For the record, I tend to count intermissions as stuff that happened, but not involving the Voices. All the crazy glitch shit Red did on Cinnabar Island happened over the course of, like, a year, long after the Voices ditched him.

Chapter Text

As Dipper’s shoving the door of the Golden Garden flower shop shut, he notices that the Voices have quieted down. Instead of providing a running commentary on his every passing thought or trying to spot people they recognise, most of them are clumped up together, whispering to each other so fast Dipper can’t figure out what they’re talking about. There are still a few Voices on steering, but they don’t seem to have any destination in mind, so it’s easy enough for Dipper to push them a little so he can look inside the shop window and properly study the flowers.

He’s watching the shop’s tangela coax a reluctant camellia into blooming when the big huddle of Voices suddenly stops talking. The relative silence is stark enough that Dipper straightens up, half wanting to check behind him to see where they’ve gone. The non-huddle Voices murmur softly, things like AWW THE FLOWERS WERE NICE and HERE WE GO AGAIN.

KID, a lot of the Voices say, all at once, so loud that Dipper’s vision flashes purple for a second, WE NEED TO TALK.

One of the first things Dipper learned about the Voices is that it’s way easier to get them to listen by talking to them than by thinking. Talking to thin air gets him weird looks from the people around him, but Dipper got those anyway even before the Voices. Letting the Voices use his hands to slip his bike out of his bag, he asks, “About what?”

OH FOR HELIX’S SAKE YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS HOW DIPPY IS THIS KID WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU – it takes a second for it to click, but judging from how frustrated they are, there’s only one thing they can mean. Just like Dipper, the Voices want to go on a pokémon journey, but from the moment he met them it’s been incredibly obvious that they mean that in a totally different way than he does.

On the first day, Dipper told the Voices about his plans to make a study of how plantlike pokémon interact with their environment and how they assist humans in daily life. The Voices told him that monotype teams were way more trouble than they were worth, but there were cool grass types in the Kanto/Johto area they could catch. COOL GRASS TYPE LOL WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN GUYS DON’T FEED THE TROLLS YOU CAN SHUT UP TOO and throughout the ensuing massive argument the Voices threw around memories of pokémon fighting gym leaders and criminal masterminds and threats to the world itself. Dipper watched in growing confusion until he realised where the misunderstanding was. “Oh, I’m not a combat trainer! I’m going on a research journey!”

The Voices have absolutely no idea what that is. Filling out the pokédex, that they can understand, but staying in a town for months at a time? Making careful observations of the world around you? Only having two or three pokémon, and studying lots of the same species? Doing the same thing, in the same place, with the same people and pokémon, day in, day out? The Voices don’t understand how that can even be called a pokémon journey, let alone why anyone would do it instead of crossing the region and becoming the best of the best and maybe saving the world along the way. Dipper’s happy enough to coast along with their whistle-stop tour of Johto – he’s going to write an amazing report when this is all over – but every so often his idea of what a pokémon journey is runs up against theirs and things get loud.

WE’RE THREE BADGES IN AND WE STILL DON’T HAVE A FULL TEAM WE NEED TYPE COVERAGE THAT ACTUALLY LISTENS TO WHAT WE SAY MORTY IS GOING TO DESTROY US WE’RE GONNA HAVE TO DO THE ELITE FLOOR AGAIN AAAAAAAGH “You know, if you don’t want to fight this Morty guy, we don’t have to,” says Dipper, as he gets on his bike. THIS MORTY GUY WE NEED SURF TO GET TO CIANWOOD DIPSTICK WE COULD BEAT HIM WITH GRASS TYPES BUT WE’D HAVE TO GRIND LIKE CRAZY AND WE’LL NEED TO FILL OUT OUR TEAM EVENTUALLY WHAT KIND OF LOSER DOESN’T WANT TO BEAT THE LEAGUE NO KIDDING HOW DOES A TRAINER PROTECT THEMSELF WITHOUT A TEAM GUYS GUYS IT’S EGG TIME!

Dipper’s head jerks down DON’T DO THAT ASSHOLES WE’RE TRYING TO BALANCE HERE and sure enough, the little incubator attached to his pokéball belt is beeping. Dipper’s legs kick out, skidding the bike to a halt in the middle of the street. He taps the button on the incubator and the odd egg he got from the daycare springs into his hands, shaking just like Elm’s mystery egg did when it was about to hatch. The Voices are excited because SHINY SHINY TYPE COVERAGE BETS CLOSE IN THREE C’MON GIVE US A SMOOCHUM SHINY SHINY SHINY and Dipper is interested in seeing what comes out of the egg, but he’s mostly excited because this egg used to belong to Red.

Oak and Elm live near enough to each other that their labs work together a lot, so as Elm’s official junior aide Dipper grew up with Red and Blue. They were both way more interested in battling than he was, and Dipper knows they thought he was a bit dumb, but the three boys still played together and talked about their dreams whenever Oak or Elm made the trip. During their pokémon journeys, though, they must have changed. Especially Red – Blue was always kind of a jerk, but during their one conversation after the League Red snapped at Dipper that all their old research projects were pointless wastes of time before marching out of Oak’s lab. Since then, Blue’s stayed a gym leader in the same town like he doesn’t even care about rising to the top, and Red’s completely disappeared.

The Voices are absolutely convinced that Red is on Mt. Silver, and have absolutely no idea why Dipper told Elm and the police instead of dashing up the mountain himself. Dipper’s not exactly searching for Red, but he does have his pokédex and he does want to talk to him again. If Dipper’s rambling path across the main routes of Johto (his attempt to explore the woods around Violet City sent the Voices into a full-on panic) just happens to cross with Red’s… It was a faint hope, until the daycare lady started talking about the young man just his age with red eyes and a notebook who brings odd eggs into the daycare every so often.

It isn’t much, but it proves that Red is out there, still doing science, still dreaming. And as the first crack appears in the eggshell, Dipper wonders what pokémon laid this egg, and how long they’ve been with Red. Another crack, and a chip breaks off the top! Sleepy poofs out of his pokéball so he can lean over and watch, followed by Agh, and Dipper and the Voices peer into the depths of the egg, trying to see who their new teammate will be.

A chunk falls off the side of the egg and onto the road, crackling with strange energy. A tiny pink limb sticks out CLEFFA NO IT’S THE WRONG SHAPE THAT’S AN IGGLYBUFF and then retreats, as the pokémon inside the egg inhales SEE IT’S BALLOONING BALLS WE COULD JUST HAVE KEPT THE TOGEPI AND SHUT UP WE CAN WORK WITH THIS and then bursts outward, sending cracks crazing across the shell. Shards of eggshell pop off, revealing the smooth and shimmering creature inside HEY DOES IGGLYBUFF LOOK BRIGHTER THAN USUAL TO YOU GUYS ARE ITS EYES GREEN before it inhales and expands again. The egg shatters, and a surprisingly light SHINY SHINY SHINY SHINY SHINY SHINY falls into Dipper’s hands.

The newly-hatched pokémon blinks her big green eyes up at Dipper, making a soft puuuu sound. She inflates just enough to sit up on Dipper’s lap, and rotates her body around, taking in her new reality. Aww-ing along with Dipper, the Voices carefully give her enough of a bounce to land in the bike’s handbasket. While she makes friends with Sleepy, the Voices flip out Dipper’s pokédex with practiced ease. They even give her a somewhat pronounceable name, and proceed to burst out into raucous laughter.

There is a pop, and a low grooooar, and Dipper looks up to find Rocky glaring down at him. The onix sways his head disapprovingly as he looks around, and Dipper notices that they’re still in the middle of the street, and they’re attracting a crowd of curious and increasingly impatient locals. The Voices are still in hysterics, so Dipper shuts his pokédex and walks his bike over to a quiet side street. He’s followed by Agh and Rocky, and little Ass (the Voices are howling now) riding on top of Sleepy’s head, puuuuing excitedly as her entire world moves.

Watching her bounce up and down on top of Sleepy’s head leaf, Dipper grins. He opens his pokédex again to look at her entry. Moves around by bouncing, that sounds right, she looks so happy, she – the pokédex screen flashes to something else, just for a second. “Huh?” WHAT WAS THAT IS OUR DEX ON THE FRITZ WHAT DID RED DO WITH THIS THING AFTER WE DITCHED HIM and the Voices focus their attention on the pokédex screen, waiting.

It flashes again and the Voices yell THERE, snatching the picture off the screen before Dipper’s eyes can process what he glimpsed. The Voices that caught it broadcast it throughout the mind hive, hundreds of different memories of the same thing, the pokédex’s screen flickering and glitching until it resolves into a new entry. All the text is garbled nonsense, from the name to the entry to the menu keys, unfamiliar characters(?) scattered everywhere. And the image –

It’s small, and black, and a little bit stripy. That’s all Dipper can tell, because when he thinks about the image too much it turns into an open wound, a gaping hole into the void leeching the colour out of all that surrounds it. It’s like nothing Dipper has ever seen before, nothing he knew could exist, but the Voices are tossing around other memories now, of dirt melding with crinkled metal and shrieking towers of indecipherable haze.

He snaps his pokédex shut and looks over at his pokémon. Ass is trying to bounce off Agh’s leaves and onto Rocky’s lowered head, giggling in her floaty way. It all looks normal, all makes sense. Dipper tries to relax, ignoring the Voices’ investigation and focusing on the feeling of the bicycle grip and his pokémon calling to each other. His pokédex is just glitching, the Voices are just being weird. Everything is okay.

Then he sees Ass’ shadow.

It’s a solid square block of black and white, flickering constantly like static on a TV. Whenever it moves, the spot it moved from stays black and white for a second before its colour starts leaching back in. It doesn’t make any noise, which somehow makes it worse. It’s just there, under the sunlight, on top of the cobbles, bouncing around as Ass laughs.

KID ARE YOU OKAY HUH THAT’S WEIRD MIGHT BE THE GLITCHIEST THING WE’VE SEEN WHEREVER-WE-ARE GRANTED WE COULDN’T EVEN FIND MISSINGNO LAST TIME sounding moderately interested, like the impossible thing Dipper can’t look away from isn’t even unusual. IT’S JUST A WEIRD SHADOW NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF TRUST US WE’VE SEEN WAY WORSE DON’T YOU DARE GIVE HIM EXAMPLES HE’S ALREADY FREAKED OUT ENOUGH DOES SHE LOOK EVIL TO YOU GUYS

She doesn’t. She’s riding on Sleepy’s head again as he waddles over, mewling worriedly at Dipper. Her shadow is turning Sleepy’s green neck white, but Sleepy isn’t reacting to it. Rocky’s looking right at it, but he looks more confused than anything else.

When Sleepy reaches him Dipper gives him a scritch on the neck. Ass pats (the Voices snicker) his hand reassuringly. Her shadow feels a little cold to pass through, but that’s all.

All of his pokémon look kind of worried, so Dipper smiles at them. “Do you guys wanna go to the National Park?” Sleepy hoots approvingly, Rocky slowly nods, and Agh flaps her leaves in the air. Dipper calls them all back into their pokéballs, lets Ass hop back into the handbasket, and weaves back into the bustling crowds of Goldenrod City. Even the Voices sound more like they usually do, playing Johto Pokédex Bingo, telling funny stories about adventures in the Radio Tower, wondering how Red got his hands on a minorly glitched egg.

Dipper would stop the bike if he actually had to pay any attention to pedalling. How did Red get Ass’ egg? Are all the eggs he gives to the daycare (Dipper uses the Voices’ term) glitchy? Why is he collecting so many glitchy eggs? Is he studying them? If he’s studying them, why isn’t he keeping in contact with the professors and telling everyone about what he’s learning, like he always dreamed of doing?

Dipper realises that he needs to talk to Red. He needs to ask him about Ass, if there’s anything he should look out for when dealing with her glitchy shadow. He needs to find out what he’s been doing the past three years, and why he won’t tell anyone about it. If Red’s somehow in trouble, well, Dipper’s not the hero type but HAH YOU’RE OUR KID OF COURSE YOU’RE THE HERO TYPE WE’RE EXPERTS AT BEING HEROES FOR A CERTAIN DEFINITION THEREOF SSSSHHHH WE BEAT OLDEN AND NECROZMA WE CAN SAVE NEW RED

“You guys are sure he’s on Mt. Silver?” WHERE ELSE WOULD HE BE THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING IMPORTANT THERE EVEN IF HE’S NOT THERE HE’S USING THE JOHTO DAYCARE SO HE’S HANGING AROUND THE REGION WE’LL RUN INTO HIM ON OUR WAY

Okay, thinks Dipper. Here we go. “How do we get there?” he asks the Voices. He needs to speak so they know to pay attention, but they can still examine the thoughts and feelings behind his words from inside his head. Half the time, they reply to what he feels instead of what he says.

AWW YEAH LET’S DO THIS THING FIRST THINGS FIRST WE NEED A FULL TEAM GOTTA PICK UP A SURFER WE SHOULD GET SOMETHING OFFENSIVELY ORIENTED BELLSPROUT IS A BIT REDUNDANT LET’S GET AN ARCANINE WE SHOULD PICK UP THE TM FOR and Dipper can’t follow the conversation any more, but that’s okay. The Voices are way more interested in and better at battling than he is, so he’ll let them handle that stuff.

Dipper isn’t the type of person who saves the world. Finding a friend, though? He can do that.