PS038

Long Live the Nidoqueen?! (Japanese: VS ニドクイン VS Nidoqueen) is the 38th round of the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Plot
With revealing Aero,  barely realizes the boy's last-minute subterfuge as Red commands a  from Aero, fainting Giovanni's Beedrill in one hit and creating a fog that blankets the field. As the fog clears, Red is shocked to see Giovanni gone as the Viridian Gym begins to shake ominously and collapse. Red attempts to rescue Poli, but is hurt by falling debris and barely manages to escape as the Gym comes crumbling down.

Getting to his feet, Red sees a who Red reasons must have used  to destroy the Gym, while Giovanni compliments Red's ability having forced him to switch to Pokémon of his type specialty, revealing his entire team of Ground Pokémon. Red calls on Aero, but Giovanni easily has use  to faint Aero, before ordering  to drop Red in a. The attack leaves Red barely hanging on for his life and separated from his Poké Balls, as Giovanni declares himself the legendary master of Ground-type Pokémon. Quickly, Red attempts to make a switch to his other Pokémon, but Giovanni has use  to break the opening mechanisms of the Poké Balls, preventing Red from any further action.

Giovanni praises Red on his bravery, but also reveals to Red that while he went on his journey Team Rocket already had control of the cities he visited. The master plan was to send all Pokémon captured by Team Rocket to Celadon City for experimentation and bio-engineering, then to Saffron City for battle training. The Pokémon were then shipped via Vermilion City to Cinnabar Island by the S.S. Anne, because the opposing Gym Leaders made a northern transfer impossible, before being brought to Viridian Forest to reawaken their primal instincts, creating an unstoppable Pokémon army for Giovanni in his supposed absence.

In light of this knowledge, Red realizes that he is the only one who can stop Giovanni's plan, and to his surprise Pika rolls its Poké Ball into his hand, being the only Pokémon Dugtrio didn't trap. Hollering his determination to defeat Giovanni and Team Rocket, Red lunges for his final assault, as Giovanni declares Red unable to order an attack from Pika in time before impales him with. Much to the Leader's horror, however, Pika proves itself as it appears from the Poké Ball in time, already electrified and ready to attack. As Giovanni and Nidoqueen stand stunned, Red orders a crippling that faints Nidoqueen, and heavily damages Giovanni.

Red explains that he had bypassed the drawback of Pika charging itself for attacking by having it charge inside the Poké Ball, giving it time to attack before Nidoqueen could attack. Giovanni screams the impossibility of Red holding Pika's Poké Ball with it heavily charged with electricity, but by the corner of his eye realizes that Red had been wearing electric-proof gloves he had taken from Lt. Surge. Lamenting his loss to be cemented by his organization's technology, Giovanni passes out—to which Red responds Giovanni's downfall was due to the pain he sensed in Pokémon that Team Rocket had inflicted, before the boy passes out himself.

Sometime later, Red awakens at a medical facility, much to the relief of Pika and the he'd met earlier. The girl explains that she had found Red unconscious at the edge of Viridian Forest, and that the townspeople had gone into the forest to calm the raging Pokémon there. As Red offers his help, the girl expresses a wish for a Leader to replace the previous one who had disappeared from the ruins of the Gym; an offer Red accepts as he races away, promising to become the best Gym Leader ever.

Major events

 * wins the battle with.
 * Red heads off to the Pokémon League.

Humans

 * Lt. Surge (flashback)
 * Koga (flashback)
 * Sabrina (flashback)
 * s (flashback)
 * Koga (flashback)
 * Sabrina (flashback)
 * s (flashback)

Pokémon

 * (Poli; 's)
 * (Saur; 's)
 * (Pika; 's)
 * (Snor; 's)
 * (Vee; flashback)
 * (Gyara; 's)
 * (Aero; 's)
 * (flashback)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * ('s)
 * (Lt. Surge's; ×2; flashback)
 * (Lt. Surge's; flashback)
 * (Lt. Surge's; multiple; flashback)
 * (Koga's; flashback)
 * (Koga's; flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (Harry's; flashback)
 * (Harry's; flashback)
 * (×2)
 * (×2)
 * (×2)

Trivia

 * The English title of this chapter is based on the saying "Long live the queen!"
 * The phrase is similar in origin of an earlier round's title.

Errors

 * Pika's should not have had any effect on 's, as it is a.
 * In the translation,  incorrectly refers to  as Nidoqueen.

In other languages
Kapitel 38 (Pocket Monsters SPECIAL) PMS038 Chapitre 38 (Pocket Monsters Special) LGA038 PS038