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[attr="class","spiral"]As far as Klara is concerned the getup her partner is wearing is ridiculous, but Klara can't exactly fault her for it. It takes a lot of this to learn that comfy clothes are fine for this kind of thing. Maybe preferable. She's in a tank-top and sweats and hasn't drawn any more eyes that the other girl. Would probably throw-up wearing something so tight anyway.

Speaking of throwing up, climbing down the ladder into the sewer is a challenge. The smell of a sewer is something Klara can't imagine anyone getting used to. She's run pokemon and drugs through them, fled from police through them, and even had a base or two in their depths when she was younger. Still smells like shit and garbage, still makes her stomach do flips for the first few minutes she's exposed to it.

It takes her a little bit of time, then, to reach the bottom. Gagging makes pulling the manhole cover closed difficult and as she gets lower on the ladder the increasing intensity of the smell has her pausing to catch her breath. God she wishes she knew this was her next mission before drinking so much.

On her way down she scopes out their surroundings. A lot of these city sewers have little walkways on the sides, and given a second she finds one. Rather than stepping in the disgusting "water" that runs through the sewer she makes a short jump to a thin bit of damp concrete instead. Once she's settled and her stomach stops turning she pulls out her phone. The screen glows bright as she taps at it.

"Let's make this snappy," a robotic voice echoes off the tunnel walls. Text to speech, considering it's too dark for signing and notepads down here.

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[attr="class","spiral"]It's good to have a partner on the same page. Hopefully it'll mean a quick in and out mission and an opportunity to shower within the hour. Klara leaves her text to speech app open, but follows the other girl's lead; a couple more movements of her thumb and the flashlight on the back of her phone turns on and reveals the grimy path ahead of her.

Peanut is restless on her shoulders (crawling from her right to her left and back again), another thing she hopes is a good sign. If she's antsy that probably means she can smell something other than refuse relatively nearby. When her partner's Eevee goes running down the tunnel towards something Klara takes it as confirmation.

Before following the other girl down the tunnel Klara lifts her tin whistle to her lips again. She plays one quick, sharp note and Peanut straightens up on her shoulder. She still trembles slightly but she's been told the time for pointless pacing is done.

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[attr="class","spiral"]The little Eevee, even with its sensitive nose, makes it a few steps further than Klara can manage. Once the smell of gas reaches a certain level Klara stops dead -- at least a couple feet behind her partner. It's strong enough she imagines the pokemon they're after must be close. If they're not here they'll surely pass by given some time.

When the scent starts getting worse she takes a few more steps back, assuming the passing herd she anticipated is approaching. She expects them to come floating and sliding through the tunnels and watches them expectantly. It's then a surprise when, instead, the Koffing come surging in from above. She assumes there was some blind spot further in (maybe a round dome where the tunnels meet) that kept them out of sight. Not that it matters, they're here now.

On her shoulder Peanut's slight trembling has turned to out and out shaking. Klara grins, she's always so eager. Might as well let her get to it then. She blows on her whistle again. A quick pair of low notes, and then another of high. She sways backwards, her body used like a springboard by her Pikachu.

The air around Peanut crackles for a moment as static gathers and moves down her body. While flying towards one Koffing she swings her tail at another. A THUNDER WAVE strikes it dead on and leaves it panicking. As it sinks through the air it releases POISON GAS from its body in an attempt to ward off these surprise predators. The gas wafts towards Peanut as she lands on the Koffing she'd jumped for. Again static gathers for a moment before suddenly her whole body is bathed in bright bolts of electricity. NUZZLE begins to sink her second target just as sure as the first.

Already the stress of being suddenly attacked has a number of the Koffing spewing defensive blasts of POISON GAS. A tweet from Klara's whistle sees Peanut return to her side. A chance to catch her breath, and a chance for Klara to see how best to further irritate the crowd.

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[attr="class","spiral"]The distance Klara gave herself at the start of the encounter is growing more and more compromised as they worsen things here. The POISON GAS is thickest where the swarm is but as they spew more of it and inch closer the air around her grows slowly thicker with the runoffs of the purple haze. It's definitely getting close to time to leave.

Klara takes a few more steps back as her partner's pokemon fire off a few more attacks. Peanut's fur stands on end as she does the same. Jealousy. It'll be hard to get her to wind down if Klara doesn't give her at least one more chance to do something, so she does. One high tweet and the Pikachu begins spinning her tail. An ELECTRO BALL forms in the air it rotates around, and then with one more flick of her tail Peanut sends it flying into the practically SMOKESCREENED Koffing. That's enough.

"Sure, why not," the robotic voice on her phone replies with uneven cadence to the other girl's question. Their job was to cause trouble, Klara was ready to leave it in the sewer but it's not like letting them out onto the surface would be against the rules.

Another short tweet sees Peanut climbing up Klara's leg and body. Before the pokemon is even fully settled Klara is turned around moving at a healthy jog back to the ladder. Her thumbs fly over her screen as she moves, she increases the volume on her phone quickly before pressing enter.

"Go fast! Trouble if caught on ladder!" she holds up the phone as it once again awkwardly spits words in her partner's direction. Opening the manhole is going to take a second, and then they need to climb out before the Koffing collapse on them or the League start responding to all this commotion.

With this in mind she pushes through the nausea from her previous night out (and current night out) as she hits the ladder. She takes bars two at a time while stuffing her phone in one pocket. As she nears the top she reaches for that hooked tool from earlier.

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[attr="class","spiral"]Klara pushes at the manhole with the hand holding the tool and it slowly gives way. The moment she has a crack to stick her hand through she pushes it to the side -- wincing as it grinds loudly against the concrete. Yeah, this job is definitely done after this. The fresh air pulls at the noxious gas behind them as they slip out into the street.

There's no way to cut it off. Klara has to wait for first her partner and then the stream of Koffing before closing the lid is even an option. The air turns more foul and toxic by the second as more and more gas is released. From the manhole and the pokemon pouring out from it. This whole street, maybe the next few blocks even, is going to start lighting up as civilians wake to the chaos and start calling for rangers.

Not her problem, though. Klara's mind is already on the shower waiting for her at home and she'll be long gone before trouble arrives. She drags the manhole unceremoniously back into place, only just catching her partner's question as she does so.

Holding her breath, Klara pulls out her phone and quickly punches out a few words on its virtual keyboard.

"It was a job," the phone apathetically replies. Klara shrugs to punctuate the message before taking off. Congratulations and thanks don't really cross her mind after missions like this. If there's any satisfaction to be drawn from a good job, well, that's what the money is there for.

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