Pikachusgoodbye

If you've been a fan of Pokémon since the very beginning, you're almost guaranteed to remember the emotional scene waiting for you below.

Way back in the show's first season which originally aired in 1998 (feel old yet?), an episode called Pikachu's Goodbye found its way to our screens. Even now, more than 20 years later, we can't help but feel the odd tear roll down our cheeks as Ash tells Pikachu to leave. If you have a deep childhood connection with these characters, it's genuinely heartbreaking.

The Pokémon Company decided to force everyone into reliving this childhood trauma on Twitter, and Ash's voice actress at the time, Veronica Taylor, commented on the scene in question. She notes that this was "just one of the many incredibly emotional scenes" she worked on, before revealing that she was actually nine months pregnant at the time.

Now, this writer won't pretend to know anything about what it's like to be pregnant, but it's hard to imagine pulling off such an emotionally demanding scene during such a time. Hats off to you, Veronica; we'll never stop bawling our eyes out at this.

Between this, the Butterfree scene, and Ash's 'moment' in the first movie, we're actually surprised we even survived our childhoods at all.

[source twitter.com, via comicbook.com]