One cold, rainy day, a boy with raven-black hair and brown eyes sat on a swing in a park. The upper half of his face was shaded by his red and white hat, but tears could be seen streaming from the shaded area. He was crying. His spirit broken. His hopes ripped to shreds. His reason for going on snatched away from him again and again and again. On the swing next to him, a yellow mouse with long, black-tipped ears, red circles on its cheeks, and a thunderbolt-shaped tail looked down at the ground, sad as well. It had tried to console its trainer and make him feel better, but nothing had worked. This time, there was no mending his broken spirit...

"Again... we lost again..." the boy said to himself. "Why do I even bother? Everytime, Arceus likes to get my hopes up, then take a giant shit on me... I should have expected this..." he continued in a depressed tone. Soon after, various memories came to mind...

It was a gloomy night at the Ketchum House. Rain poured down as a man with the blue eyes, dark skin, and the boy's black hair stood at the doorway. Behind him was a woman with brunette hair and brown eyes. She had tears in her eyes as she tried to keep the man from leaving. "Please, Sosuke! I'm sorry!" she cried, hugging him from behind. "No... you're not... goodbye, Delia... tell Ashura I said goodbye..." the man, Sosuke, muttered before breaking free of her hug and going outside. He then sent out a Pidgeot, hopped on its back, and flew away. Watching from a corridor was Ash, only five years old. "Mama?" he asked, earning her attention. Tears flowed from the woman's eyes as she hugged him. "Where's Papa going?" he asked. The woman merely sobbed as she held her son close. "Daddy's upset because of a mistake Mommy made... but he'll be back..." she managed to say before sobbing some more. She knew he wouldn't come back... not after what she did...

More tears fell from the boy's eyes as that memory appeared in his head.

A year after the boy's father left, it was time to start school. Ash had hoped that making new friends would take his mind off of his father's absence. But that was only hope... for as soon as he was introduced to the class, he heard murmurs of "Look at that bolt-faced kid" and "What a freak". His hopes were instantly shattered as he took his seat.

At lunch, Ash was looking for a place to sit. Everyone at the tables he found instantly moved to a different table. After many attempts, he sat alone at a table and began eating his lunch. Suddenly, two kids, a blond male and his also blonde sister came up to him. "Well, look what we have here! It's the Bolt-Faced Freak!" they said in unison before smashing his face into his lunch, then left. As the boy wiped the mustard and ketchup from his face, he began to cry...

During naptime, Ash was sleeping peacefully, when the two from lunch came and picked him up, then tied him to a chair. They then started applying the teacher's makeup to his face, snickering evilly. Quietly, they snuck him out of the classroom and to a nearby pokemon center. There was a ladder leaning on it that went high enough to reach the roof. The two snickered again as they climbed the ladder with their victim, left him on the roof, and climbed down, sneaking back to school. Later, the boy woke up, and noticed his situation. He began to cry and yell, hoping to earn the attention of someone. This went on for what seemed like hours when the Nurse Joy heard his pleas for help and helped him down. She then escorted him back to his school, where the teacher was furious. "Where have you been, Ash?!" she scolded. "I was on the roof of a pokemon center. I don't know why..." he began to cry. "Well, no recess for you for a week!" she told him, which upset the boy even more. After about a month of torture, abuse, and false punishment, he was left with no other option but to drop out. He ran away from the school and straight to his house. Delia noticed her son approaching, tears flowing from his eyes. She quickly picked him up and held him close. "There, there... everything'll be okay... Mommy'll make sure of that..." she murmured comfortingly.

At this point, even more tears were falling from his eyes, and faint sobs could be heard. Then the memories of Misty hitting him on the head with a mallet, losing the Pokemon League over and over again, and other bad things that happened to him filled his head. It was official. He was miserable. Everything in his life went horribly wrong. There was no hope for him. "There's no point in me living anymore..." he muttered as he got out a knife and aimed the tip at his chest. He was finally ready to end his own life...

Before he could, however, a girl with outrageously long purple hair, brown eyes, dark skin, and a green dino-like pokemon with tusks in her hair rushed to him and took the knife away. "Ash... please don't..." she begged. "Why not, Iris? There's no point for me to even be alive..." Ash muttered. Tears soon started forming in the girl's eyes. "Please... you mean too much to me... I don't wanna lose you..." she managed to say. Soon after, the boy wrapped his arms around her, buried his face in her shoulder, and began sobbing. Iris merely stroked his hair.

"There, there... everything'll be alright... I'll make sure of that..." she murmured comfortingly, similar to Delia when she tried to cheer Ash up...