After beating Red and waking up back in Mount Silver, AJ felt aimless.

The voices had been telling him for the past day that this was the end, the final battle, that taking down Red would be the ultimate proof of his superiority as a Trainer.

So why did the voices still haunt him?

Even they didn't seem sure. He heard them quarrel, unsure what to do next. Should they battle Red again, just to establish their victory even further? Should they go up against the Elite Four once more? Should they seek out Silver? Nobody was sure. AJ himself wasn't sure. What was left to do in a world where he was Champion, had beaten every Gym Leader in both regions, and had taken out his greatest rival?

As the voices argued, AJ meandered from Mount Silver to Viridian City. He went through the Elite Four at Indigo Plateau again, but he couldn't summon up even the exhilaration by proxy that he'd felt before. When he'd won against the Elite Four the first time, it had meant something. He had become Champion, the best Trainer in the region, even if it hadn't really been his own work. But now, why bother? What could the voices accomplish by succeeding at the same challenge a second time?

He won, of course. His Pokemon had grown stronger in the past few days, while his opponents had been too busy with their duties to train properly. But it was a hollow victory.

AJ wasn't quite sure how he'd arrived back in New Bark Town after the battle, but it was far from the first time that he'd passed out and woken up far away because of the voices. At this point, it was practically par for the course.

The voices still fought over their next move. There were fewer of them now, and many expressed not only dissent but confusion. The voices which had pushed him towards goal after goal, gym after gym, now lacked a clear purpose.

There was, however, one last plan that the mob kept suggesting over and over again.

JOEY OR RIOT

JOEY OR RIOT

MARRY JOEY OR RIOT

JOEY OR RIOT

A consensus was reached, a decision made.

The voices rushed him on, taking no time to stop at home or appreciate the sights of New Bark Town, running from the weakest of Pokemon to avoid spending time on even the easiest possible battles. Roads blended into houses blended into more roads. It had taken over three hours for them to guide him this far when their journey had just begun; now, after a mere half an hour had passed, AJ could spot Joey's silhouette in the distance.

Joey…

AJ hadn't seen Joey since before he was Champion, before he'd beaten the Elite Four with a Raticate of his own. Joey would appreciate that, he knew; maybe Joey's Rattata and his Raticate could be friends. But, though Joey had called many times throughout his journeys in Kanto, he'd never been able to take control long enough to get a word in edgewise.

But there he was, standing on the path in the same spot as when they'd first battled. AJ had vaguely expected Joey to look different somehow, to have the length of AJ's own journey reflected in his face, but no, Joey was the same grinning kid he'd seen blocking the road before.

Had it only been two weeks? AJ had been counting the sunrises and sunsets, and the voices stated the time occasionally, but it was hard to believe that so much had happened so fast. It felt like the journey had taken months, years, an entire lifetime.

But there Joey was, looking the same as he had before, the one constant in a life that had become defined by utter chaos.

"AJ! Is that you?"

AJ walked up to Joey, and the two faced one another.

"Hey, AJ, good to see you! I heard you became the Champion, is that right?"

He paused, waiting for a response from AJ. That was a new one. But no matter how hard he tried, AJ couldn't give an affirmative response, or any response at all.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Joey continued. "Congratulations! I saw it all on the news! Your team got really strong, huh? And I saw you've got a Raticate now, too! I wonder if your Raticate is as strong as my Rattata? I've been battling a lot, you know. I battled Mikey an hour ago, and I beat his Spearow and his Rattata with one Hyper Fang each. He didn't know what hit him! But that's what he gets for not training like me."

AJ managed to muster up a smile. Joey was rattling off stories of his Rattata again, like nothing had changed. He was Champion now, but Joey still saw him as just another Trainer to confide in, somebody who would appreciate hearing of his Rattata's successes even though his own successes were on a whole different level.

"We'll have to battle again sometime, alright? I mean, I don't know… I probably can't beat you, not when you've been training so much more than me…"

Were those tears in Joey's eyes as his head faced the ground? For one fleeting instant, AJ saw not the youngster who proudly talked of his Rattata's small victories, but the kid he'd tried to comfort after their first battle, the friendless kid who'd never won a battle before.

Then Joey raised his head and looked back at AJ, and his perpetual grin returned.

"But that won't stop me, you hear? One day I'll be able to take you on! And I'm gonna be the Champion, just like you! Me and Rattata against the world, that's all it takes! And I'll give you a ring…"

I DEMAND JOEY

JOEY MARRY US

GIVE US A RING

OPERATION MARRY JOEY

HE WILL RING US

CALL JOEY

AJ was beginning to question which of the voices calling for friendship with Joey was his own. Usually, talking to Joey made the voices quiet down, but they were just as loud as they'd been before now, maybe even louder. And they all spoke of Joey, talking with Joey, calling Joey, even marrying Joey… But were any of these desires his own, or were the voices trying to manipulate not only his actions, but his very emotions?

Usually he could remember. Usually he could think when he spoke with Joey, hear the sound of his own thoughts over those of the voices. But not this time.

He knelt down, stood up, knelt down, stood up…

"…whenever I want to battle! Or maybe just to chat, you know? It's always nice talking to you, AJ. I just got done with a big training session for my Rattata, you wouldn't believe how many Caterpie we-"

Up.

The voices led AJ away, made him walk past Joey towards the route above.

"Hey, I was talking to you! You can't just wander off while we're talking! I still have a ton of stuff to tell you about!"

Up start down b up right a right up up…

AJ kept walking away. He couldn't help it. The voices, which had seemed to care so much about him being with Joey, were now pushing them apart.

"You know how rude that is, just walking away like that? You can't even say you're happy for me? I congratulated you on being Champion- doesn't that mean anything? What, you think you're too cool for me now that you're some bigshot?"

Joey was just barely visible on the horizon now, and the voices were making AJ turn away from him, separating the two even further. He could just barely hear Joey yelling one last sentence at him.

"Sometimes I wonder why we're even friends."

Then the trees that lined the path blocked his view.

AJ tried to convince himself that Joey hadn't meant it, that it was a fit of anger that would soon pass, that he'd get another phone call soon enough once Joey realized that he didn't have anybody else who cared about his Rattata's latest victory. But he couldn't be sure. Joey had never lashed out at him like that before. Maybe he'd been building up that resentment this whole time… maybe, all along, this was how Joey had really felt about him…

The voices didn't say much now. Only a few remained, and there were no grand schemes being planned, no place that they aimed to go. A few still petitioned for him to be with Joey, apparently thinking nothing of Joey's professed anger, but still did not lead him back. He wandered in circles as always, but the circles weren't leading in any one direction. There was nothing left for them to do.

And now that they had lost their one remaining purpose… maybe they were ready to let go.

AJ pulled with all his might to move back towards Joey, just in case their strength had decreased with their number, just in case this one time he could actually win the fight. He knew that it would almost certainly end in one of the two ways such attempts always ended: either very little would happen, or he would collapse, unable to move under of his own will or that of the voices.

After a few seconds of struggle, he fell to the ground. The patch of grass where he'd landed was especially muddy, and AJ wondered how much of the mud would remain attached to his clothes once he got up. A wild Caterpie climbed on top of his immobile body, looked at his face, and then crawled back off. The voices protested their loss of control in the typical repetitive fashion.

RIOT RIOT RIOT RIOT RIOT RIOT RIOT RIOT…

But as the minutes passed by, with AJ left to observe the shifting patterns of the clouds and the gentle sway of trees in the wind, the voices slowly began to quiet.

RIOT RIOT Riot Riot Riot riot riot… riot riot riot… riot riot… riot…

Before he knew it, he couldn't hear them at all.

They had grown louder and softer before, and almost disappeared when talking to Joey, but never before since leaving New Bark had AJ's mind been filled with such utter silence.

His mind filled with wild ideas immediately, but he tried to silence them, not wanting to get his hopes up. He'd thought that he'd escaped before: the first time he'd woken up at home, the first time he'd woken up at a strange Pokemon Center, the first time Joey called, the first time he'd collapsed and the voices had rioted, the time he'd arrived home after being the Champion, even after defeating Red… Time after time, he'd been led to believe that he'd regained his freedom, only to have his hopes dashed in an instant. Was this time really going to be any different?

Well, there was only one way to find out…

AJ lifted his head.

His neck ached, and the world spun around for a moment, but none of that mattered. What mattered was that he could lift his head.

He pinched himself, thinking that this might all be a dream, his mind finally retreating into fantasy to escape the terrible reality of his helplessness or falling into true and lasting unconsciousness after nearly two weeks without food or water. The pinch hurt, though. Pinches weren't supposed to hurt in dreams, right? That's what people always said, anyway…

He set his hand against the ground, wincing as it made a squelching sound and the mud splattered across his already-filthy arm and clothes. And, with a bit of effort, AJ was able to pull himself off the ground.

His first step had him tripping on a stray rock and falling on the ground again, this time face-first. But he got up and wiped the mud from his eyes and kept going, step by unsteady step.

His mind was clear now. He knew his own thoughts, his own desires, could separate them from the mental manipulation of the mob. And there was one thing he had to do.

AJ regained strength as he went along, and soon his walking turned into running. An unnoticed ledge sent him flying into the ground yet again, but he got up in a moment and kept running, his momentum still building.

The subject of his focus grew nearer and nearer.

"AJ?" Joey called out. "Is that you?"

He accidentally ran right past Joey at first, but doubled back and slowed down, panting.

"I- I thought-" Joey stuttered.

Without a word, AJ gave his dearest friend a hug.

Joey's eyes grew wide, and a pinkish tint rose to his cheeks. As the two separated, AJ noticed that Joey's outfit, usually mostly clean except for a few stray grass stains, was now covered in mud and dirt and slime. His own dirt now stained not only himself but Joey. He had to look horrible, caked in the debris gathered from crossing two regions, but Joey didn't seem to care.

"I…" AJ took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you… it's complicated. But I won't walk away now."

"…so you can talk. I was starting to wonder."

AJ laughed. How long had it been since he'd laughed? Too long, far, far too long. "Yeah, I can talk. Like I said, it's complicated. I'll explain it later."

"I can't wait to hear about it. I've been talking so much, it's only fair I give you a turn now, you're probably sick of hearing about every little thing that happens to me anyway…"

AJ shook his head. "Not at all. What were you saying about your latest training session?"

Joey giggled, and the pink tint of his cheeks grew brighter. "I thought you'd never ask."