It was rare for Edward to visit his own gaming company.
Normally, he had little interest in showing up personally but this time, after Kennedy heard that the studio was planning to develop a triple-A title, he immediately urged Edward to come along for a visit.
Edward found the insistence a bit odd, but he didn't object. So, he brought Kennedy with him and went to take a look.
The company wasn't located in Rustboro but in Lilycove instead.
That, however, was quite normal—after all, Lilycove was home to many businesses. Its harbor made shipping and logistics extremely convenient, and since most of the League's regions were actually scattered across islands in the sea, maritime transport had become the backbone of trade and industry. Consequently, cities like Lilycove, with well-developed shipping, were always more suitable for growth.
When Edward arrived at the office, he found the staff already deep in discussion about game development. His and Kennedy's sudden entrance made the employees nervous at first, but after a few casual questions, the atmosphere quickly relaxed.
Only then did Edward learn what their new project was about—they were planning to create a large-scale triple-A game, venturing into a genre that, so far, no one in this world had dared to touch.
However, as Edward listened further, his expression gradually became strange. The concept they described sounded suspiciously familiar almost exactly like Resident Evil. Only this time, the project had a unique twist: Pokémon elements were being integrated into it.
In this world, it wasn't humans alone who could become infected; even Pokémon could be zombified. The idea struck Edward as unexpectedly fascinating, though what intrigued him most was who had come up with such a concept.
"So, you're saying," Edward asked, his tone uncertain, "that you want to create some sort of bizarre virus… one that causes both humans and Pokémon who are infected to lose their sanity, become violently aggressive, and attack any uninfected individuals nearby—and it spreads through biting?" His expression turned even more peculiar.
The man across from him nodded eagerly, excitement lighting up his face.
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose. He truly hadn't seen this coming. He had deliberately chosen not to get involved in this project, wanting to see what his team could come up with on their own. Yet somehow, they had independently created something that so closely resembled Resident Evil. Edward felt helpless but when he glanced at the man leading the meeting, he realized that maybe it wasn't such a coincidence after all.
"Yes, boss, that's exactly our plan!" the man said enthusiastically. "And it was my personal idea. I think this setting could be incredibly interesting!"
The speaker was a man named Mikami Mikami. When Edward heard the name and got a good look at his face, he froze for a moment. Was this the power of world-line convergence at work again? The man looked and sounded exactly like the "father of Resident Evil" from his previous life! Edward could only smile wryly at the irony.
Still, this was good news—it fit perfectly with Edward's expectations. With such a unique concept, the game was almost guaranteed to be a success and could easily develop into a long-running franchise. That meant his studio would finally have its own independent IP. The thought filled Edward with anticipation.
After all, Resident Evil had always been a fascinating franchise. Edward decided to stay for a while to listen to Mikami and his team's design discussions. At first, the project differed slightly from Resident Evil, but as the conversation went on, it gradually evolved into something nearly identical. Edward and Kennedy both found themselves very satisfied.
"Boss," Kennedy said after listening for a while, "I think we should invest in this project. A gameplay concept this innovative is bound to revolutionize the industry. I'm confident we won't lose money on this one."
Edward nodded in agreement. He had no objections. As for the technical aspects—how the gameplay would be implemented, or how the mechanics would be balanced—he didn't plan to interfere. He wasn't an expert in game design. But there was one thing he could help with.
The story.
"How about I help you write the script?" Edward suggested with a smile.
Mikami looked a bit embarrassed. In his mind, big-shot investors like Edward probably didn't know anything about storytelling for games—after all, movies and video games were completely different mediums. But since Edward was the boss, he politely agreed that they could at least look at his ideas first.
Edward, of course, understood Mikami's hesitation. Any creator with real passion and vision naturally disliked having their work interfered with or rewritten by outsiders. Still, he appreciated Mikami's willingness to listen—most likely granted only because he was the one signing the checks.
Fortunately, Edward remembered the Resident Evil franchise very well. The games had many iconic moments—the unforgettable zombie head-turning scene, for instance, which had shocked players when it first appeared and became one of the most memorable images in horror gaming. With modern technology, Mikami's team could easily recreate and even surpass those classic moments.
Edward thought for a moment, then decided to focus on Leon, the rookie police officer who served as the first game's protagonist. That story structure, the player stepping into the nightmare alongside a newcomer would still work perfectly here. Of course, it would also include the classic police station puzzles, the Umbrella Hive, and other signature elements of Resident Evil.
If the game did well, he could even adapt it into a film series later. He planned to produce only the first two movies for now—after all, the later installments of Resident Evil had become messy and inconsistent. But the first two would be more than enough to start with.
On the spot, Edward began outlining the story to Mikami.
As Mikami listened, his eyes widened in astonishment. He hadn't expected Edward to propose such an imaginative and well-structured script—one that perfectly matched the atmosphere of a survival horror game and even introduced two playable protagonists from the start.
Excited, Mikami immediately dove into a passionate discussion with Edward about gameplay details, character relationships, and plot pacing.
Edward didn't mind indulging him. Together they refined the lore and discussed how to merge the Pokémon elements into the world. The biggest challenge, of course, was balance—how strong should "zombie Pokémon" be?
Too strong, and the game would become unfair. Too weak, and it would lose tension.
Classic enemies like Lickers and Tyrants were naturally included—but now, they would appear alongside grotesque Pokémon variants. For instance, the zombie Pokémon could replace the traditional zombie dogs.
Edward even toyed with the idea of borrowing some terrifying chase sequences from Outlast, but then decided that since Resident Evil was fundamentally a horror-action puzzle game, those moments would work better as optional DLC content.
After finishing his discussion with Mikami, Edward left in high spirits. He planned to start writing the movie script right away. The game's production was now a certainty, and a Resident Evil-style project like this was guaranteed to explode in popularity. He also intended to weave in storylines involving Leon and Ada Wong, linking the game and film together seamlessly—something the original franchise had never managed.
In the old world, the Resident Evil films and games were largely disconnected. Aside from a few shared names, places, and the general zombie theme, they told entirely separate stories. Fans were split into movie-lovers and game-purists. Edward was determined not to repeat that mistake.
Back home, he sat down in front of his computer and began drafting the script for the Resident Evil film.
The story opened with a squad of mercenaries sent on a secret mission into a large mansion. There, they encountered the heroine, Alice a woman who had lost all memories of her past. The mercenaries soon realized that Alice was an employee of the Umbrella Corporation, and together, they descended into the underground Hive facility.
As they moved deeper inside, they discovered that the Hive's security system had gone haywire—alarms blaring, lights flickering and then came one of the most iconic sequences in Resident Evil history: the laser corridor.
The squad's captain and two teammates entered the corridor along with Alice, attempting to reach and shut down the facility's AI, the Red Queen. But the defense system activated, slicing the soldiers to pieces. Only Alice survived by sheer luck.
After the survivors forcibly shut down the Red Queen, they ignored her warnings—triggering disaster. With the power systems offline, containment failed, and the zombies awakened, flooding the Hive.
The mercenaries soon realized the full horror of their situation: the Umbrella Corporation had been developing a viral bioweapon, and a catastrophic leak had occurred. The virus was extremely contagious, capable of transforming humans into the undead. The only sure way to kill them was to destroy the brain.
As the story progressed, Alice began to recover fragments of her memory. She remembered working for Umbrella, conducting classified research and even being romantically involved with one of her teammates. She also began displaying enhanced abilities, side effects of the T-Virus in her body—allowing her to fight, dodge, and survive against impossible odds.
Together, Alice and the remaining mercenaries formed a desperate alliance, trying to escape the Hive. But as the tension escalated, her lover betrayed the group, stealing the vaccine serum. Then came the appearance of the Licker, serving as the game's final boss.
The climax mixed elements of the original Resident Evil and Raccoon City storylines, laying groundwork for future sequels. Alice barely escaped the Hive, only to be captured and taken to a lab. Her closest comrade, meanwhile, was turned into the Nemesis creature.
That concluded the plot of Resident Evil 1—simple, but effective. The main thrill was, of course, the zombies and the horrifying bioweapons. Yet with the Pokémon twist, Edward introduced additional zombie Pokémon, such as Zombie Growlithe and Zombie Arcanine replacing the undead dogs, and a rampaging Zombie Tauros that charged endlessly with massive strength but poor agility.
These zombie Pokémon would all appear in the game. Mikami even came up with a new boss—a Zombie Machamp, enlarged and monstrously strong. On expert difficulty, one hit would cripple the player; on extreme mode, one touch meant instant death.
"It looks like this game is destined to define an era," Edward said with satisfaction. Creating a title of this scale would bring his company immense prestige. No more would the press keep pestering him about when the Pokémon Brawl Royale developers would make something new.
Feeling pleased, Edward finally went home to relax. He lay on his bed, hugging his little companion Q, gently rubbing its fur. His mind wandered to the idea of visiting Petalburg Forest—partly for a change of pace, but also to check in on Gengar and Little Luna.
Little Luna's film Carrie had performed quite well, earning solid box-office numbers and making her a rising star. Edward couldn't help but wonder if she planned to continue pursuing that path.
(End of Chapter)