PS018

A Tale of Ninetales

VSキュウコン

VS. Kyukon

Info

Series

Pokémon Adventures

Other

Location

Celadon City outskirts

A Tale of Ninetales (Japanese: VSキュウコン VS. Kyukon) is the eighteenth round of the Red, Green & Blue arc in the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Synopsis

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

The chapter opens with Blue carrying many coins at the Celadon Game Corner, with the aim of exchanging them for a prize. Bringing Blue a Pokémon, the attendant informs Blue that unlike Pokémon that are personally caught, Pokémon exchanged at the Game Corner tend to be harder to control...

Meanwhile, Red is trying to get out of Celadon, but bumps into Blue chasing after the unruly Porygon he received at the Game Corner. After a short greeting, Blue walks off and Red mentions that 'he is as friendly as ever.' Suddenly, someone screams and Red sees that two women are being attacked by wild Pokémon. He grins at a chance to be a hero and immediately sends out Pika; however, Charmeleon comes out instead. Red is shocked and tries to call out all his Pokémon, only to send out Golduck, Machoke, Pidgeot, and Scyther. As Red realize that the Pokémon all aren't his, the two women mistake Red for "the famous Blue" because he has a Pokédex, Charmeleon, and Golduck. Pestered by the women into showing off his skills, Red decides to battle and orders Charmeleon to use Flamethrower, but mistakenly calls it 'Charmander' - much to the Pokémon's complete lack of response, and leaving Red to be trampled by the wild Pokémon horde.

Some time later, Red recalls how the women called him a fake and insulted him after his spectacular failure, grimacing that he would have won with his own Pokémon on hand. Observing that all his Pokémon were switched with Blue's, Red trembles as he realizes he doesn't know how to use them, just as the Pokémon all get up and start training by themselves with a jog. Red admires how Blue trained his Pokémon so well, but figures that they wouldn't take orders from him - unless they could bond first. Much to the Pokémon's surprise Red calls them to stop training, and join him for a swim instead. Meanwhile, Blue is training Red's Pokémon. As Poli, Saur and Pika struggle to keep up Blue studies the Pokédex and looks at the Pokémon that got switched with his, deciding to train them his way.

After three days, Red sits at a campfire with Blue's Pokémon. While the Pokémon no longer show aggression towards Red, he notes that even after this time they still don't obey him, giving him only two Pokémon captures during the three days: Diglett and Krabby. Gazing into the distance, he spots a Ninetales and realizes it is fighting something - to be precise, Red's Pikachu, being commanded by Blue. Blue orders a Toxic from Pika, who delivers the attack with a gash from its tail, and remarks that while Pikachu is an Electric Pokémon, it didn't mean a good Trainer could not teach it non-Electric attacks. He tells Pikachu to finish it but the Ninetales gets away; the latter charging at Red and releasing fire towards him. In response, Red reflexively sends out Blue's Machoke, much to Blue's anger as he catches up. The two begin arguing about how they're treating each other's Pokémon when suddenly, Blue's Machoke evolves into Machamp as it is attacked by Ninetales. With its new strength Machamp successfully manages to pin Ninetales, allowing both boys to throw their own Poké Balls at it - Red's Poké Ball captures the Ninetales, but Blue argues that his Machamp was the one who weakened it for capture, and thus claims the Ninetales.

The next day, both Trainers have re-exchanged their Pokémon and gone their separate ways. Blue furiously notes that while he trained Red's Pokémon, Red didn't help his Pokémon grow - aside from Machamp, who for some reason couldn't evolve until Red held onto it temporarily; an observation Blue chalks up to coincidence, as he ponders the strangely affectionate demeanour of his Pokémon. Meanwhile, Red finds himself chased by his own Pokémon, who adopted Blue's serious attitude through training...

Major events

• Blue wins a Porygon from the Rocket Game Corner.
• Red and Blue accidentally trade some of their Pokémon.
• Red catches a Diglett and a Krabby with help from Blue's Pokémon.
• Blue's Machoke evolves into a Machamp while being under Red's possession.
• Red catches a Ninetales but Blue claims it.
• Red and Blue return their own Pokémon to each other.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Ninetales

Characters

Humans

• Red
• Blue
• People at the Game Corner
• Two of Blue's fan girls

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Pika; Red's)
• Poliwrath (Poli; Red's)
• Ivysaur (Saur; Red's)
• Diglett (Red's; new)
• Krabby (Red's; new)
• Porygon (Blue's; new)
• Charmeleon (Blue's)
• Golduck (Blue's)
• Machoke (Blue's; evolves)
• Machamp (Blue's; newly evolved)
• Scyther (Blue's)
• Pidgeot (Blue's)
• Ninetales (Blue's; new)
• Rhydon
• Graveler
• Marowak

Trivia

• Red's Snorlax is the only Pokémon who did not appear in this chapter, nor did it mention that it was still with its original Trainer.

Errors

• The amount of Pokémon Red and Blue accidentally trade between each other before discovering this contradicts the amount of Pokémon they had with them at the time. While Red had four and Blue had six, Red received five of Blue's Pokémon, while Blue only received three of Red's Pokémon.

This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.