Those words hit the masked man like a sledgehammer, violently shattering his last shred of denial and hesitation.
"I... I'll get him! I'll get him out right now!" The masked troll was scared out of his wits, his previous arrogant, know-it-all attitude vanishing without a trace.
With a panicked yell, he scrambled wildly toward the aquarium he had just called a "mansion." In his sheer panic, his foot caught on a power strip on the floor, sending him stumbling forward and nearly smashing his head into the glass tank. But he didn't even care about the pain. He clawed frantically at the child-proof latches on the airtight lid he had been so proud of.
Click! Click! The crisp sounds of the locks popping open sounded like the ticking of a countdown to death. Finally, with a heavy splash, the thick glass lid was thrown open. The masked man didn't even bother rolling up his sleeves; he plunged half his body into the water, his hands desperately searching through the deep, tangled aquatic plants.
A few seconds later.
"He... he's out! I got him out!"
Amidst the violent splashing, he pulled the now-motionless Squirtle from the water, his hands trembling as if he were holding a fragile, priceless treasure.
Cough, cough, cough—!!!
The moment the Squirtle made contact with the long-lost air, his body spasmed and curled up as if he had been struck by electricity. Immediately following that, he wretched. A massive mouthful of clear water, mixed with stomach acid and mucus, spewed from the small mouth that should have been spraying Water Gun, but was now only a testament to his agonizing suffocation.
He lay sprawled on the freezing floor, his four limbs limp as mud. His chest heaved violently as he gasped with harsh, raspy hiss-hah, hiss-hah breaths that sounded like a broken bellows. Those large eyes, usually so full of life, were completely bloodshot and unfocused, staring dead at the cracks in the floorboards as if they were his only lifeline.
His tiny claws had been digging in so hard during his frantic struggle that the nails had split open, oozing faint traces of blood. Yet, he still clung to the floor with a death grip, refusing to let go even with torn nails. It was an absolute, desperate attachment to dry land—and a bone-deep terror of the water.
This high-definition close-up was broadcasted without reservation to the over six hundred viewers in the livestream. The chat fell completely, deadly silent. No one was typing "Hahahaha" anymore. No one was accusing the streamer of using a "script."
A heavy, oppressive emotion called "guilt" spread across the internet.
[Viewer "Henan Iron Man": I... I can't keep watching this. My god, he's still shaking. Who said he was faking it earlier? Step up!]
[Viewer "Forest Deer": Waaaah... This is too tragic. As a trainer, my heart is breaking seeing this. He's a Water-type Pokémon, but he was driven to this point...]
[Viewer "Dayu Coin Lover": Is this the "evil of ignorance"? That fish tank really is no different from a water dungeon. If the streamer hadn't yelled, that Squirtle would have definitely died tonight.]
On the floor, the masked man collapsed, soaking wet. He was drenched in the water splashed from pulling the turtle out, but even more so in the cold sweat brought on by that fleeting moment of near-death terror.
His trembling hands pulled off the ridiculous Pikachu mask, revealing the pale, sweat-drenched face of a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. Where was the arrogance from before? There was only profound lingering fear, remorse, and the dazed look of someone whose entire worldview had just collapsed.
He looked at the Squirtle still dry-heaving on the floor. His hands hovered in mid-air; he wanted to touch him, to comfort him, but he was terrified of scaring him again. His arms remained frozen stiff like two blocks of wood.
"Squirtle... I'm... I'm sorry..." The young man's voice choked with sobs, tears mixing with the sweat sliding down his face. "I really didn't know... I thought deep-water tanks were common sense... I thought that lid was protecting you... I deserve to die!"
He suddenly snapped his head up, looking at Miles on the phone screen with eyes full of desperate pleading. "Master... Streamer... He... he's going to be okay, right? He looked like he stopped moving earlier... Did I kill him?"
Miles looked at the sobbing young man on screen, the rage in his eyes slowly subsiding. Regardless of everything else, a Pokémon's life had been saved.
"Relax. You got him out in time; his life is safe," Miles sighed, his tone softening slightly, though it still carried a stern warning. "However, while the physical water in his lungs has been expelled, the 'water' in his mind won't be drained so easily."
"The water in his mind?" The young man froze.
"This Squirtle's [Hydrophobia] has been carved into his very bones," Miles said, pointing at the screen. "From now on, you are going to have to expend ten....no!.. a hundred times more patience than a normal trainer to slowly, piece by piece, repair his trust in this world. Can you do that?"
"I can! I absolutely will!" The young man wiped his tears and nodded vigorously, even raising his hands to swear an oath. "From now on, I'll treat him like my own ancestor! If I ever throw him in the water again, or if I ever treat him badly, let me get hit by a car the moment I step outside! I..."
As if swearing wasn't enough, he actually dropped to his knees with a heavy thud, bowing toward Miles on the screen. "Master! Thank you! Truly, thank you! If you hadn't cursed me awake just now, I would have become a murderer! It was my fault for running my mouth, for being ignorant! I shouldn't have trolled you! You are a true Master! I bow to you!"
He knelt in gratitude for saving a life, and in repentance for his own ignorance.
"Alright, save the dramatics. Don't drop to your knees so easily," Miles waved his hand dismissively, his expression complex as he looked at the Squirtle on the floor. "The one you should be kneeling to isn't me, nor the viewers in the chat...It's him, the Squirtle you've been torturing for so long in the name of 'love'."
The young man trembled at those words. He turned around, shuffling forward on his knees until he was right in front of the Squirtle.
"Squirtle..." He lowered his head, his forehead nearly touching the floorboards. His voice was so choked with sobs he could barely speak. "I'm sorry... I was wrong... I was so wrong... I'll never lock you in there again..."
Hearing that familiar voice, the Squirtle—who had been shivering and hyper-vigilant of his surroundings—suddenly went stiff. He instinctively wanted to pull his head into his shell, wanting to escape the man who had brought him countless suffocating nightmares.
But then, he saw the man kneeling on the floor, crying like a helpless child. When he felt the hand reaching toward him—trembling, no longer carrying the force of a demanding grab, but rather a cautious, gentle hesitation—he stopped.
Slowly, the confusion in his large, fear-filled eyes gave way to a heartbreaking, suffocating tenderness.
Pokémon truly were the most foolish, pure-hearted creatures in the world. They didn't understand the complexities of humans, nor did they truly understand the concept of "abuse." They only knew one thing: this was their owner. Even if they had been hurt a thousand times, as long as they felt a single sliver of genuine kindness and repentance, they would still choose to forgive.
"Squir..." 'Don't cry...'
The Squirtle weakly shifted his body. He extended a small, shivering claw with its split nails and gently, ever so gently, patted the back of the young man's hand resting on the floor. He tilted his head up and squeezed out a weak, tired smile.
It was as if he was saying: 'I don't blame you. Just please, don't throw me back into that dark room.'
This scene of the victim comforting the abuser instantly shattered the emotional defenses of everyone watching the livestream. The chat exploded as countless viewers broke down in tears.
[Viewer "Forest Deer": I'm bawling my eyes out! How is this Squirtle so sweet?! He's still shaking, but he's actually comforting his owner!]
[Viewer "Kindergarten Lunch Thief": Did this guy save the galaxy in his past life? To meet such an amazing Pokémon... please, I beg you, be a decent human being from now on!]
[Viewer "I'll Pick It Up": This is what Pokémon are... forever sincere, forever bringing us to tears. The streamer is right, we owe them far too much.]