The Unbeatable A.J.

The gang was walking along the road to Vermilion City where Ashlyn will get her next badge. On the way, a few trainers had ask Ashlyn for a battle, so far she had defeated nine and was on her tenth one.

"Finish it with Tackle Pidgeotto." Ashlyn called.

Pidgeotto quickly did as told and defeated the Rattata with ease. Ashlyn gave an encouraging smile as she and her young opponent shook hands.

"You're a really good Pokémon trainer." the boy complimented, making Ashlyn flush a little.

"Ah, thanks. You were a good opponent." she replied with a smile, making the boy's cheeks redden slightly at the sight.

"I bet you can even beat A.J.!" The boy declared.

Ashlyn tilted her head curiously to the side. "A.J.?" She repeated curiously.

Ashlyn knew who A.J. was and that her male counter part had lost to him by using his Butterfree. But since Butterfree was back at the lab, she had someone else in mind to battle A.J.'s Sandshrew.

"Yeah, he lives over there," the boy turned to point behind him. "A.J. trains savage Pokémon. He built his own gym! He's never lost a single match." the boy continued.

"His own gym? Savage Pokémon? I think I'd like to see this...gym." Ashlyn frowned and turned to the others, "What do you guys think?"

Lucario shrugged, "(Why not)?"

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So the gang arrived in front of a building with tall wood walls and the bold sign that read 'A.J.'s Gym'. Right next to it was a score board which read '98 wins 0 losses'.

"What kind of guy keeps a record of how many wins he has?" Ashlyn asked.

"(The arrogant kind I guess)." Lucario replied.

"I have to agree with you there." Ashlyn said.

"Indeed." Brock added.

"I don't like anyone who thinks of any Pokémon as 'savage'." Misty stated.

"Are you my next victim?" A fifth voice sounded, making the four turn to a bulky kid with red shoes, blue shorts, a black and red collared shirt, and weird green and black hair that reminded Ashlyn a little of Pidgey's. He was carrying a blue backpack over his shoulders.

"Are you A.J.?" Ashlyn asked.

"Yeah, that's me." A.J. replied, "Are you here to challenge me?"

"Yes, I'm Ashlyn."

A.J. grinned, "Great, this will be my 99th win." He pointed at the sign which they had already seen. "Follow me."

A.J. led them to a battle field.

"This will be a one on one match." A.J. replied and released his Pokémon, "Go Sandshrew!"

"Sandshrew!" Sandshrew squeaked.

"Lucario, let's go!" Ashlyn called out and Lucario jumped in front of her.

"Sandshrew, use Dig!" A.J. ordered. Sandshrew dug a hole into the ground.

"Lucario, Dragon Pulse into the hole!" Ashlyn countered.

A multicolored, dragon-shaped aura formed around each of Lucario's hands. Then he put his hands together, firing a multicolored dragon-shaped beam of energy and threw into the hole.

"Sandshrew, quick, get out of there!" A.J. panicked.

Sandshrew was blasted out of the hole by the impact of the attack.

"Sandshrew!" A.J. shouted out in worry. Sandshrew was panting as it stood up. "Sandshrew, are you okay?"

Sandshrew nodded at his trainer.

"Alright then, Sandshrew, use Roll Out!" A.J. ordered.

Sandshrew curled itself into a ball and rolled directly towards Lucario.

"Lucario, Dodge!" Ashlyn countered.

Lucario jumped over Sandshrew and it uncurled itself as it landed on its feet.

"Use Mud Shot!" A.J. ordered.

Sandshrew shot balls of mud towards Lucario.

"Protect!" Ashlyn countered.

Lucario projected a green barrier around them. The mud shots hit the barrier and bounced back.

"Extreme Speed and then Ice Punch!" Ashlyn called out.

Lucario ran towards Sandshrew with Extreme Speed as light blue energy gathered around his left fist and punched it into Sandshrew's belly which the ice covered it into a Sandshrew popsicle.

"Sandshrew!" A.J. cried out.

"Now Blaze Kick!" Ashlyn yelled.

Lucario's right foot was covered in red flames and he kicked his foot into Sandshrew which broke it out of the ice. Sandshrew cried out in pain. The Ground Mouse Pokémon couldn't take the pain anymore and fainted. Lucario had won.

"Sandshrew!!!" A.J. cried out and ran over to his fallen Pokémon and picked him up in his arms. "Are you okay, Sandshrew?" A.J. asked.

"Shrew." Sandshrew nodded.

"Great job, Lucario." Ashlyn praised as she petted Lucario's head.

"I must say, Ashlyn, that was amazing. You're a tough trainer by the look of your Pokémon." A.J. complimented.

"Thank you." Ashlyn thanked him, "Sorry if you didn't get your 99th win." Ashlyn apologized.

"Ah, don't worry about it," A.J. brushed it off, "I'll just battle another trainer to earn it."

"That is true." Ashlyn said.

"Hey, can we see your other Pokémon?" Misty asked.

"Sure, I don't mind," A.J. replied, "Follow me."

He led the gang into his big tent.

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Inside the tent there were some Pokémon and what looked to be some sort of training gear. Sandshrew climbed up a ladder and dived into the pool. They saw three Ratatta jumping through three hoops of fire and a Butterfree and Beedrill carrying some heavy gear.

"Woah..." Misty awed.

"This is where I train my Pokémon," A.J. explained. He saw Sandshrew get out of the pool. He whacked a whip onto the floor. "Get back into the water."

"You're building his resistance to water, right?" Ashlyn asked.

A.J. puffed his chest at the praise. "Yep, my Sandshrew's the only Sandshrew in the world that's strong enough to withstand water." he said proudly, making Sandshrew stand proud as well.

"What's that device on his body?" Brock asked curiously.

"That's a strength intensifier." A.J. answered.

"Who invented that thing?" Brock continued.

"I did. It's my own secret weapon for unleashing a Pokémon's powers." A.J. replied.

"Is there a reason Sandshrew's training seems harder than the other Pokémon?" Misty questioned.

"That's 'cause Sandshrew's the first Pokémon I ever caught. I will never forget that moment. We promised to do whatever it took to become the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time and nothin' would stop us from reachin' our dream. No matter how hard the path. Enduring fierce storms and raging winds! We've sacrificed everything to achieve our dream and it was worth it. We're an unbeatable team!" A.J. declared.

"That's an amazing goal." Ashlyn commented, reminded of her own large and vague goal of being a Pokémon master.

"Your Pokémon are all in great shape. What kind of Pokémon food do you give them?" Brock asked.

"My own recipe. C'mon, I'll show ya!" A.J. directed them to a shelf full of Pokémon food.

Ashlyn stared at the shelves in awe when she saw all the separately labeled glass jars of Pokémon food for each individual Pokémon.

"To get the results I want, I have to carefully monitor the Pokémon diets. Of course, the recipe is secret." A.J. explained amiably.

"Oh yeah, of course. You know Ashlyn and I actually mix our own food too." Brock replied.

"Is that so?" He replied, mildly surprised.

"Yeah, Brock's dream is to be a Pokémon breeder and Ashlyn's dream is to be a Pokémon master. Brock obviously focuses on everything that makes Pokémon healthy and Ashlyn makes sure their diets are specialized to their tastes but also provide all the right nutrients and vitamins that they'll need from the work outs she gives them." Misty praised the two.

Ashlyn blushed, "Thanks, Misty." She turned to A.J., "So how long do they train?"

"I train them until its times up. Then they take a break and go back at it again." A.J. explained, "At first I thought you were going to say that my training is harsh. Most trainers do."

"I actually understand this kind of training," Ashlyn said, "You're trying to bring out the best in your Pokémon. Not all trainers have the same training style, everyone's different."

"But is the whip necessary?" Misty asked, not liking the whip one bit.

"I know. Strict discipline so they don't slack off during training, but don't worry I've never hit any of my Pokémon with it." A.J. assured her.

"That is true." Brock nodded.

An alarm went off in the tent.

"Break time!" A.J. told all of his Pokémon to take a break.

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During their break time, the group noticed a giant red rubber ball enter the tent.

"What is that?" Misty asked, slowly.

"A giant rubber ball?" Ashlyn observed. She already knew that Team Rocket was inside of it.

"What's it doing here?" Brock's brow arched.

"(Strange)." Lucario and Tesla walked over to the ball slowly.

"What are they doing?" Misty questioned.

"I think they're trying to see what's inside that thing." Brock answered.

Lucario and Tesla got close to the weird object and started hearing voices.

"This will help us nab Raichu and Lucario from right under their noses." A female voice whispered.

"Meowth, you've outdone yourself this time." A male voice whispered.

"Of course I did." Meowth whispered.

Tesla and Lucario began to growl menacingly alerting the three rockets inside the ball.

"Hey was that your stomach, Jessie?" The male whispered.

"No it wasn't! Maybe it was Meowth." Jessie growled.

"That it wasn't me!" Meowth bit back.

Having had enough of their idiotic bickering Tesla released a Thunderbolt attack and Lucario launched an Aura Sphere on the three morons sending them flying off before they even know what hit them.

The group blinked at what had just happened.

"That was Team Rocket, wasn't it?" Ashlyn asked.

"(It sure was)." Lucario as Tesla nodded before they went over to Ashlyn's side and Tesla climbed onto her shoulder.

"At least we didn't have to listen to their stupid motto." Misty said.

"Whose Team Rocket?" A.J. asked.

"Team Rocket is an criminal organization that steal other people's Pokémon." Ashlyn replied.

A.J. nodded and made sure to keep an eye for Team Rocket from now on.

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After getting rid of Team Rocket, the gang were standing outside of A.J.'s tent, bidding him farewell. A.J. decided to stay until he got reach 100 wins before he heads out for his journey.

"I'll look forward to the rematch." A.J. just laughed amiably.

"I hope you get your last two wins soon, A.J." Ashlyn prayed.

"Don't worry, I know we'll battle again when we meet at the Indigo League." A.J. assured her with his hand out.

"Then we'll meet there." Ashlyn promised as she shook his hand.

Soon afterwards, A.J. waved them goodbye as the gang continued on the road to Vermilion City for Ashlyn's next gym battle.

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Pokémon on hand: Raichu (Tesla)(F), Lucario (M), Rockruff (M), Pidgeotto (F), Clefable (F), Sandshrew (M), Pokémon Egg

Prof. Oak's Lab:

Boltund (M), Shiny Gyarados (Rory)(M), Scyther (F), Nidoran (M), Nidoran (F), Butterfree (M)