He should have sensed it from her very blood, that she's wasn't an ordinary woman and to not underestimate her, but that he did.
And as much as he tried not to feel a thing, Cyrus felt incredibly irked because of it.
The so-called Cynthia, the woman he had been visiting for a month now for her blood, had started resisting him. It was as if she was starting to remember bits of their previous encounters despite his amnesia spells, and organizing herself for future attacks; the last time he had visited, she was paralyzed by his powers as usual, yes, but he had been taken by surprise by a fierce Garchomp, and almost lost an arm to it.
He had to flee, without even bothering with her memory.
And that night, he was sure it was that slip of memory that allowed her enough inner strenght to make his stomach churn in pain.
The blonde had somehow managed to fight the paralysis enough to blow a punch to his midsection. Due to the sudden hit, Cynthia's neck had been ripped by Cyrus' retreat and was now bleeding profusely, clouding her vision.
It disgusted Cyrus even more that, despite that, she still wore such an intense look of defiance, as if she wanted to burn him to ashes with solely her glare. Such powerful emotions...this pitiful human was far from perfection, how could he possibly enjoy her blood so much?
He heard screeching from a nearby room -surely the woman's Garchomp approaching- just as the blonde was slipping into uncosciousness. Cyrus had to think quick; leaving her in this state would mean that other people would notice, and possibly take action, preventing him from that blood he so much craved...and future encounters would be even more difficult, as she would prepare herself, he was sure of it.
So, he grabbed the unconscious woman and disappeared in the night.
Cynthia woke up to the sound of little voices, feeling incredibly weak. She kept still for a while before even trying to sit up -wait, she was in a bed..?-, feigning sleep and trying to aknowledge her surroundings by the voices only.
"I still can't believe Master Cyrus decided to bring a human in! Geez, what was he thinking?!"
"Hush, Mars, you should know better than to question Cyrus' decisions! I don't approve of her presence either, but that's probably the easiest way for him to feed…"
"Still, he shouldn't have given her a fancy room and all that! I have no intention of babysitting humans, I have more important things to take care of!"
"...like pancakes?"
"Like pan-hey, don't you mock me, Satty!"
"Will you two knock it out? I think she's waking up." intereferred a third cool, feminine voice.
Cynthia stiffened, and quickly opened her eyes trying to sit at the same time. She halted momentarily, confused at her surroundings: she was in a quite modern room, the furniture limited to the essentials but of clear high quality. The whole room had something almost futuristic she couldn't quite pinpoint...maybe it was the smooth, white surfaces, or the rounded windows, or the various leds she could notice here and there; from the curtainless windows entered a strange darkness, glowing red and blue, that really made it look like she was on another planet.
"Oooh, yeah Juju, lookie! She really woke up!"
Cynthia got her focus back on the voices, and stared in disbelief at the three bat Pokémon that had given her so much trouble for months.
"Ahahah, see that look on her face?" giggled the red Noibat, swirling here and there in the air: "Do you think she's like that because we're talking 'mons, or maybe because she actually remembers us, mmmh~?"
"Should we introduce her to us or to the place, or something?" said the Swoobat, throwing a nervous glance at the other Crobat shook her head, and posed herself on the bed Cynthia was sitting on: "That's not our decision to make. You two go inform Master Cyrus the human woke up, I'll stay here and keep an eye on her."
The other two nodded, and took fly out of the window.
What followed were very unkward minutes of silence, in which Cynthia would have wanted to ask so many questions but found herself too prideful to talk to her "guard". Instead, she observed even more carefully her surroundings, not risking it by walking around for the time being, while absentmindedly playing with her long, blond locks.
Finally, the room's door opened, and Cynthia tensed with it, eyes narrowed in a serious and almost aggressive stare. She already knew who the man was, but never had the occasion -or the memories- to clearly recollect his looks. He surely did look like what she supposed he was, with his sickly pale skin, pronounced cheekbones and sullen eyes.
The woman proudly stared him down, looking as if she was daring him to do anything.
The truth was that they both were unsure of what to do, so the situation quickly turned into what seemed like a staring contest, until Jupiter cleared her throath with an annoyed glance and Mars groaned in boredom.
"I give it that you have no clue about who I am, right?" finally started Cynthia, keeping her cool facade but her words obviously spitting anger: "Well then, I'll make it clear for you: I am Sinnoh's Champion. You're not only underestimating my strenght, but also overlooking that the whole region, and my worldwide friends as well, WILL look for me! You will not get away with this..!"
"I can assure you I did my research and did not overlook anything," quietly replied the man, eerily still and his face not betraying a single emotion: "but I highly doubt anyone would be able to find you here, or that you could do anything without your precious Pokemon, Champion."
He spat the last word with the slightest hint of both disdain and sarcasm, and that made Cynthia twitch in anger, straining herself to not act out of it.
"And what makes you think that, psycho?"
The man's lips slightly curved in a half-smirk.
"Have you ever heard of the Distortion World?"
Cynthia's eyes widened.
"Y-you can't be serious…" she muttered, suddenly on the edge of the bed: "...that's only something told in ancient folklore, a myth! It's where the Rebel has been banished, it can't be possibly accessible, if it even exists…"
Her captor took a few steps towards the window, then raised his arm to point outside of it, as if inviting the young woman to see for herself. Hesitantly, Cynthia, rose from the bed and cautiously walked until she was in front of the window, still keeping an eye to the strangers behind her.
When she focused on what was outside the window, her breath froze for a moment.
Chaos.
That was the first thing she could thing of. It was as if someone had hastily torn pieces of the world and scatteringly threw them in a void, their order casual and not nearly enough to fill the emptiness. She had to blink a few times to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her, unbelievably staring especially at an upside-down waterfall and at a forest growing both vertically and horizontally -with some of its trees suddenly vanishing or appearing.
And then, she saw It.
Effortlessly floating in that chaos, gliding almost gracefully amongst the floating islands and incoherence. A part Cynthia, the one which has been grown up to be a "good Sinnohvian girl" by her overly religious grandmother, didn't dare to look at the creature in fear; but another, her curious myhtology-lover one, begged her to look at the fallen god more, to study it and imprint the figure in her mind.
She ended up turning around to face the impassible man.
In the turmoil of her thoughts, she managed to get only a question out.
"...what do you want from me?"
He took a step forward, his dead eyes boring into hers: "I thought you'd knew that. It is something you have denied me access to in the most...pacific way, so I had to resume taking it by force."
Cynthia slightly gulped and imagined the implicit answer, but did not falter nor did she reply.
"Those of my kin crave blood. Disgusting, impure human blood, to my disdain. And I want-need, yours." concluded the man as to counter her silence.
Her reply at that was immediate, and she took an angry half-step towards him: "Why mine? Why only mine? How on Arceus' earth can exist a creature like you?"
"You bestowed this upon yourself, human. Your futile resistance has brought you here, for as long as I please. And I am not required to answer your questions." was his flat reply before reaching for the door. Pausing a moment on the doorframe, without looking back, he spoke a few more words: "You'd better comply and rest. Your blood's taste would be negatively affected elseway. You may make yourself at home."
Cynthia stared at the closing door in disbelief for what felt like an eternity.
After snapping out of her shock-induced trance, she angrily started walking around the room, the three bat Pokemon who had been silent the whole time following her movements with their gaze.
She was apparentely hastily muttering to herself, but all the trio could pick up were things like "it can't be", "I refuse" and "this is crazy". Then, the blonde woman suddenly turned and jumped out of the window, expecting an harsh impact but instead slowly landing on the ground. The feeling was almost as being underwater.
Refusing to believe the situation she was in, Cynthia almost marched through the rocky island in which the mansion was located, leaving behind the bats' protesting voices. She already mentally marked her captor as a fool for not having higher security. How dare he underestimate her!
It took her a good to start being more used to the distorted physics of this world; especially when she found herself walking upside-down some panic set in, but after some time walking around she was mostly curious to know about that world and how it worked.
But still, there was no sign of escape in sight.
She didn't really know what to expect. The Distortion World suddenly ending and bringing her back to her dimension? A magical portal? An interdimensional train station?
Lost in her delusions, she almost didn't notice the god of that realm sneaking up behind her, ready to attack; when she turned back to look the ancient beast was already charging, and she was left to wait an impact which didn't arrive.
In that sudden confusion, she realized only after moments that the feminine Crobat that guarded her room was holding her, roughly lifting her in the air and out of Giratina's aim.
"Have you lost your mind, human...?" the voice came cool and neutral, but there was a certain depth and slowness to it that made Cynthia feel afraid.
There he was, the man who had kidnapped her, coming in her direction after seemingly having calmed Giratina.
"I knew you were foolish creatures, but I thought everyone had its limits." he continued, now standing in front of her, and Cynthia noticed just then how towering his physique was: "You should be grateful that Jupiter was following you, and contacted me before that Pokémon could strike. I expect no more of this recklessness and fooling around, understood?"
The woman didn't reply, still too shocked from the blur of events. Jupiter -who at this point she supposed was the Crobat- let her land back on her feet, not without a disapproving look, and nudged her to what was probably the way back to the mansion.
Trying to keep her distance and leaving a last glance at the Rebel floating away, Cynthia silently followed.
Initially, Cynthia was still on a stubborn "refusal" mode.
And as such, she didn't come out of the room assigned to her, nor did she speak a word to anyone. Cyrus didn't push himself on her and just ignored her, not even going to check on the woman, while the three bat Pokémon tried bribing her in being more cooperative.
Well, not all of them; Mars showed a certain hostility and prissy attitude towards Cynthia, and the other two chalked it up with Mars being jealous. Not that the Sinnoh Champion minded much, she had started to see Mars as almost a cute little girl with that attitude.
Saturn liked bragging about every minimally "cool" happening they did or witnessed, which both amused and annoyed Cynthia (she was curious to an extent, redundance had a limit too), and Jupiter -when she wasn't aloof and silent- was apparentely very good at reading others, because she would always make small talk about things that really caught the blonde woman's interest.
They would also try and tell her about why their "Master Cyrus" was such a great person, since he was so clever, polite, charismatic and fought for a world without strife...to which Cynthia only listened half of, and believed even less.
But in any case, after a few days that resulted in Cynthia starting to loosen up with them and making her first steps outside her room.
"...videogames?"
Saturn almost screamed in a definetely not manly way, Mars giggling at his side, but he did a good job at hiding his startlement.
Cynthia , who was behind the sofa and the gaming duo, laid her arms on the back cushions, head resting on her hands, as she curiously inspected the gaming set: "I never thought I'd see videogames in a vampire's house that's stuck in some parallel dimension."
Saturn was going to protest, but noting his annoyance Mars handed to the woman one of the controllers with a grin: "Well yeah, as you can see Master Cyrus isn't the stereotype of vampire ya humans always think of, always dark and gothic! He's actually into technology and modern stuff! Wanna play~?"
"MARS!" shouted Saturn, "And here I was, thinking you couldn't stand the prisoner." commented Jupiter with an half-amused smirk.
"Not like I like her!" exclaimed Mars defensively: "But if she gets bored then she'll start be annoying and Master Cyrus wouldn't like that!"
"Whatever," said Jupiter raising her hands before disappearing in another room.
"Mmh, it's not like I'm much of a gamer to be honest…" said Cynthia getting back to Mars' initial offer: "But thanks a lot anyways! It's just that I prefer reading, or going on some real life adventures rather than virtual ones."
"Oh, that's it?" distractly replied Mars, grabbing the controller back for herself and starting doing her best to virtually kick Saturn's ass the moment she heard Cynthia's refusal: "I can understand adventures, but reading that much sounds bo~riing! It sounds an awful lot like what Master likes to do!"
"He likes to read?" inquired the Champion, leaning further onto the sofa.
"Yeah! He actually has more than one library room in the mansion, some we're allowed in, some not-SATTY THAT WAS UNFAIR!"
"It's not unfair locking you with a combo!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is t-" "Okay guys, calm down!" chimed in Cynthia, leaning forward so that her face and part of her torso was in-between the quarrelling duo. Was it normal for Pokémon to argue like children despite their late teen-young adult appearances?
Her interest was actually piqued at the mention of multiple libraries, and was honestly eager to get back on topic: "So, you say some of these library rooms are free to use, right?"
"Sure are!" replied Mars, but Saturn was quick to correct her: "Yeah, for us. I don't think the same applies to you, human."
"Mmh, well…" continued the redhead pensive (which allowed for Saturn to lock her again in a combo) : "...Master Cyrus did say to make yourself at home, isn't it? So I'm guessing you can."
Cynthia beamed the two a smile: "Very well then! If it's no issue I'll go check them out right away!"
As soon as the blonde Champion was out of the way, Saturn groaned, glaring at Mars: "Why the heck would you encourage her?! I actually thought you didn't like her..!"
"Yeah, but saw Master Cyrus when they interacted the first day? He didn't like her attitude at all! I'm just hoping that by giving in with some silly demand of hers, making herself feel better, safer here, she'll loosen up a bit instead of bein' all bitchy. Because you know, that would mean a very irritated Cyrus, and honestly, that terrorizes me, especially now that he's reaching the limit and must be getting hungry..!"
Saturn got shivers at the mere thought.
"You know what, for once it seems like you've got a good idea. You're maturing, Mars!"
"...I don't know if thanking you or punching you for that."
Cynthia cautiously explored the little mansion, all of a sudden incredibly nervous about the whole thing. Maybe she should have asked Mars or Saturn to show her the library rooms, because the thought of randomly opening the doors, with the possibility of angering that irritating vampire, sounded quite risky.
Carefully, softly knocking on each door before quickly peeking in, Cynthia checked quite a handful of rooms before finally finding one of the libraries. She made sure that the gloomy vampire wasn't around, and finally stepped in, finding some of her usual confidence back with each step. The young woman marveled at the amount of books, and was surprised to see that there were many that sounded too complex even for her -and she had always considered herself a quite smart person.
However, she felt absolutely amazed when she found that a large section of the library was about mythology. Most of the books she had already read, but there were still some quite rare volumes she had only dreamed to put her hands on. Most of the books were more specifically about the Creation myths, and she was both amused and intrigued whenever she saw little personal notes scribbled on some pages.
If Cyrus had an interest in myths as well, then maybe they had some common ground to start talking...and maybe, if she got enough on his good side, he would have let her go...
The thought darkened her gentle features, and she absent-mindendly stared out one of the windows, into the crimson-blue abyss.
Under normal circumstances, she would be way more determined to solve things, but this was in no way what would be classified as a "normal circumstance"; kidnapped by a vampire? In another dimension? Seriously? Had she heard it, she wouldn't have believed it herself!
And yet despite that, she still had stubbornly tried to find a way out at first chanche, but truth was, without her Pokemon she didn't stand a chanche, and even if she had them on hand...well, outside the world was just a chaotic void, a puzzle with mismatched pieces and too many holes to understand. She would still probably get lost, or worse.
Shaking off the image of the fallen god looming over her, she shifted her attention back to the mythology volumes, and suddenly an idea lit up in her mind: maybe, the answers she seeked about Distortion World, especially how to get out of it, were there...Cyrus had to learn how in some way, didn't he?
With a new burst of hope and excitement, Cynthia started flipping through the books' pages, just as the library's room creaked open.
A/N: had most of this typed up since Chapters 1-2, but only found time to finish it today, sorry c,: However, it's more than double the lenght of previous chapters, yay~!
Are you feeling the Beaty and the Beast vibes in this? I realized only halfway how much of an influence it had on me/this chapter, ahah, hope you don't mind that 'cause it's purely a coincidence xD
Well, hope you enjoy this! Right now I'm having some IRL issues, but I hope to update soon ^^
Thanks a lot to everyone reading!