"I'm not lying..."
Seeing the chat scroll by, Fawn in the Woods lowered her head and started crying again.
"Um... Miss Fawn in the Woods, could you stop crying for a second?"
Logan's voice was steady and firm, carrying a reassuring calm. "Take off the gas mask. I can't hear you clearly."
"No! I'm not taking it off!"
She shook her head frantically, her voice breaking. "You don't understand, Master! It really smells that bad! If I take this off, I'll pass out! I've already fainted three times from it! This isn't something a normal person can tolerate!"
"And..."
She glanced at the Oddish in the corner, pain flashing across her eyes.
"I used to live in the school dorms. Because she smells so bad, my roommates almost cut ties with me. I had no choice but to move out and rent this place!"
"For her, I'm spending an extra 1,000 Dollar on rent every month! But... but she's getting smellier and smellier! My clothes, my hair, my blankets—everything reeks! When I go to class, people walk around me like I fell into a sewer!"
"I've already gotten complaints from my landlord. The neighbors think I'm hiding a dead body... I really don't know what to do anymore! I love her, but I really can't afford to keep her like this!"
While sobbing, she pointed at the Oddish.
"I even asked a doctor. They said Oddish aren't supposed to smell like this unless they evolve into Gloom."
"But she hasn't evolved yet and she's already this bad. If she evolves... won't that just gas people to death? I really don't dare keep raising her. Master, tell me—do I have no choice but to let her go?"
Even through the screen, Logan could feel the despair.
In the corner, the Oddish had lowered her head as far as it would go, curling into herself.
She knew she had caused trouble for her trainer. She didn't blame her.
She only hated herself for being so smelly.
The chat lit up again, and TrollKing99 jumped back in.
[TrollKing99: Keep making it up! How bad can an Oddish smell? Fainting from it? This is just fishing for sympathy! Streamer, if you can prove that Oddish really smells that bad, I'll wash my hair upside down on livestream!]
[Kindergarten Food Theif: I hate the troll, but... yeah, this is kind of wild. Never heard of an Oddish smelling like that.]
Logan read the comment and smiled.
Why were people always so eager to volunteer as comic relief?
"Troll brother, go ahead and get your shampoo ready."
Logan replied casually, then turned his sharp gaze back to Fawn in the Woods.
"Miss Fawn, do you think your Oddish is some kind of freak? That she's sick with some incurable disease?"
"Yes, yes!" she nodded rapidly. "I took her to the Pokemon Center. The doctors said all her stats were normal. No issues at all. But she still smells! Worse than a sewer!"
"Normal? That's because those doctors only know how to read data. They don't know how to read fate."
Logan lifted a finger and pointed toward the Oddish in the corner, his tone suddenly serious.
"Do you realize you almost made a catastrophic mistake? You're about to throw a downtown villa straight into the trash."
"W-What... what do you mean?" she stammered.
A villa? Who? The Oddish?
Logan adjusted his breathing and switched into full professional "expert analysis" mode.
"Let's not talk about the smell for now. Let me ask you something. Is your Oddish usually very well-behaved? Quiet, doesn't cause trouble, doesn't like fighting other Pokemon, and lately... has she been hiding in the corner, afraid of getting too close to you?"
Fawn in the Woods froze. Then her eyes reddened.
"Yes... she's really obedient. When I used to hold her, she'd stay stiff and barely move. Recently she's become more withdrawn. I thought she started to hate me..."
"She doesn't hate you. She loves you too much."
Logan sighed softly.
"She knows she smells. She's afraid of making you uncomfortable. So she's enduring it."
"Enduring it?" she echoed, confused.
"That's right. Enduring."
Logan pointed at the data only he could see and began delivering his bold—yet oddly convincing—theory.
"From what I see, this Oddish has extraordinary talent. Her leaves may be drooping, but the veins are strong and clear. That's a classic Reserved nature, combined with exceptional aptitude."
"In simple terms, she's a genius. The Poison-type energy inside her is too strong—so strong her body can barely contain it. But she doesn't want to hurt you. So she compresses and suppresses that energy."
"It's like a pressure cooker filled with top-tier broth—but you sealed the exhaust valve shut. When a tiny bit of steam leaks out, of course it's intense. Of course it smells 'bad.'"
At this point, Logan's voice rose, filled with conviction.
"What you're smelling isn't a stench! It's medicinal fragrance that's been compressed hundreds—thousands—of times and hasn't fully transformed yet!"
The moment those words dropped, not just Fawn in the Woods—even the entire livestream fell silent.
Calling "stench" medicinal fragrance?
That was like pointing at a pile of crap and calling it chocolate. Ridiculous beyond belief.
The chat exploded.
[TrollKing99: HAHAHA! Medicinal fragrance? I'm dying! Streamer, were you in a pyramid scheme before this? Something that smells that bad and you call it fragrance? Why don't you crawl through the screen and take a sniff yourself?]
[KindergartenLunchKing: Okay, this sounds mystical as hell... but for some reason, with that face of his, I kind of believe him?]
[PopcornEater: This theory is way too advanced. Oddish compressing toxins? That's not scientific!]
Fawn in the Woods looked utterly shaken. She glanced at the trembling Oddish in the corner, then back at Logan on the screen.
"M-Master... you're not joking, right? This is really... fragrance? But it smells like rotten eggs mixed with spoiled fish!"
"That's right now!"
Logan cut her off decisively.
"It smells bad because she's still in the fermentation stage—and because you've been pushing her too hard! Your disgust, your gas mask, all of it tells her: 'You stink. Stay away from me.'"
"So she becomes more insecure. More suppressed. That energy turns sour."
"This will all be resolved once she evolves."
"Do not throw her away! If you do, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"
"Miss Fawn. You're not unlucky—you've hit the jackpot!"
"Once she evolves, she'll become a one-in-a-million, never-smelly, top-tier Gloom!"