“Okay, Pidgeotto, now use Gust!” Ash called.
After leaving Cerulean City, a problem reared its ugly head. Namely, Ash’s recently inflated head.
Ash is a good trainer. Still a rookie, but he was creative and I found myself watching his battles. He had a real talent for bringing out the best in his pokemon. I’m sure he can go far.
But he hadn’t even been a trainer for two months and his ego had already eclipsed Rainbow Dash’s in size, and I didn’t even think that was possible. It was grating, to be honest.
“And I win! That's number ten!”
“You're a really great pokemon trainer.” Ash’s opponent, whose name I can’t even remember, said as they shook hands.
“Well, I guess I was pretty good there.” Ash said as he ‘nonchalantly’ opened up his jacket and just so happened to show off his badges.
“Wow! You've got badges.”
“Oh, you mean these?”
While the kid was gushing over Ash’s badge Misty and Brock were lamenting that perhaps giving him the badges was a mistake.
“And it is, considering he forfeited his match with Brock and didn’t even beat Misty.” Flora whispered to me while glaring at Ash.
She…she had a point.
“I bet you could even beat A.J.”
Applejack?
“A.J.?” We all were looking at the kid.
“Yeah, he lives over there.” The kid pointed in a random direction from my point of view. “A.J. trains savage Pokémon. He built his own gym. He's never lost a single match.”
"Until now." I could see the grin on Ash’s face as he wagged his finger. "He's never come up against someone like me!"
Well that at least is true, Ash is pretty much unique.
“He's getting a big head." Misty sighed, eyes half-lidded with a mixture of pity, disgust and contempt.
"Yeah." Brock agreed. "But his brain has remained the same size."
“Oh snap.”
The next thing I knew we were standing in front of A.J.’s gym. Strong, stout walls made of logs dominated the area and above the door there was a large sign advertising his 98 wins. A disclaimer disavowing any connection to League gyms was just underneath.
“Why are we even here? Shouldn’t we be heading to Vermillion city?” Flora asked.
“Vermillion city’s not going anywhere but when will we next come through here?” Ash reasoned. “I’ve gotta check this out! This guy’s got almost a hundred straight wins, but I’ll bet he doesn’t have any badges.”
“Oh, well, if you really think that’s best.” I said uneasily. A hundred straight wins was no small feat and Ash wasn’t exactly undefeated himself.
“Hmph, this guy isn’t even affiliated with the league!” Ash scoffed.
“Don’t get cocky, Ash!” Misty warned in a sing-song voice. “After all, you’ve only got nine wins in a row, and he’s got almost ten times that!”
“Yeah, well, I go for quality not quantity!” He retorted.
“I wouldn’t call a weak bug and random bird quality.” Flora shot off before I could…commend Ash on that line of thinking.
It was sort of admirable if harder to pull off I thought.
“Feh, you’ll see, Pikachu and I will win this no problem!” He declared.
"Are you mah next victahm?" asked a hideous accent that sounded more like a parody of the Apple family.
We turned around and found ourselves facing a stocky, green fringed, black haired smirking kid carrying a blue backpack.
"Hmm, you must be the Wild Pokemon Trainer." Ash growled.
"Heh! That's mah job." A.J. smirked. "But beating chumps like you is mah hobby.... ready tah lose?"
The fence gates opened and A.J. led us inside. In the center was a large tent, the roof of which could be seen over the fence earlier, and before that was an elevated arena made from hard packed dirt and marked off in white. On each of the arena's four sides are stairs leading up to the arena floor.
A.J. threw the backpack on the ground as soon as he walked in. A moment later a Butterfree appeared and started to carry it away.
“What’s in the bag?” Ash asked, apparently not having noticed the same thing I had.
“The wild pokemon I just caught.” AJ answered easily.
“Whoa, cool!” Ash beamed, the prospect of wild pokemon erasing any trace of seriousness from his face. “Can I see them after the match?”
“Sure, if ya want.” AJ shrugged, walking over to the battleground. “So, what pokemon are you picking to be my 99th win?”
“Grr!” Ash fumed, turning beet red. He might’ve stomped all the way to the other side of the arena.
“Alrightie then!” AJ pulled a bullwhip out of his pocket. I admit I flinched when he cracked it. And I did not like the implications of him having it. “As my sign says, I’ve got 98 straight wins! And once I reach a hundred, I’m gonna go out and start earning badges!”
“You mean you’ve got 98 wins and no badges?” Ash huffed a laugh. He flipped his vest collar back to show off the Boulder and Cascade badges. “I’ve won nine battles and won two badges!”
Well, “won.” He would have won the Boulder badge if Brock’s siblings hadn’t interfered and convinced him to stop. And it honestly could’ve gone either way against Misty. It had been too soon to tell between them.
"Did yah buy those badges or did ya steal 'em?" A.J. smirked, thoroughly unimpressed by Ash's accomplishments. "Either that or you competed in some loser gyms.... where were they Failure City or Wimpsville?"
“Loser gyms?” Misty and Brock hissed. Standing between them, I did my best to appear small and non-threatening while Flora shuffled away from them.
“Ash, you’d better beat this guy!” Misty declared hotly.
“Yeah, teach him the power of the Pewter city gym!” Brock added.
“Give it a rest! I know what I’m doing!” Ash frowned at them. I did my best to blend into the background.
“Sandshrew, front and center!” AJ cracked his whip. From his side, a Sandshrew pulled free of its pokeball.
A Sandshrew huh, this should be interesting.
"Let's be careful now Ash." Admonished Brock.
"Remember, Sandshrew is a ground type so Pikachu's electricity's no good against it." Misty called out.
"I know exactly what I'm doing. I don't need your help!" Ash shouted back.
“Pidgeotto, I choose you!”
The battle was…enlightening.
Ash ordered Pidgeotto in close. Pidgeotto’s speed and maneuverability? It should’ve been easy for him to keep out of sandshrew’s reach.
But this Sandshrew could almost fly. He rocketed forward, curled up, flying straight into the sky and ramming head on against Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto wasn’t prepared for it and was stunned by the blow.
“Ah, Pidgeotto!” Ash returned him before Sandshrew could finish it. “Why, you! Butterfree!”
“He’s letting himself get angry.” I muttered.
“Yep.” Brock nodded seriously. “If he loses his temper, he’ll lose the match.”
“Butterfree, use Stun Powder!”
AJ cracked his whip again. It must’ve been some kind of signal, though I’m at a loss to explain how Sandshrew could understand different commands from the same sound. Regardless, this one directed Sandshrew to use Dig and burrow underground to escape the Stun Powder.
“Hey, where’d it go?” Ash froze.
“Oh no.” I had a bad feeling.
“Sandshrew, now!” AJ cracked his whip, harder this time. Butterfree had been nervously hovering over one spot of the arena. Sandshrew flew out of the ground behind him, out of sight until it was too late for Butterfree to react. Sandshrew’s Tackle hit head on and drove Butterfree into the ground!
“Ha, ain’t so free no more!” AJ taunted him. “Better call it back before I let my Sandshrew take a bite out of it!”
“Aaarrgghhh! Butterfree, return!” I sighed in relief. I didn’t know if AJ would actually allow his Sandshrew to eat another trainer’s pokemon but I didn’t want to find out!
“That just leaves Pikachu!” Ash realized, turning on his heel to face Pikachu.
Pikachu…refused to battle. With prejudice.
“How could I have lost to someone without any badges?” Ash asked himself after AJ changed the sign and went into the main tent.
“I guess badges aren’t always a good indicator of strength or skill, right?” I looked at Flora who tilted her head in confusion.
“What are you talking about? Gym badges are always a good indicator of strength and skill.” Flora stated before trailing off. “Unless the Gym leader just handed them out of pity or like they were free candy.”
“You’re supposed to sympathize with me.” He pouted.
“I…thought I was?” I fiddled with my hands.
“I am?” Flora tilted her head.
“Don’t blame Sarah, Ash.” Misty put her hands on her hips. “It’s not her fault you let your recent victories go to your head. You got a big head and AJ put a hole in it. That’s all.”
“Who asked you?” He crossed his arms. Maybe he would’ve suggested sticking around a while so he could train and challenge AJ to a rematch. He didn’t have the time before we heard AJ shouting though.
“You call that a battle?” CRACK! Went the whip.
“He’d better not be doing what I think he’s doing.” I surprised myself with a rather fierce growl. Ash had a similar look of distaste as we approached the tent and stealthily pulled the flap out.
Pokemon were everywhere, but they were the common varieties found in this area. Sandshrew was the only real stand out in terms of species.
But they were training and the methods I was seeing.
The pokemon were all wearing some kind of harness. Butterfree were trying to lift weights. Rattata were running obstacle courses.
Sandshrew was diving into a pool of water.
“Hurry it up!” AJ cracked his whip so Sandshrew would jump out and shake itself off. “Back in the water! Go!”
“Hey! Quit it!” Ash launched himself forward. He lunged for AJ’s whip and both of them were sent tumbling into the water.
“Ash!” I yelped, running forward to help him out. I might not be able to swim but I could pull a friend out, right?
“What in tarnation?” AJ spluttered when he surfaced. “What was that for?”
“You were hurting it! Don’t you know that water weakens rock and ground types!” Ash defended himself. I knelt down and offered him my hand to pull himself out.
“Che.” AJ scoffed, climbing out on his own and sending a scathing look to the diving board overhead. “Sandshrew, dive!”
Even if I could swim I wouldn’t have been fast enough to make a difference. Sandshrew was in and out of the water so fast it made my head spin! And it didn’t look pained or weakened at all!
“What? It’s not weakened by water?” Ash looked as stunned as I felt.
“You’re looking at the only Sandshrew in the world that’s unaffected by water!” AJ boasted proudly.
“You’ve clearly never been to Alola haven’t you?” Flora commented.
I took another look around, taking in all the pokemon training here.
AJ was certainly getting results here. Impressive ones, if his Sandshrew was any judge. But looking around at the harried expressions they wore, the harnesses they were strapped into? Looking at his whip and hearing his derogatory remarks?
He might be getting results but I liked Ash’s methods much better.
Brock, AJ, and Misty all got drawn into a conversation about pokemon food. I wasn’t sure how much Misty was getting out of it since AJ didn’t seem to have any water pokemon, but there was probably some overlap there.
Meanwhile, Ash and Flora kept watching the pokemon.
“AJ, I have a question.” I started.
“Yes, little missie?” He looked at me.
“Your pokemon…” How to phrase this? “Do they all stick out with the training? All the time?”
“Mm, well, no.” He shook his head. “In fact, most of them don’t.”
“Because your methods are way too harsh!” Ash pounced on any perceived weakness.
“It’s the method of winners, boy, and every pokemon still here knows it!” He scoffed. “These pokemon you see before you are the cream of the crop, the best of the best! Future champions in the making!”
“Physical strength is all well and good but I don’t see this fostering much in the way of friendship or loyalty.” I sighed quietly.
“Oh yeah.” Flora tuned back in. “That would cripple some pokemon who rely on those feelings in order to develop and evolve.”
Huh?
“Now what are you going on about?” He frowned at Flora. “My pokemon are plenty loyal, and our bond’s stronger than steel!”
Flora turned to look at A.J.
“Power comes from powerful emotions. For example, Rage which is affected by a pokemon’s rage while the moves Frustration and Return are affected by a pokemon’s friendship and loyalty towards its Trainer. And there are also pokemon in the world who can’t evolve without strong bonds of friendship and loyalty, emotional support more than physical. Some pokemon will, even though they may be capable, simply refuse to evolve without that kind of connection.”
Really? There were pokemon who couldn’t evolve without friendship? I guess friendship was an important concept in other worlds too.
I looked around the room at several wondering faces.
“I get what you mean Sarah, Flora.” Ash crossed his arms. “I’ve always thought it was the bonds between trainer and pokemon that were most important. If you’re not friends with your pokemon then what’s even the point?”
“Huh?” Flora turned to look at Ash.
“Hey! The point is that we’re all getting stronger! To be the best!” AJ glared at him. “And we’re friends! Sure we’re friends! Sandshrew and I are close as can be!”
“Oh yeah? Then where is your Sandshrew? Because I don’t see it.” Ash pointed at the training floor.
“He’s right over…here?” AJ walked over to the weights section. For a moment, we all stared. AJ broke the silence. “Boy, what is your Pikachu doing?”
“Ah, Pikachu!” Ash knelt down and began fighting with the buckles. “He must’ve got tangled up in one of these stupid harnesses!”
“Uh, hold on,” I knelt down beside him and began searching for a safety release. Something like this that put such strain on a pokemon’s body had to have an emergency release.
“Right here.” Flora pushed a button and all the joints clicked and opened, letting Pikachu uncurl with a grateful sigh of relief.
“How did you know where to press?” I looked at Flora in confusion.
“It’s very similar to the Macho Brace we use, if not the same thing.” Flora shrugged.
“Now where is Sandshrew?” A.J. muttered, interrupting me. “SANDSHREW! Where’d you go? Training’s not over yet!”
“Close as close can be, huh?” Ash snickered.
“Ash!” I scolded him quietly.
“Oi, you lot.” AJ addressed the other pokemon. “Any of you seen Sandshrew?” A variety of negatives came from the gathered pokemon.
“Maybe it wandered off?” Brock suggested, not sounding very convinced of his own reasoning.
“Or ran away.” Ash muttered.
“Ash!” I glared at him. “How would you feel if Pikachu was missing?”
That got him thinking. The way he instinctively tightened his grip on Pikachu spoke volumes. It might be a low blow but I’ll never find making fun of someone who’s lost their pet or pokemon to be acceptable. That’s a line no one should cross.
“Alright everyone, fan out and search!” AJ didn’t give any indication that he’d heard, but he looked worried all the same.
“We’ll help you look for it.” Brock offered. “Between the six of us and all the pokemon it shouldn’t take long.”
“Yeah.” I stood up. Spearow could search from the air. I thumbed his pokeball.
A faint tremor ran underneath my feet. My heart skipped a beat and I looked around.
The ground broke apart and Sandshrew came flying out, accidentally clocking Ash’s chin in the process. It had used Dig and came up beneath our feet.
“Sandshrew!” AJ grinned, grabbing his partner in a whirling hug. “Where you been, partner? Had us all worried for ya!”
“Shrew, shrew sand!” It pointed at the hole and at something it had dragged back with it.
“Meowth!” We gasped. That was definitely the talking pokemon of Team Rocket lying insensate on the floor. Our raised voices were even enough to rouse him.
“Yikes!” He scrambled back and away from us. “What am I doing here?”
“Team Rocket, I shoulda known you’d be behind this!” Ash growled.
“Prepare for trouble.” I suppressed a groan, turning towards the door frame.
“Make that double.” Sure enough, Team Rocket.
“To protect the world from devastation,”
“To unite all peoples within our nation,”
“To denounce the evils of truth and love,”
“To extend our reach to the stars above,”
“Jessie,”
“James,”
“Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight!”
"Meowth, dat's right!"
"That feels great, we don't need a theme song!" Jessie sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"It's a classic!" Agreed a tearful James.
…what?
"So there are the creeps who kidnapped mah Sandshrew?" growls A.J angrily.
“That was an unfortunate little mix-up.” Jessie brushed her hair back. “We don’t have any use for a second-rate sandshrew. We wanted Pikachu.”
“And you…confused Sandshrew for Pikachu?” Flora cocked her head to the side in confusion.
“Our disguise didn’t provide a lot of visibility! We picked based on size!”
“Clearly not by weight.” Flora muttered.
"Second-rate!?!" A.J growled in disbelief.
"The only pokemon we want is Pikachu." Jessie told him, mistakenly thinking she's removing a potential rival.
"You can keep all those other wimps." James nodded, trying to help out as well.
"Wimps are they!" growls A.J.
“Oh, I think we made him mad, Jess.” James smirked.
“I see that, James.” Jessie lifted her nose at him. “Well, if he’s that insulted maybe we can make an exception and take his Sandshrew and all the other pokemon here as well!”
“Why? They’re of no great loss.” Flora muttered distractedly.
“Not on my watch!” AJ snapped his whip, bringing Sandshrew to full attention.
“They have a Koffing and an Ekans, along with the Meowth.” I warned him.
“Thanks for the warning, little missie.” His smirk was cold, anticipatory. “But we’ve got a handle on this. You and your friends just sit back and watch me earn win number one hundred.”
“Ekans, use Bind!” Jessie threw her pokeball.
“Sandshrew, you know what to do!” AJ twirled his whip in the air. Sandshrew curled up tight, making itself impossibly small. Ekans couldn’t get a good grip that way and Sandshrew slid right out.
“Koffing, Sludge attack!” James shouted in frustration.
“Keep up that spin, Sandshrew!” AJ called.
The sludge slid right off Sandshrew’s hide. A tackle took the koffing out of the fight easily. Team Rocket tried to send Meowth in next.
“Sandshrew, finish’em off with a Fissure Attack!” AJ commanded.
The ground began to heave and split apart between my feet. Misty grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back to solid ground but I lost balance and landed hard on my rear.
Huge cracks ran through the earth for meters all around. It was an impressive feat of strength for a Sandshrew. Impressive enough to send Team Rocket fleeing for their lives.
“…We did it.” AJ seemed stunned by the sudden end to the fight. “Sandshrew, we really did it!” He was beaming now, falling to his knees to embrace his partner. “A hundred wins! Today all our sacrifices and hard work have finally paid off, now we can start winning our badges!"
Later, outside the ruins of the Gym, we said our goodbyes.
"When Ah return here Ah'm gonna be.... the number one Pohkemon Master." He declared.
"Why don't you come along with us?" Ash asked.
“After spending the entire day telling him he's a bad trainer who abuses pokemon and trying to drown him? Flora asked incredulously
"Thanks, but Sandshrew and Ah have our own path that we must follow." A.J said politely.
Ash and A.J shook hands.
"Someday we'll meet again at the big Pokémon League competition.” Ash promised.
"Okay! But next time you better be in shape, coz Ah only wanna beat expert trainers!" A.J. bragged.
"That's a deal!" Ash laughed, not quite realizing that he's been insulted in the last minute.
"So long!" A.J called out as he turned and walked away with Sandshrew in tow.
"He's tough but pretty cool." Misty looked on.
"Yeah, looks like you've found another rival." Brock smiled.
"AJ! I'm not going to lose next time!" Ash screamed at A.J, who was only like 10 feet away. "I'll train hard to become the greatest pokemon Master in the world, following my own path!"