TB008: The Path to the Pokémon League

is the 8th episode of of , Season 1 of , and of .
==Synopsis==
After earning his second badge, Ash sets off triumphantly for Vermilion City. Along the way, they hear of A.J., a fierce Pokémon Trainer who has never lost a match. Full of self-confidence from his own record of 10 victories in a row, Ash heads directly for A.J.’s Gym to find his new opponent. When they arrive, they find a huge bulletin out front announcing that the Gym is not authorized by the Pokémon League, along with a neon sign declaring “98 Consecutive Victories.” A.J. is on the brink of achieving his goal of 100 straight victories, and then plans to embark on a journey to gather badges. As Ash prepares to challenge him, will victory fall on the side of our hero, or the powerful A.J.? In the process, can Ash learn some important lessons about the bonds between a Pokémon and its Trainer?
==Episode plot==
Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu are on their way to Vermilion City. Ash says that he can't wait to earn his third badge. A trainer appears and asks Ash if he will battle him and Ash agrees. Ash's Pidgeotto defeats the trainer's Rattata. The trainer admires Ash's two badges. He says that he may be able to win at A.J.'s gym and points Ash to it. Ash races off to the gym.
At A.J.'s gym, there is a sign that says he has a record of 98 wins to 0 losses and that the gym is not an official gym. A.J. walks up and challenges Ash to a battle. A.J. snaps a whip, making Ash jump. A.J. tells Ash that he plans to start challenging gym leaders for badges after his 100th win. Ash tells him that he has won ten battles and two badges. A.J. calls the Gyms "Failure City" and "Wimpsville", making Brock and Misty very mad.
A.J. summons his Sandshrew to battle Ash. Misty reminds him that electric attacks don't work on ground types. Ash ignores her advice and sends out Pidgeotto. Brock says that a flying type would do well against a ground type. Sandshrew rolls up into a ball and hurls itself into the air, taking Pidgeotto out quickly.
Ash sends out his Butterfree next and tells it to use Stun Spore, but A.J. cracks his whip and Sandshrew goes underground, avoiding the attack. It then bursts out of the ground, taking Butterfree out.
Ash wants Pikachu to fight and grabs Pikachu's tail, but Pikachu grabs onto the edge of the battlefield and refuses to let go of his tail. Pikachu Thunder Shocks Ash to make him let go of his tail.
Team Rocket is spying on the battle from a nearby tree. They decide to steal A.J.'s Sandshrew, then for a moment, they criticize his clothes. James whacks Meowth when he makes fun of their style.
Ash accuses A.J. of fixing the match and A.J. tells him to stop whining.
As they are leaving, Ash hears A.J. training his Pokémon and cracking his whip like mad. Ash mistakes A.J.'s training for abuse and confronts him, tells him to stop hurting his Pokémon, but A.J. tells him to mind his own business. His Sandshrew and all his other pokemon are wearing a strength intensifiers that A.J. invented. It allows Sandshrew withstand the effects of water on it. A.J. says that he is tougher on Sandshrew than his other Pokémon because it was his first Pokémon.
Ash says that a great Pokémon trainer should be friends with his Pokémon. Ash asks Brock what he thinks, but Brock only wants to know what kind of food A.J. gives his Pokémon. A.J., like Brock, makes his own Pokémon food from a secret recipe. Ash is feeling left out when Brock and Misty are interested in what A.J. does. Pikachu tries to pick up one of Sandshrew's weights, but falls backwards from the weight, unlike Sandshrew who did alternating curls rapidly.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket is outside A.J.'s tent, checking their equipment for their newest plan to catch Pikachu. They fight over changing their motto.
A.J.'s Pokémon are all very tired and he allows them a break. A.J. insults Pikachu, and Ash tries to punch him but only making them both fall into the pool. Pikachu tries on the strength intensifier, but it doesn't fit well and Pikachu rolls up into a ball. Sandshrew laughs at Pikachu and rolls up into a ball.
Team Rocket rolls into the tent in a rubber ball, ready to take Pikachu. However, they are confused on who is who, and they take Sandshrew by mistake. A.J. and everyone else realizes that Sandshrew is missing and they walk over to Pikachu. A.J. releases Pikachu from the strength intensifier. Sadly, Pikachu doesn't know where Sandshrew is either. Ash thinks that Sandshrew may have run away because he saw how much better Ash treated Pikachu. A.J. gets angry, insisting that Sandshrew would never run away because of all he and A.J. have been through together. He sends out his three Rattata, his Butterfree, and his Beedrill to look for Sandshrew.
Jessie and James argue on who should carry the bag when Sandshrew bursts out startling them all. Meowth grabs Sandshrew's tail with his teeth to prevent him from running away.
Ash tries to convince A.J.'s Pokémon to leave with him, but they ignore him. Suddenly Sandshrew bursts out of the ground with a worn out Meowth still biting its tail. Watching A.J. and his Pokémon, Brock points out how much A.J. loves them despite his brutal training methods, although Ash is still a bit skeptical.
Pikachu finds Meowth and Brock discovers that Team Rocket had kidnapped Sandshrew. Ash wakes Meowth up and gets clawed in the face. Meowth realizes that he is facing against some angry Pokémon and their trainers. He tries to figure a way out of the situation when Jessie and James show up and say their intro. Jessie tells A.J. that taking his Sandshrew was a mistake and James calls it" second-rate" really making A.J. angrt. He challenges them to a battle. Jessie sends out her Ekans and James sends out his Koffing. Sandshrew takes them both out and Meowth tries to bite Sandshrew's armored skin. All of Team Rocket's Pokémon give up when Sandshrew uses a Fissure attack.
This is A.J.'s 100th win and he sets out to earn badges. Like Ash, he wants to be the world greatest Pokémon master. They become rivals and agree to meet at a Pokémon League competition.
==Debuts==
===Character===
*A.J.
===Moves===
*Wrap
*Fissure
*Defense Curl
==Quotes==
==Trivia==
*"Who's that Pokémon?:" Sandshrew (JP, EN and KO)
*This is the last episode where Ted Lewis voices James before the role was passed to Eric Stuart.
*When Ash brags about his victories and badges his nose grows like Pinocchio, except Ash was bragging, not lying. The nose broke off when he lost to A.J. The nose growth could have been to point out the fact that Ash really hadn't actually won his badges, but they were both given to him without him even finishing the battle.
** However, the moment Ash's nose grows could be more bound with tengu than Pinocchio. According to someone of Japanese myths, tengu is a long-nosed creature known of being arrogant. And apparently, Ash is arrogant in this episode.
*The little boy with the Rattata that Ash beat before facing A.J. was voiced by Lisa Ortiz.
===Mistakes===
*A.J.'s Sandshrew uses Defense Curl even though Sandshrew could not use this move until Generation III.
===Dub differences===
*The English version of this episode mentions a real animal. Misty says that A.J. controls Sandshrew with the crack of his whip just like a Lion Tamer, but in the Japanese episode, she says that it is amazing how A.J. can control Sandshrew with the crack of his whip.
==Gallery==
==References==
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash