A.J. (Pokemon)

A.J. is a Trainer who lives between Cerulean City and Vermilion City. His dream is to become a Pokemon Master with the help of his favorite Pokemon Sandshrew. He ran an unofficial Gym, which was not sponsored by the Kanto Pokemon League and therefore did not give out any Badges to anyone who defeated him.

A.J. was the character of the day in **The Path to the Pokemon League.**

In this episode, Ash (Yuri Lowenthal/Rica Matsumoto), Misty (Rachael Lillis/Mayumi Iizuka) and Brock (Eric Stuart/Yuji Ueda) were on their way to Vermilion City, when they heard a local Trainer who was undefeated, Ash, eager to challenge this Trainer, went to A.J.'s Gym and saw a sign above it, announcing that A.J. had been undefeated through about 98 matches. A.J. returned to the Gym after catching after some Wild Pokemon. Ash challenged him to battle number 99.

Ash began to say how he thought low about a person with 98 victories, but without a Gym Badge. A.J. responded by saying that he wasn't planning on challenging a Gym Leader until that he had about 100 wins in a row. Ash bragged about the two Badges that he had at the time just with ten victories, and A.J. insulted him and said he must have gotten them from weak Gym Leaders, which angered both Brock and Misty. A.J. defeated Ash with his Sandshrew without much effort, causing Ash to complain and accuse A.J. of cheating.

As the group was about to leave, they looked inside the Gym, and they saw A.J. using a whip to send his Sandshrew diving into a pool. Ash attacked A.J., thinking that he was abusing his Pokemon. A.J. explained that he was strengthening his Sandshrew's resistance against water. Sandshrew and all of A.J.'s other Pokemon were wearing "strength intensifiers". He also had all of his Pokemon exercise in rigorous routines. Ash complained about A.J. treating his Pokemon too harshly and asked Brock and Misty to back him up. However, Brock instead complimented A.J. on the specialized food he prepares for his Pokemon.

Jessie (Rachael Lillis/Miyuki Sawashiro), James (Kevin Michael Richardson/Shinichiro Miki) and Meowth (Gilbert Gottfried/Inuko Inuyama) tried to steal Ash's Pikachu, but ended up accidentally taking Sandshrew instead. Not knowing what had happened, Ash guessed that Sandshrew had run away, and offered A.J.'s other Pokemon spots on his team, but they ignored him. Sandshrew escaped from Team Rocket by using **Dig**, accidentally bringing Meowth along with him. After A.J.'s Sandshrew came back, he challenged Team Rocket to a battle, and his Sandshrew defeated Team Rocket, winning A.J. the final victory needed to set off and collect Gym Badges.

After A.J. and Sandshrew had been happily reunited, Ash realized that A.J. that he cared deeply for his Pokemon, despite being tough on them during training.

A.J. made other appearance in a flashback sequence of the original series' second Japanese opening theme song, **The Rivals**, and its English dub equivalent, **Pokemon World**. He and his Sandshrew appear with a group of other Trainers Ash encountered during his first trip through Kanto.

And he is voiced by Scott Menville in the English dub as a tribute for Maddie Blaustein and he is reprised by Nobuyuki Hiyama in the Japanese dub.