The gang was walking along the road to Vermilion City where Luneth will get her next badge. Somehow, they got separated from Ash and his friends. Luneth didn't really need to worry about them since Brock is with them. On the way, a few trainers had asked Luneth for a battle, so far, she had defeated fourteen and was on her fifteenth one.
"Finish it with Tackle, Cardinal!" Luneth called out.
Cardinal (Pidgeotto) quickly did as she was told and defeated the Rattata with ease. Luneth gave an encouraging smile as she and her young opponent shook hands.
"You're a really good Pokémon trainer." the boy complimented, making Luneth 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.
Luneth tilted her head curiously to the side. "A.J?" She repeated, knowing who A.J is.
"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." Luneth frowned and turned to the others, "What do you guys think?"
Alain shrugged, "Why not?"
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 scoreboard which read '98 wins 0 losses'.
"What kind of guy keeps a record of how many wins he has?" Luneth asked.
"The arrogant kind I guess." Alain replied.
"I have to agree with you there." Luneth said.
"I don't like anyone who thinks of any Pokémon as 'savage'." Mairin stated.
"Are you my next victim?" A fifth voice sounded, making the three turn to a bulky kid with red shoes, blue shorts, a black and red collared shirt, and weird green and black hair that reminded Luneth a little of a Pidgey. He was carrying a blue backpack over his shoulders.
"Are you A.J?" Luneth asked.
"Yeah, that's me." A.J replied, "Are you here to challenge me?"
"Yes, I'm Luneth Ketchum." Luneth introduced herself.
A.J grinned, "Great, this will be my 99th win." He pointed at the sign which they had already seen. "Follow me."
AJ led them to a battlefield.
"This will be a one-on-one match." A.J replied and released his Pokémon, "Go Sandshrew!"
"Sandshrew!" Sandshrew squeaked.
"Hecate, let's go!" Luneth released Hecate the Scyther and she jumped in front of her.
"Sandshrew, use Dig!" A.J ordered.
Sandshrew dug a hole into the ground.
"Hecate, Hyper Beam into the hole!" Luneth countered.
Hecate fires an orange beam of energy surrounded by light-pink streaks of energy from her mouth 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!" AJ ordered.
Sandshrew curled itself into a ball and rolled directly towards Hecate.
"Hecate, Dodge!" Luneth countered.
Hecate jumped over Sandshrew and it uncurled itself as it landed on its feet.
"Use Mud Shot!" Sandshrew shot balls of mud towards Hecate.
"Protect!" Hecate projected a green barrier around her. The mud shots hit the barrier and bounced back.
"Agility and then Close Scissor!" Hecate disappeared and then reappeared in front of Sandshrew. Then she began kicking and punching Sandshrew. After the last punch, her scythes glowed and she slashed Sandshrew which caused it to tumble across the field..
{A/N: I like to use combo attacks. Close Scissor = Close Combat + X-Scissor}
"Sandshrew!" A.J cried out.
"Now Air Slash!" Hecate fires multiple light-blue glowing blades of energy at Sandshrew who cried out in pain. The Ground Mouse Pokémon couldn't take the pain anymore and fainted. Hecate 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?" He asked.
"Shrew." Sandshrew nodded.
"Great job, Hecate." Luneth praised Hecate as she petted her head.
"I must say, Luneth, that was amazing. You're a tough trainer by the look of your Pokémon." A.J complemented.
"Thank you." Luneth thanked him, "Sorry if you didn't get your 99th win." She apologized.
"Ah, don't worry about it," A.J brushed it off, "I'll just battle another trainer to earn it."
"That is true." Alain said.
"Hey, can we see your other Pokémon?" Mairin asked.
"Sure, I don't mind," A.J replied, "Follow me."
He led the gang into his big tent.
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..." Mairin 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?" Alain 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?" Mairin asked curiously.
"That's a strength intensifier." A.J answered.
"Who invented that thing?" Mairin 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?" Luneth questioned.
"That's because 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." Luneth 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?" Alain asked.
"My own recipe. C'mon, I'll show ya!" A.J directed them to a shelf full of Pokémon food.
Luneth 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 Luneth actually mixes her own food too." Alain replied.
"Is that so?" A.J replied, mildly surprised.
"Yeah, Luneth's dream is to be a Pokémon master. Luneth 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. She learned a lot from Prof. Oak." Mairin praised.
Luneth blushed, "Thanks, Mairin." She turned to A.J, "So how long do they train?"
"I train them until times up. Then they take a break and go back to 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," Luneth 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?" Mairin 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." Alain nodded.
An alarm went off in the tent.
"Break time!" A.J told all of his Pokémon to take a break.
During their break time, the group noticed a giant red rubber ball enter the tent.
"What is that?" Mairin asked, slowly.
"A giant rubber ball?" Alain observed, brow arched.
"What's it doing here?" Luneth's brow arched, knowing that Team Rocket was inside of it.
"Eevui. (Strange.)" Ginko walked over to the ball slowly.
"What's Ginko doing?" Mairin questioned.
"I think she's trying to see what's inside that thing." Alain answered.
Ginko got close to the weird object and started hearing voices.
"This will help us nab Eevee 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.
Ginko began to growl menacingly alerting the three rocket members inside the ball.
"Hey, was that your stomach, Jessie?" The male whispered.
"No it wasn't! Maybe it was Meowth." Jessie growled.
"That wasn't me!" Meowth bit back.
Having had enough of their idiotic bickering Ginko released a Shadow Ball attack on the three morons sending them flying off before they even know what hit them.
DING!
The group blinked at what had just happened.
"That was Team Rocket, wasn't it?" Luneth asked.
"Eeve. (It sure was.)" Ginko nodded before she went over to Luneth's side and climbed into her lap.
"At least we didn't have to listen to their stupid motto." Alain said.
"Whose Team Rocket?" A.J asked.
"Team Rocket is a criminal organization that steals other people's Pokémon." Luneth replied.
A.J nodded and made sure to keep an eye for Team Rocket from now on.
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 reached 100 wins before he heads out for his journey.
"I'll look forward to the rematch." A.J laughed amiably.
"I hope you get your last two wins soon, A.J." Luneth 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." Luneth promised as she shook his hand.
Soon afterwards, A.J waved them goodbye as the gang continued on the road to Vermilion City for Luneth's next gym battle.
Pokémon Obtained:
Luneth: Shiny Eevee (Ginko)(F), Shiny Feebas (Moana)(F), Pidgeotto (Cardinal)(M), Sandshrew (Digger)(M), Pokémon Egg, Scyther (Hecate)(F)
Alain: Charizard (M), Metagross (Genderless), Unfezant (M), Chestnaught (M), Steelix (M), Zubat (M), Pokémon Egg
Mairin: Chespin (Chespie)(M), Flabébé (Bébé)(F), Gogoat (Grazer)(F), Butterfree (Nabi)(M), Paras (Kinoko)(F), Clefairy (Pixie)(F)
Professor Oak's Lab:
Luneth: Nidoran (Fonda)(F), Beautifly (Choko)(F), Swablu (Avaley)(F), Mankey (Bruce)(M), Buizel (Itachi)(M), Clefable (Shayla)(F)
Alain: Beedrill (M), Nidoran (M), Scyther (M), Tyranitar (M)
When dafuq she gets a scyther