Gimmighoul—a rather special kind of Pokémon. Edward was already familiar with some of the little details about it. He even knew how this Pokémon evolves.
Although Gimmighoul in its initial chest form was rather weak, with unimpressive base stats, everything about it would change once it gathered enough coins to meet the conditions required for evolution.
But right now, Edward didn't have the time to ponder the question of how Gimmighoul collected its coins. At this moment, he was urgently carrying the treasure chest outside in a hurry.
In its anger, Q had struck hard, and Gimmighoul was now on the verge of fainting. Thankfully, Edward had stopped Q from launching another attack. Otherwise, the poor little creature might have already been done for.
Even so, Edward still needed to take Gimmighoul to the Pokémon Center for medical treatment as soon as possible.
Under the scorching summer afternoon sun, rays of heat beamed down upon Edward's back as he briskly made his way forward. Zoroark followed behind him, watching Edward's anxious expression with a trace of amusement in its eyes.
Soon enough, Edward arrived at the Pokémon Center with Gimmighoul in his arms and handed it over to Nurse Joy.
Strangely enough, despite the great distances between regions, this Nurse Joy looked very similar to the one from the Hoenn region. Only some subtle facial differences distinguished them. The Joy and Officer Jenny families truly were fascinating in their uniformity.
"This Gimmighoul doesn't have any life-threatening injuries," Nurse Joy explained, standing in front of Edward, "but it is severely wounded and will need time to recover. What's your relationship with this Pokémon?"
Edward glanced over the bill she handed him—it wasn't particularly expensive.
"I was the one attacked. This little guy was injured by my own Pokémon." Edward gave an honest reply.
"Huh? Then you're quite the kind person," Nurse Joy responded, slightly stunned. A moment later, she smiled even more warmly.
Edward gave a helpless chuckle. And just like that, he'd earned himself another "nice guy" card.
Sitting in a chair in the Pokémon Center, Edward held Q in his arms and gently rubbed its head. He had sent Zoroark to handle the payment. Edward intended to wait around and see how Gimmighoul was doing before he left.
"I never imagined that my first day in the Paldea region would be so eventful. But Gimmighoul, huh?" Edward fell into thought.
Gimmighoul itself wasn't very strong, but its evolved form—Gholdengo—was quite powerful. With its Ghost/Steel typing, it had excellent resistance coverage. While it did have four type weaknesses, its long list of resistances made up for those. All in all, it was a very solid choice for a Pokémon.
However, in the real Pokémon world, Gholdengo was rarely seen on the battlefield. The reason? The requirements to obtain one were far too demanding: a trainer needed to collect 999 Gimmighoul Coins to evolve it into Gholdengo.
This was an extremely tedious and expensive process. As a result, most trainers would never consider raising such a difficult Pokémon. After all, the cost of raising a single Gholdengo could easily be enough to raise two well-rounded Pokémon.
But Edward wasn't short on money.
"Besides, it's a Steel-type. My big brother would probably like it—he's very good at raising Steel-type Pokémon." Edward rubbed his cheeks and thought about his older brother, Steven.
Steven's Steel-type Pokémon were extremely powerful. Edward could probably gain some training insights from him, even though he didn't exactly need the help.
After all, Edward had no intention of pursuing a path toward becoming an Elite Four member or a Champion.
He just thought Gholdengo looked incredibly cool with its golden body, and from what he'd heard, it had a pretty nice personality too. Plus, with the possible threat of a future crisis involving Hoenn's legendary trio, he figured it wouldn't hurt to expand his team a little.
"We'll talk more once the little guy recovers," Edward murmured, shaking his head. Right now, Gimmighoul was still lying in the treatment room. Once it had fully recovered, he would ask whether it was willing to join him.
Edward gave Q a Fear Candy as a treat and then returned it to its Poké Ball. He was curious to see how much Fear Energy from Dead Silence had accumulated by now.
[Fear Points from "Dead Silence" available for collection: 88,999]
[Would you like to redeem an item?]
Edward considered the numbers. With the heat surrounding Dead Silence gradually cooling down, the influx of Fear Points had slowed. It still hadn't crossed the 90,000 mark. But this time, a new item was available for redemption.
"Redeem," Edward chose decisively. After all, it made no sense to leave those rewards untouched.
[You've obtained: Lingering Echo (Basic)]
[Lingering Echo (Basic): Viewers are more likely to retain a lasting impression of your work after watching it.]
Edward raised an eyebrow. Another ability tied to film-making. This one meant viewers would remember his movie even after watching it—a positive effect, certainly. But it could also be a double-edged sword. If he ever made a bad film, it might end up being something audiences remembered forever… for all the wrong reasons.
Still, Edward wasn't worried about that.
After all, the films he made were all adapted from his previous life's classics—market-tested, critically acclaimed masterpieces.
"Boss, I've paid the bill and even put in a bit extra in case of any emergencies," Zoroark came running back, panting a little as it spoke.
"Good job. Zoroark, send a message to the company and have them release the standard version of Lights Out online. Try to stir up some more buzz for Dead Silence as well." Edward's hands itched to do something. That Fear Points stopping at 88,999 was really bugging his sense of order.
If it had stopped at 90,000, he could live with it. But right now? It was just awkward. He was curious to see what kind of new reward would unlock if he pushed it over 100,000.
"On it!" Zoroark immediately took out a phone and began handling the task.
Edward was very satisfied with Zoroark's competence. It was truly a perfect secretary—versatile, sharp, and capable of managing nearly any task thrown at it.
Now, Edward had begun to worry that one day Zoroark might find the job boring and want to quit. If that happened, he'd have to go through the trouble of hiring a new assistant again.
Edward stayed in the Pokémon Center for a while longer, but since Gimmighoul hadn't regained consciousness yet, he decided to leave first. Q's powerful Ghost-type energy had left the little guy seriously injured—it wasn't going to recover that quickly.
Still, Edward had left Nurse Joy his phone number. That way, once Gimmighoul woke up, he could immediately return to speak with it.
When he got back to the temporary office, the place had already been cleaned up.
"Boss, these are the audition portfolios we've received so far. Would you like to take a look now?" Deck walked in quickly, holding a thick stack of documents.
(End of Chapter)