A/N: Aside from the flashback at the beginning, this takes place some time after "Journey Through Vale." If you haven't read "Journey Through Vale," you might get spoiled on some details regarding the ending of that story (although some might say it isn't much of a spoiler when I did some blatant foreshadowing).

Also, don't expect this to be a long story compared to JTV, and yes, I do plan to write a different one that will feature other characters and more Gen 6 & 7 aspects. Consider this more of a bonus side story.

Several years ago

When Ruby and Yang were little kids, Yang would create toys of legendary Pokémon based on whatever stuff they had lying around and would tell Ruby all the fairy tales associated with them. Tonight was a big night as Yang was going to put on her biggest production yet.

Yang was stacking a bunch of boxes to use as a stage for her play based on a fairy tale Ruby loved hearing about. Once the stage and all the props were set, Yang and her shiny Dratini - nicknamed Celica - emerged from behind the stage to greet the audience.

"Good evening, ladies and germs!" announced Yang. "Tonight, The Xiao Long Celica Theater Company proudly presents a live performance of one of the most popular fairy tales of all time: Giratina and The Swords of Justice!"

"Yay!" cheered Ruby. "I love this story!"

"Arf arf!" barked Zwei, their pet Poochyena sitting next to Ruby.

With the introductions out of the way, Yang shut off all the lights in the room and turned on the flashlights pointing at the stage, setting the story of these legendary Pokémon.

"Once upon a time a way WAY long ago, when a majority of the world was inhabited by Pokémon, there lived four legendary Pokémon known for protecting the weak and fighting evil! They become known across the lands as...The Swords of Justice!"

Yang pulled out crayon drawings attached to sticks of the legendary heroes.

"Leading these heroes was the Pokémon of Iron Will, Cobalion the courageous! Fighting by his sides were Pokémon equally as strong and brave: Terrakion the tough and Virizion the vain! Last, but not least, was the youngling who trained under these trio of heroes: Keldeo the kind!"

"Hooray!" said Ruby. "I love Keldeo!"

"Whenever there was Pokémon in danger, the Swords of Justice would be there to save the day! There wasn't anything or anyone that could defeat these brave heroes! That was until one day...SHE had appeared!"

Yang suddenly turned off all the flashlights as she took out her dad's CD player and played a scary song.

"One day, an evil witch appeared who wanted to destroy the world! This witch was known as...Salem the wicked!"

Yang turned on a flashlight to spotlight her drawing of Salem, which according to legend appeared very tall and had pale white skin and hair, and evil red eyes that didn't appear human. She looked like a humanized version of the fictional Grimm from some of Ruby's scarier fairy tale books.

"No one knows where this witch came from, or why she wanted to destroy the world! But she wouldn't be alone in her plan, for she was able to summon a Pokémon not from this world! That's right...there was a world beyond our own! A world said to be bathed in pure darkness, where the laws of science did not exist; a world of madness! From this world came a Pokémon like no other! A Pokémon bent on destroying anything in its path! The dreaded Giratina!"

Yang took out a pair of flashlights and pointed them towards Celica standing by the stage, now dressed in a costume to resemble Giratina. Celica was wearing yellow scarfs around her body and had paper wings flapping by her side. The real Giratina looked a lot more menacing than Celica was portraying, but it didn't stop Ruby from pretending it was the real thing, gasping in horror at this wicked monster.

"RIII!" yelled Celica.

"Grrr," growled Zwei.

"RII!" yelled Celica again, using her Thunder Wave as special effects. Zwei whimpered and jumped into Ruby's arms.

"Booooo!" said Ruby. "Giratina is mean!"

"Giratina was a crazy Pokémon!" said Yang. "When Salem brought Giratina to our world, it began attacking anything in sight without a second thought! Forests, mountains, lakes...anything Giratina and its master Salem came across was instantly destroyed!"

That was Celica's cue to turn to the props off stage and start demolishing them with her tail. All the paper structures were crumpled and ruined under Celica's might, much like how Giratina ravaged the lands centuries ago.

"With Salem by Giratina's side, there didn't seem to be any human or Pokémon that could stop them! That was until...they came face to face with the Swords of Justice!"

The Swords of Justice took center stage and stood their ground against Giratina. When it came time to voice Salem and the Pokémon, Yang would change her voice and wave the stick with the picture of that Pokémon on it to make sure Ruby knew who was talking.

"Hold it right there, Giratina!" said 'Cobalion.' "The Swords of Justice are here to stop you!"

"RIII!" yelled Celica, attempting to scare the Swords away.

"Ha ha ha!" laughed 'Terrakion.' "You think you can frighten the toughest Pokémon of all? I'm not afraid to fight you, Giratina!"

"I bet I can defeat this Giratina single handedly!" said 'Virizion.'

"Do you so-called Swords of Justice really think you stand a chance?" asked 'Salem.' "Run now or be destroyed like the others who tried to stop us!"

"We'll never run away!" said 'Keldeo.' "Together, we're going to defeat you once and for all!"

"Yeah!" said Ruby. "You tell her, Keldeo!"

"And so," said Yang, "the stage was set for the biggest battle the world had ever seen! Salem and Giratina would fight the Swords of Justice in a battle to determine the fate of the world!"

Yang played a dramatic song on the CD player as the Swords and Giratina did battle, with Yang swatting at Celica with the paper drawings, while Celica roared and pushed back. No matter how hard the Swords seem to hit Giratina, Giratina would not fall.

"RI!" yelled Celica, leaning her head back and headbutting Cobalion out of Yang's hand. Celica proceeded to do the same thing to all the other Swords in Yang's hand; now the Swords were lying flat on the cardboard stage, as if they had all been knocked out.

"It may have been four against two," said Yang, "but Salem and Giratina were too strong! The Swords of Justice were completely outmatched! All seemed hopeless for our heroes and the world! But then..."

"Here it comes!" said Ruby, anxiously waiting for the best part of the story.

"The Swords of Justice combined their powers using their ultimate move! Together, they struck the evil duo with their Sacred Sword attack!"

Yang took out several flashlights and shone them all on Celica. Celica pretended that she was in severe pain from the four heroes all using their Sacred Sword attack at the same time.

"Riiiii," cried Celica as she fell over and collapsed.

"With the power of their Sacred Swords, the Swords of Justice were able to defeat Salem and her Giratina, banishing them into the evil dimension Giratina came from, never to return again!"

"Riii," said Celica, slithering away from the stage.

"And so, the world was saved from total destruction, all thanks to the bravest four Pokémon the world has ever known: The Swords of Justice!"

"Hooray for the Swords of Justice!" cheered Ruby. "Hooray!"

Yang turned back on the lights as her and Celica bowed to the audience, who gave the actresses a rousing standing ovation.

"Thank you, thank you!" said Yang. "You were a terrific audience!"

"That was awesome, Yang!" said Ruby. "And you were great too, Celica! You really played a mean Giratina!"

"Rii," said Celica, wrapping around Ruby and purring on Ruby's neck.

With the play now over, Yang and Ruby cleaned up their mess before going to bed.

"Hey Yang?" said Ruby.

"What is it, Ruby?" said Yang.

"Do you think the Swords of Justice are real?"

"I don't know, Ruby. Nobody knows if legendary Pokémon are real because nobody has seen them in a long time."

"Maybe they're just really good hiders, so that way nobody tries to catch them, and they can continue saving Pokémon!"

"Maybe you're right, Ruby!"

"I hope so. I'd hate for that Giratina to ever come back."

"I'm sure that thing is gone for good, and if not, I'll train hard enough to kick its butt!"

"Yeah, and when I become Pokémon Champion, I'll be there to help you Yang, just like the Swords of Justice would!"

Ruby tucked herself in tightly and went to sleep while imagining herself fighting Giratina.

#

Present Day - Mistral Region

The Mistral Region was known to have some of the widest forests and mountainous areas in all of Remnant, making it a popular habitat for a variety of Pokémon, especially those considered rare and endangered, hence many of these forests were classified as sanctuaries by the Pokémon League.

One such sanctuary was a place known as Slowpoke Lake, named so because of the abundance of Slowpoke. In Mistral, Slowpoke tails became a very expensive delicacy, leading to poachers nearly hunting them to extinction, hence the sanctuary put in place. It seemed no matter the kinds of penalties Mistral's law enforcement dished out, there was always poachers who attempted to take a risk and illegally capture the Slowpoke to obtain their tails. Two such poachers were the wanted criminals known as the Albain Twins: Corsac and Fennec.

The two brothers were once again in the Slowpoke sanctuary, entrapping over a dozen Slowpoke in cages. Because of the Slowpoke's slow reaction time, it didn't take long for the brothers to trap them in cages and weaken them so they didn't have the strength to escape. The Slowpoke were moaning in pain as the brothers were overlooking their haul.

"This lake had quite the abundance of Slowpoke, brother," said Corsac. "I don't think we'll be able to transport all of them at once."

"Then let us get a head start on their tails, brother," said Fennec, pulling out his dagger.

"SLOOW!" shouted a deep voice behind them. The brothers turned and saw a Slowking standing before them, looking ready to battle.

"What's this now?" asked Corsac. "A Slowking?"

"He must be the protector of these Pokémon, brother," said Fennec. "And it appears he wants to battle us to free them.

"Let us not waste time, brother."

"Of course, brother."

Corsac and Fennec each took out a Poké Ball and summoned their Delphoxes to do battle with the Slowking fighting to protect his tribe. Slowking fired a Water Pulse at the Delphoxes; Corsac's Delphox created a Light Screen to block the Water Pulse, while Fennec's Delphox attacked Slowking's mind with a Psyshock. Slowking tried to fight back at Fennec's Delphox by using his Psychic attack; Corsac's Delphox launched a Shadow Ball that threw Slowking off, giving Fennec's Delphox a chance to launch a Shadow Ball as well, knocking the Slowking down. As Slowking was struggling to get up, the Delphoxes lit their sticks on fire and attacked Slowking with a double Mystical Fire, dealing serious damage to the Slowking. The Slowking was too hurt to keep fighting, causing the captured Slowpoke to cry out in fear.

"It appears the protector has failed to protect his species, brother," said Corsac.

"So he has, brother," said Fennec. "Say brother...how much does the tail of a Slowking go for?"

"I'm not sure, brother. Considering how expensive a Slowpoke tail is, the tail of a Slowking could be very valuable...along with other parts of their body."

"Well then...only one way to find out, brother!"

Fennec pulled out his dagger once again; the Delphoxes held down the weakened Slowking as the Slowpoke were yelling for their leader to get up and fight back. Fennec laughed as he held the dagger close to the throat of Slowking to measure how much he'd have to cut off the head.

"Let's start with the head and that crown of yours, shall we?"

"Cease your actions immediately, human!" shouted a loud, orotund voice that echoed in the forest. Everyone was turning their heads to find the source of the voice.

"What was that?" asked Fennec.

"It must be the Pokémon Rangers, brother!" replied Corsac.

"Humans!" shouted the same orotund voice. "You dare try to harm innocent Pokémon in their habitat like cowards?"

"Why not try to fight someone bigger?" shouted a gruff voice. "Unless you don't think you're tough enough!"

"They certainly don't look tough!" shouted an enticing voice. "Or smart for that matter!"

"Show yourselves, whoever you are!" replied Fennec, dropping the Slowking and clasping his dagger, ready to fight whoever dared tried to interrupt their poaching operation.

The Delphoxes lit their sticks on fire, ready to attack as soon as whomever those voices belonged to showed themselves. Out of the forest suddenly came a green blur that rushed in and struck one of the Delphoxes with a giant energy sword, disarming them. The other Delphox turned around to attack, only for something grey to suddenly run out and strike the other Delphox with a similar looking sword protruding out of its forehead.

"Over there, brother!" yelled Corsac. Fennec turned to see the two Pokémon that had come out to attack; the green one stood tall and had what appeared to be blades of grass sticking out of its upper body, while the grey one was slouched down and had a wide chest, making it appear like a boulder.

Whatever these Pokémon were, Fennec wasn't going to wait for their trainers to come out as well. Fennec gripped his dagger and charged for the two Pokémon; he couldn't get far before another Pokémon suddenly ran out of the forest. This one was blue and had a white mane on their chest, standing even taller than the green one. This third Pokémon created an energy sword from its forehead and slashed Fennec's arm as they came running in, causing Fennec to drop his dagger and fall to his knees, gripping his arm tightly as he screamed in pain.

"My arm!" yelled Fennec. "It feels like it's been broken in two, brother!"

"That was a warning," said the stern blue one. "Release these Slowpoke now and never come back, or else you will suffer a much greater punishment."

"What the...?" said Corsac, shocked to hear a Pokémon speak in human language. "What in the world are you beasts?"

Best known from the fables telling of their legacy throughout the centuries, these three Pokémon that came to stop the poachers were known as the Swords of Justice. Standing front and center was the blue one serving as their leader, Cobalion. To their left stood the grey one, Terrakion, and to their right stood the green one, Virizion.

"The only beasts we see are the poachers invading this natural habitat," replied the smug Virizion.

"I suggest you two run like cowards while you still can!" said the cocky Terrakion.

"Never!" replied Fennec. "I don't care what these things are! We've come too far to lose this opportunity!"

"Then you leave us no choice," replied Cobalion. "Terrakion! Virizion! To battle!"

"Delphox, Mystical Fire!" commanded Corsac.

The two Delphoxes shot their combined Mystical Fire at the trio of Pokémon, but the attack seemed to do little damage to them. The trio then charged into the Delphoxes and went all out on them with their Close Combat techniques. Terrakion recklessly tackled into one, while Virizion rammed headfirst into the other, with Cobalion shoulder tackling into both. The Delphoxes already felt like they were about to faint.

"Delphox, use your Psyshock on the blue one!"

The Delphoxes concentrated their mental powers and struck Cobalion's mind with a Psyshock. Cobalion's mind was wrought with pain from the foxes' Psychic attack.

"Are you feeling all right, Cobalion?" asked Virizion.

"Stand back!" said Cobalion, turning their horns and shoulder blades into pure metal. Terrakion and Virizion backed away as Cobalion used their Metal Burst attack, exploding the metal on their body into several pieces and sending them flying into the Delphoxes. The strong hot metal collided all over the Delphoxes' bodies, dealing the final blow that knocked them out.

"How pathetic!" said Terrakion. "That didn't take much effort at all."

Corsac recalled both his and his brother's Pokémon. It was at that moment Terrakion noticed one of the humans had seemingly disappeared.

"Strange; did one of the humans run away?"

Terrakion turned around and found Fennec clutching to his dagger with his good arm, attempting to jump Cobalion from behind and stab him. Fennec raised his dagger and ran towards Cobalion.

"On your rear, Cobalion!" yelled Terrakion, using their Quick Guard technique to instantly jump in front of Cobalion and using their rock-hard body to block Fennec's dagger. Cobalion jumped over Terrakion and tackled Fennec to the ground, knocking the dagger out of his hand. Cobalion kept Fennec under one of their hoofs so he wouldn't move. With no Pokémon or weapon to defend himself, Fennec realized he had no chance in fighting off these mysterious Pokémon.

"Okay, I surrender!" said Fennec. "We'll release the Slowpoke!"

"You expect me to trust your word when you dared to stab me behind my back?" said Cobalion, pressing their hoof down on Fennec. The weight of Cobalion's hoof pressing down on his chest made Fennec feel as if he was trapped under a tree.

"Please, I swear I'll let them go!"

"Your words mean nothing to me, human. You will be punished for your crimes against Pokémon!"

Cobalion lifted their other leg up and stomped on Fennec's chest. The force of Cobalion's stomp was enough to cause serious injury to Fennec, who screamed from the immense pain was now in. Realizing these mysterious Pokémon had no qualms in harming humans, Corsac tried to turn tail and run, only to suddenly be stopped by Terrakion and Virizion getting in his way. Seeing the way the two smirked at him caused a chill to run down his spine.

"Not so tough now, are you?" said Terrakion. Corsac tripped over himself as he tried to back away from the other two. He crawled backwards only to bump into Cobalion; he looked up and saw Cobalion staring down at him with a look of contempt. Corsac shook in fear as the trio had him surrounded.

"I'm s-s-sorry!" said Corsac, getting on his knees and bowing to Cobalion. "I'll r-r-release the Slowpoke! We'll never come back, I pr-promise!"

"Humans always look so pathetic when begging for mercy," said Virizion.

"What do you think, Cobalion?" asked Terrakion. "Should we let him go?"

Corsac looked up at Cobalion with tears in his eyes, hoping Cobalion would allow him to escape unharmed. But Cobalion's expression didn't change in the slightest, and neither did their mercy. Cobalion smacked Corsac across the face with their hoof, then pressed their hoof down on the back of Corsac's neck. Corsac flailed around trying to escape and screaming for mercy, but Cobalion continued to ignore him.

"You will pay in the name of justice!" said Cobalion.

"Cobalion, STOP!" suddenly yelled a gentle voice from afar. The trio of Pokémon turned to see a young-looking colt with a long red and blue mane and a small horn on their head approach them.

"Keldeo! I ordered you to stay behind!"

"We've already rescued the Slowpoke!" said Keldeo. "There's no reason to attack the humans like this!"

"There is a reason! We much teach these humans a lesson if they are to realize why to never commit such atrocities again!"

"They've already learned their lesson! Beating them down like this is just cruel!"

"Is it any less cruel than what they were going to do to these Slowpoke?" replied Virizion.

"We're just dishing out the same pain they tried to commit!" said Terrakion.

"Don't you think they've suffered enough?" asked Keldeo. "Please Cobalion, just let them go!"

Knowing Keldeo was too merciful towards humans was exactly why Cobalion insisted Keldeo stayed behind during their missions. Cobalion would have preferred to deal with the poachers here and now but couldn't serve them true justice with Keldeo as a witness. Cobalion groaned as they lifted their hoof off Corsac's neck.

"Terrakion, Virizion, help Keldeo free the Slowpoke," said Cobalion. "I will watch the human to make sure he doesn't try anything."

Keldeo breathed a sigh of relief seeing Cobalion letting the humans off. "Thank you, Cobalion."

Cobalion kept their gaze on Corsac as the other Swords freed the Slowpoke from their cages. Corsac didn't dare try to move a muscle in front of Cobalion, believing the slightest movement would be enough to set Cobalion off.

"All the Slowpoke have been freed!" said Keldeo.

"How is the Slowking?" asked Cobalion.

"He's pretty beaten up, but nothing serious."

"Very well. Let's escort the Slowking to a safer area. As for you, human; take your brother and leave."

The Swords helped the Slowking to his feet and walked off towards the forest to where they could gather berries for him to eat. With the Swords no longer minding Corsac, Corsac ran over to where his brother dropped his dagger and picked it up.

"Do not worry, brother," muttered Corsac, grabbing Fennec's dagger. "We will be the ones who get the last laugh!"

With Cobalion's back turned against him, Corsac charged for Cobalion and planned to impale them. Unfortunately for Corsac, Cobalion could hear him coming and bucked their back legs into Corsac, sending him flying back several feet. The other turned to see what happened when they heard Corsac suddenly screaming in pain.

"What's going on?" asked Keldeo. "What did you do?"

"Terrakion, Virizion," said Cobalion. "Take Keldeo and go on ahead."

"Wait, Cobalion!"

Keldeo tried to run up to Cobalion to convince them not to harm the other human but was held back by Terrakion and Virizion. Corsac struggled to get back to his feet, only to look up at a very irate Cobalion.

"As I predicted you would...coward," said Cobalion.

#

Hearing that the infamous Albain twins continued to thwart Mistral's police yet again, Qrow Branwen - founder of the Pokémon Rangers - decided to have his Rangers step in and apprehend the criminals themselves. Because of the severity of the mission, Qrow sent his three best Rangers for the job: Coco Adel, Pyrrha Nikos, and Yang Xiao Long. Coco and Pyrrha were flying on their Pidgeots, while Yang flew on her shiny Dragonite, Celica.

"Here's the mission, Rangers," said Qrow. "Two highly wanted poachers have been seen entering a Pokémon Sanctuary. Our job is to arrest the poachers and prevent any of the Pokémon from getting harmed."

"Shouldn't be a problem for us," said Coco.

"I'll make those poachers beg for mercy, right Celica?" said Yang.

"Raor!" agreed Celica.

"Hey now, Yang," said Qrow. "I know poachers are the lowest of scum, but we've still got protocols to follow. Arceus knows I already get enough flak in Vale; I don't need Mistral filing complaints about being too rough on criminals."

"We're approaching the area," said Pyrrha. "Let's spread out and start searching."

The Rangers jumped off their Pokémon and landed in different sections of Slowpoke Lake. Pyrrha rode on top of her Arcanine as they scouted the forest.

"Remember these are poachers we're dealing with. They could be armed, dangerous, and..."

"Something wrong, Pyrrha?" asked Coco.

"...right...here."

"Huh?" asked Yang. "Pyrrha, what's going on?

"Girls...you need to see this!"

Coco and Yang immediately headed to where Pyrrha was and couldn't believe what they were witnessing. They had found the poachers lying unconscious by the lake, with broken cages strewn about.

"Whoa," said Yang. "Um...now what?"

"We call the boss, what else?" replied Coco, taking out her scroll. "Sir, Ranger Coco reporting. We've found the two poachers unconscious in the forest."

"Unconscious?" asked Qrow. "How?"

"It looks like they were attacked," said Pyrrha, looking over the bodies. "Both of them have signs of serious bruises, and one of them might even have broken ribs."

"But then who would leave them in the middle of the forest like this?" asked Yang.

"It was probably the Pokémon themselves that did it," said Coco.

"But Pokémon are usually never this aggressive," said Pyrrha, "and even if they were, it couldn't possibly have been done by any of the Slowpoke here."

"Okay," said Yang, "this is getting weird. Either there's a freakishly strong Pokémon around here, or we've got vigilantes on the loose."

"We'll leave that mystery up to the local law enforcement," said Qrow. "I've already put in a call about the situation. Rangers, remain with the poachers in case they try to up and leave."

#

After dealing with the poachers, the Swords immediately went into hiding when they sensed the Pokémon Rangers coming their way. They watched from a nearby cliff overlooking the forest as Mistral's law enforcement came and apprehended the unconscious poachers. With their mission complete, the Pokémon Rangers got on their Pokémon and flew out of the forest, completely unaware of the legendary Pokémon looking up at them.

"That takes care of our poacher problem," said Virizion.

"But we didn't have to hurt them so badly!" said Keldeo.

"Give it a rest, Keldeo!" said Terrakion. "Some humans just don't listen until you inflict a little pain on them!"

"Is that how you plan to save all Pokémon? By harming humans?"

"You're acting childish, Keldeo," said Virizion. "If humans understood peace the way we do, we wouldn't need to inflict violence in the first place!"

"So we're just going to act the same way they do?"

"If you really think we're no better than the humans," said Terrakion, "maybe you should go live with them instead!"

"And maybe I will!" yelled Keldeo before running off. The two Swords sighed at seeing Keldeo throwing their usual fit whenever the Swords dealt with dangerous humans.

"There they go making those threats again," said Virizion.

"Think Keldeo will actually go through with it this time?" asked Terrakion.

"Doubtful. What say you, Cobalion?"

Cobalion had been strangely quiet throughout the whole exchange and continued to look up at the sky contemplating their thoughts.

"Is something wrong, Cobalion? Are you worried about what Keldeo said?"

"Keldeo will toughen up eventually," said Terrakion. "They're still a youngling after all."

"It's not that," said Cobalion. "Lately I've been having premonitions of a great disaster set to strike Remnant."

"How great are we talking?" asked Virizion. "Surely it can't be as bad as that incident with the witch."

"I'm afraid so, and this one we cannot simply ignore like the recent one in Vale."

"I don't see the big deal!" said Terrakion. "We've defeated tougher enemies in the past! We'll take down anyone that comes our way!"

"Terrakion is right," said Virizion. "You're being worked up over nothing."

"I pray to the Gods that I am," said Cobalion.

The trio went off to their usual hiding place, hoping Cobalion's premonitions were nothing more than superstitions.