AJ

Ash, Misty and Brock walked down the road to Vermilion City. He was currently thinking about his next gym battle.

'Well, as the Vermilion Gym's specialty is Electric types I'll use Sandshrew.' Ash thought.

Along the way Ash trained Pikachu, Clefairy, Charmander, Sandshrew and Pidgeotto for future gym battles.

He also battled against 5 trainers and Clefairy enjoyed battling. Right now he was taking on another trainer and his Rattata.

"Clefairy, Mega Punch!" He ordered. Clefairy's arm glowed white and it punched the Rattata.

"You're a strong trainer." Rattata's trainer said. "Hey I know, you should challenge A.J."

"Who's A.J?" Ash asked. Rattata's trainer informed them that A.J was a savage trainer and owned his own gym that was just down the road.

"I think we should check this out." Ash suggested.

It didn't take long for them to find A.J's gym.

"This is impressive." Ash said.

"Yeah, and it isn't even a official gym." Brock added.

"Who goes there?" A voice behind them demanded. It was a boy with dark green hair and a Sandshrew behind him.

"So you must be A.J." Ash stated.

"Yes, that's me." A.J. said. "Did you come here to challenge me to a battle."

"I did." Ash nodded.

"Nice, this will be my 100th victory." A.J said, pointing to a sign. The number 99 was on it, a indicator of how many battles A.J had won.

A.J then led him to the battlefield.

"This will be a one on one match." A.J said. "Go Sandshrew!" His Sandshrew jumped down onto the battlefield.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash shouted. Pikachu hopped onto the battlefield.

"What is he thinking?" Misty asked, knowing full well Pikachu was at a disadvantage.

"I wouldn't worry about it. After all his Charmander defeated my Onix during our gym battle and it was at a disadvantage as well." Brock pointed out. Misty nodded in agreement.

"Sandshrew, Dig!" A.J ordered.

"Run around the field with Quick Attack to avoid it." Ash said. Pikachu circled the field, so Sandshrew's attack would miss.

"Return to the surface." A.J said. Sandshrew came out of the ground, but due to Quick Attack Sandshrew's move didn't connect.

"Iron Tail!" Pikachu's tail glowed metallic silver and struck Sandshrew head on.

A.J gasped; he's never seen anything like this before. Sandshrew was getting worn down after Iron Tail.

"Quick, Tackle." A.J. said.

"Iron Tail once again." Ash said. The two attacks collided, but Pikachu was proving to be too strong for Sandshrew so it fainted. Ash was the victor.

After the battle, A.J picked Sandshrew up.

"Are you alright?" Sandshrew nodded.

"That was a great battle Ash." A.J said. "I never expected a electric type Pokemon to take out my Sandshrew."

"Sorry you didn't win 100 battles." Ash apologized.

"It's fine." A.J replied. "I can always defeat another trainer to achieve that."

"Would it be alright if I saw your other Pokemon?" Ash asked. A.J nodded and led them into a big tent. Inside the tent, there were several Pokemon and what looked like some type of training equipment. Sandshrew climbed a ladder and jumped into the pool.

"This is where I train my Pokemon." A.J explained. He then noticed Sandshrew get out of the pool and smacked the ground with a whip.

"Get back into the pool." Ash saw three Rattata jump through a flaming hoop and a Butterfree and Beedrill carrying some heavy equipment.

"Gotta admit." Ash said. "You train your Pokemon rather well."

"Thanks Ash." A.J said. "I was expecting you to tell me my training was too harsh. Other trainers do."

"I know this type of training quite well." Ash said. "It does draw out the strength of Pokemon. But is the whip really necessary?" A.J was happy with Ash and bumped fists with him to show he and Ash were friends. Just then a alarm clock buzzed inside A.J's tent and he instructed all the Pokemon to take a break.

While Sandshrew was taking a break, a bag suddenly grabbed it. It was Meowth; Team Rocket observed Sandshrew's battle and wanted to give it to their boss. Meanwhile A.J and Ash were discussing battle strategies when A.J noticed Sandshrew was gone.

"Where is Sandshrew?" He asked.

"It might have left the tent to take a break." Brock answered.

The four were about to go outside and check when they heard screaming. They quickly ran out and saw Sandshrew escaping from Team Rocket. He had used Scratch to free himself from the net and tackled Team Rocket in a attempt to get away from them.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" A.J asked.

"Team Rocket." Ash sweat dropped. "They're Pokemon thieves."

"Oh yeah." A.J said. "Well they're not stealing my Pokemon. Ready Sandshrew."

"If it's a fight you want, you got it." Jessie said. She and James then released Koffing and Ekans, Meowth joined the fight as well.

"Ekans, Bite." Jessie ordered.

"Koffing, Sludge." James commanded.

"Get ready for Fury Swipes." Sandshrew simply rolled up into a ball and easily dodged Ekans and Koffing's attacks. It then turned into a toy for Meowth.

"Meowth, stop playing around!" Jessie shouted.

Meowth snapped out of it and tried to bite down on Sandshrew, but Meowth's teeth broke on contact.

"Fissure!" A.J shouted. Sandshrew jumps into the air, then dives onto the ground, creating a fissure as it lands hitting Ekans, Koffing and Meowth really hard. Meowth was frightened.

"I surrender!" He, Ekans and Koffing then ran away

"Hey, get back here!" Jessie and James shouted, before running after the three. A.J had won the battle and the 99 on the sign changed to 100, which meant A.J finally won 100 battles.

A.J then thanked the three for their assistance.

"What are your plans now?" Ash asked.

"I'm going to collect gym badges." A.J answered. "One day I hope to battle you again." They shake hands.

"Looking forward to it." Ash replied. He, Misty and Brock then said goodbye to A.J and continued heading to Vermilion City.