that captured the Pokémon present, including all of Gary's, to be cloned. After a massive explosion that nearly, killed all of those remaining outside of the balls, Gary's Pokémon emerged alongside the others from the rubble being led by Ash. A massive battle was then waged between the Pokémon and all of the clones that Mewtwo had created. Gary helped direct his Pokémon in the skirmish, but it was resolved by Ash, his Pikachu and a Lucario that had appeared from somewhere. After which Gary was teleported back where he came from and had his memories of the event erased.

## Indigo Arc

After earning his eighth badge, Gary qualified for the Indigo League Conference. He made his way to the Indigo Plateau where he was easily able to win his first three matches. is fourth battle, while he was able to come out on top thanks to his Nidoqueen previously poisoning his Nidoking's opponent, it came down right to the wire. From here he accompanied his grandfather and Delia to watch Ash's fourth round battle. To Gary's surprise one of Ash's opponent, Locke's, Pokémon was an Avalugg, a creature he became very familiar with thanks to his training with the Snagems. When Ash was able to break through its powerful defenses Gary was happy for his rival. Gay met up with Ash after the battle and they reaffirmed their promise to battle each other in the future.

After this the battles actually shown on the tournament bracket began with Gary's first opponent being Tim, where he won without much consequence. His sixth round had him paired against Melissa, the trainer that had defeated him in the Old Timeline. The battle commences with Gary's Pidgeot against Melissa's Hitmonlee, with the battle going in the Fighting-type's favor. Gary then brought out his Arcanine who was able to defeat Hitmonlee before being swapped out for his Nidoking. The battle between the Ground-types was close and intense but thanks to Gary reviewing Melissa's previous battles the night prior he was able to anticipate her moves and pull off a narrow win. Melissa's final Pokémon was her Golem which was able to defeat Nidoking but not before getting tired out enough for Arcanine to come in and finish it off. After the battle he ran into Paul who backhandedly complimented him but said he wouldn't get any further in the tournament because the next battle would be between the two of them. Insulted, Gary decided that if he could beat Paul in the tournament he would be satisfied even if he lost the round after that.

While Gary was sitting in a restaurant trying to figure out his plan for his match with Paul, Ash sat down across from him at his table and the two reminisced on their childhoods for a while. Eventually they were joined by Elwood and Aideen who let them know that they were cheering for the two Pallet Town natives. When Gary mentioned his feeling of needing to beat Paul, the twins both offered him a held item that they thought could be useful for the goal, an Assault Vest from Elwood and a Mystic Water from Aideen. While Ash didn't have anything to give, he did agree to help Gary get his Porygon to learn a new Electric-type move.

When it was time for Gary's battle with Paul to begin, the first Pokémon brought out were Gary's Pidgeot and Paul's Murkrow on the ice battlefield. Pidgeot was able to get a powerful Sky Attack in, but was ultimately taken out by some Super Luck powered critical hits. Gary's next Pokemon was his Porygon who, thanks to the training with Ash and Pikachu, was able to use Lock-On and Thunderbolt to take out the Dark-type. Paul then sent out his Jynx in an attempt to lock Porygon in with Mean Look, but Gary was able to have Porygon use Teleport to be switched out. Gary then brought out his Arcanine who easily knocked out the Psychic-type with a Dragon Rage and a couple Extreme Speeds. Paul's third Pokémon was a Cloyster who knocked out Gary's newly swapped in Exeggutor followed by Porygon thanks to setting up with Shell Smash. After the break the battle started up again, this time on the water field with Arcanine against Paul's Cloyster. Arcanine was able to get Cloyster into the water, before Gary quickly swapped it out for his Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen boiled the field around Cloyser and then followed up with a well placed Hyper Beam that knocked the bivalve Pokémon out. Arcanine was once more swapped in who again set up Paul's Pokémon, this time a Magmar, to be defeated by Nidoqueen's Hyper Beam. When Paul brought out a Machamp, Gary had Arcanine come out once more, but this time was unable to accomplish their goal before being knocked out by a surprise Rock Blast. Nidoqueen was able to pull through though and win against the Fighting-type. Paul's final Pokémon turned out to be his Torterra as Gary expected. Nidoqueen was able to get a little bit of damage on the continent Pokémon, but was ultimately knocked out by a powerful Stone Edge. Then all that was left was Blastoise to try to win in a starter vs starter round. The match was close but it ended up being decided in a last attack from both Pokémon, powered by their abilities. Blastoise was able to win this clash thanks to the Mystic Water it now wore and that win meant Gary was going to proceed to the quarter final match. Gary did end up losing in the next battle against Solidad but was happy with his final placement and that he did manage to defeat Paul as he hoped.

Gary then left Indigo after wishing Ash luck in the upcoming rounds. While flying back to Pallet Town, he spotted a small town that had a flea market running. Thinking he might as well take a break and see what they had for sale he landed and did some shopping where he purchased a Dragon Scale. One of the shopkeepers suggested he check out the local breeding center on the chance they might have an egg he could have. When he made his way there he found a girl his age trying to capture a rampaging Machamp. When he noticed she was out of Poké Balls he threw her a Timer Ball for her to use. After she captured the Fighting-type she introduced herself as Manna and it was immediately apparent to him that she resembled Ash and Red a lot more than he was comfortable with. When explaining this to Manna, she confirmed that this wasn't the first time she had heard something along those lines. They talked a bit while they made their way to the main building and once there Manna's mom insisted that he take one of their older Pokémon that was in need of a trainer. As the two made their way to the field where the Pokémon in question resided they talked more about her potential family members and were surprised when Gary's Pokédex showed them all the research Ash had been doing on the subject. Putting that aside so that they could process, they began looking at all the different Pokémon and Gary was immediately drawn to an Eevee. After feeding the Eevee a Chople Berry to try to earn its friendship, they were interrupted by a couple Team Rocket grunts. Manna volunteered to handle them and asked Gary to head to the main building to check on her mom. Upon getting there, he found another group of Rockets, who were being led to his surprise by Zacharias, a jerk from Pallet Town a year his senior. Gary got ready to battle while Zacharias sent the other grunts to help the couple that were, judging by the sounds they could here, losing to Manna. Gary was easily able to handle all of Zacharias' team even allowing the Eevee he met earlier to step in and battle one of them under his direction. The last match being between both of their starters, where Gary's Blastoise learned Hydro Pump and used it to blast Zacharias and his Primeape off into the distance. Manna then regrouped with him and the remaining Team Rocket members were promptly arrested. Eevee made it known that it wanted to join Gary and after it did, trainer and Pokémon left to head back to Pallet, stopping only to invite Manna to Pallet to meet Ash sometime.

### Post Indigo Arc

When he got back to Pallet Town he found a package with his name on it from Saffron City, inside he found an Upgrade. He then went towards the party to celebrate his and Ash's success at Indigo. There he caught up with Dwight, and when he brought up his encounter with Zacharias the two agreed it was probably better to not inform Zacharias' family about it. They were then met by Ash who let Gary know the town had decided that the two of them were to have a mock battle with the townsfolk deciding on their teams for them. Gary agreed but asked Ash if he could do him a favour first. He asked the other trainer to have a couple round trades with him so that he could evolve some of his Pokémon, in return he would also round trade his Qwilfish so that Ash could have it in his Pokédex and capture his own (or one for Misty) with a Repeat Ball. Ash agreed and Gary traded his Machoke, Porygon, Qwilfish and Seadra for Ash's Ambipom, Serperior, Bulbasaur and Yanma. After Gary's Pokémon evolved, the two traded the Pokémon back to their original trainers.