Friendship and Pokemon battles... no one ever noticed the disparity there.

[He says it with a laugh, because the alternative is to let himself be affected by the mention of worlds where that's not an option. He really doubts Tony Zucco would have been convinced not to murder his family by losing a Pokemon battle...]

I think we're both giving these people's autonomy a little too much credit. If this really is based on the game, they probably can't get around their programming. It was designed to amuse young children.