The Quest for the Legends

Chapter 77: Home

Well, that's it. That's the end of The Quest for the Legends. Today it has been sixteen years since I started this story, and now it's done.

(Well, it's technically the twentieth over here by now. But I've always counted days by when I go to bed.)

Thanks to everyone who's been reading this over the years. I'm so grateful to have had people sharing this weird, stubborn journey with me. It really means a lot.

The chapter's mostly character wrap-up; not too much to say about it. I hope it gives you most of the closure you were hoping for.

I guess this is also where I officially announce the author's commentary. Because apparently just writing this thing for sixteen years isn't enough for me, I'm going to set out rereading the ILCOE from the beginning, writing commentary on each chapter, and making the commented versions viewable here for your reading pleasure. The idea would be that for anyone interested, you can read along with me and we can all laugh at how ridiculous it is together. It would make sense to do this on some kind of schedule (weekly?), so I'll probably attempt that. Knowing me I'll probably be impatient and start it this weekend or something.

That was a really beautiful ending.

But the real question wasn’t answered… who is Alan’s mother? (There’s probably an epilogue or something coming that’ll explain that, but still!)


Anyway, I’ve probably been reading this since middle school, and I have to say, that was a great read! Can’t wait to reread the earlier chapters with commentary!

Bwahaha. Alan's mom is some random woman you don't know, because Ash met her as an adult. That's it, that's the grand reveal I used to insist was going to be in the epilogue. Eventually I realized that no, this silly "haha take that shippers" is not in fact the awesome clever reveal that I thought it would be when I was fourteen. The fabled epilogue is not actually happening, I'm sorry to say. I think this chapter wrapped up everything that needed to be.

Thanks for reading! Hope the lack of epilogue doesn't disappoint too much.

aight so 12 years later im a grad school graduate and still here, i started with this in 6th grade when i was 11… jeez

you know the whole time, THE WHOLE TIME, ever since basically day 1, i was concerned and scared you'd make it end horribly and everyone would die and the whole thing would have been for nothing basically. all right so sure a couple dudes (well… i mean they're more than just "dudes" but whatever) DID die but it was kind of "the only that could have happened" given the backstory we know about them and some hints in your character rambles - chaletwo always wanted to be "the hero" and here we are with him being as much of a hero as it's possible for anyone to ever be, sacrificing himself against his wishes to save the world. The character arcs end as they should and even if it's sad it's not - it's not unnecessarily morbid. It's logical. And I appreciate that. Too much is edgy for the sake of edgy and based on what I know about you and the sheer AGE of this fic it wouldn't have entirely surprised me to see it turn it that way. Glad it didn't.

I'm curious though how May's life plays out after she talks to the police, though. Do you have anything thought for that / are you willing to elaborate? This specific resolution is something I've been waiting for for a while so I'm a little disappointed we don't learn more about the outcome. I recognize it's useless as far as her character arc and ending go but I'm still curious to see how the bureaucracy takes it, I guess.

Anyway wow I can't believe this is done, I don't know how to deal with my life now lmao

Haha, yeah, sometimes I'd see people expecting this fic to end super-tragically and it always kind of amused me because, yeah, I tend to be a pretty depressing writer (look at Morphic). But this story was always meant to have a pretty nice, satisfying ending, and I never felt the urge to change that fundamentally. Mark and May and Alan were always going to make it out. I only ever considered killing like two of the Pokémon. (Flygon narrowly escaped the axe here, and there was a time I was considering killing Weavile, mostly to have it established that you can't detect a Dark-type ghost. But nah, Floatzel and Weavile deserved to ride off into the sunset together.)

I'm curious though how May's life plays out after she talks to the police, though. Do you have anything thought for that / are you willing to elaborate? This specific resolution is something I've been waiting for for a while so I'm a little disappointed we don't learn more about the outcome. I recognize it's useless as far as her character arc and ending go but I'm still curious to see how the bureaucracy takes it, I guess.

That's something I really wanted to just leave open. What matters is May's decision to confess and confront what happened; establishing a canonical version of exactly how that turns out would distract from it by inviting concerns about exactly how fair/just/realistic that outcome was, and every reader would probably have a different idea of exactly what that balance should be, and I'm just not particularly interested in trying to definitively draw that line myself. As far as I'm concerned, you should imagine whatever feels right to you there.

I can tell you she definitely loses her license (but will have a chance to reapply later, and will probably get it), and that she is a juvenile and the legal system is not unreasonable. Like, she's not looking at anything horrific and life-destroying. She will be okay. She probably takes up drawing and diversifies her life a bit and eventually returns to Pokémon training as a healthier, more balanced person.

I guess asking about May's life wasn't the way I wanted to phrase it - I'm more interested in what happens to her in terms of the legal system. You said she loses her license - does she go to detention like she fears, though? Don't ask me why I'm so interested in this minor detail lmao

nvm ignore me i had slightly misread something so theres no point in me asking lmao

That's the bit I really want open, I'm afraid! Do you think she should? I honestly don't know and don't want to.