Eli doesn't have much faith in his friends, does he?

"Land ahoy!" Hau laughed as they hopped off the boat once again. "I can't wait to see the sights and have new adventures!"

"And new trials," Diana added, reaching back to make sure her Z-Crystals were all still there.

"And probably more love interests," Eli said in mock seriousness, before grinning mischievously at his cousin. She turned red and playfully hit him, and he laughed out loud. "Come on! A guy on Melemele ties your tongue, a guy on Akala gave you a nickname. You're two out of two here."

"Gladion calls me Buttercup to be insulting, Eli. Not romantic."

"At our age? That's pretty much the same thing." He laughed and ducked as she went to hit him again. "It's when you turn 15 that it becomes annoying instead of ship-teasy."

"She looks pretty annoyed, Eli," Rotom pointed out. "Maybe you should stop it."

Eli refused. "If people were doing this stuff to me, she'd say the same things," he pointed out, something Diana had to acknowledge. "We're friends, and that's what friends do. We make fun of each others' crushes."

Hau laughed at that. "If that's how you handle it, I'm glad I never told you about any of my crushes."

"I know about your crush on Supergirl, Hau. I think that situation makes fun of itself."

"Yeah, I guess it kind of does." Deciding a subject change was in order, Hau looked back at Diana. "Well, we made it to another island! What do you say to a rival battle?"

Diana considered, briefly. "Why not?" she decided. "It's better than listening to Eli try to ship real people."

"Great!" Hau pulled out a Pokeball. "I've made a few adjustments to my team, Diana! Let's see if you can predict them!"

Hau's Raichu alone took out Lycanroc, and only Murkrow's Dark typing made his Pursuit attack worth using. Stanford against Brionne had the usual outcome, but then Hau revealed his newest Pokémon - a Flareon. A Flareon that knew Fire Fang. Stanford did not last long in that matchup.

Luckily, Poliwhirl did.

When the battle ended, Diana victorious once again, the group decided to head off to the Malie Garden, where Professor Kukui had said he was going to wait for them. Hau started searching down the middle of the garden, leaving the cousins to look around the edge. They were happily searching, until they found a giant spider with a water bubble on its head.

"I don't think I've even seen that one in books," Diana said quietly, and looked back to where she saw a very normal-looking Ariados on a tree.

"That's an Araquanid," Rotom explained. "Conflicting data says it either protects small Pokémon by putting them in its water bubble, or it uses the bubble to drown prey."

"So one of them is true," Diana said quietly. She smiled. "Then we'll have to figure out which one! Come on, Rotom - detour!"

Eli rolled his eyes and continued the search without them. He had enough Fire-types to deal with any bugs, and the occasional Poliwag that he encountered could easily be taken out with a couple shots of Salandit's Dragon Rage. Diana, Rotom, and the Araquanid followed behind, close enough for him to see but too far for him to hear. He didn't know if she captured it or was just stalking it. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

He found the professor at the same time Hau did. Diana was probably in the man's sight, too, but neither of the boys turned around to check.

"You boys look excited," Kukui said with his trademark smile. "Did I miss something big?"

"You sure did," Eli confirmed. "Tell him, Hau."

Hau took the permission and ran with it. "An Ultra Wormhole opened up right in front of us, right, and there really are Ultra Beasts in there! And then Diana actually fought one, and it looked like she was doing some science on it, because she got that look on her face like she wants to steal it and lock it up in a lab, but then it ran away from her, probably because it looked at that face. You've gotta tell Professor Burnet for us!"

Kukui, used to hearing rambles by now, was just as excited. "You kids saw a real Ultra Beast? That IS amazing! Maybe we've got an entire team of future scientists, yeah?"

Eli shook his head. "No offense, Professor, but you're being too optimistic about our futures." He gestured to himself. "I'm destined to be a paranoid nutbar who lives in a cave, and Hau here is going to end up obese from eating too many malasadas."

"I do have a problem," Hau admitted, not even flinching.

Eli continued. "Lillie's gonna be on the FBI's most wanted list if she isn't already, and Diana..."

There was a splash as Diana slammed her head into the Araquanid's bubble. Hau turned at the sound, smile finally slipping into concern, but Eli did not break eye contact with the professor.

"Take a wild guess," Eli finished, as Hau pulled Diana out of the bubble over her own and Rotom's protests.

"She had its permission!" Rotom objected.

"I was in the middle of sciencing!" Diana whined.

The Araquanid shook its head and retreated. It honestly thought the girl and her little mechanical friend were funny, and wanted to keep them around. Even so, it was not interested in them keeping it around.

Especially now that the tall human was talking about an island challenge. That wasn't going to be fun.

"There's a trial up on Mount Hokulani," Kukui told the kids. "It's just a bus ride away. There's even an observatory for you kids."

Hau laughed again. "Maybe we can find what planet your ancestors come from, guys!"

"Don't encourage him," Diana complained.

But Eli was already gone. Diana groaned, and ran off to stop him before he could get too far.

Lillie was waiting by the entrance to the garden, and pulled Diana aside, leaving Eli to assume they were talking about girl things and leave them alone. "Diana? Since you seem to be in charge here, can I ask you something?"

"Local ruins?" Diana guessed.

Lillie nodded. "You know me too well. I want to take Nebby to the Ula'ula ruins, but they're deep in a desert. But I wouldn't ask you for that. I want to visit Malie Library. I know it's here in the city somewhere, so even I can find it. I just want to know if you're comfortable leaving your cousin behind, because..."

"Pyrokinesis," Diana finished.

Lillie nodded again. "What do you say?"

Diana thought it over. "I don't think I'll be able to leave Eli behind," she warned. "But luckily for us, his powers only come out when his emotions are strong. As long as we keep him as neutral as possible, we'll probably be fine."

Lillie smiled and thanked her, and then she turned to leave. Then she stopped and turned back.

"By the way, Diana...why are you wet?"

Diana was spared from answering by Rotom seeing someone else entirely, and calling "Professor!"

Both girls focused on the man who heard the call, and Diana's mouth fell open. It couldn't be...

"Professor Oak?"

The man who could not have been Professor Oak laughed. "I'm surprised you recognized me! I thought only Rotom knew me."

The voice was wrong, the hair was wrong, the clothes were wrong. And yet, the face was a complete match for Professor Oak. He couldn't have retired to Alola, gotten a tan, grown a mullet, and met Rotom since Diana had moved, right?

"It's good to meet you," the man continued. "I'm Oak - Samson Oak. I'm a Pokémon researcher, and I'm looking into the regional variants found around here."

Lillie nodded. "I'm Lillie. I'm researching ancient legends involving the Tapu."

"I'm Diana," Diana cut in. "I'm researching urban legends found in the Pokedex."

"I'm Eli," said the boy. "I'm researching the possibility of human-alien hybrids."

"And I," Rotom said proudly, "am the one in charge of keeping these young researchers alive!"

Eli glared at him. "You just let Diana shove her head into an Araquanid's bubble."

"Hey! He gave her permission!"

Samson Oak laughed. "Well, then! It seems all three of you have your hands full! Follow me to the library - all four of us should find leads on our research somewhere in there, right?"

And, seeing as how Rotom clearly had a map to the library, they decided to just meet him there.