"So, where are we going, exactly?"

Tamatoa had been following these two humans for quite some time, venturing into parts of Motunui that the villagers hardly ever went. Their surroundings consisted of fields and gnarled trees bedecked with leaves that shimmered in the sunlight. There was a clear view of the ocean past all the trees as well, making for a rather scenic area.

The two humans, a teenage boy and girl, glanced at each other with restrained smirks. "Oh, you'll see when we get there. It's not much farther." The girl answered.

Tamatoa narrowed his eyes slightly, not liking how strange they were behaving. These two were Wikoli and Pilipo, after all, two of the villagers that clearly held a high amount of disdain for the crab. He'd often find himself on the receiving end of scornful comments from these two when Moana wasn't nearby to hear it. They were always careful of what they said or did around Moana after the whole boat lie, knowing how defensive she could get of the crustacean.

Naturally he was suspicious of these two, but a part of him also greatly desired their acceptance. So when they had come to him asking for help retrieving an item, Tamatoa jumped at the chance to get on their better side.

Was his need to be accepted letting him disregard his better judgment…?

… Nah. It's not like two puny little humans could do much to him, anyway. Still, he kept his guard up.

"We're here!" Pilipo stated, gesturing to a crumbly-looking cave structure with his walking stick.

Tamatoa approached the cave slowly, looking it over. It looked like it was just about ready to collapse; to be honest, it looked more like a poorly-built pile of boulders than a cavern. Turning to the humans, he asked, "Whatever possessed you to come all the way out here to fly your kite things, anyway?"

"Because it's peaceful out here!" Pilipo answered simply, gesturing at the calm field around them. "We like to come this way to be alone! But the wind was particularly strong today, and Wikoli lost her grip, and the kite went flying into that cave!"

Strange. I didn't find it very windy today. But maybe that's just my opinion.

Tapping his chin contemplatively, Tamatoa eyed the pair with a skeptical gaze. "And why, exactly, didn't either of you go in to get it? Seems like a simple enough task."

Getting irritated with how long it was taking to convince the crab to go inside, Wikoli put her hands on her hips and sneered, "Well we would have, but, uh…" She paused as she tried to come up with an excuse, "… we heard some noises inside! What if there are wild boars or something in there?!"

"Yeah," Pilipo backed her up, putting an arm around her while watching the crustacean. "Something like that could really do a number on us! But no animal around here could cause you any harm, right? Simple task for you, not so much for us."

Upon seeing that the only reaction they got this time was a cynical eyebrow-raise, Wikoli gave Tamatoa the best puppy-dog eyes she could muster. "Pleeeaaase? It would mean so much to me… My grandma…" She added a sad sniffle for effect. "She made that kite special for me before she… passed away, and…" Another sob. She laid the theatrics on thick, as she even managed to make herself tear up.

Oh Gods, she's doing the crying thing. I hate the crying thing.

"Okay, okay!" Tamatoa finally caved, too socially inept to put up with her emotional shenanigans. "I'll get it back in a jiff, just stop with… all that…" He muttered, gesturing to her face.

Turning to the cave, he tilted his head. It was a big cave, more than enough space for him to enter, but he'd still have to be careful not to bump into the walls; even for a creature as big as Tamatoa, getting buried alive would be a tough situation to get out of. Treading carefully, he went inside.

It was fairly dark, but not quite enough to trigger his bioluminescence very much. The crab used his antennae to lightly feel his surroundings. Getting a sense of how unstable the walls were through his feelers, the crustacean lightened his step, eager to get this over with. So far he hasn't smelled anything like a boar in here… Those were basically just giant Puas, right? Anyhow, those two humans must have imagined the noises they heard.

… Come to think of it, he saw no sign of a kite, either. And he'd already wandered pretty far in.

Before he could completely come to the realization he'd been tricked, the walls started to crumble around him. Almost in an instant, the crab was basically entombed. He'd barely had enough reaction time to shield his head under his claws, but somehow he managed it.

Clearing his head of the haze of surprise, Tamatoa could make out the distant callous laughter of the pair as they ran off. They must've dislodged some of the base boulders while the crab was inside. Little brats.

Growling in irritation, Tamatoa started to move to get out of the rubble, but stilled immediately after some of the large rocks shifted dangerously around him.

He'd have to go about this very slowly and carefully if he didn't want to be suddenly crushed by dislodging the boulders the wrong way.

How utterly annoying and tedious. He couldn't believe he fell for something like this again.

The crab started to move again, careful to keep his head shielded, and cursing himself all the while for believing those two troublemakers.

He had made some good progress after a while, digging some of the rocks out of his way while thoughts festered about how bitter he currently felt towards those teens, but he went still when he suddenly heard an ominous noise. Antennae perking up, the crab listened closely to hear for it again.

Silence.

Had he just imagined it?

No. Wait. There it was again. Something was definitely moving nearby.

And it did not smell human.

The weight of stone suddenly felt far more suffocating. What if it was an ally of Nafiira's finally making a move? This was a terribly vulnerable position to be found in. Curse his bad luck.

Tamatoa quickened his pace, eager to free himself now. When he heard the skitter of the creature dancing around him in response to his movement, he let out a deep, menacing growl. "Whoever you are, you'd best get off this island before I rip you apart."

A rascally snicker came in response. Understandably so, as it seemed like an empty threat coming from someone buried under a pile of rubble, but when the crab smashed an opening through the rocks with his claw, the thing let out an alarmed hiss and darted away.

Tamatoa shakily rose from the debris, sore from the ordeal, but remained wary. He hastily looked around, but saw no sign of whatever was with him. Still, he could swear he felt its presence, felt its eyes burning into his very being.

And he wasn't wrong; though the creature was concealed from Tamatoa's view, its piercing amber eyes watched the crab curiously from the leaves of a distant tree.

Upon seeing nothing, Tamatoa gave up on looking. He couldn't worry about it now. He had to get these boulders off of him. Hoping the creature would keep its distance, the crustacean went to work moving the heavier rocks off his shell.

"There he is!" A voice exclaimed from the sky, distracting him.

Tamatoa looked up to see a hawk-form Maui flying down to his side, Moana on the shapeshifter's back. When they landed, Moana jumped off Maui's back and to Tamatoa's side. "What happened?! Are you okay?!"

The crab laughed bitterly under his breath, prying a boulder off of himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. Handled a lot worse in my time, babe." Looking around once more, Tamatoa asked, "Hey, did you see anything… unusual during your flight, Maui?"

Maui was enveloped in a flash of blue as he changed to his regular form, watching the crab with a mix of concern and puzzlement. "What? No, just you stuck under a bunch of rocks! Don't change the subject, what happened here?" As he awaited an answer, he climbed on the crustacean to help remove the rocks.

Tamatoa rolled his eyes, an annoyed chirp escaping him. He wasn't keen on the idea of starting drama with the Motunui residents. "Look, it's no big deal." He said idly. "Just some dumb prank."

"Burying you alive?! That's not a prank!" Moana exclaimed. She narrowed her eyes slightly as a realization came to her. "This was Wikoli and Pilipo's doing, wasn't it? They know how dangerous this cave is!" She turned around, putting her hands on her hips as she ranted, "Oh, I will give them such an earful when I get back!"

"Um… Really Mo, it's fine." Tamatoa reassured, dusting himself off. It still surprised him how willing she was to stick up for him. "Stuff like this happened a lot in Lalotai. Other monsters loved baiting me into dangerous situations with shiny things all the time. Thought it was hilarious. So trust me, I'm used to it."

"What?" Maui said, a look of pity starting to form after hearing this new information. "You never mentioned that whenever I went down to see you."

With a shrug, he replied simply, "You never asked. And it's not like being stupid enough to fall for some dumb trick time and time again was worth bragging about." He then gave Maui a smirk. "'Sides, I got payback when I was big enough." A pause, then a glance to Moana with an awkward grin. "Not that I would do that to your people, of course… ha ha…"

Moana returned the awkward smile, unsure of what to think. Hearing more about his tendency for revenge made her a bit concerned for Wikoli and Pilipo's well-being… but it was more of a subconscious worry. She had more faith in him than that. After all, he'd managed to overcome his desire for revenge against Maui and herself. That was proof enough for her.

Maui, noticing the mild tension in the air, piped up. "So hey, why don't we head back? No point sticking around, right?"

"Yes, of course." Tamatoa agreed, hoisting Moana onto his shell next to the demigod. He started to walk back towards the village, but paused, looking around once more for the creature he thought he heard before.

"Something wrong, crab cake?" Maui asked.

The crab hesitated to answer. He had been trapped under a bunch of rocks, so it's not like he saw the source of the noise; what he heard could have very well just been some wildlife. Hell, he could have imagined the whole thing. He was ridiculously paranoid when it came to Nafiira's weightless threats, after all… Was it really worth starting a panic over an encounter that had little to no evidence of danger?

"… No, nothing." With that, he continued on his way, disregarding the incident for now.

The amber eyes watched them go. Its pupils were dilated and focused on Maui. Silent as a ghost, the creature vanished from the trees.

The stars that blanketed the sky that night flickered with a dull, somber glow.

The stillness of the ocean seemed somehow sinister.

The wind whispered quiet threats.

Maui's hook had been leaned against the crab's favoured tree, and Tamatoa was laying silently near the edge of the beach, fighting slumber. He gently held the sleeping Maui and Moana close to himself with a claw, instincts driving him to be protective.

Though he tried his best to stay awake, he had gone through a very tiring day, eventually giving in to the clutches of sleep.

Perhaps if he had been just a tad more observant, he would have noticed that following morning that something had knocked Maui's hook over in the night.