Pokemon: Lord of Fear

"Boss! I've found a flaw in our company!" Just as Edward was busy preparing the outline for One Missed Call, his office door was knocked, and a man who seemed a bit eccentric walked in. With a serious expression, he spoke up.

Edward looked at the man in front of him. He was dressed in a Pokémon-themed outfit: a Psyduck shirt, a jacket with a Multitype Pokémon print, and pants with Latias and Latios on either side. His shoes even had a cartoon image of Growlithe.

He seemed to be an avid Pokémon fan, but such people were common in the Pokémon world—many members of the Pokémon Superfan Association were like this.

"What's going on?" Edward asked. He didn't recognize the man's name, or rather, he didn't even know such a person existed.

The company was large, and Edward could only remember the names of some of the management team. However, he didn't recall seeing this person among them.

"Boss! Our movie is so popular, why aren't we making one for Pokémon to watch?" the man said passionately, his smile bright like a boy who had just secured the legendary blade and the Sunstrike sword.

Edward blinked. What's going on here?

At first, Edward thought the man was about to argue for Pokémon's equal rights, as there were always people advocating for various rights for Pokémon, even forming dedicated organizations—some were like those "Black Lives Matter" activists from his past life, but more normal and reasonable.

But to his surprise, the man was suggesting making a movie specifically for Pokémon?

"Boss, think about it, the most abundant creatures in the world are Pokémon! If we make Dead Silence a special edition, tailored specifically for Pokémon, wouldn't that...?" The man grew more and more excited, his shoulders trembling as he spoke.

"Boss, I'm sorry! I'll take him away right now!" Hayden rushed in, sweating profusely, covering the man's mouth, and bowing repeatedly to Edward to apologize.

Edward slowly thought to himself, what's happening now?

"Is this person an employee of our company?" Edward asked, looking at the man still struggling with his mouth covered.

He felt that the man's mental state was somewhat off, with an unusually high level of excitement.

"Yes, Ada is an employee of our company, a special employee," Hayden said, wiping the sweat off his forehead, speaking respectfully. Meanwhile, the man, Ada, was still trying to speak.

"A special employee," Edward said, understanding. No wonder this man seemed a bit strange.

"Special employees" were part of a social welfare program under the League.

According to this program, companies of a certain size were required to hire a certain number of special employees. These employees typically included people with physical disabilities or those from low-income families, as well as those with minor mental health issues that didn't affect their ability to work or live independently.

Hiring these employees wasn't just charity.

Under League regulations, companies that hired special employees were entitled to certain benefits, such as tax reductions, and the company with the most hires or longest working hours would even be awarded the League Conscientious Business Award and receive promotional support from the League.

In essence, it was a social security contract, giving people who hadn't fully lost their ability to work a chance to support themselves. Edward personally liked this policy.

"No worries, no worries. Let him go on. I want to hear what he has to say," Edward said with a smile, then addressed Hayden.

Hayden froze for a moment, but since it was the boss's request, he released his grip on Ada, wiping his hand with a tissue.

"We can definitely become famous! A Pokémon special edition movie will definitely be a hit!" Ada shouted excitedly. His voice was high-pitched, and Edward noticed that his body was trembling even more as he spoke.

Edward understood what the man meant.

Dead Silence was a horror movie—a carefully prepared, terrifying film for the world.

However, in order to make the horror more impactful, Edward had deviated from the traditional ghost Pokémon setup and instead featured Mary Shaw, a vengeful ghost, as the killer.

But now, after hearing Ada's words, Edward began to wonder: If he made a Pokémon version of Dead Silence, would it have a market?

First of all, compared to humans, Pokémon were undoubtedly the most numerous. However, the problem was that most Pokémon were wild, and only a few had been captured. How many Pokémon could actually watch a movie?

"Boss, you don't need to take Ada's words too seriously," Hayden spoke up, noticing Edward was deep in thought.

"Has there been a case before?" Edward could naturally tell from Hayden's tone that there was more to the story.

Ada was a bit dissatisfied and eager to speak, but under Hayden's gaze, he reluctantly closed his mouth.

"There have been cases. In fact, special Pokémon movies for Pokémon were attempted before by movie companies in regions like Sinnoh and Unova. But after they were made, the results were mediocre," Hayden explained, not wanting Edward to get too caught up in Ada's wild idea.

Making a Pokémon movie starring Pokémon wasn't a new concept, but everyone who tried it had failed.

Although there were many Pokémon and trainers had many Pokémon, only a few of those Pokémon could actually understand and enjoy movies. Most of them were psychic Pokémon or other special individuals.

These Pokémon had intelligence, so they could understand what was happening in the movie. On the other hand, ordinary Pokémon were intelligent as well but lacked the cognitive ability of psychic Pokémon, making it hard for them to appreciate movies in the same way.

"Take Lucario: Journey Begun and Starting as the Strongest Rattata for example. They were large-scale productions, but their box office..." Hayden shook his head.

"The box office for Lucario ended up at 1,327,156 PokeDollars," Ada said, his voice now quite gloomy, giving off an emo vibe.

Edward glanced at Ada and, after checking just now, found that the numbers matched.

"Right, but that movie had an investment of at least 50 million PokeDollars," Hayden admitted.

(End of Chapter)