It's a good thing Mitsuru was already embarrassed, because it helped to disguise her face turning from beet red to deep crimson.

"How did I fall?" She repeated. The mere asking of the question was enough to make her freeze up like a Deerling in the headlights. Holy heck, this was MORTIFYING. She couldn't answer that! No way! What was she supposed to say, huh? "Oh yeah, I wasn't paying attention and walked right off a cliff like an stupid idiot, hehe, oopsie~"? No, no, if she told him the truth, he'd think she was completely hopeless! But then, what else could she do? Lie to him? After he saved her life? No, no, she just couldn't do that, either. But if she couldn't tell the truth, and she couldn't lie, then what was she supposed to tell him? "Oh, well, that's... That's a funny story, actually! You see, I was walking up on that cliff above, minding my own business, when suddenly--"

CLANG!

--A gigantic hunk of metal suddenly fell from the sky, cratering into the ground a few metres behind her. Mitsuru let out a panicked yelp as she dove forth, scrambling away from the unidentified falling object and to relative safety. And of course, by "relative safety", she meant "behind the kindly stranger with the strong-looking Pokemon".

"W-w-what the HECK was that?!"

---

ALEXANDER STONE
vv|uPxty

"EEP!"

As the Zubat fluttered up to her face, Mitsuru let out a terrified yelp. However, said terror was short-lived, as the creature quickly revealed itself to be... Well, perhaps it would be presumptuous to call it docile, but at the very least, it wasn't aggressive. That was good! The situation was already bad enough, and the last thing she needed right now was a fresh set of bite marks.

...Not that getting bit right now would make her situation much worse, but still!

"Whew... Okay! You're fine, you're fine, you're fine you're fine you're fine... You're fine!" The mystic softly reassured herself, keeping a close eye on the bat as it hung from her hat. As the initial wave of fear passed, a surge of worry rushed to replace it. Was it really fine for it to be so close to her face? After all, didn't Zubat have super sensitive hearing? What would happen if her calling for help upset it? No, as nice as the cave critter seemed, it would be better for both of them if they parted ways. O-of course, she couldn't really move right now, so... "...Hey, little guy, I'm really sorry about this, but could you please move? I'm, um, kind of in the middle of something here."

---

Preston Fugu
f3npUsvh

...She's not dead...?

After a moment of hesitation, Mitsuru slowly peeled open her eyes and confirmed that yes, she was not dead. Somehow, despite plummeting a hundred feet, she hadn't been spread across the ground like jam on toast. Instead, she had landed right on top of this surprisingly soft stranger. It was a minor miracle, but she'd managed to escape her brush with death, coming out the other side with only a few small bruises and one big fright.

As soon as she realised this, the first thing that she did was hug the man beneath her as tightly as she could.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!"

Then, after about a minute, her racing heartbeat began to slow and the rush of adrenaline began to fade. With the fear of immediate death now firmly behind her, her own self-awareness was allowed to creep back to the forefront of her mind. And as soon as it did? Her face went beet red as she broke the hug, quickly stood up, took a few steps back, and bowed.

"S-sorry, I, I, um, um, um... Ahem. What I meant to say was, thank you very much for saving me."

---

ALEXANDER STONE
5s3j37ow

Mitsuru was lost.

That wasn't surprising, since she didn't even know where she was going to begin with. In her defence, it wasn't like there was some kind of handy GPS she could follow! And even if there was, it probably wouldn't show her what she was looking for. Entei, Raikou, and Suicine were wanderers by nature, never staying in one place long. No, it would take much more than a simple map to track them down. If she wanted to find them, it would take sharp perception, unyielding persistence, and overwhelming perseverance.

...She really wasn't cut out for this, was she? Not even in the slightest...

S-still, though! Everything would work out fine! All she had to do was just keep on looking. Surely, if she kept at it, she'd find something eventually, right?

With her head held high and a glass-half-full attitude, Mitsuru pressed on, continuing her hunt for the legendary beasts.

---

Leilani Kalawai'a
hi_pSTis

EXCURSION SIGN-UP

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

WHICH EXCURSION?: GC Excursion A
PARTICIPATING CHARACTERS: Mitsuru Kagami Leilani Kalawai'a

Calling it "The Great Chasm" really didn't do it justice.

Seriously! Mitsuru had only been here for about an hour, and yet she'd already walked through a grassy plain, crossed a raging river, and traversed a cliffside path. Every few minutes, she'd stumble upon some strange new environment to explore. Even now, she found herself in a dense jungle, pushing through the foliage as she forged ahead. Every step made her feel like she had walked a hundred miles. Although she'd been cautious at first, she soon found herself completely absorbed by her surroundings. This place was amazing!

N-not that she was here to see the sights, mind. She was here on a mission, not a vacation! Still, she had to admit, this was a welcome change from the constant greys of Slateport. Being surrounded by such lush nature provided her brain some much-needed visual enrichment. Even now, she couldn't help but wonder what strange and wonderful new biome she'd stumble upon next!

So, eager to find out, she pushed ahead, stepping out of the jungle--

--And right over a sheer cliff.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

---

ALEXANDER STONE
APjJ51SI

EXCURSION SIGN-UP

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

WHICH EXCURSION?: GC EXCURSION A, EXPLORE
PARTICIPATING CHARACTERS: Mitsuru Kagami ALEXANDER STONE

Mitsuru was not a loyal ranger. She wasn't a cunning treasure hunter or a clever scientist, either. Heck, she wasn't even some no-good poacher looking to make a quick buck! She was a thirty-five year old small business owner with subpar battling ability and no experience in exploration whatsoever. She was the LAST person who should be in a place like this!

And yet, despite that, she was here anyway. Why?

Well, call her naïve, but... She'd heard rumours. Apparently, there had been sightings of legendary Pokemon spotted within the Great Chasm, and even more from Area Zero below. But among the list of names that had been seen within this brave new world, three caught her attention: Entei, Raikou, and Suicune, the sacred beasts of her homeland. Sure, maybe she was just a civilian, and sure, it was selfish of her, but... She wanted to see them. If not to meet them, then just to make sure they were alright.

That was the reason. The reason why one cold March night, she decided to visit the strange new frontier. The reason why she gathered her courage, readied her Pokemon, and prepared as best she could. The reason why she made the journey down into the Great Chasm to meet with the myths she had revered as a child.

...That was the reason she was currently knee-deep in a pool of quicksand.

"Hello! Hello? Is anyone there? Can I get some help? Please? Pretty please...?"

---

Preston Fugu
XVaeA29u

EXCURSION SIGN-UP

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

WHICH EXCURSION?: GC EXCURSION A, EXPLORE
PARTICIPATING CHARACTERS: Mitsuru Kagami Preston Fugu

Mitsuru was many things, but as she was quickly finding out, a good businesswoman was not one of them.

Arceus knows she tried to be. She really did! But after many frantic days and sleepless nights of increasingly stressful mathematics, she had reached her soulcrushing conclusion: Lady Crane's Mystic Services simply was not profitable. Between the astronomical price of renting retail space in Slateport, and the brutal interest rates on her debts, there was no way for her revenue to outpace her costs. No matter how hard she fudged the numbers, no matter how much she racked her brains, no matter how badly she wished it were otherwise, her finances refused to change.

Alas, it seemed that the twin evils of loans and leases couldn't be defeated so easily.

After about an hour of very weepy afternoon mathematics, she calculated she had about a month before she went bankrupt... A month! Four whole weeks! And she didn't even have a clue about how to turn things around! This was bad. She had to buy herself more time. She had to stem the bleeding before things got even worse. She needed money, and she needed it now.

After a mental breakdown/brainstorming session, she reached her second soulcrushing conclusion of the day: She needed a second job. An extra paycheque might not be enough to rescue her, but it'd at least keep her head above water! Sure, she had no qualifications and no employable skills, and yeah, it'd have to be flexible enough that she juggle both it and Lady Crane's Mystic Services, and alright, she'd didn't have the time to wait through a lengthy recruitment process, but that was no problem! Slateport was a big city. Surely, she could find something that fit the bill.

...

...

...Right...?

...

...

And that's more or less the gist of how she ended up in this terrible, awful, no good, very bad situation:

"H... H... H-Hiiii~! Welcome to Hoothooters... My name is Mits--uki! Mitsuki! That's my name, ha, haha... Um, may I take your order?"

---

OPEN.

Taking as an OPEN.

(If I do one two more of these I fill out my EMPLOYMENT: ACT I loyalty card and I get an extra 50PD for free :worrypoint:)

Mitsuru had dealt with a lot of "hauntings" in her short time as an "exorcist". In only the past month, she'd already dealt with a family home tormented by a ghost whose body was buried in the floorboards, a cursed music box that played a creepy and distorted song, and even an unfortunate teenager who was being stalked by a relentless poltergeist. Each of them had driven their victims to the brink, and yet, each of them were powerless before her cleansing techniques.

They were also all not actually haunted. The first was just a stray Zigzagoon that was causing a ruckus in the basement, the second was caused by dirt build-up gunking up the inner mechanism, and the third? That was a just a normal teenager with normal anxiety. Fixing the problem wasn't hard, and once she was done, all she had to do was chant some Johtonian, sprinkle some purifying salt, and declare the exorcism complete.

That is to say, hauntings were much like Sharpedo attacks - Highly exaggerated in both frequency and danger. From her experience, most ghost-type Pokemon preferred to keep to themselves, staying in dense forests or deep caves. They scarcely interacted with humans, and rarely bothered to "haunt" specific places, objects, or people.

So, when she received a request to help deal with a haunted egg, she... Well, she wasn't sceptical, per say. It was certainly a possibility! But her expectations were low.

Still, real or not, she'd get paid either way. So, there was no reason not for her to do her best!

"Nice to meet you, Miss Mae." Mitsuru smiled her most mysterious smile, offering a bow of greeting towards the breeder before she continued on. "My name is Lady Crane, of Lady Crane's Mystic Services. My pleasure to make your acquaintance."

---

GRACIE MAE BEE

"...Whuh...?"

Lady Crane was completely caught off-guard by the sudden criticism of her credibility, to the point where her carefully-maintained mask entirely fell from her face. Mitsuru was left sitting there, frozen in place like a Deerling in the headlights, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. Mostly, though? She just wanted to curl up until a ball and die.

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuscloooooooooooooops."

It's a long and low groan from Ichi that snaps her out of her funk, and after quickly getting herself back into character, Lady Crane cleared her throat with a loud "AHEM" before taking a long sip of tea. That was... bad. Very bad. She really hadn't expected such a rude comment from someone as polite-looking as Marianne... But it was fine! They were past that now. She'd just need to be a little more assertive with her interpretations of the cards, and they'd hopefully make it through this without any further issues.

"Is it not?" Lady Crane asked, tapping her finger twice upon the card as she spoke. "The future will always become the present, Miss Lovelace. If you find your desires are out of reach, and the time comes for you to grab them, what then? Wouldn't you say that inaction, whether you intend it to or otherwise, is taking you further away from what you want?"

---

Marianne Lovelace