Back at the Pokemon Center’s trading room, Petra took out her Pokeball containing Kingler.  With Nurse Faith seeing the trade through, Petra put Kingler’s ball into the trading machine and the man she was trading with put a Pokeball with his male Jynx into the machine also.  Faith pressed a button, and the Pokeballs went through the machine.  Jynx’s Pokeball dropped out of Petra’s side of the machine, and Kingler’s came out of the man’s side.  Then, each let the Pokemon out of its Pokeball to make sure they had gotten the right one.  After this ceremonial ritual was done, Petra and Aoife happily left the center with Petra’s new Jynx.
 “What are you going to name it?” Aoife asked.  “’Cause you named your Mr. Mime, so…”
 “Yeah, so that people can tell it’s a male,” Petra said, taking out Jynx’s Pokeball and admiring it.  “Dunno.  What do you think?”
 “How about…Conchobar?” Aoife suggested.  Petra looked slightly baffled.  “I don’t know, it was just the first name that came to mind,” Aoife justified.  “Nah, you should name it something that could be a boy or a girl.  Like Chris or Pat.”
 “That’s what I was thinking,” Petra said.  “Chris and Pat are too common, though.  Maybe Laurie.”
 “That’s a boy’s name?”  Aoife had never heard of this before.
 “Of course,” Petra said.  “Ever read Little Women?”
 “Oh, right,” Aoife remembered.
 “Yeah.”  Petra nodded and let her unusual Jynx out of its Pokeball
 “Jyyyynx,” it said.
 “Laurie can walk with us for a while,” Petra said.  “We’re going to the Cerulean Gym, right?”
 “Of course!” Aoife said.  “I gotta get my next badge.  With my Bellsprout it should be easy.  And Chu-Chu of course,” she glanced at her Pikachu, who was still recovering from its encounter with the Kingler, “if it’s okay.”
 “Pikka!” Chu-Chu defended itself.  “Pika pikachu!”
 “Well,” Aoife translated, “she says she will be okay.  And we still have some potions in case anything goes wrong.”
 “Yep,” Petra said.  They turned a corner, and came face-to-face with a giant, circus-tent-like building with a Dewgong on top.  “Uh…guess this is the gym?”
 “What are all those other smaller buildings around it?” Aoife asked, indicating three houses around the gym.  One had a Starmie on top, the other had a Goldeen, and the other had a Gyarados. 
 “Those are the houses of the gym leaders,” Petra said.  “I’ve heard that three beautiful women run this gym, and I can’t wait to meet them!”
 “There are,” Aoife said.  “They’re my airheaded aunts.  One of them has a daughter, Rose, who I’ve never met.  I’ll probably fight her for my badge.”
 Aoife and Petra entered the building with the Dewgong on the roof, and were immediately surrounded by water.  But they were in no danger, as the water was in aquariums that lined the walls. 
 “Cool,” Aoife murmured, watching Goldeen and Seaking swim by while glistening Starmie rested on the bottom.  She turned to the other wall/aquarium and came face to face with a threatening monster with a gaping, fanged mouth.  “Yaaaaaah!”  Aoife screamed and hid behind Petra.
 “What?” Petra asked, turning around.  When she saw the leviathan she was unfazed.  “Oh cool, a Gyarados.”
 “Cool?!” Aoife repeated.  “It’s giant!  IT’S GONNA EAT US!”
 “It’s also behind glass,” Petra remarked, but Aoife paid no heed.  She was scrambling off to safety and bumped into a familiar, loudly dressed woman in her mid to late thirties.
 “Don’t worry,” the woman said.  “It’s my daughter’s Pokemon, and it’s…Aoife?”
 “How did you know—” Aoife started, then stopped again when she saw that it was her aunt Lily who had just made her flight for safety come to a crashing halt.
 “Been a while, hasn’t it?” Lily smiled.  Then, to Petra she said, “You look familiar too…”  Petra was about to go up and introduce herself when Lily went on, “No, don’t tell me…Celadon Gym, right?”
 “Er…no,” Petra sweatdropped slightly.  “Pewter Gym.”  “Another one too old for me,” she thought.  “Crud.  Why are there no attractive teenaged females here?  What kind of gym is this?”
 Petra’s question was soon answered when a girl about her age entered that she would probably best describe as an angel, not unlike most other girls her age she happened to meet.  This particular girl had wavy pink hair, the same shade as Lily’s, in a ponytail on the side of her head.  She had blue eyes, and wore a swimsuit the same color.  Unfortunately for Petra, she was also wearing a Cerulean Gym t-shirt (which had a picture of a Golduck holding a Cascade Badge) over her suit.  Petra prayed she would later take off the shirt.
 “Eh-heh, hi.”  Petra slobbered all over the feet of the magenta-haired one.  “I’m, ah, the Pewter City gym leader and you wouldn’t happen to have a name, would you?”
 “It’s Rose,” the girl said.  “Usually referred to by my challengers as Miss Waterflower-Brooks, or just, like, Miss Brooks if you’re lucky.  In your case, it’s Not Interested.”
 “So this is my cousin Rose,” Aoife thought.  “Blah.  She’s just like Fawn.”
 “Rose,” Lily explained, “this is your cousin Aoife, remember I told you about Uncle Ash’s and Aunt Misty’s daughter?  She’s from Pallet Town, and I assume you want to earn a badge, Aoife?”
 “Of course,” Aoife said.  “I wouldn’t come here for nothing.”
 “Great!” Rose said.  “Another win for me.”
 “Don’t count on it,” Aoife said.  “I have a Pikachu and a Bellsprout…and a water Pokemon too!”
 This caught Petra’s attention.  “When did you get a water Pokemon?” she wondered.  “I never saw…”
 “While you were fishing for that Kingler,” Aoife said.  “What else was I supposed to do?”
 “A water Pokemon, huh?” Rose asked.  “What kind?”
 “You’ll see when I use it in battle,” Aoife replied mysteriously.
 “Bet it’s, like, a Squirtle,” Rose said.  “That’s what beginners usually use as a water-type.  Or maybe it’s a, like, Magikarp!”  This idea was hilarious to Rose, which caused her to begin cackling in an annoying manner.  Even Petra got annoyed.
 “Let’s just have the battle now, okay?” Aoife said.
 “Chu!” Chu-Chu threatened the Pokemon in the aquarium.  “Pika!  Pikachu, pika pika chu!”
 “Fine,” Rose said.  “Just don’t, like, complain when you lose, okay?  Train harder and come back and don’t be a sore loser like your dad.”  She flounced off into the battle arena, Petra following along at her heels and trying to look up her t-shirt, and Aoife muttering along behind, stinging from the slight at her family.

(Who's that Pokemon?  It's Gyarados!)

 “I will use 4 Pokemon,” Rose said.  “You may use, like, as many as you have, which probably isn’t a lot so I’m not worried.”
 Aoife silently counted them off in her head…Chu-Chu, Nidoran, Rattata, Spearow, Bellsprout…and her water Pokemon.  “I have six,” she bragged.  “More than you.  Should be easy.”
 “Don’t get cocky, Aif,” Petra advised her from the stands.  “You may have more Pokemon and you have some that are effective against water types, but some of it depends on luck of the draw, really.”
 “Right,” Aoife nodded.
 Meanwhile, Rose had ascended to the high-dive.  She slipped out of her t-shirt and threw it down for one of her Cerulean Gym protégé trainers to catch.  Petra was envious of the trainer at first, but was quickly distracted by this opportunity to see Rose in a bikini.  Which she snapped out of again, remembering that it was Aoife she was supposed to be cheering for.
Rose dove gracefully into the water, surfaced, and climbed onto one of the icebergs floating in the arena (one of which Aoife was also standing on, although hers was closer to the side of the pool because she wasn’t quite as adept at swimming as her mother).  She clapped her hands twice to signal to her Pokemon, calling out, “Horsea, I choose you!”
The tiny blue seahorse popped above the water, half-neighing and half-giggling, “Hor-seeeeea!”
“Looks rather wimpy, so should be no problem,” Aoife reasoned.  “Go Bellsprout!”
With a “Bellsprout sprout!” her new grass-type appeared on an iceberg near Horsea, although Rose wasted no time in trying to knock it off.
“Water gun now!”  Out of its trumpet-shaped snout, Horsea spat water at Bellsprout, and it tumbled into the water.  The plant flailed around in the water, waving its stems.  “Sprooooout!”
“Get back up, Bellsprout!” Aoife encouraged it.  “You can do it!”
And sure enough, it could.  The weedy arms managed to pull Bellsprout back onto the water, so this strategy wouldn’t work for Rose, not on this Pokemon.
“Ink it, Horsea,” she said.
“Ink?  Huh?” Aoife, having never heard of this attack, watched as Horsea spit globs of ink on Bellsprout.
“Beeeell…” it staggered around, not unlike how Petra’s former Bellsprout had when Mina used her confusion attack.
“Wash it off in the water!  Quick!” Aoife urged.  Bellsprout again took a dip in the arena pool, but this time of its own accord, and swabbed at its face with its leaves until the ink washed off.
As Rose considered what move to use next, Aoife ordered, “Absorb now, Bellsprout!”
Bellsprout obliged and glowed green as it drained HP off of Horsea.  The seahorse slumped, then started to sink.
“Crud,” Rose returned the sunk Pokemon, then clapped her hands for another.  “Seaking, go!”  One of the Pokemon they had seen in the aquarium, an orange, black, and white fish, surfaced and grunted its name a couple times, trying to look like a worthy opponent.
“Give Bellsprout a rest,” Petra advised.  Aoife took Petra’s advice and returned Bellsprout momentarily.
“Keep the backseat driving to a minimal,” Rose snapped, a bit put off at having Aoife beat one of her Pokemon.  “Well, Aoife?  Which will you use?”
“My new water Pokemon,” Aoife said, hurling her Pokeball onto an iceberg.  “Go!”
A very cheeky looking Pokemon materialized on the berg and stuck its tongue out at Rose and Seaking.
“It’s a Shellder,” Aoife grinned, stating the obvious.
“Like, duh, I know about water Pokemon.”  Rose rolled her eyes.
“Good choice, Aifs,” Petra commended her.  “You could have used that against me and I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
“I’ll teach it to, like, have some manners,” Rose said, “and like, to not insult my Seaking.  So use Horn Attack, Seaking!”
“Seaking!” it bellowed, charging towards Shellder.
“Withdraw!” Aoife told it, but it didn’t need to be told.  Shellder sensed danger and closed its shell, and Seaking’s horn got chipped as it cracked into Shellder’s defensive mechanism.
“Try again, Seaking!” Rose urged.  Seaking bashed into Shellder multiple more times, and as a result of its and Rose’s stubbornness, the tip of its horn broke off and sunk to the bottom of the pool, thus rendering it almost useless.
“Shellder!” Aoife’s Pokemon squealed, sticking its tongue out once more and emerging from its shell.
“Seaking, return.”  Rose returned the oversized koi fish dejectedly.  “Two more Aoife, two that you’re sure not to beat.”
“Try me,” Aoife dared her.  “I’m ready for whatever you throw at me.”
“But, like, will your Pokemon be ready for what my Pokemon, like, throw at them?” Rose smirked; apparently this was a clever statement for her to come up with.
“Of course,” Aoife said.  “And I think I’ll use Spearow this time.”
“Good,” Petra said to herself.  “Rotate Pokemon so one doesn’t get too tired out.  Spearow needs the battling experience too.”
“Fine,” Rose said.  “Tell your Spearow to get ready to lose to my…Staryu!”  A gold starfish Pokemon with a radiant jewel in the middle came hurtling out of the waters, making a karate-like kiai.
“Go Spearow!”  Aoife sent out her flying Pokemon.
“It’ll be, like, way difficult to predict the outcome of this match,” Rose commented.  “Flying type and, like, water type have no particular weakness or strength over each other.  So it’s like, the best Pokemon wins kinda thing.  It depends on the level and the trainer.”  Clapping again, she commanded her Pokemon, “Staryu, double edge!”
“Hya!” the strange Pokemon yelled, spinning out of the water and flying up to hit Spearow.  But it missed, and Spearow flew out of the way.
“Good job, Spearow!” Aoife cheered.  “Now try Wing Attack!”
Spearow pointed its wings at Staryu, who was now back in the water, and fired at it with its sharp-tipped feathers.
“Go underwater, Staryu!” Rose said anxiously.  “Then use minimize!”
Staryu dunked itself underwater and swam into the depths, then literally shrank itself.  It came up out of the water, now only a fraction of its former size.
“What the…” Aoife stared.  “That’s not fair!”
“It’s an official move,” Rose said smugly.  “Legalized by the Pokemon League.  It’s perfectly fair.”  To the now tiny Staryu, she ordered, “Hydro Pump!”
For such a small creature, the shrunken star produced quite a powerful jet of water, which drenched Spearow and pummeled it into the wall.  Now unable to fly, Spearow was out of the match, so Aoife returned it.
“That’s okay,” Aoife said.  “I can use Chu-Chu now.  Ready, Chu-Chu?”
“Pikka!” Chu-Chu said triumphantly, pumping its tiny fist (about the same size as Rose’s Staryu currently was).  It jumped down onto an iceberg, already knowing what to do without Aoife telling it.  It dipped its tail in the water, and with a “CHUUU!” it zapped the HP out of the high-level Staryu.  Now not so confident, the Staryu plunged back down to the bottom of the pool to recuperate, its jewel flashing an emergency signal.
“Only one more,” Aoife said.  “One more to beat and I get my badge!”
“You say so,” Rose said, still proud with only one Pokemon left.  “But this one is impossible to beat.  Ring the gong!” she called to one of her protégé trainers.  “Gyarados, come play!”
“G-Gyarados?” Aoife repeated.  “The sea monster thing that I saw earlier?  That’s her Pokemon?”
“Uh-oh…” Petra said to herself.  “Aoife might be in trouble this time…”
 

Author's Notes
Whoo, cliffhanger.  I love doing this to people.  It was getting long enough already, and the next episode is where she goes to the Seaside Cottage and meets Bill, so I can tack the ending of this on to that.  And then...tada!  Azure City time!  So that means they're getting a new traveling companion the episode after next.  Whee.  Oh, just so you know where the heck I got the name Conchobar from: it's an Irish name, and I think it was the king of Munster or someplace.  Or Ulster, or Leinster, or Connaught.  Whatever.
 
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