Anabel (Japanese: リラ Lila) is an International Police officer and Pokémon Trainer who was introduced as a Frontier Brain in charge of running the Battle Frontier's Battle Tower under the title of Salon Maiden (Japanese: タワータイクーン Tower Tycoon). In Generation VII, she works with Looker.
Anabel debuted in Talking a Good Game!. Ash and Pikachu met her when they were chased by an angry Beedrill. Anabel quickly calmed Beedrill down after speaking to it, much to Ash's surprise. The pair soon came across a rampaging Gyarados, and Anabel once again showed off her empathy abilities to settled it down. Team Rocket soon ambushed the duo in an attempt to steal Pikachu, but it soon turned into a battle, which Anabel won after having her Alakazam confuse Team Rocket's Pokémon. May, Max, and Brock later caught up with Anabel and Ash, and Anabel escorted everyone to her home to get changed out of their wet clothes. There, they learned that Anabel was actually a girl.
The group then quickly rushed off to the Battle Tower, but were shocked to learn that Anabel was also the Salon Maiden, who Ash was supposed to challenge for his next Symbol. Ash lost his first match to Anabel after her powerful Alakazam managed to defeat his Corphish and Tauros, consecutively. Pikachu, however, was able to defeat Alakazam in the next round. Anabel then sent out her Metagross, and it knocked Pikachu out with a Hyper Beam.
Anabel reappeared in Second Time's the Charm!. Ash once again disturbed a group of Beedrill as he trained with his Pokemon. Tauros was stung and knocked its Trainer and Anabel into a nearby lake, but she quickly shrugged off the incident. While lunch was ruined because of Team Rocket, Anabel tried to teach Ash and May about her psychic powers, but to no avail.
Ash later had his rematch against Anabel. Corphish was able to defeat Alakazam after Ash listened to it and quickly returned it to its Poké Ball before sending Corphish back out again to overcome its confusion. Corphish lost in the next round, and after an exchange of strengths between Tauros and Metagross, the battle ended in a draw. In the final round, Anabel's Espeon was able to shadow Pikachu's moves and overwhelm his Thunderbolt with a more powerful Zap Cannon. However, Pikachu caused the facility to have a power outage and used the darkness to strike Espeon. Pikachu concluded the match with a Volt Tackle, earning Ash the Ability Symbol. As they said goodbye to one another, Anabel was revealed to have a crush on Ash.
She reappeared during a flashback in A Pyramiding Rage!.
Anabel has the empathetic ability to sense the emotions of living beings and communicate with them, ever since she was little. She also shares a particularly strong bond with her Pokémon, and is seemingly able to command them telepathically. Without the vocal commands as a cue, Ash initially struggled to compete against Anabel.
Anabel uses her Psychic Pokémon's attacks to either confuse her opponent's Pokémon or control oncoming attacks. Her Pokémon also know some physical moves like Meteor Mash, making them equally effective in direct confrontations.
