Forget-Me-Never

**Forget-Me-Never** is the fifth Season 2 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the thirty-ninth episode overall.

## Summary

Tommy swallows Vanishem in his sleep and awakens the next day to find that no one recognizes him anymore.

## Characters

### Primary

* Leeko
* Tommy
* Moonlight Man
* Milly
* Vanishem (*debut*)

### Secondary

* Aurora Man
* Bubbles
* Chef Peppermint
* Chief Gordy
* Daisy (*no dialogue*)
* Felix
* Gamba (*no dialogue*)
* Gene
* Hover
* King Leonardo
* Lady Chanter
* Madeline
* Manny
* Mayor Bay Brittleton
* Professor Antico
* Sandy
* Sir Chanter
* Sir Pathogen
* Snowdrop (*no dialogue*)
* Slammer (*no dialogue*)
* Twilight Man
* Whitehead
* Viruses (*no dialogue*)
* Various unnamed Puffy villagers

## Episode summary

The episode begins on an ominous night at Castle Leonardo. King Leonardo is perusing Nebula Enterprises' monster catalogue in the throne room and decides to pick one that is "super dangerous". The Monster delivery system whirs into life and produces a tiny ghost-like creature called Vanishem. As King Leonardo looks on with disappointment and confusion, the creature phases through the throne room door and flies down the hall past Twilight Man and Aurora Man who notices it and get out of the way. Vanishem then flies into Tommy's bedroom and plants itself inside of the snoozing turtle. This causes Tommy to wake in a startle, but he fails to understand what actually happened and goes back to sleep. The next morning, Tommy wakes up and goes through his morning routine, including brushing his teeth and washing his face. A short while later, Tommy greets King Leonardo in the throne room, but right away something is wrong, as King Leonardo doesn't appear to recognize Tommy at all despite their long history. It is then explained by Vanishem to the audience that she attacks her victims by making them "forgotten forever".

Tommy initially assumes King Leonardo is playing a practical joke, but it soon becomes clear that Leonardo is not joking, and he demands Tommy to leave the castle at once. Unable to comprehend this situation, Tommy resists, which prompts Leonardo to call Sir Pathogen and the Viruses to evict him. Tommy is outraged when he sees the Viruses are "going along" with the act and proceeds to escort himself out in a huff. As Tommy leaves, he passes by Sir Chanter and Lady Chanter and rants to them about the situation, but they do not recognize him either. After leaving the castle, Tommy goes to visit Mayor Bay at his villa in hopes of gaining a new job in town. However, the mayor also fails to remember him, insisting that the two have never met. Tommy begins to think it might be him that has a problem, but he still accuses Mayor Bay of being in cahoots with the king to pull a prank on him, and his angry outburst causes the sheep to ram him, launching him through the air and into Puffy Town proper.

After landing in town, Tommy soon sees that nobody there recognizes him either. Tommy then breaks down in tears as the rest of town looks on in concern and confusion at this eccentric stranger in their midst. Tommy tries to get Chief Gordy to arrest everyone in town for "conspiring against him", but after a lengthy misunderstanding, Gordy reveals that he does not recognize Tommy either, which prompts the distraught turtle to run out of town in a panic. Just out of town on a bridge, Milly and Moonlight Man are talking about how King Leonardo ordered a monster the night before, but that they do not know what has become of it. Tommy shows up at the bridge and desperately calls out to them for assistance, explaining that King Leonardo is conspiring against him. Milly and Moonlight Man take pity on him and pretend to remember who he is, but then step aside for a moment to try and put together the situation. Despite trying not to upset him, Tommy overhears them and realizes they have also forgotten him and runs off into the countryside. Milly and Moonlight Man begin to wonder if the monster was responsible for this, but fail to notice Tommy leaving and lose him.

Desperate to find even one person who remembers him, Tommy runs into Leeko out in the fields. Tommy then confuses Leeko's natural kindness toward strangers as him remembering him and overjoyed to have one friend in the world. Out on Seashell Beach, Tommy has an existential moment as Leeko looks on with curiosity. Tommy then promises to turn over a new leaf and be a good person from then onward, as Leeko grows more and more confused. Sandy then shows up out of the water to greet Leeko and asks who Tommy is, causing the melodramatic turtle to faint. Meanwhile, back in Puffy Town, the Puffies notice that the strange turtle that came through earlier is in a lot of their photographs, and initially conclude that the pictures were forged. Meanwhile, King Leonardo is looking at his own photo-book at the castle and notices Tommy is in there as well. Leonardo then consults with N.L.E to explain the situation, insisting that he never ordered a monster, but Gene insists otherwise. Moonlight Man and Milly then learn about the monster's presence, and Moonlight Man is able to identify her as Vanishem based on the available clues. They then put two and two together and track down Tommy at Seashell Beach with Leeko.

Milly and Manny play nice to Tommy and invite him to the castle for tea and cookies, using a picture they found of him to persuade him to come. While at the tea table, Tommy gets them to admit they still don't remember him, but they are making an effort to. Moonlight Man then tells Tommy that he has been attacked by the monster Vanishem, and that unless he goes through a painful procedure, he will remain forgotten. Tommy agrees to let Moonlight Man spin him around violently using a grabber arm in the castle dungeon until Vanishem is forced out, and the group then immediately remembers who he is. After King Leonardo barges in and inadvertently confirms remembering Tommy, the group spots Vanishem trying to get away and chases after it. As Puffy Town remembers Tommy as well, Vanishem passes through the main plaza as the group continues to make chase. As everyone watches, Milly tells Leeko to vacuum-mouth Vanishem, which he does. From there, no one recognizes who Leeko is and gather around him curiously. The episode ends as Leeko desperately tries to call out to the crowd, and Vanishem escapes from Leeko after he struggles with the ending wipe which also seems to have forgotten him.

## Trivia

* This is the eleventh episode in *The Beginning* series to not feature a Copy Ability.
* This is the third episode where Tommy cries.
* This is the first episode to have an unresolved ending, although the fourth wall break implies that Vanishem may have somehow disappeared after being spat out by Leeko.
* In the scene where Tommy bumps into Leeko, it is unknown if Leeko really does remember Tommy, or if it is only thought that he does.
* This episode aired on Independence Day/4th of July.
* The episode’s title is a reference to the song *Forget Me Never* by Elvis Presley.
* This episode has a couple of fourth wall-breaking gags:
	+ Vanishem addressing the audience.
	+ Hover showing up at the end and complaining about his own minor role.
	+ Leeko struggling with the closing star at the end.
* When Tommy is searching for someone who recognizes him, *Fur Elise* by Beethoven can be briefly heard in the background.