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Reaper raised an eyebrow at the dark god. "If it were that easy, we wouldn't have discrimination to worry about. There are already plenty of Dark Type explorers out there."
"This is true, but I don't believe that exploration teams consisting solely of discriminated Types is common, and if you make a point of it, there is a chance, however small, that the stereotypes will be destroyed."
Rok cocked his head to one side. "Hang on, I'm not following. What do you mean by "explorers" and "teams"?"
"The exploration teams are groups of pokémon that venture into some of the most dangerous places in the world to help rescue pokémon in need." Smoke explained, "Most towns have at least one Explorers Guild, and those guilds dispatch teams to crises in the general area, though sometimes they will send pokémon across the ocean to other continents."
Rok's eyes widened, partially from shock, mostly from confusion. What's "the ocean"? and what are "continents"? Whatever they were, the way Smoke talked about them made it sound like they were really far away. And these…"explorers" travelled those distances, just to help pokémon in danger?
"That sounds AWESOME!" Silvo cried, sparks of actual lightning arcing off his fur and scorching the grass at his paws in his excitement. "How do we get started?"
Rok cringed. "Silvo, I know you like fighting and danger and adventure and everything, but this sounds really, really dangerous, not to mention you and I know practically nothing about the world outside our village."
"Aw, come on Rok! We both know how to fight!"
"Yeah, as eevees! Both of us are only recently evolved. I still know barely anything about my powers as a Dark Type other than that "Pursuit" move and the whole "aura of fear" thing, and you shoot sparks out on a regular basis. For the love of Arceus, you're doing it right now!"
Silvo glanced down at himself, taking in the still-crackling electricity jumping from his green and white quills. Grumbling, he shook himself (dislodging yet more sparks from his pelt) and clearly forced down any more electrical surges.
"But you heard Darkrai!" Silvo said, once he'd finally stifled his power. "It's probably our best bet in making everyone think that Dark Types aren't constantly out to hurt them."
"We won't be able to help any Type if we get ourselves killed because we don't know our own limits Silvo." Rok argued back.
"I agree with Rok." Reaper said, drawing the attention of both eeveelutions. "You guys aren't ready to be thrown straight into the deep end. Silvo, like Rok said you can barely control your own lightning right now, and I don't want to be relying on what is essentially a ticking time bomb for electricity for my safety. As for Rok, every battle you've been in since I met you, you won mostly by accident. No offence." She added.
"None taken."
"Great. But, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Silvo's right that becoming explorers is likely the most effective way we have of convincing people that, no, we aren't just a bunch of ruthless criminals from birth and we are capable of doing good."
Silvo tilted his head in confusion. "So…you think we should not become explorers, but also that we should become explorers?"
Rage scratched his head. "I don't think that works."
Reaper growled in frustration. "What I'm saying is that neither Silvo nor Rok, nor Rage for that matter, are suited to be thrown into dungeons, fighting off wild pokémon left and right on a regular basis, even though becoming explorers is our best bet. So, if we're going to do this, we're probably going to have to spend a good chunk of time training beforehand."
At the mention of training, Silvo began bouncing up and down in excitement, whereas Rok felt his ears droop with dread. He hadn't been terrible at combat training back in the village, but he hadn't been particularly good either. He could hold his own for a time, but he always got tired way too quickly or threw himself too much into one attack. The end result was usually the sessions ending with the mentor telling him that he'd done alright, and Rok limping to the healers to get his fresh bruises and cuts treated. He was not looking forward to going through that again.
"That might not be necessary." Smoke said, "The Guilds don't normally send new teams on the more dangerous missions unless they are really understaffed. Most likely we'll simply be sent to track down lost items or fetch supplies."
Silvo huffed. "Ugh, boring."
"But a necessary starting point." Darkrai told him.
Wait a moment….
"What'll Darkrai do?" Rok asked, "You saw the way everyone reacted to him earlier. There's no way one of these Guilds will let him join."
Reaper winced. "Rok has a point. They'll just assume we're part of a cult or something."
Silvo frowned. "A what?"
"I'll tell you later. The point is, we can't just have Darkrai sitting on the sidelines all the time and then just introduce him to people when they decide that they might want to join us. They'll be running for the hills the moment they see him."
Darkrai fidgeted with his fingers. "Well there's not a lot I can do about that."
"What if we just said that he's a friend that helps us with expeditions sometimes?" Rage suggested, "That way everyone will know that he's friendly and nice and won't be scared when we introduce him properly."
Reaper sighed. "Stuff rarely works out that neatly Rage."
Rok shuffled his paws. "But…what else can we do? Everyone's initial reaction to Darkrai is just running and screaming. If we initially introduced him as a friend who helps us out occasionally, there's a chance that they'll be more open-minded about the whole thing."
"You're being extremely optimistic about the nature of pokémon." Reaper said.
Rok chuckled ruefully. "Pretty sure this whole venture is built on optimism."
That at least coaxes a smile out of Reaper. "Can't argue with that."
"So…are we doing this then?" Silvo asked impatiently, "Are we going to become explorers and be awesome to convince people that Dark Types aren't evil?"
Rok couldn't help but snigger at his friend's words. "Yeah, seems like it."
That made Silvo so happy that electricity jumped from his quills again, his limited control completely forgotten. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go already!"
A/N: I know I've already mentioned this several times but I absolutely love Silvo. He's my happy wittle ball of electric sunshine.
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