Pokemon Memory Moon Version

I got Pokemon Moon right when it came out in 2016. And for a while, I couldn't stop playing. But I eventually got bored of it, and put the cartridge back in its box.

One night, I wanted to replay it. I wanted to feel the great feelings I felt before. My team was still fresh in my mind: a Mimikyu named Kiki, my starter Primarina named Katy, an Alolan Raichu named Shocker, a Flareon called Flare, a Lucario named after my little brother, Blake, and, of course, Nebby the Lunala. I put the game in, loaded my file, and excitedly started to play.

Something was wrong, though. I could feel it instantly. A heart rate monitor beeped in the background as my character opened her eyes. She turned her head, showing me her mom and multiple unknown characters looking to be doctors.

A text box opened up. "She's awake! It's a miracle!" The character name showed that the speaker was her mother. She was doing a cheering animation that I don't remember existing.

The cutscene continued as the camera zoomed out from a first-person point of view; my character was inside a hospital bed, wires all around her. Despite that, her mother was gleefully hugging her, smiling.

It ended as the mother let go and the doctors surrounded my character, removing the wires. After that, she could stand up and move.

I didn't remember this at all. I decided to open the Pokemon menu to see my party again. It was the team I remembered, but something was odd; they were all named ??????????.

I clicked on Kiki the Mimikyu. The following things that happened were even stranger than the names. The screen went black and some text appeared. "Tell me something," it said. "Did you leave because you forgot about us?"

The text disappeared in the time it took me to read it. "Or was it because you got bored of us?"

A prompt was provided, but it went away before I could answer.

"You don't need to answer. I already know why. You simply got bored." I didn't know how to respond, or if I even could. "Let me ask you something else."

"Do you know how hard it is for a caught Pokemon to function without their beloved Trainers? Do you know how hard it is for a caught Pokemon to see their Trainer seemingly dead?" The text paused for a second, but then continued. "Did you know that your 'characters' you toy with quite literally cannot live without you?"

There was no way I could answer. "Do you see that despairing mother, seeing her darling daughter die?" An image phased in, showing the character-no, Selene's-mother crying at her bedside. "That was your fault. Do you see her two friends mourning her?" The image of the mother had its place taken by an image of Hau and Lillie looking at Selene, barely holding tears inside. "That was your fault. Do you see her Pokemon, at her side for so long, seeing her state?" The image again changed to a picture of Katy, her Primarina, desperately cradling her. "That was your fault. All because this world bends to your whims...How sad. Even worse, if you hadn't been here quick enough, she wouldn't have made it."

I talked quietly through the mic. "I didn't know."

"I understand that. But you need to understand something too." The person talking had been on the lower screen, and was shown to be my Mimikyu, Kiki, herself. "You need to understand that we are here too. We need to coexist." I nodded in agreement. "Promise to try to do that, and everything will be alright."

Since then, I have followed the code set by Kiki. I don't take breaks for longer than 1 year from any one game. I still maintain a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes I have to play.