Days went by, as Josh, Ryan, and Ash did interviews and post-Conference photo shoots. They were shepherded by League officials to various journalists, TV show hosts, and celebrities. Every day was a fresh dose of the surreal, a reminder of overnight fame that each of them was sure they would never get used to. Eventually, Ash and Ryan were allowed to return to their homes in Pallet Town, which had remained blissfully quiet. Their parents received assurances from the League that the press and fans would be strictly limited from any visits to their homes and that their privacy would be protected. New laws had to be passed, given how young the three finalists were.

Josh would not be able to return home until much later. As the newest Champion, and the youngest ever, anyone who was anyone was dying to meet him. Ash, Ryan, Jake, and all his former classmates in Pallet Town would go for weeks being unable to turn on the TV without seeing yet another piece, commercial, or interview featuring Josh Dale, age 13, Champion of the Indigo League.

Ryan stayed indoors most days. Letting his arm heal. Watching Avery Oak pack for her eventual move to Goldenrod City. He didn't speak much to anyone during that time. For once, his family gave him his space and didn't think any less of him. It wasn't until Professor Oak came by that Ryan finally allowed someone into his room.

The Professor had come in, sat in Ryan's office chair which he usually used to play on his Xbox, and turned to face his grandson, sitting in his bed. The silver mirror Ryan had won sat at the top of Ryan's dresser. Ryan stared out the window, not looking at Professor Oak. For a long time, neither spoke.

"… That was the best match I've ever seen," Professor Oak finally said. "I'm proud of you, Ryan."

Ryan turned back to look at his grandfather. He held out his left hand and the Professor took it in his own. Ryan squeezed his hand.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Ryan said. "For everything."

After the Professor's visit, Ryan started to spend less time in his room. He stopped endlessly analyzing his final match, trying to think of what he had done wrong and how he could have won. It didn't matter to him anymore. He started having Ash over every day. They watched movies together, opened packages featuring freshly-printed League cards featuring themselves, and Ash played through Ryan's videogames while Ryan was content to simply watch. Ash played through all of Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and Wind Waker.

Together they watched as Josh stuttered, fumbled, and got red in the face in every interview.

"You'd think he'd start getting better at this, by now," Ash said with a smirk.

"What makes you say that?" Ryan said with a laugh.

Finally, Josh came home, just in time for Christmas. The snow had fallen heavily in the days before he had come back, and all of Pallet Town was coated in a thick layer of snow that made each house indistinguishable from the rest. Flying on Hermes's back, Josh landed in front of the wrong house. Ash came out of the house, with her parents in tow, smiling at him. Together they went to Ryan's house for the Christmas dinner.

The longer the day went, the more time Josh spent with his friends, the more he returned to his old self. He stopped agonizing over every word he said and went back to the same kid they had known their whole lives, and Josh felt the greatest relief in knowing that hardly anything had changed at all back in Pallet Town. It was still his home, and it was still a small patch of the world where he would be treated the same way as he always had been.

"I missed you guys," Josh said quietly as he hugged his friends.

When they got a moment to themselves, the three of them pulled out their three Pokedexes and checked the entries. They had 146, in total. The Pokedex still listed three entries as blank. The three of them smiled to each other conspiratorially, their minds already filling with the ideas of what awaited them in their next adventure.