Lana: The Akala Trial Captain You Meet as a Big Sister

Alola entrusts its trials to Trainers who have already been through them, and Lana is one of them. A Water-type specialist on Akala Island, she is presented less as an examiner than as the eldest of the family, in a fisherman's house in Konikoni City. Her material comes down to a few short scenes — and a long list of partners the mobile game has added since.

Contents

• A Trial Captain at Home in Konikoni City
• What the Ultra Versions Give Back to Her
• Five Partners in the Mobile Game
• The Anime, the Cards and Behind the Scenes
• Lana at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Trial Captain at Home in Konikoni City

The title of Trial Captain implies a journey already completed: Lana finished her own island challenge several years before the player arrives. That head start is what allows her to guide Trainers in turn, with the Water type as her specialty.

Sun and Moon mostly places her in a domestic setting. She lives in a fisherman's house in Konikoni City, on Akala Island, with her two little twin sisters, Harper and Sarah, and the game stresses how seriously she takes her role as the eldest.

The family sticks together: the player can battle them there in a Double Battle. Victory unlocks an unexpected perk, the Girlish style offered by Gester — after which Lana simply becomes impossible to find in that version.

What the Ultra Versions Give Back to Her

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon make up for that disappearance. Lana stays posted at the entrance of her house once the battle is over, and hands out two sea-related items there, the Deep Sea Tooth and the Deep Sea Scale.

Above all, she gains a place in the story, split differently from one version to the other. In Ultra Moon, she stands in the player's way herself during the trial held by Mina, after uncovering the secret of Mallow, and hands over the Blue Petal once she's beaten.

Ultra Sun swaps the roles: it's Mallow the player has to defeat, and Lana merely hands over the Blue Petal afterward. The battle against Lana at Brooklet Hill, for its part, only opens up after the battle against the twins in the Konikoni City house.

Five Partners in the Mobile Game

The mobile game added her on June 11, 2021 and has kept adding outfits ever since. In her standard outfit, she teams up with Araquanid, the species the main games already name as her favorite Pokémon.

Two alternate sync pairs extend the same look. The first, with Lanturn, is unlocked by raising her friendship to level 100 in the Trainer Lodge; the second, with Cloyster, is obtained in exchange for Gym Scout C tickets.

The other two outfits take a clear change of direction. Her Sygna Suit pairs her with Tapu Lele, while her New Year's outfit, a souvenir of a fishing competition, puts her alongside Dondozo — a Shiny partner able to Terastallize into the Dragon type.

🎣 So many partners, so many plushies: see the section Pokémon plushies.

The Anime, the Cards and Behind the Scenes

Outside the main games, her presence came early: she appears as early as the first episode of the twentieth season of the anime, where she has a Popplio.

The Trading Card Game welcomed her right after the video games. Her first card came out in France on August 19, 2017, in the Sun & Moon—Burning Shadows expansion, and other cards have followed since.

Two production details round out the portrait: her design is by Megumi Mizutani, and official data give her a height of 1.40 m.

Lana at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where do you find Lana in Sun and Moon?
  In her fisherman's house in Konikoni City, on Akala Island, where you can take her on in a Double Battle alongside her two little twin sisters. Once you win that battle, she can no longer be found in that version.
• What do you get for beating Lana?
  In Sun and Moon, her defeat unlocks the Girlish style with Gester. In Ultra Moon, she gives the Blue Petal to the player who beats her during Mina's trial.
• What changes between Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon?
  The role she plays in the scene. In Ultra Moon, the player battles Lana, who then hands over the Blue Petal. In Ultra Sun, it's Mallow who gets defeated, and Lana only takes care of handing over the Blue Petal.
• Which Pokémon are associated with Lana?
  Araquanid is her favorite Pokémon, and it appears both in her main-game team and in the mobile game. In Sun and Moon she uses Chinchou, Shellder and Araquanid; in the Ultra versions, Lanturn, Cloyster and Araquanid. The mobile game brings back those three as sync pairs, then adds Tapu Lele with her Sygna Suit and Dondozo with her New Year's outfit. The anime gives her a Popplio.
• Does Lana appear in the anime?
  Yes, from the very first episode of the twentieth season, with a Popplio.

In short

Lana illustrates a particular way of writing Trial Captains: you meet her at home, surrounded by her family, before you meet her as an opponent. Sun and Moon shelve her as soon as the battle is won, the Ultra versions give her back a scene and an item to hand out, and the mobile game has since given her five partners, three of which she already used in the main games. A Water-type specialist whose profile rests first and foremost on a fisherman's house and two twin sisters.