Pokemon: Lord of Fear

"We have no news for now. I've also been keeping an eye on the black market, but there's no information about them being sold yet," the old butler said softly.

Edward rubbed his temples in frustration.

In the Pokémon world, some individuals worked professionally as Pokémon hunters. Most of the time, these hunters were tasked with capturing specific Pokémon in the wild for their employers—such as rare shiny Pokémon. Despite the League prohibiting such actions, these practices were impossible to completely eradicate.

After all, most Pokémon hunters didn't differ from ordinary trainers in their daily lives. They only took on the role of a hunter when a request came in.

Once they captured the Pokémon specified in the request, they would hand it over discreetly to the employer, making it difficult for the League to detect their activities. As a result, Pokémon hunters had long existed as a gray market beyond official control.

This situation might have been their doing. Pokémon hunters were highly skilled, particularly in capturing wild Pokémon. Capturing stray Pokémon in a city would be even easier for them.

If an employer had placed an order, then the Pokémon thieves would almost certainly have been captured. While Kirlia was intelligent, even the craftiest fox couldn't evade the experienced hands of a hunter.

"Keep an eye on the black market and see if there are any rumors," Edward instructed. He didn't have a better solution. If even the League couldn't root out organizations like Team Magma or Team Aqua, how could they deal with the far more fluid and widespread Pokémon hunters?

The old butler hurried off to pursue the matter further. The League might send someone to investigate, but whether they could crack the case was another question entirely.

"Those two little guys…" Edward sighed.

[A large amount of Fear Points has been collected. Would you like to redeem your available rewards?]

A text box suddenly appeared before Edward, catching him off guard. Fear Points? Had he accumulated enough already? With everything going on—especially the film production—he'd almost forgotten about his cheat ability.

"If I redeem now, will my Fear Points reset to zero?" Edward asked cautiously. It would be a cruel joke if redeeming the points wiped his progress, forcing him to start over.

[Fear Points are accumulated for rewards. Redeeming will not affect subsequent rewards.]

For once, his cheat ability gave a prompt. Satisfied with the explanation, Edward didn't hesitate to redeem. He was curious to see just how much Fear Points he had amassed since the film's release.

[Your current Fear Points: 23,415]

[You have obtained: Fear Treat Maker x1]

[You have obtained: Immersive Audio (Basic) Ability]

"?" Edward stared at the screen in confusion. He understood the Fear Treat Maker—it was a game-changing tool for enhancing a Pokémon's potential. But what was this "Immersive Audio" ability?

Playing with wordplay? Deduct some creativity points for that.

[Immersive Audio (Basic): Your films will deliver an enhanced auditory experience, immersing your audience further into the feast of fear.]

Edward blinked, then chuckled. This ability would make the sounds in his horror films feel like they were happening right beside the audience. If that didn't heighten the terror and rake in more Fear Points, he didn't know what would.

Still, his attention shifted back to the Fear Treat Maker. Just thinking about it made two buttons appear in his hands—one blue, labeled "Direct," and the other red, labeled "Reasonable."

"So, I'm a savior now, huh? What's next? A bullet-time ability?" Edward quipped before decisively pressing the red button.

The buttons vanished, and his phone rang almost immediately. Answering it, he was informed that he had won a prize, which had already been delivered to his doorstep: a Pokémon food maker from Silph Co.

"Well… surprisingly reasonable," Edward muttered, hanging up. He headed to the door and found an enthusiastic delivery worker handing him a package. Inside was a machine resembling a coffee maker.

Q crawled onto Edward's head, clinging to his hair to get a better look at the machine below. Its small eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Want to try it?" Edward teased, patting Q's head as he carried the treat maker into the living room.

"Shaaa!" Q croaked hoarsely, jumping into Edward's arms.

Edward set the Fear Treat Maker on the table. The device bore no obvious labels, but a simple description popped up:

[Fear Treat Maker: Converts Fear Points into Ghost Candy.]

"Converts Fear Points?" Edward muttered experimentally, but the machine didn't respond.

Looking closer, he noticed a numeric keypad on the device. He punched in four nines, but the machine displayed "3415" instead.

"So, about 10,000 Fear Points per reward?" Edward mused, recalling the previous tally. Two rewards cost him just over 20,000 Fear Points. Wasn't this a bit too easy?

[Each audience member can only contribute Fear Points once per film.]

The prompt clarified, preventing any potential exploitation. Edward wasn't surprised. Allowing repeated contributions would be far too overpowered.

Pressing the red button on the machine, Edward watched as his remaining Fear Points dropped to 415. The machine shuddered briefly before ejecting three small, purple-black cubes—similar in size to sugar cubes.

"Three thousand points for three candies," Edward muttered, rubbing his chin. Then, he saw Q leap onto the table and dart toward the candies.

Edward laughed and gently restrained Q, picking up one of the candies. He sniffed it, catching a faint grape-like aroma.

Q, however, was visibly excited, practically vibrating with eagerness.

"Don't be so hasty," Edward said, handing one candy to Q. Q quickly tucked it under its cloak, then let out a delighted chirp before shuddering and collapsing onto the table, limp and listless.

"?" Edward poked Q, who responded weakly.

It seemed fine, but was the candy too potent? Did the system sneak in some high-tech components?

"If one candy increases all stats by one point, then theoretically, a Pokémon would need 200 candies to max out. At 1,000 Fear Points per candy…" Edward calculated, inhaling sharply. "That's 200,000 Fear Points!"

Edward couldn't help but marvel at the cost. It seemed building a powerhouse Pokémon wouldn't come cheap.