FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Present day.

--

Katie lay in bed in the dark on her side with her thievul curled up by her arm, its furry cheek and whisker pressed to her skin.

She was in the comfiest shorts and a loose tee. She sighed and stroked the thick fur on its shoulder lit softly by the moon in a mini-circle. Katie looked up at the clock on the wall that ticked away without a care. "Gotta get upp, Katie."

She stayed in the room three doors down from Ayame; two other women lived between them.

Katie's room wasn't nearly as classy as Ayame's. No kitchen-- although she did have a small fridge against the wall. She had a typical twin bed, dresser, a mounted TV, and a framed painting of Kalos' Prism Tower made and signed by Ayame hanging on the wall beside her.

With slight strain, she leaned over to her nightstand by her headboard and reached her free hand to a small row of silver marbles that hung from a cradle stand; a black hair tie sat by it. Katie pulled a marble at either end and followed the last two bouncing off the still set in between them in rhythmic metallic taps.

Katie glanced down at her thievul before shifting and sitting up, which made the pokémon's cheek slip and hit the bed.

It woke the pokémon instantly. It licked some drool from around its maw and outstretched its paws with an accompanying yawn, then sat up, flicking its long bushy tail while lazily eyeing Katie.

"Your fault, girly. You knew I was hitting the field tonight."

"Thi," she murmured and curled her tail around her side, watching Katie slide off the bed and grab her hair tie.

"You think I'm a bad person, Kiri?" Katie asked while bundling her hair behind her head and slipping it through the tie.

She nodded.

"Wow, okay." Katie twisted and finished the tie, then went to her dresser and pulled the top drawer out, where her folded work outfit resided.

"Don't know why I'm asking you. You've all got thief in your name. Were like at least five percent of the reason Unovanish exists." Katie fluffed out a pair of black leather pants and swapped her shorts with them.

They hugged her upper thighs and concealed the tattoo on her outer right one, which was a flower losing its petals that actively fell in a small pile beside it.

Kiri sprawled onto her stomach and held her tail up behind her, swaying it aside with grace.

"Don't care, huh? Own it, I guess." She grabbed and put on a slim black vest over a matching long-sleeved tee. It had hooks, pockets, and was padded in the front for defense.

Katie afterward kneeled by her bed and reached under it, pulling out a dark box and clipping it open and flipping the top. Courtesy of Ayame, as her father wasn't sure who to let test it, Katie was currently the only employee with a prototype sniper rifle manufactured by a weapons company outside of Castelia.

It was matte gray with an adjustable scope and had darts that covered a maximum range of fifty yards. She'd only used it once and missed her shot with it, so Katie would try her luck again tonight. Qualified employees had trained her extensively throughout her first year at the range in the city. Could always use more, but she more than managed as is.

She loaded its four-round magazine, slung the sniper over her shoulder by its strap, then slipped on her black boots with custom grips. Katie checked her pistol's magazine to ensure it was loaded before flicking its safety and dropping it in her vest's holster.

Her binoculars, flashlight, dart bag, and room and cargo key were in her vest's pockets. Her bundled capture bag bound by its drawstring hung from it, and her track remote and walkie-talkie was strapped to the opposing side.

She put on her fingerless gloves and lastly grabbed a deep-ridged pocket knife from under her pillow, slipping it into her back pocket beside her Unovanish ID. "Gonna leave my checkpoint equipment behind tonight. Not in the mood."

She started toward the door and passed her bed, reaching a hand and tapping under Kiri's chin, which the thievul bit at.

"Ayh! Fucking--" Katie pulled her fingers away while walking. "Always nipping. I'll see you in a few with dinner."

She opened the door and stepped into the hall but nearly bumped into someone who stood next to her door as she turned. "Oh shi-" Katie flinched with wide eyes, clutching her chest. "Kodi!"

"S-Sorry..." He chuckled under a subtle smile, glazing over the sniper on her back. Unlike Katie, the young teen wore a dark jacket and casual pants.

"I'm out." She let her hand fall and caught him taking a couple of furtive glances at her legs. "Kodi, what do you want?"

"Do you, uh-" He swallowed and raised a hand to scratch his head. "C-Could you take me with this time?"

She slipped past and started toward the elevator.

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

Katie stopped at the elevator upon arriving and jabbed its button several times, turning to him. "Kodi, we went over this twice. It's not all that, you don't know how to traverse the roofs, and it's dangerously unpredictable. Kado's gonna have my throat slit after you fall to your death when you were never supposed to be out in the first place."

"Maybe I'd know if you taught me..."

She stared at him with obvious agitation and shrugged. "So you're gonna ignore every fucking thing I just said?"

He eyed her.

She stepped inside the elevator and pressed to go to the roof. "Kodi, ask me again in three years. Why don't you go check on your sister?" Katie leaned against the wall after the door closed and took a deep breath.

"Decent kid, very persistently annoying sometimes." She checked her watch. The time lingered around 8 p.m. "I'll be back by ten. Easy. Just snag a feral or two."

Employees got paid on an hourly basis to roam and guard the streets with bonuses involved pertaining to rank, captures, and checkpoint confirmations. If an individual or duo consistently bagged pokémon, their pay surpassed the hourly rate, meaning they wouldn't need to stay on the clock full-time.

Katie pushed herself off the elevator wall as the door opened and stepped onto the roof into an expectantly cool climate, taking a left and walking to the edge. She reached and pressed a button on her track remote that beeped to begin her shift.

Why was it called a track remote? It tracked an employee's whereabouts and entire route from the moment they started their shift. (And likely off of it as well.)

She set her eyes on the sprawling, vibrant city reflecting off her eyes-- a massive and ever-changing metropolis that managed always to hold its classic beauty.

The night horizon, hovering with gray clouds illuminated by the moon, glimmered with conglomerate liveliness, bursting bustle, and confidence in its bundle of skyscrapers.

"If it isn't the queen of captures."

Katie turned her head to look behind her. "Guess tonight's gonna keep getting worse, and I'm pretty sure Aika carries that title."

A suited-up young man around her age approached with ruffled short black hair and glasses stopped at a distance. "Fair, but she's also worked here way longer and has a partner."

He walked and stood beside her. "How's it been for you, anyway?"

She glanced at his hands and pockets before taking a step back from the edge and looking at him. "What, hunting? Slower than normal, but I got it. Hurts to return empty-handed."

"Well, no, I meant in general, but same here. My partner and I've resorted to splitting up to improve our chances of finding a pokémon. I'm waiting for him now."

"I've gone some nights without captures too. It's funny since that's Unovanish's ultimate goal. The pokémon may finally be giving in and fleeing, but when they go, the money follows."

He snickered. "Endlessly punish but keep them close enough. How're you still keeping up with captures anyway? Gimme a secret."

"Don't miss your shots and look in the right places." She shrugged. "None. Just things I picked up. It clicks faster for some than others. I also think working alone helps since you rely only on yourself."

"But... all so quickly. It only took you around a year. Surely there's passion involved?" He eyed her.

Katie shifted her view to miles of gapped rooftops. "I just do what I have to."

"And what's that mean?" He crossed his arms. "When are you ever going to talk to me?"

"Never," she said. "No one here's gonna know me."

"Hm." He nodded slowly. "Besides Ayame, right?"

She shot him a glance.

"Yeah, see? Maybe we're all too twisted for you."

"I am too, Connor. Just haven't committed any ugly crimes."

"Ayame isn't though, right? Why's she even here?" he asked.

"Not talking about her," Katie said curtly.

"You've gotta relax. No one's touching her unless they want to return to prison with ten more years tacked on." He flinched after hearing static and looked down at the walkie-talkie on his vest.

Another male voice spoke from it. "Connor, no roofs. Let's hit the streets and see if we get any luck. Meet me down."

Connor sighed. "Well, you heard him. See you around."

"Good luck." She watched him return to the elevator, then turned and walked ahead to the roof's northern edge, where a gap spanning three feet was present-- one Katie was more than familiar with. She primed herself and hopped across.

Pokémon sometimes hung out on roofs at night; if she couldn't find one up here, she'd also take to the streets. Although most of them seemed to be wary of Unovanish, 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. "Might be a long night."

She put them back and approached the next edge, which had a gap slightly larger than the previous one. Again, Katie prepped and leaped across with a slight huff; her left heel hung off the ledge, but her boots' grips maintained her balance.

She walked to the center and held her binoculars up again and scanning another set of roofs. She stopped and grew a smirk. "Neverrfuckingmind. That was quick."

There were two short dark figures a couple of roofs down other than a yellow glow sourcing from one of them. "Surprisingly close to headquarters... An umbreon should know better, glowing like a beacon."

She went to the edge facing the pokémon and crouched, taking her sniper off her shoulder and pulling out its bipod. "Second time's the charm."

Katie propped it on the roof's edge and lay on her stomach before it while shifting her hips. She shut an eye and looked through the scope, reaching and dialing it. She messed with it briefly until adjusting for an adequate view.

The out-of-focus blurry silhouettes turned to sharp figures. "Ah, dream couple."

An umbreon and espeon atop a roof.

Katie squinted and watched the espeon stand before her mate and lower her front half, raising her rear with an aside tail. "They're actually insane..."

The umbreon approached and mounted from behind, tucking his forepaws against her inner thighs while spreading his hind two.

"Ly stupid, and now I'm a perv... No eevee for you guys." Katie pressed the scope's thermal option and pulled back the bolt handle on the sniper with a clean shk-chk, then pushed it and set her aim slightly above the umbreon's back to take dart drop into account. She pulled her head back, tilting it up to feel out any breezes.

"No wind." Katie refocused. "Their ears are huge. Can't miss the shot, or they dart faster than mine hit the ground."

She brushed her finger against the trigger and watched the umbreon begin moving his hips and lower back. Katie tensed while pulling the trigger, although there wasn't much recoil. She heard a corresponding pop, but nothing happened. "Fuckk..." She sucked her teeth and held her breath.

But-- the umbreon was still active, tugging on his mate with shut eyes.

"Too busy to hear?" she mumbled. Katie re-adjusted her aim, setting the crosshairs higher and shifting again while spreading her legs. "My bad. Third time's the charm..."

Katie pulled and pushed the handle. Shk-chk-- inhaling and holding her breath harder.

After a pause, she again pulled the trigger, popped the dart, and watched the umbreon stumble over through the scope a second later. "Gotcha."

Katie scrambled up, left the rifle, hopped the short gap without much prep, and jogged to the next.

The espeon was frantically nudging her disoriented mate, and after Katie had made the jump, the duo saw her.

The lavender pokemon's eyes held pure petrification. She flattened her ears and drooped her tail, completely stiff.

"He's fine." Katie slowly reached for her holster, which the espeon shot her eyes to.

She went for and grabbed it, but the espeon darted and made two rooftops by the time she pulled it out. "Damn itt..." She could only watch her potential second catch get away.

Katie took a few steps and crouched by the quivering umbreon lying still on his side, as he had lost control of his limbs. He breathed rapidly, his eyes on her and just as wide as his mate's. "Shouldn't be out so late... or so close to HQ."

Katie got her dart and capture bag and set both aside, then pulled the dart from the umbreon's side, holding it firmly. "And what's with the weird kink you two have? The risk isn't worth it."

The dart's effect would last for two hours, so she'd have to subdue and box him within that time.

Katie looked in the direction the espeon ran in. "Wish she would have stayed... Would have locked you up together."

The umbreon slowly closed his eyes and eased his breaths with a few twitches and jerks, falling out of consciousness; that's when Katie studied and started feeling around his body. She lifted his hind leg and passed his erection, scanning his underside and moving up before finally stopping on his ears.

She reached and held both, aligning them and shutting her eye to single them out. "Devious." The ring on his right ear was slightly higher than his left.

Katie pressed a small button on the dart's bottom and held it to her mouth. "Alva, ninety-five fifty two. Ring on the umbreon's right ear is set higher than the one on his left." She pressed the button again to save the audio, dropped the dart in its bag, and zipped it closed.

Since the needle held the umbreon's DNA, losing or failing to deliver it would render the catch non-existent.

---

Two hours later, at ground level in an alley, Katie set a lock on a cargo box's door and tugged it. Afterward, she stood back with an empty capture bag and stared at her recent actions with heavy eyes under a flickering light on the brick wall above.

She took a deep, prolonged breath. Her skin held a perpetual chill from prolonged exposure to the air; it was getting colder by the hour. Katie hadn't secured any pokémon besides the umbreon.

The eeveelutions' terrified expressions relayed in her head, which she couldn't shake. Usually, she could.

She shifted her feet and turned, backtracking down the alley. She was somewhat slouched with her hands stuffed in her pockets, glancing at overfilled bins and graffiti-covered walls.

After Katie exited and walked through another dark alley, she caught whiffs of food from the Central Plaza less than a mile over, which made her stomach rumble. "Might paint a target on my back, but shouldn't hurt."

Katie turned onto a well-lit, busy open street after clearing the second alley. She scanned plenty of people standing around the large fountain at the plaza's center or occupying bars and nightclubs in the area.

Due to her outfit, she got a few glances from passersby, stray rangers, and security officers, which made her shoot her eyes around at every motion they made. Katie stared at the line-up of shops and eateries while rubbing her eyes, from seafood and burgers to Fiorean and Paldean cuisine, a mixture of general street food and culture-- which summed up Castelia all too well.

Then, something specific caught her nose. Katie looked around until spotting a lonely stand nearby with a chubby older man behind it.

She approached with a soft grin. "Pete?"

He looked up while pulling a few pieces of crispy eelektrik from a batch of boiling oil with tongs and setting them on a platter. "Ah, a regular. Long night?"

She nodded. "Very. I could ask you the same question. Why're you out so late?"

He shrugged. "Can't tell ya'. I just felt like staying out a bit longer. Still get business too, and you guys patrolling mean no damn ferals vandalizing my stand, so I may start doing it more. That's why you're here, eh?"

"You know it."

---

Katie felt much relief after completing the twenty-minute journey east back to headquarters with her greasy baggie and a purple can of Violet.

She'd walked the entire way briskly, spotting a couple of drunks and petty criminals getting arrested in shady areas, turned a blind eye to potential illegal activity she witnessed in alleys or dead streets, and ignored the rare street call from immature guys, although people rarely, if ever, harassed her while she was in her Unovanish outfit. No biggie, though. Nothing out of the ordinary. None of it.

Katie could drop her defense somewhat as the area surrounding headquarters saw less crime and abnormal activity, a relatively calm middle-class district.

She stopped a few buildings before Unovanish and approached one of many slots attached to it, which she slipped her bagged dart inside of and watched disappear.

Her last name and the last four digits of her Unovanish ID ensured her identity and were attached to her capture, which the database would confirm in the morning.

After completing and ending her shift with a press on her track remote, she entered Unovanish through a second alley behind the building and trudged up the stairs leading to the roof. It was behind a locked gate and required a pin.

When in the elevator, Katie leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes for the time it took to get to her floor.

She noticed a few people and pokémon still present upon exiting and leaned over the railing, watching some go to their rooms for the night. It made her wonder if the pokémon working here would ever be released.

They would be wild at that point, so they could be forced into other regions like the other ferals so Unovanish could squeeze more money out of them. "No doubt."

Katie stood and was about to walk down the hall but caught a door opening on the third floor across the way in her peripheral vision, which wouldn't mean anything if she hadn't seen a pokémon exit said room.

She leaned over, watching what she made out to be a lopunny pacing down the platform while glancing over the railing as if ensuring the coast was clear. "Brendan's room..." she whispered while following the lopunny flooring it to the elevator with nimble steps.

As confirmation, she saw a boy around her age peek out of the door in boxers and messy hair. His eyes soon found Katie, and she could see him shrivel up where he stood. "Dumbass."

Poképhilia was strictly prohibited at Unovanish, punishable by either three months of work without pay or immediate dischargement with undisclosed consequences. Human employees and pokémon were not to mingle to avoid layers of problems it could create on the grounds, such as the worth of status and rank.

What would the pokémon have to work toward if they received high-quality meals for free and slept in a rank three human's bed every night?

Katie shifted away and headed to her room. However, the one before hers opened, and out stepped the last person she wanted to see. She stopped in her tracks.

"Kate." The man smirked and shut the door. Three years older than her, caramel eyes, intimidatingly tall, bald, and relatively muscular.

Now, Katie considered herself a confident individual, but his presence seemed to knock her to her knees and render her a meek timid.

She stood several feet before him. "Dami..." He wore the same pants, minus the vest, which was a tight sports shirt defining his build.

"You gonna let me in tonight?" He eyed her face and figure with the same twisted smirk.

She swallowed and crossed her arms, practically hugging herself. "N-Not tonight..."

"Always playing hard to get." Dami sighed. "At least let me take you out one day."

Katie glanced at the door he came from. "Mh... You just left Tasi's room."

He shrugged. "You caught me." Then took a step toward her. "But if I had you, that's all I'd need. May rank up faster too. Never know." He snapped his fingers and walked past her. "Night, Kate."

"What the fuck ever... Creep," she mumbled while making the rest of the way to her room. Katie shut her door once inside, deep and utter safe silence striking and forcing her eyes shut.

Her thievul watched while lying on the bed and glanced at the bag in Katie's hand.

She set her bag and soda on the dresser beside her bed and undressed, leaving herself in panties, a shirt, and socks. Katie folded her clothing and placed them and her equipment inside her drawer but tossed her knife on the bed.

"Wouldn't talk to you that way if you were a higher rank. Asshole." She drank some water from a bottle in her fridge, washed off in the restroom, and threw herself atop her bed on her back, sliding the knife under her pillow.

Katie also unclipped her bra and set it aside, pushing her breasts up against her shirt to free them of constriction. Her entire being vibrated with a tired, numb cold. "Taking a day off tomorrow. Arceus." She closed her eyes.

Kiri stood and went to sit next to Katie, placing a paw atop her arm.

Katie opened an eye and looked at her. "Pretending to care about me, or hungry?"

"Thievi," she replied with a swish of her tail and leaned down to bop Katie's cheek with her nose.

"The former," Katie slurred and drew her hand over, setting her digits on Kiri's plump tail and tapping while running up to her lower back, which Katie scritched before letting her hand hit the bed. "Wish I could take you on my nights... You lure and spray a mark on our targets, and we track them. Guaranteed catch."

"Thievul." Kiri nodded with a slight smirk.

"Alright." Katie yawned and sat up. "Let's eat."