Half an hour later, Tony managed to slip away from the crowds and trudge into the Pokemon Center.

"That was quite the impressive battle you had." Nurse Joy mentioned with a polite smile as Tony approached her.

"Thanks." Tony replied as he handed over his pokeballs. "My Pokemon deserve the credit though. They did all the hard work."

"True, but don't be so quick to discredit yourself. They did it because of their devotion and loyalty to you." Nurse Joy told him.

"Maybe..." Tony yawned. "Either way, I'm wiped. I'll be back later to check on my Pokemon."

With that, Tony vacated the area and was about to reach the entrance of the room he had previously waited in before the final battle when the League's receptionist finally caught up with him. As the receptionist gave him the message left by his father, Tony's jaw dropped. The fact that his father would attempt to contact him now, of all times, stunned him. Thanking the receptionist, Tony went to the closest video phone and dialed the number that he hadn't allowed himself to think about in a long time.

The phone on the other end hadn't completely rung even once when his father answered. At first, nothing was said by either Ketchum. The silence was so great that a pin could have been heard falling onto the floor.

"I'm glad you called." the elder Ketchum said. "I wasn't sure if you would."

Tony wasn't sure at first how to reply. Another long silence passed between them before he spoke.

"It was you who wanted to disown me, Dad. Not the other way around. I..." Tony paused to keep his tone as cool, calm and collected as possible. "Do you know how many times I wanted to call before now to let you know how I was doing, and find out if you were still there in Violet City?"

Tony's voice started to crack, so he stopped talking.

"Probably as many times as I regretted what I said back then. Will forgive me for what I said?"

"Dad, I forgave you that very night, even though I didn't realize it at the time. You could have done a lot worse than just threatening to disown me, but you're my dad. I couldn't hold a grudge against you forever. I love you, Dad..." Tony choked out, not wanting to openly weep.

More silence passed between the two of them as neither one spoke. Then they started to talk in full force, attempting to catch up on what happened after they had parted ways.

"Actually, I left them right where you had put them." his father replied after Tony mentioned being without his pokeballs. "I couldn't stand seeing those pokeballs at first considering that I was as hardheaded as an Onix and twice as stubborn, so they stayed in your room. I just kept that door shut so I wouldn't be reminded. It was only a few hours after you left that I realized how wrong I really was. But by then, I had no idea where you were. With no means of contact, the best that I could do was make sure your room was as you left it... Well, maybe a little cleaner."

A weak chuckle came from both of them.

"You saw the final battle and the live interview afterwards, right?" Tony asked.

"Yes and congratulations on both accounts. Pretty girl, that Delia. Seems to be able to balance you out." his father replied.

"Thanks." Tony smiled. "It probably won't be for a while. At least not until her ankle's had time to heal. I can't think of anyone else that I'd want to be my best man than you... If you'll accept, that is."

This time, his father's jaw dropped in shock.

"I'd be honored..." he said as soon as he found his voice again.

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

Seven months passed by in a blur of activity as preparations for the wedding became well under way. One of the first things that Tony and Delia collaborated on was deciding where to have a home located at. They scrutinized various styles of available homes amongst the different cities in the Kanto region that they read about in the newspaper. Both of them however decided to not consider anything in Viridian City.

"What about the Tudor place in Cinnabar?" Tony wondered as he idly munched on some toast one morning.

"Cinnabar's a bit too remote for my tastes. How about that condo in Pewter City?" Delia stated.

"Nice, but a bit on the pricey side. Hey. Check this out. There's a place here in Pallet Town that's been recently remodeled." Tony said excitedly before looking at the price and sighing. "Never mind... It makes the condo in Pewter City look dirt cheap."

"It wouldn't hurt to at least take a look, would it?" Delia asked.

"Only if we don't fall in love with the place. That way we won't have any regrets when we thank them for their time but tell them that even though we're interested, the place is too expensive for us." Tony expelled a breath of air in exasperation.

"Come on, Mister Grumps-A-Lot. It'll be an experience." Delia prodded.

At the residence, it was as Tony feared. They both fell in love with the place. What they didn't plan on seeing was who it was that was actually selling the building.

"Ronda?" Delia and Tony exclaimed simultaneously.

"Tony! Delia! What a pleasant surprise." Ronda replied.

"Yes. How's construction going at the site?" Delia asked.

"Much faster now that Rodney's not hindering progress. So what are you doing here?" Ronda inquired.

"Wishing we could afford this place. We love it, just not the price." Tony responded.

"The price? You mean the typo in the newspaper's still there even though they assured me that they'd fix it?" Ronda said, irked.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"The going price is only one tenth of what the newspaper printed. They added an extra zero onto the ad I placed... I'm guessing that's why I haven't had any definite buyers by now." Ronda fumed.

"If that's the case, we'd gladly buy the place up. We were in search of a place to claim as our own." Tony replied with a grin.

After negotiating with Ronda, the next few months were spent mainly planning for the wedding, with some time spent battling occasional trainers that thought that they might have had a chance to beat the Pokemon Master. A week before the wedding, Tony began to freak out when the people who promised to be the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer backed out due to unspecified reasons.

"I got it! Charizard and Meganium!" Delia chimed up a few days short of the big day.

"What about them?" Tony asked, not quite comprehending what Delia was so chipper about.

"Have them fill in. I'm sure they won't mind. After all, you haven't done much with them lately except battle the occasional trainer or two." Delia said with a grin.

"I dunno..." Tony said doubtfully.

"It's worth asking them at least." Delia urged gently.

"It might seem odd..." Tony mused, then shook his head. "Forget odd. This is our wedding and if we want to have Pokemon play important rolls in it, then as long as they agree to it, I don't see why not!"

Tony reached for his pokeballs, but then remembered that he had left Charizard and Meganium with Seaking in the free range yard adjacent to Professor Oak's Laboratory. After breakfast was finished and the dining room cleaned up, Tony took a hike over to the lab.

"Charizard! Meganium!" Tony called out as soon as he saw them on the other side of the field.

The expression on their faces was that as if Tony had caught them red handed in a conspiratorial debate. A quick splash of water from Seaking reminded both of the other Pokemon that Tony and Delia were clueless about what they had been discussing. Much less that they had been working on it for months as well.

"I have to ask you two for a big favor." Tony told them as they met half way across the field. "Two people dropped out of the picture and we're in need of a replacement Flower Girl and Ring Bearer. Delia came up with the idea and we were wondering if you two would fill in?"

Charizard nodded its head with a snort, then let out a low roar as if to say that it shouldn't be held responsible for scorched flower petals when tossed over head.

"Meg-meg-meganium!" Meganium said with a chortle.

"Meganium's right. Let it deal with the flowers. I was hoping you'd be the Ring Bearer, anyway." Tony said with a lop sided grin, trying not to laugh at the mental image of the fire Pokemon tossing up flower petals.

A snort from Charizard translated to the effect of, "Yeah... I knew that!"

With that, Tony couldn't hold back any longer and laughed out loud. Shortly there after, Meganium joined in the laughter, followed by Charizard's rumbling growl that was as close as it ever got to laughing.