Maui had ventured into Lalotai in search of a great gift to bring to the humans in the world above. Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters, was a wild and colorful place that was filled with mystery and danger-perfect for a nascent young demigod with more boldness than caution to go exploring. Barely into adulthood, he was still quite green, but what he lacked in worldly, seasoned experience, he made up for in audacity and daring. His first trip to the realm had been a lengthy, freewheeling adventure of challenging monsters to battle and wandering the weird world in search of trouble to get into. This trek, by contrast, was a mission.

He had come to this particular corner of Lalotai, a dense savanna of knee-high glowing coralline plants bordered by a forest of neon tentacled trees, seeking the legendary Great Pearl of Matahina. Myth held that the Great Pearl could tame the seas on any voyage, ensuring that sailors traveling with it would have fair winds and safe journeys. With the humans expanding their expeditions across the vast ocean, he knew they would be grateful for such a boon. He could already imagine their delighted cheers, craving the adulation.

As he stood in a stand of twisted trees near the edge of the plain, Maui had the distinct impression that he was being watched from somewhere in the clearing behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up with the feel of unseen eyes upon him. In Lalotai, paying heed to such intuition was often the difference between surprising some unsuspecting monster or being surprised by one. So, with a grin and a yell of challenge, he jumped to face the direction of his unseen watcher, fishhook raised and glowing blue.

The clearing was empty.

Frowning slightly, Maui kept his hook at the ready and scanned the area for hidden monsters. Nothing lurked in the shadows as far as he could tell. A plant rustled slightly and he glanced down.

There was a crab looking up at him from under the frond of a low-slung coral-plant.

Maui blinked in surprise. It was a little thing, really-no bigger than a scrawny chicken. Granted, that was quite large compared to most crabs, but utterly tiny compared to everything else in Lalotai. The crab wore a borrowed gastropod shell, tan and spiraled into a pointed shape, on its back, indicating that it must be fairly young still.

The crab stared brazenly up at him or, more accurately, it stared at his fishhook, still glowing blue.

"Shiny!" it exclaimed cheerfully, waving a little claw at the hook.

"Oh, that's just adorable," Maui said. He set his hook aside with a grin and leaned down to sweep the little crab up in his hands for a better look at it.

The crab promptly clamped a pincer down hard onto Maui's thumb.

"Aaooww!" Maui yelped and attempted to dump the feisty little beastie back to the ground. The crab didn't let go, dangling doggedly from his thumb, even after Maui gave it a good firm shake to dislodge it. For such a little thing, it had quite a strong grip.

Irked, he lifted his hand to bring the crab up to eye level, though keeping it out of pinching reach of his face. "You know, you were a whole lot cuter before," he groused.

The crab, swinging from his thumb, took a wild swing at his nose. The claw snapped just inches short of making contact.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Maui said. With a bit of effort, he managed to grab ahold of the crab's flailing free claw without getting pinched again and held it closed. The crab, now suspended by both claws, struggled and kicked to no great effect. After a few moments of fruitless thrashing, it gave up and hung limply. The crustacean glared with what Maui assumed was meant to be a threatening stare, but lacked any well developed menace to back it up. Despite his annoyance, Maui found it rather amusing.

"Now listen up, crab. You let go of me, I'll let go of you," Maui told it, giving it a little shake just to emphasize the point. "Got it?"

The crab peered at him, giving him a long and considering look. It seemed to understand his words, which was uncommon for creatures in Lalotai, but not necessarily unheard of. It had spoken to him first, after all, although it hadn't had much to say since.

After a moment, the crab seemed to reach a decision. Hesitantly, it loosened its grip on Maui's thumb and finally let go.

Maui shook his hand out, thumb sore but uninjured. The crab watched him expectantly and kicked its dangling legs in the air, clearly wanting to be let go now as well. Maui swung it over and set it down in the broad, open palm of his other hand. "I'm going to let go now, but don't even think about pinching me again," he warned the crab.

It flicked an antenna in response, which Maui took to be an acknowledgement. He let go of the crab's pincer and watched it warily. It clicked its tiny claws once and then again, seeming for a brief moment to contemplate a renewed assault on Maui's hand. Thankfully, it decided against it and instead peered curiously at Maui himself.

Maui looked right back, able to get a better look at the creature now. While it was clearly quite young, it was already nearly the same size as adult coconut crabs in the world above. It was uniformly a dull, dusky purple color, likely to better blend in with the deep shadows of the otherwise colorful realm for protection. Doubtless, the crab would get more colorful with age, as most monsters in Lalotai tended to do. Up close, he could see that the crab's eyes were slightly mismatched-one pupil seemingly permanently dilated-giving it a goofy appearance. Despite it's aggression, there was an innocence in its expression that seemed at odds with the harsh realities of Lalotai. Overall, however, the crab was rather unremarkable.

The crab seemed to be eying him just as critically, examining the tattoos splashed across his shoulders and upper arms, his unruly hair, his broad face, the tapa cloth wrapped around his waist, and the massive shark tooth pendant around his neck. There was an intensity to the creature's stare that was a bit odd and Maui got the distinct impression he was being sized up. He couldn't help but wonder what the crab's assessment was-had he suitably impressed the little critter? Well, one way to find out!

"You can talk," he ventured, "can't you?"

The crab stayed quiet, eyes flicking to Maui's face.

"Come on," Maui pried, "I know you can. You spoke once already."

Silence.

Maui was determined now to get the crab to say something again. The novelty of it all had caught his interest. "Hey, I get it. It's hard to find the words when encountering such greatness," he said, grinning. "But don't be shy, speak up!"

The crab's antennae twitched.

Maui let out a frustrated snort. The crab was holding out on him, he just knew it. A thought occurred to him and he grinned, taking a different tack. "Hey, you want to see something cool?"

The crab cocked its head slightly.

Maui leaned down and set the crab back down on the ground and reached for his hook, propped against a rock nearby. The crab didn't scuttle away, but continued to watch him curiously.

Flashing the creature a cheeky grin, Maui raised his fish hook and in a flash of blue light transformed into a lizard, a bit bigger than the crab but hopefully not enough to scare it off. In lizard form, he scampered a circle around the startled crab and then quickly shifted back to his human skin in another flash of light.

The crab gave a tiny gasp and exclaimed, "do it again!"

"Aha!" Maui crowed, triumphant. "I knew you could talk!"

Caught out, the crab couldn't play it off now-he was clearly busted. "Yes, yes. Now do it again!" the crab demanded, any pretense of shyness quickly evaporating.

Happy to oblige and show off, Maui smirked and raised the hook again. With a fresh flash of light, he shifted into his favorite form-a giant hawk. At this, the crab skittered backwards with a chirp of surprise and alarm. Before the crab's hasty retreat could turn into full flight and deprive him of an audience, Maui quickly changed back.

The crab reversed his direction to cautiously approach again. He stopped near Maui's feet, extending his antennae towards him inquisitively. Then the flood of questions began.

"How did you do that? Can you do other animals? Where did you come from? Where did you get that fishhook? What's it made out of? How does it work? What else can you do? What are you?"

The barrage questions poured forth from the little crab in an excited rush, not slowing down and showing little sign of stopping. Maui blinked in surprise, wondering that he had ever considered the crab to be shy at all. Nevertheless, he grinned-always pleased to make an impression.

"Slow down there, little guy," Maui interrupted with a laugh. "I'm Maui. Shapeshifter. Demigod of the Wind and Sea. Hero of Men," he said, figuring that would answer most of the questions fairly well. "You got a name, crab?"

The crab paused, looking at him quizzically. "A name?"

"Yeah, what do they call you?" Maui replied.

"Nobody calls me anything," the crab replied, confused.

"Uh..." Maui wasn't quite sure to make of that. "Huh." He quickly shifted course to avoid the awkward moment. "Say, you haven't seen a giant pearl around here, have you?"

"You mean the Great Pearl of Matahina?"

Maui blinked in surprise. He started to reply in the affirmative, but the crab cut him off.

"A rare giant blue pearl which gives off it's own light?"

"Yes, an-"

"And was created by the Elder Oyster, who was killed by a huge lizard monster of the abyss thousands of years ago?"

"That's the on-"

"And is said to have magical powers, granting good fortune and safe travels to whoever possesses it?"

"Yes!" Maui cut in quickly, struggling to get a word in edgewise. Apparently, getting the crab to talk was the easy part. Getting him to stop talking was far more challenging. Maybe he should have enjoyed the silence while he could. Nevertheless, he was impressed that the crab had such a depth of knowledge about the item he was after. Eagerly, he asked, "have you seen it?"

"Nope."

Maui's face fell. He had been hoping the little chatterbox might turn out to be useful, making this trip shorter and easier. Annoyance creeping back in, he snorted, "well, how do you know all this then?"

The crab looked away, then gave a small shrug. "I just do," he said, avoiding Maui's eyes.

There was something more there, but Maui wasn't really interested in finding out at the moment. He was on a mission, after all. He didn't have time to play twenty questions with some crustacean. "Well, that's not really gonna help me find it, now is it?" he said. He slung his hook over his shoulder and turned to go.

A voice piped up behind him. "Wait, I know where it is!"

Maui stopped and turned back, raising an eyebrow. "You said you hadn't seen it."

"I haven't seen it. But I know where it is," the crab shot back matter-of-factly.

Now they were getting somewhere! Maui grinned. "Okay, little guy. Where is it?"

"I'll show you," the crab declared cheerfully, then darted off into the colorful foliage of the plain.

Maui stared a moment in surprise, then started after him.

The crab was remarkably quick, nimbly navigating the softly glowing corals and vividly colored plants. Small as he was, he was able to duck under most of the plants with ease. Maui, however, crashed after him, slowed up by the densely woven undergrowth. The crab would stop every so often and check to make sure he was still following, giving Maui the chance to catch up. After stubbing his toe for the second time on a stray branch of coral, however, Maui revised his strategy. With a flick of his hook, he shifted back to a lizard, making it far easier to navigate the underbrush and follow the agile little crab. The crab, for his part, seemed thrilled to have a creature closer to his size and that didn't tower over him as a companion for a while.

They made better time now, scurrying through the foliage until the crab suddenly skidded to a stop and and ducked into the shadow of a nearby plant. "It's in there," he whispered, pointing a claw towards the mouth of a vast cavern, shaded by a stand of trees.

Maui wasted no time, returning to his human shape and brazenly marching straight for the entrance.

"Wait!" the crab called out from behind him. "There's a monster guarding it."

Maui looked back at the crab. "Monsters don't worry me," he shrugged, unconcerned. Despite his boast, however, he did change tack and approach more guardedly. He came up to the cave from the side, keeping out of sight to peer inside. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he was able to get a good look at what was inside.

It appeared to be a great nest, piled with faintly glowing leaves and built on the bare ground. Sitting atop it was an enormous bird-like creature, at least three times larger than Maui himself. In the faint light, he could just barely make out its shape-a thick body with stubby-likely useless-wings and a curved neck, ending in a small head with a heavy, bone-like crest and a straight, sharp beak. The avian creature's feathers were stringy and bristly, colored dark along its body and streaked with faint spidering lines of glowing red. Brilliant blue decorated the bird's bare head and neck. It's large eyes were closed, apparently slumbering where it sat.

"That's Mamanu," piped a small voice from right beside him, causing Maui to jump slightly. He hadn't expected the crab to follow him. "She thinks the pearl is an egg. She's been sitting on it nearly as long as anyone can remember."

"Hm." Maui looked thoughtful, eyeing the bird monster sleeping on the nest. "Got an idea," he said, "be right back."

He quietly slipped into the nearby trees, scanning the ground for what he needed. It didn't take long and he returned to the cavern carrying a large spherical stone, nearly the size of his own head. It was fairly smooth in shape and likely a similar size to the pearl he sought. All he had to do was carefully slip it under the bird and swap it for the pearl, like collecting eggs from a hen. Easy!

The crab was still waiting there, now looking up at him skeptically. His gaze flicked between the stone and Maui. "I don't think that's a good id-"

"Shh," Maui cut him off with a grin. "Just watch!" With that, he slipped into the darkness of the cavern.

As stealthily as he could, Maui crept along the shadow-draped walls-hook held in one hand and the round stone in the other. He glanced back over his shoulder and was pleased to see he still had an audience. The crab was watching from just outside the entrance. He shot the critter a cocksure grin and kept creeping closer to the sleeping bird.

He was close now and could smell the dusty scent of the bird's feathers. This near, the pale blue gleam of the pearl was just barely visible, tucked under her body. Maui quietly laid his fishhook on the ground and closed the distance. He hefted his faux egg, switching it from his left to right hand. This was it, go time.

Slowly and with infinite care, he gently started slipping the rock under the bird. She stirred slightly, feathers shifting, and Maui froze. A tense moment passed, but the great bird did not move again. He resumed the transfer, sliding his left hand under the bird as well to take hold of the pearl. He spared a glance at the bird before proceeding-still sleeping soundly. With a confident smirk, he slid the rock into the pearl's place and pushed the pearl into his waiting hand. Success!

Triumphant, he pulled the pearl free and held it up. It glowed bright in the darkened cave, a blue beacon of light. Victory was short-lived, however, as a low rumbling growl filled the cavern. His face fell and he suddenly found himself looking into the intensely angry, glowing red eyes of Mamanu. The bird monster emerged from her nest, rising on long red and black striped legs that each ended in three viciously sharp claws. She glared down on him from her superior height, let out a deep primordial roar of rage, and raised a clawed foot to lash out.

Maui gave a short, perhaps somewhat anxious, laugh and made a hasty dash for his hook on the ground nearby. The bird's kick grazed his leg, barely missing the rest of him and sending him tumbling. He rolled with the momentum, though, and came up with the hook in his hand. Without hesitation, he flashed into the shape of a hawk. He grabbed up the pearl in his talons and flew straight out of the cave, leaving the flightless bird monster to shriek in impotent fury from the ground.

As he emerged into the water-diffused light of Lalotai, he let out a exultant hawk's cry and cast a smug look over his shoulder. The giant bird had followed him out of the cave, still raging but unable to reach him. She seemed to have noticed something on the ground to redirect her anger at, however.

The crab.

Maui had forgotten about the little creature that helped him find the Great Pearl-forgotten that he'd told the crab to wait there.

A part of Maui was ready to just shrug it off, take advantage of a helpful distraction while he had it, and let Lalotai's twisted version of nature take its course. After all, the crab was just another monster in the realm of monsters-even if he was a tiny one. A tiny one that had helped Maui. A tiny one that had been impressed by Maui's shapeshifting. A tiny one that Maui had left down there in harm's way.

A pang of guilt hit Maui and hit him hard. In an instant, his mind was made up. He dropped the pearl from his talons, allowing it to fall into a clump of plants where he hoped to recover it later.

With a shrill battle cry, he wheeled around, folded his wings, and dove for the bird monster.

On the ground, the crab was scooting backwards in a panicked rush away from Mamanu. His claws were up and snapping threateningly even in retreat, despite being hopelessly outmatched against such a large adversary. He was running out of space, however, and was quickly backed up against a patch of hard corals.

The giant bird lunged forward with another rumbling roar, aiming to snap up the little crab in her beak. The crab shrank back against the coral, raising his claws over his head in a last ditch defense.

Maui, talons extended, slammed full speed into Mamanu's side. There was enough sheer momentum in the impact to send the bird creature crashing to the ground dozens of feet away, body streaked with rake marks from hawk talons. She howled in surprise and pain, rolling to her feet and glaring murder at the demigod. Maui had already shed his hawk shape and was on his own feet by then, hook raised and glowing blue.

Mamanu charged, barreling down on Maui in a blind fury. Her charge was met with a heavy blow from the fishhook and again she was thrown back. She landed hard, sprawled quite a distance away. This time, she was slower to her feet, dazed and staggering slightly. Hate still filled her eyes, glowing like burning red embers, but she also seemed unwilling to make another run at him. Instead, she bellowed a throaty roar of frustration and took her leave, melting away into the foliage.

Maui waited a few moments at the ready, in case she was merely feinting and preparing for another attack. When no attack was forthcoming, he lowered his hook and looked around for the crab.

Maui found him nearby, hiding under a wide leaf. When he drew the leaf away, the startled crab skittered back and snapped his claws in warning. Despite the threatening display, Maui could see the crab was shaking from what was surely a traumatic experience. "Hey," he called gently to the crab, "it's okay, it's just me."

Breaking through his fright, the crab lowered his claws and looked up at Maui in no small amount of awe. "You came back," he said slowly, as if barely comprehending the very idea. He took a few steps towards Maui, extending his antennae to hesitantly touch the demigod's foot as if to make sure he was real.

Maui shrugged, putting on a grin to hide the unpleasant spear of guilt-the guilt that he had very nearly not come back at all. "Couldn't just leave ya." He looked around, quick to change the subject. "Now, gotta go find where I dropped that pearl."

"I'll help!" the crab said eagerly, then darted into the undergrowth again.

Maui shrugged to himself, not about to turn down more free assistance, and waded into the bushes to search as well. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept track of where the crab was by the movement of the softer corals as the creature passed through them.

Eventually, the movement stopped and Maui paused his own scan of the ground and looked over. When the crab failed to pick up the search again, he walked over. As he expected, the crab had found the pearl-larger than the crustacean himself. The crab was staring at it almost as if in a trance, eyes slightly glazed over and lost in the iridescent gleam. "It's so..."

"Nice work, kid." Maui cut him off. He reached down and plucked the pearl off the ground, earning him a sudden sharp look from the crab-a disgruntled glare that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving Maui to wonder if he had just imagined seeing it at all.

"Well, got what I came for. I'm outta here," he said, turning to walk away.

This time, there was no voice from behind him. It was conspicuous in its absence. The crab was quiet as Maui left him behind.

The rest of Lalotai, however, suddenly seemed very loud in Maui's ears as he walked. The shrieking cries of eight-eyed bats far overhead, the rattling hiss of lurking lizard-beasts, the low rumble in the distance that might have even been a vindictive Mamanu licking her wounds, and dozens of other malevolent noises crowded around. Lalotai was a brutal realm, filled with all manner of oversized and nasty creatures.

Maui cringed, shoulders bunching up as he tried to ignore the ominous sounds of the local monsters-monsters that would make short work of a solitary little crab with wide, innocent eyes.

He risked a glance behind him. The crab was standing right where he left him, dozens of paces away. The crab watched him go without any look of accusation, but with drooping antennae and what might have been sad eyes.

Guilt! Guilt overwhelmed Maui once more. How could he consider himself a hero if he abandoned someone who had helped him to almost certain death in a dangerous, unforgiving realm? The humans called him the "Hero of Men," but maybe he ought to be a hero to all.

It might be nice to have someone to talk with, too. He'd never admit it, but it got pretty lonely sailing from one adventure to the next with no real companions. Even the adoration of humans was fleeting, as it never really got past the worshipping aspect to reach anything approaching friendship or camaraderie.

He wrestled with the dilemma, then finally threw up his hands in defeat. "Argh, okay," he exclaimed, as if to reassure the silently judging scenery that he'd given in.

He marched back over to the crab, whose antennae perked up at his return. Maui kneeled down to get closer to the creature's eye level, setting his hook down. "Hey, you wanna come with me?" he asked quickly, before he could change his own mind.

The crab appeared to be trying to hold back his enthusiasm and play it cool. He wasn't succeeding. "Where are you going?" he asked, excited voice clearly betraying any attempt to appear dispassionate.

"The surface world, where I live," Maui replied.

The crab actually paused at this prospect. "Leave Lalotai?"

"Yep."

The crab thought this over, mulling the idea of leaving the only home he'd likely ever known. He glanced around himself at the weird and glowing expanse of the monster realm, then back at Maui who awaited his answer. The crab smiled, apparently reaching a decision. "Okay!"

"Great!" Maui said. He wasted no time sweeping the crab up in the palm of his hand, eliciting a surprised chirp from the little thing. He held him up to eye level to get a better look at him again. "If you're going to come with me, you'll need a name," he told the crab.

The crab looked at him expectantly, head slightly tilted.

"Hmm." Maui gave the crab a serious look. Names were important. He had never given someone a name before, so he needed to be sure to find the right one. It was a big responsibility and he had the oddest sensation-a faint tingle in the back of his mind-of fates being altered.

Contemplative, he scrutinized the little crustacean. He thought about the crab's show of nerve, snapping at the giant bird monster even when the odds were firmly against him. Finally, he smiled. "I've got it."

The crab waited with unprecedented patience, surprisingly intuitive to the gravity of such a moment.

"Tamatoa," Maui proclaimed. A strong name-a warrior name-for such a tiny creature, but he had a feeling the crab would grow into it with time.

The crab repeated the name back to Maui to see how it fit, then flashed him a pleased smile.

Maui was feeling rather pleased with himself as well, to be perfectly honest-feeling like he'd done something quite significant beyond just finding the Great Pearl of Matahina for the humans. He grinned and set Tamatoa on his shoulder, then stooped to pick his hook up from the ground. "Now, hold on!" he instructed.

"CHEE HOO!" came Maui's gleeful cry. With a flash of his hook, he shifted to a giant hawk. With the Great Pearl of Matahina clutched in one talon and with Tamatoa clinging to his back with all his many legs, Maui spread his wings and took to the air, leaving Lalotai for the world above.