"After you went to bed, Rodney and I had a long discussion." Ronda said grimly.
It was mid-morning and Ronda sat at the cluttered wooden table within her sizable tent. Tony mentally wagered that the tent was big enough to let his Charizard roam free without touching the canvas walls, even when it was fully outstretched. If it wasn't for the fact that there were so many paper files laying about, Tony would have asked if he could have tested his theory.
"We're not going to press charges against him, provided he works with us to get the construction back on track."
"Did he ever tell you why he didn't want construction to happen in the first place?" Delia asked, curious as to what the answer would be.
"No and he probably won't say anything about it any time soon." Ronda replied as she shook her head. "Now. I know you said you didn't want the reward we had for information leading to the capture of the person involved with our problems, however I have something for you anyway."
"But..." Tony started to protest.
"No buts. I have little patience for objections. What I have in mind is this sleeping bag that Rodney had borrowed from me some time ago before he started his mid-night escapades. We only recovered it a few hours ago and I know for a fact that he won't be using it anymore."
"I don't know what to say." Tony muttered.
"Then don't say anything. The sleeping bag's my personal thanks for what you've done. And besides, the ground looked uncomfortable for you last night. I don't know how you're able to withstand it." Ronda said.
"I didn't do that much." Tony replied. A glare from Ronda caused Tony to stumble over his own words to amend what he said. "Uh, you're welcome? Thanks for the sleeping bag. I'll make good use of it. That didn't sound right."
A chuckle from both Ronda and Delia caused Tony to blush lightly before joining in their laughter.
"Does receiving items that you feel that you didn't earn always make you nervous?" Delia asked Tony a few days later, after they had put some distance between themselves and the construction site.
"I suppose you could say that, yes." Tony replied.
"I see." Delia stated simply. "But Tony, what's so very wrong with them expressing their gratitude?"
"What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong!" Tony griped. He withdrew a folded over envelope from a back pocket. "I told them that I wasn't interested in the reward, yet they go and stick this check into the sleeping bag that Ronda gave me anyway! I hate feeling like a charity case."
"Anthony Ketchum, I'm appalled. They were merely giving you something that they felt that you deserved. They would have given it to anyone who helped them but it was you. You were the one that single handedly stopped a person who was causing the construction crew various problems. They didn't give the reward to you simply to take pity on someone. How could they? I didn't tell them anything, I wouldn't even if I knew all about your problems. And I'm pretty sure you're not the type to put on a 'take pity on me' attitude. Intended or not, you did help those people back there." Delia chided Tony.
"You're right." Tony replied, properly chastised. "I suppose I'm being an idiot about it all."
"Yes, you are." Delia said with a mock frown and turned her face away. A few seconds of silence passed before she turned to face Tony with a small smile. "But at least you're big enough of a person to admit when you are being one."
Tony's jaw dropped as if he was about to respond but couldn't find the words to speak. Instead, he placed a hand at the back of his neck as he nervously chuckled. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink due to the unexpected compliment.
Four days later, Tony and Delia found themselves out of the mountain range at last. Behind them were the mountains they just left. To the north was a dirt path that would eventually lead Tony to Viridian City. Ahead was a spacious landscape, with an occasional tree dotting the expanse of open space. What really caught Tony's attention was the slow moving river that flowed southeast past Pallet Town and out into the sea. At the not so distant sight of their destination, Tony released all three pokemon.
"Charizard, Chikorita, come on out! You too, Seaking! It's too nice a day to be cooped up in your pokeballs." Tony exclaimed.
Upon being released, all three pokemon vocalized their contentment at having a bit of fun in the sun. Charizard eventually decided to settle down and take a nap while Seaking decided to spray some water in Chikorita's direction.
"We're almost there." Delia said with a smile. "As soon as we reach Pallet Town and talk with Professor Oak, I'm going to take a nice long bubble bath."
"It'll be nice to be in a city for a while. After that, my real journey will begin. I'm not sure how long it'll take me, but I'm sure it'll be worth it." Tony smirked.
"As long as you don't forget those you met along the way." Delia said with a faint blush.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Tony replied. Taking another good look around, something seemed missing. Charizard was still laying on it's side, sunbathing. Chikorita decided to join Charizard. "Hey, where's Seaking?"
"Chiko?" Chikorita asked as it raised it's head and blinked it's sleep filled eyes a few times.
Suddenly wide awake, Chikorita went to the edge of the river and sniffed carefully. Charizard yawned loudly and took off into the air. At roughly the same time, both pokemon indicated that Seaking was most likely downstream.
Following his pokemon, Tony ran down along side the riverbed with Delia close behind him. It took only a matter of minutes before they found the missing pokemon near the rivers edge, happily splashing water on a man in a white lab coat that Tony didn't remember seeing before.
"Seaking, why'd you swim off like that? We were worried about you." Tony told the water pokemon as soon as he was close enough. Turning to the man, Tony nervously chuckled. "Sorry about that. I don't know what got into Seaking."
"That's quite all right." he replied before facing Delia. "Nice to see that you've made it back to Pallet Town, Delia."
"It's good to be back." Delia said with a smile.
"Huh? You two know each other?" Tony said, royally confused.
"Oh, of course. Where are my manners? My name's Professor Oak." the professor introduced himself.
"You're Professor Oak? I guess that explains Seaking's wandering. It must have known you were near by and wanted to see you again." Tony mused before adding, "Nice to meet you. I'm Anthony Ketchum, but everybody calls me Tony."
Inside his laboratory, Professor Oak sat and drank down some freshly brewed tea as Tony described what had happened for the past few weeks.
"Fascinating." Professor Oak said after Tony finished his narration. "Seaking must have found something in you that it liked. It usually doesn't agree to help anyone right off the bat without knowing them first. I'd like to ask you something. When did you get Charizard?"
"Charizard? I'd say roughly eight years ago. Seems like forever though." came Tony's answer.
"Eight years ago, you say? Mmm, yes. That does seem to be when I saw it last." Professor Oak muttered to himself while lost in thought.
The resulting silence made Tony on edge and confused. What did Professor Oak mean? Before Tony could ask, a knock on the door brought Professor Oak out of his revelry. The door opened and Delia let herself in.
"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Delia said, once she closed the door behind her.
"No, not at all. I was just asking Tony how he got his start with his Charizard." Professor Oak explained.
"My mom gave me a Charmander about eight years ago, shortly after we moved from Viridian City to Violet City in the Johto region."
"If my speculations are right..." Professor Oak's sentence trailed off as once again his mind wandered.
"Professor?" Delia prompted.
"Oh, sorry." Professor Oak said as he shook his head. "I believe that your mom came here to pick up your starter pokemon. I remember a woman coming to the laboratory to pick up her son's starter pokemon because he was unfortunately unable to do it himself. I always wondered what became of her and Charmander."
"Mom sure surprised me with Charmander. I never even told her which one I wanted, yet when she handed Charmander over to me, I knew that Charmander was the one I would have ultimately chose anyway." Tony replied.
"Your mother seems very nice." Delia commented.
"Yeah." Tony sighed before becoming extremely quiet as he looked down at his feet.
"How is your mother doing?" Professor Oak asked.
"She died shortly afterwards." Tony said as he shut his eyes tightly in attempt to hold back the tears that threatened to pour out at any moment.
"I'm sorry." Delia uttered as she placed a hand on his shoulder as a comforting gesture.
"I shouldn't have asked." Professor Oak uttered.
"No, it's all right. You didn't know." Tony said quietly as he wiped his shirt sleeve across his face. Tony suddenly excused himself and ran outside to get some fresh air.