I'm back! Thanks for the reviews as always :) This chapter(and the next one) required a lot of planning. I don't want to spoil anything so...happy reading!
A complete search of the house revealed to the occupants that thankfully, nothing had been taken. Ash and Pikachu reported back to Nurse Joy.
"Well, that's good news," she smiled as she packed up her equipment. She turned to face the worn-out duo. "And here is some better news. Anabel was luckily not seriously injured." Nurse Joy smiled her signature, sweet smile. "A few days of bed rest and she'll be as right as rain. Maybe a bit sore, though."
Ash and Pikachu simultaneously let their shoulders flop. Suddenly, Pikachu bolted off into Anabel's room.
'Probably to tell Espeon of the news,' thought Ash, before looking back at the smiling woman.
"Thank you, Nurse Joy," he sighed heavily, "I owe you another one." Nurse Joy and her beloved Chansey made their way happily towards the front door. Before closing it, Nurse Joy smiled at Ash again.
"It's our duty, Ash. It's what we're here for." And with that, she clicked the door shut.
Ash turned back to Anabel; she was dressed in her dressing gown again. He was slightly annoyed that she was still smiling at him.
"Anabel." Ash rolled his eyes as he dropped down next to her on the couch. "Stop doing that. You're not making me feel any better about what happened." He felt a hand graze his cheek and he looked towards the source. Anabel's deep, lilac irises made her message clear.
"Stop blaming yourself," she laughed, "I'm fine, really!" Ash shook his head solemnly, causing Anabel to huff loudly. She winced in pain as she stood up off the couch. Ash immediately leapt up and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Anabel, lie down, please. You're not meant to be moving." Her stare told him otherwise. She placed her hands on his, and proceeded to pry them off her shoulders.
"Ash. Ketchum," she articulated heavily, emphasizing each word with a step towards him. Ash was taking steps back. "I. Am. Fine. Do. Not. Think. That." Her steps became strides as she pushed her prey against the front door. "I. Can't. Take. Care. Of. My. Self." She grinned evilly and planted a kiss on his stunned cheek. "Now let me show you why it's not your fault," she smiled, leading the paralyzed boy back onto the couch.
A few seconds later, Anabel emerged from the kitchen with her shopping bags and sat next to Ash. She placed her goods on the ground and began to rummage through them.
"Ash," she said as she searched her bags, breaking the boy out of his stupor, "who was that man? I think you called him, 'Looker?'" Ash stared blankly at her as the question was registering. He shook his head violently.
"He's an old friend," Ash said, locking his hands in front of him, "I helped him capture these crazy space guys called Team Galactic." Anabel stopped her search and gave Ash an incredulous look.
"That was you?" she asked, surprised. Ash grinned and nodded, making Anabel shrug her shoulders in disbelief. She went back to filing through her shopping.
'I knew he got around but, wow!' she laughed in her head. All of a sudden, her hands grazed something smooth.
'Found it.'
Anabel began to feel light-headed as her heart began to beat faster. She noticed her arms were shaking.
'Anabel, calm yourself. You can do this. It's Ash, remember?' she consoled herself. Anabel had had a feeling that lingered around her whenever she was touched by Ash.
Uncertainty. She wasn't sure whether Ash knew or suspected that she was hiding something.
'Not that it matters anymore. He's already seen them. You've come this far; no backing out now.' Anabel heaved one final sigh and held up her secret.
"This is why I was out of my room; I wanted to try it on."
Ash stared with a mixture of awe and sadness at Anabel's bra. Anabel herself was blushing profusely, but stopped when Ash shook his head.
"I knew it," he sighed, "I knew it when I saw those bandages." Ash stared at Anabel for what seemed like ages. She stared back. "Why?" he asked, eventually. Anabel lay the skin-coloured bra on the couch.
"Why did I bandage myself?" she asked. Ash nodded. "Because I'm afraid."
"Afraid of what?" Ash asked, although thanks to Scott, he already knew. Anabel sadly shook her head. She looked at him with shimmering eyes.
"I'm sorry Ash, I can't say." Ash looked downtrodden. Anabel spoke quickly. "B-but let me say this, you're the first person to know this secret." Ash glanced away from her stare.
"Why me, though?" he asked, leaning back in his seat. Anabel rubbed her clammy hands together.
"Because, you're the only person I trust at the moment," she said. Ash looked back at her. Her bottom lip began to quiver, but she continued. "I just feel...that you...won't...b-betray me," she finally managed to say. Ash leaned over and hugged Anabel softly. She flinched, but returned the embrace affectionately. "Thank you, Ash."
Bang! Bang!
The couple jolted in surprise at the sudden knock on the door. Anabel turned white and scrambled to remove her bra from sight. Ash gently grasped her hand.
"Don't bother," he murmured softly. Anabel looked at him questioningly.
"Why Ash? Who is it? Who's out there?" He merely ignored her, stood up and made his way to the door.
"Ash!" she begged, "Who is it?" Ash glanced over his shoulder, and swallowed deeply.
"Help. I'm sorry, Anabel." He opened the door.
"Scott?" Anabel gasped, "w-what are you doing here?" The man known as 'Scott' made his way into the house and stood defiantly in front of a shocked Anabel. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" Scott raised his hand to silence her.
"How can I sleep, when one of my employees is emotionally distraught?" he said. Anabel stood up, wincing as she did so, and laughed, albeit a bit nervously.
"Emotionally distraught?" she asked, sweating more than she would of liked, "Scott, you know me. You know I can bounce back from a robbe-" Scott shook his portly head, sunglasses and all.
"That's not why I'm here," he interrupted. The large man withdrew several sheets of paper from his back pocket and unfolded them.
"My trainer reports?" Anabel asked, cocking her head to the side. Scott nodded, placing the sheets on the carpet.
"From the start of this year, actually." Scott turned to Ash. "I ask my Frontier Brains to fill out reports on their challengers and to rate them. It makes it easier to choose areas to establish facilities. It raises more money if there are more or better trainers in an area. Make sense?" Ash nodded. Scott turned back to Anabel.
"You've been losing a lot of battles, Anabel. Your credibility as a trainer is at risk." He began to pace the room. Anabel watched him like a hawk. Ash went and sat on the stair case, head rested in his hands.
"This isn't like you, and you're too young to be losing your spark for battles," Scott continued, straightening his classic Hawaiian shirt, "no. Something has happened to you and according to the trainer reports, it happened around..." He paused and stared at Anabel heavily, "early January?"
Anabel's stare flickered ever so slightly, but was replaced with a smirk.
"Early January?" she chuckled, "I've no idea what you are talking about." She placed her hands firmly on her hips. "I've been distracted, I will admit, but only because I've been pondering what I'll do with myself in a few years. I'm nearly an adult, you know?" Scott sighed; Anabel frowned. "What?"
"I would've believed that story, if I weren't your friend. Or-"
"Or if I hadn't supplied Scott with the information he asked for," Ash interrupted suddenly. Both man and woman looked at Ash in disbelief. Especially Anabel. "I'm sorry Anabel, you needed help. Something was obviously disturbing...is disturbing you to the point of shutting off your friends and social life. And your friends couldn't take it anymore. So..." He swallowed, she was going to hate him for this, "...I took up Scott's offer to s-spy on you..."
Silence. Then:
"You..." growled a voice so soft, but so sharp, "...despicable..." Anabel took a thunderous step towards Ash. "...evil..." Another step. "...vile..." Another step. "...recalcitrant.." Another step. "...DICKHEAD!" she shrieked. An explosion of pain erupted from Ash's head as Anabel's palm carved itself across his face. Ash's body crumpled to the floor, but was given no rest as Anabel's foot grounded itself into his stomach. Blow after blow was dealt to his body until Scott finally managed to pull the enraged animal off of him.
"I TRUSTED YOU!" Anabel sobbed, tears drenching her face, "I TRUSTED YOU!"
Oh, dearie me...
Time froze.
It's happened again, hasn't it?
'N-no..'
But yes! Fear interrupted, And aren't these two...your friends?
'S-sto-'
AND male? Seems like it to me. And if this goes a little further than physical contact, what would we have?
'Sh-shut up!'
No. I think I'll take over and see what's going to happen.
Anabel snapped back to reality, and found herself plonked on the couch, being watched by an annoyed Scott.
"Look. I'll get straight to the point if you're going to ignore me."
"Where's Ash?" Scott pointed behind her.
"Right where you left him," he spat. Anabel looked behind her and found Ash back on his perch on the staircase, a red streak burned across his face. Anabel felt a jolt of guilt spark through her. It was immediately replaced though, by satisfaction.
'The weasel deserved it,' she thought smugly. Scott's voice broke her concentration.
"Your fellow co-worker and I..." Scott began. Ash's ears pricked up at this.
'There's someone else?'
"...used the information supplied to us, and our own, to figure out what had happened to you back in January. Mostly, anyhow..." Scott tapped his fingers together. Anabel smirked.
"Mostly?"
"There are some things that we-"
"Scott, allow me to handle this," cooed a voice. Scott, Anabel and Ash all turned towards the front door. A tall, beautiful woman stood proudly in the doorway. Her raven hair coiled itself around her body, complemented by red-coloured bangs that framed her face. Sharp eyes dug out from above her cheekbones. Complete in a rather thin, purple crop top and black jeans that hugged her curves, the woman almost strutted into the living room.
"Lucy?" gasped Ash and Anabel simultaneously.
Scott silently walked over to the staircase and sat a step below Ash. He leaned up to Ash and whispered: "You didn't actually think I'd be smart enough to figure this out by myself, did you?" Ash stared at him for a second before thinking:
'Yeah, probably not. But why would Scott turn to the Pike Queen, another Brain, of all people, for help?'
Anabel frowned at her co-worker, wiping her wet face dry with a dressing gown sleeve. Lucy merely smiled.
"Anabel, please. From that previous display of violence, I've concluded that none of us are your friends anymore. But if we treat each other like we're friends, we won't move our case anywhere tonight. So it's rather lucky, in a morbid way."
Ash and Anabel's eyes both widened. Lucy was infamous for being the Brain that barely spoke a word. Let alone several sentences.
Scott chuckled at their reactions and again whispered to Ash: "Lucy can be rather talkative, if the situation arises." Ash just stared. He had no words. Lucy continued:
"But I digress. Scott, Ash and I have spent the last week gathering evidence for us to figure out what happened to you. Thanks to Ash, we now know it's a fear of something."
Anabel frowned again.
"More specifically: a fear of men. Powerful men."
Anabel's jaw dropped.
"P-prove it!" she spluttered quickly. Lucy laughed and shook her head. She crouched down so she was eye-level with Anabel before continuing.
"One: You and Ash. According to him, you freaked out and scared him completely when he pinned you down. But you do not freak out when you touch each other any other way." Anabel cast a glare towards Ash, but she was met with a sad gaze.
"Two," Lucy indicated towards Anabel's chest, "your bandages. Typically, women with larger breasts attract more attention to themselves. In order, in your eyes, to protect yourself, you tried to cover them up as much as possible, to avoid situations such as...oh, I don't know..." She glanced towards the dishevelled boy on the staircase. "...when you last freaked out? And since he's the only male who has been in close contact with you for several months; only serves to prove my point further."
Lucy stood up powerfully and pointed at Anabel.
"You had no control over Ash's actions, so your fear made you freak out!"
Anabel scowled and turned away from Lucy's amused face. Ash's jaw was barely hinged to his skull. Scott, again, whispered to him: "Did I mention Lucy was a Prosecuting Attorney before I hired her?"
Ash managed to reply.
"No. I had no idea," he murmured.
Ash couldn't get over how quickly Lucy had broken down Anabel's mental walls. They now knew what her fear was, and with evidence to back it up. However, it seemed as if Lucy was only beginning her attack. They had yet, though, to figure out who or what caused this fear in the first place.
'Once,' Ash growled inwardly, clenching his teeth and tightening his fists, 'I figure out what happened to Anabel and why, I'm going to make whoever caused it to regret it!' Ash glanced towards her. There seemed to be a malevolent aura twisting and circling its way around her body.
Ash! Anabel's voice echoed from the darkness, Help me!
'No matter what! I'm going to save her!'
Ash!
'This ends now.'
...well apparently not, because I'm going to cut it off here. Shorter than usual, sorry guys. The last chapter awaits us! As always R&R and if you have any questions, feel free to ask :)
