Sea Journey
Chapter 12 Boat Talk
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
Moana, Maui, Ruby, and Chelsea gathered food and clean drinking water, before gathering up Pua and Heihei loaded up the boat and set sail to get Maui's hook. As they got out deeper into the ocean, Ruby suggested to Moana to ask the ocean to see if it could retrieve the hook, since it had retrieved the heart. Moana spoke to the ocean asking for the hook. The water tendril rose out of the ocean and simply shook itself side-to-side as if to say no it couldn't do that or it was unable to do it before it sank back down and vanished. Chelsea saw that Maui had remained perfectly calm and didn't seem surprised by the ocean's appearance.
"You didn't seem surprised by that." Said Chelsea.
"I've been around for a really long time. I know about the ocean and what it is capable of. Very little surprises me. Though I will admit your friend Moana being chosen by the ocean and forming a bond with it, is a little surprising." Said Maui.
"So any idea, where your hook is or who might have it?" Asked Moana.
"I have a few ideas of who might have taken my hook and where they took it. I have a long list of enemies, but I can think of only a few who would be bold enough to steal my hook." Said Maui.
"You got a name of where we need to go?" Asked Ruby.
"Lalotai." Said Maui with a serious expression.
Moana searched her memory of the old legends trying to recall what Lalotai. She noticed that both Ruby and Chelsea had stiffened up at the name and a grim look appeared on their faces.
"Lalotai, the realm of monsters." Said Ruby.
"A placed filled with the worst monsters that ever lived." Said Chelsea.
Moana let out a little shuddered as she recalled some of the old stories from her grandmother about Lalotai. It sounded like a place of nightmares.
"Of course the object we needed landed there." Muttered Moana.
"Yeah I'm not thrilled about going there either, but it's most likely where my hook ended up, so we need to head there's." Said Maui.
"Isn't it a bad idea to bring the heart near a place like Lalotai?" Asked Chelsea.
"Oh most definitely, so you need to keep it safe and hidden, until we get my hook back and we're far away from there." Said Maui.
"We have our location, but do we know where in Lalotai is your hook located?" Asked Ruby.
"I'll sense it when we're near it." Said Maui.
The group sailed on for a bit and Moana asked Maui a question.
"So you never really explained why you stole the heart for the humans. You said it was going to be a gift, but you already did a ton of cool and amazing things for the humans, so you already had their love and admiration. So why did you steal the heart?"
"I...really loved the admiration and attention. I just kept doing one great feat after another and with each deed and task I did the more love I got. I kept trying to outdo myself and stealing the heart would be the ultimate feat that would permanently earn me the love of humanity for all of eternity." Said Maui looking deep and wishful.
The others stared at him not sure what to say or do. Then Maui spoke again.
"Looking back at things now, I really regret stealing the heart. Got knocked out of the sky, lost the heart, lost my hook, got stranded on island away from everything for a thousand years, and Te Kā and a lot of monsters are running amuck in the world."
"Not to mention there's a war going on between the krakens and mermaids too." Said Ruby.
"And I'm sorry for that. If I could go back in time to stop myself from stealing the heart I would without a second thought. But I can't. Right now I need to focus on getting my hook back, so I can help you restore the heart and hopefully fix everything." Said Maui.
Moana exchanged looks with Ruby and Chelsea. Maui had been a bit arrogant and prideful when they first met him, but right now he was being sincere and honest. He regretted what he did and wanted to fix things.
"I guess that's all we want, to fix things." Said Moana thinking about her island and the corruption back on it, hopefully that her village and family were ok.
"Maybe it was fate that brought us together." Said Chelsea.
"To fix the mistakes of the past." Said Ruby.
"Well we're certainly got a unique group to do it. By the end of this journey we're going to become legends. And from personal experience it's a awesome feeling." Said Maui.
"Never really thought of it that way." Said Moana.
"The legend of how a human, mermaid, kraken, and demigod brought peace and balance to the world." Said Chelsea.
"Why am I last in the legend?" Complained Maui.
"Because you created the problem to begin with. Also Moana was chosen by the ocean to begin the quest, we joined, and then you were the last to join." Said Ruby as she and Chelsea smirked at Maui.
"Fine. I can live with that." Grumbled Maui.
The boat sailed onwards for a few hours, when Moana spotted something out in the distance that looked like a island, though there were a couple of strange things about it. Firstly there appeared to be a variety of stone structures carved onto the top of the island and second it looked like the island was moving on it's own.
"What's that?" Asked Moana indicating the island.
Chelsea and Ruby got curious about the island, so they dove into the water to get a better view of it's underside. The duo could swim fairly well in their human firms and they stayed close to the boat. Neither Ruby or Chelsea transformed, but the pair of princesses had far better eyesight underwater then any human or land creature, so they could see clearly for miles and what they saw startled and amazed them. The island wasn't a island at all, but a giant sea turtle!
Ruby and Chelsea resurfaced and swam back to the boat.
"It's a Zaratan!" Said Ruby in excitement.
"A what?" Asked Moana.
"A giant island turtle." Said Chelsea as she and Ruby pulled themselves onto the boat.
Maui looked at the Zaratan and the structure on it and recognized it.
"That's no ordinary Zaratan. That's Tortuga." Said Maui.
"Tortuga?" Asked Ruby.
"It's the second most feared place in the ocean next to Lalotai. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Said Maui.
"What kind of creatures live there?" Asked Chelsea.
"All matter of monsters and demons. The place you usually controlled by the roughest and most dangerous creature, which changes every now and then." Said Maui.
"Sounds like we should avoid that place." Said Moana.
"We could, but we might need to go there." Said Maui.
"What for?" Asked Ruby.
"Well there is a possibility my hook could have ended up on Tortuga and unlike Lalotai it's a place that moves around, so it would be difficult to find again. Tortuga is also a good place to collect information. The people there would most likely know what monster in Lalotai has my hook if it's not here." Said Maui.
"Hate to say it, but he has a point. Looks like we're making a stop at Tortuga." Said Moana.
The little group set a course for Tortuga wondering what awaited them there and what they would find.
To be continued.