This story is inspired by the greatest Psychedelic Rock band ever, Pink Floyd.
Ash's Wall
It was the end of a journey. Ash and friends had gotten so close to Pallet Town. It was just over the hill, then May and Max would get to see his childhood residence. Once he thought about his childhood though, he couldn't remember much about it. The main thing Ash remembered was a lack of a father.
Most psychologists believe in suppressed memories, possibly caused by trauma or just an overall terrible childhood. Ash was one of these children. Little known to anyone but him and his mother, Ash had a fairly bad childhood, starting with daddy leaving not for the tales of a journey like his mother said, but he left to join a fight. A war had actually occurred early in Ash's life, and daddy was K.I.A. His mother never told him this for the fear of his reaction.
All it would take to bring these memories to return is a trigger of some sort. Something that was related to the memories would cause them to flood back. Well, when Ash and friends got over the hill to see into Pallet Town, something triggered there. Ash saw a flash in the corner of his eye from a bush. A helmet, an old ratty one from the war, was sitting in the bottom of the bush. Ash reached into the bush while his friends turned to look at him. He pulled out the helm and Broc gasped. "This is amazing." Ash said as he looked it over in his hands.
His friends gathered around and Max said, "Whoa, Ash look at the name in the helmet." Ash turned it and dropped it on the ground. The name inside the helmet read, 'Private First Class, Ketchum'. May retrieved it and looked it over herself.
A picture was tucked in the inside. She pulled it out, some corners were slightly burned away, and the picture faded. It was a photo a pretty lady with brown hair, holding a happy baby boy, and an almost adult version of Ash. There was also a girl, with blonde hair, green eyes, about half the height of Delia. She tucked it into her pocket, turned to Ash, and said, "We've got to bring this to your mom." They cascaded down the hill into town, and ran all the way home. They got in with Delia just finishing dinner.
"Hello there, I'm almost done, and then we can eat," Delia spoke in a calm voice.
"Mom, we found a helmet just outside of town," Ash said, showing her the helmet.
She looked it over for a while, then said, "It must be from the war. There's a name inside too." She read it, then spoke in a worried tone, "Oh no, oh my. How could this happen?"
"So what really happened to dad?" Ash asked in a purely annoyed tone.
After sitting down, contorting her face into different shapes, and fighting back tears, she managed to choke out,"Well, his squad had come to Kanto, because it was scheduled to return from deployment, but before they could deploy onto the ground," she stopped and held back more tears while leaning her head forward to hide her face, "a RPG slammed into the chopper as it flew over the lab. The whole thing burst into flames and shrapnel. There were no survivors; you were but a child so I lied to you."
"I can't believe it." Ash swallowed hard. "I thought my father was trash, but he was really a hero." He walked off to the living room and sat down. New memories began flowing through. His dark childhood was surfacing. All the forgotten suffering, isolation, and pure misery returned.
May came in and sat on the couch next to him. "I found this in the helmet. Who's the other girl?"
"Oh, I remember her now," Ash said. "She was my babysitter. She would come over whenever my parents went out. She was pretty looking back on her now."
"Well what happened to her?" May asked.
"I might as well share some of this, because I can barely keep track of all the thoughts in my head right now." Ash said. "It's a tragic story. It was a beautiful winter day, and she went out on a nearby lake. The ice on the lake was thin at the time, but no sign was out and she was from Johto, so she didn't know how thin the ice on the river really was. She was skating out on the ice when people gathered around with tear stained eyes. She saw the way people gathered, trying to alert her without stepping on the ice. She wasn't very surprised when a crack in the ice developed under her twirling foot."
"What happened? Did she survive?" May questioned.
"She plunged beneath the cold winter ice, and drowned." Ash struggled out. "That was the first brick in my wall."
"What?" May said, shocked.
"My wall is a metaphorical need for my own future. It also stands for my want for isolation and revenge. To lock that sea of faces outside so I can live in peace. I still remember all those things. Want to hear the story of my wall?"
"Uhh…" May stuttered out.
"Great! I love being able to share my thoughts with you." Ash interrupted. "I don't really feel like I could ever trust other people. Most of my friends wouldn't appreciate what I have to say because it involves most of them."
"Is it not very good things about them?" May asked in pure curiosity.
"That's to put it lightly." Ash said. With Ash in such a strong mood to share something and bring it off his chest, and May filled with the curiosity of what could have held Ash so tightly, Ash began. "It started with the untimely disappearance of my father. There were signs that he was dead. When I was a real young boy, my mother took me to a memorial to commemorate his unit. She was crying, but I thought she just knew someone from that unit."
"Then came a real hint. My mother always told me not to go through her dresser. It was a day after school while mom wasn't home. I got a sandwich and walked up the steps. I passed her room and saw her door open. Curious, I walked in and pulled open the bottom drawer. My father's uniform was in the drawer. I put it on and stepped up to the mirror. I thought I looked good."
"Then, I spotted a letter to mother. It was in the form of a scroll. I unrolled it, seeing black lettering. My eyes grow damp to remember a seal from his military commander embedded on the scroll. It described the scenery and how he supposedly died along with condolences."
"It said, 'It was dark all around, there was frost on the ground, when the tigers broke free.' The tigers were the enemy special forces. 'And no one survived from the Royal Fluthilier Company C. They were all left behind, most of them dead, the rest of them dying.' And that's how the high command, took my daddy, from me. I didn't believe it at first, lived in denial. I thought it was something mom faked so I wouldn't look through her drawer. I also found some ammunition."
May began to speak, saying, "Ash, I starting to regret the decision of the story."
"Then I had a dream," Ash continued. "In it, I was still a baby in a baby carriage. My mother was napping. A Meowth was stalking a Pidgey that was in the yard. The Meowth advanced and the Pidgey flew away. It flew for a few minutes, before exploding, revealing a great, dark bird that began to fly over a black, torched field. It dug its talons into the field, which reacted like flesh, blood flowing from the ground and from the uprooted ground in the bird's talons. It flew close to the ground and shrouded the ground with smoke."
"That's pretty creepy Ash. Please stop." May requested.
"Sorry, but now that I'm into it, now that can really share my feelings and bringing this tragedy off my chest, I don't think I can stop. Anyway, a great beast rose up with its bright white eyes glaring and arms extended out. It morphed again into a large silver building with bombers flying out, followed by explosions. Small creatures with full gas masks crawled for the sewers at the site of the planes and hid out. Then, the bombers all turned to white crosses. A skeleton with an army uniform on, waved goodbye and fell down."
"A British flag was on a stand, until it all collapsed except for the red plus, which bled down the stick. The apparently mechanical bird slammed into ground, rose its head, and burned into remains. The skeleton stood back up and turned into a ghost as others appeared behind him. A dove flew out of the wreckage and past the ghosts, which turned into white crosses as well. They faced the bleeding cross as the blood dribbled into a sewer drain, where the small creatures were waiting."