Chapter 2: Hungry for Attention
It had been a year since Exalt Emmeryn's death and Mad King Gangrel's fall. Nowi couldn't wait for Ylisse's first anniversary but bad luck in forms of Risen brought her to a world of interesting creatures. Holding a box with a transparent window showing a picture of a boy and yellow mouse irked Nowi's curiosity. Seeing the dove, she called it down in hopes that it understood her request. "You think you can find these two?" she asked. The dove studied the boy in the picture before setting off. From above, the dove followed a dirt path, hoping to fulfill Nowi's quest. Before long, it heard voices.
"So that's why you wanted to go to the next town," sounded a boy. The dove stopped and listened.
"Right!" a young man assured. "I knew my evaluation was coming soon. Just imagine if I pass!" The dove picked up the location of the voices and flew in the direction. There, it found the boy and mouse Nowi wanted to find. Those two were accompanied by a green-haired teen wearing a waiter's uniform, including a bow tie. The other was a tanned violet-haired girl, her hair reaching her calves. She wore an ivory shirt with baggy sleeve and skinny white tights under a pink sash synched around her waist. In her hair was a green baby dragon with a shark fin in reverse and two tusks protruding from its mouth.
"You'll then be an S-Rank Connoisseur!" she cheered. "Man, that would be so awesome!" The green-haired softly laughed to the girl's premature praise.
"Well, it would be an honor to have an S-Ranking, Iris. I'm happy right now as A-Rank." The boy understood his friend's happiness with his current standing.
"Well, you're already at a better ranking than Burgundy," the boy compared. The dove determined the boy and flew back to advise Nowi. Once returned, it warned the manakete that the boy's discovery.
"You found him?" she guessed. The dove pointed to the path, cawing about their approach. "Okay, my bestest plan is near. Come on!" It appeared like a collision course would happen but Nowi broke short and hid behind trees. She came up with a plan for their arrival. "I'll lie here and pretend that I'm starve-" Her words stopped when her stomach began to growl. She didn't need to pretend anymore. "I guess I am hungry. How about that?" She reset herself to finish her plan. "Anyway, when you see him coming, tell him. He'll come to me." The puppy and prairie dog bobbed to acknowledge the idea. Nowi set herself by a tree out of sight from the road. The two prepared to run out and confront the humans. Soon enough, Iris and the boys appeared in sight.
"Knowing that Cilan invited us to this meeting since we're friends," she sneered while looking at the boy. "There's a buffet with Ash's name written on it. He'd probably wouldn't leave it even if all the food's been eaten." The boy, now believed as Ash, grew angst at the teasing.
"Iris, you know I'm not that bad!" he protested.
"It's alright," the green-haired, presumed as Cilan, giggled to the two. That's when the puppy and prairie dog bolted out according to Nowi's plan. "A Lillipup!"
"And a Patrat?" the girl identified the prairie dog. Patrat and Lillipup frantically pointed to the side where Nowi rested. Their cries concerned the trio.
"What's going on?" questioned Ash. Not understanding, he turned to the mouse. "Pikachu, get them to calm down and tell us what's wrong." The mouse nodded before leaping down. Using whatever language it squeaked, Pikachu got information about the problem, turning back to the humans as it pointed to the issue.
"Trouble, and it's coming from over there!" alerted Cilan. Pikachu and Lillipup led the humans around the tree to find Nowi, unconscious. Actually, she's asleep.
"A girl?" Without hesitation, Ash knelt to examine the manakete by fingering her wrist. A pulse. "She's alive." That's when, for some reason, he palmed her stomach. This bothered Iris.
"Why are you feeling around her-" she began her questioning when Ash's head snapped back. He found what ailed the down girl.
"So that's what's wrong: she's starving." Iris and Cilan stood astounded with Ash's study of the new girl's crisis. "Cilan, you have leftovers?" Cilan dug into his bag and pulled out a bowl of stew.
"Here!" he offered. "It's still warm!" Ash took the stew and a spoon offered before going to stir Nowi.
"Hey, wake up!" Ash gently shook her shoulder which got her to open her eyes. At first sight, his smile almost made her eyes exit her head.
'It's… It's him!' she minded. 'Gods, he looks so handsome! Someone find a bed to put me- Okay, Nowi… slow your thinking. I know he's good-looking for a human. Play the role and nothing else.' Stirring to keep it warm, Ash prepared himself to spoon-feed Nowi the stew.
"I can tell that you're hungry. This should help you back on your feet." Ash gave a spoonful of stew to Nowi who ate it, slurping the broth.
"Thank you..." she "weakly" praised. The taste of the broth almost broke her out of her act. 'Wow, this is really good! A heck of a lot better than bear meat from the hunting with Fredrick and Sully! Still, I can't let them know that I'm just fine." As Ash emptied the bowl to Nowi, Iris took notice to the green-haired girl's ears and huddling with the male green-haired.
"Hey, Cilan," she whispered. "Look at her ears! They're pointy!" The connoisseur examined the ears, also bothered with the shape of them.
"Yeah, but I don't see any marks that suggest plastic surgery," Cilan observed. "I'd say she was born with them." Soon enough, the bowl was bare. No more food, no more broth…
"That's all," Ash announced as he placed the spoon on the bowl.
"Thank you," Nowi greeted.
"No problem. I was gonna warm it up for when we got to the next town." He stood up before offering a hand to the manakete. "Can you stand?" Nowi glanced at the hand before reaching up.
'Let's see how his upper body holds up.' Ash lifted Nowi off the dirt to her feet. However, she scraped the dirt and used the momentum to fall in Ash's arms. Ash braced his back foot to absorb the impact.
"Gotcha!" Her momentum stopped, Nowi looked up at Ash who held onto her. Face heating beet red, she wrapped her arms around him to gain support and to admire the body he had. Pikachu and Patrat began to wonder if Nowi was okay to begin with. "Still weak, huh?" Nowi bobbed a slight nod to Ash who needed help from his friends. "Cilan, can you take my bag?"
"Sure, Ash," he replied as he helped remove his backpack. Free of that, Ash held Nowi up as he spun around and knelt. Nowi fell on Ash's back before he stood up, lifting Nowi. Pikachu leaped in Iris' arms. "Okay, we can still reach the next town by early evening."
"Right. I'm sure you need to rest your legs before that evaluation tomorrow." Iris became somewhat concerned about Ash having to carry Nowi despite just meeting.
"Are you sure you can hang on that girl?" she asked. A scoff told Iris that Ash had control over his grip.
"She's not heavy, and I've carried a Larvitar and a Hippopotas without much effort." Realizing his feats of prior, Iris backed away from further questioning.
"Never mind. Sorry I doubted your upper-body strength." The group restarted their stroll down the road where Ash chose to ask about Nowi.
"So who are you and what were you doing in the forest without a Pokémon?" Nowi wasn't sure what Ash tried to explain but asking for her name could help with a dialogue.
"Nowi," she named herself.
"Nowi? That's an interesting name. What about you being in these woods? Did you get lost?" Nowi didn't want to reveal her method to ending up with whom she wanted to protect.
"I don't know how I got here." Her claim didn't aid in how Ash could help someone who can turn dragon on a whim. To Cilan, he believed she suffered an accident.
"Disorientation?" he guessed. Iris glanced to Cilan, a thought of Nowi's ordeal occurring.
"Disorientation?" she repeated. "She's disoriented."
"That's where I'm leaning to. She probably got in an accident and tried to get her body to respond but it wouldn't and that's why she crashed." Ash wasn't so sure of Cilan's theory.
"I think she got scared," he guessed. "Perhaps running from a Ghost-Type Pokémon." Iris studied both situations, believing Ash over Cilan.
"Ash's theory sounds better than Cilan's," she judged. "I'd be running if it was an Ice-Type." Soon enough, the group came across the machine Team Rocket wanted to use to take Pikachu. "Whoa, what happened?" Cilan scanned the area with his eyes, finding the device Nowi used to find Ash. From his vantage point, he found the "R" emblem on said device.
"Looks like a contraption Team Rocket created to trap us and take Pikachu," he determined from the emblem.
"This forest must have some strong Pokémon to destroy their machine," Ash thought. "At least we don't have to deal with them today." Moving on, they continued for another hour, Ash holding on with all his stamina. At last, they found a town with the sun on its way down.
"We made it!" cheered Iris. The creatures cheered their arrival to the new town. Nowi tapped on Ash's shoulder. Turning, Ash believed Nowi wanted to get off his back.
"Want down?" A nod allowed Ash to kneel and have Nowi step off. Free from the piggyback ride, Ash stretched his arms to regain feeling as Nowi knelt to see Pikachu and the other creature. She pet both, cries of delight echoing slightly from the two.
"Axew has taken a liking to you," Iris implied. Nowi listened, now notified of the dragon's name.
"So you're Axew, huh?" she questioned. Axew nodded to the asked. Ash seemed blessed for Pikachu and Axew to have a new friend.
"Looks like Nowi would be great around plenty of Pokémon," he pondered. Nowi blinked before turning back to Ash.
"Wait, what are they called? They're not Pikachu and Axew?" Cilan came forward to clarify her confusion.
"Well, they are called Pikachu and Axew," he offered. "They're two of over hundreds of Pokémon all over the world." Nowi's awe told the three she figured the identities.
"Got it." Nowi risen back to her feet and faced Ash, grabbing the bill of his cap. "Does your lid come off? It's a weird helmet." Before Ash could answer, Nowi removed his cap. Ash started to reach but stopped as Nowi gave his cap an investigation. "So it does… Nice." She now turned back to Ash. "Anyway, thanks for carrying me while I was unable to move."
"No problem," Ash replied with a chuckle. "As long as you're okay, that's all that matters." Either from his reply or unable to withdraw any emotion, Nowi pressed herself on Ash, her chest to his. This startled the others around.
"Wha- What is she doing to Ash?" a quaking Iris wondered. Nowi couldn't pretend to like Ash after he fed her and carried her from the woods.
'Even if I need to help Chrom, Robin, Lissa, Fredrick and everyone else in Ylisse,' she minded. 'I don't want to just protect this boy. I want to love him… snuggle with him… cook for him…' She lifted her upper body upward and leaned to Ash's face. Mere inches from Ash's lips, Iris snagged Nowi's shoulder.
"Not so fast, missy!" she denied as she pulled Nowi away. The manakete whined from the refusal. "I've got an idea to make yourself presentable. We'll get some new clothes." Nowi blinked to the idea of a new wardrobe.
"Is there a problem with what I'm wearing now?"
"Yeah, it's rather revealing," Cilan pointed out. "It comes off as too spicy for everyone around." The situations gave Ash a strategy.
"Okay, here's how we'll play it out," Ash spoke up. "Iris can take Nowi for some clothes shopping, Cilan can notify the Connoisseur Committee that he's here for his evaluation, and I'll head to the Pokémon Center to have my Pokémon checked out." The plan had even Iris agreeing for how it would play out.
"Now that's what someone smart would play out," she sneered. "Are you trying to prove that your not a little kid?" Ash flinched to the tease.
"Come on, Iris! I'm not that bad! I just felt easy to have you help Nowi with appropriate wear while we do our errands."
"It's a simple recipe but an effective one at best," he determined. "So, we'll all meet back at the Pokémon Center before nightfall." Ash and the girls didn't waste a second to acknowledge the plan and accept.
"Okay!" they responded. On that, the girls, Ash and Pikachu, and Cilan all split in different directions. Five minutes passed when Iris and Nowi found a woman's clothing store before entering.
"Say, Iris?" the manakete called. "How much do you know Ash?" It did make sense for her to ask about the boy she hung around. Iris dug in her memory bank to have her own evaluation on Ash.
"Well, he's very passionate about Pokémon to a fault," she tried to describe. "It doesn't matter if the Pokémon are his own, another trainer's or even wild. He wants to make sure everything's okay before moving on." Nowi awed the lengths Ash would traverse to make sure peace was in order.
"Is that why you're with him?" The question made Iris jump in surprise. She quickly turned around, a nervous laugh spilling betwixt her lips.
"My reasons are confidential." Nowi's questions stopped when Iris found an emerald green blouse with the string shoulder straps. Seeing the blouse and its color, Nowi wondered if it would fit. "This might work. Let's check the fitting room." After getting some clothes, Iris escorted Nowi to a fitting room.
"So you want me to try these on?"
"Yeah, go and see which ones you like. That way, you won't be so revealing." Taking the offer, Nowi closed the door to the narrow fitting room. She lifted the blouse and smiled.
"I'll wait to kiss him later tonight." She began to change behind the closed door. What may be her choices to wear for Ash?
TO BE CONTINUED...