A towering doll, tens of meters tall, laughed expressionlessly with a creepy "hee-hee," like a monstrous Godzilla. Each step it took crushed house after house, raising dust clouds several stories high. The groaning of wood and the screech of twisting beams echoed like a banshee's scream, making Logan's eardrums ache.
Run. Run. Run—
There was nothing else to do but run—fast.
Logan stood on Gabite's shoulder, gripping its head for balance. The Pokémon surged forward like a giant swordfish cutting through water—straight and fast, never pausing.
Gabite's speed was incredible. In the blink of an eye, it left behind blur-like afterimages. It was said that when it evolved into Garchomp, its flight could reach Mach speeds. But Gabite was only suited for linear, high-speed charges. When it came to tight turns or agile movement in confined spaces, it struggled. Fortunately, in this mental world created by Sabrina's psychic powers, the houses it manifested were all traditional Japanese wooden homes—light, fragile, and utterly unable to stop Gabite's muscular frame. It bulldozed through them like a freight train.
And yet, no matter how fast Gabite ran with Logan on its back, they couldn't escape the edge of this world. In fact, Logan began to suspect they were just running in circles. Even the houses they had crushed earlier seemed to repair themselves when they weren't looking.
Looking back, he saw the same little girl he'd seen before—the one who looked like a young version of Sabrina—sitting on the giant doll's shoulder, giggling innocently. She was adorable, the kind of cuteness that would normally melt someone's heart.
But Logan felt nothing of the sort.
"Ehehe~ Big brother is so nice, playing with me like this~"
The girl's laughter was sweet, yet there was an eerie coldness in it. She happily ordered the massive doll to continue chasing Logan and Gabite at a slow, deliberate pace—like a predator toying with its prey, sapping its strength and will bit by bit.
Logan knew what she was doing. Of course he did. But knowing didn't help. All he could do now was keep running, buying as much time as he could before Gabite's stamina gave out. He had no illusions—if that giant doll stomped him to death in this place, he was done for. This was Sabrina's world. Her rules.
That little girl... she probably was Sabrina—Sabrina as a child. Lonely. Afraid. Abandoned. A girl with no one in her life, searching for someone—anyone—who would stay with her. But she had found no friends. No comfort. Only that grotesque, Godzilla-sized doll by her side.
If one were to believe certain psychologists, this desolate world—empty, lifeless, yet dressed up in vivid colors—was a direct projection of Sabrina's mental state. Her childhood mind laid bare: beautiful, peaceful homes filled with flowers and sunshine, but absolutely no one to share it with. A ghost town in the guise of paradise.
The contradiction between material beauty and emotional decay only deepened the feeling of hopelessness and isolation.
Logan didn't understand why Sabrina would expose her most vulnerable memories like this just to trap him. It was like deliberately opening your deepest wound to your enemy. If he survived and returned to the real world, this glimpse into her weakness could forever be a thorn in her psyche—a source of instability. But maybe... maybe she was just that confident. Confident that no one would ever escape this mental world. That anyone who entered would be whittled down until there was nothing left.
By now, Logan and Gabite had been running for what felt like hours. But Logan, who knew a thing or two about psychic abilities, understood that in the real world, only a few seconds had likely passed. His body was probably in a deep hypnotic state. Waking up would require an external stimulus. But time wasn't on his side. He seriously doubted anyone out there could think of a way to rescue him in just a few seconds.
He had tried fighting back before. He had ordered Gabite to unleash a Hyper Beam, and the blast had indeed obliterated the giant doll. But mere moments later, it reformed—good as new. In this psychic world, physical rules meant nothing. As the guest, Logan could never overpower the host—Sabrina. Unless he could flip the roles entirely.
Still, they ran. Logan stood on Gabite's back, his legs numb, his hands gripping tightly as they sped onward. It felt like hours. Gabite, even without using any special moves, was growing visibly exhausted. Its speed began to falter. Behind them, the little girl's laughter grew louder and clearer. The massive doll was gaining on them.
Just as Logan clenched his teeth, bracing for a last desperate stand—
A voice rang out in his mind, cutting through the air like lightning.
[Logan, can you hear me?]
[Mewtwo!!]
Logan had never been so glad to hear that voice in his life. He shouted back mentally,
[I'm trapped in Sabrina's mental world! Mewtwo, can you get me out of here?]
Time in the mind didn't sync with real time. Logan didn't know how Mewtwo had managed to cross the barrier and speak to him. But then again, Mewtwo was a Legendary Pokémon—it likely had abilities far beyond normal logic.
[She's wrapped this world in layers of psychic defense. If I try to forcibly pull your consciousness back, I'll need time.]
[We don't have time!!]
Just a few more seconds in the real world, and Logan's mind might be gone. Sabrina couldn't physically attack him now, nor could Logan allow Mewtwo to attack her—if either of their real bodies died, the resulting mental backlash could destroy the other.
But if Sabrina succeeded in erasing Logan's mind in here, then his real body would be reduced to a husk—a vegetable.
[Forget breaking through her psychic barriers. Mewtwo, open Dratini's Poké Ball with your telekinesis and have it use Thunder Wave on me—immediately!]
After all, brain signals were electrical impulses—chemical reactions moving along neural paths. If he could jolt himself out of this hypnotic state, even just a bit, he might wake up inside the dream!
In the real world—
Mewtwo didn't hesitate. With a subtle flick of telekinesis, Dratini's Poké Ball unclasped and burst open in a puff of mist. The tiny dragon emerged and slithered up around Logan's neck, its body shimmering with resolve.
With a determined cry—"Mii~"—Dratini unleashed a pulse of invisible electromagnetic energy. The air quivered as the Thunder Wave surged into Logan's body, paralyzing his nerves—but also jolting the sleeping part of his brain.
At that exact moment, Sabrina—who had been sitting not far from Logan, her eyes glowing with a cold, amethyst light—suddenly jerked.
Her flawless, icy expression twisted. A blush rose across her snow-white cheeks. A gasp—sharp, breathy, uncontrolled—escaped her lips.
Her knees gave out. She collapsed into a duck-like sitting position, legs splayed. Her breathing quickened. Her gaze became unfocused, glassy.
She looked utterly... broken. Like someone who had been toyed with far too harshly.
In the mental world...
Logan had just done something unspeakably cruel to her.
To be continued…
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