He felt as if the whole dark world was turning upside down. Everything Ash knew about his family – his world, in fact – shattered with only a few words. He felt dirty.

His mother hung her head in shame, red strands of her ponytail escaping the blue band behind her head to form a burgundy barrier between herself and her son. Her pale eyelids moved in slow, silky movements to cover her watering eyes. Slowly, her thin form slumped deeper into her chair as her slender fingers dug into the arm rests.

The dim light of the room cast across her face, and the shadows of her features gave her an old, weary façade. The kinder side of Ash Ketchum wanted to hug her and hold her like she held him as a child – with a warm smile, a tight embrace, and the words, "Everything will be peachy. Ash."

But it wouldn't be peachy. Ash knew he would never be able to look his friends in the eyes after that point. Not when he knew he was the result of something disgusting.

"I thought you said he was a great trainer," Ash said softly. "Giovanni.."

His mother sniffed and raised her head, but her gaze was always directed away from Ash. A forced smile grew across her lips, white teeth showing through tight, pink lips.

"He was," she said. "His opponents were always afraid of him. He even went as far as becoming a champion before…but he failed. Nothing could stop him."

Her voice tapered into quiet, long silence. She stared at her lap again. "Ash. You must understand this. Please-"

"Why, Mom?" Ash asked interuppting her quiet sentence.

Delia laughed. "I was only a few years older than you at the time, Ash. I was young, and I didn't know he would turn out the way he did. No one did."

A silence lingered between them. It felt cold and foreign and heavy against Ash's ears.

"Why did he leave me?" Ash whispered.

Delia finally looked at her son. Her eyes glistened to the point where Ash couldn't help but pity her.

"He doesn't know about you," she admitted. "By the time I was ready to tell him, he became… someone different."

The boy looked away with a furious frown. He couldn't imagine how someone responsible for something he loathed could have been any different than rotten from the beginning.

"Ash," Delia said as she reached out to touch her son, "don't think of me or your father as bad people for this. A long time ago, before Giovanni inherited Team Rocket, we really were in love, and we were planning on making a better future for ourselves. It's the truth."

There was another silence. This time, however, it was charged with electricity as Ash slowly turned his head back to his mother.

"Sure, Mom," he said. "Sure."

Then he left without another word.

Delia put her pale hands in her face with disappointment. "Why did I tell him...?"