On the end of the street of Hau'oli city, there lies a dock where tourists can explore to their heart's content! Shopping blocks, restaurants, and nice hotel rooms to fit just about the entire airport on Melemele. The sun was out in the bright blue sky, lots of people enjoying the warm waves on the beach of Hau'Oli city. For those who could some lunch or to help their parched thirst, the row of stands that sit on the beach itself sell some of the best drinks, treats, and meals on the whole island, a money-making dream to pay the rent! Although it's a great place to stop by when you wanna rest on the beach next to your friends and family or simply alone getting an awesome tan if you want to step up your experience with a classy meal, a red restaurant that sits on the end of the tourist district that's called "The Daily Catch". The gluttony boy of the Pokémon school Bob feasted on an amazing plate of seafood with a girl who... has quite the feelings for him, Lana.

The girl and her Popplio were ever so grateful for Bob to invite her for an extra meaningful lunch. Anyone can go to a fast-food or casual restaurant to treat their friends, but the seafood experience made her specifically feel extra special. Bob lifted his head after wiping any corn and butter sauce off of his face with a cloth napkin, making sure Lana was just okay on her side of the table.

"How was the food, Lana? M-my cousin originally had reservations here, but something urgent suddenly came up so he asked me if I was free and... to invite a friend... I hope the seafood made your day better!..."

Saying that made the boy suddenly choke in his words, Lana cleaned her face with her own napkin and nodded so pleased after a deliciously prepared lunch. Staring at her ocean blue eyes made him feel nervous like he was... "out" alone with her since this wasn't a technical date or anything like that. Lana placed Popplio on her lap and smiled in a delighted manner.

"Oh, absolutely Bibby Boo! Having lunch with just the two of us is actually pretty fun."

That last part made the boy chuckle in a way of uncertainty, Lana sounds like they actually were on a date, but to clarify, it wasn't a date, it was just a simple lunch as friends. Although lunch was over and paid for, the two decided to go for a walk to take Lana back home. The two stirred up a conversation on the way, small talk about the Island Trial.

"So how's are you doing on your island challenge, Bob? Is it serving you well?"

The boy nodded as he pulled out the Z-Crystals he earned throughout his challenge to show his progress to Lana.

"Not too bad actually! I'm thinking about setting off to my next trail with sleeping beauty until I can find another Pokémon to add on my team. Take a look at my crystals!"

Popplio within Lana's arms gazed at the handful of Z-Crystals, which began to clap, inflating a water bubble from its nostrils which took Bob's items and floated in the air. Luckily and hilariously, the little water bubble that had the crystals within popped and landed right on the welcoming rug of Lana's home, thankfully retrieved before they ended lost forever. Lana bowed as she apologized for her Pokémon's behavior, but it was honestly just Popplio being excited, and he did retrieve his Z-Crystals in the end, so all is well. Lana was quiet after she said she was sorry, Bob ended staying over just a little bit when both of her sisters Harper and Sarah when he took out a dollar from under his hat, like a cheap magic trick. But the little girls were amused.

"What's under my defecting hat? Oh? A dollar! Here ya go! For being such good little girls!"

Bob heartily laughed, Harper and Sarah clapped over the simple magic trick.

"Wow! Thanks a bunch, Robert!"

"Our big sissy never gave us a dollar this crisp before!"

Bob nodded as if he was running some tv show as a silly host until he turned to see Lana sitting on the couch as if she was lost in thought. At first, Bob thought she was still upset over Popplio's water bubble incident, so he simply pressed on entertaining her little sisters. He spent about an hour or two before Bob set out to the hotel, but before he walked away from the building, Lana grabbed his wrist, her face was marked with something she needed to get off of her stomach.

"Wait! Bob... There's something I been meaning to ask you..."

That made Bob blush to the bone, he gulped down whatever was sitting in his throat, prepared to be asked THE question the boy would normally ask a girl, but guess it's a first time for anything if its the other way around.

"... Um... Well... Okay. What is it..?"

"Would... Would you..."

Both sides were shaking red cherries, just too nervous to spit anything out. half a minute later, Lana calmed herself enough to ask what was on her mind.

"W-would you help me become a Pokémon trainer like you?..."

There was a silence after Lana's question. Bob managed to calm himself down as he stood his ordinary posture, now having nothing to blush about, he nods, actually happy to hear she wants to improve her skills in battle, so he was more than happy to lend her a hand.

"Of course, Lana! I'd be happy to give you some pointers from my experience!"

Lana smiled, rushing into Bob's gut in a hug, happy to hear the boy was glad to help.

"Oh, thank you! I couldn't stop thinking about your Z-Crystals and wanted to see if I could maybe become as strong as you! You see, I look up to you-"

In the middle of her sentence, Bob's cell phone buzzed, checking to see that his cousin Ernesto texted him to come home before the sun went down.

"Sorry, Lana! I gotta get going before it gets dark! Bye!"

Bob made a run for it, Lana stood there as she washed him goodbye. She wasn't finished with what she wanted to say, but she knew it had to wait for another day.

(gap)

The next morning was cool and quiet over where Lana lived, to hear the waves gently splash on the shore whenever she woke up always puts her in the best of moods. She lifted herself from the covers of her bed where Popplio peacefully slept and sent Bob a text to meet her in Iki Town to show him something.

She took the same sparkling stone she discovered on that exploration she went on with the other girls of the class, tracing all the way back when Lillie did mention the stone's purpose.

"If I'm not mistaken... That stone looks like... the type of stone used to make Z-rings."

Lana journeyed through the hilltop that leads to Iki Town with Popplio, it was stretch to ask little to last minute, but she managed to have Hala carve her own Z-ring that morning. And when she arrived in town, the Island Kahuna Hala began his craftwork right away.

Around two o'clock in the afternoon, Bob and Dartrix walked into town, looking around for Lana, and when he found her, she was pretty eager to show him her surprise.

"Oh, goodie! You're here! Let's go, let's go!" Lana pulled his hand towards the wooden platform that's used for battled with Hala. Bob giggled to the tickling touch of Lana, but he was a little bit overwhelming when she did yank his arm.

"Okay! Okay, okay! Oww! That hurts!"

Popplio and Dartrix could only follow their trainers, which eventually lead to Hala's place, who was standing there with something in his hands. You guessed it, Lana's Z-Ring was complete.

"There you are, Lana. You had me wondering if you went out searching for your friend Bob outside of the island." Hala shook his head as he meant that as a joke. He handed over Lana's bracelet, which she slips on her skinny arm, and she even did a small pose that motivates.

"Mhmm! Step one of Lana's master plan is complete! And now its time for my second step!"

Bob clapped to Lana's theatric pose, and then she explained just what she meant by starting the next step in what she had in mind.

"It's a fun step, really! My goal here is to catch myself a Pokémon on my team! Maybe two if I'm on a roll, and I can feel the waves crash on the shores within!"

Ironically fired up, Hala chuckled to see Lana out of her usually cool state, she had that urge that was inspiring to those who look up to her, like Harper and Sarah for example.

"My, my Lana. I'm proud of you taking a confident step into your decision of taking on the Island Trial. If I may, you bring me back in the day where my grandson took his first step into the competition himself. He was and still is a happy boy ever since. If you ever see Hau, let me know how he might be doing, that would make me happy if you do so."

Hala smiled before Lana headed out with Bob, but before the two can take two steps, a tall and pretty woman dressed in a blue sundress and a large floppy sun hat ran towards Hala, as if she's in desperate need of assistance.

"Kahuna Hala! Kahuna Hala! S-something awful is pursuing on the beach of Hau'Oli City," The woman was a friend of Hala, so he managed to calm her down through deep breaths after being advised to do so. "M-my apologies, there is an entire horde of Corsola that climbed onto my sister's private boat which attracted some hungry Mareanie! She's trying to repel them the best she can, but she's no Pokémon trainer! I-I can't see them be eaten so indefensively! I can't-"

Once again, Hala pats the back of this woman and said not to worry, as he will be the one to combat the Mareanie from eating the Corsola.

"We must get going, there must be a number of the little poisonous buggers. Not on my watch! Lana, Bob, I might even need a hand!"

The two children nodded as they headed out towards the harbor to the messy conflict of the poisonous Pokémon Mareanie, which wasn't a pretty sight...

(gap)

When they did arrive at the Harbor of the city, there was this large boat that had a group of Corsola cornered shuddering on the stern, while another woman in a white uniform defended them with two water Pokémon from the hungry Mareanie climbing onto the bow of the ship to their targets. The poison vermin were stubborn and were being very aggressive, so they weren't giving in anytime soon.

"Dewpider, Ice Beam! Araquanid, X-Scissor!"

"Pdeeeew!"

"Araqu!"

The lady in white commanded her Pokémon to defend the terrified Corsola as best as she could until reinforcements arrive. A small spider with a water bubble over its head was on the harbor just like the lady attacked with an ice-cold beam that froze a few Mareanie climbing on board. The large Pokémon between the defendants and the enemies was a spider just like Dewpider, which just so happens to be what the Pokémon evolves into named Araquanid. The spider slashed a whole wave of Mareanie with its large legs powered up with bug energy.

But the Mareanie put up a decent fight against Araquanid as they began to spew Poison Sting in retaliation, eventually poisoning the poor Pokémon as well. The lady clenched her teeth, now it was only a matter of time before those pesky Pokémon would breach her defense and reach the Corsola. Luckily just at the nick of time, Bob and Lana, along with Hala and this woman in blue rushed to the harbor as fast as they could, before things had gotten any worse.

"Sister! Sister! I had brought him! Hala is here to help!"

The lady waved, the other signed in relief, pointing right at the boat, seeing the conflict rising with the persistent efforts to eat the Corsola.

"Thank, Arceus! I can't keep my Araquanid up in the front lines any longer!"

Hala nods as he took a position to battle, taking out and tossing a Pokéball which had his Crabrawler inside.

"Those Mareanie have caused enough trouble in Hau'Oli city and I won't take another second of it! Crabrawler, Brick Break!"

The purple Pokémon leaped in the air and knocked one of the poisonous vermin right off the bow of the boat. Bob and Lana simultaneously nod, as they directed there partner Pokémon to join in the battle.

"Come, Lana! I'll take beyond the front of the ship! Dartrix! Keep those Mareanie away from those Corsola! Razor Leaf!"

Taking flight, the owl Pokémon shooting its feather quills towards the Mareanies that were climbing onto the boat, Lana took that idea and made sure those Mareanie would never return when she's done with the likes of them.

"Don't worry Bob! I have an idea, but it's going to take a little cooperation!"

Lana ran towards the edge of the harbor looking as if she was about to dive into the water that was infested with poisonous Pokémon, but she had a different idea in mind.

"Corsola! We're here to help you! But we're gonna need your strength too!"

She said, taking out a Pokéball sending her Mantyke out.

"Tyke! Tyke!"

It splashes into the water in a chippy kid-friendly way. Lana raised her hands in the air and let loose a move she's been teaching her Mantyke in private.

"Tailwind, let's go!"

The small ray creates a gust of wind that blew behind her and her own Pokémon, the Corsola, and Araquanid, using that wind against the Mareanie.

"Barrage all the Mareanie all at once! Attack with Bubble Beam!"

"Araquanid! Return!"

The group of cornered Corsola attacked with a horrible wall of bubbles that barely kept the Mareanie balanced on the row of the boat. Before the attacks landed, the lady in white returned her Pokémon that was in the middle of the boat was sent back into its Pokéball.

"Noooooooooooow let 'em have it with your Spike Cannon!"

Swapping from bubbles to the very spiky corals that the Mareanie are so hungry for was pelted right at them. Lana directed Popplio to dive into the water, which is where it stayed until Lana's next command. It was time to finish the entire conflict, Lana raised her hands high in the sky once more and yelled.

"Now make a large water balloon, Popplio!"

All the Mareanie underwater suddenly were caught in one of the biggest water balloons it has made in a while and lifted them all in the air, taking them far away from the harbor. Bob and Hala were very surprised by the look on their face after Lana demonstrates Popplio's bubble inflation skill.

"My... my... That is certainly... One way to handle the situation," Hala slowly began to chuckle, as he patted Lana's back after her move that handled the Mareanie issue. "I never knew you were quite the commander Lana."

The two sisters dressed in blue and white giggled to know that the Corsola was safe and sound from any harm.

"Either way, it's still super relieving to know that the Corsola wasn't in any harm."

The lady in blue nodded, the lady in the white uniform bowed in a humble manner.

"I don't think I have introduced myself at all. I am Hailey. It's a pleasure to be accompanied by someone who has accompanied my sister, Hanna, in our time of need."

The lady in blue walked up and shook Lana's and Bob's hand, still super grateful for the rescue of the Corsola. Lana happily shook back, knowing not only did she end up rescuing the Pokémon but it was just the boost to tell her she had what it took to be a Pokémon Trainer.

The five waved goodbye to the Corsola that swam back to the sea happily now that the path was clear free from those aggressive Mareanie. Before Lana and Bob headed back home, there was a sudden surprise to them from the harbor. At first, they thought it might've been a Mareanie that traveled all the way back to Hau'Oli City for revenge, but surprisingly it wasn't.

"Cor! Core!"

A Corsola that was rescued before leaped towards Lana, looking as if it didn't want to be separated from the girl.

"Oh? It's Corsola! What could it be so eager in Lana's presence?"

Hanna tilted her head in confusion, but everyone but her and Lana exactly knew what was going on, being Pokémon trainers to a degree.

"There's no denying it, Lana. Corsola was very intrigued, even inspired by your utmost leadership. I believe it wishes to join your Island Trial, will you let it join your team?"

Lana stared at the Pokémon, Corsola beaming with energy to teach it to be just as strong as she was my spirit, and she hugged the Pokémon tightly.

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely!"

"Cora! Cora! Cora!"

The girl giggled, as everyone joined in for a laugh before they headed home before the sunsetted for the night.