Deep in the Realm of Monsters, in a giant seashell filled with treasures of all things shiny, the monstrous coconut crab known as Tamatoa snored peacefully as he sung in his sleep.
"Well Tamatoa hasn't always been this glam...I was a drab little crab once..."
As he drifted off into dreamland, Tamatoa moaned in distress, as he found he was soon experiencing a nightmare. Or so he thought.
He dreamed about a scared and fragile baby blue crab who was so small, that no shell would fit his tiny body. All the other crabs mocked and teased him for being ugly without a seashell and that he would never be accepted for the dingy little thing he was. It wasn't the baby blue crab's fault for being so small and different. He wished he could be as beautiful as the other crustaceans, with their big shiny seashells and bright colors, but most of the time, the poor baby blue crab would hide inside his half-cut coconut shell house and wish someday that somebody would love and accept him for who he was on the inside, as well as on the outside.
One day, a woman and her daughter walked into the shop in search of a pet. The small human child ran up to the cage with all the crustaceans and pressed her face against the glass. She looked and she looked, but none of the crabs seemed to catch her attention. That is until she glanced over and saw a pair of black and blue antennas sticking out of the coconut house.
The baby blue crab peeked his beady little eyes out of his hiding place and gazed up at the small human with shiny yellow hair and black-rimmed glasses, who was staring back at him in awe. The girl reached her hand inside the cage and lifted the coconut house over him. The baby blue crab covered himself with his tiny orange pincers, trembling in fear as the girl grasped her hand around him and lifted him up out of the cage.
"Hello", said the child.
The baby blue crab looked up again and saw the girl smiling at him.
"My name is Sharon. Would you like to come home with me?"
The baby blue crab gave her a little smile and shyly nodded his head.
"Aw, you're so cute", said Sharon. "I think I'll call you Tamatoa."
After Sharon and her mother paid the store owner, baby Tamatoa was placed inside a plastic box with a fresh carpet of sand. Sharon picked up the box and said to him, "Don't worry, Tamatoa. I'm going to take care of you now. That way, you'll never be lonely. I'll always love you, forever and ever."
Baby Tamatoa smiled at Sharon and snapped his little pincers up in the air, as if he wanted to reach out and give her a hug. A shimmering white light appeared around Sharon's body and the dream faded.
"Now I know I can be happy as a clam, because you're beautiful, baby-"
Tamatoa snapped his eyes open and groaned in annoyance, as he rubbed the top of his head and said, "Still having that same dream. "
The question was...what did it mean? Ever since his youth, Tamatoa always had a fondness for shiny things. He never cared or held any interest in humans. But maybe, just maybe, there was something in his life, or rather, someone, who meant more to him than silver or gold.
