The Quest for the Legends

Prologue (with commentary)
Chapter 1: The Pokémon on the Road (with commentary)

And that's me, rambling about the beginning of the fic while rereading it. Hope you find some of it interesting!

I'm vaguely planning to try to release one chapter every Sunday, but I can't entirely promise I can keep that schedule - I wrote a lot more on these chapters than I thought, so goodness knows what I'll do with some of the longer ones.

Chapter 2: The Book (commentary)

This one's got a lot of fun stuff about all my terrible fake legendaries (including the original art I made of the Color Dragons and the Waraider herd in MS Paint when I was twelve), the hand of destiny, Mark being a socially awkward penguin, and a lot of griping about how nothing in this chapter whatsoever makes any sense.

You'll probably get both chapters three and four next week!

Chapter 3: Vuiiii! (commentary)
Chapter 4: Cleanwater City (commentary)

These two short chapters feature melodrama, my English continuing to be amazing, me doing some Description™, a hilarious conversation about how Rick can totally take over the world but it's okay because he cares for his brother, and Charmander actually being a character in definitely the best scene to happen so far only for him to then spend the entire next chapter not being a character again.

I've almost finished commenting on chapter five too, so the pace is still going well!

Chapter 5: The Lake of Purity (commentary)

This time around, some things actually start happening, but only after a long sequence about exactly what buttons you press to set up a Pokédex and exactly what Mark and a hotel receptionist say to each other. I also tell you more about how bad the illegal training subplot is, how much better everything is in the IALCOTN, and how much I hated description. Also, there's May! And that one time Charmander gained two levels against a Rattata.

Chapter 6: The Mammal, the Monster and the Mental Change (commentary)

This chapter features an unnecessarily complicated alliterative title for no particular reason, Eevee being cute and having apparently entirely forgotten about his mom possibly being dead, Mark continuing to treat his Pokémon extremely inconsistently, Rick's irrelevant junior trainers who are directly based on particular trainer sprites, and some decidedly silly legendary battles.

I'm actually two chapters ahead now, having almost finished the commentary for chapter eight. It's nice to have a buffer; it also gives me a bit of opportunity to look forward in a given commentary.

Chapter 7: Charmeleon's Trainer (commentary)

This week, May infodumps at us, I spend a lot of time continuing to build up drama about Charmeleon's evolution only to not really follow up on it, and I make a terrible, terrible writing decision in order to not have to write any actual strategizing and problem-solving.

Chapter 8: The Master of the Clones (commentary)

This week's chapter features even more tedious junior trainer battles, Mark still failing to pay any attention to Sandshrew, my English skills being amazing in a dramatic line, awesome foreshadowing, me being bad at writing Mark liking Lugia, me hoping readers will buy a very bullshit assertion that he's only beating these legendaries so easily because he's so obsessed with legendaries, Rick's baffling idea of security, a long sequence about infiltrating an illegal cloning lab that's pretty much exactly like I wrote it when I was twelve, and Catertwo's day in the limelight. The commentary also includes a look at pre-HMMRCIG Mewtwo^2 and Mewtwo and the posters I drew with Rick's superclone ideas.

Chapter 9: Mew's Escape (commentary)

This week, Mark has an incredibly half-assed battle against Rick, I show you my amazing graphic design skills in my early artwork of the Element Badge, Rick gives Mark the abused, brainwashed Mew only for the story to immediately swerve into an unrelated detour about fishing, I make a terrible attempt to excuse giving my characters pseudo-legendaries, and I take a scene about Mew being silly and playing with a lamp and replace it with Mew being a Serious Dramatic Important Legendary With No Personality. And in the middle of all this I go off on an overly personal ramble about bullying.

Allll right, I reeeeally need to go to sleep and I haven't quite finished rambling about chapter 10 and even if I did finish that I'd want to proofread it. Let's skip this week and let me finish off this chapter without rushing, and that way I'll be more likely to have a buffer by next week and be able to do some two-chapter Sundays again. Apologies for the delay!

Chapter 10: The Mew Hunter (commentary)

This commentary features a lot of me complaining about my own characters being out of character, analyzing things I wrote in light of stuff I realized years later, nostalgic rambling, my amazing original Fangcat art and description, Mark's developing psychic powers, May being the best character, things I managed to make worse in the ILCOE, and ellipses. So many ellipses.

Chapter 11: The Lizard and the Mantis (commentary)
Chapter 12: Let There Be Light (commentary)

In this week's two shorter commentaries, I talk about the fic's bizarre timeline, The Gamesharked Skarmory, the Scyther/Charmeleon rivalry subplot, prophetic dreams, kid me's efforts to write about mental health when I knew nothing about mental health, and my most hilarious failure at writing May being a competent battler yet.

Chapter 13: The Black Desert (commentary)

This week, Mark and May explore an ominously named desert because May socially awkward penguins Mark into it, I lovingly describe my very first completely original fake Pokémon, I properly introduce Mitch without having any idea what's actually up with him, Mew makes his most random appearance (or is it), and May almost dies, because mortal peril is a crucial component of all the best stories.

Chapter 14: Thief and Victim (commentary)

This week on The Quest for the Legends, we learn of May's edgy past and get to know Taylor; I try to move as quickly as possible past the bit with the illegal training plot point; we see one of the fic's only references to Team Rocket (from the original); and I unexpectedly like the chapter a lot more than expected.

Chapter 15: Darkness and Poison (commentary)
Chapter 16: The Third Badge (commentary)

Two chapters this week again! This time, I write in a character just to introduce another one of my ridiculously morbid fakemon; Sandshrew evolves and undergoes a sudden personality shift; May continues to not sound terribly competent but then actually does do something vaguely interesting, finally; I forget Dratini exists, again; we see the least interesting of the fic's gym battle twists; and Mitch is Mysterious™.

Chapter 17: The Shark and the Serpent (commentary)

In this chapter, May leaves Mark behind, Mark finally learns about the Pokémon Festival that's like the biggest event in the entire region, Mark explicitly picks up on the fact Victor is lying to him but then does not react to this in any way whatsoever, there is a comedy routine pretty much straight out of the original, a sailor threatens to sue Mark, we see the sole appearance of the fic's most unnecessary fake Pokémon, and I muse on filler.

Chapter 18: Enemies Forever (commentary)

In this chapter, May breezily acts like she didn't just leave Mark behind in Scorpio City, Mitch may or may not have remote soporific abilities, I poke fun at fourteen-year-old typos, we pointlessly watch Nurse Joy of Scorpio City transfer Sandslash, Marge gets a makeover, I clumsily try to justify making Mark not use Scyther immediately, Dratini gets to evolve after a very quick and kludgy paragraph acknowledging that he's neglected, the Scyther-Charmeleon subplot continues dramatically, I reference Satan, and I show you where, once upon a time, the fic also referenced George Bush and Saddam Hussein.

Chapter 19: Good or Evil? (commentary)
Chapter 20: The Warning (commentary)

Two chapters again, because I felt like it! In these chapters, I continue to be terrible at time, May tells Mark to stop whining about nearly being murdered, I fail to deal with the Scyther situation in any way whatsoever, we leave Aquarium City after spending like a chapter and a half in it, I speculatively rewrite the terrible, terrible Pokémon Center Chaletwo poster, Alan retells some Molzapart and Rainteicune, I manage to write Ash's Pikachu severely out of character, and we go over some of the hilarious ways that Alan has been a dick over the years. In the meantime, nobody is taking the whole child murder thing nearly as seriously as they should.

The Pokémon Festival - May 21st: Evolution (commentary)

We finally start the Pokémon Festival arc! In this chapter, Mark is actually pretty good apart from the bit where he thinks everyone would be seriously tempted to throw a Pokéball if standing in front of a legendary, we learn that Eevee purr in this universe, the Pokémon Festival organizers are terrible, May is apparently better at recognizing her Pokémon from a distance than Mark is, and we watch a fun family event involving throwing rocks at Pokémon.

The Pokémon Festival - May 22nd: The Attack Approval (commentary)

In this chapter that's 90% irrelevant narrative detour that nothing ever comes of, I poke fun at my fifteen-year-old self's adverb usage, Mark manages to be a terrible person after doing so well last chapter, we resolve the illegal training subplot (badly), I attempt to write adult Ash, and I tell you about how much more fun the Attack Approval was in the previous versions.

The Pokémon Festival - May 23rd: The Pokémon Frenzy Tournament (commentary)

It's time for what was for a long time possibly my favorite chapter of the fic! It features attempted murder and suicide, because of course it does. Other features: random head-hopping, Mark finally deciding to actually consult his Pokémon before making a decision, a clumsy attempt to make you not notice which Pokémon are entered in this tournament, the moldy piece of chewing gum that is the true hero of this fic, and the resolution of the Scyther/Charmeleon subplot, with a lot of accompanying rambling.