Symbiont || Pokémon Short Story ✓

Chapter Two: Obsession

Unusually today, Anabel wasn't in her tower but instead the small building for the Frontier Brains to unwind. To see her in the structure two days in a row was an uncommon sight, however it was even rarer to see her smiling. Her smile was not without reason though, for it seemed that she was grinning at the small metal item wrapped between her fingers. The golden object had a significant shine to it that she hadn't noticed before. Anabel's lilac eyes bored bullet holes into the Ability Symbol she was so closely admiring. Rubbing her thumb over the badge, she memorized its dips and curves, even imprinting the few scratches caused by long term dust in her mind. The girl simply sat in silence, marveling in the beauty that was the Ability Symbol.

A voice broke the quiet, but it didn't distract Anabel from her badge. "Ana? Is that your Ability Symbol?"

"Yes..." The woman replied without having to look and see who had arrived.

Caitlin peered over her friend's shoulder, taking a closer look at the old, shining object. "I haven't seen you with one in ages. Did someone finally beat you?"

The princess was gifted with no reply and Anabel made no gesture that conveyed she intended to.

Changing the subject, the girl stretched a hand out, expecting her friend to pass the Symbol over to her. "Hey, mind if I take a look? Its been years since I've looked at one."

Anabel instantly slapped her hand away, making a sharp noise on impact. "Don't touch it... You shouldn't touch things that aren't yours, Princess... Did they not teach you that in school?"

Caitlin flinched at that remark, slinking her hand away and tucking it behind her back. "My apologies, I didn't mean to offend you." 

 An awkward silence ensued until the blonde continued, "By the way, there's a Trainer waiting for you." No response. "Ana?" She nudged her friend's shoulder to catch her attention. "Hey Ana?"

The Salon Maiden snapped her head back, glaring at the girl with hateful eyes. "What? What could you possibly want?"

Caitlin's face fell and, half expecting an apology, she waited a second for Anabel to speak, only to regret it soon afterwards.

Spitting onto the wound, Anabel snarled at the girl, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "Why are you still here? Leave!"

~~~~~~

Anabel stuck a hand in her pocket, watching the Trainer she had just defeated leave dejectedly. Like her previous matches, she did not marvel in her victory nor make a move to console her opponent on their loss. She was so preoccupied by the disappointing outcome that it took her a moment to realize that she was feeling only empty air, and began patting her body frantically.

"Where'd it go? Where's my Symbol?" She muttered, growing increasingly frantic. Raikou, who was positioned on the battlefield, turned to give her a curious look. "Where is it?"

Anabel suddenly clutched her head, a blinding pain making her vision go white. She managed to keep herself upright as her knees threatened to buckle. She gritted her teeth.

"I must find it."

Without further hesitation, she turned on her heel and made for the elevator. The woman didn't pay Raikou's distressed whine any attention as she left him behind and punched the button that would take her to her room.

It was a couple agonizing minutes before Anabel arrived. She gazed around the area but saw no immediate sign of her missing Symbol. The Frontier Brain felt another wave of throbbing pain explode in her skull, this time making her stumble into a table and knock it and the items on top over. She scowled at the mess but was much too focused on her current objective to clean it up.

Anabel ran on unsteady feet to her bed, where she ripped off the covers. Seeing that nothing was there only made her angrier, leading the Tower Tycoon to senselessly shove a lamp off her nightstand in frustration, the satisfying sound of it shattering being music to her ears. She pulled open drawers and pushed aside their contents, desperately searching. Not even when she heard the door creak open did she pause.

"Hi, Ana!" Caitlin chirped from the entryway. Raikou nudged past her. "Oh by the way, I found Raikou stuck in your battle chamber so I brought him up with me. You've seemed really stressed lately so I thought I'd make lunch and we could... What are you doing?"

Anabel didn't respond, instead deciding to move her dresser away from the wall in order to continue her hunt. She could see Caitlin and Raikou's troubled expressions out of the corner of her vision.

The blonde took a hesitant step into the room and set the tray laden with food she was holding down. "Hey, are you alright? You're tearing this place apart, are you look-"

"You are interrupting my search," the purple-haired girl hissed without taking her eyes away from the space before her. "I must find it."

"Find what?"

"None of your concern!"

Caitlin frowned, Raikou slinking over to a broken vase. "Well perhaps I could help you find whatever you're looking for and we could find it faster."

Anabel came to a halt, her arms falling to her sides limply. With robotic movements, she slowly turned to face her best friend.

"You... want to help me... find it?"

"Of course!" Came the enthusiastic response.

Her eyes narrowed and her body began shaking.

"You want... to steal it, don't you? Yes, that must be it. You want the power all to yourself."

Caitlin furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about? I don't even know what you're looking for. And what power?"

"Wait... You stole it... didn't you! You stole it! Thief! You're just trying to cover up your tracks you filthy crook! I'll call the police on you, Caitlin, I won't hesitate to hand in your grubby little hands to Officer Jenny." Anabel pointed a quivering, accusatory finger at the Palace Princess. The Thunder Pokémon retreated behind Caitlin and eyed his master warily.

Caitlin took in a deep breath, careful to not explode to her friend who was obviously having difficulties. "I didn't steal anything Anabel." The Tower Tycoon stared at them for a couple seconds before kneeling back on the tile and rummaging again.

Scoffing, Anabel growled at her friend, an overwhelming amount of fury in her voice as she said, "Get out of my sight, or else I really will turn you in for questioning."

Raikou huffed but ultimately departed. Caitlin didn't move for a moment, but it wasn't long before she too made for the door. She left the tray of food where it was as she grabbed the door handle and pulled it shut behind her, casting one last glance over her shoulder as she did so.

"Whatever you say, Ana."

Anabel went back to scouring the chamber as soon as she left. She aggressively knocked over a chair and carefully inspected the space where the table once stood. Sitting in the remnants of a broken picture frame that used to hold an image of her and Caitlin as young Frontier Brains sat the shining gold Ability Symbol the woman had been looking for. It had obviously been on one of the pieces of furniture she had overturned. Anabel immediately dove for the object and took it in her hands, the cool metal giving her reassurance. She brought it to her chest.

"No one... will ever take you... from me," she murmured soothingly, as if talking to a child. "You are... forever mine."