Disclaimer: No ownership of Pokémon or Fire Emblem.

Heart of Youth, Heart for the Dragon

Chapter 1: And Nowi, She's Gone

A countryside village seemed hard at work for an upcoming event. Villagers began setting up stands, ribbons strung among the roadsides and children frolic in their playtime. "It's been a long time since we had something to celebrate," one man huffed to a woman, both wearing tattered garbs of pale color.

"I know, dear," she believed. "Celebrating the freedom from the country of Plegia and the death of that Mad King... It didn't need to be so bittersweet." The man lofted a nod as he shot a look to a castle overlooking the village.

"I still remember the black drapes over the windows, and someone saying that the exalt had been executed by Gangrel. That dasdard wanted to kill every man, woman and child for himself." Another man came to the conversation with his take on the events.

"I heard that even Gangrel's soldiers chanted Exalt Emmeryn's name after her death," he added. "A lot of Plegians knew Gangrel went too far in his acts against the Ylissian people and the halidom. Our lord couldn't let Gangrel live after his acts against us." The people continued to set their lands for the festivities in the next few days. On the roof of the castle was a green-haired ponytailed girl with pointy ears. She wore a scaly green/white brassiere under a navy blue cape and a scaly green miniskirt. She also wore a pink garter-belt attached to pink stockings mostly covered by thigh-high black boots. Lastly were her black gloves that only reached her wrists. She smiled as she saw the village being decorated. She stood alone by the side of the castle's roof but not for long.

"Enjoying the view, Nowi?" asked another woman. The green-haired turned around to find a blue-haired woman wearing a blue shirt and pants. She also wore a tiara in her hair as did the green-haired, who wore it over her forehead.

"Marth?" the green-haired identified. Marth came over to Nowi and joined her side.

"Sorry for disturbing you. There was a lot of noise coming from Lord Chrom's room." She glanced away, her thought seemingly bothered by the Lord's action behind close doors. 'So that's when I was created.' Nowi admired the view from the castle's roof.

"Ylisse's first annual independence from Plegia… I do wish it wasn't at Emmeryn's expense."

"As do I. Her death was a barbaric act from a coward like Gangrel. May his name be exhumed from this land's history." Nowi stepped away from the edge, a plan on her mind.

"I'm gonna head down to the village and see if they need any help." Marth wasn't sure about Nowi visiting the village in the midst of preparing for a celebration.

"Aren't you worried that those villagers may take advantage of a manakete like yourself?"

"Nah, they seem at ease. Besides, what could go wrong?" Nowi entered the castle, only to come out through the front doors. Within a few minutes, Nowi entered the village, eying the people setting up for the event upcoming. Some of the villagers saw Nowi, remembering her aid in the war against Plegia.

"Thunderesa!" one elderly villager gasped. "That's one of Exalt Chrom's Shepards!"

"Did you come to see our progress, Lady Nowi?" another man asked. Nowi huffed an adorable giggle to the question.

"Well, kinda," she laughed. "Anyone got food for me to try?" One woman turned her head from her stand to answer.

"Not quite," she denied politely. "Besides, wouldn't that spoil your appetite?" Nowi itched her innocent face, not shy about desiring a snack.

"I wouldn't mind waiting." That's when Nowi caught something from the corner of her eye. A series of flashes from beyond the village to the forest south. The flashes attained Nowi's attention. "What was that?" No one else saw flashes, thus they wondered what Nowi found.

"Did you see something, Shepard?" the elder man asked. Nowi learned that she was the only one who saw the flashes. She couldn't ignore something like this.

"Food sampling can wait. I gotta check out what's up in the woods." Before the villagers could ask, Nowi sprinted off. She entered the forest alone and began her search for the flashes. "I know I saw that light around here." She glanced left as she walked cautiously. Nothing… Her right found nothing as well. "Not even a fire around here. I couldn't imagine something like this." As she toured the forest, something lurked around the trees. A blackened and decrepit hand palmed the bark of a tree. Peeling skin softly gripped the bark with an eerie groan. Nowi's pointy ears picked up the groans. To the manakete, sounds of trouble were from nearby. "I don't like that sound." She turned around, seeing dark gray people with glowing red eyes. They wore fatigues and held swords and spears. Nowi concluded her danger. "Gods, why didn't I bring Robin or Gregor with me?! Risen!" The gray men waddled toward Nowi who made steps backwards in retreating. Another gray man in a tattered robe and pointy hat also showed up, holding a book. "I hate Mages, even as Risen! They're the worstest!" She spun around and did the only option she had at the time: run away. She headed back to the village, perhaps to warn those about the danger from the woods. The option became futile as muscular Risen holding axes blocked her path. More Risen appeared and surrounded the manakete. With one path open, Nowi took her chance. As she ran in that direction, a fluctuation of air rippled. Nowi stopped short, curious to what she saw. "Okay, what is that?!" Her shriek told the Risen where to find Nowi. "Gods, help me!" In her panic, she ran right at the ripple and vanished. Risen sword wielders chased when the ripple became still. They stopped after passing the spot Nowi vanished. All the Risen did was stand around, not knowing what to do.

Time passed. White became the sight before it dimmed to black. Different noises, none familiar to the ears echoed in whoever had them. Eyes soon opened, finding a pair of brown puppies with fur covering their faces, prairie dogs with red eyes and green caterpillars with leaves as a hood. "What in the..." a voice groaned. The disoriented was Nowi as she started coming around. The different creatures peaked her interest as she arose to a seat. "What in Ylisse are you?" A prairie dog barked a little as another came forward with a pear. To Nowi, it was an offering. "For me?" The caterpillar nodded, allowing Nowi to bite in the pear. Her eyes lit up, a taste of rejuvenation. "Whoa! Suddenly, I'm feeling better. I guess after being chased by Risen, I need something like this to help me." These creatures blinked at Nowi's little word of Risen. She dug in her pockets, pulling out two round silver stones, one having huge cracks on it while the other looked brand new. She looked back at the creatures who stared at the stones. Before Nowi could explain the stones, a gray dove entered from the air. It beaked in a sense of fear. Nowi stood, putting the clean stone back in her pocket. The dove landed and pointed its wing ahead. Instead of asking, Nowi followed the direction the dove pointed to, the other creatures following. A short time later, the dove passed Nowi and hid behind bushes. "Is there-" The dove swiftly lifted its wing over its beak to quiet the manakete. Kneeling, Nowi had to whisper to keep quiet. "Is there something you want to show me?" The dove pointed to the bushes. Digging through, Nowi found two humans with a cat by them. In white uniforms with matching red "R" emblems, a crimson redhead woman and an ice-violet man wrenched bolts to a steel drill of a machine. Along with the two humans was a white cat with a curled tail and gold oval charm stuck on its forehead. Nowi kept quiet while viewing the works of the three.

"Now that we're free from the boss' demands," the redhead started. "We can pursue Pikachu and forgo our debts!"

"And as such, it's back to our favorite traps to subdue the twerps," the ice-violet-haired man agreed. The cat had a problem with their deviancy.

"Okay, but do we need to dig holes like da past?" the cat mewed in concern. "Dat twerp used it against us before."

"Don't be such a scared cat Pokémon, Meowth," the redhead retorted. "We've learned from our mistakes more often than those twerps. Besides, we've got loads of time for James and myself to pinpoint their next destination." Nowi lowered her head, disappearing from the trio's sights if they did look in her direction. To her, those three were up to no good.

"I guess I have to do something to stop them," she whispered to the puppy and the caterpillar. She gripped the heavily cracked stone "You'll need to clear out. I'm going dragon for this." The warning allowed the creatures to run and find a safe spot. The creatures cleared, Nowi felt confident to use the stone in her hand. 'I know I've got a few more uses with the Dragon Stone before it breaks. I wonder how they'll react to seeing a dragon…' Nowi closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers around the stone. That's when petals of a red flower blossomed from the ground and cocooned Nowi. The trio applied the finishing touches to the machine. They threw down the tools as the machine stood on four rectangular feet with a drill located in the underbelly.

"Well, boys… One step closer to obtaining Pikachu," the redhead cheered.

"Indeed, Jessie!" the ice-violet-haired greeted. "The Earth Digger, Version Four! This baby will not only dig perfectly round holes, but also smooth out the dirt to make climbing out impossible!"

"Not to mention dat none of Pikachu's electricity can overload it!" added Meowth. Suddenly, the three heard and felt huge flaps of air whipping behind. They froze for a few seconds before turning around.

"Really?!" sounded Nowi, but in a deeper boom of her voice. "Let's see if it can stand up to a manakete's power!" The three spun to see a big green dragon flying above. The sight of the dragon freaked those on the ground to scream in fear.

"That's a…" stuttered Jessie. "That's a…."

"Dat's no Pokémon!" shrieked Meowth.

"It's a dragon!" the ice-violet-haired yelled. The dragon spat a blue fireball which struck the digging machine. KABOOM! The machine exploded into hundreds of pieces. The three escaped the blast as they used jet-packs. How they got them on so quickly was anyone's guess. The dragon wasted little time catching the trio, though impressed that they could take to the air.

"So humans can learn to fly," she huffed. "Let me give you a boost!" She blew another fireball which tagged all three in a fiery explosion. The three launched out of the smoke, going faster than the jet-packs performed.

"This would've been a good time to have Wobbufett on hand," Jessie murmured.

"Speaking of, I didn't think actual dragons existed aside from the Dragon-Type Pokémon," the ice-violet-haired wondered.

"Crouching Raikou, hidden Flygon," Meowth punned. Now all three began to fade to the mountains.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" all three wailed to far reaches. The green dragon flew to land and curled itself. The flower bloom surrounded the dragon. It stood for a few seconds before it opened, revealing Nowi back to herself.

"Ha HA!" she cheered with her hands excitedly in the air. "I don't need Fredrick or Robin! I can fight by myself!" That's when she sensed the creatures from before looking on, scared out of their minds. She glanced back at them to reassure who helped out. "Don't worry. It's still me. I just used the power of my Dragon Stone." Slowly, the creatures came to Nowi. They hoped this girl wasn't going to use the power of said stone. Nowi petted the puppy, now gaining their trust. That's when the caterpillar buzzed everyone to a tiny black box. The box had the same "R" emblem like the two humans she cleared from the scene. Nowi came over to the box. "Weird box…" She pressed the "R" when a transparent screen emerged from the back of the box, startling the manakete. "Sorcery! I hate sorcery!" The screen suddenly popped other squares with labels on each of the eight. She read each box until there was one with the label "TARGET." Nowi feared that those three were on the hunt for something or someone. "This could be a problem. So do I press this square or what?" Giving it a touch, the squares cleared away for new squares, this time containing images. The pictures had yellow. Once again, Nowi touched a square. It grew, filling the screen. There was a yellow mouse with black tips on its ears and a lightning bolt for a tail. The image of the mouse made Nowi giggle. "Aw, it's so cute, I want one!" That's when she took a closer look, viewing another human. This grew on Nowi to learn more. As she tried to move the picture with her finger, another image tried to slide in, that one also having the same two but this photo, but now finding a raven-haired boy wearing a red baseball cap, white spring jacket with blue among the shoulders and denim trousers. Nowi's eyes fixated on the boy in the photo. "This… This boy..." Her body trembled to the sight of the boy. "I…" She snapped out of her delusion, wanting that boy as her goal. "I wanna protect him!" The creatures blinked at the announcement, wondering in unison who Nowi wanted to protect. No one in the halidom has any idea about their missing ally. Team Rocket didn't know who took out their machine. Now a boy and a mouse have no clue who's coming to help them.

TO BE CONTINUED...