"Arceus, what time is it...", he muttered, dragging himself out of his sleeping bag and checking his watch.
It read 6:32 a.m.
"This is WAAAAY too early for this.", he muttered, and glanced over at his V-ring.
He wasn't entirely sure what it was for, to be honest. All he knew was that this strange Pokemon had given him it, and he'd promptly rushed off to show his friends. Then came his understanding Pokemon language, his ridiculous win-streak, and his subsequent fall from grace.
Thinking about his old friends made him bitter. They'd rejected him as soon as they felt that he was cheating.
Guess that meant they hadn't really been friends, huh?
As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, the yelling only continued. He unzipped his tent and noticed Winona and Geoff were fighting again.
"Oh, come on.", he muttered, "I'm forced to wake up at six in the morning because of this?"
He noticed Ray was gathering ingredients for breakfast. HE didn't look tired in the slightest, nor concerned that the Gengar was battling his Dragonair.
"Morning, Victor.", he greeted, " Beautiful morning isn't it?"
Victor grumbled, "Maybe, but those two are preventing me from enjoying it."
Ray shrugged, "Eh, it's only a matter of time before Winona thrashes that Gengar again and things get quiet. You guys really do sleep in on other continents, huh?"
"Wait, are you saying you NORMALLY get up this early!?", exclaimed Victor incredulously.
Ray replied, "Um, yeah?"
"Oh, Arceus. This is going to suck.", Victor muttered.
"In my defense, Ulfsigr is also awake.", commented Ray, "Of his own volition, not because our Pokemon are battling."
"Yeah, but he's practically a robot.", complained Victor.
"I heard that.", came Ulfsigr's gruff voice, as he emerged from the trees, "I'll have you know that I AM human under this suit."
Victor frowned. "Do you sleep in that?"
Ulfsigr replied, "Nope."
"Maybe I should sneak a camera into your tent then? I'm sure we all want to know what your real face is.", stated Rex as he walked out of his tent.
Ulfsigr replied, "You'd probably regret that if you watched the footage."
"Really? Is your face that ugly?", asked Rex.
Ulfsigr shook his head. "Anyways, what are you cooking up Ray?"
Ray replied, "Some porridge, naturally. With some berries tossed in for sweetness."
"Porridge!? Is this the Middle Ages or something?!", exclaimed Rex.
Ray gave him a pointed look.
Rex sighed, "Yeah, right. It kind of is out here."
Ray placed a pot of water over the fire. "Wait and try it before you make any final judgements."
Rex muttered some things before sending out his Clefairy and walking over to a clear space to train, dodging Winona's Dragon Rage as he did so.
"What did Geoff do this time?", Victor asked.
Ray thought for a moment. "Exist.", he finally said.
"Geez.", Victor replied.
Ray stated, "Winona is a sweet Pokemon, but she has a long memory and loves grudges. Geoff basically declared war on her by stealing her dinner last night, so, uh...he's going to want to get used to this."
Victor frowned. "Yikes...do you think that'll be a problem for the rest of our quest?"
Ray sighed. "Possibly. I'll try to see what I can do to get her over this, but no guarantees. I'll need to talk to John too, see if he can get his Gengar to stay out of her way."
Victor nodded. "Sounds good to me, man. Let's hope you get it taken care of, because I know neither me nor my Pokemon are going to want to deal with this."
He then walked over to a corner of the campsite, where he sent out his Sawsbuck, Twig.
Twig promptly nuzzled him, saying, "What's the plan for today, bro?"
Victor replied, "I'm not sure yet, but I think it'll involve walking. Lots of it. You excited?"
"You bet!", Twig agreed.
"Just...try to avoid running into trees, okay? Got to look good to the others, especially the girl.", Victor added.
"There's a girl?! Whoa!", exclaimed Twig, "Is she pretty? Has she smiled at you yet? Anything like that?"
"Tone it down, bud, I only met her yesterday, and most of the time she was doing some Warden challenge or whatever.", Victor replied, smiling. Twig was a good Pokemon but rather direct with his thoughts.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it.", Twig said, "How's the other guys? Are their Pokemon cool?"
A screaming Gengar flew above them, an angry Dragonair in hot pursuit.
"They're interesting, I'll give you that.", replied Victor, wincing as the Gengar hit the ground with a loud thud.
Twig nodded. "Hey, shall we bring out the rest of the gang? I know for a fact some of them are dying to come out and hang."
Victor sighed. "So long as they don't cross that Dragonair."
He released all his Pokemon, who seemed rather excited.
Rune, Victor's Sigilyph, immediately twirled around in excitement. "Wow!", she cried, "This place is FULL of ruins!"
"Yeah, yeah, keep it together.", grumbled Wave.
Wick noticed Geoff running around, his hair somehow on fire. "Wow, that guy's hot.", she said.
Geoff jumped into some nearby shadows as Winona hurtled towards him, her eyes flaring.
"Whoa, and he's tough enough to survive a Dragon-type! I should get his Pokeball number!", she added.
Victor chuckled. "Well, don't take too many lessons from him. But you'll get to see him a lot."
"Nice!", Wick cheered.
Victor felt something leap onto his backpack, and he turned to see Mirage the Zorua settling down on top of it. "Hey there.", Victor greeted.
"Hi. Why'd I have to be in the Pokeball? Your backpack's much nicer.", the Zorua replied.
Victor answered, "Eh, sorry about that. New region and all, needed to get a feel for the place before openly carrying a rare Pokemon around. I won't do that again."
"Good.", stated Mirage, before yawning loudly and curling up.
"You're such a sleepyhead, Mirage.", Twig complained.
"What? Best way to shut out all you crazies.", Mirage replied, "Except Wave. He's cool."
The Palpitoad gave everybody a smug grin.
Before his Pokemon broke into argument, Victor heard a tired voice ask, "Um, where's my Gengar?"
"Looks like John's up.", Victor commented, "Let's go do a meet-and-greet."
Victor and his Pokemon headed to the camp, where the pink-hatted boy was looking around curiously.
"Hey, John, my Pokemon would like to say hello.", Victor said.
John looked at them and smiled. "Hi there! Here, let me get my Pokemon...minus Geoff, wherever the dude has-"
Suddenly the Gengar leaped out from the shadow of John's tent and rolled across the ground to his side, panting.
"Bro, you gotta help me. That Dragonair's a maniac!", Geoff cried.
John chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Victor noticed Wick gazing dreamily at the Gengar, and sighed.
John grabbed his Pokeballs and sent out his Pokemon, who immediately started socializing with Victor's.
Matt, the Alolan Meowth, immediately struck up a conversation about ancient ruins with Rune, while Remi the Raichu started trying to play a game with Twig.
Mirage opened his eyes, and noticed the sleepy Chespin. "She has the right idea.", he commented.
At that moment, Winona descended from the heavens in all her blazing wrath. "You will know no rest from my fury!", she roared.
Amanda the Axew's jaw dropped. "Whoa, you look awesome!"
Winona froze. "Um, thanks?"
"You've got to teach me some of your tricks! I'm a Dragon-type too, but I'm not super great yet. But you can even put the fear of Arceus into Geoff! I wanna do that too!", Amanda continued.
Winona's anger seemed to dissipate. "Well, that's nice to know. You can be my apprentice!"
Amanda grinned. "That sounds cool!"
The two Dragon-types walked off, and Geoff trembled. "I'm in trouble."
Wick gave him a reassuring pat.
After a few minutes, Ray called out that it was time for breakfast. Victor's stomach growled excitedly, and he did not delay in trying to get to the fire first. (-o-)
AN: I hope you guys are all enjoying the story so far, even though I'm mostly doing filler chapters! I promise that next time, the journey will ACTUALLY start.
Feel free to review and tell me what you think! See you all next chapter!