History FanFic / TheQuestForTheLegends

* BerserkButton: Spirit, while normally stuck-up and serene, will kick your ass if you slander the legendaries or being "chosen" when she's around.
* BewareTheHonestOnes: Robin's firm honesty is threatening to tear the team apart over [[spoiler:whether or not May should tell the police about Tyranitar]].
* BiggerIsBetter: With the exception of Mewtwo^2, Taylor's clones are all much bulkier than their normal counterparts.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: May, Marge, and Sparky have blue, and Mitch has silver. Sparky's is justified, as it's dyed.

* PowerTrio: The main human characters usually find themselves traveling in threes.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: The fic introduces us to the Color Dragons, who need less than half a chapter to curb-stomp the heroes and force them to retreat and devise strategies built for taking on multiple targets at once. [[spoiler:The Dragons of Ouen easily provide the same level of excitement.]]

[[http://www.dragonflycave.com/tqftl/ The Quest for the Legends]] is a Franchise/{{Pokemon}} fanfic. It has been rewritten many times over its [[LongRunner ten-year]] lifespan (11 revisions and counting!), but as the best-known, currently ongoing and [[WordOfGod to be finished]] version is version 3.2 (the ILCOE), all tropes on this page will be assumed to apply to that version until otherwise stated.

* TheBadGuyWins: Not the main conflict (yet), but [[spoiler: the universally reviled (in-story) Taylor becomes League Champion]].

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: The dilemma of tracking down a herd of eight unicorn legendaries gets solved when Ryan uses math and computer programming to find a pattern.

Mark Greenlet is a normal eleven-year-old boy with a passionate interest in legendary Pokémon living in the region of Ouen, except that he hasn't been allowed to go out on a Pokémon journey like all his friends. After finding a Charmander and persuading his parents to let him out, he's ecstatic to finally be a Pokémon trainer, but things quickly go downhill as he discovers a Gym leader's secret cloning lab, accidentally frees [[OlympusMons Mew]] from said Gym leader, is subsequently nearly murdered by a madman obsessed with Mew, and eventually gets entangled in a couple of desperate legendaries' nigh-impossible attempt to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* AlphabeticalThemeNaming: All of Victor's Pokémon's names end in "ious".

* BerserkButton: Spirit, while normally stuck-up and serene, will kick your ass if you slander the legendaries or being "chosen" when she's around. [[spoiler:Right, Floatzel and Sneasel?]]

-->'''Sparky''': Oh dear. I guess Pokémon are rather sensitive to alcohol. One more lesson in running restaurants, isn’t it?
* ChekhovsGunman: Megan Hayfield (at the Cleanwater Pokémon Center), Aaron White (at Ash's starter Pokémon giveaway), and Michael Willows (the Scizor's trainer at the Pokémon Frenzy Tournament) are all Trainers that Mark meets within the first 25 chapters, and also happen to be the first three Trainers Mark battles at the Ouen League twenty chapters later. It's never explicitly stated where Mark remembered Aaron from, only that he looked "irritatingly familiar".

* ElementalPowers: Standard issue when it comes to Pokémon.

** Mark and May are foils to each other in the areas of battling skill and forming healthy bonds with their Pokémon. Mark is forgetful and unfamiliar with Pokémon battles, but instinctively and easily treats his team as equals. May, however, barely even thinks about getting to know her party, yet is by far the most knowledgable of the main human characters when it comes to competitive battling and strategy.
** Tyranitar is a foil to Jolteon, both being Pokémon that began traveling with a trainer during their infancy and eventually grew to show the differences between how their trainers treated them.

* GoodIsNotNice: May, whose determination to win Pokémon battles makes her a sore loser and borderline-abusive to her team [[spoiler:until Tyranitar kills Taylor to "make her happy", and she gets set straight by Mark, Alan, and Stantler]]. Lampshaded by Mark in Chapter 52.

* HalfwayPlotSwitch: In the first part, the plot is Mark's Pokémon journey and the various adventures on the way; then in chapter 25, Chaletwo comes along and explains the main plot, and while the Pokémon journey then continues, it is eventually completed and leaves the main plot alone.

* {{Immortality}}: Legendaries are normally TheAgeless (though like all Pokémon, they recover unusually quickly from injuries), but Mew, Chaletwo, and (probably) the Destroyer have CompleteImmortality through ridiculously fast regeneration.

** May uses Tyranitar to teach Letal the move Metal Burst in chapter 40. [[spoiler:Come chapter 50, when Letaligon is squaring off against Tyranitar, Mark instinctively orders the move against May's Pokémon, and internally remarks on how useful the move is.]]

* LaughingMad: May's last Poké Ball is thrown amid "crazed-sounding" laughter in the League Finals.

** Rob's sharp and pointy Gym may not be official, but he still qualifies for this when he robs Mark of his Pokémon.

** Flora specializes in Grass-type Pokémon, and her name is a catch-all term for plant life in a given area, as well as the name of a Roman goddess associated with nature, flowers, and spring. She immediately rage-lampshades this when introducing herself to Mark.

** Sparky, the Gym Leader of Stormy Town, lives up to his name by both specializing in Electric-type Pokémon and having a warm spark of a personality that cheers and livens whoever he meets.

** Diana, the last Gym Leader, trains Dark-type Pokémon; the "die" in her name matches well to the rough and savage nature of many Dark-type Pokémon. Additionally, Diana's namesake, a Roman goddess, was commonly associated with the moon, a symbol of nighttime and darkness (although the Pokémon world's moon now lends its power to fairies).
* MissionControl: Chaletwo uses his psychic abilities to give updates on the upcoming War of the Legends, and general matters pertaining to the legendary Pokémon, to the human characters. Since he's linked to Mark [[spoiler: and May for a brief time]], he can also provide commentary and directions based on whatever they're looking at.

* OddFriendship: Alan is the poster-boy for political correctness and interacting with Pokémon as equals, while May could write a book on harsh training that pushes one's party past their limits whether they like it or not. Despite this, they get along very well [[spoiler:until Alan finds out just how messed-up Tyranitar had become as a result of being a part of May's team since infancy]].

* OlympusMons: As usual, the legendary Pokémon. When Mark scans Thunderyu with his Pokédex, the dragon's stats are described as "crazy".

* PantheraAwesome: You'd better believe a cat Pokémon that powers up at the taste of its own blood qualifies as this.

** May doesn't allow for improvisation on her Pokémon's part, preferring to give all of the orders. Her strategic, demanding fighting style is akin to something you'd find on Website/{{Smogon}}.
** Mark is the opposite of May, and allows his Pokémon to improvise freely, forcing the foe to keep up with both his own decisions and those of whoever he has out at the moment.

* TranslationConvention: Employed for Pokémon speech.

** The Mutark species, according to the forum's Ask the Characters thread; most of their moves have low strength in the Pokémon games, several being Night Slash, Sucker Punch, and the elemental fangs.
** Taylor's entire team, both in terms of how they battle and with which moves. The nature of Clone Balls means that none of them are capable of improvisation, and their trainer is far from good at battling. Both classic UnskilledButStrong Pokémon moves, Hyper Beam and Giga Impact, see use among them as well. However, the clones' sheer power allows him to battle on par with ''[[TheAce May]]'', even when he's restricted to four Pokémon instead of six.

* RetCon: The story's written so that content from new video game releases can be added seamlessly, rather than treating them as sudden new discoveries. A casual nod to the new generation, such as a wild Beartic, Floatzel's debut, and a mention of Fairy-type moves, serve to inform the reader that new mechanics and elements are in play in the fic.

* {{Patricide}}: From the moment she's caught, Mark can see that Leta wants to prove herself to her father. The exact nature of ''how'' become apparent later on.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: The fic introduces us to the Color Dragons, who need less than half a chapter to curb-stomp the heroes and force them to regroup and devise strategies built for taking on multiple targets at once. [[spoiler:The Dragons of Ouen easily provide the same level of excitement.]]

** [[spoiler: Polaryu's crystals]] were shattered with fire and electricity. [[spoiler:Guess what elements his two murderous siblings have control over?]]

* ThisCannotBe: A variation: May screams "''You can't do that!''" at Taylor when [[spoiler:Mewtwo^2's Psychic works on Tyranitar]].

* UnskilledButStrong: Mutark, according to the forum's Ask the Characters thread; most of her moves have low strength in the Pokémon games, several being Night Slash, Sucker Punch, and the elemental fangs. May believes that Mutark can compensate for her poor moveset through sheer power.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After meeting Victor and Precious, Mark is mildly horrified at the thought of facing May with a Mutark of her own, predicting that with his luck, he'd probably be left with Scyther. [[spoiler: He's right about the situation – it happens in the League arc – but Scyther wins the battle.]]
* GodIsFlawed: The legendaries are as close as you can get to a god in this setting, and they are every bit as imperfect as the human characters.

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Polaryu's crystals]] were shattered with fire and electricity. [[spoiler:Guess what elements his two murderous siblings have control over?]]

* ScissorsCutsRock: Mewtwo^2's ability lets it totally ignore the foe's type immunities, allowing it to throw around even Dark-types with Psychic moves given a small bit of extra effort.

* NoAntagonist: [[http://antialiasis.tumblr.com/post/130163318035/you-talk-a-lot-about-the-sillykind-of-bad Confirmed by the author.]] Chances are that if someone is causing trouble in the fic, it's because of their own flaws and insecurities, not evil intent.

* NotCompletelyUseless: Chapter 48's battle comes down to Letal battling a Letaligon. Mark assumes that the battle will be slow and long until Letal reminds him that he'd taught her Rock Smash, which ends up being surprisingly effective on the Normal/Steel Letaligon that only uses moves of its own types. (In the games, a doubly super-effective Rock Smash hits with higher Base Power than a resisted Iron Tail or Tri Attack, even factoring in STAB– that's not counting the one-in-two Defense drop per hit, which may or may not exist in the fic.)

* PunnyName: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Flora.

* ScissorsCutsRock: WordOfGod says Mewtwo^2's ability lets it totally ignore the foe's type immunities, allowing it to throw around Dark-types with Psychic moves given a small bit of extra effort.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Following the talk during chapter 61, Mewtwo resolves to knowingly go into the past, and, by extension, to his death, should Chalenor come for him, to avoid breaking the time loop.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After meeting Victor and Precious, Mark is mildly horrified at the thought of facing May with a Mutark of her own, predicting that with his luck, he'd probably be left with Scyther. [[spoiler: He's right about the situation– it happens in the League arc– but Scyther wins the battle.]]

* SwitchingPOV: Of the 'third-person limited' kind, though the primary POV is Mark's. Throughout the fic there are occasionally brief scenes from other POVs (Eevee in chapter 3, an omniscient narrator in chapter 13, Taylor in chapter 14, Victor in chapter 16, Michael Willows in chapter 49, and May in chapter 57); however, chapter 60 is entirely from Scyther's POV, and chapter 64 and the second half of 63 are from May's POV.

* SwitchingPOV: Of the 'third-person limited' kind, starting in chapter 63.

* {{Pun}}: Blink and you'll miss it, but a scene in Chapter 65 involves Venoir shooting a "poisonous glare" at Mark.

* ManChild: [[spoiler:Tyranitar is revealed to be one]].