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Her nose wrinkled at the concept of being evaluated. Who said she needed that? No matter her distaste, she let her expression smooth over after a beat into something cool and somewhat playful.[break][break]
“Right, right,” she replied breezily, tossing him an amused look as she hopped down from the container. “I’m sure you’ve got better things to do than spend all night evaluating lackeys.” She looked back over her shoulder. “Something to that tune?”[break][break]
Sidney’s noibat fluttered down behind her, little wings beating rapidly as his sonar ears swiveled around for any signs of interruption—again, despite that nonchalant air, she had a certain degree of surveillance and attention.[break][break]
Her hand flipped strands of her hair. “Lucky for you, I also would rather keep things tight and quick. So I’ve already taken the liberty of checking out the shipment.” Smug. Sure of herself.[break][break]
She did have far better things to do than be given a tedious performance review.[break][break]
Retracing her steps, she located the marked holding. A frown pulled her grinning lips down, though, when she noticed the heavy metal door slightly ajar. “That wasn’t open earlier.” And she’d been there not ten minutes ago. Nor had she or Noct heard any sort of commotion.[break][break]
And certainly not the dragging groan of a metal shipping container door.

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Idly, she wondered what sort of evaluation he was employing, but she didn't have the time to dwell on that. She had shit to do, and places to be. If she were aware of his thoughts, the answer would be that as of right now, she was a recruit focused on her self-interests.[break][break]
Now matter the necessary level she had to rise to (stoop to?) in order to obtain those fleeting whims as they arose.[break][break]
But any hopes of a quick job flew out of the window when the container yielded no pokemon cargo. "What the hell?" Her noibat hadn't noticed anything in the time she'd had him doing surveillance while they had waited.[break][break]
Sidney didn't stand there dumbly, waiting for some instruction from her superior, though. Thumbing over another pokeball, she released her girafarig. "See if you can catch a scent." Tipper's blue snout lifted into the air, long neck lazily swaying side to side as she trotted through the empty container. ODOR SLEUTHING for any physical traces that couldn't be seen by one's eye.[break][break]
After a moment, though, the girafarig returned, unable to pick anything up that didn't lead in circles.[break][break]
"It's like they vanished into thin air.." she muttered, eyeing Zev's hatterene to see if it would find any sign of funny business.

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Sidney watched the hatterene curiously as she seemed to sense what Tippee couldn’t. It obviously agitated the girafarig from the way she paced the space, but they didn’t have long to redirect. Sid nodded, slinking into step behind him.[break][break]
Which admittedly felt sort of strange considering the fact that she wasn’t accustomed to following after anyone. The thought chafed under her skin—she’d worry about it later.[break][break]
“You heard ‘im, Tip,” she said, shooting a look at the girafarig. The Pokémon chuffed, head dipping as the semi-sentient head on the end of her tail swung to and fro.[break][break]
The look she gave her pokemon was a bit pointed—though it wasn’t a subtle tone directed at the girafarig herself. Rather, the dry exasperation of being instructed on something so common sense. Really, what sort of recruits was he used to working with? Sidney tutted to herself, but followed close, and for then, didn’t allow impatience to move ahead to get the better of her.[break][break]
Her hand reached back toward the girafarig’s velvety snout. Her companion’s head shook, ears flopping before they stood at attention. Perhaps finally sensing whatever it was that the hatterene was following.[break][break]
That aural trail. Even she could sense that unnervy build of tension. Making her nerves taught like a loaded spring trap under her skin. This doesn’t give you the creeps? she bit her tongue on asking about the ominously dark doorway.[break][break]
She shook her head— doy. It was all dark in here.[break][break]
Hooves scuffed the container underfoot. Agitation as the toothy head on her tail sensed something in the dark behind them. Whatever was ahead, it was behind them too. The swing of a HYPNOTIC pendulum greeting the girafarig when she turned back.

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Luck was on their side (temporarily,) as the lull toward sleep kicked in the girafarig’s ability. The EARLY BIRD snapped out of her drowsiness and blocked off the hypno, head tilting down to ZEN HEADBUTT the other psychic-type.[break][break]
“Oh, yeah. Ya think?” she couldn’t help but bark back, eyes having screwed shut the moment she noticed what had begun to happen to Tipper.[break][break]
Though the SPRINGTIDE STORM thinned the gas, it did not immediately dissipate. Something that Sidney discovered as a quick trigger hand fumbled blindly and pulled her charmander from his pokeball. The little dragon tumbled out, tail alight and ready to rumble. Unaware of what the Rocket beast’s hatterene had been trying to dispel.[break][break]
“Light ‘em up, Crash.” The conflagration that erupted from the chamander’s FLAME BURST swelled greater than what might’ve been intended–a bright fan of flame that caught on the TOXIC GAS that remained and spreading through the container in a billow of fire and smoke.[break][break]
If she’d been a bit more contrite, maybe she would have looked over at Zev with a conspicuous look of apology. But Sidney was enthralled by the thrill of it. The adrenaline spike and rush of danger in the attempt to take out the source of the problem, despite the fact that it jeopardized the cargo too.[break][break]
She was still quick to move, though. The fact that her griafarig was not skittish or startled by the charmander’s impulse betrayed the idea that this maybe had happened on more than one occasion. Using ODOR SLEUTH again, she looked for the crates they’d scouted earlier, blue snout pointing at attention to one corner of the blazing room.

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If she was meant to be unnerved by the severity of his tone, Sidney did not betray it. In fact, she was practically unbothered as she looked back at him with a shrug. “Effective.”[break][break]
Heart-pumping, and largely unnecessary, sure. But it had the intended effect.[break][break]
Not to mention she caught sight of some nifty tricks the Beast pulled out of his hat. Big, dark creepy crystal dude… Irreverently, she filed it away in the back of her mind as they followed her girafarig. Crash toddled after her, clearly pleased with his own handiwork.[break][break]
Wow. It’s almost like I know what I’m doing, she bit her tongue from saying aloud, acerbic and dry. Even if it didn’t seem like it. Sue her for having a little fun on the job.[break][break]
Instead, she did as she was told. But not without a (somewhat) mocking salute. “Aye aye, cap’n,” muttered in Zev’s direction as she heaved up one of the smaller crates and followed his lead.

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