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As soon as they came across another town, the group went straight to the…Guild Headquarters? Rok thought that was what it was called. He was still struggling to wrap his head around the whole idea.
Darkrai waited in the shadows of the woods just outside the border, wishing them luck as they entered the maze of streets.
If only he was the God of Luck instead of Negativity, since they had barely gotten out of sight of the outskirts when someone tripped up Smoke and yelled at them to get out of their town.
Rok wasn't sure if he should be pleased or upset that he was already getting used to it.
By the time they finally reached the Guild, his hopes had almost completely drained out of him. They'd been in this town for less than a day and already pokémon were at best glaring at them with distrust and, at worst, throwing insults and random objects at them willy-nilly.
"Do you really think they'll let us become explorers?" Rage whimpered, absently wiping mud from a puddle he'd been pushed into out of his fur.
Reaper huffed. "They'll be reluctant, definitely, but from what I hear Exploration Guilds pretty much never turn down the chance to get a new team, regardless of Type. Just so long as we don't have an easily accessed criminal record we should be fine."
Rok scrunched his nose in doubt, but Silvo just gave a happy chirp and started trotting towards the door. "Well, if Miss I-Hate-Everything thinks it will work, then it most likely will!" He declared, ignoring Reaper's furious snarl at the nickname. Now come on, these prejudices aren't just going to get rid of themselves!"
"That much is obvious." Rok muttered, following after his friend.
But his fears were drowned in a sea of amazement and shock as they entered the Guild Headquarters.
It was huge! Rok didn't think he'd ever been in a den this big before (though "den" didn't do its magnificence any justice). The ceiling stretched as high as at least two, maybe even three fully grown trees. Pokémon milled about on platforms that circled the entire room and, from what little Rok could see, continued even beyond. The floor was covered in some weird material: fluffy like fur, but soft and squishy like soil or moss, and the walls and roof were all made of a white material that looked kind-of like stone, but there was no rock big enough to carve this entire structure out of it.
And there were pokémon everywhere. They darted to and fro, not sparing their group so much as a glance as they bustled in and out of doors. Some of them had their arms filled with…what Rok could only describe as large, white rectangular leaves, while others just carried light-weight bags. Rok quickly gave up on trying to recognise them as they passed, the confusing crowd of scales, fur, wings and claws only serving to send his mind spiralling with confusion and what all of them were.
Even so, he did spot a couple butterfree like the ones in the forest, some zangoose like the ones he and Silvo fought what felt like years ago, and even some other eeveelutions!
"Woah…" Silvo whispered, purple eyes comically wide in shock.
"I didn't know there were this many pokémon in the entire world." Rok muttered.
Reaper smirked. "Like I said, Guilds never turn down new explorers. These places are some of the most diverse on the planet. They even have some regional variants."
Rok blinked at her. "Regional what?"
"Pokémon that have gained new abilities to match their environment. I'll explain it better when we have more time."
Smoke jerked his head over to a long, curved table on the other side of the room. "Come on, I think that's the reception. We can ask about becoming explorers there."
The group made their way to the table, occasionally ducking out of the way of a pokémon rushing somewhere. There were several pokémon sitting at the table, scribbling down things on those white leaves and…doing something with big grey glowing boxes? Oh Arceus, why did the world have to be so different from Rok's village?
At least the pokémon who ended up noticing them was familiar. A noctowl, who glanced up at them with…honestly, Rok wasn't sure. He always had trouble reading birds.
"May I help you?" the noctowl asked.
Smoke smiled politely. "My friends and I were wondering about becoming explorers in this Guild."
The noctowl tilted its head…and kept titling it until its face was upside down. Rok found himself cringing. He always found it unsettling when they did that.
"Dark Types rarely ask to be explorers." He said.
Reaper growled and stepped forward. "You got a problem with that?"
The noctowl's head snapped back so fast Rok was surprised there wasn't a crack. "Oh Arceus no!" he cried, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean any offence. I was merely making an observation, that's all. I'm sure that the head of our Guild will be more than happy to accept you into our ranks."
Rok blinked in surprise. This…was a different reaction that what he was anticipating. Where was the animosity? The suspicion? The accusations? Everything this noctowl was doing was completely different from what he had come to expect. As if this place couldn't get any more confusing…
"They'll really be happy to see us?" Rage said, his yellow and green eyes shining with excitement and delight. "Most people don't like us when they first meet us."
The noctowl's gaze turned decidedly warm. "Of course they will be. There is no room for prejudice in an Exploration Guild. In order to keep everything running smoothly, we must have as much diversity in our ranks as possible so we can be prepared for every situation. For example, Dark Types are uniquely suited to missions that occur at night or in other dark environments such as underground dungeons. Oh, and I see you have an Electric Type in your group as well!" the noctowl suddenly added, his gaze landing on Silvo. "And a jolteon no less! They are perfect for missions that occur in thunderstorms or damaged powerplants. Yes, yes, the Guild Leader will be very pleased to see you all, you can all bring some amazing skills to the table."
The noctowl stood up from the table and flew off down a corridor, once again tilting his head a nausea-inducing amount as he called over his shoulder (or, more accurately, his spine), "Right this way! I'll take you to her directly!"
A/N: Me when I started this fic: "You know what would be fun? Having a character that lived apart from modern society and as a result is totally clueless about everything! I can do a lot of stuff with that!"
Me now: "ROK WHY CAN'T YOU JUST KNOW STUFF BY NOW?!"
All jokes aside though, I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the noctowl. He's fun, and I look forward to writing more of him in the future.
Please review!