A/N: This story is told in the point of view of a character I will call Sunni, who is based on the protagonist (the character you play as) in Sun/Moon. While I imagine Sunni as the female protagonist, she doesn't mention her gender in this, so you can imagine her as the male protagonist if you'd like.

Another thing, and that's that this first chapter could be interpreted as a ship, but it could also be interpreted as more of a friendly thing. I just think of Sunni and Hau as friends, but I intentionally tried to leave it up to interpretation.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or the characters I use in this story.

So with all that out of the way, on with the story!

"It's hard to be strong enough to admit that you're weak… you know?"

Strong. It isn't exactly the word that comes to mind when people think of Hau.

Happy. That's a word that sounds more like Hau. Optimistic. That's an even better word. He's always been that happy, optimistic… welcoming member of the group.

Welcoming. He was one of the first people I met when I moved to Alola.

Idiot. Don't worry, this time I'm not talking about Hau. That was me. Before I moved to Alola, at least. I was stupid, stubborn, a loner, a pessimist. I usually had no friends and had convinced myself that it was everyone else's fault, and that it didn't matter because I didn't need them anyway. I hated change. When Mum told me we were moving to Alola, well, I didn't think about it much. It wasn't until we got to Alola that I decided I hated it here. Mum just ignored me, and who can blame her, because back then I kind of hated everything. I truly was an idiot.

Meowth. He was the only pokemon I really knew much about. He was the family pet. When I first got to Alola, I somehow felt closer with him. I was so much nicer to him, and looking back now, Mum probably thought that the move had caused me to become happier, as if I liked Alola more than Kanto. It was the opposite. It was as if Meowth represented home to me. And at that point, I just wanted to go home.

Friend. I didn't want a friend. I didn't need a friend – so I thought. I turns out I need Hau. He was my friend. Even if I had only just met him. Even if I hadn't realised it yet. He was my friend.

Litten. We chose our starter pokemon. He let me choose first. I looked at the three of them. "Koo," "miaow," "bwark." I looked back at the middle one. "Miaow," it said again. I smiled (for the first time since I left Kanto) and picked it up. I was so happy that I had got to pick first. Wait a minute…

Kindness. Now that's a word that makes me think of Hau. He let me choose first. Then he chose rowlet. He saw me choose the fire type and then he picks the grass type. It's like he wanted me to have the advantage. It's like he didn't really care if he was at a disadvantage, he just wanted to have fun, and he didn't even care about winning or losing.

Loser. In some ways, he was a loser. He was a pokemon trainer, and yet he wasn't competitive. In this community of competitive pokemon trainers, he didn't care if he won or lost, he was happy. But then, whenever I battled him, he lost. The part that scares me is that if he had lived in Kanto, the old me probably would have made fun of him. I wouldn't have ever considered him a friend, because the old me would have thought of him as a loser. And I hate knowing that I used to be that person.

Change. I hated change, remember? Usually I hated when something changed in my life, even just something small. For example, when I first moved to Alola and I hated it there, I wanted to go home. But when I met Hau… he didn't just change my life, he changed me. His happy, optimistic attitude inspired me. In this community of competitive pokemon trainers, he didn't care if he won or lost, he was happy. Hau was always happy, and that's what I love about him. He changed me, he made me better.

"It's hard to be strong enough to admit that you're weak… you know?"

Strong. He changed me, he made me better. Someone like him, who was so optimistic and inspiring couldn't be anything less than strong. And while I remain the champion of Alola for now, I look forward to the day when he beats me in a battle and he too earns the title of champion, because my friend Hau is strong.

A/N: As usual, reviews will always make me happy. While this is just a one-shot for now, I have been toying around with ideas for other little stories about Sunni, so if I end up writing more, I'll add them here as chapters. Bye!

Edit: Thank you to all who have reviewed so far, but especially to St Elmo's Fire who pointed out a lot of my mistakes, from little typos to my big mistake of remembering part of the story wrong, that being Hau choosing his starter after Sunni (when in the actual game Hau already has his starter, you just don't see it yet until after you choose yours). I've fixed just about every mistake mentioned except for that one, though later I plan to see if I can find a way to correct the story without ruining the flow of the whole thing. In case I can't find a good way to fix it though, I'd like to ask all of you if you would still enjoy this story if Sunni's story is slightly changed from what happens in the games. Let me know in a review or PM because it would really help me.