So I just finished the series. Started in the 90s and life got to me, I joined the Marines, yada yada yada, 20 years later I tracked down all the books for a complete collection and just finished reading them tonight. Like many I am disappointed in the ending and the many loose ends. But I didn't think it was that bad, I was just so sure I knew what was going to happen....

So all the way up until the last few chapters of 54, I thought the story was going to lead back to where it began, The Abandoned Construction Site. Jake would have decided that he could right ALL of the wrongs done in the war, including his own. Instead of going to save Ax in deep space he would dig The Time Matrix up and use it to go back to that first night and help Elfangor and the Andalite Fleet defeat the Yeerks (and maybe a pissed off Crayak that shows up and accuses The Ellimist of cheating).

But in the process Jake has to Sacrifice himself (kind of in a way like the actual ending). So this prevents Elfangor from crash landing, prevents the entire Yeerk War (and maybe finishes off Crayak). The last chapter is the 5 kids (Rachel is alive again!) Meeting at the mall and Jake asks them if they want to take a shortcut and walk through the Abandoned Construction Site. Rachel says "Let's do it!" - Roll Credits.

I am sure someone else has probably already had that idea before, but just wanted to share before I move on from the series.

<Have a good night>

Edit: I forgot to mention that one if the main reasons I thought this was going to happen was because I knew 54 was titled "The Beginning." When i first got the collection together and saw that was the title of the last book, the idea just flashed in my mind. And then as I read through the series it just made more and more sense until ... Until it didn't happen.