"The Sinnoh Regional League recently discovered a new high-ranking member of the dark organization Team Galactic, who has been active in the Sinnoh region. This person's status appears to be even higher than that of Saturn's group, which is currently under the League's watch. The League suspects this individual might be a new top executive of Team Galactic, or possibly…"
Grace didn't finish her sentence, but Edward understood what she meant.
The moment Team Galactic was mentioned, Edward was instantly wide awake. He knew all too well who was pulling the strings behind the scenes—Cyrus, a wealthy businessman in Sinnoh, and a cold-blooded man whose dream was to unleash the two legendary gods of Sinnoh.
It seemed every region's final boss was always somehow tied to the local legendaries.
But just thinking about what Grace had said—and the photo she laid before him—gave Edward a headache.
The photo showed a valiant and heroic young woman, with snow-white hair and familiar dark eyes. After ten years, her figure had matured, and she'd blossomed into a graceful young lady.
Beside her stood two Pokémon—Garchomp and Lucario.
But what shocked Edward most was the Garchomp. In the League's surveillance photo, it had Mega Evolved. That meant... his childhood friend had mastered Mega Evolution?!
"So, you came out to see me today just for this, didn't you?" Edward looked at the photo, then glanced at Grace across from him. This rascal—he was sure this was the real reason she showed up. Otherwise, with her "hermit lifestyle," she wouldn't even step out the front door.
This was someone who once said, "Anything more than 300 meters from my bed is considered a long trip."
"Of course. The League asked me to investigate, considering your special relationship with her," Grace replied, taking a sip of coffee like it was no big deal.
"The League's worried that our Stone family might be connected to Team Galactic?" Edward narrowed his eyes.
"Well, yeah. Your family's status is far too unique—Hoenn's biggest conglomerate, and your older brother is the region's newly crowned Champion. It would be strange not to be suspicious," Grace shrugged.
Edward nodded. She had a point. It would actually be irresponsible of the League not to be suspicious.
The Pokémon League had crushed empires and kingdoms to become the ruling power of the modern world—they weren't the type to take things lightly.
And Team Galactic was the largest dark organization in Sinnoh. If Devon Corporation was even remotely involved with them, things would get out of hand fast.
"Shizuka left when I was seven. We haven't had any contact for ten years." Edward shook his head. Devon had no ties to this situation, and he understood why the League had Grace talk to him instead of someone like his father. They likely wanted to keep the tone less... formal.
After all, asking Edward and asking Joseph Stone meant two very different things.
"Got it, that's all I needed to hear." Grace smiled.
Edward shot her a glance. Just one sentence? No follow-up questions?
"You know how it is. The League never investigates openly. The whole point of me coming is to let you know that the League has already determined this has nothing to do with your family. Unless you insist you have ties to Team Galactic, this is just a formal procedure." She shrugged again. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent me."
Edward rolled his eyes.
Generally, villain teams in the Pokémon world only operated within their own region. They rarely had ties to corporations in other regions.
"So… do you actually know anything about criminal investigations?" Edward sipped his coffee. The bitter taste of the black coffee lingered on his tongue as his eyes fell back to the photo. Staring at the girl in the picture—now a senior officer in Team Galactic—Edward felt conflicted.
Why would Shizuka become a high-ranking member of Team Galactic? That didn't make sense.
Team Galactic never had anyone like her among their top brass before. Could it be related to him?
Was this one of those butterfly effect moments—the kind that was cliché in his past life but finally caught up to him here?
"Of course I do. I did work in the criminal division back in the day. Why do you ask?" Grace raised an eyebrow. Her task from the League was finished; now it was just casual conversation between friends.
"I'm planning to shoot a detective drama… a suspense series." Edward explained his idea. Grace offered a few suggestions in response.
The most valuable takeaway was that she gave him a rundown of the procedures followed during real criminal investigations. After all, in detective stories like Sherlock Holmes, you couldn't avoid the role of law enforcement. In the Pokémon world, that role belonged to the Jenny's force.
If the details weren't accurate enough, the so-called "detail freaks" in the audience would pick it apart.
Edward wanted to turn Sherlock Holmes into a classic in this world. So, he planned to be that detail freak himself—scrutinizing every element to make sure the series was airtight.
"If you're doing a detective series, there's a classic case from the Galar region you might want to reference," Grace said as she tapped away on her phone.
"Oh?" Edward was intrigued. He didn't know much about Galar beyond what the games showed. Was there some real-life case from that region?
"Back before the League took over Galar, while we were sorting old case files, we found a serial murder case that happened in present-day Motostoke. Five brutal murders occurred near a church—all of them involved disembowelment…"
As Grace spoke, she noticed Edward's expression growing more and more complicated.
Edward stared at her. Isn't this just Jack the Ripper?
The infamous serial killer from London who murdered five women of the night and was never caught. Even in modern times, he remained a well-known case.
Because of how long ago it happened—and the fact that the London police never solved it—his true identity remained a mystery.
Even with modern DNA testing, the evidence was too old to conclusively identify the killer. The most they had were guesses—not proof.
No doubt about it—this was an enduring mystery.
'I mean, I knew Galar was based on England, but I didn't think you guys went so far as to include Jack the Ripper too?' Edward's mouth twitched.
Well, this was getting interesting. Now he was really hooked.
(End of Chapter)