"This is Karen Styles reporting live from the Pokemon League at the Indigo Plateau. Up and coming trainer Anthony Ketchum is one battle away from being declared the Champion. Can he do it? We'll find out soon enough. The battle begins in one hour. Back to you in the station - "

The television was switched off via remote control.

"Tony..." his father murmured as a stray tear slid down his cheek. He wasn't sure what compelled him to turn the television on in the first place, but now he was glad he had. "I had wondered where you went. I want you to win, do you hear me?"

Of course, Tony couldn't hear him, but later on, after the battle had been decided, Tony would be quoted saying that a gut feeling urged him to win by any means necessary. Sighing, Tony's father got up and began to pace the length of the couch as if he was a caged animal. It was going to be an extremely long hour before the battle even begun, more so before anyone would know the outcome of the battle.

The elder Ketchum sat back down onto the couch as he slouched forward to place his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. The argument that had caused Tony to leave in the first place replayed anew in his mind as if it was only the other day when it happened, when in truth, it had taken place roughly a year ago. He was a complete idiot for threatening to disown Tony and he reminded himself of that fact each and every day.

A sudden thought occurred to him as he sat up straight. After a few moments of stunned silence, he stood up and walked to the video phone. Dialing the number for the Indigo Pokemon League, the elder Ketchem held his breath.

"Thank you for calling the Indigo Pokemon League. How may I help you?" the receptionist cheerfully asked once she answered the phone.

"I'd like to talk with Anthony Ketchum." he replied gruffly.

"I'm sorry, sir. He is unavailable at the moment. Would you like to leave him a message?" the receptionist replied apologetically.

"Yes. Tell him to contact his father as soon as he's able to."

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

"Tony, obsessing over every last detail isn't going to help if you don't relax." Delia chided.

"I can't relax. This is the final battle of the tournament. If I win this one, then I will be fulfilling a ten year old dream." Tony said from his slumped over position at the table within the League provided waiting room. He then massaged his forehead with one hand has he attempted to think of something, anything that could possibly give him the upper hand in the up coming battle.

"Just don't forget us little people after your big dreams have been realized." Delia whispered in his ear.

Tony blinked. When did Delia get this close to him without his noticing it? Tony turned his head to look at her and before he could ask her what she was doing up, especially with her sprained ankle the way it was, she kissed him full on the lips.

Any and all thoughts about the tournament suddenly disappeared from Tony's mind at that moment. The only thing that came to him was to return the kiss while embracing her. A clearing of the throat from Professor Oak who was standing in the doorway caught both of them off guard.

"Professor Oak?" Tony asked, startled and a bit embarrassed to have been caught.

"It's time, m'boy." Professor Oak replied with a wink. "Afterwards you can get back to your own research."

Tony attempted to cough away some of his embarrassment, but it didn't do much good because at that moment, Delia kissed him on the cheek.

"Do your best, my Pokemon Master." Delia whispered in Tony's ear before they reluctantly separated. "Don't worry. We'll be cheering you on from our seats."

"Oh, I'm never worried about that." Tony relied smugly as he headed out the door with a wave. Mentally he added, 'My main concern is your response to what I have in store for after the tournament.'

Tony idly fingered the velvet box tucked away within an inner pocket of his vest as he walked down the corridor that lead him to the stadium. He could already hear the crowd go wild between - and sometimes straight through - the pre-battle announcements. Moments later, he was standing in the archway, wondering what in the world he was doing there as a fleeting rush of terror surged through him.

Shivering as though someone had dumped enough ice water to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool over his head, he seriously considered running away. Before he could act upon those feelings however, he heard the announcer call for him to come forth and get in position for the final battle of the tournament.

"So, you're the trainer that everyone's talking about, hm?" Tony's opponent said once Tony got himself situated. "It's a pity that you've gotten this far since nobody has been able to defeat me and I have no intention of losing today."

"We'll have to see about that now, won't we?" Tony goaded, his resolve coming back to him in full force. With a smirk, Tony exclaimed, "Let's get this party started!"

The audience roared with cheers for both Pokemon trainers. The Pokemon League Judge then announced the rules and told them to begin the battle when ready. Tony's heart beat so hard within his chest, he was sure that his opponent could hear it from across the battle field.

"Haunter, let's show this boy how we've remained undefeated for so long!" his opponent, Agatha exclaimed as she tossed out her first pokeball.

"Let's go, Seaking! She has remained in her number one spot for far too long. It's time to bring her down a notch or two!"

"King, seaking!" the water Pokemon exclaimed upon release.

"What a fool." Agatha said as she shook her head. "There's no pool for your Seaking to swim in. Look at it. Seaking's just floundering about like a fish out of water."

A number of people laughed at the snide commentary. Even Agatha's Haunter was chuckling and holding onto the sides of its body as if it didn't, it'd be cause enough to fall apart in uncontrollable fits of mirth.

"You don't know me very well, so I suppose I'll let the Meowth out of the bag!" Tony said with a smirk. "While you had your jollies at what you believed to be my expence, Seaking has been performing a skill I taught it especially for this match."

A split second later, dark rain filled rain clouds formed above the arena. Torrential rain fell and formed small ponds onto the craggy surface of the battle field. The small ponds quickly overflowed and flooded the battlefield so that Seaking had free range of movement.

"Smart move having Seaking learn Rain Dance, but this battle has just begun!" Agatha scowled.

It took a matter of minutes - though it felt like hours to say the least - before Seaking took down Haunter as well as the Gastly that followed. However Gengar proved to be too much for the water Pokemon.

"Seaking, Return! You did well." Tony said as he recalled Seaking into its pokeball. By this time, Rain Dance's effects had subsided to a fine mist if at all, so Tony tossed out Bayleef's pokeball next.

It didn't take very long for Bayleef to defeat Haunter. In fact, just after it did, Bayleef evolved into Meganium. Unfortunately it's next opponent, another Haunter, put Meganium to sleep using Hypnosis and began feasting on the plant Pokemon's dreams via Haunter's Dream Eater attack before Tony recalled it.

"I daresay, you do have a few remarkable Pokemon." Agatha conceded. "But this is far from over!"

"I'll have to disagree. This has gone too far!" Tony replied. Tossing up Charizard's pokeball, Tony exclaimed, "Let's finish this!"

Roaring upon release, Charizard had encountered very little resistance in defeating most of Agatha's remaining Pokemon. Agatha's final Pokemon, a wiley Gengar, however was giving Charizard a battle to remember for a lifetime.

"Give up." Agatha warned. "Are you so determined to wing that you are blind to the fact that your Charizard is tiring out and about to faint?"

"Determined, yes. Blind? Far from it. You've kept company with ghost Pokemon for so long that you seem to have forgotten that other types of Pokemon have their own specialties." Tony declared as he felt the heat coming from Charizard's body raise by several degrees. Tony smirked as Charizard's special ability, Blaze, raised its attack by several levels. "Finish it with Flame Thrower!"

Before Agatha could get Gengar to defend itself, much less attack or dodge, Charizard's powered up attack caused the ghost Pokemon to faint. The whole arena was stunned into silence for several long seconds.

"Gengar is unable to battle! Charizard is the winner. Anthony Ketchum is the new Pokemon League Champion!" The League Judge declared.

The thunderous response was deafening. The look on Agatha's face told Tony that although she didn't want to admit it, he defeated her soundly.

"Congratulations. I see now what Professor Oak meant when he told me about your own brand of battling." Agatha said with a stern look.

Before he could ask Agatha what she was talking about, Professor Oak came up to him with Delia in tow.

"Congratulations, m'boy." Professor Oak beamed. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks, Professor. Wha-" Tony started to ask a question, but got cut off when Delia planted another passionate kiss on his lips.

Many of the audience members 'awed' at the sight, still more hooted or clapped their approval in response. Minutes later, the television reporter Karen Styles offered her own congratulations before asking for a quick post-tournament interview; of which Tony agreed.

"What was going through your mind during the battle?" she asked him.

"Other than the herd of Tauros threatening to give me a headache?" Tony joked. "Seriously though, I almost didn't battle. Something, a gut feeling I guess you could call it, urged me onward."

"What are your plans, now that you've finally obtained champion status?" Karen raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Now that you've asked..." Tony said as he reached within the inner pocket of his vest and pulled out an item that was hidden within his hand. He then walked over to where Delia stood and got down on one knee. The television camera and sound system zoomed in to capture the next five words to come out of Tony's mouth as he held out a velvet box and opened it for Delia to see. "Delia, will you marry me?"

At first, Delia was speechless. It was all she could do to not break down and openly weep. She gasped as her hands covered her mouth in shock. Seconds later - which seemed like a lifetime to wait - Delia nodded as a tear of joy streaked down her face.

"Yes..." she whispered at first. "Yes! I will!"