A few days after Emmeryn returned to Ylisse, she was captured and was ordered to be executed by Gangrel back at Plegia. Chrom, fearing this was his fault, charged with the others there.

"Ah. It's good to finally be in a place that I'm familiar with." Alibaba said. He was tasked with scouting ahead for any dangers, since they were in a desert region.

"Still, It's weird we haven't seen any forces. Are they all back for the execution?" Alibaba thought to himself. He then came across a lone man traversing across the desert sands. He was also seen running after a girl in strange clothing.

"Hey! Are you two some sort of item or what?" Alibaba asked them.

"Item? You mean girl and Gregor? No item are we." the man said.

"Not another one! This is just the worst! Why cant anyone just leave me alone?" the girl said.

"Why? What makes you so special?" Alibaba asked her. Then troops appeared from the sands.

"There they are! Capture them for Grima!" a soldier said.

"Ah, great. These guys again. Why can't they leave a nice Manakete like me alone?" she said aloud.

"What in the heck is a Manakete?" Alibaba said.

"They humans who can turn into dragons." Gregor said.

"WHAT?!" Alibaba asked. "Well, I suppose I gotta do something."

"Yeah! Hand her over to me!" shouted a voice as something small jumped off a soldier's horse. Revealed was a small panda like creature with a leaf in its mouth. "Now, hand her over and I won't have to use force." he threatened before getting into a crane pose.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" the girl shouted as the held up a stone. A flash of light suddenly enveloped her and where she was next, in her place stood a light green dragon. The creature looked shocked by her appearance before fainting from said shock. "Big...scary dragon." he said.

"Well, thats something you dont see everyday." Alibaba said.

"Now you see why girl valuable?" Gregor asked him. "Gregor hear these People worth great amount so when I find girl, I try catching her and selling her to nearby country." he said.

"Well yeah. I'd run too if I knew I was going to be sold." Alibaba said. "Look, I'll make sure you get double what she's worth if you fight with us."

"No, is not point I am trying to make. Girl needs protection, so you and Gregor protect her." Gregor said.

"I see. But after this, I want both of you to join the shepherds. You and her can be safe with them." Alibaba said.

"You… really mean it?" The girl said who was back to normal.

"Sure do. Hey, what's your name, by the way?" Alibaba asked.

"It's Nowi. I'll accept your offer, just protect me from these guys." Nowi said as the soldiers began advancing on them.

Alibaba manifested his sword and fended them off until the others arrived.

"Alibaba, youre alright! We saw this dragon where you were and…. oh my god, is that a Manakete?" Twilight asked.

"You knew about these things?" Alibaba said.

"Yeah. It's a pretty interesting species. I've really gotten into studying them after our encounter with Drake." Twilight said.

"Okay, good to know. Guys, this is Nowi and Gregor, and they wanna join the shepherds." Alibaba said.

"She would make a strong ally. As for the merc, he's hired." Chrom said looking over the two.

"Great. Gregor accepts job as shepherd." Gregor said.

"And I'll be glad to join as long as it keeps me away from those soldiers." Nowi said.

"They're called the Grimleal. They are supporters of the dragon Grima." Sir Robin said.

"Grima?" Hope asked. "Who's Grima?"

"Oh, we haven't told you yet. You see, Ylisse and Plegia both support dragons, we serve Naga while Plegia serve Grima."

"So this war is more about religion than actual power." Jexi said.

"And they were planning to sacrifice me to Grima since I can technically turn into a dragon." Nowi said.

"Well, glad we're here to help you than." Gray said. Juvia then got a little upset.

"She's too young for him!" Juvia shouted.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to take your boyfriend." Nowi said.

"I'm not her boyfriend." Gray said quickly.

"Wanna focus, people?" Stahl said referring to the soldiers.

The units went at it, swords on swords, axes on axes, spears on spears and fists on fists until the last of them were fought off.

"Grima...forgive us." the commander said before passing out.

Ranma then went over to the Pancham and gave him a Wake-Up Slap. "Hey. Where your guild located?"

Pancham opened his eyes to see Ranma's face. Pancham grew angry and gave him an uppercut before going into the crane stance.

"So, we finally meet. Ranma Saotome, my number one rival." Pancham said.

"You? My rival? Youre barely even an inch tall." Ranma said.

"Doesn't matter. I have sworn an oath to myself to personally defeat you." Pancham said. "Now I'm gonna fight you hard!" he said.

In seconds, Pancham was down. "Okay, that was just humiliating. Now tell me where your guild is." Ranma said.

"Ha! I'll never talk! You'll have to kill me before you get me to talk!" Pancham said.

"Hey, remember me?" Nowi said.

"Scary dragon lady! And she's already in her hideous dragon form." Pancham said with Nowi scowling at him.

"I'm not even there yet. But if you dont tell us where your guild is in three seconds…" Nowi started.

"Don't hurt me! Look, our guild is a traveling dojo which is currently located in Plegia. We've actually been contracted by the king to provide protection while the execution goes on. I would have gone, but they keep saying I'm just a kid." Pancham said.

"Well, join us at Fairy Tail. You'll be more than that there." Natsu said.

"I'm not joining you losers!" Pancham said. "But...I can't just keep going on my own. What if you just escort me back to my guild and then we'll talk."

"Okay. Now let's go! We have an exalt to save!" Chrom said.