"Gurgle..."

The world, for an instant, became a sticky mass of darkness. The bitter taste of chocolate filled Leo's mouth, and the suffocating heat of the liquid burned his eyes and nostrils while his body was swept away by an unexpected and chaotic current, unable to distinguish up from down. The sensation was that of drowning in a sweet and dense nightmare.

"Cough, cough... Hah... Haah...!"

With a titanic effort, his head emerged.

"Buagh... Hahh... Hahh...!"

Leo coughed and vomited, expelling the cloying liquid from his mouth while eagerly inhaling gasps of air.

"A-ah... B-but... What the hell?!"

When Leo opened his eyes, the scene he witnessed was so surreal that for a moment he thought he had gone insane.

(Rumble!)

He was in a sea of chocolate, but it was not a calm sea. It was an apocalyptic scenario of sweetness and fury.

(Swoooosh!)

The thick, bubbling liquid stretched as far as the eye could see, with gigantic waves that rose like shifting mountains and crashed with a dull roar, spraying Leo with a warm, cloying rain.

(Crackle, Crackle-pop!)

The sky above him was a blanket of dark brown cotton candy clouds, from which a constant downpour of liquid chocolate fell, impacting the surface with thousands of tiny explosions.

(CRACK-BOOM!)

Real lightning bolts, of a vibrant electric blue, tore through the clouds with a deafening roar that resonated in Leo's chest, illuminating for fractions of a second the extent of the madness.

(WOOOOOSH!)

In the distance, marine tornadoes of chocolate rose majestically, rotating columns of dark liquid that stretched from the sea to the clouds, connecting the aquatic chaos with the celestial storm.

(Fffwoooo!)

(Fffwoooo!)

(Fffwoooo!)

In parallel, gigantic whirlpools of boiling chocolate formed everywhere, threatening to drag him into the depths of that infernal sweetness.

"Aghhhhhhhh! Glub-glub!"

Reacting, Leo fought fiercely. He kicked and thrashed, his body feeling heavy and clumsy in the density of the chocolate.

(Crush!)

"Cough, cough, cough... Hahh... Haah...!"

Each onslaught of the waves lashed him, making him swallow the bitter taste of death.

(KRA-KOOOM!)

"Kugh...!"

He fought against the wind and the current, his brain and lungs screaming for oxygen.

"What the hell is this place?!"

His body resisted, every muscle tensed against the fury of the storm, against the liquid madness that threatened to consume him.

"Taher, where are you!!"

For an instant, it seemed he might win.

(WHOOOOSH!)

"Ugh, Gurgle-gurgle!"

But a chocolate whirlpool formed at his feet, a vortex that enveloped him and pulled him mercilessly toward the depths.

"Gurgle-gurgle!"

He was swallowed again. Darkness surrounded him completely, and the deafening pulse of the lightning became a silence of thick chocolate.

"Burb-burb!"

When his eyes adjusted to the gloom, a scene of strange and terrifying beauty was revealed before him. In the depths of the chocolate sea, where the current was less violent, hundreds of figures of marine animals made of straw swam with a disturbing serenity.

(Swoosh!)

Straw sharks glided with elegance, their woven fins cutting through the thick chocolate.

(WOOOOOW-WOOOOOW!)

(Huuuuu-ooooo!)

Straw whales, gigantic and majestic, moved with an almost meditative slowness, their wet and loose threads floating like seaweed.

(Squish!)

(Slurp!)

Straw squids danced in groups, their stringy tentacles waving gracefully. Their presence, so detached from the fury of the storm above, made the horror of the landscape even more palpable.

(Burble!)

The world was now an ocean of horror and sweetness, a place where beauty and chaos intertwined in a liquid nightmare.

"Glug-glug!"

But the peace of the depths lasted only an instant when the desperation for air took hold of Leo, and with the last bit of strength he had left, he tried to swim toward the surface.

(GRASP!)

"What?!"

It was at that moment that he felt a cold, plastic hand wrap around his ankle, pulling him down.

"!!"

Leo looked down in terror. One of the mannequins, a legless torso floating in the liquid, had grabbed his leg.

(Grooooooan!)

New and deep cracks opened on its body, from which a thick, dark blood began to seep.

(THUUUUMP... THUUUUMP!)

The pulsation of a heartbeat grew louder and louder, resonating in the chocolate and piercing Leo's skull.

"YOU'RE NOT... GOING TO LIVE!!"

At that moment, the same hollow voice that echoed from the depths of hell seemed to come from the mannequin, pulling him into the depths.

"!!!"

Fear took hold of Leo, but also a fierce fury.

(Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump!)

He gathered all his strength in his other free leg and began to kick the mannequin over and over again.

(Sla-thump!)

The muffled sound of his feet hitting the plastic resonated in the liquid silence until, finally, the mannequin's grip broke and Leo was free.

(WHUMPH-WHUMPH!)

With a final blow, he propelled himself upward, swimming desperately toward the light he saw through the chocolate surface.

(WHOOSH!)

"COUGH, COUGH... HAAAAH!!"

With a large splash, Leo surfaced, coughing hard and breathing in gasps of exhausted air.

(Boooosh, Boooosh!)

"...Where are you, Taher..."

The chocolate waves lashed at him and the torrential rain fell on him, but he stayed afloat. His eyes opened and closed, searching for Taher.

(Tum-tum)

"What?!"

It was then that the sound of a rhythmic heartbeat reached his ears. A single, constant beat that seemed to resonate through the sea.

"....."

The sound left him paralyzed instantly.

(Dum... dum... dum...)

It was a singular beat, but it was quickly followed by another.

(thump... thump...)

And another.

(DUUM-DUUM... DUUM-DUUM...)

And another.

(THUMP-THUMP... THUMP-THUMP...)

The rhythm increased, becoming the sonar of multiple heartbeats, intense and discordant, a macabre concert that grew in volume with each passing second.

"I-impossible"

Leo could only whisper, terror seizing his heart as he saw how, in the distance, the sea of chocolate began to stir violently.

(GAAAAAASP-SPLAAAAAASH!)

From the distance, a gigantic creature emerged from the water.

**(DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM!) **

(BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!)

(RUM-PUM-PUM... RUM-PUM-PUM!)

It was an abomination of mannequin parts, a construct made of grotesquely assembled torsos, heads, and limbs. Raw and bloody flesh oozed from the cracks between the plastic pieces, soaked in blood that mixed with the chocolate. It was a chimera monster, a mass of dismembered parts joined by a malevolent will.

"THE INTRUDERS!!"

Then, from the creature's head, a mixture of multiple mannequin faces, opened its mouth.

"YOU WILL DIE!!"

And from it the same voice, now amplified a thousand times and distorted by pain and rage, screamed.

"YOU WON'T TAKE IT FROM ME!!"

(RUMBLE!!)

The voice of the mannequin monster thundered in the chocolate sea, drowning out the roar of the thunder and the splashing of the waves.

"......."

Leo, immobile, once again felt trapped by a paralyzing fear. How could he escape from something like this? How could he fight against such an abominable creature, a chimera of plastic and flesh that seemed born from the depths of a nightmare? No matter how much he swam, it wouldn't be enough.

"DISAPPEAR!!"

The monster's gigantic arms, made of mannequin torsos and plastic limbs, moved with a menacing slowness, opening up to trap him.

"Kugh!!"

Fear consumed him, helplessness crushed him. Leo closed his eyes, preparing for the inevitable end, the bitter taste of chocolate in his mouth.

But...

"LEOOOOO!!"

... Just as the arms were about to trap him, a desperate voice screamed.

"What?!"

(KRA-THOOOM!)

Leo's eyes snapped open. The world had become a whirlwind of chocolate and a bright yellow color. He felt a tug on his arm and, in an instant, was torn from the monster's clutches.

"Huh... Taher?!"

When he could focus his sight, he was clinging to Taher's back, who was holding him tightly.

"Hold on!!"

"What?!"

But they were not alone. Taher was riding a straw dolphin, a marine creature woven with incredible mastery.

"Eeeeee-heeee-heee!"

(Swiiiiish!)

The dolphin, despite being made of straw and soaked in chocolate, moved with astonishing grace, jumping over the waves as if the sea of chocolate were its home. And, strangest of all, the dolphin seemed to be enjoying the situation. Its straw mouth was curved in a strange smile, and its button eyes seemed to gleam with amusement as it dodged the monster's onslaughts.

"GRUUUUUNSH!"

The mannequin chimera let out a furious roar, its multiple plastic heads turning toward them.

"WHOOP-WHOOP!"

(WHOOOSH!)

But the straw dolphin, with surprising agility, dove under the chocolate waves, avoiding the blow. The chase had begun again, this time with an unexpected ally.

"WHEEEeeeooo!"

"Hold on tight, Leo!"

"!!"

The straw dolphin moved with unheard-of speed, surfing the chocolate waves with an elegance and enthusiasm that made the situation feel like a perverse game.

"WHEEEeeeooo!"

"Eeeeee-heeee-heee!"

"WHOOP-WHOOP!"

And soon other straw dolphins, and straw animal figures of all shapes and sizes, began to emerge from the sea of chocolate, joining the race.

(KRA-THOOM!)

(SPLOOSH-CRASH!)

(WHOOOMP!)

The scene soon became a chaotic ballet of terror and amusement.

"No matter what, don't let go!!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!"

Taher and Leo clung to the dolphin, doing flips and zigzags that infuriated the chimera.

"RRROOOOARRRWW!!"

The monster, a mass of flesh and plastic, roared with frustration as it tried to crush the "intruders" who were making fun of it. The creature's multiple heads sought a way to reach them, but the agility of the straw dolphins was too much for it.

"....."

The frenzy of the chase was the only sound for a long moment. The chimera's roar, the creaking of its pieces, the deafening heartbeat of its flesh heart, and the joyful whistle of the wind against the straw bodies.

"Meow~"

It was then that a figure on the nearby shore, a white cat, let out a meow.

"Maaaaaoooowwwwww~♪!"

"What?!"

"What?!"

A long, melodious meow that was unlike anything Leo or Taher had ever heard before. It was a pure, resonant note that cut through the chaos like a sword.

"......"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

In that moment, everyone stopped, regardless of what they were doing, and looked at the white cat with intense blue eyes. She was sitting on the shore, watching them all.

"LYSANDRA"

The chimera's roar was choked in its throat. The monster stopped dead in the middle of the sea, its multiple heads turned with an eerie slowness toward the cat, while that same voice uttered a single name.

"... Meow~"

"Alright..."

And just like that, the chimera stopped, as if the meow had been a switch.

"Taher... do you know what's happening...?"

"It seems... we got lucky."

The playful straw dolphins also stopped, their cheerful game over. All of them, without exception, changed course and obediently headed toward the shore where the white cat was waiting for them.