Nuztai rises in the elevator with Tyrion, now evolved into a Quilava, which comes to an abrupt halt at the top. But Nuztai finds someone he wasn’t expecting…

“Officer Falkner?” asks a surprised Nuztai. “I certainly didn’t expect to encounter you here! Where’s your father? I need to challenge him.”

“That you, Nuztai?” replies Falkner as Nuztai approaches, walking carefully along the high beams. “Why would you be here for a challenge? You defeated the Johto League years ago, didn’t you?”

“I did.” answers Nuztai. “But I’ve recently taken on a new challenge. A Nuzlocke Challenge.”

“What in the heck is a Nuzlocke?” inquires Falkner. “I thought I read somewhere that you were helping with some kind of research project looking into alternate dimensions or something crazy.”

“A Nuzlocke is like a regular league challenge, but without the safety on.” Nuztai tries to explain. “A trainer is strictly limited on when they can catch a new Pokémon, and their Pokémon fight every battle without restraint. Even if it costs their lives.”

“Huh. I feel like I’ve read about that somewhere.” Falkner thinks for a moment before jumping as he remembers. “OH YEAH! The recent victor in the new Alola Pokémon League was Nuzlocking!”

“Why yes, yes I was.” Nuztai says smugly.

“That was you?” exclaims Falkner. “Boy, you really pissed those people off before you left. Hope your challenge here doesn’t have the same result.”

“I doubt it. That’s why I chose Johto. Much calmer and no actual legendary Pokémon to worry about.”

“Still not a believer in the legendary birds of Johto, eh? Or the beasts? No matter. If you’re here for a gym challenge, you’re looking for me.” Falkner takes a cool stance just as the wind catches his hair.

“So you finally took over your old man’s job as Gym Leader, eh?” Nuztai asks impressed. “Then let’s not waste any more time!”

Falkner sends in Pidgey who takes to the air while Tyrion clings to the raised beams that rest a full story over the ground below. Tyrion fires an Ember shot at the tiny bird, who responds with a Sand-Attack, causing Tyrion to struggle to aim properly. Tyrion fires another Ember, missing, and Pidgey flies around for a second Sand-Attack. Tyrion waits for the timing to be just right, and at Nuztai’s command, fires an Ember that knocks Pidgey out of the sky… and out of the match.

Next Falkner sends in Pidgeotto, who is immediately struck with an Ember. Pidgeotto responds with a tackle, nearly knocking Tyrion of the beams. The two trade blows, but Tyrion still struggles to see through the sand in it’s eyes. Nuztai decides to recall Tyrion before he gets hurt and sends in Jaime. Pidgeotto flies in to tackle Jaime, who takes the hit, only to Quick Attack behind it, knocking it out.

“For pity’s sake! My dad’s cherished bird Pokémon!” exclaims Falkner. “But, a defeat is a defeat. All right. Take the Zephyr Badge.”

The next morning, Nuztai chooses to backtrack once again, returning to Routes 29 and 30, where his randomizer had told him he could each catch a pidgey. Somehow, the idea of training these Pokémon made him very nervous, but he was confident it would go smoother this time. The path to and from these routes is filled with tall grass, and Nuztai is forced to battle many wild Pokémon on the way, further training his new Pokémon. He eventually catches Cersei the pidgey on route 30, and Sansa the pidgey on Route 29. He takes his time training with them a little before returning to Violet City, where he hears an interesting rumor…

“Yeah, it’s pretty impressive!” Nuztai overhears in the Pokémon Center. “The whole tunnel is underground, and covered with these strange symbols. The archaeologists think it’s part of an ancient city that used to be there. The City of Alph.”

“Excuse me,” interrupts Nuztai, “I’m sorry to overhear, but may I ask where it is you’re talking about?”

“Sure,” says the guy, “Are you familiar with the area? Do you know the old archaeological dig site?”

“I seem to remember something like that last time I came through Johto.” Nuztai responds as he thinks hard. “But it wasn’t much at the time. So they really found something like that? How did you get to see it?”

“Apparently, it’s pretty empty,” laughs the guy, “so to help fund further digging, people can pay to see the ruins.”

“The Ruins of The City of Alph, huh?” Nuztai says impressed. “Well, I certainly can’t pass up a chance to see this!” Nuztai gathers his things and receives his Pokéballs from the nurse, heading towards the old dig site.

Upon passing through the gate, Nuztai is shocked to see how massive in scale the dig has grown. Truly the size of a city, Nuztai stands awestruck trying to determine where to go. A woman passes by, staring at Nuztai’s dumbstruck face, and stops.

“Have we met before?” says the woman, clearly an archaeologist with the dig based on her attire and the amount of dirt on it. “You look very familiar…”

Nuztai snapped out of his trance, “Oh! I’m sorry!” he looks her over carefully, dark skin and blue hair, clearly carrying Pokémon, trying to remember her. “No, I’m not sure we have. I haven’t spent much time at dig sites in the past.”

“Oh, wait, I do know you!” exclaims the woman as it hits her, “You used to work for Professor Burnett in Unova, right?”

Nuztai’s eyes widen with shock that someone remembers him from his brief time there. “Yeah, I did. It wasn’t for more than about a year or so, though. I’m impressed you know that.”

“I was studying there, too, actually. My name’s Lenora. Burney spoke pretty highly of you back in the day. You broke her heart when you left to go back to Pokémon training.”

“Yeah…” Nuztai slumps a little as he thinks about it. “But it was for the best. I’m just not the kind of person that can stay in one place for too long.”

“Well, here, let me show you something really neat we just uncovered!” Lenora leads Nuztai to a cave like ruin in the corner of the dig site. There were two other archaeologists already there, one writing notes on a large pad, the other making etchings of the markings on the doorway. Lenora led Nuztai past them and into the small chamber. Odd glyphs cover the upper walls of the chamber and each glyph seemed to have an eye that creepily felt like it follows you as you walk. In the center of the room was a pedestal with single step up that lifts the person just high enough to be able to see onto the altar, where debris seemed to rest, covered in dust and cobwebs.

“We haven’t moved the rubble from the altar yet, as we aren’t sure if it is or isn’t meant to be there.” explained Lenora. “The ceiling above doesn’t appear to be damaged enough to drop that much rubble…”

“It’s a puzzle.” interrupted Nuztai as he looked down at the pieces. The scientists outside came inside as they heard and Lenora just smiled wide.

“How did you know?” asked Lenora.

“The pieces are all about the same size, and each have marking on them.” said Nuztai, utterly fascinated. “And they look like they can line up… like so…” Nuztai started arranging the pieces until they formed the shape of a Kabuto. As the last piece slid into place, the ground began to rumble, and Nuztai was sure he saw one of the glyphs on the wall wink at him. Without warning, the pedestal and altar, platform and all, including Nuztai, dropped through the floor, crashing into a massive chamber below. Before the dust could even settle, Nuztai heard the panicked screams of Lenora and the other scientists above, as a cloud of large black figures began to pour into the chamber where he was. They flew with the movement of a crowd of locusts, and as they neared Nuztai, dispersed into the darkness around him.

Nuztai grabs his Pokédex and tries to scan the area, but nothing comes up. Out of desperation, Nuztai hits the randomizer button, which shows him one of the strange glyphs from the wall earlier. Nuztai stares at it, perplexed, as the symbol from the Pokédex appears floating in front of him.

“The symbols are Pokémon!” Nuztai suddenly hears Lenora yell from above. The sound of her sending out Pokémon follows, and Nuztai takes the cue to do the same. A few quick hits from Cersei, and Varys the Unown joined the team.



