Pokemon (c) Nintendo
I own nothing.
The Voices Phenomenon
We all have that feeling that there is a little voice inside our head telling us what to do, where to go, which Pokémon to use in a battle. Most of us call this our conscience and it usually helps dictate our daily lives. Most people have only one conscience. But what if you had more than one?
In the past few weeks, there has been news from the Kanto and Johto region that several young trainers have not one, but hundreds and even thousands of consciences controlling their lives. One case had reported that he heard more than 100,000 voices in his journey. Naturally, these reports have caused panic across the regions, with some parents outright forbidding their child to go on a Pokémon journey.
But what exactly is it that is raising so much concern? No one knows for sure; while the symptoms are that of early and severe schizophrenia, most experts agree that this is not the case. Several things connect these cases: for one, nearly all of them are young males that started hearing things a little before they are to set out on their Pokémon journey.
Another is that the usual way to treat schizophrenia has proven highly ineffective. Psychic therapists nearly go mad when trying to find the source and medication is mostly, if not always, tossed aside along with nuggets and moon stones. Even channelers are helpless in getting rid of the many voices in their head, exorcism proving useless and unable to cure them.
The disease also brings a case of severe insomnia. Reports say that trainers suffering under this phenomenon do not rest, instead pushing their bodies past the limit and often going for days without sleep. The only time they have some form of respite is when they pass out. Studies have shown that afflicted trainers have a 34% chance of whiting out, usually after they lose a battle. Some researchers theorize that it's because the brain simply can't handle the trauma of losing a Pokémon battle and shuts down in response.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. With so many voices telling them what to do, it can become fairly disorientating. "I'm lucky, I'm pretty sure I have less than 100," Firered* sighed, "Some of us have over 200 and one guy had over 1,000 by the time he's done. And the number just keeps growing..." We gave him some time to calm down before he continued. "I'm scared, I don't want to end up like Red*, with tens of thousands of voices getting me stuck in a building. I don't want that to happen to me…" The average amount of multiple consciences seems to be around 250, but the most widely known has an average of over 50,000, with the number fluctuating at times. Unfortunately we were unable to interview Red as he was having a crisis over releasing a dozen of his Pokémon to retrieve one.
Speaking of Pokémon, the rise in this phenomenon has led to an increase in released Pokémon. "It's really putting a strain on our resources," Nurse Joy said as she was handling a Farfetch'd, a Gloom, and a Raticate, "We can't keep up at this rate." While studies indicate that Pokémon battling with trainers have an increase in strength by 50% compared to wild ones, they also lose the ability to take care of themselves the longer they stay with them.
Then we get to the oddity of idol worshipping. "The legendaries must be glaring at us so hard right now for [worshipping a fossil]," Gold* joked, "Seriously though, most of us are choosing the helix or dome fossil as our god and following different ideologies concerning politics. Heck, we're choosing Pokemon as prophets for crying out loud!" We asked him which side he chose, to which he laughed. "Dome, admittedly. I think most of us joke around with the religion thing, though."
Not all feel as though multiple consciences are a bad thing, though. Some believe that it's helping them become a better person, while others have grown increasingly fond of their antics. "They're like family," Crystal* said, "Or a community, either word works. They all joke around with each other and help me on my journey to become a Pokémon master. Really, I'm no different from the other kids and I can't imagine having the voices disappear."
There have also been times when, instead of doing things chaotically, the consciences take a more civil approach. "You know how some of us shout, 'Anarchy! No, democracy!' and all that?" Yellow* laughed, "I think we all have this weird voting system in our heads that decide whether it takes a while for us to do something, but at least we know what we're doing, and doing things faster, but we have no idea what's going on." He smiled at his starter Pokemon, a Pikachu. "It's times like that that my buddy here looks at me weirdly. I'm usually more or less myself, though, so it's all good."
As worrying as this new disease might seem, there is hope. One case reported that the voices stopped once he completed his journey. "It was weird," Blue* commented, "One second I was hearing a bunch of people in my head yelling 'OMG' and 'YEEES,' the next they just…disappeared. Ffftt. Gone, just like that. Heh, I was so relieved that I passed out right after registering in the Hall of Fame and didn't wake up until my body caught up on its sleep."
With the alertness of the situation rising, steps have been taken to find a cure. Blue, after becoming champion, has since spent his time educating people about his experience and finding a cure alongside Professor Oak. Former leader of Team Rocket Giovanni has created the Twitch Plays Organization to raise awareness after encountering the well-known case Red several times. Yellow has also taken an interest in raising awareness, by creating a television series partially based on his experience. "I want people to know that despite everything, [the afflicted] are not alone," he said, "I want them to know how we feel when we can't get anything done, but I also want to show them that the bonds we make on our journey are stronger than anything and that friendship wins overall. We may act crazy, but I want to show people the fun we have with our friends as we do so." He paused for a moment before adding with a laugh, "It'll probably only last a season, though. I don't really have high hopes for it, but oh well." With the few cases understanding how people work together as one, perhaps we can learn a thing or two from them and find the meaning of the word community too.
*Names have been changed to give privacy.
Help I'm obsessed with Twitch Plays Pokemon someone stop me. *flails* If you guys want the link to the Twitch Plays, I put them in the artist comments of this piece on my DA account. Anyway, wrote this because I couldn't do my essays because my dad's friends were downstairs. God I hate company. orz
So blatant references are blatant. :'D Fun fact about the Pokemon anime, apparently it was supposed to end in one season and the first movie was supposed to be the finale. GUESS WHAT DIDN'T HAPPEN. 8'D Also I suck at articles, whoops. Hope you enjoy!