PS018

A Tale of Ninetales (Japanese: VS キュウコン VS ) is the 18th round of the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Plot
The chapter opens with, who is carrying coins, at the Rocket 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, is trying to get out of Celadon City, but bumps into Blue chasing after the unruly  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, comes out instead. Red is shocked and tries to call out all his Pokémon, only to send out, , , and. As Red realizes 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 and orders Charmeleon to use, but mistakenly calls it "" - much to the Pokémon's complete lack of response, and leaving Red to be trampled by the horde of wild Pokémon.

Sometime 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: and. Gazing into the distance, he spots a and realizes it is fighting something - to be precise, Red's Pikachu, being commanded by Blue. Blue orders a 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  couldn't teach it non-Electric attacks. He tells Pikachu to finish it, but the Ninetales gets away and charges towards Red while also releasing fire at 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 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 demeanor of his Pokémon, even Porygon, who used to be disobedient is now snuggling him with affection. Meanwhile, Red finds himself chased by his own Pokémon, who adopted Blue's serious attitude through training.

Major events

 * wins a from the Rocket Game Corner.
 * Blue is revealed to own a, , , and.
 * and Blue accidentally trade some of their Pokémon.
 * Red catches a and a  with help from Blue's Pokémon.
 * Blue's evolves into a  while being under Red's possession.
 * Red catches a, but Blue claims it.
 * Red and Blue return their own Pokémon to each other.

Pokémon debuts

 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)

Humans

 * People at the Rocket Game Corner
 * Blue's fan girls
 * People at the Rocket Game Corner
 * Blue's fan girls

Pokémon

 * (Poli; 's)
 * (Saur; 's)
 * (Pika; 's)
 * ('s; new)
 * ('s; new)
 * (evolves)
 * (newly evolved)
 * ('s)
 * (new)
 * ('s; new)
 * ('s)
 * (new)
 * ('s; new)

Trivia

 * Red's Snorlax is the only Pokémon that didn't appear in this chapter, nor did it mention that he was still with his original Trainer.

Errors

 * The amount of Pokémon and  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 six of Blue's Pokémon, while Blue only received three of Red's Pokémon.

In other languages
Kapitel 18 (Pocket Monsters SPECIAL) PMS018 Chapitre 18 (Pocket Monsters Special) LGA018 ポケットモンスターSPECIAL 第18話 PS018