With nothing else to do, Edward decided to go visit Ash for a chat. Coincidentally, Ash had just returned to Pallet Town around this time. Thinking of this, Edward specially bought a plane ticket and flew straight to Pallet Town. There were some questions he wanted to ask Ash—questions that had been troubling him for a very long time.
And when Edward finally arrived in Pallet Town, the first thing he saw was Ash. Ash looked extremely surprised at the sight of him. Clearly, he recognized Edward right away—after all, Edward had been incredibly popular online during this period.
"Director Edward! I'm your fan!" Ash said excitedly. Edward simply smiled. Since Ash was already this enthusiastic, it made things much easier—and it meant Edward could finally ask Ash that question.
"Ash… where is your dad?" Edward looked at him curiously. He was genuinely, deeply curious about this matter. After all, Ash's father had always been a mysterious figure.
Ash's father—an almost mythical existence. Edward had watched plenty of the anime, yet he had never once seen Ash's father appear. Because of this, all sorts of strange urban legends had sprung up. Some people even speculated that Professor Oak was actually Ash's father—utterly irresponsible guesses. But who exactly was Ash's father?
The only thing Edward knew was that Ash's father was still traveling, and was also a Pokémon Trainer. Truly, that man had a huge heart—not staying home, always wandering the world.
And Professor Oak definitely was not Ash's father. The anime never hinted at anything of the sort. Most likely, the animation team simply never figured out how to handle this plotline early on, and later realized that Ash's father wasn't necessary to keep the story running, so they simply never introduced him on screen.
Of course, there was also the possibility that Ash's father was being saved for some key moment in the future. However, Edward remembered clearly: when Ash won the Championship during the Masters Tournament, his father still never appeared.
That was truly strange.
"My dad is still traveling! Mom said he went to the Alola region not long ago. People over there greet each other by saying 'Alola, Alola!'" Ash said, grinning widely. Edward's mouth twitched. Good grief. Leaving his son and wife behind to go traveling in Alola again? No wonder people in his past life had all kinds of doujin theories about Professor Oak and Ash's mom.
Edward felt rather relieved that he was a decent human being. Otherwise, at this rate, he might end up starring in an entirely new kind of book.
"I see…" Edward felt both amused and helpless. If he ever got the chance to meet Ash's father in the future, he would definitely sit him down and have a long, serious talk.
Ash, full of enthusiasm, invited Edward over to his home as a guest. Edward didn't refuse. After all, he had come here mainly to see Ash, and—coincidentally—to see Delia as well.
Edward and Delia actually knew each other, though it was due to a series of coincidences that they became friends.
(TN: Did they meet really? I don't remember)
Pallet Town wasn't very large, so before long, Edward and Ash had arrived at Ash's house. Originally, Edward planned to return immediately after to find Q and Void, but because of Delia's warm and welcoming hospitality, Edward could only follow her inside for dinner.
As for Q and Void, Edward wasn't particularly worried. Although the two of them liked sparring with each other, they also understood their limits very well. They wouldn't cause any serious injuries.
Entering Ash's home, Edward looked at Aunt Delia and couldn't help sighing internally. Ash's father was truly something else—he really had no problem leaving his wife alone all the time.
Ash's mother was a charming woman. She wasn't overly stunning, but her warmth and gentle allure made her very attractive. Most importantly, she cooked well, and Edward especially loved Delia's omelet rice.
"Ah, Edward, it's been so long since you last came back to Pallet Town, hasn't it?" Delia was a very sociable woman, and even more so considering that Edward had been their neighbor. He had known Delia and Ash's family since he was a child, so Delia always treated him warmly. And Edward didn't mind at all—Delia had excellent emotional intelligence and never made anyone feel uncomfortable.
"That's right, Aunt Delia. I've just been overwhelmed with work at the company. But recently things have calmed down, so I'll finally have more free time." Edward said with a smile.
Ash suddenly shot up from his seat in shock, looking dumbfounded.
He was surprised—his own mother actually knew Director Edward?
"Edward, Ash's dream is to become a Pokémon Master, right?" Edward glanced at Ash. Ash nodded vigorously, full of excitement.
"Ash, becoming a Master means you have to become a champion, which means you can't travel as freely anymore. It's an incredible honor, but you become bound to that position." Edward said, still smiling.
Even now, with all his achievements, Edward wasn't completely free.
He wanted to visit Meteor Falls in Hoenn, climb Mt. Coronet in Sinnoh, challenge Totem Pokémon, and even find a Cyclizar to ride.
"But a Champion is a Champion!" Ash held tightly onto his chopsticks. His dream had always been becoming a Master, and becoming Champion was one of the steps. No matter how difficult, Ash wanted to try.
"Ash, what did Mom teach you? Everyone has their own reasons. Mr. Edward must have gone through something to say that." Delia said sternly. Ash instantly quieted down. Edward almost laughed.
Ash's greatness as a Trainer was undoubtedly connected to his mother's upbringing. Without such a good family environment, Ash couldn't have grown into who he was.
"Ah, don't worry. I believe that if Ash wants to become a Master in the future, he'll definitely succeed." Edward said with a cheerful laugh. After all, this was the Pokémon world—there was nothing a good battle couldn't solve. And in the games, literally everything was resolved through battles—even villains insisted on fighting you before doing anything evil. Of course, reality wasn't like that.
Real villains had no limits. Edward himself had participated in several raids against criminal organizations. Team Rocket was considered "mild" by comparison—there were much darker groups out there, far more ruthless. Edward swore that any person with even a shred of conscience would want to drag those monsters out one by one and execute them after seeing what they had done.
These people were cruel. They used poison, sabotaged transportation, planted explosives—there was nothing they wouldn't do in their fight against the League. Fortunately, Giovanni had already been arrested.
"I'll definitely challenge you one day, Director Edward!" Ash declared with determination. Edward smiled cheerfully and encouraged him. Just then, Edward turned toward the doorway—he felt his Pokémon returning.
He opened the door. Sure enough, Q and Void had come back, both covered in bruises. Without a word, they dove straight into their Poké Balls. Edward's mouth twitched. Good thing dinner was over—it was time to send them to the Pokémon Center.
Even superficial injuries needed to be treated.
"Aunt Delia, sorry—I'll take Q and Void to the Pokémon Center first." Edward apologized. Delia looked at the Poké Balls with concern and told him to go quickly.
Their injuries were exactly what Edward expected—just simple scrapes. Those two had been partners for so long, there was no way they'd hit each other too hard.
After their treatment, Edward brought them to the Indigo League headquarters, where he waited for tomorrow's honor awarding ceremony. Edward suspected he might become the first person in the entire League to ever receive two Medal of Valor's—he had never heard of anyone else with such a distinction.
"But the League Master Tournament still has a long way to go." Edward muttered while sitting at his dining table. A thoughtful staff member brought him dinner: braised pork and two vegetable dishes, exactly as he had requested.
Edward always ate the same when dining alone—one meat dish, two vegetables. Too much meat wasn't good, and occasionally one needed more greens.
After finishing his meal casually, Edward decided to relax a little. His way of relaxing was simple: when he had nothing to do, he liked reading fan mail. The fans in this world… well, they were quite indescribable.
"I really don't understand how those fellow transmigrators who plagiarize so much manage to remember so much." Edward smacked his lips and picked a random letter from the towering pile of fan mail.
He sometimes felt like a top-tier celebrity. He practically had the same treatment. Edward was surrounded by a whole team who handled matters for him—like responding to fan letters. In the entertainment industry, unless you were extremely lucky, the majority of fan letter replies weren't actually written by the celebrity themselves but by agency staff.
"Let's see… this one is—" Edward picked up the letter and froze for a moment. The address was unexpectedly far away.
"Hoenn region… Petalburg Woods Manor? I have fans over there?" Edward was a bit surprised. How could there be a letter from Hoenn? He had just been there, and he didn't really have many fans in other places. This letter instantly caught his attention.
He opened it and read it. The contents were simple: a young girl expressing her admiration for him, happily sharing that she also had a Haunter. A photo was included—showing a cute girl with a bright smile hugging her Haunter, which looked entirely unwilling.
Edward smiled. Ever since becoming Champion-level trainer, the temptations around him had multiplied. Hoenn wasn't a huge region, but it had a large population. And that led to certain issues.
Some overly bold female fans even sent him extremely daring and provocative photos. If Edward were willing, spending a night together would be the easiest thing in the world.
At last, he understood why celebrities in his previous life were surrounded by rumors—receiving so many explicit letters was indeed overwhelming.
But this girl clearly wasn't one of those people. After reading the letter, Edward wrote a reply and handed it to a staff member to send back. Then he picked out a few more letters, but none of them were particularly unusual.
The next morning, Edward changed into a formal outfit and hurried to the League headquarters. The entire hall was already swarming with reporters. As soon as they saw Edward, countless microphones were shoved toward him.
The League Chairman recited Edward's contributions and then awarded him the medal. The whole ceremony looked simple but took an enormous amount of time. By the time Edward was finally freed, it was nearly lunchtime. He couldn't help laughing bitterly—this honor ceremony was somehow even more exhausting than filming a movie.
"That guy is truly willful…" The Chairman sighed as he watched Edward's departing figure. He could already imagine the storm that would break tomorrow… and Edward would be its center.
"Yes, he caught us all off guard. But those two medals were well-earned." said an energetic old man beside him—the former League Chairman. He had once been a powerful Trainer and had seen his share of events. In his opinion, Edward's achievement in capturing Giovanni alone was more than enough to earn him the honor.
Not to mention everything else Edward had done.
The Chairman narrowed his eyes as he watched Edward leap into the sky on a Dragonite service, disappearing beyond the clouds. He felt as though an entire era had just come to an end.
"No… perhaps this is only the beginning of a legend." The current Chairman had a different viewpoint. He believed Edward might rise even higher in the future. The real headache was—how would the League reward him then? Thankfully, he wasn't the Chairman of the Hoenn League, so he didn't have to think too hard about it.
The old Chairman nodded. He wasn't particularly worried about Edward becoming a threat to the League. The League had deep foundations, and Edward clearly had no interest in political power. He was a man content with simplicity—his greatest passion was filmmaking.
People like him were trustworthy. Unless Edward was an expert at acting… but the old Chairman didn't believe his judgment could be so wrong. Edward clearly wasn't that type.
Edward himself had no idea he had just been given such a heavy title. Even if he knew, he wouldn't care. By now, he had already returned to Hoenn. He planned to visit that peculiar young fan and have a chat with her.
(End of Chapter)