Saylee Pokémon: 20 Deaths: 7

Key Pokémon: 29 Deaths: 2

(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)

Vermillion Harbour looked different every time Saylee saw it. The port was constantly under construction, the harbour still being expanded to a size equal to the major shipping ports of other countries in the Fairlands, though as it was there were few people travelling in and out of the country and very little that Kanto had to trade. Their major export, twenty years before, had been technology. Kanto had once been one of the foremost innovators in the world; that crown had been taken by countries like Unova during Kanto's exile from the world at large, and not much in the way of new exports had risen in its place. The only thing they did better than anywhere else, these days, was produce weathered, hardcore trainers and construction workers.

"So, are you Archibald Irving and/or Maximillion Hyland?" Lt Surge asked, greeting Saylee off of the boat.

"Damn, you caught me," Saylee cursed. "And here I went to all the trouble of squishing my manly, six-foot-plus frame into a tiny five-foot woman. I just can't win."

"That's the price of crime," Surge said, thumping her on the back. Saylee had long mastered the art of seeing this greeting coming and locking her knees to avoid being knocked into the sea. "Your man not here to greet you?"

"He's going to have the League on his ass if he leaves his jurisdiction when he's meant to be patrolling for Archie and Marc," Saylee sighed. Surge grinned at her just before someone picked her up by the waist from behind, leaving her feet dangling above the ground and making her shriek.

"I won't tell them if you won't," Blue said, giving her a squeeze.

"You're such a jerk," Saylee complained, craning around to kiss him. She could feel herself immediately relaxing, all the fear and tension of the months in Hoenn melting away. Even if Marc and Archie hadn't been caught yet, that didn't seem to matter…

"You two comin' up for air anytime soon?" Surge asked after few moments. "I just called every group of builders I know an' you're still at it." Blue and Saylee both shot a look at the conspicuous lack of any sort of phone in his hands. "Ceez. I know you haven't seen each other for a coupla months, but…"

"Get bent, Surge," Blue drawled, setting Saylee back on her feet. "Tell me you haven't gone all law-abiding in Hoenn, Saylee. You're a ranger. Laws are suggestions."

"Laws are something that you and I are supposed to enforce," Saylee pointed out. "I ought to arrest you for deserting your post."

"Will handcuffs be involved?" Blue said with a grin.

"Jerk," Saylee muttered, giving him a shove. "Where should we meet everyone, Lieutenant?"

"The half-built land up on the hill," Surge said, pointing to a conspicuous spot of empty land between a number of shops and houses. "Nobody's got the money for supplies to build anything there, and we still don't have the power connections for full-on replicators. Sucks to be us. Figure it'll motivate their asses to do a few travel jobs." He pulled out a Pokénav and started dialling.

"Thanks," Saylee said, taking Blue's hand. "C'mon, let's deal with this and then we can go home. I've missed everybody."

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The majority of the groups of builders and constructors that Surge had managed to get together seemed interested in getting to travel and get paid good money to do what they did best. There was a lot of joking about the hot weather and minimal clothing of Hoenn as they headed down to the docks, leaving Surge to see Saylee and Blue off as they selected their flights home.

"Hey, Pete," Saylee said, stroking the tough beak of Blue's huge Pidgeot. "How've you been?"

"Eh, you know how it is. Patrol, fight idiots, patrol, fight ambitious kids, eat, sleep… the usual," Pete said, nipping her hair. "Welcome back. Blue's been kinda broody. You know how he is."

"I know," Saylee laughed, releasing Charlotte. "Ready to fly home?"

"Nobody at home is gonna believe me about what happened in Hoenn," Charlotte sighed.

"Oh, yeah? What did happen, anyway? Nobody in the media seems to know," Pete asked.

"C'mon, let's go home and see if any submarines have washed up," Blue said, climbing onto Pete's back. "You can tell us all about it on the way."

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"This… is creepy," Key said, peering into the cave opening.

"What happened to all the people with tents who were here before?" Manami asked, looking around the muddy field surrounding the broken stone dome that stood to the west of Lilycove City. Between the two was a mass of broken earth and fallen trees, but the land around the dome was curiously undisturbed, the dome itself only sporting a large, weathered crack that allowed access to its interior.

"The archaeologists? They took off for Mt Pyre," Key said, shining her flashlight into the darkness. The dome didn't look that large from the outside, but the light didn't penetrate to the far wall.

"Bet they're kicking themselves now," Sei opined. "Check this out! I bet humans haven't walked her for centuries! Don't touch a damn thing without gloves," she added sharply.

Talyn sniffed at the cave entrance. "Key's right," he said. "This place is creepy. It doesn't smell right."

"It's like the Ruins of Alph," Jenny said, rubbing her arms as she peered inside.

"What're they?" Key asked.

"They're a set of old temples near Violet City in Johto," Jenny explained. "I grew up there, because my… my mum worked there."

"You told me she was researching the creepy Pokémon that lived there, right?" Seka said.

"The Unown… and the gods, yeah," Jenny agreed. She bit her lip. "I've been in them a lot, but only ever with Mum… I… I wish she was here now." She smiled tremulously. "Makes me sound like a little girl, huh?" She yelped as Seka and Key hugged her from opposite sides.

"It's fine to want your mom when facing creepy eldritch abominations!" Key insisted.

"Besides, she was a scientist who knew all about this kind of thing," Seka agreed. "It would've come in handy."

"I don't know if this'll help any, Jenny, but your mom was one of the brightest people I ever got to study with, and she was everything I want to be when I grow up," Sei said.

"Thanks," Jenny said with a smile. "I'm sure she'd love that."

"So are we going in or can I run for it?" Talyn asked.

"Sure takes a lot to freak you out," Seka said, letting go of Jenny and scratching her Mightyena's ears. "I can put you in your pokéball if you like, go in with Edge instead…"

"Are you kidding? I smell Seviper all over the place around here. You know he'll run off and get back into gang fights," Talyn snapped. "If we're going, let's go."

Jenny paced back and forth in front of the dome. "Did it open during the Calamity?" she wondered aloud. "Everyone's been working on the cities. Nobody's had any time to notice if an old archaeological curiosity cracked…"

"Maybe this is where some of those things Steven had came from?" Manami suggested. "The Guardians surrounded Sootopolis, did they not? Maybe some were sealed down here…"

Thomas dropped down next to her. "There's some holes on top of the dome," he said. "Some kinda pattern. I don't know what."

"Can you draw it on the ground?" Jenny asked, wiping her foot across the mud to create a flat patch. Thomas dotted his finger in it, creating the pattern. "Hmm…"

"What is it?" Seka asked. "Is it writing?"

"I think it's gibberish… no, wait!" Sei walked around the patch. "It was upside-down. It says 'steel'. Why steel?"

"Primitive crime syndicate?" Seka suggested. Talyn sniggered.

"Warriors of stone, ice and steel," Key mumbled. "Lee said something about that…"

"The way that woman talks you'd think she can't walk five steps without tripping over a god or relic or something," Thomas grumbled.

"Where is she, anyway?" Sei asked, looking around as if expecting the ranger to pop out of a bush.

"She went back to Kanto," Key said. "She wanted to see her boyfriend and get some labourers hired to come help with the rebuilding."

Sei sighed. "Too bad. She seemed to know what was going on in Sootopolis… Never mind. Shall we go?" She ran over to the dome, running her hand over the fissure. "Fascinating. The rock's worn, like this crack has always been here…" She released a Shelgon. "Chary, what do you think of this stone?"

The round grey Pokémon nudged the stone thoughtfully, then headbutted it full-force. He didn't leave a mark. "I'd hate to see whatever made this kind of crack in it," he observed. He stepped inside.

"Hey, Chary, wait!" Sei cried, running after him.

"What is it?!" Key called, running after her. She ran into Sei's back, knocking both of them to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Jenny hissed. Key looked around wildly, but she couldn't see the older woman, nor could she see the light of the entrance, even though she'd only gone a few steps. She reached out and was relieved to find Jenny's hand.

"Sei, do you have Chary?" she asked, groping for her friend's arm.

"Yeah… wow, I can't see the entrance," Sei said, sounding fascinated instead of terrified.

"I have one foot in the entrance and one arm out, with Seka holding onto it," Jenny said conversationally. "Come back now, okay?"

"C'mon, Sei," Key said. "I hear the last time this place was forced open, people disappeared. A lot of people."

"That's true, but we didn't force it open," Sei pointed out. "We're not intruders, we're—ah!"

Something glowed in the darkness. Key felt a chill run down her spine as she found herself staring into a huge, round, unblinking white eye. It floated past her, illuminating Jenny's face.

"You… are you River?" Jenny said in surprise. "River the Unown?"

"That's what your mother called me," River giggled, circling Jenny's head. "Are you here to follow in her footsteps, tiny one?"

"Tiny?" Sei said in surprise. "I could fit you in the palm of my hand!"

"The bit you can see, yeah," Chary mumbled uncomfortably. "Uh, Sei… I don't think we should mess with the Unown… we should get out of here…"

"River's okay," Jenny insisted. "My… my Mum talked about you… she said you were very helpful."

"I like minds like your mother's," River said, flitting back over to Sei. "Yours too. You're not afraid when you can learn something new. That's fun!"

"Should we be afraid?" Key asked.

"You aren't trespassers!" River insisted. "The guardians of steel have returned to sleep, but the Master has left the door open, should humanity need their protection again. That is what they are for, and we can trust again that they will be used for protection, not war."

"So we won't vanish like the last group to come in here?" Sei asked.

River giggled again. "They didn't vanish, silly!" the Unown explained. "They're still here!" It flashed, and the dome was lit up.

In the middle of the floor was a pit; a staircase curved down into it, disappearing into the shadows. Surrounding the pit were many huge icicles. Sei got up, going curiously towards one and then jerked back with a yelp.

"There's—there's people in them!" she cried. "Oh, that's… disgusting…"

"I don't want to look," Key muttered. "What do they look like?"

Sei drew closer to the icicle again with an expression of fascinated horror. "They're frozen… perfectly preserved," she said. "It looks like they're screaming…"

"Are they still… alive?" Jenny asked River sharply.

"Wellllll… they aren't dead," River said evasively. "But it's okay. They were trespassers and thieves and soldiers…"

"Look at this guy! This is twentieth-century armour!" Sei cried, continuing through the icicles. "And this one! Seventeenth! These people have been here for millennia and… they could still be alive?"

"They had no right to the Guardians," River said loftily. "But you do, now. You will need their protection."

"From Groudon and Kyogre?" Key asked. River giggled and vanished.

"…Mum said that they do that a lot," Jenny muttered. "C-C'mon… we need to get the emergency services. We need to get these icicles out of here and get these people out." She held her hand out to Sei. "Let's go!"

"Won't it be considered thieving if we do?" Seka asked nervously.

"Well, we're not taking anything that belongs here…" Sei pointed out, lingering by an icicle. "Look at this woman… that spear she's holding has to be from—"

"SEI, COME ON!"

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As a reminder, the OCs in the last scene are Jenny Hawkshaw, who's taking the gym challenge and whose mother was recently murdered; Seka, who grew up in the Petalburg Orphanage and is travelling with Jenny to take the gym challenge; and Sei, who also used to live at the orphanage but is studying to be an archaeologist, studied under Jenny's mother and brought the Emerald Orb back to Hoenn.

Also, after a SUPER NICE AND WONDERFUL person, Songwithnosoul (who did a really cute drawing of Silver and Tyra that you can see on the DA art page, sayleeandkeynuzruns) recced me on DA, I started thinking that it's way beyond time I actually had a title for this series. Originally, I was only going to write After Armageddon, but fics just kept happening and now I have a pretty large, long-running series that's gonna be running for a while longer and I don't really have a way of referring to them as a whole aside from "my nuzlockes" XP So I'm curious: what do you guys call this series, if you call it anything?

Anyhoodle, as requested, here are Saylee and Key's present team lists, and I've included Seka, Sei and Jenny's too because they're somewhat relevant for this chapter.

SAYLEE

Zac the Linoone, Molly the Azumarill, Skye the Altaria, Sanborn the Sandslash, Oberon the Bellossom, Nadia the Camperupt

GUEST STARRING

Charlotte the Charizard (from the end of Blood and Bone), Tobias the Togekiss (from After Armageddon and Blood and Bond), Mary the Ampharos (from Blood and Bond), Eric the Espeon (Red's Espeon), Perun the Pikachu (Red's Pikachu)

KEY

Thomas the Grovyle, Leslie the Linoone, Python the Mightyena, Manami the Azumarill, Shikoba the Swellow, Topaz the Flygon

SEKA

Edge the Zangoose, Talyn the Mightyena, Ardenol the Sneasel

SEI

Aria the Altaria, Scylla the Vibrava, Charybdis the Shelgon

JENNY HAWKSHAW

Rose the Gardevoir, Mickey the Manectric, Sarah-Jane the Staraptor, Jack the Jolteon