Pokémon Detective Case Files

Interlude 5 in Chapter 431: May the Producer Wrap Up Filming

Interlude 5 of Chapter 433: May the Producer Wrap Up Filming

N's fight with Touko took place before he challenged the Unova Four Heavenly Kings.

At this time, Touko had taken over the role of champion's agent from Hugo, but everyone needs a break. So, N took advantage of the time while watching Touko return to her film studio in Raven City for the weekend to visit her.

Strictly speaking, this time was Douzi's "private time" and not within the scope of her official duties as the champion's representative. Even if she lost, she might not be required to acknowledge that her opponent was qualified to challenge for the championship. However, it was precisely because of this that N was able to bypass the various surveillances at the league headquarters and engage in a serious one-on-one duel with this champion's representative.

Rather, it was after that battle with Touko in serious mode that N truly solidified his determination to challenge the league champion and the Four Heavenly Kings.

"Excuse me, is this the way to the Super Wish Studio?"

The staff member who was suddenly called to turn around in surprise and saw a green-haired young man wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap standing in front of him.

In Pokémon Hollywood, such attire is not uncommon—actors, directors, and even avid fans often appear on set dressed similarly.

But the tall, handsome young man in front of me felt strangely unfamiliar.

"Yes, Ms. Douzi and her team are inside." The staff member pointed to the photography studio behind him, the access card hanging on his chest swaying gently with the movement.

He couldn't help but ask another question: "May I ask who you are?"

The green-haired youth lowered his head slightly, his tone gentle but ambiguous: "It's just some private matter. Please tell me where Miss Douzi and the others are right now."

Strangely enough, N, the king of Team Plasma who is dedicated to starting a Pokémon liberation revolution in the human world, is quite friendly when he is dealing with ordinary people.

While most humans unconsciously oppress Pokémon to varying degrees, like most Pokémon in their nature, most humans are also kind, only blinded by "flawed social rules." This world has taken the practice of imprisoning Pokémon with throwing items as common sense. To change this perception, simply lecturing individuals is meaningless; the only solution is to address the very foundations of how this society operates.

A complex emotion flashed in N's eyes as his gaze swept over the Poké Balls dangling from the staff member's waist.

Now, he has gradually learned to remain silent about this phenomenon. After all, both his adoptive father, Ghidorah, and his best friend, Touko, are Pokémon trainers who use this item skillfully and consistently for different, even contradictory, reasons. Compared to them, he is an anomaly in this world.

In this world, the only person who could empathize with him was probably the detective who reluctantly adopted the elf.

"Miss Douzi is having a review meeting inside. Would you like me to go and inform her?"

The props team swiped their access cards to open the heavy warehouse door, glanced at the back of the studio, and then turned to ask the young man next to them.

However, when he turned around, the green-haired youth had vanished.

Just as he was wondering, the script review meeting in the studio ended. The people sitting around the table gradually got up and dispersed—besides Douzi, there were several screenwriters, directors of photography, and casting assistants.

Although Douzi has been busy serving as the champion's representative at the league headquarters recently, preventing him from personally handling many tasks at the studio, the challengers at the league don't visit very often. Furthermore, his current short film projects are either already filmed or still in the scriptwriting stage. Therefore, as producer and director, Douzi can remotely participate in film production discussions even from the champion's room, ensuring that studio affairs haven't fallen behind.

However, there are still some matters involving the production team that ultimately require the producer's personal presence to make decisions—this is precisely the reason for holding this meeting today to review the manuscript.

"Hey, Miss Touko—" The props team member was about to report that there might be a stranger infiltrating when he saw the producer with the high ponytail raise her hand and give him a knowing look, gesturing for him to go.

It turned out that someone the producer knew had confirmed that there was no one else around. The hand gesture was meant to show him, and the props team members were relieved. They left the studio with the editors who had finished their meeting.

As the last staff member showing the equipment left, Douzi turned to the empty filming space behind him.

"Why have you become so secretive? This isn't like you."

Amidst the pile of movie props, N's figure appears in a distorted "phantom," while Zoroark seems somewhat wary of Touko and does not reveal himself.

"Recently, my father and the others seem to be plotting something and are very wary of my movements, so I try to avoid going to crowded places."

The green-haired youth smiled helplessly, but his gaze was unconsciously drawn to the props piled up around him.

"What kind of movie are you planning to make this time? Judging from these props, it seems to be a futuristic film?"

"It's less of a movie and more of a short live-action film that's less than half an hour long."

Douzi walked to a UFO-shaped prop and pointed to the prop behind him with a rolled-up draft of the script.

"This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the first 'Time Traveler' film, and our studio secured the opportunity to shoot a commemorative short film for the series. Speaking of which, this film might be a topic that interests you."

"The Time Traveler?"

N raised an eyebrow in confusion. Clearly, science fiction movies hadn't been part of his education by the Plasma Sages. Although he'd seen a few currently popular theatrical releases under Touko's influence, he knew nothing about films from twenty years ago—"What's it about—ah, sorry, Touko, you must really hate spoilers, right?"

"That's generally true, but this movie is an exception."

Douzi pulled a piece of paper from the pile of discarded drafts. It was covered with a synopsis of the first part of "The Time Traveler".

"When the first 'Time Traveler' film was made, it was actually a very low-budget experimental project. Its sci-fi theme, coupled with poor special effects, made it appear particularly clumsy even for that era. Furthermore, the creators' excessive focus on piling on sci-fi elements resulted in an extremely slow plot progression—leading many to consider this first film a black mark on the entire series. Even when recommending the series to others, they mostly suggest starting with the well-made and smoothly plotted second film."

Douzi is still the same as always; once the topic of movies comes up, he can't stop talking. "Although I'm a big fan of the director and screenwriter of this film, can you imagine? A movie about time travel, yet it wasn't until the entire 90 minutes of the film had passed that they finally created the first time machine capable of transporting humans. And at that point, there was only one minute left before the end of the movie—if it weren't for the excellent performance of the later sequel, this 'Time Traveler' would probably have been buried among countless other films. However, it is precisely this almost obsessive slow pace that gives the film a unique sense of realism. Every screw turning, every failed experiment, every tragic accident seems to be telling us that changing the world is never a one-time thing—of course, this subtle feeling is hard for ordinary viewers to grasp."

"Isn't that a bit strange, according to you?"

N took the plot summary from Douzi. It roughly described the story of the protagonist and his research team overcoming numerous obstacles to build a time machine and striving to miniaturize it. The plot focused on the chaos caused by the gradually forming time machine in reality, and then ended with the protagonist traveling to the future with a miniaturized time machine. Just one sentence felt like being overwhelmed by the sheer number of technical terms. "Generally speaking, only movies that sell well get sequels, right? Since this movie is as bad as you say, why is there any follow-up, and why are you even willing to make a commemorative short film for it?"

"Because of the last minute of this movie," Touko said without hesitation, handing N another script with detailed storyboards.

"After the time machine is activated, the protagonist arrives in a world a thousand years in the future. When he opens his eyes, he sees Bug-type Pokémon that have replaced humans as the world's rulers."

The girl, her eyes sparkling, recounted the final scene of a movie from twenty years ago: "In that future world, futuristic creatures resembling ladybugs lived in cities of skyscrapers, while future humans were homeless in the wild, sometimes even captured by the former and put into technological capsules to fight each other as weapons. The protagonist, witnessing this scene, gripped the time machine and was deeply shocked—the film ended abruptly there."

"I see, so it's a worldview completely opposite to the real world?"

N looked thoughtful as he watched the "Ladybugs" leading humanity through a futuristic city in the storyboard.

"That's it!" Douzi tapped the paper tube in his palm. "Although this movie performed poorly at the box office upon its initial release, it attracted a group of passionate fans who were curious about its worldview precisely because of its subversive ending. Furthermore, many professional film critics admired the depth of thought displayed at the end. With the continued rise in positive word-of-mouth, the film was handed over to a more capable new production team, resulting in five sequels that combined artistic merit and commercial success!"

She leaned back comfortably in her chair behind the conference table, spreading her hands. "So, what do you think of the idea for this movie?"

Forcing humans to think from Pokémon's perspective—this is undoubtedly the ultimate theme of the Time Traveler series.

Douzi was curious to know what N, as the spiritual leader of Team Plasma and the Pokémon Liberation Movement, would think of this story.

"That's amazing!" N couldn't hide her amazement in front of her best friend. "This is a movie from twenty years ago! Did people back then have the same questions as us now?"

The green-haired youth shifted his gaze from the script in his hand to the sci-fi-style set in front of him—"My ideas may not be anything new, but whether it's humans enslaving Pokémons or Pokémons ruling humans, this kind of relationship built on oppression is by no means the ideal I pursue."

N's fingers unconsciously traced the edge of the storyboard, pausing slightly at the scene where a human was being encased in a capsule.

"However, this movie did give us a valuable perspective. Sometimes, only by putting ourselves in the other person's shoes can we truly understand each other's pain. What this world lacks might just be an opportunity to encourage humans and Pokémon to empathize with each other. But—"

"Douzi," he suddenly stared at the female director, "have you ever thought about why people twenty years ago were already able to imagine such a future? Does this kind of thinking suggest that—deep down, humanity has always known what it is doing?"

"That's undeniable," Douzi nodded. "Considering the scriptwriting and filming time, the film's creators must have come up with the idea much earlier, not to mention the issue of Pokémon rights. Such discussions have never disappeared since the Pokémon League was founded."

"I know that too; those articles were even part of my childhood studies," the green-haired youth nodded in agreement. "However, seeing this type of literary work for the first time is quite different from reading academic papers and reports—or rather, it's much more vivid?"

"Wow, that's the magic of movies."

As if she were being praised, the girl smirked smugly.

"It can make people think about serious issues without them even realizing it, like coating bitter medicine with sugar. While the audience is captivated by the wonderful story, those profound issues have already quietly taken root in their hearts."

However, since humanity has long been aware of this, why has the status quo remained unchanged? N looked at his friend's smile and did not voice his doubts.

The reason for this might be that he already had the answer in his heart—the world was waiting for a sufficiently shocking opportunity.

Just like the subversive ending in the movie, a dazzling flash, like the evolution of a Pokémon, is needed to shatter everyone's usual perceptions.

"Actually, compared to professional theories, the world is actually built up from these little 'vivid' details."

Douzi, slumped over the table, said somewhat listlessly after attending a morning meeting, "Just like a movie, whether it's the method of designing the story or a flash of inspiration, to turn it into a vivid film, you can only relentlessly build up every detail. And even if you do your best, the final product will always be different from what you envisioned."

"Touko, will you be disappointed by this?" Seemingly touched, N couldn't help but ask.

"Sometimes, I guess, after all, I'm not quite a mature director yet." The girl yawned nonchalantly. "But sometimes, it's precisely because of those differences that I feel pleasantly surprised."

"Surprise?" N frowned, a rare moment of confusion on his face.

"We can't always think the worst—after all, everyone's ideas have blind spots. But if we bring together everyone's ideas during filming, the resulting reality may even surpass our original ideals."

Douzi thought he was just talking about movies and casually said he'd watch, unaware of N behind him.

His eyes are becoming brighter and brighter.

"In short, the most important thing is to take the first step!"

Suddenly, the director pointed a finger at the ceiling. Although she was still lazily sprawled on the table, her tone was full of enthusiasm: "The most crucial thing is action! Whether you're ignorant or make a fool of yourself, the most important thing is to take action first! Otherwise, no matter what kind of story inspiration you have in your mind, if you don't write a script, don't seriously work on the storyboard, don't muster the energy to recruit actors, don't go to the location scouting site, don't prepare props, don't set up the lighting, and don't open the lens cap to start filming—then those dreamlike images in your mind will never become reality."

"Douzi, there's something I'd like to ask you."

Finally, N made up his mind.

Soroyal silently appeared amidst the cluttered studio space.

"Ah, right—" Douzi blinked, then belatedly tilted his head, "Speaking of which, I haven't asked you why you came here yet."

Compared to the solemn champion's room at the league headquarters, this film and television base that he built himself makes Douzi feel more comfortable.

The girl, completely relaxed, stretched her arms and yawned, then looked at her friend beside her with innocent eyes.

But when she heard N's request the next second, her expression froze instantly. "Huh?"