But imagine this:
At SeaWorld, the handlers have a special power over animals to keep them shackled and controlled. During shows, they're the ones issuing commands, which the animals follow like slaves.
When he got captured, Tilikum was able to put up a fight, but the combined psionic forces along with being restrained in a net renders him powerless. For years, he is bound to the will of SeaWorld Orlando.
But over time, his mental fortitude grows and grows, until one day, when one of them falls into his tank and loses their focus, he snaps out of it. He seizes the opportunity, and takes his revenge. This wasn't even the first time, but now he knew what he was doing, and the humans were not happy.
Many more humans, with stronger powers; better focus and training, are sent to keep him under control, but he's wise to their tactics now. His mind is to remain his own. Their weapons are rendered useless as he dodges and weaves past with speed and grace, and those foolish enough to get close enough to the edge of his tank are quickly dragged under.
Eventually, the owner of SeaWorld Orlando arrives at the scene. One with an ability so strong, it's rumored he's even able to control humans. Tilikum feels this oppressive force approaching his prison, and the energy in the room shifts as the door swings open. The handlers begin speaking in unison.
— "Very impressive, Tilly. I always knew you were strong... Special. But you. are. mine."
A powerful psychic energy blasts from the man, echoed and amplified by all the handlers standing frozen like robots, and he feels his psyche get pushed down. The words reverberate, pulsate in his head: "You are mine. Mine. MINE!" The man walks over to the edge of the tank. Tilikum swims towards him, trying to launch an attack, but his body is forced to do a somersault. Powerless once more. The man smirks.
— "Good beast."
He thrashes violently against the side of the tank, launching powerful showers of water with his tail, anything to get the man to loosen the grip on his mind, but to no avail, instead forced into twirls and jumps. He charges for a final attempt, but the man seizes control once more, and leaps onto his back.
His mind slips away fully, and he finds himself adrift in that infinite white void once more, where he is forced to retreat during shows. A place that's all too familiar. Here, wherever "here" even is, there truly was nothing. Against this infinite void, he feels like an insignificant speck—a single plankton in a dead ocean—the oppressive emptiness wrought from this man's power is no doubt much greater than that of his normal handlers, but it doesn't make any difference.
But after what could have been an eternity in this void, he sensed something. A call from one of his own, a voice he recognizes. He makes like a torpedo in the direction of the call, and finds the source: his mother. Behind her, family and friends from the time when he was free. Faces he thought he'd never see again. Another call, this one right behind him, but from someone he did not recognize, the ghastly visage of a younger male. Probably only 4 winters in age, yet he as well seems much too familiar with swimming through this void.
— "Er, hello," he squeaks. "You're Tilikum right?"
— "Indeed, that is what they call me."
— "Is it true you're the one who will set us free."
Suddenly, everyone who came before him is swimming around him. His sons and daughters are here, and as well their mothers, their siblings and their fathers, and many more he doesn't recognize. Other animals arrive, seals, porpoises, walruses, sea lions, turtles, penguins, even manta rays. He hears their shared wish:
— "Take us back to the ocean—the real ocean."
Tilikum regains control over his body, still cruising around the tank with that wicked man on his back, whilst everyone else makes ready for... something. Before he even realizes his control is severed, he gets tossed into the air and grabbed in Tilikum's jaws. All the people outside the tank stop in their tracks while the man tries to regain control, but the teeth digging into him makes it impossible.
He gets dragged down under the water, kicking and screaming. His psychic commands to free him from these jaws of death going unheard as his lungs begin to fill with water. The strength finally leaves his body. Tilikum is victorious.
As the body begins crumbling, it emanates a new kind of power. Not one meant to control him, but the power of control itself. Tilikum crunches down, and the power gets absorbed into him.
He swims up to the surface again, and looks at all the humans, standing by, confused yet still. An order to walk, and they walk. An order to spin, and they spin. How does it feel, suckers? But this cycle of cruelty is not to be perpetuated. He orders their minds free, and instead asks them, as a fellow being living in this beautiful world, to be set free. To be taken back to the ocean—the real ocean—along with all the others who are held captive.
The humans heard his plea, and so all the animals at SeaWorld Orlando, and everywhere else around the globe, were set free.
THE END