Happy New Year Readers, here's a Oneshot to celebrate.

What Came Before

Anabel woke up as she heard something calling out to her, something was calling out for help. It wasn't a voice or any sort of audible sound, something was reaching out to her via her empathic abilities. Looking around her bedroom her eyes briefly rested on her alarm clock to see the time, it was two thirty in the morning. The moon was high in the sky and shining brightly as it cast light through her window, Espeon was still curled up on a pillow but she was awake and looking out of the window.

"You felt it again too, didn't you?" Anabel stroked the Sun Pokémon's fur. "This is the fourth time this week, I know we haven't found anything yet but we need to go investigate again. I understand if you don't wish to come with me." Espeon's only reply was to use Psychic and levitate her Pokéball into Anabel's hands. The lavender haired Frontier Brain smiled. "Thank you my friend."

Anabel got out of bed and quickly changed before picking up the rest of her Pokéballs and exiting her cottage, making sure to securely lock the door behind her. Closing her eyes and focusing her abilities she could search for a trace of where the call for help was coming from, the previous three times she couldn't find anything and spent the rest of the night searching the forest blindly. This time however was different, this time there was a second call for help and due to her focusing her abilities she knew which way she needed to go.

Anabel and Espeon ran through the trees, dodging around nocturnal Pokémon and jumping fallen branches. As she ran her mind thought back over her time at the Battle Frontier and how it had started to become routine, the other Brains had gotten stronger and it was rare for her to receive a challenger these days and when she did it was rarer still that they managed to defeat her and move on to battle Brandon. Her time was mostly spent maintaining the Battle Tower, caring for her Pokémon and filling in paperwork, although she liked her life the way it was she couldn't help wanting something…something more.

The call for help came a third time causing Anabel and Espeon to quickly change direction, running until they came to a stop in front of a large tree. They couldn't find any sign of a Pokémon in need of help, there wasn't anything around them except for trees and grass.

"Hello?" Anabel shouted, "If you're there we're here to help you. We won't hurt you, please come out so we can help." Due to her hearing they call for help through her empathic abilities she reached out with them while she shouted. A reply came but Anabel couldn't understand it, the reply sounded like it came from all around her, she turned in a slow circle scanning the area to find where the call had come from but stopped when Espeon tugged on the leg of her trousers. When the Sun Pokémon had her trainer's attention she pointed up to the sky with her tail.

"Espe."

Anabel looked up and saw a hole in the sky, as she stared at it blue energy was starting to be emitted. Lines of what looked like lightning came out of the hole in short bursts as something began to pull at her, the Frontier Brain's face drained of the little colour it had as a feeling of dread came over her. It was a mistake, she should've ignored the call for help and remained at home. In her rush to find the source of the cries she'd heard Anabel had left her PokéNav at home so she couldn't even call for help. That only left her with one option, run. Returning Espeon to her Pokéball Anabel spun on her heels and took off through the trees as quickly as she could but she barely made it five feet when she felt herself being lifted off the ground and carried into the air. As she drew closer to the hole in the sky Anabel could feel her energy leaving her and just as she crossed the threshold, blacked out.

Coming too Anabel didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, her eyes were unfocussed and her head ached, half of her brain felt light like she was dizzy while the other stung fiercely as if burnt and weighed against her skull. Sitting up he closed her eyes again and took a moment to try and clear her mind, she'd need it to get out of wherever she'd been taken. Opening her eyes and looking around she was strange plant-like growths and obsidian-like rock surrounding her, she could hear something that sounded similar to Wailord song, the air was cool and had an unusual smell to it, it was something she couldn't even begin to describe. Gingerly reaching out with her abilities Anabel winced and quickly pulled them back as she was assaulted with a multitude of voices and feeling, she fell to her side and curled into a fetal position as the multitude continued to scream at her causing pain to wrack her every nerve.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed curled up but eventually the screams stopped and after a few shaky breaths she sat up once more. Taking in her surroundings again, Anabel tried to find the source of the Wailord-like song, not finding anything nearby the Frontier Brain looked up to see what the sky was like in this strange environment. It was when she tilted her head back that she saw where the sounds were coming from, above her she could see creatures unlike any Pokémon she'd ever seen or heard of before. They were mostly white and had the shape of a young girl with long hair wearing a sunhat, the 'sunhat' had a circle of six pointed stars around it with a blue edge around the rim.

Slowly standing Anabel kept an eye on the strange creatures that floated around over her head, she stayed quiet and moved so she had her back against one of the obsidian-like rocks. Her hand creeped towards her Pokéballs but part of her told her it was a bad idea, the sound of her Pokémon appearing might alert the creature to her presence. Anabel took her eyes off the creatures and looked around again, this time for a way back home but she found nothing like the hole that brought her to wherever this was and on discernable tracks for her to follow.

Turning her head to look back at the creatures she gasped as one had drifted down to hover in front of her. A part of her brain started screaming at her to run away, to hide and never come out. Having read a lot about the brain to try and discover the source of her abilities Anabel knew it was the R-complex section of her brain, the section that was responsible for instinctual behavior. The R-complex controlled a variety of functions mainly control of movement and procedural learning but also the fight or flight response that helped humanity evolve to what it was today, and whatever the creature in front of her was it was something she had to be far, far away from.

Anabel's hand shot for her Pokéballs and release her Pokémon, Alakazam, Metagross and Espeon, the three Pokémon sensed their trainer's fear and reacted accordingly lashing out with Psybeam, Hyper Beam and Zap Cannon respectively. The creature in front of them was thrown back by the combined attacks giving Anabel time to turn and start running, she didn't know where she was going only that she needed to be far away. The three Pokémon followed her and kept an eye on their surroundings, being honest they were more scared of how Anabel was acting then the strange world they were in and the unusual creatures around them. Said creatures were starting to follow and gaining numbers as well as ground on them, stopping the three Pokémon launched a join Psychic attack which forced the creatures to be propelled backwards, turning the Pokémon ran to catch up with Anabel only to find her surrounded by even more of the creatures.

Metagross levitated off the ground and began to spin rapidly, closing the distance between himself and Anabel quickly and slamming the creatures aside with Meteor Mash, Alakazam and Espeon were close behind the Iron Leg Pokémon, sending and creature he missed away with Psychic. More and more of the creatures closed in slowing the Pokémon's advance and all they could do was watch as one of the creatures drifted over to Anabel and merged with her.

Anabel's hair changed colour from lilac to black with lilac streaks in it, her eye colour darkened to become a dirty purple, the kind smile that reflected the nature of her heart was gone replaced with an evil smirk and the usual gentle caress of her abilities now felt like a clawing pain.

The Frontier Brain could feel something trying to influence her mind, to control her actions and although she fought against it due to the fear that raged in her mind it stopped her from mustering any sort of defense capable of stopping the creature. She felt her features changing from scared to arrogant, her mouth curling into a sneer and her body rising into the air, looking through eyes that weren't hers to control any longer she saw the creature had changed too. It had grown in size and gone from white to black, the 'sunhat' has lost its stars, the many tentacles the creature had used to resemble a young girl had combined into eight which were much thicker and had what looked like eyes at the ends. Four of the tentacles looked like they were meant to be arms with four finger-like spines protruding from them while the remaining four acted like legs and hung down with a single spine each. Anabel herself had her upper body in the 'sunhat' and her lower body was left hanging amongst the 'legs, she could still feel the creature poking around inside her head trying to find something that could help it gain full control over her.

Espeon growled and lashed out with everything she had, a Psychic shockwave sent the creatures sprawling across the strange surroundings. Metagross struck out in a similar way, as did Alakazam, the three Pokémon fought their way to Anabel only for the transformed Anabel to knock them away with two of the tentacle-like arms.

Seeing her treasured Pokémon thrown back caused something to snap in Anabel's mind, her thoughts were now focused on one thing, getting this creature out of her body. She could feel an anger burning like a furnace in her chest, every negative emotion that she usually held back was suddenly being dragged to the surface and turned into power. Through their connection Anabel could feel the creature's confusion as to where her sudden surge of strength came from as it's influence was being forced back by her resistance.

Anabel was fighting off everything the creature tried to try and break her focus, old memories, her deepest fears, her greatest dreams, nothing would stop her from getting control of her body back. To combat the creature's attempts to make her think this strange world was her home she conjured up images of her world, tall buildings, lush forests, sandy beaches, snowy mountains, volcanoes, great oceans and Pokémon of every region.

"GET OUT OF MY MIND!" Anabel screamed, forcing the creature from her body and falling to the ground. Both she and the creature reverted to their original appearances the second they were split, Metagross grabbed Anabel with Psychic, depositing her on his back and Alakazam and Espeon cleared a path for them.

The Frontier Brain and her Pokémon ran, any creature that came close was batted away before it could attempt to do anything. Soon they appeared in the spot where Anabel had first awoken to find another hole, which Anabel now knew to be a portal.

"That has to be the way home." She said sliding off Metagross with shaky legs, she held up their Pokéballs. "I want you all to return so you don't get hurt going through that portal." She could feel them start to protest before they said anything and held up a hand. "I know how you all feel but please my friends, return." One by one the three Pokémon went back into their Pokéballs, Espeon being the last and rubbed up against Anabel's leg before going back into her Pokéball. Taking a deep breath Anabel ran towards the portal and just as she leapt through it the creatures attacked her mind again, she stumbled, gripped her head and screamed as she fell into the portal losing grip of her Pokéballs as she went. Reaching out in vain to try and reclaim her Pokémon she blacked out before her hands could get close to them.

*Weeks later*

Scott hadn't heard from Anabel, neither had any of the other Frontier Brains and they were all beyond worried. Her Pokémon had been found all around the world, Espeon's Pokéball had been found in Castelia City, Alakazam's on Mount Coronet and Metagross' on Route 119 west of Fortree City but Anabel herself was nowhere to be seen. His PokéNav rang and he immediately answered it.

"Anabel?" He said desperately.

"Am I speaking to a Mr. Enshida?" The male voice on the other end of the call said. Scott sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You are, who am I speaking with?"

"Mr. Enshida, I cannot give you my actual name so I shall inform you of my codename. My codename is Looker and I work for the International Police." Scott took the PokéNav away from his ear and looked at it in confusion before putting it back against his ear.

"Very well Mr. Looker, may I ask why you've called me?"

"I believe I have located your missing employee."

"You've found Anabel?!" Scott shot to his feet and ran around his desk, grabbing his car keys. "Where are you? I'll be right there."

"I'm afraid the situation is complicated Mr. Enshida."

"What do you mean by that? Anabel is more than an employee to me, she's like family. I'm coming to get her."

"Mr. Enshida I understand what you are saying but the fact of the matter is Miss Lila doesn't have any memories of yourself, the Battle Frontier or anything to do with her previous occupation. It seems the only thing she remembers is her first name and that she has empathic abilities." Scott staggered and sat on the edge of his desk. "I trust you can see why I said the situation is complicated now."

"Yes, I...I see what you mean. So where do we go from here?"

"Certain things in the investigation of Miss Lila's disappearance, which I cannot disclose to you, seemed to be connected in some way to events in the Alola region. Miss Lila has expressed an interest in joining the International Police to help with the investigation there and the possibility of it restoring her memories. This investigation will take an unknown amount of time and the return of Miss Lila's memories is only a possible outcome."

"If you can't tell me anything then why are you telling me any of this? Why even tell me she's alive?"

"It was at Miss Lila's request, she said that if she is your missing employee then you deserve have the right to know she's alive. My superiors were against the idea, much as I was but we feel that we are in need of Miss Lila's unique abilities and experiences, she only had one condition to joining us and it was to inform you of her condition."

"I see." Scott said with a slight smile, the first since Anabel had disappeared. Even though her memories were gone, she was the same Anabel. "Thank you for telling me, do you need me to send Anabel her Pokémon?" Scott cast his gaze at the three Pokéballs that sat on his desk.

"We would prefer Miss Lila to start afresh so her Pokémon would be better suited to staying with yourself and the Battle Frontier."

"I understand, I wish you luck in your investigation Mr. Looker."

"Thank you," Looker paused before continuing. "And Mr. Enshida I hope that your family is reunited soon."

"I hope so too." Scott replied with a dry chuckle. "Goodbye Mr. Looker and thank you for letting me know."

"Goodbye Mr. Enshida, I trust what we have discussed will stay confidential."

"It will." With that both men ended the call.

Scott threw his PokéNav on to his desk and took of his sunglasses, running a hand down his face. He started to chuckle, quietly at first but soon growing in volume until his voice was booming around his office and happy tears streamed down his face. Turning around Scott picked up Anabel's Pokéballs and let out the three Pokémon inside.

"She's alive." He said to them, causing the Pokémon to cheer and join Scott in his tears. He'd let them have this moment before telling them the rest of what he'd learnt, after that it was a case of swearing the other Frontier Brains to secrecy and finding a temporary replacement for Anabel, he did have an offer out to Ash Ketchum, surely he'd help out as a favour.

The Story Continues Ten Years Later in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.

That's all I've got, hope you enjoyed it.

Until Next Time

Basic Trainer