Pokemon Lord of Fear

[What is the meaning of life?: Is that what horror movies are like? Are they supposed to be that scary? Can they really scare someone to death?]

[So what should I do to be scarier?]

[Mr. Edward, after watching your film Dead Silence, I've come up with some new ideas. Are you available to discuss them?]

[One Missed Call has such a clever concept. Mr. Edward, you are truly incredible!]

[I have an idea.]

Early the next morning, Edward lay on his bed, blankly staring at the flood of messages on his phone, his eyes somewhat vacant. What exactly had happened? Wasn't Mewtwo supposed to receive the phone during the day today? How did it end up sending him so many messages in the middle of the night?

Scratching his head, Edward yawned and climbed out of bed, then picked up his phone to take a closer look.

Good grief.

The messages started rolling in from 12:30 AM, and by the time Edward woke up at 8:30 AM, a total of seventy-six messages had been sent—all unique, with no duplicates. Edward rubbed his eyes again and began reading through them from the top.

"So Mewtwo managed to obtain a phone for itself already and has started using it?" In the earliest messages, Mewtwo explained how it had gotten the phone. Edward wasn't particularly surprised.

After all, this was Mewtwo. A Pokémon of its caliber using a smartphone was not only perfectly normal—it was almost to be expected. That it had acquired one so soon was slightly beyond his expectations, but still reasonable.

Edward placed his phone on the bathroom sink and let his Rotom control the screen, slowly scrolling through Mewtwo's messages as he washed up. By the time he had finished reading, he was also done with his morning routine.

"What exactly is Mewtwo planning to do on New Island?" Edward muttered, pressing his lips together. The last few messages from Mewtwo were rather strange.

After binge-watching Dead Silence and One Missed Call, Mewtwo had apparently developed a strong interest in the concept of fear and scaring others. According to its final message, it was planning to conduct a little "experiment" to try and put these horror movie techniques into practice.

In other words, Mewtwo wanted to imitate the methods used in Dead Silence and One Missed Call to scare people.

"Looks like New Island's about to become a hotspot for ghost stories." Edward mused thoughtfully. Still, he sent Mewtwo a message. While Mewtwo was certainly free to test its ideas, it needed to proceed with caution—if not, it would be too easy for others to figure out who the culprit was.

After all, there weren't many Pokémon on New Island. With only Mewtwo—an artificial legendary Pokémon currently under scientific study—standing out as the most powerful one, any strange incidents would naturally lead back to it.

But Mewtwo didn't respond. Whether it was because the battery had run out or something else, Edward couldn't say.

"Rotom, set the contact 'What is the meaning of Life' to high-priority alerts." Edward said as he stepped out of his house with his phone in hand.

"Understood," came Rotom's quick reply from the device.

Satisfied, Edward tucked the phone away.

It had to be said—Rotom Corporation's rapid rise from a small company to a tech behemoth was due in no small part to Rotom, this unique Pokémon species. In Edward's previous life, AI-powered smartphones were already the obvious future trend, but in the world of Pokémon, Rotom phones had already surpassed even the most intelligent smartphones.

Rotom Pokémon possessed incredibly high intelligence and could even engage in conversations—practically living, breathing artificial intelligence. Plus, Rotom could control other household appliances. Based on Edward's personal experience, the convenience was unparalleled—he only had to speak a command, and Rotom would handle the rest.

After waking up and organizing everything, Edward and his company employees returned to Hoenn. After thorough checking, the Sherlock Holmes series was confirmed to need no reshoots, meaning the project had officially entered post-production and editing.

Daniel, the actor who played Holmes, was also now free to leave. But before he departed, Daniel excitedly invited the whole team out for a meal. Edward, of course, accepted the invitation without protest.

Edward held high hopes for this Sherlock Holmes series. Its overall quality alone was enough to make it a milestone within the mystery and detective drama genre. Additionally, in the final episode featuring the hound, Edward had incorporated some horror elements to test whether such a hybrid genre could also generate "fear points."

If successful, this would open the door for future iterations of the Sherlock Holmes series. Daniel, therefore, was essentially the preselected actor Edward intended to continue casting as Sherlock Holmes in future seasons.

In any successful film or series, the main characters tend to leave deep impressions in the audience's hearts. If the cast were to change later on, even if the story quality remained the same, many viewers would feel disconnected or uncomfortable. That's also why Edward took such care in choosing the right actor for the lead role from the beginning.

It was much like the case of iPartment from his previous world. Despite its bad reputation due to plagiarism, the consistent cast still drew a loyal fanbase. But in the final season, when the actor for Guan Gu didn't return, it sparked waves of discussion and disappointment.

Or take the Pirates of the Caribbean series. After Johnny Depp became entangled in legal issues and was dropped, the franchise considered recasting. But market surveys indicated overwhelmingly negative responses to the idea, which is why the sequel was shelved indefinitely.

Edward absolutely didn't want such a melodramatic situation happening to his own work.

"Boss, our newly founded charity fund has officially started operations. Code is planning to inspect the first potential beneficiary. Would you like to come along?" In the office of Ghost Film Pictures, Zoroark approached Edward while holding a file and handed it over.

Edward glanced at the document, which contained the names and profiles of several candidates whom the foundation was considering helping.

He gave it a look, then put it aside.

"I'll pass. I trust Code to handle it." Edward replied calmly, turning his head away and speaking softly.

Zoroark watched his boss, a smile playing on his lips.

"Boss, are you avoiding it because you're afraid it'll upset you?" Zoroark chuckled.

Edward squinted at him. This damn fox really knew how to talk too much.

"There's too much suffering in the world. I just want to do something concrete." Edward didn't deny it. His fingers tapped rhythmically on the table. He had read those files—and every single one of them was heartbreaking. Just reading them had left him feeling heavy.

Zoroark's gaze softened as he looked at his boss, a gentle smile flickering in his eyes.

This boss of his... really was a good person at heart.

Maybe... it wouldn't hurt to let him know after all? That thought flashed silently across Zoroark's mind.

(End of Chapter)