"Don't worry. The League doesn't intend to do anything to Shizuka," Daigo said with a smile, having clearly noticed his younger brother's concern. "They just want to know if she remembers any documents or valuable clues that could help with the study of Sinnoh's history."
Although some within the League were uneasy about the time-related implications, the majority welcomed Shizuka's return. After all, even after all the archaeological digs in various regions, no one had found any concrete records about her—nor any particularly advanced artifacts.
At most, the Sinnoh region had vague references to a so-called "Calamity." There had been endless debate about this in the League, with some scholars even proposing wild theories like "Pokémon hunting humans in ancient times." But no one could ever prove their claims.
Now that Shizuka had reappeared, those speculative theories collapsed overnight. The scholars who had proposed them deleted their papers in the dead of night, completely blindsided by the truth: the "Calamity" was not some ancient horror—it was just a single person's revenge.
"That's a relief." Edward let out a sigh.
The League was a massive organization—if it really wanted to do something, there were very few people who could stop it. But in Edward's case, he could stop them, at least because no one in the League knew the truth about his relationship with Groudon.
Edward believed Groudon had chosen him as a kind of mobile resting place. It rarely stirred, never made noise, and didn't even come out to eat. If he didn't know it was in that luxury ball, he would've thought it was empty.
Even though Edward understood the relationship, others didn't.
The Red Orb had remained in Edward's possession all along. The League never raised an objection to that, and as for the Red Orb in Mt. Pyre, Edward had heard that the League had quietly replaced it with a replica—definitely not the original.
After having dinner with his father and older brother, Edward went straight to bed. He was exhausted from the months of filming Sherlock Holmes Season 2. Managing camera language, set direction—it was all incredibly taxing.
But at last, it was over, and Edward could finally get some rest.
…
The next morning, Edward groggily crawled out of bed, yawning.
"What time is it…? Why is it still so dark out?" he mumbled while rubbing his eyes. As he turned to look out the window to check the weather, he was startled to see a familiar chubby, purple figure squatting pitifully on the windowsill.
Q was still lazily snoozing on the bed, unwilling to get up. Meanwhile, Fortune calmly sat under a night lamp reading a book, completely unbothered by the shadowy figure outside—as if it weren't even worth a glance.
It was Gengar.
The enormous Pokémon blocked the entire floor-to-ceiling window, cutting off the sunlight and plunging Edward's room into total darkness.
Edward's mouth twitched.
"Gengar? What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise. He hadn't expected to see Gengar of all Pokémon here. Gengar usually hated crowded places, so why had it suddenly shown up?
Edward was puzzled.
"Edward… did you forget what we agreed on?" Gengar said in a pitiful voice, tapping on the window. Edward quickly rushed over to open it.
Most of the furniture and construction materials in Edward's house were coated with anti-Pokémon varnish—otherwise, it wasn't uncommon for wild Pokémon to break in. But with Gengar, that was pointless. If it wanted in, it could phase through the walls any time.
And yet… Gengar still knocked.
That level of courtesy was genuinely admirable.
"Ahem… Of course I didn't forget," Edward coughed awkwardly. "It's just that the issue we were worried about has already been dealt with. I don't think anyone's still out to get me now."
He certainly remembered their agreement—he had hired Gengar as his bodyguard. But then he'd traveled to the Sinnoh region and happened to get caught up in Team Galactic's chaos, and there had been no way to contact Gengar at the time.
Now that the danger had passed, there wasn't really a need for a bodyguard anymore.
As Edward explained, he stepped aside to let Gengar in. Then he took out his Fear Sustenance Creator, produced three pieces of fear candy, tossed one to Gengar, and handed the other two to Q and Fortune.
Gengar took the candy with a sigh, popped it in his mouth, and chewed it like a gloomy little snack.
"Do you still need a bodyguard? Or… is there anything I can help with?" Gengar asked, eyes full of longing.
Edward almost laughed. Gengar's situation was a bit special, but he really didn't have much need for its help at the moment. After all, he wasn't getting into any battles lately.
Still, looking at the pitiful, eager Gengar, Edward scratched his head. He might not need Gengar for combat, but its unique abilities gave him a different idea.
In Alien, he needed scenes set in outer space, including wide shots of the spaceship and its movement through space. That meant he'd need some kind of backdrop. Normally, filmmakers would build a small model and use that for convenience, but if the Kanto and Johto Leagues really funded a life-sized spaceship set…
Then the filming method would have to change.
"Gengar, can you… turn everything around you into darkness? No, not night—pure blackness. The kind where you can't see anything at all?" Edward asked, recalling Gengar's cool dramatic entrance and its unusual powers.
"Black? Like this?" Gengar asked.
In an instant, Edward couldn't see a single thing.
Unlike the darkness behind closed eyelids, this black was absolute. His eyes were wide open, but it was as if the world had vanished. It was the kind of oppressive, existential void that made him feel a sudden spike of fear.
"Yes! That's exactly it!" Edward said, thrilled. The effect was perfect.
Gengar's ability was ideal for shooting parts of Alien—even if only for a few key scenes, it was a game-changer.
(End of Chapter)