After lifting Maui up by his hair, Tamatoa narrowed his eyes at him.
"I dare you to call me that again." Tamatoa growled, throwing the demigod up in the air only to catch him in his claw, no longer holding Maui up by his hair.
April just watched, unsure whether she should try to help or not. She knew she should, but something was holding her back and she didn't know what it was.
"Aren't you going to do something?!" Moana yelled to her, her arms spread out, "You've helped him before in the past, right?!"
April looked at her, finally realizing what was holding her back from helping him. She then looked down as she sighed.
"Look, he got himself into this..." She said, only glancing up at Moana with just her eyes, "As much as I'd love to help, I can't endanger my–" She then interrupted herself, realizing that the giant crab no longer seemed to be her friend. "Actually, I want Maui and Tamatoa to learn to get along again. Maui got himself into this, so I want to see if he can get out of it." Maui looked surprised as he looked down at her, but before he could get anything out April added, "If things get too dangerous or out of hand like last time, I'll help him." Tamatoa snickered, the tone of it sounding dark.
"You just make it too easy!" Tamatoa said, sounding very amused, "In fact, that was what I was going to do!"
Maui and April both gasped, their eyes wide-open. Before April could do anything however, Tamatoa snatched her up with his free claw.
"Dammit Maui!" She yelled, fear in her eyes as she saw herself being lifted from the ground, "You just had to anger him!" Maui rolled his eyes.
"Look girlie, I wasn't expecting this okay?" He asked, sounding a bit annoyed. April glared at him.
"You weren't expecting this from a giant, fifty-foot crab?!" She yelled, "How?!" Maui only shrugged in response as she let out a groan. "If we make it through this, I am so gonna kill you!" She threatened. Maui just smirked.
"I'd like to see you try." He said smugly.
April growled but before she could say anything, Tamatoa said, "Hey, are you two done yet? I'd kinda like to finish Maui off and have you watch." April let out a huff and rolled her eyes.
"As you can see, I don't care if you end him in front of me right now." She said, her eyes halfway closed, "Even if you just beat him before attempting to eat him again." Maui glared at her before remembering he had his hook.
"Well, I'm out." He said, his eyes also halfway closed as he was about to transform.
Before he could transform into anything, Tamatoa swiftly slammed him onto the ground, making sure his back hit the ground before quickly raising his claw up high in the air and bringing it down hard onto him. Maui let out a grunt of pain as his eyes clenched shut, his teeth also clenched as his hands moved to rest on his stomach, leaving his hook lying on the ground.
"Doesn't feel good to be pathetically weak, does it?" Tamatoa growled as he grabbed the hook, glaring at him, "Guess you now know how I felt when you–" Suddenly he was interrupted by something sharp hitting the top of his head. He looked up to see April as a hawk, smirking down at him.
"How did you–?!" He began but interrupted himself, speechless.
Maui squinted his eyes open to see her, still in pain from the huge hit he took to his stomach. He then watched as she flew away to try to get Tamatoa to chase after her.
"Get back here!" Tamatoa said as he chased after her just as she hoped he would.
"Not until you and Maui can get along!" She shouted, still flying.
Tamatoa growled and before she knew what was going on, she heard Moana shout, "April!"
She looked behind her just to see a giant claw swinging at her, and she swiftly flew down to dodge it. Just as she thought she was safe, she was instantly smacked by another claw, sending her crashing hard into a wall before she changed back to her human form and fell face-first onto the ground. She panted as she looked up to see him coming towards her, a bit of fear in her eyes.
"Now to take your precious staff." He said with a grin, his claw outstretched as if he was about to take it.
April looked around to see where Maui was and she saw him slowly trying to get up, wincing a little from the little bit of pain he still felt. Tamatoa noticed where she was looking and instantly grabbed her staff, causing her to pull on it to try to take it from his grasp only to have it pulled on much harder as Tamatoa yanked up on it then threw her into the air like he did to Maui the last time.
As she hit the ceiling hard, for the quick second she was up there, she saw Tamatoa heading for Maui. Her eyes widened at the sight before she started falling to the ground and landed with a thump. She looked up, pain coursing through her as she saw Tamatoa deliver another hard blow to Maui's stomach, causing a louder grunt of pain to leave the demigod as she looked to see Moana in the cage-like thing he'd trapped her in before.
"There, that should make sure you can't get up again." Tamatoa said, causing April to look back in his direction and glare. "You pathetic excuse for a demigod..." He then muttered loud enough for anyone in the area to hear. April growled at what he had said before beginning to reach for her staff, a look of pain on her face from the hits she took spreading pain once more throughout her body as she stretched to try to grab it.
"I'll take that!" Tamatoa said as he yanked the staff away from her, "Besides, you won't be needing it anyway." April groaned as she let her head fall, her face on the golden, sandy ground.
As she slowly lifted her head up to look at Maui, she noticed him again trying to get up, but very barely managing due to how much pain he was in. His upper back was only an inch off the ground and she could see he was looking at her. She found the look on his face to be different from when Tamatoa took him down the last time, his face indicating that he was in way worse pain than before.
Part of her just wanted to use whatever strength she had left to crawl over to him and just be close to him, but the fear of being caught and being put through the same amount of pain he was in stopped her. She never really liked intense feelings of pain coursing through her.
Maui... She thought as his upper back and head finally fell back onto the sand, Maui's chest seeming to rise and fall a bit quicker than usual indicating that he was panting, most likely from the pain of holding his head up and the little bit of pressure it put on the muscles near his stomach, I'm sorry...
Tamatoa then looked back at her and Maui as he stood by Moana's cage.
Time to show them how truly weak their armor is. He thought, beginning to move towards them, And at least April is going through the same shit I put that minigod through the last time he and that girl came here. But that's what she gets for running back to him.
April let her face fall back into the sand as Tamatoa began to walk over to her and Maui. Moana, seeing this, found that a great time to climb out of her cage to help the two retrieve their weapons.
Tamatoa smirked as he reached both his claws out and grabbed Maui and April by their legs, Maui letting out a short whimper of pain due to the sudden movement from them getting yanked upwards before helplessly being dangled upside-down.
Maui and April both held their skirts down, but Maui was finding it very painful – and kind of tough – to keep doing it for long, hoping that he'd no longer have to do it soon. But that came pretty quick.
They stopped holding their skirts down as Tamatoa slammed their faces into the wall, but he only rubbed April's hard against it as he flipped Maui upright to force him to watch.
Moana was already on Tamatoa's shell, already lifting up Maui's hook the best she could before making off with it, tossing it as close to the entrance of the lair as possible.
One down, one to go! She thought as she ran back to Tamatoa's shell, Then I can help them get to the entrance 'cause they're...gonna need it. When she got halfway to where Tamatoa was, she caught him spinning April – and Maui – around on his shell again, attempting to fling them across the floor. She then sighed before thinking, Same old moves, Tamatoa.
After they both eventually flew off his shell in different directions – Moana just now noticing they were holding hands before they lost their grips on the shell, possibly in hopes of staying on his shell as much as possible or something – she ran to his shell again to get April's staff as Tamatoa's attention was still more focused on torturing the demigod and demigoddess.
As Maui hit the ground before sliding a little bit, he let out a whimper from the pain. His vision was once again doubled and a bit blurry as he tried to use the last bit of strength he had to lift his upper back and head from the ground, but his body was in too much pain and protested the movement, causing him to instantly fall back into the sand.
"Any last words before I finish you off?" Tamatoa asked them, narrowing his eyes at them as the lair became dark and his bioluminescence kicked in, causing April to look at him in fear, "Besides, it would be nice to hear the people who betrayed me begging for mercy."
Moana, where are you when we need you? April thought as Tamatoa raised his claws high in the air, readying to hit them again, causing April to flinch.
"Hey!" She then heard Moana shout, looking to see that Moana was holding up one of the treasures from Tamatoa's shell, "You want this back?!"
Tamatoa glared at her before bringing both his claws down hard on both Maui and April from anger at seeing Moana with one of his treasures, causing them both to groan from the pain they were both in.
"Yes, I want that back!" Tamatoa said through clenched teeth, "Give it here!" Moana smirked.
"Then get it!" She yelled as she threw it in the opposite direction from Maui and April.
Tamatoa chased after it as Moana ran up to both Maui and April, feeling concerned.
"You guys okay?" She asked them, carefully helping them up, "You took quite a beating." Maui, who could barely stand from the pain, shook his head no.
"He was...too quick for us..." Maui said weakly, resting a hand on his stomach while hunched over a bit. April nodded in agreement, also hunched over a bit.
"Guess he learned to be quicker from his last two battles with you..." April told him as Moana helped them to the entrance of the lair, both of them hardly able to walk from the pain they were in but still managing. Maui shrugged, wincing a tiny bit from the small amount of pain it sent through him.
"Maybe." He said, unsure as to how Tamatoa beat them but figuring she was right, "I mean, he was pretty quick... Especially when it came to me transforming. I didn't even get a chance to!"
Right as they reached the entrance to the lair, Maui collapsed from the pain he was feeling. April and Moana gasped.
"Maui!" They both shouted, Moana rushing to help him up as she let April lean against her for support.
As she began helping him up, she felt Tamatoa's footsteps behind her. She quickly but carefully got him up – Maui clenching his eyes and teeth shut from the pain – before quickly but carefully walking to the entrance and looking behind her only to see Tamatoa quickly putting the treasure back onto his shell, her eyes widening out of both fear and worry as he turned around to start chasing her.
"Just leave me behind Moana." She heard Maui say which surprised her, "I'll only slow you down." Moana just shook her head in response as she finally reached the entrance.
"I can't do that." She said, quickly going to the geyser, "Besides, leaving you here to die isn't an option." April just shook her head, seemingly agreeing with Moana. Maui gave a weak smile.
"Thanks guys." He said as they stepped onto the geyser. Moana and April both smiled.
"No problem!" Moana said cheerfully at the same time April said, "You're welcome!"
Tamatoa then caught up just as the geyser started rumbling, the giant crab backing up a bit out of fear of what happened last time. As the geyser finally blew them upwards, he heard April copying Maui's battle cry.
"I'll get you guys next time!" Tamatoa shouted to them, glaring up at where the geyser shot them, "I'll make sure you guys can't get away!"
April had a bad gut feeling about what that could mean, feeling that he meant he'd make sure they were in too much pain to move or something like that.
As soon as they shot out of the water and landed on dry land, she and Maui grunted, still feeling pain from the fight. Moana looked at them, concerned.
"Sorry I got you into that mess Maui." April said with a sigh as she looked down, "All I wanted to do was try and rekindle your relationship with Tamatoa." Maui rolled his eyes.
"Well you didn't." He spat, slightly glaring at her, "You just made things worse..."
April just looked down, muttering, "I'm sorry..." But it seemed to fall on deaf ears as Maui didn't say a word. She then realized she had messed up badly.
Okay, to clear things up a bit, the reason why Tamatoa is against April now is because he feels she betrayed him by going back to Maui, which is hinted at in his thoughts in this chapter, where it's mentioned she went "running back to him".
Second thing I'd like to point out is Maui being hurt by the blows he took to his stomach. Honestly, after first seeing the movie a few months ago, I began to think that Maui's weak spot is his stomach since he seemed to make a small grunting sound then bring his hands to his stomach after Moana hit him there with her oar. So now I have this personal headcanon where his stomach is actually his weak spot, so any blows to it would hurt him depending on how hard they are.
Also while writing this chapter, I found I liked – no, loved – writing the action scenes too. You know, like the fighting scenes. I feel I should add those a bit more often in my fanfics.
Anyway, that's it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed!