Edward looked at the Pokémon gathered below, a faint smile playing on his lips. He then pulled the curtains shut, instantly dimming the room.
Headmistress Lilian didn't mind. After all, if the curtains were left open, the strong light might disrupt the experience of watching the short film.
Meanwhile, Kirlia was nervously petting its friend, the Poochyena, which had shrunk into a corner, casting a suspicious glance at Edward.
Where was this unsettling feeling coming from?
Before Kirlia could think further, the sound of rain drew its full attention.
In the video, a house shrouded in darkness and rain came into view, its windows glowing warmly. Kirlia watched as a Jigglypuff pushed open a door and stepped into the hallway. Its body was damp, as though it had just taken a bath, and it was still drying its head.
Humming a cheerful tune, the Jigglypuff walked over to the hallway and turned off the lights.
Suddenly, eerie music played, and Kirlia spotted a strange shadow in the darkened hallway. Its breathing quickened.
But Jigglypuff, seemingly puzzled, turned the lights back on.
Under the bright light, there was nothing there.
"Was it just my imagination? Or a Ghost-type Pokémon?" Kirlia wondered, feeling Poochyena lean closer to it.
Headmistress Lilian cast a sidelong glance at Edward.
This short film? Really, Edward?
Jigglypuff repeatedly turned the lights on and off, and each time, the shadow remained in the darkness. The gathered Pokémon grew increasingly engrossed.
On one occasion, when Jigglypuff turned the lights off, the eerie music suddenly amplified, and a twisted, incomprehensible figure appeared in the darkness. The room filled with screams of varying pitches, yet none drowned out Jigglypuff's terrified cry from the short film.
When the lights came back on, the figure vanished, but the Pokémon in the room were all gasping for breath, their faces filled with fear.
Edward was quite satisfied. It seemed Pokémon could indeed feel fear. Now the question was whether he could harvest fear points. He decided to wait until the film was over to find out.
The short film's story progressed steadily.
After Jigglypuff climbed into bed, the tension slowly built, gripping the audience further. The immersive sound design made the Pokémon focus even more intently.
"Looks like it's over," Kirlia thought with relief as it saw a ghostly hand vanish when the plug was firmly inserted. The strange music stopped, and the hallway lights brightened again.
Just as Kirlia relaxed, Jigglypuff glanced at a desk lamp—and suddenly, a terrifying ghostly face filled the screen, grinning unnervingly before pressing the switch to turn off the lamp.
The entire screen went dark.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
A sharp cry broke the silence, followed by a loud crash as a chair embedded itself into the screen. Kirlia had flung it using psychic power. Realizing it had overreacted, Kirlia sheepishly lowered its head in embarrassment.
"Ahem." Headmistress Lilian cleared her throat awkwardly, her expression complicated as she looked at Edward.
She had been startled too.
Even though the film was Pokémon-starring, the Gengar-formed monster was terrifying, scaring not only the Pokémon but also her. It reminded her of the adrenaline rush she felt years ago when challenging the Elite Four.
"Well, guess it's time for a new TV," Edward said with a chuckle, unfazed by the damage.
His focus was on the fear points.
[Fear points harvested from Lights Out: 45]
The number popped up, and Edward was pleased. He surveyed the room, a large auditorium-style space filled with 156 Pokémon—all the Pokémon from the care center had come to watch.
Harvesting 45 fear points might seem small, but it wasn't bad.
Edward still didn't fully understand how the system calculated fear points, but as long as he could collect them, it was good enough.
Providing Pokémon with custom-made films seemed to be a viable idea.
While there wasn't much financial gain from screening films for Pokémon—at least not at present—Edward's goal wasn't profit. He simply wanted to gather fear points.
As for the costs of producing short films and movies?
Death Silence hadn't even finished its theatrical run, and its earnings were already enough to fund Edward's ventures for a long time. Plus, horror films were typically low-budget productions. Small investments yielding significant returns were a hallmark of the genre.
Some horror films were so simple in set design and cast that production costs didn't exceed 100,000 PokeDollars, yet they brought in profits of several million or even billions of dollars.
This was why, even though horror films were niche, people kept making them. The return on investment was too tempting.
Investors only needed to chip in a small amount. If the film became a hit, the profits were astonishing.
"Edward, this was a horror film, wasn't it?" Headmistress Lilian asked, drawing back the curtains. Even after the film ended, she felt as though something sinister was lurking in the darkness, sending chills down her spine.
"Yes, just a short one," Edward nodded. He began pondering how to get this film in front of more Pokémon.
Domesticated Pokémon were numerous, but they were nothing compared to the vast population of wild Pokémon. For Edward, wild Pokémon were his primary audience.
But randomly broadcasting the film wouldn't work, and his company didn't have enough employees to go around showing it everywhere. To achieve his goal, he needed the help of the League.
Only the Pokémon League had the resources and workforce—like the rangers who worked for them—to facilitate such a plan.
"Headmistress Lilian, I recall the League's Department for Pokémon Environment Improvement and Maintenance has always struggled with funding?" Edward asked with a smile.
Headmistress Lilian nodded.
She had once been a Gym Leader and knew quite a bit about the League's operations. The Environmental Maintenance Department was perpetually underfunded, so much so that every year during festivals, they would make public appeals for support—showcasing rangers in hand-me-down uniforms wielding rusty tools, vowing to protect Pokémon habitats.
(End of Chapter)