84 — TRIALS OF THE SEA-MONSTERS
Night gradually falls on that island in the Pacific; the crew, tired of playing so much in the beach, finally retired to the village to enjoy the camp and a lavish feast offered by the villagers. The climate is mild and the stars of the southern hemisphere illuminate the trees and ocean in that region. Far from that night party in which everyone was involved, Meko Kaire prepares a beautiful canoe on the shore of a crystalline lake where a beautiful high waterfall falls.
"Where do you think you're going without us?" asked June's voice behind him.
And when the Captain looked back, he saw his officers all there wearing their sacred Cloths: Chameleon June, Argo Geist, Pegasus Seiya and even little Lunara had her black chains on her arms, as usual, but now she also had protections made of rough wicker legs and a diadem that she had made herself in the likeness of the Andromeda Cloth, although it was as dark as night. They were a distinguished group and he felt very lucky to have them on his side.
"I'm going to Tangaroa's domains." he announced. "Face Ikatere and seal the Relic of the Sea."
"Not alone." Seiya said, already putting himself inside the canoe, next to Lunara.
"Ikatere is the son of the Sea God. This Relic won't be as easy as the others."
"All the more reason for all of us to be by your side." said Geist.
June handed him his Silver Cetus Urn, for, after all, if that fate was so dangerous, he had better be protected too. And as he saw them all in the special canoe waiting for him, he realized that nothing he could say would dissuade them from following him into the depths. He pulled the chain from his Urn, revealing the wondrous whale that gave shape to Cetus, and the silver parts took over his body. He stepped into the canoe along with his officers.
"Ikatere is treacherous and very powerful. The Realm of Tangaroa is the domains of the deep sea, where he can surprise us from any side or depth. Watch out."
Captain Kaire sat in the back of the canoe; there was no paddle there for them to row, but the canoe immediately began to slide across the crystalline lake toward the roaring waterfall that tumbled from a great height, hiding the rock wall behind a veil of water. The canoe broke through the curtain of water, but none of them got wet, as if magically protected. And so they entered a cave of pitch black, where their voices echoed and the roar of the waterfall grew farther and farther away for them.
A bluish light appeared at the end of that tunnel and when the canoe broke through the darkness into the light, they were all amazed.
For they were at the bottom of the sea.
Around them, they could see fish swimming alone, schoals in the distance, large marine animals that sometimes crossed the ocean horizon; below the canoe that floated in the underwater waters, they could see reefs and multicolored corals. Seiya, who was at the front, looked back and noticed that they all had the same surprised face, with the exception of Captain Kaire.
Lunara held out her right hand and realized that she could feel the ocean water just ahead of her, as it was as if the canoe had created a bubble of air for them to breathe. It was something magical and fabulous.
Ahead of Seiya, a sphere of light appeared on the hull of the canoe that slowly floated up to his eyes so that it could light the way across the ocean.
"This is the domain of Tangaroa monsters." Meko announced behind them.
The canoe descended lightly across the Pacific Ocean, revealing around them the richest marine fauna they could imagine: stingrays and sharks, huge fish and small fish, octopuses that could change their colors against corals, seahorses and a host of other creatures hidden. In the distance, they all heard the song of a huge whale that appeared on the horizon just like a distant shadow, swimming behind an oceanic mountain.
And it was to this seamount where the canoe was slowly heading; where reefs, sponges, corals, fish and animals lived. At its base was the entrance to another cave, a dark mouth through which the canoe was swallowed. But this path was not pitch dark, but it had certain openings in the stone that let in glimpses of the ocean outside, as well as fish of beautiful luminescence lighting the way here and there.
Over the noise of the waters that moved by the fish and the distant and beautiful songs of a whale, there was revealed more closely, as if it had sprung from the heart of the earth, a hoarse and serious laugh that at first could be mistaken for the wood of old shipwrecks creaking, until it finally became clear it was someone who seemed to laugh at them.
"Ikatere." stammered Meko, so that everyone could hear.
Laughter came from all sides, of course. Just like a voice came.
"What a huge surprise I have here. So many visitors."
Meko Kaire saw a certain fear in Lunara's face and asked them not to respond to anything.
"I thought you'd be forever mad from the songs of the sirens." the voice spoke again.
They realized, then, that it was that entity that had sent the sirens to confuse their hearts in the Galleon days ago.
"So that was a gift from you, Ikatere?" Meko asked the darkness, as the canoe continued on its way.
The laughter became even louder and, in a way, surprised.
"Is it really the great Meko Kaire who comes to visit me?"
The Captain didn't answer him, but the laughter continued before his voice manifested again.
"Tell me, Meko Kaire. Do you still miss her?"
And new laughs.
Meko didn't answer, swallowed hard and closed his eyes, as if to lock the anger that was already beginning to assault his heart inside his chest.
"It will be a great pleasure to welcome you to my hall."
The voice fell silent, as the canoe finally reached the end of that passageway into a huge open hall formed by the rocks of the ocean, illuminated by spheres of light, but entirely uncovered, so that, as they looked up, they could see a greater clarity with the ocean waters. In the middle of this clearing was a single, very beautiful throne made of shells and mussels and, sitting on it, a fabulous sea creature: Ikatere.
He was half man, half octopus, with eight dark tentacles, a chest as strong as the men of the island, and oceanic tattoos across his skin, as well as several ancient battle scars. On his left arm he had a gold bracelet on his wrist, but his right arm was as if made of water, translucent and watery, even under that ocean.
The canoe stops a few meters from the throne, floating in front of that fabulous creature, worthy of the oldest stories told among that people. Everyone was on guard in that floating canoe, but it was Meko who stood up to speak to his old rival.
"Ikatere, son of Tangaroa!" he began. "Where's the Relic of the Sea?"
The creature's face twisted into a smile, moving on the throne, its tentacles curled in the surrounding shells.
"Meko Kaire." repeated Ikatere from his throne, his voice deep as the ocean depths. "Each time Meko Kaire comes to me, Meko Kaire wants something different."
"This has nothing to do with me or you, Ikatere. Not even with Tangaroa, your father. Or will you really reduce yourself to a mere guard of Poseidon?"
"How much poison in your words, Meko Kaire." commented the creature. "The earthshaker doesn't matter to me."
"So?" Meko said, calling to his pride.
"It's true that I don't like Poseidon at all." Ikatere began with a smile on his face. "But unfortunately for you, I like Tāne or Maui even less, from whom you are descended."
"With great pride." replied Meko, disappointed. "On the other hand, Tangaroa, your father, must be ashamed of what you've become."
Ikatere left his throne of shells and floated before them all with a mighty golden aura, his hair shimmering in the water and his dark tentacles alight. His furious face.
"Bend your tongue to speak of Tangaroa!" he barked.
Geist noticed behind her that Meko Kaire took a step forward and also placed himself in front of Ikatere floating in the ocean. His silver cosmos illuminating the Cetus Cloth.
"I speak the truth." said the Captain, staring at that mythological creature. "Take this chance to do something worthy and allow us to seal the Relic that poisons your father's realm."
For an instant those two auras were in the ocean facing each other for the look before the eyes of Seiya and his partners. Ikatere got so close to Meko Kaire that his tentacles were now around the Captain, but very close he saw how his rival's rage gradually subsided and he again displayed a sneer on his face.
"If you want the Golden Relic so bad, you'll have to make do with the monsters. And so, if you want to seal Poseidon, you will have to face the trials of Tangaroa."
Ikatere then approached Meko's face to speak in his ear, so that no one else would hear.
"Try not to lose anyone this time."
And smiling, he walked away from Meko Kaire, swimming away, while his laughter echoed in the hall. The shell that used to be his throne also swam away, while the mussel details also swam to the other side, opening the way for the crew's canoe to continue its journey.
Meko Kaire returned and so, again, the canoe moved by itself to the base of that clearing, where another cave mouth opened onto the ocean floor. And with heavy hearts, those five Athena Saints entered the cave of Tangaroa, to find and seal the Relic of the Sea.
Unlike that first tunnel to Ikatere's clearing, this cave was completely dark. It stole all the light that existed and even the sphere of light that that special canoe conjured did not illuminate anything at all but their own faces, as if they were sailing through infinity. But though they could see nothing, their ears could still hear the creak of the canoe and the song of whales in the distance.
As they went on, however, something extraordinary happened. The ocean water, which had previously enveloped them on all sides, slowly seemed to flow around them as if emptied until it was reduced to a river that flowed under the canoe.
And as the river formed ahead of them, so too did the light and color return to that cavern.
"Hold on everyone." asked Meko, his voice echoing.
The river, which before was calm, soon became a powerful and turbulent current; they were descending a rapid in the darkness and each one held on as best they could inside the canoe so as not to fall into that strange viscous river. The cries of the sailors there could not be heard by anyone, nor could their skills be of any use, for they were drifting and shaking according to the moods of that river.
Until they hit the rock hard and the canoe broke into many pieces, throwing them on the dark bank of the river; but not everyone seemed to be safe.
"Seiya!" shouted Meko. "Seiya!"
Seiya was being dragged by the current.
"Hold the chain, Seiya!" asked Lunara, throwing her dark chain into the river, wrapping around the boy's fist as he struggled to stay above the surface.
The force of the river, however, carried Lunara across the ground, but Meko Kaire held her back and managed to pull Seiya safely to the river.
"Are you okay, Seiya?"
"It's all right, Captain, don't worry." he said, still a little breathless, but safe.
The canoe was totally destroyed and the remains of their boat were still stuck to a large boulder where it had hit; they could breathe normally and the cave, though dark, was magically lit by the river itself, which flowed mightily downstream. Geist looked around and noticed a corridor cut into those damp walls.
"Look. There's a way through here, Captain." she said.
"We need to get to the bottom of this cave." Meko said to everyone. "I'm sure the Relic of the Sea is there. Is everyone carrying your Seals of Athena? Very good. Even if only one of us makes it there, this Relic needs to be sealed." said the Captain to his crew.
And everyone agreed.
Lunara made a torch with what was left of the canoe and with their cosmos, they made the fire guide them in the hand of Captain Kaire, who went in front of his group.
The path was not so narrow, so they could continue walking close to each other, silently and very attentively along the way, when they began to hear a low and grave rumble around them that, for a moment, made them stop their march to try to find the source of that noise. It was steady, but curiously low. It wasn't until Geist looked up that she noticed the problem: the ceiling slowly receded towards them.
"The roof, Captain!" she said, and Meko looked up, guessing the trap.
"Run!"
And so they began to run down the hall as the ceiling slowly came down to crush them right there; they couldn't see their way out of that hallway and all they could do was run as fast as they could. The impression was that they were descending lower and lower in that cave, but the ceiling also lowered lower and lower.
And when they finally saw that there was a way out of that cave before it narrowed completely, the ceiling was almost at Meko's height, the highest of them all, so he had to stoop down to keep going, until it was no more possible: he had to try to hold the ceiling with his own strong arms. Geist joined him in trying to hold the descending ceiling.
"Run, Luna!" Seiya shouted ahead of her, and he also raised his arms to try to stop the ceiling.
Lunara jumped out of the cave and watched in terror as the stubborn ceiling came down to crush them at that exit while Seiya, Geist, June and Meko held it back.
"There's nothing here!" cried the little one, imagining that there was any gear to help them, but there was none.
"June, Seiya, run!" ordered Geist, drawing Meko's gaze to him. "We're going to destroy that roof, Captain."
"No." he disagreed, seeing June and Seiya safely ahead. "I will destroy."
"I will not abandon you, Captain."
"It's an order, first-mate. I don't intend to die here. Go at once!"
Geist finally jumped out of the cave and the full weight caused Meko Kaire's feet to sink into that damp ground, but his roar made his silver Cosmo manifest, lighting up that cavern and he hooked the ceiling, completely breaking the platform. Emerging soon after all covered in dark dirt.
"That was close." he said.
That immense treacherous corridor led to a marvelous multicolored cavern, illuminated by many gems cut into the wall, fish of different colors, scattered pearls, and the rock itself, sometimes amber, sometimes deep crimson, or purple as night, or green like corals. It was as if they were walking through a kaleidoscope, so the path wasn't obvious, but Meko led the group forward anyway.
As they walked, their reflections on the brightly colored walls gave the impression to all of them that a huge group was moving in the darkness, but in fact it was just the shadow of each of them reflecting mesmerizingly against the pearls and topaz. But June, of all of them, walked with a little more careful chest, because it didn't seem to be just their shadows that moved in that cave.
"This is weird." she commented. "I feel like someone is watching us."
"June is right." Meko agreed. "Be careful."
As soon as he finished speaking, Seiya fell to the ground, feeling a lot of pain.
"What happened, Seiya?" asked Meko.
"I've been attacked. Someone pushed me, but… I couldn't see."
And then Geist dropped to the ground.
"Damned." she complained. "We are not alone."
"Everyone gather." asked Meko.
And they huddled closer together, with their backs to each other. Where they looked there was no one, only their reflections on the brightly colored walls.
"Oh, Seiya, I wanted my chain to be the same as the Andromeda Shun's, so I could feel the enemy." Lunara said, holding her dark chains.
"It's not an illusion." commented Geist, who knew well about tricks.
June and Meko exchanged glances and she tightened her grip on the handle of her whip.
"Stay here." asked Meko, breaking the circle between them.
"Captain." warned Geist, but he asked her to be silent.
He walked carefully to a nearby pool of water, when June clearly saw how the air around the wall seemed thicker and slightly out of character; the shadow of light advanced on the Captain, but the Chameleon Saint's swift whip caught it in midair before it hit Meko. The Captain immediately looked back to catch a glimpse of a creature standing, but it looked like an oceanic salamander, whose skin was now rapidly changing color, as if reflecting the despair of having been captured.
"I knew it!" exclaimed Lunara when she saw the animal.
"Son of Punga." Meko said.
June pulled the bug out with her whip and hit it with a flying kick, knocking it against the wall. The creature was fast, but before it hid in the lights and colors, she realized that she was still attached to the girl's whip, who took a vial from her robes and flung a blood-red powder at her, which she found herself unable to hide her metamorphoses.
In desperation, the creature finally disappeared from that cave, leaving the crew alone.
"Is everyone all right?" asked Meko.
"What was that?"
"It looked like a salamander." said Seiya.
"But she had the ability to camouflage herself in this place full of shapes and colors." Geist said, looking at June. "Like a chameleon."
"Punga was also a son of Tangaroa, but he was the first to leave the old sea to live on the islands. It may seem like a joke, but they say he is the ancestor of all that is hideous."
Geist, like everyone else, immediately looked at Captain Kaire. Seiya leaned close to Lunara and spoke for everyone to hear.
"What, Lunara? Of course not, Geist has nothing to do with Punga."
"Oh, what a jerk, I didn't say anything first-mate Geist! It's Seiya!"
June laughed and lifted Meko, who was kneeling next to that puddle of water. But then their laughter wasn't the only one to be heard in that strange glowing cave, as it was as if they weren't the only ones laughing at Seiya's joke. They were very thin giggles, interrupted by a distinct noise, as if something clicked while they were laughing.
"Did that salamander go for her friends?" June asked.
"No." Meko replied standing up. "These are the ponaturi. They are small and harmless when they are apart, but they are always together and can cause us problems. Let's get out of here soon."
The group agreed and made their way out of that glowing cavern onto a waterlogged heath, where the giggles continued to follow them, but doing nothing against them at first. On the ceiling stalactites gleamed in a low, curious light, giving the place a unique look, as this low light reflected off the pooled water of what appeared to be a swamp.
Crossing a larger and apparently deeper pond, there was a wooden bridge where Geist was already heading, when the Captain gave a warning.
"Not that way, first-mate." he said. "I'm pretty sure the ponaturi must have done something to that bridge. Let's go around the lake shore. It will take longer, but it will be safer."
In the distance, the syncopated sound of clicks alternated with some muffled laughter from the creatures, which didn't even for a moment appear between them. They followed Meko's lead and walked silently, but tensely, along the shore of what appeared to be a lake. When evidently something went wrong.
The ground they were walking on simply gave way. So suddenly that they all leapt forward with skill and distance, after all they were excellent Saints of Athena. Except Lunara.
"Captain!" she cried, who had stayed behind.
Between the group and the little one, an abyss and, on the other side of the abyss, Seiya and the group saw how the little one was surrounded by little green and horrible creatures, who danced around her laughing at the well-played trick.
"Lunara!" shouted Meko, taking distance and jumping the immense distance back to her.
Meko managed to get right in front of Lunara, but the floor where he had landed also gave way and he fell down the ravine, holding on to an indentation in the stone. Lunara knelt down and called out to him, while the group on the other side also despaired to see Captain Kaire about to be swallowed by the abyss.
"Hold the chains, Captain!" asked Lunara, throwing them into the abyss.
He held on, but she was too weak to pull a massive Maori warrior like Meko. And Meko knew that well. He looked at her, her little eyes darting over the chasm with a huge sadness on her face; he felt there was fear in her eyes.
"Listen, Luna. I need you to be strong."
"No, Captain. I will pull you!" she said.
"Luna, if you hold on to that chaing, we'll both fall into the abyss."
She looked around and saw nothing to tie her chains so he could use his own strength to climb; Captain Meko slipped a few meters further and, on the other side of the chasm, Seiya and June were desperate, while Geist was already getting ready to jump, when June stopped her.
"You will not make it. Even though you are a Silver Saint, it will be the three of you at the bottom of that abyss."
Lunara started to cry, for she was not strong like them. And she didn't notice the little green creatures crowding around her and the dark stream. She opened her eyes and was startled to see them so closely, her tiny fish eyes, their pointed ears and serrated teeth saying something to her that the little one couldn't understand, but Meko could. He wrapped the chain in his right hand and felt the ponaturi slowly pull him back; skillfully, he found nooks and crannies to help with the climb, and it wasn't long before he was in front of Lunara and the little goblins.
Both extremely relieved.
Lunara hugged him and Meko took a deep breath with the little girl on his chest.
"I was so afraid." she whimpered. "I didn't want to be left behind."
"I would never leave you behind, Lunara." he said.
She was still very frightened by it all and even Seiya and June on the other side of the chasm were terribly distressed and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the Captain emerge again from the other side.
"As for you, get out of here!" Meko ordered that group of extremely rowdy ponaturi, who disappeared as they appeared, squealing in fear, although others still laughed.
Captain Kaire hugged Lunara again to calm her from the fright and then stood up to speak to the group on the other side of the chasm, which was still waiting for him.
"You need to move on!" he shouted. "Me and Lunara will take the way across the bridge!"
"Are you sure, Captain?" asked Geist.
"We have fallen into the ponaturi trap. The bridge was the safest way after all." he replied. "We need to seal the Relic, even if it's just one of us."
"That's right." Geist agreed. "We'll meet at the Relic!"
"Listen!" exclaimed Meko. "Be very careful with the labyrinth of portals! There are many traps there. Be cautious."
Seiya and June looked at each other, but Geist assured them they would follow carefully.
And so the group broke up. Seiya, Geist, and June made their way down the slope away from that moor, while Meko and Lunara walked back along the swamp path to the wooden bridge.
ABOUT THIS CHAPTER: The second part of Meko's adventures in the Captain's land takes them to the bottom of the seas. I looked for inspiration in some creatures and stories of the Polynesian people trying as much as possible to distance myself from those that appear in Moana. The idea of the group going through several traps came from the episode of the Classic Series where Seiya and his friends go through several trials in the House of Sagittarius, including the ceiling that Shiryu is lowering needs to break it whole to save the friends. =)
NEXT CHAPTER: THE HEART OF TANGAROA
Meko and his officers reach the end of that trial of the seas and must fight a fierce battle to seal the Relic.