I was bored of playing Pokemon Black. I still loved the game, but I wanted to play something else. I picked my old Pokemon Platinum game, which I haven't touched for months.

Putting the cartridge in my 3DS, I smiled at the Giratina silhouette and picked my file. I was in a Hearthome City's Pokemon Center, and I pressed X and checked my Pokemon. The only Pokemon I had in my party was Nightmare, my Gengar. I checked my PC boxes, but they weren't there either. It was as if they vanished…

I exited the Pokemon Center and a text box popped up saying: "Your other Pokemon have been erased. Do you want new Pokemon? Yes/No"

Erased? What? I was even more confused. I pressed No, because no new Pokemon could replace my old ones. I wanted my old ones back.

After I pressed no, the trainer sprite turned completely blood red and the sign vanished which scared me. I was scared easily. A text box popped up saying:

YOU FORGOT ME.

I put my 3DS down and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. But I saw it there, and when I pressed A the trainer sprite went back to it's original color but it was rippling and distorted. Nothing like this had happened when I played before, so I knew the cartridge wasn't glitched. I decided to calm myself down by doing one of my favorite things, entering a Contest. But when I got to where the Contest Hall was supposed to be, it was gone. The ground was rippled and distorted, just like my trainer sprite. A perfectly fine sign was in the middle of the jumbled mess. I walked up to it, and pressed A.

"Something else you love has been erased. First your other Pokemon, now the Contest Hall. New game? Yes/No"

That was weird, stuff was getting erased. Why?

I pressed No again, because all this was creepy and I didn't want to start a new game. I wanted to see what else was messed up, and see if I could find out why. The trainer sprite went back to normal, and so did the empty space where the Contest Hall used to be. The sign vanished again. Another text box popped up saying:

NOW, YOU'LL FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE.

I was getting really scared now.

AND EVERYONE WILL FORGET YOU.

The trainer sprite spun around as if I used an escape rope, and I appeared in a room with four white tiles and nothing else. The background around it wasn't black, it looked as if a Pokemon used Nightmare.

"Wh-Where the heck is this?"

THIS IS THE FORGOTTEN ZONE. YOU MADE A BIG MISTAKE.

I stared at the top screen in disbelief. "...You can hear me?"

YES.

I was shaking like crazy, and I went into the corner of me and my little sister's room so I could be alone with this weird game.

"What was my mistake?!"

YOU FORGOT ME. YOU STAYED FOR A WHILE. YOU TOOK ME TO MANY CONTESTS. I WAS YOUR HIGHEST-LEVEL POKEMON. I THOUGHT YOU'D STAY FOREVER. I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME.

This voice was saying things I only recognized for one pokemon I had. "Nightmare? Is that you?"

WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE?

I sighed. Nightmare was one of my best pokemon, one of my best friends. I had caught him when he was a Gastly, and we'd been together through all the battling, the leveling, the EV training, and the contests.

"Nightmare, have you messed up my game?" I asked him, ready to fix whatever he had broken.

The trainer sprite's head disappeared, leaving a skull, neckbone, and a visible crimson hole which was the inside of the trainer's body.

"AHH!" I screeched, and dropped my 3DS. "What have you done to my trainer?!"

I ERASED HER HEAD.

I was breathing quickly. I couldn't handle too many horrific images like some teenagers could.

IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO SEE WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE FORGOTTEN.

The flesh of my trainer's arms disappeared, and showed skeleton arms covered in a mess of rotten, green veins, black blood vessels, and inflamed muscle tissue. The skeleton arms were a faded red.

"NIGHTMARE!" I screamed.

HMM?

"ST-STOP ERASING HER! YOU'RE SCARING ME!"

YOU SCARED ME, TOO. I WAS SCARED I'D BE STUCK HERE, FOREVER. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH. I KEPT TELLING MYSELF YOU'D COME BACK. BUT YOU DIDN'T. NOW YOU'LL FEEL MY PAIN.

The trainer sprite's skull disappeared, and a red fountain squirted out of the small hole where her head used to be. The bodies of my other pokemon began to appear around the small four-square room I was in, all of them seemingly dead as they were all missing at least one limb.

I could feel my eyes watering, and I wiped them with my sleeve.

I CRIED, TOO. INFERNAPE TOLD ME EVERYTHING WOULD BE OKAY. HE WAS LYING, WASN'T HE?

I didn't say anything.

A horrible loud sound came from my 3DS's speakers. It was a mixture of nails on a chalkboard and the feedback from tapping on a microphone. And it was loud. My hands flew to my ears to close them, trying to block the sound out. I could still hear it faintly because my 3DS was in front of me on the floor.

WASN'T HE?!

"I DON'T KNOW! STOP MAKING THAT NOISE!" I shrieked, my brain beginning to melt from the sheer volume of the agonizing noise.

The sound stopped, and the blood fountain stopped too. The trainer sprite's feet disappeared and her legs turned a sickly forest green. Patches of the skin were missing, and inside was gray. Other parts of the skin were stitched. Her legs just looked plain rotten.

YOU'LL REAP WHAT YOU SOW, GRACE! SINCE YOU FORGOT ME, I'LL ERASE HER, AND YOU'LL FORGET HER! THEN I'LL ERASE YOU AND EVERYONE WILL FORGET YOU EVEN EXISTED!

How the hell did he know my real name? My trainer's name was Petunia!

A text box popped up saying: "This file is rotting. Erase and start new game? Yes/No"

I was beyond freaked out. Nightmare was trying to erase my game. I pressed no, and the trainer card popped up showing the trainer with all her limbs, but they were rotting and she looked like a zombie. She also looked sad. Next to her name was ROT with a forest green background. It probably meant she was rotting.

"AHHHH!" I dropped my 3DS and pushed it away. After a few seconds, the trainer card disappeared and I slowly pulled my 3DS over. Another text box popped up saying the file was rotting and asked me if I wanted to start a new game. I pressed no again, and the entire upper half of the trainer sprite disappeared. The only thing left was the rotting legs.

M

MY

MY MemORIeS ArE ROttINg

DiD YOuR MEmoRy oF mE rOT aWAy?

A text box popped up saying: "Refresh Nightmare's memories? Yes/No"

I wanted this craziness to end, and I also wanted to help Nightmare. So I pressed yes.

The screen went black. A sad Gengar appeared. Tears had fallen down it's face and it's teeth weren't showing anymore.

…

…

Do you promise never to forget me again?

"…I promise, Nightmare." The sad Gengar faded away, and a text box appeared saying: "Nightmare's memories have been refreshed."

The game went back to the title screen. I was so happy that Nightmare had forgiven me. I decided to go see the little guy even after all he put me through. I chose my file and checked my Pokemon. All of my pokemon had returned, and I checked my PC boxes and all of my other pokemon were there too. After I exited the PC, a text box appeared. The text was purple.

I forgive you.

When I got Pokemon Y for Christmas, I realized that the Nightmare I knew in Platinum wouldn't be able to traverse the journey to the Kalos region with me. To be honest, I often missed him. Eventually I beat the game, and I shelved Platinum in favor of Y. But Nightmare wasn't shelved along with Platinum. After I had beat Y, I began to train the Gastly I named "Nightmare" that was in my box.

The day Nightmare evolved into a Gengar, he said something to me. And I stopped missing my pal completely, because there was no longer a reason to.

I'm reborn.

Nightmare went on to be part of my battle box. He was now under the ownership of my Y trainer, Seffy. And I loved him, always.

Never again did I forget any of my pokemon.