Paul (Japanese: シンジ Shinji) is a recurring character of the Pokémon franchise and current major rival for Ash Ketchum. Even though Paul's hometown is in Veilstone City, he traveled around Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn before starting to travel around his home region of Sinnoh.
Paul's style of training Pokémon is vastly different from Ash's. While Ash befriends and trains any Pokémon that he finds, Paul cares only how powerful his Pokémon are. He has been shown on several occasions to capture and release Pokémon that don't meet his high standards. As a result his team is very powerful but some trainers would find his methods a bit harsh. Paul also trains his Pokémon to their limits, at times having five of his Pokémon team up on the sixth to try and get the most out of every training session.
While Paul is usually harsh to trainers that he views as weak, he does show respect to those that are obviously superior to him or are already in high regard, a couple examples are the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia and Professor Rowan.
While Paul views Ash as a weak trainer, he has shown special interest in Ash's Pikachu.
