"I think we're getting close," Moana said as she climbed on top of the pole and looked at the island they were approaching. As she squinted to get a better view of the island, she saw bright golden sand. Nothing else. "I don't like that island already."

"Oh really?" Maui asked. "What makes you think so?"

"Just... the island is covered with sand," Moana said. "There's nothing else beautiful about it. How are we going to survive? We have two creatures we must capture."

"It's only two," Maui said with a bit of sass, just like the time when he said 'That's a chicken'.

"Well then," Moana said. "I guess you can take care of them by yourself." Maui ridiculously glared at Moana. Mini Maui got a chalkboard and marked another one for Moana. The chalkboard showed no check mark for Maui and dozens for Moana. "Muscle up, Buttercup! We're here!" Moana announced as the boat approached closer to the beach.

"Kid, that's my line!" Maui said. Moana stuck out her tongue as she slides down the pole. As the boat touched the sand of the beach, Moana and Maui pulled the boat deeper into the sand so that the boat wouldn't float off the island.

As Moana stepped into the dry sand, she started to tapdance around. "Oh. Oh. Hot. Hot. Hot. Hothothothothothothothothothothothothothothothot!" She quickly ran to the wet sand to cool her feet off. She sighed with relief as the wet sand cooled her feet down, it felt so good. She slightly rubbed her feet to relieve the burning pain on her feet. Maui snickered as he watched Moana dance on the sand and quickly putting her feet into wet sand. "Maui, it's not funny!"

"I can't help it!" He said as he calmly walked on the dry sand.

"How..." Moana said as she watched Maui and his calm face when he was stepping on the dry sand.

"I'm used to it," he said. "After being in that island I lived in for a thousand years, and after Te Kā."

Moana looked around to see what she can use for feet protection. About several meters away from her, few large leaves were fluttering in a breeze. She walked over and pick the leaves up to determine if they are perfect for her feet size. It looks all right. She wrapped each leaves around her feet. Then she carefully stepped on the dry sand. "Hmm. Not bad. All right, let's go!" Moana said as she calmly walked on the dry sand with layers of leaves wrapped around her feet. Maui chuckled from a distance since she looked like Heihei walking with layers of leaves under her feet.

This is gonna be a long journey in this island, Moana thought as she walked with Maui, Pua, and Heihei, who had no problem walking on the sand. Why is the sand so hot in this island? Sand in Motunui is bearable. She looked up at the sky. Maybe the sunlight is really harsh in this island. It seems a little brighter than sunlight at Motunui.

Pua and Heihei started to reach their limits. Pua started to pant as his walking speed became gradually slower, and Heihei fell and buried its face into the sand. Moana was too exhausted to carry them. She had to use her spear as a cane so that she can stand properly. Her legs felt weaker and weaker every time she took a step. The leaves around her feet started was now warmer than sand in Motunui. "Maui," Moana said as she panted weakly. "Can you carry them for me?" Maui checked everyone's condition. Moana was sweaty and the steam seemed to be rising from her head. Pua panted heavily, his tongue was stuck out long, and his eyes seemed to be weak to roll around. Heihei had no more energy to peck on the ground.

"My, look at you guys!" Maui said. "Let's go find oasis. When I transform into a hawk, hop on my back." Moana nodded weakly. "Cheeee-hoooo!" He cried as he spinned his hook and transformed into a hawk. Moana grabbed Pua and Heihei and crawled onto his back. Hang on, Moana. Maui thought as he soared into the sky. He looked around to find oasis and any cave for them to stay. As he flew, he felt his own energy being drained by the sunlight. This is really weird, he thought. I feel some sort of energy draining my energy to fly. Maui realized that he was panting heavily like Moana and Pua.

"Maui..." Moana panted. "I think... I see a cave... over there..." Maui looked at where Moana pointed. He saw a huge stone cave with an opening. Maui let out a short, deep breath and glided towards the cave. Moana, Pua, and Heihei got off of Maui's back as Maui entered the cave and transformed back into human. They all collected their breath in the cave. The sweet air circulated around the inside of the cave. The breeze cooled down all four of them as they relaxed in the cave.

"Oh my goodness," Moana said. "I feel so much better!"

"Hey Moana," Maui asked. "Did you feel any weird feeling? It felt as if the sunlight was sucking the energy out of me."

"Umm..." Moana thought. "I think I felt that too. It felt as if the sunlight was draining my energy. It was so weird. Also, the sunlight here is so harsh, much harsher than Motunui. Or any other island."

"I know it's so strange," Maui said. "Even I've never been in such island."

"Could it be another forbidden creature?" Moana asked.

"Maybe... possibly..." Maui said. "Let's just relax here for a bit. I'm a little too exhausted to wander out there."

"Yeah," Moana said. "And it's really weird. It seems like this island is giving us energy. I feel much better. I don't feel dehydrated anymore."

"You know, I think that's true," Maui said as he looked around and felt the breeze. "I don't think I need to drink water anymore."

"Let's relax here for a bit," Moana said. "I'm still kinda exhausted."

"Oh, yes, let's rest," Maui said.

Moana immediately lied down and said, "Well then, good night."

"Well, you shouldn't slee-"

Moana yawned and immediately fell asleep. Maui sighed and stepped outside out of the cave, so curious of why the sun is much brighter in this island. The islands he pulled up was never sunny like this. "The sun is definitely brighter," Maui said to himself. "The sun... it looks brighter yellow. How is this possible? Could it- oh... it can be... I gotta tell Moana." He walked inside the cave only to see Moana in a deep sleep. Thanks to the harsh sunlight, he was able to see inside the cave. "Well, I'll just wait until she wakes up." He sat down across from her and watched her sleep. "I never get to see her sleep when she's on the boat. She must be tired after wayfinding for hours, or even days." He continued to watch her sleep. A single gentle ray of sunlight enlightened her. She was sleeping just like Te Fiti. Though he was never attracted to Te Fiti that way, he still thought that Moana's sleeping position was beautiful like a goddess. "Wow..." he breathed with amazement. Mini Maui crossed his arms, tapped his right foot repeatedly, and shook his head. "Take a hike, tiny." Maui flicked him to his back and continued to watch her sleep.

Maui noticed that he was admiring her too much while she was asleep. Something inside him told him that this wasn't right. He went into a deep thought about his feelings and relationship with Moana. Am I even allowed to adore her this much? I mean, she's still a mortal, and I'm a demigod. Our age difference is ridiculous, though my body is practically in my twenties. Hold on, that's still pretty old. She said that she was sixteen. But thinking about it, Moana seems fine with being in a relationship with me. She knows that I'm practically thousand years old. She even let me kiss her. She even kissed me on the cheek several times. I mean, at least I keep my distance from her at the right time. I don't go straight up to her and try to make physical contacts. Moana moaned as she switched her position, showing her back to Maui. I still don't know if this is right. Maybe it's better if we pretend that this never happened. It can be good that way since her parents, or any other villagers don't know about this relationship. But I'm not sure if I say that I want to break up with her. I mean, I still love her, and I think she still has the same feeling for me, but something's telling me that this isn't right... I don't know if it's better to continue this, or if it's better to end this... Maui heard Moana let out a slight snicker. She's possibly having a dream. "I trust you, Maui..." she mumbled. Well, she trusts me. I trust her. I shouldn't worry about it. That's all that matters, right? Right? As Maui was worried about his feelings about Moana, he also felt drowsy. Maui couldn't help but yawn. He decided to lie on his side, facing away from Moana, and let his eyelids close.

********

Maui's eyelids slowly started open. He looked around, confused. The darkness was surrounding him and he felt that he was floating. Where am I? He thought. I thought I was in a cave with Moana, Pua, and drumsticks. He looked around. Only to find darkness around him. Then he saw a silhouette sparkling from a distance. Moana? He thought to himself. It was definitely Moana. She was walking towards him with a warm smile across her face. She embraced Maui and held him tight, just like the time when they first parted from each other. Maui gladly embraced her back. But it was not for so long. Moana lost the smile on the face as she withdrew, turned back, and slowly walked away. Maui tried to chase her, but no matter how fast his feet ran, he couldn't reach slow-walking Moana. Soon, she started to fade, then disappear. He kept screaming for her name... but she never returned...

********

Maui woke up aggressively with heavy pant, and cold sweat running down through his head, chest, and stomach. He looked at Moana, who was still sleeping. Oh good, I didn't wake her up. But why did I have such dream? He thought as he tried to catch up his breath and scratch the back of his neck. Let's not worry about it. If I worry about it, it'll make her worry about it to. I'll discuss it when the time comes.

Moana stretched as she stood up and gave out a long, nice yawn. "Hey Maui, did you find any trace of creatures?"

"You know," Maui started. "I examined the intensity of the sunlight, and I think Ladaimonio has something to do with the harsh sunlight."

"Ladaimonio?" Moana asked. Maui nodded. "The demon of sun?" She asked again. Maui nodded again. "He's probably hard to catch, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Maui said. "He's not easily found. He's such a pain-in-the-neck. He likes to absorb energy from other living things."

"I think that's why there's no plant around here in this island," Moana said.

"Anyways," Maui continued. "I'm not sure how we can capture this thing. I know it killed several mortals, draining out every single drop of their energy."

"Wow, that's atrocious," Moana said. "But I'm just curious, why does it seem like this cave is giving us energy?"

"I don't know," Maui said. "It's good that this cave is giving us more energy to survive, but I'm not sure what's causing it."

"What should we do now?" Moana asked. "I want to get rid of these creatures as soon as possible. Kapu'uila is waiting for us." She grabbed one charm with her right hand and the other one her left hand. "I was always curious about why he would give the charm, or charms, in paper form. Usually, it's jewel shape, possibly with other string attached to it. Why paper?"

"There must be some reasons why," Maui replied.

"Would something magical happen when all of these charms turn green?" Moana said.

"Little girl," Maui lectured. "This is not some sort of cartoon musical when you sing a little song and some magical things happen like that."

"Says the one who has a magical fishhook that he can use to shapeshift," Moana responded sassily.

"You got me there, princess," Maui said. Moana just smiled. "That's weird. You used to insist that you're not a princess, but a chief of Motunui."

"I kinda like it when you call me princess," Moana said with a slight snicker. "It shows that you adore me so much."

I'm guilty about that, Moana, Maui thought. I may hurt you so much at this rate.

"Do you know how to defeat Ladaimonio?" Moana asked with a tone full of concern.

"Just beat it to death," Maui replied. "Other demigods have fought him and that seems the only way. He likes to lurk around the sun and bother its foes' vision. This is still bad. This island is already hot enough, but he's making it even harder."

"What should we do?" Moana asked. They both thought for a long time. 

"I think I have just a thing..." Maui said and snickered proudly.

A/N: What kind of idea does Maui have in mind? Stay tuned for next chapter!