The Quest for the Legends

Chaletwo: Smeargle can paint, but it's not very original. Usually it can only paint what it sees or has seen.

Gyarados: I always had powers other Magikarp didn't. I hung out with Carvanha and could hold my own against them, and eventually that made me evolve.

It probably would be grounds for punishment, yes, since it does break the rules; it's about how many attacks you order, not how many do you any good.

One thing I've been toying with the thought of making for a while, either as extras to appropriate chapters or as a section on this minipage, is a series of articles detailing in-depth how some aspects of this fic's world work. Possible subjects could for instance be souls, the Destroyer's power draining, Chaletwo's physical anchor to Mark's brain, perhaps something about the Scyther swarm, even little stuff like the League system, or some reader-suggested topic, if you're curious about something in particular.

Obviously all significant information in such articles would also be revealed within the text of the fic, but less important tidbits that have no place in the story could be brought to light there, and perhaps some information that will only be revealed later in the story might come up. Besides that over the course of a 76-chapter fic, some information inevitably ends up kind of scattered, and collecting everything about some set subjects in one place might help readers keep track of it (and, in the case of less fundamental stuff, stop me from contradicting myself in the future).

Would you be interested in this sort of thing? What sorts of subjects would you like to see written about?

Mark to Rose: Well, I guess I'm starting to stick up for myself a bit more, maybe, and taking more responsibility? It's kind of hard to judge these things yourself.

Old lady to Rose: Lots of things! I love knitting. My grandchildren just can't get enough of my sweaters.

Chaletwo to Brock: Physically, we're genderless. We're immortal and don't reproduce, and therefore we don't have genitalia. Some have a grammatical gender preference.

Carl to Brock: The town is gone, but the former inhabitants still keep in touch. We hope to establish a new community somewhere else.

Spirit to Brock: I feel nothing while in spirit form.

Mark to Kevin: Well, technically they don't think I'm dead, per se, but they'd remember it if I walked in front of them or something. Anyway, I'm guessing… or hoping… that Chaletwo and Molzapart can fix that somehow when they're back at full power, so…

Okay, so remember the worldbuilding articles I was talking about doing a while ago? Well, I've finished at least a rough draft of the first one, on the subject of power (including the Destroyer's power draining). Before I put it up properly, I figured I might as well see if you think this is completely confusing or if I left out something important or if you think something should be expanded on. So basically, feedback, please?

I'm especially iffy on the capitalizing-Power thing. It seems horribly cheesy and awkward but before I did that it was kind of confusing when I then started talking about the power of the Creator which is not actually power as such. Dunno what to do with it.


The concept of power is pretty central to the Quest for the Legends, being integral to the main plot and often discussed. However, it's an awfully vague term by itself, and while the details don't in themselves have much bearing on the story, I might as well shed some light on just what power actually is in the Quest for the Legends universe. For the sake of clarity, in this article I will capitalize the QftL power as Power to make a distinction between it and the way we normally use the word, but don't expect it to be capitalized in the fic.

Fundamentally, Power is simply the thing that allows Pokémon to do all the seemingly supernatural things they do. It's not an arbitrary measurement or observational concept, but an actual physical quantity - a rather abstract one, but still a well-defined single phenomenon. Think of it as a currency of sorts: you have some set amount of Power, and then there are various feats you use that Power to achieve. Different Pokémon possess both different physical amounts of Power and have different means of using the Power available to them, but fundamentally, this same quantity of Power is at work whether you're Mew levitating, Bulbasaur conjuring leaves out of thin air, Entei creating a soul gem, or Arceus causing the Big Bang - the difference is just the amount that each one requires and which Pokémon are capable of using their Power in that way. Legendary Power is the same thing as ordinary Pokémon's Power, but they have more of it and frequently more means of using it than other Pokémon.

Most actual Pokémon moves employ Power to achieve things that would otherwise be impossible or extremely difficult, though Pokémon can also fight without Power using simple physical force (the Mystery Dungeon games' standard attack that doesn't use PP would be an example of that). Power is also involved in Pokémon's quick healing and resilience. Humans generally don't have Power, though human psychics and so on do exist and use this same abstract quantity of Power to do what they do.

After Power has been 'spent', it is recovered naturally. Under normal circumstances, the recovery is fairly quick and complete, i.e. the Pokémon returns easily to the same quantity of Power it had before, with no permanent loss or adverse effects. If a very large amount of Power is used, this process is both simply slower and needs to recover more Power for a full recovery, so the maximum recovery time can be quite long. Food and drink, as well as manmade healing items, can speed up the process considerably, however.

Power can be lent and borrowed, but as Chaletwo mentions in chapter 52, Power is always partly tied to the true "owner"'s soul, in the sense that as long as the soul remains, it has a limited amount of control over that Power. This allows a Pokémon that has given another Power to take it back without physically being close to the current bearer of that Power. A body is always needed to actually do anything with Power, however, and when a body dies, all Power stored in that body is lost - hence the need for Entei and Suicune to transfer most of their Power to other Pokémon first in order for the soul gem plan to work.

The Destroyer

What the Destroyer does is to slowly drain the Power from the legendary Pokémon and make it his own (meaning that once lost, that Power is no longer tied to the soul of the legendary it originated from). The speed at which this happens is dependent on the "magnetism" between the Destroyer and the legendary in question, which in turn can be expressed as the legendary's current Power level multiplied by the Destroyer's current Power level: essentially, if you're mathematically inclined, it can be approximated by the formula L'(t) = -aL(t)D(t) where a is some unknown factor. If you're not, that basically means it starts out slow, then gets faster as the Destroyer becomes more powerful, then slows down again as the legendaries become comparatively weak.

If that formula were completely correct the draining would never actually end, but it does stop at a certain point and the Destroyer sends out a pulse of Power containing double the Power all the legendaries originally had. This Power is distributed evenly among all of the legendaries it finds - meaning they are all just about equal during the War - and the sudden rush of Power drives them into the madness that causes them to go on a wild rampage trying to kill each other. When the legendaries die in the War, their Power isn't simply lost, as it usually would, but instead somehow lingers behind and gathers in the final legendary, as well as granting it the power of the Creator ("power" - note the noncapitalization - is a somewhat misleading word here; it's more akin to an ordinary move than to Power) to create new life out of nothing. Then the cycle begins again.

In addition to draining the Power of the legendaries, the Destroyer also inhibits their normal Power recovery so that any Power that is spent cannot properly be recovered: the legendary's Power level goes down permanently rather than temporarily, hence the deal with Molzapart and Chaletwo trying to conserve their Power.

I went and put up the Power article under the new Worldbuilding Articles section. I ended up not capitalizing it, because it just bugged me, and reworded some other stuff. Again, if you have suggestions for stuff that ought to be touched on, speak up.

Chaletwo: No. Well, we know of some old classics from over there, but they aren't very widely read.

It's a pre-evolution, as should be abundantly clear by both the fact it does have its own name and all the talk in Scyther's Story about evolving and glowing white and all.

They look similar to Scyther, but there are more differences than just the lack of scythes; they also have only three spikes on their heads, bigger eyes, no wings, a smaller upper body with a narrow vertical cleft down the middle instead, a smaller abdomen, and legs consisting only of the conical portion.

Ash: He's, well, my father. You wouldn't know him.

The Pokémon world is called "the Pokémon world" when it needs to be differentiated from the animal world. They call their planet Earth much like we do; the early animal world settlers to the Pokémon world had no idea they'd arrived on a different planet than the Earth they used to know.

@Butterfree
You did mention the white send-out light was part of your theory on how pokeballs work. Do you have this theory written up somewhere?

No, not yet. It basically revolves around Pokémon's genetic material being able to spontaneously construct the Pokémon in a process that emits a bright white light, and this being what is happening during both hatching, evolution and Pokéball sendout.

1. Approximately what level(s) are all of the trainers' Pokémon at this time in the fic?

Around 60-70, with May's somewhat higher than Mark's.

2. Will there be a wordbuilding article about the Waterberg principle to supplement the dialogue about it in the chapter? (Personally, I think I get the general idea of it, but I'd be more than happy to learn more about it)

Yeah. It will have graphs.

One thing I noticed, though, is that when Mark was looking for his pokemon, he is carrying 7: Charizard, Jolteon, Letaligon, Sandslash, Dragonite, Scyther, and Gyarados.

Mm, not exactly. You're presumably talking about when he stands up to go look for the dragons in the evening, but at that point he explicitly does not have Gyarados out; though he sends Gyarados out a little later, he's never after that point mentioned to still have everyone else out (or I don't think so, anyway), so there's an implicit switch there. Maybe it should be explicit, but there are never explicitly seven Pokémon out at once, either.

Does the Destroyer know it's the Destroyer? Because that could help bash a lot of theories (and spark new ones).

Nobody knows that, and I'm not telling you.

Also, how many Pokemon are exculsive to Ouen? It hardly seems likely that there's only Scorplack, Letal, Mutark and Monarking, plus in the Ask the Characters thread Mitch mentioned a large poisonous spider that I don't think was mentioned in the fic.

There's no definite number of Ouenian Pokémon. Generally, any fake Pokémon I create are assumed to be native to Ouen, so all the fake sprites I've made and so on technically also live in there somewhere, though they're unlikely to appear in the fic. There are also several other Pokémon I have a rough concept of but no images or details (including another unpleasant Ouenian Poison-type that gets a mention by Mitch waaaaay later on). I don't really keep count of them; it's not that many, but that doesn't mean I won't make up more later and pretend they were always there.

Sandslash: What are 'natures'?

(The fic universe assumes natures don't exist as independent entities; they're just what the games use to simulate the effect that individual Pokémon's personalities have on their capabilities.)

The anime and the games both place isshu far, far away from the other regions, you can't find isshu pokemon in the other four regions, or find kanto/jhoto/hoenn/sinnoh pokemon can't be found there wild, wouldn't that mean that they won't appear in ouen, who seems to be near kanto/jhoto?

Ouen's location in relation to the other canonical regions has never been established, but so far it's indiscriminately contained a mishmash of every other region's Pokémon, so odds are I'm sticking with that.

Tyranitar: …

May: …Can we not talk about this right now?

Sorry, but they're not very cooperative.

Incidentally, the League presides over Pokémon-related misconduct, and most cases don't go to court, especially because most trainers are juveniles and Pokémon themselves aren't exactly big on court systems. Usually Pokémon abuse cases simply involve the Pokémon being released and going on its merry way and the trainer's license being revoked, with particularly bad cases getting rehabilitation. After the age of infancy, however, they're considered fully responsible for their actions and can be tried criminally for very serious Pokémon abuse. That would be a trial by jury, but no, they don't have the death penalty.

Also, just curious, will any of the Isshu region Pokemon appear in the fic from this point forward?

Of course. That's how this fic has always worked. When there's a new region out in English, I immediately pretend its Pokémon, moves, etc. have always been there and just happened not to appear/be used until now.

In the universe in which the 'fic operates, when a trainer dies, can a next of kin step in and take the Pokemon, rather than have them released? What about if it was in their Will?

Generally it's according to the Pokémon's wishes, unless those wishes conflict with somebody else's (i.e. if the Pokémon wants to be taken in by somebody who doesn't want it). Of course, Taylor's clones were taken in by Rick anyway because it's not as if anybody's about to stop him.

Also, how are Pokemon deaths investigated? Most trainers are on the road, so there will be little evidence, aside from eye-witnessed…

If the one killed or the one doing the killing was a wild Pokémon, there is no investigation. As I said before, Pokémon aren't big on human court systems. If a trainer's Pokémon kills another trainer's Pokémon, the trainer of the victim can press charges and will then just have to have the other trainer's name/picture/etc.

I've also got another question. Mark constantly seems to bag on himself about his lack of training ability - yet, he collected eight badges, and did okay the League. Is it really that big of an accomplishment to make it to the League?

Making it to the League, no. Mark actually did do pretty well, though; it's just that he credits that to his Pokémon and doesn't feel like he had much to do with it.

(To any of Mark's Pokemon who can answer): What is the inside of your Pokeball like?

Sandslash: It's not exactly like anything. Your senses mostly black out. You feel sort of floaty and vague and can make out sounds outside if you concentrate or just let your mind wander and lose your sense of time. I find it rather pleasant.

It amazes me that there are 5 pages of people who have never posted anything on the forums.

I imagine quite a few people register solely to receive chapter updates by e-mail, without having any interest in posting at the forums. Plus, all forums get people registering without posting. You'd be surprised how many people make accounts at places and never do anything with them.

Is it fathomable in Ouen for humans to (rarely) marry Pokémon? (particularly humanoid ones like Machoke.)

No. There's still a massive taboo against intimate human/nonhuman relations of any kind, though with developments like Fury the Hitmonchan that might potentially change in the future.

Are Pokémon used commercially (in technology, electricity production, to purify plumbing, etc.) in Ouenn, or are they mostly treated as intelligent animals in the scheme of the economy?

Pokémon trained by human employees are used commercially for various tasks. Commercial computer systems have their own Porygon, Water Pokémon are employed by the fire department, etc. Electricity production in particular is not practical, however, as Pokémon can't produce a constant flow of electricity for very long without becoming exhausted; you'd either need completely unmanageable numbers of Pokémon or to overwork them far beyond the point of abuse.