One day Iamourship and I were discussing ideas for the sequel for her amazing story      Our Alternate Ending, Fame Through Fire.  Now I would like to think I was helpful in aiding her, but that's not why I am writing this. You see, while discussing, we both agreed that a story similar to this one should happen someday.  In the moment, inspiration struck me and I asked her to allow me to attempt the idea. Here we are. We have worked together to create a tale a bit different from both of ours. This is not meant to progress our stories exactly, but rather  develop our characters in a way not thought possible before. I hope you enjoy! Oh, and yes. This is canon to both of our stories. Where does it fit in? You will find out in due time.
- SomeguyBehindAScreen
~
Hello everyone! Yes, I'm here doing a collaboration, who would have thought it? But anyways, this will act sort of like a teaser for the sequel of Our Alternate Ending, Fame Through the Fire. So don't worry if it doesn't all make sense. Despite, I hope you like it regardless cause SomeguybehindAScreen worked very hard on it, as have I!
-Iamourship

The Alola region. A tropical paradise for trainers and pokemon alike. A young trainer known as Elania has arrived in the region with her friends for a vacation and progress in her journey as a trainer.
One day, she encounters someone she should of never of been able to meet. Someone just like her. Someone else lost in the world. If only it was under better circumstances...
~

Elania wandered around the Alolan beach with the sun starting to set over endless horizon of ocean. The usual sunny, blue sky turned orange reflecting on the water. The sunset was the last thing on her mind, however. Vacation was supposed to be a time to let all worries unravel in the form of laughter and relaxation, however, this particular holiday seemed to do anything but. It had struck her with stress and fear and a brimming anxiety all at once. So much so, she felt as if there was nothing much else to do but scream her worries away at any landscape that would even appear to silently listen.

"Why are guys so hard to figure out!" Elaina screamed, meagerly enjoying the way it felt against her throat. She shouldn't have liked the way hostility tasted, but she did. "First Ash, Now Neo. I'm not even interested in Gary and I can't figure him out!" She growled in anger. "Why can't I seem to figure out love. Everyone else has." She whispered, feeling the pang of sharpness that came with admittance. She identified the slimy and ultimately horrid feeling of salty droplets escaping the haven of her waterline. She was starting to cry. "Come on Elaina. You don't cry." She mumbled, almost tripping over her words and wiping the weakness away in an attempt to get her grip back. She sighed. She felt like fate was trying to fissure her apart limb by limb. The gold haired girl refused to break so easily.

She sought out a place to sit, in order to collect herself and her thoughts. They were engaged in turmoil, not best for her already delicate health. She'd just left all her friends standing dumbfounded in the hospital as she dashed out in an attempt to outrun her problems. To put miles between Neo and that dark haired beauty that aided in severing her heart.The image of them together was like bullets to the mind, like it blistered her sanity.

Soon enough she saw a bench on the beach side, facing the ocean that was scattered in coral sunlight. As she approached it, she noticed a young man, probably just younger than her, asleep upright. This will do. She thought to herself. It'd probably be just as good as being alone. Besides, maybe some unspoken company would keep the uneasy silence from corrupting whatever rationality she had left. Elaina sat down next to the guy and rested her head on her fists, gazing at the sunset.

The merging colors of dusk, apricots like blazing flames and pinks like the tulips he picked for her, almost boiled back so many unwanted memories. But she was too exhausted, too numb and too dead inside to slip into reminisce.
"It's all her fault! That Willow girl! Her sweet and shy attitude, her looks. Her-" she racked her brain for something foul to say, something that would satisfy the unbalance in her gut. "I'm trying to think of an insult and I can only think of compliments! This is why I hate you! You- You-"

"You're having a bad day aren't 'cha." A male voice spoke and she jerked in shock. Her heart lapped against her rib cage like the fluttering of butterfly wings. She'd only meant for her company to be silent.

Elaina looked at the young man next to her. Judging from his black hoodie with a matching shirt under it and scarf next to him, he clearly didn't dress appropriate for the beach. He was probably a crazy beach bum or something. "Yeah I am. I'll make sure you have an even worse one if you don't leave me alone." Elania snapped, not in a talking mood. If she'd wanted to talk, she would have stayed in that godforsaken hospital with all the happy couples. She may have even waited for Gary to visit, so she could talk in harsh rasps all she desired.

"Geez. You really are stressed out. I thought I had problems..." The guy mumbled just loud enough for her to hear, looking away adjusting his glasses in his face, and Elaina scolded in response. He did not fulfill good first impressions. "What's wrong?" He asked curiously looking back at the girl.

"My mom told me not to talk to strangers." Elaina stated sarcastically to the guy in hopes he would take the hint and leave her alone. He did no such thing. In fact, she was sure he like pulling information out of her like sorry, frayed strings.
"Fair enough. I'm Will. Nice to meet you." The guy said introducing himself. The gold haired girl was not impressed, not in the slightest.

"Did I ask what your name was?" Elaina asked, now seeming to over-spill with annoyance. Add two more letters to his name and you got a name she despised at the moment. Perhaps it was Arceus itself warning her about him. Maybe she was over thinking it, but an excuse to ignore him is an excuse nonetheless.

"No, but you now know my name. Meaning, I'm not a stranger. So it's only fair that you tell me yours." He said with a cheeky grin. He was too meticulous for his own good, especially when sitting directly across from a fuming girl. It's as if he was treding purposely across skinny ice.

This guy was really trying to test her patience now. She scoffed. "If I tell you will you leave me alone?!" The gold haired girl tested and Will only nodded with eagerness. "It's Elaina. Happy?"

"Elaina. Nice name. Haven't heard that one before." Will commented, satisfied.
"Thanks, I guess?" She replied not looking at him, not entirely sure how to respond to that. He wasn't like any boy she'd ever met. Prodding at a stranger with obvious inquiry.
"Look, if you didn't want to talk to me, maybe not wake me up next time?" Will said and Elaina did see the faded remains of tiredness clinging to his features. She herself was fabricated with exhaustion. Skin paled, almost a sickly shade of purple, but the drifting orange haze of the sunset camouflaged it.

"Wake you up?" Elaina thought for a moment. "Wait, I said all of that out loud?!"
"That you did. Boy troubles huh? That's why you're here?" Will asked, settling back against the bench lethargically.

"Kinda... I suppose. It's complicated. Why are you here?" Elania asked him, letting curiosity corrupt the angry facade she had proposed earlier.
"I could say simply to enjoy the view. And well, kinda... I suppose. It's complicated." Will said showing a smile.

"Did you just repeat what I said?" Elania asked, equally confused and irritated by why he did. They were her words and he'd only made conversation more difficult.
"Yes. Because now you know how confusing of an answer that is. So, why are you here?" He asked. He certainly had to know that it didn't take much to make her fire leap into an inferno. Unfortunately, he didn't act like it.

Elaina sighed. Maybe adaptability was her only option. "I'll tell you if you tell me."
"Deal. You see, I am waiting for something. My way home." He explained.
"I'd hate to break it to you, but the bus doesn't come this way." Elaina replied with a small bitter chuckle.

"Nope, not the bus. As strange as it sounds I'm waiting for a portal to another universe, like this one." He said not even bothering to peer at the girl nor skipping a beat.
"A portal? To another dimension, universe, whatever you said?" Elaina started to laugh hard. Her giggles seemed to echo back from the setting sun. "Yeah right. And I'm a Pokemon." She replied still laughing.

"Oh don't believe me? Suit yourself. How are Ash and Serena doing?" He asked, knowing this would spark a reaction from her. And that it did.

Elania's smile of jokes turned serious. A lopsided, pursed thin line that was very much confused as to how he knew her friends. All impulses in her nerves did a double take, even more so than when he blurted he was from another universe. "How do you know them?!" She asked, almost panicked at the prospect.

"Took a wild guess that you were a friend of theirs. Everyone else I've seemed to bump into has been for the most part." He replied, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. As if she could even begin to comprehend the kind of absurdity he was telling her.
"That doesn't exactly answer the question." She replied bluntly. The scowl resting on her face should have been enough to cower Will from his lies. Or perhaps she would just rest on a liability.

"I travel with Ash and Serena much like I suspect you do. I'm close with both of them. They're like my best friends. Well, closest thing I got anymore anyways." Will explained. Elaina could have laughed, slow and darkly.

"You travel with them as well? I think I would've noticed you before now if that was true. You sure you haven't just come from a mental asylum?" Elaina asked, feeling the chuckle tickle her throat even more. She had to admit, he was funny.
"No, I mean it. My Ash, Serena... Everyone for that matter, is different from yours." Will cleared up. This collected her expression into one of more seriousness.

"Is Gary just as annoying where you come from then?" She asked with a curious grin. She'd probably willingly jump through a portal to another world in which Gary was actually a gentleman. Maybe somewhere she'd get along with him.
"Sadly, was kinda hoping he was more bearable here. I'm gonna assume not." Will sighed. This was something she could believe. In fact, it was probably the most reliable thing he had said at all.

"I somehow kinda believe you. The whole other universe thing. Kinda cool." She said simply. Maybe it was because she needed something magical to believe in just to replace the spot a happy ending used to fill. A whimsical kind of religion.
"Really?"  He asked surprised, "It's taken a lot longer than this to explain it all to others." He then laughed.

"Maybe there's a version of me that actually gets a happily ever after." She mumbled. But she doubted it, if Gary couldn't change from universe to universe, how could she?
"What was that?" Will asked not hearing her.

She sighed. "You ever get the feeling that you just weren't meant to love? That it's just not possible for you?" Elaina asked. It was a statement of defeat, but possibly it was time she accepted it.

Will chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I do. There is so much going on right now, it really doesn't seem possible. I've accepted I will probably never find love again." He said with a sigh.
"Again? So you found love before?" Elaina asked curious.

"I suppose you could say that. Honestly my only technical relationship was quite the mistake to be honest." He replied. Will couldn't help the tainted irritancy that came with such a sentence. Mistake. In all of its aspects? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
"You get burned bad?" Elaina still didn't mind throwing paltry insults at a stranger. It was one of her many traits.

"I burned them." He replied, sorrow in his eyes. It was the kind of anguish that reminded Elaina of her own heartbreak.

"Oh. I see. You guys are all the same then." She replied sourly. In all years of life, she'd never exactly had pleasant experiences with the male species.

"Something similar happen to you?" He asked this time.

"I haven't even gotten that far. So what happened to you?" Elaina asked.

"I had a group of friends I went to school with. They were my-" He said biting his lower lip."best friends." He finished, almost as if it scorched his throat to say out loud. "You see, two of them starting dating. They hung out together so much it made us feel alone. Soon enough, we seemed forced to, well I guess, date. In the end, we did I suppose. I still am unsure how it all worked out to be honest." He sighed.

"What's her name?" Elania asked curiously.

"Aria." He responded not looking at her.

"Aria? Kalos Queen Aria? THAT Aria?" Elaina asked in disbelief. Her pupils dilated, displaying a larger area of her teal irises. And shock almost contaminated every square millimeter.

"Yep. Although she wasn't Kalos Queen at that point. She was simply my friend." He said with a small smile.

"You said you burned her. Why would you give her up? Most guys would kill for that opportunity!" Elania asked him. She'd officially concluded that he was about as idiotic as they came in the world of love. Probably tied with herself.

"I had no problem with Aria, I feared for myself. My life has been absolute Hell. When I was with Aria, yeah. It wasn't so bad. But, I never intended on falling for her, we were just hanging out while the other two were, you know? Two friends hanging out. That's all I ever expected and wanted it to be. I didn't want to lose her friendship. Well. I found out she truly did fall for me, eventually." Will sighed.

"A pretty girl fell for you? Well, now I'm certainly convinced you're from another universe." Elania said with a giggle. Oh yes, he was funny indeed.

"Ha ha. But, it was... Is, a serious problem. I had no intention on loving her. I never thought she would fall for me either. She was my friend, always. So, when I found out, I let her down as gently as I could. She was upset, understandably so. But, it was for the best. I suppose it all worked out considering we are still good friends." Will said a small smile coming back.

"You idiot! I don't understand! Why would you ever give up an opportunity like that?! I thought I'd encountered all bad decisions imaginable. But this, this is a new level of stupidity." Elania chided, completely and utterly submersed with consternation.
"I am an idiot, and I'm glad I managed to top your 'stupid list'. But it would've never worked out. I was afraid I would hurt her even more than I did. Besides, Aira isn't exactly what I would call my type." He sighed.

"I would think most guys would call Aria their type. I mean, she's beautiful, famous, rich-"

"She was only one of those things when I met her. Regardless, that's not what I would look for in a girl." Will said, cutting her off.

"So then. Humor me. What is your so called type?" Elaina asked.

Will laughed. "That's a good question. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly myself. I suppose someone strong and confident. Someone ready to take on any challenge, no matter how insane. Someone who knows how cruel the world truly is. I don't want a lover, I want a partner. You know? Someone I can hold close when all seems lost. Someone who will always be there for me. Someone- Someone to be alone in this world with me. A girl with looks would be a bonus though." He said with a small laugh, looking towards the sunset, with a weird feeling of relief able to let out words he never thought he could ever get himself to say. He never expected love, he never intended to track it down. Yet, here he was saying what was almost like a goal. Could he actually find it? He was still very unsure.

"I want something similar. But you're right, you do need someone who likes to take on any challenge. Loving you is a challenge as insane as they come." Elaina briefly laughed at her own joke, like she could feel that she wasn't the only hard person to cherish, flow through her veins.

"I'm gonna choose to ignore that comment." Will said with a small laugh, not minding her sense of humor.

"For once in my life I just want to feel wanted. Someone's first choice, not anything else. I'm tired of being the second. I want to be someone's everything. I- I don't even know anymore..." She sighed. Shaping her feelings into words was an enigma even she couldn't figure out.

"Well, if you're having boy problems, surely you have a boy in mind?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

"I suppose you could say that. There's this guy. And well, yeah. He's amazing. He's... He's everything I never needed. Every kind of poison for the heart. So I decided to try him on anyways."...

"That's... certainly a poetic way to describe someone." Will commented with a small chuckle.

"Are you making fun of me?" Elania asked, half yelling. Sure, it wasn't exactly simple, but maybe poetry could cure her dilemma.

"No no, just- You like this guy don't you?" Will asked softly.

"Well, yes? No? I don't know. The only other boy I have ever been interested in was... " She sighed. She knew she'd hate the way her next word would leave her mouth. She'd never talked about her previous crush out loud before. Never in that context. "Ash."
"Ash? Seriously?" Will asked in disbelief. He still didn't even understand what Serena saw in the boy, so another seeing something in him just made him even more confused.
"Yeah. I knew from day one it could never happen. But I always had the thought of 'What if?' I set myself up for heartbreak." She explained.

"I see. But why would you fear for that to happen again?" Will asked curious. Why would one bad experience corrupt the idea of love to her?

"Well, you see. I learned there's also this girl." She said with her head being supported by her fists. Elaina didn't want to say her name. Not when it came with a fiery burn.
"What do you mean by that?" Will asked confused.

"Little Miss Perfect won his heart already. I can't stand her!" Elaina said with anger crossing her arms. There was no reason to be so vile. But she was the kind of person to hate someone for no justifiable reason.

"He chose her, over you?" Will asked her, almost in disbelief.

"Of course he did! Cause she's well... Perfect!  And I'm... I'm just Elaina. Far from perfect." She replied, voice quivering. She felt it break on every other word, broken with melancholy.

"Don't cry." Will said not with pity, but seriousness. There was not a trace of remorse in his voice.

"I don't cry!" Elaina said, desperate to find purchase on whatever lies she told herself.
"Come on... Why are you sad to be yourself? I don't really get it." He said actively trying to get a remark back. Anything to stop her from letting too many tears fall. He knew emotions did not flow well through a proud person, he knew all too well. Elaina was a ticking time bomb. He either had to defuse her, set off smaller explosions, or wait for the eventual boom.

"Because I feel like there are so many others better than me. That got proven to me today." She bit the inside of her lip, to hold back any gurgling sound of weeping. She refused to show such weakness in front of a stranger.

"Even if true, I don't see that as a reason to be down and depressed." Will said simply, the words flowing smoothly out of his mouth.

"Gee. That's helpful." She gave him a half-hearted glare.

"No, I mean... In all of this universe traveling. I've encountered the same group of people time after time. All of them similar in different ways. To me it seems there are so many of the same people."

"Like Ash and Serena, even me?" She asked, interested, perking up a little.
"See that's the weird thing. Ash and Serena? Gary even for that matter? There's an endless number of them. All different in different ways. You and me? These are the only two I know of." He explained. "So yes. Maybe there are better people than us out there. I'll admit I'm not the best person in the world. But at the same time, I'm the only me. Unlike everyone else. I'm original. We're original."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, confusion briefly crossing her features.
"We both exist for a purpose, I'm sure of it. Maybe nothing as big as others, but a role no less. So don't pity yourself for being you. For you truly are the only you there is." Will claimed these fantastical things, she'd really like to believe. Quite frankly, she would believe them, just to have something to believe in.

"Even if so. Doesn't mean I'm gonna end up with a happy ending." She sighed. The sugar-plum breath of sweetness that seemed to bless Ash and Serena never crossed her.
"Perhaps. But you never know. If it's any help, I say if that guy doesn't see you as the strong, confident, beautiful girl you are, that's his lost." He said in confidence, instantly drawing a new kind of attention from the blonde girl beside him.

"Beautiful?!" Elaina asked, shocked to ever hear the words escape his mouth. Her lips parted marginally as she stared back at him with utter astoundment.
Will chuckled a bit. "I meant that in a friendly way." He said realizing what had come out of his mouth. "Still no less true however." He said with a meager smile.
"Thanks." She said, embarrassment leaking into her expression and she tore her gaze away to look at the sunset in order to hide it. It had been a long time since she had been called that. Even if from this stranger of all people, it meant alot to her.
"You call this other girl perfect. But perfection is subjective. If you are the only you, that makes you the best you. So, maybe you're not perfect. But you are the perfect Elaina." He said looking her in the eye. Will could see pent up sadness and a self image that had been roughened, rattled and corroded at the edges.

Elania smiled weakly back at him. "So, do you really mean all of this? That I'm perfect to you? Or are you just saying pep talk nonsense to stop me from being pessimistic?" She asked both looking for clarification and to get another jab in at him.
"Can't make this easy on me, can you?" Will said with a sigh. Elaina simply shook her head. Difficulty was her specialty.

Will sighed again, "Fine, That's me saying it. The right person will get it as well. The right person will see you and appreciate you for the person you are. That person wouldn't require you to dilute, censor, or edit yourself in order to be worthy of their time and affection. You don't need to waste your time on people who are committed to misunderstanding you. You deserve someone who will accept you as you are now, not who you could become." He said looking her in the eye. Dead, straight on and without a blink.

Elaina looked away from the boy in embarrassment once again. For a guy she was arguing with mere moments ago, He's now said some of the nicest things she has ever heard. Soon, she couldn't help but blurt out, "Why can't more guys be like you?" Melodic laughter following shortly after.

Will joined in with a chuckle. "Cause I wouldn't be unique anymore. It's why there are no other girls like you either. Don't lose your originality, Elaina. Just be you." He said sincerely. She was solemned by it.

"I don't plan too. Just... Does a guy exist out there that would like a girl like me?" Elaina muttered. At that moment, it seemed hard to trust. Harder than him being from a different universe.

"I like you." Will said honestly, hoping it would cheer her up.
"I meant in the romantic way Will." She mumbled pushing aside his words.
"Come on Elaina. Didn't we just have an entire conversation about confidence? Don't wonder. Say there is!" Will said, his smile fading. He caught her gaze with a stern look, as if to force positivity into her.

She sighed again, reality crashing against her shoulders like a frigid avalanche, "I don't want to lie to myself anymore. I may not find love and I have to admit it. It is the more probable outcome after all..." She said, clearly trying to fight back tears again. She didn't feel comfortable with all these brewing emotions. They played with her strength like a puppet on cotton strings.

Will looked at the girl with remorse.  She needed a distraction, a win, and well, love. He could give her two of those things, surely, and the third... Well, two out of the three should work. He just wanted to take the sadness away. He didn't know why he cared, but he did. He wants to see another smile of joy on her face, even if it's because of a joke at his expense. Her smile gave him joy, and her sadness gave him dispar and overall he wanted to get the pity out of him. It was a feeling he didn't like to have. How to help her though? Soon, something clicked. She was similar to him in many ways, perhaps she expressed herself the same way as well. Maybe she needed to get some emotions out in a different way than banter.

"Hey. You're a trainer right?" He asked her quietly. Competition seemed like her kind of scene.

She wiped stray tears that escaped out of her eyes. "Yeah? So what?" She asked.
"Well. I got some time to kill. How about a battle? Three on three?" He asked with a grin.

She looked at him to see his serious smile and gained one of her own. "You're on! I hope you're not expecting an easy match!" She said confidence finally creeping back into her tone.

Her genuine smile only increased his own. "Of course not."

Alright so that was the first of two parts! I understand this may be confusing as the events of Fame Through The Fire need to happen beforehand and well...they haven't been published yet! So I'm sorry about that. However, this is mainly about the development of our OCs. The second part will be published soon!