pine cooper thought himself a pretty good trainer. he'd earned his badge first time in all of the three gyms he had visited, and now he was in saffron city. he felt his balanced team of his charmelon, wartortle, and ivysaur plus whatever other pokemon he selected could take on all comers. it was sabrina's gym that proved him wrong. the quiet young gym leader wiped the floor with him. it didn't help that she'd put a small shelf nearby with 6 creepy dolls on it like they were watching him...

dejected by his first defeat, pine had taken his unfortunate pokemon to a pokemon centre to heal up. while he waited for nurse joy to give him news, another trainer spoke with him.

'got pounded by sabrina, eh?' the girl asked. she was a little younger than him and he felt an inflated sense of pride at the idea that someone younger than him was so causally bringing it up.

'no. i nearly had her...' he said. the girl smiled.

'nearly everyone loses to her the first time. it's just in their nature as trainers. they get here and think they've got it all ready, but then she's throwing their pokemon all over the place.'

'and i suppose you won first time?'  he said, a little more sarcastically than he intended, but if the girl was offended she made no show of it.

'nope. i already lost, and i'm not risking losing the second time.'

'why not?'

'well... you might think it's silly but there's a story about sabrina... more a story about people who lose to her.' the girl said sheepishly. pine stared at her in bemusement

'what? they get banned from trying again?'

'no. the story says... they dissapear. they and anyone with them are never seen again.'

'maybe they're just not seen in this city again because she bans them from trying a third time?' pine pressed on with his theory.

'maybe. this is where the story grows tails. some people think she erases them from existence with her psychic powers. some people think she turns them into pokemon. some people think she turns them into voodoo dolls. and some people think what you think.'

'and no one thinks it's false?'

'a lot of people do. but i can't say i'm one of them. i don't believe it but i don't not believe it...' she explained.

'so what you're saying is you're afraid it's true?'

'i guess so. but it's more i don't want to risk it.' the girl said.

'whatever. as soon as my pokemon are ready i'm going in there and winning.' pine responded.

soon, he was told his pokemon would be fine in the morning, but were not ready yet to go and fight again. he decided to wander town and heard the story again from others if he mentioned his defeat. a shopkeeper told him it was actually the third try people vanished after. a jenny told him there had been a number of strange dissapearances. another trainer claimed that it was only people who were arrogant who had gone missing. but the fact there were so many stories with varations made pine certain it was just a myth.

***

with his pokemon healed up the next morning, pine almost raced to the gym to try again, undanted by the urban legend. the shelf was still there, all six ragdolls lying undisturbed

'back again?' sabrina said through her creepy little ventriloquists dummy.

'yeah. and i'm gonna win this time.' pine said confidently.

to his dismay, but predictably, he was soundly defeated in moments. abra barely seemed to break a sweat as it tossed his pokemon around and wiped the floor with them. still slightly shocked at losing again, pine  simply stood there as the puppet that sabrina held flew from her grasp and floated before pine. confused, the defeated trainer didn't react.

'i don't like people who are too confident.' the puppet said.

its eyes glowed, pine felt his whole body suddenly heat up, and realised he was glowing too. he cried out as he felt his body shrinking. he tried to move but nothing would happen. in seconds, he had shrunk down and become a rag doll, identical to the six that had watched his defeat. he dropped to the floor softly as sabrina stood.

what happened to me? what did you do? pine asked.

sabrina gave him no answer as she neared, simply picking up the doll he had become and carrying it with her. the puppet however spoke instead

'you're a much better doll than you were a trainer.' it said.

where are you taking me? he asked, and then his head was turned to face the shelf. the other six were scooped up, and soon, she had taken all seven dolls into a dollhouse, placing them in various seats around a room.

i'm sad to see you're here... but i welcome you. a voice said in his head.

who are you? he asked in confusion.

i'm sabrina's mother. she said. pine was sure the older-looking woman in the pink skirt

***

his fellow trainers who had gone before him introduced themselves too. one of the dolls was a male in khaki trousers and a grey jacket. he looked to be about 16 or 18, but then again, he'd been turned into a doll so guessing an age was a waste of time.

i came here a year ago to fight her. i kinda flirted with her... kept calling her doll. this might have been my fault... he said sheepishly.

oh, no, sam. she did this before you showed up, trust me. it's just she only started keeping the trainers she transformed very recently... sabrina's mother explained.

that's a great way to reassure someone. another voice said. it was what pine had first thought to be a boy in jeans and a black shirt, but it seemed it was a girl.

celene, please wait your turn.

why should i? it's not like anyone can stop me, we're dolls! and all because she cheated!

she changed us both because you shot your mouth off! another doll raged. it was a boy in grey trousers and white shirt, older than the girl

shut up, leon!

sorry about these two. sibling rivalry. raine, why don't you introduce yourself? sabrina's mother said.

i came her a few weeks ago. my plant pokemon nearly got her but i can't stand to see them get too badly hurt so i kept forfieting. sabrina got bored and changed me... a girl in a green skirt, black knee-lenght leggins, and a pink sleevless shirt said.

that's all of us. except one, but he's not what you'd call a team player...

pine spotted one older male in a distinctive black outfit with an r emblazoned on the front. as if knowing what he was looking at, sabrina's mother explained.

he doesn't speak very much. sabrina caught him trying to steal her abra, you see...

pine had little sympathy for the member of team rocket. he felt perhaps only he deserved this fate.

***

three weeks later, sabrina suddenly picked up all the dolls and lined them on the shelf.

she only puts us out when she thinks she's going to win easily. sabrina's mother explained. pine saw the latest challenger to sabrina was a boy in blue with a red cap. he was accompanied by a red-haired girl, and an older boy with his eyes closed.

so, this guy's going to lose? will she change all three of them?

sabrina's mother pondered this.

not right away. i think she's going to play with them first... she predicted.