Split August 4th 2024

Chapter Summary
Now starting their real investigation what shall T'nuri and the others find on Kuanalio Island?

Dead branches, and severed tree limbs littered the bumpy path, logs and large collections of gritty stone far in between. But past the hillcrest was the desolate sands, flora, and sea of the tarnished dockside beach. Ruinous Fog did not spare this patch of land from its wrath when it first arrived fact was evident in the few soot, and char covered palm trees, crisped mangroves, and burnt seagrass all along the beach. Not a speck of black fog floated along the wide berth of the perimeter of the ruined soil, safety amidst a sacrifice.

"We can take a moment ta do a supplementary investigation of the area," Kaliente said and placed down his bag. He pulled out some canisters and equipment just as the Grookey beside him did.

The Jangmo-o to the side nodded. "I brought a proper sensor this time carbon! I'll find ya!"

Supplement? What 'Adrian and I did was preliminary? The Cubone adjusted her black scarf in the silence, along the green and purple stripes of the fabric her claw pressed into the magnifying glass in the center.

"Hello?" Head Hector's slightly staticy voice echoed out from each of Team Kirigiri's scarves.

"Woah!" everyone screamed. Kaliente nearly dropped his pencil and paper in the sand, Emile stumbled with her binoculars, and Alejandrien with their barometer.

"Woah?" Head Hector questioned, despite him being back in Iaijutsukage, one could imagine his raised brows and widened yellow eyes. "You thought I wouldn't answer your calls?"

"No, we just had an error," the Fuecoco laughed.

"An error?"

T'nuri glanced down at the now light blue glow emitting from her scarf and gave a nervous chuckle. "Oh hello, uh Head Hector, I accidentally called you when we stopped to start our investigation."

"You all made it to Kuanalio safe?" the Kingambit asked.

"Yes," Alejandrien answered.

Head Hector softly cleared his throat. "Ah I see, I'll ask for more details later, but since you are investigating I shall remind and inform you of the Fogcutter's Detective Agency's prized attributes," he paused for a moment. "Analysis, Inference, and Assistance."

"Thanks fer that!" Kaliente cheered.

"You are very welcome, best wishes out there Investigation Team Kirigiri," the Kingambit replied. "May the sands of time grant you protection and wisdom Fogcutters."

"I'll solve the mysteries of Kuanalio," T'nuri asserted. "And I'll still be myself."

A chuckle came from Head Hector. "I trust you all will have the grain's guidance."

"Of course," Emile replied.

The Jangmo-o shook her scales. "I'll try my very best!"

"Perhaps we can find out something about Pa'a Lepo in this Ruinous Fog," the Cubone grumbled. "I'm not afraid to get burnt again."

"T'nuri."

"I'm serious, if it means an answer or any progress it'll be worth it. Can't make a new chair without getting a few splinters."

"If anything pequenos small ones, don't overexert yourselves. You need to be safe. Farewell."

The light blue energy slowly faded away from Team Kirigiri's scarves as the connection from Iaijutsukage left. T'nuri held up three claw fingers as she watched her teammates unpack. There were a few weakened palm trees, and palmettos nearby, with odd grey, and dark red bits of miasma on them, a spool of rope and some nailed planks beside one. Signs of domestic presence, even if brief.

"Analysis, interference and assistance," The Cubone repeated as she ran a claw through some sand. "Those are the three qualities, but how are we going to use those to solve what's in front of us?"

"We have a lott'o questions ta work with lassies, laddie, and laddu," Kaliente sighed.

Alejandrien placed her barometer on top of a rock and switched it on with a flick of her claw. "Let's start listing 'em out and see how we can solve them with our own reasonin' skills and deduction."

Now they have a real reason for all that nerdy detective talk. T'nuri shook her head with a grin. "Or if we can figure out where or what is causing each of the problems."

"First, what caused the Ruinous Fog, both the light grey fog and black fog?" Emile asked.

Kaliente narrowed his eyes."Where is the black fog coming from?"

The Jangmo-o rubbed their scales as they looked in their bag. "What was the thin grey fog before, and where did it come from?"

"That grey mist causes poison rain, but how is that even possible?" T'nuri questioned before she shivered. A harsh wind started to drag around the beachside, fresh off the briny sea.

Kaliente rubbed under his jaw. "Better question, why does the black fog have fire?"

Alejandrien hummed before they spoke. "I think that's a solid list of questions, and we can answer some of them right now."

"Right now?" T'nuri asked, her brow quirked beneath her skull-helmet.

"Yep," the Jangmo-o replied. "We've got plenty to discover, and everything we need to measure, let's get to it!"

"Measure? That's important to understanding Ruinous Fog?" T'nuri questioned.

Kaliente nodded, "Tis no contest but, historically what's bigger, and faster is more dangerous."

"Dangerous eh," Alejandrien said with a blush.

"We've got only the tiniest bit of sixty year data to compare it ta."

"Like what?"

"There is quite a bit of travel speed and distances that I can find!" Emile cheered as she began plotting down numbers on a page.

"Are we still on time?"

"Yes. Off by about forty seconds, but that's it" the Grookey replied. She tapped a few digits into her calculator after staring toward the clouds,"If you calculate the distance per minute of the fog and our steps like this you can figure out the trajectory of any path we take forward."

"And there's all sorts of different weather phenomena," the Fuecoco flipped through a meteorological record book. "They seem to be similar to ones from hundreds of years ago in history books."

Alejandrien held up a chart with sulfur, nitrogen, and chlorine."These relate to different compounds and molecular structures. They play with elemental typing and chemical, er periodic elemental types, in many many ways."

"Yes, but how do we connect it?"

T'nuri rapped her bone-club on the bark of a dried, limp palm tree. Once her teammates glanced in her direction she spoke. "We need to stay focused. We're here to help the villagers and we haven't even found the village yet."

"Well how good're we at helpin' the villagers if we don't even know what 'e're workin' with?" Kaliente asked.

"Right now, if we just showed up to the village but didn't know what was happening, how helpful would we be to them?" Alejandrien half stated, half asked.

"That is a good point."

Emile glanced at her compass before she cleared her throat. "Let's search further."

With various containers and instruments at their disposal Team Kirigiri, even in the recently starting toxic rain, continued. T'nuri shoveled sand and clumps of brittle rocks into some jars once again with a sigh.

"We may need some rocks further away from the ocean," Alejandrien said as they peered up from a collection of pebbles. "The saltwater can rinse off valuable trace chemicals from them and also add saline- sodium, chloride, hydrogen, oxygen and much more."

A drip of fluid hit the ground by the Cubone's claws. More scattered along the sand. "Well get ready for more water to mess with those 'valuable chemicals' or whatever."

"Oh darn it, cover 'em up!" the Jangmo-o dropped all the stones off their little analytical table and back into the travel container. "Well, actually let's get some new data!"

"New?" Kaliente questioned, dropping his own rocks.

"Look up!"

A towering grey cloud drifted closer to Team Kirigiri, one filled to the brim with shades of dark grey, purple, and light lavender. Mist brewed both water and poison rain. Acid potent enough to cause more than headaches, one that pierced through scales, feathers and fur alike.

"Spark!" T'nuri gasped. "That's not just regular rain. We've gotta go!"

"We're not running this time," Kaliente said, his eyes blazing.

"It's coming right at us!"

Emile grabbed hold of T'nuri's forearm, and pointed at the cloud. "Well, how are we supposed to find out how the effects are if we don't feel them for ourselves?"

"It hurts you snuffing weirdos!" The Cubone groaned. "It'll make you go crazy!"

Emile shook her head."To know the truth of this we may have to feel real pain!"

"Real power!" the Fuecoco cheered.

"Really?" Alejandrien asked, their tail low.

"Yes!"

"Fine," T'nuri acquiesced. "Just know I've dealt with this before and you're not going to like it."

Kaliente grinned as his eyes wavered."That's fine by me!"

Liar! The Cubone thought as she crossed her arms. What is up with these guys and trying to play it cool? I'm gonna get burnt for real now!

The purple hued rain came scatter-shotted across the land, pouring down along the sands.

"Damn that hurts!" Kaliente cried. He flinched as he turned the pages of his book.

Stings a bit. T'nuri swatted her scales as she peeled some bark from a nearby palm tree. "Yeah, for some reason it doesn't feel as bad as last time."

"Feels like I'm melting!" Emile said through a grimace. "I didn't calculate this!"

"You should have!"

"Ugh, I know T'nuri!"

"Do you?" I'm going insane because this poison rain again!

"Let's continue," Alejandrien declared. "We can't let a little sprinkle stop us!"

T'nuri nodded. Just gotta think like Kaliente: 'protection, defense, saving the villagers'. Even in the stinging droplets, the four kept on gathering different fauna, soil, water, and bits of air. Poison rain from the prelim Ruinous Fog, barely put a dent in the Jangmo-o and the Cubone's work, while the Fuecoco and Grookey shuddered through every step.

After a few minutes, the grey mists grew thicker, and covered more of the ruined beach. Alejandrien stepped away from their barometer and the variety of stones beside it. "Let's try to cut it!"

"Wait!" Emile held out her branch.

"What?"

Kaliente marked a page in his journal before he spoke, "Didn't yew want to take some as a constant, and see if we can block it?"

"I guess."

The Fuecoco and the Grookey dropped their supplies as they faced the approaching onslaught of light grey fog. "This'll be our second time trying it, go!"

Alejandrien dove headfirst into the low hanging cloud. After a few moments the Jangmo-o sprang out with a filled glass container in her claws."Okay let's see what chemicals form the poison!"

"Is this really the time?" T'nuri yelled.

"Yep! I did this ta get samples from the wall over Pa'a Lepo too partner!"

"Now!" Kaliente shouted before he shot a burst of Ember toward the center of the Ruinous Fog.

Emile followed his flames with a swipe of her Branch, Poking just as the fire-type energy ignited the gas.

Immediately, a wall of vines and flames ensnared the light grey mist, freezing all of its vapors in place, even calming the storm within. All across the land and into the air, the Ruinous Fog sat chained, its power anchored down for the moment.

"That's our fogcutting!" the Grookey cheered. "Not just feeling anymore, real evidence!"

Alejandrien grabbed her shoulders and shook them."Yeehaw! That's definitely blocking if I've ever seen it!"

"Yes," Emile laughed and pried herself away.

"You did it for Giritina's sake!" T'nuri yelled. "That's a lot of trust put in a second time, you didn't even block it the first!"

"We had to try, laddie," the Fuecoco chuckled as he let out a relieved sigh.

"And now for us!" the Jangmo-o called.

Us? The Cubone glanced up at the ginormous walled off mist nervously. Alright we're gonna get rid of this for sparking good! "Here!" T'nuri roared as she tossed her Bonemerang into the vapors. "Like an ax straight and true, Lunala's wings gleam, Giritina's wings beam!"

"That's the spirit of Rayquaza right there!" Alejandrien yelled before they launched off a couple Scale Shots at the attack. The draconic move and earthy move power collided and streaks of sage and violet flew every which way. But it wasn't over, scarlet ribbons of energy circled the collection of mist and then a radiant beam, as bright as the moon shot forth.

The plume of light grey fog dissipated into the daylight, leaving a normal, cloudy sky. Only temporarily free from ruin, as obsidian rich energy floated together slowly.

"Cut through true and true!" Kaliente cheered. "I knew ya could do it!"

"Now I have proof!" Emile said as she rubbed the back of her head.

"We ain't flukes either partner!"

T'nuri pumped her fist in the air."Got it!"

The Fuecoco pointed to the now cleared path onward. "I believe we've gathered enough information."

"Yes." The Grookey nodded as she put all her spreadsheets and calculators away in exchange for her compass.

Everyone collected their belongings and took a short rest to prepare for the trek ahead. Once Team Kirigiri was ready they put back on their backpacks and stood by the coconut tree, one with leaves still full of life.

"On ta the village!" Alejandrien led the group further south, past the crumbling dock of the ruined beach and onto a new trail.

The dirt and rock road was quite narrow as it twisted uphill to an empty, exposed part of land, thick trees from the forests below blocking view of the immediate surroundings. But still, they were trees of green, more and more of the nearby fauna was full of life and vigor instead of drained.

However, much hope was not to be found, with Ruinous Fog still spread out across Kuanalio, especially on the Fogcutters path. Perhaps inevitably drawn to them and all Pokémon of the land in a tortured two-step dance.

Just as fast as earlier, black fog rolled in. A massive pitch dark nimbus that dusted far along the ground straight in front of Team Kirigiri from the east. Flames bristled off the edges and one in fell swoop consumed the four Pokemon.

"Shit, not this too!" T'nuri yelped.

Kaliente laughed maniacally before he screamed."You told Head Hector you weren't afraid of getting burnt again!"

"That doesn't mean it won't hurt!"

"What do we do?!" the Fuecoco gritted his teeth.

"It's too fast!" Emile cried before she dropped to a crouch, her arms covering her body.

"Brace yerselves y'all!" Alejandrien yelled as they brought up a translucent shield of Protect.

The Pokémon all screamed as the plume of black fog coursed past their bodies. Flames, sparks, and embers tore against their scales, and fur in a tumbling roar. The barrier of the Protect, fizzling out only moments after the blaze began.

"This is your true pain!" T'nuri shouted as the tail end of the broiling cloud shot through them.

"It definitely is!" Kaliente cried.

As the searing flames ate at her scales, a brief visage of a brown and dark grey speckled mountain top lit up in T'nuri's vision, one littered with ancient, broken weapons and tall stones cut into rounded, rectangles. No, not stones, but tombs! Where? "What was that?"

Alejandrien coughed as the smoke rose from their bodies. "What was what?"

The Cubone took in a ragged breath and she limped to their side."You didn't see that mountain just now?"

"Partner, I closed my eyes."

"Mine were closed too," T'nuri sighed. "But I saw a mountaintop with graves and blades on the earth!"

A bit of watery rain drizzled over the four as they exchanged glances.

Kaliente wiped the soot off his scales before he chuckled. "Mate, we're standing on a beach 'er."

"So I'm the only one who saw that?"

"Focus," Emile said in a strained voice as she staggered upright.

"I am!"

The Fuecoco sighed."T'nuri, let's just think about what we felt."

"Hurt worse than before," Alejandrien groaned, their head hanging low.

"It didn't feel like flames from any Pokémon, just like a regular neutral attack," the Grookey said.

"Yeah, yesterday it didn't burn as bad," T'nuri said, "still packed a hefty punch I'm still sore from."

"New question," Alejandrien said.

"Yeah?"

"How does it bypass Pokémon's natural elemental typing strengths and weaknesses?"

"That's a real tough one," Kaliente laughed. "But you and T'nuri seemed to really suffer."

"It didn't hurt you that much?" T'nuri gasped, her shoulders shaking.

The Fuecoco hummed. "If I had to use a move to describe it, I'd say Headbutt, straight in the gut."

"Headbutt?" Alejandrien gasped. "That felt more like a Double Edge partner!"

"Whatever you say laddu." Kaliente shrugged.

Emile tapped her paws in the sand as she paced a tight circle. "Why do you cut-through and we block fogcutters, feel the effects differently?"

"Yeah, that's interesting."

"We managed ta clear out this," the Jangmo-o said. "Grey mist is just like the preliminary phase of this Ruinous Fog, but can we clear the secondary phase?"

T'nuri tilted her head with a question. "Secondary?"

"Well yeah," Kaliente said, "as you saw and felt days before us, the Ruinous Fog was different at first, so we dubbed how it is now a secondary phase."

"That makes sense, I suppose," the Cubone said before she placed her arms around Emile and Kaliente. "I'll protect you."

The Grookey's muzzle flushed red. "Protect?"

"Laddie, I'm no wee hatchling!" the Fuecoco grinned before he patted T'nuri's back.

"But the will to protect helped me cut the black fog last time! We'll have to see once we encounter it again," T'nuri explained.

Alejandrien sighed a drawn out sigh. "We've all felt what we're dealing with, but we ain't got a clue how the villagers'll handle it."

"Like the mountain!?"

"North Beach Mountain?" the Jangmo-o questioned.

The Cubone shook her head."No, I don't know this one's name!"

"None of us do mate!"

"It did seem like the black fog was coming out of that dormant volcano but we'd hafta go back ta check."

Emile tilted her head."That one had a Mystery Dungeon correct?"

"Yeah, but that one didn't have tombs or blades on its summit, there's no space for that!"

"Okay, well there're definitely a few mountains," Kaliente explained. "Presumably near where tha village is."

"I know it's there too." Alejandrien nodded.

T'nuri grumbled as she fiddled with her bone-club. "There's gotta be other 'special mountains' but there's no way you can see it from here."

Emile clapped her hands. "I remembered there were a few that on Kuanalio that you'd call important."

"Important!?" T'nuri asked. "How could you forget?!"

"I just saw it on a textbook page in college once, there's a couple others-"

Kaliente shook his head. "We need ta go."

"Okay."

The four Pokémon packed up their belongings and with Emile's compass, they headed deeper into Kuanalio Island. Beyond the docked beach sat a fresh rockland, with sparse glimpses of dried and decayed flora. There were many paths onward, one downhill through rugged, twisting trails, one through a clearing between forests with stone markers along it, and another uphill already choked by fog. With a new cloud of Ruinous Fog approaching from behind, Team Kirigiri opted to head through the clearing, following subtle cart tracks through the sand.

However, only about twenty minutes through their walk, the clearing became less clear.

An almost stationary plume of onyx fog, taller than the withered trees on the hillside stood before them. Brimming inside with unknown might, streaks of amber, and tangerine wavered in a circular motion. Barely visible underneath the smoke and heat was another signpost. It had the similar scratched markings but was identifiable as 'village west three kilometers'.

"Shoot y'all!" Alejandrien called. "The village's further this way!"

"But the black fog's way too thick mate!" Kaliente yelled.

"We can't risk it!" Emile and T'nuri called at the same time.

The Cubone pointed to the path that branched off to the right."Down this way!"

"But that's toward the east!" the Fuecoco gasped.

"It'll loop back west!"

The Grookey behind her laughed. "We're on the same page now, T'nuri!"

I guessed right? the Cubone thought before she spoke."We are?"

"Forty six minutes, and fifty four seconds to go!"

"I trust y'all!" the Jangmo-o shouted.

The four squeezed in close as the solid ground beneath them shrank. A tight downhill winding road that was held high above the land, sand and nearly empty patches of trees far below. It twisted as the land connected with numerous other hills, Kaliente led everyone back around to the west. Ruinous Fog brimming with whipping flares barreled after them only to slightly dissipate in the open air. While it circled in the sky to build itself back up, Team Kirigiri headed further through the bumpy rock laden hills.

T'nuri glanced over the land and behind them. "In the distance over there, aren't those the hills we passed 'Adrian?"

They stared at the tall rock expanses and nodded. "All the way back here you can still make out that iconic giant tree."

"We've gone over quite a bit of Kuanalio huh?" Kaliente sighed.

"And still haven't reached the village, what is it named anyway?"

"I've got no clue, but t'is from tha Sax Isles, could be somethin' odd."

Emile's ears twitched as the group made it up the hilltop, with plenty of low grasses and wild bushes. The four spread out into pairs along the new path west. "Odd," she repeated.

On cue, a Sentret and a Rufflet sprang out of the undergrowth and barreled right through the front of the group.

"Woah!" Emile gasped as she dodged the pair in their mad dash.

The Sentret whimpered as it hurried past Emile and then pointed at one of the hillocks beside the narrow and frankly crowded path.

Kaliente waved his arms as the two fled further."Don't head that way!"

"What?!" the Rufflet shrieked and helped the Sentret up onto another hill on the path below, right toward the Ruinous Fog. Or so it seemed, as the mists parted slightly and rose away from them, but circled around.

"At least head to a Mystery Dungeon!" T'nuri called. So they can understand Isla Linga, or our common tongue!

"That's dangerous!" Sentret cried.

"The fog will never reach you there!" Alejandrien explained just as the pair went out of earshot.

Dejected, Team Kirigiri shook their heads. The thin path toward another hill was finally silent once again, besides the warm squall that picked up behind them.

"Were those wilderners?" Emile asked, panting.

"Probably," Kaliente said with another sniffle, his eyes widening. "And we've gotta go too!"

The onyx cloud from earlier flew closer second by second, the brew of crimson and vermillion churning strong inside. Wicked flares of heat radiated heavier and heavier, which warmed the four Pokémon as the fog approached.

"More black fog is coming!" T'nuri gasped as the forests beside their path grew darker and darker, engulfed by the toxic gas. "Just like what those Drillbur and Sandshrew wilderners told me would happen!"

"Really?"

"There's gotta be some way out partner, another way!" Alejandrien cried and hurried through the dried bushes and scrubs concealing the true end of the hills narrow road. There were worn down wooden posts along some of the way, broken boards and planks of wood covered in grass.

T'nuri, Kaliente, and Emile followed the Jangmo-o's claw steps, and made it to another branching walkway. Dead palm leaves blanketed almost the entire field of dried grass, a forest of nearly alabaster trees. Not a single leaf in sight, and a burrow filled valley. But they were not devoid of Domestic presence either, as beside each was a corroded dark stone pillar, scored with deep chiseled lines.

"It's getting closer!" Emile yelped as she nearly dropped her compass.

Kaliente tightened his bag and glanced at each path. "This fog's gettin' way more than a wee bit faster! We've needa pick something!"

"Yeah, hey wait! Doesn't that look familiar 'Adrian?" the Cubone asked as they got closer to the intersection.

On the desolate woodland path, the fine marks inside the aged stone shimmered briefly. "It looks just like that altar we found!" Alejandrien pivoted to the side and barreled down the path.

"An altar of Holy Koraidon and Holy Miradion?" the Fuecoco and Grookey gasped and fought to keep up.

"No!" T'nuri called as she trailed behind. "It's where we found the little piece of the letter about the map!"

"Wasn't that the piece you had Lead Detective Esperanza find the date of?"

"Yeah! A map to the other side of the world!"

Kaliente took a glance back at the encroaching fog of ruin. "That's absolutely mad! It was in that Mystery Dungeon!?"

"North Beach Mountain!"

"Those pillars're similar?"

"I think so!"

"I didn't get ta check the bricklaying techniques!"

"Or measurements!"

"Not the time!" T'nuri huffed, barely right beside the three. "It's getting faster!"

What once was a wide berth forest path, became a suffocating weaving trail through rows and rows of decayed trees. Ruinous Fog wasn't far behind, the black fog flew through every nook and cranny, primed to devour the four Pokémon.

"How are we gonna get out of this?" The Cubone buried her claw against her skull-helmet. "There's no way out!"

Alejandrien laughed as they shook their jangly scales. "Thanks T'nuri!"

"Thanks!? What!?"

"We made it just in time!"

"Huh?" Emile looked up.

"There!" Kaliente called as they approached a darker patch of woods with a wooden signpost next to it, covered in brambles.

The Jangmo-o leapt into the shadowy maw of the trees with a shout. "Let's do like we did last time, Partner!"

"Like last time?" T'nuri gasped as she read the sign and followed suite. "Southwest Forest Mystery Dungeon?!"

In an instant the roaring of flames ceased, and in its place a slow gentle wind.

"Not quite," Alejandrien said once everyone entered the safehold before the dungeon proper. She pointed to another sign, made of wood and stone, carved with precision. "'A—' Village, Forest Mystery Dungeon."