Prologue
Unstoppable
Katniss was a wandering spirit. Her family noticed this about her when she was just a baby. She was different, and her grandmother's stories certainly didn't help. They made Katniss curious about what could be out there. Katniss loved the sea. It was as if an invisible thread was pulling her to the ocean. This worried her father the chief, he was scared Katniss would go out there and get hurt. Her Gramma Sae encouraged Katniss' love for the sea and told her and all the other children on the island ancient stories about the ocean in the form of songs.
"Abandoned by his parents and raised by the gods
Who could see he was destined for greatness
Though he was no bigger than you or me as a baby
He was a demigod!"
"Wow!" The children said as gramma Sae started to sing the story of Maui.
"With lightning speed!
And he gave our people all the things we need,
Yes indeed
We were crawling on the ground
He looked around and said, 'You need a little mores space!'
And he raised the sky
So we could walk, so we could fly!"
The children, especially Katniss were enchanted with this story, this Maui.
"We were crawling on the ground
He looked around and said, 'You need a little more space!'
And he raised the sky
So we could walk, so we could fly!"
The children repeated Sae together.
"We were walking in the dark
'Til Maui found a spark, down in the underworld
He climbed up higher and higher
Bringing the gift of fire"
Gramma Sae sang and the children repeated her again.
"When Maui was around, we were unstoppable
We shattered all the rules, ran free
We tore down every wall
And we answered the call of the sea
We used to sail with gods, were were unstoppable
To islands we could go explore
With every breaking dawn
Our adventures would go on beyond the shore"
Katniss stopped singing along. She wanted this. To explore and run free. She didn't understand why she had to stay away from the ocean.
"Maui taught us how to see the waves
Maui taught us how the sea behaves
Maui taught us how to see the skies
How to see the way the seagull flies
Maui taught us how the stars can guide us
The secrets that the ocean can provide us
How to see our way through wind and rain
And know the way back home is there inside us"
Katniss was only four years old but she knew then and there that she wanted to be like Maui.
"We ran the world, we were unstoppable
We learned to sail the seas alone
With every escapade
We were brave and unafraid of the unknown
We gathered up our strength, we were unstoppable
We chased the horizon line
We faced tremendous odds
But we rumbled with the gods, and we were fine"
Sae watched her precious granddaughter and was filled with joy to see the curiosity in Katniss' eyes. Those big gray eyes that reminded her of her late husband.
"Hey, master of disguise
He could assume any form, any shape or size
He used to fight fantastic monsters
Take 'em by surprise"
Sae watched as the children repeated her words.
"Until the fateful night
The only time he ever lost a fight
A thousand years ago
Against a demon named..."
She pulled a sheet of paper down from the ceiling, drawn on the paper was a lava monster. "Te Ka." She said, making the children shudder in fear. Katniss' happy eyes were replaced with sad, scared ones. What happened to Maui? They seemed to ask. Gramma Sae sighed sadly. "Te Ka was a brutal land spirit. Legend says she devoured Maui whole, and with the disappearance of Maui came the end of our voyages."
"The villainous Te Ka did the impossible
And Maui, just like that, was gone
Our demigod, our friend, fought for us until the end
And he lives on"
Gramma Sae looked into her granddaughter's eyes and saw a sadness she couldn't bare to see. So she said something, even though she knew the chief wouldn't like it. "For a thousand years, we have made Motunui our home... But there can be a new Maui, a new generation!" Katniss' eyes widened. She knew her grandmother was talking specifically to her. There could be a new Maui... The toddler stood up and sang.
"I am Katniss, I am unstoppable
I know how big the world can be
If Maui lives in you
We can sail across the blue unending sea"
Her father happened to be walking by and heard his daughter's song and stopped in the doorway with his arms crossed. He told his mother not to put these thoughts into the young girl's head.
"I'm ready for what's next, I am unstoppable
I want to see the world beyond the shore
For Maui years ago
Taught us everything we know, so let's explore!"
The chief gritted his teeth and walked into the small hut toward his daughter as she continued to sing.
"I want more...
I want more
I want more!
Unstoppable!"
Her father picked her up quickly and Katniss yelped in surprise, then smiled up at him. "Hi." His face softened a little, he couldn't stay upset with his little girl. After all, it was his mother that encouraged her.
"Hello, sweetie." He rested his forehead against hers for a moment then looked up to glare at his mother. "Mother, I told you not to put these ideas into Katniss' head. What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm making sure Katniss knows our history for when I'm gone." Sae said. "She is our future."
"She should be afraid of the ocean, not consider it a challenge." The chief cradled his daughter tighter to his chest. "Do you want her to go out there and die like father did? Like Iris did? You'd really let her do that?"
Sae huffed in response. "Nobody is gonna let that girl do anything." The toddler was very stubborn. If she wanted to be on the sea, someday that's what she'd do. The chief knew this but he wanted to protect her. He had already lost his father and wife to the sea, he wasn't going to lose his daughter to it too.
"Katniss will contribute to the village like everyone else, and one day, she will become chief. That is her future. Here, on this island. No more talk of the ocean..." The chief said as he put Katniss back down on the ground. Katniss immediately started to run out of the hut to the sea.
"That is small thinking and fear talking." Sae said and the two continued to argue.
Katniss smiled when she made it to the shore and found a pretty shell, she began to reach for it and noticed a baby sea turtle getting pecked at by some birds. The turtle wouldn't' make it to the sea without help. Katniss picked a big leaf and used it to guard the turtle as she walked it to the ocean, shoeing away any birds coming to peck at it. Katniss watched the sea turtle swim away and smiled. That's when the ocean moved revealing the shell once more. Katniss giggled and grabbed the shell and more ocean moved to reveal another shell. She followed the shells through a path cutting through the water. She watched the ocean and smiled. She loved the ocean more than anything. Then she noticed a glowing green rock floating toward her, she reached into the water and took it.
"Katniss!" Her father called. "Katniss!" Katniss turned her head toward the voice. The ocean picked her up and carried her back to the shore just before her father came out from the trees. "Katniss, there you are." He picked her up, causing her to drop the green rock. "I was worried about you... I guess I should've known you'd be here."
"I wanna go in the ocean," Katniss pointed to it.
"I know you do," The chief sighed. "But it's not safe."
"But..." Katniss pouted. "I wanna be a hero... like Maui."
"Well," He said. "You can be a hero without leaving the island."
"I can?"
"Heroism doesn't always mean going on brave voyages and risking your life. You can be a hero right where you are." He paused to push some hair out of her face. "Promise me you won't you won't go out on that ocean."
Katniss frowned and looked back at the sea. "I promise."
I know, this is the exact same plot as Moana but I really love that movie and I had to write this. I promise my next story will have an original plot. This story will have eight chapters if you include this prologue. The song used in the prologue is an outtake from Moana, it's called Unstoppable, I highly recommend listening to it to get a better feel for the song.