"I'll have you know I've never lost a match in my life!" Hau remarked proudly while giving Izzy a sly grin. "My win streak is proof of that! Six matches, all in my favor!"

"You hush!" Izzy teased as she put her hands to hips. "I'm quite competitive back home, and I'm learning all your weaknesses! The losses were just minor set backs!"

Hau frowned seriously and said flatly, "Alright, enough chit chat, make a move already."

"B7."

Izzy smirked at the dumbfounded expression on Hau's face, but changed to a look of suspicion as he answered, "You got a hit."

She giggled as Hau muttered to himself while taking one of his red pegs and stuck in the ship she could not see. It had been several days since Izzy had first met Hau and Lillie. Hau had kept his promise and visited her the day after encountering him, but then he kept coming back every day to play with her. She wasn't sure if Hau was visiting out of the goodness of his own heart or if the professors kept asking him to, but she appreciated the company all the same.

Lillie also came by, often assisting the professors or teaching Izzy about Alolan culture and Pokémon. However she was inside the lab with the two professors while Izzy and Hau played behind the building so Omoiyari and Nebby could come out of hiding (not to mention that the damage Omoiyari caused when first arriving was still being repaired as well, and it was best for him not to be seen by employees for a good long time). The adults insisted that she and Hau stay outside while they discussed something she didn't quite understand.

"Alright, I call C5!" Hau declared after putting in his peg into his hit ship from behind the board blocking her view.

Izzy shook her head and chimed, "Nope, missed! I call A7!"

Hau crossed his arms and asked accusingly, "You're cheating, aren't you? You've never hit anything for the past six games."

"Me? Cheat? Never!" Izzy replied, holding her head high as if the accusation was offensive.

"Its Omoiyari, isn't it? He's using his UB mind games to see all my battle ship locations!"

Omoiyari, who was sitting a ways away in Lurantis form while watching over Nebby, snorted and retorted, "I would never stoop so low to cheat at an insignificant board game for Izzy. She can do that herself."

"I don't need Omoiyari to cheat for me!" Izzy agreed huffily. "Now let's play the game! Let's win this war!"

As Hau bent over to push in another red peg, Izzy could see her real accomplice over his shoulder. Iris was perched on a low hanging tree branch high enough off the ground for her to get a clear view of Hau's battle ship placements. Hau had yet to suspect her since she was doing such a good job at pretending to be asleep or in a deep daydream.

"When do you think the professors and Lillie will be back?" Izzy asked Hau in order to move away from his suspicions.

"They'll be out soon, no worries!" Hau assured confidently. "They weren't supposed to be in that long, so they'll be back any minute now. How about A6?"

"You missed. C3!" Izzy threw out as she looked up to see Iris writing the coordinates in the air.

"Are you kidding me?!" Hau blurted furiously as he grabbed both a white and red peg. "You hit! Seriously, it's Omoiyari isn't it?"

"I'm just naturally good at this game," she said without thinking before continuing, "Hau, when were you going to leave Heahea City?"

Hau looked up at this question. He looked uncertain and a little nervous as he answered, "Well...I thought about leaving tomorrow, to be honest. Akala Island has the most trials of an my island, so I need to get a move on."

"Oh," the young girl said as her stomach squirmed uncomfortably. "Well, I understand. You can't defeat the totems by staying here after all. I just wish I could come too."

"Have you talked to the professors and Omoiyari about going? You could come with me!"

Izzy glanced back as Omoiyari to see if he was listening. He was carefully watching Nebby bounce around in the grass while pewing loudly.

"They said they'd think about it," Izzy finally answered, looking back at Hau sadly. "My hopes aren't very high. I don't think they'll want to me leave right after I've come. Lillie said she'd come with me if I do go, though."

She paused before saying, "Hau, you don't talk about your family. Who do you live with?"

Hau looked perplexed at this and asked, "You mean I never told you about my grandfather?"

When the young girl shook her head, he continued on, "My grandfather is the kahuna of Melemele Island! He has the same role as Mister Nanu does on Ula'Ula. He is the representative of Tapu Koko and helps protect the island! Once you complete all the regular trials on the island, you battle the kahuna in the Grand Trial. He was the one who helped me start my journey, actually. He was very supportive of my decision to travel."

"Did you pass your Grand Trial then?"

"Of course, silly! If I didn't, I wouldn't be here to discuss the matter!"

"Do you miss him at all?"

Hau frowned at Izzy's question. After a moment he replied slowly and quietly, "Yeah, sometimes I do, but everyone has to leave home sometime. Besides, I still see him time to time, and I call him too! He may not always be here physically, but he always says he's here in spirit!"

Izzy opened her mouth to speak but she was cut off by a high pitched pew. She and Hau looked around to see Nebby bouncing off toward Lillie, who had just come into the backyard with the two professors.

"Oh Nebby, have you been good while I was gone?" She was asking as she knelt down in front of the small Pokémon. "You weren't wandering off, were you? Were you, Nebby?" 

"Pew!" came Nebby's usual happy reply as the little ball of smoke bounced around Lillie's legs.

"And how are you two kids doing?" Burnet asked Izzy and Hau as she looked down at them and their board game. "I see you found that old Battleship game. Who's winning?"

"I won the last six games but now Izzy is winning!" Hau said with annoyance. "I almost think she's cheating, but I can't see how!"

"But isn't Iris up there facing your board?" Kukui asked while pointing up toward the Sensu Oricorio, who was still pretending to sleep in the tree behind Hau.

Hau looked from Iris to Izzy before declaring, "HA! You have been using mind tricks to get the coordinates! I knew it!"

"You still won the last six games, so what if you lose one?" Izzy countered defensively.

"We can talk about this later," Burnet told them hurriedly before the argument could pursue. "We all wanted to talk to you, Izzy, about something important."

"Talk to me?" Izzy repeated as the professors sat on the grass next to her and Hau. "What do you want to talk about? Am I in trouble? Whatever happened, I didn't do it!"

"You're not in trouble at all!" Professor Kukui assured her. "It's just... you asked us about going on a journey, and we told you we would think about it. Professor Burnet, Omoiyari, and I have discussed it, and we've all decided that you should go on your journey. You are just about eleven, which is the age most boys and girls go out to do the Island Challenge, and we think that you'll learn more about human nature and culture through your journey than if you stayed here."

Izzy's jaw dropped at what they were saying and stammered, "I-I can actually go?"

"For the most part, yeah," Omoiyari answered abruptly as he approached his charge, but added sternly, "But there are rules you have to follow!"

"What kind of rules?"

"They're not rules exactly," Burnet told her while giving Omoiyari a distasteful look. "Lillie offered to go with you on your journey, and we think it's a good idea, so she'll be going with you. Beginning trainers don't usually bring their parents on their journey, but I'm afraid Omoiyari can't continue to stay in the city limits, so he has to come with you. Make sure you listen to them, because it can be dangerous out there!"

"I can do that!" Izzy piped up, thinking that no matter what the adults asked of her would be worth sacrificing a little bit of mischievous behavior.

"Does this mean Izzy and Lillie will be coming with me?!" Hau asked with excitement.

"Well, only if you'll allow us to, Hau," Lillie told the boy nervously. "Izzy wanted to do the trials too, and I can't help much in that area like you can."

"Of course I allow it!" He said gleefully while throwing his arms around both girls. "It'll be a blast! Two's company, three's a party! We'll go out tomorrow, bright and early!"

"Hang on you three, you're forgetting something important!" Kukui interrupted while taking out a mechanical cylinder. Izzy could see two pokeballs inside the jar. One Pokeball had a water symbol on it while the other had a leaf.

Lillie was the first to speak and squeaked, "Oh, that's right! Izzy, every trainer starting the Island Challenge receives an Alolan starter Pokémon as their first Pokémon partner; Litten, Popplio, and Rowlet."

"That's right," Kukui agreed as the cylinder glass slid open to allow someone to take the pokeballs out. "We don't have Litten, but we can offer you start with Popplio or Rowlet. They are the same two Pokémon you've gotten to know so well these past few days."

Izzy's smile faltered as she looked down at the two pokeballs. She glanced up and asked, "I...I can only take one? But they're both my friends! I don't want one to be alone!"

The professors exchanged looks. Neither of them seemed to think about that possibility.

"Well," Burnet started slowly, "We can't give you both of them, but I think we can make it so Izzy has one while Lillie has the other."

Lillie's face seemed to drain of the little color it had as she stammered, "M-Me? Have a Pokémon? I can't do that!"

"I think it's a great idea!" intervened Kukui while holding up the cylinder. "Lillie, Nebby doesn't know how to fight, and it can't even be seen at all without endangering itself. Having another Pokémon for back up would be wise if you were ever separated from the rest and had to defend yourself. You don't have to become a trainer, you just have to keep one Pokémon so it's not separated from its friends. You've done a great job with Nebby, taking on another shouldn't be too difficult for you."

Lillie continued to stare down at the pokeballs with a nervous expression on her face. Lillie never struck Izzy as a person who would enjoy being a trainer or having lots of Pokémon. She was already doing so much for the little girl, so she could at least make this a little easier.

"I think you should take Rowlet, Lillie!" Izzy told her friend, taking the leaf pokeball and placing it in Lillie's hand. "He's laid back and quiet, he shouldn't be too hard to take care of! He's more your speed! Popplio is more like me; mischievous and a prankster! I can take care of him!"

Lillie clasped the pokeball tightly in her hands and murmur a small thank you, but was drowned by Hau declaring, "We need to celebrate! We need to have a party like they do in my hometown, but I for one will settle for one last malasada before the trip!"

The adults and Lillie continued the conversation of the malasadas, but Izzy was distracted by the slight pressure on her head. Omoiyari had placed one of green scythe-like arms on her head while he looked down at her.

"I already know you'll do great as a trainer," Omoiyari told her quietly. "I'm grateful that you will allow me to come with you on your quest."

"Of course I'd let you come!" Izzy told him happily. "I can't imagine going on it without you! We're gonna have fun, I just know it!"

For a second Izzy thought a grimace appeared of her father's face as he whispered, "I hope so, I really do. I'd hate for your big journey to be... boring."