A few hours before sunset, two days before the Pokemon League Conference, Tony reached the League's huge front doors and sighed dejectedly. Turning, he scanned the horizon for any signs, but there had still been no indication that Charizard was on its way. He had no clue where the fire type Pokemon was and he was beginning to think that there was no point of registering to enter the Conference with only two Pokemon.

It wasn't that he had no faith in Bayleef and Seaking - far from it. He trusted them with his life many times over. The fact of the matter was, that Tony felt hollow inside without Charizard.

'No, not just Charizard.' Tony thought sourly as Delia popped into his mind.

"Hellooo... Don't tell me that Victory Road has made you deaf, blind and mute."

Tony nearly jumped out of his clothes. Blinking a few times to help refocus his eyes, Tony found Delia standing before him being propped up by a pair of crutches while waving a hand in front of his face.

"Gah! Give me a heart attack, why don't ya?" Tony exclaimed as his right hand clenched tightly onto the upper left pocket of his vest. Recovering quickly enough, Tony enveloped Delia in a bear hug as he closed his eyes. A few trailing tears were shed as he whispered, "I missed you."

"I can tell." Delia smiled as Tony released her from the hug.

"Delia, have you seen Charizard? I've been searching for it for the past few days without any luck."

"Have I seen Charizard? We've been traveling with it on the main access road to get here." Delia replied.

"We?" Tony blinked in confusion.

"Ah, here you are!" A familiar voice called out.

Tony and Delia both turned and watched as Professor Oak came up to them with Charizard in tow.

"Professor Oak, you're here too?"

"That's right. I'm sure Delia will tell you all about it some time. Have you registered for the Conference yet?"

"Oh no, the Conference!" Tony yelped, having completely forgotten why he was standing at the Indigo Plateau in the first place. Tony hastily recalled Charizard into its pokeball before making a mad dash to the receptionist's counter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took most of the next morning for Tony and Delia to fill each other in on what had transpired over the course of the past week after they had went their separate ways. Professor Oak didn't say much, preferring the young couple to do most of the talking.

After Delia and Charizard had left Tony on Victory Road, Delia explained, they went to Pallet Town where the doctor examined and treated the ankle to a splint and fresh bandages. Due to the non-stop traveling, Professor Oak had, with the assistance of Delia, convinced Charizard to rest in the back of the professor's truck as they made their way to the Indigo Plateau. The going was a bit slower than they had hoped due to Charizard insisting on randomly stopping various wild Pokemon and battling them in preparation of the upcoming battles. That was aside from the fact that the main route was congested with incoming traffic of trainers and spectators alike.

In turn, Tony related how Bayleef and Seaking seemed to be in prime form as well. There were several encounters with wild Pokemon, naturally. There was also a point where Tony had to recall Bayleef into its pokeball, due to the fact that there was a stream that needed to be crossed and Bayleef quite simply refused to do so on its own accord.

"I don't blame Bayleef." Delia piped up.

"Yeah. I'd probably have the same fear of crossing streams or rivers if I was in Bayleef's position." Tony replied as he thought back to the time when Bayleef was still a Chikorita. Due to the fact that Charizard and Chikorita had been unwilling to cooperate at the time, Charizard had accidentally knocked the grass type Pokemon into a fast moving river, where it was nearly swept away.

Tony continued to narrate what had happened up until shortly before their meeting at the entrance of the Pokemon League. If time hadn't been short, Tony would have loved to stuck around various parts of Victory Road, quite simply training his Pokemon.

"So now that we're all caught up, are you going to stick around for the matches, Professor?" Tony turned his attention to Professor Oak.

"Indeed, I am." Professor Oak affirmed. "Some things are best viewed live and in person, if at all possible. Besides, this will give me a chance to catch up on the goings on of an old acquaintance of mine that I've unfortunately neglected in recent years."

"Awesome. I can hardly wait for it all to start." Tony replied, thinking about the upcoming conference that was set to start the next day.

"Yes, it is pretty exciting when you think about it all." Delia affirmed.

"Well, now." Professor Oak said as he stood up. "I best get along now. Time stands still for no one. If I don't see you before the start of the tournament, then I hope you have some good luck in your battles."

"Thanks, Professor." Tony replied as he and Delia watched Professor Oak leave.

"Now that we've got the rest of the day to ourselves, what shall we do?" Delia asked as she lovingly glanced at Tony.

"Oh..." Tony grinned. "I believe we can think of something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first day of the Indigo League Conference came both too quickly and yet, not soon enough in Tony's opinion. He wasn't sure who was more excited about the ensuing battles; the crowd in attendance or the trainers who were on the edges of the arenas, urging their Pokemon to victory.

Several days of primary and elimination battles passed like a video on permanent fast forward. Tony's new found popularity rose with each win. Before he knew it, Tony and his Pokemon were one battle away from complete victory - which was slated to start the next day, shortly after the lunch hour rush. That was a relief unto itself. Although he would have rather had begun the final battle in the morning hours, Tony realized that his Pokemon needed more of a rest between battles than he would.