A/N: I apologize for the long delay. I've been so busy with college and work, that I haven't had time to actually write. Even so, I will try to continue to write more chapters next month, but with how busy my schedule is, it's going to be difficult. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 7: A Shocking New Friend
"Aww, it got away!" Hau whined, kneeling down to the ground.
"Well, what do you expect, Hau? You kind of scared it away." Sun said as he walked up to Hau and placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
Moon, Sun, and Hau were currently in a grassy field. After an hour of walking, Sun had suggested that they should try to find Pokémon to catch, which Hau quickly took to heart. He immediately dived win to the closest field that was near them. Both Moon and Sun were surprised that he managed to find a Pikipek hiding in the grass. But before Hau could even call Azura, his Popplio, out to battle the Pikipek, it flew away, obviously frightened by how big Hau was in comparison to it.
"Catching a Pokémon is harder than I thought. Professor Kukui always made it look easy." Hau said as he stood back up from the ground.
"Well the Professor is kind of an expert on that matter. I mean, we just recently got our Pokémon." Sun said, looking away from Hau towards Moon. "What do you think, Moon?"
Moon shrugged her shoulders as she took a step forward towards the two. "I don't know how to feel about it yet," she answered quietly. "I have never tried to catch a Pokémon before."
"Well I'm not going to give up just yet!" Hau declared as he raised a fist to the sky. "I'm going to make a new friend today!"
Sun shook his head, while Moon smiled at Hau's outburst. It was clear that Hau was not going to stop trying to catch a Pokémon just yet, but Sun knew Hau needed the break after an hour of walking. He then decided to suggest to him and Moon they take a break and eat lunch. Hau was reluctant, but decided to go along with Sun's idea. After all, looking for a Pokémon on an empty stomach was not the greatest of ideas.
"Hey Rotom, how long until we reach Hau'oli City?" Hau asked to the Rotom Dex that was floating near them.
The three trainers were now sitting together, while eating freshly made sandwiches that were prepared for them by Nashima. Sitting near them were their Pokémon, also eating food. Sun, Moon, and Hau knew they couldn't just eat without their Pokémon, so they called them out of their Pokéballs to take a break as well.
"Bzzzt. In about an hour." Rotom replied showing a map on the screen. It showed the location where Moon, Sun, and Hau were at. Near them highlighted was the trail they had been walking on. Hau'oli City was not too far away from them.
"Awesome! I can't wait till we get there!" Hau chirped. He brought his hand down to grab the last sandwich from his plate only to find the plate was empty. Hau looked down, confused and began to look around.
"That's funny. I know there was one more sandwich..." he murmured to himself.
Nothing that Hau was no longer eating, Sun placed his half eaten sandwich back on his plate.
"What wrong, Hau?" He asked.
"My sandwich is gone." Hau answered as he stood up and began to search around for the missing food. Both Sun and Moon watched him as he turned over a small rock near them. Moon was slightly confused over what Hau was doing, while Sun had a small amused smile.
"Hau, you do know food doesn't just walk away, right?" Sun asked.
"I know!" Hau replied as he placed the small rock back. "But I know my sandwich was on my plate a minute ago!"
"Maybe you forgot that you ate it?" Sun suggested, his shoulders shrugging slightly.
"Hey! I know I didn't! I would have remembered then!" Hau spoke out, trying to defend himself. Although she had just met Hau not even a week ago, it was hard for Moon to have faith in his words. His bubbly personality made it quite difficult for him to be taken seriously.
"Pipichu!"
Moon blinked at hearing the sound that was just made. She looked away from Hau and Sun, who were arguing now and began to look around. Although the voice was soft, it was close.
Snap!
Moon instantly looked up to where the other distinct sound came from and found herself staring at a small black and yellow Pokémon on a tree branch that was above her. The Pokémon stared back at her with the sandwich in its two small hands. It tilted its head at her obviously knowing it had been caught.
"Sun, Hau, please look over here." Moon said, using a soft tone to not frighten the Pokémon away. Although it was wrong of it to steal food, she hoped that Hau would forgive the Pokémon.
"What is it, Moon?" Hau asked, looking away from Sun. Both of the boys directed their attention over to where she was and found themselves staring at the yellow and black Pokémon that Moon had found with the sandwich held in its small hand. Seeing that everyone was now staring at it, the Pokémon snickered and plopped the whole sandwich in its mouth. It chewed and swallowed the sandwich, grinning devilishly when it was finished.
"Hey!" Hau called out, his eyebrows furrowing. "That was mine!"
The Pokémon stuck its tongue out and turned and wagged its tail at Hau. Hau gritted his teeth and moved to climb the tree. Both Moon and Sun watched him do this, both frowning at what he was doing.
"Hau, I think you should stop and think about this." Sun spoke up in disapproval, as Hau inched closer to the branch the small Pokémon was on. "You're going to fall."
"You don't steal someone's food!" Hau yelled out determinedly, his eyes blazing in fiery passion. Moon sighed at this, while Sun just shook his head frowning. It was obvious Hau was not going to listen to them.
"Almost there..." Hau muttered to himself as he eyed the Pokémon that was snickering at him.
He hoisted himself onto the tree branch and let his legs dangled on each side. He inched forward towards the Pokémon that was on the end and held his hand out to it.
"I won't let you get away with this," Hau said to the Pokémon.
The Pokémon stopped snickering and tilted its head at Hau, its mouth forming into a wide smile. Before Hau had any time to react, it hopped onto his head and released electricity from the saps on its cheeks.
"Pichu!"
"Ahhhh!" Hau cried as the yellow electricity wrapped around him giving him a slight shock. Moon and Sun could only watch as the pain caused Hau to lose his hold on the tree limb, sending him spiraling down onto the ground. He crashed onto it face down, moaning in pain.
"Ughh..." Hau groaned.
"Pipichu!" the small Pokémon chirped in laughter as it pointed its small hand at Hau. Hau moved his head up from the ground and glared at the laughing Pokémon. He was definitely not going to let the small yellow Pokémon go after what it did to him. It was not over yet.
Ding Dong!
The small Pokémon stopped laughing and tilted its head to the direction where the loud sound came from. It's ears twitched and it suddenly moved, jumping off the branch it was on and landing onto one near it. It continued to do so, jumping from one branch to the next as it moved farther away from Hau and the others.
"Hey!" Hau called. He gritted his teeth and called Popplio back into her Pokéball. Once she had returned to it, he immediately got up on his feet and took after the small Pokémon, leaving Sun and Moon behind.
"Wait! Hau!" Sun called out, hoping that Hau would hear him, but Hau was already too far away. Sun sighed and turned. Moon watched as went to pick up the bowls and plates they had used to eat their food and placed them into his bag, He placed his backpack on his back and picked up Hau's bag as he looked over to Moon.
"Let's go make sure Hau doesn't hurt himself."
Moon nodded and she went to put her own bag over her shoulder as she and Sun called back their Pokémon back into their Pokéballs. Once this had been done, they took off on the path Hau had taken. As they ran, Moon turned towards Sun and asked him about the Pokémon that had taken Hau's food.
"What was that Pokémon, Sun?"
"A Pichu" Sun answered, turning towards Moon. He opened his mouth to say more, but Rotom, who was floating by Moon, cut in.
"Bzzzzzzt! Leave the explaining to me, pal!"
Sun rolled his eyes and he and Moon watched as an image of a Pichu appeared on Rotom's screen as he began to explain what Pichu was.
"Pichu, the Tiny Mouse Pokémon. It is not quite skilled at controlling electricity, yet. If you take your eyes off of it, it may electrocute itself."
"A Pichu…" Moon hummed to herself, slowly digesting the information Rotom had just said. She blinked and turned towards Sun with another question.
"Do you think Hau will be okay?" she asked.
"I wouldn't worry," Sun answered as he continued looking forward. "While Pichu can give a small shock, it shouldn't be enough to cause serious harm to Hau. It's what Hau will get himself into is what I'm worried about."
Moon nodded and she continued to follow Sun down the path Hau took. It seemed like hours of continuous running until they spotted Hau standing in front of a gate with young children surrounding him. Sun narrowed his eyes at this and picked up his speed. Of course Hau would get himself into trouble.
"Hau!" Sun called out for his friend. He stopped along with Moon near the children, watching as the children turned towards them.
"Sun, help! These guys won't let me through!" Hau said, pointing towards the direction of the gate.
"That's because you scared Pichu, you meanie!" A little girl with blue eyes interjected.
"But he stole my food!" Hau argued. He turned towards Sun with puppy dog eyes. "Sun, help me out!"
Sun took a step back, smiling awkwardly as he raised his hands. He turned towards the gate they were standing in front of and widened his eyes, realizing where they were at now. They were at the Trainers' School, an academy for children to learn the basics of Pokémon and how to be a Pokémon trainer. The curriculum was for all children, ranging from those who were still too young to have a Pokémon, and to those that had already received their first Pokémon. Professor Kukui would occasionally go to the Trainers School to give advice to the children and would come back with many stories about the youth. But of course, he had to leave out one detail.
Young children were scary when they were angry.
"Children, it's time to come back in. Why are you out here?"
Everyone turned their heads towards the direction where the voice came from, finding a woman staring at them with concern in her soft gray eyes, hidden underneath her glasses. She walked towards them and placed both of her hands on her hips, giving a stern look at the children.
"Would you explain, please?"
"We're sorry, Ms. Iris, but that boy was trying to hurt Pichu!" One of the boys spoke up, pointing at Hau.
Hau gritted his teeth. "No, I wasn't! I just wanted to teach Pichu that it's not right to steal food!"
"I see," Ms. Iris. murmured. "But even then children, you should not have treated this boy so poorly. That will not solve anything."
All the children drooped their heads and slowly nodded, understanding what they did was wrong. They all turned towards Hau and bowed.
"We're sorry for not letting you in and saying all those mean things to you," they all said.
Hau grinned sheepishly. "Hey, it's okay. I know you guys didn't mean it."
All the children raised their heads and laughed at Hau's response. Ms. Iris. smiled and clapped her hands, redirecting the children's attention back to her.
"Now children, please go back to the classroom. It will be a study period. I would like to talk to our guests."
"Yes, Ms. Iris!" all the children said. They all turned away from Hau and took off towards the school building leaving the three trainers along with the teacher. She smiled kindly at them and crossed her arms as she opened her mouth.
"Now then, what is this do I hear about teaching Pichu to not to steal?"
"Oh, well you see, me and my friends were eating lunch and Pichu stole some of my food." Hau explained, gesturing towards Sun and Moon. Ms. Iris. looked over to them and sighed, placing a hand on her cheek.
"That Pichu is trouble…" she mumbled softly.
"Wait, you know that Pichu? Does it belong to you?" Sun asked.
Ms. Iris shook her head. "No, the Pichu you are looking for belongs to nobody as far as I know of. It appeared here one day from the forest, looking for food. Of course, the children couldn't leave the poor thing to starve, so they brought it food. Ever since then, Pichu has been coming every day after our lunch period to get food from the children, and it causes mischief every now and then."
"Why is that Pichu all alone though? Sun asked. "Normally, Pichu like to stay in groups."
"I know, and I have tried to find other Pichu, but I can't seem to find any. It's sad to think that that poor Pichu is always by himself in that forest with nobody to care for it."
Hau furrowed his eyebrows, completely shocked at what Ms. Iris had said. Pichu were social
Pokémon. It was difficult for them to live on their own. In a group, Pichu developed relationships with one another, allowing them to gain courage. But the Pichu that had stole Hau's food didn't have that to look forward to. And it was disheartening for Hau to realize that.
'Ms. Iris," Haru said as he looked directly at the teacher with determined eyes. "I'm going to catch Pichu."
"Wait, are you sure, Hau? Sun asked, taking a step forward to Hau.
Hau looked back to Sun and nodded towards him, his mouth forming into a wide grin. "Yeah! I can't leave knowing Pichu is so lonely! I want Pichu to become part of the family!"
"Hau…" Moon muttered, her lips shifting upwards into a small smile. Hau's happy-go-lucky attitude often got him into sticky situations, but that did not matter to Moon. What mattered was his big heart and kindness for others. Hau cared much for others and it was now more apparent to her than ever how much he was willing to hold out his hand for anyone when they needed it.
"That would be wonderful, but Pichu won't let anyone catch him. Many of the children here that have already received a Pokémon have tried, but Pichu won't allow it." Ms. Iris explained as she frowned.
"Then I'll just get Pichu to want me to catch him!" Hau chirped. "Do you know where Pichu is?"
Ms. Iris nodded. "It might be on the playground by the battle field. It waits there sometimes until school ends to see the children more."
"Got it!" Hau declared. "May my friends and I look for Pichu?"
"You are welcomed to." Ms. Iris said with a serene smile. "But first, may I ask your names."
"I'm Hau," Hau chirped with a wide smile.
"Sun," Sun answered with politeness.
"Moon," Moon said, shyly.
Ms. Iris nodded. "I am Ms. Iris. You three are welcome to come look on the school's property as long as you do not damage anything."
"We won't" Sun assured. "I'll keep an extra eye on Hau."
"Hey!" Hau said, narrowing his eyes at his best friend, who only looked away with an amused smile.
Ms. Iris laughed at this and gestured for the three trainers to come in the gate. After they did, she gave them directions where to go to find the school's playground and battlefield and left to go back to her classroom. When she left, Hau wasted no time heading to the place Pichu would be at. Of course, he got easily lost, but Sun quickly took control of the situation. He led him and the others to the playground using the directions Ms. Iris had given them, and eventually, the three found the place they were looking for.
Once they got to the small playground, Hau immediately cupped his hands over his mouth and called out for Pichu.
"Pichu! Are you here?! Come out, please!"
Sun and Moon watch silently as Hau called out to Pichu, as the Rotom spoke.
"Bzzzzt. I cannot comprehend why he is calling out for Pichu. There is a 0.0001% chance that Pichu will come out for him."
Sun chuckled at Rotom's analysis of the situation and placed Hau's backpack down and took off his own. He dug into it until he found what he was looking for and took it out. Both Moon and Rotom watched puzzled as he walked towards Hau with a small piece of a sandwich in his hands. He handed it to Hau with a wink.
"Here, Hau. Try this."
Hau blinked and took the sandwich, staring at it confused until his eyes suddenly widened in understanding. He thanked Sun and turned, holding out the sandwich in front of him outstretched.
"Pichu, I have more food for you!"
As soon as Hau said those words, a yellow blur jumped out from under one of the tunnels and snatched the sandwich out of Hau's hand. It dashed onto the slide and sat onto the top of it revealing itself to be Pichu. It smiled as it plopped the small piece of the sandwich into its mouth and chewed as its mouth formed into a wide smile. It was obvious that Pichu loved food.
"Pichu!" Hau called out to the yellow Pokémon as he tried to get its attention. "Please let me catch you!"
The Pichu stopped smiling and its eyes narrowed at Hau.
"Chu!" It said. It turned its body around and began to wag its tail at Hau in mockery.
Hau ignored this though and continued speaking to the Pichu. "I understand why you took my food, Pichu. And I can't stay mad at you for that. But I can't let you continue like this. Aren't you lonely?"
Pichu stopped wagging its tail and turned back to Hau, stunned at what Hau said. It turned towards the school building that was not too far away from them as its ears drooped. Hau caught what Pichu was staring at and frowned.
"The children here care about you, huh? They bring you food everyday, but we both know that's not enough for you. You know that you need more than that, Pichu."
Pichu shook its head, denying what Hau said, and jumped off the slide it had been standing on, landing onto the ground. It scurried over to Hau as its pink cheek saps sparkled with electricity and tackled his chest head on giving a slight jolt to Hau. Hau flinched at this attack, but made no move to respond to it. Instead, he grabbed onto Pichu and enveloped the small Pokémon into his arms. Pichu growled and started to bite onto Hau's arms to make him release him, but eventually stopped when it saw Hau's expression.
Hau was now shedding tears.
"I'm sorry," he choked out as tears began to slide down his cheeks. "I'm sorry that you have been alone for so long. It's okay though. I'm here for you."
Pichu stared at Hau in silence and turned away. It stopped wiggling itself to get out of Hau's arms and laid its head onto his arm, beginning to lick the bite marks it had made on Hau's arms with its tongue. Hau winced in pain, not realizing how much the bite marks were hurting.
"Pichu?" he asked, letting his grip on the small yellow Pokémon go a little.
Pichu noticed this and wiggled its body once more. It managed to heave itself out of Hau's arms and jumped onto the ground next to Hau. It turned its body around and stared up at Hau with new emotions swimming in its eyes.
Hau smiled at Pichu and held out his hand towards it.
"I won't force you, but please come with me. I promise you'll never feel alone again."
Pichu's eyes began to grow watery and it launched itself onto Hau's chest, snuggling its face into it. Hau placed his hand on the small crying Pokémon rubbing it softly as he tried to comfort it. He hated seeing Pichu so sad, but that only strengthened his resolve to help it. He didn't want to see Pichu sad ever again.
Eventually, Pichu's tears went away and it raised its head from Hau's chest. It stared at Hau with its dark brown eyes as it began to climb from his chest and snuggled its cheek onto Hau's cheek. Before Hau could even react, electricity sparked from Pichu's cheek saps, giving a slight jolt to Hau. Hau yelped in pain as Pichu laughed and climbed off of him, landing onto the ground. When Hau regained his composure, he found Pichu looking at him with a large mischievous smile. And yet, it was quite different than the smile it had given him earlier. There was more familiarity with the smile now.
"I think Pichu wants you to catch him," Sun remarked as he turned to Hau.
"Really?!" Hau asked in excitement. He turned to Pichu with an eager expression. "Are you sure, Pichu?"
"Pipichu!" Pichu chirped, wagging its tail at Hau.
"Alright, catch Hau!" Sun said. He took out an empty Pokéball from Hau's bag and threw it to him.
Hau caught the Pokéball and turned to Pichu with a large grin. He stepped forward to Pichu and kneeled down to it, holding out the Pokéball towards Pichu. Pichu immediately scurried to the Pokéball and hit the white button with its tail causing the small Pokémon to be transferred to it. The Pokéball shook in Hau's hand for several seconds until it stopped, signaling that Pichu had been caught. Once it had, Hau extended the Pokéball to the sky as he excitedly pointed out his new Pokémon.
"Yeah! I caught Pichu, a new friend!"
Sun laughed and went over to his friend and placed his hand around him as he congratulated him. Moon watched, smiling as Rotom added new information into his data about Hau's catch. She was happy for Hau and Pichu. Pichu was mischievous, but with someone like Hau to care for it, she was sure Pichu was going to grow.
Once Hau had settled down, the three friends and Rotom headed back to the school to meet with Ms. Iris and the children. The children were sad to learn that Pichu had been caught, but happy at the same time for the Pokémon. Hau allowed Pichu to say its goodbyes to the class as he promised to them that he would take good care of Pichu. When they had finally left the school and started their way back on the path to Hau'oli City, Hau looked over to the Pichu on his shoulder and spoke.
"Pichu, I'm going to call you Maui."
"Maui?" Sun questioned.
Hau nodded and placed his finger under Pichu's chin, rubbing it softly.
"I hope that we become great friends, Maui."
"Pichu!" Maui chirped as it enjoyed Hau's soft touch. It snuggled its face more onto Hau's cheeks, happy that it had found Hau. It had always been alone and now, it wasn't. Hau had found it. And now, it had a family to call its own.
A/N: Thank you for reading, as always! Next chapter, Moon and the others arrive at Hau'oli City.
Current Teams:
Moon: Mikio (Rowlet)
Sun: Kuro (Litten)
Hau: Azura (Popplio), Maui (Pichu)
