After the earthquake ended, Edward began personally supervising the editing process for A Wicked Ghost. This time, the film included the new setup of Chu Renmei tearing Pokémon apart with her bare hands, which made the editing work much more complicated.
Although the Pokémon world's film review standards weren't particularly strict—they didn't have any "nothing below the neck" censorship rules—and were fairly lenient with horror movies, there were always viewers who might report problematic scenes.
And if there's one thing the Pokémon world isn't short on, it's die-hard fans of all kinds of Pokémon.
One of the Pokémon torn apart by Chu Renmei in the film was a Machamp. Since it had a lot of loyal fans, Edward knew that if one of them saw it and filed a complaint, it could negatively impact the movie's release. So he had to be careful with the editing—no direct scenes of Machamp being torn open. Instead, he had to rely on shadowy silhouettes to imply the action.
Dodging censorship and avoiding complaints—that's a technical skill in itself.
"Boss, what kind of position is the 'Chief Editor' for this movie?" Zoroark asked curiously, glancing at Edward. The post-production department had all heard about this so-called Chief Editor—someone who would do a final refinement pass on every single frame of the movie after each editor submitted their cuts. Yet this person never came to the studio. Very mysterious.
"Oh, I gave that job to a friend of mine," Edward replied casually. "Can't have that guy lying around all day doing nothing, so I found him some work."
That "Chief Editor" was actually Mewtwo.
Edward had tasked Mewtwo with polishing up all the fine details of the movie edit.
It was a massive workload. Enhancing the lighting, shadows, and special effects for an entire film to make it look more aesthetically pleasing and eerie wasn't something one person usually did—it usually took an entire department. But Edward handed it all to Mewtwo.
And Mewtwo…
Ever since it escaped from New Island, it seemed to have found its ultimate life goal: becoming a shut-in.
Edward still didn't quite understand what was going on in Mewtwo's mind. But the psychic-type had shrugged its shoulders and completely stopped caring. It now spent its days holed up in a house Edward had bought for it—eating, drinking, playing video games, watching anime, and binging videos.
Mewtwo called it "studying advanced human culture."
But since the day it moved in, Edward hadn't seen Mewtwo step foot outside once. It was literally living the life of a hikikomori.
Edward couldn't let this go on.
Mewtwo was a legendary Pokémon with unlimited potential. Letting it waste away like this because of him? Edward would feel guilty forever. Giving it editing tasks was just the beginning. During his lunch break, he planned to visit Mewtwo's home to see just how bad things had gotten.
"Eh?" Zoroark gave Edward a suspicious look, its little eyes darting around. Was the boss... secretly hiding someone?
Just then, Edward's phone buzzed—a file transfer notification. He returned to his desk and received the file Mewtwo had just sent: the latest version of the edited video.
He clicked it open.
The footage looked way better than before. The adjustments to the lighting and shadows made the horror elements feel more chilling and immersive. The sound design had also been fine-tuned. Edward nodded in approval.
Mewtwo might be a hardcore shut-in, but at least it knew how to get things done.
But when he saw the note attached to the file—"I want to go to an idol concert"—Edward's mouth twitched.
This guy really was spiraling into the otaku abyss.
He had to go see Mewtwo. Today. No exceptions.
When Edward finally arrived at Mewtwo's house with Q and Fortune, he was greeted by the automatically opening front door—and a home completely packed with anime figurines.
Every kind imaginable.
In the middle of it all, Mewtwo lay sprawled among life-sized Pokémon World equivalents of "One Piece" and "Naruto" figurines—specifically, a life-size figure of the Empress from "Pirate King." It was holding a game controller, playing the latest hot title: "Black Myth: Ho-oh."
At the same time, it was using its psychic powers to control another computer, working on post-production edits.
Edward's eye twitched.
This guy…
Was abusing psychic powers to multitask to this extent?
Even psychic energy would be in tears at this point.
"Seriously, how did you manage to get a belly like that in such a short time…" Edward asked, rubbing his temples with a complicated expression.
This was Mewtwo!
The very same legendary Pokémon who rampaged across New Island, only to be stopped by Ash's talk-no-jutsu. A cold, handsome, self-determined Pokémon who had appeared in many theatrical releases and anime episodes… now had a potbelly?
Edward couldn't help but walk over and poke it.
Sure enough, his finger bounced off it like a water balloon.
If this continued, Mewtwo would go from having shredded abs to a beer belly, then baldness, and a few extra rolls of fat—he'd become the textbook definition of a shut-in.
"What did you come here for?" Mewtwo yawned lazily. Despite talking, its work hadn't stopped—entertainment and productivity, all handled effortlessly with psychic power.
"…Are you planning to keep living like this? You're getting fat." Edward pressed his fingers to his temples again. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was his fault. Maybe if he hadn't introduced Mewtwo to the internet, it would still be the Mewtwo he once knew.
Not this "Shut-in Mewtwo".
Mewtwo gave Edward a half-lidded look, then glanced at its own belly. With a casual wave of its hand, the yellowish fat inside its body floated out into the air, compressed and condensed, then ignited and turned to ash.
Its belly returned to normal.
"So, what do you want me to do? Get strong? Just to be beaten down by one of your League Champions and end up lying flat again? Might as well skip the decades of effort and get straight to the 'lying flat' phase now," Mewtwo said with a shrug.
It wasn't wrong.
Back on New Island, Mewtwo hadn't been idle. It had studied the Pokémon League—currently the largest and most powerful governing body in the human world—very thoroughly.
And it had come to one conclusion:
Messing with the League would be nothing but trouble.
Plus, Mewtwo had no real desire to rebel anymore.
Though it had once agonized over its existence—whether or not it was a real Pokémon, what its connection to Mew was—it eventually came to peace with one truth:
No matter what Mew is, I am Mewtwo.
Edward's mouth twitched. Honestly, that… wasn't wrong either.
Mewtwo's success in an alternate world like the Rainbow Rocket timeline had only been possible thanks to the sheer resources of Team Rocket. On its own, toppling the League was practically impossible.
(End of Chapter)