06/19/2009: Happy Birthday, Quest for the Legends
On June 19th, 2002, my parents got married after having been engaged for, oh, fifteen years or so. They took us the kids with them on their honeymoon (which consisted of a trip to the bakery). Later that day, it seems my twelve-year-old self was inspired to start writing a new Pokémon story after the one about Molzapart and Rainteicune stopped being as interesting and I had found the first other Pokémon fanfiction I had seen on the Internet. So I made a Word document called "pokémonsaga.doc" (pokémonstory.doc) and wrote into it the sentence, "Mark lived in a very small village." And my life would never be the same again.Now, seven years and oodles of revisions later, I have just started chapter forty-nine of this same story that the Internet miraculously has not yet become tired of. In the meanwhile, I have actually figured out what the plot is about (a comparitively recent development), written two longer spin-off stories and a one-shot, rewritten the same chapters about two hundred times, created a complex system of acronyms to describe all these versions, and spent my clearly far too abundant free time making various versions of minipages for it on my website and in the more recent past blabbing on about it in a blog.
On to more important business, because I do this for my website and my fic deserves to be subjected to the same horror just this once:
Happy birthday to you,
Mark, May, Chaletwo,
and all the other characters,
and the storyline too!
No, don't even ask how this is supposed to make any sense. Shush, you! Bad poetry isn't meant to make any sense!
In other news, my dad was messing with some settings on the server (this messing around will eventually lead to my being able to update my site easily from anywhere that has Internet access, so it will be worth it in the end!), and I just realized now that this prevents me from actually updating the live copy of the site (including things like this minipage). I can still post this entry, since I do that through the forum interface, but I can't upload any actual pages, so I won't be able to actually make the birthday updates I meant to make on the minipage.
(And I just might have spent today watching Gurren Lagann and the first Pokémon movie and reading and fangirling with elyvorg instead of working on the birthday preparations, and I just might be going to a summerhouse tomorrow (which is technically today, hence my posting the birthday entry now, but it's half past two AM and I have not yet gone to bed) where I won't be able to continue to work on them either, but that is totally not the reason the things I promised won't actually be going up on the birthday itself but a few days later. It's really all because of that server-messing-around and all my dad's fault. Totally.)
Anyway, I hope this attempt at an apology in the form of a long rambly snarky Quest Blog entry makes up for it, and note that I will make all that stuff over the next days and put it up.
Happy birthday, dear fic. I will eternally love you to subatomic bits despite all your cute little flaws, occasional lack of making any sense, overcomplicated plot, characters with far too many issues, legendaries, poor descriptions, two extra legs on Ariados and worst title ever. Just like Chaletwo loves the hell out of those iddle widdle dragons he created no matter how much of a danger they might pose to the continued existence of the world (pssh, who cares about the world anyway?)! May you live long and prosper, but not so long that I won't finish you sometime within this century, at which point I will dig your rotting corpse out of the grave and rewrite you all over again.
:3
(Yes, I seem to be high on something. It must be that blasted air I keep inhaling.)
COMMENTARY DONE
Comments
Pure Umbreon (06/19/2009 02:56:27)
Happy Birthday TQftL! :D (though, for me, it is still technically about an hour away).
Kinkajou Karata (06/19/2009 03:22:35)
Yay! B-day! I've only known of this fic for just two days, and yet I'm already hooked. This story inspired me to start writing my own Pokemon fanfic, which I know will probably never compare, but hell. Let it try. Are you still going to post chapters on IALCOTN? I seem to like that version best because it's so descriptive. :3
Butterfree (06/19/2009 03:56:12)
The IALCOTN is on a bit of a hiatus, since the ILCOE is so far in now that I want to press on and finish that far more than I want to rewrite all the chapters yet again for the IALCOTN. If I get writer's block on the ILCOE, I might start feeling like writing more of the IALCOTN again, but until then, I'm afraid it's probably going to be stuck at six chapters. Of course, once I finish the ILCOE, I'll press through with the IALCOTN, write some more chapters from scratch up until a point where I don't think the ILCOE chapters need to be edited as seriously, and then combine the two versions and start just modifying the ILCOE.
(And yes, you definitely should like the IALCOTN best since it's, well, better. It's just not as far in.)
Welcome, by the way. It's always nice to see new readers. :3
Lugia (06/19/2009 04:55:30)
Every time I comment on a blog post, I sound like a noob -.- but anyway, happy bday fic, best one the internet ever made. *Toasts*
elyvorg (06/19/2009 10:21:08)
And now we call in Sparky to make the fic a birthday cake. Yes? 8D
piplup165 (06/19/2009 14:19:52)
Happy Birthday TQftL! I've only been here since late May, but I've already read the ILCOE and I am planning to read Scyther's Story soon. I can't wait for the new styles and such.
Butterfree (06/19/2009 14:28:34)
And now we call in Sparky to make the fic a birthday cake. Yes? 8DYes. Yes, we do.
:3
Chaos16 (06/19/2009 19:38:59)
Happy birthday to the fic, and many more! I've probably been following the fic since late 2007, and I've been hooked ever since. Butterfree, keep up the fantastic work… because I don't think I've ever been this obsessed about something on the Internet, and I can hardly afford to divide my attention on anything else. :D
Giratar (06/20/2009 19:45:18)
Well, since last month I've been reading this, and I'm so glad that a new chapter is out. I just read it over and over.
Happy Birthday, The Quest for the Legends! :3
Shadow (06/20/2009 19:47:39)
Can the cake be chocolate? I like chocolate cake.
Happy birthday, TQftL! :D
Sands Buisle (06/20/2009 19:59:23)
Happy birthday to you,
You live in a pokezoo,
You look like a Stunky,
And, you smell like one too!
Madagascar's birthday song! Pokemon Style!
twiggylover (06/20/2009 20:29:04)
Yaaaaaaaay!
Im a new fan, but I have been reading till chapter 26. HAPPY birthday!
grrr we've got an open desscusiun sandstorm..
Fox McCloud (06/23/2009 01:50:17)
Aaaaand the main page of the thing still says 6 years… Lol. Can't wait for your dad to finish that, then you won't have any "excuse" to not post on trips. Lulz.
Shiny Froslass (06/23/2009 10:07:27)
Happy Birthday, Fic! Wow… I've been reading it for a year in 3 days! ^_^ And, It's inspired to write my own fanfic that has only 2 chapters. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
twiggylover (06/23/2009 10:23:40)
I readed it in 3 days, but anyway its great. although quite sad..
opaltiger (06/23/2009 14:34:20)
I'll fetch the vodka.
twiggylover (06/23/2009 17:15:53)
I'll bring the gin.
ShadowDusk (06/23/2009 22:14:09)
? i don't git it.
Bob (06/23/2009 22:36:30)
And my anti-spam Pokemon is the wonderfully six-legged Ariados. Oh irony.
twiggylover (06/24/2009 05:58:11)
If we had any spam filters then you, bob, wouldnt be here.
Sands Buisle (06/24/2009 12:14:11)
Twiggy! That's not nice!
Anyway, some of us aren't allowed alcahole.
twiggylover (06/24/2009 18:43:59)
Ye, some of us. Like me! I would die from over heating if I were to drink. Its killing hot here!
I gues you know where, sandstorm.
Yay he called me twiggy! My favourite pokemon. Anyway I think you can figure where I am..
Edit: Bob, If you are a user who takes part here, then Im sorry for saying that. I sometimes let out some mean jokes, but I dont mean them! Most of the time.. But here its nlot serious!
Fox McCloud (06/25/2009 04:21:08)
I consider it the 7-year anniversary… but I wonder… And this question is directed at Butterfree… Would you call this a birthday or an anniversary…? Subtle difference, but I just want to know…
Whew, blanked out for a second on SpamPoke Ambipom.
Butterfree (06/25/2009 18:11:25)
Well, I call it a birthday because this fic is my baby. D:
twiggylover (06/25/2009 19:31:30)
Lol! Anyway, I made a new suggestion in the forum is dying thread.
Shinyletal (06/30/2009 02:57:01)
I have been reading since you had only chapter 26 :D Happy Birthday Chaletwo and Chalenor!
shadow_lugia (07/08/2009 02:01:15)
Ha, I can't even remember what 6th grade was like (even though I remember my schedule and where my locker was o_O), but I'm constantly thinking, "Oh, I recently started Pokemon, I haven't been reading this fic for that long, I'm a noob on the forums…"
And then I remember that I started on Pokemon three years ago x_x
If I started TCoD about a year after that (when I had enough time to spare from the obssession over my Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald games) then I've been reading this fic for about two years, and maybe I've been on the forums for one and a half. I can't check accurately, though, since (in the words of Vendetta - I mean, TES - "the forums crapped themselves and died."
I can't remember clearly, but I think I came in while Chapter 33 was in progress. Or earlier. Or later. I really don't know. I am very sure that I came in before the Quest Blog and Scyther's Story.
And I've been on this site so long that I've begun to develop Butterfree's personality, rambling on and on about the same pointless thing… And have begun to write stories in my head about Scyther.
(Now that I look at it again, this thing looks so long it looks more like something I'd write on my own blog (if I had one) rather than a comment on someone else's. Yep, I have a Butterfree thing going on here.)
(Oh and I will continue to bore you… for a bit longer! My first spammifier was Unown A. So I typed in Unown A.
I was WRONG.)
twiggylover (07/08/2009 02:42:48)
I started pokemon over eight year ago,
But started TCoD a month ago. Difference?
One is more bloody and interesting (not to mention scarring!) and on the other there are no comments.
Leafpool (07/08/2009 14:46:18)
Heh, I don't remember when I found TCoD, but I do remember that TQftL was on either chapter 26 or 27 when I found it. I joined the forums on November 26, 2005, which means that I've been at the forums at lot longer than it feels like I've been. o.o Started on Pokémon in 2003 (I wish I was an older fan… actually an older video gamer in general Dx)
Someone (07/08/2009 23:24:11)
I believe I started reading this three years ago. Stopped for a year, and came back.
It's come a long way, may it live to make a decade.
Kitsune (07/09/2009 16:09:27)
I know it's a little late (my Internet connection laughs at me behind my back) but yay for TQftL still being in existence! Though on the Introduction page, should the line "six years" now be changed to "seven years"? Unless it shouldn't, then please forgive me.
Butterfree (07/09/2009 16:36:23)
It should, but I still can't access the server, so it's stuck like that.
jokey23 (07/09/2009 21:12:31)
Pokemon's been a part of my life since I was 4, when Pokemon Red and Blue came out. They were the first games I'd ever played, but now, at 14, TQftL is my favorite way to experience the joy that is Pokemon. I started when the fic killed off Suicune, and I'll stay with it to the end. three cheers for Butterfree and the Quest for the Legends! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
puredragon222 (07/10/2009 13:19:37)
Pokemon has been a part of my life since good old 1999 and I'm not stopping now! Also, Mark seems a bit too lucky. He finds a Dratini (I know that loads were released, but still) and a Letal. Maybe he has some kind of pseudo-legendary connection, since May found Larvitar while she was with Mark.
Butterfree (07/10/2009 23:32:11)
Leta is not all that rare, though; the Leta family is a lot more common than the other pseudo-legendaries.
Scyther (07/11/2009 19:09:16)
I learned to read on Pokemon, read extensively on Harry Potter, and read obsessively on this. Yata.
twiggylover (07/12/2009 11:16:47)
Ironically, pokemon made devasting changes to my life. Who would have believed that my english would get good by playing pokemon on my GBA?
jokey23 (07/12/2009 14:57:40)
Pokemon seems to be the place that a lot of people I know started to read, myself included. Err… it was the reason I like to read, anyway
twiggylover (07/12/2009 16:42:34)
Same here.
Lol.
X (07/12/2009 20:11:54)
Heh, I just found this thanks to me finding Morphic on TV Tropes… looks like I need to add to the Fanfic Recommendations List…
elyvorg (07/12/2009 21:57:35)
:O Morphic is on TV Tropes? Where?
Butterfree (07/12/2009 22:31:14)
It's on the Fan Fic Recommendations page for Pokémon. I was quite puzzled.
twiggylover (07/13/2009 09:00:52)
Your all so sinister….
SilverLatios47 (07/14/2009 20:38:36)
i learned to read by playing Yellow xD
Leafpool (07/14/2009 20:56:35)
I was in third grade by the time I was into Pokémon. If Pokémon taught me to read I have serious mental issues. :x
… actually I learned to read at the age of two/three, which was before Pokémon was released in the US anyway.
SandStormBuisle (07/15/2009 19:54:13)
Urm, Butterfree, I can't log in.
Butterfree (07/15/2009 20:08:07)
What happens when you try to log in?
SandStormBuisle (07/16/2009 05:40:48)
It goes immediatly to the forum but doesn't log me in.
Sands Buisle (07/16/2009 05:42:15)
Managed on one computer, but I can't on my laptop.
SandStormBuisle (07/18/2009 05:36:25)
I still can't log in!
ShadowNc (07/18/2009 14:46:52)
June 19? The Quest for the Legends was made on June 19? My birthday is the same as my second favorite book? Well, FANFIC. AND it was the EXACT SAME year my little brother was born, at 12:43, less than forty-five minutes from the same day the first sentance was written. Or typed. Wow. Well, anyway, happy 7th birthday TQFTL. Not much of an acronim, but okay.
twiggylover (07/18/2009 18:10:04)
Oops.
Aaron (07/19/2009 03:19:09)
Yay! Happy birthday. Too lazy to register. Sorry :).
SilverLatios47 (07/20/2009 20:45:54)
Over a month w/o an update now xD
Butterfree (07/21/2009 15:34:44)
At least I'm getting on with the chapter. :P And I'm making the Volcaryu style!
shayminluv (07/23/2009 22:09:02)
June 19th? that's my birthday too!