On their way home from Zootopia via Gummi Ship, Sora could have sworn that he had seen his home island, Destiny Islands, far below him out of the lower left corner of his right eye. Without any second guessing, his turn at piloting the rocket had gotten the best of him when he turned the yoke hard over to port and the strong gravity coupled with the descending speed of the ship caused it to go haywire. In a counterclockwise direction, the Gummi ship began to spin, slow at first, then faster. Goofy Goof felt like upchucking on the dome window that shielded the cockpit from outside forces, but his throat was able to hold it back in until they had passed into the stratosphere. There he could try to open the dome without being sucked away and let his regurgitation go into the air where it would fall into the royal blue mass below.
The blue mass, which Sora already knew was an ocean, looked light at first through the clouds as they passed, growing closer and closer. Donald Duck prepared to hold his breath in this one final act against the inevitable. Holding back the contents in his throat, Goofy's right hand reached for the keyboard on the control panel and his fingers tapped away to send out an SOS message:
"HELP. . .WE ARE BECOMING UNDONE. . ."
The nose of the Gummi Ship made contact with the water, the interior creating a jolt that vibrated, pushing Sora from his seat to the cockpit dome, where the back of his crown made contact with the glass followed by his neck, his torso, then his legs. Donald, spinning violently, found his beak pressed flat against the glass, his eyes looking up at the sky of scattered clouds turning pink. Goofy, his eyes widened from the left side of his face and both hands being pressed against the glass, could see an island in the distance and was convinced that the natives who lived there would be able to help them…but this may have been just his limited intelligence informing him on the most immediate account that their expected help was not a threat to be dealt with.
Truth be told, as Sora tried to get himself down, he and Donald fell smack dab on their noses onto the floor once the gravity of the cockpit had settled in and the slow rocking motion that rolled Sora onto his feet told the man that they had landed in the water. But when he cupped his eyes into the shape of binoculars, all he could see was an island that was too tall and too large to be the one he had lived on for the early years of his life. All he could say was.
"This isn't my home."
He had to admit his carelessness privately, for he still wanted Donald and Goofy to believe he was officially mature enough to know his surroundings, the same went for his mother and friends.
"Well, you're the one who wanted to pilot the ship!" Donald shouted, getting up to his feet.
"Yeah, just because you were kind enough to let me!" Sora stomped his way over to him, taking three steps of angry fists.
"That was then, this is now!"
"Well, right now, I say we swim to island, see if it is inhabited and ask them where we are! Let alone ask them for help!"
"No, what if they're bad?!"
"You don't know that unless we know them first!"
"Gawrsh, and I thought I was clumsy," Goofy said to himself, and as Sora and Donald began to shout pungent explanations of idiocrasy at each other, he soon spotted two figures on a raft heading toward them: one looked like a white furry piglet standing precariously on the bow and the other was a black haired, chocolate-brown skinned woman who wore a blue abalone shell necklace, a bright red top and a hay skirt with a red sash wrapped against the top. He was convinced that help was on the way and he was so excited he immediately shouted to Sora and Donald.
"GUYS! GUYS! SOMEBODY'S A COMIN' OUR WAY!"
The human and the duck turned their faces at the dog, then to the woman with wavy black hair and thick eyebrows coming their way and rushed in opposite directions to open the hatch. The hatch jerked and slowly went up until the bottom was facing the sky at a fifty-degree angle. Sora's left foot left the cockpit and once he got his right foot out his left hand formed a knife position and placed it directly above his eyes for a better view of their rescuer.
She had the face of a brave lion hidden under that female exterior which turned into a mug of confusion when she how strange and foreign the Gummi ship looked. It had no sail and the blocky shapes festooning it, not including the sharp bowsprit, made it clear that it was made of something other than wood. She took one look at its captain with brown spiky hair and extremely pale skin, with eyes that were as blue as the water, clothes that were mainly as green as the plant leaves with some red and gold details including his shoes and a crown shaped pendant that was made from some mineral that wasn't a seashell or a tooth. He was aided by a duck in a sailor suit and some sort of dog-like creature who appeared to have the intelligence of her people, human intelligence.
Ignoring the odd creatures, Moana turned to the young captain and asked "Who are you?" in her native Tahitian.
Sora might not have understood her the first time, anyway he replied.
"I'm Sora, he's Donald and that's Goofy."
Then noticing how…tribal she looked, Sora added.
"We're from the future."
Moana, puzzled and confounded, cocked her head five inches to the left. Her eyes were focusing on the outfit as the realization came quickly into her head.
"Well, that would explain the odd clothing."
Sora then offered his right hand to her, intent on joining her in the raft since the Gummi Ship's fuel tank had been ruptured from the force of the impact. If the engines were to be ignited, the rocket would likely explode and Donald was not willing to take that chance.
"May we join you on your ship?" he asked slowly.
Moana looked at the offering right hand and seemed a bit hesitant before understanding that the stranger was friendly.
"You may," she replied in a formal tone. "But no funny business."
Sora, slowly and tediously to prevent himself from falling into the water, edged closer to the raft on the left wing of the Gummi Ship. His right hand was still extended and Moana's left arms was just about the same. He was about a foot away from the water when his fingers made contact with Moana's and his right foot went first onto the raft followed by his left. Sora felt his head jerk and his voice sigh with relief once he had pulled himself into the canoe. After placing his right hand on his heart, his left hand gestured a waving signal for Donald and Goofy to pull over. As Donald stepped out of the cockpit, Goofy who stood behind, asked him.
"What about the ship?"
"We'll have her tow it in," Donald replied. "Maybe we can fix it on the shore."
Goofy, in a rare moment of pessimism, could only fill his soul with dread.
"I hope the tools they've got will suffice."
Donald, with his arms stretched out to support his balance, successfully joined Sora on the boat. Goofy, thinking fast, found a 20 yard line of rope in the cockpit's storage container located under the floor with a grappling hook used to pull loads like a helicopter carrying objects and persons from a net or to be used for the purpose of having the Gummi ship towed by another ship for repair or rescue services. The latter reason was used in this event, allowing Goofy to hold the rope in both hands, swing it around three times above his hat and making sure that the hook would not bludgeon his head, threw it toward and Sora caught the hook in the nick of time. Observing the hook with careful eyes, he was unsure as to where he could put it.
"Where should I attach it?" he asked Moana.
"Hook it onto the mast," she instructed.
"No!" cried Donald. "Put it onto the sides! The mast will snap!"
"Maybe the duck is right," said Moana. "Given the weight of your ship against this wood, the mast may break."
Sora gave into Donald's idea by placing the hook onto the supports of the right blade of the canoe while Goofy held the other end under the console of the rocket. Moana, convinced that her small boat could pull the rock all the way back to the island, sat down on the stern and used the oar in both hands to push her way back to the island as hard as she could…but this could only result in the Gummi ship moving by about an inch.
And that was when the waves from the tide coming in helped to speed up the process. They bumped against the underbelly of the Gummi ship, pushing it into the raft. Moana, Sora, Donald and Pua held on tight as they slowly floated all the way back to shore. The rocking of the water, nearly threw Pua overboard and Moana had to hold her precious pig close to her heart to prevent the water from taking him away, which would drown the both of them. Donald clung to Sora's right leg, while he himself held onto the mast and Goofy had his gloved hands holding onto the console of the control panel. The waves continued to push the crafts until the water began to subside and before either of them knew it, the Gummi ship had been beached while the canoe remained in the water.
The last person Moana wanted to see was her father, but it was her grandmother standing by the bushes at the very moment she carried Pua out of the canoe. Old age had taken it's tool on her once healthy body, and now she had to rely on a wooden cane, or walking stick, made from the bark of a coconut tree to balance her weakening legs.
"I thought I would find you here, Moana. But whatever just happened, I would blame it on the pig."
Moana seemed worried.
"Are you going to tell Father and Mother about this?"
"I can handle my son pretty well by not telling him anything," Tala smiled. "And it seems I was right about the fact that there are other tribes out there."
She said this when her attention turned to Sora and his compadres. Hearing this, Sora, corrected him as Goofy jumped out of the Gummi ship.
"Oh, we're not from another tribe, my lady, we're from the future."
Tala's reply was pretty similar to her granddaughter's
"Well, that explains the odd garments."
But Moana's focus had turned to the mountain far before her.
"Maybe now is the time I placed my stone up on the mountain."
Tala looked up at the mountain as well over her right shoulder and her face turned back to Moana with low eyelids and a scrunched frown before it went back to her casual smile at the pace of a fox.
"All right," she chuckled, penetrating her cane three feet into the sand. "Just make sure you hurry on back once you've placed that stone up there."
A curious Sora wanted to see for himself how the acts of heritage in the world worked, ignoring Tala walking her way into the water. When she was up to her ankles in light blue water, a family of five black manta rays circled by her. They seemed to be friendly with Tala, for she sported a tattoo of a manta that spanned her shoulder blades and was directly under the back of her throat. Tala herself choose this tattoo for a special reason that she did not wish to disclose with her family until the time was right…and it seemed that the time was drawing near.
As she smoothed her hands against the manta's wings. Moana faced her body to the direction of the mountain and turned back again counterclockwise to face her grandmother.
"Why are you not trying to talk me out of it?" she asked, her left fist pushing against her hip.
By now, Tala was surrounded by the manta rays, treating her like some sort of god once they acknowledged that she was the one with the tattoo and brought so much care for all living things even if they did not deserve it.
"You said that is what you wanted," her grandmother replied. "So it is."
And she proceeded to stand up and smooth the gentle fingertips of her right hand against her left upper arm. Locked in a trance, she began her hula routine; somewhat hypnotizing Donald and Goofy.
Moana was about eleven feet away when Sora asked.
"What is your connections with these manta rays?"
"When I die, I will be reincarnated as one of them. I could not have chosen the wrong tattoo for this reason."
Moana returned to her grandmother who was motioning her hands over one another after her arms fluttered in synchronization with the manta's wings. She then proceeded to act a question that she felt would be insulting to her own relative, but did not shy away from saying.
"Why do you act so strange?"
Tala did not open her eyes at the sound of her granddaughter's voice; she remained content, tranquil and at peace with the world around her.
"I am the village's most insane woman; it is my duty, my destiny."
As her arms started to motion and up and down to flow with the water, Sora spoke again.
"If there is something you want to tell Moana, you can tell her right and now."
"Sora is right," Moana explained. "Is there something you wish to say?"
Tala froze.
"There is."
And then she turned her head over her right shoulder to face Moana. Her eyes were wide, her eyebrows rose all the way and her lips had a smile most appropriate for an outcast whose only degrading quality was insanity.
"But there is also something that you should hear."
"Hear what?" Moana was left in the dark.
"Even better," her grandmother turned around completely. "I will show you where…and you will see and hear…for yourself."
The quartet followed her up a grassy hill, taking at least twenty-eight minutes for them to reach the top. The entrance was about 30 feet in height and at least 20 vines covered the interior from the vantage point of those who stood before it. It was surrounded by some trees and quite beautiful creepers adorning the rock exterior of the cave. Handing over a torch lit by Donald's mage's staff, Tala told Moana what she and her new friends would expect next.
"You have been instilled with all the stories told to you by our people including mine…but there is one last story that you must need to learn."
Moana peered through the vines with the light of the torch. This area seemed to be a place that was foreign, specifically a part of Motunui that she had never seen before.
"What is this place?"
"If you really thought that our ancestors left the reef, think again."
And the cane in her right hand pulled back the vines to show a completely exposed view of the cave. At the very end of the cave, there seemed to be a faint blue glow.
"And what lies in here…is the answer."
"The answer to what?" asked Sora.
"The question that Moana has been asking herself."
The old woman pointed a shuddering right index finger to Moana's heart.
"Who she is meant to be."
Her face nearly seemed to frighten the poor girl given how everyone else viewed her as a poor elderly woman who lost her mind over the passing of her beloved husband. She handed the torch over to Moana and made one final instruction.
"Go inside, beat the drum and find out."
The words played over and over in her head as Moana entered the cave with Sora following behind her, then Donald, and finally Goofy. Tala sat down as the light of the torch faded from view, waiting to hear from Moana once she had uncovered…the truth.
At the end of the faint blue glow, was a beautiful cave of towering structures, silhouetting a bright blue waterfall at the end. Moana, Sora, Donald and Goofy was amazed to see that the structures were none other than ships, about eleven of them in different sizes with their masts acting like large curtains as the sound of the waterfall echoed away. The giants that stood before the quartet seemed big enough to hold a great deal of stories which is what they had to find out.
Moana smoothed her right hands against a row of fourth white triangular shapes representing flowers. The ship it belonged to was about fifty feet in length with the flowers belonging to the midships section. It sat on almost thirty-five logs, which would be used to help roll it out to sea. Then her attention turned to another boat of with a mast illustrating Maui, holding his fish hook triumphantly in his right hand while his left fist was against his hip. He surrounded by waves, stars and a very beautiful sun. Goofy and Donald took their views on these ships with an appreciative historical note, Sora could only express silent amazement and Moana, her attention turned to a twenty-five-foot wooden raft with a familiar red swirl on the mast and two red leaved vines hanging from it, had to find the drum
The drum, which was made of steel with a pair of wooden drumsticks, was located on the top of the largest raft and appeared to resemble more of a large, wide oval pot with some designs and graphs of fishes on the body. Moana, figuring where it was, cautiously approached it as she repeated her grandmother's words once in her head, then again out loud, to "beat the drum".
Tediously, she picked up the one on the right, then the left one as Goofy, Sora and Donald, following her tracks, watched her create a note with the right drumstick that echoed over the cave, then faded into the darkness. Expecting something to happen, but figuring that one note was not enough, Sora summoned the Kingdom Chain and said to Moana.
"Let me try."
He tapped the teeth of the key on the drum five inches away from where Moana had struck with her stick. Seeing how it only produced the same result, Moana used both of the sticks to create an echo that was even louder, but still, there had to be something more than what was expected.
At last, Goofy displayed a rare moment of intelligence.
"How 'bout we use all our weapons as drumsticks, and then see what happens."
"Whatever you say," said Donald, condescendingly as he was still holding his mage's staff.
The dog and the duck walked over to the drum on Moana's left side and Sora was the first to start with a stronger beat than before, Moana with both sticks, Donald with a hard knock and Goofy slammed his shield into the hole of the drum, creating a reverberation that was louder than the others.
Without warning, the drums seemed to have worked its magic as four torches in a straight line next to the drum had spontaneously combusted along with nine more on the other ships, fully illuminating the cave. The quartet could hear words of Tahitian saying things like "Welcome" and "Explorers" among others. Moana and her new allies turned to the mast and what was illustrated on it brought their visions into a golden age of exploration.