On Duty

Story by UmiTheUmbreon on SoFurry

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#3 of Hidden Lifestyle

A company called Unovanish is in charge of keeping Castelia City free of feral pokémon through practices the owner's daughter disagrees with strongly. When she's forced by her father to work for the company and carry them out herself at eighteen, she finds herself in the toughest predicament she'll ever face.

~ for flashbacks.

~

Words or phrases in Japanese will be used occasionally by their respective characters.

~

Existing; complete stories:

'All They Knew.'

(Male alolan ninetales x fem trainer.)

'A Night She Couldn't Resist.'

(Male midnight lycanroc x fem trainer)

'Cassidy's Journey.'

(Male braixen x fem trainer.)

'Midnight.'

(Male umbreon x fem trainer.)

^ Excluding 'Midnight and 'Hidden Lifestyle,' all three works take place in the same universe.


Katie stayed in the room three doors down from Ayame in 417. It wasn't as fancy, but she was more than okay with what she had-- and she lived close to her best friend. Two females lived in the rooms between them, which Ayame's father likely set up. Katie's room had a bed against the wall ahead by the window, a wall-mounted TV, restroom, and a mini-fridge.

Katie finished bundling her hair into a low ponytail and pulled up her black leather pants. They hugged her upper thighs well. She wasn't as fond of the vest, but it was somewhat thin and tolerable.

Courtesy of Ayame as her father wasn't sure who to let test it, Katie was currently the only employee that had a prototype sniper rifle. It was matte gray with adjustable scope. The darts themselves covered a maximum range of fifty yards. She'd only used it once and missed her shot with it.

She slung the sniper over her right shoulder by its strap and slipped on her black boots with custom grips at the bottom. Katie checked her pistol's magazine to ensure there were six shots before activating its safety and dropping it in its holster. She hung her binoculars and flashlight on her vest as well. Her bag, dart bag, room, and cargo key were in her pockets. Lastly, she put on her black fingerless gloves. She'd leave her checkpoint equipment behind tonight.

"All set..." Katie opened her door and stepped out. As she turned, she nearly bumped into someone standing next to her room. "Oh shi-" Katie flinched. "Kodi!"

"Sorry..." he replied. He had a habit of being stealthy, although it was never intentional. Kodi lived on the third floor underneath Ayame and Katie. He was Ayame's stepbrother, taken in before her parents separated. He was fifteen and stood almost at Katie's height with short black hair. He couldn't work yet, so he was in a tee and blue jeans even during these hours. He refrained from looking at her legs. It tended to be difficult at his age.

"I'm heading out. What is it?"

Kodi swallowed. "C-Could you take me with this time?"

"Ugh." She quickly walked toward the elevator. This was the second time he'd asked this week.

Kodi jogged to catch up. "Just once, I wanna see what it's like, please?"

Katie stopped at the elevator shortly and pressed its button a few times. "We've been over this. It's not all that, you don't know how to traverse the roofs, and it's dangerous. I'm not being responsible when you fall to your death when you were _never _supposed to be out in the first place."

He stopped a foot away. "Maybe I'd know if you taught me..."

She stepped inside and pressed to go to the roof. "Ask me again in three years, Kodi. Why don't you go check on your sister for once?" Katie leaned against the wall as the door closed and took a deep breath. He was a good kid, but his recent persistence irritated her. She checked her watch. It was close to 8 p.m. Katie usually tried to be back two hours from then.

She grinned as the door opened and stepped onto the roof, turning left and walking to the edge. Katie gazed upon the sprawling, brightly lit city reflecting off her eyes. "You'll get one tonight..."

Pokémon sightings were becoming rare in Castelia. Most employees suspected they were starting to flee the city or catching onto when Unovanish workers were active-- which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if Katie wasn't tied into working here and bringing in consistent results.

She turned and walked ahead to the roof's north edge. A gap spanning three feet was present, one Katie was familiar with. She primed herself and hopped across. Pokémon sometimes tended to hang out on roofs during the night. Most seemed to know of Unovanish, but there were always ones unknowing-- possibly even purposefully daring or doubtful they'd get caught.

Katie grabbed her binoculars and flipped on their night vision option, scanning some nearby rooftops. Nothing yet. She went ahead to the next edge, which had a slightly larger gap than the one before. Again, Katie prepped and leaped across with a quiet huff; her left heel hung off the ledge, but she kept her balance. Without grips, she likely would have slipped. Katie walked to the center and held her binoculars up once again. She grew a smirk upon looking east. "That was quick."

There were two pokémon two roofs down, surprisingly close to headquarters. It was an uncommon occurrence she couldn't afford to pass up. Katie wasn't accustomed to handling her sniper, but this was her chance to use it and gain more familiarity, although it meant risking a catch.

She went to the edge facing the pokémon and crouched, taking her sniper off her shoulder and pulling out its bipod. Katie propped it on the roof's edge and lay on her stomach in front of it. She wasn't used to the scope, either, but with enough dialing, Katie was able to adjust it after a minute. Now seeing a clear picture, she was able to make out what she was hunting. The dimly glowing rings made it a lot easier. "Ah, dream couple..."

It was an umbreon and espeon, and they were atop a roof for a special kind of privacy. Katie found this out when the espeon shortly got into position for her mate, and he proceeded to mount from behind.

"No eevee's for you two." This was a perfect opportunity. Katie turned on the scope's thermal option and pulled back the bolt handle on the sniper, then pushed it and set her aim slightly above the umbreon's back to take dart drop into account. She was glad it wasn't windy. "Here goes." She brushed her right index finger against the trigger. The umbreon began moving his hips and lower back in a thrusting motion. He must have started, but it wouldn't throw off the shot. Katie tensed as she pulled the trigger, although there wasn't much recoil, hearing a corresponding pop, but nothing happened. "Hm..."

The umbreon was still active, pumping his hips and tugging on his mate's inner thighs with shut eyes.

Katie re-adjusted her aim, setting the crosshairs higher. "We'll try that again..." Katie pulled and pushed the handle, inhaling and this time holding her breath to focus. She wanted to hit this. After a pause, Katie again pulled the trigger, heard the pop, and this time watched the umbreon stumble over seconds later. "Yes!" She had to act now. Maybe she could snatch the espeon too.

Katie left her rifle, hopped the short gap without much prep, and jogged to the next edge. The espeon was nudging her disoriented mate so they could flee. Once Katie made the jump, the duo saw her.

The espeon's eyes held pure fear. She flattened her ears against her head in horror.

"He's fine." She slowly reached her hand for her holster, which the espeon noticed. Katie quickly went for and grabbed it, but the espeon darted and made two rooftops by the time she pulled it out. "Dammit..." She could only watch her potential second catch run away. At least Katie secured one.

She took a few steps and crouched by the quivering umbreon lying still on his side as he had lost control of his limbs. He was breathing rapidly, his eyes on her and just as wide as his mate's. "Shouldn't be out this late..." Katie took both bags out of her pockets and pulled the dart from out his side, holding it. The effect would last for two hours. She'd have to subdue and box him within that time. "I wish she would have stayed... Hope you two weren't close."

The umbreon had closed his eyes and stopped moving entirely. Katie studied his body, searching for anything unique. Finally, her eyes stopped on his ears. She reached and held both of them, aligning them and noticing the ring on his right ear was slightly higher than his left. "Nice." Katie pressed a small red button on the dart's bottom and held it to her mouth. "Ring on his right ear is set higher than the one on his left." She pressed the button again to save the audio, placing the dart into her dart bag and zipping it closed. Katie had to deliver it to database workers before the night was over.

Since the needle held the umbreon's DNA, losing or failing to take it would render her catch useless. It wouldn't exist. Database workers stored the dart; that way, if another employee tried claiming her kill, they'd have to relay the spoken information.