This is Chapter 16.
Please don't kill me. I had massive writer's block for this chapter. I had no idea what I was doing. Sorry about the wait. I don't ever intend to give up on this story, so don't worry about that.
Thank you to everyone who added this story/me to their favorites/alerts. And a special thanks for reviewing to Aniquila, guest, magical fan18, Samster687, starlight luna, major wallace, Adrienne Dark, Joey, InsanityPie, A humble fan, Alie-yaoi, random bug, prewy, Typhlosion8, Nathan Brown, Kiomori, stars90, Pokemon Trainer Tom, thor94, KaliAnn, Teddi 8347, ShadowGallade, fanficfan 86, Bptex, tjizthebest, and lychee-ran.
Ash and A.J. meet, there is much confusion and miscommunication, and Team Rocket appears, just… not really the way they'd hoped.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. *screams and starts throwing pots and pans across the room* And don't ask where I got them since I'm nowhere near my kitchen. The logic will ruin me! *wails*
So anyway, enjoy!
"So, where are we headed next?" Brock asked as they packed up their bedrolls.
"Vermilion City." Misty answered, grinning.
"Great." Ash frowned at Pikachu, who was still lying on his half-rolled bedroll. "Up."
"Don' wanna." Pikachu muttered, clutching the fabric tighter.
Ash sighed. Dropping the bedroll, he leaned down and picked Pikachu up. The Pokémon grumbled, before turning his face into Ash's chest and falling asleep again.
Misty and Brock laughed at Ash's mournful expression. "He's really not a morning Pokémon, is he?" Brock laughed.
"He is where there's food involved. I think it's my fault. He stayed up late watching me." Ash admitted.
Misty eyed him oddly. "How do you know that?"
"He kept accidentally waking me up." Ash answered.
Actually, Pikachu had spent the last two nights with nightmares. He woke Ash up after every one, whether on purpose or just from his shaking. Pikachu was convinced that Ash would get hurt and leave him, no matter how much Ash said otherwise.
Ash kicked at his bedroll. He was booth touched and depressed that he'd scared Pikachu that much.
Misty, noticing his furrowed eyebrows, leaned over and rolled up his bedroll for him. He smiled gratefully at her.
"Thanks Misty. Pikachu's just feeling anxious right now."
Misty could tell. Pikachu had been mother-henning Ash ever since Cerulean City, constantly chittering to him and lugging over the container of bruise balm.
And after the first few hours, when Ash had almost collapsed because of the heavy backpack constantly knocking against his bruised back, Pikachu had insisted on being carried everywhere. He could tell when the pain was getting to Ash from the tenseness in his body. After getting chewed out by Brock, Misty, and Pikachu about the incident, Ash had reluctantly allowed Brock and Misty to take some of his supplies, and carried Pikachu in his arms everywhere.
To be honest, he liked having Pikachu in his arms. After the close call in the Cerulean City gym with the hose, Ash needed a little reassurance too.
Misty motioned for Ash to turn around so she could attach the bedroll to his backpack.
"Anyway, Vermilion City is amazing. They have a really great gym." Brock said as they started down the path.
Ash shot him a wry look. "Brock, I really haven't been having the best of luck with gyms, if you haven't noticed."
Brock flushed. Misty broke in. "Well, they also have a luxury cruise ship I'm dying to see."
"Yeah. And you're bound to have better luck with gyms in the future." Brock coaxed. "Third time's the charm, right?"
"Maybe." Ash didn't look convinced, but he was willing to give it a try for his friends' sakes. "Are they going to give me a badge too?" He sounded anything but pleased.
"Most people would be thrilled to have two badges." Misty pointed out, falling into step beside Ash. Brock took his other side.
"Yeah, but both times I didn't even go in to battle. It just happened." Ash pointed out.
Misty rolled her eyes in exasperated fondness. How many people would give anything to "just happen" to get two Pokémon badges? Only Ash could find fault with that. Brock's face said he mirrored her thoughts exactly.
As the day wore on, more and more Pokémon trainers passed them by. They were mostly friendly, but Misty and Brock started deflecting their demands for a Pokémon battle with Ash after the fourth trainer he turned down. Pikachu had woken up by then.
"I just don't feel like battling today." He answered their questioning looks, hugging Pikachu more closely to his chest. "Then I'd have to put Pikachu down."
"Ash, don't not battle because of me." Pikachu whispered.
Ash glared, but his arms tightening made his answer clear.
They came across a fuming trainer early that afternoon. He was cursing and muttering under his breath.
"Is everything okay?" Brock asked.
"I just lost to A.J. I was his 99th win." The trainer looked put out.
"Who's A.J.?" Misty asked curiously.
"He lives over there. He trains savage Pokémon and built his own gym. He's never lost a single match." The boy groused, pointing back the way he'd come.
Ash looked unimpressed. "He's got to have lost some battles. He didn't win every battle as a new trainer. No one does."
"Well, he does now." The boy snapped, stalking away from them.
The four friends blinked at each other, and then turned toward the distant walled enclosure the boy had pointed to.
"Let's go check it out." Misty urged.
They came up to the giant doorway. There was a massive sign arching over the door: WINS 99, LOSES 0.
"Are you my next victim?" a voice said from off to the left.
Ash looked at him. "You must be A.J. The wild Pokémon trainer." He said brightly.
"That's my job. But beating chumps like you is my hobby." He ignored Misty and Brock's frantic hand gestures urging him to stop as he pressed the button for the huge doors. "Ready to lose?"
Ash would have thrown his hands into the air if he hadn't been holding Pikachu. "What is it with you people and assuming I want to battle?" he demanded.
A.J. was taken aback. Ash glared at his friends. "And you guys said my luck was gonna get better."
"Y-you mean you don't wanna battle?" A.J. seemed startled.
"No. And I'm sick of people thinking that."
"Ash. Calm down. Humans are stupid, that's all." Pikachu soothed.
"So you don't have any badges." A.J. said, slightly disappointed. He'd really wanted to face someone decent. Not this kid, obviously, but someone he could really pit his skills against. But all he got were children who couldn't battle their way out of a paper bag.
"I have two." Ash grumbled.
Misty noticed A.J.'s confusion at both the announcement and the tone it was in. "Ash didn't go into the gyms to get badges. It just…happened." She wasn't sure how to explain the mystery that was Ash Ketchum.
"Well, they must have been some loser gyms. Where were they? Failure City or Wimpsville?"
Misty and Brock bristled. They were the trainers that he'd battled, after all, and they had pride in both their skills and their gyms.
"Beat him, Ash!" Misty hissed at Ash.
"Yeah." Brock agreed.
Ash gaped at them. "No. If you want to battle him, you can. I just want to get through this without any problems." He turned back to A.J. "So, can we see the Pokémon you're training?"
"If you want." A.J. answered, walking to the massive tent to the side of the enclosure.
"Hey. Maybe my luck is changing." Ash smiled at his friends and followed the other trainer. Misty and Brock hurried after him.
A.J. disappeared into the tent. A moment later, Ash heard, "You call that last match a fight?" He frowned, moving closer. "It's time for some serious training!"
Inside they saw a Beedrill attacking a Butterfree as they flew through the air, a Rattata jumping through a ring of fire, and various other Pokémon training in much the same ways.
In front of them was A.J., standing in front of a swimming pool with a diving board. Sandshrew was on the diving board.
A.J. cracked a whip in his hand. Ash jumped in surprise. Sandshrew dove off of the diving board and into the pool before shooting out in a spinning ball to the ground in front of A.J.
"Get back in the water!" A.J. shouted, bringing his whip forward.
"No! Stop!" Ash yelled, terrified for the Pokémon. He released Pikachu and raced forward, grabbing the whip as it slashed through the air.
A.J. turned to look at him and lost his footing. Flailing, he fell backwards into the pool, dragging Ash in after him.
"Ash!" Pikachu yelped, running over to the pool with Misty and Brock. Sandshrew stopped spinning and stared at the pool in surprise.
Ash and A.J. surfaced, both livid. "What do you think you're doing?" A.J. demanded.
"Me? You're hurting Sandshrew!" Ash snapped back.
"Mind your own business. I don't need any amateurs teaching me how to train Pokémon."
"He's never actually hit me before." Sandshrew added, despite knowing that the human wouldn't be able to understand him.
Ash glanced over at Sandshrew, and frowned. "What's that he's wearing?"
"It's a strength intensifier. I made it myself." A.J. climbed out of the pool. "Sandshrew, back in the water."
Sandshrew jumped up to the diving board and dove again, barely missing Ash. He then jumped, spinning, out of the water again.
"Good work." A.J. praised.
"Aw, we're a team." Sandshrew's cheeks darkened in a blush.
Ash pulled himself out of the pool. "I'm sorry."
"So you should be." A.J. sniffed.
"I saw the whip and got worried. But I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." Ash continued.
"Are you okay with this?" Pikachu asked.
"Of course. If I wasn't, trust me, he'd know. I was the first Pokémon he ever caught, and he knows when enough's enough." Sandshrew answered. "He'd never do anything to hurt me."
"Is this training why Sandshrew doesn't get weakened by the water?" Ash asked. Now that he knew A.J. wasn't hurting his Pokémon, he could finally talk about training techniques. He hoped.
"Sure is." A.J. eyed the younger boy. The kid looked excited, and his enthusiasm made A.J. hide his grin as he turned back to Sandshrew. "Sandshrew, pick up your pacing."
"Right." Sandshrew curled up into a ball again and rolled himself over to three Rattata. The three began hitting him with their cheeks to each other.
"Are you this tough on all of your Pokémon?" Ash asked.
"No. But I ask no more of Sandshrew than I do of myself. We need to be the very best to achieve our dreams."
"We promised each other that we'd make it. He'd be the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time, and I'd be right there with him every step of the way. All of this is worth it." Sandshrew added, coming to a halt.
"A.J.'s tough, but he's nice, and he cares about us." One of the Rattata said. The other two nodded vigorously.
"You're Pokémon are all in great shape. What kind of Pokémon food do you give them?" Brock asked, warming up to the conversation now that it was obvious A.J. wasn't beating his Pokémon.
"My own recipe. Come on, I'll show you." A.J led them to a row of cabinets along one of the tents' walls. He threw open the doors. "I have to carefully monitor the Pokémons' food intake and diets to get the best results." He explained.
"Wow." Misty breathed, staring at the numerous clear containers of brown food, meticulously labeled for each Pokémon.
"Of course, the recipe is a secret." A.J. winked.
"Of course." Brock agreed. "You know, I mix my own food too."
Ash snorted, and Brock glared at him. "Hey, I'm working on the recipe."
"Uh-huh." Ash answered absently. He watched as Sandshrew lifted weights. Pikachu watched him for a moment, before trying to pick up a much smaller weight. He struggled to lift it and when he finally got it to chest-level, overbalanced and fell backwards, the weight landing across his chest.
Ash hurried over, leaving Brock, Misty, and A.J. to continue their conversation. He gently lifted the weight off of Pikachu, setting it aside.
A ringing sounded, and A.J. called out, "Okay you wimps get a fifteen-minute break."
All of the Pokémon collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. They murmured to each other as they rested. In the corner, Ash saw a Beedrill and a Butterfree nuzzling each other.
"Couldn't you say something nice to them?" Ash asked, resting a hand on Pikachu's furry head. "You know, like positive reinforcement?"
"What are you talkin' about?" A.J. demanded.
"Couldn't you say, 'Well done?' when they take their break? They're all working really hard." Ash explained.
"We live by the rule 'no pain no gain' in this gym." A.J. cast a dismissive look in Ash's direction. "But judging by your little stuffed Pikachu over there, you don't follow any rules."
"Take it back." Ash's voice was low and cold. Pikachu was worried. He looked around for a distraction for Ash.
"Hey Ash. Look at this." He called, holding up the strength-intensifier Sandshrew had just pulled off. He miscalculated, however, and the bands snapped around him. Unable to stay upright, he squeaked and rolled into a ball.
"Pikachu!" Ash fell to his knees next to Pikachu and fumbled with the clasp on the contraption.
Next to them, Sandshrew chuckled and rolled himself into a ball.
"It's not funny." Ash grumbled as he finally found the clasp and unbuckled it, causing the harness to slip off the mouse Pokémon.
Sandshrew unrolled from his ball in shock.
Pikachu shook his head and jumped into Ash's arms. "Thanks. And calm down. He's being mean, but you don't have to fight over it. We both know the truth."
"Yeah." Ash mumbled into Pikachu's fur.
"You speak?" Sandshrew's disbelieving shout caused every Pokémon in the tent to glance over.
Ash blushed at the attention, and nodded. Sandshrew moved closer to him and sniffed his cheek.
"Back off, he's mine." Pikachu growled.
Ash ran a hand over Pikachu's head. "Now who needs to calm down?" he teased softly.
In minutes, he was surrounded by all of A.J.'s formerly-exhausted Pokémon. They wanted to get a good look at this human who could speak their language.
A.J. watched this in shock, his mouth hanging open. "What is goin' on?" he demanded of Brock, who was closest.
Brock shrugged. "Ash just has a way with Pokémon." He answered.
"A way with…" A.J. trailed off. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ash's reaction to his training methods had been different than A.J. had ever seen. His anger had faded quickly, once he realized that A.J. wasn't actually injuring his own Pokémon (and A.J. admitted that he saw where the miscommunication had come from—swinging a whip near Sandshrew probably looked dangerous to strangers).
The boy apologized for it, and the only thing he'd said after that about the training was that A.J. should try some positive reinforcement.
Other trainers had seen his Pokémon and training methods, and had been either impressed or shocked and angry. And none of his Pokémon had ever responded to the other trainers like this. Heck, they usually ignored the strangers' presences, focusing only on their training.
As he gaped at the scene in front of him, he noticed a large red ball rolling towards the pack of Pokémon and single human.
He frowned. He'd never seen that ball before, and it was moving all on its own. He saw a hole in the ball and a tuft of red hair stuck out for a second.
A.J. snuck over to the ball. He could hear hissing whispers coming from inside the ball.
"Look for Pikachu."
"Roll over there."
A.J. gave a soft whistle. Everyone Pokémon in the room turned immediately to look at him. To his surprise, Ash looked up too.
"Beedrill, attack!" A.J. yelled, pointing to the red ball.
Beedrill shot into the air and flew over, ramming her stinger into the ball's side, tearing it and causing it to collapse inwardly.
Curses and yells came from the mess of fabric and an arm came out of the original hole: a leg came out of the hole Beedrill had made.
About half of the Pokémon got in front of A.J. in defensive positions. The rest did the same in front of Ash.
A.J. spared a glance for this bizarre image before turning his attention back to the red fabric now twitching on the ground.
After a moment, Jesse, James, and Meowth emerged.
"You people?" Ash groaned.
"Who are they?" A.J. demanded.
"Prepare for trouble." James started, a gleam in his eyes.
"This is Team Rocket. They steal Pokémon." Ash interjected, not wanting to listen to their motto again.
"Were you coming here to steal my Pokémon?" A.J. snarled at the three.
Jesse waved a hand. "Of course not. We don't want wimps."
"That's it." Ash started forward, but A.J. held an arm up to stop him. Meowth looked from Ash to the Pokémon surrounding him and back, a puzzled look on his face. They weren't his Pokémon, so why were they defending him?
"I'll take care of this. No one insults my Pokémon and gets away with it." A.J. was telling Ash.
Ash gave him a dry look. "I feel the same way."
A.J. winced, remembering what he'd said about Pikachu. Maybe that was a little out of line. He hated when people insulted his Pokémon: Ash obviously felt the same way.
"Sorry." He told Ash, who blinked in surprise. A.J. focused his burning gaze on Team Rocket. "Let's take this outside."
The group went outside. Jesse, James, and Meowth stood on one side of the dueling area, and everyone else grouped together on the other side.
"They insulted us. We'll answer them with our one-hundredth win!" He looked down at Sandshrew with fondness. "Just like we vowed."
"Good luck." Ash called to him.
"You can do it!" Pikachu cheered, jumping onto Ash's shoulder so that he could see better. Ash reached up a hand to steady him.
"Ekans go!" Jesse yelled as she threw a Pokéball.
"Your turn, Koffing!" James echoed as he threw his own Pokéball.
Ekans and Koffing emerged in red light. They wasted no time and lunged at Sandshrew. Sandshrew dodged and rolled into a ball, causing Koffing to hurtle past him and Ekans to crash into the ground.
"Ekans, bind it now." Jesse ordered her Pokémon.
"Him." Ash snapped at the trainer who of course ignored him.
Ekans wrapped around Sandshrew and tightened, but the ground-type Pokémon slipped free and jumped, coming down on Ekans's head hard.
"Ouch." Ash winced, but then added, "Good job Sandshrew."
"He's so strong." Misty commented.
"Excelent." Brock praised.
"Koffing, sludge attack." James called.
"Take that!" Koffing spat his thick black sludge at Sandshrew. Sandshrew quickly reentered his ball-form and redirected the sludge harmlessly off to either side. Koffing sent another burst, with the same result.
"Meowth get in there." Jesse snapped at her companion.
Meowth ran onto the field and began chasing the balled-up Pokemon around, batting it with his paws.
"Stop pussy-footing around." Jesse yelled in irritation.
Meowth stopped chasing Sandshrew and bit into the Pokémon. Or he tried to. When his teeth hit the hard scales of Sandshrew, he pulled back and howled in pain, clutching his mouth.
"Finish this. Sandshrew, fissure scratch." A.J. ordered.
"On it A.J." Sandshrew jumped up into the air and hurtled at the ground, spinning at picking up speed with every inch.
"Go Sandshrew. Drill into the ground 'til it splits."
The watching Pokémon edged backwards, and Misty and Brock pulled Ash back, knowing that he wouldn't move on his own. Idly, Brock wondered where his sense of preservation was, if he even had one. It didn't seem like it.
Sandshrew slammed his paw into the ground. The ground crumbled and split, and the middle, where Meowth was standing, collapsed into the ground. Jesse and James barely jumped out of the way in time. Meowth wasn't so lucky and fell into the crevasse.
A bruise and dirty Meowth dragged himself out of the crevasse. The minute he was out, he looked at Sandshrew and started running for the open gate around the Gym.
"I forfeit the match." He called over his shoulder. He was closely followed by Ekans and Koffing, both yelling the same thing.
"Where are you going?" James demanded, running after the Pokémon.
"Get back here!" Jesse demanded as she followed suit.
Ash could have sworn Meowth screaming something about writing them a theme song. He blinked in confusion and looked at Misty, who looked just as mystified as he did.
A.J. broke through the confusion with a cheer. "We did it Sandshrew. We reached one-hundred wins!" He walked over to the wall and pressed a button. The sign switched from 99 wins to 100 wins.
"Finally, all our hard work paid off." A.J. bent down and hugged Sandshrew. "Now we can start winning our badges. I'm so proud of you."
Ash smiled at the sight. Pikachu nuzzled his cheek, feeling just as happy as Ash was at the display of affection between trainer and Pokémon.
A.J. basically ignored them as he jumped up and began racing around, collecting clothes, food, and money and putting his Pokémon into their Pokéballs.
Finally, he ushered them out, closing the gates behind them.
"When I return here I'm gonna be the number one Pokémon Master." A.J.'s eyes were shining with happiness.
"You could come with us, if you want." Ash offered.
"Thanks, but Sandshrew and I have our own path to follow." He eyed Ash for a moment, and then smiled. It softened his eyes and lit up his whole face. "I know we didn't get off to a good start, but I'm glad we met, Ash." He held out his hand.
Ash shook it, smiling sweetly back. "Me too. Take care, and good luck."
"You too. Don't worry, we'll meet again." A.J. still wondered about his Pokémons' reaction to Ash, but he shook his head. It didn't matter so much. His Pokémon were loyal to him, and that was enough. He waved goodbye and began walking away.
Ash waved back and turned to Misty and Brock. "You were right. That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." He said cheerfully. "So. Vermilion City?"
Misty grinned at him and nodded. "Yep. Let's get going."
"That was a fun experience." Brock commented as they walked back to their original path and continued toward Vermilion City.
"Yeah. A.J.'s not so bad. And he's a good trainer. I like him." Ash commented.
"I like you better Ash." Pikachu informed his friend. "Now open your arms so I can ride there."
Ash automatically cradled his arms in front of his chest and Pikachu jumped down into them. He wriggled a little, then settled back against Ash's chest with a sigh of contentment.
"And on we go." Ash said, grinning.
So, I hope you like it.
It was harder to write than I anticipated. Ash was sort of an arrogant dick in the episode, and A.J. was a condescending dick. I was shaking my head in sadness as I rewatched the episode.
So, not a whole lot happened, sort of. Sorry.
And I have no idea what I'm doing for the next chapter or when it'll be posted. I'll try and get it out as soon as I can. I know we all want to get to 'Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village' and 'Charmander-The Stray Pokémon'. I do too.
Honestly, any and all advice will be taken into consideration (and I will, of course, credit someone if I use it obviously), and I have pretty much no idea what I'm doing for the next chapter. Wait, I think I already said that… -.- Oh well.
Suggestions and ideas are great, reviews are amazing. Even one-word reviews are appreciated. Constructive criticism is good. Flames will be used to make me some pizza for dinner. Yum!
Well, see you next chapter!