Well, i have lots of pain to share in that matter.
About half a year ago, i had Pokémon Firered, always in the same place, one day i went to a friend of my mom's place with my mom for about two days, i looked for firered the day before, nothing, i ended up not taking it (or so i think, it may actually be there, i was a bit emo in that day so i can't recall) i come back, i spent days looking for it, i threw everything that was in my room to the floor in order to find it, i moved stuff aside, i did this for about 2-3 days a week for about 4 months.
Then i gave up.
My Gardevoir, my Jolteon, my Salamence, my Persian, my Dragonite, they were all there, i declared them dead.
I still miss them, they were awesome friends and amazing battle mates.
*tear in my eye falls down*
But yes, buy a new one, a friend gave me his Leaf Green because he didn't play it. (I had emerald, but leafgreen was a better game to level my pokémon because of the sevii islands)