Disclaimer: Hi everybody!

*Crickets*

Okay, I know it's been a while, but the sudden hiatus is not because the fic's dead. Life has just gotten in the way (and by life I mean school) and I haven't had the time to write. I've got a bit more free time now so I should be back to my regular update schedule for at least a little while before embarking on another impromptu hiatus (sorry but school has to take priority).

Now, without further ado, on with the chapter!

Rok very quickly gave up on trying to keep track of where they were going. First they went into a tiny room that could barely fit all of them at once that then started moving, then they followed the noctowl down a range of square tunnels lined with doors with odd symbols on them, up some weird, serrated hills, until finally the noctowl came to a stop outside one of the doors.

"Here we are!" He chirped, "This is the Guild Leader's office."

"How can you tell?" Silvo muttered under his breath, studying the door.

Reaper raised an eyebrow at him. "The door has "Guild Leader" written on it, how can you not tell?"

Rok frowned in confusion. "Written?"

Reaper studying him for a few moments before her eyes widened in horror. "Oh Arceus, please don't tell me you two can't read…"

Silvo stared blankly at her. "What's…"read"?"

Reaper groaned and slumped forward, almost falling over as she did so. Smoke and Rage were both staring at the two eeveelutions with open worry in their eyes, and the noctowl's head was tilted a nauseating angle in contemplation.

"Is literacy a requirement for joining a Guild?" Smoke asked the noctowl nervously.

"Well, it certainly helps…" the noctowl said, and Rok felt his heart start to beat like a pikipek pecking against a tree. Whatever this "literacy" thing was, he and Silvo definitely didn't have it. And, judging by the prickle of static making his fur stand on end, he wasn't the only one growing anxious.

"…but if the rest of you are all literate, it should be fine." The bird finished cheerfully, "Besides, I highly doubt you all are here looking for a desk job!"

"Harvard!" a feminine voice suddenly rang out, muffled through the door. "Who are you talking to?"

The noctowl, apparently named Harvard, squawked in alarm, his brown feathers puffing up in shock. "Right, sorry Atala! A group of pokémon has arrived looking to form a Team."

"Well? Send them in!"

Harvard hurriedly opened the door and ushered the group inside the small room. It was quite sparse, the only notable objects in it being a large wooden frame that took up an entire wall filled with…small, coloured rectangular boxes? A table, and a pokémon who must have been the Guild Leader.

She stood on two legs, like Rage. Her blue and black face was canine, with sharp red eyes like Reaper's, and a pair of black feelers dangled from the back of her head. A spike jutted from the thick, cream fur on her chest, and two more grew from the back of her hands. While she wasn't tall (in fact she was slightly shorter than Smoke) she radiated an air of strength and authority that made her seem bigger than everyone else in the room.

"My name is Atala Orio." She said, "I am the Leader of this Guild."

Smoke dipped his head politely. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Smoke. The incineroar is Rage, the absol is Reaper, and the umbreon and jolteon are Rok and Silvo."

Atala's gaze fixed itself on each of their group in turn as Smoke introduced them. When it came to be Rok's turn, he instinctively shrunk in on himself under the intensity of her stare. It felt like she was taking him apart and analysing each of his pieces individually, scanning them for strengths, weaknesses and abnormalities. He only barely bit back a sigh of relief when her focus shifted away from him.

"Judging from your conversation outside my door, a couple of you are illiterate?" Atala asked.

Smoke gestured with his tail. "Rok and Silvo can't read. They grew up in an eevee village in the woods and are unfamiliar with a lot of how the world works."

"Which sucks because the rest of the world is way cooler!" Silvo interrupted, "I mean, there are so many pokémon that I didn't even know existed until a couple days ago! Heck, I don't even know what you are!"

"Silvo!" Rok hissed in indignation, but Atala didn't even blink.
"I'm a lucario." She said simply, "And your literacy and backgrounds aren't important here. You want to be explorers, yes?"

They all nodded.

"Then all that matters is that you can throw a few hits and are willing to help people out. We've got a couple 'mons here who grew up in the wilderness, and they are easily among my best for missions out in the back of beyond or in Dungeons. Those are basically constantly shifting mazes filled with wild pokémon." Atala added as Rok and Silvo began to open their mouths.

"So." She continued, "Do any of you have any experience with battling or caring for pokémon?"

"I was a guard at our village." Silvo offered eagerly, "And Rok and I have both had battle training."

"I've had to fight for my life more times than I can count." Reaper said bitterly. "Dark Type and all that."

Atala frowned. "I see. And you two?"

Smoke shuffled his weight. "While I'm not much of a battler, I do have experience with caring for pokémon in need, and I've picked up some basic medical care."

Rage picked at his claws nervously. "I don't really like fighting, but when I have to fight I can usually make the other pokémon go away pretty quickly. And I used to help Smoke care for weak pokémon."

Atala nodded. "Right then. I'll need to put you through some tests to determine just how advanced your skills are so I can start assigning missions that won't get you severely injured. But for now…"

She pulled out a wooden box inside her desk and pulled a large white leaf from it, along with a small black stick with a sharp grey point, placing it in front of them. "Just sign here and you're good to go. One of you can sign for the illiterate members of your team."

Smoke, Rage and Reaper all scribbled something onto the leaf and Atala nodded in satisfaction. "Great. Now, you're going to need a team name."

Rok tilted his head in confusion. "Why's that?"

"We need to make sure that your team is easily distinguishable from the others." Atala explained, "It will help us with the paperwork, and also ensure we won't send one of you on a mission that's too advanced for your skillset."

Reaper growled in frustration. "I always found these kinds of things to be annoying wastes of time."

"Somehow, I get the feeling that's how you feel about most things." Silvo said cheekily.

Smoke sighed. "Please you two, put a lid on it for just long enough so we can come up with a name."

"How about Nice Dark Types?" Rage suggested.

Rok winced. "I think that's a bit on the nose big guy."

"Plus, Silvo isn't even a Dark Type." Reaper added.

"Why don't we call ourselves the Stereotype Smashers?" Silvo said.

"That's also a bit on the nose Silvo." Smoke said gently.

Rok frowned, scouring his brain for some sort of team name, one that wasn't too obvious, but was still appropriate. But what name could fit them like that? After all, they were just a bunch of misfits looking to make the lives of others like them better.

Just a bunch of misfits…

Rok perked up at the thought. "Why don't we just call ourselves the Misfits? That's what we all are, after all, even Silvo."

The others glanced at each other, silently gauging their thoughts.

Eventually, Reaper shrugged. "I can live with it."

"I'm definitely a bit of a misfit." Rage said just a bit too quietly.

"Same here!" Silvo said cheerfully.

Smoke smiled and turned to Atala. "I think we have our name."

For the first time since they entered her office, she smiled.

A/N: And we have a team name! "The Misfits". That took me an annoyingly long time to come up with, but hey, I like it!

And we meet Atala! She's a badass, and I love her, and I hope you will too.

Please review!