"Okay, we go east" Maui pointed his hand up to the sky, "To the lair of Tamatoa. If anyone has my hook, it's that bee-eyed bottom feeder" He began tightening the sail, giving the boat an increased speed.

"You're quite experienced in sailing" Moana began, "Could you teach me?"

"No," Maui said without hesitation. Moana frowned,

"Why not?"

"Because I'd rather not and you're not sailing material."

"What do you mean?"

"It means, you can't sail."

"Maybe if you taught-"

"I said, no" Moana turned, giving a huff, sitting on the other side of the boat. I turned to Maui, raising an eye. He looked up at me, "What? Come on... It'd take too much time."

"Seems like time is all we got here" I replied.

"Ugh... alright" Moana jumped up,

"Yes!" She grabbed the oar, "Where we starting?"

"Starting with the sheet" Maui demonstrated. I sat down and watched the two struggle in getting her to follow.

It continued like this for the rest of the day and night. Eventually, I gave in to the need of sleep. A sudden bump woke me up; I sat up; yawning. I looked to see Moana asleep, and Maui steering the boat still. He glanced at me, not saying anything though. I looked around, still nothing but ocean for miles, in the dark. I rubbed my eyes, still trying to wake up.

"Something bothering you?" Maui asked. I shook my head,

"No, just... all the sleep I needed."

"Well then," He held out the oar to me, "Mind taking over so I can get my rest?"

"Oh uh, sure," I said. I took the oar, switching places with Maui. He lied down, looking up at the stars.

"Just keep paddling straight kid, we should be there sometime in the day" I gave the nod, though I doubt he could see it. I continued to sail for a few minutes; I could still see Maui's eyes open, staring blankly. "So you're here because...?" He asked me.

"To protect Moana."

"Don't give me that, the strange weapon, magical abilities, you can't just be some sort of guardian for her right?"

"Well if you must know, I'm here to fight the darkness."

"The darkness? You talking about the monsters?"

"Yeah, the heartless."

"That what you call them? Well, I hope you're good at it, because the place we're going, is going to be home to hundreds of them there."

"Where exactly are we heading?" I asked Maui.

"Tamatoa's Lair," He said, "He's a big old monster, living in the depths of the Realm of Monsters."

"Realm of Monsters? You mean like the Underworld?"

"Yeah but, it's just monsters. No spirits, Hades, or anything like that. This place is highly dangerous for any mortal. But you're not a plain mortal, right?"

"I mean... I'm still only human."

"But you fight monsters for a living; this would be a test then!" Maui chuckled. Seconds later he drifted off to sleep. I stayed up the rest of the night, making sure to keep heading straight. It wasn't until sunset that I saw an island out in the distance. Very faint, but surely there. I continued to paddle forward.

"Wah!" Moana jumped with a start, Maui jumped awake,

"What the-?" He frowned when he realized that it was just her, "For the love of..." He turned over, to fall back asleep. Moana sat up, breathing heavy.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah... just a bad dream" She looked up, seeing the island closing in, "Is that..."

"Yep, the island that holds the gate to Lalotai," Maui said.

"Lalotai?! Realm of monsters?"

"That's right" Maui got up, taking the oar from me, "Leaf and I are going to go get my hook from Tomatoa."

"What about me?"

"You are definitely not going" Moana looked at me, I just shrugged.

"I-I can defend myself!" Moana rose her chest high, trying to look confident.

"Yeah, no. Coconut pirates are one thing, but we're talking about actual monsters! Creatures that mankind has feared for years!"

"I'm not scared."

"Well, we'll see about that."

We reached the island within minutes after. Though it was small, there was one absurdly high rock stretching up to the sky.

"The entrance is up there," said Maui, "Let's go" He shoved me forwards. I took a deep breath, my skin crawling. "What's a matter with you?" Maui looked at me, "Not afraid of heights are you?"

"A little" I coughed.

"Oh come on, it's not the far up!" Maui began climbing.

"Leaf" Moana rested her hand on my shoulder, "Let's show him mortals aren't weak" I nodded with a smile. I holstered my keyblade. I followed her up as she climbed after Maui, I noticed she had the oar strapped on her back.

"Okay... I can do this..." I whispered to myself. I rubbed my hands together and raised myself up on the wall of the rock. As we got higher, my stomach began to feel sick, but I just kept looking up; trying to ignore the fear.

Just keep going, just keep going.

I told myself. Moana and Maui talked to each other about something... but I was too preoccupied trying not to give in to my fear to even listen to them.

Eventually, we had reached the top.

"Wow..." Moana awed, she looked out into the distance, "So... not seeing an entrance?" She looked to Maui.

"Yes, because it only opens after a human sacrifice..." Maui gave us both a dark look.

"...!" Moana gasped.

"Kidding!" Maui laughed, "So serious" He took a deep breath, then blowing strongly at the ground, revealing a pattern of sorts under the sand, "There it is!" Maui said, "Haaa!" He began yelling in a language I wasn't quite familiar with. He jumped high in the air, slamming back down in the middle of the pattern. The ground began shaking, as the pattern split into two. It revealed a hole, one that reached far down. All that I could see was a blue and purple light from below. "Don't worry; it's a lot farther than it looks. Let's go!" He gave me a hard pat on the back, sending me tumbling down,

"Hey!" I screamed. It wasn't that far of a drop when I landed in a body of water. I was being sucked downward, as I adjusted my position to land on my feet. Then I shot out through the bottom, landing safely and softly on the ground. I took a deep breath, "Phew..." I sighed.

Thud!

Maui landed beside me,

"And he sticks the landing!" He said. He pointed to a tattoo on his chest, "Ah?" The mini Maui he had tattooed marked a two point on a chart that looked to be a game of Maui vs. Moana, "What? Dumb dumb, she's not even down here! No mortal is going to- Ah!" He was crushed underneath Moana as she fell on him.

"Ah!" She screamed as she bounced off and tumbled down a nearby pit. Maui and I rushed over to look down,

"Well..." He looked at me, "She's dead... Okay, let's get my hook" He began leaving.

"You can't just leave her down there" I began.

"I can, and I am. Besides, it's your job to protect Moana."

"Ugh, he's right" I turned and jumped down after her.

I found her lying on the ground, wrapped in a disembodied tongue,

"Ew, ew! Get it off!" She screamed, she got it off of her. I helped her up, "Thank you."

"Squee!"

"Ah!" A bat like-creature flew down at us. We looked up to see a whole flock of them circling us. Another one flew down,

"Ha!" I swung my keyblade and deflected it. Moana pulled out her paddle,

"You want some?" She taunted the creatures. Another couple of them flew down at us; I raised my keyblade,

"Thundaga!" I cast. Lightning struck the group, stunning them for a brief moment.

"Hyah!" Moana struck one of them down.

"Scra!" The other bat squealed as it flew down at me.

"Gah!" I suffered a well-sized scratch, but nothing threatening. I jumped after it, smacking it down into the ground. Both of the monsters had been defeated, "And that's that"

"This way!" Moana called. We began running from the rest of the other monsters.

"Squa!" They all screeched after us. We quickly ducked behind some rocks, somehow losing them.

"Okay... we did it..." Moana sighed. She took a peek around, "So this is Lalotai... It's... scary."

"Any sign of Maui?" I asked.

"I don't see him."

"Well we better get going then, is the coast clear?"

"Yeah... let's be careful though" I gave the nod in agreement, taking the lead out. The place looked like the bottom of an ocean floor, with sponges and different plant life everywhere. The sky was the actual ocean, with the average looking sea life swimming around. Creatures of all sort flew around us though, thankfully not taking notice in us.

In the distance looked to be a giant cave of some sort, lit up brightly. Let's try there. We began making our way over to it, though it was some distance away.

"See that out there?" I pointed to it.

"Yeah," She said, her voice hinted that she had the same idea. We took it slow, trying not to get the attention of everything. We traveled by some rocks, trying to hide, "Leaf...!" The rocks began to move! Revealing glowing faces on them, they were humanoid creatures. Four of them approached us.

"Let's do this," I said. I swung my keyblade, hitting the nearest one; causing it to stumble backward.

"Wuah!" One of them lunged at us, grabbing Moana.

"Hey!" She struggled with it, trying to push it off. She gave it a strong kick, knocking the air out of it, "Haaa!" She swung her paddle at it, knocking it off a nearby cliff.

"Heh," Two of the other creatures circled me, striking out at random. I managed to parry a majority of the punches. The fourth one performed a little dance, which I think began rallying the others to fight harder. The others charged forward once more, one jumping on top of me. It grabbed my neck, slamming my head into the ground.

"Urk!" I shoved it off, quickly getting up. Another one approached me; it struck me in the chest. I flinched, stepping back, "Take this!" I flicked my keyblade, "Sonic Blade!" I charged forward, slicing into the creature. It fell back, defeated.

"Here we go" Moana jabbed into one of the other monsters, before wacking it on the side. It grabbed her oar in retaliation and tossed it away from her. It landed nearby on the ground. Moana tried to run for it, but one of the others blocked the way. It knocked her down, "Ahaa!"

"I got ya" I rammed into the monster, knocking it over. I raised my keyblade and swung my keyblade down at it, killing it. Moana got up, racing for her oar. The last creature sprinted at me, knocking me over. It ran after Moana,

"No!" I couldn't get up in time. Moana picked up her oar, quickly turning it towards her pursuer. "Yaa!" It jumped at her, "Bwah!" It was suddenly blasted upward into the water above. A geyser had erupted from beneath it.

"Ha... The ocean might be on to something..." Moana laughed.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go" We began again towards the cavern, making sure to stick clear of any funny looking rocks. It didn't take long before we made it finally. Moana and I had snuck over to the glowing entrance. We peered inside; I awed at the spectacular view of mounds and piles of gold and other treasure's sitting directly in the middle of the entire cave. And on top of all of that, was an enormous hook-looking object.

"Maui's Fish Hook..." whispered Moana.

"Yeah..." Another voiced whispered behind us.

"Huh!" Moana, without thinking, punched the figure. It was Maui, "Oh! Sorry!" Maui grabbed her by the head, "I thought you were a monster, but we found your hook! And you're right; This Tomatoa guy really likes his treasure! Ah!" Maui dropped her on the side of the ground.

"Stay," Maui told Moana.

"What? No!" She told him, "I-"

"Listen, for a thousand years, I've only been thinking of keeping this hair silky, getting my hook, and being awesome again," Maui began tying his hair back in a bun, "And it's not getting screwed up by a mortal who has no business inside of a monster cave except-" Maui stopped short as he spotted a seashell with golden stripes, "Except... maybe as bait" He looked back at her.

"Huh?"

"Alright, here's the plan," Maui said as Moana put on the last piece of shiny material, "You are the bait. You go in, be as loud as obvious as possible, distract him, let me get my hook" He turned towards me, "Leaf, you are to wait to make sure nothing goes wrong, you got that?" I nodded, "Great! Let's get going" Moana groaned and began walking inside. She began making loud banging noises with some bones she had picked up.

"Wow, a shiny, glittery cave!" She said sarcastically, "And just like me... it is covered in sparkly treasure... Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle..."

"Ugh, she's not doing it right" Maui snuck over behind her, "You're not sellin it!"

"This is so stupid!" She told him, "I'll just go walk up and get it" She pointed to the hook.

"Go up there, and he will kill you! Just stick to the plan and don't forget to keep him distracted! Make him talk about himself... he loves bragging about how great he is."

"You two must get along swell" Moana groaned.

"No, not since I ripped off his leg" Maui began sneaking over up to higher ground conspicuously.

"You... ripped off his-?" She noticed he was gone, "Uh!" The ground below her started shaking. No way... It lifted up under her; the entire pile was moving! "Ah!" She screamed as she fell off, but a giant claw had caught her. It held her up, revealing its true form. Tomatoa was a monster-sized hermit crab!

"Ooh hoo hoo oh! What have we here?" He grinned, "It's a sparkly, shiny... wait a minute..." He quickly flicked the rest of her shiny plating off, "Ew, it's a human! What are you doing down here in the Realm of- Pick and eye babe" Moana kept moving her focus onto a different eye, which they were larger than her, just looking at one to the other, "I- I can't concentrate on what I'm seeing if you keep... pick one, pick one!" She must've finally done it, "You're a funny lookin one" He grabbed for her necklace.

"No!" She pulled it back, "That's my grandma's!"

"That's my grandma's " Tomatoa mocked her voice, "I ate my grandma! And it took a week because she was absolutely humongous. Why are you here?" I looked over to see Maui running to jump onto his back. But Tomatoa had begun to move out of reach, forcing Maui to come to a halt.

"Argh!" He grunted as he slipped and hit the side of the ledge, holding on. Maui! I took a step forward when I noticed the crab began turning to look at what the noise was.

"Because you're amazing!" Moana shouted at him, Tomatoa looked at her with a look of amusement, "And we mortals... heard of the tale of the crab who became a legend!" Maui began climbing back up. "And how you became so... crabulous?" Tomatoa stared at her, with a look of suspicion and anger in it.

"Are you just trying to get me to talk about myself?" He leaned towards her. I readied myself to charge, "Because if you are... I will gladly do so-" He said gleefully.

"Hey! Crabcake!" Maui yelled. Tomatoa stopped, turning to see the demigod on his back, grabbing the hook, "I'm back" He gave it a kiss, before raising it up, "It's Maui time!" Tomatoa gasped and dropped Moana,

"Ack!" She yelled as I ran over to help her.

"What do ya say, little buddy?" Maui asked his tattoo, "Giant hawk? Comin up!" Maui spun his hook, "Yahoo!" A bright blue light flashed; revealing Maui's new form, a fish. He dropped down and hit the ground, "Yahoo!" He then transformed into a shark, then into a chameleon, to a reindeer (Which looked oddly familiar), to a pig, then back to his human form. What was that? Tomatoa seemed to squint, smirking as well.

"Well well now..." He began, "Little Maui's havin trouble with his hook. You little semi, mini, demigod!" He flicked his shell, sending Maui downwards, "What a terrible performance! Got the hook! But can't swing it like you use to!" He picked up Maui and tossed him against the wall. The whole cave shook from the blow. Maui fell to the floor, struggling to get up. As Tomatoa grabbed for him, Maui swung his hook, but it was no use. He was lifted up and slammed into the ceiling and falling back down into the ground, defeated. "Ha ha!" Tomatoa laughed as he danced around him.

"Leaf!" Moana called. That's my cue! I began sprinting towards the large crab.

"Here goes nothing!" I said to myself.

"What is this? My so many guests today, you should've given me a call beforehand!" Tomatoa reached out to catch me. I jumped up onto his arm, continuing to race upwards. He gave a slight breath of surprise at the move but quickly tried countering with his other claw. I flipped forward and reached his head.

"Ha!" I struck his right eye.

"Augh!" He jerked back screaming. I landed back on the ground, backing up. "My you're stronger than you look" He squinted at me with his right eye. He gritted his teeth and raised his claw, before swinging it down above me. I quickly rolled out of the way; I glanced over to see Moana helping Maui up. I need to buy them time. I looked back at Tomatoa who returned it with a look of annoyance. I raised my keyblade,

"Blizzaga!" I cast. The sharp icicle flew out at the crab, but he swiftly ducked just enough miss it. He quickly snapped back at me, I jumped out of the way and began running up to higher ground.

"Oh come on, I really love free food!" He continued to try and grab me as I ran. I eventually built up the speed to launch myself off the wall towards him,

"Air flair!" I attacked his right eye in quick and clean swipes.

"Enough!" He somehow managed to get a hit on me, I flew towards the wall, hitting it with a thud. I quickly got up; he was rubbing his eye a bit. Once he got done he lifted his leg to try and squash me. I side-stepped out of the way and swung my keyblade, "Ah!" He yelped as he stumbled a little. I ran to get out from underneath him, "Where do you think you're going?" He grabbed me by my backpack and hoisted me up in the air. Before I could do anything, he had grabbed me by my waist. I began to try and squirm free, but it was no use. "Now" He looked closer at me, "Just who are you, mushroom head?" I could see Moana and Maui heading back outside. "You sure put up the fight with that little key of yours, might hap' I add that to my collection?" The two had gotten out of sight. Come on! You need to get out of here too! I quickly thought for a second,

"Thundaga!" I jabbed my keyblade into his arm, shocking us both.

"W-w-w-hat?!" Tomatoa dropped me as he winced.

"Gah..." I caught my breath and ran to the entrance. I looked off to see Moana and Maui heading towards a mound of some kind, Maui waved at me to hurry as they dropped off into a hole. I hurried over to join them.

"Come back here!" I heard Tomatoa yell as he busted through the wall of the cave. I gasped and quickened my pace. "Ha!" He snapped for my leg, but I jumped to the side. I leapt up into the hole,

"Um-" I was blasted with a massive rush of water and shot upwards.

"Yeeahoo!" Moana cheered as we were sent up into the sky. We all began falling and landed back on the shore. "We're alive!" Moana raised her hand, "We're aliv- ergh!" I looked over to see a shark with legs; it was Maui. He said nothing for a moment, "Look... I uh, I appreciate what you two did for me back there..."

"Mhmm" Moana nodded.

"It took guts but um... sorry, I'm trying to be sincere for once, and it's like you're distracted?"

"Oh, no! No! Pfft" Moana rolled her eyes, "No way."

"Really? Cause you're looking at me like I'm a-" That's when Maui saw his fin. He felt his chest, then his face, "Ahh... shark head..." Moana began laughing

"Do you have a shark head? Cause-"

"Look, the point is... for a couple of kids; you had no business in being down there. Especially you, missy. You both did me a solid, but you almost died! I couldn't even beat the dumb crab! So chances of beating Te Kā. Bupkis. We're never making it to Te Fiti; the mission is cursed!"

"It's not cursed," Moana said. Maui pointed to his face,

"Shark face" Moana began moving his hook towards him,

"It's not... urk-! Cursed!" Once he laid his hand on it, he began shifting into multiple different forms.

"Argh! Ah!" He was a human, with a shark tail, "Ugh... cursed"

"It isn't! Look, maybe you that didn't turn out as well as you expected, but Leaf was there to help support us! You can't expect to do everything yourself."

"Augh! But that's the thing! Ishould be the one doing the fighting and saving! Not some mere mortal with a magical key and mushroom hat and backpack" He looked at me with a frown, then he sighed, "This hook was supposed to be my key to getting my powers back, but it's been so long..." Moana looked at me then back to Maui,

"Come on; we got your hook, so now we've just got to return the heart to Te Fiti. You can practice on our way there?"

"Whatever..." Maui got up and lied back down on his back on the boat. Moana and I looked at each other with worried expressions.